Leveson Inquiry

 I watched a documentary by the BBC about the Milly Dowler case, however they didn’t include anything about the phone tapping, so I watched another video that was specifically about the phone tapping in her case. The bbc choosing not to include the phone tapping suggests that they are trying to cover it up. The YouTube video I watched solidified my learning of the Leveson inquiry.

Music Video Timeline

 

I created a timeline featuring the key points in the history of music videos. This helped me understand specific cultural points in the history which I can apply to my learning of the set texts. This research will also help me if I decide to create a music video for my NEA. This task also helped me to familiarise myself with Canva. I can now confidently use this website to help me create posters and infographics. 

Applying Dyer's Star theory and Goodwin's Music Video theory

 Taylor Swift 'The Man'

Richard Dyer's Star Theory

Richard Dyer's theory suggests that there are 3 key aspects to be an influential star. Star as construction, where the star constructs their own image to appeal to their audience. Star as commodity, where they sell merch and things to make money

- Star as construction = Taylor Swift constructs herself differently for each album. For example her album Lover constructs her as a mature yet vulnerable public figure directly contrasting her previous album 'reputation.'

- Star as commodity = Taylor Swift has lots of different merchandise that you can buy from her website specifically and from stalls at the shows. Her merchandise is themed around each album (era) and certain songs specifically. 

- Star as ideology = Taylor Swift promotes feminism and social justice. 

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

- Genre characteristics = The main aspect of this video was to highlight the differences in gender stereotypes. For example, when she is looking after the child, the man gets lots of recognition and praise for imply taking his daughter to the park where as the mothers don't get the same amount o praise despite looking after the children all day. It follows gender stereotypes to show the double standards and how unfair they are. 

- Lyrics & visuals = The video visually contrasts a females struggles with a males counterparts privilege. for example when he is seen 'man spreading' and flicking ash into the woman's bag on the subway. 

- Music & visuals = the main lyric is 'If I were a man' and then her video shows the stereotypical exaggerated stereotypes of men. this links together as her music matches what is happening in the video.

- Close-ups & motifs = There are lots of close-up shots of Taylor swift dressed up as the man. this allows the audience to see the codes of expression. 

- Intertextual references = Taylor Swifts music videos have lots of intertextual references to her other music in them. In 'The Man' specifically, when he is in the subway all of her album names are graffiti's on the wall. There is also a no scooter sign which refers to the scandal she had with her old manager called Scooter. There was also a sign with Miss Americano which references her documentary. 

The Big Issue front cover

 

I made my own version of The Big Issue's front cover using their typical codes and conventions. I was inspired by stranger things and the current political events that reflect their audience's ideologies. For example my headlines are about social housing and rogue landlords.

Stranger things isa very popular tv show that is very current in todays society so it reflects the zeitgeist.

 In pairs we created a newspaper front cover for The Sun and The Guardian following the codes and conventions for each one. Our main story focused on Ed Gein and we used other stories that follow the zeitgeist as they are popular right now.

David Gauntlett’s identity theory

 I made a ppt about David Gauntlett’ s identity theory (shown on a post from October 25). Then I read the chapter about Gauntlett’s identity theory in the Media Theory for A Level book by Mark Dixon to enhance my understanding of the theory.

-heavily influenced by the work of Anthony Giddens: Gauntlett uses Gidden’s argument's to explore effects of contemporary media

-the diversity of new new products and channels facilitates the process of identity editing by audiences.

-we have desire to manipulate the way that we engage with the world

-marketing and advertising agencies construct multiple possibilities of who we might be through product branding. They provide us with glimpses of who we might become (the ideal version of ourselves) 

-theorists who challenge Gauntlett’s identity theory: Stuart Hall, Bell Hooks, Paul Gilroy

Shelter Advert ('Our house. It's not a home')

 I chose the 'Our house. It's not a home' advert. I chose this one as its slightly different to the other adverts they make. Typically they refer to families that are struggling to stay in their homes due to money or landlords, however the 'Our house. It's not a home' advert refers to a family who is living in a house that they need to get out of. the advert features their home with the dad trying to remove mould from the ceiling, with loud music stopping them from sleeping, and arguing from next door scaring the children. It represents a narrative that not many people immediately think about because due to stereotypes people think that homelessness is because people aren't working enough to afford to pay for their home. this advert represents the families that are trying to move due to unsafe circumstances like mould and arguing from next door.

The advert reflects altruism because it doesn't ask for donations until the very end of the advert. It uses the whole advert to highlight the issues that many families are facing and then at the end of the advert it shows a small popup that simply explains that 'this is what homelessness looks like for thousands of families' and then shows a very short clip asking for donations to help the families that are struggling with this.

They use a child to do the voiceover for the advert to promote pro social behaviour as people are more likely to donate to a child that is struggling that an adult because children are seen as 'helpless'.