Research Representation

Representation

Making research on Media representaion can be useful to me in producing my films opening as i believe it can add greater depth and detail to my media content ,questioning what we want to reflect and presents/portrays to the audience.

Representation

Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective. Rather than examining media representations as simply reflecting or mirroring "reality," we examine how media representations serve to "re-present" or to actually create a new reality.

Media Representation

Concerned with the way that people ideas and events are presented to us by the media.

This could be represented in magazines news,soaps .films,Tv game shows,etc.

The media rely on the audience understanding these representations and accepting them.

The media can’t represent without an audience.

The media rely on the audience basic knowledge.

How does this video clip represent Hegemonic ideals, preferred reading and dominant ideology through media?

The video clip suggests the idea that every single thing has a hegemonic ideals.Everything has its aim of being able to rule or dominate something in it.The video shows this by creating a contrast view seen by the main character.The sunglasses enables him to see the world in a much more horizontal way and understand the true aims of every single objects.for instance when the main character walks through a bookshop he sees an ordinary sales label on the door but once he put on the sunglasses the texts change into a simplified message of the dominant ideology the institution is trying to communicate and manipulate people.The idea of illusion of choice also ties in with this as the scene made us see what reality really is and the true aims of institution trying to control us through different platforms of media/media convergence deceiving us the consumer the idea that we actually have a choice on what we choose to consume while truly we don’t.

It is not possible for the media to present the world as it really is (reality). This is because the media constructs meanings about the world and therefore they change or mediate what is really there.

Re-Presentation

The media re-presents the world to the audience. The ideas are a re-presentation of the original(reality).

Reality is being represented based on the dominant ideology.

Identifying a lack of representation

Is one group of people, person, place or situation being represented more than another.

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Mise en Scene

We’re researching on mis en scene because it’s a very important aspect into creating a film and i need to know more about it in order to learn more about film making.

A French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame.

Visual information in the frame.

Communicates essential information to the audience.Represents people,places and events.

Everything you put in your scene needs to be there for a reason because it will communicate some visual information.

5 Elements

1.Settings & Props

2.Costume,Hair and Makeup

3.Lighting & Colour

4.Facial Expressions and Body Language

5.Blocking/Composition Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

An example of how i could be applying of the 5 elements of mise-en scene into our film opening

Setting props

Props play a big role in representing the character's personality and also to move the story.A prop is formally known as (theatrical) property which is an object used on stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production.In several iconic films like Amelie and Inception props has become and played one the main roles in moving the story of the film forward.Many scenes in Amelie a character each has their own habits and objects related to them which effectively represents which type of a person they are and suggests what they like.A male character from Amelie which always appears at the coffee shop has a unique habits of popping bubble wraps,as a result this insert and give the audience an idea that he likes to create satisfaction through popping bubble wraps which in this case is the prop.Another scene from Amelie shows an old man who received his long lost childhood memory football toy.After the old man received the toy he had a flashback to his childhood memories and started sobbing with joy.This shows that a prop can also be used to affect the character's feelings and used as a certain form to create a nostalgia.

In addition,a film which contains prop as one of the important parts of a film is inception where a totem is spin in the story to dictate whether or not the protagonist is in the real world or imaginary.The ending of inception has caused many controversy whether or not the protagonist was able to comeback to reality or does he stays in the imaginary world.If the totem stops spinning it simply means that the protagonist is in reality whilst if it continues to go on forever the protagonist is then still in the imaginary world.In this scene the totem is spun for a few moments and the film just ended without showing if it stops or continues to spin forever so,the totem has forced the audience to make judgement for themselves if it actually stops and to be honest it had caused many to be feel incomplete as they wanted a clear explanation to the ending.This means that props can be used to create different aspects to the film and act different roles eg. moving the story forward or just representing a character's background/personality depending on how it's decided to be used.

From learning more about props I’ll be using props to pass on minor information to the audience and at the same time making them question and wanting to find out more about the identity of the protagonist.Items such as wedding pictures put in a frame and pills placed near the bed of the main character can insert some information in the audience’s mind that the character is married and could be facing some type of sickness or have personal reasons to use the pills.

Facial Expressions and Body Language

One of the key aspects about acting

Acting can actually be a thing that goes deep down to your DNA if it’s done and focus highly to certain point.From listening to the video of John Windsor (an experienced actor) giving advice to how to actually be good acting I can actually understand and sees a wider of how acting can be made into a more genuine level.John talks about this idea of actually embracing and entirely engaging into your role and really just be the character you’re given.You should be reading lines to a certain that it’s into your DNA and that every time being asked questions in scene you should automatically be replying in the lines without any thinking.What you say shouldn’t be considered as a line from a script but instead be something you should or would say because you’re that character.I could be using this advice to help and suggests improvements to my actor’s acting skills during the time in the sets as i believe it can become handy and useful in making the film more realistic and enables the audience to believe and engage more in making thoughts on the story.

A scene showing the brilliance of Heath Ledger acting skills in one of the scenes in The Dark Knight

An interesting fact about the The dark Knight Rises (2012) Joker is that Christopher Nolan the director actually allowed Heath Ledger to explore and create his own version of the Joker from his mind.As a result the Joker which appears in The Dark Knight Rises tend to be quite different and unique than both the old version and the comic version but rather a more intelligent and has more depth inside the character.Heath Ledger won an Oscar for best supporting actor from this brilliant performance from The Dark Knight although had sadly passed away before the announcement due to the overdose of drugs.Many said that he was really into the role of Joker and dedicated a lot in order to really understand and be one with the role of Joker.He had studied all sorts of stuffs about the character from the way he think and what he would do in a situation according to his views of what the joker is like. I could be using this advice from John to help and suggests improvements to my actor’s acting skills during the time in the sets as i believe it can become handy and useful in making the film more realistic and enables the audience to believe and engage more in making thoughts on the story.

Lighting and Colour

Lighting and colour can be an important aspects in creating films or scenes that would grab the audience attention and be useful in creating a rich-enjoyment which gratifies the viewer.In looking at the website Learn About Film and etc. i have found that planning on the size of the light you use in each scenes would can give different moods into the scenes and could lead different patterns of editing required in order to improve the view on the scenes for instance using a big light can create hard shadows which may result to having to soften them with a diffuser or fill them.

Planning on where the light is coming from allows you to control the mood of the scenes and how the character is being seen in that particular scene eg. Light from the side can be really atmospheric but is trickier to work with. Shooting against a dark background, you’ll get a moody low-key effect.You should notice how the atmosphere around can have different colour so if shot scenes from different places and put it together they may look very different and not very convincing that they are relevant.So, basically try to make sure that all the light in the scene is the same kind. If you mix light sources – eg daylight from a window and fluorescent light in the room – it’ll be impossible to get them both right.This can help scenes look more realistic and interesting to watch for the audience.

Mise-en Scene Additional Notes

Mise-en-scene

Setting, décor and props

naturalism, time period, symbolism,

Atmosphere, emotional response,

dramatic irony/ tension, colour symbolism

Body language & facial expression

Character status, emotion, stereotype,

Where characters look

Hair & Make Up and Costume

Characterisation, status, symbolism, colours,

Emotion, similarities/ differences, alliances/ enemies

Blocking & Composition

Conflicts / alliances, statuses,

centre of attention / outcast, spacing – positive. Negative space

Lighting

Shadows, spotlight on? High / low key –

Emotion, colour symbolism

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Todorov's Narrative Theory

Tzvetan Todorov

Born 1939 France-Bulgarian Philosopher

wrote 22 books and visiting lecturer in Harvard.

5 Stages (in a simple explanation)

1.The Equilibrium

When everything is normal

2.The Disruption

Something happens

3.The Recognition

Realisation that there's a problem

4.The Repair

Take steps to correct the problem

5.The Restoration

Return to normality

During the the group activity we were given tasks to create a short 1 take 1 minute film using Todorov's theory.We actually made two because the first one was done in quite a low standard and the plot wasn't related to our film opening at all.

However, this is our first attempt.

*unfortunately, Soton uploaded the video on Vimeo and due to the 10 videos uploads restrictions rule he deleted the the first footage of this particular group activity.Therefore, in the future we'll be planning to upload all our future works on other videos platforms such as Youtube which are completely free instead in the our future work.

The second video made is a short story line played by Jess,Guy and me where Jess(the one using her phone and laughing) are supposed to be a couple with Guy(the first guy).As soon as Jess started laughing on the she sees on the screen Guy started becoming over protective and gets mad at Jess for no reason.This idea links in with the idea of how relationships are sometimes complicated and the fact that Guy started hurting Jess because he was suspicious that Jess was talking to someone else ties with one of the factors we have in our film which is sexual abuse made by the protagonist.

The first action which was supposed to be the equilibrium where everything is normal was when both Guy and Jess were sitting on the sofa and playing their mobile phones.The disruption then starts when Jess started to laugh on something she saw on her phone.Guy then started to get mad at Jess and began to hurt her filling in the third stage as Recognition.Me myself then walks in to talk to Jess and actually made her feel better which the repair stage(4th).The last stage "The Restoration" then occurred where Jess came back to her normal mood and continues using her phone on the couch.

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Opening of Feature Films

Seven

"Se7en" uses voyeuristic gratifications technique to seize the audience's attention in the beginning of its film. Voyeuristic is part of the 3 additional uses and gratifications theory which literally means spying on other people.This takes different shots of the main characters surroundings while not actually focusing on the main characters actual appearance or current action.Shots after shots getting closer to the main objective or action happening to the scene can slowly build up suspense and create questions inside the audiences mind.This links in with the metric montage editing technique similar to the referenced film opening "Requiem for a Dream" we looked at in class.Our media product" Insecurity" also some elements of this metric montage editing in the first 30-40 seconds where our protagonist of our story was getting dressed to go outside and not showing his facial appearance.

Fight Club

The opening scene of Fight Club gives a vicarious gratifications to the audience. Vicarious refers to experiencing something through someone else,in this case the film have start out by giving the audience different moving shots inside the main character’s body and slowly changing and revealing the normal surroundings and situations the main character is countering.During the scene a fast pace upbeat music was also being played building up more intensity and curiosity to the audience. This piece of technique can be used to apply on mainstream superheroes film such as spider man or the Avengers as a scene introducing the main character.The fast pace change of scenes from inside of the body to suddenly a stressful atmosphere changes and grabs the audience’s attention.This relates to some areas of the Russian montage editing where a part of the character or action was shown and slowly zooms out enabling the audience to see the scenes in a big picture and gain a better understanding of the situation inside the scene.

Memento

The opening scene of Memento effectively use a simple scene to foreshadows an important idea in the story .As can be seen about 3/4 of the film opening a hand was shown flapping the polaroid picture of a man shot on the head.This immediately grabs the audiences attention and make them question a few things such as who's the man that was shot and who's the person holding the polaroid. As the audiences focus more on the particular object which was the polaroid long enough they'll soon realise that the scene they are watching backwards at the same time seeing the whole incident happenned in slow motion introducing the protagonist of the story.This foreshadows an important technique and idea which was used in the film that the story in some part was shown backwards instead of forward.

The American Psycho

The opening scene of American psycho creates and gives the audience a mood of voyeuristic gratification as the protagonist daily routine are shown through a way as if they are spying on someone.This enables them to believe that the scenes in the story are more realistic.Moreover,it features montage editing technique of slowly revealing the protagonist with a commentary on the actions/scenes through the protagonist digetic sound . This fits in similarly with how we first introduced our protagonist on our 2 minutes short film using montage editing in slowly introducing and revealing the protagonist's character.

Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris is one of my favourites film,although, the story doesn't have many major big events and the story is carried out quite smoothly.However,it's the glamorous stylish theme and feelings that was experienced by watching this film that made it unique and become one of my favourites.

In the film opening above a montage editing technique have been used in relation with a non-digetic sound which conveys the audience into a certain breathtaking mood of the city.Some of the scenes shown in the beginning of the clip is also shown again near the end of the film opening which creates a smooth repetition between scenes and represent change of times,mood and the overall surroundings of the scenes.

Our film also features similar techniques as well by showing similar objects and surroundings right in the beginning and near the end to create a smooth repetition and highlights the scenes while showing a change in mood and time.Montage techniques of the protagonist and the views of cityscape was also shown with jazz music to create the sloitude and mysterious mood to our film.

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