Tuesday 16 December 2008

coverwork for friday 12th Dec 2008

Gender in Advertising.

Gunter-
  • After the 1950's images of women as 'housewives' declined but it was again common in the 1960's and 70's
  • women in magazines in the 1970's were not likely to be shown in paid work roles and if ever they were it would be in streotypical working roles for women, such as hairderessers and secretaires.
  • all advertisments featuring women in them, in early 1970s were streotypical; 3/4 of them were of kitchen and bathroom products. sexism was present in adverts aimed at children. so the men dominant society was introduced in society a a young age.
Scheibe-
  • women were shown to be more concerned and inulged with beauty, cleanliness, family and pleasing others.
  • where as men were shown related to achievements and having fun.

Cumberbatch-

  • Advertisers started to be a little realactant on shwing women being related to housework or even doing housework. (7% of adverts showed women in such roles.)

Macdonald-

  • Advertisers seemed to follow women's magazines in cultivation of new model, even when there was strong evdience suggesting that if they modernised their ways of advertising it would be an advantage for advertisers. .
  • feminists would leave messages on advertisments such as the Fiat car advert with quotes such as “When I’m not lying on car I’m a brain surgeon”.

Gender in Contemporary Advertising.

Both genders were shown to be equal in a study taken place in 1998, it studied over 750 prime tv ads and they all found that women were twice likely as men to be in commercials for domestic products; Bartsch et al.

Cortese -

  • “Ad deconstruction reveals a pattern of symbolic and institutionalised sexism”; Female prototype showed youth, good looks, sexual seductiveness, perfection.
  • Analysis of men in advertising showed that men were often showen as “perfect provocateur”
  • i n today's society men are shown with pumped pecs and shoulders and has perfects abs. many years ago, a slick refined look was defined as fashion ideal for men.
  • Now days the muscular guy dominates the runways and magazine pages.

Macdonald-

  • Macdonald looked at the changes fom late 1980's- 90's; at this time in history feminists had won both their fights, and their ideologies were harmless by far, accept for the fact o being out of date
  • Advertisers invented “post feminism” as a utopia where women were independent and could do whatever they wanted, just making sure they had the will power and enthusiasm.

Greer-

  • Selling Beauty; shows females are a failure if they are not beautiful
  • the UK beauty industry takes £8.9 billion a year out of women’s pockets.
  • They teach little girls that streotype that they need make-up and train them to use it.
  • Reminds us that situation is unchanged till today.
  • Since she wrote “The Female Eunch” (1960’s); “Women who were unselfconscious and unmade up thirty years ago” are now “infected” with the need to conform to certain images of beauty.
  • 30 years ago it was enough to look beautiful; now a woman has to have a tight toned body, including her buttocks and thighs, so that she is good to touch, all over

Walter-

  • 1998; today’s women more or less happy with how they look, where as men felt unsatisfied with their own appearance “If only 4% of men think they are attractive, we should not be too quick to argue that only women feel cast down by pressures of beautiful ideals”
  • A feminist but refuses to see fashion and beauty advertising as a conspiracy to keep women down.

The representation of women in commercials

  • “Hi we’d like a large thin crust pizza”
  • “That’s Ok I’ll clean up”
  • Cleaners,Housewife,Repair shop Women can’t take on men’s roles.
  • Exploitation of women in ads Jean Kilbourne; “We are exposed to over 2,000 ads a day, constituting perhaps the most powerful educational force in society”
  • “Turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step in justifying violence against that person” Bodies onlyBugle Boy
  • “In an extremely competitive environment, you kind of go back to T&A Sex objects Dehumanization Lazier
  • Smith, Furham & Bitar;“We often find no representational connections in contemporary advertising.
  • One of the common registers of print advertising is of the naked or sexually
  • posed woman selling a product”
  • Stereotypical to stop explotation of women in advertisments.

Tuesday 9 December 2008

10 Quotes and Book Reference

1. Feminism, Femininity and popular culture - joanne hallow (2002) "women must no longer be 'enslaved by ludicrous "beauty" standards' (Morgan 1970,586) "

2. The movement for gender equality the world over has been one of the defining movements of our times”. Boutros-Ghali, B. (1996)

3.Bennett,Peter ,Slater,Jerry ,Wall, Peter (2006): A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, Routledge- uiseful becuase talks about explotation of the working class and 'Ugly Betty' is representing the working class within the sit-com.

4.Price,John,Nicholas,Joe (2003):AS Media Studies,Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes Ltd- useful to my text because talks about fashion as well as giving some narrative theorists and over the top talks about gender representation.

5.Moore,Stephen,Aiken,Dave,Chapman,Steve (2005): SociologyAS , collins- womens role in society and around, also just general information on their roles and theorists that may be relevant.

6.Ross, Mandy (2002): The Changing Role of Women. Great Britain: Heinemann Library- book useful because all about women and how in history till today they've got better and better, and how fashion made women more liberal.

7.Kate Winslet said: "I feel very strongly that curves are natural, womanly and real." in The Independent on Sunday size-zero debate: fashion industry is told to 'grow up' By Jeremy Laurance, Health EditorPublished: 22 May 2007

8.Lady Kingsmill ( part of the British Fashion Council, which runs London Fashion Week) "It is time, in a way, for the fashion industry to grow up," she said. "It is a real and a very important industry and the people working within it have to be taken seriously and have to be treated well." again 22 may 2007, independent on sunday newspaper.

9."[It's] not about being ugly at all. More than anything it's just about looking past what you see. Achieving that image is not all that we're on this planet to do." america Ferrera. http://www.pluggedinonline.com/thisweekonly/a0002958.cfm

10.“The American feminist Naomi Wolf ‘the era of the “genderquake”, in which the meaning of being a woman is changed for ever” tlaking about hte 1990's

11.No Turning Back: Gender and Genderquake By Helen Wilkinson (1994)- this book cover's Naomi Wolfe's talk about 'Genderquake', giving a more closer insight into it.

12. Culture and Power: A Media, Culture & Society Reader By Paddy Scannell, Philip Schlesinger, Colin Sparks (1992) - gives an intkae on how media, covers issues that are important in the socirty. it related culture and society issues.

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Representation of Gender in the Past

  • In the mid-1970s, Miles (1975) found out that there was nearly equal amount of men and women in the comedy field of media.
  • Gunter study in 1970s, that frequently marraige, parenthood, and demestic lifestyle was shown to be more important for women then men according to the television. Example of this being the 'minute maid orange juice' advertisment, where a happy traditonal family is shown and the mother is known to be making minute maid in the club house. domestic advertisments as such were made only for women.
  • In 1970's there was only 155 of leading roles given to women, where as in 1987 a study found out that female charcters were the most common in commedy programmes rising the percentages to 43%.
  • As for comedy women were starting to have equal roles as men and most of the time were running them, yet in drama's this was not the case, there were two to one. But again women kept up their apperance in action-adventure shows to 29%, even though it was low it had been doubled (Davis,1990).
  • In 1970s men ruled and dominated what to present to us on televison, they were also the most dominanat people shown to us. Telling us that even though women had been making it big for themselves in the media industry yet there was still a big gap for them to get the big leading roles. Showing it ot be a patriachal society.
  • Tuchman suggests and argues, that women who were shown in the 1970's they were known as 'incompetents and inferiors' and maybe even treated as victims or having emotional and practical problems also that women in the tv industry had little value.
  • in the past women were known to be inferio to men, making it an patriachal society, and in my opinion i think in that time women who were on tv were known not to have a lot of respect.

Representation of Gender Today

  • There is a lot of evidence to back up the point that gender over time has become more advanced. Also equality amongst men and women is a very important in society.
  • Along with the changes there are some things that have not changed, there is also suggestions and evidence saying that roles of genders have not changed at all.
  • An example backing the suggestion that gender roles have changed and patriachal society has almost been demolished is the texts referred to within the booklet such as the american hit sitcom Friends. Male characters have been known to be in touch with their feminine side where as the women are shown to be the dominant characters. Not only that but the roles and jobs they have within the sitcom shows equality in society.
  • On the other hand, to back the suggestion that the roles of men and women in society has not changed at all is the media 100 (08), majority of them are men, in the top 10 there is only one woman; Jane Tranter. This tels there is a bit of a change in the society but even till today it is mainly a patriachal society.
  • With these two examples, the second one stands out more, and judging by that i make my opinion that there is a change in society you are seeing more women poppin up in the world, yet there is still a long way to go, example being only one woman being in the top 10 of the media 100.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Detailed Migrain Analysis.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QjY2KwK-roE

Media Language: Non-diegetic sounds, a beat which is verycatching get audience attention. theres a medium shot of the magazine as well as the model used all through out the 30 second clip. at the end there is a verbal code used which inform the audience when and on what channel is this programme coming on as well as who it's original institution is from. Also at hte end it says 'fashion has a new face' this is there to connote that the streotype of beauty is going to be demolished or at least altered because 'Ugly Betty' is the new face this is very postitive fo its audience. the shots are first of a magazine this is used to indicate to its viewers that the programme will be about fashion as magazines are a big impact to the fashion interested audiences. When you watch the programme as well you can tell that the title used on the magazine in this clip 'Mode' is a very important source in the actual comdey soap series as the whole show is based around that specific fashion magazine and its employers and owners.
the lighting used with in the clip is bright mostly a filler light; high key. This is to highlight the models face and the picture used of that same model on the magazine and how it is altered thorughtput the clip. we are shown different stages of fashion throught the altering of the model. continuity editing is used as well as fade out's at the beggining of the clip and dissolve shots as well as fade outs thorughtout the clip. Mise-en-scene, firstly the model is shown on the magazine all glamoured up with makeup then ithout this is a prop to show make up makes model look beautiful and glamourous and that under it all they are just normal people just like us. also through this we can tell that new technology can change people and their appereance. also this tells us that media over exgurates people questioing our minds; does the media show thing the way they are? can be related to marxism theory as well of injected information.

Institution: this comedy drama series is produced by ABC studios. it is promoted in gritatin by channel 4 also distributed by channel 4. also it is promoted by trailers as well as posters and through radio and interent. the scheduling time for this show is friday nights, 9.30pm meanin it;s a 'watershed' programme. channel 4 is a commericial television which shows many commericaials on its channels and that is how they've publicised this programme of theres as well.

Genre: thorugh this clip a reconstruction of 'beautiful' is shown becuase we're shown a bwautiful model been turned into 'ugly betty' also this is related to the end where the slogan is 'fashion has a new face'. also this covers social issues such as 'what is beautiful'? and so on. 'Ugly Betty' is a comedy drama which covers serious social issues amd debates also it is shown in series. The title sequence has a monogule of shots and they comes together to make ugly betty.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

Bibliograpghy..

http://tviv.org/Newhart/The_Stratford_Wives- this is one of the other texts im going to look at and i got most of my information about the straford wives programme from here.

http://www.channel4.com/- i got a lot of my infomration about ugly betty from the channel 4 website as well.

http://tvdramas.about.com/od/desperatehousewives/Desperate_Housewives_All_About_ABCs_Desperate_Housewives.htm i got information about my other text, depearte housewives from this webiste

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_Betty- here i got the infomation that i used for my SHEP analysis.

http://tvdramas.about.com/od/desperatehousewives/p/dhshowinfo.htm my information on desperate came from here as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/weekinreview/07rohter.html- this wa a very relevant website i sued some quotes from here as well as got my information on the social and politcal factors affecting ugly betty.

S.H.E.P

Social Aspect of Ugly Betty:
Ugly Betty covers an important social issue; looks, appearance. Ugly betty is the 'ugly duckling' in Ugly Betty. Normally in soap opera's the main narrative focuses on family or sexual conflicts and betrayals, usually there is a subtext dealing with a social or political problem, but Ugly Betty is different as the main narrative focuses on the Social/ Political problem. This is one of the main soical factors covered in Ugly Betty but another important issue status; this is a very obvious issue shown through the different life styles of Betty Suarez and Wilhemina. You can see how Betty suarez and the her family live and the difference between the way daniell meade and Wilhemina live.


Historical Aspect of Ugly Betty:

Ugly betty is originally an adaptation of the Colombian Telenovela Betty la fae ('Betty the ugly') written by Fernando Gaitan. It is adapted into a New York City setting by creator/developer Silvio Horta and co-producers Salma Hayek and Ben Silverman whose production companies Silent H, Ventanarosa and Reveille respectively partnered with ABC Studios to create the hour-long program for U.S. audience. It was first shown on tv as Ugly Betty on September 28, 2006, on ABC in the United States and on Citytv in Canada. The first intial idea to bring Ugly Betty to american Tv started in 2001. NBC was the first media company to get their hands on Ugly betty, they were planning to adapt it to a half- hour comedy, which would of been produced by Sony Pictures Television, but these were just ideas and they never came to action. it was not till ABC and Hayek's company came on board in 2004 and decided to make it an hour long comedy-drama.

After working on it for two years, on May 16, 2006, ABC announced that Ugly Betty was going to be part of their 06-07 North American season lineup as a weekly hour-long series; the initial order was for 13 episodes, but eventually with it's popularity there has been many other series and episodes. Ugly Betty was first broadcasted in Britain on channel 4 was summer 2006, and since then has been going on strongly. They did have a bit of hiccups when there was a writers strike in hollywood, besides that it is going well.

Political Aspect of Ugly Betty:
Ugly betty covers a main concern in the political aspect of a soap opera; Claudia Milian, a professor of Latin American literature and culture at Duke says-“You can’t simply say this is an entertainment, because inevitably there is a message and a political reality, too.” The main narrative focuses on the political issue being covered in Ugly Betty. There is more then one political issue, another important issue is; immigration there were several episodes in season 2 where Ugly Betty's father Ignacio suarez (played by tony plana) was sent back to mexico because he did not have a valid passport. This is a political issue which is relevant to many countries in the world, through Ugly Betty a different view was shown the, family of the culprit was in the lime light, where ususally the country and it's goverment or other high authorities point of views are highlighted.

Friday 24 October 2008

Evaluation

SELF EVALUATION

so far this term in media, i have been on top of my work. My attainment in media has been 3; good, i have been doing well, but ofcourse there is still space for improvement, next term i am going to do even better and bring my attainment level to excellent by inputting more in all aspects of my work.

The effort i have put in my work so far has been 2/3- at some points i have done very good and other points of my work it has been good but not very good, this obviously needs to be improved by next term. The effort i have put in my coursework has been 3 average because i have done most of the work, yet i have not looked at the more important points such as therorist and SHEP analysis and so on, this needs to be covered in my coursework in order for my to be putting excellent effort. Effort to my homework, has be 2 good aswell, i have completed overally 7/10 pieces of work this is good, yet i need to buckle up and improve on it completing 100% of my homework, in order to be getting my predicted and needed grades.

My punctuality would be 2 to mr. bush's lessons i am always there on time, and if i recall i have not missed many lessons except for onr double lesson. my punctuality in miss.jones class is 4, it's poor because i have been frequently late, due to her lessons being the first ones in the morning this is very bad, i definatly need to sort this out and in assuring to do this i am going to wake up early in the mornings so i can be at school early and therefore will be to her lessons early.

As i have said above my homework has been on time most of the time, but sometimes i do go lazy so i would give my homework a 3 good but it needs improvement so i complete 100% of my homework. the quality of my homework has been 2 i make sure i understand the task in hand carefully before doing my homework and not rushing through it on the last minute.

My independant study is coming along well, yet i have not covered many important points such as SHEP analysis and theories and theorists that may be related to my independent study, therefore i give myself a 3; theres need for improvement. in class i can work independently well, and for that i give myself a 2.

In my poinion i think my qulaity of writing is 4, i need a lot of improvment on it, because i have a weakness when it comes to wiriting i become nervous and forget everything resulting in my writing tasks not being to the best of my ability. i need to improve this and in order to that i am going to write a couple of essays in my half term holidays which i will kindly ask mr. bush and miss. jones to pelase mark and tell me where i need to improve and how to go about doing so.

my media folder is 3; i have all the important notes in there and i do try to put all my loose papers and other sheets in there straight away when i get home, but sometimes i do fail to so it does not have all my up to date notes. this is bad, to make my folder more organised i will make sure i bring it to all my media lessons and therefore it will be up to date becuase i will put all the loose papers and important sheets staright into it.

i have started to contribute in class more then i use to before, so i would rate my contribution as 3, it's good. but i think i need to contribute may be a little bit more, becuase sometimes i do tend to sit there quietly and not answer a question asked even if i know the answer, i think this is due to my lack of self confidence.

my Module 5 blog is 3; average it is lacking a lot of important information, his will be covered in the half term holidays hopefully. i need to get rid of some information on there becuase it is more as a fan blog then an independant study blog. i will cover all relevant information and do some of my own research as well.

there is not a lot on my Module 6 blog so i would give it 4.

3 Achievements WWW:

i have started to contribute more in class

I understand the work more which is an improvement from last year, also i can work well independently as well.

I have more confidence in my work and i do it to the best of my ability, my homework has improved as well.

EBI:

next term i need to start to do more work on my blog; my independant study.

i need to do ALL of my homework and not be lazy.

i need to improve my writing skills and be able to write a fluent and good grade essay.

COURSE EVALUATION
the course is organised well, there for i would give it a 2, we get enough time to cover all modules and we don't need to rush through anything.

sometimes the content convered in class can get hard to understand, but the teachers are always there to help so it is not so difficult so i would give it 3.

the handouts given out to us are very useful, they are very relevant and can be related to not just one part of the course but many and come in use when you are analysising and comparing. and so i would give them 2.

the lessons are well paced for that i would give them 2. in lesson we understand all our work given, we never have to rush through something meanind we don't understand it, everything is explained clearly and teachers repeat it as many times as it tkaes for you to understand it which is very helpful.

the knowledge of the teachers is 1, they know it all, and explain it well to us in a way we would defiantly understand it. the preseantation the teachers make are excellents as well, because they are explained well and evrything is easily understood.

the course has met m expectations well, giving it a 2. becuase it is hard obviuosly from last year yet the teachers help me through it as they explain whatever you don't understand very well. so thank you to them.

The extra-cirricular events such as the Awards Evening have been very successful and useful as they have built our confidence to do even better. The recognition of our hard work has helped a lot becuase it has made us work even more harder for next time.

the macguffin blog has been excellent in assisting me if im doing the right thing, and where i should be with my work and progress of my work. so therefore i give it a 1.

WWW:
the relevant topics to help us with our independant studies and so on have been covered

the handouts are relevant and come in use in more then one way

the teachers are very helpful and are always there to help and assist us.

EBI:
i would like to learn more about the different types of theories and theorists

i need more help on the writing tasks and therefore would like to cover that more in class

a lesson to repeat things in class would be a good way of remebering things and going over things i've forgotten.

Tuesday 21 October 2008

10 Point Action Timetable

1) 23/10/08- Start looking at the SHEP factos affecting my text, research it on the computer, and write down notes which i will later abreviate and put on to my blog. A02.

2) 24/10/08-go to WHSmiths and buy the Ugly Betty book, which will help with my research. This will be covering Ao5.

3) 25/10/08- Find more research on the SHEP factors and analyse them in detail. Do more migrain analysis, concentrating on other series except for series 1. if cannot put the actual scene on the blog put the hyperlink. Ao5.

4)26/10/08- Write down where i've got my information from, start creating my bibliography, go back to the information i already have and write down the address.

5)27/10/08- i need to do the migrain analysis of the hit comedy overall, using key concepts. i need to start looking at the other text that are relevant to my text concentrating on other television series.

6)29/10/08- research the theorists which may be relevant to my text, write a bit about them and why they're relevant to my text.

7)29/10/08- Talk about the main concepts that affect my independant study, talk more about how the other text mix together and why i chose them, also look at other ke concepts i can talk about.

8) 30/10/08-research more into the 4 factors, concentrating mostly at the economical factor; how much does it cost to make 'Ugly Betty'. Go to the libarary to get more books that may be relevant to your text or may just give an insight on a relevant point.

9)31/10/08-look in the books i've brought and abreviate some important points, see if they are relevant to my text and if i can connect them to my independant study in some way and if so put on the blog.

10)2/11/08- Look at my blog, see what i've done so far, and write another timetable to see what i still have to see. also write a self assesment again so i know where i can and need to improve and tick off what i have done.

Friday 17 October 2008

Self Assesment..

I need to do more SHEP analysis, to look at the historical factors, social factors, economic factors and the politcal factors affecting my independant study. I need to look at more relevant text which i can compare my study with, i have 'Mean Girls' at the moment but this is not so relevant so i am hoping to look at more soap dramas like Despearte Housewives and so fort.
I need to concentrate more on issues effecting my study, such as the representation of 'beautiful' other issues covered in 'Ugly Betty' example; plus size models, etc.
I need to look at theories that may be relevant to my independant study, such as binary oposition, mulvey and so on.
My blog needs to include more analysis of scenes within 'ugly betty' paying more attention to migrain analysis.

Saturday 4 October 2008

Self-Assessment Of My Blog

AO1-I have not analyised my text to all key concepts, some did not seem relevant with my text as they were already covered within other parts of my research (such as; institution). In my opinion i think i covered media language in more detail and had a well analysed analysis of it as i had many points to cover and my text was relevant to the criteria of this key concept. I need to work harder on the key concept; Ideology as this is my weak key concept. To cover key concepts to the best of my ability i need to analyse my text and other relevant texts in more detail, and i need to cover as many key concepts as possible to unable myself to understand the concepts easily.

AO2- i have researched the history of ugly betty, i have found where ugly betty comes from, and how it came about to be such a popular show around the world. zeitgeist is a big impact on my text, as it is fighting the stereotypes of this stone an age, it's asking the question as well as answering the question what is 'beautiful'. i have not covered many aspects of SHEP, i have covered the social aspect of SHEP, i need to cover the historical aspect, i have touched upon this but haven't looked into it in more emphasis. the economic and poitical aspects i jave not looked at all, this is my targets for my research next. to cover the social aspect i have looked at the other characters in 'Ugly Betty' and i've seen how they are represented differently compared to Ugly Betty, and what they're attitudes are towards her. to look at it in molre emphahsis i may comapre Ugly Betty to other series drama's to seehow women are represented in them.

AO5- i have been looking closely at the reviews given to m y text in hand, i have not researched on any book that is available on my text, becuase there was none but i have looked it up and found there is a new book out, which i have ordered this will help me look at my text in more detail, also this will help me with AO2- SHEP, a it will have more information init. i will research some articles online about my text, this may be another useful source of information. in my opinion i think my question is quite good and is very precise and direct to the point, as it covers what my aim through all of this is; to find out what is 'beautiful' and how we as the audience and media define it; is it the inside that matters or the looks? my hypothesis was written when i first started my independat study, i was not so aware of what i was planning of finding out through my research so it was not written in a lot of detail but now i have started my independant and have researched more on it. i need to add more information on to my hypothesis to let my audience know what i am precisely trying to gain from my independant study. i have not paid a lot attention towards the issues and debates that may be related to my study, this is my target for my study now. i have got a extract of my text and have done a close anaylsis of it, looking closely ast hte key concepts that are relevant to my study. i have analyed a couple but i have only put one up on my blog, i am planning of putting the rest up as soon as possible, i find it easier to analysis the scenes/ sequences on paper before putting them on the computer. i have not looked at the theories and theoretial perspectives that may effect my text, this is another objective i have set for myself which i will look at. my main text comes on tv every friday's, i watch it every friday and try to analysis it as much as i can whilst watching it, the main scene and sequences are available on youtube, so i tend to watch them frequently. i have looked at some texts that i think have similarities to my text but i have not analysed them, this is something i need to do. i am keeping a record of the quotes which may be relevant to my study, i need to start recording the webistes that i visit for my information and research.

SYNOPTIC ABILTY

i have looked upon my last years notes med1 and med2 in order to get information and to remind myself the skills that i had learnt in as, such as key concepts, i have used them through my study, i need to link my study to the other modules we're looking at in A2, as some information maybe relevant. i have looked and the representation and genre (med 4). i do frequnetly look at MediaGuardian but i have not yet used any stories or inormation on there to connect to my study. i have had a looked into the domnant values and ideologies and principles that may be useful and an inffuential source to my text.

CRITICAL AUTONOMY
i always think about my study a d what infroamtion and research may be relevant to my text, whilst wathcuing tv i look out for other programmes that my be similair to my study. so far my blog has my information, my ideas, i have not used information from other blogs who may be doing the same thing as me or have relevant information for me, buh this is definatly what i need to look at. i need to start looking at other's blogs and get ideas in order to enhance my study and research. i have been doing well working independantly, i sometimes get lazy but so far i have been doing well i ahve been self motivated.

QUALITY OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

i have titled my work neatly, it is all arranged i make sure my titles are specific to what i have included in the post, i use colours that go with my blog so it does not look untidy. all work in my blog is tidy and clear, i make sure i duble check on my vocabulary. i need to start using key media technology, this is something i need to pay more attention towards. i do tend to spell check. i tend not to copy and paste i prefer to read thorugh it and pick up main points.


Monday 29 September 2008

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aw0Z1y9aAQ



Media Language: Wilhemina's surrondings are peaceful this can be conotated through the dull lighting and subtle colours used such as browns. The colours set a calming mood. the salon that she is at is very professional, there is just Wilhemina and stylist and therefore it's very quiet.
Betty's surrondings are bright and loud they don't seem soo relaxing as there are too many people, the lighting in the room is very bright, the way they're dressed they don't look as a professional salon, to busy and colour scheme very bright and does not match from anywhere.
Betty's clothes are bright and colourful, they have floral prints, they clothes are not so smart they seem more casual, there is no colour contrast.
Wilhemina's clothes are subtle dull colours, mostly browns conotating sophistication, the colours all match and her clothes are very simple, she looks smart.
Editing techniques used: jump cut from wilhemina to betty this is done to signify the different types of lifestyles they both lead also difference between 'beautiful' and 'ugly'.
the begging of Ugly Betty she looks dull this is to symbolise the change that occurs by her makeover.
The salon Betty goes to shows how colours clash doesn't look so clean, property maintained symbolic to Betty's status; shes not so fortunate as comparison to wilhemina.

Genre: Ugly Betty is a series drama.

Representation: Ugly Betty's beginning starts with her in her house looking like a tramp this is to emphasis how she feels, after she comes out of the salon you see her all dressed up this is to represent how she feels and how if she put a bit of effort it is possible for her to look 'beautiful'. the women in ugly betty's salon says 'we need the big tweezers' this is to represent how it takes time for her to look pretty.

Audience: Ugly betty is targeted to mainly women as it contains many issues and debates that occur in day to day women's lives. i would recommend the average age to be 15-40. this episode may be more effective and appealing to women who feel less confident in themselves and who look at ugly betty as a role model.

Ideology: ugly betty at home is portrayed as working class citizens where as looking at wilhemina she seems to be from a higher class this can be symbolic from the sort of clothes thy wear and the salon's they go to.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

My Objective Targets

AO1: Focus on all the key concepts.
to do this i am going to the get some key clips from youtube of Ugly Betty and do a maigrain analysis of them. i will do minimum 2 and try to cover all key concepts through all them.

AO5: i have only researched the important things to do with my topic.
i order to do better and succeed in completing this assesment objective i am going to research in more detail about my topic. i will find out more information on it, such as, where the intital idea came from, how much does it cost to make each show and so on. i need to look at the social and historical issues araised by my topic as well or any other relevant information.

AO2: i have not done SHEP analysis on my topic, neither have i connected any theorists to my work.
this is needed to be done in order to complete this assessment objective to the best of my ability. i will need to look at theories in context to my research and topic.

Thursday 18 September 2008

A Brief Summary

Ugly Betty is orginally an American television comedy-drama series which stars famous celebrities as America Ferrera in the title role, along with Eric Mabius, Vanessa Williams, Ashley Jensen, Becki Newton, Rebecca Romjin and Micheal Urie. The series was first shown on septmeber 28, 2006 on ABC in the USA and on Citytv in Canada.
It follows the life of the unglamorous and good-natured Betty Suarez (Ferrera), and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City fashion magazine Mode.
The series is an adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, La Fea ("I am Betty, the ugly"), written by Fernando Gaitan (who is also author of Cafe, con aroma muer).

It is adapted into a New York City setting by creator/developer Silvio Horta and co-producers Salma Hayek and Ben Silverman, whose production companies Silent H, Ventanarosa and Reveille respectively partnered with ABC Studios to create the hour-long program for U.S. audience.
Hayek has appeared on the show as Sofia Reyes, in addition to playing a cameo role as an actress on a fictional telenovela watched by the main character's family in the pilot episode.
On February 16, 2008 ABC picked up Ugly Betty for the 2008-09 television season.

Marc. St. James (Michael Urie)


Real name: Michael Lorenzo Urie, aged 28 years old. His occupation; an actor, producer and director. In 1998, won Dramatic Interpretation Award for Confessions of a Nightingale by Charlotte Chander. While he was still a student he performed in a world premiere of Love and Happiness, 2001. He also played the central character in stage play 'WTC view' and in the film adaption. He's currently finishing a short documentary film. He's on board of plum productions and is the casting director.














He and the cast were nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by Esemble in Comedy Series 2007 and 2008. During 2007 and 2008 Urie hosted TLC's Reality-based Series 'Miss America Reality Check'. He is still in touch with his theatre roots.

Justin Suarez (Mark Indelicato)














The youngest star of ugly betty is aged 14. he is an american actor and singer. he trained at the actors center; Philadelphia, takes vocal lessons at Dupree School of music; New Jersey and hope to continue his proffesional career in acting and singing.


He started his career on main stage at Philadelphias Walnut Street theater at the age of 8. he was featured in a episode of the Disney channel original series 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody'.






Film Career:


  • 2003- Disposal


  • 2003- Hack


  • 2004- Chappelle's show


  • 2006-Ugly Betty


  • 2007- The Suite Life of Zack and Cody


  • 2008- Illegal Superman











Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton)



Fullname: Rebecca Sara 'Becki' Newton, aged 30. She began performing musicals and plays at local theatres and studied at uni of pennsylvania then she graduated with BA in european history. She then moved to NY and landed several roles in television commericals. She also featured as writer and host for a celebrity interview show called 'Movie Junky'.
















She currently plays role of Amanda Tanen in comedy drama series Ugly Betty.

Her film Career:

  • 2001- Burly


  • 2003- Cold Case


  • 2003 to 2004- The Guiding Light


  • 2004- The Men's Room


  • 2004- P.S


  • 2004- American Dreams


  • 2004- Law and Order: Special Victims Unit


  • 2005- Charmed


  • 2006 to present- Ugly Betty


  • 2007- August Rush

Christina Mc Kinney (Ashley Jensen)






Real name; Ashley Samantha Jensen, aged 39. Her first big television role was as an eccentric secretary Rosie McConnicly in final series of BBC comedy 'May to December', in 1996. She played a daughter of glasgow criminal in BBC drama 'Down Among the Big Boys'. Ashley then appeared as Fiona Morris in a BBC1 soap opera 'Eastenders' she starred in BBC2/ HBO tv programme 'Extras'. For her work in the first series of Ugly Betty, she received Best Televison Comedy Actress and New Comers Awards at 2005 British Comedy Awards.







In 2006, she recieved two British Comedy Awards and a BAFTA nomination for her role in 'Extras.' Her role in 2007 earned her an Emmy Award nomination.



In september 2006, she appeared in Ugly Betty. Jensen us also the narrator of Channel 4's 'Embarrasing Illnesses and Embarassing Bodies. She appeared in number of films. in 2007, she narrated the UK film 'Taking Liberties'. She also appeared in 'Tristram Shandy: A cock and bull story' in 2006.

Hilda Suarez (Ana Ortiz)











Ana is aged 37; she is an American actress and singer. The daughter of Angel L. Ortiz, first Puerto Rican city councilman in Philadelphia City Council. As a child she originally dreamed of becoming a 'Ballerina'. She studied ballet for 8 years, until the pain of ' en pointes' forced her to pursue a different style forcing her to persue a career outside the world of ballet. She switched to singing, and attended a 'High School of Music' and art and performing arts in new york city and then uni of arts in Philladelphia before making her professional stage debut in regional theater production of 'Dungerous liasons.' She joined the LAByrinth Theatre Company on television- she appeared in NYPD Blue, Dr.Quinn: Medicine woman, Commander in Chief, Boston Legal, ER, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Over There and her first full-time series role Kristin and Everybody Loves Raymond. In addition to appearing in Ugly Betty she's also an active face in films including star roles in king of L.A and tortilla heamus.


Originally ortiz had auditioned for 'Betty Suarez' role but obvoiously didn't get it.

Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius)






His full name; Eric Harry Timothy Mabius aged 37. In school he was voted 'Most Dramatic Boy', after school he persued studles in film. He married his girlfriend Ivy Sherman in January 2006, they had a son born in june 06. Mabius's career beganin 1995 with 'Welcome to the Doll Houses'; an art housed movie, followed by 'Shot Andy Warhol', 1996. His biggest film role was in 'Resident Evil'. As for television he appeared on Chicago Hope, Millenium Popular, The O.C, and short lived series Eyes. He was a guest star in CSI: Miami.











As of 2006, he appears in Ugly Betty; as Daniel Meade. After the success of Ugly Betty he was named one of the sexiest men alive by People magazine. Mabius made an apperance in Pro Barack Obama music video by Will.I.Am; 'We are the ones'.

Betty Suarez (America Ferrera)










America Ferrera- play's Betty Suarez.


She is 24 years old. America is the youngest sibling of six, she was born in Los Angeles, Calafornia; at the moment she is working towards earning a degree as well as acting.


She first started acting at the age of 8 in school plays and community theater. Since she was 7 years old, she landed herself a role in school production of Hamlet, she knew she wanted to be a performer. Her mother did not help much in her acting career in her youth age; she wanted her to persue other interests. Her long time boyfriend; since college is a film director; Ryan Piers Williams.

She entered the movie industry in July 2002 with a TV movie caled 'Gotta Kick It Up' for Disney Channel. The same year she ade her film debut in the indi sleeper hit 'Real Women Have Curves'. She kept up her appearances in the media industry by doing both televison 'touched by an Angel' and film 'The Sisterhood of the travelling Pants' and 'Lords of Dogtown'.


In 2006, she landed the lead role of 'Ugly Betty' Ferrera herself coined the term 'Bettification' to describe the process of creating her onscreen persona.


For her wonderful role in 'Ugly Betty' in 2007 Ferrera won Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in Television Series- Comedy/ Musical. On 28 Jan 07, America Ferrera won the Prestigous Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Female Actor in a comedy series.


In 2007, Time magazine chose Ferrera as one of the top artists and entertainers in 'Time 100: the most influential people in the world' issue. She won Imagen Foundations Creative Achivement Award; Sept 07. She also won the Pimetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress- comedy series for Betty Suaraz in Ugly Betty. She wrapped filming on- the sisterhood of the travelling pants 2.

Her film career:

  • 2002- Real Women Have Curves,
  • 2002- Gotta Kick It Up ,
  • 2004- $ 5.15/ hr
  • 2004- Darkness Plus Twelve
  • 2004- Plainsong
  • 2005- How the Gracia Girls Spent Their Summer
  • 2005- The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
  • 2005- Lords of Dogtown
  • 2006- Steel City
  • 2006- Planet H2o. 'Waterworld'.
  • 2007- Muertas
  • 2007- Hacia La Oscuridad
  • 2007- Towards Darkness
  • 2007- La Misma Luna
  • 2008- The sisterhood of The Travelling Pants 2
  • 2008-Tinkerbell
  • 2010- How To Train Your Dragon.

Television:

  • 2002- Touched by an Angel
  • 2004- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
  • 2006 till present- Ugly Betty

Wednesday 16 July 2008

My Proposal

Title: How is ‘beauty’ represented within the media? Making particular reference to ‘Ugly Betty.'
Hypothesis:
  • I think 'Beauty' is represented through looks and other feautres.
  • Example being 'Desperate housewives', 'Wags', 'America's Next Top Model, Fashion shows and many more. These all show women's bieng judged by appearance.
  • Most of the media around us today is based upon looks, and face features as well as body. On the fashion shows you see size 0 models.
  • 'Ugly Betty' is different to this it's main protaginist is 'Betty' the main character, she is all the opposite's to what the media represent and difne to be 'beautiful' in meida today.
  • Other text which i can realate to 'Ugly Betty', how it connotates similar representations of beauty.

M: Throughout the sit-com we are mostly presented with Betty's face close-up's and her face impressions.

ID: Women are mean to be feminine and attractive also independant. looks are given a big attention, yet Betty being the protaginist we're told, you should be comfortable in what ever you wear and however you look. Also that looks doesn't get you everywhere.

G: Comedy and romance.

Wednesday 2 July 2008

Other Texts



Meangirls (2004)- However, when she moves out of Africa, she's to learn the rules of high school . She makes friends with two teenagers, Damian and Janis, who, in the terms of high school are"out crowd." Soon she meets the Plastics, the three crude, beautiful, popular girls, consisting of Regina, Gretchen, and Karen.
Mean Girls is based on the non-fiction book Queen bees and wannabees by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate, and the effect they can have on girls. Similar to its inspirations Clueless and Heathers.




Desperate Housewives (2004)- This is also braodcasted on channel 4. This cas created by Marc cherry, and was produced by ABC Studios and Cherry productions. In April 2007 it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 115 to 119 million viewers. what is it about; After the death of a close friend, four strong-minded women take on life and all its offerings -- in sometimes very funny and darkly humorous ways.

Why it is relevant to Ugly Betty; the women in it are shown as glamourous icons, they are always looking lavish. This brings the question up about Beauty, appearance. do u always have to be dolled up with designer clothes and make up? or can you just be yourself? i want to use this to see if just because they are dolled up does this affect the population of the show? what comedy- drama is more popular?

Hypothesis

  • I think 'Beauty' is represented through looks and other outside features.
  • Example being 'Desperate Housewives', 'WAGS', America's next top model, Fashion shows and many more. These all show women's being judged by apperance.
  • Most of the media around us today is based upon looks, and face features as well as body. On the fashion shows you see size 0 models.
  • 'Ugly Betty is different to this as i's main protaginist is 'Betty' the main character, she is all the opposite's to what the media represent and define to be 'beautiful' in the media today.
  • Other text which i can realte to 'Ugly Betty', how it connotates similar representations of beauty.