Driving Test

 

MEDIA REPRESENTATION

Media Representation is the result of media showing or describing people, places or events. Media messages can be analysed through class, age, gender, ethnicity and/or disability. 

A stereotype is a characterisation of a certain group or individual that has certain features, they can be both positive or negative however they are often generalised and inaccurate, media representations work by reinforcing these stereotypes.

Roland Barthes, who studied signs in media argued that values that we attach to these stereotypes are not natural but created by society. When producing these stories, decisions are made to represent them in certain ways, for example they have to understand who their target audience is, what political views the newspaper is aligned with eg The Daily Mail is more right wing whereas The Guardian is more left wing. 

Staurt Hall is a theorist who believed that media is an active agent in shaping and affecting the way we see the world, certain messages and ideas are pushed into mainstream media, shaping how individuals view people, places and events. For example, the racialisation of criminals, the othering of immigrants, media helps to construct these ideas.

 As a result people can choose to accept this and agree with the ideas being pushed, to negotiate with it by agreeing with some parts but not so much others or to completely reject it, not agreeing with anything the message is saying.

Within the news, we see negative bias which is how people are more interested in bad news rather than good, bad news is 6x more likely to sell than good news. News producers have the power to fix the ‘preferred meaning’ to align with their political viewpoint, meaning that those who create news content have the power to present a story in a way that will influence the audience, for example they can highlight certain facts, use certain pictures, use specific language to describe the story in a way that will appeal to the target audience.

Ideology is a system of ideals or beliefs held by a group or individual. 

Staurt Halls concept of the other suggests that media representations define a ‘norm’ which they encourage the audience to identify with, and portray those outside this ‘norm’ as lesser or an ‘alien’. This builds an us vs them ideology. Hall suggests that instead of challenging stereotypes by trying to ‘fix’ the meaning in the opposite way, we should try and deconstruct the stereotype.

Hyper reality is when the line between reality and media-created simulation become blurred and it is hard to distinguish between what’s real and what’s not. 

Lizbet Van Zoonen suggests that we live in a patriarchal society dominated by men, and that women are often objectified and viewed as objects and accessories to men, the media often presents this unrealistic version of women.

 

MEDIA AUDIENCES 

Target audience is the intended audience or readership for a publication, advertisement or other message. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumers within the predetermined target market, identified as the target and recipients of a particular advertisement or message. 

When considering an audience group you must consider the following demographics, age, sex, occupation and education. We can split occupations into groups A, B, C1, C2, D, and E.

A= lawyers, doctors, 

B= Teachers, middle management,

C1=junior management, 

C2= Electricians, plumbers,

D=Manual workers,

E= Students.

Some of these categories are not fixed and are very stereotypical. 

We can then apply this to media eg Stranger Things you can identify the target audience as sci-fi fans, horror fans, age 15-30, (A,B,C1) Higher income as you need a Netflix subscription to watch stranger things. 

Shang Chi targets marvel fans and Asian-American audiences across a wider range of social classes (A-E), 

Snapchat is targeted at teenagers as a way of communicating with friends, age 13-25 (E),

Games such as Xenoblade Chronicles are aimed at male teenagers with an interest in anime.

In addition to demographics, producers will also look into the characteristics of certain groups and individuals. A psychometric audience profile defines an audience by how they think and by considering their values, attitudes and lifestyles. A psychometric method of organisation specific to advertising was developed by Young and Rubicam, a marketing and communications company, this helps producers understand who and why certain people are drawn to certain media.

One model by Young and Rubicam divides audiences into separate categories:

The Aspirer - aspirers want status brands that shows their place in society, they are happy to invest in luxury brands, often using credit, they consider themselves stylish and on trend and may be persuaded by celebrity endorsements. They seek status.

The Explorer - explorers like to discover new things and are attracted to new or innovative brands, products or experiences, they seek discovery.

The Mainstreamer – Seeks security. They are conventional, domestic, and prefer safe, trusted brands.

The Reformer – Seeks enlightenment. They value independence, social awareness, and authenticity.

The Succeeder – Seeks control. They have confidence, ambition, and prefer prestige and high-quality brands.

The Struggler – Seeks escape. They are more disorganised, have fewer resources, and prefer strong visual or sensory appeal.

The Resigned – Seeks survival. They are older, set in their ways, interested in tradition and familiar brands.

The Media Effects model by Albert Bandura suggests that if you believe media has control over the way you think then you are likely to subscribe to the effects model, this model suggests that media is powerful and oppressive, and controls the passive audience and inject their minds with messages, causing them to think in a particular way, “monkey see, monkey do”. Banduras famous Bobo doll experiment showed that children who saw adults acting violent towards the doll, also acted violent towards the doll.

Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment on Social Learning

Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment - YouTube

Contrastingly, the Blumer and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory suggests that audiences are not passive but do have control over the media they consume, this theory says that there are 4 reasons people consume media, 

1=Personal Identity, people use media to learn more about themselves or relate to a character 2=Personal relationships, media can help people feel connected to others through forming emotional bonds with fictional characters

3=Diversion, Media is used as a way to escape from reality, to pass time, or relieve boredom
4= Surveillance, using media to find out what’s going on in the world eg news, weather or educational resources.

MEDIA INDUSTRIES

Understanding Media Industry means understanding who owns the product and how that affects the way media is produced, distributed and consumed. Ownership influences the political viewpoints of certain media.

Within the UK Newspaper industry, Rupert Murdoch owns The Sun, The Times, Fox news etc, in the UK he owns 19% of UK press, nearly 1/5 of all Uk news is owned by one man. Similarly, Viscount Rothermere owns The Daily Mail and the DMGT group, he owns about 33% of UK press, contrastingly, The Guardian who are also a successful UK newspaper, are not owned by one person but are owned by the Scott Trust Limited who are a not-for-profit trust, there is no wealthy owner. 

In terms of political alignment, The Daily Mail and The Sun are more right wing conservative whereas The Guardian are more left wing, these are important as newspaper can share stories in different ways in order to align with their politics.

“New Media” is media that is media that is created by us and shared with each other (YouTube, Spotify)

“Traditional Media” is media that is presented by one source, we don’t control it (FoxNews, ESPN)

Clay Shirky suggests that there is no longer an audience in the traditional sense of the world, the passive audience is now outdated, instead of us being dictated to by media companies, modern audiences are embracing new media through the internet to create identities and be entertained . Modern audiences are not passive, but active consumers who want to engage with their media (a prosumer).

A prosumer – one who both produces and consumes media

Conglomerate = a business corporation formed by the purchasing of other businesses

Global Conglomerate = as above, but with business in more than one country

DISNEY IS A GLOBAL CONGLOMERATE

David Hesmondhalgh argues that cultural industries follow the same capitalist pattern of concentration and integration, even though media companies (film, music, tv) are creative, they still strive to make money

Vertical Integration = When a company buys other companies to do a part of its business

Horizontal Integration = when a company buys its rivals

MEDIA LANGUAGE 

Media Language is how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings.

With language, always consider these questions,

1.  Which modes are used in each of these media texts? i.e still image, moving image, written words
2. Which tools are used within each mode? i.e camera angles, fonts, colour
3. What meanings and effects do they convey? i.e the connotations of the media language

Mise-en-scene

Literally, what's in the frame, broken into the following categories,

1. Positioning and body language 
2. Lighting
3. Hair/makeup
4. Setting/props

Camera shot types

the way shots are framed - in still and moving image, is an important way of conveying information about characters, relationships and what is and what isn't important .

Camera angles 

High Angle - makes something seem small, insignificant or vulnerable 

Low Angle - makes something seem powerful, threatening or dominant 

Birds eye view - an unnatural angle which can make objects seem strange, also puts the audience in a god like position, looking down on the action 

Canted angle - an off kilter shot which can often suggest confusion, disorientation or drunkenness  

Eye level - neutral level, gives the impression we are watching something unfold 

  

Roland Barthes - the study of media language is called semiology 

The study of signs consist of the signifier ( a word, image or sound) and its meaning - the signified 

A denotation is what is actually there e.g a dog denotes a mammal that barks

A connotation is the association of the denotation i.e loyalty

However, Barthes suggests that these are myths - an ideology meaning associated with a sign e.g a mans best friend, Britishness, in the case of a bulldog.

Advertising also uses these techniques in order to convey a message, for example in this advert for Armani Code, the directors have chosen to use n eye level shot with the man staring directly into the camera to be intimidating whilst the woman is shown to be hiding away and being protected by the man. This advert reinforces the idea of Lizbet Van Zoonens theory of women being portrayed as accessories of men. The man is the center of this advert whilst the woman (Megan Fox) is just an accessory. This advert uses dark, masculine colours to enhance this idea of intimidation.