Kiss of the Vampire poster

Using the technical codes ( images, language and lexis, use of colour, layout, iconography , body language , mise-en-scene etc. )  explain  how  the film poster  for Kiss of the Vampire ( 1963) creates meaning about the following elements  for its audience  :

Genre conventions  ( horror and vampire subgenre)
Representation of gender
Cultural contexts ( e.g social change, equality, 1960s pop culture )
Make sure you analyse the poster as it would appear to its 1960s audience and research  the era carefully.

The genre of this film is based on horror and vampires, as it can clearly be seen from the colours which were used for the poster. The red colours symbolise blood and danger which are very common in horror films. The black colours symbolise death and darkness, which are used to create fear in the audience of the unknown or what is to come.  

The poster very evidently looks hand-painted as the colours are blended in paint or oil pastels. The fact that the poster is painted and not created digitally adds to the fact that it is an old film from the 60's as in those days posters were generally handmade, whilst now most posters are made digitally. The paint gives the poster a more authentic and original appearance but also fits in very well with the font and the images of the vampires. 

The poster uses lexis in the way it presents what the film is about using its wording. The words 'kiss' and 'vampire' represent feelings of desire, sex and romance, the ideal messages in vampire films. 

The font is very bold and stands out, with the letter 'V' in a shape of a vampire tooth with blood dripping from it. The white font vividly contrast to the rest of the poster which has dark and shadowy colours. 

The posture of the woman on the left symbolises she is submissive or passive as she has no control over herself. She is being held up by the vampire whilst she is on her knees showing she is his property and he controls her completely. Her neck is hanging and her body appears weak which portrays she doesn't have confidence and just allows the vampire to control her. The woman is a victim and cannot stop what is happening to her, with her mouth open and her eyes closed. This representation of women could arise arguments in feminism, as it was just starting to increase in the 60's. 

Both women are wearing less clothes than would be normally worn at that time, which makes them look quite provocative and sexualised. The woman on the left allows the man to control her which would be seen as normal at the time, whilst the woman on the right looks much more confident and dominant as she holds on to the man. This represents the changes going on at the time with feminism and women standing up to their rights. The woman on the right also stands up much straighter with her arm in the air as if she is about to fight off the bats, protecting her man almost as if she is taking over the male role. 

The fact that the man is crouching down whilst the woman on the right stands over him could exhibit that as women become more powerful the men will appear weaker, so it is now a battle of which gender is more dominant. As the audience is mainly male, this will make the males want to be stronger and stand up for themselves or they will end up like the man on the right. 

The vampire is the tallest in the poster which reveals he is the most important part of the poster, even if he blends in to the background and doesn't appear to be anyone special. He is wearing a traditional  vampire suit with red hues, showing it is not a modern setting but instead quite old. These hues and contrasts in the clothes give a retro and vintage look to the poster which are quite appealing. 

The vampire appears to look slightly frightened of the bats in the background which could also create fear in the audience as a vampire would normal be considered to be scary enough, so now abetter fear is being brought to the audience.  

The poster is made to attract a male audience as it looks more gory than a typical vampire romance, with more blood and death. This conveys that the film could side more with the male gender, making the women look more passive and less powerful for the purpose of empowering the men. 

The 1960s were a decade of revolution and change in politics, music and society around the world. ... The 1960s were an era of protest. In the civil rights movement blacks and whites protested against the unfair treatment of races.

'WaterAid: rain for good': advert case study

Analyse how the Water Aid charity advert  uses its technical codes to provoke responses, emotions and connections with its target audience.

How are the people in Africa represented in the advert ?

What stereotypes and cliches of the charity advert genre does it avoid using ?

This advert is different to other charity adverts in the media as it makes people feel empathy but not in the same ways. Other adverts show poor people crying or living in poverty with dark colours and shadows to symbolise lack of hope, using black and white hues. They also show close-up shots of people's faces to frame the sadness clearer in their eyes, evidently creating pity for the audience as they want to help, feeling guilty. 

On the other hand, this advert shows a girl singing which instantly creates an upbeat effect on the audience as she generally looks happy with life, which wouldn't normally be seen if someone doesn't have the daily necessities in life. The colours are quite bright with yellow tones on her face and in the background giving a warm feeling to engage the audience more. There are slight blue tones in lighting used in the background which gives the impression of sadness but very faintly which shows it is slowly leaving as happiness and hope is taking over. The background as she sings is blurred and hazy which diverts the focus to the girl even more.

The first scene shows a very close up shot of a window with rain dripping down it, most likely being seen as England as it is known for having bad weather. The window symbolises the house of the audience showing a flower pot and a radio which are the ideal items that you would see in a middle-class house, which the audience supposedly are. The radio looks fairly new and of good quality which shows it isn't a working class house, as they may not have the money to donate to this charity. 

Whilst we watch the rain dripping down the window for a few seconds we hear the radio giving weather announcements, suddenly switching scenes to the very hot Africa which is sunny. This extreme contrast makes the audience wish they were in a hotter country but not seeing the real message behind it, then showing the struggle of the people even if they look happy. 

The girl is in the centre of the screen using a mid-shot which shows she is an important part of the advert and no other people are in shot with her when she sings facing the camera. Her eyes do not look directly at the camera but slightly to the right of the screen. However, her body is facing the camera completely which indicates to the audience that she is signing directly to them and making them feel as if they are involved in her life.

While the advert focuses on her we can hear birds and wildlife in the background making the audience feel as if they are actually there with her, creating a connection with her. The camera also isn't very steady which makes the audience feel as if they are holding the camera and are experiencing this next to her, making the small help that the audience give even more crucial as it affects the audience too, not only the girl.

The advert then cuts to a close-up shot showing her emotions from very close in high definition which shows she is feeling quite happy now whilst she sings the song, with a strong feeling of hope. 

The feeling of empathy for the audience therefore isn't as evident as there is a strong feeling of hope and warmth in the lighting and shots, but is still underlying to get the donations they need but in a more positive way.  The advert mainly focuses on showing the positive effect the donations have had on this girl instead of showing the large amount of people that are suffering. During the close-up shots there is a glow from the sun shining directly onto her head which symbolises hope further. 

The song the girl is singing from the 90's which had mainly a white middle-class audience. The advert uses this song effectively to draw a connection between the middle-class audience and the African girl which wouldn't have much in common. The advert does this as supposedly the middle-class audience will have the money to donate so they are the target audience which are trying to be drawn in and the advert is aimed at them, whereas other people wouln't have the money or wouldn't have the time to donate. 

The girl is wearing school uniform while she walks to the well showing she now has an education. This makes the audience feel happy for her as she can get the basic necessities which normally many African people wouldn't have, showing what as little as £3 can do. This small part of the advert has a very subtle way of creating empathy fun the audience, instead of doing the basic things like showing a child crying.

There are crops and many plants which look like they have been watered, symbolising health and nutrition in not only the people but also the nature. This shot is seen straight after the rain on the window in what seems to be England, which would just be sighed at and thought as "just another rainy day which means I can't go out". This shows the importance of water in other countries even if we take it for granted and how it can change people's lives, broadcasting that without it there is no life. The audience then feel as if they should cherish it more and help the people in Africa as they do not appreciate it as much as they should, so they should give some to others.

There is a boy who is running around playing as if he doesn't have any worries on his mind. This positive representation shows the middle-class audience that the small help they give can really change peoples lives. Normally the children would be seem as starving and sad whilst looking directly at the camera, but this boy doesn't even seem to notice it as he is so busy playing. 

There is a risk in this advert as the audience may feel that after they see so much hope in the advert that they may not need to help as they don't see any suffering, but the advert then states that '650 million people still don't have access to clean drinking water' which shows that there is a wide amount of people suffering but with this donation each person can slowly be helped. 

The advert purposely gives a name to the girl in this advert as 'Claudia' to make us feel that she is important and has an identity now, instead of just being a poor girl in Africa. It makes the audience feel as if the small hope has changed her life so it can change many other people's too, even if the idea that there are so many people suffering can make people feel a little hopeless. 

As the advert shows the number which should be texted to give the donation there is an image of fresh running water which shows a sign of hope for them, even if for us water is just a basic thing that we take for granted. The background is then again blurred diverting the focus to what is written. The writing is very important as it is the only part of the advert which directly tells the audience what the advert is about, as other donation adverts normally have people speaking over them and explaining what is happening. This advert however focuses more on the lives of people after the help instead of someone talking and explaining the grief they have.

The advert says to text "Sunny" to give the donation which is a positive word expressing signs of hope further as the sun correlates to happiness and health, linking what the audience saw earlier in the video. This is a great way of encouraging the audience to help more as they will feel as if no one is losing hope so they should be rewarded. 

Music Videos: extended writing exam

      Compare the representations of gender and ethnicity  in this music video  and the video for Dizzee Rascal’s Dream.

In your answer, you must consider: 

·         How representations of gender and ethnicity are constructed through selection and combination of elements of media language 

·         The similarities and differences in the representations of gender and ethnicity

·         How far the representations relate to relevant contexts.

You should refer to Levi-Strauss ( binary oppositions), Barthes ( semiotics), Gauntlett( identity theory ) and Gilroy ( postcolonialism ) in your answer as well as any other relevant theory 

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In this video we can see that everyone is wearing some sort of tribal clothes to represent their status or ethnicity in the video. The women are dressed quite provocatively and the men, on the other hand, dressed in black clothes which don't seem to stand out. Beyonce has a shiny headpiece and looks quite powerful with all her jewellery as she walks dominantly in front of the others. She looks as if she is leading all the other women and they are all standing up to their rights as women together.

The men that stand to her sides are looking blankly in the distance without moving or saying a word in the beginning of the video which could represent they are submissive and do not retaliate or try and stand up to her as she is in charge. This brings up the binary opposition of masculinity vs. femininity.

As the video goes on the men start to join in on dancing with Beyonce and the other women. In plain sight there are not many white/caucasian people which could arise some ideas that the video is meant for empowering black people and not white people, which could be looked upon negatively when really the ideal point of the video is empowering women as a whole. As Paul Gilroy says, even though we no longer have colonies the representation of these groups is still affected by that time. This basically means that there is still similar representations of ethnicity groups even though time has passed because of the effect they had.

The video gives the representation of being more sexist than racist, as it repeats "we run the world, girls" which doesn't appear to be very fair for gender equality, as it is empowering women and degrading men when really they should be going for equal rights.

In Dizzee Rascal's video there is also a hint of racism as the white lady is much bigger on the screen and is controlling Dizzee from his strings like a puppet, while he dances around with other puppets. This could state the higher statuses of people and how they control others, giving the same idea in Beyonce's video where women are more powerful.

In Beyonce's video there is a lot of black and red colours which could symbolise the female gender being over-sexualised, with the women looking much more provocative than the men. On the other hand, Dizzy's video has a lack of colour and there is a hazy look to the video which makes it look quite grim and focuses more on the status rather than genders.

Dizzee Rascal's video makes the black men appear submissive and controlled by the society with the way they are on strings and cannot do what they wish. This shows that the law has a lot of control over people and puts a lot of pressure on how they should live their life and the standards of society.
Black males in today's society have a reputation to commit a lot of crimes, which could mean that they are stuck with the pressure of living their lifestyle like other young black males do. This could be because they want to be wearing the best designers, or having the best "gang" to appear intimidating and feel more powerful to raise their self-esteem and ego. There is the idea in society that if you do not look rich then you won't get far in life, so for this reason black people steal or commit other crimes to get to the top where they want to be so they can be worshipped.

In Dizzee Rascal's video the puppets are painted with very dark, black faces with big eyes and lips which is the stereotypical image of the average black male, which Dizzee is trying to show to his audience to create some sort of reaction. This is quite an important representation In the video so Dizzee makes sure to show this clearly by using a close up shot of the puppets.

The puppets are much smaller in stature as they dance on the piano with the lady playing it, as they just dance around in a crazy manner controlled entirely by the strings. We mostly see the puppets in long shots which shows their identities aren't very important, just the fact that they are on strings is important.

The posture of the puppets shows them standing with a crouched back which shows they are not confident or show any status of power. They look as if they do not have any enthusiasm as they dance which shows the government is draining them and making them not have any freedom.
Dizzee is also small in posture which shows he too doesn't have the same status as the lady playing the piano, yet he doesn't have strings attached to him which shows he is a bit above them in status but still not seen in the same way as the white lady.

In Beyonce's video her posture throughout is tall and she is always standing above everyone and walking very proudly, with the women following her lead. In the beginning of the video we see her in various scenes alone but still she still looks fearless next to animals or in a cage which shows she doesn't need anyone by her side to give her confidence. In between her solitary scenes we see scenes of police men trampling cars in big groups which gives the idea that they are not confident without others by their side.

Beyonce rapidly jumps on a man's back aggressively which gives the impression of her power mounting him as if he is an animal and she is controlling him. Similar representations have been seen throughout as Beyonce wants to appear more dominant than the males. This also shows that humans haven't lost their animalistic features even after a lot of time has passed.



technical codes
posture - how they're standing
camera shots 
lighting
background - setting, props , what's in the scene