“ You don’t take a photograph, you make it. - Ansel Adams
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Monday, 31 March 2014
The Conventions of Real Media: MEDIA CONCEPTS
“the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are 'discontinued' (Chandler)
a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work?
b) Have you created a hybrid piece?
c) Have you used intertextual references?
'one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable' (Bordwell 1989, 147).
a) Do you think it is hard to agree on a set of ‘rules’ to follow when making a product?
b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?
c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?
d) Did you make any rules of your own?
Conventions give the producers a framework to work with- a set of guidelines (McQuail)
a) Was it helpful to work within a set of guidelines?
b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?
“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)
a) Do you think you produced better work because you stuck to the conventions of the genre?
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?
a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work?
b) Have you created a hybrid piece?
c) Have you used intertextual references?
'one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable' (Bordwell 1989, 147).
a) Do you think it is hard to agree on a set of ‘rules’ to follow when making a product?
b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?
c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?
d) Did you make any rules of your own?
Conventions give the producers a framework to work with- a set of guidelines (McQuail)
a) Was it helpful to work within a set of guidelines?
b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?
“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)
a) Do you think you produced better work because you stuck to the conventions of the genre?
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Here is the link to all the AS blogs from AS
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/asmedia2013
You will need to look at these at home as we can't view Tumblr at school!
You will need to look at these at home as we can't view Tumblr at school!
Monday, 24 March 2014
Sergei Eisenstein and Editing Post Production Question
Sergei Eisenstein believed that editing was: ‘the foundation of film art’
For Eisenstein, meaning in cinema lay not in the individual shot but only in the relationships among shots established by editing.
He created an editing style that he called "dialectical montage" that was abrupt and jagged and did not aim for smooth continuity.
The jaggedness of Eisenstein's editing can create a sense of emotional and physical violence , but he also aimed to use editing to suggest ideas, a style he termed "intellectual montage."
One of his films concludes with three shots of statues of stone lions edited to look like a single lion rising up and roaring, embodying the idea of the wrath of the people and the voice of the revolution.
Homework: Answer the question below for next lesson using you're own critical reflections across AS and A2.
- Remember to discuss specific editing effects, the connotations of each editing effect and whether each was successful.
- Aim for 6 separate points in your answer and exapiln whether you were more experimental and adventurous in your editing of the AS production compared to the A2 production.
Exam Question: “The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process”. How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?
Useful terminology:
Word bank:
To suggest…
To give the commutation of….
To signify …
To symbolise…
To show…
Overlap
Fade / Wipe / Wash in/out/ Cross dissolve
Fast / Slow motion effects
Superimpose
Fast cut montage effects
Split Screen
Colourisation – be specific
cut A cut is when you go from one shot to another in a video without using any time of transition, such as a fade or wipe.
dissolve A dissolve is when one scene of your video slowly disappears into another scene. Most video editors will allow you to decide how long you want a dissolve to take, allowing you to lengthen or shorten the length of the transition based on how you want your finished video to look.
fade A fade is very similar to a dissolve, but instead of transitioning between two different scenes, a fade transitions between the scene and blank or black screen.
in/out point Every video editing program will ask you to set in and out points on clips you want to use in your final product. The in point is simply where the video will start, and the out point is where it will end.
real time Real time allows you to see effects that you added to your video immediately, without the need to wait to render the video. If a video editor touts that it allows you to do something in real time, it means that you will be able to see the effect immediately.
rendering The process where an effect is applied to video. Think of it like developing a picture from a film camera; rendering is what applies an effect such as a wipe or fade to a piece of video.
time code Time code is the numerical address for a piece of video. Typically listed as hours : minutes : seconds : frames, each frame of your video essentially has its own time code to help you identify it.
transition A transition is what goes between two video clips in order to make moving between the two of them more visually appealing. Common transitions include dissolves and wipes.
wipe A wipe is a type of transition where one scene appears to be pushed of "wiped" off the screen by another.
from http://g325criticalperspectives.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2011-02-07T02:06:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
What you have done on Post Production so far
"There are two phases to a movie. First you shoot the movie, and then you make the movie." Keenen Ivory Wayans
quizlet on PP
voki
PowerPoint on PP
Prezi on Post Production
Another Prezi
A note from the exam board about what is Post Production
Post production is a more ambiguous term for some media areas and thus examiners will credit candidates’ ability to demonstrate their understanding of the term in relation to their own work through whichever approach the centre encourages.
For example, a centre may treat all manipulation of copy and images as post production in print. For film a centre may consider post production to include editing, sound and effects. The definitions of the term are at the discretion of candidates / centres, but candidates are encouraged to explain their use of the term in their answers in the examination to aid the examiner.
For example, a centre may treat all manipulation of copy and images as post production in print. For film a centre may consider post production to include editing, sound and effects. The definitions of the term are at the discretion of candidates / centres, but candidates are encouraged to explain their use of the term in their answers in the examination to aid the examiner.
Post Essay Plan
What is Post Production
Post-production
You should discuss some of the Photoshop effects that you used to manipulate photographs here but this topic really requires you to consider your trailer project.
You would need to discuss:
EDITING – techniques used; style; pace; transitions and how the editing helped communicate meaning to the audience.
SOUNDTRACK & SOUND EFFECTS – the choices made and the impact of these choices on audiences.
SPECIAL EFFECTS – discuss any special effects (fast-motion, slow-motion etc.) and any effects you used to distort/edit images. Again, the emphasis should be on the way these effects impact on audiences and communicate meaning.
An Essay Plan
My AS brief was to…..
As part of this I had to develop post-production skills using Adobe Photoshop to…..
I used a variety of tools including …………………to …………………….In particular I used…………… to…………… While I was generally satisfied with my final productions, I was a little disappointed with / because……..
In My A2 year, I was able to make considerable progress and build on some of my own perceived post-production weaknesses. I demonstrated new skills in my ability to use Photoshop to…..
My post-production skills were also developed beyond Photoshop in my A2 year. I made extensive use of Adobe Premiere Elements to …… The key skills that I developed included…., and I became particularly accomplished at. One of my most successful uses of the technology was in……As well as editing the video footage, I did a considerable amount of work recording and editing sound (give details) in Audacity. I imported this work into my project to add soundtrack music and sound effects.
Post Production Link - This is a link to another teachers blog and has very detailed advice about post production
Post-production
You should discuss some of the Photoshop effects that you used to manipulate photographs here but this topic really requires you to consider your trailer project.
You would need to discuss:
EDITING – techniques used; style; pace; transitions and how the editing helped communicate meaning to the audience.
SOUNDTRACK & SOUND EFFECTS – the choices made and the impact of these choices on audiences.
SPECIAL EFFECTS – discuss any special effects (fast-motion, slow-motion etc.) and any effects you used to distort/edit images. Again, the emphasis should be on the way these effects impact on audiences and communicate meaning.
An Essay Plan
My AS brief was to…..
As part of this I had to develop post-production skills using Adobe Photoshop to…..
I used a variety of tools including …………………to …………………….In particular I used…………… to…………… While I was generally satisfied with my final productions, I was a little disappointed with / because……..
In My A2 year, I was able to make considerable progress and build on some of my own perceived post-production weaknesses. I demonstrated new skills in my ability to use Photoshop to…..
My post-production skills were also developed beyond Photoshop in my A2 year. I made extensive use of Adobe Premiere Elements to …… The key skills that I developed included…., and I became particularly accomplished at. One of my most successful uses of the technology was in……As well as editing the video footage, I did a considerable amount of work recording and editing sound (give details) in Audacity. I imported this work into my project to add soundtrack music and sound effects.
Post Production Link - This is a link to another teachers blog and has very detailed advice about post production
Monday, 17 March 2014
Creativity Questions
- What do you understand by ‘creativity’ and to what extent have you been creative?
- How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity?
- Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?
- How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief?
- Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?
- To what extent did you need to work with others and ‘bounce ideas’ off other people to be truly creative?
- How much of your creativity was about trying to picture things in your mind’s eye?
- How much of your creativity was about trial and error?
- To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity?
- To what extent was a lack of technical competence/confidence an obstacle to your creativity?
Csikszentmihalyi
Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi pronounced CHEEK-sent-me-hi-ee is a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States. He is noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi says the creative process normally takes five steps (Creativity, 1996, p.79):
Spontaneity takes practice Csikszentmihalyi says that it typically takes someone 10 years of acquiring technical knowledge by immersing themselves in a discipline before they create anything significant.
- Preparation - becoming immersed in problematic issues that are interesting and arouses curiosity.
- Incubation - ideas churn around below the threshold of consciousness.
- Insight - the "Aha!" moment when the puzzle starts to fall together.
- Evaluation - deciding if the insight is valuable and worth pursuing.
- Elaboration - translating the insight into its final work.
Spontaneity takes practice Csikszentmihalyi says that it typically takes someone 10 years of acquiring technical knowledge by immersing themselves in a discipline before they create anything significant.
Creativity Quotes
Creativity involves thinking or behaving imaginatively . The imaginative activity is purposeful – set against or defined by a meaningful objective. The processes must generate something original. Paul
Roberts (2006)
David Gauntlett has written extensively about creativity and the idea is that “making is connecting”. His main argument is that “through making things, and sharing them with others, we feel a greater connection with the world, and more engaged with being more active in the environment rather than sitting back and watching.” (2003)
Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar argument in his new book, Outliers – according to Gladwell, the magic number is 10,000 hours of practice.
http://twistedsifter.com/2012/03/15-famous-quotes-on-creativity/ 15 Quotes on Creativity
Roberts (2006)
David Gauntlett has written extensively about creativity and the idea is that “making is connecting”. His main argument is that “through making things, and sharing them with others, we feel a greater connection with the world, and more engaged with being more active in the environment rather than sitting back and watching.” (2003)
Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar argument in his new book, Outliers – according to Gladwell, the magic number is 10,000 hours of practice.
Creativity
“The making of the new and the rearranging of the old” (Bentley, 1997).
An Essay Plan
My AS brief was to…………
Creativity is ……………..
I was able to demonstrate my creativity in a number of ways…….
Ways in which I supported my own creativity included….
Obstacles to my creativity included
…..working within conventions
…..taking risks when marks were at stake
…..working in isolation (getting lost in my own ideas)
…. lack of technical competence
…..lack of confidence
I think my ability to be creative really progressed in Year 13. I found that with the second brief…..I was able to….. and…… I found ways of avoiding the obstacles that had undermined my creativity in Year 12 by…..
Essay Plan for question 1a
Ms+g324+q1 from staylorchs
Rather than take three paragraphs to write about one skill I'd suggest a skill per paragraph and write about three or four examples depending on time.
Rather than take three paragraphs to write about one skill I'd suggest a skill per paragraph and write about three or four examples depending on time.
Research and Planning questions to ask
Think about the types of research you carried out:
Primary – films, magazines, internet, questionnaires, audience feedback
Secondary – internet, textbooks, blogs for theories
Advantages/Disadvantages of your sources:
Cost of magazines etc.
Accessibility – easy to find?
Time consuming?
Reliability of sources?
Accuracy of sources?
Usefulness of sources?
How did you organise your research and planning? E.g. labels, blog etc.
What did you research?
How did drafting help you?
How did audience feedback improve your planning?
How organised were you?
What did you learn about working as part of a group or independently?
How did you present your research and planning? E.g. wordle, moodboard, flickr, scribd, slideshare etc.
Primary – films, magazines, internet, questionnaires, audience feedback
Secondary – internet, textbooks, blogs for theories
Advantages/Disadvantages of your sources:
Cost of magazines etc.
Accessibility – easy to find?
Time consuming?
Reliability of sources?
Accuracy of sources?
Usefulness of sources?
How did you organise your research and planning? E.g. labels, blog etc.
What did you research?
How did drafting help you?
How did audience feedback improve your planning?
How organised were you?
What did you learn about working as part of a group or independently?
How did you present your research and planning? E.g. wordle, moodboard, flickr, scribd, slideshare etc.
Planning and Research quotes
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Alan Lakein - Writer on Time management
Planning and Research
Here are a couple of links to student examples for Research and Planning Essay. Please remember that this essay might be split and that you are asked to only talk about Research or Planning - not necessarily both.
Level 4 essay and Level 3 Essay
Level 4 essay and Level 3 Essay
In
this essay you will be required to evaluate as part of the specified write up
the outcomes of the research and planning process.
E.g. (T) The planning of my storyboard on post it notes and then creating an
animatic enabled me to think about the order and transition of my shots.
(Ex) For example there was a sequence in
my film trailer which required parrallel cutting between my protagonist and antagonist and back again.
(EAA) The sequence
appeared in my final product, although with some SPFX enhancement at post
production, I clearly felt the benefit of storyboarding with post its more so
than at AS where I had drawn on a static storyboard sheet which made it
difficult to move scenes around skills did indeed improve in this area across
the two years.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Media Language Essay plan
You may be asked to write about one of your production pieces in relation to the concept of Media Language. This could be seen as the trickiest concept to define as it is not immediately obvious from the name what you are being asked to discuss – you therefore need to be careful when reading the question to make sure you know what is expected of you. However it can also be seen as a broader category than the others, giving you the opportunity to write about a number of different elements and to discuss any of the other key concepts.
Media Language means the way that meaning is made, using the conventions of the particular medium and type of media product. It is about considering how media texts communicate. One way to look at it is in relation to written language: if writing uses words, nouns, adjectives, sentences, paragraphs, rhymes, rhythms and chapters to convey meaning, how does a media text do it? If a written text uses short sentences, adverbs and similes to convey a sense of danger, a film title sequence might use fast editing, signs such as shadows falling across a wall, carefully composed mise en scene to suggest imprisonment and a specific choice of font and transition for the titles to convey a sense of unease.
You could write about elements of semiotics, genre, narrative, design, structure, codes and conventions, time and space, spoken, written and visual language to name just a few examples.
Ferdinand Saussure’s Semiotics:
Signifier = the form in which the sign takes
Signified = the concept it represents
Ferdinand Saussure was interested in the relationship between the signifier and the signified and this is referred to as 'signification.’
Charles Peirce iconic, indexical and
symbolic signs
Icons resemble what they represent (photograph)
Symbols only represent something
by agreement (words written on a page)
Indexical
Signs indicate something by
association (smoke = fire)
Revise the following terms by writing one example of each from
your production:
signifier
signified
detonated meaning
connoted meaning
iconic sign
indexical sign symbolic sign
Media Language Practice exam question 1b
“Media texts can communicate to their audiences in various ways.” Discuss the ways in which Media Language has been used within one of your productions.
signifier
signified
detonated meaning
connoted meaning
iconic sign
indexical sign symbolic sign
Media Language Practice exam question 1b
“Media texts can communicate to their audiences in various ways.” Discuss the ways in which Media Language has been used within one of your productions.
Cover in your answer:
·
Ferdinand de Saussure - sign
signified and signifer
·
Charles Peirce - iconic,
indexical and symbolic signs
·
Roland Barthes - denotation,
connotation and myth
narrative
& structure linear, montage,design
codes and conventions of your genre
time and space - non continuity
visual language mise en scene, camera, sound, editing
Practise taking a semiotic approach by evaluating one of your productions.
Focus on: Signs and their intended meaning
How they interact with each other – would a sign (e.g. the police hat) be read differently if placed in a different context? So how are elements affected by one another?
Anchorage text – how does the font/size/position convey meaning?
Drawing conclusions – what is the overall effect?
Examples
What does the darkening sky signify? How does it affect our reading of the rest of the image?
White is used a great deal in the composition – overwhelmingly seen as a colour of innocence and purity and on first viewing it could seem that the film maker is to be reverse this myth by using this colour for the villain. However, the anchorage text suggests…
A terrace house is symbolic of normal everyday British home life– why is it used here? How do the other elements of the image affect our reading of it?
How are we invited to view this as an image of femininity, power, animosity? Consider all the elements of the image together and come to a conclusion. Nostalgic? Objectified? Empowered? Ironic?
Metz and de Saussure
Christian Metz was a French film theorist, best known for pioneering the application of Ferdinand de Saussure's theories of semiology to film.
p 176 Language of Signs Book
p 176 Language of Signs Book
Monday, 10 March 2014
Media Language
Media lang from ecclestona The date for Saussure 1857 - 1913 (incorrect in the slideshare)
Charles Sanders Peirce (is also spelt incorrectly in the slideshare)
Charles Sanders Peirce (is also spelt incorrectly in the slideshare)
How to use theorists and theories for the exam
What do you need to be able to do with theorists and theories?
You do NOT need to:
Learn a load of quotes
Explain their theories in great depth
Know them all
You DO need to:
Use a few
Be able to apply them to your work/ case studies
Consider how useful/ not useful they are when discussing your work/ case studies
How to use theorists… Quote Summarise Comment
Assume your reader knows about the theory/ theorist. Don ’t explain the theory; use it.
A Todorovian analysis would argue…
Mulvey ’s notion of the Male Gaze provides a useful way of understanding the video in that…
Steve Neale ’ s statement that Genre is “ made up of repetition and change ” could be useful here because…
You do NOT need to:
Learn a load of quotes
Explain their theories in great depth
Know them all
You DO need to:
Use a few
Be able to apply them to your work/ case studies
Consider how useful/ not useful they are when discussing your work/ case studies
How to use theorists… Quote Summarise Comment
Assume your reader knows about the theory/ theorist. Don ’t explain the theory; use it.
A Todorovian analysis would argue…
Mulvey ’s notion of the Male Gaze provides a useful way of understanding the video in that…
Steve Neale ’ s statement that Genre is “ made up of repetition and change ” could be useful here because…
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
1(b) Representation Essay Plan
Definition: Re – presentation
The presentation of a form of reality in a media text.
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—Media produces ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.
Media producers have no choice but to be selective in their choice of material, however naturalistic their approach so….
texts will always represent individuals, groups and issues, whatever the intentions of the producer.
What is being represented in a film trailer or music magazine?
-A form of reality?
-The artist?
-A theme within the narrative?
-A movement – feminism?
Stereotypes - why have they proved popular with:
—With audiences?
—With institutions (marketing and creative)?
How could stereotypical representations be seen as:
—Lazy?
—Dangerous?
—Offensive?
—Misleading?
David Gauntlett - constructing identity : Audiences and representation
Gauntlett says that we reconfirm or challenge our identity through watching media texts.
—We use texts as toolbox to check own identity
Gauntlett described the Social construction of identity: how can you work out who you are through what you see in a media text? Your identity is not fixed: you will be shaped by what you watch.
--Identity as project – audience chooses the tools
-Conflicting media messages about identity
So.. When we watch or read a text we compare ourselves to the stereotypes presented within it.
Look at the use of stereotypes in your music magazine or film trailer. How far could you say your music magazine or film trailer encourages audiences to reconfirm or challenge who they are when reading your magazine/ watching your trailer?
Laura Mulvey - the male gaze
One theory in media studies is the idea of the ‘male gaze’. This explores the idea that the camera ‘sees’ images through male eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViwtNLUqkMY
“The message though was always the same: buy the product, get the girl; or buy the product to get to be like the girl so you can get your man” in other words, “‘Buy’ the image, ‘get’ the woman”
—What could this mean?
—Why might it be the case?
—How might this be evident in your music video?
Naomi Wolf – 3rd Wave feminism
and the Beauty Myth
—Wolf argues that an idealised form of Beauty devised by large
multinational companies including the pharmaceutical industry is the currency
which women are judged by
—'No
matter what a woman's appearance may be, it will be used to undermine what she
is saying’ Apply this to your
work….
Are your female musicians shown as ‘beautiful’ are their looks, style and personal relationships discussed more than their music? In your film trailer did you use binary opposites with your heroines shown as ‘beautiful’ and your villains shown as ‘ugly’?
Are your female musicians shown as ‘beautiful’ are their looks, style and personal relationships discussed more than their music? In your film trailer did you use binary opposites with your heroines shown as ‘beautiful’ and your villains shown as ‘ugly’?
Judith Butler - gender performance
—Butler argues that gender is a performance.
—It is what you do at particular times, rather than about who you are.
Apply this to your work….
Do the absence of male characters change the way you view the female characters?
Do the female characters behave typically feminine?
Feminism / Post feminism
—Feminism = a movement (c. 1960s) promoting the rights of women to be equal to men and arguing that women should no longer dress and behave as men wish them to.
Post-feminism = movement arguing that women have now achieved equality and should be free to dress and behave as they wish without doing so for the benefit of men.
Example: Girls Aloud.
Post-feminist icons?
Objects of male gaze?
Exploited or powerful?
Role models for women?
Verismilitude = the imitation of reality (techniques)
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—By nature, media ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.
The media makes use of various ‘scripts’ – like stereotypes for events rather than people
e.g. news programmes expect certain images and events to occur in coverage of protests, war, natural disaster, murder inquiries.
Fictional narratives use certain representations of issues and events
E.g. relationships and break-ups, car chases, trials, police investigations, holidays.
Consider in your work how far you have created verisimilitude using:
(a) Mise-en-scene Classic Realism? (as if the camera is not there)
(b) Editing Are we overly conscious of the editing? Does it seem fluent – continuity editing?
or Does the editing form part of the narrative? Is it dramatic? Does it create pace and excitement?
(c) Narrative Does the narrative flow as a chronological sequence of events? Does it present all aspects of the action to the audience? Are events constructed from one viewpoint – is this realistic? Do we move from equilibrium to disequilibrium? Is this realistic?
Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding texts
—Particular representations become established through repetition in the media e.g. villain characters / antagonists
-they develop a ‘common sense’ status through their ‘performative nature’
-Hall focuses on issues of race and culture but his theory can be applied to any representation
How you might construct your answer:
Introduction: Definition. Which product will you use to discuss? What is being represented within your music magazine or film trailer? A form of reality? The artist? A theme within the narrative? A movement – feminism?
Paragraph 1: Stereotypes
What stereotypes or countertypes have you represented? How have you done this (tie in with media language) What are the risks/benefits for audiences/institutions? Are there any stereotypes that are under represented/ misrepresented?
Gauntlett’s theory of reconfirming or challenging our identity through watching media texts. Using texts as toolbox. How does this relate your own work?
Paragraph 2: The attempt to create Verisimilitude
How far have you represented reality within your text? Why did you decide to do this? Explain how media selects and mediates reality. Consider how you made use of a narrative that ‘scripts’ reality. How did you create this reality / non reality through editing, mise-en-scene and narrative?
Paragraph 3: Stuart Hall - Preferred Readings and encoding/decoding texts
How might different audience ‘readings’ of texts affect how the representation of the text is formed. Stuart Hall’s theory of representations becoming established through ‘repetition’ and a ‘common sense status’ through the ‘performative nature’ of texts (we know what a car chase feels like because we have seen in within a media text).
Paragraph 4: Gender representation
Judith Butler Gender as a performance – masculine or feminine?
Laura Mulvey The Male Gaze
Conclusion
How have you made use of the issue of representation in your text? What are the advantages of representation within a media text for audiences? What limitations are there?
Post-feminist icons?
Objects of male gaze?
Exploited or powerful?
Role models for women?
Verismilitude = the imitation of reality (techniques)
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—By nature, media ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.
The media makes use of various ‘scripts’ – like stereotypes for events rather than people
e.g. news programmes expect certain images and events to occur in coverage of protests, war, natural disaster, murder inquiries.
Fictional narratives use certain representations of issues and events
E.g. relationships and break-ups, car chases, trials, police investigations, holidays.
Consider in your work how far you have created verisimilitude using:
(a) Mise-en-scene Classic Realism? (as if the camera is not there)
(b) Editing Are we overly conscious of the editing? Does it seem fluent – continuity editing?
or Does the editing form part of the narrative? Is it dramatic? Does it create pace and excitement?
(c) Narrative Does the narrative flow as a chronological sequence of events? Does it present all aspects of the action to the audience? Are events constructed from one viewpoint – is this realistic? Do we move from equilibrium to disequilibrium? Is this realistic?
Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding texts
—Particular representations become established through repetition in the media e.g. villain characters / antagonists
-they develop a ‘common sense’ status through their ‘performative nature’
-Hall focuses on issues of race and culture but his theory can be applied to any representation
How you might construct your answer:
Introduction: Definition. Which product will you use to discuss? What is being represented within your music magazine or film trailer? A form of reality? The artist? A theme within the narrative? A movement – feminism?
Paragraph 1: Stereotypes
What stereotypes or countertypes have you represented? How have you done this (tie in with media language) What are the risks/benefits for audiences/institutions? Are there any stereotypes that are under represented/ misrepresented?
Gauntlett’s theory of reconfirming or challenging our identity through watching media texts. Using texts as toolbox. How does this relate your own work?
Paragraph 2: The attempt to create Verisimilitude
How far have you represented reality within your text? Why did you decide to do this? Explain how media selects and mediates reality. Consider how you made use of a narrative that ‘scripts’ reality. How did you create this reality / non reality through editing, mise-en-scene and narrative?
Paragraph 3: Stuart Hall - Preferred Readings and encoding/decoding texts
How might different audience ‘readings’ of texts affect how the representation of the text is formed. Stuart Hall’s theory of representations becoming established through ‘repetition’ and a ‘common sense status’ through the ‘performative nature’ of texts (we know what a car chase feels like because we have seen in within a media text).
Paragraph 4: Gender representation
Judith Butler Gender as a performance – masculine or feminine?
Laura Mulvey The Male Gaze
Conclusion
How have you made use of the issue of representation in your text? What are the advantages of representation within a media text for audiences? What limitations are there?
Updated from - http://g325criticalperspectives.blogspot.co.uk
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Encoding Decoding Stuart Hall - repetition and interpretation
In "Encoding/decoding", Hall suggests media messages accrue a common-sense status in part through their performative nature. Through the repeated performance, staging or telling of the narrative of "9/11" (as an example; but there are others like it within the media) a culturally specific interpretation becomes not only simply plausible and universal, but is elevated to "common-sense".
According to Hall, "a message must be perceived as meaningful discourse and be meaningfully de-coded before it has an effect, a use, or satisfies a need". There are four codes of the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication. The first way of encoding is the dominant (i.e. hegemonic) code. This is the code the encoder expects the decoder to recognize and decode. "When the viewer takes the connoted meaning full and straight and decodes the message in terms of the reference-code in which it has been coded, it operates inside the dominant code". The second way of encoding is the negotiated code. "It acknowledges the legitimacy of the hegemonic definitions to make the grand significations, while, at a more restricted, situational level, it makes its own ground-rules, it operates with ‘exceptions’ to the rule".The third way of encoding is the oppositional code also known as the globally contrary code. "It is possible for a viewer perfectly to understand both the literal and connotative inflection given to an event, but to determine to decode the message in a globally contrary way." "Before this message can have an ‘effect’ (however defined), or satisfy a ‘need’ or be put to a ‘use’, it must first be perceived as a meaningful discourse and meaningfully de-coded."
Hall challenged all four components of the mass communications model. He argues that (i) meaning is not simply fixed or determined by the sender; (ii) the message is never transparent; and (iii) the audience is not a passive recipient of meaning. For example, a documentary film on asylum seekers that aims to provide a sympathetic account of their plight, does not guarantee that audiences will decode it to feel sympathetic towards the asylum seekers. Despite its being realistic and recounting facts, the documentary form itself must still communicate through a sign system (the aural-visual signs of TV) that simultaneously distorts the intentions of producers and evokes contradictory feelings in the audience.
Distortion is built into the system, rather than being a "failure" of the producer or viewer. There is a "lack of fit", Hall argues, "between the two sides in the communicative exchange". That is, between the moment of the production of the message ("encoding") and the moment of its reception ("decoding").
Media, Identity and Gender
The pdf book Media, Gender & Identity by David Gauntlett is an excellent very readable book which covers a number of theorists and re-examines and critiques their work - Angela McRobbie and Judith Butler included.
Pages to read
Intro P 6- 14
Queer Theory Butler p 105 - 116
McRobbie p138 - 139 and p143 - 145
Summary of magazines p154-155
Role models & Girl Power p160 - 165
Role model summary p174
Pages to read
Intro P 6- 14
Queer Theory Butler p 105 - 116
McRobbie p138 - 139 and p143 - 145
Summary of magazines p154-155
Role models & Girl Power p160 - 165
Role model summary p174
What is Queer Theory?
QUEER THEORY AND FLUID IDENTITIES
QUEER THEORY, DESPITE one interpretation of its name, is not a theory of homosexuality (although it does have some things to say about that). It is an approach to sexuality and, more generally, identity, which builds on some of the ideas developed by Foucault (
This really is odd, though, because almost everybody regards Butler as the creator of modern queer theory. She owes a debt to Foucault and other earlier figures, but the thing we call 'queer theory' today definitely starts with Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.
THE EASY BULLET POINT SUMMARY
We'll need to look at each of these points in more detail to fully understand their meaning and implications, but here's the simple summary of what queer theory is about:
• Nothing within your identity is fixed.
• Your identity is little more than a pile of (social and cultural) things which you have previously expressed, or which have been said about you.
• There is not really an 'inner self'. We come to believe we have one through the repetition of discourses about it.
• Gender, like other aspects of identity, is a performance (though not necessarily a consciously chosen one). Again, this is reinforced through repetition.
• Therefore, people can change.
• The binary divide between masculinity and femininity is a social construction built on the binary divide between men and women – which is also a social construction.
• We should challenge the traditional views of masculinity and femininity, and sexuality, by causing 'gender trouble'.
http://coleshillmediasite.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/0/1/4601434/media_gender_and_identity.pdf
Media Gender and Identity David Gauntlett
QUEER THEORY, DESPITE one interpretation of its name, is not a theory of homosexuality (although it does have some things to say about that). It is an approach to sexuality and, more generally, identity, which builds on some of the ideas developed by Foucault (
This really is odd, though, because almost everybody regards Butler as the creator of modern queer theory. She owes a debt to Foucault and other earlier figures, but the thing we call 'queer theory' today definitely starts with Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.
THE EASY BULLET POINT SUMMARY
We'll need to look at each of these points in more detail to fully understand their meaning and implications, but here's the simple summary of what queer theory is about:
• Nothing within your identity is fixed.
• Your identity is little more than a pile of (social and cultural) things which you have previously expressed, or which have been said about you.
• There is not really an 'inner self'. We come to believe we have one through the repetition of discourses about it.
• Gender, like other aspects of identity, is a performance (though not necessarily a consciously chosen one). Again, this is reinforced through repetition.
• Therefore, people can change.
• The binary divide between masculinity and femininity is a social construction built on the binary divide between men and women – which is also a social construction.
• We should challenge the traditional views of masculinity and femininity, and sexuality, by causing 'gender trouble'.
http://coleshillmediasite.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/0/1/4601434/media_gender_and_identity.pdf
Media Gender and Identity David Gauntlett
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Gender Mc Robbie and Butler
A2 fem gen from Kathryn Peers
Judith Butler - ‘Gender Trouble’ In her most influential book, Gender Trouble (1990), Butler argued that feminism had made a mistake by trying to assert that 'women' were a group with common characteristics and interests That approach, Butler said, performed 'an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations' - reinforcing a binary view of gender relations (men and women) She argued that, rather than opening up possibilities for a person to form and choose their own individual identity, feminism had closed the options down. “ There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; ... identity is performatively constituted by the very 'expressions' that are said to be its results.” (Butler) In other words, gender is a performance; it's what you do at particular times, rather than who you are.
Angela McRobbie points out that the magazines are not only read, but also written and edited, by young women who want to have exciting and interesting lives, and who should have no desire to perpetuate patriarchy. Although it is regrettable that lesbian sexuality is not routinely included within the magazines' celebration of sexuality – which could cause misery and even psychological trauma to young women trying to come to terms with their excluded desires – McRobbie notes that the magazines show the clear impact of feminism in their coverage of (heterosexual) sex:
'The idea that sexual pleasure is learnt, not automatically discovered with the right partner, the importance of being able to identify and articulate what you want sexually and what you do not want'
Judith Butler - ‘Gender Trouble’ In her most influential book, Gender Trouble (1990), Butler argued that feminism had made a mistake by trying to assert that 'women' were a group with common characteristics and interests That approach, Butler said, performed 'an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations' - reinforcing a binary view of gender relations (men and women) She argued that, rather than opening up possibilities for a person to form and choose their own individual identity, feminism had closed the options down. “ There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; ... identity is performatively constituted by the very 'expressions' that are said to be its results.” (Butler) In other words, gender is a performance; it's what you do at particular times, rather than who you are.
Angela McRobbie points out that the magazines are not only read, but also written and edited, by young women who want to have exciting and interesting lives, and who should have no desire to perpetuate patriarchy. Although it is regrettable that lesbian sexuality is not routinely included within the magazines' celebration of sexuality – which could cause misery and even psychological trauma to young women trying to come to terms with their excluded desires – McRobbie notes that the magazines show the clear impact of feminism in their coverage of (heterosexual) sex:
'The idea that sexual pleasure is learnt, not automatically discovered with the right partner, the importance of being able to identify and articulate what you want sexually and what you do not want'
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Feminism
Feminism from Lesley Sullivan
A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are both taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon (doctor) says 'I can not do the surgery because this is my son'. How is this possible?
A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are both taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon (doctor) says 'I can not do the surgery because this is my son'. How is this possible?
Naomi Wolf THe Beauty Myth - 3rd Wave Feminsim
'No matter what a woman's appearance may be, it will be used to undermine what she is saying and taken to individualize - as her personal problem - observations she makes about the beauty myth in society.'
Most urgently, women's identity must be premised upon our 'beauty' so that we will remain vulnerable to outside approval, carrying the vital sensitive organ of self-esteem exposed to the air.
'Beauty' is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West is is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact.
Naomi Wolf quotes from her book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women 1991
Friday, 31 January 2014
Feminists criticise lifestyle magazines
“ Every woman knows that regardless of her achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful… the UK beauty industry takes £8.9 billion a year out of women’s pockets. Magazines financed by the beauty industry teach little girls that they need make-up and train them to use it, so establishing their lifelong reliance on beauty products” (Germaine Greer 1999)
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze theory
The gaze is a Feminist theory developed to highlight the power
imbalance between men and women analysing the way men see women, the way women
view themselves and other women. The theory suggests that an audience are
forced to view the text from the perspective a heterosexual male, films constantly
focus on women’s curves and events that happen to them are portrayed at a male
angle. The male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status
of objects. Therefore the female viewers experience the text narrative
secondarily, by identifying with a man’s perspective (male gaze). In addition
she argues that sexism can also occur in the way the text is presented.
Moreover, people are encouraged to gaze at women in advertising that sexualizes
a woman's body even when the woman's body is unrelated to the advertised
product.
The original essay first published in Screen in 1975 Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema -
Review of theories for Question 1 b
Have a look at this link for ideas to improve your Genre and Narrative essays from the mock exam. Type if up and then post on your blog. henley mediablog
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Bricolage and Dick Hebdidge
Bricolage – a collection or putting together of images, ideas etc to make a new piece of media art. - For an interesting debate on music and bricolage scroll through the link bricolage
Thursday, 9 January 2014
Genre and there is no genreless text
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