As part of our classwork, we were asked to pitch our short film idea to our classmates. Below is the presentation I created for my pitch of our short film, titled "Quick".
Friday, 22 November 2013
Media Language - Social Groups
In my A2 coursework, the main social group that is represented are students. This means that the social group will consist of people from all races, cultures, classes, and sexuality. The only exception is that they are all likely to be within the same age bracket (young adults.)
Generally, in media, teenagers and young adults are portrayed in a negative light. For example, the television programme Waterloo Road, set in a secondary school, throws at us a constant stream of story lines about the students being 'up to no good.' Some of the worst of these include:
Generally, in media, teenagers and young adults are portrayed in a negative light. For example, the television programme Waterloo Road, set in a secondary school, throws at us a constant stream of story lines about the students being 'up to no good.' Some of the worst of these include:
- Student driving dangerously causes a major traffic accident that kills his best friend and puts his girlfriend into a coma
- Student expelled and arrested for sexually assaulting a teacher
- Two students arguing over a drug-deal. the fight becomes violent, friend attempts to intervene and is unintentionally, but fatally stabbed
- Student is shot by her boyfriend (diagnosed borderline psychopath) after attempting to break up with him
- an unruly student is shown to be using drugs on numerous occasions, as well as vandalising the school an bullying other students into vandalism too. This same student also spikes a teacher's lunch, which results in that teacher being in a serious car accident whilst driving his pregnant girlfriend to A&E
- Student reveals his homosexuality to his best friend, who reacts with anger and disappointment. Student is forced into an unhappy relationship with a female friend in order to keep his secret.
- Under age student having sexual relations with a teacher
- 2 female students becoming pregnant by the same boy
- Student's use of cannabis, later resulting in a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
This programme has been running for 10 series now, so almost anybody that watches television is likely to have seen at least one episode. Having spent 5 years in an average, comprehensive, mixed sex secondary school, I can safely say that I, nor anybody I attended school with, would be able to relate to a single story line presented within this programme. (With the exception of story lines referencing mental health, many teenagers will experience having/knowing someone with a mental illness during their time in school, just not with the consequences presented in Waterloo Road.)
It's programmes such as this that cast young adults in such a poor light. They've taken situations that occur within a tiny minority of teenagers, blown them widely out of proportion, and generalised them to ALL students.
In my A2 coursework, I've' tried to represent the teenage characters as good people.
A key point about the characters is the fact that the male/female friendship is purely platonic. The media makes a huge deal out of sex culture in teenagers and so we hope to show through our characters that sex is not the only thing teenagers think about. The male character attempts to save the female character, not because he hopes to get her into bed, but because she is his friend.
Other stereotypes we've ignored is the idea that a persons style of dress defines them and who they are allowed to be friends with. Typically, the male character's style of dress would see him classified as a "chav." This is the teenage stereotype that carries the majority of the negativity, as they are often seen as 'yobs' who hang about on the streets late at night, carrying knives, and committing petty crimes. The female character could expect to be called a 'goth' or an 'emo' and would usually be the target of bullying from 'chavs.' In my media product, we show these two characters to have a strong friendship, despite the differences they are expected to have due to how they look.
It's programmes such as this that cast young adults in such a poor light. They've taken situations that occur within a tiny minority of teenagers, blown them widely out of proportion, and generalised them to ALL students.
In my A2 coursework, I've' tried to represent the teenage characters as good people.
A key point about the characters is the fact that the male/female friendship is purely platonic. The media makes a huge deal out of sex culture in teenagers and so we hope to show through our characters that sex is not the only thing teenagers think about. The male character attempts to save the female character, not because he hopes to get her into bed, but because she is his friend.
Other stereotypes we've ignored is the idea that a persons style of dress defines them and who they are allowed to be friends with. Typically, the male character's style of dress would see him classified as a "chav." This is the teenage stereotype that carries the majority of the negativity, as they are often seen as 'yobs' who hang about on the streets late at night, carrying knives, and committing petty crimes. The female character could expect to be called a 'goth' or an 'emo' and would usually be the target of bullying from 'chavs.' In my media product, we show these two characters to have a strong friendship, despite the differences they are expected to have due to how they look.
Monday, 18 November 2013
Character Costumes
The female character, Brógan, has a unique and expressive style of dress. Her clothes are very simple but often hint to the punk style of the 70's and 80's. She also wears lots of merchandise sporting names of bands she listens to. Her retro Lego bag is the one thing she will never leave the house without.
Below are some images of some typical items of clothing for this character:
The male character, Bradley, has a much simpler style of dress. Typically he dresses for comfort and practicality rather than fashion. Riding a motorbike to college every day means he is limited to clothes that are suitable for use with his motorbike and the protective clothing worn for it.
Shown below are clothes this character would typically wear:
Character Profiles
Female character: Brógan
In some ways, she adhears to the stereotypes of a female teenager. She puts a lot of time and effort into her appearance, although her style is a little more individual than most people. To put a label on her, we could call her style 'Punk' but this often varies depending on her mood, and the weather. Most people think that her favourite colour is black, but really, it alternates between purple and orange. she is usually seen sporting a set of earphones, her Ipod ranging from Bob Marley to Slipknot.
Personality wise, Brogan is a do-gooder. She's happy to lend a hand to anybody that needs her help. She pays a lot of attention to the people she cares about (sometimes too much!) and she likes to see only the good in people. She is a good listener, which is probably why she gets on so well with the male character, Bradley.
Male character: Bradley
Bradley is the embodiement of the 'typical student.' He likes to dress for comfort as opposed to fashion, meaning you'll often see him in a pair of tracksuit bottoms. (That's not to say that he dresses badly!) From his headphones, we can expect to hear a house music megamix. On an average day Bradley can be found in the gym getting "ripped" or in the kitchen cooking up foods to fuel his workouts.
Bradley is brilliant 'friend' material. he's always willing to lend a hand and he's always available for you to bend his ear should you need to. he's observant, meaning he's likely to know when something's not quite right. Bradley likes people to 'tell it how it is' which explains why he's good friends with Brogan. everybody needs to hear the truth once in a while.
In some ways, she adhears to the stereotypes of a female teenager. She puts a lot of time and effort into her appearance, although her style is a little more individual than most people. To put a label on her, we could call her style 'Punk' but this often varies depending on her mood, and the weather. Most people think that her favourite colour is black, but really, it alternates between purple and orange. she is usually seen sporting a set of earphones, her Ipod ranging from Bob Marley to Slipknot.
Personality wise, Brogan is a do-gooder. She's happy to lend a hand to anybody that needs her help. She pays a lot of attention to the people she cares about (sometimes too much!) and she likes to see only the good in people. She is a good listener, which is probably why she gets on so well with the male character, Bradley.
Male character: Bradley
Bradley is the embodiement of the 'typical student.' He likes to dress for comfort as opposed to fashion, meaning you'll often see him in a pair of tracksuit bottoms. (That's not to say that he dresses badly!) From his headphones, we can expect to hear a house music megamix. On an average day Bradley can be found in the gym getting "ripped" or in the kitchen cooking up foods to fuel his workouts.
Bradley is brilliant 'friend' material. he's always willing to lend a hand and he's always available for you to bend his ear should you need to. he's observant, meaning he's likely to know when something's not quite right. Bradley likes people to 'tell it how it is' which explains why he's good friends with Brogan. everybody needs to hear the truth once in a while.
Friday, 15 November 2013
Media Language: Hegemony
hegemony refers to a group of people in society who have power and influence over others within that society. The group may have power due to wealth, or majority, but in all cases, they use their influence to place their ideas and beliefs onto the other groups within society, and over time, these groups will begin to accept these ideas, not through choice, but simply because very few alternatives exist.
If there is a large production company with very sexist views of women, and a small independant production company with strong feminist beliefs, the larger company would be the one to instigate the hegemony. They would be able to use their assets e.g. money, to overpower the smaller company by buying it. Then, over time, they would begin to subtley place their ideologies into the work of the smaller company, therefore altering the views of the smaller company.
If there is a large production company with very sexist views of women, and a small independant production company with strong feminist beliefs, the larger company would be the one to instigate the hegemony. They would be able to use their assets e.g. money, to overpower the smaller company by buying it. Then, over time, they would begin to subtley place their ideologies into the work of the smaller company, therefore altering the views of the smaller company.
Media Language: Ideology
Ideology is a collection of ideas that are presented by a media product. It often takes the form of the 'moral of the story'. The ideology is placed in the product by the company that produces it, and in most cases will represent the views and beliefs of the company. An example of this can be seen within American films, in which American citizens are represented as extremely patriotic, and are often the person to save the day in the end. American companies believe that they are strong and superior, and so they portray themselves this way within their media products.
In my A2 coursework, I represent the company who's ideas will be portrayed throughout the product. Being a teenager, I am all too aware of the negative stereotypes unfairly placed upon everyone in this age group. People often believe teenagers to be reckless, lazy, rude, and just generally bad people. Although this may be true in some cases, in reality this stereotype applies to a very small minority of teenagers. The ideology in my coursework is therefore created to neutralise this stereotype, and represent my age group truthfully. The main ways the ideology is presented are shown by the male character. In the opening of the short film the male character can be seen driving a moped, but more importantly he is seen to be driving it safely. Statistically, teenagers are the group most likely to be involved in a road accident, but that doesn't mean that every teenager is a bad driver. I think that by showing this character in this way, it is a small step towards changing the way people view young drivers.
In my A2 coursework, I represent the company who's ideas will be portrayed throughout the product. Being a teenager, I am all too aware of the negative stereotypes unfairly placed upon everyone in this age group. People often believe teenagers to be reckless, lazy, rude, and just generally bad people. Although this may be true in some cases, in reality this stereotype applies to a very small minority of teenagers. The ideology in my coursework is therefore created to neutralise this stereotype, and represent my age group truthfully. The main ways the ideology is presented are shown by the male character. In the opening of the short film the male character can be seen driving a moped, but more importantly he is seen to be driving it safely. Statistically, teenagers are the group most likely to be involved in a road accident, but that doesn't mean that every teenager is a bad driver. I think that by showing this character in this way, it is a small step towards changing the way people view young drivers.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Poster Analysis
Upon looking at this poster the first thing I notice is that it is a landscape image, as opposed to portrait, as is typically seen in the film industry. The unusualness of this immediately captured my attention, and I am strongly considering incorporating this into my coursework.
In the centre of the image, we can see a young girl in a formal dress, although her innocence is immediately ruined for us by the fact that she is pointing a gun towards the audience. This could be representing the idea that you shouldn't assume anything about a person based on their appearance e.g. just because she looks like a sweet child, doesn't mean she is. The pink and purple lighting of the background of the image can tell us a lot about the character and the themes of the film.
Representations of the colour pink:
-This colour represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing.
-Pink is feminine and romantic, affectionate and intimate, thoughtful and caring. It tones down the physical passion of red replacing it with a gentle loving energy.
-Pink is intuitive and insightful, showing tenderness and kindness with its empathy and sensitivity.
-In colour psychology, pink is a sign of hope. It is a positive colour inspiring warm and comforting feelings, a sense that everything will be okay.
-The colour pink represents the sweetness and innocence of the child in all of us. It is the colour of uncomplicated emotions, inexperience and naiveté. A constant and exclusive use of pink can often lead you to become immature, silly and girlish, abandoning your adult responsibilities.
Pink can also remind you of earlier childhood memories, associated with nurturing and comfort from your mother or a mother figure.
Although it may appear as though the entire film plot has been given away by the poster, in reality, we know next to nothing about what has caused this scenario, or what will happen as a result of it.
Treatment
Short film- "Quick"
all shot in first person perspective, using a head mounted camera with a fish eye lens.
- Both characters wake up from sleeping in their beds
- Male character begins working out
- Female character showers (not shown explicitly)
- Both characters eat breakfast
- Male character washes
- Female character applies her make-up
- Female character styles her hair
- Male character dresses (not shown explicitly)
- Both characters leave their homes, to begin travelling to college
- Male character gets on a moped, and begins to drive
- Female character walks to a bus stop
- Alternating shots between male character driving and female character waiting at the bus stop
- Female character boards a bus
- Male character continues driving
- Female character disembarks the bus
- Male character pulls into college car park, into his favourite parking spot
- Male character walks towards the road, in order to meet female character
- Female character steps out into the road
- A bus passes in front of male character, obscuring his view of female character
- Screeching tyres can be heard, followed by a large thud
- People can be heard screaming as screen cuts to black
- Screen cuts to male character waking up, obviously panicked
- Male character realises he has been dreaming, and has had some kind of premonition.
- Male character's morning journey to college is shown again, only this time much more rushed as he worries about female character
- Shots of male character driving to college, driving far less cautiously
- Male character pulls into car park, doesn't bother finding his favourite parking space
- Male character sprints towards the road and crosses using the traffic lights
- Female character's bus pulls up just as male character reaches the bus stop
- Male character is physically tired and out of breath, but tries his best to disguise this as he greets female character as if nothing is wrong
- Male character suggests going to get a coffee before class. He avoids mentioning anything that happened that morning.
all shot in first person perspective, using a head mounted camera with a fish eye lens.
- Both characters wake up from sleeping in their beds
- Male character begins working out
- Female character showers (not shown explicitly)
- Both characters eat breakfast
- Male character washes
- Female character applies her make-up
- Female character styles her hair
- Male character dresses (not shown explicitly)
- Both characters leave their homes, to begin travelling to college
- Male character gets on a moped, and begins to drive
- Female character walks to a bus stop
- Alternating shots between male character driving and female character waiting at the bus stop
- Female character boards a bus
- Male character continues driving
- Female character disembarks the bus
- Male character pulls into college car park, into his favourite parking spot
- Male character walks towards the road, in order to meet female character
- Female character steps out into the road
- A bus passes in front of male character, obscuring his view of female character
- Screeching tyres can be heard, followed by a large thud
- People can be heard screaming as screen cuts to black
- Screen cuts to male character waking up, obviously panicked
- Male character realises he has been dreaming, and has had some kind of premonition.
- Male character's morning journey to college is shown again, only this time much more rushed as he worries about female character
- Shots of male character driving to college, driving far less cautiously
- Male character pulls into car park, doesn't bother finding his favourite parking space
- Male character sprints towards the road and crosses using the traffic lights
- Female character's bus pulls up just as male character reaches the bus stop
- Male character is physically tired and out of breath, but tries his best to disguise this as he greets female character as if nothing is wrong
- Male character suggests going to get a coffee before class. He avoids mentioning anything that happened that morning.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Media Language: Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of 'signs'. The basic formula for semiotics is made up of 'the signifier' and 'the signified'.
The signifier is the image itself, what it shows, and what the audience sees when they look at it. The signified is the connotations suggested by the image, and the implied meanings that the audience will take from it.
Some examples of semiotics taken from my AS Coursework:
The signified aspect of this image is was really gives it it's quality. In the lower left hand corner of the image, you may or may not have noticed the strange looking girl standing on the staircase, visible through the window. Although she is not hiding, most people would not see this character straight away. This idea of 'hiding in plain sight' encourages the horror theme running throughout my coursework. The implied meaning of this is that danger can be right in front of you but most of us don't pay enough attention to notice it. This is boosted by the idea that the 'danger' in this scenario is not an object, but another person.
The signifier of this image is just a stack of paper, probably some sort of office filing, nothing overly interesting. only upon closer inspection would the audience notice the writing ON the paper, which informs us that this 'office filing' is in fact a psychological assessment, stating that the patient it relates to is classified as 'Extremely Dangerous.' From this, the audience are able to make their own decisions about the reasons why a person could be considered dangerous, and therefore each person's interpretation of the film will be different. This is intended to be a horror film, so i really like the idea that the audience are able to create their own fears because they are putting their own interpretations into the film, so will make the film more personal to themselves.
This screenshot, taken from the opening credits of my coursework, initally appears to be a typical horror film cliché. Bloody handprints are not uncommon in horror, and are most often left by the 'victim.' In this case, the signified aspect of this is formed by the fact that the handprint features 6 digits, as apposed to the 5 we normally expect. This hints to the idea of something paranormal or unusual. Although in most cases, the significance of this handprint is missed by the audience, due to the style of our editing. From this mistake i have learnt how best to present these signifiers to the audience, for fuller impact.
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