G325 Question 1B

You need to focus on one production piece

and analyse it in terms of: Genre/
Narrative/ Representation/ Audience/
Media Language
Must use media theory/ theorists
What do you need to be able to do
with theorists and theories?
You do NOT need to:
Learn a load of quotes although one or two may be useful
Explain their theories in great depth
Know them all
You DO need to:
Use a few quotations if you can keep them short
If you dont have a quotation try to summarise the idea and
apply it to your trailer/music video/poster etc
Be able to apply them to your work/ case studies
Consider how useful/ not useful they are when discussing
your work
How to use theorists
0 Quote
0 Summarise
0 Comment

0 Assume your reader knows about the theory/ theorist.
0 Dont explain the theory; use it.
0 A Todorovian analysis would argue
0 Mulveys notion of the Male Gaze provides a useful way of
understanding the video in that
0 Kate Wales statement that Genre is... an intertextual
concept could be useful here because

Genre
0 Denis McQuail The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce
consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers.

0 Nicholas Abercrombie It makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over
again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale
Directors/stars are used to portray genres.

0 Christine Gledhill Differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to... This
made it easier to standardise and stabilise production Different genres have different audiences

0 John Fiske A representation of a car - we are unlikely to have experienced one in reality, therefore intertextually.
Repetition/stereotypes/conventions makes us understand the genre

0 Andrew Goodwin - Genres change and evolve

0 David Buckingham - Genre is not simply given by the culture, rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and
change. Genre changes with culture

0 Stephan Prince Horror, unlike other genres, challenges the unknown. Good vs evil (foil) has evolved into crazy
dad or neighbour etc, this has happened through time. Humans are not top of the food chain, which creates
helplessness

0 There is no pleasure without difference , Genres are instances of repetition and difference - Steve Neale

0 How we define a genre depends on our purposes Chandler




Narrative
0 Tzetvan Todorov Narratives always have a structure of Equilibrium/
Disequilibrium/ New equilibrium
0 Story versus plot
0 Levi-Strauss Human cultural understanding is based upon a system of
binary opposites (good/ bad/ black/ white/ male/ female).
Narratologists have taken this theory and applied it to narrative, arguing
that binary opposition forms a fundamental way of understanding
narrative.
0 Roland Barthes: Enigma code; Action code. Also, Open and Closed
texts.
0 Propp argued that narratives always have certain character types who
perform certain actions. Characters are agents of action.
0 Noel Carroll - Traditional 3 part structure for horror: Onset phase
where a disorder is created, Discovery phase, where characters
discover the disorder, Disruption phase where characters destroy the
source and restore normality.
0 Horror genre most important characteristics are the modes of affect that
horror films intend to create in their audiences other characteristics and
generic conventions evolve - Brigid Cherry
Representation
Representation is what are the connotations of the media text - Symbolism.
Verisimilitude appears to look real. Socially what they look like, and how they are
represented through society e.g. policeman with respect.
Stereotypes are used to generalise and represent society. It is easier to group
characteristics and social positions together as it builds a stronger ideology of what
they are like, without actually knowing them (assumption) Shown through:
Appearance and Behavior.
Perkins argues that stereotypes are not simplistic, they contain complex understanding
of roles in society. Not always negative and often contain truth.
Dominant Ideology Widely held belief by many members of society. Marxist theory
Dominant ruling classes shape culture (Hegemony)
Baudrillard We watch hyperreality were everything is a depiction of what the world is
like.
Laura Mulvey argues that cinema positions the audience as male. The camera gazes
at the female object on screen. It also frames the male character watching the female.
We watch the girl; we see the male watching the girl; we position ourselves within the
text as a male objectively gazing at the female.
Hegemony leadership by one smaller group over another larger group (male over
female, the consumer is forced to accept what has been shown)
Pluralism that the audience can choose wither to accept what they watch is real etc.
Selection: What shot has been chosen to go into media text.
Organisation: Mise-en-scene
Focusing: What we are forced to focus on; by choice of the cameraman and director

Audience
0 Stuart Hall - Encoding and Decoding; Preferred/ negotiated/ oppositional readings
0 Denis McQuail Uses and Gratification theory (audiences consume media texts for Surveillance;
Personal Identity; Presnal Relationships; Escapism/ Diversion.
0 Dyers Utopian theory How audiences consume media products with a clear set of pleasures to
draw from that experience. Escapism from peoples real lives.
0 The Hypodermic Syringe - According to the theory the media is like a syringe which injects ideas,
attitudes and beliefs into the audience who as a powerless mass have little choice but to be
influenced- in other words, you watch something violent, you may go and do something violent.
0 The Culmination Theory - Years and years of watching more violence will make you less sensitive
to violence
0 Morleys Research - Women tend to watch something whilst doing something else and they watch
soaps etc. Men put full focus onto watching a film, sports and news.
If a media text attracts a wealthy amount of people then it is likely to continue even if that
percentage is small. A series such as Star Trek (attracts single male men), although it only attracts a
small amount of people, the figures and collectables that come with it, make the series successful.
Audiencehood is becoming an even more multifaceted, fragmented and diversified repertoire of
practices and experiences. Ien Ang


Media Language
0 Camera Angles, shots, body language etc..
0 Style and type of editing and filming
0 Written, Symbolic, Technical (WST)
0 Semiotics Signs of what we see (signifier)
0 Denotation/Connotation
0 Iconography
0 Paradigm set of codes that we see in a media text


Media Language
Is also the conventions that we expect of the media
product -
E.g. music video editing in time to the music,
montage, direct address, abstract or visuals that may
link to the music or the musical genre, star
construction, the creation of the relationship
between the star and the performer
Intertextuality is important in music videos and
gives additional meanings for the audience.
Media Language
0 Trailers use of narrative/thematic/genre/ signifiers
from the film cut together in order to make the
audience want to see the film.
0 The ordering of these so that it gives a taste of the
film and a sense of its visual style
0 The use of intertitles to anchor meaning
0 The use of sound to anchor meaning
0 The use of institutional titles to make intertextual
links to similar films etc.
You must give examples
It is really important to give clear examples from the
piece that you have decided to analyse.