Analyse a product you have created in terms of Representation theories

For my A2 coursework I created a music video that conforms to the genre of indie alternative. We chose this genre as it is a hybrid genre which allows us to challenge conventions and subvert from the norm in terms of typical videos of the same genre. The synopsis of the music video is about a young guy who is twenty years of age who has recently been parted from his lover. He is experiencing heart-ache which affects his life and leaves him in an emotional turmoil as he is unable to continue with life like normal and is evidently confused with what path to choose next.

During the production we had a few issues with choosing the appropriate target audience for our video but eventually decided that teenagers and a young audience would be suitable as they are able to relate to visuals within our video and also use our product as a sense of escapism from their own personal relationships. We decided to make our entire video black and white to connote sadness and misery which reinforces the theme of our music video. Our main protagonist Jake Black is very melancholic we used a number of close-up shots of his saddened facial expressions In order to represent him as an emotional masculine figure. This representation subverts from typical music videos of this genre as the gender role of the emotional being is reversed and is not a female. Our protagonist goes through sequences of confusion we incorporated fast paced editing to portray the disturbance his lover has had over his life. In relation to stereotypes Dutton’s theory can be applied to Jake Black as he presents realism through his dress code that consists of jeans, a hoodie and trainers, which are seen as the typical dress code for a guy of his age.

Moreover, we also chose an enigmatic location of a park to represent realism and Jake Black’s lost and broken identity that he is searching for, throughout our music video we have used a variety of editing techniques which consist of flashbacks to convey a sense of regret and reflection of the past. It can be said that our music video conforms to White’s theory proposed in 1961 which concluded that the ‘gatekeepers’ are the people who are part of the decision making process in the construction of a text. In terms of this theory we applied to our planning and marketing strategies as we used existing videos b Bruno Mars and James Blunt to shape our ideas and the male representations of our artist James Black.

Technical media skills mindmap

Fill in the gaps, including the year, relevant theory, argument and application…
THEORIST	IDEA	ARGUMENT	APPLICATION TO OUR PRODUCT / OTHER PRODUCTS
Berger 1995, Hoynes 1997	The Magic Bullet Theory	This theory assumes that mas media directs messages that then are directly received and completely accepted by the audience	The London riots in terms of media coverage the media included newspaper articles, horrific pictures and much more to create more panic and to represent youth as dangerous.
Blumler &Katz(1974)	Audience Gratification Theory	Escapism - Escape from everyday problems and routine,               Personal Identity - Seeing yourself reflected in texts               Personal Relationships - Finding a connection with someone in a text                                          Surveillance - Keeping up to date with news and current information	The use of video games for youth could be said To be used for escapism from everyday life some May play these games after having a stress-full Day. Films that have good looking celebrities can be Applied to the use of personal relationships as Many people find a connection with the celeb they Are watching due  to being attractive.
Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet (1994)	Two Step Flow Theory	This theory assumes that information from the mass media moves in two distinct stages. First to individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content.	This was evident in the event of the London Riots when information from news articles and News reporters were dissected and mediated To suit the audience. Boris Johnson and David Cameron also passed on views about The event through their speeches which were a Response to stop this tragic event from Escalating further.
Abraham Maslow (1940)	Maslow's Hierachy of Needs	This is a 5 stage structural model that explains human motivation and survival. The 5 stages are Physicological needs, Safety needs, Belonging love needs, esteem needs and self actualization needs	Adverts such as the Galaxy chocolate advert, Shows physiclogical needs as the chocolate  (food)Is needed for a womans well being and Comfort to relax after a stressful day.
Denis McQuail (1987), James Lull (1990), Richard Kilborn (1992)	U&G	It presents the use of media in terms of the gratification of social or psychological needs of the individual .The mass media compete with other sources of gratification, but gratifications can be obtained from a medium's content, from familiarity with a genre within the medium, from general exposure to the medium and from the social context in which it is used .U & G theorists argue that people's needs influence how they use and respond to a medium.	People who are interested in thriller films can Be applied to this theory as they are watch Thriller films in order to seek excitement Through other means of entertainment. They May have an addiction to watching the latest Thriller films.
Hans Robert Jauss	Reception Theory	A basic acceptance of the meaning of a specific text tends to occur when a group of readers have a shared cultural background and interpret the text in similar ways. It is likely that the less shared heritage a reader has with the artist, the less he/she will be able to recognise the artist's intended meaning, and it follows that if two readers have vastly different cultural and personal experiences, their reading of a text will vary greatly.	Typical British films that are produced by british Directors and that star people like Rowan Atitinkson can be applied to this, the audience Are able to relate to their products as they Share the same british culture and recognize Meanings in coloquilasims. Eg.Johnny English Reborn
David Morley (1980)	Nationwide Audience	people receive and interpret media messages in different ways, usually according to factors such as age, ethnicity, social class, etc. The audience is neither passive nor homogenous. In 1980 David Morley did a study to see how viewers interpreted a television show at the time: Nationwide. He found there were generally three types of reading: §  Oppositional - people disagree with the message and reject it. §  Negotiated - On the whole, the view is agreed with but slightly altered. §  Dominant - The message is fully accepted.	This theory can be applied to magazines such As Vogue that have –size models in them, There is a mixed agreement to this from Audiences.
John Fiske
Stuart Hall	Encoding & Decoding Model	States the relationship between the text and an audience, the text is encoded by the producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences between two different readings of the same code. The producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a prefered reading.	Films such as Kidulthood and Adult hood can Be related to this theory as Director Noel Clarke Proposes a distinct representation of youth That he believes his audience will accept However many of his audiences have a A similar acceptance with some notions of difference

Analyse one of your products against Narrative Theories.

For our AS teaser trailer we decided to incorporate conventional ideas and represent a troubled youth living in an urban society in south London like other existing products our teaser trailer was an urban Drama and had many typical conventions of this particular genre. Our trailer involved our protagonist named David moving into a new area that he was unaware of, days after recently moving into his new house he decides to go for a walk down his road we used grime music as our soundtrack which was parallel to our Protagonist listening to his headphones as he walked innocently down his road. We purposely included this to reinforce the equilibrium and also to keep our audience engaged.

Our main character David is suddenly confronted by a group of youths in a gang who are the antagonists as they appear to cause trouble around the area however David is unaware of whom they are this is the enigma. We chose to conform to Todorov’s narrative theory as it works well with our realistic portray of youths and also leaves audiences with mixed messages of what our protagonist is feeling at this present time. Our protagonist is then chased by the gang for several minutes this works in conjunction with Todorov theory of disequilibrium as David being chased and then stabbed. This convention is typical to Urban Dramas as the main character always has a downfall, for instance Kidulthood’s main character Trife who is killed at the end of the film. This narrative choice is effective as it tends to leave the audience wanting to know what happens next from the high emotional response however it can become almost traditional and ruin the excitement as audiences are able to predict what the likely outcome will be at the end of the film.

David reaches a standstill just before he is stabbed as he is at a dead end road there is a sudden cut to him waking up covered in blood this horrific image is an enigma code that we decided to use as the audience can only assume what happened to him and are able to have cognitive processes about the other characters who have suddenly vanished. This aspect of our trailer relates to Barthes theory of having a galaxy of signifiers which allows an audience to unravel a text. This was very significant and enhanced our trailer as it subverted from the typical Urban Drama that has recognisable signifiers and only one dominant reading.

Overall our Trailer had a linear narrative 

Representation

For my AS portfolio I created a gritty urban drama teaser trailer which represented youth and gang cultures in modern society. Our setting was very urbanized and included low-key lighting to portray a dark and deprived feel to the genre. Our film was typical to films such as Kidulthood and Shank which represent youth as a failing generation due to the immense scenes of violence, sex and crime. The main character in our teaser trailer is called David, he is a young Colombian boy who moves to a gritty area, he has interests such as grime music which we illustrated further with our soundtrack. He is represented in a short cut stereotype through the clothes he wears on  daily basis. These clothes are trainers, hoodies, jeans and baggy like trousers, these items are stereotypical constraints that adults in society categorize youth with. The reason why David wears a hooded jumper during our trailer is to portray him as a troubled youth. This constancy of mise-en-scene conforms to the film Kidulthood as characters in that film wear and dress this way.


The characters in this production are from different ethnic backgrounds to show youth as a diverse generation, they are are male and are always in a form of a gang. This representation is crucial throught our production as it mirrors modern sub-cultures in society. The gang in our trailer are represented as dominant through the use of close ups to show their angered facial expressions. This representation illustrates the typical feelings and emotions youth living in deprived areas in London experience.


As our trailer progresses their is parallel editing used to show the build up to our climax when our main character is Stabbed by the gang after having a confrontation with them in an ally way. The youths within the gang a represented as dominant and heartless to propose a realistic image of current affairs that consist of high statitistics of knife crime. When our main character is  about to get stabbed the male characters who are a part of the gang are standing in front of the females this representation conforms  to Gaye Tuchman's theory of the male race being dominant and women being inferior. However,This representation is an opposition to modern society.


We choose to represent youth living in a deprived area as this type of presentation is socially popular, from our market research we found that the target audience to films of similar genres had good feedback and that the most significant convention that makes gritty films top sellers is that they portray real life situations that many can identify with. Especially if they are set on a local council estate with low key lighting that reinforces danger and misery.

Essay Plan for Critical Perpectives in Media- Representation in relation to my AS Trailer.

-Trailer is a representation of dominant youth in society. who a presented in a short cut stereo-typical way through their clothing. hoodies, trainers (mise-en-scene) which hides their identity and imprints ideologies of youth being dangerous

-main protagonist is a youth who is troubled living in a deprieved urban society- this is represented through our location in south london and low key lighting to suggest a inescapeable, dark and cruel surrouning. Simular to Kidulthood, Shank and Fishtank which are set on  a urban estate

-The genre of music within our trailer is grime and rap which conforms to young male youths who are urbanised.

-Negative representation of youth being dominant and heartless when protagonist is stabbed- a reflection of current affairs- hightening gun and knife crime in youth.

-Conforms to Gaye Tuchman's theory as males were dominant and women were inferior (standing behind male charcters during the confrontation)

The film kidulthood is deemed as both anti-youth and pro-youth as there are a mixture of messages being put across, in relation to the audience watching. Youth are represented as 'negative, violent and out of control beings'. There are a number of experiences in which youth in this film encounter such as taking drugs and getting involved in crime, This representation is accurate as these experiences a true to reality as many youths living in deprieved areas and some middle-class engage in negative activities as we could see in events such as the the London Riots in 2011. In both Kidulthood and Adulthood the teenagers use a gritty and explicit discourse which reflects slang that is used by most teenagers in society today.

Noel Clarke directed both Kidulthood and Adulthood his perception of youth is reflected by the topics he has decided to explore within these films he is more abrupt and conveys a sense of failure for youth, although stating in interviews that 'youth need more oppertunities'. As a contrast Andrea Arnold portrays youth as social realism and suggests hope for youth through her main character Mia who seeks to free her identity through her talents that she attempts to take further.Noel Clarke expresses his knowledge about youth in a contaminated way as the depth of no hope and depth of violence shows how he has portrayed the hegemonic view of youth which leaves youth disenfranchised with a sense of pessimism.

Fish Tank could be considered as a 'pro-youth' film as Andrea Arnold explores the dark side to

Are the anti-youth or Pro youth films?

•Accurate and actual expirences of teenagers?

•An adult fascination of youth? How so

•Conforming to stereotypes circulated by press in the media?

•Who makes these media texts and who for?

Seek out a variety of sources and answer these questions on your blog by focussing on press coverage of the realease of these films and interviews with these directors

Do Kidulthood and Fishtank provide a realistic representation of youth?

The representation of youth in Britain has changed significantly in the last four decades, youth representation is more extreme and they are constantly the lime light of headlines and social discussions. The contemporary view of youths is mostly negative due to the representation proposed by the media this is evident in the film ‘Kidulthood’ as there is a representation of youths living in an urban deprived area in London, they all use slang to communicate with each other this is part of their collective identity which relates to post modernism in the sense that this movie gives an explicit and realistic portrayal of the social lifestyles of teenagers. There is a mixture of teenagers each from different ethnic backgrounds and sustained cultural views which illustrates diversity and how this has evolved throughout the 21^st century. This is different to Rebel without a cause as there is one dominant race in the movie, who is white middle class people. Theorist David Gauntlet said that ‘identity is complicated, everybody thinks they’ve got one’ this is evident in 'Kidulthood' as there is a variation of characters that each has their own identity.

In Fishtank the main character is battling to free her identity the horse is used as a symbolism of her trying to liberate herself, she wears urbanised clothing and dresses like a ‘chav’ David gauntlets theory of identity is complicated everybody thinks they have got one can be applied to Fishtank as the main character tries to express her identity through dance and her appearance. Similarly in ‘Kidulthood’ all the characters where hoodies, trainers and hats which represents there sub culture, However these items of clothing have now become the stereotype and dominant label of youths in modern society youths are negatively labelled as trouble if seen wearing hoodies, hats and trainers. Even though this view point is in somewhat unfair it is an unchangeable stereotype that has existed for many years and is constantly being manipulated by youths exploring new trends.

Youth are presented as a group that interact together in order to find ones personal identity which relates to Richard Jenkins social identity theory this perception is evident In ‘Kidulthood’ as characters partake in sex, drugs and easy illegal money making to find their individual identities. These explicit activities create a bold heightened fear of the rise of STI’s, the increase of young offenders and also teenage pregnancy within the UK. As a contrast in Fishtank the main character tries to construct her identity through constraints such as alcohol, love and dance in relation to dance she watches videos and copies relevant dance moves. Lacans theory of the mirror stage can be referred to this as she mirrors what she sees and mediates what she sees in order to build her identity. This is significant as many youths today look upon media portrayals and use them as a guide and inspiration even if they are negative representations.

The representation of youths in Fishtank and Kidulthood are highly realistic as they show the negative elements in society and how youths are disfuntioned in many ways. In relation to Fishtank the main character is an example of 1 in a thousand youths in Britain that have hidden talents that are not recognised due to their lack of opportunities such as living in a deprived area. This issue continues in London and youths are constantly rebelling and trying to change this, the London riots and student protests are just 2 of the things being done to change this. However the question still remains, is there really any hope for youths in the future?