• THEME: Rebellion
• SUBJECTS: Identity, Gender politics, Authority, Negative Stereotypes
• INTENTIONS: To represent change in ideas on Gender but also represent the negative stereotypes that do still exists on Gender/ sexuality.
• VISUALS: how the film will look – incl. inspirations from artists, film makers, movements etc
• Inspirational Mood Board –

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• SOUND: Contrasting interviews as ‘background noise’ behind more instrumental/ ambient sounds or crowd noises to represent the struggles many people face in regards to gender and sexuality fluidity.
• TITLE: Checkmate, Untitled 2020, tired, stare, Train Wreck, Grow Up

MANIFESTO –

For many years gender has been treated and represented as a solid construct, only representing the mostly negative stereotypes of Men and Women. Where men are expected to be emotionally numb and work to provide for his family and Women are expected to be fragile and care for their children or other family members. More recently, gender and secuality have become more fluid and diverse especially within the media, as suggested by David Gauntlett and his theory on gender fluidity which is the idea that whilst in the past the media tend to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offers us a more diverse range of icons and characters from whom we may influenced by; gender identity is less constricted. I believe that it is imperative that all identities and genders are represented equally throughout the media but also that ideas on gender and sexuality are more accepted in the real world, allowing people to fully express their own identity rather than one society fabricates and forces upon people.

Therefore, in my short film I aim to expose some of the gender norms/ stereotypes/ ideologies that are present in todays society by contradicting them. For example a male wearing makeup or a woman wearing ‘masculine clothing’ are two examples of how gender is constricted and judged in todays society. A theme that I will aim to repeat throughout my narrative is hurt but also the binary opposition between what is expected and how people actually want to represent themselves. One other theme that I am going to try and represent would be the concept of ‘failure’ and how gender and sexual norms can negatively impact people and cause them to believe that they are a ‘failure’ or bad in some way. For the theme of everyday I am going to set my scenes in common, busy places such as in town, on a street or on the bus.

STORYBOARD –

You must use 3 words from ‘throwing the dice’ –

Repetition, Everyday, Failure

Artists References

Martha Rosler: Kitchen Semiotics, 1975

Bas Jan Ader: I’m Too Sad to Tell You

Walter Pfeiffer: Transformer: Aspects Of Travesty

Ideologies/ Theories –

Judith butler –

According to Butler’s theory, gender is essentially a performative repetition of acts associated with male or female. Currently, the actions appropriate for men and women have been transmitted to produce a social atmosphere that both maintains and legitimizes a seemingly natural gender binary.

Laura Mulvey –

Male Guise – The concept that texts present females through the eyes of a heterosexual male, often objectifying the physical form for gratification.

David Gauntlett –

Gender Fluidity – The idea that whilst in the past the media tend to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offers us a more diverse range of icons and characters from whom we may influenced by. Gender identity is less constricted.

Selection Process –

As I couldn’t use all of the shots I had, in order to select the right ones I first imported and layed out my audio as this would allow for the foundations of the narrative on gender norms to be created as the visual aspects are used to reflect what is being expressed in the speeches. After importing my audio into Premier, I started importing multiple MP4 files that i thought would fit in order to create a rough draft that I could develop. The initial draft doesn’t have as many effects as it was mainly used as a guid for me to see a version of a possible final product. In addition, I also felt that by having too many settings, subjects or themes may distract viewers from the key messages I wanted to convey which is therefore why I aimed to use a limited about of scenes and focus on highlighting the key ones such as the close-ups of the eyes and how I could construct a narrative out of these. After compiling all of my video files into one folder I went through each of them individually, selecting and deleting the relevant files as some shots took multiple takes.

Draft 1 –

Evaluation for draft – Overall to improve for my next attempt at the film I am going to improve my audio so that it is clearer and will therefore impact views more. I am also going to try an incorporate some more wide-angle shots in order to represent the setting of the film. One thing that was useful when editing my draft would be deciding the audio fist as this allowed me to create more accurate ideas for my shots that would also link visual with audio and have more connotations and impact.

Using Premiere –

1 – One of the most important elements of my music video would be the audio as this sets and creates a narrative, explaining what this video represents which is then reinforced through the visual elements. The audio was the first element I imported into premier, as this allowed me to develop my ideas based on what was being said, rather than recording footage and then trying to get that to correlate with the messages conveyed via the audio.

2 – In order to allow for consistency in the aesthetic of my shots and how they appeared on screen, I used the same lens throughout my shot (Canon 18-55mm). I also used a tripod for all of my shots in order to ensure that they were level put the also minimise the chances of me having to stabilise the shot in premiere.

3 – After gaining a rough idea of how I wanted my visuals and audio set out, I then decided on the title and what sort of text was included so that there was a mixture of different mediums throughout the video. I decided on the title ‘The Script’ as not only is this mentioned halfway through the video (reinforcing the key ideas I aim to convey) but I also think that it accurately represents how gender is structured and formed in society, the stereotypes that govern our behaviour, attitudes and ideologies acts as a script.

4 – When editing my footage I also had to use different tracks (the same as layers in photoshop) which allowed me to be able to edit individual sections without impacting the rest of my shots or audio. This also allowed me to be able to clearly see the different areas of my film and how each section transitioned to the next.

5 – For some of my shots there is more digital manipulation, such as a reduced saturation and a slow fade allowing the scene to gently enter the screen rather than harshly appear like some of the other shots do, allowing me to convey multiple meanings.

6 – As I wanted to focus on gender I thought that it would be important to focus on the stereotypes on gender as a whole rather than singularly such as Male VS Female. Although, there are strong opinions against women in society there are also ones against men which generally aren’t represented as much throughout the media.

Final Film –

Key Frames –

Evaluation –

Overall, I believe that my film was a success as it covers and represents the main messages I originally intended to convey. I definitely think that prior planning was key to this film and allowed me to develop on my final outcome. In addition, the use of a storyboard also allowed me to focus on key ideas for my film such as the close-up on the eye and the bath scenes. I also believe that by adding and deciding on my audio before I filmed allowed me to accurately link together both visual and audio components; supporting each other in order to emphasise the fight on gender stereotypes and changing scenes depending on what was being said.

One thing that I did aim to improve on based on my 1st draft was my overall narrative and how each scene linked into the next in order to create a story. I therefore re-organised some of the scenes, using the close-up of the eye at the begging and end of the film in order to represent a form of equilibrium – disruption – resolution – new equilibrium.

As the film is just over 1 minute long, it was hard to incorporate all the elements of gender stereotypes that I wanted to cover. Therefore, in order to improve I think that I would focus on a more specific area of gender norms and stereotypes rather than the broader option.

Behind the scenes –

For some of my scenes I used torches in order to manipulate the objects shadows and their angles. I also used a tripod for all of my scenes as this allowed my videos to be even and steady, so that I wouldn’t have to later stabilize them in premier.

Definition –

Artistic movement in modern art that began around World War 1. It was meant to ridicule the meaninglessness of modern life and society. It was thought to start in Zürich, Switzerland, but it also flourished the most in Paris, France. Ultimately, this movement led to other artistic movements and styles such as surrealism, pop art and punk rock.

Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. It began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916, spreading to Berlin shortly thereafter. Originally, the movement began due to the negative reacions of WW2. Dada rejected reason and logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality, and intuition, sharing similar traits and themes to the latter movements it was a catalyst to.

In relation to society –

• Emphasized protest activities, despair regarding Great War
• Values, reason, logic had been responsible for the war
• Art purpose to enrage and engage audience
• Rebels against everything, anti-everything
• Total anarchists- work anti-art, defying reason
• Dadaism was nihilistic, anti-aesthetic, ran to rationalization, rules, and conventions of mainstream art
• Many DADA artist’s considered work “Anti-Art” or art that defied reason
• First to ask the question what is art? Who defines it?

Dadaism Artists/ influencers –

Although not directly associated with the dada movement, Marcel Duchamp was a prominent artist during the time of the movement and did have a massive impact on Dadaism. One reason why he is associated with the Dada movement would be his disregard for popular ‘art’ of the time, such as his rejection of many pieces of work by other artists such as Henri Matisse, claiming they are intended to only please the eye, whereas he used his pieces in order to explore, engage and serve the mind of its viewers. The most prominent example of Duchamp’s association with Dada was his submission of Fountain, a urinal, to the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917. Artworks in the Independent Artists shows were not selected by jury, and all pieces submitted were displayed. However, the show committee insisted that Fountain was not art, and rejected it from the show. This caused an uproar among the Dadaists, and led Duchamp to resign from the board of the Independent Artists.

In relation to my piece –

Dadaism focuses on the more abstract areas of photography and art, such as the challenging of nationalism, rationalism, materialism, and other threatening “isms”. As my film is going to focus on the rebellion against ‘sexism’ ‘genderism’, many ideas and artists related to dadaism and the movement would be able to influence my work, such as Marcel Duchamp. In addition to this, the abstract theme which is very common in ‘Dada’ pieces of work should be prominent in my film due to the (intentional) lack of colour and explanation, which should allow the audience to generate their own ideas and beliefs whilst also being influenced by mine via moving image photography.

STORY+NARRATIVE: What is the narrative of your film? And how will you tell it?

In three words: Breaking social norms.

In a sentence: Rebelling against the societal beauty ideals and expectations of women by breaking stereotypes and ‘finding oneself’- essentially becoming comfortable with one’s identity.

In more detail: Firstly, I want to place emphasis on the audio we’re using. We aim to layer our video with a reading of Lewis Carroll’s: “The Jabberwocky”. The poem itself is filled with nonsense words and a fictional beast. For our film, the mythical beast is a representation of the fictitious and fabricated stereotypes for men and women that have been created by society. In the poem, the father figure warns his son against this beastly Jabberwocky, emphasising the danger of encountering and destroying it. With this knowledge, the son rebels and triumphs anyway by killing the beast. We want to use this to show how our subject has been being warned about rebelling against the beauty ideals and norms of society.

To show how our subject has been made ‘aware’, we are going to open their eyes to the ‘propaganda’ surrounding them. To achieve this, we’re planning to shoot a ‘scene’ where our subjects eye are being forced open, either by multiple hands or by specific props. I’m more confident that opening their eyes using hands is a more successful idea as the owner-less hands can represent people and powers within society forcing the subject to be ‘brain-washed’ and influenced by what they are watching.I want the focus of this scene to be on the eyes of the subject, possibly filmed in dim lighting. I aim to collage together different ‘propaganda’ (from TV, Instagram, Social media, Magazines etc) and film the reflection of this in the eye of the subject.

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To show our subject’s rebellion against typical beauty ideals, we’re incorporating the use of costume and props to alter their physical appearance. Combining both male and female outfits or wearing predominantly ‘masculine’ clothing to show the absurdity of assigning items of clothing with a gender. Additionally, props we may include would be boxing gloves and wraps as it’s not a typically feminine sport.

AUDIENCE: Who is it for?

We’re aiming our film towards the younger generation. As this generation is growing up, they are also figuring out their own identity and how they define themselves. We’re hoping to reach out to this group and change the way they view other people or themselves. By showing how easily social norms can be deconstructed, we hope to make our audience more open to the possibility of expressing themselves in a way that isn’t considered ‘normal’ by society.

CONTEXT: Who is your inspiration?

A lot of inspiration for this film is derived from the Dada movement and from contemporary photographer, Shannon O’Donnell. O’Donnell’s view on gender is relevant to our piece. She argues that the strict gender binary is a social construct and she attempts to show this in her film ‘That’s not the way the river flows’.

https://www.shannonodonnell.co.uk/a-short-film-tntwtrf

STORYBOARD: draft

The term political can be described as being interested in or active in politics. Politics is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or of power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. Claude Cahun and Shannon O’Donnell are both influential photographers who work with self portraits whilst exploring the concepts of gender, identity, equality and incorporate the visual aesthetics of surrealism. 

Claude Cahun is remembered for her elaborately staged portraits that were engaging in concepts such as sexuality and gender on both a personal and political level. In a time when surreal artists were mostly men, who portrayed women as erotic and sexual objects; Claude Cahun exemplified the multiple possibilities of identities of women. Cahun’s work can successfully be considered political: she explores all aspects of feminism, identity politics and ideologies surrounding the fluidity of gender before society even realised back in the 1920’s. Her photography challenged gender roles in a society where they were rigidly enforced, being a transgender Jewish lesbian, and anti facist artist, she could be described as bold, rebellious and eye opening. Identity politics is a term that describes a political approach wherein people of a particular gender, religion, race or social background form exclusive socio-political alliances, to support the concerns of particular marginalized groups, in accord with specific social and political changes. I believe that Cahun has contributed towards the demand for identity politics that we now have in our current society, as her work raised issues surrounding women’s equality rights and LGBTQ rights based on her own identity construction.

Cahun described herself as ‘neuter’, putting herself outside the usual categories of gender. Cahun wrote: “Shuffle the cards. Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.” She was adamant about eschewing labels and categories. Therefore, this is clearly political as our traditional hierarchical society favoured certain social groups above others in terms of rights to vote, work and to be heard. White males were once seen as the dominant group, on both a gender and racial level. Cahun wanted to break the boundaries of being confined, stereotyped and labelled as being a ‘male’ or ‘female’ due to the stigma attached to these two groups. Men: strong, tough, a fighter, a superhero. Women: powerless, inferior, objectified. I feel that Cahun was fighting for women’s voices, in order to be considered as equals and adopt the typical ‘masculine’ characteristics if they wished to do so. In one of her self portraits, Cahun has shaved her head and she gazes ahead with furious lips, and not at the viewer, to not be consumed as the object. It is a theatrical reminder that identity is a construct, a mask we wear. “Under this mask, another mask,” Cahun wrote. We could even think of her work as a comment on race, as she frequently inverts colours and plays with contrast in one photograph. Her image is duplicated by the mirror next to her – reinforcing the multiplicity of identity, and the roles we play. Additionally, the inclusion of a mirror in art was traditionally used as a convenient way to expose two enticing views of a female subject or, alternatively, as a way to emphasize a woman’s vanity. In this case however, the ‘real’ Cahun looks away from the mirror and rejects being typecast as a passive woman who is visually consumed by admiring herself. There is no sin of vanity at work here, and instead qualities of thoughtfulness, exploration, and self-assurance confront the viewer. As such, Cahun in the mirror, by virtue of the reflection, seems to look away and out of the frame, perhaps feeling a greater freedom in the world of imagination than in everyday society. Cahun explores another aspect of politics through her links to propaganda through her work. In 1937, Cahun escaped to the Isle of Jersey. During the four years of German rule of the Channel Islands, she began a relentless campaign of resistance. She secretly was publishing anti-Nazi propaganda flyers that presented the German campaign as a losing battle. This led to her and her partner Moore, being convicted of undermining the German forces and sentenced to death. Their resistance work reflected their belief that war is “the most drastic regression” from revolution. In a testament written in prison, ” ‘We’ are essentially against nationalisms, separatists, that is against war.” Through this conspiracy, Cahun and Moore continued and extended the political and artistic collaborations they had begun previously. In 1932 both had joined the newly created Association des Ecrivains et Artistes Revolutionnaires, and Cahun had published an anti-Communist pamphlet. Consequently, Cahun is a clear example of an activist and successfully achieved political and social change years beyond her time that she did not live to see. 

Similarly, Shannon O’Donnell’s practice explores themes around the gendered experience, with a focus on femininity and masculinity as gendered traits. Her fascination lies with questioning society and challenging traditional views of gender.  Her work is informed by her own personal experience and through interviewing specific demographics to help gage a sociological understanding of how gender is viewed or challenged within mainstream society. Cahun is a huge inspiration for O’Donnell being a uprising contemporary photographer, and she often focuses her photographic responses around similar political concepts that Cahun first explored before her time. O’Donnell’s work demonstrates clear links between political movements such as The Suffragettes, Identity Politics, women’s rights and the LGBTQ community. 

One of Shannon’s projects, The Cat and The Mouse (2018) has clear political links to the historical context of the Suffragette Movement. A suffragette was a member of an activist women’s organisations in the early 20th century who, under the banner “Votes for Women”, fought for the right to vote in public elections, known as women’s suffrage. The term refers to members of the British Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), a women-only movement founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, which engaged in direct action and civil disobedience. O’Donnell’s work follows the path of Suffragettes and Suffragists around Cardiff in the early 1900s. It encapsulates historically significant places, now forgotten in modern city life. The project also aims to show how the efforts of those Welsh women within the Suffrage movement have allowed for contemporary women of Cardiff, specifically Riverside, the freedom to have a voice, to set up local peaceful organisations for change in the community, as well as a leading example to contemporary activists of today. As she captures images of contemporary key locations, memorable objects, and figures that were involved in the movement, she voices her personal political views and interest in the ideology of women’s rights and feminism. O’Donnell has been engaged in setting up her own activist groups in relation to the concept of identity politics and gender rights throughout her photographic journey. Furthermore, Shrinking Violet (2016) has a clear link to identity politics as she mocks the stereotypes and expectations of women in our once hierarchical society. Shannon focuses on gender in her work and believes that it makes us feel that we need to conform to the expectations placed on us at birth solely on whether we were born male or female. She wanted to create a parody version of the traditional role expected of women from a personal perspective and mimic the tendencies she sees from day to day. Photographing her mother carrying out domestic tasks around the house in unusual poses provides a sarcastic comment on the standards society holds women to. Finally, O’Donnell’s most recent work touches on the political views of the LGBTQ community. That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019),  is a photographic series that playfully explores masculinity and femininity through self-portraits. Shannon states ”This project aims to show the inner conflicts that I have with identity and the gendered experience. It reveals the pressures, stereotypes and difficulties faced with growing up in a heavily gendered society and how that has impacted the acceptance and exploration of the self.” Similar to Cahun, O’Donnell is representing the rights of the LGBTQ community to communicate the demand for acceptance in our society of not identifying as a particular gender, and instead fluctuating to construct an identity to however you please. This has further links to theorists that O’Donnell explores, such as Judith Butler who focuses on gender being a performative act without conscious thought, and therefore enabling it to shift.

In conclusion, I believe that both Cahun and O’Donnell can be seen as considerably politically engaged in their work. They both display clear links to identity politics, focusing on gender as a key concept as they aim to explore the idea that gender is being re-conceptualised, transforming from being solely male and female, to opening to a multitude of subcategories including; gender queer, non-binary, transgender and gender fluid. I believe that Cahun was an extreme activist of her time, due to her risk taking and life threatening actions to make her political views heard. Her fast forward thinking has only been recognised recently as the world has come to understand the concepts of gender fluidity, and therefore I feel that she was very advanced in her actions. O’Donnell emphasises that a political background in her research is what instigates her projects from both a historical and contemporary perspective. However, I believe that O’Donnell may struggle to voice her political opinion in as provoking ways as Cahun did due to the reforms of our society. O’Donnell has to incorporate these concepts into her work in a bold, yet socially acceptable way due to the constraints placed by the Government and laws: which is political in itself. Additionally, O’Donnell being a contemporary photographer is exploring political issues in a very different way: currently, in 2020, there has already been a wider acceptance of identity politics and advancements in women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and the rapid shift towards a more equal society, which Cahun was far from when she was producing her work. Perhaps this could underpin why Cahun had to make her political views evident in such as an iconic and rebellious manner, in order to pave the way to make a change that allows artists such as O’Donnell to continue to explore, as the views of society continue to adapt.