This film is aimed at a psychograpic audience of explorers due to its unique hybrid genre. I think the age groupt targeted is possibly 16-35, as the themes in the film are very adult and the actors would be recognisable to both older and younger adults.
Sweeney Todd is a very dark film with very dark themes such as death. The film is also very gory. It could be assumed the film is aimed at people interested in dark genres. It also informs audiences of what life was like during the dark ages appealing to audiences with an interest in the past, especially British history.
The film was released in January which clearly rules out children as the target audience, leaving it to older audiences.
I think this film would have a small following, due to it's dark nature. However, due to the famous actors from famous films (Depp), and actors from the Harry Potter films, it could have a larger following than I think.
Dominant reading is to sympathise with the protagonist. Though the protagonist kills, it’s due to his troubled past. The oppositional reading is possibly that the protagonist is taking as a comical character rather than a serious character.
I sympathise with the protagonist because it has been made clear at the beginning of the film through the flashbacks that he had been forced to prison for something he didn’t do. Though there are a lot of similarities between the characters of Sweeney Todd and Ms Lovett, do not sympathise with her and her love motives for lying about the death of Lucy (Benjamin Barker’s wife). I don’t think my age, or my back ground is the affect of my opinion. However it is a possibility that my gender, as a female, causes me to identify with the sensitivity of the protagonist, as he is an alternative representation of men.
Friday, 27 August 2010
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Burton and Depp interview on Sweeney Todd
I watched this interview with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Burton says when he watched the muical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" he was facinated by the hybrid genre: the mixture of nice melodic songs, contrasting with the dramatic graphic visuals and the melodrama. This made him want to make the film reflect the muscial as best as possible, having those same elements.
It also seems that having Depp as the main character was more important than wheather he could sing as he was casted without a singing audition. Could this suggest the institutions main aim is to have a hollywood actor to appeal to larger audiences!
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Media Institutions
This film is produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment and Dreamworks Pictures, which are both major Hollywood production companies, who are commerical. Not only that, but the main actors in the film are American and the minor charaters are British, though the film is representing a British historic period. This suggests the production companys aims is to appeal to a large audience as the main actors are well known, rather than reflecting the characters in a more realistic way and informing them of the real story.
As the director, Burton, favours a gothic genre, he has chosen to reflect a very dark, medeval period of London, rather than a modern contemporary one. The choice of storyline of the fim, as in the history of Sweeney Todd, could have been mediated to fulfil audience expectaion of the film and its characters, for example the motives of Sweeney Todd's murders are an act of revenge. From what I have read of the "real Sweeney Todd" there is no actual motive for killing other than for fun.
The film has been distributed on DVD in a one disc and two disc edition, and on blu ray. In the two disc edition there are extra features about the director and the actors, how the film came alive, the real story of Sweeney Todd and the musical version of the film.
As the director, Burton, favours a gothic genre, he has chosen to reflect a very dark, medeval period of London, rather than a modern contemporary one. The choice of storyline of the fim, as in the history of Sweeney Todd, could have been mediated to fulfil audience expectaion of the film and its characters, for example the motives of Sweeney Todd's murders are an act of revenge. From what I have read of the "real Sweeney Todd" there is no actual motive for killing other than for fun.
The film has been distributed on DVD in a one disc and two disc edition, and on blu ray. In the two disc edition there are extra features about the director and the actors, how the film came alive, the real story of Sweeney Todd and the musical version of the film.
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Media Values and Ideology
One of the main themes of the film. The progonist ends up dead in the film as he takes his revenge too far and ultimaly killing innocent people. This could signify that revenge can cause people to get caught up in it too much, and ultimaly is a bad thing.
The female protagonist helps the audience assume that manipulting someone to get their love doesn't work either as she is killed at the end of the film.
The film almost uses death as a punishment for wrong-doing. One of the first charaters to be killed is Prielle, who had tried to sell counterfit hair products and treated his slave badly.
Throughout the film, the idea of slitting throats becomes almost "normal" as the protagonist kills his customers so casually, while singing. We as the audience begin to expect the protagonist to kill. At one point, he almost plays with the audience as he doesn't slit the throat of a character straight away when you think he will. This almost makes the audience identify with the protagonist, and becomes just as evil as him, for anticipating the death of an innocent charater.
The female protagonist helps the audience assume that manipulting someone to get their love doesn't work either as she is killed at the end of the film.
The film almost uses death as a punishment for wrong-doing. One of the first charaters to be killed is Prielle, who had tried to sell counterfit hair products and treated his slave badly.
Throughout the film, the idea of slitting throats becomes almost "normal" as the protagonist kills his customers so casually, while singing. We as the audience begin to expect the protagonist to kill. At one point, he almost plays with the audience as he doesn't slit the throat of a character straight away when you think he will. This almost makes the audience identify with the protagonist, and becomes just as evil as him, for anticipating the death of an innocent charater.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Media Narrative and Genre
The narrative is mainly linear, which allows the audience to journey alongside the gothic genre film, as it includes lots of enigma. However there is flashbacks at the begining of the narrrative, introduced by Ms Lovett, which allows the audience to identify with her more, as the Proppian helper for both the audience and the protagonist.
Another Proppian helper in the text is the old lady. It is clear that females in the text seem to play the Proppian helper. This could signify that the institution reflect a patriarchial society, reinforcing females stereotypes, where females play a more passive role as a helper, rather than a dominant role as a protagonist. However, it could also signify that females hold power as they know the right information to give to both the audience and the characters within the film.
Themes such as Love, Betrayal and Death are typical of a mainstream film, suggesting the film or at least the institution are of a commercial one. However, the film's unique hybrind genre of musicals, gothic and a hint of humour, introduces the mainstream themes to a niche audience.
Due to the musical genre, the digetic sound track helps move the plot foward or expresses the internal emotions of the characters. This is typical of musicals and is useful to the audience as it introduces different views of the narrative.
Iconographies of the gothic genre are present. For example the strip of white in the black hair- stereotyped view of crazy or insane characters derived from the mad scientist in Frankenstein.
One of the conventions of gothic genre present are a dark gritty mise en scene. This is signified through the colours and the low key lighing. Also the time period of the film also helps, as it is during the Medival period.
Tim Burton is a director famously linked with the Gothic genre with films such as Corspe Bride, Batman, And Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton alongside Johnny Depp is a duo known to work together for example Corspe Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sleepy Hollow. Therefore audiences will have a certain expectation for the style and genre of the film, In particular expecting a strong male protagonist from Depp.
Helena Bonhem Carter is the main female character, who like Depp and Burton is famous for playing characters in "dark" films such as the Harry Potter series and Alice in Wonderland. She usually plays a charatcer which is mad or whacky, which is also present in this film.
Another Proppian helper in the text is the old lady. It is clear that females in the text seem to play the Proppian helper. This could signify that the institution reflect a patriarchial society, reinforcing females stereotypes, where females play a more passive role as a helper, rather than a dominant role as a protagonist. However, it could also signify that females hold power as they know the right information to give to both the audience and the characters within the film.
Themes such as Love, Betrayal and Death are typical of a mainstream film, suggesting the film or at least the institution are of a commercial one. However, the film's unique hybrind genre of musicals, gothic and a hint of humour, introduces the mainstream themes to a niche audience.
Due to the musical genre, the digetic sound track helps move the plot foward or expresses the internal emotions of the characters. This is typical of musicals and is useful to the audience as it introduces different views of the narrative.
Iconographies of the gothic genre are present. For example the strip of white in the black hair- stereotyped view of crazy or insane characters derived from the mad scientist in Frankenstein.
One of the conventions of gothic genre present are a dark gritty mise en scene. This is signified through the colours and the low key lighing. Also the time period of the film also helps, as it is during the Medival period.
Tim Burton is a director famously linked with the Gothic genre with films such as Corspe Bride, Batman, And Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton alongside Johnny Depp is a duo known to work together for example Corspe Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sleepy Hollow. Therefore audiences will have a certain expectation for the style and genre of the film, In particular expecting a strong male protagonist from Depp.
Helena Bonhem Carter is the main female character, who like Depp and Burton is famous for playing characters in "dark" films such as the Harry Potter series and Alice in Wonderland. She usually plays a charatcer which is mad or whacky, which is also present in this film.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Media Representations
The protagonist, Sweeney Todd is represented as a character with two sides. These two sides are signified by his two names: Benjamin Barker and Sweeney Todd. Benjamin Barker represents the protagonist's previous life shown in the flash backs. The mise-en-scene, such as the high key lighting and flowers props, connoting love beauty and life, signifies his life was happy and cheerful. In contrast Sweeny Todd is his new life signified by the dark mise en scen using low key lighing and a slight bright hue, which connotes sadness, reflecting the characters reveneful and sad emotions.
The Benjamin Barker representation seems to be unwillingly signified by the protagonist. He sings a song about himself, though reffering to himself in third person. The audience are aware of this as his flashbacks are sutured with the song narrating the flashback. The use of third person narative signifies the protagonist's separation from his old character. He could have developed as a character, or has forced himself to distance himself as he is afraid.
The character of Sweeney Todd is represented by the protagonist's actions, such as his crave for revenge. As he carelessly slits the throats of many of his customers, he sings "nice songs". This binary opposition signifies his confused, mixed state of mind. Though he is seen as the typical murderous villain, the audience are almost forced to sympathise with is history, turing him into an anti hero. This adds realism to the character as he is not "just" a Proppian villain, but that he has motives that are clearly recognised at the begining of the film.
Due to this, the film almost changes audience's opinions of the character Sweeney Todd. As it is a legendry story, people know of this character to be a total villain, but now see his other side.
However, it could be suggested that as the film is based on a real character, it is not possible for the film to represent the characters accuratly and fairly, as texts are mediated because audience has expectations of characters and their roles within films.
The Benjamin Barker representation seems to be unwillingly signified by the protagonist. He sings a song about himself, though reffering to himself in third person. The audience are aware of this as his flashbacks are sutured with the song narrating the flashback. The use of third person narative signifies the protagonist's separation from his old character. He could have developed as a character, or has forced himself to distance himself as he is afraid.
The character of Sweeney Todd is represented by the protagonist's actions, such as his crave for revenge. As he carelessly slits the throats of many of his customers, he sings "nice songs". This binary opposition signifies his confused, mixed state of mind. Though he is seen as the typical murderous villain, the audience are almost forced to sympathise with is history, turing him into an anti hero. This adds realism to the character as he is not "just" a Proppian villain, but that he has motives that are clearly recognised at the begining of the film.
Due to this, the film almost changes audience's opinions of the character Sweeney Todd. As it is a legendry story, people know of this character to be a total villain, but now see his other side.
However, it could be suggested that as the film is based on a real character, it is not possible for the film to represent the characters accuratly and fairly, as texts are mediated because audience has expectations of characters and their roles within films.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Film review: Sweeney Todd- the Sunday Times Review
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article3241228.ece
This dark tale should have been classic Tim Burton, but it doesn’t quite cut it.
If you’re at all acquainted with Tim Burton’s filmography, you will have a good idea of what to expect from his movie of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd. Burton has never adapted a stage show before, and he has never previously made a film quite as blood-squirtingly gory as this one, but in tone and style it is consistent with his other pop-gothic works, such as Edward Scissorhands, the Hammer pastiche Sleepy Hollow and his cheerfully macabre animated films The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.
In that last movie, the main characters are a pallid man and woman voiced by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Here they are again in the lead roles in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, appearing in their own bodies, but looking quite cartoonish in traditional Burton manner: deathly-pale skin and lots of eye shadow. Depp, modelling a mane of black hair with a single white streak, could pass for a middle-aged Edward Scissorhands. Blades are a big part of his act, because, of course, he’s playing the barber in Dickensian London who slits his customers’ throats to provide his downstairs neighbour, Mrs Lovett, with ingredients for her pies.
The first thing that strikes you about Depp’s performance is that his cockney accent shares a postcode with the speech patterns of Captain Jack Sparrow. The similarity was perhaps unavoidable, but the echo of that overexposed pirate is wearisome. It puts Depp under pressure to make his performance distinctive in other respects – and he fails to do so. His Todd smoulders and growls entertainingly, but in a lightweight sort of way and without any flashes of individuality.
The other actors do equally conventional work. Bonham Carter is dishevelled and sardonic as Mrs Lovett; Alan Rickman employs his usual supercilious purr as Judge Turpin, whose villainy fires Todd’s homicidal rage; Timothy Spall is in gargoyle mode as the judge’s henchman, Beadle Bamford; and Sacha Baron Cohen does a comedy Italian accent as Pirelli, Todd’s foppish rival in barbering, who wears trousers almost as immodest as Borat’s swimming trunks. You don’texpect microscopically nuanced acting in a musical, but if the film’s performances were never going to be subtle, they could at least have been surprising.
Some viewers may have a further complaint: none of the leading actors has a top-notch singing voice. Well, perhaps I’m biased, being a hopeless singer whose idol in movie musicals is Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, but I didn’t mind the vocal shortcomings. Songs in movies are never as compelling as they can be live, and when, as here, they aren’t accompanied by much movement from the actors, they have the potential to drain the life out of a film as surely as a cameo by Quentin Tarantino. The singing’s rough edges, such as Depp’s Bowie-esque gulps, suggest the characters’ brutish personalities coursing through the songs, and this helps to keep the musical sequences energised. That said, some of Sondheim’s pieces fail to make an impression. The ones with insistent rhythms and lots of wordplay – the scene-setting No Place Like London and Todd and Lovett’s menu of possible victims, A Little Priest – come through strongly, but the more melodic numbers emerge as standard Broadway huffing and puffing. This goes not only for the ditties of the bland young lovers (Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener), but for the supposed show-stopper, My Friends, Todd’s love song to his razors.
What keeps the film alive in these dronesome passages is Burton’s eye. His way with dark, cluttered interiors and cityscapes, and the flair with which he whizzes his camera through these settings, are consistently enjoyable. Even in visual terms, though, the film has no resoundingly memorable scenes – except for its graphic moments of bloodletting, and these are oddly misjudged. Why did Burton have to earn an 18 certificate by including such explicit goriness in a film whose essential spirit is not all that savage? He focuses on melodrama and makes Todd another of his tormented outsiders, while playing down one of the meatier aspects of Sondheim’s original: cannibalism as a metaphor for the evils of economic ruthlessness. The film might have dwelt more on that side of things, giving greater depth to its characters’ cruelty and anger. As it is, it’s an engaging but rather flat spectacle. Instead of having quite so much blood, it could have done with a bit more bile.
Film Review Summary
Tim Burton has a unique style which audiences have expectations for, but this writer believes this film was a let down.
This film almost combines elements from all his previous films, the gothic genre of Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow, with the humour of Corpse Bride.
Depp and Carter are working together again,
Burton’s cartoonish style is used in this film though “real”
The writer believes there are too many similarities in the acting style for Todd and Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean
The mise en scene of the film was unique and original and the writer enjoyed it.
This dark tale should have been classic Tim Burton, but it doesn’t quite cut it.
If you’re at all acquainted with Tim Burton’s filmography, you will have a good idea of what to expect from his movie of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd. Burton has never adapted a stage show before, and he has never previously made a film quite as blood-squirtingly gory as this one, but in tone and style it is consistent with his other pop-gothic works, such as Edward Scissorhands, the Hammer pastiche Sleepy Hollow and his cheerfully macabre animated films The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.
In that last movie, the main characters are a pallid man and woman voiced by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Here they are again in the lead roles in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, appearing in their own bodies, but looking quite cartoonish in traditional Burton manner: deathly-pale skin and lots of eye shadow. Depp, modelling a mane of black hair with a single white streak, could pass for a middle-aged Edward Scissorhands. Blades are a big part of his act, because, of course, he’s playing the barber in Dickensian London who slits his customers’ throats to provide his downstairs neighbour, Mrs Lovett, with ingredients for her pies.
The first thing that strikes you about Depp’s performance is that his cockney accent shares a postcode with the speech patterns of Captain Jack Sparrow. The similarity was perhaps unavoidable, but the echo of that overexposed pirate is wearisome. It puts Depp under pressure to make his performance distinctive in other respects – and he fails to do so. His Todd smoulders and growls entertainingly, but in a lightweight sort of way and without any flashes of individuality.
The other actors do equally conventional work. Bonham Carter is dishevelled and sardonic as Mrs Lovett; Alan Rickman employs his usual supercilious purr as Judge Turpin, whose villainy fires Todd’s homicidal rage; Timothy Spall is in gargoyle mode as the judge’s henchman, Beadle Bamford; and Sacha Baron Cohen does a comedy Italian accent as Pirelli, Todd’s foppish rival in barbering, who wears trousers almost as immodest as Borat’s swimming trunks. You don’texpect microscopically nuanced acting in a musical, but if the film’s performances were never going to be subtle, they could at least have been surprising.
Some viewers may have a further complaint: none of the leading actors has a top-notch singing voice. Well, perhaps I’m biased, being a hopeless singer whose idol in movie musicals is Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, but I didn’t mind the vocal shortcomings. Songs in movies are never as compelling as they can be live, and when, as here, they aren’t accompanied by much movement from the actors, they have the potential to drain the life out of a film as surely as a cameo by Quentin Tarantino. The singing’s rough edges, such as Depp’s Bowie-esque gulps, suggest the characters’ brutish personalities coursing through the songs, and this helps to keep the musical sequences energised. That said, some of Sondheim’s pieces fail to make an impression. The ones with insistent rhythms and lots of wordplay – the scene-setting No Place Like London and Todd and Lovett’s menu of possible victims, A Little Priest – come through strongly, but the more melodic numbers emerge as standard Broadway huffing and puffing. This goes not only for the ditties of the bland young lovers (Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener), but for the supposed show-stopper, My Friends, Todd’s love song to his razors.
What keeps the film alive in these dronesome passages is Burton’s eye. His way with dark, cluttered interiors and cityscapes, and the flair with which he whizzes his camera through these settings, are consistently enjoyable. Even in visual terms, though, the film has no resoundingly memorable scenes – except for its graphic moments of bloodletting, and these are oddly misjudged. Why did Burton have to earn an 18 certificate by including such explicit goriness in a film whose essential spirit is not all that savage? He focuses on melodrama and makes Todd another of his tormented outsiders, while playing down one of the meatier aspects of Sondheim’s original: cannibalism as a metaphor for the evils of economic ruthlessness. The film might have dwelt more on that side of things, giving greater depth to its characters’ cruelty and anger. As it is, it’s an engaging but rather flat spectacle. Instead of having quite so much blood, it could have done with a bit more bile.
Author: Edward Porter
Film Review Summary
Tim Burton has a unique style which audiences have expectations for, but this writer believes this film was a let down.
This film almost combines elements from all his previous films, the gothic genre of Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow, with the humour of Corpse Bride.
Depp and Carter are working together again,
Burton’s cartoonish style is used in this film though “real”
The writer believes there are too many similarities in the acting style for Todd and Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean
The mise en scene of the film was unique and original and the writer enjoyed it.
Film review: Time Out London, Jan 2008
http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/85001/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street.html
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Director: Tim Burton
Synopsis
Based on the 19th century legend of Sweeney Todd and the hit Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returns to London after being sent away by Alan Rickman’s Judge Turpin. He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop were she sells ‘the worst pies in London.’ With the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), Todd tries to get rid of all the people who have ever done him wrong.
Movie review
From Time Out London
A great deal bloodier than most musicals, Tim Burton’s beautifully crafted take on Stephen Sondheim’s stage show still feels like a kids’ film that no littl’uns will see, such is the sweep of his story, his caricaturing, and his balletic approach to killing.
But human behaviour isn’t Burton’s strong point, so one doesn’t expect him to gain a strong grip on the psyche of Benjamin Barker – now Mr S Todd (Johnny Depp, with a skunk’s streak in his locks) – the barber who’s back in dank Victorian London and looking for revenge on crooked Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, resuscitating his turn in ‘Perfume…’) after enduring an unjust stint in a penal colony and losing his wife and daughter. This forlorn figure is now entering a pact with local pie-maker Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter, fresh from the Queen Vic) that sees trade blossom for both – and offers Todd a busman’s outlet for his anger…
There’s something of the Hulk to this Todd (a monster with a heart and a troubled past), but there’s a heavy dose of Fred West, too. Depp is too young and too beautiful – but he claws back some romance for his anti-hero and proves a capable singer. It’s the usual Burtonisms that impress: the sets, the costumes, a masterly embrace of the sound-stage (retaining the theatricality of Sondheim’s original).
There’s a gulf between the colourful leads and the bland supporting roles, and Burton struggles to avoid a flat middle section that contrasts with the atmospherics of his opening and the melodrama of his finale – but mostly this is grand-scale studio-work at its most beguiling.
Author: Dave Calhoun
Film review summary
Calhoun thinks the film has done the Musical version of the tale justice, but has put a Burton twist that makes it a good film.
Little information is given about Bejamin Barker- the sane Todd from the past- but Burton has given depth to Sweeney's character, giving him motives for his violent murders.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Director: Tim Burton
Synopsis
Based on the 19th century legend of Sweeney Todd and the hit Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returns to London after being sent away by Alan Rickman’s Judge Turpin. He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop were she sells ‘the worst pies in London.’ With the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), Todd tries to get rid of all the people who have ever done him wrong.
Movie review
From Time Out London
A great deal bloodier than most musicals, Tim Burton’s beautifully crafted take on Stephen Sondheim’s stage show still feels like a kids’ film that no littl’uns will see, such is the sweep of his story, his caricaturing, and his balletic approach to killing.
But human behaviour isn’t Burton’s strong point, so one doesn’t expect him to gain a strong grip on the psyche of Benjamin Barker – now Mr S Todd (Johnny Depp, with a skunk’s streak in his locks) – the barber who’s back in dank Victorian London and looking for revenge on crooked Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, resuscitating his turn in ‘Perfume…’) after enduring an unjust stint in a penal colony and losing his wife and daughter. This forlorn figure is now entering a pact with local pie-maker Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter, fresh from the Queen Vic) that sees trade blossom for both – and offers Todd a busman’s outlet for his anger…
There’s something of the Hulk to this Todd (a monster with a heart and a troubled past), but there’s a heavy dose of Fred West, too. Depp is too young and too beautiful – but he claws back some romance for his anti-hero and proves a capable singer. It’s the usual Burtonisms that impress: the sets, the costumes, a masterly embrace of the sound-stage (retaining the theatricality of Sondheim’s original).
There’s a gulf between the colourful leads and the bland supporting roles, and Burton struggles to avoid a flat middle section that contrasts with the atmospherics of his opening and the melodrama of his finale – but mostly this is grand-scale studio-work at its most beguiling.
Author: Dave Calhoun
Film review summary
Calhoun thinks the film has done the Musical version of the tale justice, but has put a Burton twist that makes it a good film.
Little information is given about Bejamin Barker- the sane Todd from the past- but Burton has given depth to Sweeney's character, giving him motives for his violent murders.
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