SPECIMEN ANSWERS TO HELP STRUCTURE RESPONSE TO THE 3 QS
Evaluate the opportunities and threats offered to media industries by online distribution.
[50 marks]
The emergence of web 2.0 has had a major effect on production and consumption. In terms of the media industries and distribution it is the age of the ‘Prosumer’, a term coined by David Gauntlett which referred to Web 2.0 and how much easier it is to both make and consume. Julian McDougall states that contemporary media, thanks to Web 2.0, has become “more about the people, less about the media”. So how much has actually changed between the off-line and online age and what is the impact on media industries. I will discuss this topic relating to theorists in the cases of Music and of Film.
It is crucial to the understanding of consumer behaviour, distribution and the impact of Web 2.0 to understand media consumption in the off-line age. This was also called Web 1.0 and was the generation of ‘push media’ information and the media was distributed my ‘Media Gods’ to the little people – the audience.
Producers
Audiences were limited to what and when they consumed media. They used TV guides and cinema listings to find out what and when they could consume – almost as if they were being dictated to by the institutions. It was virtually impossible for consumers to produce, then to share and have their product seen by millions; they were reliant on distributors. However, due to Web 2.0 this has changed. Thanks to streaming sites such as Netflix, YouTube and Spotify audiences have more opportunity to consume these platforms and provide more freedom for the audience to consume. Not only freedom but more choice of what to consume. Now information is distributed like this as well using features such as the cloud and information can be found all around us.
Collaborative and Participatory culture was suggested by Henry Jenkins, who built his theory off the back of David Gauntlett who examined Web 2.0 and creativity. He highlighted emerging trends within audiences to share, produce and collaborate together online. A perfect example of this would be fundraising for the recent Nepal Earthquake Appeal. Web 2.0 has enabled there to be a donating platform for the last few months, providing people across the globe a chance to help. Some people, without the internet, wouldn’t even know about the earthquake and so would not help. However, due to Web 2.0, the distribution of this information has been able to spread to each corner of the earth, connecting those who have access to the internet and who want to help. Without Web 2.0 this wouldn’t have been possible. But with, people have been able to work together and further, and will be able to create and share innovative ideas.
Specific industries have been affected by Web 2.0 such as the Film and Music industries. Technical convergences such as the iPad and iPhone have drastically changed how media is produced and consumed. Whereas once people had to remain indoors and consume media from either the TV or computers, now everything is wireless. This gives the audience more freedom to consume whenever they want using the hardware and software of Web 2.0. This impacts distribution as the audience becomes wider and more vast than ever before. Films are no longer just films. There is hype about the movie months, and sometimes years, before it’s release – with online discussion forums, fan made trailers and interviews with the actors and producers are watched. An example of this is the fandom behind ‘Game of Thrones’. The fans do all of the above using platforms such as YouTube or forums such as Reddit that allow discussion on chosen subjects meaning the distribution of the media has been greatly expanded by Web 2.0.
The music industry, just like film, now has an audience that consumes less of more. Chris Anderson proposed the theory of the Long Tail, which refers to niche genres and their availability. An example how this changed in the online age is that in the off-line age niche genres in music and film would be denied shelf space. However due to sites such as Amazon and HMV they can have unlimited cyberspace to store all products, including those that are niche. Distribution has therefore benefitted vastly as there are more places to both distribute from and to.
However there are critics to the world of Web 2.0 that highlight some undeniable flaws. David Gauntlett for one disagrees with the Long Tail theory as he believes niche products still have to be searched for with all the mainstream products that are flooding the market. Charles Leadbitter also agrees that participatory culture is flawed. He believes that mass sharing can have a detrimental impact on democracy or how businesses are able to survive. However, what will happen to Hollywood? It is pointed out by Tapscott and Williams that there is still demand for credible content such as 3D and CGI. These sorts of products will continue to be made in the future as they are difficult to pirate – therefore distribution of film to cinemas will survive in a physical format.
In terms of opportunities and threats of the online age to media industry distribution, I believe that both will make the progression of distribution ultimately better. In the future I believe that the changes will become more radical e.g. google glass allowing more people to easily distribute their own products. David Gauntlett suggests that the media landscape has changed forever. Audiences and producers now don’t have top be one or the other. Everyone can be both – ‘Prosumers’.
A range of relevant theories are applied to a range of contemporary case studies across the scope of the debate. A critical perspective is taken and the candidate comes to an informed academic conclusion.
Mark Awarded: 43/50 marks – The answer would be improved by greater fluency across the whole response and by balancing the argument a little more consistently, hence a lower level 4 mark is awarded.
In Question 1(a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.
Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by your understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to demonstrate how this developed over time.
[25 marks]
Real media texts were an essential influence for both my AS and A2 productions. They allowed for an understanding of the conventions of the genre, for example, as well as a form of inspiration. My use of real media texts progressed from copying to inspiration. My group and I produced a teen drama film opening for the film ‘Consequences’ and dance music ideas for the song ‘My Head is a Jungle’.
At AS we researched into film openings by watching them on YouTube. By watching the openings for ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Attack the Block’ we found the genre conventions of a male protagonist and an urban setting. Thus our film opening follows these conventions, being set in urban backstreets and having a male protagonist. In addition, we found that dramas often have a flash forward beginning, for example ‘Trainspotting’. This flash forward was recreated in our opening by beginning with the teen boy running away from something. Specific shot types such as a close up of feet came from watching ‘Trainspotting’s’ chase scene. In addition, the use of titles came from watching various film opening titles on ‘Art of the Title’ and thus we produced titles similar to ‘This is England’ by using plain white writing so as not to distract from the action. At AS, the final product was heavily influenced by real media texts.
At A2, the music video brief meant that our research of real media texts had to be much more extensive. We watched videos of the dance genre on ‘You Tube’ such as Clean Bandit -‘Real Love’- and ZHU -‘Faded’. However, watching videos of the genre led us to note the different forms of performance and narrative. Therefore, we had to research further
into videos of these types as the concept of real media was much less genre defined at A2. Thus like Clean Bandit – ‘Rather Be’, our music video was a combination of performance and narrative as we understood this was a new and creative type of music video that is more contemporary. In addition, we watched videos outside of the genre whereas we didn’t do this sort of research at AS. Having watched REM –‘Bad Day’ and Madonna –‘Material Girl’ we found that intertextuality is common in videos. Therefore we applied this to our music video. We researched outside of music videos into other media texts, which we didn’t do at AS. We watched media texts that we found from research, that the audience would enjoy.
Thus our music video became inspired by real media texts like ‘Alice in Wonderland’. This is shown in our music video in overlays of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ type footage as well as mise-en-scene such as playing cards and giant mushrooms. The narrative also closely parallels that of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with an Alice-like protagonist. Therefore at A2 level, the use of real media texts became more complex. We did still use the basic conventions, for example varying shot types and contrasts that we had seen in Aluna George – ‘You know you like it’ with a close up next to a long shot repeated in our performance. However on top of these basic conventions came more advanced and varied use due to the complexity of music videos as well as the professional standard expected.
At A2 the brief required us to produce ancillary products of a digipak and website. Thus we had more use of real media texts than at AS. We found on real websites, the importance of interactivity, for example the competition on the ‘Chase and Status’ website. We created our own competition on our website to mirror this. In addition, we found basic conventions such as a ‘tour’ page on the Disclosure and Clean Bandit websites which provided the audience with purchasing opportunities. Thus we created our own tour page and widget on the homepage. We also looked
at common places for Dance acts to perform and so placed a concert at ‘Fabric’, similar to the one of Disclosure. The digipak was also influenced by real media texts. From looking at other debut albums such as Ellie Goulding – ‘Lights’ and ‘Katy B’ we found that a focal image of the artist allows for a creation of star identity. Thus we applied this to our digipak, having the focal image of the band on the front cover. The more basic conventions such as tracklisting also centred on the basic and were in plain legible font. Furthermore, at AS synergy was not a concept we had to consider with the one product. However this was essential at A2. We looked at the campaign of ‘Disclosure’ and found they had used a face graphic on all three products. Thus we used powder point on all three: during ‘a fight’ in the video, on the font of the digipak and on the banner on the website.
Overall, real media texts became a huge part of our understanding of professional media products. Their use was essential at AS, but became more advanced and widely researched at A2, helping up produce an incredibly professional product for the brief.
This response is detailed across both AS and A2 in equal measure, offering very strong application of media theory with specific relevance for how conventions have been used, with a very clear sense of progress from the imitation to inspiration. This response meets all level 4 criteria.
Mark Awarded: 25 marks – very little could improve this script.
In Question 1(a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.
Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by your understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to demonstrate how this developed over time.
[25 marks]
Over the course of my two years Media A level, I have developed skills that have impacted on the creative decisions within the products that I produced. In AS I produced a front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine and in A2 I produced a music video, digipak and website. I will discuss my progression in pre-production, production and post production concerning the real media texts I created.
In AS, research and planning into the forms and conventions of my genre ‘indie’ was done by looking at real media texts such as music magazines. I used a range of magazines, such as Kerrang and NME. to build my knowledge of the conventions. I found that the masthead must be eye catching and placed at the top of the page of my front cover therefore in my product I made my masthead bold, electric blue and highlighted white around the edges to help it stand out against a dark background. Another thing I found out that the front cover was lit on the artist however dark around the edges to create the illusion that the artist was coming out of the page and also to get rid of dead space where there were no sell lines. Due to having real media texts to hand, I was able to stick to the media forms and conventions of the ‘indie’ genre. However my research and planning developed dramatically in A2.
Rather than looking for forms and conventions to follow, to produce my products that I needed, I wanted to engage with what my target audience expected to see in the ‘indie’ pop genre and what the audience themselves liked and disliked. I did this using an online blogging site, tumblr, which enables you to search hashtags to do with the genre of my choice eg ‘#indie’, ‘#pop’. I then created a blog myself to repost any image or text that was to do with the music or music artists to create a portfolio of my audience. From this research, I was able to impact upon my research greatly
as I found that most indie pop fans love travel. This then inspired me to use a travel sequence in my video. These real life media texts inspired me to produce a music video more for the audience rather than being stubborn with my own ideas.
Another way in which my research and planning was the use of real life media texts when analysing music videos. I listed all costume and set changes that occurred in three of the most popular indie pop videos e.g. One Republic – ‘Love runs out’, John Mayer – ‘Waiting on the world’ and Gavin DeGraw – ‘Best I ever had’. I also tallied how many cutaways there were in each and this impacted on my video in the way that I was able to keep up to the standards of professional music videos. I believe this research improved my work drastically.
In my AS Production I used my research into real media texts to prepare my sets, costumes, camera angles and location. For instance I used a tripod and a Canon camera to create a steady medium shot for my front cover image. I was able to buy the right costume for the artist I was shooting which was a plain white shirt with the legs of ‘The Midnight Beast’ on – who were also from the ‘indie’ genre so the image was enhanced with intertextual references. In A2 this developed due to my experiences with ‘A2 fortnight’ in which Jake Wynne, a music video director, analysed real media texts with us and highlighted points about lighting and acting that I’d never thought of. Previously I had only used lighting in front of the artist, however behind gave a beautiful gleam of light behind the artist giving it a much more professional look. Also acting was a major part of my production in A2, I encouraged my artist to be more expressive with gestures,
movements and to exaggerate motion so that it was captured well on camera. I believe that without the analysis of real media texts, my product wouldn’t have reached the standard to which I got – near professional.
In post production in AS I was quite limited as I was only able to use forms and conventions to edit my magazine using Photoshop and InDesign. In Photoshop I used the wand tool to select and transform sell lines around the image to enable them to fill the dead space and these were eye catching and like real media texts they were on an interesting subject. Also in InDesign I was able to get a degree of accuracy using their sectioned format for my double page spread text (article) which I exported into Photoshop to edit further. Real media texts taught me that accuracy was key in appealing aesthetically to the audience.
This again developed in A2 as I had a lot more freedom with editing and therefore meaning I could create within the video using certain footage just as the real media texts I had looked at had multiple signs and meaning in the video. For instance i used fast paced editing in the instrumental part of the song to highlight that the travelling was fast paced and exciting too. This link would hopefully affect the audience in a positive way. I also dropped in political messages such as – “if at first you don’t succeed – call an airstrike” to appeal to the more rebellious amongst the indie pop genre. This knowledge I think enriched my product and gave it a higher degree of meaning.
No improvements could be made at A2 level, this response meets all level 4 criteria. Mark Awarded: 25 marks – very little could improve this script.
In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework productions. Apply the concept of narrative to one of your coursework productions.
[25 marks]
Narrative is the way in which a story is created though a set of codes and conventions. Our music video had the story of a girl who ate a mysterious cupcake which transformed her into various fantasy worlds. This narrative crossed with the girl performing in her band the song, ‘My Head is a Jungle’.
Goodwin says that music videos are an ‘extension of the lyrics’. Having watched real media texts ‘Katy B – ‘Broken Record’, we noted the way the story was told through such things as repeating clips to portray the “broken record”. Our music video expressed the lyrics, for example, the lyric ‘jungle’ was demonstrated through the cross-cutting between different scenes in the narrative to show confusion. This was furthered through repeated close-ups of the girl looking confused over repetition of the word ‘jungle’. Furthermore, the concept of confusion over love was in the lyric ‘in a
dark room we fight, make up for our love’. Thus our music video creates disjuncture by showing a high key white room over the ‘dark lyric’ to accentuate the lyrics through stark contrast. The concept of escapism from this ‘love’ is presented through eating this magical cupcake. The cupcake becomes part of the narrative as an indexical sign for escape. The narrative parallels with that of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to use intertextuality to enhance narrative understanding. The concept of escape is furthered through the contrast between dark ordinary performance and the colourful tie dye and the powder paint in the narrative scenes. Thus our music video narrative can be seen as an extension of the lyrics.
Vernallis suggests that music videos are often fragmented in narrative. Our music video demonstrates this through fast paced choppy editing, changing scenes between a balloon party and a paint fight with no explanation. Furthermore , Vernallis suggests there will be gaps in audience ‘understanding of diegesis’.This can be applied to our music video as the girl transforms to new worlds within seconds, with no concept of time or space. Furthermore, through making the performance contain the protagonist and contrast with the narrative, the performance becomes part of the narrative furthering a lack of diegesis and the concept of space. The narrative remains fragmented demonstrated through the symmetrical narrative of paralleling the last close up of the girl with the first. This creates confusion over the narrative structure.
Despite being seen commonly as a film theory, Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium can be applied to our music video. The video begins in equilibrium of the girl exploring an ordinary room, and then goes into disruption. This is signified through the use of overlayed clips to present a blurred image. This disruption continues until the ending of returning to normality, having experienced her adventure. This structure helps the audience’s understanding of the otherwise fragmented narrative. However it can only be loosely applied as music video narratives tend to be more complex, and thus the symmetrical narrative is debatable as a new equilibrium. Roland Barthes theory of enigma codes can be applied. Our narrative leaves the question of why this happened and who the song was really about. There is no explanation for transforming between the balloon and paint scenes, thus creating enigma and enhancing the narrative as it raises questions. In addition, the cupcake itself can be seen as an enigma as its presence and abilities remain inexplicable.
Having received primary audience feedback (bb 24 females) we found that our narrative could be understood by the audience who could relate to the protagonist, possibly allowing alignment. Therefore I feel we created a successful narrative which allows application of theory, but is also the product of creativity.
The candidate provides a detailed and entirely relevant application of narrative theories to suitable examples from their production. The examples are clearly and consistently applied to specific features of their own work, which is treated as a media text for analysis, so the focus is on the completed text rather than the process, which is the focus of 1a.
Mark Awarded: 25 marks – very little could improve this script.
In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework productions. Apply the concept of narrative to one of your coursework productions
[25 marks]
For my A2 coursework I created a music video based on the ‘indie pop’ genre. I used a narrative/performance based structure to my video. I will discuss how I have applied theory to my video.
Allan Rowe believed that narrative was all about the audience questioning what was next in the sequence. He discussed how narrative was to surprise or frustrate expectations from the audience. Within my video I applied this as there was a constant movement throughout highlighting new experiences as the narrative took its journey in the video. The narrative is of a solo artist on tour in America experiencing new things. Therefore I was able to apply Allan Rowe’s theory in my video as the audience was in a state of constant suspense waiting to discover the next place he will visit. E.g. the artist is seen walking then it pans up to the Las Vegas sign.
This also applies to Todorov’s theory of ‘equilibrium – disequilibrium – new equilibrium’. I, however, challenged this by only applying the equilibrium and new equilibrium to my video. I achieved this by creating a constant journey of positive experiences in my video, for example the artist is seen travelling and enjoying the adventure, then a girl appears which therefore enhances his joy in his travel as love starts to enter his journey. Following this the artist is seen within the final part of the track to be at their most reflective and hugely spectacular place – The Grand Canyon. These step by step experiences are shown throughout my video and doesn’t include dis-equilibriums to keep the video happy, upbeat and fun like the track within it.
Another theorist I can apply is Roland Barthes and his ideas on narrative codes. I specifically used Barthes ideas in his work on semiotics – I used signs and symbols and cultural referencing. The symbols and signs I used throughout were highlighting love and art. For example, in my video there are two quick pan-ins into graffiti art saying, “Love peace & hope” and the masses of art and colour on a wall in San Francisco. These two themes were chosen to be highlighted throughout as the genre indie pop concentrates on love being an important factor in life and also an expression of art. I also used cultural references showing a wide shot of a San Francisco landscape, Las Vegas sign, skateboarders in LA.
Vladimir Propp also applies to my video as he describes character types and functions that go to make up a narrative. In my video there is a parallel of two sets of characters, the girl and the boy and the street performers. Both of these sets highlight characters that are searching for happiness and fulfilment in their own way – be it through travel and companionship or through love of dancing/music. I wished to highlight these as my character functions due to my audience being expressive and independent.
Overall, I believe that the application of these theorists has given my video more depth in relation to my audience through narrative. Also my skills have developed as a producer as I now think of these theorists when it comes to planning and research to appeal to my audience and make a successful product.
A range of relevant theories of narrative are applied to the candidate’s own production with a selection of useful and illustrative, specific examples. The text is analysed conceptually, so a clear distinction in approach from 1a is made.
Mark Awarded: 22 Marks - for higher/full marks, the cultural references in the text discussed here would need to be more explicitly connected to narrative theory.
