ABBIE SINGLETON MEDIA NEA YEAR 2

Evaluate the effectiveness of the following theories in understanding how cultural and historical circumstances can affect audience interpretations of news stories: Hall’s reception theory, Bandura’s media effects theory. In this essay, I will evaluate the effectiveness of Bandura’s media effects theory in understanding how cultural and historical circumstances can affect audience interpretation of news stories. Albert Bandura’s media effects theory explores the idea that the media directly implants messages into the minds of its audience, suggesting that they are passive. This assumption that the audience is passive and will therefore accept the message presented to them in the text disregards their sense of identity and individuality, which results in the audience being exactly the same. The problem with this theory is that it removes the concept that the audience have their own ideologies fuelled by social, cultural and historical contexts, and instead suggests that they will all...

Explain how political contexts influence individual producers within the newspaper industry. Refer to 'The Guardian' and 'The Daily Mail' to support your answer. In this essay, I will be referring to 'The Daily Mail' and 'The Guardian' newspapers in order to explain how political contexts influence individual producers, and therefore audiences, within the newspaper industry. Curran and Seaton’s Power in the Media theory is highly applicable to the idea that political contexts influence individual producers, as it highlights the power of newspaper owners. The theory suggests that monopolies dominate the newspaper scene, using propaganda to project a limited range of ideas and messages to large audiences, influencing their values and beliefs. These messages will stem from the newspaper owner’s personal ideology, which is influenced by social, economic, and political contexts. David Gauntlett’s identity theory explores how each newspaper producer will ...

'Long form television dramas lack originality; no matter which country they are made in, they all use intertextuality in the same way.’ How far do you agree with this statement? In this essay, I will examine the view that long form television dramas lack originality; no matter which country they are made in, they all use intertextuality in the same way, using ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Deutschland 83’ in my answer. Regarding originality in long form television dramas, Baudrillard’s theory of post-modernism can be applied. Post-modernism suggests that nothing is original anymore, as every media product is just a reinvention of an existing product. With this postmodernist perspective, every media text lacks originality, not just long form television dramas. ‘Stranger Things’ shows this lack of originality through its use of genre. The series is a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, and uses traditional codes and conventions of these genres, such as silence to build up tension, and a fli...

Why do long form television dramas from different countries offer different representations? In this essay, I will be exploring how long form television dramas from different countries, such as ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Deutschland 83’, offer different representations due to their production and target audience. The Duffer Brother’s 2016 ‘Stranger Things’ was produced for Netflix, an American streaming service. Netflix is entertainment driven, and appeals to a mass audience, meaning that consumers do not have to be American to buy into Netflix and their products. Users must pay a subscription fee to access the content, so Netflix must produce products that are entertaining and safe to maintain their audience engagement. Theorist Hesmondhalgh argues in his Cultural Industries theory that large conglomerates and companies, such as Netflix, will use big Hollywood names (such as Winona Ryder in ‘Stranger Things’), genres, franchises and established narratives to ensure a safe and comfortabl...

Explain how media language in music video incorporates viewpoints and ideologies. Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer. Musical artists will often incorporate media language in their music videos to represent their viewpoint and ideologies. In this essay, I will explore how Corrine Bailey Rae’s ‘Stop Where You Are’ music video reflects her viewpoint on stereotypes within society. Corrine Bailey Rae’s contemporary soul ‘Stop Where You Are’ music video combines both narrative and performance genres, which allows her to focus her audience on the message she is trying to represent. Within the music video, mise-en-scene is used to represent many marginalised sub-groups, focussing on social judgement and unjust stereotyping. The actors range from approximately 12–40-year-old, implying that Corrine Bailey Rae believes that anyone can become subject to injustices in society and face problems. However, the overall focus of the video appears to be concerned ...

Explain how the arrival of digitally convergent media platforms has impacted on film producers. Refer to Disney and its 1967 and 2016 versions of The Jungle Book to support your answer. The arrival of digitally convergent media platforms has impacted film producers such as Walt Disney Studios, changing the way they interact with their audiences, which therefore impacted their production processes. Both the 1967 and 2016 versions of ‘The Jungle Book’ highlight the way that digitally convergent media platforms have allowed the company to expand their audience and reach. In 1967, promotion of audio-visual products such as ‘The Jungle Book’ appeared as posters, billboards, cinematic trailers, newspaper articles, and perhaps the rare mention on the radio. The lack of digitally convergent media platforms meant that Disney had limited ways to promote their products, and therefore did not have a global reach. However, the company and the film were still largely successful at the time, wi...

For my NEA, I will be completing Brief 3: Magazine and Online. The demographic for my products is a socially conscious, middle to upmarket, 16-25-year-old audience. In terms of psychographics, my audience are very politically involved, advocating for issues such as mental health, equality, climate change etc. Due to growing up alongside the rise of technology, my audience are active online, particularly on social media platforms, which allows them to be up-to-date and familiar with current affairs. My audience are compassionate, often donating, helping, and buying from charities to aid those in need. Politically, my audience are likely to lean left-wing, so I intend to represent this within my products, however I will not make them explicitly liberal, as neutrality will potentially encompass a wider audience. I believe I have an advantage with this demographic, as I fit within the categories myself, and therefore know their lifestyles and interests very well. Teenagers often get negat...

 

 

 

  The satirical British Private Eye, founded in 1961, is a fortnightly current affairs magazine. Despite the conventional white background throughout the webpage, coloured backgrounds are scattered throughout, such as a pale purple, which helps the audience to establish differences in the content. The prominent colour scheme consists of black, white, red, and blue, however, the site also uses minor amounts of greys, greens, and purples. The logo, presented in all black, is quite large, and placed on the left side of the screen. At the very top of the screen is a piece of the brand’s art style, demonstrating their unique selling point and brand identity. Social media links are presented in line with the logo, but they are not as big. Underneath the logo and social media links is the navigation bar, which doesn’t include a ‘search’ feature, but does include an ‘about’ link. The website includes moving features, which I have not come across in other sites – this adds a sense of youth ...

  The Spectator is a British current affairs magazine, first published in 1828 and distributed weekly. The Spectator website, alongside the standard use of white and black, uses red repeatedly throughout its layout, maintaining an impression of brand identity  as it is the colour of the masthead. There are occasional uses of green, which both compliments and contrasts against the red hues, bringing forth attention and establishing a clear divide between topics. Yellow and blue hues are also used in some areas, such as the horizontal subscription bar; these extra colours in small amounts ensures the website does not appear overcrowded with colour. The website uses two fonts; however, one is used more frequently than the other. A serif font – very similar to that of the brand logo – is used throughout the website, such as for article titles, names, etc., and a sans-serif font is used only for the actual article text - this difference in font helps to distinguish the st...

Vanity Fair, revived in the United States in 1983,  is a current affairs magazine that targets a white, female, middle-upper class audience, of an average age of 45. Despite the middle-aged demographic, the magazine and website presents itself in a modern fashion, using a black background; this appears rather unconventional for a current affairs website, as most tend to use a plain, white background. The Vanity Fair logo is rather small, and located in the top left corner, rather than a header across the whole top of the screen, indicating their faith in their audiences' interests. The rest of the header/navigation bar features links to its sub-websites, a place to sign in, and a link to making a subscription. The lack of features such as ‘about’ suggests that the company are aware of their importance and status, and that their audience is already educated on who they are and how they represent themselves. The colour scheme is comprised of black, white, and blue, with an added touc...