G325 (Exam)

Three examples where youths have been represented positively in the media:

Teenager helps save six from fire
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8032715.stm

Teenager was only person to help Nottingham rape victim
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-19673507

An ‘inspiring’ teenager raised thousands of pounds for a cancer charity by organising a 12-hour nighttime walk through the rain.

http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local/inspirational-teen-in-nighttime-walk-1-7712872#ixzz40nzQUPrE

Some extra stories:

Teenager plans 'charity shop with a difference'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-21029997

Teenager rescues woman from burning house in Heywood

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16525329

Attack The Block

Producer: Nira Park & James Wilson

Director: Joe Cornish
Year: 2011
Budget: $11 Million
Box Office: $5.8 Million
Synopsis: A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.

Somewhere on a council estate in South London, hostile aliens have fallen from the sky. A local teenage gang take it upon themselves to fight off the unwanted visitors, but quickly discover they are outnumbered by the pitch-black, bear-like creatures with glowing, razor sharp teeth.

Main Themes: British Youth Culture, Gang Culture (strength in numbers), Unlikely heroic protagonists, Mutual awareness & empathy, Non-judgemental character types, Variety of social types, Perception & attitudes towards English class.

Characters: 

- Moses

- Pest

- Jerome

- Sam

- Ron

- Dennis

- Brewis

- Biggz

- Hi-Hatz

How the film was received: 
http://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2011/11/29/film-review-attack-the-block-2011/

Quadrophenia Case Study

Production Company: The Who Films & Polytel

Director: Franc Roddam
Release Date (Year): 1979
Budget: £2 Million
Box Office: SEK 1,678,408 (Sweden) or by today's money it is £130,906

Country Made: United Kingdom

Intended Audience: The Primary audience for this film would be original MOD's and Rockers as they would be able to identify with the characters. Also this would mainly appeal to fans of The Who since it is a promotional film for them.

Nowadays the audience would be typically be a male audience between the ages of 35 and 55 who were teenagers at the time when these bands were popular, for example, in the 60’s and 70’s. They are likely to live in big cities such as Manchester and Liverpool; the places where many of these bands were formed. This target audience are also likely to have interests in motor-cycles and travelling as many of these bands were seen as rebellious in the era of ‘Mods and Rockers’. For example, the album produced by The Who, ‘Quadrophenia’, is the soundtrack album to the 1979 film Quadrophenia which refers to the 1973 rock opera, including the songs ‘I’m One’ and ‘Bell Boy’. Its story involves social, musical and psychological happenings from an English teenage perspective, set in London and Brighton in 1965.

Audience Reception: ---

Social factors that influenced the film (sub cultures, music etc.)
- MODS
- ROCKERS
- TEENS

Codes And Conventions:
Analysis of miss-en-scene, camera shots/ angles, lighting, sound, special effects, location, props, CGI, make-up, costumes
Genre
Intertextual references
Narrative structure

Representation

Complaint about the age rating for Quadrophenia since it was too old for the intended/ target audience and the films reception.

Human Traffic Case Study

Producer: Allan Niblo
Director: Justin Kerrigan
Year: 1999

Budget: £2.2 million
Box Office: £2.5 million

Brief Synopsis: Set in Cardiff, Wales. Five friends spend one lost weekend in a mix of music, love and club culture all motivated by the need for a weekend escape from the difficulties and contradictions of their daily lives.


Main themes:

• British culture 
• Club culture/ partying 
• Glorifying drinking & drug use 
• Youth culture 
• Alienation 
• Work and unemployment

Main characters (and how they link to the presentation of British Youth Culture):

• Jip – Representation of the paranoid section of youth culture, he is too scared to get into a relationship with anyone (feeling pressured to act to expectations) but alternatively he is the representation of the youth at work, he is at work 5 days a week and he feels that he is being used by his boss who he hates. He counts down the days until the weekend. 
• Lulu – She represents the mistrust the youth culture portrayed have, she does what she want when she wants to, she does things for herself, not the satisfaction of others (party animal). 
• Koop – Represents the party animal who enjoys his job at the record shop and loves being with his friends, however he also gets paranoid when on drugs and is constantly worrying about his girlfriend (Nina) flirting with other men. 
• Moff –this character has constant arguments with this parents not getting on because they are two totally different generations. This is a typical representation of youth culture in the 90’s showing the generation gap between Moff and his dad (primarily). He feels rejected by his parents so resorts to drug dealing. 
• Nina – shows the female side of the youth culture, showing the relationship between all the friends, she is known as the more “level headed” and “got her head screwed on” character, possibly the voice of reason in some situations. 
• Lee – unexperienced he shows the curiosity and enthusiasm in the youth drug culture 
• Andy (Starwars) – shows the laid back part of the youth culture in Human Traffic, when they socialize and “talk about random nonsense” when on drugs. 
• Felix (Bar) – shows how the youth mutually put up with each other even though they don’t talk, they talk for the sake of being friendly (mainly with Jip) 

Human Traffic Questions:

1. How can Human Traffic be considered a social realist film? Human Traffic could be considered a social realist film as it it is being filmed through the perspective of people in the time of 90's. It draws attention to the everyday conditions of the working class, in this case that of youth culture as well. There are issued raised in the film about teenagers feeling like outcasts in society and keeping themselves to themselves and masking all their problems through going out with friends and having alcohol and drugs. The film shows what it was like in the youth club culture, this would strongly reflect on both teenagers (as they would be able to relate to the issues raised in the film) and probably middle aged people who are parents (they could relate to the struggle of having children and it might be an eye-opener as to what 'typical' children of the 90's get up to, they are unaware).
2. How does the youth culture depicted resits or subvert mainstream society? The culture depicted resits mainstream society in many ways, one of the most obvious ways is through their job life they have an organised week working and then go out clubbing all weekend, this lifestyle is not accepted by mainstream society. A good example of this is where Moff (played my Danny Dyer) is having an argument with his dad about the fact he doesn't have a job and never want one, he is a clear representation of how the youth culture in this film are feeling and his dad, the police officer is representation of the strong minded adults who are mainstream society. There is also another scene where two of the female characters are being interviewed in the club by a news reporter and these characters are joking around taking-the-mickey out of these people acting drunk and as though they are on drugs as they know this is what mainstream society thinks and expects from their culture so they are playing up to this stereotype ironically so in a way they are subverting from society.
3. What values or morals are presented in the film? In the film each character has their own view on morals however they have a sense of comradery, they all look out for each other, for example when they are all going to the club Jip sacrifices himself and gives his ticket to a friend so they can get in, he then makes his own way in. From the point of view of the adults i.e. mainstream culture they are seen to have no morals and act like hooligans and are disrespectful towards their elders as they they are so different. It seems again they are all together in the fact that they want to  get away from society and life and enjoy themselves in the clubs partying every weekend, they share this idea of 'living for the weekend'.
4. How can you consider the film to be British? Human Traffic could easily be regarded as a British film for many reasons e.g. the location is set in Cardiff (Wales), the director Justin Kerrigan is British, also from Wales. Additionally most if not all of the characters in the film are British with some distinct actors such as Danny Dyer who is a Cockney. Most of all however is the fact that it is based around British youth culture and problems faced by them in the 1990's meaning it appeals to a British audience. A good measure of whether a film is British is whether it would be applicable to other cultures i.e. is it universally understandable, the answer to which is unlikely. Audiences in places such as America where they would not understand the way of life that is portrayed in this film, for other countries in Europe it might me slightly more understandable such as the club scene, but would still not fully understand the British Humor or the actually struggles of growing up in that country.
5. Scene Analysis: I have chosen the shop scene from Human Traffic where Jip is complaining about his boss. In this scene there is a obvious representation of power where it is clear that Jip feels he is being controlled by his boss. We can see from this shot that he is being kept quite
   
   from speaking with a £10 note placed over his mouth showing the power of money and how the youth society feel that they are being used for the exploitation of bosses and big companies mainly reflective of mainstream society, there is a clear hatred for work. This two shot allows the audience to see both Jip in the foreground and his boss in the background, his boss is described as being a "Mini Hitler" which is reflected in his hairstyle again this relates to the idea of Jip being used and oppressed when he is at work. It is a very powerful shot as it allows you to get to grips with the full extent of how the character feels he is being used. This links in with the wider issue within society as it fits in with that the characters have to put up with this during the week so they can party at the weekend where they get drunk and take drugs to get away from societies rules and pressure and they do this to rebel again oppressors such as their parents, bosses and politicians, anyone who is making them feel alienated as a generation.

Violence in the media - Personal Susceptibility (Cantril 1947):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3151326/ISIS-terrorists-arriving-Europe-hidden-migrants-crossing-Mediterranean-boats-warns-EU-s-prosecutor.html

Cantril’s study of radio, panic spreads to the public at large. This study shows that there tend to have one of two main objectives. The first of these is a genuine social, moral and political objective to measure the power of media technologies to affect how individuals think, feel and act. The other objective – is motivated by commercial interests and attempts to measure the effectiveness of media as vehicles for advertising and publicity campaigns.

"ISIS terrorists are arriving in Europe hidden among migrants crossing the Mediterranean on boats, warns EU’s top prosecutor" 

It is clear that the media does in fact use these tactics to cause mass panic. This is used to grab peoples attention and sell copies of a newspaper. The use of words in the headline are designed to catch the readers eyes, especially those regarding terrorists which has become increasingly more publicises in the last 5-10 years. Cantril's theory explains the use of such terminology in the headlines to make people about something which is effectively not an issue, for example the threat of terrorists coming though illegally from other countries has always been a threat it is simply in the news due to current events of migrants coming through to the UK. There is no actual evidence for this headline it's just that experts think they might do this, there are no actual cases of this happening in the UK what-so-ever. One explanation for this article is so that it can be used as anti-migration material saying that people shouldn't come over to live or those coming over who need help should be rejected because they might be a terrorist.