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WWW: This is a phenomenal start to Media – your blog is absolutely superb! Your fruit bowls are stunning and the depth of analysis to LIAR your film poster work is brilliant – this is your first piece of analytical work in Media and you’re already working at such a high level! I’m also really pleased that you’re engaging with interesting, international media like anime.

EBI: I have a genuine complaint: there is no way we should be talking about A or B grades as a target – you’re already displaying the hallmarks of an A* Media student! It’s the quality of your analysis that will largely determine this top grade so we’ll need to hone this over the next year. Key concepts to focus on would be institution and representation – these will be covered in assignment 2 later this year. The key aspect of representation is looking at stereotypes – for the Avengers poster you’ve chosen it’s tricky as there aren’t many people on it but you could potentially discuss the stereotype of machines being dangerous or suspect and therefore reinforcing the moral superiority of human beings that we often see in Hollywood films. 

LR: Reflect on your first month of Media. What do you feel is your strongest piece of work so far? What is your weakest? What specific skills or knowledge do you need to develop over the rest of the course?

Learner Response: Representation: The use of the common stereotype of machines being dangerous shown in the focal image of a robot could help the audience understand the story line. In addition it could add a sense of tension as the robotic figure reinforces the moral superiority of human beings that are often seen in Hollywood Films.

I need to work on analysing the photo story board as I need to infer more about how this can make the audience feel shown by the use of camera angles etc. I feel like the strongest piece of work I've done was the LIAR analysis of the film poster as I found it really intriguing to see what aspects are usually used in film posters.

Magazine key concepts

Camera work: Minority Report Shot-by-Shot Analysis

This is a a medium close up, showing the wasit up to the head. In this particular scene you can see around 6 policemen huddled together looking straight ahead of them, maybe hinting how they're after someone hence why there's only policemen in this current shot.. This could suggest how as they're all near the one policemen on the 

left connoting that he's perharps the leader/chief. In addition it could somewhat portray that start of an action scene as it also allows the audience have a little glance at their facial expressions, indicating the start of something; stern/angry faces.

This shot is an establishing/wide shot, which is currently showing the location, in this case showing a sort of alley way with a car placed in the middle. This allows the auidence to infer many things such as the one character on the bottom right who seems to be in a hurry to 'run' into this alley which they can then identify as the fugitive. In this wide shot the colour scheme seems different as it uses black, white, blue and grey to set the atmosphere inside this eerie alleyway- common streotype in sci-fi movies to create suspense.

Lastly, this is another medium close-up. Likewise to the first shot, there's only one character in this one which is the fugitive. This shot allows the auidence to have a moment with the main character as they get to have a look into the facial expression allowing them to understand how they're feeling in this current moment. This could make the auidence feel sympathy for him but at the same time hint that he's cornered by the policeforce furthermore adding to the plot overall.

Camera Shots/Angles Story Board

 

Wide/Establishing Shot

- This shot is used to show the audience where this is taking place, in this scene it is a school (the students in the background as well as the school blocks). Setting the scene

Long Shot

-This shows the audience the main characters ( victim and bully) in one scene. We can see the bully (girl) throwing a ball of paper at the victim (boy). This adds onto the story line of the student being 'bullied'.

Medium Shot

-This shot is at a low angle to emphasise the characters in this current shot, the bullies. This creates the feeling of the bullies being superior as the camera is facing up at them making the look more intimidating

 Over-the-shoulder

-In this we can see the victim's point of view, this allows the audience to have a moment with the victim and to perhaps feel sympathy for him as you can read his expression on the mirror.

Close up

-We have used a close up of the victims eyes, which are in a somewhat tearful expression, to make the audience connect with the character more as they are seen to be worried or frighted.

Medium Shot/Unusual Shot

-Here we can see bars adding on to the effect of the teacher telling off the bully yet at a medium shot. This can also hint how the audience is hiding behind the bars watching what's happening

Long shot/High Angle

-The victim is seen to be sitting on the staircase with his head burrowed in his hands. The use of the high angle comes in handy to make the victim seem small and powerless, vulnerable to this current situation. This also creates a time for the audience to bond with the character even more

Medium Shot/High Angle

-In this we can see the bully punching the teacher this adds to the plot twist. In addition the use of the high angle could show the sense of danger as well as someone watching down at what's happening

Characters:
Victim: Hassan
Bully: Lakshana
Teacher: Sufyan
Other Student: Dalia
Cameraman: Dalia

Fruit Bowls

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Language- 
This can be easily identified as a film poster due to the use of the expected codes and conventions which is an essential in any movie type poster.There’s the title set at the bottom above the sub-title ‘Age of Ultron’ immediately drawing the attention of the audience as it’s in block capitals and in bright red, a central image with the tagline bordering the top and lastly the date to inform the audience of the initial release alongside the credits.The focal image is of a metal robot sitting on a sort of ‘throne’.This straight away sets a mysterious and sinister theme to the audience by the colour usage of red/black/silver.It helps outline the genre to being Sci-fi as it is new technology hence it being a robot making it look futuristic, this perhaps could create a theme of violence and destruction (as the common streotype in Sci-fi movies of the robot having a mind of its own/ as the main villain).The tag-line, on the header of the poster, will help the audience have an understanding of the story and the second genre Action: 'The world will be cleansed'. This could suggest to the viewers that there could be a sense of action shown by the phrase of 'the world being cleansed' by some-one or something.The title is in a rustic, metallic type font which relates back to the focal image making the font seem as if it’s part of the robot itself. The colour red makes a clear statement and can be seen as a motif as the robot has red ‘flames’ in the headgear.

Institution- 

The director, Joss Whedon, a well known producer for creating other films such as Toy story(1995) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer(1996-2003) came out with a sequel called Avenges: Age of Ultron to the notorious Avengers Assemble(2012). The movie’s production company is Marvel Studios, well known for their Adventure/Action/Sci-fi movies, also distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Nominated in 2016 fir the Best Comic-to-Film Motion Pictures at the Academy of Science Fiction and Won Teen Choice Awards in 2015 for the Choice Movie: Scene stealer). After the successful release of The Avengers, Whedon was set a release date for the sequel. When Avengers: Age of Ultron premiered it received positive reviews from critics  making it spread to more industries. It grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, placing it the seventh-highest-grossing film in history.

Audience- 

In this particular poster there is only one character who is visible  and could seem to be a male suggested by the costume being a robot. Since the robot is seen to be holding another robotic head in its hand it could hint that the character in the poster is a villain illustrated by the colours; red for the villain and blue in the eyes of the robotic head meaning the hero(stereotypical colour scheming allowing it to be easier for the audience to deter on what role the character plays).I think that its mainly targeted towards boys or young teens as it seems to be leaning towards that fantasy line of heroes and villains, destruction and adventure drawing in that type of audience.The age range can vary from 13 to 30 as the movie isn’t Graphic plus it’s production company being Marvel who are known to be PG rated, making it suitable for anyone 13+.

Representation-

The focal picture shows the male robot sitting in on this metal like throne with a dominant  looking position. This shows the stereotypical storyline in most Science Fictional Movies of a there being a villain who’s not human, trying to destroy the world.The image also has another character who i seen as the hero ‘Iron man’ but is in the possession of the robot, Ultron. This could send a negative message to the audience that the hero is getting crushed causing more tension and hype.

General Questions

1) The part of the course I'm looking forward to is the video editing section where we are allowed to adapt our ideas into a video.

2)I hope to learn more skills and tricks in video editing as well as using the camera in various ways.

3)Realistically, I would want at least an A/B in this, however if possible i would want to reach an A*.

4)The last TV programme I watched was an Japanese animation (anime) called blue exorcist.

5)I think the anime appealed to the audience as it was targeted towards all ages as the genre was perfect for any age group. It had moments when it was funny and times when it was sad, making it easier for the audience to relate to the actual characters, attracting them to the series itself even more.

6)I used my phone and my computer to access the media in the last 24 hours.

7) I mostly use my computer to access the media.

8)-insert sherlock holmes video clip-

9)From the clip you get to see an insight of the characters self. Sherlock holmes seems to be quite formal/serious yet he does seem to have a subtle sense of humour as he does insert a few puns here and there. The rest of the characters have similar, but in some aspects different, personalities as they are either seen as funny or clueless.

10) I think the audience really like the suspense the show gives off. The background music emphasising on what the person is saying: '...the names sherlock holmes...' the clip ends with that adding a great cliffhanger making the audience want to know why this person is seen mysterious as well as to find out more depth of the other characters. The build up of the music adds more tension, hence getting the viewers more excited or curious for the events which will happen later on