Points of discussion to write up

Past representations summary

1940s
'gradually I learned to switch off'
New youth language of swing
Important not to look like faithful German younglets - own suits
Boys/ girls forbidden to mix, swing shows raided by police (German)
"We wanted to tell all these dumb bastards that we were different, that was all" (Tommie Scheel)
Education was not a priority
Europe was following in Americas footsteps
"We thought democracy was something worth fighting for"
"Youth of Britain is set to play their part in shaping the future"
"Why would young people fight for democracy when we are just gonna be treated like second class citizens"
"Latch key kids" - kids have to let themselves in, parents at work
Drugs, mugging, violence, criminal records, girls get attention from boys
New club: teen canteen - 6/7 names for youth clubs - start of slang

1950s
washing machine, TV
'change was in the air in the 1950s'
after all their progress in war, women were firmly pushed back into homes
British rock and roll
USA: Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, James Dean
Britain: Cliff Richard
Coffee bar
Select groups of people - small majorities (until just after 50s)

1960s
'the summer of love'
young people had a say and it got heard
music, fashion, sex
radio 1 - The Beatles
example text for 60s: QUADROPHENIA - two subcultures: normal vs gang (party/fighting)

1970s
David Bowie
anarchy vs monarchy
Sid Vicious - Queen/ Sex Pistols

1980s
racial tensions - riots (Brixton)
miners strikes, privitisation
lots of money in city quickly
aids awareness, gay acceptance
Micheal Jackson, Madonna, Wham, U2, Band Aid (MTV launches)

1990s
Nirvana, Oassis vs Blur - mushy sounds and electronic keyboards
Tony Blair
Cool Britannia
'girl power' - Spice Girls
no longer take 5 hours to get ready, roll out of bed and play music
stereotyping teenagers on TV (Harry Enfield as Kevin)

2000s
Ali G
Lauren Cooper by Catherine Tate
Little Britiain
negative representation of teenagers on TV programmes (positive representation of Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging)
Titanic/ Harry Potter, Slumdog Millionaire
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing
Micheal Jackson dies
Advances in technology - mobile phone, mp3, social media

Similarities of today:

Drugs, mugging, violence, criminal records, girls get attention from boys

Washing machine, TV

Music, fashion, sex

Racial tensions

Aids awareness and gay acceptance

Negative representation of teenagers on TV programmes

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter

Awareness in technology 

Differences of today:
Boys/girls forbidden to mix 

Education was not a priority 

Women have to stay at home

Young people have a say and it gets heard

No longer took 5 hours to get ready, roll out of bed and play music - now airbrushed and make up artists

London riots

REPRESENTATION OF YOUTH how are young people represented?

Extreme negativity. Headlines from newspapers reporting at the time (2011) read: 

'Kids take on cops in £100m rampage' (The Sun)

'Rioters aged 7' (The Sun)

'Rule of the mob' (Telegraph)

'Flaming morons' (Daily Express)

'Yob rule' (Little Independent)

'Sweep scum off our streets' (Daily Express)

'You're a disgrace to your country' (Daily Mail on olympic girl)

'Our sick society' (Daily Telegraph)
Generalise all of the youth participants in the London riots to all youth living in London 

KEY POINTS significance of representation

Newspapers are read by a large audience readership, majority are stereotypically adults. Adults will then see these negative headlines of the youth and agree with them and therefore stereotype all youth as being like this

THEORY theorists to discuss

Henry A Giroux - youth reflects adult concerns (adult concerns here is the London riots) - negative stories sell (there are no positives of the London riots except the mass helping to clean up after which mainly focused on adults ^) - media representation of youth does not reflect reality of youth identity (reality is the youth are not all like the youth participating in the London riots, what about the good educated kids who kiss their mum good night and help around the house?) - serves the purpose of the middle class adults who produce them (middle class adults produce papers such as The Sun e.g. Rupert Murdoch)  

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES link discussion to articles we looked at

This can be linked to Ill Manors which was made in 2012 (one year after the London Riots) and was Ben Drew's interpretation of how the youth are represented in the media in a violent way

'Ill Manors' music video

REPRESENTATION OF YOUTH how are young people represented?

As chavs (council house and violent) - tracksuits and hoodies (hoodie horror, can be linked to 'Tight Jeans' here). Scarves to cover their faces, much like in the newspapers article from the London Riots where the picture of the teenager walking out of the fire with his face covered went viral. Overall, a very negative representation

KEY POINTS significance of representation

The significance of this representation was to follow on from the London Riots and was Plan B (Ben Drew's) direct interpretation of how he thinks the youth is shown in the media (references to politics e.g. David Cameron) 

THEORY theorists to discuss

Stuart Hall - dominant message: the youth are represented negatively in the media, negotiated message: this cannot be generalised to all youth, oppositional message: this is an unfair representation 

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES link discussion to articles we looked at

This can be referenced to 'Tight Jeans' where the idea of the 'hoodie horror' Ben Drew uses in Ill Manors comes through. In Tight Jeans three black guys are sitting on the wall and are made to look like they are going to mug somebody when in actual fact they just discuss the clothes the passersby are wearing - Stuart Hall theorist - dominant vs negotiated vs oppositional messages - what we see isn't always interpreted the same through all ages eyes e.g. youth think differently to adults 

Interpretation of 'In Real Life'

The Guardian review:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/22/in-real-life-film-review-kermode

My review:

This documentary was very over exaggerated. Yes it did highlight some of the very important dangers of the internet and social networking sites but all of the cases picked were very extreme and generalised all links of youth and the internet to be negative which they are not. In class we have discussed some of the pros and cons of the internet which is fair yet no pros were included in this documentary made. Of course sympathy needs to be given to the extreme case of suicide, happiness can be felt for the teenager who met his skype boyfriend in real life and scared-ness can be experienced when hearing about the girl who had sex with multiple men to retrieve her phone back but these are not everyday cases. Yes they happen and yes it is awful but you cannot generalise this to all social networking and internet usage for youths like the documentary was unintentionally trying to do. It was informative and interesting but at the same time unrealistic. 

Other points of discussion to write up: 

How are teenagers and young people in the media portrayed?

Negatively, which can be supported by texts such as In Real Life, Ill Manors, Tight Jeans and the London Riots. 

Who constructs these representations?

Middle class adults who produce them (reference to Henry A Giroux) 

How do the representations influence young people's identity?

All youth become generalised which is not a nice thing. Are we all rioters and addicted to gaming and our phones and cyberbulliers? No. We lose our own identity and become a collective group labelled by the media and middle class adults. 

How do these representations affect adults' opinions of teenagers?

They believe them. And the youth cannot defend themselves. Example: Newspapers 6,500 stories of young people: half crime, 1 in 10 allowed voice of young person, 600 references to 'yob', 250 to 'thug,' 'angel' and 'model student' but only used if young person died, murdered or in accident.

Is it possible for teens and adults to interpret representations of youth differently?

Definitely, the youth will interpret the representation of youth as unfair and inaccurate and adults will interpret representations of youth as fair and accurate. Unfortunately, I think this can only be blamed on one thing - the media. 

In Real Life - Beeban Kidron 2013

What do you thing outsourcing our young people means? Giving them away, 'selling your kids off to businesses'
What issues does Ben bring up with his use of porn and his opinion of girls? He thinks porn girls are 'perfection,' high standards, wants girls to be like girls in porn - addicted/ routine
Nichola Negroponte network can't be destroyed, didn't expect it to be so big/ global

What does he say was the issue not considered when the digital world was invented? Globalisation

What are the chat and webcam games they play? Get the girls naked
Dr Norman Doidge - what does he think young people now think of sex? Sexisfying themselves, 'young guys think sex is about ejaculating in a girls face'
How has the sense of love been ruined according to teen? Can't see a girl for a personality
40% of teenagers what? More time online with friends than in real life
Nicholas Carr - his argument about adapting is? Adults are just as obsessed online as kids, when you adapt to something it changes you
90% of the data has been created in the last 2 years
What was the female teen's relationship with her phone? Constantly obsessive
Effects of dopamine - chemical of thrill, makes you want more / addiction
Professor Luis Van Ohn - what testing are they doing? To what effect? Everything to improve, stats for websites and makes you want to come back
How many times do we look at our phone on average throughout the day? 150-200
Jimmy Whale - what are companies trying to get from 18-34 people with money? How are they targeting these individuals? Check history then sell data to others
How many hours does A Level students spend on Xbox and how many on YouTube? 5 on Xbox, 2 on Youtube
What does she say about humans and ease? Ease is something we desire and want, no dead time
Patrick Bellanca - EA sports designer - what does he think gamers want? Audio interaction, real experience
How do video games become irresistible? User happy, levels, competitions, socialising
What is the difference between younger users and older users? Attention span, reading a paragraph  - younger readers can only read a sentence
Eddie Izzard and terms and conditions - issue? Excessive, no one reads them

What you choose to like on Facebook determines your sexuality 88% with accuracy
The glorification of sharing what you watch, read, listen to etc is causing instant advertisement of self
Sense of self distort yourself, deluded presence online
Data gathering
How many piece of content are shared on Facebook every day? 2.5 billion files

Professor Clifford Nass - how do the websites tell you who you are? What are the negative effects of this? Told friends, websites, companies

How many YouTube videos are uploaded an hour/day? 100 hours a minute
What has Tobuscus done? How has he become a celebrity? YouTube comedy clips
Julian Assange - the internet is the greatest spying machine ever developed
Most valuable technological companies are: Apple, £400 billion
How do Google make money if we don't seem to be giving it any? What do they know about us? Selling info (IP address, websites)
How is Facebook evil according to blogger? Giant behaviourist casino
What has been their link with US Security? Data requests to range of social media, 64000 requests for data
Tom, 15 and Twitter what's his story and what's his idea of a boyfriend/ relationship? Homophobias, online boyfriend
What does the three generation study in England tell us? Where students go, Facebook is better than nothing
Bullying and the internet. Thomas 14 --> Suicide over internet bullying
What is technology replacing? Face to face conversations
What companies declined to be interviewed? Facebook, Google, Blackberry, Twitter, Yahoo and Apple

"80% of young people think they are more likely to get away with bullying online than in real life" 

Pros and Cons of the internet/ social media

Pros
Keep in contact with people after school/uni
Entertaining
Confidence - likes etc
Storing information
News
Charities - ALS, no make up selfie

Cons
Cyberbullying
Pop ups / ads
Spam / scams
Hacking / trolling (catfish)

TO BE CONTINUED... 

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall
Encoding/ decoding
Dominant
Negotiated
Oppositional
messages
What is the dominant message in this text about youth/ internet?
What has the author encoded into the text?

Henry A Giroux / terminology

Henry A Giroux
Youth reflects adult concerns (negative stories sell)
Media representation of youth does not reflect reality of youth identity
Serves the purpose of the middle class adults who produce them
Reinforces hegemony

Terminology
Politics media: dominant ideologies --> Antonio Gramsci hegemony (marxist ideas, control things/ ideas)
Ruling class and the ruled use the media to persuade others to accept/ adopt their views

Refer to at least three types of media (2010 onwards)
Balance of theory and texts
Personal engagement
Reflection of past, present and future
Terminology

Industry
primary industry "a 1000 industry"
Class
football mingles and unites people
Jobs
farmers, doctors, captains, private secretary, silverman
Values and attitudes
grateful, experience, responsible, intelligent, independent
People
everyone shares same values, Saturday afternoon is a time for sport, freedom at home 'small personal pleasures,' dinner time - unity of family life

Before 1940s, kids were at home then went off to work: no such thing as 'teenagers'
Women expected to marry and be a good wife
Men expected to find a family and support them

Refer to... 1940s/1950s

Teenage - Matt Wolf - 2014

Collective identity
Relationship with adults
Different themes, us and them
The establishment 
Race

Bright young boys (first group of its' own)
Hitler youth
Civilian Cultivation Calls
Peace army calls

1940s
'gradually I learned to switch off'
New youth language of swing
Important not to look like faithful German younglets - own suits
Boys/ girls forbidden to mix, swing shows raided by police (German)
"We wanted to tell all these dumb bastards that we were different, that was all" (Tommie Scheel)
Education was not a priority
Europe was following in Americas footsteps
"We thought democracy was something worth fighting for"
"Youth of Britain is set to play their part in shaping the future"
"Why would young people fight for democracy when we are just gonna be treated like second class citizens"
"Latch key kids" - kids have to let themselves in, parents at work
Drugs, mugging, violence, criminal records, girls get attention from boys
New club: teen canteen - 6/7 names for youth clubs - start of slang

1950s
British rock and roll
USA: Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, James Dean
Britain: Cliff Richard
Coffee bar
Select groups of people - small majorities (until just after 50s)

Internet and news

Internet

1989 - Tim Berners Lee WWW World Wide Web
1995 - MP3
1998 - Google
1999 - Broadband
2001 - Wikipedia
2005 - YouTube

News

Guardian online 1999 - popular after 9/11
Marshall Machiuan - print being phased out, links to his theory of the dawn of a new media form
Adapt to survive - Clay Shirkay - when we change communication, we change society
Me-dia: you can personalise the media to you

London riots, Tight Jeans and Ill Manors

London riots, August 2011

'Kids take on cops in £100m rampage' (The Sun)

'Rioters aged 7' (The Sun)

'Rule of the mob' (Telegraph)

'Flaming morons' (Daily Express)

'Yob rule' (Little Independent)

'Sweep scum off our streets' (Daily Express)

'You're a disgrace to your country' (Daily Mail on olympic girl)

'Our sick society' (Daily Telegraph)

Destiny Ekaragha, Tight Jeans

Representation of youth on estates

Ill Manors, Plan B

Youth represented in negative way, coincides with London Riots. Riots happened in 2011 and the music video was released in 2012 - benefit of hindsight

What to do in the exam:TEXT
REPRESENTATION OF YOUTH how are young people represented?

KEY POINTS significance of representation

THEORY theorists to discuss

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES link discussion to articles we looked at 

Collective identity: youth - demonisation

petesmediablog.blogspot.com

all throughout history, the youth have been demonised
from roman times --> the noughties

"shoot them and if that doesn't work shoot a few more" (Bernados advert)

Theorist: Thomas De Zengotita - mediated book 2005
Almost everything we know about the world comes to us through some form of media
This influences our views of the world and even our 'self' definition (Locan mirror image - identification/ aspiration)

Terminology
'Moral Panic' Stanly Cohen 1960s
Texts always show negative teenagers representation
'Hoodie' in relation to youth, often become synonyms with criminal behaviour - hoods banned in Bluewater
Newspapers 6,500 stories of young people: half crime, 1 in 10 allowed voice of young person, 600 references to 'yob', 250 to 'thug,' 'angel' and 'model student' but only used if young person died, murdered or in accident

3 different points of view - media, teens and adults
all of the people talking about young people don't know young people at all

Refer to: Harry Brown and Attack the Block [Samsung picture advert]

Decades

Micheal Maffesoli 1985
Identified the idea of the 'urban tribe' (link to subculture: mods/rockers etc)
Members of these small groups tend to have similar worldwide views, dress styles and common behaviours - leads to the decline of individualism

Terminology
Schadenfreude (charm/joy) - pleasure in other peoples misfortunes e.g. study says social media scadenfreude is real

screenonline.com - films through the decades
new wave cinema - big film movement

1950s
washing machine, TV
'change was in the air in the 1950s'
after all their progress in war, women were firmly pushed back into homes

1960s
'the summer of love'
young people had a say and it got heard
music, fashion, sex
radio 1 - The Beatles
example text for 60s: QUADROPHENIA - two subcultures: normal vs gang (party/fighting)

1970s
David Bowie
anarchy vs monarchy
Sid Vicious - Queen/ Sex Pistols

1980s
racial tensions - riots (Brixton)
miners strikes, privitisation
lots of money in city quickly
aids awareness, gay acceptance
Micheal Jackson, Madonna, Wham, U2, Band Aid (MTV launches)

1990s
Nirvana, Oassis vs Blur - mushy sounds and electronic keyboards
Tony Blair
Cool Britannia
'girl power' - Spice Girls
no longer take 5 hours to get ready, roll out of bed and play music
stereotyping teenagers on TV (Harry Enfield as Kevin)

2000s
Ali G
Lauren Cooper by Catherine Tate
Little Britiain
negative representation of teenagers on TV programmes (positive representation of Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging)
Titanic/ Harry Potter, Slumdog Millionaire
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing
Micheal Jackson dies
Advances in technology - mobile phone, mp3, social media

Class

The Four Yorkshiremen Sketch, 1960s
"money won't bring you happiness son"
Message: being proud of working class/ social mobility

MUSIC: our house - 'mum is so proud,' 'mother has to iron his shirt then she sends the kids to school'
               kid british: our house is dadless - 'crazy but wouldn't have it any other day'
               straight outta clacton

Question 2: Audience (practice essay)

AUDIENCE

In media products like a film opening or music video, it is important to appeal to an audience in order to achieve the primary aim; sell/ become popular. The target audience for our music video production was females aged 17-25 who were middle class and enjoyed embracing their female-hood. To research what our audience wanted, we looked at artists similar to our genre (indie), such as Lana Del Rey, and found out what their audiences like. From this, we found that the vintage/ retro theme is a big hit (like in American 50s/60s culture) and also someone/ some people to identify with and idolise is very popular. The reason they want these things can be explained by Blumler and Katz who think that audiences want media products that gratify particular needs, for example to escape or for entertainment. Our audiences wanted someone to identify with, therefore they would be watching is to gratify that particular need.

Within the music video we used camera shots to attract/ engage the audience in the following ways. We used close ups of the main artist Emma to help our audience identify with the main artist. As there was a clear gap in the market for our girl band, we rolled with this. The girl band is not seen as superficial, they are seen as down to earth girls. Therefore, the use of close ups aided the identification for our audience as we focused on this down to earth girl who audience members would idolise. The motive behind these close ups support the theory proposed by Blumler and Katz. Another theory which helps understand why we did this is by Andrew Goodwin who believes the use of close ups is important to appreciate the “star persona” of the lead singer. The majority of our shots were close ups and therefore our audience was able to appreciate the “star persona” of the lead singer as well as identify with her.

The way in which we edited the music video uses the hypodermic needle theory proposed by Frankfurt School. This theory thinks that audiences might be directly influenced by media products as the producer of the product injects what the audience’s wants into them. So, with our editing, we used many effects over the top of shots like retro/ vintage filters as this is what we found out our audiences wanted with similar artists such as Lana Del Rey. We also cut the shots to be really fast and create a certain pace of the video, which in turn became more enjoyable and entertaining to watch for the audience.

For sound, we applied Carol Vernallis’ theory of cutting the music to the beat. The prime purpose of this is to reflect the experiential properties of sound. We found this to be really effective and enjoyable for the audience as it successfully reflected the experiential properties of sound, which means that the properties of our sound was based on observation. This resulted in the beat of our music cutting directly when certain observations could be made in our music video. For example, when the very first beat drops, it shows one of the members of the girl band dropping into the water at the exact same time. This was consumed by our audience and applying Carol Vernallis’ theory proved to be a successful move.

To conclude, it was really important to consider our target audience in depth as they are the primary consumers. The consideration of our audience affected our production overall as we were able to receive appropriate and helpful feedback which aided the improvement of certain aspects of our music video production and resulted in a more successful grade. 

How do teenagers consume the media?

Henry A Giroux

His theory: 
Youth reflects adult concerns (negative stories sell)
Media representation of youth does not reflect reality of youth identity
Serves the purpose of the middle class adults who produce them
Reinforces hegemony

Media representation of youth does not reflect reality of youth identity 

An example of a teen drunk driver, reflecting adult concerns and generalising to all teens

An example of good GCSE results for teens, which won't be generalised to all teens as it does not serve the purpose of the middle class adults who produce them 

Both texts have been taken from the newspaper, The Daily Mail 

Comparison of hegemony of 40s compared with more present times:
"Cavender (1999) shows how hegemonic masculine models were constructed differently in feature films in the 1940s compared with the 1980s. This is not just a matter of the characters written into the scripts. Practice at the local level—that is, the actual face-to-face interaction of shooting the film as
an actor—ultimately constructs hegemonic masculine fantasy models at the society-wide or regional level."
(^ http://xyonline.net/sites/default/files/Connell,%20Hegemonic%20masculinity_0.pdf) 

Hegemonic values

Were Marxists right in asserting that many media texts encode hegemonic values that support the status quo?
This is correct because in general, there is a negative view of teenagers in the media. The status quo (negative view of teenagers) is supported by hegemonic values (that all teenagers are scary and will harm you) and this is encoded by media texts such as newspaper, The Sun. An example of this is as follows:

<-- this is a prime example of a media text (The Sun newspaper) encoding hegemonic values (that all teenagers get drunk consistently) that support the status quo (the general negative view of teenagers in the media)

Have minority ideologies such as gay rights now become hegemonic? How does the media promote such ideologies?
Yes, minority ideologies such as gay rights have now become hegemonic. This is promoted through the use of campaigns, such as the gay rights pardoning campaign by Benedict Cumberbatch:

 This gains support from media texts such as newspapers and is popular on social networking pages such as Twitter

Does a liberal elite or capitalist elite control the media? Research who owns the main media companies 
A capitalist elite controls the media as this is people such as Rupert Murdoch. Figures such as he has the power to decide what goes into the media, and can perpetuate the negative stereotypes of teenagers which is the hegemonic values that support the status quo - a negative story is more likely to sell! 

Question 2: Genre (learning)

Technology (what)
Examples (where)
Theories (why)

Sound
Mise en scene
Camerawork 
Editing
Use example for all above

General: 
Laura Mulvey male gaze
Robert Stam genre is too hard to define, it doesn't exist and theorists have made it up

Music:
Goodwin voyeurism, star personna, lyrics and visuals, conventions depend on genre, intertextual references

Film:
Neale genre always changes and evolves
5 stages genre defines itself, classic, expansion of genre, parody and homage 

Question 2: Media Language (practice essay)

Explain how meaning is constructed by the use of media language in ONE of your coursework productions.

For our AS production, my group and I produced an opening sequence for our sci-fi/action film ‘Hacker’, set in London where- due to the main character Drea finding corrupt files on the government’s data base- a chase broke out between her and two special agents trying to damage the world. As a film opening, it needed to draw in audiences to make them want to carry on watching the film, showing and introducing the main themes, genres and setting. Therefore we needed to do this to create an effective opening, and we did this via media language- the way a producer conveys messages to the audience through the use of camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. As our film was predominantly action, we needed to convey this message to our target audience.

From viewing previous action films such as ‘Catch Me If You Can’ (2002), we saw that a main convention of actions was that a lot of the shots were close ups or wide shots. We wanted to recreate this, so when editing our footage in the program Adobe Premiere Pro, we kept the same zoom on the shots that we had chosen to use when filming. We decided these shots would look effective to connote two meanings- the first that it is an action and secondly that audience viewers need to focus on the specific characters. To further these technological connotations, we used the program Adobe Premiere Pro again for the opening titles. We created a sci-fi typing look for our titles, with the fonts being in a green coding colour. As we used this font- inspired by the film Iron Man (2008)- it helped again convey this action/sci-fi theme and a world where a single woman is trying to save corrupt files being exposed to the world.

This exploitation of technology in our film plot follows the theory proposed by Levi Strauss about binary opposites being just as important as narrative, as without the idea of good vs evil we used we would have no narrative to incorporate and therefore no media language to construct.  At the moment everyone uses technology and many people prefer to text and e-mail rather than talk face-to-face. We wanted to develop this idea and create a film which wonders ‘what if these corrupt files get out over the internet?’ To emphasise the use of technology in our film, the beginning of the sequence shows a close-ups of the main character on a laptop, showing their thumbs typing away. We then crosscut these shots with close-ups of the special agent’s mouths feeding information into their ear pieces saying they had eyes on the target, relying on technology to include the conventions of our genre.

I believe that in making these important creative decisions we conveyed meaning well, and this was backed up with the audience feedback received. The majority of our audience understood our plot and gave positive feedback, and this was due to the fact that we could construct meaning by the use of media language.

Throughout our sequence, we see many wide shots of Drea being chased by the special agents which is most effective as she is our main protagonist.  This raises questions in the audience’s minds, such as ‘why is she being chased?’ and ‘what has she done?’ This follows Barthes’ enigma code, where media provokes audiences to ask questions. The answer to their questions are only revealed at the very end of the sequence, where we show a scene of her being cornered in an alleyway, we then know she is good and they are bad. The fact that we used a cut shot shows that this is an important part of the sequence, making audiences concentrate and read the text. The use of speech saying ‘well this’ll be interesting’ makes the audiences want to carry on watching the film.

In retrospect, viewing and evaluating a film opening, we could easily see how Levi-Strauss’s theory of binary opposites can be applied. This is shown as we dressed Drea in innocent colours and clothing and the boys in strict suits = dialogue and actions by the characters eventually reveal that Drea is the ‘goodie’ and the boys are the ‘baddies.’

From viewing all our camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene decisions, it is easy to see how media can convey a message through media language. This follows Stuart Hall’s theory of decoding/encoding- how producers decode a message and want audiences to encode it. Furthermore, theorist David Bordwell stated that in film, ‘every gesture and every camera movement is designed to shape our uptake’

I believe that in making these important creative decisions we conveyed meaning well, and this was backed up with the audience feedback received. The majority of our audience understood our plot, and this was due to the fact that we could construct meaning by the use of media language.

Question 2: Narrative (practice essay)

Narrative

The traditional type of narrative for our genre of action is linear. This is evident in film openings for our genre that inspired us.  This means starting at the beginning, moving to the middle and proceeding to the end of the story. Levi Strauss’ theory that says binary opposites are important in narratives such as good vs evil, women vs men, crime vs justice can be applied to our film opening as we had a good vs evil theme.

Regarding camera work in our AS film opening, we used a variety of shots to communicate the narrative of our film opening. This included close ups of the main character so people could identify with her and wide shots of both the good girl and bad guys, to show them at opposite ends of the camera and therefore opposite ends of the spectrum. These wide shots enabled us to show that the unique casting of a lead female in an action genre with a sci-fi feel was being chased by two male special agents. The theory proposed by Levi Strauss about binary opposites being just as important as narrative can be applied here, as without the idea of good vs evil we would have had no narrative to incorporate.

In terms of editing in our AS film opening, we used short cut shots and a variety of transitions to communicate the narrative of our film opening. The use of short cut shots coincided with the build up of fast paced music – all to create the effect of tension and drama that is typical of our genre. We used transitions such as fades and dip to blacks to make the narrative of good vs bad (Strauss) seem like the most important factor, agreeing with his theory.

For sound, we chose a song that built up really dramatically and when it reached its’ peak, became very fast paced to match the narrative of the genre. This made our sequence successful, as we were able to use sound to help incorporate Propp’s theory that texts need particular characters to develop a narrative. Also, that there are particular parts of a narrative that always happen, for example in our film opening – the good girl was being chased by the bad guys. The audience enjoys watching this and it gives them someone to identify with and also root for, which makes them more focused and interested in the narrative. The music aided this because as it built up, it was more evident that the particular part of the narrative was needed, supporting Propp’s theory.

For mise en scene, we used real costumes such as the special agents in suits with ear pieces and the female hacker in a black dress with boots and a coat to add a sense of realism. For locations, we filmed in train stations so that it was busy and added a sense of panic to the narrative. Also, we filmed in old cobbled streets so that it wasn’t busy to show a sense of loneliness and helplessness to the character in need of a way out. Mise en scene helped communicate the narrative as all of the above factors made the characters perform in a more successful way and therefore the storyline was more tight packed and Propp’s theory of needing something to happen highlighted the use of mise en scene.

We used narrative enigma, theses are codes that limit the audience to information, and it lets them have to figure what is going off in the story. This was evident when we opened with the hacker sitting typing on her laptop, and the special agents see her and mouth something into their ear pieces. This creates questions such as, who is she? Who are they? What has she done? Why do they want to follow her? This then creates an enigma so that our audience are pleased and will continue to watch.

To conclude, our audience viewers thought that our narrative was interesting and unique, as we used a female lead in an action genre with a sci-fi feel. This is not normally expected of this type of genre, therefore it was seen as cleverer and therefore interesting. Our genre was action which was highly noticeable with the help of factors such as editing, sound, mise en scene and the type of camera shots. Perhaps if we used more of an unrestricted narration, where information is given out in as much detail as possible with very little restrictions so the “narrative” is clear like an unknown theorist proposed, we could have made it even more unique and perhaps targeted an even wider audience – but that is the only thing that would have potentially made it better.

 

Question 1: Section A: Use of Real Media Conventions (practice essay)

Use of real media conventions

Over the two year course I have learned a lot about, not just what the conventions of particular forms and genres are, but how to use them in creative ways in my own work.

At AS we completed prelim tasks to practice how it would be to film and edit a film opening sequence. We were assigned a random genre (action) and from this were able to find out where everyone’s strengths were to put this into action for the real film opening. For example, someone who might not have been so good at editing was a strong performer, and someone who wasn’t a strong performer was good at doing the ‘paper-work’ side of things. The prelim task was also an insight into how much fun the real thing would be but also how much hard work and effort we each would need to give.

At A2 we improved the way we used the prelim task by having a more ‘heads on’ approach to it. We were able to thoroughly plan a storyboard and copy exactly a music video of our choice. This was a difficult task, as we had to follow each shot carefully and closely. The music video we chose had advanced effects, which helped us learn more advanced editing skills at A2 level. This prelim task gave us an insight into how much more difficult this task would be then at AS level, and how much more focus we would need to successfully complete this task.

At AS, we found that conventions of an action genre were things such as ‘cat and mouse’ chases. We applied this in our film opening with a chase between the main hacking girl and the special agents; this was fast paced and successfully went with the conventions of action. Another convention of action is sinister, upbeat, nerve wracking music – we also applied this to our film opening. In an action genre, the characters always need to have a motive and a mission waiting to be completed, which is exactly what we gave to our audience through the mission of the main hacker trying to get top secret files for the ‘good of the world’ with the motive of getting them to safety. 

At A2 we developed our use of applying conventions further by thoroughly analysing music videos with similar genre to ours. From this, we were able to identify what we needed to include in our music video and practice these conventions through tasks such as lip syncing and mood boarding.

As AS we used conventional camera shots by using a variety of shots such as medium, close up and wide. By using such a versatile amount of shots we were able to show our skills with the HD camera we were using.

At A2 we pushed the boundaries in terms of camera shots by introducing a GoPro camera into our filming, not just a HD camera. The GoPro showed how advanced we were in terms of filming and camera work, and we were able to play around with different locations, such as a swimming pool. This made our music video successful and showed our skills with cameras as a group by using the same amount of varied shots at just like AS.

At AS we used mise en scene, editing and sound in terms of conventions with our genre. We made the main hacker dress in an appropriate way that would be expected of a female in an action film. The editing was fast paced and cut shots were quick so it matched the conventions of the genre. This was similar to the sound; the music was fast paced but built up dramatically, which is expected of an action genre like mentioned in the paragraph above.

At A2, we developed the use of mise en scene, editing and sound further. This was shown with the use of more specific and careful make up, costume and lighting. Emma wore make up colours that matched her outfit and were delicate and girly, the style of our music video. The editing was really short cut shots to follow influences such as Lana Del Rey’s music video for ‘Video Game.’ The sound was pretty set in stone as we chose the song, then matched the genre conventions to it.

To conclude – at AS, I was still learning about the concept of genre, and felt as though conventions were very much easily identifiable and set in stone.  I ensured that I followed lots of genre’s conventions in my AS work.  However by the time I reached A2, I learned that genre is much more of a “fluid” concept, less easy to define, especially within music, and this led to me being confident enough to both follow and challenge conventions of my genre, pushing the boundaries throughout which impacted my creativity.

Question 1: Section A: Post production (practice essay)

Post Production - how your skills have progressed and how they helped you in your productions

I have gone from knowing virtually nothing about post production to now being able to complete complex editing of video, sound and graphics.

At AS we used Premiere Pro to edit our film opening. This helped us significantly as we were able to gather all of our footage in one place and cut appropriate videos so that eventually we had a collection of videos in a sequence for a successful film opening. During this experience, we also learned skills to add effective transitions, audio or video. This would be transitions such as dissolve, fade or dip to black. We could also play around with volumes or add text and change the colour or font to make an effective title sequence.

At A2 we used Premiere Pro in a different way because we had a more advanced task. We used Premiere Pro to edit our music video. Similar to AS, we were able to gather all of the shots we had in one place and filter out the ones that were appropriate and the ones we did not need. We had skills from AS such as how to crop, edit and add transitions and effects which was helpful to not have to pick up from scratch again. However, we also added to these skills with more knowledge of Premiere Pro, for example being able to add filters that we had found on the internet over the top of shots to give it a vintage feel, or finding out how to get rid of the grid look on the swimming pool shots. Overall, combining AS and A2 skills for Premiere Pro produced a successful music video for us.

At AS we used tools for film sound to make the music build up when parts of the film opening were tenser. This meant using audio gains and fades when we wanted the music to be louder or quieter. This included the use an experiential fade, which meant playing around with the length of that to match it to the clip.

At A2 we improved our use for film sound by just advancing the skills we already had from AS. This meant using audio gains and fades, but more quickly and more successful as we already had knowledge of how to do it. Sound was more important for this task as it was a music video, so if we did not have this correct, we would have a problem. 

At AS we did not know much about Photoshop and it was a learning experience for each member of our task. We spent much time on google learning the tools and skills you need for Photoshop and eventually learned how to create an effective film opening poster for ‘Hacker.’ Skills such as crop, magic wand tool, eraser tool and red eye tool.

At A2 we improved our understanding of Photoshop by watching videos on YouTube of how to create a successful picture in Photoshop. As we were using Photoshop to create a six-picture digipak, we needed to extend our skills from AS level. This meant using the techniques we had picked up, but adding skills such as learning how to use sharpen tool, brush tool and quick selection tool.

At AS we got feedback after the production by filming people and asking them a selection of questions we had already devised. We then put all of these videos in Premiere and made a 5 minute video of feedback from peers, teachers and family members. This way, we had a range of ages and genders and received helpful and appropriate feedback to improve our final film opening sequence and achieve a mark to be proud of.

At A2 we improved post production feedback also by filming people and asking them a selection of questions we had already devised. We then put all of these videos in Premiere and this was added to a four page written questionnaire. This included questions to find out information such as how people watch music videos, and how they enjoyed our music video/ what could be improved. We also had a one page questionnaire online so that the computer could generate a solid conclusion of feedback for us – all of this aided the improvement of our A2 music video and we hope to achieve a successful mark for this task also.

My post production skills have developed hugely and has enabled me to take a simple piece of footage and turn it into something complex and creative.

Question 1: Section A: Creativity (practice essay)

Creativity - how your skills have progressed and how they helped you in your productions

Creativity is “the making of new things and the re-arranging of the old” e.g. the ability to have your own ideas and not just copy other peoples.  The ability to do things that are unusual and different are present in the following features.

At AS we were creative coming up with ideas by narrowing down the choices of genre within our group. We were then fixed on the idea of doing an action genre with a hint of sci-fi. This is quite a unique genre as the two both don’t usually work hand in hand but we were able to make a female the main character and also a Hacker which proved to be extremely different when researching similar genres and very creative.

At A2 we were more creative coming up with ideas by deciding that we wanted to film underwater shots with a GoPro in a swimming pool. Underwater shots in music videos are extremely rare (as we found out when researching this in music videos) because it is hard to get them right. However, we were able to have guidance from influences and film beautiful water shots which slotted nicely into our music video.

At AS we were creative choosing locations by deciding we wanted to film in a train station in London. This is extremely hard to do as it is so busy and the ‘extras’ around may look towards the camera or make a problem for our performers walking through. However, the shots ended up being really successful and unique not only within our class but within the world of film.

At A2 we were more creative choosing locations by choosing to film at a swimming pool. This was a decision that was the one that proved to have the most problems initially – hiring the pool, finding the costumes, using the GoPro. However, we were able to pull it all together and film water shots that were appropriate for our music video. Also, we decided to successfully follow the forms and conventions as one of our influences (Lana Del Rey) has American 1950s and 60s looks to her videos and with the Southend location and vintage filter effect we were able to add – we pulled this off.

At AS we chose costumes by dressing our unique female hacker lead in a black dress and black boots. We did not want her to stand out as she was ‘on the run’ from special agents, so this costume was effective for her.

 

At A2 we were more creative with our costumes by considering makeup and hair to follow the mise en scene elements we had learned at A2. Emma wore a lilac dress and matched her lipstick to this, considering her hair down and straight to give an elegant look. This was more advanced and thought about than any costumes, make up or hair we had for AS. 

At AS we copied conventions of the genre for example having music that built up throughout the film opening and added to the tense atmosphere of the ‘hacker running away from the special agents.’ The sci-fi element came with the title sequence we chose to use with the ‘green computer’ font which copied sci-fi conventions.

At A2 we were more creative with the conventions for example copying the whole ‘Americana 1950s and 1960s’ effect and incorporating a vintage filter reel. We also copied elegant lines and body positions that were much like in the music video for Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’ and feel that both were successful in being more creative than at A2 in terms of conventions.

At AS we used basic editing techniques such as crop, delete, audio fades and audio gains. These were good to learn at AS as they were basic editing techniques we needed to learn, however we needed to be more advanced at A2.

At AS we used basic editing techniques such as incorporating a vintage filter effect that we found on the internet, using black and white, fading people into shots and dip to blacks. We also used the skills we had learned at AS level which helped us create a successful music video.

There were certain restraints on our creativity in place from the exam board, we had to make a music video, digipak, poster etc. These rules did limit our ability to be creative to a certain extent.

It is not easy to just be creative. We actually needed to do practical things like research, paperwork, storyboards etc. to allow us to develop our creativity.  Without solid research and planning, being creative was impossible. We needed a balance of organised and creative people in a group to be successful.

Often it is a learning process where you start by being told what to do, then you try doing things on your own and then you end up being confident and skilled enough to experiment which leads to creativity.  We had to make mistakes at first to be creative.

Question 1: Section A: Digital technology (practice essay)

Digital Technology – how your skills have progressed and how they helped you in your productions

Digital technologies have a had a massive influence on media production over the last few years and since I started in Year 12 I have learned a massive amount about how to use them and what the benefits are of using them.  They in turn have had a massive impact on the quality of my finished products.

At AS we used Premiere Pro to edit our film opening. This helped us significantly as we were able to gather all of our footage in one place and cut appropriate videos so that eventually we had a collection of videos in a sequence for a successful film opening. During this experience, we also learned skills to add effective transitions, audio or video. This would be transitions such as dissolve, fade or dip to black. We could also play around with volumes or add text and change the colour or font to make an effective title sequence.

At A2 we used Premiere Pro in a different way because we had a more advanced task. We used Premiere Pro to edit our music video. Similar to AS, we were able to gather all of the shots we had in one place and filter out the ones that were appropriate and the ones we did not need. We had skills from AS such as how to crop, edit and add transitions and effects which was helpful to not have to pick up from scratch again. However, we also added to these skills with more knowledge of Premiere Pro, for example being able to add filters that we had found on the internet over the top of shots to give it a vintage feel, or finding out how to get rid of the grid look on the swimming pool shots. Overall, combining AS and A2 skills for Premiere Pro produced a successful music video for us.

At A2 we needed to use social networking sites to promote our music video for multiple reasons. Firstly, so we could receive appropriate and helpful criticisms to improve. Also, so we could create the illusion of a ‘fan base’ and post pictures or statements on Instagram and Twitter to keep our fans up to date on what our band was doing. This proved to be an effective way of gaining evidence that our band was being promoted, with screen shots of posts on both social networking sites. Using Twitter and Instagram was also a way of keeping up with the ‘modern times’ and added a sense of realism. Most artists in this current day will use social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram to gain viewers of their new music videos by promoting them through ‘countdowns’ or giving away small clues – so this is what we tried to do and it was successful.

At AS we used YouTube to add all relevant videos we had made, for example our storyboard or our audience evaluation question. We also uploaded drafts along the editing process of ‘Hacker’ and were able to receive appropriate feedback for our film opening so we could continuously improve it before the final draft was due. Our final film opening was also uploaded to YouTube which is a helpful site for AS students as it is popular in modern times and you can see how many views you have or comments of what people thought.

At A2 we used You Tube in a similar way because we also uploaded all relevant videos we had made. For example the lip syncing task, all three band members interviews with relevant channels, the storyboard, a teaser trailer, tour promotion, release promotion and all drafts during the editing process. Much like AS, we were able to receive appropriate feedback for our music video so we could continuously improve it before the final draft was due. The other videos were all helpful to our task as they all helped to promote the music video and give our fans ‘teasers’ and little snippets of what was to come. Alike AS again, our final music video was also uploaded to YouTube which helped us out once more as we could see how many views we had or comments of what people thought which aided our evaluation.

At AS we used Digital Cameras to film all of our shots that we needed to include for the final sequence. We stuck closely to the storyboard and it was a helpful piece of technology as it had a flip camera so the actors on the other side could see what the camera people were filming and therefore give a good performance and as it was also HD the quality of our film opening was decent.

At A2 we used Digital Cameras in a similar way because we also used this piece of technology to film all of our shots that we needed to include for the final music video. We did not stick as close to the storyboard because it sometimes looked better when it was more spontaneous and did not need such a close story line as it was a music video and not a film opening. The flip camera also helped the performers give a good performance and as it was also HD the quality of our music video was decent. In addition, we used a GoPro camera which proved to be extremely effect in the creation of our music video. The features of this camera enabled us to film under water and get clear, beautiful shots. Although we could not see what we were filming at the time, when watching it back this proved no problem as we were able to crop or edit the specific parts of the video that we needed and had a decent amount of water shots.

At AS we used Fireworks/Photoshop to create a film poster to promote our film opening. This was a difficult programme to use as no group members felt confident with Fireworks or Photoshop. After taking time to learn and play around with the programme, we were able to produce a really great film poster.

At A2 we used Fireworks/Photoshop in a similar way but did not struggle as much because we had picked up the skills for Photoshop in AS level. We made the whole digipak on Photoshop, this included six individual panels in black and white, with text and images. Picking up the skills at AS really helped us save time at A2 level for the music video digipak as we had so many other things to be doing – wasting time on learning Photoshop would have set us back.

Digital Technology has enabled me (a consumer of media) to become a producer that can not only make a higher quality media product, but edit it and distribute it to a wide audience.

Question 1: Section A: Research and planning (practice essay)

Research & Planning - how your skills have progressed and how they helped you in your productions

Research and planning have played a huge role in all of my production work so far and hence my skills in research and planning have developed massively.  My research and planning have made my production work develop in terms of quality. 

At AS we used questionnaires to make sure we had an appropriate set of questions to ask fellow students and teachers what they thought of our film opening and get valuable feedback to improve.

At A2 we improved our use of questionnaires by devising a four page written questionnaire to get feedback for our music video. This included questions to find out information such as how people watch music videos, and how they enjoyed our music video/ what could be improved. We also had a one page questionnaire online so that the computer could generate a solid conclusion of feedback for us – all of this aided the improvement of our A2 music video.

At AS we used focus groups to assemble a group of people to participate in a discussion about our film opening before it was launched and to provide feedback. This proved to be useful as it was a smaller group of people who came to a screening of our film opening and were more of our target audience (teenagers interested in action and sci-fi)

At A2 we didn’t use focus groups as much as we found that the majority of students in our class were our target audience so there was no need to narrow it down – we were still able to get appropriate and useful feedback to improve our final product.

At AS we examined real opening sequences such as Catch Me If You Can and Iron Man in order to see how action/sci-fi film openings use font and colour to have effective title sequences. Also, in order to see how they use forms and conventions and other factors such as mise on scene to have a successful film opening.

At A2 we improved our research / analysis of real texts by thoroughly analysing multiple music videos of any genre that related to the theorists we were using. We then furthered this by analysing music videos of a specific genre once we had chosen our particular genre. This meant looking at music videos of the genre ‘indie’ – such as Lana Del Rey’s music video for ‘video game.’ This then enabled us to look at similar album cover genres and improved our research from AS level.

At AS we used storyboards for planning every single shot we wanted to film in our film opening. This meant working out how long the shot would be for, what type of shot we wanted to use (e.g. close up) and where the shot would be filmed. The storyboard was followed closely in order to get a successful film opening.

At A2 we improved our use of storyboards by matching the shots to a lyric timeline. We were able to plan our shots even more thoroughly than at AS level as we planned what would be filmed/performed for every single word of the song and every single instrumental. We closely followed our storyboard as this was a successful way of filming all the shots we needed and then were able to narrow this down when editing and add successful effects.

At AS we completed prelim tasks to practice how it would be to film and edit a film opening sequence. We were assigned a random genre (action) and from this were able to find out where everyone’s strengths were to put this into action for the real film opening. For example, someone who might not have been so good at editing was a strong performer, and someone who wasn’t a strong performer was good at doing the ‘paper-work’ side of things. The prelim task was also an insight into how much fun the real thing would be but also how much hard work and effort we each would need to give.

At A2 we improved the way we used the prelim task by having a more ‘heads on’ approach to it. We were able to thoroughly plan a storyboard and copy exactly a music video of our choice. This was a difficult task, as we had to follow each shot carefully and closely. The music video we chose had advanced effects, which helped us learn more advanced editing skills at A2 level. This prelim task gave us an insight into how much more difficult this task would be then at AS level, and how much more focus we would need to successfully complete this task.

Research and planning skills have changed me from a producer of basic media texts, into a producer of complex quality media texts.  Research and planning skills are essential to making someone a better, more creative producer of media.