MIGRAIN october assessment response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).
WWW- your very final paragraph is the best in the whole assessment-you correctly discuss op positional reading of vibe magazine.the rest of your answers are frankly on wake up call for how steep the step-up to A level
EBI-put simply,you didn't kn ow most your theories.
there is basically no theory used in most of your answers.
narrative theories?genre theories@you need so much more information and details in your answers
-you need to do some serious work and revision to do.




2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify at least one potential point that you missed out on for each question in the assessment.

question 1 - i missed out on explaining about the actual theory which was todrov's theory 
question 2 
the main point that i missed out was linking all my ideas together and give it in similarities and differences.
question 3-
the main point that i missed out was to talk about how genre is important producers and audiences
question 4-the main point that i missed out was negotiated reading which covers both the aspects.

3) Read this exemplar response from a previous Year 12 (a strong B grade). Identify at least one potential point that you missed out on for each question in the assessment. 
question 1 -need to talk about props
question 2-connotation and denotation of the environment shown in the picture 
question 3-need to give examples of genre

4) Did you get any media terminology or theory wrong in the assessment? Make a note of it here for future revision, including theories/terminology that you could have used but didn't.#

Tzvetan Todorov proposed a theory of equilibrium:

Equilibrium: An existing state of harmony

Disequilibrium: Equilibrium is disrupted by an unfortunate event or evil character which leads to a chain of events involving conflict

New Equilibrium: The evil forces are defeated, the conflict is resolved and harmony exists once more

Character theory: Propp

Vladimir Propp came up with a list of stock characters in narratives by examining Russian fairytales. He called them the seven spheres of action:

The Villain: Creates a complication in the narrative

The Donor: Gives the hero something that will help in the resolution

The Helper: Helps the hero in restoring the resolution

The Princess: Has to be saved by the hero

The Dispatcher: Sends the hero on a task

The Hero: Central protagonist, saves the day and restores equilibrium

The False Hero: Rare character that appears to be good but is revealed to have been bad all along.

Genre: notes

Genres may be identified by the following:

Narrative structures
Plot
Typical situations, characters and relationships

Visual iconography
Mise-en-scene: props, costumes, locations etc.
Cinematography

Ideology and themes
Representations, values and ideologies

Daniel Chandler suggests definitions of genre tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings - iconography) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them.


Genre: institution and audience

Tolson (1996) suggests that genre “mediates between industry and audience”.

Abercrombie suggests that “television producers set out to exploit genre conventions... It... makes sound economic sense.” 

Abercromie adds: “Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre.”

Genres of order and integration

Some theorists (including Schatz) have suggested there are only two genres:

Genres of order: western, gangster, action, sci-fi etc. Identified by hero (dominant; male), setting (contested, unstable), conflict (external; fighting), resolution (death). 

Genres of integration: comedies, musicals, rom-coms etc. 
Identified by heroes (couple or collective); setting (civilised space); conflict (internal; emotional); resolution (love).


Neale: “Repetition and difference”

Steve Neale declares that “genres are instances of repetition and difference” (Neale 1980). He adds:  “Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre” - mere repetition would not attract an audience.

Buckingham (1993) agrees, suggesting contemporary theory sees genre as dynamic: “Genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change”.

Schatz develops this idea that genres are dynamic and suggests they go through a cycle:

Innovation: genre codes are established
Classical: conventions are repeated
Parody: codes become cliched and are mocked
Deconstruction: the genre is experimented with to establish new or different conventions

5) Identify your strongest question. Why did you do better on this question?
my strongest question is question 4 as that was the only answer where i linked my media theory and wrote in specific details with media terminology.



6) Identify your weakest question. Why did you score lower on this particular task?
the weakest question is question 1 becuase i didn't link the theory and didn't mention at all what the theory is about which the question was asking me to do.

MIGRAIN index

1) Introduction to Media: 10 questions
2) Media consumption audit
3) Language: Reading an image - advert analyses
4) Reception theory
5) Semiotics: icons, indexes and symbols
6) Genre: Factsheets and genre study questions
7) Narrative: Factsheet questions

narrative story

1) Give an example from film or television that uses Todorov's narrative structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 


equilibrium:when the character Bryan sends his daughter to Paris
disequilibrium;his daughter gets kidnapped by Albanian mafia while travelling to france
new equilibrium:he kills the boss who is in charge of this sex trafficking

2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Factsheet: find a clip on YouTube of the opening of a new TV drama series (season 1, episode 1). Embed the clip in your blog and write an analysis of the narrative markers that help establish setting, character and plot.



3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

5) What example is provided in the Factsheet for the way narratives can emphasise dominant ideologies and values?

6) Why do enigma and action codes (Barthes) offer gratifications for audiences?

7) Write a one-sentence summary of the four different types of TV narrative:

• Episodic narrative (the series)
• Overarching narrative (the serial)
• Mixed narrative
• Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative)

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?  

reception theory

dominant reading
the dominant reading is that they are showing 50 cent to show that Reebok is a big brand as they have used a popular face and the text shows us that this advert is there to motivate everyone to do what they want and telling them not to waste their time in any other stuff.the use of this 50 cent who is black shows us that Reebok respects his past and how he is tying to move positive in life.
Oppositional reading
The Op positional reading can be that they are advertising this with a criminals face and people might assume that they are trying to promote to criminals which will be a very negative message for the kids who are growing up as 50 cent was a criminal and has done a lot of criminal activities and this will affect their sale a lot as a lot of people will not support Reebok with this advert.


dominant reading
the dominant reading that the advert is trying to promote the new shoes with the most talented and famous footballer Ronaldo which is seen as a very good person as he helps a lot in charity and etc.the writes wants us to believe that the customer who buys the product will run as fast as him because of the fire in the background and his face will impact massively in their sales.
oppositional reading
the oppositional reading is that people might think that it is fake looking at the background as a person cannot make  fire with running in a field.the lightning is dark which doesn't really connote positive energy which can be reason why people can stop wearing Nike and not buy this product.because of this reason therefore this will also give a very bad reputation to the brand Nike.

semiotics icon index symbol

                                                                               

1) Find three examples for each: icon, index and symbol. Provide images or links.  
icon
                   
index

   
                 

symbol

 


 2) Why are icons and indexes so important in media texts?
Icons are important because they are pictorial  representation of the product and it shows what it is being represented for eg a photograph and indexes are also important as indexes show what’s being represented for eg smoke which indicates fire.

3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?
Global brands might avoid symbols as symbols are connected culturally with numbers and alphabets and you might not be part of the culture to understand the advert.

4) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) where the producer has accidentally communicated the wrong meaning using icons, indexes or symbols. Why did the media 
product fail? (This web feature on bad ads and marketing fails provides some compelling examples).

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fus-east-1.tchyn.io%2Fsnopes-production%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Frumors%2Fimages%2Ftoocool.jpg%3Fresize%3D418%2C669&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.snopes.com%2Ffact-check%2Fcollapse-into-cool%2F&docid=Al8Whz0VumCSrM&tbnid=4fixcGIqZuhVSM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjAwKDc_-LdAhVlCsAKHYW7CQUQMwhXKAgwCA..i&w=418&h=669&hl=en-gb&safe=strict&client=safari&bih=729&biw=1024&q=starbucks%20adverts%20failure&ved=0ahUKEwjAwKDc_-LdAhVlCsAKHYW7CQUQMwhXKAgwCA&iact=mrc&uact=8


Advert  from Starbucks 
The producer has communicated the wrong meaning using icons as it shows us two   Ice frappes and the grass therefore the index is that there is grass  and their are  butterflies which are  trying to   show how Starbucks is eco-friendly but it isn’t as looking closely everything looks artificial.furthermore the symbol the phrase”collapse into cool” can suggest that maybe this advertisement is for fun but it was actually not seen really good as some people might think it is poking 9/11.therefore the media also failed to show what their subject or message was for the audience.
5) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) that successfully uses icons or indexes to create a message that can be easily understood across the world.


The advert is about  share a Coke in 2011 therefore it was successful as The icon which is the drink Coca Cola has been put all together in all the different sizes which shows us that it is available in a can or a bottle.therefore the icon is the colour red in all the cans and drinks with their special font which is very famous but the symbol is the most important as this advert was about share a Coke and their were things like nan,sister written which means now you can customize your drink and upload you name on their website to win something which helped the company a lot to raise a lot of attention and give a Strong competition to the Pepsi’s advert.