Analysis Of TV Opening.

In this opening we are introduced to all the main characters from the first series of Misfits (2009), This first series focus' on 5 young offenders (Bottom right (Gary) dies in the first episode). The opening lasts a total of 45 seconds and though out the duration we have no dialog. Instead of dialogue we have quite a modern song, its quite new and electronic (this should appeal to the target audience of teens), this song could also appeal to the characters and this makes viewers relate to the newly introduced characters.
The first shot is of a young women's legs, this could have sexual connotations and relate to her character, then we use a pedestal movement moving up her legs and at mid thigh a cut-in is used to frame her face (the entirety of this lasts 6 seconds). Next we cut to a mid shot of a young man who is smoking this gives the impression he is scruffy and laid back, slowly we zoom in. Now to a close up of another young woman but this is very brief (4 seconds). Again to a different character (young man) who is framed in the middle of a medium close up he seems quite smart and well presented. Now to an even shorter medium close up of another young man this time quite Chav-y in presentation. Finally to the last young man in medium close up starting at his abb's now we have another pedestal movement upward (could signifie a bond with the first woman who also has a similar camera movement) (without a cut) to his face witch seems worried.
Through out the sequence of introduction to the characters we have an almost slow motion edit on all of them this makes the opening scene quite surreal but also lets us focus in on the characters. We go though 2 more sequences of seeing the characters but this time for a lot shorter although with very similar shots of each of then (the non-diajetic sound also speeds up along with the camera movements).
Another aspect that stays the same for all characters is the costume, all of them sport orange jump-suits which have connotations of danger and prison. Both prison and danger of course being a major theme through out the series. Other themes we see represented in this opening scene are sex, drugs, companionship and lonelyness.
The lighting is quite dull and seems almost boring however it acts as a great contrast with the jump-suits making the jump-suits stand out but the people blend in more (signifing there just jump-suits made for work not people).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMABaMyZOrc&has_verified=1 < Opening scene for Misfits.

Keywords: Polysemy & Anchors

Polysemic: 'Having a number of meanings, interpretations or understandings.'
Anchorage: 'Used in media to attach meaning to something through either the matching of words to images or the juxtaposition of two images which construct a meaning.'

Polysemy & Anchors

With out the text bellow the image explaining what it is this picture could be anything. The picture could be a group of students watching their home burn down or a group of pagans giving their fallen comrade a religious send off. This means the image is Polysemic (this means the signifier could be interpreted in a number of possible ways).
To make sure the viewer knows what the image is meant to show we use Anchorage to anchor the image to its meaning. This leads to the viewer what the image is supposed to be signifying.

'A Clockwork Orange' Video Analysis.

 In this clip of Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' we see Alex and his Droogs fight an opposing gang. We begin by hearing Alex shout insults at his rival, these insults are very childish and have little meaning however we then cut to a shot of Alex's rival. This shot is a close up and shows the reaction of the rival, now the fight starts. The rival gangs costume is very different to The Droogs' because unlike The Droogs clean and co-ordinated outfits this gang have a very messy and dirty outfits, this signifies a contrast between the two gangs. The set is also very dark and messy this again makes the Droogs stand out from there fore-ground creating juxtaposition between the Droogs and the set. The fight its self seems to be very unfair because the Droogs are out numbered however the Droogs still dominate their rivals this signifies their power and strength. Lighting is very dim this has connotations of night which may signify the Droogs being a 'nightmare'. At 1:00 we get a long shot which shows the entire fight and the Droogs success we also get a sense of brotherhood from this shot. The non-diagetic music in the background makes this scene quite disturbing because violence is not something we associate with Rossini's music this in a way offers more juxtaposition and almost makes the fight seem worse and more violent due to the contrast of images and sound.

Film Poster Annotation: In Bruges

Key Word: Semiotics

'Semiotics is a tradition of thought known for calling attention to the formal structures of signification in culture. In so far as it can be used to reveal the arbitrary or constructed character of the meanings we use in our everyday lives, semiotics is also a form of social criticism.' 
Symbolic:  'Something that serves as a symbol for that attempting to be signified.'
Iconic:  'Something that resembles or imitates the signified.'
Indexical:  'Something directly connected to the signifier.'

Semiotics

We've been looking at Semiotics, the science of signs, and we learnt about what a signifier is and what visual and audio aspects of media may signify. Later we learnt about 3 symbolic meaning, iconic meaning and indexical meaning.

-Symbolic meanings are codes, numbers, letters, punctuation etc.
-Iconic meanings resembles or imitates the things that is being signified. For example photographs and realistic sounds.
-Indexical meanings are where the signifier uses something directly connected to the signified. For example smoke & fire.

 Ive made 3 logos for myself that show what each aspect of semiotics may represent:

 ^ Symbolic.

 ^ Iconic.

^ Indexical.

Key Word: Mise-En-Scene

'Mise-en-scene: ‘to put on stage’ or ‘staging an action’: 'the elements of mise-en-scene include the ‘contents of the frame and the way they have been organised’.

Elements of Mise-en-scene: 

Lighting, Sets and Props, Costume and Camera position.'

In this still from 'This Is Enland' Combo is in a plain and dull room which helps to add emphasis to the light shining on his back. His Position shows him in a God-ly way because he has his hands out in the shape of Jesus on a crucifix. His expression shows anger and the camera is in a medium shot so we can only see his torso, once more putting emphasis onto the position of his arms. His outfit is clearly skin-head Esq which is a huge part of Combo's character and whole belief system.

Mise-En-Scene

Mise-En-Scene is 'Everything on the Screen'. This can vary from lighting to costume. Mise-En-Scene helps the viewer to understand the full meaning behind a shot, it does this because it is a method of analysing Costume, Set & Props, Lighting, Camera Position and Performance.

Key Word: Juxtaposition

'In literature and film, juxtaposition is the arrangement of two opposing ideas, characters, objects, etc. side-by-side or in similar narratives for effect.'

                                                       Old & New

Juxtaposition

Today in Media we learnt about Juxtaposition, I learnt that when creating a Scene or Image you can change what each aspect of the Shot/ Picture signifies. As an example I used a still from 'Al Murry: The Pub Landlord', i chose this because it has connotations of fun and laughter, and a cut out from the 'Jarhead' advert , this has connotations of war and hatred. These two images created Juxtaposition because the background created a sense of fun however the foreground contrasted because it gave a sense of war.

1st lesson.

On our first media lesson we learnt which units what unit and what we have to learn to get a good grade in media studies AS.
The main things we learnt were 'IM RAVING' & 'CRAGED'. So far media seems quite interesting I'm looking forward to making the opening of our film and using the editing room.
For H/W we were set to create a blog with the aim of cataloging what were learnt in media and our ideas for the opening sequence.