OCR G325 A2 Media Studies
Time allowed – 2 hrs.
Answer Section A: Question 1 – Parts (a) AND (b) and choose ONE question from Section B
Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
In question 1 (a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and
Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have
undertaken.
1(a)
Referring to your own experiences, how has your creativity developed through using
digital technology to complete your coursework productions?
(25 Marks)
Digital technology has meant proliferation and convergence across a range of media forms –
digital technology has had far reaching implications for both consumers and producers of
media in the last 30 years. According to David Buckingham “Contemporary media is
interactive…the audience is no longer a passive subject of the text”. For both my Foundation
and Advance Portfolio this interactivity was crucial, particularly when involving feedback and
both my projects referenced these changes as a result of digital technology.
For my Foundation Portfolio in Media I originated and developed a College Magazine front
cover and contents page and a Music Magazine cover, contents and double page spread.
The digital technology I used was Adobe Photoshop which has been standard DTP industry
image manipulation software since 2003 as has Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. This
practice first developed in the mid 1980s with Adobe PageMaker software and is now
accepted, widespread digital technology.
Initially we acknowledged the effect of digitisation and how it has affected magazine
circulation which has been falling rapidly for some time – now there are over 15,000 online
music blogs, fanzines and online music magazines such as Drowned in Sound and The
Quietus which influenced how we would design and create a new print based music
magazine. Media convergence had to be evidenced to ensure consumers could use digital
media to link to a wider brand range – this I achieved by placing Facebook and Twitter logos
on the front cover along with a URL link the online version of the magazine.
Digital media has meant more interactivity and to ensure my Rock genre music magazine
would succeed in the marketplace I foregrounded this along with clear evidence of
hybridisation. Digital technology and proliferation and meant that many existing magazine
like Kerrang and Q had had to creatively interpret the needs of their readers by catering to a
range of genres – I hybridised my Rock magazine with Indie music reflected by the cover
lines and features on my contents page. My magazine would also be published by Bauer
because despite the rise of independent publications as a result of digital media I knew that
to have a chance of commercial success it would need to be funded by a major oligopoly
publishing house.
Once we had chosen a genre I used a digital stills camera and organised a photo shoot to
ensure that my images could easily be uploaded into Photoshop for selection, editing and
manipulation. Experimenting with the tools and options in Photoshop designing my College
Magazine allowed me to make the creative decision to use Adobe Photoshop alone to design
my Music Magazine cover, contents and double page spread – this is because I believe that
Adobe Photoshop CS6 allows the user to manipulate text and image to a high level of
sophistication although reflecting on the production I would probably use Photoshop in
conjunction with InDesign as I was new to both the software and the Apple MAC OS X
hardware that I used.
This probably affected my ability to fully utilise my creative potential although I did
find the software allowed me to manipulate text and image to a near sophisticated
level including use of the Clone Stamp Tool, the Lasso and Crop tool, applying filters
to my images and also selecting brushes to blur and sharpen. I found the range of
fonts of Photoshop extensive but not suitable for the creative impact I was hoping to
achieve, particularly in my masthead. As a result I downloaded fonts from
www.dafont.com to achieve my desired finish. My creativity had also developed
from using the Internet as a secondary research tool looking at OCR blogs (Weebly)
to study existing coursework productions to enable me to understand the levels of
assessment and how they compared to my designs.
In my Advanced Portfolio for Media we also used Photoshop to develop and design
two ancillary tasks, a film poster an independent film magazine cover as part of a
promotional campaign to launch a social realist production which I had filmed and
edited a teaser trailer for. I found my ancillary tasks evidenced a higher level of
design sophistication as a result of my increasing familiarity with Adobe Photoshop
from my Foundation Portfolio tasks – my poster and magazine front cover revealed
not just my technological competence but also my increasing awareness of the
conventions of layout, use of space (my productions were more minimalist that my
Music Magazine work) and also my artistic interpretation of design in relation to
genre conventions.
I am looking forward to using YouTube as an example of Web 2.0 to obtain
interactive feedback on my Advanced Portfolio in Media main task, filming and
editing a short social realist teaser trailer – digital technology has meant that
producers can easily upload short films onto file sharing sites, social networking sites
or blogs for audience feedback and for marketing purposes. YouTube is significantly
important in the history of consumers of media who now more easily have become
producers according to David Gauntlett and also allows for faster, more collaborative
creativity from subsequent feedback. YouTube also allowed me to study existing
social realist film trailers to ensure I was familiar with both the conventions of a
teaser trailer but also the genre.
In using digital film technology to develop my main task (DV cameras and non linear
editing) I linked with the conventions of independent media with many new and
existing Directors choosing to shoot in this format. Lightweight, portable hand held
digital cameras with built in mics for sound pick up allowed me to complete complex
filming (particularly in regards to shot selection) which with film stock would have
been expensive and time consuming in terms of set up. This in turn enhanced my
creativity by the ability to innovate and film quickly, capturing the immediacy of a
scene. My social realist film borrows from the conventions of the documentary genre
in this regard.
I then captured the footage onto the hard drive and uploaded it into Final Cut Pro –
industry standard editing software. Although I had not used Final Cut Pro before I
was able to utilise my transferable IT skills from editing a external project using
Adobe Premiere. Although the two software packages are very different I quickly
learnt how to use Final Cut Pro from both teacher led and online tutorials in areas
that I was not particularly confident with. I also benefitted from tutorials from our
Media Technician who is also a film maker using a wide range of transitions I was
able to conform to the conventions of a teaser trailer which include fast paced
editing to engage target audience via narrative enigma.
I also edited in non-diegetic sound (a music soundtrack) and titles to enhance and
anchor my narrative and combined these with a range of different special effects
including turning footage to black and white but always recognising that I was
editing a genre with realist, urban representations. I feel that I am now multi skilled
in relation to my understanding of print based and audio-visual digital technology
and that my creativity has developed from my Foundation to Advanced Portfolio to
the point that I am now prepared to innovate more and take risks. I experienced
technical problems and difficulties throughout both projects but importantly
designed solutions to overcome them.
1(b)
Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre.
(25 Marks)
Analyse one of your Coursework Productions in terms of Genre
I will be analysing my teaser trailer that I filmed and edited as my main task forming
part of my Advanced Portfolio in Media. In class, we studied genre in existing social
realist films such as Shifty, This is England, Fish Tank and Kidulthood. This enabled
me to fully understand how genre conventions can be applied to our own
productions.
In my social realist teaser trailer urban representations have clear connotations of
social class that commonly are the encoded narrative themes of existing social realist
texts like Bullet Boy (2004) and Shank (2010) that target a younger demographic.
According to Steve Neale “Genre are instances of repetition and difference” – this
relates directly to how social realism has changed to appeal to a broader
demographic. Like contemporary social realism my trailer appeals to a C1, C2, D, 1625, male/female, aspirer/mainstreamer, urban/city living demographic. I remained
faithful to the core conventions of the genre but I encode narrative themes that
would appeal to a younger, more regionally specific (East London) target audience.
However, stereotypically I cast a male central protagonist which references these
historical and traditional conventions in 1950s films like Saturday Night, Sunday
Morning right through to contemporary social realism in Shifty (2008). This suggests
that as a genre piece my film trailer was ‘safe’ and did not offer the more pluralistic
representations of character found in films like Fish Tank (2009) and Happy go Lucky
(2008) with their strong, feminised narratives. My central character conformed to
the genre template as a typically aspirational, frustrated young man who is aspiring
for a better life. He is working class, male and looking for something different,
looking to break out of a negative spiral and ‘be something’. Filmed and set in
around East London council estates the trailer depicts a stereotypical social realism
urban environment.
The mise-en-scene evidences this gritty urban realism by use of dress code, objects
and props such as graffiti - alleyway shots reveal urban decay and use of natural
lighting gives the trailer a documentary feel. The body language and attitude of the
characters makes intertextual references to specifically regional social realist films
such as Adulthood (2008) and Ill Manors (2012) and uses similar visual iconography.
Some locations are domestic environments again ensuring notions of ‘kitchen sink
dramas’ apply but ensuring a contemporary feel. This is reflected by David
Buckingham’s analysis of genre where he states “Genre is not simply given by the
culture; rather it is in a constant process of negotiation and change” – my attempts
have been exactly that, to reference how social realism has evolved but by ensuring
core genre conventions apply/
The technical composition of my trailer included wide, establishing shots of
stereotypical social realist locations (a council estate), use of hand held camera
anchoring realism and non-diegetic sound with problematical urban connotations.
This was an artistic choice but also recognition of genre conventions – it would be
highly likely that the film itself would have no non-diegetic sound to further encode
realism. This realism would allow audiences to develop an understanding of the
narrative themes evident in the trailer, again typical to social realism. My themes
include mental health and xenophobia and through narrative enigma in the trailer
this is suggested to audiences. Other narrative themes common to social realism
evident in my trailer includes exploration of social class and urban gang culture
although I have made significant efforts to not hybridise the genre into gangster
codes and conventions which is a criticism made of some contemporary social
realist films like Kidulthood (2006). However, as Henry Jenkins argues genre has
commonly been subject to hybridisation and change to broaden target audiences in
terms of audience appeal. John Fiske argues that the whole concept of genre is
deliberate and potentially commercial by stating “Attempts to structure some order
into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture are for the
convenience of both producers and audiences”.
Like many social realist films by production is independent with low budget
production values reflecting the fact that many films of this genre are more likely to
achieve critical and not commercial success unless, like The Full Monty (1996) they
are distributed by a major studio. This makes my trailer, as part of a promotional
campaign to primarily market to niche audiences with significant cultural capital in
terms of narrative content. In this regard John Hartley’s comments on genre that
“The same text can belong to different genre in different countries or times” applies.
As a result of its regional skew my trailer is unlikely to have broad, international
appeal and is more likely to be distributed online e.g. via YouTube with a limited
theatrical release like Fish Tank which was only distributed to 40 cinemas but has
since achieved critical success.
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues
Media in the Online Age (MediaEdu choice from 6 topics - extended
responses/articles and analysis of Postmodern Media, Collective Media Identity and
Contemporary Media Regulation are also available on MediaEdu).
2. Discuss the extent to which the distribution and consumption of media has been
transformed by the internet.
(50 Marks)
3. Referring to at least two media in your answer, explain and illustrate the idea of
convergence.
(50 Marks)
Media in the Online Age
Discuss the extent to which the distribution and consumption of media
has been transformed by the internet.
The internet or world wide web is a tool of global communication – billions of pages of
unregulated content (in most countries) that has transformed the way we live our lives,
including revolutionising consumption of media. Sociologist and Media theorist David
Gauntlett has focused his recent work on digital and social media and its relationship with
self identity while he also acknowledges the blurring of the boundaries of producer and
consumer as a result of ‘new media’ such as YouTube (b. 2005). David Buckingham has
focused his work on the way digital technologies are used in everyday life and their
consequences for individuals and social group – his key area of concern is children, use and
access to technology in education. Both theorists however recognise the revolutionary
impact that the internet has had on our lives.
Media convergence is a key transformation with traditional media becoming available in
online formats from film to music downloading and distribution to online television, online
gaming, online news provision, newspapers and magazines. I intend to focus on two media,
music and magazines to illustrate the changes in the distribution and consumption of media
within these industries. Effectively the internet has become a single platform where access
to rich media is almost limitless and can be downloaded at the click of a mouse button, often
resisting traditional media regulation, promoting global culture that does not recognise
national boundaries and changing the very nature of how we consume media – with
convergence come interactivity and immediacy and the fragmentation of traditional
audiences.
The music industry naturally converges with other media, e.g. through music videos, through
film soundtracks, through television and through radio but through the internet the
distribution and consumption of music has dramatically and permanently changed – sales of
CDs have fallen to the point that the format is now almost obsolete with the majority of
purchases made through online sites like iTunes. This has in turn been reflected by the site
of distribution with historical distributors like HMV going into administration in January
2013, unable to compete with online formats. Distribution literally defines the way music is
delivered and now online stores and downloading monopolises music consumption. Debates
about illegal downloading rage with argument and counter argument suggesting that illegal
downloading is the primary reason why record and CD sales have fallen. The oppositional
view suggests that illegal downloading actually make consumers more aware of the
marketplace and what is out there.
Online distributors often have key arrangements with the ‘Big Three’ music publishers, Sony,
Warners and Universal with the online distributor taking a cut and paying the balance to the
record label. Universal Music claim there has been a 20% fall in CD sales since 2006 and are
involved in frequent lawsuits to prevent digital piracy. Universal, and many of their artists
still remain commercially successful however via take-overs and monopolizing and
controlling online distribution as in Vevo, their recent coloration with Sony and Abu Dhabi
Entertainment. Started in 2009 (April 2011 in the UK) Vevo are a mainstream video hosting
website that has meant it is now harder to search for a well-known artist’s video via a
generic YouTube search. Approximately 50,000 videos are available with the ability to
control and benefit in a more structured way from advertising revenue – the videos are
syndicates across the web with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue. Most
videos available are licensed to the Big Three (until 2011 with the break up of EMI this was
known as the Big Four). One of the key impacts in terms of consumption, to ensure
attracting high-end advertisers is the censoring of content, particularly in terms of language.
Further revenue is generated from a merchandise store and links to purchase viewed songs
on Amazon MP3 and iTunes – iTunes itself remains a dominant application developed by
Apple in 2001 that allows users the opportunity to play, download and organize music (and
music videos, television and some film content) on all computer platforms. Simple
accessibility has allowed for this wide distribution of music through an iTunes store although
criticisms have been leveled against Apple for developing what has become regarded as a
monopoly.
Music industry websites have become crucial to the industry as a marketing tool - typically
star sites are managed and run by the record company and use marketing, synergy and
convergence to link to Photo Galleries, links and downloads, lyrics, bibliographies and news,
gigs and merchandising which is all part of promoting the artist. Official Product Sites also
allow consumers to develop their interest in an artist or a brand – an example would be
www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk which is the website of the Glastonbury Music Festival
organised and is run by Festival Republic who used to be part of the Mean Fiddler (Vince
Power) music group. Fan Sites like www.katyfan.com are often created to distribute
specialist information and encode notions of exclusivity to the more dedicated fan. This fits
with Blumler and Katz’s 1975 Uses and Gratifications theory suggesting audiences are active
in developing personal relationships with other fans of the artist, which is evidenced by the
use of Katy Perry’s first name only. Social Networking Sites like Facebook and Twitter are
also important to music artists and contain alleged personal information and are used in
marketing to maintain a mythical close relationship with the fans. Importantly they are often
run by the record company, and not the artist.
On Lady Gaga’s own website she is pictured in a standard hero shot within the leaderboard
in stereotypical pose. Like all the photographs that the website will link to, all will have been
authorised by the record company in terms of publicity. The colour palette is not too
feminine and conventions of graphic design and layout are nearly sophisticated. Standard
conventions are used as a marketing tool including merchandising links to an online shop,
events and a chat page which also advertises Lady Gaga’s Facebook and Twitter page (again
all paid for and authorised by the record company). It is only Music Industry Fan Sites that
contain material that is not always acknowledged and authorised by the likes of Sony and
Universal. A button will allow easy navigation to the music video of Lady Gaga’s latest single,
her biography, ticket sales and downloads through iTunes. In again an intelligent marketing
ploy, foregrounded on the home page are messages from fans to Gaga creating the myth of
personal communication which is anchored by her social networking sites. Synergy and
convergent links are crucial to Music Industry Star Sites in how they have transformed the
distribution and consumption of music.
Online distribution has also benefitted the independent sector with lower production costs
and the ability to reach a broader audience than before – as identified earlier, Gauntlett
would argue more and more consumers are now producers with a new range of ‘internet
stars’ breaking into the industry like Justin Beiber. Key advantages of independent online
music publishing include no studio costs, more immediate profit (although this is often
negligible) and the ability to develop a viral marketing campaign via interactive social
networking media. YouTube has allowed for user generated content but regularly the top
ten viewed YouTube videos are often corporate music videos by well-known artists like Lady
Gaga, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem (who has retained popularity online) and the
aforementioned Bieber. Online music distribution and publishing is still fundamentally
dominated by the Big Three who comprise the oligopoly ownership.
The Magazine industry provides and interesting comparison – like the music industry, before
widespread online publishing and consumption an oligopoly dominated and arguably still
does in the guise of companies like Bauer, IPC and Hearst Publishing (previously NMC).
However, the widespread proliferation of online magazines and the internet providing such
a broad range of immediate entertainment print magazine circulation has dramatically
fallen. ABC figures indicate year on year circulation has fallen but also acknowledging that
figures can be blurred by ‘digital copies’ on the print publication. Many printed version of
magazines, despite hanging on to the iconic product are now actively diverting consumers to
websites maintain and develop interest in the brand – URL and Twitter and Facebook logos
are now common on the front page of printed magazines to ensure convergence. Linking
with the above analysis of how the internet has affected the distribution and consumption
of the music industry it is now widely recognised that there are over 15,000 music industry
online magazines, blogs, fanzines and online versions of existing magazines. Stand alone
music magazines like www.drownedinsound.com and www.thequietus.com are example of
music magazines that only (successfully) publish online.
Key advantages of online magazines focus on interactivity and as such, focus on interactive
content such as forums, blogs, social networking and convergent links to rich media – all
unavailable in print format. Advertising is more evident on the home page of an online
magazine with banners, skyscrapers, buttons and flash animations common. The
proliferation of advertising online reflects essential funding as per ad impressions of hits on
that particular magazine’s website. Genre has arguably also been subject to proliferation as
magazines offer more obvious genre conventions in their printed format. This is supported
by Daniel Chandler who suggests “Conventional theories of genre tend to be based on the
notion that they constitute particular conventions of content”. In online format the obvious
conventions of Men’s Lifestyle Magazines like Shortlist, Music Magazines like Kerrang and
style magazines like 1-D. www.i-donline.com in their leaderboard advertises fashion, music,
culture and film, printed magazine genres in their own right but also has links to their iconic
magazine front pages. This hybridisation has been facilitated by the range of entertainment
the internet can offer and the way the medium has dramatically changed the way we think
about media, and what media is.
It is often cheaper and easier to view magazines online and there is a wide diversification.
Convergent links stereotypically appeal to a broader range of youth audiences although the
myth of youth and online technology is slowly being eroded with all bar the older generation
now recognised as competent online consumer of media – indeed a significant group of
online gamers are 35-55, ABC1 males. The magazine industry continues however, albeit with
reduced circulation figures but common to all recognising the importance of the print
version as a product that may be publishing at a loss but that provides vital links to online
versions. On occasion, a printed magazine’s circulation can level out; the Radio Times is a
magazine that is read traditionally by an older demographic but recently their website,
www.radiotimes.com has been re-launched describing itself as a ‘one stop shop’ for what is
on television, radio, on demand and at the cinema with additional information on
entertainment news, views and guides. The printed version cannot compete with this vast
content but also convergent links to videos, cinema trailers and an archive of 30,000 film
reviews. Notions of the ‘archive’ ensure the superiority of magazines in online format
compared the to singularity of a printed product (the magazine).
Even Gossip magazines, commonly read and commonly seen all have a significant online
presence that provides additional and broader ranging content – www.heatworld.com
provides synergy with the ever-expanding Reality TV genre in the same way that
www.kerrangcom links to Kerrang TV and Kerrang Radio. Complete proliferation has ensured
that both the distribution and consumption of media via the internet has changed. Henry
Jenkins suggested “Everyone is a producer of media, the desire to create and share is great
and we can now communicate across geographical barriers”. The internet does not
recognise global boundaries, the whole concept of media is shared. Commercially the
internet has facilitate significant change although in somd media this may be
underestimated – if you add up all the revenue from niched market films the profit (ROI –
return on investment) can be greater or at least equal to one blockbuster. The explosion of
broadband technology has now meant that media consumption of larger forms, such as a 90
minute film has increased. The interactive, sharing, social networking and peer to peer
aspects web 2.0 have further changed media consumption and distribution.
However, the argument exists that much global media on the internet ‘comes from the west’
suggesting a form of cultural homogenisation whereby generic forms are established,
expected and regularly consumed. Immediacy is also an issue with many consumers not
prepared to wait for, or use the ‘real product’ e.g. a DVD and search instantly via YouTube
suggesting changes in terms of exhibition. The whole idea of targeted marketing again is
facilitated by online formats with cookies tracing for examples, films that you have looked at
with ensuing advertising pop ups, prosumers like Charlie McDonnell represents a new brand
of media consumer who makes a living from creating their own films or TV shows and
streaming them online for free – the face of media consumption is changing with traditional
formats declining with audiences ditching the traditional concept of gatekeeping and going
straight to the web.