Industry and Audience Power Essay

  

“The internet has given audiences much more power than ever before.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

 

 

 Introduction

I agree with this statement to a large extent. This is because audiences now are more active than passive, and they could share/comment/like or dislike which could affect the persons/businesses reputation and of they make it big or not.

 

Music Industry

 

The music industry has been largely affected due to self-publication. There are advantages and disadvantages of this. A large advantage for audiences is that they can easily publicize themselves and potentially get signed by a record label. This is also and advantage of labels as there is less risk signing people if they have already shown they are able to perform due to the comment, shares, likes etc. An example of this is Justin Bieber as he started singing with his mum filming him as a young teenager. He got MILLIONS of views on his first video and has had a decently successful music career, being signed to 5 record labels. However, there are disadvantages to the audiences being able to comment how they feel. Often, people will leave hate comments. Also, trends do change very often, so a person could have 100 thousand views on one song, however their next one barely breaks 3,000 views. This could demotivate the producer and if views continue to stay low, then they may eventually quit.

Film and Television

Film and television have drastically been changed as ‘appointment to view’ is no longer popular. This is because of the invention of streaming services and on demand. This was HUGE because if a person missed a show, they could simply go to that show online and 'catch up'. Advantages of this are that audiences have wait less time before a season is released. This is better for audiences as they can watch the show all together rather than must wait for each individual episode. In addition, the choice of content is more varied. Alternatively, because seasons are released at once, this leads to binge watching, which wastes away the day as you are watching a full season takes time considering most episodes take half an hour to an hour. In addition, these streaming services cost money, and every if you have an account, inappropriate content is much more  available to an audience that it should be restricted to. For example a mass murdering movie is available to a young audience due to distressing scenes.

Print (Newspaper)

 Print news paper has been substantially altered as people don't need the shop daily to get news, because nowadays news is spread everywhere, like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. An advantage of being able to gain news everywhere is that anyone can post news and leak important information like if they had seen a missing person, if a controversial event occurred and to update people in the local area about important news. This could open jobs for some people as it gives them experience about journalism. Whereas, there is a large disadvantage which is faker news. This is very important as its difficult to differentiate the truth from the lies. In addition, if a person dislikes another, than it is very easy to lie about that person and tarnish their career and their livelihood.

Conclusion

I believe that the statement is true because of the power audience have available to them . In the music industry audiences have power as they choose who they like and don't and trends that are big at the time. In the film industry, audiences have the power of what shows do well due to word of mouth, if a lot of people say they don't like a show, then there is a large chance people wont watch it due to the bad reviews. In the newspaper industry,, anyone can post anything and this can lead to fake news.

Effects Theory

1) Write a definition of a passive audience: A passive audience take in the media without question.

2) Write a definition of an active audience: An active audience engage with the media, even if they disagree to comment their views and beliefs.

3) Write a definition of the hypodermic needle theory: The hypodermic needle theory is in the 1930's the media was believed to be powerful and reliable by the mass public and that whatever they reported was correct.

4) Write down a media product for each category of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory and WHY it fits that particular audience use/gratification:

INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: A documentary
 > Why: It gives information that you may not have known before 

PERSONAL IDENTITY: Ackley Bridge
 > Why: It may relate to person due to their culture and beliefs.

DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT:Love Island    

 > Why:There are moments of drama and conflict between characters

RELATIONSHIPS:Ackley Bridge
 > Why: The characters could be appealing to people as they want to see what their journey is like throughout the series.

5) Re-watch the clip from Blue Planet above and write a paragraph analysing how elements of the clip offer the audience pleasures or gratifications (use media terminology from Uses and Gratifications theory and the 3 Vs - notes outlined above). 

At the start of the blue planet trailer, the pleasure to the audience is voyeuristic as they are watching the turtle swimming, which is a glimpse of reality. Also, later on, you see a group of fish gathering together and creating a wave live motion while swimming. This could provide some people with visceral pleasure as watching the fish swim is satisfying. 

Reception theory

 1) What is the preferred reading of a media text?

The preferred reading is when the consumer receives and fully accepts the medias ideas and messages.

2) What is the oppositional reading of a media text?

Oppositional reading is when  the consumer understands, but fully rejects the producers ideas and messages.

Re-watch the trailer for the film Harry Brown:

3) How does the Harry Brown trailer position the audience to respond to the teenage characters in the film?

It positions characters to fight back against the young and to stamp authority on them so they stop annoying/massing about with you.

4) Why might young people reject this reading and construct an oppositional reading of the trailer?

Young people might reject this as they are portrayed as the antagonists in Harry Brown, due to them killing Harry Browns friend. 

Look at this McDonald's advert:

5) Write a 150+ word analysis of the McDonald's advert using preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.

Preferred reading of the McDonald's Big Mac is that if you are extremely hungry, and you want a meal, but in a compact size, you should go to McDonald's because the big mac is a meal, disguised as a sandwich.

The negotiated reading is that its a larger than regular burger, so it will definitely fill you up. However, there are health issues if you have it too often.

The rejected reading of it is that there are major health benifits with the Big Mac and as its portrayed as a regular meal, it will cause more people to buy it when they arent bothered to cook. 

6) Now find your own advertisement and write a 150+ word analysis using preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.

The preferred reading of this ad is that if you use their product, it will help you lose weight and make you more comfortable with your body. 

The negotiated reading of this is is that this product may help you lose weight but it wont make you fully comfortable with your body.

The oppositional views are that there are many other factors to lose weight and it could be classed as false advertising as a supplement alone wont make you comfortable with your body.

Blog Feedback

 

Elias GCSE Media blog feedback – October 2020

Work expected:

·         Introductory questions

·         Key Concepts film poster analysis

·         Fruit bowl task (Photoshop)

·         Denotation and connotation

·         Mise-en-scene (Stranger Things)

·         Camera work and editing (Doctor Who)

 

Post this in a new blogpost on your Media blog called ‘October 2020 - Blog feedback and Learner Response’ then complete the LR tasks/questions below.

 

WWW:

·         Lovely colour palette choice for your fruit bowl Photoshop task

·         Nice choice of film poster for the Key Concepts LIAR task

 

EBI:

·         Ensure all tasks are completed in detail

·         Ensure all work / tasks are completed in detail

LR:

Complete and improve the following work urgently. See below of what is missing:

1.       Complete the analysis section for your Denotation and Connotation blog task.

 

2.       Complete your mise-en-scene Stranger Things task

 

3.       Complete your camerawork and editing blog task

 

 

 

CAMERAWORK AND EDITING

 -The long shot at 1.50 shows the animals in a circle and doing a ceremony and making a weird noise.  This starts to build tension due to everyone not knowing or understanding what they are doing. This also makes the consumer slightly uneasy as the sound the animals are making is disturbing and it sounds a bit satanic.

- The close up at 2.19 shows the animal, formerly peaceful, turn rouge due to the call/sound they were making in their ceremony. This is a tense moment as the animals were peaceful beforehand and they then turned evil and they may attack the civilians. The consumer feels on edge as they aren't sure what the animals will do next.

There is handheld camera movement from 2.18-2.20 which shows the animals walking around with some orb in their hands which they use to attack people with. There is also a fire there whixh shows they are causing  havoc. The director chose camera movement as when there are serious attacks in real life, people usually records it to show what happened there and as the camera is shaky it could show that they are scared as they are shaking.

assesment LR

 ) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential). WWW-Some knowledge of of media terminology(denotation and connotation).

EBI- Revise camera shots and types. Revise poster conventions 

2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Write down the mark you achieved for each question: 

Q1: 1
Q2: 1
Q3: 2

Q4: 1

Q5; 1

Q6: 1

Q7: 2

q8 : 3
Where you didn't achieve full marks, write WHY you think you missed out on the extra marks. Use the indicative content suggestions in the mark scheme to help with this.

3) Did you get any media terminology wrong in the assessment? If yes, make a note of it here for future revision:

4) Identify one of your stronger questions. Why did you do better on this question?

I did well on q7 as i went into more detail and also addressed his facial expressions an d the reason he would be feeling like that.

5) Identify one of your weaker questions. Why did you score lower on this particular question?

q6 as i needed to talk about more visual components on the poster like the colour pallet the tag lineand i forgot the billing block

6) Re-draft your answer to Q9 and type it out in full. Use the mark scheme to identify anticipated content you can add to your response and make sure your typed re-draft is a top-level answer of at least two detailed paragraphs. 

Charities often use children in adverts as children are young and are more likely to be pitied on more than adults. Also children are associated with innocence and vulnerability, which will make people empathetic towards them and therefore they will donate money to the charity. Also, thses ads are typically aired during the day, as parents/grandparents will want to help them as they have children themselves so it will evoke emotion within them.

MISE-EN-SCENE

 1)What do each of the letters in CLAMPS stand for?

Costume

Lighting

Actor placement and movement

Make up 

Props

Setting

2) What TV genre is Stranger Things? You can use the IMDB website to help you with this. 

Drama/fantasy/horror.

3) Choose THREE aspects of mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting, setting) and write a short paragraph for each about the denotation and connotation in the opening 8 minutes of Stranger Things. What is being communicated to the audience? How does the mise-en-scene help to communicate the genre of Stranger Things?

Lighting- The lighting is this clip is very dark as it night time. This helps with the fantasy/thriller as you cant see much in the dark and the dark has connotations of danger. This also creates a eerie atmosphere as you cant see much, so you dont know what to expect. The audience feel very tense as they don't know what to expect.

Setting- The opening scene takes place in some sort of testing lab due to the persons lab jacket. This gives a tense feeling to the scene as they could've been testing something and it went wrong. The second setting is a young boys home, where him and his friends are playing some sort of board game.

Actor movement and placement- The scientist was sprinting to the lift and was spamming the button, which often has connotations of urgency and desperation. Also, he was sweating when he looked up which shows his nervousness, and fear from whatever was chasing him.