‘Skyfall’ (2012, dir.

Sam Mendes)
 Why are we studying this?
• Unit assessment (will take place in October),
to allow us to continue with National 5 Media.

• For final exam – you will be asked questions

about media texts you have studied, and you
will answer on this.
 Lesson 1
Learning Intention
• To learn to describe and
analyse various aspects of a
film production.
Success Criteria
• To be able to make
predictions about aspects of
representation, audience
and narrative based on
promotional material.

KEY TERMINOLOGY: Key art, narrative, representation

What are our expectations of a ‘Bond’ film?
What are our expectations of a ‘Bond’ film?

• Action
• Fast cars/chase sequence
• Bond girls
• Expensive suits
• International setting
• Fancy venues
• A ‘baddie’
 What information do we get about the film
from the poster?
• Comment on the following:
– Text
– Font
– Key art (subject matter, colour…)
 What information do we get about the film
from the trailer?
• Comment on:
– Shots used
– Use of intertitles
– Use of music
– Use of voice over

– … or lack of?
 What predictions can we make about the
following key aspects:
• Representation
– Stereotypes, non-stereotypes, nationality, gender…

• Narrative
– What will happen, conflict (good vs bad), who will
prevail?

• Audience
– Target audience, how do you know?
 Plenary
• Reduce your findings to 5 words that sum up
your expectations of representation, narrative
and audience.

• Did your findings from the starter match your

findings from advertising analysis? If so, how?
 Lesson 2
Learning Intention
• We are learning to describe
and analyse film sequences.
Success Criteria
• To be able to comment on
aspects of mise-en-scene,
camera, signs and their
effect in a film sequence.

Key terminology: sign, signifier, signified, mise-en-scene, camera

angles, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, tone.
 Starter
• Fill in the camera angle key
 Signs, Signifiers and Signified
• Signifier – an image or object

• Signified – the arbitrary (cultural/non-literal)

associations that we have with an image or
object

• Sign = signifier + signified

 Example
• Signifier – A red rose

• Signified – Love, romance, Valentine’s day…

• The director includes the sign of a red rose,

which signifies love and romance.
 Example
• Signifier – A black flag with skull and cross
bones (jolly roger)

• Signified – Illegal activity, pirates, danger,

death, fighting…

• The director uses the sign of a jolly roger flag

to signify
 Task
• We will watch the opening scene twice

– First viewing: identify signs (clue: can be a type of

music, too!)

– Second viewing: analyse mise-en-scene, including

camera.
 Tone
• A mood or feeling that is evoked in a film.

• What tone is created in the opening of

‘Skyfall’?
 Lesson 3
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• We are learning to develop • Make relevant and concise
note taking skills whilst notes on our first note
watching a film taking grid in booklet.

Key terminology: camera angles, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene,

representation, narrative, audience, categories, genre
 Taking notes
• We will watch 5 minutes of the film and take
notes.
• You will share this with another person and
then with the class.
 Taking Notes
Good notes Bad notes
• Specific description • Forget and just watch
• Picks out the most • Includes every close-up and
interesting aspects/patterns other camera angle
• Not constantly writing • Hard to read
• Link your examples to an • Is just a description – no
analysis explanation of why it is
significant
 Plenary
• Share your thoughts on this section of the
film.
 Lesson 4
Learning Intention
• To describe and analyse
aspects of a film text.
• Develop note taking skills.
Success Criteria
• To be able to take relevant
and concise notes.
• To be able to discuss a key
aspect with reference to the
relevant terminology and
give evidence from the text.

Key terminology: Camera angles, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-

scene, audience, target audience, preferred reading, differential decoding.
 Starter
• Paired discussion:
– Discuss the key aspect of ‘Audience’ in relation to
what you’ve seen of the film so far. Mention
• Target audience
• Preferred reading
• Differential decoding
 Notes
• Representation
–Q

Language
Sets: National Gallery (mise-en-scene), Underground
MI6, Shanghai; Signs: ‘a gun and a radio… not
exactly Christmas is it?’
 Plenary
• Add to starter task:
– How has the section you have watched add to
your understanding of the key aspect of audience?
 Lesson 5
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To describe and analyse • To be able to take relevant
aspects of a film text and concise notes

• Develop note-taking skills • To be able to discuss a key

aspect with reference to the
relevant terminology.

Key terminology: Camera angles, digetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene,

representation, selection and portrayal, stereotypes, non-stereotypes, cultural
assumptions.
 Representation
• In what way are the following characters
stereotypes? In what way are they not
stereotypes?

• Give descriptions of their representation using

evidence from the text so far.
 Plenary
• What has the section we have watched added
to your understanding of the representation of
these characters?
 Lesson 6
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To describe and analyse • To be able to take relevant
aspects of a film text and concise notes
• Developing note-taking • To be able to discuss a key
skills aspect with reference to the
relevant terminology and
give evidence from the text

Key terminology: Language, cultural codes, dress, gesture, accent…

 Cultural codes
• Cultural codes are codes that are used by and
understood by, members of a particular culture
– e.g. Scottish people, punk rockers, Christians, the
Police, criminals.
• Cultural codes can be found in what people wear,
how they speak, their mannerisms, vehicles,
buildings, colours, background sounds music,
flags, signifiers, and many other things.
 Task
• Consider the use of cultural codes in the
following scenes:
– M in Westminster
– Bond in Shanghai
– Bond in Macau
Westminster
Westminster
Shanghai
Macau
Macau
 Plenary
• Write down 2 examples of technical and/or
cultural codes from the section we have
watched today.

• How do cultural codes link with representation

and/or audience?
– Consider stereotypes, ideas about nations, political
context, preferred reading/differential decoding…
 Lesson 7
Learning Intention
• To describe and analyse
aspects of a film text
• Develop note-taking skills
Success Criteria
• To be able to take relevant
and concise notes
• To be able to discuss a key
aspect with reference to the
relevant terminology and
evidence from the text

Key terminology: Camera, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene,

representation, audience, binary oppositions
 Think-pair-share
• Can you think of any way in which the
filmmakers complicate the idea of good vs bad
(i.e. are we ever in doubt that Bond is the
goodie, and De Silva is the baddie?)
 Binary oppositions
• Binary oppositions are two ideas that directly
conflict with one another. For example: good
vs evil, East vs West, male vs female.

• How binary oppositions are used in a media

text give us insight into aspects such as
narrative, preferred reading and
representation.
 Plenary
• Share notes
 Lesson 8
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To learn about how media • To be able to categorise a
texts are categorised media text with supporting
evidence
• To be able to explain what
implications we can draw
from a media text’s
categories
 Categories
• Genre – what type of text is it: drama, action,
romance etc.
• Form – TV programme, comic, magazine, film
etc
• Medium – Film, print, web
• Purpose – To entertain, to persuade, to
inform, to educate…
• Tone – Tense, dramatic, comedic,
 Starter
• Stop the bus
• Get into groups of at least 3
• List as many genres, tones or purposes you
can.
 Example
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’
Genre – superhero/action
Form – feature film
Medium – film
Purpose – to generate profit, to entertain
Tone - dramatic
 Example
‘Eastenders’
Genre – soap opera
Form – TV serial
Medium - film
Purpose – to entertain
Tone – dramatic
 Example
‘Educating Cardiff’
Genre – fly-on-the wall documentary
Form – TV documentary
Medium - Film
Purpose – to give information, to entertain
Tone – uplifting, inspirational, humorous.
 Categorizing ‘Skyfall’
• Identify genre, form, medium, purpose, tone

• Give evidence which supports your

identification (how do you know?)

• How does this influence the audience’s

expectations of the text?
 Plenary
• How do categories help the viewer to
understand or make predictions based on:
– Representation
– Narrative
– Institution
– Language?
 Lesson 9
Learning Intention
• To understand audience
reactions to a media text.
Key terminology: Audience, target audience, preferred reading,
differential decoding
Success Criteria
• To be able to identify the
target audience, preferred
reading and differential
decoding of a media text.
• To be able to select
appropriate evidence to
support your ideas.
 Starter
• Look at the following posters:
– Identify the target audience
– Give evidence to support your answer
 Discussion
• What aspects did we look at to determine
target audience?

• What aspects would give us clues about target

audience in a film?
 Identify and give evidence to support:

• Target audience – who is the film aimed at?

• Preferred reading – what do the producers

want us to think about characters, storylines,
themes?

• Differential decoding – what other readings

could be made based on cultural differences?
 Lesson 9
Learning Intention
• To understand audience
reactions to a media text.
Key terminology: Audience, target audience, preferred reading,
differential decoding
Success Criteria
• To be able to identify the
target audience, preferred
reading and differential
decoding of a media text.
• To be able to select
appropriate evidence to
support your ideas.
 Lesson 10
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To understand common • To be able to pick out
narrative structures, common narrative
identify these. structures in Skyfall.
• To link these to audience • To be able to justify why this
experiences and is an important
expectations. consideration when
• To select appropriate studying a film.
evidence to support

Key terminology: Todorov, Hermeneutic and Proairetic codes

 Starter
• Write a brief summary of the plot of the film.

• Which bits are the most important? Which

bits are the most exciting?
 Todorov
• Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian theorist who
noted that most narratives follow the following
structure:
– State of equilibrium (normality)
– Disruption of equilibrium
– Characters attempt to restore equilibrium
– Return to/ establishment of a new equilibrium
• How does Skyfall follow this narrative
structure?
Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes
• Hermeneutic Codes: The text contains certain
enigmas that require answering over the course
of the entire narrative. We keep watching the
film to find out…

• Proairetic Codes: Action that maintains our

interest throughout the narrative. More instant
gratification, when exciting things happen
throughout the text.
 Plenary
• Why is narrative structure important in
shaping audience’s expectations of a film?

• How does it impact on audience satisfaction at

the end of a film?
 Lesson 11
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To identify representations • To be able to identify
and how they are stereotypes, non-
constructed. stereotypes,
• To link the construction of representations of gender
representations to themes and nationality
and ideologies of the text • To be able to examine main
and its producers. characters as a
representation.

Key terminology: Representation, stereotype, non-stereotype, ideology

 Starter
• Identify common stereotypes:
– Teenager
– Elderly woman
– A premiership footballer
 Representation
• Broadly speaking, media texts can either
reinforce or reject stereotypes.

• A film where everyone was a stereotype

would be boring, but use of stereotypes can
provide a useful ‘shortcut’ for filmmakers to
convey something to an audience.
 Representation
• In what way is James Bond a stereotype in
‘Skyfall’? Consider aspects of gender, class and
characterisation.
• In what way does he challenge the
stereotype?

• Same tasks with M, Mallory, Moneypenny

 Plenary
• How does the representation of individuals fit
in with the themes of the film as a whole?

• Youth vs age, the modern world vs the old

world, good vs evil…
 Lesson 12
Learning Intention
• To identify representations
and how they are
constructed.
• To link the construction of
representations to themes
and ideologies of the text
and its producers
Success Criteria
• To be able to identify
stereotypes, non-
stereotypes,
representations of gender
and nationality.
• To be able to examine main
characters as a
representation.
 Representation
• So far we have focused on the idea of
stereotypes.

• However, we should be aware that

representation can refer to bigger ideas like
nationality, gender, sexuality, race, religion,
class...
Current events which deal with representations
of nationality, gender, sexuality, class

• Benefit reforms

• Refugee crisis (refugee/migrant difference)

• Caitlin Jenner

• Equal marriage
• Stereotypical ideas around nationality,
religion, race, sexuality and gender are still
promoted in the media. These can be more
subtle (unlike, for example, a comedic
stereotype of a working class teenage girl such
as Vicky Pollard) due to the fact that they can
cause offence.
 Ideology
• A system of ideas, ideals or beliefs held by a
person, a group of people or an organisation.

– Newspapers can be said to have a right wing or

left wing ideology.
– Big film production companies have a capitalist
ideology as their main focus is making money.
 Examples to examine
• Describe representation
• Explain how it is created
• What impact does that have on our
understanding of ideology in the text.
 Examples to examine
• De Silva, running his hands up Bond’s thigh
(also consider Bond’s response)
• Severine, as a ‘damsel in distress’
• M as an example of ‘Britishness’
• Moneypenny, ‘not cut out for fieldwork’
• Goodies = British/ Baddies = not British
 Plenary - Link
• How do these examples link to ideas of
preferred reading and differential decoding?
 Lesson 13
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To identify aspects of media • To be able to identify technical
language in a text. and cultural codes as used in
• To comment on specific sequences from the film
examples • To be able to explain how
these enhance our
understanding of the film as a
whole and/or our
understanding of another key
aspect of the film.

Key terminology: Cultural codes, technical codes, costume, setting, gesture, accent,
mise-en-scene, camera, sound, special effects
 Revision
• Opening Sequence

• Examples of technical and cultural codes

• How do these link to how representations are

constructed/categories?

• How is this sequence effective in setting up the

audience’s expectations for the rest of the film?
 Look at the following examples
• Bond vs Patrice in Shanghai
• Macau hotel suite
• Bond chases Silva on Tube/Select committee
• Skyfall
 1
• Lighting – blue, neon; suggests futuristic.
• Chinese writing – east vs west binary.
• Use of electronic music – introducing futuristic
setting.
• Establishing shot of Shanghai, at night, showing
lights and highlighting technological advance.
• ‘Cliffhanger’ shot as Patrice dangles from
window – common action trope.
 2
• Traditional Chinese roof, use of fireworks –
cultural associations with China.
• Red/gold lighting – associated with traditional
China – contrast with Shanghai…
• Old razor
 Lesson 15
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To understand the internal • To be able to analyse
and external constraints on further examples of internal
a film production and external constraints
• To understand the potential
roles of media products
• To learn how to make
relevant analyses of a media
text based on societal
contexts.
Key terminology: institutions, internal constraints, external constraints, role
of media, legal constraints, copyright law, BBFC, audience, censorship,
ownership, finance, policy
 Key findings: Institutions
Internal External
• Production Reputation – Bond • 12A certificate, must adhere
franchise. 50th anniversary. to guidelines
Content has to relate to key
expectations about Bond.
• Music – theme written
especially
• Large budget – must contain
well-known actors, special
effects, exotic locations,
complex action sequences –
be of a high quality visually.
 Skyfall
• Preferred reading: Bond suggested as being bisexual (or
rather, having had a homosexual experience), Silva
suggested being not-heterosexual. Suggests progress/that
this is acceptable in this day and age.

• Differential decoding: Silva’s sexuality is an attempt to

disturb Bond – suggestion of deviance, a trait associated
with a disturbing character as opposed to a normal thing.
• OR an unacceptable move away from the masculine ideal
of Bond.
 2012
• London Olympics
• Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
• Skyfall

• Why is this context important in studying

‘Skyfall’?
 Role of media
• How many of these roles does ‘Skyfall’ fulfil?
Back up your answer with reasons and
evidence:
– Meeting needs: entertainment, education,
information
– Achieving particular purposes: profit, promotion,
public service
– Influencing attitudes and behaviour: intentionally,
unintentionally
 Plenary
• Fill in work book.
 Lesson 16
Learning Intention Success Criteria
• To revise key elements of • To be able to understand
the film language and think of
examples for each area.
 Context and content
• Context based – institution and audience
• Content based – language, representation,
narrative, categories

– Effect of content on audience

– Effect of audience on content
– Effect of institution on content
– Effect of content on institution
 Narrative
• Narrative theories
– Todorov: equilibrium/disequilibrium/return to
new equilibrium
– Binary oppositions: east vs west, male vs female –
how do these support conflict in the narrative? In
‘Skyfall’, some complication between good vs bad
 Audience
• Target audience
• Preferred reading
• Differential decoding
 Society
• 2012
• British identity – an old power, sense of
nostalgia for a golden age but acceptance that
it is over and new things must be embraced.
• 2012 Olympics – exploration of British identity
(opening ceremony)
• Tourism
• Queen’s diamond jubilee year
 Representation
• Individual characters
• Age, class, gender, sexuality, nationality…
• Stereotypes/non-stereotypes