Wednesday 29 February 2012
Monday 27 February 2012
Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience
In terms of constructing a media text – in the case of my A2 coursework, a music video – considering audience is essential. When creating my music video for the song ‘Short Skirt Long Jacket’ by Cake, I thought extensively about the kind of people I was appealing to and how I would do this. The target audience for my video is mainly heterosexual males ages 16-25, due to the fact that all my models are girls that fall into this same age category, and the lyrics of the song describe an ideal woman. Throughout the process of making my music video, I asked members of my target audience to look at my ideas and work and give me feedback so that I could ensure that it was specifically tailored to the wants and needs of my audience. I did this through polls on my blog and regular feedback forms.
We can apply Bulmer and Katz’ Uses and Gratifications theory to my music video, which has four reasons as to why audiences consume media texts: entertainment, which is for the purposes of escapism and diversion; surveillance, which is for the purpose of obtaining information; personal identity, which suggests that the audience relate to the characters and situations; personal relationships, which suggests that the audience look to the media text as a way of connecting with those around them. We can deduce that the audience would use my music video for primarily entertainment, as part of the purpose of music videos is pleasure, and also possibly personal relationships, as music videos are often talked about as much as television programmes or films, particularly those that are especially controversial, provocative, or innovative. However, the other two points of the theory – personal identity and information – do not really apply to music videos necessarily, although it could be argued that some female viewers may see the models in my video in an aspirational sense.
Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze can be applied to my music video as I used close-ups of the models’ eyes, lips, legs, and hair which act to eroticise and sexualise them. Mulvey identified two types of the male gaze: ‘voyeuristic’ and ‘fetishistic’. Voyeurism refers to seeing women as ‘whores’, whilst fetishism refers to seeing women as ‘madonnas’. My music video conforms more to the fetishistic interpretation of the male gaze as the lyrics of the song mean that the models are seen as fantasies and admired, rather than objectified.
Another way of looking at how audiences consume media is reception theory, which is based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model. It argues that producers encode meaning into a media text and audience then in turn decode it. When creating my music video, I encoded meaning in many ways. For example, I shot the entire video in extreme close-up and used many different models so that the ideal woman that the song is about is never shown in full. This ensured that the audience saw her as a fantasy, and that she was represented as an unachievable perfect woman that is more an amalgamation of many different women rather than one real-life person. I used iconic signifiers of femininity to connect with the audience, for example: red lipstick, long eyelashes, jewellery, high heels, short skirts, lace, etc. This made sure the audience saw the models as beautiful and links to attracting a male audience and Mulvey’s concept of seeing women as ‘madonnas’. Although it could be argued that my music video conforms to the stereotype of women due to the way that the models are dressed and made-up and additionally some of the props that are used – for example a blender, typical domestic kitchenware that links directly to the traditional feminine role – it could also be said that there are aspects of both the lyrics and the accompanying video that contrast with this image. For example, I have one shot of a girl playing with model cars as the lyrics are, “she’s changing her MG for white Chrysler Le Baron”, which contradicts the stereotype of women.
To conclude, I created my music video with a specific audience in mind, and ensured that they would be attracted to, understand and enjoy my music video through the process of research and feedback.
Sunday 19 February 2012
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