Aiden Garton Media Studies

 Today I will be talking about Kendrick Lamar, continuing from the last blog  This song also helps start the idea of "Who is Kendrick", and "What does he want to become", this leads to the choices of good and evil being presented throughout the rest of the songs on that album. Another example is the second song on the album, "B**** don't kill my vibe", this song brings the audience to Kendrick but not as he is in the album as a young man but rather as a older and wiser one. In this song Kendrick is talking to three different people with each one being able to help the audience understand his message about the industry of rap and how people are using it for fame rather than using it to spread good morals and helping people, this in-turn leads to a more emotionally upset Kendrick throughout the song. So, with the album switching from a main story line that is used as an example of what Kendrick is talking about in the non-cannon songs that are used to di...

 Today I will be talking about Kendrick Lamar and his journey through Compton, California. Kendrick Lamar was born on June Seventeenth, Nineteen Eighty-Seven, in Compton, California. This is where Kendrick lived through his young years of life with him going through what most kids in Compton experience. This is especially analyzed in his album named, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D city", "Good Kid" tying directly to Kendrick and many other young kids who have had to live in Compton, California and how they are all nice people but are changed by the harshness and violence in Compton. While "M.A.A.D City" has three main ideas centered around it, with the most obvious being about Compton, California and its violence surrounding it. The second idea is "My Angry Adolescence Divided" which is talking about the younger years of his life and how he is divided between the love and hate that he has for his city. The third idea is "My Angels On Angel Dust" wh...

 Today I will be talking about the main location of my film, how it relates to other similar locations in the real world, and how it will affect the plot sequencing in my film. The main location of my film is "Bell Creek" this area is a more low-class community with a lot of violence and crime throughout it. The "Bell Creek" area is home to around seventy-five thousand people with many different ethnic backgrounds and many sharing different opinions. This leads to a lot of violence due to people having different beliefs and ideals around strong topics. A similar real-world comparison is the area of Compton, USA, this is because of the similar class levels and violence that are apparent throughout the city. The area of Compton is also home to around ninety-five thousand people. The main problem with Compton is the amount of violence that unfortunately takes place in this area, this is mainly because of the lack of the lack of people to enforce laws in these areas. Al...

Today I will be continuing my research and connection of my film through the Character Development of characters. The use of the convention of main ideas also helps push the plot of the movie, this is through the actions of the main characters based on these ideas. An example of this is when after the guards fully trust John, they bring him to the bed side of a dying women where John heals the women and endures the pain that she had gone through. This shows how through the character development of the guards the plot is able to expand leading to the convention of the Todorov Plot Structure and also more interesting sequences for the audience to enjoy. Also, through the use of these ideas the film is able to influence the audience's ideals, and it can help teach people important ideas and morals. For example, the idea to "never judge a book by its cover" is influenced on the audience in this film and it can teach this important moral. So, this is how the simple use of char...

 Today I will be analyzing the character development in the film "The Green Mile" and how it helps convey the overall plot and the essential idea it is trying to convey. The Green Mile is a film that uses the character development of the guards in the prison and their image of "John Coffey" throughout the film. At the beginning of the film the guards are seemingly afraid of John Coffey, and they are rather skittish around him, this is because of his sheer height and size with him being listed at 6, 8 and built in the film's bio. But as the film progress and the plot continues to expand, they learn to trust John and become somewhat friends with him. Then finally at the end of the film, the guards are heartbroken as John Coffee is forced to face the electric chair.  With them even offering to free him and risk losing their jobs, this character development helps convey the main point to never judge a book by its cover and that some good people still face problems t...

Today I will be continuing my research in statistics of film genres.   The Western, War, and Musical genres have seen a decrease in viewership over the course of time. This is because these genres have lost the sense of reality, this is through the lack of large scale wars over the last 25 years, the end of the western stereotype that includes cowboys and ghost towns, musicals have also seen a decrease in viewership because of the lack of engaging concepts and shots in them. Although Musicals are seemingly starting to increase in popularity recently because of their increased use of special camera shots and a more complex and compelling plot. This new sense of creativity is starting to bring certain genres back into popularity, an example of this is Fantasy with many Fantasy films having a new sense of creativity because of the new found technologies that have propelled genres like horror into popularity. An example of a film that has helped push a genre or multiple genres back int...

 Today I will be analyzing the statistics in the genres of film, and how these statistics show what genres have been thriving in recent time vs. the ones that have been unpopular. This is a poll relating towards the popularity of certain film genres and their ability to keep the audience engaged and this is polled by asking the audience, "What is your favorite genre of film?". This graph shows how over the years different genres have either gained popularity, lost popularity, or been consistently popular over a long period and have stood the test of time. As you can see the more popular genres to this day are Horrors, Documentary's, Sci-Fi's, and Thriller Movies. This is because of the drastic increase in the quality of technology and the overall ability in film for thrillers and horrors to be more suspenseful with a better ability to create camera angles to create tension. This is why I will be using a thriller aspect in my film because of its rise in popularity over...

Today I will be continuing to analyze the film "White man can't jump" and its use of costuming. The audience is able to identify all of this just through the costuming that is used in this shot, this shows just how important costuming is to the integrity of the scenes and shots. This use of costuming also helps the audience better relate to the film because it is common, everyday clothing that most people wear. This helps the film feel more realistic and less like something that would never seen in the real world. The LA hat that is used in this scene also helps bring character depth to this main character, it helps display that the character was either born in LA, lives there, or that he just like the city of LA. This also helps convey the setting of the plot with it being a place that could be located in or near the Los Angeles area. This connects to my film trough the use of "street" clothes in order to better relate to the audience and make it more realistic...

 Today I will be analyzing the film "White Man Can't Jump" and its use of costuming to create a sense of relatability and reality in the scenes through it's realistic costuming. This movie uses costuming to convey it's ideas of "street basketball" and how the costuming is more everyday clothes rather then a uniform. This helps convey that the scene is set in an environment where wearing street clothes and everyday clothes is normal. It also helps the representation of people who play pickup basketball because of the use of simple clothing. This simplicity helps bring most of the scenes in the movie to life but it also brings out the risk in it. This is through the more unprofessional style of gameplay that helps convey the costuming and plot of the scene bringing it together as a whole. An example of the uses of costuming throughout the film is when the main characters are playing basketball outside. With most scenes that are placed outside having beach ...

  Today I will be continuing my analysis of the film "Black Panther" and its use of representation.  This use of representation through heritage beliefs is common throughout the film, especially when T'challa meets with his father in the afterlife believing that his time had come. This is a representation of people who believe in the afterlife and the idea of your soul living on after death and also a representation of the belief that your heritage is what makes a person. the idea of heritage is widely used throughout the film with the main idea being about the heritage of the "Black Panther" and the ideals that come through that.  But this is where the main antagonist of the film is apparent with "Killmonger" not believing in the idea of the "Black Panther" because of what he did to Killmonger's  Father, this leads to Killmonger taking over "Wakanda" in order to stop T'challa from trying to go in the same steps of his fathe...

 Today I will be analyzing the film Black Panther and its ability to break past stereotypes and give counter-stereotypes for African culture. The marvel film Black panther is centered around an extremely high tech society named "Wakanda" that is placed inside the continent of Africa. This is a counter-stereotype to the typical assumption that all places in Africa are uncivilized tribes when in reality most of the countries in Africa have a functioning society. Most of the people who live in "Wakanda" are of African descent, most also are very wealthy and live a life of luxury in the high tech society that is provided for them. This breaks the representation that most African people who live in Africa are tribe dwelling people, which is a common misinterpretation in the eyes of many.  This movie uses its counter-stereotypes to help build the plot of the movie, with many times the people of "Wakanda" still holding traditions that are seemingly only done in t...

  Today I will be continuing my analysis of "Whiplash" and its use of transitions. An example of this is in the opening two minutes of the film when the instructor meets Andrew for the first time and we see Andrew laying drums for the first time through the eyes of Fletcher giving us his POV on what Andrew can do. This is then followed to the camera cutting to Andrew seeing Fletcher from what seemed to be our perspective in the last shot, this is a very unique way to introduce the two main characters of the film and create depth to their characters in a very short amount of time. This introduction makes it so that the movie doesn't have to focus on using the backstories of the characters and wasting time, but rather just introduce the characters in a unique and quick way that also doesn't seem forced. The use of eye-line matches are also evident in the final two shots in the film with Andrew and Fletcher meeting eye to eye. This shot is extremely unique though because...

 Today I will be analyzing the film Whiplash and its use of transitioning to help convey emotions and actions in the scene to the fullest extent Whiplash is a film that is oriented around the drums and music but the music isn't what makes this film special its the great use of cutting and editing between shots to give the film a sense of life and it helps with the overall cinematographic features throughout the film. The cuts that are the best part of the editing in the film are the pan cuts, these help the scene feel realistic and overall very fluid. These styles of cuts also help display the action throughout the film better, the best example of this is the final scene where Terrance Fletcher who is the instructor and abusive band leader and the main character Andrew go back and fourth through pan shots with Fletcher seemingly testing Andrew with every reoccurring pan.  Another reoccurring source of transitions is the use of eye line matches which are used frequently to disp...

  Today I will be continuing my analysis on the film "Holes" and its use of camera shots. This shot helps express the characters emotions better by using the two-person shot, and this allows for the plot to be conveyed through the improved direct dialogue between these two characters. This dialogue eventually helps convey. major plot point in the movie that helps lead to the falling action sequence of the film. This is that Zero is the dependent of the lady that put a curse on Stanleys family and since Stanley carried him up the mountain, the curse had finally been extinguished. Also by showing more vegetation and the characters in shade in this shot it helps set it apart in tone from the rest of the film. This is because while the rest of the film is using a scorching hot sun with little to no vegetation, it makes the scenes feel hopeless and with little escapes. But in this shot when there is shade and immense vegetation, it helps convey that the scene is relaxing and a nic...

 Today I will be analyzing the film Holes, this film uses its camera shots to display the landscape of the scene and the emotions of the characters better. This movie is a very well shot live-action Disney movie that coneys a story using long distance shots to convey the environment and help push the plot and convey the prop's character theory that is used in the film. This is through the vastness in most of the scenes, this conveys the emptiness for the characters that are shown. The main character goes from eager to see the camp, then after seeing the vastness of the dried up lake that they are in he soon starts to lose hope in trying to have fun and enjoy his time at the camp. Also using many shots to show the unbearable heat of the sun in the film and how it affects the characters in the film, this helps convey the invulnerability of the main characters in the first part of the falling climax when they find the capsized boat. This is because throughout the film by using camera ...

Today I will be continuing my blog on Mike-en-Scene in Film. For example, The Mise-en-Scene used in this scene specifically the setting conveys the small-town presence through the house being directly behind the baseball fields. This conveys that the location is in a urban neighborhood and that they are just trying to have fun. This location factor also helps tie to the plot of the film whenever a ball goes over the fence and into the creepy houses yard. This allows for the following sequence to occur with the kids attempting to get the ball that had babe ruth's autograph on it from the backyard. Also, the use of vines and dull colors, it helps express the lifeless coloring of the creepy house in contrast from the lighter and more colorful baseball field. Also, through the house being there throughout the plot structure of the film it helps build suspense as to what the kids may have to face on the other side if a ball went over. This connects to my film because the costuming and s...

  Today i will be analyzing the Mise-en-Scene used in the film Sandlot and how the simplicity of the setting and costume designs. Also, how these simple uses of this micro feature help create a down to earth theme in the film. The sandlot is a down to earth film that uses its small town to convey the "small town, big dreams" theme that it is going for. the main use of the setting is the baseball field which is very simple and not too flashy. This helps push the reality of the film and how they are not famous athletes playing baseball but rather just some kids who are having fun playing. This also is conveyed using the costuming in the film, through the basic and simple clothes that they wear. This helps complete the setting and the Mise-en-Scene with it perfectly being able to convey the theme that the movie is based in a small town and it is really just kids playing.  The simplicity of the filming location and costuming helps with this films structure because the it allows f...

  This is a continuation of my last blog post with it covering the sound in the film "Batman The Dark Knight" The ability for this film to use its non-diegetic sounds to create a sense of sound in the surrounding environment. This can help build the setting that the film is located in with Gotham having the constant sirens of police cars going off showing its constant trouble from crime. The non-diegetic sounds can also show the the result of the scene without showing the audience the result of the action. An example of this is when the Joker puts a pencil through someone's head but the only evidence of it happening is through the sound of the head slamming on the table. While the camera shows his head hitting the table, there is no evidence of blood or any sort of harm to the man besides the large thud of his head hitting the table.  Another use of non-diegetic sound is when the sniper is fired and it hits the captain of the police force. This is used to not have to show...

 The use of sound in the film The Dark Knight, for the suspense that it creates and non-diegetic uses to convey the details of each scene without actually seeing what happens. The use of sound to create suspense is evident throughout this film with the soundtrack being used to create a dark and ominous feeling throughout the film. This suspense helps keep the audience engaged throughout the film with little to no stoppage in the plot. Also when the ominous sound track starts it is an indicator that something bad is about to happen and it works very well as a starting and stopping points for the plot. This suspense is also created by the diegetic sounds that are created for this film, an example of this are the explosions that are used during the highway scene in the film. This scene was able to capture the audiences attention through the constant diegetic sounds that were displayed to make it seem as though the viewers were in the film experiencing it for themselves. While the real...

This is a continuation of the last blog, this being the second of the lighting in film blogs.   Analyzing the lighting in time frame 00:30 - 1:00 of the clip The start of this scene uses natural lighting to create a dimly lit environment for the camera this allows for the facial expressions of Maverick to be fully developed because of the lighting being able to perfectly light his face. The camera then pans to him accelerating the plane. The natural lighting is then shown as only a portion of his hand has light on it, this helps convey that there is natural lighting still in effect in this shot. The camera then cuts to the fighter jet starting to boost its engines with every inch of it being lit up by the "sun" via the natural lighting effect. The next shot is of Maverick inside of his fighter jet, this shot uses the natural lighting to slightly dim his face and to create a dreamy environment with the sun slightly shading through the clouds up above. In the next shot the use ...

 Today I will be analyzing the film Top Gun Maverick and its ability to use lighting to help convey its scenes.  Top Gun Maverick is a sequel to the original Top Gun movie, this movie is about "Maverick" a fighter plane flyer who has been flying planes at a high level for 30+ years. This movie uses lighting to convey the flying scenes with more intensity. The most used form of lighting in this movie is natural lighting with the sun being used as the main source of light in most of the scenes that involve natural light. The use of little fill light helps convey the shadows in the scenes and it also allows for the movie to feel more realistic for the audience.  This realism allows for the plot of the movie to be conveyed also with Maverick having to seemingly risk his life every time that they take flight. This helps with the overall idea of facing the fear of death that is shadowing this movie. The flight scenes don't feel fake and studio made because of this lighting help...

 Today I will talk about Criticism and its affects on an athletes mental health. The mental health of athletes is very overlooked in today's world with many athletes struggling with the criticism that is given to them. This criticism can cause many athletes to underperform in their respected sports and in turn doubt themselves due to the ideas and ridicule of all of the analytics and critics. This in turn leads to more criticism of the athletes play and this causes many athletes to become self aware of their actions and overthink everyday things in life. Also one of the biggest problems with this criticism is that it leads to the athlete starting to not want to play anymore. This urge to not play anymore can haunt a players career and cause them to lose their love for playing. Many critics have caused athletes to quit their sport because of the constant fear of making the wrong decision, or messing up a play. An example of the criticism for athletes to directly affect one is Ben Si...

  Today I will be talking about social media and its affects on our perspectives. So, everyone that we know and mostly everyone in our world uses social media for everything from sports to politics. This use of social media can help us in many ways such as staying up to date on the current fashion trends, helping us stay entertained with fun videos, and even helping us with day-to-day situations through tutorials. That being said social media can also cause many people to unfortunately suffer at the end of social media. This includes spreading mis-information, cyber bullying, and even identity theft. So with that being said let's look at some ways that social media can hurt or help athletes across the globe. An example of social media helping athletes is Ja Morant, where his highlight plays throughout college helped him develop a name for himself as a highlight reel machine and this helped attract the attention of NBA scouts. He wasn't in a flashy college like Duke or Kan...

  An Action Film that I will be analyzing today is Bullet Train and how it uses the action in the film to better help the audience stay engaged throughout the movie. Bullet Train This movie uses its action to convey the plot of the movie and continue to progress it's plot forward. An example of this is when the son's bodyguard's (Tangerine and Lemon) fight the assassin (Ladybug) and eventually lose the brief case that had a large sum of money. This action sequence allowed for the film to move to the next sequence which is trying to find the assassin and secure the brief case which in turn leads them to the next plot point of the rising action segment. So this action throughout the film allows for the plot to flow smoothly in between each sequence because the characters and audience both know what the next goal is because of the outcome of the action scenes. This also allows for the film to display its main idea which is the idea of fate, with many characters in the film see...