REVISION WEEK 3

MUSIC VIDEOS

How do the representations in this product show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer?

FORMATION by Beyonce
DDU DU DDU DU by BlackPink

KNEE JERK REACTION

Both music videos encode ideas of female empowerment through use of representation. Representation is created by the producer and is the re presentation of a group, issue or event. I shall argue that the music video for Formation by Beyonce and the video to DDU DU DDU DU by BlackPink both reinforce and challenge stereotypes of women

Initial Ideas:

Blackpink

• Costume - variety of costume changes throughout the video - symbolic of the many different women out there that they are representing. Also keeps up with fast paced editing
• Fast paced editting
• Lots of pink throughout the video - symbolic code of feminity - also their name is "BlackPink"
• Vajazzled nails - typical of Korean culture
• Mes of the crown - she is a queen :3 
• No main male characters - all about women
• Bank MES - pink dollar notes - appeal to an american audience
• Dance moves are fast and aggressive - subversive - gun fingers - symbolic of a gun. 
• Lots of legs shown - sexualised. Reinforcing
• Glittery tank - glamorisation of war. - shopping bags hang off the end. She lays on top. 
• Direct modes of address - eye contact
• Close up shots of their face - stereotypically attractive 
• Binary Opposition between the gang signs and use of weapons in this video and the pretty girls
• Intertextual reference to Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball
• Americanisation

Beyonce

• Bricolage - antebellum era, present, black panther - not much has changed
• MES of police car - authority. She lays on top - she is over it
• Longshot of little boy dancing infront of the police - binary opposition - power against helpless people
• Video camera effect - intertextual reference to the police brutality tapes filmed on dashboard cameras
• Heavily sexualised representations of women
• Intertextual references - Antebellum era.
• Establishing shots - Louisiana after floods caused by Hurricane Katrina - linked with racial tension in american. REPRESENTATION of poor black people in america
• Tracking shot of Beyonce hanging out the car window - she is rebellious
• Idea of unity - lots of longshots of group dance 
• Belle Hooks - feminism for everybody
• Representations of black culture - hair salon, Bounce dance, black church
• Intertextual reference to Martin Luther King - on paper. Mid shot - showing that this video agrees with his beliefs about the world and how we that each other
• Police ar sinks at the end - end to black brutality
• She is also enter image - she is a powerful figure, placing herself at the front of the black lives matter movement
• Intimidating mode of address - Beyonce puts her middle fingers up towards the camera - aggressive gesture code

PARAGRPAHS

In Formation the producer encodes and constructs both subversive and stereotypical beliefs about black women. For example, in the music video, Beyonce is constantly presented to be a powerful figure, at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter Movement, which is a subversive representation, as throughout history, females have never really been in power. However here, in the first initial longshot we see Beyonce standing on top of a police car which is almost fully submerged in water. This subversive representation presents Beyonce as a leader of rebellion against the police force in America, as she stands powerfully on the roof of the sinking car. As well as this, she is clearly constructed here through her strong movements as a figure of authority. Whereas normally in music videos, women are sexualised and presented as a weaker individual. Additionally, this idea is further emphasised through the repeated mid shots, where Beyonce dominates the screen, standing center and leading a group of dancers and so forth.

Similarly the producers of DDU DU DDU DU also encode subversive ideologies of women through the use of binary oppositions. There are multiple binary oppositions created in this music video between female singers and the heavy use of weapon iconography, such as the tank which is covered in gems and glitter, which creates the idea of female empowerment, as the women in this music video take hold of these weapons and are shown as strong. This is further conveyed through the aggressive dance movements that we see throughout the music videos, which are fast and confronting. Gesture codes are also used in this music video such as the gun finger movement to show this powerful energy that is being presented to the audience.

On the other hand, the producer of Formation also constructs a highly sexualised belief about women in this music video through the use of costume. 


VIDEO GAMES

Explore how ownership has shaped Assassin's Creed Liberation 3

Definitions
Distribution: How a media product reaches its audience
Synergy: When two media products from different industries work well together
Convergence: The coming together of two previously separate media industries come together
Horizontal Integration: When a media institution owns other institutions in the same stage of industry e.g. newspapers buying other newspapers
Institution: A company has its own identity
Vertical Integration: When a media institution buys another institution buys another company in a different stage of production
Globalisation: The process of the world coming together and getting smaller
Digital technology: Any technology that involves a computer 
Multimedia Integration: The use of digital technology to bring together different industries (digital convergence)

KNEE JERK REACTION

Assassin's Creed Liberation is a big budget, mainstream game that targets a mass as well as a specialised audience. Owned by Ubisoft and published in 2012.

Plan:

• Owned by Ubisoft - major producer
• Ubisoft is french
• Regulated by pegi - ineffective regulation in this industry. 
• first released on PS vita then on Playstation, Xbox and PC (multiplatform released)
• Pegi 18 - lots of violence
• Major game - targets a generalised and niche audience
• Assassin's creed franchise - brand identity
• 600,000 copies sold on vita - underperformed 
• released in 2012
• Quality graphics and good soundtrack - targeting the mass audience - high production values
• tackles ideological issues - racial issues
• Curran and Seaton - DRIVEN BY PROFIT
• Distributed on the playstation store and can be bought in shops too - digital technology 

Examples:

• Trailer - high quality graphics - looks more like a film rather than a video game. High production values - narration/voice over 
• Non diegetic sound - the soundtrack was praised 
• Black, female protagonist - different to other Assassin's creed games - possibly targeting a new female audience as well as a BME audience
• Trailer - Southern setting - targeting an audience who lives there
• Gameplay - new weapons such as a whip - exciting for previous Assassin's creed audience
• Different, unique, storyline following that of a black slave - interesting
• Cover - looks extremely identical to the other assassin's creed games.  MASS AUDIENCE. Repetition of genre conventions
• Cover - also tries to cover the fact that this is a female character in order to appeal to the core audience
• Pegi 18 age certificate - audiences expect violence 
• Merchandise available - targeting the niche audience 
• Can be played in different languages - targeting a global audience. 

Explore the ways in which audiences can use and take pleasure from video games. Make explicit reference to Assassin's Creed Liberation

• Escapism - different locations, pretending to be a different character
• Part of a franchise - this game looks identical to other Assassin's Creed Games
• Unleash your anger - through the violence 
• Major game - high production values 
• Soundtrack - was rated highly. Can be bought on cd - niche audiences
• Fandom  theories - fans of the game can interact with other fans of the game and talk - social interaction.
• Black female protagonists - allows audiences to identify and play as this character
• Breaking the fourth wall 
• During the loading screen there are historical information available
• Cultural Capital of owning the game

REVISION WEEK 1

MEDIA EXAM - CMOPONENT 1
SECTION A
UNSEEN TEXTS AND COMPARISONS 
Advertising, Newspapers, Music Videos
SECTION B
INDUSTRY AND AUDIENCE
Advertising,Newspapers, Film Industry, Video Games & Radio 

COMPONENT 2
Tv, Online Media, Magazines
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ADVERTISING

Explore the ways in which these adverts use representation to position the audience.
You should make references to 

• How groups are represented
• Intertextuality
• Genre Conventions
• Viewpoints and ideologies

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE POSTER

US THEATRICAL TRAILER

1)  Underline parts of question

2)  Notes

NOTES:

BME ETHINICITY - FAMILY

SONG ABOUT DRUGS

intertextual reference to the song

typical happy family holiday - longshot of beach

TENSION - DRAMATIC SOUND TRACK - remixed

QUICK CUTS EDITTING IS BEAT MATCHED 

BINARY OPPOSITION - BUNNYS with horror setting

White bunnies - juxtaposed with the black family - possibly symbolic?

3) Form argument

There are similarities in how representations position audience through horror paradigms, however US focuses primarily on a black family.

4) Plan

Sturart Hall

BME ETHNICITY

Token white characters - subversive normally the opposite way round

Levi Strauss - binary oppositions between blacks and whites

No black people includerd in KOTV

Women represented as vulnerable

Men are the leaders - the family dad takes the power

Conforms to hegemonic rules

Intertextual refrences - the song is produced by a black artist

Disruption of an equlibreum

Beat matched editting - to build tension 

Typical family - mother,father, son and daughter.

Little creepy kid - typical of horror films

Stereotypical

MES

Ink blott shit - black and white, not everything is whatb it seems

bell hooks - feminst theeories

Ethnicity

Lights turning off - shows that something bad is going to happen. Mystery code

Pathetic fallacy - storm - mystery code/ symbolic of something bad going to happen

Judith Butler - gender perfomativity

Character achetypes 

Low key lighting

Paul Gilroy - representations of black people 

5) DAC in Introduction

Definition of representation 

Positioning of audiences is an essential technique for producers, as it allows the audience to be placed in a particular situation, one of the most effective ways of doing this is through representation, the re - presentation of a group , issue or event

Context - In order to explore this idea, I shall be referring to the theatrical trailer for the 1963, British, Hammer horror, "Kiss of the vampire", and the 2019 theatrical trailer to the modern horror film "US".

Argument - There are similarities in how representations position audience through horror paradigms, however US focuses primarily on a black family.

6) PARAGRAPHS

Kiss of the vampire

Representations and ideologies

Intertextualities and Genre Conventions

Representation of Gender

Women are vulnerable - reinforces their damsel in the distress role within the film and conform to hegemonic standards.

Woman on the left - is a character archetype .

Positioning the audience in the role of a heterosexual man

MALE GAZE THEORY - Lisbet Van Zoonen - Stereotypically attractive women with expose skin in combination with their flimsy dresses . Further assumes heterosexual

Produced in 1963 - we see a very stereotypical presentation of a vampire - we wears a cape and, black slick back hair

Historical context - Classical horror film are often period dramas and this is backed up through mes

Film

Genre conventions

Dark nighttime setting - connotative of the horror genre and is highly typical. Positions the audience as fans of the horror genre 

Full moon and bats - hints at a supernatural element of the film and positions the audience through the use of a hermnutic code

US

Representations and ideologies

Intertextualities and Genre Conventions

REPRESENTATION OF BLACK PEOPLE 

MES of car - luxuary car - we expect the family to be white

Establishing shot of lake - stereotypically thought ot be a very middle class

Stereotypical middle class family. Mother, Father Son and Daughter. 

Stereoypical family trip - we are presented with a normal setting. 

The Dad wears a "Havard" shirt - smart, intelligent. Going to harvard implies a middle class background. Intextuality.

ATYPICAL - almost exclusively black cast would be unthinkable in 1963 purely because the film would be seen as finically unviable

Genre Conventions

Ink Blotts function as a hermeneutic code and are highly paradigmatic of the physiological horror genre, to target a significant audience.

TARGET AUDIENCE - niche audience of black middle class teenagers 

O/S of the little boy walking along the beach and you can see the lightning inform to him - suggesting bad things are going to happen 

E/S of woman's crying face is connotative of the horror film genre and positions the TA directly with the young black protagonists. Is also a referential code to the director's earlier film - "Get OUt", allowing it to target a pre - existing audience. 

family, which is highly subversive/atypical

REVISION WEEK 2

Newspapers in Component 1A

How do these products make use of intertextuality and genre conventions in order to reflect the ideology of the producer?

Knee Jerk Reaction:

Both Newspapers are heavily influenced by their favoured political party, which is shown through the use of intertextuality and genre conventions.

DAILY MAIL - Right wing

DAILY MIRROR - Left wing - hate trump

Define Key Terms 

Intertextuality - When a media text makes reference to another text/product in order to engage the audience / make meaning

Genre Conventions -  The typical aspects of a genre of a media product and are vital to a producer to allow them to target a specific audience

Ideology - The beliefs and values held by the producer that are reflected in their media products

PLAN

Stereotyping - "hooded thug"

Intertextuality

Steve Neale - Genre conventions -repetition and difference

Both Tabloids 

Headlines - informal mode of address

Large masthead 

Serif/Sans serif font

Lots of images 

Captions - anchors the audience 

Working class audience

Cultivation theory 

Barthes - codes and conventions

If it bleeds it leads

Bias opinions

Claude Levi Strauss - Binary Oppositions

Moral panic - knife crime that is affecting the uK

Lexis and Language 

Pick and Mix theory 

EXAMPLES

DAILY MIRROR - 
Interetextual reference to Brexit - "America's Brexit" - central image/ midshot of sterotypical assembled American Trump support party, - which is further anchored through the use of costume in the image - symbolic codes - red,white and blue colours . This clear interetextual reference to an American comedy is again reinforced through the genre convention and exaggerated laughter , and the MES of ther American flag suit is clearly reduce

USE OF LEXIS - |"America's Brexit" more relatable for the British audience theyre targeting - they can understand this issue. \

• Interetextual reference to Brexit - "America's Brexit"

Central image is a midshot of a stereotypical assembly of American Trump Supporters

Further anchored through costume

Symbolic codes - red, white and blue - patriotic 

Interetextual reference to Amerian Comedy

Exagerated laughter and genre convention, mes of flag suit

Bias through selection - Mirror selects image of Trump where he appears to have a learning difficulty - preferred reading is to laugh at him, demonstrating the ideology of the Daily Mirror

Colour of text - reference to American Patriotism

DAILY MAIL -
Interetextual reference - "Bea's new baeu joins fergie..." - need of prior knowledge of French Royalty - targets a middle class audience. Formal language - conservative ideology. Cpation of the image - positions the audience - this pair is at the "Grand Prix".

Ideology - supports the right wing ideology - paints Theresa May in a positive way - " May reveals radical rethink" - 

• Dehumanisation of criminals - referred to as a "disease" - something that needs to be wiped out
• "Hooded thugs" - highly emotive and hyperbolic lexis that anchors the audience to believe that young people who wear hoods are intrinsically murders. Highly conventional of tabloid newspapers to create moral panic. Targets a conservative audience who likely agree with tough measures for crime
• Conflict between hard and soft news, allowing the Daily Mail to provide a conservative audience with a range of pleasure
• Headline is a clear intertextual reference which takes advantage of the target audience's love of crime dramas. A construction pf an exciting and dangerous world. Deliberately targeting a mass, mainstream audience through manipulation

COMPONENT 1B

How do specific processes of distribution, production and circulation shape The Times and The Daily Mirror?

The Times:

• Owned by News UK which is a subsidiary of News International, and enormous media conglomerate 
• Established 1785
• Sister Paper - The Sunday Times
• Circulation : 400,000 a day
• Compact form - easier to read
• Vertically integrated industry
• Price: £1.80
• Daily Newspaper
• Right Wing - Conservative
• Middle Class, older audience
• Targets a mass audience

The Daily Mirror:

• Tabloid/Red top
• Working Class audience
• Targets a mass audience
• Owned by Reach PLC - 2018 (previously Trinity Mirror)
• Founded in 1903
• Circulation :  590,000 a day (2017)
• Sister paper is Sunday Mirror
• Reach PLC also publishes a variety of local newspapers - offers diversity
• Slogan : "The intelligent Tabloid."
• Price : 80p

Knee Jerk Reaction - 

Both of these papers, are mass produced and distributed in order to target the mass audience

More important articles in newspapers - they have more column inches/coverage.

Important articles - on the front cover / in the front

Both newspapers were published on Tuesday 2nd of April 2019

Knee Jerk reaction

Production is how newspapers are produced
These newspapers are produced daily which means an extremely short production cycle which essentially means that there is much more of an emphasises on quantity rather quality. 
Both newspapers are part of a specialised industry
Hierarchal structure with editors, journalists, designers and printers
Tend to be owned by massive multinational corporations, with an interests in profit and power

THE TIMES EXAMPLES

• Advert for "First class train journey London to Budapest" 3k holiday. Newspapers make money through advertising revenue. Reach of advertising is vast!
• Article Opinion Editorial: "speaking to unto power of a nice G&T" - Middle Class connotations. Soft News
• Page 3 is usually soft news - Cricket - Middle class sport 
• Front cover - strong focus on politics - center image of Theresa may in parliament - very serious picture. This image is central. Serious - targeting a middle class audience. Anchorage of this image - "... and Theresa May watch stony-faced while Jeremy Corbyn calls for a third round of votes" Caption conveys their right wing ideology. HEADLINE STORY. Brexit is a big focus in British politics at the moment.Demonstrating its newsworthiness. 
• "Kidney Beans vs lentils" - very soft story - mass audience
• This industry is driven by profit and power
• Average reading age of the Times is 15YO. Above average.Demonstrating a middle class audience
• A variety of games at the back of the paper - puzzles - sudoku. Audience is intelligent

DAILY MIRROR EXAMPLE

• Mcdonalds and the monopoly game advertisements on the front cover. Large working class audience. This promotion is an example of Gambling. Adverts for bingo and the lottery are seen throughout the paper.
• Double Page spread of Brexit stuff - Central image/splash - model of Theresa May skewering a representation of a Brit - satire- demonstrates an anti right wing ideology. Negative viewing of her.
• Mick Jagger - front page - "Jagger to have heart operation" - pages 6&7 - celebrity gossip - soft news - targeting a mass working class audience. Skyline Story
• Theresa May on front cover - her picture is small - she is scowling in the photo - left wing ideology - "MPS choose nothing". 
• Both celebrity and political news - offering a diverse range of stories to appeal to the mass audience that the Daily Mirror targets
• Tips for a good nights sleep: soft news, and appealing to a mass audience - reoccurring story
• 80% of sport coverage devoted to football. Hegemonically accepted that football is England's national sport. An need to appeal to a mass audience
• Lexis - use of slang and informal language e.g.: 'lad' , ' paedo'. Level of reading comprehension: approximately 9YO, the average reading age of the UK.
• At the back of this paper there is a TV Guide and the horse race results as well as horoscopes

How do the Times and the Daily Mirror attract and maintain their audiences locally and globally?

Attract: Bring in an audience

Maintain: is essential for the newspaper industry as it ensures financially success

Knee Jerk Reaction

Both the Daily Mirror and the Times need to attract and maintain their audiences to ensure financial success by promoting brand loyalty. Both of these papers naturally primarily target a British, local audience, with an international audience  mainly as an afterthought. 

THE TIMES EXAMPLES

• Subscription offer at the top of the paper: "Get 3 months for the price of 1"  maintaining their audience, offering deal. Only £1 to subscribers - dedicated audience. Convenient - delivered to their door - appeal to their older audience 
• World section- appeal to Brits living abroad - there may be an article about the country they live in or relating to them - e.g "Trump 'wants anti- abortion judge' to replace supreme Court liberal" 
• The Times will shift their ideology in order to suit their audience. An industry dominated by profit and power
• The Times is a British Newspaper for British people - "The ISIS Bride". A former British Citizen and a particularly emotive issuer for British audiences that encourages debate and discussion, encourages audiences to buy every week
• "Boy, 7, electrocuted after climbing over pub wall" -demonstrates the comparative lack of importance of the child. Situated as less newsworthy than Mick Jagger and his operation. Possibly sidelined because of his status as working class

THE DAILY MIRROR EXAMPLES 

• Horoscope - audience will want to keep buying in order to keep checking them daily
• "How to make the most of your GP appointment" - practical yet obvious life advice - providing the audience with the gratification of information. The mirror has information on health and other advice as well.
• Daily updates on stories - "Brexit Crisis continues" - maintained audiences are up to date with this crisis - a big issue at the moment that does concern the readers.
• Puzzle solutions - the solutions are published the next day: codebreaker puzzle reward = £75
• This newspaper cultivates a left wing ideology - constructing a left wing audience who show loyalty to the product 
• Jordan Pickford - English goalkeeper involved in a street brawl - If it bleeds it leads. Especially important to a working class audience, stereotypically interested in alcohol, football and scrapping. Cultivating the ideology of the target audience.