Collective Identity

Collective Identity: Case Studies on Prezi

Analyse a chosen product you've created against audience theories. - Hey miss this is what I wrote in 30 mins just for you to see that I struggled :(

For my A2 media coursework, we had to produce a music video. We chose a song by Carl Carlton called “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” which is an urban, hip hop, R&B genre. Our music video follows the same codes and conventions presented to us in any other typical R&B genre. We see typically our main artist Alex jones is seen gradually using his charm and charisma to woo over the girl of his dream. As the video continues we see elements of his passion for skating and singing shown in separate shot frames.

This is all effective as it begins to create a relationship with the audience. Each shot frame taken of our artist lip-synching to the camera, has a direct address with the audience, almost as if he is relating to them similar situations. Teenagers who are in similar situations conveyed in our music video will no doubt be familiar with the entire boyfriend and girlfriend storyline which is no doubt prevalent in teenagers.

Along with our music video came ancillary texts, which included a website and Digipack. Each text had to have the same brand recognition that we had now set in our music video, which was of course its colour scheme and style, why however was this needed?

There are five type of needs which are outlined to us in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, these are:

• ·         Physiological needs
• ·         Safety needs
• ·         Social needs
• ·         Self esteem needs
• ·         Self actualization needs

Each needs when filled satisfies and creates a sense of belonging to the person, in our case our product needed to be able to understand that teenagers have to fulfil their self esteem needs when it comes to accepting any form of media as they need to have a sense of belonging to a collective identity which is a form of acceptance and recognition. Therefore when our products have brand recognition it is able to allow audience t recognize where exactly that is from and feel a sense of belonging to it. This is why fan groups are made; they are able to see constantly the brand recognition  set by the singer, company etc. hence accept that form of media as their need of belonging and collective identity. 

In relation to our product our music video has been able to convey its opinons clearly in order to create a significant relationship with the audience and then they can easily give an opinion about it whether they actually like or not or it can relate to them forming a collective identity on a whole.

Planning for section 1A and 1B

Section 1A

• Look at real media texts
• Key terminology
• Key examples 
• Genre Narratives 
• Mise -en-scne and its relations to the music video and film opening 
• special effects used in the film
• things that have influenced you to make what your making 
• What did you look at to make the 
• Did we conform or convert to the codes and conventions 
• Diggy Simmons
• Shot types, sound
• conforms to propps narrative theory
• Editing 
• Kidulthood to analyse representation
• Mainstream media 

Section 1B 

• Audience Gratification 
• Maslow's hierarchy theory 
• Hypodermic needle when the media inject the audience with their views so that their view becomes more important. Media is highly saturated 
• dominant ideology 
• Althusser's theory 

Umbrella Question

Umbrella Questions on Prezi

Explain how far understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.

In year 12 for my AS media production, I had to create an opening to an Urban Y2K movie within our chosen group. In my A2 production, I worked within a group again to create a funky, hip-hop genre music video, album cover and a website.  This was a great way for me to develop my skills further, as my year 12 production presented different codes and conventions in comparison to my A2 production. However for both years I found that analysing real media texts to help identify the codes and conventions I needed to make a good film opening in year 12 and music video for year 13.

Year 12 production, gave me the opportunity to use search engine Google and YouTube, to analyse pre-existing film openings and specifically their target audience. Using Google enabled me to find information on synopsis of urban Y2K film openings, YouTube was then used to find opening sequences of Y2K films and therefore analyse the synopsis related to the opening. A good example was Kidulthood, the synopsis was as follows “a day in the lives of four poor youths living in an impoverished neighbourhood in West London, where the pressure and desperation of poverty propels each of them towards the choice between a life of bleakness, violence, and crime, and the terrifying prospect of striving for a better life”. The opening which I viewed on YouTube, demonstrated this effectively, through the codes and codes and conventions presented, there was evidence from the Mise-en-scene of bleak, dark environments, urban flats etc. I found for Y2K opening were that they were quite bleak and convey a sense of moral panic, however followed Prop’s 31 narrative code and conventions. It involved stereotypical scenes with archetypal characters so audiences could easily identify the film.  

Therefore we endeavoured to use the same effects and incorporate the similar codes and conventions into our opening film, using similar bleak, dark effects to convey more urban environments. Through the scene of our main character coming out of his estate wearing a hoodie was due to the influence of films such as Shank, Fish tank and Adulthood.

For my year 13 production, I again used the internet search engine Google and then YouTube, to analyse pre-existing products. I used Google to research images of album covers and music artist website and YouTube to analyse music videos.  When watching music videos we were able to identify the codes and conventions needed for our product, which involved, fast edits, close ups to show emotion and lip synching.  Music videos such as Diggy Simmons ‘Do it Like You’  influenced the type of video that we were to create, to follow the codes and conventions set by the video, where we see a young hip atmosphere, where there a sense of happiness and love amplified throughout. Therefore with our music video we made sure to introduce the artist and his relationship with our main girl, using the similar effects that we had analysed in Diggy Simmons video, to create a retro, vintage look to the overall video.

The album cover we created was to match the music video we had initially created in order to create brand recognition between the ancillary text and the main product of course which was the video.  Through Photoshop, we were able to create an album cover that related to the codes and conventions; we identified when analysing real media texts. Looking at a series of album covers it was quite evident to see that pop and R&B covers focused on the actual artist being portrayed rather than their being a series of fonts or artistic symbols, the artist dominated the album cover. Adele’s 21 album cover is a great example of this, it has a unique selling point which sells the artist and represents to its audience what type of music we expect to hear, from the use of colours and edits.

Our album cover therefore followed this; we were able to primarily focus on having our artist dominating the album cover. Through the use of edits create a retro/vintage look in order to match our branding.

The website was quite different to research and analyse, the reason being is because we as group have never looked or knew the codes and conventions that were to be presented in an actual website. I used Google, to search for different artist website, to see how the website was designed and whether it had set its brand. Therefore when analysing Diggy Simmons website, I noticed how it had gallery option, information about the artist and contact detail.  The background was also themed to match all his existing product, creating brand recognition. Similarly we made our website based on the existing colours seen on our products, therefore we used the similar pictures seen on the album cover and used the same type font used on the album cover. Our website also included gallery, info and contact information.

In conclusion, from looking at other real media texts, we were able to create for both years effective products and ancillary texts which included a variety of codes and conventions that could be used to gain our target audience.

Looking at two types of Media, describe the ways in which a particular group of people are collectively represented or provided for, using specific examples to support your response.

Over the years it is evident that youths have constantly been the target for creating moral panic in society through the use of media products such as press and films.

Stuart Hall mentioned “Media appears to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it”. The relationship between collective identity and media representation is not and will never be straightforward. The statement is indeed true because we see that in today’s society they tend to link youths with a moral panic especially since the London 2011 riots.  

Our opinions are highly saturated by the media and their representation of youths as a collective identity to be bad. Watching films such as Kidulthood, directed by Noel Clarke conveys the messages that youths as a collective identity are not governed are indeed lawless. Audiences may think that Noel Clarke representation of youths was indeed accurate, showing youths actually taking a delight in performing bad deeds, grinning whilst doing so. It is not hard then for people to link youths with moral panic. Stuart hall encoding/decoding states how the media gather information and represents it to their audience. Looking back at 2011 London riots the daily mail newspaper mentioned this of a group of youths “A sense of glee pervaded these accounts – youths were often grinning while describing their experience – a delight that the normal order of things was turned upside down.”

 It does not then come as a surprise that people would believe this to be an accurate portrayal of youths and therefore start to believe further any information regarding youths negatively. The press have a large impact on the views of youths, especially tabloids, where they encode their own message within the media text and the audience will then decode and deconstruct it in their own way according to their lifestyle.

This is linked to Althusser’s interpellation theory, the fact that it represents human subjects in this case youths are constructed by pre-given structures. This has been taken up by the media in a form of television, web 2.0, or tabloids/ broadsheets to impose their ideology on the audiences. Thus if we think about it, were bombarded by messages from the media, messages that make certain assumptions for us, and as soon as we engage with the message we are positioned as a ‘subject’ rather than an individual. The idea is that we are controlled y these messages and go some way to defining our or anyone’s identity. In this case tabloids newspapers often exaggerate to the furthest degree as they class youths as not being govern and carless, using words such as “brazen”, “thieves” and “yob” in their articles to impose their ideology on others that youths need to be controlled or avoided altogether.

By doing this it creates a collective identity and not as individuals. This can result in youths becoming angry and result in further chaos as they cannot control what is said in the press, some may respond back appropriately however others may respond back violently, as they may begin to label themselves lawless and violent and therefore act in that accord.

Through the use of Web 2.0 such as:

·         Facebook

·         Twitter

We have been able to see that youths have been able to use all this to form to that collective identity rather than an individual.

The guardian a broadsheet in fact represents youths differently from that of a tabloid sheet. The guardian mentioned “just imagine for a moment that you’re a British teenage boy. You’re struggling to grow up, to find out who you really are?” which is in fact true as youths today are trying to find their identity.

However because newspapers are generally given out to the majority of lower class/ middle class citizens, who read tabloids rather than broadsheets, youths in Britain are now classified with moral panic.

In conclusion, youths in the future will be labelled as bad and dangerous by the mass media, films such as Shank, adulthood, fish tank and the press will continue to contribute to this fact. Until, they are proven to be viewed as having an identity individually instead of collectively by the media, they will then continue to act the way they are.

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making

In year 12, I created an urban Y2K film opening, called ‘Bleak’ for my AS production. For my A2 production, we came together as a group and created a music video, website and a Digi-pack. In order to begin both productions, I needed to research into pre-existing products that were similar to the product that we were to create and as example, where we could easily follow the codes and conventions and also see how we could target our audience effectively.

Therefore for my AS production, I used web 2.0 to research different types of film openings and looked into different type of target audience to determine what our actual product will be based upon. Taking into consideration the codes developed by Prop 31 conventions and Todorov narrative and equilibrium. We then decided on a specific target audience which was teenagers, prompting us to create a questionnaire on survey monkey to find out particular genre of film youths wanted to view and to then place it on web 2.0 sites such as facebook and twitter, knowing primarily that our target audience will be on those sites. Henceforth we took into consideration how we could use the results gathered to conform to the codes and conventions of a film opening targeted specifically at youths.  Using the site, survey monkey was quick and easy to use as it provided a template where I could easily design the questionnaire and afterward gather the results. Google was also used to carry out initial research. The search engine was used to investigate similar synopsis that fitted now our chosen genre which was to create an urban Y2K film opening, therefore we took into account films done by revolver, such as Kidulthood, Adulthood and Shank. YouTube was also used to investigate a series of film openings, which I could personally view and analyse the different angles used to create representations, the codes and conventions whether it subvert and conformed and also through the web 2.0 site review the comments made by youths on how they like the trailer. Hence our film opening conformed to a stereotypical Y2K opening, where a young teenager coming out of his council estate is seen; the weather is dull and gloomy and a climactic scene appears of someone being robbed. However we added an enigma at the end, this therefore allowed the opening to follow Roland Barthes enigma code. During the process of the production we decided to use a HD camera to film our film opening and use final cut pro to edit scenes and finally adobe after effects to create the graphics at the start.

For my A2 production, I created a music video and ancillary texts along with it. The internet again was a useful tool as it enables me to search into different type of music videos, artist websites and their promotional material including their Digi pack and to see how we can use the similar codes and conventions to create our product. This production required that we work as a group, hence my group and I made a decision on a specific genre after searching through a series of music videos through YouTube. We came to a final decision and chose to go create a music video based on a hip-hop/pop genre. Once again survey monkey was used to help decide what actually should our narrative of the video be constructed of, once the results was gathered, we decided what our cods and conventions would be. Skateboarding and young love together was to be portrayed in the video. Therefore I started to research music videos that showed these similar codes and conventions and conveyed different shot types of skateboarders and rollerblades.

Having looked other music videos and analysing the different shots types used and also camera angles we wanted to incorporate into our video, as we found there were quite few shots showing the singer’s face expression, interest and emotion in the song. There were a series of slow edits, fast cutaway shots all things needed for us to be able to create our product. Far East movement “Roceketeer” had demonstrated to us a series of shots, camera angles and edits that we really wanted to imitate in our product. In addition because we had to make a music video, I took it upon myself to research fan made videos of people lip-synching to the their favourite songs and then we ourselves would have a series of practice sessions where we as a group practiced our lip synching through the use of the apple IMac video recorder where we would essentially record ourselves lip synching a variety of songs, until one of us in the group had mastered it.

During the process of the production we used a HD Camera again, to create some really brilliant steady shots and close up of our main artist, however we also used a fish eye camera which allowed us to gain footage of the artist actually sees. Final cut pro was once again used to create edits for the music video, to add transitions effects, quick cutaway shots and to synch the actual song to the video. Adobe after effects was also used again, this time to create a retro and vintage look to the overall video, to make it look professional and resemble the same colour enhancement/correction  used for ‘Diggy Simmons – Do It Like You’ Video.

WIx.com was the programme used to create our website. The programme was quick and easy to use as it allowed us to effectively design personally how we wanted the website to be in order to tailor it to our specific target audience. Through the use of Wix we were also able to create brand recognition, s there was the consistency of colours for example our background colour was the same as the same as our artist clothes primarily his top. Wix also gave us the opportunity to automatically play our song once on the website this helps to further brand recognition. Our main goal was not to make the website to complicated as we wanted our audience to be able to navigate easily through the site.  

Photoshop was the software that I was able to best utilise my skills. The software was used to create and edit photos for the website but primarily to create the Digi pack. Having researched into a various artist Digi Pack and photos, I decided that Photoshop would be the best programme to create and edit the Digi pack. Through the use of layers, filter and simply adding colour and using tools such as the clone stamp tool which allowed to me remove any blemishes on our artist face aided in making an effective Digi-pack, allowing me to keep that brand recognition throughout.

 Of course there were many limitations that were faced when creating both productions, such accessibility to a computer or Apple Mac, or even the camera equipment, however I and my group were able to overcome those challenges.

Throughout the course, AS to A2, my skills in editing, researching, planning and organisation has developed immensely. The fact that before I knew nothing about editing or even about final cut pro, to now that I could easily create video, edit and even add affects on top of it through adobe after effects shows my development of skills in the use of digital technology for media production. 

Structure for question 1A and 1B

Structure for question 1A
Able to introduce effectively the subject title. Take into consideration the research that was discovered and what produt was actually produced. Explain the synopsis of the film opening. Demonstrate understanding of representation through the use of theories. Dicuss the construction of the film opening. Then introduce next year work. Discuss what research you conducted and what product you were able to construct and for what particular audience. Discuss the whole synopsis of the product, explain the construction of the poduct. Finally discuss what you have learnt over the 2 year course.

Structure for question 1B
Introduce the product for A2. Discuss the genre of the music video and why you chose it. Explain who are your primary target audience and how you feel the msic video will targe them effectively. Conduct further research into your chosen product, analyze previous artist work. Use different genre theorist to explain the representation and narrative of music video. Refer to sterotypical links of representation to your music video and explain how your video conforms or subverts from the code and conventions.

Analyse Music Video in Terms of Representation Theories

This year for my A2 production studies for Media studies 2012, I was able to be part of a group that aided me to make a music video for the song 'She's bad mama jama' by Carl Carlton.

The music video shows Alex Jones (Main Character) who is gradually having an infatuation of the girl of his dreams, whom he see at London South Bank. We are then introduced to a series of steps where he is constantly trying to charm and woo her with his charismatic persona. As the video continues we see elements of his passion for skating and singing, which is then fueled for his love for our main girl played by Aimeé Gayle.

In terms of representation when comparing our video to existing products of the same genre, we were able to notice that the codes and conventions of a music video actually conforms to a postmodern genre which is a large factor to our music video that a boy meets girl and gradually fall in love and then there is a disequilbrium that is later resolved.

However our music video actually subverts from this by having a clear and understanding storyline that there is a constant equilbrium. Colour filters are often used to create an atmosphere, together with a series of mid and close up shots, this creates an happy, fun and meaningful music video for a niche audience.
This is what w have conformed to, to create our music video, through the use of the software Adobe After Effects.

“How we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them. How we see them comes from representation”. - Richard Dyer - The Matter of images. Richard Dyer believes that how something is represented is how we are determined to look at it. Therefore we made sure to create an retro, vintage look in our music video, we chose to use a vintage look as it is able to consist of clours such as, red, yellow etc. This way it create a more crisp and hip representation to youths.

Using this colour filter is a stertypical advantage to audiences to realise that the music video is to be targeted at young ones has it cnveys a sense of a hip and fresh music.

In conclusion our music video is able to use a code and conventions and sterotypes to make representations of our character and the plot of the video easier for the audience to understand.

Technical Skills

Technical Media Skills on Prezi

Music Video Narrative

For A2 Media we have been assigned to produce a music video as part of the course. Our music video is centered on Alex Jones (Main Character) who is gradually having an infatuation of the girl of his dreams, whom he see at London South Bank. We are then introduced to a series of steps where he is constantly trying to charm and woo her with his charismatic persona. As the video continues we see elements of his passion for skating and singing, which is then fueled for his love for our main girl played by Aimeé Gayle.

Throughout the video we are introduced to Todorov's theory, where an equilibrium is set at the outset of the music video, as there are shots of Alex sitting down, calm putting on his skates until the equilibrium is disrupted when a character, in this Aimeé is introduced and decides the only way to reach a resolution is to approach and the process begins of them gradually falling love. 

With this in mind we see evident the five stages of narrative structure being played throughout the video:

1. Exposition - Setting scene and introducing character, therefore in this case we are immediately introduced to our character Alex Jones.
2. Development - situation gradually develops, therefore we are introduced to Alex putting on his skates at South Bank
3. Complication - Something then happens to complicate lives or the character - in this instances it is when we see our main character Alex take notice of Aimeé and approaches her.
4. Climax- The decisive moment is then taken into consideration, a suspense high, this occurs when we our main girl show Alex her skates but cannot skate.
5. Resolution - Where matters are resolved, in this instances it is when we see our main character and main girl skate together as Alex agrees to teach her how to skate. To now represent their trust and love for together as a bond.

With things in consideration it can also be said that Alex follows are typical Archetypal teenager who falls in love or rather has an infatuation of a specific girl of the same age. A modern example which is used to convey the message is Troy Bolton ( played by Zac Efron) in High - School Musical. There we are taken through the Narrative structure of the typical teenage  boy who likes girl but cannot be with the girl he loves until there is a climax and then soon enough the complication is resolved and restores the equilibrium. 

Analysing my AS Production in Terms of Narrative.... (2nd)

Deconstructing Narratives of this Opening Scene
 In this opening scene we discover, that the video actually goes through the five stages of narrative structure which is

• Exposition - Setting scene and introducing character, therefore in this case we are immediately introduced to our character Damien.
• Development - situation gradually develops, therfore we are introduced to the character a bit more as soon as he leaves his estate and start to walk but yet constantly looking around.
• Complication - Something then happens to complicate lives or the character - in this instances it is when we see our main chracter see a robbery occuring.
• Climax- The descisive moment is then taken into consideration, a suspense high, this occurs when we our main character is coming a conclusion of whether to help our victim.
• Resolution - the reolution is not what we expect however as we only see our main character turn round to go help but the scene just ends. Therefore we are left on a cliff hanger.

Being left at a cliff hanger means that we are forced to decide what happens at the end. This is in connection to Roland Barthes Theory. Barthes theory is that we start to unravel a text and meanings that could be catergorised in the following ways.

1. Symbols and Signs
2. Point of Cultrual Reference
3. Simple descriptions/reprodcutions
4. Actions

Therfore we as the audience have different perceptions, where our job is to deconstruct these meanings through these ways. In relation to my prodcut, the audience is left to unravel the meanings and solve the mystery on what happens, whether our character wins the fight or looses the fight. (Barthes Enigma Code).

In my opening scene there is also evidence of Levi Strauss approach to an narrative, where we allow binary oppositions of good and evil and even through the use of colours of black and white contrast to construct to audiences an narrative.
Lastly in this opening scene there is evident Todorov's theory, where there is an equilibruim at the beginning of the opening scene, where things are quite normal at the beginning until a certain situation where a character and an action disrupts the equilibruim and in this case it is when Damian see's a robbery occur and decides to go and resolve it.

Analysing my AS Production in Terms of Narrative and Representation theories.... Both essays in one!

As part of our AS production, me and my group were able to contribute to a making for an urban Y2K film opening, called ‘Bleak’. The overall plot of the opening is about a youth growing up in South London, trying to cope with the entire struggle and pain that is linked British gangs. We thus see our main character walking out of his house and then down the road. He then arrives at an alley way and sees a youth getting robbed and beaten up. As he continues walking he then stops and regret the choice he makes and then decides to turn back and help the young boy who is in trouble.  

Our As product somewhat follows Roland Barthes theory, meaning that we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable. Therefore our product does not have a straightforward outline to it as it carries out Barthes enigma code, the narrative will establish enigmas or mysteries as it goes along.  The whole opening is shrouded with enigma from the greyscale Mise-en-scene, to constant close up and mid-shots taken when our character is walking.  Therefore Barthes enigma code theory can be identified and we have used this to attract our audiences and create a narrative that doesn't happen in real life to provide diversion/escapism for our audience.

Hence when the opening scene came to an end, we never saw what happened, therefore the audience decide on the meaning and the outcome, having different type of perception every time.

In terms of representation, we dressed up our main character in a hoodie and black baggy trousers, this is a stereotypical view of a youth growing up in London, where information about our character can be summed up in a few words but in this instance it becomes more visual.  This has connotation of being urban, young and lower-class, which is how we wanted our target audience to view our character.

We had made sure that the representation we conveyed was that of social realism and Kitchen sink, that of fish tank. The fact that most are in a sense a reflection of today's society however in comparison to other Y2K films which tends to over exaggerate the portrayal of youths living in estates/urban atmosphere.

The representation of youths in our film is fairly linked with Althusser's interpellation. As we had constructed our character based on pre-given structures. Therefore through the use of media text such as tabloids or broadsheets to impose their ideology onto us the audience, we have effectively reflected that onto our film opening. Therefore in as sense our representation was simply imposed by other's ideology or perception of youths and not originally of our own idea. We the audience are completely bombarded by the messages the media sets up for us making certain assumptions for us whether it be people, events place in society etc.

Henceforth creating the perfect representation for our character and our setting was to really conform to the stereotypical assumption of a black male youth living in south London.      

To conclude, my AS production conforms to the Roland Barthes narrative and stereotypical theory to create a conventional Y2K opening scene. 

A2 Revision

Media A2 Revision- Contemporary, Historical and Now on Prezi

Theorist Cards - Revision

DAVID GAUNTLETT
“Identity is complicated, everyone think they’ve got one”

This means that identity is complex as our identities are mediated by many factors

Case Studies:

Music artists – Rihanna, Lady Gaga

Rap – glorifying violence and sexualisation

Ever-changing fashion + trends of celebrities (Richard Dyer Star Theory)

David Buckingham:

Quote: “a focus on identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups”.

Meaning: “this means with the constant rise in technology it can keep influencing youth’s lives in more ways”

Case study: related to London riots and how with increased technology made it easier for them to rebel in relation to the Brixton riots.

STUART HALL

“The media as a principle of ideological dissemination produces representations of the social world via images and portrayals.

This explains how the media reflects social ideas that are relevant to how society is regulated

Encoding/Decoding Theory

This explains that the media encode messages within their texts for audiences to decode in ways which apply to their situation and personal lives.

Case Studies:

Tabloids vs. Broadsheets

London 2011 Riots

Music videos – Rihanna, Lil’ Wayne

Henry Jenkins:

Quote: “teens are constantly updating and customizing their profiles online, adding photos and posting on each other’s virtual walls.”

Meaning: this means that teens are constantly updating their life and constructing there identity.

Case study:  web 2.0

Brixton riots vs London riots 

Merlau Ponty

We have an embodied experience and anything  in which we use our bodies to create new things with builds our identity.

This relates to youths creating online profiles on the Internet such as Facebook and Twitter and how we feel a sense of belonging because of this

Case Studies:

Web 2.0

London 2011 Riots vs. Brixton Riots

Expressing views and opinions and creating a sense of belonging online.

Internalised Sterotypes

1. Kidulthood written and directed by Noel Clarke is a british drama film which follows the lives of several teenagers, living in the inner area of West London. Kidulthood is a anti - youth film as it actually depicts youths as a complex and contradicting collective identy through their actions, and colloquialisms. This thus constucts a negative representation of youths. That the media/ institutions such as revolver given their opinons as Adults to construct anti - youths film which given a visual depictions criminal, sexually decadent and drug crazed. Which has been able to create a growing threat to the public order.

2. However I do believe that Kidulthood has been able to give an accurate depiction of youths living in London today. However this is my personal opinon speaking as a youth, however from an adults perception we can see that Kidulthood has constructed a sense of Moral panic through its overexaggerations. Look at what review said "Our teenagers are reckless hedonists, living for their moment under a whirl of as much sex, coke, blowjobs, weed and booze as they can cram into their "Oh my days!" lives."- The fact that it is exxagerated from an adults opinion shows that it is not accurate.

3. The fascination of youths froms an adults viewpoint of Fish Tank,

Mock Essay

Media Essay

Analyse the way in which the media represents youths

“Media appears to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it” – David Gauntlett mentioned this in reference to youths. This suggests that the current and proliferating society that we continue to live in is highly saturated by the media and their representation of youths as social group.

Thus for youths identity is complicated. The relationship between collective identity and media representation is not and will never be straightforward. Stuart Hall mentioned “media appears to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it”. This statement is indeed true because we see that in today’s society they tend to link youths with a moral panic especially since the London 2011 riots.

Stuart hall encoding/decoding states how the media gather information and represents it to their audience. This is through the use of tabloids especially during the London riots. The daily mail newspaper mentioned this of a group of youths “A sense of glee pervaded these accounts – youths were often grinning while describing their experience – a delight that the normal order of things was turned upside down.” This is proof that in fact the portrayal in tabloids newspapers are often exaggerated to the furthest degree as class youths as not being govern and carless as they are essentially a form of light entertainment as opposed to broadsheets which tends to be more factual and thus is a reflection whereas a tabloid is constructions as its constructs a moral panic.

The reason being is because the guardian a broadsheet in fact represents youths differently from that of a tabloid sheet. The guardian mentioned “just imagine for a moment that you’re a British teenage boy. You’re struggling to grow up, to find out who you really are?” which is in fact true as youths today are trying to find their identity.

However because newspapers are generally given out to the majority of lower class/ middle class citizens, who read tabloids rather than broadsheets, youths in Britain are now classified with moral panic stating things such “The brazen facebook user posted a picture of himself with suspected goods” the word brazen itself just indicates to its readers that young people are not longer governed and are in fact careless and heartless.

This thus links to Althusser’s interpellation theory, the fact that it represents human subjects in this case youths are constructed by pre-given structures. This has been taken up by the media in a form of television, web 2.0, or tabloids/ broadsheets to impose their ideology on the audiences. Thus if we think about it, were bombarded by messages from the media, messages that make certain assumptions for us, and as soon as we engage with the message we are positioned as a ‘subject’ rather than an individual. The idea is that we are controlled y these messages and go some way to defining our or anyone’s identity.

This is in fact linked to youths through the use of media and their ideology they have somewhat positioned youths as a collective identity, whom are careless, not governed and give out a sense of moral panic. Through the use of Web 2.0 such as:

·         Facebook

·         Twitter

·         Tumblr

·         YouTube

We have been able to see that youths have been able to use all this to form to that collective identity rather than an individual.

Thus in conclusion the way the media represents youths is complicated as the media, either reflects or constructs an identity for youths thus enabling youths to form a collective identity based on pre –given constructions. Thus we allow the media to form and shape our reality.