Unit 4 Coursework : January 2014

Monday, 27 January 2014

Brainstorm, Genre, Production Ideas and Name

Group Targets

Publish group targets from last week
List 5 ideas for own trailer after each analysis
Complete progress reports from last week
Images of location spotting
Consider a one-word title
Complete storyboard
Write voice-over
Shot list
Script
Upload all work (eg brainstorms) for all blogs
Shooting next monday

Sunday, 26 January 2014

Analysis of two trailers

Adulthood

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

The trailer starts out with a scene from the film and the woman is speaking, whilst music is being played in the background. Her script fits perfectly with the trailer and allows the audience to see the change from the previous film Kidulthood. Music that is played in the film is played throughout the trailer, which is allows the audience to recognise it.

The speed of trailer is quite fast, this is so that the audience are engaged and it attracts the audience. The tempo of the music is increased and the scenes that appear start to show more violence, which is building up tension. This will leave the audience anticipating what happens next, which will attract the audience even more to go and watch the film in cinema. Towards the end of the trailer, the best scenes of the film are used, which gives the audience a sneak peek of the film and attracts them to go and watch the film. Rapid shots are used to reach the climax of the trailer, which shows some of the best scenes of the film and then ends with coming soon coming on the screen.

Clips from the Kidulthood are shown to remind the audience of what happened. Some of the scenes freeze and text comes up on the screen to remind the audience of what happened and what may happen next. When Sam is coming out of prison, it freezes on him and ‘six years’ comes up in big bold white text.

A lot of violence is shown throughout the trailer. Characters are seen using guns and knives, along with gangs and people fighting. This allows us as an audience, to establish that the genre of this film is drama/crime drama. There are many representations that the audience can relate to the genre, such as: the guns that are being used by characters, the police sirens that we hear in the background, the clothing that characters are wearing e.g. hoodies, which have blood on them. When the audience see these things, they will automatically think that that this a crime drama type of film.

We could make the pace of our trailer fast, so that it keeps the audience engaged. We could have several scenes put together and fast forward them and dramatically stop at the end with the climax. Another thing we could have is a voice-over at the beginning to set the scene and allow the audience to get an idea of what the trailer is going to

4.3.2.1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2zALzE2gIw

The trailer starts off with a news headlines, stating that diamonds have been missing. This allows the audience to see that the movie involves a robbery of some sort, as there a police sirens and a news headline being read out and scenes of people handing each other something and then running. Scenes are shown in a very fast pace and then the universal sign appears. Four girls appear in four different angles but are shown in the same scene. A female voice over starts to speak and then shows a female running. Intense music is being played in the background to create tension for the audience.

The voice over continues, as violence is shown as a woman slams a bat over someone’s head and a males voice begins and more violence is shown. The violence allows the audience to see what genre this film is. Credits begin and ‘Noel Clarke- creator of Adulthood and Kidulthood’ is shown. This is carried on with location shots. Shots of all the characters are shown with one of the girls saying ‘are we sure we want to do this?’, with gun shots in the background.

The music becomes upbeat and scenes of the location and characters are shown. This is followed by showing the lifestyle of young people, as club scenes are shown, sex scenes and violence attacks. It also shows scenes which include humour, this could show the audience that this s a comedy as well as a drama.

There is one part of the trailer which I think is the best part and more effective. There is a black screen with four girls written across it and then show the four girls. It then shows 3 days on the screen following scenes of the diamonds and then shows a screen with two cities on it and then follows with scenes in both the cities. Ending with a screen saying 1 chance, which shows violence and all the girls in a difficult position.

Towards the end, the trailer gets intense as the girl jumps off a bridge with the diamonds in her hands. The music in the background helps create tension for the audience. The music increases tempo, as it shows intense scenes from the film such as violence, along with a voice-over counting down 4 3 2 1.

Progress report

I have researched into alcohol prices at Tesco, whilst explaining how easy it is for people to purchase it from local supermarkets. I have also analysed two film trailers, Adulthood and 4.3.2.1. I have stated codes and conventions that we may be using in our trailer. I completed the shot list with Simran. The next thing we are looking to do is think of a name for our production.

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Group Targets

Progress report
Upload brainstorms with explanations
Analyse and explain all posts
Film trailer analysis, each member x2- list key conventions and ideas
Storyboard, script, shot list

Pre-production research

I have researched alcohol prices at supermarkets. Above are prices from Tesco. The prices vary from low to high, which shows how easy it is to buy alcohol. The popular alcohol bottles such as 'Grey Goose' and 'Smirnoff', don't appear to be expensive. This is probably due to how popular the drink is among audiences and these bottles are most likely to be bought regularly for Tesco to put it on sale for £27 and £21.

Tuesday, 14 January 2014

Linked Productions

Our Idea summarised:
We will be producing a film trailer based in the streets of London, maybe at night (some scenes), with a complex yet realistic story of how a variety of characters meet in London using two songs and an over voice. The songs will be one house music song and one hip hop rap song. The street life and rap music is to refer and link to Kiran's Critical Investigation. The trailer will involve violence, sexism, love, weaponry, toxic substances (Drugs & Alcohol), corruption, confusion, mystery, thriller. At the moment the representation of some characters will be used to link to my Critical Investigation. Violence relates to Akshay's Critical Investigation and sexism relates to Simran's Critical Investigation.

Members:

Kiran Akshay Simran and myself are the members in our group. Form their previous production, they worked well and we will be using similar actors and actresses in this production as the familiarity and use of them through each project has been successful and quick.

3 links to critical investigation

Music - Rap Music
Violence
Representation of Characters, race and ethnicity - which my essay reinforces.

What elements you've learnt when your doing your essay that you'll apply to production:
Sexism has always been there and Kiran's essay reinforces this.

Violence has always been there and Kiran's essay reinforces.
Materialism will be shown, this is to show the progression from poor to wealthy.

What elements you've learnt when your doing your essay that you'll apply to production

Target Audience:

Teenage adolescents, in college or university, possibly lower economically developed areas, psycho-graphics of followers and aspirers, socio-economic class of C, D, E. Users and gratifications; viewers may identify with the characters portrayed as they will be able to relate to the people and places, they'll also be entertained and feel a source of escapism from their reality and every day lives. The substances used can also help them relate as many teenagers and young adults are experiencing being drunk or the effects of smoking as they have started to use the substances at this age. Similar audiences from films such as Broken, Adulthood, Kiduthood, TV Series Top Boy.

Explain which channel/where/ when it would appear and how it will appeal to them

Genre Conventions we aim to incorporate:

Blood

Guns

Smoking

Drinking

Hoodies

Sexual references

Violence

Money

Gangs

Monday, 6 January 2014

First bibliography

Moore, Kerry , Paul Mason , and Justin Lewis. "Images of Islam in the UK." Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. N.p., 7 July 2008. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. <http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/resources/08channel4-dispatches.pdf>.

"How unfair is the Muslim and Arab stereotype?." Munth . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. <http://www.munth.co.uk/Muslim%20sterotype%20formatted.pdf>.

Masood, Ehsan . "British Muslims ." Media Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. <http://fairuk.org/docs/British_Muslims_Media_Guide.pdf>.

J Hickman , Prof. Mary, Prof. Lyn Thomas, Dr Sara Silvestr, and Dr Henri Nickels. "‘Suspect Communities’? Counter-terrorism policy, the press, and the impact on Irish and Muslim communities in Britain." A Report for Policy Makers and the General Public – July 2011. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2004. <http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/96287/suspect-communities-report-july2011.pdf>.

Martin, Shane . "The Parliamentary Representation of British Muslims ." The Parliamentary Representation of British Muslims . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2014. <http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/politics/people/dr-shane-martin/pdfs/parliamentary-representations>.

Allen , Chris. "MUSLIMS & THE MEDIA." A review of the evidence relating to the representation of Muslims and Islam in the British media . N.p., 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 1 June 2014. <http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/IASS/news-events/MEDIA-ChrisAllen-APPGEvidence-Oct2012.pdf>.

Ameli, Saied R. , Syed Mohammed Marandi, Sameera Ahmed, Seyfeddin Kara , and Arzu Merali. "British Muslims’ Expectations of the Government." The British Media and Muslim Representation: The Ideology of Demonisation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. <http://www.ihrc.org.uk/file/1903718317.pdf>.

"ENGAGE." New research on 'Representation of Muslims in the British press'. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. <http://www.iengage.org.uk/component/content/article/1-news/1591-new-research-on-representation-of-muslims-in-the-british-press>.

Academic Books

Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin. Framing Muslims stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.

Alsultany, Evelyn. Arabs and Muslims in the media race and representation after 9/11. New York: New York University Press, 2012. Print.

Poole, Elizabeth, and John E. Richardson. Muslims and the news media. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006. Print.

Journal Articles- Google Scholar

Zelizer, Barbie, and Stuart Allan. Journalism after September 11. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Poole, Elizabeth, and John E. Richardson. Muslims and the news media. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006. Print.

"British Muslim Perceptions and Opinions on News Coverage of September 11." Taylor and Francis. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691830600761479#.UsscMfRdXCt>.

Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.

Richardson, John E.. Representing Islam The Racism and Rhetoric of British Broadsheet Newspapers.. Philadelphia :: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2004. Print.

Newspaper articles

Phillips, Angela . "Muslims and the media." The Guardian 15 Nov. 2007: n. pag. The Guardian. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.

The Guardian. "Study shows 'demonisation' of Muslims." The Guardian [London] 14 Nov. 2007: n. pag. The Guardian. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.

BBC. “Muslims ‘demonised’ by the UK media.” BBC News. BBC, 13 Nov. 2007. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.

First Draft

To what extent and why are Muslims represented as terrorists in the UK news media?

“These stereotypes and the grouping of all Muslims as extremists can lead to prejudice, discrimination and violence against them, and even to their segregation from communities”.

When the word ‘terrorist’ appears in the media, people automatically link them to Muslims. Whenever Muslims are the in the headlines, they are mainly linked with one topic which is terrorism. Majority of headlines that are about Muslims, are linked with terrorism or attacks. UK newspapers headlines categorise their stories in their sample by what they call a ‘news hook’, which refers to the main focus of the story. Stories are categorised by a sample called a ‘news hook’, which [1]‘refers to the main focus of the story or the element that makes it newsworthy’. There are [2]three main ‘news hooks’ for stories that are about British Muslims. News hooks is something that draws a reader into what they a reading. [3]‘36% of stories’ about British Muslims were [4]on terrorism or the war on terror’, however majority of these stories were about terrorism, not a specific event or story. Which again shows a negative representation of Muslims, as 36% is a high number and a lot of stories come under this percentage. There are other topics that British Muslims are related to such as [5]‘religious and cultural issues’ which [6]‘22%’ of stories are about. There are many debates circling around British Muslims such as wearing of the veil, dress codes, forced marriages and Sharia Law.

The negative stereotypes began after 9/11 occurred. [7]9/11 was a series of our coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington DC metropolitan area on September 1st, 2001’. Before 9/11, Muslims weren’t in the media headlines as much, they weren’t stereotyped, this all changed after 9/11. The way Muslims were seen in general changed. They were labelled as ‘terrorists’. Not only did they get labelled, majority of headlines were about Muslims. Headlines changed dramatically, all major newspapers such as The Sun, Daily Mail and The Guardian had headlines about Muslims every week relating to 9/11 and other terrorist attacks. [8]According to the analysis of the Lexis Nexis database, the coverage of British Muslims in the British Press increased dramatically after 9/11. This was the starting point of an increased focus on British Muslims’. In 2002, there were only 1673 stories about British Muslims in newspapers, this rapidly increased over the years with all the stereotypes and other terrorist attacks that took part, which resulted in 34667 stories in 2008.

Nowadays, it is seen as normal for British Muslims to be the subject of news, this includes front pages of newspapers or television news bulletins. The stories normally include violence, conflict and arguments. Examples of news stories involving Muslims include [9]the London bombings that took place on the 7^th of July 2005, controversies involving Muslim girls and school uniforms; a BBC Panorama film questioning the ideological roots of the Muslim Council of Britain and the turmoil at the Central North London mosque in the Finsbury Park area of London’. All of these are examples of either conflict or violence.

The headlines in the UK news media portray Muslims in a negative way, due to the stereotypes that have been created from previous incidents such as 9/11. An example of a headline is ‘[10]Muslims are being "demonised" by the British media, with 91% of reports being negative, research commissioned by London's mayor has found’. Out of 91% of reports, [11]’36% of stories overall are about terrorism or war on terror, including stories about hostage taking, although most of the stories in this category were about terrorism’.

However Barker and Galasinski believe that [12]‘texts are unable to police the meanings to be constructed from them. Other social media platforms other than newspapers, contribute to the stereotyping of British Muslims that society has created due to the terrorists attacks in the past. However, when people do read newspapers, they may have different representations of Muslims. The media has a heavy impact on society; it has the ability to influence people’s opinions and views.

Many UK newspapers such as The Daily Mail have many stories both online and on TV which portrays Muslims in a negative way. One article from the Guardian said that [13]a ‘torrent’ of negative stories has been revealed by a study of the portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the media’. Majority of stories about Muslims are negative, the representations that are being shown are not accurate, which isn’t fair on the Muslims in Britain. The London Mayor, Ken Livingston has said that ‘there is a scale of imbalance which no fair-minded person would think is right’, he shows that he doesn’t think there isn’t a fair representation of Muslims being portrayed and says that ‘the ‘finding showed a ‘hostile and scaremongering attitude’ towards Islam’. The stories that are published make out Muslims to be ‘terrorists’, which affects both Muslims in Britain and other people, as people may see them as a threat and Muslims may feel upset due to the representations and stereotypes they are receiving, which can ‘damage community relations and create alarm among Muslims’ as some may want to rebel against the stereotypes, which can lead to more violence and conflict. This leads to Muslims reinforcing the stereotypes that they have been given.

Both men and women Muslims are represented differently in UK newspapers. Muslim women are frequently in the news due to many issues. The way in which men and women are represented depends on what they are being presented through, what events are being spoken about and what media platform they are receiving news from for example television will use camera footage and commentary to voice their story and newspapers print powerful print images to suit their angle. However, the text produced with the images contributes to how the readers will perceive their view on Muslim men and women.

Men are represented as terrorists and extremists. Depending on the story, the images that will be used will help make their decision on their opinion of the story. Images normally consist of men praying or Asian men in white robes and long beards for example Abu Bakar Bashir. However, the way women are represented, can either [14]demonise Islam or generate sympathy for Muslims depending on the story’. One example of a story that has been in the news for quite a long time now is the veil. The veil marks a Muslim woman’s religious identity. There have been many discussions and debates around this topic, there are many different opinions on the veil. Many people see women who wear the veil as threats, such as [15]a significant number of Western women in particular have questioned the use of the veil and have argued it is oppressive’. However, many Muslim women wear the veil and think it is non-oppressive.

Some people see women who wear the veil as a ‘threat’, due to the representations that women and the veil have received in the media. These are misrepresentations aren’t fair, and people believe these views due to the hypodermic needle model, which suggest that a message is directly received (what the media is portraying Muslims as) and accepted by the receiver (the audience). The news is linked to this theory, as it influence people’s views and thoughts on this matter. The news causes a moral panic, they are over exaggerating some stories, and for example some terrorist acts. The news portrays Muslims to the audience, in a way which makes people that Muslims are terrorists. They reinforce an unfair stereotype. However, some people disagree with the stereotypes that Muslims are given, for example some extreme Muslims can argue that terrorism is the way forward and that they agree with the views and opinions of Al-Qaeda.

The way Muslims are presented in the media, isn’t an accurate representation of all Muslims, All the representations and stereotypes Muslims have been receiving do affect some people in their daily life. Some Muslims can receive daily racism and remarks for example being called ‘terrorists’. People are voicing their opinion in different ways, for example through social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. There are YouTube videos made by people that are Muslim and non-Muslim, talking about the headlines in the news. In one video, there is a group of people giving their opinion on the headlines and how Muslims are stereotyped. The video shows newspaper headlines about different events that have happened, and is showing the difference of when a Muslim commits a crime and another person does. This video shows how people characterize the media’s portrayal of Muslims. Different people with different religions show their views in this video. One person said that ‘the more violent the issues, the more media attention it receives’, ‘Muslims are portrayed unfairly, which means the channels will get better ratings’. People do believe that a minority of Muslims do fit the stereotype but majority of them work so hard to give a good image out, but it’s ruined with the stereotypes.

Many people have different opinions about the headlines that Muslims are making. On the BBC website, journalists, Muslim groups and academic groups have debated the way the media has been treating Islam and Muslims since the 9/11 attacks. [16]The Islamic Foundation says that ‘Muslims should be able to feel that in the media not everybody is against them’. A professor from Leicester University has said that ‘It cannot be denied that terrorists use Islamic teachings or interpretations for their acts’.

[17]Muslims audiences, believe that the media in Western countries doesn’t portray Muslims with the same sense of completeness, as it would for example, people of other faiths’. They believe that Muslims are shown in a completely different light, for example when a Muslim commits a crime, their religion will be in the headline. Muslims are only seen in the media as the ‘bad guys’, none of the good aspects that Muslims take part in are shown. The media are so focused on the bad aspects, that they forget the good ones. Even on social networking sites, such as Facebook, there are pages people have created such as ‘MEDIA and FILMS should STOP Portraying Muslims as Terrorists’. People are portraying Muslims in a negative way through Films and the Media. The page has 10,076 likes which shows that many other people are supporting the fact that Muslims are being portrayed in a negative way.

One example of how Muslims are represented when a terrorist attacks occurs is the 7/11 bombings. The 7/11 bombings took place on the 7^th of July 2005, they were a series of coordinated suicide attacks in London, which targeted people using public transport during the morning rush hour. On the morning of this day, [18]four Islamic home grown terrorists detonated four bombs – three in quick succession abroad London Underground trains across the city and later, a fourth on a double decker bus in Tavistock Square. Apart from the four bombers, 52 civilians were killed and over 700 more were injured’. In a way, these terrorist attacks reinforced the stereotypes and representations that were given to Muslims from the 9/11 attacks. The stories about British Muslims increased between 2006 and 2008, as the number of stories went from 4196 to 43667 by the end of 2008. [19]The increase in stories is clearly related to the terrorists’ attacks in 2005, however it has also developed a momentum of its own, lasting well beyond and independent of these highly newsworthy events’.

In conclusion, I think that Muslims are represented as terrorists to a high extent, due to the representations and stereotypes they have received. The way the media portrays them isn’t fair and isn’t an accurate representation, due to the moral panic that the media creates, it impacts other people’s opinions and views. [20]Research shows that following 9/11, more 13 million people bought a national newspaper in Britain every day’, which shows that ever since 9/11 there has been more focus on British Muslims. Also, [21]the Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Star, Mirror and Sun added an additional 2.5 million copies to their normal combined print runs’, which included stories about British Muslims relating to stories about either terrorism or violence.

Not everyone believes in these representations and some people do think that some Muslims are trying their best to live down the stereotypes. These representations and stereotypes weren’t there in the past, they only started after 9/11 and unfortunately, I think that Muslims will always have these representations and stereotypes, even though it is a small minority of Muslims that actually reinforce them. A study was conducted by Dr Paul Baker, Professor Tony McEnery and Dr Costas Gabrielatos, into how the media are bias towards Muslims and how only negative stories are reported as they receive the most attention; they believe that only news that will get attention is published. Knowing that nearly majority of all stories about Muslims are negative, they are still published, [22]overall, the project highlighted a serious journalistic problem; Muslims who just get on with their lives aren’t seen as newsworthy’.

Word count:

[1] Images of Islam in the UK http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/resources/08channel4-dispatches.pdf

[2] ibid

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] ibid

[6] ibid

[7] September 11 attacks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

[8] ibid

[9] British Muslims, Media Guide http://fairuk.org/docs/British_Muslims_Media_Guide.pdf

[10] Muslims demonised by the media http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7093390.stm

[11] The Representation of British Muslims in the National Print News Media 2000-2008http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/resources/08channel4-dispatches.pdf