Henry Jenkins

Henry Jenkins

Henry Jenkins (born June 4, 1958) is an American media scholar and Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts.

Henry uses the theory that 'textual poaching' is a way in which fans create a community and express themselves. They do this by taking popular media and appropriately creating ideas from the text and rereading them creatively for their own uses.

Jenkins also theorizes that participatory culture can be a form of resistance. E.g. fan fiction and fan videos often explore themes and aspects of the source material which mainly interests the female part of the community.  

Ghost ship

Ghost ship

D - This is a hyper-genre film.

I - It mixes two contrasting genres in the opening, romance and horror 

S - Its set in the middle of the sea on a cruise at night. This makes the characters seem vulnerable because if anything happened, no one would be around to help.

T - The theme initially sets off seeming romantic, this is shown in many ways. It starts as the credits are in pink swirly writing and many couples are dancing with one another whilst the woman sings a slow/romantic song. Then suddenly the theme changes to horror when the lever is pulled, sequencing in all the horrible actions took place afterwards. The music changes as it starts to echo over the loud noise of the wire moving, this gives off screen music, giving a creepy effect on the audience.

I -The icons include the lever, this is what makes everything in the movie suddenly change sois significant in this respect. The wire is also a very important icon as it is the main prop which indicates the genre of the film.

N - The narrative is the woman singing as there is no actual words said in the opening. The singer indicates the mood that the characters are feeling.

C - The main character in the opening is the woman who is singing, she seems to be given the most screen time at the beginning, this could be important later on. The focus then slowly moves to the young girl as she is the only person left alive after the wire incident.

T - 

F - 

A - When focusing on the women, the camera is mainly at eye level, this could portray that she sees everything, like shes the cameras eyes. The camera shows many shots of everyone dancing from a high/birds eye angle, showing everyone is vulnerable to whats about the happen.

M - The camera uses track movement when moving through the dance floor as if the camera was one of the dancers. It also uses crab movement when doing this to give a separate effect to the track.

C - All the characters are wearing formal clothes, implying it is a wealthy cruise. The woman singing is wearing all red which could foreshadow that something dangerous is going to happen.

L - The lighting is low key, it is nighttime so the lights are quite dull and dim. This firstly can be used to set a romantic scene but on the other hand can be used in horror.

A - 

M - 

P - The prosecco and flowers are good props to indicate wealth and the class.

S - 

S - The little girl gets the most screen time. At the start she is shown then keeps getting took back to and then at the end of the clip she is in it the whole time. They do this because it gives the audience time to try and figure out things about her instead of just immediately throwing her into it as it makes it more interesting. She also ends up being the only one left alive as she was too small to catch the wire. We dont further know why the directors did this.

T - It seems to be shown in real life, however because a lot happens in the beginning i believe it may go past in time through the rest of the movie to then build up to this scene again.

O - The clip is in chronological order

P - The pace when everything is fine is quite slow but then as soon as the lever is pushed it suddenly becomes fast pace and everything happens in such a short amount of time. They made some parts slow motion so the audience could really capture what was going on.

S -

Mise en scene/clamps

Camera shots, angles and movements

In this task, we had to recreate all these camera shots, angles and movements presented on the sheet below.

We were put into groups of 3, one person being behind the camera and the other two mix and matching imitating the camera shots. We used various props to make the shots as realistic as possible e.g. we used a chair to achieve the outcome of the birds eye view. We tried to use a white board to make it clear which shot we were attempting. We videoed every shot, angle and movement and put them all together into a longer video which is shown below, this gave a nice rolling effect as all the different camera movements ect. Are shown in action properly. We did this to experiments with the different effects the shots had when filming.

Shot sizes

XLS (extra longshot) - used for setting the scene, makes the person look isolated and vulnerable

LS (longshot) - from a considerable distance, from head to toe. Usually intended to place it in some relation to the surroundings.

MLS (medium longshot) - This shot is from the knees up. Nomrally used when theres more than one person in a shot.

MS (medium shot) - Shot from the waist up. Used to viewers can capture the characters emotion.

MCU (medium closeup) - Shot from the chest up. Often used to allow the viewer to pick up on characters movements and actions.

CU (closeup) - frames the characters head and shoulders.

BCU (big closeup) - Just the face. Can easily capture characters emotion.

XCU (extreme closeup) - Often used in horror to show a quick/instant change in emotion.

Shot angles

Low - When the camera is placed below the character, making the character seem more powerful.

Eye level - When the camera is equal level to the character, usually used when the character is speaking ect.

High - Camera looks down on the character. This belittles the character, making them seem vulnerable.

Worms eye - More dramatic than the low angle. Used for a dramatic effect, making the character seem dominant.

Canted - The camera is tilted, creating a dizzy/drunk effect.

Birds eye - An extreme high angle, used so you can see the surroundings from a distance.

Camera lens and movement

Pan - moving your camera left to right whilst its base is fixed on a certain point

Crab - The camera moves in a smooth crabbing motion

Track - A smooth walking in/out motion, gives the same effect as a 'zoom', just without the actual lens moving

Zoom (lens) - An even smoother motions than the above, it is done via the lens to no movement of the camera man has to take place, making it easier to achieve.

Ped - The whole camera moves up and down the subject vertically, different to a tilt as the whole camera follows.

Tilt - The camera stays in the same position but the angle of the camera tilts vertically up and down the subject.



Premiere edit

This is the first edit i made on Premiere. I used a range of different effects including speeding up/down as well as the mirrored effect. I included a split screen to make the longer shot more interesting so that my audience wouldn’t loose focus. I also changed the color of the last shot to all black and white so that it blended in better with the shot before, otherwise it would of looked displaced. I tried to use short clips which fitted together overall. I believe this worked particularly well in the phone clips as they slot in together nicely.

Semiotics

Semiotics - the study of signs

Denotations - what we see looking at an image

Connotations - what we understand from the image

We look at images and decode them to make sense to our selves e.g. we see the camera on our phone and we immediately know what the symbol means just by looking at it.

Summer tasks

Task 1:

In this Vogue magazine cover it is shown to mainly cater to an older, more fashionable audience. Vogue is quite well known for fashion as its a big company. The cover it’s self is very plain and subtle, assuming it wont appeal to a younger audience as younger audiences tend to be attracted to bright colourful covers. The women on the front cover is presented to be quite young which could of been done to try and attract teenagers to the magazine aside from just adults.

Task 2:

The Deutschland 83 trailer begins with the use of split screen. This is used to create a potential confused atmosphere throughout. Graphic war imagery is shown either side of the screen, showing the political divide between east and west. Immediately, dramatic music is used from the beginning through to the end to demonstrate the reality and seriousness of war in the show. Soon after, another split screen effect is used, presenting the contrast in personal views between east and west. The split screen could also be used to present the difference between the east and west's states during this time period. 
A different tone of music is then used (fun/excitable) to start to show the action/comedy drama. This change is important in the trailer because it uplifts the mood of the watcher and intrigues them into watching more. The time period is then questioned when a women holds up a gun towards the main male character, this is shocking for the time period it was set as females were not seen as the alpha male. This will intise viewers to the show as its something different. A range of different camera angles are used to create a better affect for the audience, so they can feel more involved with the characters in the trailer. Many short clips are used close up of certain characters faces, this may of been done so the audience can come to terms with their emotions and get an understanding of their role in the show.
Finally, the advert is completed with a full shot including all the characters. From this, viewers can take in the main props and costumes of the characters to once again grip more of an understanding of what the shows about. It then suddenly follows through to an explosion to end the advert which signifies the show to overall be action packed. This is the main part which will make the viewers decide if they want to watch the show once it airs or not. Using a dramatic ending will make viewers remember that exact part and will hopefully want them to be part of the audience once the show airs.

Task 3:

The ad campaign 'Are you beach body ready' has been banned from the advertising watchdog because of concerns of its weight loss claims. This campaign presents a stereotypical pretty, skinny girl in a bikini, and now after receiving over 360 complaints mainly about the fact it objectifies women, it has been banned and the advertising standards authority have launched an inquiry as to whether it is offensive content or not.
No one is happy about this campaign as the way it was advertised suggested that all women should look like a model in order to be in a bikini and be presentable to the world.

On the other hand, the 'This girl can' campaign differs from the above as it clarifies you dont have to have a perfect body to achieve in life. It shows that no matter what you look like, everybody is the same. This video gained nothing but inspiration unlike the 'Are you beach body ready' campaign. It uses women of all shapes and sizes in the advertisement to prove that their should be no stereotype or social media telling you what you should look like, and many women have reacted to this is such a positive way.

Task 4:

The ‘big six’ include  20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures & Walt Disney Pictures. These companies are the biggest film studios in the world, creating many popular films which everyone loves.

20th century fox released ‘The greatest showman’ last year on the 26th December 2017. They co-produced along with Chernin Entertainment, seed productions and Lawrence mark productions. It costed 84 million USD to create, and to date a box office budget of 434.6 million USD. They used the popular character Wolverine as the main character in this film, perhaps to attract a wider audience to the film as people were almost shocked at the drast transition within the characters of ‘PT Barnum’ (Hugh Jackman character in the greatest showman) from Wolverine. They also included many other actors which are well known to attract a bigger audience e.g. Zac Efron and Zendaya. 


The Warner Bros realeased the film ‘IT’ on September 8th 2017. It was produced by new line cinema, lin pictures , vertigo entertainment and katzsmith productions. ‘IT’ is a remake of a horror miniseries created in 1990 about a clown who kills children based on their fears. The film costed 35 million USD to create, and ended up getting a total box office of 123.1 million USD.


 Paramount pictures produced the film ‘Sherlock Gnomes’ on March 23rd 2018. It is an animated movie which is a sequel of the movie ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’. It costed 59 million USD and the box office totalled to be 89 million USD. The sequel excited the audience of the first movie ‘Gnomeo and Juilet’ which drawed the initial attention to the second movie.


Columbia pictures recently came out with the movie ‘Hotel Transylvania 3’. However Columbia pictures only istrubuted this, it was properly produced by Sony pictures animation and media rights capital. The movie costed 80 million USD to make but unfortunately they only made 44.1 million USD in return. 57% of critics said they would recommend going to see it but clearly this sequel didn’t appeal to everyone. There are many reasons as to why Columbia pictures may of not exceeded their target for audiences including the fact they may of not had enough advertisement for the film meaning only a small portion of people actually saw it was released. This shows how important advertisement and campaigning is for a new film to be successful.

Universal pictures have recently came out with Mumma Mia: here we go again, as a sequel to the first mumma Mia which came out in 2008. It costed £28 million to make, and they successfully gained £76.4 million from box office. This is way more profit than the first Mumma Mia which only reached 27.6 million USD.

Walt Disney released a motion remake of Beauty and the beast on march 17th 2017. The audience was so large becasue of the build up for the film. The animated version, released in 1991, was included in the original Disney princesses, which is what made it so popular. The remake costed just over 300 million USD to make and received over 1 billion USD in return from box office. It was so popular because it is one of the most favoured classic Walt Disney films, which clearly shows in the statistics.

Denotation and connotation

 Denotation:

-3 younger boys on bikes, looks like their going on an adventure
-The boys are wearing certain outfits with a machine on their back
-The younger girl at the top looks more scary/powerful than the people beneath her
-The same girl has blood coming from her nose
-There is a big 'monster' in red
-The things lower to the ground are blue
-The things higher up are red
-There is pumpkins at the very edge of the page at the bottom
-All the characters are in the center
-There is lightning in the background
-There's a car and some sort of creature in the distance

Connotations:
-The 3 boys being at the bottom of the page could show that they are less powerful than those above them
-The boys are wearing outfits and machines, implying their are maybe fighting away monsters
-The boys are on bikes because they are being chased and arnt fast enough by themselves
-The younger girl is the most powerful, this is shown by her hand actions and the fact shes above everyone else. This could imply she is a main part of the series.
-The big monster shows danger because of the color red
-The monsters arms/legs are curving around the bunch of people, implying the characters are trapped.
-The monster is at the top of the poster, even above the girl, implying the monster overpowers the girl
-The pumpkins show the Halloween theme, which is a season known to be more scary than the others.
-All characters are bunched together, showing all the characters may come together in the series.
-The lightning in the back gives an extra effect that there is evil. But the fact its so far in the distance shows its not the main focus.
-The car and creature in the back could imply the boys being chased by them as they are the only full characters on the same level as them.

DISTINCT:

D - A popular series on Netflix
I - Which has many characters and things going on throughout the series. From the poster you can tell this as it is jam packed with different themes and colors.
S - The setting is very thrilling, with creatures/monsters in the background and also in the focus. The poster is set on a street which has nothing on it, this is done so that all the focus is on the characters and its not distracted by street houses ect.
T - The theme seems to mainly be good vs evil. This is portrayed through the colors as it is red to blue which contrasts with eachother. And red conveys danger/evil which is the opposite to blue. Blue shows the sky and good things like heaven. Character wise it will be like people vs monsters.
I - A significant prop in Stranger things is the bikes the teenage boys ride. It is shown to be important considering their are 3 of them and they are used frequently throughout the series.
N - It is an action packed series. So far it has been told over 2 seasons and they are currently working on a 3rd.
C - All the main characters are in the poster. There is a mixture of boys and girls as well as mythical characters who are used to endure the audience.
T - The camera angle is medium long shot

Hyper-genre

Hyper-genre : combining 2 genres e.g. romance/comedy

This photo presents the genre romantic comedy. The overall picture is bright implying the movie wont be about scary/bad things. The flowers in the background represents romance, obviously as well as the 2 characters side by side to each other. The laughing sense in both the characters gives the implication that it is comedy as well as romance.

This photo presents the genre thriller. It is thrilling because the lighting is all dull and dark but you get the figure of the person standing in the hallway. You also get a streak of light coming through at an angle which gives it an unknown effect. The figure in the photograph has their head titled right to create the affect that the figure is mid-turning to face the viewer. This gives it a thrilling affect because it leaves the viewers unknown as to t=what the mysterious figure looks like.

Media you love

Introduction - 

Types of media:

-Photography                                                           Language

-TV                                                                          Industry

-Radio                                                                     Audience

-Newspaper                                                             Representation

-Video games

-Adverts

-Internet

-Music videos

-Film

My favorite types of media:

TV - When i get home from school ect. i like watching and catching up on programmes. I appreciate this time as i can relax after a long day and take my mind off other things. I also spend a portion of my time watching netflix as they have such a broad amount of TV shows and films on there which are very easy to access. My favourite shows to watch are ‘riverdale’ and i love the film ‘the kissing booth’.

Music - I love listening to music as theirs always new things in the industry. There are so many different types of music genres which i like because you can easily find different songs for different moods you may be in. Music is so easy to use and listen to as it is everywhere you go e.g. in the car, and on adverts. I believe music benefits me as well as many others as it can change your mood in positive ways.

Internet - The internet is such a broad world online. It includes social media platforms which i use every single day. I enjoy spending my time on apps like snapchat and Instagram because it allows me to communicate with my friends and see what other people are up to. On these platforms you can also post photos and capture memories to share with your friends and family.