Drive Analysis By Sina Hadgu

Drive - Film Analysis.

Drive is a film that keep's you on the edge of your seat for every second of every minute.  From the intensity of the car chasing, the intense murder scenes to the brief love story the male character lead (Ryan Gosling) shares for female lead Irene (Carey Mulligan). This film is a visual roll coaster. As it begins with the camera gently panning towards a map with a compass on it which we shortly find out is a map for a robbery getaway that the nameless character that Ryan Gosling in drive plays a curious character with a dark secret, who by day is a movie stunt man but as soon as the phone rings for an illegal ‘pick up’ he’s there to make sure who ever hires him from the criminal underworld get away Scot free.

I loved the character that Ryan Gosling played in this film. In every film i have ever watched the characters always portray their emotions and thoughts through words, however the character of Ryan gosling in drive couldn't have been more emotionally locked if he tried. Normally I would hate this in a film, I always enjoy seeing how a character progresses and matures as a character by what they say, however in this film dialogue wasn't really used and I loved it. Throughout the entire film, the camera was reluctant to leave Ryan Gosling’s face and I’m not surprised, because of the very little dialogue that was used in Drive it was critical that his facial expressions be the dialogue of the film instead. The entire film was so interesting to watch, from the cleverly used parallel editing, to the love triangle that the character that Ryan gosling had with his neighbour Irene and the loyalty she felt she needed to keep towards her ex con husband who coincidentally is the reason why they got so close in the first place, but he’s also the reason why they both had to keep their distance from one another after he’d been let out of jail, however that didn't stop the fearless stunt man protecting Irene and her son no matter what danger he was put in.

I’m not one for action films, I prefer my Rom-com’s, however I will gladly admit that this film with its’ unusual use of dialogue to the grueling violent scenes kept my eyes on the screen the entire time and I loved it and will defiantly recommend it to a friend.

Narrative & Memento Analysis By Sina Hadgu

Narrative

What is a a narrative? Narrative is a chain of events that has a beginning, middle and end that embodies a judgement about the nature of events.

Narrative is the art of storytelling:

• Think of the story as the raw ingredients of a text
• Narrative is the methodology of how its put together
• Then the narrator or the producer of the text cooks it in a certain direction.

Narrative techniques: Alternative narrative, Enigma, Climax, Equilibrium

Narrative + plot + story

•Plot = everything visibly and audibly present in the text; what the reader observes.

•Story = all events of the narrative, both explicit and implicit – what the reader understands.

•Narrative is a chain of events in a cause and effect relationship in time and space.

Different types of narrative:

Single strand -This just means that it's having a storyline that has one main story e.g. The Fault In Our Stars and Juno are single strand narratives.

Multi strand -A multi - Strand narrative are basically several stories or characters in one film/TV show. Examples of these are Soaps, such as Eastenders & Emmerdale are also in the multi strand narrative structure.

Closed

Open

Linear

Non-linear

Alternative narrative-"This means what the norm is".

Enigma-An enigma means the mystery and the clue to the storyline

Climax- A climax is the big reveal or buildup of the problem regarding the story or the solution.

Equilibrium -This means that when its at the point o the story where everything is okay e.g. the guy gets the girl = happy ending or the bad guy is dead so no one else will get murdered.

Stories are rarely told in real time, instead they are broken down into scenes or sequences

Memento

Momento is a great film as it's a non chronological film (non-linear). Guy Pearce plays a character who has a disease where he can remembers his past, however he's unable to make new memories. He is

The Orphanage Analysis By Sina Hadgu

Genre

What is genre?
Genre is the french word for type e.g. the genre of a film.

• classification of media into groups with similar characteristics.

Codes is another term for a symbols e.g. noises or visuals

Conventions is another word for the way of things e.g. an explanation of a feature.

Iconography:

• Pattern of visual imagery
• Signs associated with particular genres e.g. for an R&B music video you would expect to see girls, flash cars, gold chains etc, a love story etc.
• Characteristic features 
• Actors setting, props etc.

How do you identify genre?

When analysing a genre, this is what you should be looking for:

• What type of story does the film tell?
• Where is the film set?
• What type of characters appear in the film?
• What particular actors and or/directors are associated with the films? Have they been involved with similar types of films before?
• What is the 'look' or iconography of the film?
• What music is used within the film?

Genre of horror film identifications:

How to identify the horror genre

When identifying a horror genre, this is what you should be looking for:

Codes

• Dark mood
• Supernatural elements
• Low key lighting
• Violence
• Masks
• Knives/weapons
• Close up shot --> Reaction
• Creepy/uncomfortable atmosphere 
• Frightening
• Fearful response to viewers
• Blood
• Haunted house

Conventions

• Children
• Ghosts
• Curse
• Woman running
• Somebody appears out of the fog

Sub genre is a sub category of genre.

All this means is that for example a Vampire movie would be a sub genre of horror as it has elements of horror, but its a vampire movie at the same time.

Hybrid Genre:

This means having a mix of genres put into one film e.g. Romantic Movie, Comedy Horror, Romantic Horror.

Issues with genre:

The issues with the horror genre is that it is hard to identify what exactly 'creates' a horror film. This is because a  lot of films carry influences of being in the horror genre, however they could also be other genres.

• Popular texts reflect and influence social,economic and political concerns
• Can account for changes within genres and any rise and fall in their popularity.

The Orphanage

In lesson we watched a horror film named 'The Orphanage'. I was extremely hesitant to watching it as I am petrified of scary films and i did hide behind a piece of paper throughout a the scary parts of the film, but I very surprisingly did actually enjoy it. It wasn't like any other scary film I've watched before, it had different elements that made me feel sorry for the characters because a family has been torn apart.

Best bits that made it a horror movie

• I recognised that i really loved watching the relationship between the mother as an audience member as it made me feel on edge because as a viewer you're scared that something bad is going to happen that will ruin the relationship they have. But this is common within scary films for things to be torn apart and get ruined because it's meant to scare you.
• After the mother of the child find the old mysterious woman in the shed, it's a scary and heart skipping moment for me as it frightened me, however as the old woman leaves the shed playful and up beat music is played which is really humorous in my eyes as it contradicts the gasping moment of finding a stranger in your shed.
• i really liked the concept of the film, I enjoyed that it was a treasure hunt for the woman to find her son because we got to follow her on her journey of finding out what happened to him. It's similar to most scary films in the sense that you have to survive when you're up against something, in this case it's ghosts.
• There were children involved
• Woman running
• Violence
• Masks
• most importantly it was a haunted house, which is typical in horror movies.
• Rain/Thunder.

What I thought

• I dont think there were any bad aspects to this film
• It was very entertaining
• gripping.
• It's scary but I didn't want to take my eyes of the screen.

Great shots

• When there was a close up in the film of the old woman's broach I really liked this shot because it added to the mysterious of the film because it made me think that it would have an important factor towards the film and the journey of the mother throughout the film.
• Swing moving by itself durin the start and through other parts of the film as it adds tension it scares you a little,plus it links to the dead children that used to be orphans in that house. This kind of shot is typical typical in horror films.
• I also really lied the shot of when we could see the man and woman through the clock in a scene because it's a hidden message 

Interesting sounds

• In the film there's a cave scene and I thought the water dripping off from the concrete was an intense sound as it added tension because of the mild silence.

Dialogue

• "When will i die?..."I'll never get old".
• Is father Christmas a lie too"
• "Seeing is not believing, it's the other way round"

I think all of these lines were very rememberable, especially the last one as they sound mysterious  it makes you think and it fits into the genre of the film e.g."When will i die?..."I'll never get old". is a creepy thing to say, it's even more scarier when an innocent child says it.

Representation and Murderball By Sina Hadgu

What is representation?

Representation in the media is how the media as a unit present and convey the real world to 'real world.' they construct and mediated presentation of people, things, places and ideas.

Mediation in the media industry means making decisions in a group.

Process of re-representation - 

1) Reality

2) Mediation

3) Representation

Everything that we as an audience view is a representation of something.

Ideology is the science of ideas; the study of their origin and nature.

What is a code?
A code is something that generates meaning.

Initial approach - 
is something that the media industry continuously use as its a deliberate attempt to create associations and ideas.

Constructive approach -
Is a meaning created by the relationship between the producer, text and audience. Constructive approach is the ideas and values of the producer and its in the context of the audience and characters/ideas. For example British actors in films such as James Bond films are usually either the hero, crazy, intelligent (techy).

Wednesday 7th of January 2015.

Today we were introduced to the topic of representation in the media and how it is that certain characters and stories are presented in the very intense film Murderball.

This lesson let me realise how as an audience we can instantly have an opinion on a character or a storyline instantly. 

Stereotypes -
sexuality appearance, race --> skin colour -->ethnicity etc.

What are stereotypes and why do the media use them?
Stereotypes are simplified representations which help focus on specified characteristics, assumes there to be shared and judgment. The media industrry use them because it communicates complex information quicker to an audience, it creates and reflects, it's also reinforcing.

Example -
For example when you see a teenager in real life wearing a hoody whilst walking down a dark alley, and you were an old lady who had to walk past that person, you'd most likely be terrified that they were going to mug you because of the stereotypes that have been incepted into films, television shows and also how the new portray a lot of teenagers to be these days.

Negative stereotypes -

Negative stereotypes are usually used by people who don't understand something and use negative stereotypes against something they're not a part of (outside of the group) e.g. there are numerous stereotypes attached with homosexuality, females, races, body size etc.

Corrective stereotypes:

• Positive representations
• Create new ideas

An example of this would be the show 'Buffy the vampire slayer'. This show is about a strong and independent woman (rather than a man e.g. Bat(man), Spider(man), Super(man). She is the main character in the show and she is a character who is the hero of the as she is the courageous and the leader of what she does. Typically with a dominant and bold character like this most people would assume it would be played by a male instead of a female.

Constructing stereotypes -
appearance --> Physical, clothing, sound
Behaviour --> Things that people do

Constructing stereotypes us the ideology through media influence, for expel gender, ethnicity, religion age, class etc.

Murderball

MTV, Paramount and indie films decided to make a documentry about quadriplegics wheelchair rugby players who play competitively and they're currently in the process of competing in the 2012 Paralympics.

I've always been a person who doesn't believe in judging something, someone or a situation unless knowing the facts first, however it's a natural human instinct to judge something instantly. Before watching this documentary I thought that most disabled people were strong, pittiful and mis-understood people. This mind blowing documentary gave me a detailed insight into the life of the daily routines, emotions and dreams of a person living in a wheelchair. 


Disabled stereotypes:

• Sinister or evil
• Non-sexual
• Laughable
• Unable to participate in daily life on goings
• Burden
• Pitiable or pathetic
• Lazy

The amazing thing that this documentary did in my eyes was make all of these negative stereotypes about disabled people disappear.


Media influence on disability
focus on impairment rather than individual
under-represented in employment and portrayal

Positive representations of the film

• From the very first second of the documentary, I was hooked. It began with no dialogue whatsoever for the first minute or so which kept me captivated as it showed one of the main characters of the documentary getting changed by himself with no help, he didn't show frustration or resentment in how hard it was and i thought that it was great to portray to people who have negative stereotypes about disabled people to show them that they are capable of doing things independently and not all of them expect a helping hand or pity.
• Throughout the entire documentary it was a very positive thing that the characters were seen in their personal lives. It portrayed that they can have relationships, marriages, children and the biggest stereotype of all in my eyes is that they are seen to not be able to have sex with others which is incorrect and i think that addressing this in a informative and non aggressive way was a great thing for the characters and it disclaimed yet another positive stereotype of disabled people.
• The characters convey that they can still fulfil a happy and achieving life. The fact that we watch them through their individual and group journey of making it to the Paralympics in Greece was a great journey for me as an audience member to watch them experience and it kept me hooked o see what would happen in the end, would they win, would they loose and how would they deal with either outcome.
• The characters within the documentary were portrayed to being very honest people, that includes the sporting aspect and their domestic aspect of their lives. When they told us each individual story of how they became disabled it was very heartwarming and I did feel sorry for them, but not in a way where I pitted them, if anything they were represented in a way which I envied their strength and determination to reach their goals in life.
• Throughout the entire documentary the players were focused to being the winners at the final Paralympic games which i thought was great because we saw their fight and determination and how hard they were everyday, how they don't let people's ignorance get to them, yet they choose to just push the negative stereotypes by getting on with their day to day life and being in a wheelchair doesn't determine what or who they become in life.

Negative representation of the film

• The main negative representation that was highlighted to me was the aggressiveness of the players and coaches. Their anger they have when playing the game and how their competitiveness overpowers their love for their game was shard to watch because I am not used to seeing being be so aggressive towards one another so seeing that from the players and coaches was very uncomfotable for me as I couldn't make out if it was anger from loosing or missing a shot that gets the players angry or that it's because they will be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of their lives.
• Another negative representation of the film was when we are introduced to one of the main character's Joe's attitude towards his child, his wife and the spot of rugby. Joe strongly appeared to be very tough and strict on his child, even though he is a very good kid, Joe never seems to be satisfied with what he achieves, he almost treats him like one of the players from his team, he shouts, screams and is very aggressive. Furthermore when we see Joe on his anniversary dinner with his wife we see him talking about the sport inspire of talking to his wife about their relationship, this portrayed him to be very self centred as he puts all the attention on the sport and it appears as if the sport is who he is and that is a huge negative representation of him, I don't think it's a negative representation of people who are disabled, because I think that's how he has always been.
• When we are introduced to a character from the documentary who has recently just had an accident and is now in a wheelchair, we see him arriving at his re-furbished home with his mother and girlfriend, but he is clearly finding it very difficult to come to terms with the life he has to now get accustomed to and it is very sad and uncomfortable to see him taking his frustration out on his loved ones.

Messages of the film

An emotional, visual rollacoaster. This is how I'd describe Murderball the documentry. This real and intense factual documentry enables us as an audience to view the real on goings of life as a disabled person, but it doesn't just show us how hard it can be to get dressed independent while sat in a wheelchair, it gives us as an outsider the opportunity to slightly understand how hard it is to come to terms with not being able to walk maybe ever again. However this documentry portrays such positive attributes of the characters involved, whether it be their love life and families, or the continuous strength they convey through not only the sport they compete in but every day to day life that they have to face.

"I do more now that i am in a wheelchair than I ever did when I was able to walk"

How did the film change views?

• The documentary Stripped away delicacy and sensitivity over certain subjects e.g. body parts
• Rehabilitation
• The documentary focus on what they 'can' do rather than what they 'can't' do.
• Players spirit and zest for life - every moment mattered to them, from the start to the end
• They aren't fragile and emotional people like people's perceptions are of all disabled people

What I think?

I think that in the documentry, Murderball the players were portrayed to be very aggressive, pitiful and unbelievably competitive, most importantly they were mentally and physical strong. Even though its safe to say that this documentary is something I wouldn't have watched in my own time out of choice, the perfectly fair way the people in this documentary were portrayed and the strength that these men have is deniably why I was hooked to this documentary from start to finish.

Semiotics Analysis By Sina Hadgu

In lesson today, we gained knowledge on the topic of semiotics.

What are semiotics?
Semiotics are the study of how signs communicate or in other words the social production meaning of signs. Semiotics debates that verbal language is just one of countless systems of meaning. There are other systems of meaning, such as architecture, image, non-verbal behaviour that can be studied like verbal languages. Semiotics highlights that language is both constructed and inherited. Things and events in themselves don't have inherent meaning, however our perception of reality is constructed and shaped by the words and signs we choose.

What semiotics does is that it emphasise's that our perception of reality is constructed and shaped by the words and signs that we use in various social contexts.

 The methods of communication include:

• Words
• Images
• Sounds

- This picture = sign.

- Their facial expressions, shot size, colour including clothes and the camera angle = signifier

- The 'wide eyes' helps to signify meaning.

- What is being signified?

• Surprised
• Happy
• Awkward
• Subtly shocked

Signs have several characteristics:

• Signifier - A sign has a physical form called the signifier.
• Signified - A sign refers to something other than itself. This is called the signified.

SIGN - SIGNIFIER - SIGNIFIED.

When you think of the colour red? Perhaps the following:

• Roses
• Romance
• Love
• Blood
• Ruby
• Stop sign
• Satan

These examples are the typical things our brain links the colour red to. Just like when most of us think of the colour blue, we'd perhaps think the sea, the sky etc.

Ideology:

Cultural meanings within a sign system.it' s instrumental to socially oriented semiotics because it isolates a unitary object that incorporates difficult sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them.

Meanings are produced historically, culturaly and socially. so when i asked you the last question about the colour red, to most of us it's probably not really a meaningful or significant colour to most of us, however to others it has a meaning to it. For example the colour red is a very significant/sacred to Chinese people as is the colour of their flag, it signifies wealth and red kimono's.

Legally Blonde

One of the tasks we had in lesson today was to identify the signifiers and signs from the image above and to identify what it signified.

The signifiers I extracted from the image above are the following:

1)
Signifier - Arms are linked
Signified - close, they trust each-other, they're similar in personality, connected physically and emotionally.

2)
Signifier - Flower in hair
Signified - Natural, vibrant and happy.

3)
Signifier - Cheerleader outfit
Signified - Cheerleader, young, typical american chick flick movie, halloween movie.

4)
Signifier - Card
Signified - Party, somebody's birthday, loving, kind.

5)
Signifier - facial expressions/laughter
Signified - fun, likes attention, full of joy, shocked, mischievous, giddy, excited.

6)
Signifier - Wearing pink clothing
Signified - Feminine, bright, Effervescent, attracts attention.


Signifier ( Denotation)

Signified (Connotation).


Cognition -
Thought.
Denotation -
Literal meaning. E.g. Red
Connotation -
Meanings associated - E.g love/lust, blood etc.

Denotation-
Any object or image denotes a basic meaning of what it is. For expel a red face on a character denotes just that: a 'red face', just like a shaking hand denotes... 'a shaking hand'.

Connotation.
Sometimes an object or an image within creates extra meaning beyond it's denotation.

A happy red face might be said to connote anger, illness, excitement frustration etc. Just as a shaking hand might connote illness, cold weather, fear or even old age.

We then proceeded to watch a scene from Romeo & Juliet we had to analyse the semiotics.

1)
The first signifier I recognised when watching the fight scene between Mercutio and Tybalt was the guns. When this scene started Mercurio was firing shots at fish in the sea which conveyed boredom and aggression. This signified to me, danger and that something bad was going to happen because when Tybalt shortly arrived afterwards with his friends and they also had their guns, this clearly signified to me that danger was going to occur from their weapons, aggression and hatred fro each-other.

2)

Another signifier I noticed was the stage. This signified that the following actions that would be portrayed on screen were going to be very dramatic and a performance was going to be put on for the audience,  because in theatre everything performance based starts and ends with a stage.

3) Another signifier was the Montague's and the Capulets clothing. the Capulets wear practically all black clothing which to me conveyed seriousness, evil, dark = bad guys. However the Capulets wore brighter colours such as white which signified and portrayed a better spirit of their personalities and intentions as its a pure colour.

4) Regarding the soundtrack in this scene, there's a part where music is played and it sounds like a man is screaming in the background. This signified murder, danger, cow boys western music. The music in this part of the scene builds up and gets louder when the fighting begins, this happens to convey the intensity of the fight and it builds the tension and makes the scene more dramatic for the audience. In a part of the video just before the fight begins I could hear in a soundtrack that was played, dog barking and a drum roll. This signified to me that the men are acting like animals, they're being violent and reckless, just like dogs can do at times. The drum roll also signified that something dramatic and important was going to occur, just like the old saying "Drum roll please".

4)
Another signifier I recognised in this scene was the wind, shadows and darkness. This signified to me that there was a storm brewing and something dark and dramatic is going to take place.

5) Another signifier is when one of the actors says a line in the movie and it echo's. This signifies the repetitiveness and the projection of the voice, its an important factor as it creates more drama.

6)
After Mercutio pushes Tybalt which results him to falling on top of the glass which then ends up breaking, the signifier of the broken glass signifies that it's deadly, broken, death and just like the glass everything is about to smash and fall apart into pieces. Plus it was obvious to me that Tybalt would use it as a form of weapon against Mercutio.

7)
A very important and beneficial signifier within the fight scene was the weather. When the fight scene started it looked very nice and relaxed, which signified happiness from the sun (orange, yellow colours), a place where you could happily retire, holiday, hot place. However it changed very quickly as it became dark, thunder, lighting and a storm occurred, grey clouds and wind noises. This unfortunately signified evilness, death, horror, curse, plague.

8)
Slow motion was also a very good signifier within this scene for when Mercutio got knocked down and the camera shot got an XCU (Extreme close up) of Romeo's face. Rome's face signified stress, intensity, seriousness and the realisation of his best friends injury which causes trouble. The XCU is also used to portray to the audience in quicker way a message of his emotions as that creates intensifies the drama and emotion of the actor which is portrayed to the audience.


9)
Mercutio wears a cross necklace in this scene and this signifier signified to me religion, faith, hope (orthodox) & christianity. Mercutio's necklace was an orthodox cross which is ironic because as an orthodox is a much stricter form of religion compared to Christianity it's ironic that he acts so necklace e.g. uses guns and gets himself into fights.

Cognition -
Thought

Denotation -
Literal meaning

Connotation -
Meanings associated

Denotation-
Any object or image denotes a basic meaning of what it is. For expel a red face on a character denotes just that: a 'red face', just like a shaking hand denotes... 'a shaking hand'.

Connotation.
Sometimes an object or an image within creates extra meaning beyond it's denotation.

A happy red face might be said to connote anger, illness, excitement frustration etc. Just as a shaking hand might connote illness, cold weather, fear or even old age.