Michael Foucault

"Techniques of the self' or 'arts of existence' as 'those reflective and voluntary practices by which men not only set themselves rules of conduct, but seek to transform themselves, to change themselves in their singular being, and to make of their life into an oeuvre that carries certain aesthetic values and meets certain stylistic criteria" 

Translated: The individual can learn techniques to chance their identity. People construct these techniques from whatever information we collect (aka, messages from the media, parents or peers), which makes us believe our lives are better if we live by them. 

http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-fou1.htm

June 2010: With reference to any one group of people you have studied, discuss how their identity has been 'mediated'.

With reference to any one group of people you have studied, discuss how their identity has been 'mediated'. 

control settle)

• Judith Butler – ‘gender is performance’ _ Giddens
• Laura Mulvey – ‘male gaze’ (connect that to Vertigo and Hitchcock briefly)
• David Gauntlett – ‘Identity is complicated – everybody thinks they’ve got one’ Marx
• David Buckingham – “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term”, "identity is fluid and changeable" Giddens
• Marxism – Many films have elements of class struggle and issues surrounding capitalist society. Films like ‘The Hunger Games’can be seen from a Marxist perspective because they depict characters struggling with monetary or class constraints

• What the question means
• Emma Watson on feminism – photoshopping in magazines, etc
• TV advertising – fairy liquid examples, creating idealistic image of housewife
• Magazines – ‘Cosmopolitan’, ‘Men’s Health’ – mention sterotypes, ‘Women’s Health’
• Film – ‘The Hunger Games’2012,2013,2014, ‘Frozen’ 2013 D:Jennifer Lee, ‘Wasp’2003, Vertigo 1958 (hitchcock), Les Miserabled Tom Hooper 2012, Skyfall 2012
• Facts: 12% camerawomen, 10% film makers

Whilst studying media, it has only become more apparent how television and film have reflected the mediation of women over time. Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' plays a key part in pre-modern days television and film. In the 1958 film 'Vertigo', directed by Hitchcock, the key plot line is the infatuation of one beautiful woman, which contrasts heavily with modern days media. His filming style deliberately portrayed a very desirable woman of the time, applying then, modern day hegemonies such as the behaviour of the woman, and a superiority of the male character, acting as if he was entitled to 'own' her. 

An example of stereotyping would be Fairy Liquid adverts dating back to the 1960s. Especially in these adverts, they tend to represent the status quo of the time and any hegemonies that may exist. A running theme in all the adverts, even the modern day ones, would be romanticising the past ideals of a woman in the kitchen and presenting a 'golden age' of which we can all aspire to: with every episode including the theme of a woman washing the dishes, being the perfect housewife and how she could still look pretty whilst using the product because it had moisturising qualities, also empowering the stereotype on a national scale that all women think about is how they can look good.

The 2011 film 'Made in Dagenham', set in 1968, expresses the needs for equal pay for women, completely going against he hegemonies of the time. the film explaining how backward and contradictory their movement was, against the control of a men run society. The whole movement concentrates on the rebelling of the mediation of women of the time. Women were trying to create for themselves, an identity amongst men. This follows the belief of  Buckingham, stating that the individual can change their identity because it is 'fluid and changeable'. In the film, Ford decides to control both genders, creating the ideas of Giddens who says that the powers at be shape society but so do the people, so individuals can create and change themselves. 

The ideas of Karl Marx also link to actions of Ford, a large power force controlling multiple people, much like the 2013 film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" in which the capitol and President Snow, using media to control the people, through the fear of the hunger games, but also its false sense of glamour, creating celebrities out it's victims. Katniss Everdeen, the main female character is especially controlled through this form of false media as being in favour with the population, makes your time in the pit easier. Snow is able to use this form of control through his communist actions of murdering any opposing threats and blackmailing Katniss into false personas whilst in front of the media. However, Katniss also uses her positive presence in the media to win over favour of the people, creating uprising and riots, portraying the ideas of women creating a fair and equal society.

Jumping forward to 2015, the term identity is put well by David Buckingham: ".. is an ambiguous and slippery term".  With a huge rise in the idea of feminism being portrayed positively heavily in the media with examples of Emma Watson's speech to the UN in 2014 and multiple celebrities such as Beyonce writing songs and performing with strong ideas of feminism, the term has gained a new meaning. Previously, the word had negative connotations, leaving anyone who labeled themselves a feminist, a sexist, whereas, today, with media leading the forefront of educating the world on the terms simple belief of equality between men and women, it has become a popular and now widely believed idea.

Today, the role of the female character is becoming more powerful and independent in recent years, following this recent increase in women power. For example, in Frozen (2013), both protagonists are female and strong. In Skyfall (2012), the female character M is the strong, head of MI6, who although was murdered and succeeded by a man, she stays strong and dies with dignity. This key idea of a 'female win' in the end is slowing creeping into modern cinema and breaking pre-modern conventions. However, astonishing facts such as 12% of camera operators and 10% of film makers are female, proves that society still has some change to do.

In conclusion, slowly over the past 60 years, women have taken great strides in movements of equality, breaking and creating new hegemonies of the same rights and opportunities of our male counterparts, both professionally and socially strongly through the use of media, no longer being mediated. Looking to the future, I think we can see a world where there is a completely fair world, where gender is no longer, an identity. 

Made In Dagenham - Marxist View

Set in 1968, made it 2011

(p110, OCR Media Studies Julian McDougall)

Karl Marx

 -people that rule society do so through means of production and production of ideas. 

-eg. Monarchy. We don't throw them out because the hierarchy believe in tradition 

Gramsei 

-developed the idea of hegemony

-Ford is this controlling organisation, outraged when the women stand up (the men of the world, ie. Husband, don't support her at first)

-The reason why these women were s dangerous to society and large businesses was because they were upturning the ideas of how women were rewarded and treated in the times

Anthony Giddens

-(hegemonies)

-believes that the powers at be shape society BUT so do the people, so individuals can create and change themselves. 

-the media does help to construct our identities (and isn't a true reflection of real life) 

-"create an identity then change it or keep it"

-"What to do? How to act? Who to be?"

-(ideas link closely to Judith Butler)

-www.theory.org.uk/giddens5.htm 

Essay - 1A) Explain how your skills in the creative use of technology…..

Plan:

Explain how your skills in the creative use of digital technology developed over time. Refer to a range of examples from your media production in your answer.

Throughout my A-level course, I have developed my skills while producing a horror film introduction at AS and a  Indie Pop/Rock music video at A2 through the creative use of digital technology with the aid of programs such as Blogger, PicMonkey, Youtube and digital cameras, mobile phones, editing software such as iMovie and more recently, Final Cut Express, PicMonkey and Gimp (a free form of Photoshop). These digital technologies have been essential throughout the production of my foundation and advanced portfolios. 

During both AS and A2, Blogger played a large part in allowing me to document my research creatively by allowing me to use power points  and images to show work. AS was my first introduction to Blogger although I had a basic understanding from my use of another blogging format: Tumblr. During my A2 portion of the course, I used blogger's easy access online during the production stages while on location, filming my music video.  Having my storyboard to hand for example, made it easy for me use on location and I could easily edit it or take notes on an app called Paint Fx on an iPad.

My first introduction to Apple Macs and the Macintosh software was at the beginning of my AS course and I found it challenging at first to use at an advanced level such as importing images from the internet or a camera as they were not automatically saved to a Photo folder, but the desktop. However, at A2, my basic understanding had grown and developed to a more complex level and I am now able to use shortcuts such as take a screen shot, and software such as Final Cut Express instead of iMovie where at AS, was used a majority of the time. At A2, I was able to use Final Cut Express because I found when producing my audience research, iMovie lacked the precision I would need for my music video. This developed understanding of general editing software has helped me to successfully use unfamiliar photo editing software such as PicMonkey and Gimp to create our digipak and magazine advert at A2, as we did not have to produce something like this at AS. For example, I used PicMonkey to import and manipulate our original photographs, select appropriate fonts and design a professional layout; through this I was able to create synergy between all the A2 products by manipulating the same photos and fonts and also incorporating stills from the music video. 

At AS and A2, I used a digital camera to record a voice over during the course. At AS, I included a voice recording in my final product whereas at A2, my audience research analysis took the form of a voice recording over images the subject was expressing- this was so I could produce my findings in a more creative way.  Comparing my skills from AS and A2 when using a digital camera to film my film introduction and music video; I think I have more of an understanding of how to film shots and place the frame well to capture the full image. At A2, I used a digital camera in a third way; taking photos to create the stop motion elements of my music video such as the sequence where multiple mugs of tea are being filled and emptied magically. 

At both AS and A2, I had to layer sound over the top of my clips, having to strip the audio. However, at A2, I had to match the lip-syncing to the words, making this tricky to get exactly right, that is why I started to use Final Cut Express as it is more precise; I added markers to help me change the shot on the beat and change the speed of some shots to fit the lip syncing to the music. At A2, I have added some swankier new techniques compared to at AS level such as stop motion and some animation of words going over the artist's head. 

While editing at both AS and A2, I added filters to my shots: At AS, I cut from black and white scenes to colour scenes which I had enhanced by adding cool tones to the shots to give it a darker, colder feel such as when my villain is digging the victims grave. At A2, I did this and also played around with other effects such as exposure, back light, brightness etc. for outside shots I filmed on location in Italy so the shots would not contrast too heavily- only enough to have the desired effect.   

In conclusion, I think my skills using digital technologies have developed in a way to form a more professional product through my audience research and my past experience at AS. Now having this experience, the technology became a tool, allowing me to create something original, unique and more professional than at AS. 

1b) "Analyse one of your coursework productions in terms of audience"

"Analyse one of your coursework productions in terms of audience"

plan:

• state audience target interests, style and how that is reflected in music video
• mise en scene (costume, 
• editing (in rhythm, 
• lighting (natural)
• use of silly humour, she is content in herself therefore she can be silly, audience are your friend so you can act like you like and be playful wit them
• physiographic profiling
• audience research 
• confident identity female individuality (Mollie) its okay to me, i dont have to be like everyone else - who is you, reassuring herself that she is ok in herself, shouldn't change into something else for someone else - link to audience (determined, not to be dictated to by society
• qwirky
• freedom of expression
• tried to make as different, imaginative as I could
• Hidden messages (symbolic references) in the video - number of cups of tea symbolises glass half empty half full, ypu have to keep constant in your life and surrounding change, audience can recognise it and translate as the main message, this applies to me also humorous  
• Why people watch music videos: escapism, idealism, encouraging being yourself
• Am both the audience and the producer so easier to communicate effective ideas on the screen, had to appeal to ourselves as a n audience but also connect to a wider audience
• Hybridisation – indie Pop/Rock necessary to maximize target audiences
• All positive research, met target audience effectively, applied demographic research I learnt earlier
• make sure audience could recognise through synergy of digipack, music video and magazone advert by using...cloud pic - connotes freedom and independance, plane flying away to a distant future of peace and relaxation 
• editing pace
• audience feedback
• Theorists: Goodwin iconography that appear accross their work
• Barthes – theory of semiotics – the use of signs and symbols in texts – denotation and connotation. white=innocent, red=danger
• Andrew Goodwins music video theory [lyrics and visual connection (Strong), close up of artist, intertextual refernces (records)]

For my A2 Advanced Portfolio, I made a music video if the indie pop/rock genre to Kate Nash’s song ‘Mouthwash’. Hartley's Classification states that like a record company, I had to create invisible fictions of the audience to accommodate to my target audience as neither of us spend the majority of my time listening to the genre of Indie Pop/Rock, so target audience research was essential during the pre-production stages. 

The hybridisation of Indie Pop/Rock allowed us to maximise my target audience, it being mostly female although I can expect to see younger males of my age range of 14 - 27 listening to this genre. Typically, this target audience would be un-married, living a very care free life. This reflects the song and genre's core message of 'being yourself', showing the forest setting - a place people tend to visit for relaxation (ie. country walk) and also mirroring the idea of escapism, a key reason for an audience member to be watching a music video. 

Synergy was created through the iconography of the cloud  picture on my digipack, magazine advert and music video connote this idea of freedom and confidence in independence, from the judgemental grip to conform our audience typically feel today from society: and the plane represents an escape to a distant future of true inner peace. Using a confident female actress who is qwirky emphasises this idea of being content in yourself, as the song speaks about being happy about the things oyu do and how you do them. De to this message, my actress was allowed to portray a silly persona, allowing the  artist to connect with the audience through humour, creating a friendly relationship between both parties. Both these points link to Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratification Model as my music video was used by my audience to create a role model whose personality and care free attitude they could aspire too. 

We included symbolic references in my video to help convey a more powerful messages with the audience because they recognise the symbols and can relate to them. For example, the cups of tea resembles the ideology of the glass being half full/empty, and that you have to keep a constant in you life while your surroundings change (the tea spoon stays whereas the levels of tea rise and fall), always staying happy and positive, a main message of the songs lyrics.

There is strong use of Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory in his 1992 book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory', as he states there is usually a relationship between the visuals and lyrics. This is very sting in my music video as I decided to stay very literal, especially with my stop motion work. My work also consists of many close ups of the artist during lip syncing sequences, as record labels insist and intertextual references such as the records.

In conclusion, the relationship between the audience and my artist is strong in my music video, shown by the feedback I was able to collect easily as the target audience, I was easily accessible to due to age and sex, and social medias such as Facebook and twitter. The feedback showed that my music video was quirky, different and intriguing: what I had intended, therefore I think a possitive audience is a necessity when creating any form of media.

2013: "Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions."

June 2013

"Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions." discuss with reference to one or more group(s) of people.

What could you write about?

• What the question means
• Emma Watson on feminism – photoshopping in magazines, etc
• TV advertising – fairy liquid examples, creating idealistic image of housewife
• Magazines – ‘Cosmopolitan’, ‘Men’s Health’ – mention sterotypes, ‘Women’s Health’
• Film – ‘The Hunger Games’2012,2013,2014, ‘Frozen’ 2013 D:Jennifer Lee, ‘Wasp’2003, Vertigo 1958 (hitchcock), Les Miserabled Tom Hooper 2012, Skyfall 2012
• Conchita Wurst
• Facts: 12% camerawomen, 10% film makers
• (Blumer.?)Uses and gratification theory, you consume a film for certain reasons for education, to laugh, infomation, sexual

Theorists you could mention:

• Judith Butler – ‘gender is performance’
• Laura Mulvey – ‘male gaze’ (connect that to Vertigo and Hitchcock briefly)
• David Gauntlett – ‘Identity is complicated – everybody thinks they’ve got one’
• David Buckingham – “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term”, "identity is fluid and changeable"
• Marxism – Many films have elements of class struggle and issues surrounding capitalist society. Films like ‘The Hunger Games’can be seen from a Marxist perspective because they depict characters struggling with monetary or class constraints.
• Barthes – theory of semiotics – the use of signs and symbols in texts – denotation and connotation. white=innocent, red=danger
• "What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity - and ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behavior." (Anthony Giddens, 1991)

Key words to include:

Conventions, stereotypes, hegemony (an accepted set of beliefs for a particular society ie. football is the main sport in England), status quo,

Start:

While studying the media, it has become clear that the subjects media consists of are much more complex than on first appearance; this has led to much controversy. Because of this, it is complicated to answer yes or no to the above question, "Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions" because media representations are both reflected and distorted, mostly depending on different area of the media, especially film. 

As theorist David Buckingham states, "Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term". The collective identity of women has been a particularly newsworthy topic in recent months. In mid 2014, Emma Watson's (the United Nation's global women's ambassador) gave an impassioned speech on Gender Equality to the United Nations to kick off the 'HeFOrShe' campaign became a trending topic on media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, and since has continued talk amongst the topic throughout the upcoming months with famous celebrities 'coming out' as feminists publicly, such as Beyonce, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gorden-Levitt. One of Emma Watson's main points was how the word 'Feminist' has bad, man-hating connotations and that women who labeled themselves a feminist were heavily sexist towards men but it's quite the opposite. The media had twisted the definition of feminism, quoting statements that women should be better than men which is completely untrue.

Judith Butler's ideas of gender being a performance would contradict the questions stated. The media deliberately plays on stereotypes in order to stick to the status-quo. For example, the two magazines 'Cosmopolitan' and 'Mens Health' are both aimed at the different sexes. Compared to the example of Men's Health, Cosmopolitan (November 2014) was bright and girly with it's purple and blue theme and  articles on the subjects of what presents to get friends for Christmas, how to gain body confidence over the yule tide period, fashion advice and an article about sex which comes with every issue of the mag. Whereas, the Men's Health front cover had a very physically fit male model, always in black and white, targeting the very 'butch' and 'manly' audience, accompanied by black, red and blue bold fonts. The issue covered the two stereotypical things that would be most important in this typical mans life: women and health, including work out tips, nutrition ideas and pick up lines to use on a supermodel. Cosmopolitan claims to challenge stereotypes but there is a certain limit to the amount of challenging it does because it is still 'girly': Expand on Judith- uses and gratifications theory, people read mags in order to learn how to behave and their identity, cosmo- also covers feminist issues (Taylor) so if gender is a performance, cosmo wants its readers to perform feminist, gratification- readers may be reading the mag in order to do that, 'bible' for young women wanting to live fun and fearless lives, reinforcing that its a text that helps women learn/decide on their identity. compared to Mens Health, a semiotic analysis (bart) of cosmo,with blue and prple theme has connotes a bright and girly, party spirit. 

Another example of stereotyping would be Fairy Liquid adverts dating back to the 1960s. Especially in these adverts, they tend to represent the status quo of the time and any hegemonies that may exist. A running theme in all the adverts, even the modern day ones, would be romanticising the past ideals of a woman in the kitchen and presenting a 'golden age' of which we can all aspire to: with every episode including the theme of a woman washing the dishes, being the perfect housewife and how she could still look pretty whilst using the product because it had moisturising qualities, also empowering the stereotype on a national scale that all women think about is how they can look good.

a link: the nature of television means in empahises the status quo in order to make people buy the product but films have a different role and can be more challenging texts. However, the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' (2013) switches between gender equality. Whilst outside the arena, Katniss the main character is seen as weak and maybe foolish when she starts the revolution by accident by getting an innocent man killed whilst on her way to the capital, and weak when she is emotional after not being able to say goodbye to her family after the reaping. Yet, when inside the arena, everyone seems to be on an equal playing field as they all have the same level physical abilities (either strength or skill), eradicating the idea of men being stronger than women. On thought, this is quite a controversial topic as women today are still seen as the weaker sex. Peta is also emotional etc. 

The Hunger Games is all about the media, the HG is all about the performance, marxist is distracting the audience from the real war, a power tool from Snow and the audience. Naked woman- the inside man, constantly complaining about the media. Katniss is forced to dress in a very formal way for the media but it isn't natural but she learns to do it in order to gain favour of the audience, pregnancy, wedding 

The role of the female character is becoming more powerful and independent in recent years, following this recent increase in women power. For example, in Frozen (2013), both protagonists are female and strong. In Skyfall (2012), the female character M is the strong, head of MI6, who although was murdered and succeeded by a man, she stays strong and dies with dignity. This key idea of a 'female win' in the end is slowing creeping into modern cinema and breaking pre-modern conventions. Contrast with Vertigo (hitchcock) (1958), come a long way since then where women were objectified. Laura Mulvey, most directors being male 10% film makers, 12% camera operators. 

In conclusion, I would like to believe that eventually, these distortions of women in the media will slowing become non-existant. In an ideal world, the media would reflect the reality but realistically, especially magazines, they have to sell a certain theme to their niche audience.  Film..., more films like Divergent (2014, Neil Burger), made more where gender is not an issue, other problems with prejudice (age), but gender isn't one of them. 

Women in the British Cinema

Today in class, we looked at the ways in which women are represented in British cinema over time. In Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 films 'Vertigo', he places his female characters with a very desirable aspect. (See Male Gaze Theory)

In contemporary british cinema, films construct, reinforce or challange notions of identity. We were looking at the 'burden of representation' (p59-66, fire book) and the conflict between successful commercial films and cultural UK films. We watched the railers for 'Notting Hill' (1999), 'Bend it like Beckham' (2002) which were commercially successful films but also challenged the representation of women through a humorous look on stereotypes.

We also considered the representation of women in comtemporary british films such as 'Fast Girls' (2012),'The Kings Speech' (2010), 'The Angels Share' (2012), 'Its A Wonderful Afterlife' (2010) and 'Made in Dagenham' (2010).

We were also considering the dilemmas that film makers have between making films that are comercially sucessful and might attract an american audience (which the brings in a very large amount of wonga), and then social realist films by directors such as Ken Loack and Mike Leigh which are critically acclaimed but give a much bleaker representation of society in general which are not as attractive to a wide spread, international audience and therefore might not make as much revenue.