Media Homework
MARINA WORK
Upon seeing the 1986 movie ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ I noticed that the film is in black and white for a majority of the movie but one scene, this could be done for the sake of emotional effect and shock on the audience as after watching a black and white film for thirsty minutes straight, colour isn’t something the audience would have anticipated. The colour kicks in at a happy scene in the movie, the reason for this could be because black and white could be seen as quite dull and Spike Lee wanted Nola’s perspective to be shown in a very abstract way.
The film is based on a true story set in the 1970’s, these events happened in 1979 but the movie is set in 1972 main character Stallworth, played by John David Washington is an African-American detective who has come across an advert for an invitation to join the Ku Klux Klan; a white supremacist led group. Upon seeing the invite, he pretends to be a European man along with the help of his Jewish Co-worker, Flip Zimmerman who is played by actor Adam Driver. Whilst keeping this act up, Stallworth comes into contact over the phone with David Duke, who is an American White Supremacist and past Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Actor Topher Grace took on the role of playing him and had to do some serious role preparation to get his acting right. When it comes to the historical accuracy of the movie the film is seen as a bit more over exaggerated to the book.
When it comes to the technicals of the film, I noticed that there is a sepia type effect over the whole movie, this could be done as coloured tv was only discovered and made popular during the mid 1960’s, this movie being set in the late 1970’s probably took this information and made use of it, with Spike being an auteur director these effects run through his movies. Upon seeing the film for the first time, I was drawn to all the mise-en-scene from the cars being used to the outfits. The details in this movie were the icing on the cake, Topher Grace in an interview said that whilst filming, director Spike Lee had a lot of input in every scene and even altered lines last minute. Him being an auteur director, his input and alters to each scene make the movie his as it shows all the visual elements and lines said were pitched by him.
The 1986 movie Malcolm X actually comes back into play with its relations to being controversial, with actor Denzel Washington playing Malcolm X something many people did not notice was that actor John David Washington (Denzel Washington’s son) who took on the role of Ron Stallworth actually had a role in the movie Malcolm X as he acted alongside his father in the movie Malcolm X, another Spike Lee joint. This is an example of the auteur director Spike Lee using cast members from the past, it was also a rather clever idea as for his most controversial movies he has two family members playing the main characters. 
The director I had chosen for this example is Greg Berlanti, director of the teen 2018 romantic comedy Love, Simon. The movie follows the main character Simon Spier, who is played by twenty-three-year-old actor Nick Robinson. In this movie he is a closeted gay student in high school who is struggling to 
A technique that Berlanti had his camera crew doing during filming included to keep the camera rolling even after he had yelled cut, this allowed for him to capture the natural connections between the cast whilst filming which even allowed for a whole improv car scene where the characters just enjoy each other’s company to be left in the final cut of the movie.
Film Studies Assignment – The Theory of Films
Throughout this essay I will be analysing these two film theories, I had chosen feminism and the auteur theory. An auteur director would only use his abilities as a director to make sense of the movie.
The artist I had chosen to use as example of both of these movies is Spike Lee, I chose him as he is mainly known as the director of the 1986 hit feminist original movie ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ before it was turned into a Netflix series.
The American film director, writer, producer and actor is known for creating the feminist heavy movie ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ an all-black cast film which revolves around the romantic life of main character ‘Nola Darling’ Spike Lee is also in this movie as he plays one of Nola’s romantic interests ‘Mars Blackmon.’ When reviewing the film, the New York Times wrote that “it was also a ground-breaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of colour not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites."
Spike Lee is a director who does seem to use cast members from his old movies in his new ones, an example of this could be how in the 1992 movie ‘Malcom X’ he casts the American activist and actress Angela Evelyn Bassett, she is then featured in the 2015 Spike Lee film titled ‘Chi-Raq.’
Whilst being a creator of the feminist movie, Spike Lee could also go under the category of being an auteur artist as his previous films all seem to have this link to political and controversial issues. An example of this could be his 2018 movie ‘BlacKkKlansman.’ The plot follows main character, Stallworth on a mission to reveal members of the Ku Klux Klan. The movie could be compared to his biographical film ‘Malcolm X’ which of course, follows the life of the late American Muslim minister and human rights activist as he embarks on his journey to having his religious conversion.
Spike Lee collaborated with director Jordan Peele, director of the 2017 successful and popular movie Get Out to form ‘Blackkklansman.’ Spike Lee’s movies do happen to surround political views and cover racism and stereotypes which is also a theme that can be related to Jordan Peele’s new work.
When Patrice (actor Laura Harrier) and Ron Stallworth knock on a door with their guns at the ready, there is a camera on a dolly track which follows them down the corridor to the door. The soundtrack of the movie has the songs named after who may enter the scene when a song plays, this means that the songs will not have lyrics to them and that the soundtrack was composed by a composer. The soundtrack for ‘Malcolm X’ had music created by black music artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Duke Ellington
At the end of the movie, Spike Lee includes a clip of the actual David Duke making a speech about the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The word Queer is usually put with sexuality and was used negatively but it was adopted by gay men and lesbians, the word was originally used to describe something as strange or peculiar. The term queer theory is when a film Queer theory grew out of gay/lesbian studies which, in turn, grew out of feminist studies and feminist theory.
accept his sexuality, his best friend Leah, played by actress Katherine Langford tells him about a boy at their school who confessed to being gay online, throughout this the boy has disguised himself with the name ‘Blue.’ Simon then reaches out and communicates with Blue over emails and as this goes on they share secrets therefore forming some sort or relationship. It’s all going well until their emails are found by one student and Simon is blackmailed by the student as the student, Martin, threatens to expose them all if he is not given a shot with Simons friend, Abby. Simon is later exposed which leads him to come out to his parents. After this terrible moment, Simon makes a connection with another openly gay student named Ethan who then helps Simon get through this traumatic experience, whilst trying to get over it all, Simon meets his online friend, Blue.
The soundtrack for the movie is compiled with music from a range of different popular artists including the openly gay twenty-three-year-old music artist, Troye Sivan. Directors would often choose music by artists who fit the theme of the actual movie like as Greg Berlantis used Troye Sivan, he is a staple in the gay community and a voice that people will notice, especially those who teens 
and are in the LGBTQ+ Community who went to see the movie.
The editing in the movie is suited to being a teen movie from the edits of the texts popping up on screen to screen recordings of the laptop when emails are being sent to each other. This makes the storyline clearer to the audience, it also shows the lingo and slang that the characters may be using, this makes the fact that they are teens come across as more natural. At the end of the movie, Simon goes to a fun fair and is on a Ferris wheel by himself, its seen in movies for fun fairs to come across as romantic but that thought is broken when Simon is sitting on the Ferris wheel with nobody with him. The movie is quite bright and colourful throughout it all until Simon finds out his secret has been exposed, this leads to him crying in his room under a dim light, lighting is very key when it comes to setting a mood and this is something that was highlighted heavily throughout this movie.
Director Greg Berlanti comes under being a queer theory director for his work on this movie, him being openly gay also helped character Nick Robinson ignore criticism he was getting from fans of the book after he was being told he would not be good at playing the role of Simon as he is a straight man. Berlanti was a writer for Dawson’s Creek years ago, he was close to leaving his job and ditching making content for Dawson’s Creek after they had denied including a passionate kiss scene between two male characters, this had triggered Berlanti’s views on LGBT representation which pushed him to making this movie and including the romantic kiss scene he had visioned and worked on years ago.
Greg Berlanti Is known for his work on Riverdale, another teen movie that covers romance, drama and some thriller. Riverdale is a Netflix series that has been running for three seasons now. Greg Berlanti uses cast members from the other hit Netflix show ’13 Reasons Why,’ This was done as the characters are rememberable to the teen audience therefore drawing more audience members in to see these noticeable faces. His Netflix show, Riverdale also has a homosexual couple included
Source of information:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0075528/?ref_=nmnw_hdGREG BERLANTI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cbWdlQg_8
Task 2 - Film Theory
Define each of these words.
structuralism: is a way of studying human culture.
semiotics: Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols.
auteur theory: a filmmaker whose individual style takes over all elements of production and gives a film a very unique touch.
feminism: A feminist is a person who believes in the social political and economical equality of the sexes.
EXAMPLE :
what feminism means to me - being for equality, and for the general opportunity and success of all of you, regardless of your personal beliefs.
queer theory: the queer theory is an approach to cultural study that does not accept traditional categories of gender and sexuality.
marxism: Marxism is a method of analysis that views conflict.
psychoanalytic: argued that personality is formed through conflicts among three fundamental structures of the human mind.
TASK 2
review two films - FILM 1
'To All The Boys I've Loved Before'
'To All The Boys I've Loved Before' is an a 2018 American teen romance film that was originally released on Netflix, the movie was directed by Susan Johnson. I would say that the movie is directed to teenagers and mainly teenage girls as the story follows a girl named Lara Jean and her way of going about her problems when letters she wrote to her childhood crushes and purposefully never sent somehow got out.
'Now You See Me'
AUTEUR THEORY
Auteur theory is when during the whole process of filmmaking, the director of the film is viewed as the a creative force for the motion picture.
Tim Burton, the 60 year old director who is known for producing several popular movies such as Beetlejuice, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Dumbo and Edward Scissorhands. Tim Burton is a producer who loves to include references from his past movies into his new ones that fans may be able to spot, an example of this could be in the 1998 Batman movie by Burton, The jokers smile stays fixed on his face in a very strange way that allows his teeth to be showing, the smile that the joker kept throughout a long duration of the movie was done through a chemical called 'Smilex.' Fast forward to 2005 when creating Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Charlies dad who is referred to as Mr Bucket throughout the show works in a factory where in which his career is screwing on lids to toothpaste, the toothpaste brand is titled 'Smilex' by adding this Easter egg in it allowed for fans of Burton's old work to notice there are more of those to come.
Tim Burton is guilty of using some actors in his movies frequently, here are a list of actors who have appeared in more than one of his movies; Helena Bonham Carter (most known for playing Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series) Johnny Depp (famous for his role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean) Deep Roy (played all of the Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Alan Rickman (famous for his role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series)
Tim Burtons style is usually described as quite dark and gothic, because of this I don't think that his style is quite the same for all of his movies but during Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, the way that each kid slowly disappears whenever they are shown something new in the factory was rather twisted and dark which can be linked to his other dark films like 'Edward Scissorhands.'
After watching both trailers, If I had to compare two films by Tim Burton and say where auteur theory comes into play I would choose Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, reason being as during the beginning of both scenes, you are greeted with an uninviting dark scene much like how Charlie And The Chocolate Factory begins following Charlie and his miserable looking house. As I have watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I know that it starts off rather dark and the colour does not come into play until later on in the movie when Charlie has entered the factory, I know that it would be the same for the 'Edward Scissorhands' movie as it is Tim Burtons style and I have seem it in the trailer.
SOURCES :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHEGnTrJFzU&t=293s - 10 Tim Burton Movie Easter Eggs You Never Noticed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_frequent_Tim_Burton_collaborators - List Of Frequent Tim Burton Collaborators
Harry's work
Whilst studying media this year I was able to refresh my mind and go over things I had already known and even go into depth with them and also learn some new things.
We had started off by listing some of the media sectors, I had taken media last year and I was only able to list 5 but during our lessons I was able to find out that there are indeed 10. We then went onto genre and the different types of genres you may see in films and music and how they could often crossover, this is called synergy. during these lessons we learnt some key words that come up almost daily in our lessons as they are essential for when we create our music videos such as 'iconography' and 'intertextuality' and 'sub-genres'. The term intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text. Iconography would be what the audience expects in a certain genre, an example of this could be when you are watching a horror movie, you are likely to expect death, violence and blood.
As we moved onto learning about the purpose of music videos, we looked at the technical aspects of some videos, this led to us watching videos and class and giving feedback on things such as the editing, sound, special effects in the video the different camera angles and shots and even the audience gratification the video may give.
Kate good work, for the assignment you can use this but you need to reference your work. On the main lower 6th blog it has a tutorial on how to reference work.
ReplyDeleteKate good work, for the assignment you can use this but you need to reference your work. On the main lower 6th blog it has a tutorial on how to reference work.
ReplyDeleteGood work Kate, but can you please separate the 3 classes to not be on the same page. It will be easier to see the comments from Harry, Fay and myself.
ReplyDeleteGood effort Kate however, commercial radio word count is not 300. All purposes relate to raising revenue however, make sure you do your research with components I.e. advertising and how it actually makes the stations money. Main purposes: advertising, seasonal awareness, events, sponsorships, selling newscasts, syndication. Have a look at week 4 on the blog for extensive coverage.
ReplyDeleteKate please separate the pages from your other two classes, I will be marking from your blog and will be writing comments.
ReplyDeletemake sure you are referencing your work.