Survey
The first form of research I completed were surveys. These surveys were originally meant to only be paper form as I liked to approach other people and give them a face to face introduction as to what I was trying to achieve in this project. But then, I wanted to reach a larger amount of people and also so from different countries, and so due to this, I changed my paper surveys to an online survey which allowed me to do just that. I distributed a link to my survey (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUtDy3KSI67G9OqwCj01of6TOQa1fg5J4uZpUW1NnttkOk9w/viewform) through all my social media accounts, these included Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. On Instagram, I specifically messaged a few of my friends who lived in different countries to ensure that I definitely got a variety of responses. Overall, in the space of three days, I got 40 responses from people who respected the survey as I didn't get anyone who put in answers which were silly to the question and topic, unlike many of my classmates, and for that I thank my responders. If you look below, you will see the charts made from each of the questions from the survey.
After that, I ask who they would report the bullying too. Here I gave the option of a teacher, friend, parents, other and you wouldn't. 35% of people said they would tell a teacher, this is probably because in many schools, teachers are made more approachable, whether it is your tutor or head of department, many schools try to aim for a safe environment and give their staff regular training so that they know what to do in certain circumstances. 22.5% of people say that they would tell a friend, this is probably because your friend will be able to comfort you in your time of need and could almost support you through it. 15% of people said that they would tell their parents, this is probably because they have a close relationship with one and other, which will allow the parents to go to the headmaster/mistress to address the issues. Another 15% said that they wouldn't, unfortunately in some cases you feel like you can't tell anyone as that might stir the water a little more, making the situation worse, this is really unfortunate, my film is mainly for those who feel that way, and make them aware of the different ways they can help themselves, and also make those surrounding the victim, aware of what they could do to help the situation. 12.5% of people said other, but did not specify what they meant, but it is probably anyone else they feel comfortable around to tell.
The first form of research I completed were surveys. These surveys were originally meant to only be paper form as I liked to approach other people and give them a face to face introduction as to what I was trying to achieve in this project. But then, I wanted to reach a larger amount of people and also so from different countries, and so due to this, I changed my paper surveys to an online survey which allowed me to do just that. I distributed a link to my survey (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUtDy3KSI67G9OqwCj01of6TOQa1fg5J4uZpUW1NnttkOk9w/viewform) through all my social media accounts, these included Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. On Instagram, I specifically messaged a few of my friends who lived in different countries to ensure that I definitely got a variety of responses. Overall, in the space of three days, I got 40 responses from people who respected the survey as I didn't get anyone who put in answers which were silly to the question and topic, unlike many of my classmates, and for that I thank my responders. If you look below, you will see the charts made from each of the questions from the survey.
For the first question, I chose to ask how old the survey responders were because from my experience, I have seen bullying from all ages in a variety of schools, but I needed proof of this and so for the age ranges that I gave as options were mainly for those I am targeting. 55% of people were aged 18-20, 35% were aged 15-17, 5% of them were 11 or under, 2.5% were 12-14 and the last 2.5% of them were 21 or over. From the results, it shows that I have predominantly reached my target audience. From many articles I have read, they have mentioned that by having been bullied early on in life, it can affect your life in the future such as the like of confidence. It is important for those especially the young generation, understand the consequences of their actions, no matter how big or small.
Next, I asked what their gender is. A bully finds all sorts of this that can bring someone down, whether this is their race, religion, general looks and even gender. I included transgender as an option as I feel that that is how some identify themselves, although I feel like many people objected from this as they felt like transgender was not a gender, and that people were either male, female or non-binary. From the results I have had, 55% of the responders were female, 42.5% of them were male, and 2.5% of them were transgender. The results show that I received quite a mix and even one transgender which is good as that shows a little diversity, showing that the questions answered, are not too one way to one specific gender.
Next in the survey, I asked whether they have been a victim of bullying. From the results given, I have 45% of people saying no, and 55% of people saying yes. I am actually quite astonished at how many people had said no, I thought that the percentage would be much lower and yes to be much higher, but this may just be all due to what other people may view as bullying as everyone is different.
For the next question, I asked whether they have witnessed someone being bullied. From the result above, They were roughly what I anticipated, 92% of people said that they have witnessed someone being bullied, and 7.5% of people said that they hadn't. This goes to show what I said above about those perceiving what bullying is to what others perceive it as. Regardless of this, the high majority of the 40 people who have answered this survey has witnessed someone being bullied.
Next, I asked how they felt during that point of time, this would depend on what they answered in the above questions about whether they have been bullied and whether they have witnessed it. 22.5% of people had sympathy for the victim, this is understandable as we start to think why, out of the many other people, are they being picked on and emotionally hurt, or even physically hurt. 25% of people said that they agreed with all the selected emotions I listed, this just goes to show that not many people know what to do when they are put on the spot, people almost don't know how to feel, especially those who are witnessing the bullying.
The next question I asked was, what do you recognise as bullying? This question will allow me to see what other people's perspective is, to encourage those answering my survey to put in their suggestions, I gave ideas of what I see bullying as. From the results above, 70% of people agreed with all my suggestions, showing that even though having perspective is good, being mean is mainly plain and simple, whether it is banter, or not. There were 10% of people who believed that having set someone up to fail is a form of bullying. The next highest was 7.5% of people selected that making fun of someone is bullying. After that, 5% said that making a snarky comment is bullying. And then 2.5% of people replied saying that they agreed with my suggestion apart from banter. All these results have definitely given me more knowledge of other people's perspective.
After that I asked why other people bully others. Here I had a few mixed answers but two main majorities. 45% of people believed that it was due to the bully being insecure, and 32.5% people believe they do it as bullying others give them power. And so the conclusion of the results all mainly link to the people wanting to be dominant, having the power to make people as insecure as them, hurting others because it is funny or because you have something they want. Others also bully because they are being bullied themselves and so that is their only way to get out of the repetitive spin of being bullied. From the results I have received, I am able to then portray these emotions.
The next question I asked was, If you saw someone being bullied, would you stand up to the bullies? From my own experience, I have not seen many people stand up to bullies as they are worried that they themselves would get bullied after that one person. A reoccurring problem with the younger generation is that many people don't want to break from the status quo as it is almost foreseen to be a crime to be different because if you're different, you get bullied. But, from the results shown above it shows that 82.5% of people would stand up to bullies and 17.5% wouldn't. When hearing some of my peers complete the survey, as they got to this question many said things such as "probably", "if I know them", "depends who the person bullying is", and from this there is a lot of uncertainty. I don't mean this to mock people, but from my own observations, I can see that a lot of people live in fear of doing the wrong thing, standing up to someone in power when they are in the wrong, I can honestly say that I am one of those people, but it is our job to grow and gather more knowledge on ways to help ourselves and others who also suffer from this.
After that, I ask who they would report the bullying too. Here I gave the option of a teacher, friend, parents, other and you wouldn't. 35% of people said they would tell a teacher, this is probably because in many schools, teachers are made more approachable, whether it is your tutor or head of department, many schools try to aim for a safe environment and give their staff regular training so that they know what to do in certain circumstances. 22.5% of people say that they would tell a friend, this is probably because your friend will be able to comfort you in your time of need and could almost support you through it. 15% of people said that they would tell their parents, this is probably because they have a close relationship with one and other, which will allow the parents to go to the headmaster/mistress to address the issues. Another 15% said that they wouldn't, unfortunately in some cases you feel like you can't tell anyone as that might stir the water a little more, making the situation worse, this is really unfortunate, my film is mainly for those who feel that way, and make them aware of the different ways they can help themselves, and also make those surrounding the victim, aware of what they could do to help the situation. 12.5% of people said other, but did not specify what they meant, but it is probably anyone else they feel comfortable around to tell.
The next question I asked was whether they felt safe at school. This is important as this is the fundamental stage for children to transition to adulthood. 92.5% of people said that they did feel safe at school, this is really good as it means that their schools have been able to create a friendly environment for their students. Although, 7.5% of people said that they don't feel safe, this can mean a variety of things, but we must acknowledge and find more ways in which we believe can help support them.
The final question I asked in the survey was, what makes you feel safe. I gave a variety of options such as being surrounded by friends, family, music, food, being at home, etc. 52% of people said that they are at their safest when they are surrounded by friends, and 12.5% of people said that they find themselves safest with their family, this shows that being surrounded by familiar people whom we share similar interests too, allow us to be our happier selves. There are a variety of ways for us to seek an escape from life, and for those that are victims of bullying, must be reminded of this and be shown support to create a happier and more confident life for them.
To conclude my survey, I am very happy with the outcome of the answers and they have given me a new perspective on how I should proceed this topic for my film. The results from the survey allows my to have solid content for my story, this can further the plot in it.
Case Study/Bullying Articles
After doing a case study on the case of bullying, I feel that I have a true understanding of the topic and by having a real example, I am able to draw out the emotions feel during that time. This was a very sad story to come across and I am very glad that I was able to shed some light onto it.
To conclude the case study and how it has affected my perspective on the bullying topic, I feel as though by doing this research, that it has really shown, how silent some can get in serious cases like this. The boys should have been expelled and faced higher consequences to the one they actually received, by having the expulsion rejected sends out messages to people like that, that it is okay to revert history and bring back inhuman acts to this century. A story like this is always disheartening to hear, especially after we have changed so much history in these past years, such as the rights for gay marriage, the ongoing support for the women's rights march, cultures accepting other cultures, etc. But in this horrid moment in time, it really sets us back. With what I was able to dig up on this story for my case study, I am able to add emotion to the content that I collected from my survey, the emotion isn't exactly from the victim but more from the parents and guardians.
Genre Research
I have conducted research on the genre by doing a variety of things, these including, watching films and television shows that are related to bullying such as Mean Girls, Carrie, 13 Reasons Why, and Before I Fall. Bullying is everywhere, it is just how we perceive what bullying is to us. Watching these films and television shows has really opened my eyes to how each directing team has used the term 'Bullying', and have made different versions of the meaning, and how they create awareness for the for the topic.
The first film I watched was Mean Girls. This was a comedy film where Teenage Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) was educated in Africa by her scientist parents. When her family moves to the suburbs of Illinois, Cady finally gets to experience public school and gets a quick primer on the cruel, tacit laws of popularity that divide her fellow students into tightly knit cliques. She unwittingly finds herself in the good graces of an elite group of cool students dubbed "the Plastics," but Cady soon realizes how her shallow group of new friends earned this nickname. In this film, I found that there were a lot of wide, medium and close up shots. The wide shots allowed the audience to really show how being bullied can make you feel so alone, even when you are in a crowd full of people edging to go in different destinations. The medium shots showed the character's body language, indicating their outside emotions. And close-ups were mainly used to show the close-up emotions of the character, this was really useful as I felt that from the close-up, I was able to gather more detail of the emotions felt in different situations, even in the comedic scenes.
The second film I watched was Carrie, the film is about a shy and awkward teen being raised by a religious zealot (Julianne Moore), Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz) is frequently the target of bullies. But Carrie has a secret talent: She can make things move with her mind. One fateful night, an especially cruel prank at her senior prom pushes her over the edge, and Carrie unleashes her telekinetic powers on all who get in her way. I found this film quite powerful, as Carrie, the main character, has always been bullied throughout her life, she got teased for you religion, clothes, shyness, etc. and out of all that as the audience, you see how the character just wanted to be free from the control of her mum and the control the bullies had on her, a film critic of Empire wrote, also quoting Stephan King's reflection on the story, "It's largely about how women find their own channels of power," he wrote in Danse Macabre in 1981. "And what men fear about women and women's sexuality." There you go. Not about a teenager who kills everybody on prom night after all. Carrie may be no ordinary horror film or horror novel, but horror it certainly is, exemplifying what some call De Palma's "red period" (Sisters (1972) to Body Double (1984). (https://www.empireonline.com/movies/carrie/review/)Carrie allow victims to know that they have the true power, that they are destined for great things, it doesn't necessarily mean to kill everyone who had bullied you, but as a metaphor, that your success in the future will overpower theirs, that the reason that you are getting bullied is because they know that you are destined for great things, but are afraid of your success. And so from this film, I collected a lot of emotion fro the victim and that has helped me underline the fundamental thoughts and feelings during the process of being bullied.
'13 Reasons Why' was the third television series I watch to grab inspiration for shots and storyline. The television show is about Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford ), a young woman who takes her own life. Two weeks after her tragic death, a classmate named Clay finds a mysterious box on his porch. Inside the box are recordings made by Hannah, whom Clay had a crush on, on the tapes she explains the 13 reasons why she chose to commit suicide. If Clay decides to listen to the recordings, he will find out if and how he made the list. This intricate storyline is told through Clay and Hannah's dual narratives. From this film it inspired me to create a gate way for my character to escape from her troubles, and so I thought of having a bath tub, being surrounded by water, in peace. Also from the 13 Reasons Why series, I chose that form of escape to be her possible suicide route. After I watched Hannah Baker die in the bath tub, although she cut her wrists first, at the end she almost looked peaceful but so sad.
'Before I Fall' was the fourth and final film I watched to gather inspiration from. The film is about a girl, Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch), who seems to have it all: popularity, a loving boyfriend (Kian Lawley) and a seemingly perfect future. Everything changes in the blink of an eye when she dies in a car crash but then magically wakes up to find herself reliving the same day over and over again. As Samantha tries to untangle the mystery of a life derailed, she must also unravel the secrets of the people closest to her and discover how the power of a single day can make a difference. From this film I got a lot of inspiration from the non-linear storyline, the repeat of days and Samantha having to work out what she must do to stop the day from repeating. The storyline of this film gave me an idea to give my character at the end of suicide or life. The film's storyline also made me aware of what lengths the victim receiving the bullying is willing to do.
To conclude my whole research process, I believe it was very successful and allowed me to fully understand the topic bullying. I also gathered a wide amount of inspiration to help me write my script and character summary.
'Before I Fall' was the fourth and final film I watched to gather inspiration from. The film is about a girl, Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch), who seems to have it all: popularity, a loving boyfriend (Kian Lawley) and a seemingly perfect future. Everything changes in the blink of an eye when she dies in a car crash but then magically wakes up to find herself reliving the same day over and over again. As Samantha tries to untangle the mystery of a life derailed, she must also unravel the secrets of the people closest to her and discover how the power of a single day can make a difference. From this film I got a lot of inspiration from the non-linear storyline, the repeat of days and Samantha having to work out what she must do to stop the day from repeating. The storyline of this film gave me an idea to give my character at the end of suicide or life. The film's storyline also made me aware of what lengths the victim receiving the bullying is willing to do.
To conclude my whole research process, I believe it was very successful and allowed me to fully understand the topic bullying. I also gathered a wide amount of inspiration to help me write my script and character summary.
