Evaluation: How does your Media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Due to our music video taking an indie approach in terms of the genre used, we aimed to convey a girl/boy next door feel, wanting to deviate away from the typical performance and style of the media of music. The lyrics of the song chosen make it clear than the main performer is missing their partner or lover and that although he is acting as though he is fine, he is not. To show this, we made use of including a boy and girl, aged eighteen, both of which have a typical teenage feel about them, wearing stereotypical clothes of what this age group are thought to wear, but still ensuring that they look middle class and are relatable with most of the population, therefore allowing the audience to connect with the characters within the piece. These two teenagers are also seen sharing the same beliefs, making it clear that when they are in one another’s company they are happy, both wanting the same thing in terms of the relationship they have. This is portrayed through a series of close ups helping to show the emotions and expressions within the characters faces, showing a comparison between how happy the two are together and the girls sadness when she is alone and not pretending to be otherwise, particularly obvious when she is seen against a red cloth, again relating to the ‘red room’ mentioned in the lyrics of the piece.

An establishment about their social backgrounds could also have the ability to be made within this video, not only due to the similarity of smart clothes that they wear, and their appearances seeming to be equal in terms of wealth - making a link to class here - but can also be portrayed through the story line shown. The main character seen is shown having a blue face when she is in the company of others, but not when she is with the particular boy, using this to explain how it is only him she is comfortable and able to be herself with. In these scenarios where she is seen to be in the company of others, she is shown staring at either the camera or at a specific place in the shot, therefore showing that the boy perhaps was once there when they were together and now he is not. Because of this, the audience may make an opinion about the two characters having very similar backgrounds and social upbringings. However, knowing that the audience are very much a part of the meaning that is established from film, this may be dependent on the reader’s interpretations, which in turn is thought to be influenced by their beliefs, culture, ethnicity and upbringing.

Different gender types can be seen here, choosing to have the girl missing the boy, rather than how the lyrics to the song portray, using Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions to help establish a meaning. In doing this I feel I have taken a stereotypical view of young women as they are often described as being relationship driven , as supported by a number of researchers, particularly focusing on how women are represented through magazines when talking a psychological approach. This particular research also adds that males are stereotyped as being more interested in their career. However, in taking this approach, I feel it enabled me to connect with a wider audience, allowing them to use their schema’s to make sense of the video further. Looking at the codes and conventions of a music video, the males seen are often shown to be masculine, focusing on strength as a method of voyeurism rather than attractiveness as seen by the women within music, aimed to challenge this dominant ideology of the need to sexual women in music videos to sell the product. I felt it would be beneficial to deviate away from this, showing a softer side to the typical male. This was in aim of allowing the audience to see that the boy is a nice, decent one, therefore creating more of an emotional attachment to him and allowing a stronger acknowledgement of the girl’s feelings. As well as demonstrating a these social groups in such a way, the video also achieves a typical representation of relationships. Slow motion has also helped in allowing the audience to concentrate and see/feel in detail the emotions they should between the two people within the video - showing the emotion which is felt to be typical of a break up in a loving relationship, one of loss and sadness.

Although the actual band members of the song chosen are only seen briefly, I still felt I was able to establish an opinion of these to the audience, being a social group in themselves. Knowing that they self categorise themselves as an indie/rock style band, this can also be linked to. In terms of the mise-en-scene here, the band members are seen all to be wearing shirts, buttoned to the top in which I have found to be typical of indie style performers. This also represents a neat and well kept personality of the members themselves, giving them a more idolised look. They also wear slightly washed out colours, tending to avoid the bright, pop look. Knowing this, this also helped in designing the Digipak for the band.

The relationship between family has also been briefly clapped on, showing the girl eating a meal with her family, aiming to use a senorio in which many other families will be familier with, therefore ensuring the audience can relate to the character. However, although this shows a bond between the family, the girl is still seen to have a blue face, therefore masking her emotions here untill they have gone away. This hasd been effectively shown by using an overlap of the scene, showing the girls face colour to change to normal when her parents disapear. This scene is repeated numerious times, not only to fit with the beat of the song, but also to exagurate this point further. Because of this, the approach given seems to be that having her family around is still not the same as being with her partner, in which i have found people to briefly believe this after a break up of the age which is represented, again including some narative in which feels typical of this event.

Audience Feedback from our Music Video

Due to the explosion of social media websites like Facebook, Bebo and Myspace bringing fantastic opportunities to identify and target groups most likely to buy our products, i chose to interact with these when asking for audience feedback. During my research i found that marketing my products this way may be much more effective compared to other forms of internet marketing. However, i did find that it attracted a slightly bias age group, hearing from a slightlly younger audience than i had wanted. Here is the feedback i gained through these sites;

'i thought this music video was really appealing, i had to keep watching it till the end. I particularly liked how you were able to change the colour of your face without altering the shot in places, also the close ups used against the red backgroud i felt were particularly effective'

'Really good del, i liked how it didnt have any dancing or anything in it because i think it would have ruined the song'

'Super! Great to watch. Would have liked to have seen more of the blue face though'

'Its clear that this girl is lost without her partner, which you have portrayed effectively, and stearing clear of the typical love scenes of a music video or film. very good. Well done Adele'

'i don't really understand?'

'The editing has been cleverly done here, but i would have liked to see more interaction between the two main characters seen in the video'

'It looks really good when your on the roof del! like, zooming out an stuff. I also like the little things, like, the fast cuts of trees, the one of the door shutting and of the bike chain too.'

I also made use of videoing audiences after showing them the music video, aiming to use a variety of ages and choosing people who would be viewing my video for the first time, therefore taking an unbiased approach.

OUR MUSIC VIDEO: COUNTERPOINT BY DELPHIC

Here is our final video. I have uploaded it to Youtube which would be the main distribution channel for the video. As well as appearing on music television channels for example MTV, it would first be promoted online. This would usually be done via Delphic's website, which is where most of their music is first released to mainstream audiences, knowing they rely heavily on word of mouth and the internet distributing their music to their core audience, being a particular new band.

Acting: Thomas McDonnell, Carly Price, Carolyn Jackon, Kevin Jackson and Myself

Camera: Carly Price and myself

Editing: Myself