1B - Representation

Analyse media representation in one of your coursework productions

For our A2 production I made a music video for the song 'Falling for you' from 'The 1975' whilst making a fictional band called 'No Individual'. I personally feel that representation is a personal view point on someone or some thing. 

The first thing we represented in our video was Indie as 'The 1975' are an Indie band. We represented indie by our use of costume as each of the three band members were dressed in a red white and blue boiler suit. This clearly represents Indie groups as rebelling against the stereotypical mainstream fashion sense that is portrayed in the media. I am elaborating on the fact that Indie groups are able to elaborate on the fact that their willing to for their own identity which relates to the subculture theory that states that people form subcultures which means they dress and behave due to the fact they have common interests. Steve Neale's repetition theory applies in my music video to also represent Indie as I made sure that the performance element of my video, where the band performed in a river, kept being shown. This enables me to create a sense of togetherness in an Indie group as the shots show the band being a strong unbreakable unit in a flowing river. 

Another representation that was portrayed in my video was youth. I have portrayed youth to be mature and creative. I have shown this by having the band be out in the open and at heart with nature by having them perform in a river, surrounded by natural wildlife which enables me to confide against the stereotypical moral panic views about youths 'demonising' society, so I feel that by having them at heart with nature it portrays them in a positive light.

White British is the third representation in our music video as each of the three band members are white. We conformed to this as the majority of Indie bands are made up of white performers such as 'Arctic Monkeys', 'The Killers' and the list goes on. I have perceived the band to be British as I decided to dress each band member in a red, white and blue boiler suit which has connotations to the Union Jack flag.

The last representation in our video is masculinity as the band is made up of three male band members. I can apply Glynn's theory of Hyper masculinity as I can subvert to this theory. The reason behind this is because in our video I show the the performers to be metro sexual by taking care of their appearances. I've showed this by having close up shots of each of the band members looking well groomed whilst I directed them to run their hands through their hair in the performance element in our video to show that they are in touch with their feminine side. Therefore it subverts against Glynn's hyper masculinity theory.  

Discuss the ways one or more groups

Since the 4th Century teens have been represented in a bad light in mainstream media. Greek Theorist Plato stated that teens 'demonise their parents' and 'roam the streets'. Plato's teacher 'Socrates' also claimed that teens like to 'Live in luxury' and 'sponge of their parents'. Elements of this are clearly evident in mainstream media such as 'The Daily Mail' and 'The Telegraph' as they like to degrade the British youth due to us being an easy target. This was evident in the 1990's when The Daily Mail headlined their front page with 'Feral kids ruining society', talking about the British youth attending acid parties, getting drunk and taking drugs such as acid. Here is is easy to apply Dick Hebdiges theory of 'empty category' as the mainstream medie isolate the youths, making them easy targets pick of as they don't have a voice

Discuss how you used media languages in one of your coursework productions to create meaning for the audience (25)

Plan:

Introduction:

• State what you did for your A2 production - Music video
• Codes and conventions are explained with examples 

Main body:

• Media language - example - Meaning created 
• Mise en scene - Costume - Red, White and Blue, for concept and represent British band
• Camera - Shots - Footage of the band singing I think I'm falling whilst on the floor - apply Andrew Goodwin's theory here
• Editing - Transitions - song cuts on the beats - Apply Andrew Goodwin's theory of thought beats

Essay

For our A2 production we had to become a music band and create a music video for a song of our choice that was yet to have its own official music video. We became an Indie band and decided to call ourselves 'No Individual'. We chose to do 'Falling for you' from 'The 1975' as they are a well known indie band and the songs lyrics allowed us to explore it in a conceptual way. One code and convention that was prominent in our music video was the outdoor locations we chose to shoot, such as rivers and forests. This shows to the audience that we are a natural new up and coming raw talented band.

The first media language that is shown in our music video is the costume we used. In our band there are 3 members, each one dressed in a boiler suit that came in the colours of red, white and blue which has connotations linking to the Union Jack flag. This allows the audience to understand that we are a new British band that doesn't follow the norms of society due to boiler suits being an unfashionable item of clothing. 

The second media language that is portrayed through our music video is the footage of us 3 band members singing the lyrics 'I think I'm falling' whilst we are laid on the floor after falling down. Here I would be able to apply Andrew Goodwin's theory that the lyrics match the footage shown. This makes it pleasing for the audience as it makes the song easier to understand as they can visually see what is being said. Another theory of Andrew Goodwin that I can apply is thought beats. In our video the transitions cut on each beat which makes it aesthetically pleasing for the audience to watch.

Question 1B - Genre

Discuss how you used genre in one of your coursework productions to create meaning for the audience

For our A2 media production we had to create a music video. We decided to do the genre of Indie. Indie is defined as music that is produced independently from major commercial record labels or subsidiaries. 

We looked at Steve Neale, who said that the genre of media products is portrayed by the use of repetition.

Question 1B - Narrative Essay - Done

Discuss how you used narrative in one of your coursework productions to create meaning for the audience

For our AS coursework we created a film opening for a drama film. We used a linear narrative whilst the film questions does money bring happiness? As it follows a rich man who is depressed and a working class man who is loving his life. We got inspiration for this film as we morphed main characters from British films as we took out the rich and poor and put them into one film. 

We have portrayed our narrative through the use of camera, editing, mise en scene and sound. For camera we used Barthes narrative codes. We used Barthes code here as there are shots of Ian walking towards his office in the middle of Canary Wharf, showing is a businessman. This shows the contrast in characters as we used Barthes codes again when showing Will walking into the pub, which is a thriving enjoyable environment. This makes the narrative obvious to the audience as they can clearly see the contrast in the two characters jobs. 

The mise en scene played a vital role in helping show the narrative as it simply means what is shown in the shot. We have used Levi Strauss's theory of opposites as the two characters are completely opposite to one another due to Ian being rich and Will being poor. Ian is dressed in an expensive suit whilst Will is dressed in his own casual clothes. This is helpful in showing the difference in the demand of the job. Showing that Ian's job is much more intense and rewarding than Will's in terms of money. As Will is dressed in his own clothes this means that the environment he is in is much more stress free, meaning he is likely to be a much more enjoyable character to Ian. The actors expressions on their face's show their feelings as there is no dialogue in the opening. You will notice throughout the opening Ian's face is constantly emotionless, showing that he is hating his job. Also Ian is always on his own in his working environment and when he comes home, asking the question of whether or not you would chose work over socialising. Will however is the opposite to this, although he doesn't earn nearly as much as Ian does he constantly has a smile on his face whilst he socialises with his friends and his family.

We used a song over the footage throughout the whole video without using any dialogue. The reason behind this was because we wanted the viewers to have an in look on their lives however we didn't want to give too much away, allowing the audience to make up their minds as to who is enjoying their life more.

In the editing process we used a lot of time laps's and opacity fades. The main time laps we used was when Will was working in the pub. This was to contrast the two different environments their both in. the time laps helps to show that Will's day flies by as he is enjoying whilst Ian's day is shown to monotonous and repetitive as it is played at real time. The opacity fades used to change the shots on Ian and Will helps to remind the audience the differences in each character, enhancing the narrative. Another effect used was a reverse shot of Ian walking to his work. This puts across the message of Ian's day being so repetitive and dull, further expanding the narrative.

In conclusion our audience thought that the narrative in our film opening wasn't obvious enough to understand what was going on however they could tell the two differences in both characters in terms of their wealth. 

Question 1B - Audience Essay - Done

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relations to the concept of audience

Our A2 production required us to make a music video. Our target audience for this production was aimed at 16 to 25 year old male and females. The reason behind this because Indie is a genre that has only been around for 20 years so it attracts people in their young teens and mid 20's therefore it allows them to relate to the artists as they are of similar age. The reason it relates both male and female is because you have stars from both genres like 'The XX' for males and Lorde for females. We would target the A B's and C1's as Indie attracts arty, outgoing people who usually work as teachers or students, as well as young people who just got jobs in the city. In order to research what sort of things Indie people like in a music video, we created a survey monkey which asked what type of music video do you like best and the options were conceptual, narrative or performance. The majority of the feedback we got said showed that the favorites were conceptual and performance. Therefore we based our video around this style. However this feedback may be influenced by the Hypodermic needle theory as the audience may be influenced by media products so the may just be saying what they see in other Indie videos, so its not a personal view.

The camera shots were vital in engaging our audience so we therefore made sure that we covered all ranges of shots so we didn't lose the attention of the viewer. We made sure we followed Andrew Goodwin's theory that close ups are important to help the audience appreciate the the 'star persona' of the lead singer. Therefore our music video is filled with close ups of our lead singer, who is James, which enables the audience to distinguish the lead role. We also have a shot where the 3 of the band members are dressed only in their boxers. This is opposite to Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory and is instead a 'female gaze' theory, helping attract the female audience to watch our video. To match the Indie image, we repeat quite a lot of the same shots, for example the performance shots of the band performing in the river. This sends a message across to the audience of life being repetitive as Indie bands usually hide messages in either their lyrics or their videos.

Editing was the next vital part to attract our audience. One of the main things I did was listen to Andrew Goodwin's theory of 'Thought beats'. This meant that you can see the sound. I accomplished this by cutting each shot on the beat of the music. This attracts the audience as it is aesthetically pleasing to witness. It also enables each shot to be of similar length as the beat initiates when the shot changes. Another thing I did whilst editing was slow the shots down and add reverse shots where possible. This is because the song 'Falling For You' is a very slow paced song about love and therefore I felt it was appealing to match the pace of the shots to the pace of the music. Love is a thing that builds up over time and so the slow pace of the images match well with the ever growing idea of love. I also used cross dissolves to integrate shots together to make it much more pleasing for the viewer to see rather than witnessing sharp cuts as not every shot cuts to the beat of the song.

Finally the mise en scene helped us attract our Indie audience as we made it interesting whilst including many enigma codes. Each band member was dressed in a boiler suit, coming in three different colours - red, white and blue. This appealed to our English Indie audience as it shows that we are an up and coming British Indie band, whilst our performance element is set in a river, matching the indie image of being filled with nature and naturalism. We made sure that the bands musical props were shown in the video to portray the element of being a band rather that produce our own music, rather than giving the image of being purely vocalists.

Question 1B - Representation

Introduction:
Explain what media product of yours you will be analysing and which social groups you will be analysing the representation of...

Main:

• AGES - How does your video construct a representation of different ages? Consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial expression, camera, sound, editing
• ETHNICITY - Consider costumes, props, location, body laguage, facial expressions, camera, sound, editing 

Question 1B - Audience

Introduction:
Why is it important/essential for a media product like a film or a music video to appeal to an audience?

Who was your target audience for your production? Gender, age, class, hobbies and media interests. To get A and B grades, try and describe their social demographic groups

What did you do to research what your audience wanted? What did you find out about what they wanted? To get A and B grades, don't just describe what they wanted, try and comment on why they might want these things - use an appropriate theory here.

Main: How did you use the following things to attract/engage an audience?

• Camera
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene

What feedback did you seek AFTER your production and what was it like? How did a 'real audience' react to your product? Did they react in a way you thought they would? Why?

Conclusion:

How important it is to consider your audience in depth and how this changed/affected your production overall

A and B grades

To get an A or B grade you really need to try and incorporate theories into the above points. 

Question 1B - Genre

Introduction:

• What was your genre? 
• What are the conventions of the genre e.g. Horror/rock etc
• How did you find out the conventions?
• Give examples of real films/music videos you watched to find this out

Main: How have you signified the genre using:

• Colour
• Camera shots/angles/movements
• Editing techniques
• Sound/dialogue/music
• Mise en scene such as costumes/props/location

Conclusion:

Do you think you made the genre of your piece clear to an audience? How did you do this?

A and B grades

To ensure that you get A and B grades you need to apply film and music video theories where appropriate. What do the theorists say about the genre? Explain how your production either agrees to the theorists ideas or goes against them.

Question 1B

This question will require students to select EITHER their AS production OR A2 production. (whichever makes more sense for the question) and evaluate it in terms of one of the following concepts:

• Genre - A2
• Narrative - AS
• Representation - AS
• Audience - A2
• Media Language - A2

Media texts and genre conventions

Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time

Post production essay

Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in the post - production and how these decisions made a difference to the final outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time

Research and planning essay

Explain how your research and planning skills developed over time and how these decisions contributed to your media production outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer.

For AS we had to create a film opening and then in A2 we had to create a music video. Both productions required us to research and plan to create the best production possible.

For both AS and A2 we had to make a story board, showing all the different types of shots we would get for each production. The first development from AS to A2 is the difference in the amount of shots. Our music video required a vast amount of shots as it is much more like an advert where you have to sell the band to the audience whilst keeping them interested. I feel we have developed here as we had to think of a lot more shots, applying the help we got from music video director, Jake Wynne, to enhance on our shots. In both AS and A2 we filmed over the story board and then uploaded them to YouTube. However in AS when we filmed it we also spoke over it. In A2 we filmed it then we did a voice over. This proved a lot easier to do as it wasn't rushed therefore it made it a lot easier for the viewer to understand what each shot was. Also the sound was a lot clearer as we went to the a recording studio in the music block to speak, making it a lot clearer to understand our voices, therefore showing development.

Another improvement I made from AS to A2 was the amount of research I did into each production. For AS we did a drama film whilst for A2 our genre was Indie. Being a film fanatic I was aware of what is needed in a drama film to make the audience be crazed about it. For example an enigma code is essential to make the audience question what is going on etc. Therefore I didn't do as much research into the genre. However where music is concerned I don't tend to listen to Indie. Therefore I didn't know much about it so I had to do a lot of research into it. I went onto YouTube and searched for Indie videos and noted down what I saw.

Digital Technology essay

Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers. In your own experience, how was your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?

Being a 17 year old I am a media consumer. When I joined 6th form I became a media producer as we took on the role of producing a film opening and music video in year 12 and 13.

Year 12 was a new environment for me as we were asked to make a film opening. However this wasn't the only thing required. At the start of the year we were required to make a Blogger account to track our journey from start to finish. The first thing that were required to put on our blogs were film openings and then analyse them. This meant that I learned how to embed the YouTube link and put it on my blog. This was the start of my creativity as it enabled the viewer to watch the video without having to go onto YouTube. The next task we had to do was an editing task where we had to edit bears dancing to a song of my choosing on Premier Pro. The first thing I learned when editing was how to import videos and music from pupil shared. We then had to experiment with Premier and match the bears with the music. I used cross dissolve on each footage so the shots faded into one another. This showed my creative side as I didn't want the shots to cut harshly from one to the other instead I wanted the viewer to see a soft gentle fade between footage. After we done this editing task we were then set to do a filming task called Juno. Juno taught me different ways of filming, allowing me to experiment with different shots, ranging from close ups to tracking shots. After this task we were set a prelim task at which we were told to make a documentary. We decided to make a war documentary at which we had to film and edit the entire piece. In the documentary we got a high shot, showing our creativity as we hadn't came across this type of shot at before. In the editing process I experimented with the music for the footage. I used expidential fade when the shots dipped from white to black to match the music to the pace of the shots. This proved creative as it made my editing seem seamless.

The next task we were set was the film opening. The first form of creativity for this task came when we were deciding on locations. We didn't want to limit ourselves to Chelmsford as it wasn't challenging enough for us. Therefore we decided to go to Canary Warf to film the majority if the film. This proved creative as it was a new experience for us all as we were allowed up into one of the offices. We used the SONY handy cam to record all of the footage and have done for all the other filming tasks. By this point I had developed my camera work skills, as I had experimented with it for over 3 months, allowing me to encounter all different types of shots ranging from long to close ups.

Now the filming was done, it was time to edit. This would be the third time I edited and proved to be my best. I was now aware of different effects and how to use them. For example I used the Opacity fade combined with a time laps when I combined the footage of Will in the pub and the office showing my development and creativity.

At the start of A2 I had to recreate the music video for 'Teenage Dirtbag'. This task was similar to the Juno task however it required a lot more effects. One of the new things I discovered was the green screen. In the teenage dirtbag video there are shots of the band drumming with tones of people behind them, this wasn't possible to recreate. Therefore I used my creativity and performed in front of a green screen to which I put kids jumping in the background. The next task we were assigned was 'Banana Phone'. This task meant we had to capture a range of shots. This task developed my filming as we had to get new form of shots that we hadn't come up against at AS. For example one shot was a 'Screen within a screen' which required me to film the screen of one camera on another.

The next thing we had to do was create the music video. As a music video requires a lot more shots than a film opening I had to be more creative in my thought process. One big development from AS to A2 was that we combined the type of shots together. For example in the music video we combined a high shot and a tracking shot when James was lying in the bath full of blood, enhancing on my creativity as I thought about different types of shots. Another way in which we developed was by the use a Go Pro. This enabled me to be extremely creative as the Go Pro was able to take shots of underwater footage, which is something that we didn't get at AS.

After we filmed it was time to edit. The editing process was much more in depth than it was at AS as we relied on a lot of the effects to make the video special. A lot of the we used looked better in reverse, such as the smashing of the wine bottle as you could see each piece of glass come back together and also the other revers shot that worked well in slow motion was the footage of water being throw over my face. Another effect that I used when editing to create a distorting effect on the audience was a blurred effect over James in the swimming pool. Showing my development as not only am I experimenting with effects, I am thinking about the effect on the audience.

Exam Breakdown

Exam Breakdown

Section A - 1A

• 1A - Write about both productions - AS and A2 
• What you have learned from AS to A2
• Example questions:
• Forms and conventions
• Post production - editing, technology use
• Digital technology 
• Creativity

Section A - 1B

• Select either AS production OR A2 production and talk about:
• Genre - A2
• Narrative -AS
• Representation - AS
• Audience - A2
• Media Language - A2

Question 2

• British Youth - past intro
• Present - bulk of the essay
• Future - your own perception on how youth will be represented in the future 
• Examples from the last three media - film,TV, newspapers, and internet 
• Include theories, studies and your own reflection, analysis and application of these