| Colour Symbolism Chart – What colours were used in The Hunger Games? | |
| Red: Excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, all things intense and passionate.
Remember the “Girl on Fire Dress”? What did the colour represent? |
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| Pink symbolizes love and romance, caring, tenderness, acceptance and calm. Remember Effie Trinkett? She cares about her District 12 Tributes. | |
| Beige and ivory symbolize unification. Ivory symbolizes quiet and pleasantness. Beige symbolizes calm and simplicity. | |
| Yellow signifies joy, happiness, betrayal, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard and friendship. | |
| Blue: Peace, tranquillity, cold, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, technology, depression, appetite suppressant. | |
| Turquoise symbolizes calm. Teal symbolizes sophistication. Aquamarine symbolizes water. Lighter turquoise has a feminine appeal. | |
| Purple: Royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning. | |
| Lavender symbolizes femininity, grace and elegance. | |
| Orange: Energy, balance, enthusiasm, warmth, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant, demanding of attention. | |
| Green: Nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, vigour.
Remember the forest scenes? |
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| Brown: Earth, stability, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, simplicity, and comfort. | |
| Grey: Security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, sadness, boring. Silver symbolizes calm. | |
| White: Reverence, purity, birth, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical.Remember President Snow? Cold, clinical, death “snow” | |
| Black: Power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, anonymity, underground, good technical colour, mourning, death (Western cultures).Remember President Snow – power, formality, mystery, wealth, evil, death… | |
Do you like mind maps to help you study?
Try this one…Hunger Games mind map
Hunger Games – stereotyping
How a film audience responds to a character is often subconsciously based on how a character looks and what they say or do.
Film makers are forced to condense a lot of material into a short time. They rely on a fixed, exaggerated image of a person as a kind of summary between them and the audience – or films would end up 10 hours long. (Ain’t nobody got time for that!)
Stereotypical female
A lead fantasy woman on film is seldom unattractive, overweight or disabled. The character of Katniss in the book is half-starved but the actress on-screen looked healthy and beautiful despite the fact she was from a poor district. Women are stereotypically on-screen to be looked at and admired for their physical perfection. The Hunger Games film played around with the whole idea of image and we saw Katniss being cleansed and prettied up so that she would appeal to the TV audience for the Hunger Games around Panem. Coincidentally that made her more attractive for the cinema-going audience who had paid their money to watch this product.
Hunger Games – Institutional Factors
Blockbuster – How to make a profit
The film industry depends on blockbusters. On average 350 films are released annually but only 35 make serious money. The Hunger Games is classed as a “blockbuster” because when the film released, it set records for opening day ($67.3 million) and opening weekend for a non-sequel. At the time of its release, the film’s opening weekend gross ($152.5 million) was the third-largest of any movie in North America. It is the first film since Avatar to remain in first place at the North American box office for four consecutive weekends. The movie was a massive box-office success by grossing $685 million worldwide against its budget of $78 million, making it the third highest grossing film in the United States and ninth highest grossing worldwide of 2012. It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the August of 2012 and was the best selling DVD of 2012.The HG movie etc had made $691,247,768 by the October of 2012 according to Box Office Mojo.
How was this achieved?
The delivery date was carefully chosen so that there wasn’t much competition in the cinema for the target audience at the same time
Merchandising was carefully done to make sure the name, Hunger Games, was always in the public eye. Before the official The Hunger Games film came out, a lot of merchandising came out to promote the film’s upcoming release.
Some of the merchandise included the following:
- Mockingjay pins
- Clothing
- Pillow Cases
- Backpacks
- Magazines
- Dolls/Action Figures
- Nail Polish
- Cardboard cutouts
- Calendars
Even some websites were created to further more promote the movie in any way they can, such as Capitol.pn where a user could take a quiz to find out their district and connect with Facebook to learn the latest details on the film.
Lionsgate had the advantage, of course, of huge built-in awareness for “The Hunger Games.” The trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins on which the film is based have already sold 23.5 million copies worldwide. As a result, the studio had not only been able to afford a more cost-effective advertising campaign, but was able to get away with not showing any footage in commercials and trailers from the actual Hunger Games, in which teenagers hunt each other to the death in front of a televised audience. Lionsgate’s marketing strategy worked spectacularly well. The entire advertising budget was only $45,000,000.
Product placement – there was one example of an advert for Sprite – a Coke brand – which appeared on a billboard about 40 minutes into the film. The film makers made money out of placing the product in the film. It did not happen by accident.
Film geekery – Olympus Has Fallen
Just because I can’t help myself! You don’t need to learn this but it shows you how you can use your skills now to analyse any movie.
Narrative structure
Equilibrium – Protagonist is lead Secret Service security for the President of the United States. Following an accident he is relegated to a less important job.
Disequilibrium – The White House (Olympus) is taken over by North Korean terrorists and the President and several important government officials are taken hostage.
Resolution – Protagonist takes on a huge number of terrorists virtually single-handedly and one by one kills them off while keeping in touch with his wife, rescuing the President’s son and updating the security services and the acting President about what is going on.
New Equilibrium – order is restored, protagonist is returned to job he loves.
Sound effects – surround sound for movement of helicopter, non-diegetic sound (music) to make the audience feel proud, scared, triumphant, sad used throughout the movie.
Camera angles and shots – establishing shots used to show place (Washington DC), White House, etc
Full body shots and low camera angles to show Gerard Butler striding across a corridor, like a man who means business
Close up shots with dimmed lighting – to show Gerard Butler’s human side when he is talking to his wife during the attempted rescue, also to show emotion of Morgan Freeman and others round the table as various terrible things happen to others.
Special effects – choreographed fight sequences with apparent stabbings, shootings, explosions with blood, sound and CGI all used to create different effects to help tell the story. Buildings explode and fall down, weapons fire and light strafes across the screen to imitate gunfire and all of this is computer generated.
Target audience – Americans + fans of action films – they might cheer when Gerard Butler kills an enemy.
People who might not like the film – Koreans as they are the bad guys, people who do not like America – they might cheer when American buildings explode! The elderly would be put off by the swearing.
Need to make a profit – used only two major stars and many lesser known ones and a lot of CGI to cut down on the budget. This film cost less than the Hunger Games to make and Lionsgate was involved in it as well.
Use of stars – Gerard Butler is a man’s man – the kind who appears to do what is right. Good looking enough so that a female audience might be persuaded to go along with their boyfriend/husband even although it’s not their favourite kind of film. A stereotypical hero. The women who were crying when captured are the sterotypical helpless females. Morgan Freeman is a well liked older actor who has played the President of America in other films. He has gravitas – he is a believable character that people cede authority to so when he argues with the head of the armed forces we believe he is powerful, for example.
Dialogue was a bit cheesy. “Let’s play a game of…You first!” for example.
A 15 because of strong sustained violence and strong language. Not a film to take your granny to.
Another review here:
Cinema Trip
Reminder – if you were off and missed your permission slip today, pick up your permission slip first thing Monday morning.
No slip returned – no trip.
The film is a 15 – remind yourself what that means!
Cinema Trip
We have been given permission to have our cinema trip next week.
Watch this space!
Past Paper Questions – Int 1
Past papers often give us a clue about how our own exam will look. Here are the questions from the past three years for the analysis section. Think how you would have answered each one.
If you don’t know – now is really your last chance to ask!
Narrative Structure
2012 The narrative of a media text is carefully structured. With close reference to the media text you have studied, describe its narrative structure.
2011 The text you have studied has a narrative structure. With close reference to this text, describe this narrative structure.
2010 (a) The narrative of a media text is carefully structured.
By close reference to a media text you have studied, describe its narrative structure.
(for (b) see “audience”)
(c) Describe how the narrative structure you have identified has been made to appeal to the target audience(s) you have identified. Give reasons for your answer by referring closely to the text.
Representation (including Stereotype)
2012 This question asks you to think about the Representations in the text you have studied.
(a) Identify one stereotype OR one non-stereotype in the text you have studied.
(b) By referring closely to the text, describe how this stereotype or non-stereotype has been made.
2011 This question asks you to think about the representations in the text you have studied.
(a) Identify one stereotype OR one non-stereotype in the text.
(b) By referring closely to the text you have studied, describe in detail what makes this representation a stereotype or a non-stereotype.
2010 (b) Representations are made by including particular elements in the text.
Identify at least one representation in the media text you have studied and describe in detail how it has been made.
(c) The representation or representations you have identified have been carefully chosen by the institution. Give reasons why the institution made the representation(s) this way.
Audience
2012 Audiences can be described in terms of age, gender, social class, race, nationality, lifestyle and interests.
(a) (i) Identify one target audience for the text you have studied.
(ii) By referring closely to the text, describe what has been included to appeal to this audience.
(b) (i) Identify one audience who would not enjoy this text.
(ii) By referring closely to the text, describe why they would not enjoy this text.
2011 Identify one target audience from the list below, that would enjoy this text:
• an audience made up from a specific age group
• a male audience
• an audience made up of a particular social class.
(b) By referring closely to the text, describe what has been included in this
text to appeal to this audience.
(c) Identify one other target audience from the list below, that would enjoy this text:
• an audience with a special interest
• a female audience
• an audience made up of a particular nationality.
(d) By referring closely to the text, describe what has been included in this
text to appeal to this audience.
2010 The makers of media texts target audiences from particular age groups, genders, nationalities, backgrounds and interests.
Identify the target audience(s) for the text you have studied. Give reasons for your answer by referring closely to the text.
Institution
2012 Institutional factors affect media texts. These factors include:
• who owns the media company
• the effect of the law on the text
• the effect of the budget and resources on the text
• the use of stars
• the effect of advertising and advertisers on the text
• the need to make a profit
and other institutional factors.
(a) Identify one institutional factor that affected the text you have studied.
(b) Describe in detail how this institutional factor affected the text.
(c) Identify one other institutional factor that affected the text you have studied.
(d) Describe in detail how this other institutional factor affected the text.
2011 Institutional factors affect the making of media texts. These factors could include:
Who owns the media company/companies
The effect of the law on the text
The effect of the budget and resources on the text
The need to obey Health and Safety laws
The use of stars
The effect of advertisers and advertising on the text
The need to make a profit and other institutional factors.
(a) Identify one institutional factor that had an effect on the text.
(b) Describe in detail how this factor affected the text you have studied.
(c) Identify another institutional factor that had an effect on the text.
(d) Describe in detail how this factor affected the text you have studied.
2010 (a) Institutional factors affect the making of media texts. These factors include:
• who owns the media company
• the need to make a profit
• the effect of budget and resources on the text
• the use of stars
• the effect of advertisers and advertising
• the effect of the law on the text
• and other institutional factors.
How has at least one institutional factor affected the text you have studied?
The Hunger Games – reminder
Words you should know
reaping – the lottery to pick the 2 children who will fight to the death
Characters
Katniss
Prim (sister)
Peta – the baker’s son (his father used to love Katniss’ mother when they were young)
Haymitch – a former winner, now a drunkard. Needs to mentor tributes from District 12
Effie Trinket – another mentor, pulls the names out of the hat
President Snow – dictator, representation of evil and powerful government – dystopian society
Cinna – Katniss’ stylist
Rue – represents innocence, shows Katniss’ need to protect rather than kill
Settings
District 12 – poor mining district
Capitol – rich city where government is situated
Forest – artificial games arena
Institutional Factors – marketing that product!
In starting to plan a marketing campaign, the film distributor has to decide how it will present a film to a potential audience. They need to decide what sets this film apart from all the other films that are released – they look for a film’s ‘unique selling point’ (USP). If, for example, the distributor is handling an adventure film, they will need to look for aspects of the film which set it aside from the other action adventure films. What is its “wow” factor? What makes it unique?
In deciding what the USP of a film is, the distributor will first look at the storyline to see how this differs from the other films and what the key elements of the story are. After this they will look at such things as who stars in the film, are there new and spectacular special effects in the film and who is the director? Taking all of these into consideration, the distributor will then decide which elements to stress in the marketing campaign (posters, trailers, etc.) i.e. how to position the film in the market place.
The USP of a film will help potential audiences come to an understanding of what they might expect when they go to see a film. The visual campaign – posters, trailers, etc. will stress the USP and give the audience a ‘narrative image’ (an idea of the story) of the film. We, the spectators, are consumers as well as fans of particular stars, for example, the films we watch are products and generated to reach an audience. The film industry uses elements of the film to encourage the potential audience to go to the cinema and see the film.
- How do you find out about a film?
- What makes you want to see a film?
- How do you know what to expect from a film?
- What are you paying for when you buy a cinema ticket or buy/rent a DVD?
- Where do you watch films? At home? At the cinema?
- Do you think that there are differences between watching a film in a cinema and watching it at home on a DVD? If you think there are, then what are they?
- Are there some films that you HAVE to see at the cinema or doesn’t it matter?
The Hunger Games was originally shown in the cinema and was a “blockbuster” because it was so successful. They had further sales through DVD sales and merchandising of posters, clothing and other items.
- What would have made this film better if you saw it at the cinema?
- What would make it better to own the DVD instead?
- Would you have wanted only one of these experiences or both?
- Are some films good enough to watch over and over?
- Are some films good enough to want to watch the sequels?
