Representation In 'Community'

 Dan Harmon's 'Community' is a representation galore. The sitcom presents multiple groups of people represented by different characters. Starting with the main character, Jeff Winger, a stereotypical white man that seeks women in desperate ways. Dressed in casual attire most of the time with a common short haircut and growing a light beard as the show progresses. The stereotypical white man in Community is represented as selfish and petty, but also as a middle-class, single community college student, which differs from the common representation of a successful father. Jeff's flirty mannerisms around most women he meets depict him as desperate. Besides Jeff's appearance and personality, the events he involves himself in also support this representation. Throughout the first episodes of the sitcom, Jeff is shown trying to develop a romantic relationship with his classmate Britta Perry, but fails in the attempt, leaving an awkward relationship between the two in upcoming episodes.

Throughout the first study group between the main character group, there are many examples of representation, through opinions, mannerisms, and costume designs.

One of the main characters, Troy Barnes, is represented as a popular High School football player through his clear varsity attire and diction. In his introduction to the show, he describes himself as a quarter-back and a "prom king", depicting Troy as immature and possibly still caught up in his High School life. He is then described by Annie Edison, one seventh of the study group, as a "jock", which develops his character and foreshadows his personality. Troy is further shown to be somewhat nerdy. After developing a friendship with classmate Abed Nadir, Troy's true colors are shown through his love for robot movies and video-games. This side of Troy's personality represents the underlying insecurity that follows High School football stars, where their secret hobbies and passions are censored due to their desire to remain popular. Even though Troy's personality originally juxtaposed Abed's, their friendship helped Troy to rediscover his passions.

Racial representation is also shown through Troy's character in the many conversations he has where African-American stereotypes are discussed. The on-going discriminatory remarks by study group member, Pierce Hawthorne, develop the issue of how Troy is often profiled due to his skin color. The classic scene of Troy and Jeff having a conversation in the football field discusses discriminatory stereotypes in a comedic manner.

Religious representation is also shown in Community through Shirley Bennett, a conservative Christian woman who's beliefs usually clash with the other characters, depicting the stereotypical issues that may happen with religious mixes. Shirley has been a protagonist in multiple discussions with other study group members such as Annie who is Jewish and the underlying atheistic view of the other members. Shirley's social status is also a matter of representation as she is shown as a single (Even though she finds a partner further in the show) mother of 2. These details develop a possible racial stereotype and may show a negative religious standard through unstable families. But even through Shirley's hardships follow her through the show, she pulls through and serves as a representation for single mothers that will do anything for their children.

Abed's character is loved by a large part of the Community fanbase due to his innocent personality, making many situations awkward but interesting. The character of Abed represents people in the autistic spectrum. There was a thorough research made on the condition that comically led to Dan Harmon's conclusion that he is on the spectrum. Abed's representation of autism is expressed through his hyper-fixation on his passions and his amazing sense of memory, being able to remember even the smallest details about his favorite action movies. Abed wears studious attire with fun shirts, flannels or jackets, and jeans, possibly representing a certain group of students that have great learning skills and focus more on studies than fashion. Abed's hyper-fixation quality is greatly shown in the episode "Remedial Chaos Theory", where he even finds passion in certain personality traits, no matter how extreme they are. In this episode, the alter ego of "Evil Abed" is introduced.

Comedy

     Comedy is a genre that bases off of humor, events and discourses that have an intent to amuse the viewer. The main goal of comedy movies are to entertain and provoke enjoyment, often described as light-hearted dramas. Target audiences for comedy vary, a comedic film can focus on a young target audience such as G or PG rated movies or can focus on an older, teens and young adults target audience, mostly appealing to both men and women equally.

    Comedies usually consist of similar protagonists, mostly underdogs that don't have any hero status but may evolve to being a hero in the story. "Nerds", "bullies", "loners", or a person that just went through a recent breakup, usually shows empathy and sympathy. Some characteristics that follow the events these characters go through are clumsy, disastrous, and inconvenient, following the protagonist's flaws and mistakes. In terms of production, comedies are usually recorded with shaky, handheld cameras to involve the viewer in the narrative world to provoke a more intense reaction to the events in the film. As the main goal of comedy is to entertain, some production techniques may seem like mistakes while recording, such as the camera bump, which consists of a main character or prop colliding with the camera, unexpected and done with the right timing, it can evoke a spontaneous reaction in the viewer, also catching their attention after a possible serious or slow moment in the film.

    To correctly market a comedy production, a target audience is essential as this has vast possibilities. There are multiple ways to market comedy as the market for this genre is consistently growing, worth over $14 billion in 2017. Conventional marketing techniques such as billboards, tv commercials and promotion from streaming services can successfully market a comedy film.

    Friday, directed by F. Gary Gray, and starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker, is a great example of a well done comedy movie. The 1995 film evokes its humorous basis through buddy comedy, with phrases that the two protagonist say in unison and unexpected events that provoke a reaction in the audience. The film also surrounds gangster comedy and this is successfully done by casting Ice Cube to play one of the protagonist, with his big influence in rap music especially in the West Coast which is most probably the setting for this movie.

    Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and other well-known names, is a great example of action comedy, a hybrid subgenre of comedy. The 1984 film showcases events where a group of "ghostbusters" goes through humorous occurrences that make the group seem clumsy and useless for their real purpose, but then end up saving the world from ghosts taking over. This storyline and plot serve as a great pathway to a successful comedic film as the protagonists are portrayed as dumb.

Some other examples are:

1. The Hangover (2009)

2. 21 Jump Street (2012)

3. Superbad (2007)

4. Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)

5. Daddy Day Care (2003)

6. Grown Ups (2010)

    

Soundscape

 Drew and I decided to make a soundscape for a fight scene where 2 characters meet in the sidewalk of a busy street and fight until one of them takes a weapon and shoots the other character. We used mostly diegetic sound but added non-diegetic music and other sound effects.

SOUNDSCAPE OUTLINE

We based the project on the non-diegetic music that plays in the background and used it to build a structure for the scene, considering time, we constructed the multiple events that would occur in the scene taking time into account. After that we started recording foley and finding sound effects from the libraries given to build the scene, adding background noises for ambience and diegetic sounds to develop the story.

SOUNDSCAPE

Camera Shots/Angles Quiz

The activity was to create a story using a series of 15 shots with certain types to illustrate an idea and develop a tone. 10 of these shot types were given to us, but we had the freedom to use any other 5 to develop our story. 

Working with my friend, we decided to use our backpacks as our characters, making up a fictional teen love story between them. We went around school and used our environment to create our story, using the lighting from the sun, the background and even structures to support the events we were describing. We used the require shot types and angles to convey relationship, emotions and to personify the backpacks. To complete the story we edited the shots with certain coloring and filters to explain the current feelings the shot was supposed to show.

Some things we did well were our shot decisions, what shot types to use for certain parts of the story and what angles to use to convey any certain emotions. We used the required shot types in ways that they would contribute to the story and be coherent with the whole purpose of the project. We were efficient while working and developed the story side to side with deciding for our shot types and angles. We could've been more original with our story, use better editing and developed more meaning through our characters.

Here is my project!

 Hello! I'm Martin,

This blog is for AICE Media Studies to record background information and content about the exciting projects I'll be working on for the class! Possibly sharing meaning, behind the scenes and the content itself. I am eager to work in this class with as much enthusiasm as possible!