Research & Planning

Describe the ways in which your production work and informed and aided by research into real media texts and planning. How was your ability to use research and planning for production developed over time.


Within the two year media course I had to produce a foundation portfolio of a horror film opening and then a fashion advert, along with a sponsorship and pop-up for my advance portfolio. This in itself is a development of the skills used in the foundation production as I have learnt how to express media texts in a different  form of advertising. 

Research was key in the first year, we used YouTube to look at existing horror openings to see what conventions are used so we could gain knowledge and understanding of the genre we had chosen. YouTube allowed the research process to be a lot easier as I was able to watch popular film openings such as Women in Black, which influenced my film opening massively as I decided to follow majority of the conventions used but also challenge some. Also Youtube allowed me to look at previous media students film openings that they had made, this was important in the research stage as it gave me an insight into what my opening could look like. My ability to research has developed from my foundation portfolio as I realised in my advanced portfolio how important looking into existing media products is as it gives you ideas but also allows you to see where your media production would fit in the market. 

Within both my foundation and advanced portfolio I researched into the camera work and movements that are used. When looking at camera work within film openings they consists of simple shots such as close ups, long shots whereas in my advanced portfolio when looking at camera work in adverts there are a number of different quick shots and a number of movements used such as tilt, zoom in ect. This shows that my research has developed as I am able to identify the different shot types used in specific media texts. 

Target audience was a huge area within the research stage, I used web 2.0 to gather secondary research such as viewing statistics for those who watch horror films, referring to age and gender. This allowed me to gain an understanding of who is most likely to watch my horror opening and therefore allowed me to choose who I will target my opening at. In my advanced portfolio I developed my research into audience by carrying out primary research as well as secondary. I did this by making a Facebook page as I wanted to know what my target audience liked and what they wanted to see in order for my media production to appeal to them. Also throughout my advanced portfolio I carried out a number of questionnaires, such as my company name. During my advanced portfolio I also researched into existing fashion adverts, like I did in my foundation portfolio however this time I looked at how they target their audience as well as the conventions. 

In the first year planning involved the making of my preliminary task which was a short video of a number of different camera movements and a conversation. This allowed me to practise using the camera so that when it came to filming my film opening I would have the knowledge of a variety of different shots. 

The planning stage for my advanced portfolio has been a lot more in-depth and detailed as I have realised the better planned the media production is the better the end result. Therefore in my advanced portfolio I have made a detailed shot list, a story board of each shot within my advert and I have also made a number of trial run adverts so I could see if my idea worked before I shoot the final production. The planning stage in the second year has also been a lot more time consuming as we have also had to complete the planning for a sponsorship and a pop-up. In order to make my pop-up I have had to make a skeleton layout, I also practised a number of times making a pop-up to test colour schemes and front sizes ect. This is all so that when it comes to make the final production I know exactly what I want and what looks good and what doesn't. Therefore my ability to use planning had developed due to the fact that I have more methods of making the most of the planning process to create the best end result(the media production-advert).

Overall my ability to use research and planning has developed over my foundation and advanced portfolio as I have realised how important it is.

Exam Questions

Question 1:
Analyse your film opening with regards to genre.

In relation to genre I am going to write about my media production from my first year in As media. The production I am going to talk about is a film opening. The chosen genre for the opening was horror, this allowed us to be more creative with the narrative due to the fact that there is such a wide range of sub genres within the horror market, for example: Slasher films, Comedy horror & Psychological horror ect. However this also gave us limitations because there were certain conventions that we had to follow. The conventions of a horror film are: The fear of unknown, characters are portrayed to be on edge, the setting would be located in a deserted area with no surroundings, dark lighting, fade to blacks, children characters, nursery rhymes tense/scary music and sound effects. We followed all of these conventions in order for our opening to appeal to our target audience. We also developed the convention of the use of children characters because we portrayed the children to be evil rather than following the stereotype of children being sweet and innocent, we wanted to challenge this. 

Mise-en-scene plays a key part in establishing a film genre, the location, props, make-up & costume all constitute to making the genre clear to identify, for example a chainsaw could be used in a horror film, whereas a gun would be used in a action film. The theorist, Steve Neal said that "Genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations", meaning certain features have to be included and repeated in order to establish genre. His theory applies to my horror opening as continuously though the opening fade to blacks were repeatedly used and dark lighting, on edge characters and a deserted area was included to identify that the opening was of a horror genre. 

We had to create an enigma code within the opening in order to make the audience want to watch the whole film, therefore we had to make the opening interesting and make the audience question what will happen next & the only way they will find out is by watching the rest of the film. Steve Neal also said that "Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre" meaning that different film genres have to follow different conventions to establish what type of genre a film is, for example in my film opening dark lighting was used, whereas in a romance the lighting would be very bright to create a happy atmosphere. 

In my horror opening the main character was a female, we used a female character because stereotypically women are weaker and more venerable than men, therefore it made it easier for us to convince our audience that the women was scared and Venerable, whereas trying to show that a male character was scared would be rather hard. This relates to the common convention of the victim in horror films being weak female characters. David chandler supports this as he believes that representation always constitutes reality, therefore this relates to my opening because women are seen to be weaker in reality and I have represented the women to me weak within my media production. 

Question 2:
Discuss the way that women are represented in the media.

Generally women are not portrayed positively through the media, they wouldn't be shown to be successful or speak about their education, it would just be about the way they look. However the media is "made by men, for men" which supports Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, meaning that the women are just there for men to look at, they are teated like sex objects & Laura believes that the male gaze theory denies women human identity. 
This is supported in the Blurred lines video, in the original music video there are a number of girls wearing basically nothing and they are just shown dancing while the men watch them. Due to the fact that media is made by men they will portray women in a negative way because they will want their male group to look better and powerful, also if they women were portrayed positively they could take the mens place in making media. On the other hand everything has been constructed and put through mediation. The views of women has become a dominate ideology as the majority believe this, the cultivation theory of George Gerbner also links to this as generally society have just excepted that women are represented in a negative way. In a number of films women are portrayed to depend on a man. 

In Brief Encounter the women main character is shown to be very unhappy in her marriage until she meets another man & throughout their whole affair the man is in control and then towards the end the man has to leave for a new job and the women has to just accept it. This supports the stereotype that in a relationship between a women and man, the man has control. 

The theorist Richard Dyer said that "how we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat other is based on how we see them & how we view them comes from representation". This means that the way we see women represented in the media results in the way we treat them, meaning men in reality may believe that it is right to treat women like sex objects because that is how they are represented in the media. This theory links to the way women have lived in society and still live today, in many media productions women are portrayed to play a motherly role by staying at home looking after the children, cleaning and cooking. This suggest the reasons why in relationships the women today and in the past stay at home and the men go to work to provide for their family. 

Self representation is becoming a huge part of the media as technology grows, it allows prosumers to make their own media products and represent themselves in a way they want to be represented rather than how they are made to be represented. There is a remake of the Blurred Lines music video which challenges the way women have originally been represented in the actual video. In the official video the women are just there for the men and its all about the way they look and being attractive to look at for the men in the video and the men who will watch the video, however in the remake the representation of women is very different. The women are shown to be dominate rather than subordinate, this is supported when one women is shown to be walking a man on a dog collar. 

Henry Jenkins supports the idea of self representation due to the fact that he believes in cultural convergence, meaning when consumers are empowered to edit, annotate and create content. This means real people in society are allowed to represent themselves for what they really are. Through the media women are represented through the use of stereotypes, for example a bleach blonde women would be represented through the media as a "dumb blonde", in reality a women with bleach blonde hair could be very successful and be well educated. 

Ronald Barthes theory supports this as he said that representations are myths, meaning representations are not real its a blurring between what is real and what is not, for example a celebrity image, the image will have been through mediation and the end result will look nothing like the celebrity in reality and the image itself is a myth because its an image of the celebrity its not the actual celebrity in real life. 

The film Sket challenges the way women are portrayed in the media. Stereotypically women are shown as weak but this is the opposite in Sket, the women are shown to be tough and portrayed as typical gang members. However you would normally associate gangs with male characters but Sket has gone against this and used female characters as the main characters. You would normally associate violence and fear with masculine male characters but the females in Sket are portrayed as masculine & come across very violent when normally women would be sweet & innocent. 

How you have used representation to create meaning in the film opening that you made this year?

Within the film opening I made last you, representation has been shown in many different ways.

Firstly the main character I used was a teenage girl. Throughout the whole of the film she is represented as the stereotypical women. She is portrayed to be weak and venerable, which is a stereotype of women. I did this by making the main character have an unsettled sleep, showing her fidgeting which is the denotation and the connotation is that she's having a nightmare. The costume worn by the  main character is also very stereotypical as she is wearing pink pajamas with bows on, the colour pink is very much associated with women/girls. The colour pink is again used when looking at the decor of the bedroom location. Also the bed covers are pink and flowery. This is known as a dominate ideology as the majority would believe that teenage girls love the colour pink. The main character is also shown writing in her diary, which shows she is very insecure, another stereotype of women.   


secondly the other two girl characters that I used were represented to be the opposite of the stereotypical young girls. Therefore meaning that I challenged the representation. I used two young girls, normally would be sweet & innocent but I went against this and represented them as evil and scary. This would not be a dominate ideology. I decided to represent the girls in this way to move the audience give my opening a twist to other horror openings. The two girl characters were only shown in the opening for a few seconds, there was a number of quick flashes of them through the use of short cuts. I did this to create an enigma code for the audience as I wanted them to have questions about the girls as they would know nothing about them from just the opening, therefore they was represented as mysterious. 

I also thought very hard about the right location as it was important that it matched the representation of the two evil girls & the main character. I then decided to use the swing location as I believed that the moving swing in the wind was very unsettling just like the way the main character was feeling, it also linked to the mystery representation of the two girls. 

The camera work also helped with the representation of the main character by making her look venerable. one example is the use of a dolly shot, moving around the bed mad the main character look very isolated from the outside world, very also and venerable. The number of close ups that I used on her face to show the audience how she was feeling was also a way of representing her to be the stereotypical women.

When looking at the costume, representation was also used. In the story line the two girl are from a different time period, this is made clear through the costume as it represents them to be old fashioned through the maid looking costumes.

Theorists

Theorists from sophbennett1234

Why is studying the representation of women important?

Studying the representation of women in the media is important because we need to know and understand that the representation of women is not real, everything has been constructed and put through mediation, to negatively portray women. The negativity of women has become a dominate ideology as the majority believe this, the cultivation theory (George Gerbner) also links to this as generally society have just excepted that women are represented in a negative may. The way women are represented negatively also supports the hegemony theory as because the media is made by men they will portray other people, such as women, other races, working classes ect negatively so they can keep their group in power of the media. It is also important to learn about the way women are represented because in the Tv programme 'I want to marry Harry' the 12 women are shown to only be interested in finding love and their prince (Disney, isn't real) within the first 7 seconds, it doesn't speak about them having an education or say anything they are good at, it just portrays them as the stereotypical women wanting a husband, being there for the men. Linking to the fact that women are represented in the media to be there for the men and for male pleasure, this is known as Male Gaze- "made for men, by men" as the media is also made by men. Women are also shown as sex objects for men in music videos, films, photos and a number of other media platforms, women being shown in this way objectifies them as its only showing parts of their body. 

Theorists:
Richard Dyer- How we see determinds the way we treat people. This is shown in the representation of women through blurred lines as they are portrayed to be sex objects, men in real life believe thats how women should be treated. 

Brief encounter

Throughout the whole of the film the main women is represented to be very emotional and weak, this is shown through her body language and her facial expressions. Also during the film there is a narration of the women speaking & telling her own story of her secret affair, this allows the audience to connect with her thoughts and feelings, also supporting the representation that women are weak and emotional. 

There are many stereotypes used In the film to show the representation of women. One being caring about their appearance, a number of times the women character is shown to be powdering her nose, looking in the mirror and doing her hair. Another stereotype used is the motherly role, the women is represented to have two children and is a house wife, she does the weekly shopping every Thursday and is a stay at home mum/ house wife, this is a common stereotype as the mother stays at home looking after the children while the father works to provide for the family. The father also says to the mother "I want my dinner" this shows that within the relationship the man is in control, another stenotype of women. 

The women character is very well dressed, smart and tidy. This shows that she is quite wealthy, this is also supported because the women is well spoken and quite posh, she also has a nice house. Meaning she is represented to have a stable/wealthy income. However this women character is shown to be smoking which challenges the stenotype of the women that would be shown smoking as in today's society you wouldn't associate a posh, wealthy women to be smoking, it would be a lower class women's stereotype. On the other hand during the time period of the film, smoking may have been a stereotype for women.

During the film another women character is shown to be the owner of the coffee shop, she is cleaning which is another stereotype of women, also a man character comes into the shop and slaps the women's bum, this supports the representation that women are sex objects for men. Two other men then come into the shop a little later and ask for alcohol, the women says no and the men are shown to be rude and aggressive, this again shows that the men have control of the relationship. 

The main women character towards the end of the film is shown to be very vulnerable, again another stereotype of women, she cannot cope with the lies and the affair that she is having, this is supported when the women says she feels like a criminal. Ones her secret partner has to leave for a new job, the women becomes very unhappy and is shown to want to kill herself, she nearly jumps I front of a train, showing a gain she is ashamed apof what she has done and cannot cope with the guilt. 

Theorists:
Gerbner- The Cultivation theory links to brief encounter because society have excepted that women are weak and venerable.
Roland Barthes- The belief that representation is a myth. This links to brief encounter because it is a myth that the affair between the two will ever work out, which is shown through the women's feelings as deep down she isn't really happy. 

Stereotypes of Women

Stereotypes of women from sophbennett1234

Representation of women- introduction

Key words:

• Mediation- The process of taking a reality, interpreting it and then re-presenting it to the audience. 
• Denotation- What you see.
• Connotation- What you infer. 
• Stereotypes- A way in which people are grouped together.
• Representation- The re-presenting of a reality to an audience by a producer.
• Male-Gaze- Media is made by men, for men.
• self representation
• Ideology- Are messages or values that are embedded into media (influence of peoples ideas, beliefs and actions). 
• Dominant Ideology- Most common Ideology thats accepted by the majority.
• Hegemony- The ruling class(media people) maintains their power through the control of ideas and culture rather than force.

Theorist:

• George Gerbner started the Cultivation Theory. Theorists argued that media has long term effects, Cultivation theory helps us to understand the importance of the media, making an immediate effect to a slower more accumulative effect.
• Jean Baudrillard introduced the idea of Hyperreality, with blurred boundaries between the real and the fictional, for example Disney world exists in the real world yet is based on a fictional make.
• Roland Barthes believed that the representations are Mythic/Myths, representations are problematic and simulations of realities which don't exist. A blurring between what is real and what is not, for example celebrity images.
• Richard Dyer said that how we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them & how we view them comes from representation.
• David Chandler representation always involves the construction of reality. 
• Anthony Giddens believes ideology refers to the influence of ideas on peoples beliefs and actions.
• Henry Jenkins believed in Cultural Convergence, meaning when consumers are empowered to edit, annotate and create content. For example social networks.

Representation of women in Sket

At the very first part of the clip the representation of women goes against the stereotypical women as stereotypically women would be sweet, innocent, girly, care about their appearance ect. Therefore this is challenging the stereotypes.

 In this scene a relationship is shown between the two boys and the girl, during this relationship the boys have the power over the girl as she is represented to be weak and scared, meaning the boys are more dominant, which is a stereotype of men in a relationship.

This scene also follows the stereotypes because the older women character is represented to play the motherly role of the younger character. 

Representation of women in Blurred lines

In the start of Blurred Lines the representation of women is shown through the women being objectified for the pleasure of men. As the women are shown to be dancing around the men as they watch them it shows them as sex objects.

In this scene the man is represented to have power over the women as he is shown to be smoking in her face and she is letting it happen, meaning she has no control, which is a stereotype of women.

Towards the end of Blurred Lines one of the men is represented to be looking at the women while she dances for him, this supports the meaning of male-gaze as the media is made by men and for men.

Theorists- Richard dyers theory of how we see people represented in the media determines how we treat people is shown in the video of blurred lines. This is because women are shown to be there for men's pleasure and shown as sex objects this links to Richards theory as women can be treated like sex objects in real life.

Self representation

This allows prosumers to make their own media and challenge how they are portrayed through the media.

The blurred lines music video has been self represented, meaning people have made their own remake of the video. In the self represented blurred lines video the story line has completely flipped and the stereotypes are challenged of both women and men. For example in the original video the women are shown to be there for the men to look at, they are portrayed as sex objects, which is a common media approach, "media is made by men, for men. On the other hand in the self represented video the men are on dog leads, being controlled by the women. This challenges stereotypes of men because stereotypically the men are in power in a relationship between a man and a women, also challenging stereotypes of women because stereotypically they are portrayed to be weak, this is the opposite in the self represented blurred lines video.

Representation of Chandelier

• During the first 24 hours of the music video being released the video has 1 million views.

At the start of the music video for Chandelier the 11 year old girl is wearing a flesh coloured leotard and in some scenes it seems that she is wearing nothing and comes across as she is naked. This challenges the stereotypes of girls her age as they would no stereotypically be wearing leotards, making them look naked.

The fact that the subject of the song is about suicide and alcoholism and the girl in the video is only 11 years old it challenges stereotypes as 11 year olds would not be involved in suicide or alcoholism.

During the whole of the video the girl is represented doing very strange, unknown dance moves, young girls would not normally be shown dancing like this. Therefore again challenging the stereotypes of young girls.

Theorists- Roland Barthes theory links to the music video of chandelier because the theme of the song being about suicide and alcohol and then the girl in the video only being 11 years old is a myth, which is what Roland believes, the representation of the young girl in the video is a myth because it is not real, a young girl would not be associated with suicide and alcohol.