26.1 The Theory of Films (part 1)

The films I have chosen to base this report on are ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can’.

The Shawshank Redemption was made in 1994 and is suitable for those aged 15 years or over; Frank Darabont directed the film and Niki Marvin was the producer.   The film was not a box office success initially, but word of mouth and TV screenings have led to the film being considered one of the best ever made. 

The film is about a banker, Andy Dufresne, who is imprisoned in Shawshank jail  for a crime he did not commit and the film tells the story of his 28 years in prison, the bond he develops with his fellow inmates and his eventual escape.  The characters represent a range of prisoners, from elderly prisoners doing a life sentence (Brooks Hatlen) through to younger petty criminals (young Tommy).  However, the main supporting character, who becomes Andy’s best friend, is called ‘Red’.  Red is played by Morgan Freeman.  Red is also the narrator, so the film is told from his point of view.  Freeman’s unique, mellifluous, deep voice is an effective way of keeping the audience engaged and building an emotional connection to Red’s character. In addition, the theme music is very distinctive and gives a spooky but mysterious feeling towards the film, which can keep the audience on their toes and aware of the puzzling effect the film may have.

The Shawshank Redemption follows drama conventions; this is because of the various conventions within the film that help the audience to come to this conclusion. The film consists of a gripping storyline that is expected in dramas; for example, a great deal of thought has been put into the plot of The Shawshank Redemption to keep the audience guessing and to make it more interesting. In addition, it is a crime drama and this sub-genre applies because of the illegal activities involved and the concept of the film is based around crime.

The Shawshank Redemption incorporates elements of Barthes Enigma Code theory because there is a mystery surrounding Andy Dufresne’s escape from Shawshank Prison.  This constitutes a major puzzle for viewers to solve towards the end of the film.  The story is mainly told in a linear, episodic manner with a few flashbacks incorporated to demonstrate Andy’s innocence. 

The main themes are friendship and the power of hope.  The bonds of friendship are unbreakable for Andy and Red and the ending shows that their bond continues after both have left the prison.  The power of hope is what gives all of the inmates the will to live.  Red is shown hoping that he will be granted parole over many years and once he gives up on this, he is finally released.   In Andy’s letter, he writes that “hope is a good thing”.  This seems to be what finally persuades Red to go and find his friend in Mexico.

‘Catch Me if You Can’ is a PG-13 film that is set in various locations across the USA and Canada and was released more recently than ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ in 2002.  The film was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. For those that are gripped to a crime drama film,  this would best be suitable.

The movie is a biography of Frank Abagnale Jr who forged cheques and posed as a pilot, doctor and prosecutor all before the age of 19.  The film is also a crime drama because Frank commits several criminal offences, while successfully cashing over 4 million dollars’ worth of fake cheques. This concept has a gripping storyline because of the way in which it portrays Frank Abagnale Jr’s life.  The film is all the more engaging because it is inspired by a true story.

The storyline illustrates Levi Strauss’ theory of binary opposites, as it revolves around Tom Hanks representing ‘good’ and Leonardo DiCaprio representing “evil”.  The movie features a battle between law and order versus crime/fraud.  One can also see Todorov’s Equilibrium theory in action.  The story starts with ‘equilibrium’ as Frank Abagnale Jr is shown living a happy life with his parents.  ‘Disruption’ follows when he becomes aware that his mother is having an affair and then his parents divorce. ‘Realisation’ comes when he runs away from home to escape the situation, finds ways to persuade banks to cash his cheques and eventually he becomes a master cheque forger.  After a period of posing as a pilot and a doctor and cashing cheques worth millions of dollars, Frank attempts to ‘restore order’ by settling down with his fiancée in New Orleans and qualifying as a lawyer.  However, the FBI closes in and he is forced to go on the run again.  Finally, after he is caught, jailed and then released from prison to work with the FBI, ‘equilibrium’ is restored.  

In ‘Catch me if You Can’ there is a particular scene that occurs a few times within the film that involves young Frank Abagnale Jr having a conversation with FBI officer, Carl Hanratty, over the Christmas period; this is significant because on a day which is usually spent with family such as Christmas Eve, Frank decides to call Carl which shows that he is lonely as he has no one else to call which brings an emotional response with the audience which is a feature of a drama film.

In conclusion, the Shawshank redemption shows various elements that make the film such a sensitive and distinctive screenplay and produces a brilliant crime drama. The film has the sense of mystery and surprise throughout; which makes the typical prison life story expand into different areas such as, friendship, survival and enterprise.

Catch me if you can be a film that turns the 19 years of Frank Abagnale Jr’s life into an astonishing crime drama that covers various real life situations including, troubled childhood, parents separating and rehabilitation.

Assignment 1: Analysing radio adverts

Radio advert 1 - Carphone warehouse (its a mirale!)

The message that is established in this advert is that Carphone Warehouse treats their customers phones like a doctor would treat its patients in hospital and are suitable for ensuring a longer life for a customers mobile phones. This advert is has a humorous because it contains comments that is intended for the audience for to find funny, this helps to make the advert more impactive and therefore rememberable. As well as the style of fiction is implemented because the narrator in the advert promotes Carphone Warehouse through telling a fictional story about a mobile phone being needed to be fixed at Carphone Warehouse and then goes to to outline all the offers and promotions that Carephone Warehouse provides; which means a seductive style is shown through the gentle persuasion hidden within the fictional story. As well as surreal is shown because the advert trys to implement human qualities on an object, mobile phones can not get ill.

The sole purpose of this radio advert is to promote the brand, Carephone Warehouse, through narrating a fictional story in third person about the brand. The narrator provides information about the services that the brand offers; for example, the main offer that is mentioned is a guarantee that if a mobile phone has persistant problem they will provide that customer with a brand new one. This specfic offer is the main persuasive idea to obtain the audience attention to the brand.

The character involved in the advert are the mobile phone (which is called Mobly within the advert) and the narrator (the owner of the mobile phone). The mobile phone character has very high pitched voice and implemented comments in the background of the narrator throughout the advert, until towards the end of advert when the narrator acknowledges the mobile phone and they have short conversation between each other. The narrator has soft, gentle and formal voice that makes the audience feel more welcome because of the friendly attitude.

This advert doesn't use the effect of music within this advert and rely on the dialogue to create a persuasive technique. The use of the offers when repairing a customers mobile phone is used as the unique selling point within the advert. this is can then be seen as a benefit for the consumers through the guarantee of persistant phone problems and the 14 day repair guarantee helps to secure customers when purchasing mobile phones from this brand.

Carphone Warehouse have to be aware of harming or offending their audience within its advert because the accent of the narrator could come across as offence to a certain audience. As well as misleading adverting with incorrect information can lose customer loyalty, which in this case Carphone Warehouse could provide incorrect facts about their 14 day guarantee where it may not even be a 14 day guarantee it could only be 10 days which will aggravate their audience.

Radio advert 2 - IKEA ('don't have a nightmare this christmas')

This radio advert makes it clear of the message being represent through the title, 'don't have a nightmare this Christmas', which is that IKEA will provide you with all the home ware needed for Christmas.

The styles represented in this advert is pastiche because in the beginning of the advert. it imitates an old fashion horror film trailer to apply to their brand and create a scary and horrifying atmosphere which can also be applied to the message of this advert. As well as immediacy is used within the advert; this is because the advert is intended for customers to start purchasing for the Christmas period, which shows it is offers that are limited and is happening soon. The advert is also a simple style because the is a generally a straight forward concept.

The main purpose of this business, IKEA, is to build awareness of their products and services during the seasonal period of Christmas. the advert is to gain the attention to public and keep the brand in the public eye during the christmas period. it is more about the brand rather than the product because it doesn't have much new to offer in this advert, but it is trying to take advantage of customers for the seasonal period.

There is a use of multi voice dialogue, it begins with an aggressive, loud voice over through the demonic violin music to create the horror trailer affect; it then continues on to a deep but gentle formal voice over to end the advert. The gentle formal voice over towards the ends it with a direct address to the audience to make the listener feel more persuaded into buying from the business.

By embedding the background music in the music in the beginning of the advert it is used to create a typical horror theme, this is because the idea was to make it represent a nightmare from not having the correct home ware. The terrifying scream as a sound effect also adds to the scary and horror atmosphere that is being applied because screaming is a convention in the horror genre. The combination of the aggressive voiceover and music, contribute the mood and atmosphere.

The advert implements fear in the minds of the audience to make the advert distinctive and more effective, this can also be referred to as persuasive technique. This is because it is an hidden aggressive way of persuading, its as if they are telling the listeners that they have to buy new home ware from IKEA otherwise it will create a nightmare christmas. It is saying that it will benefit the customer because it will prevent customers from experiencing this nightmare.

Within these radio adverts there are numerous codes of practice that have to be considered in order top cover the regulation guidelines these would include children, which are rules that should be considered when creating ads for children or implements children in these ads; harm and offence, which are rules that are involved to not harm or serious offend the listeners; misleading advertising, these are rules that prevent the advert from telling incorrect facts and having to provide evidence with these facts and others like incorrect pricing.