DVD Cover Analysis

How is Skyfall a product of its time?

Gender- Women are often portrayed as objects used for Sex in the earlier films in the Bond franchise, where Bond makes women succumb to his charm, Bond uses women to get information out of them by taking them to bed. We see the character Monneypenny in both Skyfall and earlier Bond films and Bond is Skyfall is being flirted with by Monneypenny rather than Bond flirting with Monnepenny in the earlier films. We also see characters such as Q that aren't portrayed as the masculine run and gun type compared to earlier films where most males are masculine fighters.


Terrorism- Terrorism in Skyfall suggests just one individual with a decent computer setup and a advanced mind can become a terrorist just by working in one room compared to earlier films such as Thunderball where there is an organisation which is more physical terrorism. Terrorism in the earlier films were to do with having power and money where in Skyfall it is a personal vendetta.


Criminality- Criminality in the earlier films people work together and usually shares a plan with their organisation members where in Skyfall Silva keeps all his plans to him self, it is much harder to track cyber crime compared to having a big organisation where all members are in one room.


Sexuality- Gay characters are much more camp and distinct in the earlier Bond films such as Diamonds Are Forever where the gay characters wear women perfume and hold hands skipping with each other, the characters are there to be mocked rather than taken seriously, we also see Bond mocking them where as in Skyfall Bond takes Silva very seriously and also suggests he has had a gay encounter in the past where as in the earlier films this would nit be acceptable compared to todays standards. Silva is also suggested to be camp however he is the main villain and taken very seriously by everyone.

Consideration Points - Genre

Skyfall (2012)

Prisoners (2013)

The Green Mile (1999)

What are the generic identities of the two films you have chosen?

The Green Mile - Fantasy/Crime film

Prisoners - Crime film/Thriller

Is there any evidence of sub-genericity?

The Green Mile - Mystery, Sci-fi, Romance 

Prisoners - Mystery, Detective Story, Psychological thriller, Crime Fiction

How do you know?

The Green Mile -

Prisoners -

In what ways do the films challenge the genre conventions?

Outline the films' generic identities using non iconographic means

Choose a key sequence from each film and explain how it captures the film's genre 

Initial Practical Ideas

I want to create a film poster and DVD packaging for a film I have created, I would like the poster and packaging to focus on representing white British males. I will use original photography for most of my product if not all.

Essay 1st draft

The purpose of this essay is explore the representations of British males in film, specifically in the films Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Grimsby (2016) and Legend (2015 . Representations are how people, places and things are shown in the media. More often than not representations are based upon stereotypes, stereotypes are a commonly held belief of a particular type of person, place or thing with at least a grain of truth to them. 

British males are often portrayed in the media as football hooligans, football hooliganism is everywhere in the world however when we think about football hooligans a typical English male is instantly thought of. This is because the media influences our beliefs on a certain type of person, this is present in the film Grimsby where the main character is a football hooligan along with the main character the rest of the town is also found to be football hooligans. The main character ‘nobby’ has the word England tattooed on his back showing the extremes he is willing to go to for the England team, he also has the England crest tattooed on his arms. During a scene in the pub an England game is playing and the town decides to celebrate the goal by acting like hooligans drinking letting off fireworks inside the club and throwing things around this is an example of English football hooliganism.    Nobby also has England flags across his house along with football shirts. Another example of football hooliganism is the scene where the town Grimsby are watching a live England game and start making a commotion taking their shirts off and pitch invading whereas the other team is completely calm and normal making it the English fans look much worse. Nobby chants ‘come and have a go if you think your hard enough!’ during a fight showing that football has taken over his life and it’s in everything he does.

Another way British males are represented in film is the upper class, well brought up type of British male, these types of British males are often portrayed as stuck up, usually think they are better than everyone else almost as if they have a disgust for anyone in a lower class than them.  This is demonstrated in the film Kingsman: The Secret Service where the main character ‘Egsy’ is being trialled along with other contesters to see who will become the next agent. Egsy is the odd one out as everyone else there are from an upper class with rich families where as Egsy has been brought up in a normal household in a poorer area. The upper-class contenders approach him and try to attack him sating remark like ‘where did they dig you up’ because of the way he is dressed compared to them. They ask him if he’s ‘Oxford or Cambridge’ then proceed to mock him by implying he doesn’t have an education therefore he must have served them in McDonalds once. The scene where Egsy’s first trial occurs the team is saved by Egsy when egsy smashes a two-way mirror to save them a remark is made ‘must have seen a lot of them’. From these scenes, we clearly see that the upper-class snob type characters think they are better than everyone lower than them because they have money and fancy suits. When Egsy and his mentor are having a drink, things start to get heated and Egsy immediately says ‘snobs like you judging people like me from your Ivory towers with no thought about why we do what we do' showing he is also aware of the fact upper-class think they are stuck up and snobby.

paragraph on green street instead of legend

'The concept of representation embodies the theme that the media construct meanings about the world - they representation, and in doing so, help audiences to make sense of it.' (PAGE 113 Timo'sulivan Brian Dutton Philip Rayner). The media uses stereotypes to help the audience make sense of a character and helps them to understand the character.

Representations

Male representations

-James Bond is represented as masculine, he is represented as violent and represented as a woman user as he has often been represented as in the previous films.

-Silva is represented as both masculine and feminine at times, we see this as he strokes James Bond's leg showing him engaging in sexual activity, we also see his masculinity side as he violently bursts into the court room open firing.

-Q is represented as feminine he is scared of flights, doesn't engage in fighting and stays in his comfort zone, he is well dressed and takes care of himself suggesting he could potentially be gay. He is the complete opposite of James Bond.

Female representations

-Moneypenny is represented as both masculine and feminine we see her masculinity at the start of the film where she is running and gunning however we also see her feminine side later on in the film as she is dolled up and wearing a dress in the casino scene showing both sides to her. We also see her feminine side when she is shaving James Bond showing she is gentle and caring.

-M is represented as masculine as she isn't gentle or caring we see her violent side at the end of the film where she is shooting a gun and creating bombs to protect the house. We also see her confidence and lack of emotion when James Bond turns up unexpected at her house.

-Bernice is portrayed as vulnerable

How stereotypes are challenged in Skyfall

Narrative Assessment

Give three examples of the use action codes are used in the film Skyfall and explain how these help to tell the story.

At the start of the film a gunshot is fired to take out the villain however James Bond is hit instead, we can tell the character that took the shot and M both have regret, we know this because of the facial expressions shown by both characters, M sighs and stands up turns around and looks out the window, we see the pained look on her face this shows the regret of the character.

We see that Silva has a lack of consideration for his own safety, we see this when he is carelessly throwing grenades into the house without a care in the world. We also this when he is stood near house after watching a helicopter crashing straight into the building and he isn't even flinching.

Silva is portrayed as gay, although we don't hear him say he is or anyone else saying it we can tell by the way he speaks, he speaks in a camp manner and when he captures James Bond he strokes his leg and chin and feels his chest, this shows he is possibly gay.

Give three examples of the use of enigma codes 

An example of when an enigma code is used is when James Bond has been shot and in a later scene we see him come back, this raises questions as to how he survived, who found him? Why hasn't he contacted Mi6?

When James Bond is being questioned by the psychologist the psychologist asks him about Skyfall, we see James Bond get up and leave without answering questions, this again raises questions such as what is Skyfall? Why didn't he answer the question?

Another example of an enigma code is the hard drive, it raises questions such as why are they trying to retrieve it and whats on the hard drive? it keeps the audience engaged because it makes them want to carry on watching to see whats on the hard drive.


Analyse the film's narrative structure using a narrative theory, and argue which event in the film corresponds with each stage of the film

The films narrative structure corresponds to Robert McKees classic five part narrative theory. Part one is the inciting incident where James Bond is chasing Patrice which has stolen an important hard drive, this sets the story going as questions are already being raised at this point. The second part is progressive complications where the story deepens as James Bond is shot and presumed dead. The third step is crisis where things are getting worse, this is when the anonymous attacks on MI6 happen such as the MI6 building blowing up, M's laptop being hacked and the names on the hard drive of undercover agents are leaked. Crisis is when James Bond meets Silva on the island and captures him and takes him back to base, Silva then escapes going after M in the court room and James Bond saves her and takes her back to his old family home Skyfall where Silva follows and tries to kill them both. The resolution is when Silva is finally killed, the main issue has been resolved however the normality is different as M dies and a new M is appointed at the end of the film


Besides the narrative how else is the audience engaged by the film?

The audience are engaged by the film with the use of references to the older James Bond films, we see this when Q is showing James Bond some gadgets and James Bond asks about an explosive pen we see this gadget in an older film. another reference of older films is the classic Aston Martin with the ejector seats again referencing an older James Bond film

Plan of Action

1. Establish typical stereotypes for white British males
- Posh and stuck up
- Football hooligans
- Very different between upper class and lower class, lower class more filthy drunken messes, upper class stuck up think they're better than everyone posh accent, love the royal family
All British people have posh accents

Evidence-
Football-- https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/11/euro-2016-french-police-tactics-raise-fears-of-more-clashes-with-england-fans

https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/452934/the-end-of-a-reign-of-terror/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3640948/Britain-s-infamous-football-hooligan-slams-Russian-Ultras-breaking-moral-code-football-violence-ambushing-innocent-women-children.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBps0GUITM- documentary on England world cup

Described as savages, animals, hooligans very violent and drunken messes. Shows English supporters as very bad fans that take football over the top. Riots and fights in the streets, people being banned from following England team to Germany. 'reign of terror'

Posh Stuck up- Kingsman 'snobs like you judging people like me from your Ivory towers with no thought about why we do what we do' 'You all talk so funny'

Love for the royal family- 24.5 million people watching the royal wedding


http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a37762/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-man/


Media uses stereotypes to portray the British so it is easy to understand for the audience, there is no middle ground, its either posh or not.
These stereotypes are untrue as is any other stereotype


2. Stereotypes and their effect in real life, stereotypes help the audience understand the message behind the characters

Makes people caution of English football fans
British males may feel as though they have to be a football fan


PAGE 113 Timo'sulivan Brian Dutton Philip Rayner

76 philip rayner aand peterwall 2008

Essay intro redraft

The purpose of this essay is explore the representations of British males in film, specifically in the films Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Grimsby (2016) and Legend (2015 . Representations are how people, places and things are shown in the media. More often than not representations are based upon stereotypes, stereotypes are a commonly held belief of a particular type of person, place or thing with at least a grain of truth to them. 

Essay intro

1.    The purpose of this essay is to explore how white British males in film are represented. Representation in media is how people, places and things are shown in the media, in this case we are examining how British Males are being represented. The three films I have chosen to explore are Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Brothers Grimsby and Legend.  All three films feature heavy stereotypes of white British males which is why I feel these films are a good selection of the films to analyse. Stereotypes are a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing however it most often than not has at least a grain of truth an example of a typical stereotype is “the woman is the carer of the child”. Although this may be true in some cases, it isn’t always true this is what we class a stereotype. The issue that is brought up with stereotyping is that people that may not necessarily be from that ethnic group or gender will see the other ethnicity group as what the media portrays them an example of this is that all black people are portrayed as criminals, this gives a bad image to black people therefore people from other ethnicity groups may be more cautions around black people, when realistically only a very small population are actually criminals.

 I will be analysing all three films, this is my primary research for the essay and will be looking at what other people have said about the representations of white British males for my secondary research.

Genre Research Task

The genre I have chosen to research is the action genre. In a typical action film there is a lot of physical storytelling, this is achieved with stunts, chase scenes and fighting. The story often has a main hero which is trying to achieve his ultimate goal by overcoming any issues in his path.


Typical features in the action genre include: Props such as guns, knives, drugs, weapons, money, cars- usually exotic cars. Usually in action films the editing is very fast paced especially in scenes where there are car chases or fighting going this is achieved by using lots of cuts and not keeping one camera angle on too long. The setting in an action film is usually in a big modern city such as L.A, London or New York however some action films are shot in big open deserts an example of where this has happened is in Mad Max and Mission Impossible. Action can happen in any time of day in an action film typically at night there is a stealthy aspect where as in the day time its guns blazing, all-out action. Typical characters in action film include a main protagonist almost always the hero in the film, a villain that will not stop until the hero is dead, a detective type/full police squad, a mob boss and a hitman type character these are just a few examples of the types of characters found in action films.


Examples of action films include: die hard, James Bond Casino Royale, Fast 5, Jason Bourne and mission impossible. These are your main types of action films with high speed chases, gun fights, explosions and fast paced editing however within the action genre you also have your sub genres such as action-comedy which includes films such as rush hour and hot fuzz. By adding a sub-genre to the action genre this gets rid of the repetitiveness that is found in action films a rush hour film is very different to a Jason Bourne film despite them both being action films. The era the film set also adds a level of difference to the action genre we see this in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy and Hobbit Trilogy, these types of films are very different to a mission impossible film but still have that element of action to despite it not having any guns or gadgets in them. Even though some films achieve difference there are many films which often have a lot of elements from other films integrated into them making them very repetitive we see this is in superhero films where not a lot can be done to change the structure causing almost every single superhero action film to be the same with the same results (the hero beating the villain). This is also present in the James Bond franchise where in every film there is James Bond, a villain, exotic cars, cool gadgets and chase scenes/violent scenes. So why do people still pay to see a James Bond film even though they know what will happen? It’s because people love these types of films, it provides comfortable reassurance where the audience is expecting high speed chases and gun scenes , James Bond despite repeating the same structure it changes the villain, it changes the cars, it changes the cool gadgets this keeps it fresh and exciting but also keeping the main elements that make an action film.




Action films have not always been as popular as they are now as the years have gone by the popularity of actions has increased since the first few were made in the 1930s according to the charts even to today’s date the popularity of action films are still increasing and this is backed up by the amount of action films being made. In 2010 action films became the second most popular type of genre and still increasing in popularity where as in 19 30 it was probably one of the most unsuccessful genres.














Looking at IMBD top films, films such as the dark knight, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, inception and Star Wars are all in the top 20 rated films of all time, this shows how popular and successful the action genre really is.

Initial Ideas

Representation of British males in two films

Film ideas
-Kingsman secret service
- Green street
-Kidulthood
-Brotherhood
-Skyfall
-Snatch
-Legend

Pulp Fiction Opening Scene

Using generic signifiers, how is the genre of the film made clear in the opening two scenes?
The crime drama is made clear with the use of props such as guns and cigarettes. The characters present are also characters usually found in a crime/ gangster film there are two robbers that are a couple and two gangsters working for a king pin boss. The language used is very informal and there is a lot of bad language highlighting the grittiness of the characters to give it a further signifier that it is a crime/gangster film.

What enigmas are present in these two scenes?
The opening scenes raise some questions as to who these people are? and other questions such as what is risky? As the male characters first line is 'its too risky'. Another enigma raised is the scene where the two gangsters are in the car and they are casually talking about BigMacs before going to kill people, is this there first time? Why are they so calm? Where are they going?

In terms of narratives, how is the opening of this film different from the usual way of starting a film?
The story told is out of chronological order this adds a sense of difference to the film rather than your everyday gangster film told in order, it provides you with the correct content for the genre however it keeps it different with the narrative structure. The opening film of this starts off with a scene that is towards the end, this is highly unusual as the audience thinks its a random scene however when the film comes together the decisions as to why the director has made the structure like this unravel. The scene then jumps from towards the end all the way back to the very beginning where the film should of started if it followed a normal narrative structure and progresses, this is something you don't see every day.

What stereotypes are challenged/reinforced in the opening of this movie? 

The opening scene consists of planning a holdup in a restaurant and two gangsters arriving at an apartment to collect a briefcase yet it takes over 20 minutes for these scenes to take place. How has the director made these scenes interesting and appealing for the audiences despite the fact not that much actually happens? 

Have An Opinion

The increase in remakes, reboots and sequels and the lack of original ideas in the film industry.

What is the current situation regarding my chosen idea?

The current situation of my chosen idea is worsening every day, the lack of originality means classic films are being recycled and remade with a new cast, although this may not seem like a bad thing some film fans disagree. My personal opinion on the situation is that if the film is not broken why change it? However there is an exception to which films can be remade and which films should be left alone, films such as planet of the apes (2001) being remade as dawn of the planet of the ape (2014) is a prime example of why remaking films is regarded as a good idea. On the other hand you have films like Fantastic 4 (2005) where it has been remade in 2015 and has been regarded as one of the most unsuccessful films of all time and the fact that it has been remade and remade worse than the original film is an example of why films should not be rebooted.

How did it get this way?

Ideas are being generated everyday and most films follow the same sort of pattern with the good and evil side and the good prevailing in the end, we’ve seen it all before, this good vs. evil idea that has been washed out is most commonly found in superhero films where there is a large fan base, there is only so much you can change before it is pretty much the same story every time making it predictable. This in term causes films to lack original content as we have seen it before forcing film makers to remake older films that might not have been as successful as they hoped.  

What is my informed opinion about the issue?

I think the lack of original ideas is a very big issue as fan favourite films are being remade and people are not enjoying it as much as the original an example of this is point break where the rebooted version is a disaster in my opinion the use of cgi and a cast not very well known is a real big issue disgracing the original film where the stunts were created in real time. Another disaster of a reboot is the fantastic 4 which the original film was a disaster and the rebooted film was even worse, this should not be the case when remaking films the new Fantastic 4 has been perceived as possibly one of the worst films ever created and fans and critics were outraged by it. However, a counter argument to this is remakes such as rise of the planet apes which was a very good film in my opinion and is a lot better than the original. One of the best reboots in my opinion has to be King Kong where the 1993 version is unheard of as the 2005 version was miles better this is an example of how remaking films is a good idea. Another example of a reboot is Spiderman which is set to be rebooted for the
Third time, people have mixed opinions on which is better and this can be either good or bad.

What do I foresee happening in the future?

I see many films being remade with a new cast in the far future, I see a lot of superhero films being remade such as the Xmen, Spiderman and even another Fantastic 4 film. I see films that were shockingly bad tried to be remade better which can be either a success or another disaster depending on how the film turns out. Fan favourite films such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of The Rings and many more favourites I see being remade and remade worse than their classic counter parts. I feel if the film was a success it should not be remade into a new one.

A Review of AS Level Media

WWW- I learnt about the magazine industry, the rules and regulations and the way in which that they are produced. I developed my Photoshop skills and my researching skills.

EBI- Improve my photography and produce more detailed imagery with thought behind the way they pose, lighting and positioning

Targets- Learn more about the world of media around me and consume more media texts.