Ideas - Laura

• Yesterday we started to discuss ideas for our short film. We have found with our research that a lot of short films use the genre of social realism as they convey messages, often to do with issues surrounding our society. Our initial idea was to of a film on domestic violence. It seems to be an issue that is around in society, but there is never much coverage on it. The White Ribbon campaign is a campaign working against women being treated with violence. We are fast approaching White Ribbon day: 25th November. This campaign will give us a lot of information about domestic violence, so that we can help display the severity of it in our film if this is what we end up doing.

• However, as we are looking at issues of femininity and masculinity also in this media course, we are going to try and interpret the film with this ideology in mind. The White Ribbon campaign "pledges never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women". However this campaign seems to only talk about females who are domestically abused as opposed to the men. Though cases of men being abused are not as common, they are still present.

• In my research I found this picture (below) supporting this campaign. We thought the picture was really emotive, as it has an extreme close up of a woman's eyes. This conveys the emotion clearly, and we can see how scared she looks to reinforce how serious domestic violence is. The shot allows us to just see the top of a hand covering the woman's mouth in the frame. They have shown enough of the hand in the frame for us to see the features that it is a man's hand, conforming to the stereotype that a man is physically stronger, and the traditional representation of men having power because of patriarchy. This picture has sparked the beginning of our ideas for the Film Poster that we will need to produce.  
• Looking at statistics it has been shown that over 40% of domestic violence cases, men are the victims, yet these cases are much more ignored by the media and police then female cases.

•  In our film, it is practical for us to be the actors so that we do not have to rely on people when we are trying to fit filming around our own schedules. As we are teenagers, we were thinking of focusing on domestic abuse among teenagers so that way we could act. These cases are often to do with sex; where the male is pressuring her, as we have found in some of the adverts we researched.

Advanced Portfolio Planning Ideas - Group

We have discussed ideas about our film idea and are focusing on the theme of Domestic Violence. We talked about going for teenage domestic violence rather than in adults as it will be harder for us to act as adults rather than acting our own age.

We have discussed about the story and plot and are coming up with a lot of ideas. We've had the idea of a possessive girlfriend, who is constantly in touch with her boyfriend. She texts him, he doesn't reply then she rings him repeatedly. The audience then sympathises with her as we think he is the stereotypical man and she is just the clingy girlfriend.

Our film will comply to a hybridity of social realist, romance (all for the wrong reasons). We give the audience the impression of a romance  and a slight bit of Thriller as Sam is the protagonist and Amy is the antagonist. We will fool the audience into thinking it is a romance by initially conforming to Todorov's narrative. The equilibrium is where he is at the pub with his friends, then the disruption is when she calls him and appears to spoil his evening. However, we soon find out it does not conform to this narrative through the way it is non-linear and there is no resolution. The switch in narrative signifies a switch in genre, from romance to conventions of thriller.


Or film will contain a vast representation of social groups including gender and those traditional representations as well as the issues surrounding abuse. We feel that representing these groups through costume and make up as well as props will allow our audience to feel emotion for our characters and to bring awareness of how domestic abuse isn't as simple as people first think.

Other scene ideas

• Flashback scenes with 'trigger' props
• Eating dinner alone at home - flashback to their first date
• Flashback too before the violence
• Flashback to Sam meeting a girl outside college, seeing Laura talk to him and Amy getting jealous. This begins Amy's descent into abuse as she become possesive over Sam.  
• Phone conversation - "Who are you with?"
• Following him home in the car - he hears a radio broadcast about domestic abuse
• A scene with Sam looking at a note from his mum, we begin to see the possesiveness of the characters.

We have a couple of different ideas for the ending.

• One involves him on the phone to a help line which she overhears/sees. We would not elaborate on an ending here to keep the audience guessing what is going to happen.
• She confronts him one last time resulting in disastrous consequences - final shot of Sam lying on the floor - again, keeps the audience wondering what has happened.
• He kills himself
• He stands up for himself and she realises the consequences of her actions.
• Another idea that we had that would make the plot complex is that the whole story up until the end is a flashback. We have the shot where he rings a helpline, then Amy comes in from behind. He hears her, then he hangs up the phone and the beep from the dial turns into the beep of someones heart in a hospital. We then cut to a shot, in present time where Sam is in a hospital bed. The audience are left questioning what happened, and contemplating the severity of domestic abuse.

Domestic Violence Research - By James Dunham

We are now planning some ideas for our A2 productions. One of the ideas that we would like to develop for film is on on domestic violence.
I have gathered some statistics to help us in understanding how much of an impact has on peoples lives.

These  facts paint a vivid picture of how detrimental the effects of domestic violence can be. In theory it means that 25% of women suffer domestic violence. Many female cases are highlighted on the news, below are a few news reports of women who have been involved in domestic violence. The first from a women who speaks out about her boyfriend and the injuries that she sustained.

The second a report about another woman's ordeal. 

But domestic violence is not just exclusive to women, males can also suffer domestic violence. From these statistics it is evident that domestic violence is not just a one sided battle. Men can be the victims of the female partners. Through this research we will try and convey a modern representation of domestic violence. There is more on male domestic violence here.

Although it may not be highlighted as much male domestic violence is prominent. One victim story is told by the Daily Mail, the victim was subjected to numerous attacks often hit by golf clubs, a telephone and even the fits of his girlfriend. The victim questioned how he could be attacked by somebody half of his size. The harrowing article goes onto give examples of males who were shocked when they got the full force of there girlfriends rage, many surprised. The article can be read here. 

From the articles and news reports we can use the information from the attacks to build a realistic picture of domestic abuse in our opening. The article on male domestic violence will be particularly useful in portraying the characteristics of the victim, the news reports can allow our group to create our female attacker. Although the victims in the news reports were both female one of the woman says how her boyfriend demanded pictures of her to make sure she was where she said she was. This could fit into our short film as we plan to have the girlfriend constantly text messaging her boyfriend.

Laura - The Ex factor

The Ex Factor 

• Viewed on Virgin Media Shorts 
  A woman is stocking up on junk food in a shop when she runs into her ex-
  boyfriend and his new girlfriend
  
• I chose this film because I thought it was funny, I liked the way that in the end, even though there he had the stereotypically pretty girl as his girlfriend now, it 
  still suggests how much he misses the ‘ex-girlfriend’ 
  
  

Representation

• The setting is represented in an interesting way, as it very much conforms to 
  the common stereotype that supermarkets are the place where you run into 
  people, often not wanting too
  
• The characters are also represented in a way that conforms to the common 
  romance story, the ex-girlfriend, the boyfriend and the new girlfriend.
  The ex-girlfriend is made to be inferior to the other couple, this is presented 
  through her costume. She is wearing tracksuit bottoms, and an unfashionable T-
  shirt, clearly only chosen for it’s comfort rather than fashion, for her “night 
  in”. This adds to the comedy part of the genre, as we can empathise with her, 
  and laugh about the times that we have felt embarrassed in what we were 
  wearing, perhaps even when running into ex-boyfriends. It is also mentioned 
  that she has put on weight, which is confirmed with the initial mid shot of her 
  eating whilst shopping (1), and the close ups where we see the junk food that 
  she is putting into her basket.
  
• The ex-girlfriend has a very negative representation. This juxtaposes with the 
  boyfriends positive representation, perhaps to intensify her embarrassment with 
  meeting up with him, clearly feeling inferior. Not just with her bad appearance 
  compared with his, but also possibly because of the way he has moved on, 
  whereas she hasn’t. This is furthered with the dialogue, when she remembers the 
  specific time they “went out”, for “2 months 5 days”, whereas he casually says 
  “a few weeks”. The use of the non-diegetic narrative confirms to us her 
  embarrassment about saying that, as we get to hear from her perspective. This 
  non-diegetic narrative also allows us to feel sympathy for her, we already feel 
  it because of her embarrassment, however being allowed to hear mainly her 
  thoughts, connects us to her; reminding us she is the protagonist but also 
  allowing us to feel sympathy for her.
  
• The male, ‘Rob’ has a positive representation of masculinity, with his smart 
  shirt and “skinny jeans” from “Milan”, a stereotypically fashionable place. His 
  new girlfriend, ’Sophia’, also has a positive representation of traditional 
  femininity, which we see especially with the close up when we see her 
  immaculate hair and make-up (3). This positive representation heightens the ex-
  girlfriends appearance, but also changes our view towards the new girlfriend. 
  We feel connected to the protagonist through the non-diegetic narrative, so we 
  laugh as well as agree when she calls the new girlfriend a “cow”. The 
  immaculacy of her appearance then heightens this, as we see her as very stuck 
  up, furthered with the dialogue when she sarcastically asks about the “night 
  in” and has a very RP accent when she corrects ‘Charly‘ (the ex-girlfriend) by 
  saying “Milan“. .
  
• The expected audience for this film has shaped the representations. Audiences 
  of romantic comedy’s are often active viewers, meaning that they long for the 
  couple to get together, and they feel involved in the film. This shapes many of 
  the situations in films, as they want to make them realistic so that the 
  audience can identify with them. We see this in this film when Charly just so 
  happens to run into Rob on a day when her appearance is really bad, this could 
  even have happened to some of the viewers.

Narrative

• This is a linear plot and narrative. The filmmaker has most likely chosen this
  particular chronology as it is a simple plot, and this simplicity is what makes
  the film good, as it means the viewer can focus entirely on the comedy
• It conforms to Todorov’s theory by having a linear narrative. The equilibrium
  is when the girl is shopping, looking forward to her “night in”. The disruption
  is when she runs into her ex-boyfriend, with his new girlfriend, which is
  rather awkward, and it doesn’t help that she is clearly embarrassed with what
  she is wearing. We can tell this through her body language, with the way she
  has her arms crossed to cover it. This film conforms to the 4 stage Todorov
  theory, as opposed to the more common 3 stage one, as this one has a third
  stage where the protagonist tries to repair the disruption. We see this when
  she makes a joke, “Matalan?”. we can see by the ex-boyfriends facial
  expression, furthered with the way he laughs, that he perhaps misses her
  humour. The final stage, the resolution, is when we see that the ex-boyfriend
  is not happy with his new girlfriend. We see this through body language, for
  example, when they have a long hug and when we see that he is uncomfortable in
  his “skinny jeans” (7).
  
  Genre
  
• This film conforms to the hybrid genre, Romantic Comedy. The storyline conforms
  to that of a romance, where a former couple bump into each other again, and we
  are left at the end wondering if they will get back together. The comedic
  conventions are formed in the story, with the way Charly is embarrassed with
  what she is wearing and with what she is buying (4).
• But there are also comedic parts throughout using facial expressions, for
  example when Charly is carrying a mars bar in her mouth around the store, then
  when she is shocked to see Rob it falls out, and she badly attempts to run away
  (2). 
• Another comedic convention is their use of a minor character, who is watching
  the scene but not involved in it, so that the audience can laugh at that
  persons reaction. In this case it is the shop worker who is stacking shelves on
  the floor. We laugh at his many facial expressions, rolling his eyes and
  tutting (8), but we can also identify with him. We are watching from the same
  sort of distance, and so we feel like him, perhaps adopting many of the facial
  expressions that he is doing. Furthermore, by having him on the floor he is out
  of the scene, therefore he can judge them without them noticing, just like the
  audience. 
• I could argue that Steve Neale’s theory of repetition and difference is also
  used. It repeats common conventions of the romance genre with the archetypes of
  the characters, and also the traditional structure (Todorov’s theory) however
  the difference is that we are not left with any closure. Audience’s of the
  romantic genre like these films as it makes them feel comfortable that they
  know what to expect, and that they will be happy by the end when the couple
  gets together. However, in this film there’s a difference. At the end they do
  not actually get back together, it is only implied at the end when we see that
  they miss each other. This could be because it is a short film, and so they don’
  t have time to have a big happy ending, or it could be because they are trying
  to expand the audience of the film or to keep the traditional romcom audience
  entertained by averting the expectations of the genre. The viewers are caught
  by surprise, leaving them optimistically hoping that they get together, after
  the film has finished.
  
  Audience 
• The film can be watched on you tube, or on the Virgin Media website. Often when
  it is on the Virgin Media website it is good quality, as they are usually
  entered for competitions. However it often means that the audience for it is
  very specific, as all of the films are labelled underneath genre, therefore it
  will mainly be comedy and romantic genre viewers. Therefore, the demographic
  information will stereotypically be female, any age from 16-45. 
• However, it is also on you tube. This means that it will be viewed by a wider
  audience, therefore it will not have to worry about sticking to the genre
  expectations, as they are widening their audiences, so by not completely
  following the Todorov theory, they are experimenting with the genre. 
  
  Media language 
• There is a clever shot/ reverse shot sequence during the meeting between the
  three characters. It is clever as initially we see Charly, on a slight low
  angle, yet the shot of Rob and Sophia are straight on. This low angle could
  perhaps show Charly’s vulnerability in this situation, she has her arms folded,
  trying to cover her T-shirt. She feels quite self conscious at being “bigger”,
  so we sympathise with her. Furthermore, the shot is aimed slightly over towards
  the right, giving the effect that it’s from Sophia’s angle. It is a low angle
  mid shot, so it looks as if she is being judged, therefore conforming to what
  we think Sophia would be thinking (5) 
• Sound is also used very well. The non-diegetic sound is Charly’s thoughts.
  Initially we think she is the only one who we can hear outside of dialogue,
  however we then hear Rob’s thoughts. The fact that it is only these two we can
  hear, it puts them to the centre of our minds, and so subtly unites them. Their
  thoughts are similar, and this is where we start to think that they may get
  back together. This is then confirmed at the end when they hug (6). Finally,
  the two non-diegetic voices both talk over Sophia when she is telling them of
  their plans. This means we listen to Charly, further sympathising with her.