pic 3

Pic 2

Pic 1

Contemporary Adverts

The diet coke advert shows women watching a male character take his clothes off and drinking coke, the advert shows a idea which is different from other adverts, most of the adverts show men watching women take their clothes of something on the same line ( male gaze ) but in this advert the females watch the men behave promiscious this can be said to introduce the female gaze which is the oppisite of the male gaze, which shows women objectifying men as sex objects.



This advert is similar to the diet coke advert becuase it is showing female characters looking at male characters, this advert also supports the female gaze as the man is being objectified, from the last two adverts it can be said that displaying the oppisite sex in a premiscious way is a effective way of selling products.



this advert is different the others and shows another change in society, in this advert it shows a male character doing houswork when stereotypically it was a females job to do it, the advert shows the change in domestic roles which also goes on the new man, it also raises awarness of men being "housewives" as some men now days choose to stay home and raise their kids.

Historical Adverts

this avdert is advertising the product shake and vac which was a product to do with cleaning which would be assosiated with women as they are the ones who would have used this product. the advert shows a women cleaning up the house this supports the stereotypical idea of women being houswives. the clothing the female character is wearing is not exposing at all showing the idea of maddona vs whore theory and how women can only be one only. This advert highlights life in the 20th century where a womens role was to take care of the children and cleaning the house.



this advert is similar to the shake and vac advert as it shows women in a stereotypical way, the main character is a female whos task is to clean the house, this advert is an exampple of how women were labelled as housewives and their jobs were to cook and clean. the characters facial expression shows that she is happy with the work so the message the director wants to give to women is to be happy with doing the houswork as that is what they should be doing.



The flake advert is different from both of the other adverts as the representation of the women are different, the female character is seen running outside which could connote freedom from the housework, also in the other adverts the females are working to gain happyness from their husbands and their families in this advert the female character is seen to be happy on her own and puttin her own enjoyment before anyones elses, however on the other hand it can also be said that the choclate flake stands for a phalic symbol of a pennis therfore showing male domience and the male gaze again

3 Ways The Number Of Female Directors Could Be Improved

1. Having more female role models like more big time female directors who other amateur directors could look up to.

2. Having big companies such as fox or time warner linking famous male directors with female directors therfore females directors still have a good amount of input in the films

3. schools which are only for female media students this could be done in a attempt to interest them.

5 Female Directors

1.Jane Campion

1989:Sweetie

1990:An Angel at My Table

1993: The Piano

1996:The Portrait of a Lady

1999: Holy Smoke

2006: The Water Diary

2.Amy Heckerling

1989: Look Whos Talking

1990: Look Whos Talking 2

1995: Clueless

2000: Loser

2007: I Could Never Be Your Woman

3. Sofia Coppola

1996: Bed Bath and Beyond

1998: Lick the Star

1999: The Virgin Suicide

2003: Lost in Translation

2006:Mary Antoinette

4. Mary Harron

1996: I Shot Any Warhol

2005: The Notorious Bettie Page

2005: Six Feet Under

2000: American Pshyco

5. Phyllida Lloyd

1998 : Lucia

2008:Mama Mia

5 Reasons Why There Are Less Female Directors

1. Film is said to memoremaledominent, in the movie industry there are men at the top.

2. women have to think about pregnancy time off or stay at home to look after children not much time to make movies

3. Female psyche: women have no self-belief

4. many of the films genres that people enjoy have been mastered by male directors therfore it has been assumed that male directors should be the only ones making them

5. Female directors just don't make the effort to actually send in their projects.

Gender In Advertising

Gunter(1995)- Gunter looked into the representation of women in magazines throughoutthe decades, his research found out that women in magazines were shown in roles that were assositated with the gender which was usually jobs that didnt have high income,jobs such as secataries. Gunter also found that the housewife image that was shown of women in the 50's was still around in the 70's.

Cumberbatch (1995) - Cumberbath was also a theorist that done his research at the same timeas Gunter, his research involved looking at 500 tv advertisiments and relising that women doing houswork only covered 7% of television advertisments, one key point which Cumberbatch found was that in this time there were adverts showing men doing housework, this could have been start of the new man generation.

Scheibe - Scheibe was a theorist that investiagted television advertisments aswell as Gunter and Cumberbatch, he found that there was a difference between the representations of men and women, he said women were shown in a way which highlights beauty, cleanliness, family and pleasing others, whereas men were only more concerned about achievements and having fun

Macdonald (1995)- Macdonald's ideas were different from the other theoriests, his search found that advertisers followed womens stereotypes and did not want to potray the new modern idea of women in the advertisiments.

walters (1998) - Walters study looked into the representation of men and women in magazines, her key point was more attractive people earn more money than their plain counterparts and this was more apparant for men then women. walters also said that this point was more relevent to women then men.

Greer - Geers study looked into the repretation of women he says that years ago it was ok for a women to look just beautiful but in todays text women had to have a tight body and a pretty face to go with it, Greer also states that every woman knows that she is a failure if she is not beautiful which emphises the views of society that women feel.

Cortese - Cortese is another theorist which in their study they found that womenn were seen to have no real place in media and were seen as just sex objects and nothing more. However he does go on to say that women are shown to look near enough perfect through the use of editing, as parts of their body have been highlighted and making them look better then they acctully do.

Quotes

1.Burton G 1999: media and popular culture.
"representations are about stereotypes and that representations in the media are the visible side to ideology."

2.Mulvey, Laura, 1975,-'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema' "The image of woman as (passive) raw material for the (active) gaze.....The arguement returns again to the psychoanalytic background that woman as representation signifies castration.

3.Sharon Smith Journal (1972): Women and Film "The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction, and the mating games she plays with the male character

4.Wood 1979: introduction " the horror film has consistenetly veen on of the most pipular and, at the same time the most disrepitable of hollywood genres"

5. Wood 1979: introduction "the popularity itself has a perciliar characterstic tht sets the horror film apart from other genres.

6. Brian Murphy : monster movies " horros never never land is bearable becuase it is so entierly rational.

7.Wood 1979: introduction " one might say that the trie subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisiation represses and opresses"

8. Williams 1993 : when the women looks "the frequent weakness of the male heroes and the extreme excitment and surplus danger when the monster and the women get together

Historical Clips

1950's



this clip is from a film called HIGH NOON, this is an exmple of popular media at the time as western films were popular. a key point about westerns is the lack of representation of women, women are rarely shown but when they are they are shown as housewives or being inferior to males.

1960's



The Sound of Music was released in 1965 and, to this day, is still the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation, the main character is a female and is represented in a innocent way follwoing the moddona or whore theory, this movie is key in the history of women representation

1970's



Alien is another movie key to the history of women in the media as this is one of the first times that a women leads in the film using a male role of being the hero, this film also started the last girl theory which is still used in todays movies.

1980's



3 men and a baby challanges the roles givin to men and women, the film shows 3 men taking care of a baby which is not usual of men as women were seen to look after kids, this film can be said to be the birth of the new man

1990's



Goodfellas is a big gangster film which shows male domience and men as powerful individuals amognst society, females are shown as passive becuase they are being led by men, the female characters are seen as being something to look at but not respected.

Gender Today

During the 1990s and into the new century gender roles on television became increasingly equal and non stereotyped however the leading roles were still playedby males.

examples of women character roles
. Sex in the city- four main characters female comparing female experiences in there life.
.Buffy the Vampire slayer- Main character playing a stereotypical male view, which includes fighting and voilence.

Maggie Humm- Films either stereotype women as "Good Mothers" or "Bad Hysterical careerists".

Michael Thomson- "By all means be feisty, but never forget to be feminine".

Charlies Angels(2000)- Barrymore, Diaz and Lui represent redhead, blonde and brunet respectively or as David Poland pointed out and said, as "Tits", "Ass" and "Hair"?

Prime-Time T.V shows presented women as single, young, independent and free from family and work place pressures

Programmes such as Friends have showed equal roles amongst the characters ass both genders play equal roles in the seriies, also the womens representations are shown in a diffeerent way, they are shown as inependent women howver in many scenarios in the series they have been shown to still be needeing a male charater.

1992-1993, 18% of women were major characters, two thirds of these played domestic situation comedies. 1995-1996, 43% of major characters were female.

1992-1993, 3% of women were represented as housewives as their main occupation. 8% of women were shown as the 'homemakers'.

1995-1996, roles of women and men in conversations on screen, recording the degree of control they exerted over dialogue, it was found that on a character-by-character basis, females and males were equal.

1992-1993 study found that 'the women on prime time TV in the early 1990s was young, single, independent, and free from family and work place pressures' (Elasmar, Hasegawa and Brian 1999: 33

A study by psychologists, Muncer, Campbell, Jervis and Lewis (2001), respond to the growing concern of the Media term "Ladettes", these are women who are assertive with an aggressive attitude which are usually associated with "Lads". The study talks about whether "girls power" leads to "girl violence

Representation Of Gender In The Past

Miles (1975)- found that there were equal proportion of men and women in comedies.Davis (1990)-Humour was sexist to females.Female were in comedies at a statistic of 43

Dyer (1987)- degrading and trivialising views of women in game shows.Kaplan (1983)- Women in film still degrading the values, a lot of masculinity in movies.

Susan Faludi (1991)- argued that films of the 1980s were part of a wider backlash against women's liberation and women careers. This includes films such as fatal Attraction and Baby Boom. females characters reduced to mute and incidental characters or banished altogether

McNeil (1975)- women movement been largely ignored by t.v with ,married housewife's being the main female role

In the 1950s- 1970s only 20 to 35 per cent of tv characters were women. – this shows the inequality of gender represented on tv.

Gunter (1995)

Elasmar (1999)

“Tokenism” – rape story lines, female characters to clash with the old guard who might not treat rape very sensitively.

Women in the movies – played the same roles that they played in television programmes

Women had important roles in many films but were given roles such as a frightened character or a character which needs direction and protection.

Feminist critics have out it even more starkly, in 1973 majorie Rosen asserted that the cinema women is a pop corn venus. – a delectable but insubstantial hybrid of cultural distortions.

Hegermonic Model vs Pluralistic Model

I believe both views have some truth to it, the hegermonic model offers a good idea about audiecnes being influenced alot by the media and to some extent it can be said to be true as there is evidence of the media influencing people, also i do think that audiences are becoming more passive as they are able to question the media, i do think that the media is powerful and has the ability to influence its audience, for example teenagers can be said to be influenced by the media they consume and the influence effects how they behave and how they dress. overall i am 50/50 about both.

5 key points

" Loaded and FHM both feature women on the front cover scantily dressed or even naked as their sales lure, a common convention followed by most pornographic publications."

"Women are supposedly rising in status throughout the media due to the use of naked, explicit and suggestive photo spread and images"

"Modern magazine follow the conventions of Playboy, in which women are depicted as objects for men's contemplation and enjoyment"

"" It enhances the stereotype to men that women are only objects of their sexual desire, and should therefore conform to what they view as attractive. This relates to the 'hyperdermic needle' theory"

"a dominantly male audience reflects and enforces the theory of 'Laddism' and the winning formula has been defined as "Beer + Sex + Babes'"

Homework

The scene being analysed is a scene from the film the hills have eyes 2006 which is my chosen film for my study. The scene shows the villain characters attacking two women in a sexual manner.

The scene uses a variety of shots including long shots and close ups, the long shots used are being used to show the background setting. In the scene long shots are used when they show the male character burning outside with the reactions of his family, the shot still shows the other characters actions but in the background it still shows the main male character burning. The close up shots is used to show the characters expressions and the emotion the characters are displaying. The close up shots is good as they allow the audience to have a clear view of the character and many of the close up shots in the scene show the characters being scared this emphasis the horror genre because everyone in the scene is scared.

The scene uses both diegetic and non diegetic sounds this is key to horror films as it creates a more realistic feel to the film, if it was all soundtrack it would be have no sense of realism and the film wouldn’t be as scary but the fact that the film supports both sound types show that it is using realism to scare the audience and the more real the sounds the more it will effect the audience.

This scene shows that the films institution is Hollywood by the use of setting and also the high quality, the scene itself does not tell you much about the institution but from research I know that the film itself was promoted with the use of trailers, posters and also billboards. The film was mainstream shown in all major cinemas but also the film was shown on television a few times, it appeared on television after the watershed time.

The main genre of the film Is horror/ thriller, in terms of sub genre it could be argued that the film falls under a slasher genre however the film lacks some conventions which are normally seen in slasher films, for example in a film such as Texas chainsaw massacre, the character has a demented reason behind its killings, in this film the reason for why the killings are taking place is unsure.

In the scene different representations come up, women are being represented in this film in a way which shows them to be weak and less powerful then men, women are shown to be victims more then men as the males in the scene stayed safe and the women were attacked. The scene also supports some stereotypes of the roles of men and women in society, it is the male characters who are pulling the dead body out of the tree showing that males have more strength then the women characters who are just screaming doing nothing. However there is a positive representation to women in this scene, women are shown as caring and nurturing which is also another stereotype linked to women, this is shown in the scene when the women allows herself to be violated to protect her baby.

From this scene the audience looks as if it would be people over 15 due to the use of sex and violence, the film shows a lot of blood and horrific scenes which may be suitable for a older audience. The film looks as if the primary audience is men and the secondary audience is women . In terms of target audience, i would say that the they are trying to target middle class white people from ages 18 - 30 the reason for this is because they feature a family with similar ages in the film by doing this the audience can put themselves into the film easier.

SHEP
S- problems with war, and the effects it has on the areas
H- remake of a older film
E-
P- war

delicious tags

http://www.ienadua.blogspot.com/

this link is useful to me as it it talks about womens representations through time starting from early televisoin to how it has changed in comtempory texts, in my study i talk about womens representations and i will be looking at how it changed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dyer

information page about the theorists richard dyer, he talks about genre and conventions of film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Mulvey

site about lura mulvey and her theory.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html

more detailed information about the male gaze

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/08/cinematical-seven-horror-sub-genres/

information about the sub genres of horror this information will be useful to me when i will look into what kind of horror film is the hills have eyes. this site contains good information about slasher movies which i will be needing in my study.

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/screen/3226/history.html

site about slasher movies and the history about it, this will be useful when comparing the original hill have eyes and the new one.

10 Keywords

1.Uses and gratifications theory - an active audience theory, developed by Jay Blumer and Elihu Katz that focuses on 'what people do with the media' rather than what the media does to people, arguing that audiences are free to pick and choose from a range of media products to satisfy their own needs.

this is will be useful to find out why people watch horror films and what they get from this, this could be used in my independent study when i talk about links between the film and the genre and how people choose to watch horror films, also by finding out why people watch them will help me to identift weather the hills have eyes is a typical horror film or not.

2.Male gaze - term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay "Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema" to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience.

the male gaze theory can be seen in the film the hills have eyes

3.New man -a term used to describe a new type of masculinity identified and developed by advertising media in the 1980's in line with lifestyle marketing strategies.

is the new man in horror films? and what roles do they hold? when the new man wasnt around they were not in the horror films but now that they are around are they also in the new horror films.

4. Zombie Movie - a horror subgenre in which the living are plagued by armiess of living dead who usually survive by devouring the living.

in the hills have eyes the villians are not exact zombies but the theory is the same, the main characters are being terrorised by the dead who's only way to survive is off the living, is the hills have eyes a zombie movie ?

5. Hybrid Genre - a cross between one film genre and another

the hills have eyes can be said to be a hybrid genre becuase it mixes conventions from other films, the genres it could be mixed with is action, thriller and erotic films.

6.Binary opposition - a term used by Claude Levi-Strauss as part of his arguement that narratives are structured around oppositional elements in human culture, for example good and evil, life and death, night and day, raw and cooked. Within many media narratives, common binary oppositions are cowboys and Indians and also gangsters and police

a key to horror films as there is always a good vs evil story line there is always a good side and a bad side

7. effects theory - an audience theory that tends to see the audience as passive and seeks to measure how exposure to particular aspects of media content can influence the behaviour of the reader or viewers.

this links to my study as i will look at the effects that horror films have on the public, in recent cases horror films have been blammed to cause people to go out and commite violent acts, one case that is known is about two kids who watched the film " childs play" and copied what they saw in the film leading to murder.

8.Feminism - political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social constructiosn and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women and favor men.

with the feminists status rising has their work been showed in horror films? have women stopped being shown in that way, in the film their seems to be a split reprentation of women could this be down to feminism

9. a new version of a previously succesful film that closely follows the original but adapts it in line with changin audience expectations.

the film i am looking at is a remake of and oringial film, i will be looking at how the film has changed and why certain things have changed

10. subliminal messages - messages that work on a subconscious level by introcding bare perceptible message into the media.

does the film contain any? it shows the destruction of war, that could be a subliminal message informing the viewers about war

SHEP

social
womens social power
us goverments
war and the effects


historical
the hills have eyes 1977

Director:Wes Craven
Writer:Wes Craven (writer)
Release Date:22 July 1977 (USA)

Genre:Horror Thriller more
Tagline:The lucky ones died first...

Plot:On the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack

econimal


political
the film shows the result of wars as it shows the area wipped out and also what happens to the people in who have been effected by the war.

Relevent Texts

over the week i watched films such as scream, halloween h20 and i also managed to get hold of a copy of the original hills have eyes. over the week it was also halloween this gave me a chance to watch more horror films and make links about typical conventions of horror films. i also looked into another genre of film which is spoof films, films such as scary movie I,II,III this was good for me to watch as they highlight typical horror conventions as they make fun of them.

scream
after watching scream i noticed that the role of women were similar in both films, women were shown as a weak gender however in scream the female character seems stronger then the character in the hills have eyes this may be down to the fact that in the hills have eyes the female character is paired with a male character and they may make her role seem less stronger by a great amount so that the power of the male is seen as higher then it is and in scream the womens role is on her own. another thing i noticed was that the role of the Last Girl was shown in this film, this is similar to the hills have eyes which has also got a last girl in the film. In scream the women are shown in a much more sexual way then the hills have eyes, even though in the hills have eyes there is a few sexual scenes the representation of the women isnt as sluts but in scream they are.

halloween h20
the last girl role was present, and that stereotype of women wasnt the same, they wernt seen in a provocative manner, the target audience seems to be a older target then films such as scream and the hills have eyes. the female character is seen to be stronger then both of the other characters this can be said becuase in the other films the females are running away from the villian but in this film there are scenes where the female character is in search the killer as she wants to stop him. like the other horror films the killer is a male showing the power over the females.

The original hills have eyes
havent seen this film yet, but is my first priority to watch this soon.

The scary movie trilogy
the genre of these films were not horror but it was useful overall and also entertaining. the films show typical things that are seen in horror films but these films show them in a humerous way, while watching the films i noticed key things to horror films, such as representations of women, use of sexual content, representation of villians in the film and how horror films base things on realistic scenarios. the films also supported the idea of last girl as the main character was a female and she survived through all the films.

SELF EVALUATION

ATTAINMENT - 2

- i attend most lessons however i may have missed a few,

EFFORT- 2

- with classwork i believe i put more effort into it however my homework lacks effort somtimes as i have to rush work, however now comming to the end of this term i have noticed that my work has picked up as i am starting to recognize how much this courework means to my overall grade.

Punctuality - 1

- i have never been late to a media studies lesson.

Submission and quality of homework -2

- i think that my homework is always on time, this is one area which i aim to improve on the most as i know i didnt do well in this area last year, meeting the deadlines hasnt been a issue for me but the quality of work has. alot of the time the work is rushed and not fully thought of.

Ability to work independently -2

- i have the ability to work on my own but i have noticed that the work speed is slow as i am not doing much on my own

Quality of writing - 4

- i do not believe i am writting to a high enough standard, the work has been average and has stayed on the same level from last year.

Organisation of Media folder - 4

- media folder rarely leaves my desk at home, all the work is in there but not in the correct order.

Oral contributions in class - 1

- i believe i do contribute the classroom discsions if i have something to say, i ask questions when i am not sure aout certain things and i ask mr bush about words or terms i do not undertsand.

Standard of Module 5 blog - 2

- some good work on the blog, everything is up to date, some more detailed analysis will be done shortly

Standard of Module 6 blog - 1

- all work up to date, the subjects i ahve been told to look into i have looked into with depth

www. have learnt more about my topic
startting contributed much more in class
gained a intrest of reading the gurdian website

ebi. better standard of work
more work on the blog
spend longer on homework

Action Plan

Wednesday 22nd October- Learn and memorise all of the assessment objectives and what each of them require.

Thursday 23rd October- Review mind map and write key points for what it takes to get an A.

Friday 24th October- Start Looking into book and internet research

Saturday 25th October- watch relevent films, such as 1977 hills have eyes and also scream and halloween h2o

Sunday 26th October- add research on blog

Tuesday 28th October- Do a detailed SHEP analysis on my film as I need reference to other texts so that I meet my assessment objectives.

Wednesdays 29th October-take down links of important sites

Thursdays 30th October- Look at previous studies from past students and look what aspects of theirs I could.

My Presentation...

overall i think the presentation went well, i felt i presented it the best that i could in terms of body langugage and the ability to engage with the audience. my presentation itself was ok, i produced a good amount of information however i think i left some of my research out which i was unhappy about. however the presentation seemed to be intresting, the trailer made a few people scared which was a good result.

things i could improve on was to look at more conventions of horror films to understand it more, another thing i was told tol look at was wider contexts (SHEP) i will look into this shortly. also i could have looked into more theorists and theorys surrounding my topic.

SELF-ASSESSMENT OF BLOG WORK

AO1- demonstrate knowledge and application of the Key Concepts employed within Media Studies and the evaluation of texts and ideas using the key concepts.

From my as level studies and from what i have convered this year i believe i have used the key concepts to anaylse different things including pictures and trailers of the chosen text. i have covered the majority of concepts with my strongest being media language and representation however i feel as if i could overall improve on them all by looking deeper into the texts. one of the key concepts which i have most truble with is narrative, in order to fix this i will read more into narrative and how to spot it in texts.

AO2- demonstrate knowledge and application of the wider contexts (historical, social, political, economic) relevant to Media Studies.

i have heard of the word zeitgeist but do not fully understand the word, i think i will have to look into this topic and find out more about as my knowledge of the word is not great. in terms of shep i have been mostly looking on historical this is becuase the film was was made in the 60's and i have looked into the difference of both films and thinking how can history effect the reason why the film has had a change, this led me on to looking into social as i have looked into briefly why the films values had changed due to social views, i have looked into the topic but will need to research this topic more as it will be somthing important i will need to write about in my independent study. i have not yet looked at economical or politcal but i will do shortly.

A05- demonstrate the ability to use appropriate investigative and research techniques in carrying out an independent study of a media text, topic or issue.

overall i think this objective i done well at, i have looked at some books that talk about genre but i was finding it hard selected out bits that were relevent to my question, i have used online reviews that i ahve posted on my blog i have also looked at reviews in magazines that are aimed at regular fim watchers. my question i think is a simple question which is simply " is the hills have eyes a typical horror film" however even though the title is simple i believe by having a question as open as that i can explore into many different things and i wouldnt get stuck for writting becuase i could talk about differnt aspects.
some of the issues and debates i discouverd from my film was male dominence, and the role of women in horror films.
i have not looked into to much detail about theoritical views,i may need to gain more knowledge about the theorists such as marxists and feminsit and i will ahve to try and interpt how they would view this film.
i have viewed my text numerous times and i have seen other texts that are similar to it, i still need to watch the older original version of the film but i have seen the second part of the film of which i am researching. i havent yet looked at many films from the same age as my film as i have been looking into films that are in the same genre and this had included films from different time periods but i will look more into films of the same age as mine to see how they compare and if they display the same social views.
my list of key quotes is short at the moment i will have to build that up but i am taking down key websites that will be useful to my study and also i will try to find some books that can help my study.

Synoptic Ability-draw together understanding of Key Concepts, from different parts of the specification in order to make effective textual readings.
draw upon knowledge and application of a wide range of possible relevant contexts, in order to account for the characteristics of media texts.

i have used some of the topics i learnt last year such as audience theory and also waht i learnt about genre from the film and documentary study last year, i have found them usefull as my understanding of them is better. i could look more into some of the topics i have done and see if i can find a link to my study, some good revision is needed.

Critical Autonomy-apply critical ideas and principles to new situations and demonstrate media literacy in responses to media texts.

i have been working by myself on my topic but i may ask a peer to have a look at the topic and tell me what they think as they might find something i havent thought of yet, in terms of motivation i havent been fully motivated with this task, many times i have alot of work to do and keeping the blog up to date becomes something i have to do and not enjoy to do, i will try prioritse the blog and this study to make sure it gets all my attention and effort.

Quality of written communication- Select and use forms and styles of writing appropriate to purpose and complex subject matter. Organise relevant information clearly and coherently, using specialist vocabulary when appropriate. Ensure text is legible, and spelling, grammar and punctuation are accurate, so that meaning is clear.

when i add something new on the blog i give it a clear heading so it is easy to see and people can find what they are lookign for quickly in addition to this i have also put up videos and pictures that people can watch to understand my text abit more. i use media terminology but i do not spell check my work which i think i should do from now on becuase some words i have seen on my blog are spelt wrong completely. i do not highlight quotes which i should do and i will start doing them from now on.

Migrain Analysis On Utube Clip

Media langauage: in many parts of the clip the scene is showing darkness, this adds a effect to the film and makes it seem more mysterious, the fact that the darkness covers the room creates a feeling that the audience do not know what can happen and also what dangers are present in the room, in other parts of the film killings are taking place in the daytime this could have been done to make the audience recognize the setting, as being outside seeing different buildings is something the audience will be used to and by having the killing takes place shows that something is out of place and it makes it more realisitc.
- the sounds in this clip is interesting, the film uses both non diegetic and diegetic sounds all through the film but from this clip it can be said that the producers of the film only want the audience to pay attention to one sound type at a time for example when essential things are needing to be heard such as screams of people or the sound of the weopens meeting someones face their is no other sounds, no soundtrack. however the soundtrack of the film is used in a attempt to create a scary feeling, the music is played with low keys as it makes the song more scary.
- there is a variety of shots used from long shots to close up, different shots show different things their are close up shots of the weapons used by both good and bad side also close up shots are used when they are trying to show more visual parts for example a villian with blood leaking out of his head, the long shots are used when showing a charcter after a battle, they show the main character in a long shot after he defeats the villian this is done to show him a glorious way.

Institution - fox search light pictures with assosiation with craven maddalena films.

Genre - the genre of this film is horror/thriller

Representation - one of the representations shown is thet role of men, men in this film are seen to be more powerful then women and more significant then women, the main fight scenes are betweem men and the main chracter in the film is a man. women are also shown to fulfil this role also but in the same way men do it, when the male chracter fights he is using his ability against a strong chracter when the female chracter kills the villian he is already vunrable and on the ground.

audience - in terms of target audience, i would say that the they are trying to target middle class white people from ages 18 - 30 the reason for this is becuase they feature a family with similar ages in the film by doing this the audience can put themselves into the film easier.

Ideology - Good Conquers Evil

Youtube Clip

Review From IMD

I dislike the nowadays and boisterous remakes of classic horror movies as much as the next person but, ever since the news came that an update of "The Hills Have Eyes" was in talks, I had great expectations towards it. There are reasons for this rather enthusiast anticipation, actually. Unlike "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Fog", to name just two examples, Wes Craven's original 1977 screenplay was open for improvement AND Alexandre Aja would be just the right man for the job, as his own project "Haute Tension" is definitely one of the best horror films since the year 2000. That particular film wasn't really a masterpiece of plotting, but it was genuinely grim and barbaric and those are exactly the qualities a film like "The Hills Have Eyes" require as well. The new screenplay follows Craven's original fairly strict, except that the eyes in the hills aren't of members of an inbred family anymore but of an entire community of horribly mutated ghouls. Deep in the New Mexican deserts, a small village of coal miners once refused to leave the area at the time the American government decided to test nuclear weapons there, and now they still prowl the wasteland, assaulting travelers that dare to leave the main highways. The Carter family is next on the menu, and the mutants really don't care whether the victims are females, elderly folks or even newborn babies...

Alexandre Aja delivers the exact right amount of disturbing tension and really a lot more gore than you could possibly dream of. Much more than the overrated Eli Roth, this young French filmmaker is the new prodigy of horror. Strictly talking in terms of cinema, "The Hills Have Eyes" is also a more than decent production. The dialogs are fluently written and the characters are a lot more likable than in the original. By them I primarily refer to the members of the Carter family, as Michael Berryman's charisma as creepy Pluto remains unequaled. Altering the background of the desert-people into mutants was a pretty intelligent move by Aja, though. Despite being sadistic and utterly repulsive-looking bastards, these people are basically a sort of "victims" themselves, which brings a lot of extra depth and unsubtle social criticism in the overall simplistic story. I'm sure this film also had its share of flaws, like the editing being a little too MTV-ish perhaps, but the thrills and fast pacing were just too overpowering to have me bother about them. Kudos also to the terrific selection of songs, the convincing cast of actors and actresses and – last but not least – the personal trainer of those brilliant German Shepard dogs

Review From RT

After the critical (but not American box office) success of "High Tension," French director Alexandre Aja was recruited to film an American remake to the 1977 Wes Craven classic "The Hills Have Eyes." Craven was even attached as producer.

Following the storyline of the original somewhat closely (this is far less a "reimagining" than the superior "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake that no doubt inspired 20th Century Fox to bankroll this movie), Aja's version does feature more politics around the subject of nuclear testing and hatred of America. The American flag even becomes a deadly weapon in the story. The film also borrows liberally from other '70s fear films about travelers under siege, most notably "Tourist Trap" (with the addition of a city of manicans) and Steven Spielberg's "Duel."

A family on a road-trip drive through the New Mexico desert where cel phones conveniently don't work, and while taking a short cut are stranded when a trap set in the road blows all their tires. There's an angry old ex-cop as the patriarch of the clan; his whimp son-in-law (Aaron Stanford); two daughters, one of whom is the wife with baby (yes, there's a baby), the other a young hottie (Emelie de Ravin); plus an angry younger son, even younger than the one depicted in the original. Oh yes, and the mother/matriarch of the clan.

Perhaps not too surprisingly (particularly if you've seen the original), there are mutants living in the hills of the desert where they've been stranded, hence the title of the film. Thanks to modern make-up, the mutants this time around look a lot nastier than they did in the Craven original. Thanks to a larger budget, we are also treated to images of nuclear craters and an entire abandoned town populated now only by manicans and, of course, a few redneck mutants.

Also not surprising is the fact that many other travelers had swung through these parts, never to make it out alive.

Some say this remake is better than the original, but it ain't so. You can't beat 1970s fear, even with a bigger budget. The bad guys are now more monstrous -- the female character of Ruby is depicted as a mutant Red Riding Hood -- but less believable. Ultimately, it is a solid redo and, unlike so many other remakes these days, it is a proper remake, bringing us for the most part the same characters and concepts of the first production. The new "Hills" is at its best in its opening half, and we genuinely feel for these characters during the first attack on their encampment. Aja makes these people human. Excellent make-up makes the mutants even less human than they were in the original movie. Then, the film falls into horror cliché's during the second half. The fact that Aja is a non-American making a distinctly American type of horror film also hampers it. He seems to be delivering his impression of what American movies are like when he transforms the whimp son-in-law into a powerful killer who has finally discovered his manhood, while an electric guitar plays "Once Upon a Time in the West" style music in the background. The audience of teenagers I saw the movie with thought it was ridiculous.

The "Hills" remake is also hampered a bit by the fact that so many redneck horror films had made it to theaters in recent years, among them "Wrong Turn," "House of Wax," and of course the "Texas" remake. In recent years we had seen this story many times before.

Ultimately, "Hills" is less than that "Texas" redo and certainly inferior to Aja's now-classic, "High Tension." But all in all, a fun ride at the movies. The film was cut to get an R rating in theaters, so expect the DVD to feature tons more gore

Review From The Guardian

GenreVal Taylor The Guardian, Tuesday September 23 2008 Article historyGenres are categories of stories grouped according to shared, characteristic patterns of form, content and/or style. This grouping provides shorthand means of conveying to your audiences what kind of intellectual, emotional and physical experience to expect.

You may not want to write within genres; however, it's useful to understand how they function so that you can work within, across or outside them. Film and television employ genres extensively; commissioning discussions require you to be conversant with their functions. Theatre and radio employ genres more loosely, but a proper understanding remains valuable.

The UK Film Council reports that, in 2007, the most popular genres with UK cinema audiences were:

- Fantasy
- Comedy
- Thriller
- Drama
- Horror
- Crime
- Science fiction
- Romance
- War
- Action
- Adventure

Television employs story genres within series formats. Current schedules are anchored by "precinct dramas": groups or teams working within a tight-knit group of locations, often a workplace. Police and medical series are obvious examples: the station, laboratory, hospital or surgery provides the central location.

Mainstream UK theatre is dominated by musicals and comedy; subsidised or non-mainstream theatre draws on relationships, personal stories, social drama, and romance; radio does too.

Working with genre

Research the genre you're interested in: look at how key elements are used. I'll use horror as a model, with Alien, a horror/sci-fi hybrid, as an example:

· Story world: Are there characteristic locations? What are the rules of the story world? Horror uses places where the protagonist expects to feel safe or knows what the dangers are; they become traps once the antagonist appears. (The Nostromo spaceship.)

· Stakes: What is usually at risk? How are the stakes habitually raised? Is there a "ticking clock" timeline? Horror places the protagonist in mortal danger, closing off her escape routes as the antagonist draws near. (The Nostromo crew have to prevent the spaceship reaching Earth with the alien on board; Ripley barely escapes.)

· Protagonist and antagonist: What are the generic characteristics of the protagonist and antagonist? How is the audience aligned with them? The horror protagonist is a victim who must find extraordinary personal reserves to save herself. Our point of view is aligned with her; we share her terror. Horror antagonists are (literally or figuratively) monsters: superior in strength, malevolent in intent. (Ellen Ripley must turn implacable warrior to defeat the alien's speed and cunning.)

· "Trigger" and resolution: What are the events that trigger stories in this genre? How are they resolved? Horror triggers bring in the monster, sparking the protagonist's jeopardy. The resolution expects the monster to be destroyed or expelled and the protagonist to escape. (Alien's trigger occurs when the crew members examine the alien eggs. It resolves when Ripley finally ejects the creature from the escape pod.)

· The "expected scenes": What scenes would audiences expect to see? Horror establishes the protagonist's normal world before admitting the monster. There is a series of attacks which the protagonist at first tries to avoid, before being forced into a climactic battle: whether or not she wins is the writer's choice. (Alien begins with the routine schedule on the Nostromo, disrupted by the discovery of the alien eggs. The first attack takes place on the planet; the injured crewman unwittingly brings the alien onboard and it kills the crew. Ripley thinks she's escaped, but finding that the alien has hidden in her escape pod, she has to fight again.)

· Style: Does the genre employ characteristic visual and aural stylistic devices? Horror's usual tone is one of threat and unease, created by a close alignment with the protagonist's point of view. Strong contrasts of light and shadow conceal rather than reveal information. Periods of calm alternate with bursts of frantic action which grow longer as the action approaches its climax.

Familiarise yourself with the patterns of genre; use your notes to refine your decisions about the story world, characters, events, theme and stakes of your story

Objective Targets

AO1 - TO IMPROVE WITH THIS OBJECTIVE I WILL PRACTISE MORE ANAYALYSE ON DIFFERENT TEXTS OUT OF THE MIGRAIN ANALYSIS I WILL HAVE TO LOOK AT REPRESENTATION AND IDEOLOGY AS I FEEL I NEED THE MOST PRACTISE WITH THAT.

A02 THIS OBJECTIVE SI ABOUT SHEP FOR THIS I WILL NEED TO STUDY MORE ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE INVLOVED MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED

A05 THIS IS A RESEARCH TASK TO IMPROVE IT I WILL HAVE TO LEARN DIFFERENT SKILLS OF RESEARCH PERHAPS USING DIFFERENT METHODS TO RESEARCH

Media Audiences

The hills have eyes could have many target audiences becuase the film could appeal to anyone howver the age rating on the film is 18 so that limits it down, but it is specific like other films as this film could be enjoyed by males and females all different races.


from the text it is possible to see what attitudes the audiecnes will have, from the level of voilence you can tell that the audience is off a older age and people who are going to watch it are more likely to be fans of horror movies, so the film has to be scarier then other films for it to compete with the top tittles of the horror genre.


in terms of target audience, i would say that the they are trying to target middle class white people from ages 18 - 30 the reason for this is becuase they feature a family with similar ages in the film by doing this the audience can put themselves into the film easier.


when i first watched the film i thought it was a good film and a typical horror film however i felt it lacked something which other horror films had. this film took place in some hills which nobdoy ever goes to other horror films take place in local areas were there is other people so it was hard to really be scared knowing that it was abit to much set up becuase surely a old warzone would have been locked away from the public yet the characters just manged to drive through it. my age would have a great deal to pay with my understanding and liking of the film, seeing the media nowdays alot of things is sex focused, this film is no different meaningless scenes of sex had been added to keep the male audience engaged.

Values and Ideologies

In the hills have eyes there are different values and ideologies from other films, the first thing that is noticable from the film is the gender of the characters firstly there are more females then men and the females take on the more important roles even though their roles include the stereoptype of women. the female characters are shown to be scared and weak yet are still the main focus on the film this is becase the audience do not really feel to scared when its males on scene becuase theres the feeling that they can defend themselves however seeing a helpless female being scared creates much more effect.


in the hills have eyes there is only one race throughout the whole film which is white american, there are know other races this could be down to that it is a remake of a older film and in the older version the majorty of actors where white or it could be becuase it is about one white american family in america, the second part the hills have eyes 2 feature much more ethnic characters.

Media Institutions

The hills have eyes 2006 was made by Craven-Maddalena Films and also fox searchlight, craven maddalena films is a organisation who specialises in the horror and thriller genre other films that they have made are :

The Hills Have Eyes II (2007)

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Red Eye (2005)

Cursed (2005)

Scream 3

Don't Look Down (1998)

Scream 2 (1997)

"In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?"

craven maddalena are specialists with the genre of horror as the majority of their films are made in a similiar way, alot of the typical ideas of horror which i will be looking at are presented in their films, for example the role of women in horror films in all the films listed above the womens roles are very similar they all play that "scared of everything" kind of character. the text has been influenced the makers of the films becuase they make films in a certain way so they will be bringing their style to the film, the fact that they have fox search light which is a big movie company means that they will have no funding problems becuase the company had probably invested alot of money into already.

the film is very commercial compared to alot of other horror films, this film will have to pass numerous tests before being allowed to be shown in public, they have to see if any scenes are too visual or to graphic to have in films if the film was more underground it could have more blood scenes becuase less checks would have had to be done.

the text has been distrubed through dvd, the first showings were made on cinema this is done to secure dvd sales but after that it comes out on dvd, the benifits of having search fox light as the makers is that alot of cinemas and movie stores have connection with fox media company so the sale of this film is secure becuase people want recognize that they produce only good films so this cant be that bad.

Other Texts To Compare To

> The Original Hills Have Eyes
> Pyscho
> Scream
> The Hills Have Eyes 2
> Halloween H20

Review Two

This modern-day remake of horror classic ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ kicks off with a brief but brutal pre-title massacre that will have gore-hounds licking their lips in anticipation. Unfortunately, director Alexandre Aja appears to have shot his bloody load during this early sequence, as the rest of the film fails to live up to such early promise. In fact, if you’ve seen Wes Craven’s 1972 original, it’s probably best to skip the next 45 minutes as it’s practically a scene-for-scene retread involving a squabbling family, a cross-country trip, a wrong turn and a band of mutant cannibals hungry for flesh. The second half of the flick features a few detours, including a little more motive and back story involving the creation of the ultimate nuclear family. Yet while the screenplay is tight, the performances solid and the direction superior to many of the horror reconstructions churned out in recent months, one can’t help thinking that ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ is a rather pointless exercise that reinforces the age-old adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t remake it’

Source : Time Out

The Image above shows how women are represented in the film, her expressions show that she looks scared of the male which reinforces the idea of male dominence, also the male characters hand is playing with her hair making her look like a toy.

Review One

This remake brings Wes Craven’s genre-defining 1977 horror classic The Hills Have Eyes up to date for the iPod generation. Under Craven’s auspices, young director Alexandre Aja gives us an all-American family, including tech-geek son-in-law Doug (Aaron Stanford) and former hippy-chick Mom, Ethel (Kathleen Quinlan), all terrorised by blood-thirsty mutants in the desert during an extended road trip. Gut-wrenching violence and well-handled suspense will have you squirming, despite a reliance on what have become, since ’77, stock horror clichés.

True to the original, Aja pares down filmmaking to its essentials, racheting up the fear factor by means of gritty, low-budget realism. Stuck in the empty western American desert in their trailer-homes, the Carters don’t realise that they’re being watched by a clan of genetic mutants, the descendents of miners poisoned by government nuclear testing. Suspense is built, piece by aching piece, until the mutants attack - swiping a baby granddaughter - and the Carters fight for their lives.

"CREEPING PSYCHOLOGICAL BREAKDOWN"

Really, then, this is a movie full of the particular joys and limitations of its genre. The underlying political message - that messing with nukes will come back to haunt us - is rammed home hard, while teenagers Bobby (Dan Byrd) and Brenda (Emilie De Ravin) prove enjoyably adept at hamming up their creeping psychological breakdown. By the halfway point you’re inwardly screaming at everyone to look behind them. Is it really possible to shoot at a mutant seven times and still miss? It is in a horror film, and that, it seems, is good enough for The Hills Have Eyes.

Source: BBC

Media Representations

Who is being represented?

women in the film are stereotyped as the weaker gender, female characters in the film are shown as being scared more then men, females are shown in a way that makes the viewer believe that the female characters cannot protect themselves from the villians. the female characters in the film are also shown to be more emotional then the male characters for example when something bad happens in the film, the way the director makes the auidence know that it is serious is by showing the female characters crying, by doing that it allows the audience to pick up what emotion the director wants the audience to be feeling easily.

the villians of the film are represented in a way which makes them seem mysterious, before the villains are shown properly the film shows things which give the audience clues about the life of the villians. In THHE the film starts with the background of the area by showing shots of war and explosions which explain the deformed humans which are the villains.

Media Languages And Forms

Denotation/Connotation: in the early stages of the film the first victim that gets killed is the family leader, this is important becuase firstly the first victim is a male which is unexpected becuase males are shown as stronger then women and if the male didnt survive the women are shown to have know chance, but this builds tensiopn becuase the audience want to see how the female characters survive.

there is significance with the mise en scene, the area in which the characters are in is a big open area, this gives the effect that anything can be hidding in the area and the characters would not know about it. alot of the killings happen in the dark, the darkness is a typical setting in horror films becuase it allows the audience to become scared of the unknown.In THHE there isnt commentary however the soundtrack plays a important part, when it comes to parts of the film where there is a killing scene comming up the soundtracks used are fast tempo which create a effect as it pulls in the audience and makes the focus on the film and nothing else, these techniques are the reason why horror films offer good excapism.

Narrative

in typical horror films the audience always know more then the characters in the film becuase they see all things that other charctors may not be in this reason this is important becuase the audience know things which add the the advantage of the villian which makes it more entertaining to watch the heroes win.

Genre

Horror/ Thriller

The full

Independent study proposal

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2750611737/

Is the hills have eyes a typical horror film
Hypothesis: horror films have typical conventions which appear in all horror films things such as representation of women and how they are presented in films, also they have to have a villain character that is able to intimidate the audience. The hills have eyes is different from other horror films due to its scientific story line but could it be classed as a typical horror film?
For my independent study i will be looking at the hills have eyes and if it can be called a typical horror film, i will be focusing on women’s roles in horror and compare the female characters roles in the hills have eyes to female characters roles in other films such as psycho. Also i will be looking at the original the hills have eyes 1977 to see the similarities and differences that could have been effected because of the time period.

Migrain Analysis:

The font used in the beginning of the trailer shows the military story behind it, the fact that it talks about the US army dropping bombs it would make anyone interested in that topic interested in this ..
0film, also it shows issues that are relevant today as Americas army has been in the media for many different reasons.
The lighting is dark giving the film a sinister feel to it.
The use of non diegetic sound allows the film to have a real feel to it, by hearing things you would be used to hearing in the scene it allows you take the film in a realistic way, and therefore when the scary bits happens it makes them more shocking then other films.
Also from the trailer the audience can hear the screams of the characters which confirms the audiences thoughts of it being a horror film.

Institution
- fox search light pictures

Genre
- horror
from the trailer you can see that the genre of the film is horror by the things that are going on in the trailer for example the women’s screams and also at one point of the trailer there are beep sounds which also sound like that machine in the hospital that shows when people die. The font of the writing in the trailer also adds a sinister effect which shows its thriller horror genre.

Representations
- women being venerable and the weaker sex
- males being represented as stronger through the monster characters
- women being provocative

audience
both genders, ages 15 – 35, social class b,c1,c2,d

ideology
patriarchy, matriarchy

wider texts
- the original hills have eyes
- psycho and also all other horror films to see if hills have eyes are the same to the other films in that genre.

Theories
Will be looking at theories such as Mulvey and also Propp and Blommer and kats

Independent study

Is the hills have eyes a typical horror film

Horror films have typical conventions which appear in all horror films things such as representation of women and how they are presented in films, also they have to have a villain character that is able to intimidate the audience. The hills have eyes is different from other horror films due to its scientific story line but could it be classed as a typical horror film?