Monday, 14 March 2022

M2 - Legal and Ethical Issues

Legal Issues

I have avoided all legal issues by following all guidelines and sticking to BBFC ratings. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) focuses on helping children and families choose what is right for them to witness and what’s not by providing age ratings on films such as U, PG and 12A. The brief for my music video states it must not have a higher age rating than a 12A and I have stuck to that. According to the BBFC, my music video would most likely be rated a U as I have made sure to include no violent behaviour, drugs use, sexual behaviour, and dangerous behaviour in my music video and I have chosen a song which is appropriate and contains no use of strong language, so everyone is able to watch and enjoy it without feeling uncomfortable or getting offended. I have also stuck to OFCOM’s rules and regulations. OFCOM is the Office of Communications which is a government approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications, and postal industries for the UK. OFCOM ensures the protection of under 18s and I have ensured that by not including anything inappropriate or offensive to anyone. Another one of OFCOM’s principals is to ensure that the material in media is not likely to encourage any crime, disorder, hatred or abuse and I have stuck to this by only including appropriate behaviour along with no strong language, violence, or scenes of upsetting imagery. The final principal, is that generally accepted standards are applied to the content of media which I have also ensured to stick to by basing my characters on standard people and ensuring my video is not upsetting in anyway.

To avoid trademark issues, I will make sure that no brand logos are shown in my music video. To do this, I will make sure that any citizens and strangers which are in the background of one of my scenes will be blurred, so brand logos are not visible. The logos which may be apparent on their clothing will also be small, and you will be unable to distinguish them. Another way I will avoid trademark issues is by making sure the camera is either angled to remove shop logos out of sight or have a different part of the shot in focus (for example the main character) so it blurs that part of the frame out as one of my scenes includes walking down a busy street. I will avoid copyright is by using all of my own clips. The brief states that my music video must include at least 70% of my own content which allows me to use clips from other people/sources. However, I would need to either get royalty free clips or ask for permission to use - so I have decided to fully use my own clips which also gives me more freedom in how they can look, this also allows me to avoid any intellectual property issues by just using my own videos

 Data of my crew members will be protected and kept private to keep their privacy, any documents used in my blog will have their personal details blocked so you are unable to see them. I have gained permission from my actors by giving them consent forms to read and sign to make sure that they have fully consented to being seen in my video. I have not needed to gain any permission of locations to film as I am only filming on public grounds. One of my scenes includes a busy street where bystanders may be included. I have removed any issues with this as it is a public place where people are expected to be looked at and anyone in the camera shot can easily walk out or turn around or ask me to not include them as they are not being forced to be in my video and can easily walk away. I will make sure I respect the public, environment, and community by not being loud and only playing the music whilst filming quietly, ensuring my filming crew and I leave no litter by either finding a bin or putting it in our bags and disposing in a bin somewhere else. We will not cause any obstruction of paths by filming off paths or filming when there are no other people around and cause no risk to others or ourselves by conduction risk assessments. I have avoided defamation and slander by not presenting anyone in a negative light and only having positive things apparent in my music video. A part of my role is also to ensure the safety of my actors and/or crew members. I have done this by conducting a risk assessment of all the locations we filmed at to ensure that the land we were filming on was safe and suitable to do so, if I believed it was not safe – I decided to not film in this location.

Ethical Issues

Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory defines stereotypes as everything that is necessary to know about a person can be known by referring to the traits of a stereotype and ignoring all complexes – ‘this is what you are, and this is all you are’. I have made sure to not use any negative stereotypes to represent any people cultures or societies by making my music video have a positive message which is about doing what you want to do and to be free. My characters hold no stereotypes either as they will just be dressed in comfy, outdoor clothes. A couple stereotypes are subverted as my music video includes young people wanting to escape to the countryside and wearing clothes which younger people may not usually wear, so the audience may not expect this.

Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer of the media by filling the product with values and messages which are then decoded by the audience. I have encoded my video to show a young man who wants to be free in the countryside, away from civilisation. My music video will show him being happy in the countryside and not as happy in a busy town. The audience will hopefully decode it this way as there are no other aspects or negative aspects included.

Laura Mulvey's Theory on The Male Gaze describes the male viewing the female either voyeuristically or fetishistically. Women are not always represented in appropriate ways, and I have avoided this issue by representing any women in my video as you would see them on a street in public, like an everyday person. One of my characters in my music video is a woman and will be shown being fully clothed and wearing outdoor clothes. There is no reason for my characters to be the gender they are, apart from the main character which is a male and the singer is a male.

Risk Assessment


Consent Forms

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