Media Studies

DIGITAL CONVERGENCE:   production, distribution & exhibition digital convergence - the ability to view the same multimedia content from different types devices, thanks to the digitization of content (movies, pictures, music, voice, text) and the development of connections methods. Jungle Book 2016 Streaming Services Disney + Digital Copies Saturation Distribution Digital convergent media is very prevalent in people's lives across the globe in 2016 CGI Social Media Trailers on YouTube Website - 3D Experience of the set Older Audiences, Male  The use of digital convergence presented by The Jungle Book 2016 is one of the factors that positively impacted its success and profit rates. The wide range of technological options and reach increased their ability to produce, distribute and exhibit towards a large audience - thus increasing their profits. Word of Mouth They could hype up the movie too much Lack of regulation Piracy Jungle Book 1967 Physical Copies No DVDs for some ti...

The Impact of Technology 1967 Multi-plane Creates a 3D effect with a foreground and background  Xerography Importance of personality in the characters - drawn from the voice actors CGI production was not possible Computers were too expensive, unreliable and undeveloped for use in films The animation was completed with hand drawn pictures on transparent cells Multi-plane cameras were used to shoot layered cells at different distances This created a simple 3D effect which was relatively advanced for its time. Soundtrack was mono as stereo sound was too expensive. economic contexts The film industry suffered a downturn in popularity the 1950s as other entertainment sources competed for market share - TV, Radio, Theatre... The Sword and the Stone (1963) did not make a lot of money for Disney... 2016 Payed homage to the original (and Bambi) by using a multi-plane technique in the opening sequence of the movie. They use a traditional depiction of the Disney castle that fades into the new...

ECONOMIC CONTEXTS Jungle Book 1967 Budget - $4,000,000 Gross USA - $141,843,612 Opening Weekend - $5,291,670 (1984) Worldwide Gross - $210,310,084 Fewer sources of income. Merchandising was one option - mostly toys The Jungle Book soundtrack achieved gold record status Disney relied massively on box office figures Jungle Book 2016 Budget - $175,000,000 Gross USA - $364,001,123 Opening Weekend - $103,000,000 Worldwide Gross - $966,000,000 The Jungle Book 2016 was released using the saturation distribution method where cinemas across the globe were flooded. Extensive merchandising on a global scale, due to increase in manufacturing capacity & globalised economic trade. Lots of appeal for children, e.g. toys, t-shirts

TO WHAT EXTENT DO FAN-MADE MEDIA PRODUCTS FOR LONG FORM TELEVISION DRAMAS REFLECT THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF HENRY JENKINS' THEORY OF PARTICIPATION CULTURE? [10 marks] The theory of Participatory Culture is a concept that allows for the understanding of a long form television drama's audience; it deals with the function and structure of fandom, its five elements. Fan-made media products play a key part within the function of fandom. The artistic expression and communal engagement with dramas such as Stranger Things and Deutschland 83 is what builds up the structure of a fan base, that will eventually fall somewhere along Jenkins' five elements of participatory culture. Jenkins believes that fans play a key role in the circulation of media. The media products that they create allow for further advertisement and reach of LFTVDs and thus are a main factor in the circulation.  The Stranger Things audience demographic consists of mostly men that are between the ages of 18-29. Despite ...

Henry Jenkins believes that fans play a key role in the circulation of media. Fan Culture - often referred to as Fandom, describes social communities built around the shared enjoyment of particular aspect of popular culture - books, movies, TV shows, bands, sports, or sports teams etc. Examples include Star Trek (The Trekkies) and Harry Potter. Fandom is an example of what are called participatory cultures (fans acting not only as consumers but also as producers and creators of creative media) . Pronsumers - someone who consumes and produces media (like in Minecraft). Textual Poaching - audiences taking a media product and remaking or reworking it to create their own meaning. THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF PARTICIPATORY CULTURE There are low barriers to artistic expression and communal engagement Resources to make fan media is easily accessible to most fans. Judgement is not made on the merit of artistry but for the enthusiasm to create and engage. Supportive of create and sharing creati...

AUDIENCE PROFILES Within the world of marketing, there is a move away from thinking of audiences as fitting into general demographics to thinking of audience as having a psychographic profile. What 5 things make up demographics? Age Gender Profession Location Marital Status What 5 things make up psychographics? Personality Values Activities Interests Opinions STRANGER THINGS Predominantly targeted to American audiences Also needs to attract a global audience to maximise profit and justify high budget. Therefore, ST uses a similar tactics as mainstream Hollywood movies to attract worldwide audience: Uses Hollywood star system - Winona Ryder High budgets and cinematic quality of production Mainstream genres Generic hybridity to maximise audience appeal - Sci-fi & Horror Development of franchises TARGET AUDIENCE PROFILES Demographics 18-29 54% popularity with men 46% popularity with women Highest popularity with millennial generation Regions America UK Western Europe Australia Canada ...

REPRESENTATION THEORISTS Stuart Hall's theory of representation focuses on how stereotypes are used to represent certain groups in the media in order to fix meaning and exert power. David Gauntlett's theory of identity argues that the media provides a variety of messages which audiences can use to create their own identity. Van Zoonen's feminist theory proposes proposes that women's bodies are objectified by men in the media whilst men's bodies are represented as a specticle; something to be marvelled at. bell hooks' theory recognises that there is an intersectionality to feminism based on race, class and sexuality and she states that true feminism is the active struggle against patriarchal oppression. Paul Gilroy's theory claims that representation favours positive depictions of white people whilst black people are unduly represented in negative ways or under represented. Paul Butler's theory purports that gender is a performance in which people at up t...

RECAP QUESTIONS What is the name of the organisation in charge of regulating movies that are sold in the UK? The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).  What is the name of the organisation in charge of regulating movies in the US? Motion Picture Association (MPA). How do the two Jungle Book films differ in their regulation and why? JB57 was rated U while JB16 was rated PG. Reflects draker aesthetic, more peril, more realistic, targeting whole family. What does PEGI stand for? Pan European Game Information Are PEGI ratings enforced by law? Only in certain countries, the UK being one. What is the newest addition to the video game regulator descriptors? In-game purchases 2018 Both Minecraft and GTA V contain violence in their story modes - so why is one PEGI-12 and the other PEGI-18? The 'realness' of the violence and the degree in which players can freely inflict violence. Which content description can only be released with a PEGI-18 rating? Any game which includes negativ...

Horizontal Integration is when a company buys other companies which do similar things on the same part of the media production process. The benefit of this type of integration is chiefly diversification and increased output to minimize risk. It also limits direct competition . Vertical integration is when a company buys other companies which do different things in the media production process. The benefit of this type of integration is to maximise profit by keeping the cost of using external company's services down. THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_The_Walt_Disney_Company On top of all this, Disney also have their own record company, theme parks, resorts, merchandise.... This further diversifies their share of the market to minimize risk and maximise profit! WHAT IS HESMONDALGH'S THEORY? David Hesmondalgh's theory states that there is an inherently high risk in producing products in cultural industries such as the film...

CURRAN AND SEATON The idea is that the media is controlled by a small number of companies who, for the most part, are driven by money and power. Curran and Seaton state that such media concentration limits creativity, variety and quality. The counterpoint is that more socially diverse ownership would allow more varied and adventurous media productions. CONGLOMERATION Curran and Seaton argue that the media industry follows the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership into fewer and fewer hands. Media brands are taken over by large companies who, in the turn, are absorbed by even larger institutions. This leads to narrowing of the range of options presented. The conglomerates are in a position to control the media messages and content delivered to the audience. To maintain their power they need money. Therefore they will prioritise money over creativity. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXTS OF LFTVD The contexts in which television has been produced, distributed and...

Film Keyword Recap This process is the link between making and releasing a film. The process ensures that a film reaches the intended audience to make maximum profit . It heavily involves marketing strategies such as actor interviews and teaser trailers . -- Distribution This is the process of releasing a film to audiences . The process begins with a premiere gala event, followed by cinema release and finally, , the film will be made available for home exhibition through physical retail and digital platforms. -- Exhibition This is the process of making a film. It begins with developing a script, scouting locations and casting actors, followed by the shooting of a film on set and ends with post-production editing . -- Production Industry and Audience (focuses and theorists) Focus So far, we have focused our attention on the media language and representation aspects of our two set dramas.  We are going to turn our focus to the industry behind LFTVD ...

Narratology is the study of narrative and the function or purpose of narrative structure in communicating meaning, messages and values in media products. Todorov’s theory of narratology can be seen to be partly relevant when applying his ideas to long form TV drama. Although his ideas are designed to be applied to films with single narratives and clear resolutions, when applying his theory to long form TV drama, it exposes the complexity of long form drama narratives, which can be seen to be one of the reasons for the form’s success and popularity with audiences. Todorov’s theory of narratology can be seen to be useful, yet also have its limitations, when applied to dramas such as Stranger Things and Deutschland 83. Todorov described 5 different stages of narratology (Equilibrium, Disruption, Recognition, Repair, New Equilibrium) which provide a simplistic and recognisable storyboard for most media products and narratives. In both long form TV dramas, there is explanation that Todoro...

Stranger Things and Deutschland 83 are both examples of long form television dramas. They are both set in the 1980s era, however, due to their difference in location (USA vs Germany), they contain different contexts and thus different representations. The 1980s was a time in which there were few positive moments for women in society – Thatcher was PM – but men filled the vast majority of powerful roles. The traditional nuclear family unit – father goes to work; mother raises the children – was very much the norm in western culture. These characteristics can be applied to the ideologies of the theorist Van Zoonen, who stated that gender roles change throughout history. Incidentally, the gender roles of the dramas can be assumed to reflect those of the 80s. Stranger Things participates in this in many ways. The show demonstrates this traditional unit through Mike Wheeler’s family: a happy, stable and stereotypical ‘nuclear’ group. Mike’s sister, Nancy, is reinforcing this theory as she...

LFTVD – Section B, Paper 2: ‘Evolving Media’ Notes and Details 2 questions: Question 3 is worth 30 marks and will take you about 45 minutes to answer. Question 4 is worth 10 marks and will take you about 15 minutes to answer. Assessment Objectives AO1 - knowledge and understanding of: the framework (theories) the influence of media contexts. AO2 - apply the theoretical framework to: analyse products (find meaning by breaking down the set texts) evaluate theories (assess how helpful the theories are to our understanding of the dramas) make judgments and reach conclusions. Question 3 Question 3 will always be the synoptic question on the two papers. This form of words will be indicated on synoptic questions. Students who are synoptic (e.g. respond on more than just one area of study in their answer, e.g. representation, contexts, audiences) can access the full mark scheme. A strong answer focusing only on representation would be capped halfway up the...

Barthes: Semiotics We automatically associate certain images, shapes, colours, and objects with wider meanings. Media producers use these to help us understand media products better. Symbolic codes – specific objects are associated with wider meanings. For example, hoodies are associated with youth culture, rebellion and crime.  Semantic codes – audiences tend to understand hidden meanings behind colours such as red and black in horror movies to represent blood, danger and evil. Proairetic/action codes – events and actions signify that something is about to happen (like foreshadowing). E.g. a gun being pulled from a holster means that conflict tension is rising.  Hermeneutic/enigma codes - an event or hook which encourages the audience to actively engage with a media product and want to continue consuming it.  Cultural/referential codes – specific codes which are understood only by audience members who belong to a shared age group, gender, sub-culture etc....

Stuart Hall's theory of representation states that white, middle class, heterosexual men have the most power in the media industry and therefore representations of women and ethnic minority characters tend to be reduced to a very stereotypical, often negative portrayals. How far do you agree that this is true in Stranger Things? This is depicted as true through the character of Jim Hopper, as he is seen to be in power during the episode. When introduced he is seen as a slob and careless of his actions, yet when we find out that he is sheriff it is a surprise. He shows no concern to showing up late to his job, as he is the boss, and pays no hospitality to his 'receptionist' when she has something important to tell him - all he says is 'coffee and contemplation'. This demonstrates his power over others within the show as he can  get away with being tardy and rude. Furthermore, when he is speaking with Joyce, he patronizes her in saying that her in making assumptio...