Representation - An introduction

1)

• American Men
• American Women
• European Men
• Teenage girls

2)

American Men - A dominant portrayal because they are shown to be the stronger, smarter of the characters with a extensive rage of skills. They play the 'hero' role.

American Women - A dominant portrayal because they are shown to be helpless and weak towards the 'hero' when attempting to physically help with the situation about her daughter. She is shown as more 'feminine'.

European Men - A dominant portrayal because based off true, real world events between Europe and the US, they are seen as the villain of the two. Again being one of the smarter characters with a more 'masculine' aura.

Teenage girls - A dominant portrayal because they are shown to be weak and helpless in any given physical situation. Even if they struggle, there is no difference. They are vulnerable and always need someone to save them from something. They play the 'princess' role.

3)

• The father is shown as a very stereotypical 'masculine' character. Strong, smart and brave. The hero of movie who saves the 'princess' character.
• The teenage girl is vulnerable and weak to the other characters. She is in need of aid from the 'hero' character.
• The mother is shown as an emotional wreak in the movie. A very typical 'feminine' character trait among many movies. She wants to help but isn't smart or strong enough.

Updated index

Introduction to Media: 10 questions

Media Consumption Audit

Language: Reading an image - advert analyses


Reception theory

Semiotics: Icons, Indexes and symbols

Genre: Factsheets and genre study 

Narrative: Factsheet Questions

Audience classification

October assessment learner response

Audience theory 1

Audience theory 2

Audience theory: Media effects factsheet

Industries: Ownership and control

Industries: Hesmondhalgh - The cultural Industries

Industries: Public service Broadcasting

Regulation

Brand values

Representation: Introduction - Taken trailer analysis

Representation: Theory - MM article and application of theory

Representation: Feminism - Everyday Sexism & Fourth Wave MM article 

Representation: Feminist theory

January assessment learner response

Representing ourselves: Identity in the online age - MM article & Factsheet

Ideology: BBC Question Time analysis and binary opposition

Ideology: MM reading on ideology and the wider media

Brand values

Brand 1 - Bicycle:

100 words: Bicycle is a playing card brand. In terms of Dyer's lines of appeal, I think that Bicycle could be put into the art, culture and history section. One reason is because all cards have a back design which is the personal artwork of someone. Bicycle decks also have many variants. For example, you have the Styx, the kasa, the Matcha and the most common Rider backs. In addition, playing cards date back to AD1000 which is extremely long ago allowing it to fit into the history aspect of this section. History builds culture therefore making it fit all 3 categories.

10 words: A historical, widely know and creative piece of artwork.

1 word: Creative.


Brand 2 - Bershka:

100 words: Bershka is a clothing brand. In terms of Dyer's lines of appeal, I think that Bershka could be put into the self importance and pride section. One reason is because how you dress can show a lot about your personality and can change people's different first impressions of you. Bershka being a fashion brad must always be selling items up to date with fashion for you to purchase. Furthermore, everyone takes pride in how they dress themselves. We care for how we look. If someone feels like they dressed well, it will possibly boost their self confidence up a bit.

10 words: A fashionable brand to boost self confidence and to look good.

1 word: Improving.


Brand 3 - Cathy Pacific:

100 words: Cathy Pacific is an airline brand. As an airline brand, it has a duty to take passengers from one place to another. In terms of Dyer's lines of appeal, I think Cathy Pacific could be put into the  Glamorous places section. One reason is because because you are leaving one place to visit another place with a different history, culture, way of life etc. Every place has it's own beauty in some way so by providing a service to take a number of passengers to a designated place they wish to visit allows the passengers to see different glamorous places.

10 words: Airline brand to take passengers to explore the world.

1 word: Travel.


Innocent brand:

Innocent is a drink brand in which people relate to healthiness and natural. Based on this, I would put Innocent under the nature and the natural world section. Coca-Cola on the other hand is known for being a unhealthy and sugary fizzy drink which harms the body. If Coca-Cola decides to take over innocent then to some people this may damage their healthy association causing a risk for them to no longer belong in the nature and natural world section. I am personally not affected as long as Coca-Cola does not intend to change the way innocent is made and worked with. If that point is clarified then to me, it doesn't matter if innocent is bought over by Coca-Cola.

Regulation

1. Regulation is a rule or directive made and maintained by an authority : Systems of regulation are required to provide rules and regulations to ensure that organisations operate fairly. In the media industry there are several regulatory bodies that exist to monitor the way that their industries work.                                                                                                                                
2. OFCOM is the Office of Communication. They are responsible for regulating television, radio, telephone services and some aspects of the internet. They are also responsible for granting licenses to TV and Radio station. Finally, they also handle complaints about any programme content through the Broadcasting Code.                                                                                          
3. I think that sections 1, 3 and 8 are the most important. I choose section one because it concerns the well being of young children. As children, they tend to be nurtured very easily so protecting them from any bad media products for their age group would be considered helpful and useful. As for section 3, even though crime has been on the decrease, the number of crimes committed is still quite high and the media has grown so much that some people are swayed from watching something crime related which makes them go a bit insane which then resolves with them committing a crime. Section 8 is all about privacy, I think I chose this one party because of my personal mindset. To me, privacy means a lot, to understand someone's privacy and to respect it is important. Viewers at home want reassurance that their privacy isn't being taken away from them if they're watching a particular show so to be able to keep their privacy is something I feel that every broadcaster should have to do.                                                              
4. I agree with OFCOM because not every child will sleep before 6:55pm on any day especially a Sunday when they've just had a weekend of fun ad are now hyperactive (in other words, it isn't certain that they will sleep at a given time). Even if they're is a warning sign at the start of the movie for violence, not everyone tunes in from the start, some families come in maybe halfway through to see a fight and maybe the death of someone.                                                                
5. - Privacy         - Discrimination         - Accuracy         - Children        - Victims of sexual assault                                                                                                            
6. The Press Complaints Commission were criticised for the lack of statutory power. This means they do not have the power to force a particular response from a newspaper agency when they have done something wrong. The best the sufferer would get is most likely an apology from them and nothing more.                                                                                                                    
7. The Leveson enquiry was a judicial public enquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press where a series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012. This was held because of the International phone hacking scandal.                                                               
8. The PCC (Press Complaints Commission) was replaced by the IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) on the 8th of September 2018.                                                                 

Public broadcasting Service

Ofcom report:

1. The report suggest that on demand watching has grown in popularity meaning that more people are choosing to use online streaming services instead of going on their actual television to watch series, movies or news. Accessibility of smart TVs, smart phones and tablets have increased over time.                                                                                                                         
2. The amount of time spent used watching stuff varies between younger and older viewers. Viewers aged 65+ watched 3 minutes less of broadcast tv in 2016 than in 2012 whereas younger viewers watched 43 minutes less. Between the years 2015-16, the average daily viewing among children of ages 16-24 fell by 10 minutes. On the other hand, people over the age of 64 increased by 2 minutes.                                                                                                    
3. The report tells us that viewers do end up satisfied with the public service broadcasting tv channels. The report says that 'Overall, 78% of regular or occasional viewers of any PSB channel claim to be satisfied with PSB broadcasting, significantly higher than in 2015 (73%).'    
4. PSB channels spent 276 million pounds in 2016.

Goldsmiths report:

1. Despite  retaining their prominence, PSB channels have had their market share reduced. Since sky has came out, it has made a major positive effect on pay television. In addition, new technology is coming out at a fast rate letting on-demand access to television content.                 
2. If public service broadcasters meet the obligations of their licenses, their content should be guaranteed prominence on electronic programme guides, smart TVs and on the interfaces of on-demand players as they emerge.                                                                                                 
3. The report suggests that the BBC is the most important players in the television market. The BBC is at risk of technological advancements and it is damaging competitors. They believe that the BBC should be encouraged to purse networked innovation and opportunities provided by modern technology. On the other hand, their licence fee is vulnerable and they may need to try and look for other sources of funding to make sure they survive in the market.                             
4. The BBC should be funded with a more progressive funding mechanism like a tiered platform-neutral household fee, a supplement to council Tax or funding via general taxation with appropriate parliamentary safeguards.                                                                                             
5. Channel 4 is a very unique aspect to public service broadcasting. It supports the independent production sector and produce content aimed mainly at diverse audiences. Its remit has remained flexible and it has moved with the times. But it has cut programme spending; it abandoned arts programming and has been criticised for not producing enough content for older children. Not long ago, Channel 4 has been threatened with privatisation.                                                           
6. One thing Channel 4 should do is start to create more content for older children. They should also restore arts programmes. Lastly, Channel 4 should not be privatised.                                     
7. New and other digital now contain certain aspects of public service broadcasting. For example, Sky, Netflix or Amazon all have aspects of public service broadcasters whether it be on demand services or the accessibility of them.

Final questions:

1. I believe that the BBC should be kept running for a f ew reasons. Firstly, there are still a huge number of people who wake up at 6 to watch the news to find out not only what's going around in the world but also the weather, the sports and any news that may affect them. Secondly, the BBC has been around for a long time in order to 'inform, educate and entertain', so far, they have been able to uphold that for so long and I believe they will be able to in the future also. Lastly, the BBC is very well known and trusted name. When people see BBC they don't see it as fake news but instead as something they know that they can trust and believe what they are being told. Especially in todays society where there is so much false news that is going out freely.                                                                                                                                                 
2. Like question 1, I believe that there is a role in the 21st century for the BBC because of all the fake news that is constantly being spread on the internet. People need a source that they can truly believe in and trust. Without this reliable source, things in the world could get quite uncontrollable where you could hear 7 or 8 different versions of the same story.                          
3. I believe that the current BBC funding model should not be changed because they are currently earning enough to keep it running and as a news company, they aim is not to make profit but to let people see what is going on in the world today. Just from license fees alone they earn quite a bit of money. To change their funding model would be their intentions of 'inform, educate and entertain' is sort of no longer the same as now they are only doing it to earn money.

The Cultural Industries

What does the term 'cultural industries' actually refer to?

The creation, production and distribution of products of cultural or artistic nature.


What does Hesmondhalgh identify regarding the societies in which the cultural are highly profitable?

Societies are encouraging cultural industries to become more successful ad profitable due to a public demand for ew technology and media content.


Why do some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society?

The media is not regulated which means that media products which go against capitalism and inequalities in society are becoming more acceptable to the people. The media is also evolving, views are changing and people are not only sharing media to show one side of the argument but both sides. It acts as a sort of education to the public about the world today.


Look at page 2 of the factsheet. What are the problems that Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to the cultural industries?

• Risky businesses
• Creativity versus commerce
• High production costs/ low reproduction costs
• Semi-public goods

Why are so many cultural industries a 'risky business' for the companies involved?

Audiences use cultural commodities in a highly volatile and unpredictable ways. Without a set way of using cultural commodities, it is hard for companies to work out a strategy to overcome this. In addition to risks stemming from the consumption which has been worsened by limited autonomy. cultural industry companies are being reliant on other culture industry companies to make audiences aware of their new products.

What is you opinion on the creativity vs commerce debate? Should the media be all about profit or are media products a form of artistic expression that play an important role in society?

I personally believe that media products should be see as a form of art as the creator takes his or her time to plan out and exert so much mental and physical energy to produced something for the people in the world to enjoy. The whole media product is made from their mind just like any other artist work. Drawings, paintings, music are all forms of art because they all come from someone's mind and heart. Although in society today, media is not put out for artistic expression but more for profit making, I hope that changes in the future.

How do cultural industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits? (Clue: your work on industries - ownership and control will help here).

Ways that industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits include:

• conglomerate ownership
• diversification
• integration

Industry companies buy over their competition in order to minimise risks because they now have one less competitor. Companies also expand and diversify so they don't have to outsource certain aspects of a media product ad can maximise profits by producing it internally.

Do you agree that the way the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society? Should the content creators, the creative minds behind media products, be better rewarded for their work?

I believe that the person or people who gave the idea should be given more rewards and more recognition because it came from them after all. Without them, the company wouldn't have anything to put out in the first place. The only reason the creators had to go to a company to release their work is because they don't financially have the power to release their work. If they had the money, they could be doing exactly what the big companies are doing.

Listen and read the transcript to the opening 9 minutes of the Freakonomic podcast - No Hollywood Ending for the Casual-Effects Industry. Why has the visual effects industry suffered despite the huge budgets for most Hollywood movies?

The visual effects industry was initially a marketing point for films, however, as time goes on, it became more of a normality for film makers to use visual effects in movies to create realistic scenes or unrealistic scenes made realistic. 

What is commodification?

Commodification is the action or process of treating something as a mere commodity (transformation of goods, services, ideas and people into objects of trade).

Do you agree with the argument that while there are a huge number of media texts created, they fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society?

I agree with the argument that a huge number of media texts are created not to show how diverse we are but in order to solely earn profit. They put out things that people want to see which do not show the world what the true problem of todays society is. On the other hand, this does not apply to every media product being put out. For example, The Hate You Give is a film which concerns the problem of inequality towards black people in the world today. Movies like that is what we should be aiming to put out so that people can actually start thinking about these problems and how to solve them. People are always saying how we have equality now but truth is we don't. Day in day out we see racist, sexism etc. In major Hollywood films, most actors are white and most villains are played by black people. This again shows how diversity is clearly not shown in movies. Even the biggest movies aren't showing what the problem is, how can smaller movies with less power show it?

How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Identify the three most significant developments and explain why you think they are the most important.

1. Formation of a group between strong IT and tech companies working with cultural industries. Companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft are now more powerful maybe to the point they are equal to some traditional companies such as Sony or news corporation. I think that this is important because as time goes on, technology is evolving and becoming more accessible to the public meaning it is more often used compared to other ways.
2. Digitalisation. The internet and mobile devices have allowed huge amounts of the population to gain access to different cultural content. I think that this is important because it means you only need 1 copy of something in order to let millions of people access it. For example, Netflix is a software that allows you to stream different series or movies. Although there is only 1 Netflix, they have huge numbers of users meaning that through that one software, millions of people are able to watch series and movies.
3. Cultural industries are realising and understanding he growing role and influence of the audience there is greater emphasis on marketing and research. I think this is important because it shows that the production of media isn't solely for profit anymore.  It allows more creativity and it allows differentiation within the same genre. Different movies are targeted at different demographics and psychographics.