Assignment 3: Existing product research

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - CAN'T HOLD US FEAT. RAY DALTON

Mis-en-scene: The mis-en-scene in this video has a variety of different features. For example, when the singer goes on the plane, it implies that he is going on a journey in order to spread the word of 'The Heist', which is Macklemore's album name. Furthermore, at 1:53, when the artist is in front of the camel, it shows that he is travelling around the world and going to exotic lands that imply he will stop at nothing until he succeeds his mission which is to be victorious and get people to know his name.

JEREMIH FEAT. 50 CENT- DOWN ON ME

Camera work- The camera work in this music video is mostly a worms eye view because it looks up at the artists which present their dominance as they are looking down on the camera lens. Also the video tends to pan around the artists as they are singing/ rapping which also shows the background with the funky lights and the pretty women. This shows that they are the dominance as they don't  walk around the camera, the camera walks around them.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE- MIRRORS

Mis-en-scene/ visual effects: The mis en scene in this video shows the history of a couple and the women as her older self looks back through pictures and messed up rooms to show how their relationship fluctuates. Also the visual effect show how the women as her older self looks back on how much has changed and then they first met and how the relationship began. 



KATY PERRY - LAST FRIDAY NIGHT

Narrative: The narrative in this video is about a nerdy female played by Katy Perry who is trying to study and concentrate but she is being disturbed by their neighbours who is having a crazy teenage party with a number of people from he school, she decides to go to the party and tell them to keep the music down but is drawn to the music and decides to stay. She then gets a complete makeover and then decides to join in on the fun and then starts to drink and get drunk and she finds love and wakes up the next morning to find the house in a complete wreck and her parents find out.  

MICHAEL JACKSON- SMOOTH CRIMINAL
Editing: The editing in this song is quite fluent as the song doesn't stop moving and it shows how much of an intense song it is. Furthermore the actors have very fluent movement and dancing which implies that they are tying to link with the song and make sure that it fits into the video.

Assignment 2: Film Case Study Research

Taken (2008)
I have chosen the film Taken. "Taken" is a 2008 French thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. The screenplay was written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by human traffickers while travelling in France.

Institution
This film was produced by: 

• EuropaCorp (presents) (as EuropaCorp.)
• M6 Films
• Grive Productions
• Canal+ (with the participation of)
• TPS Star (with the participation of)
• M6 (with the participation of)
• All Pictures Media
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
• Wintergreen Productions
• The distributor from the UK is by 20th Century Fox 

No brand loyalty
1) The genre of the film is a Action adventure thriller.

2) I know it fits into the genre because one man travels all the way across the world to find his daughter and kill the men who kidnapped her.

3) This film has Liam Neeson as he has an establishes audience for action.



It’s all a matter of timing
1) September 2008

2) January 2008

3) They advertised this film by posters on London buses and posters and billboards.


It’s a social thing
1) Many people spoke about it because

2) Find three quotes (no more than 25 words each) from user reviews of your movie to create a picture of what the public reaction to the film has been. Post them on your blog.



Risky business
Use IMDB to find out the box office records for your chosen film. Find your film, click on Company Credits and then Box Office/Business. You may want to use the excellent website Box Office Mojoto find out the budget and box office success for the film.

1) What was the original budget for your chosen film?

2) How much money did the film make in the opening weekend?

3) How much money has the film made in total? (Look for the subheading ‘Gross’ which has the total box-office earnings listed).

4) For a film to be considered a box office success, it needs to make at least two-and-a-half timesthe budget in box office takings. Using this method, was the film you have chosen a success? (Or, if it's a recent release, do you expect it to be a box office success?)



Stars in their eyes
Research the stars and director for your chosen film.

1) What films has the director previously directed? Are they in the same or similar genres?

2) Who is the main star in the film?

3) What other films has the main star appeared in? Are any of the films similar to the one you are researching?

4) Are the stars or the director or writer mentioned in the trailer for the film?



Take it further...

If you've finished the questions above, work through the following tasks to take your case study to another level:

Newspaper reviews
A more traditional starting point for word-of-mouth is press reviews of the film. Almost all national newspapers carry film reviews of the big releases and positive review quotes are often used on the film's marketing material.

Read three newspaper reviews of your chosen film and select five quotes from each review that tell you what the reviewer thought of the film. You can look at the Guardian film website, theTelegraph film website and other reviews in magazines such as Empire.



Additional promotion
Look back 'It's all a matter of timing' question 3... What other examples of promotion can you find for your chosen film? TV chat show appearances (e.g. Graham Norton, the One Show etc.) Radio interviews? Make notes and embed any clips in your blog. 

Narrative Theory

The Wolf Of Wall Street

The conventions of Todorov's theory is that it has an equilibrium  when he starts his new job and starts to make millions of dollars by using The basic method of the firm is a pump and dump scam. To cloak this, Belfort gives the firm the respectable name of "Stratton Oakmont". After an exposé in Forbes, hundreds of ambitious young financiers flock to his company. The movie has a disequilibrium when the protagonist Jordan Belfort starts to use his money for bad used like drugs and prostitutes. The movie then receives a new equilibrium when Belfort turns his life around and starts makes a living hosting seminars on sales technique.

Also, the conventions of Propps theory was very complicated as many of the characters are evil. But the the main protagonist is Leonardo DiCaprio because he starts his business and makes millions. the Heroine is Margot Robbie because she is the woman that DiCaprio marries.  The father of the movie is Matthew McConaughey because he guides DiCaprio to his business. The helper of the film is Jonah Hill because he works with DiCaprio in order to make history. The donor of the film Jon Bernthal because he provides ideas like moving his money to a different country.

For Barthes theory in this film contains the Enigma code makes us think that he could do with millions of dollars and we also think that if he gets caught by the FBI because he has done so much illegal felonies. The Action codes in this film suggests that he meets this new women in who he marries and has a daughter. It also suggests that Belfort will get arrested because this movie is based in real events so we know that he will get arrested. And the FBI never fail to capture their target and Belfort is at the top of the list

Representation Analysis

The Wolf Of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street represents Americans Businesses in the 1980's as corrupt and busy. This is because it’s about a company that abuses their use of money to live their life illegally by taking drugs and the FBI try to gather as much evidence to prove he is guilty but he is clever enough to erase that he was involved in almost all crime taking place in their city. Also the film is very sexist as they use many female actors and are used as "hookers" and prostitutes which introduce a lot of explicit content. This could imply that they referred to women as "objects" back in the 1980's, This is inappropriate because is it true that everyone is equal as women are referred as "objects" is very sexist and stereotypical. This movie also represents the 1980's as crooked and shady because the movies contains a lot of drugs and explicit content which could influence young teenagers that this is what America used to look like. This movie also does not consist of a lot of black people because in the 1980's there was a lot of racism. This represents that during this period, Americans were very biased and racist. This also gives the American Dream a bad name because it goes against everything the American Dream goes for. This is because it represents the stereotypical fact that Americans are lazy and greedy.