Domestic violence research

I have decided to research into domestic violence so that I have a deeper understanding of it. I feel it is crucial that I do this research in order to really believe the domestic violence apsects of my video. I will  be able to apply my knowledge when shooting these scenes.

Statistics:

* 45% of women and 26% of men have experienced at least one incident of inter-personal violence in their lifetimes. However, when there were more than 4 incidents 89% of the victims were women.
 
* On average, 2 women a week are killed by a current or former male partner.
 
* Domestic violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime.
 
* Women are more likely than men to have experienced all types of intimate violence (partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking) since the ages of 16. And nearly half the woman who had experienced intimate violence of any kind, were likely to have been victims of more than one kind of intimate abuse.
 
* Young adults who said that during childhood they had been neglected, 88% had lived with some level of domestic violence, and for 59% the violence was constant or frequent.
 

* Nearly half of women (48%) who had experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 16 had experienced more than one type of intimate violence. Men were less likely to have experienced multiple forms of intimate violence (33%).
Here is an animated film for the Stop Violence Against Women campaign.
 

 


This relates to our video, as we are using a female as the victim of the domestic violence. As seen by the statistics above, women are more effected by domestic violence. And as said in this animated film, it takes a women to be involved in domestic violence 35 times before she calls the police.

We decided to use a female as the victim, as it is easier to represent the female as vulnerable. Aslo, from researching domestic violence statistics it is clear that females are the more likely gender to be affected by it. This means that a wider audience will be able to relate to our video.

Our reason for choosing domestic violence as a theme for our music video, was because we wanted to raise awareness. The idea also came from the music video to Love The Way You Lie by Rhianna and Eminem (as said on an earlier post). However, I feel that in this video they glamourise domestic violence. Whereas, I would like our video to create a more realistic view of doemstic violence.

This is a video of Patrick Stewart speaking about how he experienced domestic violence as a child in his own home. This shows that it's not only the people physically involved in the doemstic violence that are affected, it is also those around them (family members, friends etc). I hope that people look beyond our music video and not only sympathise for our female victim, but also think of other people that can be affected by it. I also hope that viewers of my video realise that it's not just the physical side of domestic violence that harms victims, it's also the psychologyical. The psychological harm is the longer lasting mental pain, whereas the brusies are a short term physical pain.




Patrick states in this video, that domestic violence was a secret when he was a child. There wasn't much awareness of it then and it was seen as a shameful thing. However, today there is a much bigger awareness of it with the help of: Social network sites, soaps, adverts, music videos and the media in general. This awareness has made people more willing to admit they are or have been affected by domestic violence.

I took out this research, as I felt it was important when making my music video that I had some knowledge in to domestic violence and the statistics that surround it. I find the issue very interesting and as I started to do the research I found myself getting very involved with it and discovering a variety of interesting cases of people affected by it.

Magazine cover

Libby and myself created a magazine cover for Auction For The Promise Club. We decided to name the magazine Beatle. This was because RollingStone was our inspiration, so we decided to choose another big band's name from the same era and came up with the Beatles (but removed the S as they did with RollingStones).
 RollingStone is the type of magazine Auction For The Promise Club's target audience would purchase, hense it being our inspiration when making our own magazine cover. We decided to use a bold and sophisticated font to give the magazine a bold and classy look. We then used glitter for the background to brighten up the magazine and give it the glamorous edge it needed. We used a large picture of the lead singer of Auction For The Promise Club, we chose this particular one because of the bright colours and her unique and quirky outfit. Also on the front of the magazine we have mentioned Arctic Monkeys, as this band is an influence of Auction For The Promise Club and it's of the same genre (so readers will be interested).
We used the rule-of-thirds when making the magazine cover, we felt it was important that the picture dominated two thirds to show its significance to the magazine. The other third was used to put other information, which is important but doesn't take the attention away from Auction For The Promise Club.

Props

China doll:
This object is used to represent the song title 'Under China'. The doll adds to the fantasy aspect of the video and creates a child-like essence, as this is an object that children would use.
The close-up shot of the doll is used in the domestic violent scene, the doll represents Dalia's character. It suggests she has become emotionless and numb to the violent happenings at home. We used Libby's china doll, as we thought the wide eyes represented as sense of vulnerability and innocence. These are both characteristics of Dalia.


Flowers:
The flowers are used in the domestic violence scenes, they represent a sense of irony. The flowers signify being alive and happy, which contradicts the couples dead and miserable relationship. The bright red colour represents how their relationship was once alive. The closure of the flowers shows how their love no longer blooms.

 Cigar:
This object is used by Fraser, it represents his masculinity and power. The smoke represents how corrupt their relationship is and glamorises the scene.

Torch light:
We have used this torch light in the domestic violence scenes, as there was not enough natural light and not enough ambient light from inside the house. The light gave off a red glow to the scenes, representing the danger and mysteriousness of the characters.