Representation Analysis

Using the links below, view two of the advertisements.    Create a posting during which you discuss representation.  Consider gender, social class, age, race/ethnicity, etc.  What are the possible effects upon audiences when faced with these representation examples?


1. 
Tide (Links to an external site.)
Tide Commercial

           The commercial is of a white woman who is talking about how her daughter wears cargo shorts and "boyish clothes."  She explains that even when the clothes got nasty stains on them tide was able to get them out. But the tone f her voice was disappointed and uncomfortable. This makes the audience infer that she didn't want the stains to be removed since she didn't want her baby girl to wear these clothes. This is a representation of the average white family, gender, and how the little girl is breaking society's stereotypes of what a little girl should wear. The mom says "we tried the pink thing" meaning that since she is a girl she should be wearing pink because of her gender. This is a bad representation of little girls and women. Since women should be able to wear man clothes and should not be pulled down by society's rules. Gender is being misrepresented in this commercial. This is one of the things that shape audiences, this commercial makes generations that are growing belief that they can't wear what they want because of their genders and that their parents won't want them to. Not to mention the mise-en-scene of the commercial. Most of the objects in the room are pink and light colors just like what the mother is wearing. This would be the acceptable colors for a girl to wear. But the girl is wearing a dark green and give a contrast in the room. This makes her look as if she doesn't belong and sidelined in society's eyes.

2.
Axe (Links to an external site.)
Axe Commercial
           The Axe commercial gives a horrible representation of women. The commercial is about a man putting on the Axe deodorant as the audience sees the women run out. The women run out to represent wild animals growling and barefoot running. The women are wearing tiny bikinis almost naked and exposed. They are to be depicted as animals. Tons of women come flooding in pushing each other and acting savagely to add to the animal sense. At the near end, it shows they were running towards a man putting on Axe. As it finishes the man smirks at the camera. The main audience for this commercial was men.  Because showing women almost naked running towards a man will want to make their buy their product. But this effects society because then expectation changes on how women are supposed to look.  It also describes women dependent on men and only to there to please men. In this commercial, the women are extremely sexualized just so men will buy the product. This bad representation creates bad expectations for women.

Horror Genre

HORROR

       CONTENT

   The content that makes a horror movie would be to frighten an audience by using narrative enigmas. Most of the time the horror films are unexplained events, paranormal activity or supernatural occurrences. Horror is also used to interact with the audience to create fear and uncertainty. Horror movies uses true stories or situations that could happen in reality to scare the audiences as well.

Ex: Abandoned House as setting for scary movies

           Horror movies usually follow the same narrative structure 

• There is always a protagonist who is the hero/victim who must kill threat
• Then the antagonist is usually a faceless or unidentifiable person who is evil
•  The villain can also be a monster, serial killer, or a paranormal ghost

The setting of a horror film are usually very generic

• Urban environments
• Abandoned Houses/Hotels
• Woods
• Insane Asylum 
• Cementaries 

 Any place where the character could be isolated or alone

Ex: Jump Scare in 'The Conjuring'

       Horror make the audience feel vulnerability, isolation, and terrors of the unknown. Can make the audience believe they are also experiences their worst fear and create fear and panic. Horror movies do this by using jump scares and interesting, terrifying plots to make the audience feel invested in the story.

    -  Horror movies are big on using intimate objects who are possessed or use the innocence of children and twist into something terrifying.

Ex: Using inmate objects and children as the source of the fear

The Audience in horror movies are usually on the younger side from 15-30 and there is more female. Target audience is usually young adults.

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

Horror movies can be very cheap to produce, which is why most directors start of in horror. This can be because :

• The characters usually stay in one setting so they only have to pay once for location scouting or set making
• The antagonist can not have an identity which means less actors to have to pay
• Another pro is that the equipment does not have to be high-tech since it can be filmed on low budget to give it an creepy, vintage look.

Ex: Low budget movie with still cameras

The visual style of horror movies usually dark colors like black, dark blue, red.

create shadows and blackness.

-The Miss-en-Scene is low lighting to create mystery, create shadows and blackness, and make the audience not be able to see most of he screen. The dark colors can also connect to the characters. For example the villain willprhbsly be low lighting on him to make him more mysteries and a red undertone to represent blood and fear.

- Sound in horror is substantial to the plot. It can heightened the audiences emotions and add to the scene. Also the lack of sound can make the audience feel uncomfortable and haunted.

- Many movies use handled shots to make the scene more chaotic and it allows the audience to feel like they are there with the characters. POV shots can also have the same effect. Another shot that is used is the close-up shots to see the fear or other emotions on the characters face.

Example of low lighting in a horror movie

HOW HORROR IS MARKETED

Horror is marketed with trailers and relating short clip of the movie to make the viewer want to see it

• Introduce the creepy plot
• Intense music
• Quick shot of villain (to make the audience want to see more)

A big deal in horror movies is that most of the popular movies have sequels. With horror movies they can be stretched by bringing back the villain and ending the movies with a suspenseful scene or title at the end warning that there will be another one. This means that they will not have to market the next movie if the first one was good and the audience will want to see more.

Halloween movie and the all the sequels

The Quiet Place

2018

John Krasinski

         The Quiet Place is a movie directed by John Krasinski. This movie only cost 17 million dollars. This is nothing compared to other movies with this much success. This movie grossed almost 20 times that amount with the impressive 340 million dollars worldwide. This movies plot was in a world wear monsters killed anyone who made a noise. So the movie was almost completely silent except for the monster noises.  There was very few character with speaking parts or dialoged in general. Since the movie was almost completely quiet this added to the creepy feeling in the theaters. The mise-en-scene of the movie was eerie to say the least in a post-apocalyptic era. The dark lighting helped the audience get into the movie since there was no sound they had to go big in visual. When the monster noises came onto the screen it would be evident scene that would be the only noise they would hear. The monsters in the movie wear made up so the sound crew could get really create on how the monsters would sound using various foley techniques. This movie is in the horror genre because it creates fear and has protagonist who are the victims and the antagonists who are the faceless monsters.

Blair Witch Project

1999

Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick

The Blair Witch Project is a movie that is film with all point of view and handled. This is because the 

plot revolves around a group of kids who are investigating the towns suspicious murders. It is 

structured like documentary gone wrong. So this horror movie is made to be seen as unprofessional. The movie takes a wrong turn when the students filming the documentary start to hear strange noises as they are in the woods. In these scenes the camera is shaky to make the movie seem authentic and like a real life documentary. To make it more realistic when the movie was released the directors made the actors to be listed as they were dead or missing. This movie only cost 60,000$ to make and grossed about 250 million dollars making this one of the most successful independent horror films of all time. The dark lighting and camera movements made this film truly scary in the eyes of the audience because it seemed so realistic which added to the fear. The POV shots made the audience feel like they were there and most of the movie was in one location which was in the woods at night. This movie allowed for two sequel to come out with basically the same idea but different characters.

Psycho (1960)

Psycho [Includes Digital Copy]

IT (2017)

It (2017) (dvd)

Hereditary (2018)

Hereditary [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2018]

Get Out (2017)

Get Out (Blu-ray + Digital)

The Exorcist (1973)

The Exorcist [SteelBook] [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [Only @ Best Buy] [1973]

Sources 

Cotton, S. (2012, November 26). Research: Conventions of the Horror Genre. Retrieved November 9th , 2019, from https://shannoncotton2.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/research-conventions-of-the-horror-genre/

            My name is Maria and this is my first blog. The reason I created this blog is for my Aice Media Exam for Cambridge. I am doing this course because I love learning about film, the shots, and all the design of the production. I wanted to expand my knowledge about the process of filming movies and different techniques. This blog is to reflect and discuss my learnings as I progress through the course.