MEST3 Section A exam prep

MEST3 Section A exam prep

1)

The two trailers use the narrative technique of enigma to encourage the target audience to watch the films through the posing of questions by characters in them which generally go unanswered. This can be seen at the very start of Product One, where Jacob says "she has a right to know" and Bella asks "what?" Straight after this we catch wind of 'unexplained disappearances' going on in Seattle, this being the development of what we can understand to be a mystery within the narrative. Product Two doesn't differ from this at all, with questions asked by Oskar to Eli such as "are you a vampire?" and "will you be my girlfriend?" never end up getting directly answered at any point of the trailer. The lack of dialogue, particularly within this product is something that can be picked up on in helping add to enigma too, as it leaves audiences questioning events they saw. While Barthes is the main theorist that can be cited here for his concept of enigma codes, Todorov can also be looked at as someone whose theory applies, as we're left in a state of disequilibrium by the end of both trailers with no level of clarity or suggestion as to how the films will actually progress and end. This in turn encourages the target audience to watch them so they can see whether or not new equilibrium ends up being established or not in both of them.

2)

Media products that represent outsiders tend to be popular as they present us with characters that live in quite a drastically different way to us which piques our interest/curiosity. Instead of what's the case when we're presented with people that are familiar to audiences, watching media products with characters from outsider groups make us interested in certain aspects of their lifestyle. Gone Too Far can be said to display this particularly with the very Nigerian roots of the film being something that can undoubtedly be viewed as exotic (Alvarado) and foreign to (white) British audiences. This is showcased through things such as the traditional West African attire worn by Yemi’s mum and not least through the use of the Yoruba language by her and Ikudayisi. The more humorous (Alvarado) nature of Ikudayisi as he at least tries to fit in with western society is another example of how media products that represent outsiders can be quite popular, as it's quite interesting to see how they 'adapt' to the stipulations of modern society. In Product 1 we see this quite widely with both the vampires and werewolves appearing to be on the very fringes of society. Product 2 does with the same with audiences wondering how a vampire committing gruesome attacks on civilians could ever fully integrate into a community.

These media products representing outsiders may also be popular as they can tend to portray aspects of ourselves in them. It's often the case that audiences will be able to have a level of personal identification (Blumler and Katz) with an outsider character whether it have to do with race, demeanour or just general background. In Ill Manors for example, audiences might align with certain people in it due to shared aspects of character. Young people will do this especially since of course, the film dominantly portrays them. However this won't always be the case, and actually more middle-class adults might see a film like it as an avenue for slum/poverty tourism where they can too, achieve a sense of diversion (Blumler and Katz) from their everyday lives as explorers (Young and Rubicam). This diversion finds it itself being present in Product 1 too with its fantasy battles involving vampires and werewolves coming across as quite the adventure.

3)

Both official and unofficial websites contribute to a film's box office success to a degree as they can often provide people with content that they wouldn't have got their hands on without them. In maintaining synergy with some of the other products offered by the brand, the Ill Manors website was also home to the Tag London online campaign. Being a campaign in which people posted their anti-establishment sentiments with the hashtag #ILLMANORS, an example of user-generated content, it was evident that the website had some significance in the promotion of the film and so box office success. Other ones such as review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and also IMDB play quite a contribution to box office success too as the ratings put up on their often be a big influence as to whether or not people watch the film, lower ratings of course being a deterrent from this.

However it must be recognised that the contribution these websites are having are now on rapid decrease, particularly when you see that most films are now incorporating social media links into them. The website for Product 1 and also Spectre did this, with the latter having things like an Instagram page helping promote the film showing clips from things like TV spots of it and also pictures of members of the cast as well. The same goes for the Twitter account which shows not only things like links to the soundtrack of the film and behind-the-scenes footage for it too. The fact that social media is being used this extensively shows that even the companies behind films recognise that websites are becoming more and more of a dying medium as time goes on. Pre-installed on people's phones and something predominantly used everyday, social networks networks are a perfect place for institutions to promote their products on to help box office figures. With this said I personally think that while official and unofficial websites do have a bearing on a film's box office success, social media has more of an impact on it.