Spooks Opening Sequence

Media Audiences:


The opening sequence uses a number of enigma codes to appeal to a weekday mainstream audience. To start of with we are shown a girl skipping on the street. We no nothing else about the girl. Who she is? Where she's from? What significance she has to the programme. Moreover, We are shown a male and a female (possibly a couple) sitting outside another couples house in a car watching their house. Why are they doing this? What are they up to? What do they have against the couple? Furthermore, they're not speaking in english but a whole other language. We are given subtitles so we know what they are saying but we are left pondering upon why it is that they are not speaking in english but a foreign language. Other ways in which the opening sequence appeals to a weekday mainstream audience is the characters habits. Both characters are half dressed and presumebly late. This could reflect the mainstream audience in their day to day activities. Therefore, this wouold make them want to watch the programme and they feel that they would be able to conform with the characters. Additionally, some characters are seated in fancy sports cars and this may attract the attention of the programmes target audience. They would be interested in the veachile and would view the programme to see what its all about. Why are the characters in this car? Are they secret agents? Criminals? or jus really rich!? This would most probably be targeted at audiences of an age bracket from 14 years and older. This is due to the fact that it does not seem so explicit therefore a wider range of audiences could view the programme.





Media Institutions:


Before the opening sequence even opens we are made aware of the institution which in this case is the BBC. If the BBC is airing this show on their television network then it most probably not nonly entertains the audience but informs and educates them too. This suggests that there may be some sense of realism within the programme.



Media Forms:

The codes and conventions of a typical opening sequence are used in order to draw the audiences attention into the programme so that they are hooked after the first two or three minutes and continue to watch the programme. This particular opening sequence draws the audience in with the use of enigma codes. I have mentioned the enigma codes above in the Media Audiences section. The audience will want to continue on watching the programme as they would want to know why is it that all these things are occuring within the programme. Furthermore, the narrative plays a key role in the opening sequence as we want to know why it is that intitially the man lies to the woman. Also, the woman appears to be materalistic as she asks the man what he got her for her birhtday. He replies by saying "dont worry. I kept the receipt". This suggests she may be abit controlling and always thinks that she knows what is best. Both characters are fixing up the kitchen now. Why? Prehaps they had a late night. They are probably a young couple. Or may be they are rebelious. Moreover, why did that couple in particular ruin the lives of the other two people seated in the car (who we are yet to find out if they are a couple or not). This may be a case of good and bad.

Media Representations:

The location is represented as this quiet, suburban street which may be located in a small tranquil town.In the opening sequence, a small girl is displayed on the screen skipping on a rope by herself on the street, the character is stereotypically represented as an innocent young child, one that couldn't possibly bring any harm to an individual. The couple in the opening sequence are also represented as a young, happy couple. The female is represented as this happy-go-lucky, carefree character who is in a good relationship. The man is represented as a somewhat corporate type character but at the same time retains that stereotypical label of an 'average Joe'. This is shown as he isn't a completly organised man as he doesn't look completly formal, for example when his wife says he's wearing different socks, plus, judging by his clothes, he refuses to wear a tie and has his top button undone, thus showing us an 'average Joe' character.This young, friendly couple are contrasted with another couple, however the couples are nothing alike. This particular couple also seem to be in a relationship but a loveless relationship, this is shown when the woman tells the man that the young couple still love each other. There is also this potentionally offensive stereotype that this couple may be considered to be 'terrorists' this is because they speak in foreign language which obviously means english isn't their first language. They speak very vaguely of their past about how 'they' destroyed their world and are prepared to destory 'our' world. One can only deduce that this couple lead an entirely different life and came from a third world country.There is a clear contrast between the two couples shown here as the director has produced a reflection of reality as these couple may infact lead very similar lifestyles that people could very easily feel connected with even if one of the couples has a rather extremist ideology on society.

MEST 1 Questions to Use When Analysing a Text; Answers

Straight away from looking at the image one would think that the woman is being portrayed as a sex object. The mise-en-scene's connotations are that the background image is red and the colour red connotes danger, blood and murder. The woman is the dominant image of the picture. This suggests that she has a major role or part to play in the video game. To add to this there is a gunshot in her head which further supports her dominaniton as a main character. The bullet in her head shows that she is obviously dead. The line "beautifully executed" shows that the murder was accurate and planned. Though, this shows that the murder had no pleasure in killing her and wanted to get the murder done and dusted with, therefore indicating the person who killed her is a hitman. Since the dominant image of the picture is a woman, we can infer that the target audience for this video game are predominantley males. Teenage males to be more specfic. The target audience may enjoy the image/ picture since there is an attractive woman on the cover and this may persuade them to go out and buy the video game. The image is eye-catching and this would attract the audience to view the picture. The video game 'Hitman' most probably would come under a gangster/ action genre. The woman shown as the central image relates well to the genre as the male dominant characters in these types of video games and even movies have attractive ladys acompanying them. This re-inforces the idea of patriarchy. The respresentation of the woman is obviously unfair, innacurate and sexist as she is being protrayed as a sex object. 'Cidos' is the institution that distrubted the video game and this is shown on the picture/ image. The text is being distrubted through games consoles and the consoles that the game is available on are all enlisted at the bottom of the picture/ image. These are playstation 2, xbox and PC. Theres an 18 certificate on the image/ picture which shows what age group is suitable and appropriate to play the video game. Nevertheless, people below the age group would most probably purchase the product because they would want to conform with others.

Music Video Analysis

"Straight Outta Compton" serves as rap group N.W.A's debut video single and was pivital in creating the genre commonly known as "gangsta rap". The video starts off with producer Dr.Dre warning the audience that they are about to view hardcore African-American street culture during that time (early 90's). Each rapper is then exposed to the audience via a verse and during their performance take the audience on a walk through their "hood", Compton,CA. The rappers' reputation as street gangsters is demonstrated through their clothes (e.g. baseball caps), their flashing of guns and their "pimped" out cars. Furthermore their street credibility is boasted by the police chasing them throughout the entire duration of the video. This video primarly targets the grades D/E/F audience bracket as they are most likely to relate to the situations surrounding the rappers. For example, running from the police, thieving, murder and other forms of criminal activity. The video is mainly targeted at males as there is not a female in sight and most of the lyrics are masculine and male orientated. (E.g. in the last verse lead rapper Eazy-E claims he doesn't "give a f*** about a b****" because he "ain't no s*cka").

Analysis of a clip from "Superbad"

"Superbad" is an American comedy film that was released in the summer of 2007. It falls under the sub-genre of a teen-movie and deals with typical teenage high school issues such as maturing, sex and drugs, much like other movies that come under the same category. For example "American Pie", "John Tucker Must Die" and "The Girl Next Door" to name a few. The film proved to be a critical and commercial success and it is the highest domestic grossing high school comedy of all time!

Narrative:
The narrative of these types of movies is predictable. The protagonist of the film almost always serves as an underdog. He falls for a girl much higher up in the high school social ladder, therefore in order to get her to notice him he trys to impress her in a number of different ways. For example, purchasing alcohol. There is a narritive moment in any type of film and in teen-movies it is what can be considered as the funniest part of the film. This is when the main character usually makes a fool out of himself. After some struggle and more often than not at a party, the guy manages to get his girl in a 'happily ever after' ending.

Characters:
All three characters portrayed in the clip are common stereotypes found in most teen-movies. Fogell is the Geek, Seth is the Rebel and Evan the protagonist (underdog). Their roles are represented through their actions and behaviour. Seth is aggresive and loud. It is clear that he asked Fogell to get a fake ID therefore presenting him as the ring leader of the trio demonstrating his rebelious nature. Fogell gives into pressure and tends to 'mess up' to a certain degree. This is shown by him purchasing the fake ID and using a fake name with an excessivly high exaggerated age. Evan's role is not depicted greatly though he is represented as being calm and hopeful and breaks up any tension in the group. This indicates he may have the lead role.

Iconography:
The iconic elements associated with the movie in this particular clip include drugs. In this case the drug being abused is alcohol. The 3 boys attempt to use a fake ID to purchase alcohol to give to the girl that Evan is 'in love with' and by doing this Evan would 'impress' her to a certain degree. Furthermore, the 3 boys appear to be standing outside of the school building. This represents the fact that they are teenagers from high school. From the fact that 3 boys who are in high school have purchased a fake ID to buy alcohol, viewers can connote they may be buying the alcohol to get girls drunk in order to sleep with them. This brings up the the idea of Sex (another element associated with the movie). Also they may be committing all these actions at a House party (another element associated with the movie).

Setting:
The setting of the scene is just outside of a highschool building. This shows that the characters are definatley teenagers hence the film being categorised as a "teen-movie".