Representation

Representations means how the media shows us things about our society but is through careful mediation. Hence representation.

We rely on the media to tell us what's happening around the world.

Tim O'sulivan et al (1998) Ideology refers to a set of ideas which produces a potential and selective view of society.

Notion of ideology entails widely held ideas or beliefs which are seen as 'common' sense and become naturalised. (Hegemony).

In terms of music videos do we aspire to emulate the 'shaman' as defined by Carlson (1999) through representation.

Representation

• Age
• Sexuality
• Social class
• Regional identity
• Physical Ability
• Gender
• Ethnicity

Though the technical element representation is formed. (Cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound)

Intextuality - text alludes to or references to another text Julia Kristeva (1969) literary critic and sociologist.

Micheal Maffesoli (1985)

"Urban tride" - small groups tend to have similar worldwide views, dress styles and common behaviours - leads to the decline of individualism.

"Sabatage" - The beasty boys

It's a Pastiche (copy) of a cop 70's drama TV show.

We get all of our information through media.

Death of content - thing that are created are made to look good.

Sven E Carlson (1999) media theorist

Music artist represent themselves as:

1) Commercial exhibitionist

2) Television Band

3) Electronic Shaman

1) Present themsealves as a band. Selling their apperence as well as their musical talent. Their face, clothing, styling and lifestyle.

E.g. "Jenny from the block" (Jenifer Lopez)

2) Represent themseves as part of a story as a story teller.

E.g. "7 years" (Luke Grahams)

3) Generally big budget productions where the artist has immortal powers or adopts the alter ego of another iconic character, personality or superhero.

E.g. "Scream" (Micheal Jackson)

David Gauntlett (2007) argues that"Identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they've got one, artist play wirth the idea of identity in modern society."

Gender and ideology

Masculinity and femininity and socially constructed. Ideas about gender are produced and reflected in O'Sulivan et al (1998).

Feminism is a lebel that refers to a broad range of views containing one shared assumptions - gender.

in qualities in society, historically masculine power exercised at right of women interest and righst

Narrative

Bordwell and Thompson (1997) offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the dietetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept.

The structure of the classic narrative systems according to Pam Cook (1985), the standard Hollywood narrative structure should have:

Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.
A high degree of narrative closure.
A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence.

Tzventan Todorov (1977)

• Stage 1: Stable equilibrium-everything is satisfied, calm and normal.
• Stage 2: Stability is disrupted-creates a state of disequilibrium.
• Stage 3: Recognition that a disruption has taken place.
• Stage 4: Never possible to reach the same equilibrium.
• Stage 5: Restoration of a new equilibrium and changed characters.

O'Sullivan et al (1988) suggest, narratives have a common structure, starting with the establishment of the theme.
Development of the problem an engima (Barthes 1977) creates tension.
Finally comes to the resolution of the plot.
Such narratives can be unambiguous and linear.

Kate Domaille (2001) every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. Each of these narrative types has a source, an original story bases upon which the others based.

• Achilles - one weak spot in every character.
• Candide - The hero that cannot be put down. For example, James Bond, Indiana Jones.
• Circe - The chase, the spider and the fly, the innocent and the victim. For example The Terminator.
• Feast - Selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him.
• Orpheus - The loss of something personal, gift that is taken away, the tragedy. For example, The sixth sense.
• Romeo & Juliet - The love story.
• Tristan
• Iseult

Claude Levi-Strauss (1958) idea about narrative amount to the fact that he believed all stories operated binary opposites. For example, good vs evil.

Micheal Shore (1984) argues videos are:
Recycled styles.
Surface with substance.
Information overload.
Image and style scavenges.
Vanity and the moment.
Classical story telling's motifs.

Andrew Goodwin (1992) argues that in music videos "narrative relations are highly comlpex" and meaning can be created from individual auto-viewers musical personal musical.

3 types of narrative:

• Performance
• Narrative
• Abstract/conceptional

Genre

Definition and examples:
A category of medium's that are divided in to sections, you devise them in to categories based on common elements.
For example, Horror, Action, Thriller, Fantasy, Musical, Rock, Indie, R&B, Crime, Metal, Country, Jazz, Drama, Disco, Western.

The codes and conventions of each genre make it reconisable to the audience. For example a cowboy har, horse and a lassue will tell us that the genre is a western. However you can break these conventions, this could make the story seem more exciting since you don't know what's going to happen to the characters.

Language

LIIAR:
(Media) Language
Institution
Ideology
Audieance
Representation

Media language is semiotics. This is the science of signs, which is denotation and connotation.

Chares Sanders peirce (1931): "We think only in signs"

Signs take the form of ords, image, sounds, flavors, acts or objects but have no intrinistic meaning and became signs when we invest with the meaning. For example, Traffic lights. Why does the red light mean stop? And why does the green light mean go? We gave the meanings of stop and go to the traffic lights, if we didn't then traffic lights would be meaningless.

"Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign".

Another way to use signs is to encode them in cinimatography, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. Audiences then decodes the message or ideology. For example, in an episode of Doctor Who called "Don't blink" there is a clock in a background of a scene with shadows of bars across the clock. This gives the sign of the person being stuck in time. We interpret things as signs largerly unconsciously by relating them to familiar convections.

Linuist Ferdinand de sausure (1974)

Sausure said that signs have two parts:

• A signifier. This means that the denotation (what it is).
• A signifier. This means the connotaion (the hidden meaning concepts).

Icon: recognizably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it. For example, the Empior State Building is an icon of New York.

Index: A signifier is connected in someway (physically of caused) to the signified. For example, a clock represents time.

Symbolic: Things that we have said have meaning. For example, the traffic light.

Roland Barthes (1950)

In the 50's TV's, magazines, coloured film, etc 'exploded' in to peoples homes. This effected how poeple found out things about the world.

Barthes starteed to analyse video. He did this by appling semiotics to video.

"Dennotaion is what is phtotography, connotion is how it is photographed"

Ideology: It has to reflect the values of society at that time. For example, on crime shows the police wear yellow visability jackets, because police wear them in society today.

Micro elements: cinimatography, mise-en-scene, editing and sound.