Music Videos

Music videos make an excellent focus for your case study because they are featured on both the broadcast and emedia platforms. By creating videos to go with their songs, artists are able to further establish themselves as a 'brand' and promote their music across a wider range of platforms like music channels on TV , and sites like YouTube and Vevo online.

You should have analysed at least three different videos before the exam - you will need to be able to talk about them in detail. In class, we found that the videos we studied:

• often objectified women (especially hip-hop videos)
• featured elements which were overtly sexual (desensitisation of young audience members)
• promoted patriarchal ideologies - men in positions of power
  
• have become more controversial in content (Katy Perry compared to the Spice Girls)
• use codes and conventions specific to the genre of music
• can be narrative, surreal or performance based

The videos we studied are below - but now you need to make your research independent by looking at another video for yourselves - this is required to get the top grades.

Notice how both videos come from the artists' official 'Vevo' channels.

Finally, thanks to Lottie for reminding me about literal music videos! As well as being funny, I like the way these videos break the images down into individual shots. They help you to consider the target audience and the way the artist wants to be represented. Check out Enrique's Hero video too (the literal version!).



Remember you should be bringing in your Twitter results next Tuesday!

Guardian: Open journalism

The Guardian have recently shown an advert about their concept of 'open journalism', the idea being that everyone has a say in current affairs and that news can be shared via social networking and other platforms in order to reach as vast an audience as possible. The advert is really interesting and gives you an insight into modern dilemmas within the media and how news stories can be treated. It raises lots of interesting questions in relation to recent events such as homeowners rights, press intrusion and the riots. The Guardian claim to give 'the whole picture' when reporting.

Here's a link to the article and video:

Guardian Open Journalism

What do you think about it? Will the idea of open journalism work? Will it mean there are more inaccuracies as people use social networking to discuss current affairs? 

Make sure you are always considering new and interesting things. You need to be reading and viewing various parts of the media in order to have an opinion and be able to relate your work to wider concepts and ideas.

Cross media study: Lifestyle

You have looked at a variety* of beauty lifestyle products across the three platforms now. Last lesson you each had a magazine which you needed to analyse, with a particular focus on media language and ideology. Using your notes you should answer the following question.


Your answer needs to be at least two paragraphs and written in essay style. 

You can refer to other beauty products that you have found individually, whether this be print, moving image or emedia. You can refer to other key concepts but make sure that you are still answering the question.

QUESTION:

In what ways is the ideology behind the media products in your case study communicated?

In your answer you should:
● Provide a brief outline of your case study

● Support your answer with reference to examples from three media platforms

●Consider whether ideology behind the products is dominant within the beauty industry as a whole.



*The Fotoshop viral video was posted on the previous blog entry and the other adverts can easily be found on Youtube. You should have notes on everything we have looked at so far.

Fotoshop

Have a look at this spoof advert for 'Fotoshop' - this follows on from discussions we've had about the way the media portrays beauty. This is an issue which is always relevant in our society and something you must consider when looking at images.



Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Obsessed with Facebook?

The images below are known as 'infographics'. They are a way of displaying statistics through images and are often used by companies to make this information more interesting to view. It is also helpful for you in terms of gaining knowledge about the media industry, particularly about websites.

 Are we too obsessed with Facebook? - have a look at this link for another infographic and see how you compare with others. Do you look at Facebook as soon as you wake up? Why is it so addictive?

It's nearly Christmas!

The making of the current John Lewis Christmas advert. Have a look at the way the cameras are operated and start thinking of moving images in terms of constructions. It should help you to realise that everything in an advert is considered and done to create a particular effect - in this case it is to provoke emotion.



Here's the final advert:

X Factor losing popularity?

As Media students you should be aware of debates and issues surrounding the media and you should also be able to form your own opinions on these things. Below is an article about The X Factor final. 

Have a read and consider the 'talent show' formula. Why does it appear to be less popular now? Are audiences tired of seeing the same thing? Has the timing of the final (spread over Saturday and Sunday) affected popularity? Do you think these type of shows will continue or do you think they will be replaced by something different? 

 

X Factor final pulls in 13m viewers on Sunday

The X Factor live final, which was won by Little Mix, was 4m viewers down on last year

 

The X Factor live final on Sunday was watched by 13 million viewers, 4 million down on last year and its lowest audience since 2007.

The ITV1 show, which was won by girl group Little Mix, averaged 12.9 million viewers, a 44% share, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. The average number of viewers rises to 13.1 million when ITV1+1 is included.

The audience was dramatically down on the 17.2 million who watched Matt Cardle win last year's final. The 2010 final managed a 55% share of the total TV audience. Last night's final was also down on the equivalent Sunday shows in 2009, which saw 15.5 million watch Joe McElderry win, and 2008, when 13.2 million tuned in to see Alexandra Burke take the title.

However, this year's audience levels were up on the 11.7 million people who watched Leon Jackson win in 2007, when the results show was still broadcast on a Saturday night. Sunday's five-minute peak of 15.3 million on ITV1 was also down on the last few years. Last year's final peaked with a record 19.4 million viewers.

But The X Factor had the consolation of beating BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing semi-final results show on Sunday, which had 10.9 million viewers, a 40% share, earlier in the evening.

(Article taken from Guardian.co.uk)

Have you heard about the accusations of the programme being a 'fix'? Do you agree? How do shows like this try to increase their audience ratings and keep it interesting and 'fresh'?

Further articles are available on The Guardian website if you are interested in reading more. They are quite short and explained clearly but simply! Once you have clicked the media tab you can then access different types of media and current issues within the news.