Ethnicity in TV drama

How are Black, White, Chinese and asian people represented in British or American TV drama?

Black:

 Empire

• The American TV drama Empire manages to fit numerous stereotypes of black people. The whole show is based on the life of the Lyon family and their journey to success.
• Lucius Lyon fits perfectly into the widely known stereotype of black people being violent. He does this from the murders he has committed along with his numerous threats to multiple people. 
• The Lyon family conforms to another stereotype of being reckless. They abuse their position of power (especially one of the sons, Haikeem) by hitting on women, using drugs and having a very bad attitude to others.

90210 - Dixon

• The character of Dixon could be seen to fir into the music stereotype of black people as he wants to be a DJ/rapper for his career path. There is a common association between black people and rap music.

Misfits - Curtis

• Curtis is a commonly stereotyped black guy as he gets in trouble and ends up doing community service. 
• He also has the 'slang' vocabulary that is often associated with black men when heard, for example, going around in groups in public places.

White: 

Effy - Skins

• Effy fails to conform to the stereotypes of white teenagers as she does drugs and recklessly gets drunk. 
• Effy falls more into the common representation of black teenagers, this emphasises how rebellious she is and portrays her changing generation.

Ronnie - Law and Order UK

• Ronnie dresses smartly and has a respectable job. These representations conform to stereotypes of white people as we are often seen as posh (smart attire).

Fiona - American Horror Story

• Fiona is an older lady who dresses very smartly and is extremely sophisticated.
• Fiona conforms to stereotypes as white people are again seen to be smart and sophisticated compared to those of other ethnicities.

Asian: 

90210 - Navid

• Navid settles into the asian stereotype of being extremely wealthy. He drives a lambo when he is only aged 16/17 and lives in a massive house with his family.
• In one episode we also see him having a family meal that Adriana then joins. We see that the table is surrounded by at least 20 people, thus conforming to the stereotype of Asians having very large families.

Pretty Little Liars - Emily

Emily is quite a shy character which is often seen in Asian people. She is good at swimming etc

However Emily does counter Asian stereotypes as she is a lesbian. This is often not associated with people of her ethnicity as they are often seen as religious and being a lesbian would go against their religion.

Skins - Anwar

•  Anwar fits into stereotypes because of his intelligence and very religious family. 
• However, Anwar does also go against stereotypes as he does drugs and this goes against his religion. 

Chinese: 

Agent May - Agents of Shield

• Agent May fits one of the most common stereotypes of Chinese people as she is good at Martial arts. She is the oldest of the SHIELD team but still manages to be the best and most skilled when it comes to fighting off the bad guys.
• This is stereotypical as Chinese people are often associated with skills in martial arts which requires fast thinking suggesting that she is also smart; another stereotype of Chinese people.

Anita - Humans

• Anita is a robot that is programmed to help out humans in every way. She is shown to have all information that is asked of her plus that of which is irrelevent. This supports the stereotype of Chinese people being very clever as she knows a lot of information. 

Glenn - The Walking Dead

• Glenn both conforms and counters stereotypes of Chinese people. He is very intelligent in the TV drama which is a common stereotype of Chinese people. However, his job is being a pizza boy, which counters stereotypes of Chinese people as they are thought to have intellectual jobs.

British Film Industry

Who did what in the British Film Industry?

• BBFC - An independent non-governmental body which classifies and sensors film, video as well as computer and console-based games released in the UK.
• BFI - The official UK agency for international cultural relations. Its Film Department promotes new British Films (features and short), internationally principally through festivals and showcases.
• UK Film Council - Promotes understanding and appreciation of Britain's rich film and television heritage and culture.
• British Academy - aims to support, develop and promote the art forms of moving image.
• British Council - Government backed lead agency for film in the UK ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented at home and abroad.

Can you find films made by these production companies?

Who dominates the UK film industry?

Film 4: 

• The most recognisable films made by this production company are 127 hours and the recent film 12 Years a Slave and both of The Inbetweeners Movies. 
• Other films that will perhaps be known by the majority of the population include:Seven Psychopaths, Shaun of the Dead and Ex Machina.

Momentum Pictures:

• The Woman in Black, Sinister, Safe Haven and The KIng's speech are all popular films produced by Momentum Pictures, as well as Chalet Girl and Dear John.

Working Title:

• Very well known films that are made by Working Title include: Bridget Jones Diary series, Theory of Everything and Hot Fuzz.
• Other films made by this production company are We Are Your Friends, Les Miserables and Paul.

Pathe:

• Austin Powers, Beauty and the Beast and Chicken Run are all popular films produced by Pathe.
• Suffragette and Trance are also well known films produced by this company.

BBC Film Network:

• The Last Man on Earth and The World Turns are both films made by the BBC Film Network.

What makes a film British?

British films can claim 25% tax relief from the government. So, the first 25% of any profit you make cannot be taxed. 

To qualify as 'British', a film needs to score 18/35 of the BFI 'Britishness' criteria.

The old rules for being British required a film to meet three of the following six criteria:

• A British director
• British Producer
• Predominantly British experience
• A subject matter that informs on the British experience
• British identity defined by the BFI in 'Sight and Sound'
• Co-production with British input

Ex machina - 32

Avengers - 22

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 23

British films attract audiences through their different and abstract ideas due to their lower budget.

• Ex Machina, for example, used unusual marketing techniques. It's use of making a Tinder account of a main character had never been done before. This account then directed them to the Instagram page that advertised the film. This film would have attracted a high amount of British audiences as well as an American audience due to the high amount of sci-fi fans that cause sci-fi conventions that happen around the country.
• The Inbetweeners 2 has a clear British humour that would easily appeal to a British-lead audience. However British humour can also appeal to other audiences as well.
• Suffragette - Being a historical British film it will more than likely only attract a British audience. It may mainly attract the females as it is about women going against the patriarchal society. This is different as most Hollywood Blockbusters contain action, explosions or romance, however this has none.
• Attack the Block - This would attract the British audience because of its British humour, which people enjoy watching. It differs to blockbusters because it consists of 17 year old British lads being chased by Space Gorillas, which is not usually witnessed in a Blockbuster.
• Macbeth - Written by Shakespeare, this film would attract a British audience because of its origin. Shakespeare was an iconic writer that many are fond of. Blockbusters are not commonly associated with developing playwrites into movies as they are old fashioned.
• Far from the Madding Crowd -  This film is different to those of blockbusters because the romance involved is different to them. Blockbuster romances are often more serious, such as a woman falling for someone they cannot have.

Far from the Madding Crowd - Aficionados - $30.2 million at the Box Office.
Inbetweeners 2 - Mainstream - $63.8 million at the Box Office.
Macbeth - Aficionados - $5.2 million.
Attack the Block - Mainstream plus - $5.8 million.
Suffragette - Mainstream plus - $14.5 million.
Ex Machina - Film Buffs - $37 million at Box Office.

Why do we have a British Film Industry?

We have a BFI to add a variety of film genres to the film industry as a whole, as Hollywood Blockbusters are strongly action based. British films allow a break to the audience from the action films that dominate the cinemas. I also think we have a BFI to gain more money as the first 25% of any profit made in British films cannot be taxed if they claim tax relief from the Government.

Mad Max Research

Task:

Produce a fact file for the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road.

1. The film was directed by George Miller
2. Seale describes Miller as both a 'single minded film maker and one of the nicest people you will ever meet'
3. The 3D camera rig had to be small enough to go through the windows of the truck but this was difficult as 3D equipment is very bulky.
4. The cameras had to be waterproof and dust proof because of the harsh desert locations and shooting conditions.
5. An active cooling system was required as the cameras generated to a lot of heat.
6. They switched to 2D shooting which was a major shift in approach. It made the shoot much more straightforward.
7. Production involved the use of Alexa Plus, Alexa M, Cannon 5D, Edge arm, Phantom and many other cameras.
8. The film editor of Mad Max was Margaret Sixel.
9. Sixel was given 480 hours of footage that needed to be cut down and edited.
10. The final edit lasted 2 hours and consisted of 2700 individual shots.
11. The film took 16 years to make from when the idea originally came around.
12. Almost every shot in the film was centre frame.
13. The film was originally planned for shooting in 2003 in Namibia but had to be delayed after the beginning of the Iraq war caused trouble with shipping and security in Namibia.
14. Production began again in in 2009.
15. Mad Max: Fury Road was released 30 years after the last film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
16. Charlize Theron shaved her head for the role in this film and had to wear a wig for A Million Ways to Die in The West.
17. Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy did not get along at all, and Theron got to the point of not even speaking to Hardy on set.
18. Constant whether delays and location issues caused the film to be delayed multiple times. Reshoots also caused delays.
19. Liam Fountain auditioned for the part of Max but lost it to Tom Hardy. He played Max in the 2011 short film Mad Max Renegade.
20. The film was shot in sequence and the storyboards were completed before the script.
21. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film were real practical effects, stunts, make up and sets.
22. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the Namibian landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron's left arm which is prosthetic in the film.
23. Mel Gibson was originally going to have a role as a drifter in the film but never came to fruition.
24. They were shooting in the Namibian desert for six months. However, some of them spent up to 10 months in the desert.
25. The 150 vehicles seen in the film were conceived by production designer Colin Gibson.
26.There was over 3500 storyboards for the film.
27. The film project entered "development hell" after having to deal with 3 production delays, financial troubles and post 9/11 travel and shipping restrictions.
28. The film had a $125 million budget.
29. During filming the President of Warner Bros. Jeff Robinov flew out to the set to evaluate the situation and apparently the report was not glowing - it turned out that the production of Fury Road was at least 5 days behind schedule.
30. The studio then assigned producer Denise di Novi to supervise production and report any further problems.
31. Warner Bros. also decided to keep an eye on the budget as Miller had a history of going over budget.
32. In 2003, the script of the film, which was insisted to be made by Warner Bros. after panicking about it, had little dialogue.
33. After Miller decided to abandon filming in 3D, the studio then decided to create a 3D version in post-production.
34. The film was originally supposed to shot in the Australian desert but, for the first time in decades, it rained and grass and plants grew and so shooting had to be moved to Namibia.
35. The CG cars were built from photogrammetry surveys, processed in Photoscan.
36. During production, an edge arm was used to film 95% of the footage. An edge arm costs $500,000.
37. Almost every shot in the movie was center framed. By doing this, every shot occupied the same space and so editor Margaret Sixel could amplify, accelerate and cut so simply and quickly with the confidence that the visual information would be understood.
38. During the sandstorm scene, DOP Andrew Jackson felt that there at least had to be real vehicles seen driving as this allowed an element of realism to remain in the camera movement.
39. The 150 vehicles involved in the film were rigged, driven and crashed in real life due to the efforts of special effects supervisors Andy Williams and Dan Oliver and supervising stunt coordinator Guy Norris.
40. Hundreds of visual effects artists, led by overall VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson, spent considerable time crafting more than 2000 visual effects shots in the movie.
41. Plate manipulation was carried out by colourist Eric Whipp, including distinctive graphic styles and sky replacements.
42. The Citadel location was produced via a combination of principal photography in Namibia, shooting in Sydney and visual effects work from lloura informed by actual rock cliffs photographed in Australia and re-worked using photogrammetry.
43. The helicopter they had for mountain shots had to stand by for 10 days just so they could get the shot in good conditions.
44. They started using photoscan first to build textured terrain models, and then experimenting with the software they began to build anything they wanted.
45. On the rock-platform balcony, the crowd below was actually only 150 extras who were then extended into 30,000 sims.
46. It was supposed to be an animated 3D film, but it ended up being a 3D live action film.
47. In 2013 the producers had to go back and film additional scenes.
48. They spent over $43 million on TV advertising.
49. Filming originally concluded in 2001.
50. The stars signed up to be in the film in 2010.
51. They followed real dynamics and physics, since a great deal of crash reference footage the director had sourced tended to show that movement. This was based on Miller's initial ideas.

52. Jackson incorporated a dust element shoot for swirling action close to camera and streams of sand blowing off the vehicles, this was to ensure the toxic storm looked somewhat grounded.

53. They blew up a part of the quarry for the scene they desired.

54. The scene for the night time part, was actually filmed in day light however, it was transformed to a blue environment by colourist Eric Whipp based on a suggestion made by Jackson.

55. To create the day to night time scene they went a little more stylized and graphic with it.

56. Conceived as a practical effect, the refinery was blown up in Namibia, with Iloura then compositing in the other cars and Max on the foreground pole.

57. They took the mobile refinery out in the desert and drove it remotely, surrounded by camera cars and a helicopter, and blew it up.

58. Jackson went back out and shot equivalent plates for all the chase vehicles to be around it.

59. The final chase sequence was also one in which The Third Floor delivered previs, under previsualization supervisor Glenn Burton. 

60. The final car chase consists of a lot of characters and a lot of switching vehicles and concurrent action.

61. The previs had to carefully track where everyone was at a particular beat and help work out the transitions so the characters would be at the right place at the right time.

62. The sequence of the final crash made use of numerous Namibia plates, including stationary action that would be enhanced by moving backgrounds, canyon augmentation, a War Rig and other vehicle crash stunts.

63. Jackson even engaged Eric Whipp's iPhone at one point to film extra elements to be comp'd into the War Rig crash.

64. Miller wanted to use real dust for the end, so they went one floor up on a balcony and put a whole bunch of dry wall rocks and dust and crashed them down and filmed it at 240 fps for the slow-mo bit at the end, because they did not want to use CG.

65. The frenetic pace and complexity of the shoot in Namibia meant that backgrounds and skies were not always consistent from shot to shot.

66. Whenever they changed the sky, they tried to make it as graphic as they could.

67. The problem they had with Namibia was that there was a weird foggy atmosphere which rolls in the morning.

68. A CG car was used most dramatically in one scene, in which a twister picks up a vehicle and a group of War boys into the air.

69. George Miller also made Happy Feet 2.

70. There is assumed to be another Mad Max, after filming Fury Road, called Mad Max: Furiosa.

71. Tom Hardy apologised to Miller for being frustrated with what Miller wanted during shooting, he apologised at a venue.

72. Furiosa (Charlize Theron), was the hero of the story which is unusual as it is normally the male.

73. Due to Hardy apologising for his behaviour towards Miller, it shows how much he appreciates the film after the finished product.

74. Mad Max: Fury Road outruns Hot Pursuit for the title of top-spending movie of the week.

75. Fury Road repeated its No.1 position on the strength of a slightly lower estimated $7.5 million spent on 957 national airings across 42 networks.

76. Concerns diminished when the complicated 3D shooting rigs developed for the film were scrapped.

77. Apparently, Miller also used post techniques to degrade the footage, increasing its grain and contrast, and crunched the focus digitally. He did not want clean shots; he wanted the audience to feel as if they had sand in their eyes.

78. In the period of time between June 21-September 9 2015, the five most pirated films - led by Warner Bros. were downloaded on torrent networks worldwide 85 million times.

79.The film generated $374 million at the box office worldwide.

80. It also had 22.90 million shares on torrent networks over the summer.

81. The jacket Max (Tom Hardy) wore, was a replica of Gibson's jacket in the Mad Max's he had the role in.

82. Miller was looking for someone with 'an animal charisma'. Miller says about Tom Hardy, 'he felt so much like the character.'

83. Tom Hardy heard about the film on the casting circuit, but 'didn't think I'd be in the running'. He assumed it would go to an Australian actor.

84. Former Skins star Nicholas Hoult, 25, hadn't watched the original films before he was asked to audition, but when he did, he 'was blown away by the fact that so many things I'd seen in pop culture were basically based upon this world that George created.'

85. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley admits that it was a tougher shoot than 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

86. The film was announced back in 2009, but it was another two years until they started filming.

87. Mad Max: Fury Road is not a CGI film.

88. Its foundations are laid on a past franchise, but Miller hopes the movie marks a new direction, and has already penned two more films, should this one be a success.

89. Mad Max: Fury Road is a continuation of the 1979 'Mad Max'.

90. Tom Hardy, during the scene when he is attached to the vehicle, would of been difficult for him due to the dust, sand, etc going into his face and eyes.

91. When Jackson was looking at the storyboards, he could not understand where each shot was located, due to the amount of storyboards there were.

92. Miller had a script prepared but he knew it wasn’t good, he already knew how everything would of been set out, he had it all planned out in his head.

93. Whipp believes that trickiest part was the day to night section.

94. Whipp was able to use a 'mishmash' of tools to make the sky replacements work.

95. A positive of using a postvis process is how shots are half a second to a second long.

96. The camera used to film the final crash sequence was the Phantom Camera and it takes 300 frames per second.

97. The motorbikes they used were Freestylers.

98. The trailer of Mad Max didn't show the whole film, unlike any other film.

99. Brendon McCarthy worked with Miller to produce the storyboard.

100. It took 18 years to storyboard and draft.

TV Drama's representation of disability (essay)

TV Drama and Disability (50 marks)

All representations in TV drama are mediated by the producer. As Stuart Hall in 1980 suggests, the audience can be positioned to accept a dominant, preferred representation. This clip shows many conventions of TV drama, including a narrative that signifies binary opposition of disability. The representation of the disabled man in this clip (Nick) and how he is treated fits the stereotypical way we would perceive them to be. Therefore it shall be discussed how the elements, even the smallest elements, of mise-en-scene, camerawork, editing and sound involved in the clip combine to form macro meanings of the representation of disability.

Mise en scene is used to create the reality of life for disabled people in a variety of ways. Location, costumes and props are all contributions to how disability is represented. The establishing shot of the clip shows fencing with barbed wire ravelled around, using a shallow focus. This has been filmed in a real location and Nick has been put in the next shot of the building yard to connote that the fence shows his feeling of being trapped because of his disability. It is also done to show the stereotypical mistreatment of disabled people of being different and isolated out from the ‘normal’ people, as we soon find out when his peers won’t let him do the job that he used to do. Considering that he has already done this job and so is experienced and knows what to do, it is clear that his disability is the direct reason to why they will not treat him fairly. It further suggests that people with disabilities cannot do the jobs that able bodied people can do, which is yet another stereotype associated with disabled people.

The costumes of the characters including Nick, his peer and the woman and her kids have been used effectively represent their class; they all where jeans and hoodies, and the woman’s kids have the stereotypical ‘council house haircut’ which all suggests that they are working class. This links back to disability as the stereotypical class of disabled people is usually aimed at working or lower class. The use of props in one scene (when the woman drops her shopping bags) is used cleverly to represent the stereotypical way that disabled people are viewed by others. This is shown by Nick trying to be that heroic man that helps a woman and in return is screamed at because of his facial disfigurement, whereas a man without the facial disfigurement would not have been greeted in the same way.

Cinematography through lighting and colour has been used effectively to create representation of disability. For example, in the scene of Nick and the Sergeant, a 3 point lighting system has been used to give low key lighting on Nick’s face so we cannot see his disability and connotes to one of Paul Hunt’s 10 stereotypes from the media; being sinister or evil. It also connotes the feeling of imprisonment again as the shadow creates a barred effect over his face. The overall colour scheme of the clip as a whole consists of very dull colours which connotes to Nick’s new life; unfair and unhappy. This represents disability in a stereotypical way of him being pitiable and pathetic.

Camerawork is used to create a variety of effects and can therefore contribute to representations of disability in different ways. A variety of generic shot types are used to aid audience engagement with the narrative. Close ups are used in the first scene of both Nick and his peer when having a conversation. This is used to establish the relationship between the two people and emphasise reactions of how they act around each other. In this scene we can clearly see that Nick’s old mate is uncomfortable as he tries to avoid eye contact with Nick. It also highlights his disability to represent that his facial disfigurement stands out to others and is what separates him from the ‘norm’. Over the shoulder shots are used when Nick is talking to the Sergeant and this helps put the audience in the action so they are more engaged into Nick’s anger.

The camera angles can also give suggestions of how disabled people are portrayed in TV dramas. In the scene where Nick runs to help the woman, we see her at a lower angle, helping to construct representations of disability by again connoting that Nick and others like him are evil as having the woman angled in this way makes her seem like the ‘damsel in distress’.

Editing is used to create continuity for the audience so they can follow the narrative. Simple cuts link the shots together such as shot reverse shot being used when Nick is talking to his mate. This links the conversation together so the audience knows who’s talking and can follow the facial expressions of the two characters. Using this editing technique allows us to see that Nick’s old friend is uncomfortable talking to him as he tries to avoid eye contact with him. This helps represent disability in the way that it resemble how people think and act towards those with disabilities.

Fast paced editing is used to emphasise the unease of the friend about Nick's facial disfigurement and to connote him wanting to speed the conversation up to an end. Cross cutting is also shown between Nick leaving the building ground and going to help the woman with her bags. This is done to show the continuous bad luck that Nick is having through the course of a day in a short amount of time. This relates to disability as is shows that people are treating him differently.

A temporal ellipsis has been used to organise narrative events to shorten down the course of the day shown in the clip. This is done not only to show Nick’s continuous mistreatment but also to show the growing anger inside him as the day goes on. When Nick is walking through the crowd everyone is blurred except him showing that he is singled out amongst a crowd because of his disability.

Sound is used as an effective mode of address to aid meaning for the audience. It is layered on tracks and the scenes consist of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. 

Diegetic ambient sounds are used to create verisimilitude and consist of the dialogue of characters and the sound of objects. Diegetic is shown during conversations between Nick and other characters. Another diegetic sound occurs when the woman screams after seeing Nick, which is due to him making her jump because of his disability. This shows Nick is stereotyped of being ugly and scary, however it is a stereotype she did not mean to occur.

Non-diegetic sounds are shown when there is background music, narrator’s commentary, or sound effects to show dramatic scenes. One non-diegetic sound during the clip was the sound bridge which was used to cut from one shot to another. The shot consisted of Nick walking away angrily from the woman to him walking in a town centre. This music is loud, fast-paced and aggressive to highlight Nicks anger and frustration not only towards others but himself as well.

During the time when Nick is in the recruitment office, there is no background sound at all other than the two of them talking. This allows the audience to understand the importance and intensity of this scene as Nick is finally releasing all his anger out. It can be suggested said because he is whinging and ranting that he conforms to the stereotype of feeling like a burden to others.

Overall, this clip shows the common negative representation of disability that is often seen in both TV dramas and real life. It promotes several stereotypes of disabled people such as: pitiable and pathetic, a burden, evil or sinister, and unable to participate in everyday life situations. The clip manages to construct a clear representation of disability through other people’s reactions and body language as well as Nick’s own emotions. What was seen in this clip is often very similar to other TV dramas that the media use to exploit disabled people and their insecurities which are easily made into stereotypes of them.

TV Drama - Generic Conventions

You will find that TV dramas all have the following ingredients:

• Characters – even particular kinds of characters: eg, at its most simple, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters.
• Stories – they all tell stories, whether those stories involve adventure, crime or romance and they often, but not always, end happily.
• The stories are told against familiar backdrops: – eg, homes, police stations and offices (for crime dramas), hospitals (for medical dramas) – most of which are created in studios. However, most dramas also use outside locations to create particular effects.
• Camerawork – particular kinds of shots are used: eg, sequences involving establishing shots followed by mid-shots of characters, shot/reverse shots to show character interaction and, in particular,close-ups to show the characters’ emotions.
• Stories use dialogue to tell the stories. Occasionally, monologues are built in (as voice-overs, a character telling a story).
• Music is used to punctuate the action, create effects (suspense, tension) and underline emotional moments.
• Particular subgenres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable – police cars, blue lights, operating theatres and scalpels, triage/reception areas in hospitals. Icons of the genre, they symbolise the (sub)genre.

Narrative Codes

Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes developed a concept that every narrative is interwoven with five codes that drive one to maintain interest in a story. The first two codes involve ways of creating suspense in narrative, the first by unanswered questions, the second by anticipation of an action's resolution. These two codes are essentially connected to the temporal order of the narrative.

The Hermeneutic Code

The hermeneutic code refers to plot elements of a story that are not explained. They exist as enigmas that the reader wishes to be resolved. A detective story, for example, is a narrative that operates primarily by the hermeneutic code. A crime is exposed or postulated and the rest of the narrative is devoted to answering questions raised by the initial event.

The Proairetic Code

The proairetic code refers to plot events that imply further narrative action. For example, a story character confronts an adversary and the reader wonders what the resolution of this action will be. Suspense is created by action rather than by a reader's wish to have mysteries explained. The final three codes are related to how the reader comprehends and interprets the narrative discourse.

The Semic Code

A seme is a unit of meaning or a sign that express cultural stereotypes. These signs allow the author to describe characters, settings and events. The semic code focuses upon information that the narration provides in order to suggest abstract concepts. Any element in a narrative can suggest a particular, often additional, meaning by way of connotation through a correlation found in the narrative. The semic code allows the text to 'show' instead of 'tell' by describing material things.

The Symbolic Code

The symbolic code refers to a structural structure that organizes meanings by way of antitheses, binary oppositions or sexual and psychological conflicts. These oppositions can be expressed through action, character and setting.

The Cultural Code

The cultural code designates any element in a narrative that refers to common bodies of knowledge such as historical, mythological or scientific. The cultural codes point to knowledge about the way the world works as shared by a community or culture.

Representation of Disablity

This YouTube clip represents a stereotypical representation of how other people treat those with disabilities.

Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

• A hand held camera is used so that the scenes have a more realistic effect on the viewers. It can also be used to express Nick's anger at the way others are acting with him as this way the screen is not still and is moving with his aggressive actions.
• In the first shot we also see close up shots of both Nick and his peer. This is so we can see more clearly how his peer is uncomfortable with looking at his face and is also done to highlight Nick's disability.
• We next see him walking through a crowd in which we see frequent shots of strangers in the crowd looking over at him. This emphasises the stereotypical first impression that people have when seeing a disabled people as they are different. 
• Most of the shots shown of Nick are eye level, which could be to show his equality with everyone else even though some people may look down on him.
• A shallow focus is used in the opening scene to introduce and exit it. The focus is on a bared fence with barbed wire. This could be to represent the way that Nick is feeling; that he is trapped because of his disability.

Editing

• Shot-reverse-shot is used when Nick is talking to his old mate. This could be used to show how his mate acts towards him whilst having a conversation. In the clip we can clearly see that he is uncomfortable as he tries to avoid eye contact.
• Fast-paced editing is used when Nick is talking to his peer in the builders yard. This is done possibly to show the unease of the peer about Nick's facial disfigurement and wanting the speed the conversation up to an end. 
• Cross-cutting is shown between Nick leaving the building ground and going to help the woman with her bags. This is done to show the continuous bad luck that Nick is having through the course of a day in a short amount of time. This relates to disability as is shows that people are treating him differently with his disability.

Sound

• Non-diegetic sound is heard when Nick is walking through the crowd of people as there is drumming music playing over the scene. This music is aggressive and loud to match Nick's anger. This relates to disability as it shows that he is feeling sorry for himself.
• Diegetic sound is used when we see Nick and his old friend talking and we hear voices of workers in the background. 
• A sound bridge is used to go from one scene to another. In this clip it used between Nick storming away from the woman after she screamed and him walking through the crowd of people.
• In the sergeant's office there is no sound other than Nick and the sergeant talking. This highlights the importance of the conversation as Nick is releasing how he feels since his disability.

Mise en Scene

• When Nick is talking to the sergeant, we only see his face in the shade of the blinds. This is showing the darkness that disabled people can have because they are angry at their complexion and how others treat them. This also fits in with one of Paul Hunt's 10 stereotypes - sinister or evil - that the media use to portray disabled people.
• It is clear that most, if not all, of the people that speak in the clip are working class including Nick. We can make this judgement based on the clothing that they are wearing, which are very casual and slightly scruffy clothing. They could have done this because disabled people are often stereotyped with the working or lower class.
• The working class scenario is reinforced when we see the woman getting her grocery bags out of the taxi. She gets out in front of a row of council houses which her children then enter, and both her boys have the very common 'council house' haircut, showing their poor financial status.
• In the scene with Nick and the sergeant there is a shot that shows an army painting directly above Nick, which could possibly signify that his injury happened by being in the army.
• The make up seen to form Nick's facial disfigurement has been done very realistically to get an accurate as possible resemblance to how people in his situation would be treated like in real life.

Ex Machina Essay Improvements

Why was Ex Machina a success at the Box Office?

Ex Machina is a British, sci-fi film that was released in January 2015 (UK) and April 2015 (US). It was produced by DNA films, Film Four and Scott Rudin Productions and was directed by Alex Garland. In the film, a programmer is selected to participate in an experiment involving artificial intelligence by evaluating its human qualities. However this film was made differently to others. It had a low budget ($15 million), little special effects and CGI, and no big fighting scenes, or any huge set pieces for that matter. Yet it managed to gross $3.8 million in the UK and over $25.4 million in the USA. So, why did it do so well at the Box Office when it's missing all the key features that most audiences today think make a 'good' film? I will be exploring some of the reasons why.

First of all, the audience that Ex Machina is aimed towards seems to be a reason for its Box Office success. It is not a four quadrant picture as there is full frontal nudity involved and so limits the number of people that can watch it. It could be assumed that for this reason the film wouldn't do so well, but the film is aimed at more matured audiences and, very recently, it has been shown that audiences ages 45 and over hold the biggest percentage of UK cinema goers. So having the film aimed at this age group strongly benefited its Box Office success. The genre of the film also contributed to the success of it as sci-fi is a very popular market to viewers.

Another possible reason the film was a success is the marketing that it used to promote the film. Although there were few, they used the most engaging of the advertising techniques; viral. This technique allows the audience to create a hype among themselves about the film, meaning the film makers were also able to advertise at a substantially lower cost. This would also have helped the success at the Box office as there was a smaller budget to make profit from. 

One of the viral advertising techniques that was used was the avasessions.com website, in which you could talk to Ava and have a portrait drawn for you by her. This was a clever marketing technique as it was a very different approach and massively grabbed the audiences attention as they are provided with a first hand experience and insight into the main character of the movie. There was also a very sneaky viral marketing technique, done at SXSW, as the team created a fake account of actress Alicia Vikander, calling her Ava on Tinder leading the users of the app to believe she was real and then directing them to the Instagram account that promoted the film. This stunt, although found very impressive, did cause some moral issues as people found it deceiving. One man in particular said that it "toyed with his emotions so hard."

The way the film was distributed will have also been a reason for its success as it was done in a clever and thought out way. As the movie was released at a very similar to The Avengers movie, which is a very popular blockbuster movie, they only released the movie onto 4 screens in the USA. This allowed them to save money that they knew would be wasted if releasing the film onto over 1000 screens. Instead they gradually increased the number of screens that viewed Ex Machina as The Avengers decreased in the number of screens, thus meaning people were more likely to see the movie and boosting up its Box Office earnings. The distributor of the film was Universal Pictures who have a great reputation and therefore would have boosted the reputation of the film.

Some features of the film that may make it surprising to some people that the film was a success is the lack of big actors, the minimal locations, and the lack of CGI, fight scenes etc. Usually, films that do well involve big names like Leonardo DiCaprio or Angelina Jolie but there were no such actors seen. On the other hand, two of the main characters (Caleb and Nathan) will be appearing in the upcoming Star Wars film, 'The force awakens'. Another point to make is the actual number of actors in the film; there are very low numbers of extras and only 4 main characters, one of which doesn't speak. There are also minimal locations seen in the film. These factors would usually not appeal to the audience, especially teenagers, as they can find it quite boring. A lack of CGI, which this film has, can also create this effect. However there is again the argument that the film is aimed towards the more mature audience in which less CGI in a film often appeals to.

The effects used to create the body of Ava were made simply by shooting the scene once with her in it and once without her in it, then what they didn't want was digitally painted out and the background restored behind her. This process was done during post-production, and is the extent to which any CGI/VFX/SPX occur. This meant that the film could be edited relatively quickly. The shoots that were used were very long (sometimes up to 10 minutes) and it often took only one or two shoots to get through a scene. Both of these factors meant production of the film took a very short amount of time; six weeks to be exact. These factors also reflect why the budget was small. However, being a British film the budget is actually relatively sizable for this movie. 

It was actually Alex Garland's first time directing a movie, but has had experience in writing novels and co-producing movies beforehand. He has written novels such as The Beach in 1996, which was developed into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000, and 28 Days Later in 2002, starring Cillian Murphy. Both these films did extremely well at the Box Office and so Garland is well respected for these reasons in particular.

Overall there are many reasons to show why Ex Machina was successful at the Box Office, whether it was surprising to some people or not. I think the main reason was the strong difference of this film compared to others, including the use of VFX, the minimalistic locations, and the fact that it is outside of the Hollywood system. These factors can appeal to some audiences and attract the 'film buff aficionados'. However I do believe that the fact the fact that it did well at the Box Office does not necessarily affect whether or not it is a good film. Personally I found the film very slow and dull, but can see the reasons of why it did succeed.