Preparation for filming - Props

Aftermath

The props we will need for our film are:

• A letter addressed to the main character, Georgie. Click here for link to letter prop

• Kettle - The kettle is used in the second scene of the film where Georgie makes herself and Charlotte a cup of tea. It is integral to the plot as it shows the girls in their domestic setting and gives the audience an insight into their usual routine.
  
• Two cups - The cups are relevant for their purpose in Georgie being able to pour herself and Charlotte a cup of tea, but it also helps to signify the overwhelming sense of despair and isolation that Georgie feels within her own home. Such as, when she pours the rest of the tea down the stink and stares blankly out of the window.
  
  
  
• Mobile phone - The mobile phone is not only a signifier of the 21st century setting in which our film takes place nevertheless, a plot device in how it reminds Georgie of the appointment that she needs to go to and the subsequent problems that she must face in order to overcome her mental health issue.
  
• Fake gun - The gun is a reference to Georgie and Charlotte's time in the war but also a foreshadowing of the disaster that took place during this time. Although, we never see Charlotte get shot, it can be implied through the use of gunshots, that some form of tragedy took place.
  
• Camouflage clothes - Without these clothes, the audience wouldn't be able to understand that Georgie and Charlotte were once both soldiers and the importance of the war in regards to the story. This costume will allow the audience to understand what type of situation they have emerged from and the problems that it could cause a couple to ultimately have.
  
• Face paint - Face paint, much like the above, is used to highlight the career that the girl's had but also capture an authentic and realistic idea of what being in the war would be like. We know that face paint is used as a way to disguise themselves from approaching enemies and make it harder for soldiers to be seen. Georgie and Charlotte both wear it for these reasons.
  

Shot List

Link to the word version of the shot list.

Contemporary Controversial Media

Film:

• Cause for Concern (2002) A teenage film crew record the fighting and misfortune of homeless people across Las Vegas and California. The film is banned in many countries including the UK and New Zealand as 'Concerns were raised for the welfare of the homeless people involved and whether they were exploited'
• Deadpool (2016) After being subjected to a rogue experiment to cure his terminal cancer, a man is left horribly disfigured but with accelerated healing powers and a morbid sense of humour. This film was banned in China for explicit content, despite being given only a 15 certificate. Trailer
• The Danish Girl (2015) Follows the lives and marriage of Danish Artists Lili and Gerda Wegener through Lili's pioneering surgery to change gender. Given a 15 certificate, the film was rated 7/10, but was banned in Qatar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. Trailer
• Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) A teenager is recruited to join a secret service and help defend the country against an impending threat.  The film was rated 15 due to disturbing and controversial scenes such as the bloody mass killing in the church.  Trailer

Television: 

• South Park: Known for being incredibly insulting and politically incorrect, the show often challenges and depicts taboo subjects, with the first series explores homosexuality, bestiality, religion, and promiscuity. The fact the show is cartoon adds to the shock factor as cartoons are typically associated with children's programs, so arguable this paradoxical approach adds to the controversial nature of the programme. 
• Dexter: Moral Panic plays a huge role in the controversy surrounding the programme 'Dexter' as many murder's have been attributed to the influence of the show. Despite this, there are no plans to cancel the programme. The show also challenges morals as it questions whether Dexter is a hero or a villain for hunting down and killing those who kill. 

Games: 

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009). This game was controversial due to its violent and graphic content. The game shocked many because of its airport 'massacre' level, where the player can kill civilians for no apparent reason. Although killing the enemy is generally accepted in games, this needless display of violence crossed the line and was removed from many versions of the game. 
• Man Hunt (2004). This game encourages violent and bloody murders by awarding stars depending on the brutality of the killing. It encourages players to use everyday objects such as carrier bags, kitchen utensils and sports bats to carry out the executions. This caused controversy over fears that it would affect impressionable young people and provide ideas/inspiration.

Theories

Theories

Hypodermic Theory

The idea behind the theory is that it injects a idea into the audience and that they will react to it in a specific way. The media believe that they can inject a specific idea into an audience and they will believe it as there are no other sources of information. For example, the media believe that if they show a advert that is violent then the audience will act in a violent way because of the ad.


Inoculation Theory

The inoculation theory follows the belief that if a idea or concept is injected into an audience a bit at a time, then eventually they will become immune to the idea in time. As people become immune to the idea the statement that is trying to be made has to become worse for it to make an impact on the audience. For example horror films have become increasingly more scary over the years as people have become immune to the horror featured in the films.



Copycat Violence

Copycat violeence is when someone has seen an act of violence within a film and carry it out in real life. It is usually linked to children and teenagers who commit violent crimes. They are often blamed as it is claimed that they havent built up a substantial set of moral and social values to understand that commiting the violence is wrong. An example of this is when the film 'Childs Play 3' was indirectly linked to the killing of a two year old boy by two ten year old boys. The film was linked to the murder even though there was no evidence to prove that they had actually seen the film. This then lead to the film being banned.


Moral Panics

Moral panics are when the media blow a topic out of proportion and an instance of public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society  The media take a topic and turn it into something that is far from the truth. For example that everyone you see in a hoodie will have a knife and kills, mobile phones are harmful to health.

Mean World Syndrome

 

Mean world syndrome is when a large ammount of violence is shown on TV or in films to children and adults which may lead them to believe that the world in which they live is worse than it actually is. Thus increasing the level of anxiety amongst the children and adults. The increas in anxiety levels is because film and TV show concentrated and unrealistic levels of violence in short spaces of time.

Uses and Gratification 

The theory behind uses and gratification is that you choose to do something for your own enjoyment, and to get something out of it. For example we choose what music we want to listen to depending on our mood, or we choose what film or TV program to watch due to our personal preferences and tastes. Some of the effects Mean World Syndrome has on people is that they may start to overestimate the risk of being victimized by crime, think the crime rate level is increasing when it isn't, think the neighbourhoods in which they live are unsafe and belive that 'fear of crime is very serious personal problem
'.

We gain four things from uses and gratification, these are:

• Role Mode's: One of the main reasons people watch film/TV programs is for the actors and actresses in them. Everybody has a favourite actor or actress whichmay infulence them into watching a certian film, for example they may like Colin Firth which may influence them into watching films such as 'Bridget Jone Tirolgy', 'Love actually' or 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' to see his performance. Role modles can also be influencial because they may influence people into how they act and portray themselves in real life, which can have postive effects, if the person portrays a good character, or a negative effect if they portray a bad character.
• Education: We gain knowledge and new understandings from watching a TV program or film, they educate us in different ways. It may help adults and/or children learn more about the society they live in politically, socially, and culturally. 
• Entertainment: We are entertained by the program/film/music we have chosen to watch/listen to. Some people also used watching films and TV as a form of escapism, to hid away from their own problems for a while and immerse themselves in someone else's.
• Socialisation: With modern technology we are able to communicate with people in many different ways. People who play video games are able to play against people from all over the world and talk to them about the game. Film lovers are able to talk to people who enjoy the same films as them and the same for people who watch TV programs. Using technology people are able to communicate via social medai and the internet. 

Theories

Theories 

Negative Theories:

Hypodermic Needle Theory:

This theory implies that the mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on it's audiences. The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and consistently by 'injecting' them with suitable messages designed to trigger a craved response. The images used to convey this theory (a bullet and a needle) propose a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender (mass media) to the reciever (society). The bullet theory graphically implies that a message is the bullet, fired from the "media gun" into the viewers "head". Likewise, emotive imagery within the Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive (accepting or allowing what happens or what others do, without resistence) audience which is immediately influenced by the message. It reiterates the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the audience is unable to resist the impact of the message. People are seen as being 'helpless' because so much media material is 'shot' at them, they end up believing and thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information provided for them. An example of the Hypodermic Needle theory in practise, is when Hitler monopolised the mass media during World War Two to gain the support from the German public for the Nazi Party.

Inoculation Theory

This theory states that by giving an individual a small amount of information over a long period of time, it will protect them from being resistant to full exposure. By giving your audience small bursts of violent or antisocial behaviour in film, it will desensitise their reaction and thus make them immune to graphic violence and obscene behaviour. This could eventually cause the audience to believe that witnessing violence on an extreme level is not bad or unusual and in turn make them more likely to act violently or antisocially themselves. The theory was developed by social psychologist William. J. McGuire in 1961 to demonstrate the changes of attitudes and beliefs over time. One of his motivators for the making of this theory was the aftermath of the Korean war. When nine prisoners of war were asked if they wanted to leave their previous captors, they decided to stay. Many assumed that this answer was a result of the prisoners being brainwashed, so McGuire and his collegues turned to solutions of 'confering resistence to persuasion'. Gass and Seiter stated in 2003 that this was a change in remaining persuasion research, which was exclusively worried with how to make messages more persausive, and not the other way around.

Moral Panics 

 

A moral panic is an intense feeling of fear that is spread among a large group of people that a particular thing is threatening society. The media are mainly responsible for the spreading of moral resentment, even when it is clear that they are not aware they are engaging in aggressively defending or advancing an idea or exposition. Just reporting the facts around a story can generate concern, panic and anxiety from the public. The media has been accountable for the widespread belief that children are prone to abduction from paedophiles, the practise of Satanic cults, the fear of AIDS and the 'War on Drugs.' In the 1950's, 'Teddy Boys' were portrayed by the media as young men who strived to turn society upside down. Like the 21st century reaction to the emergence of 'hoodies' and antisocial behaviour from young adults, 'Teddy Boys' were depicted as delinquents who disrespected their elders and rejected social norms. This continued into the '1960's', with the clash between Mods and Rockers. The media wanted to convince the general public that these two groups were operating outside of social norms and conducting criminal and society threatening acts.

Positive Theories:

Uses and Gratifications:

 

Blumler and Katz is a theory that works to understand the reasons for why audiences seek out and consume the media. This juxtaposes the Hypodermic Needle Theory view that audiences are all passive contributors when consuming the media, by arguing that they audiences actually have an active and controlled approach in choosing what they want to watch and why. The following reasons have been suggested for why audiences would seek to watch a film:

1. Education 
2. Entertainment 
3. Socialisation 
4. Identity 

Education: Viewers might watch a film with the intention of finding out more about the world that they live in, poltically and socially, so that they can understand their surroundings better and the relevance of some of our cultural choices. They might further beome invested in the film because they want to listen to and take into account the different views and opinions of society in order to strengthen their own individualistic opinion. Finally, viewers, especially children, could find watching a film or a television programme, as a way to inform themselves about a subject that they have a general interest in such as Ancient Eygpt or Rome. 

Entertainment: Watching a film or television programme is a blatent way of participating in escapism and stepping out of the stress of our everyday lives by following the life of a fictional character. It can also encourage us as people to relax and take a break from chores and work that consume our everyday lives by investing in the emotial journey of someone else. It can give us intrinsic cultural and aestheitc enjoyment by exmperimenting with the mise-en-scene of a film and allowing us to be engrossed in something that is visually stimulating. Finally, it could be a form of sexual or emotional release, as if someone feels frustrated, by watching an action packed film, they could release some tension. 

Socialisation: Being actively involved with the media, can lead us into discussions with colleagues, family and friends. It can also be a way of meeting new people, as you discover that you have similar interests to another individual and can begin to form a friendship with them because of this. Environmentally, it gives us the opportunity to share an experience with the people around us, which as humans, can bring us closer together. It could be argued that the media, can help teach us on how to socialise with others, by influencing our decision making and problem solving. It is possible that we could be inspired by something we've watched amd it can thus impact how we act around others. 

Identity: Audiences could possibly find that they relate to certain characters and thus form a bond with them that can transfer to caring whether I certain character lives or dies. It can impact the way in which an individual chooses to behave and reinforce in them their own personal morals and values as well as look to others for models of behaviour.

Richard Dyer's Theory of Entertainment and Utopia:

Richard Dyer (1945) is a British Theorist who is known for specialising in cinematic representations of race, sexuality and gender. His theory suggests that entertainment could be considered 'utopian' due to it's idealistic representation of how human life should be lived and organised as well as it's 'escapist' nature. He believes that 'the most widespread assumption about entertainment is that it provides 'escape'. Entertainment offers the image of 'something better' to set against the realities of day-to-day existence.' Dyer theorised that audiences choose to consume media on the basis of three principles:

1. Social Tension

2. Inadequacy 

3. Absence 

Dyer then came up with a Utopian Solution chart to show the difference between the reality, which is full of negatives and unfulfilled opportunities and the utopia, which allows people to escape from their everyday lives. For instance, the social tension for one individual could be that they are exhausted from a result of hard labor and the pressures of urban life. The utopian solution for this would be that the individual is using their energy positively by acting vigorously and demonstrating power and activity. 

Script

This is the following script for our film Aftermath:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-TWndOsTchfNHNvZXNuQjVyUUk/view?usp=sharing

Do Theories of Effects in media use affect people?

Hypothesis: All theories work in some situations but not in others.

Negative theories:
Hypodermic Theory - Injects an idea into the audience - if an audience watches a violent film, it predicts that the audience will react to the film in a certain way. if the film promotes violence, it may make the audience behave in a more violent way. Telling audience it is okay to behave in that way. May show drug use as positive, no negative effects, suggests drugs are okay.

Inoculation Theory - Gives a small bit of information to desensitise the audience and protect them from the big rush of information. Little bits of violence/antisocial behaviour shown every so often, which makes the audience immune to violence, don't see it as bad or unusual, more likely to behave violently themselves.

Moral Panics - When the media picks up on an event and hypes it up, builds mountains out of molehills. Examples: Batman shootings in America in the cinema , was the Batman film to blame? Long haul flights, rubber flight socks for sale, everyone panicking they would get  deep vein thrombosis if the didn't use them. 

Positive Theories:
Uses and Gratifications - The audience using the media to give them what they want. The audience chooses to watch/listen to/play things for certain reasons such as:

• Education - Documentaries, kids learning games
• Entertainment - films, music, video games
• Role models - may watch a film because you admire certain actors/genres
• Socialisation - to be able to interact with others, eg: talk about a film

Catharsis - Self healing, seeing violence in films makes the audience less violent, eg: playing a physical game on a console like Wii Boxing will make people less likely to be violent in real life.

Richard Dyer -  Theory of Entertainment and Utopia. Entertained in 5 different ways:

• Energy
• Abundance
• Intensity
• Transparency
• Community

These emotions are feelings you get from watching ideal films. Much of the media based on these theories makes the audience feel good. Therefor, the audience may use media to produce these feelings. For example, watching an uplifting film would increase the feeling of energy and abundance in the audience. Receiving 'likes' on a post on social media sites such as Facebook increases the feeling of transparency and community.