Masculinity in crisis

in 1999, children now, a California-based organisation that examines the impact of the media on children and youth, released a report entitled boys to men : media messages about masculinity. the report argues that the media's portrayal of men tends to reinforce men's social dominance.

the report observes that:

• the majority of male characters in media are heterosexual

• male characters are more often associated with the public sphere of work, rather than the private sphere of the home, and issues and problems related to work are more significant than personal issues 

• non-white male characters are more likely to experience personal problems and are more likely to use physical aggression or violence to love those problems

children now conclude that these dominate trends in the media portrayal of men reinforce an support social attitudes that link masculinity to power, dominance and control.

the portrayal and acceptance of men by the media as socially powerful and physically violent serve to reinforce assumptions about how men and boys should act in society, how they should treat each other, as well as how they should treat women and children.

Title scene

 

For my title scene, I've decided too film the main character of the film putting down newspapers with the cast as the headline etc. It took me more than an hour on each paper as I had not much of an idea of what I was doing. I've currently made 3 newspaper articles. I will be making more, between 5-8newspapers. here are the 3 seen above. 

Fast girls

Fast girls is about a teenager called Shania Andrews from a rough area of London training to become an olympics spriter for team GB. Shania, belongs in a working/lower class family in a tower block of flats in London. She has many distractions because of her class. For example, Shania can't afford nice track running shoes, therefore she has to train in these tatty old normal running shoes. She also trains in a shutdown running track with a voluntary coach. At one point in the film Shania and her sister get kicked out her aunties house where she was orginally staying and Shania is forced to sleep in the freezing cold shed of the shutdown running track.

When Shania is picked for Team GB she is instantly being looked down upon by a middle class spriter called Lisa. Lisa has always had everything; the boots, the kit and the facilties to train at etc. This links in with Gramsci Theory. The middle class are the dominative class and have a more previlegded view than working/lower class. This is why Shania can't stand her, Because Lisa has also had things handed to her on a plate, she acts like she is the greatest and looks down at others.

Shania and Lisa aren't friends. Through out the film Lisa's father which has a huge amount in link with the sporting association dislikes shania too. This is because of her class. Lisa's father tries everything to kick her out the team because she's a 'disgrace'. When in actual fact, he doesn’t like her daughter mixing with lower classes than the middle class.

Production Diary 1

yesterday on the 5th Nov, I filmed my first scene. My brother and I went to a small forrest which is a 5 minute walk away from my house to film two scenes. The scenes were; one that will be shown on the TV and the other will be part of a dream.

As you can see here to your right, this is a screenshot of one of the brutal violent scenes.

My brother and I filmed this scene from around half past 3 until dark (5pm). We filmed many different angles and shots to create the perfect horror scene.

This part of the film actual has nothing to do with the film what so ever. Its just going to be a film that is shown on TV at the start of the film to throw the audience away in different directions to make them wonder what the film is actual about, because this scene here will be the first scene that the audience will be watching ( after the title sequence )

who is your audience

Target audience. A particular group at which a product such as a film is aimed at.

For my film which is about the future circumstances about humanity I think that my target audience is between the ages of 18-30 ( young adults ). however the film rating would overall be a 15.

the reasons why I would have have my target audience for this film between the ages of 18-30.

the reason why I've set my target audience for the ages of 18-30 is that because its quite an adult concept to understand. A complex future romance between a human and a computer is not going to be a children's favourite film.

the film is rated a 15 because the film will include some swearing and a short scene of brutal violence also the adult concept is not for younger children.

My Brother the Devil

In todays lesson we have finished watching the hoodie cinema film, "My Brother the Devil". This film is about Mo and Rashid "Rash"  are teenage brothers of Egyptian descent living with their parents in Hackney. the young characters of My Brother the Devil live I a world of perpetual violence, gang feuds and abuses both chemical and physical. Its a world where a legitimate road to success is all- but invisible. 

Rash finds out that faster than others that the road to success is impossible in the 'endz'. Rash wants to escape from the drugs and violence and wants a proper working life with no fear of another rival gang trying to kill you.  

it is even harder for Rash to escape the 'ends' because slightly over half way Rash finds his true sexuality. Rash falls in love with a French photographer. However, Rash needs to keep this hidden because as a muslim being gay is looked down upon. Rash keeps finding it harder to escape his group and leave the 'ends' for a proper job, not just dealing drugs.

What I can work on

In year 12 my class mate and I made the beginning to a film. our film called ' Short Time ' took longer than it should of to make. In the film we do use technical shots such as tracking shots. However, our film ended up being rushed to finish as we had to change ideas over a quick decision. Our sound. Our sound ended up being mixed and not put in the correct positions that we wanted it in, our sound could of been a lot better.

In my next idea that i am using for my A2 production which I currently do not have a title for, i will be using challenge shots that I did not use in my AS production. such as a birds eye view. I would love to use this perspective in my short film to make it seem like my main character isn't that signifcant and gets swallowed up by the surrounding - My main character will therefor be part of the wider picture.

Also for my main task it is going to be extremely hard to add my sound in. I'm going to have a conversation between a person within the film and a person outside the film. therefor in simply scenes will have a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Short Time - Matt and Pads production