The Secret - AS Media Film

The Secret - EVALUATION Q7

Q7; Looking back at your preliminary task; what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Our Preliminary Film:

The Secret - EVALUATION Q6

Q6; What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The Secret - EVALUATION Q5

Q5; How did you attract/address your audience?

The Secret - EVALUATION Q4

Q4; Who would be the audience for your media product?

The Secret - EVALUATION Q3

Q3; What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?



As well as using Film4 to distribute our media product, we also made our own company called EMA which we made a logo for, which we have included in the beginning of our film.

The Secret - EVALUATION Q2

Q2; How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The Secret - EVALUATION Q1

Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The Secret - Refilming Shots

Sunday 30th April

In our original shooting of the film, the close up shots of the phone when the character of Will was texting the character of Taylor; in order to focus on the texts, we couldn't use a tripod because of the layout of our location, so already, our shots of the phone were shaky/unstable. Other than this, because we used natural lighting, the angle we shot from wasn't facing the light and therefore the shots were dark. We tried to fix this by altering the brightness on Final Cut Pro, but the shot just became grainy and of low quality so we decided to refilm these shots.

Below, are two screenshots of our original shots after altering the brightness:






As you can see, the two shots are of low quality and the lighting is problem here. This takes away from the quality of the movie, so we decided to refilm the shots in which we used artificial lighting to improve the quality, and shot in the different location but with a similar surrounding. The shot was a close up, so the surroundings were barely visible so this wasn't a major issue.

In order to make the lighting realistic from the refilmed shots to add to our film, we had to alter the brightness by lowering it, which actually worked out really well as the lighting in these new and more clear shots have much better lighting which is much more fitting to the setting of the film. To do this, we used Final Cut Pro to alter with the brightness and saturation until we were happy with the set lighting. These shots are much more clear and better for the film. Below are some screengrabs of our refilmed shots which are present in our final film.

The Secret - Titling

23rd April 2017

We used the title theme 'Typerwriter' for our titles, because it almost looks like the words are being typed onto the screen which resembles the act of texting, which is a major theme within our film. The titles for the creators of the film are presented before the main title shot, in white text in the bottom corners of the shot. The main title shot presents the film name in white text in the top left hand corner, and is typed onto the shot in the same theme, 'Typewriter'. The names of the actors are displayed on the shot shortly after the main title shot, in the same white text and sizing, and also in the bottom corners of the screen.

We decided to keep the text size on the small to medium side, at a text size of 112.0 for each credit and the text white, because we didn't want the titles to be overwhelming and we wanted to keep the titles relatively simple and plain. This was to reflect that the film surrounded a common issue revolving the lives of many teens and that the issue isn't out of the norm.

We took a lot of inspiration from the show Please Like Me considering their titles were white with very plain text, although the titles they used were very large and took up a lot of the shot. We used the font 'Apple Gothic' because it fits the simplistic theme of the film, but the font is also very similar to the font used in the credits of Please Like Me. The main difference between our titles and the titles of Please Like Me is the fact that we kept our titles towards the bottom of the screen, and each title the same size, where as titles in Please Like Me are scattered around the screen and most text ranges in sizes.

We also looked at some films surrounding a similar theme of social media and technology to reinforce and improve their plot, including the 2012 romance/drama LOL, starring Miley Cyrus. This film surrounds the theme of love and friendship, but with the typical fights and fall outs included. However, the plot is reinforced because they heavily involve the use of phones and laptops throughout, similar to our film. The titles to this film are very similar to ours as well as we took a lot of inspiration from films with a similar theme to our own.





The titles in the beginning of LOL are actually more similar to our titles as their titles are also kept closely to the edges of the screen, allowing the main part of the shot to remain focused on the characters or actions going on, which is the aim we were going for.

Below are screenshots of our titles that we inserted into our film. As you can see, they are white in font, with skinny text which highly resembles the credits that we had researched, both in Please Like Me and LOL.

The Secret - Updated Script

12th April 2017

As the filming of our film neared, some changes had to occur through the script due to changes in location. We had to change our location to our actor's home because one of our team, Maeve, wasn't available for the day of shooting due to other priorities, and because we were relying on her home for our location, we had to make a last minute change. This location change actually worked out for the better and enabled us to use a driveway and car instead of stairs, which helped us transition from the title to the actual film much easier and better than originally planned. Due to the location change, we also couldn't use Maeve's mum as an actress for the mother role, so we had to change the family member character to a sister, whom I played, meaning we had to change a bit of the context of the script, however no major changes occurred. The story line stayed the same, just bits of dialogue were switched to fit the sister character more, while still giving the same effect of a homophobic vibe running through the family.

This is our new and updated script we made just before filming. We also decided the change the name of Morgan (Will's love interest) to Taylor because we feel that the name is more of a mysterious, unisex name which would make the viewer initially think that this was a typical love story instead of a gay love story - adding a bit of mystery to the film, and also showing how love is the same no matter what gender.

The Secret - Voice Over Radio Scene

9th April 2017

As mentioned previously in other blog posts, our film is going to include a clip of a discussion about the topic of same-sex relationships/homophobia in Northern Ireland, lowly in the background. Throughout our research to find the perfect clip to include, we constantly encountered a problem of the clips being too long/not quick enough to the point, or being relevant but not perfect to fit our scene. So as a result, we've decided to make our own voice over and stage it as a radio clip, so we can choose exactly what the clip will say, controlling what topics to briefly mention, and which topics to avoid. We can also ensure that the clip will be clear instead of some of the muffled clips we were coming across on YouTube.

We've decided to edit the voice over on Garageband to add effect to make it sound more muffly, and as if it is actually from a radio. This worked well for us after playing about on Garageband for a while, eventually we got the effect we wanted for the radio scene. 

Dialogue:

Radio Presenter: That was Everybody Talks by The Neon Trees here on RTE FM

Radio Presenter: So today we have Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill here to discuss her views on DUP's recent promise to block same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. 

Radio Presenter: So Michelle, what do you think about this reinforcement of DUP's views on equal marriage?

Michelle: Well, as you know, Sinn Fein have made a commitment to campaigning for marriage equality, and although everyone is entitled to an opinion, it's very disheartening that people still disagree with equal marriage. Equality threatens no one, and its time that all parties stand up for our citizens regardless of their sexual orientation. We, as a party, see no reason why anyone should be denied marriage regardless of their gender.

Radio Presenter: Do you think we'll be seeing a referendum for marriage equality in Northern Ireland anytime soon?

Michelle: We've made it quite known that we think a referendum for the North would be very interesting. I feel that the assembly is making itself increasingly irrelevant at this point, so the only way to deliver equal marriage may be to host a referendum, so it's definitely on the cards, definitely a valid option. 

Radio Presenter: Do you believe that marriage equality is realistic in Northern Ireland?

Michelle: I definitely believe that marriage equality is possible and realistic, Just look at the Yes vote in last May's referendum on equal marriage in the Irish Republic. As it stands, the North of Ireland is the only part of the UK and Ireland where civil marriage is denied to same-sex couples. Sinn Fein are making equal marriage one of our top priorities, we are publishing our pledge to actively work and legislate marriage equality. We believe there is a growing demand for marriage equality, as there so should be, and as far as I'm concerned, the LGBT community have been discriminated against for far too long, and I believe they are entitled to be treated as equals, and treated with respect.

The Secret - Filming

5th April 2017

On Tuesday the 4th of April, Eimir and I filmed our film, The Secret.

One of our team members, Maeve, wasn't available for the day of filming due to other priorities, so Eimir and I had to come up with a suitable location change, script and character change to make up for the loss. This is because our film was originally set in Maeve's house, and the mother role was meant to be played by Maeve's mother, but due to Maeve not being available for any days of shooting, we had to use a backup plan.

We decided to film in our actor Tiarnan's house (who played Will in the film) in Glengoland and we decided to change the mother role to a sister role, which I played. For this reason, we had to change the dialogue in the script to fit this role. No major changes were made as the story line stayed the same, just different dialogue to fit the character better and to still emphasise the homophobia in the family with the exception for Will. The location change actually ended up being a positive outcome as the location was much easier to travel to than the original location, as it is very close to our school so this actually enabled us to complete the filming after school with no transport problems.

The new location happened to be a bungalow, so we had to change our opening scene to Tiarnan driving into his driveway, leaving his car and walking to the door instead of using the original idea of him walking upstairs to his room. This actually worked out for the better, as it allowed us to use external lighting and scenery to open our film and show where it was being shot from the outside, and it also helped us to make a smoother and easier transition from this scene, to the opening title, to the next scene while editing. It also allowed us to incorporate the use of a car driving into the driveway, allowing us to use the multicoloured keys as a prop.

        

Our filming went very smoothly in terms of shots we planned and the story line panned out just as we had planned, although we did come into trouble with focusing the camera on the phone during shots where texting took place, as the camera wasn't able to sit on the tripod for these shots as the tripod didn't allow us to capture the shots how we wanted to, so not only was lighting hard to keep the same whilst trying to focus on the phone screen, it was also hard to keep the camera steady whilst holding it instead of using a tripod.

     

We used a lot of successful over the shoulder shots throughout both the shots including FaceTime, and also the shots of the sister coming into the room to talk to Will and make a homophobic remark.
This is the shot in which we had to change dialogue in our script. This updated script will be included in a blog post to come.

       

Overall, our filming went very smoothly and we ensured this by taking two shots of every shot we did to see which shot was better, so we could have an option of which to use in our film, and I feel like this really enabled us to get the best shots we could; so if any shots went wrong and went unnoticed until the filming was over, at least we had a back up shot to replace it.

The Secret - Shot analysation

5th April 2017

 First shot: Establishing shots of house; shows the layout of the location and where the film is set. This enhances the fact that the film takes place in a small neighbourhood rather than a big city; which is relevant to the theme of our film, and breaking the codes and conventions of a typical romance film. This is further explained in my evaluation questions, but this shot is definitely one that helps us to show the audience the general area in which it takes place. We also began to show our credits in these shots, because we had seen before in our research that the credits generally began within minutes of the film beginning, so we decided to place them close to the start.





 Second shot: Track motion long shot- Here, we took a track motion shot, following the character of Will from leaving his car to entering his house. This is the last shot we take before our title screen appears with the film name popping up on the screen. We did this to again, show the exterior of where the film is taking place.






 Third shot: Mid shot - This shot consisted of a mid shot of  Will entering his room and shutting his door behind him. Here, we can see his school blazer and random props such as, files for school, deodorants, and a generally messy desk to help represent the fact that he is your average teenage boy. A key importance to this shot is that you can't see Will's face, which represents how we are almost hiding his identity in the same way that he his hiding his sexual identity; this draws parallels with the fact that he is hiding a part of himself from his family.





 Fourth shot: Close up shot - This shot consists of a close up on some props which were of great importance to our film, including the laptop, keys and radio. This allowed us to show the multicoloured keys; which subtly hints towards Will's supportive approach towards the gay community by having the LGBT pride flag on his keys. We included Will turning on the radio within this close up shot, to show the moment that the interview begins to play, and this also allowed us to fade the music out as if it was coming from the radio.





 Fifth shot: Track shot - We used a track motion shot for this clip to show Will sitting down into his chair and pulling himself into his desk, this simply allowed us to show the moment where he opens his laptop, to the point where he pulls his phone from his pocket off camera.




 Sixth shot: Mid over the shoulder shot: Here we showed Will using the props, and in this shot his phone lights up with a text from Taylor; this enabled us to show Will picking up his phone, allowing us to lead on to the following close up shots of him texting Taylor. This shot was important as it was the beginning of our incorporation of technology into the film, which was a major theme for us.





 Seventh shot: Close up shot: This shot allowed us to show the immediate communication between the two males through texting. Apart from the fact that this was part of our incorporation of technology into the film, this also allowed us to show the relationship between the two boys and show that Will and Taylor are more than just friends. However, the name Taylor acts as a unisex name so the audience isn't aware that the relationship is between two males.   






 Eighth shot: Over the shoulder shot - This over the shoulder shot of Will on video call to Taylor allowed us to not only focus on Taylor and the fact that he is a male despite his unisex name, but this also allowed us to show the importance of technology throughout the film as this is the first and only time we see the two characters in face to face communication with each other. This highlights the fact that for Will, their relationship is a secret, hence the name of the film, and their only communication can be in private, such as through texting or video call.







Ninth shot: Over the shoulder -  This over the shoulder shot allowed us to present a new character (Will's sister) into the film. This is very important for our film, due to the fact that in this shot, the homophobic comments are made, causing the following shot of Will shutting his laptop suddenly to occur.





Tenth shot: Mid shot - This shot is extremely important to our film as this is the first time we fully see and focus on Will's face in a shot, and the relevance of this to the actions in the shot is that we only see his face in focus once he has been openly ashamed and his sexuality has been insulted by a close family member. This could represent how the audience only knows the Will who hides within himself, and has been constantly shut down by homophobic remarks and comments. We see him shut the laptop down quickly just after the homophobic comment was made, which gives us an insight into how Will hides his sexual identity from his family, and is scared/ashamed of what they would think.




Eleventh shot -Close up shot - This allowed us to incorporate technology into the film for the last time, and this also allowed us to add tension to the film by having Taylor send aggressive texts to Will. 

The Secret - Music Choices (Updated)

30th March 2017

Previously, I had mentioned that the music choice in the beginning of the film would consist of an upbeat song, performed by a homosexual artist such as Elton John or Queen, which would soon fade out when Will turns on the radio to listen to news headlines, and the scenes of Will and Morgan interacting follow.

Due to copyright issues, we would have to incorporate a cover version of any song that we choose, so we are currently edging towards an acoustic cover of Everybody Talks by Neon Trees, performed by Eimir McKegney. This band ties into the theme of using artists which are gay themselves, as the lead singer of Neon Trees is gay. The song itself has an upbeat indie vibe to it, and we're incorporating it into the film up until the radio interview begins, and allowing it to fade out as if it was playing on the radio.

The Secret - Equipment

March 28th 2017

A tripod is a major key element to our film to ensure the film is taken steadily, to make it the best we possibly can. To enable us to do this we're purchasing a tripod from Argos. We've chosen the Velbon DF-42 because it's within our budget but will also get the job done perfectly. We're also investing in a 32GB SanDisk SD card to film on.

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3599934

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3468735

The Secret - Radio Sounds

27th March 2017

After some research into interviews or headlines about homophobic opinions that are relevant to Northern Ireland, we have decided on a few which could be used for our radio play within the film.

The Secret - Radio Sounds

24th March 2017

In our film, The Secret, we plan on having Will turning on the radio in his room when he enters the room (as mentioned in the script.) When this plays, we want to incorporate a homophobic headline that is current in the politics within the North of Ireland. We want this to be included to subtly show how the society that Will currently lives in is surrounded by bigoted people with strong homophobic opinions, which his family could share. This also helps to subtly display why Will is insecure within being honest to his family about his sexuality.  Our aim for the film is to over come these narrow minded opinions of others, and to encourage that sexuality shouldn't be an issue in society.
Currently, we are doing some research into finding some perfect clips to include for this scene.

The Secret - Music Choices

March 23rd 2017

Music will play a very important role in setting the scene of our film where dialogue isn't used to display a certain feeling/emotion to be portrayed in the film. For example, in the beginning of the film we want some upbeat music just as Will is walking up the stairs and into his room. For this particular part, we were thinking of using music such as Don't Stop Me Now by Queen  as we thought it would be a good idea to incorporate music written/performed by homosexual or LGBT supportive artists/bands.

Some of our music choices so far for this section of the film are:

• Elton John - Philadelphia Freedom
• Elton John - I'm Still Standing
• David Bowie - Life on Mars
• David Bowie - Under Pressure
• Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
• Queen - I Want To Break Free
• Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
• Prince - Raspberry Beret

We think any of these songs would help to set an upbeat feel to the film, as at this point in time in the film, nothing is going wrong for Will and his struggle with his sexuality isn't the only thing on his mind at all times. This will also help to show that Will is happy within his relationship with Morgan, and that problems/fear only come in for him when he has to be honest about it to his family. However, these songs will be re-recorded using our own source of instruments because we can't get rights over the songs so we need to make them original.

We're going to include Will turning on a radio, which will start playing news headlines quietly which will include remarks about the latest homophobic comments that are floating around within today's politics, such as Iris Robinson's remarks about homosexuality. As this plays, the upbeat music will fade out and the main sounds in this part of the film will be sounds from Will's phone, such as alerts from texts between himself and Morgan. We hope to include some form of music in this part that is very subtle and possibly just soft instrumental keys, but with no lyrics. We haven't yet decided on this song choice but we roughly have an idea on what we want it to sound like, to fit the scene and subtly show Will's struggle with his sexuality.

The Secret - Costume, Props and Setting

20th March 2017

For costume, we want to keep it relatively simple and casual; just a typical weekend outfit for a teenage boy from Belfast such as jeans and a t-shirt, maybe a hoodie. The same sort of casual style of outfit will go for the sister (instead of the mum, due to last minute changes), such as jeans and a shirt, with some black casual shoes, but we would like to incorporate a conservative feel to it by using colours such as navy, black or dark green, maybe even use a Christian necklace.

   

The film will take place in what appears to be Will's bedroom, but will be filmed in Maeve's spare room of her house, and shots will be included of her stairs. The layout is fairly simple, but we will decorate it to look more like a typical teenage boy's room but avoiding the typical stereotypes of a homosexual male in today's society, by including things such school textbooks on the desk, sports items around the room, such as a football or a hurl, shoes lying about and some typical teenage male clothing around the room, such as hoodies and t-shirts. This will help us to bring across the fact that he is a normal teenage boy, going through school years like many others which many young viewers would relate to. The room is painted a cream colour and the bedsheets are also a gender neutral colour so this will help us to incorporate the fact that Will isn't particularly conforming to gender stereotypes despite the fact that he is trying to hide his sexuality from his family.

We will partly use natural lighting through a window in the bedroom but this lighting may not be strong enough so we plan to incorporate lamps rather than over head lights to make sure the lighting isn't too intense or over powering. This will also help us to avoid the problems we encountered in our preliminary film, where the lighting would change in its colour undertone throughout shots, varying from warm tones to cool tones which then became a major problem for us in terms of continuity. By controlling our lighting artificially, this will help us to avoid a lot of extra editing time on editing lighting.

We decided to incorporate Will placing his car keys on his desk after getting out of his car, the reason being because we had keys that were multicoloured so they represented the LGBT Pride theme. This helps to give an insight into Will's personality and views. We also incorporated a radio into the film, by placing the keys just beside the radio and having the radio play an interview between a political person and a radio interviewer about the current situation regarding same-sex marriage within Northern Ireland.

The Secret - Script Writing

14th March 2017

We are currently writing our script for The Secret, and we have been for the past few days. We are trying to make the dialogue effective but not too over powering for the first two minutes of a film, as in showing that Morgan and Will are romantically interested in one another without making it overly cringe-worthy, but simply showing subtly how two people in a relationship talk to each other with flirty texts etc.

We were having trouble deciding on what Will's mum says to Will when she catches him on FaceTime to Morgan, because we didn't want to make it overly homophobic but we wanted it to be a realistic reaction to a questionable mother, so we decided on her making a joke about him being on FaceTime to a girlfriend, as she couldn't see who was on the screen. This will imply to our audience that Will's mum expects Will to be interested in females, and also makes it clear that Will hasn't been truthful to his mum about his relationship with Morgan. We also wanted to make it seem that Morgan isn't ashamed of their relationship, and that he is open about it which is why we included him saying that his mother wants to meet Will soon, implying that Morgan's family know about his same sex relationship.

We feel that this will highlight Will's struggle with coming out to his friends and family about his sexuality, and it will almost make Morgan feel like Will is ashamed of him, which is unfortunately how many hidden same sex relationships pan out. Many homosexual viewers in the audience may be able to relate to an experience like this, so we feel it's necessary to include the differences in how open the two boys are in their sexuality.

https://www.celtx.com/auth/public/resource/9tnxpm9p

The Secret - Film Pitch Presentation

The Secret Film Pitch: 

The Secret - Animatic

Main Task Research

Codes and Conventions of the Romance Genre

The genre of films that I am analysing is Romance. Typically the romance genre is aimed towards a female audience because it is known that females are, stereo typically, more emotional within relationships than men. The mise-en-scene of any film is vital, and in a romance films you can expect to see soft and relatively natural lighting from whichever lights are present in the shot, to achieve the feelings of the film being in touch with reality, making the story as believable as possible. The music of a romance film is also very important as a common icon of a romance film is the soft tender music, to represent how sensitivity and tenderness of the relationship. The music is key in the film because it creates the mood and suspense, and ultimately gives the film its feel.

Romance films are commonly set in the city, typically big cities such as New York. Perhaps this is a typical setting because the city represents endless opportunities and having anything you could want, which also allows the characters to have a particular lifestyle and personality. In the romance genre there are a few common props that you can expect to see throughout the film, such as some sort of flowers or gifts that could be given from one love interest to another, simply to represent love and romantic emotions.

In virtually any romance film, there will be two main characters who are typically a male and a female, being each other's love interests. Many films within the genre have the "boy meets girl" scenario, in which hints are given throughout the film that the two people may be a good match for each other and that they ultimately should end up together. Of course, a film about two people falling in love with each other still needs to be realistic, so that the viewers can relate to the characters through the real life troubles of a relationship, and so for this reason, most romance films will present the couple having rows and fights. In many of these films there will be a character that disrupts the relationship, and characters will usually go their separate ways because of an argument that the couple had, but these splits between the couple are mainly temporarily because the characters will typically find their way back to one another, so the story fulfils the happy ending that the viewers wanted.


1) The Notebook 

2) La La Land

3) Dirty Dancing

4) A Walk To Remember

5) Pretty Woman

Audience Expectations for these Films

The audience watching these romance films expect to see two main characters, typically male and female, fall in love with each other over a period of time after sharing information about each other's lives, and getting to know each other very well. Typically, the audience will expect to see a difference in the two main character's social classes or wealthiness, which happens to be the case for almost all of these films (some more than others), but this isn't the case all of the time. The audience of a romance film will expect to see the  two main characters having some form of difficulty which causes the couple to part temporarily, some longer than others, but then come back together because their love was stronger than their row. This occurs in almost every famous romance film out there, and we can see this in all of these films, but again, some more than others. For example, the parting of Noah and Allie in The Notebook is much more prominent than the fight between Edward and Vivian in Pretty Woman. In the films where social classes are particularly relevant and an important difficulty within the story, the audience will expect to see the couple overcome and dismiss their social differences or their differences in wealth, which occurs in the films here such as Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman. The audience will always expect to see a happy ending in a romance film, however this isn't always the case for all romance films. Some films in the romance genre have unexpected tragedies, such as A Walk To Remember, as no one would've expected the tragic plot twist of Jamie being terminally ill. Although Jamie, one of the two main characters, passes due to her illness, the ending of the film is still in a way positive as she got to be married to her love before she passed, and even after she passed, Landon would still visit her grave often and in the end she made him a better person. We can also see a happy ending in an unexpected way in La La Land, as although Mia and Sebastian don't end up together in the end, they both end up happy by achieving their dreams, so in this case, their romantic ties were sacrificed so they could achieve the best versions of themselves, which really is a happy ending when it is thought about. Overall, the audience will always expect to see love coming out of the most unexpected places, which is definitely clear in almost every romance film in the genre.

Media Ownership In The Music Industry

1. What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the the music industry?

Media ownership is controlling a range of mass media. All media is owned by a company or conglomerate.
The music industry is dominated by the 'big three' or the music majors: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music.
The major labels own and are made up by many subsidiary labels that you may have thought were independent labels; for example, Def Jam Recordings is owned by the Universal Music Group (UMG). These companies are designed to reach the maximum audience and will have subsidiary companies that will deal with niche tastes as well as mainstream; for example, UMG also own Verve who are a specialist Jazz music company.

According to a Music and Copyright report published in 2012, the majors accounted for 74% of physical and digital music sales globally; this means that they operate in an oligopoly where a few companies dominate and control the market. By taking over record labels who then become subsidiaries, the Majors have concentrated media ownership in the music industry. This is a process of conglomeration - fewer companies owning more (less competition); record labels being taken over and integrated into a huge organisation that deals with other media industries.

A media conglomerate is a multinational firm that distributes media products in the industry, owning large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, films and the internet. Six conglomerates hold 90% of what we read, listen to and watch therefore the public is easily manipulation without them knowing through the use of the hypodermic needle theory.

(Hypodermic Needle Theory; a model of communications suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.)
Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets across the globe.
The fact conglomerates control all the different media sectors means that they can give a vast range of products.
Moreover, these conglomerates tend to provide a variety of products to audiences to promote their band or artist through synergy.
(Synergy- is the combined working together of two or more parts of a system so that the combined effect is greater than the sum of the efforts of the parts)

SONY:
Some subsidiary labels of Sony....

• Columbia Records
• Epic Records
• RCA Records
• Sony Music Nashville
• Legacy Recordings
• RED Distribution

The subsidiary labels of Sony are all horizontally integrated. Horizontal integration is when companies create side companies that are alike, which is either complimentary or creates competition. 

The Sony conglomerate has business in other media industries. Sony owns recording studios, distribution companies and retail stores, these are all vertically integrated. Vertical integration is when a company expands its business into areas that are at different points on the same production paths, it helps to increase efficiently and decreases transportation costs and turn around time.

There are also independent labels. These labels are affected differently by media ownership due to being smaller companies. These companies operate separately from the Majors and often specialise in specific music genres. They tend to cater for more niche audiences. 

The most successful independent record label in the UK is Domino. Artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand have signed with them.
The independent record label XL Recordings have been hugely successful with their signed artist Adele.
Many record labels that people think are independent are, in fact, usually subsidiaries of a major label.

The production, distribution and exhibition/exchange of artists in major record labels and independent record labels vary.

For the music Majors their plan would be as follows; 

1. Sign an artist 

2. Write an album and record it

3. Give away a track

4. Set up an online profile (to get to top of Google search)

5. Set up a Facebook page

6. Create website

7. Plugger gets airtime on Radio 1

8. Release for digital sale on iTunes

9. Album available to purchase in shops

For independent labels who cannot find their artists on talent shows their plan would be slightly different;

1. Find an artist

2. Deals are made between the independents - labels and artists

3. Tracks are written and recorded 

4. DIY - promotion: blogging, Facebook, MySpace

5. Live gigs (play for free)

6. Start distributing (go to shops, iTunes)

7. Have a launch party 

8. Offer free tracks and promote everywhere 

PPQ - Textual Analysis and Representation (SECTION A)

"Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation (Unseen moving image extract) 

• You will be allowed two minutes to read the question for Section A before the extract is screened. 
• The extract will be screened four times. 
• First screening: watch the extract; you must not make notes. 
• Second screening: watch the extract and make notes. 
• There will be a brief break for note-making. 
• Third and fourth screening: watch the extract and make notes. 
• There will be a brief break for note-making after the third and fourth screening
• 
  
  1 Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of AGE using the following: 

  • camera shots, angle, movement and composition • editing
  • sound
  • mise-en-scène. "

                                                                     

The extract surrounds a young, sixteen year old girl named Amy who leaves home and her school to live elsewhere with another family, to whom she lies about her age and the fact that she left school without any exams. Age is represented throughout this extract to emphasise how young Amy is compared to the others around her, who thought she was much older than she said she was. 

Immediately as the extract begins, a mid-shot is taken of a group of men dressed in dark coloured, traditional plaid patterned clothes which you would typically see on an older man, as they walk through a working farm ground and a traditional country sounding melody plays, which relates back to the fact that Amy is surrounded by a much older group of people than herself. Pan movements are used throughout this opening scene to show everyone whom Amy is surrounded by, as well as being able to display the layout of the surroundings to the audience. This sets the scene of who Amy has been living with for the previous amount of time, and the true difference in their ages. The sounds of clattering garden tools is heard all around, which are stereotypical items you would older men use on working grounds. This, again, represents age as it gives us a further insight into what the men surrounding Amy do for a living, which isn't what you would associate with a sixteen year old female, so this further emphasises the difference in age. This representation of the older generation also helps to give us an insight into how Amy has left her youth behind to live with older people and to be treated as if she is older.

Continuing on from this, we can see that Amy almost considers herself one of the older generation as she tells those around her confidently that she is able to drive, even though she is actually too young to drive. This is backed up by the close up on Amy as she is in the car trying to work out how to turn the engine on. The close up shot emphasises how she doesn't know what she is doing, by showing her confusion closely on her face, which again represents age as it shows us that Amy is clearly too young to be driving as she is clueless on how to start. Shot/reverse shots are used here as the scene is split between the camera focusing on Amy in the car, to the younger middle aged man watching Amy struggle with the car in concern. There is then the sound of a loud crash, emphasising that Amy has crashed the car. This then transitions into a wide shot from a high angle of the car crash, which represents how small Amy is in comparison to the cars and the people surrounding them, emphasising her youth and how she doesn't fit into the older generation. The people Amy is staying with rush to her side and hug her, and here, these mid-shots of her hugging these people further emphasises how young Amy is through showing the height difference between her and those around her. A close up of Amy hugging a middle aged woman whom she lives with is shown, which further emphasises the difference in height between Amy and those surrounding her. This shot almost mirrors what a mother and daughter would look like, which again represents Amy's youth. 

These shots of Amy and the others with her also highlights their difference in dress. Amy wears a bright yellow top and jeans which is considered stereotypical teenage female clothing compared to the middle aged men and women surrounding her, who are dressed in darker clothing consisting of fleeces and dark coloured jeans. There are shot/reverse shots of Amy (whom is dressed in bright colours), to mid-shots of her school head master who wears a dark suit and stands behind the crash. The colours of the costume choice represent age as the yellow in Amy's clothing highlight the vibrancy of youth, and is stereotypical among the younger generation to wear brighter and more vibrant colours, so the selection of this colour for Amy's clothing emphasises how she is still young, where-as the older generation typically wear darker and more dull clothing, to show how they have grown out of their youth and into the working class. It is also important to note that the older generation typically wear more formal clothes, such as her headmaster who wears a suit and tie, compared to Amy who wears jeans and a t-shirt, representing their difference in age, and the importance of age within the extract. 

The scene cuts from outside, to being inside of the house which looks very old and traditional which sets the scene of how Amy's youth doesn't fit in amongst the older crowd and scenery she is involved in. There is are over the shoulder shots between the head master and Amy's guardian as they have a conversation which is accompanied by shot/reverse shots to show both sides of the conversation, which highlights the authority of the older head master over the middle aged man which emphasises the difference in their age. Once Amy's guardian finds out that Amy hasn't completed any exams, he asks Amy to pack her things and leave, to which Amy shouts, "I hate you!", and storms off to her room, which is a stereotypical line that you would hear a stubborn teenager say to a parent. This use of dialogue represents how Amy and the middle aged man almost represent a parent-child relationship, highlighting how Amy is still young, youthful and stereotypically stubborn as a teenager should be when they don't get what they want. This also shows how the middle aged man has more authority over Amy and can tell her what to do, because of his age, again representing age in the extract. The shots within this scene consist of over the shoulder shots which represent the difference in height between Amy and her guardian, so shot/reverse shots are used to show the conversation flowing from both perspectives, as well as reinforcing their difference in age due to the shots showing the differences in height.

When Amy is in her room, a high angle shot is taken as the camera passes from the top of her bed where a stuffed toy is laid, and passes over a bunch of magazines lying on her bed, to two notes written in pink, curly font and a teddy bear lying at the bottom of her bed. The teddy bear represents childhood and youth, and seeing as Amy has two stuffed toys in her room helps to reflect Amy's youth compared to the others. This is reinforced by the style of the writing on the notes that Amy has left, as the writing is pink and the font is curly which is similar to the stereotypical writing of a young female, further representing age in the extract. There is a mid shot of Amy looking in the mirror which is surrounded by pink decorations and family photographs. The pink props in this scene represent the female youth, as it is the stereotypical colour to represent the female gender. The layout of her room including all of the props within it mirrors a female teenager's bedroom, which again, displays the representation of age. 

The scene then cuts into the next, where there is a low angle shot of a woman entering Amy's room (taking place in the same location as the previous scene). This low angle shot could represent the difference between youth and older age, as this low angle shot showing an older woman in Amy's room contrasts from the high angle shot in the beginning of the previous scene where we're shown Amy's room with only Amy in it, subtly representing the difference in age. The scene then cuts to a scene taking place outside on the working farm ground, again filled with noises of clattering work tools, and a downbeat melody consisting of a flute, which keeps in ties with the theme of traditional and older music to set the scene, but it also brings attention to the fact that something tragic has happened. When the older woman tells who we assume is Amy's current guardian, that Amy has ran away, there is a close up shot on the mans face to represent his confusion and concern, which is similar to what we would see on the face of a parent who's child has gone missing. This again reinforces the parental-like role within their relationship, which further displays the difference in age and authority, representing age in the extract.