Film Analysis

The Theory Of Film

From films like 'The Boss Baby' to 'A Clockwork Orange', the art of cinema has visited many places, told many stories and created unique experiences. Since the emergence of film as an art, directors from all across the world have made audiences laugh, cry and much more. They have achieved this through creatively using different cinematic theories. In this report I will be discussing how the 2018 blockbuster epic 'Avengers: Infinity War' demonstrates the cognitive theory; and how the peculiar ambiguous comedy-drama 'The Lobster' explores the auteur theory.

'Avengers: Infinity War' is the pinnacle of the superhero genre, described by its directors (The Russo Brothers) as "the most ambitious crossover yet". The film is the first part in the grand finale of part of a universe that has been built up for 10 years. Over the span of the creation of this universe, audiences have grown to love and have become familiar with characters such as Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, and even though it may seem strange, CGI characters such as Rocket Racoon and Groot. These characters have joined the ranks of  household names like James Bond, Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker. In other words, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has built these characters up to be the strong and kindhearted role models, that children of today aspire to be. Captain America taught audiences that matter how big or small you are or what race you are, you can always be of help to those in need. Tony Stark taught audiences how to use intelligence to help others, rather than solely yourself. Finally, Black Panther taught audiences that anyone could be a superhero, regardless of your race or background. 

With all this being said, 'Avengers: Infinity War' exceeds expectations by not only giving the story's main villain a heartbreaking backstory, but also making audiences feel sympathetic towards this character. Rather than despising Thanos, audiences try to understand his reasoning for his actions and in the process the audiences unconventionally want to see Thanos succeed, in comparison to audiences usually wanting the villain to fail. The Russo achieve this through the use of the Cognitive Theory. The brothers use flashbacks that frequently appear during the film to elicitate certain emotions to be felt towards Thanos, such as sympathy and sadness. 

The Russo Brothers have previously worked on films such as 'Welcome to the Collinwood' and 'You, Me, Dupree'.  However, in 2014 the brothers joined the Marvel franchise as they directed the film 'Captain America: Winter Soldier' and later directed the final film in the 'Captain America' trilogy. Their films have been very well received which could possibly explain why they were asked to take on the task of such a large scale cinematic event. 

In contrast to the blockbuster, 'Avenger: Infinity War', The Lobster is a much quieter and abstract film that shows the auteur theory. Yorgos Lanthimos tells the story of a dystopian society where single people spend 40 days in a strange hotel trying to find a partner and if they don't they'll be transformed into an animal of their choice. 

Yorgos is classed as a greek auteur who recently made his english film debut in 2015. he often uses fish eye lenses, long scenes and slightly off centre camera angles. Since he has 2015 debut Yorgos has used Olivia Coleman in both of his english films "The Lobster" and more recently 'The Favourite".

Yorgos's style is so distinct that you can recongise his films just by watching the first 2 minutes. "The Lobster" opens with classical music playing as text appears on screen, the text is small which reflects the small story portrayed in this film. we then see a mid shot of a woman driving in her car, the shot is dimly lit and the colour grading can only be described as Grey and flat, The use of this colour grading pin points this strange story in our world. at 1 minute and 8 seconds into the film the woman steps out of her car whilst holding a gun a proceeds to walk up to some donkeys that are standing in the field. She then proceeds to shoot and kill one of these donkeys. There is no context to this scene which only leaves the audiences with questions. 'Who is this woman?' "Why did she kill the donkey?' are some that may run through someones mind whilst watching this sequence. After this scene the Title appears on screen. This opening sequence perfectly conveys the overall aesthetic of "The Lobster".

Yorgos perfectly manages to create familiarity in this abstract world with characters like 'Nosebleed woman' (Jessica Barden) and 'Biscuit Woman (Ashley Jensen). Despite the strangeness of their names these characters are pretty normal in terms of the overracring story. I believe that Yorgos likes to place Average people in perculiar situations and this is what make his films so unique.

To conclude Film is a very diverse art form that allows for hundreds of creatives, whether it be Steven Spilberg or even your local film maker, to tell stories on the big screen in unique and distinct ways that demonstrate all different types of film theories.

Purpose of music video

Purpose of Music Video 

By Dylan Corcoran  

In this report, I will be discussing the purpose of music videos. Music videos are mainly used to promote an artist’s song however there are some other purposes that music videos are used for. An example of this is that they can be used to advertise products, for example in Lady GaGa’s music video for her song ‘Telephone’ (2010) she promotes products like Diet Coke and Beats.  

In the early years of music videos, audiences would be able to see music videos on popular music channels like MTV. In 1981 MTV was first launched, at the time this was unique as it was one of the first and leading channels to play nothing but music videos. The first music video to be broadcasted on this channel was ‘The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star’’ for many years MTV was the leading channel in terms of playing music videos. However, in 2005 YouTube was launched. With other 60 hours of videos uploaded per day YouTube has since become the world’s biggest video site. Popular artists including names like Drake, Miley Cyrus and One Direction use YouTube to upload their music videos. According to a recent article by Greg Cannizzaro (CEO of Go Indie) YouTube is the number one music video streaming site.  

However, despite being the most popular music site, not everybody uses YouTube to watch music videos. Some other sites used to consume music video include but are not limited to Vevo, Dailymotion and Vimeo.  

Music videos are also a good source of income for Record Labels, this is because quite often a record label will have ownership rights of the artists music videos. This quite often means that the label would earn more money for a music video then what the artist would. However, in some cases the owner of the label is the artist itself, an example of this would be Kanye West. Kanye is the founder and former president of GOOD Music. Every video made under the GOOD Music label would benefit Kanye directly. The music video for Kanye’s song ‘Fade’ (2016) has over 109 million views. This means that all profits made by the music video will go directly to Kanye.  

Furthermore, at the end of every music video under the GOOD Music Label, there would be promotion of the artist's latest album. This gives additional information on the artist and the audience can click on the link and be taken straight to various music sites where the album is available. This attracts potential new fans who were once casual listeners, or were just curious to check out what is trending within the music community. 

To conclude music videos are essential to an artist’s career as they are a means of gaining a wider audience. During the 1970’s music videos wasn’t as important as today. Music videos are mainly used to promote the song however, music videos provide an opportunity for the artist to become creative, experiment and sometimes create a visual narrative for their song.  

Commercial radio is a very popular means of broadcasting in today’s society. There are many commercial radio stations and the stations are very advanced, for example listening online to such stations requires the audience to input their location to give them a better connection, and to also play specific music.

The purpose of commercial radio is to advertise and play music from upcoming artists. Commercial radio also informs the audience of relevant news and weather stories and topics of interest. There are two different forms of commercial radio: mainstream stations and independent/local stations. One very popular mainstream station is Captial FM. The broadcasting of mainstream stations are very focused around topical artists and they play certain songs very frequently. Another aspect to mainstream stations is that the artists that have their music played have to pay a certain amount of money to constantly have their song featured. Commercial radio provides the presenters an opportunity to grow within the radio industry itself.

On the other hand, there are independent/local radio stations. These stations are very topical to the area and the news broadcasted will be focused on said area. These stations play upcoming artists from the area they are based in, allowing them a chance to gain more fans. Local radio stations lack the money and opportunity that commercial ones have, though they do provide the local artists with opportunities to grow. Being part of a local radio station is a good step into the radio broadcasting industry.

In conclusion, commercial radios are a form of advertising not only music but news, events, and brands. They are listened to worldwide, and they have many people tuning in. They normally only play a certain a genre of music and they circulate certain songs. They’re are very active in the music community, having segments like the Big Top 40 and they also partner with industrial companies.

Analytical Approaches

Genre Analysis - Analysing the reasoning behind the films genre and who it is targeted towards and what makes that film specific to that genre.

an example of this would be the film 'A Quiet Place' the audience can identify this as a horror film due to its dark and eerie aesthetic. The films rating can also be an indicator of its genre as most Horror films will have the certificate of 12 or above.

Content Analysis - Analysing the overall message of the film and what the director is trying to put across.

Narrative Analysis - Analysing the main plot of the film and exploring the meaning behind its content and themes.

Fan Study - fans who are heavily engaged with the film/franchise.

Reception Study - an audience that is actively engaged and can define what the purpose of the film is.