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

News Articles

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35858169

"Sexting among under-16s skyrocketing, says Labour" - BBC Online - 22nd Marc 2016

• http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/16/hoodies-goodies-teenagers-makings-good-citizens-young

"From hoodies to goodies: today's teenagers have the makings of model citizens" - Guardian - 16th Februrary 2014

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3504130/Teenage-thug-jailed-terrifying-haul-weapons-garden.html

A2 Media Studies Revision

Q1.b. Audience

Analyse the coursework production in relation to the concept of audience (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. I launched a new advertising campaign which must be clear in order to target my specified audience. It is essential that a music video appeals to the audience as being a new artist it’s important to make a good impression in order to sell records and promote my artist further. When creating my music video for the song ‘Buried Alive’ by Logic, I thought extensively about the kind of people I was appealing to and how I would do this. My target audience was predominantly males, as stereotypically the rap is a genre more appealing to males, in the age range of 16-22 due to the volume of explicit language. My target audience would mostly fit into the E category of the social demographic model as it’s aimed mostly at students who have a particularly low individual income compared to adults who are typically on a much higher income. I researched some music videos which clearly fall into the rap genre and made notes to compare to my video the typical conventions they included. I decided that they wanted fast cuts and transitions between shots as this would keep up with the pace of the song and keep them interested. They also wanted black and baggy clothing as this would ensure the music video would fit into the current genre of rap videos allowing them to make a clear connection. Throughout the construction of making my music video, I asked members of my target audience so that I could ensure that it was specifically tailored to the wants and needs of my target audience.

We can apply Bulmer and Katz’ Uses and Gratifications theory to my music video, which has four parts as to why audiences consume media texts: Personal identification which suggests that the audience can relate to the characters and situations, Information which is for the purpose of people obtaining an understanding, entertainment which is for the purposes of escapism and diversion and finally, social interaction which suggests that the audience look to the media text as a way of connecting with those around them. We can deduce that the audience would use my music video for primarily personal identification and social interaction, as the music video enables people of similar interests and hobbies to interact, also as music videos are often talked about as much as television programmes or films, particularly those that are especially controversial, provocative, or innovative. However, the other two points of the theory – entertainment and information – do not really apply to music videos necessarily, although it could be argued that some viewers may see the music video as an escape from reality.

Another way of looking at how audience consume media is reception theory, which is based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model. It argues that producers encode meaning into a media text and audience then in turn decode it. When creating my music video, I encoded meaning in many ways. For example when we shot the black and white scenes this is meant to symbolises the protagonist trying to find his soul as the lyrics of the song directly tell the audience he is being buried alive. We used some diegetic sound in the middle of the video to connote realism and a sense time being stopped and then rewound. The clothing that my character wears is typical for a rap artist as we decided we wanted our protagonist to fit in because this would make our genre clear to our entire audience.

In our music video, in order to keep our target audience engaged and interested, we used close-ups continually as we wanted to create a star profile image. This would mean that our character will be easily recognisable and it would make our advertising campaign much easier as he will be well known to our audience. Andrew Goodwin’s theory of multiple close ups of the main artist/ vocalist helped to amplify the creation of star image to promote a recognisable brand image. We tried to replicate this by ensuring we had many varied close-ups of our protagonist, meaning we could create star image. Goodwin identified that the star image is another key aspect within music videos. He believes that an iconic star image can increase the audience awareness of the artist and can show development of a star over time.

Another key aspect of Goodwin’s theory is ‘thought beats’ as this is what he thought was vital to make a music video successful. Seeing the sounds (the relationship between the music and visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradicts the music) – chorus, verse and instruments. He categorised this aspect in 3 steps:

1.  Interpret the music by looking at verses and choruses
2. Goodwin says this is the ‘voice within the song’ – this is when the artists voice is extremely unique and can be recognised for this quality
3. Goodwin states this steps where the artist is telling a story within their songs as therefore generates their reputation as a ‘storyteller’. The music video is therefore create to emphasize.

We included thought beats in our music video through the use of sound and editing. In the middle of our music video we have some church bells ringing which are non-diegetic however, they were added to create a sense of realism for the audience. The bells rung in time to the transition of the shots which changed to different shots of the church and the graveyard. 

Media Languages Notes

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

1. Editing        2. Sound       3. Mise En Scene        4. Camera Work

Intro

• state production and what it was
• use words of the question  

Sound

• lyrics and song choice
• beat/rhythm (thought beats - vernallis
• Diagetic - church bells - helps narrative flow

Mise En Scene 

• Graveyard location - most iconic - enhances narrative and helps audience understand with visuals - Goodwin linking narrative concept 

C - costume

L - lighting

A - actors

M - make-up

P - props

S - settings

Editing

• Creating disorientation
• Starts slow
• high/ low angle shots - creates star profile 
• blinking
• dramatic pace change 
• fast chorus -  thought beats - enhance audience engagement 
• quick transitions convey pressure and confusion to audience

S - Screen Time

T - Transitions

O - Order of Narrative

P - Pace

Audience Notes

Analyse one coursework production in relation to concept of audience (25 marks) 

• Attracting audience - how?
• Targeting audience - who? - Gender/age/class/hobbies & interests
• Audience Feedback
• 2 theories - uses and gratification & vernallis & Goodwin & Blumler + Katz

Intro

• cross promotional package - digipak, website and music video for new artist
• launching new advertising campaign, must be clear
• target audience 
• social demographic model 

1. E - underclass 
2. D - working class
3. C - teachers, sales assistants
4. B - managerial roles
5. A - CEO's & Executives

• Students on little income - compared to adults 

Main

• Camera - how did it attract target audience? 
• Editing - how did it attract target audience? 
• Sound - how did it attract target audience? 
• Mise En Scene - how did it attract target audience? 
• How did a real audience react to your product?

Conclusion

• How important it is to consider your audience in depth and how this changed// affected your production overall

Post Productions Notes

After filming

• image manipulation 
• video-editing (from cutting shots and placing them onto the timeline to all special effects) 
• creating and editing titles and graphics 
• Sound production
• Sound and video mixing

Skills 

• adding transitions 
• organising clips on timeline
• using particular effects

• Digipak
• Website (Wix)
• Editing

Research and Planning Notes

Research

• Genre 
• Semiotics                              - Real media products
• Theory
• Conventions                                                            *increased detail in A2

Ancillary Texts

• Conventions 
• Content
• Photos 
• Layout
• Font Style 

Primary Research 

• Audience (Q4 yr 12 + Q3 yr 13)
• Institution/ Distribution

Skills Research

• Premiere - YouTube tutorials
• After Effects
• Trial & Error (Wix website creation)

Planning 

• Storyboard
• Location recce
• Shooting Schedule 
• Props
• Costumes