Online media- Zoella

Online Media-  Media that is distributed using the internet - digital technology 


DIGITAL CONVERGANCE:
E.G radio- BBC podcasts, Youtube- started in 2005 in California, United States 

Youtube only made possible through advances in storage due to the capacity videos need in order to be stored.

Vlogging- Documenting your life through video 
Actual definition- Video blog 
Blog (Weblog) 


YOUTUBE is self regulated 

Web 2.0 - white backgrounds, clean cut 

Vlogging is interesting because the target audience is typically young people 
Its an example of participatory culture - end of audience theory 

• Vlogging has become one of the biggest and most influential form of media-42% of internet users have watched a blog in the last month 
• 50% of 16-24 year olds in the last month 
• Demonstrating the importance of vlogging in young people 
• Producers sell audiences

• Aspirational
• Personal identity- able to relate 
• Identification
• Unscripted narrative
• Authenticity- reality- the idea that your looking at a 'real' person who isn't actually real
• Direct mode of address- the vlogger looks directly at the camera/ the audience 
• Audience interaction

Mini case study- Cat Mojo "Do you understand your cats behaviour?"
Used pseudo science (bullshit science)
Got a hippy/rocker look to him the mise-en-scene of the guitars in the background support this 
Has personality 



Case study: Zoella

• Most popular beauty vlogger in the UK
• Her target audience is really precise and targeted  
• Has 12 million youtube subscribers
• Started in 2009
• She's 28 years old
• 10.9 million follows on instagram
• 13.6 followers on twitter 
• 147th most subscribed channel 
• Has collectively 1 billion video views
• Has a second channel called "more zoella" that has 4.8 subscribers 
• Lifestyle, fashion and beauty vlogger
• Rebranded from 'Zoella' to 'Zoe Sugg'- who also has her own cosmetic brand called 'Zoella' - this could be to try and make her brand more mature 
• Primary form of online communication is Youtube 

Video- "June faves 2016"

• Intertextual reference to Disney film- lion king 
• her facial expressions are very expressive and exaggerated 
• she has a neutral British accent
• Her vocal delivery is undulating with its movements and tones, much more American
• She doesn't swear - if she did she would be demonetised (doesn't get money anymore)
• Frequent jump-cuts - a cut from one thing to the same thing - increases the level of authenticity 
• Mistakes are intentionally left in 
• Her mode of address is like a children's TV presenter 
• Looks like a character from a Disney/pixar animated film 
• Linda Blaker photo shoot reinforces the Disney princess idea  
• She's very child like, petite, slim 
• Doesn't sound like an adult (even though she's 26) 
• Her teeth are a little wonky- not hollywood perfect - makes her more relatable 

Zoella- Media language and representation:

• Homepage and other pages- main page represented to the audience 
• Multimodality- many forms of communication, such as text, images, sound, moving image etc
• - A word or object that you click on to take you somewhere else on the website or another site 
• Hyper-modality- This is what makes online media different from other media products, as things online use hyperlinks with several different forms of communications linking themselves together
• 'Above the fold'- the idea that it needs to be top heavy (all the good stuff at the top) 
• Hyper reality- is beyond reality- 'it's more real than real'

• Thumb nail- preview imagine 
• Footer- copy write 
• Header is normally a name or band
• Navigation bars are there for 'users experience', and allows the user to find exactly what they want as quickly as possible and allows them to explore the page much easier
• Slider/Carousel- at the side of the page allows you to scroll through 
• Banner ads- the ones which are at the top of a site and take up a long horizontal section of the page 
• Search box- at the top of the page 

Media language  and Representation theory-

Claude Levi Strauss- binary oppositions- structuralism 
Roland bart- semiotic codes
Steve Neal - genre conventions
Jean Baudrillard- post modernism 
Judith Butler- gender performativity
Stuart hall- representation
David Gauntlet- identification (pick and mix) 

Voyerism 

Paradigmatic features of the vlog:

• We are positioned in a voyeristic way, placed in the middle of her bedroom, however in Zoella's case this is a binary opposition- she is completely unsexualised 
• Breaks the 4th wall - eye contact/ look at the audience 
• nothing offensive/ distracting in her house/ back ground 
• Constant jump cutting and deliberate mistakes 
• Codes of realism 
• She's human and makes mistakes
• Amateur aesthetic
• Codes of realsim 
• High-key lighting
• Single camera edit
• Invitation into private spaces
• Aspirational content
• Presenter POV
• Unscripted narrative 
• Use of post production filters

Zoella is hyper-reality- she is an ideal- what every teenage girl wants to be 

Jean Buadrillard- 'we live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning' (hyper- reality) 

'Simulation is no longer that of ... substance. it is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: A hyperreal' 



"fuckzoella"- account name on youtube 


Zoella's offensive tweets that she's since deleted:

She conforms to hegemonic roles of beauty and perfection which is why these tweets were deleted as it goes against her brand.



"The Zoella apartment" video:

• Conforms to hegemonic standards of beauty 
• She's aiming for a extremely specific audience which makes secondary audiences less 
• The use of the colours white and pink reinforce her 'innocent' and 'pure' brand 
• Commodity fetishism of her brand 
• Has rented this apartment to launch her new products 
• High key lightening 
• mini increases her cultural capital
• the use of close up angle and casual mode of address is more personal
• her pug always makes an appearance as it's like her child, which shows her still as childish ands someone who doesn't want to grow up
• She never talks about sex 
• She's chaste - 'to abstain from sex'- this is unusually because typically women are sexualised
• The use of a high pitch voice
• Always playing with her hair- stereotypically female
• she is consistently smiling 
• She's like a therapist- constantly welcoming - direct mode of address 
• Positions us as her 'friend'

Close up shot, heavy make-up, conforming to and reinforcing hegemonic acceptable notions of female beauty- this is further reinforced by the mise-en-scene of flowers, which is symbolic of femininity the whiteness of them also connotes purity, femininity, and chastity and makes reference to the housewife archetype   

    Poppy clings to Narla in a close up shot, connoting love, affection and maternal stereotypes. Alfie in the background appeals to the young heterosexual female audience

  Zoella's videos adopt a range of CU shots, providing the audience was an intimate and inviting personal mode of address- the out of focus nature of the shot infers to the target demographic that Zoella is 'real' and relatable, and someone who can be inspired towards- it also represents a performative element of women.

 Her signature is stereotypically 'girly', with cursive serif, handwritten style. It also strongly hints at Zoella's carefully constructed immaturity. This in combination with her trademark giggling and over the top enthuasim and excitement at the slightest thing allows her as a women in her mid 20's to effectively appeal to her a lot younger target audience

 Candles are stereotypically feminine - the high angle shot of the candle box, and zoella's vocal excitement at the fact that it can fold out is a clear example of commodity fetishism
 

Industry and audience:

Hypermodel 
Internet isn't regulated 


Pokemon trailer adapted :
fandom- Henry Jenkins
Stuart hall- reception theory - preferred response- to go out and buy it



Momo 'suicide creature'  has caused a MORAL PANIC with parents