Audience focus group

Me, Izzah and Tina

Full narrative:
A 14 year old single child lives with his mother only in a council estate in West London. He is brought up around gangs and has slightly been influenced to steal when in need. From the age of 14 till 15 he was being observed by those in a gang and they came to realise that he is a brave boy who doesn't seem to care about the world. He declined an offer to help serve drugs to the community by these gangsters due to the fact he is the only son and doesn't want to let his mother down. A few months before his 16th birthday, his mother had been diagnosed with cancer and the treatment to cure her was quite pricey. The protagonist saw this as an opportunity to step up and be the man of the house and by this he needs some sort of income. So he approaches these gangsters and leaves with a job to sell drugs. The mother is living at home and not the hospital but has carers coming in and out throughout the day however she is unaware that the treatment is expensive and thinks that it is covered by the government. Unfortunately, it isn't and so her son needs to be careful in order not to get caught. 
A few months go by and the protagonist is working extremely hard to make sure he's earning good money. Due to the motivation, the leader of the gang decides to take him for a drive to go pick up the re-load. This is seen as a privilege as not everybody gets to see the leader neither get to pick up a re-load so the protagonist is excited.
The destination is quite far and so a discussion is held between the 2. This is how the problem occurs, the leader says he has never had a girl meaning he did not date a girl but he uses them for sexual purposes and then leaves them. The protagonist misunderstands this and thinks he means he isn't interested in females but me. Ironically, the protagonist isn't interested in females and so he didn't see anything about the fact that the leader has never dated a female. During the discussion, they pass by a McDonalds and pick up a little meal. Strangely, as they leave the car park of the restaurant, the protagonist finds it hard to control his desires and so rubs the inner thigh of the driver. This is a shock as the gangster is not use to such events taking place and so thinks the protagonist is messing about and taking him for a joke. 
This leads to the disequilibrium which is the gangster getting angry as he isn't being taken seriously and so starts threatening the boy and shouting whilst driving back to the estate. Where the whole gang is, he parks the car and gets out and drags the boy out too and tells the whole gang how he wasn't being taken seriously. As the gang don't want to stop earning money, they agree to abuse the protagonist. In order to create suspense, there will be no shot of the protagonist getting abused, the couple of last shots will consist of him getting threatened by a group of boys, a black out and then a shot of flashing lights of an ambulance to end it. 

Broadcast-
On channel 4 at around 8:00pm/8:30pm.On channel 4 at around 8:00pm/8:30pm. this is because school children will be home by then in order to view the the programme, furthermore the audiences will have finished work or school homework etc by 8pm. Also younger audiences will be asleep or not watching Tv at that time. 

MEST2 Status update

1) Your finalised group
Izzah, Tina and Me

2) Your initial plans for your new TV programme that meets the MEST2 brief
Homosexual drug dealers. A young teenage boy becomes a drug dealer within a group of notorious boys. He forms a close attachment bond with them however, these boys do not know he is a homosexual. During a car journey the young teenager male touches one of the boys legs in a sexual way which causes the group to beat him up.

3) A link to your research blogpost - the five TV/film opening scenes you have analysed that will help you inform your own ideas and production work
http://sophiasmediablog2014.blogspot.co.uk/

Female gaze reseach

1) What is the article about?
 Research shows that advertising campaigns for a female audience are dominated by heterosexual Caucasian size 0 to 2 models. Naomi and Dane say that the representations of women are nearly too white are exclusively under  size 6.The article is about women represented in the media. It talks about women's weight and how the perfect sizes are between 0 and 2. It also talks about women modelling and how they are used for men to gaze at hence the reason why its called the 'female gaze'.

2) What is the name of the film that has sparked this recent debate on body image and female representation?


3) How does the 'female gaze' in this article differ from the 'male gaze' of Laura Mulvey's theory?
Laura Mulvey's theory is that male appearance in the media is for female consumption and for them to look at them due to their attractiveness as well as it  portraying the fact that some males are just there to be gazed at by the females such as men being topless in an advert. This differs from the article as the articles talk about how women are used for men to look at whereas, Mulvey's 'male gaze' says that men are  portrayed in the media for women to look at such as men being topless in an advert.

4) What is your own opinion of the representation of women in advertising? Should the media carry more representation of 'real' women? Why does the media not currently feature size 14 women if that is the average size of a British woman?
In my opinion, i think that the representation of women in the media should be banned. This is because women are being exploited as they are portrayed as seductive characters. In most adverts, such as perfume adverts, women are seen wearing hardly any clothing as well as seen kissing males. The media should carry out the representation of 'real' women as women will be portrayed as themselves and not who people want them to be. This will make us realise that the role of women in society is not to be seen as a 'male gaze' and in turn we (mainly males) will have respect for females. Also, women of the size 14 are not seen in the media, this could be due to that women want to be below the size of 14 as they want the perfect bodies and so women sizes 0-2 are being portrayed.

5) Summary of the film
The film is about trying to show misconception that the world have of models, which is that to be beautiful you must be skinny and replace it with the idea that that weight does not determine beauty. It portrays how society is sued to seeing very thin models in magazines but when fatter models are used the public believe that it doesn't show off the product in a good way purely because of the overweight model. The film is trying to change the typical model from being underweight to a more realistic weight and trying to persuade the world it is okay to be a plus size.

Binary opposition task

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7i-JIw1zig

What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching this clip?
-Corrupt and honesty
-Weak and powerful
-Rich and poor
-Immigrants and British

What ideologies are on display in the clip?
Russel Brand point - Money should be distributed for everyone
Nigels against point - The money is going to the immigrants and not us.
                                  -Britain should be of British people not of other cultures

Representation - Theories

Representation -  in depth analysis of 27 dresses

In the trailer of 27 dresses the male protagonist is represented as a dominant portrayal as it reinforces the stereotype that men are portrayed as powerful and dominant in the media. They are also seen with high jobs which in this case the male is seen to be the boss of his business. However, another male is presented in the trailer too. This male character tries to write a negative article about the female character, but then eventually falls in love with her. In my opinion, i think he is represented as an alternative portrayal as he is seen as the weak one. This is because, the female is in love with her boss (protagonist) however, the other male character is in love with her making him look like a reject. The representation theory that can be applied to the males is Andy Medhurst. He suggested that stereotyping is a shorthand for identification. This means that we use stereotyping to tell audiences a lot in a short space of time. This occurs in the middle of the trailer where the second male character shows the audiences, discretely, that he is beginning to fall in love with the women he has to write a negative article about. This tells the audiences, the more time you spend with someone and think negatively about them, the more you're start to produce feelings for them. Moreover, the female character is represented as a dominant portrayal in the trailer as it reinforces the stereotype that women are portrayed as weaker than men and are usually the ones that take on creative roles in society such as a wedding planner. Men being dominant in society tells us that women are seen as less powerful than them and that men have the authority to give orders from people below them.  In addition, you can instantly tell that the female is a wedding planner. Also, you can tell that she is a confident and outgoing person due to her bashful personality. You can also tell that she loves and respects her sister as she allowed her to date the man she loves. In this case, the representation theory that can be applied to the female character is Laura Mulvey. She came up with the idea of 'female gaze'. This is where females gaze upon men due to their attractiveness. In the trailer, this occurs in the scene where the female character looks at the man she is in love with, with an expression which tells the audience that she is really into him. Furthermore, another theory that can be applied to the trailer is Tessa Perkins. Her theory is that some stereotypes can be positive or partly true. This occurs in the trailer as the male protagonist is seen as powerful and dominant as he is the boss of the company. This is a positive stereotype and is partly true. In addition, this is intentionally what the director has given us to create a character in our minds of what we think the characters in the trailer are like.

Representation blog task

Mediation

Media texts are a construction of reality, and play an important role in the way we view the world. 

Reality is therefore subject to mediation which is the process that takes place when a media text’s meaning is created.

When mediation takes place, an institution, individual or even technology comes between the actual event and the audience.

Stereotypes

Media messages have to be communicated quickly which often means relying on stereotypes. Stereotypes work as a kind of shorthand where a word, image or sound will stand for a lot more.

A stereotype is a standardised, usually oversimplified mental picture or attitude towards a person, group, place or event.

Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their gender, class, ethnicity or race, sexual orientation, social role or occupation

27 Dresses

1) Different people/groups represented

Male

Female

2) The male character is represented as a dominant portrayal in the film as it reinforces the stereotype that men are portrayed as powerful and with high jobs in the media.

The female character is also represented as a dominant portrayal in the film as it also reinforces the stereotype that women are portrayed as weaker than men and usually take on the creative jobs such as a wedding planner (in the trailer)

3)In the trailer you can instantly tell that the female wedding planner is a confident and outgoing person due to her bashful personality. You can also tell that she's an emotional person as she broke down when her sister and her boss (the one she loves) are going out. However, it can also tell the audience that she loves and respects  her sister as she allowed her sister to date the man she loves.

For the male stereotype, the audience would instantly assume that the male is the lover as well as the boss of the business.

Research and planning

Interstellar 

In the trailer of interstellar, the editor had used many editing techniques to portray the theme of the film. Throughout the trailer high-key lighting is used to show everything within the frame so the audience can clearly tell what is happening in the scene. The beginning starts off with the main protagonist saying to his children’s teacher what careers he does which gives a slight insight of what the movie will be about. In addition, a voice over of the teachers  speaking is used towards the middle of the trailer, while scenes of the city/town is being showed which links as he’s talking about the world coming to an end and the scenes being presented look like their country is dying. Furthermore, a couple of seconds later, a dramatic sand storm is shown which tells the audience that the mission of the main protagonist is to save the world. As the trailer progresses on you can see that the protagonist has been told to go to space and find another planet for humans to live on; to save the human race. It also shows him in a space rocket with 3 other characters which suggest they are his assistants on the mission. Furthermore, the clip is aimed at both males and females of the ages between 15-60 year olds. This is mainly because of the concept as its quite difficult to understand and so people below the age of 15 will find the movie very confusing. In addition, the music creates suspense as well as tension as it questions the audience whether the male protagonist will make it back on time in order to see his children. 

90210 

Camera work: In the trailer there are a few panning and tilting shots used. The over the shoulder shot between the two characters shows the audience that they are having a conversation with each other. Also, the tracking shot  of her walking into the room builds up tension for us to see what will happen next in the scene. Finally, the long shot of everyone sitting down in the room adds to the awkwardness of the scene.

Lightning: The lighting used in the beginning of the clip is low-key lighting. This creates a romantic feel to the scene as they are coming to the end of their date. Furthermore, as they walk into their house the lighting becomes chiaroscuro. This adds to the tension of the scene where dramatic music is also being played. In addition, as they enter the dining room, the lights are turned on which could signify the important shot in the scene. 

Sound: The sound used is non-diegetic which is music that has been added later. This non-diegetic music is parallel to the scene as it builds up tension which allows the audience to stayed engaged in the shot.

Audience: The series is aimed at young people who enjoy watching dramas. This can be due to the fact that the cast are young and able to understand the conventions of the  series. Therefore, the audience is aimed between the ages of 14-30. In addition, the series is aimed to attract both females and males.

Make up & Costumes: The costumes used within the clip are well adapted to suit the roles of the characters. The male is wearing casual clothing and the female is wearing a dress, showing the audience that they can build a relationship with the characters and almost feel as part of the show. 

Props: There have been balloons and food used which is seen on the table which may be to enhance a welcoming feeling to the character as they are doing it sarcastically.

Inbetweeners

Setting: The clip is set in a park which makes the atmosphere seem more natural and will make the audience feel as if they are part of the scene. Also, to add to the natural park setting the directer has used extra people in the background either sitting down relaxing or playing games with each other and not concentrating on what the actors are doing.

Lighting: The type of lighting used throughout the clip is high-key lighting. This is used to show the audience everything within the clip, such as small and minor details which adds to the natural theme of it, as well as showing them what's happening. 

Props: The main props used in the scene is the Frisbee and a football. This links to the park setting as in parks, the main game played is either football or throwing a Frisbee around. Also, whilst playing with the Frisbee, one of the male characters says to his mates that girls love this and shortly after a group of female characters walk by, which  makes the male shout out to them and throws the frisbee towards the,. However, as it is in the air, the audience instantly realise that it will not go to them but to someone else instead which it did creating humour for the audience

Facial expressions/body language: In the beginning of the clip, the facial expressions of the characters are portrayed as confused. This is due to the fact that they are confused as to why they're playing Frisbee instead of Football. This also creates a sense of confusion for the audience as we would ask they same question to ourselves, This is because the audience assume that there will be female characters in the clip which they are just trying to impress by playing Frisbee as apparently they love that sort, however the audience know that girls like boys playing football and so they instantly realise they are portrayed as  the dorky and low characters. Also, the body language of the characters are all normal. by this I mean that it doesn't make out to the audience that it was rehearsed it looks natural which adds to the natural setting of it.

Camera work: In the clip, a wide establishing shot has been used to show the whole park and everything within in to show the audience what's happening and where they are. Also, another shot used was a high-angle shot. This is used on the male character to make him look weak and small which was shown after he threw the Frisbee at the disabled girl. This tells us that he had no common sense and is presented as a careless person another shot used was a medium close-up. This was used to show the facial expressions presented on the characters face, which in this case was quite tense and worried.

Target audience: The target audience of the clip is aimed at both females and males of ages between 15-50. This is entirely because theses ages like comedies such as these. Also, the colloquial language used can link to them as now a days people talk in slang and so the clip will interest them into watching more of it,

The big bang theory

Costume:

The costumes that the characters are seen wearing are casual, which portrays them as average working-class people. Also, the main protagonist is presented wearing a superman top which links to the topic they are talking about. It makes him seem 'nerdy-like' as he talks a lot about it combining it with physics as well. In addition, another character is wearing glasses which connotes the terms: smart and clever.

Lighting:

The lighting used is high-key lighting which allows us to see everything within the clip as well as adding to the realism of it. Also, fillers have been used to enhance the details of the objects and the characters which allows us to clearly see everything.

Facial expressions/body language:

The awkward facial expression portrayed on the characters face in the beginning suggests that he really wants the female to join him and his mates when watching the superman films which tells us he may like he more than a friend. Also, the annoyed facial expression presented on the protagonists face suggests that he is irritated at the fact that the female has no idea that there is more than one superman film. Furthermore, the body language of the actors look natural and not planned which adds to the natural setting of the clip.

Make-up:

The make-up on the females face enhances her features making her look more attractive and the make-up used on the males make them look natural but markless. 

Setting:

The film is set in the corridor of a building where the actors live, which adds to the natural theme of it. The fact that in the background the lift says out of order suggests they're not well-off people as they're living in a flat (as you can there are stairs and a lift) where it looks old and run-down.

Editing:

The editing is continuous as each shot flows onto the next. The editor has has quick cuts which follows the actors whilst they're talking. Medium close-ups have also been used where we can see the actors faces clearly.

Teen wolf  

Setting: 
In the clip of teen wolf, each character has been introduced in different settings. The protagonist is seen in a sandy setting, where he pushes away the sand to signify his strength. Also the characters are seen in dark derelict settings which suggests they could be up to something or hiding something from everyone else. This may have an impact on the narrative, the characters may not want to give away a lot about themselves, which triggers an enigma code.  

Lighting:
The lighting used is low-key lighting throughout the clip. This may be due to the fact that the characters want to hide their identity so the audience will have to watch the whole clip to find out who they really are. This triggers an enigma code, as we want to know what they're character is like as well as share a sense of personality though identification of each of them as the lighting allows us to see parts of their faces and suture into some part of the shot as a silhouette, this engages the audience into the clip more. The lighting also creates dramatic effects as the lighting has been used at different angles rather from directly in front of them which only shows parts of the characters body. In addition, chiaroscuro  is embedded into the clip which creates shadows. Also, back lighting was also used to make their bodies appear more round.

Target audience:
The audience of  Teen Wolf  is mainly aimed at the ages between 16-25, more of the working/middle class people, who range in the ABC2 category. This may be due to the fact their are several violent scenes in the clip, which are not suitable for an audience below 16. The genre of the series are ones like supernatural, science fiction, mystery and sci-fi.

Make up and facial expressions:
The facial expressions allow us to identify with the characters which gives the audience a better insight as to who they are and in order for us to suture into the narrative. The make up allows us to get full coverage of the characters/protagonists, it is kept natural so that it does not look out of the narrative. The facial expressions were very tensed and uncommonly a slight smile would appear on their faces, this may suggest the seriousness of the narrative and plot.

props: swords were used in this opening sequence, this is an iconic feature which connotes violence and even danger, which leads us to thinking that conflict will take place in the narrative. The clothing of the characters is almost mostly normal which allows us to identify with them and understand who they are and what their personalities are like eg, the boy mixing potions with casual clothing seems like a cleaver teenager who will potentially help with the bringing back equilibrium.

Preliminary Task evaluation

The task:
For this preliminary production we were given  a task to come up with a 30 second clip of there being a dialogue as well as someone walking through a door. We had to include the 180 degree rule, the match on action shot and the shot/reverse/shot rule. Me and my group set the scene in a bedroom where the character wakes up from her sleep when she hears the alarm go off and walks downstairs to have breakfast with her 'imaginary' sister.

Narrative:
Our narrative is about a girl who thought her sister was still alive when in fact she was not. Towards the end of the clip, there is a scene showing the protagonist talking to someone, when there is actually no one there, however as the camera carries on panning the conversation, we see someone sitting in the chair opposite her when there wasn't, which tells us she is imagining her sister being there.

Being in a group meant that each of us had to do certain tasks to help the task come together. I was with rabia and izzah and we all had ideas and combined them together. This allowed our preminary task to be the best as the class did say ours was amazing. Moreover, there were many shots which made the task look very real and intrigued the audience into it alot.

WWW: Our clip included many of the camera techniques such as a pan, shot-reverse-shot, 180 degree rule and match on action. We included enigma codes as well as maintaining continuity. We used many shots such as close ups, extreme close-ups, medium shots and long shots in order to identify and suture the roles from the narrative as well as seeing the facial expressions portrayed on the characters face. 

 EBI:

We needed to make the dialogue scene a bit better. By this i mean that you could not hear the sound of the characters speaking clearly and so it made it quite difficult for the audience to hear the characters speaking. Also, during this scene, the microphone had turned off and so you couldnt hear anything and so we had to do a voiceover which was quite risky to do as it could have not fitted the clip however, this turned out to be extremely good as it flowed throughout.

I think we could of made better use of the ‘lighting’ aspect of CLAMPS, but the real life lighting and everyday life shots added a sense of realism to it. We wanted to make the actor aspect of clamps and makeup is very natural- so she is in her pyjamas wearing no make-up. The genre was psychological thriller, and although there was a short range of instrumental sounds available on iTunes I think it suited well.

Feedback for mock

Grade: C

WWW: Very clear, concise handwriting that include some theory
EBI: Last questions need re-doing, doesn't really focus on editing. Question 1, add a paragraph talking about the props used.

LR:
In the short extract of the usual suspects,  the props used were well suited to the type of character being presented. The more dominant character being showed wore a long black cloak with a black hat. This made it very difficult for the audience to see who the person was which made him seem quite suspicious. It also creates a sense of mystery as we do not know what he is up to at this point in the clip and so it keeps the audience intrigued. In addition, the weaker character presented with a high angle shot sitting on the floor was also seen wearing dark clothing which made him seem suspicious. It can also tell the audience that as its set in the night and they are wearing dark clothing, they are up to something no good as they'll be able to camouflage with the background. Furthermore, in the middle of the clip, there was a gun presented which instantly tells the audience that they have either killed someone or is going to kill someone.

Dependency thoery

1) What do YOU primarily use the media for: entertainment or information? (Or something else?)

I use the media for all kinds of things such as looking up information for revision or homework, entertainment or just general information. I also use it to catch up with the latest celebrity gossip as well as catching up on the news.

2) To what extent do you feel we are dependent on the media?

In my opinion, I think we are very dependent on the media. This is due to the fact that we use it for almost everything. Like in the question above, I have mentioned that i used it for revision, general information and catching up on the news. This can relate to nearly everyone as they would probably use it for the same reasons. However, if there was no such thing as the media, we wouldn't be able to do lot of things such as the things written above. We wouldn't know what's happening around the world - our perspective of things would change, we wouldn't be influenced by the media. for example celebrity's with perfect bodies - we wouldn't be influenced to have that body and man more.

3) Has our dependence on the media changed over the last 10 years? How?

I think that our dependency on the media has changed dramatically. This is because 10 years ago, people used books instead of the media to find out information around the world or for revision. People also used magazines to catch up with the latest celebrity gossip.

4) Read this Telegraph article – does this support Dependency theory? What is your personal opinion on this issue? 

Two-step flow model

 Summarise the two-step flow model. 

The two-step flow model was developed in 1940 because the hyodermic needle was considered too simplistic assuming the audience consumed media without thinking. This model instead suggests that the audience are influenced by 'opinion leaders' in the media who meditate how the audience react to media texts. The model says that the media is not powerful and social factors are important.

2) In your opinion, is the two-step flow theory still relevant today?

In my opinion, i think it does not exist today because the media is very powerful and can influence the audience to do things.

3) How does this YouTube blogger fit into the two-step flow model?

The youtube blogger fits into the two-step flow theory model because it shows the audiences a variety of videos that consist of violent games. This can influence an audience to become violent i n the real world as if they feel annoyed or irritated they could hurt someone they way characters fight eachother within the games shown on his youtube channel.

4) How this this Telegraph article on influential tweeters fit the two-step flow model?

The Telegraph article on influential tweeters fit the two-step flow model because it shows that a famous boy and is seen with their arms around the Prime minister which can influence people to do the same.

Shot list

Shot number	Shot description	Time	Filmed?
Bedroom
1	Cut in of close-up shot of couple in frame in bedroom whilst she sleeps, gradual focus in and out
2	Still shot of clockticking 3 ticks
3	Pan of room quiet and peaceful
4	Extreme close-up shot of phone alarm going off
5	(p.o.v) Medium shot of girl in bed sitting up
6	(p.o.v) shot of girl looking at two robes hanging on the door, his and hers
7	(p.o.v) medium shot of girl smiling in bed and gets up
8	Close up shot on ground level of waking up and putting slippers on and walking off past empty slippers on other end
Corridor-Kitchen
9	Steadicam track with protagonist walking across corridor and down the stairs into kitchen
Kitchen 10	Pan of protagonist walking in to kitchen going straight to fridge with empty table in shot
11	Straight cut to opening fridge medium shot pulling out milk, shot from inside fridge (open/close door)
12	Close up already shot of milk being placed onto counter
13	Extreme close-up of tapping on counters focus in and out to phone lighting up on isle
14	Medium shot of protagonist walking up to window and grabbing spoon
15	Shot from cupboard of picking up cereal bowl
16	Close-up shot of phone lighting up again, in focus with protagonist in shot in back getting bowl and places on counter closing the door, plus getting up to get cereal now
17	Cupboard opens and shot from inside, cereal is taken out, cupboard closes
18	close-up pan shot of cereal being put in
19	close-up tilt down of milk being poured in
20	close-up of spoon being put into bowl
21	Close-up shot of picking up an apple
22	Steady tracking medium shot of protagonist picking up bowl and taking it over to the island where she sits down
23	Tracking medium shot (right to left) pause (left to right) pause
24	*SRS*/ MOA* Pro speaking to imaginary*
25	(right to left) pause (left to right) pause
26	*SRS/MOA* Pro speaking to imaginary who is now in shot*
27	(right to left) pause *SRS/MOA* Imaginary speaking to pro
28	(left to mid-way) *doorbell*
29	Long shot of view from lounge of both looking at door
30	p.o.v/ o.t.s of protagonist looking into lounge towards door
31	Long shot of view from lounge of both looking at door, with only protagonist in shot
32	Close up of Phone lights up, focus out on protagonist then back in on phone “therapist- I’m outside, open the door” and door bell rings again
33	Cut out to black and a scream