Essay structure practice: Woman magazine

This is not 'your' copy of Woman magazine, but I was getting a bit bored of the set copy. Anyway, this one is really, really similar. Which just goes to underlie exactly how straightforward, stereotypical and sexist this publication is!

Underline key terms - underline as few terms as possible. You'll be using these terms a lot in your answer!

How does the producer of Woman magazine use ideology to represent women? 

Knee jerk reaction - don't think: this is your completely honest, first reaction to the question!

The producer of woman magazine uses sexist ideologies to portray women

Plan - keep it simple, and whatever you do, make sure that your plan goes on the question paper, where the examiner can see it!

Audience positioning

Heteronormativity

Patriarchal hegemony 

Binary Oppositions 

Hegemonic norms

Stereotypical 

Housewife

Sans serif

Serif

Anchorage

Shot types

Modes of address

Colours

MES

Demographic 

Lexis

Narrative

Introduction - use DAC for introductions. You can skip the introduction for shorter questions!

DAC, definition, argument, context 

Definition - Representation refers to the way in which something is re-presented by the producer to maximise profit and to demonstrate their ideology. Ideology refers to the views and beliefs of the producer and society at large.

Argument  - In this essay, I shall argue that the producer of Woman magazine uses sexist ideology to keep women in the hegemonic norms of the time

Context  - The set edition of Woman magazine, a women's lifestyle magazine, published in 1964, and life for women was dictated by patriarchal standards. In this post-war Britain, however, second wave feminism saw the rights of women changing rapidly , though this is not acknowledged by Woman magazine, a magazine which sold in excess of three million copies a week.

Paragraphs - use PEE for paragraphs. The (p)oint relates to the question, the (e)xample comes from the media product, and the (e)xplanation usually rolls in to the (e)xample...

Point - One way Woman magazine portrays women in a sexist and straightforward way is through it's striking and straightforward front cover

Evidence - For example, the masthead on the front cover of the magazine is presented in a serif font which resembles feminine handwriting. This is further anchored through the lilac background of the front cover which functions as a symbolic code, suggesting femininity, softness and other stereotypical perspectives about women. Finally, the cover model is constructed through the MES of her hair and makeup, which are both very conservative and straightforward.

Explanation - These elements all combine to construct a stereotypical ideology of the producer related women. The assumption that women should be feminine is an example of a patriarchal hegemonic norms, and the producer is clearly using this ideological perspective to manipulate and to keep women in their place. Additionally, through constructing a stereotypical and straightforward audience, the producer ensures that this audience comes back week after week after week. 

Essay structure practice: unseen music video (Bad Habits)

This post goes through how to construct the perfect response to any question. The example we will ne using is a media language question, related to an unseen music video, in this case Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran. It's worth pointing out that students had absolutely no help here: this is 100% student responses, transcribed by the teacher!

Underline key terms - underline as few terms as possible. You'll be using these terms a lot in your answer!

Explore how media language demonstrates different meanings

Knee jerk reaction - don't think: this is your completely honest, first reaction to the question!

Yes! The video to Bad Habits reflects lots of different meanings!

Plan - keep it simple, and whatever you do, make sure that your plan goes on the question paper, where the examiner can see it!

Polysemy 
Binary oppositions
MES
Codes
Costume
Makeup
Props
Shot types
Setting
Conventions

Introduction - use DAC for introductions. You can skip the introduction for shorter questions!

Definition - Media language is the terminology and techniques used by the producer to make a media product appeal to it's target audience

Argument - In this essay, I shall argue that the video to Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran demonstates a range of polysemic meanings to the audience

Context: A music video is a way of promoting an artist for the purpose of making money. 

Paragraphs - use PEE for paragraphs. The (p)oint relates to the question, the (e)xample comes from the media product, and the (e)xplanation usually rolls in to the (e)xample...

P - One way in which media language is used to create polysemic interpretations is through the fascinating use of setting.

EE - For example, the video is set in a run down, stereotypically working class setting. This is anchored through the MES of the artificial low key lighting, which functions as a hermeneutic code, creating a powerful mystery for the audience. Additionally, the setting of the nail parlour is presented in a colourful and highly contrasting manner, symbolic of diversity and working class, inner city lifestyles. The use of pastel pinks and grey, washed colours in the nail salon is further anchored through the MES of the dying rose, constructing a melancholic and depressing atmosphere for the target audience. The themes of depression and sadness are highly relatable to the teenage target audience, and will allow the video to maximise it's own exposure on streaming sites like YouTube. 

P - Another way in which media language is used to create meaning is through it's exciting and interesting and controversial use of costume.

EE - For example, while the setting is clearly drab and depressing, a binary opposition is formed between this and Sheeran's vibrant, glamourous, and even funky bright pink suit. This further reinforced through the challenge to gender stereotypes that is formed through Sheeran's bold and glittery pink makeup. This is contrasted with his heavy black eyeshadow, a style typical of the gothic subculture, creating a binary opposition between drag and goth subcultures constructs an inclusive ideology for the target audience, allowing the producer to appeal to multiple and diverse audiences.

U2 block Woman magazine revision posters

Media industry terms

The following is a non exhaustive list of terms that you could possibly be asked to define in component one section b. All these terms are related to industry. This is the part of media that explores how media products are made, and how they make money. This is why you'll see nothing about representation or audience here!

For actual definitions of these terms, check out the media studies glossary, which should define absolutely everything that you need to know!

Advertising
Agenda/news agenda
ASA
BBFC
Brand
Brand identity 
Broadcasting
Broadsheet
Circulation 
Conglomerate/conglomeration
Convergence
Demographic
Digital convergence 
Digital technology
Distribution
Diversification
Horizontal integration
Independent label 
IPSO
Left wing
Major label
Marketing
Monopoly
Multimedia integration
Narrowcasting
Oligopoly
PEGI
Unique selling point
Price
Readership
Regulation
Right wing
Subsidiary
Synergy
Tabloid
Target Audience
Vertical integration
Watershed
Web 2.0/3.0

Representation in Woman magazines - Thoughts from S, P and U1 Blocks

 As you will not be given the set pages from Woman magazine in the exam it is REALLY, REALLY important that you have wide range of example committed to memory. You need to have examples from different parts of the magazine, some examples need to refer to the visuals and some examples should be text based (yes that means that you DO need to read the articles and copy included in the adverts).

Use these links to see the analysis done in S, P and U1. There is SO MUCH that you could talk about. Pick out the bits that you will find the easiest to remember!

Front Cover Analysis

Content Page Analysis

The Three Adverts

A Level Beauty Article

A Present for Your Kitchen

Alfred Hitchcock Article

Re-introducing re-presentation

Re-presentations are a re-presentation of reality. Which means that absolutely nothing that we see in media products is in any way real, but instead is a reflection of the producer's on ideological perspective of what reality is! This is a complex idea, but a good example would be the newspaper industry. While newspapers are legally obligated (!!!) to report 'facts', concerning 'real' people and 'real' events, in actuality, newspapers re-present a highly biased selection of stories based on the ideologies and news values of the producer. So a newspaper is as much of a fiction as a film or a videogame!

• Representation is NOT  to show or to present something
• Representation is to re-present, to to show something again
• The producer of a media product re-presents a range of different social groups, issues and events
• Therefore, representations reflect the ideology of the produce. This is accomplished to address the audience, and even to potentially manipulate their ideology
• Furthermore, we can conclude that absolutely nothing that we see in media products is in any way shape or form real...

Sample introductory sentence: define the key term: Representation refers to how a group of people, an issue or an event is re-presented by the producer of a media product product to reflect their ideology. This in turn can be used to influence and even manipulate the target audience

Q block Woman magazine revision posters

Updated: the final few weeks of 2021/2022

Here's what's happening in the final few weeks of this half term. It  gets a bit confusing, but we'll manage.

Week commencing Monday 20th June - exam prep

This is a normal week, but in media, we are prepping for your mock exam, which is next week! You can find information on the mock exam by clicking here.

Week commencing Monday 27th June - mock week

This week is a mock week. You have a completely different, collapsed timetable. Your media exam is on Wednesday 29th at 0900. Make sure you arrive as early as possible for this.

Week commencing Monday 4th July - week off!

You are not in at all this week! This is because your teachers will spend this week doing open evenings and taster days. You cannot come in at all during this week, except for the open evenings. 

If you are interested in helping out at open evening, please email your teacher!

Week commencing Monday 11th July - final editing week and learning conversations

This week is a normal week, with normal lessons. This is your final official week of editing, and at the end of this week, you will be submitting your final music video

Additionally, during this week, you will have a learning conversation with your teacher. This is a brief 1-1 chat where we discuss how you are getting on in A-level media studies, as well as the grade you received in your mock exam, and what you can do to improve. 

Any learning conversations that we do not get through, either through student illness or timing, can be done remotely in the final week

Week commencing Monday 18th July - online learning conversations (for students who have missed one)

This week, or this Monday and Tuesday, we'll be finishing off learning conversations online, ONLY if they have not been completed in class. You may have learning conversations for your other classes ion these days. Your teacher will be working from home, so please do not come in to college: no one will be there!

On Wednesday 20th July, you're free! Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you in the Autumn Term for more exciting media studies times!

Mock revision lesson 1: unseen music video analysis

This blog post is a combination of answers and suggestions made by U2 and Q blocks. Aside from the odd prompt to include more media language or to focus on media language, no teacher help or suggestions were given at all. There is absolutely no way you could include all of this information in your own mock exam response, so you are going to have to get selective!

Ed Sheeran's transformation from middle of the road pop star to a working class queer-coded vampire may allow this video to target completely new audiences who previously had no interest in Sheeran at all!

What is media language?

Media language is the terminology used in media studies. The specific terminology that makes up a media product

What are some examples of media language in an audio-visual product?

• Colour
• Shot type (extreme CU to an Extreme long shot)
• Lighting (low key and high key, natural)
• Binary oppositions
• Mise en scene (what is in the scene!)
• Zoom
• Lexis (choice of language)
• Codes
• Costume
• Editing (rapid fire, fast paced, slow paced)
• Lip syncing
• Performance
• Modes of address (direct mode of address, indirect, how the product speaks to it's audience)
• Setting
• Sound (diegesis, is the sound in the world of the narrative?)
• Breaking the fourth wall (where the characters are aware of the audience)
• Mise-en-scene - anything in the frame 
• Close up, long shot, ECU, ELS, Mid shot
• Camera angles, birds eye view, front facing, high angle, low angle
• Diegetic sound (in the world of the narrative) 
• Non-diegetic sound (soundtrack)
• Editing (fast paced, slow paced)
• Modes of address (how a media product talks to the audience)
• Audience positioning (where the audience is placed by media language)

How do we write about media language in an exam or essay?

Paragraphs are structured in a PEE structure. This stands for 'point', 'evidence', 'explain'. The point is always rephrasing the question. The evidence always comes from the unseen or the seen case studies. The explain allows you to elaborate and to use theory if required.

Point - related to the question

Evidence - taken directly from the unseen or 'seen' media product

Explain - where you explain why this is important. How does it construct an ideology?

If there is no 'wrong' answer in media language/textual analysis questions, then why do some students get higher marks than others?

You will be marked on both your knowledge and understanding, and your ability to apply this knowledge and understanding.

What is Barthe's semiotic theory and how can we use it in textual analysis?

Codes

Anything in a media product that means something. This is 'encoded' by the producer of the media product. However, the audience are free to interpret this as they wish. In the 1970s Barthes wrote his most famous article, 'the death of the author', where he argued that once a product is released, the producer no longer has any say in how it is interpreted, and it is completely up to the audience. This is related to the idea of polysemic interpretation. 

The hermeneutic - something that suggests a mystery or a question. Something which asks a question of the audience. EG a mysterious shadow

The proairetic - action code, something is going to happen! EG CU of cracking knuckles + ipending fight scene

The symbolic - something that holds a deeper meaning. For example the MES of a red rose symbolises love, death, anger, sex, romance 

The semantic - the basic, surface level meaning of something. For example 'Ed Sheeran is a man wearing a pink suit'

The referential - something which refers to something else

Anchorage is where a meaning is weighed down y context. The combination of media language can make it clear to the audience what is happening

Polysemy is where a media product has many meanings

Myths are stories and legends that tell us about our world. The stories we learn as a child often give us important lessons on how to live our lives. For example, while vampires do not exist (sorry), the message that we should not trust creepy guys who break in to our bedrooms at night is a pretty good one! The music video to bad habits uses the myth of the vampire as a shortcut to tell an exciting story

What is Levi-Strauss's structuralist theory and how can we use it in textual analysis?

Binary oppositions/diametric oppositions: where two things contrast completely with one another. This creates conflict and interest for the audience

Media language and Bad Habits

Please note that ALL of these points were suggested by students in U2 and Q block media. Yes, there is some repetition. There are also lots of things that I wanted students to talk about, but I am not allowed to give you any answers. But the suggestions here are great!

• The MES of Sheeran's pink costume functions as an hermeneutic code, and symbolises both femininity and romance. This is further anchored through the title of the song, 'Bad Habits', and reinforces the notion of love fore the target audience.
• The MES of the setting being a pink nail constructs a binary opposition between the dystopian setting of the run.-down shopping centre 
• The run-down, inner city setting is relatable to the working class target audience
• Is the video a criticism of toxic masculinity? A shot of Sheeran assertively fixing his shoe with his chest out creates a binary opposition with his pink costume, constructing a complex representation of masculinity
• The symbolic code of the dying rose symbolises death and destruction. This communicates to the audience that vampires are associated with death
• The rose also symbolises the ending of love. By shifting from pink to grey, it suggests the conclusion of a relationship, which is relatable to the target audience. This allows the producer to market their music and to increase profitability
• Conflicting colours connotes a conflict between happiness and depression, which has symbolic themes which might symbolise the emotional state of the audience 
• MES of the costumes of Sheeran's cool and threatening vampire gang. Connotations of violence are anchored through the MES of the dark colours of their costumes, the proairetic code of the CU of Sheeran's fangs
• The costumes of the vampires are modern and make reference to punk music, which may appeal to a more alternative target audience, and also gives Sheeran a subcultural appeal
• Connotations of poverty and working class lifestyles are symbolised through torn clothing, chains and mismatched costumes. The ketchup is a polysemic symbolic code that symbolises both working class lifestyles and blood, which creates an appealing mode of address for the target audience
• Direct mode of address
• Low key, harsh, unnatural lighting
• Pace of editing
• Shot types
• The MES of Sheeran's costume is comical, and creates a binary opposition and the idea that vampires are scary. This constructs an unsettling mode of address for the target audience
• The uncoloured, pallid rose is a symbolic code for the loss of love. What once was red is now dead, and this could symbolise death and a loss of life. It could also signify being heartbroken
• The MES of ketchup also functions as a symbolic code, representing blood. This reinforces the idea that vampires drink blood, but it also reinforces the comical elements of the music video. It also allows the video to stick to regulation guidelines, and allows children to watch the video
• The MS of the child functions as a binary opposition between innocence and monsters. This constructs an interesting mode of address for the target audience
• The performance of bystanders being thrown around functions as a hermeneutic code, as there is no real reason for this happening 
• The urban inner city setting functions as a symbolic code of working class lifestyle. This is anchored through the MES of the cheap Thai food and the flickering lights. The run down inner city setting connotes violence, which is a clear example of stereotyping
• By being associated with working class iconography, Sheeran can appeal to working class target audiences
• CU of Sheeran's vampire teeth, is further anchored through the MES of the magnifying glass, reinforcing the primary theme of this music video: vampires and the horror genre
• ECU black cat lives up to the horror genre, and further anchors the themes of the video 
• Representation of drag culture and costume allows the producer to target a wider, LGBT audience
• The video is radically different to Sheeran's other videos and forms a binary opposition. Allows him to target a new audience
• LA of all the vampires making direct eye contact with the camera. A direct mode of address, positions the audience below the vampires, and reinforces the themes of intimidation and horror 
• Sheeran's bright pink suit means that even though we are presented with many exciting scenes, the audience are anchored in to believing that he is the most important and exciting
• The MES of being surrounded with a gang represents that Sheeran is in a position of power
• Sheeran is conventionally unattractive, yet he surrounded by a range pf attractive, cool characters, which function as a proairetic code for excitement and sex
• Many intertextual reference s to other vampire films, including the Chinese takeaway box, which could be a reference to the lost boys
• The queer coded drag like costumes may be an intertextual reference to RuPaul's Drag Race
• The run down urban setting could be an intertextual reference to a UK hip-hop video

S block perfect shot 2022

 Students have been asked to select and to submit the shot that best reflects their video so far; the shot that will be remembered after the audience watches it. Clearly, if a shot is that good, you should consider shooting more shots like it!

P block perfect shot 2022

 Students have been asked to select and to submit the shot that best reflects their video so far; the shot that will be remembered after the audience watches it. Clearly, if a shot is that good, you should consider shooting more shots like it!