Male Gender Research

The 4 typical males in soaps:

1. The hard guy: The male which is intimidating to look at and to talk to, we know his background family lifestyle and he's easy to read through his emotions and what can cause him to crack. He shows dominate and strong emotions for caring for his family and things that are a main aspect to the character. A known slogan for this character is "Don't mess with this guy!"

2. The handsome and screw over male: Girls love this sort of character a self centred and bitchy man. He's the 'smooth talker' and treat girls as if they are dumb to win them and make them look up at him. Not very social to other males and has the 'male gaze' for women due to eye contact, body language and ignorance. Also he treats men as targets to inflict jelously and fights which makes girls want him more.

3. The attension seeker (annoying): This type of character likes to be known and wanted by every single person. He trys to act like the big man which he fails most of the time of doing it. Many people find this character annoying and miserable.

4. The happy one: There's always a character that cheers up the mood in a soap, this character proberly has not got all the moves in social life but remians cheerful and happy and shows it to everyone.

5.

Short essay on representation.

(In this task it has to 250 - 500 words)
The question: Analyse a show that relate to a resemblement of yourself and what actions which may link to you- any moving image of media (programs, adverts, sports, etc ...)

The program I've chosen that has a certain link to me is Jackass. The reasons why I've chosen this program is it's the most popular show i watch on T.V. I don't tend to watch t.v in the daytime i only watch it at night as i have a some spare time to chill and watch it and that is when Jackass comes on as it more adult material based.

The show Jackass shows a bunch of American males aged 19-27 doing stunts that are ridiculous and wreck less stunts and pranks, the reason why i watch it is because it's funny to see some of the stunts. The reason why it's so successful and appealing is because I'm a teenager and some shows you need a bit of crazy comedy in which Jackass is a perfect example to present it and also sometime i like to have a laugh and do a few crazy things for entertainment as also some other people may do i there lifetime.



Also looking at the actors and watching the show they mostly listen to rock music which i love and also there dress sense is like the same as mine some days they dress up formal and some days they wear loud t-shirts and jeans and trainers and also the hair style they have, so it's really the same zone that I'm in.

Now parents don't tend to watch or like this show due to silly and pointless stunts which leads to injury and pain. But my point is that what u get out of it is laughter and comedy and the actors also agreed to do the stunts, and the saying life to young is what Jackass represents. But that what makes this program so successful to different genders and ages because like today's times is hard and slow and dull and Jackass are just guy who want to have fun and earn money in a living for what they do, yes some of the things are stupid and crazy but at the same time its funny to watch.

Overall i think is aimed at people that have a sense of humor and enjoy watching people doing pranks and ridiculous stuff to make people laugh and them earning money and being famous for it. I think it's a talent in what they do and it's funny so that's why i watch it, and i think people around my age to 25-30 would also watch it.

Representation:

In this lesson we had to find out the meaning of representation and what device link to this topic and how its use to make things successful and understanding.

Representation " The process by which shows the media in our "real world" today. The reason why i quoted real world is because i can't always be real and you can't always believe in what people say.

Also there is selection process:

• The decision over what is chosen to be represented and what is rejected.
• The choices made when organising the representation.
• The options taken to focus the audience in a certain way. (e.g big brother it a whole days show but it gets cut down to and hour show on channel 4, this cuts the main aspect out like arguments and views about people which creates a character in a person in the house which grabs popularity and entertainment which makes the show successful.)

Then we got answered a question on how we would ask when analysing representation, we went through and came up with this solutions:

• WHO or WHAT is being represented ?
• HOW is the representation created ?
• WHO has created the representation ?
• WHY is the representation created in that way ? And what is the in tension.
• WHAT is the effect of the representation ?

Then we where looking at gate keeping which is .... A theorist called White (1961) spoke of the 'gatekeepers' that is the people who are part of the decision making process in the cons traction of media texts. We also came up with examples:

• Parental control
• BBC commissioners - head of different genres
• Law makers
• Directors - camera angles and storyline in way of acting
• Producer - in charge of money, locations, actors, editing, etc .....
• Editor - edits every bit of movement and action in the film.
• Audience (recent phenomemron test screening e.g kangaroo jack, people liked the kangaroo in a murder series)

Also when researching this part of the lesson we found out that most of the directors are all men and there in the white race and there jobs are upper class or middle class. This show that may have a different view of representing people as they are in a different lifestyle to them or i could be stereotypical.

Moving on the lesson we came across the:

The Constructionist Approach:

1. The representation is constructed with a set of ideas and values (producers intent/ in tented meaning)
2. The context of the representation is part of the representation ( media language choices, anchorage, media form, placement location, genre, expectation, etc.... e.g MC Donald's Logo is a massive M so that's how the person realizes its the company.
3. The audience reacts to this representation and this depends on their own personal interpretational context: age, gender, political, religious beliefs, nationally, gangs (drugs and guns) etc.... (negotiated meaning).

Richard Dyer also made a statement on matter of imagery. He said

"How we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them. How we see them comes from representation.

From this lesson its gives me more of a imaged mind map of what to overcome when i get my exam questions about a certain question, about a topic which relates to these devices and how i can plan out and find the main factors which will help me get a better grade outcome.

The Royal Tenenbaums

In this lesson we had to research about the film "The royal Tenenbaums", we had to analysis the opening scene of this clip and from the clip we had to consentrate on a certain character and analysis all the devices of "mise en scene" and also find examples on the 5 codes.

I chosen Margo, the reason why i chosen Margo is that from as soon as the first 2 minutes showed it was the easiest to read her body language and the style of acting she was trying to express. Also the camera angles told made a story for her . e.g as shes in her room its just her in a middle shot and also the setting makes it as if its just her on stage so we know she lonely and she likes to keep things to herself (e.g the door "keep out").

How i evaluted the Margo essay was that the class watched the clip about 3-4 times and every time we watched the opening scene we had to write down notes which may link to mise en scene and the 5 codes. When i was looking at my notes i put them into short sentences to make to work easier for my-self and make it more successful than spending more time to come up with things.
After that i put the essay in place as theres a opening main body and closing statement so i done a brief plan on the sentences, where they gonna go, and how they will make sense for e.g on my notes i put "Margo was a .... (describe feelings and ways she acts upon .... CAMERA / SETTING / etc...) and from these ideas i generated a final essay which i think i did rather well in.



What i could of improved from this that i could of maybe introduced some of the colour to show her emotions and also took abit more time being careful with my sentences and spelling that they made sense and people could understand what i was saying and relating to the factors of media.
But overall i think im improved on understand different techinques that people use in flims and how i can read of them in a more easy way.

The male Gaze

What is a gaze?

• A concept of a gaze is that one deals with how an audience views the people presented.

For feminists it can it can be thought of in 3 ways:

• How men look at women


• How women look at themselves


• How women look at other women

Laura Mutray coined that the term was called "Male Gaze" in 1975. She believes that film audiences have to "view" characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

Features of a male Gaze:

• The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented carefully in the context of a mans reaction of those events.


• Relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondary, by identification with the female.

We also watched a clip for this type of style: Scouting for girls "shes so lovely"

Looking at the video from this song i found this that relates to the "Male Gaze".

• The girl is wearing bright colours in her outfit to make her stand out from the rest of people and girls that are in the blowing alley. Also she is in lane number one, this may refer to her being number one and she's the best girl in there. She also wears red shoes and belt. Red shows a high contrast in colour so it shines out more which catches the eye to look at the individual object or item.
• The man in this video is wearing dull colours and is in the second lane, he is like the complete opposite to to girl. The only that's bright are his eyes so this could show that bright meets bright colours.

Also with the term of Male Gaze they are also shown in many advert in today e.g such as lynx "spray more get more" meaning in a sexual way. Also there's rustlers burgers with a women on the sofa in her underwear when the burger is cooked. Also there's special k but the thing is with the special k advert now is it's coming from a women's response that both men and women have eat this product and it's not aimed at one gender. So there are many different techniques in certain adverts.

Stereotypes

MEDIATION: (30/09/09)

In this lesson we had to look at the aspects of a stereotype and what they are used for in different ways.
In many instances stereotypes are used pejoratively by dominant groups to describe subordinate groups. Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be changellend for example, Tessa Perkins (born 1979) identifies them:

• "They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful" .. e.g. police-pigs-feds- teenagers don't like police etc.
• "They are not rigid or unchanging" this could go for a person who likes rock, used to be very popular but now there known as shouting and screaming as a new form of music such as r'n'b and electro pop.
• "They can be held about one's own group" e.g rugby players, footballers, appearance.
• "They are not always false" e.g girls like pink, fighters have discipline.

Also going through the lesson we en counted another person who works on the same scene but his views are abit different.

Leon Festinger:

He argued that we resist adjusting our attitudes unless faced with over-whelming evidence against it. He believed in his words that we seek out confirmation of our thoughts/ beliefs. This links to PLURALISM.

Overall out of this lesson I've learnt what different types of stereotypes you can have and how they are used in films to make it more successful and interesting to watch.

Editing

There are man y different types of editing within cinema and films this is to add effects on filming and make the film have more of a meaning and also makes it more interesting.

• Continuity/ Hollywood editing: The viewer should not notice the cuts, shots should flow together naturally. Hence the sequence of shot should appear to be continuous.
• Montage - Soviet: This style of editing has two functions. The highly political soviet style of the 1920's which sought ti create a new meaning out of seemingly in-connected shots. The audience are very aware of the cut.
• Hollywood Montage: In classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion.
• Transitions: A transition is a term of how the editor moves from one "shot" to another. An inappropriate transition can destroy the mood or pace of the film.
• Crosscutting - parallel editing: Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of actions occurring in different places, usually simultaneously.
• Dissolve: A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the second image gradually appears.
• Wipe: A transition between shots in which a line passes across the screen, eliminating the first shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one. A very dynamic and noticeable transition.
• Action Editing: Faster and more snappy shots

With these editing affects i can produce ideas for video projects which will get me more marks. And also i found it interesting.

Mise en scence

Mise en scene is a french term for the analysis of what you see on screen, but it does not include sound !



There are five terms of mise en scene:

1. Lighting - Spotlight on the main character, creates an atmosphere and show who is the main person on stage.


2. Setting - The location of the event


3. Actions - Facial expressions are used and also body language and posture


4. Costumes / Props - Symbol of something of what it represents of the scene e.g school uniform, desks .... etc


5. Camera angles Where it pointed and tell a certain way of the character low = a big character.

We used mise en scene for a our project "The royal tenenbaums" by Wes Anderson from this we had to look at 3 characters in the starting scene and from the 3 we had a choose a character that would suite us best. I chosen Margo as her mise en scene was very interesting and easy to explain from.

Narrative Structures

In a film story music video or whatever there are always 3 narratives:

• Beginning/ Equilibrium
• Middle/ Disequilibrium
• End/ New equilibrium

The definitions of these are as follows:

• Equilibrium - State of normality in the narrative
• Disequilibrium - Something disrupts normality and a protagonist/ hero must go on a quest to restore normality.
• New equilibrium - A new normality is created.

Character Roles (10/09/09)

These are the main factors of a story, film ,or music video .... etc .... etc

• The hero: The person who seeks something, e.g hidden treasure
• The villain: Is the complete opposite to the hero
• The donor: He helps the hero by providing a magic object e.g super powers (Bruce almighty)
• The dispatcher: Sends the hero on his way (e.g a quest/ lord of the rings)
• The helper: Gives support to the hero
• The princess: The reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain (e.g money= princess/ problem = taxes, error in favour ..etc)
• And the last the princesses farther: A person who makes sure his daughter/ princess is o.k with the hero and will provide her protection, a barrier.

A person who links with this kind of work is Vladimir Proppacient, a Russian critic and theory and he analysed 100 Russian fairystyles and tales in the 1920's.

With this information it gives me more of a mind map of characters roles within any element of using them, this gives me more understanding and confidence and i look at Vladimir Proppacient work and generate ideas from his success.

Camera angles

There are lots of different camera anfgles ansd shots in media all are used to make an interesting and enterainment use of cinema.

• Long shot - Opening paragraph of setting to a film. It lets you show all the important info.
• Meduim shot - Is the most common used shot in cinema. It's used to show character interaction.
• Close up - Something/someone important to show the audience.
• Shot reverse shot - This is used for dialouge. It focuses on the character talking and the character listening is a camera shot just over there shoulder to make it look like your part of the conversation aswel.
• High angle - Connonates paver over the object you are viewing. Women have traditonally been 'shot' in this waqy to make men more powerful.
• Low angle - This is designed to make a character or object appears strong and tall.
• Tracking shot - The camera is prependicular to the action and follows the subject or action.
• Pan shot - 180 angle rule don't go over it or the audience gets confused of were the person is and whats going on.
• Tilt shot - where the camera goes up and down on the subject or action.
• Zoom - use of the camera lens focusing in detail.

The 5 Codes of media

There are 5 main codes in media studies with-out these you cannot make a successful music video, film, advert.... etc

The 5 codes of media are:

1. Action Code: This applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. Foe e.g, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what reaction he gonna imply to the other character.


2. Enigma Code: This is the most common code that people know. It refers to any element in a story that is not explained and therefore exists as an a enigma code for the audience to find out and raises questions that that demand explanation. E.g a crime scene investigation/ CSI new york.


3. The symbolic code: This code is the annoying and difficult one to explain. You will only understand the binary opposites and complete opposites. Any element in a text that suggest a particular, often meaning by the way of connotation.


4. The cultural code: It's any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". In other words the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works.


5. Ideology code: Is an organized question of ideas. An ideology can be thought of a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things, in other words a belief which helps explain the world around us.

Magazine Prelimiary Task: (Oct 5th 2009:)

This task was to make a magazine front cover having a reference to the lutterworth college. The way I started this project was to look at previous magazines covers and generate and adapt ideas to form it into a plan layout of our magazine cover.


Looking through the examples on paper me and my partner sketched out a mind map of where the main aspects need to go and also I know what they mean and that I understand what i'm doing, as I went along with the project, the more confidence I grew upon.


After the planning I had to take a photo of the main aspect Worth-out this i cannot create a successful magazine as the photo is the main focus on the subject. We took a photo of a student in our media class (Emily), we took the photo against a green so it was easy to edit from and also makes it look more professional.
With the photo i worked on a program that I've only been on a couple of times before named photoshop. Using different effects such as light contrast and making the photo more professional we cutted out just the student and placed it onto our final design, we did not fully cover the page as it wouldn't be suitable working from and would make it harder.

When this was done all we needed was a background and some sentences of persuading texts to show what the photo was about. We named our magazine "The Echo" we named it this cause it's different. We also came up with a good subheading aswel "your the voice we're the echo" to grab peoples attention.
Our main dilemma was to sell the magazine about the uniform and what students think of the new post 16 life in lutterworth college. With two eye-catching answers and questions we managed to work our way of sorting out the best and suitable one.
We used a bright background for this to make the picture stand out as most of her clothes where a dim and dark mixture of colours and also we used a contrast of colours "white and pink".

We made the texts black and pink so they are clear and easy to read from and used a type of posh font to make the magazine professional and formal which makes it successful.

Overall I've enjoyed this experiment of this project and also it gives me more understanding and confidence that i know what to do and overcome this type of problem, and i enjoyed working with my partner as he gave me more ideas and advice to adapt and work better on next time. Next time how i can make it better is to make 2-3 plans of magazines and then take ideas from them and make into a final one but I'm happy with my finished product.