Q1.b. Representation - 2nd draft

At A2 I created a cross promotional package which included a digipak, a website and a music video to promote a new music video, Buried Alive by iSO. Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective. We had to use various representations in order to convey our genre and make the music video successful in terms of including all the noticeable features. We used different representations in order to illustrate the genre, gender, locations and the reality of the video, as well as the digipak and website inclusively. The music video aims to represent a form of reality for the protagonist within the linear narrative.

Throughout my A2 music video, the representations that have been shown do come through our own ideologies, values and beliefs. When representing a new artist we wanted to portray star image, which Goodwin suggests is essential for a music video to be successful, through the use of close up shots. We were able to repeat close ups, of iSO’s face but also body parts as he was being buried alive, continually through the music video so that our audience are able to become familiar with our new artist. Another part of our cross promotional package was the website which was very important in promoting and representing our new artist in the correct way we wanted him to be seen by the nation. Through the use of the image of iSO’s face on the gallery of the website page we were able to represent him in the way we wanted by creating star image with appropriate images we felt portrayed the personality we aimed for. When portraying his identity we wanted it to look as though he was more than a ‘dead end’ rap artist, we wanted him to represent someone who had intellectual thoughts as shown in some shots, whereby the light captures the outline of his body making him look bright yet natural.

Levi Strauss said that media texts often represent characters in terms of binary opposites such as good vs. evil and weak vs. stong. In our music video we showed vast amounts of juxtaposition between reality and concept as our music video shows our main character in real life and then contrasts to the concept of him being buried alive. We used this through showing a mixture of shots of our artist being buried alive, whereby the concept was his soul was being buried, compared to the shots of iSO in search of his soul where the camera follows him through the graveyard. Using the binary opposites in the music video, it creates a highlighting effect of each personality of the character he portrays which contrasts the two.

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory he states that audiences may watch media for self-identification. This is relevant to our production as our target audience is that of older teenagers, 15-22 year olds that will be able to recognise the struggle between being the person people think you are and trying to find your real soul.

We represented a dystopian/ utopian theme throughout the video with the use of effects on Adobe Premiere when we edited our final music video. We decided to use this as we felt within typical rap genre music videos usually you see the main artist with either alcohol or reference to drugs, therefore we were able to represent this through our editing. By doing this we challenged the stereotypes as usually rap artists have a reputation for drinking and doing drugs at some point throughout their video which we found from extensive research.

Challenging the stereotype of rap artists being black and masculine with a strong build meant that we had to still target our audience of the rap fan base who wouldn’t be used to seeing this. Firstly, our main character was white and British which immediately went against the stereotype and challenged it however, we felt this worked. We went against the stereotype of including women in our rap video as we didn’t feel it was appropriate or necessary however, this is unusual for a rap video. Laura Mulvey’s theory describes how the audience, or viewer, is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey believes that women should enjoy the attention of attracting the gaze, and put themselves in positions to be looked at. The concept of ‘the gaze’ is one that deals with how an audience views the people/person presented. Angela McRobbie says that men and women are often represented through stereotypes in the media and are often shown in traditional roles. In terms of the genre we were representing, we didn’t show our artist as the stereotype you would expect yet so we challenged this through using different shots and clothing to suit our artists so that he looked appropriate. Although, we didn’t use women in our video we still wanted iSO, our main character, to represent masculinity so we chose to do this through the variety of shot types. In order to make him look empowering and important we used many lower angled shots looking up at him whilst he looks down at the camera.

Q1.b. Representation

Apply the concept of representation to one of your coursework productions (25 marks)

At A2 I created a cross promotional package which included a digipak, a website and a music video to promote a new music video. Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective. We had to use various representations in order to convey our genre and make the music video successful in terms of including all the noticeable features. We used different representations in order to illustrate the genre, gender, locations and the reality of the video, as well as the digipak and website inclusively. The music video aims to represent a form of reality for the protagonist within the linear narrative.

Throughout my A2 music video, the representations that have been shown do come through our own ideologies, values and beliefs. For example, one representation that we chose to use throughout the music video was various shots of close ups and extreme close ups of the characters face. Roland Barthes suggested the idea of enigma codes in any film opening or music video is significant. We used this to create an enigma coding for the audience to see. For example, we had shots of the characters feet, legs and torso because this type of coding and representation would give the video a mysterious effect throughout the beginning, middle and end, making the audience think about what is going to happen continually and why. We used many different shots but particularly several wide shots when establishing the locations which were all mostly urban as this was stereotypical to a rap genre music video.

When representing a new artist we wanted to portray star image, which Goodwin suggests is essential for a music video to be successful, through the use of close up shots. We were able to repeat close ups continually through the music video so that our audience are able to become familiar with our new artist. Another part of our cross promotional package was the website which was very important in promoting and representing our new artist in the correct way we wanted him to be seen by the nation. Through the use of images of our main characters face on the gallery of the website page we were able to represent him in the way we wanted by creating star image with appropriate images we felt portrayed the personality we aimed for. When portraying his identity we wanted it to look as though he was more than a ‘dead end’ rap artist, we wanted him to represent someone who had intellectual thoughts as shown in some shots, whereby the light captures the outline of his body making him look bright yet natural.

In our music video we showed vast amounts of juxtaposition between reality and concept as our music video shows our main character in real life and then contrasts to the concept of him being buried alive. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory he states that audiences may watch media for self-identification. This is relevant to our production as our target audience is that of older teenagers, 15-22 year olds that will be able to recognise the struggle between being the person people think you are and trying to find your real soul.

We represented a dystopian/ utopian theme throughout the video with the use of effects on Adobe Premiere when we edited our final music video. We decided to use this as we felt within typical rap genre music videos usually you see the main artist with either alcohol or reference to drugs, therefore we were able to represent this through our editing. By doing this we challenged the stereotypes as usually rap artists have a reputation for drinking and doing drugs at some point throughout their video which we found from extensive research.

Challenging the stereotype of rap artists being black and masculine with a strong build meant that we had to still target our audience of the rap fan base who wouldn’t be used to seeing this. Firstly, our main character was white and British which immediately went against the stereotype and challenged it however, we felt this worked. We went against the stereotype of including women in our rap video as we didn’t feel it was appropriate or necessary however, this is unusual for a rap video. Laura Mulvey’s theory describes how the audience, or viewer, is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey believes that women should enjoy the attention of attracting the gaze, and put themselves in positions to be looked at. The concept of ‘the gaze’ is one that deals with how an audience views the people/person presented. Although, we didn’t use women in our video we still wanted iSO, our main character, to represent masculinity so we chose to do this through the variety of shot types. In order to make him look empowering and important we used many lower angled shots looking up at him whilst he looks down at the camera.

Q1.b. Media Language

In my music video, Buried Alive, we used media language to create meaning for the audience. We created a music video to the song ‘Buried Alive’ which tied into our cross promotional package also including a digipak and website as well as the music video in order to promote our new artist. Ever since the early days of rap the media has negatively represented the music genre through stereotyping and over exaggeration.

 The editing in our music video was deliberately constructed to create meaning for the audience. We used a number of fast cuts and transitions to create pace. In the first refrain, we included 20 cuts in a 10 second period, which jumped through 4 locations. We did this to create a number of effects for the audience. The fast transitions symbolised the pressure the character in the video is under – iSO sang about his life spinning out of control which helps to create disorientation along with the purposely blurry shots we put filters over where the main character is walking through the graveyard. The editing follows the pace of the song in order to make sense to the audience so as the song starts slow, so does the pace of the transitions and shots, therefore as the song speeds up in the chorus, so does the speed of the editing. The fast chorus with the though beats in place enhance audience engagement. However, there is a dramatic pace change within the song where the main character raps at a particularly faster pace than normal. In order to keep up with this pace we put 37 shots in a 25 second time frame so the transitions were quick which conveyed pressure and confusion to the audience.

We used all the different aspects of sound to our advantage throughout our music video in order to enhance it and keep it interesting for the audience. Firstly we used the soundtracks rhythm and beat in order to cut the shots in terms of editing so that it looked smooth and fit to the song. We did this by listening carefully to each beat and fit each shot in time. We also used Andrew Goodwin’s theory whereby we used thought beats throughout our music video to create realism by making it easy for the audience to see the sound, including the relationship between the music and the visuals which illustrate the music. We contradict Andrew Goodwin’s theory whereby he states that music videos tend to ignore narrative as they’re potentially advertisements as we did have a linear narrative within our music video as we felt it was appropriate and would help to explain the context. We also chose to use some diegetic sound within our music video as it would help to bring a sense of realism and reality into the video which fit with the narrative and locations of the shots, as well as helping the narrative to flow. The church location and church bells helped with our videos concept as it was for the main character to discover his own soul and the use of interruption with the diegetic sound bought him back to reality and the location helped to amplify this as he was surrounded by the thought of death.

Using Mise En Scene within our music video enabled us to project the ideas behind our narrative and concept. Throughout our music video we used a variety of locations which is common within the rap genre as the shots are all fast paced and they all jump from location to location. The Graveyard location is the most iconic location in our music video as it enhances the narrative and helps the audience to understand the visuals which supports Goodwin’s narrative concept. Stuart Hall’s theory was important for us as we chose to create a preferred reading for the audience which we wanted them to encode. We used high and low key lighting throughout to contrast the good vs evil as our artist searches for his soul. The settings we used were mostly urban as this was typical to a rap music video, especially having several different urban locations too. Our representation of our rap music video was to aim it at young teens to appeal to their idea of reality for a Chav. 

Q1.b. Narrative

Discuss how you used narrative in one of your coursework productions to create meaning for the audience (25 marks)

At AS, I created a short film opening which included a film opening and a film poster. My film opening came under the teen drama genre as this was suitable for the themes and narrative within my short film. We found this out by researching film opening that we categorised under the same genre as ours. We looked at a real life text such as the film ‘Restless (2011) whereby a terminally ill teenage girl falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII. My production was very much a linear production as the order of narrative was clear and followed a chronological order.

In my opening 2 minutes of my AS production, Amnesia, my main character starts a journey to the neurological unit at the specialist hospital in London with a voice over explaining previous conversations had with the doctors about the un-named illness. On her journey, she tries to bring memories back by looking through old scrapbooks of previous events within her life. The camera fades into a picture of a memory and it comes to life.

With reference to Todorov, who is well known for his theory of chain events in the narrative, my short film opening distinctly follows his theory. The chain of events involve, equilibrium, disruption, possible solutions, climax and resolution. In my AS production my character starts out with her usual repetitive journey to the hospital via the train, which represents her equilibrium. However, at this point, the character is established and everything looks normal, but what we don’t know is that the scrapbook full of memories disrupts her memory and brings back certain trips and memories. In the end, she has her memory back, being the resolution as she is a changed person from before and can finally remember everything.

Levi Strauss argued that all narratives could be reduced down to binary opposites. Throughout my production, I used binary opposites and showed contrast within my opening scene. When establishing the setting and background of the character, the initial emotions were sad and upset as she was a sufferer of this awful illness, through which we portrayed through using higher angled shots to give the effect of looking down on people which connotes sadness and being inferior. Then in the shots we used towards the end of our opening scene, the character was happy and enjoying life with her friend, pre diagnosis without any cares. We also showed binary opposites in my AS production through using another character to represent the illness in the main character which contrasted against the second character who was perfectly healthy and didn’t suffer with Amnesia.

Propp suggested that every narrative has eight different character types to which they should include in order to make sense. Every narrative has a hero and we followed this to a certain degree, yet we only had 2 characters throughout our entire opening scene, though the aim was to introduce more characters later on in the film. The heroin in our film is the main character and her journey to overcome amnesia and retrieve her memories. As she is successful in doing so, she fits Propp’s theory. Another fit to Propps theory is the second character in our opening scene, she acts as ‘the helper’ as she helps to retrieve her memories by reliving them and creating them in the first place, without the memories she would have no way of getting them back.

We used Barthes' theory in order to create enigma codes within our music video. Roland Barthes suggested the idea of enigma codes in any film opening or music video is significant. We used this to create an enigma coding for the audience to see. For example, we had shots of the characters feet, legs and torso because this type of coding and representation would give the video a mysterious effect throughout the beginning, middle and end, making the audience think about what is going to happen continually and why. We used many different shots but particularly several wide shots when establishing the locations which were all mostly urban as this was stereotypical to a rap genre music video.

　

Theorist Revision

Q1.b. Genre

Discuss how you used genre in one of your coursework productions to create meaning for the audience (25 marks)

The word ‘genre’ comes from the French word meaning type or class. Media genres appear within a medium (film, television) such as the horror film or the television ‘situation comedy’. A genre can be recognised by its common set of distinguishing features such as codes and conventions. At A2, I, along with 2 other group members researched, planned and constructed a cross promotional package promoting a new artist. During the production of my advanced portfolio, genre contributed a massive part in how we would create meaning for audience through the use of the rap genre.

I have chosen Steve Neale’s theory of genres being created through instances of repetition and difference to analyse the ways in which different genres of music videos have developed and how the genre of my A2 coursework can be established by an audience. Steve Neale theorised that it is repetition of certain elements of media products that creates a genre. In my music video, you could identify the use of explicit language as a repetitive element of the rap genre. Similar use of bad language within a music video can be identified in Wiz Khalifa’s songs, similar songs within the genre. This repetition of lyrics associated with the rap genre would provide audiences with an innate understanding of the genre of my music video due to their familiarity with this convention of the genre. Steve Neale stresses that ‘genres are not systems: they are processes of systematisation’. Traditionally, genres (particularly literary genres) tended to be regarded as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasises that both their forms and functions are dynamic.

Goodwin’s theory stated that in order to make a music video successful, it need to have at least 3 of his key components within it at some point, the relationship between the music and the visuals being one. This therefore meant that we used our relationship between the music and, what we wanted to portray as, the visuals, to dictate the pace of the cuts as this would affect the speed of editing in order for the sequence to make sense and feel real. The speed of our editing would also relate to our genre as typically the rap genre is a relatively fast pace throughout the entire music video apart from one or two specific points within the music video where it really slows down and so do the visuals. This is evident within my own music video, as I have edited the footage so that certain shots cut on the beat of the music creating a smoother flowing sequence making for an easier watching experience.

An iconographic element of the mise-en-scene is that in rap genre music videos, they tend to be set in an urban location, often around graffiti and big buildings. Therefore I wanted to incorporate this into our music videos to make sure this was obvious and clear to the viewer which would reinforce our genre through the use of urban locations. Conventionally, a lot of low angle shots are used to make the artist be shown as superior and powerful, as well as asserting authority. We made use of this low angled shot a lot throughout our music video as we wanted to do just this, when we shot some of these low angled shots we were on the stairs, whereby the camera was at the bottom and the protagonist was at the top as this, I feel, emphasised this greatly. Even if there is a strong narrative and it is not all performance based, the lead artist tends to be featured a lot, which we incorporated into our music video as we wanted to stick with the conventions of the genre as well as creating star profile which was another of Goodwin’s key components to this theory.

When producing both my digipak and website, to support the promotion of my new artist, iSO, I wanted the genre to be visually clear even at a glance to all of my audience. After carrying out some research, I found that most commonly, rap artists’ website were very minimalistic, and only focused on promoting one single/album at a time. We tried to replicate this as we thought it was a good way of advertising our artist and we thought it would get the message across simply, rather than bombarding our audience with lots of new information, music and media. I also tried to stick to a fairly dull and dark colour scheme throughout the process of creating the album cover, website and digipak so that they were all relatable. This also made my product fit the genre as the typical colours most common throughout the genre are black, white and grey which are 3 colours used continually within my ancillary texts to keep this consistent. As part of our research, I identified that Black was very common in our genre but also in similar artists products. So many of the products, especially the clothing, are black which links to the genre research I gathered in relation to clothing; identifying similar conventions. Offerings on G-Eazy’s website were mainly types of clothing so we decided that our store should also largely feature clothing. 

Exam Checklist

• You must refer to at least two types of media 

• You must include reference to the past and the future

• Most of the focus of your essay should be on contemporary texts

• Use theory throughout and accurately 

• Make links between texts, theorists

• Coherent argument - different viewpoints