Representation of Homosexuality in the Media

In order to be able to successfully represent homosexuality in our opening scene/film, we researched into how the topic is typically represented in different media texts and already existing LGBT characters.

I looked into homosexuality in media texts rather than just in TV drama in order to see how individuals represented themselves in the public eye and looked at Ellen DeGeneres in particular to see how she represented her homosexuality being an influential figure.

Ellen DeGeneres is a US TV host and has hosted the popular talk show The Ellen DeGeneres show since 2003. However, she has been in the public eye since the 1980s where she began her career in stand-up comedy and then starred in sit-com Ellen from 1994-1998. In this sit-com she played the character Ellen Morgan. During the fourth season of the show in 1997 Ellen Degeneres came out as Lesbian in a public appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show and soon after her character Ellen Morgan faced the coming out process in the show. This made Ellen the first openly Lesbian actress to play a Lesbian character.
Homosexuality at the time was much more of a taboo subject than what it is now and Ellen fore-fronted the individualistic movement in media, encouraging more LGBT public-personalities to become openly-gay. Although now Ellen is seen as a lively character and comfortable in her own skin, the support towards her sexuality hasn't always been present and in 1997 and after her announcement of being Lesbian, fast-food chain Wendy's pulled out as sponsor of the sitcom. Since this, there is much more acceptance towards homosexuality especially within media however some public-personalities still feel the need to hide their sexuality for fear of judgement.

When creating our opening scene we had in mind the questions and feelings that might be faced by our character Matt and tried to portray his nervousness and fear of judgement from his peers, without wanting to undermine him as a person. In media more recently there has been criticism that although more homosexual characters are being introduced into storylines, they are often being undermined and given insignificant roles or even in dramas such as soaps, being removed from the story.

There is however now since Ellen, alot more successful TV shows and films focusing solely on homosexuality and different issues that could potentially be faced. One of which, is the film Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks which documents the story of a Gay AIDS victim who is sueing his employer for wrongful termination of employment after his diagnosis. This was one of the first mainstream movies to tackle such issue and became a very successful movie with Tom Hanks receiving an Academy Award for his role.

From researching into this movie we began to discover the discrimination that people may face simply because of their sexual orientation and although our particular film doesn't feature any discrimination it was good to have in mind when sculpting the characters personalities. We wanted to make sure that because our protagonist Matt was quite nervous to 'come out' there was depth as to why and decided the fear of discrimination and judgement from his peers could be the basis.

More recently, the acceptance of homosexuality and the normality of it is being presented more and more in mainstream TV drama. Popular examples include Modern Family where the two protagonists Cam and Mitch are in a homosexual relationship and the show follows their journey of adoption and raising their daughter. And Pretty Little Liars, which similar to our film is targeted at teens and in the early seasons follows protagonist Emily who is Lesbian and shows her coming-out journey and the acceptance she receives.

The representation of homosexuality in mainstream media is having a major influence on modern society and is helping to shape the views of the various audiences. A growing awareness to homosexuality in adult dramas is contributing to moulding how previously hostile individuals now view homosexuality and the realisation that sexuality doesn't change or define a person Tor younger audiences the increase in homosexual characters in  both TV and Film is presenting the normality and helping society modernise and accept all people regardless of sexuality. The positivity of homosexuality in media reflects on society and both encourages those who face the same issues to be open and accept themselves and other people to accept them. We hope that our film is able to have the same sort of positive influence.

Reseach into Existing Products 2.1 - Conventions of an Opening Sequence Mindmap

Conventions of an Opening Sequence Mindmap

Reseach Into Existing Products 2.1 - Genre

Where did genres come from?

In the 1920’s there were 5 major Hollywood film studios; 20^th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount pictures, RKO Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At the very beginning of the film industry directors and these film studios experimented film until they established the types of film popular with audiences. They then reproduced these same types of films over and over giving the audience what they wanted. For example, Film-Noir and Romance were two popular types of films and as they were produced over and over it genres were formed.

How did the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' re-inforce genre?

Once popular genres were established, the film studios knew they were guaranteed to generate money from the films they produced, therefore during the ‘golden age of Hollywood’ film studios began to invest more and more money into producing these popular films because they knew they were guaranteed to make a profit. This reinforced genre as the film studios rarely ventured far away from the traditional popular narratives and so the films produced remained within the genres.

Which genres became popular in Hollywood?

Naturally the most popular genres in Hollywood were the ones that returned the most money. Westerns were always very popular films at the beginning of Hollywood for example Vera Cruz starring Gary Cooper. The horror-thriller genre has also always been popular and the majority of the films produced as part of this genre have followed the same conventions and narrative. Romance and film-noir are also popular genres however these genres have evolved with Hollywood with many of the films produced breaking away from the traditional narratives.

Why do audience like genre films?

Audiences like genre films for the familiarity, most people have their favourite films and their least favourite films and so by having genres they can identify the likely narrative of a film and identify if they are going to enjoy it or not. If the audience does not know what the film is going to be about they are less likely to watch it. Films such as James Bond have continued on for now over 30 installments because audiences have always enjoyed them and so continue to watch the next one and the next one and the next one. 

Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Film Noir Analysis: The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is film-noir classic released in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart as Detective Sam Spade and Mary Astor as Miss Wonderly. As many films in the film noir genre, the film is based on the book The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett released in 1929; 12 years prior to the film release.

Unlike most films from other genres, the audience are able to learn the narratives concept just from the opening scene. The film begins with the basic narrative of Miss Wonderly going to ‘Spade & Archer’ to ask them for help on locating her missing sister and getting her away from Floyd Thursby (described by Miss Wonderly as a violent character). Archer then takes it upon himself to shadow Thursby where he is shot and soon after Thursby too is murdered, Spades lack of care towards his partners murder then causes him to be interrogated as a suspect. This forms the enigma of the film, who killed Archer and Thursby?

They open the film with several establishing shots of San Francisco smoothly edited together (continuity editing) directly presenting the key location of the film to the audience. The first shot of the sequence is shown to the right. Following this, the shots delve straight into the narrative where we initially meet protagonist, Detective Sam Spade. Straight away he is presented as a stereo-typical detective for the time with a cigarette in his mouth, slicked back hair, and wearing a formal suit (shown below). The detective

stereo-type was formed back in the late 1800’s with the creation of the character Sherlock Holmes penned by author Arthur Conan-Doyle, a super intelligent character who wore tweed and was very much sophisticated but mysterious. However, as the detective stereotype travelled to America it evolved into a street-smart style detective, paged by the character Phillip Marlow. Spades stereotype was loosely based on Phillip Marlow and he is instantly set out to be a crucial character throughout the narrative, especially as the film uses restricted narration with the audience following Spades’ character and so only know as much as him

Next we meet the only two female characters of the scene. Firstly, Spades’ secretary and then Miss Wonderly both presented as opposites and each taking the role of one of two stereotypical film-noir females. In film-noir the female characters are only usually on the side-lines of the protagonists and are only portrayed as one of two characters; the honest, trusting but naive figure, or the manipulative femme fatale. In this example, Spades’ secretary is the honest trusting figure, and Miss Wonderly is the femme fatale.

The 'spider and the fly' connotation has often been used to outline the role of the femme fatale in film-noir and the tale in which she features. This film very much follows the femme fatale concept where the protagonist (in our case Detective Spade) finds the love and mysteriousness of the femme fatale (Miss Wonderly) irresistible and gets trapped in her increasingly-complex web which inevitably leads to both of their downfalls.

During the scene of Miss Wonderly speaking to the Detective, they use medium close ups regularly focusing on her face where its noticeable that she is avoiding eye contact with the detective and her gaze is always wondering. However, when the camera pulls out to a long shot it is clear the detective is leaning forward and looking straight toward her. This has two connotations, firstly the power play between the two of them with Spade being the dominant character in his body language and Miss Wonderly acting quite passive toward him. But also secondly, it could denote that she is either lieing so her words are not true or she is hiding something from the detective. This gives the impression she is not a straightforward character, and has many layers. Here she is trying to seem sweet, passive and vulnerable however she may not be as innocent as first seemed.

This powerplay is also demonstrated with a low camera angle behind Miss Wonderly consecutively followed by a medium close up of her face. This makes it seem Miss Wonderly is looking up at Spade and Archer (shown to the right) and this idea of her looking up to the two detectives shows her inferiority to them and emphasises the vulnerability she is attempting to display in the scene; it’s almost like when someone is begging or pleaing for something on their knees and they’re looking up at the superior figure.

Throughout the entirety of the film’s opening, low light and key spotlights (known as the term chiaroscuro) are used to create shadows and contrast, particularly when Spade goes back to his apartment and turns on a spotlight beside him. Shadows are also created through the characters costumes, with Detective Spade sporting a stereo-typical trilby hat and Miss Wonderly wearing a sort of fascinator. In film-noir they use harsh lighting and objects to create a sense of depth and overcome the bland black and white. They do so by using a key light, which is the most dominant light, creating contrast on wherever the light is focused and the background. Lighting is important in particular in film-noir as it sets the mood of the seen, the more light-hearted scenes such as the opening in Spade’s office is quite well lit and the shadows created such as the company logo on the wall aren’t ‘menacing’ as such. However in the later scene when he is being interrogated which is much more serious, the lighting becomes a lot more dim and harsh and the shadows are large and defined.

To match the visuals on screen, a soundtrack is also used alongside to build the mood and give the audience more of an insight into the tone of the scene. An example is when Archer is shot and the body is found, very sharp, staccato sounds are heard making the whole scene quite tense and the use of loud brass instruments makes you almost uncomfortable. Whereas at the beginning of the opening during the credits, the music is much more winding and begins to slowly build as we hear strings along with woodwind instruments such as a bassoon which put the audience at ease but also builds excitement for the movie to begin.

Overall, this early example of film noir strictly follows the stereo-typical conventions of the genre such as low-key lighting, characters and narrative while also pathing a way for future productions to follow. It’s a great example of a stereo-typical film-noir while also being entertaining and therefore earns its status as a film-noir classic.

Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Blue Velvet Opening Scene Analysis

Blue Velvet Opening Scene

Blue Velvet is a 1986 American style Mystery directed by David Lynch about a young man who takes on an investigation after finding a severed ear in a field, which leads him to a mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals. Lynch forms a concept that the whole film is a metaphor by presenting the horrors of the film within an idealistic American neighbourhood; everything is portrayed as perfect but as you dig deeper you find the darker side of America, just as the protagonist finds out as he investigates further.

Much of this idea is formed through the mise-en-scene which is the basis of any film and arguably the most important aspect as it is visually displays the purpose and intent of the film for the audience. Without the use of mise-en-scene other aspects ie. the camera shots, sound, and editing used would have no purpose as the audience would not have any understanding of what is happening in the narrative or who the narrative features. 

At the end of the opening sequence, Lynch uses a motif with the shot heavily zoomed in on what appears to be a garden lawn and the camera travels through the blades of grass. However at the end of this motif a swarming nest of insects is revealed to the audience and this is Lynch's way of presenting the extended metaphor mentioned, as the previous shots displayed a relatively traditional suburban neighbourhood but as the camera (or so audience) delves deeper they discover the not so pleasant underworld. Just as the rest of the film will display with the soon to be featured protagonist.

Lynch effectively presented the film as twisted and mysterious with each shot throughout the opening sequence purposefully shot and chosen to build the mystery of the plot. He opens with a shot of red rose’s in-front of a white picket fence with the top of the shot lined with a blue sky (shown in the screenshot below.) However there are two connotations to this shot, the first being the most obvious which is the use of roses at the foreground of the shot as roses typically symbolise love, devotion, and passion; love in particular relevant to a friendly neighbourhood most likely filled with families. However the roses are also red, which is strongly associated with blood, danger and power as it is an intense colour and links with the shots displayed just minutes later of the death of the protagonist at the time. So, the flower alone could mean different things for different audiences, love or death. The second connotation of the scene is also relating to colour or in fact three colours; red, white and blue which are typically associated with the USA flag, confirming the location of the film to the audience. This also relates to the following shot and the so-called idyllic American neighbourhood portrayed throughout the extract as well as film. The whole concept of using the image of these roses is symbolism which features heavily throughout the film.

Following on from the connotations previously mentioned about the colour red, Lynch made the colour prominent throughout the opening scene, with it featuring distinctly in the majority of the shots up until the fateful moment when the man collapses. Lynch uses a large red fire engine in the foreground of a shot, then in the following shot of the children crossing the road he uses the red stop sign as the focus point and the first child crossing was wearing predominantly red along with a number of the following children. Lynch also decorated the background of the shot featuring the woman watching TV with a red lamp and a red toy beside it.  The use of red in the context of the film is used to almost foreworn the audience about both the death at the end of the scene, and the rest of the film and put the audience on edge consequently building suspense. The whole concept of using colours in particular red is symbolic and used to portray what is happening in the film or about to happen to the audience, the colour theme also links with the title of the film ‘blue velvet’.

A sense of foreboding is also created in the shot of the woman (assumed to be the man’s wife) watching a show on TV which shows a gun (shown in the screenshot below). The obvious connotation of this is that Lynch used this shot to put the concept of death at the forefront of the audience’s mind, building the idea that it is going to be frequent throughout the movie which is confirmed just moments later with the death of the male antagonist. Although short and in the context of the whole film may seem relatively insignificant, this shot is important as it is the first instance that the audience are able to realise the darker intent of the film, previously shadowed by the misleading 'pleasant' shots.

In terms of camera shots, Lynch stuck with wide shots throughout; with nothing other than the opening scene of the roses and the similar scene of the tulips close up. This is used to both focus on the characters in the scene while also showing plenty of the background to build the setting and location for the audience, which is crucial as this is the opening scene and therefore the first instance the audience has to form their perception of the film. The end of the scene where the camera moves through blades of grass is filmed out of focus, purposely used to create a sense of unknown which makes the whole concept more frightening as the audience have a lack of understanding on what is happening and what is about to happen.

To help build the twisted impression Lynch is trying to achieve with the use of the idyllic American neighbourhood, he uses the song ‘Blue Velvet’ by Bobby Vinton, which is slow and a very old-fashioned piece of music, which for a modern audience is most likely to be portrayed as haunting. Using a piece of music which had also been around 35 years prior to the film and recognized by much of the films audience meant that Lynch was able to make them feel more involved as it created a sense of familiarity; mirroring the familiarity they may feel to the neighbourhood. The music is contrapuntal as until the very end of the scene, it doesn’t match the ‘happy neighbourhood’ atmosphere the shots are displaying. Using the music in conjunction with the shots makes the whole scene almost sinister as it uses every day, relatable situations to make the audience feel uneasy without using conventional horrifying or scary sights. This is a technique called psychological horror and is now used in many modern films such as paranormal activity but Lynch was the person who fore-fronted the rise of this technique.

Finally for editing, Lynch used conventional dissolves and slow-mo throughout to match the shots being shown. This makes the whole scene flow smoothly and creates a sense of calm for the audience. This gives a ‘calm before the storm’ perception as the audience knows from other elements displayed in the sequence that something bad or horrifying is inevitably going to happen, but right now Lynch is portraying the scene and consequently the film is quiet, calm and serene. This technique is commonly used in the horror genre as it makes the audience calm so when the horrifying moment happens it comes across as more as a shock, frightening the audience and forming the shocking twisted film Lynch set out to achieve.

Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Christian Metz, The Model of Genre Development

Christian Metz theory and the Model of Genre Development:

Christian Metz is a French Film theorist who wrote the book ‘Language and Cinema (1974)’ which explored genre’s development and within the book he wrote about the four phases that genre pass through during their lifetime. These are:

·         The Experimental

·         The Classic

·         The Parody

·         The Deconstruction

The Experimental:

A genre begins in the experimental stage where the foundations and conventions of the genre are built through an innovative, original work. Often the movement comes from literature when cinemas find inspiration from literature or represent novels in film. Example within the horror genre include the films The Cabinet of Dr Calgari (1919) and Nosferatu (1922) which took their inspiration from famous literary classics ‘The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson and ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker. The films in the experimental stage are instrumental and exploratory however they still influence genre films today.

The Classic:

The genre then produces the classics where the codes and conventions of the genre become seen as iconic and are the guidelines are set. The inspiration for these classics continue on from the experimentals as Hollywood turns to Europe for inspiration for their higher cost, higher production movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein both produced by Universal in 1931. The conventions established by these classics are incorporated into modern day productions.

 The Parody:

Particularly post-war and onwards, studios began to experiment with comedic elements and incorporated them into classic genres. Parodies either mock the conventions of a genre or mock a particular production itself eg. the movie ‘Shaun of the Dead’ mocks the film Dawn of the Dead released in 1978. The most well-known or even iconic examples of parodies are ‘Carry on Screaming’ and ‘Scary Movie’ both made to mock the horror genre and its conventions.

The Deconstruction:

The deconstruction is when the classic codes and conventions are unpicked and different aspects from different genres are combined. As a result of the rules being effectively broken, sub-genres may form. For example the film ‘SE7EN’ is an amalgamation of the horror and thriller genres. The conventions of the horror genre are heavily explored in the opening title sequence of the film and the main body of film and film narrative explores thriller conventions.

MR JUDGE FEEDBACK

1.   CHRISTIAN METZ MODELS OF GENRE DEVELOPMENT – HORROR (12D ONLY) + IMAGES

2.   FILM NOIR & HISTORY OF GENRE (HSR) + IMAGES/VIDEO EMBEDS

3.   STEREORTYPICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THRILLER/HORROR GENRES/CHARACTERS

4.   TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF OPENING OF A HORROR FILM – WOMEN IN BLACK/SCREAM etc.