Task 1: Institution

Today we started learning about institutions and started off with cinemas. We conducted a survey on cinema-going and received 21 responses which are shown below:

Question One:

Question Two:

Question Three:

Question Four:

Question Five:

Question Six:

Question Seven:

Question Eight:

Question Nine:

Question Ten:

TV drama- Introduction

TV drama includes:

• On-going narrative.
• Cliffhanger.

Definition- a dramatic programming or television drama is television program content that is scripted and normally fictional along the lines of a traditional drama. 

Excluding the following: 

• Sports television.
• Television news.
• Reality shows.
• Game shows.
• Soaps. 

When watching a TV drama we should analyse looking for four things:

• Editing.
• Sound.
• Mise en scene.
• Camera shots.

Luther (series 1, episode 1) 

• Crime genre.
• Camera shots- Over the shoulder shot, close ups, long shots, varied shots including zooming in of some shots. There is an establishing shot of the setting and a match on action shot of the door, there are also high angle shots.
• Sound- The sound builds up tension throughout the episode, in the tense parts of the episode the sound has a more upbeat tempo. Foley sounds are frequently used and there is set music within the credits. The music is also dramatic to empathize the genre of crime. 
• Setting- The location varies in this episode as there are various places in which crimes take place, but the main location is the police force station where all the detective work takes place. This is shown in the establishing shot. The costumes of the characters represent different roles, for example the police officer 'Luther' is dressed in a smart suit to show his high authority. but the innocent victim in the episode is wearing casual clothes to show that they were not prepared for what happened to them. All kinds of emotions are displayed through the characters. 
• Ethnicity - It is rare that the police officer is black. 

There wasn't much of an introduction, the episode was fast pace and cut straight to the point. Most of the shots were blurred by objects or effects. The lighting was very naturalistic and changed depending on character being displayed at the time. The credits begin after 5 minutes of the episode. 

Exam Overview

G322 Exam: OCR - Key Media Concepts
Section A: 1 hour and 15 minutes (30 minutes viewing and 45 minutes writing)

• Watch a TV Drama clip - 4 times and you have 5 minutes in-between to write notes.

• Question - Representation of one of DR CAGES 

• Most likely not ethnicity as it came up last year. 

Representation Recap:DisabilityRegional identity
ClassAgeGenderEthnicitySexual orientation

Section B: 45 minutes

• Media institutions essay

• It will be a prepared case study

Task 2: Audience and Exhibition

The top 5 grossing films are the following. Star wars: The force awakens which was written by George Lucas, directed by J.J Abrams and released on the 17th of December 2015. Jurassic World which was written by Derek Connolly and co-written by Colin Trevorrow, directed by Colin Trevorrow and released on the 10th of June 2015 (in France). Furious 7 which was written by Chris Morgan, directed by James Wan, and released on 3rd of April 2015. Avengers: Age of Ultron which was written and directed by Joss Whedon and released on the 23rd of April 2015.  Minions which was written by Brian Lynch, directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, and released on the 26th of June 2015. 

Below are the Oscar nominations for the actors, actresses and directors for the films in 2015.

Director
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Boyhood” Richard Linklater
“Foxcatcher” Bennett Miller
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson
“The Imitation Game” Morten Tyldum

Actor

Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”

Actress
Marion Cotillard in “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones in “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon in “Wild”