Industries: Ownership and Control

Most media companies are owned by one of five or six massive conglomerates that dominate the media industry.

As GCSE Media students, we need to learn how media companies are bought, sold and controlled.

Notes

Industries: Recap

Industries are the producers, the companies that produce (make) and distribute the media product. 

Industries have a strong interest in who their target audience is so that they can best appeal to them. 

Some companies dominate the industry which means they own more of the content and therefore make more money (revenue).

Conglomerate Ownership

A conglomerate is a media company that owns lots of smaller media companies. These smaller companies are called subsidiaries. Most of the global media industry is now dominated by a small number of massive conglomerates.

Vertical integration

Vertical integration is when one conglomerate owns different companies in the same chain of production.

For example, Disney owns film studios, CGI specialists, film distributors, TV channels (such as the Disney Channel) and streaming service Disney+. This gives Disney the chance to make money at every stage of production and distribution. Complete ownership = more profit and control.

Horizontal integration

Horizontal integration is when one company buys other companies at the same level of distribution.

For example, Facebook acquired Instagram (at a cost of $1 billion) so that they could cancel out the competition by making money from both. 

Horizontal integration allows companies to widen their audience and find other ways to make money.

Synergy

Synergy is when a company creates a brand that can be used across different media products and platforms. For example, Disney makes movies but then also has related stage shows, theme parks, merchandise, soundtracks and events all linked to the same brand or characters.

Convergence

Technological convergence refers to the fact we can now access all different types of media on one device.

The growth of smartphones has completely changed the relationship between industries and audiences. 

Traditional industries like newspapers are now moving into video or online content and audiences can now create their own user-generated content.

Industries: Ownership and control - blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called Industries: Ownership and Control. Complete the following tasks and reading exercises:  

1) What is a conglomerate in the media industries? 

2) What is a subsidiary?

3) What are the benefits for media companies of vertical integration?

4) What are the benefits for media companies of horizontal integration?

5) Give three examples of media companies or brands that have used synergy to maximise their profits. There are examples in the notes above to help you.

6) What is convergence and what device has changed the relationship between audiences and producers? 

Now read this article about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and answer the following questions:

7) Why did Facebook buy Instagram for $1bn? Answer in as much detail as possible

Now read this BBC article on Disney buying 21st Century Fox. 

8) What is the name of the media billionaire who used to own Fox? 

9) List 10 companies that are part of the Disney media empire. The graphic below will help you. 

10) Why did Disney buy Fox - What are the benefits? These benefits are particularly discussed towards the end of the article. 

If you don't finish these questions in the lesson, complete for homework - Due date on Satchel One.

Grade 8/9 Extension tasks

Read this Inverse feature on Disney buying Marvel. Why does the article suggest it may not have been good for the movie industry overall? 

Audience: Effects Theory

As well as studying target audience and Reception Theory, we also need to explore WHY audiences enjoy using and interacting with the media and what effect the media has on them.

This means learning a range of audience theories to add to our work on Stuart Hall's Reception theory. 

Audience theory: Key Notes and Terminology

Passive & Active

Passive: This is the view that audiences passively take in information from the media and that these messages have the same effect on everyone.

Active: This is the more modern and generally accepted view that audiences interact with and make conscious choices regarding the media they consume.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

This is the suggestion that audiences are always passive and therefore take the intended message from the producer as if it was injected into their minds. This assumes no individual difference in audience members. 

Two-step flow theory

This is the theory that consumers form their opinions based on opinion leaders like newspapers, politicians and, nowadays, celebrities.

Uses and Gratifications - Blumler & Katz

INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: Learning information that you did not already know or that is useful for living (e.g. documentaries; weather or traffic). 

IDENTITY: Personally relating to something - seeing your lifestyle on screen.

DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT: Escapism and being entertained away from your normal life.

RELATIONSHIPS: Social interaction, caring about characters or celebrities, forming relationships e.g watching a soap opera for a long time because you care about what happens to long-standing characters.

The 3 Vs

VISCERAL PLEASURE: Physical thrill of watching something e.g hairs on the back of your neck in a horror film, sport, big explosions. 

VICARIOUS PLEASURE: Experiencing something through the characters. 

VOYEURISTIC PLEASURE: Watching people e.g hidden camera shows / elements of reality TV like Big Brother.

Audience effects theory: Blog Tasks

Create a new blogpost called ‘Audience Effects Theory’ and complete the following tasks:

1) Write a definition of a passive audience: 

2) Write a definition of an active audience: 

3) Write a definition of the hypodermic needle theory: 

4) Write down a media product (e.g. TV show, newspaper or videogame) for each category of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory and WHY it fits that particular audience use/gratification. The first one is done for you: 

INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: Media text - The Times newspaper
 > Why: It tells audiences important information about politics, the world and more.

PERSONAL IDENTITY: 
 > Why:  

DIVERSION/ENTERTAINMENT: 
 > Why: 

RELATIONSHIPS:
 > Why: 

5) Re-watch the clip from Blue Planet above and write a paragraph analysing how elements of the clip offer the audience pleasures or gratifications (use media terminology from Uses and Gratifications theory and the 3 Vs - notes outlined above). 

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

To take this further, select a media text of your own choice, embed it in your blog and write another detailed paragraph analysing the audience pleasures in that product.

You can read more about media effects theories on BBC Bitesize here.

Finally, think about the hypodermic needle theory. Do you think most audiences believe everything they see in the media? Why? Explain your answer and try to argue both sides.

Finish for homework if you don't complete it in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.

Audience: Reception Theory

Reception theory is an important media theory exploring how audiences respond to media texts.

Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist who looked at the relationship between the text and the audience. He suggested that meanings are fluid and open to interpretation depending on context and the consumer’s experiences as individuals as well as communities.

Hall states there are three readings to any media text:

Preferred reading

The meaning the producers intend to communicate. This builds on the idea that producers can position the audience in a certain way and influence their reading so they accept the intended message by using recognised codes and conventions (such as stereotypes).

Negotiated reading

Somewhere between the preferred and oppositional reading. The message is modified (partly accepted and partly rejected) depending on the individual experiences of the audience (e.g their age, gender or social class).

Oppositional reading

The oppositional reading goes against the meaning the producers are trying to create. The audience reject the intended message and construct an opposite reading instead. This can be due to their own social, political or moral beliefs and values. 

Reception Theory: Blog Task

Create a new blogpost called 'Reception theory'.

1) What is the preferred reading of a media text?

2) What is the oppositional reading of a media text?

Re-watch the trailer for the film Harry Brown:

3) How does the Harry Brown trailer position the audience to respond to the teenage characters in the film?

4) Why might young people reject this reading and construct an oppositional reading of the trailer?

Look at this McDonald's advert:

5) Write a 150+ word analysis of the McDonald's advert using preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.

Grade 8/9 Extension tasks: 

Find your own advertisement and write a 150+ word analysis using preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.

Watch the rest of the Plan B TEDx lecture about his plan to help disadvantaged young people through film and music. Do you agree that he presents a positive view of young people?

Finish for homework if you don't complete this during this week's lessons - Due date on SatchelOne.

Audience classification: Demographics and Psychographics

The first aspect of the Audience key concept we need to study is how media companies target and classify audiences.

In order to do this, we need to learn about audience demographics and psychographics. These are two crucial aspects of how audiences are classified and identified by media companies. 

Notes from today's lesson on Audience

Demographic classification:

• Age
• Gender
• Education
• Social class
• Race/ethnicity
• Job/profession/earnings
• Home (city/village/countryside)

Social class classification

Advertisers have traditionally classified people into the following groups:

• AB – Managerial and professional 
• C1 – Supervisory and clerical 
• C2 – Skilled manual 
• DE – Unskilled manual and unemployed

Audience profiling

Advertisers these days are interested in more than just a social class classification. Now they try to sell a brand or lifestyle and therefore need to know more about their audience than simply age, gender or where they live.

So we also need to think about the kind of brands audiences are interested in and what this says about their lifestyle and interests. Is this product aimed at people who buy Armani and Porsche? Banana Republic and Apple? John Lewis and The Times? Lush and the Vegan Store? Peppa Pig and Haribo? The brands we buy or like say a lot about our personality and attitudes in life.

Psychographics

Media companies use audience profiling to create a more detailed picture of their audience. This means looking at the audience's personality, interests and the brands and lifestyle they enjoy. Young and Rubicam identified a range of different groups that became known as Psychographics. You can revise the different psychographic groups here.

Demographics and Psychographics: blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Demographics and Psychographics'.

1) What information do media companies use to create a demographic profile of their audience?

2) Why are media companies and advertisers increasingly using audience profiling and not just demographics?

3) What are the seven different Pychographic groups? 

4) Write a brief summary of what each Psychographic group is seeking or motivated by.

5) What psychographic group or groups do YOU belong in? Think about your own interests and lifestyle and explain your decision. Remember, you may fit into two or three different groups! 

Extension tasks

This is a more detailed A Level explanation of the different Psychographic groups so revise the psychographic groups here.

You can read more about audience targeting on BBC Bitesize here.

Due date: on Google Classroom

Introduction to Media: Blog Index

We have almost completed our first half-term of GCSE Media Studies and have our first assessment approaching.  

You've already covered lots of excellent content and have started developing the analytical writing skills you will need in the exams next year.

Introduction to Media - index so far

We now need to create an index of all our blogposts so far. This process is an excellent start to our ongoing revision and will also highlight if you've missed anything through absence. Your index should include the following:

1) First blog task - 10 questions

2) Poster Analysis
3) Denotation and Connotation

4) Introduction to Photoshop
5) Mise-en-scene: Stranger Things
6) Camerawork - Doctor Who: Shots and angles

7) Camera Movement and Editing

8) Blog feedback and learner response

For your index, the text should link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work quickly and easily for checking and revision. This also means if you have missed anything you can catch up with the work and notes and won't underperform in assessments and exams due to gaps in your knowledge.

Creating your index

To create your index, first copy the list of work above and paste it as plain text into a new blogpost called 'GCSE Media Autumn term index'. Then, open your Media blog in another tab and use your blog archive to open up all your work from last term. For each post, copy the URL - this is the web address that will end .blogspot.com/name of the post. For example: 

https://mediamacguffingcseyear1.blogspot.com/2020/01/representation-introduction.html

Once you've got the hang of it, you should find the index only takes 10 minutes to produce. 

First Media assessment

Your first Media assessment is coming up shortly - exact date specified by your teacher. You will need to revise everything in this index for the assessment.

Good luck!

Blog Feedback and Learner Response

You will be receiving blog feedback from your teacher via email.

This is a very important opportunity to reflect on the work you've done so far in GCSE Media Studies and identify the areas you need to improve over the next few weeks.

Whenever you receive blog feedback over email you must do the following:

Open up your email in Outlook and read your feedback carefully

1) Copy and paste your feedback and Next Steps into a NEW blogpost in your blog called 'Blog feedback and Learner Response'.

2) Below the feedback paste a screenshot of you completing your Next Steps and then publish the blogpost.

3) Reply to the original email from your teacher confirming you have completed the learner response and provide a link to your learner response blogpost.

This is how we get better in Media Studies - make the most of this opportunity! 

Camera Movement & Editing - Blog Task

In addition to camera shots and angles, we also need to learn about camera movement and editing.  

Remember, writing analysis in Media means picking out the interesting or important aspects of something and then examining WHY or HOW they have been put together to create an effect on the audience.

Camera movement: notes

There are a range of key camera movements we need to learn:

Pan: horizontal turn left or right

Used to follow movement. A whip pan (very fast pan) can create a feeling of action or drama.

Track/Dolly: Camera moves on tracks/wheels

Tracks action smoothly – look for in chases or fast-moving sequences.

Handheld: camera held by hand, often shaky

Handheld camera can add urgency, realism, pace or unease to a scene.

Zoom: focal length of lens changed to make subject appear closer or further away

A zoom into a character’s face can show realisation or an emotional reaction.

Crane: Camera attached to crane – can pan, track or ‘swoop’ in or out as required

Crane shots are often high angle and show large, epic scenes of dramatic action.

Tilt: Camera tilts up or down from fixed point

The hero or villain can be made to look weak or powerful using a tilt (high/low angle).

If you want to know more about camera movement, or missed the lesson, this episode of the Shot List from Studio Binder goes into real detail:

Editing: Notes

Video: Cuts and Transitions

Film transitions

Cut (Straight cut, jump cut, match cut): Shot changes from one to another – the most common cut.

Dissolve: Shot melts into another – often shows passing of time.

Fade: Shot fades away and another shot appears. Fades to black often signify endings (of the day, scene or film)

Pace of editing
The speed at which the film cuts from one shot to the next makes a huge difference to the experience for the audience. Generally, slow cuts build tension while fast cuts suggest action and excitement.

Juxtaposition
The word juxtaposition literally means ‘the act of placing together side by side’. In editing, this is called Parallel Editing. 

In film, two shots may be placed together to create meaning for the audience. E.g. A shot of the hero may be followed by a shot of his love interest to link these in the audience’s mind.

Rocket Jump film school on YouTube has an excellent video outlining cuts and transitions in editing:

Camera movement and editing: blog tasks

We need to be able to recognise and analyse the camera movement and editing when studying film or television. As ever with media, we need to be able to explain the effect this camerawork has on the audience. What connotations are created by using this style of filmmaking?

Create a blogpost called 'Camera movement and editing'.

Re-watch the Minority Report chase scene that we analysed in class:

Blog tasks:

1) Pick three aspects of camera movement in the Minority Report clip. Identify the type of camera movement and write about why the director chose to use that camera movement in the scene and what effect it has on the audience.

2) Pick two aspects of editing in the Minority Report clip and write about what effect it has on the audience.

3) Finally, revise last week's work on camerawork by picking out two shots or camera angles in the clip that communicate meaning to the audience.

Extension task

Linked above is a video from Studio Binder on camera movements - read their webpage on this topic and you'll learn about this in even more detail.

You can then look at their section on editing. 

Example analysis: The Night Manager (BBC, 2016)

Here's another example of how you write media analysis for camerawork and editing using the BBC drama clip from The Night Manager.

 

1) Analyse the camera movement:

The camera movement at the beginning of the scene is slow, steady and fits the relaxed atmosphere as they enter the restaurant. The smooth track or dolly shot as they walk to the table (0.14 - 0.17) makes the audience feel as if they are joining the party and included in the exclusive group in the island restaurant. This all changes in the scene where the kidnappers take the main character's son. The camera movement is suddenly handheld and edgy, signalling the tension and danger to the audience. This adds realism and suspense and contrasts strongly with the smooth camera movement of the opening to the scene. The camera continues to move (handheld) throughout this scene as the kidnapping develops - this keeps the audience on edge and creates the idea that danger or something terrible may be happening.

As the kidnappers try to escape, the camera pans loosely from left to right and back again (0.57) to create the effect of someone looking around to see where the next danger will appear from. Finally, when the kidnappers have gone and the boy is returned safely, the camerawork is still handheld but not as shaky as previously. This restores normality to the scene as the danger has passed.

2) Analyse the editing:

The pace of editing suddenly increases when the kidnappers burst into the restaurant (0.22) with a series of rapid cuts to communicate the drama and danger to the audience. There is then a close up of the boy's father juxtaposed with a shot of the main kidnapper holding the boy. This tells the audience these are the two critical characters for this scene and that they will decide what happens next.