Introduction to Media: Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is a vital aspect of Media Language and builds nicely on our work on denotation and connotation.

Mise-en-scène is a French term meaning ‘Put on Stage’. It refers to the Media language used by the producer in their media product to communicate with their audience so…everything we see on screen. We can remember what this includes using the acronym CLAMPS:

• Costume
• Lighting
• Actor placement and movement
• Make-up
• Props
• Setting

When we look at a clip, image or advert in Media Studies we need to be able to identify aspects of mise-en-scene and explain the effect it has on the audience.


Mise-en-scene: Blog task

Watch the opening of television drama ‘Stranger Things’, a science fiction story set in the 1980s when four friends get wrapped up in a dangerous alternate universe.




Create a new blogpost called 'Mise-en-scene Stranger Things analysis'. 

1) What do each of the letters in CLAMPS stand for?

2) What TV genre is Stranger Things? You can use the IMDB website to help you with this. 

3) Choose THREE aspects of mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting, setting) and write a short paragraph for each about the denotation and connotation in the opening 8 minutes of Stranger Things. What is being communicated to the audience? How does the mise-en-scene help to communicate the genre of Stranger Things?

Finish this for homework: due next week.

Extension tasks

Make sure you've finished and posted your Photoshop fruit bowl on your blog from last week.

You can read more about mise-en-scene on BBC Bitesize here. 

If you want something really challenging, here's a film-school website offering amazing detail on mise-en-scene. 

Denotation and connotation

Understanding denotation and connotation is the starting point for all Media Studies analysis.

Remember the definitions:

Denotation: the literal meaning of something
E.g. A rose is a garden plant

Connotation: the suggestion behind this literal meaning (reading between the lines)
E.g .The rose suggests romance and love.

When writing media analysis, you need to consider the following questions:

Denotation: what do you see?

Connotation: what is suggested? What does it mean?

Analysis: what is the effect on the audience? How is this effect created?


Example: Skittles

Denotation: There is some text with colourful streams behind each letter set around a pack shot of the product itself. The background appears to be sky.

Connotation: The advert builds on the slogan for Skittles ‘Taste the rainbow’. The connotation of the colour suggests that Skittles are joyful, fun and will provide a positive experience for the audience. The colours are vibrant and the sky in the background creates connotations of flying – this suggests to the audience that this is an exciting product. 


Analysis: The advert helps the audience understand the product as the colours reflect the actual Skittles themselves. In addition, the text across the top of the advert (referring to a ‘punch in the mouth’) uses humour to connect with the audience and suggests the brand doesn’t take itself too seriously. This adds to the positive, happy brand values that are suggested by the construction of the advert.

Blog task: advert analysis

Create a new blogpost in your GCSE Media blog called 'Denotation and connotation'.

1) Write an analysis of the WaterAid advert above using denotation, connotation and analysis. What can you see? What are the deeper meanings in the advert? What does the advert communicate to the audience? How might an audience react after seeing the advert?

2) Now choose your own choice of advert from Google images. Save it to your documents, insert it into your blogpost and write an analysis using denotation and connotation, explaining what the advert is communicating to the audience.

Extension: Print advert research

Read this design blog on some of the best print adverts of all time. Choose one advert that you feel is particularly powerful in terms of its use of connotations and analyse why it is so successful

Finish this for homework if you don't complete it in the lesson - due next week Thursday.

Introduction to Photoshop: fruit bowls

The fruit bowl task is a wonderfully creative way to learn some key skills in Photoshop.

Once you have finished your fruit bowl, you need to post it to your blog. Create a blog post called 'Photoshop fruit bowl' and complete the following tasks:

1) Save your fruit bowl as a JPEG image in Photoshop - remember to save it in your own folder on the Media Shared drive. To save as a JPEG image, go to 'Save as' and then use the drop-down menu for 'File type' and choose JPEG.

2) Post your fruit bowl (or bowls if you did more than one) to your blog by clicking the 'add image' icon and locating the correct JPEG image.

3) Write a short explanation of the colour palette you used and the effect you were trying to create when designing your fruit bowl.

GCSE Media Key Concepts: blog task

Everything we study in GCSE Media over the next two years will be based around the theoretical framework. This means four key concepts: Language, Industries, Audience and Representation.

If you missed any of the notes from today's lesson this should help:

Language

• The Language of Media Studies
• How we ‘read’ media texts
• Recognising the codes and conventions of media texts
• Key media terms e.g. genre… denotation… connotation… narrative… 

Industries

• The companies, organisations or regulators behind the media
• Most aspects of the media are a commodity: something that is bought and sold. There is competition and a demand for profit.
• Huge institutions are called multinationals e.g. News International
• Smaller institutions can include media texts we create ourselves (blogs etc.)

Audience

• The people who consume media products
• How does the media influence its audience? Who holds the power?
• How is an audience targeted? What do the audience enjoy or learn from the media product?
• Audience research: who exactly is buying our product?

Representation

• The people who consume media products
• How does the media influence its audience? Who holds the power?
• How is an audience targeted? What do the audience enjoy or learn from the media product?
• Audience research: who exactly is buying our product?

Key Concepts homework blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Key Concepts film poster analysis' and complete the following tasks:

1) Find a film poster of your choice (use Google images) and add it to your blog post. You'll need to save it to My Pictures or a similar folder and then import the image using the 'insert image' icon in Blogger.

2) Write an analysis of the film poster on your blog using the four key media concepts: language, industries, audience and representation.

Grade 8/9 Extension task: choose a different media text - for example, a magazine cover or advert - and do another key concept analysis using language, industries, audience and representation.

The key questions to ask:

Language: how do we know it is a film poster? What impact do the key conventions have on the audience?

Industries: who are the companies behind the film? Who directs or stars in the film? Who is making money from this media product?

Audience: who is the target audience for this film? How can we tell?

Representation: what representation of people or groups can we find in this poster? What does it tell the audience?

Example: Splice (2009)

Language

The title and tag-line, release date and billing block (information about the Director and the production company) all follow the expected codes and conventions of a film poster. The effect created here is…

Industries

The film was produced by Dark Castle (for Universal Entertainment) who are associated with horror… It was executively produced by Guillermo del Toro who is a well known director. It was commercially successful (being the highest grossing Canadian feature film in 2010)…

Audience

This looks like it would be targeted at an audience of mixed gender (although perhaps slightly more female?) An adult age range might apply due to the 15 certificate and the content which includes hybridity and genetic experimentation…

Representation

The focal picture shows a female in a dominant position with another female confronting her. There is a male in the background which is perhaps unusual, particularly in science fiction…

Example: The Meg (2018)

Language

The Meg film poster is immediately recognisable as a film poster because the actor names are placed across the poster along the bottom just above the film's title. The title 'The Meg' is the largest text on the poster which clearly communicates to the audience that this is the title. The title is in bright green which stands out against the murky blue background and the greenish blue colour scheme has connotations of the sea and the science fiction film genre. The central image is of one person above a shark which is in turn above a much bigger shark. The light in the top left of the image could suggest safety or life - emphasising the danger and death of the sharks below. This image suggests the film has elements of horror. 

Industries

The Meg is a Warner Brothers film starring Jason Statham and it made $530m at the worldwide box office against a production budget of $130m. The director was Jon Turteltaub.

Audience

The target audience for The Meg would likely be teenagers - perhaps from 13-37 years old. The film was rated 12A by the BBFC. The target gender for The Meg would be both males and females but perhaps slightly more males as it involves giant sharks. In terms of audience pleasures, someone might enjoy The Meg because the shark attacks will be dramatic and full of action and danger. The film will provide escapism and jump scares to make them forget about normal life. The audience will also want the main character to survive and will be scared when they are in danger.

Representation

There is only one person on the film poster which makes it difficult to analyse the representation. However, the main star is Jason Statham and the character on the poster appears to be male so this perhaps reinforces the stereotype that action heroes are male. The sharks are represented in a very stereotypical way as they are presented as dangerous, hungry beasts. This is emphasised by the size differences of the sharks and person.

Welcome to GCSE Media!

Welcome to GCSE Media Studies - we have a brilliant two-year journey ahead of us and can't wait to get started! 

Over the next two years you will create some amazing production work, learn a huge amount about analysing the media and end up with an excellent GCSE grade. All you need to do is work hard and be creative! 

Your first job is to start your GCSE Media blog and sign up to Google Classroom. 

You can find step-by-step text instructions to starting your blog here. 

Once you have your blog URL, email it to your teacher. The URL is the address on the browser that ends with .blogspot.co.uk or similar. For example:

Mr Pall's blog: http://mediamacguffingcse.blogspot.co.uk/ 

IMPORTANT: It is absolutely essential you remember your log-in details for this blog - it is your Media work book for next two years. Make sure you do the following:

1. If possible, add your mobile phone number so you can get a code by text if you forget your password
2. Email your log-in details to yourself using your SCHOOL email address
3. Write a reminder of your blog URL, log-in and password in your planner

First blog task

When you have set up your blog, it's time for your first blog post! Click on 'New Post' and put the title as 'First 10 questions'. You need to answer the following questions (detailed answers in full sentences please) as your first post:

1) Which part of the course are you looking forward to most?

2) What knowledge and skills do you hope to learn in Media?

3) What grade are you realistically hoping to achieve in Media (5-9)?

4) What was the last TV programme or film you watched?

5) Why do you think that TV programme or film appealed to an audience? Why would an audience like it?

6) What technology have you used to access the media in the last 24 hours? (Radio, TV, phone etc.)

7) What device do you use most to access the media?

8) Watch this clip from acclaimed BBC drama series Doctor Who:

9) Why was the casting of Jodie Whittaker a significant moment in the history of Doctor Who?

10) What aspects of this scene do you think an audience might enjoy? List at least three things and explain why the audience would enjoy each aspect. 

Extension question: What can you spot in Doctor Who that you will find in most television dramas? (E.g. characters, dramatic music etc.) These are called key conventions - list as many as you can think of. 

Extension question 2: What would a Doctor Who fan ('Whovian') particularly enjoy about this scene?

Note: If the YouTube clip isn't working please let your Media teacher know. While you're waiting for the issue to be resolved, read up on this episode of Doctor Who on the brilliant IMDB website.

Finish these questions for homework if you don't manage to get through them in the lesson - due first lesson next week.

If you DO finish everything - well done! Spend some time looking through our Media blog, particularly at last year's Media student blogs. This will give you an idea of the fantastic work you will be producing over the next two years.

End of term - lockdown links

Well done! You've reached the end of one of the strangest and most difficult terms any of us can remember.

Right back in March, I said that this pandemic is looking like something potentially as disruptive as World War 2 and therefore it's understandable we've struggled at times. It's really important we take a break and clear our heads and then hopefully we can return to school at something close to normal and have a great second year of GCSE Media Studies.

The only work you need to do over the summer is catch up anything you haven't posted from the last term. If you've missed any of the work from the last few months then you'll have emails from your teacher telling you what needs completing. Here are all the links you need to the work we've done in lockdown:

Advertising: assessment
Music video: Introduction
Music video: One Direction - History
Music video: Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Radio: Launch of Radio 1 CSP case study
Radio: Apple Beats 1 radio CSP case study
OSP & Videogames: An introduction
Videogames case study 1: Lara Croft Go
Videogames case study 2: Kim Kardashian Hollywood
OSP & Videogames case study 3: Zoella

It's vital that if you're missing anything you get it caught up over the summer. Fortunately, the links above have all the lesson videos, notes and tasks that you need. I know we set a lot of work but it's all with one goal in mind - making sure you do incredibly well in the exams at the end of next year and go on to get the grades you need for A Levels and beyond.

Have a wonderful summer and see you in September!

OSP & Videogames case study 3: Zoella

Our final Close Study Product for Online, Social,  Participatory media and Videogames is the YouTube sensation Zoella.

This is another in-depth CSP so we need to make sure we have studied this text across media language, audience, industry and representation. This is the last piece of work we need to do this year so we're nearly there! Here's a lesson video taking you through the key details for the Zoella CSP:




Zoella: notes

Language

GLOW: Key words

Blog: A regularly updated website usually from an individual, written in an informal style. 
Vlog: An online blog using videos.
Convergence: When two or more media forms meet in one e.g Zoella’s website where you can buy her book, read her Twitter feed, see her Instagram photos and buy her beauty products. 
Online dialogue: Communication online e.g between a celebrity and a fan. 
Endorsement: When a celebrity or influential figure recommends something to the public. 

Meet Zoella

Zoella (born 1990), real name Zoe Sugg, started a fashion, beauty and vlog on YouTube in 2009 called ‘Zoella’. Her online profile has grown hugely since 2009:

• 11.6 million subscribers on YouTube [November 2019]
• 10 million followers on Instagram [November 2019]
• 2.5 million likes on Facebook [November 2019]
• Over 1 billion total views

Her profile has grown from YouTube to a range of social media channels. 

Her success has led her to branch into a range of other forms of merchandising and she has significant influence on her target audience.


She [and other vloggers] symbolise how creative use of technology can create a new generation of self-made online celebrities. She also is a good case study in how celebrities  can participate in online dialogue with their audiences and collaborate with other YouTube content providers. Zoella is considered a digital influencer in the modern media landscape.

Activity: check out her YouTube channel here.

Zoella: background and history

 




Who is Zoella and what does she do?

• Fashion, beauty hauls and ‘favourites’ other videos, showcasing her favourite products from the previous month. These are mostly beauty or fashion picks.  
• Second channel MoreZoella, contains mostly vlogs where she talks viewers through her day. 
• Appears on channel Daily Mix with other Youtubers and does collaborations for their channels. 
• Launched a range of beauty products under the brand name Zoella Beauty in 2014. The ‘bath and beauty range’ was very successful. 
• In 2016 Zoella and her brother (Youtuber Joe) released branded merchandise under the name ‘Sugg Life’ which is a play on ‘Thug Life’ (popularised by 90s rap and a recent meme on the internet)
• Her debut novel, Girl Online, was released in November 2014 and broke the record for highest first ever book sales for a first time novelist. The book is aimed at a young adult audience and features a 15 year old anonymous blogger whose blog goes viral. She has published two more novels and a non-fiction book giving advice on entertaining guests and hosting parties.
• Convergence: She is dating Youtube star Alfie Deyes and announced their relationship on a public blog post in 2013. Her younger brother, Joe Sugg, is also a vlogger and internet personality known as ThatcherJoe. She was featured in the 2014 single for ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ raising money to help the West Africans combat Ebola. She has appeared on adverts and on television panel shows such as Loose Women and This Morning. She was also on the comic relief edition of The Great British Bake Off. 
• The Telegraph cited Zoella as one of ‘Britain’s most influential Tweeters’ in 2013.

Vlogging: codes and conventions

Reminder: Codes and conventions are established practices that tend to underpin different media products. Zoella uses a range of range of codes and conventions.  These tend to focus on:

• A Vlog name which gives information about what it contains. 
• A question that underpins post.
• Quirky music.
• Writing on the screen.
• Speaker central to the screen and speaks directly to the camera.
• Some props to keep video engaging.
• Lots of cuts (jump cuts – where the camera position is the same).
• Different angles and shots for variety. 
• Personal – this builds connection and trust with audience.
• Often conversational and informal in tone.
• Makes the start as compelling as possible: the hook.

Industries

How does Zoella make money?

It has been calculated that in 2014, Zoella earned £443.41 per hour.  How does she make this money through a YouTube channel?

1. YouTube pre-roll adverts: YouTube vloggers make ‘on average $0.001 per view.’ – and with Zoe’s channels averaging 22 million video views a month that works out a £15,000 monthly cheque. 
2. Blog: Away from Youtube, Zoella.co.uk the written blog then pulls in 7.4 million unique views a month, which generates an estimated £4,000 a month from ads too.
3. Product Placement: Many companies want Zoella to showcase and promote their products and she can demand up to £20,000 when she does this in her videos.
4. Beauty range: Zoella has launched her own beauty range sold through Superdrug. She managed to sell a record breaking 70,000 units in its first month alone.  With the average price of one of the products being £6.50, that works out an estimated £455,000 in sales. It is unknown how much of a cut Zoe sees of that amount.  In the following four months since Superdrug released these stats, it’s estimated the range has gone on to sell a further 150,000 units resulting in an additional £975,000 of sales. This has been an excellent way for Superdrug to reach their target teenage audience. 
5. Books: Zoella’s ‘Girl Online’ book series racked up £2 million in sales so far by February 2015, which Zoe will presumably receive a percentage of.  If this wasn’t staggering enough, Zoe was also paid a whopping £100,000 advance before it even hit the shelves.
6. Vlog Tour: linking with other popular Vloggers, tours around the UK [including more expensive VIP packages to meet the celebs] generate substantial income.

Industry collaborations

Zoella has established regular online collaborations with other popular YouTubers to produce new, popular content and to increase audience figures.  

Collaborations playlist: view Zoella's YouTube collaborations here.

Digital influencers and traditional media

We are increasingly seeing Zoella (and others) becoming more convergent with these traditional media. As Zoella has become more successful, she has made more appearances in traditional media such as TV, newspapers and magazines:




Audience

Zoella: teenage target audience

Think about Zoella's target audience and how she uses media language choices to attract that particular demographic. What would her specific target audience be:

• Gender?
• Age range?
• Psychographics?

Zoella: audience pleasures

Applying Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory, Zoella offers her target audience a range of audience pleasures. Her relaxed, informal videos offer a sense of entertainment and escapism to teenagers who also feel a sense of personal identity in seeing their own lifestyles and interests reflected in her vlogs. Over time, audiences build a personal relationship with Zoella and want to follow updates from her life. She also provides information and learning through make-up tips, 'life-hacks' and more.

Zoella - love her or hate her?

Applying Stuart Hall's Reception theory, Zoella's ‘dominant reading’ is as a down-to-earth girl that the audience can relate to and align themselves with. However, she is so well known that some people will take an oppositional reading of her work. Indeed, she has been criticised for some of her decisions and videos. 

Zoella: criticisms

• In 2014 Sugg was criticised for filming whilst driving her car. 
• In 2017 there was negative publicity surrounding the release of her 12-door advent calendar for which she was charging £50. The calendar was criticised for being ‘over-priced’ and ‘poor quality’, containing some items such as a small packet of confetti. 
• In 2017, she had to issue an apology after controversy emerged when people brought up social media posts she had made between 2009-2012 mocking gay people and ‘chavs’. She apologised and said that she had not intended to offend anyone. 
• Vloggers in general have been criticised for making up to £20,000 a month through being paid to promote certain products and therefore influencing young people. 
• Personally, Zoella has been criticised for being a poor role model for girls, suggesting that her message is that being pretty and feminine and interested in looks is important. 
• It has been suggested that she used a ‘ghost writer’ for her novel but this has not been officially confirmed. This book has been criticised by UK newspapers for ‘not being challenging enough’.

Representations

Zoella raises many interesting questions regarding how she constructs her representation in the media. How does Zoella represent herself? Is this the real Zoella or merely a media construction of herself designed to sell products?

What representation of celebrity does she provide? Is a self-made YouTube celebrity more authentic or positive than a traditional music or TV star?

Does Zoella provide a positive or negative representation of women?

• Zoella was listed as one of The Telegraph’s ‘40 best beauty bloggers’ in 2014 and ‘Queen of the Haul’ by British Vogue. 
• She was included in the 2015 Debrett’s 50, listing the most influential people in Britain. 
• In 2015 she was named ‘Most Inspirational Woman of the Decade’ in technology by Grazia. 

BUT... 

• She was also named the 34th Sexiest Woman in the world by FHM magazine.
• She has included more ‘adult’ themed photos on her Instagram and been criticised (see above) since her target fan base are pre-teen and early teenage girls. 

Online, social and participatory case study 3: Zoella blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Zoella CSP case study' and complete all the following questions under the subheadings Language, Representation, Industries and Audience.

Language

Read this Marie Clare article on Zoella as an online phenomenon.

1) Who is Zoella and why is she famous? How many subscribers does Zoella's YouTube channel have currently?

2) What is convergence?

3) What are Zoella's videos about? Find five video titles and write them here:

4) What are the codes and conventions of vlogging videos?

5) How does Zoella use media language choices to create her online identity? Write about Zoella's use of mise-en-scene (CLAMPS) - particularly costume and make-up.

Industries

1) How does Zoella make money? (You might want to read this Heatworld feature for more on this.)

2) What is a digital influencer? Why is Zoella considered a digital influencer?

3) Why do companies want to place their products in Zoella's videos?

4) Why are YouTube collaborations so important for helping digital influencers like Zoella to grow?

5) How has Zoella moved into a more traditional media landscape in recent years?


Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Zoella's channel?

2) How are audiences encouraged to participate in or feel part of Zoella's brand? 

3) What audience pleasures are provided by Zoella's videos and associated products?

4) Applying Stuart Hall's Reception theory, what would a preferred and oppositional reading of Zoella?

Preferred (people who love Zoella):
Oppositional (people who hate Zoella):

5) Why has Zoella been criticised by some people?


Representations

Read this Independent article arguing Zoella is a bad role model for young women.

Next, read this Independent article arguing the opposite. 

1) What is your opinion on this debate - is Zoella a positive role model for young women?

2) What representations of women are provided by Zoella?

3) What representations of celebrity are provided by Zoella? Is a self-made YouTube celebrity more authentic or positive than a traditional music or TV star?

4) How does Zoella represent herself? Is this the real Zoe Suggs or a media construction designed to sell products?

5) What criticisms could be levelled at the representation of Zoella? 

Grade 8/9 extension tasks: reading and response

To give you up-to-date information on Zoella, read this HITC feature on what Zoella has done recently after scaling back her YouTube videos.

Read this critical article on The Tab Calling time on Zoella. What criticisms are levelled at Zoella in this article? Do you agree with the writer's argument?

Read this excellent New Statesman feature on the moral aspect of how influencers like Zoella make money.


Due: by the end of term (16 July).

Additional deadline: if you have missed ANY of the work from the summer term (or earlier) you need to catch up over the summer and make sure you are fully up-to-date for September.