Year 10 Coursework
1. What have you learned about conventions and gender representations from your research?I have learned universal images and conventions that would be seen on a generic album cover and learned how to apply them into a work or design situation. Such things include copyright protection text and information, song names and numbers, colours and fonts and images related to the mood or theme of the album. I have also learned about gender representation, as in women are often represented as objects of sexual gaze, I have learned this from my Laura Mulvey essay as well as my album research sheets, this is shown even further in my hip hop honeys powerpoint, I Have also learned that men are represented as high and mighty beings who believe themselves to be more important than women this is often shown by imagery or clothing men wear in album covers or music videos and also via lyrics that the artist sings in their song, an example of this is "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, where the artist is wearing a suit and tie whereas the women around him are all wearing tight see through PVC clothing with just underwear underneath, the lyrics also show how he believes himself to be far more important than women for example, the line, which seems like a command to the woman nearest to him, "Get up, get down" and the woman nearest him does so, he also refers to a woman as "the hottest b*tch in this place" Therefore, i have learned that there is a large inequality of gender representation in the majority of pop music videos. 2. What did you plan to do & Why?I planned for my album cover to be themed around the sky and clouds with a male artist sitting among the clouds, I planned for the artist to be wearing smart casual clothes showing sophistication yet being laid back. As this was a pop album, i wanted to match the theme by using bright colours, cartoony effects and having the male artist shown in a very masculine way. 3. Analysis of gender representations in your album cover using codes and signs. My album front cover showed the male artist among the clouds as though he believes himself to be more important and more high up than everyone else, this is a negative representation of men as it shows they believe themselves to be more important than everyone else. On the back cover, the artist is still among the clouds but this time has his blazer over his shoulder and is looking directly at the camera as though he were looking directly at the audience. 4. Discuss your skills developmentI would say that my media skills have increased significantly over the course of this year, from basic understanding to fluent use of programs like photoshop and I now have a much better understanding of the media world. Expanding on my point of improved photoshop skills, this is the back cover draft i produced Whereas this is the final photoshop version and it looks far more impressive. Overall I would say that my overall skills in media have significantly increased in media over this year, yet could still be improved. Laura Mulvey’s theory applies to the music videos “Dirty” and “Do it Like a Dude” because both videos invite the audience to view the artists as objects of desire. This is done through the camera shots and angles used, the fact the video is presented in a voyeuristic way to the audience, and the way the artist interacts with others in the video. In Christina Aguilera’s video of “Dirty” the use of the camera invites sexual gaze by focusing on certain places on her body that would often be seen as objects of desire. For example near the beginning of the video the camera focuses on her mouth but later on doesn’t focus on any specific areas of her body but instead focuses on her as a whole. The audience views this video in a voyeuristic way because they are seeing a lot of her body that they would not or should not see in everyday life, this is shown by her being half naked throughout almost the entire video. The actors interact in a way that results in the female being looked at as an object of desire. This occurs when the women in the videos are shown half naked around men and often dancing for there pleasure, for example in dirty, Christina is shown half naked dancing in the middle of a group of men in a boxing ring. In Jesse J’s video of “Do it Like a Dude” the use of the camera invites sexual gaze by focusing on certain parts of her body such as her mouth, it also shows sexual gaze by showing the camera from angles such as from above. The audience views this video in a voyeuristic way because Jessie is often shown grabbing the camera and making the audience see what she wants them to see therefore showing that she is being aggressive. The actors interact in a way that results in the female being looked at as an object of desire. This occurs when Jessie dances in front of the camera and often times grabs the camera to make them see what she wants them to see. The target audience for these two artists is young females. However, the way they represent themselves as sexual objects does not appeal to young girls, it appeals more to men. I believe Christina Aguilera and Jesse J choose to represent themselves like this because they believe that by attracting men to watch the video they will get more and more people to watch the video therefore earning them more money as they seem to believe that the wider audience of music videos will be men. In summary, Laura Mulvey’s theory applies to these music videos because in both videos the artists are shown doing very sexual actions around men and making themselves seem like an object of desire to be looked at for plesure, although Jessie J doesn’t allow this to happen as much. |