Michael's cover work first year: preparing for key assessment two - the newspaper industry

Key assessment two is the first week back after the Christmas holiday. It's a full-on mock exam designed to test your knowledge and understanding of the newspaper industry.

While you don't know the exact question(s) that will come up, you have been told that it will focus on the set editions The Times and The Daily Mirror and it will be closed book (no access to notes).

Below are a series of links to resources on the blog to help you revise.

If you put the work in RIGHT NOW, you will have WAY less revision to complete over the holidays!

Links

A structured analysis task of The Times

In-depth analysis of the Mirror... by YOU!

Bias and agenda in UK newspapers 

The set texts you need to memorise (!)

How news media is standardised

Exemplar answers for newspaper style questions (note: these use different examples to you guys, but they're still VERY HELPFUL)

Example content for an example question 

Industry fact file

You can also check out the PowerPoints and the revision guide (new edition coming soon!) to help you with your revision. 

Michael's cover work 2nd year: Les Revenants: industry and audience

1 - Integration of media industries

Horizontal integration:

Where a company buys “other companies in the same sector to reduce the competition for audiences”

What are two hypothetical examples of this?

Vertical integration

Where a company buys “up other companies involved in different stages of the production and circulation”

What are two hypothetical examples of this?

Conglomeration

“A conglomerate is a corporation that consists of a group of businesses dealing in different products or services".

“Conglomeration is the process” of a conglomerate being formed.

Again, what are some examples of conglomerates?

Why is conglomeration an agreeable business practice for the media industries?

Citations: Hesmondhalgh, The Cultural Industries (2007:22, 310)

2 - Canal+: a deep dive

Research Canal+, the vertically and horizontally integrated conglomerate that produced and distributed Les Revenants

Make notes on

Ideology
Funding
Scheduling
Ownership
Notable releases
Ethos
Conglomeration
Exports

Possible question: to what extent are the TV shows you have studied shaped by the institutions that produced them?

3 - Audience negotiation 

Access the study episode of Les Revenants. Select a scene that we have not studied in class. Watch it three times. Write the name of the scene and your subsequent notes in your blog.

i) List the media language (mise-en-scene, editing, cinematography etc) that constructs meaning in the scene

ii) Identify the preferred reading and the dominant ideology of the scene (eg. "a deliberately confusing and distressing ideology that positions the audience uncomfortably")

iii) Identify the possible negotiated readings and the oppositional reading.

TV mini mock: mark scheme and feedback

For the mini-mock, you'll get brief, straightforward feedback, indicated by a grade and a roman numeral.

I'll be yoinking and publishing some of the best responses soon. Look forward to it.

Grades

A* - Exemplary knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives. Exemplary and clear argument. A clear and mature point of view. Excellent consideration of ideological implications

A - Excellent knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives. Excellent and clear argument. A clear point of view. Consideration of ideological implications

B - Good knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives. Good and generally clear argument. A point of view emerging

C - Satisfactory knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives. Satisfactory and at times clear argument.

D - Basic knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives. May feature a basic attempt at argument.

E - Minimal, if any knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives. No discernible argument

U - No knowledge and understanding of media language and of theoretical perspectives

Feedback

i - Media language. You've got to include more. Get the toolkit out.

ii - Theory - You're not including enough. Have you revised and are comfortable with all 19 theories?

iii - Argument. You're not being forceful enough. Make sure you keep repeating and reinforcing your argument throughout.

Mini-mock preparation and questions

Complete the following steps and you will  doubtlessly succeed!

1) Read the questions and pick one

Here they are:

Jean Baudrillard suggested that “We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” Evaluate the extent to which this postmodernist statement applies Humans and Les Revenants

Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’ Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set episode of Humans and Les Revenants

Liesbet Van-Zoonen argues that media language encodes how male and female characters act in media products. Explore how representations position the audience in Humans and Les Revenants

2) Prepare for the mock using the theory list

Remember: this mini-mock is open book. This means you will be marked on the expectation that you will have prepared for this question, so make sure you have notes to bring in to the exam. Bare minimum: know the theory you are evaluating, and come to a point of view one way or the other on how useful it is. Top tip: if in doubt, just agree that the theory is useful!

3) Prepare for the mock using key scenes

Use the episodes, both of which are available, to build detailed key scene analysis for your choice of question.

Again, it's open book this time. You can't copy and paste (I will know!) but you are expected to have done some preparation!

4) Use the blog to read past paper responses and scene analysis

Did you know that if you use the labels bar just under the blog's header image, you can filter to posts that are relevant to what you are doing? So go ahead and click on the bit that says 'TV'. You can also click here. Keep scrolling down to find LOTS of important information about structuring an answer.

Remember: open book = high expectations

Les Revenants: in-depth key scene analysis

These notes were created by students and have only been slightly edited for content and clarity. They would all be excellent examples to use in your mini-mock, real mock, or even the real exam!

Scene one - Simon and Adele

Simon is being walked to the house of the person he says he knows by Lena walk under a tunnel whilst talking about where they're from, walks towards the street of the person Simon is looking for and leaves Lena without saying anything, going towards the house.

Simon looks through the window of the house to see a woman (Adele) wearing a wedding dress or night gown she notices him but he disappears to where we can hear the door ring and be knocked on, the woman is spooked as we can infer she thinks he is dead, he shouts for her to open the door but she screams back in tears telling him to go away she is then on the floor crying as the daughter comes down to see whats going on and she comforts her saying its all OK.

• -Lowkey lighting
• -Spooky Mysterious sound track
• -Adele's response isn't logical or typical
• -Mise en scene of Adele's mid-shot of her crying against the door positions us with Adele, in order to make us as the audience ask question and confuse us.
• -Simon is banging on the door which seems aggressive
• -Non diegetic sound track, use of piano as dominant instrument using the arpeggio
• -The scene is meant to be an emotional scene where they meet again however is said
• -The Show is about Death, which is seen by everyone as one of the few certainties
• -The Show is also about those who have come back from the dead, return of the love ones
• -"Open the fucking door" Simon shouts, as to him everyone is being unreasonable
• -Les Revenants is about the inevitability of death
• -Mise en scene of the mirrors is that Simon is a ghost and doesn't belong in that world
• -Adele saw Simon in the mirror and was spooked as she wouldn't think it possible
• -Hard knocking on the door is diagetic, with the shot of the door handle moving is intertexual reference to the horror genre, this makes the genre clear to the audience, however the scene also has another genre that of romance making this a hybrid genre (paranormal romance), demonstrates generic hybridity. The reason for this is to have a wider target audience
• -Adele wearing a white night gown symbolic with a wedding dress, and Simon wearing a black, showing a binary opposition, the opposition between the characters also comes with the way the characters act, Simon being more masculine and Adele feminine, back Van Zoonans theory
• -Shot types changing, shot counter shot, switching between the characters
• -Low-key lighting creates the proairetic code, making the audience feel something bad is going to happen with the only source of lighting being that of a lamp creating a hard contrast.
• -Low key lighting may also be making an intertextual reference to the sub genre of Gothic horror.
• -Lighting is artificial also.
• -Lena looks quite laid back and rebellious,  with the mise en scene of her red hair, short red dress, and her use of the word "dickhead", wearing what seems to be a military jacket making her appear to be more masculine
• -Long shot of Lena shows how alone/lonely the character is.
• -Experimental use of cinematography
• -Clothing of Simon and Adele is symbolic of a bride and groom
• -All characters appear to be middle class to identify with the MC audience
• -All characters in the show is white, suggests again the show is directed at a middle class white audience
• -Slow pace editing, starts slow and speeds up as the scene intensifies. Use of slow pace makes the show targeted at an older audience.

Scene two - Mr and Mrs Costa

• -Man burning the house down, setting a flame the photographs and having a women tied up to the bed next to the fire then a wide shot of the house burning down
• -High angle shot of Madame Costa, being tied up and gagged creating her to appear vulnerable, with us being positioned behind the fire in the other room, making the audience feel guilty. Atypical response of Costa
• -Sound track doesnt fit the scene, contrapuntal sound, where we'd expect a dramatic sound track.
• -Mundane response of Madame Costa
• -Mr Costa is laid back as he burns everything to the ground as he feels he's lost it
• -Mise en scene is of a old persons house.

Thanks Spencer for the notes!

Key scene three - The sex scene

• How does thing scene make meaning?
• Mid-shot of Lena wearing white top represents purity and virginity
• The leaves in the background are representative of youth and purity
• Hermeunetic codes as we start to learn to about the characters
• Mise-en-scene of kitchen sink appears stereotypically middle-class  - aspirational middle-class family.
• Lena 'pulling a sickie' to sneak in her boyfriend is a relatable moment for the audience
• Birds eye view close up of Lena and her boyfriend positions us with them, which feels uncomfortable, positioning us is a voyeuristic way. - this is anchored through the use of low-key lighting which connotes intimacy, privacy and ultimately, sex. 
• Lena's boyfriend looks stereotypically low-class through the use of costume. The difference  between the class of the couple creates a diametric opposition - Lena is different from the rest of her family, she is rebellious.
• This is generally a consensual and positive representation of sex (sex positive).
• The mise-en-scene of the coach forms a binary opposition between the two scenes - the colours on the coach are ordinary, boring, with cool tones. Whereas when it cuts back to the sex scene, the colours are more bold and hot.
• While Lena is enjoying sex, the close up of Camille highlights her discomfort and distress- binary opposition.
• Camille is feeling what Lena is feeling which could be viewed as potentially offensive for the audience
• Camille and Lena are symbolically linked
• Sex is represented simultaneously in different ways
• French word for orgasm - 'la petite mort'
• There is something symbolic about losing virginity in the media, loss of innocence and childhood, was a girl and now she a lady.
• Could argue that it is sexual assault - the scene
• Polysemic meaning - Camille is acting out what Lena is feeling; gender performativity - the idea that Lena is simply doing what she is supposed do whereas Camille is freaking out.
• Camille is covered up in a big jacket and Lena is wearing a vest
• Camille is sat by herself on the bus with the mise-en-scene of the jacket where she is completely covered up connotes Camille's sense of isolation
• The coach is a relatable setting for the young secondary audience as well as for the primary adult audience.
• Lena boyfriend always wears his beanie throughout the whole scene - stereotypically rough around the edges, a 'bad boy' and looks as if he doesn't belong in their middle-class family
• the lexis of the mother doubting her daughter will appeal to the middle-class target audience - helps the audience to discover Lena's more rebellious than Camille

Key scene four - Viktor stalks Julie

• Non-diegetic sound is very suspenseful and seems like we are watching a horror film
• continuous use of low-key lighting
• This scene is conventional to a horror film
• It could be argued that Les Revenants performs generic-hybridity by combining aspects of horror which can therefore appeal to multiple audience s
• The close up long tracking shot of Mr Costa walking through the hall is a proaeiretic code as we expect something to jump out to him, but round the corner is his wife sitting innocently
• The establishing of the grey concrete flats where Julie lives suggest that she may be in danger as she lives in threatening area
• Julie never appears threatened, when she sees Viktor standing there she simply says 'whats he doing there?' This demonstrated that Julie is pretty no nonsense, aware and laid back. This is further anchored through the mise-en-scene of her costume ; she is wearing baggy oversized jumper with collar and baggy jeans, she is very casual and relaxed. She doesn't conform to gender stereotypes- we cannot see her figure at all.
• Julie doesn't have overly expressive facial expressions, she has bags underneath her eyes, she looks a bit messy - she is not stereotypically, hegemonically attractive. 
• However, she looks stereotypically french, which will appeal to a french audience.
• In her apartment, she has her own drawings on the road suggesting she an artistic and creative person. She has stacks of books, suggest that she is academic and intelligent (mature student).
• She seems like more of a relatable character to an older student who has creative aspirations.
• When Viktor arrives on her doorstep there is a binary opposition between Viktor and Julie.
• Setting - Bus shelter - low-key unnatural blue lighting coming from an electronic advert is cold and threatening. Julie is sitting by herself in the middle of the night forming a proairetic code as we think something bad might happen to Julie. Despite this Julie doesn't look like she cares.
• The static long shot long take where victor comes up in the background behind the glass  is highly typical of a horror film.
• Little kids are the ultimate binary opposition. Viktor is out by himself in the middle of the night. He forms a binary opposition with Julie as he is well-presented and clean but Julie is scruffy and dirty. 

Thanks Alana for the notes!

The Times set edition analysis task (2019+ cohort)

Key assessment to is coming up for first years! It's a mock exam sat in the first week back after the holiday (Merry Xmas!!!!). It will focus on the analysis of newspapers. Though you won't know this for the final exam, for this mock you will be writing about the set editions of The Times and The Mirror. This is a different format to the final exam, where you will likely have to compare one of the set texts to a different newspaper, but this time, we'll go easy on you. 

So you've got to learn this one inside out! We've already ripped apart The Mirror, so now you've got to do the same for this one. It's going to be great!

1 - Save this. Use the 'insert image' tool to place it in to a new post. 

2 - Copy paste the following in to your post

The Times newspaper is a British national ‘quality’ newspaper first published in 1785. The Times has been published by Times Newspapers since 1981, a subsidiary of News UK, wholly owned by News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s company.

This edition was published on March 13th, 2019, after Theresa May had encountered another Commons defeat over her Brexit proposals. 

The Times is famous for having a range of journalists with varied political viewpoints which allows the newspaper to offer a more neutral political stance on Brexit negotiations

Text provided by the exam board. Cheers EDUQAS!

3 - Who the hell is Rupert Murdoch?

Five minutes! No more or less! Who is he? Why's he important? Why do some people hate him? Copypaste some information in to your blog.

4 - What the hell is Brexit? - SKIP THIS ONE

No really. Ten minutes. Why is it so important? Copypaste some (more) information in to your blog.

5 - In depth analysis

Analyse this Times front page with your new found contextual knowledge. Make brief notes under each of the following headings. Don't worry if you repeat yourself. A bit.

Point of view and ideology 

Layout and design 

Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories

Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus

Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)

Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up

Graphics, logos 

Lexis

Copy 

Anchorage (images)

Anchorage (captions)

Narrative

Target audience and audience positioning

Proairetic codes

Hermeneutic codes

Symbolic codes

Referential codes/intertextuality

Second year TV mini-mock: Exploring theory and practising exam technique

While you definitely will not be able to include all nineteen theories across the two exams (and should not!), you still need to know all nineteen theoretical frameworks in detail. Each and every one could be important for a particular question. But even more pressingly, in component two, it is very likely that a theorist will be quotes and you will be asked to evaluate the theory.

Please follow the steps below to complete this task:

1: Pick one of the below questions. 

They're all tough,  but remember, the examiner is more interested in how you respond to the question than anything else.

Jean Baudrillard suggested that “We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” Evaluate the extent to which this postmodernist statement applies Humans and Les Revenants

Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’ Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set episode of Humans and Les Revenants

Liesbet Van-Zoonen argues that media language encodes how male and female characters act in media products. Explore how representations position the audience in Humans and Les Revenants

2 - Come up with a knee-jerk reaction to the question.

Really, this can be boiled down to 'is the theory useful or not?'

TOP TIP: it's probably useful!

3 - Pick three scenes from Humans and Les Revenants

Pick a scene, any scene. You may wish to pick a scene we have already studied, or you may decide to go rogue and pick something completely new.

4 - Use the scenes to bullet point plan a response to the question

Remember what you're actually getting marks for: detailed textual analysis built on reference to media language. Have the toolkit open in front of you. Why wouldn't you?

5 - Write the response using DAC and PEA

You can do it! Do your best! Never give up!

Different perspectives: the Blue Story 'riot'

1 - selection of images

Why were these images used to illustrate a story? What ideological perspectives do they encode? What codes and conventions are embedded within them?

2 - different perspectives

Compare and contrast the reportage from The Guardian (a broadsheet targeting a middle class, left-leaning yet broadly centrist audience) and The Mail Online (an online version of The Daily Mail, targeting a working class, right wing audience with a significant number of secondary audiences).

Make sure to have that textual analysis toolkit open...

Initial report via The Guardian 24/12/2019

Initial report via The Mail Online 24/12/2019

3 - going viral

What is the point and purpose of publishing a video like the one below? What codes and conventions does it evidence? What is this video showing? What do you see?

Video via The Telegraph 25/12/2019

4 - following up

How does The Daily Mirror follow up this story the day after the initial incident? How are new developments reported?

Later report via The Daily Mirror 25/12/2019

5 - Responses

Read this interview with the director of the film in question.  In particular, what do you think about the below quote?

6 - audience interaction

Please note the below comments have clearly not been moderated, and are potentially offensive. We do not condone the views presented, and are hosting them here for the purposes of critique and discourse analysis

Why does the BBC post on Facebook? What benefits are there to a media institution by encouraging comments such as this? These people are not experts, yet are posting fairly definitive statements supporting basic and largely ridiculed models of audience behaviour are correct. What are some issues with this?

Les Revenants: structuring a response

“In the 21st century, it is essential for TV shows to offer their audiences multiple meanings” – evaluate this claim with reference to Les Revenants

Knee jerk reaction

it is essential for TV show to offer audiences multiple meanings for the purposes of power and profit

OR

Les Revenants offers the audience no discernible meaning, and with a total lack of anchorage, remains completely meaningless. Discontinuous

Plan

Representation
Anchorage
Ideology
Stereotypes
Polysemy
Cultivation of ideology
Intertextuality
Hegemonic norms and values
Bus scene - teenagers
Stabbing scene - horror fans
Setting
Flashbacks
Soundtrack - Mogwai
Polysemic
Aidience
Intertextuality
Hegemony
Ideology
Sexualisation
Preferred reading or lack of
Hermenurtic semiotic proairetic
Stuart hall
Henry Jenkins textual poaching
Stereotypes...Bridge murder
Intro car crash
Camille comes home

Introduction

Definition - Audience refers to the groups of people who consume media products. Audiences are essential to the producer, as through a process of targeting and mediation, they allow the producer to make a media product a financial success. 

Argument - In order to do this, it is sometimes essential for a producer to target multiple niche audiences, in order to maximise profit. I shall argue that not only is it important for a TV show to offer audiences multiple meanings, it is in fact essential. 

Context - In order to present this argument,  shall use the example of the French cult horror/drama TV show Les Revenants. Les Revenants was released in 2012, screened on Canal +, and produced by Frabrice Gobert.

Key scene: Lena and Simon

• Presents a series of relatable characters for a presumed teenage secondary audience
• MES of Lena's skimpy clothing appealing to heterosexual men, relatable to young female audiences
• Setting: Graffiti, underpass, a relateable experience
• Moody Simon is potentially appealing to teenage girls, MES of suit
• Relatablity and textual poaching: Jenkins and fan theory

Key scene: Lena and Camille

• Lack of non-diegetic sound anchors the audience into a tense and deliberately uncomfortable scene, appealing to fans of horror and mystery 
• Knocking on wall is hermeneutic codes, indicating to audience a dramatic and mysterious event. Deliberately confusing and challenging
• CU of Lena's emphasises the worried expression, highly atypical and a difficult and confusing reaction for the target audience
• Appeals to an older, adult audience through the realiatbility. Audiences may identify with the loss of a relative, and may take pleasure through the mid-shot of the family together and hugging
• Lena's Nirvana poster makes her more relatable to young fans of rock music
• MES of the house is stereotypically middle class, and demonstrates and point of relatability for audience
• Audience negotiation: pleasure at the family unit being reunited, or displeasure at the atypical and confusing reactions. A highly polysemic scene, targeting specific niche audiences

In depth analysis: The Daily Mirror set text (2019+ cohort)

Toolkit language: the codes you've GOT to refer to!

Point of view and ideology
Codes and conventions of news products/newspapers/type of newspaper
Layout and design
Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories
Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)
Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up
Graphics, logos
Language – headline, sub-headings, captions
Copy
Anchorage of images and text
Elements of narrative

Focus - Media language and Representation

Talking points

Front page

• Brexit - ideological implications?
• Eastenders - 'Hayley'?
• Puff box - pull out
• Cheltenham races
• Anchorage
• Strapline - 'fighting for you'
• Mode of address - racing?
• Glassed...thug...
• Representation of women
• Size of central; image
• Intertextuality: war!
• "looses key vote again"
• Powerful women? Or vulnerable? Mirror even gender split!
• Van Zoonen: men act women appear?
• Political bias and anchorage: disapproving of May...

Article

• Polysemic nature of main image
• Language of copy - nuanced? Confused??
• Horse racing symbolic codes?"tottering Theresa"
• "Dwindling authority"
• "dashing to Brussels..."?
• "you shall not pass!"
• Binary oppositions
• Narrative codes
• Powerful women? Or vulnerable? Van Zoonen?

Detailed notes

Thanks Will for the following notes

• Mise-en-scene of the setting of parliament connotes formalness.
• The use CU and high angle of her face suggests that she is vulnerable. Reinforcing the ideologies of the newspaper, going against conservatives.
• This article is dealing about the complex issue of Brexit, while the newspaper represents the issue as a joke.
• The strap-line "Fighting for you", is a very aggressive mode of address, suggestive of a war.
• The use of lexis, is an example of hyperbole. It is being made more exciting that it really is to appeal to the audience.
• Featured at the top right of the front cover, is a article about the Eastenders, which is an example of soft news. "Eastenders Hayley glassed by thug" is interesting because the noun "Hayley" isn't even the actresses name. This is almost a spoiler for the Eastenders series, which is a soap-opra, which generally watched by working class audience.
• The term "glassed" is an example of very specific use of language, as it has been used to appeal to the working class audience.
• According to Vans Zoonen, women who are featured in media, are there for men to look at. However in the newspaper, Theresa May isn't being sexualised in any way. This subverts her idea that we live in a patriotic society ruled by men. This appeals to both male and female audiences.
• Theresa May is referred as "Tottering Theresa", which applies that she is clumsy and childish. This is also an example of alliteration, which is highly informal. This represents Theresa as informal, which means she is not suitable for prim-minister.
• Horse facing is extremely formal and informal at the same time. The people who attend these horse races are normally middle classed however the people in the betting shop tend to be people of the working class. It has polysemic connotations, the featured article of horse racing appeals to both middle class and working class people.
• There is a binary opposition created when Theresa is placed against Corbin and Johnson. The caption "Attack" under the image of Jeremy Corbin shows that he is aggressive against Theresa. This is further emphasised when Theresa's gesture of surrendering, suggesting that she is submissive. However this gesture could be taken in a different way, Theresa could be pushing Corbin back and standing her ground.
• The headline "A Faller at 2nd" is has polysemic meanings, it could mean that she has failed at leaving the EU. However it could also be a hint to horse racing, The Mirror is almost dumbing down politics and are comparing it to horse racing.
• There is a political sketch featured to the left of the newspaper. The Mirror refers to Theresa as "Gandalf", which is a pop-culture reference to the film "The Lord of the rings". The quote "You shall not pass" is a quote taken from the film and is almost seen as a meme on the Internet, which suggests that no one is taking her seriously. By referring May as "Tory Gandalf" makes her sound informal, however it could also suggest that she is heroic. This all appeals to the older generation

Thanks Harriet for the following notes. Please note FP=front page, while DP=double page

• FP. The use of a pun "Mayhem" informal language targeting the working class.
• DP. Proairetic code of hands held up suggesting that she is about to surrender because she is weak.
• DP. The images of Corbyn and Johnson are anchored by the copy suggesting that they are victorious in this situation which causes confusion since there are binary oppositions. 
• DP. The copy takes a polysemic mode of address by using formal language which contradicts the nature of the tabloid.
• DP. The use of hyperbole throughout the headline of a horse racing joke calling May a joke suggesting that the audience are old, working class gamblers.
• DP. The daily mirror narrativises the story of Brexit which connotes that politics is boring, "40-1 odds" causes excitement.
• FP. Puff of "Enders Hayley" targets middle aged females, this is colloquial. The reader ship of the mirror is almost 50/50 because of sports and Eastenders. Van Zoonen, stereotypically have been positioned as hegomonically sexually attractive. However this puff subverts Van Zoonen's suggestion that women are sexually objectified for a heterosexual male. Also women are nor represented as being powerless, representation is a construction of reality.
• FP. "Chaos" indicates war by using intertextuality. This is revolutionary which suggest we are overthrowing our useless government.
• DP. Sati is used to insult May suggesting she is Gandalf, this is a pop culture reference meaning only younger audiences will understand this. "shall not pass". This is a true intertextuality reference because it is referencing memes making a joke of May. Appealing to the audience of The Lord of The Rings.
• DP. tottering May by uses derogatory language, her gesture her could anchor this because she is trying to control a situation poorly. Reinforcing how completely useless she is. The binary opposition is formed between May, Corbyn and Johnson which shown when Corbyn is pointing at May and she has her hands up like he is attacking her.
• DP. "Shambles" is an old reference to a slaughter house reinforcing the metaphor of war that May has created.
• DP. "Kamikaze" referring to extremely patriotic soldiers saying that May is a dangerous ruler.

Exploring the construction of representation in The Daily Mirror (online version)

bell hooks argued for a more nuanced exploration of feminist theory, where race, class and gender all determine the extent to which individuals are exploited and oppressed. Therefore it is the combination of certain marginalised elements and characteristics that can lead to particularly damaging representations.

Click here and explore this article published on The Mirror. Read through it, and consider the following:

Lexis/choice of language
Anchorage through captions
Bias through selection of image
Newsworthiness
Target audience
Preferred reading
Dominant ideological perspective
Hegemony

A paragraph on representation will always focus on the same structure, as outlined here:

1.     The group, place or issue on which a media product is focusing.
2.     The media language the media product uses in order to present these groups or issues.
3.     The ideological perspective about the group or issue being created within the product.
4.     The impact of this ideological perspective on the target audience

Les Revenants: what makes a cult show?

Les Revenants is a highly atypical TV program targeting a niche audience. In terms of genre, it could be described as a supernatural drama (according to Wikipedia anyway), horror, zombie, avant-guarde, mystery, or even a paranormal romance! However, Les Revs is frankly completely different to zombie shows like The Walking Dead and paranormal romance films like Twilight. It also breaks the rules of the mystery genre, by presenting many hermenutic codes to the audience, yet rarely answering any questions.

Clearly, something so niche and potentially frustrating is only going to appeal to a small audience. Yet the small number of people who get this show are going to love it, and probably won't be able to stop talking about it. This makes it the very essence of a cult tv show.

A cult audience is a small yet dedicated audience that absolutely love the media product. If people criticise it, they will defend it. If it gets cancelled, they will beg for it to be bought back (see: Firefly, Arrested Development, Brooklyn 99...). Cult shows will divide opinion. They will put most people off, but through a process of audience negotiation and active textual poaching, audiences can pick out the things that they really like about it.

Les Revenants is not the first cult TV show, and it has been clearly influenced by others that came before it. One of the most influential cult TV shows is Twin Peaks, which confused the hell out of American audiences when it first dropped in 1990. At its heart a straightforward murder mystery, Twin Peaks sees eccentric FBI agent Dale Cooper pulled in to a rural American town to solve the brutal murder of a young woman. However, Twin Peaks is less interested with telling a coherent story, and is much more interested in creating a dreamlike atmosphere with a cast of unforgettable characters. Twin Peaks will frequently switch genres, from crime drama to mystery to comedy to surreal to comedy to tragedy, often in the same scene! It's totally up to the interpretation of the audience what is going on. For most potential audience members, it's frustrating, boring, just too weird. But Twin Peaks still has a cult following today, which only grows as fans too young to have caught it the first time round discover the show in DVD and download sites.

Why do producers create cult TV shows if the only reason for a media product to exist is making money? It's an interesting question, because cult shows tend to not make much money, at least in comparison to big, sure fire hits. However, there are many advantages for producers to create a cult show:

• They are comparatively cheap to make
• They attract a stable, if small audience
• Through word of mouth, they increase respect and regard for the producer (prestige programming)
• They often have a very long shelf life, and can be sold to audiences many years later

Additionally, cult TV shows are becoming more mainstream! While this seems like a ridiculous and contradictory statement, audiences have become more fragmented thanks to digital technologies and methods of distributions. Younger audiences in particular are less likely to view live television, and feel dissatisfied at the 'broadcasting' model of entertainment. Increasingly, producers have taken to 'narrowcasting', and giving audiences more select and specific experiences. Netflix and Amazon Prime have both seen value in producing risky, strange and challenging cult programming, with Netflix producing shows like the mind-bending Maniac and the uncompromising crime drama Mind Hunter, and Amazon seem to have completely jumped off the deep end by bankrolling Nicholas Winding-Refen's brain melting fifteen hour long postmodern crime drama Too Old To Die Young. Cult TV shows can bring in audiences that would normally give the platform a miss, and can improve public perception of an institution through word of mouth.

Conclusion: rather than belonging to a particular genre, Les Revenants can be better identified as a cult TV show through the ways it provides opportunities for a small but dedicated audience to interact with it. It might not make huge amounts of money, but dedicated audiences are increasingly essential for media producers as audiences become ever more fragmented.

Exploring bias and the construction of reality in UK newspapers

To what extent do newspapers construct versions of reality for their target audiences?

Ways in which bias and agenda can be encoded in media products:

Bias through selection and omission
Bias through placement
Bias by headline
Bias by photos, captions and camera angles
Bias through use of names and titles
Bias through statistics and crowd counts
Bias by source control
Word choice and tone 

Jeremy Corbyn presented as a Chicken, symbolic of his status as a coward or a chicken. A playground insult
Biased selection of image for Corbyn: he looks frightened and 'stupid'
Use of word 'THIS' in capitals dehumanises Corbyn, presenting him as an animal
Use of rhetorical question allows audience ' the chance to decide for themselves'.
'Corbyn clucks up Brexit' use of alliteration. Reference to 'fucks up'. Both childish and adult joke, polysemic
Use of nickname 'Jez' is informal and derogatory
An easy to understand and decode argument for the working class target audience. Assumption that the audience are stupid!

Les Revenants: introduction and screening

Click here to find the activity

Humans: Exploring audience theory

Note: while we are going to by applying this theory to Humans, we can apply this theory to almost any media product we have studied and will study in the future!

7 - Theories of identity - David Gauntlett (this one also fits under representation)
"Media audiences can pick and mix which ideologies suit them"

16 - Cultivation theory - George Gerbner
"Media can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them"

17 - Reception theory - Stuart Hall
"Media  is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences"

18 - Fandom - Henry Jenkins
"Media fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers (‘textual poaching’)"

19 - ‘End of audience’ theories - Clay Shirky
"Media consumers have become producers who ‘speak back to’ the media in various ways, creating and sharing content with one another"

Using reception theory and 'pick and mix theory' effectively

These two theories are both based around mediation or negotiation by the audience. It is based around the assumption that audiences can negotiate or simply ignore outright the ideological perspectives encoded by the producer

1 - What ideological perspective is encoded by the producer? Is it simple, straightforward and agrees with dominant hegemonic perspectives? Is it subversive and challenging? Or does it present polysemic interpretations?

2 - How could the audience negotiate the ideological perspective?

KEY SCENE - Anita gets kidnapped

The high angled close up of Nishka being dragged through the woods is a clear intertextual
reference to the horror genre, and can please audiences through the intense generic hybridity

Dominant ideology, preferred reading: intense sympathy for the synths

Oppositional reading - Who cares? They're only robots! Deeply polysemic media product!

• Provides audiences with a range of topics to discuss and potentially disagree on
• Audiences can take pleasure though the use of hermeneutic codes, pondering the mystery of the TV show
• Sudden realisation that Anita is there, apparently now a completely different character. She acts differently, she talks differently. This is a typical convention of the sci-fi-genre
• Emotionally manipulative scene. Audiences can take pleasure at the use of extreme
• Displays conventions of the horror genre, in particular the sound of the breaking twig, which turns out to be a fox. Tension is built up, and then built down. Also, CU shot of hand dragging body through the undergrowth. 
• Frustration at the stupidity of the gang of synths and Leo. Audiences may question his intelligence, and dislike him as a result.
• Foreshadowing of Leos status as human: a proairetic code
• Frequent encoding of hermeneutic codes. Who are they? What are they doing? What is a battery?
• Confusing establishing shot of tents, POV shot, cutting to Leo in the woods. Audiences may feel frustrated and turn off at this early point. 
• Use of sound. Dramatic, synthesised non-diegetic sci-fi music, appealing to fans of sci-fi.
• Setting: stereotypically British forest, allowing audiences to take pleasure at a familiar setting
• Sexual gratification - audiences can take pleasure at seeing attractive characters
• Ethnically diverse group of characters. East Asian audiences may be able to identify and to take pleasure at the representation of an east asian actor.
• Potential comment on racism: intertextual reference to Calais migrant camp?

KEY SCENE - Odi in the supermarket and Odi at home

The scene where George essentially chooses whether or not to euthanize Odi may be distasteful
or simply too emotional for many audiences, especially those with experience of mental health issues

Ideological perspective: Odi is allegorical of somewhen with mental health issues. Preferred reading: intense sympathy for Odi.

Oppositional reading: Odi is awful and annoying and should die. Harsh, but all audiences have potential different responses!

• Use of supermarket setting: Mise en scene of Coco Pops and Alpen reinforce the notion that the series is set here and now, allowing the British target audience to take pleasure in seeing a familiar setting
• Anchored to feel sympathy for Odi through his glitches and stutters. George's upset face and MES of Odi's half popped scruffy collar elicits sympathy.
• Odi collapsed in jam in the cereal aisle is a ridiculous and childish situation. Potentially funny!
• Frustration with George at not scrapping Odi! Some audiences will see Odi as a menace to society that should be taken out. 
• Frustration at seeing jam and produce spread over the floor!
• Upset and creeped out by the quasi-sexual relationship between Odi? Potential homophobic audience may take offence at the subversive representation of masculinity
• Audiences may take pleasure at seeing the nurturing representation of an older man looking after a disabled young man!
• People with phobia of the dentist may find the use of a dental probe extremely upsetting
• Transgressive and hyperreal representation of people with mental health issues. Audiences who care for those with dementia may find this particularly distressing OR perhaps take enjoyment at the representation and visibility of someone with mental health issues
• Odi's use of error messages may be pleasurable to audiences who are acquainted with computers
• Middle class audiences will appreciate George and his middle class attire, and his American accent will allow American audiences to identify with him 

Sentence starters

A powerful binary opposition is formed through…

The conflict created through this binary opposition positions the audience…

This specific aspect of mise-en-scene functions as a hermenutic code… 

The proairetic code formed by the typeface suggests… 

The target audience will of course be aware of the symbolic connotation of…

Analysis of a viral marketing strategy: Persona Synthetics spot advertisment

The mise-en-scene of the windswept garden provides a subtle yet threatening proairetic
code for the audience, symbolic of trouble ahead for the nuclear family

• Ominous connotations of the low angle shot of synth leading child up the stairs, a hermeneutic code further reinforced by the sparse narrative
• Highly polysemic advert: synth leading boy upstairs could either be construed as threatening, or could emphasise the synth's maternal nature. Boy walking downstairs, followed by eye-line match to mother, followed by the unexpected conclusion of the synth instead leading the boy upstairs perfectly demonstrates the themes of the TV show
• Todorov: use of disequilibrium
• Utilisation of direct mode of address is included to deliberately make the audience feel uncomfortable
• Advert lacks any form of anchorage, taking on the form of a consumer product advertisement as opposed to a trailer for a sci-fi TV show. Highly subversive.
• Elements of postmodernism. Lacks meaning, and is selling something that does not actually exist. A hyperreal advertisement?
• Synth is expressionless and appears to lack humanity. Takes on the role of a housewife or maid. Establishes right from the beginning key themes explored within the TV show.
• Additionally, Sally the synth plays the role of a doll, which again prefigures key themes of the TV show
• Utilisation of montage to construct a disquieting and threatening atmosphere. A chilling deconstruction of advertising norms and values? Or just a kooky advert designed to get 'em talking for profit? It's up to you to decide
• "Is this real"? Blurs the boundaries between fantasy and reality. A clear reference to postmodern theory. Preferred reading is to be confused and even repelled!
• Ethnically homogeneous: every character white
• No reference to the TV show Humans, other than a easily missed hashtag included at the end
• Highly hermenuetic structure forces audience to ask questions, and to question the nature of their reality
• Additionally, audiences are likely to share their experience of the advert with others
• Preferred reading: confusion and alienation
• Lacks conventions f a teaser trailer. Absolutely no footage from the TV show, no actors from the TV show, an American voice over, or even name of the show
• Deals with a range of themes and ideological perspectives fundamental to the series. 
• A range of suggestive and foreshadowing proairetic codes, including the low key lighting of the synth leading the child, and the paradigmatically threatening shots of the knife and the hacksaw being used by the synth
• Model playing the synth is angular, stern looking and hegemonically attractive

Last year's analysis: click here!

Register to vote now!

If you are eighteen now or will turn eighteen before the 12th January, you can (and frankly should) vote in the upcoming UK general election. It's possibly the most important election of the century so far, and the policy and decisions reached from this vote will affect your life substantially. No pressure!

You can register to vote by clicking here. It's really, really easy.

Don't have a clue who to vote for? Well, you should always question the ideological bias of any media platform. But a website like I Side With (click here) can broadly show who your own political ideologies match up with.  Try not to vote based on personalities. You're not actually voting for Corbin or Johnson, but for a range of policies and ideological perspectives. See which party the site suggests, then Google the party's manifesto, and then see what you think!

Please submit photos for the new textbook!

It could be pretty much anything. Media is a broad subject after all. Below are a few examples I took to get you thinking. Just avoid any clearly identifiable students. You will be credited, you will not be paid. Such is life. 

Please email any submissions to me, Michael. 

Cheers!

Daily Mirror front page analysis

Note: this is not the 'set edition' of The Daily Mirror that you may have to explicitly refer to from memory in the final and mock exams. However, it's absolutely essential to make reference to a wide range of examples from a range of UK newspapers. It's also absolutely essential to read a newspaper every day. 

You should click to see the image in full size, then save it and shove it in to your own blog. Get cracking!

First impressions

Lots of images not much text, targeting a working class audience

Main, central image suggests a breach of privacy, a pap shot, gossip!

Slogan: 'fighting for you' . Protecting the working class audience, a struggle!

Jeremy Corbyn: favourable coverage. Supports the labour party!

Bold text, big images, bright colours: eye catching and exciting!

Brilliant! Ready for power! Enthusiastic lexis

Football! informal, working class audience

You can find a complete list of newspaper terminology by clicking here! Copypaste it in to your own blog and make sure you're familiar with the terminology, because there's a lot of funky new language!

A-level exam paper June 2019

Component one

SECTION A: ANALYSING MEDIA LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION

Media Language

Question 1 is based on the audio-visual resource: an advertisement which is part of the This Girl Can campaign, produced by Sport England in 2017.

• You will be allowed one minute to read Question 1.
• The advertisement will be shown twice.
• First viewing: watch the advertisement and make notes.
• You will then have five minutes to make further notes.
• Second viewing: watch the advertisement and make final notes.
• Once the second viewing has finished, you should answer Question 1

1 - Explore how the combination of elements of media language influences meaning in the This Girl Can advertisement. [15]

Representation

Question 2 is based on the following:

 print resource: the front page of the Daily Mail, published on the day of the 2017 UK general election
the front page and article from the Daily Mirror you have studied, published on the day after the 2016 US presidential election.

2 - Compare how these pages from the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror construct versions of reality. In your answer you must: 

• consider the choices media producers make when constructing versions of reality 

• consider the similarities and differences in the representations 

• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the representations relate to relevant media contexts. [30]

SECTION B: UNDERSTANDING MEDIA INDUSTRIES AND AUDIENCES

3a) What is meant by an independent film? [2]
3b) Briefly explain what you understand by vertical integration. [2]
 3c) Explain two features of mainstream film production. Refer briefly to Straight Outta Compton to support your points. [6]

 In Question 3(d) you will be rewarded for drawing together knowledge and understanding from across your full course of study, including different areas of the theoretical framework and media contexts.

3d) Explain how economic contexts shape independent films. Refer to I, Daniel Blake to support your points. [15] 

4a) Explain how the radio industry targets audiences. Refer to Late Night Woman’s Hour to support your points. [10]
4b) Explain the impact of media technologies on audience consumption of radio. Refer to Late Night Woman’s Hour to support your points. [10]

Component two

Section A – Television in the Global Age

Humans and The Returned

‘Television is a global industry.’ To what extent do Humans and The Returned support this claim? [30]

Section B – Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative Media

Answer one question in this section. Each question is in two parts.

Woman and Adbusters

a) Discuss the influence of historical context on representations in the set edition of Woman magazine. [15] 

b) Explore how the set edition of Adbusters conveys viewpoints and ideologies. [15]

Section C – Media in the Online Age

Zoella and Attitude

Clay Shirky argues that audiences in today’s online age are no longer passive consumers of media content.Evaluate this ‘end of audience’ theory. Refer to Zoella and the Attitude website to support your answer. [30]

Newspaper set products for examination 2021+

If you started A-level media in 2019 or later, then these are the set products for the newspaper industry.

Below you can find low resolution previews, and a link to a high resolution .pdf file which will be loads easier to read.

Remember, you need to know these pages like the back of your hand...

The Daily Mirror front page – Wednesday March 13 2019

The Daily Mirror article – Wednesday March 13 2019

The Times front page – Wednesday March 13 2019

Click here to access higher resolution versions of all the set text print media products 

Hyperreality and simulacrum in Humans and beyond

Examples of hyperreality and simulacra

• Christmas. In family films and Netflix specials, Christmas is a 'magical' time with food, fun, friends and shopping. In reality, Christmas is stressful and often isolating. It rarely snows, and the process of Christmas shopping can be nightmarish. The representation is clearly superior to the reality, and remains far more popular too
• Small town life. Living in a small down sucks! It can be isolating, cliquey and frankly depressing. However, small town life is often fetishised and idealised by hyperreal representational constructions in films and TV shows.
• Sex. Represented in a variety of ways in films and videos. 'The first time'. The loss of virginity narrative. The reality never lives up to the fantasy. Rose petals, low key lighting... Also hard core porn. 
• War. Represented in a fun and exciting way in films and videogames. War films such as Hacksaw Ridge. Heroic! Exciting! Glorification! Must be entertaining for an audience, avoid offending an audience. Propaganda!

Examples of hyperreality and simulacra in Humans

The synths themselves are an excellent example of hyperreality, a 'perfect' representation of humanity, who look identical to humans. Arguably synths are even better than humans! For example Nishka decides to not switch off her pain-chip to deliberately force herself to suffer. This illogical yet highly noble act is exactly what a human may choose to do... yet Nishka is a machine.

The breakfast scene

To what extent can it be argued that Humans is a postmodern media product? {15} {25 minutes}

...I shall argue that is a fundamentally postmodern media product, and in particular is an excellent exploration of the concepts of hyperreality and simulacrum....

One particularly convincing example of hyperreality occurs during the breakfast scene.

The breakfast itself. MES: arrangement of toast, "the jam's in a thing!". Sophie's excitement can be explained by the fact that she clearly recognises such scenes from films and TV shows. Her excitement indicates that this is different from how breakfast usually is in the Hawkins household. Joe: "this is what breakfast is supposed to be like!"clearly happy and excited! Excitement at a hyperreal construction, a fantasy. The breakfast resembles a hotel breakfast, or a breakfast in a film or TV show. Characters within a TV show discussing the nature of reality is a highly hyperreal, postmodern aspect.

Anita herself. A hyperreal construction of hegemonic female attractiveness. More hegemonically attractive than Laura, and forms a powerful diametric opposition. While Laura has skin blemishes, ginger hair, and slightly larger frame constructs her as less hegemonically attractive. For Laura, Anita is a hyperreal version of herself, stealing her life. Not only does Anita read stories to Sophie and do the ironing, she also constructs a fabulous, hyperreal breakfast. Joe may even prefer her to Laura for the very fact that she is not real. Cognitive dissonance. The inability to hold two thoughts in ones head at the same time. Anita is both alive and beautiful, yet dead and cold.

Anita's laughter is also an example of a hyperreal construction. Joe tells an appalling pun that normally would be met with groans. When prompted, Anita reacts with a fake, empty and repetitive and creepy laugh. By doing what she is told in an exact way, Anita reinforces the patriarchal hegemony wielded by Joe, and inflates his ego. Disturbingly, this theme is returned to later on in the series when Joe essentially demands sex off Anita, presenting her with the 18+ card.

Even more confusingly, Anita is not even Anita, but a brainwashed synth called Mia. A copy of a copy of a copy... Postmodern media products generally make deliberately complicated and confusing statements about the nature of our existence and our inability to distinguish between fact and fiction. Anita's loss and reclamation of her identity is a classic postmodern narrative.