Ideology

Ideology is often referred to as an unconscious set of values or beliefs that a group, society or individual hold to be true or important, and provide a particular view of the world.

The values and beliefs perpetuated by the majority within a society may be described as dominant ideologies. Dominant social institutions include the BBC (who stand for traditional British values and fairness), schools (who instil respect and good behaviour) and the NHS. Some dominant ideologies may be hidden by the “common sense” view or the “naturalised” view. An example of this would be the view that all girls are “naturally” meek and feminine.

Such a consensus view of society is achieved with the consent of the majority of a particular society as a whole, and this has been termed by Antonio Gramsci as hegemony (the way one belief system comes to dominate society).

Crazy Madam Productions

I’ve decided to call my production company Crazy Madam Productions, which is a feminised play on the common phrase “crazy madman”, to match my insane female lead, Shelly. 

The logo contains a pair of pink lips in order to highlight the femininity in my company name, and the distorted/faded nature of the lips reflects Shelly’s broken mind. 

Anna Reece (Audience Profile)

This is Anna Reece. She is 19 years old, and lives in a semi-detached house with her mum, dad, and two sisters in Nottingham. At the moment she is away at university staying in a dorm with two other females.

She dresses casually and fashionably, usually donning a printed dress and brogues. She enjoys hanging out with friends, dancing, listening to music and reading. She also likes blogging on the internet through Tumblr, and interacting with her peers on Facebook.

She likes films such as Mean Girls, Black Swan and My Sister’s Keeper. She goes to the cinema to watch films such as these about once a month, and then she will purchase her favourite ones on DVD to watch at home with her friends.   

She watches television programmes such as Hollyoaks, Gossip Girl and The Only Way is Essex. She is very interested in soaps as she likes the vast similarities she shares with the female characters.

The main music genre she listens to is pop, as she enjoys the visual effects and costumes.

Now that she is out of school, her opinions are starting to become her own, but as she is still in student territory, many of her values continue to be formed from her peers.

She has a part-time job at a nearby Tesco, meaning that she is making an average wage, but with university costs to take care of, she sometimes finds herself strapped for cash.

Audience Research: Cinema Going Habits

How often do you go to the cinema?
Once a week

Once a month

Once a year

Less than once a year

Female 1

Once a month

Female 2

Once a month

Female 3

Once a year

Female 4

Once a month

Female 5

Less than once a year

Female 6

Once a week

Female 7

Once a year

Female 8

Once a month

Female 9

Once a year

Female 10

Once a year

Target Audience Mood Boards

Audience Research: Questionnaire

In order to gather more information about my target audience (females aged 16-24), I compiled a small questionnaire for 10 females of this age range to answer. Here is what they said:

Your Favourite . . .

Artist/song?

Shop?

Magazine?

Clothing brand?

Website?

Hobby?

TV Programme?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Female 1

Black Veil Brides

Blue Banana

Spongebob Magazine

Criminal Damage

Damn! LOL

Listening to music

Doctor Who

Female 2

N-Dubz

New Look

Heat

Paul’s Boutique

Facebook

Listening to music

The Only Way is Essex

Female 3

2NE1

H&M

Simpsons Magazine

American Apparel

I Can Has Cheezburger?

Singing

Gossip Girl

Female 4

Gorillaz

Game

Nintendo Magazine

Urban Outfitters

Youtube

Gaming

The Office

Female 5

Christina Aguilera

WH Smith

Closer

Be Beau

Perez Hilton

Dancing

Hollyoaks

Female 6

Nicki Minaj

Miss Selfridge

New

Miss Selfridge

Facebook

Rapping/singing

The X Factor

Female 7

The Black Eyed Peas

Lipsy

Heat

Jack Wills

Youtube

Swimming

True Blood

Female 8

All Time Low

Pulp

Kerrang!

Iron Fist

Facebook

Reading

The Inbetweeners

Female 9

Lady Gaga

HMV

Reveal

Jane Norman

Twitter

Drawing

Eastenders

Female 10

Katy Perry

Waterstones

Closer

Zara

Mail Online (Femail section)

Writing

Hustle

Location and Actor

I will be filming inside my own kitchen so that I am not limited in any way. My kitchen is fairly happy and bright, so I will probably apply some kind of dark effect at the editing stage to tone this down. 

I will be playing Shelly in my production. I feel this will work well as it saves me having to talk someone else through the entire storyline to get a flavour of Shelly's character, and it also means that I am able to monitor everything in the teaser trailer to the best of my ability.

Todorov and Propp

Todorov

Equilibrium: Cadie and Shelly seem to be fairly happy in the beginning, but this is a false equilibrium, as Shelly is in fact facing some severe mental problems, a fact highlighted by her sudden hatred of the doll. (YES/NO)

Disruption: Shelly becomes obsessed with the doll and truly believes that it has possessed her younger sibling. She goes through a series of strange events concerning the doll which push her deeper and deeper into isolation and madness. (YES)

Resolution: After a long mental battle with the doll, Shelly decides to use brute force and smashes the doll before putting it into the waste bin outside the house. (YES)

Restored order: Shelly feels relaxed and happy now that the doll has been destroyed, but her deranged smile does not give a sense of restored order (she is still deathly crazy, she just doesn’t realise it). (YES/NO)

New equilibrium: As the film ends on Shelly’s eerie smile, we do not get to see a new equilibrium. To tell you the truth, I am not too sure what that new equilibrium would be! (UNKNOWN)

My storyline is a little bit dubious when it comes to Todorov's theory, so therefore I do not think my film would be classed as a mainstream piece. The irregular aspect of my movie is good however, as it reflects Shelly's unconventional demeanour and offers something new to the audience.

Propp

Heroine: Shelly

Villains: The doll and Shelly (Shelly's crazy ways make her a danger to herself)

Helpers: Shelly’s family and friends

Blocker: Cadie

Prize: Sanity

Even though my character types are relatively conventional, the taboo of a mentally ill lead also puts my movie into unconventional territory in terms of characters.