Star Trek Into Darkness Research

Ethnicity in TV Dramas: Hotel Babylon

Hotel Babylon: Extract

In the TV drama series of Hotel Babylon there are many ethnicities presented to the audience at home. For example there are a wide range of ethnicities and languages in the specific episode and extract I have watched and the example would be English, Polish, African and Asian. There is a really clear contrast between the ethnic groups in this TV drama and in this essay o will point out the key features of how the Ethnic groups are treated and how they respond to this. I will also include a conclusion and an overall thought about the TV drama Hotel Babylon at the end of this essay.

At the start of the extract we see a posh well groomed Englishman wearing a suit and tie in a store room looking for something. The camera gives us mid shots and close up shots of this character to give us an insight of his facial expressions and what he might be looking for. There is slow paced music being played in the background suggesting that something is going to build up soon. Next two police man walk through the door both of the English with English accents showing that a policeman is seen to be an English job in the UK and no other ethnic group can have this job.

Editing then switches the scene over to another one quickly adding alertness to the audience. Also the music has picked up showing even more alertness. This scene is shown at the front of the Hotel with everyone there dressed posh wearing suits and blazers. Most people in this scene are English showing at the minute not a wide range of ethnic groups. At this stage in the extract we see our first African American man wearing a suit and tie but he also has an English accent showing he is still British overall. All the English ethnic people we have seen so far are all dressed and looking smart to me this gives the English ethnic group the upper hand and that they are seen to be more powerful and dominant.

The editing then switches the clip over to Jackie who is part of the Asian ethnic group and works in her own office at the back of the hotel but her office is in a store cupboard instead of a professional one this to me shows the clear divide between the ethnic groups of the English and other groups. The lighting shown upon the head policeman is very dark and shadowy giving the audience a feeling that the head policeman is a sly and cunning man. The head policeman asks the woman in white if they can look around because they are from the immigration service and she reply’s politely saying yes you may and offers them guides. This to me shows that the English ethnic group is portrayed as well mannered.

The editing of the clip suggests urgency now as clips start to speed up with many more little shots added between. Urgency is also added by the camera because the angels are constantly zooming in and out and swishing to show people rushing around. The music tempo has also picked up drawing in the attention of the audience even more. The next scene shows us behind the scenes in the Hotel in the cafeteria and where the ‘immigrants’ work, with Jackie running in shouting at them in a mix of languages obviously getting across the message that the immigration service is here. The urgency is even more intense and high now because there’s that many camera shots and angles going on you don’t know where to look giving the effect that your there watching them in real life and your one of them. The ethnicity part of this clip is that all of the people are from different countries and are illegal immigrants meaning they shouldn't be there and the fact Jackie speaks to them this way in s a loud voice whilst she is speaking we can hear other sound of food sizzling and pan clapping together drowning out what she is saying so the audience cant exactly hear her at this stage shows that the British born ethnic group have more power and control over the non-British ethnic groups.

Further on in the extract we come to a scene where all the immigrants are locked in a cupboard hiding from the immigration service. This shows that the non-British ethnic groups are less powered and scared on the common British person. The mise-en-scene of this clip is that you can hear gasps of breath and whispering showing that they are trying to be as quite as possible so the immigration service does not find them and take them. One of the immigrants falls Ill and faints in the store room showing that some of them are weak and are treated badly, but one of the immigrants called Adam says he used to be a doctor and helps the ill woman, this to me supports the stereotypical thoughts of what people think immigrants can do. By this I mean that you would expect someone like Adam to be a cleaner like he is now and not a Doctor. There is no music in this part of the extract because then it helps the audience listen to the immigrants and how they are scared in this store room.

Ebrahim is a cleaner who works at Hotel Babylon and is not collected by Jackie to be taken to hide with the other immigrants so he is the only one left. As he is cleaning we see some parallel editing between the immigrants in the store room and Ebrahim who is cleaning. The immigration service comes through the elevator to find Ebrahim cleaning then the camera zooms right into Ebrahim’s face showing us his facial expression and that his ethnic origin is again petite against the mighty English. He tries to run and as he runs the camera follows him showing us the point of view of the immigration service and how they hunt him down like an animal. He is caught and then taken away to be deported out of the country.

The final scene is that we see the immigration service dragging Ebrahim out of the Hotel with Jackie screaming at them telling them that he can’t go back to where he lives because he will be killed. This to me shows that some people such as Jackie treat everyone the same no matter what ethnic group they are.

Male Gaze

Definitions

Chocolate box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality. 

Invitational: emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera. Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.

Super Smiler: full face, wide open toothy smith, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown. Projected mood: aggressive, 'look at me' demanding, the hard shell, 'big come-on' approach.

Romantic or Sexual: a fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female 'two-some'; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible 'available' and defiantly 'available' 

Marjorie Ferguson

this advert which was created by Dolce & Gabbana shows the male gaze of a different kind. It shows the romantic and sexual part of it because in the advert there is more than one body causing it to be a two-some which comes under the definition of the romantic and sexual section. 

The woman displayed in Dolce & Gabbana advert is seen as part of the male gaze because she is clearly there to attract the attention of the male audience watching adverts on the TV. The fact she is a clearly in shape woman and model shows that men aspire to be with her and to do this the advert suggests buying the male side of the Dolce and Gabbana perfume. 

As well as this there is a well kept in shape male in the advert as well this to me also shows part of the male gaze but woman looking at men. Its basically the same theory as the male looking at the woman in the advert as in this time the woman aspires to be the woman in the advert and to do that they need to buy the female perfume produce by Dolce and Gabbana. 

Another way that the male gaze is shown in this advert would be by the fact there both dripping with water because they have just come back on the boat from having a swim. With a golden tan as both models have in this advert mixed with the dripping water effect it gives a sense of sexiness towards the models seen by the audience at home.

There is finally an invitational expression shown by the male and the female in this advert showing there seriousness and willingness to be with the other attracted person. This projects the mood of mischief between the two models on the boat also a sense of contact and no sexual promise between them. 

Why Did Dredd Flop At The Box Office (Essay)

  Why Did Dredd Flop At The Box Office

Dredd was released on the 7^th of September 2012. The film had an estimated budget of $45,000,000 ($45 million) dollars. The film flopped in the box office only recalling just over $36,000,000 ($36 million) dollars, this was a loss of around $10million dollars making the film an official flop in the box office. In this essay I will give reasons for why Dredd failed in the box office and give evidence to support the reasons I have given. I will talk about the production, pre-production and marketing. In these areas I will talk the actors who contributed to film as well as talking about the directors and producers. Other information and I will talk about in this essay is the filming location, film budget and the marketing such as trailers and posters.

Whilst doing all of this I will compare the film to a larger superhero blockbuster and that blockbuster I will be comparing Dredd to is the film The Amazing Spider-man that was released on the 3^rd July 2012 the same year as Dredd was released these two films also had to compete with another superhero film which was The Dark Night Rises released on the 20^th July 2012.

To start of this essay about how and why Dredd failed in the box office my first reason for this would be in the Pre-production section which covers the actors, director, producers and the budget. My very first reason is the actors, when I say this I mean the lack of outstanding and well-known actors in the film Dredd compared to the film the amazing Spider-man. In the film Dredd the actors were Karl Urban who had also stared in Star Trek made in 2009 and the Bourne Supremacy made in 2004. Karl Urban is probably the most well-known actor in this film because the audience might know of him from the other films he had stared in. Other key actors in Dredd were Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headly. These two actors played big parts in the film but few in the audience that watched the film knew of these people. When you compare Dredd’s actors to the amazing spider-man’s actors you can clearly see the difference of actors used. In the amazing spider man the main actors were Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Ryhs Ifans. Andrew Garfield also stared in films such as The Social Network made in 2010, this film was a big film that made allot of money. Another actor is Emma Stone who over the past couple of years has stared in a range of movies such as The Help made in 2011, Easy A made in 2010 and Zombieland made in 2009. The Final actor to star in the amazing spider man is Rhys Ifans who plays Lizard in the movie. He has also stared in films such as Notting Hill made in 1999 and Anonymous made in 2011. You can see the actors in the amazing spider man are far superior than the actors in Dredd they are more well-known. Audiences and people in general have a liking to different actors this could of meant that Dredd would of not stood a chance in the long run against theses big blockbuster films.

Another reason why I think the film flopped in the box office is due to the directors and producers. When I say this I mean the lack of creativeness made by the director and producers to make sure the films competes with other well-known superhero films out at that time. The director of Dredd was Pete Travis not a well-known director he has directed other films but those films were not well known as well such as End game made in 2009 and Omagh made in 2004. This compared to the amazing spider man’s director who is Marc Webb who is not the most well-known director either but is known for his creativeness which would help the films he directed to become bigger films.

The Budget of two films I am comparing could have been a big factor in how well they did in the box office. Dredd had a budget of around $45million dollars compared to the amazing spider-man’s budget of $230 million almost $200 million dollars more. The budget I think is the most important reason why the film flopped; I think this because with a big budget like the amazing spider-man’s you can literally make a film which is almost real it’s that good. They can do this with the special effects and the CGI which costs a lot of money to make. Whereas Dredd with a $45 million budget had to keep their effects and locations to a minimum because they couldn’t afford the amazing special effects so had to do with the best effects they could get. Audiences want to see realistic films which look as if they have been captured their and then that’s why audiences would of chose The amazing spider man over Dredd all day every day because of the complexity of the film.

The filming locations for Dredd were based in one area which was Capetown in South Africa. They only used this location because it was cheap and didn’t use that much of their budget up. Whereas the amazing spider man was filmed in the USA at the Universal Studios Hollywood as wall California and New York. These areas are again more well-known than Capetown in South Africa so the audience would want to see a better filming location because it helps make a better film all together.

The amazing spider-man’s main character spider-man is owned by Marvel which is a major company in comic books and superhero’s. They also own superhero’s such as Hulk, Ironman, Captain America and brands of superhero groups such as the fantastic 4, Avengers and the X-men. All of these Marvel characters are well-known by everyone and most people will go to see any movie around and about them. Whereas Dredd is owned and created by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Pat Mills, and the comic was published by IPC Media who is not as well-known as Marvel a bigger franchise.

My final couple points of why Dredd flopped in the box office would be about the whole marketing of the film. When I say this I mean Dredd was marketed abysmally, this could of lead to less recognition of the film than others out at that time, resorting to the audience seeing other films instead. A couple of ways the film was marketed in ways films should be marketed through trailers and posters. The posters and billboards for Dredd were called appalling by many people. It was called this because the billboards just looked like vandalism and so did the posters so no one took any notice of the film all together as you can tell by the image on the right of a Dredd billboard. The only way Dredd was marketed was through trailers show on the television which I suppose gave the film a little recognition. My final point is about the cinema showings and the run time. Dredd’s run time total is a total 95 minutes and the amazing spider man has a total run time of 136 minutes. This means that the film the amazing spider man had a better reception because it was shown for longer whereas Dredd has a short run time for a film so many people would not of liked this and would not gone to see the film at the cinema. Finally Dredd was shown of a total of 415 cinemas and the amazing spider man was shown in a total of 3150 cinema screens. You can clearly see that the amazing spider man would have gained more money because it was shown in more screens as Dredd which would may not as much money; this is a key reason why they flopped in the box office.

Conclusion

My conclusion to the film Dredd and why it flopped in the box office is because of many reasons. And simply it didn’t match up to the other superhero films out at the time such as the amazing spider-man and The Avengers. I think this because the stars of Dredd don’t match up to these films stars; the budget was no way near a good budget price to create a great film either. All together I think the film was released at the wrong time to compete with these types of films.

 

Dredd Preformance (Mr Ford)

Abrahamson, Todorov's Theory Homework

Narrative Theory: Todorov’s Model of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

Home work task: LO To develop understanding of Todorov’s Theory by applying to a Tv Drama

Watch a whole episode of a TV drama and make notes re: its narrative structure in the table below. Use BBC iplayer if you have to. Try to avoid soaps as they have many narrative strands which can be complicated to analyse.

TV Drama title: Waterloo road

Genre of TV drama: Drama

Date: 5th September 2013

Stage of narrative	Basic details of this stage in episode	How does this stage contribute to the episode overall? Why is it effective?
1)      An initial state of equilibrium (usually calm and settled) at the onset of the narrative.	start of the school day all the students and teachers are walking around smiling greeting each other because its the start of the new school term.	gives the program and episode a starting point and sets up the story line for that episode.
2)      A disruption of the equilibrium by some action (something happens)	Audrey is concerned when the new students look terrible and look like they do not get looked after at home by there guardian.	this part sets up the story even more and gives an insight into what might happen later on in the episode or the series.
3)      Recognition that there has been a disruption of the initial state (usually noticed by characters)	Audrey goes to the students house to find there guardian is a drug dealer, he comes home and stops her from leaving. Audrey escapes and flees back to the school	gives a sense of danger to the audience and gives an effect of emotion for Audrey and the students.
4)      An attempt to repair the disruption (by characters)	Audrey calls the police and tells them about the drug dealer, the police turn up at the school and take him away leaving the kids with no guardian now.	resolves the story in this episode and fills in the bits the audience didn't quite know about.
5)      A reinstatement of the equilibrium (everything may go back to ‘normal’, restoration of  balance)	School day finishes and everyone leaves the school the way they came in.	this shows the ending of the episode and gives the effect of that this is what happens in this school

Did this episode break any of Torodov’s rules? If so, why?: 

The episode seems to follow the Tordov theory well with all the stages.

opening scenes analysis

Luther: The music used in the Luther opening scene is very mysterious and cunning i say this because the music has a slow tempo to it as well as the voice over talking and not really singing. The music seems quite seductive in a way as its calming and relaxing, showing that the character of Luther could be seen as an attractive character. Many images are used in the background but main ones are the urban areas of London and the landscape showing that the program is set in London. Also the character of Luther in the opening is a silhouette colored in black contrasting with the red background, this to me shows not he is mysterious as well as dangerous. The images portray the program to be about crime and investigation and the genre to be crime and thriller. The target audience of this program I think would be young adults up to adults so between the ages of 20-60. This is because the program is quite chilling and not for young ages.

Mad Men: The music in this opening starts of very formal and carries on very formal till the end but half way a beat is added to the formal music to make it sound more modern. The music portrays this program to be about formal people most likely rich people working in a job together. The colour scheme in the background is very bland and dull with colours like grey white and black again showing formality. Other images such as woman and parts of woman on the side of buildings as the man is falling show it is set in America also with the tall skyscrapers as well. The images on the side of the buildings show the American dream for a man of money and woman that do all the work. The target audience for this program is hard to tell from the opening sequence. Its most likely going to be based for adults and older people rather than younger people.

Coronation Street: The music used in Coronation Street is not everybody’s taste in music by this I mean that the music is very old not modern music; this is because they are trying to portray England and Brittan the way it used to be. The music is very slow with little tempo which again shows the old Brittan. The images used are some of the scenes and sets in the soap opera to set a feeling of what the program is about. Also the classic rooftop image. The colour schemes used with these images are quite bright colours they might do this to brighten up the series. The target audience of this program would be families in general because it’s on at a time where everyone can watch it and the genres are quite basic meaning that its not offensive for anyone who watches the program.

Spooks Series 9: The music used in spooks is very upbeat and techno. This music fits in with the opening sequence because of the spy genre. Also because the music is upbeat it allows the audience to feel a sense of danger and intensity as well as a feeling of being rushed. There are many images in this opening scene that gives away clues about where the program is set and what the program is about. Such as maps of Brittan and Europe showing it could be set here also there are many images with gadgets in them as well as people rushing about showing this program could be about crime in general. Also could be about spies and investigation. The program is based for investigation and spies lovers also adults again because it has scenes that adults would not find boring easily, young people such as teenagers could get bored with this program.