Theory Final Task
- 1. • 14-09-2018 • Spaced -Season 2, episode 5, “Gone”, Critical Analysis • The TV program Spaced is very distinctive in that the whole program is filmed with a single camera style and it borrows heavily from different visual styles of genre films. In this specific episode “gone” the opening borrows heavily from action movies. This is done using clever editing which in turn effects the pacing of the episode. In the opening scene Tim and Daisy are seen being chased by a group of teenage thugs which they are then caught by. After being threatened by them Tim and Daisy realise there is a way to get out the situation and that is to “let them have it” the frame then freezes on her face before the title sequence starts. After the title sequence the episode then flashes back six hours so the audience can watch the events unfold. The freeze frame however a direct reference to many 80s movies that use the freeze frame technique that are now regarded as cheesy in todays world. This however is what would make it successful and funny as it is obviously a direct parody as so many other references in this TV show are. • The reason for this is because Simon Peg the co-creator and writer of this series who was a teenager in the 80s is a self-proclaimed nerd with many of his works containing similar pop culture references to those in Spaced. This means that the series spaced is aimed at people with similar interests. This is perhaps why Spaced is described as a cult sitcom with a dedicated fanbase which is ironic as the main characters are portrayed as exactly the type of people that would be in cult followings as they would be interested in and sometimes borderline obsessive with things like video games as well as mass franchises such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc… However, this is one of the reasons why this type of comedy is so clever and successful. Many of these franchises attract mainstream audiences that whilst admittedly not understanding all the references would still be able to understand most of them if they are obvious and not obscure. • The editing style is also very important in this program as it sets the mood and tone. For example, the scene were Tim and Daisy are planning what to do on there night out daisy talks about what she wants to do and as she does these events are visualised on screen using photos flashing in and out of the screen with a sound effect. This is clever as it gives a sense of repetitiveness as if this sequence of events has happened before several times and that perhaps these photographs were taken on that similar night out. This means that Tim’s following reaction makes even more sense as after he dismisses Daisy’s idea almost as if they have done it before and then he talks about what he wants to do. This is then visualised using drawings which gives the impression that they have never done anything like that before and that Tim’s idea is the better one. Something else that gives a sense of repetitiveness is the use of repeated shots of drinks slamming down on the table when they are drinking in the bar to show the passage of time as well as to show how many they have had to drink. This drinking montage is accompanied by an upbeat song which is in my opinion the most important part as it wouldn’t work without the music as that sets the whole atmosphere of the scene. The music also serves as an important device to signify a change in tone to the viewer in this case it is used to signify a potential threat to the protagonists. This change comes in the scene were Tim is using the urinal and he meets the ringleader of the teenage thugs that will eventually attack him. There conversation starts of as casual but grows increasingly tenser as does the music as it becomes a long drawn out single note getting louder. This would alert the viewer that the episode is reaching its climax and that a sequence of events is about to take place which will take them eventually towards the scene that was foreshadowed in the opening. This is a classic but effective method of letting the audience know that the new character that has been introduced in this scene is going to cause significant problems later even though we already know that this character is the antagonist as we saw them in the opening flash-forward. A similar method is used again in the following scene were the character of Dwaine Benzie is introduced. •
- 2. In this scene Tim sees Benzie sitting at the table with Daisy laughing at something. It shows Tim’s obvious shock and rage at seeing Benzie sitting there with Daisy by slowing down the video and having a long note being played in the background that gets higher and higher as the video gets slower and slower. We also see flashbacks from Tim’s memory that show the audience that Benzie stole Tim’s girlfriend. We then immediately know that Tim and Benzie are enemies however we don’t feel like he is an actual threat to the protagonists due to the nature of which he is introduced which is him laughing in slow motion as this feels like another parody by the director. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown however there is the added fact that the character of Dwaine Benzie wasn’t seen in the opening flash forward of the episode which seems to be the main climax, so the audience isn’t likely to feel threatened by him as he isn’t the main villain. This makes him a secondary antagonist. The episode finally comes full circle when a couple of scenes later Tim and Daisy are cornered in the alleyway by the group of teenage thugs in the scene that the opening foreshadowed. The ring leader the guy that Tim met in the urinal in the bar is angry at Tim for giving them a bag of cooking herbs instead of cannabis. They then start to threaten Tim and Daisy saying they are going to beat them up. Daisy then says “let them have it” however instead of the freeze frame shot that was shown in the opening sequence she and Tim then raise their hands in the shape of guns and begin pretending firing on the thugs who play along with it and begin firing back. In this scene the program is referencing itself as in an earlier scene Tim’s friend mike was explaining how all men have this unspoken connection that when one of them do something stupid the other ones have to join in hence why the thugs are playing along with it. The tone is noticeably different in this scene to the one showed in the flash-forward at the start of the episode. The music is more upbeat and rock and roll rather than as serious as it was in the opening. This is likely to show that once the characters start to pretend to shoot at each other that they aren’t really in much danger at all. This scene quickly becomes a parody of itself however as sound effects of real warfare are overlaid onto the scene along with the music changing to a sad melody that sounds like it could be right out of a war film. This is effective as humour as to the characters they believe they are in a serious situation however to the viewer it appears to be ridiculous. From studying this episode of spaced I have observed that it uses techniques such as self-parodying, pop culture references and clever editing both audibly and visually to create comedy. I believe this works because it lets the viewer know that the program doesn’t take itself too seriously. This is re enforced throughout with the use of fantasy sequences which gives the program an almost cartoonish element.
- 8. • 29-09-2018 • Week 3 theory Task • Amy (2015 film) • After watching half of the film “Amy” which is a film about the life and death of Amy Winehouse, I have realised that a few people were to blame for her death most notably her husband Blake Fielder-Civil. Her problems with substance abuse and addiction however were believed to have started as a reaction to the death of her grandmother who was one of few stabilising influences in her life. After this it was her husband who only encouraged these habits by introducing her to crack cocaine and heroin. He confessed to this to the tabloids as well as admitting it live on The Jeremy Kyle show. • The film also talks about how other people around her such as her father didn’t believe that she needed to go to rehabilitation and that she was fine. Despite this fact she still went. The documentary also talks about how Winehouse had problems with self-harm as well as eating disorders. Winehouse’s mother was shown on the documentary to know her daughter was suffering from bulimia however what was also shown was her lack of response to this. Whilst it wasn’t explicitly stated I got the impression that her mother was in denial and as a result she chose not to help believing that it was just a phase and that it would pass. A reporter one said that “Winehouse was a victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness." It is likely that this lack of understanding from those people in her personal life such as her father contributed a great deal to her alcohol abuse and depression which in turn caused her death. • Doing some of my own research into the death of Amy Winehouse it is difficult to determine whether the documentary is a fair, honest and truthful reputation of Winehouse or not. The reason I say this is because I think the documentary initially comes across as truthful as it uses things like personal home video footage of Winehouse to allow the audience to connect with her on a personal level and see the world through her eyes as well as her own shortcomings and all the pressures and stress she had to deal with. Because of this people are likely to believe that this is an unfiltered and therefore truthful view on the life of Winehouse. Despite this however once I did some of my own background research I found that the film had been widely criticised by people such as her father Mitch Winehouse as he is quoted as believing this film to be "misleading" and "contains some basic untruths". He is also quoted as saying "The film is representing me in a not very good way. There is no balance, there's nothing about the foundation. It's portraying me and Amy in not a very good light." • My initial reaction to this quote was that it appeared selfish and that Mitch Winehouse was more bothered about his own reputation however it then occurred to me that might not be the case. I did more research and found that he had also described the film as “hurtful to the family” and “that it focused too much on her drug problem and missed out her sense of fun.” I then realised that his accusations are true as the film does portray most of Amy’s negative traits more then it portrays her good ones. For example, the film talks a lot about her heavy smoking habits, promiscuity and her battles with depression, substance abuse and eating disorder. However, the only positive traits that it really showed of her was her talent for singing. After realising this I now understand what her father means by the film skipping over her “sense of fun” and that there was likely a lot more to the person that was Amy Winehouse then what was portrayed in the film. • To conclude I believe that the film portrays the lack of support from people as being the main cause of Amy Winehouse’s death as it was there fault that her substance abuse problems got out of hand. However, I believe there is more to the story then what it portrayed in the film therefore that I believe the film Amy was a truthful, honest and fair representation of the life of Amy Winehouse.
- 9. Week 5 Theory -Reality TV editing I believe documentaries can indeed be entirely objective and that they can tell a story without being biased however whether this is the case or not often depends on the documentary subject. For example, science and nature documentary’s such as those by David Attenborough are more likely to be a better source of information rather than a Michael Moore political documentary. The reason I say this is because an Attenborough’s nature documentaries are mostly objective “fly on the wall” style and non- interfering. This is accompanied by a voice over narration to provide exposition. A voice over narration to provide exposition is common in most documentary films however with an Attenborough documentary you get the sense that what he is saying is true and that the footage that is simultaneously being shown on screen is mostly raw and unedited. The reason I say this is because in a documentary about nature there would be no reason to lie about what is happening and as a result biased opinion don’t come in to it. In my opinion biased opinions and untruthful storytelling only come into it when the subject is about a certain political, moral or social issue that the creators may be biased towards or against. Michael Moore for example is well known to be affiliated with left politics and so his documentaries are mostly subjective and reflect this by usually casting right wing politics in a bad way. A perfect example of this would be the trailer for one of his latest documentaries FAHRENHEIT 11/9 which seems like it was designed to anger right wing supporters. It does this using archival footage from things such as Trumps speeches as well as actual footage of interviews done for the documentary. It does this using franken biting certain parts of Trumps speeches to change the meaning of what he was saying usually making it seem more negative than it is. “The American dream is dead”. It also uses talking head style interview which has also likely been edited to make it seem like the person being interviewed is deliberately being aggressive towards Moore.
- 10. • This leads me to believe that we shouldn’t always accept everything that we watch or read as fact. The reason for this is because often biased content creators and news outlets will often portray things that they disagree with in a bad light even to the detriment of truthfulness. This could lead to some people making poor choices. • For example, if someone wanted to buy a product and they watched a review of that product online, but the reviewer was biased for or against the company they could portray that product in either a positive or negative light when in fact the truth could be the opposite. A perfect example of this could be technology journalism specifically the Android vs iPhone debate in which users of each platform constantly bash each other as being inferior and vice versa. This sort of biased opinion can be very unhelpful to potential consumers. • Another issue is that there are many fake news websites out there that create clickbait and scaremongering articles because they know people are stupid enough to fall for it and that due to running ads on these articles they will earn money every time someone clicks on them. This is especially common on Facebook where I have often seen articles telling me the world is going to end or that a famous actor has died when in fact they haven’t. Therefore, I believe you should try and find a reputable unbiased news source that you trust to see if this information is true or not. If you are unable to do that then you should at least read information from both biased sides, so you can make a more informed decision. • I believe that this is also a good idea when someone wants to make sure that what a documentary presents as fact, is true. Do research, look at the archival footage in the documentary and how it has been edited then try and see if you can find the original footage online. You may find that the footage has been edited to be completely misleading to cause controversy and upset those that disagree with the film makers opinions and to please those that do agree with them.
- 11. Representations of people in ‘The Mighty Redcar’, ‘Benefits Street’ and ‘Skint’ The Mighty Redcar, Benefits Street and Skint are classed as poverty porn tv shows as they exploit the conditions of people shown on the program to generate sympathy as well as to objectify them to a more privileged audience. However, each program represents these people in slightly different ways. The mighty Redcar is in my opinion the most favourable portrayal as it shows the poor people in a positive light showing them to be victims of poverty rather than perpetrators. It also showed them to be tough and strong people that will tackle any issues that come their way. The documentary was praised for this as it avoided any “poverty porn” stereotypes such as portraying the residence as being crime committing drug addicts which is exactly what the documentary Benefits Street did. Some have called The Mighty Redcar “antidote to Benefits street” Benefits street has received much controversy as it shows the residents of James Turner Street doing things such as shoplifting, taking drugs, bad parenting as well as people having a general lack of motivation to become employed. The TV show skint has also been criticised for a relatively negative portrayal of those living in poverty however it also in some ways portrays some people similarly to the Mighty Redcar as it did put emphasis on those trying to improve their lives wherever they could as well as making the best out of what they had. In my opinion the aim of these programs is likely intended to inflate the egos of the more privileged so that they can more than likely laugh in a snobbish way at those that are living in. Some viewers even took to Twitter to send death threats to the residents of James Turner Street after Benefits Street aired saying things like "I want to walk down #Benefits Street with a baseball bat and brain a few of these scumbags," as well as "Set fire to #Benefits Street”. The reason for this is likely to be that these comments were made by shallow people that want to feel better about themselves by laughing at others because they can’t deal with their own problems. This leads me to believe that Skint and Benefits Street were made by exactly these types of people and that these documentaries are certainly biased as they likely reflect the opinions of there creators in that they want to feel better about themselves and perhaps make a little money so they go out and make a documentary about the poor by saying they will be portrayed in a positive light when in fact they are just there to exploit, degrade and humiliate them for their own personal gain. The mighty Redcar contrasts to this however as it portrays the poor and benefit claimants in a positive and hopeful way that would create genuine sympathy and interest in these people rather trying to create the image that everyone living in poverty are “scum of the earth criminals”. I myself have developed an interest in the music of Dylan Cartlidge an aspiring rapper who was featured on an episode of The Mighty Redcar. This portrayal of the people in The Mighty Redcar makes me thing that the film makers of this program actually care about these people and that they want to make a difference in the world having perhaps come from similar backgrounds themselves.
- 12. Final Task • Discuss the topics covered in today’s lecture in reference to your own work (Fanzine/Factual) 1. Explain how you have worked to the expectations and conventions of the medium of factual production/fanzine with specific reference to; • The content of today’s lecture • Factual theory and conventions discussed in previous week’s lectures • Existing products exploring the same/similar topics • How have you explored context (the background of your topic, who made it, when it was made etc.) • How have you explored style (everything that is written/said) • Do not reference your/existing product visuals in this section 2. Compare and contrast your work to one or more professional productions • Discuss visuals – consider stylistic decisions, technical processes, use of information, etc.
- 13. • In terms of my own factual production I find that I have worked to some of the expectations and conventions of factual productions. For example the representations lecture talks about how some things in the Media are constructed and that not everything is 100% truthful and accurate. Even though I wanted my video to be as accurate as possible as its main purpose was to inform I found myself constructing certain elements of it in order to create drama. This was during the opening sequence of my film which I wanted to show Apollo 11 on the launch pad counting down to lift off. However the archival footage of the lift off was actually of Apollo 8 that I had muted and added the Apollo 11 launch commentary on. My reason for doing this was primarily due to the fact that the footage of Apollo 8 was better in my opinion than footage I could find of Apollo 11. Also it was very unlikely that anyone would be able to tell the difference. I also added stock sound effects of a rocket blasting off in order to increase the atmosphere of the video. I then also managed to create false drama by adding in stock footage of NASA mission controllers working at there desks which due to the way it was cut in with the music made it seem like they were working the launch when in fact they were not and the footage was taken out of context. This could be considered taking “Creative Liberties”. • I have also used other conventions such as the use of graphics and captions to show statistics and information throughout my video. I used it specifically when I said important names for certain objects in my video as having what I was saying appearing in text beside me was a good way of emphasising its importance. I also heavily relied on infographics and animation in what I would consider the middle segment of my video when I was showing statistics about NASA. The reason I did this is because some people tend to process numerical information slower then they do textual information. Therefore since I was showing numerical statistics having the numbers appear on screen appear at the same time as me reading them out seamed like a good idea as it not only emphasised what I am talking about but makes it clearer to understand. • I believed I have explored the relevant background context of my topic. I was aware before I started that this would be an important thing for me to do as without providing exposition to the viewer they might not understand what I am talking about and why. I started by telling the viewer how long it has been since humans set foot on the moon then a explained what NASA has been doing since then (space shuttle) as well as the problems they face. Doing this then gave me a good opener to introduce and talk about NASA’s future plans for space travel which is the main topic of my video. Providing the viewer with this background information allowed me to further explain and justify why NASA has these plans. I also believe that providing context is important for the expository style of documentary that I have chosen to go with as that style relies on conventions like illustrative visuals, graphics and “voice of god” narration soundtrack which was partly done in my production. Without context these elements would not make sense to the viewer as they would have no idea why they were being told this information as it would just appear to be useless facts.
- 14. My Production: The future of Human Spaceflight –Josh Eastham Professional Production: The future of Space Travel –Real Space Compared to: Right from the start I can see that both my documentary and this professional one have used very similar stylistic decisions. In fact both my documentary and the professional one have used the same public domain footage from NASA of the Orion spacecraft. Other similar decisions are the use of archival footage of the Saturn V rocket followed by the Space Shuttle then the Russian Soyuz. This is interesting as it appears both myself and the producers of this professional piece wanted to provide a brief visual history of space travel. The difference is I am talking about the footage in that context whereas the professional documentary is talking about the thrust and energy each of those rockets produce. Despite this is still works to provide that contextual history as they are showing these rockets in order from oldest to newest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPLuK-N4aQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srNOU7VcKD8 Another similar but different stylistic as well as technical decision is the use of a narration soundtrack. In my production I appear to be presenting on screen which also doubles as a voice over track once footage appears above me to illustrate my points. I didn’t intend to originally do this however I deemed it necessary as I found that some footage ended up obstructed by my body if it was being displayed on the green screen behind me. On the professional production the presenting method is not used at all and the narration is just a voice over. I think looking back I would also have gone down this route as overlaying footage makes the whole idea of using a green screen redundant in the first place. One thing that is different entirely is the specific topic of the documentary and the type of information. Whilst they are both about the future of spaceflight. The professional one talks more about a specific type of engineering that is crucial to the future of space travel. Specifically how we will use plasma energy as a form of propulsion for spacecraft. This contrast to mine which focuses on the future of human space travel as well as NASA’s goals following the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. I then go onto talk about the issues and problems that are facing NASA and what they are trying to do to overcome these things. Because of the way these topics are presented my video could purely be considered an expository documentary compared to the professional one which could be considered expository with elements of other styles such as participatory.