Questionnaire for Media Body Image-
*Part 1: How Do You Feel about Your Body?
1. How important do you think physical attractiveness is in day-to-day social interaction for most people?
[ ] Very important [ ] Moderately important [ ] Slightly important [ ] Almost irrelevant
[ ] Completely irrelevant
2. How self-conscious are you about your appearance?
[ ] Not at all self-conscious [ ] A little self-conscious [ ] Somewhat self-conscious [ ] Quite self-conscious
[ ] Extremely self-conscious
3. How do you feel about these aspects of your appearance?
A - Extremely Satisfied B - Somewhat satisfied C - Somewhat dissatisfied D - Quite dissatisfied
E - Extremely dissatisfied
a. Height [ ] b. Weight [ ] c. Hips [ ] d. Hands [ ] e. Legs [ ] f. Hair [ ] g. Abdomen [ ]
h. Overall facial attractiveness [ ] I. Chest/breasts [ ] j. Arms [ ] k. Buttocks [ ] l. Size of sex organs [ ]
m. Muscle tone [ ] n. Shoulders [ ] o. Feet [ ]
4. When you look at your body in the mirror, how satisfied do you feel about what you see?
A - Extremely Satisfied B - Somewhat satisfied C - Somewhat dissatisfied D - Quite dissatisfied
E - Extremely dissatisfied
a. Height [ ] b. Weight [ ] c. Hips [ ] d. Hands [ ] e. Legs [ ] f. Hair [ ] g. Abdomen [ ]
h. Overall facial attractiveness [ ] I. Chest/breasts [ ] j. Arms [ ] k. Buttocks [ ] l. Size of sex organs [ ]
m. Muscle tone [ ] n. Shoulders [ ] o. Feet [ ]
*Part 2: What Causes Negative Feelings about Your Body?
5. How important are the following in making you feel bad about your body?
A - Very important B - Moderately important C - Slightly important D - Almost irrelevant
E - Completely irrelevant
a. Someone rejecting you [ ] b. Not getting regular exercise [ ]
c. Being in a bad mood about something else [ ] d. Being around someone who is critical of you [ ]
e. Not living up to your family's standards for "looks" [ ] f. Negative sexual experiences [ ]
g. Eating fattening foods [ ] h. Not feeling confident in your abilities [ ]
I. Remembering being teased when you were younger [ ]
j. A partner's opinion about your appearance [ ]
k. Relationships not going well [ ] l. Gaining weight [ ] m. Looking at your face in the mirror [ ]
n. Looking at your stomach in the mirror [ ]
*PART 3: What Causes Positive Feelings about Your Body?
6. How important are the following in making you feel good about your body?
A - Very important B - Moderately important C - Slightly important D - Almost irrelevant
E - Completely irrelevant
a. Regular exercise [ ] b. Losing weight [ ] c. Compliments from others on your appearance [ ]
d. Relationships with others going well [ ] e. Confidence in your abilities [ ]
f. Love from another person [ ] g. Positive sexual experiences [ ] h. Feeling effective as a person [ ]
i. Acceptance of your body the way it is [ ] j. Using cosmetic or personal grooming products [ ]
k. Wearing flattering clothing [ ] l. Feeling "thin" [ ] m. Reading articles about accepting your body [ ]
n. Eating low-fat foods [ ] o. Receiving a massage [ ] p. Practicing yoga [ ] r. Plastic surgery [ ]
*PART 4: What Shaped Your Body Image during Childhood or Adolescence?
7. When you were growing up, how important was the following in shaping your attitudes toward your body?
A - Very important B - Moderately important C - Slightly important D - Almost irrelevant
E - Completely irrelevant
a. Fashion magazine models [ ] b. Movie or television celebrities [ ] c. Sports figures [ ]
d. Your own participation in sports [ ] e. Career or professional role models [ ]
f. Your mother's attitude about your body [ ] g. Your father's attitude about your body [ ]
h. Positive relationships with friends [ ] I. Positive sexual experiences [ ]
j. Negative sexual experiences [ ] k. Teasing by others [ ] l. Personal feelings about your weight [ ]
m. Turning your attention to schoolwork [ ]
8. If I could weigh exactly what I want for the rest of my life, I would trade how many months/years of my life?
[ ] 1 month [ ] 2-6 months [ ] 6-12 months [ ] 1-3 years [ ] 3-5 years [ ] More than 5 years
*Part 6: The Effects of the Media on Your Body Image
A - Always B - Very often C - Often D - Rarely E – Never
9. Do you compare yourself to models in magazines, TV or films? [ ]
10. Do you carefully study the shapes of models in magazines, TV or films? [ ]
11. Do you buy cosmetics or personal grooming products because of magazine, TV and film models [ ]
12. Do very thin or muscular magazine, TV or film models make you feel insecure about your weight? [ ]
13. Do very thin or muscular magazine, TV or film models make you want to lose weight to be like them? [ ]
14. Do you feel angry or resentful at magazine, TV or film models because they are so thin or muscular? [ ]
A - Strongly agree B - Moderately agree C - Slightly agree D - Moderately disagree
E - Strongly disagree
15. I would like models in magazines, TV and film to be more representative of the range of body shapes. [ ]
16. I would buy magazines and watch programmes/films that contained some attractive heavier models. [ ]
17. I would buy magazines and watch programmes/films that contained some attractive shorter models. [ ]
18. I would rather accept my weight than struggle to control it. [ ]
19. I believe that clothes look better on thin models. [ ]
20. Fat people should not appear in magazines, TV or films because they set poor examples for the public. [ ]
*Personal Background
21. How old are you? ------ Years
22. Are you [ ] Female [ ] Male
23. How much do you weigh? ------Stone ----- Pounds
24. What is your height? ----- Feet ----- Inches
25. What is your desired weight? ------Stone ------ Pounds
Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Film Studies Essay- sorry about the lateness
Shaun of the Dead
How does cinematography and sounds used during the start of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ create the effect that characters are like the undead?
Shaun of the Dead is a comedy horror film about a man named Shaun who decides to turn his pointless life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend (Liz), reconciling his relationship with his mother (Barbra), and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living. Shaun’s best friend (Ed) helps him along the way as they carry out their plan to save Shaun’s friends, rescue his mother and head to the safest, securest place where Ed can smoke (the Winchester).
The sequence I have chosen to analyse starts from the very beginning of the film at the opening scene 0.00.00 seconds to 0.08.13 minutes into the film just before Shaun enters his workplace. The essay will discuss the cinematography and sounds used in order to analyse how they link with my question.
Even before seeing a picture the sequence opens with a non-diegetic soundtrack which audience can hear with the production tiles. The track has an eerie feeling to it as if something’s not quite right sort of creepy and sci-fi like by using techno instruments. This track then fades out slowly to reveal another soundtrack that begins with sirens. This also portrays to the audience that already something is not quite right as sirens are a sigh of trouble and emergencies. The track then builds up using guitars with a drumming motion as the first picture in the film is shown.
The shot is of a middle aged man with what looks like a bar behind him. It is a close up shot enabling the audience to easily see facial expressions and to see what the character is feeling. The man has a worried expression on his face as he is staring at the camera but as the soundtrack progresses our perception of the scene changes as he picks up a beer glass with his cigarette and starts to drink. We hear a bell ringing as the bar man behind shouting “last orders” which helps to make the audience feel more at ease as the character is in a clam and normal environment.
The character is then introduced by a woman who calls his name as if to ask a question. We see this woman sitting opposite ‘Shaun’ but she is placed on the right hand side of the shot in order to see both characters. She is shown as the camera slowly moves outwards from Shaun allowing more people to enter the scene with an over the shoulder shot. Shaun then answers the woman and the shot changes to looking over Shaun’s shoulder as the woman is talking.
She then introduces another character as Shaun’s best friend and talks to him using his first name so the audience knows him as Ed. The camera jumps from one over the shoulder shot of Shaun and the woman as they talk about Ed but when she talks to Ed the camera firstly goes back to Shaun where we see his head turn to the left hand side of the screen as the camera pans that way in order to introduce Ed playing on the fruit machine.
We then see all three of the characters in the shot with the camera showing Shaun and the woman sitting at the table and Ed behind them on the machine. In the background the audience can hear the sounds from the machine Ed is playing on, people ordering drinks from the bar and general conversation from the other customers which are all diagetic.
Shaun and the women continue to chat whilst the camera uses the over the shoulder shots, Shaun then introduces other characters to the film in the same way the woman did with Ed. They say ‘it’s not that I don’t like
you___’ then the camera shows the audience who they are as they reply. In Shaun’s case it is with the woman’s flatmates David and Die who are introduced in a shot with Shaun and the woman sitting closest to the camera and the flatmates in the background. This was similar to the way Ed was shown but in the opposite direction and angle being used.
The starting scene of the film is used to introduce all the characters to the audience. The way in which they are introduced is by describing Shaun’s life, and also one of the main plots to the story, through the characters as they tell the audience all of Shaun’s problems in life. They talk about how Shaun and his girlfriend’s relationship is lacking in variety, how they are spending too much time with friends and how the relationships needs to evolve by introducing Shaun’s mother to his girlfriend. This scene then develops with Shaun saying to his girlfriend (later shown as Liz) that “things will change, you’ll see”, which was meant to mean the relationship but with the sci-fi spooky sound track from earlier being played again, the audience are then lead to believe that he wasn’t just talking about their love life. This links with my question of how the cinematography and sound used creates the effect that the characters are like he undead, although this part doesn’t make you think the character are like the undead, it just makes the audience feel that something bad is going to happen (leading up to my question).
After the characters have been introduced the scene finishes with Shaun again drinking his beer. The camera slowly zooms in to his face to emphasis his worried expressions along with the spooky sound track, and then the screen goes black so as to change the scene.
A long shot then begins with a trolley man pushing several trolleys in a supermarket car park. You can tell that it is a supermarket car park because of all the typical signs such as parent and child spots, zebra crossing places and the gentleman’s uniform. This shot is also panning to the right as the man is walking with his trolleys. The man doesn’t seem like anything special to the film and is in a very docile manner, as if he is in an automatic, robotic or zombie state whilst he is doing his job. This docile, robotic state is exactly what makes the audience believe that the gentleman is one of the undead or a zombie as my question above suggested.
The start up sound track continues to play. The music is a sort of alien like sci-fi sound like we heard at the very start of the film (such as a space ship landing) which again makes the audience believe that this film is going to be abnormal.
The titles are also coming up at the bottom of the screen in a bold style font and in a white colour. The white colour could be used to create a gooling and ghostly effect. The music then gets more up-beat and comical by introducing a keyboard and trumpets although the same background notes repeat throughout. This is so the music fits in with the comedy genre but also with the sci-fi music to add to the feeling of abnormality.
The next shot is a medium shot of several women at checkouts, possibly at the same supermarket as the gentleman before. They also look very docile while doing their work and are all being very repetitive in what they are doing (there all moving in the same way at the same time in a sort of ‘in-humane’ way). They are all wearing a typical uniform of a supermarket like matching blouses and a name tag.
As the next shot is introduced the camera keeps moving to the right keeping to the same sort of angle but the closeness of the shot changes for each character.
From the women at the checkouts the camera keeps panning to the right which brings a blue lamp post, and to some people standing at a buss stop. The shot is a medium one as we can’t see the people’s feet. They are a random bunch of people, all different heights, ages, etc. They look as if they were either on there way or coming from work as they are wearing casual, smart clothes such as shirts, polo top etc. They fit with the others people beforehand with the fact they are also docile and not moving a lot but also dot seem anything special to the film. As the shot continues some of the people go to pick up their mobile phones at the same time too whilst one man just stands still constantly with his mouth open (a bit zombie like). The movement of the character, the actions that take place and the soundtrack in the background again make the audience come to conclusions that the people being shown are not quite right and are not like the normal ‘living’ people. This therefore creates the suspicion amongst the audience that the characters are like the undead.
The camera then continues to pan to a long shot of stone walls some metal railings and a group of teenagers. You can tell they are teenagers because of the clothes they are wearing such as huddies, jeans, backpacks and general scruffy attire. They are walking while listening to their earphones and bobbing their heads, with their necks at a slant and with hunched backs. The teenagers move at the same time in a very slow, docile manner with their arms by their sides, this is in the same way zombies are portrayed as moving in films. To finish the opening credits scene the film title is also introduced below the teenagers centred at the bottom of the screen.
In conclusion the opening scene and credits try to show that although the characters may be normal people doing their day to day routines, those routines occur so regularly that they become automatic and so we as an audience can relate to the film because we operate in the same ‘zombie’ like way when doing our day to day tasks.
How does cinematography and sounds used during the start of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ create the effect that characters are like the undead?
Shaun of the Dead is a comedy horror film about a man named Shaun who decides to turn his pointless life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend (Liz), reconciling his relationship with his mother (Barbra), and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living. Shaun’s best friend (Ed) helps him along the way as they carry out their plan to save Shaun’s friends, rescue his mother and head to the safest, securest place where Ed can smoke (the Winchester).
The sequence I have chosen to analyse starts from the very beginning of the film at the opening scene 0.00.00 seconds to 0.08.13 minutes into the film just before Shaun enters his workplace. The essay will discuss the cinematography and sounds used in order to analyse how they link with my question.
Even before seeing a picture the sequence opens with a non-diegetic soundtrack which audience can hear with the production tiles. The track has an eerie feeling to it as if something’s not quite right sort of creepy and sci-fi like by using techno instruments. This track then fades out slowly to reveal another soundtrack that begins with sirens. This also portrays to the audience that already something is not quite right as sirens are a sigh of trouble and emergencies. The track then builds up using guitars with a drumming motion as the first picture in the film is shown.
The shot is of a middle aged man with what looks like a bar behind him. It is a close up shot enabling the audience to easily see facial expressions and to see what the character is feeling. The man has a worried expression on his face as he is staring at the camera but as the soundtrack progresses our perception of the scene changes as he picks up a beer glass with his cigarette and starts to drink. We hear a bell ringing as the bar man behind shouting “last orders” which helps to make the audience feel more at ease as the character is in a clam and normal environment.
The character is then introduced by a woman who calls his name as if to ask a question. We see this woman sitting opposite ‘Shaun’ but she is placed on the right hand side of the shot in order to see both characters. She is shown as the camera slowly moves outwards from Shaun allowing more people to enter the scene with an over the shoulder shot. Shaun then answers the woman and the shot changes to looking over Shaun’s shoulder as the woman is talking.
She then introduces another character as Shaun’s best friend and talks to him using his first name so the audience knows him as Ed. The camera jumps from one over the shoulder shot of Shaun and the woman as they talk about Ed but when she talks to Ed the camera firstly goes back to Shaun where we see his head turn to the left hand side of the screen as the camera pans that way in order to introduce Ed playing on the fruit machine.
We then see all three of the characters in the shot with the camera showing Shaun and the woman sitting at the table and Ed behind them on the machine. In the background the audience can hear the sounds from the machine Ed is playing on, people ordering drinks from the bar and general conversation from the other customers which are all diagetic.
Shaun and the women continue to chat whilst the camera uses the over the shoulder shots, Shaun then introduces other characters to the film in the same way the woman did with Ed. They say ‘it’s not that I don’t like
you___’ then the camera shows the audience who they are as they reply. In Shaun’s case it is with the woman’s flatmates David and Die who are introduced in a shot with Shaun and the woman sitting closest to the camera and the flatmates in the background. This was similar to the way Ed was shown but in the opposite direction and angle being used.
The starting scene of the film is used to introduce all the characters to the audience. The way in which they are introduced is by describing Shaun’s life, and also one of the main plots to the story, through the characters as they tell the audience all of Shaun’s problems in life. They talk about how Shaun and his girlfriend’s relationship is lacking in variety, how they are spending too much time with friends and how the relationships needs to evolve by introducing Shaun’s mother to his girlfriend. This scene then develops with Shaun saying to his girlfriend (later shown as Liz) that “things will change, you’ll see”, which was meant to mean the relationship but with the sci-fi spooky sound track from earlier being played again, the audience are then lead to believe that he wasn’t just talking about their love life. This links with my question of how the cinematography and sound used creates the effect that the characters are like he undead, although this part doesn’t make you think the character are like the undead, it just makes the audience feel that something bad is going to happen (leading up to my question).
After the characters have been introduced the scene finishes with Shaun again drinking his beer. The camera slowly zooms in to his face to emphasis his worried expressions along with the spooky sound track, and then the screen goes black so as to change the scene.
A long shot then begins with a trolley man pushing several trolleys in a supermarket car park. You can tell that it is a supermarket car park because of all the typical signs such as parent and child spots, zebra crossing places and the gentleman’s uniform. This shot is also panning to the right as the man is walking with his trolleys. The man doesn’t seem like anything special to the film and is in a very docile manner, as if he is in an automatic, robotic or zombie state whilst he is doing his job. This docile, robotic state is exactly what makes the audience believe that the gentleman is one of the undead or a zombie as my question above suggested.
The start up sound track continues to play. The music is a sort of alien like sci-fi sound like we heard at the very start of the film (such as a space ship landing) which again makes the audience believe that this film is going to be abnormal.
The titles are also coming up at the bottom of the screen in a bold style font and in a white colour. The white colour could be used to create a gooling and ghostly effect. The music then gets more up-beat and comical by introducing a keyboard and trumpets although the same background notes repeat throughout. This is so the music fits in with the comedy genre but also with the sci-fi music to add to the feeling of abnormality.
The next shot is a medium shot of several women at checkouts, possibly at the same supermarket as the gentleman before. They also look very docile while doing their work and are all being very repetitive in what they are doing (there all moving in the same way at the same time in a sort of ‘in-humane’ way). They are all wearing a typical uniform of a supermarket like matching blouses and a name tag.
As the next shot is introduced the camera keeps moving to the right keeping to the same sort of angle but the closeness of the shot changes for each character.
From the women at the checkouts the camera keeps panning to the right which brings a blue lamp post, and to some people standing at a buss stop. The shot is a medium one as we can’t see the people’s feet. They are a random bunch of people, all different heights, ages, etc. They look as if they were either on there way or coming from work as they are wearing casual, smart clothes such as shirts, polo top etc. They fit with the others people beforehand with the fact they are also docile and not moving a lot but also dot seem anything special to the film. As the shot continues some of the people go to pick up their mobile phones at the same time too whilst one man just stands still constantly with his mouth open (a bit zombie like). The movement of the character, the actions that take place and the soundtrack in the background again make the audience come to conclusions that the people being shown are not quite right and are not like the normal ‘living’ people. This therefore creates the suspicion amongst the audience that the characters are like the undead.
The camera then continues to pan to a long shot of stone walls some metal railings and a group of teenagers. You can tell they are teenagers because of the clothes they are wearing such as huddies, jeans, backpacks and general scruffy attire. They are walking while listening to their earphones and bobbing their heads, with their necks at a slant and with hunched backs. The teenagers move at the same time in a very slow, docile manner with their arms by their sides, this is in the same way zombies are portrayed as moving in films. To finish the opening credits scene the film title is also introduced below the teenagers centred at the bottom of the screen.
In conclusion the opening scene and credits try to show that although the characters may be normal people doing their day to day routines, those routines occur so regularly that they become automatic and so we as an audience can relate to the film because we operate in the same ‘zombie’ like way when doing our day to day tasks.
Monday, 13 October 2008
media studies
Started my filming at home doing the beginning of the make-over on my sister which includes showing her lookin her worst and asking her how she feels about her appearance.
Also started my introduction to the project describing what will be included in my peice.
Also started my introduction to the project describing what will be included in my peice.
media studies
First lesson consisted of learning the lesson plan and developing an email address and also coming up with several design ideas for filming.
In the second lesson we had to search for short programmes that were connected with our filming idea. I searched some 3muinite wonders on you tube and wrote up what typical conventions were shown, angle shots, narrative etc, I also looked at a programme called ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid’ and wrote down in rough what happened during the programme.
For the third lesson I made my questionnaire to discover how people viewed reality TV and their impressions of it. I also printed the questionnaires off got 10 people age 17-18 to complete them and gave another 10 to be completed by 15-16 year olds. To finish I wrote up my diary of what I have been doing in media studies so far.
Started my storyboard. Managed to finish drawing up rough pictures and half finished writing up what was happening in each picture.
Carried on with my textual analysis on reality make-over shows.
Missed out on a few lessons due to family troubles but did some filming of hair being coloured for my documentary.
Carried on with the final textual analysis of the snog marry avoid programme, received all my questionnaire results back.
In the second lesson we had to search for short programmes that were connected with our filming idea. I searched some 3muinite wonders on you tube and wrote up what typical conventions were shown, angle shots, narrative etc, I also looked at a programme called ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid’ and wrote down in rough what happened during the programme.
For the third lesson I made my questionnaire to discover how people viewed reality TV and their impressions of it. I also printed the questionnaires off got 10 people age 17-18 to complete them and gave another 10 to be completed by 15-16 year olds. To finish I wrote up my diary of what I have been doing in media studies so far.
Started my storyboard. Managed to finish drawing up rough pictures and half finished writing up what was happening in each picture.
Carried on with my textual analysis on reality make-over shows.
Missed out on a few lessons due to family troubles but did some filming of hair being coloured for my documentary.
Carried on with the final textual analysis of the snog marry avoid programme, received all my questionnaire results back.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Monday, 6 October 2008
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