exam practice question

How far has audience theory affected the outcome of your A2 production work.

-what is audience theory?

-did i do this?

-if yes/no why/why not?

-more of a focus on audience research- links to use a gratification model as i am taking into consideration what the audience wants.

-what theory does my work most follow if any (see above)

-would the outcome of the a2 production work be better if i had considered theories more

The term "audience theory" relates to the different ways there are to think about the audience. In my A2 production work I did not really take into consideration any theories though there are many, such as the hypodermic model, which suggests that the audiences are "injected" with a message and have no control. This contrasts with the Uses and gratifications model which suggests that a person has choice and independence as to what media they use, and that the people in charge of making the media have to take this into consideration. This model is the one that is most relevant to my production work, even though I did not consider is during any of my work audience.

In my work i focused more on audience research which involves trying to find evidence about the relationships between media and audiences. I did this by carrying out a Vox Pop, in which I asked people in a public place what they thought about music videos, as well as a blog post which I posted over social network sites and other blogs in order to gain a wide variety of feedback in the form of a post comment. In doing this i became part of the uses and gratifications model as I was paying attention to what an audience appeared to want and made my product with that in mind so that they would want to chose to watch it, for example many people said that most music videos use sexual images but that they don't always like it because, as one person wrote "it makes me feel like a perv", so when making my music video i took into account sexual desire by using a pretty woman as my protagonist but this was as far as any sexual content went.

By looking at other theories I have gained a wider knowledge of the audience as a whole however, i do not think that the lack of attention i gave it during the actual production of my piece as hindering as all theories are just that, theories, and there is no definitive theory that can be used.

"practice question"

Analyse the concept of narrative in relation to one of your coursework productions.

There are many different concepts of narrative in the media world. Most of the theories put forward are formed when looking at films, for this reason it is not always possible to relevantly use them when looking at music videos. Some music videos follow a very obvious narrative, whilst others have none at all. My music video falls somewhere in the middle, as while there is a clear "storyline" of the girl finding the boy there are also many un-narrative characteristics such as the lack of character development, the lip -syncing and the interlude of short clips towards the end of the music video, which have no significance to the story.

Todorov suggested that narrative follows a chain of events that lead to an equilibrium disequilibrium and equilibrium, forming the conventional narrative form of a beginning middle and end. However in my own personal production, this is not true. My music video has no equilibrium at the beginning, as it starts straight away with the girl following the boys trail, there is no real set up or perfect start. It could be said that it begins on a disequilibrium and ends on an equilibrium, as she looks for him and then in the end finds him, and it is a clear "happy ending" when you see the pair embrace in the final 10 seconds of the song, but overall this concept of narrative is not relevant to my piece.

Another theory suggested clear character roles, such as "the hero", "the villain", "the princess" and the "the anti-hero". This theory is completely irrelevant to my music video as there isn't enough character development to be able to assign such roles. However, it is relevent to the concept of narrative, so if my music video doesnt follow this trend then it could be said that it has no narrative.

Unfinished (Y)

Steph Becker

DO THESE QUESTION

A2 G325 Section A: Qu 1a prompt questions

Remember, for this question (1a) you discuss both FOUNDATION AND ADVANCED production portfolios. For question 1b you focus on one production only.

The following prompt questions should help you to organise your thinking (and hopefully revision notes) for Section A, question 1a.

Digital Technology

• How has digital technology helped you to capture your ideas for media production?

• What benefits do digital technologies offer over analogue? Are there any disadvantages?

• How did digital technology influence your work in post-production – for example in the creation of video effects, or the manipulation of images.

• How have your skills with digital technology developed, and how has this influenced your productions?

• What role might digital technology play in the distribution of work such as yours?



Creativity

• What features of your work would you say are original to you?

• Which media texts and producers have influenced your creative decisions?

• How successfully does your work engage its audience and provoke its interest?

• Consider some of the creative choices you had to make during the course of your production – how to use cameras, lighting, dialogue, colour etc. How did you make these decisions, and how did these contribute to the final production?



Research and planning

• How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?

• How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?

• How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media influence your production work?

• What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting, storyboarding, shot-lists etc.)? How effective was your planning – how did it help you in the production phase?

• What did you learn from planning your first production that helped you to improve your planning for the second?

• How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?



Post-production

• How much of your text was ‘created’ only in post-production?

• What technologies did you use to modify your raw material. How did this change the meaning of your work?

• How much did you manipulate sync sound or create new sound for your text? What effect did that have on your text?

• How much of your footage ended up ‘on the cutting room floor’ (unused) and why?



Using conventions from real media texts

• In what ways have your productions used or developed conventions adopted from real media products?

• In what ways have your productions challenged or played with conventions adopted from real media products?

• In other words, is your work generic, or postmodern – or both?

• Some media producers adopt a style of working that is quite distinctive – explore how work you have produced may have been influenced by your own favourite producers/directors/designers/publishers.


Try and offer specific textual examples from your production work to illustrate your points......make the examiner see what they can't see - use technical language: Mise-en-scene, camera angles, editing, sound....