John Tucker Must Die

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzrj97cGifw

The trailer has used a number of techniques to try an invite audiences to come and see the film. First of all it starts with loud music and cheerleaders cheering as a basketball game is going on. There is a narrator telling the viewers what the film will be about as she opens the trailer by saying “this story is about john tucker”. Also the trailer shows the great humorous scenes that are in the movie, this will persuade viewers who like comedy to come and watch it. Like most trailers the director has tried to get the best scenes from the movie to display to viewers as they will be attracted to these, from viewing these they will want to go and see the whole movie.

 The main character John tucker is represented to be a typical American teenage boy, good-looking, very popular, captain of the basketball team and in American slang term he is a “player” as the trailer reveals the film is about him dating many girls at the same time, and when they find out they try to plot a revenge. In this sense men are presented as egomaniac, and have no respect for women, as he is cheating on all of the girls. 

 
On the basis of the trailer the target audience would be teenagers from a B,C1/2 social economic background. People who enjoy comedy, people who have been in situations like that e.g. been cheated on whilst in a relationship or people who have cheated on their partners. Boys who can relate to the protagonist would be popular guys who have a lot of experience with girls.

Hollywood characteristics that I can identify are firstly the hierarchy in schools based on popularity and status. All the boys and the girls are good-looking actors/actresses and have some sort of sexuality appeal which is a very important value in Hollywood.

Article Summaries

The first article is called "Bebo's new soap is all product placement, no plot" by Anna Pickard who writes for the guardian.
From the title we know that this article is going to be about the social networking site "bebo" their new soap, and how it has no plot and is accusing it of being all "product placement" meaning that this soap was created simply for advertising purposes, she states that it is "utterly unsubtle product placement" this is further explored throughout the article. The secret world of Sam king is a new short drama soap for bebo viewers that is aired on a regular but seasonal basis. The writer of this article is clearly not impressed by universal records new soap as she calls it a cross between "a careers day advert for entry-level positions at large conglomerates, and every other Disney show banging around at the moment", she uses witty humour to explain that this show looks like its either an advertisement for children to attend a careers day, or a Disney show, she may say this because like most Disney shows "banging around at the moment" the soap is about a "shaggy haired teenager", which contemporary is the American teenage look. the show has tried to adapt an American look as they are aware what's "cool" in America is "cool" here too. 
The reason she said it was very product placement was because she mentions how in one episode the brilliance of virgin mobile was said 9 times in under a minute. This is pointing out the obvious that virgin have clearly sponsered them to do so, as she has mentioned Sony ericson did so too a few episode before. the reason for this is clearly because they are trying to reach out to their target audience of British teenagers who are active users of the youthful socialising website bebo, and interest them in their great deals or at least persuade them of their "brilliance". Other then the critical side she does praise them for their excellent editing as it is "very sharp and looks good" she also mentions Sam the main character is a cutie, which is important to gain attention especially from females, as the ratings view could increase. The writer acknowledges that this soap was not targeted for her liking, however she refuses to disembark the fact that demographics is not an excuse "to make something bad" and mentions how even though it is only a 3minute episode this is neither an excuse to lack from a proper "plot". She ends the article by comparing the show to other short soaps that are far out-strethed in its creative reach to have a good plot. To end the article she makes a brief attempt to talk about a new sci-fi show, but complain how she cannot view it as it is not available in her territory, she makes a joke about emigrating just so she can view the "hulu" shows which she agrees is worth it. In summary this article was written in "the guardian" and as it is about something quite youthful, the newspaper audience I don't think would be much aware about subject matters like this, so i disagree that the article had much relevence however I do still think it is important for people from all demographics to acknowledge what kind of media is being fed to their children. 
New technology like the internet makes a huge impact on contemporery media landscape, this addition to the media "the E-media" is available for everyone from all ages, and has extended the media consumption in our lives. 


The second article is named " The critics need a reboot the internet hasn't led us into a new dark age" by David Wolman who writes for the "Wired" magazine. the title is a mix of a pun and a cliché. we can tell the article is going to be an argument criticising critics who claim the internet has led "us" meaning the current generations into a dark age. The article opens with a statement. and then a philosophical and religious point on media.
In the second paragraph there is the use of sarcasm  e.g. the article is criticising critics who criticise the internet, however he himself refers to the internet out of sarcasm "the technological bogeyman" this was his attempt to show critics how "moronic" it sounds, to say that this is the thing responsible for the "supposed sharp uptick in American shallowness and credulity". He gives an example of one of the critics;Mark Bauerlein and his statement that " the internet video games and IM's all serve to numb and dumb". David says that his assessment was very "grim" and was just rattling of about statistics  which where used to buttress his assertion on his statement. 
His attempts to make more fun out of this theory that the internet "stupefies" people is done by using more sarcasm  by giving examples or irrational conspiracy theories like "vaccines cause autism" or "Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks". He agrees that the web does contribute into providing these "bogus ideas" however he also states a fact that it is in human nature to search our for information that supports "pre-existing assumptions" and this behaviour of humans can be explained as it has occurred in the past as-well before the introduction of the internet. David mentions that when people or as he states "Americans" look on the internet they already have pre mind-set of what they are looking for. He summarises this article by stating and giving example of why the internet "gives us the opportunity to become smarter not dumber" e.g. wikipedia not perfect yet provides accurate information, this one source is a new sort of revolution of how we can get information in comparison to methods that where used before the 21st century. The article concludes its self by giving his last viewpoint telling us how it would be naive to think that this new digital age will "magically remedy stupidity" and that the only solution is having better schools with better facilities, good teachers and keen students. a new commitment to the idea of having a method to distinguish what on the internet is real "knowledge" and what is just plain "garbage". To ultimate the argument of whether or not the internet is truly leading into a new dark age, he concludes by saying "what's moronic is to assume that it hurts us more than it helps" meaning it is foolish for one to think the internet does more harm to someone than it does good. Throughout this article David has referred to a number of authors and their books relating to the subject matter, to make this article seem less bias or based upon a minimum amount of information. New technology within the 21st century like the internet has had a magnificent impact on contemporary media and in which the way the world currently works. if we compare the difference within the last two centuries of how vastly technology has developed since the industrial revolution it is almost unbelievable as to how far fetched the landscape has established. 

KILL BILL analysis

In this scene of kill bill staring Uma Thurman, the scene starts of with the camera looking up from a worms eye view at the sword and at Uma who in the film is referred to as "the bride". At first only the sword is in focus and the light above and her face is out of focus slightly blurred but as she bends down to pick it up she also comes into focus. a few seconds later we can hear the non-diegetic sounds of the motorcycles erupting outside, this brings the scene alive as it indicates the action which is about to appear. when the first ninja is entering the building there is an extreme low-angle shot trakking behind him at his feet as he is running.

The mis-en-scene is presented in the scene where  as soon as the fighting has began 12-seconds into it after she has just sliced one of the arms of the ninja's, she pulls out the eye of another within a mili-second, as soon as this happens the colour on screen turns black and white to the point where she is fighting her last battle with the group of ninjas. This could suggest that during the scene where it is black and white they have chosen to take out the colour due to the sickening sights of the grusome methods which she cuts of limbs of the men. As she is backing away there is an over-the-shoulder shot of the ninja's moving towards her, then there is an extreme close up of her eyes which at this point when she blinks the colour on screen returns. 

A few seconds after this the power turns of and darkness falls in the room so they cannot see each other, the next fight is taken place in the dark, however there is exellent editing done here as the room is dark, there is a neon blue background for light and all charecters in the scene are blacked out against this background so we can only see their shadow figures as they fight, this emphasises every movement they make as it is highlighted.I think this use of editing was primarily done to give the audience another sense or view of the fighting. Diegetic sound through out the scene are of the swords and the screams coming from the ninja's.

the iconography presented here in this scene is the building tension and anticipation, then there is a sense of an adrenaline rush. this scene also captures suspense, and towards the end of the scene some light hearted humour, when she spanks one of the ninja's with the sword and tell him to go home to "his mother". 

All the elements that the movie have used to produce this scene is quite important  in how it affects the audience. the different lighting, sounds, camera movement are all what makes this scene one of the greatest fighting scenes of all time,it was ranked no12 in the the all time best fight scenes category, not only because it got the best out of kung-fu and appreciated the extent of how great this sporting is but also because of the exellent editing that went in to make it a brilliant scene. where else would you find a white women who's professionality is kung-fu and manages to defeat over 60- or so men. 

Reebok advertisement analysis (50 cent)

This ad for reebok trainers advertises violence by the lyrics that are said by 50 cent 

"got shot nine times in jamiaca queens" as if to say this is a good thing, is proud about it that he has been shot at 9 times yet he is still alive, this is making violence seem like it it inevitable however if you are "cool" or "street" like him by wearing the trainers you could too survive. Jamaica queens being the new york ghetto district connatations of this are  black on black crime – hip hop beef. 

The first scene in the ad is a medium shot of a railway track, two buildings, two poles which holed together electrical wires, and hanging off in the distance from the wires are a pair of trainers which is the follow up scene shows a close up shot of it and a train underneath passing by. The sound is a diegetic sound of a train as it passes by. Mise-en-scene is presented here as the trainers hanging from electrical lines which give the impression of a sub-urban ghetto/wasteland, then the screen goes red symbolisiing death/alarm /blood, there is also a non diegetic sound of the sirens from the police car. 

Rain dropping on through wire, into a puddle is a very grey and close up shot.it then says on the left hand side of the puddle as the rain continues to drop "I AM" this could be representing the streets or the unknown. other non-diegetic sounds is the screams you hear and then the voice over from the police report. 

The Music starts when u see 50 cent and then you hear a  heart beating very slowly but loudly after the Hospital doctor says "patient is in a stable condition". The camera the slowly zooms into 50 cent from a low angle long distance shot. 

In my opinion a global famous and very successful company like Reebok would glamorise violence, not because they like it and want their audience to become violent however, they are already aware that there audience which are predominantly males over the age of 15 from urban areas of a B, C1,C2 and possibly D class range are already in the violent scene and are attracted to it as within their daily lives they encounter so much violence e.g. they watch violent movies from Hollywood, they play violent games regularly e.g. Grand theft auto or call of duty which in these games all require guns, killings and just physical abuse. They listen to Mainstream hip hop where rappers talk about violence they have either encountered/experienced or threaten for future violence. These everyday events that this particular audience experience from a day-to-day basis de-sensitises violence and it looses the “shock factor”. Reebok have attempted to be smart and take advantage of this factor about their audience as they are aware that “violence sells” and have tried to take dominance and gain viewers attention in this way. Like most companies the only intention is to make money and if it be making violence look “cool” then so be it. The target audience would be affected by the ideology of the add in a way which is ignorant. They will be fully aware of what and how the company is attempting to sell their product, however because the advert uses celebrity endorsement by making 50 cent the star of the add they will view it in a more “positive” perspective towards them as it targets their interests. People will now associate the 50 cent Reebok I am Brand/ trainers with the gangster/hip-hip culture. Possible outcomes from the advert could be people could no associate violence with success thus inturn they will carry out violent acts in order to achieve success also.

In my opinion I agree that the advert should have been banned, because the advert does glamorise violence, reebok is attempting to manipulate audiences by using 50 cent for celebrity endorsement, as they are aware people love celebrities and in western society this is the popular culture which people follow, he is showing off his survival of surviving 9 attempt to be shot at, perhaps suggesting that it was the reebok shoes that helped him, this is subliminally said nevertheless false advertising. 

12B - Work for Monday 1 November

Kicks trailer analysis

The main character of the film is Nichola Burley the trailer starts off with a non-diegetic sound of the faint voice of her humming to what seems like she has repeated numerous times. The first shot is a medium shot of the girl in her bed stroking what seems to be a poster of a boy. The shot is panning downwards starting off with her head then going down towards her hands that are on the poster. The scenes that follow become clearer as to who the girl is and who the boy on the poster is. Other non-diegetic sounds are in the scene when she is looking through a gap between the walls while watching “Lee Cassidy” who throughout the rest of the trailer becomes clear that he is a footballer/celebrity she is obsessed with, it is a medium shot but the top and bottom part of the screen is cut out to show the viewers the point of view in which the girl Nichola is looking at. This is good for effect on the audience as it shows the different types of editing that would be in the film which makes it all the more interesting, there is the sound of a whistle but the scene is of him kicking a football and wearing a training bib so it is clear that he is training. While this scene is taking place another non-diegetic sound overtakes is it a news report and the voice over is stating the news about Lee Cassidy’s move from Anfield to Madrid, there are two letters on the side of the screen at this moment “NE” which viewers can straight away assume that this shot has been cut out and edited and the full word is suppose to say “news”.

Iconography is used in films to create a certain feel, such as fear or anticipation. In this trailer the iconography is to create suspense and wonder of what the girl is going to do, viewers know that it is about a young girl’s fantasy, she attempts to make it a reality and when she succeeds she realises it comes at a cost.