A2 Media Studies

Semiotics

Post-structuralism

Semiotics - study of signs and codes; mise’en’scene, language, colour, lighting detonation vs. connotation

Three levels in which we read texts:

Syntactic level - basic

Representational level - representation

Symbolic level – put things together and the meaning

Barthes & Cultural myths - the way texts are constructed promotes certain ideologies

Cultural Myths - texts have typical narratives and characters and out of these certain myths emerge & we believe they are true

Rags to riches example = Bridget Jones ‘Diary’, ‘Pretty Woman’, ‘Maid in Manhattan’

Underdog wins example = ‘Mean Girls’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

It’s not the myth that matters but the cultural meaning

Cinderella myth is telling us we need to look good, appearance values matter

Fiske - argues that there is a problem - connotations become so part of our ideological thinking that we read them as detonation; they are natural, we don’t even notice them – impact that media has on us

Structuralism focuses on semiotics - how structure helps us achieve meaning, looks at form, genre and narrative

Action code and enigma code

Symbolic code: binary opposites & psycho-analytic themes: e.g. (1) Male emasculation anxiety; fear of degradation/humiliation Pursuit of Happiness, (2) Father vs. son competition; presence of fathers body during sons development essential to understanding of masculinity, son always feels competition with father but refrains from winning because of the guilt, conflicting masculinity, both men

Auteur theory - patterns in films of particular directors who are seen as authors of their films, see a directors and understand what movie it will be:

Christopher Nolan e.g. Momentum, Inception, themes – plays with our perception, blurs the line between real and unreal 

Wes Anderson – recognise his movies by the cinematography

Examples:

1900s – concern of sexual content of silent films

1930s – anxiety about radio &influence

1950s – anxiety of TV influence on family

(new medium new panic)

1980s – violent video games

1990s violence in computer games

2000s internet & pedophiles

Stanley Cohen – a panic that occurs when society feels its values & ideologies threatened by a group

3 stages of moral panic:

 Something happens

Reported extensively

Need to legislation

 Some recent moral panics include Ebola, HIV, teenage pregnancy, hacking, privacy, cyber bullying and global warming

Case study example Sara Payne – 8 year old abducted got a lot of media attention result? Sara’s Law

Critical perspective - Thompson – issue of pedophilia influences family, it’s not only pedophiles that are to blame – creates a negative stereotype

BBC scandal – Jimmy Savile very well-known was pedophile, created bad image for BBC and created distrust (if test has BBC in question use this as wider context)

Media effects - see something you will imitate, how we are affected by what we consume

Moral Panics - something gets so much media exposure creates fear

Censorship

(When you see violence or sex think MEDIA EFFECTS, MORAL PANICS AND CENSORSHIP, we live in a media saturated world)

Springhall says fear of new technology because challenges existing norms

If new technology allows individual to have a lot of power like expose government then e.g. 10 downing street website

Jamie Bulgar case – why did they do this? Children play video games is an assumption = media effects – impossible to prove cause because so many other texts, media saturated world, result? Stricter age restrictions

‘The Interview’ – marketing can affect Sony hack, how media influences those who consume texts, if something is censored makes you want to watch it

Social learning theory *Bandura, bobo doll – viewers learn from media consumption

Gerbner disagrees – one could be desensitized to violence but still be appalled by it

Cultivation theory – the more time we spend watching TV the more we end up feeling like we live in an imaginary world and TV is the main source of storytelling e.g. texts cultivates…

Heavy viewers overexposed to more violence and affected by the Mean World Syndrome

The more time we spend watching TV the more likely to believe we live in a social reality

Overuse of TV is creating a homogenous and fearful audience

Anderson & Grill – games played link to aggressive behavior because they encourage aggressive behavior by rewarding players with rewards

Criticism:

Audiences are treated as passive whereas today we know that audiences are very active

Also the focus is not mainly on adults but venerable groups like adolescents

Globalization Debates

New digital media

Music debates

Alternative media

Critical perspectives

Market liberalism - audience controls media Political economy - producers control media

Market Liberalism

Audience has the power over media producers

DVD / magazine / downloads / views / followers

Audience research - to gain power

One argument: by actively participation and deciding what to share - active liberalism

Audience research

Notice how radio will play hits that you like? 

Facebook enables media institutions to knows what audiences like

Audience feedback could lead to changes in films also Thelma & Louise, Fatal Attraction, My Best Friends's Wedding, Australia, Dodge ball, 

Political Economy 

Media producers decide on context and exert influence on audiences

Cinema you see no indie films, only blockbuster

Producers avoid risk & innovation - opting for the surefire way to get audience attention 

Movies Something borrowed, Valentines Day, He's just not that into you, How do you know

Money comes from advertiser so produces try to homogenize audiences into packages

Consumerism is mostly promoted

Audience homogenization - to make everything the same

Case study: The Apprentice - Convergence culture book

To anticipate costs Mark Burnett presold sponsorship's

Reebok pain $4m apiece for product placement

He charged up to $25m / company for significant product placement. The series became a test site for a range of approaches of linking brands  series content

The Apprentice: Branding

Brand as protagonist: Donald Trump

Brand as taskmaster: in S2 asked to design and market real products

Brand Process as entertainment: Linking brands & entertainment to create a buzz for a new Crest product

Brand as helper: contestants contact smaller companies to help the in return for exposure 

Brand as prize: Trump provides access to his 'things' e.g. luxury meals 

Brand as tie-in: Ice cream episode allowed viewers to order online

Brand as community: show paired up with Friendster

Brand as event: sweepstakes competition with Yahoo! Hot jobs - ad on cad

Brand as judges: execs from big companies like Pepsi-Co winnowed down contestants 

HCI - how do we interact with computer

Globalization

Giddens: 'runaway world'

Channels, films, shows attached all over the world

Simpsons - don't have a race so fit to globalized audience however corner shop has an Indian worker - stereotypical 

Homogenized culture

Political economy perspective: making all audiences same at the expense of the local

Ideology is the same

Cultural imperialism: westernization of culture

US dominates market; large home market, dominance in English, technical advantages

Problem: making everyone the same, local cultures are lost, believes and values are lost, overdominace of american texts we watch more of them; westernizes our culture, very little room for other representations

Cultural imperialism - Criticism

Pre-supposes that before the arrival of the US underdeveloped countries enjoyed a "golden age"

Romanticized version of less privileged countries

Schiller argues that traditional, local cultures lost by external pressure of more powerful countries. Dominance of US advertising e.g. Samsung; ad-funded for of culture becomes normalized. Desire for American lifestyle / consumerism 

Localizing RTV shows - X-factor Greece, narrative is the same, rags to riches story still the same going to sell the show, promotes values to audience watching it "that could be you"

Nollywood - Nigerian film industry Bollywood - successful indigenous film industry, Indian film, e.g. Slum dog millionaire

Activity: Choose a new Hollywood film from IMDb and make a list of what ideals underlie it, what does it tell us on how to live life

Limitless 

Money = success

Social = success

Starts of being an author and then turns to finance - shows how it downgrades arts

Is the audience helpless? 

Audiences can: Select what to watch, make people noise and affect outcome of a text and interpret texts according to own experiences 

People noise: something happens and the ending is very bad e.g. How I met your mother, released alternate ending

Globalized media tend to promote a very capitalist ideology = consumerism; spend more to be more happy.

1) Media is financed by advertising 2) TV viewing / Web browsing interrupted by ads 3) Internet surveillance checks preferences & details 4) Media aim for profit 5) Free trade includes cultural goods 6) Adopting a capitalist model; McChesney argues we live in a McWorld with McJobs, everything is chained 

Public Service Models Not an option

Can you imagine a world with no advertising? PSB are own by public and rely on money from license fee

Advertising has become so normalized we consider it as the only option

More localized media or Public Service Models become obsolete or eliminated

Case Study: Slum dog millionaire p.168

New Media activity 

What does the term new media technology and digital revolution include?

TVs

Laptops

Xbox/ play station

Speakers

Phones

Kitchen based technology

AC

Tablets

Cameras

Dystopian vs Utopian 

Habermas: dystopian (technology is taken advantage of/ portrayed negatively e.g. Walle, Matrix, )

Del Sola Poole: Utopian (everyone has an equal chance)

Drones: utopian or Dystopian

Case study: Al Jazeera

Launched in 1996,, HQ Qatar

 English channel launched 2007

High profile journalist

Challenges both Arabs and western governments

Web 2.0

Interactivity

User participation

Dynamic content

Freedom

Media convergence:  Marshall McLuhan medium is the message Digital natives (born into technology) vs. digital immigrants (older generation, unknown to them)

Silver Surfers

Marshall McLuhan - Whatever the audience or content, the technologies used to carry it change our perception of the world

The medium is the message’

Media as extensions of the human body: body changes as the media changes

Re-mediation ‘the content of any medium us always another medium’

Observed that the problem with judging new cultural systems on their own terms is that the presence of the recent past affects the new form

Games have suffered

Drones !! 

Digital Natives =/= Digital Immigrants

Silver Surfers - old people learning technology

Prosumerism = consumerism + producers; we don't only want to see web we want to contribute 

  Raymond Williams

Need for re-mediation

Rejects that technology determines human perception

Technology is a part of broader social processes 

Flow: TV programmes flow - on-going narrative

Activity: Marshall vs. Raymond. Which would you argue? Have we changed the way we understand the media because we can get info on our cell phones?

  Case study: Obama election 2008 – made use of social media

Crowdsourcing – sourcing a project to a crowd, making people do the work e.g. Wikipedia, editing by the public Crowdfunding – getting people pay for something they want, e.g. Kick-starter, mighty wallet

Crowdsourcing = Wikipedia

Power of crowdsourcing:

On June 2009 > 20,000 Britons joined forces online to investigate the biggest scandals in British parliament

Let to resignation of dozens of MPs and inspired political reform

Every member of parliament receipts received to investigate – takes too long to investigate

Papers reporting that MPs were filing illegal expenses

E.g. sir Peter Viggers claimed 32,000 pounds for personal gardening expenses

Response: Parliament released complete record for 4 years’ worth of MP claims

‘Blackoutgate’

Launched ‘Investigate Your MPs Expenses’ – the world’s first massively multiplier investigative journalism project

Rules of the game

Results: 170,000 documents reviewed 80 hours – power of crowdsourcing

Real-time activity feel made the game social – wanted to find the interesting receipt

‘What we learned so far’ section – feedback – gamified

Top contributor list

‘Best individual discoveries’ e.g. 250$ giraffe print

Clay Shirky – theorist, 100 million hour of human thought, Wikipedia

Has audience got the power?

E.g. Dapper Laughs; from vine to ITV. Are we living in a time of viral censure? Audience got him removed from TV, signed petition

Music Debates

Music videos and how are they affected

Intertextuality - why is it used more? digital natives watch music videos 

Product placement

No more CD's

Copyright 

Are they better off or not? 

Better for consumers

Justin Bieber became famous from internet so internet

Audience has tremendous power

Critical Perspectives

Adorno - pop music reflects and influences pop culture

Aim is so make profit so music is cliche, passive and childlike

Fiske has challenged Adorno and Frankfurt perspective

Active and discerning fans are not passive

Create own cultural artifacts and identity e.g. Boyce Avenue, Pentanonx

Adorno & Frankfurt school: Fans enthusiasm is explained in terms of an illness e.g. bieber fever, one direction infection, beatle mania. Criticism: mostly directed towards less powerful groups of society - young girls

Impact of new digital media on TV shows - using viral videos in your show, Jimmy Kimmel e.g. 3 year old girl crying over Justin bieber 

Critical perspectives:

Music is a Love Story - article 

Google docs - music debates 

We live in world where Gangnam style can go viral.

Beyonce made the first ever visual album; she found a new way to sell and promote her music. This is a Youtube generation so music videos will create hype and stimulate curiosity. Release date guaranteed to put her in charts

Visual album - youtube generation, primary ace's is to music videos 

Indie Music: Differentiating from pop music, indies focus on self-expression rather than commercial interests

Technology empowering audience

Are audiences & producers two distinct entities today?

RTV shows like X-factor leave the decision of the 'next star' to the audience

But does the audience really have such power?

We live in a participatory culture - all about participating 

Market liberalism perspective - we choose next big hit on youtube BUT at the same time consumer have the power of what to promote to us 

Alternative media forms - p.35

Mainstream media =/= audience has a voice

The Royal commission on the Press: 1) Dealing with opinion of small minorities 2) Expressing attitudes hostile to widely held beliefs 3) Dealing with subjects that don't receive much media attention

Are we being empowered by the internet? Political economy or market liberalism? Video - digital natives vs digital immigrants

Activity: Choose any one alternative media form p.35. What views, ideologies and cultural norms does it represent? Does is fit the definition of RCP? How? Do the sites go towards the utopian or dystopian idea of technology? 

http://pulsemedia.org/

counters mainstream - 'Syria war' 

political

deals with subjects from a different perspective 

present utopian view of technology - the criticism

only niche audience reaches it

Alternative media is the underdog:

Mainstream media have a lot of power due to advertising revenue

Media technologies have reduced cost of producing media

But restricted audience and have to rely on mainstream media for promotion e.g. Google 

Critical perspective:

Some theorists argue that alternative media are run in a more democratic way

The are usually collectively managed and don't promote a singular viewpoint 

Utopian perspective - all of this access to technology; can choose what to do , YES that's why we have got alternative media

Distopian perspective; people still have power

Social media gave us freedom to even go on Mayor's page and rant - whether or not it gives us power that voice is public and affects public opinion

! Citizen journalism - ordinary people giving their own version of dominant news stories - giving your own perspective

Case study: McDonald's 

Supersize Me: Morgan Spurlock

McLibel

McSpolight campaign

Accessed by mainstream media 

Interactive online Dramas 

Youtube & Myspace online dramas

2006 lonelygirl15

Seems like ordinary blogger - but was an actress - alot of product placement and indirect advertisement 

When is violence accepted? How real is it? - does it look real, is it realist, cartoon are more unreal How serious is it? - is someone being bitten to death Is it unpunished? - maybe violence is serious but person is not punished, that is not acceptable Is it fun or heroic? - is it just meant to be fun e.g. cartoon, or heroic The media sometimes show violent representation in texts, because this makes the text close to reality. We are so over exposed to violence that we don't take notice or care anymore. 

Video game violence

Activity: GTA Investigate one of the listed games and decide if the violence is:

Cartoon style or realistic

Punished or unpunished

Serious or fun

1:31 

Realistic and serious although some might find it fun in the sense that they enjoy running over people and throwing them off cliffs

hyper-reality (Baudrillard)

absences presence - no male prostitutes

FPS: first person shooter, more problematic because more realistic

Potter - theorist which concluded a series of questions to help us evaluate a violent event represented in the media

Who is causing the violence?

Who is the victim?

Is it presented as though it's justified? Is there a reason? 

Are the consequences portrayed? e.g. if there is no blood then its not realistic

Is it represented as normative(OK) or odious(offensive)? 

There's a link between violence and masculinity; mostly boy gamers. 

Some argue that violent games are a response to a feeling of lack of control - biggest demographic is teenagers and below thus younger audiences.The reasons teenagers play is because its a really hard time, time of rebellion, suddenly have opinion and there's always a conflict, don't have control over your life - therefore in computer games they capitalize on this powerlessness especially free form (e.g. GTA) narratives which gives you complete control over narrative - sense of power works with younger audience.

Activity: Choose a film that contains violent imagery. Respond to Potter's questions and state how the text contributes to our understanding of the world.

Terminator:

Terminator, Arnold

Usually a few people; Terminator is assigned to kill them

No, there seems to be no reason behind the killings

No consequences usually 

very offensive, alot of violence and killing innocent people

Hyper reality - Baudrillard

Correlation:

Taking a critical perspective. According to Potter, we need to evaluate a violent event represented i the media

Who is causing the violence?

Who is the victim?

Is it presented as though its justified?

Are there consequences portrayed?

Is it represented as normative or odious

Some argue that violent games are a response to a feeling of lack of control-thus younger audience

Sanitizing violence

Gitlin argues what is sometimes not there is more important than what is: consider Hussein’s execution. There is also the criticism that wars are not represented accurately- in newspapers there are hardly graphic violent image. What perspective is like to be presented in war reporting?

  Consider this:

When is violence legitimate? (by who/how/why)

Whose version of reality do these representations convey?

How can these representation be challenged 

Computer games and violence (coursework)

Video games genres:

platformer

shooter

FPS - first person shooter

adventure

sports

dance

hybrid

first person shooter

simulation

strategy

puzzle game

RPG - role playing game

casual games e.g. wii

MMORPG - massively multiplier online role playing games e.g. World of Warcraft

MOBA - multiplexer online battlefield e.g. League of Legends

Representations and ideology

focus on conflict; player vs enemy

often based on war-scenarios

enemy is usually who is not american

westernized - demonizes enemy, other side, very problematic

Activity: Good vs Bad Debate whether WoW has a negative or positive influence on players. Choose one side, collect your arguments and get ready to defend your position in class.

How 9/11 Changed the media landscape

If violence is generally sanitized, 9/11 is an exception

Second plane was live on TV - violent representation

People jumping out - falling man photo

What makes the video real? Diegetic sounds

Narrative evolved after 9/11; the heroes trying to restore equilibrium and shifting focus away from suffering people so it becomes something we can handle 

Turning point in media - people dying on US ground

Happening on live TV - ethical questions, shock

Why was anyone stopping it? 

Patriot Act 

Shows/Films representing NY edited twin towers out of scenes. Films represented NY in more complex, less carefree way, very distopian. The day after tomorrow - How is New York represented? Catastrophic, cant be undone, these representations changes after 9/11. After 9/11, movies show that New York is catastrophic, full of destruction

How Representation changed

Us vs them mentality: the western world vs terrorism (threat to democracy)

A constructionist perspective would perceive the 'war on terror' as a product of media representations, media language and political discourse - right after 9/11 alot of patriotic films that challenged US

Rendition movie - us vs them mentality - US has power to spy on people without any rights, criticize US after 9/11

11'09'01 - Claude Lelouch

11'09'01 - Sean Penn

dome/low key

absence of love/love is complex

desperation - helpless

sense of futility - pointless

loneliness/isolation 

9/11 becomes important milestone - affects their lives directly

LOSS - cant cope with it, in total denial

disorientation/disjointed (nonlinear) /out of touch with reality - jumps cuts in editing, non consecutive 

Activity: What may are some of the difficulties raised? Argue for the strengths of the films? What would you create? Pitch your film idea. 

Mad Men intro controversy:

modality - distancing itself from real life, CGI animation disconnects it from reality therefore they can get away with showing it

feminism - women men relations very different at the time

Are new media the answer? Al Jazeera, Liveleak, the Baghdad Blogger (when conflict started he posted news, media went to blog post and got information) - all these provide an alternative perspective, wanted to shut him down. 

Key Points: Outfoxed

"Fair and balanced" logo. Fox doesn't have balanced news shows; problematic

Choice of anchors (opposing ideologies) can define audience preference

Blending of news and commentary "some say"

Typical characters in news story: hero, villain, victim

memos from TOP (Fox): News agenda

News Debate

All media institutions have a News Agenda.That means that some stories get more coverage than others.

Certain stories get picked for more coverage because of certain factors that make them guaranteed to hook audiences

Negative story / bad news

Personalization & human interest

Shock value

Creating of celebrities out of people the general public can relate

Continuity

Proximity 

e.g. Ebola

Case Study: Madeleine McCann 

Why did she get so much attention in the news? The story was timely - it tied in with other debates & issues

Sarah Payne: fear of pedophiles

Distrust of medical doctors - the Shipman case; doctor euthanasing old patients, he got loads of money from them. Huge media frenzy and changed the way medical ways work. 

Distrust and criticism of foreigners

Examples:

Madeline website

Guardian page on Madeline

Short interview

Excerpt from Madeline special

Cultural concern

The news very much contributes to society's cultural concerns. The Madeline story expressed concerns about parenting. Media institutions pick up on this: e.g. Super nanny very constructed 

Can you think of any cultural concern prevalent in society today - they have extensive news coverage? Internet hacking, online privacy, internet addiction, cat fishing e.g. Catfish, Disconnect; narratives with concern people will want to watch it

Why are audiences hooked? 

Its a human interest story with a strong sense of enigma - Madeleine's story we don't know what happened so we want to know 

What is true is up to public opinion: did the parents kill Madeline?

There is a general public distrust on the parents especially since they are both quite stoic when appearing in the media

This is against the public knowledge of reality e.g. loosing a child - loosing all self control and breaking down emotionally

The Public Sphere

Habermas: individuals can freely discuss & share public and social affairs. 

Before, it uses to be about people talking about anything, the media didn't influence what they say. Modern media have reclaimed that discussion and focus on celebrity, PR image & spectacle centered news cultures. Criticism to theory:

Vague: limits of public sphere

Leaves out women, minorities from public sphere

With the introduction of digital media, are people closer at reclaiming public sphere? Are we in a position?  No, twitter trends

Activity: Whats the public sphere?  If you start thinking as part of the public sphere you're looking for more objectivity / accuracy. How are individuals represented in news media today? Explore use of vox pop (going around asking random people questions) and varying representations

e.g. Lie witness vox pot is not representative, gives the impression that the person control what they say, gives the illusion that people have to voice

Churnalism

Nick Davies: Press releases / AP stories published unchecked, e.g. school new auditorium someone sends press release and send to newspaper but they do not check it when they publish it therefore its not real journalism; churnalism

This creates a silence within journalism & gap in audience knowledge.

A news story is never reported unless its size able: celebrity involved / very negative or violent story

John Oliver news & advertising; native advertising, even thought the story is there would it be there without the advertising? 

Important news example: All link with moral panic and violence debates, all about enigma, its a really negative story so there will be interest, proximity and continuity; how are they doing after, how are the parents doing, making celebrities out of ordinary people, who's to blame

Columbine Shooting

Marilyn Manson bowling for Columbine; spinning is when what angle you will give to a news story so it looks good, when something bad happens bad publicist spin doctors sin the story so it doesn't damage story & framing, how you frame story determines how people see the story, news has power to tell how the story will be framed, we have no power we just read narrative 

Virginia Tech shooting

Sandy Hook shooting

Dr Dietz suggested following guidelines when there's a violent event:

Don't start story with sirens

Don't use photos of killers

Don't have 24/7 coverage

Don't make killer a stereotypical hero

Give details to local community

The onion - Miley Cyrus 

Wider context - idea that's its of a profit, the more profit the better, how we get audiences to stay longer so we sell advertising post for much longer. Use ad block so producers use native advertising - promote product through texts

Methods of News construction:

Narrativisation: 'stories' in typical narrative forms

Stories packaged in very typical narratives - creates problems because even though watching footage that is real doesn't mean the actual story is authentic

Probable consequences: how many people does the story effect? 

Visual imperatives: photos are important as are CGI's

24/7 Coverage

Ted Turner & CNN; at the past we use to stop broadcasting past midnight, but now news runs 24/7, CNN was the first channel to go 24/7. Problem: This causes repetition and some stories might be amplified when they don't need it

UGC in 24/7 e.g. 9/11, really easy for news organisation to get content

How news bulletins are framed affects documentary teams or current affair programmes

Also affects citizen journalism; even though independent blogger at the same time not shifting conversation if no one reading blog, write about important stories; problem: doesn't really change the conversation

CNN i report BBC have your say Guardian EyeReport

Steve Mann: Sousveillance

Watching from "below"- citizen journalism

Sousveillance - Ferguson

Mike brown shot dead by police officer

Protests in streets – journalists barred form area

Protesters providing live feed of events

another example Zimmerman, shot kid for dressing like a thug, thought he was taking out gun

Absence of media: 

censoring tells the wrong story

(reporters without borders)

Newspapers need to have active media presence. 

Guardian "open news room"

The decided to open up news room to the public. Go to section of website, open excel and has for tomorrow papers you can work on stories; 100% transparency. Twitter handles there. Clever marketing because got loads of news organisations to report about the Guardian. Guardian shows its transparency and doesn't have news agenda.

Inviting audience to participation and try to get audience to not think negatively of news agenda. Making it transparent means it makes the audience empowered. 

All the Presidents men. Dramatized the story of two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate. Journalism at its very best, act as watchdogs and criticize government. 

Merdochgate

Employers accused of "news of the world" phone tapping, to get the scoop, caused negative attention

Investigations in 2005-2007: celebrities, politicians and Royal Family

Owns news-corp; same company own different newspapers: wall-street journal, daily mail, the sun

Also own radio shows, Skype, 21st century fox

This means they can cover particular story in news and also promote it in the tabloid newspapers which help sell book

Checking the facts

There is an overwhelming speed of news so emphasis on who delivers it first - getting the scoop

Facts go unchecked - news organisations are understaffed 

Blur between real and unreal is very small

Problem is all of our understanding comes from the media - hyper reality (Baudrillard) 

BBC(westernized) vs Al Jazeera (represents Asia) List ways in which these differ from usual news sources:

newsworthy items / headline stories

stories they follow up

how their stories / practices are gendered

use of shocking images which are often censored from broadcast in UK / US under watershed scheduling policies

Men are more powerful & represented more than women

The world according to newspapers

Compassion fatigue

Audience respond to disasters / suffering

Audiences emotionally moved by visual messages / images

A (westernized) audience is tired of terrible images

Danger of this is that media producers don’t assign as much coverage on a big crisis for fear of turning audience away

Sensationalised other news, which encourages media to move on

Making something a bigger deal than it is – sensationalistion of news

  Birgitta Hoijer’s audience response to compassion

Tendered hearted compassion: focus on victim/audience filled with pity

Blame-filled compassion: a sense of anger directed at those responsible

Shame filled compassion: sense of guilt at not acting

Powerlessness-filled compassion: recognition that’s it’s impossible to affect the scenes of suffering

Activity: Snowden & Assange (Google docs)

Wiki leaks:

Who is Julian Assange?

Who is Bradley /Chelsea Manning?

What is wiki leaks?How could it operate?

What is the Fifth Estate?

Whstleblower - someone who risks own life to leak documents to prove right or wrong

Citizen four - Documentary about Snowden Fifth estate - film No place to hide - book about Snowden 

Privacy: A forgotten thing

The internet's potential: demonstrating the discourse. We can reclaim control over the media; Habermas. Internet freedom is important however internet is the tool we are being spied on. Turning the internet into a tool or representation is problematic e.g. cookies.

Governments know more abut what their citizens are doing via surveillance, while citizens know less and less bout what government is doing.  

Westernized hegemony - NSA control  

Metadata

details/statistics/bare facts

when Snowden leaked documents, it was said that NSA mainly connects metadata. Dianne Feinstein said is your collected US phone records, that's not surveillance because doesn't spy - still problematic because with metadata still picture who you are and what your doing. Government knows:

everyone you call

everyone who calls you

length of conversations

every single one of your email correspondents

every location your emails were sent from

Celebrities get a lot of media attention from magazines, TV, radio, blogs. Its the media who turns people into celebrities. Celebrity constructed by the media.

How would you define a celebrity? 

Activity: Name three celebrities: Why are they famous? How did they become famous? 

Katherine Heigl - acting

Will Smith - acting

Candice Swanepoel - modeling

Celebrity Debate

Attributes of celebrity:

They are famous for being famous e.g. Kim Kardashian

Focus on gossip

Frequently seen in magazines and newspapers

Informal & Intimate e.g. Instagram selfies = voyeurism

Seen as familiar, down-to-earth

Flawed in their private life

Before: skill, expertise, talent Now: luck, getting discovered, good marketing & PR

Do you think celebrity is an example of cultural decline?

Case Study: Brangelina

Celebrity love triangle that emerged from the Aniston-Pitt-Jolie in 2005, is one that still makes up good gossip material for the media.  It's the kind of story that could go on far as long as the three of them live.

Poor Jen - stereotype, everyone feel sympathy for her

Activity: Who do you love? Celebrities you feel like you know

Lil Wayne, Gwen Stefani, You-tubers, Johnny Depp, David Guetta

Find an example of a media text that supports why you feel close to the celebrity

Interview 

This intimate relationship is most definitely constructed: by PR firms / managers / stylists / photographers / promoters. 

"Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. I want to be Cary Grant" 

Stacey - escapism, through celebrity we fantasize and escape, when we consume texts we travel to different time with them, audience gain pleasure from fantasizing about escaping routine

Dyer - reflect times, Ellen now has become more famous as homosexuality became more known, celebrity must be in line with values / attitudes of the time e.g. Amy Winehouse

Adorno & Frankfurt - positive influences, identifying with celebrity has disadvantages e.g. anorexia, but celebrity also has potential for positive change e.g. Emma Watson, Lil Wayne

Jamie Oliver (Case study example)

Dyer theory -  Jamie came about at perfect time  CONTRAST - Laddish culture at that time  - about guys being guys only interested about sex The naked chef  - very informal, cool down to earth guy, not gay Stacey & Pancakes - audience escape into world of celebrity Website Better food foundation - (coursework) Food Revolution - Food Tube

!! Outside source for coursework - books.google.com & scholar.google.com  !!

The Beckham Fairy Tale

Ellis Cashmore: Beckham is blueprint of modern celebrity

What makes his status it that its overall a solid story - promotes the Beckham fairy tale

Who is helping celebrity's go viral?

Richard Simons

Simmons' random V,A appearance got him a stunning 37 million mentions

Became a trending topic online

Emmy gifs & memes reached a 20 million audience

Bill Nichols tried to set out types of documentaries in reality - Issues and concepts of documentary

Documentary modes:

Expository: VO narrator, nature documentaries, we never see narrator, godly figure take everything they say as fact

Observational: fly-on-the-wall documentaries, cinema verite, documentary where you have no talking head shots, let action unfold

Interactive: guy who did it is featured in it, transparency in selection process, clear construction / mediation, if you have a message, story to tell

Reflexive: meta-fictional, story about the story, documentary about making a documentary e.g. the greatest movie every sold, this film hasn't been rated

Femen - feminist movement

In the 1994 edition of his book, Nichols also added

Performative: documentarist as star, documentarist becomes the star e.g. page 13, Michael Moore, becomes more about him

Bruzzi

hybrid mode

performative makes the selection process the all the more obvious

Ethical issues of documentaries:

Might not want to give personal details

Might not know that you're being filmed

Tactics might not always be the best

Cinema verite e.g. Snow 1963 video very simple and easy to digest, doesn't seem constructed. Although it looks real, could be filmed different days in a particular sequence and it feels real.

How is the video seen as constructed? Non-diegetic suggests monotony and links with train, shoveling and train shots fast edits communicates that the train is coming so working to get train through, imminent, feels like one tape. 

How has technology aided documentary mode (fly-on-the-wall)? We have phone camera and handy, alot easier to get footage discretely.

Zapruder footage video - shows events from one perspective

"The Zapruder footage is actually accurate, it is not fake, but it cannot reveal the motive or cause for the action it shows"  - Stella Bruzzi (there are alot of ways to see one thing)

Truth =/= factual accuracy

Even if a text provides us with a truth, don't mistake it as the whole truth, even though it looks like the truth its a slice of it. This looks real vs this shows the truth.

Problems with documentaries:

technology makes things easier

shaping the meaning: interviews, recording events, sound materials, documents, evidence, archive footage, use of experts

Even the question of what to film is quite problematic

Gibley argues there's a new kind of documentary hybrid: prankster cinema

documentary

performance art

slapstick

satire

Examples of prankster cinema: 

Michael Moore e.g. Roger and me

Jackass 

The yes men

Candid camera / Game for a laugh

Punk'd

Sacha Baron Cohen

Morgan Spirlock (Super size me)

Cultural verisimilitude: apply something real in movie e.g. Football players died on plane, United 93 movie, Gomorrah movie.

controversial subject matter, representing what's rarely represented 

authentic footage

Formal verisimilitude: Twin sisters documentary, something you see constructed

Docudrama: show or film that follows some of conventions of documentary but the subject or theme makes it impossible to get footage. Dramatizes certain situations. some scenes reenacted by actors, fuses idea that it is real with some fiction e.g. 

Mockumentary: clearly scripted but following conventions of documentary e.g. Modern Family, Office. Mocks documentary conventions, breaking forth wall, shaky hand movements

Docufiction: e.g. 20,000 Days on Earth, mocks documentary conventions, he is not acting it is realistic, not filmed in one day but its meant to be a documentary about 1 day, alot fuses imagination with reality e.g. you wouldn't film him going to psychiatrist

!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/ !!

Activity: Think of an incident or news story that would make a good drama documentary

Find a story and see what would make a good docudrama

Activity: Punk'd

Bullet points

Clips of behind the scenes

Overview of director & their movies

how does it meet criteria of prankster cinema? 

Critiques

Activity: Create a short documentary

Documentary Issues (coursework):

constructive vs reflective

is it accurate ( real vs accurate)

prankster

modes of documentary

mockumentary

docudrama / docufiction - blends real vs unreal

voyeurism in documentaries

short documentary drama

What are stereotypes? 

help audience understand narrative faster

easily accessible

very sexist/racist

minority groups are in disadvantage

these narratives provide a mediated version of world 

Camp representations: exaggerated representation

What are stereotypical movies/series about school? 

Mean girls

Awkward

School of Rock

High school musical

Skins

Gossip Girl

Glee

Context: relationships, bullies, fun Environment: nerds, popular, jocks, lockers, cafeteria Relationship between parents: distance Teachers: nerdy, cool, strict headmaster, hot

The impact of stereotypes are felt more strongly by those who are negatively represented e.g. gay, rednecks, gypsy's etc. The problem with stereotypes is that they are presented in a way that seems natural.

Representations of minority groups (with disabilities) is minimal e.g. Breaking bad, house, walking dead (do not tend to be lead character)

Barthes - absent presence - even if there is a group absent in the media still noteworthy e.g. emo

This tells us how marginalized they are in the society. Intonation - accent e.g. manic pixie dream girl (stereotype) 

Dyer - stereotyping

The complexity of a group is reduced to a few characteristics e.g. The family guy scene with the Italian accent. Exaggerated version is applied to everyone in that group. Characteristics are presented as essential through narrative.

Medurst - stereotypes are accessible

Medurst says that stereotypes have character development e.g. Big Bang Theory, therefore become more like a person not a stereotype e.g. Modern Family. 

Perkins - sometimes stereotypes can be negative but they are true e.g. French mean always wear hats and have baguettes

Understanding stereotypes: 

characterizing groups e.g. Brad Pitt is the perfect actor

stereotypes tend to differentiate e.g. us and gays

emphasizing easily understood features that suggests the cause for the position of the group 

Scripts - guide to living life - shared expectations about what will happen in certain contents

What is Mediation? 

Someone having a final say before something is shown

Active selection

Structuring a text so that it forms representation

E.g. A short film about Africa will include shots of sad children, poor environment and lack of supplies to form a representation that an audience can understand

Refraction: they change according to codes & conventions

Re-mediation: new media adapts to existing media

Abercrombie - according to Abercrombie, texts are shown in a way that people don't realize its constructed

hides production process

relates to real world - not sci-fi

Representations & Realism

When we hear the word LOVE, what do we think of?

engagement

friends

hearts

intimacy

date

chocolates

passion

wedding

flowers

sex

family

hugs

kisses

vows

!OUR PERCEPTIONS ARE STRONGLY REPRESENTED IN THE MEDIA!

Many of our values & representations come from the media. 

What is representation?

involves symbolizing

groups/places/experiences are represented

many debates of representation have to do with realism; the way love is represented is realistic

Development in gaming

Domination of coin operated arcade games

Console era

Installed games

Multiplier online games

Mobile games

Distribution context:

A few companies have alot of control; Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Steam etc. There is competition between few dominant conglomerates. 

What is the effect of new technology on profit and revenue? How long will hard discs be available? Distribution debate is easily applied to film & movies (there is constant technological development and people are not renting movies) 

E.g. People making movies have lost revenue because of technological advances. This is because people have started to download movies for free, or watch them online. Therefore hard discs are being sold less and revenue & profit is decreased. Profit is actually lost when movies are downloaded illegally of the internet. This causes a large problem for movie makers.Solution? Need to constantly re-invent themselves because distribution changed & need to satisfy consumer wants.

Who is benefiting from increases in technology?

game developers depend on game companies therefore they loose the most

producers benefit the most

Moving on from AS to A2:

You need to take into account the wider context to your understanding of a media text

The contexts of production & distribution are a major part of the A2 course and cannot be understood just by analyzing the cover

Use deeper analysis and zoom out of your analysis

Activity: Grand theft auto IV

Woman:

woman is seen as provocative e.g. lollipop - sexual innuendo 

close-up 

links with stereotypical image of gold-digger - only used for satisfaction and never in power; as seen by inferior man standing behind her

Narrative: doesn't have gun therefore she is harmless; binary opposition to all the men in the cover holding guns, makeup and dress code makes her more provocative, lollipop huge contrast to guns seems childish and is not looking at audience emphasizing her lack of power

Boss/man on the phone

boss and powerful man seen in body language; is holding the gun loosely emphasizing the fact that he doesn't care since he is too powerful 

very stereotypical bad guy boss since he is old and light skinned

Narrative: causing trouble, behind all the action, dress code symbolizes power; god father figure. 

Reality TV

Celebrity

News and different realities

Violence and the media

Post 9/11 and media representation

Jean Baudrillard: hyper reality (no longer distinction between real and unreal) (post modern philosopher)

We live in a time of hyper reality, this is a problem because we cant tell whats true and whats not. (Matrix movie based on Jean's book)

Two theories of representations:

Reflective approach

Constructionist approach

Reflective approach: meaning is in the object, language, idea or event  and language mirrors true meaning as it exists in the world e.g.Comic con clip (people where there, there is truth there). Language and media texts reflect the truth that is already out there, fixed in the world. A text reflects through media language and narrative to give certain perspective. If we are looking at something through reflective approach, there is truth through what we see because its already happening. 

The apprentice UK clip: The fact that they are willing to do job, you can see them they are captured on camera. See their actions. Business suits and boss always head of table. Reaction shots are real and responding seem authentic. 

Constructionist approach: focusing o the fact that it is constructed. Suggests that our understanding of the world is strictly through media representations e.g. One Day movie informs audiences of what love is meant to be through media language. Slightly negative view of the media - Mediation. Through these constructions we gain knowledge about world we live in. The counterargument is that those with power make sure version of reality is dominant one. e.g. If you didn't go to comic con, clip informs me of what it is but it is constructive. 

The apprentice UK clip: Editing. Men seem more inferior with drama shots and with what they say - mediated. Doesn't challenge values and beliefs that we have. 

Influences on representations:

The cultural, social, political contexts in which a text is produced is important. Game of thrones e.g. about power and narrative is easily translatable.

Reflective perspective: reflection of the pressures in the performance industry

Short term attention spam - YouTube videos e.g. is kill la kill, have started to change for audiences; flashy colors, sound bites, fast paste editing, constantly changing images and angles

RTV debates and documentary realism:

The idea of RTV and documentaries and their relation to the real has changed

RTV's popularity, viewed as the corruption of the documentary or greatest reinvention

huge success by Michael Moore, who earned great commercial success through the genre

Prankster cinema - Michael makes it more about himself and pranks engage the audience, more about him than subject matter, extent he goes to to make fun of situation

The popularity of blockbuster nature programs

Hybrid forms such as drama-documentary

Reality TV:

Is reality TV a true representation of the real world?  Tend to respect documentaries more than reality TV

Dinosaur documentary - seems real but constructed. Can be problematic. Experts know facts so to a certain extent you could say documentary is true - reflective approach - ISSUES AND DEBATES; many different approaches to texts

Binary Opposite:

the fictional - lies, films the factual - truth documentary & realist films; have more respect because they have actually happened. 

(Biopic genre)

RTV is a hybrid genre - mixed together, more than two genres

What genres does it conflate and why?

comedy

drama

crimes

adventure

documentary - using real footage of real people e.g. honey boo boo video - awkward camera movement

soap opera - e.g. kuwtk video, following multiple narratives, not only about Khloe the series

gamer show - with a price e.g. ANTM

voting - talent shows e.g. x-factor video, gives illusion that we have power to determine winner, while singer performing reaction shot of judges which shapes how we think about song & closeups of audience

transformation - individual/ group/ place e.g. ANTM development of models how they change at the end

symbolic violence - e.g. judge criticizing contestant, causing humiliation e.g. ANTM Tyra looses it video

RTV Debate

RTV is a hot debate when it comes to Public TV

dumbing down debate - alot of RTV shows, no educational value

cable companies broadcast big productions because they make more profit than PSBs

PSBs need to maintain audience share and RTV is an easy way to do it

No actors / real life / super cheap - based on facts, real people mean true representations

By adopting current affair techniques PSBs get away with broadcasting RTV but the question is: does it really meet PSB obligations? 

Activity: RTV Popularity

Any RTV show relates on the inter-relationship with other media texts. Choose any RTV show and find out how it makes use of inter-related media - how is it selling (you can find a list in your p.6)

Voyeurism & Emotional realism - the idea of seeing something private, great appeal of RTV is voyeurism e.g. ANTM models crying. Participants are:

insecure

afraid

sensitive

irritated