Media Summer project
Transformers 2
Media Representations
The film consists of many important male roles. These are mainly the protagonist, Optimus prime and Sam Whitwickey and the the male villain, Megatron. This connotes to the audience that the male gender in the film is the dominate gender in the film.
In the movie, the protagonist Sam Whitwickey (Shia Le Beouf) is represented in the film as a heroic saviour similar in ways that a super hero is represented. This all takes place when the high school student goes out to buy his first car which turns out to be a robot.
Through Sam is represented as innocent, clumsy characters. Furthermore, the other two main protagonists in the movie are Optimus prime who is the leader of the auto bots and also the female protagonist, Megan Fox who plays the attractive female role which is way out of Sam’s league. Voyeurism is used to keep the audience engaged and want to see what she has to show.
The subject is being represented in this way because before Sam was represented as a hero, he was a normal unpopular kid who's life was dull. However towards the end of the movie this all changes as Sam is represented as being a hero by his bravery and getting the girl he’s always wanted and resulting in a typical happy ending.
Furthermore, Optimus Prime is also represented as the heroic figure that rises from the dead, it seems to everyone that he is dead however due to Sam's spirit and determination he resurrects Optimus with the help of the all spark and helps Optimus to restore calm and defeat the decipticons. This also shows the representation of a great hero.
Narrative
Transformers 2 is a linear narrative as the film progresses forward towards a resolution which consists of a Begging, Middle and End. The movie is also packed with binary oppositions as we see many characters who are good, many who are evil, some who are funny, and some who are not.
The structure of Transformers 2 also includes Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and a new equilibrium (Todorov).
The film begins it starts off with a New Equilibrium as it gets straight into the action when we see conflict between the Autobots and the Dcepticons which ends with the Good (Autobots) defeating the evil (Deceptions), this gives the audience a sense of achievement as they feel positive about the film straight from the beginning.
But then we see a Equilibrium as there is partially an existing state of harmony as we see Sam’s love life with his romance with Meganfox who is the Second main character within the film which also sends out a warm vibe to the viewers as romance is a happy feeling.
Halfway through the film we experience a disequilibrium as the flow of the film is disrupted by unfortunate events as Optimus Prime (Leader of the Autobots) is defeated by the Decepticons.
However, at the finale a new equilibrium occurs as Optimus Prime rises again with the help of Sam Witwicky and then defeats the Decepticons leader (The Fallen) once and for all which gave the audience a feel good factor as we also see Sam and Makaila cuddling in a sunset backdrop.
The audience throughout are always positioned to follow and take side with sam as the progtaginistic 'hero'. Furthermore, the audience are made to personify with Sam and feel the emotions he feels and are positioned in relation to the narrative to sympathise for Sam during the period of disquiet and disequilibrium and then are made to feel good for themselves and Sam at the end of the film during the new equilibrium where the chaos comes to an end.
Furthermore, Heroes and villains are created and represented in the film spontaneously as the Heroes in the film are bright and colourful, clever and blue eyes whereas the villains in the film are dark, rusty, not so clever and red eyed. This allows the audience to tell the differences between the heroes and villains in the film.
The role of Sound and music in the film is very big as it is responsible in being able to bring to life dramatic moments as well as add to moments of intimacy and intense action. Furthermore, mise-en-scene in the film is crucial to its success as their is a lot of violence and fighting in the film, the mise-en-scene has to seem realistic and look like a complete war zone in order for action sequences in the film to seem as real as possible.
The film was given a £250 million budget, which was £75 million more than the 2007 film, and some of the action scenes rejected for the original were written into the sequel, such as the way Optimus is reintroduced in this film.
The film itself has typical codes and conventions that would be expected of a Paramount pictures film. One of the typical conventions that the film holds is the use of Animation. This is because the action scenes in the film are all animated and paramount pictures are known to produce a lot of animated films such as, Kung fu panda.
Another convention of a Paramount produced film is the use of humour. There is paramount pictures always produce and release action movies that intense and action filled but also with a touch of humour. This is present in other paramount films such as, Iron man and Mission Impossible and is also present in Transformers 2.
The institution have always followed Propp’s narrative theory within their films and have again used it in the film Transformers 2. This allows the audience to easily recognise and relate to the film and institution.
Media Values and Ideology
I believe the major values and ideoligies present in the film is the importance of family and the need to never give up and stick together. This is because throughout the film we see Sam and Optimus prime and the autobots build up a relationship much like a family as they all look out for each other.
Furthermore, towards the end we see Sam fight to save the earth form falling into the wrong hands and he does this by risking his own life in order to save optimus prime and does this whilst telling his mum and dad that he loves them and that they should go and find safety which shows the audience enormous courage and loyalty to his "family of autobots" and his original family consisting of himself, his mother and father.
Furthermore, towards the end we see Sam fight to save the earth form falling into the wrong hands and he does this by risking his own life in order to save optimus prime and does this whilst telling his mum and dad that he loves them and that they should go and find safety which shows the audience enormous courage and loyalty to his "family of autobots" and his original family consisting of himself, his mother and father.
Genre
The genre that best suits Transformers 2 is action. We know this because of the fast paced scenes and numerous fighting scenes and intense storyline. The major generic conventions within the text are explosions, a villain, a hero and also many fights and battles. This is generic because all action films are full of these conventions which makes the action genre so noticeable as a single explosion in a film highlights to the audience that the movie they are watching is a action movie. The relationship between Sam and Mean Fox also makes the film include the genre of love.
The iconographic features of the text consist of colourful, fast cars. This is iconic in the text because it creates an identity between the good and the evil, as the colourful and fast cars are the good guys where as the evil blends in with ordinary things such as an laptop. This is really important in the text as it allows the audience to identify whose good and whose bad.
The text features a director who is strongly associated with the genre. Michael bay is known throughout the movie industry for his humorous action movies. Such as Bad Boys 1 and 2. Furthermore, Transformers 2 also has a writer that is directly associated to the genre. Steven Spielberg has directed many action adventure movies such as the Indiana Jones films and is known for his high budget movies.
Media Audiences
The Paramount pictures marketing team alongside the movie director was targeting a large audience which ranged in age from 12 to 38 years old, and it was clear that the campaign for the movie needed to showcase the creativity and visual effects which the audience would expect from the Transformers sequel.
The target audience for Transformers 2 included teenagers, students and working adults, all of which have a high reliance on the Internet for getting information. The Microsoft Advertising team worked closely with Paramount Pictures to devise an innovative multimedia advertising campaign across various online channels to promote ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’.
In the film there are many assumptions about the audiences characteristics. These assumptions come from the movie directors. Which are that the majority of the audience will be young males. Therefore the directors decided to use Megan Fox who is the female protagonist in the film as eye candy to persuade them to watch the film. We see this in many scenes where the camera slowly follows around her in different angles clearly attempting to show off her looks and create a sexy bad girl persona.
In the film there are many assumptions about the audiences characteristics. These assumptions come from the movie directors. Which are that the majority of the audience will be young males. Therefore the directors decided to use Megan Fox who is the female protagonist in the film as eye candy to persuade them to watch the film. We see this in many scenes where the camera slowly follows around her in different angles clearly attempting to show off her looks and create a sexy bad girl persona.
The film was released on the June 10th 2009 (early summer). During this time the films primary target audience, kids and young teenagers have just finished school this therefore makes the film act as a form of entertainment and a form of escapism (diversion) for kids to get out of the house and go out with their friends.
Transformers had already established itself as a worldwide hit before the film was released due to the Transformers cartoons and marvel comics. Therefore the the audience is most likely to be mass audience.However the film alone may subliminally teach them messages and lessons such as never give up on the things you believe in and always care for the people that care for you.I personally view the film as a form of entertainment and escapism (katz and blumler)
Media Languages and Forms
The significance of the text connotations in the film is that are the values and ideologies in the film contain ideas and meaning. These Ideas and lesson are portrayed to the audience through the film.
The mise-en-scene allows the audience to watch the film and understand the story whilst the setting (New york city and the desert) allows the audience to know what the film will be about and the themes, mood and ideas of the film.
In the film, Parallel music is used in certain scenes to have a more dramatic effect. Also sound effects add to certain aspects of the film. Sound effects is used to add to the dramatic intensity.
A dominant image/iconography of the text is the all spark. This is relevant to one of the themes of the texts which is because both good and evil are fighting for the same objective which is to secure the power of the all spark. This therefore directly relates to one of the major themes of the text which is power.
