Initial ideas (for the final time!!)

Finally i have managed to find an idea i can actually work towards for my coursework. i know that the previous ideas i had were pretty good but i felt that i could not go as in depth with them as i can with the current idea that i have.
my current idea is that i am now going to be doing an investigation into how gender is represented in music videos. i know that this will take a lot of work but i think if i put the time and effort into it i'll be able to do it.
as of now i have done an extensive amount of research to aid my task:
1- i have done a textual analysis of three music videos commenting on how gender is represented.
2- i have designed a questionnaire to get other people's veiws on the task in hand.
3- i have researched the andrew goodwin theory and how gender is represented in the media.
4- i have researched the history and purpose of music videos.

I now plan to devise a focus group to hear my classmates opinions, continue with my web based research and start on the academic side of it and i am going to try and organise some interveiws to help with my research.
this should help when it comes to producing my final piece.


for example as part of my research i did a textual analysis, this is an example of what i had to do:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpLXQorSQe8



this is the video to florence and the machines new song "drumming song".







in this video she is represented as being quite dominant and strong as she is leading the other dancers. also she is shown as being quite fashionable as she is wearing a rather nice outfit. the video gives connotations of strength, leadership and dominance as she represents women in quite a strong light. finally the use of women in the video shows representations of women being the steronger out of the two sexes.

gender can be represented in different ways. here are two examples of how they are shown:







la roux has been represented in many different ways since she came into the music scene. for example, she has been shown as a fun loving girl who makes classic 80's style pop music, however some people say she looks like a 12 year old boy, just because she has short hair. this could be classed as a poor representation of women as they dont have to have long hair. la roux chooses to have short hair because it is part of her image and thats hows she feels she wants to be represented.



matt bellamy from muse has been reperesented in different ways as well as la roux. in the past, he has been represented as the strong leader of his band and has been praised for the high standard of music he creates, but lately he has been shown as been going downhill in the way he does his work and has been shown to be having doubts about his band and music. this can be shown as a poor representation of men as they are shown as not being capable of doing as much as they should.

this shows that gender can be represented in both a positive and a negative light and for my end product i am going to make something that shows people that artists can be shown more positively as they are shown more negatively these days.

Initial Ideas (again)

once again i have decided to change my idea for my media coursework. i have now decided to base my work on the solihull young carers project as it is personal to me and not many people know about it.
recently in the media, teenagers and young children have been represented in a negative way as they are shown to be rebellious and getting into trouble. children are rarely recognised in a positive light, which is where my idea comes into place.
the young carers project is a place for children who take care of their families ( i.e - if their parents or siblings have an illness or cant cope). young carers allows these children tyo get away from all that. they take them on day trips and weekends away and this allows them to have their own personal time to take care of themselves.
i chose the young carers for my work as i was on the project from the age of 6 and i left when i was 13, and from what i've asked people, not many of them have heard of them.
so, for my work i am going to do a documentary based on the young carers and represent them in a positive way, and also add in peoples opinions of why they think children and teenagers and shown negatively. :)

Media research

over the summer holiday i was given he task of doing my research to help towards my production.
so far all i have managed to get is a website from a uni teachr who writes articles about the area im studying. however i am finding researching slightly difficult as i am having trouble finding what i need.

The Auteur Theory And How It Ties In With My Coursework!! :D

we learnt this theory in lesson on the 7th of july .


In film criticism , the 1950s-era Auteur theory holds that a director's films reflect that director's personal creative vision, as if he were the primary "Auteur" (the French word for "author"). In some cases, film producers are considered to have a similar "Auteur" role for films that they have produced.
In law the Auteur is the creator of a film as a work of art, and is the original copyright holder. Under European Union law the film director shall always be considered the author or one of the authors of a film.
Auteur theory has had a major impact on film criticism ever since it was advocated by film director and film critic François Truffaut in 1954. "Auteurism" is the method of analyzing films based on this theory or, alternately, the characteristics of a director's work that makes him an Auteur. Both the Auteur theory and the Auteurism method of film analysis are frequently associated with the French New Wave and the film critics who wrote for the influential French film review periodical Cahiers du cinéma.

Truffuat also said: "there are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors."

this ties in with my coursework as i am going to use a similar style to one of the directors that i would have researched and change it slightly to make it my own. this should be tricky but it might be manageable. the research involved will include a detailed textual analysis on three documentary directors of my choice, commenting on each part of MIGRAIN. also, this analysis will let me see what themes are constantly used within the directors work. this will help me to decide which theme i should use within my own production work. :D

Initial ideas 2

as it says in my previous blog about my intial ideas, my idea was to create a four minute television program based on manga but in reality. until now i thought this task would be alright for me to cope with but recently i have been thinking that it might be too much of a challenge for myself.

i have now decided to change my idea and am now thinking of creating a documentary showing how people are represented through music, for example, people who listen to rock music are shown as either goths or emo's.

i have decided to make my documentary roughly four minutes long and i plan to rethink my textual analysis as i am not yet sure how i am going to set it out :D

Textual Analysis

For my textual analysis i will be analysing three different anime episodes from different series. these three series are phsychic academy, death note and dragonball z.

i will analyse these, commenting on technical codes, visual codes and the main key concepts.

my initial thoughts are to think about the main conventions that are involved within the genre and comment on them.

My initial ideas

my initial ideas for my ms3 coursework is going to be based around the popular genre of manga. for my coursework i willl be doing a textual analysis of three different programs from within the genre, commenting on technical codes, visual codes and the main key concepts.

then i will do a full investigation into the genre and finally as my final peice, create a four minute episode for a new manga program, based in reality. the episode will be four minutes long, and i have yet to decide what it will be about. finally i will write an evaluation, outlining and explaing what i did for my coursework. :)