Cover Work (analysis of scene from 'Hancock')

M.I.G.R.A.I.N:

M- Quick shots from train to car shows panic, and distress from the point of view of the driver, also with the quick shots it emphasises what is going to happen i.e. train hitting the car. Natural digetic sounds of the man screaming for help in the car, there is bright natural high ki lighting to show a "peaceful and calm" day, however that is not so. 'Hancock' arrives calmly and moves car out the way with ease and gets hit by the train, however the train gets destroyed and he has no scratches on him. He ends the scene by saying "Oh Shit" this shows his frustration and anger through the rude language he uses.

I- Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc

G- Action/ comedy

R- White middle-class men, as the one in the car is a stereotype of one, as he has a nice suit as well as a grand car, this represents that no matter how rich you are you are still able to make mistakes.

A- This seems like the type of film to appeal to everyone females and males from a very wide range however the certificate of the film is 12 so any male or female over the age of 12 can watch it, further the age range in my opinion is 12 - 21.

I- Patriarchy ideology as it is a man saving the day, as well as a man as the victim. Also the view of capitalism can be added as the government will need to pay for all the damage.

N- It is a straight forward linear narrative, it has no flashbacks or any other thing that could disrupt the flow, it is in chronological order and moves with ease from scene to scene.

11 keywords

Antagonist: The principle opposing figure or villain in a narrative, set by binary opposition against the protagonist - This will be use full for my essay because the film I have chosen to do shows how a hero in this case in seen different to other superheroes.

Audience: Groups or individuals targeted by producers as they intended consumers of media texts. Owning to the wide availability of media texts, the actual viewers, readers or listeners may not be those originally targeted - This will be used to show how audience can be used as a source of major fiance as they are the ones who will be watching it.

Binary opposition: A term used by Claude Levi-Strauss as part of his argument that narratives are structured around oppositional elements in human culture, for example, good and evil, life and death, night and day, raw and cooked etc - I will be using this because this theorist is use full for my essay as I will be applying the binary oppositions of sober vs drunk, good intentions vs bad outcomes, good vs evil etc.

Blockbuster: A big budget Hollywood film - Since the film is a big budget film this will be needed to show how much money is pumped in to Hollywood films.

Broadcast: The wide and random dissemination of media messages (broadly cast, i.e. spread over a wide area.) - The film was aired in over 50 countries worldwide, showing wider range of audience.

Celebrity: An individual who has become the focus of media attention and is therefore widely known and recognised by the public - In 'Hancock' the main character is played by Will Smith who is very famous and will draw in an audience of not only superhero movies but as well as the fans of Will Smith.

CGI: Computer generated imagery - With the large scale of money put in to the film CGI has now become the main focal point in allot of major Hollywood films, giving effects and more eye catching scenery.

Hybrid Genre: A cross between one film genre and another - There are two main genres in this which is action and adventure, so therefore showing a cross between two major genres.

Levi - Strauss, Claude (1908 - 90): French structuralist anthropologist whose analysis of human culture and myth argued for a common origin for all narratives, based on shared human life experience, fears and expectations - (same as binary oppositions).

Narrative theory: A type of thinking that seeks to explain narrative structures and their relationship to wider cultural and genre-related factors - Will be used to describe the genres within the film.

Sony: Multimedia global co-operation with headquarters in Culver City, California, USA (Columbia Pictures) - This is the company that financed the film as well as the company that made it.

Self Evaluation

Attainment - (2) - I believe that my attainment has been pretty good, even though I have missed some lessons due to illness, I feel that I do come most of the time.

Effort - (1) - I always put 100% in to my work and I always try my best in media, I think that I have put in allot of effort in so far, and will be hoping to continue with my standard of work I have put in so far.

Punctuality - (2) - My punctuality is good, I do sometimes come late, however most of the time I'm on time.

Submission and quality of homework - (1) - I always give my work in on time and is always to a very high quality, and I will be continuing with my standards.

Ability to work independently - (2) - In my opinion I can work well independently which I will be needed to do when working on my independent essay.

Quality of writing - (2) - My writing skills are very good I can write fluently with the correct media terminology and I further write to a very high standard so I believe that the quality of writing is very good.

Organisation of Media folder - (2) - I have when I get handouts been putting them in my folder when I get back from school, so I believe that it is organised.

Oral contributions in class - (1) - I believe that I contribute allot in the lessons, when needed I do give my own analysis and comment on what is being discussed about in lesson.

Standard of Module 5 blog - (1) - My med 5 blog is very good and I believe that the standard of it is very high, it well organised and is all completed.

Standard of Module 6 blog - (1) - My med 6 blog is very good and I believe that the standard of it is very high, it well organised and is all completed.

WWW:

. The organisation of my blog, because I believe that I have worked well on it and have really tried hard to do everything for it.

. Also my PowerPoint presentation I believe went well.

. My final achievement was the media awards, and my media production at the end it was really well done.

EBI:

. Come to every lesson earlier not just on the dot.

. Do everything on my action plan on time.

. Improve on my media terminology so I can improve my essay writing abilities.

'Hancock' Movie Reviews:

Rotten tomatoes:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/02/DD8O11HIL1.DTL&type=movies

"There's nothing he can't do, but because he's drunk and apathetic, he's sloppy about it. The public loathes him, because every time he does something good, he ends up ripping apart roads and demolishing buildings".

I will need this quote for my essay as it clearly shows how 'Hancock' is not a typical superhero, however contradicting this he can also be seen as a superhero as "there's nothing he can't do".

""Hancock" is an original creation, not based on a comic book series. It lacks the fable-like quality that comic book adaptations have at their best, but it also lacks the compressed, frenetic, action-packed-nonsense quality of comic book adaptations at their worst".

This will be needed because it shows that the film was an original idea, and was not based on a comic like other superhero movies, this again shows how 'Hancock' is not a typical representation of a superhero.

Imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/usercomments

"Hancock is not the generic superhero film and is probably one of the more ingenious ideas to come across a producer's desk in quite some time".

I will be using this quote as it says in the opening line "Hancock is not the generic superhero film" this quote will just further reinforce my question.

"The lack of a central villain also hurts the movie a lot. The character that serves as Hancock's enemy in the finale isn't even well acted. The person is laughable".

This will be useful because all super-villains in all superhero movies are normally powerful and they normally have a long fight scene with the superhero. However 'Hancock' does not therefore showing how this film and 'Hancock' is not a typical representation.

My Presentation

WWW:
. Engaged audience
. Good powerpoint presentation
. Confident
. Good use of Hybrid Genre (Paroady)

EBI:
. Watch film again
. Check spelling and grammer
. Conclusion

Targets:
. Look up genre theory and how it has changed and why?
. Look at the old batman t.v series
. Look at past blogs

10 point action plan

1) Get outside knowledge of text used. (AOii)

This will be done within the next 2 weeks by the 3rd of November. The outside knowledge is key so that I have a further understanding not only for the text I'm going to be using but as well as the

2) Watch my film more than once. (AOi)

I have already watch the film once and will watch the film again by 1st of November.

3) Look at past blogs that relate to my superhero genre. (AOii)

Past blog research will be completed by 3rd of November.

4) Detailed information of theorists I'm going to apply to my essay. (AOiii.1)

Even though I have already done research on theorists I still need to do more so this part should be completed by the 8Th November.

5) Read the media guardian every Monday's and Friday's. (AOii, AO5 and AOiii.2)

I chose to do this on these two days because that's the days I am free on so it would be easier for me.

6) Highlight and use keywords from the A2 media booklet. (AOii will also help with AOi)

This will be helpful because I will be able to use wider knowledge of vocabulary, which will help me through my media essay. This is half completed so by the end of this week I will have it done so 25Th or 26Th October.

7) Read more reviews and post up findings on blog. (AOii, AOi and AO5)

Further this will be done in order for me to know how much the film made and see what other peoples opinion will be on 'Hancock'. This will be finished by the 8Th of November.

8) I need to be more organised as I normally leave things to last minute. (no real assessment objectives just for my own personal aim).

This will be done as soon as possible and will try my best to come up with a timetable of some sort to arrange my time. This should be done by the 26Th October.

9) I need to post more stuff on my blog. (all assessment objectives)

This is so that when I actually write my essay it will be all organised. This will be done during the course of the year but I will post up stuff by the end of this week.

10) Finally I have to go library and get book knowledge which is key to a successful essay. (AOii)

This is needed as you cannot just rely on the Internet, so by getting library knowledge it will be much easier. This will be done by the 1st or 2ND of November.

Self assessment of blog work

AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and application of the Key Concepts employed within Media Studies and the evaluation of texts and ideas using the Key Concepts

In my opinion I believe that I have covered the key concepts (MIGRAIN), especially with the trailer and scene analysis, I feel the WWW is that I have carefully covered all the MIGRAIN things such as institution, media language, genre etc. Further I have included a narrative, genre, institution etc as main links on my blog page and I further believe that I have done all these in the correct and proper fashion. However I have not done the media languages and forms part, as it is very long and I will need to include alot of outside work, but I will do this and be up to date for when it is my time to do my presentation. The key concept I covered the best was the institution bit, as I included alot of relevant information that would be needed for my essay.

AO2: demonstrate knowledge and application of the wider contexts (historical, social, political, economic) relevant to Media Studies.

I don't think I have zeitgeist in my blog, as my question does not refer to modern day society, I think that what zeitgeist is. The SHEP part is covered in my blog, but it has little reference in some blog entries, such as social I talk about this when I discuss about how the people see 'Hancock' further the historical context part I do not refer to as I need no real historical context; I can repair this by probably getting a book that describes the role of men (patriarchal) views, which is not my main topic but something I can refer to. Economic is related to my text as in my blog I show the earnings the film made and how much the company of Sony Columbia Pictures is worth, and finally political is not used in my blog because I have no real use for political views as I am referring to films not documentaries, a way to rectify this is by maybe including a brief reference to a documentary based on superhero movies, this should invoke some political views such as how the government are involved with this such as the 'Captain America' movie.

AO5: Demonstrate the ability to use appropriate investigative and research techniques in carrying out an independent study of a media text, topic or issue.

I haven't really gone to look for books or online articles but I have got reviews done, for my main film, I really do not know what type of articles and books to get as I have no real historical views that can be shown as my question has no real relevance to it. I believe that my question is simple but is good and is easy to compare with loads of films relating with that genre, my hypothesis is not in the greatest detail however it does display a clear aim and objective which I will further be working towards.

I haven't really decided about issues and debates yet but one debate that's in my mind is that do you have to have powers to be a superhero? I haven't included it yet but I will. I have done textual analysis in the form of the film poster and the trailer as well as a scene from the film; at this moment in time I have only really analysed one trailer and 2 movie scenes. I have only scene my main film about twice, but I will be watching it another 1 or 2 times to get all I need out of the film; most of the films I am going to involve in my essay, are roughly 3-4 years old but there are some exceptions as some films are about 18 - 20 years old. Finally at the end of each work that I have posted on my blog I paste the web link that I got the information from, so that I know where to go for, for more detail.

SYNOPTIC ABILITY: Draw together understanding of Key Concepts, from different parts of the specification in order to make effective textual readings. Draw upon knowledge and application of a wide range of possible relevant contexts, in order to account for the characteristics of media texts

I have linked what I'm doing to other parts of last years course (MED2), by introducing theorists as well as narrative and audience etc. Further I have included this years MED4 involvement as well with my main focus of my essay being representation; however I do not think I have involved any MED6 topics yet! But I will when I think of what I can use from the MED6 category that fits in amongst my work. I haven't read any mediaGuardian articles because I can't find any that are relevant for my text that I'm going to be writing, I have done research in to the values and ideologies and it is posted up on my blog.

CRITICAL AUTONOMY: Apply critical ideas and principles to new situations – and demonstrate media literacy in responses to media texts:

I believe that I am thinking for my self, however I do get help or ask for peoples input when I need it, because it's good to get other peoples opinions. I come with my own ideas, and try my best to think of other ones I keep note of all the ideas I have and then if I think of something else I elaborate it. I personally believe that I am self motivated as I do try do all the work set, however I do sometimes leave things to the last minute.

QUALITY OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: Select and use forms and styles of writing appropriate to purpose and complex subject matter. Organise relevant information clearly and coherently, using specialist vocabulary when appropriate. Ensure text is legible, and spelling, grammar and punctuation are accurate, so that meaning is clear.

I believe that my work at the moment is well presented as it is in order; in my personal opinion it is clear and well organised. I do use key terminology when i write, I've got used to it now so it just comes to me when I write. At the end of my work that I have done if I use the PC I always spellcheck just in case I made some silly mistakes, finally I do highlight the key parts in stuff I have copied and pasted as well this I always write the web address down to.