Summer project - Critical investigation

Fast and the Furious 7

Analysis of the trailer

• Instituion - Universal
• Genre - Action
• Women - portrayed as a dominant representation - sexual objects
• Letty - alternative representation - seen as strong and poweful
• Action code (Ronland Barthes) - Dwayne grabs a gun
• Action code - Jason throws a bomb
• Quick dramatic shows - engages the audience more and shows them something big is about to occur
• close-ups used to show the characters facial expressions and how they're feeling
• Release date
• wide establishing shot used when the cars fall out the plane- showing how high they are, the risk they are taking and where they are -  deserted road
• Humour - ludacris makes a joke in the plane
• Parallel background music - womans voice
• 'i got family' - famous quote
• Voice over throughout the trailer - mainly of Vin Diesal
• Shows them having a race
• Half dressed women dancing etc 
• Audience - 13 - 50 year olds  60% males 40% females
• Women seen as seductive objects, whom are there for just male purposes and to tell the audience that, thats their main job in reality.

Brig newspaper review: 

This newspapers talks about the the concepts of all the series and how amazing they are. It then went onto talking about Paul Walkers death and how the movie made a tribute to him at the end of it.  It also talked about the good and bad scenes of the film but overall it was a positive review.

The Galleon newspaper:

This newspaper articles talks bout how the movie is the new hype and how brilliant the film was. However is says people watch the movie only for the violence, racing and girls in it. 'But who really looks for a plot anymore in these movies?' Furthermore, it talks about the new actor in the film, Jason, and how he does the same voice in all his movies. Lastly, it spoke about how Paul's death was a tragic and how the editors managed to get him in throughout the whole movie, which was that they had used his brother.

Media Representations 

Who is being represented? In what way? By whom?

Vin Diesal - protagonist - strong fighter/racer

Women - half dressed - seen as sexual objects -- dominant representaion

Letty - 2nd protagonist - strong fighter/racer -- alternative representation

friends - helpers
Why is the subject being represented in this way? 

To show the audience there's a superior hero for them to look up to

to show the audience that the males are well off and powerful

(women) shows they are weaker than men's and are only there for mens entertainment 

Is the representation fair and accurate?

Its not fair but is accurate

Media Languages and Forms

What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?

What is the significance of the text’s connotations?

What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?

What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings (CLAMPS)?

Cars were used in the trailer to emphasise the races that were about to occur. Also, the lighting was mainly high-key lighting which allowed the audience to see everything within the trailer. Furthermore, the characters wore casual clothing to make it look like reality rather than artificial and fake. However, the female characters were only half dressed (naked) which portrayed them as sexual objects. Moreover, it was set in America and dubai in different locations, which made the audience realise their mission is huge. 

What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?

The sound used is parallel as it fits with what the concpet is about.

What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
The dominant pictures would be of the main protagonists, Paul and Vin as well as the cars money and women. Their relevance in the movie is that they make it more engaging and fascinating as the main protagonist comes across obstacles to we with either one of those three aspects.

What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?

Fast paced music is played when we see the characters racing at a fast pace, we see close-ups of aspects on the car such as the wheel spinning vigorously. there is also wide shots of the race so we see where they are and what position they are in.

Narrative 

How is the narrative organised and structured?

The narrative of the movie continues throughout all the 7 series. However, each series has a different narrative where it has been solved in the end. 

How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?

The audience are positioned in a way which makes it seem as if they are part of the movie; like its reality. They characters are wearing casual clothing, its sets in america and dubai in local known areas and so it makes them feel apart of it.

How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?

The hereos here are Vin, Paul and they're crew and the villains in this case are the police as they are trying to stop them doing from what the need to do.

What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?

The role of sound plays a huge part in the movie as it makes everything seem more dramatic and intriguing, it adds to the depth of the genre as well as the iconography. The editing is fast paced and has been made into quick dramatic clips to make it seem as it the clip is racing itself.

Genre 

To which genre does the text belong?

Action

What are the major generic conventions within the text?

Enigma and actions code

What are the major generic themes?

Action

Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?

The texts features all the starts acting within the movie.

Media Institutions 

What is the institutional source of the text?

The companies behind the movie is Universal pictures.

In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?

How has the text been distributed?

Media Audiences 

To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience? (Demographics, Psychographics)

It is aimed at people between the ages of 13-50; 60%male and 40% female. Aimed at people in the groups of B, C1 and C2.