The male gaze

How men look at women, how women look at themselves or how women look at other women. In 1975 Laura Mulvey a British media professor coined the term 'male gaze' to ensure film audiences view the characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Without noticing, as an audience people will not pay full attention to the information being presented, as the person on screen will distract them due to their actions of seductiveness or their invitational body language. Music Artists, celebrities and presenters use the gaze to sell their image to companies in order to create job opportunities such as advertising.

these magazines will attract males and gay women, they keep it simple using black and white colours, which connotes sexiness which will also attract males. also the women in these magazines are central in the magazine and therefore it will draw your eye to them as soon as you glance at the magazine, this will also attract people to buy them and therefore boost the sales of the product. The women draws attention from the content of the magazine which the company use to their advantage.

They are also in sexual positions looking straight into the camera and therefore straight at the audience which personalises it to the audience, also by using the famous people that they do they use the members resources and therefore the known stars will also attract people to their magazine.

the male gaze in advertisement:

The Male gaze in TV drama:



These both use revealing scenes to show the male gaze they use it for both male and females to attract both sexes in the advert and in the teen drama. Both of these were set on the beach and therefore it is acceptable to be wearing swimwear which shows off the bodies of these people and therefore subtlely and unconsciously attracts the audience to keep watching and sells the product or the TV show. Also with the advertisement it makes the audience think that if they use it they will look/ have what is shown in the advert.

The Kings Speech Film Posters

What is 'poor' about its design and who do you think the poster was aimed at?

The original poster, the graphics have been written in the font Serif which looks official and professional, also it looks old which also connotes that the film is set in a different era and therefore will attract the people who are interested in that. 

However the poster is heavily photo shopped and was criticised for this as the poster looks fake, this makes the stars look unreal and therefore doesn't portray the film properly - no realism. You also cannot tell who the king is from this poster.

The big stars' names are before the title of the film and therefore may be the first thing that you read and will make you want to see the film as they are well known for good films and they wouldn't be in the film if it wasn't good and therefore this persuades people to see it.

There is a quote at the top of the poster however it is hard to read as it is a handwritten font.

Also the characters in the poster are looking different ways and therefore it connotes that it isn't very planned, also some people could think that it is a comedy as Rush is looking at the other two characters however not turning his head, also they are all smirking as Firth is looking serious and therefore the audience cannot tell what genre of film this is.

The colours used are gold and black mostly which are royal colours and so they are relevant to the film and could connote some royal appearances in the film, this is a good aspect of the film, I also think that the gold being in the foreground with the black behind it stands out much more. The unique selling point of the poster would be that it includes the big stars in the front, also their names and therefore people might go and see it just for this.

This was the improved poster, how much more effective was this?

In my opinion I think that this poster is less effective as the stars are not included in the poster but we just see the mouth of Firth. Even though their names are underneath the title in the poster we don't automatically draw to the poster because of the images and therefore it is less effective. The colours are gold however looking like a yellow, and therefore connotes royal appearances and therefore could draw people in, it also includes red which is the title which stands out on the gold background, and is also a royal colour. The names are placed again underneath the title and therefore you read this secondly and might make the audience go and see this. I think the images have been chosen because it shows the storyline of the film and the image chosen is right at the end of the film and therefore gives chance for the audience to guess what happens throughout. The target audience would be middle aged/ elderly because they will relate to this and they will understand without the need of seeing the stars on the poster, and so it does not appeal to all four quadrants. The text on the page is a quote from a newspaper saying how good the film is, this text is easy to read and stands on its own on the page and so the audience for the poster will read this first and therefore it should interest them.

I think that the unique selling point for this poster is the quote from the well known newspaper as the film has already been viewed, which shows to the public that the film will have probable success.

Explore the layout of these two banner posters for THE KING’S SPEECH

The layout for both of the posters are similar as the title and the name of the stars are positioned in the same place and all of the information below is the same. However the poster with Rush includes quotes from well known companies that could connote success and therefore could be more persuasive, however the other poster with Firth includes the well known star and we can see that he is a king as we see all of his medals and therefore connotes royalty and therefore more people will go and see this film because of that. The balance between image and text in the left poster is not good in my opinion there is too much text and therefore it protrudes his face and to some people this could be confusing however on the right poster there is less writing. Also in the right poster the mention of "king" is also anchorage as it links with the image of the king in the background.

The way the posters are they are serious in which the actors pull serious faces and therefore the public will think that it is a serious matter. Also because of the text and the images we can see that it is about royalty and therefore this could bring in a wider range of audiences as it is "typically British" and therefore it could go worldwide in places such as America.

This poster and film were designed BEFORE the Kings Speech, what similarities are there? 

The similarities are easily visible, there is an image in the background and text in the foreground which gives the audience a slight glimpse at what the film might be about. The text used is also in the same font which makes it stand out on a slightly darker background. I think they would have done this because of the age that "The Social Network" was aimed at teens, and was very successful therefore by using this poster the audience for this film may recognize it and then be persuaded to go and see the kings speech, this will consequently widen their audience.

This is the US poster for the film. Analyse and explain how and why it differs from the UK poster.

 

finally this is the American poster for the film, this differs from the other posters because of layout and images. We can see a happy family in the image, this is not edited and therefore we see that it is real. We can also see the title is large in the center of the poster so that they are able to see that it is about a king and therefore monarchy and it is classed as a typical British film and will attract the American audience. The colours are gold and white which is similar to the other posters, which connotes royalty. However we can also see that it says about the Academy Awards and that it has won, this will persuade people to go and see the film as they already know that it is a good film. We can also see that the film has already done well in England from this and from the image because it is a scene from the film- this gives the audience a glimpse into the film and the story. We can also see the big stars' names above the title also to advertise the success and to persuade the audience to go and to see the film. The target audience would be a national audience as it shows that it was a good film and typically British.

Representations in a media text: music video.

Lily Allen : Hard Out Here

In my opinion I think that this represents Females and the Age range that I am in at the minute because it covers, stereotypes and all the things that teenage females could get judged for in the modern world especially with relationships.

For example she talks about not finding her in the kitchen which is a stereotype for women to be in the kitchen however, women want to be working and doing what they want - want to be free.
The most appropriate lyric is "You're not a size six, and you're not good looking. Well, you better be rich, or real good at cooking" this covers issues that most females have experienced in their teenage years is that they feel they need to be like all of the models in the magazines and on TV and therefore they need to be skinny and good looking to 'get a man' and therefore if they aren't they need to be rich and cook for this ( which is an old opinion but still stands stereotypically.
I think that these lyrics are accurate for girls' feelings in their teenage years, that they feel they need to be thin and good looking to get what they really want.

Also in the music video she stages a plastic surgery scene while she talks about being thin, and this is what some women go through to be thin and look good, however they don't need to. The overall video is almost laughing at the fact some women do this however showing that this is what they are all thinking. She also hosts a 'typical' music video which is gold to connote riches and all of the women are in very small and tight costumes whilst dancing which shows that women are just an object to some people and this is how they show themselves as they are showing all of themselves to the world. The meaning behind this is to be happy with yourself and live for yourself and you shouldn't have to impress anyone if they think that you need to be "skinny".

I think that she represents women as she is an average sized women who has had children and a successful career, which is what we all want as she is happy with herself, and she sings about real things such as how hard it is for a women in this world as people are judging constantly about things we don't even realise.

Lily Allen - Hard Out Here: Representations

Kings Speech

What makes it British?

British culture with things such as the monarchy, things that other countries would traditionally know us for. There are also things such as setting you need to consider, somewhere like London would be recognisable to foreign countries.
Things change as the setting changes over time however British culture will never change as it is our history and heritage that others recognise us for.

Exhibition Issues (box office)

The expectations of the film were bad, people don't want to watch British films and therefore people thought it would be of bad quality. However it was about a King (main character) in the second world war and therefore it appeals to the British audience and foreign countries. This suggests that it will do well at the box office.
The issue is that people assumed that it would be a bad film.
It did very well at the box office because of cultural features in the film, expectations were exceeded with a £3.2million made on the opening weekend in the box office. Comparing this to Slum dog millionaire which made £1.83 million this shows that it has made a leap forward in the British film industry. All together the film took £414 million and therefore it made fifty times the budget.

Exhibition Issues (the films reception)

The film received a good reception from the audiences for example Tom Huddleston comments saying " Firth and Rush are on top form" he compliments the actors, which obviously adds to the films realism. He also says "a very entertaining, heartfelt and surprisingly funny crowd-pleaser with a glint of Oscar gold in its eye.
It was also nominated for 12 Oscars meaning that the film was exceptional for the viewers and the critical reception was good.The film was also nominated for 14 Baftas.
Also it was said that it gets us to think about the royal family less as an institution than as individuals weighed down by pomp and circumstance - This would also get worldwide audiences in to see the film and therefore bring in more money for the film and therefore it got an excellent reception.

Production Issues

To get Geoffrey Rush to participate in the film they were refused many times and in the end they had to post the script through his door, past all of the security and agents that refused to see what he thought, however the management associated with Rush were not happy about the unorthodox step that they took. They did this because to make the film as big as they wanted they need to have some key stars in the cast. 
Also the film began as a play in London however with a lack of interest the producers began to see this is a potential film. The success for this film lay with Lane and that he did not give up despite the rejections to the script of the play, he saw potential at every angle and made it work.

Finance:

The UK Film council contributed towards the financial backing for the film alongside Prescience films, a UK Film finance company. Harvey Weinstein in the USA also had a share.The King's Speech is a joint production so synergies would have arisen out of the two companies working together.
The PRODUCTION Companies ( the institutions which made the film) were see saw and bedlam, both of these are independent companies and therefore they didn't have to get paid as much as Pixar would when producing the film.

Distribution and Marketing Issues

Momentum Pictures , the film's British DISTRIBUTOR (This institution created the film's marketing plan and marketed the film to UK audiences).

 

Hardware and Content essay.

Improvements in Hardware and Content Essay

Essay Plan

“Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their products and services to national audiences” To what extent do you agree with this statement? Topic: UK & US film Aspect:Production Viewpoint: Dominated Instruction: To what extent (Evaluate) Task 2- Identify what information you will need to answer the question: •A US and UK film- information about the two producers, directors and about it. •(US film: Brave. UK film: Dredd) •One of the Big 6 film industries - which produced the US film and information about that and other films it has produced (Pixar- Walt Disney) •The smaller film companies that have produced the british film - British. •Box office figures comparing the two and why they might have made this much in the cinemas and the type of viewings it was: Wide Release- National audiences, for example was it able to be released abroad and how many screens and what type of people watched it. •Four quadrants appeal. •Budget: How it might have effected the film -Special effects ( was it a blockbuster with how much it made, did it double its budget?) •How it was filmed because of the budget- were they able to fly to special locations, where and special effects, props, makeup, costume, lighting, colour. (mise en scene, everything you can see. Was it altered because of the budget the film was allowed. The Facts I need to know: •BRAVE •Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. Directors: Mark Andrews , Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell Writers: Brenda Chapman (story), Mark Andrews(screenplay), Budget: $185,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: $66,323,594 (USA) (22 June 2012) Gross: $237,282,182 (USA) (11 January 2013) •Appeals to all four quadrants as it is a family film and its a PG so anyone can go and legally watch the film. •Used CGI to make it an animation film- appeals to children. •Production: Pixar and Walt Disney worked together to produce the film. •Based in Scotland so it appeals to a British audience, they wear Royal clothing and therefore it has a cultural side to the British and therefore more people will go and see it because it is typically British. It includes Horses, Castles, and typical Monarch clothing. •DREDD •In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. Director: Pete Travis Writers: John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Alex Garland Budget: $50,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: $6,278,491 (USA) (21 September 2012) Gross: $13,401,683 (USA) (26 October 2012) •Appeals to no quadrants as it is very violent, as it is a superhero film, younger generation will want to see it, however they cannot as it is an 18 and therefore cannot see it, and this is why is made the minimal at the cinemas. •It is not typically British nor a comedy and therefore this is why it failed. •Production: DNA films, IM Global, Reliance Entertainment. •Primarily shot in 3D and REDMX. •Used CGI to make the surroundings look like the city has come out of another city which has come out of another city and so on, this made it look futuristic. •