stuff

Theories of Youth

Stanley Hall 1904

Camera
Sound
Mise en scene
Lighting


medium long shot, low angle, looks slutty, out all night, stanley hall,

over the shoulder, POV, hand held and shaky, diegetic loud music,  shot reverse shot, one two shot, fits stereotypes,

 cut away, tidy/organised, medium close up of a classic book, disrupts stereotypes, eyeliner match, shows what he was looking at, stanley hall stereotype, fits stereotypes, lots of swearing

opening scene, 2-3 parts in between, ending scene

I

At the beginning of the clip, we are greeted with an extreme close up, which slowly zooms out over the matter of around 20 seconds. This scene both follows and breaks stereotypes that have been gathered over the years around the theme of youth. 

The mise-en-scene within the shot certainly does follow stereotypes of younger people, and this stereotype involves the use of the bed sheets. The duvet in particular; as it is covered in imagery of naked people. This is linked with the theories induced by Stanley hall in 1904. In one case, he argues that young people generally need a form of excitement, and quoted; "Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in; sex, drink or drugs."

However, on the contrary, there is one part of the scene which typically breaks the stereotype of teenagers being generally lazy beings; and this break of conventions is shown as the alarm clock goes off. Tony, the main protagonist, is in fact awake before the alarm has sounded, and therefore he is breaking the stereotype. A claim made by Bill Osgerby is definitely somewhat linked toward this convention of the scene, being that; "The portrayal of youth is not entirely pessimistic.'

Now, one thing I found interesting is another claim towards the mise-en-scene, is that once the shot has zoomed out entirely to a medium long shot, we see the surroundings of the room. This simple factor breaks stereotypes, as typically, the stereotype for youths involves them being untidy and uncaring, generally having messy rooms, and this is especially associated with teenagers. 

This implies a heavy choice made my the crew of Skins, as they could have gone full pelt with the stereotypes for teenagers and youths; but instead have made the clear decision to have somewhat more realistic characters, therefore breaking some stereotypes, though following others. 

Moving onto the lighting in this scene, the lighting only on one half of his face could very well allude to the idea of a typical angsty teen, or depressed teen, even if this choice isn't one of the more significant ones. Though this does link back to the arguments made my Stanley Hall, where he states that, "The common mood of teenagers is a state of depression."Also, this scene could go a lot deeper in meaning, and the choice is certainly a fairly important one. Since half of his face is in the shadows, yet the other half is brighter, and with the fact that he both follows and breaks fair amount of stereotypes, therefore, one could come to the conclusion that he is on his way out of the youthful stage, and is beginning to grow up some.

Once this protagonist has stopped the alarm, all other sound is cut out with the sound of diegetic hip-hop music. Now, this sound is important to following the stereotypes, especially as this music eludes to a somewhat sexual concept. Therefore, this is back to the previously mentioned claims from Stanley Hall, talking of teenagers and youths seeking enjoyment in things such as sex, drink or drugs. 

The final thing within this scene, would be the consecutive shots throughout the rest of the scene. However, instead of going through them shot by shot, I'll instead analyse these as a whole. These shots, involving mise-en-scene especially, show the protagonist working out, as it were. This breaks the stereotypes made by Hall, but at the same time, follows stereotypes made about youths as a whole. This makes us think of Tony as a jock kind of character, as this is a typical convention of this idea.

II

In the next scene I have decided to analyse, we as viewers are put on the same street, however focused on an alternative character, who is outside. Now, this is certainly important, as she definitely follows many of the stereotypes created by Stanley Hall. 

Even though our previous protagonist both broke and followed stereotypes, this character follows more conventions than anything. I feel that they have tried to draw a clear line between what is stereotypical behaviour and what is not; which if a fairly important decision for the makers to have decided upon. 

Immediately, mise-en-scene is an important factor, 

III

IIII

V

Theorist ANDY MEDHURST (1998) claims that sexuality disrupt representation claims, like those made by Dyer (“How we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others on how we see them; such seeing comes from representation” Dyer, 1993), because in the REAL world you cannot ‘see’ sexuality. Unless someone tells you they are homosexual you have no way of knowing.

However, in the media stereotypes are used to explore ideological positions about sexuality. “Films and television comedies are full of images of gay men as effeminate screaming queens…It chooses that aspect of gay male behaviour (SELECTION), inflates it into the defining male characteristic of male homosexuality (MAGNIFICATION), then establish it as the most easily recognizable image (REDUCTION).”

“The ideological implications of stereotyping are obvious, since groups most liable to be stereotyped are those with LESS social and cultural power; indeed one crucial distinction between powerful and less powerful social groups is that the former hold the ability to stereotype the latter.”

“Stereotyping becomes ideological the moment it stops being simply a method of description and becomes a vehicle for values: the image of the screaming queen does not just mean ‘all gay men are like that’, it means ‘all gay men are like that and aren’t they awful’, which in turn means ‘and they are awful because the are not like us.”

“This is why stereotypes of sexuality strive so vigorously to create two, polarized sexualities, hetro and straight, and to insist with such obsessive reductiveness that people who belong to those poles are easily identifiable – hence the recurring presence across media texts of the screaming queen and his female equivalent the butch dyke.”

Editing

• Continuity Editing

Goodfellas: Continuity Editing

• Parallel Editing
• Cross Cutting
• Eye-Line Match
• Match-Cut
• Graphic Match
• Shot Reverse Shot
• Slow Motion
• Fast Motion
• Fade to black/Fade from black
• CGI
• Sound Bridge
• Fade to/from white
• Long Take
• Iris in/out
• Movement Match
• Jump Cuts

2000 - Present


1) What genre of films were being made?

3) How has technology impacted the industry each decade?
4) Where did funding come from and what impact did this have? 
5) Where were films being made?
6) Profits/box office figures? 
7) Awards won?
7) Any other useful relevant facts. 

• James Bond
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Harry Potter
• Shaun of the Dead

History of the British Film Industry

• Script
• Primary Target Audience
• Stereotypical British Genres
• Stereotypical American Genres

Avatar

The very second the trailer begins, you're entirely aware that this film is indeed a Hollywood movie. At about 0:20 seconds, the SFX open up, and appears incredibly realistic. Of course, this is what you'd expect from a film that was made in America; this is typical. With a budget of at the very least a few million, the editing team would have been the best of the best for this. You will generally see this in Hollywood films; especially the fact that they generally do have a much, much higher budget than that of it's British counterpart.

As of profit, Avatar made millions, and it wouldn't be surprising if it went over double the budget they began with; and even into the billions. Though, it is one of the highest grossing films in history; it isn't really surprising, with such a professional feel to it, along with it being a Hollywood movie.

In terms of the editing between shots, the trailer flows with ease, and isn't at all harsh. Again, linking back to the budget and the general professionalism of the trailer as a whole. With the budget, it is useful to note that James Cameron developed a digital movie camera system, or the Fusion Camera System, and this alone would have cost millions. This is what made the SFX so clear, not to mention realistic. 

Continuing on with the idea of camera work, there is little more you'd want for it to be desirable. The quality of everything as a whole is on point, and of course, anything that may have been animated is crystal clear. Typical traits of a Hollywood films; and things to look out for. There is a fair range of shots, although, it typically ranges between CU, MCU, MS and MLS. Having this slight, yet somewhat significant difference in this range helps the trailer to flow to build on a pleasant viewing experience, and also builds up a generally dramatic experience, and building on the dramatic, almost thrilling mood is what Hollywood thrive upon. 

We're very quickly able to assume the genre of this movie, and that would be a hybrid of both Science Fiction and Fantasy. The setting is also developed quite quickly, the very moment the SFX are shown on screen. However, near every single setting in the movie would have been animated, which is a pretty fantastic feat alone. Though, I highly doubt, pitiful as it is, that a film of such quality could be made as a completely British movie. The trailer practically transports you to another world, and does this incredibly well.

Along with a high budget comes a range of pretty famous Hollywood actors, one of which stands out the most, whom would be Sigourney Weaver. She has been in many other typical Hollywood movies, such as Alien, and the Ghostbusters. This is typically part of the appeal to Hollywood movies; the actors, due to the fact that their recognisable, and incredibly famous.

Onto lighting, and it's a little different. The lighting in this trailer is generally pretty natural, even if a lot of it isn't exactly real. With the animation, it can be classed as natural, and adds to the whole 'transportation to another world' deal. Even if it natural lighting, they were aware where they were placing it, so if anything, it is done by a professional team. The lighting is effective, adding to the typical dramatic effect a Hollywood film should build. 

As a whole, Hollywood makers focus more on causing the audience to be awe stricken and star struck, rather than having a moral or a social message to the story. Although, one could argue that Avatar does really have a social message behind it; with the main character, James Sully being bound to a wheelchair. Even so, British films typically have a social message; whereas Hollywood movies don't.

My British Case Study: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Production: 

Production Company

Heyday Films

Budget

$250 million (Shared with Part 2)

Year of Filming

February 2009

Time Spent Filming

1 Year Approx.

Filming Equipment

Arricam LT 

Arricam ST

Cooke S4 Lenses

Panavision Cameras and Lenses

Nationality

British-American

Owner of Source Material

J. K. Rowling

Producers

David Heyman (British)

David Barron (British)

J. K. Rowling (British)

Director

David Yates (British)

Cinematography

Eduardo Serra (Portuguese)

Editor

Mark Day (British)

Screen Writer

Steve Kloves (American)

Music

Alexandre Desplat (French)

Star Vehicles

Daniel Radcliffe (British)

Rupert Grint (British)

Emma Watson (British)

/Majority of the actors British/

* Any other production information e.g. any problems? 

   Distribution: 

* Distribution company US/UK

 * Marketing budget

* Test screening information

 * Release pattern

* Examples of marketing and promotion

* What other media is it available on?

 * Any other information e.g, difficulties getting a distributor? 

Exhibition

* Types of cinema shown in (Imax, 3D, MM, I, AH)

* How long was it was on for

* Box office figures

* Age classification (UK/USA)

* Who the primary target audience was

* Success (compare to DVD/Blue-ray/download)

* Any other information e.g. did it get kept in cinemas longer than planned due to how successful it proved?