Guardian and Daily Mail Front Cover Comparison

Deautschland' 83 Character Profiles

Stranger Things Essay

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Textual Analysis-With Mrs Brookes

Textual Analysis

Explore the way that different groups of people are represented in Stranger Things and (Deutschland 83)

• Audience 
• Media Language

P: In ST, we see a countertypicalrepresentationof women (especially considering the 1980s setting) in that we see empowered women.

E: We see the ‘social worker’ murder Benny, Eleven kills two men, and although Nancy isn’t aggressive, she does control the scene with her and Steve.

E: It is an interesting subversion of stereotypes– the 1980s setting leads us to expect submissive, powerless women, but the 21^st Century construction transfers modern ideologies and values and empowers the women.

CEMS: When we first meet the social worker, we view her from a high angle shot, from the point of view of Benny. This reinforces the patriarchal hegemonywhich tricks us into thinking that she is a typical submissive woman. However, when she shoots Benny, she is elevated onto an equal level with the other government officials, and is even empowered through a low angle shot. This reinforced by the editing– the screentimeshe is given compared to the (silent and nameless) male officials is significantly greater, therefore empowering her.

A: This shocks the audience, which is important for narrative, but the Duffer Brothersare also trying to highlight the everyday sexism in society– even though we are a modern audience, we fell into the trap of putting sexist assumptions onto the scene.  

Stranger Things Scene by scene (timings)

Narrative Structure

Linear Narratives:

• Have a clear beginning, middle and end.
• They follow a chronological time-frame
• Action A leads to action B with leads to action C

Fragmented Narrative:

• Called non-linear, disrupted or disjointed narratives e.g. Joyce's family, Hopper and scientists.
• Don't have a clear beginning, middle and end.
• Events or actions may be shown out of chronological order and not in order they would naturally be shown in so C might happen before A.
• Its a narrative technique that can help show parallel stories, a story within a story, dreams and so on within the same episode or serial.
• They make the audience participate in the story to try and piece the story together.

Enigma Codes:

• Man in elevator is taken-why do't they care about the first character and what attacks him?
• Social worker shooting, who is she, why?
• Will Nancy get together with Steve?

The events in my episode occur in a fragmented order and chronological 

The flashback gives some context to Joyce and Will's disappearance. Hoppers past is known to us through the casual conversation between the lady and Mr Clark in the woods when we find out his daughter died when she was young. 

Restrictive Narrative 

• We experience the story through the senses and thoughts of just one character.
• Almost always the main character (protagonist)
• Narrative cannot tell the audience things the main character does not know, we find things out from the story the same times the character. (dramatic irony)

Omnipresent Narrative

• A panoramic all-seeing view of the world of the story, not just one characters point of view.
• Provides the point of view of many different characters and their experiences and feelings within the story. 
• Helps the audience see a broader background to the story, from a number of contexts. 
• Used for telling stories in which the contexts, views and feelings of many characters are important. 

The narrative type helps appeal to the audience by....

Narrative Endings

Closed Ending

Open Endings

• When an episode or season ends on a cliff-hanger 
• A story telling technique 
• Open endings make people want more because they want to find out what happens. 
• In LFTVD, open endings indicate there will be a continuation of the 'story' or possibly a resolution in the next episode. 
• Each episode of Stranger Things has an open ending making it more exciting for the audience.

TODOROV: Equilibrium Theory

• Traditional narratives follow a 3 part structure

1. Narratives begin with a state of equilibrium
2. Equilibrium is disrupted by an event to create a disequilibrium 
3. There is then recognition of the disruption by the central character
4. Central character goes on a quest to restore the disruption (search for Will/protecting 11)
5. Quest is successful, there is a happy ending and a return to normality or new equilibrium. (However, the first episode doesn't end with a normal equilibrium). 

• E.g. Benny's Disruption, Lift disruption, Joyce's disruption, Nancy didn't know she was going to end up with a disruption.
• To make the story interesting you have to have obstacles.

Strauss- Binary Oppositions

• He identified that we understand the world nay the relationships two have together. e.g. we understand bad behaviour by knowing what good behaviour should be
• He believed narratives are arranged around the conflict of binary oppositions
• Some oppositions could be:

Man vs Woman

Good vs Bad

Day vs Night

Old vs New

Right Vs Wrong

Justice Vs Injustice (government are injustice- we are normally supposed to trust the government)

In stranger things, the conflict between the oppositions help to drive the narrative structure forward....

Conventions of LFTVD

Narrative Questions

Reflect on the class timeline you have made and the sequence of events as they occurred in the episode. Answer the questions about the episode’s narrative below:

1.         Is the narrative structure linear (chronological) or fragmented? How?

The opening scene is has a linear narrative structure itself because it just follows the scientist before he gets taken, it never goes to a flashback at any point. However it then goes to the next day but we don't know what day the attack on the scientist happens therefore it could have flash-backed unknown to the audience. The scenes following this are all linear as well because it goes in chronological order following the children playing the game and Nancy on the phone to Barb and then Will's disappearance. It then goes to the next morning where we first see Hopper then we see Joyce and Jonathan. The linear narrative goes through all the scenes until the Castle Byers scene. This is when it breaks the linear narrative and changes to a fragmented narrative, we know this because there is a flashback to Joyce and Will in the castle talking about a situation when will wasn't missing. The story then goes back to linear narrative because we are back to the 7th November 1983 in Benny's Diner right. The linear narrative continues until the end of the scene where there is an open-ending. 

2.         How many different storylines are introduced in the first episode? What are they?

- The first storyline follows the scientist who is taken by the creature chasing him.

- Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will are in the next storyline playing Dungeons and Dragons and then the parents. This continues when they are confronted by their bullies at school

- Nancy is in the next storyline talking to Barb on the phone. This goes on to Nancy talking with Barb and then Steve in the toilets. Nancy and Steve's love story. 

- The next storyline is Wills disappearance 

- Hopper's sad life, he realises Wills disappearance is a serious matter, his determination to find Will

- Joyce's storyline of her desperately trying to find her missing son 

- Dr Brenner as the scientist in the government building

- Benny chasing after 11 and then him taking care of her and eventually he gets killed by 'social worker'

- Teacher and his friendly relationship with Dustin, Mike and Lucas and the AV club.

Stranger Things Character Analysis

Stranger Things Episode 1 Scene Analysis

Stranger Things: 80's Film Research

LFTVD Lesson 3

What does a television drama need to have?

• Various locations
• Stock characters
• Multiple narratives
• 1hr episode
• Dramatic cliff hangers
• High production values

What does LFTVD mean?

- A tv drama that has a number of episodes that helps create a narrative and tell a story to an audience.

Stranger Things:

General Facts

• Created, written, directed and co-executive-produced by Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen.

• Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in the 80's, 1st season focusses on the investigation of the disappearance of a young boy amid supernatural events.
• Themes and directional aspects were inspired by Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stephen King.
• Series was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016.

News- Language Perspectives

Different Perspectives

What do you notice about the difference in content and how the articles convey this information? Why do you think that is?

The Daily Mirror's journalisms seems to be much more invasive as it names the twin siblings which is unnecessary information. The Daily Mirror also state that the father might not be the real father and that he has 'mental problems'→this provides us with more information relating to the article.  The fact that this newspaper mentions 'mental problems' suggests they feel comfortable to blame this tragic incident on mental health. 

You can see from the choice of pictures that the Daily Mirror are interfering at a higher level than the Times because they use a close up picture of both the twin children which is very personal. They have also decided to choose a picture of the parents which again adds more detail.

In the Times, they never state that the father used a hammer and they don't really provide a background of the family suggesting that they don't want to intrude on the family who have just lost their child, this shows that the Times seem to be more considerate and compassionate. Instead of questioning the immediate family, the journalists seem to ask the neighbours of the family to find out what happened as witnesses.    

The choice of pictures in this newspaper are a lot more understated and less intrusive, they choose to use the picture of the street where it happened rather than the actual house and don't show a picture of the sister who didn't get killed to keep her life more private. 

      ←Daily Mirror

        The Times→

	THE TIMES	DAILY MIRROR
Who was involved?	A one-year old boy and his twin sister along with both parents and witnesses of the accident	Twin brother and sister- Gabriel and Maria and parents Cristinela and Bidhya Das
What happened?	Twin boy dies and his twin sister is critically injured by Bidhya Sagar Das (father)	The young boy was killed in a hammer attack, committed by his father.
Where did it happen?	Finsbury Park, North London	In the twins home, in the back of the property in Hackney, North London. The building is supposed to be owned by the ‘Pembury Hotel’
When did it happen?	11:10pm, Saturday night on 18th march 2017	At 11:10pm on Saturday, 18th March, 2017
How did it happen?	The dad attacked his twin toddlers	Father attacked his two children with a hammer
Why did it happen?		Father allegedly has ‘mental problems’ and the twins might not actually have been his children

News Article Analysis- Iran/Iraq Earthquake

Language	Content	Style	Values and attitudes	Photographs	Headlines
What examples of language stand out.  Calculate the average number of words per sentence.	What is included or missed out of the story?  Can you explain this?	Is the article chatty or formal?  Serious or funny? How long are the sentences?	Is there any bias?	Which shots have been chosen and why?  How have they been edited?	What kind of headline is it?  What techniques are used?
The average number of words per sentence is 19.5. The verb ‘kills’ in the headline is a strong and emotive word used to attract an audience due to shock value and interest. The use of statistic ‘200’ people killed at least provides facts which readers like because they know it is believable and that the news they are reading is true. Another part of the article which proves its validity is the use of quotes from the people that have been    experiencing the earthquake; “there are still people under the rubble” this make the reader feel involved and immersed into the article.	The parts the article have focussed on are the facts of the story, as the article is about earthquake, people will want to know the details of the event. The article provides us with the magnitude, time, deaths etc. of the earthquake. The article includes information from the US Geological Survey, the use of elite persons makes this article an important one. The news is classed as ‘hard news’ because it is a natural event which affects peoples lives.	I feel as if this article is formal as the information and facts are very informative, letting people know what has happened in simple detail. There is no sign of colloquial language because it wouldn’t be appropriate to be funny when the article is about a serious matter. The sentences are one enough to provide as much information as possible but are also short enough to be able to understand in a hurry.	I don’t think there is any bias in this article because it is just an informative piece of text. I feel the intention for this task is just to inform the people  about the earthquake.	The picture used in this article is very invasive as the camera is at the level of the person injured on the stretcher. As we are at the same level of the injured victim, it makes the reader process what is happening, we can empathise with the hundreds of hurt and injured people who were affected by this earthquake. The picture doesn’t look like it has been edited, it shows the nitty gritty truth of the tectonic event. Another reason this picture might not have been edited is because the picture could have only just been taken and the journalists did not have a time and need to edit it. We also see peoples expressions and faces during the panic of the event.	This is a news headline as it is announcing a recent earthquake. The headline is very simple as it says ‘Iran-Iraq earthquake kills hundreds’, the online news website are not trying to make it sounds more exciting or interesting, they are just stating the matter as it is.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/89653/iran-iraq-earthquake-kills-hundreds

News Article Analysis

How has it been constructed?

Headline- The headline helps the readers to understand what the article is about because the word 'moor' links back to the 'moor's murders' which most people have heard of, the simple word is a reminder to what happened. The use of the word 'fears' at the start entices the reader because anything negative does; 'if it bleeds it leads'. 

Intro- In the intro it says that Brady's body will only be released when "a coroner is satisfied that his ashes will not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor', the statement is something which has presumably been answered, therefore it makes the reader continue reading because they want to find put what the coroners answer is. This short intro makes it easy for the reader to decide if they want to carry on because they can quickly read it and make a rapid decision if they want to continue. 

Focus- In this article, Brady is obviously the focus because it states his name in the headline, it talks about the people he killed and the the funeral director that will be dealing with his body. As Brady is the focus, it will invite lots of people who are interested in the Moor's Murders and people that were alive in that 60's or people that it effected e.g. friends and families of the victims.

Narrative- The use of quotes in this article makes it more interactive and engaging because it adds a human aspects to it, it also provides more information on the case and can nearly make us imagine what is going on. It also gives us information that the reader can trust.

Structure- The article is clearly laid out in 7 paragraphs, this breaks the article up nicely  for the reader to read it with ease and clarity. The first paragraph states a sort of question and key statement that will need to be answered in the remainder. The second paragraph states a piece of information that Brady said which was he left his resting place out to insult his victims, this provides further insight into the article which will engage the reader. In the remaining paragraphs it provides quotes from the victims family and the people who are involved in how his body will be dealt with.   

Mise en Scene

COSTUME-The female is wearing a purple dress which connotes royalty and wealth.

LIGHTING- In this image, it uses high key lighting and all the lighting shines on the woman and the product which is the perfume. 

ACTORS- The actress is sitting in an unlady-like position with her legs open which contradicts the polite position that a princess should sit. She is also biting her lip which portrays the idea that she is wanting attention.  

MAKE-UP- She is wearing a rich red lipstick which connotes love and passion. The rest of her make-up is very simplistic to accentuate her red lips.

PROPS- The use of the gold crown suggests superiority. Also the throne is gold which carries the connotation of royalty and wealth.

SETTING- The setting is a plain white background, this could be to highlight the other features in the advert eg. the perfume, the actress and the thrown. The overall message in this advert is that if you wear this fragrance you will be a rebellious, sexy young woman.  

News and Semiotics

Front Page Headline: Queen's tax haven scandal

News Values

1. Threshold- the Queen has a great impact on most people in the UK.
2. Unexpectedness- the day before this story, no one in the public would have known about this scandal therefore it is unexpected.
3. Negativity- this is negative because it seems as if the Queen and other people have been deceiving the public because they haven't been paying tax. 
4. Elite persons/Places- The Queen is the elitist person in the UK. 
5. Unambiguous- It is easy to understand that the Queen along with others have invested their money offshore which means they aren't paying all their taxes in the UK. 
6. Personalisation- If they had just said 'Important Peoples £10 million Tax Haven Scandal' then it would not have the same effect as using the 'Queen'.
7. Proximity- As this is happening in the UK in London it is close to home for many people reading this newspaper.
8. Continuity/Currency- As this piece of news only came out yesterday, it hasn't had the time to continue. However it will still be in the news for many days because more people are being named in the tax haven scandal. 

Audience

The stereotypical reader for the Daily Mirror are Labour Party voters. However these people are low income, they religiously feel that anyone with a posh accent is evil.

Judging this information above the Queen is a prime example of someone with a posh accent hence why she is presented in such a negative light. 

Another reason why this newspaper has targeted its audience well is that Theresa May is portrayed unfavourably because May is from the Tory Party.

Masthead- The name 'Daily Mirror', the word 'mirror' could suggest reflection, they reflect on each piece of news they receive. The masthead is all in capital letters which suggests boldness and that the information is factual and simple.

Layout and Style- On this cover there are 3 headlines/ lead stories. It is reasonably easy to identify these three sections as they are have different colours and are compartmentalise into three boxes. The main image seems to be the couple who left Strictly, however the main headline is the Queen's tax haven scandal. The fact that the Queen's scandal takes up half the page, shows that this is the focus of the newspaper another thing about this headline is that it is in a bold large typeface which is quite in your face and it forces an opinion to the reader therefore we can't really form an opinion ourselves.

Language- The language is very simplistic, there are no 'big words' that cannot be understood. All the words are in short quick snippets making it easy for the reader to read, this means that the readers can decide in a short space of time, whether they want to buy this newspaper.

Connotations/Denotations

The red colour in the masthead clearly shows that the Daily Mirror support the Labour Party. The red poppy within the masthead is obviously a special as it is the month of November but this connotes the war and soldiers who have died, this shows the newspaper care about this    and are happy to present it on their front cover. The different typefaces for the different articles show that the articles are varied and different. The use of the stand first 'cash secrets of super rich' being written in red connote there love for labour as well and also the colour red generally suggests danger and therefore we think the Queen's scandal is dangerous- they are planting ideas into our heads. 

Front page Headline: Sex scandal will 'clear out' ministers

News Values

1. Threshold- Government ministers have a big impact on the UK, as they have significant control over our control.
2. Unexpectedness- shock factor that it's the ministers accused of sex scandals.
3. Negativity- both sex scandals and home- schooling loophole have an interest on readers, as they create both disappointment and upset.
4. Elite persons/places- the ministers have an important role in government, so it is more intriguing to see if it's true. Also, the representation of Trump is a leading role of USA, who are a big nation.
5. Unambiguous- the use of headings and subheadings makes the story easy to understand, as they tell you what you need to know. However, the main image can be difficult to understand, as there is little or relevant information on the subject.
6. Personalisation- the closest thing to personalisation is the '20 people' killed in the Texas Church shooting, however if they included the young girl that sadly dies, it would have had more impact and human interest. 
7. Proximity- the sex scandal is occurring around London, which is within close proximity to many people, so they feel more interest in the story. 
8. Continuity/currency- the story based around the offshore funds has been increasing in names of rich or famous people that have been 'exploiting the poor'.

Audience

The stereotypical audience for the Daily Telegraph are conservative supporters. The Daily Telegraph may want their audience to be people who disapprove of the rich, due to their negative depiction of the offshore funds. However, this news has been put aside, suggesting they want Trump to be the main focus, where anyone who has an interest or hate in Trump would want to read about him. 

Masthead

Unlike several other newspapers, The Daily Telegraph have a masthead in lower case letters. The main interest is focused on the font style, which isn't simplistic, but is more stylised. It appears in a old-fashioned and traditional way, further implying they want their readers to be older people.

Layout and Style

In this newspaper cover there are roughly 10 mini articles which go into brief detail, they are clearly separated on the page so it is easy to read them quickly. I feel the picture of Donald Trump in the middle is quite confusing because it is obviously the main image but it doesn't seem to correlate with the articles surrounding it, I feel the image is just to cover the page up and as Trump is a massive topic at the minute, the editors have just put it on the page to please their readers. 

Language

The language in the headlines seems to be formal, they are not trying to make puns or provide comedic language to the reader, this shows the the newspaper is purely there to provide facts to their readers without any colloquial distraction. The language used to describe the Queen's offshore funds is quite neutral, they are not depicting her badly but they aren't presenting her positively either.  

Camera Shots

Today we learnt the various camera shots that are used in media.

Mise en Scene



                                                  Facial Expression-Meaning

In this image the character appearing on the left (Jude Law) seems as if he has just heard some troubling news and he is trying to process it in his head. His facial expression is quite calm yet pensive. The character on the right has facial expressions that make him look as if he is in a conversation with someone and he is looking at them quite shocked and surprised with what they have just told him.  The moustache on both the characters' face looks quite old and not very modern. 

In the second image, the character on the right looks very serious and looks as if he is concentrating very hard and focussing on what the person on the end of the phone is saying. Whereas the character on the left looks as if he is focussed on something  ahead of him or he is on lookout for something. They both look like they have been running as the characters face on the right is glistening as if he has been sweating,

This image shows the character in the middle looking commanding and in control, he seems to have a very straight face which makes him seem very stern. As the people are grouped around him, it makes them look like they are his followers. A soldier on the bottom left has his hand on his hat which could be a sign of respect to the man's presence. Finally as the middle mans' hands are on his hips, it suggests he has a strong posture suggesting he is not afraid of anything.


                                                      Positioning

In this image, the positioning of both characters is very distant and far apart, this suggests that neither of the characters want to be near each other meaning that they could have previously had an argument. This picture could show relationship problems which could suggest that this film is about relationships and the troubles that come with them.

Within the second image, the positioning of the axe is central in the middle, highlighting that there could be death in this film, suggesting that it is either a horror or thriller film? As the axe is stuck in the plank of wood, it looks like it has already been thrown, perhaps in anger or haste.

In the third image, both characters are positioned close next to each other which could show that they are partners or they work together in a team. The positioning of the guns are slightly tilted upwards and their hands are near the trigger, this could show that they are both about to shoot the guns. The use of guns suggests that this film is either an action or thriller.

In the final image, the positioning of the male standing in the centre suggests that he is the main character. The positioning of his arms suggest that he holds great strength. The army of people around him could either be his army that he is in charge of or they are his enemy that he is trying to battle by himself.



How Does Mise en Scene convey period?

The costumes help to portray period in this picture as the female is wearing a large skirt, the plain clothing suggests she is a servant in the household (presumably to the man on the left). The setting of this image is in a stately house of some kind because there is a slight preview of a large staircase which is often found in large mansions. The statue that appears in the bottom right corner suggests that the house is full of regal people which is normally part of a period show/film/drama.
 What types of lighting are used in these images?
A) High key lighting     B) Low key lighting     C) High key lighting     D)Low key lighting     E) High key lighting  
 F) High key lighting

The lighting used in this image is low key but however the lamp in the image could be high key. The key light in this image is the lamp, the filler lights are in the mirror from the background. The back light could be from the window? The lamp is vital for this image because without it we wouldn't be able to see that the male character has a cut on his face and even what the male characters' facial features are.

I think that this image uses low key lighting. The key light is the streetlight in the background, I feel as if the filler light could be from the reflection on the car and on the man's white tee-shirt. The back light could come from the top left of the image. The streetlight from this image could suggest safety, without the light, neither us or the male character would be able to see anything therefore it would be more scary. The light is also reflected in the drops of rain shooting down from the sky, this could suggest that the rain is a vital part to this scene.

Like the previous image, I feel like it uses low key lighting because you can see shadows on the wall. I think the key light in this image is the light appearing out the door, the filler light could be from above the door. I think the back light is a light we can't see but is reflecting on the back of the two male characters in the bottom right of the image. I feel as if the light in this image is very important because it looks as if there is something vital in the door. As the light is right behind the female character, it makes the audience think that the woman is behind something.

I think the lighting is low key because it is mainly black and white. The key light in this image is the light hanging from the ceiling above the red heart. I think the filler light is the second lamp on the table, then the back light is coming from the window. The lighting in this image is very low key as I feel this accentuates the brightness of the red heart and makes it stand out against the black and white.