P5-D-Learners demonstrate their understanding of their chosen media product by analysing

P5-D- Role of relevant regulatory bodies.
The role of the regulatory bodies- which is the British Board Of Classification is designed with statutory responsibility for the classification of video works under the Video Recordings Act 1984. The Board Of Classification is consulted on difficult decisions. They are appointed by the Council Of Management. The president is Patrick Swaffer and the Vice Presidents are Gerard Lemos and Alison Hastings.
The role of the BBFC is to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give consumers information they might need about a particular film. The BBFC examines and age rates films before they are released.
In the past BBFC have taken a more lenient approach to Star Wars films; the first three films are all rated U. However, the BBFC board have said Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is to  be rated  12A, because of it violent scenes, and threats, throughout the whole film, therefore children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
The BBFC was worried violent scenes such as the one i have put below would upset younger children which therefore led them to rate the film and its violent scenes 12A. The village scene within Star Wars: The Force Awakens proves how the film has a 12A rating due to the mild violence. The scene itself is commonly known as the slaughter scene, it is the opening scene to Star Wars.
















As you can see from this screenshot from Entertainment.com, the Stormtroopers are surrounded by fire with guns in their hands and this shows that there is violence within the film that would be deemed unsuitable for children under the age of 12.

In addition, there is very mild language such as 'hell' and 'damn' that has also contributed to the rating the BBFC rating.

P5-C-Learners demonstrate their understanding of their chosen media product by analysing

P5-C- Relevant legal and ethical issues within Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
JJ Abrams’ film The Force Awakens has many legal and ethical issues. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is given a 12A certificate for violence. This therefore shows it is illegal for any children under 12 to view the film without a parent or guardian over the age of 18. The film has this age rating by The British Board Of Classification; because of the scenes of moderate violence and threat.
There have been royalty issues; a main issue was when Harrison Ford broke his ankle on set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this became and health and safety issue. The 73-year old said although it was an accident, the hydraulic door “came down on me on my left hip because I was turned to my right.” A health and safety organisation, Health and Safety Watchdog, sued the Star Wars company, and Ford was compensated £1 million for this accident which happened on set. This accident delayed the filming of Force Awakens for 2 months.
A legal issue which happened when The Force Awakens came out was when Disney Enterprises and Lucas Film Entertainment Company Ltd, filed a lawsuit against a company they say is ruining their reputation and illegally selling and making money off their film by selling Star Wars The Force Awakens products. Court documents obtained by Daily Mail Online show that Plug Your Holes, which is a jewellery and accessories company, stole the properties that are owned by Star Wars. Plug Your Holes copyrighted trademarked products from LucasFilm and Disney. 
The mass consumerism of goods/ merchandise from the film sold by Disney need to ensure they are not copyrighting any other products on the market or selling anything offensive to the public in their shops, and also need to be aware of other companies such as Plug Your Holes, and ensure they do not steal their trademark merchandise to sell by their own company.
Carrie Fisher, who plays Princess Leia in all Star Wars films, received hate off social media after starring in the Force Awakens for ‘not ageing well’ and says she was pressurised by hate to lose 16kg.  An important ethical issue is age, as Carrie was just 19 when starring in 1977 Star Wars film but was 59 starring in the 2015 The Force Awakens. Age is an important ethical issue and there has been a debate if Fisher is too old to play the part of Leia, while other fans disagree.
in addition, in the orginal Star Wars films, Leia caused contrversory over wearing a golden bikini in the scene were she was 'slave Leia'. There was criticsms of her being sexualized in the 12A film and even Carrie Fisher told Daisy Ridley, who plays Ray in the new film; 'Don't be a slave like i was, You keep fighting against that slave outfit'. Many people said in anger the scene was too inappropriate for a film that families watch. It also goes against Disney's values which would deem films that sexualize women innapropriate. Disney are a family-orientated company and their much loved company would not want to allow women to be sexualized figures within their subsidiaries film  (LucasFilm). They  banned figurines and all merchandise of Slave Leia as it sexualizes Leia and being the only woman in the orginal Star Wars films while also in a gold bikini held captive comes across sexist in modern society and people in anger called for all merchandise of this to be banned.

P5-B-Learners demonstrate their understanding of their chosen media product by analysing

P5-B- Relevant issues of representation.
In Star Wars original films  and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, gender is represented differently. In an interview with Good Morning America, JJ Abrams, the director of the new Star Wars; The Force Awakens, said that Star Wars was ‘always boys’ who went to see it and a movie that ‘dads take their sons to’ but the difference in the gender of the audience in the new Star Wars force awakens to a film that ‘mothers can now take their daughters to’ is mainly because the new film has more female leads in it, which is less male-dominated and women feel that the new Force Awakens film is more relatable to them because of the increase in women characters.
Star Wars (1977), the first film, Princess Leila appeared to be the only woman featured in the films , thirty five years later, The Force Awakens has a much more realistic gender balance; not only does the universe contain more than one woman; but it actually passed the Bechtel Test. The Bechtel Test is a test that asks films if it has a.) more than one woman, b.) if those women in the film talk to each other, c.) and talk to each other about something more than a man.  The original Star Wars trilogy has one grest female character, but by the standards of the Bechtel Test; it falls short.
In comparison, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a better representation of women with more female characters in than the original Star Wars trilogy, such as Rey, General Leia, Captain Phasma and Maz Kanata. Unlike the 1977 Star Wars film, The Force Awakens easily passed the Bechtel Test, which shows how female representation has changed positively with more females in the new film.



 Race:
The representation of races in Star Wars (1977) had little diversity. In the first films there was no black characters which caused controversy as the films lacked diversity of other races apart from white characters. In addition, in the prequels, there was one black character, which still didn’t represent racial diversity within the film industry and the Star Wars films still lacked characters from other races that were not white.
However, in The Force Awakens, one of the main characters, Finn, created racial diversity across the franchise as he was the first leading black characters in the films. This appealed to other races such as Africian-Amercian fans who can relate to the film as it features a main black character. In addition, the casting of the character Finn (John Boyega) will promote diversity in a genre which was long dominated by white characters. This is therefore progress in the science- fiction genre which is very popular to fans of the films who are therefore glad to see main characters of other races being such a big part of the film.

P5-A-Learners demonstrate their understanding of their chosen media product by analysing

P5-A- Charlotte Tennant
Cultural impact of Star Wars over the years-  Star Wars has had  a massive impact on the science fiction genre. Darth Vader has become an iconic villain. Phrases used throughout the Star Wars films such as ‘May the force be with you’ and ‘evil empire’ have become so popular and household phrases.
Star Wars overall has been a great influence in the science-fiction genre and can be seen in other science-fiction films to draw heavy influence and inspiration from Star Wars.

The films have impacted audiences’ worldwide and have made science fiction genre a blockbuster seller. he
The impact that the Star Wars films have had on society as a whole is positive, they have overall improved the science fiction genre as a whole and made science-fiction more popular. $26.41 million was made in the box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens; this goes to show the impact that Star Wars has on people as it has a large audience.
It can be argued that the audience are an active audience, which is a theory that the audience do not just receive information passively but are actively involved often unconsciously in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts.
However, another theory is that the audience are a passive audience; which simply suggests that audiences interact with the film to create meaning. A passive audience is an audience that observes rather than actively responding to it.
The audience of Star Wars: The Force Awakens can be seen to be an active audience as they will be engaging with the film and be looking for how this film links in with the original trilogy of the film. However, people watching The Force Awakens who are unfamiliar with the other Star Wars films are more likely to be a passive audience and not interact and look for links with the new film to the original ones.

P4- B-Investigate how Star Wars: The Force Awakens reaches its intended audience.

P4-B.) Advertising- How was Star Wars advertised?
The film Star Wars: The Force Awakens was advertised through its trailers which were shown all over the globe, on social media, in cinema trailers, and on TV. The first Star Wars trailer was released 28/11/14 teaser which was 1 minute 37 seconds.

The second trailer was released 16/04/15 and was 1 minute 48.

The third trailer was released 19/10/15 and was 2 minutes 1 second.

The fourth trailer was released 12/11/15 and was 60 seconds

 Star Wars: The Force Awakens was advertised numerous of ways; one way being through billboards. Advertisements with pictures of the characters on were displayed in cities on billboard, and shown the release day of the film and the film title- Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This is a successful way of advertising because millions of people in these busy cities can see the billboards and get excited/ be made aware of when the film was coming out.
 

In addition, posters, with the Star Wars logo, characters, title and release dates were displayed in main retailors and in cinemas, to advertise the new film.

Also, adverts on TV channels across the world were made in order to tell everyone about the new film. This is a good type of marketization as billions of people watch TV and their adverts, so Star Wars being advertised on TV means billions of people will see it. 
The public can purchase merchandise from the film such as character costumes, toy figures, and stuffed toys. They are purchased from shops such as the Disney store, Tesco, Asda, and other retailers.

P4-A- Investigate how Star Wars: The Force Awakens reaches its intended audience.

P4-A.)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released by Walt Disney Studios. It premiered on December 14, four days before release on 18th December 2015. The film made a total gross of $2 billion. The Force Awakens broke blockbuster records by making $57 million on its first day and the  IMAX screenings of the film broke their own record across 391 screenings.
 The film was available on DVD 5thApril 2016 and was sold at a retail price of £24.99 in the UK. Star Wars: The Force Awakens made worldwide headlines and broke records by being the fastest selling DVD/Blu-Ray of 2016. It sold 1.89 million copies in the first seven days of sale. The film took over the film Spectre which only sold 987,000 in comparison to Force Awakens. The film is probably one of the most long awaited sequels in the history of cinema; which is a clear reason why it is the fastest selling DVD of 2016.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens also debuted on Home Media Magazine’s rental chart. The film also distributed to the home video market by Walt Disney Studios, outsold all other Blu-Ray Disc and DVD releases.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens DVD’s were distributed to all main retail outlets such as Asda, Tesco, Blockbusters Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, The Disney Store, HMV and all other main retailors within the UK and have been available to purchase from 5th April 2016. The Force Awakens is very easy to be obtained from shops within the UK meaning more people can purchase it.
The film’s DVD  is also internationally distributed to stores in over 13 countries across the globe such as Canada, Denmark, Finland, South Africa and Australia. The film was also available to watch in cinemas in over 13 countries, this shows how easy accessible it is for fans of Star Wars to watch The Force Awakens in many countries.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens made a screen premiere on the TV network Starz on Saturday September 2016. The CEO of the TV network said that they are offering a variety of ways for fans and subscribers to watch- on the Starz networks, on demand, or by streaming on the Starz app.
In addition, you can also ‘rent’ the film on TV networks such as Sky Films on the Sky channel for £6.99, and can also watch the film if you are subscribed to Netflix.

P3/D1 Focus group.

This is our focus group on Star Wars: Force Awakens. We asked questions regarding Star Wars: The Force Awakens such as what are our favourite scenes in the film? Which I answered that I like the village scene due to its excitement and violence which I find interesting. Also, we answered questions such as what are our favourite characters and our favourite genre of film.

P3-D-Spending power

P3-D- Spending power

•Star wars fans are 9% more likely  than the average person to be in a household earning $70,000 or more. 

•Star Wars has lots of high profile sponsors in brands such as food, personal care, technology and Star Wars fans on average spend more the normal moviegoer across these products and combined spend $4,300 annually.

•Star Wars target these fans with higher spending money as a marketing technique as a Star Wars book is being released early 2017. Star Wars focus on the dedicated fans with big spending power to purchase their merchandise such as the book and other things such as toy figures and posters.

•The target audience that Star Wars aims their film at is therefore people with a high spending power.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=movio+media+star+wars+demographics&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=

P3-C- Lifestyle

P3-C- Lifestyle.

•According to Movio media, which is my source, the average person who watches Star Wars is a regular cinemagoer who likes to travel to see big budget films (like Star Wars) or Jurassic World and this person spends 2.6 times more than the national average amount on watching movies.  They also watch science, horror and history TV and works in IT. Star Wars-The Force Awakens is very technical which could explain why it would appeal to someone who works in IT.

•This information shows that this is the lifestyle that the average Star Wars fan lives. This includes their hobbies and that they are dedicated to seeing big-budget films and do not mind travelling places to see them.

•The target audience of the Star Wars-The Force Awakens involves working out the demographics for the lifestyle of the people that Star Wars target their films to, which through my source, Movio Media I have clearly shown what activities they will be interested in. The target audience interests such as their interests in IT and their dedication to watching big-budget films reflects what they like about Star Wars films, such as the technology they use within their big-budget films and the media that goes into creating the films.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=movio+media+star+wars+demographics&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=

P3-B-Age demographics

P3-B- Age demographics for Star Wars- The Force Awakens.

•Star Wars- the force awakens audience according to Movio media is 34. Also 70% of ticket holders are males between the age of 18-49. This also shows although kid-orinated Disney bought Lucas-Film, adults represented 71% of people on the opening weekend of the film while children covered 20%. The main reason in which adults take up most of the people who watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that the film was rated by BBFC as a 12 film (meaning only people over the age of 12 can watch this film. This is because of the mild violence within the film may upset younger viewers and language in the film may be too complicated for a young audience to understand. Therefore the majority of the audience is adults.

•Reasons to support why the audience is around this age may be because even though the film will capture the imagination of a new generation, it seems to be providing most popular with people who grew up on the original trilogy of Star Wars films, which will be a older audience rather than teenagers or younger children who do not appear to be making up the most of the audience. This is also because the older audience who grew up watching the trilogy of Star Wars films will be fans of the films and wanting to watch the new film more than a new generation who may of not watch the previous films.
The target audience for Star Wars: The Force awakens would therefore be adults due to the reasons I have listed above. Aspects of this film such as Force Awakens interpreting the original trilogy within the film would appeal to this audience as they have most likely been fans of the trilogy. The Force Awakens have done this by having original characters such as Hans Solo and Leia within the film.
 http://www.bing.com/search?q=movio+media+star+wars+demographics&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=

P3-A-Gender

P3-A- Gender demographic.

•Research shows that the gender that make up the most of the audience for Star Wars The Force Awakens is men. Men made 58% of the opening weekend audience and 71% of those men were adults. This shows how men are the main gender to view this film.  

•The reasons for this could be that there are more male characters in the film and the star wars original trilogy, so males could be seen to relate to this more.  However their are fewer females within the film in  contrast to males, but, there is an increase in females watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens in comparison to the original Star Wars as they are more strong independent females in the new film such as Rey.

•In addition, space opera in society has been more popular with males which can be a main reason in why males watched Star Wars The Force Awakens than their female counterparts as Star Wars is a space opera film.
 I gathered my research from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/majority-of-star-wars-the-force-awakens-goers-are-adult-men-with-no-kids-a6781341.html

•In addition, Star Wars  films are more popular among males because of scenes such as the fighting scenes within the Star Wars films such as Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn Vs. Darth Maul, The Phantom Menace. Scenes like this one within the films appeal more to males than females due to the socialisation of males and their preference to see violence and action-films. Therefore with the amount of action and fighting scenes in all Star Wars films, they prove more popular with males due to their preference to see these type of films in comparison to females.
Since the audience of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is made up of males more than female, aspects of the film that would appeal to them most and the reason that the audience is made up of mostly males is the violence and fighting in the film appeals to men more than women and space opera films have proven more popular among males which shows the film as a whole would be more popular with men than women.

P2- G-Learners choose one media product is produced by the insitution they have investigated and analyse it

P2-G Production process of Star Wars:

Although George Lucas discussed making a sequel to the orginal Star Wars films, he had no intent to produce it.

Lucas sold the  Star Wars franchise. He sold it to The Walt Disney Company. Episode VII’S first screenplay was written by Michael Arndt. Many directors for the film were considered, however JJ Abrams was named director in January 2013.

uJJ Abrams and Lawerence Kasdan wrote the Star Wars- Force Awakens script. The first draft of this script was wrote within six weeks of Abrams and Kasdan taking over script duties from Michael Arndt after he resigned as he did not have enough time to write it. In January 2014, the script was completed.

Pre-production-

It was confirmed that The Force Awakens was going to be filmed in the UK in May 2013. Representatives from LucasFilm met with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to agree to produce the film in the UK. George Osborne gave £25 million to the film as he claimed it will boast Britain's culture and style.

uIn September 2013, Star Wars- The Force Awakens started to move into where the Bad Robot was being filmed.

uThe film’s costume designer was Michael Kaplan, who had worked on Star Trek films. Film editors were Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey and in August 2013, it was announced the cinematographer Daniel Mindel would be shooting the film.

Casting:

In August 2013, JJ Abrams met with potential actors for script readings and screen tests. Auditions were held in November 2013 in the USA and the UK. There was problems with the script, which meant filming was delayed until January 2014.
Actor's agents and publicists had strict agreements not to comment on the actor's involvement within the film.

Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamil were announced to return for the film in 2014.
In March 2014, it was announced that JJ Abram's was looking for other actors unknownto play lead roles.

Filming:  Abrams said that filming for The Force Awakens would start in May 2014. LucasFilm and Disney said that principal photography would star in May 2014 and be based at Pinewood Studios in England. In March, pre-production started in Iceland to gather landscape shots for scenery for the film. The chairman for Walt Disney Studios confirmed that filming had begun in April. Production was suspended for two weeks after Harrison Ford fractured his leg while on set. The film’s story board artist was Simon Duric.

Post-production:

To make Star Wars: The Force Awakens look similar to the original films, Cinematographer Daniel Mindel stated that the film would use real locations  over computer-generated images.

In August 2015, the estimated  running time of the film was to be 124-125 minutes. Abrams made changes to the film’s plot in the editing process to simplify the film, by removing some sequences shown in the trailer.

The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

Music:

In July 2013, John Williams was confirmed to be composing the music. The music for the first two trailers of the film were reworked from earlier Williams music tracks.

Recording sessions for The Force Awakens began in June 2015 at the Sony Picture Studios.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Abrams contributed music to the film’s cantina scene, which was made over a period of months.

South Korean boy band ‘EXO’ released their song ‘Lightsaber’ in collaboration with the film for its release in their home country on 11th November.

My source for this is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Force_Awakens