Conclusion of Media Investigation

Over the last few months, I have been investigating into how music influences individuality, and if males consume music on order to collect a constructive identity more so than females. I have researched this topic through a number of methods such as questionnaires, interviews and reading around the subject.

From researching this topic, I have found that in fact females and males equally listen to music and form a certain identity from it, but this has only occurred within the last few years. To begin with, this theory has first became apparent through my blog post "The Difference In Gender Roles," which came from a book written by David Gauntlett, as it discussed how over recent years the typical female stereotype of the "pretty little housewife" is no longer taken seriously. This idea that the girlish image that has been associated with females for many years is now slowly changing, indicates that this can link into the music industry. For example, if the image of this stereotype can alter, then perhaps females are slowly starting to adapt and grow more independent. This suggests that within the past few years women have been growing more individual which can reflect on everyday life such as how females consume music. Furthermore, David Gauntlett quoted how during the 90's "gender roles within television seem to be becoming more equal and non-stereotyped," which indicates a slowing change in attitudes towards females, and that they are being perceived on a more equal par to men. This relates to my topic of how males and females consume music in order to collect a constructive identity, as to begin, based on my own opinions, I believed that males did in fact consume music and respond to it with more individuality and females just copied the same music as there friends liked. However, after carrying interviews I discovered that this is in fact not completely true.

For example, when I carried out my interviews to both a male and female participant, I was expecting more of a contrast in there answers. Instead both there answers were in fact similar. For instance, my first question to them was "Do you tend to listen to the same genre of music and bands as your friends," to which my male participant stated that "I would never pretend to like a band just because my friends like them," and my female participant claimed "my music taste is very different compared to other friends." During my interview, I found that my third question produced the most interesting results, as I asked " In your opinion, do you think that females listen to music to construct a collective identity, or do you think that females just listen to the same music as their friends to become “part of the crowd?”My male participant (although when speaking sounded unsure) said how he believed "females taste are largely influenced by their friends, and they use it to bond," where-as my female participant contradicted this by saying "I know plenty of females that have completely different music taste to their friends. Maybe perhaps some girls do listen to music to not form an identity, instead they listen to music to fit in, yet with most of my female friends this certainly isn’t the case." Despite my interviews being carried out through a small sample size, the demographic was two seventeen year old sixth form students, which suggests that other teenagers would have similar views. What my participants responses show is that females are judged differently by males, and are automatically thought to just follow the crowd, where-as this certainly isn't almost the case.

Furthermore, everyday females are encouraged to become more and more individual and to make different choices from there friends. An example of this would be TV shows such as Ugly Betty which I carried out some research on. What I found was that ordinary teenage girls had been moved Betty and her quirky, strong personality on the show, and has indeed influenced and encouraged females to be more different in the choices they choose to make in life. Shows like this sound out a positive message to females and help them form a more constructive identity. This theory however suggests that because only now females are beginning to branch out, that around ten years ago females were more under stated and males were perceived as being the stronger more independent sex. Indicating that males maybe did always contain strong minded opinions and that the females role in society was to just "agree with whatever the men thought." Although as our society grows forward, this isn't the case anymore and gender roles are now considered to be more even.

This also links in with what pleasures audiences receive from watching programmes such as Ugly Betty. For example, females may gain a constructive identity from watching programmes where a female is in power, because a female audience may receive a feel of empowerment themselves, making them feel good about themselves as they watch. Therefore, males may construct a collective identity whilst listening to a song where the lyrics are about a male who is in power, because a male audience will receive pleasure from listening to these lyrics, because it makes them feel strong themselves. Therefore, females and males both listen and watch media in order to feel good. By also engaging in media texts such as watching clips on Youtube, audiences are hoping to gain a relationship with others, and help form an identity. This will be the same for both males and females, because when looking through comments underneath the clips, there is an equal amount of females and males leaving there opinions, in hope to find someone else with the same opinions as them so they can form a relationship with them. Thus resulting in both genders looking for ways to construct a collective identity.

However, there are implications of my findings in terms of how it can affect the music industry. For example, my research proves that if for example more females than males watch shows such as Ugly Betty, then that show is loosing out on ratings because males wont watch the programme as much due to the fact they receive no pleasures in doing so. Therefore, it could cause implications as well to the music industry in terms of a band only appealing to one gender, thus loosing out on the amount of sales they have because the other gender isn't interested in there music. Furthermore, these findings could affect my own media productions, because if our music video doesn't appeal to both males and females, then this causes our demographic to be of a small scale. Hence resulting in us promoting a band which isn't that popular to a large demographic.

Furthermore, throughout this investigation I have discovered that audiences receive certain pleasures from consuming music with groups of friends; whether you are female or male. For example, by listening to muisc together it allows you to create a bond with that other person, and share veiws on whether or not you enjoy that band. Therefore, both sexes can use consume music to make new friends, as well as forming a constructive identity. For example, on Youtube, the comments which are left under the media texts are an indication that participants enjoy leaving their veiws and comments about a peice of music, in hope to find someone else who shares the same opinions, so you can form a friendship. Therefore, listening to music isn't just about forming a sense of identity.

Overall, this concludes that the answer to my original question "Do males consume music in order to construct a collective identity to a greater extent than females," is that no, females do in fact listen to music and form a collective identity as much as males do.

Location Maps

Below is a map showing the location of Colegate Street:
Below is a location map showing Princes Street:

Below is a location map showing Tombland, which is surrounded by streets with possible locations that we could use for filming.

Below is a photo of Elm Hill, which is possibly one of our most important locations, due to there cobbled streets:

Costumes

As a group, we have decided that because the band New York Fund is an Indie band, we need to base our costumes on what an Indie band would wear. Stereotypically, this would be that our male protagonist would be wearing clothes such as skinny jeans, checked shirts, waist jackets and accessories such as trilby hats, which are items of clothing that particularly make the Indie style stand out to an audience. Below is a picture of a jet black waist jacket, which would either be worn over a checked shirt, or perhaps over a plain white t-shirt. The best colour to use would be black as it stands out against the shirt.




Below is a photo of skinny jeans, which is the main item of clothing which is essential for our male protagonist to wear, as skinny jeans are a classic signifier for Indie bands to wear, and when you watch music videos by bands such as "Razorlight," "U2," and "Pet Shop Boys," you always see them wear skinny jeans. Fortunately, our actor Jonny Lawrence owns skinny jeans to begin with, therefore it wont be a problem for us to get hold of some. Skinny jeans are also a symbol which reflect popular culture amongst young teenagers at the moment, and for the time being they are very much in the trends. Whether or not next year the trends will stay the same next year is a different matter as they could be the considered a laughing stock, yet at the moment they are an important item of clothing to include in a music video as they symbolise Indie bands as the members all wear skinny jeans at concerts and in music videos. More "Indie" bands which are an example of this include Rosalita, which are actually a local Norwich group. I've been to see Rosalita perfrom live at The Waterfront (a Norwich Gig Venue) and they were the spitting image of an Indie band, due to there dress wear consisting of the league singer wearing skinny jeans, checked shirts, and a waist coat.



The next photo shows a picture of a trilby hat, which although isn't an essential item to have our male protagonist wear, it tops of the Indie look, as a trilby hat is quite individual and stands out to an audience. A trilby hat would also stand out on a music video because it looks unique and makes our male protagonist stand out and look more eye catching. Furthermore, the most important reason is that a hat will help make our actor look like he defiantly belongs in an Indie music video.

The final photo shows a checked shirt, which as a group we thought would look stylish with a black waist coat over the top. Checked shirts are always worn by members of Indie bands and are very current at the moment in terms of teen trends. For example, when logging onto an online shopping site such as Topman, it is flooded with checked shirts. Therefore, as a result checked shirts like skinny jeans reflect popular culture at the moment, and every time you see checked shirts teenagers associate them with Indie bands. Therefore as a group we decided it was crucial to include a checked shirts.

Below is a link to Topman, which shows how skinny jeans anc checked shirts reflect popular culture. For example, Topman is a very current shop where a huge amount of teenagers shop and buy clothes from. I know this because I work for the Arcadia group which owns Topshop and Topman, and we make a huge amount of profit, in which we have to rely on teengers who are our main target auidence to buy the clothes:

http://www.topman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=17551&storeId=12555&categoryId=38981&langId=-1&top=Y

Meeting Schedule

At sixth form we work over a two week timetable, therefore on the first week we have four hours worth of media meetings, (not including media studies lessons) and on the second week we also have another four hours worth of media meetings.

In this time, we discuss exactly what we are going to film, where we are planning to film, (which mise en scene we shall use out of our choice of locations) and plan and make sure our storyboards have been finalized. Furthermore, we shall also use these meetings to edit our music video after we have finished the filming process, as well as using editing time during our media studies lessons. Time to film our music video will be sometimes used in these meetings schedules so we are able to get as much finished as possible.

The exact timings in which we are meeting are:

Week 1: Wednesday = 10.00am - 11.00am Thursday = 10.00am - 11.00am Friday = 12.20pm - 1.20pm 2.00pm - 3.00pm

Week 2: Monday = 3.00pm - 4.00pm Wednesday = 12.20pm - 1.20pm Thursday = 10.00am - 11.00am Friday = 2.00pm - 3.00pm

Update on our Actor

Unfortunately, our actor Guy Walker who was going to originally play the part of our male protagonist is no longer able to take the part on. However, we have found another actor "Jonny Lawrence" who has agreed to play the part instead. We chose Jonny Lawrence because of his good style and how he fits the part of playing our male protagonist in an Indie genre music video. For example, Jonny has good style and wears clothes such as skinny jeans, checked shirts and cardigans; exactly the type of style we were aiming for. Below is a photo of "Razorlight" showing the members of the band wearing the type of clothes we need our male protagonist to wear:

For example, what particularly stood out with the band Razorlight, is the shirts with their buttons done up right to the rim of their necks, which is a classic Indie music video signifier. Another classic signifier is the skinny jeans which the band are wearing, emphasizing their "Indie look." These are the type of clothes which Jonny wears, which is the reason why he would be a good actor to play our male protagonist, perhaps even more so than our original actor Guy Walker.

More Photo's of Possible Locations

Above is a photo of a cobbled street, which is a perfect location for us as a group, mainly because we need a variety of interesting and picturesque streets, as walking along a street is what our music video is based around. Above is a simple mid shot of the street, which is the shot type we were thinking of using for our music video, so the audience has a clear view of our male protagonist walking.

This is a photo of Elm Hill, which is most likely to main our main and most used location due to its authentic buildings, and most importantly, the street doesn't look commercial. This is a key point for us, as we most defiantly don't want commerical shops in the background, such as "Jarrolds," or "Just Add Water." We also like the tree in the background, due to the fact it makes the mise en scene look pretty; perfect for a romantic storyline. This is a photo of a Willow Tree, which as a group we defiantly would like to include in our music video, as it is very pretty, and as a result, perfect for a love story. What's nice about the mid shot we have also used is that you can see the river in between the Willow Tree. As a result, it's a possibility to have our male protagonist spying at our female protagonist through the trees as she's running on the opposite side of the river.

Above is a mid shot of a river, which we could use as a possible mise en scene for one of our shots for our male protagonist to walk past, as it looks picturesque with a nice red brick building along the side. This particular scene our group thought would look effective in either a blue filter or in black and white film noir, as the scenery as a whole will look perfect for a love story. This river is also next to a bridge which we can have our male protagonist running along in his search for a girl.
Above is a photo of a massive old building which used to be a factory, but has now be turned into offices. This building is impressive and looks nice with the willow trees covering it. We are hoping we could perhaps use a long shot of this building in our music video because it is an older building and doesn't look commercial in any way. Therefore the audience can be transformed out of Norwich and believe that they are in another place altogether.

This is a long shot of the river and we liked this shot type because of the bridge which shows how we could use this location in our music video. Our initial idea is that we can have our male protagonist run across the bridge, then stop, and look like he has given up and as if he is in despair. We are also thinking about having the odd mask appear around him with our female protagonist face on it to spook him out.

Above is a photo of again another cobbled street. We may not use this as a location, because compared to our other locations with cobbled streets, this is the one we like the least, simply because the buildings don't stand out enough compared to the ones of Elm Hill and the cobbled street by the river.
This is a mid shot of the bridge which is the same bridge as an earlier photo. However, this shot shows in a clearer vision what could be achieved in terms of effectiveness. For example, we think that this bridge is perfect to use in a love story, as it doesn't look as if we are filming in a city, yet it gives of an impression we are filming in a more obscure location like a romantic countryside.

Out of all the photos taken, this is my favourite because of the candy floss coloured buildings, and the symmetrical shaped cobbled path which is a perfect location to use in our music video! Also, it is by the river so it a romantic setting to use for a love story. To use this street, I think a long shot would work best, due to the fact the audience can see down the whole street and all the buildings, almost resembling "Yellow Brick Road." This scene also looks very authentic and not modern in any way, which is perfect for what we need. Above is a long shot of a normal road, which our group picked to photograph due to the old buildings, and the way it doesn't look too modern so we can use it as a possible street for our male protagonist to walk across in attempt to find our female protagonist which he is lusting after.

This is a possible location we thought we could use during the rift part of our song choice, but not in this particular part as it's too dangerous as the it's filled with broken glass. Yet around the side of this church which is shown in the photo below, we could use when our male protagonist is being chased by the masked extras and he feels trapped by them.

This is the courtyard of the church, which is the location we are going to use for the rift part of the song when our male protagonist is cornered by our masks. Reasoning for this is that we liked the way that when you use a long shot of the archway, the shape matches up perfectly to the church window in the distance. This is effective and a church is a great setting for our music video as it's an old piece of architecture. Furthermore, we plan to have our male protagonist perhaps faint when he is cornered by the masks, and have him black out right in the middle, whilst using a long shot so it captures all the building.

Overall, all these shots are of British cultural references, especially locations such as the river and the old English church yard.