Detailed Proposal

1. Topic Area - Women and Film

2. Proposed title, question, hypothesis - to what extent can Pedro Almodovar be labelled a 'woman's director'?

3. Teacher approval granted, in principal? yes

4. Principle texts (if text based study) My principle texts would be three of his major female-oreientated films; 'women on the verge of a nervous breakdown' 'all about my mother' and 'volver'. I would also obtain my research from several books written about him, and would particularly like to use the text 'Spanish Labyrinth'.

5. The reason I would like to choose topic as my focus is I am very interested in the representation of women in film, and study many aspects of feminism, be it theories on the 'male gaze' or through authors such as Angela Carter and April de Angelis in both of my other subjects. My grounding in the topic therefore is already rather developed, and although there is much more to discover i know already that i have an enthusiasm for this field. I have very little knowledge on Pedro Almodovar, however I have always known him to be a very influential director in the whole world of cinema. His films have very important messages, often concerning his portrayal of women, and therefore concentrating on his films should prove to enable a very detailed and exciting research project.

6. Academic context for this study (similar research, relevant theory, named theorists)
Theorists on the representation of women in film (Laura Mulvey, Deirdre Pribram, Gillian Swanson)
Theorists on Almodovar (Mark Allinson, Marvin D'Lugo)
Relevant theories - the 'female gaze' theory

7. Institutional context for this study (industry focus, other texts for comparison, named practitioners, relevant theory, issues, questions)

8. Identify the audience context for this study (audience profile, access to audience, potential sample)
The audience I will be focussing on in this study is of course women, and how they feel they have been represented in Almodovar's films and to what extent this makes him a 'woman's director'. I would choose a sample of women between the age of 16 and 80, as the films I am studying all have a 15 age certificate. I can use friends and family for the sample, as well as using students and teachers in the school.

9. How will the 4 key concepts be relevant to your study (audience, institution, forms and conventions, representation)?
The basis of my study i s the institution and what kind of effect this has on the audience. It will be crucial to do a great ammount of research into the institutions, specifically Almodovar as a director, his films, his production and distribution companies, and generally the impact the insitution has on the question of feminism. The audience response will ground my hypothesis, as it is their response to Almodovar's films which prove to what extent he is a 'woman's director'. Forms and conventions of Almodovar's films in comparison to the forms and conventions of other films depicting women will be integral to my textual analysis research, and the focus of my question is of course representation of gender, so this key concept will be focussed on strongly

10 Potential research sources (secondary): secondary academic books and websites, secondary industry books and websites, secondary popular criticism. Please identify specific examples you have come across.
"Pedro Almodovar (World Directors Series)" Ernesto R. Acevedo-Munoz http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pedro-Almodovar-Directors-Ernesto-Acevedo-Munoz/dp/1844571505/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1202739182&sr=8-7

"Pedro Almodovar (Contemporary Film Directors)" Marvin D'Lugo http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pedro-Almod-Contemporary-Film-Directors/dp/0252073614/ref=pd_bxgy_w_h__img_b?ie=UTF8&qid=1202739182&sr=8-7

"A Spanish Labyrinth: The Films of Pedro Almodovar " Mark Allinson
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1860645070/ref=sib_rdr_dp

"Pedro Almodovar Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers)" Paula Willoquet-Maricondi
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pedro-Almodovar-Interviews-Conversations-Filmmakers/dp/1578065690/ref=pd_sim_w_h_?ie=UTF8&qid=1202739182&sr=8-7

The gaze theory - http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze.html

Feminist film theories - http://www.let.uu.nl/womens_studies/anneke/filmtheory.html

Male and Female responses to film -http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_n1-2_v38/ai_20816291/print

Volver website - http://moviegrande.com/volver/

11. Potential research sources (primary): audience reception research, your own content/textual analysis etc
After looking into research methods the appropriate approaches would be out of the following:
Textual Analysis
Structured interviews or questionnaires to see what makes women tick
unstructured interviews to ascertain women's opinions on their representation in film
Focus groups to see how a range of women respond specificaly to Almodovar's films

12. Modifications agreed with your lead teacher
13. Potential limits/obstacles/problems?
14. Teacher concerns
15. Teacher approval