Driving Test Task

DVLA

RAIL

● Representation
● Audience
● Industry
● Language

Representation

To represent is to show or describe people, places and events. Representation is the results of this. Representations in media can be categorized to make it easier to understand, a good example of this is CAGED.

● Class
● Age
● Gender
● Ethnicity
● Disability

CAGED representations are useful starting points for analysing media messages (they do not include sexuality, religion, regional identity or education).

Sometimes in advertisements, to tick off all the boxes of CAGED, advertisers use tokenistic representation (including a poorly developed or stereotypical portrayal of a social group, usually to check off diversity in a media product) so they can use the ad without getting any backlash.

It is worth mentioning you can represent through omission or inclusion.

Stereotype

A stereotype is a characterization of an individual or group that has certain features. They work a symbolic codes or signs. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but they are often generalized and inaccurate or harmful. Middle-class, educated, white men will always be seen in a positive light in comparison to teenage boys, blonde women, housewives or Muslim asylum seekers, regardless of the truth.

Barthes, the creator of semiotics, the study of signs, suggests that the values attributes to these stereotypes are not real, but myths, and are used to reinforce the dominant groups in society.

Repetition of stereotypes in media can cause the idea of stereotypes to be engrained into peoples minds, something which is very negative.

Stuart Hall

Challenging stereotypes to fix the meaning in the opposite way is a clunky - sometimes necessary -  solution to the issue. Stuart Hall argues it is much better to deconstruct the stereotype rather than trying to fix another one.

Stuart Hall researched a theory on power, and how high ranking officials can change the meaning of certain things in media to influence the opinions of the population. It is noted that apparently a lot of people who view media are not very intelligent. Hall challenged this by saying that viewers are not unintelligent, they simply have opinions and can choose to reject the messages media gives them. These people can also accept the messages if they so choose, or be stuck in-between (negotiated) whether they agree with the messages or not.

Producers encode preferred meanings into their media, but it is up to the audience to decide the real meaning. Media producers choose to make media present, absent or different to create meaning. Media producers have the power to change representations, whilst the consumers do not. Producers can fix meanings quickly through stereotypes.

Immigration

Tabloids and newspapers utilize certain words in their headlines to encode the preferred meaning to be negative to those that are being represented. Media producers can do this because they have power, and what they say is final, and is highly likely to create ideas of negativity in the consumers head. They want the dominant reaction to be that those being represented are terrible, horrible and are doing heinous things.

Quite often in newspapers, those represented are migrants and immigrants, and they get shown as negative by the viewers of the newspapers and tabloids, typically people who belong and live in the host country they are talking about. They are not aimed at migrants and immigrants, they are aimed at natives to get them to see migrants and immigrants as bad. The media producers push the preferred meanings with stereotypes, which will already be known to the natives, to get their ideas and meaning across better, so that the audience will have a dominant reaction, not a negotiated one. If the reaction is in fact oppositional, the tabloid and newspapers are still gaining traction, and are getting more popular. As a result, they gain money from this no matter what the audience thinks, showing that they have power, not the audience, and that they cannot change anything regardless.

Audience

A target audience is the intended audience or readership of 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 targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message. Target audience can be based on several categories, some of which are: occupation, interests, age, and gender. These audiences are essential for advertisers as they need to know who to target for their ads. Market research can help to find the correct audience.

Hypodermic Needle Model

If you believe the media has total control over the way you think and behave, you are likely to subscribe to the effects model. This suggests that the mass media are powerful and oppressive, and control the passive audience by injecting their minds with messages, causing them to think in a particular way.

(In class, we looked at research conducted by Albert Bandura. It showed how audiences copy and perform the actions they see in media.)

Albert Bandura began his research in 1961, and started with a test in which he would get children to watch adults attacking on an inflatable bobo doll. When the children were left alone, they began to replicate the action of the adults, the majority of which attacking the doll also. Likewise to the adults, the children kept their calm composure whilst doing so. This was a huge discovery as people had previously believed that carrying out violet behavior was cathartic.

Bandura researched again, this time using using recordings of adults being violent. Children copied the behavior, even when the adults were actually dressed up as cats. What children saw, children do.

In my opinion, I believe this research is conclusive, in showing that children are influenced by those older than them, or closer to them. In turn, this can create violence between children, and can harm their upbringing, and can also harm their future. This also shows that children are heavily influenced by what they see on television, and social media (nowadays).

Industry

The media industry has changed a lot thanks to the new developments of technology. For film and TV, there is now streaming services and cinema available, which is now more used than DVD. News has become more utilized and accessed online more than in newspaper form in recent years. New technology is driving the industry forwards all the time.

Spotify has changed the music industry by making music widely available online, and very easy to use; it is available on almost any device imaginable. As a result, this has resulted in other music companies doing the same, leading to the decline in use of vinyl, cassette tapes and CDs. Likewise, Netflix has changed the film industry by making films streamable online. The is loads and loads of content on Netflix. This has lead to the decline in use of DVDs, and has encouraged companies like Amazon to make videos and film available online. Some companies suffered as a result of modernization of the film industry, most notably Blockbuster, who went out of business due to the rise of streaming services.

New, modern audiences consume and produce content. They can become music producers, film makers, and film critics (for example) just because they own a smartphone.

Definitions learned from lessons!

Free press: A newspaper industry that can publish stories without being restricted by the government, while still having to follow the law.

Conglomerate: Business corporation formed by purchase of other businesses.

Global conglomerate: As above, with businesses in more than one country.

Horizontal integration: When a company buys rivals (for example Disney buying Pixar).

Vertical integration: When a company buys other companies that do part of its business (for example Disney, Buena Vista, Disney+).

Rupert Murdoch and Viscount Rothermere

Rupert Murdoch owns many media outlets and newspapers, and has recently stood down. The problem of him owning all of these for himself hasn't changed, however, as his son is now getting the fortune instead. The problem with one person owning many media outlets and newspapers is that these forms of media can be influenced by their own opinions, and become biased. They can also dictate who owns the product and how it is consumed. This in turn can cause the consumers of these forms of media (of which there are many) to become brainwashed, and have a dominant reaction. They can get other people to think like them, which is a really powerful thing to have in your control. For example, they can get people to like and vote a certain political party that they like, and change an election or the fate of a country.

In the UK, Rupert Murdoch owns 19% of all British press and Viscount Rothermere owns 33%. Combined, they take up 52%, more than half! In the USA, there are still media monopolies existing like in the UK, for example Disney, who owns many big names in the film industry such as Marvel, ESPN, Lucasfilm. In the film industry, there are fewer opportunities for diverse films / products to be produced, because of the big companies taking over everything. These little production companies often produce niche / indie / alternative films instead. The same companies are also often unable to create films on a big budget or create a large buzz about the film. This can impact the revenue of these companies, and can influence their future.

Language

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

Camera Angles

In media production, especially with moving pictures, camera angles are required to be named in order to create the best shot possible for the film, movie or video. In lessons, we learned about a few shots, and what their definitions are.

High Angle: Makes the object seem small, insignificant or vulnerable

Low Angle: Makes the object seem powerful, threatening or dominant.

Bird's Eye view: An unnatural angle which can make objects seem strange. Also puts the audience in a god like position looking down at the action.

Canted Angle: An off kilter shot which often suggests confusion, disorientation or drunkenness, sleepiness etc.

Eye Level: Neutral shot, gives the impression we are watching the action unfold.

Certain shots are appropiate for a certain part of a moving picture production, but some are not. It is vital that shot types are planned out prior to production to make the product as best and presentable to the audience as it can possibly be.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene, simply put for moving picture products, is what's in a certain frame, broken into categories. There are five main parts of this, those being:

● Positioning and body language

● Lighting

● Hair / Makeup / Costume

● Setting and props

In lesson, using mise-en-scene, we learned how to identify certain features of a frame, and why the producers have decided to include them. We also looked at what effects they might have.