Q1B Genre to Audience links

tbc

Neale argued in his study of cinema genres that audiences bring with them expectations on genre codes and conventions, and that their interaction is central to the construction and definition of genre, an endlessly ongoing process. Katz and Blumler also argued that simply recognising common features is another source of audience pleasure, and motivation to view (and, crucially for the music video, repeatedly re-view) a video. Neale also noted the importance to audiences of "differences in repetition", while Abercrombie noted that audiences gain pleasure from observing manipulations of standard genre conventions. In our video we took the convention of [EX; seen with eg/s of videos] and gave it a distinctly different slant by [EX].

There are other ways in which we can see how Blumler and Katz's work helps illuminate the interplay between audience and producers when it comes to genre. Their best known concept, the uses and gratifications theory, sets out key motivations for audiences to select the media they consume, and its clear that genre encoding is crucial in the context of music video. Identification, one of their 5 categories, was a core consideration in constructing our video, and clearly for professional producers too. [The EX is distinct depending on the genre: rock = everyday, relatable clothing [detail!], low key lighting, de-emphasising glamour while pop/dance is typically the opposite BUT may mix it up to strengthen the brand and audience appeal. This concept can also be applied to your NARRATIVE! Some videos directly represent fans within a video - you all have viral elements you can tie in]. This can also be at the aspirational level, and [EX: instrumental ability for rock, dancing for pop/dance, but also costume...]

My genre is known for featuring what Altman refers to as [emotional/visceral pleasures or intellectual puzzles], which can be seen in the [existing vid EX]. In mine, we [EX]

Costume is a defining feature of genre conventions in music video, and we noted the following as typical, further backed up by our own audience primary research [you can BRIEFLY detail if you want to]. Hebdige placed distinctive costume at the heart of his concept of subculture, and that clearly applies here. Much of our own costume/make-up work [EX] would be recognised within the broader genre of ..., but we did incorporate specific signifiers of this sub-culture [EX]

Genre, as we've seen, is a crucial concept for commercially exploiting music and for artists to attract an audience, but the concept can prove very loose when examined closely. The postmodernist Baudrillard put it typically colourfully when describing genre as [use all or any 1 part of his quote: 'a principal of contamination, a law of impurity, a parasitical economy']. Katie Wales put it even more bluntly when arguing that 'genre is an intertextual concept'. I found many examples of [genre] videos that reflected this [EX], borrowing from film, Tv and wider culture as well as from within and beyond this music video genre. In ours, we encoded intertextual references to [EX]. This was one means of avoiding simply being what Negus describes as a 'generecist, rather taking a pastichist approach. As we don't expect every viewer to recognise these references, there also what Rick Altman, in discussing pleasures that audiences gain from genres, describes as 'intellectual puzzles'. Bourdieu, whose work fits well with Hebdige's subculture concept, would recognise the 'cultural capital' on offer to those who can correctly identify the influences from our work.

Sample marked Q1b essays E-A* grade

As of April 2014 these (barring some U examples) are the sample marked essays made available by OCR on A2 exam section A: question 1b.

   Q1b Exam Board Sample Answers With Marks

Q1b: Posts on Media Lang

All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


Every MANGeR topic is potentially linked into MLang; any work on Use of Conventions... from 1a could also be useful here.

Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

PoMo by louderthanwar blog; (accessible guide to this very key concept)

POMO Slasher sitcom Holliston @ FearNet.com;

POMO/NARRATIVE: HI v POP Cul: Austen v TOWIE!; (neat comparison of TOWIE + Jane Austen)

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision; (not JUST about his visual style: his groundbreaking use of looooong takes; prediction of today's we-media [everyone will have their 15 mins of fame]; pertinent to working within a group, his concept of factory production by a team but bearing one artist's [auteur...] name)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?; 

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre; (snippet: 'The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity"')

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions: are you virtually forced to surrender to market/audience/genre demands for fast pace?)

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; key point here is how you signify such archetypal characters through MLang/mise-en-scene

Creativity, Narrative: Coens;

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?)

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic.

Slideshow on media terms;

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. How does nationality impact on MLang?
Hammer horror; any aspect of your work in this classic British tradition? Note the slower-paced editing style for older horror, and use of stagey sets
Zombie flicks - low budget, inferior to your productions?;
Horror Games: 13 most atmospheric; any intertextual influence from these (which also show wider appeal of genre to multiple audiences)?
The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories
Fan trailers of movies they WANT made!; this isn't just fan-made material like the trailers cut to a favourite music track, but rather franchise fans trying to influence studio decisions about sequels/prequels/remakes
Scream 4 + genre/METZ; the classic pomo slasher franchise + Metz's theory of genre cycles  

Peeping Tom 50yrs on; one of two British proto-slashers from 1960 that set out key aspects that Halloween would later reintroduce to a global audience, this one largely disappeared while Psycho was hailed as a huge influence, but today is rightly seen as a masterpiece, and has a sharp commentary on audience pleasures with the killing weapon actually mounted onto the camera itself, giving us an early example of the audience sharing the killer's POV

Colin, the £45 film; this made it to the cinema despite being really rather poor, not least the lack of shot variety and excessively long takes - clever exploitation of marketing, not least online, helped the case and it continues to make decent money from DVD sales

Horror music copies animals?; use of music/soundtrack from AS is worth considering, and this helps

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way?