This is one of the very first shots that we use throughout the film, it shows the main woman asleep and a short panorama of certain parts of her room using an eye level shot as it begins to show us the parts of her bedroom, eye level shots put the audience on the same level as the subject in an attempt to create empathy and understanding. The lighting is all very low key lighting which creates a negative feeling in which makes the scene look eery and as though something is going to wrong. However, they then use a cut away shot to show the audience a photo of her and what we first believe is her husband by her bed facing her in the bed, this then implies to the audience that she is in a loving committed relationship and is very happily living with her husband, however he is not in the shot sleeping in bed with her which then makes the audience wonder where he is and why h is not with her sleeping at night like couples do.
When she is woken by what sounds like metal hitting on something she turns on her bed side light and this is portrayed through a point of view shot as we see her looking towards what looks like outside of her bedroom door. This small glimmer of more high key lighting then creates an effect that makes us think that she is now safer as she can see in her room and is more likely to see anything that is going to happen than what she would if she had stayed in the darkness. As she turned on the light and there is only a small amount of light within the room compared to the low key lighting previously and also the low key lighting that is in the rest of the room that is not near the lamp it implies to the audience that although she is thought to be in danger and that something is going to go wrong due to the eery lighting, it implies that the light is hope. As although the low key lighting implies that something is going to go wrong the high key lighting glimmer acts as an act of hope and reassurance that something may go right although it is expected to go wrong. She is seen as a housewife due to the fact that she has photos of her family in her room and has a big house implying room for children.
The women in this advert are portrayed as being very motivated, determined and hard working. This is shown by many different women doing all kins of sports to keep them fit. It also shows that they are very confident because they are all enjoying themselves and look happy in the body's that they are in. The song also has a big impact on the advertisement because Missy Elliot 'Get your freak on' implies women acting in a different way as to how they normally would, so when these women do exercise they become 'freaks' when they exercise as they are so motivated and working so hard to become fit. The song also implies that these women are on a mission to become fit and exercise as much as they can to therefore achieve the level of fitness that they desire. This is implied in the lyrics 'You can't stop me now'. I think this scene in particular has been used to emphasise the fact that doing exercise is a very diverse thing that no matter how old you are, what size you are, or whatever cercumstances you are in you can exercise and become fitter if you work for it yourself. This has been used as she is an older lady who you stereotypically may think may not participate in a lot of physical activity, however she is exercising within the class to her full potential in gym clothes and enjoying it, so this then contradicts stereotypes. I think that for the miss en scene they have placed everybody in gym/ exercise clothes to emphasise the fact that these women are committed, as if they were only going to do these classes and exercises every now and again they probably wouldn't bother buying the specific clothes, but the fact that they have shows us that they are going to commit to the exercise and classes as they have brought the appropriate gear. and are willing to stick at the exercise.
The high key lighting throughout gives off a positive effect to the audience as this implies happiness and shows that exercise is a positive thing that should have a positive stigma attached to it and we should want to participate and enjoy it, like the women within the video.
For my pre-production, I have created 2 CD covers front and back and
my production is a double page spread music magazine about the same artist from
my pre-production.
Prior to making my pre-production
I created a questionnaire, including questions that would help me to
create my pre production so that it would appeal to my target audience. From this questionnaire it allowed me to decide on my ideal target audience for my CD covers and
be able to see what aspects would make them want to buy my CD’s. From the answers and
demographics I received in my questionnaire I was able to make my CD cover in
the way that my target audience wanted. For example from the feedback off my target audience I was able to see that 60% of the audience prefer to have the artist name an 40% preferred to have an image on and 0% were bothered about different colours so I was then able to therefore focus more on the artist's name and image. Therefore I put both on and focused more on these because these were the aspects that were most voted for on my questionnaire. 88% of my target audience were aged 15-18 and the other 11% were 40+ so I was therefore able to research and put into my work aspects that would appeal more to this particular age group. My target audience liked indie rock,
pop and hip-hop mostly so I decided to do an indie rock album. The highest
scoring answer for ‘What appeals to you most about a CD?’ was the artist’s
name, so I made sure that the artists name was very distinctive and unique on
the front of my CD cover as this is what they said they like to see the most so
I made sure that the mode of address (fonts, size and colour) was appropriate
and unique to my specific cover to make it stand out from other CD covers. The
questionnaire also allowed me to decide what price I would sell my CD for as
100% of the people that answered this question said that they would be willing
to pay £8-£10. On the front of one of my CD covers I used an edited image of my
younger sister Sadie as the main images on both CD covers so they were based
around her, I took them like this because on an answer within my questionnaire
that said ‘Do you prefer to have an image of the artist on the CD cover?’ and
40% said ‘No’ and another 40% said ‘Depends who the artist is’ so I used an
image not of my artist to fit the demands of what the target audience wanted. I
also made sure that the image that I took gave a representation of ‘indie rock
music’. All of this research helped me to relate the research into my own ideas about how I could portray my genre through my own CD covers. As my genre was indie rock I chose the aspects that would best portray this genre of music. I did this by editing the image and making the colour scheme black and
white as from my previous research I saw that quite a few albums of the same
genre were made specifically black and white to make them fit the genre of the
music, I also noticed from my research of many indie rock CD covers that on the
covers they have very unique photography that involves something that you may
not expect on a CD cover, because of how diverse indie rock music is and all
that it can entail through different artists as it is such a diverse genre.This is why I tried to make my CD like one that I have not seen before because
I wanted it to be unique but still link back to indie rock. I also did this by
using specific camera angles, one which was in alignment with Sadie was she was
very prominent within the image, so she was the point of focus on the cover
which is what my research implied was most effective. On the other CD cover I
was quite distant from her so that I could take a photo of her walking off into
the distance with her guitar and I was also slightly lower than her so that it
was a different angle but it still made her the main focus of the image. The
mise-en-scene that I used within my CD covers were all linked to indie rock
music. I had Sadie wear a checkered shirt, playing a guitar, having her
hair in an intricate hairstyle, a big floral headband and also doc martins
as all of these have connotations of a 'festival girl' and also 'indie rock.' I
also arranged to take the photos at a certain place in a particular field where
there are a lot of trees and long patches of grass that lead to a small lake, I
chose to take my photography here because indie rock gives off quite a
spontaneous effect, so I wanted my photos to have this same effect and not look
too posed or planned, but to just look like she was going about her normal
hobbies and not being made to model for me in this way. All of these link back to my genre of indie rock music, so all of these aspects will help to portray my chosen genre. From my research of different indie rock band covers they all had a very mysterious look about them and the photos chosen on the covers were all made to look like a spontaneous shot, not posed or forced just natural. I then portrayed this in my own work by taking a picture of Sadie spontaneously and not asking her to pose in a certain manner so that this idea was portrayed through my work, as they have connotations of my chosen genre.
My textual analysis also
helped with my pre production as from researching different magazines, CD
covers and artists that produced the same genre of music that I wanted my
CD cover to be. From my textual analysis research I was also able to see all of
the different aspects that the different CD covers that I researched from bands that are of the same genre as to what I have chosen, for example; The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Muse, and Two Door Cinema Club. These for example had: main
image, colours, title, the layout, genre and also fonts. I was able to get a
few ideas and see which parts I liked and wanted to use within my own work, and
I was also able to see which aspects I did not think looked as good as they
could have and decided through all of my research why I did not want to use
certain aspects and the negatives of them. I was also able to see why certain
aspects had been used on the CD cover, this then resulting in research as to
how I could incorporate certain aspects of the cover into my work for the right
reasons that would help to portray my genre. I was able to analyze all of the strengths and all of the weaknesses
of different CD covers and pick out the parts in which I liked the
most and that I thought would have the best outcome and effect on my
own work. For example, from research of many Folk CD's and Indie Pop CD's
I noticed that most of the images were either very brightly coloured, or very
dark gloomy colours. From this research I decided to use a black and white
theme all the way through out one of my CD covers, also the image
that I decided to use on one of my CD covers was from research, I found a CD
cover of a girls' neck and shoulders with an image of New York City being
portrayed faintly on to this area of her body, so to fit my theme I used the
same idea and took a picture of the same part of the body, made it black and
white, placed an image of trees from a forest (also to fit my theme from
previous research) on to the image and emphasized the collar bones and certain
parts of the image, I decided to make my cover like this as I think that it was
a really unique idea and gave off the correct connotations of the genre of
music. Also if the CD was to go on sale I think that it would stand out against
other ones as sale as I have not seen one that is similar to the one that I’ve
produced. In comparison from the aspects from different CD covers
which I picked out to interpret in my own I think had a positive outcome
as it appealed to my target audience and also gave off the correct ideology as
to what you would expect from an indie pop/ folk music CD cover as to what it
entails.
Production:
For my production I created
a double page spread for a music magazine, about a new up coming indie
rock band. As this genre was one of the most popular answers off my demographic
target audience from my questionnaire, I created my pre-production with
the same genre of music and I had a lot of ideas as to how I could present my
work with the representation and ideology of indie rock music, I chose to make
a double page spread for this genre after researching many other bands who are of the same genre like: The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Two Door Cinema Club, Muse and others previously listed. Another reason that I chose this genre was
so that it linked to my pre-production. I then chose 3 girls to use as models;
I dressed them in the appropriate attire to make them look like a rock band and
made them pose in positions that looked distinctive from other magazines and in
ways that would make my magazine double page spread memorable to an audience. I
think that the location of my photos was a strength of my production as I think
that the locations really emphasized the fact that the girls were in a rock
band and made the images look really realistic and individual. This then had a positive effect on my work due to my research because I could then compare it to the others had researched and saw how effective they were to their target audience and then could relate this to how effective I thought that the images I had taken would be and could choose which I thought would portray my genre best. I think a weakness
of my production was a few specific images; if I were to do this again I would
re-take a few of my images in different lightings so that they look slightly
more professional and glamorous. I based my magazine cover on this recent
Arctic Monkeys double page spread:
From my research I found
this magazine double page spread that I liked the best as it looks like a collage. I think
that this then gives the magazine an edgy look and makes it appeal more to the
target audience, the layout was a factor that I really liked from this double
page spread so I interpreted it in my own way into my own work. In comparison
to the original article I think that my work has the same layout (which was my
intention) and I have also picked out one main colour to have the interview box
in and also the first letters of certain paragraphs to make the article look a
lot more interesting and to also give colour connotations. As red is a very
powerful colour and gives off a lot of representations and connotations as it is a very powerful colour. I wanted the girl group
to also look very powerful and dominant within the magazine like the colour red
is on the page. From reading many magazine double page spreads I was also able
to get ideas on what to write within my textual content. My magazine spread
gives connotations of age, due to the age of the girls that I used (teenage
girls that are the same age as my target audience) by using girls the same age
as the target audience it then appeals to the target audience more as they
aspire to be like the people in magazines, especially if they are of a similar
age to them. The social economic class for my magazine would be C1, as this
involves students who are most likely to buy this type of magazine.
Dover Self-esteem advert, 2012. Mise en scene: What the girls are wearing represents age because this is what the girls this age would have to wear for these certain activities. Two of the girls that are in the advert are wearing leotards, and the second girl that you see wearing a leotard is wearing joggers over the top, this then implies that she does not feel comfortable within how she looks and is wearing the joggers to cover up her legs as she is not comfortable. The final girl that you see is wearing a swimming costume that fits her fine, but she looks down and ttys to pull it up even more as she is trying to core her body, shortly after this she puts he arms around her stomach so this also implies that she is trying to hide her body away.
Camera angles/ camera movements: The camera angles make sure to show other individuals doing the sporting activities whilst one of the girls is making it obvious that she is not happy with the position that she is in and that she does not feel comfortable. This then shows the other girls participating within the activity and you begin to understand why they may not want to participate. The camera angles also make sure that you can see the girl who does not fell comfortable doing the activity doing the sport and they sen fine but then after they have done it they look very self conscience and you as the audience can see ho w conscious they are. This then gives the impression to the audience that this is a serious issue and many, many girls feel this way about themselves and you feel sorry for them because of how these young girls are constantly targeted to look a certain way. The camera angles are also very effective because when they focus on the girl that feels uncomfortable and unconfident they put the camera angle at their level which means that as we are looking at them on the same level as they are at, it then could imply that we are looking at life for them from their level also. We are then seeing what life is like for them and how they view their everyday life and activities This then also means that we get an insight of how they see things and the way that they are feeling.
Lighting: Soft
Colour connotations: The colours used throughout the advert have been slightly dimmed because although all of the girls are wearing bright colours but they have all been slightly dimmed to match the genre of the advert. As, if the genre and mood of the advert as still as it is and they had all bright colours then it would not fit the genre of the piece due to the fact that the mood of the piece is very emotional so the dimmed colours fit he mood of the piece well. Also after you have seen all of the girls at their sporting activities it shows all of the girls at what looks like an activity day helping raise self-conscious awareness and making girls feel better about themselves, as this is a change of mood from previously in the advert the colours have become a lot brighter implying a happier environment and a better situation in which the girls feel better bout themselves.
Editing techniques: They have used different clips of different girls doing a variety of different sports, e.g gymnastics, swimming and ballet. This is effective because it then gives more than one example of how this problem is effecting a wide variety of young girls, and affects people in all types of sports. This also then shows the amount of girls that are feeling the pressures of society and in the media. Young girls feel pressured and very bombarded to look a certain way and to be a certain size and body shape, and as a result of this many young girls are willing to give up their hobbies that they enjoy and may have extreme potential in, just because they do not feel comfortable in how they look in what they have to wear for their particular sporting activity.
Sound: Non diegetic, this then creates more of an emotion throughout the advert as it is an emotional song as the advert is about an emotional topic.
Main image: They have used a close up of the top half of Lady Gaga's body. This is to emphasise her body language and facial expression. It is a very posed and laid back image. The way that she is posing with her hands across her best shows that she is showing her feminism to the audience and that she is not ashamed to be posing how she is whilst wearing minimal clothing and posing with a very sexual and intriguing look on her face that draws the audience in to the image which then draws the audience into the article as well, this means that the main image doe sits job to help advertise the text. Her hair and make up has been done in a 60's style to attract a wider audience and also to show her individuality as an artist as nobody else has their hair and make up like this so this then expresses her individuality as an artist and her individually as a person.
Columns: 3 columns in a simple layout that are all exactly the same and this then gives the page a classy style and layout.
Drop cap: The drop cap of the 'S' attracts the audiences attention towards the text.
Main image: The main image is a full body shot of Cheryl Cole. This then advertises her figure and the clothes that she is wearing. Also the clothes that she is wearing are very high end fashion, thesis interesting because she has been made to be very sexualised so although men will look at this and say that she is a very stunning icon, women still want to buy these clothes not only for the attraction from men because the men do not even know what kind of fashion they are or how high end fashion they are they just think about how good Cheryl looks in them. Women often buy these high end fashion items more to impress women that to get the attraction from men because as men do not know much about high end fashion whereas the women will know what makes an brands she is wearing and then therefore want to buy it to impress other women.
Columns: As the columns are the exact same size and shape this gives the magazine a classy look.
Drop cap: The drop cap of the 'I' attracts the audiences attention towards the text.
Main image: Attracts the readers attention and also because it is a different colour scheme to the others, the college of the other images also attracts attention to the main image as they are smaller than the main image so the eye automatically goes to the main image. As the main image is a non forced or non posed image it gives the picture a much more relaxed look, this then makes the fans feel that they are with the band and that they are getting exclusive footage and images because they are just casual pictures of them on tour just being themselves so the fans feel a lot closer to them and feel as they are getting information that nobody else is as it is not about the main things that they are doing it is about extra non-exclusive things that they are just doing as a band.
Columns:The columns are all about the same size so this then gives the article a classy look, also the quote in the middle of all of the text draws attention to the text within the magazine.
Drop cap: The draw cap on each of the new paragraphs draws attention to the different parts of the article because they are a different size and different colour they make the article look more 'indie rock' like the band that they are talking about which is good because this then means that all of the magazine article has the same theme.
'Write 500 words on how your research has helped you with your pre-production and who your target audience is and why?'
The researches that I have
completed to help me come to my final outcome of my pre-production are: my
questionnaire and textual analysis. These have had a big impact on the type of
pre-production that I came to finally decide to make. As, these were the
indicators that helped me to make my final outcome. They were useful because
they helped to make my product appeal to a wider and more diverse audience
because I tried to use the features that the majority of people who filled out
my questionnaire voted for and wanted to see on my CD cover. So as I went with
the items with the highest votes it should attract a wider diversity of people,
as it is what they answered and what they want to see on a CD cover when they
buy one. From my questionnaire I could not only see the features that my target
audience most wanted to see on a CD cover but also the factors that they most disliked
for certain reasons and did not think were important, or want to see on a CD
cover. This was then very useful to me as well because then I could try to work
out reasons why they may not like this particular feature and try make sure
that my CD cover did not have the certain elements that they did not like,
whether it be the main image, fonts, colours, the artists name or even the
structure of the CD cover. My textual analysis has also helped me to come
to the final outcome of my pre-production CD cover because as I analyzed different
CD covers I saw what other features people put into their CD covers that looked
effective and made them unique so I could then try and come up with and include
different elements to my CD cover as well. It was also interesting to find out
why certain CD covers had specific elements on, as I could then interpret this
into my own work and try to make it up to the highest standard possible.
My textual analysis also allowed me to pick out specific elements from
the wide range of CD covers that I looked at and analyzed, this then allowed me
to be able to pick out the parts that I liked specifically and change them
slightly to include into my own work to fit the genre, theme and style of my CD
cover. My target audience is teenagers ages 15-18 and a few of my target
audience were up to the age of 41 and slightly over. This is the age range that
all of the people who completed my questionnaire were aged between. This age
range is also my target audience as this is around the ages that this specific
genre of music is aimed towards and that this particular age range listen to,
enjoy, and also who the artists themselves aim their music at.
