zoella media language and rep

what is conventional about zoella as a youtuber

conventional camera technique = single camera set up, medium close ups, direct adress, filmed by the vlogger themself

how do vloggers help audiences focus on themselves

as lights have become easily available and cheap online, many vloggers use them (soft box lights, or ring lights) to focus the audience on the vlogger themselves and to make the shots look a bit more professional

how does zoellas filming technique add a feeling of realism

the hand held camera shots add a feeling of realism and naturality to her posts. it often creates an ‘amateur’ feeling because of the shaky nature, but is often appealing to an audience who feel they are seeing the ‘real’ Zoella

how do vloggers give audiences the opportunity to interact

may online media producers such as vloggers, give audiences opportunities to ‘interact’ or be ‘active’ by liking, sharing, commenting etc. Vloggers will often ask their viewers questions or instruct them to hit subscribe, or co

ment below etc. this helps to make the audience feel engaged

how does zoella create intertextuality

zoella often refers to other media products in her posts eg singers, films, brands, celebs etc. this adds to her representation as someone who is current, popular, fashionable etc…

she also collaborates regularly with other social media influencers / vloggers which creates more intertextual references, whilst also creating an impression of popularity, success etc…

how does zoella make use of other youtubers

a lot of her content is shared across multiple channels eg hers, alfies, joes etc. they borrow from each other in terms of ideas and content, and often have a variety of near identical videos, photos and written posts online across their channels. postmodernism

how does zoella create an image of postmodernism

she clearly shows us she is aware of the camera and the audience, sometimes showing off the camera, or the lights, breaking the 4th wall, using direct address etc. self awareness is a feature of postmodern media products

what is zoellas editing like

whilst each video has a rough narrative eg ‘christmas eve preparations’ the editing is often quite fragmented, showing us a montage of shots from different days or activities. there is not a clear todorovian narrative structure to most videos, instead they are often just glimpses into random minor events, rather than one major ‘quest’

also a feature of post modern products

how could zoellas videos not conform to postmoderism

whilst many postmodern media products embrace surreal ideas, and anti-realism, zoella is often trying to create the illusion of reality for her audience

what is continuity editing

in most media products eg films & tv, editors use ‘continuity editing’ which is designed to use different angles of the same shots to create smooth scenes where the editing almost becomes ‘invisible’ to the audience and feels as though it is one long scene

how does filming with one camera from one angle make a video lack continuity editing

by contrast, when vloggers film with a single camera from one angle, its hard to make the editing ‘invisible’ and so often we notice things that wouldnt normally be noticeable

what makes a vlogger more relatable

sometimes we see shots of the vlogger fumbling their words, or messing up, or saying the wrong thing, and this often makes them more relatable

what are jump cuts

sometimes we will see ‘jump cuts’ which are obvious ‘cuts’ made into one shots where something has been taken out and the two remaining bits of the shot have been sandwiched together. this is reasonably uncommon in other media products as it draws the audiences attention to the fact its been edited

what are other obvious editing techniques

dip to black or they will use more unusual ones like ‘fades’ / ‘dissolves’ to show passing of time

what does this style of editing say about a creator

they style of editing could be about making them look relatable (eg the choice to leave in mistakes) or due to the limitiations of filming on a single camera set up (when they end up using jump cuts, dissolves etc)

what other things make them seem relatable

vloggers will often choose to leave in pauses or long silences, which would often get cut out of other media products. these pauses or silences add to the idea that she is reacting naturally to the world around her, and make her feel relatable and less ‘professional’ meaning some audiences will trust her more

the videos feel spontaneous and unscripted which appeals to fans who want to feel like they are seeing the ‘real’ zoella

what do vloggers do to appeal to younger demographics

zoella and many other vloggers use a range of informal words, colloquialisms, slang and direct adress that appeals to young audiences

her informal mode of adress combines with her sometimes immature sense of humour and silly behaviour is a good way of appealing to younger audiences who may be able to relate to this

she will use emojis, graphics or other symbollic codes superimposed on her videos or photos, or embedded into the text of her written posts, and these appeal to younger audiences as well as making her seem youthful and fun

what is a parasocial relationship

parasocial interactions are those interactions with the audience which create a feeling that the audience actually is friends with her, and that they do know her. this creates a parasocial relationship between zoella and her fans

how do vloggers use setting to their advantage

vloggers often use ‘personal spaces’ for the location of their photos and videos such as their homes (eg bedrooms etc) or cars. this adds a sense of intimacy as we feel like we are seeing her real domain, and acting as a ‘voyeur’ into her life and relationship

the mise-en-scene is typically feminine eg pinks, pastels, gold, glitter etc

how does her website echo her style

her website echoes this branding and style of femininity by using youthful pastels, fairy lights, serif font that appears ‘handwritten’ and imagery of lace patterns and glittery backrounds

what is included in alot of her shots

zoella also uses a lot of shots of makeup and hair products being used and demonstrated

she uses reasonably overtly feminine body language and actions such as applying makeup, touching her lips and hair, etc

what makes audiences relate/ identify with zoella

zoellas videos and posts feature her doing alot of relatable activities such as cooking, cleaning, going out with friends etc. this helps the audience to relate to her / identify with her and see her as a ‘normal’ person

seeing ‘imperfections’ eg no make up, spots, crying, messy house, etc adds to this representation of ‘reality’ and makes it feel like we are seeing the real zoella, even though it is likely still heavily constructed

what aspects are included that others would leave out

zoella even tackles some issues that are often seen as ‘taboo’ eg mental health such as anxiety, depression, sexual health such as smear tests etc. this adds to the feeling of reality aswell as we are seeing aspects that might traditionally be left out of typical media representations that are idealised. fans feel as though she is exposing her real life too much

how are women typically constructed

many media products represent women in either domestic or sexualised ways (van zoonen) you need to consider if zoella does this too

zoella and other women are not often sexualised in her content. women are often shown in quite ‘family friendly’ ways eg no swearing, no revealing clothing, a focus on fun rather than shock value etc

why may zoella choose to represent her self like this?

she may choose to represent herself and others like this because of the young age of her target audience

another reason is that she may want to avoid bad publicity, to avoid losing sponsers or brand deals

what is an example of zoella doing something controversial

she is not always successful in representing herself in a popular way and has gotten in trouble before for posting homophobic comments, as well as general slurs and etc. ‘i find it funny when gay men spit’

what are other reasons she would present her self as quite clean

controversial content such as swearing or offensive behaviour or imagery, could lead to her sites being filtered out from audiences searches or could lead to her videos being demonetised by youtube or only available to an adult audience which would restrict her income. so she represents herself as mostly quite ‘clean’

how do zoellas actions reinforce notions of feminitity

zoella performs alot of tasks repetitively in her videos. tasks that are often associated with feminity eg applying makeup, trying on clothes, cooking, cleaning etc. these performances may construct her identity as female and reinforce notions of what femininity means to the audience

how does she represent masculinity

zoellas content often represents reasonably traditional ideas of masculinity aswell. often showing men eg alfie, going to the gym, playing foorball, drinking beer etc

however sometimes men are represented in a metrosexual way. this means we see men taking an interest in their appearance eg hair, skin etc in a way which we typically assosiate with women

what do the metrosexual representations reflect

perhaps this reflects the growing social and cultural trends of metrosexuality for men, and gender being more than just old fashioned binary stereotypes (gauntlett)

how else does zoella represent women

as well as representing women in domestic ways, zoella does also post content that often represents women in quite powerful ways too - artcile ‘who run the world’ by zoella on her website, talks about role models and family and why they inspire her etc

so there are some posts that challenge gender stereotypes to a certain degree