Audience: R12
Mainstream: Is what is most favoured by the mass audience at the time.
Niche: Is a very specific, select minority audience. (Almost the opposite of a mainstream one).
Ideology: These are the messages/ values/ beliefs that the media producers insert into media texts. (E.g the portrayal of what beauty is - skinny, young etc)
Hegemony: This is the power that these media producers/ conglomerates have. (E.g Sky & The Sun amongst others are owned by Rupert Murdoch, he has Hegemonic power).
Applying this to music videos:
- 'Call me maybe' - Carly Ray Jepsen is a great example of a mainstream song.
It became very popular very quickly due to its catchy lyrics & melody.
- The artist Hopsin has a niche audience as his music (rap) is quite unique to other rappers. For example he is quite political which attracts quite a specific audience.
- Mainstream videos tend to give us ideology of things -media producers probably see it as the best opportunity to enforce their beliefs/ views as it's on a large audience. For example, portraying a representation of beauty in 'Irreplaceable' - Beyonce as slim, big hair, lots of skin on show, make-up etc.
Conducting my research:
Questions:
- Male/ Female, Age?
- What is your occupation?
- How often do you watch music videos?
- How do you watch them?
- Do you prefer a specific genre? What one (s)?
- Do you have any favourite artists (because of their muisc videos)/ favourite videos in general?
- What about them makes you favour them?
From my results, the main target market for my music videos genre is students of both genders. To appeal to this audience I will be sure not to deviate from Steve Neale's Classic Stage -Therefore I will incorperate clearly defined conventions of the R&B genre for my target audience.
Passive Theories: R13
A passive audience is considered to be an inactive audience that is easily manipulated/ compliant to absorb the ideology in media texts imposed by hegemonic external forces (e.g SONY). They impose ideas on various things like what it is to be; young - a thug; black - a criminal; muslim - a terrorist etc...
Karl Marx had a theory about media ownership: There's a "top down false consciousness" - suggesting that ideology is imposed "from above" by elite powers.
We all start out as a passive audience! Until we start to question.
Hypodermic Needle Theory
This theory implied that the mass media had a direct, immediate & powerful effect of its audience.
-Theodore Adorno.
For example, the media impose messages like: "Skinny is 'beautiful' & anything else is not." without saying it by drawing attention to it, ultimately affecting it's audiences view/ opinion.
Hypodermic Needle Theory
Applied to a music video.
Robin Thicke - 'Blurred Lines' is a good example of hypodermic needle theory as it presents women as just pretty objects (they're not wearing many clothes, have bright red lipstick on, they're slim & dance around in front of the men). And men on the other hand are smart, in charge, wealthy (shown through their suits & flashy jewelery & the way the girls revolve around them).
As well as this, the lyrics impose a pretty clear message that we're expected to passively absorb -
"Had a bitch, but she ain't bad as you
So, hit me up when you pass through
I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU
Hypodermic Needle Theory
Applied to our music video.
Our music video: Broken Hearted Girl - Beyonce makes use of this theory in a few ways.
The main way is by following the traditional stereotype by portraying a heterosexual couple, consequently telling it's audience that this is the norm and what is expected.
Building on this, our music video shows a stereotypical way couples act by depicting a series of events where our acting couple do cliche coupley things (e.g. kiss, play fight, watch movies... etc).
We also present females to be weak on their own (without a boyfriend).
deck
By tisha
