FEBRUARY 2014: THE CASE STUDY ISSUE
edia agazine Menglish and media centre issue 47M | february 2014
Selling GOOGLE Youth GLASS Educating Elysium and the Yorkshire decline of a genre A Field in GTAV & England Mario Kart Wii
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Spring half-term already, and time to think MediaMagazine is published by the ahead to what you’ll be facing exams-wise English and Media in a few months time. So to give you a steer Centre, a non-profit on ways this issue of MediaMag could help making organisation. you out (as well as entertaining and inspiring The Centre publishes a you, of course!) we’ve provided you with case wide range of classroom studies galore. There should be something for everyone and food for materials and runs thought whichever course you’re following. courses for teachers. If you’re studying English David Buckingham leads with a masterly overview of the ways young at A Level, look out people are wooed by, competed for, represented in, and sold to by for emagazine, also advertisers and marketers – a must-read case study no matter which published by the Centre. exam you’re studying for. The same for Steph Hendry’s ‘how to’ piece
The English and Media Centre on what makes a successful case study, full of tips and guidance on 18 Compton Terrace honing your focus, how to evaluate sources of information, and research London N1 2UN processes. Telephone: 020 7359 8080 Fax: 020 7354 0133 If you’re preparing for AS – for example WJEC’s MS1 (Media Email for subscription enquiries: Representations and Responses), you really need to read Steve Connolly’s [email protected] thought-provoking article on Educating Yorkshire, and Emily Stuart’s close Editor: Jenny Grahame study of representations of war in TV News. If you’re studying OCR’s AS, Subscriptions manager: you will find really useful studies from inside the videogame industries Emma Marron (GTAV or Mario Kart Wii anyone?) and the UK film industry, with articles on Design: Sparkloop the marketing and distribution of Attack The Block and A Field in England – Print: S&G Group which will of course double up for the Film Studies AS FM2 module. Cover: From Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol A2 film students should brush up with Nick Lacey’s introduction to
ISSN: 1478-8616 ‘other’ New Wave cinemas, arguments around the Hollywoodisation of science fiction, and spectatorship in The Reader. And A2 Media students of all three Awarding Bodies should find fuel for the debates and critical perspectives around new digital media, globalisation and regulation with our well-researched case studies of the forthcoming Google Glass, and the ethics and issues around Primewire.ag. Our final issue of the year is on Producers and Production – watch out for it in May. Meanwhile, If you’re putting the finishing touch to your production coursework right now, remember you still have a few weeks to get your submission ready for the 2014 MediaMag Production Competition. The deadline is Friday 28th March (see back page), entry is simple, open to all, and a great first step for you if you love film-making, either in school/college, or in your own time. Check out last year’s shortlist on our home page and aim high – inspire us!
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The Front Page A Case Study in Poetry No More: What’s 04 The latest media news and 27 50 Controversy: Onscreen Gone Wrong with Science views. Politics Student Harry Fiction? Elysium and the Cunningham explores the Decline of a Genre Jonathan Selling Youth David representation of political issues Nunns mourns the loss of wonder 06 Buckingham looks at the on TV and asks what happens in contemporary science fiction, changing ways in which when a supposedly impartial focusing on Neil Blomkamp’s marketers are targeting young presenter clashes with extremist Elysium (2013). consumers. views? Trails and teasers: 54 Harry So, er, What Exactly Makes Marketing GTAV 31 Cunningham examines the 10 Steph a Good Case Study? Hendry takes you through the marketing campaign for one of processes, skills and questions the most anticipated video game you need to master for a good releases of the year: Rockstar case study – with plenty of tips North’s Grand Theft Auto V. and examples along the way. Google Glass: a Case Study in Globalisation Matthew 58 Educating Yorkshire: Kaufman explores the hopes 14 and techno-panics generated by the Reality and Representation of the the literally mind-boggling new Modern Documentary development of Google Glass. Format Steve Connolly travels from Essex to Yorkshire to follow A Digital Technologies up the next stage in Channel 4’s 37 Mario Kart Wii: a Case Case Study: exploration of education. Liz Sim’s research into Primewire.ag Primewire.ag Study the global phenomenon that is makes an excellent case study, Mario Kart Wii suggests that as Distributing A Field in especially if you’re studying for the technology evolves, games 19 You may have heard A2’s Critical Perspectives exam, England are becoming increasingly about A Field in England, the focusing on New/Digital Media, inclusive and appealing to first film in the UK to launch Representation and Audiences audiences of all ages and simultaneously across all and Institutions. So how does interests. platforms – and then again this media-streaming site work, you may not. Because film and what are the legal and distribution is a high-risk battle ethical issues it raises? Popular Film and for revenue, with the major 61 Emotional Response: a Hollywood studios packing the Cartoon by Goom Case Study on The Reader biggest punches. 42 How do films create the emotional responses in their Beyond the French audiences/ Lecturer Morag The Spirit of 13 Director 44 Davis unpicks the ways Stephen New Wave: Brazil, 22 Ken Loach’s film The Spirit Of ‘45 Czechoslovakia and Daldry’s disturbing film The (Sixteen Films/Dogwoof, 2013) Hungary They’re New Wave Reader constructs challenging is a powerful documentary – but are they Old Hat? Nick and uncomfortable feelings for about the spirit of unity and Lacey takes a look at some of the spectator. community that helped create the less well-known ‘new wave’ a better, more equal society movements of the 1960s which after WW2. Student Lydia have influenced the work of Representations of Kendall describes a production 64 directors such as Tarantino and War in TV News: a project which reflects on the Scorsese. Representational aspirations and values of her Case Study How has our own generation. understanding of war and Attack the Block: B-Movie military conflict been mediated 47 The British and shaped by media coverage or Blockbuster? film industry may not be well and technologies? Emily Hughes known for its blockbusters but investigates. with a long tradition of science fiction on film and television, Attack the Block brought big thrills to a very British setting. Pete Turner gets tooled up.
english and media centre | February 2014 | MediaMagazine 3 MMThe Front Page Top Five TV drama treats to look forward to in 2014 As you head towards the summer, lots The Red Road: An original crime drama decades and multiple time-lines, leading of AS OCR students will be speculating from the Sundance Channel – low-key them to dark places. To see the trailer go about representations in TV Drama. Our but with a great cast from Game of to http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist advice for exam practice is: watch lots Thrones, Masters of Sex, and Boardwalk and search ‘True Detective trailer’. and lots of it! We’ve picked out five of the Empire. After a sudden tragedy involving The Knick: produced and written most interesting newcomers which may his wife, a sheriff makes a pact with a by Steven Soderbergh (Sex Lies and be heading our way over the next few member of an unrecognised Native Videotape, Oceans 11-13), ‘final’ film months. American tribe that has the potential to Behind the Candelabra. Historical medical only make things worse. Coming to Sky Babylon: Heavily trailed new Channel drama in ten episodes, about the lives Atlantic very soon. 4 comedy drama, directed throughout of doctors and nurses at New York’s by the great Danny Boyle, turning to True Detective: Knickerbocker Hospital in the early 20th the small screen for the first time. An From HBO, directed century. Starring Clive Owen. American PR expert is hired to help by Cary Fukunaga Broadchurch: Not strictly new, but David improve the image of the London (Sin Nombre Tennant has crossed the Atlantic for a police force … a dark and satirical look and Jane Eyre), US remake of ITV’s brilliant drama (to at the Metropolitan Police written by an 8-episoded be titled Gracepoint). Meanwhile Olivia Peep Show and Fresh Meat writers Sam ‘anthology’ series Colman will be returning alone as Sgt Armstrong and Jesse Bain. Brit Marling which will feature Ellie Miller in Series 2 later this year. plays the American PR executive, while new characters and Rumour has it this one may be a prequel the cast includes brilliant UK TV regulars roles each season, starting with Matthew to the events of Series 1... like James Nesbitt, Paterson Joseph, Jill McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in Halfpenny, Adam Deacon, Jonny Sweet lead roles. Two cops try to track down a and Daniel Kaluuya. serial killer in Louisiana, a case that spans Could I do it? Yes, icould In a week in which the government has If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, particular media industries or skills sets, supported announced that student achievement in vocational help is at hand with ... icould.com – a careers by useful infographics showing the range of skills qualifications must be now included in school website with a difference. icould has the largest required, the geographical distribution of jobs, League Tables, it looks as if employers are selection of real-life career videos in the UK, gender balance, predicted employment figures, increasingly valuing a range of skills-based courses reaching over 500,000 tag-maps, and where to go next in terms of further beyond A Levels. Figures published this week by people a month, and training or employment. The following are just a ONS suggest now that more than 25% graduates featuring over 1200 small selection: are actually earning less than school leavers who powerful personal http://icould.com/stories/job-types/film-television- followed vocational courses or apprenticeships. stories from individuals of all ages, backgrounds and-radio/ and employment sectors. It reaches across the Are you one of the many young people who is (tick Assistant Editor, Primeval: http://icould.com/ UK and beyond, including schools, colleges and whichever is applicable): videos/ian-m-2/ training providers, careers advisors, teachers a) Considering a career in some form of media, and parents. And it’s a great first stop for media Radio Producer, BBC 1Xtra: http://icould.com/ but is bewildered by the massive range of guidance. videos/julie-s-3/ opportunities to chose from? Production Buyer, Primeval: http://icould.com/ You can discover icould through its own YouTube videos/bronwyn-f/ b) Thinking ahead to UCAS and unsure which channel, icould.com, and via other careers sites Media degree is right for you? including TES, Skills Development Scotland, Cameraman, Director and Writer: http://icould. c) Unsure whether you want to follow a media Careers Wales and so on. It works with print, com/videos/dishad-h/ degree course, apprenticeship, or internship? film and online media production companies The site also offers hundreds of media-related d) Desperately wishing for a personalised careers and organisations to generate new video stories articles and its easy-to-use interface and bright advisor who could help you decide what film, of employees, leading figures or celebrities, graphics should prove very useful. media or creative option would be best for you highlighting key messages with articles and links And speaking of careers, where would the media personally? to corporate websites: http://icould.com/stories/ subject/media-curriculum/ industries be without these well-known career e) Just curious to know exactly what a social changers: Madonna, formerly a Burger King media editor, lighting cameraperson or content For example, you can read and watch mini case- employee; Rod Stewart, once a grave digger, and manager does? study interviews with successful professionals in George Clooney, previously an insurance salesman.
4 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM More useful resources:
In November the BBFC launched CBBFC, its new website for children, which has a dedicated area for parents and teachers. In addition to its monthly email newsletters and regular podcast, the BBFC also now holds regular Twitter Q&A sessions. Using the #askBBFC hashtag, the BBFC answers short questions from the public about age ratings for film, DVD/Blu-ray and video- on-demand services. Recently themed #askBBFC Q&A sessions included a focus on age ratings for children's films and questions from parents. It also publishes a transcript of each twitter Q&A on its website (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education- resources/education-news) – should be quite useful to anyone revising for Media Regulation.
Farewell to the Gothic … hello to Science Fiction! As the fabulously dark BFI Gothic cinema season draws to a close, another door opens, this time into the future, with the next season: a huge celebration of Science Fiction, from October 2014 to January 2015, with three distinct themes: Tomorrow’s World and visions of the future; Contact! and the existence of other beings on other planets; and Altered States – neuroscience, monsters, and the futuristic fantasies of the mind. There will be amazing one-off events, special guests and a unique BFI perspective on the genre with screenings of classic sci-fi films including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Alien (1979), Planet of the Apes (1968), Village of the Damned (1960), and the prophetic British classic The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). And to tie in with the season, this year our MediaMag Production Competition (see inside back cover) includes a brand new category for your submissions: Science Fiction! We hope to see some inventive and inspiring approaches to some of the logistical problems of representing deep space, futuristic landscapes or Uranians reflected in your entries!
The Front Page was compiled by Jenny Grahame.
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David Buckingham looks at the changing ways in which marketers are targeting young consumers.
Who creates youth culture? Is it a in the mid-20th century. The term in the UK. A report called ‘The Teenage spontaneous expression of young ‘teenager’, for example, was invented Consumer’ published in 1959 by the people themselves, or is it mainly by market researchers in the 1940s to market researcher Mark Abrams was an aspect of media and marketing? describe a new age group of consumers the first to identify this new market. Does the market simply exploit and they were interested in targeting. Abrams focused particularly on the manipulate young people, or does it Young people in their teens had always spending patterns of newly-affluent offer them opportunities to fulfil their been there but they were not identified working-class consumers, which he needs, to express themselves, and to as a distinctive group until they came described as create their own identities? to be seen as a potential market. ‘‘distinctive teenage spending for distinctive We often talk about music artists teenage ends in a distinctive teenage Teen spending power selling out to commercial interests. world.’’ But this seems to assume that youth It’s possible to trace the emergence of Teenagers, Abrams argued, were a new culture comes from some kind of the teenage consumer in the United and separate market, which adults non-commercial space – that it arises States in the 1940s and 1950s, from the (including companies and marketers) ‘from the streets’. It is assumed to be rise of fan groups like the ‘bobbysoxers’, had to work hard to understand. authentic, challenging and subversive who followed the popular singers of Yet there were many commentators until it is commercialised and made the day (like Frank Sinatra) through – including leading academics like safe by the operations of the market. to the beginnings of rock and roll. We Richard Hoggart – who looked on this also see the first teenage magazines, However, research on youth commercial youth culture with despair. offering girls in particular a whole culture suggests that it is inevitably They saw youth culture as tasteless, range of consumer options in clothing, commercial, and has always been superficial and consumerist, and just a make-up, music and home decoration. so. This is very clear if we look at the slavish copy of American styles. origins of contemporary youth culture This phenomenon emerged a little later
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Niches and ‘generation gaps’ reach. It is argued they are also much The use of online media is the most more knowledgeable and sceptical obvious aspect of this. The phenomenal Since the 1950s, the youth market has about marketing and advertising. financial success of companies like grown significantly: it is now worth Google and Facebook clearly depends approximately $200 billion a year in on their value as means for marketing. the US alone. Youth has become a very The power of technology: Spending on online marketing important ‘niche market’, who also set the 3 Ps overtook that for TV marketing in the trends for both younger and older age Technology is also seen as a UK back in 2009. The recent flotation groups. Over time, marketers have significant factor here. Young people of Twitter generated billions, despite developed a range of new strategies to are described as ‘digital natives’, by the fact that the company has yet to target them, but at the present time, comparison with their parents, who make a profit: yet you can be sure it there are significant changes under way. are ‘digital immigrants’. This new ‘digital generation’ is somehow defined by its won’t be long before it (along with relationship with technology; and it is other apparently ‘free’ services like only through using this technology that Instagram and Snapchat) is being used marketers believe they will be able to to generate marketing revenue. reach them. As a result of these changes, marketers have adopted a whole range of new strategies in order to target and engage young consumers. Especially for this age group, it seems that old-style advertising is dead. ‘Mass marketing’ – sending the same messages to millions of passive consumers – is no longer seen as appropriate for the more individualistic approach of today’s teenagers. These new marketing tactics are more From marketing to mining pervasive: they are less visible and In some cases, the presence of Books on youth marketing tend to overt, and therefore much harder for marketing messages is fairly obvious present today’s young people as consumers to identify, to ‘filter out’ and – as in the case of Google ads and dramatically different from earlier hence to resist. They are personalised, sponsored links. Companies also generations; and they suggest in that they seem to speak to your spend large amounts on search engine that there are significant new needs and desires as an individual optimisation (SEO), a technique which generation gaps emerging. Young rather than a member of a mass. And helps to ensure that your website will people – so-called ‘Generation X’ and they are participatory: they aim to get come out high on the list of search ‘Generation Y’ – are seen as much more us involved in a dialogue, to enable results. Even less visible is the process individualistic and independent than us to create and distribute our own of datamining, whereby companies they used to be. As a result, they are messages, to feel as though we are the can gather information about what perceived as an elusive market – as ones in charge. constantly changing, and difficult to you are doing online: this information
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is often aggregated and sold, in order to make their own Doritos’ ads, and $1 that consumers can be targeted with million (plus a Superbowl screening) individualised advertising that seems to is offered for the winner. According to reflect their personal interests. Doritos, this is all about ‘sharing talent and creativity’; but of course it ensures Marketers are also very active on that consumers (both the ad-makers Facebook and other social networking and those who vote for them, in an sites, not just with their own branded X-Factor-style competition) will ‘buy in’ profiles, but also in circulating to their product. Similar techniques are applications, competitions and other but from peers whom you trust. This being used by a growing number of messages about what’s currently ‘cool’. is also the case with viral marketing, brands, from Ford cars to Vans shoes. Marketers have known for a long time where messages are distributed from that the most effective way of selling person to person, often using mobile These new marketing tactics are more is through word of mouth: when a technology. Cadbury’s ‘gorilla’ campaign friend recommends something, you pervasive: they are less visible and from 2007 was a very successful are much more likely to buy it than if overt, and therefore much harder for example of viral marketing: while the you just see an ad. For marketers, social ads were occasionally on TV, they were consumers to identify, to ‘filter out’ networking is the modern version of mainly viewed on YouTube and similar and hence to resist. word of mouth: it’s a very effective way platforms, on the basis of personal to embed marketing messages into the Another increasingly important recommendation. And of course for dynamics of young people’s friendship technique is experiential marketing. companies, getting consumers to groups. In relation to the youth market, this distribute their messages for them is is probably most obvious in the significantly cheaper than paying to Youth marketing strategies are commercial sponsorship and branding buy lots of airtime or advertising space. participatory: they aim to get us of music festivals. However, marketers involved in a dialogue, to enable are now creating their own branded Create your own experiences – events that are put on us to create and distribute our own advertising specifically to promote the brand, messages, to feel as though we are The next step on from this is user- rather than the event coming first and the ones in charge. generated marketing, where consumers the sponsorship following. actually create the advertising One example of this is T-Mobile’s ‘dance’ The key thing here is that these messages. Doritos’ ‘Crash the campaign. TV ads showed groups of messages appear to come, not from Superbowl’ competition in the US is a people apparently spontaneously large and impersonal companies, good example: consumers are invited
8 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM more subtle and manipulative – and much less visible and obvious – than traditional advertising. They are harder to identify, and perhaps harder to resist. They illustrate how commercial marketing has become much more deeply embedded in our private lives and our personal relationships. So are young consumers just being duped and exploited – or are they being empowered and liberated? Personally, I do not regard young people as passive victims; but on the other hand, I don’t think any of us is really in control, or completely savvy, breaking out into displays of where young people are paid to about this. And that, of course, is one co-ordinated public dancing in venues promote brands among their peers, reason why we need more media like Liverpool Street station in London ideally in subtle and unobtrusive ways. education… and Heathrow Airport. Alongside this, You might want to think about this the David Buckingham is Professor of Media other ‘flashmob’ public dances were next time someone casually mentions to and Communications at Loughborough put on across the country, all strongly you about a new drink or a new clothing University. branded. brand that’s come on the market. Meanwhile, market research has Follow it up become increasingly important in Information about youth marketing companies’ efforts to target these can be found on websites of agencies elusive young consumers. Much that specialise in this area, like more is being spent in this area, and Premise, Face Group, Mobile Youth market researchers are increasingly and Campus Group. using new techniques to get up close and personal. They are visiting young Ypulse is a US-based portal with links people in their homes, observing to a whole range of agencies and them in their bedrooms, checking out Tactics are personalised – they seem other market research information. the contents of their wardrobes; they to speak to your needs and desires as You can also easily look behind the are going shopping with them, and an individual rather than a member of scenes at Facebook and Google hanging out in the mall; and they are marketing. a mass. asking them to create video diaries For an example of current thinking about their intimate everyday lives. Finally, co-creation is a fairly new among youth marketers, see The approach, in which consumers are Youth Marketing Handbook by Freddie invited (and paid) to work with market Benjamin and others, published by researchers to develop new product the UK company Mobile Youth in ideas. They attend focus group 2011. workshops in which new ideas are Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter’s brainstormed and developed – ideas book The Rebel Sell: How the Counter- which the researchers then take back Culture Became Consumer Culture (and sell) to the companies. (Capstone, 2005) is a very provocative In different ways, these techniques look at some of the broader issues, all display aspects of my three ‘Ps’: while the following academic texts they are pervasive, personalised and are also recommended: participatory. According to marketers, Buckingham, D. 2011. The Material they are all about empowering young Child. Polity. consumers. Marketing, they say, is Ambassadors of cool no longer about faceless companies Montgomery, K. 2009. Generation Cool hunting is a technique that dictating to us – telling us what to buy, Digital. MIT Press. involves employing young people as and what kind of person we should http://www.teenagefilm.com/ informants to provide ‘on the ground’ become. On the contrary, the consumer information about trends within their is now in charge. friendship groups. This sometimes blurs On the other hand, we could argue that with the use of brand ambassadors, these kinds of techniques are much
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Educating Yorkshire: The Reality and Representation of the Modern Documentary Format
In 2012, Steve Connolly wrote a thought-provoking article for MediaMag on what was then a highly controversial new documentary series with an even more contentious title: Educating Essex. Who better than Steve to follow up the next stage in Channel 4’s exploration of education, this time in the rather more diverse and snowy area of Dewsbury, Yorkshire?
Two years ago, I was lucky enough to On the face of it, Educating Yorkshire things with an old documentary find myself in the office of an Essex looked little different from Educating format – often termed ‘fly-on-the- secondary school interviewing my Essex; the same kind of charismatic wall’ – through its exploitation former colleague Vic Goddard who teachers and leaders, the same kind of new media, scheduling and had unexpectedly found himself of Year 11 cliques, the same fights its cultural connections with the catapulted to stardom as the and the same snappy classroom ‘constructed reality’ stylings of The Headteacher of Passmores Academy banter – albeit with a distinctly Only Way is Essex. Educating Yorkshire in Harlow. His school featured in Yorkshire accent. Digging a little maintains that drive to re-imagine Channel 4’s fly-on-the-wall offering, deeper, however, I want to suggest the fly-on-the-wall documentary for Educating Essex. At the time, both Vic that Educating Yorkshire explores the 21st century; but, perhaps more and his colleague Stephen Drew were some quite different themes to significantly, it goes down some fairly sure that there wouldn’t be a its southern cousin, and from entirely different representational second series of the surprise hit of a Media Studies point of view, avenues. So how should we read 2011. In one way they were right; the offers us a rich variety of material, these differences in this text, and cameras did not revisit Passmores. particularly relating to the concept of as ever, what do they tell us about Instead they relocated to Thornhill representation, that Educating Essex the institutional actions of Channel Academy in Dewsbury near Leeds, did not. 4 and Twofour, the production and produced Educating Yorkshire, company who made the programme? When I wrote about Educating Essex another slice of secondary school life two years ago, I suggested that the which got people talking about the programme was doing some new nature of schooling in the UK.
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The people’s republic of Yorkshire The first difference between Educating Yorkshire and its predecessor surrounds the choice of location for the documentary. Just as Essex is a county in the south of England with a very distinct identity and set of representations and associations with it, Yorkshire has an entirely different but equally distinctive set of representations that people associate with that county. These associations are largely stereotypical; and interestingly the programme does not really explore them at all. We might argue that Educating Essex did no such thing either, though, as I argued two years ago, there was a distinct attempt to exploit the ‘Essex girl’ stereotype in the promotion of the programme. comment that differences between us and the people who live a few hundred miles up (or So, no lazy flat cap and whippet As we know, we Northerners, we’re proper “ indeed down) the road. While the stereotyping in Educating Yorkshire, but reet clever rather the modern reality of a school ” experiences of the students and staff at that is 50% white working-class and features in the opening titles every Thornhill are clearly not that different 50% Asian students occupying an week. to those of the staff and students at area that is largely segregated along This emphasis on the North and being Passmores in Harlow, the programme ethnic lines. The exploration of this from Yorkshire is an important aspect sets out a markedly different cultural reality is problematic for both the of the programme’s appeal; quite identity. Some of the promotional makers of the programme, the school, frequently, a good deal of the media posters designed by students at and indeed us as an audience, and is seeks to suggest that we are part of Thornhill for the series, highlighting the explored further below. But in terms of a monoculture, where everyone is differences between Educating Yorkshire the representation of regional identity, using the same media technology, and its Essex based predecessor, the programme should remind us that consuming the same brands and demonstrate this. (You can still see a regionality in Britain is often present having the same experiences. It is quite selection at http://educating-yorkshire. in British television texts. In Educating easy for audiences to get sucked into channel4.com/) Yorkshire, the identity of the children the idea that as a consequence of this and staff in the school as distinctly from we are all the same. What programmes Dewsbury: a town divided and of Yorkshire is focused on from day like Educating Yorkshire do is to We should also be interested in the one. Assistant Headteacher Mr Burton’s remind us that, in fact, there are many way that the geographic location of
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Thornhill, and the wider representation of Dewsbury in the media, allows the programme to explore some social issues that were not touched upon by Educating Essex at all. In Educating Essex, teen pregnancy, cyberbullying and the ever-present tensions around the Year 11 prom were all to the fore, as one might expect in a documentary about a 21st-century school in Britain. The choice of a school in Dewsbury, however, allowed the programme makers to take on some rather more challenging issues. In interview, Thornhill Headteacher Johnny Mitchell has made much of the pre-existing can really represent reality. We might While we might argue that this story media representations of the town want to consider the extent to which – of student courage that appeals as being something that he wanted those representations of the town put to everybody regardless of race – is Educating Yorkshire to challenge. In the forward in news programmes can be heavily constructed, right down to last few years Dewsbury has been the challenged by Educating Yorkshire. I the cutaway shots of his classmates centre of unwanted attention owing would want to suggest that they can, crying, we must also concede that this to three fairly unpleasant news stories. in that the popularity of the format representation of ethnic coexistence Firstly, the fact that the leader of the that Educating Yorkshire uses is, in many is a powerful antidote to some of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammed Siddique ways, more valuable to audiences as more negative portrayals of both the Khan lived and worked in Dewsbury a measure of reality than the news is. town and its young people. in the run up to his suicide attack on This is because of the way that much London in 2005; secondly, the faked modern documentary and reality TV Are we teachers? ... Or are ‘abduction’ of Shannon Matthews by use narrative. The representation of we human? members of her own family in 2008; people – for example, Mr Mitchell In terms of representation, perhaps one and finally an ongoing issue with racial himself, or Ryan Ward, the 13-year of the most radical departures from segregation that has led to a history old sage who became the student the content of Educating Essex, was of race riots stretching back to the late star of the show – as characters in an the decision to delve a little deeper 1980s. As Mitchell himself said in an unfolding story makes people much into the private lives of the staff at interview with the Guardian in October more inclined to engage with an issue, Thornhill. Episode 5, which focuses on 2013: event or place. Mr Moses, the Head of Year 9, spends “I’m from Dewsbury, and I’m sick to the The students, for example, talk openly quite a significant time having him talk teeth of some of the unfair things that have about the racial tension present in the to camera about his background and been said about it [...] There’s been so much town, but at the same time, we see the fact that he is single. This is quite a ad publicity around Dewsbury. Terrorism stuff, these students going about the daily deliberate move away from Educating Shannon Matthews [...] I thought it was time to business of being educated side by Essex on the part of the programme’s put Dewsbury back on the map in a side. The support shown to Musharaf producers, where the focus on lives positive way.” (the Asian Year 11 with a terrible outside school was firmly with the stammer) by all his peers, both white students (Vinny’s relationship with his For interested Media students, this and Asian, is unconditional when Mum, for example, and the support should raise questions about the extent he stands up in front of assembly. Sky received from her family when to which ‘reality TV’ or documentary
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Images from Educating Yorkshire, courtesy of Picture Publicity at Channel 4
pregnant). This is quite interesting, Representation – beyond in that in film and television texts the stereotypes generally, the life of teachers outside Finally, it is worth saying that Educating of school tends to be treated in a Yorkshire has a strong pull for somewhat comic way, most notably audiences, in the same way Educating recently in both Bad Education and Essex did, because while it is aware Big School. I see Educating Yorkshire’s of the stereotypes that exist in media treatment of Mr Moses (or indeed, Mr representations of schools (cliques, Steer, the Deputy Head who, despite bullies etc.) it seeks to go beyond being quite seriously ill, refuses to go them and explore the reality a little home) as being an attempt to address more. While this is heavily constructed this, by presenting school staff – Mr – in that the audience only sees the Moses is actually a non-teaching Head edited highlights of hours and hours of Year – in a more realistic light; and in of footage- it allows for some valuable itself, this suggests that the Educating insights into the cultures – both ethnic References Yorkshire format is much more closely and indigenous – that make Britain http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and- related to older forms of documentary such a diverse place to live in the 21st radio/tvandradioblog/2013/oct/01/ than its brash and terrible offspring, century. Like Educating Essex, Educating educating-yorkshire-jonny-mitchell- ‘Reality TV’. In exploring the wider Yorkshire has attempted to exploit television lives of staff, Educating Yorkshire is social media and other technologies reminiscent of a run of documentaries http://www.theguardian.com/ in order to engage with its audience, from the early 80s (such as Glyn tv-and-radio/2013/aug/26/educating- but, rather than simply go for a simple Worsnip’s Paras) that seem to be able to yorkshire-reality-tv-school ‘North vs South: here’s-the-difference- flesh out the characters of the people comparison’, the more recent series has ‘Keeping it Real: Educating Essex and who feature in them without turning sought to be rather more thoughtful the Re-birth of Fly-on-the- wall’ Media into something like the docusoap and reflective. This is not to be critical Magazine, February 2012 format so prevalent in the late 90s. of Educating Essex but rather to The MediaMag Student Conference suggest that each series is seeking to conversation between Pete Fraser do something quite different with a and David Brindley, Educating common format. Yorkshire Series Director and Steve Connolly has taught Media Studies Producer, will be available in for many years and is currently teaching at MediaMag clips from May 2014. Bishop Thomas Grant, Lambeth.
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On Friday July 5th 2013, a low-budget, black and white, art-house film by emerging auteur, Ben Wheatley, A Field in England, tried to break the Hollywood model of distribution by becoming the first film in the UK to launch simultaneously across all platforms – VOD (4OD and iTunes), free broadcast TV (Film4), DVD, BluRay and cinema (17 Picturehouse venues). You may have heard about it – and then again you may not. Because, as Mark Ramey will explore in this article, film distribution is a high-risk battle for revenue, with the major Hollywood studios packing the biggest punches.
The reason you last saw a film at the The FDA further defines distribution as: cinema or watched a DVD or legally £184 million of this was allocated to media ‘‘ the highly competitive business of streamed film content was almost advertising, the rest on film prints, advertising ‘‘ launching and sustaining films in the market certainly due to a film distributor’s production, publicity, premieres and related place. Films don’t become talking points, or find marketing campaign – for without costs. ’’ their place in the world, by accident. effective distribution, film product ’’ Bums on seats and eyeballs glued rarely finds an audience. That’s why The distributor’s challenge for a film to screens means money, as David according to the UK’s Film Distributor’s launch can thus be crudely summarised Puttnam, the President of the FDA Association or FDA (http://www. as: notes: launchingfilms.com), UK distributors 1. identifying the film’s audience spent £330 million in 2012 of which, “It is the task of distributors to identify and deliver the largest possible audience for 2. estimating revenue potential across every film.” all platforms
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Images throughout the article are from A Field in England.
3. building awareness and maintaining It is against this Hollywood-dominated movies, times are possibly changing. As interest background of aggressively marketed, one of the film’s producers, Andy Starke ‘tent-pole’ franchises and star-driven notes: 4. persuading exhibitors to present the genre movies with saturation multiplex film in four or five year’s time your movie is releases that A Field in England has to “ going to be on a server somewhere in the world 5. persuading the audience to watch it. be placed. being beamed directly to the cinema or to your A distributor’s campaign strategy is For example, the average Hollywood telly or your phone or whatever...” therefore complex and costly work, movie costs approximately $100 million The official film website involving thorough research and to make, and a further $50 million to (http://afieldinengland.com) creativity. It is a campaign that will distribute. Such resources are beyond not stop once the film has launched, the scope of any UK producer. The BFI’s How Hollywood will manage to make because early box office figures (the lottery-financed Film Fund, the scope money from this new approach to all important opening weekend) of which encompasses development, digital distribution is open to question; will further determine the strategic production, and distribution on but clearly A Field in England is offering direction of a film’s release. some 20 film projects a year is worth a first glimpse into the future for certain kinds of film. As Starke says: The industry’s costly model for approximately £23 million annually distribution is, therefore, unsurprisingly – or the equivalent of Johnny Depp “This type of release makes sense for these dominated by Hollywood. According to on a one-picture deal! A Field in kinds of movies. I think that time and time the BFI Statistical Handbook of 2013 England was made for £300K, and is again, interesting movies come out and don’t a typical UK co-production, finding find their audience because they are not The top 10 distributors had a 95% share of “ partners from UK TV in Film4 and around in cinemas for long enough. I’m hoping the market in 2012. ” 4DVD, an independent cinema chain, that this approach, with all the weight of the The top 6 distributors are also the Picturehouse Entertainment, and the publicity geared towards one month, might major studios (Sony Pictures, 20th BFI Distribution Fund, which supports help it be around longer in cinemas, and let Century Fox, Warner Bros, Universal, experimental release models. people come to it without having that panic of Disney and Paramount) and they A Field in England’s audacious approach it being around for one week before it’s gone represent 65% of market share, to distribution certainly generated because there’s another Marvel movie on which generated from only 173 out of the 755 media interest and debate about the just fills up cinema screens. films released in the UK in 2012. ” future of the current Hollywood model, http://afieldinengland.com The BFI Statistical Handbook goes on to with its staggered release windows In Moviescope magazine (issue 35, July/ note that: across various platforms, often taking months. August 2013) another of the film’s “In 2012, the top 10 distributors generated producers, Claire Jones, states that A £1.15 billion in theatrical revenues However, A Field in England’s Field in England: ” simultaneous release is not simply while the remaining 119 distributors a gimmick. Although the model of “was conceived as more of an art-house, handled a total of 505 titles, 67% of all mainstream releases described above experimental film, and for that to go anywhere releases, but gaining only a 5% share of is clearly working for the Big Event you can’t look at traditional distribution models the box office – less than £60 million.
20 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM any more. You’re never going to put it on 200 screens across the country. [...] It doesn’t have the audience market for that. [...] So how can we get the widest audience to our art-house film? A television slot, DVDs and a really high- spec streaming service, we thought, might provide some answers to that.” Moviescope Magazine: Issue 35, July/August 2013 Anna Higgs, an executive producer at Film4.0 (Film4’s digital initiatives division and the main funding agency behind the film), states in the same interview that: “we’re looking at a landscape of 12 to 14 films being released every week in cinemas, and we never have the press and advertising As reported by Michael Rosser in a more diverse release strategy – budgets to match the big studios. In a ScreenDaily on July 8th 2013, A Field in something the ‘digital democratisation’ conventional model, it’s very hard for an indie England made a comfortable £21,399 of film is making increasingly possible. film to break through and create enough buzz over its opening weekend and played This film, then, is a pebble, causing only to hold its screens.” to sold-out crowds at some key inner- minor ripples in the Hollywood lake, Moviescope Magazine: Issue 35, July/August 2013 city venues. On TV it drew a combined but at least the pebble’s origins are audience of 288,000 viewers (including close to home – from a field in England the time-shifted channel Film4+1) and in fact. when those who recorded the film on Mark Ramey teaches Film and Media Saturday and Sunday were also added Studies at Collyer’s College, West Sussex. to the total, it was at 357,000 – up on the Film4’s slot average of 346,000. A Field in England was also the number Follow it up one trending topic on Twitter in the UK ‘Digital democratisation’: the on Friday evening, and sales of DVDs idea that digital technologies will from Amazon and HMV across Friday disrupt the hegemony of the media and Saturday amounted to 1,462. On industries, enabling the public to the Film4OD and iTunes platforms produce and distribute their own there were a total of more than 1,000 content and have a greater freedom purchases. of access to content.) Each platform release of A Field in According to ScreenDaily, Higgs said: Film Distributors’ Association: http:// England had a special identity to add www.launchingfilms.com value to its purchase. For example, “we are ecstatic with the results. I was a live Q&A event followed the Ritzy nervous going into the hottest weekend of the BFI Statistical Handbook 2013: Picturehouse screening in Brixton, past two years, which also featured Wimbledon, http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org. London and was beamed live to the but we had the best possible results. By having uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical- other Picturehouse venues – adding all platforms working together, we generated a yearbook-2013.pdf value to the cinematic experience; the real buzz and put the film on the map…. [She The official film website: http:// Blu-ray carried even more extras than later admitted that this model of film distribution afieldinengland.com the DVD (and sold more as a result); will not work for every release:] We built this Moviescope Magazine: Issue 35, July/ and the advert-free TV screening on campaign in a bespoke way so there is no one- August 2013 Film4 was curated – programmed size-fits-all approach. But we have taken a film alongside an established cult classic, El that might have gone out on five screens and Mark Kermode’s video blog interview Topo (Jodorowsky 1970 Mexico). debuted it on 17 sites, generating mainstream with Anna Higgs: http://www.bbc. coverage. It has shown that taking critical co.uk/blogs/markkermode/posts/A- It’s perhaps still too early to talk about and multiplatform buzz can create a perfect Field-in-England the eventual success of this radical storm. release strategy. However, in her ” ScreenDaily: interview with Mark Kermode on his ScreenDaily (http://www.screendaily.com/) http://www.screendaily.com/ film blog, posted 12 July 2013, Anna That ‘perfect storm’ has probably Higgs of Film4.0 was confident the not changed the basic model of film strategy had been a success and that distribution; but it has shown that the cinematic release of the film had not certain films can now benefit from been hurt by a multi-platform release.
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In early 2013, director Ken Loach released a film named The Spirit Of ‘45 (Sixteen Films/ Dogwoof) about the spirit of unity and community that carried people through the Second World War and, afterwards, helped create a better, more equal society. Student Lydia Kendall describes her response to the film, and involvement in a production project which encouraged young filmmakers to reflect on the aspirations and values of their own generation.
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including secondary level education, free for all, and raised the leaving age to 15; in the same year, full employment was expected to be achieved. In 1945, Labour won the general election, and the ‘Family Allowances Act’ was formed, providing child benefit for the very first time in Britain. In 1948, the NHS was fully formed, bringing free healthcare for everyone – a drastic change from the 1930s, when the National Insurance Scheme had aid for only 43% of the population.
Celebrating the Welfare State The film highlights how people came together to fight fascism and then, after the war, would not accept a return to unemployment and poverty. The film reminds us of the difference the welfare state has made to this country. A Film Education study guide on the included Ken Loach and Dot Gibson What made this film so special was film The Spirit of ’45 explains: from the film, and Owen Jones, left- the fact that it opened our eyes to the wing commentator and author of importance of the welfare state, the 1945 was a pivotal year in British history. “ Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working troubles we faced to get where we are The unity that carried Britain through the war Classes. today, and the need for us to ‘look to allied to the bitter memories of the inter-war the past for a better future.’ years led to a vision of a better society. The The Spirit of ’45 taught me a lot about spirit of the age was to be our brother’s and our the post-war period, and life before the The elders featured in the film gave sister’s keeper. Director Ken Loach has used film welfare state. In the mid 1930s, almost witness to the post-war events of 1945, from Britain’s regional and national archives, a third of the population’s diets did and stressed that their responsibility alongside sound recordings and contemporary not match the minimum requirements was to now pass on their experiences interviews, to create a rich political and social of the British Medical Association, to the younger generation, in hope for narrative. The Spirit of ’45 hopes to illuminate and in 1938, girls under the age of a better future. Dot Gibson ends the and celebrate a period of unprecedented 10 who worked for 44 hours or more film by confirming this, suggesting that community spirit in the UK, the impact of which every week made up one-tenth of the pensioners need to talk to teenagers endured for many years and which may yet be female workforce. However, in 1942, about the social right to welfare and rediscovered today.” Liberal politician William Beveridge support ‘from the cradle to the grave’ proposed setting up a ‘welfare state’, and the importance of looking out for I saw the film at the Warwick Arts providing social security, a free National other people in the community. She Centre on the day when it was followed Health Service, free education, council raised this again in the live discussion by a live question and answer session housing and full employment. In 1944, after the film. through a satellite link. This discussion an Education Act made education,
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Looking to the past for a better future So what exactly did Ken mean by the ‘Spirit of ’45’? Arguably, the spirit was one of community, and working together to defeat from the depression the war had left them in. The message taken from the film, which somewhat inspired The Spirit of ‘13, was that we should ‘look to the past for a better future’, and that it was the responsibility of the older generation to pass on the ideas and the spirit of 1945, in attempt to build a fairer world for today. The Spirit of 13 project that I took part in was a response to Loach’s film, fuelling a discussion between the younger and Loach meeting Ken Kendall Lydia older generations about the welfare The project’s website gave guidance were made. There were a range of films state and an equal society and to try to on how to prepare and plan for making submitted discussing different topics, find, as in Ken’s film, the ‘Spirit Of 13’. the film. This included a link to The including education, community, trades Bournemouth University ran the Spirit of ’45 website which contains unions and corporations. The under-25 project and sent out an invitation lots of information, timelines and age range included secondary school, through social media and emails to interactive activities to help with college and university students. historical knowledge of the period, a Media teachers, who passed on the One of the films suggested that the study pack on the film designed by message to students. The invitation ‘younger generation is lost’, and Film Education, and some guidance was to produce a short film, between others shared the opinion that the for inter-generational research from 3 to 5 minutes, which had to be inter- past seemed to be a lot brighter than the English and Media Centre. As generational and relate to themes the future. One film was produced well as seeing Ken Loach’s film, it was explored in Ken Loach’s film, but in the form of a poem, raising many suggested that these resources be used applying them to today. The films were issues about the problems with beforehand. uploaded to a Vimeo channel. today’s society; my own film raised The spirit of our age is ‘greed is On 6th December, the makers of the question of whether trades five selected films came together at unions are still as big a part of society good’, and that’s the challenge the British Film Institute in London, nowadays as they were in the past. you’ve got ... the spirit of this age is with Ken Loach, The Bournemouth An interesting film about the topic of unacceptable, and the only way you University team, and some of the older community suggested that concepts of people who had appeared in The Spirit the community had ‘changed beyond change it is to work together. of ‘45 to show and discuss the films that recognition’, and an older man featured
24 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM generation, who had effectively grown Education’ filmmaker said that he felt up without them. It was argued that he should educate people on how the majority of young people do not things have changed, because a lot actually know what a trades union of his generation doesn’t know, and really is, and why it is so important. education nowadays has changed so Following on from this, a point was much that many people ‘don’t know put forward that there was no sort of where places in the world are.’ teaching about trades unions in the curriculum, and therefore the younger Regaining trust, working generation had little knowledge of together – the true spirit them. Dot Gibson said that when the of 13? unions were first being formed, there One interesting question raised during were 14.5 million people in trades the discussion was ‘What is the spirit unions in the country; now only 6.5 of 13?’. One filmmaker stated that we million people in Britain are a member were in fact lacking spirit; in terms of of a union. community, where once people let When asked about the state of their children play on the streets, now education nowadays, one filmmaker we are afraid to let them outside alone (whose film was called ‘Spirit of because our sense of trust and civic Education’) said that education today responsibility has been lost, and many in the film also said: is being taken for granted, especially people they interviewed said that they did not talk to the people who lived I’m glad I’m the age I am, I wouldn’t want with secondary school students whose ‘‘ next door or anyone on their street. to have to go through what these young people education is completely free; when free will go through when they get older, when I’m education was first introduced, people Ken Loach talked about the dominant no longer here.’’ were ‘so happy to have it’. ideas of an age, and the fact that he wanted to make Spirit of ‘45 ‘precisely After the showing of the films at the Again, the shared view that the because those ideas have slipped BFI, there was a discussion between younger generation is ‘lost’ came away.’ The ideas he said had been the young filmmakers, people who into play when another ‘Spirit of featured in their films, and a panel consisting of Ken Loach himself, Dot Gibson and Jonathon Tomlinson from The Spirit of ’45 and Dorothy Allen- Pickard, representing The Spirit of ’13. Julian McDougall, who ran the project, started by saying this intergenerational discussion was, he hoped, what Dot Gibson has said was needed. We were strong as a community, we could solve problems together, the dominant idea [was] of the public good.
The role of education There were many issues raised from the films, including the suggestion that we should beware of looking back on 1945 with nostalgia, and talking about how much better life was than it is nowadays, and instead use the ideas from this era and start making our future better. Another issue raised was the idea that movements that were so important and had so much impact in 1945, such as the collective power of trades unions, were being forgotten by the younger
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Boris Johnson’s comment that ‘greed is Organise – and make films! good’, and said that: A member of the audience followed ‘‘the spirit of our age is ‘greed is good’, and on from Ken’s point, saying that we that’s the challenge you’ve got.’’ should not only organise, but ‘organise and make films.’ He said that we should He concluded this analysis by saying take advantage of the power of the that if you were to make a film about media, to communicate our ideas to this age, ‘the only way you could forgotten were that we were strong as others and make a change on a larger find the optimism, is by finding the a community, we could solve problems scale. Ken pointed out that we need mechanism for change.’ He suggested together, the dominant idea of the to understand why the spirit of the that the mechanism for change, just public good, and the belief that age is as it is, and that it is about the as happened back in 1945, is people dominance of the big corporations, ‘‘we contributed together to make the world working together, and that a better place, to make the country a better it is not an accident, it is not that the place, to make your town or workplace a better ‘‘the spirit of this age is unacceptable, people who run the big corporations place.’’ and the only way you change it is to work are just bad people – ‘although they together.’’ probably are!’ – but it is about the No such thing as society? Members of the audience and panel system they operate. He went on to talk about the spirit of responded to Ken’s powerful points. ‘‘If you want to change the spirit of this age, our age now. He said: Dr Jonathon Tomlinson, a GP who which is destroying the planet and destroying appeared in The Spirit of ’45 and was your futures, you have to organise politically the spirit changed in 1979, when Margaret ‘‘ on the panel, said that a survey done and you have to understand the nature of the Thatcher said there was no such thing as a couple of years ago showed that beast you’re against. You have to understand society, and what was dominant then, and has people working in the NHS value it as the enemy, and organise to defeat it. become unthinkingly accepted now for most ’’ being fair, that everyone who needs people, is that individual pursuit of individual care gets it. He also pointed out that Lydia Kendall is a student at Kings Norton interest, will lead to a greater good for everyone in work should be satisfied Girls’ School, Birmingham. everybody. ’’ that every eleventh hour, some of the The film of the screening and We contributed together to make the money that they earn will be going to discussion reviewed in this article, world a better place, to make the someone with an illness, and therefore including the five selected films, can be there is a sense that we are all still viewed at www.cemp.ac.uk/spiritof13 country a better place, to make your looking after each other: town or workplace a better place. ‘‘Within the NHS, the idea that we are all looking after each other is still very strong.’’ He mentioned the Mayor of London,
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Student Harry Cunningham is interested in the representation of political issues on TV. But what happens when a supposedly impartial presenter comes up against extremist views – and indeed, should they be allowed on air at all? Read on – and then decide for yourself.
There are few things I find more cabinet ministers, trade unionists and together to legitimise and extend their amusing when I’m scouting through even the leader of the opposition control over the world. But what was YouTube than watching some of the have all felt the heat of Neil’s intensive clearly supposed to be a light-hearted country’s slimiest and most unsavoury interviewing style, those with more counterpoint to a heavy interview characters defend the indefensible extreme views tend to get slightly with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls on serious political programmes, different treatment… about Labour’s plans for the economy, usually with disastrous but equally and an attempt to give coverage hilarious consequences. Whether Conspiracy theorist & to the meeting which is otherwise it’s BNP leader Nick Griffin trying to ‘Shock Jock’ Alex Jones ignored by the media, soon turned explain why he once believed the Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, known into one of the most watched videos holocaust never happened during for his series of highly controversial on YouTube, described on Twitter as his infamous appearance on Question films including The Obama Deception, ‘TV Gold’ and later picked up by most Time, or Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary America Destroyed by Design, Police of the broadsheets. You can watch desperately trying to worm his way out State 2000 and Martial Law 9-11: Rise of the clip at http://www.youtube.com/ of condemning the views of Osama the Police State, was invited onto The watch?v=YB7ZaK7Oa88. Bin Laden to Jeremy Paxman, it is often Sunday Politics to discuss the annual But what went wrong? Did Neil provoke reaffirming to see such delusional meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Jones by ridiculing him? Was his ‘hate figures’ held up in the bright light group: an informal and strictly private treatment of him fair or should he have of day and ridiculed for their sheer gathering of politicians, economists, approached him in the same way he absurdity. But are television networks business men and royalty from around approached Ed Balls? guilty of giving too much airtime to the world. extremists? And should these people Considered an expert on the group really be treated with such contempt? Many conspiracy theorists, including given his own extensive coverage The BBC’s Daily and Sunday Politics Jones, have speculated that the of the Bilderberg meeting and his programme, fronted by former Fleet Bilderberg group colludes with each presence with protestors outside the Street editor and News Corp mogul other to write the world’s tax laws with conference in London, Jones was Andrew Neil, certainly has a penchant loopholes which specifically favour invited onto to the show alongside The for these types of guests. Yet whilst their own vested interests, and plots Times columnist, David Aaronovitch.
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an unnamed Harvard study which apparently shows this caused a 7% rise in bone cancer); the Euro, which he says was originally a Nazi German plan to take over countries economically; and the Lockheed bribery scandal of 1971. Perhaps it could be argued here that Neil should have probed some of these assertions, and asked for specific evidence that he could challenge. But with such a barrage of accusations, Neil began the discussion by it is hard to see how this would have David Aaronovitch speak several times introducing Jones and referring to his been possible. Instead Neil made a before saying forcefully: expertise: sarcastic remark and turned to David No, shut up for the moment. Aaronovitch: “ ” You’ve been covering the Bilderberg piece “ Some viewers had complained about for a very long time, what have you ever found So now we know Bilderberg has given us “ Neil’s use of ‘Shut up’ – but it’s hard to out about it? the Euro. ” ” see what else he could have said. This is a valid question, as Neil’s As the interview continued and Jones interviews are usually heavily based became more irate, claiming that the The impartiality must be adequate on evidence, with Neil producing a FBI had been tapping his phone lines and appropriate to the output, taking fact or figure in the hope the guest and had implicitly threatened to kill account of the subject and nature will defend it with their own research. him, Neil struggled to keep control of But immediately Jones launched into the show, and had to ask him to let of the content, the likely audience a tirade of un-related assertions and expectation… shocking revelations. The final straw came as Aaronovitch In just a few short minutes Jones told went to make what sounded like a Neil that he believes the Bilderberg very interesting point about how group and its architect Prince Bernard the internet had changed people’s (the husband of former Dutch Queen perceptions about conspiracy Juliana and grandfather of the current theories; but he was cut off by a visibly King Willem-Alexander) is responsible distressed, almost unhinged Jones, for the presence of hydrofluoric acid who now completely lost control in tap water (Jones briefly referenced and started shouting, leading Neil to proclaim:
28 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM disagreed with Jones’ views. The hand ‘‘You are the worst person I’ve ever gestures, however, blur this line slightly. interviewed.’’ In suggesting that Jones was mad, it could be argued that Neil was implicitly He then attempted to end the telling his viewers that Jones was interview; but Jones continued to shout mad because of his views. But this is a over him and Neil’s reaction was to matter of opinion, since it could just as admit to his viewers that ‘we have an easily be argued that Neil was implying idiot on the show today’, before using Jones was mad not because of his hand gestures to suggest Jones was views but because of his outlandish mentally unstable. and I think it was interesting [...] this shows you behaviour on the show. what can happen in a culture where people just Professional or partial? We have an idiot on the show today. shout at each other, and so much of American It was this in particular that is media now is people shouting at each other But given Jones’ reaction to the questionable. It’s useful here to refer [...] if you want a lesson on the road Britain interview, we have to ask why the to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines to see probably shouldn’t be going that’s a good six BBC or Neil decided Jones would be whether Neil did break due impartiality minutes to watch. an appropriate guest on the show to ” or behave less than professionally (key begin with. His previous interviews had Although the programme did indeed aspects of what the BBC stands for). been well publicised, in particular his raise some interesting points about As the BBC is a public service provider, heated showdown with Piers Morgan the differences between American and funded by the taxpayer, it is regulated on American network CNN. In fact, British television, it was hardly a risk. In by its own guidelines set out by the so enraged was Jones by Morgan’s fact the outcome was almost inevitable. BBC Trust rather than by Ofcom which suggestion that the American gun laws regulates independent broadcasters. should be amended that he launched Muslim Cleric and former Regulation 4.4.13 stipulates: into a rant of epic proportion that saw leader of Islam 4UK Anjem “Our audiences should not be able to tell Morgan, like Neil, almost completely Choudary from BBC output the personal prejudices of shouted down. It wasn’t so much a In 2010 Neil interviewed radical Muslim our journalists or news and current affairs debate as an unstoppable tirade, in Cleric Anjem Choudary. At the time presenters on matters of public policy, political which Jones once again recounted his organisation Islam 4UK had just or industrial controversy, or on ‘controversial many of the vast and seemingly been banned under the Terrorism Act subjects’ in any other area.” unrelated conspiracies he believes in. of 2000. Choudary had also come to prominence that year for a planned While it is clear that Neil’s remarks The answer came when Neil defended march through Royal Wotton Bassett made plain his views on Jones as a his interview with Jones on the BBC’s during the funeral parade of British person – that he thinks he is an ‘idiot’ Newswatch programme. He argues: soldiers killed in combat in Iraq and and that he had found him incredibly [Jones] is regarded by a lot of people who Afghanistan. Choudary wrote letters difficult to interview – viewers could “ believe Bilderberg to be a conspiracy to be their to the parents of all the dead soldiers not tell whether he supported or spokesperson. Programmes have to take risks claiming that the war was unjust
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and said his march was supposed to line of questioning arguing that: radicalising Michael Adebolajo, highlight what he saw as the unjust convicted of the murder of Rigby. When I think many people watching this killing of innocent civilians and Muslims ‘‘ he was interviewed on Channel 4, BBC interview will say ‘why can’t we get to the real in illegally occupied territory. and ITV he refused to condemn what issues here?’ ’’ had happened. What is different from the way in which Neil handled Alex Jones is that in this Impartial or incendiary? In conclusion, I think that while the interview he does not give Choudary a Indeed this inability to take Choudary likes of Anjem Choudary and Alex chance to engage in a reasonable line seriously raises interesting questions Jones always make for good telly, of questioning. Neil clearly articulates once again about the nature of sometimes it can feel as if they are on his utter contempt for Choudary right impartiality. The BBC has a duty to due the air more than politicians with seats from the start, jibing at him: impartiality but not impartiality itself. in parliament. While it’s an important part of a modern and progressive So you got banned and now you’re never Due impartiality, as defined in the BBC’s “ society that we accept that television, off the TV screens, you must be laughing all the editorial guidelines (section 4), means and the BBC in particular, must reflect way to your social security? ” “the impartiality must be adequate and everyone’s views even if we find them This is interesting because it seems appropriate to the output, taking account of repulsive, I think inviting these sorts of to suggest Neil feels that Choudary the subject and nature of the content, the likely people on so much is not particularly has been offered too much airtime; audience expectation…” useful and can at times give voice yet if he believes this is the case, why In this sense perhaps it could be to concerns from people like Alex has he allowed him on the show? argued it would be wrong of Neil to Jones who believe the media is just a Although Neil does make some valid maintain his impartiality here, when propaganda arm of the government. points about the hypocrisy of Choudary it’s clearly not appropriate; most, if not Many channels seem to feel the need claiming benefits whilst attacking the all, reasonable viewers of a programme to justify the regular appearances of values of a Western democracy, and of dedicated to politics would disagree extremists by visibly laying into them Choudary trying to insinuate that the with Choudary’s abhorrent views, and on air. So it will certainly be interesting banning of his group meant Britain it would be wrong of the BBC to allow to see the outcome of Ofcom’s report doesn’t really allow freedom of speech them to go unchecked. into whether Anjem Choudary has when, as Neil points out, he is ‘living it been given too much airtime. out now’. But if Choudary’s views are so abhorrent and so self-evidently Harry Cunningham has freelanced for Throughout the interview Neil ludicrous that they are not worthy of The Leicester Mercury and Writers’ Forum continues to show his utter contempt proper scrutiny, why bother giving Magazine. He currently studies English at for Choudary and his organisation in an him airtime in the first place? This is Loughborough University. unprofessional manner, saying of Islam a question that has been asked in Follow him on Twitter: @harrycunningham 4UK ‘Did it exist anyway or was it just parliament by Lady Warsi and by Ofcom a figment of your imagination and a more recently following Choudary’s few mates?’ Having cynically suggested connection with the death of Drummer Choudary will just re-group, Neil then Lee Rigby in May 2013. For Choudary jokingly asking viewers to think of a is seen by many as responsible for new name for his organisation. At one point Choudary complains about Neil’s
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Primewire.ag makes an excellent case study for both the Audience and Institution section of OCR’s AS G324 exam, the A2 topics in the G325 Critical Perspectives exam, and AQA’s MEST3 topic ‘The Impact of New/Digital Media’. Matt Johns explains how this media-streaming site works, and the legal and ethical issues it raises.
We all know about BitTorrent and Perspectives exam. It is equally relevant drive. Primewire.ag does not host any peer-to-peer file sharing. It remains the to AQA’s MEST3 topic ‘The Impact of copyrighted content themselves, but internet’s most prolific form of media New/Digital Media’. makes it easy for audiences to find it. piracy, but on the rise over the last This case study will concentrate on four Primewire.ag (as it is called at the two or three years have been free-to- questions: time of writing) has gone through watch, unauthorised media streaming a number of identity changes in its websites. • What is Primewire.ag and how does it short history. It started out in 2009 operate? Access to an unauthorised stream of a as LetMeWatchThis.ch and later film or TV show is most often gained • What are the legal and regulatory changed to 1Channel.ch. In May 2013 via a website known as an ‘aggregator’, implications of its existence? the website announced its 1Channel or linking site, which allows users to • What impact is it having on the film domain had been ‘hijacked’, and search for content – the latest episode and TV industries? directed users to Primewire.ag. The of Game of Thrones, for example – then reasons for all these domain name choose from a list of links to file-hosting • What impact is it having on audience changes remains unclear, but is most sites where that media is stored and behaviours and expectations? likely due to a combination of hackers made available to anyone who clicks and competitors trying to steal a the link. What is Primewire.ag? slice of their advertising revenue, and the lack of official protection for One of the UK’s most popular linking Primewire.ag, reportedly hosted in organisations such as themselves, who sites for streaming films and TV shows Estonia, is an aggregator of video are basically operating outside of the is Primewire.ag. This website makes streaming websites. In other words law. an excellent case study for both the it offers users the ability to search for Audience and Institution section of films and TV shows, then provides Primewire.ag is funded by advertising. OCR’s G324 exam and the topics of them with a list of links that forwards Little in the way of officially published Media in the Online Age and Media them to another website, streaming information exists on advertising Regulation in the G325 Critical the content to their browser without revenues for Primewire.ag; but one the need to download it to the hard
english and media centre | February 2014 | MediaMagazine 37 MM per 1000 views of a film or TV show. Whilst this sounds barely worth it, these $1s or $2s can add up for a dedicated link-sharer. Torrentfreak. com interviewed one such user who allegedly owns links to 30,000 films and TV shows spread across 12 different file-hosting sites, and claimed to be making a good living from it.
What are the legal and regulatory implications of Primewire.ag? From an industry perspective, the owners and administrators of the file- hosting sites to which Primewire.ag links are quite clearly engaging in film and TV piracy, and operating illegally. This stands up in court, and the case of Megaupload.com is a perfect example. Megaupload.com was a huge file- hosting site which was ostensibly a means for internet users to store and share files, much like YouTube or Dropbox. In reality it was a notorious host of copyrighted media, which appeared in almost any search on video stream aggregators such as Primewire. ag. In January 2012 the US Justice Department shut down Megaupload. com, arrested its operators, charged them with violating piracy laws, and seized around £32 million in assets. The law regarding websites such as Primewire.ag, which do not actually host any content themselves but ‘merely’ link to it, is equally well- precedented. In December 2012 Richard O’Dwyer a 24-year-old student from Sheffield, and founder of video stream aggregator TVShack.net, was successfully extradited to the US, convicted of breaking US copyright laws, and ordered to pay £20,000 in compensation to the victims of his unsubstantiated source published on simple: money. A user can either simply copyright theft. Under US law he speedydeletion.wikia.com suggested find an existing stream of a film or might have faced five years in prison. it may be as much as $21,130 per day TV show on one of the ‘cloud storage’ This action was brought by the MPAA – which is easy to imagine given that streaming sites such as PutLocker or (Motion Picture Association of America); the site receives around 4 million hits Sharesix, or they can upload it there and if they seem single-minded in per day and is ranked in the UK as the themselves, then place a link to it on their ’take no prisoners’ approach to 216th most popular website (some Primewire.ag. At that point, the user copyright infringement, then the UK seven places above LoveFilm.com). ‘owns’ the link, and they can collect a organisation FACT (Federation Against small share of the advertising revenue Copyright Theft) are just as determined. The links appearing on the website generated from that page. are provided by other users. You may In May 2012 Anton Vickerman, wonder what motivates some users Generally that income isn’t much. founder of video stream linking site to spend time providing links to films According to Torrentfreak.com, SurfTheChannel.com, was taken to and TV shows, and the answer is very payment works out to about $1 or $2 court by FACT and was also successfully
38 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM Images throughout the article are from: Game of Thrones, Broadwalk Empire House of Cards, House of Cards, Empire Broadwalk Thrones, Game of the article from: Images throughout are Orange is the New Black and Ghost Protocol prosecuted. What was interesting about the US may be tough on copyright his case, however, was that the Crown infringement, other countries may not Prosecution Service had earlier refused be, or just don’t have the resources to prosecute him under copyright laws. to invest in tackling someone else’s It seems the case against him was too problem. weak. Instead FACT took Vickerman to court for ‘conspiracy to commit Are you a criminal? fraud’, essentially claiming that he From an audience perspective it is had defrauded copyright owners out difficult to say if streaming films and of their rightful share of the website’s TV shows on your home computer is profits (estimated at £300,000 per year). strictly an act of copyright theft. On He was convicted on two counts of the ‘Types of Copyright Theft’ page fraud and sentenced to four years of the FACT website, unauthorised in prison. streaming is mentioned, but only to What Vickerman’s case suggests is that say that the websites offering the copyright law in the UK is relatively blocked to the end-user, which some copyrighted content are illegal. Last powerless to act on video-linking would argue is a form of internet year a spokesperson for Rights Alliance, sites, even if hosted in this country. censorship, or at least a ‘creeping’ form Sweden’s top anti-piracy organisation, But this is not stopping anti-piracy of regulation. If you can’t legally shut it admitted that, as the law stands, the groups from successfully targeting down, you can at least legally block it act of streaming cannot be construed these sites for closure or some other from view. as a criminal offence. In this respect form of censorship. Until recently there is a real legal incentive for prolific The anti-piracy groups are coming another linking website, Movie4k.to, downloaders of content to switch to for the other sharing sites as well. was the UK’s most popular aggregator streaming via sites such as Primewire. In October 2013 the MPAA officially of unauthorised streaming films and ag. A moral question does remain: just furnished the US Government with TV shows. However, in May 2013, because streaming can’t be traced as a list of 27 ‘rogue’ websites engaged under pressure from both the MPAA easily as downloading, and there are in piracy, including Primewire.ag, in and FACT, all the major ISPs in the currently no sanctions for it, does that the hope that they will appeal to the UK were compelled, by court order, mean it’s OK to do it? Judging by the countries hosting them to take action under the Digital Economy Act 2010, view counts on Primewire.ag, hundreds to close them down. This highlights the to block Movie4k.to. Rather than being of thousands seem to think so. greatest barrier to internet regulation. shut down at source, it was simply Whilst countries such as the UK and
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What impact is Primewire. of on-demand content such as Netflix exclusivity. It is best exemplified by ag having on the film and has certainly captured some of those Netflix’s decision to go from simply TV Industries? who would otherwise have turned exhibiting the work of others, to to illegal downloading or streaming. financing and producing their own The obvious answer, and one It seems demand for the legitimate hit TV series such as House of Cards repeatedly cited by the anti-piracy sources of TV content is high enough and Orange is the New Black. The idea groups, is the loss of revenue. From for the producers of popular shows is that audiences, whether in the UK their perspective every view of a stream such as The Walking Dead or Boardwalk or anywhere else, cannot legitimately equals a lost cinema ticket, Blu-ray sale Empire not to notice the impact of access these programmes without or subscription to a legitimate source piracy. In fact it has been argued that a Netflix subscription because they such as Netflix or Amazon. We can see TV piracy actually raises the profile of are not on Sky or HBO or any other how this might pan out with a specific certain shows. premium service. For just a few pounds example. per month, the quality of these shows The third season finale of Game of If we take one of 2012’s most illegally alone can easily justify the cost. Many Thrones, for example, made history downloaded films, Mission: Impossible will do exactly that: pay the Netflix as the most illegally-downloaded TV – Ghost Protocol (reportedly 8.5 million subscription for, say, House of Cards, show of all time, with a record-breaking torrent file downloads) and search for and then keep paying once they get ‘swarm’ of 170,000 users sharing it it on Primewire.ag, it produces a list used to having access to their other simultaneously, a million downloads of 26 file hosting sites and presents content. What Primewire.ag does is in just one day, and total downloads a total view count of about 305,000. erode that exclusivity by allowing topping 5 million. A quick look on Small potatoes compared with the anyone anywhere in the world the Primewire.ag shows that particular downloads. But if we assume that each ability to watch without paying, or keep episode to be live on 32 file hosting of those 305,000 views is a lost cinema paying Sky, and just use Primewire.ag sites with a total of around 235,000 ticket or Blu-ray sale, we can estimate to watch House of Cards. views at the time of writing. Far from the loss of revenue to the industry to complaining about this level of piracy, be somewhere between £2 million and however, the show’s director David £4.5 million, which is somewhat less Petrarca publicly observed that the insignificant. record-breaking level of piracy for The problem with this calculation is Game of Thrones contributed to the the assumption that everyone who ‘cultural buzz’ surrounding it, and streamed the film via Primewire.ag would ultimately lead to more paying would have gone to the cinema or subscriptions to its parent channel HBO. bought the Blu-ray or otherwise paid to You might have thought that HBO’s watch it, and that is difficult to prove. business executives would take a Indeed, it seems fairer to assume that different view; but programming not every download or viewing of president Michael Lombardo told a stream means lost revenue to the Entertainment Weekly that the piracy of industry. With UK cinema admissions Game of Thrones was a compliment and steadily rising, it seems difficult to did not negatively impact on DVD sales. argue that the UK film exhibition industry is suffering from the impact of Looking at it objectively, perhaps the piracy. greatest impact of free-to-stream unauthorised content is a certain Regarding the television industry, the levelling of the playing field. The impact is even harder to determine. The business of high-profile television rise in popularity of legitimate sources drama is these days one driven by
40 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM What impact is Primewire. ag having on audience behaviours and expectations? The prime motivator for audiences to access unauthorised streams of content is immediacy. For example, in the UK the only way to watch The Walking Dead is on Fox HD, which requires a subscription to Sky. The problem for UK audiences is that this runs about one whole season behind the US schedule. In this way the programme is a victim of its own success; audiences just can’t get it fast enough. In the case of Game of Thrones and its or unauthorised streaming of films and It has been argued that it is not piracy international audience, the problem is TV shows as a type of theft; but they that is killing the movie industry – it is more to do with getting any legitimate do not believe they are doing anything studio greed. wrong. access whatsoever. In the UK, HBO has Kevin Spacey best sums up the idea partnered with Sky to bring it to British In 2009 The Guardian reported a study in a speech reported by the Guardian audiences; but in many other parts of which found that people who illegally last year: the world the only legitimate option downloaded music were also ten times I believe [...] we can open a movie online, is the DVD box set, which is costly and more likely than those who didn’t to “ in the movie theatres, on DVD on the same day, available quite significantly behind the buy music. The same could be the case that is probably where it is leading. That would TV schedule. for those who stream and download TV be a huge bite out of piracy; if it is all available, and films. The smaller numbers of those With the film industry, the time-lag no one is stealing it before someone else who stream via Primewire.ag compared between theatrical release and home gets it. exhibition release, whether it’s Blu- to those who download the torrent files ” In the meanwhile it is safe to assume ray, digital rental or download, is the suggest that unauthorised streaming the anti-piracy groups will continue space into which piracy steps. Whilst is more of a casual or occasional form their offensive on the peer-to-peer the shoddy quality of a camcorder engagement. The audience who is networks and unauthorised streaming recording is something only a few watching an unauthorised stream of a sites. But the pirates outnumber the die-hard fans will endure for the sake film on their tablet on the train home authorities. When a website is shut of seeing the film before anyone else, from work could well end up watching down, a proxy or mirror site usually there are other time-delays which it again at home via their Netflix springs up the same day. What will be exploited. The Blu-ray release account, or at least promoting it to Primewire.ag and other unauthorised schedule of Man of Steel provides a their friends, who then pay for it. streaming websites represent is good example. In the US it was released In conclusion, Primewire.ag, and other perhaps more powerful than the on 12 November 2013; in the UK Blu- sites like it, exist due to audience function they perform. They represent rays of the film were only available on 2 demand. They are operating in a media an audience-driven shift in how media December, almost three weeks after the landscape which finds the big media are consumed. The audience are not US. Studios might do well to consider companies clinging to an old business thieves, the audience are not pirates; every illegal download and stream of model based on controlling the way they are merely consumers, most of Man of Steel in that time as revenue in which audiences consume their whom would be willing to pay for the lost not to piracy, but to a poor release products – first the theatrical release, service they are already using, if only strategy. then the DVD release, then digital it was offered at a reasonable price by rental, then broadcast television. Each In the online age audiences expect legitimate providers. media to be available on all platforms stage is designed to squeeze as much the moment it is released on one; profit from a product as possible. The Matt Johns is Curriculum Manager for and largely this expectation is met, if trouble is that technology has left this Media A Levels at Havering College of not through legitimate means then model behind. The internet allows any Further Education. through piracy. It’s not about getting media product to be available on all a product free, it’s about getting a platforms the moment it is available product now. The overwhelming on one. Audiences have embraced the attitude of audiences seems to be technology, and if the producers and that they recognise the illegality of distributors of the media products they websites such as Primewire.ag; they consume have not, then, as far as the may even consider the downloading audience is concerned, that’s their loss.
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They’re New Wave – but are they Old Hat? Nick Lacey takes another look at some of the less well-known ‘new wave’ movements of the 50s and 60s which have influenced the work of directors such as Tarantino and Scorsese. Images are from Black God, White Devil, Deus e o Diabo, A Blonde in Love, The Red and the White Red and the The A Blonde in Love, Deus Devil, e o Diabo, White Black God, from Images are
44 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM For most young people, history is of lightweight handheld cameras in the since most Latin American countries something that happened a long time late 1950s, the French could suddenly suffered under US-supported military ago. For old folks, history becomes, very easily shoot on location without dictatorships. This was a significant increasingly, something you remember. elaborate set-ups. These diverse break with the French ‘New Wave’ Thus, when you’re young, some influences converged in the ground- which, at least until Jean-Luc Godard recently released films can seem breaking innovations of French New became politicised, expressed affection incredibly original. However, for us Wave Cinema. for Hollywood cinema and American old folk these ‘incredibly original’ films popular culture. We shall consider films from Brazil, can often feel like movies that we first Czechoslovakia and Hungary as saw years ago. For example, Quentin examples of how different cultures Tarantino’s movies can seem unlike utilised the freedom, which the New anything else that’s ever been made Wave French rule-breaking had started, before – until, that is, you realise that to produce startlingly different films. he’s heavily influenced by the French nouvelle vague (New Wave) of 50 years Brazil’s Cinema Novo ago. Glauber Rocha was the key director To be fair to Tarantino, he clearly of the Brazilian New Wave (Cinema acknowledged his debt to the French Novo) and Black God, White Devil (Deus Black God, White Devil ends, like by naming his production company, e o Diabo na Terra do Sol Brazil 1964) is Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (Les A Band Apart, after a 1963 Jean-Luc his most celebrated film. It’s about the quatre cents coups 1959), the seminal Godard film. It is a tribute to the many desperation of the extremely poor who film of the start of the French new extraordinary films made in France at live in the impoverished back lands, wave, with the protagonist reaching the time, such as Truffaut’s Shoot the the sertão, of north-eastern Brazil. An the sea and finding he has nowhere Pianist (1960) and Agnes Varda’s Cleo exploited cow herder, Manuel, kills his to go. Peter Hames (2005) points out Five to Seven (1962), that they can still boss in rage and, with his wife, goes ‘on that the Czech film Black Peter (Cerný appear to be thoroughly modern. the run’. First, they join a preacher, Saint Petr 1964) also references the end of That’s because, in part, many of the Sebastian, who claims he’ll lead them Truffaut’s film. techniques pioneered and refined to a ‘promised land’; then a bandit, a at the time, like jump cuts, are now sort of low-rent Robin Hood (though Czech new wave very much part of mainstream film there’s not much evidence of giving to At the same time that America was language. the poor), Corisco. They are pursued by oppressing Brazil, Europe east of Another French innovation that Antonia das Mortes, employed by the the ‘Iron Curtain’ was under Soviet remains highly influential is the idea Church to kill anyone who threatens control, and there were severe limits that the director is the author (auteur) the status quo. on freedom of expression. During of the film, despite the fact that the 1960s Czechoslovakia (which is filmmaking is a totally collaborative now two distinct nations, the Czech process. It has become commonplace Republic and Slovakia) sought to that virtually every film now states loosen that Soviet control by electing that it’s ‘by’ the director, seemingly a more liberal and humanitarian forgetting the mass of other creative Socialist leader, Alexander Dubček. talents involved. But Dubček’s ‘socialism with a human face’ was destroyed when the Soviet Spirit of the 60s Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Before the invasion there had been a The 1960s (and 1968 in particular) Glauber Rocha’s influences are many, distinct thaw in censorship; and this was a time of revolution and social but the French New Wave idea of was evident in the Czech ‘New Wave’ of change. The febrile atmosphere of the ‘director as author’ is probably the cinema with such films as A Blonde in decade was conducive to new ways of most important. Rocha created his Love, also known as Loves of a Blonde making films; and the New Wave, which own Manifesto for making films: The (Lásky jedné plavovlásky, 1966), director originated in France, swept not just Aesthetics of Hunger (you can read Milos Forman’s follow-up to Black Peter. through Europe, but also around the it here http://www.tempoglauber. world. Of course the French innovations com.br/english/t_estetica.html). The didn’t spring out of nowhere, and key element of his Manifesto was were themselves influenced by earlier to dramatise misery and so lead the filmmaking practices, in particular the audience, who were being exploited, to neo-realism of Italy just after World fight against their oppression. Rocha, War II which, amongst other things, in common with filmmakers from the emphasised location shooting rather Third World (now called the ‘developing than studio shoots. With the invention world’), had no love for America,
english and media centre | February 2014 | MediaMagazine 45 MM This is a fascinating ‘teen pic’ that both dance hall scene reminded me of made from within the Soviet bloc, ‘universalises’ the teenage (or early- the one in Billy Liar (UK), shot three you’d expect that the reds would be 20s) experience and sets it squarely years earlier, emphasising how, in the celebrated over the whites; however in its time. The fact that government Sixties, youth culture was becoming Jancsó shows there are only losers in censorship was already loosening is internationalised. war. His steady tracking shots often particularly evident in the scenes where appear to be more interested in the Forman cast locals, mostly non-actors, a youth union meeting is satirised, and landscape than the action which seems who, along with the location shooting, in some scenes with relatively graphic to be happening almost accidentally give the film a realist flavour, and it’s nudity that, as one commentator at the in front of the camera. Characters and not surprising that Ken Loach (see page time joked: conflict appear and reappear, whilst 22) often cites it as a favourite film. Its the camera tracking flows on its stately revealed the well-kept state secret that political edge is seen when a youth “ way. This estranges us from the action, people take off their clothes in order to go to union meeting of women is asked to giving the film a distancing, Brechtian bed with each other. (Ibid.: 115) vote for being chaste. Only Andula, ” dimension that encourages us to think hiding at the back, doesn’t put up her about what we’re seeing. hand, emphasising the conformism expected by the Establishment at the Similarly, we are often unsure who is time. However, while she is something on which side, and our Hollywood- of a rebel, Andula is also a victim; a conditioned search for the ‘good smooth-talking pianist betrays her. guys’ is undercut by the cruelty, and Their ‘love’ scene, with the recalcitrant occasionally humane actions, of both blind, is very funny. Overall the film sides of the conflict. is suffused with a melancholy tone; it entertains but doesn’t forget the Being a teenager and yearning for a pathos of young lust. (sexual) relationship is the predominant narrative of most teen movies; and Hungarian new wave Czechoslovakia in the 60s was no Like Czechoslovakia, Hungary in the 50s different. In fact, the narrative drive and 60s was part of the ‘eastern bloc’ was accentuated by the 16:1 ratio of dominated by the Soviet Union. Like Jancsó, who died on 31st January 2014, women to men in Zruc, the home town the Czechs: had a style so distinctive that he is of Andula (the ‘blonde’ of the title). To unquestionably an auteur and, as such, Hungarian film-makers [...] were eager counteract this gender imbalance the “ was influenced by European art cinema, to see the latest releases from Paris and local factory’s ‘social director’ persuades the films of Antonioni, Bergman and elsewhere, and with the more relaxed and open the army to move a garrison of men Wadja for example, as well as the policy at the Film Academy it was now possible to the vicinity. However, they turn out French ‘New Wave’. to be middle-aged reservists of little for students to see most of the important new interest to Andula and her friends. foreign films.” Conclusion The troops’ arrival is one of many comic Cunningham 2004: 102 Although the French New Wave set pieces in the film. The girls are full As Cunningham points out, there remains massively influential in cinema, of hope until the balding men arrive were many other cultural influences and on television, unsurprisingly the and march to their barracks singing a on Hungarian cinema than merely way it impacted on other nations was ridiculous song about blood and glory. the French. Indeed the Czech New heavily influenced by the culture, In a dance hall, three of the men bicker Wave, set going by the French, in turn political context and history of those amongst themselves on how to pick affected the Hungarians. Although particular nations. In order to fully up the girls. They try sending a waiter Miklós Jancsó had directed films in the appreciate these films we need to with a bottle of wine for them, but it’s 1950s, it wasn’t until the ‘arrival’ of the understand the conditions in which delivered to the wrong table. Writer- wave that he really hit his stride. they were made. But then again, that’s director Milos Forman’s observes all this true of all cinema – including our own. affectionately; he is not mocking the The Red and the White (Csillagosok small town troubles of his characters. katonák Hungary-Soviet Union 1967) Nick Lacey teaches Film Studies at Benton was meant to be a 50th anniversary Park School, Leeds and is the author of Long conversations between celebration of the Russian (‘Red’) several Film and Media textbooks. characters suggest a French influence Revolution. However, Jancsó had other that reminded me of early Godard. ideas. What is most striking about the Follow it up However, the film is also distinctly film is its extraordinary mise-en-scène Cunningham, J. 2004. Hungarian Czech, for example a surreal necktie and long tracking shots. The ‘reds’ are Cinema: from coffee house to multiplex hanging on a tree when Andula the communists whilst the ‘whites’ are (Wallflower Press) walks through the wood for an the bourgeois (middle class) forces Hames, P. 2005. The Czechoslovak New assignation that never happens. The opposing the revolution. In a film Wave (Wallflower Press)
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Director Joe Cornish had never made a feature film before, and the subject is very distinctly British in terms of characters and locations. Investors Attack the Block had a low budget would normally be reluctant to give compared to Hollywood blockbusters first-time filmmakers $13 million to like Prometheus, but a much bigger make a British film with a cast of mostly budget than the smallest independent unknowns, set in a tower block and Attack the Block is a low-budget British films such as The Blair Witch Project. $13 featuring characters that open the film that takes the science fiction genre million (around £8 million) was invested movie mugging an innocent nurse. and slaps it right back down to earth in the production of Attack the Block; in a South London council estate. With but it only made nearly $6 million at the However, Joe Cornish has had a great mugging youths as its anti-heroes, Joe worldwide box office, meaning the film deal of experience in television and Cornish’s film makes for a fascinating made a significant loss. It had only Nick has developed a strong following with case study of how British films can Frost as a star, and he is very little known his radio and television shows. He is emulate Hollywood blockbusters and compared to the biggest A-list stars in also co-writing Spielberg’s latest film B-movies, while still remaining distinctly Hollywood, despite the success of Shaun with Edgar Wright, who recently had British. Cornish has said he was inspired of the Dead in Britain and America. As a huge international hit with Shaun by directors like Steven Spielberg, John a result, the filmmakers would have of the Dead. Like that film, Attack the Carpenter and Ridley Scott when writing struggled to raise the budget – there is Block takes very English characters, cast and directing his first feature, and his far less chance of big international box and settings, and mixes them with a film sits between British fim, Hollywood office without internationally recognised popular genre. So the science fiction blockbuster and B-movie. stars. element could help to draw in bigger
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crowds and therefore make investors feel more comfortable putting in $13 million. In addition, it was thought that casting Nick Frost might draw in international fans of Shaun of the Dead, helping Attack the Block to sell worldwide. The film was funded by Studio Canal, Film4, Big Talk Productions and the UK Film Council, a (now defunct) funding body set up to help produce films that promote British culture and tell British stories. There was no funding from the Hollywood studios. Interestingly two of these companies are very involved credibility and realism of its far-out Britain. The distinctive British location, in television, which suggests Joe story of an alien invasion. This also language and characters are also Cornish is likely to have had a working makes it stand out from much of emphasised and while this could be a relationship with them before shooting Hollywood’s science fiction output draw for some audiences, it also could his first feature film. (including Prometheus) which is often put off a wider audience, unfamiliar Attack the Block combines practical and shot on giant expensive sets at places with the language of Britain’s youth. computer-generated effects for its alien like Pinewood studios. It also would There was even talk of subtitling the creatures. The relatively low budget save the producers of Attack the Block film for US audiences. Film festivals meant director Joe Cornish had to limit money as fewer sets had to be built. are often essential for spreading word the CGI and work more with traditional of mouth about smaller films because Distribution techniques for Hollywood techniques. He said: they can win competitions, awards and and British films differ in many ways, gain valuable attention from film fans they designed this terrific costume-suit, mostly due to the marketing budgets “ and the press. A screening at SXSW and then we shot that, and then there’s a little of the films. Attack the Block uses film festival helped Attack the Block to bit of enhancement by a company called Digital its only star (Nick Frost), the science secure distribution in North America. Negative, and a very brilliant European company fiction genre elements and ‘from the called Fido. So the end result is a combination of producers of Shaun of the Dead’ as The marketing strategy included practical, with a little bit of digital.” selling points to be highlighted in posters, trailers, t-shirts and TV spots Den of Geek much of its marketing. Nick Frost has but was nowhere near as massive some international recognition from as the promotion of a Hollywood Attack the Block was shot on locations Shaun of the Dead but also helped blockbuster. in and around London to add to the promote the film a great deal in
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it to be classified as a 15. The language and drug use are particularly strong on occasions; and while a Hollywood blockbuster may have had to tone Hollywood movies spend huge though Attack the Block displays many this down to attract a wider audience, amounts on marketing a film in the generic trappings, it is also clearly very Attack the Block exploits these features lead up to the opening weekend different from many blockbusters. as its unique selling proposition. Its in an attempt to make their money It was considerably riskier than yet characters are unknown actors who back as quickly as possible. This another superhero film as it had no talk and act as if they are really from ‘saturation release’ strategy works well built-in audience, except perhaps fans the streets of South London, and the for blockbusters with mainstream of Nick Frost and people interested in film proudly represents them in all appeal. The stars of the film attend variations on the science fiction genre. their glory, both perpetuating and premieres in order to get more written Generally British films are less likely to challenging stereotypes of British about the film in the media. Attack follow trends as they are more likely to youth. the Block, on the other hand, had very deal with real situations and characters Hollywood and British films are very low opening weekend figures in terms in the social realist tradition. Attack the different in many ways. Although British of box office and number of screens. Block incorporated elements of this films are attempting to become more It was released on far fewer screens with its working-class characters, but commercial, and Hollywood studios than a Hollywood blockbuster would also incorporated genre conventions to do distribute some independent and have been, with around 350 screens make it a more appealing bit of escapist British films they hope will make a in the UK, and only eight in America. cinema. profit, there are still many films getting The distributors, who did not spend made for niche audiences on very low as much on marketing as the biggest budgets. With the UK Film Council blockbusters do, clearly hoped for word now a thing of the past, British films of mouth to help publicise the film (and will perhaps have to become more ensure its wider release). It premiered commercial in order for the industry at a film festival in America as well as in to survive. This may mean more British Leicester Square in London with stars in films that attempt to follow trends and attendance. The premiere of Attack the fit within clearly-defined genres – and Block failed to attract the same amount in turn lose some of their distinctive of media attention as a blockbuster Britishness. Though Attack the Block premiere because the stars are not as Hollywood studios often work with the failed to attract a huge audience and internationally recognised. MPAA and BBFC to ensure that their make a profit, it was a clear attempt Hollywood often follows trends film will be passed by these regulatory to make a B-movie in which B stood to ensure they make the most out bodies with an appropriate rating. As for British. Film is increasingly about of what is currently popular. Even Hollywood films need to make huge business; and with the Prime Minister amounts of money at the box office urging the British film industry to make to turn over a profit, the producers films with more mainstream appeal, we are often willing to trim violent or can expect to see more films with the adult scenes to ensure their film gets a ambition of Attack the Block – but with sufficiently low classification for family less of the believable British youth, and audiences, where the big money is. more of the science fiction escapism. Attack the Block had less potential Pete Turner is undertaking a PhD at Oxford money to make or lose; consequently, Brookes University, writes a film blog at the producers accepted the decision for http://ilovethatfilm.blogspot.com/ and is writing a book on The Blair Witch Project.
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I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die.
With this line, Ridley Scott’s classic in homage to the origin of the genre on and outer space, whilst at the same Blade Runner (Scott USA 1982), sums film. Metropolis (Lang Germany 1927) time scrutinising our relationship with up much of what has been wonderful has the same shot and that film (as Scott ourselves as a species. Leaving aside about science fiction. A popular genre respectfully noted) created a template the famous Star Wars and Star Trek which has used futuristic and fantastical that effectively stayed with the genre franchises, each era has had its key worlds to mirror and comment upon ever since. Not only did Metropolis create films, including the dystopian fantasy of issues relevant to us all in the here a vision of the future mega-city that The Matrix (Wachowski and Wachowski and now. Scott’s film was a reflection would be referenced everywhere from USA 1999) and the highest-grossing on racism, slavery and humanity. In Blade Runner to Judge Dredd (Travis film of all time, James Cameron’s Avatar the end, the quote celebrates the USA 2012) and obviously Superman (Cameron USA 2009). In each instance, importance of all human life and the (Donner USA 1978); it also raised the the future has been used to explore the need to regard our time and lifespan as sort of concerns about science, progress, pressing issues of the present. precious and fleeting gifts. humanity and fairness that would So what of Sci Fi now? Whilst Germany’s become the hallmark of the genre to the Such poetic sentiment has not Metropolis was the start, it has been present day. been limited to Scott’s cerebral and American films that have dominated celebrated film. Similar ideas have With later examples like The Forbidden the genre in every subsequent characterised the genre from its early Planet (Wilcox USA 1952), 2001 A Space decade. Not surprisingly, since the beginnings. In an interrogation scene Odyssey (Kubrick USA 1968) and Close visual tapestry of Sci Fi requires the between a suspect and the detective Encounters Of The Third Kind (Spielberg deepest pockets and biggest budgets. protagonist, Scott uses an optical effect USA 1978), each decade’s great No surprise also that other nations to represent a futuristic shutter closing filmmakers used the genre to explore have shied away. Rare non-Hollywood and darkening the room. The effect was the relationship between humankind examples like Children Of Men (Cuaron
50 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM Images from Elysium Images from
UK 2006), have employed near-future Toro Spain 2008) was an event; but budget to the limit, merging South dystopian mise-en-scène, allowing the when released, the film was attacked African shanty towns with space ships use (with a little future-fitting) of much as the dumbest yet, with its scenes of and high tech weaponry. The moral, cheaper present day locations. massive mega-robots (how original!) as Sharlto Copley’s racist functionary battering alien dinosaurs. Robocop morphs gradually into an alien, only to However, the most recent examples (Verhoeven USA 1988) and the be hunted himself, was clear. from Hollywood have met with a mixed Transformers (Bay USA 2007) would be critical response at best. Initially, the The new film Elysium (Blomkamp USA turning in their toolboxes! slate for 2013 looked very promising, 2013) had a much larger budget and with several large projects lined up, Late summer produced a more major stars in Matt Damon and Jodie featuring major talents. The Tom Cruise enticing prospect. Neil Blomkamp, the Foster, with Copley returning, but this vehicle Oblivion (Kosinski USA 2013) thoughtful and auteurist director of time as an antagonist. A good writer/ appeared early in the year but was District 9 (Blomkamp 2009 South Africa) director, with more money and an A-list dismissed as forgettable and derivative. was releasing a follow-up to his much- cast suggested an engaging movie. It was closely followed by JJ Abrams’ liked 2009 debut (see MediaMagazine Yet the reviews were as poor as for hotly anticipated sequel to his 2009 37, September 2011). That film had the season’s earlier releases. This was a reboot of the Star Trek franchise. But been a thinly veiled commentary visually arresting and at times dazzling Star Trek: Into Darkness (Abrams USA on apartheid in his home country. film that failed to deliver a positive 2013) opened to some caustic reviews Its aliens, mistreated and abused by critical response. and widespread disappointment. So humans, were an obvious parallel to So what went wrong with Elysium? The it continued with Pacific Rim (Del Toro the abuses inflicted on black South opening scenes were stunning. Partially USA 2013). Any new film from the Africans during white minority rule. filmed on a massive landfill site, the lauded director of Pan’s Labyrinth (Del The film’s aesthetic stretched its low
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future Los Angeles is a huge shanty in the film were rapaciously greedy town, its impoverished inhabitants capitalists is another Sci Fi staple, seen abused and herded by robotic police. most recently in Avatar, but also in Without healthcare or hope, the films like Alien (Scott USA 1979) and, of inhabitants look forever upwards to course, Metropolis. the glowing Torus (ring-shaped) space Based on the points made so far, the station that hangs like a moon in their film should be excellent. A brilliant sky. Here the super rich have escaped and inventive visual aesthetic (partially the deprivations of earth to live in a created by Syd Mead, the legendary utopian idyll where any sickness can be production designer for Blade Runner cured at the flick of a switch. and Alien), with a whole range of The narrative set up for the film plays themes and issues drawn from Sci Fi on science fiction conceits as well as itself and from the immediate concerns current references. The film commented of the world around us. All this was on a lack of affordable health care woven together by a proven auteur, when (at the time of writing) the US with a quality cast and a bigger budget. government had shut itself down And yet, whilst the film is no disaster, it in a factional battle over universal fails to deliver on its original promise. healthcare for U.S. citizens. Known The issue appears to be a ‘Hollywood- as ‘Obamacare’ this pet presidential the tragic and continuing death toll ising’ of Blomkamp’s work. Whether project was the most aggressively of migrants, who in their desperation or not this was with Blomkamp’s debated issue of the year. Other key to escape poverty and war, attempt agreement is unclear. The film’s references were equally clear. The lethal crossings from Africa in leaking promising early scenes lead to a brief space station was a form of gated overcrowded boats, to reach their own establishment of Damon’s character, community, the ultimate version version of ‘Elysium’ in Italy and the rest Max, an apparently ordinary working- of the well-guarded estates where of Europe. class man, who yearns for Elysium and capitalism’s super rich keep themselves freedom from his stricken existence. isolated from the ordinary public. The The Sci Fi notion of the rich escaping The script conveniently provides him attempts by the earthbound poor to to an ultramodern paradise whilst with a fatal illness and a lost love, attain a bearable life by breaking into leaving the massed poor behind can whose daughter also has a terminal Elysium (the name of the space station be found way back in Metropolis itself. illness, giving them a compelling, if means ‘place of perfect happiness’) The futuristic Torus design for the space clumsily devised, motive for crossing are savagely repulsed, and are a clear station is in homage to that in 2001 A the metaphorical border to Elysium comment on our own reaction to Space Odyssey and for those that know (a metaphor for the USA if ever attempts by the desperate and poor to Blade Runner, Elysium finally provides there was one) to get themselves migrate illegally to wealthier western an opportunity to get a look at what some ‘Obamacare’. However, at that nations. The most recent parallel is ‘the off world colonies’ might actually look like. The fact that the antagonists early point, character development
52 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM two mechanised characters finally go spectacularly mano-et-mano – just like Transformers and, it seems, every second science fiction film released in recent years. As Producer Lynda Obst comments: ‘‘We’ve got this formula: set-piece, set-piece, blow up a city.’’ For auteur directors, it seems access to Hollywood budgets can lead to a critical loss of creative control – a high price indeed. virtually stops. Stricken with radiation with their big stars, high budgets and poisoning, Damon is bolted into auteur directors? The issue seems to lie an exoskeleton and embarks on a mostly with Hollywood itself. Science sequence of increasingly frenetic fiction can be a uniquely poetic and battles with the bad guys. His character, thoughtful genre. Yet with the modern his lost love Freya and her daughter blockbuster, the underlying assumption are given little further development, seems to be that audiences cannot and the villains even less. The battles handle – and do not want – depth. are spectacular though, and revisit Eye-catching spectacle, always a part Blomkamp’s District 9 signature of of the genre, becomes everything, with using high-tech weapons to bloodily splashy visual set pieces needing to be Jonathan Nunns is Head of Media Studies splat and detonate any character laid on every few minutes. at Collyer’s College and moderates for the unlucky enough to get hit. However, Hollywood has often been accused of WJEC. the thinness of the characterisation, infantilising its content to appeal to and the assumption that the audience young audiences. If so, it does those Follow it up needs to be hit with visual effects every audiences few favours. Blade Runner (Film) (Scott, USA, 1982) few minutes, means that the narrative Elysium (Film) (Blomkamp, USA, 2013) tends to emotionally distance rather Plot spolier alert! than engage the viewer. Metropolis (Film) Lang, Germany, Elysium ends with Damon making an 1927) The film’s core ideas, which had been ultimate Christ-like sacrifice to save so interestingly laid out, are not Freya and her child and to allow the Bradshaw, P. Pacific Rim review. meaningfully developed. Damon’s poor into the life-saving utopia of the The Guardian Online: http://www. space station. theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/11/ pacific-rim-review (1/11/13) The problem is that his character has had no developmental journey or story Charity, T. Elysium Review, Sight and arc, and is essentially the same man as Sound. October 2013, page 72. he was when we first met him, so his Hoad, P. ‘Hollywood and the New sacrifice feels empty and fails to ring Abnormal’. The Guardian Online: true. His death has little impact and www.theguardian.com/film/2013/ pathos, since we had only a superficial oct/31/hollywood-new-abnormal- reluctant revolutionary becomes an sense of him in the first place. lynda-obst-scared-risk (1/11/13) off-the-peg action hero, wasting a Perhaps the clearest example of Pierce, N. ‘Grave New World’. Empire good actor on a role so thinly written Hollywood’s flawed approach to Magazine, September 2013, page the character could have been played the genre came earlier. After all the 92-99. by anyone with beef and brawn. interesting and insightful thematic Richards, O. Oblivion review. Empire The Afrikaans antagonist Kruger, is a set up, the titular space station, the Online: http://www.empireonline. cartoon monster, without any of the apparent centre of the story, is little com/reviews/reviewcomplete. depth Copley brought to his District 9 seen, let alone explored, except for one asp?FID=137987 (1/11/13) protagonist. Even Jodie Foster, an Oscar key scene. Damon was given a cyborg- winning performer, is here no more like exoskeleton to help him achieve Scott, A.O. Star Trek: Into Darkness than a stereotypically cold corporate his mission of getting to the space review, The New York Times Online: suit as lead villain Delacourt. station. Copley’s crazed antagonist is http://www.nytimes.com/movies/ then even more fearsomely outfitted movie/458622/Star-Trek-Into- So what insight does Elysium offer Darkness/overview (1/11/13) into the weaknesses of these films, in order to take him on (as his previous character had been in District 9). The
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54 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM But what is interesting about Rockstar’s early marketing strategy is that it appeared to focus primarily on the hard core fans. Without searching for the information, the average video game consumer would not be aware that a new game had been announced. Yet the fact that Rockstar not only felt it was worthwhile releasing information about the game early, but also went as far as drumming up hype about the release of the trailer, shows they obviously realised that fans would actively hunt out the information about the game and the news would spread it the fans’ love of a well-crafted and rapidly by word of mouth. expertly thought-out game? The trailers 2011: the early marketing In November 2011 after a countdown campaign on their website, Rockstar released It is usually anything between a the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto V. couple of months and a year at most At barely 1 minute and 15 seconds between a game being announced and long, this gave very little away about its release. The trailer for an average the actual plot of the gameplay, game will be paraded in front of hard- but emphasised the vastness of the core fans and industry experts at the landscape – the mountains, desert, annual E3 conference in June, and the beaches, the city itself – and the Grand Theft Auto, the bestselling video released anytime from September to sorts of vehicles you can unlock – game series, has become what Harry the February of the following year. fighter planes, mountain bikes, quad Potter is to the publishing world. With Grand Theft Auto V, however, it bikes and, of course, a huge array of Hugely detailed with hundreds of was a staggering two years between cars. It is narrated by just one of the missions and scripts which often run the announcement and the launch. On main characters: Michael. We hear him to thousands of pages, the open world 25th October 2011, using the hashtag talking about why he moved to Los adventure games are an international #GTAV, Rockstar started posting links Santos where the game is set and how phenomenon with an unprecedented to their website where they revealed he wanted to settle down; but we hear fan-base. And the fifth instalment is the logo for the game, styled like a little about his life or his motivations for bigger and more ambitious than ever banknote, so as to give fans the first turning to crime as a means of making before. With three main characters, clues to the bank heist theme. The money. Indeed it is only in the final each interchangeable, a landscape following day they posted a countdown couple of seconds of the trailer that three and a half times as big as the to the trailer that was to be launched we catch brief glimpses of some action previous instalment, and a gritty crime on 2nd November 2011. sequences which, when taken together, narrative which focuses on risqué bank heists, it is not surprising that its launch on the 17th September 2013 made newspaper headlines across the globe. The slow drip-feed of trailers, plots and adverts have become events in themselves, and a strict embargo on the game’s release meant excitement reached extraordinary levels as release day loomed. Fans queued for over two hours ahead of the midnight launch to get their hands on the game and it is thought that the game’s developers Rockstar will make over £1 billion from its sale. But what is behind all the hype? And why is the game so popular? Is it all down to the savvy and perfectly calculated marketing campaign, or is
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make no narrative sense. There is a man to Michael talking to a counsellor about dressed in a red uniform and wearing his life. a gas mask kicking open the doors to From these three separate scenes, some sort of shop, a car being chased the viewer now knows the basic through the streets by the police and plot: three characters each turning a helicopter chasing three men round to a life of crime because they are the city. All viewers can infer from disillusioned with their lives in some this is that this is a game about career way. One is having a mid-life crisis criminals, not a particularly surprising and feels bored, one is young and revelation to anyone who knows feels trapped and unfulfilled by his anything about Grand Theft Auto. economic circumstances, and the The trailer was also reported as a news third is psychotic and bored, turning item in itself in much of the world’s to murder and arson for the sheer hell press including The Guardian and The of it. By why is this important? Surely Metro. most gamers are only interested in the gameplay and the excitement of the After this trailer, which acted as a tease, him say ‘If you want my advice, give missions? This trailer is subtle. Rockstar it was a further year before fans got to this s*** up’ implying heavily that he must know that dedicated fans would see any more footage from the game. is involved with some of the criminal re-watch and analyse these trailers in And in contrast to the first trailer the activity we saw in the first trailer. a bid to find out information from the second was heavily plot-driven. After After another establishing shot, this game. The obvious conclusions they a few establishing shots of the city – a time of trains, we cut to a different would draw is that since there are three beautiful vista looking over the city unkempt character. In a few short storylines, there will be three playable observatory and a wide shot of a tennis seconds we seem him growling, characters who will probably join forces court – the viewer is dumped straight banging someone’s head onto a bar to rob banks, steal planes, set fire to into the action. We are in the middle of and setting fire to a house before houses and generally descend into a kitchen with a daughter arguing with making humorous remarks about violence, and that these activities will her mother about having a boy round people he has apparently killed: ‘I’ll all form missions within the game. to sleep before we cut to a swimming swing by and sign the contract, just pool where Michael, whose voice ignore the bodies…’ Then we switch to But generalising about gamers not avid viewers would recognise as the yet another character who is driving being interested in the story also voiceover for the first trailer, is telling us around in a fast car being chased by the completely misses the point of once again about his life. As we can still police, intercut with him being told by the Grand Theft Auto series. One of hear the arguing in the background, a girlfriend that it doesn’t matter how the reasons it is so popular and so viewers will naturally assume that many fast cars he has, he isn’t going to marketable is the narrative. Indeed, Michael is probably the father of the change as a person. We then cut back interviewed in the Guardian GTA’s girl arguing with her mother. We hear Dan Houser explained he felt video
56 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM both GAME stores in the Highcross shopping centre and on Gallowtree Gate were open. Fans had queued since half past nine and by the time midnight approached, the queue to the store inside the Highcross stretched right outside into the street while the queue for the store on Gallowtree Gate stretched right around the block. There was a sense of excitement, jubilation, and comradeship as fans, who had never met before, spoke for hours about their love of the game and the features they were most looking games are a better medium for telling in previous trailers. We learn about forward to seeing as they waited for the a story than movies themselves. This is his relationship with Michael and, shutters to open. becoming an increasingly noticeable therefore, learn for the first time how pattern in the video games market. the three stories might be intertwined: There had also been stories that day By the time you read this Microsoft that they are old friends and that about the embargo being broken, with and Sony will have launched the Michael’s wife disapproves of him, Amazon having delivered the game next generation games consoles: presumably because of the sleazy a day early to a small number of fans. the Xbox One and the PlayStation comment he makes: ‘Nice new t**s’. We This might not seem like a big deal but 4, both of which feature impressive see his violence reach new levels: in the an embargo breach removes some of graphics specifications and support trailer, which lasts just over a minute, the mystique surrounding the game; for Ultra High definition which has a we see him beat up or kill no less fans can now confirm or deny on the pixel quality four times that of current than 12 people. There is also a heavily internet what vehicles features are Full High definition (1080p). Such implied torture scene with Michael available – but it also means that the improvements in technology and holding a pair of electric tongs above plot is spoiled. Though producers often picture quality allow for more complex someone’s mouth, presumably about worry that this can have a negative story-telling, something Rockstar have to remove their teeth. The fact that we effect on the midnight launch, such capitalised on in all their recent games, see more of the landscapes that each is the loyalty of the fan-base that the but even more so in Grand Theft Auto V. character occupies is also important as fans I spoke to said they deliberately once again it gives a sense of the scale avoided the internet because they The next trailers of the game. didn’t want to see screenshots of early games and were content to wait until After another significant gap of five midnight. months, April 2013 saw a new set of trailers which featured each main As fans left the queues to shut character, now named as Michael, themselves away and start playing the Franklin and Trevor. On YouTube the game, the verdict from critics and fans viewer could select which character was unanimous: The Telegraph, The they wanted to view first, adding yet Guardian, Digital Spy, IGN, Official Xbox more interactivity to the marketing Magazine, all were in agreement that campaign. Not as much is revealed Grand Theft Auto V deserved five stars. A about each character, but we learn a combination of a two-year long media few more nuggets of knowledge: that campaign with a slow drip-feed of Michael’s wife has been having an information and a clear understanding affair, that he sees a counsellor, and Midnight launch of their fan-base has meant Rockstar have achieved unprecedented sales that he is involved in bank robbing, The final part of the marketing strategy which, many would argue, they clearly shooting people and stealing cars; and behind Grand Theft Auto V was the deserve. that Franklin is a low-level gangster, midnight launch on 17th September. led astray by his friends who frequents Stores across the world opened their Harry Cunningham has freelanced for strip-clubs. We also learn from just a doors so that fans could get their hands The Leicester Mercury and Writers’ Forum couple of shots of a dog that there are on the game as soon as it was released, Magazine. He currently studies English at animals in the game. But it is Trevor promising additional content, a prize Loughborough University. that we learn the most about and, raffle and merchandise for those that seeing as he is the most psychotic and pre-ordered their game. Being the Follow it up the most violent of all the characters, dedicated MediaMag contributor I am, I There’s an excellent article in the it is easy to see why Rockstar wanted went to the launch in Leicester (purely Guardian’s online technology section to hold back on information about him for research purposes of course!) where (7.9 2013). Search ‘meet Dan Hauser’.
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It’s often lazily assumed that gaming is for 16-year-old boys, and that any videogame industry case study will automatically exclude anyone who is not a devotee of GTAV or LA Noire. Liz Sim’s research into the global phenomenon that is Mario Kart Wii suggests quite the reverse – that as the technology evolves, games are becoming increasingly inclusive and appealing to audiences of all ages and interests.
In my experience, whenever it is The OCR specification requires that: The main areas, students should announced at the start of term that therefore be prepared for include candidates should be prepared to part of the OCR AS Media exam will “ knowledge and understanding on: demonstrate understanding of contemporary involve a study of the Computer institutional processes of production, • Ownership Gaming industry, boys’ faces distribution, marketing and exchange/ immediately light up whilst girls’ faces • Production exhibition at a local, national or international fall. This cliché is soon quashed when level as well as British audiences’ reception and • Distribution and marketing the topic begins, and the boys realise it consumption. is not a term of investigation into Call of ” • Introduction and development of Duty or Halo. Instead, I encourage them technology and impact to focus on Mario Kart Wii – a game • Audiences – specifically British which is enjoyed by mass audiences audiences and which provides a good base for a detailed study into the gaming industry • Cross-media convergence for all students. • Synergy • Issues • The future
58 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM However trying to research production costs proves difficult for Nintendo- based games. The budget has not been revealed for Mario Kart Wii, but it is estimated among fans and industry publications to have been around $10-20 million. These estimates further demonstrate the difference in production methods between Mario Kart Wii and other top-selling games of the same year, such as GTAIV, which is believed to have cost $100million in production costs. Games of this kind often then spend a similar amount on marketing.
Distribution and marketing Distribution methods of the game continue in the same ‘basic’ form. Whereas many more serious games are The game available on a range of platforms, via Mario Kart is a racing game released in download, online streaming on sites April 2008 on the Nintendo platform. It such as ‘Steam’ or disc, Mario Kart Wii is is the sixth version of the game within only available in disc form from major the Mario Kart series, which is part retailers, such as Tesco, GAME and of the Super Mario franchise. Mario, Amazon. which dates back to 1985) is arguably the most successful and popular franchise in video game history, and the character himself the best-known character ever created; the Mario games as a whole have sold over 210 super-cars that can be found on other million units. Mario Kart is the most platforms. commercially successful racing game of all time. As of March 2013 it had sold By keeping the development, publication over 34 million copies. Key features of and production in-house, Nintendo can this game include the bright visuals, also maintain brand continuity, keep The game itself had a strong marketing instantly recognisable characters from careful control of content, and maximise campaign. Whilst not as intense and other Mario-related games and easy, their topline profits. cinematic as games such as Halo, Call of but exciting playability. Duty or Gran Turismo, due to the family Production and child-based target audience, it did The original Mario Kart game was make use of high profile celebrities in released in 1992 on the SNES console, The Mario Kart series, from the Wii its promotion. Keeping true to the aims with eight more versions released versions onwards, are particularly and values of the game, the advertising since. The 8th game, Mario Kart 8, is in commended for their production campaign in November 2010 featured development for release on the newest values. Although not as sleek as then high-profile boy-band JLS having console, the WiiU. other racing games, such as Gran Turismo, the bright, fun, accessible and wholesome, group fun. The use of pale, neutral colours in the background (in Ownership recognisable graphic make the game a visually interesting production. The fact the Australian ad uses a white The game is produced solely for the target audience and focus of the game backdrop) further emphasises the Nintendo platform, with various also relates to the vivid but childlike ‘pure/clean’ fun to be had from the versions of the game developed for production values too. With a product game as well as extending the brand different consoles. aimed predominantly at younger identity. The adverts clearly promote The exclusivity of the gaming platform children and families, there is little the game as something for the whole allows Nintendo to reach out to a wider need for detail and realistic settings. family, and people of all ages, to enjoy. target market, using their main hook These games are not aiming to provide Similarly, the billboard adverts and of the Wii as a family product, to entice escapism into another world, but a less magazine features for the game also users looking for something more than intense journey into a happy, fun land utilise the pale colour scheme and the straightforward racing games with for a few hours. wholesome fun. Again this is in contrast
english and media centre | February 2014 | MediaMagazine 59 MM people who may have health issues which make a traditional controller hard to manoeuvre.
The future Gaming is evolving all the time, with technological developments transforming the consoles we buy. Nintendo’s savvy marketing strategy, targeting those who had previously not been interested in gaming, opened up the potential for gaming and audiences to the world. Use of consoles and tablets have grown exponentially, with the games available growing massively too. Apps for babies and toddlers mean that gaming audiences
Images are from Mario KartWii from Kart and MArio Images are are getting even younger, and sales of tablets among the elderly, with apps to the promotion for more adult games, Sony’s wireless PS4 control pads. The and games specially developed for such as Call of Duty, which place more design, intended to be more intuitive them, mean that the potential prime focus on the elements of war and to the new gamers, provided a more audience for gaming is no longer the violence – their main selling points. interactive experience in the game traditional 16-year-old boy locked Nintendo stated, when first launched, and created a more ‘realistic’ involved in his room. It has become a group that their main aim with the console experience, allowing people to feel that event. Parties are held centred around – and many of the games they offered they are participating within the game, games such as Mario Kart, Just Dance – was not to rival Sony and others, rather than being outside the game. and Singstar. Gaming is not a solitary but to bring new gamers to gaming. This interactive nature of the Wii also pastime now, but a sociable form of This intention is clearly reflected allows players to create their own entertainment. Consoles have moved in their products and promotional characters (a ‘Mii’) to develop a more into living rooms. methods, focussing on families, young immersive experience. The use of the children and the older generation – all Moving on into the next decade, we avatars let players actually be in the previously underexploited markets for are likely to see gaming becoming games (after completing a certain gaming. more intuitive, more interactive and number of races) – something again more global. Gaming now brings very different from other games. This people together from across the added an extra element of fun to the world, transcending racial and ethnical game, further distancing itself from divides. More games, on more devices the more serious and grown up racing in more themes will only further forge games available on the market. these international links and enable Mario Kart Wii continued in this players to develop online friendships – interactive, inclusive theme. The something that, ten years ago, would inclusion of the steering wheel have sounded like madness. when the game is bought was one So, despite the groans when the topic Technological innovation way that audiences could interact of gaming is announced, it doesn’t Along with the Wii being the smallest take long to see that it is a topic that is and most powerful console created by relevant to everyone. No matter what Nintendo at the time of release, it was gender, age, race, religious beliefs, also their most innovative, changing personality type or class, there is gaming practices across platforms. something for everyone. The release of the ‘Wiimote’, a wireless remote control with a motion sensor Liz Sim is Head of Media at the Knights that could be used as a number of Templar School, in Hertfordshire. things depending on the game, was one of their major changes. Moving more realistically. The use of the away from the traditional wired, steering wheel also made game play controllers requiring both hands simpler and more intuitive, allowing to play, the Wiimote revolutionised participation from younger players, game play, as can be seen by the those who are less tech-savvy and older development of the X-Box K’nect and
60 MediaMagazine | February 2014 | english and media centre MM Images are from The Reader The from Images are
The A2 Film Studies unit FM4: Section B addresses issues around the relationship between particular types of film and their impacts on audiences; this sub-topic asks you to consider the ways films create the emotional responses they do. Lecturer Morag Davis unpicks the ways Stephen Daldry’s disturbing film The Reader constructs challenging and uncomfortable feelings for the spectator.
english and media centre | February 2014 | MediaMagazine 61 MM The Reader (Daldry 2008) is a film that takes us on an emotional journey into uncomfortable territory as we are forced to confront and question our own moral and ideological beliefs about human relationships, gender, power and exploitation, guilt, accountability and forgiveness. The narrative, concerning a romantic relationship between Michael, a 15-year-old schoolboy and Hannah, a woman in her thirties, is set in post- War Germany and reveals, in a series of extended flashbacks, how a single relationship has cast a shadow over the life of one man. At first, we may be shocked by the age gap between Hannah and Michael, and perhaps even outraged by the seeming exploitation of this young boy by an older woman; however, as the
mind of an individual spectator, film theorists hope to be able to make generalisations about all spectators. Of course, we all bring our own values and life experiences with us to the viewing of a film, and, as film students, you need to acknowledge these factors, whilst focusing on the relationship between the film and the individual.
Formal techniques Examining The Reader, one of the first scenes in the film that elicits a strong emotional response is when Michael returns to Hannah’s apartment to see her, and catches her dressing. narrative unfolds and we are drawn So what is a spectator? Point of view camera angles are into the relationship, we are positioned Firstly, let’s define what a spectator is, used to position us in the subjective to accept and even support the and how the notion of spectatorship consciousness of Michael as he spies romance. When Hannah’s history in the differs from that of audience. The on Hannah. The framing of the shot concentration camps is revealed, we easiest way to distinguish between the incorporates the door, emphasising pity rather than hate her and feel angry audience and the spectator is to think the covert nature of his gaze, and the with Michael for what could be seen as of audience as relating to groups of lighting is soft and slightly back-lit, a betrayal of his lover, even though he people and dealing with everything creating a romantic atmosphere. is also her victim. that happens outside the film-viewing The cumulative effect of these formal experience – fan behaviour; social, So, how does the film manipulate techniques is to create a sense of both cultural, geographical and age-related us, as spectators, into supporting pleasure and guilt in the spectator – groupings; and responses to film something that we may disagree with we too want to gaze on the beautiful marketing, amongst other factors. so strongly? Are we aware that we are Hannah, but know that what we are Spectatorship, on the other hand, being manipulated? What techniques doing is wrong. This process illustrates describes the study of the individual does the film use to position us in two ideas coined by Murray Smith: on a psychological level, sitting in relation to the characters and the story? alignment and allegiance. a darkened cinema, without the These are some of the questions that influence of any outside forces such We are aligned with Michael because you will need to explore in your study as background and ideological beliefs. we see the world through his eyes of Spectatorship: Popular Film and By examining what happens in the (through techniques such as POV shots, Emotional Response in FM4, Section B.
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conscious thoughts, and works on a and her playful but flinty personality. music and lighting) and so we feel what subconscious level, explaining why Daldry is, metaphorically, pulling the Michael feels. We also know, because of we can have a number of conflicting rug from under our feet, revealing our moral beliefs, that what he is doing emotions during the scene when information about the character that is morally wrong, a fact emphasised she is asked to provide a sample of elicits conflicting emotions. Again, when Hannah looks directly at Michael/ handwriting – disgust at Hannah’s when the reason for Hannah’s taking the camera/the spectator and Michael actions; pain and confusion at her responsibility for the crimes becomes then runs away. Although we feel betrayal by the other camp guards. On clear, we are overwhelmed by pity Michael’s emotions, we do not have a conscious level, we can identify with for her, and anger at Michael for not allegiance with him – we are not ‘on his her feelings of abandonment, because revealing her illiteracy; but at the same side’. this is one of the earliest emotions that time we understand his reasons for not Later on in the film, the same formal we experience as children; the situation doing so. He is, after all, just another of techniques are used in the courtroom may be different, but the emotions on Hannah’s ‘victims’. display are very familiar. scenes, where we are shown the scene So, are we helplessly manipulated from Michael’s point of view, but are by film texts or can we form our own compelled to feel pity for the betrayed emotional responses to a film? A bit Hannah; our allegiance is with her. of both, really – we are positioned It can make for an uncomfortable by the formal, narrative, graphic and experience when our emotions and our ideological devices in the text, but, at intellect come into conflict, as when the same time, we are shaped by our Daldry uses tight close-ups of Hannah’s own ideological and moral convictions face, depicting her evident distress, and life experiences, and even our which elicit similar emotions in us, even knowledge of the actors and the though we know that she is guilty of context of viewing. As spectators, we terrible war crimes. Our allegiance is submit to the film experience in the with Michael but we are aligned with knowledge that we will be manipulated Hannah. and made to feel a range of emotions. Indeed, isn’t that the reason we go to Mirroring through the cinema? close-ups Morag Davies is a lecturer in Film and The use of close-ups in the courtroom Withheld narrative Media at Nelson and Colne College. scenes also functions on another Another way of exploring the way level: to encourage the spectator to a film positions us emotionally is by Follow it up mirror, or ‘catch’, the emotions of the examining the narrative and the way characters. Kate Winslet’s expressive Smith, Murray. 1995. Engaging it withholds and reveals information face communicates her anguish and Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the in order to create a dynamic range fear, so we also experience these Cinema. Clarendon. of emotional responses. The Reader emotions indirectly. Critic Amy begins with what appears to be a Phillips, Patrick. 2007. ‘Spectator, Coplan claims that the use of formal controversial but fairly uncomplicated Audience and Response.’ Introduction techniques such as the extended close- romance. It is not until fifty-two to Film Studies. Routledge. up of a face can force the spectator to minutes into the film that Hannah’s SS ‘catch’ the emotions of the character. past is revealed – by which time we This emotional mimicry bypasses our have been positioned to quite like her
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