FINAL MEDIA PRODUCT

This is my final media product, it is a promotional poster for a fictional television series called 'Brinkley Hill'. I feel I have used the skills I have learnt during this module to my best ability and i'm very pleased with the outcome.

I decided on this image because it leaves lots of questions up in the air with the audience wondering what has just happened or what might take place in future episodes.

The bold colours grab the attention of the audience and the font will appeal to female audiences.

I have enjoyed learning new visual techniques during this module and feel they will help me enormously in my future.

Initial photographs

These are all images which i took for the purpose of my promotional poster.

I decided it would be a TV programme about the lives of a group of teenage girls living in the same place. Therefore it gives me many situations to construct.

I have differred the shots from a simplisic pair of shoes, to what could be seen as a murder scene.

I used each image and played around with contrast and colour to see which would be the most effective photograph for my poster.

Following the idea of having two tones in the picture i changed the colour on some of the pictures, such as the one in the top right. However, i don't think it looks as effective. The green carpet really stands out and when i increase the contrast the colour is highlighted and really catches attention.

I have used many different angles including close-ups and aerial views. This gives me the choice to find the most effective angle.

Inspiration- Gilmore Girls

This bold promotional poster is for an American drama "Gilmore Girls".

This simplistic, two tone poster is eye grabbing because of its bold green colour. The way that it immediately takes your attention is due to the bold font against the green background. With the girls face smiling, being the only picture in this promotional poster, it leaves the audience wondering what kind of character she might be playing and whether she actually is happy or is a completely different person inside.

The poster, unlike the desperate housewives one, also tells the audience when and where they can find this programme.

This poster follows the Rule of thirds, having the title, main image and other text, all split to give the audience all the information they need without going to a detailed level.

I like this poster because it is very simplistic but gives the same effects.

Inspiration- Desperate Housewives

This promotional poster is for the popular American TV series, desperate housewives. The poster consists mainly of blue and red colours, leaving a simplistic finish, however the composition of the items within the poster make it seem overpowering.

The positioning of the ladies on top of the mountain of apples suggests to the audience that they are all strong, independent women. The costumes are created to look like a gladiator which adds to the empowering feel, however; they are still elegant and flowing to show the audience that these ladies are classy.

The weapons that are being held show the viewer the different personalities that they have. The lady in front is holding a shield which suggests she may be hiding behind something or someone to prevent her from getting hurt. While others are holding weapons that could damage showing that they are not afraid to hurt other people to get what they want.

The apple is an important symbol within desperate housewives; there are many ways it can be interpreted. It could be symbolising temptation within the town of Fairview where the housewives live. Or it could symbol love; in its bold red colour, or death, with it being the colour of blood and the symbol in snow white where the apple is poisoned.

I like this promotional poster because it is empowering for women and leaves you wondering what might happen to these "desperate housewives".

Final product- Initial idea's

I have decided that for my final media product i am going to create a promotional poster for a television series. I will create a scene which will leave the audience wondering what is happening, this will make them want to watch the programme. Using the skills i have learnt from visual communications i will compose a scene for the main image of my poster. I will take into account, form, colour, composition and framing. This will enable me to create an effective media product.

Style - Tim Burton

Tim Burton is one of many director's who creates a certain style of film which is his own style.

Films such as the recent "Alice in wonderland", "Nightmare before Christmas", "Sleepy Hollow" etc. all follow the same dark, quirky style.

This image is a promotional poster for the film. Alice; being the main character of the film, is composed in the middle of the poster showing her importance in the film. The well known story, originally written by Lewis Caroll, has been adapted for the film scene a few times before including a re-make by disney. But Burton's quirky take on an old classic shows how he can incorporate his own style in his work.

Therefore, I am going to try and incorporate my own style in my final media product which will be apparent by the images i have posted of my own work.

Visual Diary- Mood Board

I created this mood board in my visual diary using flyers and wrist bands from pubs and clubs. I decided to create this because it reflects my own personality, and how I enjoy socialising. I like how work can be created in this way and would like to incorporate my personality into my work, this will make it unique. Many producers have their own style and a way of doing things which is reflected in their work.

The mood board reflects my feelings and I feel it enables me to explore my creativity.

90210- mise en scene

This screenshot is from an american teen drama "90210". It is about a group of high school students and follows their lives through relationships to drug abuse and other issues.

In this establishing shot, mise en scene plays an important part in setting the scene. The yellow table cloths and coffee cups accentuates the californian weather from which, a happier mood arises. The lighting suggests that this is taking place in late afternoon, also the fact that neither of the girls are eating a large meal.

The girl looking out from behind a magazine is very cliche because it suggests that she is spying on someone. The clothes that she's wearing are much brighter than those of the other two characters suggesting she has a lively personality.

The way that mise en scene plays a part in a shot is very important because it tells the audience all they need to know about what is going on in each scene.

City Life- Hannah White

I took this photograph for a piece of coursework last semester, I am going to talk about composition and form within this picture.

This image was taken in Bradford city centre around Christmas time which is a lovely time to take photographs because there are lots of pretty lights all around.

The main focus of this image is the two characters walking away in the centre, the single point perspective draws your eyes to the centre of the photograph. The Christmas decoration in the top centre brings focus to the detail and helps to align the perspective.

Stereotyping- Gavin and Stacey

This is a screenshot from the modern sitcom "Gavin and Stacey" which first began in 2007. The character in this screenshot is called 'Nessa' and is the bestfreind of Stacey. She is a very boisterous lady who works in an arcade in Wales.

The sign's in the window of her booth show how she is not a lady-like person. Such as "Threatening behaviour will NOT be tolerated". In this scene she actually threatens two young boys who are shaking a machine to retreive prizes. The stereotyping in this sitcom is still rather humourous because they are always talking over the phone but then so are all the male characters. The women are more involved in the sitcom than the earlier "Fawlty Towers" showing women have become more independant within the media.

Stereotyping- Fawlty Towers

This is a screenshot from the succesful british sitcom, Fawlty Towers, which first broadcasted in 1975. In this post I am going to talk about how women were stereotyped in this show then I will compare it with a more recent british sitcom in my next post.

Sybil Fawlty (pictured left) was married to Hotel owner Basil Fawlty, the sitcom revolved around his in-ability to perform simple tasks without getting into a big mess. Sybil's role within the sitcom was to follow Basil and re-do the things he did wrong in the first place. Women are stereotyped very old-fashioned in this sitcom, always wearing lots of make-up and looking very well groomed compared to the male characters. Sybil is always on the telephone and is known for repeatedly saying "I know" which is a common stereotype for the way women talk to each other over the phone. This adds comical effect to the show because we can relate to the sterotyping involved.

Visual Diary- storyboard

This image is taken from my visual diary of last semester. I decided to upload the image to my blog because it was one of the images which i did not annotate on. This is mainly because it is self explanatory. However, the reason i created this picture was because it is made to look like a storyboard and as a television production student i found this an arty way to produce my daily life. I have used basic block colour and strong line to give the important content of each image without unnecessary detail.

Mean Girls (2004)

This is one of my favourite films due to the fact that I can relate to the girls involved because every girl encounters the same things that the characters go through within the movie. This scene is where Regina; the queen bee of the posse, is at a shop trying on her dress for the spring fling ball. This is apparent to the audience with the shelves and racks of clothes. We can tell just from the shot that this film is of the teenage drama genre because the three girls are all dressed similarly but have diffrent expressions suggesting to the audience that they all have different motives within the scene.

This is an important thing to think of when creating a piece of my own media because by something as small as the expression on a character's face, the audience are feeling the sense that there may be other motives behind what is being told in the story.

Framing.

This screen shot is from a movie i watched recently called "28 days later" (2002) directed by Danny Boyle. The film is about a guy who wakes up from a coma to find that england has been taken over by a virus and he is all alone. The rule of thirds can be applied to this shot because the main character (Jim) takes up one third and the other two thirds are taken up by the London scenery. The litter on the streets gives the idea of abandonement, where the streets would usually be clean, they are dirty because there is no one to clean them. In the shot we can see Big Ben and the houses of parliament which are tell tale signs that this film is taking place in the capital. Throughout the film Boyle uses framing cleverly to let the audience know that England has been left destroyed by the virus, with scenes of desertion.

Life drawing- Hannah White

This is one of the sketches from last semester, my first attempt at life drawing. I had never been very good at drawing in school so i was dreading the life drawing class. However, it wasn't as hard as i first thought. My art teacher at secondary school always told me to "draw what you see, not what you know" which i found very useful in life drawing. Where i would usually just draw what i thought a man looked like, in this class i actually took special attention to light and form which; even though i am not a great artist, gave me a realistic representation of what i wanted to draw. This again proves that light plays an important part in visual communication to make the subject look like what it is supposed to.

M.C. Escher - waterfall

This famous optical illusion by M.C Escher fascinated me because it makes your eyes see things which are not possible. This illusion known as a paradox illuision uses objects to confuse the eyes. In this sketch the water appears to be running uphill, Escher uses the pillars in places that makes it seem like the stream is running impossibly, twisiting one way then the other. By doing this Escher cleverly creates an illusion that confuses the eye from what it is used to seeing. Also by using shadowing on the wrong edges makes the picture appear to be doing something different. I find this type of illusion really exciting because it shows how important it is is to structure an image correctly to percieve the truth.

Hollyoaks- a modern love scene

This image is from a recent episode of the soap 'Hollyoaks' I used this screen-shot to compare the differences in love scene between the 1930’s/40’s and the modern day.

In this scene there is a clear sign of love in the signifier, the rose. The content of the image i.e. the kiss, signifies the rose showing that the characters love each other.

The positioning of the characters is central, showing the audience that their embrace is the most important part of this shot, because it shows their love. You can apply the golden triangle to emphasis the composition of this shot the top of the triangle meets at the characters head’s drawing our eyes to their kiss.

In many ways, love scenes have not changed since the 1930’s/40’s because they still use the compositional elements that prove to the audience that these characters are in love. However; unlike the Clark Gable screenshot, the female in this image seems to be more in control with her hands covering his face. This shows how females have grown to be more dependant since the early films.

Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939)

This love scene is from the 1939 film 'Gone with the wind'. I am using this shot to show where i got the inspiration for my music video from an old-fashioned love scene. The female is always looking up at the male figure showing to the audience that the male is more in control than the female in the embrace. The dark colours of the character's clothing stands out against the pale curtain background to give emphasis to the characters. The characters are central in the framing of this shot showing their importance this signifies to the audience thier love.

Composition in my own work

For my A2 media coursework I created a music video for the song Clarke Gable, by The Postal Service. With the 1930's/40's film scene as inspiration I developed a film about a male in modern day who keeps closing his eyes and wishing love was as easy as it appears in the movies. This shot tells the audience a lot about what is happening, with the train in the background and the flowers it shows the couple are being re-united after a long journey. The cliche heel flick by the girl shows the love she has for him. With the couple being central in the shot, the audience are drawn to them and feel happy for them. Also the black and white presentation, and clothes the characters are wearing, gives the image a period feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNhmdgQhiag

Which way is up?

The positioning of the object in the picture is important in composition as it helps the viewer to understand what the image is supposed to be telling them. For example if we are looking up at the object from a low angle, it suggests the image is the more powerful and shows authority because they are looking down on us. Where-as if the viewer is looking at the object from a high angle then they are the one who feels more in power. This is important in composing camera shots because the audience needs to know the position of the character within a storyline, enabling them to feel sorry for a character or scared by their power.

The begining

I will begin my blog by using a painting by Paul Cezanne called 'Mont Saint Victoire' to illustrate what i have learnt from my lectures about composition. Firstly the colour and tone of this painting are separated into three horizontal blocks, starting with the dark green at the bottom which then merges into a lighter green and yellow block in the middle which i interpret as a town or village that the viewer is looking down on. The eye is then drawn to the top third of a light blue mountain which seems to be at eye level which suggests the painter is on a hill opposite this mountain because they are not looking up or down on the mountain. Because of the way the painter has used block colours in the painting it means the viewer is drawn to the mountain top because it, unlike the rest of the painting, is a triangular shape. The things I have learnt so far about composition will enable me; as a television production student, to compose shots in a way that will make the viewer understand immediately what is happening.