1) In what
ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Below is the research I carried out to make sure that my products would have conventions of a real life pop genre product. By doing this researched it allowed me to understand what is needed to make a product look professional and real so that my products would be successful.
Above is my research on what conventions of a pop genre music video you would expect to find. I did this so that my music video would conform to a pop genre style as much as possible. It also gave me ideas on what to include and inspired my music video in certain aspects. By looking at this research it gave me an idea to include small sections of my artist performing as well as a narrative structure, my audience survey also helped me to come up with this decision.
To make sure that my music video would conform to the conventions of a real music video product, I decided to look at a number of pop genre music videos so that I could get some ideas on shots, framing, costume and location ideas as to where my music video could be featured. It also gave me an idea as to where each location area would feature across my time line and what would make sense for where my actors could go on their adventure. Without researching other music videos, I wouldn't know where to start and my product would probably not conform to a pop genre product.
Above again is my research of my ideas for my digipak design. As you can see I research a variety of different pop genre album covers to get an idea of what frames artists have used and what information is displayed. I also looked at deconstructing the front, back, sides and CD coverage so that when it came to making my product I would know what would be needed to make my product have conventions of a real pop genre digipak product. As well as this research, I looked through the CDs I owned and took them apart to visualize how my product would look if I was to visualize my product.
As well as looking at digipaks, I also looked at magazine poster advertisements to see what the products contained and what would be conventional for a pop genre magazine poster advertisement to look like. This gave me a few ideas on structural layout ideas and what framing techniques I would use for my own product. I decided to look at three poster designs above as these are the ones that I thought to base my idea on. There was also the Madonna poster which I liked featured in the prezi at the top of this post, which I also took my layout inspiration from.
Here is how my products relate to different theories:
Audience Theory:
The 'users and gratifications' theory looks at the motivations of the people who use media, why we watch a TV program, why we read newspapers and why we find ourselves so compelled to keep up to date with our favourite soap operas. Making the audience active as they choose what to consume and not force people into watching films, making them the ones we choose. Media industries then use this knowledge to create shows in which will either conform to this or be controversial, they respond to the demise. My products link to this theory because I have purposely created a music video in which people may be able to relate through the narrative of my video. I did this so that people would develop a personal relationship with the character in my music video, and be complied to carry on watching to escape the abuse she is receiving. Like in many soap operas, they create tension by leaving cliffhangers to therefore make the audience want to watch the next episode. I have used this technique by including a performance section within my narrative to allow breaks between the narrative and make people want to carry on watching my music video. Another reason for my music video product relating to this theory is that it also links to another one of the 4 key areas, Surveillance. I have looked at news stories of abuse in the media and noticed that within the last couple of months, and the minister of Justice going over past abuse cases which were dismissed. Also I looked over the recent allegations on celebrities sexually abusing children. With this in mind I wanted to link this news with concerns to do with the youth culture and use pop genre to display this message. I choose pop genre as it is mainly consumed by the youth/teenage culture and therefore to pass on the message I decided to encode it within my music video. The theory states 'that people feel better having the feeling that they know what's going on in the world'. The youth culture often don't realise the issue within abuse to young adults. My music video shows teenage youths struggle in an abusive relationship, with scenes of assault. That way addressing the issue within the youth culture to the youth that maybe don't know or have experienced or even know those who are experiencing it now. This can also be linked with another theories called Stuart Halls. His theory states 'that all media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages'. Multiple audiences may decode my music video differently either negotiate, oppositional or dominate way. In my audience feedback there was a few people who answered the surveys and said that they didn't like the genre so therefore wouldn't consume my product, oppositional opinion. Because of the nature of the narrative I hope that some viewers had a negotiated reading, 'the audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding in relation to the text'. Therefore the audience may not have the same life experiences and not understand the narrative in relation so therefore cannot relate to it in the intended way. From my audience feedback, I believe that most people encoded my product in the preferred reading that abusive relationships are wrong and that you don't have to suffer alone and you have the support of other people to help you through it.
Representational Theory:
Due to the nature of my music video my product doesn't completely comply to the Laura Mulvey 'Male Gaze' theory. Her theory focuses on 'how men look at women from those images', 'how women look at themselves from those images and 'how women look at other women'. As I wanted to focus on the message of the story the cinematography wasn't focused on angles you would show to empathise the female body and male perspective. This isn't an issue because not all narrative performances perceive women in this way. For example the music video by Sam Smith 'I'm not the only one' is an example of a music video that also doesn't comply to Mulvey's theory, Sam Smith, like my music video, includes a narrative of which the female lead is in a relationship where she is being cheated on. She chooses to spend her days crying and trying to emotional keep together while maintaining a unstable relationship with her husband. This is similar to my music video as I have a female lead who is in a relationship which she wants to get out of but doesn't have the courage to leave. However she overcomes this. The reason we both don't comply to the 'male gaze' theory is because we focus cinematography to show a narrative and a message rather than complying and focusing on angles and framing to empathise the female body. This doesn't mean to say that our videos are not successful it just means that we are able to construct something that doesn't necessarily focus on attracting the male gender. You could say that my music video links to the theorist Richard Dyer with his 'Star Theory' proposal. He states that 'icons and celebrities are constructed by industries for financial reasons and are built to target a specific audience or group of people'.The main focus for my course work is to produce an original artist;
'The exam board require you to create your own 'identity' for your artist or performer. You can use the title of the track but you must produce a new original branding for the artist or band. This must be constructed to reflect the genre and appeal of the performer'
As this was requested it means that we have to create someone who will best suit the genre we choose and therefore constructing our own 'star'. As I choose pop genre, it meant that I had to research artists of this genre and look at their career to create my own realistic artist. From researching I had to loo into costumes that you would expect an artist of this genre to be wearing and other conventions of a pop genre music video to therefore make sure that my product fitted this criteria. For my artist I looked at outfits and the way that pop genre artist present themselves towards the camera. 'A star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums', my products fit this criteria as from researching conventions of my genre and form and coming up with a new original name, a new font style to represent my artist and also creating a colour scheme to do this to create a new, pop artist. Lastly as I wanted to create a realistic, relatable narrative to my music video, I decided to look at stereotypes to associate my male characters from each other. This links to the theorist Tessa Perkins Stereotype theory, she states that 'it is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged'. Because stereotypes are a good way of representing a character and making the audience aware of the behavior of someone based on a stereotype, it makes narratives easier to understand people can associate someone with the right stereotype. This can often make a unfair representation of the person as they may be stereotyped as been kind but create a sinful act making it hard for people to accept. I have used stereotypes in my music video which goes against what Tessa has said as I have used mise-en-scene and cinematography to enforce the stereotype. This makes it easier for me to engage with the audiences as they will understand the features of someone an associate them with the stereotype. For example in my music video, the antagonistic character wears black and I use low angle shots to show he is the dominant, fierce character. At the beginning and end of my music video when the character is beating up the female lead. Also to identify the protagonist male, I used stereotypes to associate the character posing no harm to my female lead. To do this I made sure my actor wore brighter coloured clothing and that the framing of each shot was at a mid level to sure inequality between the female lead and protagonist. This would then show that the audience knew when my female character was in danger with.
Narrative Theory:
My media product links to multiple narrative theories such as Tim O'Sullivan (1998), Bordwell and Thompson (1997), Pam Cook (1985), Tzvetan Todorov (1977), Vladimir Propp (1928) and Sven Carlsson (1999). My music video tells a story like said above the story is about a women in an abusive relationship who seeks the comforts of a friend to try to escape the horrors of what lies back at home. Only does she realize her problems are there for her when she returns. The abuser however leaves her which finally signify her freedom. O'Sullivan argues in his theory 'that all media texts tell us some kind of story'. In terms of my music video this is true because my music video mainly consists of a narrative of which the audience follow till the end of the music video. This theory is similar to what Boardwell and Thompson argue that music videos 'offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative'. My music video conforms to 'Fabula' part of his theory which is that 'all events in the narrative that we see and infer'.We start with the abusive relationship which we see at the start, the escapism, more abuse and the conclusion of the happily ever after.
With this narrative structure you could say that my music video has a 'linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution' and 'a high degree of narrative closure'. All this links to the theorist Pam Cook who states that all music videos should have a standard Hollywood narrative. I believe this narrative links to a Hollywood narrative such as the 1991 film 'Sleeping with the Enemy' directed by Joseph Ruben. This films narrative structure involves a women in an abusive marriage in an attempt to break free she decides to fake her own death, but discovers that this is impossible with a controlling husband. My narrative is fairly similar other than my narrative allows my character to break free to allow the message of my music video to be told, that you don't have to suffer alone and with the help of other people you don't have. My narrative could fit into the stages of the theorist Todorov:
Stage 1 - Unstable relationship (abuse)
Stage 2 - Unstable becomes stable (escape)
Stage 3 - Recognition of change (caught been out)
Stage 4 - Action directed against the disruption (abuse)
Stage 5- Restoration (Relationship broken, change in stability)
My music video can also be linked to the Russian theorist Propp who 'concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only 7 broad character types' in the 100 Russian Folk tales he analysed. The villain can be identified as the abusive character who abuses my female lead character in my music video at the beginning and end of my video. The helper could be defined as my protagonist character who tries to help my female lead escape the abuse from her boyfriend by taking her on an adventure to different locations. In terms of how my music video is structured I can link my music video to the theorist Carlsson who 'suggests that music videos in general, videos fall into two rough groups; performance clips and conceptual clips'. My music video contains performance clips throughout, to break the narrative up into sections to make the audience continue watching to see what happens to my female character. It also gives the artist a chance to advertise her image, performance and connect with the audience. By having performance clips it gives another thing for the audience to focus on rather than having a continuous narrative. As this is also what is included with my music video that Carlsson states.
Genre Theory:
My music video conforms to the theorist Jason Mittell (2001) as he states that 'genre allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure'. This theory stems from Rick Altman (1999) who 'argues that genre offers audiences 'a set of pleasures'. Whether this be emotional, visceral or intellectual. My video links to this theory because you are taken onto an visceral ride to see what happens to my main character and whether she can escape the wrath of her boyfriend. Audiences can also experience an emotional ride as it is offered to audiences to establish a significant response to the horror my character experiences. Also to those who have or in the process of experiencing a relationship like this. Breaching the reality and fictional aspect of my music video. You could also link my music video to the work of David Bordwell (1989) in terms of genre as he categories different themes you would expect to be included in most films/short films/music videos. Some themes directed at the youth culture include, rebellion, romance, sex, nostalgic, coming of age, and bullying. I decided to go through the route of romance and look at the horrors rather than glorifying a relationship. Similar to what the pop artist Taylor Swift does. In her Red album, she looked mainly at relationships and the troubles she goes through. As well as producing music videos that reflects the struggle, eg 'I knew you were trouble'. This is a perfect example of how she uses her music and genre to reflect on a situation she has encountered as well as what other people may of experienced.
Here is how my products relate to different theories:
Audience Theory:
The 'users and gratifications' theory looks at the motivations of the people who use media, why we watch a TV program, why we read newspapers and why we find ourselves so compelled to keep up to date with our favourite soap operas. Making the audience active as they choose what to consume and not force people into watching films, making them the ones we choose. Media industries then use this knowledge to create shows in which will either conform to this or be controversial, they respond to the demise. My products link to this theory because I have purposely created a music video in which people may be able to relate through the narrative of my video. I did this so that people would develop a personal relationship with the character in my music video, and be complied to carry on watching to escape the abuse she is receiving. Like in many soap operas, they create tension by leaving cliffhangers to therefore make the audience want to watch the next episode. I have used this technique by including a performance section within my narrative to allow breaks between the narrative and make people want to carry on watching my music video. Another reason for my music video product relating to this theory is that it also links to another one of the 4 key areas, Surveillance. I have looked at news stories of abuse in the media and noticed that within the last couple of months, and the minister of Justice going over past abuse cases which were dismissed. Also I looked over the recent allegations on celebrities sexually abusing children. With this in mind I wanted to link this news with concerns to do with the youth culture and use pop genre to display this message. I choose pop genre as it is mainly consumed by the youth/teenage culture and therefore to pass on the message I decided to encode it within my music video. The theory states 'that people feel better having the feeling that they know what's going on in the world'. The youth culture often don't realise the issue within abuse to young adults. My music video shows teenage youths struggle in an abusive relationship, with scenes of assault. That way addressing the issue within the youth culture to the youth that maybe don't know or have experienced or even know those who are experiencing it now. This can also be linked with another theories called Stuart Halls. His theory states 'that all media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages'. Multiple audiences may decode my music video differently either negotiate, oppositional or dominate way. In my audience feedback there was a few people who answered the surveys and said that they didn't like the genre so therefore wouldn't consume my product, oppositional opinion. Because of the nature of the narrative I hope that some viewers had a negotiated reading, 'the audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding in relation to the text'. Therefore the audience may not have the same life experiences and not understand the narrative in relation so therefore cannot relate to it in the intended way. From my audience feedback, I believe that most people encoded my product in the preferred reading that abusive relationships are wrong and that you don't have to suffer alone and you have the support of other people to help you through it.
Representational Theory:
Due to the nature of my music video my product doesn't completely comply to the Laura Mulvey 'Male Gaze' theory. Her theory focuses on 'how men look at women from those images', 'how women look at themselves from those images and 'how women look at other women'. As I wanted to focus on the message of the story the cinematography wasn't focused on angles you would show to empathise the female body and male perspective. This isn't an issue because not all narrative performances perceive women in this way. For example the music video by Sam Smith 'I'm not the only one' is an example of a music video that also doesn't comply to Mulvey's theory, Sam Smith, like my music video, includes a narrative of which the female lead is in a relationship where she is being cheated on. She chooses to spend her days crying and trying to emotional keep together while maintaining a unstable relationship with her husband. This is similar to my music video as I have a female lead who is in a relationship which she wants to get out of but doesn't have the courage to leave. However she overcomes this. The reason we both don't comply to the 'male gaze' theory is because we focus cinematography to show a narrative and a message rather than complying and focusing on angles and framing to empathise the female body. This doesn't mean to say that our videos are not successful it just means that we are able to construct something that doesn't necessarily focus on attracting the male gender. You could say that my music video links to the theorist Richard Dyer with his 'Star Theory' proposal. He states that 'icons and celebrities are constructed by industries for financial reasons and are built to target a specific audience or group of people'.The main focus for my course work is to produce an original artist;
'The exam board require you to create your own 'identity' for your artist or performer. You can use the title of the track but you must produce a new original branding for the artist or band. This must be constructed to reflect the genre and appeal of the performer'
As this was requested it means that we have to create someone who will best suit the genre we choose and therefore constructing our own 'star'. As I choose pop genre, it meant that I had to research artists of this genre and look at their career to create my own realistic artist. From researching I had to loo into costumes that you would expect an artist of this genre to be wearing and other conventions of a pop genre music video to therefore make sure that my product fitted this criteria. For my artist I looked at outfits and the way that pop genre artist present themselves towards the camera. 'A star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums', my products fit this criteria as from researching conventions of my genre and form and coming up with a new original name, a new font style to represent my artist and also creating a colour scheme to do this to create a new, pop artist. Lastly as I wanted to create a realistic, relatable narrative to my music video, I decided to look at stereotypes to associate my male characters from each other. This links to the theorist Tessa Perkins Stereotype theory, she states that 'it is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged'. Because stereotypes are a good way of representing a character and making the audience aware of the behavior of someone based on a stereotype, it makes narratives easier to understand people can associate someone with the right stereotype. This can often make a unfair representation of the person as they may be stereotyped as been kind but create a sinful act making it hard for people to accept. I have used stereotypes in my music video which goes against what Tessa has said as I have used mise-en-scene and cinematography to enforce the stereotype. This makes it easier for me to engage with the audiences as they will understand the features of someone an associate them with the stereotype. For example in my music video, the antagonistic character wears black and I use low angle shots to show he is the dominant, fierce character. At the beginning and end of my music video when the character is beating up the female lead. Also to identify the protagonist male, I used stereotypes to associate the character posing no harm to my female lead. To do this I made sure my actor wore brighter coloured clothing and that the framing of each shot was at a mid level to sure inequality between the female lead and protagonist. This would then show that the audience knew when my female character was in danger with.
Narrative Theory:
My media product links to multiple narrative theories such as Tim O'Sullivan (1998), Bordwell and Thompson (1997), Pam Cook (1985), Tzvetan Todorov (1977), Vladimir Propp (1928) and Sven Carlsson (1999). My music video tells a story like said above the story is about a women in an abusive relationship who seeks the comforts of a friend to try to escape the horrors of what lies back at home. Only does she realize her problems are there for her when she returns. The abuser however leaves her which finally signify her freedom. O'Sullivan argues in his theory 'that all media texts tell us some kind of story'. In terms of my music video this is true because my music video mainly consists of a narrative of which the audience follow till the end of the music video. This theory is similar to what Boardwell and Thompson argue that music videos 'offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative'. My music video conforms to 'Fabula' part of his theory which is that 'all events in the narrative that we see and infer'.We start with the abusive relationship which we see at the start, the escapism, more abuse and the conclusion of the happily ever after.
With this narrative structure you could say that my music video has a 'linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution' and 'a high degree of narrative closure'. All this links to the theorist Pam Cook who states that all music videos should have a standard Hollywood narrative. I believe this narrative links to a Hollywood narrative such as the 1991 film 'Sleeping with the Enemy' directed by Joseph Ruben. This films narrative structure involves a women in an abusive marriage in an attempt to break free she decides to fake her own death, but discovers that this is impossible with a controlling husband. My narrative is fairly similar other than my narrative allows my character to break free to allow the message of my music video to be told, that you don't have to suffer alone and with the help of other people you don't have. My narrative could fit into the stages of the theorist Todorov:
Stage 1 - Unstable relationship (abuse)
Stage 2 - Unstable becomes stable (escape)
Stage 3 - Recognition of change (caught been out)
Stage 4 - Action directed against the disruption (abuse)
Stage 5- Restoration (Relationship broken, change in stability)
My music video can also be linked to the Russian theorist Propp who 'concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only 7 broad character types' in the 100 Russian Folk tales he analysed. The villain can be identified as the abusive character who abuses my female lead character in my music video at the beginning and end of my video. The helper could be defined as my protagonist character who tries to help my female lead escape the abuse from her boyfriend by taking her on an adventure to different locations. In terms of how my music video is structured I can link my music video to the theorist Carlsson who 'suggests that music videos in general, videos fall into two rough groups; performance clips and conceptual clips'. My music video contains performance clips throughout, to break the narrative up into sections to make the audience continue watching to see what happens to my female character. It also gives the artist a chance to advertise her image, performance and connect with the audience. By having performance clips it gives another thing for the audience to focus on rather than having a continuous narrative. As this is also what is included with my music video that Carlsson states.
Genre Theory:
My music video conforms to the theorist Jason Mittell (2001) as he states that 'genre allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure'. This theory stems from Rick Altman (1999) who 'argues that genre offers audiences 'a set of pleasures'. Whether this be emotional, visceral or intellectual. My video links to this theory because you are taken onto an visceral ride to see what happens to my main character and whether she can escape the wrath of her boyfriend. Audiences can also experience an emotional ride as it is offered to audiences to establish a significant response to the horror my character experiences. Also to those who have or in the process of experiencing a relationship like this. Breaching the reality and fictional aspect of my music video. You could also link my music video to the work of David Bordwell (1989) in terms of genre as he categories different themes you would expect to be included in most films/short films/music videos. Some themes directed at the youth culture include, rebellion, romance, sex, nostalgic, coming of age, and bullying. I decided to go through the route of romance and look at the horrors rather than glorifying a relationship. Similar to what the pop artist Taylor Swift does. In her Red album, she looked mainly at relationships and the troubles she goes through. As well as producing music videos that reflects the struggle, eg 'I knew you were trouble'. This is a perfect example of how she uses her music and genre to reflect on a situation she has encountered as well as what other people may of experienced.
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