Media Industries and Audiences

News and Online Media

News and Online Media

Brexit
EU laws override UK laws

Broadsheet Newspaper                                                   Tabloid Newspaper

Left = Labour, equality, socialism

Right = Conservatives, less tax, strong law and order

Newspapers and Political bias 

Owen Jones described the UK press as : -

•“largely run by a very small group of very right-wing media moguls who defend the status quo of which they are part. If you are on the Left and want to change society, the media will always come and get you”.

•Learners can research Gramsci’s hegemoney to gain further insights  on why the press is dominated by the right wing. 

Curran and Seaton

•Curran and Seaton.  - The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power. ... - The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media production

Capitalism (Right Wing Politics)

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of

production and their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private

property, capital accumulation, wage labor, Capitalism is an economic system based on the

private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Characteristics

central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labour.   THE

CONSERVATIVES ARE CAPITALISTS, the Telegraph and Mail Newspapers believe in Capitalism. 

Socialism (Left Wing Politics)

Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the

means of production and workers' self-management, as well as the political theories and

movements associated with them. Social ownership can be public, collective or cooperative

ownership, or citizen ownership of equity.   - - THE LABOUR PARTY ARE SOCIALIST and are

considering bringing back into state ownership the Rail service.

Liberalism

Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasizes individual autonomy,

equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual rights (primarily to life, liberty, and

property)

 Guardian newspaper supports many labour policies and has a liberal view on e.g individual

autonomy i.e. they support multi-culturalism, they advocate freedom of expression e.g.

gender and sexuality.  

The Telegraph- right wing- conservative

The Mirror- Left wing - labour

The Daily Mail- Right wing- conservative

House of Cards 2

House of Cards 2

How Long form dramas came into being.

Terrestial TV

Schedule content was fixed (reliant on analogue (radio wave technology as pre the internet)

Viewing experience was communal (families watched the same/similar content) as content was transmitted via Radio waves.

Dramas developed to encourage regular viewing

Program content with high audience numbers secured revenue via advertising.

Advertising revenue or PSB income (TV license) pays for drama for e.g. a typical Eastenders episode costs £141,000

•There is a clear shift towards SOD (subscription on demand viewing of television)

•This has been enabled through the Technological change i.e. the provision of streaming services

•(2017) Netflix receives an income of 2.5 $bn from UK subscribers.

•Their income is used to fund “high end” television content such as the HOC

Historical cultural and economic contexts.

•HOC belongs to a genre called Long form television drama. (LFTVD)

•LFTVD (Game of Thrones, HOC, etc.)  are characterised by high production values.

•Series one and 2 of the HOC costs an estimated  $100 Million for the first two series (26 episodes) to produce.

•By comparison Eastender’s costs  £29.9 million a year for 212 episodes. (source: https://www.ok.co.uk/celebrity-feature/1207916/eastenders-bbc-one-time-cost-per-episode-year)

•Referring to the revision notes page 146, the cost of production of this High end Drama (HOC) is linked to

–Sourcing highly skilled actors
Kevin Spacey

–Cinematic styling camera work
wide shots
variety of shots
Peter Russo and Frank Underwood

-Lighting and editing
low key
shop motion/parallel editing

-Complex narratives (multi-stranded) (Barthes)

-Composed music
Jeff Beal

How Long form dramas came into being.

Digital (streaming)

•Netflix  - In just a decade, Netflix has grown from a video service with seven million U.S. subscribers to one that reaches 93 million people worldwide.

•The company's now worth about $60 billion

•2016, Netflix spent $5 billion on original programming.

•The income from subscribers has allowed them to commission highly rated long form TV dramas such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.

•2017 sales rose to $2.48 billion. With a global presence in 190 countries.

•Long form TV is an American concept which effectively is a hybrid of a serialised drama with the high production standards of film.

Long form TV Drama

(genre) conventions

Drama that runs in a series

they start with an intense beginning to grip their audience

They contain cliffhangers to maintain interest

they conclude the episode until the end where they conclude the episode.

very much dialogue led.

Production values are higher than TV drama (funded by subscribers)

High budgets permit high end actors and high end production

Ideology:

“A set of beliefs values and assumptions shared by a social group and embedded in social, cultural, political and economic institutions.”

Usually thought to reflect the interests of powerful groups.

Consumerism, freedom, equality and individualism are often considered dominant ideologies in free market capitalists societies as they reflect the economic basis of these societies 

The prime contexts influencing medium language in television dram may be ideologies such as:

•Individualism: e.g. focusing a drama on an individual protagonist

•Consumerism: e.g. judging characters on their possessions or desirability of their lifestyles

•Patriarchal: power and the challenge to this by feminism e.g. using or refusing to use women’s bodies as objects, or narratives that present a male, female or gender neutral perspective

•Racism and ethnocentrism and the challenge to those from multiculturalism and internationalism, e.g. narratives that present a monocultural, multicultural or minority perspective

•Levi Strauss’s idea of the binary opposition – that the system of myths and fables

•(narrative) was ruled by s structure of opposig terms  such as male/female, good/evil.   This narrative structure can be applied to LFTVD’s such as the House of cards as follows

House of Cards
Power/money	Service
Cynical ambition	Authenticity
Washington (elite)	The street (Freddies bar)

Todorov’s theory (Equilibrium and Dis-equilibrium)

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages:

•the equilibrium,

•disequilibrium,

•acknowledgement,

•solving

•and again equilibrium.

The theory has its limitations when applied to LFTVD as the restoration of equilibrium may not be realised due to the serialised nature of the drama

•MICRO – ELEMENTS   relate to the following

•

•CINEMATOGRAPHY(camera work) – (angle, composition, etc)

•SOUND

•EDITING (& SPECIAL EFFECTS)

•MISE EN SCENE, (what is in the scene (set, costume, body language, etc.) including how lighting is used.

Candidates are expected to use appropriate language when analysing media (see p. 147 -148, OCR media studies revision notes).

–

Note the example where F. Underwood addresses Russo.

Frank is stood up connoting a position of power and authority whilst Russo remains seated implying vulnerability

Frank then demands Russo’s absolute and unquestioning loyalty

Diegetic sound.

•

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: 

•voices of characters 

•sounds made by objects in the story 

•music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

•Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world  

House of cards

House of Cards

Language- mise en scene, camera work, editing, sound
Industry
Audience
Representation- female, male, young, old, etc

Definitions:
Drama- What is TV drama? drama is a broad genre. At its simplest, it is fictionalised action in narrative form
Long Form TV Drama- term coined to describe the recent shift of interest towards television series of high quality that many consider to have replaced the cinema as a focus of serious adult entertainment. Unfolding over multiple episodes, hours and even years, these TV shows are seen to provide content, often dark and difficult, and an innovative style that that strain against the conventions of cinema as well as network television
Media Convention-  A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning. In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:
Technical codes- all to do with the way a text is technically constructed - camera angles, framing, typography etc.
Verbal cues- everything to do with language- either written or spoken
Symbolic codes- codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotation level verbal codes
Genre- a genre is basically the category of any type of art or literature, for example, categories of movie would be comedy, horror, thriller etc
Genre Hybridity- some media texts are hybrid genres, which means that they share the conventions of more than one genre, for example, Dr. Who is a sci fi action- adventure drama and strictly come dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show
Synopsis- a brief summary of the major points of a written work


Barthes' narrative codes
Roland Barthes
Narratives like a ball of string
Roland Barthes was a semiologist
If you imagine a text is like a ball of string, can it be unravelled in one way or in many ways?

Open or closed?
texts may be
-open [i.e unravelled in a lot of different ways]
-closed [i.e there is only now obvious thread to pull on]
Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try unravel meaning are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the following five ways:
Hermeneutic/ Enigma code
Proairetic/ Action code
Semantic code
Symbolic code
Referential code

The Hermeneutic code- ENIGMA CODE
refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.
The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

The Proairetic code- ACTION CODE
also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
Action code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.

The Hermeneutic and Proairetic codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as:
-dependant on two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented

The Semantic code-
refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. Any element in a text that suggests particular, often additional meaning by the way of connotation
E.g. a rose can be romantic symbol, as well as being the new labour symbol


What genre is the media text?
What sub genre is the media text?

List the main characters.
- President elect Garrick walker
- Linda Vasquez The President's Chief of staff, woman, Latino! 'tuff as a 2 dollar cheque'
- Frank Underwood, narrator [ to the camera] protagonist/anti hero House majority whip- 'keep the sludge moving'
- Claire Underwood [owner of charity clearwater initiative] dependant on Franks electoral success [Sandcorp]
- Zoe Barnes journalist at Washington Herald
- Michael Kern, recently elected secretary of state [Frank's rival]
- Peter Russo, drink driver, socialisation, use of controlled substances
- Doug, Frank's sidekick


Editing
Sound
Camera Work
Mise en scene


Other genre hybridities include Family dramas-
a popular and well known genre, the family drama centres on conflicts at the heart of family life and family relationships. Not to be confused with family orientated drama, family dramas can touch on such adult topics as incest and political violence.

Thriller conventions;







Family Drama- 
a popular and well worn genre, the family drama centres on conflicts at the heart of family life and family relationships. Not to be confused with family orientated drama, family dramas can touch on such adult topics as incest and political violence. Though some American directors such as William Wyler, Orson Welles and John Ford have produced some defining works in this genre, the family drama carries a particular potency in Asia where the conflict between duties to family and individual desires are more charged. Other Hollywood examples of this are in films such as the Godfather and To kill a Mockingbird.

Steve Neale's theory of repetition and difference- 
Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the economy of the genre.
Neale states that the film and it's genre is defined by two things:
- how much is conforms to its genre's individual conventions and stereotypes. A film must watch the genre's conventions to be identified as part of that genre.
- how much a film subverts the genre's conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film.




In House of cards there is no hero, they all have their own objectives and ambitions. There is no clear hero as of yet which is a break from the normal conventions of the genre in order to make it more unique and interesting to the audience. There is the family drama elements within the relationship of Frank and Claire.

Thriller Conventions
What is a thriller?
-uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements
-includes many sub genres: mystery, crime, physiological, political and paranoid
-atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder
-society is seen as dark corrupt and dangerous
-literay devices like plot twist, red herrings, and cliff hangers

Political Thriller Conventions
Political Thrillers
a political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle. They usually involve legal plots, designed to give political power to enemy, while protagonist has to try to stop the enemy. They can involve national or international political scenarios. The common themes are: political corruption, terroism, and warfare. Political thrillers can be based on true facts such as the assassination of John F Kennedy. In political thrillers there is usually a strong overlap with the conspiracy thriller. For example, in the 2012 film Argo, the protagonist has to rescue the America hostages from Iran.


Ideology Consumerism-
Codes and conventions:
a code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.
In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:
Technical codes- all to do with the way a text is technically constructed- camera angles, framing, typography etc.
Verbal codes- everything to do with language- either written or spoken
Symbolic codes- codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotational level- all the things which draw upon our experience and understanding of other media texts, our cultural frame of reference.
Codes can create feelings for the audience through effects and techniques, for example, rain in a film and a women looking upset can make the audience feel bad for the women and be emotional.

Conventions are what you would expect to see in a certain genre, for example: in a fantasy genred film you would expect to see maybe unicorns, demons, hero/villians, strange settings, basically things that are fictional and unreal in our world.

A million reasons essay

Essay

Analyse how the Million Reasons music video by Lady Gaga uses stereotypes to represent a variety of images of feminine identity.

A Million Reasons music video includes a range of different stereotypes to do with women. When Lady Gaga is laying on her back in the desert at 0:15 in the video, it shows a sign of weakness and vulnerability because she has no control over her emotions and what she is doing. Laying on her back also gives the stereotype of a sexual thought as she has 'surrendered on her back'. This is an extreme close up shot, which does not give much of the background away. The effect of this is to show emotion in her face and her upper body language to really emphasise her feelings and the stereotypes given away.

In the video at 1:08, the colour of the scene changes to black and white which shows off a depressive mood, linked to the stereotype of women being emotional and how they cannot handle their feelings. Lady Gaga's body language goes to a slumped pose to show exhaustion and sadness and she is looking down, hiding away, not giving any eye contact. The effect of no direct mode address implies

that she is feeling vulnerable and wants to hide away from the world.

Another stereotype linked to females is that they need to wear makeup to look and feel good for the men. In the video at 1:14, Lady Gaga has very heavy makeup applied by her makeup artist which represents that without makeup, women cannot be seen or go out as they don't feel worthy enough. This is quite a big stereotype as it refers to women being self conscious on the way they look and that wherever they go, they need to impress the men with a new identity and not revealing who they really are.

Lady Gaga is seen in 1:17 hiding her face behind the guitar which could represent that she is trying to hide who she is. She is trying to hide her identity which could be because of her appearance and how she feels about herself. Could also be taken as she doesn't want to know who she is herself so she is denying her own body of the truth. 
In the scene when her friends are running to rescue her in the desert at 2:07, it represents that no matter what happens, your friends will always be there and that you don't need a man to be by your side. This also shows a sign of weakness because she cannot cope on her own and she needs attention and help to be alright again. 
Back to the stereotype of women being emotional, in 2:32, Lady Gaga is seen to have her head in her hands, upset which shows a level of weakness and vulnerability again because to show her feelings, she has to cry infront of her friends to get attention and help. She also has her head in her hands as a sign of embarrassment because she doesn't want everyone seeing her in that state, so she is trying to hide.In one of the last clips of the video, 3:32, she is seen wearing a cross with a priest touching her shoulder. This could represent God showing her the right path and getting her out of these bad thoughts and self worries. This could all be linked to the fact that everything gets better with a bit of guidance and nothing is ever as bad it as it seems as you will get through it.
bell hook's theory says that women are exploited and discriminated against in music videos as they are wearing revealing and luring clothes. In a million reasons, Lady Gaga is very covered up which goes against this theory because she is seen to have self respect.