M2 - Legal and Ethical Issues

 M2 - LEGAL ISSUES

OFCOM:

Ofcom (Office of Communications) is the UK's communications regulator. Ofcom is required under the

Communications Act of 2003 and the Broadcasting act of 1996. The code known as the Ofcom Broadcasting Code draws up code for television and radio, covering standards in programmes, sponsorships, product placements in television programmes, fairness and privacy. If my music video were to broadcast on a TV channel I would need to make sure I was sticking to all appropriate legislation.

My video does not include any language, sexual behaviour, drugs or alcohol, hatred, abuse or offensive behaviour. 

One Ofcom area I was paying more attention to stick to in my video was the Protecting Under 18s.

Because both my actresses are under 18 I wanted to make sure to stick with this. This is also because I was trying to stick to my brief of my video being appropriate to the 12A audience. The only area in my video that could potentially contradict this is the fire scene on the roof. This could arguably present dangerous behaviour that could be imitable by children, which is not allowed under Ofcom's rules. However the fire I am showing is controlled small and the character is on a perfectly safe area of the roof, stood in one place, which doesn't promote any dangerous behaviour. This type of small fire also isn't an issue for this 12A age group. 

BBFC:

BBFC (British board of film classification) is made to help children and families choose what they

should watch based on how appropriate the contents in it are for them. They classify content with age
ratings, give advice about content released. For music videos. when the BBFC give an appropriate age rating this will be showed on YouTube

when people view the video. UK record labels will
submit all videos they think will get at least a 12 age rating. The BBFC then give these an age rating based off the published BBFC classification guidelines. The kinds of issues they look for in music videos are bad language, dangerous behaviour presented as safe, drug misuse, sexual behaviour, nudity, threatening behaviour and violence. In my brief, I was told to stick to the age rating of 12A. I made sure to follow the BBFC guidance on how to stick to the age category. For the video I am making I haven't included any drugs, alcohol, sexual activity, nudity, threatening behaviour or violence so I didn't need to worry about looking into these topics. My song also doesn't contain any bad language. The only point I was making sure to stick to was the dangerous behaviour, as I do have a scene with fire included and on a roof area. However The fire I was using was completely safe and controlled and I wasn't promoting any dangerous behaviour in the whole roof scene. The protagonist was only stood in one area of the roof which was perfectly safe. I was making sure not to glamorise or endorse any anti-social behaviour which is not allowed under the 12A guidelines. Because this area is potentially a problem it could be solved by me adding a warning to the start of my video to warn any potential viewers who don't feel it is appropriate to them or their children for example. I feel like my video does overall suit this 12A guideline. 

CODE OF PRACTICE:

The Code of Practice applies to all forms of production (including music videos) shot on location in public places in London. Small on street location shoots may not need to adhere to all aspects of the

code at all times. They look to ensure that the industry can film effectively, efficiently and flexibly in London. I made sure to read this document and highlight the areas I needed to put effort in sticking to. One of these is that I was using child performers, to make sure this was ok I got signed consent forms from all actors involved as well as parental signatures. I was also filming near a road in some of my moor scenes however I didn't need to close the road down as we didn't actually film on the road, and also it was a small side street that got little traffic through anyway. I

recorded all relevant emergency services in case of any emergency. I conducted a thorough risk assessment of all my locations to ensure safety of all actors and crew. When filming in private property I got permission to film, however most scenes were on public property or my own. To avoid product placement in my music video, I used unbranded clothing as well as not using a lot of props which may have caused this. Luckily, in my video using any branded products wasn't something I was planning on including to fit my C1-C2 audience.

M2 - ETHICAL ISSUES

When looking into ethical issues I did research into theories people have created. Stuart Hall created the theory of representation which stats hat representation is the ability to describe or imagine and is important because culture is always formed through meaning. Laura Mulvey's theory on the male gaze argued that Hollywood cinema was structured along a threefold gaze (by the audience, the camera and the characters) that looks at women from a male point of view and regards them as mere (sexual) objects. 

I wanted to make sure I was representing all groups in my video correctly. As I only have 1 main person throughout the whole video I only needed to worry about representing her, and most of this falls under the male gaze. One of the things I was mainly trying to represent was the themes of sadness and loss. These are themes that are continuously represented throughout indie videos and films so I felt it was important I included these. I really wanted the video to feel emotional and meaningful, I was trying to avoid making it too childish however because my production was so low scale and I am young myself this was challenging. I made sure to follow all conventions of the genre and tried to lean into the fact it was a low scale production, I didn't use too many variables that would have distracted from the real meaning of my video. I used lots of close ups especially to really see the emotion on the characters face so that I could best represent these deep emotions and struggles. 

As my protagonist is a teen girl, I wanted to make sure I wasn't playing into the male gaze so I looked into this theory by Laura Mulvey. I wasn't including any scenes which may sexualise the protagonist which meant I wasn't playing into the male gaze. When deciding on her outfits I made sure not to put her in too small items of clothing which might sexualise her. I mainly wanted her clothes to fit the indie genre and also be relatable for the audience. Because I was filming in winter, it meant she was wearing clothes which were warm and suitable for the weather anyway. I was making sure to not follow this male gaze as I didn't want to take away from the meaning of my video. Following this male gaze would mean I was fitting in with the stereotypes of women in video, and I didn't want to do this. This would have also been incredibly inappropriate as I was using a young female actress.