Section 1 End of unit test

1. How could an independent company be at a disadvantage compared to a conglomerate (1 mark)

2. Name two benefits of being an independent company (2 marks)


3. What is a public service broadcast and what does it aim to do? (2 marks)
BBC/channel 4: public services broadcasting refers to TV programmes that are broadcast for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial purposes.

4. Provide two examples of synergy you have seen recently of a brand/product (2 marks)
ITV and the X factor (TV show, app, twitter, facebook)

5. What is a joint venture (2 marks)
This is where separate companies come together to benefit each other. EG warp film and film4 worked together to produce the film 'four lions'. This was subsequently advantageous for film 4 as the film was later distributed.

6. How does the BBC use cross media ownership? (2 marks)
They have their own radio stations, TV, magazine

7. What are the three stages of the production process? can you define them? (3 marks)
Pre-production means planning
Production is the making of a product i.e. filming, recording etc
Post - production is the editing stage i.e. arranging footage

8.

9. Name one job role from each stage of a film production process? (3 marks)
Pre-production : story boarders, marketers.
Production: camera men, voiceovers etc.
Post production: editors, sound editors.

10. The American  film industry is dominated by the Big 6. Name 3 implications of this type of ownership structure.
Pros -
brand identity
high production values/mass audience are targeted though

End of Section 4 Test

1. Who are RAJAR? (1 mark)
RAJAR is an acronym Radio joint audience research, which collates listening figures for over 300 radio station across the UK.

2.


3. How does BARB collect audience figures (2 marks)
BARB estimates viewing patterns across all TV households, They carry out an established survey with houses that they have carefully picked out and then insert a panel and the house they have chosen carry out what they need.

4. What is the difference between a mainstream and niche audience? (2 marks)
A mainstream audience is the mass audience. It is a big audience and mainstream audiences eead everyday newspapers and magazines. A niche audience is smaller and more specific type of audience. A niche audience has certain needs.

5. Provide an example or a mainstream and niche text? (2 marks)
A mainstream show such as x factor, and I'm a celebrity get me out of here. A niche audience show are shows such as Top gear and shows that only a certain type of person would enjoy to watch.

6. What is imaginary entity? (2 marks)
It is a description of one selective person in your target audience, it describes the physically ad social

7.  Name four uses and gratifications categories (4 marks)


8. Name one passive and one active audience theory and explain it. (4 marks)
Passive: A passive audience theory is the hypodermic model which injects the audience with information. An active theory is Reception and uses and gratifications.

9. Explain 3 of the psychographics categories (6 marks)
Aspires, explorers , resigned...... EXPLAIN IN DETAIL

10. Give an example of a job from each of the demographics (6 marks)
A - Higher managerial administrative or professional
B - intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1 - Supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative

Section 4: Key words revision

Mainstream audience - An audience that consumes a product that appeals to a wide range of age groups and cultures

Niche audience - The audience of a specialist interest media product that may only appeal to a small number of people or those that fall within a specific demographic profile (for example ethnicity, or age)

Demographics - When media producers study the breakdown of their target audiences based on variables in age, ethnicity, gender, economic status or class, level of education, hobbies and interests, and lifestyle choices

Psychographics - Profiling of audience members based on their personal beliefs values, interests and lifestyle.

NRS social grades - A method of classifying demographics based on occupation and income, developed by the National Readership Survey.

RAJAR - The acronym for Radio Joint Audience Research, which collates listening figures for over 300 radio station across the UK .

BARB - The acronym for Broadcasters Audience Research Board which collates viewing figures for all the major UK broadcasters auch as BBC, ITV and sky

Imaginary entity - A term that suggests media producers have a specific audience member in mind before they plan a media product.

Audience profile - The specific demographic variables of an average target audience member for a given media product based on age, gender, income, ethnicity, and interests, that makes them desirable to advertisers and commercial companies.

Section 1 - Film production process

Planning (Pre production)
Filming (production)
Completing the film and getting it ready to show (post production)

Planning - in this stage you work out your film making idea and how you will tell the story. Once you've got the idea write a script and make storyboards

Filming - Make sure you have all the correct equipment before starting to film, Always re-watch what you have filmed and check that it is ok before leaving the location it is filmed at.

Editing and sharing (post-production) - Look through all footage before starting editing. Do a 'rough cut' of the whole film if its short or individual so you can get a sense of the bigger picture. Gradually refine your edit, add titles, sound and effects if needed.

Job roles in film

There are 53 job roles in the film industry.

• Actor - An actor is a person that who portrays a character in a performance
• Agent
• Art director
• Assistant art director
• Assistant choreographer
• Audio/dubbing assistant
• Bookings co-ordinator
• Boom operator
• Broadcast engineer
• Camera assistant (portable single camera)
• Camera assistant (studio and OB)
• Camera operator (portable single camera)
• Camera operator (studio and OB)
• Choreographer
• Colourist
• Costume designer
• Director (TV)
• Edit assistant
• Executive producer
• Gaffer (TV)
• Graphic artist
• Junior engineer
• Library assistant
• Lighting camera (portable single camera)
• Lighting director
• Location manager (TV)
• Makeup and hair artist
• Makeup and hair assistant
• Makeup and hair designer
• Makeup and hair trainee
• Network operations  assistant
• Post production runner
• Production buyer
• Production manager (TV)
• Prosthetics artist
• Puppeteer
• Receptionist
• Researcher
• Script supervisor (aka continuity)
• Singer
• Sound assistant (TV)
• Sound recordist
• Sound supervisor (TV)
• Stand up comedian
• Stunt performer
• Sub-titler
• Transmission engineer
• TV broadcaster journalist
• TV presenter
• Variety artist
• Videotape (VT) operators
• Vision mixer
• Walk on and supporting artists

Section 4 - miss frostt

ADDITIONAL THEORIES-

Representation -Laura Mulvey (1975) - objectification of women in the media

Genre - Rick Altman (1999) - audience pleasures

Narrative - Propps analysis of folk tales (1920's)


1). How did Mulvey believe women are presented in all media texts?
There is the concept of a gaze, it is a concept that deals with how an audience views the people presented. This concept also insinuates the features of the male gaze and how men see women that are presented. The camera lingers on the curves of the female body. There is also criticism of Mulvey and the gaze theory a some women enjoy being 'looked ' at

2). What did Altman argue are the three main pleasures of genre?

EMOTIONAL PLEASURES - The emotional pleasures offered to audiences of genre films are particularly significant when they generate a strong audience.

VISCERAL PLEASURES - These are 'gut' responses and are defined by how the films stylistic construction ellcites a physical effort upon its audience.

INTELLECTUAL PLEASURES -  Certain film genres such as thrillers offer the pleasure in trying to unravel a mystery or a puzzle.

Section 4 - Audience: a media studies key aspect

Audience theory-

Who is the audience?
In media terms the audience is any group of people who receive a media text and not just people who are together in the same place.
They receive the media carrier via through magazine, TV, DVD, radio or the internet.

Uses and gratifications: Blumer and Katz, Denis McQuail

Denis McQuail (1972) discussed four theoretical audience pleasures:

What are they?

1. Information -  BBC news, sky news, sky sports

2. Personal identity - Fashion, makeup channels

3. Social Interaction -Facebook, twitter, Instagram.

4. Entertainment - The only way is Essex, X Factor, Strictly come dancing

The uses and gratification model :

The hyperdermic model -

• The media is seen as powerful and able to inject ideas into an audience who are seen as weak and passive.

The Nazis were experts at using this model.

• It suggests that a media can text can inject ideas, values and attitudes into a passive audience.
• In a democracy this model is quite ineffective - think of all the time you're shouted at the TV!

Cultivation theory -

• another theory that treats the audience as passive.
• It suggests that repeated exposure to the same message - such as an advertisement - will have an effect on the audiences attitudes and values.
• Desensitisation
• Not an effective mode of thought.

Reception theory -

• This is an active theory
• It suggests that social and daily experiences can affect the way an audience reads a media text and reacts to it.
• The theorist Stuart hall suggests that an audience has a significant role in the process of reading a text, and this can be discussed in three different ways.

The dominant or preferred reading -

• This claims that the audience shares the code of the text and fully accepts its preferred meaning as intended by the producers.

Negotiated reading -

• This claims the audience partly shares the code of the text and broadly accepts the preferred meaning but can change the meaning in some way according to their own experiences.

Oppositional reading -

• This claims the audience understands the preferred meaning but does not share the texts code and rejects this intended meaning.

Interactive audience -

• These are increasingly popular.
• examples are:
• audiences being asked to be a voter (x factor)
• citizen journalists - news asking for viewers to send in photos and the like
• Documentary styles programmes about so called 'real' people doing professional things

21st century audiences -

• Websites such as YouTube, and blogs offer new possibilities for audiences.
• Digital transmission and production means there are many new channels and ways of viewing media texts not just on television but also via the internet.

Infographics -

Len Ang (1991) stated that "before companies make a product they will have an ideal audience member in mind. This is called an 'imaginary entity'

1). Why would a company have an ideal audience member in mind before a product was made?

2). What methods would a company use to research its audience?

3). How could knowing who the ideal audience member is benefit the funding of the product?

Advertisement helps funding and the production company.

Section 1 miss begum - Homework video games

TIGA (the independent games developers association) -
TIGA is the network for video games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the games industry. The purpose of TIGA is to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sector. They achieve this by campaigning for the industry and helping the members commercially.
TIGA is building an organization which continually improves a business that will make an impact on video games industry

IGDA (international games developers association) -
The international games developers association is the biggest non-profit membership organization in the world serving all individuals who creates games. They bring developers together at key industry conferences to improve their lives and their craft.

Section 4 - Audience research organizations

The three main ones are; NRS, BARB, RAJAR

NRS-

• NRS stands for National Readership Survey.
• it was established in 1956
• NRS provide audience research for 95% of adults in Great Britain, ages 15+ who consume news brands and magazines across print, pc and mobile.
• It conducts interviews and questionnaires, by going round door to door and mailing them. With a large sample of 33,225 interviews a year with adults aged 15 and over per year.

RAJAR -

• RAJAR stands for Radio joint audience research and they are the official body in charge of measuring the radio audiences in the UK.
• RAJAR provides audience research for BBC, radio centre and IPA on behalf of the commercial sector.
• It conducts audience research by measurement of audience for all radio services is continuous throughout 50 weeks of the year, but excluding the Christmas and new year holiday period.
• When surveying they focus on all children from ages 10 and over, living in private households all over the UK. Also when they publish figures, the ages are 15+ so that small station can be surveyed the overall adult sample is about 100,000 per year, with each respondent only participating for one week.
• Based on my findings, Virgin media is one of the company's most popular products of RAJAR'S. This is because it has a main business backing it, so a lot of people use it.
• RAJAR is so important and popular because it estimates the listeners of over 300 radio stations, who listens when where and how. It is the trading currency for radio broadcasters, and it is also used by media agencies to plan and radio airtime.

BARB-

• BARB stands for Broadcasters audience research board. It was found by the major players in the industry it supports, BARB is a non-profit limited company. It is one of the UK's joint currencies
• Broadcasters and the advertising industry would link up with BARB to provide them with their services. BARB is owned by BBC, ITV, channel 4, channel 5, sky and the IPA (institute of practitioners in advertising). BARB provide these broadcasting services with the production of audience viewing figures.
• In order to estimate viewing patterns across all TV households, a carefully selected panel of private homes is recruited.
• The establishment survey is carried out continuously by ipsos MORI in order to track changes in the UK household characteristics.
• All individuals ages 4+ are measured and reported by BARB. Within this, a user may look at any age group they wish.
• One of BARB'S most popular products is the meter that they use to measure the sizes of audiences for the TV channels that they have linked up with and to find out who is watching which advert as they have also linked up with the advertisement industry. This meter enables them to keep an ongoing theoretical eye over they're viewers to find out what they're watching

Section 1 - for and against the big 6

The big 6:
1. Walt Disney pictures
2. 21st century fox
3. Time warner
4. Columbia pictures
5. Paramount
6. Universal

The Big 6 works and produces amazing movies. All 6 companies  are able to reach incredible facilities. Time warner is the second largest entertainment conglomerate with ownership interests in film. The Walt Disney company owns the ABC television network. These 6 corporations control over 90% of the media in America and Time warner owns new sites that are read by millions of Americans every year. There are so many other large owners in the industry however these 6 are the biggest and yet most successful and take in the largest amounts of money to create some of the most popular and favorited movies.

Section 4: understand the targer audience of media products

Mainstream audience - A mainstream is one that is available to a wide range of people that share common interests.

Niche audience - A niche audience is a particularly small, unpopular and is only known to a small range of people. A small number of people that fall within specific demographic profile (eg ethnicity or age).

Examples of Mainstream audience - X factor, I'm a celebrity get me out of here, TOWIE, The lion king, vogue, OK!
Mainstream films are usually made my large conglomerate companies

Example of niche audience - golf world, Lobster, Juno, Match of the day,
Niche movies are usually produced by independent audience.

Why are audience's important?

• Without audiences there would be no media.
• Media organizations produce media texts to make profit - no audience = no profit
• The mass media is becoming more competitive than ever to attract more and more audiences in different ways and stay profitable.
  

Impact of new technology on audiences

• Old media (TV, print, radio) which used to have high audience numbers must now work harder to maintain audience numbers.
• Digital technology has also led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the general agreement that a large group of people reading the same thing at the sae time is outdated and that audiences are now 'fragmented'

Fragmented audience-

• The vision of audiences into smaller groups due to the variety of media outlets.
• EXAMPLE: newspapers and magazines - you can now view the hard copy and online version (sometimes free)
• The aim is to hit as many people as possible, sell more copies/generate larger audience. But measuring that audience becomes hard! You may have some people that only look online, some that only read the hard copy or some that do both!

How do institutions continue to make money?

• Nothing in life is free
• Free apps always have adverts, unless you pay to remove adds.
• Websites and search engines work had to target you with ads whilst you consume 'free online' versions of your media product
• These adverts are carefully constructed and selected for the primary audience for each text
• With newspapers, printing less copies and switching to online distribution can reduce production costs.

Types of audience - Mass audience - often termed 'broadcast audience'. Those who consume mainstream or popular texts.

Demographics - When media producers study the breakdown of their target audience and is based on the Characteristics that we can measure into media consumers such as age, race, gender, education and income level.

psychographics - Profiling of audience members based on personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.