June 2014: How well does contemporary media regulation protect the public?

Section B: How well does contemporary media regulation protect the public? [25]

Time: 1 hour

Marks available: 25

Maximum level: 4

Mind-map created in class

Mark scheme and past paper can be found:

HERE

Shared mind map and ideas:

Detailed plan:

• *Introduction to the BBFC and PEGI.*
• The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification and regulates films within the UK. It is a non-governmental body which has exercised responsibility in the cinema for just over 100 years. The BBFC looks at films and assesses their impact and whether or not they may cause harm to viewers. Since 1984, with Video Recordings Act, the BBFC is now also responsible for classifying films for sale and hire, and the BBFC is the sole body responsible for this regulation within the UK.
• It was decided that the BBFC could not keep up with the regulation of video games, and so the Video Standards Council (VSC) was made the sole statutory in July 2012. The VSC uses the PEGI rating system to employ a form of regulation on (most) video games in the UK.
• The process for both the BBFC and PEGI is quite similar, in that a producer must submit a copy of their work to the board, where it assessed and criteria is in place which it must follow in order to be classified a certain age-category. The producer has little say in what their work will achieve, however they are still able to make edits and resubmit their work if they want to achieve a certain classification, such as with A Serbian Film. However, this process can be timely – although it is a necessity in order to achieve a decent sales performance.
• Regulation is a tricky procedure in this day and age, where the public often have access to computers and there are often a multitude of techniques available in order to gain access to a certain product. This diversity has enhanced the difficulties faced by regulatory bodies significantly. Piracy is an example, where there can be no physical gatekeeper and therefore anybody who can pirate content can access pretty much any content they desire. A recent survey conducted, produced results which estimated 28% of UK citizens have previously pirated content. This would mean that nearly 18 million people in the UK have pirated content, which is of course, a considerably large number.
• FILM CASE STUDIES – The BBFC and regulation examples
• A Serbian Film case study – cuts made in order to protect people from harm. The BBFC strives to try and classify all products, and they want to give adults the liberty to view content they wish to consume.
• Human Centipede II – work is sometimes refused classification and so the BBFC does have a lot of say, if they wish to protect the public from certain content.
• 12 Years A Slave – The BBFC has a difficult job, although they have to make exceptions to certain content, such as racism found within a film about slavery if it is historical in content and not in bad taste.
• VIDEO GAME CASE STUDIES – PEGI and regulation examples
• GTA V – May include violent content and cause harm to certain individuals, but regulatory bodies are only aiming to protect the man on the Clapham omnibus. 45 million copies of GTA V have been sold worldwide, and in the UK, there have been only a few cases of incidents which may have been related to the game. Arguably, the people who are responsible for these incidents would have done them anyway.
• Dark Souls II and the Mrs Maguire school teacher killing case study. Examples of how the press often try and blame something which is less complicated and easier to understand, creating moral panics.
• Hatred case study, where producers are more frequently trying to exercise what they can get away with, and the difficulties faced by regulatory bodies such as PEGI to try and regulate these sorts of games.

Luck Of The Draw – Screening Criticism

On the iMac I am working on, I showed the class my current project. This was in order to get some additional feedback which would help me make better decisions and changes for the future of the project. Feedback is absolutely critical in a project such as this, because as the director, editor and writer, you’re likely to be in a situation whereby you’ve seen a mistake so many times you don’t even notice it anymore.

There were a total of five main points which my audience criticised based on my current production at the time – since I have already began making some changes.

One of the shots I used had not got the motor running because I had inserted the wrong shot. This was easy to change and it just meant dragging and dropping the better shot over the older shot and replacing it in Final Cut Pro X. This was easily solved and made quite a substantial improvement.

Another key point which is almost paramount; is to cut down on some of the longer shots. I think this has become a prominent characteristic in the majority of the films I produce and in a way reflects my most comfortable style of filming, although that does not mean to say it is the best style of filming. As it is, I already need to cut down on shots in order to get time so hopefully I can still aim to have roughly 5 minutes of film. Doing this may require some transitions and scrapping some shots entirely, however I still honestly believe it is possible and it is something I am currently working on.

Another piece of feedback I receieved was that in my scenes in the shop; my shots get a bit repetitive and I should try and spice things up a little, by adding more variety. Extending some shots and shortening others is one possible solution for this and if I attempt to do this, I should achieve a more visually interesting production.

Unfortunately, one of the more difficult problems was that in one shot where the homeless person is given the scratch card, he throws it too far and in another shot, the scratch card is much closer to him. In order to sort this out, I had to cut the shot just as the homeless person was throwing the scratch card and not after it hit the floor.

One person also suggested that within my film, the woman who appears makes her entrance into the film too quickly. As I had not taken a shot of the woman actually entering the scene, I had to solve this by adding a transition to show a passing of time. This however did seem to work, and there is no longer the problem of trying to explain how a woman magically appeared on the screen.

Final shot for Luck Of The Draw

This weekend I finally cut round to filming the final shot for Luck Of The Draw. For some time I knew this shot was missing and I had initially planned to film the opening to a church with a relatively new roof. This would have shown the audience that the person who won money on the scratch card had spent the money on a good cause.

It was only on Friday evening when the thought struck me of a slightly different ending. Using the crane – which would add some interesting cinematography, I would start relatively high, moving down slowly on a church building and have the woman who won the scratch card entering the church.

Then the camera would move further down and reveal an arm holding a knife. Only the arm would be shown and so the audience wouldn’t know for sure whose arm it was, or what the intention was… However, it would be quite obvious to most of the audience that the idea is the homeless person is getting revenge.

It took several attempts to successfully film this shot, and I had to contact my actors with relatively short notice. However, I was quite fortunate that they could make it, and so I emphasised to them to wear the same clothing that they had previously and be there quite early in the morning, where the lighting is at it’s best.

Looking back at the shot, it looks quite nice, although I am going to need to add some sound to it to build up the suspense and make it more obvious and interesting.

Here is a picture of the crane I was using with the Sony HDR SR10E. I decided to use this camera with a wide angle lens so it captured the most light and revealed the ‘Methodist Church’ sign more clearly, as it was under a porch and so seemed quite dark.

The next step is to add this shot into my project within Final Cut Pro X and then build up the audio behind it.

Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino (1994) Review

IMDb page

Having watched this film quite a while back but never writing a review, one thing is for certain, the film I remember quite vividly due to it’s quite graphic but entertaining nature. This is clearly a piece of work by Tarantino, and you can tell from the style and the eccentricity in the plot and the acting. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this absolute classic and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who is a fan of Tarantino’s work.

The easiest way to describe the plot without giving too much away is as IMDb puts it  “The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.” The way in which these characters come together or “intertwine” as it’s put is very good and it works well without feeling like it was completely intentional right from the start. The story plays out well and cuts into the different characters lives at just the right times. Personally, my favourite characters are the two mob hit men, perhaps because one of them is Samuel L. Jackson who plays Jules Winnfield, but even so the acting is perfect and I was definitely satisfied with the way in which these characters, regardless of how bizarre they were, were played.

This film is rated an 18 certificate and for good purposes. There is a lot of scenes younger audiences may find distressing, there is even a count of rape and the violence and gore is pretty intense. Looking into the film again in more detail, the language used is at times extremely unpleasant and nearly every swear finds it’s way into the film successfully but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it has been overdone.

Despite being such an intense film, I think it’s supposed to be one of those films which takes things just a little bit past the line to the point where it becomes laughable, but at the same time not in a bad way. The violence, despite some of the brutality can be quite entertaining as can the acting. I would definitely recommend seeing this film. I’d personally give this film 10/10 just because it is such a good classic and was made as an independent film at the time, securing Tarantino’s career and a number of actors.

-08spencerh

The Purge, James DeMonaco (2013) Review

IMDb Page

The Purge, is a horror/thriler genre film by James DeMonaco which takes place in future America. The idea is that there is a 12 hour period where all crime is legal and all emergency services will be suspended until the full 12 hours is up. This means that all crimes are legal, including murder and the idea is that the government sets it up so that people have an opportunity to vent their frustration and anger and “purge”.

The film only received a Metascore of 41/100 which is quite low, and did not get many good reviews. However, having watched it myself having not even heard of it previously, I was quite surprised with such low scores. The horror genre was perhaps not done particularly well. After all, it was not particularly frightening and there weren’t even many jump scares. The plot was also rather predictable in areas. However, it did have it’s moments of relatively high tension and it made it quite good in areas. Personally I would have been more generous and would have given it 6/10.

In terms of finances, the film was very successful with a small budget of just $3,000,000 and making back over $34,000,000 in the opening weekend. The acting was reasonably good but what I think let the film down was the way in which things were shown. Being given a 15, the audience for the film was perhaps larger, but also the content did not seem explicit enough due to the nature of the story. With the focus being on the legality of all crime and then quite low crime during the film, I was personally quite disappointed in the way that not a lot happened. I was expecting more murders, more violence, more vandalism and much more action. Instead I got a lot more drama than I was expecting and it wasn’t really a genre-swap I was intending for.

Therefore this film did not quite hit the high marks for me, although it was still entertaining and I still quite enjoyed the full 85 minutes. I wouldn’t recommend actively going out to see this somewhere, but if it’s on and you haven’t seen it, at least you can enjoy a story and try to imagine a better film for it.

-08spencerh

The Woman in Black, James Watkins (2012) Review

IMDb Page for The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black is a Horror/Thriller film set in the past and takes place around a young lawyer who is assigned the contract of going to an old house called Eel Marsh House and examine any documentation, probably to support a case. The young lawyer is played by Daniel Radcliffe and the film takes place around this “Woman in Black” who is an evil ghost who keeps attacking the locals.

The film itself is certainly a successful horror, having made it’s budget back in the opening weekend. Although it is quite poorly rated, having a Metascore of just 62/100. The film sparked some interest in the media especially due to it’s age rating. Many people did not believe that a film so jumpy could possibly receive a PG-13. Having watched the film myself, I can relate to a concern of whether or not the film would be suitable for audiences within such a potentially low age range.

I think what makes the film special, is that it scares the audience primarily through sound effects, some visuals, acting and intense music. However, there is no intense gore, swearing or situations of prolonged worry which might have made the age rating on this particular film more strict.

The BBFC examined the film and agreed to give it a PG-13 despite some criticism. It followed a written protocol of what is right and wrong and therefore was allowed to give it the specific age rating. To look further at the content within the film which was analysed you can look (SPOILERS WITHIN LINK) here.

I personally liked the story within the film although I did not enjoy the jump scares as I thought they were too frequent. There must have been around 20, which I thought was just too many. However, for the purpose of a horror movie I think it worked and it wasn’t bad, although I probably wouldn’t watch it again.

-08spencerh

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) – Dean DeBlois Review

IMDb Page

This film is not something I would usually watch, yet alone write a review on, however, diversity is important in the world of media and we must appreciate the many different styles and genres.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the second film to a story following a boy, “Hiccup” who is a teenager living amongst a large group of vikings. The film is animated and scored 8.4/10 on IMDb so is classed as being quite successful. Likewise, looking at the success, the film took a massive $50,000,000 on the opening weekend which was more than 30% of it’s budget (the budget was $145,000,000 – source: IMDb)

The film was rated a PG which was of course essential to it’s target audience. Having seen the film in a cinema, I noted down that the primary audience appeared to be parents taking younger children to see the film.

Being 18, watching the film myself was interesting in my own way. I was personally interested in the visuals and the extent to which animated films have improved over time, in terms of the fluid movement, the graphics and the detail of everything.

I won’t spoil the film as such, but it was rather stereotypical for a PG action film in the way that there was of course a main bad guy who was battling it out against the good guy, who happens to be the protagonist in a fight for power.

However, even though it took this approach, I cannot complain about the content and it had a few little twists within which made it appearling to a variety of audiences. It goes to show that one of the challenges that film producers of this specific type of film have is to try and make it interesting even for the parents, because the parents will invevitbly be watching the film with their children.

Whilst I didn’t find myself very attached to this film, I know that the audience the film was targetting would have become rather attached specifically with some of the characters. At times there were some more tense moments and even the loss of a character which may have upset younger audiences. In fact, in a PG film this is often avoided and critics argue that Dreamworks took a dangerous approach to the film by including this.

Overall, the film was good, although I preferred the previous one to the sequel. I would recommend seeing it if you really enjoyed the first one, but not just as a film to watch if you have an alternative decent choice available.

-08spencerh

 

Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle (2008) Review

Slumdog Millionaire is set in the slums of Mumbai and follows the adventure of a man, Jamal, who ends up on a TV show which is the Indian equivalent of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ by chance, Jamal (played by Dev Patel) manages to do exceptionally well in the questions asked and the public do not believe that a young, 18 year old slum dweller could be so successful and know so much. Resultantly, he is arrested before the final question worth 20,000,000 rupees (which is actually only just over $400,000) and interrogated by the police.

However, Jamal is innocent and so the film is about him proving his innocence frantically by recalling his life events which have led to him acquiring the knowledge he has in the specific areas. The interesting part to the story of Slumdog Millionaire is that in fact, Jamal has no desire for riches. There is something else he wants to gain (no spoilers here though).

The film is interesting in the way it is both in the past and the present, and there is some stunning cinematography to get the audience to visualise the area in the correct manner. It is well worth watching, and as a member of the audience you are likely to bond well with Jamal as you are told the story of his life and his many misfortunes. It is definitely an emotional film, and there are is certainly a wide diversity of ups and downs throughout. It might be described as a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

However, overall this is a film for everyone and it is of good quality, meaning I would recommend it to everyone. Danny Boyle clearly demonstrates his moviemaking potential within this film and it is a must see.

-08spencerh