The Male Gaze Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey

Her theory about the male gaze:
The concept of gaze is one that deals with how audience views the people presented.
For feminist 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 Mulvey coined the term "Male gaze" in 1975. She 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 that occur to women and presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events.
Relegates women to the status of objects, the female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily  by identification of the male.

Music choice in my trailer + final genre choice

One of the main elements of my film trailer will be the sound included, I have been doing a lot of research and previously said I was going to use Lux Aeterna By Clint Mansell  but I have now decided that instead of using a song I will be using a droning sound or a sound similar to the one at the end of the Prometheus trailer and I will use this to break up the shots for example each time the drone comes in a new shot will also come in, I will also use the sound because it makes the audience feel uncomfortable and this would also create tension that something bad is going to happen which is the effect I want to create because in the trailer you won't be able to know who the killer is or why it was done.

Also I have decided that instead of doing a thriller I am going to make my film into a psychological horror and I made this choice because when filming I noticed that the film would look a lot better if we didn't see the killer and just put in shots to show the killer is following the victim without actually having to see the killer and this creates a lot of tension so by doing this and having the droning noise my trailer will create a lot of tension and make people want to watch the whole film.

By doing this post it has helped me to clarify the idea in which I am doing because now I know what I will be doing and putting into my trailer, and this is also good because I have slightly changed the way my trailer will be done before I have actually gone ahead and done it.

Film storyboard.

Film Storyboard

In this post I will be showing my ideas for my film as a photo storyboard and going over the different shots used  and why I have decided to use those shots, I will also go over the music used in my film and why I have decided to use it.

In this first shot I have taken a medium shot to show that the character is walking to somewhere I have also used this type of shot so that you can see the surroundings around the character and see that the path is in a discrete location.


My next shot is of my actress pulling out a phone and then the shot cuts to the the phone and we see that she is listening to music, we used these shots to show that she is listening to music which is making her unaware of the noises in her surroundings.

In my next shot you can see a shot of a pair of feet walking by which is then followed up with a second pair of feet going past which tells the audience that there is someone behind the character and it adds suspense to the film and this shot is a close-up so that you can clearly see that there are two pairs of feet walking past.


My next shot is a tracking shot where it gives the audience the impression that we are the killer following the victim as we are walking behind the character.

The next shot is a long shot and we see the actress looking back, we used this shot to show that the actress has noticed that someone is following her and then we see her picking up the pace.

The next shot is a high angle shot where we see the actress running past and looking behind her, we used this shot to add a sinister feel to the sequence in that it looks like it's almost the killer looking down on her also a high angle shot was used because it makes the actress look weak and vulnerable.

The next shots are of the actress running into the woods which is done by a series of medium shots and close-ups of the feet to show that the killer is still following her and to see that she is still running into the woods.

The final shot we used in the woods scene was a point of view shot (P.O.V) and in this shot we see the actress looking behind her then looking back infront then being hit by a stick, we used this shot to show that the killer has finally got her and it also adds a sinister effect because when she looks back the killer isn't there. So throughout the sequence we don't see the killer which adds mystery to the film as we want to find out who the killer is.

Stuart Halls Theory

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist and sociologist who has lived and worked within the united kingdom.
Stuart hall looked at the role of audience positioning in the interpretation of mass media texts by different social groups.  Hall came up with a model suggesting three ways in which we may read a media text.
There are the three ways Hall believed people interpreted media texts.

Dominant reading

Reader fully accepts the preferred reading (audience will read the texts the way the author intended them to). So that the code seems natural and transparent.

The negotiated reading

The reader partly accepts the code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests.

The oppositional reading

The readers social positioning places them in a oppositional relation to the dominant code, they reject the reading.

Doing this research has shown me that people can see a media text in different ways and people can read media texts differently to others.

Claude Lévi-Strauss' Theory

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Was a French anthropologist and ethnologist and has been called "the father of modern anthropology. His theory was about films being based around two opposites for example cowboys vs indians and the good vs the bad and Claude belived that narratives are aranged around the conflict of binary opposites.

Examples of Binary opposites.

• Good vs Evil                                                                   
• Black vs White
• Boy vs Girl
• Peace vs War Civilised vs Savage
• Democaracy vs Dictatorship
• First world vs Third World
• Domestic vs Foreign/Alien
• Articulate vs Inarticulate
• Young vs Old
• Man vs Nature

Basically Lévi - Strauss's theory is that the conflict is based around the binary opposites and that the binary opposites are the central climax of a narrative structure.

A film in which this would apply to is: Avatar

Avatar is an example of Binary opposites because not only is it Good vs Evil it is also Technology vs Native because there are the marines/commandos vs the Navi only there native planet and this is what the film is based around, the conflict between the two opposites.
From doing this research I have learnt that a lot of films in which we watch the plots are based around two opposites fighting against each other.

 

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory.

Tzvetan Todorov is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher who writes books and essays about literary theory, thought history and culture theory. Tzvetan Todorov simplified the idea of narrative theory whilst also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium.

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

• A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be)
• A disruption of that order by an event
• A recognition that the disorder has occurred
• An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
• A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium

This theory can be applied to many films especially mainstream films because it's what audiences today are used to.

I am now going to apply his theory to a mainstream films which is going to be Iron Man.

These are the five stages which the film iron man goes through:

• A state of equilibrium - We are introduced to the world where Tony Stark is rich and owns a weapons manufacturing company.
• A disruption of that order by an event - Tony stark is Kidnapped and his right hand man has turned against him and wants the company for himself.
• A recognition that the disorder has occurred - Would be when Tony Stark breaks free and realises that his right hand man was the one who paid for him to be kidnapped and is planning to go against him.
• An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption - Tony Stark fights with his right hand man and prevails.
• A return of restoration of a new equilibrium - Tony Stark rebuilds his company and the threat is dealt with and so the world is a safe place again.

In conclusion I have learnt a lot of Tzvetan's theory and I am not sure if I will be able to relate it to my film because my film will start off with the murder happening, I will be able to relate some parts of his theory to my film though such as a disruption then a recognition of the disruption which is then resolved with the detective finding the killer and dealing with him.

Vladimir Propp Theory

In this post I will be researching into Vladimir Propp and his Theory of narrative and also his theories into the characters used.

Vladimir Propp was a Soviet formalist scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales. Vladimir suggested characters took on role of narrative "spheres of action" or functions, Propp came up with seven different character types.

1. The villain—struggles against the hero
2. The donor—prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
3. The (magical) helper—helps the hero in the quest
4. The princess and her father—gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished
5. The dispatcher—character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero—reacts to the donor, weds the princess
7. False hero—takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

These roles could sometimes be distributed among various characters, as the hero kills the villain dragon, and the dragon's sisters take on the villainous role of chasing him. Conversely, one character could engage in acts as more than one role, as a father could send his son on the quest and give him a sword, acting as both dispatcher and donor.

And now I am going to apply Vladimir propp's theory to a film and the film I am going to choose is Finding Nemo.

1. The villain - Would be the dentists daughter (Darla).
2. The Donor - The Turtles because they give the Marlin the speed needed to get to his quest.
3. The (Magical) helper - Would be Dory because she helps Marlin.
4. The Princess/Prize - would be his son Nemo.
5. The dispatcher - The seagull which tells Marlin the way to his son.
6.  The Hero or victim/Seeker Hero - Would be Marlin because he is going to save his son Nemo.

From looking at Vladimir Propp's theory I can see some character profiles that would be included in my film but a lot of them won't be included for example there will be a hero and a villain and a victim but there won't be a dispatcher a helper or a donor in my film, but the research has helped me to see that this theory does apply to a lot of theory.

Institutional Research.

Institutional research will help me and allow me to see the company which would distribute my film, and so I will carry out research into what company would distribute my film and why also I will give some research behind the company.  Here are some big companies which are always distributing movies which are successful.

 I have decided to get my film distributed by the company New line cinema. New line cinema is an American film studio and was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Micheal Lynne as a film distributor which later became an independent film studio it became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner Bros in 2008.

I have decided to choose this company because they have produces a lot of successful films and the company targets at cinemas, and this would be good because I believe my film is going to be high budget and appeal to most audiences of 15 and above, so this type of film would appeal to a large company and because the company is owned by Time Warner it would be easy to market my film because they have the funds to do it also if people see that it's produced by such a well known company they might want to go see it on the basis of that.

This research has helped me to see the different companies that distribute films and the amount that do it, it has also helped me to see what is the suitable company for me to use. It has also given me more knowledge into media because I never knew that there were so many companies distributing films from high budget films all the way down to low budget films, and there are some companies which only distribute certain types of genre such as British realism.

From doing further research into institutions I have decided that I am going to have my film produced by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros is an American company and  was founded in 1923 and is an subsidiary of Time Warner and Warner Bros are known for producing high budget films, the main reasons I have decided to use Warner Bros. is because they produced the film Sherlock Holmes: a game of shadows and this is the type of film in which I am trying to aim for, a detective which discovers clues which eventually lead up to finding the killer, Warner Bros. have a high budget to spend on films so this would be good for my film because I would want there to be high budget equipment in to aid in finding the killer for example there could forensics to help find the killer.

Questionnaire results

Questionnaire results

If any of these are your favorite could you please explain why?

1. Sherlock Holmes is my favorite because it isn't like other films in the crime genre and that Sherlock Holmes has a power of deduction which aids him in solving his crimes.

2. Bones is my favorite because I like how they go about solving the murders and the different murders which are in the show.

3. Sherlock Holmes is my favorite because the detective (Sherlock Holmes) is unique in that he has his own methods of solving murders with of course the aid of Dr. Watson

4. CSI Miami is my favorite because I enjoy watching the scenes where they show the murder happening and then instantly cutting to the crime scene.

What I have learnt from this.

What I have learnt from my questionnaire is that people are looking for new and upcoming crime shows because as you can see peoples favorite show/film is Sherlock Holmes and Bones and they are both rather recent I have also learnt that people like the unique ways in which some of the detectives in these shows go about solving the crimes for example Sherlock Holmes and his power of deduction, and also that showing the murder and then cutting to the crime scene or the detective might give more excitement to the audience and so I will do this in my trailer.

Questionnaire

How old are you?

·         17 or younger                   {  }

·         18-21                               {  }

·         22-29                               {  }

·         30-39                               {  }

·         40-49                               {  }

·         50-59                               {  }

·         60+                                  {  }

Gender

 

Do you enjoy watching detective films/shows

Yes                                               {  }

No                                                {  }

Which of the following Crime Detective genre shows/films have you seen and is your favourite?

·         Sherlock Holmes            {  }                  

·         CSI Miami/NY                {  }                        

·         Law & Order                  {  }       

·         Miami Vice                    {  }       

·         The X Files                    {  }      

·         Bones                           {  }      

If any of these are your favourite could you please explain why?

Thank you for your time.

Curtis Cragg.

This is the Questionnaire which I am going to give to people and see what the results are I have done this questionnaire because I think that this is the best way for me to learn what my target audience will want from the detective genre and all the questions on the questionnaire are relevant and will help me when it comes to plan more film into more depth I also included a question on what there favourite detective film/show is to find out more on what makes those shows so entertaining and good to watch so hopefully I can take some ideas from other shows and films and include them in mine.

Regulation Research!

When creating a short film it is good to have an understanding of what should or shouldn't be included in your film to meet the regulations of that area of media and in this case it is the BBFC which handles this specific area of media. I think that in having a good understanding of the guidelines in the certificate I want to aim for will help me when filming my film.

The BBFC is an independent, self-financing and not-for-profit media   content regulator. They operate transparent, consistent and trusted co-regulatory and self-regulatory classification and labelling systems in the UK.

As a highly expert and experienced regulator, there mission is to:

• protect  the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks
• empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choice
• recognise and respect adult freedom of choice within the law
• respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research
• provide a cost-effective, efficient classification service within our statutory remit
• work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems
• provide an effective service to enforcement agencies.

Here are some of the things the BBFC look for when deciding what classification a film is:

Drugs

• No work taken as a whole may promote the misuse of drugs and any detailed portrayal of drug misuse likely to promote or glamorise the activity may be cut. Works which show drug misuse while emphasising the dangers may receive less restrictive classifications than works that present drug misuse in a neutral manner. Where smoking, alcohol abuse or substance misuse feature to a significant extent in works which appeal to children, this will normally be indicated in the Consumer Advice and/or Extended Classification Information.
• This is good to know for my film because the killer might have psycological problems and might be using drugs ro escape his problems.

Language

• I am allowed to use a frequent use of the word "fuck" and stronger words may be used but only if they are justified by context I need to know this for my film because the victim might be screaming or swearing at the killer.
• Aggresive use or constant use is unlikely to be acceptable and this could pose as a problem because there could be a scene where the victim is swearing a lot but from this I can cut that scene out.

Violence

• Violence may be strong but isn't allowed to dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.
• The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable so when doing my film I will have to watch out for this because I need to shoot a scene with a victim being killed.
• Violence will be a key feauture in my film and I think it will be easy for my to stay within the guidlines because I won't dwell in the injury or use the strongest of gore.

From looking at the guidelines for the different classifications, I have managed to see what my film will be which is a 15 and the different things which you can include for example in a 15 you can include frequent use of strong language which may be a thing which will be included in my short film. You are also allowed to use some imitable behaviour such as hanging/suicide/cutting themselves but you can't dwell in the fact they are doing it, so this might be another thing which I include in my short film because I want the killer to have psychological problems or maybe a troubled child hood, also in my film there will be a lot of violence (the murder taking place and perhaps the final confrontation) and this would make my short film a 15 because you can use strong violence.

From this task I have learnt the guidelines which people have to look out for when making a film and targeting at a certain audience and seeing what they can and can't include it's helped me int he fact that now I know what I can and can't include so when it comes to filming I know more in depth what the scenes will include.

Textual Analysis on my Ancillary task (Magazine cover Featuring my film)

 The other Ancillary task I have decided on doing is the magazine cover featuring my film. 



This a film cover from Empire featuring Iron man 2, Empire is a widely known company that specialises in Film reviews, Movie news and Interviews. So whenever a new film comes out Empire are almost always the first on the scene to hear about it. The magazine itself seems to be very in your face and big, and the magazine puts the highlight of the magazine right at the front with the main character of the film in a pose, the character also covers up some of the words and this could mean that the company already know that people know who they are and that people only need a couple of words and this is good because if they are successful I can learn some good techniques from them. The style of the magazine is also very modern for example it looks very polished and prestigious also the font of the text Empire corresponds with the type of movie for example in this magazine cover the words are electric and the film is based on technology.

Like the other magazine we can instantly spot that Empire use the techniques throughout their magazines so from this I know that the style in which they use works because as you can see the main character is standing in front of the text and dominating the screen to grab your attention maybe as you walk by it in a shop and again like the other magazine the character is in a pose, the difference from this magazine compared to the other one is that this magazine has more text around the picture and in this one it shows other things within the magazine to try and grab more attention and to show how much more is within the magazine. So from this magazine I have learnt that having the main character in a pose in front of the magazine seems to be an effective way to grab peoples attention with the name of the film on the character or slightly underneath also to make the text like very modern because it adds a nice effect to the magazine.

 This is a another company called Total Film and Total Film is like Empire because Total Film is a guide on up-coming movies so when reviewing this poster I will also know that this is valuable in helping me to come up with my idea. Like Empire Total Film places the main character of the featured film in that magazine on the front page in a pose and mainly dominating the magazine, also the text is very big like the other magazines to grab your attention as you are walking by it in a shop, unlike Empire, Total film seems to have more text on the page and  have lines such as "No School. No Rules. Can Harry cut it in the real world." to give away a bit of the story line to grab your attention and make you want to read the magazine, also like the other one they use very bold colours to grab your attention for example this magazine has pure red just in the background.

What I have learnt

What I have learnt from doing this task is that I am going to use a lot of the ideas from these two major companies for example I am going to have my detective in a pose on the front of the magazine and taking up the majority of the page and I am going to dominate the page with a bold colour (Not sure yet) Also I am going to have little text and maybe a snappy line to grab attention with the name in bold over the character to show people what to expect within the magazine.

Textual Analysis on my Ancillary task (Poster)

One of the Ancillary tasks I have decided to do is the poster for the trailer of a film.

This poster is interesting because like the other CSI posters it shows the rest of the cast posing in the background and being the main centre of attention but at the same time a lot of the focus of the poster is the hand on the road and they have done this to give you an idea of what the show will be about that and also the fact that in the centre of the screen it says CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in green, and they have out this in green because it stands out over the black background and also the font of the writing is in a robotic style telling us that CSI will involve a lot of technology which it does with things such as blood analysing and determining the date of peoples death. The most interesting thing on this poster is the writing in the top left which says "Brace yourself for a killer season" and this is clever because the word killer in that sentence has two meaning one being the fact that the season will be amazing and also that there will be a lot of killing involved in the season and like the other words on the page it has a different font colour making it stand out from the background.

As you can see this other poster from the same brand is different because unlike the other one where everyone is posing towards the camera in this the only person doing it is the main character and the rest are investigating a murder and they are all crowded around the body trying to determine what happened, also unlike the other one there are no witty captions and only a line of police tape across the middle saying "Crime scene do not cross" which can also be seen as witty because obviously it is about a crime scene and like the other one they have placed the CSI in huge caps dominating most of the poster and in a very clear font which stands out the it is also white so it stands out from the dark background.

I have chosen to study a different crime TV show as well which is called Law & Order and the style of this poster is very different in comparison to CSI and the other two posters and that this poster doesn't focus on what the show is about and more about the cast and expects you to know what it is about, which is obvious because of the title and from this poster you can see that the show is serious and mature because they are all wearing suits and have a serious faces on the poster is mainly dominated by the faces of the actors and also the text saying Law & Order criminal intent" which gives further depth into what the series is about.

From looking at this poster I don't think i will copy anything from it when doing my own poster as it is very plain and I want to include more things such as a crime scene in the background.

How doing this task has helped me.

From doing this Analysis on posters from the genre I have chosen I have found out many different techniques I could use when it comes to the time when I design and create my poster, because now when I create my poster I think I will include the police tape idea going across the screen with the detective standing behind it either looking on a body or looking off into the distance, I will also include other things such as the weapon used for the murder and I will do this because I think it will grab peoples attention and help them to realise what type of murder will be occurring, and the name of the film will be in bold at the bottom almost taking about 1/3rd of the screen as that seems to be what a lot of posters do to grab peoples attention.

Target audience.

Age:

The age of my target audience will be between 18 and 28 and this is because the scenes within the film will be violent so the audience can't be lower than a 15 because I think the film will be a certificate 15 and I have chosen 28 because I think that people will still watch this type of film even as they get older because the film will be mature. I have set my lowest target audience at a 18 instead of a 15 because from my research on the web many people said the target audience for the crime law and CSI genre were generally older and around the 18 bracket, and I agree with this because when I was 15 I didn't enjoy watching CSI, law and crime shows/movies but the certificate 15 will remain the same because even though I am targeting at the 18s I don't think my film will be violent enough to push it to a 18 and also having at a 15 will attract more customers. 

Gender:
The gender in which my film is mainly targeting is males because the film will include a mainly male cast and will also include a lot of fighting scenes which from my research a lot of women get bored of during films, there will also be a deep story line which creates sympathy for the main character which might attract a female audience as well. 

My web research.

I furthered my research onto the web to find out more into the people which watch the CSI genre and the source which I used was The Guardian: TV ratings, and in the article I read it said that CSI the first episode of the ninth series got 3.9 million viewers taking a 16% audience share, so doing this research into the CSI genre really helps me to see that there are still a lot of people which watch this type of genre as 3.9 million people all watching just one episode is a lot this would also mean that they would of had a wide variety of audience because the episode was on at 8:05 so a lot of the audience may have been elderly, also from another source which isn't very reliable and just a persons thoughts (Yahoo Answers) said that the target audience was people between 18 and 35 and in doing this I think I will change the target audience I am trying to reach as I think fifteen is a bit low and people do still watch when they are past 25.

Socio Economic Classification

The target audience in which I am targeting will be a from C all the way down to E2 because I am targeting at a wide variety of audience and I believe this is the film that no matter what your status is you will still enjoy, I didn't include A and B because I thought that they may not be into the action scenes with murder and that it would make them bored so if I were to target at audiences such as students then I will attract a lot more customers.

The origins of the detective genre.

The detective genre truly began in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe made a short story on a brutal murder and the police are baffled as to how it happened so a detective appears on the scene and helps to solve the mystery. The genre hit a high when with the creation of the "yellow blacks" which were cheaply produced throw away publications which contained detective stories within them. 

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, forensic science expanded to include technologies like body temperature to determine time of death and the systematic use of fingerprinting for identification which greatly changed the genre making the stories different because the detectives could now catch their victims just from a finger print.

In modern CSI, technology has rapidly advanced because forensics in modern times have built on their technologies making it easier to determine what happened. Because these days they can gather clues from the blood, the fingerprints the way in which the glass shattered if the person was thrown through the window because they can work out how much force was used and the angle in which they were thrown at so technology now-a-days has greatly changed the genre because when people make films/books within the genre they have to keep up with the modern technologies because they change how easy it is to catch the murderer.

Doing this has helped me to see what I need to include in my film for example I need to make sure that I use up to date technologies if I am to set it in the present time else it would be out of date and also this means I can include different ways of catching the murderer and include different ways of how the detective finds out where they went or what happened to the victim for example.

History of short films

• The very first films were presented to the public in 1894 through Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, a peepshow-like device for individual viewing. 
• The best-known film from this time is perhaps the Lumière brothers’ Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895), which supposedly had audiences fleeing in terror as a celluloid locomotive hurtled towards them.
• But in the early 1900s, improvements in recording and editing technology allowed film-makers to produce longer, multi-shot films.
• Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902)  A well known short film maker of his time and is often celebrated as the first western
• From about 1910 onwards, studio competition and audience demand induced film-makers to make even longer, multi-reel films and the first features were born.
• Features were regarded as more respectable than shorts. Their length and narrative complexity allowed them to be compared more favourably with theatre and opera than with the base pleasures of the fairground.
• Short films were used as propaganda to get people to join the army and to support people already fighting in the army.
• In 1960's they stopped showing short films in commerical cinemas.
• Since 1981 and the birth of MTV, music videos have also represented an alternative outlet for short film-makers.
• In the 21st century short film makers now produce films on websites such as Youtube and sometimes short films are shown just before a children's movie, so short films haven't died out because people view them everyday.

Information on short films taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-life/7593291/The-long-history-of-short-films.html