Quadrophenia HW

Quadrophenia Homework

For homework we were asked to watch the film Quadrophenia, which would help us to identify what it was like for the Youth of Britain in the 1960's. This film, set in 1964, follows the life of Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels), a young London Mod whom begins to experiment with things that all teens at the time would. Such as ecstasy, alcohol and smoking. They were rebelling teenagers and began to believe their 'everyday' job was dull and outdated, so began to create their own fashion, trends and enjoyed the freedom they started to gain. 

How is this attitude shown in the film? Find – mods attitudes towards older generation and – older generations attitudes towards mods

- The Mod's had no respect towards the older generation and was very disrespectful in the way they approached and talked to them. This is seen in Quadrophenia when Jimmy says to his boss to "Shove his job", this job would keep him out of trouble in gangs but Jimmy doesn't think about this. 
- They destroy property during the riots in Brighton and London, including a Cafe in the town. The Mod's including Jimmy do not think of the ramification this would have on others. 
- The teens in the 1960's and their parents would argue a lot as seen in this movie because they have very different views, Jimmy's Dad tells him to "Stop watching that rubbish" when he is watching a performer on the TV. This is because the dad believes the media is having a bad influence on the younger generation. 
- There is a clear definition of class difference in the film, which reflects on what Britain was like in the 1960's. Higher class people would not care about lower class and would think of them as not on the same 'level' socially as them. In Quadrophenia Jimmy is ill at work and his fellow colleagues do not help him but instead ignore him (showing the class difference). 
- Mod's were seen as being intimidating and scary in society, so the public would avoid contact at all costs. Like when the Mod's are in the Cafe in Brighton with their rivals the rockers, the public are scared of this situation. 

Quadrophenia deals with collective identity and personal identity. How does the film illustrate the collective nature of mod culture? Can you think of specific examples? How does Jimmy change during the film? What do you think this change symbolizes?

Throughout the film you can see the collective identify of the Mod's and their personalities in society and everyday situations. The film shows the nature of the Mod's as being rebeliant by taking drugs, causing riots, having parties and being of an aggressive nature. In Quadrophenia this is shown throughout in many different ways. one part that helps portray this is when Jimmy and his other Mod friends break into a Chemist, to steal drugs to take with them to Brighton. They also become very loud and aggressive here, shouting ' We are the Mods'.

Jimmy does change throughout the film, in his attitude and personality and becomes more sensible. The first time that you begin to see this in Quadrophenia when Jimmy always was seen as hating the rival group the rockers, but then begins to see that they are people as well and not so bad after all. Kevin who is a rocker, is seen helping Jimmy fixing his bike and this is when you see his view for rockers to start to change. Another the scene the portrays Jimmy's change in personality towards rockers is when him and his friends try to find the rocker that beat up their friend (a fellow mod). But when they find the rocker it is Kevin and Jimmy instantly tries to stop his friends from hurting him. These two scenes prove how Jimmy's attitude towards the rockers is changing. 

I think that these changes symbolize how the Mod's and the Rocker's were all just people and although they hated each other, some of the members only went along with it to be able to fit in with the social groups at that time. 

After Jimmy returns from being in jail, he finds that everything has changed because he has been kicked out of his house and he has quit his job meaning he has no money to fins a home or somewhere to stay. He begins to realise that he has lost everything he once had, This shows how being a mod wasn't as good after all.

Could you make a modern-day version of Quadrophenia? Is there such a definable youth culture as the mods today?

I believe that youth in society today has a definable youth culture, that many people are scared of. This means that we could make a modern-day version of Quadrophenia, with the 'Hoodie Horrors' of Britain. The Chavs in Britain are constantly in the media in a negative way, showing how chavs cause 'horror' and disruption around the country. 

Genre - Media

Describe 
In detail
Setting
Theme
Icon
Narrative 
Characters
Textual analysis 

For music video: 
- Vernallis
- Goodwin 

For film:
- Steve Neale 
- Rick Altman

Remember these key words: 
Subverting- does not match the stereotype
Converting- matches the stereotype

Paragraph 1: Production/genre
Paragraph 2: Research typical codes/conventions 
Paragraph 3: Theorist- subvert or conform to these (using examples)
Paragraph 4: Conclusion

Rick Altman's theory
Rick Altman proposed a theory, it had a semantic/syntactic approach to film genre, these are the two separate ways that he proposed film genre to work. 
Semantic- Semantic means the way that the media is presented examples of this includes the way characters are presented (clothing, makeup, attitude, dialogue, angles and body language), music, setting. 

Anagrams for Section 1

DRPUC is an anagram to help us remember the key topics that could come up in Section 1a of our exam:

Digital Technology
Research and Planning
Post Production
Understanding forms and conventions
Creativity

NGRAM is to help us with Section 1b of our exam:

Narrative
Genre
Representation
Audience
Media Language

Camera work:

Framing
Angle 
Movement

Mise en scene:

Costume
Lighting 
Actors
Make up
Props
Setting

Audience

Audience 1b:

Key Theories:
• Hypodermic Syringe
• Cultivation/Drip Drip
• Marxist Hegemony 
• Liberal Pluralism
• Uses and Gratifications 
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Stuart Hall- Reception theory
• Schadenfreude 

Audience is passive, do what you're told, media controls you
Active audience, opposite of passive audience

Hypodermic Syringe:
Media is injected into you and you have no say on the matter. Permanent and instant change on you, you are powerless. Advertising relies on this theory- making you go out and buy stuff
Bobo doll- Social Learning Theory 
Jamie Bulger case
- Injecting audience- instant hit/need to buy music 

Cultivation/Drip Drip
Slowly feeding you with an ideal, the more you’re exposed to it the more you will take it in- desensitisation 
- Offering our audience an innocent ideal before the desensitisation
- Music video- constant twitter feed and website update, news page etc

Marxist Hegemony
Top- Bourgeois elite (make the media)
Below- Passive masses (believe what they read/hear, ‘thank you for telling me that’, do what you're told)
Not so much now- more outlets, citizen journalism 

Liberal Pluralism 
Lots of views and lots of voices 
Choose where you find your information, different truths 
- Intelligent, insightful, smart teenager, fighting against stereotypes
- Using social media to comment on issues, going against hegemonic values
- Empowered women, not sexualised 

Uses and Gratifications
Using the media to give you things that you want
The audience is active, we use the text, we are not used by it
Used for our own gratification or pleasure 
- Diversion: everything together, website, Instagram (following someone’s life)
- Escapism: two worlds, not pleasuring but challenging, attaching an idea to story
- Information: from Ivory’s news page on website, twitter and social media, magazine article 
- Pleasure:
- Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one’s own:
- Sexual stimulation 

Schadenfreude 
Taking pleasure from other people’s misfortunes 
Makes you feel better about yourself 

Water Cooler effect
The idea of gathering around to talk about something with a group of people 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Use the media to provide self-esteem, love/belonging 
For us we provide belonging, be a part of Ivory’s fan club
Esteem- model yourself on our artist 

Reception theory:

- Dominated/ preferred: they believe everything they are told is true. 

- Negotiated: does not believe everything that media says, but believes some.

- Oppositional: will not believe anything the media says. 

Psychographic: working out your audience, describing your typical audience member.

Remember:
Who are your target audience? 
How the audience received it? 
Difference between the message and how it is received? 

Representation

Representation 

Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience. 

Media texts have the power to shape an audience’s knowledge and understanding about these important topics. Stereotypes are a simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through basic or obvious characteristics - which are often exaggerated. 

For example, Vicky Pollard from Little Britain is a stereotypical example of a working class teenage girl. They can be used to describe characters quickly, relying on existing audience recognition. Stereotypes are dangerous as they can lead audiences to generalise about people or places.

Media Language

Media language is how you create meaning through Camera, Mise en scene, Editing and Sound.
Here are some acronyms that will help you write about the following subjects.

Camera F.A.M. - Frame, Angel and Movement 
Mise en scene C.L.A.M.P.S.- Costume, Lighting, Actors, Make up, Props and Setting
Editing S.T.O.P.S. - SFX, Transitions, Order of Narrative, Pace and Screen time.
Sound M.C.D.O.V.E.D. - Music, Contrapuntal/Parallel, Dialogue, Off screen and On screen, Voiceover, Emotion and Diegetic/ Non diegetic.   
  
Remember to include:
- How did you create meaning in your music video, Mise en scene, sound, editing and camera work.
- Include connotations and codes, remember to add the meaning of these codes. 

Intro
- State what was made in AS production
- Codes and conventions (Ivory's dark lipstick)
- Textual analysis 

Main body of essay
- Mise en scene (3 examples)
- Camera work (3 examples)
- Sound (3 examples) 
- Editing (3 examples) 

One paragraph on dijipak and website, which will include cross media branding and how the ancillary tasks link together.

Always include 3 theorists in the media language question

Theories: Narrative theory, Todorov, genre theory and audience theory (representation). 

Conclusion

- Effective use of media language is vital if a text is to communicate its intended meaning to its target audience successfully. 

- Codes and conventions be used consistently.

Narrative Essay

Narrative- telling a story, plot and character, give a brief summary of your film opening. 

Levi Strauss:
- Binary opposites (e.g. dark/light and old/new)

Todorov:
- equilibrium: disruption: new equilibrium 

Propp:
- Typical characters, hero, villain, damsel, sidekick  and dispatcher  

Barthes:
- codes: action, symbolic (board games, roses), enigma (giving questions) 

Linear an non-linear

Essay plan: film opening 

Binary opposites:
- comparison between the teens an children 
- sereotypical teens and our games club 

Disruption:
- break u between friends 

Typical chararcters: 
- 4 stereotypical teens 

Codes:
enigma- what happens between the relationship between the friends/ how did it beak up. 

Essay plan: Digital technology

Question: Explain how your skills in the creative use of digital technology developed over time. Refer to a range of examples from your media productions in your answer. 

My AS media production group produced a film opening sequence for a feel good/teen film entitled 'Connect Four'. It focused on 2 male and 2 females that were friends but something in their path damaged their friendship forever. Where as our A2 media production focused on a music video for the artist 'Halsey' and her song 'Gasoline'. For our music video we wanted to be more creative and use a wider variety of skills. Therefore decided on a strong story line about a women who is fed up with the spotlight, she is powerful with an unstable side. In both years digital technology was a key process in learning new skills and developing our creativity. 

During the preliminary stage at the start of the course, our groups knowledge on the whole was very limited on the whole was very limited on post-production and editing technologies. We had to start editing on premier pro when we did our 'Juno' task, but I was very unfamiliar with the software and its features were overwhelming. This task was required to include certain shots, therefore I focused on this and not music effects, color correction, transitions etc. But instead ensured match cuts, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule were present. 

During Year 12, this contrasts massively with the digital technology we used for our preliminary tasks at AS. This is due to my increased knowledge of digital  software, we could focus more on creative and in depth software. Where as in A2 we would focus on more basic software and use less advanced cameras. Using an advanced camera in Year 13 (Sony A500), helped us to focus more on the more creative aspects of post production. I did not focus as much on simple cutting but instead on complex editing (e.g.fast cutting), for example in our music video 'Like Me' we had a series of black screens in between a shot. 

For our final production in Year 12, we learnt many of our digital technology skills from our preliminary tasks such as Juno and The Sunshine Killer. This enabled us to develop a creative and innovative production, whilst following the conventions of teen films, we got inspiration from 'Stand by me' and 'Breakfast Club'. From studying and researching these films we were able to develop from very simple cuts (straight) to dissolves, transitions and fast cutting between our titles. Fading from being young into being teens that are still together as friends. 

This also contrasts to our Year 13 production, as we then had a greater understanding of the digital technologies used and how post-production skills are important. We achieved more creative productions through the sound in the production, for our music video 'Like Me' the beats allowed us to experiment with fast cuts and black screens in between shots. These black screens in our music video showed the 'crazy' side of our artist, which is very important in attracting our audience. 

Following the conventions and themes for our indie-pop genre we created a relevant music video four our song, creating an insane feel. This helped us to show our editing skills, developing our use of fast cuts that we had first used in our preliminary tasks in Year 12. The fast cuts, camera moving with artist and black screens all helped to create a crazy feel to the production. We were able to use our skills from our preliminary task in Year 13 using 'Premier Pro', to edit our final music video to its highest quality. The skills of using saturation and color correction meant that the scenes could look darker and more eerie, like we wanted them to. Also some scenes were to yellow looking so we color corrected this on premier pro. All of the skills we have collected and applied have help create a high quality product. 

Essay plan: Using conventions of real media texts

Use of real media conventions involves consideration of other texts that you looked at and how skillfully you were able to weave their conventions into your work or ways in which you might have challenged them. 

Tips:
- As film research
- What film openings did you research
- Genre (what kind of characters, setting and location etc.)
- Format conventions: titles for a film opening. 

Essay Plan- Research and planning

Intro

• Split up research and planning 
• In year 12 we made a film opening about a group of friends who decide to start a board game club...
• In year 13 we made a music video for an Indie artist called 'Ivory' and it had a very deranged, unusual feel...
• In both years research and planning was very important... 

Year 12 (research)	Year 13 (research)
Genre conventions- E.g. Stand by me, little genre research completed.	Similar artists- also compared to different genres, developed/challenged conventions. In depth research.
Titles- screenshot research, real media conventions.	Titles- 30 second breakdown of shots, mise en scene etc.
Costume/mise en scene- only one costume throughout the entire film opening.	Costume/mise en scene- multiple locations for filming, lots of outfits and makeup/hair changes.
Narrative- beginning of a film and basic/simplistic narrative.	Narrative- There is a whole text and narrative that needs to be strictly followed. Also it has disjuncture.
Audience- No research, not needed.	Audience- It is very in depth and sophisticated.
Year 12 (planning)	Year 13 (planning)
Storyboard- Very basic and stuck to the storyboard.	Storyboard- More in depth storyboard, helps get ideas for it and helps identify problems.
Risk Assessment- is very basic and not very detailed.	Risk Assessment- More dangerous locations, so more complex risk assessment.
Steal-o-matic- No steal-o-matic needed in year 12.	Steal-o-matic- An advanced steal-o-matic had to be made. There is more challenges to face.
Shooting schedule- very simple and with little dates.	Shooting schedule- Fairly complex, with more dates and details.

Exam Overview

OCR G325:

• The exam is 2 hours long
• You spend 1 hour on each section
• Have to answer 2 questions from Section A
• And spend 30 minutes on each of these individual questions 
• Section A is worth 50 marks (25 marks for each Q) and Section B is worth 50 marks
• Section A- about our coursework
• Section B- Collective Identity (representations of British youth)

There are four possible subjects our Section A questions could be about:

• Digital Technology 
• Research and Planning 
• Post-Production (editing, sound etc)
• Using conventions from research texts 
• They could also feature a creativity angle such as: 'How creative were you in your research and planning?'