For our theory lesson, we have been looking at the Male Gaze, the Female Gaze and the Feminine Mystique.
We thought that our media product demonstrates the 'Feminine Mystique' well because Lucy is shown to be a very vunerable and terrified character throughout. This will be shown through lots of close-ups of her face and her facial expressions, and the use of shaky camerawork to convey tension and fear.
Also, Roxanne is portrayed as a Mother-Hen figure, as she looks after Lucy and is concerned when Lucy runs out of the house. Also, in the last scene, Roxanne is shocked to find her friend unconscious and almost acts in a hysterical manner.
However, none of our characters fit the Male Gaze or the Female Gaze because of their costumes. All the characters are appropriately dressed for their roles and there is no nudity or skin being shown. We decided on the costume being casual yet sensible because it is a more serious film, not a chick flick or romance. Also, the weather has an effect on this. Because we will be shooting at the end of October, the weather doesn't really permit us to use more reavealing costumes.
Having said that, it can be suggested that the Male Gaze is evident in our short film because the girls chracters will be wearing skinny jeans and feminine clothes which flatter the figure of the actors, so it can be argued that we are conforming to the 'male gaze' in that way, but only very subtly.
Also this week, Hayley and I devised a questionnarie that we will ask our target audience to fill in to fine out what they would like in the film, as this film is being made for their viewing pleasure and not ours.
Below is a SlideShare copy of our questionnaire:
