Essay/Bibliography/Evaluation

To what extent does the representation of women in contemporary R ‘n’ B music videos present stereotypical dominate views of female sexuality?

Modern day R ‘n’ B is the best evidence of the strength of the “Sex Sell” motif, and the willingness of people to conform to anything that appears to rebel against former generations’ ideas and beliefs in regard to morals (Urban Dictionary, 2004) – including sex, drugs and attitudes towards women, men and money. According to modern day R ‘n’ B music videos, all that really matters about women is their sexuality (Derrick Daye, 2008); they are represented as being nothing more than a sexual object. The lyrics heard and the narrative or the general direct can evidence this, along with the camera angles, the mise-en-scene, shots used, pace and style of editing – including props, costumes, hair and make-up, location setting and colours used. I analysed three music videos; two show a negative representation of women, and have very similar outlooks on female objectification (Tip Drill by Nelly and Lapdance by N.E.R.D), the third shows a more positive representation of women (Survivor by Destiny’s Child), however still possesses some negative aspects.

R ‘n’ B music videos portray women’s identities to be based on how desirable they are to men (Yousman et al. 2007:15), however the music video and song by Destiny’s Child – Survivor, to an extent turns this idea upside down. Narratively the three women are on a deserted island, and have to find a way to survive, and these images and idea support the lyrics – all about female empowerment and surviving on their own without men. With all this said the video still has a hyper sexualisation of women to it. The costumes that the three ladies wear are the most obvious sexual element – low cut, short dresses all revealing stomach, and cling to the body. Even though they are “doing things on [there] own terms, [they] are very much objectified and exist for the male viewer”(Miss Representation 2012). They are still portrayed in a sexual manor trying to lure and appeal the male audience by being inadequately clothed, move in a seductive manner, being in seductive positions (such as on their hands and knees, with dipped backs which enhance their rears and breast) and frequently seen wet. And as “water is frequently used as an erotic element just as in standard heterosexual fantasy images” (Yousman et al. 2007:9) the sexual element of the women is enhanced further. E. Ann Kaplan, 1987, suggests the “postmodern feminist heroine” can be defined by the combination of “unabashed seductiveness with a gusty kind of independence”. To begin with in the Survivor video, them being in water can be explained as it helps to show how they have become stranded on the island, however as the video moves on, the women find dry clothes (that are even more revealing than before – tighter, and less of it) but still insist on re-entering water. This both brings the element of sexual desire to the video and sacrifices the logic of the narrative for visual pleasure, but also helps emphasis the survival element of the video, by showing them having made spires and hunting for fish.

Being that music videos are a form of advertising for the recording industry (Yousman et al. 2007: 5) they need to draw in a large and varied audience to increase sales. To do this in the music industry a highly sexual aspect is require because “it is harder to get men to watch television” (Miss Representation 2012) and as “sex evokes a hardwired emotional response that is linked to the species survival” (Reichert, 2007: 16) the “exploitation of women’s bodies sells product” (Miss Representation 2012) – Sex Sells. The song survivor is mainly aimed at women, and female independence; this subject on its own is not a lure for a male audience and so therefore limits the number of sales/views.  Considering the male audience all of these sexual elements and displays of male fantasy are vital, as they help to increase the sells and views of the video and song broadening the target audience. Without these elements or the added male attention it can be argued that the songs success would have been decreased.

With the idea of advertising in mind a sexual and demining viewpoint of women (portrayed by the over exaggerated wealth, power and status that the men in three of the videos I have analysed (Tip Drill, Windowlicker and Lapdance), are shown to have) can simply be seen as a ploy to attract a larger target audience. The music video by Nelly called Tip Drill received a lot of negative attention from many feminists. Asha Jennings, student president from Spelman College said  “[the college] can't continue to support artists and images that exploit our women and put us out there as oversexed, non-intelligent human beings." (Redeye, 2004). Although the attention was negative this sparked peoples interest into why the video was so highly viewed as derogative. This added publicity and interest would have fundamentally increased the number of views and hits that the video received.

This idea of advertising can also be said for the Survivor music video. The song and meaning behind the lyrics initially appeal to women, encouraging their independence from men – the lyrics “Now that you're out of my life/ I'm so much better/ You thought that I'd be weak without you/ But I'm stronger” support this idea. However by the video having a sexual aspect to it, presenting the women as sexual and still beautiful (wearing revealing clothes and having perfect make-up and hair) having just been stranded on a deserted island.

Additionally the same technique of “Sex Sells” can also be applied to N.E.R.D’s song Lapdance. When listening to and reviewing the lyrics of N.E.R.D – Lapdance I realised that the song was talking about the government “While the government is soundin' like strippers to me” and the effect of society on their behaviour, “It's this society/ That makes a nigga wanna kill”. To me the song makes a very good political statement about deprived Americans. Why then are sexual ideas, references and visuals used? As mentioned previously, sexualized visuals draw in the initial attention of an audience and satisfies a primordial desire for pleasurable looking (Mulvey, 1975: 8-9), this along with the up tempo beat increases the appeal of the song to people. The visuals, in this case, support what is being sung, enforcing the meaning behind the lyrics – the group are not only singing about the their view of the government but showing you how they feel. The visuals very much so take away from what is being said.

If the song is really about politics and a serious topic with regards to poverty in America, why is the lap dance metaphor used? The lap dance metaphor has two beneficial uses. One. As said before sex sells, and if viewing the video as an advertisement for the song, brands, production company, etc. then using the age old idea of sex to grab peoples primal attention is a good hook. Two. By comparing the politicians/government to lap dancers and strippers demines the American government, showing them to be nothing more than money grabbing idiots. This statement shows the views of the people in the American slums and deprived areas; N.E.R.D is giving a voice to them by releasing this song. With all this said the video does still exploit female sexuality, showing women to be kissing each other and each other’s body parts, using close up, slow motion shows, lingering on the sexual acts performed in the video. 

The women in Nelly – Tip Drill are exploited for there bodies for the males pleasure, however some post feminist see this as empowerment rather than demining. They believe that they for simple showing what “they’ve got” – their bodies – they are getting money, and if the men what to give up their money, more fool them. This idea is supported in the lyrics “I got you payin’ my bills and buying automobiles” this line puts the idea across that the women are using the men just as much as the men are using the women. Lyrically both males and female are portrayed to be equals, however when the video comes into play this idea is completely thrown out of the window, as the women are visuals scantily clad and nothing more than sexual objects.

Tip Drill was written produced and directed for an older audience and for a strip club called “””””” (Vibe, 2004). The older audience restriction at the time was limited to those allowed to enter a strip club, so over 18’s. Still today there is a viewing restriction when viewing the video on the Internet. YouTube will not allow you to view the video unless you are logged in and over 18, and they have a content warning that the video may be inappropriate for some users. When you think about Tip Drill contextually the premise of the music video and the highly sexualized female body, standing on the thin line between music video and pornography, the images seen in Nelly’s video are entirely acceptable.

All of the mentioned music videos offer a limited portrayal of women, showing them as objects, rather than the women they are, and dehumanizing them. The women are repeatable shown with close up shots, which linger on the curves of the body, or buttocks and breast. This can even be said for the song, which is meant to be liberating women (Destiny’s child –Survivor). As for the music videos that display male dominates (Lapdance and Tip Drill in particular) the women have little “face time”, enforcing the idea that they are only being represented as objects.

As the topic of sex has become less of a taboo subject “the video form has gladly tapped into the taboo” (Davies, 2013: 50) the visuals used in music videos have change from implicit to explicit, to boarder line pornographic. With three of the four music videos (Tip Drill, Lapdance, Windowlicker) satisfying the “heterosexual male fantasy of ‘girl on girl’”.

It is clear to see that female sexuality is exploited in many different forms when it comes to R ‘n’ B music videos. Both technical and visual techniques are used to objectify, de-humanize and fragment women and their form – such technical aspects as close up shot, camera movements that roam the female form (guiding the audience and mirroring the heterosexual viewing) and such visual techniques as scantily clad dressed females, and narratives that encourage self touching and fondling of other women. Although the use of sex can be justified to an extend, because of the age old use of sex in advertising, the extend of sexual visuals caused the ‘advert’ no become ‘pornography’ and can no longer be seen as promoting instead seen as stimulating pleasure.

 Bibliography

Books

·      B. Yousman, J. Earp and J.Geissman, 2007,Dreamworld 3: Desire, Sex, & Power in Music Video (Study Guide)

·      E. A. Kaplan, 1987, Rocking Around the Clock: Music Television, Post Modernism and Consumer Culture. 1^st edition, New York, NY Methuen Inc.

·      T. Reichert, 2007, Issues in American Advertising: Sex, politics, and viral 1^st edition, Copy Workshop.

Newspaper

·      Redeye, R, 2004. Nelly Feel the Heat. The Chicago Tribune, April 2nd, 2004

Magazines

·      Davies, S, 2013, Eye Tunes. Sight & Sound. 50-54

·      Mulvey, L, 1975. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen, 16.3, 6-18.

·      2004. What's the World on Nelly: Pop Star, Pimp or Gangster?. Vibe, November 2004

Documentries

·      Miss Representation, 2012. [DVD] Jennifer Siebel Newsom, USA: Virgil Films and Entertainment.

Websites

·      http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/destinyschild/survivor.html

·      http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nelly/tipdrill.html

·      http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nerd/lapdance.html

·      www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2008/03/does-sex-in-adv.html(HASHTAG).UcgIsvIQF1Y

·      http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=R'n'B

Critical Evaluation

I found that when researching the topic of female sexuality, I found a lot of interesting facts and my research expanded a lot, giving me a larger basin of fact, theorist and people to refer to. However this did cause me to steer away from the question when trying to answer it. I feel I did not successfully do was answer the question fully. I found myself more than often veering of topic from the question, and when reading back over it I feel that some points could have been more concise and/or answer the question more directly. To avoid this in the future I will continuously refer back to the question. Also to avoid this before hand I will make a list of points that directly refer to the question, and include only these, so I stay on track.

To begin with I looked at and analyzed the four chosen music videos that represented the stereotypical female sexuality. From this I created a table (hard copy available) with the different topics I wanted to talk about in my essay. I didn’t manage to talk about them all however, for example the editing, as I became intrigued with the idea of music videos being a form of advertisement, and decided to expand on this topic instead. Although I would have liked to cover the entire topics in my analysis table I feel that I was able to make good points and justification on the topic of advertisement instead.  

For my research I began by looking at the research suggested to us. This helped me to gain a basic understanding of the topic, and from this I expanded my research. One theory that was mention was the theory of the male gaze. I searched on the Internet for more information about the male gaze. I looked at the published books available online, before looking at webpages with no viability – as a published book has a lot more credibility.

I was able to find resources that were created recently, dated this year even. I am glad about this as I found what was being said support the points I was making, about videos that were 10 years old and over. The fact that information today supports music video from so long ago, shows the unchanged female form in R ‘n’ B music videos. I did comply a primary questionnaire to understand how the viewing public sees the representation of women in the music videos,  i had planned to distribute this around the college and town centre however i was not able to, therefore i did not manage I managed to include some of my finding. Much of my research was made up from secondary sources, I would have liked to include more primary resources, but the secondary one play a large part in supporting points I have made. For future research task I would like to include a variety of secondary resource, for example, more audio, or interviews, rather than the majority text based.


When i began my research i was given several secondary sources to analysis and use, one of these was the book Music Video and the politics of Representation by Diane Railton and Paul Walton. From this book i read that music video were a form of advertising, which was a new way i looked at music videos, as i had never consider them to be a form of adverting before. From this i used google to search for music videos as advertising, this search gave me both qualitative and quantitative research. I gained a lot of information from the PQ Media website (a well know, highly rated and widely used research website) which broadened my research further, leading me down the root of product placement. All of the ideas about music video as advertising caused me to looked at the music videos in a different light; changing my opinion from seeing them as stereotyping female sexuality to seeing them as competing for attention in a large industry of adverts. PQ Media Global Product Placement Spending Forecast 2012-2016 report was a good research basis for stats and figures, enabling me to prove comments i had made with figures and quantitative research.

When i decided to look at the music videos as adverting i felt that the context of the music videos (why they were made, who directed the video, etc) would help deepen the basis of my information and hopefully support my arguement, which i found it did greatly.

I was able to argue Mulveys point of the perspective literally being from a male point of view, being behind the camera, by my contexual research, as i knew that the music video Lapdance by N.E.R.D was directed by a woman, Diane Martel. this fact helped to introduce the idea of the female gaze, the pst feminist and female empowerment.

I also read an article from Vibe about Nelly. the article included a discussion about Nelly's controversial Tip Drill video. from this article i obtained contextual information about the production of the music, and solidified my point about music videos being advertisments, however in this case not just for the sale of the record. Nelly's Tip Drill song and video were produced at the request of a stripe club.

Focus Group

What is a Focus Group?
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.

Benefits of a Focus Group
Group discussion produces data and insights that would be less accessible without interaction found in a group setting—listening to others’ verbalized experiences stimulates memories, ideas, and experiences in participants. This is also known as the group effect where group members engage in “a kind of ‘chaining’ or ‘cascading’ effect; talk links to, or tumbles out of, the topics and expressions preceding it”


Before the Discussion Group 
When preparing for the focus groups the information and techniques that i had learnt from the previous units about intervieiwing people would come in hand. For example these are students that I have never talked to before, so to make them feel comfortable during the discussion session I will encourage them. in this instance because the recording of the discussion group is not being used for a specific purpose (i.e a promotional video, like before) it doesn't matter if myself or any of the other students asking the questions are heard at the being end, or during.

Planning
We plan to use the zoom H4N microphone to record the discussion group, so that later on we can refer back to it with ease, if we want to quote what somebody said in during the discussion in our essay, we will be able to use the exact quote.

Questions I Had Prepared

• What were your initial thoughts about the music videos?

• Have you ever thought about how music videos portray men, women and sexuality?

• How do you think music videos define and portray "femininity"?

• How do you think music videos define and portray "masculinity"?

• Why do you think graphic images of female sexuality are so common in popular culture?

These were the main question i had prepared to ask the focus group. however if i thought of some along the way, from what they had had been discussed I will right them down and ask them.

Recordings

                    Destiny's Child - Survivor                                  Aphex Twin - Windowlicker 

                            

                            Nelly - Tip Drill                                                   N.E.R.D - Lapdance 

                            

After the Discussion Group
I feel that I obtained a lot of good information, views and opinions from the members of the discussion group; many of them were the same ideas and opinions that i had when viewing the videos. From the discussion group i not have primarcy sources to include in my essay and have a lot of great thoughts from other people that will back up ideas and opinions i have and will include in my essay.

Advertising

Advertsing is an important source of income for many of the media products that we watch, listen to, read and inexact with. The amount of advertising spaces that are availible on commercial television stations and radio stations is highly noticeable. Advertising can also be seen in music videos, of with the band/group/singer, wearing, using, drinking etc branded products.

Advertsing is such an important part in media production today, because more and more money is being put into a production. due to this a large audience needs to be attracted to begin to recover the costs and also earn additional revenue - from DVD, albums, single downloads etc for example.

Similarly, the companies who have paid money to have their products and services averted in a glossy lifestyle magazine or prime time soap, expect and demand a quality product that will reach their desired audience. Because of these pressures and demands, media companies put a lot of time and effort into thoroughly researching a product to ensure that it will attract the right audience and that this audience will react to it in the appropriate way. they also plan the production process thoroughly, and make use of the latest technology and techniques to ensure that their product has the desired values to compete effectively in the media marketplace.

Own Research

My own Research 
i will gain a greater understanding of different research methods and techniques by applying them to my own research project. 

Primary Research 
Planning primary research well in advance is an important factor. As the subject matters raised in the music video that i am going to discuss are of a sensitive nature (the issues of sexuality, pornography, feminism and masculinity) i am not going to use the primary technique of one-to-one interviews as the respondent may not feel happy to disclose there personal feelings in a face-to-face situation (such as arousal, intimidation, social pressures). The use of an anonymous questionnaire can combat this issue and enable people to offer their true feeling without the feeling of judgement or embarrassment, allowing me to obtain both reliable and valid results. 

Secondary Research 
I will look at given source and further my research from this. The ones below are the main article and research that i am planning to look at. by doing this hopefully i will obtain theoretical evidence for points that i have made or observed when viewing and analysing the four music video (Aphex Twin - Windowlicker, Destiny's Child - Survivor, Nelly - Tip Drill, N.E.R.D - Lapdance).

• Laura Mulvey - Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)
• Sight and Sound Magazine
• Dreamworld 3: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video (Study Guide and Documentary)
• Naomi Wolf - The Beauty Myth

Quantitative Research
I will receive quantitative research from both primary and secondary research. When it comes to the primary research i will collect the quantitive evidence from the questionnaire i am planning to hand out to a variety of people. 
To achieve a quality questionnaire i will 
- Give it to a wide range of people, of all ages, genders and races
- Ask factual questions i.e about their age
- Ask closed end questions (this will help when trying to used the information and transform it into tables, graphs, stats)
- I will u se ranking questions (on a scale of 1 to 10 how do you feel about....? for example) to gain more in depth information about the client. 

i will also look for quantitative information from secondary research, from experiment, questionnaires, etc from the theorist, researcher. 

Qualitative Research 
This will be obtained form the focus group. i am not going to one to one interviews as the topic and videos may be offensive to people and they may not feel comfortable about how they generally felt, or reacted to the music videos. i fell by doing a focus group people will feel more comfortable offering their opinions, especially if somebody else has the same opinion. 
by obtaining qualitative research i will gain original (primary) evidence and be able to create and support unique arguments and/or support or argue point made by others. 


Applying research methods to my own work
Applying quantitative research method to my own study, I will arrange a focus group, write a list of questions, show them the four music videos and audio record their answers. This will help me to gain opinions, feelings and viewpoints of an audience who i feel the video are trying to entice - teenagers to young adults, 18-26).

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. Mulvey is best known for her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen.  Her article is one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic framework, influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan.She then used some of their concepts to argue that the cinematic apparatus of classical Hollywood cinema inevitably put the spectator in a masculine subject position, with the figure of the woman on screen as the object of desire and "the male gaze." 

In the era of classical Hollywood cinema, viewers were encouraged to identify with the protagonist of the film, who were and still are overwhelmingly male. Meanwhile, Hollywood women characters of the 1950s and '60s were, according to Mulvey, coded with "to-be-looked-at-ness" while the camera positioning and the male viewer constituted the "bearer of the look." Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of the male gaze of this era: "voyeuristic" (i.e. seeing woman as image "to be looked at") and "fetishistic" (i.e. seeing woman as a substitute for "the lack," the underlying psychoanalytic fear of castration).

The Male Gaze Slide Show

Video Analysis

I have made a table to break down my analysis of the three main music videos  i am planning to refer to and a fourth as a comparison piece. The four music videos are: Nelly - Tip Drill, N.E.R.D - Lapdance, Destiny's Child - Survivor and Aphex Twin - Windowlicker.

   

   

All of the elements i have picked out are the ones that i am planning to refer to in my final essay. by doing my planning this way, i will be able to compare the similarities and differences across all the four videos and be less likely to leave any aspect out in reference to the technical side of the music video, i.e. the camera angle, light, miss-en-scene etc. (Hard copy of analysis table avalible)

Music Video - Codes and Conventions

The purpose of a music video is to promote; this can the the single, album, artist, band, record company. they create, adapt or feed into a stars image whilst entertaining the audience. Music video should set the meaning of the song by the use of images.

Music videos can be categorised in terms of style. These are:

Performance - this is where the band/group/ artist are seen performing the song. 
                        
                         Band - A degree of authenticity of the performance is sought by the band and the director so we often find lip-syncing close-up, mimed playing of instruments, repetition of chorus shots to enhance repeatability, unusual camera shots and angles (e.g. the micro camera shots attached to the neck of a guitar, sweeping crane shots to film audience reaction to the band playing etc.) 
   
                          Solo - many of the band performance conventions plus choreographed dance routines to enhance repeatability. Also, a first-person mode of address directly engaging the viewer through the camera which involves many close-up shots of eyes rolling and gesturing and if the video is a hybrid form cutting between performance and narrative then the solo artist or band lead singer often becomes part of the narrative story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. 

Narrative - the music video contains a series of events that both make sense to the audience and appear to be unified in time and space. So as to ensure repeated viewings and the effective marketing of the band/artist and song, the narrative code must be simply and suggestive, rather than realistic or detailed. 

Mixture - both performance and narrative based. the video may cut between the narrative and scenes of the artist performing the song.

Cameo - this is were the band/artist features in the narrative but doesn't perform

Animation - digitally/stop-frame

Audiovisual Technical Codes

Camera Shots 

Jumping directly between long shots, close ups and extreme close ups. Primarily the close up on the singer's face is the main generic convention for music videos. Also the extreme close up on the lips for lip synching. 


Camera Movement

whip pans, fast dolly track shots and fast overhead crane shots to follow the running, walking or dancing of performers. Also, fast vertical tilts and horizontal pans. 


Editing
Editing is a very important aspect to music videos. There are various terms, such as jump cutting, MTV style editing or montage editing. Creating the visually decanted experience of jumping from location to person to instrument without any normal narrative continuity. Instead it is often the beat or the rhythm of the track which provides the organising principle for editing movement. The editing moves so fast it creates the need for viewing repeatedly. There are exceptions though. Some continuity editing is used such as atmospheric dissolve shots.

Post-production digital effects

These effects are added to the video after the live sequences have been strung together. Examples are split-screens, colourisation, slow motion CGI (Computer Generated Illustration), etc

Lighting

Lighting sets the atmosphere and mood and is a key feature of music videos. Examples of how expressive lighting can affect the video are: extreme artificial light creates the bleaching effect on pop stars faces (making them seem ageless). Also, the use of switching from colour to black & white or sepia to indicate a shift from chorus to verse. Also, other lighting effects such as strobes or flashing needs to be identified. 


Mise en scene

Made up of a combination of props, costume, location, body language and facial expression. Look for the overall artistic concept in a video if there's a theme. the video's mise en scène may follow the need for authenticity in performance videos by using the concert hall or rehearsal studio setting or an intentional parodic setting to exaggerate star image as in many rap and R 'n' B videos with a focus on glamorous icons such as exotic locations, beautiful cocktail bars and stunning beachside houses with infinity pools. 

Idea of Spectacle
Music videos may be considered to be examples of spectacle, where the performers often look directly at the viewers, directly interacting with the viewer. in the case of men, this involves the look of the character towards the viewer. the male is seen to be addressing the viewer directly. he is supposed to be singing directly for the viewer. the female figure is often an object of an erotic gaze, object of male desire which is a voyeuristic gaze.

Research Methods

Question: 

"To what extent does the representation of women in contemporary R 'n' B music videos present stereotypically dominant views of female sexuality?"

Research is fundamental to all aspects of media production and is the essential starting point for productions of any size. It can be used to determine many factors of future productions, such as: the financial viability, gather information relevant to the content, assist the planning of technical and logistical requirements.

There are four main methods of research :- Primary, Secondary, Quantitative and Qualitative.

Primary Research 
This is research to obtain original data using such methods as interviews, questionnaires, focus groups and observation. Primary research is carried out for a specific reason and invovles the use of a range of different techniques to obtain this new data.

When planning primary research it it important to:
                             - think carefully about what you are trying to find out
                             - choose an appropriate sample
                             - decide upon an appropriate research technique
                             - be aware of the size, scope and timescale of the task ahead.

One main methods used in primary research is asking people questions. These questions can be presented to the public by, one-to-one interviews with a selected number of people, the production of a questionnaire (this will allow a larger group of people to be surveyed), or organise a focus group.

One-to-one interviews can be a very effective way of recieving reliable, qualitative data from selected individuals, however this method can also be very time consuming.

Secondary Research
Secondary research is based on the use of pre-existing data and information that has already been gathered by other people or organisations. It it often available in books, journals or via the Internet.

Quantitative Research
Type of research that is based on measurable and quantifiable facts and information, producing numerical and statistical data. Quantitative research is about asking people for their opinions in a structured way so that you can produce hard facts and statistics to guide you. To get reliable statistical results, it’s important to survey people in fairly large numbers and to make sure they are a representative sample of your target market.

Both primary and secondary research can produce quantitative data. this includes rating, circulation figures and marketing analysis, as well as the counting and measuring of items of space in a content analysis of a media product. 

Qualitative Research
This is the type of research that is based on opinions, attitudes and preferences rather than hard facts.  Once again, both primary and secondary research techniques can be used to produce qualitative data. The collection and use of qualitative data is an important aspect within the media industry as it is used to obtain individuals and groups thinkings and feelings about particular media products. 

Product Placement

Many musicians incorporate brands into there music videos. Both the move of videos form television to the Internet and the attenpt by record labls to make videos a revenuse source, have contributed to the growinf popularity of product placement in music videos. According to a report released in June of 2010 by PQ Media (a research firm) the amount of money spent on product placement in recorded music grew eight percent in 2009 compared with previous years.

Product Placement in Films
(Pizza Hut)

Product Placements on magazine
covers (Starbucks)

Product Placement in Music Videos
(Diet Coke)

Product Placement in Television Soaps
(Nationwide)

The money is often used to offset and make profit of the videos cost. Patrick Quinn, chief executive of PQ Media, stated that revenue from product placement in music videos totaled $15 million to $20 million in 2009, more than double the amount on 2000.

 brand marketers will spend an estimated $8.25 billion on them worldwide in 2012, rebounding solidly from the $6.25 billion spent in 2009 during the Great Recession.

For years, the opportunities for product placement — advertisers like to call it “integration” — in music videos were limited. MTV was the dominant outlet for videos, and its policy prohibited blatant plugs in videos, so the network would often blur brand labels or ask for a new version without the placement. But the airtime MTV devotes to music videos has decreased sharply, and the Web emerged as a preferred destination for fans, opening the door for labels and advertisers.

Rio Caraeff, the chief executive of Vevo, the music video network started late last year in partnership with YouTube, said the company aimed to enable product placement in videos.

Purpose of Research

Reasons for research
There are two main forms to research undertaken by the media industries; market research and production research.

Market research is the collection and analysis of information about the market within which a particular product will compete with other products for an audience and for revenue.

Production research is related to the production process itself

Market Research
Effective and successful media products tarer the rigth audeince and communicate to them in an effective way. As the media industry becomes more fragmented so comptitions for a share of the audience becomes more intense. Knowing who your target audience are, and what makes them tick, is therefore increasingly important.

When doing market research it is important that you are looking at the following aspects.
                        - Statisical data about audience size and composition for a particular media product
                        - The extent to which a potention audience are aware of a media product or service
                        - What people think about particular products and services and what their patterns of behaviour are
                        - Market competitors who are competing for a share of the audience and revenue with similar products

The media marketplace is highly competitive and media production will often undertake detailed researcj into their target market, or more commonly commission other companies to undertake research on their behalf.

Market Research Organisations
there are various organisations whose main role is to undertake research on media audiences and products. the findings of their research often become a commercial product in its own right that is then sold on to media companies.
Some of this information is also frely avaliable to the public. you can find examples by visting the websitrs of the organisations listed below, as well as looking in the media pages of newspapers such as The Guardian and The Independent, and in specialist magazines such as Broadcast.

Nation Readership Survey (NRS) provides information to the industry on who reads what publication.

Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) provides circulation information to the newspaper and magazine industry.

Broardcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) provides estimates of the number of people watching television programmes.

Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) provides estimates of the number of people listening to radio programmes.

When researching to produce a product age, gender, culture and ethnicity, income and social class should all be considered. Segementing the audience in these ways make it eaiser for media producers to identify and target groups of people with the same needs and wants.

Age is one of the most significant and often used categories within the media; often seperated into
           - 15 years and younger
           - 16 to 24 years
           - 25 to 44 years
           - 45 to 64 years
           - 65 years and over
With this said different research will use age divisions that are most appropriate for the task. for example the 15 years and under may need to be sub divided.

Many media products are targeted at a specific gender group, most obviously evidenced in the magazine market.

Media today is pushed to an audience all over the world, targeting different cultures and ethnic groups.

Finally income and social class are highly considered - annual salaries, types of jobs, social class. By researching into a persons disposable income is important, so that, in advertising for example, the right images, slogans, products are targeted to the right audience. advertisng a top of the range car to households with a low disposible income would not work.









Production Research
When planning a new media product the company making the programme, film, magazine, website or game will need to undertake a great deal of product research. this will provide content and gather material to allow them to write and develop the new product, research the commercial viability of actually making the product and throughly research and plan the production and post-production stages to ensure that it all runs as smoothly as possible.

Some of this research will be generic, but much of it will depend on the type of product being planned. when researching you may use secondary research to find out more specific information about the product, as well as conducting primary research in the form of interviews and sample members of the population to try to understand their viewpoints. the information collected can then be used to inform the writing, with some of the quotes used in the article itself. some form of picture research should be taken to find suitable images to accompany the article.

Production research not only looks into the content for the production, but is also the undertaking of  researching the cost (of hiring equipment, staff as well as post-production and distribution services required). additionally location scouting will need to be done to identify suitable venues for filming, assist in the planning of certain shots, and assess any problems or health and safety issues that the crew might face.

It is important that the iformation collected during this process is clearly, carefully and accurately logged, organsied and stored to ensure it is secure, while also allowing easy access and cross referencing.

Viability
Another important purpose of production research is to demonstrate that your planned products is viable. the viability of the product needs to be tested at a number of different levels: financial viability, necessary skills for the production process, availability of correct equipment and technology, help and support requirement and enough time to produce the product.

Research into different ways to fund or generate income from your product are highly necessary, allowing you to balance the amount of income against the costs of the production and the distribution. This will show to what extent your proposed product would be viable were it to be launched into the competitive media market.

A crucial source of income for many of the media products is advertising. Sponsorship of individual products by commercial companies is becoming increasingly popular and should be seen as a potential income source. The idea of a grant, loans and commission to help support the costs of media production should also be looked into. there are a number of public and private schemes that are designed to support creative production, including those run by Arts Council, the British Film Institute and the National Lottery.

within your budget you will need to include costing for any copyright material you plan to use, distribution of product, marketing and promotion. ways to promote your product may include, sponsored events where your target audience is present, publicity stunt to broaden the attention and hype surrounding the product, using a celebrity to endorse the product or produce merchandise. With all aspects of the media industry, you will have a specified timescale to work to and a deadline by which your work must be completed.

Introduction to Psychoanalytical Studies

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is the method of psychological and personality therapy in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work.

The basic principles of psychoanalysis include the following:

1. beside the inherited constitution of personality, a person's development is determined by events in early childhood;
2. human behavior, experience, and cognition are largely determined by irrational drives;
3. those drives are largely unconscious;
4. attempts to bring those drives into awareness meet psychological resistance in the form of defence mechanisms;
5. conflicts between conscious and unconscious (repressed) material can result in mental disturbances such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.;
6. the liberation from the effects of the unconscious material is achieved through bringing this material into the conscious mind (via e.g. skilled guidance).

  
Sigmund Freud
The idea of psychoanalysis came into full prominence under Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, where he formulated his own theory of psychoanalysis. Freud had become aware of the existence of mental processes that were not conscious as a result of his neurological consulting job. 









Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan's work featured the unconscious, the castration complex, the ego, identification, and language as subjective perception. His ideas have had a significant impact on critical theory, literal theory, 20th century French philosophy, sociology, feminist theory, film theory and clinical psychoanalysis.




Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. Mulvey is best known for her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen. Her article is one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic framework, influenced by the theories of Freud and Lacan.







Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek  is a Slovene philosopher and cultural critic who has made major contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis, among other disciplines.