Sunday, 5 May 2013
Saturday, 4 May 2013
AA: EVALUATION
Media Q1 from Alex Atkinson
Media Q2 from Alex Atkinson
Media Q3 from Alex Atkinson
Questions Four and Five
'Who would be the for your film? How did you attract/address your audience?'
Here is the powerpoint for quesiton four and five PRE FINAL PIECE
Here is the powerpoint for question four and five POST FINAL PIECE
'Looking back at your preliminary tast, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?'
Here is the video for question seven:
Here is the link to our preliminary task:
http://twgsbmedia13asgroup2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/group-preliminary-task.html
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Group: EVALUATION - Question 7
'Looking back at your preliminary tast, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?'
Here is the video for question seven:
Here is the link to our preliminary task:
http://twgsbmedia13asgroup2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/group-preliminary-task.html
Here is the link back to "DW: Evaluation":
http://twgsbmedia13asgroup2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/dw-evaluation-question-one.html
Friday, 26 April 2013
Group: EVALUATION - Questions Four and Five
Questions Four and Five
'Who would be the for your film? How did you attract/address your audience?'
Here is the powerpoint for quesiton four and five PRE FINAL PIECE
Here is the powerpoint for question four and five POST FINAL PIECE
Here is the link back to 'DW: Evaluation':
http://twgsbmedia13asgroup2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/dw-evaluation-question-one.html
DW: Evaluation
Question One
'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'
Plot
The narrative of our piece begins with a couple having an argument, the wife then storms off for a walk in the wood to clear her head. Whilst on this walk, she is kidnapped and then murdered by an unknown killer. Meanwhile, unaware of his wife's death, the husband sits down to work at his home desk; he is working on a current case, which is where the audience establish his detective occupation and assume that he is the protagonist. Midway through his work, he gets a phone call informing him of his wife's death, he drops the phone and it fades to black. The audience then sees the detective approaching the crime scene where his wife was found; during this, clips of the killer are integrated, where he directly addresses the camera and therefore the audience. The killer says "bye, bye!" and then the film cuts to the title, 'Taped'.
Audiences become especially positioned with the protagonist, also known as the husband or the detective, his loneliness yet dedication to his work is conventional of a protagonist in a crime thriller as is connotes a dedication to the case - a ruthlessness to solve a job that comes before family.
The lack of dialogue that the audience sees the characters physically say helps with their exposition; this is because it adds an element of mystery to the characters, allowing the audience to purely judge a character on their non verbal language and their appearance. This distances the audience from the characters and means that they form a stereotypical opinion of the them, establishing enigma and also a need to watch the rest of the film in order to establish who the characters really are.
Is our piece conventional?
Within the crime thriller genre, it is hard to create a piece which isn't conventional; as it is the aspects that make up a typical crime-thriller that make them so popular. We took inspiration from a number of films, but mainly from the director David Fincher who directed films such as 'Seven' (1995), 'Panic Room' (2002) and 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (2011). Each of the films mentioned provided inspiration for different aspects of our opening, along with a number of other films.
TITLES
- The use of a minimalistic font and colour for our titles was something we took inspiration from Panic Room. We thought this simplicity would be applicable as it shows the necessary information without deviating attention from the visuals. Furthermore, the coldness of the white and the sharpness of the serif font anchors the thriller genre as it connotes crime and the style of writing in official detective documents.
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Despite being central in terms of framing, the titles do not distract the audience from the visuals yet they still add a chill to the shot.
This is replicated in our piece, however we adhered to the rule of thirds so that the audience's eyes' naturally found the titles, yet they do not remove attention from the action.
SOUND
- For sound, we used the idea of Se7en's repetitive, yet slowly building soundtrack. This meant we were able to build tension through non-diegetic sound in a predominantly minor key. This is conventional of a crime thriller as the lack of overpowering sound allows the audience to focus on the all-important diegetic sounds, whilst apprehension builds as the piece reaches crescendo. For diegetic sound and the overall sound-mix, we wanted it to sound as natural as possible, to anchor the urban settings in which the piece is set - but boosting some elements to add emphasis on the key points of the opening.
'Se7en' (Fincher, 1995)
CAMERA WORK & FRAMING
- This was the most important aspect to get right; camera work and framing is integral to any piece whether it be crime thriller or not. For this, we took inspiration from Batman: The Dark Knight, where The Joker records a hand-held camera film; the audience here is directly addressed by the antagonist which, is rather chilling. The very amateur, shaky camera work at a CU framing at a high angle deepens the audience's understanding of the character, connoting a sense of craziness through a modern way of communication - also it allows the audience to see both the antagonist and protagonist's emotions without being in threat of each other.
Despite being on a television, here, the CU of The Joker as he breaks the fourth wall and directly addresses the audience connects with the audience vicariously, building apprehension and adding character to this antagonist.
Similarly, but this time in a more overt handy-cam style, the direct address to the audience focuses their attention on the twisted and disturbing dialogue, adding depth to their perception of his ill mental state.
MISE-EN-SCENE
- This was the area with most individual components, in that there was a lot to consider if we wanted to make the piece look convincing. For this, we looked at 'Goodfellas' (Scorsese, 1990) where the use of smart costumes and an urban location connoted, in their case, the gangster type persona - for us, the latter would be used to identify the protagonist as the detective. As the bottom right image shows, the suit and tie in combination with the urban setting with a crime scene established by crime tape and cones connotes a crime scene being investigated by a detective. Also, the use of bloody sheets / ruined clothing on the victim in Goodfellas was something we used on our victim to anchor the fact that she is dead, and also to allow the audience to think of ways in which she could have been killed - as shown by the top right image.
'Goodfellas' (Scorsese, 1990)
EDITING STYLE
- For editing, we took a lot of inspiration from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The contrast between light and dark, the fast cutting rate anchored to the non diegetic sound, the iconic dark colour wash, the motivated cuts and the use of expansion of time were all things we wanted to emulate in our final piece:
- The fast cutting rate of mostly motivated cuts in the office scene connotes a sense of the detective's desperation to solve the case in time. It also adds depth to the character as it shows dedication to his job, shows what line of work he is in, and disorientates the audience so that when the phone call arrives, the true emotion of the detective is shown - as despite the fact he was just in an argument with his wife, he still works obliviously.
- The contrast between light, for when the camera shows the protagonist, and dark, for when the camera shows the antagonist, clearly portrays the 'good vs evil' theme common in all crime thrillers. The dark means that the audience sees less of the antagonist, thus adding mystery to him and lessering the amount of trust the audience can put in to him. The light means that the audience are positioned with the protagonist, as he is shown in a 'positive light' of a brighter colour wash, therefore the audience are led to believe that they can trust him.
- Expansion of time is used in the crime-scene scene as the detective is walking up to his wife to see her lying dead on the floor. This technique was employed to decrease the pace of the opening, therefore giving the audience a chance to think and therefore empathise with the detective as the audience are vicariously 'with' the detective as he approaches his dead wife for the first time. This evokes emotion and further places the audience with the detective, whilst also establishing an enigma - who could have murdered his wife and why?
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher, 2011)
Question Two
'How does your media product represent particular social groups?'
- Our piece unintentionally had an all white cast of males and females. Whilst other ethnicities would have fit in our opening, I believe our cast fit the characters we established in the creation of the piece.
- All our cast is young, below the age of 19, however the parts that they portray are at least 7 or 10 years older than they are.
- It could be argued that we have left out a broad range of ethnicities and possibly the older generations, therefore possibly narrowing the demographic at which our piece would attract.
- The audience is positioned with each of the three main characters in the opening, this is shown by the use of camera movement and framing:
- For the wife, the camera tracks her, becomes her POV, and is largely shot at a MCU, therefore placing the audience with her as she hears the reminiscence of the argument in her head - the fluctuating non diegetic sound in the forest scene.
- For the detective, the camera remains at CU throughout the office scene, reaction shots and emphasized diegetic sound, i.e sighing, position the audience with him, and focus on his emotion as he too deals with the stresses of his marriage and work.
- For the killer, the handheld camera effect on a tripod as he breaks the fourth wall and looks dead in to the camera. Here, the audience is positioned with him despite him being the antagonist, as his psychopathic emotions are directly addressed to the audience as they see more of his disturbed character revealed.
- When studying the macro issues of our piece, it is important to consider dominant ideologies in society in the real world, and the dominant ideologies in the genre. Within the latter, there is an element of a patriarchal ideological discourse, in that the males are represented to be the centre point of society: earning the money, playing the protagonist / antagonist, being morally and physically stronger. The females however fill in the domestic and ‘lesser important’ tasks in between - often being the damsel in distress character in a crime thriller. The ideas just discussed are portrayed in our opening in a number of shots:
- As the wife/victim storms out of the house it is suggested that she is morally weaker as she is the one seen leaving rather than the male who stays put. This then puts her in to an element of danger as she ventures in to the woods alone; considering she is also angry, the audience begin to guess that inevitably something bad is about to happen to her, conforming to that damsel in distress character.
- As the detective sits down to work he sighs, but then continues on with his work as if it is more important. This connotes an element of emotional disregard within the character as he is more focused on earning the money and playing the dominant role than he is on maintaining a successful marriage. This could suggest a moral upper-ground to his wife as he is able to think past the argument.
- As the antagonist is threatening to kill the second female victim it is portrayed to the audience that he has no morals at all, not being able to distinguish what is socially right and wrong when he is adamant that what he is doing is correct for his own benefit. Furthermore the ability to capture another victim suggests a degree of intelligence as thus far he has not been caught, but also furthers the idea that the female characters are weaker as once again, a female has been taken hostage.
- Whilst these values are regressive to the dominant ideologies in society in the real world, a place where equality between genders is seen to be the way towards a healthy and evenly functioning culture, for the crime thriller genre, all of the above is common. Without this sexism and the perhaps negative portrayal of females in particular, it would be harder to distinguish character types and their personalities; because everyone would be the same and would be able to do exactly as their male/female counterpart can do - therefore eliminating drama, suspense and ultimately excitement.
Question Three
'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?'
- Considering the nature of the film, and the low costs, our piece would most likely be distributed through a UK Independent Film Company.
- The popularity of the genre would make it appeal to a mass audience if correctly marketed to the core audience of 12 to 29 year olds.
- The high production value for low costs would result in a digital distribution, possibly combined with a small distribution to smaller indie/art-house cinemas.
- For the nature of the film as mentioned above, the film company most likely to be appropriate for our film would be Vertigo Films. Their ethic to films and the distribution of films, combined with their knowledge of the core audience and how to correctly market to them whilst minimizing costs would be ideal in attracting audiences to the film. In addition, their ‘put a film to screen’ mentality, their ability to ‘make films of commercial and international appeal for a fraction of the price’ and also make British films ‘culturally important but entertaining’ (all stated by Vertigo Films) makes the possibility of the success of our film ever-greater.
In terms of marketing, the most successful way to attract attention of the core audience is to exploit web 2.0, the growing number of positive technological determinists and technological convergence. This would mean mobile apps, online blogs, online trailers and teasers, exclusive downloadable content, interactive websites and so on. Combined with the traditional posters at bus stops for example, a large majority of the core audience will be attracted to our film, as it is advertised right there in front of them, on their mobile or computer.
Questions Four and Five
Here is the link to our questions four and five:
Question Six
'What have you learnt about technologies from the process of making your film opening?'
Aside from adapting to incorporating multiple ideas in to one piece, new-to-me technologies have become very apparent.
- The multimedia blogs, through Blogger, where I have uploaded text, video, pictures and slideshows. Also the blog has been used to share ideas, share inspirations, develop genre ideas, increase knowledge of the genre and share location ideas.
- Despite having a fairly detailed knowledge of photography, I found filming to be a completely different experience - predominantly focusing on continuity so that our piece flowed and made sense. Also combining camera movements on tracks and through pans and tilts with moving actors made the task of framing somewhat harder.
- Also with regard to filming, was the ability to be able to look at my work with a more critical eye, something that prompted the almost entire re-shoot of our piece. The first shoots were not as well framed as we hoped and, whilst there was plenty of creative and clever ideas, the reality of employing them in to our piece was minimal. The narrative was changed to primarily create a greater enigma, both Alex Young and I shared the responsibility of the reshoot, when she wasn’t acting, as Alex Atkinson was acting throughout. This time I employed my theatre/drama knowledge to make the movements and framing far more accurate, which involved creative tripod and track shots with the camcorder. Luckily, for both shoots, the natural lighting was perfect for our scenes, cloudy but sunny at the the same time, adding a cold yet bright wash to the entire piece.
- The 180 rule was completely new to me, the idea of keeping audience perspective throughout was something that since the preliminary task I have constantly thought about when filming, it also assisted us in making decisions about shot types and positioning.
- The main learning point was how to effectively use Adobe Premiere for the editing of our piece. This largely involved:
- Continuity editing
- Cutting clips
- Expansion and contraction of time
- Transitions, such as fades
- Anchoring image to sound
- Fading sound
- Channeling sound
- Motivated cuts
- Separating soundtrack and video
- Managing multiple tracks
- Incorporating photos
- Colour washes on photos
- Frame by frame matches
- Re-framing
- Corner pining
- Titles
- Motivated cuts
- Cutting on action
There are four main shots which involved the most consideration when editing:
OFFICE SCENE (CU of hands typing and half the computer screen)
- Carelessly, whilst filming we failed to notice that the computer screen wasn’t actually on when Alex was meant to be typing on it. To solve this, we created a 'white title screen' and scaled it down so it roughly fit over the computer screen, but because the screen was slightly at an angle, we had to make the title more three dimensional. Here, we used the 'corner pin tool' which allowed us to free-form the title so it looked correct in perspective and also fit on the computer screen. Then we added a glowing effect to the title, by feathering the edges to make it look less sharp and more realistic.
ARGUMENT SCENE
- The main issue with this was that the diegetic sound didn’t sound as if it was contained within the room in which the characters were arguing in, also there was quite a lot of background sound such as birds and wind. So we placed a 'high and low pass' on the soundtrack to eliminate the highest and lowest frequencies of sound which eradicated the background noise and flattened the dialogue. To finish off the sound, we also altered the reverb to reduce any echo and effectively choke the sound. The result of this was very effective, and when combined with the fades, done manually through the creation of a no visibility point and a full visibility point spread over the time of around two seconds on the visual map under ‘Edit Effects’, alluded to the effect of an outsider (the audience) listening in to the tail-end of an argument.
PSYCHOPATH SCENES
- We wanted to make these mini-scenes appear to be recorded on a handheld camera as if looking down the view-finder, therefore having the flashing ‘Rec’ symbol and the four framing pieces on the screen. To do this we used titles and text; for the ‘Rec’ we used the text tool, found an appropriate font and coloured it red; then we created a circle shape for the accompanying flashing dot and also coloured that red. Next, we used the same process as we did for the fading of the clips throughout the piece, through the creation of multiple no visibility points and a full visibility points straight after each other, repeated a few times for the mini-scenes so that the ‘Rec’ sign roughly flashes up and down every second.
CRIME SCENE
- In this scene we wanted to create a sense of high emotions; initially we used jump cuts to somewhat augment the scene and reflect the detectives swamped mind. To do this we cut up the scenes and layered it on numerous layers so it jumped back and forth. However, this ended up looking like a mistake in editing/filming so we decided to expand time instead; the effect of this is the audience have more time to appreciate what the detective is experiencing. To do this we right-clicked on the clips and then ‘time-stretch’ and decreased the speed to 80%. Then we altered the reverb once again on the sound to make each footstep echo to add to the suspense of the sequence.
Question Seven
Here is the link to our question seven:
Monday, 22 April 2013
Group: Audience Research - Screening
This is a copy of the questionnaire we gave out to be answered during the screening of our piece. The advantage of this was the ability to see if we were successful in conveying our ideas to the target audience and seeing if they enjoyed it as it was intended.
Here is a short powerpoint outlining the methodology and the feedback that we recieved from the screening of our final piece.
Here is a short powerpoint outlining the methodology and the feedback that we recieved from the screening of our final piece.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Group: Final Edit of Title Sequence
This is the final edit of our title sequence, 'Taped':
- We were really, very happy with our final piece, especially after the more-or-less entire re-film of it so close to the deadline. We feel it portrayed our ideas very well, ones that at the beginning of the process seemed quite daunting and possibly not plausible. The narrative is clear and conventional of the genre which, was the purpose of making this title sequence in the first place and, moreover, we enjoyed the process.
- For our next production, we will consider the complexity and the nature of our piece more effectively so we don't have a repeat of the re-film, and also make sure that each shot we film is integral to the piece in conveying its narrative/meaning. We will definitely take the mentality of striving to make the best piece possible on to the next piece, so we are as happy with it as we are with this.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Group: Props and Costumes
Costumes- Detective
- Dressed in a white shirt and suit trousers
- A suit jacket and tie is added later on in the clip to make him look more proffesional
- Wife
- Red jumper (the colour red holds strong connotations with red and pain)
- Black jeans and wellies
- Every day clothes to show she is normal
- Murderer
- Black T-shirt
- Scruffy hair to make him look manic
- Crime Officers
- Dressed in white forensic suits which are conventional of ferensic scientists
- Kidnapee
- Everyday clothes to make her look like a normal person who has been taken
Props
DSLR camera
Crime tape
Balaclava/Long hat
Photos/documents
Telephone
Monday, 25 March 2013
AA:Textual Analysis
Munich (Steven Spielberg, 2005)
Film Language
The use of diegetic and non diegetic sound is used to create
the tesion of the scene. The dialogue in the first shot is very quite and almost
seems to echo in the head over the man. When the men are getting ready they
speak in a foreign language, this often promotes fear of the unknown in
American movies and so creates the feel that these are the antagonists. At this
point the non-diegetic sound steadily crescendos as the action gets more fast
paced and the tension build. This is further anchored by the shouting that now
occurs as the men are taken hostage. After this the news reports are layered
over the top of many different shots. They carefully explain every detail of
the goings on creating a large amount of tension and key phrases are often said
louder to emphasis and make the audience identify with the characters.
Mise en scene thought-out connotes the personas of the
character the antagonist are shown wearing dark clothing this is contrasted
with the victims who are scene wearing very bright white shirts and shorts and
are taken hostage. This is further highlighted by the low key lighting they are
shown in at the start then once inside the lighting becomes bright strip
lighting with white walls connoting how they are out of place. The gun conform
to the violence of the genre and create further tension as the threat of human
life is created. Both the guns and the clothes the antagonist were wear or
using connote how they were prepare for this and it the premeditated nature and
the urban locations that creates the verisimilitude for the audience to react
to.
The camera techniques
are very conventional in the large amount of close up shots limiting the
audience from viewing the situation, this is further highlighted by the use of
character blocking and long shots which prevent you from seeing the whole
picture in detail. The use of handy cam during the action scenes adds to the
tension and the obvious confusion from the victims. low angle over the shoulder
shots are used to show the position of authority that the antagonists have due
to the possession of a gun this is very conventional as guns are often shown as
the game changer in film plots.
Editing is used to anchor the pace of the narrative. Slow
paced editing is used at the beginning to further highlight the slow increase
in tension. As the tone of the interaction between characters becomes more
violent the editing pace becomes faster until it becomes a montage edit of
different news reports. This juxtaposing is very conventional to the genre as
it creates the physiological aspect.
Media Audience
The film would appeal to a more niche audience of a high intellectual
stance due to the political themes of the movie. The certificate of the movie
identifies the target audience. This further reinforces the idea of a older age
group. It forms conventions to the genre
of historical dramas. This means that people are more likely to watch the film
if they know of the event or wish to. Audience who know of the event will know the plot and so suspense may be difficult to
create so they will need to create tension through the fascination and verisimilitude
of the film and yet if someone does not
know of the event they could find it very interesting as the plot unfolds.
The dominant hegemonic reading for the audience is that they
should feel the sorrow of the event and how it was a tragedy. This positioning
of the audience helps to connect them to the characters and so making the
audience care for the well-being of the characters. Although the plot is very
basic the historical aspect allows the film to get away with the lack of
interesting characters. Secondly although based on a true story artistic license
will be used and so the ideologies of the production company will come across.
True verisimilitude will be reached through the research of the event and
getting the right will be crucial to attracting the target audience as any
major flaws may cause the film to lose it legitimacy and not be taken seriously
by the art house audience
Institutional Context
The guns and almost action like feel to the film would
attract a pronominally male audience and so the way in which advertisement
would take place would very much likely to use traditional promotional
techniques. With Actor such as Daniel Craig who later became James Bond further
identifies the audience as male.
Directed by Steven Spielberg a very famous director the film
will have a very good reputation even before it release on January 27 2006.
Also produced by Universal it is a mainstream institutional movie and so the
marketing budget will be very high, usually 50% on top of the budget. With a
wide release they were able to reach mass audiences this combined with the
marketing budget is a likely cause of their box office takings of £47.4 million.
It was a success and although would be suspected to mostly attract a art-house
audience it was recognised by the mass audience and with key elements such as director
it is clear that they got the film right.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
AY: Textual Analysis
Memento (C Nolan, 2000)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF6zEMDKdBw
Film Language
The mise-en-scene throughout this
sequence is conventional to that of its genre. A contributing factor to this is
the desolate locations making the character within it seem isolated. The fading
images at the beginning of the film create enigmas for the audience as they
appear to be shots from other events in the film. The clips within the title
sequence are done in black and white which links to a film noir style of
editing connoting further to the genre. These clips are also blurred slightly
so that they audience cannot see clearly what is going on creating suspense and
tension for the audience. When the man is seen properly, he looks fairly normal
as he is dressed in a suit. In contrast to this, his suit is a murky brown
colour indicating that he is different as it is not a conventional suit colour.
When the main character has been established, there are short cliché shots of
close ups of blood, a bullet, glasses surrounded by blood spatter and a man
face down who has evidently been killed. These indicate to the audience that
this man is potentially dangerous as he has just murdered someone. This again
creates an enigma as the audience wants to find out who the man is and why he
has been shot. Finally, when the man holds out his hand and the gun flies into
it, it makes it seem as if he has supernatural powers again separating him from
the normality of other humans.
Most of the camera shots used were
close ups to show the emotion on the man’s face or show key pieces that add to
the story such as the bullet on the ground. The man taking a picture is shot
from a low angle positioning the audience from the victim’s point of view. This
makes the audience slightly scared of the man but also, sympathise with him as
he obviously has some form of mental illness. The shot of blood flowing up the
screen creates disorientation and confusion as blood would be expected to flow
down away from a wound.
The use of diegetic sound in the
titles helps to anchor the action within it. The sound of a camera snapping
makes it clear to the audience that it is supposed to be the sound of a picture
being taken. The flapping of the picture is very repetitive, rapid and
overemphasized which helps to set the pace of the scene. The soundtrack is very
dense and moody giving off a tense atmosphere and further creating suspense. In
contrast to this, as the film progresses, the soundtrack becomes higher pitched
and echoes. This creates tension and also adds to the supernatural effect of
the film as it sounds more ghostly. The dialogue in the background is slightly
muffled and sounds more like someone’s thoughts in their head which is another
reference to mental illness or instability.
The editing at the very beginning is
very slow as it creates tension. Matched shots are used to establish different characters
within the film for example, a picture of a woman would appear on the Polaroid
paper, and then next to it would be a scene from the film of her speaking. This
helps to establish the woman’s personality as she is portrayed as being very
aggressive due to what she is shouting. The juxtaposition of these shots is
also very conventional to the genre of the film. The shots of the main
character are all taken in one shot to create continuity within the film by
using pans and tilts. As the film progresses, the pace of the scene quickens as
the action becomes more violent. This makes the audience more excited about
what is happening and gives them less time to take in what is occurring.
Media Audiences
Due to the nature of the storyline
and genre, this film would appeal most to the core audience of 15-24 year old
males. This is because it is an action film but it also involves a ‘puzzle’
within the storyline. Having said this, it would also appeal to a secondary
female audience due to the chosen actor to play the main character. The man, Guy Pearce is considered good looking by
women and would therefore attract them to see the film. Having said this, it
would also appeal to a general audience of an older age as it is a film that
doesn’t contain too much violence and is relatively easy to follow.
The most likely reading of this clip would be
the negotiated reading. This is due to the audience perhaps empathising with the
main character as he is obviously mentally unstable. This encourages the
audience to sympathise with him which would contrast with the dominant
hegemonic reading that he is evil because of his illness and murder is bad. Personally
I would agree with the negotiated reading because I sympathise with the main
character. He is obviously in need of help and although murder is wrong, he is
not in a stable state to look after himself.
Institutional Context
The main character Guy Pearce was not very well known before
this film was made. This meant that the film may not have appealed to such a
wide audience as they were not sure if he was any good at acting. Having said
this, the fact that a Hollywood movie star such as Brad Pitt wasn’t used meant
that more time would’ve been spent focusing on the quality of the storyline and
editing rather than what the actor was doing. However the director, Christopher Nolan, is very well known
within the film industry as creating very high production value films.
The studio that produced Memento was an
independent subsidiary company of Newmarket Capital Group called Newmarket
Films. They have been involved in the production and distribution of many
different films that are marketed towards niche audiences.
The main strategy of the marketing of
Memento was the release of a trailer which involved showing short clips of the
film which gave a rough outline of the storyline and created enigmas. The trailer
was sold to cheap TV channels and online forums such as Yahoo and MSN as the
use of digital technology meant that more people of a younger age would be able
to see the trailer. As well as this, Jonathan Nolan utilised technological
convergence (predominantly Web 2.0) by designing an official film website for
the film. It was similar to the one created for The Blair Witch Project as it gave hints and clues towards the
storyline but did not give any concrete information. As well as this, they sent
out Polaroid pictures to random people with a bloody image of a shirtless man.
Not only was this relevant to the main themes of the film, but it also portrayed
the conventions of the genre and the mise-en-scene appealed to both men and
women through the use of ‘gore’ and the topless man.
I think that the film has been made
to look like a higher budget was used than it was through the use of realistic
special effects and the precise editing of the film. I think that this reflects
the values of the institute as the pre-production took seven weeks. This
indicates that the planning of the film was very well thought out and clear as
they did not have the time or money to waste on making mistakes and re-filming
in post-production.
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