Definitions

Iconic Signifier - where the signifier resembles the signified, eg. a picture. Indexical signifier - where the signifier is caused by the signified, eg. smoke signifies fire. Symbolic signifier - where the relation between signifier and signified is purely conventional and culturally specific, eg. most words. Polysemic - The ambiguity of an individual word or phrase that can be used (in different contexts) to express two or more different meanings. Metonemy - The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, eg. suit for business executive. Synecdoche - A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole (eg. ABCs for alphabet) or the whole for a part.

Camera Shots

Very Extreme Close Up

Extreme Close up

Close up

Mid Close Up

Mid Shot

Long Mid Shot

Long Shot

Movement Shot

High Angle Shot

Low Angle Shot

Tilted Camera Shot

Double Shot

Profile Shot

Over The Shoulder Shot

Toronto 2012

The British film industry will be well represented at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In addition to nearly 40 British productions and co-productions films in the programme, a large number of British industry delegates will be attending the Festival to do business, sell new British films, get projects off the ground and promote the UK to the international industry. Providing a focal point for meetings and information will be a dedicated UK Film Centre, delivered by Film Export UK in partnership with Film London and with support from UK Trade & Investment and the BFI’s Lottery Film Export Fund. For the third year the UK Film Centre will take over the Festival Room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and will be open for business from 6-13th September. It exists to serve demand from the British industry and brings together the UK’s film commissions, national agencies, producers and sales companies with an aim to generate business with international markets and investors, promote the UK films and talent at this year’s TIFF and showcasing the entire UK offer.
Ill Manors trailer - Bankside Films - a UK Film Company

Definitions

Semiotics is the study of sign processes, signs and symbols. Encode - the producer's message through a text. Decode - the way the audience interpret this message. Representation - refers to the construction of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities etc.

Analysis of Advert - Southern Comfort

Southern Comfort

Clip Analysis

From the start, the camera angles very much represent the differences between ages amongst characters. Protagonist Amy, the teenager who has left school, is generally shot at a higher angle than the adult Paul. This suggests that Amy perhaps has less authority than Paul, and that he has power over Amy. Further on in the clip, when Amy’s secret is revealed, Paul appears at a very much lower angle than Amy, as he is punishing her and therefore holds authority. The high camera angle on Amy could suggest that not only is she young and has less power than Paul, but also that as an audience we should perhaps sympathise with this character as although she has done wrong, she is only young. During the scene of the car crash, the camera pans from character to character to show the confusion between them as the head teacher explains why exactly he is there. This focuses on the older characters more than Amy to portray that they are between them trying to figure out what is going on, and Amy is not so much a part of this as she is revealed to be only sixteen – to them, a child. Where as in the earlier scene Paul illustrates that he has trust in Amy by giving her the car keys to drive - the change in the way he treats her so suddenly takes away Amy’s authority. The music throughout the clip is non-diegetic, the characters cannot hear it but this is significant to the audience as it changes for the different age groups. At the very beginning of the clip, when Amy states that she needs to speak to the young male character, the music is more up-beat and modern to emphasise the fact that they are two teenagers or young adults. The music slows slightly and becomes more traditional on the scenes involving the older characters – they are perhaps much more mature. When Amy is collecting her things and leaving her bedroom, the music slows down a significant amount and becomes emotional and quite tragic, insinuating that we should empathise with Amy as she is clearly upset by her situation, and again that she is only young. Further back in the clip, just before Amy crashes, the other characters are busy sorting out the tools in the van. This is somewhat noisy and therefore distracts the audience from what is about to occur with Amy just around the corner. Also, in the scene when Amy is leaving the bedroom, it is made clear that Amy is being presented to the audience as innocent through the mise-en-scene. The teddy bear on Amy’s bed signifies that Amy is just a young girl who has made a mistake; again encouraging the audience to sympathise towards her. Magazines are in the background spread across Amy’s bed. These appear to be the type of magazines a teenager would enjoy and so this reinforces her youth and innocence. The scene with the head teacher conveys his old age and wisdom as he chooses to drink brandy when discussing Amy’s situation with Paul. The transitions throughout the clip are cuts – which are not rapid or panicked in any way, but are slow and calm which adds to the general calm countryside theme although the programme is clearly a drama. During the scenes in the clip where there is some kind of drama going on the cuts are faster to show worry amongst characters. At the end of the clip, the close-up mid-shot on Paul’s face is used to show his concern about Amy and makes it clear that he plays the adult father figure.

Definitions

Binary Opposition - where texts are organised around sets of opposite values such as good and evil, light and dark. Juxtaposition - to place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast

Hope Springs – Review by Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

Here is a syrupy Hollywood comedy about a sexless marriage in crisis, a subject for which, in this country, the two classic texts are Kingsley Amis's autobiographical novel Jake's Thing and Victoria Wood's song about being beaten on the bottom with a Woman's Weekly. Those are both very different from this film, which magics a saccharine happy ending out of thin air, and which despite the analysis theme is weirdly incurious about its characters' backstories. Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are Kay and Arnold, empty-nesters in a non-sexual rut. Arnold, a decreasingly lovable grump, has to be bullied into going with Kay to couples-therapist Dr Bernard Feld (Steve Carell) and talking about his feelings for the first time in 30 years … or maybe ever. The therapy scenes are great, in the beginning: daringly long, drawn-out, uncomfortable sequences. But as the couple try to rekindle the bedroom flame the note of cutesy comedy kicks in and the movie gets phonier and phonier. There are no secondary revelations about Kay and Arnold them-selves, or about their grownup children, or indeed about Dr Feld himself, who is a sphinx without a secret.

Daniel Craig to play James Bond in at least two more films

Daniel Craig will play James Bond in at least two more films after signing a deal to portray the secret agent beyond next month's Skyfall, reports Deadline.

Craig is now set to star as 007 in at least five films, making him the third longest-serving Bond after Roger Moore, who had seven stints in the hot seat, and Sean Connery, who had six (plus the unofficial Never Say Never Again in 1983). He will overtake Pierce Brosnan, who played 007 four times between 1995 and 2004.

Craig made his debut in 2006's Casino Royale and starred in sequel Quantum of Solace two years later. Skyfall, from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, has been delayed by financial woes at studio MGM but is due to arrive in cinemas on 26 October.

Deadline suggests that Craig could star in more than five Bond films, though he would be likely to be over 50 by the time he came to do so. Moore was 57 when he shot 1985's A View to a Kill, though most critics believe his best work as 007 took place before he entered his sixth decade.

Craig, 44, will be playing Bond for the third time in Skyfall, the 23rd Bond film, in which Dame Judi Dench will reprise her role as the dapper spy's boss, M, for the seventh time. British actors Albert Finney and Ralph Fiennes take undisclosed parts, while Javier Bardem will be one of the villains and Ben Whishaw debuts in the role of gadget guru Q.

Naomie Harris is playing a field agent named Eve and French actor Bérénice Marlohe is set to play an enigmatic Bond girl named Severine. The Bond movies celebrate a half century this year: Skyfall's premiere comes little more than a fortnight after the anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr No, which received its world premiere on 5 October 1962.