Stranger Things

In a small town where everyone knows everyone, a peculiar incident starts a chain of events that leads to the disappearance of a child, which begins to tear at the fabric of an otherwise peaceful community. Dark government agencies and seemingly malevolent supernatural forces converge on the town, while a few locals begin to understand that there is more going on than meets the eye. 

Cultural References...

Stranger Things contains many references to popular 80's films to add to the mise en scene and to achieve a nostalgic emotion from the audiences. This includes things such as: 

Alien (1979) and (1986) 

The faceless creature in Stranger Things combines design elements and traits from Predator and the first two Alien movies.

Carrie (1976)

Ellie is a hybrid of two Stephen King stories about girls with telekinetic powers, Carrie and Firestarter. 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 

Stranger Things and Close Encounters both feature parents whose obsession with the supernatural looks to everyone else like madness. 

The Empire Strikes Back (2980)

The Empire Strikes Back was released three years before Stranger Things' story begins, so it makes sense it would be a primary obsession for adolescent boys. Mike shows Ellie his Yoda toy and later reveres her for her Jedi-like powers. 

E.T. (1982)

Stranger Things owes its greatest debt to Steven Spielberg's classic story of a lonely suburban boy who befriends an alien in need. Hawkins, Indiana, is not quite the California suburb of E.T., but the physical and emotional terrain is similar: a sprawling town nestled against a forest; boy dashing around in packs on their bikes. 

Title Sequence

There is a sense of unease, the music informs the movement of the type as the letterforms slide together to form the title. The Stranger Things title mimic an optical look which reflects the time period of the show, it also seems as if light is passing through the film, creating a lush haptic quality. The colours that are used are red and black, which both connotate danger and horror. As the letterforms slide together, we are shown the lead actor's names, all the executive producer and the creator or the directors. 

TV Drama: Media Language (Genre and Narratology)

1. What are the formal codes and conventions of long term TV drama?

• The codes and conventions of long form TV drama are episodes that are up to 40-60 minutes long. There are usually 8-25 episodes in one season. They will most likely be dramatic narrative story lines. Each character usually has their own story line. They usually have expressive lighting techniques dependent on sub genre. They usually have exaggerated, hyper real representations of characters- cultural stereotyping for entertainment values. 

2.  How similar or different are the formal conventions used in Stranger Things? 

• The main conventions that appear in Stranger Things is the soundtrack, it is usually usually slow and quite eerie which can made through the use of classical instruments or  a synthesiser. Long shots are used to show the audience the setting which is usually quite an isolated atmosphere. Close-ups are not used as often because they convey emotions of the character, the close-ups will usually be of objects, not people, to show their significance to the story line. The setting in the show is usually dark as it creates a feeling of terror of the character, which the audience can sympathise with and feel the tension it causes. Also, the weather is usually stormy or raining, like when they first found Eleven. Jump cuts are very common, as they change shots very quickly which creates tension. When these type of shots are edited together, it causes he audience to feel confused which leads to them being scared at he necessary time. The sci-i conventions is very futuristic even though it is set in the 80's and it has a parallel universe or even a different dimension. There is a invasion from extra-terrestrial beings. Sci-fi is used to make the audience believe in the images they see on screen an they use quite familiar elements of technology to help the audience make that connection between fiction and reality. 

3. How does the first episode start and finish?

• In the lower levels of Hawkins National Laboratory, a scientist in a white lab coat runs down a dark hallway, frantically looking back behind him and trying to operate the elevator. When the elevator doors finally open, the man enters and feels like he safe, but then we hear a growl coming from above him, which is a diegetic sound as the audience and the scientist can both hear it. Terror fills the man's face, his eyes widened. As the elevator doors close, he is violently pulled upwards.

• While there is a search party for Will, his friends go out to look for him as well. There is hesitation of whether they should carry but they decide to carry on moving. While they are moving, they hear rustling in the bushes thinking that it is Will. But they end up finding a girl who is soaking wet and who looks afraid. 

pushing buttons and looking

The Cold War Research

The Cold War...

• From 1945 and 1989 the world was divided by the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union. It was an ideological war: U.S. democracy and capitalism versus Soviet Union communism. The Cold War was an indirect war, the U.S. and the Soviet Union never fought it out on the battlefield or in the air because to do so would have been utterly Mutually Assured Destruction; both countries had nuclear warheads that would deplete an entire county of it's population in a nanosecond. 
• The Cold War lasted for about 45 years.
• For ordinary people living in Communist Eastern Europe during the Cold War era, a great part of everyday life consisted of searching and waiting for basic material goods, including food. Women with families, standing hours per day in long lines to purchase meat and potatoes, also shortages of personal hygiene and health items, including toilet paper, feminine products and medicine. Children and teenagers often saw little of their parents, who were away from home each day for long stretches of time as they worked and shopped for basic necessities. 
• The Cold War touched many aspects of American social and cultural, from the civil rights movement survivalism, from Hollywood to the universities. The nuclear threat- and the Communist menace lurking behind it - brought the National Defence Education Act, the interstate highway system, and growing mistrust of government by both liberals and conservatives. 
• After the defeat in World War II, Germany was divided into four zones under the control of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union .
• Because East Germany was inland, they did not have the access to imports that West Germany had. This resulted in different produce being available in one and not in the other. 
• The East was also largely communist as the USSR had control over it, whilst the West was capitalist. This meant that people would have been generally poorer in the East as wealth is shared equally in communist states, whilst the West would have been quite prosperous. Also, the East would have been under the dictatorship whilst the West would have been democratic.
• ABLE ARCHER- in November 1983, Soviet nuclear forces went on high alert. After months nervously watching increasingly assertive NATO military posturing, Soviet intelligence agencies in Western Europe received flash telegrams reporting alarming activity on U.S. bases. In response, the Soviets began readying their nuclear forces in preparation for a Western nuclear attack. Just as nuclear tensions escalated, the threat of war abruptly ended as the buildup was revealed to be vast NATO conflict simulation named Able Archer 83. 

The Jungle Book Exam Question

Explain why film producers seek to use cutting edge technology to engage audiences... 

In the 1967 version of the Jungle Book, Disney's animation studio had been responsible for developing many of the techniques and ways of working that became standard practices of traditional cel animation, pioneering the art of story boarding and developing the use of the multiplane to create an early 3D like effect. In the 2016 version of the Jungle Book, the technology that they used was computer-generated imagery (CGI), which allowed the movie to look more realistic, this also allowed wide male attraction. The CGI used resources from  British company called MPC. This version used live action animation which was made so that a wider demographic to watch the movie. In the 1967 version, the backgrounds were hand painted, sometimes the scenery was used in both foreground and bottom and filmed with the multi-plane camera to create a notion of depth, whereas in the 2016 version they used pre-visualisation and took photographs India to make the jungle more realistic.They also used pre-visualisation to study how the animals look and how they move to make them realistic. At the first scene of the 2016 version they used a mixture of Bambi and the original Jungle Book, this creates a nostalgic feeling for the older audiences watching. The use of social media as new technology helped engage more audiences as Disney promoted the film on various social media sites, for example, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Adding a Snapchat filter of the snake helped engage the audience because it would build up excitement for the film. 

Radio 1 Breakfast- Audience

Categorisation...

• Audiences are categorised and measured by RAJAR- Radio Joint Audience Research.
• It is jointly owned by the BBC and the radio centre on behalf of the commercial sector.
• Subscriptions for the full service are expensive.

RQIV FRAMEWORK...

• REACH- the extent to which BBC services are used by the audience.
• QUALITY- measured in terms of audience perception of various aspects of the quality of programmes and channels.
• IMPACT- the extent to which BBC content delivers the BBC's public purposes.
• VALUE FOR MONEY- a consideration of performance alongside cost to to provide a perspective on cost-effectiveness.
• WEEKLY REACH- the number of people that listen to a station for at least five minutes in a given week.
• HOURS PER LISTENER- the average number of hours each listener spends listening to the station each week.
• The BBC aims to reflect a diverse young audience.
• Service license 2016.
• Representing the whole UK population.
• It's presenter line-up, music and content should reflect the audience it is targeting.
• Ethnic minorities. 
• Nine out of ten adults in the UK listen to the radio each week. 
• All BBC Radio reaches of 67% of adults each week and the BBC Network Radio.
• 25-34 years had declined in the listening to BBC.
• ABC1- listening to radio more- more content.
• C2DE-listening to radio less- entertainment.
• Unfair representation of gender.
• UK has increased by 1.6%.
• Wales has increased by 6%.
• England has increased by 2%.
• Scotland has increased by 2%.
• Northern Ireland has increased by 1.2%

Radio 1...

• 15-29 dropped by 3%.
• ABC1 dropped 3%.
• Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME)- increased.
• 30 is median of listeners.
• Hours per listening- all areas have decreased. 

REACHING AUDIENCE...

• People aged between 15-25 listen to just over 14 hours of radio per week last year. 
• Seven hours less than the average adults.
• OFCOM- Radio 1 is suffering because its core audience is turning away from live radio. 

Audience Interaction...

• Radio 1's remit is to entertain young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech. It's target audience is 15-29 years old. It should after:
• A range of new music.
• Support emerging artists- especially those from the UK.
• Provide a platform for live music.
• News, documentaries and advice campaigns should cover areas of relevance to young adults.
• Broadcast at least 40 new documentaries each year.
• Offer at least 2 major social action campaigns across daytime and online each year, together with a number of other initiatives. 

Radio 1 Breakfast- Institution

RADIO 1's BREAKFAST SHOW...

• 5 Million listeners a week
• Throwback Thursday/ competitions/BBC Events 
• Current as possible 
• Script breaking down what happens every ten minutes 
• Celebrities 
• 'hot food'- emergency ideas 
• briefing callers and special guests 
• groups in show- figuring the next show on the day before and they go through it in the morning.
• silly and fun- targeting a younger audience
• during the songs they are preparing the next link 
• not swearing- regulating- OFCOM 
• not promoting or advertising brands
• good vibes in the studio/ dysfunctional family 
• trust each other in the team- decisions need to be made quickly 
• production meeting-whatsapp group 
• institutional values of the BBC- inform, educate, and entertain
• music is chosen by music producers not the speakers 
• pick certain guests- new single - platform for celebrities to promote their new projects. 

The Jungle Book (2016): Homework Task

1. How did Disney successfully use cross-media promotion as part of the Jungle Book's marketing campaign? 

They used social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. On Snapchat they had a filter that Snapchat users were able to to use it and it would turn their faces into Kaa, the snake, in the movie. The Jungle Book had a Super Bowl ad placement and a 3D preview in auditorium before the Star Wars movie. 

 2.To what extent were digital marketing techniques vital to The Jungle Book’s box office success? List the ways the film was exhibited (shown). 

Disney used several successful marketing strategies for their release of The Jungle Book, including partnering up with Facebook to create a touring virtual-reality experience and 360 -degree Facebook video emphasising the 'Avatar'- like world of the jungle. Word of mouth is a traditional marketing technique which is very effective, and social media is basically the modern version of that traditional technique. 

3. How did Disney’s strength as an institution enable the film to be exhibited in all these ways? (think about financial backing, use of 3D, marketing strength and vertical integration).

The film was released in the Dolby Vision format in Dolby Cinema in the United States, and is the first film to be released in Dolby Vision. The fact that Disney is big and well known company, it allowed allowed The Jungle Book to be shown in multiple ways by different genders and ages. Disney outsourced the production of 3D animated films in Pixar in 1991 because there was a lot of uncertainty around the potential of 3D animation. At the time it was not clear whether 3D animated films would be successful or at least as successful as 2D animated films. In addition, 2D animated capabilities were far more likely than 3D animated capabilities to generate a competitive advantage. 

 4. How did Disney attempt to broaden the audience for The Jungle Book? Was this successful?

In August, Jon Favreau bounded onto a 7,800- seat arena at a Disney fan convention and showed a sneak-pea footage of The Jungle Book 2016. He was on stage with three Jungle Book actors including Mowgli the man cub. At this convention there were thousands of movie posters that were hand out. This was the first marketing stunt for The Jungle Book which cost roughly $175 million  to make. 

 5. What is the difference between Copyright and Trademark?

While both offer intellectual property protection, they protect different types of assets. Copyright is geared toward literary and artistic works, such as books and videos. A trademark protects items that help define a company brand, such as it's logo. 

 6. What was Favreau’s approach to the remake? 

He wanted to take only the scenes that stuck out to him from The Jungle Book 1967 to  include in JB 16. This was due to the fact that he wanted JB 16 to be closely resembled to the book by Kipling. By doing this, the new film was much darker than the 1967 version and had elements that were more intended for an older audience rather than a younger audience. 

7. How did new digital technology impact on the production process (principally the use of CGI and previz)? 

What's interesting about the film is that they are telling an old story with new technology, and it's blend over into other aspects of film and promotion. They have an extremely sophisticated technological landscape that they were dealing with day to day as they created the film. Now, as they explore the means very which they share it with people, technology seemed like a very inherent part of the whole live action Jungle Book movie.

8. Explain how CGI works (re-watch video clips). Focus on blue screen and motion capture.

Designers create a series of computer-generated graphics. After the basic graphics are created, the next step is to bring them to life. To make the graphics look realistic,creators pay special attention to details such as texture, lighting and colour. In the Jungle Book the actor main actor who plays Mowgli the man cub, is put in a blue set that has moving components. The CGI characters are crew members dressed in blue so that they can be edited out, and they also have sensors on them so that when the animator are making the crew members into animals they will have a realistic sense of movement.  

9.  Were there any similarities between the 1967 and 2016 versions of the film in term of the production process?

The 1967 version was made completely out of cel animation and the 2016 version used some cel animation as well. The 2016 version used two of the songs from the original version which were, "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna be Like You". Another similarities is that both movies used the same songwriters, the Sherman Brothers. 

Jungle Book 1967 v Jungle Book 2016

	The Jungle Book 1967	The Jungle Book 2016
Production & Technology	Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman          Produced by Walt Disney           Production company- Walt Disney Production           Traditional cell animation, pioneering the art of story-boarding and developing the use of the multiplane to create an early 3-D effect.          The drawings were based in the actors, their voices and their vocal personalities            Backgrounds were hand-painted- the exception of the waterfall, mostly consisting of footage of the Angel Falls in Venezuela            Sometimes scenery was both used in foreground and bottom and filmed with the multiplane camera to create a notion of depth           Used xerography, coping the animation’s drawings onto a light-sensitive aluminium plate and the onto cells, unlike the old, painstaking hand-inking process, tracing them from paper drawing           Most of the songs were written by the Sherman Brothers, who had key core strength, they locked the action, and the viewers, into the characters.	Directed and co-produced by Jon Favreau        Written by Justin Marks          Production company- Walt Disney Pictures           Live-action           Seen on screen was produced using CGI- strange limbo between live-action and animation            All the animals and landscapes were created on computers, mostly by the British digital effects house MPC        The animals were deliberately created with a realistic look, and not in a cute and cuddly cartoon-style as with the original animated Jungle Book film, in order to target older movie-goers.         Included some of the original music from 1967 version partly in order to compete with the Warner version that was simultaneously in production.            The production process of the film was highly dependent on other companies, such as MPC, and so was not fully made in-house, as the original film had been.
Ownership, Marketing & Distribution	Walt Disney was personally at the centre of the most of the decision making in his company right from the time he set up the studios.        Disney’s own politics were rather conservative, right-winged and undoubtedly this affected the representations constructed within the film.        The film seemed to ignore the black civil rights movements of the 1960’s, as seen in the equating of black jazz music with the apish behaviour of the orang-utan, thereby reinforcing racial stereotypes.	The film was planned by Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Alan Horn, as one of the series of remakes of their classic properties.            Walt Disney Studios revived the classic film for a new generation of kids, and their already smitten parents who may be especially willing to shell out for related merchandise.            Sean Bailey credited the division’s escalating success rate to the silo system instituted by Disney chairman Bob Iger and managed by Alan Horn            Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures            The film had social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The accounts released teasers and making of photos and videos in the months before the theatrical release and kept up the promotion for the release on DVD and as downloads.
Regulation	The main regulatory issues relating to JB are Copyright and Classification or Certification.           The film, music, script, character design, performance, Disney logo, DVD cover design are all affected by the copyright in one way or another.          The US Copyright Amendment Act of 1998 gave protection for works published before January 1, 1978, increasing coverage works of ‘Corporate authorship’ by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date.	Sex & Nudity- throughout the movie, the only thing the main character (Mowgli) wear is a loincloth.            Violence- there are scenes of fighting depicted between various animals in the film, where they are seen attacking and biting one another. Although these scenes are intense, they are depicted without any details of injury or bloodletting.           Alcohol, Drug s& Smoking- Mowgli looks at a human village from a distance. Against a background of blazing flames, people seem to be celebrating something. There are drinks in their hands but nothing is clearly visible.            Frightening & Intense Scenes- the film contains several scenes where characters face threatening situations and/or engage in fighting. For instance, there are scenes where the protagonist is being pursued or cornered by animals such as a tiger or a giant gigantopithecus.            The Jungle Book 2016 is a live-action/CGI update of Kipling's classic book of short stories that has many scary/intense scenes involving menacing wild animals.
Economics/Funding	N/A	JB 16 cost an estimate of $175 million to produce but opening with $103.6 million in North America, making it one of the biggest April debuts ever at the box office.           It grossed over $966 million, making it the fifth highest grossing film of 2016 and the 35th highest grossing film of all time.            The film was released in 70 countries, opening at different times depending on competition and school holiday dates.
Maintaining Audiences	Disney was highly aware of how to build and maintain audiences nationally and globally, from the shaping of the original product to appeal more to a family audience, the marketing and distribution by its own company and merchandising.	Highly developed corporate synergy            Disney products are themselves advertisements for Disney            Appeal to a wide range of age groups            49% over 25 years of age            51% under 25 years of age            18-24 lead to 33% of tickets sales            Widely over-performed            The movie is playing to not just the converted Disney female audiences, but to all demos            97% of the audience gave the film an A or B