June 2012 - Section A
01 -
Evaluate how the
two trailers use the narrative technique of enigma to encourage the target
audience to watch the films. (8 marks)
Both trailers use the narrative technique of enigma (Bartes) to
encourage the target audience – 15 to 24 year olds for product one and a
similar audience for product 2 – to watch the films. One way in which the
technique of enigma is created is through the usage of sound, both diegetic and
non-diegetic. In product one there is much greater use of diegetic dialogue which
creates enigma as it opens with a questioning dialogue of “what happens next?” with
a fair amount of lighting, the audience can see action and put together the dialogue
which works towards a disequilibrium (Todorov) where no resolution is being
given, as the dialogue evokes many questions within the audience but the screen
always fades to black before the answer is revealed. Thus encouraging audiences
to watch the movie to have these enigmas answered and see what new equilibrium is
created at the end. Product two uses non-diegetic sounds much more with diegetic
sound but without much dialogue. It has very low key lighting with sudden
climaxes in the sound track over which plays gruesome sounds such as that of
the blood being sucked out. This lack of information given both through sound
and light uses enigma by creating confusion in the audience even in regards to
the narrative and they would watch the movie to understand this narrative much
more.
The mise-en-scene is also important in regards to the characters
and their roles which creates many questions in the audiences’ minds. In
product one many characters are hidden in long cloaks hiding the identity of
the characters. This creates the enigma in regards to the exact nature of the
character roles e.g. If they are the villain, donor, hero etc. (Propp Seven
spheres) thus motivating the audience to watch the movies in order to understand
the exact character roles. This is despite the fact that a clear binary opposition(Levi-Strauss)
takes place in the rest of the many characters, such as the vampires vs the
wolves, the villain coming out of the water with low-key lighting and a sinister
facial expression. In product two this binary opposition is made even less
clear as the little girl and the ‘masked’ villain (who jumps and attacks the
individual from the shadow) aren’t defiantly expressed so the audience are
unsure just who the ‘evil’ presence is in the movie and would watch in order to
find the answer to this particular question. Both products create the uncertain
enigma of just that characters (Propp) will win and create the resolution/ new equilibrium
(Todorov) expected at the end of the movie. This therefore uses the audience
pleasure of those who understand how these genres of movies end but aren’t
provided with the exact details of this ending.
The characters are also very important in heightening
the enigma being created in the two trailers. Both movies use characters that
are within the character’s age range. This would mean the 19-24 year old cast
within product one and 13-24 cast in product two would appeal to its audience
as the audience are able to identify with these characters (Blumer and Katz
uses and gratifications theory) and create a personal relationship with them
which is further supported by the various close ups revealing facial
expressions, tracking shots following these characters etc. enhancing this
personal relationship the audience feels with the actors. This would thus cause
a greater emotional investment in the movie heightening the tension and suspense
creating enigma even more effectively as the audience wants to ensure their safety
amongst the chaos revealed by products ones long shot of the war between the
two ‘races’ and the close up shot of the two kids in product two potentially
falling in love with a vampire.
Overall, I believe that product two is
much better at creating enigma as it lacks dialogue revealing the storyline
completely and effectively creates heightened suspense and tension within the
audience through the eerie sound track, low-key lighting not revealing much and
a deep questioning of the motives of the characters. It feels that product one
reveals too much about the narrative and release much more on action codes(Bartes)
through the various fight sequences e.g. Flipping over the car, creating a
typical action and fantasy genre that audiences can actively predict the
outcome just not the process it would take.
02-
Why are media
products that represent outsiders, such as vampire films, so popular? You may
also refer to other media products to support your answer. (12 marks)
Media products such as those about ‘outsiders’ in the sense of
unknown fantasy creatures like vampires seem to very popular, especially amongst
youth. This is most likely as the representation of such characters is very unrealistic
and, according to Gillian Dyer’s theory of the lines of appeal, would appeal to
audiences due to its ‘fantasy’ aspect. For example, in Young Dracula (Tv series
CBBC) live in a castle, live of blood and is a remake of the original story of
Dracula, putting audiences in an unknown setting with new creatures that appeal
to their fantasy craving. This would also be evident in other fantasy movies
such as Narnia, a talking lion, Wizards of Oz and even Harry Potter about
wizards and supernatural creatures. This aspect of supernatural creates has
appealed to this creative aspect of human imagination for years. This is potentially
due to the audience pleasure this creates of escapism (uses and gratifications
theory by Blumer and Katz) as it isn’t much like real life and provides
audiences with an ‘escape’ from everyday routine. This escapism is made
realistic and more enjoyable through the types of roles these typical movies
have created a sense of identification as they look human enough, usually go
school like in Young Dracula, Teen Wolf etc. appealing to a young audience, and
a sense of personal relationship as these ‘outsiders’ are usually represented as
having troubled pasts, and dangerous presences eg. Twillights constant threat
on the characters. This therefore heightens audiences pleasures are used
effectively to make (supernatural) outsiders such as vampires, werewolves,
wizards, through the genre of fantasy and representing them as an equal balance
of human and ‘other.’
These ‘outsiders’ are also usually represented as attractive and
good looking e.g. Daniel Radcliff in Harry Potter as a wizard, Kristen Stewart
in Twilight or Shailene Woodley as a Divergent. This ‘attractive’ nature of
these actors playing ‘outsiders’ therefore becomes a stereotype for these kinds
of characters causing many future directors to cast similar looking characters
thus becoming an almost shorthand (Medhurst) for these outsider characters. This
makes them extremely popular as they would appeal to the male gaze (Mulvey) and
also the female gaze (Rosalind gill) causing audience to admire each of the
sexes in an almost objective manner which is often emphasised through tight
clothing, shirtless scenes, sexual dialogue etc.
It can also be argued that movies of ‘outsiders’ may be the social
‘outsiders’ to society. This could be the working class e.g. in Ill manors, the
black community like in Gone too Far, women in movies like the suffragettes or Asians
in movies like Bend it like Beckham. These have many appeals and they could be
argued to be successful due to the surveillance (Blumer and Katz) appeal they
have giving other audiences such as upper class white males, an insight into
the potential cultures these ‘minority’/less powerful groups have. This would
be especially appealing to particular psychographic groups (Young and Rubican)
such as the explorers who would like to indulge in these new and ‘other’ groups
and learn about their cultures.
In terms of the ‘outsiders’ being more so particular communities
such as the black community they have various other appeals that make them popular.
For example, many movies about black youth eg. Around the block, tend to have
black characters that are represented as being rather humerous which Alvarado
would argue is a rather stereotypical representation of black people. This therefore
appeals to many audience as the have a humorous aspect, the appeal may also be
in other movies such as 12 years of slave that may cause the audience to feel
pity towards the represented black character’s stuggle in slavery, or presents
them as dangerous as in many youth movies eg. Kidulhood.
03-
Do you think that
official and unofficial websites contribute to a film's box office success? You
should refer to other media products to support your answer. (12 marks)
It would definitely seem that some movies seem to thrive of the various websites promoting the movie and its material. Harry Potter’s official website could arguably be a large promoter of the film and be a reason for its box office success as the website allows for audience interaction actively sorting them into houses for themselves so they can almost feel ‘part off’ the movie. This therefore creates a personal relationship and identification (uses and gratifications theory) with the characters of the movie prompting them to go see the movie to almost meet fellow members. It would also give them the feeling of being of a much larger ‘fandom’ as many can actively discuss their results and share them on various other social medias like Twitter, causing a ‘word of mouth’ phemomina promoting the movie further. However, the full success of the massive movie franchises such as Harry Potter would mean that this website only contributes a small amount in contrast to the Billions invested into the movie, its global marketing ranging from print posters to broadcasted trailers across the world. There was also a pre-existing fanbase present of JK ROWLINGS books that would have gone to see the movie even if none of that marketing would have taken place.
Similarly, another less blockbuster example would be the website used for Ill Mannor by Plan B. The website allowed for complete interaction and raised awareness of the various other NDM campaigns ben drew was running such as the tag London campaign on twitter as well as expressing plan b’s political intent and message. This could therefore be argued to attract many individuals to the movie and be the reason for its success. However, again it can be argued that the advanced sense of NDM means that there are many other factors that contribute to the success e.g. The singers pre-existing following on twitter, the tag London campaigns viral nature, the audience interaction, the sharing of the political message, music video etc. Therefore, suggesting that there are, in todays day and age, many more important and effective methods to contribute to a box office success rather than just a website.
It can be argued that social media is much more important when it comes to contributing to the success of a movie. The word of mouth of a movie, eg. For 50 shades of grey as it seeps into mainstream culture, or the hashtag trends that go around for movies eg. Never say Never, or the interactive nature of movies eg. Jk rowling and fantastic beasts question and answer sessions. There are many methods to promote media products, there can also be snap chat filters eg. Batman vs superman (which is recently becoming a trend on its own) therefore it may be argued that social media is instead much more important in indicating the success for a movie. However, this is also very dependent on the target audience of movies, movies aimed at a young audience seem to have much more of a social media presence e.g. Maze runner rather than movies aimed at older audidneces eg. Kings speech which made millions but only had a website and Facebook page and instead used the more ‘traditional’ promotional methods such as a trailer and billboard, most likely due to the absence of a mature audience on social media and online and lack of film appeal to the youth so would be more profitable to aim at the target audience they know they could convince.
Therefore, I believe that websites only contribute a small amount to a films box office success as there are much more effective methods depending on the audience e.g social media for youth and traditional marketing for an older audience.
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