Female Gaze

Female Gaze:

1) What is the article about? Summarise the article in 50 words.

Women as spectators and as consumers of media images of other women have often been overlooked in previous critical studies of representation. Yet, this female gaze is at the heart of the problems that A Perfect 14 is trying to address. The representation of false and unattainable images of the idealised female body is clearly linked to the idea of the gaze and to spectator-ship theory.


2) What is the name of the film that has sparked this recent debate on body image and female representation?


In Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship, feminist critic Jackie Stacey suggested that the female look works on different and multiple levels for ‘fascination and aspiration’. This campaign and the marketing campaign for A Perfect 14 aim to create engaging yet aspirational opportunities for the female gaze to flourish and be empowered.


3) How does the 'Female Gaze' in this article differ from the 'Male Gaze' of Laura Mulvey's theory?


In analysing female representation, you will invariably encounter theorist Laura Mulvey and her pioneering 1970s work on ‘The Male Gaze’. However her work has now been challenged, and you need to analyse how women themselves consume and decode images. Mulvey’s theory is now seen as very limited in its approach; it assumes there is only one kind of spectator (male) and one kind of masculinity (heterosexual). The apparent crisis in female body image that Dove/Unilever seized upon back in 2007 suggests that the female gaze is crucial for media and Film students. Mulvey’s original thesis, ground breaking in its day, neglected the pleasures of ‘the look’ afforded to female spectators, and the complex way that females look at, and are affected by looking at, other women. 


4) What is your own opinion of the representation of women in advertising? Should the media carry more representation of 'real' women? Why does the media not currently feature size 14 women if that is the average size of a British woman


The media currently show representation of 'real' women as the representation of women is shown for a mans pleasure. They show 'real' women because everyone wants to see real women, even though the average size of women is size 14.


5) Go to the website of A Perfect 14. Watch the trailer and read about the film. Write your own summary of the film and what it is trying to achieve

The trailer is trying to inform women to not be let down by their body, and to treat it likes it their temple. Women should not be labelled and they should learn to accept them for who they are.

MEST2 - Status Update

You need to post regular status updates to your blog throughout your MEST2 coursework to make sure you're keeping up with the work and documenting tutorial feedback. Your first status update needs to include the following:

1) Your finalised group
Sarese, Dhruvina and Ashmita

2) Your initial plans for your new TV programme that meets the MEST2 brief
Dhruvina has a sudden death and her best friend Ashmita goes off the rails and turns out to have mental problems.

3) A link to your research blogpost - the five TV/film opening scenes you have analysed that will help inform your own ideas and production work.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.gblogID=1969664970381386307#editor/target=post;postID=675943763407449691;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=5;src=postname

4) A write-up of your tutorial.

1. decide on narrative; have a clear idea.
2. think about linking character to propp.
3. location scouting; identify settings. 

Research and planning: Institution research

E4

Channel History:

E4 began transmission on 18 January 2001 at 8.30pm with a night hosted by Ali G

New Girl - critical reception 5.3

First broadcast back in 2005, the countdown/clip show/special discussed twenty controversial moments in TV history.

Historical and drama programmes

Notable success:

• The Inbetweeners
• The Big Bang
• Big Brother
• Celebrity Big Brother
• Friends

In 1996, Channel 4 purchased the broadcast rights to the popular American sitcom Friends. The series proved to be very popular amongst the UK audience

Target Audience

Demographic:

AGE Under 18s (63%)  18-24 (29%) 25-34 (5%) 35-44 (2%) 45-54 (1%) 55+ (0%)

GENDER Female (59%) • Male (41%)

Demographic means information the media uses to divide there audience into gender, age, race and other categories it also pinpoints potential audience. Every media product is targeted to certain audiences E4 viewers are predominantly young and between the ages 16-24 and dominantly females. They target this demographic because they broadcast good quality drama, comedy, features and having diverse entertainment formats making E4 and E4 +1's both have a very strong impact on16-34s.This demographic is mindful, sociable, connected, heavy internet users, they love going out and tend to use advertising as one of their many information sources.

BBC3:

Channel history

Their plan was for BBC Knowledge to be renamed BBC Four, and indeed this took place in 2002, and for BBC Choice to be renamed BBC Three.

4.2/4.1

Drama, comedy and documentaries

Notable success:

• Doctor who
• East enders
• My Islamic brother

The channel airs various dramas and comedies; one of its most popular sitcoms was Gavin & Stacey, which first aired in May 2007 and was written by and starring Ruth Jones and James Corden alongside Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, Alison Steadman and Rob Brydon. The sitcom was an instant hit, with subsequent series being moved to other BBC channels and the show being granted a Christmas special. Another example is Being Human, a drama in which a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a flat, which has become a success and heralded several new series. American programming also features, with American Dad! and Family Guy being the notable examples.

Target audience:

The channel's target audience is 16 to 34-year olds,  In 2008 it reached 26.3% of 16–34-year-olds in digital home. It has a  2.6% share of the 15–34-year-old audience and 1.4% of the whole population.

The channel needs to be disciplined about focusing on the young - its centre of gravity will be 16-34 year-olds: people who are young in spirit and mindset. BBC Three is ‘Never Afraid to Try New Things’ and that’s why we will continue to innovate with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intelligent factual formats. Our content needs to have potential to innovate across platforms. BBC Three should provide an environment for the development of new ideas and talent and for existing talent to take risks, becoming a genuine laboratory for BBC One and BBC Two.

Representation theories

Richard Dyer: the most powerful stereotype in this trailer was the woman at the beginning of the scene, when they were dressed in short tight clothing, and were putting on a show in front of men. This was the most powerful stereotype as woman are seen to pleasure men with their appearance; and in conclusion they are the ones with the least power as men have control their pleasures. Medhurst: In this trailer woman are identified to something totally opposite to their personality as woman are seen as nurturing and gentle, however in this trailer woman are presented as aggressive and masculine which would be a stereotype for men. Lots of feminists would see the negative side of this shorthand identification, as the media has presented them opposite to what they are, and would lead to the negative representation. Perkins: the stereotype shown of men in this trailer is true, as men are seen as masculine and active, and in this trailer there were many men fighting, and racing. The stereotype would fit to their personality in a positive manner. Mulvey: The male gaze is shown at the beginning of this trailer where they were dancing in short clothing for the pleasure of men, and also it shows that a few of the male racers had their woman for their pleasure representing them as sex cells, this would be seen as a negative representative from the feminists, and they would see this as mocking woman Berger - 'Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at' Levi-Strauss: the dominant representation would be men shown as masculine, and fast. Showing their obsession of cars and fighting. This would also be their preferred representation. In the video in one particular scene, it showed the woman driving and the man sitting on the other seat, which is unexpected for the viewers creating an alternative representation of women.

Representation blog task

1) List the different people/groups represented in the trailer (men/women/Americans etc.)

Women on racing cars

Women fighting

Men fighting

Women being there for a mans pleasure

Clothing -  Woman revealing tight clothing

Men racers - enemies, against each other

 

2) For each group, decide whether the representation is a dominant or alternative portrayal.

Women on racing cars - alternative

Women fighting - alternative

Men fighting - dominant

Women being there for a mans pleasure - dominant

Clothing -  Woman revealing tight clothing - dominant

Men racers - enemies, against each other - dominant

 

3) What stereotypes can you identify in the trailer?

Stereotype of women at the beginning, when they were dressed in short clothing, watched by a group of men.

Stereotype of men when they were all racing in cards, and fighting.

MEST2 Research and planning

There are many filming and editing techniques used to signify the theme horror in the opening of the film. Firstly, throughout the opening, there's low key lighting used to create an intimate mysterious atmosphere. The opening starts of with the mysterious yet frightening doll which sets of the enigma code immediately to the audience. The doll is shot in a close up shot positioned on the left side of the camera, blurring out the background allowing the audience to focus on the close up. The close up of the doll creates suspense, as the audience have no clue and it makes them impatient to know the significance of the doll. The low key lighting is continued throughout the opening, to continue the mysterious atmosphere. We then have a long shot of the characters, a back view and front, creating a shot reverse shot, this suture  was used effectively as its a horror movie, the back view of the characters, as they are introduced mysteriously. The sound used in the opening really set the atmosphere, as they were diegetic sounds, the music really made the audience dive into the scene, and get them engaged.

The opening of this film focuses on certain filming techniques repetitively. We have an extreme long shot from the beginning to the end of this scene, which allows the audience to visualise what's going on in the scene. We have the use of high key lighting, allowing the main characters who have been hung to stand out. There is use of a tracking shot of the characters been hung up, it shows how they are being slowly taken to the top of the tree, creating a very vivid image for the audience. The enigma code is created by the camera work, as the person who is pulling the rope is not to be seen, creating a mysterious atmosphere, and making  the audience confused and frightened. The sound in the opening is diegetic sounds, making it believable as we can hear the rope being pulled up, however we hear nothing from the characters which again creates an enigma code, and creates suspense and questions in the mind of the audience to why the director may

have done this.

The sound used in this sequence is parallel sound as it is linked to what the audience are watching as for instance as the start as we see thunder signs popping up on the brick wall we can also hear thunder with it which causes as electric vibe each time something comesto the screen such as the picture of each character comes in such a way. The lighting used in this opening sequence is quite dull and dramatic as it has dark colours to represent the powers that each character has. As for intense the first few seconds showing the black and white brick wall shows that it is connoting the special powers. They have used both high key lighting and low key lighting. They have used high key lighting so that it makes the sequence quite homogeneous and free from dark shadows. Also they have used low key lighting because that lighting accentuates the contours of an object by throwing areas into shade while a fill light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast. At the beginning of the opening sequence there is a fading of thunder signs coming on the screen then the black and white wall fades out to the next scene and then when the characters are shown the wipe into the screen one by one presenting themselves in a unique way. 

This scene shows a establishing shot where it shows all the main characters in one shot letting the audience to analyse and see them all at once. From the characters point of the view and from their eye it takes the scene into the future where something has occurred and this is all filmed in a fast motion which gives the affect of the audience getting to see many different things at once and their is also a freeze frame shot of all the characters being frozen. The drama then ends with a fighting scene which shows all the characters slowly and the audience is able to visualize that all of them look terrified and scared which creates enigma. The director uses many different types of media angles and shots to represent the character and from this the audience can get to see the characters in a more and better way. This clip is a short clip of pretty little liers that i will be analyzing. Firstly the director has used a establishing shot also known as a wide shot to introduce the 4 characters which will be part in the series and in this shot we are able to see all four characters together letting the audience be able to visualize each character and see what they are wearing. The camera then focus upon one character trying to introduce her Separately with a close-up and from this the audience is able to see her facial expressions and from her facial expressions and the way she is talking the audience can connote she might be a mean character. 

The lighting in the opening scene is dark but a few lights on giving it the romantic atmosphere towards the scene. There is a hint of Chiaroscuro being used as its light and dark also backing up the point of it being romantic in a case. There is top lighting used on the actor and actress at the top of a railing showing that they are both the main people to be focusing on and to show their 'love' in their reactions as it focuses on the features of people making them look 'glamorous'. The sound in this are both diegetic and non-diegetic. The non-diegetic part is the romantic music in the background which also still plays when the two actors are speaking to each other. The diegetic sound is the people in the background walking and the outside which is the rain, trains etc. It also uses sound bridges from the actress from outside walking into the train station towards which is the footsteps from outside coming inside too.This opening scene uses a lot of long shots, medium shots and a few close up shots. The long shots are from the girls coming out of the taxi walking into the train station. The medium shots are then towards the actor and actress that are on the railing. The close up shots are used to emphasise the reactions on the actors and actresses face - reaction of him leaving.

Photoshop Collages

Create two Photoshop collages offering the dominant and alternative representations for a certain group or place. Think about the usual stereotype for that group and collect words, images and colours that capture that dominant representation. For the alternative, you need words, images and colours that don't fit the usual stereotype

Dominant Representations:

Alternative Representation: