As my first semester of Third Year comes to an end and the last semester of uni begins, I think that it is only right to reflect and promote the work I have created for my assessments in a bulk blog post. As many third-year students, the stress of a dissertation became very apparent in my academic lifestyle and really did take over the past few months of my life.
I decided to write my dissertation about why the media reuses iconic female stars from the '50s in today's contemporary media platforms. The main features of research included nostalgia, changing feminist views and emulation/imitation of audiences. Furthermore, I did research with different age demographics and gathered contrasting opinions to create and support arguments researched throughout. To summarise quickly, so you as a reader don't feel as if this blog post is a dissertation in itself, nostalgia p[lays a rather large factor into marketing. Audiences' love to connect to the past, where they were young and quote 'happier and sometimes freer', by reusing these icons, they tether the brain to a memory of youth, thus creating a happier connection to a brand.
Overall, the long nights and stressful days paid off and I was awarded a 2:1 for my dissertation, a mark that I am very proud of.
I also created a preview for an app! One module asked for us to create an app or piece of media that would help an audience. I came up with an app called Palooza. Palooza is a festival-goers best friend in the form of an app. We charged 75p for each user to be able to access a live update on the tents, concessions and acts that they are seeing at many different music events. With Palooza you can also have a live track on your friends and see whom they are with - letting you know that everyone you are with is safe and having a great time!
I created this idea for my love of music festivals and events. With the unfortunate theme of drug abuse at festivals, and young people putting them in harm's way, the idea of this app would be to help and advise users with their experiences at a festival and make sure that they can experience more positive memories than negative. Please see the Instagram page and website I made for this app at : https://www.instagram.com/palooza_official/
The beginning of my third year at university was busy, however achieving firsts and 2:1 grade in my work assured me that hard work truly does pay off.
