Section B Profit Driven LR

Learner Response:

lr: Add theories to each paragraph where relevant. 

Print:

... Considering nobody knows Ben Drew as a director, by using his stage name instead of his actual name gives way for a new audience attract; his fanbase. This links in with the auteur theory where the director is being presented as an author who's name is used to attract a wider audience.
... Spectre' contract with Transport For London for dedicating a few London buses to promote the film links in with one of Dyer lines of appeal. The distributors want to be seen as elite people who have a lot of money to spend on promotion. This is because not many films use this method to try and attract an audience, but this may be because Spectre is from a British TV show and its core audience is British people.

Broadcast:

The TEDX lecture that Ben Drew had attended was a way for him to attract a new audience and make them gain some interest in his film. The audience generally in a TEDX lecture would be reformers who seek change about society. This matches with Ben's ideological thinking on society. Ben thinks that the current conservative government is casting out the youth in society and he believes that this is wrong and should be changed. By expressing his opinions and thought in a TEDX lecture, those who are part of the audience may agree with his opinions as they too seek change in society and government. As a result, Ben would have potentially of gained a new audience for his film Ill Manors as the audience may want to see a film that serves the same purpose as them.
Spectre's use of the classic trailers helped deliver to its mainstream audience. This is because Spectre is part of a big franchise; the 007 franchise. As a result, the core audience who love this type of movie like to see the same thing again and do not like to change from that. This is what makes the franchise very successful, it is always true to the original screen adaptations. And by presenting it is a mainstream fashion, it further increases the reputation of the franchise. 007 audiences like to see the same thing over and over again and by presenting it in a common and normal way, it further stays true to its mainstream audience.

E-media:

A Field In England using the e-media to help promote the DVD release of the film was an attempt to gain last minute revenue. This could work as those who loved the film and want to see it again, can do so by purchasing the DVD version of the film. The DVD was spotted on Amazon etc which allowed for audiences to purchase a copy of the DVD film.
There was great amount of synergy seen throughout the webpage of Spectre. It had a store where all the 007 merchandise can be found via a store on the webpage. This is a form of product placement where the website is promoting other things rather than just the film itself. In this case, it is products that are linked with the brand instead of the film. This can  also be seen as a form of synergy as it is cross promoting the perfume industry as well as the clothing industry as well. 

MEST 1 Mock exam: Learner Response

Learner Response

1) Feedback/comments:

www: Good balance between the three platforms and evaluative conclusion

lr: Refer to narrative theories- Barthes, Todorov, Propp, Levi Straus etc. Write a paragraph improving them.

2) Target grade evaluation:

I have achieved my target grade for section a, however I need to gain additional 7 marks to exceed my target grade for section b.

3) Answering the question:

The chosen points I used for question 1-

• Camera Tracking
• Steadicam
• Shot types/shot sizes

I managed to see these camera work through the clip itself when it was playing. I did manage to answer the question based on question 1 as I had additional knowledge to use when explaining the importance/use for these shots. For example, the steadicam showing off the new movement system when  the character slides over the desk. 

The chosen points I used for question 2-

• Megan Fox
• Las Vegas
• Music choice- Sinatra

I did use the above points to use as my basis point when answering the question. I also reflected on the use of this technique to the question.

The chosen points I used for question 3-

• Male gaze
• Action concept/them

The one point that wasn't in the mark scheme that I used was the use of being male dominant. This will reinforce that the game is still male heavy and that males is their core target audience. I did use this point to try and answer the question to further prove my point on how it attracts a male audience. 

The chosen points I used for question 4-

• Positively (fun)
• As glamorous

One point that isn't one of the points in the mark scheme was that gun violence can be seen as 'horrific'. I wanted to subvert from the core meaning of what my other points were on this matter and wanted to give an alternative meaning and representation. I thought that this advert will not only attract gamers, but also the public as a whole. This means that reformers are likely to see this. I was linking my point to the perception of the reformers. 

4) Strongest question:

My strongest question would be question 4. This was because I used an alternative method to try and get my point across and share my views in a new way. Although, the main representation of the clip was to present gun violence as positive and fun, I wanted to counter this argument. I wanted to show that not everyone will see the clip in this way and therefore, I used the reformers perception to help boost my evidence.

5) Weakest question:

My weakest question would have been question 2. Instead of talking about the male gaze for Megan Fox's portrayal in the clip, I talked about the female gaze. Meaning, I didn't use the correct theory to match with the evidence I was giving. I was meant to talk about the male gaze which is from the males perception.

6) Re-writing the weakest question:

Q: How does the trailer attempt to appeal to a male audience?

One way in which the trailer attempts to appeal to a male audience is through Megan Fox's appearance. This is because females are not usually presented in FPS games and it will certainly grab the attention of the viewer if she appears in it. Megan Fox is a sexually appealing woman in the eyes of many males as she is a model and actress, which means she can gain the attention of many males who view this trailer. This links in with the male gaze, where the men do the looking (the viewers as well as the on-screen characters) and focus more on the female. This is a way to attract males into watching this trailer as they would not normally associate females with Call of Duty games.

Another way in which the trailer attempts to appeal to a male audience is through the level of action shown in this clip. This is because the action genre appeals to a male dominant audience as they enjoy this type of visual element. When they see some sort of action and violence they are here to stay a bit longer as they are engaged with the action occurring on screen. This fits in with the female gaze as it is the men that are being looked at by the potential female viewers (as this is the first Call of Duty game to feature female characters and may have some form of interest) as they are represented as masculine and as protectors- they are very patriotic.

Finally, one way in which the trailer attempts to appeal to a male audience is through the tag line. This is apparent towards the end of the clip where all 4 characters are walking and the tag line saying 'There's a soldier in all of us'.This tag line can really have an impact on the male viewers as it fits directly with their masculinity. Men see themselves as patriotic and are proud of their masculine figure etc. The tag line is used to reinforce and remind the male viewer of their position as men and acts as a way to re-define their current status.

7) Looking at section b:

In section b I used all three of the media platforms that I knew which were, Print, Broadcast and E-media. In each of those platforms I introduced and talked about the use of these platforms with the three case studies of mine (the films). I talked about, Ill Manors, A Field In England and Spectre. And these case studies were all included in all three media platforms.

8) Question focus:

I didn't refer back to the question in terms of narrative. I could have used the main narrative techniques somewhere in my essay. The following narrative techniques I could have used were-

• Levi Straus
• Propp
• Todorov
• Barthes

9) Examiners report:

Section a-

Question 1- According to the examiners report I did refer to the shots making it feel as if the viewer is actually in the same setting and to give that real life experience to them through this trailer.
Question 2-  The report stated that there was a great use for action and sci-fi genre. Moreover, Mega Fox could be seen as a brand with the Transformers franchise and is a form of synergy between the two products. As the trailer is sci-fi, Transformers is also liked with science fiction genre and would fit well with this trailer as a form of promotion.
Question 3- My response to question three according to the examiners report was very well liked. I talked about the use of the genre as well as attractive women.
Question 4- There were a range of discussions on the perception of violence and these points would be accepted if it showed evidence from the trailer itself. It would be good to touch on the fact that there were no shots of people actually dying which linked in with the representation.

Section b-

Details of narrative techniques is what students (who chose this question) reflected on in their cross media answers. Narrative techniques were appropriate were used as the link to the other media platforms. In addition, there was lack of question focus on the second part of the question. The use of narrative was not focused on as much about the enjoyment of audiences for narrative.

10) Conclusion- what will you do differently:

I will aim to improve my introduction. I will give brief details about each of the chosen case study as I tend to explain it when I am answering the question. It is better to allow the person marking to gain a clear understanding of each case study so that the information that is provided flows rather than making the examiner think twice about what is being said. In addition, I will try to focus my answer (in section b) on all of the key words in the question as that is what is expected to be answered, in this case it was narrative.