Miss Representation

Miss Representation is a real overlook at the hegemonic society that uses media to control gender expression. The documentary directed and produced by the former actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom in 2011. It stars Jennifer herself, along with a long list of actresses, singers, comedians, talk show hosts, politicians, and high school students - all of them female. The documentary looks into how the mainstream American media under-represents the roles of powerful and influential women in American governments. The opinions are often limited and mediated. The documentary as a whole is made up out of clips from news agencies/TV shows and really provocative straight to the point interviews and discussions from all the different types of women who make up our society. These women also share their own personal cases when they have been targeted by mass media in the hopes to under mind them. The film caused for a 'call to action campaign' which included a Twitter campaign to stop offensive media, guides for media representation conversation starters, and guides for electing females into political office. Whilst watching the film I was completely shocked and discusted by the way women were treated within the media. The statistics shown we're outstanding and it really baffled that America, Land of The Free was really treating it's female citizens so brutally. 

The film is quite hard to watch online so you'd have to try a couple of links before getting one that works. But the trailer is pretty interesting, so you can watch that here:

Production diary: Week 11

Due to weather conditions and minor crew/cast set backs - I've decided to lessen the radius of where we will be shooting as I had to take into consideration costume changes and how certain members of the crew can get around difficult areas. To avoid further set backs I used locations more familiar to myself and my main character which also further helps represent the song as it is the main character herself and she feels comfortable in these surroundings which is reflected in the film.
The new locations are as follows:
Nelson Square Gardens (SE1) which happens to be located behind my apartment
Westfield Stratford City Car park 9th floor (E20)
Southwark station and surrounding areas under 1 mile again (SE1)
I ran these changes by India (my main character) and she felt a lot more confident with shooting in familiar (just as effective)locations, she also appreciated the fact that she was able to get ready in her home away from home (my house) which is always a positive thing as I wouldn't want my main character to not be content with how she looks before filming.

Production diary: Week 10

This week I really wanted to further understand the representation of women in the media Miss Representation was recommended to me by my teacher. Fundamentally it's a really interesting and insightful way to look at all these different women being subjected to the same treatment due to the nature of their gender. I was shocked by the statistics and I really made sure that my short film wouldn't add to them. This film really made me think caustically about what I had India wearing, doing, and how I wanted her to present herself.

Alternative filming idea

I now have a back up plan in case I don't get the results I want from my new camcorder (although I'm confident this time I will!) A friend of mine recently was given a task to produce a quick video for a rap artist, and he edited it with a twist. He used After Effects to create a VHS-esque feel to the video. I enjoyed the fact that he used modern filming and incorperated the VHS style to it. So I've decided to do the same, but only if worst really comes to worst.
You can check out his video and editing techniques below:

Filming setbacks

I recently purchased a Sharp SlimCam VHS camcorder from eBay which I hoped to film with. (camera seen below)

On getting the camcorder, I made the mistake of not testing it out randomly around the house before actually using it to film. So, when it came to filming my first scene on the 2nd of November I made the startling discovery that the battery was completely useless. It would die within about 30 seconds of filming, and as I was filming outdoors - it was a real hassle having to find a charging point to keep the camcorder alive. I returned it to the seller and I'm now on the hunt for finding a new (perfectly working) VHS camcorder.

Production diary: Week 9

As I had no VCR camera to film with, I started seeking alternatives. I spoke to my teacher and he recommended a plug in called 'BAD TV', you can see what it does in the video below:

Production diary: Week 8

This week I was held back due to issues with the camera I was going to film with. I had purchased a used VCR camera from eBay, without checking if everything was working correctly - I proceeded to begin filming only to discover the battery life was completely useless and didn't last long enough to even film half a scene. The even more disheartnening thing was, if we were filming indoors we could have worked around the issue, but as the majority of the filming was constructed to be filmed outdoors I had no choice but to return the camera and begin sourcing alternative filming options.

Kyoto Gardens - Storyboard

I've drawn up a quick storyboard for the first scene in my video, it's just to give me and all the other people involved a vague idea of what we will be shooting and the types of shots we need to get.

Production diary: Week 6

This week a produced a basic story board for the Kyoto Gardens filming scene. This was made for me to remember what shots I was looking for and for my main character to feel confident with what she was doing in front of the camera.
Story board can be seen above.

Call sheets:

Production diary: Week 5

This week I produced 'call sheets' to email to everyone involved in the filming aspect of my film. A call sheet provides basic information for things like: timing, location addresses, what to bring, and a brief description of what will be happening during the the filming process along with what needs to happen.
The call sheets will be available to view in my next post.

Production diary: Week 4

This week I've been focused on the codes & conventions of music films - focusing on Sir Alan Parker I've watched as many of his works that I can online and gotten a sense of what he tries to do when he produces films. He's really intrigued about his surroundings and the environments around him and I understand that kind of motivation; which is what I want to convey in my film also - in order to do this I have to capture quintessential but non-typical perspectives of London which is ultimately the motivation and inspiration behind my film.
In order to do this I made a photo diary, basically made up of interesting things I've found on the streets of London, you can have a look at my images below:

Production notes: filming & editing

Some of my favourite music videos (or films as he likes to call them) are directed by Nabil Elderkin who is an American filmmaker/director. He edits and shoots his films as if the viewer is in them. Some of his shots are so extraordinary yet they still have that point of view touch which really engages viewers in what their watching and truly makes them feel as if they are a part of the happenings. One of my favourite examples of this by Nabil is the video he directed for Alt-J's Hunger of the Pine. This is a fantastic music film with it's effortless sharp cuts to it's tremendous birds eye views which cascades over a forest and the camera angles really work into the grooves of the pine trees. Also, the slight tilting and jolting of the camera whilst the man being filmed is running really makes what you're watching so much more realistic and makes you feel as if you are running with the character.

Production notes: styling & make up

To continue on the theme of subtlety and coyness I don't want the styling to be too overbearing or remarkable. I still do want my character to look well dressed but the focus should be far from what it is that she's wearing. I do know that I want to keep the colours neutral and quite 90's high school student casual (which will complement the analogical filming but give it some quirky-ness as everything else being shown is quite modern. Here's a visual example incase it's hard to envision:

As for the make up - again, I want it to be very natural, light (not heavy), tidy make up which will be done by a friend of mine who is a make up artist.

Production notes: characters

My film (already as unconventional as it is) will only have 1 main character (and potentially a few extras floating in and out of scenes) but none of them will have any lines so none of them will speak. In most music videos we see artists lip syncing the lyrics to their songs - but I've always found this a bit odd especially for those filming, which is why the artist in my film will not lip sync. Although I think it may be nice to partially have her say some of the words to the song, but very subtly like the camera isn't watching her do it. The song itself is quite a mellow ballad and I think by doing this it will only compliment and emphasise the lyrics and their meanings.
This is the artist's artwork for the song which was photographed by me:

As she looks quite shy and bashful on the cover I want to carry out this attitude throughout filming, I want her to move in the way we see models do in their portfolio reels but the camera will be focused a little less on the main character's face but mostly on body parts and the locations around her whilst filming. Although, the background is quite loud and outstanding and it's a great juxtaposition of how she is perceived to be in the photo, I still want the locations in the film to be vivid as it takes some pressure off of the character whilst filming and still allows her to be gentle and subtle in her movements. Here are some examples of the model reels I'm talking about:

Production notes: location

For my music video/film, I've looked at a couple different locations. I really like the shot from the 'Scene Girl' video when the rapper is walking down the road of a suburban neighbourhood so I've decided to to the same - I will begin by filming in the residential park located across the road from my house.

I'm also going to film on the rooftop of the Westfield shopping mall car park located in Stratford, East London which is where the main character resides. The empty car park will create an ambiance and sense of seclusion which the lyrics in the original soundtrack will be complimented by. Another great thing about the rooftop location is that there's a special view of London in the background during scenes.

Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly is an English director, musician, photographer and designer. Kelly took on film making as an extension on his love of photography. He started making 'promo' videos for bands that he was with at the time such as: 'Hal', 'Cherry Ghost', and 'Saint Etienne' which I will focus on in the post. When Kelly and Saint Etienne first collaborated in 2002 The Observer described it as a 'cinematic hymn to London'. 'Finistene' is the name of the first project produced and it was premiered at The Institute of Contemporary Arts. The latest collaboration to come from Kelly and Saint Etienne is a piece called 'How we used to live.' It is described as an 'enthralling celebration'. The film is made up of rare color footage from the British Film Institute archive and a wonderful narratation by Ian McShane. 
Below is the trailer for Finisterre, it's a documentary-type music film made by Kelly and musically enhanced by Saint Etienne. Although it differs from your ordinary video montage/documentary about London as it doesn't physically feature any of the voices heard via voiceover. It's main narrator is Michael Jayston, according to Torodov Jayston's commentary isn't the correct way to go about commentating as he doesn't work on an equilibrium its more of a free flow of words. His narrative could be linked to Shakespeare's prose writing.

Here is the trailer for 'How we used to live':

Again, the narrative over this trailer doesn't follow Torodov's theory. The narrative is like listening to poetry about London - it can be taken as multiple intrepretations for many different ideas about London which circulate. This is an insightful tactic as it doesn't limit the viewers thinking, it allows for different perceptions which is what media essentially revolves around as what we see in media is just a representation of what truly is.

What the VHS 'style' entails of:

I'm a fan of VHS-esque filming simply because I find it quite nostalgic. I think of it as a filter it can really make anything look good and it gives it an interesting twist when you seen modern day things being filmed in lo-fi. In my video i'd like the opening scene to start with a 'time stamp' appropriation of the name of the film, who's it by etc. This is an example of one I found at the beginning of Duchess Says - Black Flag:

and again at the beginning of Foo Fighters - White Limo:

I'd also like to include a clip from a film which has some sort of relation to the music being played in the film - like maybe a character saying an interesting quote before super imposing the actual video itself. Like what's done in this video for The Bronx - Past Lives:

Superimposing seems to be appropriate to use instead of cuts, it looks better and its keeps a constant flow in the video which could come across as engaging. Superimposition is used throughout this video (which is also a parody for those creepy 90's Calvin Klein commercials)
Twin Shadow - Slow:

'Education' by Alan Parker for Pink Floyd/ Holland Park Kyoto Gardens

Education (The Wall) The above is a clip from the 1982 musical film 'Pink Floyd The Wall' by Alan Parker the screenplay was written by Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Walters. The film is full of symbolism and metaphorical scenes with hardly any dialogue - and where there is dialogue it comes from the music being played. This is what i'd like to do in my short film, i'd like to create a musical film with no dialogue just scenes with creative cuts, editing, and beautiful location choices. I'd like to film around Holland park's Kyoto Gardens which is a beautiful backdrop for almost any type of filming - its caressed with amazing waterfalls and fountains which I think would be a good alternative. Although I haven't yet had the chance to visit the Kyoto Gardens in the flesh, I've come across some good youtube videos which shows the majority of the gardens so I know what to expect when filming. I'm going to visit the gardens after school on Thursday to take some photos and map out exactly where I want to shoot. Take a look at the Kyoto Gardens in this video that i've found:

Production diary: Week 3

Mr.Perez gave everyone a film to watch this week which could be loosely based on what everyone had an idea about doing. As the first director we were introduced to was Maya Deren (who I was very fond of) I was excited when he gave me a collection of her short films to watch. Although my film won't be heavily inspired by her ambiguous works, she really opened up my creative agenda and I learnt a lot from watching her films about the way people can interpret things differently and how I can be influenced about ideas a thoughts around me but express them differently each time I think about them. Deren was really a stepping stone in my journey on how to perceive post-modern avant garde media. Deren was also a prominent writer for the theory of cinema which is the beautiful thing about her work. She managed to transform cinema into art in motion and emphasised the art within her film to the point where it left some critics terribly dismissive simply because she wasn't following codes and conventions from Marxism or Strauss but she was challenging ways of perception.
I learnt a lot more about Deren through the way she is perceived and received by journalists and film theorists now, one of the most interesting articles I read was: Butler, Alison. “Motor-Driven Metaphysics: Movement, Time and Action in the Films of Maya Deren.” Screen, 48:1 (2007). A scholarly analysis of Maya Deren’s film aesthetics and artistic theories, with special consideration of the role of movement, time and action. Butler’s work is a solid piece of film theory, largely connecting Deren’s ideas to those of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. One of the most recent works on Deren, is indicative of the bourgeoning recognition of Deren’s merit as a film theorist by current scholars.

Video Analysis: Life with Uzi - Scene Girl

Analysis in terms of representation, gender, and race representation.
In Laura Mulvey's 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' Mulvey writes of the "objectification of women as representation/signification of male desire." In this video the women filmed are being shown in an unattractive light, smoking, drinking, and overall carrying themselves poorly on camera - which is the point Life with Uzi are trying to make. These are the types of girls people want to stay clear of, hence the subtitling 'never trust a scene girl', 'scene girl' according to Mike of Life with Uzi is "a scene girl or guy is someone who presents themselves online as something more than they are." In plain English that translates as some one who is 'fake'.

In terms of race representation, we see Life with Uzi here in front of Taco Bell (a popular Mexican-ised American fast food chain). It's a typical spot for teenagers and all Americans alike to cure their hunger issues, here Uzi is just 'hanging out' with his friends in the suburbs, a typical teenaged American thing to do. The fact that they filmed the entire video in a Wal Mart and in the suburbs of St.Paul,Ohio really plays on the fact that they may possibly want teenagers watching the video to easily relate to them - they're perceived as fairly normal guys yet all these girls are all over them. This leads to emphasise the fact that these girls are 'easy' to get, there aren't and flashy cars in the video or massive house with swimming pools being shown - just bundles of $100 bills. This could also imply that money is all it takes to get these types of girls to notice them.  

Subculture and The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdidge said that a subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong. Ken Gelder lists 6 ways in which a subculture can be recognised: 1) Often have negative relationship to work 2) Negative or ambivalent relationship to class 3) Through their associations with territory ( The street, the hood, the club) rather than property 4) Through their stylistic ties to excess 5) Through their movement out of home into non-domestic forms of belonging (social groups as opposed to family) 6) Through their refusal to engage with they might see as the ‘banalities’ of life. Other ways of recognising a subculture might be symbolism attached to clothes, music, visual affectations like tattoos etc. Subcultural values often associated with being ‘cool’.

Production diary: Week 2

As I know I want my film to be music based, I started thinking about the music around me and what I can do with it. Many of my friends have musical talents and I'm well connected with local musicians in the area I live in. But I decided to not involve a short list and just produce a music film/video for one of my closest friends who sings in her free time and had studied music at school.
India Chambers is a talented singer from Shadwell in East London. Of Jamaican and Spanish decent Chambers studied music at Pimlico Academy from GCSE through to A Level. She had the hopes to continue with her musical education and study Music with English at Goldsmith's University London, but had a change of heart and decided to just go with English (which she equally enjoys!)
Chambers has been working on her first EP now for about two years, although it seems like a lengthy amount of time - she's really putting her best efforts into this one and wants to produce something to really be proud of. The song I've decided to make the film for is one of her first recorded pieces appropriately named 'India's Song' which was written by Chambers and her producer Daniel Duke. Funnily enough, the song was recorded in my living room using a portable studio and it came out a lot better than expected, so I was really eager to make a film for this particular film.
below is a photo of India Chambers photographed by me.

Production Diary: Week 1

During the first week of deciding what my film was going to entail, I watched various music videos (as I knew I wanted my film to be music based) and focused particularly on those filmed using VCR cameras, or edited in the VHS style. I've always found mass inspiration in the 1980's/1990's so I knew that this would be a good era to derive inspiration from.
below you can have a look at two of my favourite music videos which I hope to take inspiration from in regards to camera angles, location, and editing.
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls (1986):

Beck - Loser (1993)

Video Examples

I started looking at v/h/s filmed music videos, simply because I'm a big fan of film in that era - although most of the films were shot on really decent cameras which didn't allow room for the pixelated effect which I find aesthetically pleasing in a time where this is scarce to us now. I also found it interesting that American 'cool kids' where using this style in their music videos - and people were totally loving it! Life with Uzi are an art collective who specialise in filming. Below are two videos filmed by them, and one starring Mike from Life with Uzi himself.
Spooky Black - Without U:

Here, we're exposed to the mass use of super imposion, quick cuts, and flipped - disovling images of the main singer. Close ups of him on the sofa in a white du-rag, mid- shots of him in an Ohio forest on a cold winter's afternoon and a nice range of pixelated scenery. Life with Uzi - Scene Girl:

Again, the same effects were used in this video - so we already see the traits which Life with Uzi use to make their mark. Speedy cuts, super imposed layered recordings,time stamps, fast - forwarding effects (like that seen on an actual v/h/s recording) but this time they went an extra step forward and gave us subtitles, maybe hinting towards a sing-a-long?
Not only are suburban teenagers barely out of high school enjoying the v/h/s effect, west coast rappers are using the trend to their advantage whilst they can.
Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction:

The only difference here is not only is Snoop depicting a different era, his video was shot on a series of professional cameras and the effect was added on after filming during editing. Also, theres been use of a green screen, professional lighting, a smoke machine and paid extras. But the matter still stands, Snoop Dogg is a fan of the v/h/s effect.

A Life Choreographed for Cinema: Maya Deren

At the beginning of our course, we were first introduced to the works of Maya Deren a Ukrainian born American filmmaker. Deren attended the school of Social Research and it is evident in most of her films that she was very interested in alternate social realities. Deren was said to be the 'entrepreneurial promoter of avant-garde film making.' And she was praised on her wanting of creating new experiences and evoking new conclusions in her films. Deren had massive interests in things such as: dance, voodoo, and subjective psychology. She also had specific editing techniques of which she was fond: multiple exposions, jump cutting, super imposion, slow motion, and continued motion through discountinued space. Critics believed that Deren had the 'ability to turn her vision into a stream of consciousness.' Deren adopted Einstein's notion of the relavistic universe to explain the idea of constant metamorphosis. For Deren the spatial and temporal plasticity of moving images was perfectly suited to this phenomenon. 'Meshes of the Afternoon'