Media Effects Models - Encoding and Decoding Model

• Production
• Content – typology genre
• Reception – impact on audience

Encoder – anyone who produces a media text
Decoder – the target audience, the person who uncovers the meaning of the text

Stuart Hall arrived at the conclusion that we can decode texts in 3 ways:

Hegemonic / Preferred / Dominant
The decoder takes the meaning from the text and does not question it at all

Negotiated
The decoder understands the meaning but has an issue with certain aspects

Oppositional
The decoder understands the text but does not accept the message

* Aberrant – the decoder does not understand the text at all

Double Page Spread

Anchorage, Gender and Typology

- Anchorage – anchoring the meaning of an image (telling the viewer what is is/means)

- If something is well anchored, it is described as didactic – the meaning is explained obviously to the viewer/reader

- Sex – what you are born as (male or female)

- Gender – a constructed concept. Men’s masculinity and women’s femininity. The way you behave and compose yourself.

- Intertextuality – making references to previous texts

- ALL representations are intertextually linked

- Some representations are common, while others are rare

- Typology – labelling a group of people by what they are expected to act like e.g. how women are represented in music videos:

· Decorative
· Patronising
· Victims
· Independent

E.g. black people:
Native – simple
Slave – happy to serve
Entertaining

Selecting Photos from the Photo Shoot

Photo Shoot 1

In preparation for my media products I organised a photo shoot where I would take pictures of the person who would be featured in the main feature article, Sacha. She was acting as a young, popular singer, who was being interviewed after he career took a downfall after her affair was disclosed.

The main photo shoot took place at a local park, where the images taken would fit in with the casual atmosphere of the interview. These would then be edited in a way that made them suitable to place on the double-page spread, where the interview with Sacha would appear.

The photos I took showed Sacha in a number of casual poses that signified her thoughtful state of mind as she sat at various places in the park. These are the original photos I took in the park:

Of these photos I would select the few that I thought would be most appropriate to edit and use in my media products. After the editing process I would then choose suitable fonts to use for the text that would be placed around the images on the contentz page and double-page spread.

Photo Shoot 2

I also organised another photo shoot with Sacha, where I took images of her that focused on her personal appearance rather than her surroundings. I took various images that showed her in various types of clothing and with different facial expressions, signifying to the decoder her mood at the time, as well as personal style. These are the photos I would choose from when the time came to select images for my magazine:

Ronan Keating

For my other cover story I included an image of the Irish pop singer Ronan Keating that I had taken myself at a previous concert.

Investigating Representation of Gender

Symbolic annilation – women’s roles in the media are limited compared to the roles of men

Meehan (1984)

• Woman who led research into primetime TV
• Categorised women’s roles in the media into 9 major groups

1. Imp – ‘’tomboy’’. Behaviour/dress sense is slightly masculine


2. Good wife – likely to have children and stay at home to care for them


3. Bitch – nasty, likes to cause trouble / always ready for an argument


4. Decoy – plays a minor role, limited character, has minimum impact on storyline


5. Siren – alluring woman, incredibly beautiful, often ends up ‘’using’’ men


6. Victim – experiences upset/heartbreak


7. Harpy/courtesan – prostitute


8. Matriarch – powerful woman, often found in a soap opera


9. Witch

Front Cover

Music Magazine Front Cover - Mock-Up

Testing my Front Cover

After producing my first attempt at a front cover for my music magazine, I presented it to a group of my peers and asked for their feedback. This was so I could take their opinions and use them to change certain aspects of my front cover to make it more appealing / suitable for my target audience. I asked them questions like if they thought the main image was suitable, how I should arrange my text around the page and which font was most suitable for the style of the magazine and which would do a better job of engaging the target audience.

My first sttempt at my front cover was quite similar to the final product, apart from font styles and text/image layout. When I presented it to my peers most of them said that although the main image I had used was good, the font I had chosen to use did not compliment it very well and did not match the overall style of the magazine. This was a comment I took into consideration and would use to change the fonts accordingly.

Another comment made by people I asked was that the colours I had used for the text was too similar. I had used black and white font the whole way through, but after these comments decided to change some of the text to pink, a colour that complimented the black and white well and also went with the retro genre of the magazine.

Rate card for new music magazine

This is the rate card I produced for my new music magazine. I was able to create this after having researched and creating a rate card for another popular magazine. The rate card gives information about the magazines total circulation, cost and the social group it is aimed at.

Here is the link to the rate card I created for the magazine 'Esquire' -

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6I0CTdENJFw/TLQ8-aXqkXI/AAAAAAAAAAw/YPnH79s7f1Q/s1600/rc2.bmp

Lifestyle Profile

Audience Lifestyle – Constructing the Imaginary Entity

1. What car/mode of transport do they use?
Red Mazda 3

2. What accommodation do they live in?
A top floor apartment in London

3. What do they drink?
Hot chocolate, coffee, wine, WKD

4. What TV shows do they watch?
Friends, The Apprentice, Coronation Street

5. What music do they like?
Rock, Pop and Dance

6. What is their favourite meal?
Spaghetti Bolognaise

7. What sport do they watch and what sport do they play if any?
They watch swimming and play badminton

8. Who is their partner or are they single?
They have a long term boyfriend

9. Where do they go on holiday?
Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Italy

10. What type of bar/pub/club do they go to?
Popular clubs in London, all types of pubs, enjoys those with music and modern atmosphere

11. Who are their favourite singers?
Ronan Keating, Lady Gaga, Rihanna

12. Where do they buy their clothes?
New Look, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Select, River Island

What is an Imaginary Entity?

An imaginary entity is the ideal consumer for a media product e.g. magazine. During the design process of the media product, the encoder must make assumptions about the ideal consumet, in order to ensure that the product meets all the needs of it's target audience. Assumptions that may have to be made about an ideal consumer include annual income, type of car they'd own, holiday destinations and hobbies and interests.

One way of coming up with a lifestyle profile for the imaginary entity is by putting together a questionnaire that will find out information which will collect informtion that will be useful to the encoder when putting together the media product. The encoder will then be more likely to choose suitable signs and representations that provde both denotations and connotations for the decoder to read. The results of the questionnaire are crucial for the encoder to refer to during the mediation process.

I will be creating a questionnaire to come up with a solid lifestyle profile for the ideal consumer of my music magazine. I will then create a preliminary front cover and test it out on a focus group to see if any adjustments need to be made. Feedback from the focus group will enable me to make changes that will make my magazine more suitable for my preferred target audience.

Mise en Scene, Setting and Sound

- Mise en Scene – everything we see on TV
- Location – where it’s actually filmed
- Setting – where it’s set

Important aspects while shooting a TV programme/film:
· Actors
· Location/setting
· Props
· Lighting
· Sound
· Cinematography (camera shots/angles)

PARADIGMATIC – constructing an overall idea

Montage (edit) – how we put things together. Used to manage a time frame during a TV programme/film

Syntagmatic connotation – changing the overall meaning of something by changing an image or the order of imagery

Sound

- Diegetic sound – sound that comes from within the scene e.g. a phone ringing in the scene

- Non-diegetic sound – sound that is not meant to be in the scene


- Synchronous sound – has to be recorded in the scene

- Non-synchronous sound – sound that is not recorded at the same time as the image

Esquire Magazine Rate Card

Semiotic Analysis of 'Kerrang' Music Magazine

Understanding Representations

- An image of an object is a representation of it
- No representation can be completely true
- All representations are a selection – they have been chosen
- All representations go through the process of mediation (the process of change)

- An event or ‘’thing’’ goes through the process of mediation and becomes a representation

- Budget and technology are factors that impact a representation
- Genre of the media text will also affect the mediation process
- Time frame – the length of the programme. Also the time from production to the release date – the time available for the mediation process
- The perception of the producer also affects how the overall media text is produced – different producers will see things differently and therefore create their texts to signify different meanings

- Most media producers are male. This would make their view of the world different to that of a female media producer

- It is important that the media text meets the expectations of the target audience it is aimed at

- Censorship – controlling the amount of e.g. violence, sex in order to be suitable for the specific target audience
- You can question a representation if you have a situated reality (experience of the situation)
- Mediated reality – watching whilst having no experience of the situation
- Hyper-reality – more real than the real. The representation is more important and more recognised than the real thing e.g. famous people

- How are women represented in the media?
· Housewife
· Professional, working
· Motherly type
· Sex object

Stereotyping

· Discrimination – an act
· Prejudice – a thought

- Stereotyping is most often referred to when talking about race, social class and gender

Semiotics Diagram

Semiotics

· Semiotics – the study of signs
· Metalanguage – a language about a language
· Sign – anything that conveys an image

- a sign can be split into two parts – the signifier and the signified
- the signifier is the physical form of the sign
- the signified is the meaning that is taken from the physical form
- the signified can also be split into two parts – the connotation and denotation
- the denotation is the first order of meaning (the obvious)
- the connotation is the deeper meaning of the sign. This is not ‘’fixed’’.

· the target audience must understand what the text/production is about, through what the signs convey

There are 3 types of signs:

· Icon – the direct, ‘’what it is’’
· Index – the relationship between the sign and the meaning
· Symbol – what it represents, often culturally specific

Diary Plan

School Magazine Front Cover

School Magazine Front Cover Mock-Up

Analysing a School Magazine Front Cover

School Magazine Front Cover