Targeting
The ways in which a text is constructed to attract its primary audience.
Eg: The selection of David Attenborough as a voiceover artist targets fans of nature documentaries and Attenborough himself
Blue Planet II targets a family audience. It does this by creating a double mode of address. For younger audiences, an approachable, family friendly narrative is presented. However, older audiences are targeted through the environmentalist ideology which is encoded throughout this scene.
Narrative
- A clear narrative is constructed, with a single mother struggles for a place for her baby to rest. The polar bears function as an antagonist, meaning that this scene has a very conventional and dramatic narrative structure
- Use of anthropomorphisation - "they make a bond that will last for the rest of their lives"
- "But who knows what will happen?"
Genre
- Very high production values will especially appeal to adult audience members. In particular, the long shot establishing montage creates a clear and powerful narrative.
Characters
- Low angled mid shot of mother walrus cradling baby, with natural lighting connoting her angelic, innocent status once more targets a family audience.
- "A herd of hundreds of quarrelsome mothers..." - an appealing characterisation for family audiences.
Language and mode of address
- Attenborough's lexis is simple, straightforward and approachable for younger audiences. No technical language is chosen.
- The use of the words 'our Blue Planet' connotes a sense of ownership and inclusion for the family audience, allowing them to identify with the alien situation.
Visual, technical and audio codes
- Establishing shot instantly reveals bleak setting, targeting young, environmentally conscious audiences
- C/U of sad, almost weeping walrus targets families through invoking empathy for an animal who is represented as being in a similar position. Functions as a powerful action code. Highly manipulative.
- Slomo shots of walruses emphasise not only the hardship of the lives of the walruses, but also emphasises their size. This targets a family audience, allowing the family to empathise and laugh with the walrus family.
Links to websites or social media interaction
- This scene proved particularly popular with social media users, and was live tweeted by many Twitter users. This demonstrates exactly how effectively targeted the young, social media using aduience was. You can check out a range of actual live Twitter responses here. They would be perfect sources for the exam!
Swathes of women across Britain right now wiping away tears and imagining themselves as mummy walrus #BLUEPLANET2 pic.twitter.com/oam2k33eNE
— Leah McDaniel (@LeahMcdaniel18) October 29, 2017
- Polysemic readings - multiple meanings -
Positioning
The ways in which a media text is constructed in order to place an audience in a particular relationship with the text
Eg: The emotive use of Attenborough’s voiceover forces the audience to identify with the plight of the walrus, positioning them in deliberately stressful situation
Preferred reading?
- Dramatic, non-diegetic soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer, emphasises that the polar bear is the antagonist. The music functions as a symbolic code, pointing out the bear as a villain. However, unconventionally, the text subverts the audiences expectations, instead positioning us with the polar bear. 'What is a mother to do'.
Direct mode of address
- 'our blue planet', again reinforces ownership, and positions the audience as being one with the animals featured on the show. It also suggests that we as an audience are at fault for putting the walruses in this situation.
Technical codes
- Establishing shot emphasises the disparity in size between the Arctic and the walruses, emphasising their comparative smallness and fragility
- Underwater midshop positions the audience with the walruses in an exciting and alien situation.
- C/U of walrus hugging child, anthropomorphisation, allowing audience to be positioned with the mother
- The final shot is a slow zoom out, zooming from extreme close up to an extreme long shot. This symbolises the eradication of the walruses habitat, positioning the audience in a voyeuristic perspective, watching the habitat slowly melt away.
- CU of walrus 'hugging' cub emphasises her status as a single parent. She physically struggles to push the cub on to the melting iceberg in a series of mid shots, emphasising that due to human action, her habitat is not sustainable. This also positions the audience with the struggles of a single parent family. ... "who knows what their further will be?"
Voyeurism
- Audience are positioned in an intimate and intensely emotional situation. The close knit community of the walruses is emphasised by a montage of close and mid shots.
Information
- Use of facts, '46% of the polar ice caps have melted' reinforces the hegemonic ideals of the producer. The dominant ideology is that we as an audience should look after and respect the environment.
- Ideologies and values
- Soft, emotional, peaceful music represents the arctic as isolated, beautiful and fragile