How effectively were your three main texts marketed?

How effectively were your three main texts marketed?

Definition - Marketing refers to how media products are sold to audiences. This process often involves strategies as diverse as placing adverts, social media campaigns, and, in the case of the music industry, producing and distributing promo videos.

Argument - I shall argue that the three texts I have studied are marketed in highly effective ways. Additionally, each text I have explored uses vastly different marketing techniques to target a range of audiences. However, some marketing techniques are clearly more effective than others. Additionally, music videos in particular rely on stereotypical representations for ideological purposes.

Context - I shall be illustrating my argument through reference to Lady Gaga, a postmodern pop artist who was made famous through her controversial choice of costumes, Kanye West, an American Hip-hop artist notable for his outspoken nature, and [Ed Sheeran] 

Key text one - Lady Gaga

Performance - gig at SXSW festival in Texas in 2014, had friend and performance artist vomit bright green paint on her, while wearing duct tape over nipples. Clearly beyond boundaries of public decency, and breaking a taboo regarding vomit. Provides audiences with gratification of social interaction, in turn promoting Lady Gaga

Social media - As of 2017, posts videos of dancing and performing with children at recent concerts, presenting a more family friendly approach, and adopts a more simple, kind, motherly mode of address. Binary opposition between transgressive Lady Gaga and motherly lady Gaga. Relatable and normal, which allows Gaga to target a vast audience.

Facts and figures - Video to Applause - 290 million views on Youtube - Born this way sold 6 million copies

Joanne album - Vanity Fair article suggests a softer approach, a more mature approach, and targeting an older demographic, as her fans are now older. Aged 31, Lady Gaga is now significantly older than many other pop stars, such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Jessie J, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus and so on

Appearances -  On RuPaul's Drag Race series 9 episode 1 and a guest star (LGBT themes and significant gay audience), James Corden's Carpool Karaoke (targets mainstream demographic), and The Muppets Holiday Spectacular (again targeting a younger demographic), American Horror Story (young, female target audience)

Key text two - Kanye West

Interviews - Radio station, Shade 45 "I am the number one artist in the world, I am Shakespeare in the flesh". Typical of West's self-aggrandising attitude. Provides audience with the gratification of social interaction. Allows audiences to negotiate this statement, and to come to an opinion

Black Skinhead video - Blkkkskkknhead, evokes the iconography of the Klu Klux Klan, and white supremacy. Themes of black supremacy? Transgressing traditional ideologies, provides West with a controversial and ultimately attention grabbing marketing technique. Video has 34.5 million views

Narrative - Family, Twitter feed, posts videos of Kim Kardashian's childhood. Use of Proppian character types presents audiences with a narrative of a conventional family, easily identifiable with audiences. West is the protagonist, Kardashian the princess. The negative media the antagonist, perhaps Taylor Swift. Provides audience with the gratification of being able identify with the characters. Celebrity functions as a metanarrative, allowing audiences instruction on how to live their lives.

Yeezy - Controversial album, with many songs referencing religion, and criticisms of white ideologies and hegemony. One of his best selling albums, Platinum and Double Gold, and number one in seven countries. Controversial marketing techniques ultimately successful.

Key text three - [own text]

Explore the different ways in which audiences and or users respond to your chosen texts

Explore the different ways in which audiences and or users respond to your chosen texts

Definition - Audience refers to the people who consume media texts. Audiences can respond to different texts in a variety of different ways. In this sense, we can see that audiences are active in their enjoyment of media texts. Active models of audience are more useful than passive models, as passive models such as the hypodermic needle model are flawed and far too basic.

Argument - I shall argue that audiences can respond to the texts I have studied in a variety of different ways. This is especially important with regards to the music industry, and audiences are especially linked to the artists, and audiences often have particularly passionate responses to music texts. For the texts I have studied, audience responses are generally created through using controversial and extreme themes, imagery and ideologies.

Context - I shall be exploring the examples of Kanye West, a hip hop/rap artist famous for his controversial themes and ideologies, Lady Gaga, a pop artist known for her unusual sense of style and association with the LGBT movement, and Alt-J, an indie/rock band with a unique way of marketing their music, though they lack the controversial aspects of the other artists.

Sources can come from

[music videos]
Social media feeds
Official websites
Articles
Comment sections
Religious websites?
News stories and videos
Live performances
Interviews
Album covers
Merchandise
Lyrics and production values
Album sales figures

Theories

Uses and grats
Hypodermic needle... to criticise
Reception theory - preferred, oppositional and negotiated
Pick & mix  

Key text one - Kanye West

• Yeezy fashion BBC news criticism, with screenshots of tweets criticising the fashion line. Comments on his inability to design clothes. This example media convergence provoked primarily oppositional from fans, and other fashion designers as well. West's album sales have consistently gone down, from 4million for College Dropout to 30000 for The Life of Pablo.
• Life of Pablo Guardian album review. 3 stars. "when a Kanye West album is good it's very good. So why does he have to show the world what a thundering plonker he is?". However fan opinion is mixed, with fans taking to the comment section. Even through the album is decisive, it still allows audiences the gratification of social interaction in comment sections.
• Front cover of XXL 2010. Black and white cover, with two Kanye Wests presented as a playing card, covered in jewellery, suggesting his wealth and hierarchy in society. suggesting the audiences are forced in to a decision as to whether to accept the dominant or oppositional reading of Kanye west. This is emphasised by the lexis of 'Love' and 'Hate'.
• Social media - "can somebody sue me already illwait  . Mode of address is direct and informal. Suggests that he wishes to cause even more controversy, therefore suggesting that controversy is an important marketing tactic.
• Article - regarding West and Kardashian using deliberately retro imagery to paint themselves as working class in a bid to allow audiences to relate to them. Oppositional response would be to be offended by fabulously rich celebrities pretending to be poor.
• Links to the Kardashian family - Fan criticism of his associations with Kim Kardashian, despite the fact his associations allow him to appeal to completely different audiences and demographic

Key text two - Lady Gaga

• Rolling Stone review of Joanne. 3.5 stars. Attempt to attract a new audience by softening image, and shift in genre. Born this Way on same level as huge pop artist e.g. Beyonce, however Joanne seen by many critics as a step backwards. Wildly unsuccessful compared to Born this Way.
• Artpop album cover - controversial, naked, and with specific focus on her vagina. Connotations of childbirth. Target audience young girls, for whom the image may be inappropriate. Preferred reading: potentially empowering women through childbirth imagery. However oppositional reading sexualising herself. Levy's female chauvinist pigs, contributing to hegemonic representations of women in media texts
• Far right american reading - Infowars - "Lady Gaga halftime show a satanic ritual" - sexualised imagery damaging to US society.

How is your chosen industry regulated? Refer to your three main texts

How is your chosen industry regulated? Refer to your three main texts

Definition - Regulation refers to rules and guidelines that media producers must follow when creating media texts. In some cases, for example the film industry, regulations can be strict and enforced by specific laws. For BBFC age certificates, there are very specific guidelines which let censors know which age certificate to award each film. However, other forms of regulation can be far more relaxed.

Argument - I am going to argue the music industry is largely self-regulated, and is therefore is largely regulated in a way that is not effective. The impact of this lack of regulation allows inappropriate and adult material to be consumed by young audiences. From a financial perspective, it also makes it harder than ever to enforce the copyright of a song of music.

Context - In order to explore this argument I will be looking at the examples of Kanye West, a 39 year hip hop artist and entrepreneur, Lady Gaga, a pop artist famous for her unique style and visual direction, as well as controversial themes explored in her music, and YOUR OWN CHOSEN ARTIST

Key text 1 - Kanye West

• Video for Famous is subject to age restrictions on Youtube, which are implemented by Youtube. 

"YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube. Also, please be advised that we work closely with law enforcement agencies and that we report child exploitation"

However, these steps are easily circumvented by users lying about their age.

• Famous features full frontal nudity, which would not be allowed on US network television. Themes of sexualisation through the mise en scene and setting of the bed.
• Use of strong language in lyrics - "I made that bitch famous". Bitch is an example of a gendered swear word, and example of misogyny. "I feel like me and Taylor may still have sex" - reference to extramarital sex, and specific reference to a real person. 
• Almost 26 million views on Youtube, 27.2 million Twitter followers suggests vast influence on audiences around the world. 
• The Life of Pablo - distributed directly, advertised through his own twitter and later distributed on Tidal
• West's Twitter account (though deleted at the time of publishing this article!) is used to voice a variety of opinions and to promote West's brand. These statements are made without threat of regulation. 

Key text 2 - Lady Gaga 

• Judas - use of religious iconography - Crown of thorns, names of disciples in biker jackets, crucifix imagery - potentially offensive to religious audiences. However, video breaks no laws in the UK and the US
• Sexualisation - tight fitting, revealing leather costumes, connotations of sexualisation and fetishisation, however completely allowed by youtube. Male gaze theory - assumption heterosexual male audience.
• LGBT themes - Openly bisexual, active in LGBT community, eg gay pride events, costumes and her makeup make specific reference to LGBT culture. Pro gay stance can be seen as controversial by religious groups and advertisers.
• 26 million album sales however, which suggests significant appeal. Therefore, a strong argument can be made that a lack of regulation can lead to artists becoming significantly more successful as a result of increased artistic freedom

'How conventional is the narrative structure of your chosen texts?'

Thanks to R block A2 media for the excellent suggestions and analysis!

'How conventional is the narrative structure of your chosen texts?'

This question in many ways has the potential to be pretty straightforward. It allows to to take a number of viewpoints, but there is perhaps a risk of playing things too safe. After all, all three films are very different from one another, and are all arguably completely unconventional.

If I had to answer this question, I would argue that all three films are completely unconventional, and would refer to Bond's bewildering narrative structure, Brave's deliberate subversion of typical Disney narratives and The Selfish Giant's refusal to provide the audience with an entertaining narrative. However, R block media suggested the excellent argument that all three texts are conventional... within the context of their genres!

This is potentially excellent argument to make, but students need to remember to consistently refer back to the question and remember that this is a narrative and not a genre question. However, it's impossible to discuss narrative without referring to genre conventions and issues of representation, as demonstrated below:

Introduction

Definition - Narrative refers to the way in which a story is told. The are many ways in which a producer can use narrative conventions, which can drastically affect the way in which audiences respond to media texts. Therefore, narratology is perhaps the most vital component of any media text. 

Argument - I am going to argue all three of the films I have studied are unconventional in many ways, yet all are very much conventional examples of narrative within  their genre. 

Context - In order to elaborate on my argument, I will be exploring Skyfall, an action/spy film released in 2012 and directed by Sam Mendes, Brave, a 2012 Disney Princess/action adventure film, and The Selfish Giant, a social realist drama released in 2013 and directed by Clio Barnard.

Skyfall - key scene - opening titles

Binary oppositions - light and dark. Bond, in high angle mid shot shoots at four dark shadows of himself, symbolising his internal conflict. Typical convention of the Bond franchise, especially more recent Bond films.

Enigma codes - Chinese dragon, symbolises danger, and a foreign culture, which symbolises conflict between the British James Bond and the foreign enemy China.

Action code - use of grave imagery, which suggests to audience that somebody will die at the climax of the narrative. Death is very much convention of Bond films.

Character types - Bond, with his phallic gun is a perfect example of hypermasculinity, and a typical protagonist.

Disruption of equilibrium - Opening sequence occurs straight after disruption and the enigma code created by the mid shot of Bond's lifeless body being washed down the river. Typical of Bond films. Non-diegetic of Adele singing 'this is the end' reinforces the enigma.

Representation of women- Very sexualised representation of women. Reflected dancing women, completely naked, which appeals to the young, male, heterosexual audience. Perfect example of male gaze, and the silver paint is an example of intertextuality through referencing Goldfinger (1964)

Genre convention - Bond girl - East Asian woman, typical of exotic, beautiful yet deadly women featured in bond films.

Selfish Giant - key scene - Arbor's atonement

Low key lighting - symbolic code of the depressing atmosphere, a conventional narrative code of the social realist film.

Slow paced editing - and lack of significant events. Conventional of social realist films, which show the often dull reality of everyday lives.

Mise en scene - Dirty, torn clothing, and extreme close-up of hands holding. Light and dark, the contrast of hope and despair. Also, the contrast between Swifty's hand size and arbor's shows the audience the relationship between the two characters.

Flashback - Arbor remembers when Swifty was alive, and the two characters are shown in mid-shot, an example of non-linear narrative. By forcing the audience to reflect on the issues the characters are facing, this is a typical narrative convention of the social realist film.

Brave - key scene - horse riding montage

Action code - Close up of target with dozens of arrows, which suggests that not only is Merida a skilled archer, but archery will feature a lot in this film. Symbolic of Merida's status as an atypical Disney Princess, who lives an active lifestyle.

Symbolic code - Bow and arrow symbolises freedom, and the atypical, controversial lifestyle that she leads.

Tracking shot - montage of shots from many angles during horseback archery scene highlights the significance of her character to the narrative

Audience - Young, female, age 8 - 14, are able to relate to the protagonist, who is a typical action protagonist, where the difference is that she is difference . Repetition and difference - audiences rely on genre conventions, while wishing to see something exciting.

Binary opposition - between the mise en scene of Merida's messy, ginger hair, and the costume code of her regal, expensive dress.

'The main function of a media text is to entertain its audience.’ How true is this for your three main texts?

This seems like a straightforward question, but it allows students to take a variety of viewpoints. A knee jerk reaction would be "yes, of course, very much so!". This can be elaborated on by discussing the relationship between producers and audiences, and of how producers must use a variety of different techniques such as bold editing choices and a pleasureable series of gratifications to ensure audiences buy tickets. Simply, it comes back to the basic media studies truth that 'every media text exists only to make money'.

However, there is potential to criticise this process. Skyfall exists to entertain it's audience, and does so in a variety of ways, from familiar genre conventions, an agreeable representation of masculinity, and many exciting (and extremely expensive) action scenes that will allow audiences the gratification of social interaction through discussing their favourite parts long after leaving the cinema.

Read below, however, and you will see that Q block A2 media questioned the exploitative, even fetishistic representation of women. Severin being shot dead, all while wearing a very low cut dress, is presented as entertainment to the audience, and this assumes that even in death, the only purpose of female characters in media texts is for the object of a heterosexual male gaze.

Brave does things very differently, with Princess Merrida remaining unsexualised, which is unconventional of Disney princess films. The entertainment in the archery scene comes from the pleasure at seeing action and comedy conventions combined, with the dominant reading suggesting that young girls can challenge gender stereotypes.

It can be good to conclude your essay with a 'however' paragraph. which conflicts with your argument. As detailed below, The Selfish Giant is certainly not traditionally entertaining. In fact, it's lack of non-diegetic sound and often confusing use of dialect and handheld cinematography means it can be a tough watch. We can argue that Clio Barnard is coming from a very different ideological perspective, and is positioning the audience in such a way that they feel resentment for the institutions that have neglected the main characters. However, we can argue that this lack of entertainment value comes at a price: The Selfish Giant was the only one of the three films we have studied to have lost money... and this is despite it having by far the lowest production costs.

Introduction

Definition - Audience refers to the people that consume, use, or take pleasure from a media text. Audiences are essential to producers, as they allow producers to profit from well marketed media texts. However, in order to make money, the media text must entertain its audience.

Argument - I will be arguing that the main function of the film texts I have studied is to entertain their audiences, in order to make as much money as possible. Producers often use exploitative ways to get reactions from audiences. However, there are many different audience categories, who may or may not find particular films entertaining. And some producers will deliberately create films which are not entertaining, perhaps to inform the audience.

Context - I will be analysing Skyfall, an action film released in 2012 and directed by Sam Mendes as the 24th film in the James Bond series, Brave, a 2012 animated fantasy/comedy/action adventure film produced by Disney Pixar, as the 13th Pixar film and The Selfish, a social realist drama, directed by Clio Barnard in October 2013.

Skyfall - key scene - the shot glass scene

• Characters, representation - Bond girls are a convention of the Bond film. Severin provides the heterosexual male audience sexual gratification. Mise-en-scene, tight red dress, tied up, both sexualised and fetishised. 
• Props - guns, conventions of the action genre, providing audiences the gratification of escapism, and the pleasure of seeing repeated genre conventions. The use of POV positions/anchors the audience as James Bond, emphasising the dominance of Bond's protagonist.
• Celebrities - Both Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem and instantly recognisable for their roles in other films, for example Biutiful and No Country For Old Men. 
• Representation - Severene dying is a key dramatic plot point. Suspense, gun held up in action code. The preferred response is to feel upset and appalled by her death, but also sexually attracted towards her. Therefore the death of women is presented as entertainment. 

Brave - key scene - the archery contest

• Ideology - rejecting parental hegemony. Provides escapism to target audience of young girls. Merrida ignores the will of her mother, wields a bow and arrow and challenging gender stereotypes, and tearing her dress, conveying that she rejects gender stereotypes. Positive representation of women.
• Comedy conventions - Old man flashes bum, mildly rude, example of childish humour. Genre hybridity allows many different audiences to be entertained.
• Editing - Use of fast paced editing and match on action shots confirm this film as a fast paced comedy, contrasting with slow motion shot. Pace of editing changes throughout scene
• Music - Traditional Scottish music establishes setting to younger audience, providing the audience with escapism, and Scottish audiences can identify with the setting.

However...
The selfish Giant - key scene - dinner time at Swifty's house

• Mise en scene - Flat is unlit and filled with a range of very young children, handheld camera emphasises chaotic atmosphere. Intense diegetic sound of children crying connotes misery, unhappiness and neglect. Swifty's dad uses authoritative, angry tone of voice, "oi, geddinere now". 
• Representation of women - "you're bloody useless" Preferred response is to feel anger, sadness. Domestic roles, stereotypical representation of women .
• Representation of Arbour - a product of his upbringing. However, moments of compassion, eg Arbour rubs Swifty's brother's head. A young, working class hero. 
• Lack of non-diegetic sound - Adds verisimilitude to scene, raw, less artificial, and less entertaining.

To what extent do your three main texts target a global audience?

This post was created through A2 Media R block's excellent responses. 

Introduction 

Definition - Audience refers to the people who consume media texts. There are now a variety of different ways to ensure that audiences from around the world can consume media, even if the text is produced on the other side of the world. Producers typically target specific audiences in order to ensure income and revenue, and thanks to the advances of globalisation, potential audiences are bigger than ever.

Argument - Generally, my chosen texts specifically target global audiences to a great degree. They do so using a number of techniques including global online distribution, high production values and well known celebrities. However, there are some instances where texts target local audiences over global audiences, and this is done so for a variety of reasons. 

Context - In order to illustrate this argument, I will be looking at True Detective, a crime investigation drama initially broadcast in the US by HBO in 2014, The Hunt, a nature documentary produced by the BBC and first shown in 2015, and Made in Chelsea, a docusoap/reality drama initially shown on E4 from 2011. 

Key scene - The Hunt - Chameleon scene

• Variety of sound effects are created in post-production to emphasise the dramatic atmosphere of the scene. The pleonastic sound of tongue squelching, and the clicking of eyes. Uses and gratifications - Anthropomorphisation allows huge audiences to identify with animals, regardless of language.
• Narrative heavily constructed. Nature documentaries stitch together vast amounts of footage to create an entertaining scene, through the use of montage, and significant use of reaction shots. Construction of reality, that a global audience can identify.
• Colour palette, emphasis on green and vibrant colours. High quality digital photography and extensive post production, exceptionally high production values! By focussing on visuals over language, global audiences can enjoy the aesthetic.
• Positioning - use of match on action and disorientating cinematography specifically positions audience with chameleon, allowing them to identify with the animal.  
• Distribution - variety of distribution channels, including broadcasts, BBC iPlayer, official YouTube streams, BBC america, global DVD distributions and even illegal downloads, which could lead to brand awareness and discussion.

Key Scene - True Detective - bar scene

• Mise-en-scene - Dingy, low key lighting, neon/fluro lighting, presents connotations of seedy, dangerous. Stereotypical/iconographic of an American bar, providing a global audience with escapism.
• Dialogue - conventional of the crime drama. Focused around finding a missing girl. Rust's voice is gravelly and tired, which is a convention of the crime drama. Crime Dramas are a popular genre throughout much of the world.
• Characters - Mid shot of Marty's wife in revealing clothing, emphasising her body, example of sexualisation. Appeal to heterosexual male audiences, through use of stereotypically attractive women. 
• Distribution - HBO a subscription based channel, though distributed through channels such as Sky Atlantic and Now TV. DVD and Blu Rays, can be purchased in Japan. Widely pirated. 
• Celebrities - both Matthew Mcconaughey and Woody Harrelson are internationally recognised actors with star appeal.
• Regulation - v strong language, nudity, themes of drugs, prostitution, murder, and attacks on Christianity may prevent global audiences from viewing the text, limiting its appeal to certain countries.

Made in Chelsea - Key scene - Series 5 episode 1 opening montage and party

• Setting - Mise en scene of wrought iron fence in black, symbolic code of wealth and luxury, specific to British audiences.
• Characters - Lack of diversity. Predominantly white, thin, straight people. Catering to a specific audience, specific stereotypical representation of British people, and reinforces hegemony of white people in the United Kingdom. 
• Title card - Intertextuality, or a referential code of the famous British 'keep calm and carry on' poster.
• Lexis, modes of address - Gossip and drama, cheating and so on, takes on similar conventions to the soap opera genre. Specific accents, posh and Southern, easily identifiable for a British audience
• Preferred response - dedicated, cult following

AS Media: best of luck in your exam tomorrow!

We would like to wish all students sitting the AS Media exam the best of luck tomorrow. Here are some last minute tips before you tackle the exam.

1) Go to bed early, get up early. You all know what Cambridge traffic is like, so aim to get in at 8am, one hour before the start of your exam!
2) Eat breakfast. Preferably banana. A a rich source of potassium, it will speed the function of your brain. It's true!
3) Make sure that when you are in the exam room, you can see the screen, and that the volume is loud enough. Please politely ask for the blinds to be closed.
4) The nice Welsh person on the DVD will give you explicit instructions on what you should be doing, and when. Remember, you watch the clip(s) three times, so even if you miss something twice in a row, you'll always have a backup!
5) Spend roughly roughly 1.5 minutes on each mark a question is worth. So an hour for question one (including the viewing!). Check the marks for each 'bit' of question 2. If question 2b is worth 9 marks, you should spend 13.5 minutes on it. This is all very rough, but can be helpful if you like to micromanage. 

You've been preparing for this exam since September, so you have nothing to worry about. We'll be around tomorrow morning to wish you luck and answer any last minute questions!

To what extent are digital technologies important to your chosen texts?

This is the first in a series of posts discussing how to structure a response previous MS4 questions. It was written on the fly, so don't expect to be able to include every point in your responses. However, there is plenty of inspiration here. 

For this post, all suggestions were made by Q block A2 Media. Thanks, Q block A2 Media!

"To what extent are digital technologies important to your chosen texts?" [30]

Introduction

This is a 'to what extent' question, and as such it is inviting the opinion of the student. There's no sitting on the fence here.

You can answer this question in 3 ways. Firstly, you can suggest that digital technologies are sort of important. The issue with this response is that it's not a strong opinion, and jumping back and forth can get a bit dull.

The second response is that digital technologies are absolutely not important. In this case you will be arguing that the texts you have studies are popular and successful as they have expert editing, are expertly scripted, and rely on celebrities, talking points and so on. The issue with this response is it's not very convincing. All three of these texts use digital technologies and to a great degree, and social media and digital editing techniques contribute a lot to this.

So our argument will be that digital technologies are very important. And because we are trying to demonstrate a strong point of view, we're going to argue that digital technologies are essential.

Definition - Digital technologies refer to any technology that relies on computers to function. This is a vast and complex concept, as digital technologies can refer to CG special effects, digital online streaming including catch-up services, social media, digital distribution and digital editing techniques.

Argument - Digital technologies are absolutely essential to the television industry for a number of ways, as digital technologies are essential for all modern media texts. This is referred to as media convergence, where different industries are combined to create new opportunities for producers. Audiences now increasingly using devices such as phones and laptops to access TV texts, and therefore the convergence of digital technologies allow producers to target ever larger and more diverse audiences.

Context - I will be exploring the examples of True Detective, a Southern Gothic crime drama released in 2013 by HBO, Made in Chelsea, a docusoap released by E4 initially in 2011, and The Hunt, a British nature documentary produced by the BBC and narrated by David Attenborough, and broadcast November 2015.

Main body of text

Here are some examples of how you can explore the use of digital technology in the TV industry.

Made in Chelsea - Key scene - "It's Fran from uni!"

Editing - use of on screen text. Allows audience to identify with the characters. Post production digital editing technique. Font is white, clean and classy, to establish characters effectively. Font iconographic of Made in Chelsea, creating a distinct identity for the show.

Cinematography - use of close ups, allowing audience to focus on the face and expression of the main characters, establishing a sense of intimacy for the audience. Only possible through the use of high definition digital camera technology.

Sound - Non-diegetic soundtrack, indie/pop allows producer to establish the youth and social status of the main characters, which is coupled with a variety of establishing montages which set the luxurious scene. Digital editing makes this process simple and efficient.

Cinematography/editing - Editing is used to manipulate the narrative by selecting reaction that construct a particular ideology for the audience. This allows the producer to manipulate the audience in to a particular ideology.

Colour palette - Pastel colours are emphasised, creating a luxurious, dreamy lifestyle, providing the audience with a utopian solution to the issues of their lives.

Social media - use of hashtags allow audience to interact, and audiences are able to follow twitter accounts for each character. This creates synergy between the two different industries, allowing the producer to attract ever bigger audiences

True Detective - Key scene -  Rust's hallucination

Music - Non -diegetic - Country rock/instrumental, which segues in to dramatic, orchestral music. Such a technique is only possible through digital technology. Allows producers to play with the diegesis of the sound in an experimental way.

Setting - rural louisiana, unconventional of the detective drama. Intricate mise en scene, muted colours, extreme long shots deep focus/depth of field. HBO typically distribute their shows on subscription channels in high definition, 1080p. Additionally, HBO distribute their shows on high quality Blu-Rays sold at high RRP, insinuates high quality of shows to audience.

Use of special effects - Flock of birds, curling around in the dead, orange sky, iconic of the show and the themes within it. Subtle use of CG, enigma code, establishes more of Rust's drug related past, which is explored fully two episode, emphasisng how essential digital technology.

The Hunt - Key scene -  wildebeest hunt

Cinematography - equipment is high definition, compact, and more resilient than analogue equipment

A variety of editing techniques are used to constructed to create an elaborate and manipulative narrative, VERY SIMILAR TO MADE IN CHELSEA!!!

Narrative - character types established through use of close-ups, anchorage, and use of personification/anthropomorphisation, and David Attenborough's authoritative and recognisable voice.

Non-diegetic soundtrack, increases tension, reinforces genre typicality, allowing the audience to identify the show as a nature documentary.

Super slow motion, used as a selling point for the show, and used extensively in marketing and promotional trailers

Distribution - BBC iPlayer allows audiences to watch at any point, show under licence to Netflix to allow a large audience, and encouraging audiences to explore the BBC brand, and to target young audiences, and to allow huge numbers of US Netflix subscribers to watch the British show. DVDs and Blu Rays sold around the world, Amazon.co.jp etc

MS4 exam - how to structure your response

A proper structure helps you to organise both your writing and your thoughts. An organised and clear argument has a significant effect on the mark you receive in the exam.

Here's a quick and simple structure you can use. Thanks to Q block A2 media for the examples used in this guide!

Before you start writing

Before you even start writing your response, you need to choose your question, to underline the key terms of this question, and then to bullet point plan a response to the question. Plans are extremely important, as they allow you to structure in your head and on the page itself the ideas you will be exploring. You might want to jot down some theories you should be using. Here's an example of what a plan could look like:

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre

Argument - genre essential tool for producer to target audience, but this is lazy and manipulative. 

Skyfall - spy/action/thriller... James Bond genre? Typical
Severin shot glass - typical representation of women. REPETITION AND DIFFERENCE

Opening Chase scene - typical action paradigms

Selfish - social realist - typical

A and S go scrapping - setting and narrative

A shouts at teacher - typical social realist theme COMPARE TO KES

Brave - Action adventure, family, Disney princess - atypical

Merrida archery scene - subverts representation of women/princesses

Mother bear scene - focusses on female relationships - GENRE FLUIDITY

CONCLUDE - genre is essential but used in limited ways that result in stereotypical representations, but Brave subverts expectations

This plan is a little rough... but it's going to be really useful to refer back to when the inevitable mid-question brain freeze happens!

Introduction

Definition - Define the keywords that you have underlined. For example "representation refers to how issues and individuals are constructed by the producers of media texts, and can be done so for a variety of different reasons"

Argument - the point of view that you will be taking in the essay. eg
"Media representations are constructed by producers to be as generic as possible, in order to appeal to the widest possible audience"
"Producers lazily reuse genre conventions to appeal to the largest possible audience"

Context - Basic information on the texts you are studying, eg "The Selfish Giant is a 2013 British social realist film directed by Clio Barnard which had limited financial success in cinemas"

Paragraph

Point - The thing that you wil be discussing in th eg:
"There are many powerful, though possibly negative representations of the working class used in The Selfish Giant, to present to the audience the depressing life of the working class in Bradford"
"The construction of the representation of women in Skyfall is consistently negative, which reinforces gender stereotypes"

Evidence - Comprised of visual codes and technical codes.
eg - "the deep red of Merrida's hair connotes her fiery and rebellious personality"
"Severin's low cut, tightly fitting dress further sexualises her when she is at her most vulnerable"

Argument - Link back to how your point confirms your argument. This is where you include theory.
"Severin's fetishistic dress confirms she is the subject of the male gaze. Her only function is to fulfil heterosexual male fantasies. This reinforces patriarchal hegemony as the dominant ideology of the text..."

Timings

There's no perfect timings, so this is just a suggestion. You should spend 50 minutes on each question. This could work out as:

Planning and introduction - 6 minutes

Text one - 13 1/2 minutes

Text two - 13 1/2 minutes

Text 3 - 13 1/2 minutes

Conclusion - 3 minutes

You can mess around with this formula, but remember to give yourself equal time to write about each text!

Constructing representations in The Selfish Giant

Representations don't just 'happen' They are constructed by producers for ideological purposes. From a Marxist perspective, this can be a tool of influencing the ideology of the audience and constructing hegemonic belief systems. In short, representation is serious business.

R Block A2 Media analysed the scenes in The Selfish Giant where Arbor consoles his mum after her house is bricked by a drug dealer, followed by a scene with Arbor and Swifty playing on a Trampoline, and finally a scene where Arbor confronts two police officers who call round suspecting him of a crime. They looked specifically at the representation of the working class. They were exploring the question How constructed are the representations with your chosen texts? They concluded that this representation was constructed in the following ways:

• Diegetic sound of mobile phone connotes Arbor's rebellious attitude to the police. A mid shot shows him sitting slumped in his arm chair, again reinforcing the ideology that the police are not important in this setting
• Colour scheme/colour palette is desaturated and dull, connoting depression, lack of joy and hopelessness. This is emphasised throughout the film
• Handheld camera positions audience directly into an uncomfortable and distressing situation. 
• Voyeuristic positioning. The audience are positioned as an outsider, as above the characters, as a middle class audience who have little experience of absolute poverty
• Overgrown grass, connotation of poverty. Symbolic of the greater issues that the citizens of the town have to deal with
• Broken trampoline, mise-en-scene here suggests deprivation and neglect
• Editing - mother warns Arbor not to return to the scrapyard, and a match on action cut shows Arbor in the scrapyard, confirming his disobedience
• Police through gesture demonstrate their lack of compassion for the vulnerable working class family by leaving their door open when leaving the family house
• Lack of artificial lighting in living room creates a cold, dark atmosphere. This emphasises the depressing lives of the working class, and has connotations of authenticity and verisimilitude

Arbor and Swifty go scrapping (cheers to Q block A2 Media for the following analysis)

• Colour pallette is desaturated, grey, and connotes misery and depression
• Lack of variety of shot types. Mainly mid shots and close ups, and tracking shots, following the bleak, empty lives of the two protagonists
• Establishing shot, barbed wire in shallow depth of field, iconographic of a prison setting, symbolising that the characters are trapped in their estate
• Language/lexis - frequent casual use of the word 'fuck' has connotations of lack of education and lack of respect for authority. Limited vocabulary
• Sound - muted and bleak. Lack of any diegetic sound jumping out. Single use of exaggerated, pleonastic sound of construction has connotations of destruction and negativity
• Handheld cinematography a convention of the documentary film giving the film verisimilitude. Connotations of imperfection, of an unstable lifestyle  

It's really important to discuss why Clio Barnard, the director has constructed the representation of the working class in this way. Students concluded that this is because The Selfish Giant has a clear ideological message to the middle class audience that there is massive inequality in the UK. Therefore it can be argued that The Selfish Giant adopts a broadly left wing ideology. Here are some aspects that broadly paint The Selfish Giant as left wing in its ideology:

• By focusing on working class people and working class issues
• Promotes the idea that poverty is a society issue, as opposed to laziness or too many generous benefits
• School is represented as being needlessly authoritarian 

To conclude, despite how noble it may be, the representation of the working class in The Selfish Giant are heavily constructed, in order to influence the ideology of the target middle class audience. How successful it is in doing so is completely up to you. Do you think it is acceptable to represent working class existence in such broad strokes in order to present a powerful message? And given how difficult the film can be to watch, does it succeed in presenting this representation to as broad an audience as possible?

Some possible arguments include that the audience may sympathise with the events on screen, yet there is very little they can actually do to address poverty in the UK. The audience may therefore take away a subconscious satisfaction that it is not them suffering the hardship of this film. Additionally, the film provides the audience with an insight into how different people live, providing them with the gratification of information. 

Representation - the perfect conclusion

The conclusion in any essay should sum up the argument that you have been making from the beginning. It should technically contain no new information. However, it serves a very useful purpose in summing up your argument and presenting your clear point of view. Many teachers, myself included, read through an essay briefly before marking. Typically, we read the introduction first, then the conclusion, before reading the rest. This is a useful tip that you will be using very soon in your research investigation!

Here are a few pointers on what to include in a conclusion in the representation question.

You need to address the ideologies of the producer to get the highest marks. This should be addressed from the start, but the conclusion is a good place to go all out with your ideas. Ideology refers to the messages, beliefs and values of a producer, but we must also assume that for whatever reason, the producer is attempting to manipulate the beliefs of the audience too. This can be for social/political reasons (Top Boy informs the audience of the poverty affecting black London teenagers), financial reasons (the Gucci advert presents a sexualised ideal for the audience to associate with their brand) to more sinister ones (the TV advert to Special K suggests the ideology that women who are thin, white and childish are most successful in life, promoting an ideology of patriarchal hegemony)

One term you will be using in (almost) every representation response is stereotype. But you must answer the question: why do producers use stereotypes? Richard Dyer suggests that it can be used as a shortcut. In the case of Top Boy  and Work by Rhianna (two excellent contrasting examples) we see that by representing in these cases black people as pitied, exotic and aggressive, it clearly communicates to the audiences the personalities of these characters. However, as George Gerbner suggests, this may cultivate the ideology that black people only fit in to a few, simple categories, which in turn reinforces hegemonic ideological beliefs. This argument can be adjusted and applied to pretty every representation question, including women, men, age and national identity!

You must also discuss if and how representations are typical and/or challenging. If so, why has the producer chosen to challenge stereotypes? Is this to influence the dominant ideology surrounding certain groups for the benefit of everybody? Or is it simply a narrative device designed to make the text more exciting for audiences? And how do you personally feel about this?

Theory and key word checklist

A few people have asked about a definitive list of theories and key words that could be used for each type of question that can come up. We're happy to oblige, with a reminder that students who try and cram as many theories in as possible often end up shooting themselves in the foot! So don't see this as a list of things you have to include, but a list of things that you could include in your responses. You also need to make consistent reference to the toolkit for textual analysis, but you lot know this by now!

This list has been kept general to apply to both AS and A2 Media Studies. If there's something on here that you have no recollection of, you can happily ignore it. Each teacher uses a slightly different set of theories, and there are some completely new ones introduced in second year!

Finally, if you would like to know what these terms actually mean, you'll have to check your notes, or the glossary.

Genre

• Codes
• Conventions
• Fluidity
• Hybrid genre/generic hybridity 
• Iconography 
• Intertextuality
• Paradigm/paradigmatic
• Repetition and difference (Steve Neal) 
• Setting
• Subgenre
• Subversion 
• Typical/atypical 
• Unconventional 

Narrative

• Action code
• Binary oppositions (Levi-Strauss)
• Character roles (Propp)
• Closed narrative
• Diegesis 
• Disruption
• Equilibrium 
• Narrative equilibrium (Todorov) 
• Enigma code
• Linear narrative
• Multi-strand narrative
• Narrative functions
• Non-linear narrative
• Omniscient narrative
• Open narrative
• Restricted narrative
• Symbolic code

Representation

• Agenda
• Archetype
• Amplification
• Bias
• Class (social)
• Cultural Capital
• Ethnocentrism 
• Female chauvinist pigs (Levy)
• Feminism 
• Fetishisation 
• Gaze
• Gender
• Gender binary
• Gender performativity 
• Hegemony
• Hegemonic masculinity 
• Hypermasculinity
• Ideology
• The male gaze (Mulvey)
• Men act, women appear (Berger) 
• National identity 
• The 'new man' 
• Objectification
• Patriarchal hegemony 
• Sex
• Sexualisation 
• Stereotype
• Subcultural capital
• Subjugation 
• Symbolic anihilation 
• Voyeurism 

Audience

• Amplification
• Anchorage
• Bias
• Cultivation theory (Gerbner) 
• Dominant ideology
• Dominant reading
• Effects model/hypodermic needle model
• Encoding/decoding model (Stuart Hall)
• Hegemony
• Ideology
• Marxism
• Middle class
• Mode of address
• Negotiation/negotiated reading
• Oppositional reading
• Polysemy/polysemic readings
• Positioning 
• Preferred reading
• Reception theory (dominant, negotiated, oppositional...)
• Star theory (Dyer)
• Target audience
• Targeting
• Two step flow
• Uses and gratifications model
• Utopian solution (Dyer)
• Working class

Industry

• Celebrity
• Censorship
• Commodity fetishism 
• Commodification
• Conglomeration 
• Convergence
• Distribution
• Major (label/producer etc)
• Production
• Postmodernism
• Promotion
• Regulation
• Star theory (Dyer)
• Streaming
• Synergy 

A2 Sample paragraph: the music industry

The following post was completed by Q block second year Media working in collaboration with their teacher making notes as they made suggestions. Some parts might be a little muddled, however, with this in mind, it should serve as an excellent example of how to structure a PEA paragraph with reference to a difficult theoretical framework, in this case postmodernism. 

If you want to brush up on postmodernism, check out this post.

Initial discussion - Famous by Kanye West - postmodern aspects

• Emphasis on intertextuality - presence of famous people, all notable for doing something controversial. For example, Taylor Swift, famous for her altercation with West at the VMAs.
• Style over substance - lack of deeper meaning, simply there to look strange. Intimate, handheld camera, VHS camcorder, connotations of home videos, of private family moments. 
• Breaking rules of society/taboos - use of full frontal nudity, absolutely not allowed on network television. Voyeuristic aspect, creepy! Additionally, issues of consent. Individuals not informed of the nature of the video. 
• Deliberately trashy aesthetic - despite it's cost, the video LOOKS extremely cheap, nasty and deliberately trashy. Perhaps a connotation of celebrity and glamour???? 

'Discuss how your three main texts are marketed'

Marketing examples for the music industry:

• Social media
• Music videos 
• TV adverts
• Youtube spot adverts
• Spotify adverts
• Interviews
• Gigs/live performances

ARGUMENT - "I shall argue that my three artists use controversial and often outlandish marketing techniques to promote their music and ultimately to make more money".

Point 

One example of a controversial and subversive marketing technique is the video to Famous by Kanye West. Released initially on the 2015 album The Life of Pablo, the video could be argued to be the epitome of postmodernism. Traditionally, a music video comprises of artists singing, dance routines and the use of colour. Music videos were popularised in the 1980's through American cable TV channel MTV, though music videos did exist in other forms beforehand. However, Famous differs from conventional music videos in a number of ways. 

Evidence

Filmed using a handheld VHS camera as opposed to a modern, high quality digital camera, Famous looks cheap, nasty, and unpleasant. The picture quality is deliberately lo-fi, pixelated and extremely grainy. An extended wide angle panning shots establishes a range of sleeping, nude bodies. These wide angle shots alternate with intimate, voyeuristic closeups of nude body parts, further emphasising how uncomfortable the video is. Two minutes in to the song, the non-diegetic soundtrack ceases, forcing the audience to endure a diegetic snoring noise for a full five minutes before the song resumes. 

Analysis

West's primary intention to create controversy by presenting the audience with shocking imagery, in this instance a range of naked, sleeping celebrities. At an enormous cost of $750,000 dollars, West commissioned the creation of a range of extremely realistic wax models. Not unexpectedly, the video instantly started attracting attention. The video currently has 25 million views on YouTube, despite the age restriction that YouTube has applied to it. Interestingly, the video has over 350,000 'dislikes', suggesting that the video is particularly challenging to audiences. The video provides the audience with a powerful gratification, that of social interaction, and allows them to discuss whether or not they agree with the dominant ideology of the text. By using controversial and postmodern elements, the video to Famous has reached a vast audience, and ensured financial success to Kanye West.