Evaluation of Film Trailer

Advanced Production Portfolio

Evaluation

Here is my draft evaluation which after I have included a link to my final audio evaluation. 

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Intertextuality/Deconstruction/Surveys/Editing

Within our film project it is noticeable that we advisedly followed many conventions which made to structure the content of it in an efficient and effective way.  We allowed for it to be continuity edited, much like all of the other media texts, in order for audiences to be able to notice that it follows all the correct rules in relation to building up a clear narrative which is understandable and obeys all the objectives expected from a text as such. We chose to include the convention of challenging stereotypical representations by having our central female character as a strong-minded, independent individual and our male as a sensitive and loving man who is nowhere near as successful as her in relation to career.

Many successful films contain intertextual references and so we believed that for our film trailer this would be a good way of allowing for audiences to be able to identify with the genre of romance as it can then be seen to be a more recognisable piece when it refers to other similar texts which would be expected to be liked by someone who would wish to see our film. For example we included a series of shots of our female character, “Georgia”, driving away from our male, “Calum” which is a moment in the trailer which we based upon a similar series of shots from the romantic film “The Notebook.” We believed that this would be particularly suitable as it is the exact genre of our own opposed to looking at romantic comedies which we felt would not, in any way, reflect the strong independence of Georgia who we constructed as a character on the basis of feminism as a strong influencing ideology. We also gave our trailer the certification of 12 because when deconstructing similar films of this genre we believed that this would be suitable and from my research I gained the impression that a 12a would be less suitable as this sometimes suggests weaker content. Therefore, we looked at the conventions and chose a 12 as its rating as a result of it having no explicit content which would not be suitable for this age range but still having a strong meaning which would be difficult for anyone below this age to generally understand.

Within our trailer, it can be thought that we too included many experimental approaches for example the decisions that we made about our narrative may not be considered to fit in entirely with a typical romantic film. For example the idea of the female feeling ambiguous and indecisive about her decisions over her career and relationship can be seen to be something which is unconventional as in many romance films, women are seen to purely lust over men. We also do not result the ending with a traditional narrative ending i.e the happy couple which would differ from the proposed genre. This may give the impression that we have wanted to challenge stereotypes embedded within this genre and have thought it interesting to deter from conforming to these attributes. We have made it apparent in our trailer that there is a huge conflict which instantly gives the impression that there will not be a traditional happy ending differing from other many other films which we have deconstructed. Again, the use of deconstructing “The Notebook” and more famously “Romeo and Juliet” in relation to their tragic endings influenced us to have an unusual ending, though not of tragedy again being a subject to controversy from these two options of endings which are normally apparent in romance films.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Talk about the ways your texts do and don’t fit together.

The ancillary texts which I produced included a film poster and a magazine front cover.

The film poster followed similar generic elements. For example the certification was the same for the same reasons and for both texts which I had produced I kept in mind that the characters would deride against traditional stereotypes and therefore tried to show them positively in terms of representation. The images used for both my film poster and magazine front cover could be interpreted to give the impression that she is shy to commit whereas he is more confrontational and assertive due to the fact that he is looking straight at her, showing he is emotional and sensitive, a positive representation.

The image used for the magazine front cover reflects that of a romantic genre due to him looking at her whilst she looks slightly reserved but in control as well as happy. For the poster she looks slightly nervous illustrating the mixed emotions she is presented to have throughout the trailer. I chose the release date of December 26th as Christmas can be thought to be a holiday when those who love each other come together – fitting in with this theme of love which is apparent across my texts. The text which I used, especially for the title on the film poster, was influenced once I had deconstructed the film poster for “The English Patient” and so this was my justification for having italic font which I too felt fitted in with the generic elements of the trailer as we hoped that the two films could be considered to be similar. I also tried to make the content shown from the magazine to be promoting some films of a romantic genre, fitting in with our own film trailer – the main text reads “Behind the scenes of “What Love’s Worth”” which I included in order for this to appear as a promotion for our trailer.

For my film poster I included a tag line saying “an unconventional romance” as I believed that this would fit in well with the ideologies which we incorporated into our film, particularly feminism. This tagline suggests that the audience can not expect a traditional storyline.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Pre-production (content and creative decisions) and post production (meaning.) Hitting target audience/meaning of your film/content decisions.

From our audience feedback, after showing our first viewing, we discovered that the majority of those who took part in the questionnaire which we constructed believed that our trailer followed the criteria expected, including steady shots and creative and understandable narrative. We also gained some constructive criticism such as editing a certain shot which was thought to have a slight stammer. We also found out, at this point that we would change our idea of simply having a voiceover to then changing the film trailer slightly by incorporating dialogue to show their conflicts in fighting and arguing as well as being happy together. We believed that this would become clearer for the audience to understand opposed to having just text boxes and a voiceover. The feedback that we gained from our audience about the content of our film was also helpful when many people agreed with our challenging narrative. Audiences also allowed us to find out about their viewing habits and what they would expect from a romantic film so that we would include everything necessary as well as have experimental aspects included in our work.

By finding out what interested our target audience it was clear to see what I should include in my ancillary texts when they had stated what it was about these texts which influenced their eventual viewing of these films. From the second screening of the film we came to the conclusion that we would change the sound heard on the film, with mainly non-diegetic sound such as an acoustic soundtrack which would play in certain sections which are most emotive and dramatic as well as a voiceover indicating that there will be difficult consequences to their meeting and transient relationship. We also decided from this feedback that we would include dialogue by introducing sound in a different way to which we had first intended on approaching – after further viewings of the previous generic trailers we had deconstructed we decided to included a conversation which was relevant to the storyline over the shots but not as they were actually speaking. This included “Twilight” as an addition to the other romance trailers which influenced this decision. This was partly due to the effect we thought it would cause but also because we believed that it would be too difficult to then intervene dialogue which would have to precisely fit the movement of the characters including their mouth movement which would be too late to do as what we would include for them to say would not match their speech on screen (as in what is seen.) The responses we received indicated that we had used a variety of scenes and shots for our trailer which gave a clear idea of the film’s narrative, showing the different conflicts and emotions involved in the storyline. Our audience feedback also allowed for us to re-order the shots so that it would still be seen to make sense whilst having the characteristics of the types of shots in a trailer still in place.  We were given a mixture of opinions about the types of shots which we used however, and so an area for improvement could be including more close up and extreme close ups to emphasise the emotions involved. We removed a long shot which was interpreted by some of the members of the audience to be thought to be too long in duration and so if we were to have more time we would have combined the remaining medium shots with more close up shots in the arguing scene as a replacement to this. There was a mixture of feedback about the café scene, some saying that the cinematography was at its best here and others saying that it was slightly too long. However we came to the conclusion that this could be seen to be compromised due to the difference in shot types which we used in order to illustrate their meeting which was mainly appreciated with comments stating that it proved most effective. 

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? Blogs and Production diaries

As part of our research we deconstructed a number of general and generic film trailers and so at times used “Youtube” in order to do this, for example for “The English Patient.” I also deconstructed many films purely from the trailer on the ‘bonus’ section on the DVDs themselves. I developed audience research surveys and uploaded them onto both my blog (http://lcalvert.wordpress.com/) and “Facebook” in order to gain a wide response. In pre-production, after producing all of our content such as our plot synopsis, deconstructions, ideas for intertextuality and storyboarding we uploaded these onto our blogs and stated on our production diaries (which are also on these blogs) exactly what we had done in reference to this. Within these production diaries we also spoke about the discussions which we had had about hiring cast and details of the trailer including choice of music, and idea of it adopting certain conventions/ ideologies etc. We thought that by including a production diary this could help us to keep to a schedule and aid us in managing our time efficiently, working out what we have to do and also making sure that the availability of others also corresponded to the times which we had organised to film.  In the construction of film, when editing, we used “Windows Movie Maker” which allowed for us to embellish our film. For example, we could incorporate textboxes between clips in order to give a sense of the conflicting narrative and could present our text in different ways, presenting them on screen to look much like those in professional productions. This editing software also enabled us to use a number of transitions and effects such as slowing particular clips down in order to contribute to the desired mood it was supposed to evoke.  By inserting title pages into our film we were also able to include our production logo, the other relevant company logos such as “new line cinemas” and the “bbfc” logo in order for it to be as informative as possible and reflect that of a professional film of the same romantic genre.

http://lcalvert.podbean.com/#

Our Film Trailer

The following link is for our film trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpiyl517Kww

Film Poster

The following links are to my film poster and evaluation of this product

NEW POSTER MEDIA3

Evaluation – Film Poster

Magazine Front Cover

The following links are to my magazine front cover and evaluation of this product

magazine front cover

Evaluation – Magazine Front Cover

Survey

After we had finalised our draft cut of our film trailer, we constructed a survey of which we distributed to each of the members of our media group so as we could get an idea of where we were at in terms of the standard and effectiveness of our trailer. We wanted to find out what others thought of our project by giving them the oppertunity to constructively criticise our work and give futher feedback on areas that that they feel we could improve. Furthermore, from this we will hope to obtain helpful advice and notes on improving our work so as we can go back and make necessary adjustments to our trailer. Film Trailer Survey

1. Was the narrative clear? If not, please explain. Yes No

 2. What genre would you say the film (trailer) belongs to? —————————————————————————————————

3. What did you particularly like about our trailer? ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

4. What part/s of trailer do you think we could improve on? ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 5. Do you feel that there were any continuity errors throughout the trailer? Yes No

 6. Was there a variety of different shots used? Yes No

7. Do you think the shots were steady? Yes No

8. Do you think text was used appropriately? Yes No

Postmodernism

The idea of Postmodernism

 

Some definitions from Stephen Bailey

Postmodernism and TV advertising

An advert for Flash Powermop might not be the most obvious text for a Postmodern analysis, but as Nick Lacey shows, it hits all the right buttons.

Ask your teacher what Postmodernism is and, if they are good at ‘bovine scatology’ (to quote General Schwartzkopf from Gulf War 1), they will offer you a plausible answer. However, if taken off guard, your educator may suddenly go pale and suffer from a dry mouth. Why? Because Postmodernism is a nightmare to explain – probably because it attempts to analyse the (almost) surreal nature of contemporary Western society.

In MediaMagazine 2, Sarah Flanagan offered five key characteristics of Postmodern texts to help you get a handle on this ‘slippery concept’:

n Playfulness and self reference

n Generic blurring and intertextuality

n Popular and commercial media meet ‘High Culture’

n Fragmentation and the death of representation

n Uncertainty and the loss of context

These are a useful guide and cover a multitude of Postmodernism’s aspects. This piece offers a close textual analysis of a television advert that uses a Postmodern aesthetic, and so covers the first two points in Flanagan’s list.

Ironic or what? Five ways to spot a Postmodern film 

Postmodernism. It’s one of those frequently-used terms which is often applied to films or TV shows alongside adjectives such as ‘ironic’, ‘quirky’, self-conscious’, or just plain ‘weird’. It’s also generated a lot of theory and debate – not least about what the term actually means. Sarah Flanagan explains what to look out for in a Postmodern film.

Confused by the concept of Postmodernism? Freaked by textbooks or teachers telling you how ‘slippery’ the concept is before you’ve even got to grips with what it means? Here’s a simple way in:

At its most basic, the term Postmodern applies to the ways in which new texts are constructed by making reference to, or ‘borrowing’ from, already existing ones. Think of the ways The Simpsons parodies films, TV genres, ideas and icons from popular culture, and you’re half-way there.

This is, of course, only the beginning of the story. But to get to grips with the concept, here are five features of a film text (or any other media text) which will help you to spot how Postmodernism actually works.

Playfulness and self reference
Or to put it another way… ‘Hey you out there in the stalls’! Whereas a classical narrative will try to hide the fact that it’s a fictional product, carefully edited to make you forget any editing has actually taken place, a Postmodern film will jump up and down to draw attention to itself and its modes of construction. Thomas Tykwer’s Run Lola Run deliberately plays with its narrative, delivering the same scenario three times, each with differing outcomes. Its cinematic style includes animation, both video and film stock, colour changes, whip pans (where the camera actually ‘whips’ sideways), crash zooms quickly focussing in and out, and experimental editing; it never lets you forget that it is a highly constructed film using a particularly wide range of story-telling devices. It also makes explicit reference to other forms of popular culture, such as music video and computer games, and thus ‘ positions’ itself in the context of other contemporary media products. The result is that we are slightly distanced from the film, and reminded not to take it too seriously. A classical narrative draws us into the story and attempts to create a belief in the characters and their experiences; a Postmodern text keeps us at arm’s length by reminding us all the time that it’s a construction, not real life.

Generic blurring and intertextuality
Although films often cross boundaries between different genres, a Postmodern film will particularly delight in blurring those boundaries. Take Spielberg’s latest offering, Minority Report. Yes … it’s an example of the science fiction genre. Its basic narrative is that the police can predict imminent crimes and therefore prevent their occurrence; and its futuristic urban setting, skyways, shopping malls which call out to individual shoppers, spider robots and newspapers which constantly update their digitalised headlines confirm its place within the sci-fi genre. However, Minority Report also draws heavily on the influence of film noir, with its hint of 1940s dress codes, its emphasis on the contrast between black and white, its portrayal of the unfaithful wife in the opening sequence, the emphasis on crime and death and its lone, disillusioned, drug taking policeman. Elements of other genres appear too: a good, old fashioned love story, a murder mystery and a touch of bizarre humour. We end up with an eclectic patchwork of generic references. Another example would be the gas station scene from Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, which is a mixture of a contemporary gangster film (think of Spike Lee), a spaghetti western and a John Woo martial arts film.

In addition, a Postmodern film may make intertextual references to other films or to their status as films in the market place. For example, Toy Story 2 refers to the shortage of Buzz Lightyear toys as an intertextual joke: the toy manufacturers really had underestimated demand for this particular item after the release of the original Toy Story. This Postmodern tendency towards generic cross-reference and intertextuality creates a relationship with the audience by both playing with and complementing their knowledge of film.

Popular and commercial media meet ‘High Culture’
Postmodern films like to treat culture as a pick ‘n’ mix experience. The divisions between what was previously considered ‘High Culture’ (opera, classical drama and literature, fine art etc.) and those entertainment and commercial forms enjoyed by the so called masses (pop music and video, advertising, mainstream film, computer games and most forms of television), are eroded, or played with. Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann again), owes much of its storyline to Puccini’s opera La Bohème and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. However, it also recycles famous contemporary music, most notably Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana. What’s more the film removes them from their intended period, and relocates them in Paris at the end of the 19th Century.

Similar anachronisms (things happening at unexpected or inappropriate historical moments) occur in A Knight’s Tale when medieval jousters are applauded by Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ by Thin Lizzy. This Postmodern mixing of cultural styles and times challenges the importance of chronologically ‘correct’ history and notions of ‘value’ or what critics have previously considered to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Many critics of Postmodernism, especially those who defend ‘High Culture’, dislike its avoidance of value-judgements.

Fragmentation and the death of representation
I’ve tried to demonstrate how Postmodern film uses a range of fragments from other texts, genres and cultural influences; this ‘fragmentation’ also applies to representation. Some people argue that modern audiences are so used to reading media signs and messages through film, television, advertising and, most recently, the Internet, that reading media representations has become the dominant way of making sense of ‘reality’. In other words, we ‘read’ the world not through any essential first-hand knowledge or experience, but through media representations – which themselves increasingly refer to other representations.

Back to Moulin Rouge: the first time Satine (Nicole Kidman) is introduced to the audience, she is represented (by means of her clothes, camera angles and her vocals) as a mixture of Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Madonna – all of whom are themselves, constructed personas. Some writers on Postmodernism claim that we increasingly make sense of the world and our lives through reference to media constructions and imitations. Jack, the narrator in David Fincher’s Fight Club, explicitly draws our attention to this notion: standing beside a photocopier he observes of life that, ‘Everything’s just a copy, of a copy, of a copy.’

Uncertainty and the loss of context
All the above can result in a sense of uncertainty and the shaking up of previously understood beliefs and roles. Postmodern films can make us feel that there are no generic rules any more, and that representations only refer to other representations. This can make us feel insecure. Postmodernist filmmakers challenge many aspects of life or belief systems which were once taken for granted. Notions like history, science, politics and even truth and identity come under the microscope, in films like Minority Report, for example. This sense of uncertainty can also be seen in the narrative of Fight Club. The male characters seek to reassert their masculine identity through fighting and through Project Mayhem, an underground terrorist group designed to destroy the supposed gains of Capitalism. In the final, unexpected twist, even Jack’s own identity is exposed as dramatically fragmented.

So there you have it. Hopefully these five features may help to clarify some of the mystique around this complex concept, and demonstrate that Postmodernism is more than just an ironic approach.

Sarah Flanagan

PAN’S LABYRINTH

 

 

Generic Blurring

The film Pan’s Labyrinth clearly has different genres included in it. It creates scenes of horror, tragedy, adventure and fantasy with elements of a fairy-tale like story combined with the history of the fight between government forces and the Spanish Civil War having anti-fascist rebels still in the mountains.

 Pan’s Labyrinth explores themes of obedience, religion, politics, war, and imagination.

Intertextuality

-          del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone Pan’s Labyrinth

-          Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

-          Francisco Goya’s works.

-          Narnia

-           Guillermo del Toro used pieces of work from his favourite writers to comprise the story, which is original, and explored the figure of the god, Pan, and the symbolic nature of the labyrinth.

Playfulness and self-Reference

The audience has an active role in being expected to understand about the Spanish War increasing tensions up to the Second World War and understanding it in its context. The combatants in the war were the Republicans, who supported the Republic of Spain, and the nationalists, who had the support of Fascist armies and leaders of the time, including those in Nazi Germany and Italy.

Popular and commercial media meet “High Culture”

Pan’s Labyrinth mixes cultural styles and times, challenging the importance of chronologically ‘correct’ history as it includes scenes of Captain Vidal involved in fascism and at the same time addresses Ofeila’s innocence when completing the tasks given by Pan. These could be considered as high cultural elements and so the text can be seen as Postmodern because it involves this but then is also a mainstream film so is enjoyed by the so-called masses.

Fragmentation and the Death of Representation

Captain Vidal is represented to be such a violent character, and it may be argued that there is death of representation here as he is almost created to be like a monster himself which we make a connection with when we are presented with the fairytale-like “monstrous” characters which Ofelia faces and sees as an uncertain threat.

Uncertainty and loss of context

This can be seen as an element of Pan’s Labyrinth as we as an audience are unsure of Ofelia’s actions because we have to question what reality is and whether it is a metaphor for her escapism when she is going into the Labyrinth. This loss of context and uncertainty is also highly evident in the final scene when she dies and believes she has completed her tasks, rejoining with her mother and father (King and Queen) and Pan.

Statistics and Organisations

I gained the following information from

http://www.aboutequalopportunities.co.uk/discrimination-and-disability.html

Disability discrimination, or the second-class treatment of individuals living with physical, mental and/or emotional disabilities, is unfortunately still a facet of our society. Though a variety of UK legislation outlaws discrimination due to disability, and work is underway for eligible nations to ratify an international Convention to protect the rights of the disabled, there are still situations in which those living with disabilities do not always receive fair and equal treatment. Thankfully there are many ways that individuals and organisations can work to end discrimination against individuals living with disabilities.

Disability Discrimination and UK Law

A variety of legislation outlaws discrimination against individuals living with disabilities and protects their human rights in the United Kingdom. The foremost legislation protecting the rights of citizens with disabilities is the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 (which has since been amended and extended, including in 2005). The DDA prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, education, access to goods, facilities and services and the buying or renting of land or property. The DDA also requires public bodies to promote equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities and sets minimum standards for public transport so that disabled individuals can have equal access. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 amends and extends the DDA, and the Mental Health Act of 1983 protects the rights of individuals with learning disabilities and/or mental health concerns. 

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International Disability Rights

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international treaty that protects the international rights of individuals with disabilities, is in the process of being ratified by eligible nations. The United Kingdom helped to draft this Convention, was one of the first countries to sign it and is now working to ratify it. When 20 countries have ratified the Convention, it will come into force and those countries that have ratified will be required to meet its standards on disability rights. 

Fighting Discrimination Due to Disability

Many individuals make discriminatory remarks or jokes about others living with disabilities, but this does not mean that others must listen to their hurtful sentiments. If it is safe to do so, confronting such individuals about what they’ve said will often turn the tide of a conversation. If discrimination is observed, or you are the one experiencing discrimination, letting others know that you are aware of what is happening is often enough to stop the discriminatory practices. If it is believed someone is in breach of UK legislation then taking them to court is one way of reporting and hopefully stopping their actions. Reporting discrimination due to disability to local authorities is another method of calling attention to inappropriate practices, and reporting instances of discrimination to organisations working for disability rights may also help to eradicate such behaviours. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Disability Alliance UK (www.disabilityalliance.org) and DIAL UK (www.dialuk.org.uk) are all such organisations operating throughout the United Kingdom. 

Fighting discrimination due to disability does not need to be grand and flamboyant. Every time an individual reconsiders a stereotype, speaks out against discrimination based on disabilities, gets to know a disabled member of their community, ceases to make jokes or pointed references to disabilities, tells others that such jokes and references are unacceptable and does all that (s)he can to learn from the talents of each individual, regardless of ability, then discrimination is also being fought. Hopefully discrimination due to disability will soon become a thing of the past, but until then everyone can play a part in helping it to end.

Some Statistics of America

Disability Statistics

43 million are disabled, about 17% of 250 million; almost 1 out of 5 persons
are disabled given these figures. [Congressional Committee findings for ADA].
Other sources show higher figures. Largest minority group
One third of disabled Americans are 65 or older. Out of 45 million, that
means 15 million of them are seniors. [No Pity, Joe Shapiro, 1992].
About 32 million are over 65, which is 13 per cent. In 25 years 17 percent
will be older than 65. There are hundreds of different kinds of
disabilities–some are congenital, but most come later in life. Fewer than
15 percent were born with their disability. [No Pity].

Hearing Impaired (from SHHH and Hearing Journal)
24 million people with hearing impairments:

–1 out of every 11 persons nationally
–1 out of 7 hearing impaired will not seek help
–it takes an average of 7 years for someone with a hearing impairment to
seek help
–about 3 to 4 million have hearing aids: 12 to 17% of the hearing impaired
population*
–1 out 10 hrg imp persons have aids
–1 million don’t use the aids they have
–17 million have no hearing assistance of any kind
–14 million w/ unilateral loss
–about 40% of people above age of 65 has a hearing loss
–this is almost 1 out of 2 persons–some audiologists think this is low
–but only 6 per cent of seniors feel they have a hearing problem
–only half those under age 65 feel their loss is a problem
–2 million deaf
–1 out of 125 persons

Blind
120,000 totally blind
1 out of 2 thousand persons
600,000 legally blind
1 out of 417 persons
2.4 million visually disabled
1 out of 100 persons
The blind can receive nearly 70 per cent more than other disabled persons in
both SSI payments and exclusions from taxes. They’re allowed to amass more
income than any other group of disabled people before they start to lose
benefits. They have a federal law giving them a monopoly on vending
businesses in public buildings.

Wheelchair Users
1 million wheelchair users
1 out of 250 persons
10,000 people every year are spinal cord injured
82% of spinal cord injuries are male
307,000 under age 44 use wheelchairs–[US Dept of Health]

Representation in magazines

 

  An overview on General Representation inMagazines

In magazines, the only images of the disabled we tend to see are those in charity advertisements, and their disability is the main focus of the representation. Often we are encouraged to pity the person represented, or give them support in another way. Ideologically speaking, disabled is not considered sexy, and does not sell stuff. More power then to Benetton, with their use of a Downs Syndrome model. 

Disabled sport is seen as a very poor relation to its so-called able bodied counterpart in magazines whereas the coverage of the paralympics on TV has increased dramatically. This is positive in relation to TV but they is also the issue that this may be due to highlighting the winning of British medals rather than making sure the disabled are included in society. Overall though, in relation to magazines, the paralympics recieve a derisory level of coverage. 

Most magazines do not include disabled people to the extent that they should in relation to the percentages of disabled people in the population. The disabled are most likely to have specific magazines designed for them rather than including them in the general population, for example “Disabled Arts” and “Disabled Education“. 

However the following article illustrates that the use of the Downs Syndrome model for Benetton was abolished and now the use of purely able-bodied people are used to promote their brand and advertise their goods: 

Images of the electric chair and Aids patients helped Benetton to build a reputation as one of the most provocative advertisers in the world. 

Its most recent poster campaign, featuring the faces of Death Row inmates, sparked outrage when it was launched in the United States last year, and was condemned by both relatives of the prisoners and their victims.The outcry has led to a remarkable about-turn, in which the company has droppedshock tactics in favour of a new image that it describes as “clean, fun-loving and colourful”. In an even more radical move for the fashion house, the adverts will focus on products.The “We on Death Row” campaign caused widespread outrage. The adverts were completely devoid of any Benetton clothing, featuring instead interviews with the convicted killers. Days after the posters appeared, the second biggest American retailer, Sears, said it would stop selling Benetton clothes and removed the products from its 400 stores. Shortly after that Benetton’s creative director, Oliviero Toscani, left the company after more than 18 years. Benetton’s new image presents consumers with colourful photographs of young black or white people positioned against a white background wearing Benetton T-shirts, jumpers or swimwear.It is a far cry from the challenging images of a bloodied newborn child still attached to its umbilical cord, a white baby feeding from a black woman’s breast and pictures of people with Down’s syndrome – all previously used to promote its clothes.Benetton describes theadverts as “simple yet sophisticated … young people from all over the world, colourful and dynamic, multiplied as in the mirrors of a funfair arcade, lighting up the traditional white background with their fresh spirit and optimism: these are the pictures for Benetton’s worldwide product campaign for springsummer 2001.” 

  

Consumers may be forgiven for thinking they’ve seen the campaign before. It is surprisingly similar to the advertising that Gap has utilised so successfully in recent years. The adverts were created by James Mollison, 27, a British photographer from the Benetton-funded Fabrica arts institute in northern Italy. 

Federico Sartor, the chief spokesman for Benetton in Britain, said: “It would be wrong to compare this advertising with that of Oliviero Toscani. We have chosen to work with a new photographer and use another kind of work. We won’t rule out more controversial ads but we won’t be obliged to do them either.” 

From this it can be concluded that the magazine now is following the common trend of having traditionally beautiful and able people as their models rather than their prior use of having many minority groups included in their designing of the magazine.

Deconstructions of disability

Here are some texts that I have looked at in terms of representation of the disabled:

 

Elle Magazine

Elle magazine is purely about “Starstyle Celebrity Fashion and styles” and focuses on catwalks and red carpet trends. Therefore,  it uses top models and A-list icons and does not have any inclusion of  anyone with a disability. This is highly negative in terms of representation. Above is Gisele Bundchen in custom made Versace

ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy

The show has introduced a surgeon, Virginia Dixon, who has Asperger’s Syndrome – a form of high-functioning autism. This can be seen as a strongly positive representation as she is seen to be equal in ability to someone who does not have this syndrome and deems her to be proffesional and capable at the fact of hiring her as a surgeon alone, as this is regarded as an extremely important proffesion.

Little Britain

Little Britain is highly negative in terms of representation of the disabled. Andy, a character in a wheel chair is shown to be rude and not emotive in any way.  He shouts demanding words and is incapable. When his carer is not present he gets up out of his wheelchair and at times demands things and when he gets them refuses them indicating that the disabled are pedantic and exaggerate their disability, a wrong and negative representation. In my opinion Little Britain is a programme which targets all minority groups in an entirely negative way in terms of how they are represented.

 Waterloo Road

In waterloo road Carla, a student at the school, suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and therefore at times finds it difficult to deal with situations in school life. However, Miss Campbell (Kim) a teacher who she has, is extremely respectful towards her and interested in supporting Carla in settling into the school in regard to social situations and her education. Generally she is wholly accepted, as she should be, in class and by her other classmates. There is an episode where her gift for art is highly appreciated by those in the school and they even set her up an exhibition in appreciation of her work.

 

 Hollyoaks

On the other hand Hollyoaks displays a mixture of representation in connection to a character called Spencer Gray who has learning difficulties and a mental age of ten. He is the foster brother of Warren Fox who is very protective over him but the fact that he is treated in a patronising manner a considerable amount of times in the soap opera is highly negative. Spencer is shouted at in the particular episode I deconstructed because he is found irritating by Calvin due to his inability to understand things of complexity whereas he should be treated equally with his difficulties taken into consideration.

Benetton Magazine

 Benetton Magazine has previously used the disabled as their models for advertising. The following link shows more information about this and illustrates that there has been a change in the nature of the type of models who have been selected which has come to a negative outcome in terms of general representation. http://lcalvert.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/representation-in-magazines/

 

Look Magazine

Look Magazine is a text which focuses mainly on celebrity and fashion. Therefore the majority of  people included in these magazines are classified as people who many of us would recognise. Due to this there is absolutely no representation of the disabled amongst oridinary people who are not classified as celebrities. Those who are chosen as models are all able bodied.

Glamour Magazine

Again, Glamour Magazine’s  main focus is of Celebrity gossip and fashion and is absent of  the inclusion of minority groups and entirely neglects the idea of  using anyone who has a physical impairment to model.  From this it can be seen that in relation to the percentages which should be included with regard to the amount of people who have a disability of any kind in the population, there is not a true presentation. The magazine is structured highly around beauty and the traditional “perfect” appearance.

Vision magazine

Vision magazine is available exclusively for RNIB members. This bi-monthly magazine includes news, member profiles, letters and features. It’s produced in audio CD, Daisy CD, braille, clear print (14 point) and email.

The audio versions are produced as a radio-style programme with presenters and on-location interviews. 

Award winning magazine

Vision is the winner in the category for best charity/other membership magazine category of the prestigious 2009 MemCom Awards: Communication Awards for Membership Organisations.

Judges particularly praised the overall content of the magazine, the radio-style audio version, the clear print design, covers and cover lines plus use of research to identify and then accommodate the needs of a diverse membership of nearly 10,500 people with sight loss.

I Am Sam (PG-13) 2001 Drama –

Actor Sean Penn plays Sam Dawson, a father with mental retardation.  Sam has a daughter, Lucy Diamond played by 7-year old Dakota Fanning.  Sam is raising Lucy on his own with the help of his friends when the child welfare board takes Lucy away from him because she is beginning to pass him in intellectual development.  Sam and his friends find a hot shot lawyer, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer) who takes his case and struggles with them to prove that Sam is capable of raising his daughter and deserves to get his daughter back -a positive representation. Sam loves his daughter and she loves him.  Sam’s best friend Ifty played by Doug Hutchison, has severe Attention Deficit Disorder. Two of Sam’s other friends (Joe and Brad) are actors who actually have disabilities, Joseph Rosenberg and Brad Allan Silverman.

E4′s Skins

Tony has been left disabled when he was hit by a bus and is now back from hospital and amongst his friends and family. There is a noticeable mixture of positive and negative representation as his friend’s mother is patronising and caters to his every need – a negative representation, whereas young girls still try to woo him and see him as extremely physically attractive – a positive example of representation. 

Monday, 23 November 2009

 

Skins Series 2 Episode 1 – Opening Scene (Disability Analysis)

The first scene of the episode opens with the characters performing a dance routine. The diegetic music they are dancing to is very up-beat drum and bass. This gives a very lively and powerful atmosphere, a complete contrast with Tony and his disability. The dancers themselves use very energetic and complex moves. This shows off their able bodies to the audience. While the dance routine is taking place there is a lot of fast cutting this adds to the speed and energy of the dance. 

 

Once the routine is finished the audience is then introduced to Tony. He is represented completely differently to the other able bodied characters. The first time we see him he is sitting down, motionless in a dark corner of the room whereas all the other characters are shown under spotlights. This represents the dreadfulness of his disability in contrast to his able bodied friends. By showing Tony sitting down and Maxxie standing also shows that Maxxie has greater power and presence than Tony another way of portraying his disability to the viewer. The shot used is a high angle, over the shoulder shot which also shows that Maxxie is the more dominant character by making Tony seem small and insignificant. The main way in which Tony is represented as disabled is through his speech and interaction with other characters. When Maxxie asks him if he thought the dance routine was good Tony comes across as being completely oblivious to his surroundings and after Maxxie asks him for a second time he eventually responds with mumbled ok. This is a big clue to the audience that Tony does suffer a disability.

After Tony is introduced to the audience the non-diegetic backing music changes completely. No longer is it the upbeat drum and bass that was experienced at the beginning but slow, emotional music too fit in with Tony’s personality. The setting for the next part of the scene is on a bus. The camera shows a close up on Tony looking aimlessly out of the bus window. This again shows that he is oblivious to his surroundings, as though he is in a world of his own. The camera then cuts to a two shot showing both Tony and Maxxie. This shows the contrast between the unsettled Tony and the calm, relaxed Maxxie. The camera then cuts to a close up outside of the window of another bus going alongside the bus that Tony and Maxxie are in and a diegetic, amplified sound of a horn. This makes Tony jump once again showing that he is on edge. Maxxie tries to then settle him down and whilst he is doing this again the camera goes to a close up of Tony holding Maxxie’s hand. This is a sign of insecurity showing the Tonys fragile mind.

Tonys disability is confirmed when him and Maxxie meet the group of young girls. One of the group asks him ‘are you mental?’ too which Tony replies ‘yes’.

The next setting for the opening of the episode is at Maxxie’s house. Here the audience learn even more about how Tony’s disability affects him and some of what he used to be like before the accident that caused it. The first thing we see in this scene is an establishing shot of Maxxie’s dining room. Surrounding it are many rosettes and trophies for dancing.

This shows that Maxxie’s able body is superior to Tony’s disabled body. During the scene Maxxie’s Mum starts a conversation with Tony. She speaks to him differently to how she would speak to her son. She uses very simple language and asks him simple questions that only require one word answers. This fits in with the typical stereotype of people interacting with disabled people and how they treat them differently to that of someone able bodied. Maxxie’s mum asks Tony a lot of questions about how he is until eventually he just says ‘I don’t remember you’. This shows too the audience the extent of his mental illness. After the awkward conversation ended Maxxie’s Mum brings out dinner for the two. Maxxie then has too cut up Tony’s food for him and when he is eating it his Mum has to wipe Tony’s mouth for him. This fits another stereotype that disabled people cannot care for themselves. Whilst Tony is eating his food the audience can see that he struggles to hold the knife and fork showing that he also suffers a physical disability. The camera jump cuts to Tony’s Mum in his bathroom at home. Here we see that amenities have been modified to help Tony like hand rails and an alarm. This confirms that Tony has major physical disabilities to the viewer.

To conclude the makers of ‘Skins’ use plenty of clear techniques in order to represent disability to the audience. The use of stereotypes makes it very clear to the audience that Tony is disabled although his whole persona is not solely based around this stereotype.

Background to Disability in the Media

The representation of Disability in the media in the last ten years is pretty much the same as it has always been: clichéd, stereotyped and archetypal.  Though it is not really disability imagery or representation (in any meaning of the word).  It is Impairment imagery; imagery where disability is understood to be the impairment almost devoid of political significance of social construction.  Impairment imagery abounds on all channels and in all media forms: television, film, radio and in print.  If anything, impairment imagery is on the increase.  Equally, the war of words amongst disabled people themselves – academics, broadcasters, artists and lay people alike – about the nature and meaning of disability imagery / representation has grown considerably.  A major new text seems to come out annually articulating some new theoretical position (decrying last year’s theories as old hat and detrimental to the greater good of disability emancipation).  For example, the Disability Studies post-modernists (rectifiers and revisionists) are currently, misguidedly,

 arguing that impairment imagery is nothing other than the Art of Art or the nature of aesthetics (if only) and not actually disempowering at all but merely a misunderstanding of art history and genre (in film, painting and literary texts).

Perhaps the most significantly factor in the increase in impairment imagery is due the fact that the mainstream broadcasters in the UK (the BBC and Channel 4 in particular), as well as many sections of the print media (the broadsheets in particular), have significantly shifted in their attitude towards disability.  Whereas there used to be (within the last five years) a number of coherent Disability perspective programme series on a number of UK television channels there is now none at all.  Ten years ago there was a disability television series (a politicised output made by disabled people, with a belief in the social model, themselves) on every major UK terrestrial broadcast channel.  Thus, it could be argued, a significant de-politicisation of disability has taken place in favour of a fragmented impairment orientated broadcast output which is now, more than ever, linked to a charity or ‘freak’ philosophy.

The move away from the domination of the number of a few terrestrial broadcasters to the addition of a plethora of competing channels from satellite, digital and cable channels has meant that the main broadcasters have started to focus more on ratings and the ‘quick fix’ of consumerist television.  Disability – as a political issue (like many other political issues) – does not seem to fit into such a schedule; except perhaps as a consumerist issue: liberal rights for the few consumer-like and normalised disabled people or the increasing business-like mentality of the large and powerful charities and their political lobby machines.  For example, whereas the commercial channel ITV used to have a politicised Disability programme such as Link it now has Esther, hosted by Esther Rantzen.  Esther is a magazine style programme rooted in the charity consumerist/rights model of impairment and, unlike Link, is not made by disabled people (though it has the occasional disabled reporter).   Esther has a number of items in each show and maybe one or two are occasionally ‘disability’ themed (actually impairment specific in reality) whereas Link was entirely about disability and, occasionally, about impairment..

The move away from disability specific programming – seen equally at the BBC and particularly at the ‘minority’ interests broadcaster Channel 4 – is, they have argued, about ‘mainstreaming disability’.  This is the placement of disability within the mainstream of programme production and output at those two corporations.   Another pure example of mainstreaming is the cancellation of the BBC Radio 4’s long running Does He Take Sugar programme.  It has been ‘replaced’ by the mainstreaming of disability stories and issues within Radio’s lunchtime daily magazine show You and Yours.  In fact, disability, the social process of exclusionary practices of society against disabled people, has not been ‘mainstreamed’: impairment has.  Disability has almost entirely been lost except as a political, or even polemical, issue linked to impairment charities or particular socio-political or medical issues.