film analysis (Sean of the dead) - Todorov Theory

For this text i will be looking at the text 'Sean of the dead'. this is a rom com horror film Dawn of the Dead, released in 2004. 

Throughout equilibrium films they're are usually five stages of the equilibrium.
Applying Todorovs theory the film starts off in the unity, introducing the lives of the main characters and their everyday normal state. The relationships of the characters are disrupted but the film is still at a stable, calm state. This unity is then disrupted by the impact of a deadly disease that has entered the village but hasn't been fully recognised by the civilians. The main character acts as the protagonist and the recognition of the disruption has been found. With the unity of the people, they all come together with the scarce and threat they're under and all work together to try and get somewhere safe. With them all safe in one building, they go under attack again and they fight their way to save themselves. This is an attempt to repair the disruption, the protagonist tries to fight against them and save the group to resolve the issued events. The equilibrium is then restored and the film then goes back to the normality at the start, showing the unity even more so with their lives and connecting them together again with their scarred but restored lives in harmony again.

James Bond analysis

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdbIINpktOs"

  James Bond "Die another day"

The James Bond franchise is a clear example of film objectifying females and forcing the audience to view females via the male gaze. The scene within "Die another day"when bond meets the character Jinx demonstrates my previous statement by using the scripted dialogue that shows and uses the objectification.

First of all the clip opens up with a zooming in shot, making the audience perspective intwined with Bonds, the shot changes to vignette effect making it look as though we're looking through his eyes, allowing us to interpret the male gaze through Bond's view. The slow motion allows us to maintain eye contact with the subject for longer, making her an objectification by prolonging the camera watching her body. Bond's eyes scan her and the camera looks back at him showing enjoying her view, giving a sense of scopophilia. 

Her entrance to the scene as she leaves the water and uses body language to attract the audience makes her seem more desirable by the way she walks, using her hips swinging adding to the male's appeal. The scripted scene first uses objectified dialogue by Bond saying 'Magnificent view', the text left open to be interpreted from the male's view (meaning her). 

She shows confidence by not giving him too much eye contact but remains grinning, Bond offers her his drink and she accepts, applying the patriarchal society from the male in control. Immediately introducing herself, the two share a handshake this lets the audience know their partnership has began.

Bond says 'Too strong for you' which could be interpreted in two different views, meaning the drink or himself. The dialogue carries on with the split meanings and adding humour to the scenes for audience gratification. For e.g bond says 'I'm just here for the birds' then quickly holds up his binoculars and says  'anthropologist' but the audience know the inner humour, allowing the audience to be more connected with the character and film, gaining their approval more so.

Throughout their whole conversation bond is smoking a cigar, blowing the smoke out his mouth and what sometimes looks over towards the woman, he also takes the time inhaling whilst she's waiting for a response from him, showing that he has dominance over the dialogue, also showing her ability to wait so easily for him.

The camera angles vary from extreme close ups of the female, to dominant over the shoulder shots from Bond. The camera more than often tends to look down on the woman from bond's point of view, then looking up towards the male. This shows the camera enabling dominance towards the male with the greater height and the woman is smaller and being shown as less powerful. The use of focal blur on the women when the male is speaking again shows high authority, blocking the woman out but keeping her in the frame for visual purposes, but having the camera in focus on bond.

Social Media Dystopia~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE3azAS2e9k

Sleeping beauty - Film trailer analysis

In this trailer, the main girl who is being portrayed as young but majestic is willing to give her body away to men as a job. This creates an early representation of the girl being innocent and weak whilst under another's command. The simplistic shots and calm music contrasts with the raw story line, using Strauss' theory from the way it is presented with the role she's playing is very opposing.

The women in the footage are shown to be over ruled by men, with the example footage at 0:30 with the male dragging the unwilling female to the car, this enigma code opens up questions to the audience, drawing them in and making them more intrigued as to where she is being taken.

The women are shown as sexualised objects by subtle connotations such as the red/black colouring that they always have on their bodies, whether its clothing, shoes or make-up. The blank expressions, subtle and nerving positionings of the girl put the audience on edge, making the audience already pity the young character.

However the profound female narrator playing the leading role of the job shows power and dominance over all the males and surrounding females. She maintains control throughout the whole of the scenes, this contrasts to the other girl's position being the complete opposite to the young one. This also relates to the binary opposition theory, showing the two opposing roles of the two women; the girl being presented as the weak and innocently connected one and the woman being shown as the leader, fulfilling a usual males position.

Skyfall Analysis

After watching a two minute snippet of Skyfall there were prominent signs of the specific spy genre. The use of detailed close ups and following tracking shots allows the audience to interact with the film, getting more involved and more intrigued by the film. The scene I looked at focused on an innocent women tied against a rock, whilst the group of men surround her and are tested to shoot a shot glass off the top of her head; using Prop's theory in the scene there is the Hero, (James Bond) this is shown by his dialogue, heroic actions and courageous choices for example when he shoots the woman and purposely avoids killing her. The Villain (Silva) is clearly shown and poised as the bad guy from his sly moves and demanding values with his ability to murder women without real acknowledgement or care and the fact he has a group of suited men with weapons aimed at the good guy (Bond). The Princess (innocent civilian) is shown as the damsel in distress by props used (e.g  the rope around her hands and the torn dress) and with the revolutionary hero that always tries to save her.

The digetic music at the start gives off a comforting surrounding to the audience and allows them to be settled and show the scene is calm, going at a steady pace with all the slow moving and zoomed tracking shots. The non-digetic sounds soon comes in when the fast pace action is released, showing different unexplored angles to engage the audience, with fast paced high key lighting shots with mid close ups of the fight scene, allowing the audience to assess the activity and be more drawn to the hero due to his triumph. Whilst these events occur the audience then recognise this to be an iconic action spy film with all the connotations of a Bond movie present. This is also reassured by the end of the scene with the iconic low quivering guitar music that build on the genre, repeating these similar or identical scenes, shots and sounds from the other Bond movies.

Describe Niche and Mainstream audiences with specific text examples-

Niche: 
The niche text I’m looking at is The Human spider sisters. The documentary on conjoined twins and abnormal humans is shown at nine o’clock on TLC. Being streamed on a small-populated channel it makes the show more subtle and unheard of due to it's selected viewers. Audiences would possibly be drawn to this unusual story but with just the advertisement on the TLC channel; there are a selected amount of viewers that will be drawn to watch it. This will attract the curious audiences who get gratification from learning and seeing something different and unusual. This channel streams programmes similar to this one, all consisting of learning something new and experiencing something different to other channels. This programme will only target a selected audience, due to the fact the channel isn't very well known and for the small minority or people that view it. The subject content within the start of the programme is all about the lives of the twins, following them and watching how they live and cope with the challenges they’re faced, audience get gratification from this by gaining insight to the unusual lives they have and experience something they've not seen before, which draws the audience in.
The mode of address of the programme is looking even deeper into their lives looking at raw scenery and being very detailed show. Contrasting to the everyday documentaries this programme will attract the audience with its new unseen footage.


Mainstream:
The mainstream text I’m looking at is 90210, an American drama shown of channel 4. This is well known channel with a wide viewing audience, also with the programme shown at late evenings (9:00pm) this is prime time for when people watch tv, making the show very popular, also with repeats played throughout the day enabling people to catch up with it in the day time, the show is even more widely known. The programme is aimed at young adults and teenagers, the main concept of the programme is very relatable to the targeted audience, hence the mass popularity. The subject content consists of the American everyday lives, showing the ‘high life’ of the young adults and teenagers, young viewers watching this will look up to the behaviour of the actors and use them as role models. This hyper reality then impacts people's lives and they start to behave differently due to this constructed life they are viewing, but still reflecting reality. Audience access this programme by watching the very popular channel and the fact that it’s on at ‘prime time’ television. The programme is also very relatable to audience in the same age range, ranging from teenagers to young adults watch it and use it as a form of escapism and entertainment to get away from reality for a while.
• The mode of address is the unseen life of Americans, having all the drama present along side the American culture.