Uses and gratification theory suggests that an audience will actively seek out media they wish to consume, based on certain criteria – the audience is active, not passive What they wish to consume is based on 4 specific gratifications:
Escapism
Personal Identity
Personal relationships
Information
Conglomerates aim for 4 quadrant audiences, so aim to fulfil as many of these as possible in their productions Indie productions on the other hand, do not always aim to gratify the audience as much, so only some of these will be fulfilled This isn't to say that the audience is not viewed as active, only that smaller audience will find appeal in indie productions
"Audiences are both a product of social context … and a
response to a particular media provision"-Denis McQuail
... Gender/Age Primary target audience: males, 18-25 Secondary target audience: females, 18-25 Initially we wanted our film to be a 12+, but we did some research on the BBFC ...
... Because nearly every indie social realist film we looked at received an 18 or 15 rating, we would hope for a 15+, but it is likely that our production would also be pushed to an 18. To put this into some context, these are some of the rating Big Six/Subsidiaries received:
... As the main character is male, uses and gratifications theory would suggests that a primarily male target audience would be interested in this film as they would either identify with the protagonist, or aspire to be like him. The other central character is his partner, Cathy, and she is a significant enough character to draw in a secondary female target audience. Ethnicity We have an ethnically diverse cast (Caucasian, Chinese, Indian), and as caucasian is the hegemonic demographic targeted, we wanted to both represent and target multiple ethnicities. This is something we found to be conventional of the social realist genre (My Beautiful Laundrette, Slumdog Millionaire), and helps to widen our target audience. Sexuality Initially we wanted to have non-heteronormative representation (taking influence form My Beautiful Laundrette), with the protagonist, Tanay, being with another man, but due to casting issues and a need to film we had to scrap this idea and include heteronormative representation. Socioeconomic Status The majority of social realist films are produced by indie companies, and therefore do not have the budget to afford mass mainstream marketing campaigns, leading to exhibition in mainly arthouse and indie cinemas (independent deals), and sometimes film festivals. The average film-goer does not really attend these, as most people go to mainstream cinemas. The main people who attend arthouse cinemas are looking for out of the ordinary films and experiences, or are academically inclined critics, or are in the industry themselves, making the films challenging content more accessible to them as they can employ advanced media language. Even though uses and gratification theory suggests that the social classes being represented in films make up the audiences, this is not always the case for social realist films, as they usually receive major critical praise from high-standing critics, as they include more sophisticated themes/ideologies/representations than many mainstream films. This suggests that ABC1 audiences would find appeal in them, though C1C2DE audiences could still find appeal through identification. (source of information) Counter-Hegemony Gramsci was a 1930's Italian Marxist who argues that the ways in which the elite bourgeoisie dominates wealth and power is not only through legislative and physical force, but through culture, by distributing hegemonic ideologies and representations, leading to wider cultural acceptance of what is being propagated. However, as this is inherently unstable, it can be challenged by counter-hegemonic texts, such as ours strives to be. As we have included counter-typical representations of ethnicity (and wanted to include non-heteronormative representation) our film opening could be argued to be counter-hegemonic. As it is produced with a micro-budget by an indie company, it is not a product of the elite (The Big Six). As covered in other posts this does affect our ability to effectively distribute our film to a wide audience, so our product would likely appeal to a niche target audience, and is, essentially, a binary opposite of the films produced by conglomerates and many of their subsidiaries. Moodboard
make the central protagonist clear in our film opening
using tracking shot
different focus
central framing (rule of thirds)
make the character stand out
shot-reverse shot
A protagonist is the leading character of a story. The protagonist is at the center of the story (centralprotagonist), it makes the key decision, and experiences the consequences of those decisions. The protagonist is the primary agent propelling the story forward and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist. The antagonist will provide obstacles and complications and create conflicts that test the protagonist, thus revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character Summary
Uses & gratifications theory - identification (Submarine)
Todorov 5 point narrative (Submarine)
Counter+stereotypes - realistic representation (eg Molly Pretty in Pink)
Binary opposition (eg Bridget Jones Diary)
Archetypes (Bond)
Narrative enigma + voiceover (Bond, The Mexican, Drive, Baby Driver)
Amount of time the camera spends on protagonist/first character introduced - cutting back to protagonist - reactions, rule of thirds(Drive)
iconography as part of narrative (Baby Driver)
establishing/panning shots + tracking (Bond)
Todorv's 5 point narrative (from DB media blog)
... Vodcast
Baby Driver and Submarine take very different yet equally effective approaches to the central protagonist and the narrative: Submarine uses a voiceover for exposition and has a heavy focus on set dressing (mis-en-scene), whereas Baby Driver has almost no dialogue and begins with an action sequence.
... RESEARCH(MINE):
Submarine
Submarine opening shot
The voiceover offers a lot of exposition, as the protagonist is stating that he does not believe he is a completely unique individual as the rest of the word does, and this level of awareness makes him feel unique. This is reflected in his positon in the shot: awkwardly cramped into the corner of a cluttered room, seen from a high angled long shot.
Uses and gratifications theory would suggest that a teenage boys would identify with the protagonist, making them the primary target audience.
This is indicated by non-glamourizing low-key lighting (also reflective of the institutional background)
Welsh accent (rather than a southern English or American)
Todorov’s 5 point narrative theory would suggest that the film begins with an equilibrium. This film is clearly divided into parts (intertitle “Prologue”)
Submarine intertitle
the protagonist feels alone, surrounded by people who feel as though they are unique – the equilibrium is established to the audience
There will then be a conflict, or change to the equilibrium – in this example a romantic narrative – the introduction of Jordana Bevan later in the film
From the other examples I’ve looked at a voiceover for exposition is used in Apocalypse Now, Mean Girls and L4yer Cak3
A use of counter and stereotypes is employed in the representation of the protagonist:
The Welsh accent implies a sense of regional identity within the uk and the stereotypes that come with it: areas in the North are considered poorer, more industrial, grim and sometimes less intelligent, but also more friendly.
This protagonist seems intelligent, but arguable antisocial, and was filmed on location (Wales) giving the film a rural rather than industrial setting.
There is also a mild North-South binary opposition between the protagonist and his parents
Baby Driver
The opening scene in Baby Driver tells us a lot about the protagonist and the narrative however with no dialogue or voiceover.
The first character we see is a medium-close-up of the protagonists face (also rule of thirds), and as the 3 other people in the car leave - the film stays with the protagonist
In special features the director, Edgar Wright, stated that the film was built around the character (it has also been stating that a large part of all his films is having characters which are easy to draw - recognisable & memorable)
The framing of shots make it clear that we are seeing the world form the point of view of this character, and also that he is not properly committed to crime (he stays in the car while the others go inside, and in the opening credits when he is getting coffee for everyone else but not himself)via GIPHY
The sunglasses are used repeatedly throughout the film for iconography: when the protagonist wear them he is choosing to blind himself to the immorality of crime (music is also a way in which he does this) – when gunshots are heard in the bank he watches over the top of his sunglasses, showing how he cannot truly do this
This shows that the character has a moral compass and makes him easier for audiences to identify with
Baby Driver opening scene screenshot
Through visuals we learn more about the main character than through any dialogue (that he is a good getaway driver but has reservations in his attitude towards crime, he likes music and dancing, he is on a lower level to the people he works with as he’s the one who goes to buy coffee)
All we learn about the character through dialogue is his name
...
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now has a voiceover very late in the opening sequence, but the narrative focus/genre is signified only through visuals: an establishing shot of helicopters flying over burning palm trees denoting a war setting. The layering of the protagonist face on top of this also introduces us to the main character before any other, like in Baby Driver and Submarine
First, there's a tracking shot of a man wearing a white suit (stands out) where you would think he's the central protagonist but it then changes to Daniel Craig.
A dis-equilibrium is created
Narrative enigma created by Daniel Craig wearing a mask
Also he's with a woman who's also wearing a mask which let's the audience ask themselves who that woman is (narrative enigma)
The tracking shot of Daniel Craig signifies that he's the central protagonist
The camera zooms in
We see him the longest on screen
Opening scene is a 4 minutes long tracking shot of Daniel Craig which anchors that he's the central protagonist
Drive (2011):
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Voice over before we see a character gives us a suspicion it’s the central protagonist talking also another way of creating narrative enigma.
The map makes the viewers think why did he use the map (What is it for)?
The first short starts with a tilting shot of the man which again creates narrative enigma.
Always cut back to the driver (to see he’s reaction or face expression)
Tracking shot of the driver getting out
Baby Driver (2017):
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First shot starts with a red Subaru pulling up which creates narrative enigma (who is driving?)
Not showing face of the protagonist immediately
First showing hands and MP3 player (again narrative enigma)
Protagonist is earing sunglasses which doesn't allow the viewers to see the whole face of the male character
First chracter we get to see is the male character wearing sunglasses which already gives us an idea that he is the central protagonist
00:48 the 3 chracter wearing a black Bandana and sunglasses are out of focus, where the male character is infocus with his car in the background
Male character is the central protagonist because we see him the longest on screen
It always cuts back to him to see his facial expression (reactions)
At 00:58 when he is dancing/singing in the car we get a lot of shot variety of the central protagonist
lots of set dressing is a really effective way of providing exposition without using clumsy dialogue - posters, props, graffiti, incorporating diegetic sound (eg a radio broadcast/ocean waves)
a level of quirkiness?
use framing to show how character is feeling
a voiceover?
something set in the past or future could be really fun to create through mise-en-scene (scifi?)
What I don't want to do is use up time resources where I don't have to: in The Wicker Man, filming was pushed into autumn, but the film was meant to be set in spring/summer, so they attached leaves and flowers to trees in most of the film (I applaud them for so adamantly insisting on creating high verisimilitude within the diegesis, as the season was quite a big part of the plot, and attention to detail is something I want to continuously incorporate, but I want to be as practical as possible and this seems excessive)
Summary
set dressing, props, lighting(high/low-key?) (Submarine, Need fro Speed, This is England)
Makeup (Baby Driver)
costumes and iconography (Baby Driver, This is England, Submarine)
accents and sound (This is England, Submarine)
exposition v narrative enigma, also subverting expectation/body language (Mean Girls, Baby Driver, Need for Speed)
... Vodcast
... RESEARCH(MINE): Baby Driver
There is. lot of overlap here with my post on central protagonist and narrative (link to post here)
In the very first shot of Baby Driver the name of the city is visible on the wall of the bank
2 of the largest parts of the narrative are introduced in the first 2 shots: driving and music
The costumes provide exposition to both the narrative and the characters:
The protagonist's shirts gradually become darker as the film goes on (first is white, last is dark grey) - this iconography is mean to show how he does increasingly immoral things as the film goes on
The black and white jacket could also show this conflict within the character, as it also contrasts with the almost all-black costumes of his 'crew'
The glasses are used repeatedly to show that he is 'blinding' himself to crime, also contrasts with the other members of the crew who only remove their glasses once they have left the crime scene
Baby Driver screenshot showing costume
The long black coats, leather gloves and heavy bags of the 'crew' make it clear that the plan is to rob the bank
Make-up work has been done to give the protagonist scars on his face
in the narrative these are not actually linked to his involvement in crime, but the audience will likely assume that they are
also narrative enigma - where/how did he get them?
The character 'Buddy' leads the group into the bank
shows he is the leader/of higher status than the other 2
you would think that because he is the leader that he would have the seat next to the driver, but he is seated in the back to show that he is with the woman (very subtle and you probably wouldn't pick up on it on initial viewing, part of the director's attention to detail)
Shot of the 'crew' entering the bank through the car window, next shot is medium-closeup of the protagonist's face
always cuts back to the main character, shows his reactions, doesn't follow the main action (subverts expectation)
After the protagonist sees his 'crew' fire guns in the bank, he very quickly turns his head away and tightens his grip on the wheel
shows his aversion to the violence, also subverts expectation as he then immediately begins lip-synching and it seems as though it was all part of the choreography
... Submarine
Submarine has an eccentric amount of set dressing for mis-en-scene in the opening shot
The typewriter and polaroids on the walls show it is set in the past
the props (eg the skeleton) suggest that this is a child's room - is actually the room of an odd teenager so this adds into the character
posters covering the walls and lots of books - show the character is educated and a bit quirky
Lamps everywhere opposed to high key lighting (which is expensive and glamourising) - representative of institutional background of the film (low budget indie)
screenshot showing set dressing
The framing of the character in the shot (awkwardly cramped in the corner) shows how he is awkward an feels out of place
The duffle coat looks a little like a pea jacket
it isn't a Louis Vuitton jacket - signifies middle/working class background
uses and gratifications theory - identification
link to the sea
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This is England The first shot of This is England provides a lot of exposition and creates some narrative enigma
Exposition:
the walls show decay and connote poverty
the alarm clock radio, lamp and picture are placed on a chair, rather than a bedside table - further signify this
Also signified by the uncool heavy wool jumper on the radio
2 inter titles tell us the year and that it is the last day of school
the protagonist whacks the alarm clock to turn it off, as if telling Margaret Thatcher to shut up
The small room, low-key lighting and non-glamourising appearance of the protagonist (ginger, in his baggy underwear, being teased for wearing bellbottoms) signify low-budget indie social realism
graffiti 'Maggie is a twat'
The bike outside the house isn't chained up but isn't stolen - shows that this is a working class community
the accents also tell us where it is set
This is England first shot
non-glamourising shot of protagonist
Narrative enigma:
the photo on the chair - who is it?
this is resolved later on through dialogue
we only see bits of the protagonist (his hand, the back of his head) before we see his face
Usually, movies starts with Narrative Enigma and later on exposition is provided. However, often they provide exposition using mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is coming from French and basically means "put into the scene". In other words, they describe the objects within the frame. It is divided into four general areas: setting, lighting, costume, and staging.
Setting: The setting creates a sense of place/mood and it may also reflect a character's emotion. The setting can either be entirely created in the filming studio or filmed on-location.
Lighting: It is one of the most important aspects of movies. It sets the atmosphere and mood. you find high and low-key lighting. Because one of the biggest issues in filming it to film during the night (low light). It's very hard for the camera to pick up on quality and light that's why you're going to have a lot of distortion or noise in the image. Low-key lighting uses natural light to shoot and High-key lighting is using external lights to fill e.g. shadows or shots which aren't bright enough. ...
This is an example of high-key lighting for the movie Harry Potter
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Costume: The most easily noticeable aspect of mise-en-scene is the costume. It can include both makeup or wardrobe. It's used to signify a character's personality or working class. The costume is also an important part to signify the time in which the film is set as well as to advertise the fashion at this time. ... ... I took the example from This Is England. The costume they are wearing signifies that the movie is set in the 60's. Staging: The cast can make or break a movie. Basically, it is the actor's duty to bring their character to life within the framework. As well as the emotion/expression of the actors dictates how strongly the audience feels about the film.
Submarine (2010):
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it starts with a panning shot of the room
it provides exposition for the protagonist just using items set within the frame
00:24 you find a few reading lamps and a lot of books, posters which signifies that the protagonist is really into reading
in the same frame, you see that he made his bed and everything is organized which connotes that he likes it tidy
using low-key lighting (only the lights of the room)
non-diegetic Seabird sound which signifies that the protagonist must be living somewhere near the coast/beach
00:41 a typing machine on the desk which signifies that he is a writer
00:52 telescope and solar system which could signify that he likes to study the solar system
00:57 a high angle and the protagonist sitting in the corner looking out of the window into the sky connotes vulnerable, weak and deep thoughts
Drive (2011):
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a map on the table connotes that the protagonist studied it
he made some plans
very little items in his room which make him ghostlike
old and small TV connotes he isn't rich and telephone book under the TV
or this could also anchor that he is in a hotel
Need for speed (2014):
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00:19 starts with panning shots of the central protagonist with his family which signifies the close relationship
pictures of him in go-karts
a lot of car toys
a lot of racing trophies
this anchor that the protagonist is a racer and really into motorsport
the fact that he has still got pictures when he was younger connotes that he is attached to his past
