1B Media Language

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of Media Language

Media Language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience. The concept of media language played a significant role in my A2 coursework which was to produce a music video. The music video was performance style centred around a young female artist who we named Nova, the genre was pop, therefore we featured her dancing and used mise en scene to create a cool vibe which was modern and would attract out target audience of teenage girls. We used editing, camera, mise en scene and sound to present media language. 

Mise en scene was heavily used throughout the duration of the music video in order to convey the style and meaning of our media language to our audience. Nova is a fun loving artist who is also very stylish and edgy we used multiple costume changes to portray her love for fashion as well as using colourful props such as glow sticks and neon balloons to show her fun side. We used Bathes theory of semiotics which suggests there will be codes to represent a meaning of a text which can either be open or closed. We used his idea of an active audience which is an audience that interprets the media text for themselves. This is because our style of music video is performance and therefore does not carry a narrative story this means its not clear for the audience to interpret. Therefore the audience is left to create their own interpretation through the use of representations. Our performance video did however portray themes of pop through the use of the song and colour as well as Nova dancing. Clearly portraying the media text as modern and pop.

We also used camera angles and shots to help portray the star image of Nova as a strong independent female artist,  this was shown through her being the only person in the video which gave her all screen time and all the attention from the audience. We used low angle shots looking up at Nova which made her look empowering, confident and strong creating a role model figure for her audience. This was an important media language to portray as Nova is suppose to represent a successful young women who is a role model for younger girls as she stands up for equal rights for women and encourages young girls to follow their passions. One shot that exaggerates this media text was a 360 degree shot panning round Nova which gives the sense she is standing her ground and gives her importance as she is the focal point rather than her surroundings, reinforcing the powerful female image. 

The use of sound also significantly contributed to our media language. The whole music video was to the song Nostalgia by NAO which fits into the genre of pop/R&B/Soul. The majority of editing was in time to the song which helped portray the element of pop as the visuals were in time to the music. At the end of the video the song faded out thus showing that the video was coming to an end.

Finally, the process of editing was also used to covey the meaning of media language. We used warp stabilizer to make the shots smooth and consistent portraying Nova was a stable and confident artist. We also used Zoom to make Nova fill more of the screen and come across as bigger than her surrounding again exaggerating her empowerment and star image as the audience has no where else to look other than at Nova. We also used the effects such as reverse and mirror to create a sense of fun, which can reflect Nova’s outgoing fun loving personality. As well as creating the star image we also used colour correction to put a purple/pink tint over the whole video this created a cool retro/ pop feel which helped to convey the genre of music video. 

In conclusion, the significance of media language was very import in relation to our music video as it allowed us to convey messages and representations within our music video such as the genre of pop and the strong female representation of Nova.

1B Representation

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of Audience

Representation is the way someone or something is portrayed in a particular way.  Within my AS coursework of a film opening called 'Untamed' representation was crucial throughout, we showed representations of Gender, class and age. Our film opening was based on teen drama with the story following a teenage girl named Aubrey and the contrasting relationship she had with her mother Carol. These two main characters showed clear opposition and conflict through their views and different generations, Carol struggles to accept Aubrey as a troubled vulnerable teenager and does not understand her rebellious actions. 

When analysing representations for our teen drama film we looked at similar films such as Blue is the warmest colour and perks of being a wallflower this gave us an insight into how representations of teenagers are portrayed. We noticed that they often showed a stereotypical group of teenagers such as a group of young girls on their phones texting, taking pictures of themselves and then contrasting this with an image of a teenager that was different from the stereotype. We learnt from this research that representations were portrayed through not only costumes but camera angles, lighting, sound and the use of editing. 

In Untamed our main representation was age. We used Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites which suggests conflict is based around opposition amongst characters and that this results in the central climax of a narrative structure. We conformed to this theory as we used Carol and Arbury to represent our binary opposition. The opposition represented to the audience can be seen through the appearance of the characters. Aubrey is seen drunk walking home at night from a party, she has a scruffy appearance with messy hair and makeup wearing oversized baggy clothes, she comes across as young naive and vulnerable. In contrast Carol is  sober and at home waiting for Aubrey she is portrayed as a middle class white women with her tidy appearance her hair is tightly pulled back and she is wearing a dressing own whilst sitting on a leather sofa in their luxury decorated living room. Not only did we represent these characters through mise on scene we also used various Camera angles. When Aubrey arrives home to have an argument with her mum, we show the camera looking up at Carol to create a since of authority and empowerment when Aubrey talks we then used a camera angle looking down on her, this represents her as weak and inferior to her mother Carol. Using camera angles, we were able to represent the stereotype that Parents know best and hold all the power and decision making whilst teenagers are less significant and don’t have a say. Therefore, this shows how we conformed to the negative stereotypical drunk and reckless teenage image.

To represent Aubrey as a reckless and unstable teenager we also used camera movement, in the scene where Aubrey runs away we used a hand-held camera which made the footage shaky and unstable representing her character as rebellious and unstable. We also used editing techniques such as blur and blackout to show the representation of Aubrey drunk and unaware of her surroundings. In contrast when filming Carol we used a tripod to create still and smooth footage representing that she is a stable character.

The second theorists we studied was Angela McRobbie who focuses her work on gender roles within the media and suggests that we are heavily influenced by how the media tells us to behave. She states that men are usually portrayed as strong and powerful whilst women are submissive and weak in comparison. In some aspects we did conform to her theory Carol was a stay at home mother which could perhaps portray how she is financially dependent on her husband giving her a representation of being weak.  However, we also subverted to this theory as were no male characters used in our film opening which gives all screen time to women creating a sense of empowerment. 

The final theorist studied was Mulvey in which her theory suggests women are represented as a 'male gaze' and that men simply view women for their own pleasure. We subverted to this theory as both female characters were strong independent women in their own ways with strong views and voices. Both characters were dressed non-provocatively which meant the concept of the male gaze was avoided. The women in our film opening were represented with their own voices and intelligence which showed they had more than just their bodies to provide entertainment to a film. 

In conclusion, research into these theories enabled us to gain a deeper understanding into representations and how they are formed. This helped us to develop representations in our film opening.

1B Audience Essay

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of Audience

Within media the audience are the people who view and listen to your work. Throughout the construction of my A2 coursework which included a Music Video, Digipak, website and merchandise, etc,  the concept of audience held a significant role. We undertook target audience analysis and once we had established a target audience for our artist we constantly carried out research to see what would attract them to our media products not only did we do this but we also gathered extensive feedback from our target audience through Surveys, Big screen viewings, online questionaries’ and interviews. This helped us to reflects on the ways in which we tried to capture our audience through what they liked and suggestions they felt we could have improved on. 

The Artist we created was NOVA a young female artist who was edgy and into fashion she was also a feminist and a strong independent women which made her a role model to younger girls. The music video was to the song "Nostalgia" by NAO which has a retro pop vibe. After establishing the artist and song we felt the target audience would be primarily aimed towards teenage girls aged between 16 to early 20s. We then researched similar artists who had the same target audience to see what their music videos included, for example we looked at Dua Lipa 'New Rules' and various Miley Cyrus music videos. We saw that the videos included dancing and elements of fun and pop through the use of their colourful locations and wanted to incorporate this into our music video. 

We used Mise en scene to capture our target audience for example Nova had a variety of outfit changes showing her love for fashion which young girls can connect with. We also used colourful props such as neon glow sticks, fairy lights and balloons to capture our audience through the use of bright colour. When it came to editing we also used colour correction to implement a purple/pink tint over the music video this is stereotypically a "girls colour" which would also help to capture our audience. We used quick cuts in time to the music which made the music video come across as fun which would make you want to dance this was also extended upon in shots where Nova is seen dancing making the audience want to dance along with her. We used a variety of camera angles facing up at Nova to create a sense of empowerment and star image, it created the concept that Nova was a strong independent female which her audience would aspire to. This links to the Effects Model which states that the media presented will have an influence on the audience, we used the concept of this model to portray a positive text.

Once our final music video was complete the final target audience feedback was extremely positive many felt the video captured them and would watch it again, the improvement feedback suggested we could have used more locations after reflecting on this was agreed that if we had more time we would have used more locations such as a drama studio where we could have used the space to show more dancing to really attract our audience.

Our other media products also were constantly aimed at our target audience for example the merchandise consisted of colours such as baby pink, white and purple. our digipak and website also showed Nova to be centre of attention creating female empowerment and a successful artist for young girls to look up to.

In order to gain deeper understanding into the concept of Audience we looked at theorists such as Blumer and Katz that suggest audiences want media products that gratify particular needs such as entertainment. This helped us to understand how our Audience are intrigued by our music video, which connects with them to our artist’s music, overall providing them with their need of entertainment. For example, we kept our audiences needs fulfilled not only through our music video but through our interactive website and social media platforms such as twitter and Instagram which meant the audience could feel some sort of connection to Nova as we would tweet about what she was up to and release interviews that her fans could send in questions. We also released teaser trailers for our audience in order build hype and excitement around the release of the music video.

In conclusion, the main aim behind the music video was for it to be successful with our target audience. Therefore, the concept of audience was vital throughout the construction of our media products as was the feedback we received. We overall learnt that there were many detailed aspects to 'audience' which we would not have considered prior.

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