Exam paper - June 2011

SECTION A

a) Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time. 

b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience.

Theorists

AUDIENCE
Metz (1975) - "No one is forced to go to the cinema and pay for a ticket, but without that income there would be no money to make the next film. So a system has to be set up where the consumer has a desire to visit the cinema and pay for a ticket."

Ien Ang - "It is not surprising that a need is felt within the institution to 'catch', 'capture' or 'lay hold of an audience'. Audiences must be constantly seduced, attracted and lured."

Marcuse - The mass media defined the way people think about the world (Bennett 1982)
He thought that the media, the advertisers and institutions work together to quieten any opposition to the dominant system, to the way things are.

Dennis McQuail argues that a persons circumstances, social and psychological will influence a persons media habits, beliefs and expectations about what the media offers, and may well assess the usefulness of it and take that forward for further media consumption

Maslow - Hierachy of Needs say that we need in friendship social intimacy, to help with issues around personal identity and social identity.

GENRE

Steve Neale (1980) 'genres are instances of repetition and differences'

Todorov (cited in Gledhil 1985) 'any instances of a genre will be necessarily different'

Use Laceys repertoire of elements, setting, character, narrative, iconography and style. But also said that genres are not fixed but dynamic and changing over time. This is bait similar to Burtons six elements which are Protagonists, Stock Characters, Plot and Stock Situations, Icons, Background and Decor themes.

Gledhill (1985) there are 'no rigid rules of inclusion and exclusion'

Chandler (2000) it is difficult to make clear cut distinctions between one genre and another: genres overlap. and there are ;mixed genres' such as comedy thrillers.

Rick Altmen (1999) in his book Film/Genre suggested that there was two ways to look at genre, the semantic approach and the syntactic approach. The semantic is casing that here are certain signifiers that suggest genre such as the with conventions of characters, locations, props, shooting style, music and other signifiers. The syntactic approach is about the relations between these elements and also narrative structure.

David Buckingham - 'Genre is not simply given by the culture, rather, it is in a constant process of negiotation and change'

Bennett, Slater & Wall (2006) - 'Genre is an important tool in supporting our understanding of the nature of media texts, how they are produced and how they are consumed'

SECTION B

"Discuss how one or more groups of people are represented through the media."

YOUTH

Historical - 

Bullet Boy (2004)

This is England (2006)

Quadrophenia (1979)

Contemporary - 

Uwantme2killhim (2013)

Ill Manors (2012) 

The London Riots (2011) 

Collective identity is the shared sense of belonging to a group who share a set of traditions and values, which forms part of their personal identity. Often, media representations of young people are negative and judgemental, conveyed in media products such as the historical films Bullet Boy (2004), This is England (2006) and Quadrophenia (1979), a contemporary film Uwantme2killhim (2013) and The London Riots (2011) in the news. 

Steve Anderson:
"Younger people are becoming a lot more empowered because of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging." - The London Riots were said to be planned through Blackberry Messenger. Ofcom statistics confirm how important instant messaging was for the teenage group: 72% of teenagers use smartphones for instant messaging – often never even touching web services or other social networks.

Gerbner's Cultivation Theory:

This theory examines the long-term effects of television. Those who consume a lot of TV will overestimate the amount of crime taking place in the world. The London Riots support this theory, along with other criminal based film aired on television. An audience effect; any one text has minimal impact on the audience, but watching the same thing again and again will change their opinions. Those behind the production of these media products are typically adults, presenting to the audience their views on the youth - usually negative, which is a biased opinion. Gramsci quotes...

Merin (2005) - Mediation to make a story more interesting, to sell a paper, to generate sales, so sometimes they lie to make an article more intriguing. 

reinforces

GENDER

The average percentage of female reporters is 22.6 in comparison to male reporters 77.4 (source guardian 2011)

Gramsci: 1966 Fairy Liquid 

The world is run by a very small elite group of people who wish to maintain their powerful position in the media. This is hegemony; the political, economic, or control of one state over others. The 1966 Fairy Liquid advert 

In 1966, Fairy Liquid released an advert in which conforms to gender stereotypes of females and complies with patriarchal representations of a female as either the sex object or the domesticated woman. The advert presents a maternal, domesticated woman who wanted to keep her house clean, yet at the same time look beautiful. The use of the mother and young daughter in the advert implies that the youngster is learning about the domestic chores through questioning her mother. She represents the next generation of female who will be taking on the role as the domestic women. Gramsci argues that the world is run by a small group of people to make sure they keep their position. Therefore, if the small group running the media industry decide that woman should be position in the kitchen, they will maintain this image through the media by continuously making sure women are domesticated. This adverts domesticating woman have not seemed to change over the years. The Bosch image of their '125 Years Of Evolution' displays a women standing alongside a washing machine in every single evolution with no male in sight. From 1886 to 2011, woman have constantly been placed in the kitchen to conform to the stereotypes of woman being domesticated objects.

Question 1B - Apply the concept of genre to one of your coursework productions

Genre Theory

Jean Baudrillard;

Hyperreality is a kind of social reality in which a reality is created or simulated from models - its a reality generated from ideas. Hyperreality refers to something being too perfect and schematic to be true. 

Steve Neale;
Declares that "genres are instances of repetition and difference" (Neale, 1980, 48). "Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre" (Neale 1980)


Tzvetan Todorov;
Argued that "any instance of a genre will be necessarily different" (cited in Gledhill 1985, 60)

Lacey;
considers that there are a "repertoire is elements" that work together to suggest genre and that these are a useful framework to use for analyse; setting, character, narrative, iconography and style. But did not see genre as fixed but as dynamic and changing over time.

GledHill;
There are no "rigid rules of inclusion and exclusion" (Gledhill 1985). "Genre… are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items" (Gledhill 1985)

Chandler;
It is difficult to make clear cut distinctions between one genre and another; genres overlap, and there are "mixed genres" such as comedy thinners (Chandler 2000)

Burtons Six Elements;
Burton suggests that each text in a given genre shares particular key elements to make up generic formula, these include: Protagonists, Stock, Characters, Plots and Stock, Situations, Icons, Background and Decor, Themes.

Apply the concept of genre to one of your coursework productions

This essay will be written based on the product of my film opening in relation to genre, which was produced in the first year of my media course. The genre for this film opening was a romance movie, as this was a genre I was interested in learning more about. Daniel Chandler (2001) details that the word genre comes from the word for 'kind' or 'class''. The term is widely used in rhetoric, literacy theory, media theory to refer to a 'distinctive type of text'. However, this is not fixed, and so hybrids of genres can be formed. This is the jointing of more than one genre, for example: a comedy and romance movie is more commonly known as a 'Rom-Com'. Hybrids are a great method of targeting to a larger audience, as both comedy and romance film audiences will come together to watch a Rom-Com film. This of course creates a larger profit. All genres have a sub-genre, a genre within a genre. This means that they are divided up into specific categories. Barry Keith Grant (1995) suggests that this allows audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and what becomes recognisable characteristics.

Prior to producing this product, I obviously had to research a lot about the genre conventions for romance and decide whether to conform or to challenge particular conventions. Steve Neale declares that "genres are instance of repetition and difference" (Neale 1980, 48), which means that the product should consist of generic features in which are constantly repeated throughout in order for the product to be recognised by existing target audiences. However, "difference" implies that these convention also need to be challenged, in order to make films of the same genre different to one another. Otherwise, all films of the same genre will become repetitive and audiences would know what to expect, it takes away the excitement and engagement from the audience. As I was only creating a two minute film trailer, I decided not to challenge genre conventions. Although I obviously wanted my product to differ from existing products, I felt that the first two minutes are whats going to attract and engage the audience into watching the entire film. Therefore challenging convention within the first two minutes, runs the risk of audiences getting confused as to what genre of film they're watching. Establishing the genre was required in the film opening scene, it is going to allow consumers to immediately know whether this is the type of film they would be into; they will either turn it off or continue watching the film.

Editing and Mise-en-scene is significant to genre as it reflects very quickly the certain moods and atmospheres within the film, hence why things such as 'props' were important. The obvious things such as: a Christmas tree, fairy lights, candles and just the colour red screams the word 'Christmas'; therefore the audience can easily recognise the Christmas season. The candles actually add such a romance feel to the film, there's just something so soothing about a candle burning. The editing of Our Last Christmas contained multiple 'cross dissolves' between each shot in order to have a soft transition which every romance movie involves. Every shot was fairly long to keep the slow pace throughout. An example of a romance film containing a slow pace with soft transitions is The Holiday, it definitely set the atmosphere of romance. A vast majority of romance films follow the romantic journey of a young, female lead character. The reason behind this is that stereotypically, the female sex dominant the romance audience; therefore they are most likely to relate to actions or behaviour by the lead character. This hence emotionally connects audiences to the film. Our Last Christmas has a young female character whom dominants the screen time throughout the entire opening; informing audiences that they're looking at the main character of the film. We left her to be typically girly, owning a diary, the bright colour scheme in her room and the pictures of her and friends placed on her bedroom walls. Stereotypically, girls or even teenagers are known for being a little aggressive; hence why Amira (the main character) threw her diary across the room after a close up of her looking quite distressed. The intention for Amira was to be a 'normal female teenager', allowing audiences to emotionally connect and relate to her.

When considering the soundtrack for my film opening, along with the genre, I intended to have something quite subtle which would ease the audience into a gentle loving romance movie. The song we used was the non lyrical version of Jingle Bells, which was released in 1857; a song that would establish the genre as a Christmas movie as it is the ultimate Christmas classic known by everybody. I blended the shot of Ameerah turning down the music to sync with the soundtrack as it faded out and into a brand new tune along with her narration. While I was doing my timed analysis' I noticed that narration was a technique used in all romance film openings that I researched to introduce the characters and provide their personal backstory. This narration would often create the foundation for the relationships shared between certain characters, such as introducing the protagonists love interest. Therefore, it was necessary for me to include this in my film opening. As the love story of Ameerah and Bruno comes to life in the second flashback, the beat of the soundtrack becomes more positive and hopeful 

Genre places a media text into a grouping, giving it an identity recognised by the mainstream society and I believe that my product is successfully fitted into the romance genre by the way in which it is constructed.

G325 Exam Prep - Section A

Identify digital technologies that you have used to construct media texts in year 1 and year 2 - what new techniques have you learnt in year 2.

Premiere Pro - Luma Curve, three way colour corrector, brightness - how to cut clips, clone clips, speed up clips, reverse clips, stop motion etc.
iMovie - AS - Piecing together  a short sequence of clips
InDesign - A2 - To create my web pop up -
iPiccy - to create my logo
Photoshop - AS

ATTACK THE BLOCK 

1) George Gerbner came up with the Cultivation Theory. Stan Cohen - Moral panic, deviance amplification by the media. David Gauntlett "identity is not 'given' but is constructed and negotiated"
2) The producers present the youth through their ideas as they are adults, so they look down on the youth in a negative light. yet use the adult characters in the movie to present the youth in a more of heroic way, portraying how not all youth are reckless and can also get along with a grown up.
3) I don't fully agree with Buckingham's statement because the youth were presented in the end as normal friendly boys just out for some action like their video games, they didn't mean harm in the end, even though they did in the beginning. The plot transformed them as people.
4) The youth saved the woman they originally mugged, conveying their transformation.
5&6) The media provided the tools to the audience to construct the identity of the youth, such as their weapons, their language and their low quality lifestyle, therefore I agree with Gauntlett's statement.
7) Also, the youth had their own humorous personalities which made them appear more normal and friendly, allowing the audience to judge each character based on the way they were as a person and not just on how they acted and treated others (in the beginning)

Exam

Explain what is meant by 'collective identity' and the role of media in its construction?

Collective Identity is the individuals sense of belonging to a group, which forms part of their personal identity, and the idea is that through participating in social activities, in this case watching films and TV, that individuals can gain a sense of belonging and in essence an 'identity' that transcends the individual. Often, media representations of young people are negative and judgemental, conveyed in media products such as the historical films Bullet Boy, This is England and Quadrophenia and the London Riots on the news. The age range for people who are grouped in the category 'youth' are typically aged between 12-21 years old. The youth are often being presented as reckless and troublesome in contemporary media texts, with a rise in the creation of urban and underclass crime genre products being created to focus on those who live more of an unfortunate lifestyle in the poorer areas of the UK e.g. London. 

Firstly, not all youths out there mirror the image that is portrayed in films such as Bullet Boy, This is England and Quadrophenia as these are media products that resemble a dangerous and violent stereotype of young people. The youth aren't in control of the production of these movies, adults are, which supports the fact that representations of the youth have been altered to suit the fears and concerns that society has towards this group of people. George Gerbner came up with the Cultivation Theory, where he looked into people who watched a lot of TV specifically and said that these people over estimate the amount of crime in the real world. By consuming a lot of media products people will over estimate the violence in the world - one that we need protecting from. There has been an increase in the negative type of representation of the youth, perhaps supported by the devastating London Riots involving young people in 2011. Cohen's 'Deviancy Amplification Spiral' theory supports this, as he suggests that new media texts about troubled youths are being created due to a 'media hype phenomenon' as a cycle of increasing numbers of reports occur concerning youths, leading to moral panic. Anyone who consumes these type of news reports will eventually begin to believe everything they're watching, convinced that the youth are nothing but a rebellious and out of control group in society. However, it wasn't just young people who were involved in this horrific chain of events, as adults also immersed themselves in contributing to the riots, yet the young people were given the responsibility for these crimes because of

However, it is evident in these movies that the youth represented in a negative light are those who live in the unfortunate states of London. All of the characters vary from school drop outs and being unemployed, with no responsibilities or ambition to succeed in life. They are portrayed to be violent people where a fight or a shooting is the answer to a problem. They are drama's for a reason - to create drama. It isn't reality. Find a group of young people from a more wealthy area and they'll most likely be in education, having fun and enjoying life. Not all youth are the same, it is extremely dependent on their upbringing. But creating a film on the reckless youth is a lot more exciting for an audience because a lot of action and plot twists are involved, so the producers are able to exaggerate their worries and fears towards young people by making them even more criminal than they believe.

Gramsci quoted that "mass media construct representations of youth from a middle class, adult perspective, for the ideological purpose of maintaining hegemony." Hegemony is the geopolitical method of indirect imperial dominance, with which the leader state rules subordinate states, being the most dominant group.

David Gauntlett "identity is not 'given' but is constructed and negotiated"

Stan Cohen - Moral panic, deviance amplification by the media

Exam - Section B

Media and collective identity

- How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic/social/collective groups of people in different ways?
- How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?
- What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?
- To what extent is human identity increasingly 'mediated'?

Fairy Liquid:
- Historical text, mum with bottle, explaining to daughter, showing how she will grow up to be like her mum - a domestic housewife.

Sexism - Gender representation (human identity increasingly mediated)
- Women not feeling safe around men
- Candidates may analyse the representation of and or the collective identity of one or more group(s) of people
- National cinema, television representations, magazines and gender, representations of youth and youth culture, post 9/11 representations of Islam, absence/presence of people with disability in two media.

Explanation/analysis/arguments (16-20 marks)

- Show examples of collective identity, analyse the example and show how it relates to media theory relating to representation and collective identity
- Explain the effects of media representations on individuals/or society as a whole

Must use historical (5 years old or greater) and contemporary texts (less than 5 years old)
- Must know dates of publish

Use of examples (16-20 marks)

"Ck-One" versus Calvin Klein 1994 advertisement of ck-One shows gender ambiguity

Examples of theories, texts and industry knowledge are clearly connected together in the answer. History and the future are integrated into the discussion with conviction

Use of terminology (8-10 marks)

You should use contemporary media theory and the command of the appropriate conceptual and theoretical language is excellent

SPELL CORRECTLY - CORRECT GRAMMAR

Exam Question

500 word illustrated essay

"Has the mediation of gender changed, does this reflect changes in society?"

http://www.slideshare.net/jphibbert1979/a2-media-exam?qid=518daa8c-62fb-41c6-a1b8-9abfb0618def&v=&b=&from_search=1

Mediation is the process of something being portrayed in a different light through the media that isn't true to reality. An example of this would be how women are edited through Photoshop for magazine covers, when in reality they do not appear as flawless and defined; they have been mediated.

Firstly, the mediation of gender has changed over time as men and women are adapting to the social changes that connect with their gender stereotype. Women used to be conveyed as housewives who looked after the children and completed all domestic tasks around the house whilst the men went off too work. An example of this would be the fairy liquid advert (1966) - Stereotypical mother figure, woman's placed in the kitchen (housewife), and the daughter is learning about it as the next generation will be doing the same things when she's older. In 1966 the use of maternal, domestic women - in an advert complies with patriarchal representations of a female as either the sex object or the domesticated woman. Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. 

Years ago, it would be seen as the social norm for women to act as the housewife at home with their children, preparing food for their husband's dinner when he returns home from a long day at work. This ideology has changed over time, as women have grown to become more independent and men have become more domesticated. In one of the most recent Ariel adverts, a man acts as the person who has just done the washing, conveying how easy it is to wash clothes by just 'chucking it in and pressing a button'. This is sarcastic humour, as it demonstrates how men take washing as a joke, whilst Ariel are advertising their product as being something that makes the washing easy, specifically for the men. Giddens talks about identity being a conscious activity. He says how traditionally we have found ourselves in clearly defined roles based on age, gender, sexuality. Nowadays, we have to work out these roles for ourselves. Society has therefore changed as a result of these types of adverts, because men are now undergoing activities that only women used to be a part of.

Gender

Males roles are changing over the years; they are embracing the roles that are more stereotypically associated with women such as cleaning and wearing aprons and drinking tea. The added cigarette could suggest that he isn't fully conforming to the roles of women, but is slowly adapting to the changes.

Women coming together and embracing their curves and their beauty, rejecting the stereotype of women having to be thin and toned and tanned to be worthy of being in an advert. Connects to the caption "real beauty" as there is no airbrushing or photoshop edits evident. 

This Nutella advert has changed over the 2 years from 2011 to 2013 - conveying how different ages are now embracing the spread, and it isn't just aimed at children.

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How men are represented in the media

Strong and masculine 

Father figure

Motivational role model

Masculinity is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

Strength - physical an intellectual

Power

Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)

Physique

Independence (of thought, actions and finances)

How women are represented in the media

Beautiful and elegant
Housewives/independant
Submissive

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

Beauty (within narrow conventions)
Size/Physique (again, within narrow conventions)
Sexuality (as expressed by the above)
Emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
Relationships (as opposed to indépendance/freedom)

Historically gender representations have been portrayed as binary positions.