What Happens in Quadrophenia?
Quadropenia follows the life of character Jimmy set in 1960s London. Jimmy hates his job in a company's mailing division and hates his parents, and only feels free and accepted when he's out with his friends on his scooter as part of a drug-induced Mod clique that lives for the night. On August Bank Holiday, the group of Mods head down to Brighton, where both Mods and Rockers converge, resulting in a large brawl as a result of the rivalry between the groups, and Jimmy hopes to make it with crush Steph. However, after he is hauled off by the police during the brawl and the weekend passes, reality sets in and Jimmy descends into a downward spiral of paranoia, isolation and disappointment. Steph is no longer interested in him, so he ditches the Mods, and when he returns to Brighton he finds out his idol Ace isn't what he thought he was, so he steals his scooter and launches it off of the cliffs.
What is a Moral Panic?
Simply, a Moral Panic is an intense feeling, emotion or notion expressed in a population about an issue that threatens social order. They often involve social tension and arguments and disagreement as often the crux of the argument is a taboo subject. The media often instigate a moral panic by reporting facts that generate concern, anxiety, or panic itself. Major moral panics of recent times include AIDS, drugs, knife and gun crime, paedophilia and Satanism.
The government sometimes intervenes to prevent moral panics through censorships- during the World Wars, letters were censored to prevent harsh realities of war from reaching the people, and nowadays in China many websites are blocked and things regulated to prevent the people from seeing things that are anti-governmental, for instance "Tienanmen Square" is strictly policed. Famously in the 1950s, Elvis Presley's live performances were censored from the waist down. But censorship itself creates the moral panic of freedom of speech, creating further debate,
How can the theory of Moral Panic be applied to Quadrophenia?
A study by Stan Cohen looked at moral panics related to the two youth subcultures in the 1960's, the Mods and Rockers, which is what the film is based around. In a moral panic, Cohen states that "a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests; it's nature is presented in a stylised and stereotypical fashion by the mass media" - essentially, the media report on the problem (The conflict, i.e. the Beach brawl at Brighton) making use of stereotypes, partiuclary those geared towards youths, creating a social reaction (negative opinions, i.e. Jimmy's parents attitudes towards the Mods are very negative) which creates new laws, tougher policing and so on. The media hyped up the situation by not reporting on the incident but construct a social reaction of deviance by exaggerating the level of violence and disruption, with dramatic headlines, and they also exaggerated the difference between the two groups which indirecult stirred up more conflict.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Monday, 1 December 2014
Production Update (1.12.14)
With the Christmas break approaching I have a few weeks to produce a rough cut of my video to "Real Talk". As a result from the last update, the storyboards have been changed in that the character that would represent the artist is now not going to appear and the video will focus on the narrative aspect of the two characters.
Character 1 is played by Elliott Doyle. Most of his sections are now filmed, all that is left is the Church sequence where I need to film Elliott on his own in Taverham Church as this is the local church, and film some shots of him to portray how he is questioning his faith, pertinent to the lyrics of hope and believing in the song. I also need to film him with the female who will be his partner in the video, and I know who can play this role. On the same shoot I will get some shots of them to integrate alongside the shots of Elliott looking distressed.
Character 2 is played by Tom Seago and again the majority of the shots I need for his section have been shot, uploaded and edited, which include the forest and beach sections. All that is left now is for him to be re-united with his friends and to be shown having a good time with them. I should be able to film parts of this whenever throughout the next couple of weeks before the break, notably this coming Sunday and the next few Sundays as well as at a few other times.
Once these sections are filmed, I should be able to just put these straight into Final Cut, as whilst I'm filming sections I am simultaneously editing my video. I have completed about 1/2 of the video with a few things to put in here and there to make it more coherent. I've done the intro and first verse, end of the second verse, and then the instrumental to the last chorus. I am happy with the current progress I am making and how it is coming towards the finished rough cut.
Thursday, 13 November 2014
Filming Update
Regarding production thus far, I have successfully filmed about 2/3 of the shots I require and transferred them onto the Macs where they have been sorted and assembled in Final Cut to begin editing.
However, I have encountered some issues. As I work weekends, filming shots is now difficult. I have decided to scrap the original concept of having one character on the cliff as I felt that it portrayed an actor as the artist, which I did not think would work, and also because logistically, it was difficult to achieve. Instead, I'm going to focus more on the narrative aspect of the lives of the two characters. I hope to film a few more sections with each actor and their respective groups soon, whilst editing the existing clips at the same time.
I've settled on the ending for the Character who felt uncomfortable around his friends, in that he will leave the beach and his friends will be waiting for him, and they will then be shown to be having a good time. I'm not certain how the story for the Character in the relationship will end at the moment, bar the fact that the issues will be resolved. I hope that the more I film the more this will become apparent.
Monday, 3 November 2014
How are youth represented in British Cinema?
How is Spaced (1999) different to Human Traffic? How are Youth represented?
Spaced is contemporary to Human Traffic, and bares both similarities and differences to Human Traffic. Firstly, it is similar in the fact that the characters in both films have a low work ethic - both characters in Spaced are unemployed, like Moff, and use obscene language (Daisy in the bar) in public to convey what they are feeling. They are both very easy going characters like the group in Human Traffic also. However, it is different to Human Traffic as the woman, Daisy, is looking for a job, whereas Moff refuses to get a job in Human Traffic, and the characters discuss getting the most out of what they do in their job, referencing their friend Mike who is an enthusiastic "lollypop man". The characters in Human Traffic hate work and cannot wait to get out of it.
The youth are represented in a slightly different light. Both are shown as easy going, who don't really care for what they're doing - a close up of Daisy slouched on the chair in the flat highlights this. However. in Spaced they are shown as proactive and willing to get a job, and can enjoy the aspects of working life, whereas in Human Traffic youth are shown as reckless and lazy, only wanting to go out at the weekend. Although Spaced may go on to highlight some issues of drug usage, youth are shown more positively in the extract.
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and If are Social Realist films. How are the youth and the Authority figures represented?
In "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" (1962), there is a clear hierarchy of Authority. The Authority figures are shown to be commanding, through use of diegetic sound in speech ("Much higher than that Smith"), and the youth are following the orders of the one, older man. Close ups of Smith's face show that he is struggling to keep up with the orders of the trainer, showing the physical dominance of the instructor too, and the class all stop when he says to, showing respect. This is perhaps typical of the time, where youth have lots of respect for their elders and know that they will be punished if they step out of line, contrasting to Human Traffic. When Smith is addressed by his superior he responds with "Sir?" again showing respect. He is shown through a slight high angle shot here to show how he is below the superiors in the hierarchy. However, the Authority figures treat the youth with respect also, unlike in Human Traffic (Moff's Dad), saying that "If you play ball with us, we will play ball with you." Smith is shown to be humbled after the superior says he can do the usual run alone, and here the Social Realism can be taken into account- inside the gates, Smith follows orders, but when he is outside, he is free, and is shown to run around looking around him taking in his surroundings, accompanied with upbeat, non-digietic sounds in the form of the jazz soundtrack to connote his happiness and freedom.
Similarly, in "If", the youth follow the orders of the instructor, notably when Jute doesn't go for the jump straight away and has to be encouraged forcibly by the instructor. However, when the other adult is doing gymnastics, the low angle shot of Jute shows admiration for the gymnast, and that the children look up to the adults.
Spaced is contemporary to Human Traffic, and bares both similarities and differences to Human Traffic. Firstly, it is similar in the fact that the characters in both films have a low work ethic - both characters in Spaced are unemployed, like Moff, and use obscene language (Daisy in the bar) in public to convey what they are feeling. They are both very easy going characters like the group in Human Traffic also. However, it is different to Human Traffic as the woman, Daisy, is looking for a job, whereas Moff refuses to get a job in Human Traffic, and the characters discuss getting the most out of what they do in their job, referencing their friend Mike who is an enthusiastic "lollypop man". The characters in Human Traffic hate work and cannot wait to get out of it.
The youth are represented in a slightly different light. Both are shown as easy going, who don't really care for what they're doing - a close up of Daisy slouched on the chair in the flat highlights this. However. in Spaced they are shown as proactive and willing to get a job, and can enjoy the aspects of working life, whereas in Human Traffic youth are shown as reckless and lazy, only wanting to go out at the weekend. Although Spaced may go on to highlight some issues of drug usage, youth are shown more positively in the extract.
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and If are Social Realist films. How are the youth and the Authority figures represented?
In "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" (1962), there is a clear hierarchy of Authority. The Authority figures are shown to be commanding, through use of diegetic sound in speech ("Much higher than that Smith"), and the youth are following the orders of the one, older man. Close ups of Smith's face show that he is struggling to keep up with the orders of the trainer, showing the physical dominance of the instructor too, and the class all stop when he says to, showing respect. This is perhaps typical of the time, where youth have lots of respect for their elders and know that they will be punished if they step out of line, contrasting to Human Traffic. When Smith is addressed by his superior he responds with "Sir?" again showing respect. He is shown through a slight high angle shot here to show how he is below the superiors in the hierarchy. However, the Authority figures treat the youth with respect also, unlike in Human Traffic (Moff's Dad), saying that "If you play ball with us, we will play ball with you." Smith is shown to be humbled after the superior says he can do the usual run alone, and here the Social Realism can be taken into account- inside the gates, Smith follows orders, but when he is outside, he is free, and is shown to run around looking around him taking in his surroundings, accompanied with upbeat, non-digietic sounds in the form of the jazz soundtrack to connote his happiness and freedom.
Similarly, in "If", the youth follow the orders of the instructor, notably when Jute doesn't go for the jump straight away and has to be encouraged forcibly by the instructor. However, when the other adult is doing gymnastics, the low angle shot of Jute shows admiration for the gymnast, and that the children look up to the adults.
Authority Figures in Human Traffic
In Human Traffic, Authority figures, the characters parents, are portrayed through how they are viewed by their children- in this instance, Jip and Moff's Mum and Dad respectively.
Firstly, Jip's Mum is portrayed to have two sides. On the first part, she is stereotyped by gender and her role as a parent, she is shown to be loving and caring upon seeing Jip come home, and offers for him to stay for dinner. The audience reaction to this is that she fulfills a typical motherly role and hence are almost shocked when it is revealed her job is a prostitute. This contrasts the typical Mother role and says that the two characters have a strange relationship, that Jip hates the fact a "punter" could be home when he visits. In the shots, she is positioned at the same level as Jip, suggesting that there is no hierarchy there and perhaps that both characters are looking out for each other, Jip looking out for his Mum and his Mum fulfilling her role to Jip.
By contrast, Moff's Dad is perceived very negatively. He is shown to be assertive and a pest to Moff, yelling at him to get a job, quite a stereotypical dominant Father role that isn't as visibly caring as Jip's Mum. Moff argues back at him and swears at him, showing that their relationship is quite turbulent. As an Authoritative figure in the film, Moff's Dad tries to discipline his quite rebellious son, but Moff doesn't comply, quite representative of more modern youth, as the film illustrates throughout. Moff's Dad is stereotyped through his gender as Language Study says that Men use more assertive language and typically assume a dominant role. The audience reacts to this in a way that acknowledges how Moff's Dad is matching his stereotypical role as Father and that Moff is a young adult that wants to do what he wants and not live a monotonous life in job he does not enjoy like the rest of his friends.
Firstly, Jip's Mum is portrayed to have two sides. On the first part, she is stereotyped by gender and her role as a parent, she is shown to be loving and caring upon seeing Jip come home, and offers for him to stay for dinner. The audience reaction to this is that she fulfills a typical motherly role and hence are almost shocked when it is revealed her job is a prostitute. This contrasts the typical Mother role and says that the two characters have a strange relationship, that Jip hates the fact a "punter" could be home when he visits. In the shots, she is positioned at the same level as Jip, suggesting that there is no hierarchy there and perhaps that both characters are looking out for each other, Jip looking out for his Mum and his Mum fulfilling her role to Jip.
By contrast, Moff's Dad is perceived very negatively. He is shown to be assertive and a pest to Moff, yelling at him to get a job, quite a stereotypical dominant Father role that isn't as visibly caring as Jip's Mum. Moff argues back at him and swears at him, showing that their relationship is quite turbulent. As an Authoritative figure in the film, Moff's Dad tries to discipline his quite rebellious son, but Moff doesn't comply, quite representative of more modern youth, as the film illustrates throughout. Moff's Dad is stereotyped through his gender as Language Study says that Men use more assertive language and typically assume a dominant role. The audience reacts to this in a way that acknowledges how Moff's Dad is matching his stereotypical role as Father and that Moff is a young adult that wants to do what he wants and not live a monotonous life in job he does not enjoy like the rest of his friends.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Audience Research - Online Survey Analysis
Online Survey Analysis
For my Audience Research, I produced an online survey using the website "SurveyMonkey", with 9 questions that would help me get a better idea of what my audience expects from a music video and hence what they would want to see in my video.
My audience profile informed me as to how to go about my audience research. I found that my artist appealed to both younger generations and adults, but more so younger, teenage audiences. Knowing that I would be doing an online survey and a physical questionnaire, I sent out the link to the survey on my Personal Twitter and Facebook pages several times, where it would reach an audience roughly the same age as me, and hence fitting my audience profile. To account for the older audiences, my Dad's business "Wet Dog", a clothes shop in the coastal town of Cromer, also tweeted out the link to the survey. The business account has more followers and a greater reach than my account and helped to get more people to see the survey. The survey itself focuses on peoples music habits, what they listen to, how they listen to it, etc. and then moves on to expectations of a video and expectations of the Artist.
Question 1 and 2
Question 3
For the third question, I asked what my audiences favorite genres were. I included a wide range of genres, but was also careful to not include so many genres, or specific genres that were not relevant to my artist/audience profile. From my profile, I established Rock, Acoustic, Pop Punk and Post-Hardcore as the four genres that my audience were most engaged with, from their Twitter pages and bios. 3 genres tied as the most favoured, on 58%- Indie, Rock and Acoustic, closely followed by Singer/Songwriter. My artist, Abandoning Sunday, fits three of these four genres, showing the link between the demographics of the audience and their musical tastes, i.e. what the more favored genres are of today. For example, "Pop" ranks quite low, with about 25% saying they listen to modern pop music- what is more popular are sub-genres such as Pop Punk, which has recently regained popularity, and is one the other genres that my audience profile includes. Metal and Post Hardcore, arguably more niche genres, proved least popular, although I know from my audience profile that some people who listen to my artist do like this genre. However my audience is far from a metal act and this graph shows that the new album, which features more rock and acoustic based tracks, will appeal to my audience, as will the track I have been assigned for my music video.
Question 4
Next I asked how my audience consumed music. A sign of the times of the music industry at present is that Digital Downloads are most popular. This is actually quite interesting as all of my artists EPs and Albums have been exclusively digital downloads, and downloads are exceeding CD sales. Next is YouTube, where 68% of those surveyed say they use YouTube for music- this is where my video will be released, and Music Channels only achieved 32%, showing that my audience are used to viewing music videos on YouTube and that this is the more common platform, as everyone can access it or post things to it.
Question 5
This question was aimed to split my audience. Those who attended lots of live concerts could possibly be better for a focus group as they will probably be more passionate about music, whereas those who don't attend many account for the other side of this argument and what those who don't go to concerts think, and their interests. I found from my audience profile that my audience lead a variety of lifestyles and this question helps to account for this.
Question 6
For this question I inserted an image of my artist, Abandoning Sunday, and asked the respondents what they would expect this artist to be like, style-wise, and the impression they get of the artist.
Although this question did have some slightly jokey answers (see top and bottom answer above), but on the whole the respondents did acknowledge that this artist fit into the genre of rock, singer songwriter and acoustic, from his appearance in the image. Hence, I would use similar costumes and locations to convey the same things the respondents picked out, such as the "deep lyrics" and stylish clothing. Below is another selection of answers, all of whom said that they expected the artist to be acoustic or singer/songwriter, one drawing singer/songwriter Ben Howard as a likeness.
Question 7
For the next question I wanted my audience to actually listen to Abandoning Sunday, so I linked his newest single, "In Your Dreams". Falling under rock, the track is a guitar driven love song and has a homemade music video of Michael and the band playing. Including this question makes use of the fact that on my online survey the respondents are using the internet and can easily access YouTube, whereas the likelihood of me playing a song to people in public is very unlikely.
From the question I found another split - 2 respondents straight up said they didn't like the track! The more popular answer was "Okay" (26%), although I must consider the fact that some respondents may have been too lazy to actually go and watch the video and click this answer as default. However 53% of respondents said they either liked it, really liked it or loved it, meaning that my audience profile matches up with the people that I have targeted through distributing my survey.
Question 8
For the penultimate question I asked which type of video my audience preferred, and hoped that by this stage the previous questions would've helped to establish this as a concrete answer I can develop my video from. However, I was hoping that performance wouldn't be the most popular, as the logistics of getting my artist in the video would be impossible, and upon hearing the song I would be using, titled "Real Talk", I was glad that Narrative came out as the top response, at 47%, shortly followed by a concept. Hence, I will make my video a narrative, and could perhaps include some conceptual motif, such as the effect that music has on people.
Question 9
For the last question I wanted the respondents to help give me an insight into what I should include in my video, so I asked what people's favourite music video was and why, and what makes a good video. On the whole I received good feed back from this question.
Although it's more than likely the person saying their favorite video is to Basshunter is joking, the other responses here are still good. I know the video to Mallory Knox "Beggars" and the intertextual reference to Clockwork Orange and this is something this respondent highlighted so intertextual references, when they work well, are wanted. Ultimately it was said that the video should capture the mood of the song, both above for Dan Croll "Home" and below for Madness "House of Fun" (the demographic difference showing there), or a video that tells a story behind the lyrics that is perhaps not as prominent from just listening to the song - something I can incorporate in my video.
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