Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock & Curfew, Shawn Christensen.

Synopsis: 'Psycho' is a black and white mystery thriller by Alfred Hitchcock, following the life of a young woman who has committed a crime and been punished for it by an individual who has issues of his own under mental health, having a split personality.
The structured storyline in Psycho is intriguingly complex, it breaks some traditional rules, though they'be been broken appropriately and give the story even more thrill / suspense for the audience. An example being who the protagonist is. At equilibrium and upto the point of her death, the protagonist is Marion. Until Norman comes along. where the protagonist role is split in two between his split between character of his mother and himself. Psycho also follows the 5 act structure clearer than A Heroes Journey, for example, at 'New equilibrium' conflicts are labelled as resolved, though it seems in this specific film we have just been given a perspective of a character who mentally struggles and is a murderer, which is the new normality, but does not resolve any issues. With the structure into context, we still see that the story begins at a balance -

Equilibrium - The Protagonist at the beginning of the film is Marion, a female that lives life crime free.

Disequilibrium - The balance is shaken, Marion robs a bank and soon after, Marion is killed.

New equilibrium - The new 'normal,' the killer of Marion is found out and all about his physiological state has been revealed.

Binary oppositions in 'Psycho'
The more binary oppositions within a movie, the more possible conflict there is. Within Psycho, opposites include women vs male, asexual vs sexual, rich vs poor, etc:

Women vs male:
The female protagonist seems to have control over her sexual life in comparison to the time period where women possibly would not.

Rich vs poor:
Marian is poor, leading her to the decision of robbing the bank. Being poor had placed her in the position to steal in the first place, creating that background depth into the character and on screen conflict. 

Freytag's 5 act structure:

Exposition: Marian sees her boss after robbing the bank and realises she's done wrong.

Rising action - Characters such as the Policeman are suspicious of Marian.

Climax - Shortest point of the story where Marian is killed and we're wondering by who.

Falling - Realise Norman is the killer, due to the suspicions we had of the way he thinks and thoughts between himself.

Denamount - Norman's identities are found out by officers. Audience now know he killed Marian, and has split personalities of him and his mother who passed away. Binary opposition in his mind - life and death.

Synopsis - 'Curfew' is a short film by Shawn Christensen following a distressed, middle aged man struggling with drug addiction and the connection this has with the affection he wishes to provide to his divorced sister's child. The story has conflicted themes such as drug and domestic abuse, and if we follow Levi Strauss' theory, we as an audience can tell these are caused by binary oppositions in the storyline.

Equilibrium - The protagonist is Richie, a male who struggles with mental health issues causing further addiction problems. The protagonist wants a relationship with his niece.

Disequilibrium - Tension builds as we find Richie take his niece Sophie to a place in which we think he's about to buy more drugs, but ends up getting something for his daughter. Tension further builds at this point of the story where we think he's about to kill himself in the bath, when the phone rings.

New equilibrium - Not as clear, but Richie ends up not killing himself and daughter returns home safely.

Binary oppositions in 'Curfew' 

Young vs old:
Binary oppositions and points of conflicted are mostly caused by the fact that there is n age and generation gap. It seems that Sophie, the younger individual, acts older than whos actually in his mid 30-40's, being Richie.

Man vs woman:
Sophie's mum is a woman who is domestically abused, this being because she is a woman, and her husband takes dominance over her.

Life vs death:
Sophie is young, full of life but is associated with someone who frequently hurts himself and attempts to take his own life.

Dramatic questions:

- Will he kill himself/overdose?
- Will he buy more drugs?
- Will he hurt the girl?
will he buy more drugs /will he hurt the girl. questions caused by the opposition in their age

Freytag's 5 act structure:

Exposition - Richie cancels his plans to babysit his niece.

Rising action - Richie takes extra care of Sophie, making sure she does not see the drug abuse conflict in his life

Climax - Richie reveals that he dropped Sophie on the floor as a kid, and Sophie forgives him and a relationship is formed. We find marks on Richies arm from suicide attempts, and see Sophie's mum beaten and bruised.

Falling - Richie notices a restraining order when he gets home, and relapses into suicidal thoughts.

Denamount - Richie gets into a bathtub, and we have visuals of blood and the character cutting / harming himself.

Advertising gender roles - Research

Brainstormed ideas for practical photography:

• Using a male model wearing something that may be seen as female or promoting makeup - idea of destroying stereotypes- destroying the idea that makeup is only for women. 

• Use studio. white backdrop. 
• Silhouette photography - silhouette of male and female figure both wearing the same clothing asking the question, who’s who? showing that clothing does not matter
• Silhouette of male with a female object.

• Disagreeing with gender roles - the idea that society is now equal. Explore with colour. 
• Clothing of Victorian era in black and white for a man, blending into new clothing and colour for women. 
• Concept that explores more of breaking stereotypes for men relating to a female attribute, different to a woman wearing clothing, for example. 
• Idea of labelling. Use a price tag as a silhouette object, keys for properties. Card cut into the outline of a female on a key-chain. 
• Could take perspective that women have more rights than men, equality is not reached and many have perceived femininity wrong. Something symbolic. Subtle messages over something visually evident.

Gender roles: Specific norms, values and behaviours constructed by society, given to male and female genders.
Modern day gender roles: In my opinion, I think that gender roles within society have decreased and are not as major as they were 20/50 years ago. Movements and continuous fights for rights have allowed women to gain the same equal rights as men, such as the right to vote, to work, own properties, etc. Research behind my photography will therefore consist of post modern theories & post feminism.

When researching advertisements that use male figures to promote cosmetics, I stumbled across L'Oreal's advertisement - "This is an ad for men." Though the stereotype is separate to one in which I wish to break in my photographed ad, I found it interesting. L'Oreal have visually intrigued the dominant associated makeup gender being females by using cosmetics, but then captured males attention through the language - "This ad is for males," along with the graph type composition. L'Oreal have visually placed the makeup so that is spilt in a graph type manner to capture the attention of men who are in possible high positions e.g businessmen, linking it to something that they see and use everyday and take seriously, like makeup to women. The companies reason behind using cosmetics linking to graphs is to promote the idea that women need to be taken more seriously in terms of becoming successful business-women and being in charge to abolish the gender pay gap.



Anastasia Beverly Hills advertisement - Promoting makeup for male's

https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/beauty-brands-market-makeup-men-10678934/

After brainstorming ideas, I have decided to take the route of breaking stereotypes for males by using something feminine related - makeup, for the opposing gender. Advertising makeup for males breaks the constructed idea of only females using beauty products, built after years of advertising females in this medium. Hollywood's makeup brand Anastasia Beverly Hills practised this perfectly for the promotion of their new highlighting product “Glow kit." The makeup brand promoted the product using portraits of various men, also contributing to intersectionality, in the case that these men are of different colour representing different ethnicity's. For my practical photography, I therefore have ideas to use a male model using props, such as a mirror, with the male wearing makeup and looking at a angle into the mirror, or with a brush applying something to their face with confident expression They could also have an under eye mask on, influenced by the photograph of males promoting skin care products shown below. This symbolises that men should be able to and are allowed to be intact with their beauty and self care, without it being labelled as a 'feminine' thing.

Contextual facts -
- The first Covergirl poster to feature a male figure in 2017, using beauty influencer James Charles.
- 56% of the modern generation know others who refer to themselves using gender neutral pronouns, such as "they"
- https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/beauty-brands-market-makeup-men-10678934/

For my second set of photographs still under the idea of breaking stereotypes for males, I would like to take the perspective of hiding emotions. Men are constructed to be strong and tough both physically and emotionally, breaking through this and showing audiences, in particular male audiences, that being emotionally intact is okay, and that they are allowed to feel. Influenced by the photograph of actor Timothee Chalamet, I may practise silhouette photography / high key studio photography with a male model covering his face, eyes placed down. Within Adobe Photoshop, I may add a catchy text slogan, such as "Have you checked up on your (brother, son, dad boyfriend, etc. yet to be decided) recently? This shows the audience that males can still be struggling, and I may add some statistics as a magazine cover may do, such as the fact that more men struggle with mental health problems and commit suicide more than women. Using silhouette photography symbolises the idea of hiding, and contributes to my personal studio development. I hope to apply knowledge on photography that I had applied last year for the photography of my previous final project when practising silhouette photography.

Pre production text -
In terms of using Adobe Photoshop in order to advertise the product in a billboard manner, I must consider text size, font, composition and slogans, labels, etc. Chanel's advertisement, for example, has text that plays the main role in terms of advertising. Chanel have taken a simplistic point of view, placing the text in the foreground with a recognisable font and simple white colour, making the poster look visually pleasing. Simplistic, white text seems to be a trend, as shown above in the Anastasia advertisement, more just as a logo / label for the makeup brand. Depending on the intensity of my final photographs, this may also be a route I would take, where less is more. A line of language could have a huge effect, depending what is being said using language. Possible slogans include:
- "Express yourself"
-

Advertising gender roles - Applying contextual research

Co-operatives 2017 Easter advertisement proves an issue in stereotypes and gender roles, with language affecting a young audience of women. The adverts message is visually more subtle than portraying a naked woman at the front of a poster or magazine cover, though the impact behind still hits as deep.  Language is therefore the issue in this advertisement, indicating that women are of the duty that was embedded into the female sex 30-50 years ago, and should be raised that way,  reinforcing typical stereotypes. Subtle messages contributing to the narrative behind the advert continue, indicated through the release of the advert, this being Easter time, where families and acts of cooking are involved. The advert links perfectly to the Easter occasion, ironically, and is an example that something as simple as language - with no visual editing or specific scenes of women can still have a powerful impact. Advertisements like this further contribute to gender theories Judith Butler has,the theory stating that gender is not a result of nature, but socially constructed. Forms of media that continuously place women in an unequal, stereotypical position over generations constructs what others see the specific gender as with the associated behaviours. Though the advert proves Butlers theory, the time period at which it has been advertised contradicts other theories, such as fourth wave feminism. Fourth wave feminism began from 2013 with an impact created from the use of social media, encountering platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube etc. The feminists within this wave are see as quite lazy in comparison to generations ago, the idea that the only 'impact' they make s through tweeting or posting only for their specific audience to view, for example, however one could argue that social media is a powerful and global use, raising awareness and educating people across the world, if said posts were to trend.
The time period being 2017, the generation into fourth wave and post feminism with a huge increase of social media use, this advert still proves to be damaging, and does not symbolise equality and the abolishment of feminism, though some may argue it’s the ignorance of admitting post feminism is in full force, forcing women back into few rights they used to have.

Another form of media which is provocative to the female gender is the weight loss poster by Protein World. The main focus is a woman's slim body, composed in the middle of the poster in the foreground. The language "beach body" gives into the idea that the females slim figure is the definition of looking perfect for the "beach" and proves Judith's Butler's theory. Butlers theory suggests that gender is not the study of nature, rather it is socially constructed. Gatekeepers have control over all media outputs. Decisions made by them therefore reach large spreads of audiences. and by portraying women in a thin, appealing way, the audience is indoctrinated to believe females in real life should appear like this. Advertising like this for generations and developing the 'male gaze,' society has constructed set values for what a woman should be, supporting Butlers theory. Following on from this, the 'male gaze' is a theory presented by film theorist Laura Mulvey, stating that women are seen from a heterosexual, male point of view in film/media & Mulvey discusses this in her book "visual pleasure." Male gaze applies within this advert - a half naked, attractive woman would be of the likes of males, making the product overall pleasing from their point of view and making audiences view the advert from the liking of heterosexual males.

Post feminism is generally considered to be 3rd and 4th wave feminism, which begun in the 1990's. The word ‘post’ suggests that feminism isn’t relevant anymore because women have won equal rights. 

Vogue’s 2017 “new frontiers” advertisement is an example of gender roles that have been abolished in the modern day, and can be associated to the theory of post feminism. 

Post feminism is a concept used to describe the state of feminism after it has been “abolished” The norms of the theory defer to previous waves, and state that many goals of feminism have already been fulfilled, meaning any further movements to bring women equality are not valid - women have gained equality. The models advertised are of various skin tones representing separate cultures, also linking to Crenshaw's intersectionality theory. The intersectionality theory suggested that there is inequality in feminism caused by more than one individual identity, for example being black and a woman. The power of political movements and global metacommunication on social media allowing post feminism has further allowed a decrease in intersectionality, as evident in this advertisement with the overlapping mix of culture and gender. Unlike previous forms of media before post feminism from 1990’s onwards, the women in this advertisement are wearing clothing that is not objective or provoking, in comparison to advertisements that would exploit the female gender by showing women half naked and in bright, vibrant colours, such as pink. Visuals were used to please audiences, in particular men, reinforcing the statement ‘sex sells.’ Compositions of the text are simple and not out of balance as well as the colour, allowing full attention on the women and the composition is not inappropriate/ out of balance. We as an audience are not distracted by what the fashion magazine are promoting - this being their clothes, which are visually evident. Text such as “the models changing the new face of fashion” can further be interpreted as an indication of post feminism, language such as “changing” and “new.” Vogue's audience and issue of this magazine may have also reached to a wider spread of audience, possibly from new cultures.

Work experience - Enola Holmes

In September 2018, I had attended BFI film academy, a short course for young students studying film to give an overview of how the industry works. After attending, I found myself more knowledgeable about areas of film I had not yet learnt about. This included distribution of films, from screen to DVD and media publicity, to editing on Adobe Premiere Pro and how a set works, e.g how a boom operator or sound mixer would say 'speed' to confirm the recording. From this experience, I had a mentor who helped develop our script to filming on the course, as his main role in the industry is production. After the course had finished, my mentor, Bradley, had provided the opportunity to come onto the filming set of 'Enola Holmes' starring Henry Cavill, Millie Bobbie Brown and Sam Claffin. Getting in touch with Bradley, I had come onto set to gather a feel of how everything works. I attended three days, the first in location Holborn where I'd mostly seen prop work through horses used in scenes and carriages, to the rest of the experience in LH2 studios.
The first day in LH2 consisted of working alongside assistant directors. I had spoken to actor Louis Partridge whilst being a runner for the rest of the crew providing drinks, taking them onto set, etc. I'd learnt alot on this day, getting a feel for what every role does - networking with the sound mixer, costume and makeup designers, digital imaging technicians, etc, whilst listening to directions given on set through a radio, and learning how the crew communicate with each other using channels. An example being the que when recording starts. Someone on set would indicate rehearsal, this reciprocated by the assistant directors through the radio so everyone on set remains quiet. When the director is happy, assistant directors say 'standing by' for costume designers to come on set to give a re-touch for the actors before final recording begins. A bell goes off on set, all assistant directors shout 'rolling' to indicate to the rest of the behind the scenes crew that set must remain silent. Other phrases such as 'quiet on set' and 'shooting' were also used.

The second day on set consisted of overseeing the camera and electrical department, an area of film I have most interest in. This included speaking to camera trainees. Before going, I prepared questions to ask when in contact with trainees, these included in conversation,  such as how did you get onto set, what did you study- did you go university, etc. I found the answers beneficial, getting opinions from people who have my ideal role, helping me make a decision about further education. Majority of the crew said that they’d not gone to university, and the ones that had, used the other personas met in their future lives and not the actual degree. The crew also showed me their gear, including camera lens’, chargers, and where they keep in this is their trailer. The experience was insightful, and provided me with knowledge about how a film set works, and how roles such as assistant directing and costume design / casting crew fall into each other. Everything I have learnt will further be used when researching and writing for blogger. 
I have also networked and have a camera trainee/photographer's email, and will be in touch with them for further work experience opportunities, most importantly after the extended diploma course finishes.

Freytags 5 Act Structure

Gustav Freytag was a german novelist who came up with the 5 act structure. He observed plots, then came to a conclusion about a series of events summarising the plot structure of dramas. "The Dramatic Arc"                                                                                                                                                               

Exposition / introduction -  An outline of the story, setting out the basics such as protagonists / antagonists, time and place, further background information setting out a tone for the upcoming.

Rising action -  Basic conflict begins with an increase of tension. Issues, twists and turns that are  caused by obstacles that get in the protagonists way. 

Climax - The story changes for better / worse for the protaginst, and is the overall turning point. The most dramatic point, placed right at the top of the pyramid. 

Falling action - Opposition to rising action after the climax, the point of the story where the protagonist and antagonist are in contact and either one of them wins the conflict. Suspense and  tension built up previously / any dramatic questions the audience had are now answered. 

Denouement - Conclusion. The protaginst gets the goal, or fails - the storyline ends, conflict may be resolved. 

Narrative structure

Storytelling:

- We tell stories to give us morals, to relate to them and to inform us and possible future generations - they can act as a guide.
- Storytelling can be another word for problem solving. 

Todorov's theory - Historian and literary artist Tzvetan Todorov's  came up with a theory, which suggests that stories follow a 3 part structure, in the order of equilibrium - disequilibrium - new equilibrium, in translation, normal life - something dramatic causing issues - the resolution, or return to normality.

Equilibrium - The beginning of the story - scenes including characters and settings are balanced.
Disequilibrium - The conflict / middle of the movie where everything is interrupted and further becomes unbalanced.
New Equilibrium - Concluding the story including everything that has changed.

A heroes journey, Joseph Campbell's theory -  A story structure initiated by Joseph Campbell following 12 major steps, with the ideology that the protagonist is the hero for mythical storytelling. 

Protagonist -  The main, leading character of a story. 
Antagonist -A character who actively dislikes something and can be against the protagonist - seen as the evil or bad persona. 
Exterior - What the character wants that they know they want
Interior - What they want that they don't know that they want

1. The story begins, the hero is introduced to "The Ordinary World"
2. The protagonist has a calling to adventure - "The Call of Adventure"
3. At first, the hero declines. Wants to continue in the ordinary world. " Refusal of the Call"
4. A further character or known as the mentor encourages the adventure. "Meeting the Mentor"
5. Taking this adventure, a crossover between the real world and magical world occurs "Crossing the First Threshold"
6. Intact with challenges. "Tests, Allies, Enemies" 
7. Hero comes intact with the most challenging part of the adventure, an antagonist, for example. "Approach to the Inmost Cave"
8. The hero struggles for a long period of time. "The Ordeal"
9.  The adventure continues with the hero taking possession of what they came for, the reward. "Reward - Seizing the Sword"
10. The journey back to the ordinary world with the reward 
11. Climax of the story, one last time that any tests/ enemies can destroy the hero. "Resurrection"
(Dramatic questions at this point, such as will she get the boy, will she save the world?)
12. They return with the reward, benefiting the ordinary world. "Return with the Elixir"

Binary oppositions -  A pair of related concepts and terms that oppose each other in definition. They're used to create drama, some examples being Rich/poor, male/female. Claude Levi Strauss came up with the Binary Opposition Theory. 
- Male vs female
- Rich vs poor
- Sexual vs asexual 

Claude Levi Strauss - Strauss played a huge role in the structure of literature. He came up with the idea that conflict is needed in stories in order to produce some level of meaning for audiences. Research into traditional myths and story telling structures allowed him to come to the conclusion. 

Personal statement (draft 2)

Speaking with my tutor on improvements I can make for my personal statement -

Storytelling through a visual medium is a process I take pride in practising, involving the art of videography and photography. Capturing detailed fragments of a world using 50mm lens’ to 160mm and subjects in their given thirds is a skill that can provide an alternative perspective to the world, and is something I am passionate about. 'the art of dreaming,' a 52 paged, photographic book is a main achievement of mine that practises this. It photographically explores depths of fields with sunlight of white balance and colour temperature, with poetic language that highlights relevant global topics, including environmental waste and social discrimination / inequality. Skills under software ‘Bookwright’ and Adobe Photoshop were developed during said project, though I wish to further improve my technicality within Creative Cloud and impactful wordplay on real-life topics in further education. Additional academic achievements include a Level 2 Silver Arts Award in Film. The award provided me with soft team working and presentation skills, with the ability to use Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, all skills that I would again love to apply within my further learning and for media production projects. Institutions such as ITV, BBC and BFI have provided me with life changing experiences, partaking in the BFI Film Academy, BBC’s Get into The Media including a live interview on BBC London News, and ITV’s open newsroom opportunity. Said institutions acted as existent examples of how the media functions, and provided me with the opportunity to network. Networking at the BFI Film Academy led me to work experience at Pinewood Studios for filming of ‘Enola Homles,’ giving me a feel for how a set works, with extra work alongside photographer Alex Bailey. 

Workshops with advertisers of Nike - Wieden and Kennedy have provided me with knowledge on strategies with media, how to use media to have an influence and impact on larger societies.

My interest in ambiance makes me an extroverted, environmentalist individual, focusing on views of the natural world evident in my cinematography. This originated from partaken summer programmes, including National Citizenship Service (NCS,) PGL, and CPSHE ‘Bucket list’ activities such as submarine diving and touring the east coast of Spain. A life goal of mine also being travel.

Showreel (draft 1)

For the first draft of my showreel, I have put together a selection of travel videos that I have created over the last year. So far, these videos are the only segments that I have included, these being videos I have created outside of college. In my second draft / when editing the showreel more, I will include things such as my final documentary, participatory and expository documentary, etc. Some of my photography has been added at the start of the video using sound effects on beat to further show my editing skills, and more of this is to continue throughout the video - certain moving image videos matched with the photography I took whilst on said location.

Masculinity and Femininity in the media

Showreel case study

As part of progressing into the industry for further education, having a showreel is important and will help employers understand the style of work an individual produces. Within my showreel, I have included both moving image and photographic pieces of work that I have produced. This is important as a media student as it shows people not just on written paper what I have completed and taken part in within my life, but the creative work I have produced.

Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/114950712 

The video chosen from site Vimeo is an exploration of nature and cinematic shots with a soothing voice over. I have chosen this video as it is something similar to something I would produce in my spare time, both to practise with a camera and to edit a piece of moving image. The video follows the life of a traveller and his camera, as he explains his love for nature and how intact he is with it. The video can be annotated as inspirational, certainly after watching it I felt the need to appreciate nature more and felt at peace. Sound plays a huge role and is an attribute I have a goal of getting better at within my work, and feel has been done excellently in this work. The creators voice and cinematic background music flows into one another along with a tone that's parallel to what's happening on screen.

Being inspired by "STILLNESS ARISES," I may produce a further piece of moving image that has a similar style for my showreel. Now that I have seen a professional piece of work and similar creations on Vimeo, my work may improve and have more of a visually clear storyline, when linking to the theme of nature and travel.

Favourite shots:

To help figure out how to begin, I have also watched an example of a filmmakers showreel on Youtube -

Project: Smashing stereotypes (contextual research)

Stereotype: An oversimplified, set idea society has about something, an expectation that people have of a particular group/ thing.

Masculinity in the media -
- Traditional vs contemporary representations. Traditional being old advertisements, contemporary being new adverts
- Future audiences - changing images, breaking stereotype.
#metoo campaign -  global cultural shift in gender politics - includes men getting away with rape, cat calling, etc. Lead to global conversations (meta-communication) about what would be classed as gender harassment.

Masculinity characteristics -
- Dominance
- Strong
- Breadwinner, family caring
- Technical

Femininity characteristics -
- Beauty
- Biological family
- Open about emotions

Sex: a system of classification based on a combination of biological factors
Gender: cultural meaning given to a person's sex - labelled masculine or feminine
Masculinity and femininity - Terms often used to identify a set of characteristics and values.
Feminism: An ideology of equality between the sexes, treating male, female and other genders in the same manner with equal opportunities. Feminism is still needed for equal rights for all people.
- feminism begun and developed throughout the 19th century
- first feminists called suffragettes

History - waves of feminism -

First wave feminism: A period of time in the Western world where women fought for legal rights including owning property and the right to vote.
- This occurred in 1918-1920 in the UK.

First wave: Late 19th century - early 20th century UK and US - no legal identity
Second wave: 1960s-1990's
-  inspired by civil rights movements
- women gained the right over their bodies, focusing on issues such as sexuality, reproduction.
- 1963 - "the happy housewife" which restricted women to being housewives and mothers
- 1975- Film theorist Laura Mulvey publishes "visual pleasure" which presents the theory of the "male gaze"

Male gaze theory -
Point of views of the producer, audience and males view.
- women who are a certain body type and certain age dominate the media, e.g in acting roles, in film, etc.

Third wave: 1990s-
- Began ideas beyond middle class white women rights
- 1989, Judith Butler publishes "gender trouble" introducing trans rights
- Ideas that there are more types of feminism than one

Post feminism theory - Third and fourth wave
Fourth wave: 2008

Intersectionality  - Merge of political and social aspects together within feminism - e.g gender and race.
bell hooks, film study.