Misfits summary (youth identity)

In terms of Misfits the director addressed youth identity in a different approach as the theme is strongly linked with super-naturalism. Young adults who have been put in a detention for doing a few minor crimes but each possesses a great powerful in which they all intend to use positively but however they find themselves falling into temptation of using them negatively. This episode shows us the maturity of these young adults as they take part in adult activities and Misfits in a way agrees with David Buckingham theory which basically states that youth identity is forever changing and this is an example of a different youth identity as it necessarily doesn't agree with the stereotype.

Inbetweeners summary (youth identity)

In the Inbetweeners teenagers are portrayed as these extremely immature individuals even though the stereotype that is adolescence equals young adults. In most films or tv shows teenagers are usually portrayed as mature young adults who therefore do adult things and take part in adult activities, and this desire to be an adult pushes them to become monsters metaphorically however in Inbetweeners we almost get the impression that these teenagers have entered the entered the early stages of their adolescence due to their great fascination with girls and sex.

They do end up breaking a few rules set by their teenagers but nothing which strikes fear into those surrounding them or inflicting moral panic in a community. This episode is a great example of all that I have mentioned above.

Attack the block summary (youth identity)

Attack the block: After having watched the full movie we understand these working class teenagers in this movie are portrayed as nuisances at the start of the film effectively agreeing with the stereotype. A problem arises as unknown creatures come  from outer space to invade this area and moral panic is inflicted among the locals but however the teenagers come together with the help of a few adults and eventually kill these creatures. This film portrays teenagers in a different light almost as heroes also contradicts the stereotype that teenagers and adults do not have a great understanding but we see teenagers and some adults work together to find a solution for a dilemma.

Improved/new shots

 These are 3 industry standard shots from which I attempted to incorporate in my documentary.

 These are the shots from my documentary:

This medium close up gives the viewer a sense that they are having a direct conversation with the star as he is directly talking to the camera.

This Extreme close up gives the viewer the impression that they can almost read into the stars thoughts due to the focus on his head.

The Cut in is all about body language and this shot lets the viewers know the stars current state of mind as any sort of nervousness will be detected.

These are three examples showing my intention to include diversity within my shots, also with these new shots I concentrated on getting the focus correct which in effect will enhance my documentary. 

photos I can include in my magazine article

The following images are  inspired from popular urban magazines such as XXL and dream.

The images on the bottom right of each image are examples from the magazines XXL and Dream of two well known rappers Eminem and French Montanna. The way in which these artists pose emphasizes on the genre and conforms to the audience the Rap genre. For example the photo which Eminem points at the camera this shows a sense of authority, almost as if he is communicating with the reader as he is directly pointing at someone and authority is one of the factors within Hip/Hop which is related to respect. 

The second image is an interview style shot as French Montanna's body is slightly angled to the left indicating he is facing the person asking him questions however the fact that he has his shades on this is an indication that he is not willing to reveal too much as we can only assess from what he tells the interviewer also his body language on the chair is pretty laid back and that is all the information we can pick up from him as the eyes give away a lot of a person's feelings. This suggests he is reserved here ad doesn't wish to reveal too much which is a personality trait linked to rapper's and the Hip Hop genre.

Finally the 3rd image of French Montanna who appears to have a laid back body language and sitting on an office chair looking directly at the camera with his shades on again. This type of pose is to emphasize his level of superiority as his body language is also directed straight at the camera in a manner almost ready for anything this comes it's way. "Superiority" is probably the main aspect in the Hip-Hop genre as the genre is based on out doing one another and reaching great levels.

More theorists

Jacques Lacan - 'the mirror stage' is when a child from 5-18months is fascinated by an image of one self which later changes as the individual grows older

Laura Mulvey - 'The male gaze' this is the idea that audiences are made to view films,music videos, etc from a hetrosexual man's point of view. Women are objectified, for example when a camera focuses on a woman's curves/clevage.

Michel Maffesoli - 'the time of tribes' also known as Neotribalism is the idea that human beings have evolved to live in tribal societies rather than a mass society so therefore they create their own tribals through social network.

Mikhail Bakhtin - is the idea that identity is never finalized so therefore forever changing 

Judith Butler - 'gender is what you do, not what you are' she stated that feminism made a mistake by classing women as a group who hold the same characteristics therefore meaning that each woman holds her individuals values.

More theories

Hypodermic Theory - is the theory that states mass media had a direct impact on audiences in the 1940's/50's and contributed to a lot of behaviour change, e.g. TV, RADIO.

Active audience - Is an audience which seeks to increase knowlege on an issue, organization or cause rather than waiting to receive information.


Passive audience - Is an audience who does not interact with the media and waits for their injection of information, one who does not have control of the media influence on them.

Documentary questionnaire

Documentary Questionnaire  (Please circle your answer)

Name: ________________

1. What gender are you?

§  Male

§  Female

2. How old are you?

§  12-15       

§  16-19

§  20-25

§  26-34

§  35+

3. When watching a documentary which do you prefer to be?

§  Entertained

Or

§  Informed

4. What genre of documentaries interests you the most?

§  Sport

§  Music

§  Crime

§  Films

§  Wildlife

§  Politics

§  Food

5. What time of the day would you watch a documentary?

§  Morning

§  Afternoon

§  Evening

6. Name your favourite documentary

---------------------------------------------------------------

7.  Which do you prefer?

§  Film

Or

§  Documentary

8.  What duration of documentary do you prefer?

§  Long

Or

§  Short

9. How often do you watch documentaries?

§  Daily

§  Weekly

§  Monthly

§  Yearly

10.  What do you prefer in an interview?

§  Interview

§  Voiceover

Or

§  Both

   A questionnaire based on a documentary will give me a rough idea of people views towards documentaries. Once I have gathered the results these may help me to make adjustments or improvements to my documentary in order for it to be successful.

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Response to Homework

Adulthood (2008) - This clip shows us a negative representation of teenagers. We see teenagers comiting all types of crime from violence to robbery,  most of the negative behave is towards one another so the director is implying teenagers have minimal respect amongst each other. However this may raise a few questions like, do all teenagers really behave like this? Is this an adult representation of teenagers?

The key narrative in this film is teenagers which are in a war with themselves, also trying to reach adulthood still young. Furthermore the gender focused on in this movie are males, males are represented as having minimal respect towards females as we see in this clip actor 'Adam Deacon' who shows a lack of respect towards a female. Also half of their actions are down to a symbol of masculinity as they are portrayed to think it is a "Man's" thing to behave badly.

Audiences watching this will just have a negative perspective of teenagers, this can be linked to the Gerbner theory (1986) as it states people who watch too much tv/films over estimate crime. This will most likely inflict fear into certain audiences who watch a lot of movies that represent teenagers like this.

Coach Carter - This is however a different representation of teenagers, somewhat positive. These teenagers are represented as teenagers who are trying to build a better future for themselves however frustrated with the obstacles they are facing. This clip says a lot about the concept of Identity because we do not see these teenagers acting in a malicious type of way but however verbally find solutions to their problems so therefore teenagers are not these violent thugs as portrayed in most movies.

The narrative in this movie is mainly around "the rights of passage", these teenagers are seeking for a voice so they can let people know of the obstacles they face. In this clip we see mainly males and this tells us that male teenagers are the ones who face the most problems in society and are under a lot of pressure.

In terms of this Clip/film this may change ones opinion on teenagers and see them in a more positive light also it may also make adults with less knowledge on teenagers feel sorry for them instead of being in fear.

Homework (CASE STUDIES)

Case Studies

Cover two media
Past and present/contemporary (last few years)
- e.g. youth/gender
Identify key themes
- How is this text about the construction
of identity?
- What does this text say about the construction of identity?
- What are the key narratvies and discourses?
coming of age/ rites of passage/ youth and protest / adolescence versus adulthood or childhood
- How does it represent youth/gender?
- How do audiences respond to these representations?
What are the effects of these representations?


ANSWERS ON THE FOLLOWING POST

shots I am yet to include

shot of a bus
motorway panel
postcode panel
cut in of hands
a well known building
medium close up friends
other videos
landscape
shot in a car or bus
studio shot
shot of him writing lyrics

After having watched several documentaries linked to the hip hop genre and done several research I found they included a lot of the factors above and I intend to make my project as realistic as possible so I will include these in my documentary and show images and examples on later blog posts.

Magazine connotation and denotation

Editing progression

I have made some progression with my editing but however I have tried to work away from the ideal visual structure of a documentary and towards the more modern day structure of documentaries. I have added effects which improve the image quality like the cool stones effect in the following screenshot:

This not only improves the image quality but also gives the documentary a 'movie feel' even though what is being displayed is real life and we witness a similar effect in the Wretch 32 documentary:

Furthermore still sticking to a documentary structure I have given it my own input by putting for a example the test card: 

Also I have also put the 'Recording effect' is this just gives my programme it's own identity so a viewer that has watched this documentary will expect that effect to be there on a following documentary.

Examples of documentaries in my Genre

These three documentaries are examples of what I am aiming to achieve by the time I finish my documentary. They are all documentaries which fall into the Urban/Rap/Hip-Hop genre which is what my documentary is based on. I have included similar shots and have tried to make sure that my documentary also has the same feel to it as these documentaries so a viewer can recognise all aspects of my documentary within seconds of watching it.