Component one section b - film industry - how have the films you have studied been shaped by economic factors?

Industry theory revision

Curran and Seaton - The media industries tend to be owned by a small group of people, limiting the ideologies that are presented to the audience

Conglomeration: where one company 'buys out' other companies, in order to become later and to eliminate competition

David Hesmondhalgh - media industries: Vertical integration: where n organisation acquires another another organisation 'up or down' in the production chain. For example Paramount Pictures own Showcase cinemas. Horizontal integration: where an organisation buys others in the same sector, eg stream publishing focuses purely on magazines. Digital/multimedia integration: "They buy into other related areas of cultural industry production to ensure cross-promotion".

Livingstone and Lunt - Regulation

Underline

How have the films you have studied been shaped by economic factors?

Knee-jerk

Both films have been significantly influenced by economic factors, with I Daniel Blake being an independently produced film with political themes, and Straight Outta Compton being a major release with mass market appeal.

Plan

Curran and Seaton - power and politics
Livingstone and Lunt - regulation 
Hesmondhalgh
Vertical integration
Horizontal integration
Multimedia integration 
eOne films
Universal
BFI - royal charter 
BBC
Legendary Pictures
Biopic
Social realist 
New Line Cinema
Conglomeration
Ken loach
Indie
Major
Advertising strats
Social media
hashtag straightoutta___
hashtag wearealldanielblake
15.8 vs 201.6 million box office 
Distribution
Exhibition

Content

How have the films you have studied been shaped by economic factors?

Straight Outta Compton

• Trailer - Uses remixed, modernised versions of the original songs, targeting not only an existing fanbase, but also a new audience. Primarily for financial purposes
• Budget of 28-50 million is a mid to huge budget Hollywood film. High stakes in terms of budget
• Trailer - 7.5 million views, indicates a viral online success
• Targeting a mass, generalised audience, with particular focus on young, black men. 
• Predominantly black cast, and a black director 
• Teaser photos released days before the film's release, on social media. Downloaded 6 million times. Innovative marketing strategy and an example of viral marketing
• Regulation: BBFC 15 certificate when released theatrically. Film was re-edited to ensure a lower age certificate to reach a bigger audience and teenagers with expendable income.
• Film also released as an 18 rated directors cut
• Distributed through Netflix reaching a larger home audience. Also Now TV
• Produced by Legendary Pictures, a huge producer specialising in big budget blockbusters
• Distributed by Universal pictures, a vertically integrated, international conglomeration
• An international marketing campaign, targeting the big movie territories
• Social media marketing, viral, hashtags...
• Star appeal: sold through the likeness and appearance of NWA

I Daniel Blake

• Trailer: 1.2million views! Word of mouth, viral media
• Small, independently produced film
• Co-produced by many smaller organisations and stakeholders
• A British, French and Belgian co-production, demonstrating internationalisation
• Small specialised, niche audience necessitates it's budget is met through a variety of sources
• Risky from an economic perspective: 
• heavily politicised ideological message, favouring the left wing labour party
• Depressing hard hitting theme
• Largely unknown actors, lacks star appeal
• Low budget leads to low production values
• Subsidised cinema tickets at £3.50 in order to ensure a working class audience are able to see it
• However, the film predominantly attracted a white middle class audience, which is typical of Loaches films
• Also released in other European countries, Moi, Daniel Blake
• Won the Palme D'or, the biggest prize and the Cannes film festival
• Screened in social clubs in events round the UK

The representation of black and other ethnic minority people in music videos

First year students analysed the following videos, exploring the representation of BME (black and minority ethnic) people in modern American hip hop and rap videos. All three examples are particularly extreme in their depiction of sexualisation of overt criminality. An all three continually reinforce the ideology that BME, as in 'non-white' people are an other, different from white people.

Othering – The process of viewing someone or something who is not the same as different and threatening. Someone who is not ‘the same’ but is represented or perceived as being ‘different. Since from a hegemonic perspective many media products assume the audience to be white, straight men, examples of groups who are routinely othered include young people, black people, gay people, and women. Horror films in particular often play off the threat of the other, and the antagonist will often be an allegorical representation of a marginalised group.

While we're at it, let's chuck in a few relevant theories:

Stuart Hall - representation theory - Stereotypes are formed from a widely held belief about a certain group of people. These are repeated textually and subsequently cultivated ideologically. This has the potential to become a self fulfilling prophecy

Paul Gilroy - postcolonial theory - Stereotypes are reinforced by those in positions of power, and create strongly enforced hierarchies. Additionally stereotypes come about when there is imbalance of power

 The below videos contain themes and images that may be offensive.

City Girls - Twerk ft. Cardi B

• Video primarily focuses on the representation of of black, mixed race, latina and other ethnic minorities
• Additionally the video focuses on larger women, and in particular there are many CUs and ECUs
• However, a very singular and homogenised representation of women. Women in this video exclucively have large buttucks, and exclusively wearing thongs
• An extremely explicit example of sexualisation
• Fast paced editing cuts rapidly from woman to woman, presenting an ideological perspective that all women are the same. Reinforces a singular, straightforward and insulting representation of women Potentially extremely stereotypical
• Reinforces a stereotypical representation of black and minority ethnic women's bodies, but also stereotypes black women as being sexually promiscuous
• Setting: MES of the yacht connotes money and power, reinforcing the meaning/anchors the reading that these women are dancing for money
• Positions the audience as a heterosexual man, however, the target audience for Cardi B is teenage girls...
• A hypersexualised representation, cultivating a hegemonically acceptable ideology regarding the representation of women.
• Arguably hypersexualised ironic musuic videos like this have become the norm. Normalisation through desensitisation
• CUs of BME women's behinds as opposed to their faces, consistently sexualisation 
• MS Cardi B and her co-performer singing, in a sea of nearly nude dancing women. Cardi B is nude, and the emphasis is placed on her body 
• LA shots of women twerking positions the audience as a heterosexual male, perhaps at a strip club
• Aspirational image for teenage girls! The setting is largely positive, especially the first half, which is set in a variety luxurious settings
• Broken, graffiti's and derelict setting connotes crime, poverty and deprivation, reinforcing a stereotype about BME people
• Potentially empowering? Women have bodily autonomy, a slight variety of body types, 
• However reinforces patriarchal hegemony 

Lil Pump - Gucci Gang

• Bright, psychedelic colours and editing techniques connote themes of drug use
• Explicit use of drugs, particularly lean (codeine mixed with syrup)
• MES of the three large bags of weed emphasises his status as rich, but also his intent to sell drugs, reinforces stereotypical representation of BME people as drug takers or dealers
• Tiger is connotative of violence, aggression, and symbolises Lil Pump's intention to cause harm. Reinforces a stereotype that BME people are violent and dangerous
• Lil Pump behaves disruptively and disrespectful to a teacher. reinforcing a stereotype that BME people are disrespectful to authority
• Hegemonic rues are routinely broken, especially through Lil Pump's facial tattoos, establishing an ideological perspective that he doesn't care, and is seperate from conventional society.

6IX9ine - BILLY 

• Handheld cinematography connotes low production values, poverty and crime
• Artist is continually positioned in the middle of a gang 
• MES suggests criminal gangs bandanas, hoodies, gestures etc
• Audience are positioned in the middle of a public disturbance or riot, suggesting that BME people are stereotypically violent, aggressive and involved in crime
• Police are represented as being antagonist killjoys, ruining the aggressive fun of the BME gang
• Glorification and glamorisation of crime
• Stereotypical 'black' setting of chicken shop emphasises the artists status as a BME outsider 

Advertising - component one section b - Explore how audiences can use or interact with the advertisements you have studied

Note: Kiss Of The Vampire will not come up in Component two section B. Additionally, only AUDIENCE style questions, not INDUSTRY questions will come up if advertising appears in component two section b.

Underline

Explore how audiences can use or interact with the advertisements you have studied

Knee-Jerk

The adverts I have studied offer their target audiences several uses and interactions, though primarily this is motivated by power and profit, and by selling a lifestyle to the audience

Plan

Selling lifestyle!
Anchorage
Cultivation (Gerbner)
Reception (Hall)
Soundtrack
Stereotypes
Binary opposition
Positioning
Lexis
CUs
MES
Setting
Guilt tripping
Identity, Gauntlet Pick & Mix
Positivity!
Intertextuality

Content

Wateraid

• On screen graphic at end of advert states :"text SUNNY to XXXX to give £3". SUNNY has positive and utopian connotation, providing the audience a definitive way to interact in a positive manner
• Representation of Zambian woman: audience (target working class and white) from a binary opposition between themselves and Claudia. Emphasises he preferred reading to be sympathetic, and once more encourages donation
• Audience is positioned with Claudia with a low angled tracking shot following her feet as she walks, forcing the audience to empathise to Claudia's situation, 
• Convention of charity advert: close up of black person' feet, wearing flimsy shoes. 
• Symbolic code of bucket, symbolises poverty, and is connotative of central african identity
• Setting: quintessentially 'African', MES of girls with buckets on heads, the hazy sunlight drifting through scrubby trees and the laughing children playing ext to a water fountain provides th audience with the pleasure of escapism
• Diegetic singing, togetherness, and borderline worship of water presents a positive stereotype of black people, yet also reinforces the ideological perspective that poor, black African people should be thankful for the intervention and charity of white people, or at the very least, British people
• Representation of Zambia is misleading, focusing on a small, rural village rather than the semi-affluent city of Lusaka

Tide

• "you women" direct mode of address, positioning target white working class audience in a community, which can be achieved through purchasing Tide
• The Housewife, repeated across many tide adverts, is an aspirational figure. Slim, attractive, and amorous, she provides the audience with the use and potential interaction of living an ideal lifestyle
• Promotes cleaning and washing clothes as a positive and optimistic lifestyle. Reinforces the stereotype that women ply a limited role in society. Reinforces patriarchal hegemony
• Socio Historical context of the 1950s: limited roles and opportunities for women
• Z line rule provides the audience with a simple and easily followed set of instructions, allowing them to feel confident to use the product
• Cultivates the ideology that women are housewives and live in a patriarchal society. 
• Colour red is highly connotative of love and passions, a paradigmatic of the romance genre (intertextuality) allowing women to identify themselves as the hero of the story
• Red signifies and emphasises the quality of the product, and the royal significant of the brand
• Provides audience with the ability to construct their identity through the modelling of a stylish costume. Audiences may choose to emulate the housewife's glamorous yet easily copied look

Component one section b - film industry - "Distribution is the key to success for any media industry": how have digital technologies affected the ways in which films are produced and distributed?

Case studies: I, Daniel Blake and Straight Outta Compton

Underline

"Distribution is the key to success for any media industry": how have digital technologies affected the ways in which films are produced and distributed?

Knee-Jerk

Distribution refers to the ways in which media products and shared and given out to their intended target audiences. Distribution is absolutely vital to the financial success of the film industry, and this is made increasingly more so by advances in digital technology.

Plan

Success = financial success
Specialised industry
Social media
Viral marketing and word of mouth
Conglomeration
Merchandise
Legendary (producer) Universal (distrib.)
Regulation (L and L)
vertical, horizontal and multimedia integration (Hesmondhalgh)
Convergence and synergy
BBFC
Curran and Seaton: power and industry
(genre)
Stars and celebrities
Stereotypes
Ken Loach
Social realist
Indie, major
Biopic

Content

I, Daniel Blake

• Primarily distributed in atypical ways
• Official website: discounted cinema tickets for the target demographic (working class)
• Low production values and budget, targeting primarily a middle class and socially conscious audience
• Traditional methods of distribution. Premiered and Cannes, and then sold to the distributor eOne (for UK distribution)
• Production: financed by BFI, BBC, Wild Bunch, Canal Plus: a British, Belgian and French production, an example of a globalised media
• Distributed in France under the title Moi, Daniel Blake
• An independent film, created through the collaboration of many international financiers 
• Traditional: theatrical trailer, which was also distributed digitally
• Atypical distribution and exhibition methods: Outdoor screening in Newcastle, and film was also shown in social clubs and community centres, particularly in the north England, indicating the targeting of a working class audience
• hashtag I Daniel Blake allowed the film to be virally marketed by online audiences
• 13.9K follows on Twitter
• Jeremy Vine interviews Ken Loach on BBC Radio 2 traditional marketing
• Jeremy Corbyn publicly praised the film on social media, reinforcing the socialist ideology of the film

Straight Outta Compton

• Traditional distribution and production
• Universal a huge and multinational conglomeration wit the finances and power to distribute internationally
• Legendary the single and only producer
• Theatrical trailer is viewed 7.5 million times, with the potential to be shared on social media
• NWA's music is an excellent example of selling and distributing to a pre-sold audience
• Younger audience will be attracted to the genre conventions of the rap, action and gangster genres
• Trailer shown on first Republican political debate, ensuring a mass audience, and a declaration of the film's political ideology
• Ties in to themes of police brutality, especially the black lives matter movement. Iconography of the trailer, with images of riots and police conflicts capitalised on this 
• Traditional forms of marketing including billboards, posters and trailers and magazine adverts
• Film later distributed on Netflix, with a vast potential multinational audience
• Fan edits and memes created from the straight outta Compton logo, which was itself based on parental advisory sticker
• BBFC 15 certificate, very strong language, violence, sex and drugs. Use of v strong language limits potential audience, yet the film was re-cut to avoid an 18 certificate
• Extended directors cut rated 18, where regulation issues less likely to effect sales
• Choice of actors, and who they are playing. Ice Cube's son! Actors are a commodity, selling the product to the audience
• Synergy between the film and music industry. The album Straight Outta Compton was re released on vinyl and sold through UK supermarkets, target an older, generalised, mass audience

Other examples of films using viral marketing for huge profit include the Blair witch project.

Advertising - component one section b - How do the adverts you have studied appeal to a range of specialised and generalised audiences?

Note: Kiss Of The Vampire will not come up in Component two section B. Additionally, only AUDIENCE style questions, not INDUSTRY questions will come up if advertising appears in component two section b.

Underline

How do the adverts you have studied appeal to a range of specialised and generalised audiences?

Knee-Jerk

Primarily the adverts I have studied target generalised audiences, though there are some concessions to more niche audiences.

Plan

Sociohistorical context
Representation of women
MES
Ideology
Z line
Binary opposition
Hall: reception (PNO)
Cultivation theory
Lighting
Stereotypes
1950's
Narrative
Hypo needle <----- too limited!!!
Feminism as selling point
Gauntlet - pick and mix
Positioning
Uses and gratifications
Demographics

Content

Tide

• CU of woman hugging soap packet is connotative love and romance, which indicates and reinforces the ideological perspective that women should be housewives. Reinforces hegemonic beliefs and ideologies, allowing it to appeal and to target a mainstream audience
• Use of lexis: whitest and brightest", exaggerated and hyperbolic language allows the product to appeal to a generalised audience
• MES of makeup infers a stereotypical representation of women, effectively appealing to a target, mainstream female audience
• Audience are positioned in a way which allows them voyeuristic pleasure, seeing in to the life of a woman with a similar lifestyle
• However, audience are also positioned in a friendly and relatable manner through the costume of the housewife, how audiences would be able to relate to and identify with
• Symbolic connotations of red appeals to audience through reference to the romance genre
• Specifically targeting middle aged, female, housewives, working class.
• A general, mass market working class audience specifically targeted through the use of unthreatening sans-serif font
• Follows the strict conventions of the z line rule: a conventional and mainstream advert for a conventional and mainstream audience
• Comic book panel reinforces the adverts mainstream and mass market potential
• LS bottom left: remember! direct mode of address directly involves the audience and allows them the appear of identifying with the housewife 

however!!!

• By appealing exclusively to a working class audience, especially with the exclusive lexis "no wonder you women buy tide more than any other washday product". 
• Additionally, entirely omits men as a target audience, which is entirely appropriate for the 1950's socio-historical context of the advert 

WaterAid

• Appeals to a mainstream audience through the MES of the establishing shot. An instantly relatable image of a drab rainy afternoon in England allows audiences the pleasure of identifying with this advert
• Immediately afterwards, a hard cut establishes the central African setting, positioning audiences in an escapist fantasy. 
• A third shot, this time a CU LA tracking of a young black woman positions us with Claudia
• Audiences are anchored through the MES and gentle slow paced editing to sympathise with gentle Claudia, reinforcing the preferred ideological ideological perspective that the audience should help her
• Targeting a white middle class British audience. Diegetic radio sound "radio today" is an intertextual reference further anchoring the white audience in their role.
• Positive imagery, for example MES of colourful buckets and laughing children emphasise a pleasurable and positive atmosphere
• Allows audience the pleasure of 'saving' the poor, fragile and vulnerable Claudia. Audience are positioned as the hero of the story, a 'white saviour' 
• This is reinforced through a clear binary opposition between rainy middle class England and and dry, poor Africa
• Postcolonial theory : Paul Gilroy. Choice is made to represent a small and impoverished rural community rather than a more wealthy urban community like in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
• Advert is distributed through digital online technology, allowing it to reach a vast and generalised audience
• Claudia sings an easily identifiable pop song that the audience will be able to take pleasure from 
• British audience: Claudia sings in English, official language of Zambia. Text at end of advert also in English.

Advertising - component one section a - in what ways do these adverts utilise intertextuality to create meaning?

Wateraid - Claudia

NHS - Quit smoking

In what ways do these adverts create meaning? Make reference to

• Intertextuality
• Viewpoints and ideologies
• Media language

Underline

In what ways do these adverts create meaning? Make reference to

• Intertextuality
• Viewpoints and ideologies
• media language

Knee Jerk reaction

The NHS advert uses the conventions of the horror film in order to allow the audience to visualise the damage in their own bodies, while the WaterAid advert raises awareness through using hopeful conventions and a subversively positive outlook.

Plan

Shot types
MES
Binary oppositions
ECU
Colour grading
Semiotic codes, inc. symbolic proairetic hermeneutic
Representation of African people
Diegetic and non-diegetic sound
Camera angles
Montage
Tracking shots
Handheld
Reception theory
Genre conventions
Stereotypes

DAC - definition, argument, context - Introduction

D- Intertextuality is where one media product makes reference to another, in order to engage and to create meaning for the audience. Intertextuality allows producers an opportunity to further demonstrate their ideology.
A - However, different adverts will use different techniques in order to address their audiences. The NHS advert uses the conventions of the horror film in order to allow the audience to visualise the damage in their own bodies, while the WaterAid advert raises awareness through using hopeful conventions and a subversively positive outlook
C - WaterAid is a long established charity which focuses on providing water to developing countries

Paragraphs

Wateraid

Intertextuality

• Claudia sings in English, and sings a cover of a British pop song by Zoe "sunshine on a rainy day". Allows the audience to instantly relate to the advert. Indicates the producer is targeting a large and mainstream audience

Viewpoints and ideologies

• Anchorage of the optimistic soundtrack demonstrates to the audience the preferred reading. However, it's potentially patronising and overly obvious
• Subverts the conventions of the charity advert. For example, the slow motion, handheld cinematography of children laughing and playing around the symbolic code of the overflowing water tap demonstrates to the audience that their donations can directly lead to this happiness. 
• However, audiences may be frustrated with the overly optimistic and happy representation of central Africa, feeling that it glosses over certain truths

media language

• Establishing shot of a stereotypical representation of Britain. Use of low key lighting and the mise en scene of rain hitting the window. Allows British audiences to identify with the setting.
• Immediately cuts to another establishing shot of a dusty, extremely yellow field in Africa. A powerful binary opposition, which demonstrates to the audience that central African countries lack what we, the British target audience take for granted
• Non-diegetic musical soundtrack presents a positive and delightful atmosphere. Presents a realistic and relatable atmosphere for the target audience
• Frequent use of MS and tracking shots position the audience with Claudia, following her as she gets her water. Frequent cuts to POV shots prevent the advert from being voyeuristic 

NHS

Intertextuality

• The MES of the grotesque pulsating flesh is straight out of a zombie movie, and suggests to the audience that they are in real and terrifying threat from continuing to smoke.
• The Thing? Stranger Things? Shivers? The Fly?
• ECU of cigarette and low key lighting combine to make reference to the conventions of the horror genre

Viewpoints and ideologies

• Establishing shot of stereotypical working class British household.The colour is washed out and desaturated connoting misery, poverty and depression. A far cry from the glamorous representations of smoking in old films
• Specifically targeting a working class audience
• Cultivates an ideology that smoking is not at all glamorous by casting a hegemonically and stereotypically unattractive (although relatable) man in the central role
• However, the extreme nature of the advert may cultivate an oppositional reading in the target audience, who are put off by the themes and ideologies of the advert

media language

• MES of flesh cigarette functions as a proairetic code suggesting the imminent death of the protagonist, heightening the tension, disgust, an fear of the audience
• Lack of non-diegetic sound emphasises the boring and dull atmospheric sound, which builds to a subtle crescendo. The pleonastic (exaggerated) sound of the crackle of the cigarette emphasises the violence and aggression of the act

An exploration of the representation of women in the video to Riptide by Vance Joy

AKA: To what extent can it be argued that the video to Riptide encodes feminist ideological perspectives?

Irony: the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect - Google dictionary :O

While arguably the video to Riptide by Vance Joy reinforces a range of troubling patriarchal and fetishistic representations of women being tormented and attacked, it is very possible that the video is criticising the role of women within music videos, within horror films, and within society.

Stuart hall argues that representations influence the ways in which individuals are treated in society. But is it possible for a media product, in this case a music video to use stereotypical codes to CRITICISE the representation of women in society? And, by criticising hegemonically enforced patterns of inequality, can the video to Riptide be feminist in its intentions? Let's find out!

Cheers Owen for the screencaps! And thank you to this year's R and T and last year's Q and U blocks for providing these responses to a tricky question!

• Low angled shot of woman posing much like a statue, her gesture a reference to objectification. This gesture could draw reference to the use of women's bodies to sell media products
• MS of woman puling free of ropes. Dressed in small blouse and even smaller shorts
• MS of woman in a graveyard, low key natural lighting connotes death, misery, darkness and destruction
• MS slow POV shot of woman removing swimming costume is critical of the sexualisation commonplace in music videos, and highly critical of the representation of body types.
• Many shots put the audience in to an uncomfortable mode of address
• Second beach shot of woman in MS smoking, suddenly turns to the audience and directly addresses them, positioning the target audience as the 'danger' and as a threatening figure
• Master shot of woman singing, and slowly losing her makeup between shots. Deliberate lack of anchorage, and an unanswered hermeneutic code puts the audience on edge. The models lack of movement is particularly unpleasant. Model is submerged in absolute darkness, connotative of misery and depression,
• Presents a mocking parody of sexism in music videos – C/U “how to photograph girls” – connotes that women are purely present to be looked at by a heterosexual male audience
• Many shots of women in stereotypical male clothing. Low angle M/S of woman holding arms in a gesture that connotes power
• M/S of blonde woman bound in MES of tight ropes connotes the restrictions that women face in society, and is critical of the notion of women as a ‘weaker sex’ – connotative of ‘being tied down’ with maternal responsibilities etc
• Video lacks anchorage which forces audience to make own assumptions, simultaneously providing sexual gratification for male heterosexual audience, but also consistently informs the audience that scopophilia is creepy and not OK
• Ironic representation of patriarchal hegemony – M/S man standing in front of woman with torch in exaggerated pose and situation – graveyard
• Sexualised images utilised as referential codes – significant amount of film references draws attention to the negative representation of women in cinema
• C/U woman singing – connotations of rebellion and agency 
• Music video lacks anchorage, forcing the audience to make own assumptions about the representations of women
• M/S gagged woman escaping from ropes lacks sexualised elements, and is presented purely as upsetting and challenging to the heterosexual male audience
• Ultimately the video is highly polysemic and most of all SUBVERSIVE of the hegemonic ideological perspectives normally seen in music videos

Advertising - component one section a - explore the ways in which these adverts use representation to position audiences

Kiss of the Vampire poster

Us theatrical trailer

Explore the ways in which these adverts use representations to position audiences.
You should make reference to

• How groups are represented
• Intertextuality
• Genre conventions
• Viewpoints and ideologies

Underline

Explore the ways in which these adverts use representations to position audiencesYou should make reference to

• How groups are represented
• Intertextuality
• Genre conventions
• Viewpoints and ideologies

Knee Jerk reaction

There are similarities in how representations position audience through horror paradigms, however US focuses primarily on a black family, which is highly subversive/atypical 

Plan

Binary oppositions

Stereotypical

MES

Feminist theory - bell hooks

Ethnicity

Hermeneutic codes

Symbolic codes Subversive symbolism of rabbit

Genre conventions/horror conventions

Judith butler gender performativity

Character archetypes

Intertextuality

Song! Remix

Referentiatial code: Jaws T shirt!

Stuart hall and representation

Low key lighting

Paul Gilroy

Introduction: DAC

D - Positioning is an essential technique for producers, as it allows the audience to be placed in a particular situation. One of the most effective ways to do this is through representation, the re-presentation of a group, issue or event.

C - In order to explore this idea, I shall be referring to the theatrical poster for the 1963 British  Hammer horror Kiss Of The Vampire, and the 2019 theatrical trailer to the modern horror film US

A - There are similarities in how representations position audience through horror paradigms, however US focuses primarily on a black family, which is highly subversive/atypical 

Paragraphs

Kiss of the Vampire

How groups are represented Viewpoints and ideologies

• Historical context: the first stereotypical vampires are from the 1800's. Classical horror films ere often period dramas, and this is backed up through the MES
• Gesture and performance of the women reinforces their role within the film, and conform to hegemonic norms and standards.
• Woman on left takes the role of the 'damsel in distress' archetype, positioning the audience in the role of a heterosexual man
• Van Zoonen - Male gaze: MES of the exposed skin, n combination with the stereotypical attractiveness of the women assumes a heterosexual male target audience, and reinforces ideas of patriarchy
• While the film is set in exotic eastern Europe, the actors are predominantly white and British, which reinforces patriotic viewpoints

Intertextuality Genre conventions

• MES of darkness, the night setting is connotative of the horror genre and is highly typical. Positions the audience as fans of the horror genre
• Iconography of the full hints at the supernatural elements of the film, positioning the audience through the use of hermeneutic codes 

US

How groups are represented Viewpoints and ideologies

• Almost exclusively black cast would be unthinkable in 1963, purely because the film would be seen an being financially unviable
• Therefore for a horror film, a very atypical situation
• Father wears a Harvard, connotative of wisdom, intelligence, and middle class identity
• Subverts the stereotypical middle class family through the main character's ethnicity
• All black cast positions audience as a young, middle class black person, subverting the expectation the audiences are predominantly white

Intertextuality Genre conventions

• Ink stains function as a hermeneutic code, and are highly paradigmatic of the psychological horror genre, to target a specific audience
• O/S shot of walking along beach, MES lightening functions as a proairetic code, suggesting bad things are gong to happen
• ECU of woman's crying face is connotative of the horror film, and positions the target audience directly with the young, black protagonist
• Referential code to the Director's earlier film Get Out, allowing it toy target a pre-existing audience

Disney aquires 21st Century Fox

In another step towards world domination, Disney have now bought out 21st Century Fox, meaning they now own Pixar, Marvel, and a ridiculous number of other subsidiaries. 

This acquisition is so vast it's almost unfathomable. $71.3 billon is an utterly ridiculous sum, yet it guarantees Disney an almost complete monopoly of the mainstream creative industries, effectively anihilating all competition, and also putting them head to head with Netflix for domination of paid for video streaming.

This change has enormous implications. The world's media is now held in even fewer hands, and both David Hesmondhalgh and Curran and Seaton warn of the issues of having media in the hands of a few individuals and the lack of creativity and audience interaction that it presents.

Image via IGN

How to go viral: the art of the meme with Richard Clay

An exploration of audience participatory culture and an excellent refresher course on semiotic analysis? Sounds like the perfect show to check out for revision!

It's on iPlayer for the next month before the BBC squirrel it away in to their vaults...

:(

Exam structure

You can find a video version of this post by clicking here. It goes through everything you need to know to get an A in any exam you sit!

Second years: your time here is almost over, so make sure you live
on in our hearts and minds by getting the best grades possible!

This post explores how you can structure your response for any extended response in the A-level media exams. A lot of this is common to many subjects, and this information has been passed from teacher to teacher for many years. The idea behind using such a strict structure is that it allow you to answer the question, and not go off on a huge ramble that ends up with you failing the exam...

Here are a few pointers, including how long you could spend on each question, and how you could potentially structure a paragraph. Remember, there are many different ways of responding to a question. Just do remember to underline the keywords in each question you pick to help you with your structure.

Sample timings

Component one a - 2 minutes per mark

Component one b - 1 minute per mark

Component two - 50 minutes for each industry

Component 2 Micro-management

Intro and argument - 7  minutes

Text one – 19.5 minutes

Text two – 19.5 minutes

Conclusion  - 4 minutes

Marks per section:

Component one a - 45 marks (media language and representation. One question will be worth more marks that the other! Usually a 30/15 split)

Component one b - 45 marks (usually 25 marks for industry, 20 for audience)

Component two a (TV) - 30 marks

Component two b (Magazines) - 30 marks

Component two b (Online) - 30 marks

Example question - 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 editions of Woman and Adbusters and the historical contexts in which they were produced.

Step one - underline key terms

Underlining key terms forces you to engage with the concepts you actually need to cover in your response. You will be coming back to these key words time and time again in your response.

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 editions of Woman and Adbusters and the historical contexts in which they were produced.

This is a pretty beefy question! But if we break it down then it's pretty simple. "The representations of men and women are no longer simple. What do you think?"

Step two -  knee jerk reaction

In order to present a coherent structure, you need an opinion. For this question, it's clear you need to evaluate, but even if you do not get prompted like this, you will still need to demonstrate your own point of view.

Never change your opinion halfway through the exam. You simply do not have the time to contradict yourself. You need to come up with a point of view, and you need to do it NOW.

Hence the 'knee jerk reaction'. What's your instant, honest response to the question?

Knee jerk reaction: Adbusters presents complex representations of gender, particularly of women, while Woman magazine presents singular, stereotypical and sexist representations of women typical of the political climate of the mid-1960's

Step three - plan

Your plan can take many shapes. It's totally up to you what shape it will take. But what ever your plan looks like, make sure you include it in the answer paper. There are lots of reasons for this, and they all involve you getting marks for it. If you write it on the question paper, or scribble it out, then you cannot get marks for it! The examiner will very likely skim the plan before she starts to mark. And if she spots references to textual analysis and theory, she can already start to consider assigning you a 'C' grade.

Here's one way of 'doing' a plan: vomit all your ideas on to the page. What concepts, theories, ideas and examples pop in to your head when you see the question?

Here's an example...

Representation 
Sexism
Objectification
David Gauntlett
Pick and mix
Stereotypes
Patriarchial hegemony
Hegemonic norms and values
Van Zoonen's male gaze
Gender performitivity
Sociohistorical context

Step four - introduction

This can be divided into

Definition

Argument

Context

Using this structure, you would first define the key word of your question, including making brief explanations for why this is important to talk about. You would then make an argument or point of view. Finally, you would discuss the context of your chosen texts, including genre, year released, director, and how the text is interesting for your point of view.

Defining key words

Here are a couple of examples of how you could define key terms

‘Representation’

“Representation refers to the construction of reality. Representations are constructed by the producers of media texts in order to reinforce the agendas, ideals and ideologies of institutions”

‘Audience’

“Contrary to previous thoughts on audiences, both theorists and producers now agree that audiences are complex, and have a variety of different needs, tastes and ways of using media texts”

Argument examples

What argument are trying to make around your keyword?

Here are two potential arguments that you could make at the start of your essay.

‘Genre’

“Genre is primarily used as a shortcut by producers in order to target audiences in the most efficient manner possible. However, many texts can subvert audience expectation, while at the same time conforming to genre conventions”

‘Distribution’

“Distribution is undoubtedly important for the newspaper. However, I will argue that other factors, such as star appeal and modern digital technologies are more important for both financial and critical success in the newspaper industry”

here's an example of how an introduction could look:

In what ways can newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies for their audiences?

[DEFINITION] The producers of newspapers typically incorporate a range of ideological perspectives when creating newspapers. This is for several reasons, including commercial, ideological, and audience related. Ideology itself refers to the beliefs and viewpoints of the producer. Through media language, audiences are invited to explore and negotiate a range of responses. [ARGUMENT] However, typically producers will attempt to anchor these responses through techniques such as captioning. In order to explore how newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies, [CONTEXT] I shall be exploring the examples of The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper catering to a working class left wing audience, and the Times, a broadsheet targeting a middle class, right wing audience. I shall also be supplementing these examples with material from The Mail Online, a particularly popular online branch of the right-wing Daily Mail that primarily targets a working-class female audience.

Step five - The paragraph structure

One way you could structure the paragraphs within your response is by using

Point

Evidence

Argument

[Theory]

However, there are many other ways of structuring your responses. Just make sure to be consistent and clear!

In what ways can newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies for their audiences?

P - The front cover of The Times, on the other hand, demonstrates an initially oppositional ideological viewpoint.
E - A mid shot double page splash wrap-around cover, saved only for the very most notable events adorns this edition. Trump gestures passively with his fist, eyes to the right of the camera, in front of the background of an American flag. The flag has clear connotations for the right wing target audience: of patriotism and of freedom and of victory. The headline, The New World is presented in a serif font, offering a sophisticated mode of address to the target middle class audience. However, the Times Does not openly ideogically support Trump in the same way that The Mirror opposes him. In an example of bias through selection, an image of Trump looking either smug or lost, depending on the negotiation of the audience is selected. His fist has symbolic connotations of power, but also functions as a proairetic code, suggesting violence ahead. This is further anchored to the sophisticated target audience through the lexis of the subheading demonstrating that Trump will send “shockwaves around the globe”.
A - The negative connotations of shockwave make intertextual reference to the disaster genre once more. However, the dominant reading is hard for the audience to deduce. The Times neither endorses nor rejects Trump’s ideology. Even the pull quote on the back cover, with its repeated use of you will be so proud” can by polysemically interpreted by the target audience.

Key assessment three - Magazine mock exam feedback, mark scheme and exemplar answers

For the key assessment three mock exam, you were given a choice of three questions which could come up in component 2 section B - mainstream and alternative magazines. Adbusters and Woman are very different from one another, and it is very likely that your response will focus on the differences between these magazines, and why they are so different.

The Alfred Hitchcock interview in Woman is an excellent case study to use when exploring positioning, audience responses, the cultivation of patriarchal hegemonic ideologies and the use of star power to sell the magazine to a wider audience. Remember; the case studies you revise for the exam will be useful for a variety of questions!

Indicative content - This is the kind of thing you could have written about...

The examiners will have a list of indicative content in front of them in addition to the generic mark scheme. However, this list of indicative content isn't a simple 'tick list', but a list of the kind of things you could write about. So please do not kick yourself when you go through this list. However, if you were struggling to fill the 50 minutes, or if your mark was lower than you expected, these lists should point you in the direction of which areas you should revise!

Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters.

Knee jerk argument: Woman presents stereotypical and straightforward ideologies, while Adbusters presents more complex and subversive beliefs

Adbusters

• Adbusters is an anti-capitalist magazine, and this is reflected through it's attacks on luxury brands like Zucchetti and Christian Louboutin.
• For example, an aggressive binary opposition is formed between the Louboutin logo and the grainy, low quality image of the black, bruised feet in a stereotypical African setting. This emphasises the gulf between rich and poor
• Challenges stereotypical representations of female beauty with an entirely non-sexualised and enigmatic high angled shot of a nude woman with tattoos in a bathtub
• Zucchetti Him advert is present unaltered, it's placement next to an image of extreme poverty demonstrating a critique of commodity fetishism
• Articles consistently lack anchorage, and images are generally presented without comment or caption, alienating the audience

Woman

• Woman magazine presents a capitalist ideology through suggesting purchasing things to solve problems. The mid-shot of the smiling woman in the A Present For Your Kitchen double page spread emphasises tat life's problems can be solved through consumerism
• Consistently reinforces hegemonic standards of female beauty, for example the role of makeup in Are You An A-level Beauty?
• Many of the ideologies presented in Woman are a product of the sociohistorical context of the time it was made.
• The Extra Special: On Men! feature arguably reinforces hegemonic values by creating a binary opposition between men and women
• Objectification in Hitchcock interview: "they're like snow capped volcanoes!"
• Voyeuristic mode of address in the Creme Puff advert

How have economic factors shaped both Woman and Adbusters?

Knee jerk argument: Woman magazine is consumerist, targets a mass audience and funds itself partly through advertising, while Adbusters is anti-capitalist, targets a niche audience and is not-for-profit

Adbusters

• Adbusters supplements funding through online synergy and the online web store, selling 'anti-capitalist shoes' and elaborate, expensive special editions
• Format of magazine is consistently subversive. Masthead changes every issue, and generally lacks multiple cover lines
• High cover price in order to cover loss through advertising
• Adbusters has frequent legal issues, for example copies being withdrawn in Canada after an article comparing the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw Ghetto
• Often confrontational and highly unpleasant, limiting financial potential. CU images of dead children's faces, and a direct mode of address directing the audience to 'kill yourself'
• Atypical structure, with magazine divided into 'chapters', highly unusual
• Unconventional layout with distracting and upsetting use of atypical typography 

Woman

• Low cover price of 7d and a weekly publication frequency
• For profit, capitalist magazine
• Frequent demands for the audience to purchase consumer products to make their lives better
• Published by IPC, a specialised media conglomerate who have horizontally integrated by acquiring similar women's magazines
• Unique selling point: comfortable and not challenging. Contrast with Vogue, which targets a non-mass market, specialised, middle-class female audience
• Conventional structure, including use of the Z line rule, a typical contents page and folio sections
• Alfred Hitchcock increases audience appeal by featuring a then extremely well known and adored film director

Compare and contrast the different ways that Woman and Adbusters position their audiences.

Knee jerk argument: Woman magazine positions it's white, heterosexual working class woman in a friendly and welcoming mode of address, while Adbusters positions it's middle-class audience in a challenging and even threatening mode of address.

Adbusters

• And aggressive and direct mode of address is adopted in the article Save The Planet: Kill Yourself
• Articles and images frequently make use of broken and torn mise-en-scene, symbolising the range of issues that exist in society
• Magazine generally lacks anchorage, for example front cover makes no reference though cover lines as to the ideologies of the fighter/soldier/terrorist? who is screaming at the audience
• High cover price (anything between $8.99/£11.99, though in practice this varies wildly)
• Use of an often sophisticated lexis (for example the consideration of polyurethane in the Save The Planet article) suggests an educated audience

Woman

• Breeze Soap advert positions audience through direct mode of address: "because you're a woman", and through the M/S of attractive and aspirational nude woman in a bath
• Alfred Hitchcock interview positions female audience as being subordinate to Hitchcock, who is in a position of power, emphasised by the MES of his suit, and the status of is age and gender
• Front cover adopts a friendly and welcoming mode of address
• Low cover price (7d) appeals to a working class audience and reflects weekly publication
• A range of different prices of kitchen are offered, appealing to a variety of broadly working class audiences
• Audience are positioned in a voyeuristic mode of address in several articles and adverts, eg the Creme Puff advert, reinforcing the idea that women are there to be looked at by men

Mark scheme

Your assessment will be marked according to this simplified version of the mark scheme. The only thing that is different about this one is that the band descriptors have been generalised to fit any question.

Feedback legend

i - Media language - you are not using enough key media language! Make sure to revise the textual analysis toolkit. Remember, without media language, you are giving a common sense response!

ii- Knowledge and understanding - you are not familiar enough with the set texts... or you are simply not getting this knowledge across in the response. Re-read/watch the media products we have studied in class!

iii - The big concepts- you are not making enough considered reference to concepts such as ideology, cultivation, patriarchal hegemony, polysemic readings and so on. Revise and apply advanced media concepts for a better result.

iv- Theorists - You are not referring to theories and theorists by name. Sort it out!

v- you must answer the question. If the question asks you to consider representation, then this is what you must write about!

Top tips and general feedback 

• Many responses were WAAAAAAAY too descriptive. This was a shame, because in general, the exploration of 'big concepts' such as ideology and hegemony was spot-on! However, many students simply were not using toolkit language, which is a very bad idea. 
• Please avoid using 'you and they' It's 'audience and producer'.
• A few essays launched in to the answer without including an introduction. Introductions are vital for long answer question, and are where you first introduce your argument. 

Retakes 

If you achieved a D, E or U grade in this key assessment, you have the option of retaking. This will be completed in your own time. This will not effect your initial grade. Only your initial grade will go towards this key assessment.

Exemplar

Below are a few examples of excellent responses to this key assessment. Please remember these responses were written by first year students immediately after finishing the unit. Answers are presented 'as-is' with no spell checking or other edits. 

Example one - Compare and contrast the different ways that Woman and Adbusters position their audiences.

As a whole, both woman and adbusters use a variety of media techniques to position their audiences in order for them to be manipulated and agree with the magazines' ideologies. Although the ways in which they position their audiences can be the same in some aspects, the magazines being evaluated have an opposing nature and ideological perspective where adbusters is an anti-capitalist organisation that do not include adverts and is published monthly, whereas woman are a for profit magazine that has a very specific target audience who represent women in a heavily stereotypical light. Positioning can be defined as the place in which audiences are left after they've seen the media product.
 One way in which adbusters position their audience is through creating a parody advert of Christian Louibouton shoes and a stereotypical African individual in order to create a sympathetic mode of address in a highly subversive image (high quality brand association with deprivation). The binary opposition between the branded logo and mise-en-scene of the battered bear feet infers that established brands potentially cause poverty, therefore these dual factors substantially emphasise the poor conditions African people are living in. This aspect can be associated to Claude Levis-Strauss' theory of binary opposition which is suggested to create interest to the target audience and get them more involved in the product. Furthermore the close up angle shot of the feet is an intertextual reference to charity adverts who heavily use referential codes. Consequently adbusters are reinforcing their ideological perspective of anti-consumerism through criticising the high-end brand. Conclusively, all media techniques put together causes an uncomfortable mode of address which positions the audience in a place where they feel obliged to do something about the major issue of poverty in a low economically developed countries.
 The dominant ideology of woman's magazine is that all woman at the current socio-historic period were housewives and lived in a society where patriarchal hegemony was clearly evident. However in contrast to adbusters' negative mode of address, the front cover of woman's magazine adopts a much more comforting feeling. The dominant image shows a hegemonicaly attractive model who is a stereotypical housewife; the producer anchors the audience through using lexis, for example 'magical' and the direct mode of address 'are you A-level beauty' contains a variety of positive connotations to complement the less educated target audience who are 25-50 year olds. From this, it can be concluded that the producer uses a hegemonicaly attractive female for the dominant image in order for the magazine to sell easier. Consequently, this can be linked with Lisben Van Zoomen's theory which states that women's bodies are used in media products to assist in sales. Although it can be assumed that the majority of the target audience are heterosexual females, meaning they are not attracted to the model, I personally feel woman magazine uses this specific female in order to sell a lifestyle. As a whole, the producer anchors the audience, unlike adbusters, with the intention to position the mass audience in a satisfied and delighted frame of mind.
 Additionally, another way in which adbusters positions their audience is through realising how fortunate they are compared to other individuals through reminding them of their place in society. For instance when looking at the homeless image, it shows a subversive representation of a female on the streets who is not hegemonicaly attractive. The image lacks anchorage as we do not know she is homeless yet the mise-en-scene of the cup acts a symbolic code for the target audience due to the fact it tells us our status in society. In addition to to this, the black and white background acts as a hermeneutic code. Symbolic and hermeneutic codes  follows Roland Barthes theory of semiotics for the reason that elements like these have a deeper meaning and reinforces theory ideology. Moreover the shot type is a high angle shot to which the audience are positioned as if they are on the street; it essentially acts as a hierarchy due to the fact that we are on a higher level than the homeless woman. Once again, this image lacks anchorage and does not have  a clear dominant reading, I feel that a wide range of people think it is because it will make society feel the need to give. Although not clear, I believe the audience are positioned in a state in which is allows them to realise how fortunate they are in society and essentially gives them confidence.
 Similarly, Woman magazine intentionally reminds them about their potential look through the Creme Puff advert, nonetheless I feel the producers ideology is encoded within this advert. The advert preaches the converted because stereotypical housewives in the socio-historic period was already using numerous cosmetic products in order to please their husband. Furthermore the layout is like a comic, the use of panels implies the target audience has a low level of education. The slogan/tagline "beauty at a moments notice" suggests that it is easy to use and also infers that the product is close to hand which shows make-up to be a hegemonic norm in the socio-historic time frame. Nevertheless this advert creates a clear insecurity for the target audience as it implies they are ugly if they do not use branded cosmetics and therefore positions the audience in an uncomfortable way.
 In conclusion, Woman magazine has straight forward representations and promotes gender binary whereas adbusters has an opposing ideology which positions both audiences in a completely different way. 

Example two: Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Women and Adbusters.

In this essay I will be analysing the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Women magazine and Adbusters. Viewpoints are the opinions and beliefs belonging to the producer of the media product, in this case, the producer of these two magazines. These viewpoints all contribute to the overall ideology of the media product, that represent the connoted lifestyle surrounding the media product.
The dominant ideology of Women magazine coherently connotes patriarchal hegemony and sexual objectification of women. This ideology is very conformist to stereotypical representations of women in the 1950s.  In contrast, the dominant ideology of Adbusters is very controversial and counter-cultural, as it is a Liberal (Left-wing) magazine which continuously challenges consumerism, capitalism, and is very subversive in terms of challenges the magazine genre as a whole.
For example, in this front cover of Women, the masthead  denotes the name of the magazine :'woman'. This instantly targets the primary demographic, of 25-50 year old English housewives. This will immediately attract the audience, as it is as if the magazine is 'calling' for the women to buy the magazine. This supports the dominant stereotypes of women that Women magazine holds, as this suggests that women are interested in magazines and as part of Uses and Gratifications, they enjoy reading magazines to fulfil their needs for diversion, to escape from their everyday lives. This further connotes that women during this period of time (50s) have a lot of time on their hands as they didn't work and so they had very little responsibilities besides housework and looking after their children, that they had enough time to spare to read the magazine.
Furthermore, the font and positioning of the masthead conforms to stereotypes of women. For example, the font is a very soft, but neat font, which creates connotations that women are passive and like everything to be 'in-line'. In addition to this, it is positioned precisely in the middle width of the magazine, which reinforces the stereotype that women are 'OCD'. As these are such widely held stereotypical views of women, this reinforces my argument, that Women magazine is a very sexist hegemonic magazine.
Another very dominant ideology of Women magazine is that women are meant to be housewives, and their responsibilities belong is the kitchen and doing housework, which this front page of women magazine conforms to. The yellow banner across the bottom portion of the front page denotes the lexis: 'Seven star improvements for your kitchen". This reinforces the ideology that women 'belong in the kitchen' and also reflects the context of the magazine and era. Through this, the woman of the main image, is represented as the 'housewife' figure that was very reflective of the patriarchal societal standards and expectations of women during this era.
Women magazine as a whole demonstrates the patriarchal hegemony of male dominance over women during the post war context of the magazine. In which males were stereotypically denoted and represented as the 'breadwinner' who left for work to support their family financially, whilst the mother of the family stayed at home to look after the children and take care of the housework, and to also act a source of sexual pleasure for their husbands. This is supported by a particular advert in Women magazine, in which a women is denoted 'naked' but covered by soap suds. This connotes the ideology of Women magazine, as they are used by men for sexual gratifications. This is supported by Lisbet Van Zoonen's feminist theory in which she argues women's bodies are used in media products, as a spectacle for heterosexual male audiences, which reinforce patriarchal hegemony.
This is evident in the Alfred Hitchcock article of Women's magazine.
In this article there is a photo of Alfred and his wife, although he is cut out of the frame, he is  denoted within the composition physically higher up and looking down on her. This suggests he has dominance and power over her, supporting patriarchal hegemonic expectations within this time period. The caption of this states that he 'snapped her up' which suggests that he has control over her an that he effortlessly married her, suggesting that she was desperate for him, due to his wealth and success. Furthermore he is wearing a suit which suggests that he is very wealthy and successful  whereas she is wearing a vey simple costume- a knitted jumper- suggesting she has less disposable income to spend on luxuries such as jewellery and 'upper class', high fashion clothing.
Adbusters completely challenges Women magazine in the most controversial way. Because the magazine is more modern and up to date with society and politics their ideology is a lot more current and relevant now. For example, Women magazine demonstrates a lot of symbolic annihilation of ethnic minorities, as the common figure denoted is a a white upper class female. Where as in many articles of Adbusters Ethnic minorities have been portrayed.
For example, in this Louiboutin advert,  the main image denotes  what seems to be an African woman's feet wearing some recycled, hand made shoes. This creates the a representation of lower class people in Africa, who cannot afford decent, let alone high fashion, expensive shoes. This is a culture jamming advert that is parodying high fashion culture, in this case,  of Loubiboutin. This brand holds an ideology of higher class, expensive and luxury. However, the way that this brand has been paired along side a very different ideology- of poverty and suffering - a clear binary opposition is created. This would be to make audiences 'open their eyes' and pay attention to the rest of the world, and the real problems, and what materialistic items are unnecessary, as it only cause world wide issues for other people. This is a very typical article of Adbusters that represents this magazine very accurately as a whole, as their harsh ideology of anti-consumerism and anti-mainstream views are clearly portrayed. This is contrasting to the Hitchcock article of Women, in which Hitchcock is flaunting his wealth, whereas Adbsuters is shaming wealth and consumerism.
The use of culture jamming in this advert magnifies the problem that the producers want to portray, which is that they want to challenge the current fashion culture and how eccentric it is. The tagline 'red bottoms are always in season' makes the contrast between people within social hierarchies. The upper class in society can afford to pay a large sum of money in order to be 'in fashion' whereas people of the lower class have to make do with whatever they can spare in order to give themselves a sole on their foot, even if that means handcrafting them from recycled rubbish. This tagline can also serve as a double meaning as the 'red bottoms' could connote blood and burning on the soles of their feet due to the plastic bottles that are being worn in the main image of this advert. This message can create a large impact on audience in which they feel guilty and sorry for the people of the lower class, who have to suffer the pain of shoes, rather than be comfortable and stylish. This further reinforces Adbusters anti-consumerism ideology surrounding the fashion culture in particular.
In addition to this, this advert clearly subverts and challenges typical dominant representations of gender, supporting the dominant ideologies of Adbusters. From this image, as an audience, we cannot identify the gender of the model, as it isn't clear in this close up shot of the models feet. Within the mise en scene, there is a lack of components that can be used to identify the gender of the model. This suggests that the gender of this person isn't important, because the people suffering from poverty are all genders. This subverts typical magazines, as usually the gender of the models are selected and mediated in order to sell the products in the best way. For example, typically women are used to sell products, whilst being depicted in a sexual demeanour, to attract heterosexual males, supporting the male gaze theory. However the way that this advert has intentionally made an effort to conceal the gender of the model, subverts the stereotypical way in which the magazine industry sexualise models and their gender in order to sell products and ideologies.
Further more, this advert subverts the stereotypical selection and presentation of certain groups within typical magazines. In this close up shot, the model is a person of an ethnic minority, rather than the stereotypical group of people presented in magazines, who tend to be white people of the upper class. Therefore this advert is subverting the way in which magazines commit symbolic annihilation, because Adbusters have chosen to present a person to represent a wider ethnic minority who typically would not be portrayed in the magazine industry.
The layout of Adbuster's articles themselves are very unconventional of magazines. Here there is a lack of cover lines, there is no barcode, or tagline. The overall appearance of this front cover, doesn't look like a typical magazine, as there is an extreme lack of these conventional magazine components. This means that even the visuals of the magazine are very subversive of the magazine genre, but at the same time demonstrates the ways in which Adbusters clearly and so bluntly encode their anti-establishment and anti-mainstream ideologies and viewpoints of the magazine genre.
This advert, both, conforms to and subverts from typical representations of gender within the magazine industry. For example, this advert conforms to typical representations of women in typical magazines. This medium shot, of the female model's legs walking down a runway, instantly creates connotations of women being used in the fashion industry as attractive, aesthetically pleasing means of selling products. As part of the mise en scene the clothing that we can see the model is wearing, is very vibrant ant connotative of wealth and upper class status. This conforms to the stereotypical representations of women within the  magazine industry, contrasting the overall ideology of Adbusters.
However this image is completely contrasting to the image that has been 'pasted' on top which represents. For example, these men are presented looking scruffy and struggling, in poverty and 'caged' in barbed wire. Men aren't very often presented in magazines, in comparison to females, however when they are they are typically denoted to fulfil stereotypical masculinity, looking very smart, dressed in suits and creating connotations of power and wealth. So in this aspect, Adbusters are subverting hegemonic gender stereotypes, within the portrayal of men. Therefore the fact that this image has been included in a magazine is very subversive to the genre, but also creates Binary oppositions.
These binary oppositions (Strauss) have been created within this advert between social classes. The way that this advert denotes a lady of high class, indicated by her costume for example (mise en scene) and the high key quality of the photo, over males of lower class and poverty, indicated by their scruffy, plain clothing (mise en scene) and the low key quality and black and white filter of the photo. This subverts typical magazines which would never represent different social classes other than high class, classy and wealthy people. Therefore this is another way that Adbusters is very atypical of the magazine genre, and this fulfils their overall ideology of challenging media and being bluntly honest when it comes to social issues.
Therefore, although at a first glance the image of the models legs of this advert conforms to magazine conventions it has been flipped around to culture jam magazine.s
To conclude, the ways in which Adbusters portrays their viewpoints and ideologies is very subversive, harsh and blunt, in comparison to Women magazine, who follow stereotypical representations and conform to the context of the magazine, making it a very mainstream and typical magazine, of this genre.

 Example three - Compare and contrast the different ways that Woman and Adbusters position their audiences.

The producer in both woman and Adbusters magazine positions(places) the audience in a influential position in order to allow them to respond to the ideologies that are encoded within the media product in the producers desired way. When audiences are 'positioned' they are being forced to see the perspective that the producer wants them to, it manipulates how audiences respond and could give media products very polysemic interpretations. audiences tend to have preferred, negotiated or opposed reading towards what they are seeing, and producers usually try to place the audience where they will agree the most.
Adbusters is an unconventional, anti-consumerist, anti-capitalist magazine in which includes no (real) adverts whatsoever, this therefore makes it very atypical and can lead to very controversial readings. its main ideology is to make the audience feel guilt and responsible for a lot of the worlds issues. we assume that the target audience for Adbusters is middle aged, middle class, heterosexual men- who presumably have a higher level of education and also understand media analysis and complex topics. One example of audience positioning within the Adbusters magazine,  is within the culture jamming advert for a "Zucchetti tap" which is directly contrasted on a double page spread with an image of a woman in a dead end looking bath, including text explaining the situation of people who have little to no access to water. The audience is positioned in an uncomfortable position by the use of a close up shot of the models knees and hands in an unfilled bath, this deliberately makes the woman look un-sexualised, going against Lisbon Van Zoonenes theory that women are used as sexual objects within media products, and also contradicting the audiences expectations of what we expect to see in a high-end advert. We are positioned to be focused on the symbolic code of the woman hands, this is a symbolic code as it represents poverty, and could suggest her desire for help. The mise-en-scene of her tattoos and wrinkled hands suggests that she has imperfections and is also stronger than the stereotypical idea of a woman. the positioning of this advert makes the audience (presumably who have never experienced poverty)  feel guilt and sympathy towards her. The contrasting image of a shining new zuccchetti tap which costa around £1000 gives the audience a polysemic ideology, it has lots of different meaning and the preferred reading is actually unclear; the magazine is being purposely difficult to understand, once again indicating the type of educated target audience that it requires. WE are positioned to be looking down over this tap as though we are about to use it. the mise-en-scene of the  water coming out of it which looks beautifully crystal clear is suggesting that the tap produces better water than another (which isn't true) however we are positioned to think this way and feel desperate need to access this overpriced tap.  one of the main ideologies that is encoded into this advert is that we are possibly held responsible for poverty. the text describing someones struggle for water, directly contrasted with an advert for a £1000 tap gives the audience a sense of shame and guilt that they spend money so unnecessarily- which is an example of 'cultural capital' showing adbusters anti-consumerist ideologies.
The previous advert can be compared with the Breeze soap advert which comes from Woman magazine, where the audience are positioned in a very different way. in this magazine the specific audience is middle aged, white, straight women who in this time (1964) are very stereotyped and appressed by a patriarchal society. Women is a conventional magazine that  gives a singular ideology thought out,  that stereotypical women should be a perfect housewife, have a family and look good at any given second, it has a familiar mode of address allowing women to identify with this magazine which is advising them on how to live their lives. One of the main contrasts between the Adbusters image of a woman in the bath and Woman magazines image of a woman in the bath is the sexual connotations that come with them. Unlike Adbusters, woman magazine present this women in a very idealistic way. the audience are positioned to be looking at her with a sense of voyerism as the model looks unaware, this gives the target audience the chance to see what another woman looks like in the bath and subconsciously compare themselves against this unrealistic expectation. The fact the women set idealistic goals to look like this model (specifically for men) suggests that they are insecure and aspire to making themselves skinny so that they would fit into the body standard hegemony to feel socially accepted. the text on the advert says "because you're a woman" - the use of "you're" is a direct mode of address, positioning the audience to feel targeted whilst also following the over all theme of familiarity and friendliness that the whole magazine includes. this direct mode of address is pushing the ideology that every single woman must follow these rules to be accepted into the minds of the audience. the model is seen to be fully naked, only covered by a few bubbles, and having perfect makeup and a messy bun- this mise-en-scene sets an unachievable standards for 'normal' women in society, making them feel unsatisfactory and therefore making them want to buy this product that will improve them.
Both magazines position their audiences in prime position to get the preferred reading out of them, for Adbusters the preffered reading usually is guilt and sympathy to make the audience view things differently, for woman this is to create a stereotypical standard for all women. They position their audience not only by the use of adverts/fake adverts (however this is the best example) but also by the overall composition of the magazine. While Adbusters is seen to be unconventional and have a changing masthead in each copy and no adverts, it is quite hypocritical as it has a very glossy and galm style to it meaning its not as atypical is it first appears. Woman magazine on the other hand, is very very stereotypical, it shows  patriarchal hegemony and targets one specific audience. 

Example four: Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters.

In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters. Adbusters has no adverts, has very subversive viewpoints and is atypical due to challenging conventions of magazines. However, Woman magazine is a conventional magazine but has very sexist viewpoints, including that the purpose of a woman is to be a housewife.
The front cover of Woman magazine portrays a very sexist, stereotypical presentation of women. The model on the front has very short hair which has been pulled back to indicate it is kept tidy and neat, she is wearing minimal makeup and is smiling. this indicates that the viewpoint is that women must be seen to be happy and must have a hairstyle to suit their "housewife" purpose. The text at the bottom says "Seven star improvements for your kitchen" the direct mode of address of "your kitchen" indicates that the women reading this magazine will all have their own kitchen and it belongs to them and only them. It is also assuming that the reader will be a woman and does the cooking. This is presenting the ideology that all women are housewives and therefore do all of the cooking, and also cleaning due to the woman's tidy appearance.
Adbusters presents very different ideologies and viewpoints. The double page spread which includes hands in a bath and a tap presents these ideologies well. Adbusters has very strong ideologies that the world has many problems, one of these including poverty. Adbusters also has the viewpoint that people just buy things for the brand and do not care about poverty elsewhere. This double page spread article presents these ideologies well. There is a contrast between the two images because one is of someone in the bath holding their hands out. Due to the high angle shot and the position that the model is sitting in, it looks as if they are begging. The close up shot is focusing on the model's hands and knees which is deliberately unsexualised, this is very subversive and shows that the point of this is to prove a point. This position of hands also has connotations of begging. The model is sat in a bath and so perhaps is begging for more water. The audience is positioned in the bath with the model, and so could make the audience feel guilty, which is another one of the ideologies that Adbusters has - to make the audience feel guilty. This could be reinforced due to the audience associating this position with being poor and in poverty due to anchorage from charity adverts, this is a symbolic code. However, in contrast to this the image on the right is of a very expensive tap which is branded. This could be a direct criticism of the luxury brand due to it being very expensive for being just a tap. This could suggest that the expensive brand is creating poverty or is at fault for poor people in poverty who have limited access to water. Consumerism could be presented through the image of the tap because people are only buying it for the brand, as it is just a tap and all taps do the same thing, you don't need to buy an expensive one. Both of these pages are polysemic due to the preferred reading being unclear, and lots of people reading this could be very unclear of what it actually means. This suggests that the target audience is educated and knowledgable. this could present an ideology that only educated people can understand what is happening in the world and how consumerism is affecting us all.
This is very different to Woman magazine, the viewpoints and ideologies in Woman magazine are very simple and clear. This could be because it is appealing to a very different audience. Woman is targeting women who are working class whereas Adbusters targets educated, middle aged men. In Woman magazine there is a whole article about men, titled "Extra special on men." The fact that there is a whole article about men indicates that the ideology and viewpoint ofWoman magazine is that women are obsessed with men and must do everything that they can to please them, almost as if it is their duty. This reinforces patriarchal hegemony. It could also present the ideology that women are stupid and cannot think for themselves as they are being told how to get to know men and told things about them, almost as if they cannot figure this out for themselves. This is very sexist due to presenting women as being stupid and unable to do things for themselves. In this article the lexis "men" is the boldest so assumes that they are superior and the most important aspect. This is reinforcing the ideology that men and women are very different, and that men are above women. there is a picture of a man putting on a tie suggesting that he is going to work, this reinforces the ideology that men are in their right place going to work and women are in their right place by staying at home.
Woman magazine includes adverts, however Adbusters does not. This is because Adbusters is anti consumerist and anti capitalist. The adverts included in Woman magazine present strong viewpoints of the roles of women and men. In the Max Factor makeup advert the woman was doing her makeup and by her doing this she attracted the man. This presents the ideology that wearing makeup will instantly make the woman more attractive to the man and he will be interested in her. The name of this brand is at the bottom of the advert and in a large font, it also shows the Z line layout and so is the last thing you see, this signifies its importance. The tagline "Beauty at a moment's notice" shows that makeup is easy to use and also suggests that the women will be keeping it with them in their bag, suggesting that it is very important to them. This reinforces hegemonic norms that women must wear makeup in order to be stereotypically attractive and to gain interest from men. there is a very clear assumption that if a woman does not wear makeup then she is unattractive. This advert says "Just a few quick touches... you're perfectly lovely again" which suggests that attractiveness is based on a product and that without it women are unattractive. This presents the idea of consumerism and is the opposite of Adbusters because Adbusters is very much against the idea of consumerism. This advert also presents stereotypical hegemonic roles of males and females, the female is applying makeup and so the man is interested and comes over to her. The male is the one to be interested in the female and he is also standing behind her, as if he is in control and protecting her which is very stereotypical and sexist.
One of the main ideologies of Adbusters is that consumerism is creating poverty. This is shown in the double page spread of Loubouton shoes. This double page spread is a hermeneutic code as it is vey difficult t understand. The barbed wire on the right side is a symbolic code as it has connotations of danger and being trapped. The image underneath this looks like a fashion show. These two images have a binary opposition as one is in colour whereas the other is not, the top one also has a group of people whereas the bottom only has one. The two images could also have a binary opposition between rich and poor as the rich are doing fashion shows, and the poor are closed together and in need of help. "Red soles are always in season" could link to how walking on milk bottles will give you blisters, but also the brand Christian Loubouton have red soles on their shoes. This could present the ideology that luxury fashion is creating poverty. There is a binary opposition between the Christian Loubouton logo and the battered broken "shoes", the logo is symbolic of luxury and could be stereotypical that black African people are poor.
In conclusion, Adbusters and Woman both present very different viewpoints and ideologies. Adbusters presents the ideology that the world has lots of issues and that poverty isa huge issue. They are also anti capitalist and anti consumerist so are heavily against adverts and critical of them. This is very different to Woman magazine as they use adverts and are not anti capitalist or anti consumerist. Woman magazine presents very sexist viewpoints towards women and presents the ideology that women must be housewives and all look and actin a certain way, this is very different to Adbusters.