Pixar: Mater and the ghost light

The Hero: The hero is Mater himself because he is the one who finds out that the ghost light is only a lantern on his tow bar.
The Villian: The cars that tell Mater about the ghost light and the car that puts the lantern on his tow bar.
The Donor: This is lighting mcqueen because he tries to reassure Mater that its just a story.
The dispatcher/helper: The police car is the helper by telling Mater that the ghost light is fake.
The father figure: The police car because he is trying to reassure Mater that the ghost light isnt real.
The princess: The princess will be Mater. This is because, although he is not a girl, he is still the damsel in distress.

Action code: This when the the ghost light goes off for a second, and you have the suspence of what is going to happen next.
Enigma code: The ghostlight is the enigma code because it is infact just a latern, which is explained in the end.
Semantic code: The light could in fact mean being saved (light at the end of the tunnel).
Cultural code: The ligh is referred to as something from the deep beyond. This could mean a spiritual precence.

Symbolic code: Mater is the hero, but it scared of the light. 

Binary opposites: Mater is the hero, even though he does not know it. He is a coward because he is scared of the ghostlight.

ideology: The ideology is that when you are scared, the outcome usually isn't as scary as you mkae it out to be.

Barthes' theory of narrative

Roland Barthes describes a text as:

"a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..."

What he is basically saying is that a text is like a tangled ball of threads which needs unravelling so we can separate out the colours. Once we start to unravel a text, we encounter an absolute plurality of potential meanings. We can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, bringing to bear one set of previous experience, and create one meaning for that text. You can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle, by pulling a different thread if you like, and create an entirely different meaning. And so on. An infinite number of times. If you wanted to.

Barthes wanted to - he was a semiotics professor in the 1950s and 1960s who got paid to spend all day unravelling little bits of texts and then writing about the process of doing so. All you need to know, again, very basically, is that texts may be ´open´ or ´closed´. Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try and unravel meaning are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the following five ways:

• Symbols & Signs
• Points of Cultural Reference
• Simple description/reproduction

Propp's Theory of narrative

Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic, active in the 1920’s, published his Morphology of the Folk Tale in 1928. While the Soviet cinema was producing excellent films, Propp was essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales. He noticedFolk tales were similar in many areas. They were about the same basic struggles and they appeared to have stock characters. He identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions. Characters, according to Propp, have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.

The Hero – a character that seeks something

The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

The Helper – who aids the hero

The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

 Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

Todorov's teory of narrative:

editing

Film Editing

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Apocalypse Now - Helicopter Attack- Kilgore

Diegetic sound used: (0:00 - 0:07)
The sound of the helicopters deafens out all other sounds being made in the scene. This is a diegetic sound because the sound is actually created by the object in the scene. This means that the sound does not have to be added in at the end, in the final edits of the film.

Non-Diegetic sound used:  (3:46 - 3:56)
Background music is being played as the helicopter fly. This is non-diegetic sound because the background music has been added in in the final editing. This has been added in at the end to add another effect to the overall atmosphere of the scene. These sounds usually start on screen and end up coming on screen.

Sound bridges used: (0:27 - 0:34)
The noise from the helicopter carries on into the next scene when a man is signalling it to land. This is a sound bridge because the helicopter moves into the scene as long as the sound of it, whilst another sound is coming from a man trying to get the helicopter attention at the same time. They also give the film a sense of linking.

Parallel sound used: (4:28 - 4:37)
Happy music is being played when the troops are being sent in to help out.This is parallel sound because the music compliments the scene. This is because the happy music helps to create the atmosphere of hope and will make the viewer think that things will turn out good for the troops.

Contrapuntal sound used: (8:25 - 8:32)
Happy music is being played when the troops are under heavy attack. This is contrapuntal sound because it is not a good thing that the troops are being attacked so a more depressing piece of music should be playing in the background the compliment the scene better.

Mise-en-scene

Setting and props:

In this scene Harry and Voldemort are in the newly destroyed courtyard at Hogwarts. All the rubble on the exterior was all made out of polystyrene which was dipped in sand to give the effect of a rock. Every single tiny fragment had its exact place to be in the scene. The wands would have been made out of wood, and the lighting bolts would have been added in with CGI in the final editing. 

Costume hair and make-up:

In this shot, all the characters are wearing tatty clothes. This is because they have been getting damaged as they battle to save hogwarts. Many of the characters will have blood on their faces and body parts, this adds to the overall effect on a battle.Voldemort's black cape symbolises darkness and shows us that he is not a good character. By the clothes harry is wearing, we can tell that the film is set in the present day because he is wearing what typical teenagers would wear in this era. 

Facial expressions and body language: 

In this scence, harry is gritting his teeth. From this we can see that he is putting all his energy into defeating Voldemort. Also, as Harry is on his knees this symbolises that even though he is down, he is not out. By Voledemort still being on his feet, we can learn that it may seem that he has the upper hand because he is higher up than Harry. 

Lighting and colour:

From the colours of the lightning bolts we can learn a lot about the characters themselves. As Voldemort's lightning bolt is green we can understand that he is a bad character because the connotations of green are evil. On the other hand we can work out that Harry is the good character because his lighting bolt is red and the connotations of that colour are love and passion. Also, the sky is grey and not very bright, this means that a dark vibe is lurking over the top of the action.

Positioning of characters/objects within frame:

As the characters are standing so far apart this symbolises that they do not like eachother and they want to destroy one an other.  Also, positioning the characters right in the middle of the camera shot makes them the focal point of the scene and by putting them in the main courtyard at Hogwarts its gives a sense of how important the battle is.

Sound

Different types of sound! on Prezi

How Films Are Made

How Films Are Made

Tessa Perkins

To what extent do you agree with Tessa Perkins' 5 assumptions? Explain your anbswers and refer to stereotypes in TV drama.

Tessa Perkins believes that:
• Stereotypes are not always negative (e.g. 'The French are good cooks').
• They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful ( e.g. 'upper class twits').
• They can be held about one's own group.
• They are not rigid or unchanging ( e.g. the "cloth cap worker of the 1950's became the
1980's 'consumerist home-owner who holidays in Spain').
• They are not always false

Firstly, i agree with Tessa Perkins' first assumption that stereotypes are not always negative. This is because they can be used to describe a group of people that are good at a certain subject, e.g. "the French are good cooks". From this we can learn that even though we are stereotyping a certain group of people, it is not being used to cause grief for the person.

Secondly, i do not agree with Perkins'assumption that stereotypes are not always aimed at minority groups or the less powerful. This is because most of the stereotypes are aimed at people less superperior, e.g. "the poor have no social life". From this we can learn that people only like the sterotype at people that are less than or equal to themselves.

Also, i agree with Tessa's assumption that stereotypes can be held in about one's own group. This is because everybody has opinion about all of their friends and family, e.g. "everyone is my family is grumpy". From this we can learn that people even still sterotype about te people that are close to them.

Forthly, i diasgree with Perkins' assumption that stereotypes are rigid and unchanging. This is because as time goes on, people perspective of somebody may change, e.g. "cloth cap worker of the 1950's became the
1980's 'consumerist home-owner who holidays in Spain". From this we can learn that as time goes on people can change their mind about what they think of other people by the enviroment changing around them.

Finally, i disagree with Tessa Perkins' assumption that stereotypes are always false. This is because stereotypes are usually made to change a certain group of peoples opinion on a certain thing. Also, many people are pressured into believing in a stereotype because of their up bringing and surroundings.

An example of TV stereotyping is Ben from EastEnders. He is stereotyped as being homosexual because he enjoys things like tap dancing and watching musicals. As time progresses, we find out that his stereotype is the complete opposite and that he is just like his father. This shows that stereotypes are not always correct and TV dramas use stereotype story lines to make us viewers at home aware of this.

Camera Angles

Camera Angles

Paramount Powerpoint

Paramount pictures powerpoint

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Pan - Showing facial expressions and actions of all students in the scene. It is setting the mood for the whole clip.



Arc - This camera angle is used to create tension and show the body language of the person and show their emotions.



Track - This camera angle is used to show the actions of the character as the camera gets further away.



Zoom - This camera angle is used to focus on a particular part in the scene.



Hand-Held shot - This camera angle is used to create a scence of realism.



Crane shot - This camera angle is used to look directly over the action.

Media Class Survey 7/9/2011

Class Survey MEDIA

Summer Transition Pack Work

Transition Pack Tasks