Week 7: My Genre Article and Completion of Film Studies Portfolio

I have completed My Genre Article, which is the last task within my Film Studies portfolio. This focused on many different elements about my favourite genre, the Musical. Within this article I focused on the following aspects (I also focused on 3 more aspects not noted below):

• Media Literacy: relates to how the audience decode and analyse the meaning within the musical. The audience must understand different aspects which the producer has consider when creating the media text these include: who created the text, target audience of the media text and strategies used to create the meaning for the intended audience.
• Fandom: this relates to the fan base around the film or musical. A fan base share their love and enjoyment of a film through discussing why they like the film. They can do this by meeting or over the Internet on forums. People also show their appreciation for a film through dressing as one of the characters from the musical. This is because the characters are so recognisable that the audience can see who they are even if someone else is dressed up as them.
• Social Networking: this plays a huge part in the success of a film. Social networking allows the audience to discuss the film. They can share reviews on the film and through the social networking the audience can decide whether to see the film based on the reviews. This type of promotion also creates 'hype' for the film, which promotes it even more.
• Reception: the reception of a film is very important. This shows how the film was received by the audience from box office figures.

I have written my article based on the Musical genre and written about how the above aspects relate to film and the musical genre. From writing this article I have learnt about the different aspects which are considered within film and genre. I have learnt about different aspects such as media literacy and fandom and how this relates to the genre of Musical and film in general.

Film Studies Portfolio Complete
I have completed my film studies portfolio, the deadline is not until w/b 14th November, although I am on holiday from 7th November for 2 weeks, therefore I am missing the deadline. I therefore decided to submit my work before this deadline, I submitted my work on Thursday 3rd November. Therefore I completed two other tasks which had not been originally set yet, but I completed these within half term and last week.
Through completing this portfolio I am happy that I have completed the work to a standard which I would if I had two more weeks to complete it. I have carried out a genre analysis, a comparative study, infographics, blockbuster marketing article and genre article. I have learnt many new skills such as research methods and writing different articles.

Week 7: Adding More Elements to my Film Remake Article and Development of Double Page Spread

I have made some changes to my film comparative study. The reason for this is to incorporate more detail and relate the different aspects I am discussing to my own personal experiences. I was given a template of a table which I could easily compare the original 1988 version and the remake 2007 of Hairspray. The additional elements which I will be adding into my film remake article include:

• Hollywood: Films which were released in the same years as the two films, showing their success compared to Hairspray.
• Censorship: What ratings the two films were given and the reasons for this.
• Finance: The reasons for the budget being higher in 2007, the effect the economy had on these films at the time they were made.
• Genre: Symbolic references used and same characters.
• Reception: How they were received, box office figures, awards, reviews and ratings.

These are the aspects which I already written within my report, but I will be expanding on these and adding more detail. The main aspect I will be applying to the above is views from my own personal experience. This shows that I am relating the aspects regarding the film to my own experiences. For example, the finance of the film could relate to an aspect within my life, such as University and Student Fees. I will apply my personal experience aspect to the various elements I am discussing.

Comparison Table for Hairspray

Double Page Spread Development
I have been continuing with my double page spread for this article. I have made the article bold and interesting to read. My previous post showed the layout I designed for my double page spread, I have added more colour and creativity to the article to make it appealing to the audience. The image below shows my double page spread at this time. I intend to finish this double page spread by the end of today's lesson. This image shows I have added in pictures from the film, which I have referenced clearly in my Bibliography. I have added in two of the different aspects I wrote about in my article document, these are Trends and Stars. I will add two more elements which I believe the target audience of 14-16 year olds will like to read about.
In terms of creating the double page spread, I have added the effect of bubbles to emphasise the hairspray spraying. I believe this effect works well with the bright purple used and suggests 'Hairspray' as a film. I have used effects which relate to the film, for example the hairspray can, the bubbles, the bordered boxes and the colour scheme. All of these elements have been collected from my research into the film, especially the Hairspray Programme from the stage show and the DVD Menu.
I will therefore complete my article document and add the other text into my double page spread.

Hairspray Double Page Spread Development in Photoshop

I have now completed my double page spread by adding more text from my article. Below shows an image of my completed double page spread.

Completed Double Page Spread