Lost exam response

B4. 'Most media texts target a range of different audiences.' How true is this for your chosen texts?

'Lost' is a mainstream text and targets a popular and wide spread audience, which is know as a 'mainstream audience'. Conventions of a mainstream text can be seen repeatedly throughout Lost.
Conventions of this particular text can be seen specifically in the scene where a group of people go for a hike in search for a radio signal where they can send a signal for help. A high angle is used to capture the group walking through the jungle, non-diegetic sound can be heard quietly of a high pitched frequency creating uncertainty within the audience and also creating an enigma.

A non-diegetic 'boom' sound is then heard, the noise is exaggerated creating another enigma code, cuts to a tracking shot of this animal capturing the grass, implying that there is something running towards the group. Fast paced mid-shots and tracking shots are used to capture Sayid, Kate, Charlie, Shannon and Boone running away through the jungle. A mid-shot is then used to capture Sawyer pointing a gun towards the animal, the camera is positioned at a slight dutch angle creating uncertainty about what will happen next. Shot reverse shot is then used to capture Sawyer shooting towards the animal then to the beast running towards him and then back to Sawyer.
Through the use of a close-up and through the dialogue its established that the animal running towards them was a Polar Bear. This is another enigma, as the audience know that a Polar bear doesn't belong in that climate which leaves the audience questioning the text and being more entertained.

Within Lost various different enigma codes have been set up for the audience to follow. The enigma codes leave the audience questioning the text and also hooks them in to find out what's going to happen next to the characters.

The mainstream audience who view 'Lost' are taking a passive viewing of the programme, this is because they're being told everything (through the dialogue) which results in the audience just sitting back and taking the information they're being given. For example during the opening scene of Lost you're introduced to three of the characters, Charlie, Kate and Jack. A tracking shot is used to follow the three as they walk through a jungle- you can tell their location through the mise-en-scene. Through the dialogue you hear them talk about a plane crash, this tells the audience whats happened to them, resulting in a more passive audience as they're being told the action.

The program Lost is a mainstream text, you can tell this as on the production's website (ABC) they stock Lost merchandise. Where fans of the show can go and buy t-shirts, DVDs, toys of the characters and more. Also on the website you can find a section about Lost, which links to different bio's of the characters that appeared throughout the seasons. Whilst researching about the audiences response to Lost, I came across a website/ blog created by fans of the program. The site called 'LOST MEDIA' allows fans to post comments about certain episodes and to blog/ post about things that link with program and the stars. When looking at the articles on fan sites I have found that non of the fans post comments about certain episode posts, which shows/ confirms that the mass audience take the preferred reading and are being passive as they are not arguing with different scenarios that happen within Lost.

Mad Men response

B1. Discuss the audience appeal of your three main texts. [30]

Mad Men, season 5 episode 11 appeals to a niche audience. This is because the production and the channel it is shown on is 'AMC' an American cable show. Audiences in Britain would have to subscribe in able to watch Mad Men. The episode received directing and writing nominations at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards as well as Lead Actor, Lead Actress and Supporting Actress in a drama series. The episode also received critical acclaim from TV journalists along with nominations at the Emmy's it boosts the audiences appeal as it shows the show is successful.
The advertising for season 5 of Mad Men was marketed by Sky Atlantic with the tag line "The four-time Emmy Winner is back" showing more of the audiences appeal as it shows that the program has won awards and been nominated for them.

Through the mise-en-scene you can see clear representations of the 1960s because of the attention to detail. Joan Harris portrayed by Christina Hendricks was styled to represent a female within the 60s.  Her hair style and make up is typical to the time period as well as the way she dresses. She has been styled to emphasise her 'hour-glass' figure, which is shown through her flattering dresses which cling to her body- going in at the waist. The hour-glass figure of hers is one that women during the 60s wanted.
"A top-notch episode full of closed-door talks and identity politics," in Mad Men you can see references to identity politics, you can also see this within Sky Atlantics advertisement for the program. A wide shot is used to capture Jon Hamm's character, Don Draper, looking into what appears (through the mise-en-scene) as a shop window. You can see that it's Jon Draper looking into the window as you can see his reflection in the window. In the shop window there's a display of two mannequins, one male and one female. The male is constructed sitting down fully clothed on an old fashioned chair, the woman has no clothes on and has been constructed to represent women as sexual objects. The female mannequin is captured standing on a slightly raised platform in front of the male mannequin clearly showing men's power over women during the 60s.

In terms of uses and gratifications, the audience would find escapism within the program as they're learning about another time. This links with 'retrophilia' where the audience enjoy watching and learning things about the past. Retrophilia also links in with information that the audience would get from the program as it gives the audience authentic information on the 1960s due to the amount of detail within the program.

Within this episode we see Peggy Olson's departure from the company, through research and looking at various fan websites and the guardian newspaper discussions I found that audiences were shocked with this departure. In the episode a wide shot is used to capture Peggy waiting with contents from her desk for an elevator. The shot captures her smiling as you hear non-diegetic music "You really got me" playing as she walks out of the frame. The music at the end of this shot was described as "a massive musical climax" on the Guardian's page the post then went on to say "This rush of rock'n'roll seemed significant, as if it was representative of all the exciting adventures yet to come for Peggy."

Audiences/ fans of the show took to forums and blogs and posted comments such as "Peggy's departure came as a surprise" (the Guardian), "There’s a lot to process here, but I’m going to start with the obvious. Peggy Olson! WTF," (fans blog). These comments show shock within the audience at Peggy's departure and show that Mad Men is character driven rather than plot driven as the audience(s) follow the stories of the characters on the show. Compared to Lost, the fans of Mad Men are much more active as they discuss the scenarios that happen within certain episodes on blogs with other fans. Some fans review and conduct a deep discussion on the program/ episode. For example 'The Orange Couch' looked at season 5 episode 11 on their YouTube channel and opened a deep discussion about the themes and scenarios within that particular episode showing/ confirming the audience of Mad Men take a more active role.
The forums and blogs created by the fans offer them gratification and social integration as they can debate the themes within the program with others which could boost the appeal of the show.

Drive and Film Noir

Throughout the film 'Drive' directed by Nicolas Winding Refn you can see conventions of the genre  'Film Noir'. These can be see through the characters, mise-en-scene and cinematography.

The characters in the film are typical of the noir genre. The main protagonist, Driver, portrayed by Ryan Gosling, is a cynical character within the film- a character linked with the Noir genre. He's represented as hard heated, lonely, a 'cold' character and physically tough, these representations are seen through the mise-en-scene.  During the scene where Driver is having dinner with Irene, her son and her husband you see through the mise-en-scene that Driver is represented as a 'cold' character. He is captured using a mid-shot capturing him sitting at the dinner table, the wallpaper behind him is a light blue colour which reflects a tone of blue onto him representing him as a cold character. This representation also links with the cynical protagonist common in the noir genre as they can be described as 'cold-hearted'. Irene is captured differently in this scene, she is captured as a warmer person. Through the use of mise-en-scene and the lighting a brown/ red, warm light is reflected onto her showing a contrast between the two.

Here you can see that Driver is a cold character and Irene a warmer character (mise-en-scene of the wallpaper and the light)

Another character captured in Film Noir is the 'femme fatale,' Blanche can be considered as the femme fatale in Drive, through the mise-en-scene you can see conventions of a femme fatale. Blanch is introduced whilst Driver is talking and organising the robbing of the pawn shop, (they need $10,000 in order to protect Irene and her son and to get Standard out of this area of work). Blanche (femme fatale) is captured using a slight low angle showing she is a character with power. Conventions of a femme fatale have been projected onto Blanche through the use of mise-en-scene. She is seen smoking, wearing red lipstick and also has red-hair, the colour red has connotations of passion and danger, connotations which are found in femme fatale's from the 1950s- 60s.

Close-up is used to capture the femme fatale smoking 

Femme fatale's can be seen in 2005 film 'Sin City' directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino (guest director). During the opening scene of Sin City you see a typical femme fatale found in the noir genre. You can see this through the use of mise-en-scene, she is captured using a high-angle as she walks to the end of the balcony of the skyscraper- you can tell this is the location as the high angle also shows other skyscrapers and urban life. This scene (and the whole film) has been edited into black and white filter to resemble that of a comic book however, bold colours are seen in appropriate places. In this scene you can see an example of this use of colour as to capture the femme fatale and her characteristics her dress is bright  red- connotations of passion and danger, then a close-up is used to capture her smoking and here you see she is wearing red lipstick another convention of the femme fatale in noir.

Close-up used to capture the femme fatale smoking also see red lipstick, similar to the shot used in 'Drive' to capture Blanche (example of shot above).

This is the high angle used to capture femme fatale on the balcony on the skyscraper.

During the scene in Drive where the robbery of the pawn shop takes place, another convention of noir can be seen- the use of neon lights/ signs. The sets of film noir films have a gloomy feel, low key lighting, venesian-blinds used to keep out the sunlight, dark alleys and streets are conventions of the film noir genre. These contrast with the neon signs which were a popular aspect within the genre.
Neon signs can be found in urban environments. In this particular scene (in Drive) they are shown in a shop window which is located in a grimy location. In Sin City neon lights can be seen in shop windows however they are most commonly seen as signs to strip-clubs and pubs within the city. There locations are also grimy and urban like the location of the pawn shop in Drive.

Characters and Representations of District 9

Wikus

His representation at the start is that he is a bit of a Geek and a pen pusher. Through the mise-en-scene you can see this as he wears stereotypical clothes that a 'geek' would commonly wear- a sweater vest, shirt and tie with his hair styled to the side sprayed onto his head using gel. Wikus is married to the daughter of the boss of the MNU, this shows that the only way Wikus has got this job is due to nepotism. He can be represented as a hero in parts of the film however not throughout. He helps Christopher get to the smaller ship (where his son is) that will take him up to the mothership which will enable him to go and save his people and then fix Wikus. Wikus could be considered the donor at the end of the film as he gives Christopher the fuel to go back to the mothership. He could also be considered as the helper when he is defending Christopher and son when they start the ship and go back to the mothership. 

Christopher

Christopher is the true hero of the film as he is the one who goes and wants to save and help his people. He can also be seen as a religious character  as through his actions and the mise-en-scene he resembles Christ. Christopher wants what is best for his people/ species and you hear him in the film talk to Wikus about helping him after he saves his species first. This conversation is captured using a wide shot to show Christopher and Wikus talking about using fuel to return to Christophers birth planet where he can help Wikus. When the two are in the government building, Christopher is captured using a wide shot as he looks at a Prawn who has been killed and is an experiment which the humans have been looking at. Close-up/ mid-shots are used to capture the humans/ army people shooting towards Wikus and Christopher but Christopher is captured using a wide shot as he looks down at the dead Prawn. The bullets miss Christopher suggesting a miracle by God/ he resembles Christ. 
The scene where you see Christopher and his son fly off to the mothership a low angle is used to capture the smaller ship on its way to the mothership. Through the miss-en-scene you see that the ship is in the shape of a cross which also resembles Christ. 

Tania 

Tania is Wikus's wife and also is Wikus's boss's daughter- this is how Wikus got the job at MNU.
In terms of Todorov's folk tale theory, Tania is represented as the 'Princess'.

Christopher's Son 

In District 9 Christopher resembles Christ within the narrative, also making his son a religious character. In terms of Todorov's folk tale theory, Christopher's son would be considered the helper as he assists his father throughout the film, when preparing the ship and helping Wikus.