Monday 24 August 2009

Photo's of Males and Females for A2 Summer Project









Above are photo's showing different friendship groups, which indicate that perhaps the way they dress are influenced by the type of genre's and bands they listen to. Especially the group which are usually classed as "goths" and "emo's." Typically, the type of music that these groups would be interested in our rock and metal music, for example artists such as Marylin Manson.
However, whats interesting and more relevant is how they become interested in this type of music to begin with, and furthermore how it influences there dress sense. Speaking from personal experience from when I used to know friends who dressed in the same way as "emos," and "goths," is that they became interested in this genre of music first by being influenced by there friends as they too became gradually effected by thus type of music and began changing their appearance. As a result, my friends too began changing their fashion and started listening to more rock music. Therefore, you can conclude from this that friends are influenced by socialization; not that they actually love the music, and this could go for both males as well as females.
Furthermore, certain pop stars can influence types of fashion sense in young males, but more particularly females. For example, stars such as Britney Spears who dress in a provocative way can influence young teens into believing they should dress in a certain "slutty" way. To begin with, when you are around the ages of 12 years and 13, if you hear a pop star belting out lyrics to a song which is considering popular among your friendship group, you are almost brain washed into having to like them. Then if this idolization grows, it can develop into you aspiring to dress in a similar way. Another example would be stars such as "Marylin Manson," who dress in obviously a Gothic fashion sense, and as a result, their fan base would aspire to dress like him and too dress in the same way; especially if their friends are aspiring like them too.
Also, when you are younger, it's true that you are pressured by your peers into acting and dressing in a certain way, because if you don't then young teens have a fear of being socially rejected. This is perhaps the reasoning why teens tend to rebel around this age group of around 12-15 years, then once you develop into higher education such as College or Sixth form, you develop into your own person more. But during this age, they may feel pressured into dressing the same way as their friends, otherwise they fear that they will never fit in that group and be an outkast.
Furthermore, to a certain extent these people are actually forming there own identity from copying the style of there idols. For example, at the beginning they are following the crowd of there friends and idols, yet at the same time they do look different from a lot of younger adolescents at there age; thus making them look more individual. Therefore, the judgement could be made that they are actively constructing their own identity and values, instead of being passive audiences. For example, if they were passive audiences, they would simply just listen to the music, not actually become active by dressing like them and taking on the same values. As a result, they are forming there own identity, which is better than just a teenage girl who listens to a song without taking any messages in

Possible Song Choices for A2 Media Coursework

Over the summer, me and my partner have been listening to songs in hope to discover a good track to use for shooting our music video. Our favourite one at the moment is Air by CHEWLiPS, and feel that this is the strongest track yet, with good dynamics to work on.


Counterpoint by Delphic : http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=320786298Salt

Air by CHEWLiPS: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=352745413

Girl on the Radio/Katie Goes Dancing by Hip Parade: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=352745413

Rage Against the Tantrum by Thomas Tantrum: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=45213465

Doll & The Kicks : http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=45213465

Results from my Questionnaire - A2 Summer Project



The demographic for my questionnaire was both females and males between the ages of 16-18, (occupation; sixth form students.) Overall, the results of my questionnaire I didn't find that surprising, and in total I handed out 15 questionnaires (8 being male, 7 female.)


My first question related to whether or not the participants listened to the same genre of music as their friends. In total, 5 out of 8 males stated that they had completely different taste in music to their friends, proposed to only 1 female saying the same thing. Furthermore, the other 3 males said that it varied and they did share similar taste in genre's of music, along with 5 more females which said that they too did share similar tastes in music. Only 1 female admitted to having the exact taste in music as the participants friend's. Therefore, this so far suggests to us that perhaps males and females do respond differently to music, and that females listen to music in order to bond with their friends? Yet, the demographic for my questionnaire was only a small sample, so more evidence would be needed to back up this theory.

Another interesting question which brought out a variety of answers was number 4, asking "Are your idea's influenced by certain genres and bands? If so, how or why?" This generated a range of responses from one participant stating "One of my favourite bands Pink Floyd, influences how I dress as I admire their own clothes," to a female participant stating "Since listening to the pop genre from a young age, it has influenced my interests, such as dancing and shopping." This suggests that perhaps a small amount of student's do admire their favourite genres and bands in terms of idolizing their interests and dress sense.


Number 6 asked whether or not you tended to listen to music on your own, or with a group of people. Surprisingly all females apart from 1, stated that they preferred to listen to music with their friends, where-as 5 males stated that they preferred to listen to music on their own via their MP3/Ipod. Personally, I would have predicted more females to state that enjoyed listening to music on their own through their Ipod's etc, yet this questionnaire showed a different response, suggesting that perhaps females do like listening and dancing to music in clubs or gigs as a way to connect with other people, with the music also influencing their fashion sense. Of course though, a bigger sample would be needed as evidence for this. However, photo's from night clubs go against this theory as just as many males as females do go out and enjoy music with their friends, with genres of music ranging from dub step to hip hop and R&B. Examples of photo's are shown above.

Sunday 23 August 2009

A Sample of the Questionnaire I Distrubuted to Participants for my A2 Summer Project

How do Males and Females Respond Differently to Music?
(please tick next to the answer which most applies to you)
1) Do you listen to the same genre of music as your group of friends?
- Yes, me and my friend's have the exact same taste in music, it's the one thing which we all have in common
- It varies, we do like similar genre's of music, yet I also listen to my own songs which my friend's probably wouldn't listen to
- Not at all, we have completely different taste in music!
2) Do you aspire to dress and look like your favourite band/artist?
- Of course, I copy their fashion style in an attempt to look like them
- I admire what they wear, but don't go out and buy copies of there clothes
- No, I don't dress like any of my favourite bands/artists
3) Where do you hear about new and up coming bands/artists which you may be interested in?
- Word of Mouth. (My friends etc)
- Adverts on TV/Radio/Internet
- Talk shows
- Magazines
- Other, please state below:
.............................................
4) Are your idea's influenced by certain genre's and bands? And if so, how or why?
................................................................................................................................................
5) How do you mostly consumer music?
- My Ipod/MP3
- The Radio
- Gigs/Music festivals
- Internet. (Downloading sites such as Itunes)
- Television and TV shows such as MTV
- Other
6) Do you tend to listen to music on your own, or when your with a group of people, such as in night clubs or gigs?
- On my own at home or when listening to my Ipod/MP3
- I prefer to listen to music with my friends
- Depends, both!
7) Do you express and share your music tastes with your friends?
- Yes
- Sometimes, but I worry that my friend's will make fun of me and the music I like
- Never
8) Do you have any opinions on whether or not females respond different to music than males? If you do, please explain and give reasons for your answer.
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Thank you for taking your time to fill out this questionnaire!

Introduction to my Media A2 Summer Project

My topic for my A2 Media Extended Learning is:

Do males consume music in order to construct a collective identity to a greater extent than females?

Reasoning for choosing this as my topic is that I thought that it would be interesting to research how males and females actually respond differently to a variety of music and music video's. This will help develop my understanding for my year 13 coursework, as it will increase my knowledge of background music for studdying and constructing music video's next year.
I will express my findings through blog posts, pictures, photo's and an essay. Furthermore, research in which I shall carry out will include:
- Handing out questionnaires
- Interviews
- Photo's
- Recording the interviews
- Vox Pops
- Video Recording different social groups

This topic is relevant at this point in time, as the music industry is growing larger and more powerful each day, with even more unsigned bands becoming more well known due to social networking sites promoting their music, such as Myspace. Therefore, the topic of weather or not males use music to consume a constructive identity to a larger extent that females do, is a topic of interest, as the results could tell is about weather or not music can actually mean more to males and females in terms of using it as a way to express themselves.

I will use sample groups and mostly qualitative data to present my research, and shall record my findings as I go along.