Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.
There are mnay reasons why some people may not be convinced by the idea of postmodern media as for mostpeoplepostmodern media is very confusing. If people do not understand the intertextual references then they will find it hard to understand post modern media and postmodernism is very hard to define. There are many different definations of postmodernism in that it isweird for the sake of being weird and so is unconventional. The main aim of postmodern media is that it aim is to allow the audience to understand that although they are watching a film, everything is completely fiction. However they do it in a way that is not easily noticed by the audience but allows them to understand.
There are many arguements for and against understanding some forms of postmodernism. The thoery from Fredrick Jameson gives off critizisms of postmoderism, but postmodernist do not completly disagree to his thoery. Jmeson explains how postmodernism is just selfreferential jokes that do not particularly have a deep meaning or purpouse. For example, this is used a lot in the horror film Scream. Scream plays jokes on its own genre and although it is a horror movie, things said within the film are selfreferential jokes. An example within the filmis when all the teens are at aparty and go through the rules of whats normally happens within a horror movie. Like the pretty girl is killed first, and the vigins are left to live because they are pure. This is the same in nearly all horror movies, however the film scream explains this and so relatesto the audience by letting them understand that horror movies are fiction. Therefore, Fredrick Jameson sees that the output from postmodernism is purposful and so will remain in a modernist society.
Monday 13 May 2013
Friday 10 May 2013
Genre essay (Hammond)
" Media texts rely on audience knowledge of generic codes and conventions in order for them to create meaning"
Analyse on of your coursework productions in relation to genre.
Genre is a big part of my music video that i produced as it had everything to do with connecting to the audience. The genre of a media text is vital for connecting and pleasing an audience and genre is a type of text as Daniel Chandler explains.
I would say that my music video is a mixture of the genres of performance and illustrative. This is because in the video, throughout we are telling a story of the female singer and showing what she is going through. But then we are also giving a performance as we have shots of the band together in the band room and have the main female singer singing to the audience through the camera. The genre of the music of our video would be soft rock and i have used many generic conventions throughout the video. Examples of this would be a close up of lip-syncing as we needed lots of close up shots in our video to get across the emotion of what the song was showing us. Also for the performance of band shots we had mimed playing of instruments to fit in with the music and make it look professional. We had a wide variety of camera shots in the video and the most unusual we had would be when Laura lay down and we had the camera above her. We did this because the definition of her face looked good and it fitted in with the genre as other media texts used these kind of weird shots in the music videos of the genre soft rock.
One of the important parts of my music video was the connect with the audience and so a main thing me and Laura did was ask questions of people that listened to soft rock so we could understand the sort of things they liked to see within a music video so we could keep to the genre and allow the audience to be happy. By doing this it allowed the audience to feel comfortable when watching the music video as we could structure it to fit the genre and also keeping to what the audience know and like, which in ours was telling a story and connecting with the audience emotionally. Rick Altman as he argues that genres give audiences a set of pleasures. In my music video i had both emotional and intellectual pleasures for the audience. This is because we had emotions from the female singer to connect with the audience and and to create a response from the audience for example, questioning what the female did to be in this position and what she is going to do about it. The intellectual pleasure was that it left the audience wondering the plot of the story being explained throughout the music video and so made them relate to their own life and how they handle situations.
To make sure that we stuck to our genre we looked at other media texts and the music videos that they did to look at the kind of dress and colouring of shots to make sure we connected to the audience. Also by talking to our audience we got a grasp of the type of things they wanted to see in the way of dress and make up. For example many people said they liked to see the singers as being strong and powerful in what they were saying and to get the emotions across so it linked to the song. So by concentrating on what the audience wanted and still sticking to our genre we managed to create a music video that fit the expectation of generics that were used by other artists with the same genre.
Analyse on of your coursework productions in relation to genre.
Genre is a big part of my music video that i produced as it had everything to do with connecting to the audience. The genre of a media text is vital for connecting and pleasing an audience and genre is a type of text as Daniel Chandler explains.
I would say that my music video is a mixture of the genres of performance and illustrative. This is because in the video, throughout we are telling a story of the female singer and showing what she is going through. But then we are also giving a performance as we have shots of the band together in the band room and have the main female singer singing to the audience through the camera. The genre of the music of our video would be soft rock and i have used many generic conventions throughout the video. Examples of this would be a close up of lip-syncing as we needed lots of close up shots in our video to get across the emotion of what the song was showing us. Also for the performance of band shots we had mimed playing of instruments to fit in with the music and make it look professional. We had a wide variety of camera shots in the video and the most unusual we had would be when Laura lay down and we had the camera above her. We did this because the definition of her face looked good and it fitted in with the genre as other media texts used these kind of weird shots in the music videos of the genre soft rock.
One of the important parts of my music video was the connect with the audience and so a main thing me and Laura did was ask questions of people that listened to soft rock so we could understand the sort of things they liked to see within a music video so we could keep to the genre and allow the audience to be happy. By doing this it allowed the audience to feel comfortable when watching the music video as we could structure it to fit the genre and also keeping to what the audience know and like, which in ours was telling a story and connecting with the audience emotionally. Rick Altman as he argues that genres give audiences a set of pleasures. In my music video i had both emotional and intellectual pleasures for the audience. This is because we had emotions from the female singer to connect with the audience and and to create a response from the audience for example, questioning what the female did to be in this position and what she is going to do about it. The intellectual pleasure was that it left the audience wondering the plot of the story being explained throughout the music video and so made them relate to their own life and how they handle situations.
To make sure that we stuck to our genre we looked at other media texts and the music videos that they did to look at the kind of dress and colouring of shots to make sure we connected to the audience. Also by talking to our audience we got a grasp of the type of things they wanted to see in the way of dress and make up. For example many people said they liked to see the singers as being strong and powerful in what they were saying and to get the emotions across so it linked to the song. So by concentrating on what the audience wanted and still sticking to our genre we managed to create a music video that fit the expectation of generics that were used by other artists with the same genre.
Thursday 9 May 2013
Applying audeince (Hammond).
Is your text popular for a mass audience?
I would say that my text is not particularly popular for a mass audience. this is because the band is not as well known and only certain types of people like the style of music and so not lots of people will know about it. Also the design of it is not to suit a mass audience as i only wanted to connect to a small group of people who has big interests in that type of text. Our media texts are not seen to be cheesy and has little detail but stand out to the type of audience we were going for and would connect to the smaller type of auience as the usic choice is not a partiuclarly popular one and is not hear much on radios or anything it is more band that you would only listen to them if you knew about them on your own.
Detail the target audience of your product
Our choice of music was set to please both female and male, mainly teenagers, and for people who like rock type of music. We did generally try to please everyone by not going too over the top and keeping the costume to everday people so that we could apply the music to engage new people. But we were mainly targeting teenagers as it is there type of music because the lyrics can go in to detail.
Ien Ang
to what extent do you agree with Ang? I partly agree as there are lot more different types of audeinces now and people are looking for different types of things.
I would say that my text is not particularly popular for a mass audience. this is because the band is not as well known and only certain types of people like the style of music and so not lots of people will know about it. Also the design of it is not to suit a mass audience as i only wanted to connect to a small group of people who has big interests in that type of text. Our media texts are not seen to be cheesy and has little detail but stand out to the type of audience we were going for and would connect to the smaller type of auience as the usic choice is not a partiuclarly popular one and is not hear much on radios or anything it is more band that you would only listen to them if you knew about them on your own.
Detail the target audience of your product
Our choice of music was set to please both female and male, mainly teenagers, and for people who like rock type of music. We did generally try to please everyone by not going too over the top and keeping the costume to everday people so that we could apply the music to engage new people. But we were mainly targeting teenagers as it is there type of music because the lyrics can go in to detail.
Ien Ang
to what extent do you agree with Ang? I partly agree as there are lot more different types of audeinces now and people are looking for different types of things.
Postmodern media (Ford).
How do postmodern media differ from other media?
Post modern media is different from other media because it goes against traditional modernism. Post modern media rejects what is normal to be seen within a media text, for example a film. Post modern media is different as it plays with the audience and plays with what is seen to be as a norm and so is unexpected.
One film that can be seen to be post modern would be the thriller film Scream which was made in 1996 and directed by Wes Craven. One post modern aspect of the film would be reflexivity as it is a horror film and knows its a horror film and so makes fun of this. One example of this would be when one of the main female characters states what happens in a horror movie and says 'What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It's insulting'. This shows that the film is self reflexing on what is happening and to what normally happens in a horror movie and this is not normally expected. The film Scream mocks its own genre of it being a horror movie by what characters say and do within it. For example when the girl runs up the stairs away from the killer instead of running out the door. This creates a humour for the audience and acknowledges them that it is a fiction story, and this is a element of post modernism.
However, although Scream has humour within it, it still sticks to the normal horror theme and still keeps itself a horror movie instead of it being a comedy. This then creates a new type of horror movie and and supports the theory that there is no more originality and so everything is now a mix of bricolage and intertextuality. The way in which Scream use bircoloage is that it still uses scenes from other scary movies for example virgins are not killed, and that the pretty girls are the stupid ones who run the wrong way towards the killer. However Scream uses this as bricolage as they change it around as the tell the audiecne of what they are doing a that they are aware if it. Another way in which bicolage is used is the setting of the movie in that it is in a isolated place where not many people live and that the killer is not known because the identity is hidden by a mask. This is used in many horror movies, but Scream uses this to their advanatage in that they change it around a bit.
The intertextuality of the film Scream is when the director, Wes Craven, appears qucikly on screen looking like freddy kuger, but is not easily seen by the audience. This then follows on from the aspect of the film not taking its self seriously and being aware of other horror scene and using them. A reason that the director does this is because the characters in the movie are always talking about other scary movie and so it was convineint for there to be a showing of other horror movies within the film. Another example of this would be when they are at a party and the film 'The exorsist' was spoken about as are many other horror films throughou the film. By doing this it makes the film relate more to real life and so this is how Scream keeps its horror genre as it is still able to scare the audience. This relates to modern society in how everything is now a representation from other things.
Postmodern media differs from modern media as it includes things that an audience would not expect to see normally for example on the film Inglorious Basterds. An audience would expect to see lots of fighting and for the soldiers to be rough and dirty. However in Inglorious Basterds the soldiers are seen to be clean and well dressed and for a war film there is not lots of fighting going on, more the odd disagreement and bits of gore. This shows how it is post modern as this is not the norm expected by people in a war film. Also the music that goes with Inglourious basterds is spagehtti western and so mixes cultures together. This relate to Kramers music theory of that the music is on some level and some way ironic. This meaning it doesnt really connect to the type of film Inglourious Basterds is and doesnt really have any meaning to it. However it sounds right and the director used the nusic well to link in with the film without the audience thinking it doesnt match.
Post modern media is different from other media because it goes against traditional modernism. Post modern media rejects what is normal to be seen within a media text, for example a film. Post modern media is different as it plays with the audience and plays with what is seen to be as a norm and so is unexpected.
One film that can be seen to be post modern would be the thriller film Scream which was made in 1996 and directed by Wes Craven. One post modern aspect of the film would be reflexivity as it is a horror film and knows its a horror film and so makes fun of this. One example of this would be when one of the main female characters states what happens in a horror movie and says 'What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It's insulting'. This shows that the film is self reflexing on what is happening and to what normally happens in a horror movie and this is not normally expected. The film Scream mocks its own genre of it being a horror movie by what characters say and do within it. For example when the girl runs up the stairs away from the killer instead of running out the door. This creates a humour for the audience and acknowledges them that it is a fiction story, and this is a element of post modernism.
However, although Scream has humour within it, it still sticks to the normal horror theme and still keeps itself a horror movie instead of it being a comedy. This then creates a new type of horror movie and and supports the theory that there is no more originality and so everything is now a mix of bricolage and intertextuality. The way in which Scream use bircoloage is that it still uses scenes from other scary movies for example virgins are not killed, and that the pretty girls are the stupid ones who run the wrong way towards the killer. However Scream uses this as bricolage as they change it around as the tell the audiecne of what they are doing a that they are aware if it. Another way in which bicolage is used is the setting of the movie in that it is in a isolated place where not many people live and that the killer is not known because the identity is hidden by a mask. This is used in many horror movies, but Scream uses this to their advanatage in that they change it around a bit.
The intertextuality of the film Scream is when the director, Wes Craven, appears qucikly on screen looking like freddy kuger, but is not easily seen by the audience. This then follows on from the aspect of the film not taking its self seriously and being aware of other horror scene and using them. A reason that the director does this is because the characters in the movie are always talking about other scary movie and so it was convineint for there to be a showing of other horror movies within the film. Another example of this would be when they are at a party and the film 'The exorsist' was spoken about as are many other horror films throughou the film. By doing this it makes the film relate more to real life and so this is how Scream keeps its horror genre as it is still able to scare the audience. This relates to modern society in how everything is now a representation from other things.
Postmodern media differs from modern media as it includes things that an audience would not expect to see normally for example on the film Inglorious Basterds. An audience would expect to see lots of fighting and for the soldiers to be rough and dirty. However in Inglorious Basterds the soldiers are seen to be clean and well dressed and for a war film there is not lots of fighting going on, more the odd disagreement and bits of gore. This shows how it is post modern as this is not the norm expected by people in a war film. Also the music that goes with Inglourious basterds is spagehtti western and so mixes cultures together. This relate to Kramers music theory of that the music is on some level and some way ironic. This meaning it doesnt really connect to the type of film Inglourious Basterds is and doesnt really have any meaning to it. However it sounds right and the director used the nusic well to link in with the film without the audience thinking it doesnt match.
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Representation (Hammond).
Laura Mulvey (1975) - I disagree with the view that women are used for erotic please. This is necause in my music video the girl was not dressed to come across like that and also did not have lots of makup on the make her come across as this perfect woman. In our music video we had Laura as a vunerable yet powerful woman and so came across dominant and was not there to please the audince in a secual way.
John Berger (1972) - In some ways i agree that woman are aware that hey are being looked at by male specktaters. However this does not mean that they dress to please for example in our music video we had plain clothing and not much makeup and the type of camera angles we had were not there to make Laura be shown off sexually.
" representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them"
Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.
I feel that i have both used and challenged simplistic representations in my media product in a variety of ways. In my music video i chose to have a band with a female singer however i challenged representations of female singers to that i wanted mine to look powerful and not be seen as a sexual object. i wanted her to attract the audience by being powerful and a difficult situation and show that she can over come things. I felt this was different to many female artists in modern society.
This links to the Martin Barker theory in that women are stereotyped to be seen as sex objects, which they should not be because like anyone else females can be seen as powerful and independent This shows that i have challenged other media products in that i have not used the dominant idealogical of a female singer being helpless with not much clothing on and to be there for male watchers. Also within our music video we wanted to concentrate more on the storyline to give off a different representation of music. In most music video of the genre like the one we chose the female although are dressed nice, they seem to have body parts on show and have lots of make-up to make them come across more attractive. For my music video i did use the style of look but we put our own twist on it that we wanted a more natural look so we could give off a better emotion and also allow our audience to concentrate on what we were representing.
Another way in which i challenged representation of other media products was the limitation of things in the background. i did this because i wanted the female to be the main focus and also by having a plain background it helped to give off the effect of loneliness. however in other media texts there is normally lots going on in the background to create a scene or to make something look more exciting to the audience eye. On the other hand i did use some other media texts ideas for the set and angles of the shots to make sure it did not look boring by having nothing much in the background. I looked at videos by evanessance as that was the same genre and style of music as to what we chose.
I did use the idea of having a story to a song for example like Beyonces song if i were a boy. i chose this because i liked the way in which lyrics can represent how a person is feeling and also by portraying this across on a music video. By using this idea it helped me to keep to the representation of Laura and how we wanted our band and female singer to come across. By sticking to a story line it helps to keep into contact with the emotions expressed on the lyrics.
John Berger (1972) - In some ways i agree that woman are aware that hey are being looked at by male specktaters. However this does not mean that they dress to please for example in our music video we had plain clothing and not much makeup and the type of camera angles we had were not there to make Laura be shown off sexually.
" representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them"
Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.
I feel that i have both used and challenged simplistic representations in my media product in a variety of ways. In my music video i chose to have a band with a female singer however i challenged representations of female singers to that i wanted mine to look powerful and not be seen as a sexual object. i wanted her to attract the audience by being powerful and a difficult situation and show that she can over come things. I felt this was different to many female artists in modern society.
This links to the Martin Barker theory in that women are stereotyped to be seen as sex objects, which they should not be because like anyone else females can be seen as powerful and independent This shows that i have challenged other media products in that i have not used the dominant idealogical of a female singer being helpless with not much clothing on and to be there for male watchers. Also within our music video we wanted to concentrate more on the storyline to give off a different representation of music. In most music video of the genre like the one we chose the female although are dressed nice, they seem to have body parts on show and have lots of make-up to make them come across more attractive. For my music video i did use the style of look but we put our own twist on it that we wanted a more natural look so we could give off a better emotion and also allow our audience to concentrate on what we were representing.
Another way in which i challenged representation of other media products was the limitation of things in the background. i did this because i wanted the female to be the main focus and also by having a plain background it helped to give off the effect of loneliness. however in other media texts there is normally lots going on in the background to create a scene or to make something look more exciting to the audience eye. On the other hand i did use some other media texts ideas for the set and angles of the shots to make sure it did not look boring by having nothing much in the background. I looked at videos by evanessance as that was the same genre and style of music as to what we chose.
I did use the idea of having a story to a song for example like Beyonces song if i were a boy. i chose this because i liked the way in which lyrics can represent how a person is feeling and also by portraying this across on a music video. By using this idea it helped me to keep to the representation of Laura and how we wanted our band and female singer to come across. By sticking to a story line it helps to keep into contact with the emotions expressed on the lyrics.
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