FILM INDUSTRY

Purposes of a media product

• MONEY
• entertainment
• to enrich lives
• to change people's perspectives (propaganda)

The Birth of Films Facts

• First film was to settle debate about wether horses hooves hit the ground (by Eadweard Muybridge in 1897)
• First films were all under a minute long 
• Sound wasn't introduced until 1927 (The Jazz Singer)
• First film studios built in 1897
• Classical Hollywood cinema was like a production line
• Early films made by women because films were considering not very important 

Classical Narrative Cinema

• Emphasis on spacial continuity - audience always knows where they are at any time
• Emphasis on temporal continuity - the audience always knows in 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 narrative texts 

THE STUDIO SYSTEM  

PRODUCTION  making a media product

DISTRIBUTION  getting the product out there

CONGLOMERATION  a corporation that consists of a group of businesses dealing in different products or services (e.g. Disney - films, theme parks, tv channel, clothing, toys)

REGULATION  the rules and restrictions followed by media products 

HORIZONTAL INTERGRATION  when a company buys other companies in the same sector to reduce competition

VERTICAL INTERGRATION  when a company buys other companies involved in different stages of the production and and circulation 

DIGITIAL TECHNOLOGIES  technology made possible through computers 

CONVERGENCE  when 2 separate media industries come together (e.g. music videos - film and music)

EXHIBITION  showing of a media product (e.g. Youtube, cinema)

Digital technology has changed the way films have been distributed and exhibited in the last 2 decades (iTunes, streaming, Youtube)

DAVID HESMONDHALGH 

THE CULTURAL INDUSTRIES 

The factory and industrial process of creating culture

IDENTS iconic opening logos (e.g Universal an Disney)

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

• Founded 30th April 1912
• Founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane^[a] and Jules Brulatour
• In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers; Bluebird, more ambitious productions; and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures.
• Its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City.
• Highest grossing film ever released is Jurassic World ($652,270,625)

CURRAN AND SEATON

POWER AND MEDIA INDUSTRIES 

Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality

The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power - more socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varied and adventurous media productions

REGULATING FILMS

REGULATION  the rules and regulations that media producers have to follow

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation, founded by the film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works

UC  suitable for all children, especially under 5 (e.g. Tweenies, Pingu, Teletubbies)
U  'universal', meaning suitable for all children, only mild references to relationships, violence and bad language (e.g. Wallace and Gromit and Garfield)
PG  'parental guidance', can be viewed by all ages, with or without an adult, but younger children may need to be supervised, mild bad language and mentions of sex, stronger violence than U, no use of weapons making them look attractive (e.g. Stormbreaker and The Chronicles of Narnia)
12/12A  12A only used in cinemas, aimed at children over 12, but children under 12 can watch if with an adult, more mature content with stronger language, some violence and some drugs (e.g. King Kong and Pirates of the Caribbean)
15  only suited for those 15 and over, more bad language, violence, nudity, and scary scenes (e.g. IT and Ted)
18  only suitable for adults, bad language, violence, sexual scenes, nudity, some scenes too scary for children (e.g Silence of the Lambs and The Libertine)
R-18  only supplied in specially licensed cinemas and licensed sex shops, only for adults, sex and fetish material 
E  material exempt from being classified by the BBFC, for films primarily to inform and educate instead of entertain (e.g. documentaries)

I mostly agree with the statement "regulation of film in the UK has largely become pointless due to the rise of digital technologies like the internet" because you can find most films on streaming websites, which don't ask for age, making it easy to watch any film desired. Additionally, video games and social media often show a lot of violence, therefore, anything shown in films will likely to have no affect on the audience. However, it is useful for parents who have more control over what their children see, and it makes it easier for the audience to judge what the film will be like and whether they'd enjoy it.

• We regulate films in the UK because they can influence children 

NWA

Fuck the Police

GENRE - hiphop, gangster rap
POLITICS - unfair treatment of black people by the police
strong political message - campaign for rights
mocks court system
DEBATES - strong language is controversial 
re-appropriation of n-word, group of people take a word and put it into different context (owning the word to desensitise it)

Straight Outta Compton - Theatrical/Official trailer

• official music of N.W.A - added piano to make it more dramatic, to target and maintain an audience(conventional)
• target audience may be older teenagers - interested in rap/hiphop
• biopic film - based on a true story but characters are fictional
• fast-paced editing - 'wow' affect on audience, humour, guns, family trauma , drama
• picks up on serious issues - expands target audience 
• censors bad language so that it reaches a wider audience
• less controversial - sends a positive message about how they still succeeded

Key Assessment 1

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS 

• Proairetic, hermeneuitic, symbolic
• The way a media text talks to its audience 
• Choice of language
• Theories of Representation and Reception Theory

MEDIA LANGAUGE

I am going to argue that the audience response to a media product is influenced by the time period that is being viewed in; I will be exploring this by looking at the texts 'Tide', a 1950's print advert selling washing powder', and 'Kiss of the Vampire', a film poster produced in 1963 for a gothic horror. I will be looking for different genre conventions, paradigms of a media text that demonstrate what genre it is, audiences responses, how the audience reacts to a media text, and ideologies, the beliefs and values if a media text of each text to argue this. 

Firstly, the ideologies being created in 'Tide' may have different responses from the audience, depending on whether they are a modern audience or from the 1950's, when the ad was made. For example, the ideology being shown is that it is a woman's job to do the washing, which can be inferred because there are no mention of men in the advert and there is a large image of the 'housewife' character created by the brand posing with the product. In the 1950's, the audience probably would have have a more dominant reading of this because it was normal for men to go out to work whilst women stayed at home, society was very patriarchal so the audience was likely to agree with the ideologies created by the producer. However, a more modern audience may have an oppositional or negotiated reading of the advert because it is more common for women to go to work. Feminists may argue that the product should not be targeted towards only women, therefore, taking on the oppositional reading. Therefore, the reception of this advert changes through time.

Additionally, different audiences may have different connotations of the red colours in the 'Tide' advert, which is shown in the sans-serif font, apron, lipstick, and product packaging. General symbols of the colour red are love and sex, which is a universal audience response, but the original audience of the advert may have viewed it more sexually that the modern day. This is because women were often sexualised in order to impress their husbands, almost as their 'purpose', and so they would assume that buying this product may help them do that. On the other hand, the red may connotate more symbols of love, rather than sex, to a more current audience because there are now other ways to sexualise women. Love is also shown in the advert by the small hearts above the 'housewife' and her washing powder. 

The modes of address and choice of lexis in this advert may also be perceived differently by different audiences, because of influences of feminism in the modern day. For instance, "whiter-yes, whiter" and "you women" are very direct towards the female audience. Women from the 1950's may have viewed this as a sense of community because most of them were all doing the same jobs at home. However, it could also be viewed as sexist or patronising, so that the brand can have power over the audience. This may make women now feel singled out by the brand and forced by them to buy the product, therefore, taking on a different reception to an older audience. 

'Kiss of the Vampire' also tries to sexualise women in its film poster, but it may have been more appealing to its original audience. The producers have tried to sexualise women by putting them in nude-coloured nightgowns as part of the mise-en-scene, which aims to appeal to its target audience, heterosexual men. Its 1963 audience would have seen this as very sexual, therefore, attracting them to watch the film. Although, the costume could also create multiple meaning, as the nightgowns also represent venerability. Nowadays, the women in the advert would not be as objectified because what they are wearing does not conform to the normal perception of 'sexy'. Therefore, we may see it as more of a symbol of weakness, which creates the binary oppositions of power and helplessness between men and women. As a result of these multiple meanings, more modern heterosexual men may not be as appealed to watch the film.

There are a lot of genre conventions of the film poster that are paradigmatic of a stereotypical gothic horror; these include bats, the archetypal vampire, dripping blood and a full moon. In 1963, audiences were less used to horror films, therefore, they were not desensitised to these conventions. Unlike this, a modern audience is more used to horror films and realistic special effects, and so the film would perhaps be less popular because it doesn't conform to the producer's ideology of these being scary genre conventions. Therefore, the genre conventions can create multiple audience responses, influenced by when the product is seen. 

Overall, the different ideologies, conventions and audience responses in the 'Tide' and 'Kiss of the Vampire' adverts can easily create multiple meanings, influenced by the different time periods's beliefs and stereotypes. 

REPRESENTATION

I will be exploring the ways in which audiences are positioned, based on representations, in the WaterAid TV advert 2016 and a print 'Save the Children' advert. 

Claudia in the WaterAid advert is surrounded by other Zambian villagers, who are all smiling and singing, the audience can infer from this that they are happy, therefore, they are positioned in a way that we don't feel sorry for them. This contrasts with the 'Save the Children' advert, as all the soldiers surrounding the child are facing away from him, with stern looks on their faces. The audience are positioned so that they feel sorry for the child because you can see that he is not well looked after and his cry for help is ignored. 

Similarly, the location of both adverts are dry and underdeveloped; although both adverts are set in different countries, they both share the same qualities. The contrast between England, the target audience, and these places exaggerate how much they don't have in comparison to us. The WaterAid advert makes this even more obvious by including an empty shot of a rainy day in England at the beginning of it; the sharp jump between the two locations helps the audience to make these comparisons. 

The guns within the mise-en-scene of the print advert represent danger and violence, which makes the audience feel concerned for the child; he is also carrying a weapon, telling the audience that he has been introduced to violence too early. In comparison, there is no inference or mention of weapons in the TV advert, instead we are shown short shots of children playing on swings and running around. 

Exam Structure

How can media language communicate multiple meanings? [30] - 45 MINUTES

• Genre conventions
• Audience response
• Ideologies

1. Underline key terms
2. Plan 
3. Introduction
4. Paragraphs 
5. Conclusion

Introduction

1. Definitions - key terms
2. Context - background of the adverts
3. (Arguments) - point of view ("I am going to argue that audience response is influenced by the time period that the media product is released in")

Paragraphs

1. Point (1. genre 2. audience response 3. ideologies)
2. Evidence - from media texts (use media language!)
3. Argument 

AUDIENCE

Audience identification and grouping

Component One Section A - Analysing media language and representation (Tide, WaterAid, Kiss the Vampire)
Component One Section B - Industry and audience (Tide, WaterAid

Media is preoccupied with audience because;

• spend money on media product
• audience influences producer

TARGET AUDIENCE  who the producer is aiming at 

PRIMARY AUDIENCE  the specific group that the producer is targeting 

SECONDARY AUDIENCE  the less specific group that the producer is targeting 

    T A P        producer >>>> text >>>> audience

                                   producer encodes text      audience decodes text

TARGETING  creating a media product that is aimed towards a certain group of people

ATTRACTING  how a media product appeals or draws in a specific audience

REACHING  how the producer promotes their product to a wider audience 

ADDRESSING  how the audience of a media product is spoken to 

CONSTRUCTING  constructing an audience (the way in which a producer makes their audience e.g. classy female smokers instead of prostitutes)

Who is it aimed at? young adult, male, heterosexual

Secondary audience? teenagers, male and female, heteroexual

• young characters
• dark mise en scene
• survival genre (run down, abandoned, city)
• young girl who may be found attractive (subverts stereotype as she is carrying a gun, not sexualised)
• mystery (proairetic code as camera is on a tilt) (audience is involves as characters are looking in audience's direction)

DEMOGRPAHICS  the classification of people according to class 

The issues with this stratification is that you are born into a certain demographic, it's not very well defined, unfair, too reductive, people may be one demographic but act like another, tells us very little about the audience 

PSYCHOGRAPHICS  the classification of people according to attitudes and aspirations

AUDIENCE MANIPULATION

ALBERT BANDURA

MEDIA EFFECTS the hypodermic needle model

Watching too much tv/youtube/video-games

• may accept biased ideologies
• may change personality
• may take the world less seriously (video-games)

The Effects Model aka the hypodermic needle model (brainwashing)

Producers are brainwashing audiences with ideologies, but audiences have no control over it

MASS MEDIA  media which can be spread to mass audiences (e.g radio, tv)

One reason why this theory is believed is because it is very simple, however, it is incorrect

GEORGE GERBNER

CULTIVATION THEORY (allowing an ideology to grow)

The idea that prolonged and heavy exposure to [TV].. cultivates a view of the word consistent with the dominant or majority view expounded by the television

1. TV presents a mainstream view of culture, ignoring everything else
2. In doing so, television distorts reality
3. Therefore, heavy television watchers are likely to accept this distorted view of reality
4. However, not everyone is the same, so some people are more likely to be manipulated then others

This theory is simplistic, but doesn't take into account the complexity of the human mind

What ideologies are cultivated in the Tide Advert?

• Women should do the cleaning - no mention of men and large image of  archetypal "housewife"
• Tide is what she wants and she wants to clean- hugging it with smile on her face, small hearts above her, dressed up (almost romantic)

HEGEMONY  where one group wields power over another, not through domination, but through coercion and consent (don't have to do something, but you do it anyway)

• the school system
• driving
• queueing 
• giving elderly/disabled our seat
• wearing makeup
• cultural hegemony
• politcal hegemony
• hegemonic structure of class
• patriarchal hegemony

HEGEMONIC POWER

• Conflicts with hegemonic ideas of gender and sexuality (tight shorts and heels)
• Half suit, half shorts, binary opposition
• Top half represents men, bottom half represents women
• Complained about because people feel so strongly about hegemonic code

• Expectation that women shouldn't have body hair
• Men threatened to rape woman in advert - attempt to reenforce patriarchy because masculinity is threatened

STUART HALL

RECEPTION THEORY

 Reactions to WaterAid advert

• uplifting
• don't really care
• positivity and feeling happy for Zambian villagers
• annoyed because it only shows one place, whereas there are other places without water
• more positive and better than average charity adverts
• cute
• rewarding to those who donate
• frustration because she wouldn't be singing in english (put on for the camera, so may not be that happy)
• feel sorry for her

Proves hypodermic Needle Theory wrong (audience all brainwashed with producer's ideology)

Stuart Hall categorized audience response into 3 groups;

1. Dominant reading - the audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideologies it shows
2. Oppositional reading - the audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading
3. Negotiated reading - the audience generally agrees with what they see, but may disagree with certain aspects

Factors that affect audience response;

• upbringing
• moral beliefs
• financial situation
• religion
• ethnicity
• age
• sexuality
• location
• gender identity 
• mood

Different reactions to WaterAid advert;

• Dominant reading - donations are making the Zambian villagers happy and they should donate to help more people
• Oppositional reading - villagers are already happy and have what they need to don't need donations
• Negotiated reading - agree that donations make a difference but think that other places should be focused on more, because they are not happy

• Dominant reading - bright colours show positivity
• Oppositional reading - Claudia has clearly been given an outfit to wear and it's not realistic 
• Negotiated reading - bright bucket and dress bring positivity to the advert, but realise that this wouldn't be natural

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE

GOTHIC HORROR
1963
TARGET AUDIENCE - HETEROSEXUAL MALES

CONNOTATIVE FEATURES

• black bats - death
• blood/red - danger 
• bats - vampires and blood

GENERIC CONVENTIONS

• proarietic code shows something is about to happen(creates suspense/mystery)
• mise en scene - bats, castle, vampire costume, stormy, full moon

AUDIENCE APPEAL

• attractive women appeals to heterosexual men

How is the story told? (narrative features)

• Vampire costume - gothic horror
• symbolic code of red - death/blood/romance 
• women in revealing clothing - objectification (the process of representing an individual as an object)/sexualisation (the process of representing an individual as purely for sex)
• unconscious woman, wearing revealing clothing - damsel in distress/vunerable 
• binary opposition of light and dark/ evil and innocence/ 'kiss' and 'vampire'/ male and female/ power and helplessness