Task 2 – Investigating a media product

Detailed Work Pack

STUDENT NAME: Georgia Catt_

The name of my film is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone.

The age rating is PG.

Synopsis: An orphaned boy enrols in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.

The purpose of my film

In terms of Bulmer and Katz, I believe my film is diversion because it is set in an alternate universe to help people escape from their ordinary lives.

The main genre of my film is fantasy but also adventure and family.

Analysis of the POSTER

The caption says ‘let the magic begin’ which will tell the audience that the film is fantasy send will interest fantasy lovers who perhaps might not have read the books

The font is specific to harry potter, so people can recognise it easily. And the p has a lightening shape which links to Harry’s scar. So people who have read the books will be interested

Actor playing Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is central and the biggest character so people know who is playing the most important role

There is a contrast between warm colours in the foreground and colder colour in the background

Narrative Structure: The film is linear and follows a straight storyline apart from some small flashbacks to the death of Harry’s parents. The story has an open ending as there are 7 more films until the end of the series.

Codes and conventions of the genre

Fantasy: A mythical world, elements involving mythical and supernatural creatures, simplistic narrative, setting varies between the make-believe and real world or a mix of the two, fairy-tale settings like castles and enchanting forests, sometimes use the medieval era or usually set in the past, centred around royals or heroes and evil characters, sometimes mythical weapons like wands or potions, costumes can be light to keep with the genre or dark to represent the evil that is around.

My film has a lot of these as the film is full of mythical creatures like unicorns and three headed dogs. It is also set in a very old castle for the majority of the film.

Adventure: reference to the past, a long quest to defeat someone/something, generally 12-15 genre, heroes are helped by innocent characters who become involved, protagonist tends to be normal until discovering some kind of power, often a hybrid of other genres, exotic locations, mortal danger that keep the audience on their feet.

My film is largely about Harry’s quest to protect the philosopher’s stone, although it is not clear who from as the characters spend a large part of the film trying to uncover what is happening and they have no proof, just suspicions.

Family: language and theme suitable for younger audience, happy ending, shows lessons to be learned, usually rated U for any ages to watch, don’t include lots of violence or upsetting scenes, shows good triumphing over evil, often hybrid with fantasy that shows a story with a wild imagination.

My film shows the friendship between the three main characters: Harry, Ron and Hermione, and how they triumph over Voldemort. The movie has a storyline that shows wild imagination for example the owl bringing the letters to Harry.

Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) is typical of my fantasy genre whereas Emma Watson (Hermione granger) has done many different genres. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) is typically in action or horror films but has been in other genres as well. Ralph Fiennes is very versatile and has worked in a lot of genres.

TRAILER ANALYSIS

Content

This scene shows the first years entering the whole school feast. It uses a high angle longshot which looks down on them. This is effective because it makes the first years seem small and vulnerable as it shows the hall and students are much bigger than them. It shows the family genre as they are all facing something scary together and looking out for each other.

This scene uses lighting to create a magical appearance. It shows Harry holding a wand and that he has made the wand light up. This shows the fantasy genre as it is very mythical. The room is filled with a soft coloured adding to the magical atmosphere

This scene shows Professor Snape at a midshot low angle. The low angle shows him from Harry’s perspective. It shows Snape as an intimidating character as he is stood over him. This shows the genre as adventure because we aren’t sure what he’s going to do and it creates suspense. The darkness of his cloak and hair suggests there is danger and makes the audience seem suspicious of him.

This scene uses another high angle long shot which links to the lesson in the picture. It is showing the first year’s flying lesson. It involves the person watching in the lesson as it gives them the feeling of perhaps watching from a tree or even on their own broomstick. This shows the adventure and fantasy.

This scene uses lighting to create a magical appearance. It shows Harry holding a wand and that he has made the wand light up the room. This shows the fantasy genre as it is very mythical. The room is filled with a soft coloured mist adding to the magical atmosphere

In this scene, Neville is flying on his broomstick. This shows the genre is fantasy because it is unrealistic and magical which is typical of the genre. It uses natural lighting to make sure the wizarding world doesn’t seem too different to the world of humans, but still shows the element of magic.

This scene shows that the genre is fantasy because it is showing that the staircase moves. This doesn’t happen in real life so it may have a comedic effect on the audience. It shows that the castle is old as there are paintings of people, perhaps former Hogwarts students. This is also a typical fantasy convention. This uses post production editing to add the special effects to make the film seem more magical.

This scene shows that Hermione has made Neville fall to the ground using magic. This shows us that the genre is fantasy as there it is magical. Hermione’s body language shows that she is very confident in her magic ability as she is standing straight and is holding her wand strongly. However, Ron’s body language shows him as very surprised as we know that he is not as studious as Hermione and may not know how to perform these spells

In this scene we see Harry watching the snitch fly around him. This tells us that the genre is fantasy as this is a mythical item and game as we don’t have balls that fly in sports like football. His facial expression here shows that he is shocked and mesmerised by what he has found in the magical world.

In this scene, Harry, Ron and Hermione are all screaming at the dog guarding the philosopher’s stone. This shows that there is an element of adventure genre too because they are all going on a mission through the traps to save the philosophers stone. It uses a midlength shot to show their reactions which makes their facial expressions alert the audience that there is danger

In this scene, the students are throwing their hats in the air and cheering. This shows a genre of family as well because it is more light hearted and cheerful for people of all ages to watch. The use of a longshot shows the whole of the school are having fun to make the audience also feel content

This image shows lord Voldemort on the back of professor Quirrel’s head. It uses an over the shoulder angle to show Harry as very small compared to them. It shows how powerless he is against them as he is just a young boy against the most dangerous wizard. The dark clothing shows that Voldemort is dangerous and evil, whereas Harry’s clothing shows him as just a normal, young boy. The use of back lighting suggests that Harry is far away from safety as the connotations of darkness are dangerous and evil

In this image there is a door that appears to be opening by itself. This will make the reader slightly suspicious as they know that in the real world, doors do not open alone. The door is a very old door which suggests that the castle has been home to many mysteries but it helps the viewers connect with the characters trying to discover them, as they both don’t know everything that is going on. The low key lighting creates a tense and dramatic atmosphere as we don’t know what could be lurking in the shadows.

This image uses an over the shoulder angle to show what Harry’s desire is. He is looking into the mirror of erised which shows your ‘heart’s true desire’. This gives us an insight into Harry’s head by showing the world from his point of view and makes the audience feel sympathy for him. While it is a prop typical of fantasy, it also shows the family genre as it will make people watching with their parents/children feel grateful that they still have their family. Or if they have lost someone, they can form a connection with the character through their similar struggles.

This shows an establishing shot to see the surroundings of where the film will take place for the majority. The castle is typical of fantasy genre. This could make the audience feel excited as castles are not and everyday thing to see but also slightly wary as the mist could foreshadow the mystery that is to come.

This scene uses low key lighting to make the scene seem more dramatic. The dark shadows make it mysterious and make the audience wary of what might be lurking with them because they can’t see anything. It creates suspense as they can’t see what the characters are looking at.

Sound analyse

Throughout the whole trailer, the Harry Potter them tune is used. However it becomes stronger and dynamic when the clips become more dramatic. When Harry and Ron burst through a door, the speed of the music increases and so does the volume. There is also sound effects like explosions to show there is a lot of thrilling events in the film.

This is the soundtrack for my movie which are instrumental tracks.