Unit 1 - Media Products and Audiences

What: a video streaming site where anyone can create a channel and upload content When: 2005 Copyright issues: People try to upload content, like music, that isn’t their own and make money from it.  This might be using the content within their video or just uploading a copy of something like an album for people to listen to.  If they add monetisation (ads) to it, they’re making money from someone else’s work. Combat: Content ID was introduced in 2007.  Automated to detect copyrighted material.  Only really works well if your work is associated with a large conglomerate.  For example, some record labels have multiple copies of entire albums uploaded by people who have nothing to do with the music or the label. Mr Beast : Mr Beast got a copyright strike because in a video his friends sang a few lines of ‘Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.  He wasn’t told what was causing the video to be taken down and had to search through and work it out for himself....

Napster What: A peer-to-peer file-sharing service that allows people to share MP3s When: 1999-2001 Why: The sharing of music was illegal under copyright.  Many musicians and companies took legal action Metallica: Was the most famous/vocal of those rallying against it.  They had an unreleased, demo version of a song leaked onto it and then played on radio stations. Spotify: This music sharing took it thoroughly out of the physical realm and into the digital.  Clearly, people wanted to have access to music on a large scale.  It inspired Spotify, which is well known for paying artists next to nothing for streams.

Livingstone and Lunt They say: the needs of a citizen are in conflict with the needs of the consumer because protection can limit freedom. They noticed that regulating media to protect citizens from harmful content can limit freedom of expression. Consumers have wanted, are individuals, seek private benefits from the media, use the language of choice, and require regulation to protect against detriment; citizens have needs, are social, seek public or social benefits from the media , use the language of rights, and require regulation to promote the public interest. How we’ll use it: The social benefit of piracy and infringing upon copyright law allow citizens to maintain their place within their social group by ensuring they can engage with their social group when discussing particular media. (You could also use them in the audience and sensitive/harmful content section by discussing the idea that simply banning harmful media limits freedom of expression). Seaton and Curran They...

Copyright The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material. Fair Use States that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, research, etc. without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.

Cuties Release: 2020 (9th September on Netflix) Rating: BBFC 15 Controversy: The hyper-sexualisation of young girls. Concern: Netflix released a promotional poster that seemed to glorify the hyper-sexualisation of young girls.  This led to an online outcry to ‘cancel Netflix’ because the assumption was this was what the film was about. Alternative: The film is actually condemning this.  The poster was a poor choice on Netflix’s part and people shouldn’t make assumptions about a movie based on one sign. Without ever actually presenting sexual content, Cuties presents sexuality and adulthood as looming, largely inescapable threats for its female characters . So while we do see young girls twerking, the film frames dance as an insidious corrupting tool that could rob the dancers of their innocence. The movie went under fire before it was even released on Netflix after the streamer released a highly controversial poster featuring young girls performing as a part of their twer...

Adapted from Denis McQuail’s Audience Pleasures, this active audience theory states we consume media for the following uses and gratifications: •Information and Education – the viewer wants to acquire information, knowledge and understanding by watching programmes like The News or Documentaries. •Entertainment – Viewers watch programmes for enjoyment. •Personal Identity - Viewers can recognise a person or product, or role model that reflects similar values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics. •Integration and social interaction – the ability of media products to produce a topic of conversation between people. For example who is the best contestant on The X-factor who was the best goal shown on Match of the day. •Escapism – Computer games and action films let viewers escape their real lives and imagine themselves in those situations.

 An active audience theory, this is how the audience deal with the messages they are given by the media: •Production – Encoding (construction) of a message begins. The message's creator is feeding off of society's beliefs, and values.  They are hoping to put across a certain message. •Circulation – How individuals perceive things: visual vs. written. How items are circulated influences how audience members will receive and put the message to use.  •Use (distribution or consumption) – The message has to be adopted as a meaningful discourse and it has to be meaningfully decoded. However, the decoding/interpreting of a message requires active recipients. •Reproduction – This stage is directly after audience members have interpreted a message in their own way based on their experiences and beliefs. The decoded meanings are the ones with "an effect. At this point, you will see whether individuals take action after they have been exposed to a specific message.

The Joker Media sector: film Release: 2019 Rating: BBFC 15 Controversy: Social outcast Arthur Fleck becomes the Joker as he descends into madness.  During an exploitative TV interview that a chat show host thinks will draw a big audience, Fleck rants about the society that has let him down before shooting the host.  This starts a riot and he is seen (perhaps only in his own mind) as a revolutionary or a hero. Concern: A small part of Fleck’s story is that he believes in a romantic relationship with a neighbour who eventually breaks that delusion.  Given that Fleck was shunned by his love interest, many believed that this film was glorifying incels; a member of an online community of young men who are hostile towards those who are sexually active because they are unable to be sexually active.  This is usually blamed on females who are interested in but do not return that interest. Alternative: The film condemns austerity (complex economic issues) and suggests th...

 The ‘effects debate’ has long been criticised for being outdated.  Commentators such as David Gauntlett (2004) suggest that there are major problems with how the effects model treats not only audience members, such as children, as inadequate but also sees the media texts as the root cause of the problem without taking sociological or psychological factors into account.  Such ideas can be placed with active audience theory.  Active audience theories see audiences as responding actively to the media they consume. They may question the messages that a media product presents, disagree with it, or even interact with it (e.g. by reviewing it, commenting on it online etc). Active audience theories see audiences as consciously aware of how they interpret media products and the difference between media representations and reality.

The Dark Knight Rises is rated a 12.  On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside a Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. Dressed in tactical clothing, James Holmes set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms. The total number of deaths was 12. The total number of injuries was 58. Fearing copycat crimes, movie theatres showing the same film across the US increased their security. Gun sales increased in Colorado, and political debates were generated about gun control in the United States. Sources say he wanted to be the 'joker' causing huge concern in the production and distribution of the movie.  He also dyed his 'hair' which they say represented the 'joker'

The mission puts you in a place of a US undercover agent infiltrating a Russian terrorist group as they go through an airport murdering civilians  Concern:  This will encourage terrorist-level violence in children, using cultivation theory that desensitises players to violence and undermines morality by having players kill innocent people indiscriminately. Through the game is aimed at adults, younger people often get access to such games. Alternative:  The game is aimed at adults and the level makes you question how far is too far, both on the personal and international level militaristic levels. An active audience perspective would say that players can reflect between the game and reality. Furthermore, you don't have to shoot any civilians and are not punished for not soothing.

 Hypodermic Needle Theory  A term for the impact media products have on their audience, it’s built upon ideas from the 1930s ‘Hypodermic Syringe’ model, where Vance Packard discussed the negative impact of mass media products concerning persuasive advertising across print and broadcast media. Passive Audience Theory  Passive audience theory builds upon Packard’s idea of mass media being able to inject ideas into people’s heads like a “hypodermic syringe” and reinforces the idea that audiences have limited resistance to media messages.  The main concerns were about the idea of ‘copycat’ effects and assuming the audience will copy whatever they see. Cultivation Theory  Gerbner and Gross's (1978) cultivation theory suggests that over time, repetition of viewing violent acts allows certain ideas and values to become normalised.  By repetitively viewing violent images in TV, film or video games the audience may become desensitised to them. Example News ...

Rated 12A Batman is seen repeatedly beating the Joker during an interrogation, but this is without both impact and injury detail. There is a sustained sense of threat throughout. The Joker is shown continually threatening both individuals and large groups of people in various situations The violence in the film is quickly edited, and whilst sometimes crunchy, it is almost entirely lacking in any blood or injury details.  The main classification issues in The Dark Knight are violence and threat. BBFC Guidelines for 12A stated, ‘Violence must not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries and blood’ and ‘Sustained moderate threat and menace are permitted. Occasional gory moments only. The examiners who classified the film agreed it met the Guidelines criteria, however, there were significant numbers of complaints about the 12A rating from members of the public.  

The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification.  They classify films using an age rating system that aims to stop people  from viewing  film content that is inappropriate for their age.   Smile (Rated 18) - Due to strong bloody violence.   It (15) - Strong horror, violence and language. Ozark (18) - References to Crime, Language, Violence, Sex, Sexual Images, Drug Misuse. UP (U) - Contains mild threat.

 

Main: The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: Spin-offs: Ultimate Spider-Man (2012–2017) Avengers Assemble (2013–2019) Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (2013–2015) Guardians of the Galaxy (2015–2019) Spider-Man (2017–2020) Marvel Rising (2018–2019)

Social media has good advantages and disadvantages for feedback.  There are a lot of trolls on social media that lie and purposely give bad feedback even if they don't need it.  Using social media is good for feedback as it's a free, ongoing form of feedback that does not need to be heavily watched or a big budget put into it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c83E2V0r0ho One of the top comments is "Comics Mantis is so different from MCU comedy Mantis. I don't think people will understand how much of a fighter she's supposed to be" - Marvel can consider this comment and change the narrative of the character before it releases. 

Primary research is information gathered through self-conducted research methods, while secondary research is information gathered from previously conducted studies . Secondary research is usually where most research begins. Examples of primary research data are  student thesis, market research and first-person accounts of trauma survivors  while examples of secondary research data include newspapers, books, academic journals and magazines. Quantitative data is numbers-based, countable, or measurable.   Qualitative data is interpretation-based, descriptive, and related to language .  Quantitative data tells us how many, how much, or how often in calculations. Qualitative data can help us to understand why, how, or what happened behind certain behaviours.

Deadpool advertising on valentines day,  they used traditional advertising but changed it to humour, making it funny and romantic looking but it's not a love movie at all.   Traditional advertising changed in a humourous way, helping promote the movie and interesting people in what it is as it's different from any other form of normal advertising. They also used never seen before advertising methods such as Tinder, where they added emojis and a Deadpool Tinder profile. 62% were males that watched the film. This could be with the main character being a man and the movie's influencers being mainly male in advertising. Caucasians were the main characters meaning it was a similar race that watched the movie or was influenced by the movie. The age range was young 20-22 years of age because young people and new generations are more interested in this type of advertising. The social class for Deadpool being C1 (lower middle class) is due to the age of the viewers being in the age ...