Monday, 21 April 2008

Timeline 2000's:

Political Issues:
11th of September 2001: bombing of the twin towers in New York.
March 2003: USA and the UK declaring a war on Iraq.
Saddam Hussein captured by the US troops.
Dec 2006: Saddam Hussein killed.
The 7/7 bombings in London.
Madrid Bombings - March 2004
Lebanon War 2006- Israeli attacks.
Gordon Brown becomes the new prime minister of Britai -June 2007

Media Issues:
The success of Harry Potter byJ.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone adapted on the movie.
Finding Nemo- which replaced the Lion King. this was seen as the best animated film ever made, because it made a huge profit.

Social Issues:
Tsunami in Indunisia- December 2004.
Global Warming.
Homosexuality became an accepted issue, and same sex marriages became accepted, in some nations such as Canada, the Netherlands, Britain and Spain.

Economic Issues:
The internet, Mobile phones have improved the Economy, mainly by the social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, etc...
The developement of Asian countries, mainly China which has become a world power.
Increasing demands of the Fossil Fuels in the middle East.

Timeline 90's:

Social Issues:
UN children Summit
Violence against women

Political Issues:
Iraq invades Kuwait (the Gulf War)
The end of the Cold War.
Margaret Tatcher resigns as a prime minister, she is replaced by John Major.
East and West of Germany reunited.

Economic Issues:
The internet which caused the growth of the economy and increased economic productivity and was a boom around the world. This made many European, Asian and American countries very wealthy.

Media Issues:
1997- the Titanic which was a successful movie, based on the real crash of the titanic in 1912, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market.
Sheindler's List- directed by Steven Spielberg, which has won him an Oscar.



Sunday, 20 April 2008

Timeline 1980's:

Media Issues:
The wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

Economic Issues:
Fuel decreased.
Japan's Economic Boom- still considered as a miracle.

Political Issues:
The Falklands War 1982: Britain declared a war on Argentina.
Israel attacks Lebanon.
USA invades Grenada.
Italy and the Church decide on Catholicism to be the country's Religion.

Social Issues:
John Paul II signed a new Roman catholic code which had new changes by the second vatican council.


Saturday, 19 April 2008

Time line 1970's:

Social Issues:
Many social issues that have faced a change, this change has continued from the 60's.
The earthquake that happened in Peru, which killed 50,000 people.

Political Issues:
The US troops invaded Cambodia (Vientnam War)
Tonga and Figi gained independence from Britain.
India and the USSR signed the 20 years pact.
Britain takes over Northern Ireland.
India becomes known as the world's sixth power for having the nuclear power.

Economic Issues:
Seen as the worst economic decade for European and American economy.
Third world countries continued to progress.

Media Issues:
The God Father (1972)- the number one gangster film ever made.
Star Wars.
The first time the steadicam was used in Rocky.

Time line 1960's:

Social Issues:

called the 'Age of Youth' which were the children from the post war of the 'Baby Boom'.

These youths wanted change, and they succeeded to have change in different areas such as: education, values, lifesyles, laws and entertainment.

Feminism began- Women were still being under-represented, but the movement was able to achieve a lot for females.

Issue such as racism and women became important in America.

Music became important as it described the social issues that were happening.



Media Issues:

Star Trek: which is seen as the Phenomenon movie of the 60's.

It improved a lot the representations of women, however there was still no equality between females and males. This is happening due to the fact that womens are still being represented as sex objects and house wives.

Music has introduced different styles of music, such as Rock, Soul, Folk.










Time line 1950's:

Social Issues:

John Gofman who was an American Doctor- discovered a hypothesis that blood Cholesterol was to blame for the rise of heart disease.
1950's- (Anti-Catholicism in America)- the end of years were the White catholics were seen by white anti-catholics as a dangerous
Education rate grew in the UK and the US, as there was a demand of high school and college education.
The growth of the 'Nuclear Families'.
The formation of the Union of Australian Women : aims of working for world peace and the rights of women and children. This union had many corporations and it succeeded in improving many things such as: Equal Pay between males and females.

Economic Issues:

The 50's was seen as the start of 'Japan's Postwar Economic Miracle' that lasted until the 90's, this was Japan's economic growth, where Japan has over taken all the European economies and 20% of the U.S economy, which was also known as the 'Losing Economic Hegemony'.

Political Issues:

The Cold War throughout the whole decade, between the Soviet Union and the USA.

Media Issues:

Introduction of television and new genres of music such as: Rock and Roll.

End of Hollywood's Golden Age.
'I love Lucky' which was produced in the 50's, which is about family representation and how during that time families had a good living standard, by the help of different Aid groups, which helped in the growth of Education and helped improve different jobs.
Only white faces were being represented in the media, however by the creation of the Civil Right Movements, black and the other ethnic minorities started occurring in the media but only for Comic Relief Programmes, but in movies they were still far from being represented.
Women in the USA during the 50's formed more than 50%, however males still outnumbered in the media.

Sunday, 16 March 2008

Essay:

How does a comparison of these two 'slasher' texts demonstrate how genre changes over time? Why is this so and what other media issues and debates do they raise?

The genre of the movie changes throughout the years and that change is what makes the genre to become much more popular and much more successful, and that ' the process is the treatment of the genre' as Rick Altman has mentioned, and this therefore shows that the change of the genre throughout the years is what improves the genre and attracts more audiences, and therefore producers and directors use the same genre and try to find other new conventions.


Taking into consideration the two texts Psycho 1960 and Texas chainsaw massacre 1974, there has been a huge change within the two texts, the first change to recognise immediately between the two texts is the colour of the movies, as the first text psycho is in Black and white which is due to the reason that this movie was made during the 60's where the colour effect was there but wasn't that popular and that is the reason that the director Alfred Hitchcock has used that effect, to keep the originality of the style of the movies at that time and to not create that much suspense within the movie, however comparing with Texas chainsaw massacre which was made a decade later but had new effects such as the use of the colours which therefore creates more suspense such as seeing the colour of the blood, which is not really shown clearly in the first movie and therefore there isn't that much suspense created into the audiences even if we see the scene, but in the 2nd movie that scene of the blood really creates suspense and that what makes more people watch it, and this therefore shows that this convention is able to change the slasher genre.


These two movies can also be compared in political and social issues, these issues have also contributed to the change of the genre conventions, the issue which is about women representation and how did it change over the years, in psycho the women is represented as weak and unable to survive the male, this therefore promotes patriarchal ideology that males are the ones who dominate society and that females are represented as weak and that they should only be represented as housewives or sex objects which is shown when she dies when taking a shower, that scene might be there to attract male audiences, however even if this is also shown in Texas chainsaw massacre, by the way that females are wearing some really showy clothing, but there is a change as in this text there is the inclusion of the final girl which is not shown in psycho, this shows again how there is a change in the slasher genre.

This inclusion of the final girl shows the change of the genre and the way that she is able to survive the psychopaths shows how the roles of the women have changed and that the women is now represented as strong and powerful and not only males that are able to dominate the society, even females now have dominant roles and are able to have higher jobs and are able to deal with harder situations, this change is therefore making the males look weak because females are able to beat them, this can create kind of conflict between males and females and might make males feel humiliated.

This convention shows clearly how the genre changed within the two movies, as females were represented as weak, however years later they are represented as strong, this change that has occurred within the genre might have occurred due to Feminism which has really focused on giving the right to women to be able to work and have more independence and making females represented in reasonable ways not only as sex objects or housewives, this helped females to get better roles and higher jobs,and this changing that occurred within the genre has made it look better and get more wider audiences.

This change is also shown when in the psycho also known as 'the grandaddy of the slasher genre', which only concentrates on one character which is the protagonist and that the whole movie is mainly based on the death of that character, which therefore doesn't create enigma and makes the movie quiet boring and when that women dies we know that there isn't a final girl, however Texas chainsaw massacre of 1974, shows many teenagers having fun, but then one by one they get killed this therefore creates more suspense and the audience are facing that emotion of being shocked and scared throughout the whole movie, but not only at one point of the movie. so this convention that is used shows how the genre has improved and how it became popular, and the inclusion of teenagers which are now being seen commonly in slasher movies, such as in Friday 13th (1980) which has also included this convention of having teenagers and being killed one after the other seem to create suspense in the movie and make the audience being interested more in the movie and make them wanting to know what will happen next.

This use of teenagers in slasher genre movies has been successful throughout the years and has been commonly used, this use has therefore attracted a wider audience mainly among teenagers and younger people as they are able to identify with them, so this try of having teenagers in movies made producers and directors to include it more and more.

To sum up, the change in the conventions of the genre in general has made the success of the genre movie, and that the progress or the change in the genre is crucial in order to make it successful, taking the example of the Hollywood industry and that it took quiet a lot of time to recognise the slasher movie as being actually a genre, as it thought that it won't be a success, so this might be a reason why producers and directors of finding a change which will make this genre popular and recognised.

similarities and differences:

There are many similarities between the two texts as they both include psychopaths killing people for no reason, and that women is still represented as weak and still represented as a male gaze, by the way that she is wearing showy clothing and the way she dies in psycho when she was naked.
however as well as similarities there are also differences between the two texts, that the protagonist in psycho is not represented as a final girl and therefore her weakness is shown as she is not able to survive the killer, whereas in the Texas chainsaw massacre there is a final girl that even if she is represented weak at the beginning but she is still able to survive the killer which therefore shows how the there is a development in the role of the women and how its developed and that the women now has dominant roles and able to survive the male roles.
the other difference is that in psycho there is a use of the b/w and therefore there isn't that much suspense as we cant really see the red blood which really creates suspense to the audiences,but in Texas chainsaw massacre we can see clearly these conventions which really create suspense into the audiences and that what makes the audience react much more shocked than they are when they watch psycho. Therefore this shows how the genre has improved a lot throughout the years and by the use of those conventions which makes it create more suspense and that what really makes the originality of the horror movie.

Thursday, 13 March 2008

Cover work 11/03/08: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974


a. Form/Function- The texts is the ending of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie that was made in 1974 and was directed by Tobe Hooper, this movie was also being seen as 'the single and best scariest movie ever'. This ending tends to sum up the story and it also to give an end to the villain and how us who is the heroine (the final girl) and even if she escapes from the house, there is still some suspense going on as the villain or the psychopath is still chasing her, it is also tries to make us feel sorry for all the trouble that she has faced and to also make sympathise and get happy for the final girl when she manages to escape, whereas on the case for the villain when he gets run by a track, we tend to relax and feel that the villain died and we feel that the girl is now safe. but at the same time when the other psychopath appears again we seem to get that suspense and fear for the girl which created Enigma and makes the audiences think what will happen to her and she might not survive, however the enjoyment that we tend to get when the villain gets killed or when he is running after her when she survives and gets into the car can be seen as a method of Sadism.



b. M-I-G-R-A-I-N

Media Language:
There is a lot of use of masks and the use of blood which are on of the main conventions of a slasher movie, as well as knives and chainsaws which used by the psychopath, the masks are used to threaten the audiences and the victims and to also hide the identity of the killer.there is also a use of ropes.
The scream sound is used a lot in this particular scene to create more suspense and which is also considered as one of the main convention of horror movie, and there is also a use of suspicious music to create Enigma and to make the audience feel suspicious about what is going to happen.
most of the killings are show in a low key lighting as most of the killing happen at night or in the haunted house where there isn't enough light, but this particular has high key lighting as it is shot outside,so therefore less suspense is created.
The final girl is shown in close-ups when she is shown suffering when crying, and there is also a use of medium-shots when the final girl's face is covered in blood and the rest of her body, to create more suspense.

The final girl is holding a knife to protect herself which can be seen as a phallic object.

This particular scene is shot outside in a deserted area in a forest, and that horror movies are mainly shot in those areas, where the victim can't be found and the killer won't be found as well.

Institution:

Genre:

  • this scene uses mainly the horror and the thriller genre, as it includes a lot of those conventions such as blood, chainsaws, screams, etc...

Representation:

The Final girl in this scene is shown as strong and heroic, as she is shown as heroic when she is able to survive the killer, she is also being represented as a sex object by the way she is dressed, and that most of her body is shown.

The killers are therefore represented as villains and weak, because they had the knives and chainsaws but the girl is still able to survive them.

Audience:

The audiences for this movie are mainly teenagers as most of the actors are teenagers, and they will be able to identify with the characters and they will not be offended by the scenes of murder and blood, this is also shown by the age certificate of thie movie which is 15.

Ideology:

  • Feminism- women should have dominant roles an more power, maily in the 70's where feminism became popular.

Narrative:

  • Enigma - is created when the girl is running and the psychopath chasing her making the audience trying to predict what will happen to her next and what will happen to the killers.
  • Non linear- the scene is destructed by the killing of the psychopath that was run over.


d. WC (SHEP)...how does each text relate to the zeitgeist?
S-the female being represented as Strong as she is able to survive the psychopaths and that she is not always being represented as a male gaze and a housewife, but the way that she was caught many times and she found it hard to survive it still shows the patriarchal ideology and that males still dominate the society.

H-Females still represented as weak to some extent as males in this scene to be dominating more.

P-Feminism- the movement that was fighting for women's rights which mentioned that women shouldn't be represented as housewives and as sex objects and that they should be represented more as dominant and having power, and that might be the reason why the girl is represented as powerful and heroic and is able to have dominant roles and able to survive males,and this representation is related to the Zeitgeist.

f. Relevant Theories

  • Laura Mulvey: the girl being the male gaze by her clothing and therefore to attract male audiences, but even though she is represented in a horror movie but still there to attract males.
  • Binary opposition: The psychopaths against the final girl.
  • Propp: the hero being the final girl and the villain being the killer.
  • Freud: the knife being the phallic object.


Wednesday, 12 March 2008

cover work 11/03/08: Psycho 1960


a. Form/Function: Psycho shower scene made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960's, this scene is trying to show us how the women gets punished and therefore she is not shown as being the final girl.

b. M-I-G-R-A-I-N:
M-
The film is made in B/W to make it much more interesting and original and have more effect on audiences, even if in the 60's coloured movies started becoming popular, and the B/W is creating less suspense as the blood is shown in a B/W, however if it was shown in colour it would have been much more scary and creating much more suspense, because it would be the real colour of the blood.
when the victim is taking a shower, she is amusing herself as she's laughing and she also feels relaxed, and the handle 0f the shower is commonly shown, this can also be seen as the phallic object as she is having pleasure when taking a shower.
just before she dies, she is trying to hold on to something to help herself, this therefore might indicate her need of the man.
she is also represented as a male gaze when she is shown when she enters the shower.

Institution:
Paramount Pictures.

GENRE:
romance, horror, thriller, crime.

Representation:
The women is represented as a male gaze and she is there to appeal to male audiences.
The psycho is represented as confused and that he can't understand his feelings, as he acts as a men and as a mother at the same time, even if he tries to stop acting like that, he can't and the death of his mother still has an impact on him and that he is so desperate to kill people and at the same time revenging to what had happened to his mother.
he is also represented as strong when he kills her and she is represented as weak because she is unable to do anything about it.
The boyfriend of the victim looks really caring as he is trying to do anything just to find who the murderer is.

Audiences:
This movie is mainly aimed at adults of both genders, because of the killing scene which can be a bit offensive to teenagers mainly during that period of time, and the way she is shown to appeal to mainly male audiences.

Ideology:patriarchal ideology: this is shown when the psychopath attacks the women, which might mean that the men has much more power over the female and is able to control and that females don't seem to have much power on the society and the males are still the ones controlling the society, and that women is not able to have a dominant role even if she's shown in the office but she is still seen as a sex object when she is shown naked when taking a shower, as the audience is having the pleasure at looking at her in that way as a sex object.

Sadism is also used when she is being killed, the audience is having pleasure seeing the victim getting killed, but at the same time the audience is feeling sad for her.

Narrative: The movie has a non-linear narrative as it includes flashbacks, when the victim is driving she's receiving different flashbacks from the different scenes.this particular scene has a linear narrative as it shows how the scenes happen in order and that it doesn't have anything to destruct the story.

c. Other related texts
Psycho-1999
Texas Chainsaw Massacre-1974

d. WC (SHEP)...how does each text relate to the zeitgeist?

This relates to the zeitgeist as it has the women working and not anymore represented as a housewives.


Social- family problems,such as the psycho men who had an unhappy childhood and had childhood problems and the lack of parents might have led him to become like that.

Historical- that women should be represented as housewives and that males should have a more dominant role in the society.

political:.....

Economic: the victim in the movie steals money which shows that people had economic problems, and that they were desperate for money and that money offers happiness.

f. Relevant Theories

  • Laura Mulvey: she is represented as a male gaze.
    Levi Strauss: Binary opposition: the victim against the hero.
    Propp: Hero against the Villain- the psychopath against the Heroes (the victim's boy friend and her sister's)
  • Barthes: Enigma. This movie also tries to create enigma to the audiences, because when she is shown taking the shower and the psychopath is looking from a hole in the wall, therefore this is making the audiences think about what is he going to do, as he is shown a bit suspicious.

Thursday, 21 February 2008

3rd clip: Goodness Gracious me, Cheque please

This extract is called 'Cheque Please', it is showing the Indian men as being stupid and untrustworthy as he is betraying women like that and when saying cheque please, which might also show him as being poor when the women that he dated wanted to order something he says something stupid and that makes the women get angry and leave, it is showing how easy it is for him to date women like that and play them easily.
the negative thing that this clip might be representing all Asian men as being stupid and not really knowing what to say and also showing them as being untrustworthy and betraying.
this clip might also showing the Asian men as being poor as every time the women tries to order something he says cheque please. This representation is therefore showing how when Britain colonised India, it described it as being untrustworthy and uncivilised and this movie is somehow saying that those stereotypes still exist, even though the changes in society, there are still some Indians stereotyped in that way.


SECOND CLIP: GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME

This clip is showing the asian parents as being really strict about education, and as it is mentionned in the title 'Typical Asian parents',it is therefore steretyping asian parents by showing them really caring and really concerned about their children's education, ad how they want them to be the best and to get into the best universities, mainly when the father was comparing his son to the child of the neighbours, which again shows how even his son got 4A's and only one B, he still wanted him to be perfect.
This feeling that is making them become like this is because they have faced problems in the past and didn't have succesfull lives, they want the best for their childeren and they want them to get higher positions such as lawyers, doctors etc...
this is the reason why most asians are steotyped as hardworking in schools, and have to achieve best grades, this stereotype can be seen as negative in some ways because if they don't get what expected they can be seen as lazy and not really hard working.
The funny thing shown in this clip is that evnethough he got really good grades the father is somehow frustrated and angry and wanted him to get perfect grades, and the other thing is when the mother tells him that he can't go to university as he is still 6 years old, this therfore shows the ignorance of the father and that he wanted his son to get good grades even at a very young age, and this shows how the parents are seen as uncivilsed and stupid as even if the child's got the best grades still wants him to get the perfect grades.
it is also showing the father as stupid when he says that he needs to do PHD and he didn't even take up the undergraduate course.
This pressure put on the child is therefore showing the british population that asians have to be the best in school and if they are not able to achieve that, they are seen as stupid and not really hard working.



ANALYSIS OF CLIPS OF GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME:

This video called 'Rehabilation', is about Mrs Kapoor went to see the doctor, but the test turned out that she is not anymore following the indian culture and she really got frustrated about that, this therefore shows how asians are really attached to their culture and it is a big problem for them not to be atatched to their culture.
This clip is somehow showing the white people as being weak, becasue when she is acting as a british person at the begining when the doctor punched her she screamed, but the second time when she became asian again, when the doctor punshed her she didn't scream, this therefore shows how the asians are superior than white people.
this shows how asians even if they are far from their country, they are still attached to their culture, and that it is a shame for them to get integrated within the british culture.
This clip also stereotypes the indians, when she started dancing and wearing the asian dress, this therefore stereotypes them with those features.
the funny thing which is shown is when she knows that she lacks the indian culture, she got really frustrated and got scared when he mentioned the operation, this now shows the indians as being uncevilised and weak as she is scared of the operation.

Sunday, 10 February 2008

HOME SERVICE:

  • The BBC'S annual report shows that its representation of the general minorities is more than the representation of the asian representation.
  • 70% of the asian population have sky digital or cable TV in their homes
  • 2/3 of asian viewersis made up of asian interest channels.
  • Asians pay more on TV and on other new technologies, such as DVD's, mobile phones.
  • new arrivals of south-asians watch rarely british TV, such as Anjan Kumar watches only Zee tv, because they can relate back to their culture and identify with them.
  • 4.5 million british-asians pay tv licence on something which they are not longer watching.
  • the BBC has boosted on screen representation.
  • recruitment of black and asian presenteres on youth programmes.
  • these audiences are optimistic and want change and they want interesting programmes rather than documentaries on Racism.
  • 83% of black womens and 71% watch tv soaps compared to 56%of white people. mainly East-Enders.
  • TV news fouund a deep black of trust in british and american tv news expressed by british muslims.
  • Ofcom was to have 'the different interests' of people in different parts of the u.k, this will lead to equal employement oppurtonities.
  • London provides for 328,000 across Europe and the middle east soaps from india.
  • Zee TV before its launch in 1995, south asian viewers didnt have dramas and bollywood movies and news.
  • 2.5% of the population used to watch mainstream TV.
  • the language factor counts in their favour of channels, which is targeted at younger viewers.
  • they do understand their language but dont speak it, so they watch more english channel.

THE COULOUR OF MONEY:

  • the launch of the guide to ethbic minorities.
  • diversity-word to identigy political correctness and some positive discrimination.
  • 2001 census: 50% growth of ethnic minorities, compared to the census of 1991
  • however white communities seem to drop
  • ethnic minorities mainly British-Asians are seen as hardworking, asporitional, and economically powerful (2nd and 3rd generations are from this type of category and are also proud of their culture)
  • key facts: 72% of south-Asians pay TV-HOMES,but only 39% of the U.K population.
  • 74% have mobile phones compared to 69%
  • 70% own computer compared to 57%
  • 57% have internet compared to 47%
  • 46% own a DVD player compared to 30%
  • in the past decade there has been an enormous growth in ethnic minority media
  • asians and black people are turned into mainstream media, they watch media which is targeted at them and which represent their culture.
  • because of the change of british consumers in the media, Britain is now seen as a multicultural city, so if there is the the pink pound and grey pound, there must be the brown pound.

Monday, 4 February 2008

SUBCONTINENTAL DRIFT

  • it has been ten amazing years for british asians, becasue of the improvemnts of the artistic output for the 2nd and 3rd genreation asians.
  • many british asians have expressed their identity with artists such as cornershops, etc... which all had an impact on the mainstream
  • Nitin Sawhney- i've always viewed this country's cultural diversity as symptom of true strength and developemnt.
  • artists from differnt backgrounds are in the 'world music', allowing these artists to infleunce the mainstream.
  • goodness gracious me was the first movie to be recognised by the bbc.
  • Anita and me, has recieved mainstream support

the question isn;t why is this all happening, but why has it taken so long?

Sunday, 3 February 2008

ETHNIC MINORITY PUSH BY BBC:

  • BBC is improving its news coverage of ethnic minorities, to appeal to audiences which have been neglected before.
  • the BBC Asian network is expanding on its news operation over the whole country.
  • Ceri Thomas-head of news- that the correspondent would cover the Afro-Caribbean communities in particular, rather than ethnic minorities in general.
  • network X,setting up of the new department of the black music, it will run hourly news mainly aimed at its target audiences.
  • the Asian network has its own team of journalists, it has it own target audience, but it has been said that the BBC national news operation doesn't make enough news use of the Asian network's specialist knowledge.
  • Sunrise radio, the biggest commercial broadcaster directed at ethnic minorities, proposed to stop the use of the word 'Asians' following complaints from hindus and sikh, they said that they were closely associated with muslims, adn being targated following the 9/11 attacks.

HOW ENTERTAINMENT CHANGED?

  • success of multicultural entertainment such as Bend it like Beckham, East is East, Kumars at n42, prove that these multicultural entertainment is now entrenched in the UK's mainstream media.
  • 78% of people think that other races are better represented on television, compared to 10 years ago.
  • 67% of asians and blacks said that it has improved.
  • but in someways there is still a bit to go before britain's multicultural society is fully represented.
  • black and asian said it is hard for them to get in the media, than it is for whites.
  • lack of ethnic minorities in decision making posts.
  • "we live in a multi-cultural society but we dont represent it on screen"- Diane Parish
  • BBC began attracting ethnic viewers, but mainly aimed at a niche audience
  • ethnic minorities are represented a lot in comedy programmes.

Black actors win more TV roles:

  • portray of ethnic minorities is still low on britsh television
  • a significant increase of ethnic minorities in TV soaps.
  • Casualty, EastEnders, Crossroads and Night and day, represent a really good cultural diversity.
  • less screen portrayal on screen, the Annual conference of the cultural diversity network have promoted the serious concerns about less showing of other races on news programmes.
  • Television networks, present only simlplistic, and one sided picture of britain's racial problems.
  • manegers and decision makers do not have a multi-cultural knowledge and experiences, meaning that racism is going on our everyday lives.
  • Greg Dyke: there isn't enough ethnic minorities in senior positions. there are still white faces at the top, or known as 'hideously white'
  • Andrea Wonfor-Granada TV, appointing ethnic minorities in senir positions could be slow, as it was slow for women to have top positions.
  • peter salmon-director of BBC's sport corporation, in this area the staff from ethnic minorities has slightly risen from 8% in 2000to 8.5%in 2001, which was a national average, but mainly in London, were ethnic minorities are higher.
  • quarter of the actors in TV soaps are from ethnic minorities and 13% of EastEnders characters.
  • Fauzia Ahmed-socilogist-urged broadcasters to appoint correspondants from ethnic minorities, they would have a better understanding of the different cultures in britain.
  • Samira Shah- there are a lot of things that british journalists don't know about because of the lack of other races involved in the newsrooms.
  • Roger Mosey-BBC's head of television news- there are a number of senior editors from ethnic minorities and there would be a progress.but they should be appointed on a merit.

SO WHAT ARE THE CHANNELS DOING ABOUT IT?

  • BBC-risen from 8% to 8.5%
  • ITV-producers must adress diversity in their programmes, Carlton has established a talent database and provides administrative support to the cultural diversity networks.
  • Granada offers bursaries for other races, GMTV aims to have third of trainees from black and asian applicants.
  • channel4: must meet multicultural objectives, and it is launching a diversity database.
  • channel5-independent producers have to include an ethnical diverse cast and crew.
  • ITN-have hasd diversity awarness training
  • BSKYB- recruitment staff have had diversity training.

Wednesday, 23 January 2008

PICTURES







STEVEN SPIELBERG


BRIEF BACKGROUND:

•Born on 18th of December 1946, USA
•He is one of the most influential personalities in the history of film.
•He was able to get popular by his name being shows as a producer, director and writer.
•He has edited and directed many movies at an early age in his 20s, such as ‘Wagon Train’, ‘ Battle Squad’, ‘The Last Gun’, ‘Escape To Nowhere’.

WHAT DOES HE USE TO SELL HIS MOVIES:


•His clips and movie posters seem to appeal to audiences, because most of his movies are popular
•Puts across originality in his posters and movie.
• originality- creates enigma and attract the audience’s attention and make the audiences really looking forward to go and see the movie
•This shown by the use of his name in the posters and trailer.


TRAILERS:

Sunday, 13 January 2008

practice essay for med1:

the text is a film poster for the movie called "i'm a legend" which aims to appeal to audiences, so they can go and watch the movie.
the first notable aspect is the name of the main actor "Will Smith" which is there to indicate that he is the main actor of the movie and as his name is tje only name shown, this therfore shows that he might be the only actor of the movie, this is therfore related to the tagline 'the last man on earth', this is also supported by his only picture in th poster. all of these conotations might represent him as a strong man, to be able to survive to be the last man on earth, which again might show him as being a strong black man, which might be giving a view of black males as being strong.
the way that he is represented as a strong male, might appeal to male audiences because they would identify with him and may want to become strong like him, mainly black males, and he might appeal to females because they are attracted by him or are fans of him, this movie might also appeal to audiences that have already seen his movies and liked them and might want to see his movie again.
the tagline "the last man on earth is not alone", is written in yellow on a dark bakground, in order to make it stand out, and make tha audiences look at that and also creates Enigma for the audiences and makes them want to see the movie and really looking forward to see why is that tagline is written there and why it is ot written like that.
the tagline and his picture might also indicate a patriachal ideology, because he is the only man on earth and he is represented as strong which might show him as bein a role model for young black males, which might want to follow him and become strong and this might also shows that black males have a higher/stronger position in society, not as in the past where they were represented in lower positions such as slaves and gangsters etc...
his pose as being serious and wearing casula clothes, trainers and jeans, might show him that he is on a mission and as being the alst man on earth, he needs to accomplish something and this agisn might show black males as being strong and able to do many things, and able to rule the society and they shouldn't always be represented in lower positions, this is there might indicate the adventure/ action genre, because he is trying to accomplish the mission and being strong, this again might appeal to audiences that like that type of genre,and as it is a film poster it follows the film poster type of convention, which its aim is to appeal to audiences.
the title "im a legend" is written on the bottom of the page, which is there again to create enigma for the audiences and to make them look for the title, and try to work out for themselves what might the title be from the tagline written in there, and also form the other movie that will smith has already starred on, to guess what might the name be.







Monday, 7 January 2008

practice essay for med 1:

The text is a film poster for the new british movie "St Trinians's" December 2007, this poster is aiming to promote the movie, for the audiences to go and see the movie.
On the center of the page there is a picture of the main actresses, there are seven girls standing in a row and wearing black and white school uniform, they look older with the amount of make-up they are wearing and also some are wearing high heels, but on each sides of the other other girls there are two younger girls standing there wearing a proper uniform and not wearing any make-up and they are looking straight on to the camera in a scary way and they are not smiling.
the picture of the girls is shot form a low angle shot and their grey shadow is shown in order to emaphasize the horrorness and make them looks supperion and in orer to make the audience which are mainly teenage girls look up to them.
the low angle shot is maning them look superior and higher than the other people, mainly by the makeup they are wearing and the looks they are giving to the camera, which are scary looks, and there is a another girl posing to the camera and dressed as punk in school.
the tagline at the bottom of the page which says school can be a riot is again empahsized by the picture and how those teenage girls are shown as superior and able to control everything, this therefore is showig us a patrichy ideology that now a days, not only males can rule the society but also female, even if they are only school teenage girls.
the title of the movie is written in a pink serif font, in order to show that this movie is mainly about girls and also again to emphsize the girl power and the female controlling the society, and also to show that this movie is aimed at females again.
on the corner of the right handside of the page there is a bubble which has white writting on a black background, and there is showing the list of tracks includeed in the movie, which are mainly female groups such as girls aloud, sugababes, and recording from the cast which is there in order to appeal to audiences and which will make them have a good view of the movie because it includes those tracks.
at the bottom of the page there is the credits which include the names of actors, directors, photographers adn insititutions, this will appeal to audiences whne they see the name of the actor or the director and have liked the movie before they might go on and see the movie.
the insistitution used in the movie are british institutions such as Ealing stdions, UK Film Council, lottery funded and fragile films, in the credits it is written that this is a fragile film that might be because it's a different film and those girls are not really fragile but themselves they are trying to make everything fragile.

Sunday, 6 January 2008

practice essay for med 1:

the text is a front cover of the mizz magazine of december 13th-26th 2007, which is showing the content of the magazine and the news stories that will appeal to the audience and makes them purchase the magazine.
The mizz typography is written in a sans serif bold font and in pink which already shows that the type of audeince for this magazine is girls and mainly teenage girls as it includes mainly teenage stories and celebrity gossip, and most teenage girls are interested in those issues.
the masthead is written in white on a pink background to make it standsout and says "the BIGGEST fortnightly girls mag!", this again shows clearly that this magazine is mainly aimed at girls and the emphasise on the biggest in capital letters is saying that this magazine is mostly read by the audeinces then any other magazine, and also appeal to them when they read the biggest which gives a good impression of the magazine and make the audiences buy it and read it.
going down the page there is the main picture of the hollywood star Mischa Barton, there is a medium shot of her and also showing that when she is on the main picture, there must be a story of her in the magazine and that what also might appeal to the audeince which are her fans ans want to know what is the story that the magazine is covering on her, eventhough if they are not really fans of the magazine they are attracted by her.
the picture of her shows her wearing make up and wearing a green scarf which is matching her eye shadow, and she is wearing a half-naked top, which therefor might follow the laura mulvey theory as being there to appeal to males, eventhough this magazine is aimed at teenage girls, the picture itself might appeal to males which might buy it aswell.
that picture of her like that, will also make other girls follow her nad become self-obsesed and want to become preety as her, and that is again the mulvey theory that they would want to do this to appeal to males, and being represented as a male gaze.
she is smiling on the picture which indicates that she is happy with something which is shown by the quote written under her "i'm happy with i've got", this shows that she is happey with her life or maybe something else that has happened to her and might be willing to know what is that and this therfore creates enigma.
at the top corner of the page, there is a title in capital letters FREE Gift, and win cinema tickets, again is appealing to audiences and make them buy the magazine.
Misha's pictures is surrounded by real life stories, celebrity stories, these stories are there to make the audience buy the magazine and again creating enigma because they only includes few phrases on what the story is, also giving some tips on parties etc...
the other pictures shown on the cover, are of the high musical star Troy and under the pictures there is a heading of "what is in store of 2008?", which is appealing to his fans and wanting to know what are his projects and aims for 2008.
the other star is Emma Waston where she is also might be attracting her fans and harry potter fans and the use of the pictures of both actores which they could just have used titles, but the pictures are there to appeal to audiences if they are not really bothered to read the titles.
at the end of the page there is a picture of westlife which the magazine is offering as the poster, so this is again appealing to westlife fans which are mainly teeange girls.
finally the mizz website is shown two times on the magazine, in order to get more readers to consume the website as well and as knowing that nowadays most people have a much more better use of the internet than reading the magazines.

Practice essay for med 1:

The text is an advert of the Jamie Oliver new TV programme "Jamie's Great Italian Escape", this advert is promoting the new programme in order to appeal to the audience, so they could watch the programme.
the center of the picture on the advert which is in the kitchen, there is meat hanging down and jamie oliver hanging the same way as the meat and that what really makes the picture and him stands-out,to make the whole advert based on him in order to promote his programme.
as the title mention the italian escape which might mean that jamie is in italy and might also mean that in the next programme he is going to cook some italian food.
jamie in italy and the italian might have another meaning which shows that he has a mission in italy, in order to promote the british cooking and the food and promoting the british ideology, which might be showing the social concept because nowadays britain is really concerned about the issue of food and that in most schools and places, there is a lot of use of healthy food which is vegetables, fruits rather than meat, so that what might be the enforcement of the british ideology and mainly because he is associated with healthy food, the reason that he might be inforcing the ideology is that because italy is associated a lot with the good meat, pizzas, spagheti, etc... which is less healthier food, and thbat is why that he might be hanging like that with the meat trying to escape that unhealthy type of food amnd want to enfore the heathy food into the italian system, as he is pictured as worried and upset and shocked about what he is seeing.
as this issue of healty food is a great issue in england, he is also try to appeal to the audiences by having the meat hanged down and to show them that eating unhealthy food is not good, and those pictures of the meat to try and shock them and show them waht is happening to the meat.
the enforcement of the british ideology is not only shown by him trying to promote the healty food system, but also by the style of costume that he is wearing which is the smart, casual because that how always dresses and that he is a typical british,he is promoting that smart casual clothing to the italians which are a lot asociated with the smart type of clothing.
the use of jamie oliver is also there to appeal to the audiences mainly his fans and as he is a known person over his fans and among everyone else, so eventhought his picture is upside down, he has the idea that the audience will recognise him anyway.
the picture and the whole scene is based in a kitchen which seems to be quiet dull and includes mainly brownish, yeallowish colours which makes it dull and makes the whole scene becoming dull and might indicate the horror genre.
The kitchen is very dull and has an older style, so jamie is there to promote a modern ideology by his modern type of clothing and the healthy system in order to influence the italian system and pepole and try to change something, and enforce the modern and the british ideology, but he seems to be finding some difficulties because he is hanged down, because italy is a very traditional country which is shown by the old styled kitchen and, the italian flag which is on the meat, the painting hanged on the wall whivch are also showing traditional italy as most of famous artists come from italy, the other thing which shows italy as very modern and a nationalist country is the italian football calendar on the wall, these are all stereotypyg italy and also showing that italy is very traditional and the idea that all italians are catholic.
On the corner of the page, there is the italin chef, but we can't really see him as he is not the main figure and the audience is not really conecentrating on him, he is looking up to the meat hanged up and at jamie, that is therefore related to the italian escape that he hanged up jamie and he is trying to escape, and he doesn't want to follow the british ideology but want to keep the traditional italian ideology.
The chef is holding the big knife which might indicate also the italian mafia which is also proved by the hanging of jamie, because italy is famous for its mafia.
the knife that the chef is holding might mean the phallic symbol in a way because there is no female in the poster, and that they are in need of a female, and also jamie is there to appeal to female audiences, as he already does as he is a chef.
the typography of the title "the great italian escape" is written in a sans-serif font which is aimed at a younger audience and also that it is programmed at 8.30 pm before watershed, so this also proves that it is aimed at younger audiences.
this advert comes from a billboard magazine "radio times" and the institution of the programme is channel 4, but it is shown on the end corner of the page because it is not really important and that jamie oliver's programme are shown there.