1. In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

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Survey Wordle

This is the wordle for the evaluation survey I made. Sorry about the small size.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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3. What have you learned from your audience feedback? (video)

4. How did you use new media technologies in the research and planning, construction and evaluation stages?

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Audience and Genre

Genre means kind or type, each genre has it's own characteristics features that are known to and recognised by audiences, this formual is reproduced again and again. Why do audiences find genres satisfying? Audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations maybe fulfilled and they may find pleasure in predicting what will happen. Audiences recognise the key elements of conventions of a genre and respond accordingly, these key elements are called paradigms. Paradigms in music videos and thrillers: Thriller Weapons Protagonist Antagonsist Relationship Violence/Struggle McGuffin Secluded Places Cities Police Music Video Lip Synching Instruments Settings for genre Relationship Dancing Dramatic Lighting Glamourous Clothing/Costume Product Placement

Narrative Theory

Roland Barthes described all texts as complex 'bundles' of meaning which can be unraveled to create a while range if different meanings. According to Barthes texts can be:

• Open- with numerous 'threads to pull'
• Close- with only one obvious thread to gasp
• 
  

Texts that can be read in a number of different ways are known as as polysemic texts. These threads that Barthes referred to are known as narrative codes. The most significant being the enigma codes. This is constructed to attract and hold the attention of the audience normally by creating a mystery of a puzzle that the audience want to see solved.

When applying this theory to my music video I can see that it would be considered a closed text, as there is only one main thread to grasp and it is also very abstract.

Music Video: Lighting

Lighting is hard to control both inside and out.



This scene was the second piece of footage that we shot. The image on the left was the first thing we shot on that day, from the image you can see that that light from the window is shining on the right side of Hayley’s face.
Although the light doesn’t ruin the shot when we looked over the footage on the camera the light looked as though it completely obscured Hayley’s face. So we reshot the scene this time closing the curtains and turning on the lamp in the background, but when we uploaded the original footage the light hadn’t obscured her face at all.

These were some of the last pieces of footage to be shot by Hayley, they were done during one of the weeks when the snow was melting and from the background you can see that it was extremely dark. These shots wouldn’t have worked had Hayley not lighted the scene just enough so that we could see her and some of the background.

Music Video: Camerawork

We used a variety of different shots within our music video.

Long Shot:

The long shots in the video allow us to show the audience both our main character, Hayley, and her surroundings. If we had used a long shot at the beginning of our music video to introduce the characters or setting, it would be called an establishing shot.
Long shots are also often referred to as a full or wide shot, which typically show the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surrounding.

Medium Shots:

Hayley playing guitar


Using the mid-shots allowed us to get closer to Hayley than a long shot in order to see her facial expressions, but still be able to see her body language.
The line between long and medium shots and medium and close-ups is often unclear, though it is more commonly known that a shot framed from the waist up is a medium shot.

Close-Up:



Close-up’s allowed us to focus the audience’s attention solely on Hayley’s character and not the background.
Close-up’s are often used as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, such as intricate activity with someone’s hands. They are often used as a way of distinguishing main characters, as they are often given a number of close-ups to indicate their importance.

Steady shot

This image shows a steady shot, we were able to get this shot by using the tripod.

My Contribution To The Group

This year I worked with Hayley, Louise and Paul. We had originally planned to worked as a three with Hayley, Louise and myself, therefore we had already discussed who would be responsible for what. When Paul joined our group he helped with everything, apart from the editing of the actual music video as he was unfamiliar with the software.

My role within the group was editor, though I did some filming. My role as editor meant I had to edit the footage of a music video, as well as creating the Digipak and Advert.

Erotic Desire and Agency

In classical Hollywood cinema the male protagonist has agency, he is active and powerful and he is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds. The female character is always passive and powerless, as she is the object of desire for the protagonist and the audience.

Laura Mulvey also argues that women have two roles in film, the first being the object of erotic desire for the characters and the second being the object of erotic desire for the audience.

This can be seen in films such as James Bond, Thelma and Louise and also Top Gun.

Suture

Suture is where classical Hollywood narratives, editing or music 'sutures' or positions the audience in certain ways making only one preferred reading possible, however unconscious the audience is of that position.

Feminist Film Theory and Audiences

Laura Mulvey

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)

Laura Mulvey argues in this essay that we live in a male dominated society and that the patriarchal society we live in is reflected in cinema, meaning that films are shown from the male point of view. She also argues the theory of "The Gaze", where the camera is the male gaze and the male gaze is active ans the female passive.

Within the media texts the male characters direct their gaze towards the female characters, the spectator is made to identify with the male gaze, because the camera films from the optical as well as libdinal point of view of the male character. Therefore the audience is constructed as though everyone was male.

Thus there are three levels of the cinematic gaze that objectify women- camera, character, and spectator (triple gaze).

Advert Final

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Music Video (Better Quality)

The Making Of Our Digipak: Part 3

This is the alternative picture that could have been used as the front cover image had we not used the one of Hayley.

This cover has an image of a gypsy and a skull pirate inside her crystal ball, with the name of the album below. The image was put together by myself using Photoshop and the text was also made using a font from Photoshop.

The Making of Our Digipak: Part 2

These are lyrics from four of the songs on the album, which can be found either side of the disk.

As it would have taken too long to wait for Jenn to send us a copy of the lyrics, I hand typed the lyrics above and edited them once again using www.picnik.com. The title of the song's were also edited separately using the same site, as I wanted them to be slightly bigger.

The Making Of Our Digipak: Part 1

This is the front cover of our digipak, which was made using photoshop and an online site www.picnik.com. Hayley went home and took some pictures on her own camera, we chose a picture of her and used the site above to edit it.

This is the back cover of our digipak. The image on the back cover I had originally changed to have the same effect as the image on the font cover, but as it didn't have the same effect I just left it in black and white. The track listing is in the same font as the front cover, as it was made using the same website.

The album tracks were taken off Jenn's Reverbnation site www.reverbnation.com/jennkrahn and their youtube channel, www.youtube.com/user/aida462.

Digipak Final

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Changes From The Original Plan

1. We completely changed the artist and the song we were going to use, from Wendy Bennett to Aida and 'Oh Me, Oh My'.

2. Due to the change in the song we used we also changed the locations we planned to use, instead of using a bar we used a bedroom, field and a drama studio.

3. We completely changed our plan in terms of the storyline. Instead of it being a doomed love story featuring a boy and girl, the story was just about the girl being alone and how she will always hold him in her heart.

4. Along with changing our storyline, we also changed the ending scene. The end scene originally ended with Hayley being accidentally run over by her boyfriend, we decided to end the video with Hayley sitting in her bedroom singing the last lines of the song.

Narrative Theory: Propp

Propp

Propp's theory analyses Russian folk tales and identifying the 8 key character roles.

These 8 key character roles can be applied to films such as The Wicker Man, Don't Look Now, Batman, Star Wars and The Matrix.

If I was to apply this theory to The Matrix the character roles would look like this:

Hero - Neo

Princess -Trinity

Villain - Agent Smith

Helper - Trinity

Father Figure -Morpheus

Dispatcher - Oracle

False Hero- Cypher

Donor- Oracle

The only part of this theory that we could apply to my music video is the character of the hero, which would be our main character Hayley.

Narrative Theory: Levi-Strauss

Binary Oppositions

Binary oppositions are two things that are opposed to each other, it is the binary opposites that help drove a films narrative.

A good example of this theory is 'The Wicker Man'.

Christianity <---> Paganism

Sgt Neil Howie <---> Lord Summerisle

Monotheism <---> Panthem

Law and Order <---> Chaos

Authority <---> Anarchy

Virginity <---> Promiscuity

Repression <---> Expression

This film has many binary oppositions but the main on is Christianity <---> Paganism. Christianity goes by certain rules and things that should and shouldn't be done and most importantly that only believe in one God, where as in paganism there are no rules that have to be followed and they believe in more than one God.

This theory also wouldn't apply to my music video as there isn't any tension between characters, therefore the plot seemingly doesn't move forward. It is easier to apply this theory to my Thriller from last year as there are a number of different binary oppositions:

Male <---> Female

Old <---> Young

Adulthood <---> Childhood

Land <---> Water

Present <---> Past

Outside <---> Inside

Clothed <---> Naked

Antagonist <---> Protagonist

Narrative Theory: Todorov

The narrative is the way the story is organized and the three elements of narrative are time, closure and enigma.

Time is the period of time the film is over, for example in our Thriller we have made the flashbacks to show that our actre

ss was a child. The closure is how the story is wrapped up or how the loose ends are tied up at the end of the film. An enigma is a problem that is created within the narrative that needs to be solved by the characters.

Todorov

Todorov's theory says that films begin with an equilibrium where everything is balanced and normal, which then leads on to a disruption, a problem that creates an enigma. As the characters within the narrative need to solve the enigma the next stage is resolution, where the enigma created by the disruption is solved. The final stage of Todorov's theory is the new equilibrium, where everything becomes balanced and normal again but different to how it first was.

Although many texts use this theory there are still those that don't, one being Cloverfield (2008).

This theory wouldn't apply to my music video as the audience isn't sure what the time frame of the song is, we never see the equilibrium as the song isn't introduced, we don't know what the enigma is and we never see what happens at the end.

Reception Theory Diagram

Reception Theory

Given that the Effects Model and The Uses and Gratifications have their problems and limitations. A different approach to the audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s.

The theory suggests that when a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message, that the producer wishes to convey to the audience. In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say.

In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message.

There are 3 types of audience decodings:

• Dominant
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

Dominant

Where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do so and broadly agrees with it, eg watching a speech and agreeing with it.

Negotiated

Where the audience accepts, rejects, or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views, eg neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested.

Oppositional

Where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons, eg total rejection of the political speech and active opposition.

Uses and Gratifications Model

It is still unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media textss, and violent imitative behaviour. It is also clear that the theory is flawed in that many people watch violent texts and are not influenced, therefore a new theory is needed.

The Uses and Gratifications Model is the opposite of the effects model, where the audience is active rather than passive and the audience uses the text and is not used by it. The audience uses the text for its own pleasure or gratification.

Far from being duped by the media, the audience uses the text and is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit.

Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:

• Diversion
• Escapism
• Information
• Pleasure
• Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own
• Sexual Stimulation

The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps people with issues such as:

• Learning
• Emotional Satisfaction
• Relaxation
• Help with issues of personal identity
• Help with issues such as social identity
• Help with issues of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence. The audiences inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Audience Theory: The Bobo Doll Experiment

This is a very controversial piece of research that children copy violent behaviour, conducted by Albert Bandura in 1961.

Children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo doll.

The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were no permitted to touch.

88% of the children attacked the Bobo Doll when taken into another room. 8 months later 40% attacked the dolls.

The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content.

The effects model (backed up by the experiment) is still the dominant theory used by politicians, some parts of the media and some r

eligious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts.

Key examples sited as causing or being contributing factors are:

• The film Child's Play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993.
• The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc.
• The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks.
• The film Severance (2006) on the murder of Simon Everitt.

In each case there was a media and political outcry for the texts to be banned. In some cases laws were changed, films banned, and newspapers demanded the burning of films. Subsequently, in each case it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and the violent acts.

Audience Theory- The Effects Model and Hypodermic Model

There are three theories of audience that we can apply to help us come to a better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience:

• The Effects Model or Hypodermic Model
• The Uses and Gratifications Model

The Effects Model

This is where the consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience. It is normally considered that this effect is negative. Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence, the power lies with the message of the text.

The Hypodermic Model

Here the messages in media texts are injected into the audience by the powerful syringe-like media. The audience is powerless to resist, therefore the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.

Key Evidence

The Frankfurt School theorised in the 20's and 30's that the mass media acted to resist and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments.