New A2 Media Studies Blog

This is the address for my A2 media blog- http://sadlerproductions.blogspot.co.uk/

New blog for Nicole!

This is the address to my new A2 blog ~ http://nicole215media.blogspot.co.uk/

Aidan Standish new blog address

http://aidanstandisha2.blogspot.co.uk/

Iconic Music Videos - Madonna ~ Like a Prayer

Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' (released March 21st 1989) is an iconic music video not only because of her huge fame and popularity, but because it demonstrates a political message. It also deals with religion, using it to make the audience empathise with the narrative, although it could also be seen as offensive and controversial.

The video depicts Madonna running away from police sirens until she reaches a remote chapel, where she seeks refuge. In here, as she begins to pray, we see that all the statues and images depict a black jesus christ. Even though this song was released in the late 80's, when the extremes of racism from the 50's are gone, there still remains more subtle racism in society, primarily coming form the elder generation. This image is very controversial as not only is there still unfair racial discrimination present at the time, but it has always been said that Jesus Christ was white. Challenging the identity of such an important and respected religious figure is incredibly risky, but clearly a risk the director felt necessary in order to make the audience pay close attention to the video. Another point to note is when Madonna kisses the statue of jesus' feet. She pays almost no attention to the colour of his skin, and continues to pray to him just as the saviour she has always known, treating him no differently - symbolic of her views on racism.

The video also has another narrative, which shows Madonna before she has run to the chapel, set in a town.
As she walks from her apartment, she witnesses several white men attempting to rape a woman and a black man who runs in to save her. As the white men run away, the black man is left at the scene as police arrive, who instantly arrest him without any question, assumingly because he is black. This again relates back to the anti-racism message of the video and shows the flipside of assumptions created by bias white americans.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood-Relax, music video analysis

Iconic as it was banned by BBC due to sexual references

Uses laser lights and smoke perhaps to show how it is edgy and give a 'live' feeling, and reference to laser beam line

Many mid shots of singer-he is the most important

Very little fixed camera shots to keep it moving

Fast editing and often to the beat

Lots of instrument shots to show importance

Question 5

We used a variety of methods to attract our target audience, such as the choice of characters, plot and sound track.

Characters
All of our characters were young and appeared to be relatively smart. This was helpful in reaching our young, art house audience as we feel that they will identify with the characters. In particular, we think that our audience will find the mentality of the female killer quite interesting.

Lighting
We chose a film noir lighting style which we believe will appeal to our higher educated art house audience through the fact that it is unique and gives an insight in to the types of characters. It adds a sense of mystery which our target audience will like. As well as this, it makes the film much more interesting for the audience as a pose to being simple, high key, ambient lighting.

Sound
The sound track we used was quite urban and enigmatic. This should appeal to our young audience as they like to listen to that sort of music. The sound track should make them want to watch the film as it is quite 'inviting' but is slightly discordant at the same time. This means our seems interesting to the audience.

Plot
The whole plot was designed with our target audience in mind. It is enigmatic and requires the audience to do a lot of thinking. We expect that a young, media savvy audience should be able to do this. They will also enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out if the killing really happened and if so, why it happened. This is enhanced by the 'bedroom' scene at the beginning. The audience will want to find out  why she in particular pulled the trigger.

Distribution
We suggested that distributing our film via social networking sites and Youtube would be a good idea. This is because the audience we aim at will be quite proficient in the use of this technology and so the film would be easily accessible to them. Pull marketing could also be used in the sense that people could share a link to the film.

To conclude
Overall, our film aims to reach the target audience of somebody who is young, achieving and media savvy by being creative in the sense of the plot and technical elements such as lighting. As well as this, the distribution method should appeal to the target audience.

Question 1

Question 1 from Nicole Manby