For media audiences, the internet has changed everything?

"For media audiences, the internet has changed everything." Discuss?

The impact of the internet has transformed the media industry hugely. It can be described as a global network whereby new information and media texts can be shared, emailed, 'liked' on Facebook and followed on Twitter. It is clearly a powerful tool, yet for media audiences has the internet truly changed everything?

The internet has had a vast impact on the media industry as social networking has provided up and coming artists with a platform to express themselves and an opportunity to carve out a career for themselves. In the past, singers and bands would have to play at gigs in small venues and would need to spend extortionate amounts of money in the hope of making their own CD's which would hopefully lead them to being signed by a record label. In today's climate, raw talents such as Esmee Denters a Dutch singer-songwriter who attracted the attention of Justin Timberlake in 2008, who later went on to sign her to his label Tennman Records and Conor Maynard, a 19 year old singing sensation from Brighton who began performing, recording and uploading cover versions to his YouTube channel whilst at school. However, within a few months his online following exploded, due to his popularity with fans and he was instantly signed to record label "Parlophone Records" and was also crowned the winner of MTV's Brand New Artists for 2012, have each created accounts on YouTube, uploaded videos of themselves singing and have been noticed by bigger artists and managers - none of this could have been achieved without the internet.

Even if the singer is not lucky enough to be noticed by either Usher or Justin Timberlake - Social networking online allows artists to carve out a career in a touch industry. The ability to 'like'  Facebook pages, follow on Twitter and subscribe to YouTube channels showcases how an artist can set up an account and gain popularity and recognition for next to nothing. A good example of this is is Justin Bieber a 16 year old Canadian first caught the radar as a YouTube star, when his mother uploaded home-recordings of his performances at local events. The amateur footage caught the attention of Atlanta manager Scooter Braun who then introduced Bieber to R&B super star Usher. Thanks to social networking sites he has managed to get a record deal, where he recorded an album to be sold on itunes as well as gaining an overwhelming internet following database - he has to this date 22,550,206 Twitter followers and 43,741,528 likes on Facebook.

Nonetheless, by Justin Bieber having uploaded a collection of his music videos onto YouTube, audiences are able to "dislike/like" them. Not only does this draw attention to whether audiences like him as an artist or not but it highlights how for audiences to be able to use YouTube to "dislike/like" a video, their understanding of the internet must be good enough for them  and they must be provided with an internet full of necessities to be able to do this. Theorist, Clay Shirky particularly agrees with this statement as he believes that the development of online communications and social media has allowed ideas and information to be shared easily. Websites such as YouTube and Facebook have created a platform for mass collaboration - which involves groups of people sharing ideas because of social activism online. Although, a contradiction has been made, by the likes of Mozorov who argues that new internet technologies can bring threats along with opportunities for audiences. This has ultimately lead to social media sites, for instance, Twitter and Facebook to monitor audiences uses, engaging in surveillance.

Bieber, Denter's and Maynard success applies to the theory of the long tail (Chris Anderson). The internet has had a huge impact on the music industry because it highlights how smaller artists like Bieber, Denter's and Maynard are able to earn a living by selling CD's on iTunes. The internet therefore provides niche artists with an unlimited storage space that results in music being stocked online despite there not being an overwhelming demand - which would be needed if an artist wanted to sell their CD's in a shop like Zavvi or possibly HMV. The internet has had such a dramatic effect on the music industry that music store, HMV is at risk of closing down. In today's climate 90% of single sales are online - stores are losing plenty of business and now need to be backed by record labels in order to survive. Clearly, this is a dramatic effect of the internet as CD stores have always been a permanent fixture in society previously.

Spotify, the music and social networking program relies predominantly on streaming - which has completely transformed the music industry. Streaming illustrates how audiences can listen to media without fully downloading it. Artists such as Rihanna has used this concept so that fans can 'attend' her concerts without leaving the comfort of their own homes. Streaming is also the basis of YouTube - the world's most popular video sharer. Additionally, advancements in fibre optic broadband technology has completely changed the media industry because it allows one's Mac or PC to become a media hub instead of physically attending concerts or watching music channels like MTV for hours in the hope that their favorite music video appears on screen.  This new format to viewing new media is teamed with an equal ability to create new media. Web 2.0 and the early stages of 3.0 have blurred the lines between consumer and producer creating a brand new breed - the 'prosumer'. These prosumers can upload their own footage to become great successes, for instance, Numa, Numa Boy uploaded a video to YouTube of himself singing 'Numa, Numa, Yei' which has now reached a record 46,794,208 views and as we have already seen with singers Bieber, Denter's and Maynard - who created careers for themselves after originally posting videos of themselves onto YouTube only a few months beforehand.

This can also be applied to the film industry - whereby the internet has transformed the industry hugely. Upcoming film makers can arouse popularity on social networking sites, crowd source cast and crew over the internet and can use analytics to find out where their fans are in order to showcase their film with a guaranteed audience. The footage can then be uploaded onto sites such as YouTube and more importantly - www.indiemoviesonline.com, in order for it to be viewed by the entire world. It has also affected Blockbuster cinema because viral ad campaigns over the internet can attract audiences in their masses, this was definitely the case for Guy Ritchie's - 'Sherlock Holmes' which was promoted through "high impact premium outdoor campaign", TV ads during high-audience events such as the Champions League, unmissable print placements, and publicity events such as Madame Tussauds waxwork of Robert Downy Jr and an audio walk around places that the original Holmes went. Also, another aspect of the marketing campaign was to bring images of the modern Sherlock to the walls of Baker Street tube station, all of this resulted in the film becoming sold out in theatres all over the country. Another film which opened up in 730 cinemas across the UK and became number 1 in blockbuster office was "The Kings Speech" this may have been down to the fact that the film was advertised largely in upmarket newspapers and during family TV programmes also. Additionally, sites such as 'NetFlix' and 'Love Film' mean that Blockbuster movies could be rented with the click of a button - however, like HMV this is competing with the likes of Blockbuster.

All things considered, it is obvious that the internet has changed everything, especially the way we consume it. With the use of social networking, we are all effectively 'prosumers' and as a mass we are the ones in control of the media. For instance in the UK a Facebook campaign railied for 'Rage Against The Machines - 'Killing in the name of' to become a Christmas number one and it certainly worked, the X-Factor single was placed at number two in the charts. The internet is such a strong tool that when it is used properly it can  have a dramatic result for its audiences. The internet has ultimately changed everything and has brought about a lot of positivity for audiences when using it, yet we need to be aware that all effects of the internet are not completely positive as online sales and rentals are slowly putting shops out of business and the ability to share media with ease has resulted in piracy culture where games, music and movies can be obtained for free, which signifies that the internet has had a detrimental effect on the media industry - despite all of the positives that come with being a prosumer in today's modern world. 

Discuss the use you have made of media language in one of your media products? (1B)

“Media is communication” Discuss ways that you have used media language to create meanings in one of your media products?

The project which I am going to be referring to in relation to the media language used to create meanings in one of my media products is going to be for my psychological thriller opening for my foundation portfolio, named “Premonition.” When filming the first two minutes of a psychological thriller opening sequence called 'Premonition' we created a narrative story line of a teenage girl having a premonition of her boyfriend suffocating and killing her but is currently unaware as to why this happens. 


When working on Final Cut Express to edit our footage we were able to learn a variety of new skills and techniques and develop them further the more we edited our opening sequence. One skill in particular that I learnt after several attempts at trying to create this was a wire-framing effect where I was able to display two separate pieces of visual imagery, that is, one shot of the female protagonist slowly beginning to wake up from her dream as she began to slowly open and close her eyes and the second shot was of the ceiling which was filmed slightly blurred and was a POV shot of what the protagonist was looking at as she began to wake up. Each of these images were placed on top of each other and then blended together using the blend tool where we were able to change the percentage of how bright the image appeared on screen lowering it slightly, allowing it to blend in with the second visual image. An additive dissolve was also an effect used to create the blinking effect where the two visual images blended from being together as one to suddenly changing back to two separate images. This particular effect was inspired from a scene in the film, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." We used a wire-framing effect again during another stage of our thriller opening sequence, when creating our company production logo where we began to animate a still image of a keyhole to coincide with the production company name of 'Keyhole Productions.' Along with this, I also learnt how to create a subtle fade in and fade out effect when creating the credits for our opening sequence and a dip to colour effect where I changed the colour from black to white in order to create a white flash highlighting the barrier between appearance/the dream world and reality (the moment the protagonist was having the premonition). 


In terms of our narrative structure we decided to follow Todorov's five stage model theory. Todorov argues that "narrative involves a transformation. The characters or situations are transformed through the progress of disruption." Todorov's five stage model stands in the order of an 'equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption, attempting to repair disruption and a return of new equilibrium,' as we wanted our audience to have a clear understanding about what the narrative was about, by clearly understanding who was the hero, for instance in the film Premonition there are two main characters Yasmin and Nimesh. However only one of which is the hero, this is the Yasmin as she attempts to survive her premonition and find out why it is that her boyfriend is trying to murder her. 

In our own soundtrack we decided to create a melody that once it began to play it engaged the audiences’ attention immediately. What is more, is that we wanted to create a soundtrack where the louder the noise became it began to make audiences heat beat race and throat to suddenly becomes dry, allowing fear to take over, delivering a roller coaster of human emotions. In my opinion, if these elements consist in a thriller soundtrack then this is what makes the overall film successful and enthralling.  

Media language is an exceptionally important factor when creating meaning in a media product, and I believe that both Khushel and I achieved this successfully when creating our psychological thriller film opening. According to John Fiske, "denotation is what is filmed, connotation is how it is filmed" and I believe that we clearly applied this to our media product by ensuring that we created a narrative story line in an attention-grabbing and fast paced manner that allowed audiences to become engrossed and enthralled by the overall product. 

Henry Jenkins Questions

Henry Jenkins Question:

1. What are Henry Jenkins’ ideas about how the media landscape is changing?

Jenkins states that there is definitely a transition where an old media system is dying and a new media system is being born. An era where spectatorial culture is giving way to participatory culture. Where a society based on a small number of companies controlling the story telling apparatus giving way to a much more complex media scape   where average citizens have the ability to seize control over the media technology and tell their own stories in powerful new ways. If we go back through human history over the last thousand of years the most important stories  were told many, many times around a 'campfire' per say. 

2. What is ‘convergence culture’?

3. How are Jenkins’ ideas similar to those of David Gauntlett and Michael Wesch?

4. How might we disagree with Jenkins’ utopian ideas about the media? 

"Representation in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them." Evaluate ways you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced:

Representation Essay:

I am going to discuss my advanced portfolio in which I created an R&B music video in relation to the representation of gender. Representation is a tool used in the media to show us things about society - but this is often through careful mediation. For representation to be meaningful to audiences there needs to be a shared recognition of different types of people, situations and ideas. In "Hate This Part", I established a narrative that exemplifies how the female protagonist is reminiscing over her relationship, coming to the realisation that it is about to come to an end due to the constant arguing between the duo. The narrative displays the emotions of sadness and heartbreak that the couple felt as they were aware that their relationship was about to come to an end. However, we juxtaposed the scenes of the breakdown of her relationship with scenes of the artist singing and choreographed dance scenes, (allowing the artist to express herself freely and openly - releasing the build up of stress and sadness from within her relationship.)

When researching videos which fit the same genre characteristic, that is R&B, I discovered that the lyrics shape our responses of women representation as much as the visual medium, "thought that we were stronger, all we do is linger, slipping through my fingers." Common representations of Women in R&B videos can often be depicted as feisty, strong-willed, independent who are not ashamed of flaunting their sexuality. Stuart Hall explains that we "decode texts in different ways according to our circumstances." A lot of young women would agree with the dominant reading of this text. Original artist Nicole Scherzinger's message is that it is ok to be sexy, to be young, to have fun and it is also ok to feel vulnerable, so in this way it is empowering. I felt that I needed to create a choreographed dance scene in order to uphold the conventions of an R&B music video, although I decided to tone down the sexualisation of the artist, which the Pussycat Dolls would have originally showcased in order  Other women will partially accept this reading but may question her reliance on a man to have happiness. Gauntlett argues that "identities are not 'give' but are constructed and negotiated."

An oppositional reading may reject the preferred reading because a section of the audiences would reject this objectification of women's bodies in the media which have been a constant theme by dressing semi-naked as they move and dance around the artist seductively, flaunting their body to their audiences. This scene is a cliche convention which has been re-used over and over again to exploit woman's sexuality in music videos and can be seen in Mohombi ft Nelly's video "Miss Me", Rihanna's "S&M" and Ne-Yo's "Closer". Furthermore, we wanted to steer away from the 'typical' portrayal of female artists in music videos where the  Laura Mulvey argues that "the dominant point of view is masculine. The female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide erotic pleasure for the male voyeurism." Whilst, critic John Berger also states a similar thing suggesting that, "men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at," exemplifying how the female body is merely used to attract a male gaze whilst woman are left to observe how their own bodies are used to provide that erotic pleasure.

We decided that because our video consisted of one strong female protagonist, we didn't want to be another group that exploits women in music videos in order to draw in our audiences. We wanted to be able to take hold of our audience's attention by the talent and aptitude of the artist, as well as encouraging teenage girls and young adults to imitate and respect their idols. Evidently, we were inspired by ex girl group Destiny's Child who predominantly performed songs expressing how women can be strong female role models who are able to rely upon themselves and stand on their own two feet. Bearing this in mind, we wanted our artist to feel as though their fans and audiences know them for who they are as a respectable and highly regarded singer and not for the exploitation of their sexuality and being known as the "hot one." Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratification Theory suggests that audiences actively consume texts for different reasons and in different ways - such as for diversion, to identify with the character or situations, and for the need to be entertained. Also the need to be able to identify personally with the characters and situations. Women may be able to identify with Beyonce, an urban girl who transformed in a successful global sensation.





What is more, is that although our artist is a celebrity with a single and music video which has been released into the charts we portrayed her as a normal girl suffering through a normal, tough situation where she experiences getting her heart broken by her boyfriend. This particular representation that we created clearly engages our target audience (13-29+) for the reason that this age range will most likely be familiar with the narrative. It will be mainly aimed at the female audiences not only because the main protagonist/singer is female but simply because girls are more caring and understanding to the sensitive and emotional story line which the song narrates. Additionally, a feminist reading would appreciate the fact that the artist is in control of her relationship, showcasing her independence as she makes the decision to end the relationship. The representation we created for our protagonist can actually be seen as inspirational to other female audiences out there as they observe our artist displaying great power over men.

Furthermore, our music video "Hate This Part" still conveys a heterosexual world - a male and female relationship which subverts the norms for the reason that our female protagonist ends up being the one in control compared to her male partner, yet she still ends up having heart broken by him. We were influenced by this similar narrative story line when watching  Keri Hilson's video "Knock You Down" ft Ne-Yo and Kanye West, as it also portrayed a couples relationship breaking down. In terms of the masculinity showcased in our video we decided to challenge the usual stereotypical tough male posterior by creating a male character who was more sensitive and vulnerable which was focused on when the female protagonist walked away from her boyfriend after ending the relationship, as he was left standing alone. We also highlighted how the artist was the stronger one when she turned back around to look at her boyfriend (who was stood alone at the top of road) but rather than heading back to him she chose to walk away and walk out of her boyfriends life completely.

Online Age Questions:

Online Age Questions:

1. According to this video, what was the music industry like in the 90s and how has it changed more recently? 

The music industry in the 90's consisted of big mass drivers such as MTV and radio stations which was incredibly helpful for artists as you had a huge collection of record labels where more and more artists found themselves being signed. Whilst it was very competitive during this time, it was also an era where you could discover something before anyone else. Whereas, if you look at what's currently happening right now in the music industry there is a huge flux where there's more artists out there, which creates a lot of opportunity for them and has opened the door for so many acts but at the same time it makes it harder and harder to have really big mainstream stars because in today's climate the whole economic scale has changed dramatically and has enabled smaller businesses and smaller record labels to become more successful because of the way they can compete with some of the bigger labels as it has recently equalized allowing more acts to take control of their own destiny. So perhaps now the consumer relies more upon the creator providing the artists with a bigger connection to their own music. 

2. What are curators (such as Pitchfork and Hypemachine)? What is their role? Why are they important?

Curators are often known as music guides for the consumers, providing them with information that tells them about what is good and what is not as well as keeping them up to date with what it is currently happening in the music industry and what is currently happening with the artist. Pitchfork media is an online company who write reviews on the artist themselves, the music there producing. Pitchfork often produce 5 reviews a day, which is, 25 a week and in the long run adds up to about 1200 reviews a year. Hypermachine is another website which produces and collects a variety of information on the music industry which is often taken from other blogs and posts which discusses some of the most recent and up to date music news. By collecting information from a variety of sites and mixing it together to create an overall post which is then placed on the website it allows consumers to access one site where they have access to all the most recent news that is taking place in the music industry today. It also allows consumers to get involved with the site as it provides them with instructions with how they can keep up to date with the news on the website as well. The curators are extremely important as they are the primary source which often filters out either the music produced by the artists or news related to the music industry out to the consumers. 

3. How can you link what this video says about creativity, video making in particular, to David Gauntlett's ideas and to the theory of the long tail?

In music videos made today, they are constantly changing all the time and in a way their changing the game as artists are creating it in their own way and taking control of what they want to achieve in their video. When artists start to experiment you begin to see an interesting end product. With software's such as Photoshop, After Effects and Cinema 4D you can fuse a lot of these 'arty' ideas together to create something  entirely new very easily. Furthermore, because these 'new' artists work together in smaller groups they don't need to rely upon directors/producers as they have the means to work together to create, film and edit their own videos which often makes the video more personal to them as they've used there own ideas to create the end product and at the end of the day it's less mainstream. This relates to the Long Tail theory as in today's climate there are more individual artists who are working there way up the ladder showing off what they can do which is essentially drawing more of an audience in, which particularly appeals to a niche audience. This contrasts with many mainstream artists who release their music out into the music world but simply attracts a mass audience. Because of today's music industry there are more opportunities and space on the shelf for new forms of distribution, production and creation which results in more of a choice for both the artist and the audience. 

1a Question:

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time:

Since taking media for A Levels I have learnt a range of skills in the use of digital technology for media production, that is, filming the first two minutes of a psychological thriller opening sequence called 'Premonition' which showcases a narrative story line of a teenage girl having a premonition of her boyfriend suffocating and killing her but is unaware as to why this happens and at A2 I developed my skills further when filming for our R&B music video 'Hate This Part' where we created a narrative story line displaying how the female protagonist is reminiscing over relationship, coming to the realisation that it is going to come to an end due to constant arguing between the duos, heightening the emotions of sadness and heartbreak that the couple felt as they were aware of this. 

When we started to create our psychological thriller opening for our foundation portfolio at AS we decided to film using the Canon HD camera which we found to be high in quality in terms of both its lighting performance and in definition. Whilst filming our thriller film opening we decided to use a range or media equipment ranging from dolly's and tripod's to film several of the tracking shots to using spotlights and light reflectors to enhance the footage of the night time bedroom scenes where the protagonist was filmed sleeping and becoming restless when having her premonition. All of which worked together really well to create a variety of successful scenes for our opening sequence Nevertheless, after our first filming session we decided to upload the footage onto the Imac computer but unfortunately had trouble in doing so as we hadn't completely got to grips with the Imac software but after several attempts and help from tutorials and teachers we were able to upload the footage sufficiently ready to start editing in Final Cut Express. As well as using Final Cut Express when editing our opening sequence, we also used other digital technology software's such as 'Photoshop, Live Effects and After Effects' to create our credits and production logo.

When working on Final Cut Express to edit our footage we were able to learn a variety of new skills and techniques and develop them further the more we edited our opening sequence. One skill in particular that I learnt after several attempts at trying to create this was a wire-framing effect where I was able to display two separate pieces of visual imagery, that is, one shot of the female protagonist slowly beginning to wake up from her dream as she began to slowly open and close her eyes and the second shot was of the ceiling which was filmed slightly blurred and was a POV shot of what the protagonist was looking at as she began to wake up. Each of these images were placed on top of each other and then blended together using the blend tool where we were able to change the percentage of how bright the image appeared on screen lowering it slightly, allowing it to blend in with the second visual image. An additive dissolve was also an effect used to create the blinking effect where the two visual images blended from being together as one to suddenly changing back to two separate images. This particular effect was inspired from a scene in the film, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

We used the wire-framing effect again during another stage of our thriller opening sequence, when creating our company production logo where we began to animate a still image of a keyhole to coincide with the production company name of 'Keyhole Productions.' Along with this, I also learnt how to create a subtle fade in and fade out effect when creating the credits for our opening sequence and a dip to colour effect where I changed the colour from black to white in order to create a white flash highlighting the barrier between appearance/the dream world and reality (the moment the protagonist was having the premonition). Additionally, when creating the thriller soundtrack for our opening sequence we chose to use Garage Band as we were able to create a subtle, yet eery melody using the different tools and instruments which could be fitted into our sequence successfully.

When starting our advanced portfolio for A2 I found that I was more comfortable and familiar with the media equipment and software's so I decided that to develop my skills even further I wanted to begin learning about more of the effects that were available on Final Cut Express and Photoshop to help define the editing process of footage that we'd either filmed our self or was made accessible to us from our teachers. For instance, we were able to develop our special effect skills further when creating two preliminary tasks such as an Animal Costumes video where we had to pick an audio track and using the animal costume footage edit it accordingly so it fit in with the beat of the song. This task allowed me to experiment with changing the speed of the footage (speeding it up and slowing it down) and using the reverse tool forcing the footage to play backwards. Our second task was a lip sync task where Khushel and I chose to do Nicole Scherzinger's "Right There" where I learnt to place out markers in order to align up where our footage and soundtrack should be placed on the timeline  in order to create a perfect lip sync.

 After these practice sessions I became more familiar with some of the special effects on Final Cut Express and was able to put this into practice when creating our music video for 'Hate This Part' which consisted of two visual images, one of a birds eye view shot of London night life and the second consisting of features of the artists face and body which were then placed on top of each other and blended together. These special effect shots was inspired from Pixie Lott's "All About Tonight" video where she used a similar effect of features of her face and body blended together with shots of downtown LA. We also experimented with how to create fast paced editing for the choreographed dance sequence which we were able to create successfully by placing out markers on the timeline according to where the beat changed in the song allowing us to edit the footage according to this. As last years footage appeared high in quality in terms of lighting and definition we decided  to film using the same Canon HD camera as well as using the dolly and tripod to film several of the tracking shots when the artist is seen walking away from her boyfriend towards the end of the video as well as using the spotlights and light reflectors to enhance the footage, especially when the artist was staring straight into the camera singing in order to highlight her features and add tones and brightness to the shot. 

When creating our ancillary tasks, that is our Digipack and Magazine poster we chose to create them using Photoshop where we were able to create text effects, colour effects and spotlight effects to enhance each of the images for our album and poster. Since I was not completely familiar with how to create effects on Photoshop I decided to research tutorials using Web 2.0 allowing myself to watch several clips on YouTube and reading through step by step tutorials on other websites. This was a great help in hand when creating effects for our Digipack and Magazine poster as it allowed me to learn and develop my skills further as I learnt how to use gradients and contrasts to enhance several of the images. 

Over the last two years, since creating my psychological thriller opening for my foundation portfolio and R&B music video for my advanced portfolio I have gained many skills using digital technology in media production allowing my editing to become more defined and sharp as well as being able to become more creative in my filming ability due to the incredible uses and opportunities given to me when using the camera equipment which has resulted in my filming becoming more enhanced. 

Question 1B: Audience Essay:

Audience for Music Video:

The project which I am going to be referring to whereby I will be discussing how audience plays a role in my researching and planning stages is going to be for my music video project for ‘Hate This Part Right Here.’ The audience we believed to have gained for our music video is an ‘active audience’ – which is the idea that the audience have an active role to play in the understanding of, and creation of meaning within text. Clearly, we allowed audiences to become an active role in our music video as we wanted our audiences to sympathise and empathise with our protagonist as we heightened the emotions of sadness and heartbreak that the artist felt as she became aware of the fact that her relationship was about to come to an end. We wanted them to think about how a song of this nature creates a message that people connect with and the ‘reality’ of the story emphasises this. It is kind of song/video combination that people will stop and think, ‘yeah… I know how that feels.’

Both Khushel and I began our research process by analyzing and investigating real media texts, ensuring that we gained a better and wider knowledge of the conventions which are an essential for power ballads. The first thing I researched was Goodwin's theory where I used his ideas and put this into practice when analysing Keri Hilson's video "Knock You Down" ft Ne-Yo and Kanye West, as it portrayed a couples relationship breaking down. This was a narrative storyline that both Khushel and I were interested in using for our own music video so it was important for us to examine this in real media texts. Additionally, we wanted to create a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, especially after becoming aware that the music is merely and extension of the lyrics which is one of the key issues discussed as part of Goodwin’s theories.

The stylistic influences for our narrative story line have come from looking at scenes from films such as, "The Devil Wears Prada, The Break Up and The Holiday". As well as watching similar music videos which showcase a similar narrative device such as, "Taking Back My Love - Enrique Iglesias ft Ciara and Watcha Say - Jason Derulo." Additionally, we chose to incorporate intertextual references to our narrative which is identified in our first narrative scene, that is, the scene whereby the couple are depicted sitting apart from each other in the car. This shot was taken from Nicole Scherzinger's video "Don't Hold Your Breath". We chose to research and analyse this video due to the fact that not only does her music video match our genre, that is, R&B but it also matches our target audience as her music also reaches young teenagers to late 20’s especially so we realised that this would be a great real media text to analyse in terms of our research. The shot of Nicole – the protagonist sitting in back of a taxi alone draws attention to the vulnerability and emotion that is being heightened due to the artist reminiscing over how her relationship suddenly came to an end. This shot allowed the artist's fans to view the singer in a different light, seeing her at her more vulnerable state, allowing her fans to sympathise with her. This is predominantly the reason behind why I decided to create this shot based on the original used in Scherzinger's "Don't Hold Your Breath" video as I wanted my artist's fans and audiences to be able to empathise and sympathise with her and to be able to heighten the emotion that is being transferred through the scenes in the video. For instance, when the protagonist is singing to her boyfriend in the back of the car but he moves away from her or when she gazes towards him but he looks away entirely. 

Clearly, it is crucial for artists to have a defined target audience and our intended target audience were those aged between 13-29+ as the narrative and performance concept of this video relates to those of this age group due to the fact that the narrative story line might relate to the older teens and young adults, i.e 17-25 whilst the performance concept being a choreographed dance scene would appeal to the younger generation, i.e 13-17 as they will find this more enjoyable and fun to watch. Therefore we wanted to add a narrative and performance concept to our music video to ensure that we engaged both the younger and older generation and provide them with exactly what they would like to see in a music video aimed at their age group. What is more, is that throughout our advanced portfolio we paid close attention to McQuail’s Uses and Gratification Theory particularly focusing on ‘personal relationship’ and ‘personal identity’ which we believed specifically related to the genre of R&B since the ‘personal relationship’ allowed our audiences to view the intensity and build up of stress and grief from within the breakdown of the relationship especially when the artist was singing to her boyfriend for the last time ending their relationship, as well as personal identity whereby we were able to view the characters alone and isolated from one another, for instance where the protagonist was placed inside her bedroom whilst her boyfriend was left waiting outside in the corridor. Even these individual scenes showcased the couple’s personal identity as we were able to again view the couples isolation and grief, which is often a recurring theme in other R&B videos which showcase the breakdowns of relationships.

Critical theorist, Hall explained how most texts can be read in different ways but there is generally a preferred or dominant reading that the producers of a message, that is, myself intend when they create that message or storyline. Clearly, when creating our music video we intended for our narrative to be read in a preferred reading whereby our audience could feel as though they empathised with the couple and understood what they were going through, via the build up of sadness and grief and torment that they were suffering, knowing that there relationship was coming to an end.

We ensured that our video related and was entertaining for our target audience (13-29+) for the reason that this age range will most likely be familiar with the narrative storyline, having sympathy for the breakdown of a relationship as most people would have experienced this at some point during their lifetime. It will be mainly aimed at the female audiences not only because the main protagonist/singer is female but simply because girls are more caring and understanding to the sensitive and emotional storyline which the song narrates – a breakdown of a relationship and knowing it is coming to an end. Therefore it is more likely to engage a female audience. However, it is also likely to engage male audiences due to the fact that the singer is female and can often be seen wearing clothing which may accentuate her figure, however we were still moving away from sexualising the singer but nonetheless it could attract male audiences and encourage them to watch and listen to the singer.

Additionally, when researching videos which fit the same genre characteristic as our music video, that is, R&B I found out how woman are represented through the lyrics and main footage in their videos. Women are portrayed in a negative light - as sexual objects by dressing semi-naked and wearing minimal clothing as they move and dance in a circular motion around the artist seductively, flaunting their body to their audiences. This scene is a cliché convention which has been re-used over and over again to exploit woman’s sexuality in music videos and can be seen in Mohombi ft Nelly's video "Miss Me”, Rihanna’s “S&M" and Ne-Yo “Closer.” We decided that we didn’t want to be another group that exploits woman in music videos in order to draw in our audiences. We wanted to be able to take hold of audience’s attention by the talent and aptitude of the artist, as well as encouraging teenage girls and young adults to imitate and respect their idols. We wanted our artist to feel as though their fans and audiences know them for who they are as a respectable and highly regarded singer and not for the exploitation of their sexuality and being known as “the hot one.”

What is more, it that without realising it we kept with the heterosexual message which was encoded into our text, i.e the boy and girl norm. We depicted in our video how as the relationship wasn’t working out, the woman was powerful enough to leave the man and even though she was isolated from leaving her boyfriend she was comforted by the crowd. Nonetheless, feminist theorists may suggest that the artist is only happy when being with her boyfriend, whilst others could say that she is the strong one as she pushes her boyfriend away.

Julian McDougall quotes, “audiences still clearly make sense and give meaning to cultural products,” in other words our target audience is able to play an active role in the understanding and creation of meaning within a media text but as everyone is different they have a choice as to what believe and what not to believe when understanding media texts. I believe that for our media text, “Hate This Part” we have placed it into it’s own group providing it with an identity which can be recognised by a variety of audiences who can read it how they want as we have created the video with a clear and fluent narrative that Todorov argued was important to any genre by following an equilibrium at the start of the video which then follows with a problem which in our case was the bedroom scenes which showcased the couples emotion and intensity as they ignored each other, viewing them at their most vulnerable state as they were each aware that there relationship was coming to an end, which then lead to the resolution whereby the female protagonist made the hardest decision to end their relationship due to their constant confrontations, realising that this was the best thing to do for themselves. We deliberately left the ending open (where the protagonist is depicted walking off into a crowded area) to capture our audiences attention effectively allowing them to create their own understanding of what may happen to the protagonist in the future. 

Re-Draft of Genre Essay:

Genre for Music Video:

In this essay I will be discussing the genre that I have chosen to use in one of my production pieces, that is my music video for “Hate This Part Right”. Genre is often used as a way of distinguishing one style from another and some genres are successful because the conditions for the genre’s existence exist, for instance some people’s interests are served by its labelling and the generic ideas.

Generic conventions of music genres and music video genres explains how a genre is to do with a circulation of expectations between industries, media texts and audiences which can often lead to a ‘regulated variety,’ (a term used by critical theorist Neale) which we took into consideration when creating our own music video. Both Khushel and I began our research process by analyzing and investigating real media texts, ensuring that we gained a better and wider knowledge of the conventions which are an essential for R&B. The first thing I researched was Goodwin's theory where I used his ideas and put this into practice when analysing Keri Hilson's video "Knock You Down" ft Ne-Yo and Kanye West, as it portrayed a couple’s relationship breaking down. This was a narrative storyline that both Khushel and I were interested in using for our own music video so it was important for us to examine this in real media texts. Some of the conventions we were inspired by from the “Knock You Down” video were several of the wire framing shots depicting the artists reactions relating to the break up of their relationship, for example when one shot focused on the artist walking away from her boyfriend, the other showed the boyfriends reaction to seeing this. However, after much consideration we decided against this as we didn’t think it would work as well as we originally thought it would so we decided to film shots similar to these but edited them as individual clips rather than wire framing them together.

When choosing a song that fitted the genre of R&B, both Khushel and I came across the Pussycat Dolls ‘Hate This Part Right Here.' This song is a pop and R&B track sounding much like what we enjoy to listen to in the charts today. By choosing this song as a possible track for my music video, it opened the door to many editing and special effect ideas as the track is quite a slow song with sections of the chorus becoming upbeat, allowing me to create a faster paced editing. Additionally, I thought that by choosing this song I would be able to incorporate a narrative storyline to exemplify how the female protagonist is reminiscing over her relationship, coming to the realisation that it is going to come to an end due to the constant arguing between the duos. We decided to analyse a similar generic narrative from the video “Taking Back My Love” by Ciara and Enrique Iglesias as this consisted of a narrative storyline that we wanted to adapt for our own music video as it depicted the aftermath of a break up. With this in mind, we created a similar narrative story line displaying this, heightening the emotions of sadness and heartbreak that the couple felt as they were aware that their relationship was about to come to an end.

We also juxtaposed the scenes of the breakdown of her relationship with sections of the artist singing and choreographed dance scenes. We were inspired to add choreographed dance scenes into the chorus’s of our music video when watching and analysing Pixie Lott’s “All About Tonight,” due to the fact that her dance routine appears on screen during the chorus’s also where her moves are sharp, elegant and fast paced due to the frames changing and being cut quickly adding tempo to the song which is a look we wanted to create for the chorus’s of ‘Hate This Part’ also. Additionally, each of the many dance routines she performs shows an element of an R&B genre, similar to ours. Bearing this is mind; we decided to film a choreographed dance scene to add to the video as it also allows the artist to express herself freely and openly - releasing the build up of stress and sadness from within her relationship, which is exactly the look we wanted to create for our video.

Clearly, it is crucial for artists to have a defined target audience and our intended target audience were those aged between 13-29+ as the narrative and performance concept of this video relates to those of this age group due to the fact that the narrative story line might relate to the older teens and young adults, i.e 17-25 whilst the performance concept being a choreographed dance scene would appeal to the younger generation, i.e 13-17 as they will find this more enjoyable and fun to watch. Therefore we wanted to add a narrative and performance concept to our music video to ensure that we engaged both the younger and older generation and provide them with exactly what they would like to see in a music video aimed at their age group. What is more, is that throughout our advanced portfolio we stuck to McQuail’s Uses and Gratification Theory particularly focusing on ‘personal relationship’ and ‘personal identity’ which we believed specifically related to the genre of R&B since the ‘personal relationship’ allowed our audiences to view the intensity and build up of stress and grief from within the breakdown of the relationship especially when the artist was singing to her boyfriend for the last time ending their relationship, as well as personal identity whereby we were able to view the characters alone and isolated from one another, for instance where the protagonist was placed inside her bedroom whilst her boyfriend was left waiting outside in the corridor. Even these individual scenes showcased the couple’s personal identity as we were able to again view the couples isolation and grief, which is often a recurring theme in other R&B videos which showcase the breakdowns of relationships.

Additionally, when researching videos which fit the same genre characteristic as our music video, that is, R&B I found out how woman are represented through the lyrics and main footage in their videos. Women are portrayed in a negative light - as sexual objects by dressing semi-naked and wearing minimal clothing as they move and dance in a circular motion around the artist seductively, flaunting their body to their audiences. This scene is a cliché convention which has been re-used over and over again to exploit woman’s sexuality in music videos and can be seen in Mohombi ft Nelly's video "Miss Me." We decided that we didn’t want to be another group that exploits woman in music videos in order to draw in our audiences. We wanted to be able to take hold of audience’s attention by the talent and aptitude of the artist, as well as encouraging teenage girls and young adults to imitate and respect their idols. We wanted our artist to feel as though their fans and audiences know them for who they are as a respectable and highly regarded singer and not for the exploitation of their sexuality and being known as “the hot one.”

Genre places a media text into it’s own group providing it with an identity which can be recognised by a variety of audiences and I believe that my music video for “Hate This Part,” successfully fits the genre of R&B using a clear and fluent narrative that Todorov argued was important to any genre by following an equilibrium at the start of the video which then followed with a problem which in our case was the bedroom scenes which showcased the couples emotion and intensity as they ignored each other, viewing them at their most vulnerable state as they were each aware that there relationship was coming to an end, which then lead to the resolution whereby the female protagonist made the hardest decision to end their relationship due to their constant confrontations, realising that this was the best thing to do for themselves. We deliberately left the ending open (where the protagonist is depicted walking off into a crowded area) to capture our audiences attention effectively allowing them to wonder what her new equilibrium may be in the future. 

Peer-Assessment for Manan's Essay:

Good Points: 

• He uses a range of examples from his music video to back up his points. For instance, when Manan discusses how his artist depicted the teenage lifestyle he refers to how they filmed a scene to match the lyric "when I walk into college with my headphones on" by then explaining that their audience then sees Josh wearing his headphones before walking into college. 
• He also refers to theorist Andrew Goodwin explaining how he followed his theory when creating their music video.
• He clearly explains how his genre fits in with his target audience and discusses the routes they took into researching and exploring what sort of genre of music the age range they were interested in currently listen to in today's day in age. 
• Another great thing that Manan does, is that he mentions that although factors of his music video do often portray a negative image on the artist he immediately backs this up by stating that the artist is a 17 year old merely highlighting the sorts of activities and partying antics that 17 year olds tend to do today. If anything the artist is clearly portraying 17 year olds in a realistic light. 

Improvements:

• Perhaps Manan could include a few more theorists or add some quotes from theorists who have discussed how genre is an important factor in music videos just to create a stronger answer for his essay. 
• Perhaps he could also add a few more examples from his own music video and a few more examples from real media texts that they looked at for inspiration. 

All in all, Manan has created a successful answer for his essay and by taking into consideration the improvements I have stated he would have created an every stronger, top band answer for himself. :) 

Genre Essay for "Hate This Part."

Genre for Music Video:

In this essay I will be discussing the genre that I have chosen to use in one of my production pieces, that is my music video for “Hate This Part Right”. Genre is often used as a way of distinguishing one style from another and some genres are successful because the conditions for the genre’s existence exist, for instance some people’s interests are served by its labelling and the generic ideas.

The genre theory, a “regulated variety” by critical theorist Neale explained how genre theory is to do with a circulation of expectations between industries, media texts and audiences which leads to a ‘regulated variety,’ which we took into consideration when creating our own music video. Both Khushel and I began our research process by analyzing and investigating real media texts, ensuring that we gained a better and wider knowledge of the conventions which are an essential for power ballads. The first thing I researched was Goodwin's theory where I used his ideas and put this into practice when analysing Keri Hilson's video "Knock You Down" ft Ne-Yo and Kanye West, as it portrayed a couples relationship breaking down. This was a narrative story line that both Khushel and I were interested in using for our own music video so it was important for us to examine this in real media texts. 

When choosing a song that fitted the genre of R&B, both Khushel and I came across the Pussycat Dolls ‘Hate This Part Right Here.' This song is a pop and R&B track sounding much like what we enjoy to listen to in the charts today. By choosing this song as a possible track for my music video, it opened the door to many editing and special effect ideas as the track is quite a slow song with sections of the chorus becoming upbeat, allowing me to create a faster paced editing. This song is a clever track to use in order for me to display some of the skills that I have picked up on and learnt over the last two years of my course, that is, using wire-framing and displaying two shots on top of each other, (the birds eye view shots of London at night and close ups of the artist’s features) by blending them together to create a shadowed effect. Additionally, I thought that by choosing this song I would be able to incorporate a narrative storyline to exemplify how the female protagonist is reminiscing over her relationship, coming to the realisation that it is going to come to an end due to the constant arguing between the duos. We created a narrative story line displaying this, heightening the emotions of sadness and heartbreak that the couple felt as they were aware that their relationship was about to come to an end. However, we juxtaposed the scenes of the breakdown of her relationship with sections of the artist singing and choreographed dance scenes, (allowing the artist to express herself freely and openly - releasing the build up of stress and sadness from within her relationship) which is exactly the look we wanted to create for our video.

What is more, is that because the genre of our video is Pop/R&B we thought closely about what clothing, locations, lighting and mise-en-scene should consist of and how we could mimic these traits in an R&B music video. Also, audiences who are likely to listen to this song – “Hate This Part” are also likely to listen to artists such as The Saturdays, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Pixie Lott all of who’s style of sound is Pop/R&B. Additionally, all of these artists have each released up-beat songs as well as power ballads similar to the Pussycat Dolls.

Clearly, it is crucial for artists to have a defined target audience and our intended target audience were those aged between 13-29+ as the narrative and performance concept of this video relates to those of this age group. Additionally, because the song is a power ballad with the chorus becoming more up-tempo we came to the decision that the narrative story line might relate to the older teens and young adults, i.e 17-25 whilst the performance concept being a choreographed dance scene would appeal to the younger generation, i.e 13-17 as they will find this more enjoyable and fun to watch. Therefore we wanted to add a narrative and performance concept to our music video to ensure that we engaged both the younger and older generation and provide them with exactly what they would like to see in a music video aimed at their age group.

The only disadvantage of this track is that because the song was recognized as being the albums best number it could have been difficult to re-invent the song in order to make it our own and we could have found difficulties in promoting this to our target audience, that is, people aged between 13-29. Additionally, another problem we may have been faced with, is the fact that because sections of the song are fairly slow and the beat of the song isn’t very fast paced, I would have needed to ensure that the shots depicting the emotion between the couple appeared interesting rather than dull and boring, resulting in losing our audiences attention. Our aim was to engage the audience’s full attention with an aspect of exploring the emotional sides of the song as well as incorporating a fun and enjoyable performance to watch as well and I would like to think we pulled this off well.

Additionally, when researching videos which fit the same genre characteristic as our music video, that is, R&B I found out how woman are represented through the lyrics and main footage in their videos. Women are portrayed in a negative light - as sexual objects by dressing semi-naked and wearing minimal clothing as they move and dance in a circular motion around the artist seductively, flaunting their body to their audiences. This scene is a cliché convention which has been re-used over and over again to exploit woman’s sexuality in music videos and can be seen in Mohombi ft Nelly's video "Miss Me."

Therefore, we decided that we didn’t want to be another group that exploits woman in music videos in order to draw in our audiences. We want to be able to take hold of audience’s attention by the talent and aptitude of the artist. We want the artist to feel as though their fans and audiences know them for who they are as a respectable and highly regarded singer and not for the exploitation of their sexuality and being known as “the hot one.” What is more, is that we want our protagonist and artist to be portrayed as someone who is well thought-of and decent and if anything an artist that encourages teenage girls and young adults to imitate and respect their idols.

All in all, I believe that in my advanced portfolio, we created a music video consisting of a clear and fluent story line that could be decoded easily, illustrating a girl who was strong enough when making the tough decision to end her relationship due to constant confrontations, as well as highlighting the emotion and intensity of the artist seeing her at her most vulnerable state as she came to the realisation that her relationship was over. I am certainly pleased with the final product and it could not have been achieved without Khushel or me and our own creative decisions and knowledge of real media texts fitting the genre of R&B. 

Explain how you used conventional or experimental narrative devices in one of your production pieces:

Explain how you used conventional or experimental narrative devices in one of your production pieces:

In this essay I will be discussing the narrative devices used in my production piece, that is, my music video for "Hate This Part". Both Khushel and I began our research process by analyzing and investigating real media texts, ensuring that we gained a better and wider knowledge of the conventions which are an essential for power ballads. The first thing I researched was Goodwin's theory where I used his ideas and put this into practice when analysing Keri Hilson's video "Knock You Down" ft Ne-Yo and Kanye West, as it portrayed a couples relationship breaking down. This was a narrative storyline that both Khushel and I were interested in using for our own music video so it was important for us to examine this in real media texts. Additionally, we wanted to create a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, especially after becoming aware that the music is merely and extension of the lyrics which is one of the key issues discussed as part of Goodwin’s theories.

After analysing the lyrics, we realised that the lyrics exemplify how the female protagonist is reminiscing over her relationship, coming to the realisation that it is going to come to an end due to the constant arguing between the duos. We created a narrative story line displaying this, heightening the emotions of sadness and heartbreak that the couple felt as they were aware that their relationship was about to come to an end. However, we juxtaposed the scenes of the breakdown of her relationship with scenes of the artist singing and choreographed dance scenes, (allowing the artist to express herself freely and openly - releasing the build up of stress and sadness from within her relationship.)

The stylistic influences for our narrative story line have come from looking at scenes from films such as, "The Devil Wears Prada, The Break Up and The Holiday". As well as watching similar music videos which showcase a similar narrative device such as, "Taking Back My Love - Enrique Iglesias ft Ciara and Watcha Say - Jason Derulo." Additionally, we chose to incorporate intertextual references to our narrative which is identified in our first narrative scene, that is, the scene whereby the couple are depicted sitting apart from each other in the car. This shot was taken from Nicole Scherzinger's video "Don't Hold Your Breath". The shot draws attention to the vulnerability and emotion that is being heightened due to the artist coming to the realisation that her relationship is coming to an end. This shot allows the artist's fans to view the singer in a different light, seeing her at her more vulnerable state, allowing her fans to sympathise with her. This is predominantly the reason behind why I decided to create this shot based on the original used in Scherzinger's "Don't Hold Your Breath" video as I wanted my artist's fans and audiences to be able to empathise and sympathise with her and to be able to heighten the emotion that is being transferred through the scenes in the video. 

In terms of our narrative structure we decided to follow Todorov's five stage model theory. Todorov argues that "narrative involves a transformation. The characters or situations are transformed through the progress of disruption." Todorov's five stage model stands in the order of an 'equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption, attempting to repair disruption and a return of new equilibrium,' as we wanted our audience to have a clear understanding about what the narrative was about, by clearly understanding who was the hero, for instance the artist for leaving her partner and how the break up of the relationship became the 'return of a new equilibrium.' Although this theory is more conventional and fits mainly films it is still appropriate and fitting for music videos which follow a narrative story line also. 

Clearly, it is crucial for artists to have a defined target audience and our intended target audience were those aged between 13-29+ as the narrative and performance concept of this video relates to those of this age group. Additionally, we paid close attention to the uses and gratification theory making sure that our video consisted of a sense of identity, social interaction, entertaining and would be relatable to our target audience. Critical theorist, Hall explained how most texts can be read in different ways but there is generally a preferred or dominant reading that the producers of a message, that is, I intend when they create that message or story line. Hall also explained that the most popular media content will have a preferred reading that reinforces the status quo. 

We ensured that our video related and was entertaining for our age's group for the reason that this age range will most likely be familiar with the narrative story line and have sympathy for the breakdown of a relationship as everyone will have experienced this at some point during their lifetime. It will be aimed at the female audiences not only because the main protagonist/singer is female but because girls are more caring and understanding to the sensitive and emotional story line which the song narrates - a breakdown of a relationship and knowing it is coming to an end. Therefore it is more likely to engage a female audience. 

Additionally, because the song is a power ballad with the chorus becoming more up-tempo we came to the decision that the narrative story line might relate to the older teens and young adults, i.e 17-25 whilst the performance concept being a choreographed dance scene would appeal to the younger generation, i.e 13-17 as they will find this more enjoyable and fun to watch. Therefore we wanted to add a narrative and performance concept to our music video to ensure that we engaged both the younger and older generation and provide them with exactly what they would like to see in a music video aimed at their age group. 

However, a problem I may be faced with is the fact that because sections of the song are fairly slow and the beat of the song isn’t very fast paced, I would have needed to ensure that the shots which depict the emotion between the girlfriend and her boyfriend come across as being interesting rather than dull and boring, resulting in losing my audiences attention. My aim was clearly being able to engage the audience’s full attention with an aspect of exploring the emotional sides of the song as well as incorporating a fun and enjoyable performance to watch as well and I would like to think I pulled this off well.

What is more, it that without realising it we kept with the heterosexual message which was encoded into our text, i.e the boy and girl norm. We depicted in our video how as the relationship wasn’t working out, the woman was powerful enough to leave the man and even though she was isolated from leaving her boyfriend she was comforted by the crowd. Nonetheless, feminist theorists may suggest that the artist is only happy when being with her boyfriend, whilst others could say that she is the strong one as she pushed her boyfriend away.

All in all, I believe that in my advanced portfolio, we created a music video consisting of a clear and fluent story line that could be decoded easily, illustrating a girl who was strong enough when making the tough decision to end her relationship due to constant confrontations, as well as highlighting the emotion and intensity of the artist seeing her at her most vulnerable state as she came to the realisation that her relationship was over. I am certainly pleased with the final product and it could not have been achieved without Khushel or me and our own creative decisions and knowledge of real media texts fitting the genre of R&B.

Second Case Study: The Sketch Bank (Original Microseries)

The Sketch Bank (Original Microseries)

Jai Rajani - Creator and Director of The Sketch Bank

1.     What is the show about?

The Sketch Bank is an interactive online comedy sketch show pioneered by an upcoming comedy collective from London. Jai Rajani, the creator of The Sketch Bank, believes that it is a bad idea to waste a good idea. Jai created a bank where he and all his creative friends could deposit their ideas rather than waste them. And it doesn’t stop there if you have a like-minded comic brain, then audiences can sketch away and bank their deposits on the websites Sketch Bank audience deposit box. 

The Sketch Bank's official webiste - The audience deposit box.

2.     When it began and how long it ran for?

The Sketch Bank’s first series launched Monday 31^st January 2011 for nine weeks, a new episode per week. The episodes consisted of a variety of comedy sketches, whilst the season finally (episode nine) consisted of all of the comedy actors in the series to come together to perform in a comedy music video, that is, a JLS - Beat Again Parody where they changed the name to JLX Pee Again. The video received over 6,000 views.

The second series followed on Monday 19th September 2011 for 12 weeks, a new episode being released every two weeks. Again each of the episodes consisted of comedy sketches whilst the season finally consisted of another comedy performance, a Michael Jackson – Man in the Mirror Parody where the Sketch Bank Team changed the name of the track to Freshen Up.

The third series is currently being written and is set to be released in the summer of 2012. Also, series one and two were re-launched all in one go at the end of January 2012 to celebrate The Sketch Bank's first birthday.

3.     How many viewers it attracted?

The first series attracted over 10,000 views, whilst the second series attracted over 7000 views. They also set up an Extra Series which has so far attracted over 2,000 viewers where they released their bloopers from the series, an interview parody based on the JLX Pee Again and an extra comedy sketch on Bollywood meets BAFTA 2012 which is one of the Sketch Bank’s newest releases. The show has attracted in total to date, over 62,000 views across their YouTube channel, their Facebook, Twitter site, the Sketch Banks official website and some of the Casts own websites/bloggers as well.

The Sketch Bank's Facebook Page

The Sketch Bank's Twitter Page

The Sketch Bank's YouTube Channel

4.     How it was financed/sponsored?

The show wasn’t sponsored or financed. The team used guerilla filmmaking/independent filming where they had no budget and a small crew. They decided to take a more DIY attitude: Do it yourself. The show was all produced on favours and any expenditure used was Jai Rajani’s (the creator and director of The Sketch Banks) own money.

5.     Any controversy generated?

There was a small amount of controversy generated in the parody sketch made by the Sketch Bank Team. This was the JLS – Beat Again which was changed by the team to the JLX - Pee Again. This sketch was followed by a parody interview style sketch where they made some gay references about the band. A little bit of controversy was generated by the viewers as one of the real JLS band mates is rumoured to be gay, although there has never been statement released on behalf of the band discussing this issue.

6     How does the show reflect the ways in which the internet is changing both TV production and TV viewing habits?

As I am very good friends with the director and creator of the Sketch Bank, (Jai Rajani) I

decided to ask him how he thought his show reflected the way in which the internet is

changing both TV production and TV viewing habits and was happy to write a bit about

what he thought, this is what Jai had to say:

If it wasn't for YouTube, The Sketch Bank wouldn't be possible.  If the internet didn't exist, I would have had no choice but to take the idea and go down the tedious television route. The online world has changed the entertainment industry enormously.

The Sketch Bank, (amongst many other internet channels) cuts out the 'middle-man.' The distance between channel and consumer practically disappears.  My channel, can actually communicate directly to the audience. It happens via YouTube and social networks (Facebook / Twitter), and this is a very powerful position to be in. My team and I, are also in charge of decisions and have complete creative freedom - no more answering to a boss superior to us.

What's really interesting is that we can take more risks on the internet as the culture of viewing online is massively different. The viewers on the internet are so much more insensitive. Partly because if they want to express their dislike or disapproval for something, they can do it immediately - with a comment etc. Whereas on TV, if people take offence, they have to make phone calls, write letters / emails and go through a very formal system where the blame game begins and apologies are demanded. If something creates controversy online, it gets taken down in the worst case scenario. But on TV, once it's aired, it's aired... there's no going back.

The UK is far behind the US in terms of online entertainment. The Sketch Bank was scouted by an American company who wanted to stream adverts on our channel. They mentioned how so many people in America are earning a living off their YouTube channels - also with the help of endorsements. Companies in the US are far more likely to throw money into YouTube creatives / channels, than in the UK.

And finally, much of the credit is due to affordable equipment. Canon in particular have created many of the leading DSLR cameras that shoot video in HD, which gives filmmakers the ability to shoot professional cinematography. This is also followed by Apple computers with their pre-installed editing software or advanced and affordable software. So people can quickly excel and develop a portfolio of work.

It is thanks to this, I was picked up by a writing agent who saw potential in me and my product / show. She now wants to set me up on meetings with television AND internet teams. Although, where I stand today, it's very tempting to remain online due to the freedom and access to communicate with audiences.