Post 5: Audience Theory & My Short Film

The first task that we were set on audience theory was to read through a series of links with readings of Audience theory. After we got into groups, we had to create a presentation on notes from the section that we were selected to do.

Dominant Hegemonic Representation - The message in shorts film can be hard to get across and understand because sometimes there is no dialogue formed. The message in most short films show a diverse group of people.

Oppositional Hegemonic Representation - This is established when the audience member understands the preferred meaning but disagrees with it due to their own set of attitudes and beliefs.

Negotiated Hegemonic Representation - This is established when the audience member opposes or has to adapt the preferred meaning. The audience may be able to understand the character's issues due to the background they come from  yet they  may not understand why their actions are unreasonable.

They do not agree with the meaning and interpret the meaning differently so they may have interpreted the film to establish the issue of crime and violence more then the issue of racism.

Viewing Environment - This determines on what places you enjoy and what would be able to interpret the film. I think that this would have a huge impact on would be London.

London also witnesses crime on the underground on a regular basis and the most violence occurs in the central parts of London & because of this, it means that they would be able to relate and interpret this film better then someone living in a hot & crime free climate.

Moral Panic - The scene of the girl in 'About A Girl' throwing the baby in the water gives the audience an intense feeling & this is due to the actions being so unexpected meaning that most of the audience would disagree with what they have just seen.

Mode of Address - The messages behind the film are aimed for a Middle class audience, as they wouldn’t have experience of what life it’s like for the girl. The middle class are seen as outsiders and looking in to a different world and way of living.

The short film starts with trying to get sympathy from the audience, & the final scene instantly changes to shock tactics where its shows that she is no better than her parents.

Target Audience - This short film won many awards in the 2001 BAFTA for best short film, Edinburgh Prize best short film and the Turner Classic movie shorts top place. The Edinburgh Film Festival aims to present both UK and international movie premieres and to exhibit the work of film makers.

The second part of post 5 was to watch three films and analyse them. The three that I watched were 'Wasp', 'About A Girl' & Cubs.

Wasp (2003) - (Short Film Analysis)

Wasp is a social relaism film that focuses on the poor society of social class. Wasps won 30 international festival awards and the oscar for best short film at the 2005 academy awards.

The film was funded by the UK film council's new cinema fund also the project recieved a total production budget of just over £52,000.

Almost half of this amount was awarded to the New Cinema Fund (NCF), with the remainder to Film Four.

The message that has been advertised to the public from this short film is that families in Britian are still very much living in poverty, & by this it shows the steryotype of young mothers with no money, responsibility at young ages & abandoning children.

One of the ways is it communicates with you is the camera movement. It is hand held which helps you relate to the characters easier.

Below Are The Two Parts to The Short Film 'Wasp'.

About A Girl (2008) - (Short Film Analysis)

About a Girl is a 9 minute short film directed by Brian Percival, it won the 'BAFTA Award For Best Short Film'. It also won an award at the 'Edinburgh International Film Festival' for Best British Short Film, the 'TCM' Classic Shorts Award prize at the 'London Film Festival', and the Jury Prize at the 'Rain Dance Film Festival'.

This film tells us about a girl growing up on a Manchester industrial landscape with dreams of becoming a professional singer.

As she tells us about her life, her monologue is interupted & inter cut with different scenes of her with her family & her dad.

Her descriptions of her pop idols & her favorite are mixed with hints about family troubles, poverty & domestic violence.

Below is the Short Film 'About a Girl'.

Cubs (2006) - (Short Film Analysis)

Cubs is a short film about a boy who tries to join a gang of inner-city teenagers who fox hunt.   The gang choose from a group of teenagers to join up and help fox hunt, and this boy tries to get called up. When he finally does, he learns that initiation comes at a price.  This film also won the BBC3 for best new filmmaker 2006.

When this short film started, it is probably the best way to see this film without preconceptions. It takes the ancient event of fox hunting and re-frames it in a modern setting and by doing so, they provide new insight into a once-popular "sport".

However, the technical aspects of the film are that the acting fine, though the skills of the director in how they presented the film are really the stars.

The cast features a good typical turn but I felt more could have been done with the main character Ben played by Eden.

Tom Harper's direction is good and he has uses real locations well and madethis world feel convincing.

Overall then an engaging and difficult short film that is not perfect but is interesting for what it does do.

These films fit into my short film because they are around the same length time which will help give me an idea of how much I will need to think about when planning and filming.

Also, all three films have actors that represent people of the low class & this is also another good tip that I can relate to and get ideas from when producing my film.

This is interesting because it will help give me ideas of what I may want to do and use for probs and so on if i choose to do a film on the low class.

Below is the Short Film 'Cubs'.

Dominant Hegemonic (Wasp) - The short film 'Wasp' had the ambition to show the audience about lower class families & the environment in low class areas. The message that was to be shown is the life of low class families & financial issues that they face.

The message in this film also leads us on to ask questions such as what do they do for money?, do the children go to school? and so on...

Oppositional Hegemonic (Wasp) - Messages that are being advertised in 'Wasp' can be shown in many different ways, although several audiences may sympathise with the message being put across different audiences may have different interpretations of the short film.

The audience may feel it is her own fault that they are in financial difficulty & so many different audiences can interpret the message differently.

Negotiated Hegemonic (Wasp) - The audience may be able to understand the message that this family are poor due to there past, nevertheless others may believe the message is a warning about family financial problems.

Dominant Hegemonic (About A Girl) - 'About A Girl' is all to do with shocking the audience, and their expectations of what happens. The message that tries to be shown is that teenagers are independent in life and as life goes on, teenage issues such as pregnancy are increasing, without the support & advice from family.

The message in this film also leads us on to ask questions such as why can't she tell her mum? why did she throw her baby in the lake? and so on...

Oppositional Hegemonic (About A Girl) - Messages that are being advertised in 'About A Girl' can be shown in many different ways although several audiences may sympathise with the message being put across different audiences may have different interpretations of the short film. 

The audience may feel it is her own fault that no one may blame the mother & so many different audiences can interpret the message differently.

Negotiated Hegemonic (About A Girl) - The audience may be able to understand the message that this girl is isolated and alone, due to her background, nevertheless others may believe the message is a warning about teenage pregnancy.

The following link includes different opinions and critic evaluations which tie in with class notes on audience theory, also the majority of the notes have been simplified by students so we get a better understanding of the theory. 


http://klsmediadepartment.blogspot.com/2010/09/audience-theory-student-powerpoints.html

The Black Hole

Dominate Hegemonic (The Black Hole) - The message that the audience should have been shown is that the man has been given a piece of paper with a black hole on it which gives him the opportunity to take anything he wants by using this black hole. 

It also tries to give the message that you should never steal or take what doesn't belong to you, however as there is humour in this film, it is hard to think about this message.

Oppositional Hegemonic (The Black Hole) - There are two sides to this, it is fair to say that the man is able to take what he can because of the power however, we can also say that he is wrong because he is taking what isn't his.  We therefore  ask the question is the man doing right or wrong?

Viewing Environment (The Black Hole) - As this film has humour in it, I think that it would be more appealing to be shown to larger rather than smaller groups of people as it would be more humorous to watch.

Conclusion - How will I Use These Ideas In My Short Film?

In conclusion, I need to add stereotypes into my own short film.  I also need to put a message across to the audience and a shock for the audience. An example that I can relate to could be in 'Wasp', where Zoe who was a stereotype of a single mother that has no money and not caring about her children's academic and well being.

In 'Cubs', the message that was shown to the audience was Ben being accepted into the gang & being abandoned by his friend Davis, while the shock in 'About a Girl' was a strong element to have in a film because it was was unexpected & played with your mind. It also made the audience want to continue watching the film.

I think that the best one short film location was 'Wasp' because the location blended well with the characters and it helped create the scene that the family were in a bad financial state. By using what I have found out throughout watching these films I think that I will successfully create a 6 minute short film.