Production techniques

Mise en scene

• lighting
• costume
• props
• location
• acting gesture
• iconography

Binary opposition-Levi Strous 1958

in my film i found that there was binary opposition with Billy Hope and Miguel Escobar as two rivals and Miguel's crew were responsible for Maureen's death. we see this when the are boxing in the ring and in the training montage, when they use cross cutting.

The costumes show that billy's wife to be objectified as a trophy wife when she is always dressed to impress when seen in public with billy this links to Laura Mulvey's theory "male gaze
women are objectified in media texts and passive objects. Audiences are positioned to view the woman from the point of view of a heterosexual male" this makes Maureen appear an extension of Billy and no one is interested in her if he isn't by her side.

location I feel showed at what stage of down fall and recovery Billy was in i.e. when he was at the peak of his career he was in a bi mansion and when he hit rock bottom he was back on the streets

Camera work

shot types

• long shot
• aerial shot
• establishing shot
• wide shot
• close up
• medium shot
• medium long shot
• two shot
• over the shoulder shot
• crowd shot

angles

• low angle shot
• high angle shot
• Dutch angle
• eye level

movement

• side tracking
• tracking forward shot
• back tracking shot
• tilt shot
• panning shot
• hand held
• zoom

composition

• rule of thirds
• shallow depth of field
• deep depth of field

My film follows the down fall of billy hope and then the inevitable down fall of his career and then his come back this supports  Tzvetan Todorov's theory about  stage 1- a point of stable equilibrium, stage 2-this stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium ,

stage 3-action directed against disruption, stage 4-restoration of new equilibrium,

Editing

Continuity editing- when you cant tell its been edited

• action match a continuous action along a number of shots
• insert
• shot reverse shot

non continuity- noticeable

• montage
• flash back
• flash forward

my film uses an insert shot on billy's gun whilst he's screaming into his pillow this relates to pam cooks enigma code that gets the audience thinking about what billy is going to do next

sound

non diegetic sound- sound that is added

• incidental music
• narration
• sound motif
• sound bridge (continuity editing)

diegetic sound- sound form within the narrative

• Foley sound-footsteps, door creek
• dialogue

in my film there is a lot of diegetic sounds when they hit each other this is diegetic sounds that is added post production, they use ambient noise from the crowd t

LO:6

LO:3 Narrative theory

story-plot (sequence of events)

Narrative-how it is put together

suthpaw- The plot of southpaw is of a light heavy weigh champion who has a beautiful wife and daughter and life is going well but he has a brawl at a charity event with his rival Escobar in the commotion his wife is fatally shot, billy goes into a downward spiral where he goes off the rails with drug and loses his belts, house and daughter and Billy has to rebuild his life and starts by attending the local inner city boxing club where he becomes a fighter again, he gets his boxing titles, daughter and self respect back.


key theory 1-Tim O'Sullivan et al.(1998)
                      ''all media texts tells us some kind of story''
                 

My films wider meanings or ideologies are

• family is important  
• greed
• loyalty

key theory 2

• 'linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution
• a high degree of narrative structure
• A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spiritual and temporal

the enigma that is over thrown is how Billy over comes the loss of his wife, wins his daughter back and

key theory 3

Tzvetan Todorov (1977)

stage 1- a point of stable equilibrium

stage 2-this stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium

stage 3-action directed against disruption

stage 4-restoration of new equilibrium

south paw

stage 1-billy is winning fights with his wife and daughter by his side

stage 2-billys wife is murdered, downwards spiral

stage 3-billy starts training again

stage 4-billy gets his daughter back and defeats Escobar

Key theory 4

Binary opposites (good vs evil, rich vs poor)

there is no binary opposition in my film

Key theory 5

Vladimir Propp (1928)

all narratives features stock characters

villain/antagonist

hero/protagonists

helper/supporter (side kick)

Prize to be saves i.e. princess

southpaw-

• antagonist (Escobar)
• protagonists (Billy)
• helpers coach tic wills
• princess (daughter)

Key theory 6  Roland Barthes

enigma codes- works to keep setting up puzzles for the audience

action codes-work inform the audience in terms of what is happening in the next shot scene

mise en scene-what's related-what's included

camera work-pick 3 key scenes

editing-same KEY scenes

sound-diegetic-non diegetic,  diegetic-effect and impact

point
data-(example from film)
meaning-(name, theory)

LO:2 Advertising

a media product (southpaw) could be advertised using:

• social media page
• point of sales display
• billboards
• TV adverts
• posters
• pop ups
• theatrical trailers

LO:2 Advertising

a media product could be advertised using using:

• 
  

LO:2 Advertising

a media product could be advertised using

LO:2 Advertising

LO:4

RAJAR-Radio Joint Audience Research

NRS-National readership survey

BARB-broadcast audience research board

in section A of the exam we have to analyse the data that is collected by the organisations


Channel 4s most popular programs are the documentaries and social experiment i.e. SAS:who dares wins and married at first sight a lot of these films are more targeted towards the younger audience with many niche individual programs that will appeal to different audiences means that as a whole channel 4 will appeal to a larger demographic than one of their programs will for example married at first sight will appeal to mainly women and something like SAS: Who Dares Wins will more appeal to men and Humans will appeal to a younger audience, so by dong this they have catered for a wide range of target audiences by providing individual programs that appeal to those people.

may film was given a 12a certificate due to:

• Misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.-when billy takes drugs to cope with his loss
• Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Moderate sex references are permitted, but frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable-when billy and Maureen have sex after the first fight
•  There may be moderate physical and psychological threat and horror sequences. Although some scenes may be disturbing, the overall tone should not be. Horror sequences should not be frequent or sustained.-When billy goes to find Hector in his house.
• There may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and its depiction must be justified by context.- I could disagree with this as the commentators at the fights with billy did draw attention to the cut above his eye.

in my film Southpaw has in my opinion a lot of violence for a 12/12A I think this because the BBFC has said that there may be moderate violence but not be dwelled on detail

LO:6

passive and active audiences

passive-hypodermic syringe
active- encoding/decoding

BBCF-gives and gage rating for films, to protect the public from violent or inappropriate images

in the 1980s we has a lot of home video technology

the video recordings act was brought about due to 'video nasty's'  (violent/gore films) after this all videos had age rating on them.

audience theory

The main part of the article is that the content is to graphic for a 12A rating.

 this is because of the issues raised surrounding mental health

I disagree with tis article as I feel as long as they are accompanied by a parent it should be fine.

passive audience theory

• hypodermic syringe-implies that media has a negative impact. Mass audience believe everything they see or hear.
• This model dose not hold much positivity for the audience, however it is good method for a media producer, politician and also towards the use of marketing.
• Hidden persuaders (Book)
• When the mass media demonised groups, people or products that they believe become a threat to society, values and interests it is called a 'moral panic' these are called 'Folk Devils'(Stanley Cohen 1972)

violence in the media

• Anderson 2007 that high exposure to fast paced games can lead to changes in brain function when processing violent images, including dampening of emotional responses to violence one of the high risk factors. This is known as desensitisation  

Representation

Who is being represented?

All representations are mediated (hall, 1980)

Is there use of stereotype/countertypes (Perkins, 1979). Not all stereotypes are negative

representation of women-are they objectified (Mulvey, 1975). Representation of men (Earp and Katz, 1999)

representation of gay (butler, 1993)

Alvarado (1987), Hall (1995)-ethnicity 'exotic, dangerous, humorous, pitied'.

Turton (2014)- Hooligans, trouble makers in films are mostly black and Asian boys.

Lloyd(1995)-girl as 'double deviant'- trouble causers but they shouldn't because they are women

Active audience theory

Other school of thought-we are able to filter and ad adapt to content in media (Gauntlett, 1995)

We have uses and gratifications (Quail, 1972) theory-people use media for there own purposes

preferred reading-by audience depending on their background but accepthe dominant view point/story

Negotiated reading- partially agrees with the meaning

oppositional meaning-don't agree with the meaning that is being put across

Aberrant-gets the completely wrong meaning entirely

LO4 audience theory

Demographic-A particular group in society

Conglomerate-A really big company with many of subsidiaries

Horizontal integration-market through own subsidiaries

audience-the people who will be looking your product

independent-a company that isn't a subsidiary and doesn't own subsidiaries

niche-a very small demographic

mass audience- large amount of people



John Hartley- (1987) all media products have 'invisible fictions' before they are made.

Ien Ang-(1991) All media producers have 'imaginary entities' in mind before their production

LO4 uses and gratification theory

there are 4 reasons why people consume media products and takes pleasure on them

• surveillance-to find out information on something or someone
• escapism- because we are board and get away from daily life 
• building personal identity-things we are interested in or about a person or things etc..
• building personal relationship-making conversation points-soaps, news, magazines 

My film offers gratification in the sense of escapism, it portrays a life that is more interesting and dramatic than their own and they may find it is satisfying to watch. It offers an almost unintentional gratification in the way of surveillance because people go to see it and they find out how about the 'fight game' is very cut throat and unforgiving and money orientated and building personal identity is a reason to see it as they have an interest in boxing and is a personal relation.

  

audience profile

Age-15-40-This is because it contains quite mature content so will not be watched by very young children and a lot of young people in teens have boxing has hobbies and a lot of older people grew up in the time of Rocky and the time of Sugar Ray Lenard so they have an previously imbedded interest.

Gender-80% male 20% female-The film contains a lot of violence and is cantered around a predominately male sport but the narrative about family and drama may also appeal to some women.

Social Grade-50% ABC1 50% C2DE-

key theories

How the media shows us things about society but this is through careful meditation (Re-presentation)

southpaw- The plot of southpaw is of a light heavy weigh champion who has a beautiful wife and daughter and life is going well but  a brawl at a charity event with his rival Escobar in the commotion his wife is fatally shot, billy goes into a downward spiral where he goes off the rails with drug and loses his belts, house and daughter and Billy has to rebuild his life and starts by attending the local inner city boxing club where he becomes a fighter again, he gets his boxing titles, daughter and self respect back.

Key theory 1:Tim O'sullivan at al
For representation to work there has to be a shared recognition of people and places. all representations therefore have ideologies behind them

In my film southpaw the wife Maurine is represented as the caring worrier out of her and Billy, she is the logical thinker of the pair who stops their daughter from watching the fight and tries to stop Billy from getting hurt and Billy is represented as a provider for the family (a typical male role).

the ideologies in my film orientate around the family life ideology

Key theory 2:Richard Dyer 1983
'Audiences should question the representations they see in media texts'

For example what dose the representation imply and is it typical or deviant

In the beginning of the film we see how reliant Maureen and his child are on Billy, representing him as the soul provider for the family and then when we see Maureen removed from the equation we learn that Billy was equally if not more reliant on Maureen.  

Key theory 3:Laura Mulvey 1975
male gaze
women are objectified in media texts and passive objects.
Audiences are positioned to view the woman from the point of view of a heterosexual male

this applies to my film because the woman in the film is objectified through the way she is dressed for example she is always dressed her best when in the eye of the public and when with Billy.

Key theory 4:Stuart hall 1995
western/white cultures continue to misrepresent ethnic minorities as in the media due to underlying racist tendencies

in my film the antagonist is a Colombian boxer and the protagonist is a White American. 

Key theory 5:Edward Said
orientalism is a way of seeing that distorts differences of Arab culture as its compared to that of Europe and US. It often involves seeing Arab culture as exotic, backwards, uncivilised and dangerous.

The basic distinction between east and west as a starting point for elaborate theories, novels, social descriptions and political accounts concerning the orient, its people, customs, mind, destiny and so on

LO3: Genre theory

Genre is a type or category of film 

• horror
• comedy- a threatment that would feed into other genre 
• romance
• war
• action/adventure
• scifi
• fantacy
• thriller
• social realisme

EXAM QUESTION

6* Analyse how the production techniques used to create meaning in a media product you have studied (12)

Micro-Macro

6* Analyse the concepts of 'genre' and 'representaton' in the media product you have studied (12)

Micro-Macro

A genre has common elements are called generic coventions/characters/elements

 

Southpaw is an action, thriller, sport, drama, film

Key theory:Barry Keith Grant (1995) : All genres have subgenres

a possible subgenre of my film is

Key theory; Patrick Philips 1996-genre offers the audience 'comfortable reassurance'

my film provides familiarity to an audience by having a mildly typical story line of this type of film

key theory: Branston Staford 1999-

• genres help minimise risk
• are a blue print for success
• genre conventions also makes it easier to market and sell products to audiences

My film was advertised through following in the footsteps of other sucsesfull boxing movies i.e. Rocky

Rick Altman (1999) geners offers pleasure

• emotional plesure- happy, sad
• visceral pleasures- exitement, fear, laughter
• intelectual puzzles- makes the audience think

my film makes the aduience have emotional pleasures sadness when his wife dies and his dughter is taken away

 

Key theory: David borwell 1989- any theme may apeare in a genre

theme= The ideas, ideologies, concepts, myths, ect

the themes in my films is about

• the theme is rags to riches/riches to rags

KTA 5

define gere (intro)

relate the key theories to my film

different types of sound can have different connotations to the audience and creates a mood

dieresis- it the narrative construct that everything takes place in, it is the 'story world /the world that the film/TV programme takes place in

real diegesis appears in turn with virtualimisitude

diegetic sounds are form noises that are occurring in the film to make effect i.e. foot steps these are added during post production to create meaning.

Diolouge is the voice of the characters on screen

accent is the way you pronounce words this is dependent on where you live

dialect it the words you use this is dependent on where you live

tone is the emotion that something is said with

mode of address either informal or informal

• peer to peer
• parent to child
• teacher to pupil

synchronous sounds are sound that are synchronised or matched with what is viewed.

ambient sound is a sound that are used to establish location

non diegetic sound is a sound that is not there for real and is put in for effect i.e. jaw theme tune

sound bridge is when a non diegetic sound becomes diegetic by moving from here we cant see the source of the sound to where w can see the source of the sound

incidental music is composed to accompany the action of a drama of to fill intervals between scenes, this gives hint to what is going to happen next and builds tension

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jygRWM3nIA0

stings are used as a distinctive back ground music to add emphesis to an important moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9cRzZntUh0

motifs conditional the audience emotionally for the arrival or actions of a character 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8

kta2

diffrent types of editing

shot reverse shot structure- used in conversations to make a relation between two people

action match-when and action starts in one shot and finishes in another

cross cutting/parallel action- to show two things happening at once
 in two locations and leads the audience into the audience

insert shot-a close up shot of information

eye line match-gives a firsts person perspective and tries to keep the continuity of angle level

transitions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDWmOg-N8wI

Southpaw

releace date-June 15, 2015

The films owners- (co-production)

• WanDa Pictures
• Riche Productions
• Escape Artists
• Fuqua Films

distributed by- The Weinstein Company who marketed the film through their own website

How the film has been marketed-

• tv adverts
• youtube video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh2ebPxhoLs
• posters/print
• billboards (made by Palisades MediaGroup )
• facebook
• music (by eminem)

product placement

•  grant boxing gloves
• monster headphones
• World Boxing Council (WBC)
•