Peter Kay's Car Share - further research

• Compile a biography of Peter Kay - include programmes, tours, records that he has been responsible for.
• Write a brief plot summary of each episode of the show. If possible add broadcast dates and times. Also, include initial viewing figures.

Spy Kids - Textual Analysis

1. Watch the clip.
2. Identify the different elements of camerawork.
3. Screenshot the different shots and angles etc.
4. Explain their use in the clip. Do this in word - you will print this out and add it to your book.
5. Do the same for mise en scene, editing and soundtrack.

Do This Now

Define the following terms:

• establishing shots
• canted angle
• point-of-view shots
• shot/reverse shots
• non-continuity editing
• crosscutting
• fast-paced editing
• post-production effects.

Moving image - terminology

Candidates should be able to recognise and describe a range of media language techniques and

explain how they are deliberately used in a text to create connotative effects. Candidates are

expected to know the following terms and how to comment on their use. However, this is not a

definitive list and candidates should be encouraged to be as flexible as possible in adapting to the demands of the specific extract they are to analyse.

Moving image – Camerawork:

• establishing shots
• low angle, high angle, canted angle or aerial shots
• elaborate camera movement such as tracks, steadicam or crane shots
• hand-held camera
• point-of-view shots
• shallow focus and focus pulls.

Moving image – Editing:

• shot/reverse shot
• juxtaposition
• non-continuity editing
• crosscutting
• fast-paced editing
• less common transitions: dissolve, wipe, fade
• post-production effects.

Moving image – Soundtrack:

• music
• synchronous and asynchronous sound
• diegetic/non-diegetic sound
• sound effects
• sound bridge
• voiceover.

Moving image – Mise en scène:

• lighting (especially low-key lighting)
• location/set
• costume and make-up
• props
• casting and performance style
• blocking (the composition of elements within the shot).

Audience Demographic Categories

What are the codes and conventions of Action Adventure Film?

Narrative

• 12/15 certificate, maximising youth audiences
• Often hybridised with Sci Fi/Adventure/Romance
• Major Hollywood studio produced and distributed
• High production values including CGI FX. Fast paced editing
• Classic Hollywood 3 act narrative structure
• Predictable chain of events – cause and effect
• Single stranded, linear, closed narrative
• Dramatic non-diegetic sound (soundtrack music)
• Clear binary oppositions (good v evil)
• Star Marketing: Audience identification/expectations (Cruise/Pitt/Johnson/Thurman/Jolie/Tatum/Craig/Di Caprio/Damon)
• Generic Typecasting and Secondary Persona apply (stock characters)
• Romantic sub-plot, humorous dialogue
• Relationships with new technology (youth audiences)
• Use of close ups
• Dominant representation of gender: male/female action hero.

• Narrative led films contain tightly woven story arcs, where the dialogue drives the plot rather than builds character.
• An action adventure film is essentially one long quest with a succession of different chase sequences, each one more death defying and seemingly impossible than the one before. The trick for the producers is to ramp up the tension as the film progresses to a storming end sequence. Will our intrepid explorers make it, or will the evil antagonist get there first.
• A strong story ark of a quest for treasure, or an incredibly valuable object, or an item which has occult power.
• Love interest that both hinders and supports the main quest.
• A fast moving narrative with constant set backs that are overcome one by one, leading to fairly complex plots.
• In many respects this genre of films derive their energy from being more exciting, more adult and much more dangerous versions of children’s stories of adventure such as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five or Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons.
• Thrilling action where the protagonist saves his fellow travellers through a variety of non realistic but apparently logical escapades.

Characters and locations

• These are not realistic films, although the characters must be believable. They are set in a stereotypical world of the not too distant past e.g the 1930s, or the fictional world of storybook adventures e.g. A high tech, futuristic maze.
• A main protagonist who is a seen as a 'normal' person and who just happens to have amazing powers of endurance in the face of extreme danger, and is also very clever. James Bond is a Secret Service agent. Captain Jack Sparrow is at first an ordinary good for nothing pirate with incredible agility and luck, although he later takes on supernatural powers.
• There are always helpers who are a team of innocent characters who happen to get caught up in the action.
• Humorous dialogue often diffuses taught and sometimes frightening situations.
• The characters take the twist and turns of the plot very seriously as they are often in mortal danger from an assortment of unusual animals, machines and monsters orchestrated by an evil antagonist.
• Exotic locations where the characters have to contend with extremes of climate, as well as evil forces.
• The aim is to please the audience by keeping them on the edge of their seats through a series of mind boggling chases, exotic locations and hair raising adventures in historically inaccurate but somehow elementally possible settings.
• Action Adventure films are designed to create an action-filled, energetic experience for the audience who can live vicariously through the exotic locations, conquests, explorations, struggles and situations that confront the main characters

Task: Having read through this description of the action adventure genre (characters and locations), apply each area to an action film of your choice.

The film must be from the last 5 years.

Explain your points, using examples from the film as evidence to support your ideas.