RESEARCH INTO STAR IMAGE

Textual Analysis
Lady Gaga - Alejandro

In Lady Gaga's music video to her hit single "Alejandro", we see mixed themes of religion, government, and a group of "evil" people, most likely supposed to resemble the lluminati. The video opens up with men in stockings, heels and police caps, all asleep with guns by their side. In the background appears to be something in the shape of a torpedo. At about 20 seconds in, if you pause the video, you can see that the long gun on the table is actually pointing to an invisible line, dividing two sets of white circles, which can only be seen for a millisecond. The circles appear to be the division of a light hanging overhead, but as Gaga is known for throwing in very obvious but sometimes subtle symbolism in her videos, I'm sure these white circles could represent something else entirely. At first glance, they actually resemble female eggs, or the uterus. The only "cop" that appears awake is a man with an emblem on his chest; I can't quite make out what the emblem is, but I'm sure it's symbolic of something. Then we see different men marching, with one holding a pyramid-shaped object on the left hand side, and one holding a hexagram-shaped object on the right hand side. The hexagram appears to have five bars going through it, which perhaps could be a symbol of the media (hexagram= 6 = an "evil" number.) In this sense, it could symbolize how religions like Gnosticism or Paganism are "restraining" or "enslaving" people (pentagrams have five points, and are closely tied to these religions.) The hexagram could also be seen as representative of the Star of David, so perhaps the bars in front exist to make an anti-Semitic statement (the video does have a Nazi-like feel.)

What's more, the Star of David is essentially two opposing triangles put together; from a Gnostic perspective, these two triangles represent the union of the male and the female Also,, this union of male and female is thought to be connected of the idea of androgyny, and how God is considered to be sexless. In this way, perhaps the hexagram with bars in front is reflecting someone or something being against the concept of androgyny. Of course, the pyramid is the common symbol for the Illuminati. In addition, the man holding the hexagram is facing forward towards the camera, while the man holding the pyramid is marching backwards (you can tell by their shadows.) Depending on Gaga's intentions, this could mean either that the pyramid-concept is positive and should be integrated in our society, but it is moving backwards, or not surviving, OR, this could mean that the pyramid-concept is evil, and she's telling us that we better "wake up", as said in the lyrics, before it's too late. There are ten men total, with the first "line-up" consisting of 7 men in the back and 3 in the front...Seven and three are both powerful numbers in mainstream religion. Next, we go to one of the many versions of Lady Gaga present in the video. She is wearing a heart-shape around her head and huge glasses over her eyes. At this point, this video already appears to have connotations of Alice in Wonderland(Queen of Hearts,). Around the heart-shape are various white lights, some noticeably brighter than others; I can't be sure, but it appears that there are ten white lights total. She then is seen carrying a heart with a pin in it, on a pillow, before she does the "one-eye thing," (where she covers one of her eyes.) The heart itself could be representative of the "bleeding heart" of Christ, or the Sacred Heart, while covering one of her eyes could be symbolic of the "All-Seeing Eye" concept, used by the Illuminati. Next, we see the second version of Gaga walking in front of a coffin, with the Gaga above looking down from her fortress; this is very similar to the White Queen/Red Queen concept from Alice in Wonderland, and if this is the case, then it seems that the good, White Queen is sacrificing her heart to the evil, Red Queen. This also could be resembling the relationship between the Devil and Lucifer (dark and light,) especially when she says, "I know that you love me, but I just cant be like this with you anymore."

Lastly, we see a soldier attached by strings, like a puppet, holding a gun by his genitals. This could be representative of the "mind-control" that supposedly will be introduced by the government in the near future. The last scene of Gaga is the version of her who is in the coffin, and she is held to the coffin by strings as well. Behind her, the strings or wires form the shape of an upside down triangle. The camera goes close-up to Gaga, who's face disturbingly dissolves like acid from the screen, before the video concludes. Overall, "Alejandro" is open to multiple symbolic meanings as it is so complex and diverse in imagery. What is clear, however, is that Gaga undergoes some sort of transformation throughout the video, rejecting one religious belief and embracing another. The question is whether or not she is promoting something evil or something good, and whether or not she herself volunteered to take on this transformation, or if someone else tricked her into "selling her soul" to the music industry, and inevitably the "powers that be." She is basically saying that she is inbetween good and bad, a connotation that is featured in several videos of her, supporting her star image, being mysterious and scandalous but at the same time sending a message.

ADVANCED PORTFOLIO BRIEF

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

1. A website homepage for the band
2. A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package) 
3. A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

We decided to go for Number 2 and 3 and design a Cover for a digipak and a Magazine Advertisement.

Audience Feedback

Due to uploading my final product to youtube, the sequence was watched and commented by various users, giving me a general idea of how an possible audience would perceive my Thriller. The majority commented positively on things such as Mise En Scene, Editing, the Casting and the Soundtrack.

Some extracts of the Youtube comments:

nice car..... the music is good, created instant suspence in a scene that could be perfectly innocent. sext red dress, sterotypical gold digga? nice idea with the shot from outside, and then the shaddow across the photo, really creepy!
you did well with the dialoge, it would have been easy to lose the sinister atmosphere with it in but it didnt . goood jaaaab!

 - MsMustang59

I lke the use of music because it straight away tells us that this is going to be a thriller. So it creates tension as you expect that there is something is something going to happen. I thought the editing was very smooth. Great job!
 - H2squareo

I really like the use of mise-en-scene as it illustrates the family's belonging to the upper class. Dramatic music and the pattern of the slides create a tense atmosphere. Overall, a very impressive piece.

 - oleghurtwood

Use of music was done very well and a lot of suspence & tention created in the right places, making it overall a very successful piece, well done, very nice story line :)

 - joeeyb123  

Very good looking piece, fantastic idea, clearly the best I've seen in the Hurtwood Media Collection. Editing slides very nicely and music fits perfectly to create a very dramatic and tense edge. Very good use of casting as well. You should be very proud of this piece. Well done.

 - hollfinlay

Fatastic work, really great shots, especially at 1:01, the editing made the story flow easily and the story really gripped me the whole way through. Great work!

 - butterfliesg

Careful use of mise-en-scene, especially in the kitchen scene - the childrens board and pictures - this really creates the illusion that they are a couple with young children. The sound used at the beginning and end creates a theme music which works well with the sequence. Overall, a good opening sequence, succesful in creating the suspense, particularly with the use of a shower, which is a common thriller convention. Good work :)

 - LiamandImii

The Hostage - Finished Sequence

[Task 1] Thriller - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The first shot of the Sequence is an establishing shot of the massive mansion our characters live in. Big buildings and generally houses, are often used in Horror Movies and Thrillers. Due to all the open space available in the building, a scary and in a way claustrophobic atmosphere is created. The viewer feels the tense atmosphere and the thought of the burglar possibly being everywhere. Our Sequence opens with Lionsgate, a film institution which is generally known for creating movies in a similiar genre. This way, early on in our movie, the viewer is informed and aware of what they can expect.

The second shot shows our main character walking towards her house, leaving the ferrari behind with the core theme playing in the background. Helena is wearing a red dress, highlighting her beauty and the sex-factor where as the ferrari and the big house that are both controlled by her, show another side to her, the powerful one. Her character serves as eye candy and also as active protagonist at the same time. These two elements are juxtaposed to each other and reveal at a early stage that the character is vulnerable.

The third shot and the fourth shot establish the main character's relationship status. The close-up of her ring in shot 3 established that she is married and the family portrait in shot 4 reveals the actual face of her husband and the age difference, hinting at her possibly being a Gold-Digger, a woman who marries older men for their wealth and social status. Although this comforms the usual stereotype of a gold-digging woman, the phone conversation between her and "Teddy-Darling" revealts that she in no way answers to him but in fact stands up to him and loudly expresses her opinion subverting the general stereotype of a submissive wife.

The fifth shot contains of someone looking in from outside, creating a typical thriller vibe as an atmosphere of "Not being alone" is created. Up to that point, the viewer does not know that there is another person in the house which at this point, is hinted at for the first time. As the viewer is not yet aware who the unknown person watching is, a rather creepy and atmosphere is created as it is not clear what intentions the person has.


The sixth and the seventh shot are taken from the shower sequence. The sixth shot

[Task 2] Thriller - Representation of Social Groups

In our Thriller "The Hostage", a strong Mid-Twenty Woman who married an older guy plays the main role, representing Women who marry older men for their money and their wealth. The main character, played by Helena Lageder, is a rather selfish, cold but strong woman, almost a Femme Fatale. This is highlighted at several points during the opening sequence.

[Task 3] Thriller - Film Institution

 

I think the suitable Film Institution for our thriller would be Lionsgate. 

Lionsgate mostly specialises in Thriller and Horror Films, meaning that my Thriller "The Hostage" would fit in very well. The genre of most of Lionsgate's movies are similiar or the same to my movie, for example "Hostel" and "The Eye". It's also fairly common that Lionsgate produces low budget films by first time directors such as "My Little Eye" by Marc Evans.

I would like to ask Lionsgate Films to make my film as they already specialise in Thirller and Horror Films.  Lionsgate ahve also made other films in the similar genre and narrative to The Hostage, such as, Hostel and The Eye. Lionsgate also make low budget films, by first time directors, which is the criteria that my film fits exactly. Lionsgate have made films like that such as, My Little Eye made in 2002.

My film could be marketed really easily, as it is aimed at a mass mainstream market. I believe that i would be able to make money from cinema viewings and DVD. As people may go for a cinema experience to be able to really feel all the emotions of a thriller. Although some people nmay prefer to watch films in the comfortability of their own homes, therefore they will choose the DVD option. It will later be released onto Pay Per View. This will all depend on the cinema sales and total grossing.

This could be aimed at a particular audience of men around the ages of 15 to 25, who drag along their girlfriends to the cinema or make them watch it at home. This film would also make the perfect 'date' movie as it covers all genres, thriller, suspense, drama and some comedy. Therefore making it quite appealling.

[Task 4] Thriller - Target Audience

 

The target audience would be male and inbetween the ages of 15 - 24. Teenagers and young Adults are generally the main age group visiting the cinema. Younger Children also come into this category but due to its thriller content, my film would not be suitable for them.

The average Teenager will be surrounded by other teenagers and as they spend a good amount of time consuming various media platforms, like TV, magazines and the internet, increasing the possibility of being made aware of my movie, then again increasing the possibility of word of mouth, which is one of the most important aspects when it comes to the distribution of a movie. Another point why it is advisable to target a movie to this age group is the financial situation. A lot of young people are financially secured by their parents and don‘t have anything serious to spend their money on which is why they will spend it most likely on entertainment like for instance, the cinema.

The majority of the audience would be male for several reasons. The first being the genre. Thrillers are due to their intimidating, dark and scary content more frequently watched by men as the average woman prefers to watch upbeat films that include themes of romance and comedy as opposed to horror and gore, where as men are known and stereotyped for being into films of that kind. The second reason is the female eyecandy. The female lead, Helena Lageder,  impresses by her good-locks and expensive clothes.

Outside the target audience, I would like to reach girls who admire a woman as a lead, juxtaposed to the picture of the stereotypical submissive and victimized woman that you normally see on TV. Helena Lageder, plays a powerful and strong woman, almost a femme fatal as she knows how to deal with thougher situations and does not mind pulling the trigger if she has to.

[Task 5] Thriller - Ways to attract an Audience

[Task 6] Thriller - Technologies

[Task 7] Thriller - Comparsion of Preliminary and Full Product

The differences between my preliminary task and the finished product are extremely obvious as my skills in filmmaking and my knowledge on how a movie has to be distributed,  have improved immensely since the shot of the preliminary task. Using screencaps from both Sequences ( Preliminary left, Thriller right), I'm going to discuss how I fixed mistakes I had done in the preliminary task in my Thriller Opening Sequence.

 

Mise en Scene: In my preliminary task, the choice of location was very limited as I didn't have the time to carefully think the sequence trough. The background didn't fit with the storyline, and the main character just seems very misplaced with her gun. The costume and the light both didn't help to create a dark atmosphere as it was extremely sunny and both actors just seemd extremely miscasted. In the finished Thriller Opening Sequence, this is different. Helena, who plays the main character, was provided with an perfect outfit, which established her as the femme fatale she is supposed to represent. The locations and surroundings are much more realistic and the props are given more relevance and are introduced in better ways. Helena's ring for example is obviously shown in one of the shots, establishing that she is married where as the gun in the Preliminary task randomly appeared, without giving the viewer any possible understanding on what's going on.

 

Camerawork: A lot of changes also happened in the camerawork. In our original preliminary task, the different shots were all relatively flat. The shots in general would like an amateur movie, without any professionality. We would use zooms for example, which movies generally don't use anymore. In the thriller, I ultimately learned out of my mistakes. We used the camera for a lot more than just filming. We used different shots to deliver information to our audience. Helena's wedding ring shown to the camera for a purpose. The picture of Helena and Ted is the next example. We needed to introduce the husband apart from Helena talking to him on the phone, so we included several shots of family pictures in order for the viewer to understand who is talking to whom and what everything is about. The visual esthetics of the Thriller were much more distinctive than the ones in the Preliminary task and we spend a fair amount of time choosing the right cinematography which makes the Sequence what it is in my opinion.

 

Sound: The Sountrack to my preliminary task can't be compared to the one of the opening sequence. During the preliminary Task, there are several clips in the sequence where the sound just goes off, it crackles or doesn't make sense with the continuity. We would ignore little things like that during the editing progess where as we spend a lot more time and focus on the Thriller Opening Sequence, using self-generated songs we recorded post-filming and Sound providing programms such as Soundtrack Pro, which we got our score and a lot of different sound effects from. In the Preliminary Task the only 2 sounds we had were the door closing and the gun going off. In our finished Thriller, we used various sounds such as Telephone ring tone, Shower, door slamming and others. We also played with the volume of those sounds to establish distance. When the phone was ringing in the bag, the volume would be turned up after the character got the phone out for example. This way, the sequence seems more real and creates a verisimilitude atmosphere.

 

Editing: The differences between the editing of the two sequences are the most obvious. The Thriller Sequence offers a bigger variety on editing techniques than the Preliminary Task does. In the Preliminary Task, every clip follows the one before without any changes where as our Thriller Sequence has a lot of different editing techniques to it. For example the fades at the beginning and the ending of the sequence, the title cards and especially the Title Credits. We adjusted the brightness of some clips, and most importantly, changed the speed of several clips to create tension and suspense.

  

Thriller - Shooting Day

Group: Paula Riemann, Holly Finlay, Emily Benson Rhodes, Mehran Karimi
Cast: Helena, Ted Jackson
Locations: Cornhill Manor, Ewhurst Place, Staff Rest Room

 

Before we started filming, we organized the set, got our actress ready and arranged all the props. Holly went to the costume departement a few days before and got a red dress and black high heels. She also took her fur coath and a red bag. We tried to make Helena look as sexy and cold as possible, as she is supposed to be the gold-digging, icey Step-mother. I was in charge of the photography, as we needed pictures of Helena and Ted Jackson, looking like a couple. We put the pictures up in the whole house and later shot a few close-ups of them in order to give the viewer an idea of what is going on and who this woman is. Paula took the main role in getting Helena ready for the shoot. She did the hair and helped her with the make-up. Emily brought a lot of hygiene products with her which we needed for the shower scene we shot later in the day.

The day began in the studio were we checked if we had all our props and went trough our storyboard one more time. Soon we were already on the bus to Cornhill were one of the main difficulties immediately took place. The kitchen of the family was obviously used by a family consisting of parents AND children. In our original concept, the couple was supposed to be living on their own, without children, showing how selfish and cold the protagonist is. We improvised and changed her character to the cold,sexy and gold-digging step mother, which is made visual to the audience by her being very annoyed at things the children do. At first we were slightly annoyed that we couldn't stick with out original idea,but as the shoot went on we learned to embrace all the good things that came with the new idea. Apart from the very big change in the storyline, we changed a lot of small things aswell. Most importantly the ending. Originally we intended the burglar to be visible in the end. Luckily we changed that and only showed an over the shoulder shot plus the protagonists face in fear. If we would have shown the burglar at the end it would not have seemed right. You're not supposed to introduce the killer that early in the movie. We realized that we are shooting an OPENING SEQUENCE, not a short movie. The final product is supposed to slowly dive into the plot, not reveal everything there is to it.

One of the highlights of the day were Helena's acting skills. We casted her mainly due to visual reasons. She looked how we wanted the character to look. Surprisingly, her acting was superb. We thought that her italian accent was going to be difficult to convince the audience but it made the image of the cold stepmother even more convincing. All of us agreed that our casting choice was perfect. The fact that Helena looks older than people her age but still not old enough was perfect. She was the perfect rebound woman for "Teddy".  She was very professional and just

 

All four of us are very creative people, all of us in different and their own ways. At first our opinions how to do a certain job clashed but we succesfuly managed to incorporate everyones ideas. We dealt with the situation in a mature way and decided as a group trough votes, which idea we would take.

                                                    

                                      

Thriller - Shot List

The complete list:

1. Establishing shot of house, then we see car pull up.

2. Close up Shot of her shoe sliding out of the car.

3. Close up tracking shot, close up of her shoes walking up to the door.

4. Medium close up of her side, unlocking the door.

5. Close up of hand unlocking the door. Door opens.

6. Close up of bag and keys onto work surface.

7. Tracking shot of family pictures.

8. Close up of hands turning shower on

9. Wide shot of shower filling up with steam

10. Medium shot of phone ringing.

11. Focused on phone, we see her approach the phone.

12. Background mid shot of her on the phone. (dialogue)

13. High angle shot of dogs barking. POV

14. Medium shot, her reaction, confused, shadow in the background.

15. High angle shot of dogs barking. POV

16. Medium shot, of her on the phone shadow gone.(Dialogue)

17. Wide shot of her entering another room (muffled sound of dogs barking)

18. Medium close up of her on the phone (realises its her husband)

19. Extreme close up of phone falling out of her hand.

20. Match on action shot, floor close up of phone. Phone falls into frame.

21. Her reaction shot, medium close up.

22. Over the shoulder shot of the killer, facing womans back. She turns and gasps.

Thriller - Prop List

 To create the perfect atmosphere for our Thriller, we had to think about and organize our props in advantage. Here is a list of them. 

--

Locations

The houses we choose for our characters home, are Ewhurst Place and Cornhill Manor. We used to oustide facade of Ewhurst as it is big, has a beautiful balcony and along the fancy cars parked out side signifies a lot of money. For the interior, we choose the kitchen of Cornhill Manor, which is a really luxrious one, again signifying the financial capability of the couple.

The Establishing shot of our opening sequence is a panning shot of Ewhurst Place, and a Ferrari 599 stopping at the house, followed by our main character getting out of the car.

Costume

This is where the costume of Helena comes into play. Holly organized a red dress, black high heels, a massive wedding ring, a red bag and a expensive looking fur coat. Helena plays the role of the cold but sexy step-mother which we tried to highlight in her dress choice.

Items

The fact that she drives a Ferrari 599, which Holly's dad kindly provided us with, again establishes her as an independent woman who is able to take care of herself. And she's gold-digging.

The other props were expensive hygiene products, Emily provided us with.  I was in charge of the photography so I had a photo shoot with Helena and Ted, making them look like a couple. Paula provided frames, the pictures would then be spread around the house.

--

The Team

DIRECTOR - HOLLY FINLAY
PRODUCER - PAULA RIEMANN
CINEMATOGRAPHER - MEHRAN KARIMI
SOUND ENGINEER - EMILY BENSON RHODES

Thriller - The Script

The Script for our Thriller "The Hostage":

‘THE HOSTAGE’ – “Always lock your doors.”

January 17^th 2011

Woman enters house

(Sound of door closing)

Woman in bathroom

(door slam)

Woman – (wiping her face in the mirror) “Hugo, is that you? I’m in the bathroom…”

Phone rings

Woman – “Hello … (dogs barking) ah bloody dogs, hold on …”

Woman enters the next room. Husband on the phone.

Woman – “Sorry … Hello?”

Husband – “Hi sweetheart its me, Im gonna be late Im stuck on the M25 and ..”

Woman – “Wait, (confused) … Didn’t you just …? Who’s in the house …”

(phone drops)

Husband – “What are you talking about, Zara, whats wrong? Hello .. Hello?”

Woman – (under her breath) “Oh my god …” turns.

Thriller - Storyboards

Thriller - Final Idea

After several different Ideas, our group eventually decided to go for the idea of a woman being trapped in her own house with a stranger lurking around. The story resolves around a rather wealthy couple, the husband being much older than the wife, as she is supposed to be the typical gold-digging social climber.  Due to her husbands wealth and financial situation, the house should more fittingly be described as a mansion or a castle, with expensive looking furniture. The atmosphere is quite grim and klaustrophobic and forces the woman to fight for her life.

Analysis - Opening Sequence of a Thriller



We looked at different opening sequences from thrillers and horror movies, establishing how Mise En Scene, Sound, Camerawork and Editing make a Thriller a Thriller.

- Dark Sky, Not a lot of colours onscreen
- Rotten Boat
- Ciagrettes
- DiCaprio's character mention the Death of his wife which is underlined by weird music, indicating that this 
  will play an important part in the movie
- Creepy Crazy People encounter

Ideas For Thriller + Mise-en-scene + Camerawork

Our upcoming project is going to be about creating a Thriller opening sequence in groups of 3-4. Holly, Emily, Paula and Me were sorted in one group. To get started on the assignment, all of us were supposed to think of ideas individually. 

First Idea - Korean Thriller

Inspired by: Seven Days, Seven  

I came up with this idea while I was watching the Korean Thriller "7 Days". The opening sequence of the movie conists of quick flashes, showing glimpes of the characters and a few elements of the movie like locations, characters and just make the general vibe of the movie visual to the viewer. The transitions between character shots and locations/objects are overlayed with credits; the names of the people involved. I wanted to take the style from that opening sequence and also take "Korean" aspect of it. I liked the idea of doing a korean opening sequence because I felt that it was a very unique idea which hasn't been done in the Hurtwood House thrillers so far.  The fact that we have a lot of students from asian countrys also provided me with a big casting choice.
The basic storyline would be about a woman who used to be agent, now a single mother raising her five year old daughter. A man, which the woman had falsely accused of murder back in her days working as a an agent and arrested is released from prison and kidnaps the daughter out of hatred and revenge. The opening sequence would feature shots of him in prison,  being improsend and a voiceover in korean featuring english subtitles. The other shots are the daughter being dragged trough the mud and the woman investigating a shabby and run-down room, finding a polaroid of her daughter in the room.

Second Idea - Mass Suicide in a Boarding House 
Third idea - 
Fourth Idea -

Conventions of a Horror Movie