Unit 1 George Dillon: July 2012

Friday, 6 July 2012

AOB 6 Regulation (Music Video)

Discussing the case of the outcome reached on the Rihanna S&M music video by Ofcom.

WTF TV broadcast a music video by Rihanna for the song “S&M”, at 11:25 on 10 March, the video received various complaints stating that the music video was complete unsuitable for daytime television. Ofcom had to study many rules, such as rule 1.3, which states children must be protected by the appropriate scheduling of material that is completely unnecessary for younger viewers. Ofcom hopes that all music channels consider younger viewers, and also hope they carry a responsibility toward younger audiences, especially during the daytime.

After studying the points and arguments created by ofcom on the decision as to wether the rihanna s&m video i agree to a certain extent that the decision reached by Ofcom, was the correct decision. There are many factors, for and against their decision, many of which are against the video been shown during the daytime. The Rihanna S&M video contains included themes of bondage, sexual dominance, and sadomasochism. Throughout the music video, there is constant reference to sexual nature, during one part of the scence there is images of Rihanna's face and also her body being restrained by cellophane, also a man is featured in the video, whilst shes walking him on a leash, and also whipping him from behind, also she is seen whipping a man whos dressed as a journalist, with his feet and also his hands tied with tape, adopting many sexual references and also the use of blow up dolls, none of this may contain nudity or such graphic content, however it is completely inappropriate for viewing during the normal hours of the day. I believe that should younger viewers have come across this music video, it would be extremely inappropriate for them, they may not know what most of the content is about however, it does not set a good example for the younger generation, and also parents would not be happy should they come home and find their children watching such sexual nature on television. In the end Ofcom reached the decision that the video wasn't appropriate to be shown and any time during the day, and also that the video contained too much sexualized nature of the content and theme, and the at times inappropriate and potentially dangerous and imitable behaviour shown in this video, this material exceeded the likely expectations of the audience for this channel during daytime.

So overall, i completely agree to the decision made by ofcom, i feel the video is completely unsuitable for a younger audience during daytime television, the sexual nature of the video pointed me to reach this decision, and i feel that the video should only be shown to viewers past the watershed time, which is around 9pm and before around am, therefore younger viewers will be less likely to be watch the video, and it would also make parents aware that during 9-5am that content like this shall be displayed, therefore they can ensure that their children do not watch videos past the watershed time.

Thursday, 5 July 2012

AOB 5 (Music Video) DIstribution and Ownership Slide 3

AOB 5 (Music Video) DIstribution and Ownership Slide 2

AOB 5 (Music Video) Distribution and Ownership Slides

AOB 5 Distribution and Ownership (Music Press) Task 1 & 2

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

AOB 4 Music Press Presentation

The Stephen Gately article, isn't a great one, the article questions the singers death, lifestyle, and many other factors of the stars life. The article was wrote by Jan Moir, a writer for the Daily Mail, an article which sparked huge complaints. The article explains how Stephen Gately's lifestyle, and his sexuality played a part in his death, which upto this point, the cause wasnt known. The article uses such depressive, quite rather, lazy, woeful wording, and rather outrages hateful comments aimed at the 33 year old. The article caused a lot of hatred towards to the writer, a lot of companys who advertised in the Daily Mail had pulled out, such as Marks and Spencers, the comment 'There was nothing natural about his death' was the main reason which provoked thousands to express their anger at the writer. Charlie Brooker, a writer for the guardian wrote an article not long after Jan Moir had released hers, he explained the pure disgust of what she had written, he wrote 'It has been 20 minutes since I've read her now-notorious column, and I'm still struggling to absorb the sheer scope of its hateful idiocy. It's like gazing through a horrid little window into an awesome universe of pure blockheaded spite.'' Not only did Charlie feel this way, as did thousands who read her ridiculous article. The guardian newspaper is the complete oposite to that of the daily mails, their article a rather gentle, and very 'anti Jan Moir one'. I think you can tell the way the audience is shaped for both newspapers, the Daily Mail's article being rather informal, using repulsive words to try and draw new readers in and a rather disrespectful tone to accompany that. The guardian on the other hand, writes much more formal, more respectful in its manner, you can tell the difference in class between the two newspapers. The fact that the daily mail newspaper is cheaper than the guardian, shows the divide in class, the daily mail writes more 'cheap, and ludicrous' articles, rather than the 'intelligent, more understanding' articles from the Guardian. I think this effects the way articles are written in both, as shown in the Jan Moir article for the daily mail, and then the Charlie Brooker article for the guardian.

AOB 4 Music Video (Representation)

Music Video Representation Essay

Beyonce is a modern day superstar, she is loved by thousands her music is extremely unique. In this essay i will be analyzing her throughout her videos, in which Beyonce is represented in completely different ways in each.

In 'Halo' Beyonce is represented as this innocent women who is in love. The video is fairly slow and it the music video is much less paced than her other videos, such as 'Single Ladies'. The messages we get in the Halo video, of how Beyonce is represented are through her appearance, she's shown as elegant, pure, and a very well cultured women, who seems rather sad/depressed.
In 'Single Ladies' Beyonce is portrayed as a very happy, classy individual, her performance is very seductive and this s shown in the clothes she is wearing, and the dance moves she is doing. The 'Single Ladies' video is very fast pace and rather happy which differs completely to the 'Halo' video, which seems quite upsetting. In Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love' video, she is again very energetic just like 'Single Ladies' her clothing is very revealing and the video seems upbeat and happy, her dance routines are also very similar to the ones in 'Single Ladies'. Beyonce also features in Lady Gaga's music video 'Telephone' where she is shown as a different character to the normal Beyonce we are used to, this is due to the fact Lady Gaga is extremely different to your normal audience, we wouldn't expect Beyonce to feature in this video, yet she does, and performs very well.

The characters she plays are chosen for many different reasons throughout her different videos. In Single Ladies Beyonce is this extremely confident character, the video supports the the messages it gives, and Beyonce seems in control the whole time. This representation is appropriate for the video, and it fits Beyonce's song too. In Halo the characters Beyonce is portrayed as this mellow and rather gentle character, this is so she appeals to a wider audience and she fits the role perfectly. In the music video 'Crazy In Love' she plays a very different character to the one in Halo, shes very wild, more seductive, this character is more appealing to a male audience, rather a wider audience like in Halo. In Telephone with Lady Gaga, Beyonces personal and character changes completely, shes portrayed as this rather over the top, exited, kind of weird, similar in a way to Lady Gaga herself, this not only will appeal to Beyonce fans, it will appeal to lady Gaga fans, and also people who didn't quite know what Beyonce is all about. Beyonce has been portrayed differently in all four music videos, the reasoning behind this is that it helps to appeal to a range of different people, the wider range of performance, the more people she is most likely to attract, and more records she is likely to sell.

Sasha Fierce is a Beyonce represented as a new alter-ego. The reasoning behind this is so that its more fun, and more sexual, and aggressive towards to her audience, mainly towards a more male audience, as male audiences have different needs to that of females, so appealing more seductive would entice more males to watch her videos. Beyonce named her album 'I am Sasha Fierce' and its based on the good Beyonce, and the bad Sasha Fierce, this is represented in the songs and also in her videos. Having a alter-ego helps represent Beyonce as this thrilling, imaginative artist, with having two types of personnel, people will not know what to expect in her oncoming songs an videos, and therefore they will enjoy her performances and music much more.

Young people are influenced by many different artists during the modern day, different people have different needs, and I believe many younger females would be influenced by Beyonce rather than males, if the 'effects theory' is true, then it would be the clothing, the make up, and the personality of Beyonce that would influence the younger females. Also the gratifications theory, Beyonce's videos appeal to a wide audience, so her music can help form personal relationships, and also personal identity can be formed if people were to attempt to copy her dancing, her routines and the personnel's she portrays throughout her different videos. Diversion is also a gratification, Beyonce is a very attractive and appealing women, she appears to men sexually, and to women as this role model, people may watch her videos in the concept of means of diversion.