Case study: production contexts and your favourite film

For this session, you will be exploring the production contexts, marketing, distribution and financial contexts of your favourite film. While you can pick absolutely any film you like, from any country and from any decade, either indie or mainstream, it may be easier if you pick a more recent and more mainstream film, or if you pick a stone cold classic with lots that has been written on.

You will be spending the ENTIRE LESSON on this, so pick your absolute favourite, honest to goodness all time number one film. Use this as an opportunity to connect with the thing you love, and to consider how it works in an economic context

Why are we doing this?

Apart from the fun of researching something you love, you are also exploring and reinforcing your knowledge and understanding of production contexts. You are learning how the film industry works in a specialised way, and that all films to some extent must exist within this context and must compete somehow.

• Production history - what happened during the preproduction and production of this film? Was it smooth sailing, or did the film have development hell?
• Ownership - who produced this film? Who distributed it? What kinds of companies are these? 
• Trailer analysis - Find the theatrical trailer for this film. Select three screenshots from it. Analyse the trailer with specific reference to how the film maximises audience appeal
• Advertising and Marketing and merchandise - Create a collage of marketing material for the film
• Director and actors: brief resumes, brief details. Some head shots too, please!
• Critical reception: critical and audience response. If the film has been out for a while, has the critical response changed over time?
• Production and distribution costs: cost of production, cost of advertising campaign, and any other juicy figures. This will vary wildly depending on what film you have selected!
• Earnings: Box office, opening weekend, digital sales, total number of screens, worldwide gross,  (really hard to find!)

Today, my favourite film is Dario Argento's nonsense horror masterpiece Suspiria. I love it so much I  have probably seen it 25 times! I have never seen this Italian theatrical poster for it though.

Key assessment one - your first mock!

Your first mock is coming up the week after the week you get back from half term (!). It's going to be fine. This is not a test that 'goes forward' and it doesn't technically count for anything, but it will give us a good indication of where you are up to at the moment, and will give you an opportunity to revise and to sit a formal exam.

This is an exam hall. But you'll be doing your mock in a classroom. Whatever!

When is it?

All mocks will take place in your normal lesson.

P - Monday 11th November 2024 at 0900

T - Monday 11th November 2024 at 1305

Q - Monday 11th November 2024 at 1440

R - Tuesday 12th November 2024 at 1050

What's on the test?

There will be a single, 30 mark representation question. In this question, you will be asked to compare one of the case study advertisements to something you have never seen before (but I'm going to tell you right now, the unseen element will be an advertisement of some sort). The unseen element may be print or video based. You will have 60 minutes (standard time ) to watch/look at the unseen element, form an plan and then answer.

How do I revise?

Using the blog!

There's lots of elements to this exam. 

Case studies, media language, representation theory, essay structure, and unseen analysis. 

Tide 

Super.Human 

Kiss Of The Vampire  (this one has some good essay writing tips too!)

Also check out the toolkit for textual analysis! Click here!

Then, check out the theories and theorists section. The ones we are particularly interested in are the representation theorists. There's a video version if you are so inclined. 

Also, check out this article on writing the perfect essay. There's a video version too!

If you want some inspiration on specific revision methods, check out this cool pyramid/mountain thing

And finally, there are LOADS of advertising unseen analysis examples under the advertising section of the industries tab. Click here for a shortcut.

(And finally finally, there are lots of articles that may be useful that I haven't linked, but I need to stop somewhere!)

Basically, the blog has absolutely everything you will ever need, and you should get used to using it for a few minutes every day. 

Stories We Tell - how can you actually talk about this film in the exam?

Stories we Tell is such a deliberately awkward and confusing and delightful and experimental and arguably empty experience, that it is difficult to know where to actually begin with it. These notes will help you to formulate an excellent response in the exam, when in actuality, your response may well be 'it doesn't really mean anything, but it's kind of beautiful...'

Starting with the conclusion

• Stories we tell is a film about how reality itself is subjective
• Stories We Tell uses a range of highly atypical filmmaking techniques to construct a highly contradictory and quixotic mode of address.
• In doing so, Sarah Polley situates the spectator in her messy life, and through this intimate mode of address, we are reminded that our own lives do not need to make sense to have meaning and validity. 

A deliberately contradictory mode of address - How does Stories We Tell us binary oppositions to deliberately contradict itself and to construct a confusing and contradictory mode of address?

• Real life events are reconstructed through blatantly fake reconstructions, using characteristically blurry super 8 footage
• Some recreation footage is signalled as being reconstructed, but some is explicitly presented as real
• The perspectives of the individual storytellers frequently contradict each other
• There is an opposition between staged studio shots and naturally lit recreation shots, heightening the audience’s confusion 
• A significant contradiction is formed between death and life. Dianne, the main character of the film is dead, yet is arduously reconstructed through the testimonies of the storytellers 
• There is a binary opposition between Greirsonian and Pennebakian modes of constructing documentaries, with Polley using both and also eschewing 
• THE EFFECT OF ALL THESE DIAMETRIC OPPOSITIONS IS TO SITUATE THE SPECTATOR IN A HIGHLY CONFUSING BUT DELIGHTFUL MODE OF ADDRESS

How are contradictions encoded in the final sequence of Stories We Tell?

• A ‘modern event’ (the birth of Michael’s grandchild) is shot with a Super 8 camera, encoding a nostalgic mode of address for an even that has only just happened. Confusingly, the anchorage of Michael's monologue fixates on his own sad life, and the sense of loss and quiet misery forms a binary opposition with the birth of a child
• However, we cut to black. Generic ‘olde time’ early 20th century piano music (Ain't Misbehavin) swell over the black screen. However after several seconds we cut to Jeff in another standard, digitally shot talking head shot. Jeff admits that he once slept with Dianne, perhaps introducing the idea that he could be Sarah’s father. This radically different ending subvert our expectations, and also contradicts the notion of documentaries being an objective account of the truth. 

Stories We Tell as poetry

• The motif of the fly crops up explicitly at least twice in the film. Polley chooses to end the film with Michael monologuing about the fly. But why?
• The fly is a representation of loneliness. Michael is fixated on a single insignificant detail that seems to encompass his entire life. The fly is symbolic of disease and annoyance, yet Michael seems to feel an affinity with them, “they are my friends”. Michael fixates on flies fully knowing that this is ridiculous and even pathetic. Perhaps he takes pity on the fly. He extrapolates on the fly’s lifecycle, which is based and even coded around eating, mating and eventually dying. Therefore the fly not poetically represents loneliness, but also the inevitability of death.
• Yet it can also symbolise the beauty in the mundane. While we all have individual problems and struggle, sometimes noticing an inconsequential moment can conversely reinforce the ideological perspective that we are all alive, and we are all sharing this moment

2024 documentary questions

3* To what extent do the genre conventions of documentary films affect how spectators respond to the issues presented in the film? Discuss in relation to examples from the documentary film you have studied. [35]

• Pennebaker and Grierson
• Polley deliberately rejects genre conventions, but instead focuses on a confusing and quixotic mode of address, making substantial use of simulacrum

OR

4* Discuss how the narrative structure of the documentary film you have studied affects how the spectator interprets the reality of the events represented in the film. [35]

• Pennebaker and Grierson
• Sid Fields three act structure
• Todorov and equilibrium
• Polley breaks traditional narrative narrative structures, and instead implements a poetic mode of address that fixates on emotions and feelings 

Exploring how representations construct reality in the opening sequence of CSI Vegas

Check out the opening credits by clicking here!

What groups, places, issues and events are represented in this opening?

• White men 
• A white woman
• A black man
• Crime
• Police
• Detectives
• Forensic scientists
• Doctors 
• Las Vegas
• Middle aged professionals

How are the police represented in CSI Vegas?

• Serious and passionate and professional. This is connoted through the perpetual use of low key lighting, the age of the actors which connotes superiority, and the fact that almost every shot functions as a proairetic code, depicting an element of this job. We see a montage of various high end specialised activities. Yet the ultimate inference is that by doing so, these professionals will protect people's lives by locking up the bad guys
• The police have access to high end, expensive equipment to solve these cases. For example the MES of test tubes, lab coats, gloves and high powered torches suggests a huge amount of money has been attributed. 
• The Opening broadly represents the police force, in particular crime investigators and detectives and forensic scientists. The police are represented as being cool and desirable. This ideology is anchored through the gesture codes of the dancing officer walking down the corridor, signifying his confidence. 
• The police are also represented as competent and invested in their roles, which is emphasised through the montage of series facial expressions. This is further anchored through the actor’s poses and the MES of their equipment, such as walkie talkies and powerful flashlights, which suggests they are highly capable
• While we are presented with a montage of upsetting and gory images, the upbeat classic rock soundtrack provides a binary opposition and suggests that the competent and able cops are completely used to this situation, and violent death does not affect them. 
• The representation of a competent investigative crime scene force constructs an ideological perspective that a powerful police force protects American citizens everyday. While the crimes and events may be similar to ones that happen in real life, they are representations. Edges have been filed off, and elements have been skipped in order to construct a favourable and comfortable representation of the police force to the mass market audience.

The Tide advert: a detailed textual analysis

• Colour - The slogan (Tide’s got what women want) is in red. Bright red! This particular shade has connotations of love and romance, and is also one of the dominant colours of the Tide box, therefore building brand identity.  Additionally, red is a bold and exciting colour, and forms a binary opposition with the boredom of washing clothes!
• Font -  The font is in block capitals, and is sans serif. This allows the advert to adopt an informal mode of address, suggesting a working class audience 
• Lexis - The word ‘women’ is used frequently, reinforcing the notion that this advert is exclusively targeting women. By conflating women and washing, the advert constructs a highly stereotypical mode of address, and is arguably highly sexist . However, it reflected the dominant ideology of 1950s America. 
• The subheading utilises direct address, with the lexis “you women” not only explicitly targeting women, but also excludes men. This specific and highly targeted address is highly stereotypical and highly sexist. Sexism is a belief that one gender is more important than the other. However, by reflecting the dominant sexist ideology of 50s America, the advert reflects ideologies of women that existed at the time
• The use of red symbolises boldness, love, excitement and even romance. It could suggest a love for the product itself, which is anchored elsewhere.
• The font is bold and vibrant, and sans serif, which suggests a huge target audience, and a relatable message. The letters appear to have been enthueastically painted on, which symbolically suggests the enthusiasm for the product. 
• The Lexis ‘Tide's got what women want’ constructs a superlative mode of address, and suggests that the target females will miss out on important life events by not buying the product
• The repetition of ‘no other’ in the lexis suggests Tide is the very best out of every product. Use of superlative language. The housewife is dressed in the colours of the American flag: red, white and blue. The dots on her blouse are also symbolic of the stars on the American flag, which suggests to the audience that Tide is an essentially American product. By building a patriotic mode of address, the producers utilise a stereotype of the american public, and infer that by buying the product, you will become a better american. The housewife is presented as a stereotypical working class housewife, which is constructed through the anchorage of the washing machine right next to her. The housewife is strikingly attractive. She has a stereotypically attractive hourglass figure, and resembles a model or a film star. She is wearing bright red lipstick, her eyebrows have been sculpted and she is wearing blush. The makeup functions as a proairetic code, and suggests that the housewife is about to go on an exciting date. However, instead she is washing up. By dressing up in such a stereotypically attractive way, the housewife clearly lives up to societal standards regarding women.
• The housewife is dressed in a contemporary and fashionable manner. Her facial expression is ecstatic, and her eyes are wide open, as is her mouth.
• She is weariung significant makeup including bright red lipstick, blusher, shaped eyebrows and eyeliner. Her heavy makeup forms a binary opposition with the boring and mundane nature of her tasks. In fact, jher makeup functions as a prairetic code, suggesting an exciting night on the town
• The housewife has an hourglass figure, with a larger bust and thin waist. This emphasises her stereotypically attractive body, and utilises a sexually attractive woman as an aspirational rolemodel for the target audience
• The MES pf a sign is used to explicitly inform the audience of the benefits of the product. The colour red is used to emphasis the words CLEAN and TIDE, and again associates these words with love and excitement. It also reinforces the dominant ideology that women love to clean
•  The lexis ‘white’ is of particular symbolic importance here, as it is highlighted in red, which has connotations of love, romance, power, and passion. It is repeatred several times over, which epmaphsises it’s superlative qualities. However, considering the context of the time in which the advert was produced, the word ‘white’ here is synonymous with both race and cleanliness, which constructs a fusion between these two concepts. Therefore we can argue that the advert adopts an implicitly racist mode of address. In the 1950s in America, racial segregation was in many states a dominant ideological perspective, and therefore this potentially racist advert would not have been seen as such.
• “Cleanest” is yet another example of a superlative adjective, and suggests the product is better than all of the competitors
• “Only Tide…” again reinforces not only the brand identity, but also excludes all other brands from consideration
• “Tide is truly safe” - connotations of reliability amnd trustworthiness
• “Actually brightens colour” reinforcing the veracity and truthfulnmess of the advert
• “More tide goes in to American homes” language here suggests a patriotic mode of address, and suggests that not buying tide is potentially anti American behaviour 
• The colours of the washing are predominantly red white and blue, the colours of the American flag. This constructs the clear symbolic code of patriotism, and further suggests that hanging up the washing is a truly American act.
• The MES of the high key natural lighting constructs a sunny atmosphere, which suggests that washing is fun and good. This is further anchored through the gesture codes of the housewives facial expressions 
• The costume codes of the housewives suggest a working class lifestyle, which provides a highly relatable mode of address to the working class target audience
• The housewives look very similar, and both share the same hourglass figure. This presents a highly objectifying mode of address, that would potentially appeal to the target audience
• One housewife refers to ‘Procter and Gamble’s Tide’ provides emphasis to the importance of the product, and suggests that this typical housewife loves the product and knows all about it. Brand awareness
• The vibrant colours function as a symbolic code, and suggest confidence and happiness
• The MES of the clear blue sky, further anchored through the image of the sun constructs an idyllic and even perfect world, even though the situation is mundane and straightforward. The two housewives appear to be chatting one another, and their happiness is anchored through their forced smiles. This reinforces the ideological perspective that women should adopt the role of a stay at home wife, and live up to the standards of the American Dream. The notion of America as a nation is also symbolically encoded through the red white and blue colour scheme. This patriotic mode of address will appeal to the average American housewife.
• Many of the clothes are stereotypically masculine, and this MES reinforces ideological perspective that women should ideally clean clothes. However, in the 50s this would simply reflect the dominant ideology.
• The dialogue between the women is stunted and robotic. The dialogue sells a lifestyle where women are intensely knowledgeable about cleaning products. By repeating the name of the company, the audience build an association with the brand and associate it with quality.
• The main image features the housewife literally embracing the box of detergent, gazing into the distance. The MES of her red lipstick and the gesture code of her pursed lips function as a proairetic code, suggesting that wishes to both kiss the box and engage in romantic relationships with it. This notion of romance is symbolically reinforced through the MES of the graphic of the love hearts shooting out of the housewife’s head. The style of the love hearts is informal and even childish, and suggests that the housewife is loyal to this particular brand of detergent. However, the childish nature of the love hearts also polysemic ally connotes that the housewife herself is childish and immature. The image resembles a vivid daydream or even a reference to a romantic drama. It also resembles classic American war propaganda posters such as the famous ‘we want you’ poster, that encouraged American women to join the workforce to replace conscripted men. Therefore the Tide advert is making a wild suggestion that buying and using Tide is somehow helping American values
• The recurring colour red, uses time and time again throughout the advert emphasises the audience who the product will love the product as much as the housewife. However, instead of merely being interested in the detergent, the codes of this image construct a narrative of infatuation and romantic love. Romantic love is encoded through the facial expression of the model, and functions as a proaietic code, suggesting she is going to kiss the box. This is further anchored through the intense MES of the HWs red lips, pursed in such a way that she appears to be kissing the box. Additionally the MES of the cartoonish love hearts has connotations of childishness and innocence. The assumption here is that the audience is naive and immature, and responds to the world in a simple and straightforward way. A binary opposition is therefore formed between the mundane box and the intense romantic love. Furthermore, the image resembles the final scene of a romantic film, which will resonate with the female target audience
  
  

What impact does this representation have on women?

The representation of women in the Tide advert not only constructs a reality where women love to clean and love the product Tide, it also actively romanticises the act of cleaning. Ultimately, this representation reinforces the ideology that women love cleaning and that it is their sole purpose. Potentially the advert may encourage women to clean more, and reinforces the expectation that in order to be a ‘good housewife’, women must conform to certain stereotypes.