Unit 1 - Media Products and Audiences

 LO6 - Evaluate legal, ethical and regulatory issues associated with media products. Violent Films - It (15) - only a small amount of blood, doesn't need to be as high but does contain swearing - Saw (R) - Crawl (R) - lots of blood but no other violent content - The Joker (15) -  - Home Alone (PG) - suitable due to violent content but comedy Impact of Media The Hypodermic Needle Theory Packard's Hypodermic Syringe theory discusses the audience as being passive and the negative impact of mass media products with reference to persuasive advertising. Passive Audience Theory Mass media is able to inject ideas into people's heads and reinforces the idea that audiences have limited resistance to media messages. There is concern about the copycat effects as it assumes that the audience will copy whatever they see. Gerbner and Gross' cultivation theory suggests that over time, repetition of viewing violent acts allows certain ideas and values to become normalised. By repetitive...

 LO5 - Evaluate research data used by media institutions.  When a product is very successful, it is likely to have a spin off or several sequels. This helps for the audience to watch new shows with similar interests and expands the market possibilities. However, this is reliant on audience feedback. Products with spin offs or sequels: Twilight - 4 other movies Doctor Who - Torchwood, Class, Sarah-Jane Adventures Toy Story - 1-4 Finding Nemo - Finding Dory  Jumanji - remake

LO5 - Evaluate research data used by media institutions Using social media for audience feedback: Pros - lots of people talking about it, brings more attention, helps to gain specific improvements from biggest fans Cons - criticisms may discourage people from watching the film Marvel Trailer for Black Widow The Marvel teaser trailer for Black Widow was released on their YouTube channel on December 3rd 2019 and has gained over 44 million views with 1.5 million likes but 45 thousand dislikes. The comment section within this trailer allows for people to talk about their excitement about the film - clearly being marvel fans and recognising Black Widow from previous films. Furthermore, due to the movie being postponed because of coronavirus, jokes are made in the comment section about the movie being pushed back while allowing people to interact with each other about the excitement and create more hype. When Black Widow is searched into YouTube, the majority of the review videos are posit...

 LO5 - Evaluate research data used by media institutions. Primary Research - research collected by the media researcher for the sole purpose of the media product. eg. survey, interview, questionnaire, focus groups Secondary Research - collecting summaries based on other research eg. articles, online research, reports, published data Research is conducted by media producers to answer questions about the audience profile in order to target the media product more closely. This helps the media product to become as successful as possible. Allows you to know your audience better. Primary Research Pros - specific groups, up to date, specified data, Cons - expensive, time-consuming Secondary Research Pros - cheap, quicker,  Cons - may not be as specialised Qualitative data is written detailed data useful for gaining as much detail as possible. Quantitative data is numerical statistics useful for comparison and graphs.

LO4 - Use a real example to look at how audiences are targeted.  Deadpool uses a wide range of traditional and digital advertising, here are some examples: Along with these traditional and digital methods of advertising, the videos that go alongside the advertising campaign are also effective as they advertise anywhere and everywhere to guarantee that everyone sees them. This is good as it allows different audiences to be drawn in from areas such as social media ie. Ryan Reynolds fans that may not have watched the movie if he was not posting about it so much. By having such a huge advertising campaign, it promote Deadpool further as people remember seeing it in other places and therefore think about it and talk about it more often - creating the snowball effect.  The marketing campaign for Deadpool utilises traditional methods of advertising such as posters and billboards in order to extend it's target audience outside of the digital world and ensure that everyone has seen it ...

 LO4 - Understand the target audience of media products. Denis McQuail identified four categories under the broader heading 'uses and gratifications' that offer an insight into why audiences use and interact with certain media products. These are: Escapism - people use media products to get away from reality. Surveillance - people use media products to find out information. Personal Relationships - people use media products as talking points. Personal Identity - people use media products as a means of shaping their own 'subcultural identities.' Applying the Uses and Gratifications Model

 LO4 - Understand the target audiences of media products. Who might buy the products? toy shops parents teachers/schools collectors grandparents people with interests historians Audience Profile - Small Handmade Engineered Toy Company Michael, 50, has always been interested in the middle ages era - ever since he was a child. Now he has grown up and has children of his own, he is keen to push his interest onto them - telling them old tales of the middle ages, cooking up old stews and including the middle ages into every part of his lifestyle.  Above this, the only thing that Michael is missing are the toys for his children. While there are thousands of different toys he could give them, none of them are realistic and appropriate enough for the middle ages he knows and loves. Michael has been searching for years for accurate and working toys willing to pay any price for them. Historical accuracy is the most crucial thing. He includes the middle ages era in every aspect of his li...

 LO4 - Understand the target audience of media products. Psychographics are a way of profiling audience members based on personal beliefs, values and interests. Demographics: age, gender, race, location, employment Psychographics: personality, values, interests, attitudes, lifestyle

 LO4 - Understand the target audience of media products. Infographics are a representation of information in a graphic format in order to make the information more easily understood. This example of an infographic shows a map of where TV shows are from in relation to states of the USA. This is used in order to reduce the amount of words used and make the information more easily understood as the shapes of states are used rather than writing down the names of them.

 LO4 - Understand the target audience of media products. RAJAR and BARB provide vital information about the demographic profile of the average audience that is of great use when selling that audience to potential advertisers. RAJAR is the Radio Joint Audience Research which is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It was set up by the BBC and Radio Centre to measure their audiences. BARB is the Broadcaster's Audience Research Board. This researches audience and television ratings within the UK and is joint-owned by ITV, Channel 4, BBC and Sky.

 LO4 - Understand the target audience of media products. The NRS (National Readership Survey) social grades are categorised A-E. They are based on job roles and, despite being developed over 50 years ago, still provide the print and publishing industry with a means of classifying audiences in a way understood by advertisers.

 LO4 - Understand the target audience of media products. Mainstream - mass audience Niche - small/specific audiences Mainstream Cover I have chosen the TV guide as my mainstream magazine cover as   this is one of the most commonly read magazines. As it covers many different channels and includes interviews and articles about the most viewed soaps and upcoming movies on TV, it interests a large range of people and means that it is a very mainstream magazine. The text featured on this cover includes information about the ongoing olympics at the time along with sneak peaks about more movies or future episodes of TV to catch people's eyes. Niche Cover  I have chosen the Country Walking magazine as my niche magazine cover as this is not a magazine that would interest everybody unlike the TV guide as only people that are interested in walking/rambling and hiking would want to read this in order to find more walks. This is also niche as it would not apply to people who live in m...

 LO3 - Understand how meaning is created in media. Clip 1 - Scott is in Love In this clip, sharp camera angles and transitions are used in order to represent moving from person to person and emphasise the note Ramona has left Scott - creating more drama and a bigger build up as Scott waits for Ramona to call. This if further shown through the non-diegetic sound added at the beginning of the clip along with text added in during editing showing a phone ringing. A bland colour palette is used throughout this scene representing the normality of it before being greatly contrasted by the dark colours used within the phone call - juxtaposing the colours and creating an ominous feel. This scene's genre follows Altman's genre theory of audience pleasures as it involves intellectual puzzles of mysteries as the tension builds while Scott is making for Ramona to call as he realises he is in love with you - connoting towards the seven evil exes he will have to fight to be with her. This als...

Meaning in Media   Mise-en-Scene - creating verisimilitude location and set design used iconography - something encoded with meaning behind it so that there is a hidden meaning. props costumes and makeup lighting colour design and palette Editing continuity editing - cuts non-continuity editing - dissolve, wipe, fade in and out Sound diegesis - sound in the world of film non-diegetic sound used for the audience benefit ambient background sound eg. crowd, engine, traffic pleonastic sound - exaggerated in post production eg. dripping tap sound bridge - continues across cuts and transitions asynchronous sounds - different sound to what is expected Camera Shots mid shot - shows character just above the waist arc shot - moves around the subject panning shot - camera turns horizontally canted angle - titled to one side tracking in/out - slowly moves into subject extreme close up - focus on eyes or mouth high angle - looking down on subject make them seem smaller two shot - shows both cha...

Pre-production set designer director scriptwriter Production camera operator director wardrobe make artist Post-Production advertiser editor audio editor vfx artist