Thursday, 28 October 2010
Explain how ethnicity is represented in the clip
In this short clip of Hotel Babylon ethnicity is portrayed in a very stereotypical way.
To begin with we see a long shot of two males, one black and one white. The black male is working for the white male which could show a stereotype of how white men used to have more power and a higher status andliving luxurious lives. The camera pans and follows the black male, he is then approached by someone who is obviously a friend that has not been contacted in a while. It appears that the working male seems slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed. The guy that gets out of the pool explores stereotypes of a Jamaican-Dreadlocks, talking about cannabis etc. He also speaks in a Jamaican dialect using words such as "blud" and "innit" The difference between these two characters is known as a binary opposite. They are completely different characters-one smart, well presented, well spoken and the other in very little, casual clothing, speaking in a non English accent and quite scruffy.
Next we move on to a shot of two maids. Stereotypically maids are french, and we realise that when a conversation occurs between these two characters they clearly are not English and have some kind of eastern European accent. The maids conversation explains how the guest (who the audience will soon see) "pays double for double" obviously this is a sexual reference and again explores the stereotype of the french maid being submissive. As the audience are introduced to the maids client we see he is Japanese, this again is exploring ethnic stereotypes-the fact the oldish man seems interested in women a lot younger than his self and that he is wealthy. When the audience get a better view of the room we take notice it is extremely clean and tidy, again another stereotype of the Japanese. He also turns on a radio with a remote, I feel this is trying to show another stereotype as they are associated to love and be up to date with the latest technology. The music continues playing and moves smoothly on to the next scene...
This short scene is showing the stereotypes of British men. In this particular scene a man is on the toilet and a staff member has come to provide him with toilet role. As the staff member is calling the mans name we notice he is called Mr.Taylor which seems a very British name. As the man is complaining we also understand he is very well spoken but extrememly angry. Another two stereotypes of British men-being angry and posh. The fact the man had to get someone to fetch him the toilet roll also shows he is lazy, even after this has been given to him he seems ungrateful.
Following onto the next scene are a male and female. These are well spoken, suggesting they are perhaps well educated individuals. We also understand these characters are important and high up in the management of the hotel, this can be shown from the way they are speaking to there appearance. The characters are talking about their kitchen staff.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Evaluating the use of the male gaze in Calvin Kleins 'Eva Mendes'
The next thing that seems to quite striking is her posture. It is not particularly feminine as she is standing with her legs open and her hands on her hips. As her stance is fairly masculine it gives a stereotypical look of domination. The way her hands are positioned almost points the viewers in the direction they should be looking. Also on her hands we notice there is no ring which suggests she is available. This could lead the audience of this advert to beleive young adults are wearing this brand and that they are still sexually active and having fun. Stereotpically unlike married couples who are thought to not be having as good life as these young adults.
The items she is wearing are firstly all Calvin Klein. This is obviously to advertise this brand to the maximum. She is wearing suspenders which are thought to be attractive and sexy to men. The heels are used to make the models legs look slimmer and longer. Her upper clothing is very plain bra which we could perhaps see as being 'masculine' as it is not a stereotypically feminine one such as lace. Her skin is also very oiled up which gives her the look of being wet. This could suggest to the audience she has just come out of a shower and is getting ready to go out somewhere. The look of being wet is also appealing and attractive to the opposite sex.
In conclusion I feel this advert is aimed at both women and men however, I do feel their are different purposes aimed at each gender. For example, to women, I feel this picture is aimed to aspire to;as most women are looking at other women to compare themselves to (relating back to Laura Mulvey's male gave theory) I think by looking at this advert women can understand how men could find it appealing and aspire to look like this, they also get the impression wearing this brand gives them a more sexy and powerful look. However it could also be slightly intimidating and make women feel bad about them selves as the majority of women do not give this overall impression when wearing this type of underwear. To males this could simply be eye candy; this is just something to look at. However Calvin Klein could be using this as a technique for men to buy this underwear for their partners as it looks attractive on this particular model.
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Stereotypical representation of characters in British TV dramas-Nathen from Misfits
I have chosen to study Nathan from the channel 4 drama series of Misfits and to show how he is a stereotype of his age. Immediately we can see how the producers of this drama have chosen to represent the teenage characters in a stereotypical way as they all have been causing trouble and consequently have to be taking part in community service. This portrays them as being the usual ASBO teen causing trouble. As the very beginning of this series begins, we can see Nathan smoking again, another stereotype of teenagers. Throughout the episodes of Misfits we can see Nathan is a joker and likes to almost bully others. He never really takes anything seriously either. He is described to have an answer for everything, sarcastic wite and fondness for pushing things too far and irritating.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
The male gaze
The male gaze (Laura Mulvey)
Features of the male gaze
The camera lingers on the curves of the female body and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events. The male gaze relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewers must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.
We were then asked to watch closely at the music video 'She's so lovely' by Scouting for Girls. Once the video was finished we were asked a number of questions;
1) What colour top was he and she wearing?
2)What bowling alley was used?
3)What colour belt did she wear?
4)What colour shoes did they wear?
When asked to answer these questions we found the majority of females in the class had got these questions right and the males had got a lot of these questions wrong. This was the results that would be expected as the woman in the video was distracting to the heterosexual male. This was supporting the male gaze theory to prove it was correct.
The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. For feminists it can be thought of in 3 ways;
1) How men look at women
2) How women look at men
3) How women look at other women
Laura Mulvey believes that in film, audiences have to 'view' characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.
1) How men look at women
2) How women look at men
3) How women look at other women
Laura Mulvey believes that in film, audiences have to 'view' characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.
Features of the male gaze
The camera lingers on the curves of the female body and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events. The male gaze relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewers must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.
We were then asked to watch closely at the music video 'She's so lovely' by Scouting for Girls. Once the video was finished we were asked a number of questions;
1) What colour top was he and she wearing?
2)What bowling alley was used?
3)What colour belt did she wear?
4)What colour shoes did they wear?
When asked to answer these questions we found the majority of females in the class had got these questions right and the males had got a lot of these questions wrong. This was the results that would be expected as the woman in the video was distracting to the heterosexual male. This was supporting the male gaze theory to prove it was correct.
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Chocolate box-Half/full smile -Lips together/slightly parted -Teeth barely visible -Full/three-quarters of face to the camera |
 |
| Invitational -Emphasis on the eyes -Mouth shut with hint of a smile -Head to one side of looking back into the camera |
 |
Super-smiler-Full face -Wide open, toothy smile -Head thrusts forward or chin thrown back -Hair often wind blown |
 | ||||
| Romantic or sexual-Includes male/female 'two-somes' -Dreamy -Heavy lidded -Overtly sensual/sexual
|
 |
| Practical |
 |
| Catalouge |
Friday, 8 October 2010
Presentations of 7 areas-My notes (Age, regional identity, ethnicity, sexuality)
In this lesson we were presenting our prezi presentations. Each pair would talk through the area they had researched whilst the rest of the class made notes.
Age
-Age represents how you act and what defines you.
-The stereotypical baby would be portrayed as either crying or being cute and cuddly.
-The stereotypical old person would be portrayed as sitting around doing nothing. There is also the other view of old people being wise, miserable and crazy.
-There is a similarity between old and very young people-they are both very dependant and need looking after
-Children often play important roles in the media which make the target audience which are usually the same age aspire to be like them
-Teenagers would be portrayed as either being geeky and keen to learn or trouble makers that are under-age drinking and taking drugs
-Young adults, especially women are shown to be perfect looking, glamorous and successful. The media also seem to show these years are your best and most enjoyable.
SexualityA huge majority of the media tend to focus on gay men. When they are shown in programmes they are used to create a different kind of story line. Plots involve 'coming out' coping with their sexuality and religion, discovering sexuality or being a victim of bullying because of it. The extreme stereotype of a gay male would be thought of to wear tight clothing, liking fashion and being bitchy. Stereotypical hobbies include acting, dancing, singing and shopping. Stereotypically lesbians are seen to be butch and masculine however there are people that show this isn't always the case like Linsay Lohan.
Ethnicity
 |
| An over exaggerated stereotype of a teenager (Vicky Pollard from Little Britain) |
-Age represents how you act and what defines you.
-The stereotypical baby would be portrayed as either crying or being cute and cuddly.
-The stereotypical old person would be portrayed as sitting around doing nothing. There is also the other view of old people being wise, miserable and crazy.
-There is a similarity between old and very young people-they are both very dependant and need looking after
-Children often play important roles in the media which make the target audience which are usually the same age aspire to be like them
-Teenagers would be portrayed as either being geeky and keen to learn or trouble makers that are under-age drinking and taking drugs
-Young adults, especially women are shown to be perfect looking, glamorous and successful. The media also seem to show these years are your best and most enjoyable.
SexualityA huge majority of the media tend to focus on gay men. When they are shown in programmes they are used to create a different kind of story line. Plots involve 'coming out' coping with their sexuality and religion, discovering sexuality or being a victim of bullying because of it. The extreme stereotype of a gay male would be thought of to wear tight clothing, liking fashion and being bitchy. Stereotypical hobbies include acting, dancing, singing and shopping. Stereotypically lesbians are seen to be butch and masculine however there are people that show this isn't always the case like Linsay Lohan.
Ethnicity
Narrative Codes
There are five narrative codes, they can be open or closed. When a narrative tv/film is closed it has no other ending, it can only be interpreted in one way. An example of a closed film would be something such as a detective kind of genre, this is usually because once a mystery has been solved there is no further story line. An example of a closed TV programme would be a children's episode. This is because children have short attention span and lose interest in a long running series. The endings will also most of the time be very predictable i.e the bad guy will never win. When a narrative TV/film is open it can be interpreted in more than one way and will not have a specific ending. Mr Smith gave us an example to make us visualise this better, picture a ball of string. The open narrative can be unravelled in many ways however the closed narrative has only one obvious way of being opened.
Number 1: Action code
This applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gun-slinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.
Number 3: The semantic code
Any element in a text that suggests a particular , often additional meaning by the way of connotation.
Number 4: The cultural code
Any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge" In other words, the cultural codes tent to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works.
Number 5: The symbolic
This is annoyingly difficult to explain. One will most likely understand this term better when studying binary opposites. (Levi Strauss argued that narrative structures have binary opposites. I.E good vs evil.
Number 1: Action code
This applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gun-slinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.
Number 2: Enigma code
This refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explication
Number 3: The semantic code
Any element in a text that suggests a particular , often additional meaning by the way of connotation.
Number 4: The cultural code
Any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge" In other words, the cultural codes tent to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works.
Number 5: The symbolic
This is annoyingly difficult to explain. One will most likely understand this term better when studying binary opposites. (Levi Strauss argued that narrative structures have binary opposites. I.E good vs evil.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Is Max a stereotypical teenager?
When asked to picture the stereotypical teenager I think of this in two ways. I see the stereotypical British teenager and the stereotypical American teenager. In my opinion I think they are both completely different.
First of all the British teenager has the bad image from the media. Often being accused of anti-social behaviour, because of this, the majority of British teenagers are looked upon as being nothing but trouble makers. Just when typing into google 'British teenagers' two articles immediately draw my attention-both of which are BBC articles.
'British teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe, a study by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests. In Britain we have come to both demonise and fear our teenagers: the yobs, the hoodies, the street gangs - the Asbo generation which terrorises neighbourhoods."
"On every indicator of bad behaviour - drugs, drink, violence, promiscuity - the UK was at or near the top, said the Institute for Public Policy Research.Measured against German, French and Italian youngsters, British 15-year-olds are drunk more often and involved in more fights, and a higher proportion have had sex."As you can see from these extracts from two different articles the image of British teenagers are extremely negative. Unfortunately this is perhaps what the stereotypical British teen is seen as. As for Max, he is clearly nothing like any of whats being described above.
Apart from news reports British teens are also portrayed in popular television programmes such as Inbetweeners and Skins.
Secondly the American teenager. Personally I don't think I have ever came across negative press about American teens or any press at all thinking about it. There never seems to be much talk about the behaviour of these people. Nor have I ever approached or even spoken to an American teenager therefore my thoughts of one are merely based on how they have been portrayed in films such as Mean girls. Most films with American teens in seem to be based around school, perhaps this is because directors feel this is the best way to portray these specific characters. So the majority of the time the school seems to be divided into groups. Groups such as "Jocks" or "the plastics" or the "geeks" All of which follow certain behaviours, actions and looks.
In conclusion I feel Max could and could not be seen as the stereotypical teenager. Talking in terms of the British teenager then perhaps not as he is certainly nothing like a hooded yob hanging out on street corners causing trouble whilst consuming alcohol and drugs. In terms of the American teen in the majority of films then yes. He would fall into a certain group of people at his school, probably the geeks. Still, this is a stereotype he falls in to. However in Rushmore which is the school in which the film is set Max seems to stick out as a student. His look is extremely different to the rest of the boys in the school; whilst the majority of them are dressed in plain jumpers Max appears to be dressed in a blazer. He also takes part in many out of school clubs, some of which include French club, stamp and coin collectors, astronomy society and beekeepers. As for the clubs he participates in you can quite clearly tell they are somewhat different to what a stereotypical teenager would take part in. When the short clips of these clubs are shown in the film I feel the director has purposely chosen to position Max in the centre of most of the shots. This gives the impression that Max is in power in most of these activities.Depending on the audience type we now understand Max slightly better as a person. In eyes of myself and other people my age it is likely that we will think Max does not really have a life or many friends as most of the additives he is doing are seen as slightly 'sad'. We also think Max does not have any friends because most of the people in the clubs appear to be younger than him. This could be for many reasons; one reason being he feels a sense of power with the younger students. In eyes of adults they could just see Max as a keen worker, someone who wants to do well in life. A mature and independent young adult.
First of all the British teenager has the bad image from the media. Often being accused of anti-social behaviour, because of this, the majority of British teenagers are looked upon as being nothing but trouble makers. Just when typing into google 'British teenagers' two articles immediately draw my attention-both of which are BBC articles.
'British teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe, a study by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests. In Britain we have come to both demonise and fear our teenagers: the yobs, the hoodies, the street gangs - the Asbo generation which terrorises neighbourhoods."
"On every indicator of bad behaviour - drugs, drink, violence, promiscuity - the UK was at or near the top, said the Institute for Public Policy Research.Measured against German, French and Italian youngsters, British 15-year-olds are drunk more often and involved in more fights, and a higher proportion have had sex."As you can see from these extracts from two different articles the image of British teenagers are extremely negative. Unfortunately this is perhaps what the stereotypical British teen is seen as. As for Max, he is clearly nothing like any of whats being described above.
Apart from news reports British teens are also portrayed in popular television programmes such as Inbetweeners and Skins.
Secondly the American teenager. Personally I don't think I have ever came across negative press about American teens or any press at all thinking about it. There never seems to be much talk about the behaviour of these people. Nor have I ever approached or even spoken to an American teenager therefore my thoughts of one are merely based on how they have been portrayed in films such as Mean girls. Most films with American teens in seem to be based around school, perhaps this is because directors feel this is the best way to portray these specific characters. So the majority of the time the school seems to be divided into groups. Groups such as "Jocks" or "the plastics" or the "geeks" All of which follow certain behaviours, actions and looks.
In conclusion I feel Max could and could not be seen as the stereotypical teenager. Talking in terms of the British teenager then perhaps not as he is certainly nothing like a hooded yob hanging out on street corners causing trouble whilst consuming alcohol and drugs. In terms of the American teen in the majority of films then yes. He would fall into a certain group of people at his school, probably the geeks. Still, this is a stereotype he falls in to. However in Rushmore which is the school in which the film is set Max seems to stick out as a student. His look is extremely different to the rest of the boys in the school; whilst the majority of them are dressed in plain jumpers Max appears to be dressed in a blazer. He also takes part in many out of school clubs, some of which include French club, stamp and coin collectors, astronomy society and beekeepers. As for the clubs he participates in you can quite clearly tell they are somewhat different to what a stereotypical teenager would take part in. When the short clips of these clubs are shown in the film I feel the director has purposely chosen to position Max in the centre of most of the shots. This gives the impression that Max is in power in most of these activities.Depending on the audience type we now understand Max slightly better as a person. In eyes of myself and other people my age it is likely that we will think Max does not really have a life or many friends as most of the additives he is doing are seen as slightly 'sad'. We also think Max does not have any friends because most of the people in the clubs appear to be younger than him. This could be for many reasons; one reason being he feels a sense of power with the younger students. In eyes of adults they could just see Max as a keen worker, someone who wants to do well in life. A mature and independent young adult.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Re-presentation Lesson
Re-presentation
My definition of re-presentation: Something that is being portrayed as being real but in fact it is just a copy of a copy
Actual definition: The way the media present 'something' as though it were real, it is not real, merely a copy of something
Signs and Signifiers
Definition of a sign: Something which communicates a piece of information
Definition of a signifer: Multiple 'ideas' or feelings behind a sign-All signs belong to cultures.
We were all then asked to draw a house,tree and sun and put a number between 1 and 10 somewhere on the page. The majority of the class drew a square house with four windows and a door. A typical tree and a round sun with line like rays. The point of this exercise being that these basic things are instant signs. We think of them because of where we have been brought up. If we were to ask people of different cultures to draw this very picture we would be sure to get a completely different image. For example someone that lives in Norway would be more likely to draw a pine tree rather than a traditional English oak.
Gatekeepers
Definition of a gatekeeper: The people in charge of what we see on Tv, in films, in magazines etc.
Ideology
Definition of Ideology: A belief system
Rushmore
We then watched the opening of the film Rushmore.The first time we watched it without sound. The purpose of this was to see if we could get an idea of the film just from the use of camera angles, props, acting, lighting and setting. This is known as Mise en scene.
After watching this a couple of times we completed a few questions;
1) Where is the film set? A religious,private all boys school in America
2) Describe the main characters personality. A student at a school. Looks quite different compared to the other students. He is smartly dressed in a blazer whereas the other students are in plain jumpers. I feel this character comes across as fairly british because of typical britsh stereotypes such as his tea cup. The character also comes across as being highly inteligent and kind of smug. His inteligence is shown when he completes what looks like an extremely chalenging mathematic equation.
My definition of re-presentation: Something that is being portrayed as being real but in fact it is just a copy of a copy
Actual definition: The way the media present 'something' as though it were real, it is not real, merely a copy of something
Signs and Signifiers
Definition of a sign: Something which communicates a piece of information
Definition of a signifer: Multiple 'ideas' or feelings behind a sign-All signs belong to cultures.
Gatekeepers
Definition of a gatekeeper: The people in charge of what we see on Tv, in films, in magazines etc.
Ideology
Definition of Ideology: A belief system
Rushmore
We then watched the opening of the film Rushmore.The first time we watched it without sound. The purpose of this was to see if we could get an idea of the film just from the use of camera angles, props, acting, lighting and setting. This is known as Mise en scene.
After watching this a couple of times we completed a few questions;
1) Where is the film set? A religious,private all boys school in America
2) Describe the main characters personality. A student at a school. Looks quite different compared to the other students. He is smartly dressed in a blazer whereas the other students are in plain jumpers. I feel this character comes across as fairly british because of typical britsh stereotypes such as his tea cup. The character also comes across as being highly inteligent and kind of smug. His inteligence is shown when he completes what looks like an extremely chalenging mathematic equation.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Print Preliminary Task
Our task was to design and produce our own school magazine front cover and contents page. We had to first of all think who our target market was. As it was for the school I attend it would be students around the age of 14-18. Before designing my magazine I looked at some of my favourite magazines as you can see in my previous post. This gave me inspiration and ideas. I got a better understanding of magazine layouts. I came to learn that magazines follow colour schemes and certain layouts. For example in the previous post the V magazine used 3 main colours which are pink orange and yellow. Using these colours not only make it look more professional but make the magazine eye catching. I now had a good idea that I was going to use three colours on my school magazine. I also knew I was going to use a mid shot picture of a person and have a main header at the top of the page which would be the name of the magazine.
Pre-production
This is my rough plan of what I wanted my final magazine front cover to look like. I chose the name 'uptodate' as I feel this does not necessarily narrow down the magazine for certain students in the school. I also was not sure at this time what I wanted to base my entire magazine around. I used the idea from a recent Q magazine I had purchased to write Peter's name backwards as I feel it makes the magazine look a bit more interesting and modern making my younger target audience want to read this issue.
Production
This was the photo I decided to use on my final cover. After taking photos around the school with Catherine, Chloe and Cat I feel the photos were too unnatural and none particularly stuck out as being a front cover kind of photo. This photo was taken just before Peter was aware it was being taken which I feel makes the photo more interesting and less fake. Often when people know photos are being taken they stiffen up and make photos look slightly awkward.
This was one of the few photos I took which I liked. I like the way they all look relaxed and not really aware the camera is there. However after experimenting on photoshop with this picture I feel it didn't look quite right on a front cover because of the way they are positioned. It would be more appropriate for an interview page.
Post production
This is my final front cover. The colour scheme I decided to use was orange white and a very dark blue (almost black) I has originally chosen to use blue however it didn't stand out and grab my attention quite how I liked it to so I decided to use a more brighter colour. When carrying out this task I already had quite a good knowledge of photoshop however I feel like I have developed a better understanding of the programme now. For example I now no the use of the eraser tool and I have a better understanding of how the layers in the programme work.
Pre-production
This is my rough plan of what I wanted my final magazine front cover to look like. I chose the name 'uptodate' as I feel this does not necessarily narrow down the magazine for certain students in the school. I also was not sure at this time what I wanted to base my entire magazine around. I used the idea from a recent Q magazine I had purchased to write Peter's name backwards as I feel it makes the magazine look a bit more interesting and modern making my younger target audience want to read this issue.
This was the photo I decided to use on my final cover. After taking photos around the school with Catherine, Chloe and Cat I feel the photos were too unnatural and none particularly stuck out as being a front cover kind of photo. This photo was taken just before Peter was aware it was being taken which I feel makes the photo more interesting and less fake. Often when people know photos are being taken they stiffen up and make photos look slightly awkward.
This was one of the few photos I took which I liked. I like the way they all look relaxed and not really aware the camera is there. However after experimenting on photoshop with this picture I feel it didn't look quite right on a front cover because of the way they are positioned. It would be more appropriate for an interview page.
This is my final front cover. The colour scheme I decided to use was orange white and a very dark blue (almost black) I has originally chosen to use blue however it didn't stand out and grab my attention quite how I liked it to so I decided to use a more brighter colour. When carrying out this task I already had quite a good knowledge of photoshop however I feel like I have developed a better understanding of the programme now. For example I now no the use of the eraser tool and I have a better understanding of how the layers in the programme work.
 |
| This is the font I used on my magazine. I think this was a good choice because it is different from your everyday fonts on a computer and I also think it works well with the colours and character on the front cover. I downloaded this font off http://www.dafont.com/ |
Friday, 1 October 2010
Film AS Preliminary Task
Our task was to produce a short film involving filming and editing of a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match an action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
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