TIPS : Make sure that you have a combination of theory and evidence from your chosen coursework in this essay. Remember that the examiner won't have seen your work so you'll have to make it very clear and also that you should find all these areas fully covered in your evaluations. Before you go into the exam you should be very clear on which theory you'd use for which question and have evidence linked to each theory.
Question 1(b) requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept. The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:
Genre
Narrative
Representation
Audience
Media language
Media language refers to the ways in which media producers make meaning in ways that are specific to the medium in which they are working and how audiences come to be literate in ‘reading’ such meaning within the medium. These medium specific languages will often be closely connected to other media concepts such as genre or narrative and candidates are at liberty to make such connections to a greater or lesser extent in their answers.
In the examination, questions will be set using one of these concepts only.
Remember that :
· You will only have to refer to one of your productions
· You should be able to prepare for all of these essay titles before the exam
· You should use theory for this question
· Relate theory to what you did in your films
· You only have thirty minutes so be concise
QUESTION
Relate one of your coursework productions to the concept of...then choose any of the five.
THEORY
Audience and Representation
This theory is applicable to both questions and can also be used for Media Language.
The uses and gratifications theory The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification. McQuail isolated four primary factors for which one may use the media:[15]Diversion: Escape from routine and problems; an emotional release [16]Personal Relationships: Social utility of information in conversation; substitution of media for companionship[Personal Identity or Individual Psychology: Value reinforcement or reassurance; self-understanding, reality exploration[18]Surveillance: Information about factors which might affect one or will help one do or accomplish something
Fiske : ‘popular culture is made by the people’ i.e suggesting that the consumers make an active choice.It is produced by industries for people to ‘use or reject’ i.e empowering the audience over the producers meaning that the audience decides which ideologies or messages are of value and that these are not simply imposed on them ,
Sarah Thornton, "subcultural capital" as the cultural knowledge and commodities acquired by members of a subculture, raising their status and helping differentiate themselves from members of other groups.ide which ideologies they will respond to
The study of subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affectations by members of subcultures, and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. According to Dick Hebdige, members of a subculture often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashions, mannerisms, and argot.[4]
Was your video or advert or cover targeted at a particular subculture?If so, how did you address the various demands of this particular subculture, whether in terms of ideological messages or through the ways in which they present their collective identity in terms of behaviour, location and costume or even in stylistic terms.
Stuart Hall explored how producers encoded texts with messages which were then decoded by the consumers, thereby suggesting an interaction with variables dependant on audience particulars which could create alternative interpretations or readings.
How you have encoded your text with messages that the target audience can then decode. These may be classed as dominant, preferred or negotiated readings.
Richard Dyer : ‘A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music]). ‘
Genre
Charles Derry defines the suspense thriller as “a crime work which presents a generally murderous antagonism in which the protagonist becomes either an innocent victim or a nonprofessional criminal within a structure that is significantly unmediated by a traditional figure or detection”
He then redefines the thriller into six subgenre. You should be aware of your subgenre, its conventions and how these were applied as well as how you created the ‘innocent victim’ and generated suspense.
Roland Barthes’ enigma and action code which propel the narrative are obviously relevant as is the ways in which you created suspense which is conventional to the form of the genre as influenced by the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Christine Gledhill notes that 'differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to... This made it easier to standardise and stabilise production' (Gledhill 1985, 58).
Robert Stam While some genres are based on story content (the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are performer-based (the Astaire-Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), locat[ion] (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema)
David Bordwell : ‘any theme can belong to any genre’
Steve Neale declares that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference' (Neale 1980, 48). He adds that 'difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre' (ibid., 50): mere repetition would not attract an audience (so in what ways does your film create difference or subvert genre conventions?)
Andrew Tudor notes that 'a genre... defines a moral and social world' (Tudor 1974, 180). Indeed, a genre in any medium can be seen as embodying certain values and ideological assumptions (so what values does your film seem to sponsor?)
Narrative
Todorov looks at the way narratives are structured. He suggested how in many narratives there is a change. The narrative begins with the equilibrium or balance or harmony. But then this is then disrupted by something known as an ‘agent of change’ which brings unbalance to the narrative or unpredictability causing disequilibrium. For the audience to feel that all is well, the equilibrium or balance must be restored
Todorov's Theory
The Narrative Theory
Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.
There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium
A film that follow these steps perfectly is Die Hard.
1. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is coming home to his family for Christmas and all is calm. (The equilibrium)
2. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his team of terrorists take over the nakatomi building which is hosting a Christmas part of which McClane and his wife are attending.
3. (2 points of recognition) McClane isn't in the room when the terrorsits storm in so is able to move up the builiding when he hears screaming. People outside of the building realise there's a disruption when a police man's car is shot at from the building.
4. The police try sending in a SWAT team in which fails. The situation is solved by John McClane throwing Gruber out of a high floor window which kills him.
5. The equilibrium is restored when the police got McClane, his wife and the other hostages out of the building, and the McClanes leave in a police car
Levi-Strauss
Strauss suggests that the human brain finds order through contrasts, opposites or radical juxtapositions. A film narrative or world can also be ordered this way by finding the contrasts or opposites through which the audience make meaning.
Roland Barthes
Barthes identifies 5 codes that underpin all narrative, these being
Enigma or hermeneutic– a question is created in the audience’s mind through the narrative which leads to suspense
Action or proairetic – an action is indicated which creates suspense in the narrative (e.g a Gunslinger pulls at his gun. Who will win the fight?)
Semiotic – these codes create expectations in the audience and help create meaning they are associative, like connotations (e.g he is heroic as he is honourable)
You may also wish to discuss how you created the narrative to work in line with the conventions of the genre in creating Hitchcockian suspense.
Essay Structure
These templates are not straightjackets. I’ve added them as guidance in order to demonstrate two things. Firstly (and most importantly) that there is a clear way to apply theory we have studied that is relevant to each question. Secondly, that some theory may be useful for different questions.
Representation Essay Structure
Explain that you made a music video/digipak cover/advert at A2.
Explain that your research made clear the conventional representations of the genre or conventional representations of the performer. Use Dyer here to explain that the representation of the performer or ‘construct’ across media was an invaluable template
Explain Hebdige’s theory on the fragmented modern audience as ‘subcultures’ representing urban tribes with their own codes and language. Explain how your representation of the performer was designed to meet the expectations of your particular subculture and how this was achieved through the construction of ideologies, costume, narrative and so on.
Consider how the Uses and Gratification Theory suggests audience pleasures (diversion/escapism) that may result from your video/ advert/cover representations of the artist or characters in the narratives or help them to identify with them and reinforce personal identity.
Explore possible audience interpretations by using Stuart Hall’s preferred/negotiated or dominant readings of your representations of the artist or characters in the narrative.
Audience Essay Structure
Explain that you made a music video/digipak cover/advert at A2.
Explain that this involved a thorough understanding of audience expectations – you could bring in Hebdige’s theories on different subcultures acquiring their own symbolic codes and how these may be perceived in your work.
You may wish to add Sarah Thornton’s views on shared values creating ‘cultural capital.’
You can then use Dyer’s concept of the star as a ‘construct’ and outline how you represented him/them along these lines.
Explore possible audience interpretations by using Stuart Hall’ s preferred/negotiated or dominant readings.
Narrative/ Essay Structure
Explain that you made a thriller film opening at AS. Explain that your intention was to employ a satisfying, tense and suspenseful narrative.
Your examiner hasn't seen your film so briefly summarise it.
For my AS production coursework I produced the opening to a thriller film. It was my intention to employ a satisfying, tense and suspenseful narrative.
My film concerns an Amish boy who accidentally witnesses a murder and whose life is then in danger from the antagonists who track him down.
Use Todorov to explain how you have created equilibrium/ disequilibrium and what was your 'agent of change'. Make sure that for each stage there are specific examples of m/e/c/s as well as references to films that influenced you.
Todorov suggested a narrative structure involving stages which also applies to my own narrative. I began with equilibrium as the boy or 'innocent victim' can be seen in the first few scenes at home in his Amish community before he leaves for the city. I signified this state of pleasant equilibrium with technical codes such as high key lighting and more static camerawork. As we near the 'agent of change' or 'disruption' as he witnesses the murder I signified this with an initial canted establishing shot of the toilet he witnesses the event in. The lighting became low key, shadowy and sinister and I began to change camera angles so the 'innocent victim' was increasingly seen from a high angle and appeared consequently more vulnerable.
Use Levi-Strauss to clarify which binary opposites were created.
Levi Strauss discussed a structural system for understanding narrative based not on the order of events but on binary opposites. I used these to position the audience with how to respond to my characters. My main binary opposites were the past and the present and the city and the country, the intention being to associate antagonists and protagonists with each. I had seen similar binary opposites in No Country for Old Men. The 'innocent victim' was part of the rural Amish community while all crime and danger would take place in the shadowy city. Anything associated with the modern world would immediately connote potential danger. Thus when the undercover police arrive at the Amish community their use of mobile phones and computers signifies to the audience at a structural level that they are corrupt and can't be trusted. In the scene where the boy witnesses the murder I employed a disorienting urban sound mix full of ambient noise of traffic, construction and activity to create unease. I was greatly influenced by the complex sound mix used by Orson Welles in The Magnificent AMbersons and the representation of the countryside in The Night of the Hunter.
Use Barthes in order to explain how your narrative employs action and enigma codes appropriate to the genre.
Roland Barthes has explored narrative in terms of particular codes which propel the narrative creating momentum and interest. The first of these codes are enigma codes, the mystery created from these narrative questions being especially relevant to a genre dependent on suspense. I employed a number of enigma codes in my thriller opening, having been greatly influenced by the enigmatic opening of A Touch of Evil. The boy witnesses the murder from a toilet cubicle in which one corrupt police officer kills another. Then the murderer begins to check the toliet cubicles before leaving. My main enigma was whether the bot would be discovered. To this end I edited the scene carefully, crosscutting between the boy hiding and the cubicle doors being smashed down before his final escape in order to create as much suspense as possible. Diegetic sound of the boy's agitated breathing, scrabbling under the cubicle doors and doors being smashed in was also important for tension. Other enigmas in the scene involved the reason for the killing which would become apparent later in the narrative. Action codes were also key in creating suspense and audience engagement, for instance when the murderer first pulls out his gun when his colleague arrives or when the first door is knocked down.
Bring in Derry next.
Charles Derry has defined the thriller as involving an 'innocent victim' in a 'murderous antagonism'. It is clear how my own thriller fulfils this criteria. Both the binary opposites and the use of equilibrium/disequilibrium are key in positioning the audience to sympathise with the boy and thereby build narrative suspense. Furthermore he defined 6 subgenre that were most common in the thriller genre. My own film represents a highbrid of two of these. After the boy witnesses the murder he must escape and be tracked down. This belongs to Derry's 'innocent on the run' genre. I indicated the sense of urgency with a greater reliance on handheld camerawork and a more rapid editing pace following the narrative disruption of the murder. My film could also be defined as a hybrid of the political thriller involving a corrupt organisation carrying out assassinations. These two generic influences were important in organising the narrative both in the opening and also for the remainder of the film so that I had a clear understanding of how the narrative should develop. Andrew Tudoe has discussed how a genre defines a 'moral and social world.' The contemporary distrust in corporations and organisations was a clear influence in my own narrative.
End with Steve Neale.
Steve Neale has stated that genre (and by definition narrative) are 'instances of repetition and difference'. Audiences seek patterns of recognition within any genre in order to find them fulfilling but the danger is that these patterns can become cliched and repetitive. I have used a number of patterns of 'repetition' in my own film such as the cross cutting in the toilet scene or the use of a child as the victim (6th Sense/ Mercury Rising) but feel that in making my protagonists the police have incorporated some level of difference. Furthermore, The Amish Commonity has rarely been used in a thriller which I felt added another level of 'difference'.
Genre
Explain that you made a thriller film opening at AS designed to create tension and suspense.
Use Todorov to explain how your thriller created a tense narrative.
Use Derry and Barthes to explain how your thriller was constructed to create enigma, or represent the ‘innocent victim’ or create suspense.
Use Neale to explain how you employed ‘difference’ to prevent your thriller being too formulaic.
You may wish to use Tudor to explain how you created a ‘moral and social world’
Add any other relevant theory.
Genre - example essay
The media production I am going to write about in relation to genre is my favourite piece from the whole course which is my horror teaser trailer.
The genre of the trailer is obviously ‘horror’ and this in itself allowed us to be creative with narrative etc but limited us because we had to stick to a certain amount of generic conventions in order for it to be recognised by it’s existing target audience. Steve Neal said that ‘genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations’ which meant certain generic features had to be included and repeated which in my case was the use of a creepy location of the woods as well as hand held camera and restricted narration to cause disorientation and suspense within our trailer. However, the pattern of variation Neal describes also links to my horror teaser trailer because we were able to creatively push the boundaries by twisting some generic features in order to make the trailer interesting and therefore cause the audience to want to watch the full movie. For this my group chose use a female psycho killer I order to subvert the stereotypical male dominated role. This female identification through point of view shots etc captured our female audience because were providing them with power and this is unusual for the horror genre although it is known for its forward thinking approach as it often attempts to focus on subcultural views instead of targeting the mainstream. Genre encompasses many parts and the trailer links to it in more ways than one. Its use of enclosed location and the fact the woods attempts to reinforce our society’s fear of loneliness and isolation which the woods creates when the three friends get lost. In these sections of the trailer we used a lot of heavy cross cutting between the female victim who is running anxiously through the woods in order to find her friends and get home safely. We also used the Kuleshove and collision cutting methods as the pace began slow as the friends head our in the car unaware of the danger before them and once they are in the woods we deliberately quickened the pace of editing to cause tension and to show that something is not right, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
Editing and mise-en-scene is really important to genre and reflects very quickly certain moods and atmospheres. Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes argued that the horror genre like many others used ‘binary oppositions’ in order to show the contrast between good and evil in order to force the audience to be constantly questioning the trailer for example; in my trailer I used light and dark to connote their happiness and carefree attitude in the daytime and the darkness to emphasise their fear and reliance
on their senses. This is particularly important to the horror genre as characters are often shown in high angle shots to appear vulnerable and therefore under threat.
Gore or ‘body horror’ is also a common generic convention used by most horror films that we studied including Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero who used it to make the audience feel sick by forcing them to see extreme violence. In my own trailer we were inspired to use gore differently by showing a hanging scene in slow motion to create tension and the centoring in on the face and neck which had been broken and this was shown by the rope burn we had made from latex and the blood pouring down her chest. This shot moves clockwise and slowly zooms in to force the audience to see what the hang (woman) has done. In our final two shots we finish the trailer with the male anti hero being lifted off the ground with blood pouring out of his mouth which causes the audience to assume no one survives because the final girl is stabbed by her friend accidentally which quickens the pace and adds tension but she is the survivor who as Carol Clover suggests will be terrorised throughout the film and finally overcome the monster. This plays with the audiences emotions and links back to the horror genre well by creating our own style of horror. Andrew Sarris argues because it encompasses so much and is key to explaining a film. Genre is the ideas that collectively make a particular recognisable style that draws in its existing target audience. My horror trailer had expressionist camera angles as the female victim desperately trips over the camera and we see her running above it as well as close ups of her facial expression that causes us to identify with her fear and therefore makes us scared. This meant the audience also were forced to objectify the female victim from the high angle camera shot down her top in which we can see her breasts slightly after watching other Hitchcock movies which use the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey to force us to take a male’s viewpoint.
In my trailer we also used an iconic symbol of the noose because obviously as a hangwoman she needed the prop but also as a female the circular shape suggested female power and this is something the horror genre often does but for male characters using guns etc as phallic symbols which we also used as the male anti hero takes out a knife and stabs his friend frantically when she walks up behind him. The horror trailer was made much darker in Final Cut Pro using the brightness and contrast menu and also dragged the saturated colours towards the blue in order to create a dark, dusky night time atmosphere a generic convention of horror trailers.
The generic conventions we chose to use were all important to the success of our product and since distributing it on YouTube we have over 4000 which I am really pleased with and gives me the confidence that we obviously stuck to the genre enough to capture our intended target audience but were creative enough to make people want to keep watching the trailer and virally sharing it with others.
Genre places a media text into a grouping giving it an identity which can be recognised by the mainstream society and I believe my product is successfully fitted to the horror genre using the narrative that todorov argued was important to the horror genre by following an equilibrium at the beginning then a problem which in our case was the male anti hero playing a joke on the soon to be female victim making jump running after him causing their separation then a pathway to resolution – as they attempt to find each other and then a new equilibrium at the end which we deliberately left as an open ending to capture our audience effectively.
EAA 10
EG 10
Term 5
Media Language
You could use theories from narrative and genre if you get this question. Then you just need to say , 'I used media language to create a suspenseful opening to a thriller at AS.' Then use the ideas from narrative and genre.
The other option is to say that you created your media A2 coursework of music video digipak cover and advert, thinking carefully about representations that would appeal to your particular audience. You can then write an essay explaining the expectations of your audience and how they were catered for by representations in your video. This will obviously allow you to use several theories including those of Dyer, Hebdige, Thornton, Hall and Uses and Gratification.