Dominant & Alternative Representations

Blumler & Katz

Uses & Gratifications

• The Uses and Gratifications Theory is an approach which helps understand the mass communication within the media
• The theory focuses more significantly more on audiences and not the actual message of the piece of media
• The Theory states that the media needs to be chosen to the audiences specific needs

Model

The theory suggested that the uses and gratifications theory has to fulfil one of the following when we choose a form of media:

• Identify: Able to recognize a person that reflects similar beliefs to yours.
• Educate: The acquirement of information and understanding concepts more knowledgeably. 
• Entertain: Consumption of media should provide enjoyment and a form be a form of escapism and so that they can temporarily forget about their life, as they enjoy the moments of the programme they are watching. 
• Social Interaction: Popular programmes help produce conversation between people leading to more social networking websites being used by people in the particular demographic. This type of demographic uses social networking more than other demographics, as they stay connected through high use of Twitter and Facebook. 

MEST2 Update - BBC 3 & E4 Breakdown

E4

Channel History

E4 began transmission on TV on 18th January 2001, at 8.30pm with a night presented by Ali G (Sacha Baron Cohen). 

E4's first broadcast was in 2005, which was a programme that had a countdown of twenty discussed controversial moments in TV history. 

They screen historical and dramatic programmes, notable such as:

• Friends
• The Inbetweeners
• Hollyoaks
• Big Bang Theory
• How I Met Your Mother

In 1996, Channel 4 (main institution) bought the rights to screen the popular American sitcom, this deemed to be very popular within the UK audience. 

Target Audience

The main demographics are shown:

• under 18s (63%)  
• 18-24 (29%)
• 25-34 (5%)
• 35-44 (2%)
• 45-54 (1%) 
• 55+ (0%)

Female 59% Male 41%

Demographic is the particular information which divides specific class types, gender, age and race. Every programme on the channel is targeted at a specific audience, such as young teens, which is a target of many programmes which are screened on E4. The E4 viewers are significantly more young females aged 16-24. This particularly demographic is targeted as E4 screens a lot of good quality and highly comedic programmes, which are also screened on E4 +1, which helps the audience catch up with a repeat of the programme one hour after it's original screening time. E4 use advertising highly on their channel as their main demographic is people that use the internet highly, sociable and likely to be well connected with their friends. 

BBC Three

Renamed during a period where they were renaming their BBC Knowledge, which is now known as BBC Four and their BBC Choice to now be named BBC Three. 

Drama, Comedy and Documentaries

Notable Programmes

• Top Boy
• Doctor Who
• Being Human
• Family Guy
• American Dad 
• Bad Education

The channel airs many different programmes and comedies, ones such as Bad Education, which became popular within younger teens which attended high school as it reflected on a poorly-coordinated teacher working at a high school in a suburban London area, which was created and written by Jack Whitehall and directed by Christine Gernon. Another example of a successful programme is Doctor Who which lead to it being screened on other BBC channels and also having films being based on it, being released in the mid-1990s. 

Target audience statistics

• In 2008 it reached 26.3% of 16.34 year olds in digital home
• 2.6% share of 15-34 years old audience
• 1.4% of the whole population

BBC Three's main focus is to discipline the young and their main demographic is 16-34 years old people. These are the people they wish to influence as they have a young mindset. 

MEST 2 - Opening Scenes

Top Boy

Topboy begins by displaying various establishing shots of a typical urban setting, which is based in a London council estate. The soundtrack, which is non-diegetic, helps build a more urban atmosphere and it helps to reinforce the stereotypes associated with a typical environment like this, which is commonly linked with crime and violence, the atmosphere is being further supported in the scene with the sound of a police siren in the background which is a diegetic sound. The next scene displays an over-the-shoulder shot showing a long distance which monitors over who the audience may assume, to be the main characters of the narrative which is about to become present within the scene. The mise-en-scene of the characters are urban-type clothing, particular large coats, hoodies, jeans and trainers, which helps determine to the audience, what kind of person they are. The editing featured helps build up tension and it also helps create suspense for an action to occur. In the scene the produce a validation of approval within the scene through the sound of a ringtone which suggests an action code of accepting the call and acting upon it. The narrative becomes a showdown when a black vehicle is displayed speeding towards the male and female characters, who at the time are situated in a council estate and it is supported through the cross-cuts, when they switch from one subjects location to  the other subject location. The guns displayed within the frame later in the scene help create the conflict in this kind of narrative, which is based around typical drug and gang crime in London. 

Breaking Bad

The opening scene is introduced with medium-close shots of a desert, showing cacti and big boulders which are typical found in a desert, this helps the audience acknowledge that the opening scene will be based in this kind of area. It is also opened with a diegetic sound of a bird in the background, which cannot be seen, but helps build a tension within the environment through the quiet and open area that it has in a desert. Furthermore, the next scene is shown of a shot which shows trousers drop to the floor from above. This will cause the audience to become more curious to what will happen, as they may not have expected to see something like that in a very discrete environment like the desert. This follows up with an RV (recreational vehicle) which proceeds to run over it subsequently. The follow up with a shot from behind in the RV, which shows a half naked man driving the vehicle. The quick cuts help show more which is going on within the RV and helps the audience identify what is happening slowly, as they do not distribute a lot of information within the shots. The half-naked man is shown to be the main subject and the audience want to know why he is in this situation that he is in. The scenes are relatively quiet in order to produce a more tense environment and build suspense within the audience as they are curious to why the main subject is in a very rapid environment, which suggests he is trying to avoid or retreat from something. 

Youngers

This comedic series shows 2 main characters open up the scene by engaging in dialogue with other acquaintances, which appear to be sitting on a wall. This is a good way to open up a scene in this type of genre as the scene as instantly become very suburban vibe, as a lot of the younger teens appear to know each other. When the two main subjects walk over to the 3 other subjects, they use a handheld shot to help create an atmosphere within the audience which can make them feel like they are a part of the setting and surroundings. These shots help the audience also understand how the main two first subjects are feeling and how they see them. The 'mandem' that subsequently sit on the wall speak quite loud in order for the audience to understand what kind of people they are from the expression given through their voice. They also use a medium-close up shot to display the expression of one of the two main subjects, which is disappointed and frankly annoyed. This then sparks a scene of conflict where the subject becomes annoyed and walks away, leading to the narrative to exhibit high amounts of expression within characters. 

My Murder

The scene is opened with a text which states that these events were based on a true story and that the minor characters have been created. The scene pans down onto a bed sheet which is waving on a clothesline and this then reveals a young black male shown on the floor who appears to have been stabbed. There is a non-diegetic sound of the police radio call of the person who rang the police in order to report the situation. Doing this helps give a proper feel to what happened and to sympathise for the innocent and young person who has been stabbed, as this has been based on a true story. They show a medium-close up of him in the next shot which shows in detail him flinching as well as look weak and vulnerable. This then follows with an over-the-shoulder shot of a female who appears to be on the phone to the police, with the young stabbed male on the floor in the view. This helps engage the audience more into the scene as they use this type of shot to give the scene more effect and to exhibit the scene precisely how it was when the actual event was taking place. This then exhibits the young male struggling to crawl, whilst being shown in a medium-close up, in order for the audience to sympathise for him as his life comes to an end. 

MEST2 Tutorial

·         Great idea – good concept, characterisation, scheduling etc. This can definitely work.

·         Decide on whether you want a title sequence – the montage you’re talking about sounds like a title sequence.

·         Watch the opening sequence of the Wire – it might fit the type of montage you want.

·         Research sounds good – perhaps add a film opening or two? Kidulthood or similar could help you (similar genre, characterisation etc.)

Hypodermic Needle Theory Task - Violent video games & Jamal Edwards - Multimillionaire

Violent video games encourages aggressive behaviour

This supports the hypodermic needle theory as they say if you consume a piece of media data, you may be likely, depending on how much is consumed, try to re-enact those actions without the intention of actually doing it. The article states that at least 20 minutes a day of playing violent games (first person shooters particularly), this can encourage more aggressive behaviour as their is a lot of violent acts being undertaken in the game and can cause the behaviour of students to become more vicious. This also supports the theory as playing violent games can affect the long term if their is a high level of media consumption, a quote from the article which supports this is "Playing video games could be compared to smoking cigarettes. A single cigarette won't cause lung cancer, but smoking over weeks or months or years greatly increases the risk.", this shows how in the long term how badly it can affect the mentality of a person.  

Another article which shows the link between violent video games and aggression is linked below. 

Link between violent video games & aggression

In this particular study, I do and do not believe video games affects the mentality of a person as a lot of people are affected by things much easier than others and this causes people to think that it affects everyone as a whole, as they people testing the theory have been able to gain results from their studies, which prove that violent video games causes aggression.  

Jamal Edwards multimillionaire through YouTube

This feature relates to the two-step flow model as the audience is relating to the article that the BBC have produced. BBC is a highly influential organisation and the BBC's opinion affects how the reader thinks as they are very significant organisation. 

5 other YouTuber's which are highly influential 

KSIOlajideBT - https://www.youtube.com/user/ksiolajidebt

KSIOlajideBT started off his YouTube career uploading FIFA gaming videos and eventually developed to make highly comedic videos, he has over 7 million subscribers and over 1 billion views on his videos. He is quite significant within the FIFA gaming community and what he does is also influenced onto other YouTuber's like KSI.

Alltime10s - Alltime10s Channel

This isn't a solo person but consists of a pair that makes fact videos which are listed from 10-1. They are highly influential, having millions of subscribers and also expanding further onto other channels such as their Alltime Conspiracies, which is a channel about Conspiracy Theories and letting viewers get an insight to very famous conspiracies. 

KickTV - https://www.youtube.com/user/KickTV

This is an organisation which gives latest football related news from around the world, including some humorous videos which are collaborated with other people, such as KSIOlajideBT, in the past. 

Ray William Johnson - https://www.youtube.com/user/RayWilliamJohnson

One of YouTube's most significant and influential person is Ray William Johnson, who has over 10 million subscribers. He post videos which review viral and trending videos in the social media. Due to his high audience, he is highly influential, as he is significantly one of YouTube's most dominant users. 

NigaHiga - https://www.youtube.com/user/nigahiga

Ryan Higa produces such videos like skits and quite comedic videos, his videos are skits which are mainly put into his perspective which is what makes his videos highly appealing. His videos are based on beliefs which then describes by showing in the video, in a skit performance-type. 

Dependency Theory - Questions

What do you primarily use the media for: entertainment or information?

I use the media for personal use, which is particular for my entertainment, some common media sources I use are YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, which helps me connect with other friends, enabling me to speak to them whenever I wish too. I also use the media to gain information of things that have happened recently or in the past, I do not read the news regular but always try to keep up to date with what is going on around the world. 

To what extent do you feel we are dependant on the media?

I think that we have become more dependant on the media, because it affects how personal lives and how we retaliate in a particular circumstance, for example, if you were to plan a day out, you would most likely check the weather and plan it on a day where the weather is decent and most likely not raining (for example) as people tend to not enjoy being out when it is rainy, so therefore they would check the weather forecast in order to find out which days would be better for them. This is just one of the many examples to why we have become so dependant on the media, as people use the media to improve a day out or their particular lifestyle. 

Has our dependence on the media changed over the last 10 years? How?

I think our dependence on the media has changed because as technology advances, people have many more new ways to find out information or simply use for entertainment. Some of these platforms include BBC iPlayer which an example of dependency, as if people miss a programme which shows on BBC channels, then they are likely to go on TV catch up in order to watch that programme as they would not want to have missed it. People are dependant on BBC iPlayer because they rely on it to watch the programmes that they have missed. 

Film Language Test Learner Response

In this post, I will be posting my feedback for my Film Language Test which I did.

WWW 

• There are some good points that you've picked out of the clip. However, they don't link to the question. 

EBI 

• A lot we need to work on. Firstly, you must answer the question. 
• You use hardly any media language and no theory. This will keep you at level 1 (max 3/12 per Q).
• Serious revision and practice required.       

    

Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

The Task

In this task, we were given a brief which was for 2 characters to walk into a room and engage in dialogue together, it could be like an interview but we chose to add a bit of drama into it so it could make it more interesting. Our clip was supposed to around 30 seconds long but our one extended to 51 seconds, which was fine with the teachers. Our video was based on 2 main characters, me and Fasih, the character that walks into the scene asks to meet him and he tells him that he has been robbed by another character (not in video), Doobz. Their was not a lot of dialogue, but their was just enough so that the audience knew what had happened. The scene finished with me and Fasih walking out the scene and for Fasih to sort out what has happened. 

WWW

I think our video was quite good, this because their was good match-on-action shots. This helped build tension and it makes the audience become more anxious as they want to find out why Fasih has received a text saying 'Come to the block'. These shots helped build up the conversation and to see what has happened with Shervin. I think we were successful at building tension as the audience seemed keen to see what would happened next, which is what me, Fasih and Zubair were aiming to do. The 180 degree rule was shot successfully, as when Fasih and me were in conversation, we changed the angle of the camera well and the shot came out well and it ran smoothly. The shot switched to Fasih in the conversation (from my shoulder) so it could show his facial expression and how he would react in this particular circumstance. We also added in the fade-to-black when Fasih walks into the part where he is meeting me, so it can show a certain time past, the next shot is of me walking up to where he is, which gave more of an effect that it took a a certain time for me to come in. 

EBI

After my video was screened, we received quite good feedback and their was not a lot that was wrong apart from some minor things. One of these things were the match-on-action of me walking through the door, which seemed just a split second early, this was because we played around with it when the shot was quite late and we were not able to perfect the shot, which is something which we can do easily next time as I will have more time to edit it. Another shot which I could have shot better was the over-the-shoulder shot, from my point of view, showing Fasih. This shot showed to much free space and Fasih was not situated in the centre of the shot, which is what we should have done. This was due to a common fault that we done and we couldn't really change it as we had no more clips which were more focused on Fasih.