Friday 11 May 2012
Avengers Assemble - review by David Sexton
It is traditional to end reviews with a more or less subtle variant on the formula: if this is the kind of thing you like, this is the kind of thing you like. This week let’s get that over with straightaway. If you like superhero movies at all, you’ll absolutely love Avengers Assemble. It’s got everything. On the aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it enjoys a rating of 96 per cent, a more or less complete thumbs-up.
It’s the culmination of a long-term plan by Marvel Studios to build towards an anthology movie that brings together a whole bunch of the best-loved superheroes. Nearly all have established what Marvel cheerfully refers to as their own individual “franchises”, over the past few years. The two Iron Man films with Robert Downey Jr have grossed $1.2 billion; Thor took $446 million; Captain America $368 million; The Incredible Hulk $263 million.
Avengers Assemble is only going to do even better. They haven’t messed up on the variety pack. The stars have all signed on again: Downey for Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth for Thor, Tom Hiddleston for Loki, Scarlett Johansson for Black Widow, Chris Evans for Captain America, Samuel L Jackson for SHIELD director, Nick Fury.
Brooding Jeremy Renner is successfully introduced as the lurking bowman Hawkeye, while Mark Ruffalo is far more engaging than his predecessors Eric Bana and Ed Norton, both as the mild doctor Bruce Banner and as his alter ego, “the other guy”, the Hulk.
The film, moreover, has been directed and the screenplay written by the ultimate fanboy Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy and more recently of the definitive in-joke horror mash-up, The Cabin in the Woods. He has lovingly tended to (the vogue word in film criticism is “curated”) his superheroes, with just the right mix of earnestness and knowingness, taking them quite seriously as difficult characters not naturally likely to get on well together, while freely riffing away on their more cartoonish attributes.
The story is pleasingly simple. The SHIELD organisation has been messing with a “cosmic cube”, the Tesseract, and opened a door to other worlds. Through this comes Loki, still smarting from his defeat by Thor in a previous episode (“I remember you tossing me into a abyss,” he complains to his bro), intent on world domination with the aid of lots of robotic, scaly aliens. Only united superheroes can stop him — and once they’ve been reluctantly recruited, the film becomes a series of fights, first between themselves (Black Widow v Hawkeye, Iron Man v Thor) and then, with even the Hulk turning public-spirited, banding together to save the world (or not, of course).
All special effects are on a ratchet system of ever increasing spectacularity these days and Avengers Assemble delivers in bulk. There’s a gigantic final battle on 42nd Street in New York (filmed in Cleveland) that has enough whoosh! whee! and whaam! for anyone.
It’s not the kind of thing I like, though. Had I seen it when I was a boy, it might have been my favourite film. Now I find it impossible to suspend disbelief enough to invest in superheroes sufficiently to avoid boredom.
Thursday 3 May 2012
Friday 17 February 2012
Friday 20 January 2012
Work to be completed for Pitch
1. Complete a post on the readership of a magazine in our chosen genre. Use the media kits/ press packs for accurate target audience information.
Check out the following links:
http://www.nme.com/mediapack/pdf/nme_media_information_full.pdf
http://www.srds.com/mediakits/rollingstone/demographics.html
http://www.vibelifestylenetwork.com/VLN-Media-Kit-2011.pdf
http://uktribes.com/
2. Consider whether you are planning to tap into the same audience or make it wider/ more niche?
3. Complete a 'typical reader profile' showing exactly the type of person you are targeting.
4. Complete an animoto Moodboard of your ideas/ inspiations/ genre. What 25 words will you use?
5. Prepare your pitch ideas on your blog:
(a) different title ideas
(b) variety of fonts you like
(c) colour pallettes
(d) ideas for content layout
(e) ideas for your doulble page spread article
(f) who will be on your front cover? - style, costume etc and why
Check out the following links:
http://www.nme.com/mediapack/pdf/nme_media_information_full.pdf
http://www.srds.com/mediakits/rollingstone/demographics.html
http://www.vibelifestylenetwork.com/VLN-Media-Kit-2011.pdf
http://uktribes.com/
2. Consider whether you are planning to tap into the same audience or make it wider/ more niche?
3. Complete a 'typical reader profile' showing exactly the type of person you are targeting.
4. Complete an animoto Moodboard of your ideas/ inspiations/ genre. What 25 words will you use?
5. Prepare your pitch ideas on your blog:
(a) different title ideas
(b) variety of fonts you like
(c) colour pallettes
(d) ideas for content layout
(e) ideas for your doulble page spread article
(f) who will be on your front cover? - style, costume etc and why
Friday 13 January 2012
Monday 9 January 2012
Key questions for analysing your chosen music magazines
Using media terminology (what is denoted and connoted) conduct an analysis of the magazine's front cover under these headings:
THE FRONT COVER:
Target Audience: (mainstream, niche, gender, reasons for this based on content)
PLUGS (comment on their positions, what they say and why they are there)
Masthead and Sell Line (mode of address - what kinds of words have been chosen and what are the connotation, colours, fonts, size)
Main cover image (mode of address - ideal self/ideal partner? mise-en-scene, camerawork and composition - what representations do these micro elements create?)
Main cover line for splash article (mode of address - words, colour, font and connotations)
Cover lines (including banners - again look at the words chosen, size, font colour and connotations)
Other images (why have these been used? ideal self/ ideal partner? mise-en-scene, camerawork and composition - what representations do these micro elements create? Juxtaposition with cover lines?)
THE CONTENTS PAGE
Content (mode of address - comment on types of articles and how they target their readership, images, text, colours)
Juxtaposition of elements (space, layout, connotations of juxtapositioning)
A DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Content (mode of address - comment on images, text, colours, topic)
Juxtaposition of elements (space, layout, connotations of juxtapositioning)
THE PUBLISHER OF THE MAGAZINE:
Who publishes the magazine?
What other magazines (if any) does it publish?
What other media interests (if any) does it have?
How much does the magazine cost?
How often is it published?
What is its circulation/ readership?
Does the magazine have a website?
THE FRONT COVER:
Target Audience: (mainstream, niche, gender, reasons for this based on content)
PLUGS (comment on their positions, what they say and why they are there)
Masthead and Sell Line (mode of address - what kinds of words have been chosen and what are the connotation, colours, fonts, size)
Main cover image (mode of address - ideal self/ideal partner? mise-en-scene, camerawork and composition - what representations do these micro elements create?)
Main cover line for splash article (mode of address - words, colour, font and connotations)
Cover lines (including banners - again look at the words chosen, size, font colour and connotations)
Other images (why have these been used? ideal self/ ideal partner? mise-en-scene, camerawork and composition - what representations do these micro elements create? Juxtaposition with cover lines?)
THE CONTENTS PAGE
Content (mode of address - comment on types of articles and how they target their readership, images, text, colours)
Juxtaposition of elements (space, layout, connotations of juxtapositioning)
A DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Content (mode of address - comment on images, text, colours, topic)
Juxtaposition of elements (space, layout, connotations of juxtapositioning)
THE PUBLISHER OF THE MAGAZINE:
Who publishes the magazine?
What other magazines (if any) does it publish?
What other media interests (if any) does it have?
How much does the magazine cost?
How often is it published?
What is its circulation/ readership?
Does the magazine have a website?
GLOSSARY for analysing your music magazines
Masthead – The name and logo of the magazine.
The Lead – the introductory paragraph of an article. Usually written in bold or capitals.
Body copy - refers to the text of your written articles, which should be produced as a printed presentation to accepted industry standards, e.g. correct use of language, font size, word limits etc. Usually written in columns.
Serif font – fonts like Times New Roman, or Baskerville Old Face, which have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.
Sans serif font – fonts like Impact, or Agency FB, which do not have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.
Drop Capitals – Really big letter, which start off an article.
Cross Head – Small sub-heading used to split up a large block of text.
White Space – white parts of a page other than text or pictures.
Mode Of Address – How the magazine talks to the audience.
Sell Lines – Text on the cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience. Kerrang!’s sell line is “life is loud”.
Banners – text, which stands out because its on a coloured background.
House Style – a magazines distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors.
Borders – the gaps at the edges of the page.
Gutters – the gaps between the columns of text.
Leading - the space between lines of text.
Kerning - the space between letters.
Strap Lines – a smaller headline, printed above the main headline.
By-lines - name of the person who wrote the article. Picture Credits - where did the photos come from, or who took them.
Anchorage – The way in which text helps to pin down the meaning of a picture and visa versa.
The Lead – the introductory paragraph of an article. Usually written in bold or capitals.
Body copy - refers to the text of your written articles, which should be produced as a printed presentation to accepted industry standards, e.g. correct use of language, font size, word limits etc. Usually written in columns.
Serif font – fonts like Times New Roman, or Baskerville Old Face, which have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.
Sans serif font – fonts like Impact, or Agency FB, which do not have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.
Drop Capitals – Really big letter, which start off an article.
Cross Head – Small sub-heading used to split up a large block of text.
White Space – white parts of a page other than text or pictures.
Mode Of Address – How the magazine talks to the audience.
Sell Lines – Text on the cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience. Kerrang!’s sell line is “life is loud”.
Banners – text, which stands out because its on a coloured background.
House Style – a magazines distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors.
Borders – the gaps at the edges of the page.
Gutters – the gaps between the columns of text.
Leading - the space between lines of text.
Kerning - the space between letters.
Strap Lines – a smaller headline, printed above the main headline.
By-lines - name of the person who wrote the article. Picture Credits - where did the photos come from, or who took them.
Anchorage – The way in which text helps to pin down the meaning of a picture and visa versa.
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