G325 Q2 Collective Identity Sample answer

G325 example Response: Media and Collective Identity from M Taylor

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Past Paper Example SECTION 1 - JANUARY 2011

1A- DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY (24MARKS)
1B -NARRATIVE THEORY (23MARKS)


http://ncrafts.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/g325-section-a-january-2011-1-a-and-b.pdf

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.

Question 1A w/c 2nd December

1 (a) Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

            During the two-year media course I had to produce both a foundation portfolio and an advanced portfolio. For my foundation portfolio in the AS year, I created a music magazine front cover, contents page and a double-page spread. Now in my A2 year, I am currently in the research and planning stages of creating a music video, with ancillary products of a Digipak and a website home page to advertise the artist and the chosen song.

I feel like my skills in research and planning first developed during senior school when I had to conduct a dissertation as part of my Extended Project qualification. My chosen topic for the qualification looked into the impact the media world had on the fashion industry, particularly picking up on the impact the music of today’s society has. I chose this sort of a topic, as I briefly knew that I wanted to study Media Studies during college. With this in mind, I started work on my research skills, but I never really planned on how I was going to execute the said information I had found during the research. My research was also very basic, it simply involved me copying information from Wikipedia, but I have since learnt that this is one of the more unreliable sources and I should learn to take what I learn and apply it to my final product.

            Research and planning was essential for me during my foundation portfolio as this was the real basis for me to start creating the actual product, as I needed to identify a target audience for me to aim my coursework at. I conducted primary research in the form of a questionnaire and a focus group in order for me to identify a specific genre of music people preferred before I could go on to research into the codes and conventions of said genre through secondary research. The primary research allowed me to identify a demand and a niche for a music magazine specifically aimed at indie/acoustic music, whilst I then used secondary research methods such as the Internet, magazine publication records, existing media packs etc. to identify the requirements for such a magazine, and also the codes and conventions of magazines in general. It gave me a good understanding of all aspects of mise-en-scne in particular, as I found that magazines have to ‘look’ a certain way in order to have a successful impact on the audience. This really influenced my creative decision-making, as I understood that there were certain stereotypical codes of magazines that I had to conform to, but there were some that I could challenge also. For example, the layout of a front cover of any given magazine is very particular, as it has to have a strong impact on the audience’s vision when they come to make a product purchase. The heading of a magazine is conventionally stretched across the top of the magazine’s front cover as it means it is clearly visible by audiences, but if the magazines are stacked vertically on a magazine shelf, it means that the title will always be seen and therefore it would make that magazine in particular stand out more, and people will be able to identify it. However, research into existing music magazine covers suggested that some front covers might have the title aligned along the left-hand side binding of the cover, with the letters arranged in a vertical layout. This was useful if the magazines were to be stacked horizontally as this would mean that the title would still always be visible to audiences, but as this was a very unconventional technique, I chose to conform to this idea and keep my title positioned at the top as this looked much more professional.

            Also during my foundation year, a lot of the research and planning skills involved me taking on information from relevant media theorists. By researching theorists, I was able to begin to understand the basics of WHY certain things are applied to magazines. Laura Mulvey was a big theorist to study for my foundation portfolio as it had a strong influence on whether I used a male or female model for my main article images. The majority of music magazines will switch between whether they use a male or female cover star, but it is also dependent on the genre of music. A lot of pop music thee days are produced by female performers, whilst rock music for example is heavily dominated by men. The Male Gaze Theory developed by Mulvery suggests that women are used as cover stars in an attempt to increase demand from male audiences, as they typically like to see good-looking women and they objectify them – women become nothing more than something to stare at. Despite that my music magazine genre was dominated more by men, I chose to re-create a female cover star as I wanted to appeal to a larger female dominated audience, and rather than employing a model-esque girl for my images, I used a friend who I considered to have a very influential, ‘normal’ look, which I hoped would inspire more women to ‘purchase’ my magazine. In a similar sense, I could have easily hired an attractive male model for my images in an attempt to attract women, but I felt that having my female model smile and pose with a guitar was much more innovative and creative and separated my magazine from the majority of those already on the market.

            During the second year, these research and planning skills have become so vital for me to create an even better piece of coursework compared to that from my foundation portfolio. So far I have really learnt to develop my research and planning skills to allow me to understand that it is also acceptable to challenge conventions, as long as I can apply it to the genre and the audience. With the music video industry, I have learnt that there are three different types of music video; performance, conceptual and narrative – all of which I learnt about during initial research. I also feel that I have made a smart choice in creating a music video, as I will be able to apply the knowledge I learnt about the conventions of music genre into my video, and further improve and enhance these elements. In order to be more creative with my A2 coursework, my research so far has involved me looking at the specific requirements of the three main types of music video, and how different genres of music apply to these. My chosen genre of music is a hybrid of indie and acoustic, which research showed me, was more likely to require a narrative-based video. Pop and rock music videos were more likely to be performance-based, so in order to make mine look more creative and unique in comparison to others out there on the market, I have planned to create my music video as a narrative, but with performance-based elements mixed in to diversify away from the stereotypical market.
              Overall, over the past few years, the skills that I have developed have had a great influence on the way I consider the planning and production of my coursework, because it has allowed me to view media texts in a completely different light and it also effects the way that I deconstruct them all. My research and planning skills have certainly had a great impact on the way I consider the fine details in my coursework, allowing me to improve upon my creativeness as I progress through to the A2 year and produce something which is appropriate and specific to my target audience.

Exam Practice 27/11/13

Analyse Media Representation In Last Years Coursework Production.

As a part of my AS Media coursework, I created a music magazine targeted towards a specific market, using all my own original photos and content ideas. When creating the product, I was able to learn a lot about not only the conventions of the specific genre, but the magazine industry overall, taking on specific design techniques and ‘rules’ as well as new terminology. In order to carry out the production process, I learnt about the importance of research, especially considering the use of representation in the media, specifically similar existing products to allow me to gain inspiration for my magazine. In order to make my magazine a successful product, I had to ensure that the content of my magazine and the appearance was going to portray and attract my target audience appropriately. The idea of media representation looks at the way in which the media portrays the diverse society we live in today. The other way to look at this idea is the idea of stereotypes, where the media portrays a certain image or idea about a specific group of people in society. For example, ‘Essex girls’ are portrayed to wear nothing but pink, have bright orange tans and bright white teeth.

Firstly, in terms of representation, I had to consider the actual genre of my magazine – who was it aimed at? ‘Sound’ Magazine was aimed at mostly teenage and young adult females with an interest in music genres such as alternative rock and indie rock. As this is a music genre I was familiar with prior to research, I knew the basic interests and characteristics of this target market – they like to play music, listen to music and attend music events. They are quite feminine but in terms of fashion they like to follow slightly alternative trends. Because of this particular stereotype, I chose a colour palette and other design features to suit these people more so that they would be more drawn to my magazine compared to others on the market. I used warmer pastel to suit the more feminine side of my target audience, whilst I used more vivid oranges and black for the finer details to connote the ‘edgier’ side of my customers. Not only did these colours reflect the personalities of my target audience well, but I also chose them as I felt they reflected some of the album covers of some of the artists who were likely to be featured within the magazine, such as The Script, Ed Sheeran and Kodaline.

Looking at theorists such as Blumler and Katz (1974), who proposed the idea of the Uses and Gratifications theory, “readers can relate to the characters of a media platform through ‘personal identity’” which is also something I tried to portray through the images and models I used alongside the content. By using a model that resembled the stereotype I was trying to portray – i.e. someone who played the guitar and was interested in the ‘boho’ fashion trend – I believed that my audience would be able to make a more distinct connection with the magazine. If my audience can seriously relate to not only the contextual content of a magazine, but the appearance side as well, they are more likely to continuously support and buy the magazine, which is my optimum ‘goal’ as the producer of this product. I do believe however that I made a mistake in the planning of this magazine, as although the target audience is mostly female, I have completely forgotten about the male attention that my magazine could get, and so I should have therefore considered also featuring some male models within the content to appeal to this side of the target audience as well, which would have improved the overall quality and performance of the product.

         Similarly, I had to consider the representation of women within my media product. Stereotypically, women are often portrayed in a negative light within the media, especially in magazines due to the images that publishers decide to publish. Publishers will make models look more desirable by using the ‘prettiest’, the ‘skinniest’ and those who are wearing the least amount of clothes – this is to conform to Mulvey’s 1975 theory about the Male Gaze. By doing so to female models, magazine producers will hope that men will be attracted to buy the magazine, purely to look at the revealing images. With my magazine, I attempted to challenge this representation of women, not only because the majority of readers will be women anyway, but to also make my female models more like inspirations or role-models for my female readers. I made my model pose in a way that portrayed her as strong and confident, and by making the images particularly big, they appeal to my female-based target audience, inspiring them too to be like this.