Merlin essay: How is class and status represented in this clip?

 

In Merlin class and status is mostly represented as conforming to the stereotypes of the upper class being snobby and superior to others, then the lower class being hard working and looked down on. This can be shown using camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. Some characters such as the princess are seen as superior and of a higher status to the working class who are outside cutting wood and looking after animals due to the costumes worn.

At the beginning of the clip the sound is eerie as Merlin enters the castle, this is during the establishing wide shot of the castle outside and inside showing the expensive goods the upper class own. But in this shot Merlin is looking to steal some of their goods this shows the lower class in bad light. This also shows suspense and highlights the mischievous behavior of Merlin, also making it clear that he is not allowed in the castle therefore breaking the rules. The sound highlights the misbehavior of Merlin due to the dark minor key and slow pace of it.

Whilst Merlin is searching the castle room we the audience can hear the sound of the princess’s high heels walking which symbolizes superiority and is a prop used to show this. This also reflects the high status of the princess, although we don't feel intimidated by the princess and she is dressed (her costume) in a beautiful purple dress with dark long hair. he costume makes Merlin respectful and polite to her and she is of a higher status than him, she is also treating him fairly considering the behavior he is portraying. 

The camera work is also used in this part of the clip as there is a over the shoulder shot of from the witch in the mirror point of view looking at the princess. we notice that Merlin has respect for her and speaks to her politely, this could be because he may find her attractive. As it is unlikely for him to treat the upper class with a lot of respect considering his behavior to the soldier. This presents class as a negative thing in society and it makes people believe they are better than others and makes people disrespect other people which is unnecessary as everyone is equal. It could be seen as bizarre that he is polite to her but not to the soldier but i think it it purely because she is showing respect to him.

The sound in the clip when Merlin is walking outside and everything is going on at the same time, the sound is chaotic and this is the same during the fight between Merlin and the soldier. The transitions of shots are quick during this section and so is the pace, this shows that the life in this town is chaotic and nobody is respectful of each other. This presents the working class as hard workers therefore conforming to the stereotype. This also makes us feel empathy for Merlin as he is not supported by anyone and nobody protects him from the royal soldier who's intentions were to wind him up and harm him.

Before the fight between Merlin and the soldier we can hear the diagetic sound of the other soldiers laughing and taking the micky out of Merlin for wanting to fight the soldier. This conforms to the stereotype of the higher class looking down on the lower class and shows negativity between classes. The lower class are seen as unable to fight and inferior, of a lower status, meaning that they should be treated with less respect. This makes us feel empathy for Merlin as everyone should be equal and treated the same. 

Merlin always tends to be in the middle of the frame when he is shown, he is in a 2 shot mid shot when in an argument with the other magician. This presents Merlin as the most important character in the clip as he gets the most screen time highlighting that he is the character we should be focusing on and that we see most things from his perspective.

There is a tracking shot where Merlin is in the middle of the frame walking away from the soldier showing him little respect although he is trying to wind Merlin up. This presents the upper class as snobby, disrespectful to the lower class and rude, again conforming to their stereotypes and making us feel empathy for the lower class. In this example Merlin. 

Editing is also used to present class, the editing is fast pace during the fight between Merlin and the soldier and there are fast transition showing that this is a chaotic part of the clip. The pace is also slow when the princess is walking outside the castle and catches Merlin inside. This presents the lower class as being mischievous this conforms to their stereotypes of being immature. This could suggest that the upper class are of such a status that it doesn't effect them to be in a fight because they have nothing to be worried about, no job, nor do they have to do anything themselves. For the working and lower class their situation is completely different and the decisions they make involve consequences.

The lighting is bright on the soldier showing his arrogance and positive behavior of his life as he is superior and of a higher status compared to everyone else, as he is wealthy. This conforms to the stereotypes of rich, upper class people being snobby.

Task 7: Audience and cinema going statistics

From the survey I conducted I found that the most popular days to go to the cinema is Friday, Saturday and Sunday due to it being the weekend therefore most people have more free time. The most popular genre of film is comedy and the second is action films. The top grossing comedy film 2015 is Inside Out closely followed by Minions. The top grossing action film of 2015 is Star Wars (The Force Awakens) closely followed by Jurassic World. According to the survey most people hear about films through trailers and social media. Most of them prefer US films as more of the blockbuster films are made in the US. Most people prefer 2D films as they are cheaper and more comfortable to watch. In the survey there were very few people who had seen more than 5 3D films. If they do not watch films in the cinema they watch them illegally or pay for them on box office or Netflix. Most audiences visit the cinema with friends as they share the same interest in films as they do. Most audiences visit the cinema in town so Odeon and they go on the weekend. 

Task 10: distribution

Distribution is in charge of the promotion of a film and has a very important role, as the distribution of the film brings the income and could bring a large income from a rubbish film. Marketing techniques are key as the producers of Devils due knew that the film wouldn't do very well, so they created a viral campaign that drew attention the film and got people talking about it. Some people went because they found the viral campaign amusing and thought they might as well give the film a go. 

Distribution is a highly competitive business as you want your film to be the most popular film in the cinema so it is seen first and chosen over other films. Every film has its own distribution plan to ensure it reaches the right audiences. 

The distribution company has to take into account the cost of putting the film in the cinema and the marketing techniques. Also the advertising( TV, radio, outdoor, online, promotion), publicity, festival screening and the campaign production( trailers, posters). As all of these cost the distribution company money so they need to make it worth it.  

Some distribution companies as get people to watch and review their film before they release it (research screening). 

Dates:
February to March- Dead time for block buster, but a good time to release a small film.
Easter to the end of August- This is a popular time to release blockbuster films as it is holiday season therefore people have more free time.
September-  This is a dead time for film releases as people don't have a lot of money due to the holidays, but it is time for girly low key films.
October to January- the film when the films who receive the awards are released.
November to December- this is a crucial time for block buster films.

Opening weekend- this is when the film is first release it has a week which will determine whether the film stays in the cinema or not.
The distribution company has to have a strategic business plan.
Films come out of DVD 16 and a half weeks after it is released in the cinema.

Task 8: technology

Technologies that are used in the various stages of film production

Minions
Production:

• Camera 
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Distribution:

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•  
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Exhibition:

·         

•  
•  
•   

Exchange:

•  
•  
•  

Avengers Age of Ultron

Production:

·        T-shirts

·         Action figures

·        Lunch boxes  

·        Lego avenger games

·        Movies

·        Advanced camera and equipment

·        SFX

Exhibition: 

• Cinema
• Netflix
• 3D
• YouTube
• Put locker 

Spectre

Production:

·        SFX
·         Advanced camera and equipment
·        Merchandise- mugs and t-shirts etc

Exhibition:

·        Cinema
·        Netflix
·        3D
·        YouTube
·        Put locker
·        Love film

The Selfish Giant

Exchange:

·        curzonhomecinema.com

Hunger Games Part 2

Production: 

·        SFX/app/twitter

Jurassic World

Production:
 CGI/SFX

 

 

Fast and Furious 7

Production:

·      SFX/Technology to create a Paul Walker look alike/Facebook

Task 9: terminology

• Production -The making of the film.
• Distribution- The administrating of the film. 
• Exhibition- The showing of the film. 
• Big Six- Paramount pictures, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Disney, Columbia). 90% of tickets sold at box office are from Big Six films.
• Indie films- (Summit entertainment, Film 4, Icon).
• Vertical integration (also known as holy integrated company)- working only with their own company. 
• Horizontal integration- working with other companies.
• Mini majors- Dream Works, The Weinstein Company, Lions gate entertainment. 
• 'Green-lit' - Funding has been made,therefore the producers can begin to produce the film. 
• Film Franchise- Loyal brand, stick with a film even if previous film was rubbish. For example Fast and Furious.
• Intellectual property- Intellectual property refers to the ownership of intangible and non-physical goods, it also refers to digital media such as audio and video clips that can be downloaded online .
• Turnaround- arrangement in film industry where by the production costs to a product which one studio has developed are declared a loss on the companies tax return, thereby preventing the studio from exploiting the property any further. 
• Analog device- a combination of both analog machine and analog media that can together measure, record or reproduce continuous information.
• HD-cam- is a high definition video camera, these are much cheaper than a standard film camera.
• 'Tangerine' film- a film that was recorded all on an iPhone.
• Release date- a fixed date on which the product of the film is due to become available for the public to see or buy.
• VOD- video on demand.
• Mainstream- the most current and normal thing to do or watch.
• Independent- an independent film is a film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment agencies.  
• Exchange- how someone watches the film. 
• Pre-production- work done on a film before full-scale production begins. 
• Monopoly- is when a single company owns all of the market for a given type of product. 
• Oligopoly- is when multiple companies work together to create a product.
• Synergy- a state in which two or more companies work together in a particularly beneficial way that produces an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. 
• Ultraviolet-a marketing technique that enables people to share their DVDs with other people by using the tag on the back of the DVD.
• Merchandise- the activity of promoting the sale of goods,and branded products are used to promote a film. 
• Marketing- that action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. 
• Cross media convergence- is the way that different products are produced and distributed on different platforms.  
• Convergence- is the merging of technologies into one platform or device. 
• Synergy- is the production of a text/linked products across different media forms usually within the same company. 
• Consumption-
• Piracy-
• Hollywood franchise model (4s)-
• Tie-in- 
• Multi-national conglomerate-
• Below the line-
• Above the line- 
• Digital film- is any storage medium such as a memory card used in a digital camera to capture and store images. A digital cinema doesn't die out. 

Advantages of a digital cinema:

• The films used in analog cinemas degrade with time, but digital images do not and even if a DVD is scratched, it could easily be backed up in a hard disk or another DVD. 
• Digital cinemas can be shown and managed in the theatres, by unskilled labor ( with minimal training) as the management terminal is PC-based and simple to handle, unlike analog film based cinemas, which need dedicated personnel for receiving, prepping, showing, dismantling and returning the movie tape films.
• Distributions of digital cinema's are simpler, fast and in-expensive than the time taken and cost incurred for the shipping and handling of heavy film tapes.
•  Addition/deletion of scenes after the movies have been released in easier/cheaper with Digital cinemas.
• Piracy could be more effectively monitored with robust copy protection, encryption and water marking processes for digital cinemas. The chances of introducing a new anti-piracy technology is higher in the digital format. 
• The solid state projectors used with Digital Cinemas are smaller and occupy less space than their analog counterpart.

Disadvantages of digital cinema:

• The quality of digital projection is comparable with analog film based projection. Some people feel that the quality of analog film based projection is better than digital projection and the image reproduction is more natural.
• Most of the theatres are equipped with film based projectors and to replace them entirely with digital projectors would involve a lot of cost and re-designing for the theatre owners.
• Digital data always has a higher risk of getting pirated than their analog counterparts.
• Digital technologies are prone to technological obsolescence. With newer technologies/improvements introduced so fast, the existing digital equipment might get outdated faster and some of them may not be upgrade-able to newer technologies, introducing a higher risk on investing in them.
• Analog/film based cameras are even today considered better for outdoor/day-light shoots as digital cameras produce inconsistent images when exposed to high brightness environments. 
• If the digital camera uses 4k resolution to capture digital images for good clarity, the cine projector displaying that image also needs to support 4k resolution to display the images at that clarity. But, there are a very few 4k projectors installed in theatres around the world.
• The digital standards of recording/play back keep changing and hence many digital cinemas are converted to analog films for storage and archival.

Representation of Class :Merlin

Editing (STOPS)

·         Screen time mainly showing lower class.

·         Pace is fast when the characters are fighting.

·         Order is chronological showing a lower class person’s basic life.

·         Walking farm animals wearing dirty clothes conforms to the stereotype of them being manual labour.

Sound (MCDOVED)

·         Music is parallel and there are no diegetic sounds.

·         Music is eerie when they are in the forbidden place- women in shot is fearful.

·         ‘I’m a nobody’- dark lighting.

·         ‘What are you doing in here’

·         ‘Let him go’

Mise en scene (CLAMPS)

·         Costume- purple princess, royal long dress, knight in silver armour, rags- tatty. Representing different characters.

·         Props- chalice, crystals- drops the hitting thing.

·         Actor- lower woman is alone, upper class is supported.

·         Lighting- posh face at the end, never on lower class face. First see lower class in dark lighting.

·         Setting in a lower class environment.

Camera (FAMS)

·         Angle- high angle, long shot looking down at fight on the floor, caused by lower class.

·         Mid shots- facial expressions, Close ups, looks behind shoulder.

·         Hides behind a lot of objects stay out the way.