GCSE Media

Component 1 (Set Products) Component 2 (Crime Drama) Music Videos to follow

Revision and Home learning

Booklet

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Key Terminology and ideas you need to know...

Technical codes Visual codes:

Camera shots  Colour  Lighting  Location  Language codes– written and spoken. Gesture codes  

Facial expressions 

Props 

Genre:

Genre is a way of categorising media products. The concept relates to film and television, but can be applied to many products. Generic products are defined by a set of elements that are repeated across them:

 Visual iconography—visual codes associated with a genre.   Technical codes—different genres use different codes in specific ways.   Narrative—the way in which the story is told.   Characters—most genres have an expected type of character. 

Key Terms: Genre Key terms: Narrative

Familiar conventions: elements that we Equilibrium: at the beginning, everything is calm and balanced. would expect to see in a particular genre.

Unexpected elements: conventions we Disruption: an event or problem occurs to upset the balance. would not expect to see in a genre. Recognition: the characters Technological developments: new realise that there is a problem. technologies that enable media producers to create products in a different way. Resolution: the problem is solved. Subgenre: a more specific genre with two different genres (Rom-Com) New equilibrium: everything returns to a state of balance. Hybrid: a combination of two or more different genres. What if it is a non-linear narrative?

Disruption: an event or action that It might include: interrupts the narrative Flashbacks—Flash-forwards – Conflict: a clash between two creates suspense. characters or groups of people. Enigma code: a mystery or puzzle, media Linear narrative: a narrative structure products often don’t tell all elements at where all of the events happen in logical once but withhold information to keep order, one after the other. audience guessing.

Transformation: a major change. Characters are often transformed.

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Key Terminology: Audiences

Passive consumers: people who use media products but do not actively engage or question them.

Effects debate: the idea that media products might have a negative effect on on people’s be-haviour.

Active audience: people who made deliberate choices about the media products they consume and respond: agreeing or disagreeing with mes-sages in them.

Target audience: the group of people that a product is intended for.

Categorise: the way organisations divide an audience so they can target their product at them.

Primary audience: the main audience or group that a media product targets.

Secondary audience: not the main target groups, but another group who might also con-sume the product.

Millennials: those born in the 1980s

and 1990s, who grew up with developing

technology and became

adults in ear- ly 2000s.

What does context Preferred reading: audience interprets the text in the way the mean? creator wanted them to.

Negotiated reading: the audience accepts some of the messages Historical context: relates to time period it presented, but disagrees with others. was made and events happening at the time.

Oppositional reading: the Social context: relates to society at the time. audience rejects the intended It will affect the representations in media. meaning of the text. Cultural context: concerns the elements such as style, genre and technology.

Political context: how a media text is affected by politics at the time.

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Key Terminology: Representation Key Terminology: Industries

Construct: put elements together to create a This looks at the study of the production processes, media product ownership and funding, technology and regulation.

Version of reality: a particular view of  Production: the stage where the media actual events (newspapers) production is created  Mediation: the way which media producers  Distribution and circulation: the way in interpret and re-present aspects of reality. which the product is delivered to different

Uphold stereotype: reinforce a stereotypical audiences.  image of a social group.  Consumption: the way in which the audi-

Subvert stereotype: to go against a ence ‘takes in’ the media production for stereotypical portrayal and resent a broader example, watching TV or playing a game.  view o a social group.  Production values: the quality of

Masculinity: the trains are typically associated technical elements of a product.  with males.  Public funding: money that comes from

Femininity: attributes that are typically the government or TV licence fee.  associated with being female.  Convergence: way in which products or brands are made available to audiences on a number of platforms.   Ofcom: The Office of Communication the regulator for broadcasting.   Video on demand: products that are available to be streamed or downloaded.

Ethnicity: relates to a person’s national, Ownership: Some products are made by big cultural or religious identity. organisations (Channel 4, News Corporation, for ex- ample) Some are made by smaller companies. There are many ‘misrepresentations’ of ethnicity. For example:  Production values may be different depending on the ownership (more money  villains in television programs are often for bigger organisations) from ethnic minority groups    A director might be down for a type of style  Immigrants to Britain are represented  negatively  An actor may be known for a type of role  or genre  Antisocial young people are often from ethnic minority groups. Funding can also impact on ownership.

Technology: Plays an important role in the Regulation: Most media industries are production of media texts. It also: regulated. They are there to:

 impacts on how product are made,  offer guidance to companies about stand- distributed and circulated. ards or codes of practice they should follow    The use of convergence allows  Monitor or control media companies. producers to reach wider audiences. Might include responding to complaints for example.

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Component 1

You need to be able to speak about these key areas for set products:

 Media language   Representation   Audiences   Media Industries

You must understand the context of these products. Context looks at these key areas:

 Political context   Social and cultural context   Historical context

The products you will study in this component are:

Section A: Media language and Representation

Magazine covers Film Posters Newspaper front pag- Print adverts

(marketing) es

Pride (2015) The Man with The Gold- The Guardian (2015) Quality Street (1956)

en Gun (1974)

GQ (2016) The Sun (2013) This Girl Can (2015)

Spectre (2015)

Section B: Media Industries and Audiences

Newspapers Radio

https://www.thesun.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/

b006qpgr

The Sun

The Archers

Film Video Games

Spectre (2015) Pokemon Go

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Semiotic Analysis:

This is where you use media terminology to analyse visual codes. Visual codes are everything you see on a product which has meaning.

Magazines and Newspapers

connotation denotation representation Mid-long shot Masthead

genre intertextuality ethnicity Main image cover line

anchorage Male gaze gender demographic Language codes

Home learning Task: TASK 1

Complete a semiotic analysis using the media terminology in your annotations. You will need to explain what the ‘denotation’ connotes.

What is the house style? Is there a unique selling point? What is the brand’s identity?

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Home learning Task 2: Comparison of GQ and an unseen magazine

Key questions to think abut when comparing:

 How is gender represented?   How is ethnicity represented?   How is age represented?    What is similar or different about the cover lines?   What ideology does the magazine have? Are they the same? 

TASK: Complete an analysis comparing both magazine covers. What representations are

shown? (25 marrks)

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Answer:

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Denotation ‘Pride’ connotes that Mid-long shot is conventional of maga- Target audience: women black women are proud of their herit- zines and connotes that Naomie Harris is aged 18-24 who are inter-

age. Also connotes self respect. the main feature article. ested in looking good, their

heritage but also celebrate women in power.

Hand on hip connotes Naomie is wearing a white high end fashion and dress which connotes femininity. purity and ‘peace’. This is Naomie is represented as con-trasted with the red a strong, independent, which connotes power and black woman. confi-dence.

Hard hitting journal- Coverlines discuss cultur- ism on ‘FGM’ which al issues such as femi- connotes that Pride nism, women’s bodies and not only celebrates objectification of women. fashion and beauty of These give audience an black women but also idea about how women cultural issues. are standing up for their own rights, Typography is so-

phisticated and Anchorage of the coverlines are slim line, which surrounding Naomie and con- connotes how notes that she is the feminine the mag- influence on the and azine is. more important the other articles.

Context of pride:

 Pride is a UK monthly women’s lifestyle magazine that targets women of colour.

• It has been in publication since 1990 and has a circulation of over 300 000 copies per month and a readership of over 146 000.

• Pride is distributed in the UK by COMAG, part of Condé Nast.

• It’s easy to see how people may mistake Pride for a gay magazine, as this word has become synony- mous with the gay community over recent decades. In fact, the modern gay movement has its roots in the black liberation movement of the 1960s with Gay Pride borrowing its name from Black Pride

EXAM TIP: If asked to compare magazines with an unseen, you need to follow PETAL.

Any extended answer (usually the big mark questions!) will require at least 3 PETAL paragraphs.

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Answer these questions:

1. Consider the representations of ethnicity and gender. Provide examples and what they connote.

2. What gratification would audiences get out of this magazine? Identify the Target audience and their gratification.

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How do the The Guardian

images make

you feel as an Regular Segment of the active or paper

passive

audience? Masthead

subtext

Dominant image

Mode of address

Emotive language

Linked article

Caption

Context of The Guardian

 The Guardian is a British national daily newspaper with an average daily circulation of roughly 189 000 copies of their print edition in the UK.

• The Guardian newspaper targets a well-educated, relatively young, predominantly male and liberal audience. The demographic is 89% ABC1. Fifty-two percent of Guardian readers are male, and the av-erage reader age is 44.

• The Guardian has a UK online edition which has over 42.6 million readers (as of October 2014).

• In 2006, The Guardian went through a complete redesign. It became smaller, had a new typeface and balanced the longer pieces of journalism out with many shorter stories.

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What is happening in Syria?  In March 2011, civil war in Syria broke out  an estimated 11 million Syrians have fled  their homes since then.  The majority of these have sought refuge in countries that border Syria, but an estimated  one million have requested asylum in Europe.  Families have been broken up and many are making dangerous and difficult journeys across land and sea to get to,  what they consider, a safe place.  Opinions on these migrants vary: there is a lot of support and aid being offered by individu-als and charities, but there is also a lot of fear and uncertainty about how countries will cope with the increased populations and the impact such migrants will have on their societies.

Active or Passive Audience?

Think about what the audience might be. Have reasons for your answer:

How are refugees represented in the article?

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Just days before this front page, a YouGov Poll revealed that 42% of their responders said immigration was the key area where Britain needed to win back power from Brussels.

Britain ultimately voted to leave the EU on June 23rd 2016 – Brexit – and it is believed that many people voted this way due to their feelings about immigration

Headline Caption Stand first

Secondary story Splash Anchorage

Plug By-line Trail

How is immigration represented in The Sun?

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Context of ‘The Sun’

The Sun is a British tabloid daily newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

• It was originally published six days a week until News Corp. also started producing The Sun on Sunday in February 2012 to replace the News of the World.

• With an average daily circulation of roughly 1.6 million copies of their print edition in the UK and a daily readership of around 4.1 million (http://www.newsworks.org.uk/The-Sun), The Sun has the largest circulation of any daily print newspaper in the United Kingdom. In addition, The Sun on Sunday is the UK’s biggest sell-ing Sunday newspaper.

• 18th December is International Migrants Day. A day where the UN encourages the world to acknowledge the importance of immigrants.

• Just days before this front page, a YouGov Poll revealed that 42% of their responders said immigration was the key area where Britain needed to win back power from Brussels.

The most notable controversy was The Sun’s coverage of the Hillsborough Football Stadium disaster in Sheffield on 15th April 1989, in which 96 people died.

The paper ran a front page headline of “The Truth” and printed allegations that fans pickpocketed victims, urinated on members of the emergency services and assaulted a policeman who was administering the kiss of life to a victim.

The story was seemingly based on allegations from anonymous sources that were later proved to be false and The Sun apologised. The front page caused outrage in Liverpool where it was soon titled “The Scum” and a significant proportion of the city’s population still boycott the paper today with many shops even refusing to stock it.

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It might be helpful then to compare this cover with another from the left-wing press, such as The Guardian which often provides a more supportive view of migrants

Answer:

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Film (marketing)

Film posters help sell a film to an audience—this is called ’marketing’.

Conventions of Film Posters:

Main image Gaze Date of release

Institution logo Production credits Review by industry

Billing block (5 stars)

Name of film Name of stars Intertextuality

Why would you think What does the ‘Day of The Bond is the hero? Dead’ in the background connote?

What does the tuxedo connote?

What intertextuality is there in the poster? What intertextuality is shown?

What does the gun What do the colours con- connote about the note about the narrative? genre?

TASK: Use these prompts to complete a textual analysis of Spectre film poster in note

Context of Spectre:

 Spectre is a James Bond film released on 26 October 2015, starring Daniel Craig as 007 in his fourth per-formance as the fictional MI6 agent.   Based on a book by Ian Fleming, the film was produced by the British company Eon (Everything or Nothing) Productions and distributed by United Artists.   The film was created with an estimated $245 million budget making it the most expensive Bond film and one of the most expensive films ever made. It grossed over $880 million at the worldwide box office.

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Vladimir Propp’s Theory:

He believed that all narratives were repeated with the same function of characters. Every narrative tends to have...

 the villain, who struggles with the hero (formally known as the antagonist)   the donor   the helper   the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain   the dispatcher   the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor and weds   the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the princess) 

TASK:

? Research into the James Bond Franchise. Who were the different actors? What was the gross income from all of the films?

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Vertical Integration

Vertical integration is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to satisfy a common need.

Explore the media language in Spectre’s film poster using the prompts on the other page to help you.

Then, look at the representation of men in the film poster. Use the

media language terminology to help you. (25 marks)

ANSWER:

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Prior to the 1990s, illustrations were much more commonly used on film posters due to the limited technology that was available.

Context of The Man with The Golden Gun

 At the start of the 20th century, many film depictions of minority ethnic groups supported the dominant stereo-types of the time: to be pitied, to be laughed at, the exotic and/or dangerous.   The film was set in the middle of the 1973 energy crisis, when the oil producing Arab nations proclaimed an oil em-bargo causing an oil crisis which had both short and long-term effects across on politics and the economy across the globe.   Based on a book of the same name, written by Ian Fleming, the film was produced by the British company Eon (Everything or Nothing) Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film was created with an estimated $7 million budget and grossed over $97 million at the world wide box office.

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Adverts

Adverts are used to sell products. They often carry hidden meanings which are for the audience to work out. The conventions below include some of the obvious conventions and some which institutions like to add in.

Conventions of Adverts

Logo Main image website

Tagline Slogan Social media

Hashtag Picture of the product Intertextuality

Key words to use in your analysis of this product. How can you incorporate these into a PETAL answer?

Dominant ideology Gender Campaign

Stereotype Social cohesion Brand logo

Sexism Aspirational role model Protagonist

Determination Positivity Ideology

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TASK: Complete an analysis of the advert using PETAL. You need to give examples and explore represen-

tations shown in the advert.

ANSWER:

Context of ‘This Girl Can’ - Nike

 Sport England carried out a lot of research to figure out why there was such a big gender gap in sports participation. They discovered that two million fewer 14-40 year old women than men partake in sport regularly and they wanted to understand why. They discovered that:

- 13 million women said they would like to participate more in sport and physical activity. just over 6 million of these are not currently active at all.

- Fear of being judged was the number one barrier for most women who felt they were unable to participate in physical activity.

 Soon after the launch of the “This Girl Can” campaign, Nike released a more motivational campaign called “Better for it” which also portrayed a more ‘real’ side to fitness.   As a result of the campaign, 1.6m women have started exercising and the number of women playing sport and being active is increasing faster than the number of men

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TASK:

Look at the two different ‘This Girl Can’ campaign posters (these are not set products, but will help you look at representa- tion)

Think about how disability and age is represented in these two. Write an analytical paragraph on representation.

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What do Miss Sweetly and Major Quality connote?

How is age represented?

Who is the male in regards to

Vladimir Propp’s theory? Is there any sign of manipula- tion from the women?

What about the anchorage of the sweets? What do

they connote?

How are the women represented in this advert?

Regal: If you you describe something as regal, you mean that it is suitable for a king or queen,

because it is very impressive or beautiful.

Context of Quality Street.

 Quality Street sweet tin made by Mackintosh.

• Originally created in 1936, inspired by the name of a play by J.M Barrie.

 In the 1930s, only the wealthy could afford chocolate boxes but the creator Harold Mackintosh aimed to sell them at a more reasonable cost to appeal to working families. By the 1950s, when this campaign started, society was in a post- rationing period where luxuries were once again becoming an acceptable part of grocery shopping.   The icons of the Quality Street brand were two characters from the Regency era of British history.   In the Regency era, Britain went through a period of elegance with regard to Fine Art and Architecture. The Re-gency era could also be compared to the 1950s for its significant social and cultural development.

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Women in the 1950s: Think about how women have changed since the 1950s. Look at  Patriarchal society—men dominated over women  covers of magazines to see how  Women were seen as good housewives, lacked independence and were in they are represented in compari- charge of the home son to women on magazines and  adverts in the 1950s.  Emergence of fashion and beauty magazines in later 50’s early 60’s meant that women were starting to become more independent.

TASK: Complete in note form below the representations which are seen on the Quality Street advert. Use media language.

Women Men Ethnicity Age

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This isn’t one of your set texts, but it is a print advert from the 1960s. Think about the following questions for a semiotic analysis (you get an unseen in the exam, remember)

1. What messages about the Coke brand does the logo communicate?

2. What are the connotation of the red and white in this advert?

3. How is the woman represented here? Think about context.

4. What messages does the advert communicate to the audience? Think about context and what was happening at the time.

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Section B: Institutions and Audiences

This section will focus on the institution and the audience who engage with the product. You need to be clear on the ownership of these products and how they attract audiences. You must include audience theory in your answers:

Uses and Gratifications Theory

How do audiences engage with the text? Why do they watch certain texts? Think about why you might watch reality TV or why you watch a soap opera—what gratification do you get from it?

Escapism?, for example? Apply this theory to the text you are studying. Think about the 4 main areas of the theory:

1. Surveillance

2. Diversion (escapism)

3. Identity

4. Education (to be informed)

The Archers

The Sun

Spectre (2015)

Pokémon Go

You need to look into:

Industries, including ownership, funding, regula-

tion, production, distribution and technology

Question 3 will be a stepped question assessing knowledge and understanding of

media industries in relation to one form studied.

Question 4 will be a stepped question assessing knowledge and understanding of

audiences in relation to a different media form from that assessed in question 3.

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What do I need to know about each of the set products in Section B?

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Radio: The Archers

The Archers is aired on Radio Four, has over 5 million listeners and is considered a significant part of British popular culture. Running for 65 years, with six episodes a week and an omnibus on a Sunday, it is the world’s longest running radio soap opera.

The Archers follows the residents of the fictional farming community of Ambridge, in the fictional county of Borsetshire, in the English Midlands. Its tagline is, “contemporary drama in a rural setting”.

Public service schedules Narrative Melodrama broadcasting

Demographic Planning Soap opera High cultural status

Socio economic OfCom Privileged posi- Funded status tion

Context of The Archers

The Archers is aired on Radio Four, has over 5 million listeners and is con- sidered a significant part of British popular culture. Running for 65 years, with six episodes a week and an omnibus on a Sunday, it is the world’s longest running radio soap opera.

The Archers follows the residents of the fictional farming community of Ambridge, in the fictional county of Borsetshire, in the English Midlands. Its tagline is, “contemporary drama in a rural setting”.

The Archers was originally established in 1951 to educate farmers which, it was hoped, would increase food pro-duction after the second world war.

Broadcast since 1951; its genre is a soap opera.

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Who are Radio 4?

The Archers is aired on Radio Four, the BBC’s main spoken-word channel, and so is funded by the licence fee. The BBC has a public service re-mit (to educate, inform and entertain) and The Archers was originally established to educate farmers.

The production team meet biannually to plan the fol-  Radio broadcasting is regulated by Ofcom,  lowing months, and sometimes even years’ worth of

the government-approved regulatory au-

storylines.

thority for broadcasting. Ofcom sets stand-

Monthly script meetings then take place where four writ- ards for programmes and one of its duties is  to examine specific complaints by listeners ers have to produce a week’s worth of scripts each. about programmes broadcast on channels

Recording takes place every four weeks and actors  that it has licenced.

only receive their scripts a few days before.

 Actors are employed for six days in which they record 24 episodes. There is very little room for error as each 13 mi-nute episode is only allocated two hours of studio time.   Episodes are then broadcast 3-6 weeks after recording

TASK

How do you think au- diences felt about the domestic abuse story line?

Research into what

journalists and audi-

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Answer the questions below on The Archers.

1. Who regulates The Archers and why does it need to be regulated?

1. Who is the target audience for The Archers?

1. Why might they listen to it?

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Think about the episode of The Archers you have listened to. Think about the target audience and why they might enjoy it.

1. What was the narrative of the episode?

2. Can you apply any narrative theory to this episode?

2. Which characters were featured?

2. Which characters do you think would appeal to the target audience?

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Why would these web pages be useful for audiences?

How might the target audience be able to engage more with The Archers through the website pages?

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Overview of the franchise

Nintendo: a major video games company that produces gaming consoles, including Pokémon and Mario franchise.

Game Freak: a video games developer that creates games for Nintendo including many Pokémon games

Creatures: A video game development company that has also created toys and trading cards for Pokémon.

Franchise Revenue Nintendo App

Adaptive Globally Player demo- Regulated graphic

Virtual reality Video Stand- Millennial Culture ards Council

Context of Pokémon Go

Pokémon is a media franchise that started in 1995 and the trade-mark is owned by Nintendo.

• The franchise began as a pair of video games for the Gameboy yet now spans video games, trading card games, animated TV shows and movies, comics, books and toys.

• It is the second best-selling video game franchise behind Mario and is one of the highest grossing media franchises of all time.

• The Pokémon franchise has been in existence for more than two decades due to its adaptive nature and has built up a huge fan base during that time.

Produced by Niantic and in collaboration with Nintendo, Pokémon Go is an augmented reality video game for iOS and Android devices.

• Using the same technology as Google Maps, Pokémon Go relies on players’ GPS to allow them to locate, capture, battle and train virtual creatures called Pokémon in the real world.

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How is Pokémon Go regulated?

In 2012 the PEGI system was incorporated into UK law and

The Video Standards Council was appointed as the statutory body responsible for the age rating of vid- eo games in the UK using the PEGI system.

Pokémon Go was awarded a PEGI 3+ rating in the UK. However, there is still some confusion for users as, in the iOS app store, it is stated as being suitable for those aged 9 years and over due to mild fantasy violence.

The lobby group Commonsense Media say it is really only suitable for children aged 13 years and over due to privacy and personal safety concerns

Who is the target audience?

In its first month, the game’s average player demographic was categorized as a highly educated, well- paid, 25-year-old white woman.

Now the craze has settled down, a YouGov survey shows that, demographically speaking, the average player is aged 18-34, enjoys Kinder, Smirnoff and Domino’s Pizza and is “more likely to be unmotivated” than the average citi- zen

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How does the website entice audiences to get involved and be active?

What are the common main features on the home page?

What examples of synergy can you find?

How does Pokémon reach a global audience?

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You need to use PEAR to answer the question below about Pokémon’s audience.

Who is Pokémon Go’s target audience? Why might they be interested in this product? What gratification do they get from it?

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The Sun Newspaper (Audiences and Institutions)

website circulation demographic content

bias article masthead feature

readership Homepage Reading age controversial

The Sun is owned by News Corporation who own lots of newspapers, magazines, TV channels, radio stations...the list is endless!

What the exam board says...

Learners should have knowledge and understanding of The Sun as an evolving media product in terms of the relevant newspaper industry and audience issues it illustrates.

 one complete print edition of The Sun   selected key pages from The Sun website, including the homepage and at least one other page.

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Who is the target audience?

 The Sun targets the middle social classes, most of whom haven’t attended higher education.   Two thirds of its readers are over 35 years old, 54% are male and its biggest audience share comes from the  C2DE demographic.   According to www.see-a-voice.org , the average reading age of the UK population is 9 years old. The Sun has a reading age of 8 years.   Use of words in bold, lots of visuals and smaller chunks of text means they are purposefully making their prod-uct accessible to everyone and especially appealing to members of our society who have weaker literacy skills.

Socio-Economic Status Technology and The Sun + The Groups A, B, C1, C2, D and E classes the In August 2013, The Sun launched Sun+, a sub- employment job roles into the following: scription service digital entertainment A – Upper Class (Higher managerial, administrative and package professional, such as Mangers, Lawyers, all high paying jobs earning demographic would be around £50,000 and over)

 Subscribers paid £2 per week but were B – Middle Class (Intermediate managerial, administrative able to access all of The Sun’s regular or professional, such as deputy secretary and or above aver- age pay, earning demographic would be around £35-50,000) con-tent as well as have exclusive access to Premier League clips, a C1 – Lower Middle class (Supervisory or Clerical, junior variety of digital rewards and a lottery.  managerial, administrative, such as a supervisor or  Despite the cost of this, Sun+ had 117,000 highly skilled working job (one where more than one skill is re-quired)) subscribers who they could engage with on a more personal level due to the brand C2 – Skilled working class (Skilled Manuel workers, loyalty created from the subscription. such as mechanics, etc)   This was just one of the ways The Sun Please note for C1 and C2 the earning range is for adapted to people’s reading habits, with both £15,000 – 25,000 people now having little time to spare and increasingly ‘reading on the go’. D – Lower working class (Semi and unskilled Manuel workers, such as mechanical trainees, or shop workers, earning demographic would be around £7,000 – 15,000)

E – Lowest level of income earners (pensioners or widows, casual or lowest grade workers, those on Benefits, such as stu-

dents, earning demographic would be around £5,000-7,000)

Look at the website pages of The Sun and see why it might appeal to this C2DE demographic.

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Look at the example of the homepages below. What clues does the website give us about who the target

audience is?

What is the preferred, negotiated and oppositional reading of these news stories?

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Defining the Sun audience used VAL (values, Task: atti-tudes and lifestyles) Create a profile of the audience below. Think about  the news provides stories and real specifics. information about the world   Celebrity and entertainment features gossip and escapism Age:   Human interest stories might allow audiences to identify with the people Occupation:   The focus on saving money might relate

to people who have a limited income  Income (annually)  The website allows users to comment on

stories and interact.

Supermarket they shop in:

Regulation:

There have been changes in the way Where they buy their clothes: newspapers operate due to the phone hacking scandal. The Press Complaints Commission set up the Levison enquiry and recommended hat:

 newspapers should be self-regulated Social media platforms they use: over-seen by a new independent body   There should be a new code of standards  Hobbies :  The new regulator should have the power to deal with complaints and

breach of standards.

TV programs they watch:

Task:

Research into the IPSP website and note

down details about recent rulings on the Sun

newspa-per. Education:

Holidays they take:

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Spectre (Film)

Franchise Revenue Commercial Escapism

Adaptive Globally Universal ap- Regulated peal

Distribution Production Hollywood Mainstream

Syndication Exhibition Marketing Promotion

Why would audiences watch Spectre?

 Bond is iconic and has universal appeal – he is charming, suave, good looking and, most importantly, always catches the ‘bad guys’.

Arguably, men want to be him and women want to be with him, providing a form of escapism from their everyday lives.

 Bond also provides a narrative we feel comfortable with (‘bad guy’ does something wrong, ‘good guy’ catches him and wins the day) and reinforces dominant messages and values about ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

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The film production process: Consider the effect of ownership and control of media

organi-sations, including conglomerate

Development – ideas are created, if ownership, diversification and vertical integration: necessary rights are bought, screenplay  The James Bond series is produced by Eon pro-ductions, a British film production is written and financing is sought. company based in London, Sony Pictures and MGM. The video rights of all of Eon’s films Pre-Production – Cast and film crew are are owned by MGM Home Entertainment and are found, locations chosen and sets are built. con-trolled by MGM’s distributor 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Production – The film is shot

Post-production – The recorded film is edited. Crew work on the sound, images and visual effects

Distribution – Finished film is distributed. It is screened at the cinema

and released for home viewing.

The 12A rating is only used for films shown in cine-mas. Films rated 12A are suitable for children aged 12 and over. However, people younger than It was given a 12A as distribu- 12 may see a 12A so long as they are tion wanted this rating and accompanied by an adult. In such circumstances, therefore reduced the levels responsibility for allow-ing a child under 12 to view of violence. BBFC feedback lies with the accompa-nying adult. on the unfinished version

stated this.

WHY WAS IT GIVEN A 12A RATING?

Sony had to cut some violence from Spectre in Marketing: order to secure a 12A UK rating instead of the Exhibition: showing of a film in a cinema. 15 classification the BBFC originally Marketing: promotion and advertising including recommended. This may seem like a sensible elements such as trailers, posters and online mar- keting. decision in order to secure a much wider

audience, however, it could be argued that it is Viral marketing: advertising that is distributed online and can spread quickly. no longer the original movie that Sam Mendes, Avid fans: fans who are dedicated supports of a director, wanted the audience to see. film.

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Importance of a website:

 Gives information about previous films that have been produced   Provides clues about the narrative and characters   Marketing and promotional materials can be accessed here, including footage and images.   Links to the store and merchandise   Possible games, quizzes or polls for active audiences   Links to social media platforms.

Task: Look at the website homepage above. What visual and technical codes connote the genre and narrative?

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Think about the way that an audience will interact with Spectre—what is the purpose of these pages on the website?

How is the website aiming to reach a large audience for the film? What techniques are used to promote the film?

How does the website reinforce the film brand?

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Have a go at answering these questions….

Section B: Exploring Media Industries

and Audiences

Answer all parts of Questions 3 and 4.

Audiences

4. (a) Which radio sta- tion broadcasts The Archers? [1]

(b) Identify one audience for The Archers. [1]

(c) Explain two ways in which The Archers is aimed at the audience you have identified. [4]

In Question 4(d), you will be rewarded for drawing together knowledge and understanding from across your full course of study, including different areas of the theoretical framework and media contexts.

(d) Explain why audiences listen to The Archers. Refer to the Uses and Gratifications theory in your response.

Media Industries

3. (a) Name the organisation that regulates films in Britain. [1]

(b) 12 and 12A are examples of age certificates used in the UK.

Give two other examples of age certificates used in the UK. [2]

(c) Briefly explain the difference between the 12 and 12A age certificates. [2]

(d) Explain why a film may be given a 12A or 12 certificate. Refer to Spectre to support your points. [12]

What do the words mean?

REFER– You should give examples from the set product to support your point.

* you do not need to use media language here, but you can if you want to.

EXPLAIN—Give information and reasons to show your understanding, using media language,

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Component

2

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TV Crime Drama and Music Video

TV Crime Drama Music Videos Online Media

Luther, Season 1, Episode 1 (2010), 15 Taylor Swift—’Bad Blood’ (2014) Original broadcaster: BBC http://taylorswift.com/

http://pharrellwilliams.com/ Plus a ten minute extract from: Pharrell Williams -’Freedom’ (2015)

The Sweeney, Series 1, Episode 1

(1975), 15 Michael Jackson-‘Black or White’ Original broadcaster: ITV (1991)

Media language, representations, context and industries.

 how the complete episode and the chosen

extracts reflect the society and culture of the time in which they were made   what the complete episode and extract suggest Context: about the representations of  Media language—technology has gender, ethnicity and age  impacted on technical and visual codes.

 key aspects of the broadcasting industry Representation: society is every   changing– how are stereotypes now?

 Themes: Current affairs explored  The design of the home page, including its use in the mode text? of images and topical material  Messages and values: attitudes  links to other content, including audio-visual to society, change over time and material and music videos  values may be explored.  interactive links, including to social and participatory media. 48

Introduction to TV Crime Drama

Narrative:

 A sub-genre of TV drama

 Focuses on the committing and solving of a crime.

 There are many formats; detective, procedural, medical

 Fictional accounts of real-life stories

 Immerses the audiences in the world that the characters live in.

 1 hour long or continuing narrative arc over multiple episodes.

 Conventional narrative structure where an episode will start with the discovery of a crime leading to the resolution or solving of the crime.

Characters:

 Eccentric or maverick lead protagonist in title role, maybe having unconventional methods of solving crimes  Conflict with authority or with their ‘partner’.  Family and personal relationships are usually key narrative components.  Typical character types such as villain sidekick, hench-man, provider.

Funding:

There are 3 primary models in television programming:

o public service broadcasting (PSB)

o commercial broadcasters

o subscription.

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Mise-en-scene Representation Characters Movement

Genre Ethnicity Editing Angle

Diegetic / Non- diegetic Lighting Camera shot Industry

Context of Luther

 Luther is a British crime drama TV series starring Idris Elba as the title character DCI John Luther.

 Written by Neil Cross.

 The first series comprised six episodes which ran in May and June 2010

 Series one received positive reviews from critics, getting an average of 5.9 million viewers per episode.

 Idris Elba was already a well-known Hollywood celebrity from his role in HBOs ‘The Wire’, where he played the role of sidekick gangster, Stringer Bell

 Elba has received critical acclaim for his role as John Luther and has been awarded a Critics' Choice Television Award, Golden Globe Award, NAACP Image Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance

 The series has also received eleven Primetime Emmy Award nominations in various categories, including four nominations of Elba for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.  

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Cinematography & Framing

 Consider how Luther, Alice, DS Ripley and Zoe are each introduced to the narrative.  How does the framing of each character help to construct their role within the narrative for the audience?  How is the framing and shot composition different when each character interacts with another and what does this suggest in terms of power?

Technical aspects

 Background is red and distorted, connotating confusion, anger and violence.  Character is show in silhouette, mysterious.  London skyline used, but frequently from low angles, making the buildings seem looming and imposing.  Close up of Luther distorted by the bloody/stylistic background.  More information given to the viewer as the sequence goes on, like uncovering a mystery.  Shots of fingerprints and barbed wire typical of genre  Luther is always alone  Consider the editing used; Jump cuts, intercutting, flashbacks 

Sound and Music

 Soundtrack is ‘Paradise Circus’ by Massive Attack.

 Explore how tension and anticipation is created for the audience in some of the key sequences. - Chasing Henry Madsen - Cross cut between Luther heading to Zoe and Alice arriving home - Luther looking at the photos on his desk - Luther stealing the urn

 It would also be powerful to consider the silence or lack of non-diegetic sound in the interviews (again helping with the verisimilitude)

 DIEGETIC SOUND – In the film world (background noises, speech)  NON-DIEGETIC SOUND – For the benefit of the audience (e.g. theme music, narrator talking)

Vladimir Propp’s Theory:

He believed that all narratives were repeated with the same function of characters. Every narrative tends to have...

 the villain, who struggles with the hero (formally known as the antagonist)   the donor   the helper   the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain   the dispatcher   the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor and weds   the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the princess)

Complete the table on the next page with notes on the key characters in Luther and The Sweeney.

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Key Term Luther The Sweeney

Hero

Villain

Hero’s journey

Enigma

Linear

Set-up

Conflict

Resolution

Episodic

Narrative arc

Flashback

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Using media language you are going to explore the mise-en-scene in the scenes from the set episode of Luther.

How are places, people and events represented?

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How are each of the characters represented?

Stereotypes of ethnicity or gender?

Representations of context?

Representation of ideas?

Character How are they represented? Give examples.

DCI John Luther

Alice Morgan

DSU Rose Teller

DCI Ian Reed

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DSU Martin Schenk

DS Justin Ripley

Think about these questions:

1. How does Luther challenge representations of gender?

2. How does Luther represent different ethnicities? Is this conventional?

3. How does Luther challenge representations of ethnicity?

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Representations in Luther

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Industry: BBC

    

 Luther when originally broadcast

would have been answerable to OFCOM as a regulator.  BBC after 9pm (watershed): searing and references to sex / adult themes  Season 1 was given a 15 rating by the BBFC

BBC Public purposes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/corporate2/insidethebbc/whoweare/publicpurposes

Synergy

The process where two companies work together for a positive outcome, usually profit based, and for the benefit of the audience.

Merchandise

The use of a brand or logo on products to help sell to a mass audience. Official merchandise needs to be endorsed by the production company.

Convergence The merging of mass media communication platforms into single pieces of technology for the benefit of the organisation and the user.

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The Sweeney

Police procedural Equilibrium Genre Audience

Representation Pilot Lighting Stereotype

Diegetic/non- diegetic Generation X Scheduling Masculinity

. Context of ‘The Sweeney’

 The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama.  It was first broadcast January 2nd 1975 on ITV in a 9pm timeslot.  It broadcast until 1978.  It focuses on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London.  It was made by Thames Television for broadcast on the ITV network.  A franchise holder of the ITV television network who broadcast in London between 1968-1992. Their film making division Euston Films were commissioned to make The Sweeney.  The programme's title derives from 'Sweeney Todd', which is Cockney rhyming slang for "Flying Squad".  It starred John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter.  The show established John Thaw as a television star and led to further lead roles.  Such was its popularity in the UK that it spawned two feature film spin- offs, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2.  Made available on DVD in 2005.  Filmed all around the London area.

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Go over the camera shots from Episode 1 and identify them. What connotations do they have? How do the shots represent the characters, settings and contribute to the narrative.

Write a PETAL paragraph and include media terminology in your analysis.

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Considering Ringer, episode one of The Sweeney, make notes on the below sub headings.

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Representations of events, social groups and class.

Women are weak Women are strong

Women are housewives Women hold responsible jobs

Men are physically strong Real men have feelings

Criminals are stupid The rich control the weak

Look at the statements about gender above. Rank them in order of most important to least important.

1. How are the heroes and villains represented in the episode?

2. How is the role of the police presented in the show?

3. How are women involved in the episode of The Sweeney?

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Who are the target audience?

 BC1C2D males aged 20-35, when it started 

 Males aged 40 - 65, now.

How does it appeal to the audience?

You need to include Uses and Gratifications Theory.

 Entertainment         Escapism Previously, most dramas featuring the   police had shied away from showing  them as fallible. The police in The   Sweeney were brutal and violent in  dealing with London's hardened   criminals, and prone to cutting corners  and bending laws. The series showed a  Personal identity somewhat more realistic side of the  police, often depicting a disregard for  authority, rules and the "system", so long  as it got the job done.       CONTEXT:  Social interaction The Sweeney reflects the 1970s values in relation to gender and policing.

Explain why these may be the gratifications for the audience:

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Distribution and Scheduling:

 Shown in 1975 on ITV   Shown between 21:00 and 22:00pm on weekdays (usually Mondays).   Repeated screenings at the same time until the early 1980s.   It was developed from a one-off TV drama entitled Regan.   In 2012, series one was available on HD Blu-Ray discs by Network  Distributing Ltd. 

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Practise Exam Question!

Media Language: Crime Drama (Luther)

1. (a) Explore the connotations of the costume of two characters in the extract. [8]

(b) How far are the characters in the extract typical of the genre? Explore two characters. [12]

Media Contexts (Luther & The Sweeney)

2. How do crime dramas reflect the time in which they are made? Refer to examples you have studied to support your response. [10]

Answer:

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