Thinking the Exam Through

When you get to the exam you need to be familiar with it.
You should be alert and ready to engage with it.
This way you can respond to the questions as quickly and effectively in the time available.

Look at the June 2013 MS4 past paper you have been given.
You are going to annotate this in order to prepare for the exam.

The first thing you need to be aware of is how long the exam will be.
You have to do three questions in 2 1/2 hours
this means you should be spending 50 minutes per question.
This is the equivalent of the length of a lesson at De La Salle. Not long but long enough.

Time management is crucial and you will need to monitor your time.
Treat each question equally.

It is then a good idea to remind yourself what the paper is about.
Text - Industry - Audience
These concepts are the key focus for this paper.

Put your name, centre number and candidate number in the appropriate boxes

Look at the instructions.
You need to answer three questions
One question is to be answered from Section A
Two questions from Section B

Read this and then decide which case studies will apply.
Section A is on TEXT
We have studied TV industry in preparation for this; Life on Mars, Common and Luther.
Annotate the paper.

Now you should look at the questions and decide which one suits.

First look at A1:

To do this this, look for the command words (Explore in this instance) and decide what they mean, how will you approach your response.
Next look for the key concept (narrative structure here).
We know this is a key term and can write down what it means in relation to our response.
Annotate your paper with ideas for the content of your answer; structuralists - Todorov, Propp, audience positioning through enigmas, ideologies (hegemony), audience pleasures provided by the texts; crime and lawlessness do not pay, the law prevails.

Be sure not to get too wrapped up in theory, we need theory to make sense of how we are going to respond. 
The most important thing to write about in your conclusion is how the text impacts on you the audience.

Next look at A2:

This is a statement so you need to decide if you agree or disagree with it.
You will know if there is a statement to deal with by the 'speech marks' around it.

At A2 you shouldn't be simply agreeing with the statement, the exam board encourage you to contest this kind of statement.
The key term here is mix genres. This is to do with hybridity and the idea that modern audiences are sophisticated enough to deal with things like post modernism.
(In the 70's, programmes like The Sweeney weren't post modern, they weren't funny or skeptical).

Give examples of hybrid genres (Sci-Fi and Crime drama in LoM).

'How true?' is a bit like 'Explore'. These ask you to write discursively.

Again, the exam board remind you to write about three main texts so make sure you do.

Now look at Section B...

Section B is on Industry and Audience and you will answer two questions from this section.

Your choices are wider here and there are four questions to choose from, you can decide which questions to ditch and which to approach.

To do this you should look for the key terms and key concepts.
In this case the key terms are:

B4: Global

B3: Position

B2: Digital technology

B1: You need to define the word 'offer' this is to do with audience gratification and pleasures.
What issues might this raise, write down the meaning of offer, does it set any alarm bells ringing?
It should; identity, uses and gratifications, fandom, collective identity and this should be a question that opens up a lot of avenues for discussion.

Again we are reminded to discuss three main texts, so annotate the paper with music industry, Miley, Madness and Nirvana. Although you could easily apply the ad industry here you should look at the other options and B4 jumps out at us because we have looked at how global texts are in the advertising industry.

 As part of your introductory paragraph you should consider defining the key concept(s) you are dealing with. In the case of B3; positioning could be defined (Stuart Hall) but you need to be prepared to be able to define all the key concepts. This will help you get off to a flying start.

Include some discussion of audience categories - NRS (A, B, C1-C2, D, E), Maslow, 4C's (MARS), Fandom (MAB), Uses and Grats.
Apply these to the texts rather than downloading.

We understand positioning of the audience in relation to the music industry, preferred, negotiated and oppositional responses and ideological messages that are being conveyed through track lists, lyrics, language used, appearance, behaviour and use of social media etc.
If positioning comes up you should be rubbing your hands.

Be sure to consider debates too.

Good luck lads!

Exam Planning - Music Industry and Audiences

Hiya lads. You asked for a summary of audience theory so I have this for you.
Read through, revise, create your own acronyms to remember them (MAB!)

Then do the tasks at the bottom of this page. See you soon. MrE.

Learning Objective: 

To revise Audience theory and apply it to the appropriate texts in preparation for the written A2 Media Studies exam.

Key Terms: 

Passive Audiences; Hypodermic, 

Cultivation, 

Two Step Flow.

Active Audiences; Uses and Gratifications,  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Reception Analysis.

UNDERSTANDING MEDIA AUDIENCES

Researchers investigating the effect of media on audiences have considered the audience in two distinct ways.

Passive Audiences...

The earliest idea was that a mass audience is passive and inactive. 
The members of the audience are seen as couch potatoes just sitting there consuming media texts – particularly commercial television programmes. 
It was thought that this did not require the active use of the brain. 
The audience accepts and believes all messages in any media text that they receive. 
This is the passive audience model.

*************************************************************************

The Hypodermic Model

This deals with the passive audience

In this model the media is seen as powerful and able to inject ideas into an audience who are seen as weak and passive.

It was thought that a mass audience could be influenced by the same message. This appeared to be the case in Nazi Germany in the 1930s leading up to WWII. Powerful German films such as Triumph of the Will seemed to use propaganda methods to ‘inject’ ideas promoting the Nazi cause into the German audience. That is why this theory is known as the Hypodermic model.

It suggests that a media text can ‘inject’ ideas, values and attitudes into a passive audience who might then act upon them. This theory also suggests that a media text has only one message which the audience must pick up.

Basically this theory stems from a fear of the mass media, and gives the media much more power than it can ever have in a democracy. Also it ignores the obvious fact that not everyone in an audience behaves in the same way. 
How can an audience be passive? – Think of all the times you have disagreed with something on television or just not laughed at a new so called comedy, or thought a programme was awful. you weren't passive on these occassions.

*********************************************************************************

Cultivation Theory (George Gerbner 1968)

This theory also treats the audience as passive. 
It suggests that repeated exposure to the same message – such as an advertisement – will have an effect on the audience’s attitudes and values. 
A similar idea is known as densensitisation which suggests that long term exposure to violent media makes the audience less likely to be shocked by violence. 
Being less shocked by violence the audience may then be more likely to behave violently.

The criticism of this theory is that screen violence is not the same as real violence. 
Many people have been exposed to screen murder and violence, but there is no evidence at all that this has lead audiences to be less shocked by real killings and violence. 
Also this theory treats the audience as passive which is an outdated concept.

Gerbner & Gross argued that while religion or education had previously been greater influences on social trends, now "television is the source of the most broadly shared images and messages in history...Television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources ... The repetitive pattern of television's mass-produced messages and images forms the mainstream of a common symbolic environment."Due to its accessibility and availability to the masses, television has become the "central cultural arm of our society."

Television shapes the way our society thinks and relates. Gerbner and Gross write that “the substance of the consciousness cultivated by TV is not so much specific attitudes and opinions as more basic assumptions about the facts of life and standards of judgment on which conclusions are based." 

Simply put, the realities created by television are not based on real facts but on speculations. 

Gerbner observed that television reaches people, on average, more than seven hours a day. 

While watching, television offers “a centralized system of story-telling”. 
Gerbner asserts that television's major cultural function is to stabilize social patterns and to cultivate resistance to change. 
We live in terms of the stories we tell and television tells these stories through news, drama, and advertising to almost everybody most of the time.

Article about Gerbner's death.

Two Step Flow Theory

Katz and Lazarsfeld's theory assume a slightly more active audience. 
It suggests messages from the media move in two distinct ways. 
First, individuals who are opinion leaders, receive messages from the mass media and pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content. 
An interpretation can include the ideology of that particular publication, The Daily Mail, for example, conveys right wing, nationalistic, messages to its readers..

The information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience, but is filtered through the opinion leaders who then pass it on to a more passive audience. The audience then mediate the information received directly from the media with the ideas and thoughts expressed by the opinion leaders, thus being influenced not by a direct process, but by a two step flow.

This theory appeared to reduce the power of the media, and some researchers concluded that social factors were also important in the way in which audiences interpret texts. 
This led to the idea of active audiences.

************************************************************

Active Audiences

This newer model sees the audience not as couch potatoes, but as individuals who are active and interact with the communication process and use media texts for their own purposes. 

We behave differently because we are different people from different backgrounds with many different attitudes, values, experiences and ideas.

This is the active audience model, and is now generally considered to be a better and more realistic way to talk about audiences.

*******************************************************************************

Uses and Gratifications Model

This model stems from the idea that audiences are a complex mixture of individuals who select media texts that best suits their needs – this also links to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. See the image below.

The Uses and Gratifications model suggests that media audiences are active and make active decisions about what they consume in relation to their social and cultural setting and their needs.

This was summed up by theorists Blumier and Katz in 1974;

‘Media usage can be explained in that it provides gratifications (meaning it satisfies needs) related to the satisfaction of social and psychological needs’.

Put simply this means that audiences choose to watch programmes that make them feel good (gratifications) e.g. soaps and sitcoms, or that give them information that they can use (uses) e.g. news or information about new products or the world about them.
This is audience appeal.

Blumier and Katz (1975) went into greater detail and identified four main uses:

Surveillance – our need to know what is going on in the world. This relates to Maslow’s need for security. By keeping up to date with news about local and international events we feel we have the knowledge to avoid or deal with dangers.

Social relationships – our need for to interact with other people. This is provided by forming virtual relationships with characters in soaps, films and all kinds of drama, and other programmes and other media texts.

Personal identity – our need to define our identity and sense of self. Part of our sense of self is informed by making judgments about all sorts of people and things. This is also true of judgments we make about TV and film characters, and celebrities. Our choice of music, the shows we watch, the stars we like can be an expression of our identities. One aspect of this type of gratification is known as value reinforcement. This is where we choose television programmes or newspapers that have similar beliefs to those we hold.

Diversion – the need for escape, entertainment and relaxation. All types of television programmes can be ‘used’ to wind down and offer diversion, as well as satisfying some of the other needs at the same time.

*********************************************************************************

Reception Analysis

Reception analysis is an active audience theory that looks at how audiences interact with a media text taking into account their ‘situated culture’ – this is their daily life. 

The theory suggests that social and daily experiences can affect the way an audience reads a media text and reacts to it.

This theory about how audiences read a text was put forward by Professor Stuart Hall in ‘The television discourse – encoding/decoding’ in 1974 with later research by David Morley in 1980 and Charlotte Brunsden.

He suggests that an audience has a significant role in the process of reading a text, and this can be discussed in three different ways:

1 The dominant or preferred reading. The audience shares or understands the code of the text and fully accepts and understands its preferred meaning as intended by the producers (This can be seen as a hegemonic reading).

2 The negotiated reading. The audience partly shares the code of the text and broadly accepts the preferred meaning, but will change the meaning in some way according to their own experiences, culture and values EG These audience members might argue that some representations – ethnic minorities perhaps – appear to them to be inaccurate.

3 The oppositional reading. The audience understands the preferred meaning but does not share the text’s code and rejects this intended meaning and constructs an alternative meaning. EG This could be a radical reading by a Marxist or feminist who rejects the values and ideology of the preferred reading.

Remember to let the moderator know that you are aware of the audience's level of understanding of the text before they can respond.

**************************************************************

Andrew Goodwin stated that there were three different ways in which the music video can connect back to the song itself . These are: 

Illustration - Amplification - Disjuncture

Illustration- Commonly used. Images illustrate the lyrics.

Illustration is the simplest and easiest concept to base a music video around as it is just a literal meaning to the song’s lyrics in visual form. Owl City have used illustrative ideas in their videos before, for example in Fireflies’ when the artist is singing and as he says ‘fireflies’ the word fireflies comes up on the screen to a little toy gadget.

Amplification-

Amplification is second. The conventions demonstrated by the music video creative director. They may use both performance and narrative, connotations of the meanings.

An example of this is Kanye Wests Homecoming where it does clearly show his home but the audience can work out that the song is homecoming and it is him walking around a city that he knows.

Disjuncture –

Intentionally ignores the content of the song and genre of the music and tries to create a whole new set of meanings. These music videos dont tend to make a lot of sense and can often use abstract imagery. In fat boy slims “praise you” there is no relation from the video to the lyrics.

Andrew Goodwin Music Video Theory A2 Media 

*********************************************************************

    

Task 1: Answer one of the following questions in relation to the music industry texts we have studied (40 minutes)

Q. 1: Explore the different ways your three main texts target their audiences. [30]

Consider discussing the following: 

• Narrative
• Genre
• Characters
• Stars/celebrities
• Language and mode of address
• Visual, technical and audio codes
• Links to websites

Remember that it is the industry, not the text, which is targeting the audience. 
The points you cover may also include references to:

• Trailers, 
• Pseudo events (red carpet, chat shows, This is your life)
• Magazine features
• Social networking sites

*****************************************************************

Q. 2: Explore the different ways audiences interact with your three main texts. [30]

Higher grade candidates (like you) should be dealing with the explore part of the question. 

In general terms audiences interact with texts by using them and by taking advantage of other interactive opportunities. Audience responses could also be considered part of audience interaction

Consider discussing the following: 

• Via social media
• Through fan sites
• Through magazines
• At live concerts

************************************************************************

This task should be completed handwritten in your orange books and completed during period six.

**************************************************************************

Further reading:

Most media texts target a wide range of audiences, how true is this of your chosen text?
My first studied text is the series five edition of 'Mad men', specifically the episode 'The Other Woman'.  Matthew Weiner intended his award winning series to be targetted at people aged 25+ of a certain standard of education with specific relations or interests in things such as the business world, historical context or realistic plotlines.
'Most media texts target a wide range of audiences' is not true of this chosen text. The series is only aired on the subscription channels 'AMC' and 'Sky Atlantic' and so for viewers to tune in to watch it, they must be paying for that channel. This immediately defines 'Mad Men's' audience as niche.
Furthermore, the plotlines of each episode is not subject matter that would interest everyone, and does not gratify their audience through escapism, for example, it deals with issues of feminism in the 60's which aids historical content and so therefore limits the people that will feel gratified from this. Also, the slow pace scenes and minimal non-diegetic sound reinforce the sense of realism causing unintended audiences to lose interest, but simultaneously engaging their preferred group by giving them more ways to relate to it to their own life.

More on audiences

Exam Planning - Ad industry and Regulation

Section B: Industry and Audience.
We are using the advertising industry to prepare for and to concentrate mainly on the industry question.
You should discuss three main advertising campaigns, not just single adverts.

Advertising key areas:

The aim of advertisers, whatever the product, is to persuade their audience, this is why advertising is often called the art of persuasion. Advertisements are usually created and produced by advertising agencies whose job it is to market research and come up with creative ideas.

Some campaigns do not use agencies and are produced in house, this may be the case for high profile, financially secure brands although they may recruit agencies to help them with something viral marketing.

Here are some strategies used by advertisers.

Use this terminology when you can but only when it is relevant, don't just 'shoehorn' it in.

Hard sell: This is aggressive, in your face marketing. Hard sell television adverts are usually short and loud. They give the audience clear information about the product, it's price if relevant and what it does.

Soft sell: These advertisements sell the audience a lifestyle, the product is often not the main focus of the advert and may only appear at the end as an iconic representation.

These adverts are often narrative based.

Celebrity endorsement: using an iconic celebrity to tell the audience how good the product is or persuading them to donate money. Other types of endorsement use ordinary people, as audiences are often convinced if they see someone more like themselves using the product or service. (B&Q).

Language and mode of address: The advert might use hyperbolic, emotive or persuasive language to sell the product or service. Catchy slogans or jingles can be an important element of advertising.

Demonstrative action: seeing the product in use, for example a cleaning product, can persuade an audience of its efficiency.

Ideology and messages: some adverts convey messages about what effect the product can have on the audiences.

Key terms: 

Advertising spokesperson: In advertising terms, this is someone who is employed to promote, speak about and be the face of the brand. The are usually high profile celebrities who will have audience appeal, for example Keira Knightley.

Buzz marketing: This can also be termed more simply buzz and is the term for word of mouth marketing. It is the interaction of consumers which creates a positive association, excitement or anticipation about a product or a service.

Globalization: Imagine the vast spectrum of all the cultures in the world. Listen to the music—from the gentle drum beats of Africa, to the melodic didgeridoo of Australia, to the scream of the electric guitar. Taste the curry from India, the coconut milk from Thailand, the cheeseburger from the United States. Now imagine that all these cultures are compressed into one super-culture.

Global brand: For a brand to become global depends on whether or not it generates a certain amount of sales outside its home country.

Links 4 U!

Coco Mademoiselle 1 | Coco Mademoiselle 2 |

Dove 1 | Dove 2 |

PP 1 | PP 2 |

ASA Stuff - Know why people complain about ads and who deals with those complaints

Things to remember for this section:

Advertising campaign - This is a co-ordinated series of linked advertisements with a clear recognisable theme. It will be broadcast across a range of different platforms.

Brand identity - This is the association the audience make with the brand, for example Chanel. This is built up over time and reinforced by the advertising campaigns and their placement.
For example, Chanel produces campaigns with high production values which appear in expensive, glamorous magazines. 

Part of their brand identity is their choice of spokesperson, for example Kiera Knightley.

Chanel appeals to audiences through, female empowerment and are actually selling a lifestyle because it is simply quite difficult to advertise a smell.

Iconic representation - The actual image of the product appears in the advert so that the audience knows what it looks like, for example a perfume bottle.

__________________________________________________________________________

PP - Paddy Power is an international betting and gaming group founded in 1988. Its unconventional approach to betting and gaming includes the simple vision that interacting with Paddy Power should be entertaining, fun and fair.

But with their core audience comprising men in their twenties and thirties, Paddy Power knew that their customer base was likely to be made up of smartphone users, so by not offering mobile betting the company stood to deny themselves a major competitive advantage. 

Paddy Power's marketing is all about mischief, PR and press coverage. This has gotten them into trouble with the ASA (Blind football - be ready to discuss this case, how many complaints ASA response).

PP are marketing a service here rather than a product.

________________________________________________________________________

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was started after Dove conducted a global study on beauty. The study called, The Real Truth About Beauty: A World Report confirmed that the definition for beauty had narrowed and was impossible to attain. Dove found that:

• Just 12 % of women are very satisfied with their physical attractiveness
• Only 2 % of women describe themselves as beautiful
• 68 % strongly agree that the media sets an unrealistic standard of beauty
• 75 % wish the media did a better job in portraying the diversity of women's physical attractiveness, including size and shape, across all ages

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched by Unilever in 2004 that includes advertisements, video, workshops, sleepover events, the publication of a book and the production of a play.

Dove are selling some soap.

Although it can be said that Dove are almost not selling a product, but a lifestyle behind it and the woman herself.

Consider using these terms:

Aspiration
Personal identity
Decoding messages
Denotations
Connotations

Dove launched ads celebrating curvy women and older women. 
While most brands focus on the importance of the product itself, Dove’s key message was the importance of every woman feeling good about herself. (Compare to Coco Mademoiselle with a different key message about luxury helping women to feel empowered).

_____________________________________________________________________

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle campaign

This campaign is a multi-layered advertising and promotional campaign comprising a series of print advertisements, two TV adverts, interactive digital performance adverts and a high profile promotion of the campaign itself. For this reason, it is a rich example to study for A level.

There have been two linked campaigns, both using Keira Knightly as the spokesperson for the brand. These were created and produced in house by Chanel. In 2007 there were a few print advertisements and a television advert and in 2011 there were two print adverts and an extended television advert. In 2007 and 2011, there were also other promotional films broadcast before and during the campaign.

In order to illustrate how Chanel marketed their product as luxurious and GLOBAL, indicate the high profile figures that were involved.

Keira Knightley - spokesperson (say how Knightley's previous film roles would attract audiences)

Joss Stone

Mario Testino

Coco Chanel's apartment

Paris

Ducati

Lagerfeld as designer

Joe Wright as director.

__________________________________________________________________________

Task: Work in pairs to brainstorm key figures and events in the ad campaigns we looked at.

_________________________________________________________________________

Exam Planning - TV industry - Text (Genre, Narra and Rep)

The exam will ask you to discuss Texts. (Genre, Narrative and Representation)
You should approach this with consideration given to the TV Industry texts we have looked at; Luther, LoM and Common.
You will need to show good knowledge of the narrative devices used in TV crime drama with specific references to the shows we have looked at.

_________________________________________________________________

TV Industry - Narrative

Crime has always been a popular TV drama narrative because:

• The good vs evil binary opposition is easily recognisable and dramatic.
• We like to try to solve the crime along with the detective, enigmas keep us hooked.
• The disruption (crime) and restoration of equilibrium (capture and punishment) offers reassurance that the police keep our society safe and that the government will protect us.
• Dominant (hegemonic) ideologies are upheld - crime and lawlessness do not pay, the law prevails.
• These are audience pleasures provided by this format.

Task 1: 

Consider the question below

How do the narrative devices in your chosen texts offer audience pleasures?

Write bullet points based on the TV crime dramas we have looked at (Common, Luther and Life on Mars) with regards to narrative devices.

____________________________________________________________________

TV Industry - Genre

How do the chosen texts use genre conventions?

You should open your response by outlining what is to be understood by the genre conventions of TV Crime drama.

Give consideration to the following:
Settings, usually well known places or cities which are dangerous places.
Titles, can give a clue to the genre, CSI, Sherlock, Sweeney. 

Mise-en-scene can include genre conventions, blood, X-Rays, weapons, fingerprints, police tape, sirens or cars...(discuss the Luther titles here).

Characters are divided into types; crime solvers, criminals, victims. 

Propp's characters can usually be applied here. Say how the different types can be identified, white coats, stethescopes, rubber gloves for forenzic experts. Say that these stereotypes are expected.

That they are cliches used to get a message across quickly.

At the end of the episode/series the crime is solved and the criminal usually is punished. 

Lead characters will often have a back story, and will weave their personal life in to the narrative. There is usually mystery involved, or some sort of puzzle, so that the audience can try to figure it out themselves. 

Almost always ends on a cliffhanger to keep the audience watching the next episode. 
Binary opposites are often used to keep the audience interested.
Don't forget audio codes such as sirens and often a humming sound to make the audience uncomfortable.

Consider the ideological implications of conforming or challenging the standard conventions of TV crime drama.

Be specific about the episode we looked at: LoM - Genre | Luther - Genre | Common - Genre

Task 2: 

Write bullet points based on the TV crime dramas we have looked at (Common, Luther and Life on Mars) with regards to genre conventions. 

Consider if the shows conform or challenge the conventions of the genre.

_____________________________________________________________________

TV Industry - Representation

Understanding the concept of representation is essential at A2 level. 

You must be able to go beyond a simplistic discussion of stereotypes or positive and negative representations.

To analyse the impact of representation in media texts you must be aware of the context and the purpose of representation within the text. There are some key questions you must be able to consider:

• How has the world represented in this media text been constructed?
• What ideas and values are being communicated in the text? In this case by McGovern and the BBC.
• Who is the target audience of the text? How may different audiences respond to the representations contained within the text? Who will accept and who will challenge? (Consider Stuart hall here - Preferred, negotiated and oppositional readers).
• What messages are contained within the text? How might these messages impact upon the audience?  How might Common, for example, impact upon a teenage viewer?

Crime and the police

Let the examiner know that you are aware of how characters are usually represented in TV crime drama.

Some dominant ideologies about the police:

• Good
• Authoritative
• Powerful
• Male
• Moral
• Upholders of the law

Equally, dominant ideologies about crime and criminals are:

• Bad
• Marginalised groups (the unemployed)
• Must be punished
• Social decay

However, gradual changes in society, coupled with certain events (Hillsborough) have led to a gradual erosion of respect for authority and different perceptions of the police have emerged...

• Incompetent
• Corrupt
• Racist
• Female

Luther - Representation | Common - Representation | LoM - Rep |

Task 3: 

Consider how representation of age and gender are constructed through visual and technical codes.

Do the texts we have looked at show positive or negative representations and show an awareness of the context and the purpose of representation within the text.