Production: Duplass Brothers Production Company, Netflix Originals.
Distribution: The Orchard Company, Netflix.
Genre: Romantic-Comedy Drama
Director: Alex Lehmann
Synopsis: Jim (Mark Duplass) and Amanda (Sarah Paulson) are former high school, but have been out of touch for more than twenty years. However, when the couple run into each other at a grocery store back in their alpine hometown of Crestline, their reasons for their earlier departure are suddenly unclear, and now they can't wait to catch up. Turns out, Jim's mother has died and he's here to put her house on the market, whilst Amanda is visiting her pregnant sister. They get to talking, first over coffee, then over beer and jellybeans. Before they know it they're at Jim's mother's house, where everything sends them spiralling back into the past. But, will it last?
Netflix Universal Poster:
This poster is extremely conventional in regards to a romantic comedy with the honing in via the use of close-ups of the proximity and intimacy of the characters who will inevitably be the star cast of the movie. the vignette haze lense around the couple is a signifier or Semantic Code for how the characters, which is certainly conventional in the genre, only care about each other; the pertinence of anything else seems decreased, which appears admirable and idillic for a twenty-odd-year-old audience. Whilst this is conventional, the Genre Theory is relevant here as the audience derive pleasure from the similarities (the camera angle, longing, smiling looks, etc) yet they also like how it differs, which is sought to through the colour. These darker, perhaps more subtle and modest colours can allude to the fact that the move will also incorporate drama as this juxtaposes the usual bright, vivid and traditionally feminine colours, whereas this is a combination of both, perhaps appealing to a contemporary society as gender-fluidity and distaste for labelling people. This also adds to the romantic genre and the common belief that 'love is blind'; however, as I will discuss later in relation to the Curran and Seaton model 'Power Without Responsibility', there is no variation or challenge in their representations as they have selected hetereosexual white relationships to portray, which is the most common of them all. .
The font choice establishes the fact that narrative wise, their love has aged yet their expression detains that they're still fun and youthful. Said font also alludes to the classical romance that they have, perhaps appealing to an older audience of about 40-ish, who are commonly believed to be those in 'true love', and may have old fashioned values, which combines with the old-style writing. This font choice and colour also contrasts with the external colour palette, but it compliments the general poster nicely due to the neat organisation and compact, concise nature of it, and it also includes cast and crew names. Sarah Paulson may achieve an inherited audience from her cult show American Horror Story, whereas Mark Duplass has the status of being in the movie as an actor, but also being the director, and this somewhat lends some respectability to him as it conveys the ideology to audiences that he has excelled in his positions.
The minimalistic feel radiating from the poster emulates the sense that, due to the fact there is no tagline, this is appropraite for universal audiences as they do not have to be versatile in what they say. This also allows for the poster to be less chaotic and henceforth comprehendible to a wider audience who will understand these conventional themes and motifs as they are archetypal and will be recieved in their Hegemonic reading. However, the poster does not need excessive information as it is advertised and distributed from Netflix. This fairly conventional romance poster alludes to the Curran and Seaton Power Without Responsibility in the sense that the variety of content generally lacks of inhibits variety; not much about this poster breaks away or challenges the norm, implying that content is becoming hegemonised.
BUILD Interview:
The interview initially begins with the a short featured clip of the movie, to give a sense to the live audience as to what the panel and host will be discussing as they may have not seen the movie yet. This is something we can't do, however it abruptly falters into the aforementioned host who appears to be bubbly and quite humorous; he discusses and compliments Sarah Paulson on her varying range of projects and her ability to become versatile to her roles. This kind of deep, professional chat which the show gradually falls into and it is common that for a culture show, this will be the prevalent body of discussion. The mode of address used by the host is quite informal with vernacular and varying degrees of rhetorics, leaving the questions asked politely to be pounced upon by the cast. This promotes a sense of non-hostile, non-serious communication and civil debate about the actor's workings, and it really allows them to thrive in telling the audience and their fans what they want to say, (or promote) aswell as what the audience want to hear.
The slightly flustered, stammering host veers away from slightly irritant to casual and realistic as the questions don't sound too rehearsed, nor do the answers. This, ideologically of course, promotes communication as key, henceforth alluding to the importance of the phrasing of the words. Too many mistakes may appear to the audience as unqualified to present or host, and therefore they may lose interest or become agitated. It is integral that the questions are clearly pronounced and established, but don't sound too stoical. This leads on to a following point of the expression; this presenter, for example, speaks loudly and in bursts, however there is no aggression in his tone, nor does it sound flippant. He is evidentially passionate yet not excitable. It is important to find a middle ground for all of the complex emotions, yet the aim is to sound fluent and natural.
There are, at times, jokes and laughs shared between the interviewers and interviewees. This not only appeals to the entertainment category of the Uses and Gratifications model, but it also keeps the video interesting, particularly if they're as long as the promotional one for Blue Jay. The video constantly reiterates the significance of the messages in the movie, consequently allowing the Cultivation Model to come into effect to the audience, highlighting to them that this film is worth the hype. This also becomes subject to the Pick and Mix Theory as some audiences may use it for the lighthearted humour, whereas others will use it to create anticipation and others may utilise it to find out about the movie, to see if they like the sound of it, the cast, etc.
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