We have used a simplified mark scheme to provide you with a grade. This is in order to reflect the fact that this is an open book exam with unlimited time allowed
This is an overall grade, based on all four responses, so if there is variation in quality, a best fit grade will be be applied (so two excellent and two satisfactory answers would even out as a Good response, or a B grade)
A grade has been removed for every question not attempted. For example, if a student has completed two good (B grade) answers but not attempted the other two questions, then the overall grade would be moved down two to a 'D' grade.
Got it? Nice.
Music videos - Explore how the combination of media language creates meaning for the audience in the video to Riptide [15]
Plan :
Media language – shot types, camera angles, mise-en-scene
Audience positioning – in scene of long shot woman in a swimsuit, audience positioned as voyeuristic
Music video of Riptide – highly unconventional e.g. Vance Joy is not in the video at all
Performer – as the music video progresses the performer’s costume changes
Intertextual and stereotypical reference to horror genre
Literal interpretation of lyrics
Contrary to previous thoughts on audiences, both theorists and producers now agree that audiences are complex, and have a variety of different needs, tastes and ways of using media texts, due to this idea producers therefore seek to intrigue audiences, which is clearly seen in the pop music video, Riptide by Vance Joy. Riptide is very different to a typical pop music video, one reason is that Vance Joy is not in the music video at all; this is highly unconventional for music videos and is hardly ever seen. Throughout this essay I shall be arguing that due to the use of a variety of media techniques and media language, Riptide creates a confusing but enticing ideological perspective that the audience are virtually forced into reflecting upon.
One way this is done is through the way the music video interprets the lyrics of the song. For example, the music video is seen to be almost mimicking the lyrics. One place this can found is near the beginning of the music video when the lyrics “I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations” are sung. In this scene we see a patriarchally hegemonic and stereotypically attractive woman who appears to be taking the straps off of her swim suit. This positions the audience as being voyeuristic as this woman does not know she is being looked at, which then creates confusion for the audience as it is unclear as to why this situation has been forced upon us. Furthermore, this idea of the music video mimicking the lyrics is seen during the chorus whenever the noun “Riptide” is sung. We see a high-angled long-shot of the ocean and waves crashing, the connotations of the noun “Riptide” present aggressive or dangerous themes. This creates a proairetic code and entices the audience which then, however, leads to confusion as this theme of aggression is not followed up and the music video continues. Due to this, we as the audience are then lead to replaying the music video in order to find some sort of answer to our confusion.
The idea of confusion and enticement is seen throughout the music video time after time again. For example, towards the beginning of the music video we see intertextual and stereotypical references. Most clearly the horror genre is seen when “Taken to the dark side” is sung. In this scene during the chorus, we see an actor get dragged by their feet into darkness creating a hermeneutic code. This is a clear reference to the horror genre due to the mise-en-scene of the gritty tiled flooring and the almost dead like hands that are centre image. Moreover, there is another reference to the horror genre due to there being a scene of a group playing an Ouija board; this is an intertextual reference to the famous horror films. Furthermore, this idea of confusion is seen again towards the end of the chorus when “You're gonna sing the words wrong” is sung. During this scene we see a woman ‘singing’ Riptide. The mise-en-scene of her dress, make-up and her hair down leads the audience to believe she is a performer. However, as the music video continues and each chorus is sung we see the performer’s costume begins to change. The mise-en-scene of the blood on the performer’s neck, the smeared make-up and the out synced lip-syncing, presents a proairetic code and it is clear to the audience that this woman is in danger and need of help and that some sort of abuse has taken place. This therefore confuses the audience as there has been no context as to why this has happened. We as the audience feel helpless as we watch this performer and we are unable to do anything.
In conclusion, due to the many ideas I have presented, it is clear that the music video to Riptide by Vance Joy, through media language and media techniques, presents a confusing but enticing theme for the audience as there are many scenes throughout that make the audience think which is reinforced by the literal interpretation of the lyrics that the music video takes.
Magazines - Liesbet van Zoonen argues that representations of gender are encoded through media language to position audiences and to reinforce dominant ideological perspectives. In what ways do the producers of Woman use representations to position their audiences? [15]
PLAN:
-van Zoonen -women hegemonically attractive
-representation of female beauty -patriarchal hegemony
-ideology -stereotypical representation
Liesbet van Zoonen is a feminist theorist that argues gender is constructed through codes and conventions of media products. He states women are used in media products in order to attract a heterosexual male audience. Representation is defined as the ways in which the media presents the world and aspects in it. ‘Woman’ is a weekly lifestyle women’s magazine which started in the 1930s and is still running today. This essay will study the set edition of the magazine from the 1960s which includes stereotypical representations of women from the time.
The women in Woman magazine have been represented sexually. In the Breeze advert, there is a mid-shot of a woman in the bath with bubbles covering her naked body. The woman has been sexualised through this voyeuristic shot as the audience can see the vast majority of her body, however, the bath is not included in the shot making the audience focus on the woman. The lifestyle that is being sold to the audience is that buying Breeze will make you sexually attractive. This is reinforced by the mise-en-scene of her perfect hair and make-up. This shot links to van Zoonen’s theory; that women only appear in media products to be looked at by a heterosexual male audience. They find her attractive as she is stereotypically hegemonically beautiful. This is further anchored by the lexis at the bottom of the advert. It uses a seductive mode of address, emphasised by the ellipses, creating a sexual atmosphere. The polysemic lexis of ‘darling’ suggest women are empowering but could also attract male attention, as this noun is often used by men when speaking to their woman. The representation in this advert can also make a female audience feel inadequate as this woman in the bath has an aspirational body. Due to male sexual preferences, the female audience aspire to look like the model so they will be deemed attractive by men.
Representations of female beauty have also been encoded through media language. Woman magazine plays a significant role in constructing cultural ideas of female beauty. This shows the audience that physical appearance is a defining aspect of female identity. In Woman magazine, the article ‘Are you an A-level beauty’ promotes dominant patriarchal values that women should wear make-up to make themselves attractive. The close-up shots of the women’s faces encourage the audience to evaluate their appearance against these beauty standards as they are hegemonically and stereotypically attractive. The advert also only shows white women, showing an ethnocentric view of beauty that is culturally passed down by society. The ‘How to score’ section, makes the audience feel as if they must conform to these stereotypes otherwise they won’t be viewed by society as beautiful and most importantly won’t win the attention of a man.
Woman magazine also constructs patriarchal ideas that it is the woman’s ‘duty’ to provide for men. The article ‘A present for your kitchen’ reinforces a hierarchy which is constructed through patriarchal and hegemonic ideology. It reinforces the idea that it is the women’s job to stay at home and she shouldn’t be working. The use of personification suggests to a female audience that the kitchen is the ‘heart of the home’. The simple format and the use of serval images assumes the audience are less educated as they are women, showing this gender divide. The mid-shot of the woman smiling showing off her kitchen reinforces the idea that women enjoy housework such as washing up. This representation of women is stereotypical and reflects the cultural norms of the 60s. This cultivates the dominant ideology that women should always provide for the man practically and sexually. This links to Gerbner’s theory of cultivation. He states that being exposed to patterns of representation over long periods of time shape the way in which people perceive the world. These representations of woman in the 60s were normal and accepted.
In conclusion, representations of gender have been constructed by media language in order to reinforce the dominant hegemonic norms in society from the 60s.
Advertising - Explore how the WaterAid advert you have studied appeals to its target audience(s) [15]
The charity Water Aid was established in 1981 as a response to a United Nations campaign for clean water, sanitation, and water hygiene education. This advert (titled Rain for Good) stars 16-year-old Zambian student Claudia and aims to show how communities' benefit from clean water by depicting everyday chores such as farming and laundry. In this essay, I will be exploring how this WaterAid advert appeals to their target audience of British, middle-aged, middle-class people.
The producer of this advert is targeting a British audience using elements that are common to British culture and history. The use of the pound sign, in the textual information, is one of the symbols that connote that this is targeted at a British audience, in addition to this at the very beginning of the advert the mise en scene in the establishing shot represents a very stereotypical England - the rainy environment and the strong British accent that comes from the person speaking in the radio are clearly designed for a British audience.
Furthermore, Claudia singing “Sunshine on A Rainy Day” appeals to an audience who’s around the age of 30-50 as they’re likely to remember the original. This intertextual reference used by the producer appeals to the target audience as they are likely to get pleasure from the nostalgic value of hearing a song with which they’re familiar. Claudia herself appeals to a middle-aged audience, the producer by using someone that has an age that the target audience has already surpassed expects the audience to personally identify with the character by imagining themselves in her position at the age of 16 and feeling, therefore, empathy towards her. Another way in which the producer appeals the intended target audience is with the tracking shot following the kids playing; this appeals to parents as they might imagine those kids as their children's leading to them feeling a sense of empathy which is going to increase their will to donate money.
The unconventionally positive visual codes, audio codes, and representations used by the producers give the advert unique selling points compared to other charity appeals and therefore make the audience more likely to donate. The shots showed before the clean water shot, that capture a happy atmosphere could be interpreted as people being happy because of what they are going to get. Which as shown in the end, is the water that they gained through donations made by the British (who are the target audience for this WaterAid advert). This makes the audience, that has previously donated feel satisfied/good about themselves and it makes the audience that hasn't donated, to donate. Additionally, the last mid shot showing Claudia with a bucket of water on her head and walking towards a beautiful sunset shows a different way to see difficulties. Claudia holding the bucket on her head is binary opposite to the sunset. The sunset symbolises nice things whereas the bucket of water symbolises how hard life can be.
The use of the text number, the hashtag, and the website details allow the producer to aim this advert at an audience that is reasonably comfortable with technology. The advert appeals to an audience who is more socially aware and perhaps more educated through the marketed distribution of this campaign - in fact it was published on YouTube, Twitter and other social media with hashtags that increase its shareability. The distribution of this advert on social media not only appeals to a younger audience, who is likely to feel more sympathy but also targets an audience who through their normal use of social media is likely to be more socially aware of the difficulties that people in this world have to go through and therefore more likely to sympathies and understand the character of Claudia and consequently more likely to donate.
Their target audience’s likely liberal political perspectives will have been shaped by exposure to previous, generically similar adverts, shaping their world view that the suffering of people less fortunate than themselves can be alleviated by charitable donations. Therefore this WaterAid advert appeals to this audience by the use of statistics that encourage the audience to feel that they can trust WaterAid and that this is a really important campaign - the use of statistics is also there to make the charity seem trustworthy and reliable. Furthermore, the use of imperatives within the advert in the sentence: “Donate money today. Text this number” it's a good way of trying to persuade and encourage their audience to take that preferred reading and to try and donate their money.
In conclusion, the WaterAid advert “Rain for Good” appeals to its target audience through the choice of song, the setting, and the shots capturing what the audience's donation can lead to ( e.g children being happy ). The producers of this advert appeal their target audience through a direct mode of address and through the distribution of the media product on platforms used by socially aware people. The subvert representation of Africa works as a unique selling point of this campaign that appeals to its intended audience.
Magazines - Liesbet Van Zoonen argues that representations of gender are encoded through media language to position audiences and to reinforce dominant ideological perspectives. In what ways do the producers of Woman use representations to position their audiences? [15]
Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from an ideological or value perspective. Woman magazine was published in 1937, and it's still going – in the 1964 edition published on the 9th of August producers of Woman use representations to position their audiences, and, in this essay, I'm going to explore in what ways they did so.
In this edition there is a clear stereotypical representation of women in fact, the main messages encoded in this magazine are that women are housewives and their purpose is to please men. Even the pictures of the women in the magazine are constructed to appeal to a male secondary audience – this representation supports the idea that women in media products are there to be looked at from men and therefore are objectified.
The elements on the front cover position the audience as a white middle-aged woman. From the main image to the cover line when looking at the magazine the producer has constructed a stereotypical representation of women that is directed at women. The fact that it is directed at women it’s explicitly shown in the coverline on the top right where the producers state that this is the world's best weekly “for women”. It is also connoted through the pastel pink / purple background which stereotypically are feminine colours. The main image in the front cover is a woman with a possibly forced smile, that has maternal features and that is looking directly at the audience who is positioned as a housewife. This not famous woman conforms to the hegemonical beauty standards and allows the audience to see themselves in her position as just like them, she is not famous but is instead a “normal” woman that executes her stereotypical role in society. The cover line “seven-star improvement for your kitchen” emphasises the producers' ideology of what a woman should be like and it emphasises his representation of women. Not only does the cover line presents women with a stereotypical housewife role but it also directly addresses the audience with the use of the pronoun “you” - this implies that the target audience for this magazine is a middle-aged woman and therefore it positions the audience reading the cover line in such position.
The producer constructs women as superficial and caring a lot about what they look like; this can be seen in the cover line “Are you an A level beauty?”. As mentioned before, by using the pronoun “you” and directly referring to the audience the producer is positioning the audience as a perhaps, superficial woman who cares a lot about her physical appearance. Additionally, A level stands for advanced level meaning that the producer is associating high school level with middle-aged women, therefore, representing them as clever as a high school student. This cover line not only reinforces patriarchal hegemony and dominant values but the fact that they are asking such questions puts the woman reading them in an awkward situation, where they have to reflect on whether they are what the magazine classifies as an “ A level beauty”. If we consider the cultivation theory it also affects their self-esteem which is likely to lower if they don’t get the points needed, according to the producer, to classify as an A level beauty. When answering these questions and reading what the results boxes one after the other women will start believing that they are not beautiful and therefore they will fall into believing that to be an “A level beauty” they need to respect hegemonical beauty standards set in this patriarchal society and to so they will buy the products advised in the magazine.
This magazine manipulates its audience by showing their ideology repeatedly and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that helps maintain patriarchal hegemony, however it could also be argued that the reason for such a stereotypical representation of woman is that if this wasn’t portrayed the magazine wouldn’t sell. Values and beliefs and the women's roles in society in 1964 were different to now consequently It could be argued that the ideology presented by the producer in the representation of woman was to satisfy the needs of the consumers and therefore make a profit. If the producer was to construct a representation of women that subverted their stereotypical roles it is very likely that the magazine wouldn’t have sold many copies. This may also be the reason why there is a lack in the representation of women from other ethnicities in the magazine.
Another way in which the producer has used representation to position its audience can be seen in the breeze advert. The producer of this advert has represented women in having to be feminine and kind this is explicitly said in the lines “to be sure you’re all over feminine” you need Breeze, “you need a soap that will show your kindness”, through these sentences the advert is selling femininity and a lifestyle where you the audience (positioned as a woman) are sexually attractive. The direct address in these sentences is positioning the audience as a woman who needs to buy this product to be feminine. The magazine doesn’t even question whether a woman wants to be feminine, the ideology presented shows a representation of women where they want to and must be feminine and gentle. The main image in this advert is a woman covered in soap, however, she’s not in a bath – this is to allow their readership to see the curve of her body. Linking this to Van Zoonen’s theory the producer is positioning the audience as a heterosexual man that is likely to find the way she is posing attractive. This image should conventionally be in a girl mag. The hand gesture and the way her lips are positioned suggest that she is blowing a kiss, this acts as a proairetic code that supports the idea of her having to look sexually attractive.
In conclusion, the producers of woman represent women in a stereotypical way that allows their target audience who’s positioned as a woman to relate to the females shown in the magazine, making it therefore likely for them to keep buying this magazine and buying things from the adverts.
Videogames - In what ways has ownership shaped the media products you have studied? Make reference to the Assassin’s Creed franchise [15]:
Plan:
Ubisoft
Assassin’s Creed Unity – 11th of November 2014
Development costs of $100,000,000
Development teams of 1,000 people
10,000,000 copies sold within the first year of release
£25.99RRP on release
66% positive feedback and 44% negative feedback
Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows
Ownership is referring to the large companies behind videogames and how the companies might affect the games they produce. Ownership has shaped the media products within the video game industry in multiple different ways, for the purpose of constructing a larger target audience or for raising the amount of profits produced. In order for a game to be successful, it must appeal to a mass audience, helping to maximize profits produced. To explore this aspect, I shall be discussing the video game publisher and developer Ubisoft, while making reference to one of their most successful game franchises called Assassin’s Creed, looking closely at Assassin’s Creed Unity which was released on the 11th of November in 2014.
I believe that ownership within the video game industry has caused a video game’s quality to increase, and it is only going to keep rising. There are a lot of major development game companies within the specialized industry of video games, which means that there is a lot of competition with companies trying to produce a much better product than the last. Ubisoft being one of the biggest video game development companies in the world, with an estimated net worth of over $2 billion, are expected to release a high-quality content packed masterpiece with every release being better than the last. The Assassin’s Creed franchise is a perfect example of how a video game’s quality is improved as time goes on and development companies continue to expand. Assassin’s Creed was released on the 13th of November in 2007, and it was the first installment in the Assassin’s Creed series. Assassin’s Creed was an instant success with Ubisoft selling over 8 million copies within almost 2 years of release, however with the limitation of hardware and a budget of $20,000,000 the game’s quality was nothing special compared with today, but for the time this game was a masterpiece for gamers all around the globe. Moving on towards late 2014, Ubisoft released the 11th instalment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Unity (ACU) was released on the 11th of November in 2014. By this time, Ubisoft had expanded into a much bigger development company, meaning they had higher budgets and a larger target audience. This is evident with ACU reaching over 10,000,000 copies sold within the first year of release, which makes it one of the most successful games within the franchise, but costing Ubisoft $20,000,000 to develop.
Video games need to appeal to as many people as possible, because this will impact the game’s popularity and the amount of profits the game has produced. One of the easiest ways to attract more customers is to appeal to that mass audience. The Assassin’s Creed franchise is enormously popular with critics and gamers all around the globe, with all the instalments in the series making an estimated total profit of $140,000,000 for Ubisoft, which makes it one of Ubisoft’s most successful game franchises. The Assassin’s Creed franchise uses intertextuality within its games, as the combat is generally focused more towards the historical warfare aspect. This usage of intertextuality is not uncommon, as many different games have used this technique such as Mordhau, World of Warcraft and many others which makes a game genre. However, developers decided to also include some aspects from different genres in order to attract to a mass audience, which leads to higher sales and more profits being generated.
Ubisoft have a tendency to use a similar scheme when it comes to creating Assassin’s Creed games, which might have been done to reference other games from the franchise. This can be seen right from the game’s cover, each cover from the franchise uses a similar layout which includes the Assassin from the game in the center with some sort of weapon. Ubisoft also include their brand identity on each cover with the game’s title alongside, background appears to change depending on the historical time period. This is indicated using stereotypical landmarks like the pyramids, marble statues and pirate ships. All these elements of similarity are not purely there because the Ubisoft developers are unoriginal, as these similarities can help attract a mass audience of followers. I believe this because carrying over design elements from game to game allows a brand identity to be created, which helps to attract fans to new instalments through the series, which therefore produces more profits for Ubisoft.
Ubisoft have been known to have huge production values while developing their games, which also helps in attracting a large audience. Ubisoft overtime have developed into a large-scale conglomerate, meaning they are able to specialize in Triple-A games, which are extremely popular with fans demanding and expecting a masterpiece of a game each and every release. This means that Ubisoft need to put in an extraordinary amount of money and effort to meet people’s expectations. Gamers are impressed by a game’s graphical quality, content quantity and quality and storyline, which Assassin’s Creed Unity does perfectly. It’s high production cost of $20,000,000 is clearly evident through the immersive visuals with the addition of a long action-packed story, which help appeal to the mass audience. Ubisoft also like to run existing game mechanics, with the virtual world being open which allows players to explore and roam freely. These are the types of mechanics people generally enjoy, which is why Ubisoft incorporates it into their games, as it appeals to the majority of targeted audiences. David Hesmondhalgh argues that media industries are maximizing their profits by minimizing the number of risks taken to produce a media product. Ubisoft are clearly following this rule, which allows for their Assassin’s Creed franchise to become more popular, generating more profits.
Ubisoft also try and target the niche audiences, while also appealing to the mass audiences, which is through Assassin’s Creed franchising being very historically accurate. Believe it or not, there are some gamers out there who enjoy playing historically accurate games, which is where Assassin’s Creed excels. For example, Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place in Paris during the French Revolution in the late 18th century, with developers actually studying about what life was like during this time period for the French. This allows for game to be more historical accurate to the time period, which attracts the niche audience of historical gamers. This links to Curran and Seaton’s theory of power within the media industry, which states that media conglomerates like Ubisoft, will attempt to gain more power over the other development companies to gain a monopoly in the videogame industry, leading to bigger profits.
In conclusion, I believe that ownership has had a huge effect on different types of products within the media industry, with Ubisoft and its Assassin’s Creed franchise being a clear example. I also believe that large conglomerates within the games industry have to appeal to mass audiences in order to maximize profits, which leads to a lack of diversity between products.
