gender and sexuality within vampire tv shows

Many vampire programmed showcase different types and idea of vampires. some have been around for decades and some are newer takes.

But both may include the sometimes 'necessary' sexuality in it.
Female vampires are known to be overpowering, seductive. they use that to entice human men and either drink their blood or make them into vampires and

Hwk - ideas on other's scripts

Sheida:

Id like to work on sheida's one because i can easily see it being made and id like to work on it.

Id like to work quite close to the story line and develop it more and possibly make a storyboard. -
and with that also maybe produce and edit it.


Sci:

i like the idea of it - it reminds me of another movie - and ive read the script on her blog and it seems like a really good idea.

Pitch

16 year old girl vampire falls in love with a human boy. He's terrified and it becomes his worst nightmare.
What twilight should've been.

Synopsis

Synopsis:   

" Soya Blood "  - ( name still not decided )

Its a  girl's (name not chosen yet) 16th birthday. Her parents send her out to pick up a few things, but its dark and late. She gets bitten by a vampire and becomes one.
(we never see the vampire that bites her) 
She then becomes a vampire and returns home. At home there is a surprise birthday party planned by all of her friends and family. She plays along for a bit and celebrates her birthday. She then becomes really "thirsty" and pulls aside one of her friends and drinks her blood but doesn't stop and her friend dies. - her biting her friend sort of sends out a homing signal type of about a 5-10 mile radius. So instantly within a few minutes because she never blocked out the signal, a few more vampires arrived and killed of the rest of the party guest. 

( Again we never see the vampires except the girl) 
  { The 2 mins opening sequence will be up to here roughly} 

She then regrets her mistake and moves to Transylvania to live a life of a vampire. But she finds it hard and doesn't want to become a vampire but she finds it hard to go against what has become "natural" for her. 
She then falls in love with a human boy and her teenage hormones kick in but also her 'vampiric' hunting instincts. The vampire then stalks the boy and confronts him. He sees her for what she really is and get scared and tries to get rid of her. But she refuses to be put down. She becomes violent and kidnaps him and tortures him. She then begins to play games with him- as in let him run away for a bit but then chases him and is able to grab him and then she bites him and unable to control herself she drains all his blood.

The again regrets again for killing someone close to her and the walks into the sun and burns to ashes. 

she doesn't sparkle. she dies.  

Representation of young women in horror films

Women in horror films are represented in a numerous different ways. The stereotypes are that the women are the damsels in distress. And always need to be saved by a strong male character in the film and either the ones to die straightaway – (the blonde girl goes first) or the one who requires help from everyone. Everyone else then dies for her and the woman is chased by the evil force/demon/murderer in mask which makes up for the whole duration of the film and is either killed brutally or somehow manages to temporarily kill the "evil force". She then celebrates her win but then finds out its still alive which then cues the unwanted cliffhanger.

Sometimes women are portrayed as weak, frail and need to be saved by a dominant male character.  

Many horror films exploit women and feel the need to have them running around in practically no clothes whilst being chased by an evil force just to have an audience for their poorly written film. On the other hand many don’t do this, but still have a woman who needs to be saved by someone else.     -_-    

Some horror films follow a narrative structure of the male partner who has become a psychotic/demonically -possessed killer and is after his female partner who needs to be punished for her unlawful sins. But after the rise of feminist characters on other genres on the big screen, horror movies like “Jennifer’s body”. – though It does include the main character as a seductive cheerleader who entices boys at school and kills them and doesn't help the stereotype, but for once a female character that is a killer and only kills boys.

Overall the representation of women varies a lot throughout this genre. They are either made as weak and “feminine” as possible or a strong leading character that is also is a seductive siren and uses that as an advantage to kill her prey. 

Analysing openings of horror movies

 The ring. Starts of with two teenage girls in their uniform in a bedroom deciding what to watch on tv.
They start to talk about a video and a phonecall after that would tell them they were going to die in a week. they were both joking about it but then a phone rings and one of them goes in the living room and the tv automatically shows static. it then cuts to what we find out later is a after and that one of the girls has died and her cousin, who is roughly 10yrs old, is at her funeral.

It has some of the codes of a horror movie, such as it taking part in the evening - with the girls in the bedroom watching tv. Two teenagers talking about horror and a child who knew about his cousin's death a week before. many horror films have a child associated with the deaths/ "evil force" or even is posessed and is the killer.

mise en scene

Research on directors

David Yates : Took over the Harry Potter movie franchise at the 5th film but had first started off by making 'tv movies' and series, including the Young visitors, the sins and the Bill. 


Ron Howard:   is a former 'child actor' and now is a producer and a director. He began with a low-budget film - 'Grand theft auto' in 1977. He then went on to making Tv films and after he had started to make high-visibility films such as splash, Cocoon, Willow, Parenthood, Backdraft, Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code and  A Beautiful Mind - which he won the Academy Award for Best Director.  


Rob Reiner: is an American actor, producer and director. In the 1980s he became a well known directore of successful hollywood films such as, The princess Bride, Stand by me and this is Spinal Tap.  

Ms cox

Dr reid - Criminal Minds Representations Spencer Reid is the youngest agent at the BAU in the FBI. He skipped loads of grades in middle school and at high school. Throughout the many series when there are featured epsisodes for a character so the audience would find out about the character’s background story. We find out that because Reid was bullied because he was always the youngest in his class by atleast a few years and he still sometimes is self-conscious and nervous in certain situations. This makes the audience sympathize with him and like him more and also

pre lim exercise

Review of shot types used in Preliminary excercise

In todays first lesson we did a rough cut. We found plenty of useful shots, but some are different because of the natural lighting which shows a difference the beginning and the end. so we need to shoot the beginning again in a brighter natural light.


Precision editing:

we have edited the beginning and fixed the continuity of the door scene, as we had spent a lot of time trying to fix it before. we have also sorted out some sound in the beginning.

Script- draf

Script (Draft)


( voice over) ( monolgue)
- a girl writing into a book. :

Well here goes, i promised i'd do this once it was all over. Er- (cough) well i guess it is over then. Although its only been a month. Well actually 182 days. Thats 6 months
Oh god i hate this. i used to like writing, actually i loved it. But unfortunately i had found another recreational activity. One that your parents would frown upon. Or ignore.
Most prefer to do the latter.

Well mine did. And im glad they did, otherwise i wouldnt have done the bad things ive done. And yes i regret some things. But overall? No i dont. It made me who i am at this moment. and this moment? At this moment i intend to write.



in a small room - with dark walls and a few old faded posters and one small window. 
she sits on a desk ( with the light from the window hitting directly at the girl) - whose writing in a book.   
Camera explores room with voice over. ( non- diegetic). 
different camera angles of the girl writing and her room.  

Homework 2

Formal Assessment essay

In the opening of the City of god, the chicken is chased by a group of people. The chicken is shown by a series of close ups and it appears to show that it is scared by seeing the other chicken being killed. This could connote to show that the theme could be about fear and death.

The first scene is of a close up knife sharpening. This shows the danger that might be featured, it also connotes that as we don’t see who is sharpening the knife we may not know who will be causing the pain or trouble till later or at all. But the scene of the knife sharpening is interrupted by a close up of someone playing a guitar and a tambourine. The sound, which is diegetic  is of the music that is being played in the scene. It sounds like music from a certain culture, which then after pairing with the knife sharpening could connote to mean that a culture or a group of people could be very dangerous and harmful. These two scenes together are very effective, it makes the audience think about the danger and also arise many thoughts of what might happen and therefore grabbing the audience attention immediately at the beginning.

The scenes then start to become a little bit longer- showing a bit more of what is happening. -  This way it gives the audience a bit more of what is happening.  - It shows an extreme close up of a chicken and someone peeling a carrot. This connotes that chicken is to be killed and cooked. 

The chicken is shown in an extreme close up, and it seems to show that it is scared by seeing the other chicken being killed and it then tries to cuts itself free from the rope and then jumps of the table and runs.  A man realizes and tells other to chase the chicken. It could show that anyone, including chickens, would have a hard time trying to escape and this could connote that one of themes could be about trying to escape a violent and scary environment and that to try and escape is as equally dangerous and may end in the same in the same fate.

It then continues in the point of view of the chicken and shows it being chased by a group of people, using different angles of a panning shot. It shows that the struggle the chicken is having to go through to try and escape the clutches of the group of people and that for some reason these people actually care about keeping the chicken in their possession to the extent they’re chasing it around what seems to be slums. This connotes that this group of people does not let go easily and are extremely dangerous and violent about it as one asked an “outsider”- ( a utensils seller walking by)   to stop the chicken but the outsider had failed and one of the group and pushed him onto the floor and pulled out his gun and pauses to stare at him. At this moment he could have easily shot him but didn’t and continued to run after the chicken. This shows that that character has some aura of power about him and he may also be very violent and care-less.

Then the scene changes to two boys talking about a photography assignment for a newspaper. This shows a contrast from the earlier scenes and show that as pace of the scene and camera movement has slowed down to show these two characters, it connotes that these two may be extremely relevant in the story and it gives the audience a chance to slow down and also register in these new characters and understand their importance. 

The chicken then runs onto the road and almost gets run over by a car, shows that even if one does escape they end up in another. It then cuts to the two photography boys as well. This could show that the scenario in which the chicken is in may be the same that one of the boys may be in.

The scene then changes into the chicken being in the middle of the photography boy and the chasing group from earlier. The group tells the boy to get the chicken and the police arrive, then the group say to stay where they are and they all pull out their guns.

This shows that the chicken for whatever reason, but shows that the group sticks to what they want and don’t quit until they get it. It shows that the chicken resembles the theme and the possible storyline of the film which may be what the photography boy has to go through and this opening sequence for-shadows what may happen.

homework 1

SETTING:  In an exam room - the whole year 11 doing an english exam. 



( One girl signals another girl and nods at her.) 

CAMERA:  Medium long - shot 

( Girl 2 shakes head frantically and mouths the word 'no'. Girl 1 nods slowing and gives a reassuring smile. Girl 2 nods back slowly and turn her head away from girl 1 to her left) 

CAMERA: close ups of their faces whilst nodding to each other ( 180 rule) 

(Girl 1 tries to get her attention again) 

CAMERA: close up of the girl 1's face 

girl 2 turn to look at girl 1 again, this time with a fustrated look - mouths the word 'what?' 
girl 1 nod and mouths the word 'now' 

Targets

04/10/2012

Target: 
to complete work to a better standard and to include more analysis  
Target grade: A 
:) 

Analysis of opening sequence Se7en

   



First shot is an extreme close up of an a book..?- which is in focus and a hand out of focus- turning the page- camera is level with the edge of the book,
 music is low and edgy, then cuts to a black screen with a credit on it in white,

then another fast cut to a birds eye view of a sketch on hands on a piece of paper with another credit-
the fingers dont look normal.
the cuts are all extremely fast after this,
one looks like to be a piece of metal spinning around- a gun piece or a building tool?
then another black screen with another credit in white writing.
then a fast cut to a low lit extreme close up of someones fingers holding a piece of metal, could mean that this piece is important and what theyre going to do with it may show what happens later.
then a fast cut to anither black screen with another credit in white writing.
another fast cut follows, with another extreme close up of a hand putting a teabag in a cup?
fast cut - shows a picture of a man for about 0.5sec and then back to teabag dipping into a cup

a plain black screen with the title Se7en which then gets bigger  and continues onto the next cut which looks like to be an extreme close up of come notebooks and a hand covered in bandages- shows that they might have been doing some dangerous handiwork.
the hand opens the notebook but the camera changes its angle to a side point of veiw of it- and you see a pen writing in the notebook- looks like notes- butyou dont get to see what it actually says-

okay so the beginning is a whole load of credits and numerous clips at one time so i started the analysis at 1:25 :) Its a long shot- shows a 'friendly looking neighborhood' - disturbed within a second by a a big black jeep driving fast around a corner, police sirens and lights and the it cuts to a medium close up a man driving holding up and stereo speaker , saying: 'FBI pull over now', this already shows that this man may be the one of the main characters. it the cuts to a small white van and the cuts again to the inside of that small white van to the driver.. lots of fast cuts are used because of its effectiveness to the fast scene with this car chase scene. more speech is exchanged between these two characters, and then one car stops infront of the other causing the other to stop, both of them walk out of their trucks. the first guy tells the other to get out and put his hands up in the air.

Analysis of opening scene

There is no visual in the beginning, only audio which seems to be of a news report. the first lines are "The world was stunned..." - it also then continues with more new reports, such as the "Siege of Seattle" it then cuts from black to a picture of poeple in a cafe looking up at a tv screen thats hosting the news. The people in the scene are dressed in plain clothes, most are grey blueish clothing, this denotes as them being either depressed and not really interested in their clothing, or a sign of a siege and a dress code. Many of them show signs of distress on upon hearing the news that is on T.V of which they are all looking up to. The camera are looking down onto them - showing their vulnerability and also making the camera in the spot were the "T.V" is. There isn't much movement as they are all engrossed into what is on T.V but then a man pushes his was in and asks for a coffee, his expression and his rebel like behaviour in comparison to others around him shows his lack of concern with the news which seem to a ground-break and extremely effective to the others' lives, and this also shows that he may be or one of the main characters. The camera then cuts to another T.V opposite and continues with the news thats being broadcasted which gives hints of the date, which is 2027- which shows its a futuristic film, the sound is diegetic as the music is from the T.V which is being played, also sounds someone softly crying is in the background. The camera the cuts to the back of the "coffee guy" who walks out of the shop, a bus drives past and displayed on the side of it is an advertisement for offers on kidney donors at £3000, this shows that times have become desperate. The camera pans along behind the coffee guy and continues to pan across rather than cut from scene to scene. This shows the audience the surrounding area, and then also some non diegetic text is given on the left-hand corner of the scene, "London, 16 November 2027", this establishes that it is set in the future in case the audience had missed the small hint on the T.V earlier. The surrounding scene in which the camera takes time to show; continuing to pan across the scene rather than to cut, is a dirt-ridden london with many cars and scooter-drawn taxis whose drivers had taken on face masks to protect their lungs from the dirt and pollution. Though it is set in the future, with its moving advertisements on busses and buildings, it shows that the area and people have remained stuck in an earlier time. The sounds within this are all non-diegetic- from the streets and passing traffic. Continuing with a medium long shot, the camera follows the coffee guy along the street behind him, as it is following him this early on in the film it shows again that he may be a significant character and that the audience will be following his story. the coffee guy then walks past some rubbish piles- again showing the dirt in the area. He then set his coffee down on a metal box type on the side of the road. The camera is displaying the scene in a long-shot, so to be able to show the body language of the coffee guy- who at this time takes out a bottle of liqueur and pours in into his coffee, this shows hes most likely a drink and an alcoholic as he's drinking in the morning- (black coffee and news on the tv suggest it is the morning) the camera pans around him continuing with the same shot,and shows him filling his coffee with alcohol, then an explosion happens and he jumps and his coffee drops, the coffe guy falls back and stays there but the camera goes towards the explosion site, not with the "gliding panning motion" it did before, but more of a wobbling, running type, as if it was trying to resemble a mobile recording of an incident. the sound at this scene is diegetic, the high pitched ringing noise is what most get when really close to an explosion and this has an effect on the audience who thinks they're there.