Media Concepts

Question 1B

Media Language:

Semiotics- (the study of signs) is used to describe how meaning is constructed through language and codes. A sign is anything that carries meaning. It can be explicit icons – signs that resemble the things being represented. Implicit symbols – signs that have an inner, mutually understood meaning. Iconic signs – signs that are created to appear exactly like the thing itself. Indexical signs are different. They act by indirectly ‘pointing’ or suggesting what they mean. They act as ‘cues’ to existing knowledge e.g. smoke signifies fire, sweating represents heat

Indexical codes in your genre – blood signifies death, screaming signifies danger

Indexical codes in your production – heavy breathing signifies frightened,

Roland Barthes denotation and connotation:

Denotation – Literal or obvious meaning. A simple description of what is physically seen or heard.

Connotation – potential or suggested meaning

connotations of my production:

• Mask – mystery
• birdseye shot of stairs – sense of being watched
• establishing shot of the moon – impending danger
• heavy breathing – fright or terror

Technical codes:

close up, extreme close up, mid shot, long mid shot, long shot, establishing shot, birds eye, worms eye, high angle, low angle, eye level, transitions,

 

Referencing

Secondary Sources:

• Articles
• Newspaper
• Books
• Memoirs
• Magazine
• Leaflet
• Website
• Films
• TV
• Surveys

5 reasons you should reference sources:

Promotion, Validity, Prove its reliability,

Social Class

Social Class: A group of people within a society that posess the same economic status., often determined by occupation, education, income, manners, etc

Status: Relative social or professional standing

Upper Class: (e.g. Made in Chelsea) – Often shown as rich, clever, snobby, very posh

Middle Class: (e.g. My Family)  often shown as ‘normal’, good family values, well behaved

Working Classes: (e.g. Coronation Street) often shown as poorer, less happy, less intelligent, but with strong community links

Lower/Under Classes: (e.g. Shameless) often shown as being criminals, no family values, no community links, bad parents etc

British Social Class System:

The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:

The Upper Class

OFten people with inherited wealth, includes some of the oldest families, with  many of them being titled aristocrats

The Middle Class

The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business people and shop owners

Lower or Working Class

People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers

Elite: The most priveleged group in the UK, distinct from the other six classes through its wealth. This group has the highest levels of all three capitals

Estbalished middle class: The second wealthiest, scoring highliy on all three capitals. The largest and most gregarious group, scoring second highest for cultural capital

Technica middle class: A small, distinctive new class group which is prosperous but scores low for social and cultural capital. Distinguished by its social isolation and cultural apathy.

New affluent workers: A young class group which is socially and culturally active, with middling levels of economic capital

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Homework

Skyfall:

Who Produced the Film: It was produced by UK-based Eon Productions, as this gives it an authentically British feel which is key for a James Bond film as he is famous for being a British spy.  The film was distributed by MGM (a US company) and Columbia Pictures (A Sony Pictures company -US-based subsidiary of Sony), as this gives the film a wider target audience as opposed to if they were to use a UK based distribution company as it would not have an as wider reach.

Who owns the production company and what other films have they produced:

 

Representation of Age

Teenage males: Viloent, grumpy, lazy

Teenage females: Hormonal, dumb, moody

Elderly men: golf, cynical, racist

Elderly women: Sweet, slow, lonely

Children- Innocent

20’s-30’s: Shown as the ideal age for love, parties, fun, making money, being glamourous and attractive

Middle Aged: Often shown as being past it, unattractive, not aware of popular culture, uncool, boring lives, dominant over others, no real connection to their kids, grumpy,

Children: Lisa Simpson

Teenagers: ‘Skins’ characters

20’s-30’s: Musketeers

Middle Age: Breaking Bad

Elderly:

Representations which are the same as the dominant representation reinforce the stereotype

Representations which are different from the dominant representation challenge the stereotype

Dick Hebdige identified teenagers in two representations: Trouble and Fun

Michael Brake categorises the media representations of teens into: repectable (alternative) and delinquent (dominant)

Graeme Burton argues that teen subculture is in opposition to the dominant culture )of adults). He uses the term ‘problematisation’ to describe the idea of youths as problems.

Section B: Film Industry Production Research

Task 1:

Is the films storyline similiar to other films that have made money recently:

Skyfall: Spectre $880.7m

Shifty: $25.2m

Does it offer any sellling points:

Skyfall: The main selling point of Skyfall is that it is part of a loved franchise and is the 23rd installment of that franchise, meaning that the audience love seeing the films in the series.

Shifty:

Contemporary Media Regulation: Social Issues

HOLLYWOOD:

20th Century Fox

Lucas Arts Studios

Lionsgate

Universal

Pixar

BRITISH:

BBC

Film 4

Legendary Pictures

Why Hollywood is bigger than British:

1. More Money
2. Bigger Companies
3. More American Actors
4. Larger Domestic Audience

Major Film Studios:

Production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant share of box office revenue in a agiven market

The Majors:

In the global market, the majors are regarderd as the big six, the six diversified media conglomerates. Film production and distribution subsidaries collectively command approximately 85% Of U.S. and Canadian box office revenue.

The Big Six:

Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony, Disney, Universal, 20th Century Fox

Major Studies Profits for 2013:

Warner Bros.

Buena Vista

Universal

Sony/Columbia

Lionsgate

Twentieth Century Fox

Paramount

The Production Cycle (4 Stages)

Choose genre, director, stars, SFX and film it,

£1000 film reels produced and sent to as many cinemas as possible

Get film into mulitplexes and TV deals

Advertise the film as widely as possible

Independants: Some producers work outside of the major studios. Often British productions are made by smaller outfits like Warp Films, working with Film 4 or the BBC to try to secure extra funding and help with distributions

Choose 1 major and 1 independant – How would you classify the type of films they produce:

Indepenant films: Target Horror Genre- Blumhouse Productions

Major films: Superhero Genre- Marvel

 

 

Hollywood Blockbuster Research Summary

Avatar has had the highest bidget with $237 million. Jaws was the first blockbuster movie. Highest grossing film to date is Star Wars the Force Awakens with $936 million. Out of the 14 the class looked at, 12 are part of a franchise, sequal, prequel, remake or spinoff. 12 A is the most popular rating.

Production: Inception; optioning; writing the script; pitching to a studio; setting a budget; crewing up; casting; filming; editiing

Distribution: The studio buys the rights; the studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company; they decide how many copies of the film are made; they negotiate deals to sell the lease to buyers

Exhibition: How the film reaches the public; cinemas; DVD’s; online; TV

The Film Industry

Section B- The exam focus

1. Media ownership
2. Synergy and Cross Media Convergence
3. New Media Technologies
4. The sread of technology
5. Technological Convergence
6. Big Inudstries targeting British audiences
7. Your media consumption

Representation of Sexuality

Gay characters on TV:

Oscar Martinez – The office

Emily – Pretty Little Liars

Eastenders – Ben

Kurt – Glee

Gender and sexuality are not the same thing.

Common forms of sexuality – heterosexuality, homosexuality, metro sexuality, bisexuality

Defentition of Gender – The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones)

Sexuality – A name for the sexual feelings and the behaviour of a person

When applied to groups of people (e.g. heterosexuals/homosexuals/ bisexuals) ideas of social attitude and organisations are implied

Stereotyping Sexuality – Gay man – camp, feminine, funny

Lesbian Woman – Butch, manly,

Despite changing equality laws and a wider acceptance of different sexualities within much of society, TV has always remained quite conservative as they are scared of offending their viewers. Heterosexual characters are represented as the ‘norm’ and homosexual characters are often represented as being different, strange or seperate from mainstream society. Some critics say that when TV does feature gay characters.

However, gay and lesbian characters are often marginalised and are seen as supporting characters. It is sometimes difficult for the characters to grown.

Sexual identities:

The feminine gay / male diva:

Kurt Hum

mel-Glee

Teenage student coming to terms with his sexuality. One of the most common within TV drama has been critisized for being limiting. It represents homosexuality as the desire to be female.

The Metro Sexual:

Joey Essex

A man who displays stereotypical characteristics of a homosexual whilst being heterosexual

Concerened with his own opinion

The repressed homosexual:

David Fisher – 6 Feet Under

Fears of coming out to his family. Displays some characteristics of being homosexual

The colourful gay man – bets friends with women, some feminine qualities, likes to talk about fashion and feelings

The Butch Lesbian:

Shane in the L word

Masculine dressing, masculine behaviour,

Feminine Lesbian:

Santana in Glee

Concerned with feelings of love over sex, dress feminine