Representation Analysis

Representation Analysis: Heartstopper

  Heartstopper, a British television series adaptation portrays a heartworming romance between two high school boys as they try and fight through the many obstacles that come their way such as self-discovery, acceptance, and love. This show debriefs and unpacks many of the ongoing issues such as love, identity, and self-discovery in a same-sex relationship. By showcasing different types of teenagers and their stories the director Euros Lyn was able to more comfortably represent different groups in its media form. 

    The production utilizes unique characterization such as those from different races, sexualities, and even classes; therefore, creating a more relatable show for those of similar characteristics to watch. The main characters in Heartstopper include Nick, Charlie, Darcy, Tao, Imogen, Elle, Tara, and Isac who all embody different types of teenagers and the special stories they have to tell. These actors all demonstrate the struggles their specific roles may have in life through a definite understanding and knowledge of the topic at hand. Even though the topic of LGBTQ+ as well as other more unrepresented groups in media is becoming more mainstream heartstopper was still a tremendous accomplishment and success in the eyes of many for being one of the first well-thought-out and highly representative shows. 

Nick Nelson

    Nick Nelson is the star on his rugby team at school and as he grows closer to another boy in his class Charlie he begins a question of self-discovery and identification with possibly coming to terms with romantic feelings for someone of the same sex. The character depicts a serious problem nowadays of platonic versus romantic feelings for someone and how to accept yourself in going on a more self-accepting journey. We also see Nick try to brawl for Charlie's heart in a way that is not accepted by his peers who express toxic masculinity for the feelings and connection Nick and Charlie have. This showcases the oncoming problem of how to get past the hatred of others and truly go for who you love which is a task that many people feel on a much deeper level. As you can see in the image to the right Nick Nelson exposes true admiration for Charlie which is something that many people can personally find scary to express or expose due to the homophobia they may face. Not only was Nick Nelson a representation of those finding their inner self but also was a symbol for specifically bisexual men who are not as represented or discussed in the media, let alone on television. Heartstopper takes a stand against biphobia and emphasizes that being bisexual is a normal and natural part of life. Also, we can see texts and social media used a lot in Heartstopper to be more relatable to a teenage audience which showcases the connections we have with people. We can truly feel the kind and respectful way that Charlie and Nick talk to each other making us as an audience more represented and connected to these characters. 

    Charlie Spring is a teenage boy who could be explained as a quiet and anxious kid who prefers to stick with his close friends being one of the only gay kids in his school. At the beginning of the show, it's made clear to us that Charlie had been outed by a fellow classmate who had been bullying him and felt relatively self-conscious since then. This is very relatable to many viewers who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community as unfortunately, this is an ongoing problem in the real world. He is representative of all the many gay people who have to hide their feelings for someone else due to not wanting to expose them. In Charlies' case, he loved Nick and wanted to express that in public however due to him not being out to the public Charlie had to also hide himself in the process. 

Tara and Darcy

    Other side characters in the show include Darcy, Tao, Imogen, Elle, Tara, and Isac who all have unique characteristics that make other viewers relate to them. Elle was not only a black woman but also one of the first correctly represented trans characters in a Television Series done correctly. They did not expose her for being trans or make her about that they nearly touched upon the fact she was trans and had to face obstacles because of this. Tara and Darcy were a lesbian couple in the show which represented all lesbian couples in the show who had to hide their feelings for one another due to public disinterest. Isac was one of the first asexually and aromantically represented characters exposing this new observation in the last season of the show where he finds wind of asexual books. Throughout all of these characters, the audience is much more easily able to find a character that relates to them whether that's through the utilization of minorities in roles, weight, appearance etcetera that people can truly find themselves in this show. 

    Heartstopper demonstrates the self-acknowledgment of teenagers who are going through discovery and struggles in their high school lives. This is representative of teenagers who struggle to fit in and may have secrets they can't express for numerous reasons. The characters portray many different situations that occur in school and home which can alter the way that others view them and the way that they not only fight their own thoughts but others' thoughts of them. Elements regarding everyone’s physical and mental appearance can be a perfect example for people who might find themselves in these situations and help them relate.

Horror Research

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Horror Research

What is horror as a genre?

    Horror as a genre is something that is meant to scare, startle, shock, and even repulse audiences. Now even though this may not sound in any way appealing to the audience hearing these words more than 75 million tickets were sold to horror movies just in 2023 alone making more than $798 million. Now if you still aren't convinced I would also like to point out that many movies that are considered to be in the horror genre aren't exactly hide under the covers scary. Some examples of not-so-scary horror movies include Gremlins directed by Joe Dante, Beetlejuice by Tim Burton, and many more movies. Horror movies contain a low budget to create as well which is why production companies like Blum House can be so successful as they create multiple movies for the same cost as a movie from another genre. 

    The age and gender of viewers tend to impact the success of a movie. Surveys taken in numerous cases have proven that younger individuals tend to like horror movies more than older individuals. This is due to the fact that younger individuals firstly pay less attention to details in horror movies which might have a smaller budget. It was also shown in this study that men tend to like horror movies that are loaded with intensely terrifying acts whereas women may like horror movies that end in a happy way.  

Content

The main content of horror movies can include things such as physical violence, psychological terror, foreshadowing, or mystery thrillers that use the atmosphere to build suspense.

Physical Violence - Physical violence in horror films can typically be found in movies that are at times referred to as "slashers". These indicators of violence can be used for the more sensitive audiences who may get scared by things such as blood or vomiting. This is normally used at the climax of the films 

Ex. The film Texas Chainsaw Massacre utilizes physical violence
throughout the entire film as a "slasher"

Psychological terror  - Psychological terror in horror films is used to insight fear in the not knowing. This was typically seen in movies containing possession or a character slowly growing more and more insane. It normally indicates mental, psychological, and emotional states that the characters go through, using them as a way to relate to and scare the audience simultaneously. Some people are more likely to be scared by psychological terror as it is the commonality of things like this happening in real life that truly makes it so thrilling to watch. These films also typically have a more slow pace as they are working with the tone and persona of the character. 

Ex. In the movie Ma the audience is able to 
slowly watch "Ma" go crazy 

Foreshadowing - Foreshadowing is used in horror films to insight a sense of narrative suspense or tension which is integral to a good horror movie. This can be as simplistic as someone hitting a dear on the road or a fire burning in the middle of a forest indicative of something else burning down later in the film. No matter how foreshadowing is used, it is a common part of horror movie content and can make or break a film. 

In the movie Get Out of the deer Chris and Rose hit the
 beginning foreshadows the movie's hit-and-run motif and
also foreshadows the weird deer-skeleton monster that attacks
 Chris in the trailer 

Production techniques

Lighting - Through a film's lighting the production can become more cinematic as well as create a scarier atmosphere. By utilizing harsh lighting, dark shadowing, and shadows the scene is able to convey all sorts of different meanings. All of these techniques come together to create a more eerie tone as the audience may not be able to see all things shown on the screen to tie into the not knowing of psychological terror. 

Color - Next through a film's utilization of color they can foreshadow things that may come later in the film. For example, in The Shining they use the color red to foreshadow the death and danger of the hotel.

Sound - Lastly, sound can also help to make someone feel unsteady. By utilizing sounds such as creaky floorboards, music, screams, etc. we as an audience can feel the film is more realistic making it more scary to watch. 

For example Jurassic Park with music as well 
as the sound of the dinosaur feet 

Marketing

As talked about before, the target audience is typically younger people who appreciate horror films without recognizing the low-budget, low-risk film aspect of it. Horror films are typically stereotypical however in the marketing of the film they harp on the more stylistic and unique choices they made to make it seem different from the rest. Horror movies are marketed as everything their target audience could want meaning gore, terror, and at times sexual encounters that could interest young men. 

Also, many horror movies when promoting their movies will make the cover a tight shot of something that might be thought of as scary. 

For example the Five Nights of Freddy poster

Oftentimes, directors will try and make a very general poster to interest the audience without giving too much away about the movie. 

Film samples

THE SHINING 

The Shining is a psychological thriller written by directed by Stanely Kubrick. This movie is based on the main protagonist Jack and how his writing a book goes nowhere. Meanwhile, his son Danny, is having disturbing visions about the hotel they are watching over the winter break. Jack discovers the hotel's true atmosphere and begins to unravel into a maniac slowly becoming aggressive towards his wife and son staying with them at the inn. The paranoia and psychotic nature of Jack are shown through a technical shot entitled the Kurbik stare which was created to ensight fear and anxiety. The most iconic scene includes the shot shown in the picture to the left accompanied by the line "Here's Jhonny" This was the climax of the story along with the foreshadowing of the elevator pouring blood out of it bringing the color red in to indicate the danger that this hotel brought to them. 

HALLOWEEN

The film Halloween directed by John Carpenter is based off of a cold Halloween night in 1963, where a six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith's Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims. The Exterior Lighting used in the film creates a sense of fear insighted in the viewers as they are not able to constatnly see what is happening. 

Other film examples 

                                                                   The Babadook (2014)

The boy (2016)

 

Scream (1996)

American Psycho (2000)

The Exorcist (1973)

Pet Semetary (1989)

Psycho (1960)

 

Sound Project

 In my sound project, I was able to learn how to tell a story through sound effects and other auditory techniques. I did so by showcasing a 1-minute I created detailed outline of what my story should be and what sounds I planned on using in the project (Attached below) 

    In the first step of this project, I was set to make an outline and planning sheet in order to organize my thoughts. My partner and I brainstormed many different ideas however we found that a man making eggs for his daughter would both be simplistic but still allow us to be creative with the foley sounds we used as well as finding more personal aspects to add. We knew when both finding sounds online and creating them that we wanted to have sounds that made our scene feel realistic while still being viewed as something someone would hear in a show or movie. When filming the audio I always kept in mind that through post-production we could alter the pitch or speed of the audio to bend the aspects of the effects. (attached is a video of my teammate making our foley sounds) 

    During post-production, I ensured that all sounds were as realistic as possible. Therefore while editing the sounds on Adobe Premiere Pro I muted audio tracks to hear how the sounds appeared individually as well as united. I had to ensure that all voices also sounded as close and realistic as possible to the characters we wanted to include in the scene therefore we also moderated their voices. Along with this we also had to slow down and speed up some clips to ensure that we could imagine the scene visually as well as auditory. (attached is a picture of my editing screen with the different layers of audio)

Heres my sound project: 

Sound project

First project reflection

In this project we created a story using 15 photo shots to accurately illustrate my idea and develop tone. In my project I made my story reflect on a teddy bear getting ready for school. I used a lot of close and medium shots to really touch on getting the audience up close amd personal. I was a bit upset over how the photos turned out and in the future I would like to fix my composition to reflect on my capabilities further. Attached you can see my final project.

First post!

 Hello, my name is Emma and I am a high school student taking Aice Media studies. I am creating this blog to establish and inform others of my progression in media throughout this year. This blog has also been made for me to document how I have grown and developed in media production this year and to measure what I have learned throughout this year. I hope that my perspective changes throughout the year to show that my interpretation of popular media forms such as movies or TV shows also changes. I think the interpretation of media can at times be very subjective therefore I help my blog helps you to understand my interpretations of not only media in general but more specifically how I develop storylines and interpret my own projects as well as others' projects.