The trailer tries to appeal to a mainstream audience. It is fast-paced and has quick editing, alongside the Immigrant song by Led Zeppelin. This song is easily identifiable and also from the era the show is primarily set in. There is also a voice over that makes the plot clear and easy to understand for the audience. The main character introduces himself as a DCI, letting the audience know this is a crime genre. Then, we see the car transform from a typical 2006 car to a 1973 one, telling the audience it is also sci fi and that the show is a hybrid-genre.
The main character is played by John Simm. He had already worked with the BBC on other shows, so he was already a familiar face for many regular viewers. Not long after Life on Mars, he appeared on Doctor Who as the Master, which would further boost him image to a mainstream audience.
The trailer portrays a variety of tropes for sci fi and crime. The main one for sci fi is the time travel aspect, highlighted by the transformation of the car. The audience is left with the enigma of how Sam Tyler got to the past
The sidekick character Gene Hunt acts as representation for older men who remember the 70s.
Life on mars was a critical success. It garnered a large following that still continue today. Part of the reason it was able to gain such a loyal fanbase is because of its sci fi element, as sci fi fans are known for being devoted and obsessive to their favourite series'. The fan wiki has 328 pages and goes into great detail about plot synopsis, what certain characters represent, and references to the era. This ties into Jenkin's fandom theory, as these fans are actively engaging with the show and creating information pages on it for all to enjoy. Unlike the BBC description of the show, these fans have no obligation to create this much fan content in this much detail, but out of a love for the show they have.
Monday, 9 December 2019
Monday, 2 December 2019
Life on Mars- post modernism
Life on Mars uses a lot of intertextuality. The name of the series is a reference to the 1973 David Bowie song of the same name. A news article Sam sees briefly references the politician Enoch Powell. There is also a poster for a 1950s western movie. The episode is very disconnected from the world of 1970s policing, despite revolving around it as a plot. This is because the episode acts more as a pastiche of 70s crime shows such as The Sweeney's more than as an accurately documented example of real life police investigation in 1973.
Bricolage is another trope of post-modernism. The episode is a great example of this because the whole thing can be broken down into different parts inspired by or referencing other media. Time travel has been done in almost every sci fi series that has run for long enough, and the many expected tropes of crime, including the weary detective and the sidekick who plays off him. Much of the crime genre aspects, as mentioned above, are based off depictions of police from 70s crime shows.
social context is not explicitly discussed, but it does acknowledge the treatment of race and gender in the episode. The only main female character is constantly belittled by other characters because she is a woman, and the pub owner reveals that he has created a facade in order to please his white customers.
Despite the time travel, the episode follows a linear narrative.
It matches the post-modernist narrative in the sense of not knowing what is real and what is fantasy, however only Sam experiences this while the audience have no doubt what is real or fake.
The series takes place in a hyper reality. It is very separated from actual 1970s police work.
Bricolage is another trope of post-modernism. The episode is a great example of this because the whole thing can be broken down into different parts inspired by or referencing other media. Time travel has been done in almost every sci fi series that has run for long enough, and the many expected tropes of crime, including the weary detective and the sidekick who plays off him. Much of the crime genre aspects, as mentioned above, are based off depictions of police from 70s crime shows.
social context is not explicitly discussed, but it does acknowledge the treatment of race and gender in the episode. The only main female character is constantly belittled by other characters because she is a woman, and the pub owner reveals that he has created a facade in order to please his white customers.
Despite the time travel, the episode follows a linear narrative.
It matches the post-modernist narrative in the sense of not knowing what is real and what is fantasy, however only Sam experiences this while the audience have no doubt what is real or fake.
The series takes place in a hyper reality. It is very separated from actual 1970s police work.
Tuesday, 26 November 2019
Life on Mars
Life on Mars is a hybrid-genre of crime and scifi. It has more of the tropes of the crime genre, such as an urban setting and police station. Many of the characters fill the expected roles as well, such as the partners who start of not getting along and over the episode learning to work with each other. However, it subverts certain tropes such as the morally ambiguous protagonist. In the story, Sam is very straight lace and by the book at the start. It also presents things such as destruction of evidence and violence against a criminal as not necessarily in a bad light and even seems to reward characters for such behaviour. Its primary connection to scifi is the element of time travel, which though not confirmed is a very likely possibility. Sam also keeps hearing things throughout the episode that imply things may not be as they seem.
Despite starting in 2006 and ending in 1973, the story follows a linear narrative. The storyline is restrictive, as we only know what Sam knows. The episode follows Todorov's narrative stages. It begins in 2006 with a murder case that is not out of the ordinary. This is the equilibrium. This is then disrupted first by Maya'a disappearance and then more importantly by being sent back in time to 1973. By the end of the episode, while not completely satisfied, there is a new equilibrium formed with Sam slowly adjusting to his new life in the past.
Very few of the enigmas are solved in the episode. In terms of the crime genre, it fulfils the expectation of the culprit being caught at the end, and also solves the mystery of the first suspects connection to the killer. However, in terms of the sci fi genre, little to nothing is resolved. The audience is left just as clueless as Sam as to how he ended up in the past and whether or not any of it is real.
Despite starting in 2006 and ending in 1973, the story follows a linear narrative. The storyline is restrictive, as we only know what Sam knows. The episode follows Todorov's narrative stages. It begins in 2006 with a murder case that is not out of the ordinary. This is the equilibrium. This is then disrupted first by Maya'a disappearance and then more importantly by being sent back in time to 1973. By the end of the episode, while not completely satisfied, there is a new equilibrium formed with Sam slowly adjusting to his new life in the past.
Very few of the enigmas are solved in the episode. In terms of the crime genre, it fulfils the expectation of the culprit being caught at the end, and also solves the mystery of the first suspects connection to the killer. However, in terms of the sci fi genre, little to nothing is resolved. The audience is left just as clueless as Sam as to how he ended up in the past and whether or not any of it is real.
Monday, 11 November 2019
The Bridge
Investigator- Saga
Sidekick- Hanne
Nordic Noir is a crime sub-genre that is set in Nordic countries. As Neale’s theory states, Nordic Noir has its own tropes that make it recognisable. These include plain language and avoidance of metaphors, bleak landscape settings, and a dark and morally complex mood. They also are generally from the police’s perspective and depicts the tension between the bland social surface and the bigotry that may hide underneath.
At the end of the episode, we are left with a variety of questions, like where did Mortem go? Will Hanne be okay? And most importantly, who killed Helle? This use of Barthes enigma codes keeps the audience hooked and wanting to come back for the next episode in order to get answers.
One of the most immediate ways The Bridge subverts the trope of women being the victims is to have both detectives be women. It also shows women being violent, like the mother who insists her child should punch her bully to make her stop. These both go against the typical helpless, soft-touch tropes we’ve come to expect with female characters. Looking at Butler’s theory of representation, none of these female characters are putting up the performance side of being a woman. In a sense they are not acting like women, but rather actively playing a role more typically expected of a male character.
The dark theme of the show is made very clear through the lighting and colours. All the scenes either take place at night or when it’s overcast, dulling the world we’re shown. The characters also wear a lot of muted tones, resulting in very few bright colours anywhere in the episode.
Sidekick- Hanne
Nordic Noir is a crime sub-genre that is set in Nordic countries. As Neale’s theory states, Nordic Noir has its own tropes that make it recognisable. These include plain language and avoidance of metaphors, bleak landscape settings, and a dark and morally complex mood. They also are generally from the police’s perspective and depicts the tension between the bland social surface and the bigotry that may hide underneath.
At the end of the episode, we are left with a variety of questions, like where did Mortem go? Will Hanne be okay? And most importantly, who killed Helle? This use of Barthes enigma codes keeps the audience hooked and wanting to come back for the next episode in order to get answers.
One of the most immediate ways The Bridge subverts the trope of women being the victims is to have both detectives be women. It also shows women being violent, like the mother who insists her child should punch her bully to make her stop. These both go against the typical helpless, soft-touch tropes we’ve come to expect with female characters. Looking at Butler’s theory of representation, none of these female characters are putting up the performance side of being a woman. In a sense they are not acting like women, but rather actively playing a role more typically expected of a male character.
The dark theme of the show is made very clear through the lighting and colours. All the scenes either take place at night or when it’s overcast, dulling the world we’re shown. The characters also wear a lot of muted tones, resulting in very few bright colours anywhere in the episode.
Monday, 30 September 2019
Newspaper Key Terminology
Conglomerate- A large business corporation that is comprised of a range of different parts or smaller businesses
Horizontal integration- When a media company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution.
Convergence- Where one form of media product "cross sells" another form of media product to their mutual advantage of increasing sales/audiences.
Plurality- Where there are a diversity of viewpoints available and consumed across and within the media industries and prevents any one media owner or voice having too much influence over public and political opinion.
Monopoly- When a sector of media industry such as newspapers is dominated by one or a small number of large organisations.
Merger- Where two or more companies, usually of similar size, combine to form a larger single company.
Takeover- Where a larger company buys a smaller company.
Distribution- The process of how the media product gets to its audience after production.
Synergy- The combination of different areas of the media coming together to maximise profit.
Vertical integration-
Consolidation- basically monopoly
. Trinity Mirror plc is the largest British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher after purchasing rival Local World for £220 million, in October 2015. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Since purchasing Local World, it has gained 83 print publications.
Monopoly, horizontal integration, merger, takeover, consolidation
News UK is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch. It is the current publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday newspapers as well as the Times Literary Supplement and Times Educational Supplement. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc.
Monopoly, horizontal integration, consolidation, conglomerate
Trinity Mirror, the UK’s largest local newspaper group and publisher of the Daily Mirror, is eyeing further consolidation, as the industry races to tackle the long-term decline of print publishing. “We see ourselves as a consolidator in the newspaper industry and will continue to do so subject to tight financial returns,” said chief executive Simon Fox, as the group reported like-for-like print advertising revenues fell 18 per cent in 2016. Trinity is in early stage talks with Northern & Shell, the parent company of the Express newspaper titles and OK Magazine, which could lead to it taking a stake in some of the Richard Desmond-owned assets. The move is part of a wider shake-up in the UK newspaper industry, as media owners face steep drops in print advertising combined with the existential threat from digital groups like Google and Facebook, who are taking the vast majority of new digital advertising revenues.
consolidation, merger, monopoly
Ownership effects media products as the more media products owned by one person or company, the less variety of viewpoints are accessible to the public. Multiple pieces of media with the same ownership are going to present the same political bias and if the audience is surrounded solely by products owned by the same company, their viewpoints will likely reflect that political bias. For example, Rupert Murdoch is involved in the ownership of The Sun, The Times, Sky, and Fox News. Ownership will effect things such as political bias, how certain news stories are presented and what audiences are told and not told. In the case of Sky, if Rupert Murdoch were revealed to be involved in some sort of crime or conspiracy, Sky's coverage of it would have a very different tone to a news outlet with no connection to Rupert Murdoch.
Newspapers have been one of the worst effected mediums by technological advances. Many people nowadays get their information from social media and other online sources. Paying for a newspaper seems arbitrary when you can find the same information online for free. Many newspaper outlets also release their information online, but this can lose them money. In the case of The Times website, their way of keeping a profit is to require people to pay a subscription fee in order to have access to the news stories.
With different political biases come different types of audiences. Depending on the newspapers leanings, the audience will come to expect certain things. For example, The Sun's audience would expect it to be more opposed to the Labour Party and less accepting of diversity, whereas a left leaning newspapers audience may be appalled to read the same content. Also, The Sun, like 95% of tabloids, is heavily anti-Labour. If The Sun audience were to read an article praising and hailing the Labour party, it would go completely against the image they have made for themselves and would almost definitely lead to complaints. This ties into Halls theory of representation, where stereotyping is used to assert power over communities. In the case of The Sun, it relies on heavy stereotyping of racial minorities and LGBTQ people in order to keep them something the audience should fear and hate. Often times, newspapers will play into the audience's prejudices and fears and feed into them. This is not unique solely to The Sun or just right-wing newspapers. All sides of the political leanings will rely on some level of audience fear and bias.
Horizontal integration- When a media company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution.
Convergence- Where one form of media product "cross sells" another form of media product to their mutual advantage of increasing sales/audiences.
Plurality- Where there are a diversity of viewpoints available and consumed across and within the media industries and prevents any one media owner or voice having too much influence over public and political opinion.
Monopoly- When a sector of media industry such as newspapers is dominated by one or a small number of large organisations.
Merger- Where two or more companies, usually of similar size, combine to form a larger single company.
Takeover- Where a larger company buys a smaller company.
Distribution- The process of how the media product gets to its audience after production.
Synergy- The combination of different areas of the media coming together to maximise profit.
Vertical integration-
Consolidation- basically monopoly
. Trinity Mirror plc is the largest British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher after purchasing rival Local World for £220 million, in October 2015. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Since purchasing Local World, it has gained 83 print publications.
Monopoly, horizontal integration, merger, takeover, consolidation
News UK is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch. It is the current publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday newspapers as well as the Times Literary Supplement and Times Educational Supplement. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc.
Monopoly, horizontal integration, consolidation, conglomerate
Trinity Mirror, the UK’s largest local newspaper group and publisher of the Daily Mirror, is eyeing further consolidation, as the industry races to tackle the long-term decline of print publishing. “We see ourselves as a consolidator in the newspaper industry and will continue to do so subject to tight financial returns,” said chief executive Simon Fox, as the group reported like-for-like print advertising revenues fell 18 per cent in 2016. Trinity is in early stage talks with Northern & Shell, the parent company of the Express newspaper titles and OK Magazine, which could lead to it taking a stake in some of the Richard Desmond-owned assets. The move is part of a wider shake-up in the UK newspaper industry, as media owners face steep drops in print advertising combined with the existential threat from digital groups like Google and Facebook, who are taking the vast majority of new digital advertising revenues.
consolidation, merger, monopoly
Ownership effects media products as the more media products owned by one person or company, the less variety of viewpoints are accessible to the public. Multiple pieces of media with the same ownership are going to present the same political bias and if the audience is surrounded solely by products owned by the same company, their viewpoints will likely reflect that political bias. For example, Rupert Murdoch is involved in the ownership of The Sun, The Times, Sky, and Fox News. Ownership will effect things such as political bias, how certain news stories are presented and what audiences are told and not told. In the case of Sky, if Rupert Murdoch were revealed to be involved in some sort of crime or conspiracy, Sky's coverage of it would have a very different tone to a news outlet with no connection to Rupert Murdoch.
Newspapers have been one of the worst effected mediums by technological advances. Many people nowadays get their information from social media and other online sources. Paying for a newspaper seems arbitrary when you can find the same information online for free. Many newspaper outlets also release their information online, but this can lose them money. In the case of The Times website, their way of keeping a profit is to require people to pay a subscription fee in order to have access to the news stories.
With different political biases come different types of audiences. Depending on the newspapers leanings, the audience will come to expect certain things. For example, The Sun's audience would expect it to be more opposed to the Labour Party and less accepting of diversity, whereas a left leaning newspapers audience may be appalled to read the same content. Also, The Sun, like 95% of tabloids, is heavily anti-Labour. If The Sun audience were to read an article praising and hailing the Labour party, it would go completely against the image they have made for themselves and would almost definitely lead to complaints. This ties into Halls theory of representation, where stereotyping is used to assert power over communities. In the case of The Sun, it relies on heavy stereotyping of racial minorities and LGBTQ people in order to keep them something the audience should fear and hate. Often times, newspapers will play into the audience's prejudices and fears and feed into them. This is not unique solely to The Sun or just right-wing newspapers. All sides of the political leanings will rely on some level of audience fear and bias.
Monday, 23 September 2019
The Mirror vs The Times
The main image takes up most of the front cover and is unavoidable if you are looking at the newspaper. The use of black and red clouds, both violent and ominous colours as well as the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of enlightenment, covering her face in shame holds very obvious connotations of travesty and despair. The top strapline "it's President Trump..." ending in an ellipsis creates a tone of sorrow and remorse. The headline "What have they done?" continues the desperate theme of the whole front cover. It points the finger at an outside force for what happened, which would resonate with many UK residents who would be in disbelief at the time of this newspaper publish. The biggest part of the front page is the masthead, Daily Mirror, who are a left-wing newspaper. This means much of their target audience would likely be against Trump and for them, an upset and horrified reaction to him becoming president would be the. one thy want to see and read about. The Daily Mirror are owned by Reach plc. It meets all of the News Values except for personalisation and continuity, as at the time of this newspaper's publish it was a very recent event. It takes place in America, which is an elite nation. The front cover also fills proximity, as in the top right corner it has a blurb about the tram accident in Croydon.
The Times' cover has drastically different tones from the Daily Mirror's. Unlike the other, this cover actually has an image of Donald Trump alongside Vice President Mike "hates the gays" Pence. Trump has his fist held up in a symbol of victory while Pence applauds him from the left, clearly framing the election in a more positive light.Monday, 16 September 2019
Radio Industry
Broadcasting is when TV or radio is shown at the same time everywhere, e.g. the same show is on every Tuesday at 8pm. Podcasting is digital and available to listen to at any time. A podcast will usually also have a set time it comes out, e.g. mid day on a Saturday, but the difference is that you do not have to listen to it at that exact time. Also, you are able to listen to part of a podcast and then leave the rest for later, compared to broadcast radio that requires you to listen to it for the time slot it is in and if you leave midway through you will miss part of it. Podcasting give the audience more listening freedom, as they can still listen to it even if they are busy at the time it releases, whereas broadcasting requires the audience to plan around the showing times. On the other hand, broadcasting offers a more social experience, as people can watch the same thing on different TVs and message each other about it as it happens. Many people also gather together to watch some shows, creating a community. Podcasts have lost this social element as one person could get further along than another and they have to wait to talk about it for fear of spoilers.
Content is also affected. For a broadcast program, if it is played after 10pm it has a lot of freedom in what it can show and say. For a podcast, because it is accessible at any time, it is more limited. If it wants to have the same contents as the post-10pm broadcasts, it must put restrictions in place to avoid children finding it. Broadcasts have the shield that if a child is watching a show past 10pm, that is on the individual as they should not be up that late. Podcasts could get into a lot more trouble if they didn't put the proper restrictions in place. this usually involves making an account to listen to it and verifying age.
The most basic difference between commercial and public service radio is that commercial radio is payed for by advertisement, while public service radio is payed for by the people. For example, the BBC is payed for by people's TV licenses. Public service radios are more restricted in what they can play, as they are required to fill a quota for the public. In the case of the BBC this is to educate, inform, entertain. Failure to meet these results in backlash. Commercial radio is more free in what it plays as there is no requirement for what they must play. Commercial programming can also buy out public service programming, such as ITV buying The Great British Bake Off from the BBC. However, commercial radio has more adverts, whereas public service radios can only advertise themselves.
The BBC was formed on 18 October 1922 by a group of leading wireless manufacturers. In the beginning it played the news, music drama, and talk radio for a few hours a day. Very soon after creation it was being broadcast across the nation, and its list of programs appeared in the first edition of The Radio Times. In the 1930s it began on TV, and was the first broadcaster to have regularly scheduled TV services, in 1936. Over the course of it 97 years, it has been the first to bring in many new ideas to radio and television, such as adding the weather to the news and being the first radio station to have a monarch on it. The BBC, as a public service, is funded by TV licence's that the public pay. Over the years it has created an identity as one of the most popular and well-known radio companies in the UK. While in recent years commercial radio has overtaken it in terms of popularity, it still holds ground and BBC2 is currently the second most popular station in the UK, only beaten by Heart Radio.
The BBC purpose is made clear in it's mission, which includes such requirements as:
-To educate, inform, entertain
-To provide impartial news and information
-To support learning for people of all ages
-To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services
-To reflect and represent the diverse communities around the UK
-To reflect the UK, its culture and values to the world
While many would argue they fail to fulfil this, this is the BBC's target and intended purpose.
The BBC has both national and local broadcasts. National BBC radio stations include BBC Radio 1 through to BBC radio 5. Any news told on these stations will cover the biggest stories from around the whole UK, rather than region specific news. Local stations, on the other hand, would be able to stick solely to the news of the area as the only people listening to it are people from the area. There are 40 local BBC stations across England, each covering a different county. For example, BBC Radio Newcastle would have news specific to Newcastle and, unless something massive had happened, would have little to no overlap with the news on BBC Radio Kent. The BBC also has a global Radio Station, BBC Radio News, that is broadcast in English in over 200 countries worldwide.
Radio 4 has 6.4 million listeners a week. The average age of a Radio 4 listener is 56 years old.
Content is also affected. For a broadcast program, if it is played after 10pm it has a lot of freedom in what it can show and say. For a podcast, because it is accessible at any time, it is more limited. If it wants to have the same contents as the post-10pm broadcasts, it must put restrictions in place to avoid children finding it. Broadcasts have the shield that if a child is watching a show past 10pm, that is on the individual as they should not be up that late. Podcasts could get into a lot more trouble if they didn't put the proper restrictions in place. this usually involves making an account to listen to it and verifying age.
The most basic difference between commercial and public service radio is that commercial radio is payed for by advertisement, while public service radio is payed for by the people. For example, the BBC is payed for by people's TV licenses. Public service radios are more restricted in what they can play, as they are required to fill a quota for the public. In the case of the BBC this is to educate, inform, entertain. Failure to meet these results in backlash. Commercial radio is more free in what it plays as there is no requirement for what they must play. Commercial programming can also buy out public service programming, such as ITV buying The Great British Bake Off from the BBC. However, commercial radio has more adverts, whereas public service radios can only advertise themselves.
The BBC was formed on 18 October 1922 by a group of leading wireless manufacturers. In the beginning it played the news, music drama, and talk radio for a few hours a day. Very soon after creation it was being broadcast across the nation, and its list of programs appeared in the first edition of The Radio Times. In the 1930s it began on TV, and was the first broadcaster to have regularly scheduled TV services, in 1936. Over the course of it 97 years, it has been the first to bring in many new ideas to radio and television, such as adding the weather to the news and being the first radio station to have a monarch on it. The BBC, as a public service, is funded by TV licence's that the public pay. Over the years it has created an identity as one of the most popular and well-known radio companies in the UK. While in recent years commercial radio has overtaken it in terms of popularity, it still holds ground and BBC2 is currently the second most popular station in the UK, only beaten by Heart Radio.
The BBC purpose is made clear in it's mission, which includes such requirements as:
-To educate, inform, entertain
-To provide impartial news and information
-To support learning for people of all ages
-To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services
-To reflect and represent the diverse communities around the UK
-To reflect the UK, its culture and values to the world
While many would argue they fail to fulfil this, this is the BBC's target and intended purpose.
The BBC has both national and local broadcasts. National BBC radio stations include BBC Radio 1 through to BBC radio 5. Any news told on these stations will cover the biggest stories from around the whole UK, rather than region specific news. Local stations, on the other hand, would be able to stick solely to the news of the area as the only people listening to it are people from the area. There are 40 local BBC stations across England, each covering a different county. For example, BBC Radio Newcastle would have news specific to Newcastle and, unless something massive had happened, would have little to no overlap with the news on BBC Radio Kent. The BBC also has a global Radio Station, BBC Radio News, that is broadcast in English in over 200 countries worldwide.
Radio 4 has 6.4 million listeners a week. The average age of a Radio 4 listener is 56 years old.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)