1b Essay Example Representation

Fiske argues that our interpretation of a representation is only based around previous ones that we have seen: the “car chase” theory. Within music videos representation of the genre itself often relies on the audience awareness and prior knowledge of media products they have already seen. Our own video demonstrates this in that the performance scene, several of the techniques directly relate to existing videos in the genre, for example the canted angle on the neck of the guitar during the instrumental scene, the heavy use of low key lighting for the performance and the increased cutting rate in the instrumental sections. These are all common features of rock videos that often represent artist’s skill and the idea of the artist being an ‘authentic’ musician . Therefore representation of the genre relies heavily on audience prior knowledge into order to decode the messages embedded within the text.

Hall also argues for the different ways approaching representation in that there is reflective, constructionist and intentional. Within music videos there is clearly a reflective approach taken as music videos often seek to reflect meanings and messages already present in the world, particularly within the target audience. For example in our own genre and work much of the hip-hop genre is judged to be criminal and urban with a heavy emphasis on individual performers and their personal history which needs to be represented. We demonstrated this through the use of black and white filters, which have connotations of the past as well as using low angle shots in conjunction with the expected dress code of hoodie and snap-back cap within the performance scenes in order to connote power and dominance. Therefore, this reflects the interests and cultural choices made by the target audience as well as providing a representation that audience members can emulate and aspire to be, a concept with is argued by Stewart in his theory of music videos providing an “inspirational lifestyle”.