How is the audience positioned to think about both David and Ben?

The audience is supposed to see that David and Ben have a close bond and are very good friends. Also the audience are positioned to think that David is taking care of Ben.

How is the editing conveying representations of disability?

The shot reverse shot implies that David respects his brother Ben. The shot reverse shot shows they are eqeal and this contradicts the stereotype that abled people are more superior to disabled people.

Who gets the majority of screen time?

As it is only diaogue between two characters both David and Ben get a lot of screen time. However, Ben gets slightly more which is unusual as people with a disability usuaully get less screen time.

How does the mise en scene convey representations of disability (facial expressions, props)?

Ben the downsyndrome is wrapped up with his sleeping bag whereas David is not. This implies that he needs support to be warm. This represents diabled people as needing support and are not capable of doing things without the extra help. Also, David gives Ben a weird facial expression when Ben is talking about sex. This implies that Ben is looked down when talking about sex and represents disabled people tobe incapable of sexual activity.

Can you find any examples in the dialogue which convey representations of disability?

Ben talks about private engagement very openly which portrays disabled people of not being able to think before they speak. For example when he is talking about sex and he quotes "whats it like" and "I want to have sex with Natasha." 

The impact of media ownership on the film industry

How do UK film companies, and UK films manage to compete, exist and survive in this system?


BFI supports UK films which allows them to exist and survive in this system. The BFI will fund the company for their film. " The BFI uses National Lottery funds to develop and support original UK filmmakers and films, and to increase the audiences who can enjoy them."


Also, they support high-quality British and independent releases, increase film choice for audiences and offer a springboard for UK film exports.




What effect does this US dominance have on UK filmmakers and production companies?


British films are brought by America studios which takes away the fact that its a British company as an American company own the rights to the film which implies that US dominance has a major effect on UK film makers. For example Harry potter has a large british cast and was mostly shot in the UK. However, 20th Centaury Fox are the producing company and are one of the major six which are all American. What ‘screencast’ ask is can Harry Potter be counted as the ‘pride of Britain’ if it is owned by a big American Company?


Also, UK institutions cannot afford a large budget for the movie so the producers are forced to sign with American studios to pay for the film.



What effect does it have on the audience and the types of films they can see? 


The big six would not like to loose audience and try to keep it safe by producing sequels such as Star Wars the Force Awakens as the film would already have a large audience due to the previous films.


They focus on action adventure / superhero movies and this is what we are constantly seeing. This prevents us from seeing content that we wouldn’t normally see such as a movie like a unique movie such as A Field In England and Frank, these are a different style/genre of film. A large American company will not want to risk wasting their money on a movie that isn't successful and will not make them a lot of money. A superhero film or a sequel is guaranteed to make them profit and that’s why they are constantly being released whereas new interesting and unique films are not.

Sexuality

Editing

The editing in the extract portrays Maude as very emotionally attached to the other woman. This is shown through the dissolve. There is a tracking shot of Maude putting her hands over the ladies body and then there is a dissolve to her licking her lips when painting. This portrays lesbians as very emotional and the dissolve can represent the ideas in her head as a dream which portrays it is forbidden during the time period and implies lesbians are very secretive and non a physical romance.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack in the extract represents lesbians as very caring and passionate for someone they love. This is shown through the diegetic dialogue. "wake her up, she'll burn". This implies Maude does not want her lady to be in pain from her burns. This represents lesbians as caring. Another representation of the soundtrack is through the hyperbolic diegetic sound of breathing by Maude. This portrays lesbians as very emotional because her love is forbidden.

Mise en scene

The mise en scene in the extract portrays lesbianism to be very secretive compared to heterosexual relationships. In the extract lesbianism is in interior locations with darkly lit rooms whereas heterosexual relationships are in exterior locations in a bright location. This implies that lesbianism is seen as very secretive and reinforces the stereotype that heterosexual is the norm as heterosexuals can be seen out in the open.

Media Institutions Exam Question (Mr Lane's Q)

Evaluate how different media institutions market and distribute products in the media area you have studied.

 

In today’s media landscape, audiences are completely fragmented and the competition for audiences has never been more competitive. Production companies use many different methods to attract audiences. Despite the fragmented audience, media companies have used different ways/ techniques to get their product across and to gain audience attention.

 

One media institution is Disney. Disney is a major studio and is one of the ‘big six’ institutions. One of their products is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was shot globally and was approximately a 6-9 month shoot. The budget was £200m and was partially shot on 35mm film. Another media institution is Film4 Productions and was an independent production company. One of their products was A Field in England directed by Ben Wheatley, which took under two weeks to shoot at one single location. The budget was significantly lower than star wars with a budget of £300,000 and was shot entirely digitally (homemade camera & lenses).

 

The marketing strategies used by both institutions were used to attract the fragmented audience. Disney used technological convergence engagement, which is the coming together of different media platform onto one product. An example of this is The Star Wars Interactive App, which allowed audiences to take selfies, buy tickets and watch augmented reality clips. This marketing strategy is effective as engages an audience. Also, the app being on a smartphone is very convenient as the majority of people have smartphones in today’s society so is easily accessible. The Multimedia Interactive App is also effective as it uses audience interaction with selfies and encourages sharing and spreading branded content virally by connecting the app to Twitter and Facebook.

 

A marketing strategy used by Film4 Productions is social media and in particular the director’s twitter (Ben Wheatley) as he had 11,000 followers and used this to market A Field In England to the public using retweets etc. This is an example of web2.0 as it is part of the World Wide Web that is focussed on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. This strategy is effective as it took advantage of the director’s small but committed fan base as his fans would want to see the new movie he has directed and this allowed the marketing side of the film to create a niche cult audience for the film. The strategy was also effective as big companies and famous people were able to tweet about the film such as Mark Kermode, Virgin and Film4. As we can see from the different marketing strategies discussed there is a major difference in the way Disney and Film4 Productions market their products. This is because of the budget each institution has to market their film. Film for do not have the finances to create a Multimedia App so have to stick to marketing which is cost free, such as social media whereas Disney have a much larger budget so can design, create and promote their app on ITunes. The marketing strategy that was most effective is the Multimedia interactive app as it is easier accessible for the fragmented audience whereas Ben Wheatley’s twitter account would only attract a small percentage of audiences.

 

The distribution of the film also plays a major role in gaining fragmented audiences and both A Field In England and Star Wars are distributed in different ways due to what benefits their institution. Disney’s distribution had a day and date worldwide release which was also known as a saturation release. The distribution was also done in a very traditional way as it was first released in Cinema the on VOD/DVD then it was able to be viewed on TV/Streaming. The traditional distribution is effective as it creates an ‘event’ as it was released on July 5^th 2013 which creates hype for the audience as they wait for the film to be released and capitalises on the demand and desire from a vocal hard core fan base. However,  Film4 Productions use a very different and unique strategy that will benefit their independent institution. Film4 use a simultaneous release which is a new method used by independent institutions were a film and in this case is AFIE is released in Cinema, on DVD/Blu-ray and streamed on film4 website all on the same release date. Cancelling release windows and releasing on all platforms at the same time is effective because it maximises a dedicated but small audience as it allows fans to view AFIE regardless of geography as it was only released on 17 cinema screens so not all audiences can go to view the film in cinema. Both distributions are effective as they have used a release strategy that benefits them financially. The saturation release benefits Disney as they have the budget to release Star Wars across many different cinemas whereas due to the niche audience of AFIE they are not able to do this which is why a simultaneous release would be effective for Film4. The saturation release was most effective due as they can attract a broad fragmented audience. However, the simultaneous release was a unique and clever way to attract audiences while also having a significantly lower financial budget.   

 

In conclusion, different media institutions market and distribute their products in different ways depending on what is cost effective for the institutions financial budget for the product. The marketing and distribution of the product contribute greatly towards the final product and how successful it will be. From comparing Disney and Film4 we can see that a major institution can market and distribute their product (Star Wars) in a way which engages a much broader fragmented audience whereas an independent studio/institution targets on a niche audience to attract fragmented audiences which is why marketing strategies such a Ben Wheatley’s twitter account is beneficial to them and these different strategies explain how major institutions and independent institutions differ.