Laura Mulvey Major Lazer

The group that consisted of three members created a music video to the song major lazer. It didn’t involve it was a dance video.

Laura Mulvey’s theory talks a lot about the “male gaze” how the audience is forced to see the men in films from a man’s perspective and how woman in media are objectified by a stereotypical heterosexual culture. This theory was later adapted into the “spectators gaze” which is the same basic concept but is indiscriminate of gender.

When applied to the Major Lazer video the “male gaze” can be used to a very large degree. The song features a number of dancers of both gender, but the key difference is how the camera moves and is positioned when viewing female dancers to if it is a male dancer. The camera a zoomed in on certain aspects of the females body (legs etc.) so that we are meant to be admiring their bodies rather than their dancing. This is the complete opposite when a male dancer is the focus having a more zoomed out perspective which makes it easier to showcase their dancing technique so the audience is drawn to admire their dancing. While woman are on screen it is a “male gaze” which will switch to a “spectator gaze” when there is a male dancer on screen. This is evidence that the audience is expected to identify with a male heterosexuals perspective.

Narrative of preliminary task

For my preliminary we had to create an opening sequence to a film.

The narrative structure of our sequence was like many opening sequences of real media products of the same genre (thriller). Enigma code is raised straight away during the sequence the main part is the identity of the killer like many other products the opening will only give hints to what they look like further enticing the viewer to watch the rest of the film to find the killers identity.

Like many crime thriller the opening sequence of the film showcases the code which the antagonist will follow for their murders. This is essential to the narrative of this kind of film as it helps give facts of how the film will unfold and how the protagonists (usually a detective) will solve the enigma and stop the crime.

The camera and the scene also give the viewer insight into the antagonist’s character without the need for dialogue. The opening sequence also helps set up the initial equilibrium of the film.

Audience theory in my foundation portfolio

For the foundation portfolio of my media course we had to create an opening sequence to film. My group created the opening to a thriller/slasher film which begins with a scene showing one of the murders that take place during the film and the resulting news reports the following day.

The main theory to do with audience that I will be applying is “Uses and Gratification” which looks at why a audience would choose a certain piece of media and what they themselves gain from doing so and how they can differ to the “Uses and Gratification” of another individual.

When looks at from the entertainment part of the theory an audience could get a wide range of gratification depending on their individuality.  One member of the audience may receive a scopophilic gratification from watching the opening sequence as they are seeing something that they know is seen a taboo to society (the murder) and so will gain pleasure from seeing it. However as already stated this is only one possible way in which an audience can be gratified by viewing the sequence. Another one of the many is that someone may just view any media without selection as a way of just filling time (this would be for an audience who has boredom influence what they watch.)

An audience may find that the product would gratify them from a social stand point as well. The film could gratify a person’s morals as the protagonist may have shared or had similar ones to the audience. To another audience who comes to identify with the characters it may be a substitute for companionship. The product could also serve as a conversation point especially if watched by/with others and so would gratify that audience member socially in that way. These are only some of the examples of how an audience can be gratified by a media piece but as I’ve already said it will depend on the individual.

Because our piece is fictional and the sequence itself is quite low brow the information part of the theory doesn’t apply as much as the others and would hint towards the theory of how society and media is becoming increasingly “dumbed down” although obliviously the film would have some detective elements if was made a so would possibly give a person satisfying of curiosity depending on the individual.

Audience is of great importance to media as a whole, from one point a producer may target certain audiences and so would construct what the audience thinks and so the media products will be based round audience. In others pieces of media the product itself is only defined by what the audience perceives it to be. Audience are of great importance to the whole concept of media because media cannot exist without someone to use, view or hear it.

Genre in media and its importance

Genres in film play an important role in the way an audience will view a film and serve as the one of the main ways in which films can be categorised by analysts.

 The categorisation of a film will depend on the characteristic of that particular piece of media (setting and the conventions that it follows). This categorisation tries to refine the film to its simplest form so it can be properly explained to an audience. Though all films will fall under genres such as western, action, drama etc. There also exists sub genre which will give a more accurate definition of a particular film. Genre only really work like this to a limited degree as a lot of media products will not fall easily into one genre this results in many films and TV shows become “hybrid genres” which shows characteristics from multiple genres. The categorisation is just means in which people may simplify a media product to greater understand and communicate them with others but does this simplification reflect the product properly or is it just the easy/lazy way to analyse a product.

The genres themselves will depend on the how complex the social group analysing media products are, by this I mean there can be as little as five different genres to divide into for one group (Drama, Horror, Romance, Comedy, Action) whereas another group could have much more. The amount of genres can be infinite it all depends on the person analysing the media product and how they perceive each piece compared to someone else. For example a person may see the film “Rise of the planet of the apes” as an action film with the humans as the protagonists of film and how the apes took over this would contrast to someone who sees the film from a psychological pointy of view seeing Caesar as the protagonist and making notes of the themes of slavery and captivity. My point is a media product can only truly be put into a genre by a individual viewing the piece and their point of view can only apply to them, this shows genre categorisation as being a very personal thing.

Genre is also an essential to the media industry as a whole. From an advertising point of view if a film is not properly categorised they will not attract the desired audience to view their product and may lead to poor reception because they attracted people not looking for a film that follows certain codes and conventions. Although it will never be the case which a film will fall into only one category the industry must be accurate to a certain degree when using genre if their media product is to be successful. The way that the industry selects the genre will also influence the audiences perception of a product  if a person was told the film was thriller before viewing a film they are likely to see the product differently to the way they would have perceived the film if they were told they were viewing a action film.

Representation in my foundation portfolio

For the foundation portfolio we had to create an opening sequence to film. My group was a thriller in which the opening sequence shows a stalking scene between the films antagonist (the killer) and one of his victims. It then shows a news report that follows up the story on the previous nights actions.

If you were to apply Laura Mulvey’s theory to it the points that would arise is the voyeuristic treatment of the female characters. This especially applies to the victim characters since the majority of her onscreen time is from a POV shot from the killer’s perspective. The theory would state how the woman are treated voyeuristically and how the audience which will be assumed as male treats her a an object of gaze this voyeuristic gaze will continue up until the point of her murder then the audience will arch over into a scopophilic  state of mind. In short if Laura Mulvey’s theory was used to analyse the opening sequence it would say that it adheres to the theory of male gaze through the use of character portrayal and camerawork.

Roland Barthes is a theorist that believed that all forms of culture media are made is primarily made up from a system of signs. The two main points of his work are semiotics which is the study of individual signs and structuralism which looks at the relationships between signs. The narrative code part of his work can be easily applied to the portfolio. The code that stands out most in particular is the enigma code which like many thrillers will cause the audience to question what they are watching (what are the full details of the killing, what does the killer look like etc.) The other codes aren’t as prominent as because of the opening sequence’s length it only really raises questions for the audience to find the answer to later on in the film.

Representation is a very important concept to media as it allows the audience to temporary see the world the same way in which the maker of product does and helps them to identify with the maker so that the product can be easier to view as the producer had intended it. Without proper representation of essential elements such as protagonists the audience will not properly identify with them and will not become properly engaged with the media product.

District 9-Information

District 9 is a South African Science fiction thriller directed by Neil Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson and distrubuted by TriStar Pictures.

The film is set on an alternative earth where aliens known as "Prawns" have made contact with earth the human race eventually segregate them in a place known as District 9 (this is a direct reference to the apartheid).

How District 9 show themes of postmodernism

The fist part of the film has a lot of confussion over the time and space. There is the interveiw style parts which take place after the films events and it shows different parts from different points in the films plot this is there to confuse the audience intially, the main plot of the films also takes place 20 years after the Prawns came to earth.