Representations of Gender...

Gender is a key issue when discussing representation. As children we grow up with an awareness of what the 'appropriate' characteristics of gender are; the media shapes our ideas of what it is to be male or female.

Representations of Females

Media representations of women remain worryingly the same over time, even though there has been a huge shift in the way that women are viewed in society.

Women are often shown to be:

• beautful and delicate
• small in size/physique
• weak/little power and strength
• emotional and intouch with their feelings
• in relationships (opposed to being independant and free)
• part of a family.

Women in the media tend to be very stereotypically represented and anyone differing from this is seen as weird or dangerous (this could oppress inidiviuality).

Representations of Males

Strength, power, attractiveness and independance are just a few common representations of males in the media. Men are shown as dominant over females; they often have to rescue the weak, little female from distress which gives them a hero-like quality in a lot of circumstances. On the other hand, sometimes males are shown as the 'bad guy' and use violence, but this is all part of the macho bravado that defines what it is to be 'male' and never harms their reputation (like the negative representations of females do).

We briefly looked at one edition NEW! magazine. The males were largely shown as the boyfriend who cheated. There was a severe lack of independant males and it felt like the males were only there to make the women feel better about themselves. Also the women were being provided with an unrealistic image for them to try and achieve because of all the beautiful and thin women featured in the magazine. Finally, we noticed that all of the articles were about either hair, fashion, make-up, weight or relationships. These articles all included the stereotype of the typical women and a negative portratyle of a man.

Wire in the blood II

This series was written by a woman so we felt it would be interesting to see if the representations of women were any different to all the other media we are exposed to (which are laregly produced by males).

• A women brought food to a man - slave. She then got locked away in a room - she was a prisoner and powerless.
• A male was a doctor wearing a suit which meant he was wealthy and successful.
• The women had mundane, low skill jobs when they were included at a work place.
• All the other women had no jobs, looked after the children and went shopping.
• There was a male pathologist which is a highly skilled and well paid job.
• The victim was a woman and the antagonist was a man.

We found that even though this series was indeed written by a woman, it did not challenge the idea of the stereotypical woman. This may have been because the writer did not want to lose viewers because the programme showed women in a way we are not used to.

And finally, we came up with an acronym to identify gender in the media.

Purpose within plot

Actions

Ratio

Treatment

Interaction with others

Extras

Social postitions

Some conventions of a thriller...

Convention: Quick cuts
Effect: Fast pace, unpredictable, builds tension, audience really have to focus to not miss anything.

Convention: Close up on actor's face
Effect: Shows emotion best, makes the audience feel more sympathetic towards the character because they're more likely to feel the emotions if they can see them via the actor's face. Or if the close up is on the antagonist, it could show menacing expressions.

Convention: Plot twists
Effect: Surprises will always keep an audience waiting in anticipation. Using a plot twist shows the audience that anything could happen (and builds more suspense).

Convention: Discordant music
Effect: Any underlying music (even if very quiet) will highlight that something in the scene just isn't right. It also serves as a signifier to the audience that something 'bad' is about to happen. Without music, there would be very little suspense and tension created.

Main task preparations...

There are many other successful thrillers out there at the moment; some of which I watched before making any decisions about my project. I took inspiration from 'Flightplan' where a child goes missing, 'The day after tomorrow' where the father has to help his child escape and 'Armageddon' where the father is willing to do anything for his child.

 At 50secs and then 2mins, the conventions of quick cuts really are noticeable.

So the basic plot of my WHOLE film would be that a kidnapper is following a mother and child (because her husband owes a loan shark company a lot of money). The child wanders off from the mother in a town centre and the kidnapper uses to opportunity to take the child as hostage for the money. The wife doesn't know the husband owes money to anyone so just thinks her child has wandered off. The child doesn't turn up by the end of the day so she goes to the police and fills in a missing person's report. When her husband finds out, he knows it's down to the loan sharks and goes in search of them. He has to complete various errands for them such as collecting money from other people to clear the debt he owes them. The mother eventually finds out, but as to not make matters worse, tells the police that the child has turned up safely. Husband continues to work for them and once debt is cleared, child returns home. 


However in my opening title sequence, we will only see the child wandering off from the mother and being led away by the kidnapper. I have chosen this as my OTS because I feel it would successfully grab the attention of the audience and because the person being kidnapped is a child, the audience feel more empathy and therefore care more what actually happens to the child. This would result in them watching the film to find out if the child did escape.


Costume
- Mother: plain everyday clothes; nothing special/significant about her. (Not to draw attention to her so it isn't obvious that something will happen to her).
- Child: pale pinks - cute. Very typical clothes of little girls. Makes her seem more innocent and childlike; more sympathy from the audience.
- Kidnapper: all black - nothing prominent (recognisable) about him. BUT not all too black as to be too obvious that he's up to no good in broad day light.


Props
- Lots of shopping bags for mother (emphasise that they've been out shopping all day).
- Possibly something like a little 'girly bag' or toy or something for the child?
- Sweets (for the kidnapper to give the child).


Lighting
- Normal/everyday lighting.
- EXCEPT the last scene where the child is in a dark room on her own; a single beam of light on her face.


Camera angles
- Long - establish location.
- Mid/CU - focus on action.
- CU/X-CU - facial emotion.
- POV - antagonist following them.
- High angle - makes the world seem bigger now that the child is on her own.
- Low angle - make the child look innocent and fragile.
- Over the shoulder - the child is unaware that the antagonist is watching her - sinister/creepy.


Location
Wymondham town centre.


Target audience
The target audience for a generic thriller film tends to be 18-25 year olds. However this is obviously only a guideline and anyone who shows an interest in the films becomes part of the target audience. I think my audience would be a wider category. The film features a mother, child and father - so people who match this description could also be included in the target audience. I think this because if the audience can identify with the characters (and situations) then they are more likely to feel empathy for the characters; which in turn creates more tension and suspense when the characters are in danger.

Todorov's theory...

Todorov came up with a theory that all narratives could be split up into 5 sections.

1. Equilibrium - the setting is established and key character(s) are introduced. The storyline is set up.

2. Disruption - oppositional characters appear and the story begins to take a particular direction.

3. Recognition of disruption - the lives are characters and events become connected. This is normally the longest section and tension is building.

4. Attempt to repair disruption - when the highest point of tension occurs. There is some change in dynamics after this point.

5. Reinstatement of equilibrium - problems are resolved and questions answered. Life can go back to 'normal' although it may not be the same equilibrium as the beginning - things are often very different; it's just about searching for balance again.



This is my attempt at breaking down the film "Eagle eye" using Todorov's ideas.

1. - The man's twin brother has not long died; he's trying to get back to 'normal' life again.
    - The woman has just sent her little boy off on a music trip to play at a presedential conference.

2. - Guns/bombs etc appear in the man's house. He calls the delivery service and they say his brother had ordered them before he died. He hears a strange computerised woman's voice on his phone. The police are going to arrest him for having the guns etc but the computer voice tells him to run. He then tries to run away from the computer voice, but she can contact him anywhere. He has no option but to obey her.
   - The computer voice is watching her son and could kill him at any point. She immediately obeys the computer voice to save her son.

3. Both characters have to work together (do what the computer voice says) to keep the little boy safe and themselves from death. The voice is everywhere they go. It controls exactly what they do.

4. They manage to find the computer voice system and shut it down. The man's deceased brother had left clues for them because he knew what the computer was evil and was responsible for his killing. After the computer is shut down,  two parts of a bomb come together (which is what the computer wanted) at the presidential conference where the little boy is playing with his school orchestra. To stop the two parts coming together, the man jumps at the President and gets shot.

5. The man survived the shooting. The little boy returns home; never knowing how much danger he was in. The man becomes a good family friend of the little boy and his mother.

Hitchcock research...

Here are some of the features often used in Hitchcock films.


- Make sure your audience are absolutely drawn into your piece or no atmosphere will be able to be created.
- Frame shots to show emotions best.
- Let the camera take on the feel of a person. This allows the audience to feel like they are actually involved in uncovering the plot.
- The focus of a scene should never be solely on what a character is saying, but the things they are thinking.
- Keep the story as simple as you can! If an audience are having to battle to keep up with the plot; then suspense and tension are never going to be created.
- Hitchcock criminals tended to be wealthy, upper class citizens who you’d never suspect. The innocent would always get accused. And the criminal would often get away with it because nobody suspected them!
- Humour is always a good thing to aid building tension. Put your character in the most ironic situation to deal with and the worst possible things that can go wrong.
- Build tension into a scene by using two contrasting situations. The audience will be focused on the momentum of one, and be interrupted by the other.
- Show the audience things that the characters can't see.
- Include surprises and twists. This will un-nerve the audience.










This is an example of an emotion close up from "Psycho".

This is an example of humour being used from "The Man Who Knew Too Much". Humour is often used to break the tension. There could be one scene of high drama and tension followed by a humorous scene to make the audience feel at ease before the next high suspense moment. (This technique dates back to Shakespearian times when he would use a humorous scene between two tragic ones!)