Define postmodern media, with examples.

Postmodern media came from the postmodernism movement; a reaction to the previous era of modernism. Postmodern media tends to defy rules that other texts would use such as those of time, context and meaning. Postmodern media texts make use of intertextuality and are therefore aimed at a literate audience. Through its references and recycling of the past it seems to be making a statement though postmodernism has also been defined as ‘weird for the sake of weird’.  

Kirby Ferguson summed up that postmodern media can be regarded as unoriginal by suggesting ‘everything is a remix’. This concept could be created in many different ways, ways that have now become recognisable features of postmodern media such as bricolage. Bricolage is creating a new piece of work from old parts, perhaps without consideration to the original meaning and taking the original work completely out of context. Another feature is pastiche, a self-conscious imitation or parody such as in 'Hobo with a Shotgun', a text highly dependent on the mocking of other films and exaggeration.

 Within music R&B and electrnic music is a mass production of postmodern media as these genres often use sampling or remixes. An exampleof this is 'Goldigga' by Kanye West which sampled 'I Gotta Woman' by ray Charles which in turn took parts from the gospel song 'It Must Be Jesus'. Through this the original meaning was not only changed but completely lost.

Postmodernism also often uses irony to express itself and this means that it can challenge boundaries between genres, art forms and the class of high and low art. The constructs in society such as gender, race and sexuality are often also explored in postmodern texts; they are questioned and reassessed. ‘Being John Malkovich’ directed by Spike Jonze is a great example of a lot of these features. Predominantly it is a fantasy film and the fantastical elements are clear however there are many genres that this film could fit into partly because of the awkward humour which could lead you to believe it is a comedy and the dramatic tension which is a feature of action films. The main source of irony theme to this film is that the main character is a puppeteer and that he happens to be the one to find a portal that leads into the head of actor, John Malkovich, making it possible for him to control him, like a puppet. Another ironic part of the film is the relationship between the main character, his wife and his new love interest. If this were a romantic comedy or a romance film then the plot involving this love triangle would be predictable but instead his wife and love interest end up together, leaving him alone. The lesbian relationship is also used as a device to question and explore constructs of sexuality. At first their relationship is only possible through the use of John Malkovich’s body and makes the audience wonder whether they can ever be together properly if Maxine is not attracted to Lotte’s physical appearance. This blurs the edges of the labels given to differing sexual orientations.

Some have criticised postmodern media for its lack or originality but while postmodernism was once just a movement but now it seems that today’s media is almost destined to be post-modern without much real effort or thought.  Nearly all work is influenced in some way by something and it is hard to be completely original.

Applying Narrative to Your Chosen Text - Music Video

How is the story structured and how are your audience positioned?
The narrative has a beginning, middle and end in chronological order but is interrupted with flashback scenes. Therefore we use a mixture of present and past tense. The conflict is established mainly by the lyrics and the external performance shots. The flashbacks back this up with a simple explanation of why the lead character feels the way she does. It is resolved at the end when the audience realise she is part of the band and music has become her 'escape'. The construction of the lead character is done through the use of close ups and high angle camera shots to make her look vulnerable. The audience is made to feel sympathetic towards the character and some may be able to relate to how she is feeling. We created this with the use of connotations such as the empty field representing loneliness and the gloomy weather to represent her overall mood. The narrative to my music video is closed because it has a resolution and does not carry on into a sequel.
Summarise the lyrics in your text.
'Save Me' is about someone having a secret that they are perhaps ashamed of but they know that they need to tell someone for peace of mind.
Are there any key lines that you chose to give visual dominance to?
'Confessing my sins to an angel.' - We used this within the video when the lead character is writing the letter she is in fact writing lyrics from the song and this is the first line of the letter.
'I've got a secret to tell.' - The video was based around the idea of the character telling her secret and the effect this would have.
What is the importance of the mise en scene?
The addition of instruments and the location in which the band performance shots were set adds authenticity to the band and makes it look as if they are really playing live. The lack of props is very important for the external shots because we wanted the field to look desolate to make the lead character look alone. The letter was key to the narrative and established the plot.
Can you apply any of Barthes codes?
Enigma code - The use of the letter and the obvious distress that the character is in leads to the audience wondering why and what happened previously.
Semantic code - The main connotation was the use of the desolate field to represent loneliness but the costume and make up also represented the genre and gave connotations of negative emotions.
Symbolic code - Assumptions would have been made because of the costume and dark make up. We used conventional costume and in doing this perhaps created expectations of the characters personality or attitude.
What category is your music video according to Andrew Goodwin?
Amplification.
Can you apply Steve Archer's theories?
Yes, our video did cut between both performance and narrative and the 'lead singer' was the also used as the main character within the narrative.
What role does the artist play in your music video?
Because the character is both the lead singer and the main narrative character she plays both the role of narrator and protagonist.
Did you choose a subjective or objective character identity in your music video and why?
Objective, because the lyrics of the song lent themselves to a personal and indepedent account.
What typology does your music video fit into?
Performance and narrative.

Genre Essay

'Media texts rely on audience knowledge of generic codes and conventions in order for them to create meaning.' Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre.

Laura Barsby

                Considering Andrew Goodwin’s method of categorising products my music video would be a mixture of performance and illustrative. This means that as well as having a ‘live’ band set up I also used a narrative. My idea was always to have these parts meet in the middle; giving a reason for the performance shots therefore we used the same character for the singer and the protagonist. This format of performance and illustrative as well as using the lead singer within the narrative is a convention of many music videos, especially within the rock genre.

This leads me to that the genre of our song was rock/pop, with an alternative acoustic sound and narrative lyrics. Knowing this then lead to research of rock/pop music videos in order to find conventions that we could recreate within our own product. The main convention that we used was using both the performance and illustrative categories that I previously mentioned which can also be seen in Flyleaf’s ‘Sorrow’ and Evanescence’s ’My Immortal’. We also used the black and white effect for the flashback scenes (which in itself is sometimes used within film). This added to the slightly ‘gothic’ and dark aesthetic and also made it easy to differentiate between scenes within the video. The video for both ‘My Immortal’ and Automatic Loveletter’s ‘Hush’ use black and white too but in a different way as the whole of each video is shot using that effect. This gloomy aesthetic convention was also met by the lighting we used which was mainly ambient (making sure that we shot the outside shots on an overcast day). As well as the setting other mise en scene was important in terms of convention such as costume. Within a lot of the music videos we researched the look was pretty similar and therefore easy to recreate. We used a feminine grunge style, pairing Doc Martens with a black lacy dress, a leather jacket and heavy eyeliner.

The lyrics of the song meant that we had a strong basis for a storyline as well as an idea about the emotion we wanted to portray. Theorist Tom Ryall suggested that the types of conventions found in genres might be grouped within certain categories. The first of these is narrative. My video has a clear narrative structure because there is a beginning, middle and end with a resolution. Also, my video is closed because the narrative does not carry on to a sequel. Another category is representations and my video adheres to this idea because there is one main character who carries the main narrative and there are two band members but that is all. I have used some conventions which could be seen as stereotypical for a female in this genre such as costume and make up. Also, the emotion portrayed fits with the genre and may be seen as stereotypical. The ideology within my video is that there is a sense throughout my music video that music can be a kind of 'salvation' because my protagonist character finds hope and overcomes her problem by singing.

Rick Altman argued that genre offers audience a 'set of pleasures' and emotionally I think my music video may adhere to this too.  The video is supposed to have a clear and relatable amount of emotion portrayed from the main character for the audience and this is depicted through camera angles such as close ups, location and the special effects as well as the actual acting.

How do post-modern media differ from other media?

As a movement, Post modernism worked against the ideas of the previous Modernist movement, opposing the traditional ideas and placing importance upon notions that are thought-provoking. Instead of simply recreating images that are already known within the audience’s minds Post modernist texts or works use irony, can be self-reflexive and play with the constructs and boundaries of social conventions such as gender, sexuality and race. Intertexuality is also a key aspect of Post modernism and relies on a literate audience with a knowledge of a lot of different media texts.

Many Post modern texts can be recognised by the seemingly ‘weird’ nature of the themes. It has even been described as ‘weird for the sake of weird’. This quality comes from the apparent disjuncture of the ideas used within one text. For instance, a soundtrack for a Post modern film may be made up of tracks well known within other completely different genres, giving an off centre feel to the film. Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds‘ for example; uses music from western films and 80’s music such as David Bowie. Also, a large feature of Post modern texts (TV, film or music) is that the genres will be blended, more so that crossovers like romantic comedies. In this case you may not be able to categorise the text under one genre and you may not be able to define what it is at all. An example of this is ‘Being John Malkovich’, a film that could be a fantasy, comedy or drama or all three at once.

Another feature that ‘Being John Malkovich’ has that a lot of Post modern texts have is the challenge and manipulation of constructs. This could be constructs of gender, challenging the stereotypes of women, for example or the constructs of sexuality, using ‘gay’ references which could run the risk of alienating some of the audience. As well as this it is common for Post modern works to use and develop upon stereotypes of characters, making them ‘larger than life’ to the point that they no longer seem realistic. The texts often push as much as possible such as Aldo Raine in ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and his ridiculous Southern accent which at times becomes comical.  It is this kind of manipulation and use of social reference that make Post modern texts thought provoking and interesting, especially to an educated and literate media audience which is becoming more common and widespread as the media develops in all its formats.

As well as the audience being literate they need to be able to appreciate humour in all its forms. Post modern texts use irony throughout usually and the humour can be dry, sarcastic and even awkward. The humour is not always ‘laugh-out-loud’ but it can be appealing to a certain audience. There is definitely a comparison to be made between the humour used in Post modern texts and the humour used in other media pieces.   

The aspect of hyper reality that is a feature that non Post modern texts could not get away with without someone calling them out on it. This is, for example, after a fight scene and the clothes are completely spotless or using ridiculous stereotypes that are based on something real but break past it. Hyper reality may also cross over into the fantasy or sci-fi genres, again blending genres and creating something new.

The idea of creating something new out of the old, bricolage or reusing ideas is another feature used in Post modern texts. This ties into intertexuality as scenes from films may be recreated to create a certain feeling or effect or parts of one text may be used within another. This can then branch out to texts making references to themselves and that brings us to self-awareness.

Self awareness is used a lot in post modern texts and Tarantino, especially, is a fan. This may refer to shots of the scenery being seen through panning shots (‘Inglourious Basterds’), breaking the fourth wall, in other words, a character looking into the camera as if they are talking directly to the audience or as I mentioned references to the text within itself.

Representation Essay

'Representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them.' Evaluate the ways that you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

      I am evaluating the representations within my music video and I feel that must videos often use ideologies according to their genre in order to relate and appeal to a certain audience. Often stereotypes are reinforced and the aesthetic will be very recognisable. My music video was in a rock genre and during the research stage of the project I looked at a lot of conventions.
     The character in my music video was female meaning that there was always a risk of adhering to the male gaze theory though because of the genre the character wasn't the 'typical' female character. I think it would be more likely for other females to look up to and relate to the character rather than her being used in a voyeuristic way. This challenges the stereotypical view of females within music videos but it fits with the way females in rock are usually seen more than they are in pop, as an artist rather than as an object. The costume and the personality we tried to portray helps to make this character fit the more 'alternative' genre.
      My representation of the rock genre (in terms of aesthetic, mood and personality) was quite conventional. All three of my characters we were wearing dark colours and the female especially was also wearing eyeliner and had a very grunge look. The mood, which was chosen because of the song, was negative which could fit the stereotype of 'emo'. Also the fact that I used both a narrative and performance within my music video means that the format was quite conventional for rock genre music videos. The idea that the front woman is the focus of the music video and the males of the band are just in the background is a feature of many female fronted rock bands such as Evanescence, Paramore and Flyleaf, whether this is intentional or not. This was used in my music video as the narrative followed one individual character and it made sense to use the singer.
     I think a lot of the representation used in my music video was conventional and I used the dominant ideologies that audiences relate with. This was probably mainly because when researching and planning I spent a lot of time looking at the conventions used in rock music videos in order to make my own realistic and as professional looking as I could.

Genre: Applying genre to your chosen text - Music Video

Which genre is your text?

Which genre category is it? (Performance, illustrative or disjuncture - Andrew Goodwin)
My music video was a mixture of performance and illustrative.
What genre is your music?
Rock/pop
Which generic conventions have you applied?

• Using both the performance and illustrative categories
• Black and white effect
• Feminine grunge costume
• Make up (Dramatic eyeliner)
• Panning
• Gloomy aesthetic

Tom Ryall suggests that the types of conventions found in genres might be grouped within the following categories:
Narrative: My video has a clear narrative structure because there is a beginning, middle and end with a resolution. My video is closed because the narrative does not carry on to a sequel.
Representations: There is one main character who carries the main narrative and there are two band members but that is all. I have used some conventions which could be seen as stereotypical for a female in this genre such as costume and make up. Also, the emotion portrayed fits with the genre and may be seen as stereotypical.
Ideologies: There is the idea throughout my music video that music can be a kind of 'salvation'.

Rick Altman (1999) argues that genre offers audience a 'set of pleasures'. 
Emotion pleasures: The video is supposed to have a clear and relatable amount of emotion for the audience and this is portrayed through camera angles, location and effects as well as the acting.

How we define a genre depends on our purposes. (Chandler, 2001)
What was your purpose?
My purpose was to create a music video that linked with the song and that had both narrative and performance shots that a rock genre audience would watch.

Audience Essay Question

'Media texts will never be successful unless they are carefully constructed to target pre-established audience needs or desires.' Evaluate the ways that you constructed a media text to target a specific audience.

     In the research stage before we started to create our music video we spent time viewing existing music videos from the rock and rock/pop genre including 'My Immortal' by Evanescence, 'Sorrow' by Flyleaf and 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri. This helped us to become aware of the conventions used within this style of music video. The main thing that we noticed was the costume and make up. The females in these videos had a feminine grunge style, usually pairing dresses with boots and eyeliner. This look definitely lends itself to the rock style and could be something that the audience can relate to or look up to. In our music video we developed this idea and the costume was a leather jacket over a black lace dress and docs. The styling was more focused on the female, meaning that the female audience would probably be more interested. Viewing existing music videos also helped us to decide to use both a narrative and performance shots because most of the other rock genre music videos did both. The story was basically about finding salvation in music and our audience would be able to relate to this because we are targeting big music fans and people that are involved in music themselves. Rock music fans tend to be very loyal and it is often more than
music to them, it's more about a lifestyle. Also, the feelings and emotion we tried to portray could also be something that the audience could relate to. If you think about the stereotype of rock fans as 'emos' and the connotations this has then the tone of the video very much fits.

     We thought it was important to have performance shots, not only for the narrative, but because a lot of other rock genre videos do and it is a convention that our target audience would enjoy and probably relate to. Rock music fans are the ones that spend a lot of time at concerts, gigs and festivals and are very into the live music scene. They may also play or sing themselves, whether it be in a band as a solo artist, meaning that the quality of live and 'real' music is very important. Therefore, we wanted to portray the live music aspect of the band within the video, making sure to give them an image as a 'real' band.

     We also created an audience profile which helped us to think about the shops that the audience would be likely to shop at which gave us ideas about what clothes they might wear. We looked at local shops such as Voodoo in Leicester, only stores like Disturbia and well known high street shops like New Look and River Island. During the research and planning stage I looked on Lookbook for some styling and aesthetic ideas too. The aesthetic is obviously very important for a music video and it is important that the artist is portrayed in a way that the audience can both relate and look up to. We wanted a strong female but not someone intimidating, meaning that the mixture of feminine and grunge worked well as well as being quite conventional for the genre of music.