Uses And Gratifications Theory:

In 1974 researchers Blumler and Katz stated that media audiences are active and make very conscious choices about how they consume media.

They suggested that there are four types of pleasures/gratifications that audiences consume from the media...

Diversion: Escape from everyday problems and routine - entertainment.

Eastenders is a great way for audiences to escape reality as its a soap drama. they can come home from their regular daily routine and escape into a world full of different problems and scenarios.

Personal Relationships: Using the media for emotional and other interaction (e.g. developing affection for characters in TV)

Breaking Bad is one of the top Tv shows for a reason. As you continue watching you build a much stronger relationship with the characters. You feel tense as problems build up and feel as if you are part of Walter Whites family. You get to know the characters far too much and well.

Personal Identity: Finding ourselves reflected in texts or learning behaviour and values from the media. Reality TV or documentary (Educating Yorkshire) are good examples.

Jersey shore is a great example as it documents the daily outgoing, youth lives of youngsters in america that spend their days drinking, clubbing and getting together with the wrong people.

Surveillance: Information useful for living (e.g. Weather, traffic news, holiday bargains etc.)

BBC news is the prime example for surveillance, it informs us the most up to date breaking news and also tells us about the weather, traffic and other news.

Media Exam: Learner Response Feedback

Question 1: Mise-En-Scene

Bryan Singer uses mise-en-scene to tell us a lot about the characters and the events they take place in. Firstly, he uses costume and make up on Keaton (man sitting on floor) to look defeated and beaten up. This may suggest that he has been through a fight and has lost before hand. Also in the opening scene we see him lighting and smoking a cigarette which may indicate that he his depressed or a bad person. The lighting is also very low key which is typical in this film noire genre. this low key lighting also suggests criminality of characters/events.

Moving on, the same beaten up character throws his lighter into a planned out oil trail which has leaked from the oil barrels around him. the barrels have been shot open which suggests that there has been a gun fight take place. the action of him burning up the location would also kill him which may mean he has given up and has reached his end

As we follow the flame ignition of the oil trail we see a dead body which also means there was a gun fight, as we reach the end of the trail we see a dark tall man from above urinating on the flame trail. This immediately tells us that this man has more power as he's from above and that by urinating on Keaton's trail he has the power to end his ambitions. When the two finally meet we do not see the killers face and he wears a classic film noire costume such as the long black coat and hat. He also holds a gun and smokes which tells us he's a bad person and is going to kill Keaton. When the two are exchanging dialogue the killer deliberately uses slow movements which emphasises the power of the killer. Keaton doesn't move which may mean that he is trapped and death is inevitable.     .                                                                               .

Conflict (Preliminary Task) By: Kunal, Ahmed, Mansour, Abdi & Mikaeil

WWW:

Overall, we worked well together as a group. We were motivated and determined to create a excellent short clip. Everyone played a part and contributed towards this piece. Mansour and Ahmed acted very well in order to make this preliminary task more interesting. In terms of shooting, our main what went well was the framing of the shots and the chosen angles we used. The framing was very close up and tight which made it a lot more effective as we feel a lot closer to the characters. Our shots were also very sharp and in focus. Also, the shot of both characters in the mirror was excellent as it truly made the viewers feel like they were in this position. In terms of editing, we got the match on action cuts on point. They were timed very well and flowed brilliantly. Our most effective shot was the clip of both actors looking at each other through the same mirror, we managed to make great use of all the bathroom windows as we played around with the angles and framing in there. By keeping lots of angles going it kept the audience watching and not get bored which managed to work very well. We also kept a de-saturated look to the final video in order to give it that conflict, meaningful and serious effect.

EBI:

Our only EBI was the use of the 180 degree rule, it did work well although it did have some problems. The turning of the actors heads caused a problem as at one point it looked as if they were turning to the same side. We also could've started the clip with a wide shot of the entire bathroom to show the audience what the environment was like, this could've helped towards out 180 degree rule as well. Also the opening scene of Ahmed walking in was rather shaky, we could've used a stabiliser or steadicam in order to get a very effective shot. The match on action shot of him opening and walking into the door wasn't also very effective. It wasn't timed as perfectly than the others as there was a very rapid switch from him opening the door, to him walking in. Furthermore, we did come across some grain being shown in our video, this could argue with it being useful as our concept was based on conflict and it did fit in but it was un intended. We could've used a much lower ISO setting in order to cancel out all the grain being shown in some clips.

In conclusion, i think we managed to create a good preliminary task in order to show off the skills used, we applied all of them in and added a great concept to allow these skills to work together. We all worked well as a team with contributions being shown in written work and in camera work. We finalised all our idea together in pre production as well as post production. We managed to produce a task that everyone would keep watching be interested in carrying on.

Conflict (PreliminaryTask) Shot List:

Shot List – Conflict

by Kunal, Ahmed, Mansour, Abdi, Mikaeil

Shot No.	Shot	Filmed?
1	Tracking shot of Mansour leaving the cubical	YES
2	Match cut into close up of the toilet tap	YES
3	OTS tracking shot of Ahmed walking towards toilet door	YES
4	Match cut of Ahmed getting closer to the door	YES
5	Mansour washing his hands	YES
6	Mansour looking in the mirror	YES
7	Ahmed opening the door	YES
8	Ahmed entering the toilet	YES
9	Close up shot of Ahmed looking in the mirror	YES
10	Close up of Mansour mirror with both actors making eye contact	YES
11	Close up of Mansour saying “you cool yeah?”	YES
12	Close up of Ahmed replying saying “Yeah”	YES
13	OTS  shot of Mansour focusing on Ahmed saying “don’t ask me questions”	YES
14	OTS of Ahmed focusing on Mansour with his reaction	YES
15	OTS of Mansour focusing on Ahmed walking out	YES
16	Mansours reaction with fade out	YES

Conflict (Preliminary Task) Script:

Conflict

By Kunal, Abdi, Ahmed & Mikaeil.

Fade in

Tracking shot of the toilet with high key lighting. The bathroom contains two cubicles, four sinks and three urinals.

Shot of toilet as we see Mansour leaving bathroom cubicle.

*D Block Men Toilets*

Mansour washes his hands

Ahmed walks through the corridor

Shot jumps to scene of Mansour washing his hands focusing on the mirror

Ahmed enters and gives Mansour a rude look through his mirror

Ahmed starts to wash his hands

Mansour also gives him a bad look through the mirror

Mansour:

“You cool yeah?”

*Camera cuts to Ahmed*

Ahmed:

“Yeah”

*Ahmed then turns to the sink and realises what just happens

He turns around quickly and an over shoulder shot of Mansour to show Ahmed*

Ahmed:

“Don’t ask me questions”

*Pauses for a few seconds*

Ahmed:

“Wasteman”

*He turns and walks out the toilet leaving Mansour surprised*

Fade Out

Psycographic Groups: The Strugglers

Preliminary Exercise: Planning

4CS Survey Results

Narrative

Breaking Bad:

Enigma and Action Codes - Roland Barthes:

Enigma Code: Middle class, 50 year old man, has a family and is a teacher, good person, recently diagnosed with cancer. Why does he decide to cook and sell drugs? Why are people after him? Who is the young person he's working with?
 

Action Code: He is diagnosed with cancer. He utilises his education and skill to cook drugs. He faces bad people and commits crimes. He gets involved in violence. his family may be endangered. His brother in law works for the DEA.
 

Todorov: Equilibrium

Equilibrium: He is a good, family man.

Disequilibrium: He is diagnosed with cancer and needs lots of money for treatment. He sees that selling drugs makes as told by his DEA brother in law. He then meets Jesse who has experience in the drug game. He aims to make $62,000. He gets so addicted he makes millions. He meets a lot of evil people and commits many murders.

New Equilibrium: He kills all of the bad people he has ever met and the cop that was after him has died. In the process of saving his family and friends the main villain of it all, himself.
 

Character Theory: Propp

The Villain: Walter White (Himself)

The Donor: Skyler White

The Helper: Saul Goodman 

The Princess: Walter White Jr & Holly White

The Dispatcher: Jesse Pinkman

The Hero: Hank Schrader

The False Hero: Walter White (Himself)

Taken 2:

Enigma and Action Codes - Roland Barthes:

Enigma Code: Brian goes abroad for business and decides to invite his wife and daughter. They are all happy and loving.

Action Code: A group of people that have revenge for Brian kidnap him and his wife and leave the daughter alone, this suggests a violent and action packed plot.

Todorov: Equilibrium

Equilibrium: He is a family man and they're all together in piece.

Disequilibrium: His dangerous past of bad business catches up to him and the people he killed's family wants revenge. They kidnap him and his wife and leave the daughter alone in a abroad country

New Equilibrium: He kills all of the bad people and reunites with his family.

Character Theory: Propp

The Villain: The Albanians

The Donor: His Daughter

The Helper: His Daughter

The Princess: His Wife

The Dispatcher: Himself

The Hero: Himself

The False Hero: N/A

500 Days Of Summer:

Enigma and Action Codes - Roland Barthes:

Enigma Code: Who is this girl? Why is he unhappy? Why did she leave him?
Action Code: He tries to get her back, he doesn't succeed. She hurts him and leaves which suggests that this movie is filled with romance and heartbreak.

Todorov: Equilibrium

Equilibrium: He is a young hard working man in New York that falls in love.

Disequilibrium: The girl he falls in love with breaks his heart and plays with him terribly. He is heart broken.
New Disequilibrium: He tries to get her back and settle things. It doesn't work out so they decide to fully split. He then finds a new girl.

Character Theory: Propp

The Villain: Summer

The Donor: Rachel (Sister)

The Helper: His Daughter& McKenzie (Best Friend)

The Princess: Summer

The Dispatcher: Himself

The Hero: Autumn

Editing Task

Heat (1995) by Micheal Mann:

Micheal Mann has used editing in this scene in order to bring a lot of suspense and tension in the audience so that they can keep on watching.

Before the robbers begin thier heist the pace of editing is very slow and filled with long clips, this can relate to the characters as they may feel calm and relaxed. Although as soon as they begin the robbery, the pace changes to a slightly faster speed. The director achieves this fast paced editing by using straight cut transitions this is because its very quick and snappy and creates an effect where the audience doesn't even know the scene has changed which makes the audience want to watch for longer.
The choice of using straight cuts also show that the type of editing is continuity editing. Continuity editing is when the director places his clips together logically so that one event follows on from the next. The audience then automatically assumes that the scene is happening in real time.
When the criminals are attempting the getaway the pace then starts to build up again but this time the director adds a tense soundtrack in the background. He cuts in a series of angles of each characters walking out to make us feel like we are in their position. He does this effectively by using straight cuts very quickly of all the angles and by using a POV shot. During these sequences the director uses juxtaposition by cutting in between the cops making their move and the robbers getting away. This builds more tension as we want to see what would happen when they finally meet. As the two groups of characters get closer and closer the pace of the juxtaposition increases, this is how the tension is built.
Once the good and bad finally meet, the overall atmosphere changes completely, the soundtrack is off and all the audience can hear are gun shots and screaming. The pace of editing and cutting is now extremely fast and the angles and clips are always changing. As the robbers get into the car there is a lot of camera movement and shaking with a close proximity which makes us feel like we're in the car. At 5:02 there is a clip with slow motion which takes place during this fast pace sequence, this marks the moment as one of the main robbers shoots at the police. the slow motion may indicate that something bad is going to take place, and so does. After the slow motion the driver for the heist gets killed which leaves the robbers in the middle between the police. From here the pace changes to more longer clips of gunfire and shooting. The continuity editing still carries on to flow well as the gun fire continues. When one of the robbers gets shot the pace then switches again as one other robbers helps him up and gets him away. the clips change to a longer duration as they run away and get in the car. As they run away many angles are constantly being cut in and out. When they get away there is only one robber left to chase for the cops. The tension is built as it switches to a fast pace sequence of that criminal running away. Lots of camera movement and cuts of angles. Then the director adds a soundtrack which fades in to get louder and louder. this creates suspension and tenses the audience. An over the shoulder shot of the cop is shown which is almost a POV. The cop is aiming down site at the robber which is holding a hostage. The director then uses slow motion to create even more tension and uses close up shots to make us feel like we are there. As the cop takes his shot the slow motion ends and brings us back to reality.

Overall this clip is brilliant because of its editing. The editing constantly switched from fast to medium pace which made it a lot more interesting to watch. There were also may other film language elements that made this a great clip such as the cinematography buy using many different angles and by using handheld camera movement which made everything a lot more fast paced and realistic. Also the use of sound brought in a lot of tension especially in the gunfire as all we could hear were the diegetic sounds of the gunfire, ricocheting bullets and screaming. This makes the audience feel like they are right in the middle of this dangerous situation.