Question 1B w/c 2nd December

b) Analyse media representation in one of your coursework productions.

                

  Media representation is how a media text shows the audience aspects of reality, whether it be people, events, objects, cultures etc. and these could be shown through the visuals of the medium or through narrative. Media producers often have a specific idea about certain people or characteristics for example, so they will re-present these in the media text in a way to allow audiences to decode the message in the same way. However, according to Stuart Hall’s reception theory, the audience can change how the read these encoded messages; they will either preffer the reading, negotiate the reading or will oppose to the reading.  But, a lot of the time audiences will at least negotiate the message and will accept the representations in some way, meaning that a producer can change the way certain groups are presented and thus change the way that the audience sees that particular group. Changing these representations can also create a depth in character.

                  The piece of coursework I am going to be evaluating in terms of representation is my A2 music-video brief. Although I am yet to undergo construction for this coursework, I have a strong idea and plans for the sort of product I am going to produce and the representations I am going to encode within them. For this piece of courswork I will be making an indie-folk music video for the singer Ed Sheeran, plus I will makes the home page for a promotional website and a digipak for the CD. A music video, no matter what the genre is, is usually constructed to encode two main represenations – a representation of the song itself in order to promote and encourage sales of the song, and a representation of the messages behind the lyrics and music of the song itself. Andrew Goodwin states that all music videos demonstrate genre characteristics – a pop video might aim to re-present the performer as a huge star whilst a dance routine might be included for a boy/girl band. There is also the idea that there can be intertexuality between music videos and film genres, such as rock/metal songs might be influenced by horror films whilst indie-folk music videos like my own might be typical of a sweet drama or rom-com. I am planning on re-presenting this idea in my music video, by constructing a narrative which conforms to this theory. By doing this, I can ensure that I create a representation of the stereotype which is linked with the genre, therefore allowing the audience to feel recognition and 'safety' when they view the final product.