2. • Working title:
• Director: Grant
• Camera: Richard
• Sound: Michael, Oliver
• Editor: Andy, Thomas, Callum
• Others: Kieran
3. Working hypothesis and interpretation
In life I believe that everyone should be treated fairly despite their gender,
however the world’s stereotype of genders has also lead to a negative impact in
the way some men and women are treated in relationships.
My film will show this in action by exploring domestic abuse against men in
relationships. Domestic abuse is largely frowned upon however only little people
are aware of how it can affect men just as much as women and how often it can
occur.
4. My film will hopefully raise more
awareness towards the conflict
between men and women and how
domestic abuse towards men can
occur, the possible long term affects
it has on men and also given reasons
as to why men are less likely to
report cases of domestic abuse than
women. 4
Raising Awareness
5. Ultimately, I want the audience to
feel more aware and shocked that
situations like this can happen
towards men, despite their
physique or status.
Hopefully, the audience will be
more attentive and understanding
towards the fact that men are
capable of being in a violent
relationship, and that women are
not always the victim in a violent
relationship.
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Audience Reactions
6. Topic
My film is about a man named Gary in his early 30’s who is married to
Elizabeth who is abusive towards him, both verbally and physically. They
both have a young daughter named Sarah, which in most abusive
relationships, is one of the main reasons as to why Gary is still with
Elizabeth and struggles to divorce Elizabeth due to the fact he may not be
able to see his daughter.
7. Gary and Elizabeth both
represent a modern relationship
and demonstrate what happens
behind closed doors within a
violent relationship. The results of
this relationship is likely to be
more shocking as this time the
violence is not directed towards
the female, it is the male who is
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Character Representation
8. Many people may not believe that women
can abuse men, however women can gain
power in different ways. Sometimes,
women can manipulate their husbands into
staying in a marriage as they can abuse
them through emotions. As men are
portrayed to use a physical aggression,
women are more likely to use relational
aggression which can occur through a
damage to the social status, which can
therefore cause as much harm
psychologically.
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Character Representation
9. Usually, it is the female victims who are unable
to leave a violent relationship due to financial
threats whereas abusive wives are capable of
threatening to damage the amount of contact a
father can have with his child. This film will
hopefully reveal the hidden issue that a lot of
men suffer from which is often mocked and not
taken seriously as a possible result of
stereotypes.
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Character Representation
10. Action Sequences
The first scene is of Gary getting ready for work. As he gets ready, he
looks rather relieved to leave the house and go to work. As Gary walks
past his daughter Sarah’s bedroom door, showing the audience that he has
a daughter, he goes downstairs and takes Sarah to school on his way to
work. From this point, both their lives seem ordinary and happy when in
reality they are relieved to get out of the house.
11. Action Sequences
The second scene shows Gary coming home from work
in the early evening looking frustrated due to the long day.
As dinner is already prepared, Elizabeth shouts at him
telling him his dinner is cold and that he should not have
finished work so late. After Gary explains that he could
not help it, he’s exhausted and says he could just heat the
food up; Elizabeth begins to manipulate Gary into thinking
he is ungrateful of what his wife does for him and how it
affects Sarah’s upbringing. From this point of the film, it
could suggest to the audience that perhaps he may not
receive this abuse all the time or that their daughter Sarah
is primarily the reason that Gary is still with Elizabeth.
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12. Action Sequences
The third scene is of Gary becoming distressed on
his own and beginning to cry. At this point, the
audience begin to see how much the abuse he
receives from Elizabeth affects him which will
hopefully lead to the audience beginning to realise
that this occurs rather often. Although Gary may only
seem distressed to the minimum, this appears to be
just the beginning for what the audience sees.
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13. Action Sequences
The fourth scene continues on from the evening in the
previous scene where Gary is distressed. This scene
shows him laying in bed reminiscing back to when
Sarah was a baby, introducing the audience to the
period of time where he began receiving abuse from
Elizabeth. This flashback highlights to the audience
how long Gary had been abused for despite trying to
do everything in his power to do what he can for his
family.
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14. Action Sequences
The fifth scene shows another night where Gary is prepared to overdose on
tablets. At this point in the film it becomes clear to the audience how much
the abuse affects him both physically and emotionally. You can hear
Elizabeth knocking on the bathroom door calling Gary’s name and he
swallows the pills before answering; he then proceeds to walk out as if
nothing has happened. This section of the film leaves the audience confused
as to what happens to Gary; does he survive the overdose? If so, does he
gain the courage to leave Elizabeth?
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15. 15
Main Characters
Husband/victim: Gary
Wife/abuser: Elizabeth
Daughter: Sarah
Best Friend: Shaun
Boss: Dianne
Brother: Edward
Gary, the main character, is who the film is based on. It is about his everyday life and how he experiences
abuse both emotionally and sometimes physically. The film focuses on how Gary gets through the abuse
from his wife and how it affects him, and also towards the end of the film Gary begins to try harder to get a
divorce from Elizabeth.
Elizabeth is Gary’s wife. She is Gary’s abuser and the film highlights the ways she manipulates Gary into
staying with her after continuously abusing him.
Sarah is Gary and Elizabeth’s daughter. She witnesses most of the violence however Gary does as much
as he can to protect her. The abuse is not directed towards Sarah as much however she is used as the
main reason as to why Gary must stay married to Elizabeth.
16. 16
Conflict My short film is raising awareness for domestic
abuse. The characters in my film represent the
potential male victims across the nation and how
it affects them, when and how it can occur. The
film could potentially change the viewer’s
perspective of domestic abuse victims and make
them realise that not all victims are women.
The developments I hope to see from this is the
increase in awareness in the amount of male
victims there are as domestic violence should be
taken seriously regardless of gender. Hopefully
the audience will become more attentive towards
the fact that men are just as capable of being a
victim of abuse as women.
17. Target Audience Profile Sheet
1. What is the age range of potential viewers?
The age range my target audience is late
20’s/30’s, this is due to the fact that married men
with children are more likely to be of that age.
People in their late 20’s are more likely to be
wiser and mature towards situations such as
domestic violence against men rather than those
in their early 20’s, therefore the film will greatly
impact them and their view towards treatment in
relationships.
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18. Target Audience Profile Sheet
2. ABC1:
My target audience will most likely be
middle or lower class. This is due to the
stereotype of middle and lower class
households being more violent and
aggressive towards one another, which
could be a result of financial or social
problems.
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19. Target Audience Profile Sheet
3. What gender will the audience be?
The gender for my target audience will
mostly be males and some females as the
issue is about domestic violence towards
men, my short film will hopefully influence
victims to re-evaluate the situation they are
in and whether or not that they should take
action.
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20. Target Audience Profile Sheet
4. What will the occupations be of potential consumers?
The occupations of my potential customers would be
teachers, office workers, therapists, prisons and schools
or colleges. This is aimed towards both a younger
audience, which will hopefully help them to become more
aware of what is and is not acceptable when it comes to
a relationship, whereas locations that contain older
consumers would help them to become more aware of
possible abusers and victims around them. Therapists
and personal doctors would also be an ideal consumer as
they can help some patients that have previously been
abusers, which can help them see the impact of their
actions.
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21. Target Audience Profile Sheet
5. What factors are potential customers likely to
consider before purchasing/consuming the
short film?
Some potential customers may have the fear of
the concept of admitting that they are in an
abusive relationship before purchasing the film,
whether it is the abuser or victim. This could be
a possible negative to distributing the short film
as a section of the target audience may not
take the matter seriously and refuse to watch
the film.
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22. Target Audience Profile Sheet
6. How will customers find out about the short
film you are distributing?
I will use a range of different advertisements
suck as television, billboards, buses and
posters. The adverts on television will be shown
mainly in the evenings when my target audience
are not at work or school/college.
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23. 7. Will the cost of the product influence a
customer’s decision to buy from you?
Possibly as some viewers may believe that creating
awareness for abuse is worth the money as it could
educate people and prevent future abuse, however
some may not want to pay a certain price whether
they are from a different generation where violence
is common, or have different beliefs in how men
and women should be treated in a relationship, or
even refusing to purchase the short film due to
being abused but not wanting to acknowledge the
truth.
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Target Audience Profile Sheet
24. Target Audience Profile Sheet
8. List all the ways contact could be made with potential
customers in order to gain qualitative and quantitative
research
Social networks, forums, online surveys and even websites
that specialise in providing help for abuse victims can be
provided with a link for asking the audience’s opinions on the
situation.
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25. Target Audience Profile Sheet
9. Probable objections to your short film
Some viewers may think that the short film
is sexist and may believe only women are
the possible victims of abuse, arguing that
men are more than capable of looking after
themselves. This sort of objections could
come from either older generations or
some with strict beliefs in the gender
stereotypes of men and women.
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26. Target Audience Profile Sheet
10. Risk of alienating your secondary audience
Some viewers from different cultures or generations may not believe
that in this day and age that men are capable of being victims in a
relationship. Also, some scenes of overuse of medication, distress
and violence may upset certain viewers.
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27. Audience Biases
Some of the female majority of the audience may
either feel offended that women could also be
potential abusers in a relationship, or that men
are completely incapable of becoming victims;
that it is in their nature to be the dominant and
abusive partner in the relationship.
Also, the older generation may have difficulty in
believing that men are likely to become the victim
in a relationship as traditionally men are the most
dominant in a relationship.
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28. Audience Biases
Some men may also be in denial
that they are being abused and
may choose to ignore all possible
signs that suggest they are a
victim of domestic abuse, so
therefore the typical stereotype of
males could be an obstruction
towards men becoming more
aware of what is around them.
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29. Structure
The short film will go be in a linear narrative
that shows the audience the entire order that
the abuse occurs. However, there will be one
flashback that refers back to earlier on in the
marriage when their daughter Sarah is a baby.
The flashback emphasises how long the abuse
has happened and how long Gary had been
suffering, which will hopefully be made clear to
the audience due to the fact that the film only
shows Gary had only started being abused
once their daughter Sarah had been born.
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30. Structure
The flashback signifies that children can
play a major role as a threat within an
abusive relationships as the abuser can
threaten the victim with the lack of contact
they would have with their children if they
were to file for a divorce.
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31. Form and Style
In my short film I will use different lighting in order to
portray the difference between genuine happiness
and false happiness that is shown to the world
around the victim. Lighting will be a useful tool to
help portray my character’s personalities and the
situations that develop around them.
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32. Resolution I would like my film to end where Gary is in
serious danger of Elizabeth which leaves the
audience to question whether or not Gary
manages to leave Elizabeth but as well still
remains in consistent contact with his daughter.
This situation will hopefully make the audience
realise that domestic abuse is not a self solving
issue, and that men can be victimised and held
down into a relationship just as much as women
could be.
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33. Budget
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My film will be distributed to schools, work offices,
colleges and prisons which will be sold for the price
£15.
I will have to cover costs such as:
•The hiring of the three actors per day; which could
possibly be £100-£150 per person.
•The catering costs.
•Location and accommodation costs.
•Payment for the camera crew (per day).
34. Logistics
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The obvious problems with making this short film could
be offending or upsetting the audience with the use of
drug overtaking and abuse, along with being capable of
meeting filming deadlines and organising all of the crew,
whether it be accommodation, covering catering costs
or on set.
35. Summary
This proposal provides you with:
•All the names of the main characters included in the short film and an explanation of their background,
their roles involved in the short film and the type of personalities they are supposed to represent in the
film.
•How the short film delivers my message about the conflict and the potential reactions I hope to achieve
from the audience.
•A set of scenes of the film describing the events that occur.
•The developments I hope to see after the audience views the short film, along with the audience
opinions.
•My target audience profile sheet; showing a range of questions about my target audience given what
the target is, the age range and possible objections and negative opinions some viewers may have after
watching the film.
•The structure of my film (which sequence the events happen in, whether it be linear or in flashbacks).35
