Narrative Analysation Essay - Hi-Glow Retro

Hi-Glow Retro is a fourteen minute short film surrounding a high school senior, Tommy Ashby, with severe social anxiety who decides to step out of his comfort zone to learn 70's disco dancing, to impress the popular girl he likes at an upcoming school dance.

The film opens with Tommy narrating the scene, showing a flash forward of what is yet to come. It begins at the school dance, showing shots of different teens at the dance, including shots of Tommy. The temporal order of the film has been manipulated as the storyline isn't shown in complete chronological order, and instead, a flash forward is used to foreshadow how the story will turn out. The use of the main character narrating the flashback intrigues the audience as it's as if we are being told a story. This gives us a feel as to how the film is going to progress, and it encourages the audience to continue watching as we are curious to know whether Tommy gets the girl. Todorov's narrative structure theory is applied here as the opening of the film displays a state of equilibrium.

As the next scene begins in real time, we see Tommy in high school before the dance has been mentioned, and immediately we can see the application of Vladimir Propp's character theory, as we see a typical popular high school boy throwing a piece of scrunched up paper at Tommy, and trying to embarrass him in front of the girl he likes. This character is who we assume will be 'The Villian' in the film.

As the scene advances, we see the influence of Propp's theory again as we meet Tommy's love interest, who we can immediately tell is 'The Princess' character role, as her presence encourages Tommy to attend the dance. Symbolic code is used initially from the point we meet Tommy before the dance has happened, for example, the piece of paper thrown at Tommy by "The Villian", the way he dresses in comparison to "The Villian", and he is also by himself. This straight away gives us a clue that he is the "unpopular boy". Tommy is the classic of his archetype- a sweet, somewhat goofy underdog who likes the popular girl who is completely out of his league. The entire film plot is driven by Tommy's interest in this girl, as we see him go through struggles to learn to dance to impress her, and the end goal is to eventually win her over. And this is where the character of Beth comes in.

Tommy works in a local diner after school, and Beth his is cigarette-smoking bad girl of a coworker, who teaches him how to dance (after a lot of convincing and a bribery of money). Beth represents 'The Helper' character role where Propp's theory is applied. From this point onwards, the film is split into two halves. In the first act, Tommy is on a time crunch, he needs Beth to teach him how to master the art of disco dancing in only sixteen days. The sequence of shots show us the journey of Tommy to learning how to dance in a lighthearted, funny manner and the sequence of shots are naturally highlighted by a montage. This scene as a whole, shows Beth acting as "The Helper" by aiding Tommy through dance lessons.

Beth also takes on the role of "The Donor" as she gives Tommy an outfit that is perfectly suited for the dance. She is essentially providing him with an object that will benefit him and improve his chances with the girl. She sends him off with some advice, and here there is a use of symbolic code as we catch hints of Beth flirting with Tommy which gives us a subtle hint that she is interested in him romantically. The audience can sense a romantic chemistry.

The second half of the story begins, and it is the day of the dance. Tommy's shyness takes over his triumphant moment to show off his new dance moves, and instead he decides to sit down. With only a few songs left to dance to and win the girl, he takes the plunge and hits the dance floor. His victorious moment quickly turns wrong as he rips his trousers off in attempt to get the girl's attention, which ends in embarrassment and laughter. In terms of Todorov's theory, the equilibrium has been disrupted, and Tommy quickly recognises this as he sprints from the dance and cries out of fury in his car.

The equilibrium is quickly reinstated as Beth shows up to his car, and kisses him which in return ends up making "The Princess" jealous. The audience are pleased with this outcome, as "The Princess" made fun of Tommy at the dance, which makes the audience want better for him, which we quickly assume is Beth because she helped him when no one else would. Tommy ends up being the winner in the situation anyway, as he got the girl in the end, just not the girl he originally wanted.

Narrative Conventions and Structures

Narrative Conventions

When unpacking a narrative to find out its meaning, there are a series of codes and conventions that need to be considered. When we look at a narrative, we examine the conventions of genre, character, form and time, and use knowledge of these conventions to help us to interpret the text. 

Time is something we understand as a convention- narratives don't take place in real time but may telescope out (the slow motion shot which replays winning a goal) or in (an 80 year old life can be condensed into a 2 hour biopic). Therefore, we consider "the time of the thing told and the time of the telling" - Christian Metz. 

Very few screen stories take place in real time. There are many devices used to manipulate time, including;

• flashbacks
• dream sequences
• repitition
• different characters' POV
• flash forwards
• real time interludes
• pre-figuring of events that have not taken place yet

Temporal Order

The plot doesn't always show events in chronological order, as previously noted. For instance, flashbacks are commonly used to show us what has happened in the past. The narrative can also be presented in parallel terms; for example, we watch a scene where a character is getting ready for a party, then we see another scene where a friend is doing the same. The time when this is happening is parallel to each other, as in, it is happening at the same time in real terms. As with all narrative choices, we have to look at why the filmmaker has chosen to present events in this fashion and the effect it has upon us as an audience.

Temporal Duration

There are 3 distinctions of time within a film:

1. Screen duration: the time the film takes to show
2. Plot duration: the length of time the plot covers
3. Story duration: the length of time the story covers 

Temporal Frequency

The plot of a film may show us an event which happens once in the film but we know it has happened many times in the story - a short cutting of information for the viewer. Eg, in Gladiator, we see the hero fight four battles before his triumph, and we assume that many more battles have taken place but we are only being shown the most important ones. Alternatively, but less frequently, a story event may be shown more than one time during the plot - we see an event occur from another angle which may lead us to view characters/events in a different light. An example of this is the tv series The Affair.

Space is also very important in the film because location is usually a key part of the film. Narrative shapes material in terms of space and time; it defines where things take place and when they take place. The location may be physical and geographical (eg a war zone) or it may be mythic (eg the Wild West). The plot sometimes leads us to infer other story space which we may never see (eg we know a character has gone off on holiday but we never see this 'space'). Screen space selects portions of the plot space to show us, and the decisions that are made in terms of film space need to be examined in conjunction with close study of the visual elements of film language.

(Other codes and conventions have been mentioned in more detail in previous posts)

Narrative Structures

There are many ways of breaking down narrative structure, and a lot of work has been done by literary theorists to develop ways of deconstructing these narratives; these literary theorists and their methods have been previously mentioned (Todorov, Propp and Levi-Strauss).

When deconstructing a narrative we have to separate the plot and the story. Think of a feature film and jot down...

• the strict chronological order in which events occur
• the order in which each of the main character finds out about these events
• shows story
• shows plot construction

Identifying the narrator who is telling the story is also a vital question to be asked when analysing any media text. Stories may be related in the first or third person. POVs may change, but the narrator will always;

• reveal the events which make up the story
• mediate those events for the audience
• evaluate those events for the audience

The narrator also tends to position the audience into a particular relationship with the characters on the screen.

Cause and Effect

The director can create a mood or atmosphere by choosing certain shots in a certain order to build a picture in our minds. We automatically link what is happening in one shot with what happens in those either side of it, as this is what happens in real life, ie showing us a window frame and then a shot of a house, we presume the house is what you see out of that window. In this way we are interacting with the film.

Some directors have exploited this idea to extremes, such as Lev Kuleshov, a Russian filmmaker in the 1920's. He experimented by showing people shots of an actor between shots of different objects - food, a dead woman, and a child. The audience interpreted the actor's expressions (although it never changed) as being hungry, sad and affectionate. This is because our brains try to make continuative sense of what we see. This placing together of images is called montage.

Action Codes and Enigma Code Visual Examples

Narrative Codes

Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes' Codes

Texts may be open  meaning that they can be unravelled in a lot of different ways, so essentially you can look at a narrative from one viewpoint and create a meaning for that text, but can also continue unravelling the narrative from different angles and create an entirely different meaning for the text. Texts can also be closed meaning that there is only one obvious viewpoint to look from, or only one distinct meaning behind the text.

Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try and unravel meaning are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the following five ways:

1. Hermeneutic Code (Enigma Code) and Proairetic Code (Action Codes)
2. Symbols & Signs
3. Points of Cultural Reference
4. Simple description/reproduction

Action Codes are any action that moves the narrative forward, and enigma codes are things that make the audience ask questions; and these questions are slowly revealed throughout the story. Enigma code can be displayed through expression (is the character expressing anger, or worry and anguish?). I've posted a video featuring examples of action codes and enigma codes, check out from 0.44 min to 3.38 min.

Images can also have narratives. Narrative image is all about the marketing of the film, as the narrative image is what we think of before we actually see the film. It is the film's image/identity and how it is branded. It comes from the direct publicity surrounding the film (the poster, trailer, video release etc) and also from word of mouth and it particularly draws on the generic qualities of the film. In other words, the marketing promotes the film's genre signifiers in order to exploit the audience's desire for familiarity and recognition- broadening the potential appeal.
But the narrative image also centres around the idea of difference and originality, this comes in the form of the narrative enigma. The film's publicity has to encourage the audience into asking questions about the film and must intrigue the audience to know the answers; which they will only know if they pay to go and see the film. This is the enigma; the mystery surrounding the film.

Allan Cameron-Modular Narratives
Allan-Cameron argues that in the last 20 years, "popular cinema has displayed a turn towards narrative complexity", meaning that narratives are becoming more complex. He has identified 4 different types of modular narrative.

• Anachronic - Can involve modified flashbacks and flashforwards. It is when there is no clear dominance between any of the narrative threads. An example of this is the film Pulp Fiction - the film throws the viewer from one location to another, not necessarily in a linear order; making it actually quite difficult at times to know who we're meant to be following, as we're thrown from one storyline to another. The action doesn't follow on chronologically.

• Forking Path - When you get alternative versions of the story in the same narrative. So a film might show the possible outcomes which might result from small changes in a single event or group of events. There might be a number of plotlines which contradict one another. Cameron gives the examples of Groundhog Day, and Sliding Doors.

• Episodic - Following a collection of stories joined by a common theme. One of Cameron's examples is 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould; A film about the pianist Glenn Gould, which includes 31 short films from different perspectives trying to show a different aspect of Gould. It isn't chronological, some parts are interviews, some parts are reenactments of parts of his life, and some parts are interviews of Gould himself played by an actor; but the common theme is Gould himself.

• Split Screen - These narratives are spatial rather than temporal, so they're in different locations at the same time, and we see a split screen dividing up the shots of the different locations. A great example of this is the tv series 24; where they split the screen, showing different things happening in different locations, all at the same time.

Narrative Analysis

Narrative Analysis

The difference between story and narrative is that "story is the irreducible substance of a story (A meets B, something happens, order returns), while narrative is the way the story is related (Once upon a time there was a princess...)" - Key Concepts in Communication - Fiske et al (1993). 

A story is a sequence of events that tells us what happens, and has themes such as romance or war, where as narrative is the way the story is told and puts those themes into context. A good example of this is The Social Network by David Fincher.

When analysing a narrative, we must take into account;

• Technical Code
• Verbal Code
• Symbolic Code
• Structure
• Character
• Narrative Conflict

Technical Code

This takes into account anything technical that goes into the narrative process, such as sound, camera angles, or design and editing. How does a choice of colour, or camera angle make the audience feel? A good example of this is Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Verbal Code

This is the way language is used, both written and spoken. It is how language is used to convey the story. Compare the language of a voiceover in a documentary with that of a voiceover in a film such as The Shawshank Redemption.

Symbolic Code

Symbolic codes are like clues within the narrative, for example, one of the characters may drive a broken down or old car, suggesting that the character is poor. An example of this is Roy Hill's The Sting. 

Structure

This is the beginning, middle and end. Most narratives can be summed up using Todorov's theory (see narrative theory notes). Superman Returns is a good example of this.

Character

See Vladimir Propp's theory on the 8 character roles. An example of this is Lady in the Water by M Night Shymalan.

Narrative Conflict

See Claude Levi-Strauss's theory on conflict propelling a narrative forward. An example of this is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.

Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory

Narrative is created to appeal to an audience, and so narrative elements are created to entice an audience and keep them interested. Narrative is the coherence or organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things, because we connect events and make interpretations based on these connections, and so in everything we seek a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Propp's Fairy Tale Characters

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who examined folk tales to see if they shared any common structures. He suggested that characters in stories all have a narrative function. He identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions. 

The 8 character roles are:

1. The Villian
2. The Hero 
3. The Donor - who provides an object with some magic property
4. The Helper - who aids the hero
5. The Princess (sought for person) - reward for the hero and object of the villian's schemes
6. Her Father - who rewards the hero
7. The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on their way
8. The False Hero - the person who is perceived as a good character in the beginning but emerges as evil

Tvzetan Todorov

Tveztan Todorov suggests that narrative is simply equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. The Bulgarian structuralist linguist suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of fiction. The storyline flows as follows:

• A state of equilibrium
• A disruption of the equilibrium
• A recognition of the disruption 
• An attempt to repair the disruption
• A reinstatement of the equilibrium

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be good and evil - we understand the concept of good as being the opposite of evil. He suggested that all narratives are driven by a constant creation of conflict and that narrative can only end on resolution of this conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack.

He was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in a plot, but rather he looked for deeper arrangement of themes. For example, if we look at Science Fiction films, we can identify a series of binary oppositions which are created by the narrative;

• Earth & Space
• Good & Evil
• Humans & Aliens
• Past & Present
• Normal & Strange
• Known & Unknown

Example PPQs for Q2 Exam

How significant has the internet been to media producers?
[50 marks]

It is an unarguable fact that the internet has been extremely significant worldwide to the everyday life of billions. I believe that the internet has been equally significant for the producers of media, however not always in a positive way. 

The internet was first technically developed in 1969 with ARPANET which was used for military communication. However it wasn’t a useful tool until Tim Berners Lee created the worldwide web in 1989. The first incarnation of the internet is known as Web 1.0, this was seen as an information web where information was simply provided to the consumer, it was nothing like the internet we know today. 

Web 2.0 was therefore a revolutionary change to the internet. It allows for interactivity, creativity and a wide range of multi-media. It is the development of the Web 2.0 generation which has created such significant changes to media producers. However I believe the internet still has a long way to go with ever developing technology. I believe that in the future there will be no limits as to what the internet can do. 

This has massively significant effects on media products. One industry that has struggled particularly due to this move to the online age is the music industry. Before the internet, music producers pushed products from professional artists via TV shows or websites, they now have a larger amount of platforms to advertise from such as ‘YouTube’ and other social networking sites. However this affects music producers as it has led to a massive rise in public produced music. Before, only professional or signed artists had the opportunity to have their music heard. However, due to the development of the internet, it is now extremely easy for the audience to record songs on their phones and laptops and then show them online. This rise in prosumers (David Gaunlett’s theory about consumers that are also producers) has raised competition as a result of the internet, as public produced media is far easier to create and show. 

However prosumers are not the greatest form of competition for music producers. In 2001 Sean Fanning invented ‘Napster’, a site allowing people to share and download files such as music. This had a great effect on the music industry and its producers. Before Napster was shut down, it became extremely popular and started off a trend of other sites doing the same thing. In two weekends alone, 250 million files were downloaded using Napster. This use of digitisation has massive effects on media producers. An average of 20% of the music industry’s revenue comes from downloads. However 95% of these downloads are illegal or piracy. This takes away a large source of revenue from the music producers, however this does not mean it will stop in the future, if the ability is there to access free music rather than pay, consumers will take it. 

Some companies such as iTunes, created in 2003, led the way in adapting to this digitisation by providing audiences with an effective way to download music without taking royalties away from music producers. This had a massive effect on high street stores such as HMV that have had to completely re-think their strategy. This is because iTunes have been able to adapt Chris Anderson’s Long Tail theory, when selling their products. This is the idea that for a small number of products there will be a large number of sales (top ten most popular products) but small amounts of a wide range of niche-type products (things less popular but people may still want them). For example, not many people will want a CD by ‘Venturalights’ – a band developed through crowd funding. However with apps such as iTunes not having to battle with the cost of retail space, they can supply their audience with a massive range of products putting them ahead of competitors. High street shops don’t have the space to adapt to this method as it may not make a profit on smaller items therefore they are falling behind.

 Digitisation and the development of the internet is also very significant to the film industry and film producers. Due to digitisation and sites such as Netflix and Sky On Demand, watching movies is no longer a special occasion like when they were only accessible at movie theatres. As films are far more easily accessible and more common, audience shave become more desensitised. Therefore this allows movie producers to be a lot more explicit and extreme with their content. For example in 1960, a horror classic, ‘Psycho’, terrified audiences but now audiences are used to far more extreme content. This has meant that film producers have had to increase film production in order to meet the growing demands of audiences. Now 22 million hours are watched daily on Netflix so audiences have higher expectations of films in order to ‘wow’ them.

Another way the internet has had a significant impact on media producers in the film industry is through methods of production. Tapscott and Williams discuss the idea of Wikinomics, this is the concept of mass collaboration in order to reach an end goal. The development of the internet has also led to the development of crowd funding sites. This allows prosumers and consumers to find projects like films in which to invest in return for movie perks such as early previews. This largely benefits film producers who can now take more chances on projects that they may not have otherwise invested in. It also allows small projects who can’t get funding a chance of success. I believe that in the future crowd funding will continue to grow. For example they could use crowd funding in order to gain mass collaboration for casting, storylines, ideas etc. This also applies to David Gauntlett’s theory that we need to create in order to be happy and this gives audiences a chance to do so. This also limits the pressure from media producers. 

Another growing trend that media producers, especially in the film industry, have been able to benefit from is the increase in social networking due to developments in the internet. As Marc Prensky says, there is a growing population of digital natives and also an increasing number of digital immigrants who are using the internet – social networking is at an all time high. This interactivity allows the trailer release of a film to almost be as big as the film release. Due to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, film producers can give provide teasers for their products online. This can lead to a wave of online discussion and opinion. This sense of popularity is a great way of increasing film sales, ticket sales and even merchandise sales. If you see people talking abut the film online you are more likely to go and see it. 

Similarly to this, I believe film producers also benefit from the rise in fandom and fan produced media. For example a film of two boys on YouTube battling through the special effect of Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Although these are arguably be seen as parody videos that take the seriousness out of a film, I believe that these can be a great source of advertising and a great way of generating interest in the film. It can also give producers an individual edge to put them ahead of competitors. I believe that in order to succeed, film producers and in fact all media producers, should embrace fandom and fan produced media and take it seriously in order to use it as advertisements. 

I believe that in the future the internet will continue to become more significant in changing the way media producers work. I believe they will have to adapt to meet ever growing audience demands. Due to the internet, prosumers now have the opportunity to create their own media in a much easier and more professional manner. Therefore I believe that media producers in the music and film industry will keep having to improve their qualities to beat competition form the public. In order to make this easier, I believe media producers should take advantage in the growth of crowd funding and Wikinomics. To date, the largest crowd funded project, ‘Veronica Mars’ managed to raise £5.7 million from 91 thousand funders. This highlights the power of crowd funding so I believe media producers should rely on this method of consumption and funding more. 

Overall, it is clear that the internet has been extremely significant to media producers, however, not always in a positive way. Due to the developments in the internet and a rise in digital natives, the Film and Music industry have had to adapt significantly to appeal to their audience’s ever developing needs and expectations. 



Evaluate the opportunities and threats offered to media industries by online distribution 
[50 marks]

The emergence of web 2.0 has had a major effect on production and consumption. In terms of the media industries and distribution it is the age of the ‘Prosumer’, a term coined by David Gauntlett which referred to Web 2.0 and how much easier it is to both make and consume. Julian McDougall states that contemporary media, thanks to Web 2.0, has become “more about the people, less about the media”. So how much has actually changed between the off-line and online age and what is the impact on media industries. I will discuss this topic relating to theorists in the cases of Music and of Film. 

It is crucial to the understanding of consumer behaviour, distribution and the impact of Web 2.0 to understand media consumption in the off-line age. This was also called Web 1.0 and was the generation of ‘push media’ information and the media was distributed my ‘Media Gods’ to the little people – the audience. 

Producers 

Audiences were limited to what and when they consumed media. They used TV guides and cinema listings to find out what and when they could consume – almost as if they were being dictated to by the institutions. It was virtually impossible for consumers to produce, then to share and have their product seen by millions; they were reliant on distributors. However, due to Web 2.0 this has changed. Thanks to streaming sites such as Netflix, YouTube and Spotify audiences have more opportunity to consume these platforms and provide more freedom for the audience to consume. Not only freedom but more choice of what to consume. Now information is distributed like this as well using features such as the cloud and information can be found all around us. 

Collaborative and Participatory culture was suggested by Henry Jenkins, who built his theory off the back of David Gauntlett who examined Web 2.0 and creativity. He highlighted emerging trends within audiences to share, produce and collaborate together online. A perfect example of this would be fundraising for the recent Nepal Earthquake Appeal. Web 2.0 has enabled there to be a donating platform for the last few months, providing people across the globe a chance to help. Some people, without the internet, wouldn’t even know about the earthquake and so would not help. However, due to Web 2.0, the distribution of this information has been able to spread to each corner of the earth, connecting those who have access to the internet and who want to help. Without Web 2.0 this wouldn’t have been possible. But with, people have been able to work together and further, and will be able to create and share innovative ideas. 

Specific industries have been affected by Web 2.0 such as the Film and Music industries. Technical convergences such as the iPad and iPhone have drastically changed how media is produced and consumed. Whereas once people had to remain indoors and consume media from either the TV or computers, now everything is wireless. This gives the audience more freedom to consume whenever they want using the hardware and software of Web 2.0. This impacts distribution as the audience becomes wider and more vast than ever before. Films are no longer just films. There is hype about the movie months, and sometimes years, before it’s release – with online discussion forums, fan made trailers and interviews with the actors and producers are watched. An example of this is the fandom behind ‘Game of Thrones’. The fans do all of the above using platforms such as YouTube or forums such as Reddit that allow discussion on chosen subjects meaning the distribution of the media has been greatly expanded by Web 2.0. 

The music industry, just like film, now has an audience that consumes less of more. Chris Anderson proposed the theory of the Long Tail, which refers to niche genres and their availability. An example how this changed in the online age is that in the off-line age niche genres in music and film would be denied shelf space. However due to sites such as Amazon and HMV they can have unlimited cyberspace to store all products, including those that are niche. Distribution has therefore benefitted vastly as there are more places to both distribute from and to. 

However there are critics to the world of Web 2.0 that highlight some undeniable flaws. David Gauntlett for one disagrees with the Long Tail theory as he believes niche products still have to be searched for with all the mainstream products that are flooding the market. Charles Leadbitter also agrees that participatory culture is flawed. He believes that mass sharing can have a detrimental impact on democracy or how businesses are able to survive. However, what will happen to Hollywood? It is pointed out by Tapscott and Williams that there is still demand for credible content such as 3D and CGI. These sorts of products will continue to be made in the future as they are difficult to pirate – therefore distribution of film to cinemas will survive in a physical format.

In terms of opportunities and threats of the online age to media industry distribution, I believe that both will make the progression of distribution ultimately better. In the future I believe that the changes will become more radical e.g. google glass allowing more people to easily distribute their own products. David Gauntlett suggests that the media landscape has changed forever. Audiences and producers now don’t have top be one or the other. Everyone can be both – ‘Prosumers’. 



How far do you agree with the view that the move to online media has been entirely positive for the audience so far? 
[50 marks]

Since Tim Berners Lee invented the world wide web in 1990, the move to online media has been revolutionary. From 16% of the world having access to the internet in 2005, to a massive 39% online now in 2013, there has been a dramatic change. Roseland Williams said that ‘technology determines history,’ and the reductionist theory of technological determinism also states that a society’s cultural values and development are driven by their technology. Focusing particularly on the news and music industries, I will discuss how much I agree with the transformation from offline to online media and the effect that it has had on the audience so far. 

Danah Boyd says that media is changing in three different ways: Translation, localisation and co-option. One example of co-option (a complete change from old to media) can be seen in the 2011 England riots. Paul Lewis, a Guardian reporter, relied entirely on Dan Gillmor’s idea of Citizen Journalism, using Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites to keep alive, up-to-date track of the riots progression. His article, ‘Reading the Riots,’ is also an example of Henry Jenkins’ participatory culture, as he says ‘the internet is allowing the gap between the producer and the consumer to get narrower.’ This shows how the move to online media has had an effect on the audience so far – but whether it is positive or not is debatable. Media utopianist David Gauntlett, author of ‘Making is Connecting,’ says that the removal of gatekeepers such as large news forms is extremely beneficial. He believes this is excellent for democracy, allowing everyone to voice their opinions and avoid the country becoming a totalitarian state. This is also an example of pluralism - gathering news and other accounts from different people of different classes and allowing their opinions to be heard – on the other hand, media dystopianist Andrew Keen disagrees, and says the removal of these gatekeepers does not promote creativity, but allows the inarticulate and talented to voice their ‘incorrect’ opinions, saying that infact, ‘those who shout the loudest will be heard the most.’ The audience been able to become journalists with access to a mobile phone is beneficial in terms of equal rights and democracy, but not necessarily for all audiences. During the riots, Google maps and Flickr partnered to create live accounts of all the criminals and their profiles, leading to the arrests of over 1000 people. This is a prime example of Morozov’s idea of mass surveillance, that everything on the internet can be traced, and if online media hadn’t been so prominent, it may not have led to the imprisonment of so many thousands of ‘the audience.’ 

In March 2013, the first ever live Earth-to–moon song was broadcast from the international space station, called I.S.S - Is somebody singing? by Chris Hadfield and Ed Robertson. This highlights the fast development of the web, and supports Charles Leadbetter’s theory of ‘We think: The Power of Mass creativity’. In the offline age, artists would have had to be in the same room and physically records together, but now it can be done literally all over the world. However, this also promotes cacophony - people freely sharing across the web. In 2009 The Pirate Bay, a file sharing site was sued for over 30 million SEK for infringing the terms of The Computer Misuse Act, Copyright, Designs and Pattents Act and many more all over Europe. This is an example of how the move to online media has had a negative effect on our world today – commencing illegal activities. Danah Boyd, however, believed that trying to charge people for illegally sharing is like ‘trying to build massive walls when planes were first invented,’ and instead, they should try to harness the activity. 

A different example of how the change to online media has effected us is through new media practises such as crowd-funding. Amanda Palmer famously used website Kick Starter to raise over $1.2 million by offering her tailor made material, saying that it is about ‘asking and thanking your fans for buying your music, not telling them to.’ She bases her fortune mainly on one of Kevin Kelly’s 8 Generatives – personalisation – meaning audience purchases are special for them, essentially more sentimentally and priceless.

In 2012, The Invisible Children lunched the Kony 2012 campaign which went viral and has over 97 million views on YouTube to date. Although the campaign itself was doubted by many, one response video, by a female called Slubogo reached a massive 4 million views. Pippa Norris says that this is extremely beneficial for the public and media audiences, since we would not usually hear the opinions of a young girl. The majority of people who watched her video were 16-17 year old females, interesting opposite to the usual, stereotypical upper class business men who watch the news. This is also a good example of Habermas’ theory of the public sphere – that the move to online media has created an incredible, free platform for all people of all ages to voice their opinions and feel valued. 

Although democracy has been an ongoing positive change for online media, some people believe it is also having a negative effect. Eli Pariser’s theory of The Filter Bubble proves that the internet shows us what it thinks we want to see, not necessarily what we want to see (This is proven when two people, for instance, ‘Google’ the same thing – and retrieve entirely different results). It is a worry that this will eventually have an adverse effect on our society, and people will eventually become uneducated on current affairs because they will not know that they exist, especially since the majority of news is now viewed for free online. Viktor Schlonburger from The Oxford Institute also believes that everyone should have ‘the right to be forgotten’ and that the internet is just a place to remind us of our mistakes from the past. It has been argued recently that it is impossible to delete yourself from the internet. 

The move to online media has certainly had a revolutionary effect on our world today – from the Arab Spring social networking storm and the overturn of the Egyptian revolution of 2011, both feeding from the developments in social media. Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford says that ‘the internet is changing our brains’ – and not for good. Since 2011 we have used a stock of 320 (over 4 billion) IP addresses, and internet using is spiralling out of control – fast. We are yet to be left with a semantic web. 

Overall, I believe with the saying that ‘the machine is us…the machine is using us,’ and although the move to online media has been very beneficial, I don’t believe it has been entirely positive. Soon we will have to rethink love (online dating) and ‘friendships,’ rhetorics and linguistics. The Khan Academy is a prime example of how the web is overpowering us – with over 500,00 online lessons, we must start to question our education systems, i.e. The move to web/media studies 2.0. We are promoting clicktivism in a positive way, in the eyes of Clay Shirky (‘Here Comes Everybody’) but as McLuhan said – ‘we shape our tools, thereafter our tools shape us,’ and soon the world will be run online.

PPQ LINKS

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/286030-a2-level-exemplar-candidate-work-unit-g325.pdf

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/179236-example-candidate-answers-from-june-2013.pdf

(124) Past papers, mark schemes and reports

Exemplar Essays

SPECIMEN ANSWERS TO HELP STRUCTURE RESPONSE TO THE 3 QS

Evaluate the opportunities and threats offered to media industries by online distribution.

[50 marks]

The emergence of web 2.0 has had a major effect on production and consumption. In terms of the media industries and distribution it is the age of the ‘Prosumer’, a term coined by David Gauntlett which referred to Web 2.0 and how much easier it is to both make and consume. Julian McDougall states that contemporary media, thanks to Web 2.0, has become “more about the people, less about the media”. So how much has actually changed between the off-line and online age and what is the impact on media industries. I will discuss this topic relating to theorists in the cases of Music and of Film.

It is crucial to the understanding of consumer behaviour, distribution and the impact of Web 2.0 to understand media consumption in the off-line age. This was also called Web 1.0 and was the generation of ‘push media’ information and the media was distributed my ‘Media Gods’ to the little people – the audience.

Producers

Audiences were limited to what and when they consumed media. They used TV guides and cinema listings to find out what and when they could consume – almost as if they were being dictated to by the institutions. It was virtually impossible for consumers to produce, then to share and have their product seen by millions; they were reliant on distributors. However, due to Web 2.0 this has changed. Thanks to streaming sites such as Netflix, YouTube and Spotify audiences have more opportunity to consume these platforms and provide more freedom for the audience to consume. Not only freedom but more choice of what to consume. Now information is distributed like this as well using features such as the cloud and information can be found all around us.

Collaborative and Participatory culture was suggested by Henry Jenkins, who built his theory off the back of David Gauntlett who examined Web 2.0 and creativity. He highlighted emerging trends within audiences to share, produce and collaborate together online. A perfect example of this would be fundraising for the recent Nepal Earthquake Appeal. Web 2.0 has enabled there to be a donating platform for the last few months, providing people across the globe a chance to help. Some people, without the internet, wouldn’t even know about the earthquake and so would not help. However, due to Web 2.0, the distribution of this information has been able to spread to each corner of the earth, connecting those who have access to the internet and who want to help. Without Web 2.0 this wouldn’t have been possible. But with, people have been able to work together and further, and will be able to create and share innovative ideas.

Specific industries have been affected by Web 2.0 such as the Film and Music industries. Technical convergences such as the iPad and iPhone have drastically changed how media is produced and consumed. Whereas once people had to remain indoors and consume media from either the TV or computers, now everything is wireless. This gives the audience more freedom to consume whenever they want using the hardware and software of Web 2.0. This impacts distribution as the audience becomes wider and more vast than ever before. Films are no longer just films. There is hype about the movie months, and sometimes years, before it’s release – with online discussion forums, fan made trailers and interviews with the actors and producers are watched. An example of this is the fandom behind ‘Game of Thrones’. The fans do all of the above using platforms such as YouTube or forums such as Reddit that allow discussion on chosen subjects meaning the distribution of the media has been greatly expanded by Web 2.0.

The music industry, just like film, now has an audience that consumes less of more. Chris Anderson proposed the theory of the Long Tail, which refers to niche genres and their availability. An example how this changed in the online age is that in the off-line age niche genres in music and film would be denied shelf space. However due to sites such as Amazon and HMV they can have unlimited cyberspace to store all products, including those that are niche. Distribution has therefore benefitted vastly as there are more places to both distribute from and to.

However there are critics to the world of Web 2.0 that highlight some undeniable flaws. David Gauntlett for one disagrees with the Long Tail theory as he believes niche products still have to be searched for with all the mainstream products that are flooding the market. Charles Leadbitter also agrees that participatory culture is flawed. He believes that mass sharing can have a detrimental impact on democracy or how businesses are able to survive. However, what will happen to Hollywood? It is pointed out by Tapscott and Williams that there is still demand for credible content such as 3D and CGI. These sorts of products will continue to be made in the future as they are difficult to pirate – therefore distribution of film to cinemas will survive in a physical format.

In terms of opportunities and threats of the online age to media industry distribution, I believe that both will make the progression of distribution ultimately better. In the future I believe that the changes will become more radical e.g. google glass allowing more people to easily distribute their own products. David Gauntlett suggests that the media landscape has changed forever. Audiences and producers now don’t have top be one or the other. Everyone can be both – ‘Prosumers’.

A range of relevant theories are applied to a range of contemporary case studies across the scope of the debate. A critical perspective is taken and the candidate comes to an informed academic conclusion.

Mark Awarded: 43/50 marks – The answer would be improved by greater fluency across the whole response and by balancing the argument a little more consistently, hence a lower level 4 mark is awarded.

In Question 1(a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.

Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by your understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to demonstrate how this developed over time.

[25 marks]

Real media texts were an essential influence for both my AS and A2 productions. They allowed for an understanding of the conventions of the genre, for example, as well as a form of inspiration. My use of real media texts progressed from copying to inspiration. My group and I produced a teen drama film opening for the film ‘Consequences’ and dance music ideas for the song ‘My Head is a Jungle’. 

At AS we researched into film openings by watching them on YouTube. By watching the openings for ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Attack the Block’ we found the genre conventions of a male protagonist and an urban setting. Thus our film opening follows these conventions, being set in urban backstreets and having a male protagonist. In addition, we found that dramas often have a flash forward beginning, for example ‘Trainspotting’. This flash forward was recreated in our opening by beginning with the teen boy running away from something. Specific shot types such as a close up of feet came from watching ‘Trainspotting’s’ chase scene. In addition, the use of titles came from watching various film opening titles on ‘Art of the Title’ and thus we produced titles similar to ‘This is England’ by using plain white writing so as not to distract from the action. At AS, the final product was heavily influenced by real media texts.

At A2, the music video brief meant that our research of real media texts had to be much more extensive. We watched videos of the dance genre on ‘You Tube’ such as Clean Bandit -‘Real Love’- and ZHU -‘Faded’. However, watching videos of the genre led us to note the different forms of performance and narrative. Therefore, we had to research further

into videos of these types as the concept of real media was much less genre defined at A2. Thus like Clean Bandit – ‘Rather Be’, our music video was a combination of performance and narrative as we understood this was a new and creative type of music video that is more contemporary. In addition, we watched videos outside of the genre whereas we didn’t do this sort of research at AS. Having watched REM –‘Bad Day’ and Madonna –‘Material Girl’ we found that intertextuality is common in videos. Therefore we applied this to our music video. We researched outside of music videos into other media texts, which we didn’t do at AS. We watched media texts that we found from research, that the audience would enjoy.

Thus our music video became inspired by real media texts like ‘Alice in Wonderland’. This is shown in our music video in overlays of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ type footage as well as mise-en-scene such as playing cards and giant mushrooms. The narrative also closely parallels that of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with an Alice-like protagonist. Therefore at A2 level, the use of real media texts became more complex. We did still use the basic conventions, for example varying shot types and contrasts that we had seen in Aluna George – ‘You know you like it’ with a close up next to a long shot repeated in our performance. However on top of these basic conventions came more advanced and varied use due to the complexity of music videos as well as the professional standard expected.

At A2 the brief required us to produce ancillary products of a digipak and website. Thus we had more use of real media texts than at AS. We found on real websites, the importance of interactivity, for example the competition on the ‘Chase and Status’ website. We created our own competition on our website to mirror this. In addition, we found basic conventions such as a ‘tour’ page on the Disclosure and Clean Bandit websites which provided the audience with purchasing opportunities. Thus we created our own tour page and widget on the homepage. We also looked

at common places for Dance acts to perform and so placed a concert at ‘Fabric’, similar to the one of Disclosure. The digipak was also influenced by real media texts. From looking at other debut albums such as Ellie Goulding – ‘Lights’ and ‘Katy B’ we found that a focal image of the artist allows for a creation of star identity. Thus we applied this to our digipak, having the focal image of the band on the front cover. The more basic conventions such as tracklisting also centred on the basic and were in plain legible font. Furthermore, at AS synergy was not a concept we had to consider with the one product. However this was essential at A2. We looked at the campaign of ‘Disclosure’ and found they had used a face graphic on all three products. Thus we used powder point on all three: during ‘a fight’ in the video, on the font of the digipak and on the banner on the website.

Overall, real media texts became a huge part of our understanding of professional media products. Their use was essential at AS, but became more advanced and widely researched at A2, helping up produce an incredibly professional product for the brief.

This response is detailed across both AS and A2 in equal measure, offering very strong application of media theory with specific relevance for how conventions have been used, with a very clear sense of progress from the imitation to inspiration. This response meets all level 4 criteria.

Mark Awarded: 25 marks – very little could improve this script.

In Question 1(a) you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.

Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by your understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to demonstrate how this developed over time.

[25 marks]

Over the course of my two years Media A level, I have developed skills that have impacted on the creative decisions within the products that I produced. In AS I produced a front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine and in A2 I produced a music video, digipak and website. I will discuss my progression in pre-production, production and post production concerning the real media texts I created.

In AS, research and planning into the forms and conventions of my genre ‘indie’ was done by looking at real media texts such as music magazines. I used a range of magazines, such as Kerrang and NME. to build my knowledge of the conventions. I found that the masthead must be eye catching and placed at the top of the page of my front cover therefore in my product I made my masthead bold, electric blue and highlighted white around the edges to help it stand out against a dark background. Another thing I found out that the front cover was lit on the artist however dark around the edges to create the illusion that the artist was coming out of the page and also to get rid of dead space where there were no sell lines. Due to having real media texts to hand, I was able to stick to the media forms and conventions of the ‘indie’ genre. However my research and planning developed dramatically in A2.

Rather than looking for forms and conventions to follow, to produce my products that I needed, I wanted to engage with what my target audience expected to see in the ‘indie’ pop genre and what the audience themselves liked and disliked. I did this using an online blogging site, tumblr, which enables you to search hashtags to do with the genre of my choice eg ‘#indie’, ‘#pop’. I then created a blog myself to repost any image or text that was to do with the music or music artists to create a portfolio of my audience. From this research, I was able to impact upon my research greatly

as I found that most indie pop fans love travel. This then inspired me to use a travel sequence in my video. These real life media texts inspired me to produce a music video more for the audience rather than being stubborn with my own ideas.

Another way in which my research and planning was the use of real life media texts when analysing music videos. I listed all costume and set changes that occurred in three of the most popular indie pop videos e.g. One Republic – ‘Love runs out’, John Mayer – ‘Waiting on the world’ and Gavin DeGraw – ‘Best I ever had’. I also tallied how many cutaways there were in each and this impacted on my video in the way that I was able to keep up to the standards of professional music videos. I believe this research improved my work drastically.

In my AS Production I used my research into real media texts to prepare my sets, costumes, camera angles and location. For instance I used a tripod and a Canon camera to create a steady medium shot for my front cover image. I was able to buy the right costume for the artist I was shooting which was a plain white shirt with the legs of ‘The Midnight Beast’ on – who were also from the ‘indie’ genre so the image was enhanced with intertextual references. In A2 this developed due to my experiences with ‘A2 fortnight’ in which Jake Wynne, a music video director, analysed real media texts with us and highlighted points about lighting and acting that I’d never thought of. Previously I had only used lighting in front of the artist, however behind gave a beautiful gleam of light behind the artist giving it a much more professional look. Also acting was a major part of my production in A2, I encouraged my artist to be more expressive with gestures,

movements and to exaggerate motion so that it was captured well on camera. I believe that without the analysis of real media texts, my product wouldn’t have reached the standard to which I got – near professional.

In post production in AS I was quite limited as I was only able to use forms and conventions to edit my magazine using Photoshop and InDesign. In Photoshop I used the wand tool to select and transform sell lines around the image to enable them to fill the dead space and these were eye catching and like real media texts they were on an interesting subject. Also in InDesign I was able to get a degree of accuracy using their sectioned format for my double page spread text (article) which I exported into Photoshop to edit further. Real media texts taught me that accuracy was key in appealing aesthetically to the audience.

This again developed in A2 as I had a lot more freedom with editing and therefore meaning I could create within the video using certain footage just as the real media texts I had looked at had multiple signs and meaning in the video. For instance i used fast paced editing in the instrumental part of the song to highlight that the travelling was fast paced and exciting too. This link would hopefully affect the audience in a positive way. I also dropped in political messages such as – “if at first you don’t succeed – call an airstrike” to appeal to the more rebellious amongst the indie pop genre. This knowledge I think enriched my product and gave it a higher degree of meaning.

No improvements could be made at A2 level, this response meets all level 4 criteria. Mark Awarded: 25 marks – very little could improve this script.

In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework productions. Apply the concept of narrative to one of your coursework productions.

[25 marks]

 Narrative is the way in which a story is created though a set of codes and conventions. Our music video had the story of a girl who ate a mysterious cupcake which transformed her into various fantasy worlds. This narrative crossed with the girl performing in her band the song, ‘My Head is a Jungle’.

Goodwin says that music videos are an ‘extension of the lyrics’. Having watched real media texts ‘Katy B – ‘Broken Record’, we noted the way the story was told through such things as repeating clips to portray the “broken record”. Our music video expressed the lyrics, for example, the lyric ‘jungle’ was demonstrated through the cross-cutting between different scenes in the narrative to show confusion. This was furthered through repeated close-ups of the girl looking confused over repetition of the word ‘jungle’. Furthermore, the concept of confusion over love was in the lyric ‘in a

dark room we fight, make up for our love’. Thus our music video creates disjuncture by showing a high key white room over the ‘dark lyric’ to accentuate the lyrics through stark contrast. The concept of escapism from this ‘love’ is presented through eating this magical cupcake. The cupcake becomes part of the narrative as an indexical sign for escape. The narrative parallels with that of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to use intertextuality to enhance narrative understanding. The concept of escape is furthered through the contrast between dark ordinary performance and the colourful tie dye and the powder paint in the narrative scenes. Thus our music video narrative can be seen as an extension of the lyrics.

Vernallis suggests that music videos are often fragmented in narrative. Our music video demonstrates this through fast paced choppy editing, changing scenes between a balloon party and a paint fight with no explanation. Furthermore , Vernallis suggests there will be gaps in audience ‘understanding of diegesis’.This can be applied to our music video as the girl transforms to new worlds within seconds, with no concept of time or space. Furthermore, through making the performance contain the protagonist and contrast with the narrative, the performance becomes part of the narrative furthering a lack of diegesis and the concept of space. The narrative remains fragmented demonstrated through the symmetrical narrative of paralleling the last close up of the girl with the first. This creates confusion over the narrative structure.

Despite being seen commonly as a film theory, Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium can be applied to our music video. The video begins in equilibrium of the girl exploring an ordinary room, and then goes into disruption. This is signified through the use of overlayed clips to present a blurred image. This disruption continues until the ending of returning to normality, having experienced her adventure. This structure helps the audience’s understanding of the otherwise fragmented narrative. However it can only be loosely applied as music video narratives tend to be more complex, and thus the symmetrical narrative is debatable as a new equilibrium. Roland Barthes theory of enigma codes can be applied. Our narrative leaves the question of why this happened and who the song was really about. There is no explanation for transforming between the balloon and paint scenes, thus creating enigma and enhancing the narrative as it raises questions. In addition, the cupcake itself can be seen as an enigma as its presence and abilities remain inexplicable.

Having received primary audience feedback (bb 24 females) we found that our narrative could be understood by the audience who could relate to the protagonist, possibly allowing alignment. Therefore I feel we created a successful narrative which allows application of theory, but is also the product of creativity.

The candidate provides a detailed and entirely relevant application of narrative theories to suitable examples from their production. The examples are clearly and consistently applied to specific features of their own work, which is treated as a media text for analysis, so the focus is on the completed text rather than the process, which is the focus of 1a.

Mark Awarded: 25 marks – very little could improve this script.

In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework productions. Apply the concept of narrative to one of your coursework productions

[25 marks]

For my A2 coursework I created a music video based on the ‘indie pop’ genre. I used a narrative/performance based structure to my video. I will discuss how I have applied theory to my video.

Allan Rowe believed that narrative was all about the audience questioning what was next in the sequence. He discussed how narrative was to surprise or frustrate expectations from the audience. Within my video I applied this as there was a constant movement throughout highlighting new experiences as the narrative took its journey in the video. The narrative is of a solo artist on tour in America experiencing new things. Therefore I was able to apply Allan Rowe’s theory in my video as the audience was in a state of constant suspense waiting to discover the next place he will visit. E.g. the artist is seen walking then it pans up to the Las Vegas sign.

This also applies to Todorov’s theory of ‘equilibrium – disequilibrium – new equilibrium’. I, however, challenged this by only applying the equilibrium and new equilibrium to my video. I achieved this by creating a constant journey of positive experiences in my video, for example the artist is seen travelling and enjoying the adventure, then a girl appears which therefore enhances his joy in his travel as love starts to enter his journey. Following this the artist is seen within the final part of the track to be at their most reflective and hugely spectacular place – The Grand Canyon. These step by step experiences are shown throughout my video and doesn’t include dis-equilibriums to keep the video happy, upbeat and fun like the track within it.

Another theorist I can apply is Roland Barthes and his ideas on narrative codes. I specifically used Barthes ideas in his work on semiotics – I used signs and symbols and cultural referencing. The symbols and signs I used throughout were highlighting love and art. For example, in my video there are two quick pan-ins into graffiti art saying, “Love peace & hope” and the masses of art and colour on a wall in San Francisco. These two themes were chosen to be highlighted throughout as the genre indie pop concentrates on love being an important factor in life and also an expression of art. I also used cultural references showing a wide shot of a San Francisco landscape, Las Vegas sign, skateboarders in LA.

Vladimir Propp also applies to my video as he describes character types and functions that go to make up a narrative. In my video there is a parallel of two sets of characters, the girl and the boy and the street performers. Both of these sets highlight characters that are searching for happiness and fulfilment in their own way – be it through travel and companionship or through love of dancing/music. I wished to highlight these as my character functions due to my audience being expressive and independent.

Overall, I believe that the application of these theorists has given my video more depth in relation to my audience through narrative. Also my skills have developed as a producer as I now think of these theorists when it comes to planning and research to appeal to my audience and make a successful product.

A range of relevant theories of narrative are applied to the candidate’s own production with a selection of useful and illustrative, specific examples. The text is analysed conceptually, so a clear distinction in approach from 1a is made.

Mark Awarded: 22 Marks - for higher/full marks, the cultural references in the text discussed here would need to be more explicitly connected to narrative theory.