Marjorie Ferguson (1980s)

Ferguson identified 4 types of facial expressions on the front cover of British women magazines.

Chocolate Box
- Half/ full smile
- Lips together/ Slightly parted
-Teeth barley visible
- Full/ three - quarter of face to the camera

Invitational
- Emphasis on the eyes
- Mouth shut with a hint of a smile
- Head to one side or looking back at the camera

Super - Smiler
- Full face
- Wide open, toothy smile
- Head thrusts forward or chin thrown back
- Hair often wind blown

Romantic or Sexual
- Includes male/ female 'two - somes'
- Dreamy
- Heavy lidded
-Overtly senual/ sexual

Effects
Chocolate box- Blandly pleasing, uniformity of beauty and devoid of uniqueness.
Invitational - Suggestive of mischief or mystery, hint of contact rather than sexual promise.
Super - smiler - Aggressive, look at me attitude.
Romantic/ Sexual - Possibly or definitely available.

The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey...
"Visual pleasure and narrative cinema"

For femminist it can be thought of in three ways...

• How men look at women
• How women look at themselves
• How women look at other women

Laura Mulvey coined the term 'male gaze' in 1975. She believed that film audiences have to view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

Features... 
- The camera lingers on the curves of the females body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction of these events.

- Relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondly , by identification with the male.

Criticisms...
- Some women enjoy being looked at e.g. beauty pageants.

- The gaze can also be directed towards members of the same genders for several reasons, not all of which are sexual: such as in comparison of body image or in clothing.


An example to support Laura Mulveys theroy is Cameron Diaz's entrance in the film 'The Mask'.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp, a Russian Theorist...
-Propp analysed over 100 russian fairytales in the 1920's.
-He proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions.

Propps character roles...

• The hero (Seeks something)
• The villan (opposes the hero)
• The donor (helps the hero e.g. by providing a magic object) 
• The dispatcher (sends the hero on his way)
• The false hero (falsey assuming the role of hero)
• The helper (gives support to the hero)
• The princess (the reward to the hero - needs protection)
• The princess' father.

Editing

Continuity (Hollywood editing) - The shot goes from point A - B. For example an actor will swing from a washing line (cut) then the next shot will be him coming through a window.

Montage - Sergi Eisenstien (from Russia) invented this. It flicks from one image to image - seemingly having no connection. The audience are very aware of the cuts and are meant to fill in the blanks...
A montage is when a director condenses lots of important infomation into a brief sequence.  E.g. Someone trying on various outfits before a night out.

Transitions - A term fot how an editior moves from one shot to another: an inappropriate transiton can destroy the mood of a film.

Cross cutting/ Parallel editing - Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occuring in different places, often simultaniously - the butterfly effect.

Dissolve - A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disapears whilst the second image appears.

Wipe - A transition between shots in which a line passes across the screen eliminating the first shot.

Camera Angles and Shots

Long Shot - Allows the viewer to know what is taking place.

Medium Shot - It is used to show character interaction - it is the most common cinema shot.

Close up - To show/ emphasise something/someone.

Shot reverse shot - Used for dialogue. It focuses on character talking- It makes you feel part of the conversation.

High angle Shot - It connotes power over the object you are viewing. Women have traditionally been shot in this way to make them look weak, and men powerful. 

Low angle shot - This is designed to make a character or object appear stronger.

Tracking Shot  - Camera is perpendicular to the action and follows the subject or action.

Pan Shot - The Camera rotates; no more than 180 degrees.

Tilt Shot - Starting at the feet and work up.

Matron Action -  E.g. One shot on the individual opening a door, then the next shot when the individual is through the door.

Point of view shot - As if looking through the characters eys. Camera switiching from one individual often during dialogue.

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene is a french term for the analysis of what you see on screen. It does NOT include sound...

• Setting.
• Acting including Facial expressions.
• Costumes.
• Props.
• Lighting.
• Camera angles.

The class and I applied our knowledge on Mise en scene in a group activity where we had to analyse a still shot from a programme and apply the aspects of the Mise en scene.

Narrative Structure.

Three Part Narrative...

Beginning - Equalibrium...
A state of 'Normality' in the narrative.

Middle - Disequalibrium...
Something disrupts this normality and the protagonist/hero must go on a journey to restore the normality.

End - New Equalibrium...
A new normality is created.

Narative Theory

Narative Theory - Roland Barthes.

Open narrative - is continuous e.g. A series programme.
Closed narrative - Has a start, middle and an end e.g. A film. 

The differences between SERIAL and SERIES...

Serial - Is a limited number of episodes e.g. Skins.

Series - On going programme e.g. Eastenders.

Bathes introduced 5 codes...

Action code - Applies to any action that implies a further narrative action, e.g. a gunshooter draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.

Enigma code - Refers to any element in a story that is not explained; therefore exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explanation. E.g. In a murder mystery - whose killed who?

The semantic code - Any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by connotation and denotation.

The cultural code - Any element in a narrative that refers to a 'science' or to a 'body of knowledge'. In other words the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works; this includes other cultures needs, e.g. Not all cultures know who santa is.

The symbolic code - Difficult to explain, to understand I firstly looked at binary opposites.

Levi Straus.

Straus believed that the world was split into a series of 'binary opposites'. Essentially one thing can only be described in relation to something that is completely opposite. E.g. For someone to be attractive, there has to be someone who is ugly.

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Mediation - the way an individual interprets a texts.

Ideology - An organised collection of idea. An Ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things - a belief which helps explain the world around us.

Preliminary Exercise - Magazine

As an introduction to this course, we began with two preliminary exercises. Firstly the film (which i will comment on, in a later post) and secondly the magazine cover.

During the introduction to producing the magazine the class were told to get into 'pairs.' Afetr deciding who to work with (Olivia), we made  a rough paper design of the front cover of the magazine. I brought in a camera from home and Olivia and I took a veriety of photographs of different individuals around school for the front cover, to distingush who was the most photogenic.

After deciciding which photo to use, i learnt how to use photoshop pro 5.0, which initially seemed difficult; turned out to be fairly simple.

A difficulty which we had to over come was that after half completing the magazine front cover Olivia was away for several lessons, and i had to finish the front cover singley - with the help of olivia via e-mail (e-mailing images of the front cover) and phone calls so Olivia could give her imput.