Work to complete

LO1 Task 2 - Done.
LO2 Task 3 - Done.
LO3 Task 4 - Done.
LO4 Task 5 - Just last section to do.
Video 1 - Done.
Video 2 - Need to do.

Work I've handed in:
LO1 Task 2 - Done.
LO2 Task 3 - Done.
LO3 Task 4 - Done. - PRINT
Video 1 - Done.

Work I need to do:
LO4 Task 5 - Just last section  (D) to do.
Video 2 - Need to do.

LO4, Task 5: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues (Notes)

Ethical - representations; gender, age, ethnicity.
Legal - copyright; music, soundtrack, certification; age rating (British Board of Film Classification, Advertising Standards Authority).
Regulatory - bodies, same age certificate around the world?

Active audience - users and gratifications (audience pleasures).
Passive audience - (sit and watch) watch and consume media products (re-enact it).

a) The product's impact and effect on the audience.

Passive + Active

1) Hypodermic syringe (injected with info in media) (Theodore Adorno, 1930's) - media has a negative impact. Mass audience believe everything they say/hear.
Issues about violence? Sexual content? Representation? - What negative effects does this have on the audience (re-enact)!!? Positive impact/role model?

2) We are able to filter and adapt to content in media (David Gauntlet). We have uses and gratifications theory - people use media for their own purposes?


1. Explain what the hypodermic syringe theory (Theodore Adorno 1930) is about.
2. Define what an active audience is.
3. Define what a passive audience is.
4. Give two examples of how your film could have a negative impact on the audience.
5. Give two examples of how your film could have positive impacts on the audience (role model could have one example) - Ideal Self Theory (Carl Rogers 1980).




A passive audience could be influenced by what they see in the media.






b) Relevant issues of representation.

Who is being represented? - All representations are meditated (Hall, 1980).

Is there use of stereotypes/countertypes (Perkins, 1979) - not all stereotypes are false.

Representation of women - are they objectified (Mulvey, 1975). Representations of men (Earp and Katz, 1999) - 'equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence'.

Representation of gay people (Butler, 1993) - are they stereotypical?

Alvarado (1987) - Ethnicity - either seen as... Exotic - clothing, accent. Dangerous - different to the masses, media. Humorous and pitied.

1. What does representation mean? (Stuart Hall 'mediation') (1980).
2. Explain Tessa Perkins (1979) theory about stereotypes.
3. Give examples in your film of one positive and one negative stereotype in your film and the effect on the audience (gender/age/ethnicity).
4. Are there any countertypes in your film (challenges stereotypes).

c) Relevant legal and/or ethical issues.

LEGAL
Copyright Infringement - Use content that you don't have the rights/permission to use. It can be prevented by gaining permission. Consequences of this are you could be sued, a legal prosecution could follow depending on the severity, your project could be shut down or become unusable.

ETHICAL
Offensive material - Racism (how people are represented in the film), sexual content, strong language, violence, drug use. This material could impact a passive audience. Could be inappropriate depending on the age of the audience.

Censorship? (Removing/Re-edited content that isn't appropriate) - Has the film been censored? - Age rating? Sensationalism? - Over the top Special FX to re-create what could happen in the future due to climate change.

1. Define what copyright infringements is.
2. Give 2 examples of things that the film would need to get copyright permission for (e.g. songs, soundtracks - which record label would need to be contacted for permissions)?
3. Is there any offensive material in your film (sex/drugs/violence/language etc.) - link to the BBFC age certificate of your film.

d) Role of relevant regulatory bodies.

Advertising + Promotion Notes - LO3 Task 4

Means marketing the film to create maximum awareness to a specific target audience.

Billboards - Aimed at a mass audience.
Adverts on TV
Trailers (Cinemas)
Product Placement/Cross Promotion
Radio
Posters (Buses/Transport)
Merchandise
Website Banners
Events
Social Media
Interviews
Flyers/Leaflets
Magazines/Newspapers

David Gauntlet (2002) discussed the rise of web 2.0. This is the change in the internet being a static one way form of communicating to a two way interactive media. Try and apply ideas about how audiences now also contribute to the marketing of your film.

LO2 Task 3 (Notes)

Introduction: What have I been asked to do? What did Ien Ang and John Hartley discuss? Why is this
important for media producers? Who is the target audience of your film? Support with audience profile and imaginary entry.

Gender: Write up on 4/5 examples from my film that represents the dominant gender of the audience for your film and why?

Age:

What to include..
1)  Denotes/Connotes
2) Theory
- Laura Mulvey (1975) - The Male Gaze - Women seen as sex objects.
- Todorov (1977) - Link to when example happens in the film.
- Claude Levi Strauss (1958) - Binary Opposition - Dominant male or challenged with females?
- Carl Rodgers (1980) - Ideal Self/Ideal Partner - (Ideal Self), Character Types - Role Model? - Protagonist. (Ideal Self) - Attractive to the audience - How?
- Richard Dier (1972) - Star Persona - Which stars are in the film? - Typecast.

Introduction:

Hi, I’ve been asked to talk to you about the demographics of gender, age, lifestyle and spending power for the film The Day After Tomorrow. Producing the film for the correct audience is an important factor as producing a film for a specific audience may not bring in enough revenue but producing one for all audiences may let some part those people down. John Hartley (1987) and Ien Ang (1991) suggested that producers create invisible fiction or imaginary entities before creating a media product. This audience profile that I created shows the type of ‘ideal audience’ that the producers were aiming the film at. This imaginary entry also describes how an ideal viewer of The Day After Tomorrow might live. (Put in entry here).

Gender:

In the first section I’ll be talking about the gender representations in my chosen film, The Day After Tomorrow. There are many examples in the film but I have selected two that I will be talking about in particular. The first example I’ll be discussing is the scene where Sam, (played by Jake Gyllenhall), rescues Laura, (played by Emily Rossum) in the streets of New York when she goes to retrieve a handbag from a taxi just as the tsunami approaches. This is a typical representation as the male is rushing to save the female and is portrayed as the hero.  

The second example of gender representations is when at the after party of the competition; the well-built, good looking man flirts with and intimidates Laura (the main female character). This is a standard representation in films as the women in blockbuster films normally get together with big, “hunky” men; this stereotype has become widely used in other Hollywood franchises such as James Bond.

The third example that I will be talking about is at around forty two minutes into the film, where the males are leading the conversation over the computers. The lone female in the scene mainly just listens in and doesn’t get involved too deeply in the talk. It is stereotyped that males are the leaders and this scene supports this. However, I think there are more scenes in The Day After Tomorrow in which the males are dominant. For example when Sam is talking to his Dad over the phone in the library, he is constantly ignoring the claims of Laura to hang up and get to safety.

Age:

Here I will be discussing why and how The Day After Tomorrow appeals to its ideal audience. I have found out that the median age for viewers watching this film is around 15 years old. One example of how it appeals is how the audience would like to be the like characters in the film. The actors and actresses could be seen as role models to the targeted younger audience. An example of where this can be seen is in the scene where Sam makes a final phone call to his parents before the water cuts him off; this shows that he is dedicated to letting them know he is doing and signifies the close relationship that he has with them.

Another example of how the film appeals to the audience is its genre. Teenagers love lots of action and adventure and The Day After Tomorrow certainly doesn’t disappoint. Scenes of explosions, high risk decisions and 60 foot tsunamis are guaranteed to fulfil a teenager’s wish in this film.

The iconic cities in where the scenes are set would also appeal to teens as it’s where they would like to go when they’re older perhaps. Places like New York hold incredible feats of architecture like the Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty. These monuments give inspiration to the younger audience and leave them in a hurry to visit them when they’re older.

 

Lifestyle:

The NRS stands for the National Readership Survey Ltd. They are a separate organisation that specialise in giving demographic information. They use different summary headings to describe the lifestyle types in the UK. In terms of my film, The Day After Tomorrow, I would place this audience under headings C – settled suburban’s (families with a semi-detached house perhaps, a nice lifestyle and are happy and comfortable with their lives), D – nest builders (families that are working towards he settled suburban’s stage) and E – urban ventures (outgoing teenagers living in big cities).

I can infer this for the settled suburban’s by using the example of when Sam, Laura and Brian take part in the school competition. I can imagine the settled suburban’s children going to school, having good knowledge and perhaps could even be taking part in similar competitions.

In terms of the nest builders, I believe that the group around the computers at around 28 minutes into the film represents the kind of people that could come under this heading. The nest builder audience members could relate to the characters and their jobs.

For the urban ventures heading I believe that the teenagers watching The Day After Tomorrow can take inspiration from the main characters Sam and Laura. Sam is an ideal older boy for the urban adventurers as they can relate to him as someone that they could imagine hanging out with, playing baseball down at the park or even going to the cinema. Laura is a role model for the urban adventure girls as she is a strong, gentle yet emotional character and it seems like she could get on with anybody.

I can relate all of this to Dennis McQuail’s 1972 theory of uses and gratifications. Dennis McQuail listed four reasons why people consume media products and the pleasures that they gain from them. These are ‘surveillance’, ‘escapism’, ‘building personal identity’ and ‘building personal relationships’.  I will now talk about these in terms of The Day After Tomorrow.

For surveillance, some audience members could gather news and information relating to climate change before they watch the film, so they are prepared with knowledge on why the tsunami is happening for example.

For escapism, it gives the audience the chance to forget about what they have been doing and relax after either a hard day’s work at school or at work. Watching films like The Day After Tomorrow allow them to be transported into completely different surroundings and unknown territory. This is good as it gives them the experience of leaving their lives and changing into the life of the characters from the film.

For building personal identity, it allows the audience to be taken to completely different locations and into the lives of completely different people. As some of the actors and actresses are also well-known, this gives the opportunity of looking into the life of a famous Hollywood ‘movie star’. I can relate this to John Carver’s theory of ideal self as the audience members would feel different after washing the film and could be inspired perhaps to either watch a film related to the one they’ve just watched or researching some of the actors or actresses in the film itself.

For building personal relationships, The Day After Tomorrow would allow the audience members to have something to talk about when they next either saw their families or friends. They could even recommend the film to others and encourage them to watch it too.

Spending Power:

The NRS also have a system for demographic profiling; this is often called social grade definitions. This system is well-established and widely used throughout the industry. For my film The Day After Tomorrow, I would grade the audience as B (middle class) and C1 (lower middle class). This is because the film is quite intellectual and requires understanding of current events to grasp the storyline. People described as in other classes like C2 (skilled working class) and D (working class) may not enjoy the film as it is very factual and complicated in places.

Some examples that I can back this up with to do with my film is that the middle and lower middle class would be able to buy the DVD of the film if they would like to watch it again in a family environment at home. The working class people would most normally either download it online or watch on a streaming service like Netflix as it would be cheaper overall.

The middle class families could afford to buy and merchandise that would come onto the market following the film’s release. Toys like figures of the characters or posters that have been made available in the shops. These kind of families could also be moved deeply by the film so could donate some money to aid the research into climate change or help by adopting a polar bear.

Task 3 - LO2

Task 3 - LO2

A demographic is a category in which we can classify an audience. e.g. Age, Gender, Location/Area, Lifestyle, Education, Ethnicity, Spending Power/Disposable Income (how much money you have left from your wage to spend on things like going to the cinema).

NRS = National Readership Survey