Media Products, Industries and Audience

Week One - Straight Out of Compton - Universal Pictures, Legendary Pictures.
Week Two - 

The Birth of Film:
1878, the Horse in Motion.
Until 1927, films were all silent.
The oldest surviving motion picture was in 1888, by Louis Le Prince.
First use of Animation -1899.

A standardised product - like a factory, Hollywood films were made and are still made in warehouses and offices using the industrialised labour on a narrative and industrial level.

Production line 
'Classical Hollywood Narrative' - describes the era of early film production referring to the several characteristics that typified film making ideology at the time.
Characteristics:

• Emphasis of spacial continuity - the audience always knows where they are at any time.
• Emphasis on Temporal continuity - the audience always knows I what order the events have transpired, and any flashbacks and so forth will be clearly signposted.
• The film must be realistic, and must not make reference to other filmic or popular texts.
• Spectator should be aware of exactly what is happening at all times, and should leave the cinema satisfied with the conclusion, and there should be no doubt as to the ideology or message of the film.

Films that do follow this: Slumdog Millionaire

Films that don't: Suicide Squad / Split

Film Industry Key Terms

Vertical/Horizontal Integration:

Vertical - where a company buys "up other companies involved in different stages of media production

Horizontal - where a company buys "other companies in the same sector to reduce competition.

The Studio System:

The classical (Big 5 - Warner Brothers/Disney/CBS/21st Century Fox/Comcast)

Conglomeration:

Conglomeration is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. Conglomeration is the 'process' of a conglomerate being formed.

Production:

The production process refers to the stages (phases) required to complete a media product, from the idea to the final master copy. The process can apply to any type of media production including film, video, television and audio recording.

Distribution:

The digital distribution is the delivery or distribution of media.

Key Theory 14 - the Cultural Industries (Davis Hesmondhalgh)

Universal Pictures:

• American Film Studio owned by Comcast and NBC.
• It is a conglomerate and is also owned by a conglomerate.
• Founded in 1912.
• Oldest surviving film industry of the States.
• Some films owned by Universal Studios - Jurassic collection, Back to the Futures, Bruce Almighty, Fast and Furious films, Despicable Me, Jaws, etc.

Audience Negotiation

• Takes place between the producer, the audience, and the product itself.
• Producers are keen to use specific representations and modes of address in order to ensue that their audiences decode their creation in exactly the right way. 
• In short, they need to make sure that the audience 'gets it'.

Key Theory 17- STUART HALL

Reception Theory:

• The 'right' reading of a text which can be enforced by positioning.
• This concept has to be approached carefully: often texts intentionally have multiple meaning/readings, and audiences can potentially get whatever they want out of any media text.
• Hall categorised audience response into 3 separate group.
• These can help us to understand wether or not an audience sticks to the preferred reading, or if they decide to make their own decisions on how to decode the text.
• DOMINANT READING: The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows.
• NEGOTIATED READING: The audience generally agrees with what they see but they disagree to some amount.
• OPPOSITIONAL READING: The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading.

Advert: WaterAid

The advert is trying to get me to agree with the values and ideologies of the advert so that I feel encouraged to donate money towards the charity. The dominant readings, show audiences will agree with how the happiness throughout the advert shows a positive effect of donating to the charity. Oppositional readings maybe in disagreement with the features of the advert showing men do labouring work, and women and kids going to get water. As well as how the advert generalises Africa as one place, with no health, and the advert is quite 

Audience Negotiation:

• Very few audiences completely accept or completely reject the ideological implications of the text.
• The vast majority or readings are negotiated.
• A negotiated reading is not simply 'I liked some bits but disliked others.' its much 
  • • more complicated. 

Advert 2: Protein World

The dominant reading would be agreeing to the advertisement of a beautiful body that can be achieved by consuming this product(protein). 

The negotiated reading may agree with the advertisement of trying to reduce obesity but may not agree with how the message is put across, by the use of objectifying a woman body. 

The oppositional reading will completely disagree with the values of the advert, as it objectifies women and the product itself is unhealthy.

Media Effects

Key Theory 15- ALBERT BANDURA                                                            SHORT TERM
The Hypodermic Needle Model:

• The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences.
• The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly be 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.
• Theory implies that we can't think for ourselves, and we are passive audiences/consumers.

Key Theory 16- GEORGE GERBNER                                                            LONG TERM

Cultivation Theory:

• "The idea that prolonged and heavy exposure to [TV]...cultivates" as in grows and develops in audiences "a view of the world consistent with the dominant or majority view expounded by television."
• Television presents a mainstream view of culture, ignoring everything else.
• In doing so television distorts reality.

Issues:

Not everyone watches excessive amounts of TV. The theory also came about in the 1970's, with only 3 channels, the amount of ways we have of accessing media now challenges that idea.

HEGEMONY: Where one group wields power over another, not through domination, but through coercion and consent.
Hegemonic Power:

• The School System
• Patriarchal hegemony
• Cultural hegemony
• Hegemonic structure of class
• Political hegemony

Non-hegemonic power

• Military conquest

Adidas Advert Analysis:

This advert reverts from the cultural hegemony of young women having to shave their legs. Society has hegemonic power over women, making women feel as if they must shave their legs to be considered normal. In the advert however, the subject is glorifying her unshaven legs and using it to advertise a brand, who wants the name of tolerance towards 'abnormality'. This form of hegemonic power distracts people from natural bodily features, and implies that women must present themselves at their best all times, and that having hair growing on their bodies is strictly a male feature. 

Audiences

Audience is important because it gives ideas, main focus, competition, essential, targets and positions wouldn't exist without it.

What makes up an audience:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Class/social status

Demographics:

A- Top management - upper middle class

B- Middle management -Middle class

C1- Office supervisor -lower middle class

C2- Skilled workers -Skilled working class

D- Semi skilled -working class

E- Unemployed, student, casual worker -Unemployed

Psychographics:

The classification of people according to attitude aspirations and other psychological criteria:

Aspirers: People who want to appear rich and attractive. 

Reformers: People who want social change, are unimpressed by status and make decision based on their values.

Explorers: Adventurous people who like taking risks.

Mainstream: People who follow the crowd.

Strugglers: People who find it hard to achieve.

ADVERTISEMENT ANALYSIS: McDonalds
Who is the intended target audience?
The intended target audience is younger families, who are maybe struggling or are in the working class, just getting by.
How are they being targeted?
Rustic homely music creates a family orientated feel to the advert. The settings show a small home/flat, highlighting how little wealth makes no difference to afford McDonalds products.Ideologies created from the advert is the idea of 'lightness in the dark', as if McDonalds can fix problems at home, or maybe make it a little easier to get by. As the character tries to find any shop that sells the 'pickles' he is looking for, McDonalds is the one place that is always there for you, creating the symbolic code that Maccies is a supporting hand for everyone.
Can you identify an intended demographic?
What psychographic groups are being targeted? How?
Strugglers/Mainstream

Narrative and Representation

TODOROV- Key Theory 2- Narratology

Within a story, the equilibrium creates the initial beginning of a film, representing the period of the film where there are no problems. This changes after a disruption occurs, where the equilibrium is broken. The film then results in a disequilibrium where there is resolution. However the equilibrium can also be partially restored where sequels are intended, so the film does not end on a complete equilibrium.

Linear narrative- when a narrative is chronological, and follows a story through time from beginning to end.

Non-linear narrative- the narrative is not chronological, and goes back and forth between beginning and end.

John Lewis Advert:

How is meaning created through the narrative?

The advert uses specific angles and shots in the camera work to reveal the disruption of the penguins desires to the audience, before the child realises. When the child realises the problem, that his penguin is lonely, he attempts to resolve the disruption and create a new equilibrium by finding another penguin for his penguin to love. The advert cleverly uses narrative at the very end to present the hidden meaning of the advert: 'child imagination'. Through the advert, it uses sound to build an enigma of suspense of what is to happen, and how the characters will react to the disruption. The adverts mode of address shifts as we see the scenario from 'parents' eyes and the penguins are just toys. It creates a binary opposite between how children see christmas and how parents see christmas, and although the parents cannot see the imagination, the advert appeals to adults by seeing their children happy. The advert sells the product by creating a warm story that is typical to the John Lewis brand and tradition.

Can you apply Todorov's theory of equilibrium?

The equilibrium of the advert is represented by the changing seasons of weather, signified by the iconography connected to each season. The scenes of happy memories create the sense that the two characters have a deeper friendship, however shortly after, the equilibrium is broken when the penguin becomes distracted by his loneliness. The attempt to repair the disruption is presented through the main characters acttions in finding his best friend another penguin to love.

Is the narrative linear or non-linear? Why?

The advert uses a linear narrative to follow the characters through a story of 'christmas love'. The linear narrative allows the advert to make audiences feel they are living experience along with the characters, so they can feel a deeper sentimentality towards the brand, and therefore selling the product.

Kiss of the Vampire Analysis

The horror genre usually uses paradigmatic iconographic features like blood, gore, abandoned settings, horrified facial expressions, distorted body language and references to paranormal activity. Specifically vampire sub-genre uses more features like bats, castles, capes and dripping blood.
The poster uses a z-line so that people look at the poster in a certain way. The first thing the audience is drawn to is the title of the film. It then follows to the images of the characters and then to the names of the people featuring in the film down below. This makes a pattern of the significance of each feature to the poster.
The capitalised , serif font of the title creates connotations linked to the vampire film genre with its 'wooden' styling(referencing the vampire coffin) and the blood dripping from the V's 'fang'. 
The use of a painted main image is highly conventional of films of this period- the fact it is in colour makes us see it is a modern telling of an older story.
The gloomy grey, black and brown colour scheme reinforces the film's dark scary conventions while the red is used to highlight the attacking bats, the vampire and the blood- all visual signifiers of the genre.
It also uses the innocent colour of peach to present the 'damsel in distress' characters; their dresses are a symbolic code for the weaker woman character that is to be saved from danger, and it's tight fitting sexualises the womans body. Here, a gender stereotype is formed, making the female character vulnerable and the male character mostly in power.
Suspense is created through the enigmas surrounding the connoted relationship between the male and female vampires(emphasised by the "kiss" of the title) and the fait of their two victims (Barthes Hermeneutic Code). 


*1963- Beatlemania, 'swinging sixties'

Genre

Hybrid genres and Subgenres:

• 'Traditional' genres are arguably both less important and less useful as a frame or reference than ever
• Far more important in the study of genre are the notations

Vapourwave-  subgenre of 80's glorified music
Grindcore- subgenre of heavy metal/rock

Generic Paradigms- The building blocks of genre

• Genre paradigms, also known as genre conventions are aspects of a media text that demonstrate to the audience (for example editing, mise-en-scene, sound)what genre a media product is in.

ICONOGRAPHY- The familiar signs of genre

STAR TREK: the next generation

What genre?

Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/ Drama

Outline the generic paradigmatic and iconographic features that construct this genre:

Settings and costume; futuristic, outer space, spaceships, aliens

In what ways does the clip conform or subvert genre conventions?

The clip conforms the typical serious tone and mode of address of Sci-Fi conventions from the dramatic facial expressions and backing music.

What examples of generic hybridity are evident, for example through dialogue and narrative structure?

There is a hybrid of the Sci-Fi and Thriller genres.

UTOPIA:

What genre?

Drama/Murder Investigation/

Outline the generic paradigmatic and iconographic features that construct this genre:

Characters: Police investigators, Murderer, Witnesses, Victims. Normally this genre consists of a serious mode of address and suspenseful tone.

In what ways does the clip conform or subvert genre conventions?

The clip subverts from the typical serious tone of murder mysteries (bunny costume and playful comedic music) but in ways it also conforms the typical genre conventions from the 

KEY THEORY 3: Steve Neale- Theories around Genre

• Neale believes that genre is essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'.
• He suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre- but must also subverts these conventions in order to not appear identical.

INTERTEXTUALITY: is the shaping of texts meaning through referencing or alluding to other text. Texts provide context within which other texts can be created or interpreted- reflecting the fluid boundaries or genre convention. (The way the Simpsons use lots of scenes from other media, almost exactly)

Find

• 3 examples of musical sub-genres
• 3 examples of film hybrids

Identify

• The genre paradigms of a charity advertisement
• The iconography of a horror film
• An advert that uses intertextuality

Musical sub-genres: Breakbeat/Jungle/Deep House (all sub-genres of repetative dance music)

Film hybrids: Tragicomedy/Comedy-Horror/Weird West

Charity Advertisement: The genre paradigms would mainly consist of emotional and moving mode of address, using specific music and dialogue to do so. Characters and costumes would generally reveal a 'victim' of some sort, making audience feel guilt, and encourage donation to the charity.

Iconography of IT(2017): Characters, costumes, hair and make up: Clowns, red nose, crazy hair, long sharp fingers, menacing smile, vulnerable boy in a yellow raincoat. Settings: Dark roads, haunted house, rainy and stormy weather. Props: red balloon and  paper origami boat. 

Intertextuality: Using the iconography of the character Yoda from Starwars, typically has lots of power and uses 'the force' to run this powerful network for Vodaphone.