USEFUL TOOLS
THE MENKES LIST
As featured on our home page, in Sex & Power Nina Menkes makes five key observations about how women are portrayed on screen, dubbed ‘The Menkes List’. The list offers a useful tool to understanding how shot design is gendered: Male and female actors are often shot completely differently:
1) POINT OF VIEW (POV)
Male Subject/Female Object
2) FRAMING
Fragmented shots of (female) body parts
3) CAMERA MOVEMENT
Body pans and tilts of women’s bodies, often with slow motion
4) LIGHTING
3D (male) versus 2D or other fantasy lighting (female)
5) NARRATIVE POSITION
How do the above 4 shot design elements contribute to the narrative position of the characters?
REFRAME Tools to Help Make Productions More Equitable
Founded and led by Women In Film and Sundance Institute, ReFrame™ is a non-profit organization intended to be additive to other diversity initiatives and allies making change. Foundational to the program is the core belief that gender parity is intersectional with equity for all underrepresented groups, and ReFrame™ welcomes all organizations and efforts seeking inclusive representation in media.
Download the ReFrame™ information package HERE. It contains useful tools, such as the ReFrame™ Production Roadmap as well as advice on equitable hiring practices.
Free The Work Platform
Talent discovery service Free the Work. Launched by film director Alma Har’el to provide a database of female creatives to the entertainment industry.
Check out the DATABASE
Follow @freethework on Instagram
Bechdel-Wallace Test
The Bechdel-Wallace Test is a measure of the representation of women in fiction by assessing whether a work portrays at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
It names the following three criteria: (1) The film has to have at least two women in it (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man.
The test was popularized by Alison Bechdel’s comic Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985.
Brainwashing Explained
‘Brainwashing is the attempt to change the thoughts and beliefs of another person against their will. In psychology, the study of brainwashing, often referred to as thought reform, falls into the sphere of "social influence." Social influence happens every minute of every day. It's the collection of ways in which people can change other people's attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.’
How Stuff Works, 2009, by Julia Layton
INTIMACY ON SREEN: On Set Guidelines by Ita O’Brien
Top Intimacy Coordinator Ita O’Brien has compiled a fifteen point checklist of best practice guidelines when working with intimacy, simulated sex scenes, and nudity on set. This is a must-have, highly informative tool for filmmakers! Thank you, Ita.
View Ita’s guidelines HERE.
Screenwriting Software That Can Automatically Tell Whether a Script is Equitable for Men And Women
Click on the links below to purchase screenwriting programs that include tools to help with gender disparity:
Read more on how scriptwriting software became more equitable in this NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE .
Unlock Her Potential
Sophia Chang, screenwriter author of The Baddest Bitch In The Room, has created a ground-breaking mentorship program for women of color in the entertainment industry.
“It’s time to equip women of color to ascend to the C-suite, run the shows, direct the films, and take over. It’s time to break up the boys’ club that has kept the gates closed off to us for too long.” – Sophia Chang
Bechdel-style Test for Fat Women on Screen
How to write a script and incorporate a storyline with a plus-sized person:
Cast fat women in main roles and not have their story lines revolve around their weight or desire not to be fat.
Proposed by Rebecca Bodenheimer on March 24th, 2020 in the Los Angeles Times.
The Power and Control Wheel From the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence
The Power & Control diagram is a particularly helpful tool in understanding the overall pattern of abusive and violent behaviors, which are used by a batterer to establish and maintain control over his partner. Very often, one or more violent incidents are accompanied by an array of these other types of abuse. They are less easily identified, yet firmly establish a pattern of intimidation and control in the relationship.
The Definition of Rape Culture
Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety
Check out “16 Ways You Can Stand Against Rape Culture” UN WOMEN 2019