Theories and Application for G325 Media

Revision Day1. Exam structure (1 hour)

2. Theory application (2 hours)

1. Exam structure – 1aRead through the exemplar pack and, in pairs, annotate each one in terms of paragraph structure. Then make notes using the following prompt questions:• How do the students introduce the essay?• How do they move into the body of the essay?• How much of the word count do they devote to AS and A2?• Where and how have they made links between the two halves?• How do they clearly explain the progress they have made?• Is any theory referred to? How is it presented?• What kind of terminology (e.g. theoretical? Technical?) have they used and where?• What crossover with other questions is in evidence?• How do they conclude?

1. Exam structure – 1bRead through the exemplar pack and, in pairs, annotate each one in terms of paragraph structure. Then make notes using the following prompt questions:• How do the students introduce the essay?• How do they move into the body of the essay?• Is any theory referred to? How is it presented?• How do they link the theories to their constructions?• What kind of terminology (e.g. theoretical? Technical?) have they used and

where?• How have they mixed in other key concepts (e.g. the impact of narrative/genre or

representation on audience appeal)?• What other crossover with other questions is in evidence?• How do they conclude?

1. Create your own essay planTo save thinking time and head space in the exam, devise a one sheet plan which can be applied to any question option, then adapt it further. This can be written, visual, verbal (i.e. recorded in the booth), done as a Prezi. . . Whatever helps you revise and remember it.Things to consider:• How to introduce• Where to apply theories• Where to apply terminology to use• How to structure into paragraphs• What material you could write in any question (and where to put it)• How to conclude

2. Theory application

QUIZ TIME!!

Question 1

What audience theory suggests people can be influenced through discussions with their friends/family?

Question 2

What theorist said that genre theory is limiting as it does not allow for the acknowledgement of hybrid?

Question 3

What audience theory says that we are directly influenced by what we watch in the media and could repeat actions seen?

Question 4

What genre theorist said that iconography is the key to understanding genre?

Question 5

What audience theory states that there are 5 reasons for interacting with the media?

Question 6

Can you name all 5 reasons?

Question 7

What genre theorists said that Hollywood’s success is reliant on repetition with variation?

Question 8

What audience theory says that audiences will be affected over a period of time by the repetition of images?

Question 9

What is an auteur?

Question 10

What is the main criticism of mass audience theories?

Question 1

What audience theory suggests people can be influenced through discussions with their friends/family?

Two Step Flow

Question 2

What theorist said that genre theory is limiting as it does not allow for the acknowledgement of hybrid?

Rick Altman

Question 3

What audience theory says that we are directly influenced by what we watch in the media and could repeat actions seen?

Hypodermic Syringe

Question 4

What genre theorist said that iconography is the key to understanding genre?

Edward Buscombe

Question 5

What audience theory states that there are 5 reasons for interacting with the media?

Uses and gratifications

Question 6

Can you name all 5 reasons?

Information

Identification

Interaction

Entertainment

Escapism

Question 7

What genre theorists said that Hollywood’s success is reliant on repetition with variation?

Richard Maltby and Ian Craven

Question 8

What audience theory says that audiences will be affected over a period of time by the repetition of images?

Culmination theory

Question 9

What is an auteur?

A film maker that was/is considered to be particularly influential and artistic.

Question 10

What is the main criticism of mass audience theories?

Does not take in to account the individual make up

Application of theory – in generalRemember – the idea is to relate everything you say in regard to theory to precise, specific things within your product. The bigger the meaning you can assign to small examples, the better your response will be.What to use as examples (music video):• Camera shots/movements• Composition/framing• Narrative points• Transitions• Effects• Lighting decisions• Mise-en-scene (including actors)• Any diegetic sound used alongside the non-diegetic music track.

Media Language reminder

• Any theory of narrative or genre can be used within the media language question.

• The main point will be to explain how you have encoded meanings within the text, using codes and conventions.

Audience Theory

Application – reception theory (Hall)

• Preferred meaning: what thematic meaning, as a media producer, did you encode into your construction?

• Negotiated meaning: what prior knowledge or experience does the audience need to bring to your construction in order to grasp the preferred meaning? (examples – prior knowledge of genre conventions, intertextual references, narrative expectations)

• Oppositional meaning: What ambiguities are present within your construction that create enigma, but could lead the audience to a different meaning? Were these put in deliberately by you, the producer?

Related: Fiske wrote: ‘popular culture is made by the people’, so what messages or ideologies do you think your audience will accept in your product?

Application – uses and gratifications (McQuail)As one advertising product among thousands, your music video must compete to be selected (used) by an audience to provide gratifications.• Diversion: how does your video distract an audience from real life? How does it appeal to

their emotions and create an emotional release?• Personal relationships/interaction: how does your video promote/create companionship?

Does it inform the audience of social identity which they can apply to create social relationships? (i.e. does it provide information on how to find social acceptance?)

• Personal identity: linked to the above, how does your video help the audience to explore their reality and understand themselves? (i.e. does your video deal with a particular issue and provide solutions? Does it present stereotypical ideals that ‘instruct’ the audience on how to behave?)

• Surveillance/information: Does you video promote ideas which may help the audience understand something or see how to accomplish something?

Link – Althusser: What means have you given the audience to construct themselves into your product? How have you used realism to make this possible?

Application – Thornton and Hebdige • Thornton relates to the idea of a negotiated meaning – in this

negotiated through the use of “subcultural capital” in media texts. What subcultural commodities or values have you included that might attract certain subcultural groups? What links are there between your product and the style of music, bearing in mind musical preference often signals subcultural allegiance?

• Hebdige talks about how members of a subculture signal their belonging through symbolic use of style: fashion, mannerisms, argot (methods of excluding outsiders, e.g. coded slang speech). Is there any use of symbolism, linked to subculture, in your video?

Link – Dyer (star image), usually linked to stereotypes – how is the artist image (if appropriate) being constructed in a way that might signal subcultural allegiance?

Application – Marxism (Gramsci)Marxism concerns the creation of ideologies within texts – the issue is whether more idealised ideologies are being forced upon the masses by the small minority of media producers/owners with agendas of social/political control.• Does your preferred reading (link to Hall) contain any ideologies you wish to

promote? • How have you put them there? Will the audience engage with them without any

negotiation? (note – this is a passive audience theory)• Does your product use any commonly held stereotypes/archetypes?• Does your product respond to any kind of ‘moral panic’ or paint subcultural allegiance

in a bad light?• Is there a clear sense of ‘this is good and this is bad’?Link – Hypodermic Needle: what could be argued to be the one set meaning of your product? How does the application of Hall or McQuail argue against this? Culmination – Has the repetition of images or ideas contributed to this?

Narrative Theory

Application - TodorovDoes your video show some or all elements of Todorov’s narrative?• Equilibrium• Disequilibrium• Recognition• Repair (sometimes multiple attempts)• Rising action• Climax• New equilibriumDoes the video do this in order (linear narration) or not (non-linear narration)?

Application - Barthes• Enigma or hermeneutic – What questions do you get the audience to ask

themselves, which attracts them to the text? What information do you deliberately miss out or disrupt/mask through effects or editing choices?

• Action or proairetic – In what way have you implied actions or events without showing them? Have you used non-linear approaches to create suspense and reveal plotlines?

• Semiotic – Links to media language and negotiated meaning. What connections or associations have you made apparent to the audience through use of symbolic codes (e.g. connotations – white = purity, etc.)?

• Plus. . . How did you ensure your text works in line with expected conventions – either those defined by Goodwin for music videos in general, or those defined by the genre of music you worked with?

Application – Levi-StraussLevi-Strauss explored the use of binary opposition in terms of opposites, contrasts or radical juxtapositions.• What oppositions are there in your product? Between characters?

Within characters?• What contrasts are there in terms of settings and situations?• What is juxtaposed in your product – how does the use of editing,

camera shots or effects highlight the difference? By juxtaposition, you can also refer to the way different sections of narrative are juxtaposed to one another in a non-linear pattern.

Application - Goodwin

• This should be obvious and something you are used to.• Goodwin can be applied to most questions:

• Audience – how the matching of lyrics/music to visuals signals subcultural allegiance?

• Narrative – how are the notions of narrative being effected/played with to fit Goodwin? Has trying to match visuals to music created a less Todorvian, more enigmatic product?

• Representation – how have notions of looking created representations within your text?

• Genre – How has the theory of Goodwin been generally met as a generic framework?

Genre Theory

Application – genre theory (Gledhill and Neale)• Gledhill – genre conventions are used to standardise and stabilise

production, catering for different audiences specifically. Remembering that your video is a advert, and therefore a product very much created (in real life) to meet institutional needs, what genre conventions have you deliberately and overtly used in order to ensure all of the audience for that genre will engage with the product and meet the desired outcome (e.g. buy the album)?

• Neale – opposed to Gledhill, Neale said differences between texts within a genre and the constant development of conventions is as essential as their repetition. Where a genre is limiting, it will die out (e.g. westerns). In what ways have you taken genre conventions and challenged or developed them, in order to create a new convention?

Application – genre theory (Tudor and Buscombe)Separate to the other two, Tudor described genre as defining a moral or social world. • What are the moral and social definitions within your chosen music

genre?• How have these been expressed visually and narratively?• What are the links to audience (uses and gratifications)?Buscombe describes the way that iconography signals genre. How does this operate within your video? How have you set about choosing iconography that relates to the genre of music?