Narrative Theory

Beyonce -  Pretty Hurts 

Within the pretty hurts music video, a story is told through Beyonce's character based on beauty pageants where is one of the women taking part. We see her trying to fulfil the main aim that they have within pageants which is to be perfect, with the skinny frame, immaculate hair and make-up and the perfect posture. However, the story that she is trying to portray to the audience is the ugly side of things where she is miserable and struggling to reach her aims. She is trying to get the message across that to be pretty enough you have to go to extremes and nobody has it naturally; hence the title "Pretty Hurts". 

The music video has taken the narrative theme and she is telling a story about what society thinks is perfect and what they think you have to live up to. Tim O'Sullivan et al said that media texts tell us some type of story and this music video definitely has offered a way of telling a story about the culture of most people, in that most women look up to these 'perfect girls' and celebrities but don't realise the extents that they go to in order to look like that. This is when people think so little of themselves as they have unreal expectations. 

Genre Theory

‘Genre’ is a critical tool that helps us study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements. 

As Daniel Chandler (2001) said, the word genre is from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'kind' or 'class' so we put media texts into groups depending on the their kind and class. 

All of these genres contain sub-genres, which are simple genres within the main genre. They are divided up into more specific categories that allow audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and what become recognisable characteristics. (Barry Keith Grant,1995)

However, Steve Neale (1995) stresses that “genres are not ‘systems’ they are processes of systematization” – i.e. They are dynamic and evolve over time. 

Generic Characteristics across all texts share similar elements of the below depending on the medium...

•Typical Mise-en-scène/Visual style (iconography, props,

set design, lighting, temporal and geographic location,

costume, shot types, camera angles, special effects).

•Typical types of Narrative (plots, historical setting, set pieces).

•Generic Types, i.e. typical characters. 

•Typical studios/production companies.

•Typical Personnel (directors, producers, actors, stars, auteurs etc.).

•Typical Sound Design (sound design, dialogue, music, sound effects).

•Typical Editing Style.

•KEY: Important elements, less important elements, elements of minimal importance.

Skills Development Essay - before the start of A2

Over the course of my production work my skills have noticeably developed and improved in a number of areas.

At the start of AS coursework my skills were extremely limited and I only knew the very basics of the course. It was the first time that I had been introduced to most of the digital technology that we would be using such as Photoshop. As a result of this my first piece, the college front cover, was very unprofessional and it did not follow any of the usual conventions that you must use. I had to learn everything about Photoshop from the very start; from opening a new page properly to the correct sizes, selecting and using the tools correctly in order to improve my product and I also had to learn how to overlap items. The significant difference between my first piece of work and my original magazine piece of coursework demonstrates the improvement of my skills throughout the year in digital technology. In addition to this, I only had to develop my skills with other pieces of technology such as the cameras in order to make my piece look professional. I had to adapt the focus of the camera and make sure they were on the correct edit setting. My first album of photos that I got for the college piece was of very low quality and I only took one of two instead of a large amount. Whereas for my final piece I had a wide variety of images with different lighting, costumes and angles. And lastly I also learnt to use the variety of different websites in order to produce varied research and planning materials that would benefit me when making my final product.

At the beginning of the AS Media course my creativity was quite low and I didn’t have many ideas for what I was going to do. Due to this my college magazine was very basic and unoriginal; with limited headings, basic layout, no title and very little images were taken to be used. The lack of creativity had to change and I began to research existing magazines as I realised I could not allow my final piece to turn out the same. I quickly recognised and learnt the key conventions that magazines follow that I would have to include in my own work.  Every magazine uses varied camera angles and positions when it comes to the front cover image of say an artist which is something I really needed to improve. I used one of the professional cameras instead of using my IPhone like I did for my college magazine and took it to location other than the college for a shoot. Here I had a variety of shot in mind, lots of costumes lines up and I did hair and makeup throughout in a variety of styles. The photos on my blog show the difference in photos taken, showing how my creativity developed drastically.

When it comes to my research and planning for my final piece last year, I did a variety of surveys and polls to help me out with things such as the genre that my magazine should have, the names, what artist I should have starting etc. This really helped me as I took this information and it had an impact of my final piece. I planned the magazine cover out on Photoshop beforehand and created a draft of what I wanted it to look like, the colour scheme that I was going to have and where I wanted things to be placed. This gave me a clear vision and helped me when I came to doing my photo shoot.  However it was a completely differently story when it came to the first piece I did in the course and I did not research into magazine at all and just decided to go straight into it from what I already knew about magazine front covers – which turned out to be very little. The idea was to do a plan, which would of helped me out, but because I didn’t do any research I had no idea how to plan it out and I had to just go straight in with the final piece. As a result of this things didn’t turn out to plan, as you can see when you compare the two different pieces together. From the way the final piece turned out you can see that my skills in this area have developed.

When it came to post-production and evaluating my product I had learnt lot of key skills in media that I did not know before the course. My evaluation included things such as videos that I took asking a variety of audiences what they thought of my finished product and if they like the layout, style and if it matched the conventions of a real magazine front cover. Before the course and certainly in my first piece of work I would not have known to have done this sort of thing or have thought that this would be a good idea. My ideas that I got were more creative and I used different pieces of technology to show how my skills in differently areas had developed- such as Prezzi and Slide Share.  I also knew why I was doing certain things thought the main production, thanks to my research process, which meant it was easier to then explain why I made the choice I did in order for them to follow the usual convention you would see in existing products.

In order to understand fully about conventions of the media I had to look at existing product like I have already mentioned. My look at various magazines of different genre I was able to establish what type of things I had to include in order to make my piece look like a profession R&B/pop magazine should do.  My college magazine did not have the conventions of a real media text which is where my skills then developed and I began to follow these conventions and made my magazine look professional and realistic.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Tessa Perkins - Stereotypes

Stereotyping is not a straight forward process and there are a number of assumptions that can be challenged.

 

 

Perkins identifies these 5 assumptions;

 

1. Not all stereotypes are negative

 

People assume sometimes that stereotypes are always found to have negative connotations or be negatively viewed in some way. Take the 'hoodie culture' as a stereotype of teenager for example as this is negatively viewed. however teens can also be stereotyped as 'high achievers' which is a positive.

 

2. They are not always about minority/less powerful groups in society

 

We also make assumptions about the higher class, for example they get the stereotype of being 'snobby'.

We can stereotype people that we don't even come across everyday, we just know them through social media.

 

3. can be held about ones own group

 

You can be apart of a group that is stereotyped itself, but within that group will be other groups.

 

4. They tend not to change and if they do it is hard for them to

 

Once a stereotype has been make and the judgement has been made, it becomes very hard to shift this preconceived image.

However Perkins states that it can develop and change eventually over a period of time. But even if they do change the same old traditional labels are still attached.

 

5. They are not always false

 

The stereotypes have to come from somewhere in the first place.

Even though they might differ when it comes to some people but usually people still conform to the stereotype they are linked to.

 

Uses and Gratification

Stuart Halls - Reception Theory

How things can be inferred

 

 

• Bad for kids
• Smoking isn't right around children
• Just like giving kids them
• Encouraging people to stop smoking - dominant reading
• Message - not only harming yourself
• Kids are sensitive - scares kids - negotiated reading
• feeling guilty
• creates judgements of people who smoke and have kids in their home

 

• Slutty = male gaze theory
• Highly sexualised
• Strong independent woman - makes women feel good = dominant reading
• She is superior and bigger than men
• Women are seen as sexual objects in the media = negotiated reading
• Young girls want to be her and women like that men want them
• Men all over her - want her body =opposite reading
• Some women like to feel objectified - opposite reading

 

 

 

 

Richard Dyer Theory - Stars in the Media

Richard dyers star theory from laurb96

Further into Theories - The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze Theory does not only apply to music videos; it applies to all area of the media, as found in these following film trailers...

1. Emphasises the curves of the female body
2. Shows women as objects rather than people 
3. display women in the way to please men 
4. Viewed through the eyes of men 

Sex Tape trailer

1. Yes - Main actress strips off showing her figure 
2. Yes - The man is all over her - sexually
3. Yes - She is in her underwear a lot throughout and whilst under the man on the bed
4. Yes - Acting very sexy and nearly always naked 

Lucy trailer

1. Yes - The girl is walking in slow motion (sexy, showing off her figure)
2. Yes -  In her underwear and bra after not knowing what she has done to be in this state - shown as a sexual object
3. Yes - Laid in her underwear on the bed
4. Yes - Sleeping naked and not knowing whats happened 

Before I Go To Sleep trailer 

1. No - Fully clothed most of the time 
2. No 
3. No - There are more face shots 
4. No -  She is not portrayed as perfect - not always wearing make-up or wearing sexy clothing 

This film trailer is on of those that dont conform to this theory and the usual ways of the media. It is one that breaks the boundaries which does happen time to time with either videos, films, or artist themselves. 

Lets Be Cops trailer

1. Yes - Women in swim suits running on the beach and in tight small dresses in the clubs which show of their figures 
2. Yes - Slow motion of 4 girls walking and girls sucking on lollies sexually 
3. Yes - Women running as if n Bay Watch 
4. Yes - Sexual actions throughout 

Inbetweeners 2 trailer

1. Yes - Girls in bikinis or topless or half naked showing their figures 
2. Yes -  Girls on the front of cars half naked and topless 
3. Yes - Girls are seen in a sexual way all of the time 
4. Yes - Women are one of the main jokes in the film 

The Male Gaze Theory

To put this Theory to the test I've taken the top 5 Music videos in the charts right now and considered if they do the following things;

1. Emphasise the curves of the female body
2. Show women as objects rather than people
3. Display women in a way to please men
4. Viewed through the eyes of men



So is Laura Mulvey's theory correct?

Yes, from what I have found women are portrayed as sexual objects and the camera angles in the videos and in all types of media in general suggest that women are purely there in order to please the male audience. 

The only downfall to this theory could be that...

• Not every woman in the media is actually portrayed this way, in some cases they are not displayed in a sexual way.
• Men can also be portrayed in this way, in order to please the female audience.