Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of auidence

The music video that i produced for my coursework that was to the song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. to analysis my media production in relation to the concept of audience i need to think of the theories that could relate such as the hypodermic needles theory, cultivation theory, reception theory and user and gratification theory.

firstly the hypodermic needle theory says that the audience that consume any type of media are passive and they get injected with medias ideology. i believe that my music video can influence others, the whole music video is about a women singing about a man and being upset that the man and her aren't together anymore. in society the women is seen to be the one who would be upset more after a break up, that possibly the man is less emotional in a relationship. the video also shows that the argument is started by the women. this could be interpreted to the passive audience that women over react in situations and possibly that makes women think they can over react in situations (but it could end bad), or for men to label women as a gender that over reacts and gets aggressive. but the ideology could be interpreted in another way that men all do something wrong in relationships and leave women hurt, so that could leave the passive audience thinking of how nasty men are in relationships. maybe both of the ways that the argument could of been interpreted could make males and females think its okay to act in that way and possibly be damaging to their future relationships.  however there is nothing in the video that could be censored as nothing that is seen in the video is thought of by society as a bad influence on a passive audience. nevertheless to add on to this theory is the two step flow theory where it believes that someone who is like an opinion leader will consume the media products (such as the 'leader' of a group of people e.g. teenage friendship group) they will interpret the music video themsleves (for example its a good music video about first love and heart break) and pass it on or filtered to a more passive audience.( the rest of the group). the passive audience then will watch the media product with the mediated interpretation from the opinion leader which will influence their opinion (so the rest have the group have the same basic thoughts about the music video).

the cultivation theory cant be applied to my music video as there is nothing in my music video that someone would have been desensitized to watch it.possibly if the audience grew up in a society where public displays of affection taking place is wrong or where a women is not allowed to be in control at any point in their relationships (such as sometimes in arranged marriages in eastern countries) the cultivation theory would take affect as the women and men is such an environment would have to be desensitized to such scenes like public affection as they would have never or rarely witnessed such a site.

also the reception theory which is that the audience is in control of what they watch, they chose what they want to watch and interpret it in their own ways. applying this to my media product i can say that this links in with the hypodermic needle theory because of the ways it can be interpreted. i do believe that my audience is capable of choosing whether this music video is suitable for them or not. if they believe it is then they will watch it. they could just interpret the music video as just something to fun watch and nothing more or that this is just a childish love music video and that its 'silly'. or the more complex ways they can look at they can relate it to their first love, how men always hurt women, how women always hurt men, how women always over react to situations and do something stupid, how women are the ones more hurt after a break up and so on because the ways in which this music video affects the audience is really up to the individual. this theory closely links into the active audience theory where they believe that the audience is from different back grounds and everyone is unique in their way so they will have different thoughts, values and experiences so as one person may love the music video another may hate it and the person that produced the media product can choose who will defiantly hate it or not they can only try and fit in a genre of music videos and assume that it will be liked by that group of people.

another theory that could be thought of that could link into my media product is the uses and gratification theory which simply states that the audience only uses media to relax and entertain themselves. they could watch specif music videos to link in with how they feel and possibly how they want to loose them selves from the 'real world' i think this theory links into my music video a lot more than other theories, the song sounds 'lovey dovey' and possibly slightly sad as its like you love someone no matter what. the audience would watch this for entertainment purposes , people could watch it if they feel upset about someone so they can relate to it. usually women would watch it as the song does try and link into how the females think and feel. or it could be for everyday purposes just wanting to watch the music video that i produced for fun and no other reason.

overall my coursework production of a music video to the song Christina Perri- A Thousand Years is not something that is out of the ordinary for a western society, that can be watched for their own benifit of relaxation and to forget about what is happening in the world. it can influence some behavior changes possibly in a younger generation audience if we assume that the audience is passive. but because that assumption cant be made as its only one theory that supports it, its more likely that the audience chose to watch the video and possibly even relate to it. in an eastern society there is possibility that what they witness in this video they might have to be desensitized to because it is not in heir culture to see such scenes.

Diary of my media consumption in the past week

Monday:
 bad grandpa
 2 big bang theory episodes
 2 Simpsons episode
 Facebook
 twitter
YouTube
Instagram
flappy bird
BBC weather
 what is social work book

Tuesday:
book thief  
rude tube
2 big bang theory episodes
2 Simpsons episode
Facebook
twitter
YouTube
Instagram
 flappy bird
Cumbria university- what I need for the interview
what is social work book 

Wednesday:
rude tube
2 big bang theory episodes
Facebook
twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Frozen
flappy bird
Cumbria university- what I need for the interview
what is social work book

Thursday:
2 big bang theory episodes
pitch perfect
Facebook
twitter
YouTube
 Instagram
google: cake shops
eBay
flappy bird
BBC weather
 what is social work book

Friday:
2 big bang theory episodes
Facebook
twitter
2 Doctor Who episodes
YouTube
Instagram
new look.com
top shop.com
everythingfivepound.com
flappy bird
what is social work book

Saturday:
mean girls
Little Britain
good luck chuck
Facebook
twitter
YouTube
Instagram
 flappy bird
what is social work book

Sunday:
superman
2 big bang theory episodesbachelor party 2
Facebook
twitter
YouTube
Instagram
flappy bird
BBC weather
Cumbria university- what I need for the interview
                            - where i need to go
what is social work book

1. surveillance
2.personal relationships
3.personal identity
4.diversity

Should music videos be regulated and/or censored to protect the audience and prevent them from acting in the same way? (Applying Effect Theory)

its been argued that music videos should be regulated by the government or by the music company or not at all. there are many factors to consider when thinking about such a complex topic such as desensitization, public interest and who should be the one to regulate such footage. Music videos are shown all over the world, through TV, YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

is having an explicit video so available for any one to watch such as Robin Thicke Blurred Lines appropriate? there are women walking around naked, objectifying themselves and dancing in a sexual way in this music video. this is done for the male gaze for an older audience, so the music video sells more because it have an extreme sexual nature. now the way that it can be looked at by the Effect Theory and more specifically at the Hypodermic Needle Model which states that the audience is passive and and that such media injects their ideology into them. If this is true the surely the younger generation would be walking around dancing nakedly and in a sexual manner.specifically the females would be allowing themselves to be objectified by males. yet no reports have ever said that such behavior is being displayed by anyone. However such an extreme nature of footage from a music video, possibly should be censored (like it actually was to some extent so no womanly parts were shown). this was done by the government which imposed laws to stop younger children absorbing explicit material. nevertheless due to societies perceptions in the UK and USA allowing a child of a young age to watch something in such sexual manner is wrong. so possibly the parents should regulate their own child's viewing of music videos, but if the parents censored and choose the music videos that their child watches would that mean the child wont get desensitized to such material so could that mean they would be even more passive so even more easily influenced by such media ideology on women and men.

We also have to think about public interest, usually this is used for magazines or newspapers but it could be said that a music video like this is are in the public interest? again bring up the topic of the male gaze, watching attractive people on our screen which everyone wants to aspire to looks wise.that could influence the behavior as well (as the Hypodermic Needle Model suggests) because the audience is passive and will absorb everything they watch and could believe that if they act in that way then that means they could be seen as attractive as the model on the screen.

Now their are many cases where this model is proven correct such as Miley Cyrus music videos where she is 'twerking' ,after that video was witnessed by the majority of the population, a lot of young females and male began posting videos up on YouTube of them twerking and acting in such a way which later leaked onto Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter so even more people were able to witness it which lead to even more people creating the video of them doing it as well. this clear is evidence enough of an audience being passive and absorbing the ideology of how a girl (or boy) should act. The way that the models and artists act in music video are copied to some extent maybe to nothing as extreme as parading themselves naked around everywhere but dance styles, the way they dress. young children are inspired by these sort of people. music videos that are contain such explicit material possibly should be monitored and regulated. but could the music companies do this themselves? the answer is clearly not because they know that a girl walking around nakedly or becoming this sexual object sells more than a girl fully covered up with no sexual appeal meaning no male gaze and no younger audience wanting to have the 'perfect' body and dancing seductively. they much prefer to sell more than protect their audience from material they possibly shouldn't see. but that means that it has to get so serious that the government impose laws to censor music videos. which means the rules will be enforced but then its not enforced enough to match with the Effect Theory as to this theory everyone is passive and everyone absorbs ideology from material they are watching. so maybe the theory is wrong? or maybe the theory is a little too extreme and people don't become passive with everything they watch? just certain factors and that's what the government has tried to help with.

Overall the most passive audience are young people, however because they have witnessed explicit material from all forms of media they are desensitized which means they aren't as passive and the Hypodermic Needle suggests. personally from the evidence i believe that maybe music videos should be censored like films are with certificates of 12, 15 and 18 and get YouTube to also censor this so they can only watch what is appropriate  to their age and when it is show on TV the certificate should be shown so then the parents have the responsibility if they can watch it or not. unfortunately this is just something that would be in my opinion best for such a passive audience, but it wont ever happen so we have to stick with the few laws that are in place to regulate explicit material.

The Effects Theory

• The Effects Theory was thought up by the Frankfurt School who were exiled to New York as their ideology was seemed left wing and they were accused of articulating criticism of a capitalist system. 
• Their argument for their ideology is the rise of the 'culture industry' resulted in increased standardization within the society.
•  under capitalism society controls almost everything and even culture is processed through the mass media as something which is bought and sold.
• The mass audience (it is seen as a passive 'thing', not a group of active consumers)is thus manipulated and indoctrinated by society (the hegemony of the ruling classes).
• the hypodermic needle model proposed to explain how this worked, which demonstrates the effect of the mass media on their audience.
• the supposed power of the mass media to inject the passive audience with ideologies.
• example: Nazi propaganda
• strict regulations in the media will help control the population.
• 'cultivation model'
• while a single text does not have effect, repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive. critics call it becoming desensitized.
• two-step flow assumes a more active audience, who will discuss media texts with each other.
• if the text is discussed with someone we respect (an opinion leader) then we may well be passive enough to accept their received views of the texts

peer review

The music video that I am peer reviewing is an emotional video about a girl who is lost and is being represented by a ghost and is trying to find themselves. Using the area of a rural setting, black and white imaging and the use of 2 actresses’ and guitarist. The song is called Misguided Ghosts by Paramore. The genre of this type of music is pop/rock and the people who created the music video have shown the genre by the outfits. All the of the outfits are simple and casual, both actresses wearing little make up but still pretty enough for the male gaze to happen. The hair on the guitarist and actresses look styled but still very natural. They have lots of close ups of artist singing in a recording studio passionately, this is shown in black and white and only the top half of the artist is shown. This particular scene of the artist is shown at random points in the song that has synchronised lip singing with the lyrics, even though the actress playing the ghost isn’t the artist there are still lots of close ups of the face to see the facial expressions of the 'ghost' which seems to always be blank with a slight sadness which links into her character well. The 'ghost' is always looking around while she is walking around through holes in the wall or to where she is heading. This can been seen as linking in with the music video as she is seen to be 'searching' for themselves. The people who created this video have created links between the lyrics which are being sung and visuals. Examples of this technique are “they follow me” the camera follows the girl (the ghost) as she walks away; “travelling endlessly” they have used the imaging of a hand in black and white moving across a wall which looks like it is endless; when the words “so I can find” are sung the girl looks through a whole in the wall so it looks as though she is looking and trying to find something; “in circles” the producers of the music video move the camera slowly around the guitarist giving the motion that it is going around in circles; when “don’t need no road” is sung the image of a sign post that looks old and is bent saying private road shows, this is giving the audience links between the lyrics and the images shown and when the lyrics “I’m going away for a while” the girl (the ghost) walks away from the camera showing that she is going away. Not only is there a relationship between lyrics and visuals but also between the music and visuals the speed of the song seems to match the speed of what is being played, the music throughout is quite slow so they seem to have got the actress when she is wandering endlessly to walk at the same speed of the song. The transition between different scenes seems to change with the beat of the music there isn’t any fast changes and each scene is shown long enough to make it match with the music. Another feature from Goodwin’s 6 features is intertexuality which means some of the imaging that the audience seeing has come from inspiration from other media products such as films, TV programmes or other music videos. The music video which I have found is similar is Decode by Paramore where the girl in that video is just walking around endlessly which is mimicked in the music video that has been created for Misguided Ghosts by Paramore. There is also intertexuality of a film, this film is Harry Potter where they have ghosts randomly walking around endlessly, even though it isn’t in the same context it is the same idea of a ghost wondering endlessly. What has also been done in a few of the music videos that have been created for Misguided Ghosts by other students has followed the theme of someone walking around endlessly so they could of got their inspiration that. Overall the music video as a whole is a very emotional and meaningful which matches with the song, that has taken inspiration from different media products. It is very well designed and there are many links between lyrics and music and visual images. The artist of the song is very clear and the different effects that have been used match the genre of the song as well of the mood of the song.