Teenage Girls

As the main character of our short film is a teenage girl, I decided to research into various female teenagers and their portrayals in film/ television. By doing this, we can then define our character further using the codes and conventions of other characters. We can then decide which conventions we want to follow or challenge.

You Got Served: Liyah is quite a traditional representation of a teenage girl. She takes pride in her appearance and also helps around her house. She cares about her family which is a very traditional portrayal of female. Even though she is dominantly a traditional female, she still has modern factors such as she is quite rebellious and also dresses quite provocatively.

Save The Last Dance: Sarah is a very modern representation of female and teenager. She is very independant, rebellious and dominant. She is very interested in studying but is also quite modern in the sense that she likes to go to parties. One of the most traditional factors of Sarah is that she thoroughly enjoys classical dance and wishes to be a ballerina, which is a very typical feminine dream. She is also very caring but can be quite fiery towards people she does not get on with. She also talks in a very well-spoken way but gradually uses some slang, this makes her slightly more relateable by the target audience of the film.

Kidulthood: Becky is a very modern representation of a female. She is very promiscuous and doesn't tend to hide this fact. This makes her slightly masculine in a sense. She also openly takes drugs and sells her body. She isn't very caring and is extremely selfish when it comes to other people. She doesn't seem to have much of a relationship with her mother or any other close family members. Even though she isn't very traditional, she still takes pride in her appearance when she attends a party.

Kidulthood: Alisa is a slight mixture although she appears more traditional than modern. She seems very caring and likeable making her easier for the audience to relate to. She isn't very promiscuous and has one long-term relationship, which she seems to care about alot. She also seems quite close to her mum and they seem to have quite a good relationship. Although, she is dominantly a traditional representation, she doesn't take much pride in her appearance even when she is going out.

The Wire: Snoop is one of the most modern representations of a female out of the others on this page. She dresses and acts very masculine to the point of being mistaken for a male at times. Her friendship group consists completely of male drug dealers and gang members, who she often helps to commit crime, etc. She talks in a very masculine way with alot of swear words and slang. She also carries herself in a very masculine way in general, especially when she walks. This is a very unusual representation of a female character, especially one involved with drugs and gangs.

Short films tend to follow very set codes and conventions. They all usually revolve around the lives of one or two main characters. The amount of main characters is often very short as time is very limited during the film. Mis-en-scene is often very prominent and important again as time is very limited. Shots have to be very precise and detailed as they need to show the audience as much information as possible. Short films often entertain, inform or show a message. The message is often portrayed in a very dramatic way (e.g. Enough) or in a very comical way for example, "Goodbye Mr Snuggles." In "Goodbye, Mr Snuggles" the clown is going to shoot the older men, and in an ironic twist the clown himself is shot.

Enough:



In 'Enough', the mis-en-scene is immediately very obvious. The younger males are dressed very casually and are just 'hanging' out on the street. This is a very typical representation of teenage males. The teenager on the floor looks like he's been beaten up which makes you immediately think negatively about the teenagers. The mis-en-scene looks very dark and dingy. The mis-en-scene makes an immediate impression as very poor and lower class. The fact that the mis-en-scene can immediately make you understand this, is very important because then you already have a slight understanding of the context. Alot of close-ups are used to show emotion as this is an extremely important component to this film. The camera is probably a hand-held camera meaning that the audience feel like they're part of the film more. The film does seem to follow the 3-act theory as it has a clear beginning, middle and end, even if they are rushed.

Joyride:

Vezi mai multe video din Film
'Joyride' is slightly longer than the time limit we were given as it is ten minutes long. This means it doesn't have to worry about the audience immediately understanding the context as the film has a little longer to explain it in. However, the film makes good use of mis-en-scene making the main characters job and overall persona easily understood. The dialogue "I made a promise" is quickly understood as he has a date or at least has other plans, so the audience is already aware that he wants to quickly finish this job as he has other things to do. The setting is very dark and secluded. The non-diagetic music placed over the top of the film fits very well with the genre of thriller and builds the audience up for the actual 'kidnapping' of the main character.Whilst he is in the boot of the car, the lighting makes the audience aware that he indeed trapped within a car boot and is very realistic. Alot of close-up shots are used when focus is on the main character to show emotion. These are very consistent with the thriller genre. Also whenever the hijackers are shown is mostly mid-shots, which may be a way of the audience 'distancing' themselves from those characters as they are seen as the 'baddies.' Throughout the film there is a distinct feeling of cause & effect. The ending also has a huge sense of irony, he is back exactly where he started, safely and that is where the largest amount of harm happens.

Audience Theory

au·di·ence
n.
The spectators or listeners assembled at a performance, for example, or attracted by a radio or television program.

'Herbert Blumer 1950: We are all individuals but we form part of a mass'

Audiences are believed to be people who are easily manipluated as a group. An audience is seen as a mass rather than a large group of individuals. Even though they are seen as a mass and easily manipulated we are separated from the other members of this mass through space and sometimes time.

Theories:

Hypothermic Syringe: The media is somewhat like a syringe, that injects ideas, values and beliefs into the audience. The audience are a powerless mass and have no choice but to be influenced. Examples of this can be seen in the case of James Bulger and his killers. James Bulger's killers were said to of watched a certificate 18 film (Child's Play 3) which inspired the murder of James. The hypothermic syringe theory is quite plausible in the sense that it supplies the ideas for the audience but some people are more easily influenced to certain types of behaviour. Background, upbringing, among other things would play a huge role in whether a person is influenced to do certain things.

Culmination: The word culmination is from the word acculminate. This is from the sense of gradually acculminating something. After years and years of constantly seeing or being exposed to a certain thing (violence, drugs, nudity, etc) you become desensitised to it. Although in a sense this is quite true, as after seeing something several different times the 'shock' factor is no longer there, it depends on your background and other influences you have. Also constantly watching something is different from actually carrying out an action as you are always disconnected in a sense from the actual action.

Two-Step Flow: The masses will experience the media individually but will then go on to discuss it as a group. Even if the person has their own views they may be influenced during discussion with their social groups or other friends. The fact that they may feel a certain way may change after discussing certain points and bits of it have been explained more for example. This one is slightly more understandable because you are not being just influenced by the media but other people aswell but it would depend on how weak your character was.

Uses &+ Gratifications: "We make choices about what we watch and we also have certain expectations, we expect to be gratified by what we watch." Here are five of the main reasons we watch different things.

For:
Information - this is for pure knowledge and information. This includes things such as the news and documentaries.
Entertainment - this is just for enjoyment and entertainment. This can be a rnage of several different things. Loads of different genres fit into this group. Eastenders, CSI, Skins could all be included in this group. Dramas, comedies, soaps all fit into this category aswell.
Personal Identity - personal identity allows us to see examples of behaviour for us to model ourselves on. Reality shows such as Big Brother, Flavor Of Love and are a really good example of this because those show real-life people for us to see. Dramas based on real-life events or dramas that are very realistic may also fit into this category. America's Next Top ModelThe Wire is a very good drama that is also realistic. The versatility of the characters as they are not all simply 2-dimensional means it is fits quite well as a personal identity show. Films such as KiDULTHOOD may also fit this.
Social Sympathy/Empathy &+ Personal Interaction - this is when people watch shows to actually empathise with or sympathise the characters. This is shown in shows such as Big Brother when there is a favourite to win. The sympathy/empathy is very obvious in shows such as X Factor and Britain's Got Talent as there is usually someone that has come from a very hard upbringing or has been through alot and the public always feel very affectionate for these people.
Escapism - this is used to allow the audience to escape reality completely. Video games and iPods are a easy way to do this as are online games such RuneScape. A very good example of escapism video games are RPG or simulation games such as Sims3 or Zoo Tycoon for example. RPG or simulation games allow the player to create their own reality or life (Sims, SecondLife) and make different decisions without actually changing their life in reality.

Criticism of Mass Theory's: An individuals point of view will be swayed by culture, race, age, personality, gender, class, etc. The audience will may all read the same text but males may take it differently to females as different classes and races may also do.

Encoding/Decoding: This theory is one of the only media theorys that don't see audiences as a mass. This theory believes that everyone brings dfferent views to the media.
--Encoding : This theory puts forward the fact the media is theoretically encoded.
--Decoding : This theory believes that the audiences decode the media using whatever views they already have. This theory shows why different people have different views on different shows. For example shows such as Family Guy are decoded differently by different people because of the different circumstances they live in.

Our film will probly fit into the encoding and decoding thoery as the ending is left on a cliffhanger, meaning that the audience will need to determine the ending themselves.

Plot Outline

se·cret : [see-krit]

n.

something that is or is kept secret, hidden, or concealed.

Plot Outline:

The short film follows a day in the life of our main character, she is a girl who has lost her way in life because of the strong influence of her boyfriend.

We see the effects of how easily she has been influenced, and the in denial of how she has lost her way through the representation of the post cards being her inner thoughts.

We see through the film how her standards and self respect is lost due to her addictions, and the in denial which is a common trait within those who have addictions.

Character : Main Girl= Carly

Boy one = Tom

Boy two= Ryan

Carly gets up she walks through her house,we see her mother slumped in a chair she looks as though she has been sleeping there all night, next to her is lots of empty beer cans and a half smoked cigarette in the ashtray next to her, the woman in the chair is all bruised and looks as though she has been beaten up.

We see Carly look at a picture from when she was younger , in the picture Carly and her mother look happy their is not a man in the picture, this represents the common family structure of one parent families, in which it is usually the mother figure who brings up the children which is typical to the film. The lack of the father figure is significant to Carly's relationship with men during the film. The lack of the father figure could be an underlying reason in which the men /boys Carly has got involved with has treated her in this way and Which in turn leads to her addiction which is due to the vulnerability of Carly.

We follow Carly walking to the shops this is sped up, we see her walk into the shop and come back out of the shop with a plastic bag with cans of alcohol in it.

It cuts to a shot of a brick wall we see the camera pan slowly to the left until Carly comes into the shot. We see lots of empty cans littered around her , Carly gets up and staggers about in the place where she has just sat we see two post cards the first just says the word "DRUNK" the next post card says the phrase "I CAN GIVE UP IF I WANT TO".

The shot fades to black and we see Carly standing at the gate of a house we see her walk down the garden path and knock on the door we see boy 1 answer the door and Carly goes into the house with him. Behind the boy stood in the corridor we see a clock that says three o clock. the door shuts in the camera and then reopens we see her come out of the house, the boy is kissing her neck sleazily, her expression on her face looks upset and uncomfortable. Boy 1 only has only has a pair of trackies on, his hair is all messy and he lights up a cigarette in his mouth before getting out a wad of cash before we see a close up of the exchange of cash in their hands. this whole scene has a dark tint to it to give the impression of danger within the scene that is happening. The boy slams the door in Carly's face before we see her walk back up the garden path as she walks up the garden we see her get her phone out of her bag it cuts to a close up of the phone screen which says seven missed calls from Ryan. Behind where she is walking the second secret drops with the word "CHEAT".

we see Carly walking along the street, this is all speed up the speed then slows down into slow motion , here we see Carly walk past a boy he looks very shady and is smoking we then cut to an extreme close up of their hands here we see the exchange of a packet of drugs, the speed of the scene then speeds up again before cutting to the next scene.

we see Carly burst into a toilet cubicle we see her take the drugs, the shot then fades to black before we see a ariel view of Carly lead on the , in the mirror we can see a reflection of boy two on the mirror written in lipstick is the penultimate secret "YOU MADE ME LIKE THIS".

The scene then cuts to the scene which is representative of Carly's drug induced haze this scene is all distorted to give a feeling that the viewer a feeling that we are in the drug induced dream.

We see Carly running through a field we are going to put a ghosting effect on this to emphasis the haziness of is the scene were seeing real life or a dream. Carly is holding a red balloon attached to the balloon is a white piece of paper which is the final secret with the words "but i still love you " wrote on. Carly gets to the middle of the field and lets go of the balloon the camera then tilts with the balloon until it finally goes out of view.

In this last scene the song I have chosen as the sound track is the song The dogs days by Florence and the machine as the words are very fitting to the scene it also create tension to whether Carly has actually died or not. However it may not be possible to use this track therefore I am going to have to apply for permission in order to use the track.

In this last scene the red balloon the can represent one of two things it can represent the love for the boy who made her like this has gone away, or the red balloon could represent her life and the letting go of the balloon could in fact represent that her death. This is why the distorted effects of this scene is important as it is done in order to leave the audience going away not knowing if she has in fact died or not.

Most independant or short films tend to follow either a documentary style, be more social realist or a entertain. Our group felt it would be best and to create a social realism. Most social realists films tend to concern controversial issues such as:

drugs,
guns,
knifes,
gangs,
crime rings,
prostitution,
street crime,
murder,
sex,
injustice,
suicide,
anti social behaviour,
dysfunctional families and social relationships,
gangsters,

among other things. The above are the most recurring things in these types of films.

In our film we decided to base it on a postsecret we had seen. It was quite similar to this one:





We want to use the postcards to show feelings that can't be sufficiently shown in film. This is quite an original idea and makes you feel more connected to the character as the postcards are very private. They contain secrets which are very close to the character and allowing the audience to see them makes the audience feel as if they know the character more in depth.

Plan One:

Girl is in love with someone but is being treated badly in this relationship. However she still stays with him and is very much in love. She drink in excess and takes drugs. To earn money for the drugs she sells her body. She feels bad for doing this as she feels as if she is cheating on her boyfriend. At the end she takes drugs and goes into drug induced haze. She has a dream whilst in haze and lets go of a red balloon. The balloon has a postcard attached to it.

Problems:
The audience are unsure whether she has overdosed or just mentally let go of her bad relationship - sometimes a cliffhanger ending is good because the audience can imagine it ended in the way they wanted - but would this work out good or bad?

5 minutes is quite a short time to show that the relationship is bad and everything else she goes through, how could we effectively show that and make the audience connect with her in that short time?

The plan is for postcards to be left at different points to show her feelings towards the current situation - how?

we need 3 separate situations that the main character feels bad about - what?





Plan Two:





The main character has a relationship with a drug-dealer. Before the point of the film he has fed her drug addiction. To earn the drugs from her boyfriend maybe he pimps her? Maybe when she has taken loads of drugs, she is beaten up really badly and nearly dies. This could give her the courage to leave her boyfriend and give up drugs.





Problems:


How do the audience know he's a drug dealer?


How to realistically show her being beaten up and injuries?


Again the time is short but how can you appropriately fill it?


Is the storyline to simple to keep the audience's attention?


Dialogue?


How to make it memorable?








Plan Three:


The main character comes from quite a dysfunctional household. There is no present father and her mother appears to be an alcoholic. The daughter is following in her mother's footsteps although her mother is advising her not to. The daughter encounters general problems e.g can't get a job, her school work isn't very good etc. She goes home and her mum has passed out on the sofa. She goes through her mum's drawers and find some drugs and takes them. She then passes out and it ends.



Problems:



Who would play the mother?



How to show the mother has a problem?



Which drug can we effectively show?



How to fill out the time so the film isn't too rushed or doesn't drag on?



What dialogue? Or would it be more effective in silence?

Inspiration For Our Movie

Our movie is based on an art project created by Frank Warren. Warren advertised his project and simply told people to send in a 6x4 postcard anomalously. The postcards could be about anything and postcards have been sent in with various contents including: hopes & dreams, darkest secrets, fears and embarrassing habits. As well as creating books based the project Warren has created a blog and twitter and goes on several tours a year promoting the project. He regularly post secrets weekly (Sunday Secrets) and has taking only 2 breaks from this in the past several years.

Blogspot: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/postsecret

As alot of the entrys are based on alot of personal things, identity is a very important part of postsecret. We decided to base our project on a secret that was in one of the published books which said "You made me like this.....but I still love you." The postcard had drug references on the design of it. Here are some other examples of identity based postsecrets:

Uses & Gratifications

brainstorming

Our film has to be approximately 5 minutes long. According to Syd Field films follow the 3 act theory. The 3 act theory states that every film has 3 separate acts to it these are:

Start- this is where the characters are introduced and the scene is set.

Middle- Problem/Situation that needs to be overcome or major event that happens

End- Resolution of problem/situation or outcome of event.

So on average each section should be around 100 seconds/1 minute 40 seconds each approximately. This is quite a short time to be able to appropriately show each section of the film so the audience fully understands it.


Uses and Gratifications

The 'uses and gratifications' theory was first put by Bloomer and Katz (1974.) This theory claimed that all films are watched for a particular reason. Audiences watch films for:

1. Entertainment - simply to entertainment

2. Escapism - to get away form everyday life

3. Social Realism/ Identification - gives the audience something or someone to identify with

4. Information - for the audience to learn something from e.g. a documentary

5. Interaction - not only a interactional film but also maybe a film or television show that causes interaction between social groups


Most short films tend to either entertain, offer identification or inform people. As most independant films also offer identification we have chosen to make a film that fits within this. This is also quite a wide area to make a film in, making it easier to find a subject to work on that we can effectively re-create.

Some of the various things that could be included in the identification area are: racism, economic issues, illnesses, knife/gun crime, gang culture, drugs, homophobia, bullying, teenage pregnancy, etc.

Focus Group :)

So we have a clear idea on who our film should be aimed at, we held a focus group. The group consisted of 7 students (4 female and 3 male.) We thought this group number was alright as our project is quite small but if the project was the expand we would have held a larger focus group. From the group we wanted to determine certain factors that would affect the way our film would be edited, etc. We found that our target audience was around 17-23. Both genders within our focus group agreed on several similar points, meaning our film doesn't need to have any certain componants that will make it appeal to one gender over the other. The focus group, in general, enjoyed independant films, especially social realism ones such as kidulthood. They also enjoyed action and horror films. Overly complicated storylines were seen as confusing but the group enjoyed films with large twists at the end.

Above is a brainstorm just for us to try and gather some general ideas on possible subjects of our film. We are still quite unsure about what route to follow.

Representation

"rep·re·sen·ta·tion -- (rpr-zn-tshn, -zn-)
n.

The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way."

Representation in Film & Television

Representation is used in all forms of media especially within film and television shows. It is used to appeal to different audiences without only appealing to one certain audience. By representing one character in a certain way, the character and what they do immediately appeals to a certain audience.

Examples of representation in Film:


Kidulthood: Kidulthood is a film that follows a group of teenagers aged between 15-17 over the space of 48 hours. Immediately the fact that it revolves on the life's of teenagers already means that it will appeal more to teenagers around that age. From the promotional poster it shows both males and females meaning it doesn't appeal to only one gender. The bleak setting of the poster also looks similar to a housing estate or block of flats which indirectly appeals people living in similar settings. The type of clothing worn by the cast (hoods, trainers, hats) and also the brand names of the clothing appeal to a more urban/hip-hop/grime audience as these are dominantly worn by people who fall in this group. The soundtrack also reinforces it's appeal to the urban/hip-hop/grime audience as a lot of songs and instrumentals used within the film fall within the UK hip-hop/ garage genre. The colloquial language also appeals to a younger, more urban audiences as alot of the language used is colloquial terms used within those social groups.

Mean Girls: Mean Girls is a film that follows a teen girl's experiences after moving from the African outback to an American high school. The poster is a pinky/purple which immediately appeals to females. All of the writing is written in mostly pink and purple as well which reinforces its appeal to females. The audience can see from looking at the poster that the girl on the left is separated from the other three girls and the fact that she is larger shows that she is obviously the main character. Her stance and the way she is looking back at the other three shows that she is cautious and maybe intimidated by them. This gives the impression that she is a bit fragile and vulnerable. This appeals to 'normal' girls especially as she is dressed as in a less provocative way than the other girls. It looks like it would appeal to mostly teenagers due to the age of the girls on the poster.

As shown in both the examples above, representation in the film and on the advertising has made the film more appealing to the target audience simply by using devices such as clothing, setting and colour. Representation makes it alot easier for film makers to get across to their intended audiences by simply attempting to connect to them, it also helps alot if the audience feel as if they can empathize with the characters.

Project

Out of all the choices of projects, our group have chosen to create a short film.



The ancillary tasks we have chosen to do are the film poster and film review. The film review is meant to be a double page spread.