The Independent newspaper- Ownership

The independent newspaper is owned by The Independent & media company based in ireland, dublin. The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010.

This affects the prioritisation of the news reported as its a British newspaper therefore wil only be for british people and wont have issues that are not related to Britain. Also Britians issues will be covered as the most important i.e. cuts in funding. They will show on the front page the most important news they feel is most important to them and their newspaper.

The Independent newspaper- Moral panics

The Independent is regarded as leaning to the left politically, but tends to take a classical liberal, pro-market, stance on economic issues. Its not with a political party however it features a range of views given on its editorial and comment pages. It has become known for campaigning front pages.

It covers issues such as the enviroment, government plans, education, cuts to the economy etc. As a result the newspaper is about politics and issues regarding it.

The Independent repeats stories mostly about the goverenment, David Cameron. They are mostly negative news values.

The Independent newspaper- Typical story

It frequently relys on bold images, graphics or lists rather than traditional headlines and written news content. 

There are three colours that have been used, blue, black and red. The masthead is red which stands out this hows it is important. The secondary stories are in blue which is bright and stands out it also seperates it from the other information, they even have the page numbers in which helps you  find the story in the article.

The pictures covering the masthead are medium shot and eye angle. They are covering the masthead this shows that they are important as you can see them straight away (z reading). This also shows that the Independent are confident about their brand as they feel they dont need to show the full masthead.

The Independent newspaper-Current news values

The company initially published a morning paper, with a strong emphasis on an independent editorial policy. As the company grew it added an evening and a Sunday title. Over the next few decades, the company established itself as the leading Irish owned national newspaper company and in the 1960s became involved in regional newspapers in Ireland.

Most recent layout to be regularly adopted by the Independent; necessary to supersede other as the right-hand column summarising inside contents is now a constant, and not reflected in the old image previously on The Independent article.

The Independent newspaper- Founding Ideals

The Independent was published in 1986 and is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. It used to be a broadsheet however since 2003 it has been established as a tabloid newspaper. The founders were Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds, three former editors of the Daily Telegraph. The market was very limited, as The Independent 1990 also has its own Sunday edition published.

It was established because in the olden days there were no moderen technologies in order for people to hear the latest news from e.g. murders, crime, cahnges to the government etc, it kept people in touch with the changes that were taking place in the world, therefore it was established to inform people to what was going on in the society they were living in.
Also it was in order to campaign and cover topics under economic issues as not many newspapers do that, most of them cover issues that are non political. Therefore its useful to find out about the political news from it for those who are interested.

The Independent newspaper- Intended audience

Gender- both females and males however mostly males beause its about fiancial issues and men are into them sort of issues i.e. the goverenment. Whereas females are not interested in these kinds of issues they are more into knowing the latest headlines about kidnapping, paedophiles, famous people and things concerning their health (cancer).

Race- It apeals to all races as it is covers issues about the economy and is mostly political therefore there is no particular race that it is aimed at.

Age- The age group is adults (30+) as teenagers and children are not interested in these sorts of political news they find it boring whereas older adults will understand it and find it interesting.

Class- People buying the newspapaer are the b/c group of people as the minimum price for it is £1.20 so the people buying it will be people who are most likely to be employed and have a job as its not cheap to buy when buying on a regular basis. As a result it will be older adults who have an average income that will purchase it.

film making techniques/ film review

The Omen

• Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner
• Directed by Richard Donner
• Horror
• Rated R: Violence

The realease date was June 25, 1976.
The Omen locations include brief visits to Rome (at the beginning) and Israel (to visit Bugenhagen), but most of the film is shot in the UK. Fiming locations were: All Saints Church, Fulham, London, England, UK.

The Omen was released following a successful $2.8 million marketing campaign inspired by the one from Jaws one year prior, with two weeks of sneak previews, a novelization by screenwriter David Seltzer, and the logo with "666" inside the film's title as the centerpiece of the advertisement. The film was a massive commercial success in the United States.

  

This lies in the full-on nature of the deaths achieved by brilliant camerawork and special effects. By having the omens appear only as black lines on photographs, the film pulls a clever trick: we know who will die, but we are never exactly sure how. Hence when the nanny hangs herself or the priest gets impaled with a flagpole, it’s a real shock.

The death of David Warner’s character is a perfect example of this. We first realise that he is destined to die when we see a photograph of him with a black line through his neck. We then follow his every movement closely, looking out for any object that could possibly achieve that effect. After Leo McKern fills us with some form of hope, we stop worrying about him and start to relax. But jut at that moment, Warner’s head is cut clean off by a sheet of glass. We sit there open-mouthed, wondering how they did it and recovering from the fright of our life.

The Omen has a brilliantly creepy atmosphere, making you feel constantly surrounded by the very essence of evil. Richard Donner draws on the rich traditions of Gothic horror and the more serious end of Hammer, using architecture and pace to create deep-seated unease. The Thorns’ home in England is full of high staircases, dark passageways and open rooms with large windows. The churches are forbidding fortresses, and the weather is wild and unpredictable.

The Omen is also a demonstration of how effective horror can be achieved through a simple choice of editing and camera angles, something which has often been neglected at the gorier end of the spectrum. Take the use of close-ups at the hospital, as the camera cuts back and forth between Kathy Thorn and Mrs. Baylock. It’s a simple device which easily creates tension and prevents the score from descending into melodrama. Brennan’s death is another example of effective editing: the camera cuts back and forth between the falling pole and his scream, before cutting to the wide shot of the pole passing straight through him.

Review
It is a bit difficult to accept our leads at first for not recognizing the unsettling events around them. Though  I am all too aware of the genre conventions to watch out for,because the opening scenes following the growing family, they really do put you off your guard. After a series of grizzly deaths, Gregory Peck and Daivd Warner travel the world on a quest for the truth about the boy, Damien. This is quite easily the best part of the movie as the tension heightens with each discovery and the frights in this part are subtle. The exhuming of the graveyard ruin caused me to squirm in my seat more than any of the film's many graphic  scenes. This makes the urgent conclusion, seem a bit slow by comparison as it involves more traditional set ups of a stretch of silence before something jumps out of the dark corner.

Director Richarad Donner sets the grim atmosphere perfectly, using a series of unique shots and camera angles to convey alienation and to staggering effect.

Jerry Goldsmith’s score is one that really puts him through his paces. It bends emotions by starting off with a sentimental sound only slowly introduce untuned instruments to render the scene unsettling.

It that respect its a hard film to rate because it succeeds so well at being so uncomfortable to the audience and extremenly frightening.

sub- genre review `The Exorcist'

Supernatural-Horror -The Exorcist

When a girl is possessed by a mysterious ghost, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

I love the Exorcist, out of any horror film that i have seen, the Exorcist remains my favorite within the genre. Religious props are variously used. A single table serves as altar, bed and examination gurney, and the incense-scented air is dense with murmured prayers, heavy breathing, this added to the efectiveness and made it a little more scary.

I think this is well worth watching. It has a similar creepy and unsettling atmosphere as the original film. The acting is pretty good, and also has a decent story line. Some of the action scenes are quite frightening and this adds to the tension that builds up when watching the film. Some of the parts leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat. Overall if you havent watched this film then i suggest you go watch it! you will never regret watching it.

Sub- Genre

The sub- genre is different to the genre as a whole as horror film often overlaps into Fantasy, Thriller, and Science-Fiction genres:

Comedy-Horror
Comedy-Horror combines comedy with traditional horror movie themes and characters. Because of the subject matter, Comedy-Horror films can cross over into the Black Comedy sub-genre. Comedy-Horror films aim to scare the audience, but also provide comical outlets that let the audience laugh at their fear.
Examples: Beetlejuice, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead.

Teen-Horror
Teen-Horror is a sub-genre that revolves completely around a teenager or a group of teenagers. Typically, these movies have a large cast and a clear hero or heroine. Teen-Horror films often play upon traditional teenage issues, such as dating and prom, and turn them into suspenseful and thrilling situations.
Examples: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Monster-Horror
A Monster film is sub-genre of Horror that centers on a struggle between human beings and a monster(s). Often, the monster in the film has been created in an “experiment gone wrong.” The monster usually serves as a villain, and the film portrays a hero or heroine that ultimately saves the world from the monster. Although these movies commonly fall into the Horror genre, Monster films have a long tradition within Science-Fiction and Fantasy film as well.
Examples: Aliens, Godzilla, Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Slasher
Slasher film is a sub-genre of Horror film that revolves around a psychopathic killer. This killer stalks and murders his victims in extremely violent and memorable ways. Though it centers on a specific killer, the violence is what sets Slasher films apart from other horror films. A Slasher film will devote more screen time to portray murder and mayhem than a traditional Horror film.
Examples: Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, Black Christmas.

Supernatural-Horror
Supernatural-Horror film is a sub-genre that includes ghosts, demons, or other depictions of supernatural occurrences. Often, Supernatural-Horror films combine elements of religion into the plot. Common themes in Supernatural-Horror films include the afterlife, the devil, and demonic possession. Unlike Religious Thrillers, Supernatural-Horror films are not limited to specific religious elements and can contain more vivid and gruesome violence.
Examples: The Exorcist, The Ring, The Omen.

Zombie-Horror
Zombie film is a sub-genre of Horror film that portrays mindless human beings who are raised from the dead. These films often include a Zombie invasion, and center around Zombies feasting on human flesh. The plot of a Zombie film then revolves around the struggle between the living, and the living-dead. Zombie film not only falls into the Horror genre, but Sci-Fi, Thriller, and Comedy as well.
Examples: Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later.

Newspaper analysis

News values:



Negativity- the newspaper invoves tragedy as the girl as shown went missing.


Recency- its quite recent and has been in the headlines for quite a few days.


Closeness to home- it involves people from this country as the girl was from heretherefore the audience will want to know more about it as they are from here too.

The conventions of the genre horror

 How the genre of horror has changed over the past few years:

The horror genre is one of the oldest ones, dating back to the early 1920s. From day one to around 1960 horror films were almost always just about your typical horror monsters - Count Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, Mummies and occasionally zombies. Over the years the horror genre has been forced to change and adapt to suit audiences as not to become boring and predictable and instead continue to entertain and scare viewers. These changes include the plots becoming more complex and psychologically baffling, a change in the way films are shot and arranged and the blood and gore has increased to shock the viewers more and more.

In the 1930’s – horrors were based on literature and films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were made.
In the 1990’s – psychological thrillers are introduced and fear of the unknown is used widely. Films such as The Blair Witch Project, which was the first of its kind and changed the horror genre completely, introducing a completely unique style. Also films such as se7en had a lot of religious connotations, the victims having to pay for their sins.
Now in the 2000’s – religious connotations followed into the noughties, with films such as Saw being made. Also predictions for world chaos and destruction such as The Day after Tomorrow and 1012, as well as inescapable and unprovoked deaths such as in the film Final Destination. More recently films such as Paranormal Activity and The Orphan have reintroduced psychological horrors.


 The conventions the audience can alwys expect to see in horror genres: 

The setting for a horror film is usually in an isolated, abandoned or locations with a hidden past, this can create a sense of tension and how they are alone, these are usually set at night time. However the setting for a horror genre is varied and can be set in almost any location at any time of day.

The weird camera angles are common in horor movies. They use extreme close ups and point of view shots in order to show fear or to make the audience feel more involved or to add tension.

It uses props such as knives, axes, guns and blood to show that its a horror film, this all adds to the effictiveness.

The narrative strucutre is how the story is told and in horror films they usually have a cliff hanger at the end of the movie and a never ending plot.

     

Friends with Kids- film review

Six friends are enjoying life without responsibilities, until married couple Leslie and Alex fall pregnant. This is quickly followed by Ben and Missy's pregnancy. Life changes, as it becomes harder for the friends to meet up. The remaining two friends, Jason and Julie, have been best friends for years and live in the same New York apartment building. Following their friends route into parenting, they begin to question whether they too would like to have kids. They decide on a plan to have a baby together and carry-on with their platonic relationship. They share the childcare and they each begin a new relationship with other people. The plan appears to be going very well.

Life as parents becomes increasingly difficult for the once passionate Ben and Missy, as they have become distant and resentful of each other. An honest dinner conversation, between all the friends, on a ski trip brings everything to the surface. On returning home, they decide to separate. Meanwhile, after some kind words from Jason about her at the dinner table, Julie comes to realize that she harbors feelings for Jason. She later admits these feelings to him during dinner in a restaurant. He rejects her, as he is in love with his current girlfriend and doesn't see Julie in this way. She moves out of their apartment to Brooklyn and they continue to share custody of their child.

Later, his relationship ends because they have different views about children - she doesn't want to have any. Jason then realizes that he has feelings for Julie. He goes to her Brooklyn apartment and and confesses his feelings. She is scepitcal at first but he manages to convince her.

 

The film is really funny and a has some good comedy in it.The best thing to say about the film is that it does have a real pace to its dialogue and I liked some of the snappy delivery and tone of it, some of it being funny but just generally it had a good rhythm to it. Problem is that the rest of the film really doesn't do much that works particularly well. For me it wasn't "bad" just weak, but this was because I didn't hate the characters quit as much as I can imagine that some will. They are hard to like and it doesn't help that the plot is built around a device that requires them to be narcissistic, selfish and spoilt for the vast majority of the running time. They have some changes in their characters late in the game (the changes you know the anti-couple will have from the moment the first scene finishes) but by the time these changes occur, you've probably given up caring about these spoilt unlikeable people.

The cast keep that at bay for a while – although I was a bit behind from the start because I found both Scott and Westfeldt to be the least of the cast – a problem considering they are the leads. Hamm, Wiig, Rudolph have the charisma to carry some of the busier scenes but I have no idea why they had O'Dowd doing an American accent that is terrible (when he keeps it up long enough to notice). Fox, Burns and a few others add starry names but not too much else.

Friend with Kids has some energy to it and at times the snap of the dialogue is entertaining but the film can never get away from its main problem which is that the core plot and characters are both predictable and hard to like. These two things combine to limit how interested the viewer is in the film and with fewer laughs than there should be, there isn't much beyond the famous faces and snappy delivery to hold the interest.

 

star rating: 3 stars

Advert comparison

Chanel advert:

Denotations:

• A woman is wearing a long black dress and is very slender and thin, she looks like a model.
• She looks quite wealthy as you can see by her appearance.
• She is on a train looking out of the window.
• Her body image shows that she is posing as you wouldnt stand like that normally.

Conotations:

• Her long dresss and figure attracts people to the perfume and persuades them to purchase it.
• The wealthiness also makes it more attractive for the people to look at as it makes them want to buy it as they may think that by buying the perfume will make them feel expensive and elegant.  
• The train adds to the effectiveness and gives it more of a glow and again makes the whole advert look expensive and posh.
• People would want to look like her as she looks perfect. She looks as if nobody can touch her.

  Nina Ricci advert:

Denotations:

• She is wearing a white gown which blends in with the background.
• There are red apples on the floor.
• The branches match the lid of the perfume. 

Conotations:

•  The whiteness makes the woman look pure and innocent.
• The red apples and the woman dressed in white reminds people of snow white as she ate a red apple.
• The branches go with the advert and make it look more elegant and also like a fairytale.

Camera angles in film making:

 

• Extreme long shot  

 

 This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

The extreme long shot on the left is taken from a distance, but denotes a precise location - it might even connote all of the entertainment industry if used as the opening shot in a news story.

•   Long Shot

 

 

This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.

 

• Medium Shot

 

 

 

Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interation. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

 

• Close-Up

 

 

 This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.

 

•  Extreme Close-Up

 

 

As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable.

 

• The Bird's-Eye view

This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.

• High Angle 

Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

• Eye Level 

A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.

• Low Angle  

 These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

• Oblique/Canted Angle 

 

Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). This technique is used to suggest POINT-OF-View shots (ie when the camera becomes the 'eyes' of one particular character,seeing what they see — a hand held camera is often used for this.