Key media concepts

Mad For It Records 2013

Key Media Concepts

G324 Advanced Portfolio


Audience“all media texts are made for a particular

audience”


Social Class

• ABC1 – middle class market• C2DE – the working class market• A – higher managerial and professional employees• B – middles management workers• C1 – office staff• C2 – skilled manual workers • D – unskilled workers• E – unemployed and unwaged


User Gratification

• Personal Identity – the viewer watches something because they feel that they can relate to what it being expressed through the media.

• Information – the viewer watches something to gain an insight of what is being shown – by doing this they are allowing themselves to end their curiosity.

• Integration – by watching a piece of media the viewer is enabling themselves to interact with people who are into similar things and have similar beliefs.

• Entertainment – this allows the audience to escape reality and get into the world of the media for as long as it is being shown.


Hypodermic Syringe Model

“Media inputs thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs into the audience.”

This gives the impression that if a viewer of something sees something they will automatically go out and do it passively. For example, if they are exposed to violent movies from a young age the hypodermic syringe model says that they are going to go out and replicate what has been put in front of them.


David Morley

• Preferred Reading – this is what the producers want the audiences to gain through their production.

• Negotiated Reading – the audience accept the meaning but changes the original intentions to suit themselves.

• Oppositional Reading – this is where the audience reject the preferred reading completely.


Narrative“The human mind needs narrative to make

sense of things.”


Narrative Conventions

• Genre• Character• Form• Time


Andrew Goodwin

• A star image is created by the director – this is carried out by many close ups of the artist and significant logos or symbols.

• Thought beats are where the audience take in to account the style of music – they are able to do this by identifying the structure of the music itself and also the tone and voice of the piece. By doing this the music can tell a story to the audience.


Andrew Goodwin (continued)

• There is a relationship between the visual and audio of the song. This allows the audience to relate to it more. Iconography could be used to symbolise messages that the artist/director are trying to portray. Opposed to this is disjuncture – this is where the audio and visuals do not match. The director would do this to break the common stereotypes.


Tvzetan Todorov

• Todorov came up with the theory that all narratives abide by five stages. These are;

1. Everything is as it should be (equilibrium).2. A disruption occurs but not everyone realises.3. The disruption is noticed by more people.4. The disruption is attempted to be resolved.5. The equilibrium is restored/a new equilibrium

is formed.


Vladimir Propp

• Propp came up with the idea that there are always the same type of people playing certain roles – these fit stereotypically into a character style.


Vladimir Propp (continued)These are;

• Hero – usually the main character within the story who often finds themselves on a quest.

• Heroine – these are usually the ‘prize’ that the hero of the story sought after.

• Helper – the sidekick of the lead character, e.g. Robin to Batman.• Mentor – this character gives guidance to the hero, e.g. the Fairy

Godmother in Cinderella.• Donor – usually give some kind of indication to the hero in order for

them to complete their journey.• Villain – conflict with the hero, a key character within the narrative.• Father – an authority figure within the world of the film.


Representation“All media products are intentionally

composed by their producers.”


Representation in the media

All products are made intentionally for a purpose, this is done by;• Composition• Lighting• The way in which they are scripted• Cropping• Censoring


Extension

• Producers can expand the audiences knowledge by showing certain parts of footage that may be the most useful.

• An example of this would be by a journalist reporting on something that has no relevance to the audience but by producing this knowledge they are allowing the audience to gain new information.


Restriction

• However, by doing this they are giving a biased representation of whatever they are being shown. The bias representation is done by restricting what the viewer sees.

• For example if they are filming a full documentary the producer will more than likely cut the bad parts out of the final product and only include the positive footage.


Institution“Media products are categorised within

five formats.”



Formats

• Internet – this would be something like an e-book or an online publication of a newspaper.

• Printed (Magazines/Newspapers) – something that can be bought and used physically.

• Film – split into mainstream and independent – feature length visual recordings that can be released into cinema, straight to TV, DVD or online.

• Music – a recorded piece of audio. Made on formats such as CD, MP3, vinyl and cassette.

• Broadcast (TV and Radio) – publications are produced for local, nationwide and also international coverage.


Ideology“Obvious symbols and ideas to clearly get a

message across to the audience.”


Obvious and Stereotypical examples

• Employment: people who are in better jobs are shown to live in better conditions than those in worse jobs. The unemployed are often portrayed as the under class of society scraping to get by.

• Gender: typically boys like football and the colour blue. Girls like dolls and the colour pink – this is usually stereotyped in the media but sometimes the producer breaks the stereotype and contrasts this.


Stereotypes (continued)

• Sexuality: homosexuals in the media are often portrayed to stereotypically enjoy Kylie Minogue and come across as ‘camp’. However, in modern society it is clear that this stereotype is used less and less with the homosexual character blending in with society.

• Racism: this is a taboo topic within the media industry and producers may find themselves avoiding this to avoid controversy when they get feedback.

• Youth culture: the youths of Britain are often stereotyped to be hooded hooligans who would mug you if you walked past them in the street. This is almost always shown in the media and rarely contradicted.


Stereotypes (continued)

• National Identity: everyone fits into a category and when portrayed in the media they are stereotyped as far as possible. For example a football hooligan would be a violent character who enjoys fighting. However it is often challenged, like in the film Awaydays the character Elvis is shown to enjoy fine art and follows the fashion trend with his imported trainers.

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Key media concepts

Entertainment & Humor