Tag: yr1cw1

Marvel: Avengers

On 16 March 2022

In Assignments, Essays, Film Analysis, Media, Culture and the Creative Industries, Year 1

183MAPA CW1 Essay - 1000words

The Marvel franchise has been around for over 80 years, the franchise started out with comics which lead to it becoming one of the biggest most well know franchises of our generation. Due to Marvel having such a big industry that makes films, tv shows, animations and a range of other media products I wanted to just focus on one of the most well-known part of the franchise which is the Avengers films.

The Avengers films started out originally in 2012 which in turn lead to the making of one of the most popular movie series with the Marvel franchise. The whole series is one of the most successful films series of this generation, as Marvel has evolved overtime and has become increasingly more developed and has technology keeps advancing so does the motion of the cinematic universe that has created Marvel. (Technical thrill)

Marvel Entertainment. (2011, October 11). Marvel’s The Avengers- Trailer (OFFICIAL). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrNdBpGMv8

Marvel overtime has started to break barriers and stereotypes that have been placed within superhero style movies an example of this is that they have made women strong and added more diversity within their films, even though there is still a long way to go Marvel is starting to add more cultures within their films and therefore allowing the targeted audience to witness more of a range of different people. As the meaning of culture has changed overtime showing a more modern take on culture. This links into Raymond Williams theories of culture and how culture has been redefined within modern times. Williams talked about how culture can be split into three categories and the Marvel industry touches on more social section of culture and this is mainly done within the more later avengers films as it shows of the culture of different countries but twisted in a way to fit the action. An example of this is when they show people of different class and races, they do this with through using superheroes such as Iron-man who is in the higher class and this compared to other characters such as Antman who does have as much wealth or education as the character of Tony Stark. Williams analysis culture plays into this construct as Williams describes culture as ‘a description of a particular way of life’ (Williams,1998, pg48).

This however could both support and oppose the cultural theory of Adorno, Frankfurt school talks about as this can show that people are just using films as a way to distract themselves and therefore would consume there time instead of using their time for something more valuable. However, Marvel can be shown to educate people about different cultures and therefore this would go against that theory and shows that people can both enjoy these media products and learn something from them. (Frankfurt school, Adorno)Even though through the Frankfurt school critical thinking could be classed as out dated it still can hold a lot of relevance to today’s society as people rely so much on technology and social media as an escapism however, this could be viewed as something that has been constructed to distract and therefore can take over people’s lives. (Adorno, video|)

As Marvel has developed and grown overtime so has the industries overall funding and therefore the quality of the films, they produce have become better and more intriguing. This also means that due to the development of the cinema industry and the overall how people get to see films. As cinema has been popularised over time it allowed Marvels industry to grow and in this allowing Marvel to branch out into different media productions and products. Cinema has been a way to fund the film industry for generations and this has allowed the film industry to get more creative with the types of films that have been produced and therefore has created genres and overtime adaptations of books and comics started to become popularised. Marvels Avengers is an adaption from the comics written by Stan Lee and other writers which were popular before the films came out which helps brings more of an audience to see each of films produced based of these comics. Marvel mainly relies on the typical way to fund films when it comes to the making of the films and are given a budget which they work with this is often around $350 million to make which is often funded by the owners of Marvel which is currently Disney.

Avengers has been a growing film series for the past 8 years and this allowed the industry to find new ways to get the audience interested in the films. The Marvel often do this by advertising new products through multiple ways however this is mainly done through social networking and due to the on-going growing fanbase of Marvel this allows particular films to gain more attraction and therefore will gain more people wanting to see the film and this brings in more money. This also allows people to connect with one another and create friendships through social media and their shared love for this franchise. This fits in with the concept of social networking and being able to use the social media platforms to bring people together that would not normally interact with one another. (Boyd, Ellison, (2008) pg1-2)

In conclusion the Marvel industry is one of the fastest and most popularised industries in the media right now and has continued to use their fanbase to gain more influence within different media. Marvel has used the growing cinema to its advantage by incorporating more unique shots, camera angles and playing on the genre that is superheroes and action to be able to draw more of the intended audience in. (Altman (1999)).

References, APA list style:

Adorno, Frankfurt school and capitalism, video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YGnPgtWhsw

Frankfurt School, Claudio Corradetti, The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory, pg1-3 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/80179124.pdf

Boyd, Ellison, (2008) Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship, pg210-211 https://files.coventry.aula.education/802fe8ac9397fa775d91730ccb5506c42008___boyd_and_ellison___social_networking_sites.pdf

Williams, (1998), Cultural theory and popular culture, the analysis of culture, pg. 48-49: https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/88660/original/Williams+-+The+Analysis+of+Culture.pdf

The history of cinema references(apa):

Altman, (1999), Cinema and Genre:

https://files.coventry.aula.education/8b8aa9f45bef60ca23fe376ae8454fd9the_oxford_history_of_world_cinema_______cinema_and_genre_.pdf

Technical thrill, (1895–1903):

https://files.coventry.aula.education/47b21bac95e90e0d3e36371b2e2d095athe_story_of_film_______1_technical_thrill__1895_1903__the_sensations_of_the_first_movies_.pdf

Convergence Culture Within Society and Film

By Freya Glenton

On 6 March 2022

In Assignments, Essays, Film Analysis, Postdigital Regions: Space and Place, Year 1

Case study: Ghost In The Shell

180mapa CW1 Essay - 1500 Words

Paramount Pictures. (2017, February 13). Ghost In The Shell (2017) – Official Trailer – Paramount Pictures. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRkb1X9ovI4

Within most modern day countries we rely heavily on technology, such as phones and the internet, so much so that we don’t consider it as much of a luxury or privilege anymore but we see all of these as more of an essential thing within our everyday life. As technology has been expanding and developing more rapidly within the last 25 year, especially communicative aspects of technology, so has media platforms and the type of people who consume media. Henry Jenkins defines ‘Convergence culture’ as a merging between new and traditional varieties of media and describes the term as a consent shift between the media and its audience.

Within society convergence culture is highly relevant as there is a major development within media and there has been a massive growth in different media platforms especially on the digital era such as streaming services, social medias and films.

This theory or the term ‘Convergence culture’ was created by Henry Jenkins and this will link to the case study or film called Ghost In The Shell which demonstrates the there is a blurred line between the consumer and the company of technology as this shows how technology and the media can consume a person and brings in to question of how far you can push technology before you’re not human anymore. This links into how Jenkins explains that ‘convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways.’(Jenkins, 2006, p2)This part of the topic connects to the film as it shows that new media can develop to the point where the consumer can become the product.

As interactive media is constantly developing and has changed drastically Jenkins observed this and how other theorists he describes the consistent progress and blurring of content creator and consumer as part of ‘convergence culture’ and Jenkin describes this as ‘the flow of content across multiple media platforms’ (Jenkins, 2006, p2-3) which shows us that the media is consistently progressing whether it’s a new piece of technology or a brand new content being released.

Jenkins is making his audience aware that media has developed and that as it increases the line separating the consumer and the creator starts too get smaller. As according to Jenkins convergence is demonstrating a two-way street between the media company and the active consumer.

The convergence culture nearly goes completely against the Frankfurt school as the Frankfurt school as Theodor Adorno states that the media and the ideologies within the media is corrupting us whereas ‘…produced mass culture that habituated individuals to conform to the dominant patterns of thought and behaviour.’ (Adorno,1991 , p2). This shows that due to the different time periods and different morals these two theorists see media in a different way to one another.

Due to the constant shift in the media and technology advances there are more developments that are constantly happening within shift between creator and consumer for example the robotics industry is growing rapidly so therefore there will be more opportunities for media to develop even further than people could participate and will society will become so dependant on these advances, especially as we as a society already consume so much media as it is today. People become so absorbed with social media and their devices, whether that’s due to boredom or work, this need for having social media has become so normalised and natural for our society. Theorists have stated that ‘there are a variety of different arguments have been put forward in an attempt to define what exactly is coming together’(Grant and Wilkinson,2009).

Jenkins describes these rapid enhancements in communicative technology as leading to an effortless way to interact across the entire globe and he defines this development in technological advances a positive change, ‘Understanding these changes and participating in the debates that will shape the future of media.’ (Jenkins,H.2004), Which shows that accepting these changes can lead to improvements for a greater and constant consumption of media platforms.

Other people embrace the idea that the media has good development as people are consuming it more everyday within society. ‘rather than serving as an equalizing force, media diffusion could reinforce and potentially even increase inequalities by leading to higher status individuals digesting additional information faster’ (Zillien,N & Hargittai,E. 2009).

The media could develop to the point that it become one of the most essential things in or everyday life as we become more and more dependent on media products and media/technology will become more ingrained into every day society as well as cities and culture. As society goes on and develops so will how we see technology developments especially within humanity as media cold develop to the point where we see it everywhere.

The particular case that I think could demonstrate this topic would be the film ‘Ghost in the shell’ which centres around a women who still has the brain of a human but got experimented on by having her brain transplanted into a robots body. This shows a more futuristic society where technology and media has developed to the point where it has over run cities, however we are still shown the more run down elements of a city and the more corrupt parts of humanity has in everyday cities. This brings in the aspect that old parts of humanity can still be shown in this more futuristic society. This relates to Jenkins convergence culture as it has shown how a continuous progression of media as well as showing how far a media company will go to sell a product to a consumer.

In this case the company owner wanted to experiment with how far they could go with turning a human into a robot without completely destroying their humanity ad in order to do this they got homeless civilians that were against or outcasted by society to experiment with transplanting their brain into a robot version of their body. As the main idea of convergence culture is a constant progression and as we are so consumed and fascinated with the media and the content that created within the media it is interesting to see how media could develop so much and go so far the it would be so embedded into society.

Jenkins stated ‘Fandom, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn’t fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it’ (Jenkins, 2006) which demonstrates to us that if media was not as fascinating as it was and if it was not worth consuming and engaging with then society would not have developed media as much and there would not be as much content and different aspects of the media to be seen. This would link into Ghost in the Shell as this film clearly shows that it relies on society developing enough with technology and media to create massive developments with technology. This film demonstrates that as it shows that technology and media is no longer a luxury but is an everyday requirement and is almost seen as unnatural if you didn’t have some form of technology on you.

Jenkins convergence culture would have been more relevant for this film as well as within the society it is set in it shows off a large development of a media system as well as robotics as most of the characters that are within this have some sort of adjustment that has been done to their body. This brings to the question of how far humanity can be pushed and whether immortality is a possibility, this would also bring to light of how much has media developed to get it to the point to where society wouldn’t need it anymore or here it’s just a natural aspect of society.

To conclude and sum up this Convergence Culture shows off that there is going to be a constant development of media with society and the line between creator and consumer could gradually get slimmer as time develops. Jenkins theory might even become more developed and relevant as time goes on and media and technology evolves. Along with this the idea that society cold become so dependant on media is a high possibility as we continue to engage with media platforms as it will continue to fascinate the human mind and keep our interests going.

References:

Jenkins, H.(2006), Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press (P2-4). Henry Jenkins Convergence culture where old and new media collide 2006.pdf (hse.ru)

Zillien,N & Hargittai,E. (2009), Digital Distinction: Status-Specific Types of Internet Usage, University of Trier & Northwestern University. Digital Distinction: Status-Specific Types of Internet Usage* (aula.education)

Jenkins,H. (2004), The cultural logic of media convergence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, (p35-36). Jenkins,+Henry++-+The+Cultural+Logic+of+Media+Convergence.pdf (pbworks.com)

Mascheroni,G & Ólafsson, K. (2015), The mobile Internet: Access, use, opportunities and divides among European children, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy University of Akureyri, Iceland; Masaryk University, Czech Republic. (p22) 13255dd12a1e436207cff6c5ca527309mascheroni_and__lafsson___the_mobile_internet.pdf (aula.education)

Grant and Wilkinson, (2009),understanding media convergence, (p1) BR1-DEC17.pdf (caluniv.ac.in)

Adorno,T.( 1991), Frankfurt school, The Culture Industry, frankfurtschool.pdf (ucla.edu)

Short Reflection and Analyse of Steven Kings IT’s Trailer

By Freya Glenton

On 6 March 2022

In Assignments, Other Analysis', Reflecting on Creative Practice, Reflection pieces, Year 1

Assignment Task: 
Students will need to choose an appropriate media artefact, research its origins and purpose and write a 500-word response, critically reflecting the appropriateness, successes and failings of the selected artefact. [500 words]

Solo Reflection on IT’s trailer:

Warner Bros. Pictures. (2017). IT – Official Teaser Trailer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnCdOQsX5kc

Steven Kings ‘IT’ trailer created to entice the target audience, which for this film the target would be horror fans and young adults from the age of around 15-20, into going to watch the film IT. The trailer does a fantastic job of capturing the audience’s attention straight away as it immediately starts building tension through the eerie music.

The trailer has a slow build up to horror tropes to not reveal to the audience the entire plot making this an effective trailer as shows off some striking scenery and horror conventions to entice the audience into seeing the entire film. An example of this right from the start of the trailer producer has used conventions such as colour and non-diegetic music to build up the tension of the beginning of the trailer immediately attracting the target audience’s attention.

The director laid this trailer out in a suspenseful way that allowed the audience, who watch for entertainment value, to get hooked while the trailer drops hints of what’s going to happen coming up in following scenes. As the beginning of the trailer starts of light with just dark colours, close up shots and tense music to hint to the audience that something is going to happen and this continues to build the tension within the trailer as the character of Georgie goes outside and we begin to gain some diegetic sounds such as rain and thunder along with the character wearing a yellow raincoat, yellow often being used as to make the audience subconsciously feel tense as it indicates as a warning or danger towards this character, with the camera tracking and following Georgie switching from a birds eye long shot to a close up mid shot allows the audience to feel as though they are following Georgie creating a suspenseful atmosphere.

The trailer continues this throughout using colour as a strong signifier to the audience to indicate danger the main example of this is the red balloon that appears almost throughout the trailer and along with this the (non-diegetic) music picks up and fades and picks up again creating this sinister feeling for the audience. Along with this the trailer although shows off a hints of clown that is the main part to this film the audience does not get to see the full experience of chilling experience which would allure the audience into going to experience this film.

Along with this the trailer plays a lot on horror conventions as it uses a lot of suspenseful music, a creepy child and a murderous clown which are some typical horror tropes that are seen within the genre but is also a major part of attracting the indented audience as these are elements that make the trailer terrifying making the audience attracted to go and see the whole product, along with this they used the sinister slogan ‘you’ll float too’ and also mentioned the famous Steven King which would draw the audience in more making this an affective and enticeful trailer.

References:

Fairbrother, H. ( 2015 ). 2 Audience Theory – Media Studies. Mrshollyenglish.Com. http://media-studies.mrshollyenglish.com/theory/audiences-institutions/audience-theory

A website that informs about: Audience theory, Hypodermic Needle Theory, Uses and gratification (Blumler and Katz) and codes and conventions.

Extra Information:

Within the future when I develop my skills in analysis further I will come back to this trailer, or to the film as a whole, and re-analysis it as an actual analysis and not just a reflection.

This will be done here:

Film analysis