GCSE Media Studies

                                   I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

In “I know what you did last summer” classic codes and conventions mark out the horror genre. We can tell that the film is a horror film because there is lots of screaming, shadows, silhouettes and night time attacks. The iconography of the film identifies the horror genre clearly.

“I know what you did last summer” is a predictable film because the killer stipulates the person who his goanna kill. The main theme of the movie is that four friends Julie, Ray, Helen, and Barry are celebrating along with graduation. On their way home they hit a fisherman walking down a curved corner. They make a pact to keep it a secret in hopes of saving their futures. While dumping the body in a near by sea, the body becomes alive and tries to attach Helen. They throw him in and never return to that site. One year later, Julie returns home from college for summer break. In the mail she receives a letter stating that “I know what you did last summer.” Julie freaks out and gathers up her old friends who are now separated, miserable and not speaking. They all decide to find out who saw them that fateful night and in the process of tracking the suspect down, the body count goes up.

In the dress shop scene there is a white house which shows the symbols of innocence. When the killer gets in to the dress shop to kill Helen he then sees Elsa (Helen’s sister). The killer decides to kill Elsa before he kills Helen. There is extreme close-up of Elsa’s eyes showing the blurred reflection of her killer the effect of this is that it makes the audience get more excited and more terrified. The blood sprays across viewer’s point of view. When Helen comes downstairs to see what happened to Elsa she sees the empty chair highlights which gives the emptiness and isolation which has an effect of giving the audience that something bad is going to happen.

In the same scene diegetic sound is used to create tension such as the dark and the spooky radio music which is switched of by the killer creating tense silence which makes the audience think something is going to happen to Helen and makes the audience think that she might die. Non diegetic sound is also has been used to create a sense of panic such as scratching violins.

In the film slow edit pace is made up of long takes to build tension. When Helen is chased by the villain it shows that the scenes are edited skilfully so that no matter how fast Helen runs the killer always seems close on her trail. The final murder is very fast paced and shot from many angles making the action seem disorientating.

The characters in the film are represented as they are brave, but scared at the same time. The target audience for this film is the age group between fifteen and twenty-two. You can tell this because the people of this age group usually watch horror and the main characters in the film is teenagers. The audience of this film might respond as they got scared and enjoyed at the same time because the movie is a horror film and most teenagers like to watch horror films. This film is a popular film because it’s for young people. One of the effect on the audiences might be that them getting terrified.

                                                                            By Kubra Kilic 10N/11N

                                        HORROR POSTER EVALUATION

                                                  2 Missed Calls

A chain of people receive terrifying cell phone messages of their own final moments. Laura Jones is traumatized when she witnesses the gruesome deaths of two friends just days a part. Even more disturbing, she knows that both of them had received chilling cell phone messages which are the actual recording of their own horrifying last moments. Impossible, the calls were received days before they died, but each death occurred precisely when and how the messages foretold. The police think Laura Jones is lying, except for detective David Lewis whose own sister was killed in a freak accident that bears a strange similarity to the deaths of Laura’s friends. Together, Laura and David work feverishly to unravel the mystery behind the ominous calls. But even as they get closer to the truth, Laura’s cell phone begins to ring with an eerie tune, and the readout says “2 MISSED CALLS”

.In “2 missed calls” things like screaming, shadows, and knives mark out the horror genre of the codes and conventions. You can tell that it’s a horror film because the image has dark shadows and the contact of the eye gives a good looking of a horror poster. Firstly, the camera angle of the poster is directly in to it. The font chillier is used to make the poster scarier. But the image that’s been used in the poster marks out the genre vey well and shows that it’s a horror film. Secondly, the lighting and the colours have been used in a dark tone to show it’s a horror film. And finally, the costumes are all black which has an effect on the audience of giving them flavour of the film and shows that its horror film. I think I’ve made the poster scary by showing lots of dark shadows. The iconography that I have used for my horror poster is the eyes of the face which shows the key of the horror genre. I gave away some clues about my horror poster such as who finds the truth behind the whole film. My tagline tells the audience about how it would sound like when they die. For my film that I have made up i have victims which get attacked by the villain. In my own opinion I think the audiences will want to see the film because the eyes in the poster will make them want to watch the film and the synopsis which gives the audience a summary of the film.

The target audience for my horror film is 15 and over. I think my audience might have seen other films that are 15 and over such as “THE AMITYVILLE HORROR”. I think my audiences will respond to my film as it was scary and that I’ve choose the right target audience.

The institution of my film is a large important organization which is a hospital. In my poster there is a girl with a phone in her hands which is a big budget blockbuster because it’s like calling someone and menaces them so it’s not a low budget blockbuster film. In my poster I have used stars but I haven’t used famous directors. I think my film is independent because it can be written in different languages and it’s not a film that has characters from London and America. My poster is for film magazines and it can also be used for major billboards. My poster will be advertised in magazines and can be advertised on the TV.

The person in my poster is represented as the villain and the mystery of the film. In my film most of the victims are females and the villain is a female as well. This shows that females have more power than males because the female villain kills the victims.

The way I put my poster together was that firstly, I started by planning my poster after I planed my poster I started to put my poster together by using Photoshop. I decided to use my friends face for my poster. I took her picture and putted in my picture with a phone in her hand. Secondly, I wrote the title of my film on to the poster. And finally, I added the credit text on to the poster. If I had an chance to the my poster again I would put more effect on my poster to make look more like a horror poster. Other marketing could accompany my poster such as internet banners.

                                                                                      By Kubra Kilic 10N/11N

What makes “The Fear” by Lilly Allen an interesting case study in music video within the pop music industry?

The fear by Lily Allen is the latest song from Lily, from her album “it’s not me, it’s you”. It is about celebrity and the perfect life. It is interesting because it is a comment about what many women want from life in the 21^st century; :I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless, Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous” “I don’t know what’s right and what’s real everyone knows how I’m meant to feel anymore”. it parodies other celebrities like Sordan, Madonna etc.

The genre is a typical pop video. It also crosses genres when it becomes more like a musical, for example when the butlers start dancing. It starts in a field so that it can show her journey from poor to rich. The back of the caravan opens up and becomes an amazing house like a fairy story. The fear can be contrasted with Holly Valence “kiss kiss”. They are different in the The Fear in a typical woman’s fantasy but “kiss kiss” is more of a men’s fantasy. They both also have connotation of from pop.

It starts of in a field where she starts to talk about how her life is and what she wants. She then goes in to a caravan which opens up to be a big house with people dancing, presents coming alive. This means that how it is to move from poor to rich. She tells us that she wants to be rich and she wants lots of money. She’ll do anything to be rich; “I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless”. By saving this she’s being ironic. From just looking at her you can tell she’s not like the other typical pop singers like Beyonce. Singers like Beyonce, Rihanna and Madonna wear clothes suggestively were as Lily Allen wears old fashion clothes which make us feel that she careers for herself. This tells us that it’s not a typical pop song because normally other pop singers are serious; they don’t ask you question anything, but Lily Allen makes us question her.

The target audience for this pop video are young adults and people who go to festivals, and it mostly aims at women. It wouldn’t appeal to children it would appeal to students and sixth formers. I think the audience’s will like the song it’s something different; “it’s so refreshing to see a video that is fresh and in ya face without the bumping and grinding” I got this quote from www.musicloversgroup.com. Everyone on there really likes this song. The video is very good for the song because it’s very different to the other music videos.

Lily Allen is signed to London records. This is an independent label. This means she can make music that is a bit different, but London records are owned by Warner Bros. They are one of the biggest music companies. They also have big acts like Madonna and Lil’flip. Because Lily Allen is signed to Warner Bros she sells all over the world.

The videos shows a different image of women than pop videos normally do. A typical pop video is kiss kiss by Holly Valence in this video she is wearing a leather leotard and she’s wet and she’s dancing with men who touch her all the time. Lily Allen looks very different and she’s covered up. She’s on her own in the video, she has male dancers they dance with her but they don’t touch her. Holly Valence’s dancers are trying to be sexy but Lily Allen’s are funny.

The costumes in the video are old fashion and funny so the dress Lily Allen is wearing is from the 1960’s and they wear funny colour ties where as the costumes in kiss kiss are trying to be sexy.

The lyrics are ironic and sarcastic for example “I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous”. In Holly Valence’s video there’s parts where she’s all naked and light is flashing on some parts of her body.

I don’t really like the song because I think Lily Allen is trying to be funny in the video, but I don’t really find it funny. I think the music is rubbish because I don’t like pop music I listen to hip-hop. I like hip-hop because I think there is more beats in hip-hop than pop music. I also don’t like the lyrics of the song because she say’s things that she’s not going to do so she’s being sarcastic. But, I don’t mind the video because it goes with her song and lyrics which gives a clear image to the audience.

                                                                Kubra Kilic 10N

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