Media AS

Need to target audience to ensuire that their prodcuts sell in a competivite marketing 

Needs to be aware of the audience 

Need to include features in the text that will encourage the audience to take an interest in the topic

Different strategies to appeal to different audiences

Aim of some texts is to sppeal to a niche audience others want a broader audience

The way the text is constructed is to help a specific target audience 

Audiences are non homonoegous 

They are fluent and every changing

Flexible is their strategies

Producers may include several audience appeals to promote to the widest audience possible

Media convergerence- cutlurally competent audience 

Non homonegenous 

Fluent and ever changing 

Producers must be flexible in the messages they encode

Audiences can be categorised through literal and theoretical responses (Stuart Hall)- reception theory 

Targeting audieces to take a preferred reading

Narrative is the way a story is told

contructed through visual, technical and audio codes

Theory- Todrovian linear structure 

Proppian characters and binary opposites

All media texts have narrative structure 

Producers may use narrative codes to allow for audience appeal 

Media texts like magazines and television programmes offer the audience versions of reality 

representations are contructions not a "window on the world"

representation is constructed by messages and ideas, that the producers want to convey

Linked to expectations of target audience 

Way a producer advertisers and promotes a media text

done through methods such as, print based adverts and TV adverts

For a more contemporary audience, digital marketing is more effective 

Way of categorising media texts through the construction of conventions from identifiable narrive, technical and visual codes

the purpose is to allow easy indentification of a films audience 

Producers may include conventions from several genres, creating hybrid genre

Process whereby a media text is assessed to ensure it is fit for purpose and audience

purpose is to protect against vulnerable audiences or users against uncoded messages

advertising industry regulatory body is the ASA ( ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY)

they have responsibility of censoring or sanctioning a products marketing methods

also monitor and respond to complaints made by the public 

Use of colour 

Iconography

Gesture

Expression 

Mise-en-scene

Use of graphics

Images

The look 

Lighting 

Camera shots 

camera angles 

camera movement 

lighting 

editing-pace, special effects 

graphics 

Sound effects 

music 

dialouge 

voice-overs 

Non-diagetic/diagetic 

Skyfall- women 

Eve / Moneypenney –

·         Bond’s equal

·         In control - opening scene with control of a high speed vehicle and use of weaponry such as a sniper.

Severine –

·         Sexual object - seen in a tight, low cut, red dress in the casino which oversexualises her and places her in the male gaze submissive to men – Bond sneaks up behind her in the shower with no questions asked 

Skyfall 

Bond –

·         Vulnerable - during the film we see his physical decline and he is represented as vulnerable. This is done by using several close up shots of Bond during physical testing which show his tired facial expressions. He also for the first time has trouble shooting accurately.

·         Alpha male – dress code of suit and removing the shrapnel from his arm

Silva –

·         Vulnerable - At one point he is held captive and trapped inside a cage. During this scene he expresses how he tried to kill himself with a cyanide pill but didn’t succeed, “I couldn’t even kill myself”.

·         Dominant - “Not bad for a physical wreck” to Bond before crashing a train into a tunnel to show his full power.  

Breaking Bad 

Lydia-

·         Femme fetale character of Lydia (dress code and visual appearance). “We’re not doing business with him” – sinister plans for Walt. She ultimately dies having been poisoned by Walt, the final role of a true femme fetale

Skyler –

·         Mother – Skyler is protective of her children as she doesn’t want Walt near them

·         Emotional – Skyler is shown to cry throughout her conversation with Walt

·         Caring and nurturing – even though they are no longer together, Skyler remarks Walt looks “terrible” in a worried tone

Breaking Bad 

Walt –

·         Independent – Walt announces that he didn’t commit all of his crimes for the family – “I did it for me” and “I was alive”. This shows that he has embraced his alter ego of Heisenberg.

·         Violent – plots to kill the Neo-Nazi gang holding Jesse captive by constructing a device in the boot of his car

·         Father – “Before I go, may I see her?” as Walt sees his daughter, Hollie. He cries in a medium close up showing his regret and pain

 Elliott –

·         Elliott as a weak ‘new man’ and as a “beautiful” person – not being able to protect his household from Walt

Chanel 

Kiera Knightley –

·         Independent – we see her mounting a motorbike, iconography usually associated with a man suggesting power and control. This is reinforced when she races away from the other men on motorbikes at the traffic lights

·         Temptress – we are positioned as the photographer looking down through the camera lens and looking directly into her face, close-ups of lips and face are very sensual combined with the soft focus lighting and soundtrack, stereotypical behaviour of the temptress as she leads him and the audience along

Sexual object – dress code of tight fitting, leather cat suit. Use of lower angle shots which focus on her bottom and place her in the male gaze. 

Photographer –

·         The photographer is initially presented as in control of the space; however, in the shot where the clothes rail moves up and they walk towards the audience, she is in the front and he is behind.

·         Submissive – he obeys without question her commands to send the others away and lock the door

·         Weak - the long shot of him running to the open window shows his desperation and confusion, as does the final shot we have of him looking down at her from the balcony before she rides away

Submarine 

Oliver –

• Stereotypical teenage boy - The blue walls and the messy, cluttered manner of Oliver’s bedroom gives the audience a preconceived idea that Oliver is a stereotypical teenage boy, shown when the camera pans round his room in the opening scene.
• Moody and depressive - this can be seen in Oliver’s glum state, for example when he is sat staring out the window in the opening. 

Jordana –

• Reckless - This can be seen through her love of arson (we see her setting fire to Oliver’s leg hair and starting fires on wasteland). It is also seen through her lack of judgement about bullying which she finds to be funny; this is evident when she is sat on a bench laughing as Chips bullies Zoe.

Bully - conforming to the typical representation of teenagers. She joins in with Oliver and Chip’s and takes Zoe’s bag. After Zoe falls in the water, Jordana runs away showing she doesn’t care about the consequences of her actions. 

Graham –

·         Fun – occupation as a mystic, dress code, big hairstyle

Lloyd –

• Middle-aged family man - in terms of dress code he spends a lot of time in a cardigan and brown dressing down; stereotypical of older men.
• Moody - The brown dressing can also represent his increasing depressive state.
• Awkward repressed father - “I once ripped my vest off in front of a woman and er, it was effective actually”.

Representation of men: Opening sequence: Godlike- Sherlock is shown superimposed in post-production over the time lapsed city, showing him as omnipresent and omniscient. Sherlock Holmes- Iconic prop of the deerstalker hat and the old style mise en scene of leather chairs and bookshelves contrast with the urban and modern backdrop of the city, this could also represent national identity. Geek- Medium shot of Sherlock using a microscope and a close up of him conducting an experiment using a pipette shows his intellect. Episode- Sherlock is represented as an alpha male- breaking through glass in a long shot and kissing Molly. Stereotypical male detective- dishevelled dress code of a shirt and tie. Sherlock is ‘crying’ and Watson emotionally gives his forgiveness whilst they are preparing for death, potentially representing them as weak males.

Mrs Hudson-

·         Forgetful- ‘Oh no, you don’t take sugar do you?’

·         Stereotypical older woman - dress code of a cardigan, rubber gloves and an apron shown in a medium shot.

·         Brave - she confronts a ‘home invader’ with a pan. Challenging stereotypes, she is accepting of homosexuality through her discussions with Watson.

Watson –

·         The moustache ‘ages’ Watson- negative connotations of dialogue. ‘He looks ancient. I can’t be seen wandering around with an old man!’ 

Breaking Bad 

Drugs

·         Throughout the series, drugs are represented in terms of death and mayhem – in ‘Felina’ the drug cartel are seen carrying weaponary like guns

·         Gretchen remarks that she isn’t happy having ‘drug money’ a phrase which she spits at Walt, showing her disgust in drugs

·         Red herring with the introduction of Jesse in this episode – use of out of focus camera suggests a drug induced state

·         Broken mirrors and squalor of the old family home with ‘Heisenberg’ graffiti on the wall – shows the effects of drugs and the drug business and can show drug users as ‘hooligans’ due to the vandalism.

As Walt is bleeding to death for him wound, he takes a final walk around the lab where he felt finally ‘alive’, and pats the tanks, his partners. Walt is reflected in the tank as he falls to the floor, suggesting that it was the drug business that finally killed him – dangerous and ultimately fatal 

Pride

Homophobia

·         “No swastikas, is it me or are the police getting soft?” Mark’s question shows the reactions towards the gay community from ‘professionals’

·         Inequality for the gay community in terms of ag of sexual consent “16 for breeders, 21 for the gays”

·         AIDS is an “anally injected death sentence” according to Joe’s brother in law making a joke of a very serious issue - disrespectful

·         Maurine’s son invading the gathering “Go back to where you came from!”

·         Derogatory terms of Pits and Perverts but they take this name and use it to their advantage

·         Bricks and fireworks thrown through the shop window

·         Joe being shouted at by his loving family for being gay

·         Ultimately, of course, the film represents homosexuality as something to be proud of, something to shout about, hence the loud hailer graphic of the title on all the promotional material.

·         “Are all vegetarians lesbians?” – using stereotypes for humorous effect due to the comedy genre 

Barnardo’s life story – Ellie 2014

Child abuse

·         Cut editing draws parallels between and juxtaposes stage fright and being scared to speak out about being a victim of child abuse

·         Emotive shot of medium close up of her face to show tears in her eyes to provoke empathy from the audience – emotionally harmful

·         Diegetic dialogue “I’m not worth it” – damaging to mental health and self esteem

·         Crescendo of non-diegetic music when Ellie is shown to be vulnerable

·         Calm non-diegetic string music connotes sadness

·         On-screen text on caption card reads “help us” – desperate

The audience and camera is positioned with the support worker from the start suggesting she is un-supported and helpless. Through the split-narrative we also see the huge number of people supporting the young boy (audience and teacher) compared to the one support worker.