A2 MEDIA STUDIES/ROSHNI SEN : September 2017

Costume Research

In this costume research, we are looking to find appropriate outfits for our characters, which are teens.Our film is set in the present time (autumn season) it's important to identify the current trends in fashion in order to create a realistic character in 2017.The mood board I created includes the current 2017 fashion fall trends of teenagers.I noticed that hoodies and knitted jumpers are essential for the latest trend and colours that are warm and subtle seem to be popular.
To conduct further research we interviewed teenagers about their fashion and whether or not they follow and keep up with trends.

Leon,17 Years Old

Leon describes his looks as casual/streetwear, and the inspiration for his looks come from the latest trends.While interviewing him we noticed he likes to wear dark/black clothing. He thinks the current trends for teens are fairly different from 10 years ago.It's much more about dressing minimal and casual, whereas in early 2000s people tend to throw an excessive amount of accessories to complete their looks.

Sean,17 Years Old

Sean describes his look as casual as he is wearing a Ralph Lauren T-shirt with Topman black jeans and Adidas trainers. He believes the trend in teen fashion is influenced by celebrities because it gives them confidence.Despite this he feels not much change has taken place in fashion trends from 10 years ago.

Hannah,18 Years Old

Hannah describes her look as comfortable, wearing a champion hoodie paired with black jeans and Vans. Like Sean she believes there hasn’t been significant change in fashion trend over the past 10 years.

Character development: Psychological theories of depression

Once we discussed the main character, we wanted to include the concept of depression within the character. To create a realistic character we need to ensure we have a large amount of research on this topic.

Depression in a mood disorder involves feelings of dejection, which can lead to various emotional and physical problems; sometimes even suicidal tendencies.

Symptoms of depression:

-Trouble concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions

-Fatigue

-Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness and hopelessness

-Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or sleeping too much

-Irritability

-Restlessness

-Loss of interest in things once pleasurable

-Overeating, or appetite loss

-Aches, pains, headaches, or cramps that won't go away

-Digestive problems that don't get better, even with treatment

-Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings

-Suicidal thoughts or attempts

Facts about women and depression

Our protagonist is female therefore we focused our research on depression amongst women, to gain clear understanding and recognition of the mental illness. Our film trailer lasts only for a few minutes, so the character and narrative must be easy to understand in order to not confuse the audience. We will use our finding on depression to shape a realistic character.

Symptoms of clinical depression are different between men and women tend to be more emotional, cry more. To describes theses symptoms doctors use the term “Atypical depression”, which leads to anxiety. Men tend to show aggression shown through anger and therefore likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.

Depression is twice as common in women than men, and according to National insisted of health, one-quarter of women will experience clinical depression through their lifespan, one reason is due to hormones.

Teen depression statistics

Guardian newspaper article displays research about depression in teenagers. Since 2005 teens reporting symptoms has risen from 33% to 37%, with more than a third of girls reporting symptoms of distress and unhappiness.

37% reported feelings of unable to concentrate and hopelessness whereas boys expressing similar feeling declined by 15% since 2005. In teenagers, mental illness may stem from numerous reasons such as family, low self-esteem etc. affecting their education, behaviour, thoughts and physical wellbeing.

Theoretical approaches to looking at the mental illness depression.

Psychoanalytical approach

Freud suggests depression stems from childhood experience and by uncovering theses problems and understanding them through “talk therapy”, will help overcome the mental illness.

Trait approach

Depression is perceived as a trait of an individual, which is natural and apart of their character, e.g. some people are naturally positive and happy whereas others are naturally negative or depressed.

Biological approach

This approach suggests depression is due to the low levels of neurotransmitter Serotonin. Additionally, if an individual is depressed they may be genetically predisposed to depression. Therefore to overcome the mental illness, it includes taking medication to increase Serotonin levels in the brain.

Humanistic Approach

Depression occurs when an individual is unable to cope with their life circumstances, as a result, prevents the individual from fulfilling their highest potential and self actualisation.

Behaviour and social learning approach

Depression is something individuals learn through interactions in their social world and environment. Individuals may learn to be depressed by observing others e.g. school and media, so if depression is learned then it can also be unlearned.

Cognitive Approach

Individuals that suffer from depression have self-deprecating thoughts e.g. “I am not good enough”. This approach suggests individuals need to perceive themselves and the world positively to defeat feelings of depression.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/20/one-in-four-girls-have-depression-by-the-time-they-hit-14-study-revealshttps://www.ineedalighthouse.org/depression-suicide/teen-depression/

Character Development Representation

Teen drama is the genre of our trailer, therefore to recognise the conventional teenage characters in films, we decided to extend our research by looking at the representations of youth in the media. This research will enable us to recognise conventional teen characters, which will help us form our character. Using different youth theoretical approach we will identify their representation/stereotypes.

Henry Giroux (1997) “Empty category”

Giroux theory demonstrates how the youth are mistreated within the media, as their representations don’t give a true reflection of reality.

The term “empty category” explains that adults tend to label teenagers without understanding the concept of being a teen in the modern generation. Therefore pose judgment and their own ideas in the empty space, of what they believe to be the representation of the youth.

In the media, teenagers are represented as being rebellious, violence and having anti-social behaviour. Thus, theses representations influence viewers to perceive teens in a negative light. This conforms to Claude steel’s  “self-affirmation” theory, the media represents social groups in a stereotypical way e.g. teens, resulting in the social group conforming to the representations.

Acland (1995) – “ideology of protection”

Acland theory explains the media represents teens as delinquent youths e.g. criminals, troublesome and need to be constantly watched.As a result, it keeps teenagers subordinate and enhances the control and power of the state-“ideology of protection”. Youth is the time where individuals learn social norms. By labelling behaviour outside the shared norms and values portrays teens as deviant, in order to maintain hegemony

Hebdige (1979) theory suggests the representation of youth in the media is not a true reflection of reality. Youths are portrayed as trouble or fun, no in-between. The positive representations of teens e.g. hardworking and good are ignored, as the media tends to focus on the negative stereotypes, leading to adults believing that all youth behave in a bad manner.

Cohen (1972) the media creates a moral panic by placing blame on youths because they are easy targets. By highlighting teenage behaviour that goes against social norms and values is atomically perceived negatively, in order to reinforce hegemony.



https://www.slideshare.net/EllieBeazley/representation-of-youth-theories

Trailer questionnaire results

In order to make an effective and successful trailer, we wanted to include opinions from our target audience. The results of the feedback show

78% of the participants said our trailer should be called One Day accompanied with the slogan you decide (70%). 40% choose the name Belle for our main protagonist. The most popular setting for drama film was home one participant said, “ The home environment adds see of realism.” After looking at few different fonts suitable for drama we narrowed it down to 5 options, Oranienbaum was most popular (45%). Lastly, 58% said best order for drama trailer sequence was Exposition, Distribution Company, Production Company, Narrative, Title slogan and Release date