Why do we need legal and ethical constraints?
In our final major project, we also have to
take a look at the legal and ethical considerations in the media sector,
especially within animation. As our target audience is quite young, it is
exceptionally important that we don't offend anyone, or as many people as
possible. This is to avoid court cases, bad press, and a decrease in the
audience number.
Social
issues and sensitivities: This
refers to issues that are occurring in the social world when media item is
released. The item is then cancelled or postponed in order not to offend
people. For example, due to the 9/11, the film Die Hard 4 had to completely
re-write their script, as the original one contained terrorists exploding a
building in New York City. Many other films, including this one, had to be
changed around that time, as the main subject is terrorism and could offend so
many people.
Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in
the media. They are ideas that groups of people have about other people who are
different from them. It can embedded in a single word or phrase (for example,
nerd), an image, or a combination of the tow. For example, when watching the TV
show One Tree Hill, they all attend a high school named Tree Hill High. This
programme especially highlights the stereotypes (often known as cliques) in
schools today, even having a whole episode focusing on it. Nathan and Lucas are
the "jocks", Brooke and Peyton are the "prom queens", Mouth
is the "nerd", Glenda who plays the "goth", etc.
These stereotypes can be broken down even more
in examples of gender and religious beliefs.
-Representation
of gender: Stereotypes can be positive ("black men are good at long
distant running") or negative ("women are bad drivers"). In the
media industry, especially in the advertising and entertainment world,
representations of gender is more prone. In a fragrance advert for women, the
woman is portrayed as 'perfect', sexy, feminine, has an ideal body, and almost
always has a man included within the advert. This is to relay the idea that
this will happen to them if they purchase the product. An example when this
rule is broken is in the TV comedy Big Bang Theory. In this comedy, the blonde
(who is usually stereotyped as stupid) is the bright one, whereas as the nerds
are the stupid ones. All comedies in fact break stereotype representation
rules.
In our animation, our one and only character is
a male. This might lead to people thinking the producing team is sexist. In
order not to offend anyone, we had a discussion and introduced a love interest,
which also made our animation more relatable to our target audience.
-Representation
of religious beliefs: In today’s society, religion is very neutral, in
other words people are non-committal and don’t believe in any religion. The
representation of it in the media however, is rather anti-religion. In a man
films involving violence, religion is often the cause. For example, in The
Devil’s Double, a biographical film about an Iraq soldier that is forced to
become a body double for Saddam Hussein’s son, and in the Passion of the
Christ. In the Passion of the Christ, the extreme amounts of violence upset
many viewers and questioned the historical and biblical accuracy.
Like many of the films and today’s culture
people are neutral in their religious beliefs, the same can be said with our
animations, which features no mention or visuals of religion.
Linguistic
usages: Language in the media
can be described as many things, including slang, accents, subtitles, etc. All
of these are apparent in the media, especially in film and television. For
example, on X Factor USA, Geordie girl Cheryl Cole got the sack because the
American audience and contestants couldn’t understand her accent. The same goes
with the Film Snatch, where Brad Pitt plays a pikey with an extremely strong
accent that is barely audible. Slag is often used in the TV programme Only
Fools and Horses. The main character Del often uses Cockney Slang daily and
also has a go at foreign languages – wrongly of course! Subtitles are used in
films, when there is a conversation happening in a foreign language for the
benefits of the deaf.
This doesn’t really apply to our animation, as
it has no speech or narration.
Accessibility:
This refers to the disability
access in screening the films. In most cinemas there are accessible to the
disable. For visually impaired customers, audio descriptive performances are
available at most cinemas, headsets are available, and guide dogs are welcome
in at all times. For hearing impaired guests special screenings with subtitles
are available, hearing loops can be installed (either infra red or induction).
Accessibility doesn’t really apply to our animation,
as it will not be played at a cinema, or be watched by anyone that is disabled.
Professional
body codes of practise: The BBC's Producers'
Guidelines -
"Audiences rightly expect the highest editorial and ethical standards from the BBC. The BBC's Producers' Guidelines are a public statement of those values and standards and how we expect our programme-makers to achieve them. They detail the BBC's approach to the most difficult editorial issues and provide guidance which programme makers at all levels need to be aware of and follow."
Inside BBC Journalism features over 40 reports by journalists who reflect on the many challenges they face when aiming to apply the BBC's Producer's Guidelines to reporting and programme making. In each of the five sections of this website – Impartiality, Accuracy and truth, Fairness and privacy, Respect, and Independence - BBC journalists explore the art of reporting. They use concrete examples and real-life situations to explain the difficulties they have encountered; in some cases they offer solutions. The aim of the Producers' Guidelines is to equip journalists and programme-makers to take risks but within the parameters that protect the BBC's global reputation. The Producer's Guidelines apply to all BBC broadcasting, both in Britain and internationally - whatever the medium, be it television, radio or the Internet. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1715_reporters/page2.shtml)
"Audiences rightly expect the highest editorial and ethical standards from the BBC. The BBC's Producers' Guidelines are a public statement of those values and standards and how we expect our programme-makers to achieve them. They detail the BBC's approach to the most difficult editorial issues and provide guidance which programme makers at all levels need to be aware of and follow."
Inside BBC Journalism features over 40 reports by journalists who reflect on the many challenges they face when aiming to apply the BBC's Producer's Guidelines to reporting and programme making. In each of the five sections of this website – Impartiality, Accuracy and truth, Fairness and privacy, Respect, and Independence - BBC journalists explore the art of reporting. They use concrete examples and real-life situations to explain the difficulties they have encountered; in some cases they offer solutions. The aim of the Producers' Guidelines is to equip journalists and programme-makers to take risks but within the parameters that protect the BBC's global reputation. The Producer's Guidelines apply to all BBC broadcasting, both in Britain and internationally - whatever the medium, be it television, radio or the Internet. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1715_reporters/page2.shtml)
Worldwide Web Consortium
(W3C) accessibility standards: This is the main
international standards organization for the Internet (World Wide Web or WWW).
Their aim is to develop protocols and guidelines to ensure long-term growth for
the web. Its motto is “leading the Web to its full potential”. In 1999 they
published the accessibility guidelines, which are a set of guidelines for
making content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user
agents, including highly limited devices, such as mobile phones.
Broadcasting Act 1990: These are rules introduced on a cross-media holding to prevent
ownership being concentrated in too few hands. Newspaper owners are prevented
from holding more than a 20% stake in TV companies. The effect was that the
regulator became the broadcaster, which was the case in 1950s-60s when it had
fewer regulatory powers that it would later assume.
Official Secrets Act 1989: This is an act created to replace section 2 of the Official Secrets
Act 1911 by provisions protecting more limited classes of official information.
The Act is a legislation that provides for the protection of the state secrets
and official information, mainly related to national security. However is not a
defense under the Act to disclose information that is in the national or public
interest.
Obscene Publications Act
1959: An Act to amend the
law relating to the publication of obscene matter; to provide for the
protection of literature; and to strengthen the law concerning pornography. For
example the film ‘Deep Throat’ sparked heated debate and precedent-setting
court cases that made allegations of obscenity. It was shot in only a week and
contained graphic enactments of oral, vaginal and anal sex, group sex, and
masturbation in most of the scenes. This
was subsequently banned from 23 US states. Years after the film was released,
the leading actress criticized the film, claiming that she was drugged, coerced
and raped during filming and even claimed that she had a gun to her head the
entire time of filming.
During our animation there is sex scene, which some viewers
may find offensive. However, as the characters are silhouettes there is no
detail, and due to the previous scenes us as producers can justify the reason
behind it. It is part of a group scenes that show how the male character’ s
relationship is blossoming with the female character.
Video
Recordings Act 1984: This is
the act of the parliament in the UK that states that all video recordings
offered for sale or higher within the UK must carry a classification that has
been agreed upon by an authority designated by the home office.
Race
Relations Act 1976: This Act
makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone on grounds of race, colour,
nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic national origin.
Human
Rights Act 1998: The long
title for this act is the act that gives further effect and freedoms guaranteed
under the European Convention on Human Rights; to make provision with respect
to holders of certain judicial offices who become judges of the European Court
of Human Rights; and for connected purposes.
Licensing
Act 2003: This act requires
permission to provide regulated entertainment. This means that to play a film
at a local cinema or event, permission is required from the license. However if
you wanted to watch or upload a film off of the Internet, you don’t need a
licence.
Privacy
Law: This refers to the laws
that deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals that
can be collected by governments and other public as well as private
organisations and its storage use. For example, the Leveson Inquiry is
currently an on-going public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of
the press, following the News International phone hacking scandal. News
international, owned by Rupert Murdoch, was under investigation, after
employees were accused of engaging with phone hacking and police bribery in the
pursuit of writing stories. Many people, including celebrities and Politian’s
were victims of this invasion of privacy.
Copyright
and intellectual property law:
copyright is a legal concept, giving the creator of an original piece of work
exclusive rights to it. This is used when the creator of the original piece of work,
doesn’t want it to be copied by other people without permission. To get
permission, copies can be sold. By law, if you personally create an original piece of work, it is automatically copyright. This however can't be proved.
Many films have been banned for one reason or another, mainly due to sex and violence. Cannibal Holocaust was banned due to animal cruelty, I Spit On Your Grave was banned because of extreme rape scenes, etc. It is mainly horror films that are banned, as they are the ones that's aim is to shock and scare.
Many films have been banned for one reason or another, mainly due to sex and violence. Cannibal Holocaust was banned due to animal cruelty, I Spit On Your Grave was banned because of extreme rape scenes, etc. It is mainly horror films that are banned, as they are the ones that's aim is to shock and scare.
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