References In Video

Posted by kylecoppin on July 4, 2012

The new version of the video. This was written, voiced and edited by me.

Note: To avoid future confusion, at the very beginning, I say that it all started in 1953, not 93.

Storyboard and Script for Video Footage

Posted by kylecoppin on July 4, 2012

This is a small storyboard, containing the pictures I had used within the video, and to see where they are in the story, I included the script.

Comic books have been around since 1933.

Bringing both kids and adults together.

It all started in the United States,

Then arrived in Britain.

Also in Japan.

Or as they are known there, manga.

Here in Britain, the most popular comic series are The Beano,

And the Dandy, as well as some other series.

But with the arrival of 2000 AD, which was marketed for all ages, is it completely safe for children to read? Well, listen to this and make the decision for yourself.

The story is about a police force in a violent dystopian city of the future, where they are empowered to arrest, sentence and execute people where they stand, and executions are brutal in any sense of the word. This comic was before the time of age ratings and this is being released today. The fear is if certain children will think that the violent scenes are both cool and okay to imitate with their friends.

This would probably not end well.

This title is not the only example, and there is something else that I should mention. It all started with a horror genre in the 1950’s.

That became popular with the title, Foul Play! This story was about a group of baseballers who exact their revenge, by dismembering their grudges and using their parts for their baseball game. This was made in the 1950’s, a time where age ratings were only starting to appear on certain products. Comic books apparently aren’t one of them.

There is just one more thing to mention and an important one.

Ever since the start of the 2000’s,

Members of rock bands such as Coheed and Cambria.

My Chemical Romance.

And Creature Feature have been joining on this bandwagon.

Making comics, which are again, violent. This will not stop children from buying and reading these titles, because they might be fans of the music. If there was an age rating for them, that is.

But I managed to get a hold of one of the newest comic book issues from Coheed and Cambria singer, Claudio Sanchez.

I’ll put the cover up now, so you see what I mean. Now, it may look quite violent and grotesque, but this cover, as you may have spotted, does not have an age rating put on it, so any person of any age could come in and buy it.

The violence in comic books and it’s influence on the readers has been a great debate within the media, although, even though there is a lot of violence content in comic books, even those that are marketted directly for children, I personally have read this kind of comic books when I was at a young age and I never did imitate any action scenes.

This brings me to a question. Should the age ratings be stricter to prevent influenced violence? Or are we not giving the children of today enough credit? I want to hear your opinions on this, and if you want to share them, comment on the page below. Should there be stricter restrictions? Or do you believe that children should be allowed to see the content? I’m Kyle Coppin, good night.

References:

http://blog.newsarama.com/2010/12/03/kapow-comic-con-to-host-first-look-at-new-judge-dredd-film/

http://brianandbobbie.com/life-fragile

http://cacb.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/ec-comics-foul-play/

http://www.ehow.com/info_7877456_fun-indoor-activities-kids-adults.html

http://lambiek.net/artists/o/overgard_wt.htm

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/big_united_states_of_america_flag_usa_us_poster-228623256426994173

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/i_love_2000s_hat-148934179051630218

http://sos.georgia.gov/archives/museum/html/flag_1606-1801.htm

http://themagicrobot.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/the-decline-and-fall-of-british-comics/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_comics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dandy

http://www.frontrowphotos.com/poprock/pr2.html

http://www.internationaltollfree.co.uk/

Links To Related Websites

Posted by kylecoppin on July 3, 2012

Below are sites that are related to this story. They are share the same conflict and debate about whether or not violence in comic books can go on as it is. Some of them are on one side, some are on the other, and some, like mine, are trying to find out which is best.

http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/01/24/sex-violence-in-comics-how-much-is-too-much-an-mtv-geek-roundtable-discussion/

http://ifanboy.com/articles/violence-in-comics/

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-05-08/entertainment/sidebar.comics_1_comic-books-comics-publishers-frederic-wertham?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ

http://comicstheblog.com/2012/01/20/on-that-news-story-about-sex-and-violence-in-comics-youre-freaking-out-about-the-wrong-thing/

Online Story 2 – The Dark Knight Rises’ Length Announced

Posted by kylecoppin on July 3, 2012

The official running time for the upcoming movie, The Dark Knight Rises has been revealed. The movie has been measured in length and it clocked up exactly 164 minutes and 27 seconds, which is nearly 25 minutes shorter than three whole hours. According to the official posting on the British Board of Film Classification about the movie, not only will this movie be the last in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but this movie will be the longest in the series by 11 minutes.

As quoted by the IGN website, ”

Batman Begins ran for 140 minutes, whilst The Dark Knight lasted a bum-numbingly enjoyable 153 minutes. At nearly two and three-quarter hours you’re sure to get value for money, but maybe reconsider taking a drink in with you.”

This movie is revealed to be the same age rating as the previous movies, 12A. The movie will be out in cinemas on July 20th, and looks amazing. If you are a fan of the series or want to know more about it, this movie is most likely going to be for you.

Bibliography:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/07/03/running-time-for-the-dark-knight-rises-revealed

Online Story 1 – Duran Duran: The Dark Days

Posted by kylecoppin on July 3, 2012

Last year, Duran Duran frontman, Simon Le Bon had succumbed to vocal issues, causing the band to scrap an entire tour of Europe. The tour was to promote their newest album, “All You Need is Now”, but was cancelled due to Simon’s vocal issues. The singer had entirely lost his voice as the tour began and the entire band feared that it would not recover, and according to interviews on the band’s concert DVD “A Diamond in the Mind”, almost broke up the band entirely.

Duran Duran drummer, Roger Taylor was quoted in an interview saying “I did consider that this could be the end of the band. … There’s no way you can avoid those thoughts. Obviously one felt for him — he was living it — but we were all looking at, ‘Wow, what does this mean if it doesn’t come back? It was a very difficult time for Simon. For a performer to think that you’ve lost your gift … it’s a tough thing to deal with and I don’t think Simon knew whether it was gonna come back again. We were rehearsing for the U.K. tour in London and Simon comes into the room and just kinda gives us this look. … He said, ‘I can’t do this’. I think we were all pretty crushed at that moment. There were so many hopes and dreams shattered at that moment and it was literally like looking into a black hole.”

According to MSN Music News, “Detailing his health battle in the concert film interviews, Le Bon recalls, “I went for a high note, I got it, I might have hit something a bit hard, the next song started, which was ‘All You Need Is Now,’ I went for the high note in the verse of that, and it just wasn’t there for me.” But Le Bon persevered with extensive therapy and he bounced back for concerts at the end of 2011 in better shape than ever.”

To this day, Duran Duran have been playing gigs as normal. The new concert movie, as well as the accompanying live CD will be out in stores on July 10. The band will performing the Olympics Opening Ceremony concert in London’s Hyde Park later this month.

Bibliography:

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=740431

Online Journalism Sketches

Posted by kylecoppin on July 3, 2012

IDEA 1:

HEADLINE

ARTICLE

PICTURES

ARTICLE

COMMENTS

LINKS TO SIMILAR ARTICLES

IDEA 2:

HEADLINE

ARTICLE

PICTURES

ARTICLE

Pictures

Posted by kylecoppin on July 2, 2012

This picture was not used in the final product as it just shows the front page. I used it to show how extravagant the violence was and how weird it can get.

This picture was not used either. The reason why is the same as the other. This picture just had nothing much going on in it.

This picture was used in the main feature. This picture just tells a story and sums up everything that the news story is talking about.

This picture was also used in the main feature as it shows how violence can be in comic books and shows what kids could do if they were easy to influence.

Script For Audio

Posted by kylecoppin on July 2, 2012

Hello, I’m Kyle Coppin, and today, I’ll be talking to… what’s your name again? Anyway, let’s get right down to it.

Question 1: Do you like comic books at all?

Tim: Yes. I really do.

Question 2: What is your opinion on the amount of kids who stumble upon more mature violent comic books, and try to imitate them?

Tim: No. They shouldn’t be allowed to get the more mature stuff. In everything, there is comic violence, like in the Dandy and Beano. Or you get the more mature stuff that you get from the adult section like Superman or Batman.

Question 3: That’s good. How do you think this could be prevented in the future?

Well, right now, it is regulated by age groups, with the age rating on the front. It gives the age group it’s specified for, so that seems to work at the moment. As long as the parents don’t let the young children near the adult section, and they should be okay.

Alright, I’m afraid that’s all we have time for. See you later.

I decided to do my audio in the form of an interview as I thought that I would get a more detailed answer and a more honest opinion to the question, should violence be banned in comic books?

Comic Books: More Influencial Today?

Posted by kylecoppin on July 2, 2012

Comic books have always been an enjoyment, and you can always find them down at your local comic book store and pick out the latest issue of what you like, or try something completely new. But what if a little kid was to read a title that was not suitable for children, and think that the action that they have seen is the cool thing to do and show their friends what they can do.

It’s not just about gore or death, some of the most popular of titles does usually have super heroes and villains, where the battles will inevitably ensue between good or evil. Normally, in the less influencial time, let’s say when the form of graphic novels and comic books came to be and a child saw the violent scenes, more notably, the 1953 title, Foul Play which came before the age rating system (http://besthorrorcomics.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/foul-play.html), this wouldn’t even have an eye give it a second glance. Nowadays, the children seem more open to influence, getting the wrong idea when seeing something wrong and seeing it portrayed as a cool thing to do. One of the biggest example of this is any super hero based comic, such as Batman or Superman or even Spiderman, anything like that, where they show super powered fights take place:

The pictures above show examples of comic book violence. It looks harmless, but if kids was to see this, they might think it is coo and want to try it for themselves. They are seen and are celebrated as very cool things to do. Who’s to say that a mild-mannered and impressionable child was so inspired by something like this, and want to live the magic and show the moves off at school or something? People think that comic books will affect any child who reads it, most common for parents to think like that, but really, it all comes down to the size of the child’s imagination. What I want to find out through this project is, should violence in comic books be banned? Or should it be good fun superhero and villain fights as was intended when it began?

Just listen and hear what super-buff, Tim has to say about all of it.

http://youtu.be/Y3GfYGjhBzk

I want to hear different people’s views on this. If violence in comic books is a contributing factor to the rise of violence in society today, does it need to be addressed? Is this true? Or is it down to the individuals personalities and nothing to do with what comic books they read or what videos they watch?

I have made a video on Youtube explaining this whole debate more in depth. Take a look and put your opinions on the comments below:

Click here.

Comic books and graphic novels have been around for a while, so do you think that comic book violence, blood and gore should be kept intact, and just stick a block lettered warning for minors? Or do you think that times have changed so much over the years it has been around for? The popular vote of this, as seen by readers, comic books are fine, but the more mature title should have a clear warning, or just be placed on a higher shelf. As far as the comical and lighthearted violent titles go, it all comes down to the child in question being told that the things that take place on it are wrong. What do you think of all this?

Bibliography:

http://dccomicsartists.com/batman/NewLook.htm

http://ifanboy.com/articles/violence-in-comics/

http://www.comicbookviolence.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolescents_and_cartoon_violence

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=11536