Practice Exam Questions Plan[08/06/11]

1)

The audience seems expected to know about Facebook before seeing the movie/trailer. Opening sequences areall from facebook, its tools and the ways in which the audience would use it. Film uses what it is base on in order to promote itself to its target audience. Bulmar and Kattz - Used for information. Aucience wants to know the origins of facebook.

The whole trailer seems directed towards the audinece. words such as 'You're invited' engage the audience. As with Social network, audience is expected to have some previous knowledge of the harry potter series. Uses clips from the movie in lego format in order to help promote the game. Entertainment purposes. Allows audience to interact with the movie in a way they would have not been able to if just watching it. Allows audience to 'live' the movie themselves. Promotes interactive play with others 'play alone or with a friend'. Further promotes social networking through social network site's icons.

2)

Representations Practice Question[Carousel][08/06/11]

Media representations rarely challenge the dominant values of society, nor do they give a voice to those with little power. To what extent is this true for the group or place you have studied? why?

The above statement may be criticized through many movies recently released within hollywood, for example ‘The Pursuit Of Happyness.’ The main character, played by Will Smith, is one who may be seen to stray from all mainstream stereotypes of a black male, most of which may be seen to be negative. James Monaco stated that black actors would only be hired within a movies cast if the character they were asked to play was specifically black. These characters always came with stereotypes such as the brutal black buck or the remus portraying black males as being a danger to the success of those around them, unless they were under a white mans control. Will Smith’s character however is hard working and strives to be successful at all costs giving a positive light to black male representations. This view of him bringing positivity to black representations will be seen as the preferred reading from the movie’s directer, however his struggle to be successful and his willingness to obey every command from his white superiors may create an alternative reading, this being one which brings back a representation from early Black Hollywood; the uncle tom, as this character was usually a good slave, always obedient to his white master.

‘The Pursuit Of Happyness’ although generally being a positive movie, can be seen to have underlaying negative aspects to it in relation to African American success. Christopher Gardner (Will Smith), when compared to the predominantly white cast of characters around him, clearly works far harder to gain the success he eventually achieves. Although a black male working hard could be considered a positive reading, the fact that the black male is shown to have to work twice as hard and take twice as long to gain the same success level of his white counterparts is likely to be considered a negative aspect of the movie. This feature of the movie shows its audience how society’s views and workings have not changed as much as some may think it has since the late 70’s, and so sticking to the dominant views of society, although Christopher’s eventual success can be seen as the film giving a ‘voice’ to the minority group of African Americans.

In conclusion to this, it would be fair to say that media representations, although not happening all the time, do sometimes challenge the dominant views of a society. Black Hollywood has progressed significantly within the last few decades, moving black representations from slaves to heros within their films. As always, there is still areas in which the film industry must improve on in order to completely remove early stereotypes and to help give a voice to the minority’s, however it may be seen that this overthrow of old stereotypes and the creation of new ones will eventually lead to futuristic representations being used to challenge these current ones. By this we see that media is continuously progressing.

Representation: Teenagers[Skins][11/05/11]

1) Tony's Representation - May not be considered as a typical teen. Wake's up early morning with a tidy room with bed sheets in order. Begin with a close up of him in the bed, zooming out to reveal his bed sheets and the rest of his room.

2) Tony is a counter stereotype - Complete opposite to what we see as a stereotypical teen.

3) Teenage drama genre. Tony's representation as a teen fits into this. He is the main character.

4) Seems like it will unfold in the way most other teenage dramas tend to unfold. They make big plans, get drunk, get high, and the plans end up falling apart.

5) Opening shot used to reveal main character, also gives an idea of his character as he's up early and doesn't seem tired. Following shot shows him exercising. Typical thing for a teen to do in the morning?

6) Mise-en-scene - Extremely tidy room, bed sheets done up well, all clothes folded. Seems like a well sized house - shows his family are not poor or extremely wealthy - just an average family.

7) Sid's representation - Completely opposite to what we see of tony. He is lazy and doesn't wake up in the mornings, messed up room with clothes on the floor and used plates everywhere. Also he is a virgin whilst Tony seems not to be.

8) He's represented as a typical teenage stereotype. described as a 'waste of space' by his dad.

9) Michelle - first shot of he is her legs, camera follows them up to her towel as she is on the phone to Tony discussing helping Sid lose his virginity. Helps create a profile for her character - maybe the group hoe? All the boys want to get with her?

10) The shot of her legs relates to Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' - Camera portrays her only in a sexual manner.

11) Chris and Jal's representations.

Chris - Seen in bed with a girl. Just been woken up by Tony's phone call. Says he is 'Busy' suggesting some sexual activity's with the girl known only as 'buck-teeth' Links to stereotype of teenagers being all about sex.

Jal - Another stereotype used, but that of a muslim. Seen doing prayers in the religious dress code. Not happy about being disturbed. This changes once he's on the phone to Tony, as they start discussing have a 'Gay night out' and having sex with the females they meet that are desperate for it.

Maxi's Representation - Comes across as being very feminine. It's his 'gay night out' being discussed by the other characters. Seen tap dancing on his own practicing for the show. Could be the one to make up the group - There's always a gay in the group

Cassie's Representation - Young black female up early in her pyjamas playing the clarinet. Could be seen as a counter-type. Never see black youths, male or female, portrayed in such a way - usually seen as defiant mischievous and troublemakers.

Tony's Parents - Dad seems very stressed over his current life style. Tony uses this at his advantage - plays with his head and winds him up as much as he can. Dad swears alot to let out his anger.

Critical Investigation: Second Draft [29/03/11]

An investigation into the use of violence in contemporary Rap and Grime, and why it is used.

There is often a debate, referred to as the 'effects theory,' in which media personnel suggest that particular aspects of media, that an audience is exposed to exert enough influence on them to cause them to behave in a certain way, similar to that of the behaviour expressed in the viewed text.

This argument is taken into consideration as to whether or not the violence which is commonly depicted within music videos, has a negative effect on the audience who watch them, mainly concerning those considered to be youths; ageing between 12 and 24. Whilst I personally have no firm support for either side of the argument much of the research I have discovered has given me a greater knowledge of ways in which these violent videos can have an effect on young people, but also reasons to believe that they have no effect at all and the necessity of violence, music videos sometimes possess. The ‘necessity of violence’ often comes into play when particular artist’s ego’s are at stake, or when one believes these actions are the only way in which they can ‘reach’ a particular audience. Which side of the argument is deemed to be true or ‘right’ may never be found out, but exploring this area provides a large mass of knowledge, useful for anyone to know.

Obviously different members of the public will hold varying views on this topic and I have attempted to capture as many as possible through the use of informal interviews and gaining access to previous interviews done in the past. These interviews were based solely within the London area; however interviews I’d sourced were from America. A large capacity of those who I gained my research from felt that the violent natured videos of our time have had an effect on the young people of today. One public member, aged 21, who wishes to remain anonymous stated “When you’ve got artists talking about killing this and that and these other young people look up to them, they feel that it is the way to go” Another member of similar age supported this view, suggesting that music videos containing violence should be restricted to an older audience; “if the younger kids are not watching the videos with violence it must help to cut it down” The younger generation of today seem to have an opposing view to this though. One indie artist from the grime genre aged 14 defended the use of violence within videos, saying “To be honest I think that it aint really made a difference, because everyone knows it’s just a music video...if you feel to do something you’re going to do it, that’s your decision it’s not the videos” He also shares the view which is found amongst many areas of London that are considered to be ‘hood’, this being that what’s seen in the videos is the same as what they see everyday within their community, and so it’s not the videos that influence their behaviour but rather the area in which they live in. With this being a valid point, it allows us to pose the argument that a music video does not influence someone’s behaviour, but rather the other way around; art imitates life. The idea that life can imitate art is often deemed ridiculous, as life is needed to create art in the first place. This theory of art’s imitation of life was first historically put forward by Aristotle in the context of poems and paintings, but his ideas can be applied just as well to modern forms of art or media. Through this theory we learn that art, right down to its simplest form can be considered to imitate life e.g. a shoe, as it can be seen as an imitation of the real life formation of a foot. According to this then, music videos should therefore be viewed as an imitation of real life; however an imitation of life cannot be true to someone who has not experienced that which is being imitated. The art form may be considered to become the audiences influence on real life, hence life imitating art. In context, if a violent video is aired in a remote village where peace is preached and violence is unheard of, the video is unable to be viewed as an imitation of their life (as violence does not occur), so the audience may take these unseen behaviours and form it as part of their own reality. Aristotle’s view on life imitating art can therefore be viewed as limited to particular audiences, and so it may sometimes be considered that the ways in which art may influence a person’s lifestyle is the same as the person’s life being an imitation of the art. In an interview, one 29 year old male, an amateur music video director, who wished to stay anonymous, said “I grew up in a south east London estate and what I saw on the roads was the closest I ever got to a TV...I moved out my dad’s house and I was [already] going round doing everything I see on the TV beforehand...Now I use my experiences, and my past videos, to help shape the videos you see today” This suggests that the link between art’s imitation of life can work both ways. Additionally, this producers influence on the artists he works with, ties in with Blumler and Katz theory of uses and gratification, in that the audience (his artists) seek out this particular type of media in order to gain some sort of fulfilment (potential ideas for their own music video). It is notable that the main demographic of those most willing to participate in research for this topic, or at least those most interested were those from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds, which may suggest that music is more influential on one culture than it is on others.

According to public polls [http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/77680/results] music videos with violent content are most likely to be a product of the black hip hop/rap industry. The reason behind this and the reason why it may very well be true could be due to the need for artists to maintain a particular reputation within the music industry, to their fans, and possibly to the 'streets.' Artists may purposely ignore the possibility of youths mimicking their behaviours in a video, and so do what they can in order to maintain a particular status with their target audience or fellow artist. Within the Hip Hop and Grime industries, having what may be considered a gangster or 'hood' related background is often a boost in an artist’s reputation, and as they rise to fame they may be seen to leave this life behind, eventually harming their integrity. 50cent is a self confessed example of this happening, as he admits he once considered himself a ‘Gangsta Rapper’ but now sees himself as a successful entrepreneur, however he sometimes shows his fans that his ‘hood’ side is still a part of his music. In order to gain back lost integrity, other artist’s may resort to making videos to fit how they were once viewed by the public, which is likely to incorporate the violent themes associated with a gangster or 'hood' lifestyle. A recent example of this may be in the case of one Uk Grime artist 'Ghetts' (formerly known as 'Ghetto'). Ghetto started his music career after incarceration, within which he ended up in a rap battle with another Uk Grime artist 'Bashy' who took it upon himself to accuse Ghetto of becoming a homosexual. Ghetto’s reaction was to state he 'was a bad boy in pent, ask Carlos' obviously fearing his reputation was at risk. This was streamed across YouTube, with similar videos becoming a phenomenon on the website. Further into his career Ghetts was accused again of being a homosexual, this time by another Uk Grime artist, 'P. Money'. This was soon followed by two new releases from Ghetts; ‘Trained to Kill’ [Ft. Dot Rotten], and ‘Artillery.’ From the title it is obvious to point out the nature of each of these songs, and this is backed up by the supporting videos that soon followed them. Although Ghetts claimed that each title was a metaphor for his music and lyrical ability, the videos suggested something else, particularly that of 'Trained To Kill.' The video used to accompany the audio for this song made no attempt to make a metaphor out of the song title. Within seconds the audience is presented with a blacked out figure pointing a gun towards the camera. A shot is fired and from there on we see the road to the death of the victim whilst the paramedics’ attempts to save him, fail. The video has been made as realistic as possible and there are no attempts to hide the violent nature within it. This video may be viewed in two ways though, in terms of how the target audience may interpret the message put across by the artist. The first interpretation, and the one I see to make the most sense, is that this video is not a celebration, an encouragement of, or a promotion of violence, but rather that it is the complete opposite to this. Within this video the use of the gun, and the after effects of it are not glamorised in any way, but instead we are presented with the harsh realities of gun violence. The use of a young male as the victim in the video may have been a way to ensure this occurs, as it allows those of the target audience to directly relate to those within the video, giving them the idea that this same thing can occur to them. The second reading of this is that the use of a gun by a person who we can't identify, and the fact that this person is never seen being caught within the video, will give the targeted audience the idea that the use of guns is not so bad if it is done in similar conditions. These two readings of the video may have been created purposefully by the video director, as the promotion of violence may be subtle enough to fit into the regulations of music videos today, whilst also being strong enough to help maintain ‘Ghetts’’ reputation of being from the hood. This may be seen as an extremely subtle promotion of violence, if anything, when directly compared to the video made for the song 'Many Men (Wish Death)' by American rap artist 50Cent. From the opening credits the use of violence is apparent with the SFX of gunshots, and this violent nature tends to carry on throughout the music video. The way in which violence is presented to the audience is very different to how it is given in Ghetts' video 'Trained To Kill.' 50Cent's way of showing violence is both direct and indirect; sometimes we see the violence occurring and sometimes we see the before and after, and are left to assume what happens in between. The audience is also given the view of a crime scene investigation team, with them seemingly being unable to solve the murders. As with Ghetts' video, it denotes that killers will not be caught, and this may be seen as putting the wrong message across to youths. Direct comparisons may be drawn from these videos and actual crime drama’s on TV in that the violence is often shown to the audience in the same way, and so surely they would be influenced in the same way as these videos, but more often than not the ‘bad guy’ is always brought to justice in these shows, therefore showing the negative side of violence in the end. Another way in which these two videos differ is the time in which they were created, 'Many Men'[2003] and 'Trained To Kill'[2010]. The differences in the level of violence in each video may be representative of the time in which they were created and the views of Hip Hop/Rap/Grime at those times. It appears that over the course of the last seven years or so, the use of violence has become more limited, not by choice of artists and/or video producers, but by the public and media condemning the violent side to these genres of music. Another example of this although it may not be considered a Hip Hop/Rap/Grime song or video in itself, is “Born Free” by UK artist M.I.A. The red-headed boy playing the victim of anti-redhead American soldiers has come to its defence. "[M.I.A.] was cool on set and it was a great chance to tell everyone that bully's [sic] suck...There are countries killing their own people...I am proud to be a part of M.I.A.'s shout out to the world."

M.I.A.'s 'Born Free'[2010] video and Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up'[1997] video are prime examples of how attitudes towards what should and shouldn't been shown to the public through mainstream media changes. Whilst ‘Smack My Bitch Up' has been debated as to whether or not it should be aired on TV, it has survived attempts to ban it, although censorship of images of nudity have been put in place. M.I.A.'s 'Born Free' however has been banned from the YouTube website and mainstream television too. It may be assumed that had M.I.A.'s video been produced back in 1997, the year in which 'Smack My Bitch Up' was released; it would have survived attempts to ban its, however we must consider the differences in the violence and abuse which is depicted in each video. ‘Smack My Bitch Up’[1997] seems to lure the audience into the idea that the character is subjecting themselves to self abuse through excessive drinking, drug use and sexual interactions. This contrasts with what the audience is exposed to in ‘Born Free’[2010] which expresses violence of a political nature, and so it may be seen to cause more controversy. Although the shooting of the young boy at point blank range seems to be the image that has caused such uproar about the video, it may be useful to take into account that institutions directly linked with the government could see this as a threat to them. The video is considered an outburst against governments and the way of doing business, and so the banning of it from popular social networking sites such as YouTube could be a direct action done to protect the ideologies of large institutions and corporations.

Bibliography

Merlin9988,2010,Prodigy - Smack my bitch up(Full Official video). [Video Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BpfydZdTE0> [Accessed 19th October 2010]

M.I.A. - Born Free. News Article

asoe209,2007,Ghetto vs. Bashy part 3. [Video Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTcavT-li6Y> [Accessed 13th January 2011]

GrimeDaily,2010,P MONEY "THE DUB' RESPONSE TO GHETTO.[Video Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcxL-Ln-ao> [Accessed 19th October 2010]

360records09,2010,GHETTS FT DOT ROTTEN - TRAINED TO KILL (OFFICIAL HOOD VIDEO - HD). [Video Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8cqSJimcXE&feature=bf_prev&list=PL9EAC818E2A22B7D2&index=1> [Accessed 19th October 2010]

360records09,2010,Ghetts - Artillery (OFFICIAL VIDEO - HD). [Video Online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKCHKRswQs> [Accessed 19th October 2010]

50CentVEVO,2009,50 Cent -

Many Men (Wish Death) (Dirty Version).[Video Online] Available at: <

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3crqpClPY> [Accessed 19th October 2010]

CD Covers - Promotion Of Violence?

How do the two texts represent the american military?


How do the two texts provide the audience with awareness about military life.
You may refer to other media texts to support your answer.

What are the advantages of the military using the internet as a marketing tool?

You should refer to other media texts to support your answer.

Case Study:Entertainment Industry[09/03/11]

Entertainment Industry

The RIAA believes that decreasing CD sales are caused directly by illegal downloading. As a result, the RIAA began using controversial methods to attempt to combat the problem – it has been pursuing lawsuits against average citizens who it believes have obtained music through illegal downloading. The RIAA blames these music “pirates” for the losses incurred by the RIAA and its members. However, a look at the facts tells a very different story and indicates that the methods used by the RIAA to combat illegal downloading are not solving their problem

Napster was an online music sharing service started in June of 1999 by Shawn Fanning. It was the first commonly used music sharing system on the Internet. Users of the Napster service said that the music industry had let them down, only publishing a few hit songs per CD and leaving the rest of the album with “filler”. Napster users that had purchased CD’s have made them available to other Napster users through the file sharing service. Then, a Napster user could selectively download specific songs that they liked from artists they enjoyed listening to without having to commit to buying an entire CD. In essence, the Napster users were “sharing” their music.

Everybody Loses With Illegal Downloads And Pirated Copies

Music pirates are the first to lose because the recording industry and law enforcement officials are cracking down around the world. Do the crime and you will pay the fine or do the time. Consumers also lose because the shortcut savings enjoyed by downloding music drive up the costs of legitimate product for everyone Honest retailers (who back up the products they sell) lose because they can’t compete with the prices offered by illegal vendors, or free illegal downloads. Less business means fewer jobs, jobs often filled by young adults. Record companies lose. Eighty-five percent of recordings released don’t even generate enough revenue to cover their costs.

Record companies depend heavily on the profitable fifteen percent of recordings to subsidize the less profitable types of music, to cover the costs of developing new artists, and to keep their businesses operational. The thieves and downloaders often don’t focus on the eighty-five percent; they go straight to the top and steal the gold.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the creative artists lose. Musicians, singers, songwriters and producers don’t get the royalties and fees they’ve earned. Virtually all artists (95%) depend on these fees to make a living. The artists also depend on their reputations, which are damaged by the inferior quality of pirated copies sold to the public (when transferring files from a CD to an MP3 or similar format, quality is lost).

People who download music for free don't buy CD's, since they already got them for free, and as a result they take from the industry, but don't put any money back in, destroying both the music industry and anything that relies on the music industry

However during the 2 1/2 years that Napster was operating, CD sales increased by over $500 million dollars from what they were in 1998. Since 2001, CD sales have continued to decrease steadily

Where other ad-supported, on-demand music services have failed or been driven under by lawsuits, free music thrives on YouTube in part because it can offset licensing costs with lucrative video advertisements — and simply because it’s YouTube, and record labels cannot afford not to be there. Rather than pulling their music from the site, most of the major labels embraced it by creating a joint venture with YouTube (Vevo).

Approaches to new media:

Playstation 3 new application 'Vid Zone' allows users to stream music free of charge

the music industry has attempted to combat the illegal downloading of music, is by making digital downloads available through numerous online services. One of the most successful is Apple, Inc.’s iTunes music store, which to date has sold over 1,000,000,000 songs worldwide at 99 cents per song. DRM restricts a consumer’s ability to play the music he/she purchases through the iTunes music store on anything other than an iPod or iPhone. Apple has indicated its willingness to provide free downloads to its users by charging a premium for the iPod and iPhone when purchased but the music industry currently opposes any business model that would provide such free downloads