2. The uses and gratifications theory was proposed by Bulmer and Katz and believes the audience to be
active as they have reasoning behind why they watch media content.The five reasons why the
audience might watch media texts are; diversion, escapism, information, sexual stimulation and
personal identification.This theory sees the audience as active as they have reasoning behind why
they want to view media texts.They also make their own decisions as to what they’re going to do as a
result of watching a piece of media text. As I am going to be creating a music video aimed at teenagers
aged 16-18, they would most likely enjoy the sexual stimulation and escapism side of this theory.This
is because as a teenager you don’t really get to see the amazing parts of life as you’re still at home or
you’re studying and therefore they want to watch media that shows them that there is a light at the
end of the tunnel.This theory is important for myA2 production as I’m going to be creating a music
video and I would like to appeal to my target audience through giving them a sense of escapism as well
as providing them with useful information without being too formal.
3. The hypodermic needle theory is a very important and relevant theory for music video regulation.This
theory believes that messages are ‘injected’ into the passive audience’s brain and that they have no
control over how they interpret these messages. Rap music videos have bad reputation for creating
music videos that are inappropriate and that have a bad impact on youth of today due to the use of
sexual content and drugs.As I’m going to be creating a music video aimed at the age group of 15-21 I
will need to consider the impact my media product will have on my audience.
Content Analysis:An analysis of 518 music videos on 4 television networks (MTV,VH1, CMT, and BET)
was conducted.This study revealed that the percentage of violence in music videos ranged from 11.5%
to 22.4%, with the most violent videos having been presented on MTV.When analyzed according to
type of music, rap videos had the highest portrayal of violence (20.4%), closely followed by rock videos
(19.8%). (1997 by DuRant et a) http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1488
As I’m creating a music video for the rock genre, I would like to ensure that my music video doesn’t
contain violence as I don’t want to negatively influence the younger generation. I think that violence in
music videos is a very big issue as the youth are becoming more and more influenced by what they
watch at such a young age due to lack of restrictions.
4. Hall conducted a theory about audience reception of the message
that media producers encode and how the audience decodes the
messages.The way in which the audience decodes the message
relies on their personal beliefs and ideas. Hall also came up with
three ways in which the audience receives the messages encoded
which are titled; dominant, oppositional and negotiated.The
dominant reading is where the audience understands the message
that has been encoded and agrees with it.Whereas, the
negotiated meaning is where the audience
rejects/accepts/changes elements of the message due to their
views and opinions of the subject. Finally, the oppositional reading
is where the dominant idea has been completely rejected due to
their personal beliefs/ideologies.
5. BBFC is used to classify music videos into different types of age categories based on their
content.This is to regulate music videos to ensure that younger viewers aren’t exposed to explicit
content. It’s also used to make sure that parents are aware of what guidelines are out there to
protect their child from accessing music videos that are not suitable for their age.
The music video will need to be submitted to the BBFC before they release the music video
online.The BBFC then rate the video based on the inclusion of; drug misuse, dangerous behaviour
presented as safe, bad language, sexual behaviour, threatening behaviour and violence. All music
videos are rated atleast a 12.
Youtube regulate music videos through the use of their own filtering. Anyone can watch videos on
Youtube, however you will need to sign in to ensure that you’re at the right age in which you can
watch certain music videos. For example, you would need to sign in to watch Miley Cyrus’ ‘We
Can’t Stop’ music video to ensure that you’re over 18 as the music video includes sexual content
and drugs.
Ofcom is a company that regulates what’s shown onTV.The watershed refers to the time in
which adult content can be displayed onTV which is 9pm- 5.30am. Music videoTV programmes
have to censor out any profanities and cannot show sexual content music videos before the
watershed.
