Richard Dyer's Star Theory

Written extensively about the roles of stars in film

A star is an image not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. Stars are commodities produced and consumed on strength of their meanings and reinvent what you want people to think of you.

Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary;-
Media- Magazine, TV, Radio, The internet (Magazine/posters sell both the star and the film) in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their audiences.
The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audience and stars design themselves in a particular way.
Example- Daniel Radcliffe; Blazers, mature; Dentation have connotation that are stylish.

Fundamentally- Star image is ‘incoherent’ that is incomplete and ’open’.
Paradox One- Star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer.
Example-Harry Potter cast picked became extraordinary.
Paradox Two-The stars must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.

The star image
The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive ‘complete’ or to ‘make sense of’ of the image.  This is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products.

In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image, but is always ultimately unsatisfying. This means fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star.

Analysis Of Two Movie Posters; Shutter Island&Harry Potter

Analysis Of Three Magazine Covers; Dark Knight, Megan Fox& Harry Potter.

This magazine is called 'EMPIRE'. This magazine doesn’t seem to be a movie magazine, it appears to look like a men’s magazine due to the image; this edition of the Empire magazine seems to be appeals to the male audience this is because she is posing very seductively and has no top on.


Situated on the front cover is a famous actor called Megan Fox the audience will be enticed to by this magazine as she’s on the front cover. Not only does the name itself 'Megan Fox' sell the magazine, the image of her more importantly sells, on this image she appears to be half naked, of course this image shows that the convention 'sex sells' applies to this magazine cover and also implies that this image is aimed at the male audience.  There is a quote on the page which says “one-on-one with the most wanted woman in Hollywood” this attracts woman to read the magazine.
 The misc-en-scene of this image is that she appears to be posing in a seductive way as she has no top, appearing to look almost sexy showing skin. She isn’t smiling which also ties in with the fact she is posing seductively. The masthead ‘EMPIRE’ appears to have the font colour red, this colour ties in with the picture as this colour is a seductive colour. She is also looking straight on at the camera which gives the impression that she is looking at the audience straight in their eye. She appears to be covering up the front part of her body. 'THE HOT ISSUE' is the 3rd largest font on the front cover- this shows importance, its almost as if this version of the magazine seems more unique and individual from other issues that they have released previous to this magazine. ‘The Hot Issue’ makes the magazine sound more attractive than usual issues; this could attract a new audience to the magazine. ‘The Hot Issue’ obviously also links to the picture as she is posing in a provocative. The image reflects to the title ‘THE HOT ISSUE’ as she is appearing to be posing hot on the image.

Her name ‘MEGAN FOX’ is the second largest font on the page, this shows the name of her is being emphasised, this will help sell magazines and draw the audience in. This could be to attract the male audience but also attracts members of the audience who are fans of Megan Fox; this could be male or female. It is obvious she has a big fan base as she is a well known actor. Young girls will look up to her as a role model.

The name might just attract fans but the image will attract not just fans but anyone as if the audience see the picture they will want to know who she is. 'Transformers 2's Megan Fox' is also a selling point as a large part of the audience will like the film Transformers 2 and will want to purchase this magazine for any information on the film. Not only does this magazine sell by it being one of the best movie magazines but, the image, actor and films mentioned on the cover also sell the magazine. The colour scheme of the magazine is rather plain and limited, it seems stay to mainly a few colours only. The point of this is so the audience are more drawn to the image of the actor and her name. This film magazine front cover has little relevance to the film she is being interviewed for, TRANSFORMERS 2 has little mention on the front cover, and this is because audience know Megan Fox stars in this film.  On the other hand it states ‘Transformers 2’s Megan Fox’. Her image sells the film.

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The image on the front cover of the EMPIRE magazine relates to the image of the character in the film, the character is shown through the image, the text and the font on the front cover. The style of the magazine has a huge reflection of the film and the character not the actress in real life.

The image of the character who is called ‘the joker’ covers the letter P of the masthead ‘EMPIRE’, this gives the audience the sense that the character is the main subject on the page and that he also is empowering the magazine itself, this is because the film is such a huge film and very successful so therefore the main character of the film is showing how powerful his character is.  The image of the Joker shows him sat down with his head tilted downwards slightly looking straight at the camera, this indicates that the character is looking straight at the audience, the image of the character shows his weird personality.  This image of course is the main aspect of the front cover, his face gesture and body language also shows this. The background of the image is very dull, this links in with the image, the masthead and all the titles and taglines. The colour of the background ties in with the aspect of the film.

The red masthead of the magazine is a dark red and enhances the darkness of the magazine. This gives the audience clues and reinforces the genre of the film. The bright colours of the text on the page stand out on the dark background, all the texts are different fonts and different sizes, these ties in with the film itself, and especially the titles “joker” and “he’s a cold blooded mass-murdering clown” as this is the exact font used in the film. The colours purple and green clash with each other and show a relation with the character situated on the front cover. As we can see the joker’s clothes are the colours green and purple, these colours tie in with the text on the page.

“The Dark Knight, World exclusive” show that the film is already very successful in its own right and also gives the audience the impression that this magazine has released an opportunity that no other magazine has done and obviously cannot be read anywhere else apart from in this magazine. This therefore promotes the magazine and the film. The batman image represents the film and entices the audience to take a look into reading this magazine. As the joker links in with Batman

Towards the bottom left hand side of the front cover there is a list of other films, this will encourage other members of the audience to read this magazine not just the audience of the dark knight.

Comparison Of Two Trailers;Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows & Friday The 13TH

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)
This is one of the many trailers for the last ever Harry Potter film; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The soundtrack of the film plays in the background; this differentiates the fact that the trailer is of course a Harry Potter Film; the film has been around for the past 10 years and is still dominating as one of the most successful films to date. Warner Brothers is hugely associated with this film. The dark and dull logo of warner brothers has been adapted to the codes and conventions of the Harry Potter film; this shows how successful the film is as Warner Brothers do not need to use their original coloured logo.
As the trailer begins, clips from the first to the last are shown in a sequence, as they’re being shown, the theme tune is playing and it seems to been a slower mysterious version than the uplifting theme tune, this increases the anticipation of the film and this makes the trailer very effective as its mysterious. The creepy theme tune is played in the background for the first part of the trailer; this is while a sequence of previous movies is shown.
The music changes slightly too upbeat as it goes more into the plot of the film, this is effective as it makes the audience excited.
Throughout the trailer shows a lot of quotes from the character Voldemort, “only one can live”, this creates big impact on the film and gives clues to the audience without telling exactly what is going to happen, the quotes keep the audience guessing. The colour theme throughout the trailer is dark and dull. This reflects on the style of the film. “The epic conclusion of the world phenomenon” is a very dramatic quote; this will have the audience intrigued. There a numerous of clips shown for a short amount of time, this gives the audience no clue about what is going to happen, this will leave the audience questioning the film. 

                                              Friday The 13th (2009)
This film is titled Friday the 13^th; the genre of this film is horror. I have chosen to analyse this film as the trailer I am making also has the genre of Horror so therefore this film resembles the film my group are doing. This 2009 released film is the retelling of the original Friday 13^TH film.  From the beginning it has a woman’s voice “did you know a young boy drowned here”, this is said by the woman as music is playing in the background. The music seems to give an eerie sense of the film, the music has birds tweeting, but in a creepy way. As the music is playing and the woman is speaking the clip shows a panning shot over a lake which is surrounded by a lot of trees, without the woman speaking and the eerie music in the background, the audience would have the impression that this shot is a rather stunning view. The music and the voice give the effect of something very mysterious. As the trailer goes on it shows a group of young people having a good time on this camping trip, this has the audience questioning the film.
Short and sharp cuts of the film are shown to create impact 1 to 13 are shown in sharp sequences, with a dramatic clip from the film shown between each number, as the number go up the music becomes louder and heavier. This creates a massive impact on the audience.