Textual Analysis

My textual analysis will be on the film This Is England which falls into the British Drama sub-genre of film. I analysed the first two minutes of the film.

The film begins with a shot of a photo of what one could only presume is the characters farther. The tattered wall in the background leads the audience to believe that the character is of a working class nature and there are football stickers which lead us to believe that the character is merely a youth. There is no music, just a silence, until his alarm goes off, in which a news broadcast begins on the radio, he promptly switches it off.

The camera then pans around, revealing the main protagonist whom is a child of around telve years of age. There is no dialogue, though he does mummble and groan as her stretches which is accustom when getting out of bed.

It then cuts to a medium-long shot of the main character, again there is niether dialogue or music, but again the cut helps to establish the childish nature of the character through the use of posters in the background.

It then cuts to an establishing shot of the house that the character lives in, it is clear to see that he lives on what appears to be a council estate. The shot also helps the audiuence to establish the time period of the film through the viechelles parked to the right of the shot.

It then cuts to a long-shot . We then see the character leave the house, he is dressed in stereotypical 80's clothing, from the bomber-jacket to the flare-like jeans, this again hints at the time period of which the film is set. Aswell as reinforcing to the audience the enviroment in which the film is set in.

It then cuts to an establishing shot of what appears to be the local news agents, one which we could rarely imagine existing today. From this shot we also get to see the estate from a different angle and we it helps us to get a sense of the size of this built up area. There is still no music playing or dialogue.

There is then a medium shot of the character entering the shop, this shot then pans into the store as he walks in.

We then see a medium-close up of the character reading what appears to be comic book, he begins to laugh as he flicks through the pages. The shot also purposly shows the shop-keeper behind the counter, leading us to believe that he is going to have a big part in the scene and to give the audience the interpretation that the shop-keeper is watching over the character as he is higher up.

It then cuts to a medium shot of the shop-keeper going about his duties.

It then cuts to a medium-long shot of an altercation begins between the two. The main character is refusing to purchase the magazine but continious to read it. From this we recieve the connation of the class of the character through his accent, which is of a thick midlands descent and would be percieved by many as sounding "common". The shop-keeper who appears to be of a  middle-eastern origin pesists to the youth to leave is store. This scene is used to show the friction between races in the 1980s.

It then cuts to a medium shot of the shop-keeper who insists that he is phoning the police.

It then cuts to a medium-long shot. The character then leaves the store in which he is abused by fellow youths.  He then makes a rude gesture towards them.

In the opening two minutes, the scenes help to establish the character aswell as his enviroment, this is done via the use of mise-en-scene, props, dialogue, different shot types and decor.

My Final Media Text - The Flashforward.

Final Media Text - The Flashforward from Cameron Jones on Vimeo.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt from it in the process?

From my preliminary task to my finished media text i have learnt many things which include;

The ability to film/edit my footage to a coherent and greater quality standard - In my preliminary task we had to film a conversation between two people with inclusion of a match-on-action and an over the shoulder shot. The conversation between the two characters was fragmented due to the length pasues between the dialogue and the angles of which they were filmed at were of a poor standard. In my final media text the dialogue is pieced together in a more natrual free-flowing manner, due to me taking more care in the editing process. I also filmed my characters from a range of angles, which helped the film from not becoming repetitive, and helped to give the audience an incline of the characters deamonor through the use of different shots.

The ability to manage the film-making process-  I have learnt that the film-making process is a team effort, even if you are the director, making working as a team a vital ingrediant in the making of the film, as without the actors/actress there is essentailly no film. Therefore you must be open to ideas and get on with your actors/actresses. Timing is also an issue, as filming could be disrupted for a number of reasons including weather and illness to actors/actresses, which was a difficult process, though i was able to complete my film is two-takes, which showed that i had idea of what i was doing.

The ability to work independently - Aswell as working in a team, i have also learnt that working independently is an important attribute when creating a film, this was especially true as i chose to work alone. This meant that i had to come up with an idea, plan and group together people who were not affiliated with the subject, which was difficult but all let me create my own vision. I learnt how to spread out my time effectively, so that i could get the work load done, and set up the basis for my film.

Question Six: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of making this product?

I have learnt a number of things during the process of creating my media product, these include;

1. I have learnt how to effictivley use a camera in order to create a film - I have learnt a variety of techniques in which can be used to not only create a coherent film, but to create meaning. In the process i have learnt to use shots such as the match-on-action and the over the shoulder shot, both of which are used to make the film more understandable and less one dimesional. I have also learnt how to use the 360 degree rule, another technique used to make the film more coherent for the audience, as going against the rule can cause the audience to feel confused. I have also learnt that the angle of the camera can convey meaning, such as the high-angle shot and the low-angle shot, i used a lot of these within my film, as the represnt the adult dominance over the child. I have also learnt the importance of close-ups in film.
   
2. I have also learnt about the importance editing - The process of editing is when the film comes together. I have learnt that editing can be just as lengthy process as the filming itself. We used Corel Video Studio Pro x3 to edit my film and have learnt how to encorporating music and sound effects into my film aswell as color correction techniques, transitions, adding titles as well as learning to manipulate the audio used in my film.
   
   
3. I have also learnt that enviromental factors have an affect on your film - Throughout my film i encountered weather problems such as wind and rain, thus had the an effect of on the audio quality and look/feel of the the film, which meant i had to consider the weather before filming, meaning that i had to cancel filming on many occasions. Also filming at night had a profound effect on the visual quality of the film, as unnatural lighting can have an unnatural yellow contrast which lowers the quality of the film, this teaching me that technology can be affected by outside factors.

Question Five: What elements of your text would attract your target audience?

There are many elements of which I considered and embedded within my film to attract my target audience. The first element i considered was the language used within my film. The dialogue used is extremely simple and clear, this is important because the majority of my target audience would become uninterested during the duration of the film if the dialogue was any more complex, for example if there was an increased use of words of a more advanced vocabulary.

Pacing was also an important element, as narrative pacing is what captuvates the interest of the audience. My film is extremely quickly paced, essentially throwing the audience into the action immediatly. This is important because the target audience would be used to blockbusters and such, which follows a very similar pace.

The use of a young protogonist will also attract teenagers to watch the film, this is as they will be able to relate to the character. The use of the young protagonist will also attract those with children of a similar age bracket. The urban representation of the character may attract those of a similar disposition to watch the film, as they may have increased chance of developing empathy for the character and may be able to relate with him to a greater extent.

Question Four: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The first of my target audience would be:

Gender - Male

Age - 15 to 25

Nationality - White British

Interests and personality - Those who watch my films will have a keen interest in popular cultre, such as music and film, whilst also being up to times with current technological advances in society. The audience will be those who have an active social life and seek thrills.

They would spend their money on? -  They would spend their money on materalistic items such as clothing, video games, films and music, the kind of items that are produced to reduce boredom and to entertain. They would also spend their money on socializing such as going to the cinema, gigs and eating out.

What type of media consumer are they? - This target audience would have interest in British teen-drama's/comedies such as Skins and The Inbetweeners, whilst also opting for drama's such as This Is England 1986. They would enjoy films such as Sin City, 300 and The Illusionist whilst also enjoying the odd blockbuster, the thrill of horror movies such as The Shinning and alien invasion film Attack The Block and cult-comedies such as Superbad and American Pie. They might not read novels, but may read popular culture magazines such as film magazine Empire and Nuts/Zoo. They would also use their mobile phones to visit soical networking sights such as Facebook and Twitter via the devices.


The second target audience will be;

Gender - Male

Age - 30 to 45

Nationality - White British

Interests and Personality - My film will be aimed towards a male who has children of a similar age as the protagonist, they would also be a family man, who spends a lot of time with his children. They would also have a healthy social life and have some knowledge of cultures developing in society through media outlets such as the news.

They would spend their money on? - They would spend their money on their family, whilst also buying items such as gagets, iphones and computers to forfill their male needs. They may have a tendency to rent before buying their films and tend to watch films when they are on TV as oppose to buying also. He would never really go to the cinema and would only go to socialize at the pub, once a week or so.

What media consumer is your audience? - My audience would watch tv espisodes such as Luther, Dexter and HBO mini-series, as oppose to watching soap opera's. He would also enjoy classic horror films such as An American Werewolf In London and the Halloween films, and would watch any movie that had a relativly interesting synopsis. They would have little interest in modern music, but may still listen radio one for causal listening.

What Kind of advertising would the film attract? -

• The film would attract advertising for Adidas and other sporting good products as the audience will be predominantly young males, which is their demographic for the product.

• Phone companies could also advertise as the audience would be up to date with technological advancements and therefore they would have keen interest in the latest gadget's that will come out, as having the newest phone is considered "cool".

• The film could also attract advertisers of fast food, such as Mcdonalds and KFC, as the outlets are very popular with young people and those with a family.

•  It could also attract advertisments from video-games for the xbox, PS3, Wii ect, this is as male demographically are the audience for video-games and therefore an advertisment for the new Call Of Duty would be pinpointing the correct demographic.

Question Three: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Though in my Institutional Research I outlined Miramax as a potential distributor/producer of my film, i have decided that the best media institution to distribute my product would be Dimension Films. This is as they have and continue to produce many horror movies, low budget or high, for example they are responsible for the production and distribution of the Scream Films and Hellraiser films, which have gone on make millions combined.  They also have a long history of introducing "forgein films" to the american market, such as Wolf Creek (Australia) and Shuang  Long Hui (Hong Kong) and this would be key in achieving the widespread audience of my film. The Weinstein Company would also produce the film as they are under the same branch as Dimension Films and has provided the money for production for British films such as Nowhere Boy.

My film has also kept within the guidlines of the British Board of Film Classifications, as it fits perfectly within the certification of a 15. My film also includes elements of gore without moving into sadistic killings, which also pigeon holes it in a 15 certificate. There is also a repetition of what is considered as "swear words" of which brings the classification above a twelve.