Unit 29 : Music Video ProductionAssignment 1

Unit 6 Assignment 1 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Why do ou think this product is so good at targeting an audience?

Angel character - the handsome romantic lead stereotype

By reading these reviews you can tell that the reason that this product is so good at targeting an audience by the character development and how people can easily relate to them, leaving them feeling engaged and because they have created a love for the characters they feel engaged with the action aswell. The comedy the show brings and the one-liners draws an audience in because it's amazing how this type of show can pull it off yet still have the ability to be serious. An oppositional response of this show would be the bad special effects and fighting. Some people have opinions on if the show is good or bad.

Angel is always shown with Buffy or trying to save or help her, he's always wearing black and white and is tall, dark and mysterious. Cordelia the popular girl tries to win over Angel but he is just interested in Buffy. He is romantic and acts like a gentleman towards Buffy even though he is a vampire he is kind and always helps her out in tough situations because he has a soul. He is the stereotypical boyfriend in a TV show.

Cinematography

The reason that I like Buffy is because if gives the audience real life lessons, anyone can relate to...

During this episode of Buffy called Hush, there is no dialogue involved at all because these men have stolen their voices. The reason this episode is a success is by the use of cinematography. It won an Emmy award for "Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series "Hush" the tension of the colour wash and the camera use keeps the audience drawn into the episode.

Oppositional Reading

But in my opinion I think that the female representations in this show are postive towards the audience, I think Buffy is a good female role model towards young women because she wants to be a normal girl like she used to be but she realises she can't and then steps up to her destiny and it shows how scared she is and I think audiences can relate towards these emontions that the scriptwriters make the characters feel because it seems realistic. Also Williow her bestfriend is a lesbian and putting a gay relationship in a show represents to the audience that it is perfectly natural to be attracted to or love any person you want to.

You can tell that Buffy the Vampire slayer is a fantasy tv show because of the props on set we see stakes, axes, spell books and it isn't just set in our realistic realm, episodes can be scripted in different dimensions so it isn't just always set in today's reality and for these scenes in the show they would use chroma-keying to give the effect that they have entered another world. Plus the fantasy genre is seen with the special effects used when a vampire is killed, they turn into dust these illusions give the audience the fantasy genre. The audience receives the teen drama side of the show due to the scripts plot of Buffy's high school dramas mixed with the pressures of saving the world. Theres lot of drama in this show and also the audience gets the drama due to Buffy's romantic vampire boyfriend, teen girls stereotypically love romance and romantic films and these are made to draw in this type of audience, scriptwriters think they will find this relationship cute and also might find Angel attractive. And what else do teens love? Romantic comedies and by adding comedy to the show as well and making the characters not seem so serious and uptight also brings another audience to want to watch this series. The good thing about the genres is that it draws in a bigger audience, it makes it seem like there is something here for everyone and individuals can either enjoy the action, romance, comedy, fantasy or horror in this tv show...

Representation of men, young people, stereotype? - In the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer there are a lot of stereotypes shown...

Willow's nerdy stereotype

Willow is known as a 'nerd' they show this in the TV show by using costumes such as smart clothes like shirts, tartan dress, overalls and t-shirts that aren't meant for her age range and majority levels, childish things and hats that make her seem geeky. She is usually always shown on screen with books or in the library, in season one there is a lot of dialogue about how she helps people with there studies and is good at using technology. She also has never been on a date or had a boyfriend and only has one friend Xander from her childhood, Willow also gets bullied by the popular group at her school.

Buffy's - confident heroine stereotype

In the first season of Buffy she is known as a girl from LA who used to be a popular cheerleader, she wears tight dresses that show off her figure and a cheerleader outfit, short skirts and high heeled boots and leather jackets. Her dress sense is confident and sexy this draws a male audience into the show, her hair is blonde and always in place even though she's fighting vampires, going to high school and dealing with normal high school drama. Because she is a hero her character puts women in a good light showing that women are strong and have to deal with a lot, she also has a witty and funny personality with one-liners in the show, I think this is every guy's dream so that's why they've made this character a good looking woman whilst also funny.

Xander's character - Comical best friend stereotype

They show this in the show by his costume choices for example his horrible silk shirts with crazy patterns, this shows that he doesn't take himself too seriously and wears a Donald Duck wristwatch despite his age, this is copying Willow's choice of wearing clothes that don't match her age because they're best friends.

He is also shown as a comical best friend by the one liners he has in the show.

Giles character - Clever geeky librarian stereotype

Giles is always shown in the TV show in the library or walking to the library or talking about books. Even the above photo shows books in the background showing that he is a librarian and his costume are suits and shirts and his glasses. Throughout the show he is constantly cleaning his glasses...He is shown as a stereotypical British librarian, he has a posh english accent that the other characters make fun of him because of it, this is due to his geeky stereotype.

Cordelia's-popular bitchy stereotype

In my opinion I think lots of recent tv shows have copied this style of supernatural-drama-romance-action-fantasy type because it reaches a wider audience for example The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Supernatural etc. But I don't think they stand close to the way Buffy's genres were so freshly mixed together in 90's to create a TV show that hadn't been seen before especially with a strong female lead character, I think the success of this show is due to the character development, the way that you can relate to everyone and they all seem real and humorous whereas in other shows with similar genres they don't seem to care about how the audiences sees the character and tries to make the plot more shocking and different to what no one has seen before but they seem to forget that audiences would rather have a human connection with characters and that's what starts a fan base. For example if a character died in Buffy you would see the other characters talk and grieve other this death or shocking disaster for the rest of the episodes in the series and there would be a point to a characters death (for example jenny calendars death due to angelus) and they wouldn't forget this happened for seasons to come and the death would tie into the plot but in new shows if somebody dies they forget that it even happened in the next episode and move onto the next freak of the week episode to get ratings on tv. It makes them seem like they don't care/seem heartless. But that's not good because audiences want to be able to buy into the fantasy world of the show and feel the connection to the characters because they have to be able to relate to it or feel emotion for this product to be able to become a fan. This is why the genre's mixed is so important to audience.

This person who wrote a blog post about why they have an oppositional reading and don't agree with the show trying to give the message that it's feminist show but they point out that it wasn't Buffy's choice to become the slayer and she even tries to run away from her duties to become a 'normal' girl, so it's stating that they don't buy into it being about a strong female character because she has to have the help from a male Giles and if she doesn't have this guidance she doesn't do a good job at being the slayer.

Cordelia's bitchy rich stereotype is shown by her dialogue in the show. She makes herself seem better than other people because of her clothes, how rich she is and how many friends she has. She is shown as shallow and this is also done by her dialogue and the clothes she wears, she always has perfect hair and if someone tells her she doesn't it's the end of the world, it always has to be her way. She is the tereotypical bitch in a TV show.

What is the tone, how does it make you feel?

Whilst watching this TV show you begin to care about all the flawed characters and their own person problems and they are really likeable people. This show also has different qualities humour, action, romance and is well written, a serious side, but also leaves room for innocent humour and love stories that are realistic and you can relate to. The show presents down-to-earth and revealing relations between teenagers, and between young people and parents, teachers and mentors, and a diverse range of authority figures. It also engagingly deals with social relationships, love, rejection, loss, and all the complexities of family, school, work, constructing identity and finding oneself, growing and evolving, or failing and regressing as a human being.

Narrative - There is flashbacks at the start of a Buffy episode with Giles talking the audience over what happened in the pervious episode it's begins with a non linear storyline, also during episodes their is often flashbacks that become non linear because Angel goes back in time to his early days of being a vampire when he didn't have a soul and killed people and wasn't good. Their is also flashbacks used with other characters reflecting on their past and how its effected the present day. Near the end of the seasons there is usually enigma puzzles, cliff hangers leaving the audience anticipating what will happen to the characters, did they die from that horrible monster? does angel still love Buffy? WHAT WILL HAPPEN? watch the next season and find out! This is a way of making the audience still interested in watching the show by having cliff hangers leading onto the new series.

The mode of address

By the cover of the first seasons dvd cover, genre of the show is fantasy/horror/comedy/action. You can see that it's horror by the title of the show is in creepy text and in the background it's dark and misty which adds a horror effect and you can see gates to a graveyard behind her, it's fantasy because of the prop of a stake she is holding in her hand to kill vampires because in reality they aren't real, which also draws action fans into the cover. It's also comical because her name is Buffy, the name doesn't sound scary and it doesn't sound like a scary vampire slayer, plus she's a girl and has blonde curly hair and looks more like a victim of a vampire rather than the hero, this would make some people laugh because it's not what they're used to seeing. In my opinion this show would have a Negotiated Reading when a member of the audience partly agrees with part of the product, because I think some people wouldn't understand what Joss Whedon is trying to create.

Audience - The age range for people watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be teens aged 15 and upwards onto older adults. Although I think the series is best for young adults who will appreciate the multi-leveled story, plus Buffy is in mortal danger in most episodes and she looses her virginity to her much older boyfriend and there are monsters everywhere. I think that both genders would enjoy this TV show. The girls would look up to Buffy and the hard chooses she has to make in life plus she dresses nice (in the 90's) and has a witty fun personality. Also girls would like to watch this show because of the attractive men in the show. And it encourages strength in girls, mentoring and teamwork. And males would enjoy this because of the action shown in the show, the danger, the comedy and watching a blonde girl in short dresses killing vampires. Teenagers can also relate to the pressures Buffy has to deal with daily, they can draw parallels between Buffy's life and normal high school life experiences.

The psychographics of the show would be explorers because they like to seek discovery, likes to explore new ideas, values difference and adventure. typically younger. And in the 90's they would rarely of seen a woman killing vampires whilst also dealing with typical high school drama. Also I think reformers who seek enlightenment, likes to be challenged, can form own opinion, very aware of social issues because I think this programme would be challenging for them and it's enlightening to see a woman have such strong power.

Genre is supernatural drama, comedy-drama, fantasy, action, horror. In the opening credits you can see that this show has supernatural horror in it by the vampires and witchcraft, the action because it shows a lot of fighting scenes, the drama is shown by the use of the high school setting in the mise en scene. In the show it's mise en scene is based around a high school, graveyard, the library, the towns club The Bronze and Buffy's house. When in the graveyard there is usually creepy diagetic sound playing in the background, the music in The Bronze is usually a band playing or loud dance music, there is dialogue from students whilst in the school and in Buffy's house there is usually scenes with her and her mother or friends talking or discussing that episodes issues.

By looking at some of these images from episodes of the show you can tell that their is horror in this show, which also adds fantasy because some are fictional monsters

opening credits

Examples of flashbacks^^^^^

And a cliff hanger with Buffy>>

Xander brings comedy to the show and by this video you can see how comedy is brought to the show.

Action in the show