DDC: Digitisation, Disruption and Convergence

Digitisation

The ongoing but advanced process of moving from analogue (eg VHS) to digital production, distribution and exchange, which has reduced costs and time, which led to convergence and disruption

 

Disruption

Radical changes to the established methods of distribution, often leading to new competitors arising

Convergence

 The reducing gap between professional and amateur/consumer/prosumer level equipment; the shrinking distinction between audience and producers as old top-down approaches and passive audiences are replaced by active audiences (web 2.0) and a dynamic two-way flow (UGC); the blurring of once clear divides between media industries - film and TV are notable, and think about how both now extend across web and smart devices too, plus VR

 

E.G

Film4 and the BBC are UK TV channels/producers with limited funds for film production. Where Amazon and Netflix spend billions worldwide, and over $100m just in the UK, the combined TV/film budget of all traditional UK TV channels (and their film wings) is far less than Netflix's UK spend alone. They pay upfront for rights to low budget films like Warp's output. This, combined with non-repayable grants from the likes of the UK Film Council(today that is the BFI) and its regional wings like EM Media and Screen Yorkshire(using government and National Lottery funding), or EU funds. These grants ensure cultural diversity in film production, which would be impossible on raw commercial terms.

Film opening analysis of About a Boy

- Fade up

- Audio bridge to first scene

- Diegetic sound from TV 

- Bird's eye view

- Tracking shot

- Protagonist - proppian archetypes

- Rule of thirds

- Narrative enigma - not showing protagonist's face

- Intertextual reference to 'Who wants to be a millionaire'

- Camera movement and zooming, connotes tension

- Anchored tension with tense music from tv show

- His answer to the show foreshadows events - In addition he is most likely to relate to Jon Bon Jovi character, connoting comedic genre 

- Voice over - inner monologue

- Non-diegetic sound - guitar strings

- Red Bull signifies youth, not very smart

- Tea cup with saucer juxtaposes with the Red Bull because it signifies older age and sophistication

- Cigarettes - negative connotations - complex preferred reading

- Campbell's hero's journey/monomyth - all narratives center on journey and progression of protagonist

- Big book - intelligence, sophistication

- Lower case bubble font block white - connoting comedic genre

- Navy blue slacks, gry blue crew neck jumper, blue shirt, grey blue monochromatic mise-en-scene - conservative guy

- Large collection of books and LPs, electric guitar, speakers - rebellious, again connotes complex preferred reading

Theme 2: Titles

THE RAW NUMBER
- Around 4 titles appear at the beginning of the film

- The time titles last can be often as long as 4 minutes or as short as 20 seconds

THE SPECIFIC WORDING + ORDER
- When a title refers to a company, it will present that company with 'In association with Company X' or 'Company X presents'

- When presenting the director, the wording is usually 'A film directed by Director X', however if the director is an auteur the wording is 'A Director X film'

- Actors are often listed using ' Introducing' however if the film is a star waggon 'starring' or 'featuring' is more common

- Films often go company, director, then actors however this changes depending on several factors. An example is if the director is an auteur, their title is more often first. This is a similar circumstance to films that are star waggons.

DESIGN
- The style of the titles usually is based around the genre, similar to points like the title colour and font.

- Serif fonts are often used in genres such as romance, drama, social realist, horror, slasher and thriller. Serif fonts tend to signify a more serious film. Where as fonts that are Sans serif are used for genres like action and comedy, as they can be impactful or simple

- Depending on the importance of the title, such as a 'starring' title, or an auteur title, the font size will be bigger and tend to stand out more.

- Whether the title is uppercase or not depends, as it can be used to bring focus to the title, however it doesn't fit with some genres such as Romance

- The colour of the title is most commonly white, as it can be used with most genres if not all, in combination with the font. It also allows important titles like star or auteur to be further highlighted by having them on a black background ( a common background )

FX, ANIMATION
- Non-diegetic titles are titles that are added post production and often move through the scene all though don't effect, just look cool. An example of this is in Zombieland

- Equally there are also diegetic titles that are in the scene that actors could touch or see in real time.

- Often titles just fade out, however different title transitions are also based around genre, so that they fit better with the film.
 

THEORY Postmodernism, Deconstructionism, Intertextuality, and Simulacra

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Postmodernism.

Postmodernism argues that all 'isms' (E.G capitalism, communism) are meaningless because these meta-narratives can no longer explain how the world run. However it is extremely self contradicting because Postmodernism is an ism!
The concept of postmodernism refuses definition to some extent, but Dominic Strinati outlined 5 key characteristics that help break it down:

1. Breakdown of the distinction between culture and society
2. An emphasis on style over substance
3. Breakdown of the distinction between high art and popular culture
4. Confusions over time and space
5. Decline of metanarratives ['grand theories such as Marxism, Christianity and ... modernism have lost their use for current societies']

Deconstructionism.

This refers to the use of existing convention for ironic purpose, in a knowing way, and the audience is assumed to be in on irony.

A perfect example of this is in the movie Scream, the Matthew Lillard character decides to get more drinks and as he is leaving he dramatically calls out "I'll be right back", a reference to the classic horror convention that denotes a character will be killed.  The other teens at the party respond with the knowledge of this old trope, all of this happens whilst in a scene where they're watching Halloween.  Craven is deliberately making fun, or attacking the genre he played a role in creating 1972's The Last House on the Left.
This occurs in all media, the Depeche Mode video is a classic example, breaking down the band's poor tawdry image and the male gaze.

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Intertextuality

A simple but important concept that originated from Kristeva. It refers to the idea that, for an audience to access the preferred reading (Stuart Hall) they must have knowledge of a secondary text, which is usually a older text that is referenced in a newer text. This is most easily seen through TV shows such as the Simpsons as they are built around the very concept, but there is a very strong presence of this idea in the slasher genre. This is why John Carpenter cast the daughter of the 1960 scream queen, as his final girl. It helps gain publicity.

Simulacra

Scary movie best represents the ideas above. It takes intertextuality to a new level with little details like how Screams working title was scary movie, and the film is a comedic remake. It very clearly, and quite literally, shows the conventions (eg the Carmen Electra scream queen sees a sign giving the options for either death or safety... and runs up the stairs where the death sign points to, as the dumb scream queens tend to).
These movies have been analysed in detail, especially as far as gender representations. Baudrillard might argue that this leads nowhere as there is no ultimate meaning behind an endless limits of signifiers; Scary Movie is an expression of many existing ideas or signifiers, which cannot be tracked back to any concrete 'true reality' or meaning. 

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References
DB (2011) Theoretical evaluation of production post on blogger [online] Available from http://prodeval.blogspot.com/2011/04/postmodernism.html [17/11/19]
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TITLES scream main title

Sounds
- High pitched female scream
Very stereotypical in slashers, helping create suspense but also helping to anchor a preferred reading
- Heart rate speeding up
Helps create suspension and build up fear throughout the trailer
- Phone ringing
Again helps to create suspension, and the ring sound the phone makes is very average which helps anchor the slasher genre
- Crash sound effect
Not only helps build tension to the literal breaking point but also serves as an audio distraction so that the viewers are distracted by the sound so its harder to focus on what just showed creating sense of mystery
-Wolf howl
A stereotype to the slasher and horror genre, again anchoring the preferred reading
- Knife slashing sounds
Another stereotype to the slasher and horror genre. Could be an intertextual reference to past slasher classics
- Gunshot
Again not only helps build tension to the literal breaking point but also serves as an audio distraction
- Violin
Massive effect on the tension, and an intertextual reference to Psycho
- Audio Bridge
Helps keep the audience engaged

Ident 
- Blue tint
Intertextual reference to Halloween opening
- Sans serif font
Commonly used in slashers as its very bold matching music
-Black background
Use of dark colours with a black background helps anchor preferred reading

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(Scream trailer)
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Updated Film Opening Pitch

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'Sleep well' pitch (1) from LouisHodges3

Changes looking to be made:

- Addition of a postmodernism element

- Changing newspaper to new broadcast

Credits to: Spikey Films

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THEME 1: Idents, Companies, Production Context

WHAT ARE IDENTS?

-Idents show the main companies involved with a movie's creation and production, This could include any of the big 5 (Sony, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros etc) or another well known example of Disney's castle

-idents are at the beginning of a film, for both publicity and to help show the genre of the film

-Each ident usually has an average time of 6-7 seconds, adding a total of around 20-30 seconds at the beginning of the film

-Often an ident has a simple style for easy viewing and can help easily anchor a preferred reading  

-It is common to see 2-4 idents at the beginning of a film

-An outlier is often seen in indie movies as the commonly have no idents at all

-When the conglomerate is larger, they will have more screen time for their idents (Big 5). A larger conglomerate also rarely uses audio bridges, as they are not trying to produce art, but instead money, making it cheaper.

Examples of Idents

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(Warner Brothers Ident)
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(Paramount pictures Ident)
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(Summit entertainment Ident)
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(Disney Ident)
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