Media exam question practice

a) What is meant by a mainstream film ? [2]

A mainstream film has financial backing from one of the big media conglomerates having large budgets and are made to create revenue.

 b) Briefly explain what a media conglomerate is. [2]

A media conglomerate is a media company which owns multiple companies for example Disney owns Marvel

 c) Explain two features of independent  film production. Refer briefly to  I, Daniel Blake  to support your   points. [6]

The cast in independent films are usually never heard of because of the budgets for independent films being very low the actors which are hired are amateur actors for example in I, Daniel Blake many characters which are present are ordinary people not professional actors.

Independent films don't follow the ordinary studio style like big blockbusters but rather having their narrative focus on a specific subject making the audience think and reflect on certain subjects for example I, Daniel Blake focuses on Daniel Blake being denied Employment and support allowance even though he is deemed unfit to work by his doctor and struggles with poverty having the narrative focus on the effects of poverty in England.   

 d) Explain how economic contexts shape mainstream films. Refer to Black Panther  to support your points. [15]

The budgets for films can drastically effect there success when they are released for example the budget of the film can effect the amount of advertising the film gets and marketing campaigns like Black Panthers marketing  being target towards the African American audiences by having a full African American cast also other forms of media linked with Black Panther like the soundtrack which features famous African American artists and also advertising the film during sports breaks which has a higher amount of African American audiences attracting their target demographic helping create more exposure for the film and earn more revenue in the box office. 

The budget of the film typically effects the box office earnings for example the budget for Black panther was 200 million USD and earned 1.344 Billion USD earning over 1 Billion in the box office  whereas a film with a much lower budget like I, Daniel Blake was around 2 Million and earned 15.8 Million at the box office also with higher budget films the more distributors will pay for the film as films with large budgets are usually made to create revenue for the companies involved. Also the film will continue to earn money through royalties as merchandise, soundtrack and streaming platforms will keep generating revenue for the creators and actors.   

The film was released in2018 at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and Black Panther was directed by Ryan Coogler who was the first black superhero director for the MCU with an all black cast which at the height of the racial tension with the Black Live Matter movement allowed the creators to profit from the movement and attracting the African American community being 37% in total viewership for the film.  

The Merchandise made from the film whether that being clothes, toys or a real Black Panther mask lots of profit has come from the merchandise producing $60 million to $100 million in just one year and these came out as the film was premiering adding to the $1.344 billion earning over 6 times its budget of 200 million which is common for superhero films as they dominate the box office each year as Marvel's net worth is $10 billion and having their films dominate the box office usually being the top films.     

Black Panther mainstream question

 Black Panther being apart of the Marvel Universe being owned in a large conglomerate by Disney Black Panther is a superhero action/adventure film also having linking themes to sci-fi all these mixed genres give the film a larger range to attract a bigger audience. The audience which marvel films attract a wide range of people showing that marvels marketing has worked in attracting the widest possible range of people especially as these marvel films are apart of one big universe and building this franchise helps keep there audience and also grow and maximise their profits by expanding on their universe building new narratives. The actors casted for the film are mainstream African American actors.

The Budget for Black Panther was $200 million clearly the Marvel universe is own by Disney which is apart of the big 6 conglomerate companies which dominate the mainstream media industry. The marketing for Black Panther was obviously trying to attract a larger African American audience which worked seeing that early audiences was 37 % African American and they did this by having a very diverse cast predominantly having African American cast but also doing this every step of production like the album created for the film which included artists like Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott creating more hype for the film as help reaches the artists fans creating a larger audience. Black Panther premiered on January 29th 2018 and opened in 4,020 theatres, 3,200 in 3D, 404 in IMAX and made $1.344 Billion      

 

Black Panther

 How does Black Panther fit Tinto the Marvel franchise?:  the narrative fits in to add to  the larger story of the Avengers films.

What made it different?: the first black superhero in the Marvel universe to have his own film 

What made it successful?: he had a preview at the end of Avengers Civil war giving Black Panther a lot of hype, the rise of the movement black lives matter, marvel films are usually positive in ratings  

Harlem Renaissance: An intellectual, social and artistic explosion centred in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City having deep ties with New African American cultural expressions across urban areas The Harlem Renaissance is considered to be a rebirth of the African-American arts and this links to Black Panther as a major part of the story includes a lot of African culture within its characters.

The Black Panthers: A political activist group originally for self defence against police brutality began to quickly expand into advocating for social reforms the movie obviously linked to The Black Panther party referencing the name. 

Afrofuturism: A cultural aesthetic of African diaspora culture being created around the 90s expressing the historic African culture mix with sci-fi dressing problems that the African American culture faced. In Black Panther as the costumes and set designs being a mix of futuristic and traditional African culture.

Oscarsowhite: A hashtag which was to call out the lack of diversity of people of colour, LGBTQ+ and Women within the Oscars film awards this occurred during the same year as Black Panthers release  

magazine article

'' A frightfully funny out of world experience" - The Sun. As we approach closer and closer to the truth of extraterrestrial life ITV 2 offers you an exclusive experience of "Extraterrestrial Encounters" a mockumentary set on taking a deeper look into the wide range of conspiracies which build a considerable portion of contemporary society nowadays as they stick their ear into every ones business as they wonder what their favourite celebrities deepest secrets are as their government turns them into puppets. With a more comedic take on the accusations of reptilian monarchs in this mockumentary we are shown the multitude of conspiracies dealing with multiple subjects from hidden alien technology to pigeons being government issued drones with one overall linking theme: The absurdity! Emphasising the ridiculous nature of the more extreme side of these phenomena and the extremist side of the people and ridiculing them and the conspiracies which they spend countless hours on.     

We got a deeper dive into the production and writing of this mockumentary from our interview with one of the writers as they want to give a "satirical view of such trivial conspiracies" and "satirising the people who push these trivial conspiracies into being over the top" whilst"sprinkling conspiracies with quite a high chance of being real and having more of an effect on contemporary society" however still sticking to a comedic tone with multiple appearances of "professionals" on these subjects giving their two cents in the matters discussed withing the over hour long mockumentary special

Setting to air mid June at 22:00 with a rating of 18 and older due to the more off colour and offensive humour which is present throughout the mockumentary, airing on ITV 2 after their late night airing of absurd cartoons a more realistic and satirical absurdity will be airing.           

Statement Of Aims

My audio visual product will be a mockumentary called extra-terrestrial encounters which depicts the research of a conspiracy theorist and his attempt to present this evidence and make the audience believe that aliens exists and presenting this in an obvious comedic tone highlighting the absurdity of certain theories and satirising them. I will follow the codes and conventions to appeal to my target demographic of 18- 34 year old main streamers who take up the majority of audiences so I have chosen ITV 2 to be the producers of the mockumentary as the channel is one of the biggest and also have a younger target audience than the other choice of BBC 1 as the majority of shows which are presented on ITV 2 as they air shows like Family guy and other immature comedic shows that also air.

I will create a short clip of 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 3 minute clip of the mockumentary having the main character talk about an absurd theory and poorly explaining it having other "professionals" attempt to explain this theory and this will appeal to my targeted demographic as the main theme of the mockumentary being about aliens which is a very popular theme within media which helps target audience of main streamers as they like to stick with security so an already widely known theme and also as they don't like to take risks the audience has an idea of what will happen. By using Premier pro to edit my short clip and will consist of minimal editing like non diegetic music to create atmosphere with very few jump cuts between different people to help create a similar atmosphere in documentaries, the props presents within the clip will convey to the audience immediately about the sci fi themes which will be prevalent throughout the clip.

   

 I will use Adobe Photoshop to create my print media cover and will incorporate the front cover of the Magazine advertising the mockumentary which will attract my intended audience using bright colours to stand out and also attracting my intended audience  having imagery linking to the sci fi genre for example UFOs with the headline reading "expose the truth. I will use bright colours such as purple, blue and greens to portray the sci fi themes which are present in the audio visual product and I will be creating these photos with UFOs by drawing them over the photos for the magazine front cover and double page article. The double page article will go in depth of the of the audio visual product and appealing to the target audience of 18-34 main streamers who are interested with conspiracies as the headline reinforces this mystery needing to be urgently told and the word "expose" has more negative connotations attracting more people as it connotes to scandals and misconduct which attracts more people.  



    

Production and content planning 2

Representation of mainly young adults and teenagers as the brief states to have a target audience of 18-34 thus having a younger cast will help attract my target audience as they will connect to the characters more due to the similarity in age.

Technical codes and Narratives: a range of camera angles and zooms to create a comedic tone, invisible editing to help create a realistic tone which mockumentaries have.

I chose the producer to be ITV 2 as their programming target a younger audience as they air shows like Family Guy and Plebs so another comedy targeting a younger audience would be effective as it will attract more of the intended audience as the producers target the demographic of 18-34 Main streamers

Production and content planning

Production Brief: Brief 1- audio visual / print media

Target Audience: 18-34 "Main-streamers"

Producer: ITV 2

Name: extraterrestrial encounters 

Genre: Comedy/ mockumentary

Initial Ideas - Narrative content: A mockumentary about aliens

Initial Ideas - Technical Codes: invisible editing / a lot of non diegetic sound to create atmosphere