Channel 4

Media Studies 28/09/14

Channel 4
An Evaluation

Channel 4 is a british public
broadcaster, formed in 1982. Though self funned, the station holds a PSB (Public Service Broadcasting) remit. These means that the channel has to legal “demonstrate innovation, experimentation and creativity in the form and content of programs,
appeal to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society, and
exhibit a distinctive character.”. A constable amount of “School Programing” is as required too.

C4 reaches this remit by documenting the edges of the mainstream, and creating new and challenging programs. Popular projects include Big Brother, The Dispatchers Series, and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. As shows like these my cater for a younger, less Traditional viewer; Live sporting fixtures are positioned legally to channel 4.

In recent years,ln There has been a shift in the amount of original broadcasting that the channel represents. Film 4 as launch as a channel in 1998, after being a Film production company that accompanied since its birth. Its present focus it to screen outside productions as well as its own ventures. e4 was set up to bring a young demographic to The British airwaves, using American programing. Or though this station has had luck with various success with its original and sitcoms.

Very recently, with the rise of the Internet, Channel 4 have devoted there website to act as a second broadcaster. The site holds all of its channels and shows categorized in an effort to contain its feeing audience. The future of channel 4 will probably entail Web exclusives to hold its views on the site along with more advertising, making this service more profitable.

Matthew Keegan

Crossroads Trailer Analysis – HWK

The institution “Paramount Pictures” is on screen as the trailer begins. This instantly recognisable brand indicates that a lot of money has been put into this film as they have the confidence it will be a success. The logos for “Zomba Films” and “MTV Productions” then appear on screen. These two less well-known brands being linked to such a popular brand as Paramount give you the impression that all institutions have put faith into this film and believe it will do well – this assists the smaller two with expanding their brands and becoming more popular.  Also, the fact that MTV are behind the film tells you that it could be quite musical or could possibly feature famous music stars.

The characters in the trailer are all represented very differently. The first Lucy; seems quite fun and carefree to begin with – with her dancing round her room –  but as the trailer progresses you can see she’s usually well-behaved and respectful – calling her dad as she seeks his acceptance and guidance. Kit; seems very traditional, content and seems to want a more simple and conventional life compared to the other characters – goal is to be married. Mimi; is portrayed as a big dreamer who wants a better life then she has however quite naive as she’s planning a journey with a man she doesn’t know. Finally Ben; comes across as a stereotypical man who is very masculine with his car being very important and the only thing that truly belongs to him, so he has power and need for it. Yet he still cares for the girls as he gets to know them. These girls that have been created all represent different types of women – the follower, focused and hard working who aims to please, the predictable, just craving an average life and the fantasist, aiming high but can be seen as unrealistic. The narrative for the film can be categorised within Todorov’s theory – the idea that it starts at their normal equilibrium (daily life), then something happens bringing disequilibrium (going on the trip and things going wrong) and then they find a new equilibrium (life after getting to California).

The target audience of the film could be mirrored in the characters; girls of a similar age (15-18), who want to achieve something in their lives and have big dreams. These people could idolise the characters lives and could aspire to achieve something similar to them. It could inspire them to reach for their goals. It also features some topics that teenagers could be familiar with; independence, teenage pregnancy and choosing the right paths. These topics that they could understand and sympathise with and therefore appreciate the film more than for example – men age 50+, who might not appreciate the struggles girls that age can face.

While introducing the female characters of the film the music is very feminine and upbeat however it changes to a lot more harsh and masculine when it introduce the male character emphasizing the change in gender and playing up to stereotypes. The music then changes again when the topic becomes more serious to slower and more soulful to reflect the mood. The theme of friendship, a trait of road trip films, also has a music change to a song a lot happier and upbeat again to signify that the friendships shown are very close and happy. The trailer shows a range of camera angles including; close-ups, wide angle shots, over-the-shoulder shots and establishing shots – these all contribute to portraying the emotions and significance of the characters, conversations between them and the constantly changing location as the film progresses. Each character is introduced by their name appearing in white on a black background – this indicates each characters importance and relevance in the film and the colour scheme keeps it simple but effective which acts as a slight enigma code and it ensures not everything about the personalities of the characters is given away. With a narrator reading out the names and sentences that appear on the screen, it acts as someone the audience can trust and believe that knows more than they do – sort of like a voice of reason. Different problems that they encounter are shown throughout the trailer, which is again, a very common convention of road trip films.

The Amazing Spider Man 2 – Trailer Analysis

The trailer shows many of the ‘baddies’ within the film and what spider man has to deal with as his role of a superhero. This is an important part of the trailer as it is what makes up the film and makes you question if he actually defeats them or not. We are also shown his normal life as Peter Parker with his girlfriend and aunt which is another important aspect of the trailer as includes his uncle who had research involved with the secret of Oscorp. I felt as if the trailer was showing us how Spider Man and Peter Parker is finding himself as a person and a Superhero.

The trailer starts with the spider logo fading into the screen which you find out is part of the costume as the camera zooms out revealing Spider Man falling. Doing this tells the audience straight away what film it is advertising. This is good because there are many fans of Spider Man so they will want to watch the trailer from beginning to end. The trailer begins with a voice over of the main character (Spider Man/ Peter Parker) however, it carries on with clips from the film with dialogue.

The music is upbeat and fits in perfectly with the trailer as it is a superhero action film, however when there is dialogue the music is made quieter which makes the characters voices stand out more.There are many times throughout where the scenes cut to the beat which makes each cut more dramatic. There are also times where the music speeds up with the cutting of scenes which creates an edgy atmosphere as you are unsure what will come next. This is affective because it doesn’t give away too much but makes the scene look dramatic.
There are a couple of Spider Man shots within the trailer, that are in slo-mo as this emphasises the power that he has and what he is capable of. It also shows how amazing the graphics are within the film.

Like many stereotypical films, Todorovs theory is used where, they start with equilibrium and move onto disequilibrium and get back to equilibrium, however with it being a trailer, it ended as it was disequilibrium because the trailer wants to create enigma so you watch the film. This creates a lot of questions because many different things are shown unanswered.

The institution is shown near the beginning of the trailer, where the studio company names are shown which are ‘Sony’ , ‘Columbia’ and ‘Marvel’. All 3 studios are widely recognised however Marvel itself is well known for their comics which has lead them to having millions of fans. Sony and Columbia are also known for there other big time films therefore that brings in more people who are a fan of their films.

Due to the massive fan base that Marvel has, the audience is even bigger. The psychographics of this trailer will be people who are Marvel fans however, there will also be people who enjoy watching superhero or/and action films. The demographics of this trailer will be mainly young teenagers to around 35 years old as superhero/action films are widely liked. However the primary audiences are both male and female who are most likely fans of the superhero film, and the secondary audience may be parents taking their children to watch the film. A lot of young children are big fans of superheroes however, I don’t think the trailers are aimed at young children because of the amount of action involved.

-Rachel Thomas.

Jessabelle filmtrailer

Jessabelle…

Jessabelle is a horror film (released August 2012)  based on a young girl in a wheelchair, she has moved in with her father where she discovers that her mum was in a wheelchair and has left her daughter videos. The film is based around the thoughts of what her mum discovered when using Tarot cards, which were ‘Death’ and that there was a ‘presence’ with her in the house. The girl in the wheelchair fears that the cards her mum pulled for her are true and that her mum presence is there after she discovers the videos. during the film trailer the girl finds her own gravestone and is confused in the fact of whether or not she is alive.

The primary target audience for Jessabelle is teenagers aged 17 to 19, I think this because the characters in the movie are also quite young and this could influence some teenagers who could be into reading Tarot cards and believe that what they say are true. This film may also appeal to them because of the link to paranormal activity. this may be good for teenagers because they thrive off the dramatic approach around ghosts and paranormal activity.

The film trailer also includes a enigma code originally from Roland Barthes. This is where the mum explains the code to the daughter on the video, this leaves the audience in suspense and makes the audience feel the need to watch it to actually find out what will happen. The structure of the film trailer starts normally and goes straight into a dramatic scene and then flashbacks to when the girl is sat with her dad normally again.

The opening shots of the movie are a close up of the young girls face; The camera is above her, this shows that she is powerless. what ever will happen is something that she wont have control of. The music in the opening scene is a phone ringing, with music quite in the background getting louder until it is overpowering and suddenly stops when everything is normal when the girl is with her dad.

The stereotype for this movie trailer is that people in wheelchairs are powerless and that all disabled people go mad and ‘not right in the head’.

The music during the piece stars calm and gradually builds as tension rises. This shows the audience, that the sound is taking over and the vulnerable girl is in danger. The contrast in the music used in the film trailer is noticeable especially when the dad and the daughter are together. this could show the audience that the dad protects the young girl and that they are pretty close. However this could also show that the dad controls the young girl and she is scared of what the father is keeping from her.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

This trailer is about the upcoming 2014 epic fantasy adventure film The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies, directed by Peter Jackson. It’s the end to the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the company of Dwarves. The primary target audience for this trailer would be 15-30 year old males that like the genre fiction fantasy and also fans of the previous trilogy Lord Of The Rings fans who would watch the film as it’s made by the same director.
The secondary target audience could be women of the age 20-40 years of age as one the the man characters is Legolas who is played by Orlando Bloom who would appeal to women as he is good looking.

The music in the trailer is powerful as it’s emotional but the clips are strong but simple which makes the trailer really intense when watching. The track they have used is very mystical which reminds the audience that the film is fiction. Also it has a few silent sections which builds tension and suspense. The use of violins gives a sense that there will be sadness.

At the beginning of the trailer, before the music has started the main character Bilbo Baggins says a very heart warming speech which creates emotion and the feeling of sadness towards Bilbo from the audience because it shows that he has been through a lot and it has changed him, so this builds a connection with the Bilbo and the audience.

One clip in the trailer has very memorable language. The scene suddenly drops the music and then they use the line ‘I shall have war!’ Which is memorable as it’s very dramatic and also on the word ‘war’ they have made it more deep than it would have been naturally which shows that that character has something dark and mysterious about them. After this is said the clips change to war and anger as before was clips were of sadness and honour. But later on in the trailer the same character asks ‘will you follow me one last time’ and this shows that the character has a change of heart during the film. Also it’s the use of a enigma code as it leaves the audience asking the question of they do or if they don’t.

Then the title of the film is shown and it’s in gold, this is important and it shows power and wealth which links in with the rest of the trilogy and also it’s memorable so the audience will know when they see it they will remember the trailer.

The lighting in the film is mostly dark as it’s trying to show the darkness of the film and the tragedy and even in scene which are in the day it’s still dark as if it’s a gloomy day and this represents that there is no glimmer of hope. The one clip with shows a lot of light is when the town is set on fire and as well in this scene the light is not showing hope and happiness as we would associate it with, it represents despair.