Film - Jungle Book Trailer Analysis

 


The media language of the Jungle Book (2016) trailer is very effective in intriguing the audience to watch the film. The trailer begins with the non-diegetic voiceover of the snake (Scarlett Johansson) talking to Mowgli. Her sinister, soothing and deceitful tone of voice causes the audience to feel uneasy, especially when she is shown to be talking to Mowgli with low-key lighting. The use of lighting indicates that she has negative intentions and can create a sense of dread for the character. The actress Scarlett Johansson is very well known for other action films and therefore her fans (teenagers and young adults most likely) will also want to see the Jungle Book. As well as this, King Louie is portrayed by Christopher Walken who has been in many old films and therefore will be able to invite his adult fans to the Jungle Book. At 0:29, a low angle-shot of the tiger is used to convey him as sinister. It is clear this is the antagonist of the story as he presents himself as aggressive which creates the threat of conflict. Similarly, at 1:09, a low-angle shot is used to convey the snake's character as powerful and threatening, which can show she is convincing to her victims. This shot only lasts for 2 seconds therefore the audience do not know what happens after. The use of fast editing also makes the trailer more exciting as it conveys lots of action. This conveys that Mowgli is often in danger which can build tension and mystery for the audience. The audience may also feel fear for Mowgli, especially in moments such as the one at 0:50, where a panning shot follows Mowgli as he discovers King Louie. This causes the audience to feel like they are also on this adventure, and can relate to emotions that the protagonist feels. This is enhanced by the verisimilitude of the set; the jungle appears real to the audience and therefore they are more likely to feel scared while watching. 

At 1:06 of the trailer, Mowgli is being chased by the antagonist and as a result jumps off of an edge, A quick fade to black transition is used which creates the effect of the unknown. Not only does Mowgli not know where he will go next, but also the audience don't know what is going to happen. This intrigues them to watch the film as the tension is left unresolved.
Towards the end of the trailer, the title of 'The Jungle Book' is shown to the audience. The use of serif font creates the effect that it is still the traditional story, especially as the old cartoon and book used this font. After this, there is an intertextual link to the 1967 cartoon as Mowgli and the bear are shown together in a positive light. This highlights to the audience that it is still the same story, despite the increased tension. Although the cartoon's target audience was strictly young children, the 2016 adaptation seems to exclude this group through its scary nature. Therefore, it is more aimed towards people who had watched the cartoon as a child and want to see the remake as it is a sentimental story. 

Glossary

Glossary

Anchorage - Fixing of meaning e.g. the copy text anchors (i.e. fixes to one spot) the meaning of an image

Media - The main means of mass communication

Media Text  - Any media product we wish to examine 

Banners – Typically found at the top or bottom of a print media text.

Broadsheet - Large format newspapers that report news in depth, often with a serious tone and higher level language. News is dominated by national and international events, politics, business, with less emphasis on celebrities and gossip. Examples: The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph

Byline - A journalist's name at the beginning of a story.

Captions – Text below an image that describes the image or informs the audience who took the image.

Copy - Main text of a story.

Coverlines – Captions on a magazine front cover

Emotive Language – the use of language to generate specific emotional reactions in the target audience

Headlines – The text highlighting the main story being given priority by the producers of the print media text. Often designed to be eye-catching.

Inverted pyramid structure - Newspaper stories start with the main events. Then they give more details and eyewitness comments in short paragraphs. The paragraphs at the end of the story are less important than those at the beginning. This allows sub-editors to shorten stories by cutting paragraphs from the end.

Layout – How the print media text has been designed and formatted.

Masthead - The top section of a newspaper which gives the paper’s title, price and date

Sans Serif font – Font type which does not have lines perpendicular to the ends of letters e.g. Comic Sans – often seen as more contemporary. Think of Apple’s advertising. e.g. P E T

Serif font – Font type which does have lines perpendicular to the ends of letters e.g. Times New Roman – generally seen as more traditional or higher class.

Splash – The front page story

Sub-headings – Smaller, typically one line headlines for other stories.

Tabloid - Smaller newspapers aimed at a large audience. News is reported in less depth and emphasises human interest stories. The language level is lower, paragraphs and stories shorter, with more use of images. Content often includes more celebrities, media news and gossip. Examples: The Sun, The Mail, The Mirror, The Express

Text to image ratio – This involves considering how weighted the print media text is with regards to text and image – you need to ask yourself why the ratio exists.

Typography – The collective term when considering elements of print media relating to the style of the text such as the font, colour, serif, sans serif etc. 

Saturated Colour: The term hue refers to the color of the image itself, while saturation describes the intensity (purity) of that hue. When color is fully saturated, the color is considered in purest (truest) version. Primary colors red, blue and yellow are considered truest version color as they are fully saturated.

Media language: how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings

Media representations: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups

Media industries: how the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms

Media audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them and how members of audiences become producers themselves.

Media product: refers to media texts, such as television programmes, newspapers, radio programmes etc., as well as to online, social and participatory media platforms

Intertextuality: refers to the way aspects of a particular media product relate to another and thus accrue additional significance.

Low key lighting - predominantly dull

high key lighting - predominantly bright

Analogous colours - groups of three colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel, sharing a common colour, with one being the dominant colour, which tends to be a primary or secondary colour, and a tertiary. Red, orange, and red-orange are examples. (harmonious).

Complimentary colours - Colours that stand out next to each other because of their great contrast.

Versimilitude - The appearance of being true or not. 

DECODING = understanding a media text.  

CODES can be visual (you can see them) or aural (you can hear them). Codes have symbolic value. For example in our society wearing a pair of glasses (glasses are the code) symbolises, or connotates, that you are clever. TV drama, magazines and videogames use these symbolic codes to generate character types and character archetypes.

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world.

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space.

Glossary - Refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.

Allegory: A story, play, poem, picture, or other work in which the characters and events represent particular qualities or ideas that relate to morals, religion, or politics.

A stereotype may be defined as a popular belief about specific social/ethnic groups or types of individuals and it is broadly standardised or simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions.

Production - The making of a film; pre-production and funding; shoot (format); post-production (SFX).

Marketing - The process of raising awareness; targeting an audience; creating publicity through various methods. A distributor is responsible for marketing a film.

Exhibition - The way we view; getting the film to a paying audience. 

Cross Media Ownership is the ownership of multiple media businesses by a person or corporation. These businesses can include broadcast and cable television, film, radio, newspaper, magazine, book publishing, music, video games, and various online entities.

Horizontal integration: Walt Disney owns many studio entertainment, consumer product companies, and media networks.

Vertical integration:  Walt Disney plans, produces, advertises, and distributes all of its products on its own.

conglomerate - a large company composed of a number of smaller companies (subsidiaries) engaged in seemingly unrelated businesses.

media conglomerate - a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.

Circulation: the total number of copies of a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, or catalog that are distributed via direct mail or other channels. In terms of film it can relate to the amount of times somebody has been to see it. 

Synergy works when different elements within a media conglomerate promote (e.g. film studio, record label, video game division) create linked products (e.g. film, soundtrack, video game)

"public service broadcasting" refers to broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve purely commercial interests.

Audience segmentation is a key activity within an audience analysis. It is the process of dividing a large audience into smaller groups of people - or segments - who have similar needs, values or characteristics.

Direct mode of address: The model looks directly at the audience, or the writing speaks to ‘you’.

Indirect mode of address: The model looks away, or the writing refers to ‘people’ or ‘the public’.

Formal mode of address: Using formal phrasing and terminology.

Informal mode of address: Using more conversational language and slang.

Red-top definition: a tabloid newspaper characterized by sensationalism 

Sensationalism: Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are overhyped to present biased impressions on events, which may cause a manipulation to the truth of a story.

Digitally convergent media: Video games consoles are an excellent example of a digitally convergent device, you can not only play games but access social media, surf the internet, stream films and TV content and upload content into cloud based servers. Cross-media content helps maximise profits and also improve reach to new customers.

Drama:  What is TV drama? TV drama is a broad genre. At its simplest, it is fictionalised action in narrative form.

Long form TV drama: Long Form Drama is a term coined to describe the recent shift of interest towards television series of high quality that many consider to have replaced the cinema as a locus of serious adult entertainment. Unfolding over multiple episodes, hours, and even years, these TV shows are seen to provide a content, often dark and difficult, and an innovative style that strain against the conventions of cinema as well as network television.

Media convention:  A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:technical codes - all to do with the way a text is technically constructed - camera angles, framing, typography etc. verbal codes ...

A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.

In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:

•technical codes – all to do with the way a text is technically constructed – camera angles, framing, typography etc

•verbal codes – everything to do with language -either written or spoken

•symbolic codes – codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotational level

verbal codes ..

Genre: A genre is basically the category of any type of art or literature, for example categories of movie would be comedy, horror, thriller etc.

Genre Hybridity Some media texts are hybrid genres, which means they share the conventions of more than one genre. For example Dr. Who is a sci-fi action-adventure drama and Strictly Come Dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show.

verbal codes ...

Synopsis  -   A brief summary of the major points of a written work

A semantic code - symbolic. for example a red rode connotes: love, commitment, england, tango dancing, war of roses, jeremy corbyn.

Textual analysis/codal analysis - Is a systematic methodology for analysing moving image and print media text.

Advertising - Jungle Book Poster Essay

Mise-en-scene is used in this poster to advertise the Jungle Book (2016) film to its target audience effectively.
The composition of the different animals across the poster creates the impression that the animal kingdom in the film is large and therefore can show a sense of community - however this is contradicted by the threat of conflict presented. Using the rule of thirds, the 3 main characters (including the protagonist) are positioned in the centre, meanwhile the antagonists are on the periphery. The tiger is shown to be ready to attack, which presents to the target audience that there is action in the film. The snake that is on the periphery may make audiences tense due to the connotations of snakes being vengeful and cunning - however the connotations change depending on culture. For example, the Ancient Greek God known as Asciepius (God of medicine and healing), carried a staff with one serpent wrapped around it. This indicates that snakes may have healing or helpful abilities to certain cultures. This can cause uneasiness to the audience as they have their own opinions of the snake based on culture, whereas the protagonist Mowgli does not, and may fall into a trap.
The set of the jungle is presented to look realistic (versimultitude), unlike the 1967 cartoon, which is likely to attract older audiences rather than just children. The realistic set also makes the threat of conflict more intriguing to the audience as they may feel more attachment to characters.
The prop of the twisted tree can represent how the animal kingdom has been disorientated which shows the audience that the film will not be as innocent and happy as the 1967 cartoon.
As well as this, actors are used to promote the film. The snake is presented as a female, due to being acted by Scarlett Johansson. This creates diversity in the gender of villains (causing her to be a counter type of multiple gender theories), and also will invite fans of this actress. As well as this, the actor Christopher Walken helps to attract the target audience of family. The family contains a large age range, and therefore this well known actor will help to attract adults.
There is a lack of costumes presented on the poster, which represents how the film takes place in the wild and therefore shows how this world is different to the audience's. The human Mowgli is not shown to be trying to dress appropriately, therefore it portrays that there is no civilisation in the film besides that of the animal kingdom (which has evidently been ruined).
Low-key lighting is also used to present the film as fairly dark and mysterious, hiding certain characters in the trees. This attracts the target audience (likely families without young children) as they will be interested to see how the evident disruption of the narrative is solved.

Barthes Semantic Code points to any element in a media text that suggests a connotation, such as colour or typeface. The anchorage text, in gold, is at the bottom centre of the poster. It stands out to the audience with the colour gold, which blends with the natural colours of brown yet is still obviously out of place. Serif font is used to create an old-fashioned appearance which represents how this is an old story, and also shows how Mowgli would not be classed as a modern or civilised human. Serif font was often used for the 1967 adaptation, therefore it creates a sense of familiarity when people see the 2016 version. Also, the text 'Disney' is smaller than the 1967 adaptation. This is due to the fact that the target audience is no longer young children and therefore the fact it is produced by Disney is no longer a hugely important factor in attracting the target audience.
The use of earth-like colours on the poster creates the effect of being in the jungle for audiences seeing the poster. The use of muted colours creates the effect of mystery and darkness which connotes negativity and conflict.

Behind King Louie, there are old buildings portrayed on the poster. These appear familiar to audiences as they appear to be old, historic buildings.
The use of photoshop causes unrealistic things to appear real (especially when they are beside real things) - and therefore intrigues the target audience. Photo-generated aspects also make the poster more impressive, which helps to attract audiences.