WJEC MS3:
Media Investigation and Production
(This unit is worth 50% of your A2 marks)
This is a coursework unit, which requires you to combine your practical and theoretical expertise. It has been designed to demonstrate the importance of research in informing media production and to develop the skills acquired in MS2.Key Details:
- You will be required to produce three pieces of linked work:
- a research investigation (1400-1800 words) – worth 45 marks
- a production (informed by the investigation) – worth 45 marks
- a brief evaluation (500 – 750 words) – worth 10 marks
Assessment Objectives:
- AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding when analysing media products and processes, and when evaluating your own practical work, to show how meanings and responses are created
- AO3: Demonstrate your ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills
- AO4: Demonstrate the ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research
You are required to undertake an individual investigation into a specific area of study focused on one of the following concepts: genre, narrative or representation. Your research should draw on a range of both primary and secondary sources. It should enable candidates to reach conclusions that will inform their production.
Examples of investigations (offered by the exam board) include:
- the representation of teenagers in two British films
- the generic similarities between Dr Who and Stargate
- the narrative structures of The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing
You are required to submit a production which should develop from and be informed by your research investigation (it can either conform or deliberately challenge your findings). This production must bein a different form from your AS production (e.g. producing a TV programme rather than a film trailer).
Audio-visual productions should be up to 4 minutes in length (depending on the nature of the production). Print-based productions (or their digital equivalent) should be a minimum of 3 pages.
Digital media (other than audio-visual productions) and print-based productions must be individual. Audio-visual productions can be produced either individually or in groups (maximum 4). Group tasks must offer appropriate opportunities for each member to demonstrate an individual contribution.
EVALUATION (10 marks)
The production must be accompanied by an individual evaluation of 500-750 words,which explores how the production has been informed by the research undertaken into the relevant media concept.
The evaluation can be produced in any appropriate form, such as:
- a discursive essay (with or without illustrations) – RECOMMENDED
- a digital presentation with slide notes (such as a PowerPoint)
- a suitably edited blog
Guidance
TitlesComing up with a good title for your investigation is crucial. This will be negotiated with your teacher. A good title:
- needs to be focused (can be based on one, or more usually, two texts)
- must include the concept being investigated (genre, narrative or representation)
- You will need to develop your research skills to equip you to work independently.
- You need to undertake a range of research, including primary research (such as textual analysis, content analysis, questionnaires, focus groups etc) and secondary research (books, magazines, internet relevant to the investigation).
- A ‘bibliography’ or list of sources referred to must be included. Clarity and accuracy is more important than the style of referencing.
You may choose one of three industries selected for MS4 as their focus for MS3. However, the text an individual student selects cannot be one of the three main texts studied in class.
Research Investigation (45%) (1400-1800 words)
Overview:
You are required to undertake an individual investigation into a specific area of study focused on one of the following concepts: genre, narrative or representation. Your research should draw on a range of both primary and secondary sources. It should enable candidates to reach conclusions that will inform their production.Assessment Objective:
- AO4: Demonstrate the ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research
Mark Scheme:
Level 4: 36-45
- Research will be excellent, covering a wide range of sources.
- These will be analysed and applied in a sophisticated way and presented a logical and coherent manner, supported by a range of sophisticated points.
- Quality of written communication will be sophisticated.
- A high degree of accuracy.
- Sophisticated ability to structure ideas effectively.
Level 3: 27-35
- At the upper end of this level, the research will be good, covering a good range of sources and will be applied in a detailed way.
- It will be presented appropriately with good references.
- Quality of written communication will be good.
- Good level of accuracy.
- Good ability to structure ideas.
- At the lower end of this level, candidates will undertake sound and relevant research from a range of appropriate sources.
- This research will be applied in a sound way and presented with supporting points.
- Quality of written communication will be sound and clear.
- Reasonable level of accuracy.
- Sound ability to structure ideas.
Level 2: 18–26
- At the upper end of this level, there will be evidence of research from a reasonable number of sources.
- There will be some attempt to apply this research and present it with some coherence.
- Quality of written communication will be mainly clear.
- Some errors in the use of language.
- Some ability to structure ideas.
- At the lower end of this level, there will be evidence of basic research.
- This will have been applied in a simple way.
- Basic ability to present research demonstrated.
- Quality of written communication will be basic but sufficiently clear to allow communication.
- Frequent errors in the use of language.
- Limited ability to structure ideas.
Level 1: 0-17
- Limited evidence of research.
- Minimal application of this research which has been presented in an unclear and unfocused way.
- Quality of written communication will be limited, frequently unclear.
- Frequent errors in the use of language.
- Little or no evidence of an ability to structure ideas.
How to plan:
Your essay should contain a clear introduction in which you:
Your essay should contain a clear introduction in which you:
- Clearly state the focus of your investigation
- Explain the stereotypes/genre types/typical narratives relevant to your research and how your investigation will explore the positives/negatives or how texts conform to/challenge them
- Give reasons for your choice of texts
- Set up the main argument of your essay
You should then start writing the main body of your essay. You should have gathered 5-6 points to make about your texts, in support of your argument (as set up in your introduction). The best essays use the following structure to develop each point in turn:
- Make a point to support and develop your argument (make sure to look at both sides of an argument by challenging representations or generic types)
- Analyse an example text
- Apply relevant theory (U&G, Propp’s character functions, hegemonic ideologies, preferred readings etc.)
- Come to mini-conclusions after each point – what issues are addressed? What are the effects created?
Your essay should have at least five points with detailed examples, analysis and evidence. The best answers will develop a line of argument.
After this, you can move on to your conclusion. This should be a summary of your findings. You should:
After this, you can move on to your conclusion. This should be a summary of your findings. You should:
- Draw conclusions from your research and analysis
- Explain what you have found out
- Relate your findings to the ‘bigger picture’ for the media form you have explored
- Evaluate your findings and the issue you have investigated
Ideally, you should be ‘summing up’ your argument as explored in the main body of your essay.
First steps:make a list of the points you want to develop in the main body of your essay. Link each to an analysis of your texts, using theory and terminology. What conclusion can you make? Remember, you should be developing an argument so choose the order of your points carefully.
Ask for help if you need it!
It can be useful to look at some sample essays. These are available in class but here are some others to read through.
The following essays all scored 40+ in the Research Investigation.
When you are reading make sure you make notes on the following things.
First steps:make a list of the points you want to develop in the main body of your essay. Link each to an analysis of your texts, using theory and terminology. What conclusion can you make? Remember, you should be developing an argument so choose the order of your points carefully.
Ask for help if you need it!
It can be useful to look at some sample essays. These are available in class but here are some others to read through.
The following essays all scored 40+ in the Research Investigation.
When you are reading make sure you make notes on the following things.
- Where the essay meets the criteria
- Count the amount of different resources used
- The academic resources are cited
- Look at the depth of the Textual Analysis
- How the question is answered
- Words you would use to describe the structure and flow of the essay
- Give at least one comment as to how the essay could be improved within the framework of the marking criteria. Exemplar MS3 PlanDoes the representation of female music artists, such as Adele and Katie Perry, reinforce negative stereotypes of women?Introduction:· Women traditionally presented as sexualised objects in music, constructed for a male audience.· Male music artists (by comparison) aren’t as sexualised – inequality.· Women presented as passive, powerless and as objects of beauty rather than making statements.· More focus on appearance than music.Part One:· The music industry still appears to be dominated by men.· http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/07/behind-the-music-gender-gap This text makes women appear weak and suggests that men are dominant. Key Quotes: "Behind the music: the gender gap shows no sign of closing""When it comes to the record industry, it's still a man's world - but how can this still be the case in the 21st century?""47% of women in the music industry earn less than £10, 000, compared with 35% of men"· Even though we have more and more female music artists gaining prominence (like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga), this progress is undermined by the way their beauty takes prominence.· BM - Page 12“”Beauty” is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last, best belief system that keeps dominance intact. In assigning value to women in a vertical hierarchy according to culturally imposed physical standard, it is an expression of power relations in which women must unnaturally compete for resources that men have appropriated for themselves.”· Beauty myth book We are bombarded today with images of the 'perfect' woman. She is usually a gorgeous blonde, although sultry brunettes, …are shown.She rarely looks older than 25, has no visible flaws on her skin...she is essentially not human.· BM: Page 10: “More women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers.”· (Select above quotes carefully).· http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/beyonce-in-gq-all-the-ladies-put-your-hands-up-for-feminism-8456294.html"You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don't make as much money as men do. I don't understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat? I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let's face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what's sexy. And men define what's feminine. It's ridiculous." (Beyonce)“It is both tragic and hilarious that the most radical thing Beyoncé has said in her 16-year career is accompanied by a photo-shoot in which she’s posing in her knickers for money. Let’s face it, on a website that simultaneously features “The Best Breasts of 2012”, her musings probably won’t even be read.”· Consider the above statements with representations of Katie Perry - reinforces these ideas – revealing clothing, conventional beauty, sexualised imagery, direct mode of address (aimed at male audience). Find evidence with images and textual analysis.· Laura Mulvey – (FIND QUOTE) – women seeing other women through male eyes (Winship?).· Reinforces negative stereotypes – women only valued for their beauty and not their music (perhaps make brief references to other artists where this idea applies).· Discuss patriarchy/male hegemony, which this representation appears to reinforce (I.e. that women are only important if they are attractive to men).Part Two:· However, Adele subverts this stereotype.· Focus on music – not appearance.· http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/29/adele-change-women-music-business“A top record executive has launched a damning attack on music industry attitudes, claiming the insistence on over-sexualising female artists has led to "boring, crass and unoriginal" music.”"The whole message with [Adele] is that it's just music, it's just really good music," said Russell. "There is nothing else. There are no gimmicks, no selling of sexuality. I think in the American market, particularly, they have come to the conclusion that is what you have to do." (Richard Russell)· Textual analysis of Adele – how press etc. focus is on music – not sexualising or objectifying the artist. Use images to support ideas.Part Three:· To what extent have things changed?· Adele’s image (or lack of image) is still constantly referred to – reinforcing the idea that image is still important to female music artists (so much so, as they talk about it even if there is little to talk about). Evidence (e.g. articles which refers to Adele’s image or size or fashion).
Places to look for Research...remember the main place is BOOKS...GET TO THE LIBRARAY
Primary and secondary sources—A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.
—A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event.
Types of information
Qualitative information - uses factual rather than numerical data through observations, case studies and interviews to give description of phenomena
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—Quantative research—The collection and statistical mathematical analysis of numerical data -how many, how often etc
Useful resources for your project
—Literati
—Issues online- to help you reference
—Jisc media hub
—Media magazines
—Books
Useful websites
—Google Chrome: http://google.com/chrome
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—Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.co.uk/
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—Google Alerts: http://google.com/alerts
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—Google Book: http://books.google.co.uk/
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Used Books: http://www.usedbooksearch.co.uk/UK.htmOThere are examples below and more examples and help on this webpage
Exemplar of A grade response - RESEARCH INVESTIGATION
An examination of the representation of women in channel 4 documentaries
For my project I will be researching how women are represented within channel 4 documentaries and whether they are portrayed in a positive light or in a negative light. In order to do this, I will be analyzing two documentaries: ‘Crazy about One Direction’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice’.
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that started transmission in 1982. It is publicly owned despite being commercially self-funded and is owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation (It was originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority). [1] Channel 4 is critically acclaimed for their documentaries and documentary series and have also won awards for documentaries such as ‘One Born every Minute’ and ‘Educating Essex’. We already know that in the media, women aren’t represented favourably so the purpose of this research is to see if this is the same with documentaries which are supposed to inform and educate people.
Throughout the documentary there are several close ups of the girl’s faces in which we see them hysterical and crying. The effect of using close ups is to portray emotion and this helps to illustrate their obsessive nature. The documentary often utilised footage that girls had taken on their own phones and cameras during their experiences of trying to meet the band. Ultimately, it instils a feeling of realism into the documentary and also enables the audience to identify with the girls on a more personal level. This relates to the personal identification aspect of Blumer and Katz’s Uses and Gratification theory as fellow fans of One Direction feel as if they can identify with the girls on the documentary. While some may be able to personally identify with the girls, the documentary experienced a backlash from other One Direction female fans as they felt as though they were being represented negatively. In an interview, a “Directioner” who was featured in the documentary said "It caused loads of hate and drama on Twitter. I was getting messages on my phone saying 'you're an embarrassment to the fandom, everyone hates you' [2].
During the structured interviews, there is usage of high key lighting but when there is no usage of high key lighting, the bedrooms that the interviews take place in are often dark. The only light that can be seen comes from the electronic devices that the girls are using to keep up with the happenings of the band on twitter. The light illuminates their faces and effectively constructs the idea that One Direction are the only “light” of their lives. The documentary takes place in several places around England such as London, Cheshire, Glasgow and so forth. The cultural code in Roland Barthe’s codes theory is underlined through this aspect and it shows that One Direction have female fans from all over England. The multitude of their fans is further emphasized through the use of long shots in scenes showing the fans waiting for the band to come out of music venue.
The second Channel 4 documentary that I watched was ‘Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice’.
Similarly to ‘Crazy about One Direction’, this documentary is also expository mode and consisted of beauty obsessed women who were matched with individuals with severe facial disfigurement to explore how their notions of beauty differed. I analysed the first episode of the first season which focused on a woman called Yasmin who was the beauty obsessive and Theo who was left facially disfigured after an accident involving fire when he was younger. I found that in pairing up facially disfigured people with women that society would deem beautiful, the underlying motive of the documentary was to expose the superficiality of women. This idea is reinforced by Yasmin stating, “If you’re not pretty, you’re ugly and I’d rather be pretty than ugly”. This shows that Yasmin places high value on looks alone and centres her life on vanity. In reference to Stuart Hall’s theory of Encoding and Decoding, the audience of this documentary would have a preferred reading to the documentary due to this statement that Yasmin made, which succeeds in exposing the superficiality of women.
On the other hand, upon their first meeting, Yasmin stated that she only noticed the nice things about Theo rather than his facial disfigurement; although many may argue that she’s subconsciously implying that facial disfigurement isn’t typically a “nice” feature, going back to the idea that women are superficial. In the opening of the show, we see Yasmin applying make-up to her face. Similarly to ‘Crazy about One Direction’, several close ups are used to show the process she goes through and we also see jump cuts used. The effect of this is that it shows how much time she puts into trying to make herself beautiful. In addition, the producers have had to use jump cuts to shorten the time of her make-up regime to aid their construction of the idea that women are superficial. The use of close ups ensures that the audience concentrate solely on Yasmin and her makeup which mimics how Yasmin concentrates solely on make-up. This type of behaviour is what pushed Naomi Wolf to argue for the “relaxation of normative standards of beauty” [3] in her book ‘The Beauty Myth’ [3].
After showing Yasmin getting ready through jump cuts and close ups, there is an immediate cut and transition from upbeat non – diegetic music to serious non – diegetic music as we are now introduced to the facially disfigured individuals of the show. This effectively changes the mood of the show and creates what Levi Strauss calls a Binary Opposition; the binary opposition exists between beautiful and ugly or rather what society deems as beautiful or ugly. The opposition is emphasised by the fact that no jump cuts are used to show the facially disfigured individuals, but rather a simple panning from right to left. This illustrates the idea that they only have one look rather than several that can be created through the use of makeup and they will never be able to change that; in a sense there’s not much depth or variety to how they look. ‘Beauty and the Beast...’ states that 9 out of 10 women aren’t happy with the way they look, which is ironic as they aren’t stuck with facial disfigurements like many other people are. Possibly, one of the reasons why women have such an obsession with makeup and plastic surgery is because of the societal pressures to be perfect and constantly being objectified. An experiment conducted by Princeton University psychologist Susan Fiske where she took brain scans of men while they looked at sexualised images of women wearing bikinis discovered that the part of their brains that were activated was pre-motor - areas that usually light up when people anticipate using tools [4]. This shows that the men were reacting to the images as if the women were objects they were going to use. In a sense this echoes Ariel Levy’s views in her book ‘Female Chauvinist Pigs’ [5] – the objectification of women is dangerous to society [5].
In conclusion, from analysing both texts, I’ve found that Channel 4 has constructed a negative representation of women which is achieved through the process of mediation. I discovered that the reoccurring theme in both documentaries is obsession; girls in ‘Crazy about One Direction’ being obsessed with a famous boy band with posters of them emblazoned on their bedroom walls and the women in ‘Beauty and the Beast...’ being obsessed with celebrity culture which influences their decision to have plastic surgery. However, whether it is an obsession with celebrities and/ or make-up, women are portrayed as being very obsessive, erratic and superficial. In addition, close ups were often used in both documentaries to stress this and this is a feature I want to use in my documentary.
Exemplar of A grade response - REPORT
For my production piece I decided to create three television sitcom posters in order to represent American women in an idealistic way. I drew influence from my research project surrounding the popular sitcoms Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City. From my project I found that women are viewed merely for sexual gratification even in today’s apparent modern society. I wanted to illustrate this within my production work.
I viewed existing sitcom posters from the same genre and noted the conventions, themes and styles that I would later adopt in my own work. I found that I had to work closely with the mise-en-scene of each poster as the preferred reading of each visual text was to suggest ‘glamour’ and ‘perfection.’
For my first piece entitled ‘Even Juicier’ I decided to create an enigma through the image. Only until the audience read the website credentials at the bottom do they know what sitcom the poster is promoting. This would mean that people who were not familiar with the programme or the genremay take an oppositional or negotiated view to the poster, however because of the bold iconography of the image it would immediately make the viewer look, even if they do not appreciate the genre. This I feel this was a successful decision and has been done deliberately to engage the viewer and focus the eye on the image so that the reader decides to look further. The iconography is strong, the red strawberry and lips give connotations of lust and sex, which a female audience will aspire to primarily as the passive male audience appreciates the image. I did this to highlight a point from Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze that the camera in film, advertising and in fact any media is male. I used this theory within my research projec tand found that to engage my female target audience one also has to targetthe male audience as the camera has taken on the male perspective.
Again on my second poster the image was designed to match the title of the sitcom ‘Sex in the Suburbs’ which was subsequently layered on top of the image. The mise-en-scene was very important, as the image was to speak for itself, my model was dressed in 50’s clothing and her hair and make-up was immaculately done. I wanted to highlight this dated 50’s ideology in a modern society; therefore I chose to shoot my image within a kitchen. This was used in an ironic way to highlight another part of Mulvey’s theory to demonstrate the inequality in women and that these images similar to my own are not shocking but seem almost natural. Implemented within my work I also learnt how to use fragmenting within a shot. By focusing on her face and torso and slightly blurring out the rest of her body, this section of the body was emphasised in a sexual way helping re-enforce the message. Nevertheless I had to edit lightinginto my shot because I did not have the means for natural or focused sunlight. I felt this was a negative aspect of my work and would have looked more natural if I was able to use lighting more effectively.
On my third piece I used four females to represent each character of the sitcom. I chose to create a mask on each of my characters, edit them to black and white and highlight each object they were holding in red. This is called equating women with objects, taken from the Male Gaze, and is mirrored in sitcoms such as Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City, where the central characters are placed with objects such as apples and knives to create the lustful, dangerous look. I did this to aim to attract my target audience of 18+ females, and therefore the male audience because of thesexual way it was shot. I had a positive response and successfully created a poster that attracted this demographic, as the audience were able to identify with the women in the poster.
All the characters in the posters are young attractive white females, and the text on each poster is seductive and risky, I feel that somebody from an ethnic background or an older audience may take an oppositional reading due to the narrative representations.
Another downfall to my production work would be that the characters used are not models or actresses therefore my posters may seem a little unrealistic especially when all the actresses are in the 18+ demographic range, therefore portraying the meaning successfully may be lost slightly as housewives, generally speaking, are older. One could argue however that the lack of real models and a lower age demographic could highlight the brutal reality of society’s ideals today, to re-enforce Mulvey’s theory that women have not overcome this patriarchal society but have simply conformed to it at an earlier age. Nevertheless I felt my strengths shone through within my work, my ability to edit each photo throughPhotoshop using the spot healing brush to create a flawless look proved very successful. This was common to each piece to heighten the theme of ‘glamour’ and to appeal to the audiences so that they aspired to look like the characters.
I feel that during the process of creating my production pieces, my original idea of using a laundrette as a background was too ambitious as to create these images successfully it had to look believable, and often poster sets are made to suit the occasion. If I was to create this effectively or to enhance my original posters I would need a better camera as posters like these are enlarged for billboards. I would also need a bigger budget in order to create sets and maximise lighting effects. Therefore by simplifying my ideas I feel I have created three unique posters that look professional, and give cohesion to my research project.
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