A2 Media Studies Coursework Research and Planning

A2 Media Studies
Coursework
Research and Planning
Jack Corrigan

M.I.G.R.A.I.N –
Meaning:
• The Meaning of a media text is the embedded language the product will speak to us through all different
aspects in a code/connotation, it will be used in a particular medium to convey messages to the audience about
the media text displayed to them. There is four on screen aspects which are used to create meaning and they
are Mise en Scene with things like lighting, facial and body language, attire and props. There is also editing of
the product for example things like jump and fast paced cuts, sound with diegtic sound on screen like dialogue
or other sounds on screen to communicate clear and open messages and Non diegtic sound off screen used to
also used in a media language to create meaning. The last one would be camera shots/angles which would be
used in the scene to create meaning for the low angle shot it pan up to a character to symbolize the meaning of
power behind them as us the audience are subject to looking up at them as an important figure. These types of
codes created by equipment behind the scene like we discussed here with the shots and editing to create
meaning, these methods are known as technical codes
• These codes which will be exhibited through these aspects then can culturally recognized which then means
some audiences will understand it while others may not through various reasoning. One theory which can be
applied with meaning given to us by a media product is the Stuart Hall’s reception theory of media content, with
this theory presented to us and with the aspects given to us beforehand in cooperation to create meaning, this
theory deals with how we consume that meaning of the content and separates the general viewer base into 3
different bases. Firstly we have the dominant view which basically entails is that we agree with the meaning
given by the product with the shots, editing, mise en scene and sound displayed to us in collaboration purposely
put together by the producer and we conform with it. The next base which we could fall into is the balanced
base which means we agree with the meaning of the content displayed to us, but we still have our own opinions
about certain aspects and not fully conform with what is given to us, lastly is the oppositional base which means
we reject the meaning given to us and we prefer our own opinions over the message the producer is trying to
convey to us by the producer meaning we do not conform with the content at all. For example with how the
movie Inception ended, it left many fans arguing and discussing the ending over which way or theory is correct
and they all fall into these bases. As this movie is known as a thriller which shocked all of its fans with its
increasingly complicated story and ending it meant that many fans agreed with its actual ending and found
satisfaction in the complex meaning given to us on how the story ends with how the producer has said it has
through the message conveyed, the balanced audience will agree with the ending but not fully conform with
leaving it there, in fact they will remain open minded to what others have to say and their opinions about things
like subtle endings or hidden hints about what really happened. Finally is the oppositional who reject how it
ended and don’t conform with the message given and only want to believe their own opinion on how the movie
ended. When going into depth of movies, digging below the surface of just the blatant message, using symbolic
codes which can be objects which convey a message for example a bible can represent religion or that the
place is catholic originated. The setting of time and place shown through the setting connoting a message, like if
the area was at nighttime with a large abandoned house, then we would assume it would be in the horror genre
as it's an usual conventions in that genre and a way to tell meaning. It can also be done through symbolism ,
with features like colours which can tell separate moods , a discreet but clear way of giving meaning on a
character, so red could mean blood for violence, chaos for evil or even love as it’s the same colour as a rose.
Another feature symbolism which Is used by film makers for purpose of telling meaning is the costumes, so it
can be clothing or hair styles or makeup. These are used to tell meaning because they can tell a lot about a
person's personality and stance in the world, for example if a person is wearing a clean uniform, It means they

M.I.G.R.A.I.N –
Institutions:
• Institutions are a group of people in a collective in a hierarchy system with a clear and defined goal which will be
different with every institution and will have an identifiable image/meaning behind that purpose. In the sense of
media, institutions play a big role in the world today as they can determine and constrain the ideology, structure,
content and distribution of media texts and are involved in the regulation of keeping their image or to stay true to their
purpose, for example institutions in media through business like Disney (a conglomerate) through the powers of media
ownership can grow into many different aspects of media and control other smaller subsidiary companies they own
like for example ABC new which is owned by Disney, Disney can now control which content in media contexts of news
which will run on the show or in the movie business they own Lucasfilm which mean they own the rights to franchises
like star wars and they and control what type of meanings are displayed in each scene. Giving them full varied control
of the products from their own institution and others. Creating huge competition in the film industry setting
an oligopoly between other conglomerates with spending power in their budget to keep up, production companies like
Paramount studios production company as they will the only ones being able to compete in getting actors, creating
movie sets and enough funding for a big workforce and editing.
• Commonly at the start or end of trailers of trailers and movies you will see production labels appear on screen in a
short interval to show which institutions have had a role in the creation of this media text.
• The BBFC(British Board of Film Classification) is another type of institution which has the unique purpose and
responsibility of giving the age rating to different media texts released by different institutions, grading what audience
ages are suitable to consume this text ranging from different products like movies and games.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N –
Genre:
Genre Theorists (who, what, examples): :
Every media text/products can be put into groups or categorized
through the identification of by the repetition of distinctive
features/signs(conventions), sometimes a product or text Can
feature conventions or signs of other genres which are more subtle
and can be divided into sub genres, conventions which don’t appear
as the main signs of the actual genre or are used in much smaller
doses turning the product into a hybrid genre or one genre with sub
genres beneath it. Genres can usually dictate the narrative route of
the text as the audience will have increased exposure to the ideas of
genres and grow expectations through the determined conventions
of the narrative due to the genre. The idea of genre can also give
conventions in the production stage for the creators to structure
their story to comply with the genre of their product which then
leads to the saturated market today with the example of movies as
products will share things of the common genre like conventions
making them even more identifiable to what genre the product will
fall in.
This is proven through Steven Neale’s theory of repetition and
difference as he says how the repetition of conventions makes the
difference between genres like for example in action genre, it will
commonly have physically strong, dynamic, violent, male hero like
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movies like commando or predator
but then is challenged by more recent action movies with the same
conventions but with a female lead like in tomb raider with Angelina
Jolie.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N – Genre:
2
• Another theory which defines the genres of the film industry
and how it makes them different is the Rick Altman theory. In
his theory there are two aspects of how to tell one genre from
the others, these aspects are semantics and Synaptics. So for
example semantic elements are the signs you would
commonly see in a certain genre of movies like with horror it
would be blood, knives to represent that horror element, dark
colours to connote death and soul-lessness with eerie music
to set the scene and stage. Movies like Scream use these types
of semantics to differ from other genres and be successful.
• When it comes to Synaptics, these codes are the themes in
which the film was based upon and take place in the movie so
in horror, it would be fear, revenge or rage. Like a group who
goes on a trip and ends up being killed one by one like in the
movie Friday the 13th, in which the synaptic themes the killer
"Jason" is based are the fear and revenge elements as he
wants payback for his mistreatment back in his childhood and
uses his deformities to spread fear.
• You even see this theory in sub-genre movie which combine
the semantics and Synaptics of their own genre to create a
mix between the two, a movie which shows this is the film
"Warm Bodies" which uses the horror semantics of zombies
and blood, but then uses a romcom unique synaptic theory
sharing moments of laughter and romance creating a balance
between the genres to develop mixed film content.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N –
Genre: 3
• The last genre theorist's work we can observe in
media content today is David Buckingham, he is a
scholar, writer and consultant specializing in young
people, media and education. When he was in
London, he was responsible for being the founder
and director of the center for the study of children,
youth and media. When developing his theory
mostly concerns younger consumers of the product,
specifically more on children and how they will gain a
discourse of genre. Buckingham's research compared
the development of genre to the complex of forever
changing identity of different aspects of life. In his
argument, he exclaimed that "genre is not simply
given by the culture it is a constant process of
negotiation and change".
• He believes that genres change over time and are
molded constantly by society. This affects more of
the younger ages who arguably spend the most
time by the TV consuming media content which
influences them to not hold identities as they do not
primarily exist, or they are constantly changing as
they are influenced to follow what they see; their
much younger mindset is more susceptible to
acting on behavior which is made to be desired by
what they watch but the conventions stay the same.
• An example of this comes from the children fantasy
genre, mainly focusing on the conglomerate Disney
and their movies and influential characters like the
princesses on young girls, how these characters
become role models to them and leads to the love
and learning of all their dialogue and songs which
also hold connotations of their own, mostly
representing these princesses more recently in
powerful positions showing the change in time of the
genre. instead of for example the story of Rapunzel
being saved by a prince has recently evolved into
more stories like frozen with a character like Elsa
with her worldwide famous "let it go song" back in
October of 2013, she was a huge influence on young
girls as the main character, to be kind and
independent like her reinforcing that change in the
genre.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N – Representation:
• Representation Theorists (who, what, examples):
• This is the process whereby the media construct
versions of people, places and events in images.
These representations will provide
structure/models of how characters are created as
we will see social groups, gender and places which
are all of the aspect of the world we will see in a
certain way of the structure of the stereotype is of
it, it may not always be accurate but it will conform
or challenge our current view of culture events.
They are ideologically constructed from the
framework of values of beliefs as no representations
are real as they are versions of actual
representations, but they will be mediated by
individuals and media organizations and reflect the
value systems of their sources.
• A theory by a French anthropologist which relies on
the idea of representation which is the theory of
binary opposites by Levi Strauss which entails in
most narratives of media products with main
opposing characters, for example the binary of good
and evil, it will represent the protagonist in what we
deem as heroic and good and then the antagonist
with current views and beliefs of what we deem evil
with villain like traits and acts like in Star Wars with
Luke Skywalker contrasting with Darth Vader which
is displayed with how they are both represented in
the media text.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N –
Representation: 2
• Another theory about representation was the Alverado theory, created by the
English academic Manuel Alvarado, who had specialized in Media Studies. His
theory relates to the ethnicity of a person, that it is a basis of an idea on what
they are like are as a person from a different culture, to then define them just
through how different they are.
• In this theory he suggests there are four stances of a person in a media text and
they are;
• The Exotic-typically used as a sex symbols, Latino American women are
commonly found in these roles on the accountability of being of different
culture and race. Examples of this are singers like Rihanna is seen as the exotic
type in her music videos.
• The Humorous-This name usually falls on people like comedians or that one
character who is seen to be more laid back and makes the audience encouraged
to laugh through their actions and the ethnic stereotypes contained within the
text which are usually exaggerated. An example this is the movie ''West is West"
which highly exaggerates the stereotypes of a Pakistani family to humorous
situations.
• The Dangerous- This stance refers to minorities at first when we see them, we
should feal some sort of threat towards us. A group which is portrayed as this
role often is African Americans after the rise of violent rap in the late 80s and
early 90s. When this happened it made the stereotype about this minority
being dangerous even worse. Movies like "Straight Outta Compton" are prefect
examples of this.
• The Pitied-This term mainly focuses on the representation of the ethnic groups
who may been deprived victims or groups of people who have experienced
great tragedies during a natural disaster or conflicts. We example we see a lot of
is the adverts which tell us to donate to some areas of Africa and the people
there, as they are often seen when they are most hungry and skinny to get our
attention and pity them to convince us to help.

Colour:
Representation 3
• As part of representation, one subtle way commonly used to
represent characters as part of symbolism (using certain simple
features to give a deeper meaning behind the person or object it
is linked to). Producers in story telling like to give deeper more
meaning tell signs of characters or objects through representing
the colour associated with them as each colours can be used for
deeper meanings like the red, which can be used to symbolize
love through the redness of a rose, it can be a sign of evil and
blood then linking to chaos and evil acts. As we previously
discussed before with the representation of binary opposition
theory by Levi Strauss which this technique of symbolism of
colours which can be used to differ between the oppositions.
They offer clear but subtle signs for the viewer to make the
distinction between for example good and evil, the franchise we
discussed beforehand also uses this technique and proves its
existence, for example dark Vader is in all black when we first see
him which can indicate death and the lightsaber he uses is the
colour red which can connote evil villainous intentions of chaos
to cause death. Luke Skywalker who is our heroic protagonist
character the first time we see him is wearing white-ish robes
that denotes his purity like his attire with no colour to fil in the
blank making it pure and the lightsaber colour he uses is blue
which can show goodness, hopefulness and heroic just like his
character later as he develops. Little signs in the attire they have
and the props they use which symbolizes what type of characters
they both are.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N-
Representation 4
• The final theorist we are going to look for
the theory of representation of content
within the media is Laura Mulvey, she is a
British feminist film theorist who worked
many years up the British Film Institute
before becoming a professor. She had
developed the Male Gaze Theory,
like Alvarado's exotic character but instead
on placing on ethnicity and more towards
the female gender as a whole. The theory
suggests that the male gaze denies women
human identity, recognizing them in a
more subjective way and lowering them to
the status of objects, only to be admired
for physical appearance.
• Therefore saying a woman can often
only watch a movie from a second type of
perspective and view themselves the way
they are perceived by men. She argued
that most popular films today are filmed in
a way to satisfy masculine scopophilia.
Said by Mulvey in 1992 to reinforce this
point and her theory was when she said
"It’s a world ordered by sexual imbalance,
pleasure in looking has split between
active/male and passive/female. The
determining male gaze projects its fantasy
onto the female figure which is styled
accordingly".
• A perfect example of this theory and how
it reflects onto media today is the James
Bond franchise, which every installment
falling perfectly under this theory until
recently, forming a section in this
franchise known as the "James Bond girls",
girls which in the movie will normally
picked to be visually appealing to a male
heterosexual audience and then seduced
by the spy. Some mostly take from the
Alvarado theory and can be considered the
exotic but in all cases perfectly reinforces
Mulvey's point and theory.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N – Audience:
• Audience Theorists (who, what, examples):
• When it comes to an media product, it will assume to have a existence of an audience, an
audience is a group of people which were targeted by the producers/creators of the media text
to be the appropriate consumers of that content and it is vital for producers to identify their
type of targeted group of people/consumers as it will affect the production idea of the content
and the text itself. For the text to be successful when impacting it’s targeted audience, the
production will need to involve a wide range or research to use that knowledge to really cater to
the nature of the group consuming the text from the basis created from that knowledge.
Sometimes as well the actual consumers of the media text are not the intended audience which
has been targeted growing the audience into a new medium.
• Each media text has an effect on the audience who watch intended or not and according to the
theory views on the content of a media text by Stuart Hall. It offers three different standpoints
to how we take in and interoperate, firstly we have the dominant view where the viewer agrees
with the message/meaning that has been displayed through the text, we then have the balanced
view which can see flaws in the meaning but still agrees or vice versa and lastly we have
oppositional view which doesn’t accept the message/meaning created by the producer and
holds their own views. Audiences will then indulge in the two-step flow and discuss their
positions and spreading the word to potential new viewers and increase the popularity of the
text. An example of this is the a quite recent movie called the Joker where the dominant view
sympathize with Arthur Fleck on his journey as he is the underdog in the story and hope he
succeeds in personal quest/ revolution for all under dogs of society to rise up, the balanced view
will still hope for his success but might entirely agree with the steps he had taken to get there
and then the oppositional view will see him in a more negative light from the bad steps he takes
and acknowledge more to the factor of his insanity.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N - Audience 2
• Another theory is the Hypodermic theory is a theory solely based on the
communication to audiences through media text, it is the process of injecting
themes like a needle straight into the brains of passive audiences who have their
guards down, implying as an audience, we react the same way to media texts as
each other. An example of this theory with negative images creating spikes in
violent behavior is the 1992 movie Romper Stomper, this movie was about Neo
Nazis in a rough section of Melbourne, this movie was a basic cult film, meaning
it had controversial ideas connoted in a discrete way to create desires in the
audience to be acted on. This then led to manipulation of audiences into
thinking differently about others, as the movies show different races being
dehumanized but then tries to justify these racial provoked attacks through
making us involved in the characters story, making us understand their beliefs,
fears, ideology and relationships making us care about them. This causes people
to think differently about themselves because they now see good in the actions
of the "heroes" of the story who really are the villains who use violence against
their victims and it is glorified through the music played during these scenes
then backed up by how much time we have spent with the protagonists. To give
further evidence of the hypodermic theory in play here is the fact of how after
that movie released there was a rise in racial hate crime in parts of the world like
the UK, people who let their guards down and had these themes manipulated
into them and changing how they are perceiving who they are and how they act,
making them believe that they are in the wrong for not doing the same as the
characters and just creates more violence.

The George Gerbner's Cultivation Theory states, the media today tends to
continuously repeat stereotypes and representations, it has been like this for so long
it, it makes it easier for audiences to get onboard or understand the simple nature of
a stereotype on a person or a group of people, after being shown over and over again.
The effects of those representations slowly but surely builds up over time. So if you
saw something once, you may dismiss it as false or not easily fooled but if you see this
representation repeatedly in different media mediums like films, newspapers, tv
shows and the internet. At his point you have saw it this many times, as primary
consumer/audience member spending that much time in that world that you start to
believe that its true. The stereotype will have a much bigger longer lasting effect on
you and start to accept it as realistic because of how many times it has been ingrained
into your brain over long periods of time. Gerbner also believes that over time these
stereotypes over time will cultivate our ideas, give us different perceptions on aspects
of life or may even change us over time leading into the future. Therefore creating an
idea in society of what idea is dominant and mainstream, making it easier for people
to believe that the ideologies shown are right and true, affecting the social group that
its targeted at either negatively or positively. A big example of this is during when the
cold war time period was at its peak, with American propaganda around the time of
the Vietnam war, it declared an national threat and issue to all Americans that being
the red scare, the fear of communism winning the war in Asia, to then spread through
Asia to then take over all of the world. This became threat number one for the
opposing ideology that being capitalism. This representation of the soviet union and
communism being evil had a huge effect on the them as a social group and how they
were shown in western media for years, like for example any James Bond movie that
came out during that time period usually featured a Russian villain. In more modern
times, this type of stereotyped behavior went away from the Russians and more
towards Muslims after the events of 9/11. Now after 19 years after that attack, the
process of the cultivation theory have taken place to which islamophobia
has become more popular.

• The moral panic theory states, the process of feeling the fear which is spread
out amongst your area or country believing that some sort of evil threatens
the society around you. Completely arousing the public over an issue which
behind the scenes actually could be legitimate reason for concern like a new
report or more fake like a hoax story. The Moral Panic movements are usually
created by entrepreneurs to possibly put more spotlight on a brand of theirs
which is often displayed as a solution of some kind, or a mass media mediums
like the radio or TV. This sometimes can be an important process to carry out
as a test sometimes to effectively evaluate the people's readiness for what is
coming and how bad the panic will be caused of it will be structured, it is
mostly done to test the power of the media at that time and to give insight. An
example of this was in 1938 were the War Of Worlds radio drama about aliens
invading the earth, it became famous because of the amount panic is had
caused when people thought it was real, that the broadcast was real and
actual aliens had touched down onto earth from Mars. A more modern
example of this would be the initial Covid scare, when lockdown first became a
fear, people started panic buying after the idea of lockdown became a possible
outcome was relayed from government.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N – Ideology:
• The term ideology defines as a common group of people with a set of attitudes, values and
beliefs which would be created in a community to help sustain a particular way of life.
Before creation of the media products, the creators of said products will have an idea of
the context of dominant ideology or a series of values which would be considered as
common sense, this would be generally understood and would be shared around the
targeted members of a community or lots of communities. This will have to be contrasted
this way, through this type of ideological dimension which all media products will have an
ideology present clear or hidden, through being embedded in the text of the product it
then can be expressed and explored through assessing attitudes, beliefs and values. Which
all have a role in creating the unique or common ideology. Marxists would take these
values as representing the interests of the dominant or ruling class and their maintenance
of power.
• In the theory of Marxism, a theory which looks at the ideology of the effects of mediation
at great speeds and how the media affects people’s social relations and lifestyles through
their ability to communicate through images, video, sound and all sorts of different forms.
No matter the personal ideology of the person behind the technology, from the great
speed how it is a race for dominant ideologies to distort or misinterpret the reality of the
situation mostly from dominant structures of ideals which can be capitalism, communism
or other forms of socialism.

M.I.G.R.A.I.N – Narrative:
• Narrative Theorists (who, what, examples): :
• The narrative of media text such as a series of film is the storyline it
will follow as it tells the audience an story either, fiction or non
fiction. The idea of a narrative makes it easier for us the viewer of
the media text to navigate and explore how a story/plotline has
been put together piece by piece into one big collective of a
project, it also shows us how the characters and plot devices are
integral to be used correctly to make sure the narrative is executed
properly. We can also use the concept of having a narrative to look
at how it has been structured with all these pieces in action or even
use it to see if a storyline has many different narratives playing at
once more commonly seen in series like Game Of Thrones, how
there is multiple different arcs/narratives for different characters at
the same time like Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.
• Like we discussed before with how the narrative is crucial to the
storytelling of a movie or series, one tool which is used to make
sure that structure is successful in creating a good plotline that
makes sense is the todorov’s narrative theory, Tzvetan Todorov was
a Bulgarian-French historian who made a 5 stage structure which is
frequently used today in media texts, these stages consist of firstly
the equilibrium which the normality of the world we are in, the
disturbance phase where something disrupts the equilibrium, a
problem of some kind. There is the recognition of disturbance, this
is where the heroes discover that there is a issue of some kind and
they need to fix it, then there is the attempt to repair phase in
which the heroes will try to fix the problem, lastly we have the
return to the old/new equilibrium in which the problem has been
solved and everything returns to the peaceful world it left in the
first stage. This theory has been proven to help producers structure
their narrative effectively but there has been times where movies
will challenge it or only follow it only up to a certain degree like the
movie Skyfall which involves an alien invasion but instead of the
humans winning and everything returning to normality, the aliens
win and the story does not return to equilibrium.

Trailer Research:
• Teaser trailers and official trailers both have the same purpose of both being used for the advertisement of
a new releasing media text, the difference between them is the time between releases of the two, teaser
trailers and trailers use a series of carefully selected shots/scenes of the product since the purpose is to
attract an audience through the need of wanting to find out more from mostly featuring the more action
packed, funny or parts which create hype and excitement for the product in a abbreviated form without
revealing too much about the plot line. When teasers are released they are usually limited in content as it is
mostly saved for the for the official trailers as they are mostly used for just announcing products will
commonly don’t have a release date yet but gives the viewer a sneak peak into the works of the production
so they know what to expect. Over the years trailers have evolved with the time for example from the mere
descriptions of the movie as years ago they had big loud dramatic voice overs for the trailer to catch the
attention of viewers passing by or keep a clear message of what is going on in front of the audience to use it
as a device to get them excited. Today trailers have taken a different approach so now with teasers being
invented to give sneak peaks to audiences beforehand to already give them a clear idea, now it is a more
frantic fast paced cut style of momentum with more use of title screens, this way it can fully immerse the
viewer into the world and uses the sounds to draw attention to give them a experience which doesn’t take
their eyes off the screen and to make them want more. From this producers don’t use voice overs which will
take them out of the advanced FX due to the continued development of production technology used on the
creating the amazing new visuals of the films today. Movie trailers have become more contemporary
because commonly producers will release many trailers over a certain amount of time with each new trailer
will offer the similar content as the previous one but with some new content or extended scenes to keep
audiences’ interest alive in their product as other big companies with big budgets to pump out pre release
content in competition with other institutions to gain more of a target audience and keep their project
more relevant than others. It will be purposely done by producers to feed peoples ambition to find out
more about their project but still not reveal too much. To make a good trailer, it must be able to grab the
attention of the viewers with the best scenes of the movie but scenes which do not spoil the main plot
turns/twists of the narrative but actually set up a basic premise, being able to tell us what to expect in the
movie through crucial points but not ruin the climax of the story making the audience wanting to find out
more about the project and keep the interest and hype high without the need of citric reviews to say it will
be a good movie. For example it should introuduce some main characters but not all of them, leave that to
the movie as it will create more interest as the viewers are still finding out something new when they watch
the movie making it more enjoyable, it should use just enough of them alongside matchng music to the
scenes through using a clear 3 act structure to split the trailer into the 3 phases of introduction, disturbance
and then montage to successfully capture the mood of the trailer.

Trailer Research 2:
• When it comes to independent trailers compared to the huge budget trailers which
conglomerates are able to produce there are many arguments supporting both sides as
conglomerates would have bigger projects with more attention through the use of their
marketing tools such as brand deals and advertisement through media ownership, this means
they also can afford the best of the best in camera quality and editing effects making their
trailers always to a high standard. The argument for the independent film trailers being the same
standard also have points supporting it too like for example with the proliferation of technology
makes it so independent companies can afford the best of the best when It becomes cheaper
when another piece of technology has taken its place at the top for being the best at that
specified role, making it so down the line in time wise independent studios can use what was
once only technology conglomerates could afford making it so they could match the quality of
shots and editing from previous trailers. Films will often offer posters as prerelease material to
use posters in the marketing stage, they use posters because they are a vital tool to catch the
viewers eye in a instance and tell them what the movie is about or at least give off a sense like a
teaser trailer but instead of watching a video or clip, they get the same thing as teasers would
but in a instance with one collage of a picture to give off hints and tells of the movie plot and
title, they are also another medium which offers a more hard copy piece of advertisement to be
consumed by the target audience in the real life world instead of digitally on the internet. They
will also give off important information such as release date, actors and suitability to age
reference same as any trailer but in one still designed shot in a instance. It is also important for
production teams and conglomerates to use cross media convergence to form branding
advertisement packages as it helps two companies share revenue allowing both products go get
exposure and make more money to build up their respectable companies, it is important as it
gives a sense of interaction with the product like themed beauty and energy drink sets and
offers more ground to cover for a company to spread the word about their product.

Trailer – 3 Act Structure:
The 3 act structure is a tool or framework device which is used in
different media texts , trailers for all of sorts products will use this
structure for any pre-release video used for advertising the product
to give the audience a sneak peak of the text before its official
release. Aristole is credited for being the original creator of the art
structure which is used today by many how-to authors from his
observation which states that tragedy must have a beginning, a
middle and an end. This has been adapted today to trailers which
offer uses the same structure but similar stances/stages, it also
offers some sort of similarity to Stuart Hall’s theory structure which
we can see in movies with stages like the equilibrium, disturbance,
recognition of disturbance, attempt to repair and return to old or
new equilibrium but is slimmed down for trailers for the movies,
series or even games which will either conform or challenge. So
with the three stages here we have;
The beginning/establishing phase-Firstly here we would commonly
see the producer establish our main protagonists, the location
where the product text will take place to show us the sense of
normality of the world it is set in and then the titles of the people
who are involved in the creation/production of the project.
The middle/The disturbance phase-This is where we are introduced
to the problem which will disturb our normality and interrupt the
current momentum of the trailer which our protagonists will have
to fix or oppose.
The ending/The montage phase-Lastly this is where we will see fast
paced cuts in the editing showing quick shots of the project, it will
be certain shots to follow the meaning/genre of the trailer but not

Analysis of Trailer 1:Rampage
Official trailer
• The trailer I will be analyzing is the official cinematic release trailer for the Warner Productions movie rampage
which takes a specific approach from modern trailers to create meaning but still conforms with the 3 act
structure technique which is commonly utilized today when making trailers for media text as it is effective
when creating excitement and hype for the product release, which is why these cinematic trailers always come
out beforehand and in the trailer is split into 3 sections them being the establishing phase, the problem phase
and then montage phase. With the first 28 seconds of the trailer we given meaning through the establishing
phase, with mostly relying on the sound of this section more specifically the non diegtic and diegetic dialogue
combined in each shot give us meaning through establishing who are our main characters of interest and take
us through this journey, in this overall section we are given the fact that our main character is Dwayne Johnson
or The Rock, non diegetic dialogue from a side character and diegetic dialogue in a edited sound bridged
conversation highlight that he has a better relationship with animals rather than people while showing varied
shots of the rock and different types of apes, mostly how he interacts with one specific white furred ape
named George, the editing of quick cuts between the normal apes and the Rock are to tell us what he does as
a career with the mise en scene setting of a jungle like area but then urban streets connoting to us how it is a
nature reserve establishing where we are, giving meaning to us of that human to animal relationship when the
editing has a longer timed medium 180 degree shot between Johnson and George to highlight alongside the
non diegetic voice over to highlight the bond between them, with the shots primarily stalling on these two
characters tells us how they are the main characters of interest in the story, alongside given this narrative
meaning here as with a establishing shot of Chicago as another contributing factor towards the establishing
setting of mise en scene to give us meaning of where we are and who to focus on. Alongside the 3 act
structure we can also apply Todorovs narrative theory here as in the same way the 1st stage of 3 act structure
is applied here as what we see here as the establishing phase is the equilibrium which is the 1st stage of 5 in
the narrative structure which movies will commonly follow and here we can see the normality of the Rock’s life
as nature reserve worker taking care of animals like George. Representing the ideology of hegemony through
The rock over George but then will be shortly tipped on its head.

Official trailer
The next section of the trailer which occurs from the 28 second mark and carries on until 1 minute and 41 seconds mark is
the problem phase, this second part of the 3 act structure is commonly found in the middle between the establishing phase
and the montage phase, this phase can also have Todorovs theory applied to it as it follows the same purpose and is used to
fill the 2nd stage of his narrative structure theory which is the disruption of the equilibrium and also the 3rd stage that being
the recognition of the problem. In this section we observe the change from the normal like day exhibited to us before as an
mysterious object flies under the cover of darkness into the nature reserve, it lands in George’s pen and with his curiosity
goes to investigate nut then is sprayed in the face with a strange gas after interacting with it. After this we see how the
producer purposely uses the non diegetic score to tell us something has occurred as the pitch of the music changes and rises
in momentum and volume to a more sinister tone from the calmness beforehand. The non diegetic dialogue voice over from
the Rock also tells us how the problem has effected the norm by talking about George’s unnatural change in stature then
how mise en scene changes to different locations as the government detain George and put him in a cage. In this trailer
when addressing the character of George in this trailer we see how he is a pure animal who is innocent and represents
harmony which we can see how this idea is also presented by his fur colour as part of colour representation, the use of
colours to tell deeper meanings behind objects or subjects/characters, here the message represents his personality in the
first few shots were we see him in complete peace with humans, when turning rabid the colour of his fur gets darker which
could represent the corruption of the gas getting to his mind. We can apply the theory of binary opposition by levi struass
where in a media text there will always be two sides who oppose each other and it is represented through a wolf to oppose
the behavior and the shots we are given are edited of it are in a fast pace to give the meaning off that our heroes are losing
control of the situation. The wolf has a darker colour scheme which is the opposite of George and it also behaves the
opposite like how it colour scheme is, the dark menacing spiked wolf represents death and we see it act on this subtle
message as the first shot we are exhibited following the wolf as it attacks humans which George has done yet. It is clear in
the last section but is reinforced here that the Rock is the propps theory character type of a hero as he represents us and
relate to him in this trailer and this is represented for example through the timing he finds out about crucial information like
what is happening to George and from seeing his purity beforehand, the producer makes us feel the same as the rock to
really draw in the suspense here as we hope George can be saved from the genetic nightmare which ahs happened to him
that we find out as the same time as the Rock, this same knowledge basis is used again when we are told about the wolf
around the same time as the Rock too making it so we are on this journey with him making us more emotionally invested
into the character. In this phase we are given more A-class actors like Jeffery Dean Morgan who which most of the audience
will recognize making him a device to target fans like viewers of shows like wlaking dead, increasing the success and showing
the powers of ownership from the production institution. He is represented as a government agent and represents power
with his dark suit which he wears that symbolizes the authority of his career and we see how his character is the helper
character propps type as he helps rock on his quest to help Goerge. Finally with the last scene of this section with the plane
scene we see how George snaps and breaks out of the cage and becomes like the wolf and attacks the humans, this scene is
important for the problem phase as and now the recognition of the problem of how it has gotten out of hand symbolizing
how the harmony has now been broken and rampage has begun.

Official trailer
• In this final stage of the 3 act structure, which is called the montage phase which after all
the characters and the narrative have been established with the problem that occurs and
how it affects the normality of the world that has been presented to us previously before
it happened, this last stage like the last two can also have todorov’s narrative theory can
also be applied as this last stage can correlate to the attempt to repair stage as we see
how the military’s attempt to repair this rampage situation is through force to try stop the
giant beasts destroying everything in their path. In this segment we can witness the
utilization of genre conventions to cement the true action packed nature of this media
product, the shots are chaotic, they are edited with a fast paced momentum to match and
capture the true feeling of chaos and build hype with the movie, non diegtic score reaches
an all time with a dialogue voice sounds bridges over into diegetic expressing concern
saying how the army need to evacuate the city before the animals get there to cause
havoc, the mise en scene of the city setting been wrecked completes the feeling of
everything going wrong and connotes the title of rampage which in usual connotations of
a trailer with quick title cards alongside the action and then to as a plot twist to
completely surprise the viewer and build excitement, the producer purposely leaves the
mutant crocodile to the end to bring even more chaos into the mix in the montage of
action packed shots.

1:Rampage
Poster
In this poster we how the rock is the USP
with his name “Dwayne Johnson” being
highlighted on the front of the poster as
he is a well known and respected actor,
people will recognize him from his
successful movies like jumanji and
central intelligence to tap more of his fan
base and catch their eye to increase the
target market for the audience as well as
others who may also like him outside of
his work as a culture icon, deliberately
used alongside the connotations of the
action/adventure genre set here to bring
in fans of the genre and with his similar
successful work, it will set a high bar of
expectance of quality of the media
product.
The tag line here refers to
the Rocks masculine
stature in relation to the
stereotype but teases the
narrative and relates to
the huge monsters
behind him with the
expressed concern on his
face.
The red and orange fire like
texture colour of the font
instantly connotes destruction
and chaos which is caused
through strength which can be
represented by the thickness of
the text. Fits the connotation of
the action genre.
These certain aspects fill
the usual quotations of a
promotional poster for a
movie, it will feature
some of the key crew like
the director who people
may recognize and raise
even more excitement for
an increase of target
audience who may know
their work, the same goes
for the institutions
involved as some may
recognize the logos
involved and like their
past work that they have
been involved with as
with finally giving
information on when the
movie will be available for
viewing.
The overall detail of this poster
makes the viewer interested
with the dark somber colours of
destruction with the glow of
fires representing how the
chaos is still spreading like a
wildfire and make them also
take a second look at the bizarre
creatures on show and the
isolation of the human.

Here we see how the
producer of the poster has
clearly used colour represe
-ntation, they use similar
dark colour scheme
and similar mutations like
spikes to connote death
and corruption with these
subtle signs to represent
the danger of this
evil, while the ape has a
unique colour scheme with
no cruel violent mutations
showing no corruption,
making it a sign of who’s
side he is on, good or evil.
We see an increase of
lighting here making
it highkie lighting on both
George and the
Rock and placing them
both in the centre showing
how they are the main
points of interest of the
poster and story.

Analysis of Social Media Page 1:Rampage
This is an important sign for a social media page for an official themed page
for a movie, the rampage verified tick meaning that it is the official site of
the movie and everything is straight from the source of the production
company as this sign means they made this page and is important for the
film industry as a whole in their cross media convergence campaign, this
means since social media is free, it makes it easier for people to make fake
pages and spread false information and this tick lets the people know that
the information is factual and not forged by replica accounts.
This follow button
will allow the target
audience to receive
updates of when this
site uploads posts
like post production
teaser pictures,
videos, updates on
production building
hype as people will
get as it comes from
the source acting as
a direct link to the
customer. Also by
clicking on this
button it will add to
the follower account
which is bigger
follower count is a
great indication of
how successful in
popularity the movie
was which can be
used in a marketing
campaign.
This link is for the more
below the line marketing as
it allows the more invested
hardcore fans a direct link
to buy a copy of the movie
or any below the line
merchandise which some
may not be interested in.
Here like the poster they still
use Dwayne Johnson as a USP
as some fans may see the page
with him in the profile picture,
banner and in the bio, this is a
marketing technique as people
who like his work will be more
enticed to watch the film with
encouragement to buy a copy
on the same line.
This official hashtag offers
an area which people can
divulge in the two step
flow to share and talk
about the movie giving
more of a sense of
interaction and spread the
word about the product.
This create tweet feature
allows people to directly
open up chats with others
about the movie on the
page and even direct
contact with the owners
of the page and comment
on the material released
by them creating more
interaction and a
community.
The banner and profile both
use the same source
material from the movie
which promotes the plot of
the movie as harmony of
the relationship between
beast and human against all
odds, as it shows both
animal and man wearing
the same colour subtly
symbolizing unity against
evil. The same fiery chaotic
font and colours
representing the animals
rampage of chaos and
destruction.
This official twitter
handle
@Rampagethemovie is
the official term which
will be used to find this
product across different
platforms.

Branding: Rampage
• From our first look at all 3 social media platforms we can see a clear sense of branding
between them, For each of the pages they all use the same profile banner and similar profile
pictures all relating to George and The rock being together in a similar harmony fashion in a
mise en scene location of which the destruction that links to the name and font is on display
every time, as a reference to the promotional posters released by warner bros for this movie
all follow the same repetition of the theme of the USP being the Rock. This makes the pages
easier to recognize and makes it easier for the audience as through this technique of multiple
use of the free social media platforms and cross media convergence from the warner bros
institution utilizes that link of theme in similarities of profile pictures an banners of characters,
title font and setting so audiences can easily make that link between each platform.
• Another sign of branding which we can observe from the social media is the use of the official
handle “@rampagethemovie” which links all the pages together and guarantees the
authenticity of the content as it represents the connection between each source of
information for the movie, this is important for the industry as with the free use of social
media, information can often be forged and falsified but here alongside the verified mark with
the handle will protect the company as they will have the ability to shut down any false
sources, this will allow the company to control the hype they create and ensure that
everything is released at the right time through each stage of production all the way to
marketing and distribution of the media text. This will guarantee the best version of success in
advertising the product.
• Another sign of a branding it’s the repeated use of four colours that being white, black, red and
orange across all of the marketing material, this helps to make themes and creates brands for
characters as the with the technique of colour representation, we can get deeper messages
and meanings behind each idea and character, here we see how George and the Rock both
wear white representing purity and harmony between both man and creature The darkness
can represent and death surrounding the destruction and chaos of the red and orange fiery like
font used repeatedly for the title across all of the media fitting the narrative of the movie and
giving a tease to the what it will entail.

Analysis of Trailer 2:Stranger Things
Official Final Trailer-Season 1
Here I am going to be analyzing the last official trailer for season one of the horror/sc-fi genre series show named
“Stranger Things”, as with many trailers it is common to find in most trailers today is that they follow a narrative
structure, like we have see before and now see here is how the trailer uses the three stages of the 3 act structure them
being the establishing phase, the problem phase and the montage phase. With this trailer there is no diversion from that
technique as with the first forty seconds of this trailer is used what we see as the first stage of the this structure with the
shots are longer in scenes with the mise en scene starting out in a residence in a boring calm town with a pan shot of
boys playing a board game, representing how this group of boys will be our main characters of interest, then more but
quicker close ups and medium shots of the boys riding their bikes home more specifically one boy being Will Byers,
signifying meaning to us that he will be a crucial plot device surrounding around him. This shot is used alongside eerie
but calm non diegetic music with diegetic dialogue from one of the boys saying “something is coming” this is edited in
this direction of a way of giving a possible foreshadow to future events which the trailer will show. This segment will
mainly focus on the fact of nostalgia of the childhoods of most of the viewers who grew up in the seventies to eighties
who would be our dominant viewers of the Stuart hall Theory or to other members of the balanced viewers of the target
audience who can relate to not being born or raised in that time but playing games in that time of no video games but
straight old fashioned fun to link with a specific type of person with the board games with your childhood friends at their
house and then racing to get home at night. Then there would be our opposing viewers who would take this plot as it is
developing and being established to us because they would have no experience nor knowledge i.e. being mostly the
younger audiences. It will target this age besides the offers a new platform to educate and bring another demographic
into the target audience. In this segment of introducing this new series, another feature of this is instructing the
production institution which entails the Netflix brand opening part of the trailer which is used as Netflix is a well known
subscription based service with thousands of shows, this gives us the meaning to set a high bar of expectation which is
associated to the name/brand and also give us meaning to where we can find and watch this show. In this introduction
section we can also apply it towards the Todorov’s narrative structure here as the producer can be observed to use this
narrative tool for the plot here as it represents the equilibrium of the narrative and in this trailer its seen through the
normality of the setting starting with the household as some of the first shots of the trailer.

• The next section of our trailer which follows onto the second stage of our 3 act structure which is the problem phase of
the frame structure which entails where a problem will occur after the first segment establishes where the story is
starting off, who our main characters are in a normality of the world they live in but then a problem will occur which will
make us viewers more interested and see how it affects the world our characters live , how they discover it and brings
more excitement to see how they will overcome this obstacle to fix the issue and return to back to normality. In the
example of Stranger Things we see this phase begin after the forty second mark with a missing persons sign of the
characters Will Byers who was one of the boys who we had saw beforehand and then how this new disturbance how it
has affected the normality of the world with setting being changed to a more eerie sense while Will’s mother and the
police chief discussing the mysterious disappearance of her son in the police station, this change in mise en scene
represents how something has gone wrong to go from residence to a place where people will go with their problems for
the police for to fix and in this case the discovery of the recognition of the problem is the missing poster of Will byers,
creating and connoting that meaning to us of something not being right and how the good of the world has been
drastically shifted. This also aligns to Todorovs narrative structure stages of a disturbance and recognition of disturbance.
To really capitalize the effect of the effects od the disappearance on the world, the producer uses a diegetic to non
diegetic to diegetic sound bridged dialogue in this scene highlighting the worry in the mother’ voice and the recent
awareness of the poster being symbol of the issue, the editing also places the police officer’s voice over quick varied
shots displaying the police’s search for Will to represent the attempt to repair stage from todorov of trying to find Will
and the authority that people go to like Will’s mother who have the power to solve their issues, the genre connotations
start here as the even the force with the power to help people with their problems but there they can’t fix this problem
which makes the horror of the genre here is to be of the unknown, this is the case because how or why Will has gone
missing is unknown and brings an unease creepy feeling which horror can create with also the introduction of Millie
Bobbie Brown’s character eleven who has a unhinged uneasy strange feeling to her and also has a link to this mystery of
the disappearance to then try to be apart of that attempt to repair, later in this segment we also get more connotations
of the SC-fi art of this genre of the show with the Mise en scene changing to locations like laboratories will people in lab
coat attrite with high technology props and also some alien species linking to that horror of the unknown, all sings
connoting and giving us meaning behind the genre hybrid of this show. In this part of the trailer we also see a capitalist
ideology which people will be able to respond to, that of being in a working class home which we see in the fashion of
Will’s family and home, this would be done purposely of the producer to attract more of that targeted demographic of
people as more people will remember living in working class homes as the population of that social class is a lot more
than any other sector therefore given a wide range of people to join the target audience and make show more
successful.

• In the final section of the trailer, we now are entering the montage phase, the purpose of this phase is
to be placed towards the end of the trailer after the equilibrium, narrative and main characters of
interest have been established, then a problem has occurred which affects our main characters and
now they must fix it. This is where our montage phase comes in, its role is to make a final basis which
builds on the hype already created by the previous two stages and takes it so the music goes to a peak
and then to an all time high with some dialogue featuring fast shots of various action and important
scenes to make the audience want to know more in a quick succession of shots but not reveal to much
making them want to find out how the story will unfold as the plot begins to thicken. This is exactly
what we see here in this last stage of the trailer which takes place from one minute forty seconds to
two minutes eleven seconds, the mise en scene sets in may different places as two stories collide and
connect with one and each other as we see many shots of the boys with the newly found eleven after
discovering her the same place that Will had disappeared captured in quickly edited close ups and
medium shots to capture the meaning of the intensity of this segment with an increased momentum,
alongside this we have the non diegetic score rise from calmness to an all time high to represent the
change in pace from explaining of what's happening and to really engross the viewer with the score
matching that intensity of the shots and the speed they happen in. Throughout these shots we can
witness how the producers purposely represents the characters in this trailer, what he tells us about
them through the colours they wear, more specifically with the boys and eleven with most of the shots
of them wearing many bright colours which could reinforce the fact of the time period it takes place in,
this also gives us meaning about what type of people they are, good and pure and representing the
spontaneous childhood that they will embark on. We see this feature further on with lights starting to
glow with different colours after eleven says she can help find Will which could indicate hope as the
young child follows these lights and the mother reacts happily to them glowing on their signifying to us
how hope has emerged to find Will. Meanwhile every time we see the demi-gorgan it is always cloaked
in darkness connoting death, chaos, isolation and fear. With cloaking this creature in darkness and only
allowing it to be in limited shots keeping its appearance a mystery reinforcing the theme of the fear in
the connotations of the horror sub side of the genre hybrid to cement the meaning of that side of the
genre to the audience, this feature of the trailer continues with Eleven having a strange ability which is
left til the end to be the send off for the trailer for all fans of the scfi genre to see her lift the truck into
the air with her mind and the demi-gorgan being alien like before the title screen comes into play for
the institutions in the end to peak the build of hype. Another feature of this trailer as a whole which
links more to the institutions behind this show is the neflix name and brand in the bottom right of the
screen the entire time of all three stages is to give meaning of who owns this show and where to find it
if the viewer like what they see.

2:STRANGER
THINGS Poster
This binary opposition in the colour scheme can represent the
goodness of the blue against the evil of the red and also
represents the genre hybrid between the horror of the
unknown with red connoting blood and danger, being merged
with the blue sc fi look of the stars which is pop culture where
aliens come from which are icons of that genre.
We see how the institution behind
the show wants to clearly take
responsibility of its creation and
using the brand of Netflix to attract
more of an audience, which is a
well known web streaming service
which is subscription based easily
accessible service which wants
anyone who’s eye is caught by the
poster and to give meaning to them
of where they can find this show.
Here we have two features
which both link to the
institution side of the
production of this show, we
see how this show takes a
unique selling point path of
releasing all of the episodes
and it also tells the people
who are looking at the
poster when the institution
will be making the episodes
available as a whole to the
target audience which is usp
of the Netflix brand. We
also see the caption below
the title which insights that
this show is owned and
created by the brand giving
more information too the
viewer of the poster.
The overall design of the poster
is successful in the message it
wants to portray with the
shadow around the poster which
can reflect the theme of the fear
of the unknown closing in on our
Main characters which
connotes to the
darkness of the
monster with this
deathly colour.
Here we see a contrast between the natural and unnatural
to represent the question how eleven will choose between
the two sides and how she really doesn't fit in with either
side of society and laboratory of the government as her
personal struggle and quest.
We can witness here how
the main title harnesses a
bright red font which
through the technique of
colour representation could
mean about the blood and
violence then relating to
death in the show, it could
also relate to a colour of
romance like the colour of a
rose which could also
appear in the show. The
actual font here also uses a
old fashioned retro style
which is fitting for the time
period which has been
picked.
This poster uses a unique style
and usp for the cast, instead of
using names that people may or
may not recognize so instead they
use the cast’s actual faces which
can attract audiences who
recognize them and like their past
work enough to get interested
into the show. It is also
reminiscent of old movie posters
from the 80s like Star Wars which
were released around the time of
the show taking place.

Analysis of Social Media Page 2:Instagram page-ST
This is an important sign for a social media page for an official themed page for a
series, the rampage verified tick meaning that it is the official site of the
production company behind the show and everything posted is straight from the
source of the production company, this sign means they made this page and is
important for the filming industry as a whole in their cross media convergence
campaign, this means since social media is free, it makes it easier for people to
make fake pages and spread false information and this tick lets the people know
that the information is factual and not forged by replica accounts.
This follow button will
allow the target
audience to receive
updates of when this
site uploads posts like
post production teaser
pictures, videos, updates
on production building
hype as people will get
as it comes from the
source acting as a direct
link to the customer.
Also by clicking on this
button it will add to the
follower account which
is bigger follower count
is a great indication of
how successful in
popularity the movie
was which can be used
in a marketing
campaign.
The page is open
meaning that the
information is freely
and easily accessible
which can be seen
even without following
meaning it is open for
a much grander
market of viewers and
is a great marketing
tool .
The banner and profile
both have been designed
successfully to match each
other but for the profile
picture to act as a logo of
sort but the banner gives
off a meaning, they both
use the same source
material from the series
which promotes the plot of
the series showcasing all
of the characters good and
evil showing various
buildings of interest , all
aspects of the series like
the monster could catch
the eye of people who
either like someone from
the vast array of cast
members or the fact of the
creatures, people who like
the fantasy and the horror
genre.
The page has purposely
linked actors like Finn
Wolfhard who plays Mike
in the series who also
will be posting things
about the show to all of
his fans opening up a
new medium to consume
content.
This official twitter handle
@Stranger_Things is the
official term which will be
used to find this product
across different platforms.
If a user likes what they see from
the content that has been posted
by the this themed account for the
show then for the people who
want to watch it right, below the
line marketing, this link will take
them to the Netflix page displaying
which they will need to sign in to
watch the series or create a whole
new Netflix account to watch
creating more users of the
subscription based service.
Here is a
shortlisted
section of
the posts
which may
catch a new
viewers eye
straight away

Branding: Stranger Things
• Firstly if we look at all 3 social media platforms we can see a dominant sense of branding between
them, For each of the pages they all use the same profile banner and similar profile pictures all
relating to advertising in unity to the newer season or the banner displaying all the key aspects and
characters from the series so far which can possibly catch the eye of a networking user or may
recognize an actor or like a icon of a horror/SC-FI genre like the monster. Encouraging them to watch
the show and create another user for Netflix, for all people who are already viewers, the profile
picture all hold the same mise en scene which takes place in the same place as the teaser trailer giving
something for them type of fans to recognize alongside the traditional old fashioned red old fashioned
like font which connotes blood and danger that links to the plot of the show, symbol which gives off
subtle meaning every time, as a reference to the promotional posters released by Netflix for this
series all follow the same repetition of the theme of the USP being the creepiness of the horror genre
mixed in with the stringiest of events like disappearance or mystery. This makes the pages easier to
recognize and makes it easier for the audience as through this technique of multiple use of the free
social media platforms and cross media convergence from the warner bros institution utilizes that link
of theme in similarities of profile pictures an banners of characters, title font and setting so audiences
can easily make that link between each platform.
• Another sign of branding which we can observe from the social media is the use of the official handle
“@Strange_Things” which links all the pages together and guarantees the authenticity of the content
as it represents the unique name and connection between each source of information for the movie,
this is important for the industry as with the free use of social media, information can often be faked
and falsified but here alongside the verified mark with the handle will protect the company as they
will have the ability to signify to fans of the show which source is credible and which isn’t, this will
allow the company to control the hype they create and ensure that everything is released at the right
time through each stage of production all the way to marketing and distribution of the media text.
This will guarantee the best version of success in advertising the product in the purpose of gaining
new subscribers to the service or continue the subscriptions. When advertising the media product the
posters use mostly similar colour schemes of dark somber colours to connote sings of a horror genre
with a blood like title colour with old fashioned font to represent violence in a older time and is used
as a brand of the show which demonstrates the branding technique to tell what the show is about and
link it all together in the more hard surface medium of advertising.

Reflection Slide
• When learning the key concepts such as meaning, institution, genre ,representation, audience, ideology and
narrative have helped me in many ways when beginning our journey in creating our own trailer, poster and
website. M.I.G.R.A.I.N has done this through giving us structure behind the scenes of modern examples today
from conglomerates like Disney and how they have used it. Through utilization of this structure, we have
gained the opportunity to them replicate this and implement it with our own projects. Showing how we can
generate meaning from simple things like costumes, colours and even facial expressions can make a difference
when connoting a message to your audience. This was an incredibly useful tool for when creating all parts of
our project and how we could link them through this, taking everything into consideration and how we could
use it for our own benefit to make the project more successful with the backbone of meaning. We learned how
institutions have used the resources of media to help improve their own success giving us even more examples
on how to do so. We also learned how to structure our content to fit the genre connotations through study of
signs for each genre and even how to use representation to get even deeper messages across with our
characters to a types of audience, which we have researched and know the many types to use to our
advantage and cater to. We have learned how ideologies can affect people for which we must adjust that
content to their liking. Lastly it has given us the tools we need for narrative through media theorists like
Todorov, giving us a successful structure to implement onto work for the plot to run smoothly and more
enjoyable for the audience.
• Through our studies we have also learned the importance of branding across all our segments of our project,
for our trailers, for our social media page and poster. From the research I conducted I have noticed a process in
which movies for all sorts of advertising will use the same pictures, actors, fonts of writing and even the social
media tag making it easier for fans to find the content linked with the movie they want to see. We have taken
this into account and wanted to implement this process on our work as it links it all together under our
development and brand and therefore is more professional looking for advertisement. We also understood
what can happen with lack of branding, as sometimes if branding is not used correctly, it can confuse future
possible viewers and not sure where to find the correct information, therefore if we use branding it is much
easier for potential viewers to find all the details they need and makes our content more accessible to them.
• During our research of successful movie trailers out there today, the most important tool I had noticed and
learned was the structuring of every trailer, built perfectly to grab the audience's attention to build enough
hype for a film prerelease to then generate the biggest success, for example with action movie trailers being
fast paced including some of the better actions sets of the genre in the trailer, or even with comedy showing
some of the funnier sides of their stories all captured in that same 3 act structure, proving trailers to be one of
the most useful tools for movie production companies through successfully using it. This tool that I have now
learned will help me in my group with keeping our content organized and the most effective it can be for a
great trailer which generates the hype the movie will need.

A2 Media Studies Coursework Research and Planning

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