A variety of theorists that can be used primarily for Section A - Qs 1 B of the G325 exam.

1. In a nutshell

2.  1A
 Question 1(a) requires you to describe and evaluate your skills development over
the course of your production work, from Foundation Portfolio to Advanced
Portfolio.
 The focus of this evaluation must be on skills development, and the question will
require you to adapt this to one or two specific production practices
 The list of practices to which questions will relate is as follows:-
 Digital Technology
 Creativity
 Research & Planning
 Post-Production
 Using Conventions from real media texts

3.  1B
 Question 1(b) requires you to select one
production and evaluate it in relation to a media
concept.
 The list of concepts to which questions will relate
is as follows:-
 Genre
 Narrative
 Representation
 Audience
 Media Language

4.  Ensure that you have a plan for each one of
these points and how you have developed.
 You can plan what things to include.- See the
examples on the resource drive and that I
have given to you.

5.  Film opening
 Steve Neale thinks that film genres are constantly changing
and evolving and are not set in stone. He thinks there are 5
main stages in film genres. Which stage does your film fit
into? Explain why.
 The form finding itself (Psycho)
 The classic (Halloween)
 Stretching the boundaries of the genre (Nightmare on Elm
Street)
 Parody (Scary Movie)
 Homage (Scream)

6.  Andrew Goodwin – Thinks that music videos follow the
following conventions:
 Conventions depend on the genre of the music
 Star persona is important and companies use close ups to sell
them to the audience
 Voyeuristic images are used to attract an audience
 They often contain intertextual references to other media
 There is a link between the lyrics and the visuals
 There is a link between the visuals and the music / pace etc

7.  Robert Stam – suggests genre is hard to define, doesn’t really exist and is just a
concept made up by theorists and critics. Do you agree? Give examples from
your work that suggests that genre either IS or ISN’T easy to define

 Rick Altman says that the way we define a genre is by two main things:
 Semantic Elements (eg signs such as knives, blood, dark colours, eerie music). He
thinks these elements are easier for audiences to recognise and identify
 Syntactic elements (includes THEMES such as fear, revenge, rage as well as plots
such as PLOTS such as group go on trip, one by one they die, last girl survives and
kills killer) He thinks these elements are more subtle and harder to recognise.
 Identify semantic and syntactic elements in your video that might help audiences
identify the genre of your film / music video

 Laura Mulvey - Suggests that women in all media are objectified. She is a
feminist who believes that women are often shown through the ideas of men (male
gaze) and are seen in voyeuristic ways. She also thinks that women are seen in
one of either two ways the “virgin” character or a “whore” character. This is the
“virgin / whore dichotomy”

8.  Richard Dyer – thinks that audiences want
media products that offer them Utopian
Solutions to their problems.
 Blumler & katz – Think that audiences want
media products that gratify particular needs
(Uses & gratifications) eg escape,
entertainment etc

9.  Frankfurt School – Hypodermic needle
theory. Think audiences might be directly
influenced by media products
 Stuart Hall – Encoding and Decoding tests
AND Preferred, negotiated and oppositional
readings. Thinks audiences will react in
different ways to media products.

10.  Pluralists – think that the media operates on
a supply and demand basis and so the
media must give the audience what it wants
in order to survive and be successful.
 Tajfel & Turner – intergroup discrimination
theory. Think that audiences enjoy
watching texts where they can feel superior
to the characters in terms of money, class,
success etc..

11.  Andrew Goodwin – believes that audiences
are often played in the position of a voyeur
within music videos (watching someone).
He also believes that the use of close ups is
important to help the audience appreciate
the “star persona” of the lead singer
 Laura Mulvey – believes the media texts
often encourage the audience to objectify
women and look at them with a “male gaze”

12. 
Levi Strauss

said that media texts often represent
characters in terms of binary opposites such
as good vs evil, weak vs strong. Did you do
this? If so how and why? What effects might
it have on the story, the audience etc..

13. 
Laura Mulvey

Believes that women are often objectified in the
media. She says they are looked at with a “male
gaze” and are seen as sex objects.

She also believes that there are all too often only
two roles for women in the media. Either the
“virgin” character or the “whore” character. This
is called the “virgin / whore dichotomy”.

Can their theories be applied to your video? Did
you conform to their ideas of representation or
challenge them? Why?


14. 
Vladimir Propp

Propp’s theory of narrative suggests that texts often
represent characters as particular types in order to make
them easily identifiable to an audience and help them
know how to react to them.

Hero

Villain

Princess

Donor / Helper

Dispatcher


If you included any of these characters, how did you
represent someone as the “hero” or “villain”. Why does it
engage an audience if they either DO know who they are
or DON’T know who they are?

15. 
Angela McRobbie

Angela McRobbie says that men and women
are often represented through stereotypes in
the media and are often shown in traditional
gender roles. For example women are often
shown as weaker, victims, mothers, carers
etc. Men are often shown as aggressive,
strong, managers, leaders etc.


16. 
Stanley Cohen

Believes that particular groups in society are
“demonised” and “marginalised” through
negative representations which may have the
effect of causing a moral panic where the
majority of society fears that social group.
Have you demonised a particular group eg
black people? Young people? Why?

17.  Todorov
 Thinks there are several main stages to a
complete narrative, recognisable in any story
 Equilibrium
 Disruption
 Resolution
 Equilibrium
 Explain whether you included these stages and
where. Did you have them in the same order? If
not, why not? What was the benefit of starting
with the disruption for example?

18.  Levi Strauss
 Says that Binary opposites are important in
narratives such as good vs evil, women vs
men, crime vs justice. Explain any binary
opposites identifiable in your text and explain
why you think they might be important to
include

19.  Unrestricted narration – where information is
given out in as much detail as possible with very
little restrictions so the “narrative” is clear.
Audiences often know more than the characters
so we know who the killer is, or where he is. If
you used this technique, explain where and why
is it engaging for an audience?
 Restricted narration – where the narrative is kept
minimal, with parts unclear eg a thriller film.
Audiences are often in the dark about many parts
of the narrative. If you used this technique,
explain where and why this is engaging for an
audience

20.  Vladimir Propp
 Propp’s theory of narrative suggests that
texts NEED particular characters to develop
the narrative
 Hero
 Villain
 Princess
 Donor / Helper
 Dispatcher

21.  If you included any of these characters, how
did you make it clear who was the hero /
villain etc? Why does it engage an audience if
they either DO know who they are or DON’T
know who they are?
 He also thinks there are particular parts of a
narrative that always happen eg hero gets a
quest, someone is hurt, hero battles the
villain etc. If you included any of these
things, why do you think audiences enjoy
seeing them?

22.  Andrew Goodwin
 Thinks that in music videos the narrative
often links to the lyrics and the tempo of the
music.. How did you do this?

23.  Allan Cameron
 Thinks there are several different types of more unusual narrative. If
you included any of these, explain where, and then explain why you
included them.
 Anachronic Narrative – includes regular flashback and flashforwards,
with all different narrative parts being just as important. Such as Pulp
Fiction, Memento
 Forking Path narrative – shows two different outcomes that are different
only as a result of a small change or decision such as GroundHog day,
Sliding Doors
 Episodic Narratives – separate narratives that have some sort of link. Eg
different characters lives, linked only by the fact that they are all
involved in one incident
 Split Screen Narratives – Different stories, linked by the fact that they are
shown on screen at the same time.

24.  Blumler & Katz / Richard Dyer
 Uses & Gratifications theory / Utopian
Solutions – explaining how your use of MEDIA
LANGUAGE offers these to an audience

25.  Vladimir Propp
 Propp’s Character theory – how your MEDIA
LANGUAGE helps audiences identify particular
characters as heros / villains etc

26.  Stuart Hall
 Explain that your decision to use the MEDIA
LANGUAGE you chose was to create a
“preferred reading” for your text. But that
audiences are used to Encoding and
Decoding tests AND could take a negotiated
or oppositional reading

27.  Rick Altman
 Explain how you used MEDIA LANGUAGE to
include Semantic Elements (eg signs such as
knives, blood, dark colours, eerie music) or to
signify Syntactic elements (eg themes like
love, revenge).