ByMichaela and Marisha.

Assignment 5: Film Study.

Colour choice.

• Blue = Michaela • Red = Marisha• Black = Together

We are completing the yellow level.

Yellow Level.• Title page.• Target level.• Exploration of films.• Film of choice and reasoning.• Genre.• subgenre.• Hybrid.• Stam’s theory.• Mittel’s theory.• Semantics.• Syntax.• Tone.• Conventions.• Dominant Ideology.• Audience.• Audience Theory.

Exploration of movies.

Gazed upset look, shows she's is not content with her current situation.

Men are seen behind the woman, we can see that the amount of men highly out weighs the amount of women.

Gripping slogan, draws in the audience and grabs their interest.

Film choice and reasoning.

• We chose this film because it covers many great and recognisable aspects of drama movies. The cover picture automatically shows you that the movie is going to be of a hard hitting nature and has probably been designed for a more niche audience.

• The movie poster doesn’t reveal to much of the movies general plot, however it does show us that the woman doesn’t look happy or content in the sea of men surrounding her.

What main Genre does the film fall under?

• The main film falls under the Drama genre because of the way in which it makes the audience relate and sympathise with the characters.

• This is done through a mixture of a well written script, a build up of tension and good use of editing.

• it is shown through the presence of more hard hitting topics such as rape, teen pregnancy and domestic abuse.

List the many types of subgenres/genre:

• Romantic Drama - Romance between the main character Josey and her lawyer. Furthermore, the type of relationship she once had between her and Shark as a teenager who later becomes one of the co-workers who sexually harassed.

• Drama - This is a Drama film because of the way it makes the audience relate and sympathise with the characters as it starts to unfold before our eyes, in relation to the film such as the scene where she admits to the court and the judge that she was raped at the age 16.

Subgenres.

Some of the subgenres presented in North Country are..Romance.we are shown the relationship the two young teenagers had, kissing and hugging and taking a genuine liking to each other whilst bunking lessons together.

Teen-drama.We are shown flashbacks of the young girls struggles, we are shown aspects of rape, teen pregnancy and family disappointment due to religion and era of time.

Teen drama- the shot just before the young girls teacher raped her resulting in her under age pregnancy and tarnished name within her family.

We are shown by the girls resistance and stiff body language that she is scared, she also proceeds in the movie to beg her teacher to stop.

We can see that the teacher is pushing himself onto the girl.

Stam’s theory.

• Stam’s theory says that genre is not easily defined under the ‘main genres’ but can be classified in other ways such as budget, ethnicity focus or performer based.

• In relation to the film we have chosen this film was originally based on a book which was inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham.

• The movie was awarded a budget of $30million dollars.• The movie is based around a dead south mining district in America

in the early 1980’s.

Mittel theory.

Mittel’s theory is that genre is used to sell products. • In relation to Mittel’s theory the Drama genre can attract a mass audience.

However, the film can also be considered to be a hard-hitting film which attracts a niche audience in relation to Chomsky's theory because of the more serious issues such as rape, which brings the audience to realisation that in the past women were treated unfairly in the work place especially in a male dominated industry.

we are told that North Country is based upon a true story, we are also informed that it is a book, this would attract people to go out and purchase the book to get a more full on understanding of the movie and the topics involved.

SEMANTICS How these are evident in your film (in relation to its genre/sub-genre/hybrid)?

Characters The main character is a female who returns back home after a failed Marriage. Josey’s mother shows sympathy towards her daughter, her father on the other hand does not. This is evident in the beginning when she returns home and the first thing he say’s to her ‘did he catch you sleeping with another man?’.

Locations (Home town) Northern Minnesota, the iron mines, the court room,, the bar etc

Story traits When Josey Aimes returns to her home town after a failed marriage with her two kids. She seeks employment in the Iron mines which is mostly dominated by males and receives sexual harassment on a day to day basis, which then results in a sexual harassment lawsuit in the US.

Syntax Stand up for what is right even though you stand alone. An example of this from the film is when she takes the iron mining industry in her home town to court for allowing women to be sexually harassed by the male co-workers.

Costumes Helmets, Overalls, Goggles, safety boots, safety suit, helmet.

Props Spade/Shovel,

Semantics.

Syntax.

• The Overall message or meaning of the film 'North Country' is that no matter what, You should be the person who stands up for what you think is right and you feel needs to be justified even if it means you stand alone, This is not for the sake of the individual but for others in general.

• The message shows us that if you want something badly enough you will fight to the death to make this happen, Josey is shown as a strong determined woman, she is an inspiration to women everywhere not only in her era and the women facing what she was fighting for but in modern day society also.

Tone: a) Look at one scene and analyse the lighting, what mood does it create? How? Why?

• The lighting of this scene creates a serious mood, the lighting is not of warm colours but more of a serious tone to match with the close-up shot of her facial expression.

Conventions lists of that genre/sub-genre/hybrid.

Conventions of genre/sub /hybrid Examples from a range of real films?

Sexual harassment. The women are denied of basic human rights such as an available toilet.

Disclosure.A woman casts a law suit against her boss after beingsexually harassed within herplace of employment.

Teen Pregnancy. The girl finds herself pregnant at the age of 16.

For keeps.A young teenage girl finds Herself pregnant and then pursues to try and gain her dream after having the baby.

Domestic Abuse. The woman is beaten by her husband.

Sleeping with the enemy. A woman fakes her own death in a bid to escape from her abusive husband.

Convention of genre/subgenre/ hybrid Examples from a range of real films?

Single parent – In the film ‘North Country’, Josey is a single parent with two kids who moves back home with her parents escaping from an Abusive husband.

Promiscuity – People in her home town assume that Josey is promiscuous because she fell pregnant at the age of 16 out of wedlock. This is shown in the film when she’s watching her son play ice hockey and one of the wife’s of the mine workers confront her about it in front of the townspeople.

Portraying realistic characters – The main character ‘Josey’ is in conflict with the townspeople and mine workers, who believe that she should back down with her case for Sexual harassment against the mining industry which is their source of income.

Dominant Ideology.Dominant Ideology. Example/evidence from film?

1) Single parent family (not seen as ideal)

Living alone with Sammy and Karen.

2) Vitim of an abusive relationship (not seen as acceptable within westernised society)

We are shown at the start of the movie the woman seems to be scared on her partners arrival home, we are then shown her bruised and bleeding on the floor.

3) Rape (extremely degrading criminal act)

We are shown that the young girl was subjected to rape by her teacher.

4) Religion (many people follow some kind of religion or have a belief of some kind of God)

the family in which the woman comes from seems to be very religious, they talk about her teenaged unwed locked marriage and how it brought shame upon the family.

Audience.The movie ‘North Country’ is for more of a niche audience, it doesn’t have great appeal for a mass audience. This is due to many factors

such as the 15 age ratting, the hard hitting nature of the movie and the situations the movie covers such as rape and teen pregnancy. This is a hard hitting drama therefore not many people will be attracted to it and what to watch it.

The niche audience is seen as the audience whereas a more mass audience is seen as the secondary audience.

Details of audience Target audience Secondary audience Explanation of why they would be attracted to the film

Age Adults Teenagers 15+ Educational purposes to see how times have changed

Gender Mostly a female audience Male To see how the hierarchy works and has developed over time.

Ethnicity Westernised members of society eg from the USA/UK

People from more developing countries.

The countries they live in still view woman as second class citizens

Social class/social group Working class Upper class To see how the lower class work

Sexual orientation Any - -

Profession/role Lower class jobs, especially more associated with men, eg the fire force, the police force and mining.

Higher paid professions, eg teachers and lawyers

To see the way in which lawyers and teachers have been presented in past times

Audience Theory. Reason why people watch the film Explanation

Information

‘men out weigh woman by 30 to 1’

• At the start of the movie we are given statistics surrounding the mining district during the 80s, the time period in which this movie was based.

We are then at the end of the movie shown more statistics on how the mining district has evolved.

Reason why people watch the movie Explanation

Personal identity • We are shown the woman struggling though the legal system trying to gain justice.

• We are shown the woman's journey from a school girl to where she is today.

Reason why people watch the movie Explanation

Integration and social interaction. People will be more likely to talk about more hard hitting scenes within the movie., for example the scene where she woman is lying on the floor bleeding. This could cause person to person debate or a debate though social media such as twitter.