LO4 - Task 5: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues

LO4 Task 5 - Ethical, legal and regulatory issues:

A) Impact and effect on the audience

There are two types of audience that will watch a film like The Day After Tomorrow; they are the active and passive audiences. Active audiences take scenes from a film as fictional so for example in a scene with an innuendo, this audience would take it more seriously and dismay it or raise questions but the passive audience would accept it and not raise any questions. As my film is produced for a mass-audience, both of these kinds of audiences would be viewing. I can relate this to Theodore Adorno’s 1930 theory of ‘the hypodermic syringe’. In his theory, Adorno states that mass audiences believe everything they hear and that media has a negative impact on society. This could be due to the issues in films like The Day After Tomorrow of violence, sexual content or representations.

There are examples of where The Day After Tomorrow can have a negative impact on the audience. One example is when all the people of Los Angeles are scrambling to get into the public library; here people are selfishly scrambling over each other, pushing and shoving through the water to reach the land. The audience would feel uncomfortable as it is a position that they would not like to find themselves in. This would also be a negative impact on a passive audience to copy. A second example is when the wolf is shut out of the building so that the characters are safe and aren’t harmed; the audience would feel sorry for the wolf as it whimpers from the outside and inevitably freezes to death. 

However there are also examples of where The Day After Tomorrow can have a positive impact on the audience. One of the main characters, Sam played by Jake Gyllenhaal, could be seen as a role model for the younger audience as he is someone who they could aspire to be like. Sam is portrayed as a kind, heroic young adult who would do anything to help out others. The younger members of the audience can be related to Carl Roger’s 1980 theory of Ideal Self. The younger boys could either start speaking or acting like Sam and incorporate this into their daily lives. Another positive impact that the film could have on the audience is the wrapping up of the story at the end of the film where we learn that Sam, Laura and their friends survive the ordeal and are rescued.

B) Representation

In Stuart Hall’s 1980 theory of mediation, he talks about how all representations are ‘mediated’. He identified three positions from which we can respond to a media text; preferred meaning, the meaning that the maker intended the text to have and is the ‘preferred’ meaning for the audience to take. Oppositional meaning, the viewer disagrees and takes an oppositional stance to the preferred meaning of the text. Negotiated, the meaning where the viewer doesn’t accept the preferred reading but doesn’t fully oppose it either. This last meaning is otherwise known as ‘sitting on the fence’. The preferred reading is the battle of survival which has been exaggerated through the use of special effects and green screens to create a spectacle for the audience.

Stereotypes are also used in films like The Day After Tomorrow. In Tessa Perkins 1979 theory of stereotypes, she states that ‘not all stereotypes are false’. One prominent example that she highlights is that of the ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype. One positive stereotype in my film is that the male is the hero in the film; Sam saves Laura from the oncoming rush of waves that would’ve most certainly killed her. If Sam hadn’t been the hero then he and the audience would’ve lost a well-liked and loved character and person. However, the effect this could have on the female audience in particular is that they could feel less powerful than the males in the room. There are little to no negative stereotypes in The Day After Tomorrow but an instance where there is one is when the males are dominant over the females in the conversation in the weather monitoring building. The male interrupts the female during the talk and consequently attempts to take charge.

There is a countertype in my film, this is that an actor from an ethnic background is playing one of the lead roles; Arjay Smith plays Brian, one of Sam’s friends. He is a positive role model in the film as he looks out for the safety of others. An example of this is when Sam went back to help Laura get into the safety of the public library, Brain was shouting at Sam to stay for his own safety. This challenges of the stereotype of non-white people being dangerous. Normally in Hollywood Blockbusters the screens are dominated with mainly white actors and actresses so the fact that there is an actor like Arjay in one of the main parts in the film shows that films don’t have to be made up of predominantly white people.

C) Legal and ethical issues

Copyright infringement is where a piece of media or content is used in a project without permission from the owners. An example of what could be used in this situation is a piece of music in a scene. In The Day After Tomorrow, they would need to get permission for songs to be used in the film. An example of this is a song called ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me‘, written by Boy George and performed by the band Culture Club. The song itself is owned by Virgin Records but was licensed to be used in The Day After Tomorrow by EMI Film & Television Music. This would have been very expensive as to license a professional song requires a lot of investment and money. Throughout the film there are frequent shots of news broadcasts from FOX 5 TV, the producers would’ve had to ask for permission to use the station but as the producers, 20^th Century Fox and FOX are both owned by the same company, it is easy to share the rights and requires less expenditure.

In my film there are a few scenes with intimate sexual content, mild bad language and violence which earns the film an overall BBFC rating of a 12A. According to the BBFC, The Day After Tomorrow contains extended scenes of threat, images of blood, injury and dead bodies, mild sex references and mild language.  The film has not been censored in any way as it is not too extreme and has been approved for ‘appropriate audiences’ instead with the age rating it has been given.

There are examples of sensationalism in The Day After Tomorrow. The most notable examples are the CGI and Special FX that are over-exaggerated to give the audience the “sensation” of how climate change could impact the earth in the future, which could ethically change the audience.

D) Regulatory Bodies

There is one main body that classify films; they are the BBFC. The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), are an independent company that rate films for cinema and DVD release; they give ratings ranging from U – R18. The age rating of my film is a 12A and this is the same in the UK as the US. The age rating has always been a 12A for the cinema and a 12 for DVD’s and this hasn’t been changed at any time. The Day After Tomorrow keeps to the BBFC’s regulations for a 12/12A by using the bad language only infrequently, keeping the sexual content to a minimum and only using enough gore and violence to maintain the 12/12A rating. This film could be inappropriate for younger audiences as there are situations of extreme danger and in some cases death, which could scare and potentially have a negative impact on this audience.

The second of these regulatory bodies is the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency), they are a company that “write and maintain the UK advertising codes”. There are 22 CAP Codes that regulate print material as listed on the ASA website. Before The Day After Tomorrow was released, there was a Billboard that promoted the film that changed the weather to produce rain or snow. On this board was fake snow, a 3D picture of the statue of liberty, the film title, a slogan, the directors other credits and the date that the film will be released. Some of the ways that the billboard sticks to the regulations of the ASA are that there are no children featured on the board (Number 5), there is no content that could harm or offend any viewers (Number 4) and there is no political advertising on any part of the board (Number 7).

Thanks for watching this video, I hope you enjoyed it and I shall see you next time for another one.

LO3 - Task 4: Distribution and advertising

LO3 Task 4:

Distribution:

Hello and welcome to another video. Today I will be discussing the advertising, distribution and promotion of the film that I am analysing, The Day After Tomorrow. I will also be talking about the technological convergence of the Internet and the films that we watch today.

Distribution is getting a product to an audience, in the case of The Day After Tomorrow this could be its DVD version. The aim of the distribution is to advertise and promote the main product; this could be in the form of an advert on a billboard, the trailer on TV or even one of the actors or actresses doing a TV or radio interview.

Technological convergence is where technologies come together and this provides new services for the audience, for example smartphones have ‘converged’ to have a phone, camera and the web all on one device. In terms of The Day After Tomorrow, its intended audience is mass-mainstream; this is an audience that can be found across the globe in international locations. The audience will be able to watch the films on various devices and services and thanks to our ever advancing technology, we can now use very few devices to access such a wide range of features. However, it hasn’t always been this easy; up until 2000 film reels had to be used in cinemas to display films but nowadays digital projectors are widely used in most cinemas across the world. The Day After Tomorrow was also sold on VHS back in 2004 when it was first released. Technology has converged to meet our growing needs for the latest form of entertainment.  

Online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have revolutionised the way in which we can watch our favourite films and TV shows, including The Day After Tomorrow, either at home or on the go. Cinemas still allow us to view the most current and up to date blockbusters hitting the screens, the experience still draws in many film goers on a daily basis. If a viewer wasn’t able to watch my film at the cinema then there is always the option of buying the DVD from the shops to watch whenever they like. If the film is shown on TV then people can either watch it there and then or it will be available on catch up services such as ’5 on demand’ but this will only be available for a certain amount of time, usually thirty days. Nowadays there are even online stores such as iTunes and Google Play that will allow you to download an electronic copy of the film for your device. In conclusion, this gives the audience more access to a wider range of options which means there will be more profit for the film production company.

The film would have been premiered in a location such as London and even perhaps at a film festival like London’s. This is because at premieres such as London’s, it’s where all the ‘blockbuster’ films; the ones with big budgets and effects are shown.

Technological convergence has had its benefits on society, for example having all these separate pieces of technology on one device makes it a lot easier to socialise and interact with family and friends, it’s cheaper overall as to own all of these separate pieces of technology would cost a lot more than the average smartphone and there is less need for multiple devices.

When The Day After Tomorrow was first released in cinemas in the US on 28^th May 2004, in its first month of sales it made just over $170,000,000, however four months after this, less than $10,000,000 was brought in.  This shows the decline for the urge to see the film at the cinemas after it was originally released.  

Overall I would say that technology in terms of The Day After Tomorrow has advanced. The film can now be accessed on a wider range of platforms and the fact that you can watch a film without a need for a DVD player anymore shows how far it’s come in such a short space of time.

Advertising:

The Day After Tomorrow was promoted across many different platforms. The ways in which the film was advertised was very creative and innovating. An example of this is the billboard that was put in the sea in India to highlight the dangers of climate change shown in the film to the audience there. On the billboard was a picture of New York, the name of the film and the release date. The skyscrapers of New York were obviously overwhelmed with the water from the sea which makes the advert hard to miss and eye-catching.

The trailer for the film also gives a dramatic insight into what the film would be like to watch, using actual clips from scenes in the film to give a brief synopsis on the film itself. Even though the trailer was made in 2004, it looks as good as the ones that are made for films of the present day.

The way in which these bits of media are produced are old media but are produced in the style of new media. Billboards are a classic way of advertising but The Day After Tomorrow added a realistic twist by submerging the board in the element that wipes out a lot of the people in the film. Again even though the trailer was made using old CGI effects it still looks realistic to the features used in 2015 trailers.

In terms of the marketing having an impact on the revenue of the film, if the adverts were put in the correct places for a mass audience to view like on a busy highway road, then more people of a variety of ages and audiences would be likely to visualise and perhaps go and watch the film.

20^th Century Fox could have used cross promotion/synergy to help promote their film, The Day After Tomorrow. An example of this could be Sky showing a trailer of the film during an advert break or as an ‘exclusive’. As Sky and 20^th Century Fox are both owned by the same company, this would be an easy, affordable way to promote the film.

The ways in which the audience members could contribute to the promotion of the film are on review sites such as Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB. They could also write these reviews in terms of social media. Fans could tweet their friends on Twitter for example telling them how good the film is. The final example is writing a wiki page. Fans can help other fans by providing more information about the film on websites such as Wikipedia. 

LO2 - Task 3: Audience

Introduction:

Hi, I’ve been asked to talk to you about the demographics of gender, age, lifestyle and spending power for the film The Day After Tomorrow. Producing the film for the correct audience is an important factor as producing a film for a specific audience may not bring in enough revenue but producing one for all audiences may let some part those people down. John Hartley (1987) and Ien Ang (1991) suggested that producers create invisible fiction or imaginary entities before creating a media product. This audience profile that I created shows the type of ‘ideal audience’ that the producers were aiming the film at. This imaginary entity also describes how an ideal viewer of The Day After Tomorrow might live. (Put in entry here).

Gender:

In the first section I’ll be talking about the gender representations in my chosen film, The Day After Tomorrow. There are many examples in the film but I have selected two that I will be talking about in particular. The first example I’ll be discussing is the scene where Sam, (played by Jake Gyllenhall), rescues Laura, (played by Emily Rossum) in the streets of Los Angeles when she goes to retrieve a handbag from a taxi just as the tsunami approaches. This is a typical representation as the male is rushing to save the female and is portrayed as the hero. This is influential for the audience as the male is an ‘ideal self’ for the male viewers in the audience.

The second example of gender representations is when at the after party of the competition; the well-built, good looking man flirts with and intimidates Laura (the main female character). This is a standard representation in films as the women in blockbuster films normally get together with big, “hunky” men; this stereotype has become widely used in other Hollywood franchises such as James Bond. This example could have a negative impact on the female audience, making them feel that they, their friends or their boyfriends are less worthy than the characters in these films like The Day After Tomorrow.

The third example that I will be talking about is at around forty two minutes into the film, where the males are leading the conversation over the computers. The lone female in the scene mainly just listens in and doesn’t get involved too deeply in the talk. It is stereotyped that males are the leaders and this scene supports this. However, I think there are more scenes in The Day After Tomorrow in which the males are dominant. For example when Sam is talking to his Dad over the phone in the library, he is constantly ignoring the claims of Laura to hang up and get to safety. This influences the audience by making them feel slightly uncomfortable while watching this certain scene as it is something they wouldn’t like to see or do personally.

Age:

Here I will be discussing why and how The Day After Tomorrow appeals to its ideal audience. I have found out that the median age for viewers watching this film is around 15 years old. One example of how it appeals is how the audience would like to be the like characters in the film. The actors and actresses could be seen as role models to the targeted younger audience. Jake Gyllenhall, who plays Sam, is an aspirational role model for teens whether it be males or females! An example of where this can be seen is in the scene where Sam makes a final phone call to his parents before the water cuts him off; this shows that he is dedicated to letting them know he is doing and signifies the close relationship that he has with them. This also indicates their busy city lifestyle and how much they rely on this kind of technology.

Another example of how the film appeals to the audience is its genre. Teenagers love lots of action and adventure and The Day After Tomorrow certainly doesn’t disappoint. Scenes of explosions, high risk decisions and 60 foot tsunamis are guaranteed to fulfil a teenager’s wish in this film.

The iconic cities in where the scenes are set would also appeal to teens as it’s where they would like to go when they’re older perhaps. Places like Los Angeles hold incredible feats of architecture like the Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty. These monuments give inspiration to the younger audience and leave them in a hurry to visit them when they’re older.

Lifestyle:

The NRS stands for the National Readership Survey Ltd. They are a separate organisation that specialise in giving demographic information. They use different summary headings to describe the lifestyle types in the UK. In terms of my film, The Day After Tomorrow, I would place this audience under headings C – Settled Suburban’s (families with a semi-detached house perhaps, a nice lifestyle and are happy and comfortable with their lives), D – Nest Builders (families that are working towards he settled suburban’s stage) and E – Urban Ventures (outgoing teenagers living in big cities).

I can infer this for the Settled Suburban’s by using the example of when Sam, Laura and Brian take part in the school competition. I can imagine the settled suburban’s children going to school, having good knowledge and perhaps could even be taking part in similar competitions.

In terms of the Nest Builders, I believe that the group around the computers at around 28 minutes into the film represents the kind of people that could come under this heading. The nest builder audience members could relate to the characters and their jobs.

For the Urban Ventures heading I believe that the teenagers watching The Day After Tomorrow can take inspiration from the main characters Sam and Laura. Sam is an ideal older boy for the urban adventurers as they can relate to him as someone that they could imagine hanging out with, playing baseball down at the park or even going to the cinema. Laura is a role model for the urban adventure girls as she is a strong, gentle yet emotional character and it seems like she could get on with anybody.

I can relate all of this to McQuail’s 1972 theory of uses and gratifications. Dennis McQuail listed four reasons why people consume media products and the pleasures that they gain from them. These are ‘surveillance’, ‘escapism’, ‘building personal identity’ and ‘building personal relationships’.  I will now talk about these in terms of The Day After Tomorrow.

For surveillance, some audience members could gather news and information relating to climate change before they watch the film, so they are prepared with knowledge on why the tsunami is happening for example.

For escapism, it gives the audience the chance to forget about what they have been doing and relax after either a hard day’s work at school or at work. Watching films like The Day After Tomorrow allow them to be transported into completely different surroundings and unknown territory. This is good as it gives them the experience of leaving their lives and changing into the life of the characters from the film.

For building personal identity, it allows the audience to be taken to completely different locations and into the lives of completely different people. As some of the actors and actresses are also well-known, this gives the opportunity of looking into the life of a famous Hollywood ‘movie star’. I can relate this to Carl Roger’s theory of ideal self as the audience members would feel different after washing the film and could be inspired perhaps to either watch a film related to the one they’ve just watched or researching some of the actors or actresses in the film itself.

For building personal relationships, The Day After Tomorrow would allow the audience members to have something to talk about when they next either saw their families or friends. They could even recommend the film to others and encourage them to watch it too.

Spending Power:

The NRS also have a system for demographic profiling; this is often called social grade definitions. This system is well-established and widely used throughout the industry. For my film The Day After Tomorrow, I would grade the audience as B (middle class) and C1 (lower middle class). This is because the film is quite intellectual and requires understanding of current events to grasp the storyline. People described as in other classes like C2 (skilled working class) and D (working class) may not enjoy the film as it is very factual and complicated in places.

Some examples that I can back this up with to do with my film is that the middle and lower middle class would be able to buy the DVD of the film if they would like to watch it again in a family environment at home. The working class people may either download it online or watch on a streaming service like Netflix as it would be cheaper overall.

The middle class families could afford to buy and merchandise that would come onto the market following the film’s release. Toys like figures of the characters or posters that have been made available in the shops. These kind of families could also be moved deeply by the film so could donate some money to aid the research into climate change or help by adopting a polar bear.

I hope you enjoyed this video and I hope you learnt something that will be useful to you. See you next time for another video very soon!

LO1 - Task 2: Textual analysis of The Day After Tomorrow

LO1, Task 2

Hi, today I will be analysis a film by 20^th Century Fox, The Day After Tomorrow. I will also be explaining in depth about the features of the film that you probably won’t have seen when watching to start with.

Purpose:

The purpose of the film that I have chosen, The Day After Tomorrow is to entertain the audience that is watching, however there is an element of educating as the film is about climate change and how it can affect the earth if nothing is done to relieve it. The main reason why the film has been made is to make money. The film company, 20th Century Fox, has to make large revenue otherwise the production process won't have been worth the while. The target audience would be young adults as it provides a gripping story with edge of the seat action, this is designed for this audience but older adults could be interested also. The film would be released on an international scale to a mass audience as 20th Century Fox are a business and want to sell their products to as many people as possible. The overall gross of the film was $528 Million world-wide on an estimated budget of $125 Million.

Genre:

As described by David Chandler in 2001, a genre is a type or category. In the case of The Day After Tomorrow, it is Adventure/Action. It does have a subgenre however, Climate Fiction-Disaster. This genre sums up the film as thrilling and exciting, with extra intensity thrown in to make you more nervous of those non-existent sea waves.

Form:

The Day After Tomorrow is a full-length feature film and runs for two hours and four minutes. It will have been distributed to cinemas worldwide as the target audience is a younger audience. Younger adults go to the cinema now so this was an ideal place to release the film. The film can also be bought on DVD in shops, streamed online on sites like Netflix and downloaded on services like iTunes. Releasing the film a variety of platforms broadens the market that the film is appealing to, therefore gaining more viewers and money.

Style:

The film uses lots of Special FX, in particular CGI and Chroma Key (Green/Blue Screen). These aesthetics give the film a realistic, modern look. Having these realistic features creates verisimilitude. Verisimilitude means 'the appearance of being true or real'. The film gives a surreal reality of what could happen if we do not act on climate change soon. 

Content and Meaning:

The narrative of the film that I have chosen to talk about is set out in different ways. The main point of the narrative of The Day After Tomorrow is that it tells a story. Throughout the film from the beginning, the middle and to the end, the story is told on a level that the audience understands. It isn’t too confusing and you can keep track very easily if you’re watching at all times.

However, the story does put you on edge every now and again, as there are scenes of disequilibrium where the main characters get caught up in the storm and only just make it into the safety of the library in time before the tsunami tears through the streets. This tension signifies drama as the audience wouldn’t expect this to happen considering the film is only just getting to the middle of the narrative. This is relatable to Todorov’s narrative structure theory as this scene can be related to his five stages of narratives; the equilibrium was indeed “disrupted” when Laura went back into the torrent of water to retrieve the woman’s handbag, Sam “recognises” that there has been a disruption so goes to warn and save her, Sam “attempts” to repair the disruption by running back with Laura to the library and the equilibrium is “reinstated” when they both make it back into the safe environment of the library. 

In terms of the narrative theory of Kate Domaille in 2001, which is where any story can fit into one of eight narrative types, The Day After Tomorrow I’d say would fit into the ‘Candide’ (the indomitable hero) type as the main male character, Sam, is always there to save Laura and he survives the cold and natural disasters that are thrown his way in the film.

Sound:

Next I'm going to be talking about the types of sound that could be found in a film like The Day After Tomorrow. A diegetic sound is one that is natural to the story world, so noises that only the characters and audience can hear. Some examples in this clip of the film could be the noise of the tornado, the sound of the rain splattering against the ground, the noise of the engines roaring to get away from this disaster and the horns of the cars when they're all trying to get away at once. Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that only the audience can hear, like a voice over by a character that isn't in the story. A few examples of non-diegetic sound in The Day After Tomorrow are the dramatic music playing over the top of the clip, the dialogue of the news report (that is where the TV isn't shown), and the phone beeping over the top of the speech of the characters.

Now, I'm going to be talking about the denotation and a connotation in the film, a denotation is the precise description; a connotation is a description that has wide range, positive or negative associations. For example (show clips of sound analysis), the tornados denote that there is a serious problem globally with climate change. Which in this film, isn't exactly that hard to see. The news report denotes that the tornado is heading for the Hollywood sign and the reaction of the public denotes that there is serious panic in everyone's mind. Some examples of connotations are as follows, the connotation of the storm in the film is danger, fear is connoted by the reaction of the members of the public when the tornado approaches and the earthquake reader connote disaster. The incidental music played in the background is a genre of dramatic music. It's played at a fast pace to create suspense within the viewer and lure them into feeling worried for the characters. This kind of music also creates disequilibrium in the film as you start to believe that the characters won't make it out of this situation alive. In terms of dialogue in this clip, the main male character is more dominant over the main female character. I can infer this from the way in which he shouts at her to get back into the safe surroundings of the library. It follows the traditional story of a man saving a woman, and them getting together to "share" their experience. The mode of address that's being conveyed in this scene is teacher to pupil as the conversation is very formal; the main male character is screaming at the main female character, warning her of the tsunami that is heading straight for them down the street.

Mise-en-scene:

The next area of the film I'm going to be talking about is the mise en scene. Mise en scene is derived from the French language and is literally translated as 'everything within the frame'.

The location of The Day After Tomorrow fits in with the plot of the film as a disaster film normally threatens a large, well-known area. Los Angeles fits all the criteria for this and provides the perfect architecture and scenery for this film. In this second clip, the location connotes a bustling atmosphere of ordinary working men and women. I can back this up with the fact that there are only ordinary human beings characters being played in this scene. The location expresses verisimilitude as the buildings and scenery looks extremely realistic in this clip. An example of this would be the skyscrapers as the CGI editors have gone into very deep detail of things like bricks, windows and the ripples on the waves hitting the buildings.

The costumes of the characters are very ordinary and plain as the events for the characters are unplanned. In the clip, they are living their daily lives, and then all of a sudden a tsunami rocks up in the centre of Los Angeles! The clothes the actors and actresses are wearing reflect who they are as characters, not their moods. The audience can then relate to the characters as they both would normally fit in day to day life and signifies togetherness. This gives the audience the effect of being with the characters in the story.

A few props were used in this clip too. A prop is something that is handheld; it's also short for property. Some examples of props that were used are the handheld radio that the bus driver was using while trying to listen to the news of the storm and the handbag that Laura (the main female character in the film) tries to retrieve for the woman.

The 'icon' in this scene is the rain. This is because it is a dominant feature in the film as a whole and represents why the characters are in danger. An icon is something that creates stereotypical representations that becomes well-known and recognised. This links to the disequilibrium and is better known as iconography'.

As this scene is set outside mainly, the film uses CGI to create scenery and backgrounds for the 'disaster' scene, the producers and director can use electrical lights in the green screen studios to create brighter scenes or add in virtual lighting in the post production process. The dim lighting used in the outside scenes connotes suspense and danger, as the storm is bringing darkness upon Los Angeles. This dim lighting can also be phrased as 'Low Key lighting', this is lighting that reinforces disequilibrium. Dark colours are used to generate a gloomy atmosphere for the characters and the audience. The clouds and the thunder and lightning emphasise the scene.   

Finally I'll be talking about gestures, Sam, (the main male character), acts as the hero by running to save Laura who is unaware of the torrent of water heading directly for them. They then both run straight for the Public Library and only just get inside before the water bursts through the windows that would've certainly killed Laura if Sam hadn't acted. This representation in the diegesis is what would normally be expected to happen in a blockbuster film as this is the general stereotype that circulates society today. This also backs up John Berger’s theory of “men act, women appear” (1972).  

Camerawork:

There are a variety of camera techniques used by the directors and producers of The Day After Tomorrow in such short spaces of time. In the Climate Change discussion scene for example, (around 5 minutes into the film), the techniques that is used is a panning establishing shot. This gives the effect that the audience is there in the room, walking around the hall like one of the representatives. The fact that you can see all of the surroundings in the clip gives an understanding of what it would be like to be in there.

Another camera technique that is used towards the beginning of the film is a close up. Around nine and a half minutes in, a man is struck by falling ice in Tokyo while he is trying to find shelter from the atrocious weather. He is on the phone at the time to someone, presumably his wife or girlfriend, at the time he is killed, the camera then zooms into the phone which is still in the dead man’s hand. This would make the audience tense as they would not be expecting a death like this so early on in the film. This scene also relates to the genre as there is a lot of action in this particular part of the film.

At nearly thirteen and a half minutes in, a shallow depth of field is used by the camera crew make the background characters on the aeroplane out of focus and focus only on the main character, Sam. This denotes the importance of Sam and his role in the film. However, gender representations are not challenged in this scene as in the background, out of focus, are two other male characters, not female characters.

The high angle shot at around twenty one and a half minutes in signifies that the people on the lower floors working on the computers and listening to the instructions are less powerful than the people above them giving the instructions. This high angle connotes superiority for the bosses and weakness for the workers. 

The low angle shot at the beginning of the narrative where the workers are digging into the ice shows the job that they are carrying out in better detail, rather than just a regular panning shot. This low angle shot denotes the exasperation that the worker is going through as he looks very weary of the work he is carrying out. This gives the audience the idea that the workers are working tirelessly and that they are carrying out their jobs in a focused manner.

Editing:

The first editing technique used in The Day After Tomorrow that I’m going to be talking about is cross cutting. Cross cutting is the cutting of scenes to show different perspectives of the film to the audience. One notable example in my film is at nearly twenty two minutes in; the Hollywood sign is destroyed by a tornado. The film is edited to show the audience the perspective of the news reporters in the helicopter and the people watching the news when it cuts to a TV with the news report on. This is very clever imagery as it gives the viewer’s more than one visual idea of what it would be like to be caught up in this kind of situation.

The second editing technique that I am going to be talking about is eye line matching. This type of technique shows the audience what a character is looking at. At nearly twenty five minutes in, you can clearly see the main characters in the background staring intently at the news on the TV at the bottom of the picture in a room after the party of the competition. This gives the audience a full on view of what is happening in this short scene.

The final editing technique that I’ll be talking about is the insert shot. An insert shot is a type of close up shot that’s designed to draw the audience’s attention to something that was only part of the previous shot. In The Day After Tomorrow at around thirty three and a half minutes in, the climate analysts are frantically worrying about the storm that has already struck, in this scene they are looking at a screen with information about the intensity of the storm. To start with you can see the screen as the operator approaches it to have a look, then it cuts straight to the screen with the diagrams of the storm.

Production Process:

To start with, the film crew would have to go through the post-production process. In this process; the script for the film would be written, all equipment required would be hired and organised and the locations where real filming and not CGI or green screens are required, locations would have to be booked like the Los Angeles Public Library.

In the production stage of filming, all of the scenes must be filmed so they can be edited in post-production, any audio must be recorded so it can be synced to the footage to provide excellent quality sound, any make-up or prosthetics must be applied to the actors/actresses and all the costumes must be gathered for all of the different characters for all of the different scenes in the film.

The post-production stage is the stage which finishes off the film. All the hard work of filming the scenes, achieving the correct angles and tracking the characters is over. Now it’s down to the editors and producers to finalise the film and get it ready for release. Some things that the editors will have to add includes a chroma key background for the green or blue screens, any audio to be synced up to the footage, CGI for the waves in the Los Angeles scenes for example and any transitions to smoothly change from one scene to another.

I hope you enjoyed my talk today on the analysis of The Day After Tomorrow and I hope to see you next time for another video very soon.  

LO1 - Task 1: Ownership of 20th Century Fox

Introduction

Intro: (SAM) (Music starts playing) Hi, my name’s Sam; and no you haven’t just clicked onto one of those over-dramatised news reports with their over the top graphics and presenters that have no idea what on Earth the technology does, that’s right I’m going to be talking to you plain and simply about the corporation 20^th Century Fox and its owner, Mr Rupert Murdoch.

Ownership

(SAM) First I’m going to be talking to you about the ownership. 20^th Century Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch, (Music stops) who would’ve guessed, (Music starts) and also 21^st Century Fox (Music stops) (which he also owns). (Music starts) He is the head of a bi------g commercial corporation called NewsCorp. NewsCorp owns lots of big companies like The Times, The Sun and the list goes on. All of these companies working under the watchful eye of NewsCorp are part of a conglomerate. (Music stops) Yes I have said that right. (Music starts) An easy definition for this word is that it’s a company made up of other companies. Simple as that. For example, the BBC is a conglomerate. It has TV channels like BBC 1 and BBC 2, it has Radio Channels such as BBC Radio 1, 2,3,4,5 and 6. It also produces films, under the name of BBC Films, like Jane Eyre starring big names such as Judie Dench and Jamie Bell. All of these separate organisations are part of the BBC.

Let’s move onto some simpler stuff. Independence. 20^th Century Fox is NOT an independent company. There are two main reasons for this. A) The company is still owned by 20th Century Fox and Rupert Murdoch and B) it doesn’t make, edit, and produce the films all on its own. 20^th Century Fox and most other big name production companies usually collaborate on projects. For example 20^th Century Fox recently collaborated on a joint vernture project with DreamWorks Studios on the “critically acclaimed film” (Music stops) Penguins of Madagascar; a spin-off of the mildly popular Madagascar franchise. (Music starts) Now all credit to them both for making the films but seriously (Music stops) that zebra will be applying for his pension soon. (Music starts) Collaboration projects on films are normally a repeating pattern. Other companies 20^th Century Fox have collaborated with in the past are Marvel, on X-Men, and Lightstorm Entertainment on Avatar. In fact, from 2010 to the present day (September 2015 flashes up on screen), Rupert Murdoch’s subsidiary (I’ll come onto that in a moment) has collaborated on every single film that it has made in that time. If you were listening you will have heard me mention yet another ridiculous word, subsidiary. A subsidiary is one of the companies in a conglomerate. So The Times and The Sun are subsidiaries of NewsCorp, the conglomerate. Still with me? Good, let's continue.

(Music starts) Cross Media Ownership? (Music stops) Nope, ok that’s another thing for me to talk about then. (Music starts) 20^th Century Fox is actually a Cross Media Company as it produces Film and TV. Now, they can really take advantage of the fact that they produce so many different products. For example, in the video games that they produce they can advertise the films they produce and in the comics/books they can put a reference to any other books/comics that are available from them thanks to NewsCorp. This is called Cross Promotion (a.k.a Synergy).     

Operating Model

Now, you’ll be wondering how a film by the likes of 20^th Century Fox is actually made. Right? Well, here you are. It all starts off with pre-production. This idea is then developed by brainstorming ideas and developing the script. However, this will require money, so the producer has to pitch their idea to the managers to have any chance of gaining financial support. The co-ordinator would then hire some script writers to write the script. While they are writing the script, other roles will be given out like director, editor, grip, etc. For the more important roles, people will be commissioned to do their jobs. Now all the equipment must be organised, the final budget must be set, the actors and actresses will be cast for the roles in the film, a storyboard must be planned and the locations for filming must be booked and organised. Now all the organisation has been done, the filming can commence. The scenes must be filmed; any props, costumes, make-up and sets required must be brought in for this, any prosthetics in case a horror film is being filmed, any pyrotechnics if explosions are needed, lighting must be applied where necessary, chaperones are required to look after the children/extras in a movie, lots of food and drink is a must as there’s never a crew that doesn’t require lots of breaks! If Special FX are needed, a green/blue screen could be used to provide an animated location and microphones must be worn by all actors and actresses so that maximum audio quality can be guaranteed. Now, some say that the Post-Production stage is the most vital in a film’s success and to a degree, they are certainly not wrong. Any transitions must be applied in the editing software like a Jump Cut, Fade and Glow, any CGI (Computer Generated Images to you and I) must be applied to characters or visual characters that aren’t played by a human, any overlays or colours can be applied, scenes can be cut and cropped, any audio recorded by the mics must be synced to the camera footage and if a green/blue screen was used, any backgrounds must be applied.

A big corporation like 20th Century Fox usually work in horizontal integration. This is where the main company is promoted by other companies (in this case in the form of 20th Century Fox's subsidiaries; FOX TV, Sky, The Sun Newspaper and the list goes on). An example of this would be The Sun having maybe a single or double page poster of 20th Century's latest film.

Vertical Integration also occurs in this company. Vertical Integration is where a company produces, distributes and owns companies that can help earn "extra dollar" by cross promoting, they can therefore control The Film Production Cycle.

Products

As 20^th Century Fox has lots of subsidiaries, they can help promote the film or TV Show that has been produced. Different sectors can help promote different products.

These subsidiaries do in fact produce their own media. National Geographic are famous for their documentaries that give a deep and impactful insight into life from around the world. “Explorer”, the company’s award-winning and longest-running show has provided some of the most iconic scenes in documentary history like when a chimpanzee tenderly reached out for renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. National Geographic specialise in three main types of Media; they are Photography, TV, and magazines and books since they were formed 127 years ago in 1888. The main target audience of National Geographic is adults but over the past couple of years they have opened their eyes to the younger audience by making shows such as “Science of Stupid”, which is where Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond takes a look at all the ludicrous clips of people falling, driving or just being darn right stupid from the Internet and depicts the "sciency" side of them. (Insert clip of waterslide guy) For example, this man will travel down this waterslide at 22.7 mph. The ramp is 150.62m long so the little paddling pool has to be X distance away from the end of the ramp. Unfortunately no-one will be able to work out the exact distance the man travelled as this video is in fact fake and is actually an ad for Microsoft Germany, believe it or not. 

One more subsidiary of 20^th Century Fox I’ll be talking about is Blue Sky Studios. (Tweet sound effect). Blue Sky Studios was founded in 1987 by a guy named Chris Wedge (Wheezing guy). I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you, he's won Academy Awards for his films . He’s also produced shorts such as No Time for Nuts (Shorter clip of Wheezing guy),  films like Rio, Rio 2, the Ice Age Saga and is currently producing the next Ice Age movie, Collision Course (explosion), set to be released in 2016. Aside from Films, Blue Sky Studios also produce TV Specials (1 off shows) for their films. Their best known shorts include Bunny and Gone Nutty, both were nominated for the Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards. Blue Sky Studios have collaborated on film projects, for example Rio and Rio 2 were made and produced with 20th Century Fox. The Films and TV Shows are generally aimed at a younger audience as Blue Sky Studios specialise in movies for kids.

Market Position and Competitors

20th Century Fox are a very successful company. We can see this from the list of awards that they have won; including the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture for 'Walk the Line' and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama for 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'.

They acquire Big Name stars for their movies such as Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman (Music Stops) (Insert MF Quote), (Music Starts). 20th Century Fox produce a variety of films of a variety of genres for a mass variety of audiences. They produce films for kids like the Ice Age and How to Train Your Dragon sagas, films like The Fault in our Stars, for teenagers, horror films like Poltergeist, for fans that like to be (Music Stops) scared by moving pictures (Music Starts) and more family orientated films like The Three Stooges. They have built themselves up as one of the most well-known production companies in the world and continue to produce content for audiences of all ages and show no sign of stopping.

However, 20^th Century Fox has many rivals in the film industry; these include the likes of Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures and NBC Universal. The products that are made by these other companies are very similar to those of 20^th Century Fox as they all produce films, merchandise and all the other regular items that a movie company produces. However, Disney produce animation films such as Toy Story and Frozen which are aimed at children. Universal produce more films to suit a wider ranged younger audience (5-30 year olds) like Despicable Me, Ted and The Purge. Sony Pictures are only innovating films for two specific markets (Children and Young Adults) with films like Hotel Transylvania and The Interview (Screen goes Black) I never thought I'd be putting those 2 films next to each other when I started writing this, (Normal Pictures resume) and 20th Century produce films for audiences of all ages. 

With Walt Disney Studios earning a Net Profit of over $8 Billion in 2014, NBC Universal possibly overtaking Time Warner in value and Sony Pictures growing on the ever more populated market, 20^th Century Fox is in no position to relax. That’s why they’ve been working hard by releasing 83 feature-length films from 2010-2014 including the very popular ‘The Fault in our Stars’, ‘The Maze Runner’ and ‘The Kung-Fu Panda’ series. 

21^st Century Fox, is a very charitable company; they are raising money for Cancer Research UK by running the ‘corporate challenge’ which is where companies from across the UK compete against each other and raise money for charity in the process. 18 of their employees also took part in the 2015 London Marathon. So far the company have raised over £103,000 for the cause.

I hope you learned a thing or two in the time that you spent watching this video. Maybe it was the definition of a conglomerate or maybe it was who’s going to replace that Zebra from Madagascar… (Thank you for watching appears on screen)