scarface audience

In terms of the audience for Scarface, the classification would be 18+ due to the explicit content and use of language within the film. Although the film is generally aimed towards people aged 18+ i feel like it targets people more in the late 20's to 30's. this is because the film was made in the late 1980's which means the expectations in gangster film have changed a lot from that period of time in comparison to now. Reasons as to why i feel that the audience would be more for this age group is because of the content of the film and the way each action is shown. e.g. the taking of the drugs/the drug dealings and the violence shown throughout the film. The parts of the film that involved drugs i feel was quite frequent in comparison to modern day gangster films. also, in comparison to modern gangster film the characters are from different backgrounds and the struggle from coming from nothing to having everything is completely different, which is why i feel it is for an older age group as they can relate to what is happening more, because they grew up around what is being shown through scarface, whereas teenagers now wouldn't not quite relate to the narrative portrayed through the film as much as the people who experienced it.

task 3 - audience report

Task 3 – audience report

Both the Lift and Bowling for Columbine use different techniques and conventions to target their audiences. In this report, I will be exploring those techniques, as well as explaining who the audience are and the similarities and differences in relation to the way the audience has been targeted between both documentaries.

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary focusing on the high school massacre that occurred in 1999 in Columbine, as well as exploring violence and gun crime in the USA. The target audience for this documentary is segmented as it has aspects that appeal to more than one target audience through the content being shown. Because of this, the target audience would be mainstream as many people of different ages and who have different interest would be open to watching the documentary. Bowling for Columbine is a documentary that is more aimed towards citizens in the USA who are concerned about violence and gun crime. I also feel that it is aimed towards young adults e.g. people in high school who can relate to some of the issues shown through the documentary. The ideal audience for the documentary would be young adults e.g. 18 +, also I feel the documentary if more targeted towards a male audience. As well as this, the documentary would relate to other audiences, although the overall effect of the documentary would differ to those who maybe own a gun for protective and do not use it otherwise.

Reasons as to why I feel it targeted these groups of people is because, it is more enlightening than serious, which is why it would relate to a younger audience. Also it makes the audience think about the subjects he is exploring and puts the younger audience in a position as to where they think about themselves being put in life threatening positions and whether having a gun is the safest option. It explores different qualities of having gun as well as showing the audience how easy it is to be in possession of a gun and the local shops/supermarkets you can buy one from. He had done interviews with some students that were injured from the massacre that occurred in Columbine High School that had spoken about the experience and the students that caused it. I feel that parents may have been able to relate to this more as they think about their own children in this type of situation, which would naturally make them want to do anything to prevent it from happening to a member of their family, which may also make them think twice about having a gun in their household.

Bowling for Columbine uses many different techniques and conventions that relate and engage the audience. For example, they use interviews, CCTV footage and public opinions to convey a certain meaning through the documentary. Interviews are used the give the audience a further understanding of the topics being discussed and to hear different peoples personal opinions. An example of this would be towards the start of the documentary, when Michael wen to visit a man who was arrested on attempt to build mass destruction weapons e.g. nuclear bombs. Just by hearing this title the audience would automatically jump to conclusions, which is why a personal statement from the man allowed the audience to get a better understanding of the situation. This is similar to the lift in the sense that they both use interviews, although it differentiates because of the meaning behind the interviews. In bowling for Columbine, the purpose for the interviews was to allow people to have their say on the subject matter or to confirmed/set straight allegations made against them. Whereas, the lift used the interviews to allow the audience to get to know the characters.  The documentary used CCTV footage, when showing exactly what happened at Columbine High School in 1999, following from the massacre already mentioned. Doing this, contributed to the awareness the audience had on the subject matter and allowed them to think about whether having the right to own a gun is the best thing for their country. Another convention that was used throughout the documentary would be images and facts on the U.S government, which gave an insight to how the U.S government funded Osama Bin Laden’s training, sent weapons to Iraq etc. This also differentiates from the lift as; it didn’t use CCTV footage, as it was more simple and straight forward. Another technique Moore used in the documentary was using past students from Columbine high who were affected by the massacre to try and put a stop towards the careless selling of guns in the U.S. This was shown when Moore took 2 of the students to the Kmart headquarters and explained what happened to them. This resulted in Kmart decreasing the amount of bullets and weaponry they sell in store.

The lift is a documentary focusing on the lifestyle of residents from a block of flats in east London. The target audience for this documentary would be niche, as it targets a smaller group of people that may have similar interests, although this documentary may appeal to more than one audience. I feel as if the target audience would be people who live in areas like east London, although not necessarily in a council flat. Also, I imagine that the audience would be a mixture of male and female, of any ethnicity and above the age 0f 30. It makes the audience feel engaged to what is going on by content of what is in the documentary as it allows them to emotionally connect with the characters shown to them. The audience would be able to relate to some of the things shown through some of the documentary as it shows how different people act towards situation and it also shows that everyone has their own story and to judge someone before getting to know them is unfair. This is shown especially through the man who had schizophrenia, as the audience may have felt confused when first introduced to him as he acted in an off-manner. However, once the documentary progressed it allowed the audience to hear more from him, which resulted in feeling sympathetic for the man.

The lift uses many different techniques and conventions to engage the audience and make them feel involved in what is happening throughout the documentary. This includes the narrative, interviews, editing techniques etc. The narrative from the beginning to end was to get information on the lifestyle of residents in London, however the documentary started by showing a bee, that was flying around in the elevator, trying to escape, and throughout the whole documentary, they used cut away shots to show the bee. Each time the bee was shown, it was less lively each time until it eventually died in the elevator, confirming that the end of the documentary was close. Both documentaries had their own narrative, although they were explained in different ways. The narrative of bowling for columbine would be about gun crime and violence which is why they use a lot of supporting evidence, whereas the lift was not as serious and did not need a lot of detail. The use of interviews engaged the audience to the characters in the in documentary as they were introduced to a number of interesting people, that by the end of the documentary the audience got to know a lot about. The editing techniques used would be cut away shots; this was used so that the content did not get too boring for audience, as well as it being used to show different parts of conversations at different points. The cut away shots also helped to tell the storyline of the bee. Bowling for columbine also used cut away shots, although they used them to switch from one story to a next. They also used a wide range of shot size e.g. mid shot (for interviews, to ensure the audience is concentrated on the person), close up (to show the different expressions of the meaning in the characters face) and establishing shot to add context to the different scenes.

In conclusion, Bowling for columbine used a lot more conventions and different ways they could target the audience, due to the subject matter and length of the documentary in comparison to the lift.

task 2 - audience profile

Audience profile – bowling for columbine

 

Name: Maria Scott 

Age: 36

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: American

Geo –Graphic location: United States

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Educational background: Dropped out of school and age of 14

Marital status: widowed

Occupation: sales assistant at supermarket

Income: $14,500 P/A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite       TV programme: Cops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religion: Catholic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interests: watching TV, babysitting, going out with her children.

 

Demographics: In terms of demographics, Maria would be classified as, D. This is because she works as a cashier (sales assistant) so she wouldn’t be received a high salary, also she is widowed so there is no other income in the household and is completely dependant on the job she has.

 

Socio-economics status: Low SES. This is because income, education and occupation are taken into account. In terms of income, it refers to wages, salary, profits and rent, social security or any other governmental, public, or family financial assistance. Due to the fact that Maria does not receive a decent income and relies on things such as benefits, child support and tax credits she is deemed financially unstable, especially as there is only one source of income going into the household, which puts her at a disadvantage in comparison to someone who would be MID-HIGH SES. In terms of education, Maria did not get the best start as she did not finish school, which means she did not get any qualifications to progress onto higher education, and ended up with less of a chance to receive the best career pathway. Lastly, her occupation effects the amount of salary received as sales assistants in a supermarket would not be earning enough each month to leave Maria in a financially stable position, taking into consideration she has 3 children, 2 of which are under the age of 10.

 

 

Audience profile – Lift

 

Name: Paul Bretton

Age: 42

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: British

Geographic Location - London

 

 

 

 

 

Educational background – studied public services in university. Graduated.

Occupation – fire fighter

Income: £28,766 per annum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite TV programme – Banged up abroad

 

Religion – No religion/Atheist

 

Interests: spending time with family, watching TV, passionate about work/ a lot of over-time.

 

Demographics: In terms of demographics, Paul would be classified as a C. This is because he has a well-paid job, which allows him to live a decent lifestyle. Due to the fact he works within the public services field. There is also a second income within the household, as he is married and his partner works, so as a whole they are financially stable, and doesn’t have to dependent on anyone from source of income.

 

Socio-economics status: Middle SES. This is because income, education and occupation are taken into account. In terms of income, it refers to wages, salary, profits and rent, social security or any other governmental, public, or family financial assistance. Due to the fact that Paul receives a decent salary that doesn’t put him in a position whereby he has to depend on others around him or benefits, he financially stable and can afford to live his preferred lifestyle. Therefore, Paul earns a relative income as it dictates his family savings and consumption based on family income. Education also comes into terms in relation to socio-economics as the higher level of education you have to the more likely you are to earn a better salary. This benefitted Paul as he has completed the highest qualification he could have and went on the pursuit a career in his chosen educational field. Lastly, occupation is a major factor, as it determines the amount of income that will contribute to the overall household income each month.

 

 

task 1

Task 1 – critical approaches      Amara Senior

Michael Moore is an American filmmaker, author, journalist and political activist. He was born on the 23^rd April, 1954, in Flint, Michigan. He first started his career in 1972. His mother Helen Veronica was a secretary and his father Francis Richard was an automotive assembly line worker.  

Michael dropped out of the University of Michigan following his first year. During his times here he wrote for the student newspaper ‘The Michigan Times’, although later had to leave. At the age of 22 he founded the alternative weekly magazine ‘The Flint Voice’ which soon changed its name to ‘The Michigan Voice’ as it expanded to cover the entire state. The Michigan voice was then shut down in 1986, when Moore became the editor of ‘Mother Jones’ magazine, as he moved to California. Moore soon got released from this job after refusing to publish a magazine article by Paul Berman, and sued the company for wrongful dismissal and settled out of court for $58,000. This gave him the motivation to produce his first film, Roger & Me’.

Directing/Producing

·         Pets or meat: The return to Flint

·         Canadian Bacon

·         The Big One

·         Bowling For Columbine

·         Fahrenheit 9/11

·         Sicko

·         Captain Mike across America

·         Capitalism: A love story

As well as this, Moore has written and co-written 8 non-fiction books on similar subject matters to his documentaries. Including,

·         Stupid white men

·         Dude, where’s my country?

He has also done acting, directing and directing music videos.

Bowling for Columbine.

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary film written, directed and narrated by Michael Moore. The documentary explores the main causes for the massacre at Columbine high school and other acts of violence with guns. The documentary includes things such as, public opinions and assumptions about related issues, as well as speaking to previous students of columbine High School to find out their experience of the massacre.

The documentary also covers areas such as violence in the USA in comparison to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

Awards

The documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ brought international attention for Moore, as a rising filmmaker, which lead to his success in receiving numerous awards. Including,

·         The ‘Academy Award for best Documentary Feature’

·         Independent Spirit Award for best Documentary Feature.

·         A prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

·         Won the Cesar award for best foreign film.

Reviews

Rolling Stone – ‘This volcanically funny and seriously scary look at American obsession with guns is meant to shake us up good and it does’.

Chicago Tribune – ‘Moore’s best movie and one of the most blisteringly effective potemics and documentaries ever’.

Overall, Moore received very positive reviews about Bowling for Columbine, and was stated in most reviews that he had changed the way a lot of people thought about gun crime and the right the own a gun in the United States.

Cast list

·         Himself – Narrator

·         Salvador Allende – President of Chile.

·         Jacobo Arbenz – President of Guatemala.

·         Mike Bradley – Mayor of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

·         Arthur A. Bush – County prosecutor.

·          Footage of George Bush, Michael Caldwell.

·         Columbine Victims – Richard Castaldo and Amanda Lamante.

·         Father of victim – Tom Mauser.

With a budget of $4 million, Bowling for Columbine grossed $58,008,423 worldwide, including $21,576,018 in the United States. The documentary also broke box office records internationally, becoming the highest-grossing documentary in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Austria. These records were later eclipsed by Moore's next documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11.

*the highlighted areas above provide clues on the characteristics of the target audience*

‘The lift’

 Marc Isaacs is a director and cinematographer. He has made a various amount of documentaries, which includes the Lift. The lift was set inside a high-rise block of council flats in the East End, London. Marc Isaacs and his camera crew sat inside the lift of this building for 10 hours each day filming/observing residents as they go about their daily business.

Producer – Belinda Giles and Andrew Hinton

Cast – Himself, residents from block of flats.

Release dates

·         UK – 2001

·         FRANCE – 2002

·         USA – 2003

·         ITALY – 2003

·         CANADA – 2010

Production companies – Dual purpose productions

Filming location – East End, London.

Run-time – 25mins

Director/Cinematography

·         The road – A story of life and death.

·         Outside the court

·         Man of the city

·         All white in Barking

·         Someday my prince will come

·         Travellers

·         Calais: The last border

·         Lift

Awards

·         Bafta awards – Best new director – Nomination – 2002

·         Cracow Film Festival – Best medium- length documentary – Won (silver horn) -2010

·         Royal Television Society, UK –Network newcomer – Behind the screen – Won – 2002

Review

‘I don’t know how he did it, but Isaacs has taken what could have been intrusive and exploitative, and turned it into something that is touching, honest and surprisingly intimate’ – Bob the Moo – IMDB source