Representation Facial Expressions

Facial Expressions

Marjorie Ferguson (1980) 

Chocolate Box

A half or full smile, with the lips together or slightly parted, teeth hardly visible at all and either full or three-quarter face to camera. The projected mood of this kind of expression is blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.

Invitational


An emphasis on the eyes, with the mouth shut or only a hint of a smile, and with the head either to one side or looking back to the camera. The project mood of this kind of expression is suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising's soft sell.

Super-Smiler


A full face, with a wide open toothy smile, the head being thrust forward or the chin being thrown back, hard often blown by the wind. The projected mood of this kind of expression is aggressive, 'look at me' demanding, the hard sell , 'big come on' approach.

Romantic / Sexual

A fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female 'two-somes', or the dreamy, heavy lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sexual or sensual. The project mood of this kind of expression is "possibly available" and "definitely available".

Trevor Millum (1975)

Carefree

A carefree look, that can be linked to sports because it seems as if they are active and/or healthy.

Practical

A practical look will include a model who seems to be concentrating on something, so their eyes will be focused and their mouth will be closed but not tightly.

Seductive

A seductive look requires the model to have their eyes slightly closed, with small expressions (but large enough to still show), and should also look somewhat confident.

Comic

A comic look has the model being stupid/comical/funny, and it will often be exaggerated in order to make the audience's view of it as comical as possible.

Catalogue

A catalogue look requires the model to have a neutral expression, such as a dummy (artificial/wax-like). The features may be in any position, but it's more common to have the eyes wide open and with a smile, but the look should remain vacant and empty still - personality has been removed.

Sites used for reference:

• http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze11.html
• http://www.slideshare.net/nickemo/male-gaze-based-on-mulveys-fergusons-shroeders-and-millums-theories-of-the-male-gaze

Representation The Gaze

Eva Mendes

She has a fairly sexual posture, as seen by the messy/wet hair (linking to the glossy skin as well), along with her "orgasm face" (not my words). These points are emphasized as well by the fact that her lips are parted, as well as her legs being open, a posture often linked to sex. From a "feminist" perspective, the hands on hips could be a sign of empowerment, and the fact that she's looking purposefully away from the camera could be a sign of "disappointment". The length of her legs has also been emphasized somewhat, probably because longer legs are seen as an attractive trait in women (their emphasis is seen by the fact that she's on her tiptoes, whilst wearing high heels).

Fredrik Ljungberg

The way that Fredrik has been directed in this advertisement shows both feminine and masculine qualities, which I'll assume were to attract both audiences. On the masculine side, you have the toned muscles, and possibly hints of aggression (left hand being a fist), which fits somewhat with the red background. On the feminine side, the pouting lips and apparently manicured right hand could be to appeal to the female audience, which again links to the red background (red being a colour related to the idea of lust). This also fits with the forced sexual portrayal of the model in order to attract the audience, as shown in the Eva Mendes advertisement above, though in this one I think it's more to make guys want to be the type of man within the ad, and for women to want the man within the ad (which would in turn make guys want to be like him, in order to attract women).

Shameless Representation of sexuality and identity

Paul Development Diaries

Why did they film the blogs?

In the first vlog, “What Is Paul? ASK!”, you can see that they’ve set up the blogs in order to let the community interact more with the cast – in normal film sets, questions can be left unanswered, and the community are just there to be an audience, but by letting them send in their questions and taking the time to answer them personally, they’re connecting more with the audience and giving people more of an incentive to watch the film (as they’ve created a relationship between the audience and the cast).

They also allow the user to see behind the scenes of the film, showing the actual creation of the film rather than just showing people the end result. This, again, helps to build a relationship between the audience and the crew, as they feel that they’re with them during the film creation, and not just seeing them act on screen.

There are also random videos as well, with the actors improvising / acting themselves, that again allow the audience to connect more with the crew as they see their normal sides, rather than just the acting that they’re paid to do.

How does this promote the film?

This helps promote the film in several ways. The most obvious way is that they give more depth to the film in general by allowing them to see how it was made – most films just allow you to see one layer, the actual film, but by doing behind-the-scenes videos, they’re showing everything that has gone into making the film and thus helping to portray the true value of the film.

Another reason is that through the videos, the audience have become more connected with the crew, and so have an incentive to see more of them by watching the film – this is a similar effect to soap operas, that have long storylines that keep people coming back for more as questions remain unanswered, and they create a sort of relationship with the characters involved.

How will it support the advertising when the film is out?

When the film comes out, the main use of these videos will probably be as extra features on a DVD, as is common with development diaries and the like. Another way that it could possibly support the advertising is by making the crew well known – the more people there are that’ve viewed the vlogs, the more people there are that will be familiar with the crew. This means that when advertisements say “Starring...” so and so, the higher the chance that someone will go “oh hey, I know them, it’s bound to be good”, and then will feel like going to see the film.

Hot Fuzz + This is England Compare how they appeal to a British audience

Rushmore Is Max Fisher a stereotypical teenager?

Is Max Fischer a stereotypical teenager?

Various elements within the montage video portray Max Fischer as different from the average teenager, the most obvious of which is his choice of clothing - in the majority of the scenes, he has chosen to wear his full school uniform (blazer, trousers, etcetera.) rather than the preferred clothing of those around him, even in the Fencing club where he wears the majority of the fencing outfit, yet retains his school uniforms trousers.

This choice of clothing could potentially be due to many factors in the character’s life, one of which is poverty, which is again suggested towards the latter end of the montage where he is seen training for the J.V. decathlon by running across a bridge over a highway, rather than the more traditional setting of an actual track.

His entire demeanour seems to be very formal in comparison with the rest of his school, from his hairstyle to his clothing to his very posture, and even though this kind of formality comes with the stereotype of submissive and shy teenagers, he seems to show a great amount of confidence at various points, which is also seen by the fact that he is one, if the not the, “top dog” in each of the clubs, such as being President of the French club, Vice-President of the Stamp and Coin club, etcetera. This formality could potentially point to some form of OCD within his character, which is further emphasized by the Lacrosse part of the montage, where rather than watching the team play he instead chooses to arrange the equipment along the floor, despite being the team’s manager.

At several points there seems to also be a conflict in decisions within his character, mainly the contrasting choices of doing activities in groups and doing activities alone – he also seems to do most of these clubs with students who are noticeably younger than himself. These things point to a main interest of control/power in his character – he seems just as happy doing individual activities than group activities, and companied with his position in the various clubs and the company of people who are probably less powerful and intelligent than himself (though this could be argued, seeing as he was earlier described as being one of the “worst students” at Rushmore, and that despite being older than the rest of the Kung Fu club he is still only a yellow belt). Control over a situation seems to be what he desires, rather than control over others, and in the “Model United Nations” part of the montage he resembles Russia, one of the world’s superpowers.

This desire for control/power, along with his great amount of confidence and formality, may link to some form of arrogance in Max, which is suggested at the beginning of the montage by the image of bee’s on front of the “Rushmore Yankee” (the yearbook, probably). This image links into two main popular sayings: “busy bee” and “the bee’s knees”. The “busy bee” phrase links into the amount of time his character spends actually doing stuff, being a part of a lot of clubs (this also links to the choice of song: “Making Time” by The Creation). The “bee’s knees”, however, is a phrase used often to state something is important, or great, etcetera., which links into his character’s arrogance.

These things set Max Fischer apart from the stereotypical teenagers, and after analyzing the montage and linking it to the fact that he’s “one of the worst students” and potentially poor, we’re left with another question:

How has he managed to get into, or stay in, Rushmore?