Shameless- Sexual and regional identity

  

  In the lessons as a class we discussed sexuality and regional identity, in this episode of shameless there is more sexuality than regional identity although there are a couple of noticeable factors of this. When we had the discussion about sexuality we were asked to define what we thought was ‘gay’ and ‘straight’ and also the differences between ‘northaners’ and ‘southners’.

Gay- Camp, Limp wristed, Minching walk, Muscular, Flamboyant (in your face), Loud, Gay couples, Camp one (female), Butch one (male)

Straight-

Too sensitive/Insensitive, Loves women, Reads ‘lad’s mags’, Drinks beer, Unhealthy, Metro sexual (men who look after their appearance)

Northaners- Butch, strong accents, uneducated, heavy drinkers, old fashioned, speak in slang, crime higher.

Southners- Camp, well educated, city, gold, cockney, high disposable income.

In the first scene of shameless we were asked to see how regional identity and sexuality were represented. When the episode starts the character Frank Gallagher is talking about where he lives as is shows you the estate he lives on. He then goes on to introduce his children Fiona, Lip (Phillip), Ian, Carl, Debbie and Liam. Throughout when Frank is talking there are clips of where they live, it then goes on to a clip of the estate with loads of people standing around a burning car and he’s saying it’s nice to have open space and a half decent community where you live. When this clip is going on the police then come on and break it up and when the people see the police coming they start shouting at the police and run away from them. Just from the start of this episode the characters are really playing up to the stereotypical view on ‘Northerners’ , Heavy drinkers, crime, uneducated, bad language, speak in slang.

The next scene you see is where Lip is going round a girls house to help her with some homework. They are in the dining room talking across the table to each other, when the girl crawls under the table towards Lip. He does hesitate because the girl’s mother is just in the next room but then says yes after he finds out that she cannot pay him with money because she is ‘skint’ this also backs up the stereotypical view on the northerners because they are seen as poor and the girls are seen as ‘easy’ . Lip seems like a normal teenage boy because the day that the experiences the sexual encounter he boasts about it to his brother Ian that night. When lip gets back from the girls house he hides his dirty boxers behind the desk and as he does a folder drops down from being the radiator, he find his brothers porn stash, but its not female porn its male porn. When he confronts his brother about this later on after he has told him about his sexual encounter from earlier in the day he asks him whether he has ever had that before from a male. Ian takes a feminine approach to this and starts crying and runs and gets into bed. Ian doesn’t look ‘typically’ gay as some would put it.

We are also introduced to two other characters called Fiona and Steve, the two meet in a night club but it seems on purpose by Steve who gets Fiona’s attention after her tries to get her handbag back after it was stolen. Immediately the two are attracted to each other, Steve ends up going back found Fiona’s house and as predicted they have a ‘one night stand’.  During this scene Fiona is making noises during their sexual encounter and these noises come from the film Monty Python, this is called intertexuality. While this scene is going on you can hear gentle music in the back ground and you can also hear the sound of birds.

The mise en scene in this episode reflects the life style that the people on the Chatsworth estate are living, I think the light and all over colours are very dark. This may have been done to show that where they are living is not a very happy place for them. The blocks of flats look very big and over powering, making the estate seem like a rather intimidating place to be.

Front cover & contents annotation

Annotation One
Annotation Two

Media essay question

Essay

Warp Films Factsheet

Factsheet

Binary oppisites

Binary opposites PowerPoint.

Working Title and Warp Films

Working Title Films and Warp

T.V and Drama

You will find that TV dramas all have the following ingredients:

Characters – even particular kinds of characters: eg, at its most simple, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters.

Stories – they all tell stories, whether those stories involve adventure, crime or romance and they often, but not always, end happily.

The stories are told against familiar backdrops: – eg, homes, police stations and offices (for crime dramas), hospitals (for medical dramas) – most of which are created in studios. However, most dramas also use outside locations to create particular effects.

Camerawork – particular kinds of shots are used: eg, sequences involving establishing shots followed by mid-shots of characters, shot/reverse shots to show character interaction and, in particular,close-ups to show the characters’ emotions.

Stories use dialogue to tell the stories. Occasionally, monologues are built in (as voiceovers, a character telling a story).

Music is used to punctuate the action, create effects (suspense, tension) and underline emotional moments.

Particular subgenres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable – police cars, blue lights, operating theatres and scalpels, triage/reception areas in hospitals. Icons of the genre, they symbolise the (sub)genre

Audience and institution

Role of the producer-

-Comes up with the idea of the film

-Find an appropriate script writer

-Find a project director

-Raise the money

-Making the whole film

-Taking the film to the market

-If the producer get any of these things wrong the production of the film can get seriously damaged.

Script-

-The script writer wants to inspire and tantalise the producer

-There can be from 12-15 drafts of the script before it is given to the script developer which is then made into the final draft.

The package-

-Screen play written

-Who is going to be in it

-Budget set

-Casting is critical

Script developing-

-Rearranging order

-Simplify/ cut out lines

-If the script isn’t right e.g. the team may not work well with the script

Attracting investors-

-TV companies

-Regional film fund

-Group of potential investors

Foreign investment-

-Not just in the UK, across channel

-Multi partner, the producer is in charge

Planning-

-Break the script down, do the hardest scenes first

-Casting

-How you’re going to tell the story

-Cinematographer, right hand man of the director

Budget-

-Based on investment

-Draw up a finance plan

-What, why, how can you do?

-Break down the script into sections, case, props, location ect

Above and below the line costs-

Above-

-Creative part of the film

-Producer

-Director

-Set

-Cast

-Script

Below-

-Making the film

-Pre-production

-Schedule

-Costumes

-Photographs

Audience-

-Where do they see this playing?

-Connect the idea of the film to the audience, who will want to watch it?

-Will they get the money they spent making the film and more?
if not dramatically cut the budget or don’t make the film

Marketing-

-Hidden cost

-Additional cost

-Global advertisement

-DVD, TV, paper view

-Certain time of year depends on what films are released

-Who is going to be in the film

-Genre, movie stars, famous director

-Costs more to market the film than it does to make the film

A stereotypical teenager?

We were asked to write about a character called Max Fischer in the film Rushmore which was made in 1998 and directed by Wez Anderson. What we had to focus on was to see if Max was a stereotypical teenager by analysing him from the beginning of the film. From the minute you meet Max as a character he looks different from the other students in his class. He looks different due to what he is wearing, his class mates have a shirt on, chinos and a casual pair of shoes (converse) on, but Max looks the odd one out as he has a blazer on which also has badges on ( to show authority?) a shirt with a tie on and some smart looking shoes. Just from what Max wears you can see that he takes his school very seriously as he looks very smart compared to the other students. One opinion of a stereotypical teenager is that they look scruffy but Max is dressed smart all the time in the section of the film we watched, showing that he may not be a ‘scruffy teenager’.

Further into the film you see that Max likes to get involved in a lot of the groups at his school, either being founder of some of them or being in charge of them. Before the clip of Max and all the groups you see ‘ The Yankee’ which is the school book. On the front of the book there are bees down one side of the book, I think this could represent Max as he is as the old saying goes ‘ as busy as a bee’ because he is part of all these different clubs and groups. It could also show that he may think of himself as the ‘bees knees’ because he is head of most of the clubs. The song played in the background is by a band called The Creation and the song is called ‘Making Time’, this also represents max’s like because he has to make time for all the clubs as well as school work.

The groups that max is involved in are-

The School newspaper ( The Yankee)- Publisher, leading the others. Wearing uniform.

French Club- President- wearing a beret ( French hat) and a French sash. Sat in the middle, shows leadership.

Model United Nations- sat in the middle, he is Russia (rich country) sat between Mexico and India ( poor countries). Also America and Russia hate each other so wants so cause an argument?

Stamp and Coin Club- Vice president, not a typical past time for teenagers. Only member of the club?

Debate Team- Captain, got school uniform on again other have bow tie on.

Lacrosse Team- Manager, wearing school uniform again. Does not fit in, the ‘jocks’ are have big muscles and are tall he is small and instead of paying attention to the game he is messing around with the equipment.

Calligraphy Club- President, strange club and you only see him, may be the only member.

Astronomy Society- Founder, standing away from the group, doesn’t fit in?

Fencing Team- Captain, still has his uniform on underneath fencing outfit. ‘ Rich man’s sport’ maybe cannot afford fencing clothes.

Track and Field J.V Decathlon- On his own, lonely?

Bombardment Society- Founder, shows a competitive side. Still has uniform on.

Kung Fu Club- Yellow belt, all younger members and they have more advanced belts on.

Trap and Skeet- Founder, only him and his friend who is with him a lot.

Beekeeper- President, him and his friend again, still in school uniform.

Yankee Racers- Founder, has the French beret on again. He looks like he has crashed, his cart may not be as good as the others.

Max Fischer Players- Named the group after him self, sitting in the middle.

Piper Cub Club- Club only lasted 4.5 hours, only member.

My overall view on Max is that he is a very busy student as he is part of all these different groups. The only reason I think he is part of all the groups is because he wants to be involved with all the different groups of people at his school so they all know who he is. I think that underneath Max seems like quite a lonely character. Max as a character does not seem like a stereotypical teenager because he gets involved in a lot of different and strange groups.

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey)

Lester Burnham is a character in the award winning film American Beauty, we were asked to focus on his body language, voice, and clothes. we also had to focus on the set, colours and backgrounds in the film.

At the beginning of the film Lester is talking, introducing where he lives e.c.t his voice sounds bland, it has no expression or enthusiasm to it, but yet still has a tone of confidence in it. From the start of the film you can tell that Lester is a very negative and cynical person, he seems to have a defeatist attitude towards everything like he has given up on life. He seems like he is slowly fading away without anyone noticing. I think he is like this because he has already succeeded in life, it’s like he has no ambition left in him, he has a house, wife, child, car, money, job what else could he want? Lester lives an average life, he has an average size house in a neighbourhood, he is an average looking man e.g. height and weight. He has a wife and one child (female). When his wife is introduced she seems very materialistic, for example when he mentions the non accidental matching gardening accessories, and the roses that she grows in the front garden (to show them off) they add prestige. From what you see in the first part of the film the Burnham’s seem quite well off, they have a decent car and their daughter has a computer in her room which would have been quite rare when the film was made. They also have a large shower which seems quite luxurious, you see the shower in the film when Lester is in there ‘pleasing’ himself- this is the best part of his day.

Him and his wife obviously have not got a physical relationship, he does not love his wife anymore but the feeling are mutual between them both. The way they both feel for each other is very obvious due to sarcasm and the way they speak to each other. Lester seems like a burden to his wife, like another child to look after rather than a husband. There is a scene in the film where Lester is walking towards the car and his wife is going on at him saying he is going to make her late and then he drops his brief case and all his paperwork comes out (nothing seems to go right for him) the look that his wife and daughter give him shows that they have no respect for him and he even says my daughter and wife think I am complete looser. The authority is mixed up in the family, not to be sexist but the wife seems to wear the trousers in the house, and when they are in the car the daughter is in the front and Lester is in the back I think this seems that the daughter thinks that she has more right over her father than he does. In the back of the car Lester is not making any conversation with his wife and daughter, he is going to sleep not making any effort at all.

Certain colours in the film are repeated throughout the film. Blue- this colour represents the sadness and loneliness in Lester’s life. Red- the roses are bright red, trying to brighten up their dull life? These colours are also repeated because they symbolise a traditional American family, red, white and blue the colours of the American flag. The colours of the clothes that Lester wears are very dull and boring, his work clothes typical grey suit, white shirt and brown tie. His night wear is all brown and very bland, pyjamas and slippers. Lester just dresses like a typical working man, no quirkiness or anything different about him.

 I think Lester seems trapped in this life that he is living and doesn’t know who to get out,  I think this because there are two parts of the film that represent this. The first one is when his wife is showing off her roses to the next door neighbour, Lester is just standing by the window looking outside making it look like he a trapped in the house. The second part is where Lester is at work and he is looking at a graph on the computer and you can see his face reflecting on the screen, it look like he is trapped in jail as the lines from the graph makes it look like he is stuck behind jail bars.