The Male Gaze

David Guetta - Hey Mama (Ft; Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack).




In this video, although it isn't as explicit as other music videos for The Male Gaze, but I personally thought because of this it can show even more how much The Male Gaze is used. This has nothing to do with the song, yet still there were women giving off sexual appeal throughout the whole song.

For example, at the start around 10 seconds in, the video looks all cool and futuristic, then it goes to Nicki who is in a lingerie of some sort, yet it has nothing to do with the song or story-line of the music video.

Representation of Gender in - Our Girl

We watched half of the second episode on season 2 of 'Our Girl'. In this post I will talk about the representation of gender in the 30 minutes we watched.

When you hear the word soldier, people think in their head of a male. The fact that this TV drama counters that and breaks the stereotype is a big step in TV dramas as showing a woman as a soldier, it shows that women can be as powerful and strong as men can be. Even though she is shown to be a strong soldier, throughout the start of this episode she is captured and kept as a hostage which shows the weak side, but that'll show the weak side of any soldier and nearing the end of the first half you can see how brave she becomes. When Georgie (Who I'm pretty sure is the main protagonist) is in a cell with another hostage by the name of Kicki, she encourages Kicki to never give up and fight for what she needs. This is a counter stereotype and is played out well in the TV drama to show that women can easily do what men can too.

Camera work:

There is a lot of camera work involved in the opening scenes. When the Taliban cuts off the ambulance it gives us a POV shot of Georgie or an Over-the-shoulder shot of the driver. This is used to show what she would be seeing. When the Taliban are gunning the drivers down, it shows a low angle of it to show that the man shooting looks much more powerful and shows more dominance. This can be seen as making him look more powerful than Georgie and that she has become the victim. When the antagonist comes out of the truck, it uses a shallow focus on him to show that he is indeed the antagonist. Once they find Gerogie, they start dragging her back into there truck and a tracking shot takes place when she is to keep the scene flowing instead of just a bunch of cuts.

Editing:

At this scene there is a huge amount of 'Fast-pace' editing as it cuts from scene to scene almost immediately to create a dramatic effect with a lot of tension. If it wasn't fast paced, the action scene wouldn't of been as tense as they would've liked it to be. The transitions on this scene were pretty much always cuts but the soundtrack layered over from clip to clip to make the scenes linked in some way.

Sound:

Right at the start of the scene the ambulance already creates a huge amount of tension as it cuts the sound. But they are immediately taken out of action when the Taliban starts to fire at the ambulance giving diegetic sounds of gun shots, this along with screams from both Georgie and the driver. When the antagonist comes out of the truck, music plays to create more tension and also shows the importance of this character in the series. At the end the music then overrides all the other sound and takes control.

Mise-en-scene:

The costumes that they are all wearing is military, which goes against the stereotype of a womans clothing. This gives us a thought that this whole TV drama is counter stereotyping. The scenery is in a remote place filled by desert and shanties, which tells us that it isn't in England at all. The lighting seems to be all natural lighting except when in  the ambulance where the lighting is a lot dimmer but still with some lighting.

Film Production

Film Production is the process of making a film.

The stages of film production are as followed:

Development - This is simply the process of 'finding' a story. Ideas for films come from a variety of sources, they can range from novels, real life events to computer game adaptations. Once you've got an idea you'll need someone to write a pitch for you which you take to a film producer in an attempt to get some funding to make your film. Even at this very early stage you need a very clear idea of who you're aiming the film at so you can include elements that will appeal to them.

Pre-production - Once you've got funding you establish your budget and can begin to get a film crew together., you can storyboard the script. You also need to break the script down into individual scenes and identify all the locations, props, cast members, costumes, special effects and visual effects needed.

Production - This is simply the process of 'making' the film. Provided you've done your job properly in the pre-production stage making the film should be quite straight forward. 'Film' is  very expensive and difficult to store so an increasing the number of film makers using digital cameras is a good way to save money.

Post-production - During this stage you take all of the 'film' you've shot and give it to a film editor. They will then begin putting it together. Special effects will be added, a soundtrack will be added, any missing dialogue will be re-recorded and added resulting in a 'rough cut'. This will be shown to the director and a test audience who will offer feedback. Often this causes scenes to be filmed and added/removed.

Key roles:

Writer - A screenplay writer, screenwriter for short, scriptwriter or scenarist is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media such as films, television programs, comics or video games are based. These are needed for a film as the writers are the origin of the film as they are the person with the idea.

Producer - Film producers fill a variety of roles depending upon the type of producer. Either employed by a production company or independent, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting script, coordinating writing, directing and editing, and arranging financing. Without a producer, the film wouldn't have a budget to stand by, the film wouldn't have editors who specialize in that type of editing (E.g a romantic editor wouldn't be able to do an action as well as someone who specializes in action films).

Casting Director - The casting director is the person who is responsible for assigning roles in the film. Without someone to do this, the film could have a lot of potential but never become a big hit because it doesn't have A list stars or the right A list stars. A list stars are extremely good to have on a cast as when the film is being advertised people will see that for example Will Smith is in the film so they will watch it for that reason alone.

Director - A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualizes the script while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision. The director is needed for the sole reason that he wants the film to look good and be as perfect as it can be.

Film Finance - Film finance is an aspect of film production that occurs during the development stage prior to pre-production, and is concerned with determining the potential value of a proposed film. They need to decide how much money that the film will cost to make as well as advertisement. And have an estimate on how much money the film will make.

Camera Operator - A camera operator, sometimes informally called a cameraman or a camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In film-making, the person designing the lighting is the cinematographer or director of photography, who is also informally called a "cameraman" though it is a different job.

Editor - On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent sequence. The job of an editor is not simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. Without editors films that we see today wouldn't be as smooth and as entertaining. This is because they create transitions between scene after scene which go along with the film along with SFX.

Production Designer - In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the physical overall look of a filmed event such as a TV program, video game, music video, or advertisement. Production designers have a key creative role in the creation of motion pictures and television. If they wasn't involved in the creation of the film it wouldn't be as creative as the other films are today.

Marketing - Film marketing can also be known as film promoting. It is the practice of advertising a film to get the film 'hyped up'. This stage usually happens alongside with film distribution. Like I said before, if the film has a well known A list star the advertisement side of the film should be much more efficient and much easier in a way.

Exhibition - This is the actual showing of the films when it has been advertised and its finally ready to be released. This can be done firstly in cinemas and then moved onto DVD's and online. How the audience can see the film pretty much, so online, in premieres and box office is a valid choice too.

TV Drama research task

The Walking Dead: This can be watched on Amazon Prime or Netflix, of course general TV too. This is about survivors of a zombie apocalypse. As the time goes on, more seasons into this drama zombies don't really become an issue, its more the other survivors. There is currently 6 seasons but season 7 is coming in October.

Arrow: Like TWD, this can be watched usually on Amazon Prime or Netflix. There are 5 seasons overall, except the 5th season is starting in October which I am indeed waiting for. Full of action scenes of parkour make it enjoyable to watch.




Breaking Bad: Can be seen on Amazon Prime or Netflix, pretty much all the TV dramas can nowadays. The schools chemistry teacher ends up getting lung cancer so he quits and becomes a drug dealer to 'cook up' money for his family.

Game of Thrones (GOT): Can be watched on Amazon Prime or normal TV if you catch it, 6 Seasons of civil wore and a race that has yet to be discovered which keeps on getting involved. 

Lost: 6 Seasons of survivors on an island full of mystery and confusion. It contains elements of the supernatural side and also science fiction, so somewhat can be educational. 

Mr Robot: One of the most popular TV Dramas at the moment as it gained a lot of attention from the younger ages. Elliot (Main protagonist) gets dragged into a group of hacktivists who have the same intentions as him in what they do on the internet.





Sherlock: This can be watched Netflix. As we all know, Sherlock is a detective TV drama which gets people on the edge of there seats. 3 seasons for people to watch whenever they feel in a detective mood.

Blind Spot: New season coming out soon, this can be watched Alibi. This is about a woman that lost her memory and wakes up full of tattoos. Trying to regain her memory as well as uncovering what the tattoos symbolize.

Daredevil: 2 seasons which can be caught up on on Netflix. This is about a blind guy in which his other senses are much more amplified. He uses these to his advantage and fights the 5 main gangs in Hells Kitchen (District in NY).

Dexter: Dexter has a jam packed 8 seasons to the series so theres a lot to watch if you are interested in it. Its about a man who is pretty much a serial killer but only kills people who deserves to die. He lives by the code that he will only kill men and women who deserve to die.

Self-Representation

My results from the UK Tribes when I to the 'What is your tribe' quiz was that I was in the 'Get paid crew'.

The definition of this tribe is: More straight-laced than their innovative DIYer cousins and likely to be working hard to set up their own business, get a good job and make money, money, money – once connected to dodgy dealings, there is now a huge amount of respect for the success orientated GPCs.

5x5 Activity

Favourite Albums (All time):

Logic - Under Pressure ( 2014) : This album by Logic was produced at one of the peak times of his career and all 15 songs in the album show every side to him as a person and everything that he has been through.

Bring Me the Horizon - Sempiternal (2013) : My music taste varies quite a bit, for example listening to BMTH whilst also having Logic in the same playlist. This isn't really my type of music but this album did stand out to me for some reason and I grew an interest for it.


JME - Integrity (2015) : Like I said previously, my music taste does vary. This album containing 16 songs is an album that I would pretty much play at parties or if I am generally in a good mood as it helps to maintain it.


Logic - Bobby Tarantino (2016) : This 'Young Sinatra's' most recent album (At the time I am writing this) in which every song he did was in fact for fun. This shows that, even though he is serious about his work as a music artist he can still have a lot of fun even though he's been through a lot.

Witt Lowry - Dreaming with our eyes open (2015) : This is Witt's most recent album, in which every single song shows different aspects of his personality. The way that he always tries to be happy for the people around him, yet inside his mind is slowly decaying.




TV Dramas:

The Walking Dead : 6 seasons (and more to come) of an extremely graphic, gore zombie apocalypse with different personalities in the characters.

Breaking Bad (Ended 2013) : School teacher turns into a drug dealer?  What else could the teenagers nowadays ask for with its humour and action scenes too.


Arrow : For some reason archery has always interested me personally, so I took a shot at watching this and wasn't unsatisfied with it at all.




Lost (Ended 2010) : I use to work in a shop which has a section for DVDs, when I saw this I thought I would pick it up and I ended watching it all.




Game Of Thrones : I only started watching this recently, but if I have some time to kill I would most likely watch this until I have cant keep my eyes open.



Mr Robot : This TV Drama just recently caught my eye even though it has been out for a year (pretty much). Its about a man who is a vigilante hacker at night but is just a general online security worker in the day.

Films (All time):

Suicide Squad (2016) : Fantasy, crime and villains... what more do you want?



Lights Out (2016) : Ghouls, visions and jump scares 24/7.


Deadpool (2016) : Full of humour and puns that fit my age range.



The Hunger Games - Catching Fire (2013) : Action packed, thrilling and leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat.



The Purge (2013) : Disturbing, on edge and thrilling.



Music Artists:

Witt Lowry : One of the most underrated rappers (in my opinion) which isn't the generic 'rap'. You can hear and feel every emotion as he says lyrics in which I listen to a lot of the time.



Ivan B : Another underrated rapper with the same personality as Witt, similar music style with a few collaborations too.



Eminem : Of course, it has to be the one and only Eminem. I'm pretty sure a lot of people love Eminem as well as dislike him, but no one can disagree that he is one of the best music artists in the world.

Logic : This is probably my #1 on this list of artists, I have been listening to 'Young Sinatras' music since I was a kid and I haven't stopped since. The reason why his nickname is 'Young Sinatra' is that he himself would listen to Frank Sinatra and thats what motivated him to create the music that he does today.

Bob Marley : No kidding either, this is one of my favourite music artists mainly for the fact that every single song puts me in a chill mood, as stressed as I could be I put on one of his songs and its all gone. Funny story too, my teacher Mr Butterworth was the main reason why I started to enjoy his music.


Actors:

Will Smith : Most of the films that he is in are usually comedy, but he has been in a lot of action films too which adds a comedic effect to the whole film making it a lot more enjoyable to watch.


Simon Pegg & Nick Frost : I'll put these together as they have been in the same movies together a lot more than usual actors. These two in Paul, Hot Fuzz, Worlds End and Shaun of the Dead. Which as you can tell are all comedies.


Chris Rock : This guy was in grown ups and grown ups 2, voiced in Madagascar. As you can tell I like comedy films more than the horror aspect.


Kevin Hart : My favourite film of Kevin Hart is NWA, even though it is old I could watch it over and over. His personality is just funny in itself and it shows in all of his movies that he is in.