Lyrics analysis

Photograph: Ed Sheeran

The video which I have chosen to re-create is the music video Photograph by Ed Sheeran. I have chosen this because I find that it can be taken in many ways and mean many things to different people. From the music video I feel that it is about love and hurt and how it can hurt but it is still worth it. There are many ways in which love can hurt for example: 

• Your Boyfriend or Girlfriend can have a lot of arguments with you
• Long distance relationships 
• Family problems 
• Loss of family or friends 
• Children who have been taken from you 
• Someone hurting someone close to you

In my case the song means something to me as I am in a relationship with someone in the army meaning we only see each other eight days a month unless he gets sent away for two weeks or three weeks at a time every other month and have to travel two and a half hours to see each other. So for me I understand it in the way that love can hurt but it is worth it when you love the other person enough to make anything work.

PHOTOGRAPH: ED SHEERAN

History of Music Video's

Media Language

Genre Theory Essay

Genre Theory

Stuart Hall: Essay

Stuart Hall: Reception Theory

The Music video: Smack my B**ch up (Has been linked with the theory)

Hypodermic Needle Theory

•The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change.

•Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including:

•The fast rise and popularization of radio and television

•The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising.

•The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.

•This theory suggests a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.

•The hypodermic needle model suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message. 

•It expresses the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message.

•People are seen as passive and are seen as having a lot media material "shot" at them. People end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information.

•The theory assumes what we see or hear we believe and consume. The theory assumes we are brainwashed in to believing the media messages.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory: Below is a short video explaining the theory

This is war of the worlds ‘the panic broadcast’

•In the 1930s a radio broadcast of ‘War of the worlds’ was performed like a real news broadcast to heighten the effect of the story, people listening thought is was real and assumed mars had come to invade the world. (as played in the short video)

•This demonstrates a passive audience and how an audience believes what they hear in the

news and how this can quickly lead to misinterpretation. 

Cons of the theory

•Very out of date and invalid.

•Not every one watches the news/ consumes media in the same way.

•Audiences are not simply passive more up to date theories have proved this.

•Technology has changed how we consume media and the sources where it originates from.

•We are more aware of society and how institutions operate.

•We are now so used to consuming media texts that we understand conventions and know when to reject messages if we deem them insignificant 

Blumer and Katz: Uses and Gratifications Theory and essay

• The uses and Gratifications theory represented a change in thinking, as researchers began to describe the effect of the media from the point of view of audiences. 
• The model looks looks at the motives of people who use the media. 
• The theory makes the audience active as they choose what they want to consume.
• The theory argued that audience needs have social and physiological needs which generate certain expectations about the mass media and what they are exposed to. 
• The audience is the active participant it a;lows us to make choices about what we consume in the media. 

The four needs;

1. Surveillance
2. Personal Relationships 
3. Diversion
4. Personal Identity

 Surveillance 

•  People feel better when they have a feeling that they know what is going on in the world around them. 
• We watch the news as we feel that it is a reliable source of information and makes us feel secure.
• The model is all about awareness.
• The mass media is more aware of the world, gratifying a desire for knowledge and security.
• We use the media to be helpful in our daily activities such as the news or weather forecast.
• The social media can affect this concept as fake stories are created meaning that we get a false sense of security. 

Personal Relationships 

• This section comes in two parts: Relationships with the Media & Using the Media Within Relationships.
• We can form a relationship with the media, and also use the media to form relationships with others. 
• Many people use television to form a companionship. This may seem sad but you can never have arguments with a television and it will never let you down something you want to watch will always be on.

Personal relationships with the media:

• They appeal to a mass audience.
• They make us able to relate to the characters and the narrative.
• It helps us to understand social issues and issues we have encountered to help us deal with emotional times. 
• Media is there to support the audience.

Using the media within a relationship:

• We can use the media as a springboard to to form and build on relationships with real people.
• Having a favourite t.v programme in common can offen start a conversation and help bond with strangers. 
• Sometimes watching t.v with family can help stimulate conversation with each other as seen on t.v show gogglebox. 

Diversion

• Watching the t.v so that we can forget about problems in our lives because we are distracted and thinking about something else.
• We watch films and movies to take our minds off our everyday lives.
• We want to watch people with the same feelings as we do and forget about our own problems because we are focussing on their problems. 

Personal Identity 

• How being a subject of the media allows us to confirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within society.
• The use of the media for forming personal identity can be seen in music videos/films. 
• Pop stars can often become big role models, inspiring young children everywhere (which is why there's such an outcry when one of them does something wrong).
• It allows us to associate and relate to the product directly making us feel gratified in one way or another making us understand that we share our identities making us feel ‘normal/ and accepted.
• Different genres allow people to identify in different ways to different elements.

When putting the theory against the video: The Fray- Save a life;

What features allow an audience to personally identify with it?

• Cinematography: Close ups of crying 
• Lyrics: Singing about death
• That people blame themselves 
• Feelings written on screen through out the video 

Does it appeal to one age?

• No, because it affects people of all ages
• Its relatable to the audience 
• Older teens in video 

Does it only appeal to one gender?

• No, it appeals to both genders
• It affects both genders 

How does it address issues that all members of society can associate to? Why does it make the product successful?

• Makes us feel that we are normal 
• Time is healing 
• Process of life 
• Successful because its relatable 

Did you identify with it?

• Death 
• Upset 
• Can be consumed 

When putting the theory against the video: The Script - Breakeven;

What features allow an audience to personally identify with it?

• Its about a couple which people can relate to 
• Cinematography: Memory flashbacks 
• Lyrics: Break ups and broken hearts: people can relate  
• Challenges gender stereotypes: male was heart broken and woman was okay 

Does it appeal to one age?

• Teenagers and older: Anyone of an age who can associate to a break up 
• Mainly teenagers because for adults it is more likely a divorce 

Does it appeal to one gender?

• More to males because its from a male perspective

How does it address issues that all members of society can associate to? Why does it make the product successful?

• All associate to breakups 
• Successful because it is relatable 

Use's and gratifications essay 

When looking at the uses and gratifications theory and putting it into context with the music video "Come and get it" by John Newman we can link it with three out of four points in the theory for example when we look at  personal relationships with the media. The narrative to the music video being a relationship story is something which people will want to watch because they could have been through a break up or could just be going through a time where they feel as if watching something about someone trying to get out of a relationship and hiding another one so it is something they can relate to. 

People who are in relationships like this will feel that they can relate and if they see what happens in the video they may feel that it has influenced to do the same which is why people watch music video because the lyrics and narrative can sometimes be something which they can understand through their experience or what they have been through. 

In this case I find that the personal relationships point would more likely be towards women because the music video is about a women stuck in a relationship and secretly having another one meaning that the age range for the video would be around eighteen years old and over because thats when things like abusive or rough relationships begin to happen because the relationships people have become more serious the older they get.

The video can be personally identified with through the use of closeups when the women is with John Newman which is showing her to be happy and smiling.

(image from video needs ot be put in)

However there is use of an over the shoulder shot when she is with the other man and it is showing her at a lower angle therefore showing him to be more dominant and her to be weak also she isn't happy in this shot she is upset and looks scared which is what is showing the audience the narrative through the cinematography used. 

(image from the video which needs to be put in)

We can also link the music video to diversion while the audience are focusing on the problem that the people in the music video are having they are not focusing on their own. If someone is having relationship problems they may watch the video in order to try and forget theirs because the problem in the narrative for the video is about a relationship and hiding another however there is a happy ending which if someone is in the same position as the girl in the video then it may reassure them that things will get better for them and what they could do in their own situation. 

(images from the video need to be put in)

There is multiple ways in the video where people can personally identify with the music video for example through the lyrics people can see that the song is about a relationship and that if you want a chance then you need to take it because you wont get another one.

It challenges gender stereotypes when we see a close up of John Newman crying because he thinks that she has gone back to the guy which she was with before therefore we think that the video could now be aimed towards men as well as women showing that en can be hurt to and that women arent so innocent. 

Narrative Theory and Essay

Tessa Perkins Essay

Tessa Perkins: Stereotypes

Tessa Perkins: Stereotypes

Stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people.

Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be
challenged.

Perkins identifies 5 such assumptions;

• Stereotypes are not always negative (e.g. 'The French are good cooks').
• They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful (e.g. 'upper class twits').
• They can be held about one's own group.
• They are not rigid or unchanging.
• They are not always false.

Assumption one: Not always negative

People assume that stereotypes are negative for e.g. young troublesome youths ‘hoodie culture’ however youth can also be seen as positive.

Assumption two: They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful

People assume that stereotypes are aimed at and targeted towards the less powerful but this is not always the case, we can make assumptions and stereotypes about Upper class minorities in the same way they would make assumptions about lower class people.

Assumption three: They can be held about one's own group

For example collectively as a representation of people everyone who goes to Wyke College is based as a group within Wyke College, within our own group we stereotyped people demonstrating even though we all belong to the same institution and hold the same ideologies as a whole, within the group we stereotype based on our assumptions. This makes each of us feel part of the larger community.

Assumption four: They are not always rigid or unchanging

Once a stereotype has been created it is very hard to change however Perkins states that over a period of time can change and develop e.g. Miley Cyrus.

Miley was an innocent country girl on Disney and has now rebelled dyed her hair and cut it all off, wears revealing clothing and has completely changed the way she sings.

Assumption five: They are not always false

Stereotypes have to have some truth in them.

We witness and read many stories in the media that help us shape and understand these stereotypes. We may witness it first hand or second hand however there must be some truth in a stereotype otherwise the ideology behind them would not have existed in the first place.

Richard Dyer Star Theory Essay

Richard Dyer: Star Theory

Richard Dyers: Star Theory

Richard Dyer developed the idea that the viewer’s perception of a film is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars, and that publicity materials and reviews determine the way that audiences experience a media text.

With this idea in mind, Dyer analysed critics writing, magazines, advertising and the films themselves, to explore the significance of stardom.

According to Dyer a star is an image not a real person they are constructed, as any other aspect of fiction is, using a range of materials and methods e.g. advertising, magazines and featuring in films and music products. He states that icons and celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial gain. And that stars create a persona that is appealing to a target audience but is not actually a true representation.

There are four key components to Dyers Star Theory, these include;

• Stars as constructions
•  Audience and industry/institution
•  Ideology and culture
• Character and personality

Point one: Stars are constructions

Stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people", experiencing real emotions. Their representation may be image associated. Such as Madonna's conical bra or Michael Jackson's glittery sequin glove. Pop stars have the advantage over film stars in that their constructed image may be much more consistent over a period of time, and is not dependent on the creative input of others.

Point two: Audience and industry/ institution                

Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose — to make money out of audiences, who respond to various elements of a star persona by buying records and becoming fans. Record companies nurture and shape their stars as the TV talent show processes have shown us such as the X Factor. The institution want to make money out of their constructed stars and create constructs of stars they believe an audience want to copy.

Point Three: Ideology and culture

Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes that promotes a certain ideology about themselves as an artist and what they want an audience to see what they believe in. By having dominant desirable ideologies it allows the audience to see their star qualities and make them more desirable. Audiences tend to copy or idolize ‘stars’ so promoting their own beliefs makes them more desirable.

Point four: Character and personality

Dyer says stars provide audiences with ‘ideas of what people are supposed to be like’ and because of this audiences feel the need to conform to these constructions.  A star creates a character based on themselves and what they feel the audience want to consume they promote an image what they feel is desirable for an audience. Stars are characters that create personalities to present to an audience. Audience consume this idea and the character these stars re-present to an audience.