To Harry, Pierre and Stephen; you may remember the lesson we did towards the end of last term on Barthes ideas on deconstruction. This is a good one to "slip in" to your Question 1 response in order to get a little tick for media theory - you are all deconstructing the media texts you are analysing; just be specific about it.
Here is an example for each of you:
Pierre - first paragraph of your Sucker Punch essay:
The film has arguably a huge audience capability. By deconstructing the text in the manner suggested by Roland Barthes we can see that it’s targeted towards women by using mainly teenage girls throughout the entire trailer. In a male dominated genre such as action, a female orientated film may seem like a special exception because women will be able to relate to it easier. It’s possible that they relate to the character, because of the non dietetic voiceover at 0:07 seconds of “I lost everyone I ever love, then the locked me away”. This casts a narrative early on and since the character is victimized, there is sympathy generated from the female audience. This may encourage that part of the audience to go and watch the film because they want to see how the story ends. It also appeals to males in general because of the action genre itself; there are frequent explosions throughout the video and constant close ups of the sword. The explosions are a frequently used convention of the action/thriller genre, this may appeal to the more war orientated interests of men, thus making the film more appealing. Another convention that is used is that it uses the “best bits” of the film, this shows the audience what the film is capable of and makes the trailer a visually pleasing experience, and this is proven by the huge amount of action snips throughout the video. By using snips of action scenes, it makes the audience more interested in watching the full scene rather then a collection of short images.
Stevie - Sucker Punch
In order to understand how this trailer uses media language to engage the audience it is first necessary to deconstruct it. The trailer engages the audience by firstly using non-diagetic sounds of the main character explaining a little about the plot of the film and what has happened to her. This instantly gets the viewers attention because the viewer wants to know about the film. There is also non-diagetic sound when the rhythmic music is playing and when a man is talking over the action about what they have to do (the five tasks). In the trailer you can see the impressive special effect. This impresses the viewer and urges them to watch more of the trailer. During the trailer there is a series of fast paced cuts with explosions and text to help you learn about the plot. Nearer the end of the trailer there is some very rhythmic music which gives the impressions of a very upbeat futuristic action film. Right at the end it says when the film is coming out and who it is by.
Harry - Compare the Market
The advertisement stereotypes the conventions of an epic war movie. By using Roland Barthes theory of deconstruction, however, we can see how the different elements of this genre are used to comedic effect. When the scenario is presented in the advertisement, there is a transition from a full screen format to a wide screen format, which is almost always used in all war movies. Non Diegetic sound is introduced, as the use of string based music is used to create the ‘epic’ atmosphere. This is presented comically as the setting and mood is presented in a very serious manner, but the characters involved are mongooses and meerkats. Throughout the advertisement, the seriousness is maintained – save from one part where there is a comic play on the death of a hero in a typical war movie – while involving a silly scenario and talking animals.
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