Group Reflection

My group work is making great progress. We are almost done with the filming process. We have all of the narrative filmed, so now all that is left is the performance section. This should be getting filmed on March 1st. After that we will have to edit it and make additions to perfect the final product. For the narrative we stuck to the storyboard we had used to plan quite well with a bit of room for improvisation.

We took inspiration from bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park for the rock fashion. I believe we did this well. For the performance the protagonist will wear an Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt as a sign of respect, just as they do by wearing Metallica t-shirts and such. After getting the performance filmed and the little bits left from the narrative we will then have to edit the video in which we will use sony vegas. The overall experience has been fun and I can't wait to see our finished product and what we have accomplished.

The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work

This song by The Verve can be interpreted in different ways using audience theory. People could take the lyrics to this song in different ways. The main example is 'the drugs don't work, they just make you worse' These lyrics could be taken as an attempt to discourage the use of drugs as they'll nake things worse. However Rchard Ashcroft the writer said the lyrics were about his father who was being treated for cancer but the drugs wouldn't work and he wasn't getting better. Applying the reception theory or the hypodermic needle to this song, the message of the text is completely misinterpreted quite easily without knowing the context.

Blumler and Katz (Uses and Gratifications)

Blumler and Katz is about how the audience uses media rather than what the media does to the audience. Katz proposed we ask 'what people dow with media' rather than 'what media does to people'

This theory recognises that the audience is not passive but actively chooses how to approach media. They decide what shows they are going to keep up with or if they are going to watch a certain type of media or not.

The theory suggests 4 different needs:

Surveillance - This is based on awareness. We want to know what's going on in the world around us and this makes us feel better.

Personal Identity - We use the media to shape our identities. Celebrities become role models. As a result of this when a celebrity misbehaves there is outrage due to the effect the celebrity has on children.

Personal Relationships - We form relationships with the subjects of the media. We watch numerous productions of theirs to feel closer to them. We build relationships and feel as if we know them even if we don't. Reality TV is a big example of this as it is more intimate.

Diversion - We use the media as an escapism or form of entertainment. We engage ourselves in our favourite soaps or TV shows.




This is Big Pimpin' by JAY Z. Blumler and Katz would suggest as an audience we watch videos for our own purposes. Mainly this is entertainment. As an audience we would see this video as a portrayal of what we would maybe want our own life to be. We see the video and just enjoy it. For this particular video the male gaze theory can be used due to the provocative women used in the video. This is for the male audience to just gaze at the screen out of entertainment. We get what we want out of a video.

Merchandise

We thought that like other bands it would be suitable for us to have our own line of merchandise so click here to check it out.

Reception Theory

Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model is used for the reception theory. It is based on the relationship between the audience and the text. The audience may interpret something from the text when the creator meant sonmething completely different.

Encoding - media creates messages

Decoding - audience decodes the message

3 types of decoding:
Dominated - Audience reads and accepts message the way the creator intended.

Negotiated - Audience will except, reject or adapt message in accordance with previous held views.
They me neither agree or disagree with the text or not care.

Oppositional - Audience rejects message for cultural reasons and actively opposes text.

Other theories would suggest we are a passive audience however this one contrasts with those views. This theory focuses on the relationship between the text and the audience. How we view or respond to a text will not only be based on the text itself but our culture and background of previous experiences. These experiences will dictate if we respond negatively positively or neither.

The Oasis song Cigarettes and Alcohol depending on your experiences may leave you wanting to smoke or drink to seem 'cool.' On the other hand our previous experiences may have taught us smoking is bad and we shouldn't do it and that we shouldn't drink too much either. The lyrics talk about cocaine. The audience may see this as a sign to use cocaine as their favourite musicians do or previous experience and education of drugs may tell them not to.

Effects Debate

The effects debate is about what effect a media text will have on its audience, be it a positive or a negative effect. People who argue over these effects are usually concerned with the violence in modern media and it's influence on people.

There is regulation within media to 'protect' those who might be effected. These are usually children and teenagers. There are three categories for this debate.

• Those who have researched and collected evidence on the effects.
• Those who voice their opinion without evidence
• Those who are subject to the debate(teens and children).

This debate is why there are age ratings on films and other restrictions to protect those subject to the debate.

Many would suggest that a lot of violent crime is a result of violent video games. Although video games may have some effect violence has been around far before violent games so people would suggest video games are used as a scapegoat to hide the underlying issue.



M.I.A, Born Free

This video is about collecting all gingers and executing them. If as an audience we are passive and see this as okay to do then we would all be killing gingers which clearly doesn't happen. This would suggest we are not passive and watch videos with common sense. Obviously genocide is not okay. This video is clearly for entertainment purposes.