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