Model answer, end of year 10 Media Studies exam
SECTION A
1. Explain two ways
the characters and/or the events in the extract fit the action/adventure genre.
Use examples from the extract. (10 marks)
Events:
There are
explosions and gunshots – these are a convention of the genre because they
create a sense of excitement and danger. When guns start firing and explosions
start going off, this means that the action has either started or is about to
start. In the extract, a terrorist fires a gun into the car from a rooftop and
causes it to explode, which, in turn, leads to people running and screaming,
another convention of the action adventure genre. There is not actually a lot
of action in the scene, but it is tense and you get the sense that it is building
up to something, especially at the end when Sergeant James discovers the bomb
and drops his crow bar. You get the sense that there is a race against time, as
they have to diffuse the bomb before it explodes.
Another convention
of action adventure movies is that the hero is on some kind of mission or quest
and that is the case here – the mission is to diffuse the bomb and he also have
to do it as part of a team, with Sanborn on the roof looking out for danger
while Sergeant James does the diffusing.
The location also
fits the genre because it is far away from home for the heroes, and so they are
out of their comfort zones. This is something we see in a lot of action
adventure films, for example James Bond movies, where he travels to exotic
locations to fight the villains and has to contend with unfamiliar surroundings
and people.
Characters:
Another convention
of the action adventure genre is that the characters are split into heroes and
villains, and this is the case here, although we can’t really see the villains
as they are hidden. The heroes are American male soldiers, which is very common
in action adventure movies. The way they behave, i.e. by holding their guns up,
looking around nervously and sometimes shouting, has been seen many times before
in military action movies such as Green Zone, the Rambo series and Saving
Private Ryan.
2. Using examples
from the extract, explain how each of the following is used to create effects
that fit the action adventure genre: (20 marks)
a. Soundtrack
b. Editing
c. Mise-en-scène
d. Camerawork
Soundtrack
The non-diegetic
sound in this extract is slightly unusual because it is not exactly music, but
it is not diegetic either because it is not the kind of the sound that the
characters can here. It is a kind of noise which gets louder as the tension
builds and helps create the sense that something bad is going to happen. It
sounds kind of Middle Eastern, and so reflects the setting of the extract.
There are lots of diegetic sounds too, including the sound of people screaming
to convey a sense of panic, sirens going off in the background to highlight the
danger, the sound of gunshots and, at the end of the scene when Sergeant James
discovers the bomb, the loud clunk of the crow bar hitting the ground to emphasise
the fact that he is shocked at what he has found.
Editing
The cutting is
generally quite slow by the conventions of the action adventure genre, but that
is because this is a scene which builds up to the action, rather than an action
scene itself. There are some interesting cuts though: one across time where
Sergeant James is talking to a local police officer in his army uniform, then
suddenly he is walking towards the car in his bomb disposal outfit. It is a
very simple cut without no cross-fade, so it is not even clear at first that
time has passed, but this is deliberate as the director wants to take us out of
our comfort zone. There is also a cut when he is putting out the fire from long
to a slightly closer shot, which creates a sense of unease. At the beginning of
the scene there is a very obvious cut across time and space from the bathroom
to the outdoor location where the car is. The conversation itself cuts between
the faces of the soldiers in the mirror as they talk to each other. There is
also cutting between shots of small groups of locals being evacuated and long
shots of all of them running away, being guided by soldiers. The cutting keeps
the scene moving along and is in stark contrast to, say, a typical Stanley
Kubrick movie without much cutting to get you to really focus on the characters
and what they are saying, rather than what is going on generally.
Mise-en-scene
Everything you see
in the extract is exactly what you would expect to see in a Middle Eastern urban
location: there is dust on the ground, white buildings and lots of grey and
beige. The location contributes to the tension of the extract because there are
lots of places for enemies to hide. We also see wire fencing at one point to
emphasise the fact that they are in a military zone. The costumes worn by the
American actors are very typical military outfits and some of the locals wear
robes and headscarves. There are also military vehicles. The bomb disposal
costume worn by Sergeant James is very big and heavy and makes it clear that
what he is doing is very dangerous. The Mise-en-scene all contributes to the
realistic feel of the extract and it seems that there is a lot of authenticity.
There is no use of green screen or CGI technology, which, again, makes it feel
realistic, rather than fantastical.
Camerawork
There is a lot of
handheld camerawork which has the effect of making you feel like you are part
of the action, walking around with the characters. There are some establishing
shots, like the one of the people evacuating the building and another from the
roof of one of the buildings. There is also quite an interesting shot of
Sergeant James walking in the bomb disposal suit showing him from below,
possibly to establish his authority as the one person who can diffuse the bomb
and save everyone. There is also a Point of View shot from his perspective
which puts you in his place and tries to give you a sense of what he must be
thinking and feeling. The camerawork very much contributes to the sense of
authenticity and realism that the director is trying to convey.
3. Discuss the
ways in which people are represented in the extract. Use examples from the
extract and refer to stereotypes in your answer. (20 marks)
There are lots of
stereotypes in this extract: the American soldiers are all stereotypes in that
they are male, aged roughly in their twenties and thirties and are quite good
looking. In this way they fit the stereotype of the action hero who men want to
be and women want to be with, like James Bond. The main character, Sergeant
James, also has a very casual attitude towards the very dangerous work he does,
as if to emphasise how brave he is – at one point he jokes with a local police
officer by telling him he should go and diffuse the bomb. He is the
stereotypical maverick who breaks the rules but gets the job done. The
Americans are very much the heroes in this clip, as it is they who have to come
and diffuse the bomb and save the locals, although when Sanborn calls James a
‘redneck piece of trailer trash’ he is subverting the notion of the more
traditional flawless hero like Superman or Captain America. He is also
subverting stereotypical notions of race and nationality by taking the superior
position in the relationship between him and James, who is white. You could
even argue that the remark he makes to James is racist.
Another way in
which the representation of the action adventure hero is slightly different
from the norm is how the protagonist, Sergeant James, has to save the day, not
by killing people, but by diffusing a bomb. Usually action heroes are expected
to save lives by killing villains, whereas Sergeant James does not kill anyone
in this scene.
There is also a
stereotypical army general who implies to an officer that an injured Iraqi
should be shot so as not to endanger the mission, even though he might recover
from his injuries. He typifies the older soldier who has seen a lot of things
and is hard enough to make those kinds of tough decisions with little regard
for the enemy. You could also argue though that general is actually a
countertype because killing a defenceless man, even if he is an enemy, is not
very heroic. There is also the younger, idealistic soldier who insists the
injured officer can recover.
The Iraqis are very
stereotypical in that they speak Arabic to each other, wear light, baggy clothing,
and, in some cases, head scarves. When the terrorist on the roof fires his gun,
we see him from behind and only see the back of his head, which is covered by a
head scarf. Again, this is a stereotype because people from the Middle East are
so often portrayed as terrorists nowadays because of the events of 9/11.
SECTION B
1. Compare and
contrast how and why two programmes were scheduled on different channels. State
the day, time and channel on which the two programmes were scheduled. (15
marks)
The two programmes
I have chosen for this question are Have I Got News For You and Benidorm.
The first programme
was first broadcast on BBC 2 in 1990 and is now one of the longest running programmes
on television. It became so popular in the ‘90s that it was switched to BBC1 in
2000, which is a more mainstream channel which attracts bigger audiences,
especially on a Friday night when people want to relax in front of the TV after
a busy week at work. BBC2 is more of a niche channel which shows documentaries
and quirky comedies that do not attract big audiences. HIGNFY currently goes
out at 9pm on Friday nights, which is significant because 9pm is the watershed,
which means that children are expected to be in bed and the content of all
programmes is more adult oriented, either because it is violent or scary, or
because it is of a sexual nature.
The content of the
BBC is also affected by the fact that, unlike almost every other channel in the
world, it is funded entirely by public money which comes in the form of the
licence fee, which you used to have to pay only if you owned a television, but you
now have to pay if you have an internet connection of any kind because of BBC
iPlayer. This is the case even if you never watch BBC shows. Because of this,
the BBC has a responsibility to make shows which cater for all tastes and, in
the case of factual shows like the news and Have I Got News For You, are
politically neutral. This is why, during the run-up to elections, they often
make jokes on the show where they make fun of someone from one of the political
parties, then say they are obliged to make fun of people from all of the other
major parties.
Old episodes of
Have I Got News For You are currently repeated on Dave, which is a channel that
was set up specifically to target men, which tells us something about the
content of HIGNFY, which usually has mostly men on it, even though it’s Friday
night BBC1 scheduling means it is supposed to represent both genders equally,
and a wide variety of ethnicities and sexual orientations.
Benidorm
This was originally
broadcast on ITV, with repeats on ITV 2 and ITV + 1 and has to go out after the
watershed because of the sexual nature of a lot of the humour and the swearing.
It has more of a working class audience because it is set in a budget holiday
location and the fact that it originally went out on Thursday nights suggests
that it was expected to attract more of a niche audience than HIGNFY.
Unlike the BBC, ITV
is a commercial channel, which means it is paid for through the selling of
advertising space. When television first started in America, this had a very
obvious effect on the content of programmes, some of which were written
specifically to advertise certain products such as laundry detergents and soaps
(hence the term ‘soap opera’). These shows went out during the day when
housewives were expected to be at home cooking and cleaning. Nowadays, the advertising
of products in shows is more subtle, sometimes taking the form of product
placement, or through the portrayal of a lifestyle with which certain products
are associated. Benidorm, therefore, might inspire people to want to book a
package holiday and if they then see an advertisement for, say Thomas Cook,
during the break, they are more likely to use that company.
This also means
that the producers have to be careful about what the characters say; if some
advertising space has been sold during the break to Carling, for example, the
characters can’t then make a joke about how Carling is a disgusting beer.
2. Discuss in
detail how one programme offers audience pleasures. Give examples from the
programme. (15 marks)
There are several
audience pleasures offered by Have I Got News For You.
One is that it
features celebrity guests who are being themselves, as opposed to playing
characters. If you recognise them, there is familiarity because you might have
seen, say, Paul Merton doing stand-up comedy. There may also be familiarity
with the news stories which are being discussed.
Another pleasure
the show offers is that, like all comedies, it is funny and makes you laugh. A
lot of the humour comes from political satire, and the panellists have the
opportunity to make fun of public figures. The show has quite a broad appeal in
terms of the comedy because one of the team captains, Ian Hislop, is quite posh
and panellists sometimes make fun of him for the fact that he went to a private
boys’ school, whereas the other captain, Paul Merton, is from a working class
background and often makes reference to this in his jokes.
Another pleasure
people get from watching panel shows is that they can play along at home.
HIGNFY is essentially a quiz show, so viewers have the opportunity to try and
answer the questions themselves. The audience for HIGNFY is generally people
who pay attention to the news, especially politics, so the humour relies on the
viewers having some prior knowledge and they would therefore get some pleasure
out of correctly answering the questions and feeling like it was worth reading
the paper that morning. The show, therefore, would not bring much pleasure to
people who are uninformed.
One final pleasure
you get from watching panel shows such as HIGNFY is that there is an element of
spontaneity because it a lot of what is said is unscripted, and although it is
recorded and edited the day before it is broadcast, they do sometimes leave
mistakes in for comic effect and this gives it an element of unpredictability
which you don’t get with sitcoms.
