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