Alvarado's racial stereotypes theory (1987) from James Meadows

Using theory to inform your interpretations and argument.

Task 1

Evaluate Perkins five assumptions regarding stereotypes in relation to the Hotel Babylon sequence we have studied.

Stereotypes are not always negative: Some stereotypes can be good things about people this is shown when the Asian lady gathers all the illegal immigrants in one room the stereo type of Asian people is that they are clever so this makes the audience feel like the illegal immigrants will be safe because they are with her.

They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful: this is show in the clip by making the Wight people seem like they have all the power this is shown by having the immigration officers to be Wight and treat the bloke like an animal when they catch him.

They can be held about one's own group: if you look at the white lady behind the desk you can see that this is shown to represent power and authority. But also, there is a stereotypical view that blonds are not very clever so people can have a feeling that she won’t be clever and may be a bit stupid.

They are not rigid or unchanging: we can see that stereo types change as one of the normal workers that is a butler is accepted even though he is a black African so this shows that the stereotype on him has faded and he is accepted now.

They are not always false: the immigration office is shown to be racist and treats the man like he is a animal and worthless so not all Wight people are racist but there is still a small amount of them that are so this stereotype could be said to be true for a small amount of people.

Task 2

Explain how Festinger can be used to explain the popularity of programmes like Hotel Babylon or other similar TV Dramas.

Festinger argued that we resist adjusting our attitudes unless faced with over whelming evidence against it. This means that people will keep stereotypes on people until evidence proves that it is not true. So this can explain the popularity of programs like hotel Babylon because people can see that the stereotype of the illegal immigrants being useless is wrong as they are working in the hotel and it looks well-kept so it can be seen to challenge stereotypes and make people think why do they really believe the stereotypes that they are useless.

The Big Six

Major Film Studios

A major film studio is a film producer and production company that releases a substantial number of films annually.

The Big Six film studios are:

1. Warner Bros. Pictures. Comprising a whopping 19.7 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Warner Bros. Pictures is the biggest player in the film industry. Securing the rights to major films like Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, The Matrix and Star Wars have made Warner Bros. the No. 1 name in the business.

2. Paramount Pictures. With 15.5 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Paramount Pictures continues to be one of the most successful film production companies in the world. Star Trek, War of the Worlds, the Mission Impossible series, Transformers and Tropic Thunder are just a few of the popular films produced by Paramount Pictures.

3. Walt Disney. One of the most renowned film production companies in the history of the business, Walt Disney now holds 15.3 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). With highly successful movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, Meet the Robinsons and Enchanted, there's no doubt that Disney will continue to play a key role in the industry for years to come.

4. Columbia Pictures. Comprising 12.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Columbia Pictures remains a big player in the business. Some of this company's recent successes include Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code, the Spider-Man series and Step Brothers.

5. Universal Studios. 12.2 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures) belongs to Universal Studios, which continues to make millions for the film industry. With major hits like the Bourne series (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum), The American Pie series, Knocked Up, American Gangster and The Incredible Hulk, it's very clear that Universal Studios knows what it takes to make money in this industry.

6. 20th Century Fox. Also known as "Twentieth Century Fox," this highly successful movie production company makes up 11.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). Some of the biggest and most successful movies from this empire include the X-Men series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Star Wars Episodes II and III, and the Fantastic Four.

Roughly 9/10 films in the UK are seen as a result of these distributors

Representation of disability

In this extract, there are different examples of people’s disability’s and how they get in the way of their lives and don’t allow them to do everything they want to. So, the righter of this episode is trying to get out the different feelings that some disabled people may have and how they can get in the way of their life and make them feel like they have no control over their body.

Camera

There is a establishing shot of the jumper and the inside of the shop and as you can see from this you can see that he is putting it up to see what it would look like on him but he is looking for the person in the wheelchair but as you can see from his face he is not enjoying being there and feels like everyone has to do everything for him so there for he feels like thee person looking after him is making everything seem like it’s alright when it is not. When they are filming in the back of the ambulance and his wife choses to leave the ambulance and stay with her child you get a point of view shot from one of the paramedics this allows the user to see that he wanted her to come but she won’t so this makes it look like they are

Editing

They keep having cross cutting from all the action going on and they all have someone with a disability in but they are all different disability’s and it shows the problems they are going through. Also by doing this it keeps everyone interested in what’s going on and it also allows the viewer to get different types of action happening instead of just one.

Sound

Diegetic sound is shown when they are in the caff there is festive music playing out the radio this is expected as it is very festive.

Synchronised sound here is synchronised sound as we can see that it is nearly Christmas so everyone is enjoying their self’s and you can hear this trough peoples over exited voices in the caff. Whilst this is happening the person in the wheel chair is not happy as he looks miserable compared to others and does not look like he thinks he fits in.

Mise-en-scence

The makeup of the patient in the back of the van allows the patient to look like his injuries are real so this allows the viewer to feel like it is more realistic and keeps them drawn in instead of them picking errors about how it does not look realistic. Also, this allows the viewer to feel simplify for the user.

Also because of all the tinsel and the lighting used and all of the Christmas props it gives a very festive feeling and people enjoying themselves, this makes the people with the disabilities stand out more as they can’t or don’t want to enjoy the day because of their conditions.

Ex Machina Review

Ex Machina is based around a programmer wins a competition to spend a week with Nathan the owner of the company, the programmer turns up and realises this is a weird house but it is a research facility and he is here to test the first Human A.I.

Cast

Caleb is played by Domhnall Gleeson who is an Irish actor and writer and has ab lot of experience in being an actor as he has been in films like Star Wars the force awakens and is in revenant. In believe that he does a great job at being the character of Caleb in Ex Machina as he shows the emotion that he has for Ava and how it changes through the week and the way he shows the bond that he believes that he has done.

Nathan is played by Oscar Isaac and I believe that he does a very good job in the way that he comes across as a bit weird and Ava convinces Caleb that Nathan is the bad one and she should trust her over him and the way that Nathan comes over calm when he finds out he was going to get Ava out he just says that it means Ava passed so he is so relaxed about the situation and comes across as a relaxed person.

Alicia Vikander is the most important actor and plays the part very well making the way that she moves to be very realistic with a few signs to make you feel like she is not human. Also if you look at her she is well known for acting in “the Danish Girl” and she won an Oscar in that film for best performance by an actress in a supporting role.

Director/writer

It was directed and written by Alex Garland I believe that this film was well directed well by Garland as he kept the film flowing and made shore that the audience didn’t get bored and lose attention also because he only made the film small it does not go on too long so it is not dragged out. Heis also well known for the film “28 days later”.

Producers

It was produced by DNA films and Film 4 productions so this allowed the film to have too sets of contacts for equipment and stages to use. The production companies have done very well considering that this is a low budget film there is no sign that it is a low budget film as the graphics and acting looks amazing and you could easily not now that it is a low budget film.

Production- incl sound effects and vfx

Most of the inside shots of the film was filmed inside pine wood studios in the uk so this allowed them to get the inside scenes set up just how they wanted it to show that it was a research facility and not just a home. All the footage was shot with a Sony f65 and for hand work shots a Sony f55 and was all recorded to 4k, this offered a grate picture on the finished film. Ava was filmed using a suit that picked up all her body on the camera and then it could be changed in to the robot outer shell. Also, there were no green screen was used so this allowed them to keep the scene in the background very realistic. Pixar render Man was used to render the robot body on to Ava

Ethical and moral questions

The way that Nathan treats the robots that he has made is morally wrong for example he has programed one to make love too and some people could see this as playing god and taking charge as if the robots do have intelligence then they should have free writes and not be controlled. Also some people could see it as playing god there for making him be taking advantage of something with feelings if proved they have feelings

Your critical perspective good/bad

I Believe the film was very good and you would not think that this was a small budget film. Also I like the way that they have re-created the look of the A.I. and have not made it look like a normal robot but instead they have made the Ava look like a robot in a different way instead of the standard robot look we expect to see.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The seven key areas

1.       The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice; The primary company that made the new Star Wars is LucasFilms which is owned by Disney, being owned by Disney allows them to have access to high end equipment. For example: Best CGI in the business, access to a large amount of advertisement, access to big studios which can offer the best props and costumes and they allowed them to keep to the films which have a big budget to keep the standards high, “A headline breaking budget” at that. Also with Disney’s massive budget they are able to pay for A-List stars and this is proved by Harrison Ford when he was payed 17.6 million just for his role. As it’s a big company people will be more drawn to it because it’s a known name and people can trust certain companies to make better films than others.

2.       The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing; LucasFilm and Bad Robot Productions were the two companies that produced Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They worked together by creating their film using their wealth so they could have costumes, CGI, actors etc. and they would both pay less because they share on how much they are paying for the film. Also, the film was distributed by Walt Disney and Motion Pictures which means they did all the advertisement and selling the film. They did this using their size and influence on the general public because everyone knows Disney so will be more attracted to the film. The roles that they undertook were just simply advertising the film and then putting them into the cinemas across the world and they would get money from it.

3.       The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of productions, distribution, marketing and exchange; Over the recent years there has been a lot of different ways to market and distribute your films. These are some of the following: You can now advertise your films on social medias, you can give teaser trailers showing parts of your film and giving the audience an idea of what your film is going to be about and this will also bring more attention to your film. Production has gotten easier with the introduction of motion capture where you use a person to create a CGI character that you move yourself. You can market easier too now that everyone uses the internet and a lot of people will see it as long as you put the advertisement on the internet.

4.       the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences; The way film has been changed with the rise of technology is quite a lot when it comes to the effects of editing and the actual making of the film. When trying to sell the film, they pitch the film and advertise but now that everyone (relatively) has a web enabled device around the house, they have had to change the ways that they advertise and market their films. For example, companies now advertise the films they make via YouTube as a huge range of people and ages of people watch YouTube on a daily basis. TV is also a huge way to advertise anything, especially at the peak viewing times. As technology has risen, so has the prices of advertising as there are so many ways to advertise a film or any product in general. They now can sell the film online, people don’t have to go to a cinema to watch a film now as they can pay for it online and watch it at their own home comfort. But this also does rise up the fact that piracy is a big issue and the films can be downloaded and watched illegally without the makers of the film earning a penny.

5.       The way the film was marketed is helped by the internet and social media, the internet can be used to show rumours about what is going to happen in the film and this makes people read them and then want them to go and see the film to see what happens. Social media sites like Facebook can be used to show clips of the film or trailers and pictures of the film and when it comes out these can be shared so this can get out the releasing date for the film and also where it will be played so what cinema it will be in, all of this information can be found for free and also does not cost anything to advertise on their own page so there for it is very good value and can make a massive difference. Also posters get put up in high populated areas so that more people here about the film. And also before similar films with the same sort of audience a snippet of the film would be shown and give you the release date so people that would more than likely want to watch the film will know when the film is coming out. Also adverts on websites can be used so when people are looking at curtain sites a Star Wars advert will pop up and this makes them read it so there for gets out the message of when the film is coming out to more so the internet and social media have allowed the film industries to advertise on a much bigger scales for reasonable prices.

6.       the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions; The way that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was marketed in the world was different in different areas. In China, it was marketed aggressively in China, they used a lot of adverts and TV shows to try and gain the country's attention to the film. Which it did in fact do relatively well for an ‘Outside China’ film. Now in Europe, it was marketed by using A list stars on the adverts as people would see someone they like is in the film and then they go to see it. That was the same for the USA, they used Comicon as brought Harrison Ford which I believe must’ve impacted the number of people who went to see it. Most people thought Harrison Ford didn’t care about the film much but the appearance at Comicon and him being extremely happy about being there must’ve made people see it. They also used a lot of talk shows on TV to gain viewers’ attention towards the film.

7.       the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour. People that watch the film on the first viewing can make a big impact to how many people want to go and see the film as if loads of the people that see it first post bad reviews of it a lot of people will not want to go and see it as they don’t see the point and if it is a film like Star Wars and everyone said it is the worst one yet not many people would not want to watch it as they don’t want to ruin all of the other Star Wars films they have watched. 48 million was turned over in the first weekend on IMAX screens it was also the fastest film to get a gross of 1 billion dollars.

 By

Harri Jones, Charlee Fear, James Meadows

How is representation of disability represented in TV drama

List of 4 TV dramas that feature disabled characters

The bridge- Sonya cross is seen too have Asperger syndrome, this is a autism spectrum disorder and is said to be on the high functioning end of the spectrum. She is also a detective so the director is showing that you can still be very helpful and do important jobs even with a disability.

Braking Bad- Walter white is a son of a chemistry teacher and has cerebral palsy and he is the main protagonist of Braking Bad, this is a condition marked by impaired muscle coordination. The director gets him across as a smart person that is good at planning just he does not have loads of strength but he does manage to make lots of money and is still very able.

Covert Affairs- this is a USA program where Auggie Anderson is a blind CIA analyst and a computer genius, this shows again that the director is trying to get over that disabled people can still do jobs and be a massive help to society.

Glee- Artie Abrams, a glee member that had to use a wheel chair this is because he has down syndrome but he still manages to be a cheerleader, this is showing that the director wanted him to be able to be a cheerleader and not allow his disability to get in the way of what he wants to do. Also you can see that he is always smiling and enjoying himself as he always looks happy.

As you can see all the disable characters seem to be portrayed to do what they want and that their disability does not hold them back and that in the programs they are needed and are part of a group so this shows that the director wants us to see they can do what they want and be a help to society with their conditions not getting in their way.