Task 4 - Textual analysis of chosen film sequence

The film ‘Hook’ is my chosen focus film, it comes under the fantasy-adventure genre, this genre is a mixture of being in an unknown place with excitement and struggles as well as being filled with mythical creatures, magic and the supernatural. ‘Hook’ is all of these things, we are transported, with Peter, to Neverland, an unknown, magical land full of magic and mythical people, there is excitement and battles as well as personal struggles and so it fits in with this genre perfectly. This film fits in with the codes and conventions of a fantasy-adventure film, firstly it is an emotive, linear storyline, with struggles that make the audience sympathise with the characters who are portrayed innocently and almost childlike. The storyline is in a linear order, discovery, then an obstacle comes along and then a happy ending, it has a positive narrative outcome and an escapist character, looking for his past and undertaking a quest to save his children from the evil character with other struggles along the way. Another code and convention is that it is targeted at a younger audience but has older appeal and it is widely distributed internationally, not just domestically as well as the production cost being high, which it was compared to other films at the time. Other films in this genre are successful franchises such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

‘Hook’ is a twist on the original Peter Pan story, instead, we see Peter Pan as a grown man who is married with children, they go to London to visit Moira (Peters Wife) grandmother, Wendy Darling. Peter and the two children go to Neverland where Peter has to then convince the lost boys it really is him after tinkerbell reminds him about his past in Neverland and he relearns everything he had lost when he left Neverland to grow up such as fighting and flying. Peter has to rescue his kids from Captain Hook who has tried to convince them that he is their father and Peter is evil and through the lost boys and tinkerbells help, there is a battle between Peter and Hook resulting in Peter winning, Hook dying and them returning happily back to London.

There are many different narrative theories and I’m going to explain the main three below:

Propp’s theory was developed after his study of Russian folklore and fairy tales, he studied how there is always certain types of characters and a linear sequence of events, starting from an initial situation, a character from the family leaves on a quest although there is an interdiction given to the character, then the villain makes an appearance and takes something, after this the hero character decides to counter-act and make a plan on how to make things right again before being helped by a side-kick and others to achieve this goal and eventually have a battle with the villain, rescuing what they lost and being called a hero. That is a very brief description of the 31 steps Vladimir Propp set out as the narrative structure and I think it is a perfect description of Hook, the storyline pretty much is identical to Propp’s theory of narrative structure, as there is an initial situation, an obstacle that they have to train to overcome and resolve and then resolving it and a happy ending. Propp’s character theory is also correct and relevant to Hook, as there is a Hero (Peter Pan), a villain (Captain Hook), a magical helper (tinkerbell), the prize (the children who have been kidnapped) and the donor (the lost boys and eventually Rufio, who at first is the false hero). Hook complies perfectly with Propp’s theory as it is a linear sequence matching his fairy tale narrative structure and has all the characters that Propp concluded are in these films.

 

Todorov was a Bulgarian who’s started publishing his theories from the 1960’s, his theory is that at the beginning of the film there is a state of equilibrium which is then disrupted and there is an issue and struggle for the hero, which is followed by a resolution and back to the state of equilibrium. I think Hook also complies with this theory as well as Propp’s, they are both very similar but Todorov’s is more of an overview in less detail than Propp’s. There is a state of equilibrium at the start of the film when they visit London and first arrive in Neverland, then the disruption is Hook taking the kids and the battle and then equilibrium is returned when Hook is dead and Peter is a hero and they return to London. This theory is common amongst most films, most have a happy start, a problem and then a happy ending.

Lastly there is Levi-Strauss’ theory, he believed in binary opposites which are the sets of opposite values in a text, for example Good and Evil, Weak and Strong etc. He was not interested in syntagmatic relations so how the narrative structure of events in the plot goes but he was interested in the paradigmatic relation which focuses more on the themes. I also think this theory comes into place in the film Hook, there is a clear good and evil character although this can be turned around, the audience sees hook as the bad character (from previous knowledge of the role of Captain Hook), however throughout the film he comes across as the good character towards the children and pirates but evil to everyone else whereas Rufio, comes off as a bad character at first but he, over time, turns into a character you sympathise with and love, however Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposites exists throughout the themes of the film.

I’m analysing an emotional and memorable part of ‘Hook’, when one of the youngest lost boys goes up to Peter, starts moving is face and seeing if it is the real Peter Pan, after one minute of this with no speech, he pulls his face back and says “oh there you are Peter!” and some of the other lost boys run over to look closer, Rufio who is the current leader of The Lost Boys, stands his authority and they go running back, the little boy stands up for Peter and the lost boys run back and forth between Peter and Rufio, not sure of who to follow, Peter then stands up and says how his kids are in danger and he needs their help to save them. In this scene there is emotional, classical music playing to match the tone of the scene, the music is called ‘You are the Pan’ by John Williams, who composed the soundtrack for Hook; orchestral music is common in fantasy-adventure films, it can quickly change the tone from happy to angry to sad to happy again in a second which a song with lyrics is unable to do. This non-diegetic music plays over the top of this important, emotional scene to create a tone and a mood, for the first minute of the two minute scene, it is completely silent and so the music is the most important component of the scene and that tells the audience how to feel. My denotation of this scene is how we watch the young boy walks over to Peter and sits him down, the camera movements and editing is slow to match the tone, we see a close up of the boy, then a panning long shot of him walking round Peter, capturing the lost boys, stood watching, we then get over the shoulder shots of both Peter and the lost boy as he feels his face, trying to identify who this man is. We get reaction shots and a realistic and moving performance from this little boy, semiotics show the audience that we should feel suspense for whether this boy will recognise Peter and we can see how concentrated he is into trying to discover if it is Peter.  The music then gets louder and more dramatic when the other lost boys run to see Peter from a low shot camera angle, then we get a close up of Rufio, realising that he may not be leader anymore and his power is going away, then onto a panning close-up of Tinkerbell who is smiling because the lost boys recognise him. We then get Rufio asserting his authority with low angle side shots of him, the connotation of this is that it tells the audience that he has the power and he is bigger than us. There are a range of different camera shots like high shots, low shots, long shots, mid-shots etc., all combined it gives the viewer a chance to see the scene from different angles, seeing close ups of all their reactions to what is happening. I love the cinematography in this scene, like I mentioned earlier, we have a low angle shot of Rufio to show the audience that he has power, but on the other hand, when the camera is on Peter, it’s either high angle or eye-level, it makes the audience feel like they are amongst the huddle and actually there, shows the audience he is the character we want to sympathise with and like. The editing and cuts are slow unlike the battle scenes where there is a lot of action and it needs to be fast-paced because it fits the tempo of the acting however in this scene it is very emotional and there is no need for fast cuts, it would not suit the nature of the scene, children also will be able to understand and identify what they should feel by the editing e.g. excitement, suspense and nerves when fast editing and sad and empathetic in a slow cut scene. Mise-en-scene is a big component of this film, if it didn’t have the realistic props and scenery then it wouldn’t be the film that it is, the majority of the reviews say that this was the best element of the film. We get a restricted view as the audience to this scene, we don’t know what will happen or how Rufio will react any more than the main character, it is restricted viewing throughout. Overall, this scene fits in with its genre of a fantasy film as it is slow-paced, orchestral music with gentle camera movements which make the audience feel the emotion they are trying to portray, the lighting, the costumes, the acting, the soundtrack and visual elements all add up to make this a key, momentous event in the film where the lost boys follow Peter instead of Rufio, believing him to be the real Peter Pan and so I think this is the most important moment with the film but also the most underrated for its beautiful cinematography, capturing both the emotion, anger and happiness of the event from all angles. The director manages to perfectly identify and portray how the main character is having an identity crisis as well as many other problems which adult viewers can relate with. Many other films in the fantasy-adventure genre have similar editing styles, it is slow editing the majority of the way through the film, however in the action scenes fast cuts are made to emphasise the action, suspense and excitement. They all have similar narrative structure to this film and so I think Hook fits in with its genre through the codes and conventions shown.

The denotation of the costumes is that Tinkerbell is dressed in pretty dresses, emphasises her femininity amongst all the males in Neverland and women are meant to empathise with her because she is in love with peter and everyone knows what unrequited love feels like but women tend to prefer it in movies and so this is how Tinkerbell is liked and relatable to women. How Peter and all the lost boys are in scruffy clothes, hats, smart shirts or t-shirts and shorts or trouser, a range but all look scruffy but innocent, this gives the impression to the audience that they are the weaker and more vulnerable characters that are in need of help, we sympathise with them because they are seen to be the ones with all the problems. On the other hand Rufio is dressed in black and red, these colours generally represent danger and darkness. He is wearing black jeans with cuts down them, bracelets, has black hair with 3 red Mohawks, a very distinctive look for the leader of the Lost boys, he is also a teenager whereas all the other lost boys are 12 and under, the connotation is that he is the one they look up to because he is older, like all children do, the way he dresses shows his individuality, leadership and power above the group and is a stereotypical ‘bad boy rebel’ who is dangerous and up to no good. Despite this look, as the film continues we see his true personality and how he is in fact a good character and so the message I think this teaches children is that you shouldn’t judge a person by what they look like because there is more to them than that, a person who you could think is bad is actually good.  Again we can see within the pirates the same separation in authority through clothing, Captain Hook is regally dressed, again in red to show us that he is dangerous however he looks very royal, however the pirates who all obey him are scruffily dressed too, this tells us that Captain Hook is the leader and the person of most importance who they all look up to and the pirates are below him and of a lower class. The fact that The Lost Boys are young boys, especially the main ones are under the age of 8, we immediately feel empathy for them, want the best for them, want them to be safe and find them cute, it’s an appeal to women, maybe even men, as they look so innocent even though they fight and kill pirates. Adults can also sympathise with Peter Pan, long days at work and a hard family life because you have to provide, not having imagination like your child and constantly thinking of safeness and money; the character brings real life every day struggles, into the main character.

Some dominant ideology that I can see in this film is the family life through the narrative theory set up by Todorov, Peter has his family life and it is fine, the kids are kidnapped by Captain Hook and he has to save them, he battles with Hook and rescues the children and goes home and the family life is better, family values are an important ideal for most adults and for children to look up to and this demonstrates that. Another ideology present is that Tinkerbell is the only woman around, she is highly respected amongst The Lost Boys and she is a mother figure to them all, it shows that women also can have an important role and power however they all look up and follow Rufio, the older male and that’s also an ideology amongst others present throughout the film.

Task 3 - Key Media Theories

1.       Description and analysis of three audience theories

There are three main types of audience theories, the first one is the hypodermic syringe theory, this theory dates from the 1920’s and is to believe that mass audiences submissively receive information from the media that is given to them with no questions; the information is being ‘injected’ into them, and so this creates an audience who are passive, meaning that the opinion and intelligence of the individual receiving information from the media isn’t relative to the reception of the text. In the 1920’s and onwards, this was a way of propaganda, especially in the world wars (e.g. Hitler and getting the German people to support him) as they thought this was a way to change the populations way of thinking, as mass media was new to them. In present times this theory still exists, some people believe that the trends at the time will influence how people will be and determine their lives as well as the thought that subconsciously we perceive our opinions on what we have heard from the media, for example, you don’t really pay much attention to the television during adverts, but the name of a film or product that is played on adverts throughout the day and for weeks, subconsciously you receive and remember that name and so that is what you first think of if you decide to go see a film/buy a product.  A successful example of the hypodermic syringe theory is when ‘War of the worlds’ was broadcast on October 30^th 1938, millions were listening and although it was introduced, the script (set in the present day) and sudden news bulletin saying how martians were invading the planet, many people believed this and so went into panic, this caused traffic, hysteria, began to ration food and people left home to seek safety – this is how one small broadcast can influence a mass audience into believing something is real and correct, without them questioning it.

The next theory is uses and gratifications, this is the complete opposite to the hypodermic syringe theory, this theory suggests that audiences aren’t passive, they in fact are individuals and consume and interpret the media texts in different ways and for different reasons (you choose what to watch for your own gain); this first developed in the 1960’s as this was the generation that was growing up with media surrounding them. In 1974 a theory published by Blulmer and Katz stated that individuals might choose a text down to these reasons: Diversion (an escape from reality), Personal Relationships (emotional/interactions), Personal Identity (your personality reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from them) and Surveillance (useful information for life). Of course these have modernised over the years, nowadays it is more about social networking, on social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, we can use it as surveillance e.g. we can keep up with news and what is happening all over the world in an instant, for personal relationships e.g. finding someone the other side of the world or even from your own country who you have similar interests with and connect. Television is another way to the reception theory comes into place, e.g. watching the film Twilight or Harry Potter, you are transported to a magical world that is to exist within everyday life, and you can escape the reality of life and live in this magical world. This theory suggests that the media have no input on your decisions and that decisions and your opinions are completely up to the individual, also that it is more social, such as going to the cinema with your friends, even if you do not want to see that film, you go for the social side of it, so it is less about what the film is like but the reasons for going and the effect the film can have instead.

The last theory is the reception theory, this is a 1980’s/90’s development of the uses and gratification theory, meaning that a text is read and interpreted differently depending on the individuals lives (their gender, age, ethnicity, location, social class). Stuart Hall’s model of encoding and decoding, meaning that the text can be interpreted in totally different ways, from the producers encoding of the text to the audiences decoding of it. A way for the producers to get around this and get the audience to agree to a certain extent what its intended message and purpose was so they can agree on certain aspects, this can be done through expectations of the codes and conventions in genres and what celebrities are appearing. There are three different interpretations and readings of a text, firstly there is preferred reading which is where the audience agree with the messages and values that the producer is putting across through the text, an example of this is Miley Cyrus’ music video for ‘Wrecking Ball’, the preferred reading for this is for us to see she is hurt, is fragile after her heart being broken, very emotional and also introducing her new identity as she has grown up and changed her look. A negotiated reading is when the producers and audience agree on some but not all of the ideas of the text, for example we agree that Miley is hurt and has gone through emotional pain and has grown up, she’s no longer a teenager however we disagree that there should be nudity in her video as she is a role model for children and was the main character in kids programme Hannah Montana, so it is not appropriate. Lastly oppositional reading, when the values and preferred reading of the media text is completely rejected by the audience, the example of this is that Wrecking Ball’s video idea is stupid, that it is unethical and a terrible role model for a child because she was Hannah Montana, completely gone wild and away from what she was. There are many different ways a person can interpret and read a text, depending on the individual as they have the choice of how they want to read it and why, the same text can be read in many different ways which can be both a negative and positive thing (positively it means we are all individuals with our own opinions and choices but on the other hand it is negative as we all will not understand what is meant by it and so it can be misunderstood and taken the wrong way so possible offence). However mass text can reach a mass audience in a certain way still and so in the future the ways we receive and interpret texts will develop and differ.

2.       Why was your own product produced?

My chosen film ‘Hook’ would come under a fantasy adventure genre, it comes under this genre as it involves not only magic, but mythical creatures such as fairies and mermaid as well as it being in a magical, made-up location and having supernatural abilities like flying. It is an adventure film also as it is in an exotic, magical location, there is mystery, pirates, challenges and training for a battle as well as the big battle scene at the end – we see the main character Peter travel to Neverland with his children and it is unknown what will happen once there or what it would be like or who’d he come across. The genre expectations for a fantasy adventure film are that it takes you to a fantasy and not known location, which is fulfilled in the film Hook when they go to Neverland (a place that everyone knows through the children’s story Peter Pan). When you think of a fantasy film, you think of mythical creatures, a different dimension, a world that doesn’t exist that you wish did, they fulfil all your childhood wishes to have superpowers or beliefs in these magical creatures, these films bring that to life and take you to a different world where you can escape from reality. In an adventure film you expect the unknown, battles, a villain and an exotic location, you want action but at a slower pace and not that being the focused aspect. I think personally that Hook fulfils the codes and conventions of a fantasy adventure film and lives up to the genre expectations, that it is specific and a successful fantasy adventure film for its target audience.

The target audience for this film would be children between the ages of 8 – 15, although this is a fantasy film that includes magic and mythical creatures that younger kids would enjoy, the story is a lot darker and more complex, this is a twist on the typical Peter Pan, although Captain Hook and the pirates are bad in all other Peter Pan versions, in this version they are scarier and their characters are more developed in this film. Younger children might not understand or relate to this film as much as the older children as all the characters (apart from the children and the lost boys, who are older than originally) all the characters are adults, like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell and this isn’t the perceived image of them when you think of Peter Pan. Older children like the target audience will understand the problems and emotions in the complex storyline more (Peter has to battle with Rufio to become the leader of the lost boys, while tinkerbell is in love with peter, while the kids are being enticed by Hook, it is no longer the simple story that young children understand), they tend to pick up codes and conventions and emotions of the characters rather than just sit and watch the film for entertainment. Not only this but the look of Neverland is very different to the other adaptations, for example, in the 1953 and 2003 versions, it is an tropical island full of jungle and lagoons where the only inhabitants are Peter Pan, The Lost Boys, Fairies, Mermaids and The Pirates, whereas in Hook, there is a town with shops and civilisation as well as a baseball arena and town clock, there is a community. Another reason why it would not appeal to a younger audience is that it is not an animation, but has real actors, this is not appealing to younger children whereas to older children, they know who the actors are and so if one of them is their favourite actor, they will enjoy seeing them act; it is more real and connects more with the audience this way. Fantasy adventure films have been proven to be popular and a success through all Disney films (e.g. Frozen, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin), franchises such as ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Chronicles Of Narnia’ as well as films such as ‘Night at the Museum’ and ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. All of these films have had tremendous success with not only children, but with adults too, they are all so well known that they are known as classics, the majority of the population have seen them. The popularity of these films show that although they are fantasy, not only children enjoy these films but adults too, and I think this is why they were such a big success. Films in the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series are aimed more at the 8+ year olds, this is because they are a more complex storyline and scarier whereas Night at the Museum is a comedy as well as having that fantasy and adventure element. The success of these films show that fantasy-adventure is an up and coming genre where films are increasingly being made thanks to the special effects and technology that we have in the modern world.

3.       How was it received?

Hook was an international success and made a worldwide gross profit of $300,854,823, in fact, it had more foreign success than domestic, with foreign countries making up 60% of the overall profit. We can see on box office mojo that it was the number one film for a month before dropping chart position, although still being highly ranked; we can also see that the opening week was less successful than the second and third week of release, this shows us that people thought the film was good so spread the word to their friends about it, telling them to watch it to. The film was also in cinemas from the beginning of December until the end of May, this tells us that this film was very popular in order to stay in some cinemas that long as it is quite rare that this happens. On IMDb, the film got 6.6 out of 10, although reading through user reviews, the majority rate this film very highly, saying ‘reminds me of childhood’ ‘a classic’ ‘I love this film!’ ‘Dustin Hoffman gets you hooked’, so this shows that the audience who watch this film, no matter the age, enjoy it however the film critics are a bit more harsh and marked it down, as they know more information about films and therefore don’t watch them just out of enjoyment, but to analyse them. One critic from BBCi said that the sets and props were beautiful however it was “a messy and incoherent effort”. Another from the New York Times says that “the film is too much” as for the target audience, it is hard for them to connect and identify with them however he does praise Dustin Hoffman’s performance. On Rotten Tomatoes the critics gave it 31% out of 100%, saying that it was a “40 million dollar set and a 5 cent script” and “No matter how much cash Hook earns, it will take more than pixie dust to fly this overstuffed package into our dreams.”, most calling it appalling and Spielberg’s worst – these are critics looking at the finer details of the film rather than seeing it in a social, entertainment way, we can see a difference in this (the way you watch it determines how you perceive it as) the audience/public gave it 76% out of 100% so a lot more positive.

4.       Audience Theory

I think the message of this film is that everyone grows up, but that doesn’t mean you lose your imagination, shows children that it is important to be true and remember who you are and as you grow up, don’t lose yourself in work, focus on yourself and put your family first; I don’t think this came across as an obvious message so audiences wouldn’t particularly accept them, however it is the main message and theme of the film. I don’t think the hypodermic syringe theory applies to this film as a mass audience haven’t been impacted and passive to the messages in it, as there aren’t any that are very prominent.

I think the Uses and Gratifications theory applied most to this film, it was a very social film, as we saw by the length of time it was in the cinema and the box office success of it, I’m guessing by mainly word of mouth. Because it is a fantasy film and set in a mythical land and has magical creatures, it is a diversion, an escape from reality, because the time that it is on, you are transported to another world, one that isn’t like reality and I think that is a big draw to not only this film, but all fantasy films – it takes you out of reality and a world where we wished we lived. I think audiences enjoyed this factor of the film and so that’s the reason why it was successful. In terms of personal development, you can, as an adult, relate to the emotions, issues and life of the adults in this film, it is a twist on the original Peter Pan story and this version has a lot more real life problems that a lot of people can relate to so it becomes more real for them, they can see themselves in them characters. I think it is also a social film, where you would go to the cinema to watch it with your friends even if you weren’t particularly interested in watching it, and also a nice film to sit and watch at home with your family; it is a social, entertainment film that you’re meant to sit back and relax watching, escaping from the real world.

In terms of the reception theory, I think the preferred reading of what the director wanted you to view it as is that it is a complete and clever twist on the original Peter Pan, and as the name suggests, focus more on the character Captain Hook. We’re meant to see that the design was beautiful and the plot was well thought out with the basic plot line of Peter Pan but make it different enough that it stands out from the other adaptations. On the other hand, the oppositional reading that the audience could have is that it is too different, that having the main character that said he would ‘never grow up’ as an adult is a big mistake and that it is too different from the original and so they have ruined the original and magical story of Peter Pan for children, and that they would not be able to relate to it and so be less interested. The negotiated reading of Hook would be that it was a clever idea to have a grown up Peter Pan going back to Neverland and relearning everything he once knew as his life, and that it is a twist and stands out, however it ruins the original magic of the film and children will not be interested as it is too complex and is not what they see as Peter Pan as it is so different. You can read this film in many ways and it all depends on who the audience is and how they receive the film.

Task 2 - Identifying audience

Peter Pan

Peter Pan as a character first appeared in a novel for adults called ‘The Little White Bird’ which was published in 1902 by J.M Barrie, in 1906, ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ was published as a children’s story book. Since then there have been a few adaptations of this story.

The 1953 adaptation of this story is the most known, it was published as a colour animation by Walt Disney, it is based on the story of ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’. The plot of this particular film is that the Darling family are well off and living in London, the parents (George and Mary) are preparing to go out to a party when the two boys (John and Michael) are acting out a pirate scene from the book Peter Pan, that Wendy had read to them, George Darling gets mad and says Wendy has to move out of the nursery and have her own room. That night George and Mary go out and Peter Pan visits them, chasing his shadow, Wendy discovers him and Tinkerbell, he teaches them all how to fly with fairy dust and they fly to Neverland. Captain Hook (has one hand as a hook after Peter fed it to the crocodile) and Mr Smee are planning on finding peter and killing him, they take Tiger Lily, an Indian, to try get her to tell them where he is, Peter takes them to meet the lost boys. The lost boys (who look up to peter) take John and Michael to meet the Indians, instead they’re captured and told they would be burnt at the stake unless Tiger Lily is returned to them by sunset, Peter meanwhile takes Wendy to see the mermaids when they see Tiger Lily, they release her and return her to the tribe, Tinkerbell reveals the location to Hook and he traps her, he tries to kill Peter but Tinkerbell comes to the rescue, however Captain Hook has captured Wendy, John and Michael and the Lost Boys and wants them to walk the plank, Peter saves them and there is a big fight, ending with Captain Hook being eaten by the crocodile. The children return to London. It takes elements from that but also changes some parts to appeal more to the younger audience, for example, Peter Pan is seen as a 10+ year old in the film adaptations whereas in the original books he was a baby/toddler. Instead of starting with a back story like in the original books, Disney decided to get straight into the shadow chasing scene in the Darling children’s bedroom, saying that the back story could be made into another film of its own; these are only a couple of the minor changes Disney made to the film from the book to make it more appealing and exciting for the younger target audience as well as setting up the opportunity to make sequels. This film is primarily targeted at children and is a well-known children’s story that you grow up knowing. It is Disney, so very sweet and innocent and language used for children to understand, with the typical children’s fantasy plot of a magical place with a girl and a boy and an enemy that tries to capture the boy. The appeal to boys is that there is adventure, fighting scenes, pirates, boats and swords which is exactly what boys at an age under 10 enjoy, and there being fairies and mermaids as well as a possible romance, it appeals to young girls that believe they exist; young girls dream and wish to be fairies and mermaids and so these creatures in the film captivate them, as well as all children’s wishes for the ability to fly, this brings the story to life and makes it realistic to them. The ages of the children also matter, the targeted audience is under 10, the oldest children characters are aged 10-15, this will be who the children look up to, almost as idols, the girls idolising Wendy and the boys Peter, the younger brothers of Wendy would be similar ages to the children watching it and so they will be relatable characters who are likable and seen as the children’s ‘friends’.

 

The colours used on the front of the DVD case are iconic and stand out, the Yellow font against the blue sky makes the title and Walt Disney stand out, the font is kind of Old-style and formal, what you would typically expect from an adventure, children’s film, it is a font used quite often with Disney films. As you can see the most important elements of the film are on the cover, all the main characters (it shows them flying which entices children), Captain Hook in the back fighting the crocodile, giving us a hint of what is to come, Neverland behind (with the star) shows the setting of the film and on the back page, there is a fighting scene, this will immediately grab the attention of young boys, who are the target audience, as they love swords, fighting and pirates so this is perfect for them. The majority of animation films or television shows are targeted at children rather than adults, and so this will be an obvious sign that it is made for children although adults also enjoy is as it is seen as a classic. Although there are fighting and battle scenes, it is not in any way explicit or shows any injury, this reflects on the target audience as you can’t expose injury like what it would be to young children. The editing is quite fast but at a slow pace in most parts, I have said the editing is fast as the shots change to each character to gain their reaction and follow them, making it easier for the audience to follow and understand the scene, the characters emotions etc. (an example of this is when Tinkerbell is yelling at The Lost boys).                                                                                                                                              

The production budget for this film was a minor $4 million but made $87,404,651 (in total, after two re-releases), this made significantly less than Hook, but this was most likely due to time of release (not as popular to go to cinema/too expensive perhaps) however the film initially made $7 million and was the highest grossing film of 1953. Re-releases have been made and tied along with other events such as a sequel or the 60^th anniversary. We can see the positive audience feedback and love for this film, firstly it being called a ‘classic’ shows how popular it was all over the world, it is a known and loved children’s story, as well as the many re-releases proving that people do want to see the film and it is still as popular as it was 60 years on. It has got 75% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes to this day and has been released on different formats. Despite the praise and fact that this film is a classic, it has also been critiqued for being racist and stereotypical, calling Native American’s ‘Indians’ as well as other names such as ‘Redskins’ and ‘savages’, it also portrays them almost as animals and wild, violent and talk in a stereotypical way saying words like ‘How’.

 

Hook on the other hand is completely different to any of the previous and current Peter Pan stories, in this remake we see Peter as an adult, living in America with a wife and two children, they go to London to visit Moira (Peters Wife) grandmother, Wendy Darling. Peter and the two children go to Neverland where Peter has to then convince the lost boys and tinkerbell that it really is him and he relearns everything he had lost when he left Neverland to grow up, peter has to rescue his kids from Captain Hook and through the lost boys and tinkerbells help, there is a battle between Peter and Hook.  It was produced in 1991 and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by James Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo however the characters and basic storyline is based on the original book by J.M.Barrie, It also has the famous Robin Williams playing Peter Pan alongside other co-stars such as Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts and Maggie Smith.  This film is targeted at older children, unlike the 1953 animation aimed at 3-10 year olds, Hook is aimed at 8 – 15 year olds, we can see this as the language and story line is more complex and although it still has fairies and pirates, it is very much a more grown up adaptation with the fairies being full grown adults and a more twisted, darker tale with more bad characters, which has a psychological effect on the characters as well as the audience. It is not a jolly adventure and excitement, it is a lot scarier than previous adaptations and there is so much more going on (Peter has to battle with Rufio to become the leader of the lost boys, while tinkerbell is in love with peter, while the kids are being enticed by Hook, it is no longer the simple story) and as it a film with people acting rather than an animation, I think that appeals more to older people and less to the younger generation maybe because it is  harder for young people to relate to, firstly because the main character is a man and so is tinkerbell, the lost boys are older and more aggressive and not so sweet as well as the problems of life he is experiencing, even though the target audience haven’t gone through them, they have an understanding of them whereas it would be too complex for younger children to understand. Also Peter, as a character, has no imagination which kids will find hard to understand as they are so imaginative and so into all the magic and he is opposing that, not only that but because it is such a different version of it, children might not understand why it is so different although it is the same characters and same place, it is completely different to other versions and so it might not appeal to them the fact it’s completely different, which older people will understand.

As you can see by the DVD cover, it is targeted a lot more at older children as there is still all the elements of mermaids and pirates but it is a lot darker and doesn’t look as appealing, the look of Captain Hook with the Hook being the main feature of the cover, it is a lot scarier and you can see immediately he is someone to be feared. Unlike the cover of the 1953 Peter Pan, it doesn’t show adventure and fun and flying, which is very simplistic, this is very detailed and illustrated. The background is of a map, putting forward again that this is a pirate story, the characters in front are obvious to the audience of who they are however it is a different look that challenges the way we stereotype Peter Pan as being. The font, this time being more Piratey and Old-Fashioned (stereotypical font of a pirate) which is in Red, not only does this make it stand out, but the colour red makes us think of warning, danger, blood and so just by using this colour it gives us a hint of what is to come in the film, on the other hand Peter Pan 1953 version has a complete different colour scheme with warm colours that draw you into it, one that is calming and is almost ‘child friendly’.  Hook shows more violent scenes, has more aggression and you’re really not sure all the way through if everything is going to be okay because it is a challenge and Peter has a time limit to be able to get his children back, where we see them being brainwashed by Hook and being taken away by the pirates. The editing is quite slow paced with a lot of different angles and panning, instead of fast cuts to see every angle, the camera instead follows the character for a bit until it needs to cut to a different angle, for example when Rufio first comes in, the camera pans and follows him as he goes around the track before panning down to Peter and having an over shoulder shot of Rufio with a sword to Peters neck, the camera follows as they walk around. Unlike the animation of Peter Pan, because it is acting and real camera’s it is more accessible to get all these different shots and make a more creative film; the slow cuts also show that it is aimed at an older audience as the fast cuts are not always needed (the creative, diverse shots can make up for where it would be cut) and also older generations don’t need action and a fast pace constantly so the slow pace suits the target audience.                                                                                                                

The production budget for this film was $70 million, $66 million more than the 1953 version, but it is there as a big budget Hollywood film that is made for worldwide success, but it also made a gross profit of $300,854,823 worldwide, it was more popular internationally than domestically in the USA, with 60.2% of the profit coming from there. In the opening weekend they made $13,522,535, ranking number 1, it remained number 1 in the box office for 3 weeks, however it was highly viewed for months before not being as popular, we can see from this that not only was marketing correct in getting people to go see the film during the opening weekend, but it must’ve been liked and people must’ve told their friends to see it as it stayed in the cinema with high ratings for a few months, on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience review of it is 77% which is good, the reviews say how it’s exciting and has everything a Hollywood film needs with Hook being the perfect recipe. Another appeal to the audience to see this film is the actors, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Smith, all very famous and well liked actors, if you were a fan of any of these actors then you would be more drawn to see the film, an advantage of it not being animated is that you can get a lot of promotion for the film through the actors and their endorsements (We can see these famous actors on the front of the DVD cover, with their names in matching red underneath, this immediately draws someone in to buy the DVD if it has a big, Hollywood actor). It was also directed by Steven Spielberg who is a major, successful director and so if you are interested and like certain directors, than this can also be an appeal; this is another reason why we can see it is not aimed at a younger audience, younger audiences do not care about actors or directors, all they care about is the content of the film, they also don’t take notice of things like camera angles and music unlike older children and adults who do notice the creativity of the making of it.

We can gather audience feedback through different methods, such as reviews, focus groups, reception, test screenings and box office, as well as others. Firstly there are test screenings, this is where they bring in an audience before the film is complete to view the film and then give feedback to what they could improve and what they liked, this way the directors can decide what to change about the film before completion. Often there are preview sessions of the film so film critics can review it for their paper or website, consumers of the newspapers or viewers of the website can read what the critic has said about the film and then decide whether they want to go see that film as well, depending on whether it had a good or bad review (if the film gets a bad view, it is more likely that less people will go see the film as they trust the critics judgement). Websites such as Rotten Tomatoes is where you can see reviews not only from film critics but from members of the public, to get a wider overview of the response to the film, however it is up to the public to decide whether they want to see the film or not. Us and Directors can get an idea of how successful a film has been in the cinema through box office, if, in the opening weekend, the film has been a success however over the next couple of weeks if, in the box office, it is less successful, it gives us an idea that people went to see the film after successful marketing however it was disappointing and so they didn’t tell their friends to watch it or it got bad reviews etc. whereas a film that might not have great marketing and not great success in the opening weekend but then increasing box office sales over the weeks/months in the cinema, it means that it wasn’t that appealing to watch but people enjoyed it, heard good reviews about it and were told about it by their friends, it would go around by word and mouth about how great it was, therefore attracting a wider audience after release.  Audience feedback is an important part of the success of a film, depending on the feedback it can determine the success of the film, and there are different ways of both getting feedback and analysing that feedback through film reviews, box office sales and test screenings.

Both of these films are iconic in the series of remakes of Peter Pan, the first, 1953 animation, is a family classic and is what everybody thinks of when Peter Pan is mentioned and this has set out the iconic look of Peter Pan, although this is a family classic, it is targeted at a young child as it is an animation, it is magical and has adventure and is perfect for both boys and girls whereas Hook is a twist of the story and is unique in the series of sequels, it doesn’t follow the usual pattern of the story although takes the basic storyline and elements from it. Hook is based at the older child and I would say it is more targeted at boys over girls as there is more fighting rather than magical creatures or a love story however girls will also like the film, so in conclusion, we can tell they are targeted to different audiences as one is an animation and has elements that all children would love and the other is a Hollywood film with famous actors that has a darker side and unique twist, however both have a wide, international audience and anyone of any age would enjoy them.

Task 1 - Audience Research

Media Producers use many different ways to identify and target their audience, by doing this they can see who reads/watches their magazine/show and so how to market to them particular people.

The first way to identify an audience is through Demographics, this defines the age, gender, social class and race of the public. Using this, media producers can find out what age bracket watches their show, this gives them an indication of which direction the show should go as well as what advertisements to place. Also gender, you can identify a genre of a film or show by who is the main audience, and so what conventions it should hold e.g. an action film will appeal more to males than to females. An example of the use of demographics is the advertisements during day time television, these tend to be products for elderly people, children or house wives, this is because these are the people who would most likely be watching and so the product is more successfully advertised than late at night. Another example is Closer magazine, they can identify that their readers are predominately female and so this is who they want to target. Ways they could find out who they were selling to could come from looking at statistics, giving out a survey, through social media or purchases, advertisers can look at this also to see what adverts would be most successful, after identifying the target audience they can shape the content around this, e.g. fashion pages, gossip, celebrity interviews, weight loss help etc.

Another way to identify an audience is through psychographics, this identifies what the audience’s interests are, their lifestyle, attitudes, beliefs or their personality. This is useful particularly in marketing and advertising campaigns because they can shape it around the lifestyle of the targeted audience, for example the main consumer of energy sport drinks are people who love to exercise and are fit, in the advertisement they could have an athletic celebrity sponsor or someone running. Another example is high-top trainers, these are aimed at teenage boys/ young adults and so with research they could make a campaign with a sport orientated lifestyle such as someone playing football in them or at the skate park as a sport lifestyle is stereotypically male. We can categorise audiences and put them into Mainstream, Explorer, Reformer, Aspirer, laggers etc. through Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation. We can see statistics on BARB that show us what programme is most popular on each channel, showing us the amount of viewers, what day and time it was shown; this helps us identify the demographics and psychographics of a programme. We can see on BARB how many viewers, an example is on BBC1, 'Call The Midwife' was the most viewed programme on this channel in the last week of January, with 10.83 million viewers. It was shown on a Sunday at 8pm, this tells us exactly who the viewers are, it is a programme targeted at women primarily but is a drama, the producers know that women will be home on a Sunday evening, as well as their families to settle down and watch this programme. The second highest viewed show on this channel is 'The Voice UK' which shows on a Saturday night at 7pm, it had 8.86 million viewers; this show is targeted at families, women and children, this time is perfectly timed as younger children will be able to watch, as well as families will be in on a Saturday night, it's a reality show and so indulgent. Although teenagers are apart of the target audience they are less focused on as it is more likely that they will be out and not in to watch the show; BBC1 is more family and adult orientated and this shows in the ratings, as it is more popular to a mass audience. On the other hand, Channel 4's highest viewing on the same week was 'Benefits Street' shown on a Monday at 9pm, it got a total of 5.56 million viewers, half of that of the highest viewed programme on the BBC, this is because this channel is aimed more at teenagers and young adults, rather than families. 'Benefits Street' was a funny documentary of a life on a street in Birmingham where most of the residents are on Benefits; it does not portray these people in a good light where we should feel sympathetic for them, instead they're doing themselves no favours and portraying themselves as the stereotypical people we perceive are on benefits. As Channel 4 have not shown them in a good light they would most likely lose these people and others on benefits as viewers, these people are put under the 'struggler' on demographic tendencies (Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation), and so are the smallest sector, so Channel 4 can afford to lose this audience (to entertain the mass audience). The audience for 'Benefits Street' are teenagers, put into the Explorer category, this means they're adventurous and have a lot of freedom, not afraid of change and so watching Benefits it is almost entertaining to see people who are not apart of that same group etc. Using the Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation, we can identify what certain groups of people in certain situations are most likely to feel and think and want to watch e.g. Mainstream and Succeeders are more likely to opt for security and to be well resourced whereas Explorers and Strugglers are more for freedom but are less resourced; also Mainstream are more likely to resist change and like it how it is however Explorers will be the first to except change and we can see this through young people, how they change and 'go with the flow', learn new things constantly rather than the older generations who are resistant and slower to follow. Using demographics does help identify what age, gender or race the audience is, using psychographics you can segregate these categories further and so target a smaller, niche audience for your product rather than a general advert to target a mass audience.

Next is Geodemographics, this identifies the audience through region and location, this is a more uncommon way of researching your audience for most companies although it can be good to research which region most enjoys the product and so helps with where to place more/less advertising and products (e.g. a specific, niche television show could have double the viewers In the north over the south, they could either advertise it more in the south to get more viewers or focus their attention primarily on the north). It is particularly useful for newspapers, it varies between regions what is published and what are the main topics discussed are as well as the dialect used. Obviously local newspapers report completely different new, The Northern Echo reports for the North-East, the news reported is not reported in the south, so we get different news however the Northern Echo’s headlines are mainly on crimes, police, court or sport as well as stories on local schools and businesses, these are big stories and create drama and something to talk about however The London Evening Standard’s stories are mainly focused on estate, legal issues as well as politics – I think this is because a lot of business people work in the city or commute and so want to know what is going on in the financial and business world as well as knowing what is happening in the capital rather than stories of local people or schools. They are advertising to different audiences, the main readers of The Northern Echo would be local people, families, local businesses, the elderly whereas The London Evening Standard are aimed at the young – middle aged business people, predominantly male. This is also reflected in the language used, The London Standard uses very well-spoken, formal language whereas The Northern Echo is more laid back. On television, specifically the news, the country is segregated by regions, such as London, The South, Midlands, Yorkshire etc. Each have their own news for their own region after the National news, this is where you can find out information specific for your area and so not showing news stories that aren't relevant to you. One example is the South Today News on BBC, the first 15 minutes is the whole of the South region, as the capital of the South region, and all the main cities and towns are along the South Coast, this means this is where the main audience is and so where the South Regional News is based, with stories about the weather, sea and local towns. Because Oxford is the north of this region, it is not very relevant to us, therefore we have a dedicated news for 15 minutes after the 15 minutes of South Today News (will go on for half an hour if you live on the south coast), here we get relevant stories to our location, and they tend to be small stories, such as a teacher walking out of a school because disruptive students or the success of a local boy. In comparison, the news in London was taken over by the story of tube strikes, this is because the tubes are a huge part of the life of commuters, business men and tourists and so it has had a major effect on the city and transport, other regular stories on the news are about murders, violence etc. you hear about this less on the news in other parts of the country, this is because there is a lot more people in London than anywhere else therefore it is more likely to happen and so isn't headline news, unlike if it were to happen in Oxford for example. On BBC's Look North news in the North East and Cumbria, the main headline on the local news was about a new sports facility which is going to be built in Middlesbrough, which will help the local community etc. The next story was about a missing woman and how a body has been found, then about improvements that need to be done to the schools, to then talk about Chinese New Year Celebrations in Newcastle - these stories would not go near to reach national news as they're not big stories and so aren't relevant to the majority of the country however to that region, it is important because it is local - the stories are captivating and make you feel sympathetic, they are small stories that lots of people like to follow as it means a lot to them.

Lastly there is socio-economics, this is where people are put in 6 groups depending on their job title/earnings, and these are:

·         A – High managerial in a company (chief executive etc.), professional (surgeon, GP)

·         B – Intermediate managerial (bank manager), professional (teacher)

·         C1 – Junior manager, supervisor, clerks – bank clerk, sales advisor, a supervisor

·         C2 – Skilled manual workers – builders, plumbers, electricians, brick layers

·         D – unskilled or half skilled manual workers – messengers, assembly line worker

·         E – unemployed, pensioners – living off benefits or pensioner not on private pension

These are helpful for companies to know, if they can identify which category their main target audience is then they know the money they should have to spend on the products, what interests or lifestyle they could possibly have or seeing who they need to target and what advertisements can fit with this information. For example Waitrose, they sell food that is more expensive than supermarkets such as Morrison’s or Aldi and have special ranges, through research it has been found that people in groups ABC1 are more likely to buy food from more expensive supermarkets unlike those in groups C2DE who would not be willing to pay more. Companies can find out information through The National Statistics website and through the census as well as on BARB universe, this is based on television homes and who is in that household, surveys are sent round often and this keeps data up to date and this is where you can find demographic information also. Through finding out who their target audience are, they can presume the socio-economic group their audience is most likely to be from, e.g. the channel BBC4 shows dramas, documentaries, foreign shows or films as well as current affairs and original programmes as is said to be “an alternative to programmes on the mainstream channels” their target audience for their programmes is primarily those of middle age to the elderly rather than the young generation, so that helps them identify what kind of socio-economic group they are in, what products should be in the advertisements etc. Although this classes people by what they earn, doesn't mean the people who work in C2 etc. earn less than those in A or B,  because in fact they earn just as much, being self-employed, however their income is not stable and so that is why they are classed lower. The trouble with using socio-economic as a way of defining an audience is that it doesn't show you what any of personalities, likes and dislikes are, it is simply based on what job role/amount earned and although this can give a slight idea of interests (a builder might like a show about houses and a chef, a programme about food), so it is not as useful as other audience research techniques.

Some of the issues with companies defining their audiences through these categories are that not every person who watches or reads the programme or magazine is part of the category, it depends on the person and so defining their target audience and only focusing on that audience could restrict the people who could or want to view that product or miss them out completely through advertising and so they are only appealing to certain people which could have an effect on the popularity of the product. Also just because people fall into a certain category it does not mean they all like the same thing, for example an action film will make it appealing for men to watch through advertising (pretty women, car chases, fights etc.) however some girls will enjoy those types of films over romantic comedies which the majority of women enjoy and vice versa with men and magazines targeted at women, there’s nothing to say men won’t want to read it to but making the product look like a woman only product it sets up prejudices for men if they want to read it. Although these ways of finding who is interested in a show or magazine and sets up a guideline for who to target, it doesn’t mean these are the only people you can target, you can appeal to a larger audience and not leave out possible audiences.