Alfie's Media

Clay Shirky states "the future presented by the internet is the mass amateurization of publishing and a switch from 'why publish this?' to 'Why not?'. To what extent is this concept of amateurization applicable to Zoella and Attitude, and to what extent can audiences meaningfully interact with these products? Audience question: Amateurization: The process of making something once professional the domain of amateurs and those who are inexperienced. Online Media is prone to the notion of amateurization, as it is an open platform resource, both universal and inclusive and democratic. Zoella presents herself as a relatable amateur for her target audience. However Attitude Online is a perfectly curated and maintained website serving a valuable purpose. Many opportunities for meaningful interaction. Zoella and Attitude both sell ideology and a lifestyle to their specific target audiences. Reception theory Rather than being a shining light of alternative sys...

When a producer of a media product conveys a reference to another media product. Gives the consumers something to relate to. It is primarily for the audiences benefit. The producer can hint towards an ideology but not bluntly convey the message. For example, the Simpsons is primarily targeting children, however it uses intertextuality to hint at interests for adults such as the Clockwork Orange. Paradigms: conventions  Synonyms of intertextuality: paying homage to making reference to a loving tribute to outright stealing from Les Revenants: Julie is watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre which gives intertextuality and allows the consumer to relate to the character. Les Revenants is a sub genre of Zombie films The use of the child in Les Revenants is intertextual to many supernatural horror films like Insidious or The Omen. Les Revenants also features the sub genre of Teen Romance, which can show intertextuality. The riptide music video refere...

Explore how the set edition of Woman magazine  constructs  it's  target audience  (15) (Component two) Woman magazine published by TI media is cultivates its readers and forms a hegemonic, traditional stereotype of Women in 1964 in order to develop a highly common target audience for the time. In this specific article titled 'are you an A-level beauty?', the condescending title presents a direct mode of address in order to reinforce a patriarchal hegemonic norms of how the target audience of women to have a sheer importance of beauty in their life. However, An oppositional reading would suggest how the lexis of 'A-level' limits and assumes the target audience's aspirations and will have only attained high school education. Furthermore, this potentially reinforces a stereotype that their target audience are working class. The overall mise-en-scene of diagrams and informative text create a highly manipulative and a stereotypical construction of idealised he...

Jean Baudrillard suggested that "we live in a world where there is more and more information , and less and less meaning ." Evaluate the extent to which this postmodernist statement applies to Zoella and Attitude. Plan: HYPERREALITY- a representation of nothing, where the representation is more 'real' than the real. Zoella leaving mistake in the edit: more real and relatable. The patriarchal image of attitude  Binary opposition. More style than substance. Zoella's picnic: intertextual references to Disney prince movies, wooden platters, glass bowls, professional, fake. Shop house, Zoella show house: commodity fetishism: focus on packaging. Sexless, virginal, innocent, pure. Old tweets- 'gay men spitting','tramp' 'are they honestly letting a tranny in a policeman hat', 'lesbo'. Hyperreal simulacrum: a representation of something that doesn't exist. Extremely stereotypical and idealised representati...

Explore how the set edition of Woman magazine constructs it's target audience (15) knee jerk: Follows a hegemonic, traditional stereotype of women in 1964, when this article was published. Cultivation, reception. Are you an A-level beauty?- condescending title, direct mode of address reinforces patriarchal hegemonic norms of beauty. A-level is a a high school qualification and suggest that the aspirations of the target audience are limited, and will have a high school education, so broadly we are involving working class. Audience is constructed through the condescending lexis of 'girls', inappropriate for a middle aged target audience! MES of a series of diagrams and complex information, creating a highly manipulative and highly singular and stereotypical construction of idealised hegemonic beauty norms. removes diversity, and encourages audience to follow rules and guidelines. A present for your kitchen- Personification to ensures the audience knows h...

The representation of black people in each magazine. Woman magazine's ideology is that there are no black people with wealth or luxury but not featuring any black female models. Adbusters uses black people in order to express the countries of poverty where the population is predominately black. Binary opposition between the representation of black people and white people is shown in multiple articles of Adbusters and Woman. Adbusters Bottle flip flops are symbolic codes of poverty. Louboutin commodity fetishism is a binary opposition with the mise-en-scene of poverty. Red soles are always in season is a hermeneutic code to make the audience wonder whether the tagline is actually talking about the shoes or the damaged soles of the feet accompanying image. Disagrees with Lisbet-Van-Zoonen's theory of feminism because there is a lack of sexualisation which may be partly due to the culture jamming ideology of the magazine. Woman on the catwalk is slim which reinfor...

Component 1 Section B: question 3: Industry question 4: Audience Theres always a standardised product. In what ways are Humans and Les revenants shaped by specialised forms of production, distribution and  circulation ?  Knee jerk: Both set texts are fundamentally shaped by their contexts of production, distribution and circulation at a technical, narrative and representational level. Plan: Production values Mise-En-Scene Representation Stuart Hall Reception Conglomeration Convergence Cultural Industries Horizontal and Vertical and Multimedia integration Controversial aspects: Humans: Niska's rape Les Revenants: Lena's sex scene, Murder in the alley. Scheduling 6.1 million viewers, a 23% share of the audience, for its opening episode. Specialised products Budget and funding- Viral marketing: website for Humans (synthetics)  Misleading  trailer for Les Revenants on DVD Humans shop front Humans: The return slip print out adds to the hyperr...

Component 2- 50 minute for each industry 7 minutes for plan and introduction Text one: 19.5 minutes text two: 19.5 minutes Conclusion: 4 minutes Lisbet Van Zoonen argues that media language encodes how male and female characters act in media products. Explore how representations position the audience in Humans and Les Revenants. (30 marks) Knee jerk: Agree, Humans: Toby licking his lips at Anita. Niska at the brothel and the bald guy. Les Revenants: Lisbet Van-Zoonen's argument is an excellent way of exploring how gender is encoded in both Humans and Les Revenants. Encoding: embedding. Not only does she argue that female characters are primarily situated in media products to appeal to a heterosexual audience. Both shows feature close-up shots of the female characters. Like Anita, in order to achieve their target audience of heterosexual male teenagers. It could also be used to express Anita's ethnicity. She also infers and suggests that men and women a...

Videogames Explore the ways in which audiences  can use and take pleasure from videogames . Makes explicit reference to Assassins Creed III: Liberation Male gaze: female protagonist- however no sexualised targeting minority audience Henry Jenkins fandom- My little pony mash up, provides audiences with the ability to combine two things that thy love through intertextuality. Plot Gameplay Strong female character Triple A videogame with huge production only sold 600k copies Major label- Ubisoft PSVita- 2012 - portability and immersion. Identity theory- David Gauntlett Allows audiences to express and develop Challenge factor e.g. slogan to Darks Souls: prepare to die Multiplayer Tournaments Speedruns Escapism- murder, steal, infiltrate unlimited lives Pleasure of nostalgia, history and accurate architecture Information Customisation e.g. DLC Enigmatic and mysterious trailer campaign for The trailer resembles a high budget Hollywood blockbuster movie. Genre th...

Explore how intertextuality creates meaning in the videos to Riptide by Vance Joy and 7 Rings by Ariana Grande. To allow their target audience to relate to other media product. To seek a wider target audience. To demonstrate or to make a clear narrative. Genre conventions etc. To provide a special individual response to the target audience. To use tried and tested methods that they know will be successful. To pay homage or respect to the original product To criticise the original product. "breakfast at tiffanys"- referential code to the film and song. The song clearly referenced the classic song 'my favourite things' The editing features vaper wave. Enter the void Hyper referentiality polysemic A range of polysemic representations- Ariana is represented as both cute and innocent (for example throughout the anchorage of the mise en scene of the dollhouse). With heavily sexualised gestures and performances, such as being on all fours a...

The Times: Broadly right wing- Tory - broadsheet and formal mode of address. The Daily Mirror: Broadly Left Wing- Labour- Tabloid and in formal mode of address. Conglomeration: The Times: Begun in 1785 Owned by News UK, a subsidiary of News International, an enormous media conglomerate which also publishes. Owned by Rupert Murdoch. HQ: The News Building (London) print circulation: 417,298 (2019) Sister Paper: The Sunday Times Daily Newspaper Compact format Vertically integrated industry Middle class, older audience Daily Mirror: Begun in 1903 Owned by Reach Plc (Previously Trinity Mirror) Also publish local newspapers like Cambridge News. Diversification. HQ: One Canada Square in London Daily Newspaper Print Circulation: 587,803 (2017) Sister paper: Sunday Mirror Cover price: 80p Working class, younger audience The average reading age is 10. Explain how ownership shapes media products. refer to the Daily Mirror (and T he Times ) to support you...

4 - Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss  (Advertising, music videos, newspapers, television, magazines, online media) • All media products have an underlying structure, and knowledge of this structure helps us to analyse them. • One of the fundamental ways that we make sense of not only media products but our lives in general is through the idea of binary oppositions, or two diametrically opposed concepts that end up defining each other (good luck trying to explain to someone the concept of day without using the concept of night!) • Binary oppositions and the way they are used by producers in narratives demonstrate their ideological significance Key work -  Myth and Meaning  All media products have underlying structure, and knowledge of this structure helps us to analyse them. One of the fundamental ways that we make sense of not only media products but our lives in general is through the idea of binary oppositions, or two diametrically opposed concepts that end ...

Component 1A- you will look at the set editions of the Times or Daily Mirror. (Trump elected president). Component 1B- Newspapers in general- industry and audience. To what extent do representations in these newspapers make claims about realism ? Knee Jerk:  To a great extent.  Both the times and the metro make explicit claims that the representations of issues and events on their front covers are 'real'. Representations are a 're-presentation', where a person, issue of even is 'shown again' by the producer for ideological purposes. However, EVERY representation is in the favour of the producer's ideologies. Representations however can cause harm to the audience, and in particular the group who are being represented. The Times, published on 10th November 2016 by Newscorp, a subsidiary of News International. The Metro is a tabloid free newspaper published by DMG media, a broadly rightwing conglomerate which also publishes the...