Stuart Hall’s ‘Reception Theory’ idea regards audiences interpreting and reading media texts in a variety of different ways. These may be negotiated readings, preferred or oppositional.These denotative and connotative readings can be applied to our text because our feedback referred to a variety of different interpretations and difference in feedback.
All our feedback members noted how the material was dark and portrayed a complicated relationship between the two characters. People also mentioned how there were religious elements encoded into the product, but weren't entirely sure of the reasoning behind this. Perhaps we should have made the religious significance clearer to the audience.
On the JINCARS scale, I believe our audience members would have been Group C1 (Non Manual) and Group C2 (manual). They are intelligent enough to decode the meaning from the source.
What you have posted is excellent Sophia. Very constructive comments which you can draw conclusions from. Great discussion using Facebook. Could be developed further still beyond the interviews with questionnaires - particularly as you say little about the poster design or the CD digipak. I also feel that you need to apply Hall's reception theory in considering any negotiated or oppositional readings - surely the iconographywas too strong for some people?
Our feedback was extremely helpful and gave us a real insight into how our audiences viewed and interpreted our product.
I had released the video virally on social networking sites such as Facebook to receive feedback. The video became quite popular on my page and my friends on Facebook additionally shared the pages onto other people's profile's. I have demonstrated two examples below of the spread and sharing of my video on Facebook. One my own posting, the other an internet fan of my music which I post online, who additionally shared the release of 'my new music video'.
As you can see from my post I left on Facebook, the video became very popular amongst friends and fans who are support of my online music sharing. You can see this from the 22 likes and 19 comments which you can view below:
It was interesting to see that one of the feedback comments mentioned Madonna's 'Cross' in our video. I was glad that an audience member picked up on this because Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' was a very big influence on my work towards the music video.
Additionally I posted our video onto YouTube where we have received several video views (884 views as I type)
It is notable that the video has had considerable popularity in comparison to other pop music videos posted online by media students due to number of views, likes etc. I am guessing that from our feedback, because the video is quite controversial, this might be why we have some dislikes on our video. However, we could not guarantee the video was going to suit everybody's tastes - but this was due to the star's dark style and narrative we wanted to convey. Plus our video still reached a good viewing number and seemed popular for its target audience.
We received 10 comments which you can find below:
Interestingly, all the comments appear to be frommales. We have reached a good target audience as we wanted to have a male target audience from the start. It is additionally interesting to see that a very popular comment was the 'your hot' posting. As flattering as it is, this does demonstrate that the sex appeal comes across that we were trying to communicate - and the viewers do not seem disappointed!
However, there does seem to be some confusion as to whether I am actually singing on this track or not. It is notable the amount of times I have had to repeat myself and confirm that I have been lipsynching to the track. This might have been a weakness on our part as most common conventions of music videos use the actual artist to lip sync the track. However because this was a media A Level music video, I don't really take this into consideration because we are simply trying to imitate the way the music industry go about creating a star image.
I made a short questionnaire and sent some out to random students around college and here are some interesting feedbacks I had:
"It had a very Salome-Esque feel to it"
(Male aged 17 years)
"I initially thought the video was about prostitution, and the controversial cross on the wall questioning her behaviour"
(Male aged 19 years)
"I thought it was about abusive relationships, a strong woman standing up for herself, one who won’t let a man walk all over her." (Female aged 18 years)
Here is some feedback from two females discussing the narrative, star image and their own interpretation of the music video.
A good presentation. i would like to see a stronger evaluation in terms of addressing the question set. You seem to stop abruptly with what you were presenting. Good links to actual media examples and theory. Though I would like to know more about brand star image and the marketing mix you have created. This detail will help you achieve more marks for this task. Can you compete the re-draft before the end of the week? Many Thanks.
Excellent comments and evaluation. Well done. An area for improvement for this work is to provide and overall evaluation in terms of the set question that you address. This may take the form of a paragraph which evaluates the wether you have used, developed or challenged conventions across the promotional campaign.
In what way do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Image One - Digipak Cover Panel
Digipak Cover PJ Harvey's 'White Chalk' Cover
It is clear from the two album covers that we were greatly influenced by PJ Harvey's album cover for her album 'White Chalk'.
We wanted to keep the background of our digipak very simple so as not to distract away from the main focus - our artist. Yet we wanted an effective and edgy look.
It is fair to say our influence came from PJ Harvey's album cover above. However, we had decided that navy blue was to be a favourable colour in our production because it enhanced the cold and dark nature of narrative we wanted to convey.
Though the two costumes are very different, 'White Chalk' still influenced our dress code. The pink ribbons and flowers in PJ Harvey's hair suggest a sweet, innocent nature to her image. Nonetheless you can see that the colour of my costume suggests 'innocence'.
It is notable that PJ Harvey's artist image is rather clean and fresh looking. However we added enhanced make-up under my eyes to make me look tired and the purple lipstick subtly implying abuse. However, the lipstick and the v-neck style of the nightgown draws attention to the male gaze.
Image Two - Digipak Back Cover
You will notice something rather unusual about both these pictures. My hairstyle in the above picture goes against what my image from the front of our digipak cover would look like. You will also notice that on the 'White Chalk' album photograph, half of PJ Harvey's body appears missing. Thus there is something wrong with both images, indicating a certain unconventional look about each.
Image Three - Music Video Still
Massive Attack - 'Risingson'
Our Video Still
It is probably clear from the two visuals that 'Risingson' by Massive Attack influenced our very high key lighting from the window and hanging cross.
We wanted it to be clear that the figures remained in shadow, whilst the only true light source came from the outside world and the symbolic cross on the wall. The shadow helped enhance the convention of the dark star image we wanted to convey.
Image Four - Music Video Still
The two video stills have very similar connotations as the images both question God's existence and challenge the idea of his so called 'omnibenevolent' nature. Where is God when we suffer troubles and hardships?
For example in my video still it is clear that the character is seeking help as she touches the cross, and her facial expression too suggests that she is in some difficulty. In our music video, the narrative indeed questions God's presence, as does PJ Harvey's lyrics with reference about a man - 'God is the sweat running down his back' as he harms the artist physically and psychologically.
Additionally the cross necklace I am wearing in the above image suggests that our character is close to the idea of God. However, the heavy shadow lighting challenges traditional conventions of what we would expect to see when presented with an iconic image of a cross. Thus the audience subconsciously sense there is not something right about this picture/situation presented here.
It is notable that we were very influenced by Madonna's 'Like A Prayer'. The image of many burning crosses asks similar questions to that of the above video still. The semiotics of this image are, too, very unconventional and challenges more common conventions we'd expect to see with a song carrying a religious theme.
The music video caused a lot of commotion and dispute among audiences because of the representation of a 'black' Jesus, images of burning crosses etc. Therefore people seem to like this unconventional type of music video. 'Smack my bitch up' by The Prodigy is a good example of a popular uncovnentional music video.
However, the idea that we wanted to carry through into our music video was the image of a dominant male succumbing a female who appears to rely heavily on his presence - just as Madonna does with her love for Jesus.
The pictures both work off against each other. There is a clear 'intertextual' reference between the two. Media theorist Pete Fraser says, "We see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition on the audience".
Madonna's still has a representation of a Godly, dominant male. However mine questions the role of the dominant male as he appears in front of the hanging cross in the video, but his actions are aggressive and forcible going against the conventional idea of the iconic religious cross in the background. We used Madonna's idea of religion and male dominance in our music video too to challenge most forms of common media conventions.
Image six -Music Video Still
However, despite the use of many unconventional elements to our video, we have used one very common media convention in our video - lip synching! Also, the fact that we have the image of an artist in our music video is a very popular convention among pop music videos.
However, overall, our ideas mostly oppose and challenge these ideas of common media conventions.
