Genre Essay

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre.

 Genre is a pattern, form or style that defines a text. A text will follow conventions within a genre in order to satisfy an audience. Our video was based on the country/pop genre to which we formed a conventional narrative to meet audience expectation. Richard Dyer suggests that genres are 'pleasurable because they offer escapist fantasies into fiction worlds that remove the boredom and pressures of reality'.  Our video meets the ideas put forward in this quote as the easy-to-watch video gives the opportunity to be entertained. We aimed to target an audience of girls aged between 13-23 as we felt the themes raised in our narrative would be most relatable to their lives when relationships play a big apart in their lives.

Typically, our genre has a relationship-based narrative; this inspired us when creating our storyboard as we had a basic understanding of audience requirement and what they want from a narrative video. The country/pop genre also focuses on star image with heavy reliance on close-up shots; we ensured that at least 90% of our shots contained our main star and included a range of close-ups. In order to present our star in a positive way, we used costume colours that connoted innocence; we allowed the audience to see this by using mid-shots. When carrying out our research and planning, we found that having the correct location and mise-en-scene is what makes or breaks a video. In finding this, we carefully planned where to film and what props needed to be in or out of the shot. We chose locations containing natural, simplistic colours to reflect the main character and also to promote her aspirational, carefree lifestyle.

Having the star singing all the way through seemed a major convention that needed to be followed in the country/pop genre. In order to meet this, we ensured the girl was on camera singing the majority of the lyrics; with the obvious exception of the instrumental. We chose to have the girl making eye-contact with the camera through most of the video since this demands audience attention and makes the viewer feel more involved and able to relate to her situation.

 Generically, videos in our genre promote a strong image of the female artist therefore, through the use of colours to connote innocence with mise-en-scene and costume, we have presented her as a role model for our target audience. We didn’t conform to Laura Mulvey's theory of The Male Gaze as we didn't feel this was appropriate for the message we were trying to convey. To avoid the male gaze, we used clothing that didn't connote sexuality and did not use camera angles that encouraged the audience to look anywhere but her face.

 It is important that our video offered the audience similar expectations of this genre because audiences feel more secure when surrounded by familiarity. Neale comments that 'Pleasure is derived through repetition and difference' which infers that audiences like knowing what to expect with repetition but, at the same time, appreciate the surprise experienced through difference. It could be said that a video must meet one of the requirements put forth in the Uses and Gratifications model in order for the audience to be satisfied. In this case, our video entertains and gives a sense of identity through the use of an admiral role model as the main star.

 Andrew Goodwin and his theory of voyeurism can be applied to our product. At several stages in the video, the girl is being looked at by the audience without her knowledge. For example when she is looking at the rose before singing and in the instrumental, when she is tearing up the letter during the instrumental and when she is looking at herself in the mirror after the instrumental. As well as this, Goodwin's theory that there is a link between the lyrics and the visuals can be applied to our products. The visuals illustrate our lyrics throughout the entire narrative to help keep a grasp on understanding the events that take place.

Overall, careful planning and consideration was carried out in order to make sure that our video met genre expectations. Our research and planning allowed us to learn and understand the generic conventions that we could potentially use and our storyboard permitted us to put our ideas together. Without a clear structured genre, it would be difficult to find an audience, at least with following the conventions of an existing genre, your audience already exists and there are guaranteed views.

Lana Del Rey - Postmodernism

Uncool Playlist

1) I Miss You Beyoncé
2) Free Falling Tom Petty
3) Sweet Disposition The Temper Trap
4) Little Things One Direction
5) I'm Yours Jason Mraz
6) Summer of 69 Bryan Adams
7) Complicated Rihanna
8) Little Bird Ed Sheeran
9) I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen Robbie Williams
10) Don't You Worry Child Swedish House Mafia

Ethnographic model

When the researcher enters into the culture of a group and uses questions and interviews to try and understand media engagement from he perspective of that group.

1) Engagement with media is often structured on domestic environment due to the domestication of entertainment and leisure.
2) Some texts seem to belong to a genre that has gender appeal. E.g. Soaps are seen as 'female texts' as they look at matriarchal power and nature of character relationships. The news is seen as a 'male' text as this is more factual; men need wider cultural understanding due to spending less time at home (domestic space) and more time in public (cultural space)
3) Our society is in danger of divided information-rich and information-poor. Schools and TV programs aim to present positive gender representations. Real-life programs use females in less traditional roles to equal the balance that often divides between men and women.

Audience Theory

How you chose a target audience in relation to the genre and form you selected

• UK Tribes
• Questionnaires to potential target audience
• Audience chosen based on existing audience for our genre

Whether you targeted an existing audience which already enjoys specific existing products like yous

• Yes as there is then a guaranteed audience

How you made creative choices to appeal to this target audience

• Focus on star image (90% of shots contain the main star)
• Frequent close up shots
• Narrative that is relatable to our audience

How you think your target audience will use your text

• Uses and gratifications model - Diversion. Easy-to-watch, entertaining
• Uses and gratifications model - Identity. The female star is a potential role model and the narrative is perhaps relatable to our target audience.

How you media text could be marketed to the target audience

• Social networking - The use of Facebook and Twitter to share videos and promote products
• YouTube - Easy access, world-wide accessible
• Advertising poster (anciallry product) - use star image to create sense of branding.

Under Stuart Hall's theory of 'Preferred Readings', what type of 'reading' might this target audience give to your text?

• Dominant reading - feel pathos towards the female character and sympathise with her situation. Side with the female character.
• Negotiated reading - understand the emotions conveyed in the narrative but cannot personally relate to them.
• Oppositional reading - Break-up situation is exaggerated and unrealistic.

"Products will never be successful unless they are carefully constructed to meet pre-established audience needs and desires"
- I agree, I feel that products must meet at least one aspect from the uses and gratifications model (Information, identity, social interaction, diversion) in order to satisfy audience needs.

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Postmodernism cannot easily be defined due to the fact its existence is, in theory, impossible; media cannot be 'after' modern because modern is now; anything after now is the future and the future remains un-invented and doesn't exist until it happens. In effect, postmodernism is simply a rejection of modernism.

Kirby Furguson argues that 'everything is a remix', he believes that everything is connected, that 'originality' is impossible and that creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine. The ideas put forward by Furguson could be relatable to Quentin Tarrentino's film 'Inglourious Basterds' as this continually makes intertextual references to other films; for example, the establishing shot in the first scene replicates that of ‘The Sound of Music’; likewise the soldier line up scene later on is identical to the scene in ‘The Dirty Dozen’ where the soldiers are being recruited to attack. The film takes scenes, changes them slightly but not so much that the audience doesn't recognise the original source, and then integrates them into the new film; thereby following Furguson's suggested rule of 'copy, transform and combine'. His theory parallels Bentley's quote that creativity is 'The rearranging of the old and the making of the new', nothing can be original, it’s about how you transform old ideas and make people enjoy watching something they've already seen.

However, Jameson and his criticism of postmodernism comments on the idea that 'It is vacuous and trapped in circular references' thereby inferring that he is not convinced by the ideas presented by postmodernism. He believes that everyone should follow the conventions of their products rather than break up core structures and he thinks that the world has become too hyper-real; people can no longer distinguish what is reality from what is a simulation of reality. For example, the television series 'The Only Way Is Essex' is based on what people perceive Essex and its inhabitants to be like. In reality, this is not the lifestyle everyone in Essex lives, the series just looks at the expected lifestyle based on stereotypes. Jameson also picks up on the fact that postmodernism just takes what people have already seen and re-shows them it in a new context and, most of the time, the audience don't even realise; he is not convinced that re-using old material is being creative and original.

Jameson also focuses on ‘deathlessness’ and the idea that sometimes trying to give something too much depth and layers of meaning can result in it become depthless and carrying no meaning at all. An example of this can be seen in the film ‘Apocalypse Now’ and the British Gas advert. ‘Apocalypse now uses the music ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ to criticise US foreign policy, using the music and carrying across the racist connotations. British Gas however, use flying service vans, (perhaps replicating the helicopters in ‘Apocalypse Now’) and have the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ music playing over the top, and end up carrying no racist implications across at all, they have simply created an entertaining advert using a piece of music so out of context that it has lost its original meaning.

Some postmodern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation through the use of parody. This is evident in 'Hobo With A Shot Gun' where within the first few scenes from opening, one of the actors is decapitated by a chain tied to a car however, the light-hearted nature in which this is carried out creates pastiche; this forms the concept of bathos to the audience where the narrative is too exaggerated that intended sympathetic aspects become humorous. The film in itself is based on a trailer for a film that never existed; it was designed to be purposely bad to be good but then ended up just being bad. The sole aim of the main character in the film is to save up to buy a lawn-mover, this completely pointless life aspiration reflects the pointlessness of the film as a whole; replicating the opinion some people have of postmodernism and showing why some people aren't convinced by postmodernism.

Media audiences and industries operate differently in a postmodern world. With the easy access of Facebook and Twitter, it is easier than ever to keep in contact with friends and family. Media industries are reliant on social networking sites for their audiences to view, comment and share their products as it is the fastest and most efficient way to generate good word-of-mouth. The majority of media audiences now have Internet access twenty four hours a day, seven days a week; this encourages actions such as online shopping where mass supplied goods can be delivered to your door in a matter of hours. Goods can be shipped and interchanged from all around the world thanks to globalisation. However, many people criticise companies for advertising their products using simulacra; creating copies of copies of copies of something that never existed in the first place and making people aspire to a lifestyle which doesn't exist. For example the Nikon S8000 advert aims to 'remind' people about their unique experiences however, the experiences shown do not exist, the company is merely projecting aspirational life events that the audience may want and consequently, will ‘apparently’ experience with the purchase of this camera.

This false sense of advertising alongside the frequent pastiche film narratives could be why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Applying audience theories to your product

Me and my partner, Charlotte, created a music video to Taylor Swift's song 'Forever and Always'. Our target audience was girls aged between 13-21 as we felt the themes and issues we were highlighting in our video, would be relatable for them. For example, we have used an 18 year old female to play the role of the main star; her look would potentially be idolised by the younger target audience and seen as admiral to the higher end of our audience.
The uses and gratifications model is a relevant theory for our video. The area of identification is relevant in that young girls can find aspects of their own personalities in the main character and potentially view her as a role model in how to deal with broken relationships since she acts as a sign of hope; an area we highlighted with the lit candle at the end of our video. The area of diversion can also be applied; our video provides the opportunity to temporarily escape into a different lifestyle and be entertained; therefore distracting us from worries and problems surrounding our own lives. Our audience is not passive, but active and feel sympathetic towards the relationship break up and feel pathos towards the girl. We have conveyed the female character as innocent and vulnerable which heightens the sense of sympathy from the audience.

Morley's theory of an active audience can be applied to our video. The audience view the text and then formulate an opinion based on what they see. A preferred reading of our text could be that the themes we raise are relatable and the audience share the reaction of the break up with the main star. An oppositional reading could be that our narrative is unrealistic and exaggerated and the audience think that we have created a hyper-real situation. A negotiated reading of our text could be that the audience recognise the break up as sad, however they cannot relate to it and therefore don't connect with the narrative on an emotional level.

Our audience feedback was extremely useful as it allowed us to collect feedback from our target audience and see their initial response to what we had produced. A lot of issues that arose from our first draft video were based around problems with mise-en-scene and camera angles therefore we were able to go back and correct these to improve the experience for our target audience.

Overall, I feel that our product appealed to our target audience because we used a narrative that is relatable and perhaps a major issue within the age bracket we aimed to target. The simplicity of the narrative makes it easy to watch and understand, again linking to the diversion section of the uses and gratifications model, making it entertaining to watch.

Postmodern Theorists

Kirby Fergusson
Everything is a remix
The belief that everything is connected, that 'originality' is impossible and that creativity relies on the ability to copy, transform and combine.

Unattributed (a general postmodern theory)
Parody
An imitation created to mock, comment on or trivialise an original work

Unattributed (a general postmodern theory)
Homage
An imitation created to respectfully reference previous work. It celebrates rather than mocks.

Lyotard
Grand and Little Narratives
Essentially 'big stories' and 'little stories' which we use to interpret and understand the world around us (e.g. Science and Religion)

Levi Strauss
Bricolage
Taking an item and placing it in a new context to create a new meaning (e.g. a punk using a safety pin as a nose piercing)

Addition - Add something extra to the narrative
Deletation - Taking something away from the narrative
Substitution - Substituting something within the narrative
Transportation - Taking two unconnected things and adding them together.

Jameson
Criticism of Postmodernism
It is vacuous and trapped in circular references

Baudrillard
Simulacrum
An image without the substance or qualities of the original (e.g. a can of coke)

Baudrillard
Hyper-Reality
An inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality (e.g. google glasses, computer games)

Julia Kristeva
Intertextual Reference
The shaping of texts' meanings by other texts (e.g. Inglourious Basterds refs)

Class Notes

Frederic Jameson - Criticism of Postmodernism
- He sees it as vacuous and trapped in circular references
- Postmodernism is nothing more than a series of self-referential 'jokes' which have no deeper meaning or purpose
- He thinks everyone should follow conventions and rules and that the world has become too identical and hyper-real
- Doesn't like breaking up core structures

Jean-Francois Lyotard
- Rejected 'grand narrative' or universal 'meta-narratives'
- The grand narrative refer to great theories of history, science, religion and politics. He rejects the idea that everything is knowable by science or that, as history moves forward in time, humanity makes progress.
- He favours 'micro-narratives' (taking small parts of other films and copying them) that can go in any direction, that reject diversity and that are unpredictable.

Simulacrum - A copy of a copy
Authenticity - Real/original
Hyper-reality - Replicating an admiral lifestyle.

Postmodernists want you to know they've copied someone else and credit the original. They acknowledge you've seen it all before.

Inglourious Basterds Research

Narrative Theory

Theorists that are applicable to my product:

• Todorov (theory of equilibrium)
• Laura Mulvey (male gaze)
• Andrew Goodwin (relationship between lyrics and visuals)
• Roland Barthes (action codes, enigma codes)

Story - A sequence of events with introduced themes
Narrative - The way in which the story is told

Things to remember when analysing a media text:

1. Technical Code (sounds, camera angles, editing, mise-en-scene, colours)
2. Verbal Code (how language is used to convey the story)
3. Symbolic Codes (Clues in the narrative. e.g. ripping up letter shows distress. Link to mise-en-scene)
4. Structure (beginning, middle, end. Todorov, 3 part structure, theory of equilibrium)
5. Character (Protagonist - hero, Antagonist - Villain)
6. Narrative Conflict ( Levi Strauss - "all narratives are moved forward by conflict". Binary oppositions, one item carries a negative value whilst the other has a positive value)

Narratives are used in videos to...

• Introduce a character
• Establish narrative structure
• Captivate audience interest
• Establish core themes
• Establish sense of enigma
• Establish audience expectations through the use of generic conventions
• Show predominance of action codes
• Introduce inconography

How narrative is organised/structured in my video
- Structured basedon Todorov's theory

How conflict is established/resolved
- Conflict is established by Andrew Goodwin's suggestion of matching the visuals to the lyrics. We used mid and long shots to show the arguments. The resolution is after the instrumental when we used voyeurism with the girl looking in the mirror.

How we constructed our characters and made them relatable
- Majority of shots contained our star. Her costumes and make-up contained natural colours which connoted the idea of innocence and vulnerability. Eye contact with the camera makes the audience feel more involved and allows here to become more relatable.

Heroes and Villains
- The boy could be the villain in our narrative however there are some shots such as the flashbacks where he doesn't come across as a villain

Importance of mise-en-scene/editing
- We used simple mise-en-scene with simplistic colours to convey our character as innocent. We edited to the song lyrics and, at some parts, we edited to the beat of the music.

How far did you chose to follow the lyrics in your storyboarding?
- We chose to illustrate the events described in the lyrics through our narrative.

Key lines which were given visual dominance
- 'I don't think so' --> we used lyrics on screen to emphasis her emotions
- 'Back up, baby back up...' --> After the instrumental, there is about 15 seconds of the girl singing through the mirror to the camera lens.

"Videos tend to only suggest story lines and focus on fragments of the lyrics" (Steve Archer)
- This is true with our video as the audience don't see the entire narrative, they do not see the events leading up to the break up neither are they given details as to why it happened.

In our video, the artist plays the role of both the narrator and the protagonist. The narrative is objective as opposed to subjective as we only see the story from her point of view; the other side to the story is not shown. We also used voyeurism, as suggested by Andrew Goodwin, when the girl is looking at the audience through the reflection of the mirror.

Firth 1998 - "Videos can be characterised by 3 broad stereotypologies". Our video comes under 'narrative' which means... "Action in the story is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen" (Schwichtenberg 1992)

"It is the lip synch close up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos" (Steve Archer 2004)

Andrew Goodwin
Illustrative - Images are given literal representation.
Amplifying - repetition of key meaning e.g chorus

Inglourious Basterds

For my case study on 'Inglourious Basterds'. I need to talk about:

• Van Johnson (actor)
• Leni Riefenstahl (film director)
• Noel Coward (director and actor)
• Nation's Pride (film)
• Sergeant York (film)
• The Odessa Steps and Its Descendants (film)
• Battleship Potemkin (film)
• The Untouchables (film)
• The Dirty Dozen (film)
• The Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• Quentin Tarantino (director)
• Pulp Fiction (film)
• Tarentino's filmography
• Tavern Scene in the film
• Cellar Scene
• Inglourious Basterds review
• Influences

To present this, I will use windows movie maker and for some parts, I will use my bamboo tablet to illustrate the ideas that I am putting across.

Essay

How did the conventions of real media texts inspire you to use new media technology to create the style of product you achieved?

Over my two years studying at AS and A2, I made a variety of products. My magazine, music video and digipak being the main projects where I used new media technologies. I was faced with new software such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and using new hardware such as the Apple Mac computers and Canon video cameras.

At AS, I created a music magazine. I used the pre-production stage to carry out research and planning to gain a better understanding of the conventions for this product. I learnt that generically, the cover had to have a masthead, a strapline and a close up image of the star. Using new hardware such as my FinePix S6500, I was able to take high quality pictures to my magazine and take a clear close up photograph for the cover image. The close up connoted that star image is important to the music genre I was representing. I could then use software such as Photoshop to create my masthead and strap line. Conventionally, the masthead is positioned at the top of the cover so I decided to follow this convention however; I used Dafont to find a striking font to support my cover image and make my magazine stand out.

At A2, I created a music video in the country/pop genre. After carrying out research in pre-production, I found that 90% of shots needed to contain the star with a wide majority being mid-shots and close ups. I took this advice on board and, when filming with the Canon video camera, ensured that I framed the star in a variety of close ups. I learnt also that my genre used zooms in videos therefore, for the mid-shots, I was able to use the zoom tool in Final Cut Pro to add a steady zoom; this allowed me to create the style and look that I was aiming for.

I also created a digipak at A2, which supported my music video. To make this, I primarily used Photoshop. After researching into the conventions, I found that I needed to use a head shot for the cover image. I used my FinePix S6500 camera to take a selection of photos that we could later choose from and even added some effects such as black and white to some of them. I decided to use a black and white image for my digipak cover; this develops conventions in my genre and helps my product to stand out from others that are similar. Photoshop allowed me to use the magnetic lasso tool to cut around my image and achieve a professional-looking product.

For all of my products, I looked at the conventions and planned how I could use them to create a new product. I was inspired by the quote ‘The making of the new and the rearranging of the old’ (Bentley 1997) as this is what I have done across all three projects talked about above. For my music video, it was about taking the idea of the conventional relationship break-up narrative and storyboarding shots and camera angles that would convey my narrative convincingly and make it look completely new. My research taught me that video in our genre tended only to use straight cuts for transition from shot to shot; we chose to follow this convention and ensure we only used straight cuts when editing on Final Cut Pro.

For my narrative, I used Todorov’s theory. The equilibrium was the couple being happy followed by the dis-equilibrium being the fight and break up. Finally, normality is restored with a new equilibrium where the girl is happy being on her own without the boy. All narratives must follow a certain pattern in order for them to make sense to the audience. I used a long shot when filming to show the girl and boy when they are arguing to clearly highlight the dispute so that the audience don’t lose a grasp on understanding my narrative. I used Final Cut Pro to arrange the shots in the narrative into the correct order.

Essay

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

I have developed my skills massively through my use of digital technology in media production from AS through to A2. The preliminary activity in AS required me to use photoshop; my experience with this software was extremely limited and it became a time-consuming process. I learnt the basics through practise and became familiar with tools such as the magic wand and the magnetic lasso; the more experienced I became, the more confident I was to be more creative with my ideas. Likewise, the preliminary activity at A2 was to create a music video with the class. I had no experience at all with storyboarding or filming therefore this task gave me time to practise and develop these skills. I learnt about the importance of framing and lighting in shots; when I understood the basics, I found my ideas becoming more creative.

Photoshop was the main piece of digital technology that I used during my AS course, I was able to take the skills I gained during this time and carry them over to A2 and use them for creating my ancillary products. With a much broader understanding, I learnt how to use more complex tools such as colour matching and cloning. My creative decision making was enhanced because I knew the importance of layouts after following layout patterns from my cover, contents and double page spread for my AS music magazine, and knew about using the rule of thirds for my digipak cover and photographs.

Photography played a large part in both AS and A2. My limited knowledge and experience at AS meant that not all my photos were to the best quality and it took a lot of trial and error to achieve the desired shot. Mary Lou Cook quotes that “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun." In a way this shows that trial and error is helpful, and that practise makes perfect. Making mistakes allowed my skills to develop and my creativity improved as I was able to experiment with angles and lighting to learn what worked best. At A2, I had access to a FinePix S6300 camera which gave my high-quality images. The piece of technology contributed to my creative decision making as I could use the effects on the camera settings to take black and white images. Furthering this, I used the Internet to edit my photos on PicMonkey to achieve a professional-looking image to use on my ancillary products. Being able to edit my photos gave me much more variety and allowed me to expand my ideas and be more creative.

Final Cut Pro is the software I used to edit my music video. I had gained a small amount of experience on this after creating an animatic of my storyboard at the start of A2 however putting together my video footage was a slow process. After completing my draft video, I had become more time efficient; this allowed me to be more creative in my second draft as I could use tools on the software, such as adding pans and zooms to shots, which let my creativity expand. For the preliminary video, I used Adobe Premiere Elements. This is a very basic editing program which is quite limiting so, I made the decision to switch to the Mac computers and use Final Cut Pro as an alternative as, in doing this, I could be more inventive and creative with my footage.

I relied heavily on Blogger over both years of my A Level. I used it to record all of my research, planning and progress as I went along. At AS, Blogger was a new experience for me as I had not used it prior to this therefore I used basic presentation programs such as Scribd and Slideshare to display my work. At A2, I had developed an awareness of new programs such as Animoto and Xtranormal which gave me the opportunity to be more creative in showing my work on my Blog. 

The main thing I learnt about digital technology over AS and A2 is that the more I used it, the more experience I gained and consequently, the more creative I could be. My skills in Photoshop are what have developed the most; I can see that my imagination and creativity has grown from the magazine preliminary task back at the start of AS, to my ancillary products at the end of A2.