Representation Analysis

 Representation One: Tide

Representation of this commercial starts with the wide shot, which envelops the setting of a living room. The intimacy of the mother communicating directly to the audience from her living room couch while her daughter plays establishes her purpose in this commercial. Advertising the stain removal of the tide product. Design choices for furniture and color schemes develop the color bias of gender roles since only females are in the scene, the pink flowers, and decor. The camera zooms when referring to the subject of conversation, the daughter, layered with the mom's tone of unacceptance to the way her daughter looks and acts.

The targetted audience is moms with messy children. The mother in this scene discusses in a way that she is inexperienced concerning such messiness. She uses proper posture of sitting on the couch and seemingly tries to distance from her daughter's 'boy-ish' ways. Looking at such discomfort creates the sense of a stereotypical mother that sees girls should follow the gender norms. The audience who follow the same views would sympathize with this situation. Representation impacted by majority rule conservative viewers would follow the idea of the stereotypical moms preaching about laundry.

Audience reaction to this commercial would range from: those who feel this is an accurate way of represented laundry detergents or against the stereotypical message of gender norms. The message can be perceived as homophobic; the mother's disgust in the way her daughter is beginning to act. The mother's snide remark of wishing the product didn't save the jacket her daughter is wearing helps sell the product, which can appeal to an audience who miss the derogatory idea.

Representation Three: H&M

Representation of all ethnicities, cultures, body types, and ages are in this advertisement. The advertisement, referring to all stylistic choices people make but give examples to allow gender fluidity. A way for the audience to understand acceptance for what they want to wear or how they want to represent themselves. Ideas that style is the audience's preferred choice and location doesn't set guidelines. 

Clothing should be as simple as what to wear. The breaking style choices based on preconceptions of what is allowed in society are strongly encouraged in this advertisement. Reaching all audiences from those who want to break the gender-typical clothing to those who wear how they feel they should. Age restrictions are not apparent when people dress for themselves. The shots of people in all different settings of different ways of life create ideas of the flexibility of character. All depiction shots show clarity, and a depiction of all people are models in their skin.

The message at the end defines the freedom of clothing but to save water. Accessibility to recycle clothing, with ease, as the intended purpose of the advertisement. All who view the advertisement fall under any specification of human characteristic or stylistic preference. Breaking the generalizations of specific groups of people for the intended idea of unity for an earthly cause. Those who see the advertisement can feel accepted for their individuality and feel motivated to save water.

Romance Genre Research

What is Romance?

Romance is a popular genre of film production which allows audiences to develop a sense of realism. This genre has many types of variations of the love it portrays.  This variation can then lead to a skewed audience demographic. The way a film structures romance usually involves many plot elements of drama, comedy, and even mystery to fully develop the relationship between the two characters that the story centers around.

Content

The exposition of romance genre content would develop the setting of the love interests in the film and give background to the characters. Depending on the setting of the establishing scenes, the relationship between the two characters would become defined. For example a high school romance of a nerd and a jock where the jock does not know the nerd exists, or on the other hand co-workers who have developed secret feelings for one another but are afraid of admitting these feelings. 

Following the introduction of the romance would be the establishment of the storyline. This would include how these characters meet and interact for the romantic feelings to occur. This would also communicate to the viewer the conflict of the romance and why the characters cannot easily get together or establish what is in their way.

Admittance of feelings would then become a pivotal point in the content of the romance and this is where the most important shots and dialogue occur. This could be in the middle of the film where conflict holds the characters back from each other. All things following this scene would be to explain how the couple ends up with each other and the result of a happily ever after.

Production Techniques

With romance films, a sense of realism is a priority when developing production. Techniques to follow realism would be making scenes look natural when in natural settings. The use of natural lighting and minimal editing is used for the piece to have a realistic comparison for the audience. The setting of dramatic lighting would occur if the mood of the romantic piece was to be set for a date or special occurrence. To obtain this magical feeling the film is trying to provide, the directors will intricately place moments in the scenes that the audience would observe as special or not common in normal life. Dialogue has to be realistic but never plain and unresponsive. Saying things that are funny or invoke a reaction between characters helps establish the relationship. The color of clothing and hair are particularly chosen for the feel of the scene. A red outfit relays passion and further develops the scene as this is the color of love. Makeup design can determine how a character wants to present themselves or how important an event is to a character. 

Marketing

Romance films are marketed in multiple ways. The varying lead actors starring in the movies can use their reputable fan base to publicize the movie's existence. Streaming platforms as well as movie theatres create advertisements for the films in an eye-grabbing manner. Most romantic movies use red or other warm hues in posters for a sense of passion and excitement.  Creating these advertisements to pop up on popular social media platforms as well as popular grossing games or apps is commonly used. The budget for the film determines the type and the extent of marketing. As society modernizes, strategies filmmakers use to create their story is to target a specific audience and create new ways of modern romance to be replicated in their productions. Romantic films usually target the ages of the established characters in the film, but the audience age can range to all ages.

Film Sample 1

More recently with the rise of the LGBTQ+ audiences, romance movies have started to create romance plots to serve that wide audience. For example, the movie "Love, Simon" develops a romance plotline of a highschool boy and the struggles of being gay. These struggles create easy forms for the audience to relate to.  The character's realistic issues of identity coupled with the simplicity of falling in love as a normal teenager. Marketing of this romance movie reaches a wide spectrum of people due to the small number of movies discussing these different sexual orientations. This film made 66.3 Million Dollars as a worldwide total which easily tripled its film budget. This film was created based on a book about this widely recognized struggle.  Many audiences were excited about the creation of the film. The life of a teen, 17-year-old Simon, easily reaches the target teen audience who struggle with similar issues at this age. The film creates backgrounds of a teenager at school and the costuming as very generic everyday wear. 

Film Sample 2

Romance films have started developing modernistic forms of portraying love in many ways. The 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" shows the difficult love of two teens with cystic fibrosis who are not allowed to be close together due to the disease they both share. This form of romance reaches many sympathizers of deadly illnesses as well as those audience members who have also known someone they knew with an illness that limits their experience for romance. The film is structured around the very popular Cole Sprouse, who gained popularity as a love interest on Riverdale, as well as being on Disney for a decade. The combination of Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson targets audiences who loved watching these two actors in their previous productions. This movie was widely publicized through social media platforms from co-stars of the main actors as well as the well-known actor directing this piece, Justin Baldoni. Structuring of the content of two teens who just can't help their situation and find unexpected love with a deadly risk of existing together. The realistic life of being stuck in a hospital with strict regulations helps create realism. The unfortunate ending of an implied death of the male love interest 'Will' from the disease, is an example of this genre not always having a happily ever after ending. 

Other Romance films to offer:

The Sun Is Also A Star (2019)

The Fault In Our Stars(2014)

Midnight Sun (2018)

Everything, Everything (2017)

The Hate You Give(2018)

Introduction

 Hey, this is Ella! I am setting this blog up for my AICE Media Studies AS class. I am interested in production management for major motion pictures as a future career. My family has been involved in many aspects pertaining to film making and I have experienced many behind the scenes production coordination at events. This blog will be used to document my Cambridge portfolio.  The purpose is to document any process and progress I have involving media and film production, design, and layout. I am excited about the journey and anything I can learn!