My Argument

I am going to be looking at the representation of women in reality TV programmes. For this, I am going to look at specific examples such as Made in Chelsea, The Only Way is Essex and Geordie Shore. And then as an opposite view of this representation I am going to look at Big Brother, and how it includes people from all over and not just from one specific area. This will give a wider area of research and will enable me to challenge stereotypes from these areas.
As part of my research and understanding of my chosen topic, I need to look at some theories that support or counteract my argument. The first theory that I am going to apply to my argument is the feminist theory. This examines women's social, experiences, interests and feminist politics. Some of the themes that are explored in this theory are discrimination, objectification (especially sexually) and stereotypes. An example of this would be in Made in Chelsea, especially, as the men often see the women as a prize to be won. This is particularly true when two men are involved and it becomes like a competition. However, a counter type of this would be Gemma from The Only Way is Essex. She is a very strong and independent woman, and is often the one to shoot men down and make them feel humiliated.
The second theory that I can apply to my argument is the uses and gratifications theory. This looks at how people's needs influence how they use and respond to the media. It also says that people use media texts for a variety of reasons, these are; information, personal identity, integration and social interaction, and entertainment. The audiences of reality TV programmes watch because they may be able to identify with the characters on screen. As human beings, we are interested in how other people live, whether if they are rich or poor. So watching reality TV programmes allows the audience to see how a different group of people in the UK live. They may also get enjoyment from this.
For my line of production I am going to look at creating a TV magazine interview for a new reality TV programme. This new programme will go against the typical norms that are expected of reality TV. This interview will cover all of the ins and outs whilst being persuasive and informative.
To conclude, the final question for my topic of choice will be "Why are women often misrepresented in reality TV?"

Representation of Women in Reality TV

Women in Reality TV:

• Women in reality TV programmes are represented very differently to the men.
• E.g: "The Only Way is Essex" (ITV2), the women are represented to be very beauty conscious and quite stupid and quite self indulged.
• E.g: "Made in Chelsea" (E4-Channel 4), the women are represented to be very posh, rich - the complete opposite to "TOWIE" because they seem to be more established because of the money that they have. However, when it comes down to the men, the women on both programmes become naïve, this is the similarity between the two.
• E.g: "Geordie Shore" (MTV), this is similar to the other programmes that I have looked at as they try to be the typical stereotype of that particular place in the UK - this makes the people watching believe that everyone in that area are like this, when it may not be the case.
• E.g: "Big Brother" (Channel 5), this is different as it offers a wider range of women from all over the UK with different values and ideologies. But they are set up to be in certain situations - so it poses the question, is it really reality TV? 

The women may be represented in this way because it is more entertaining and interesting for the audience to watch and enjoy. The people that are featured on reality TV programmes are represented as a much more exaggerated stereotype to what they may actually be like, and for this reason, people will either watch or avoid it. The characters in these programmes are often told how to act in certain situations and may even be given situations to be in, creating more entertainment for the audience.

Feminist Theory:

• It examines women's social roles, experience, interests, and feminist politics.
• They focus on analysing gender inequality.
• Themes explored are discrimination, objectification (especially sexually), oppression and stereotyping.
• In most reality TV programmes, the women are seen as a prize to be won by the men- especially in love triangles/rivals. This can be seen as objectifying women as they may not think about the women's feelings, only the prize at the end.
• Feminists would most likely not agree with Reality TV programmes such as these for these reasons.

Audience Theory - Uses and Gratifications Theory:

• People's needs influence how they use and respond to the media.
• Audiences use media texts for a variety of reasons:
• 1.) Information: Gaining a sense of security through knowledge.
• 2.) Personal Identity: Identifying with characters.
• 3.) Integration and Social Interaction: Insight into others lives.
• 4.) Entertainment: Getting enjoyment.
• Audiences may be able to identify with the characters of reality TV programmes and the situations that they may find themselves in.
• They may also get enjoyment from seeing how other people live too.

Final Print Tasks

The picture above is of one my final pieces for the print tasks of my coursework. For one of my 3 pages, I created a full page album poster to be run in the music press. I made sure that I included all the relevant information, for example; the record company, where people can download it, the release date and who the album is by. I wanted to make sure that I created a poster that fit with the genre of music that Megan makes, which is folk. So I chose to use the picture of Megan with her guitar to show the sound of her music. I also chose the background of purple as it complimented the picture and made it stand out much more. By making the poster simple and not too hard to read, it means that it will attract the audience. I created this by using InDesign as it was much simpler to use compared to programmes such as Photoshop.

This picture is of another of my final pieces for the print tasks of my coursework. For this one I chose to do a half page advert for the tour to be run in the music press. I made sure that I included all of the relevant information, for example; when and where, where people can buy tickets, the record company and who the tour is for. It was important to me that this advert looked professional because it is meant to be run in the music press and the readers will not pay attention to it if it looks messy or un-professional. Using InDesign I was able to change the picture to black and white so it looks more intriguing. I then made sure that the writing on the image was clear enough to be able to read, so I made it white and bold. The photo follows the 'rule of thirds' composition, with Megan featured on the left third of the image, this makes it all more appealing to the eye of the audience, and makes it easier to receive the information. This allows the text to fill the vast amount of empty space leftover, as this is the most important piece of information to be seen by the audience.

Finally, the picture above shows the final piece for my print task of my coursework. I chose to do a press release to be sent to journalists that includes information about Megan and her music. I included biographical information, news on her album and tour and how people could get a hold of the person in charge if they needed more information. I also included 3 promotional photographs to go along with the information to interest the journalists and potential audiences that will read it. I used Microsoft Word to produce this press release as it gave me the features most suited to what I wanted to achieve. This included line spacing (1.5pt) to make the information clearer and easier to read.

Artist Promotional Video - Final Edit AS Media Coursework

This is my final edit for my broadcasting task as part of my media coursework. I decided to do a promotional video that includes biographical information, live footage of musical performances and an original song that plays in the background.

The camera angles that I used were pretty basic. I mainly used mid wide shots with a few mid-close ups. I decided to use these shots because I wanted the video to be very simplistic and only focus on the singer and what she was saying, rather than anything else in the room. I used natural lighting in the video to also give the video a simplistic feel. This is similar to the music genre that I have chosen to promote and is the reason as to why I made these choices.

The music in the video is non-diegetic and is an original song by the singer, and I was given permission to use the song to avoid copyright issues. Some of the music from live performances that are in the video are originals and others are covers. However, Megan has put her own spin on the covers making it seem as though it is a different song all together.

In editing, I added some effects to the video. When I included the live performances, I made sure to use the swap scene effect to make the video run smoothly. If I did not do this, the video could have looked quite bitty and like it didn't flow properly. To get back into the talking parts of the video, after a music performance, I made sure that the videos faded out so that it would run smoothly again.

Venue Research

For my print based task I am creating a poster for the artist's debut album, but I am also creating a half page tour flyer to promote it.
In preparation to creating this flyer, I needed to do some research into venues that would be appropriate for the genre of music that she plays and for the amount of people that may attend the concert.
Because she is a folk singer-songwriter, the best venues for her to play would be relatively small, intimate places where she can interact better with her audience. Also because this would be her first official tour with the debut album, it would be expected that not many people would know or listen to her music yet. Therefore, smaller venues would be best.
The picture below shows some websites that I looked at in order to get my research about appropriate venues:

 Here are the places that I have decided to choose:

1.) Olympia Theatre, Dublin - 1,600

2.) O2 ABC Glasgow, Glasgow - 922

3.) O2 Leeds Academy, Leeds - 2,800

4.) The Ritz, Manchester - 1,500

5.) The Leadmill, Sheffield - 900

6.) Albert Hall, Nottingham - 750

7.) The Institute, Birmingham - 2,000

8.) O2 Academy Bournemouth, Bournemouth - 1,800

9.) The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 500

10.) Concorde 2, Brighton - 600

11.) Koko, London - 1,500

12.) Shepherd's Bush Empire, London - 2,000

I feel it would be best to do more shows in London as it is the place where music is celebrated and experienced much more than in other places in the UK.

Broadcasting Task (Preview)

This is a preview of my promotional video for the broadcasting task. This is only the ending of the video, but I just wanted to experiment with editing software and with incorporating music with the video before I began editing the whole thing.

I used Windows Movie Maker to create this. It was easy to use and made the editing process a lot simpler. I will definitely use this software to edit my final video.

First Print Draft

Before creating my first draft for one of my print tasks, I did some research. I am going to create an album flyer that will be run in the music press. So to research this I looked up some album flyers that had previously been run in the music press.

This is what I found. Researching these different styles helped me to create my own album flyer. The consistency that can be seen from these flyers is something that I wish to incorporate in my print task as it looks much more professional and will look like it actually belongs in the music press.

Below is a picture of my first draft of my album flyer. I wanted to keep the consistency that most other album flyers have so that it looks professional, and I feel like I have accomplished this.