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• About a family going on holiday but they lose their son
• It is an example of cooperation between the BBC, STARZ (USA) and the Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme
• It is the BBC’s response to the success of ITV’s ‘Broadchurch’
• It written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams
• The first episode aired on October 28, 2014
• The last episode was aired November 30, 2016
• There are two series
• There are 16 episodes

CHARACTERS	the detective who has a ‘natural’ instinct for law and order Both involve female children	The Killing, The missing has the main detective as female	PROPP
NARRATIVE	the first episode often introduces a lot of different characters	difference in what happens to the child (one gets killed, one goes missing)	TODOROV
THEMES	the use of binary oppositions around familiar themes: family, community, law and order, justice.	family justice	LEVI-STRAUSS
REPRESENTATION	reactionary representations of police, family, law and order, urban/rural	representation of a stereotypical victim	SEMIOTICS
TECHNICAL CODES / LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc)	opening montage sequence that often gives clues as to the whole series – themes, locations, characters, events etc.
SETTING	a forest & a more urban area	lake

Witnesses

• A french police procedural series
•  22 November 2014
• Set Normandy, France
• Protagonists – detectives Sandra and Justin
• They investigate when bodies of murder victims that are unearthed and left for discovery in the show homes of a housing developer

Similarities and differences:

There are two series of both, suggesting that there are other programmes better than these of the same genre

Curron & Seaton – horizontal integration, relates to the idea of the same genre of tv show being showed to people. Both programmes have the same premise, what makes them better than other detective series.

“Culture is controlled by social elites…”institutions work for the benefit of themselves.” Therefore they may make a detective show like these not with Maslows hierarchy of need in mind, but simply profit, although they provide escapism for watchers.

commercial media

the missing – STARZ (USA, under lions gate entertainment)

public service broadcaster

the missing – cooperation between the BBC and the Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme (is a government-approved tax incentive designed to encourage the production of audiovisual works in Belgium)

horizontal integration

Relates to the idea of the same genre, similar narrative structure of tv show being showed to people. Both programs have the same premise, what makes them better or different than other detective series?

BBC, Starz, Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme have worked together

vertical integration

stages of production

Media concentration/Media convergence

we lack media pluralism, a healthy balance of products made by media company types

The Missing and Witnesses, quotes that can relate to this:

“Media formats that are successful are replicated to deliver mass audiences”

“The media industry is driven by the twin forces of creativity and business”

“Vertical integration enables conglomerates to control the production and distribution of media products”

“Horizontal integration occurs when a conglomerate acquires media companies of the same media type”

“The web landscape of today is increasingly commercialised, with large-scale traditional media companies having invested huge amounts of time and money to develop equally huge web presences”

Commercial Media:

The production company for Witnesses was Cinétévé

PSB (Public Service Broadcaster):

The Missing is an international co-production between BBC and Starz

Horizontal Integration:

The BBC and Starz worked together to create and show The Missing. The Missing and Witnesses are similar in the sense that they have similar genre conventions, both involve a detective and is based on a crime drama

Vertical Integration:

The BBC enabled The Missing to be broadcast as it was made by the BBC, this means they had ownership over the show so were able to broadcast it themselves

Media Concentration – Used to describe the reduction in the number of media organisations that produce products

Media Pluralism – Media landscape with a healthy balance of products made by different media company types. These company types typically include psb, commercial media and citizen-generated media

PSB – PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

BBC – THE MISSING – STARZ

HOROZONTAL INTERGRATION/VERTICAL INTERGRATION

horizontal – BBC and STARZ did an international co-production

media concentration

media pluralism – same media products made by different organisations

The missing

• The missing is a British anthology drama television series written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams. It debuted in October 2014 on BBC 1.

• ‘the missing’ relates to the theory of uses and gratifications as it made solely for the purpose of entertainment.

• the distributor is All3media

• mainstream television product in which the codes and conventions of the crime drama are recognisable but they are also challenged

• It is an example of co-operation between
  the BBC, STARZ (USA) and the Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme
• mostly in english but switches between languages throughout to appeal to both national and global viewers

Witnesses

• the series constructs a stylised representation of ‘real’ places which transmit meanings about characters, places and issues.

• Witnesses can be defined as postmodern in its self-reflexive style

• belongs to the drama and crime genres
• networks : France 2, RTBF, Channel 4, BBC Four

curan and seaton key words

horizontal integration: witnesses – different streaming/broadcasting channels all streaming the series in different countries e.g. netflix in the USA, channel 4 in the UK

commercial media:

public service broadcasting: broadcasted on the BBC 1 – the missing

vertical integration: – the missing made by bbc and broadcasted by bbc – e.g. all stages of production done by one company (BBC)

media convergance

media pluralism: a healthy amount of different media products created by different media companies e.g. so no one company creating loads of the same thing

David Hesmodhalgh

My chosen Television programmes are Deutschland 83 and Capital. Deutschland is set in Germany and Capital is set in London.

Curran and Seaton quotes which link to these programmes.

“The media industry is driven, Curran and Seaton tell us, by the twin forces of creativity and business.”

“Owning a variety of media company types enables the conglomerate to distribute product benefits across a range of media forms.”

“Media formats that are successful are replicated to deliver mass audiences.”

“Listeners are offered a broadcast that focuses on a single topic, facilitating detailed informative discussion.”

“Commercial media: An organisation that distributes products for economic gain.” Kudos is a commercial media that was involved in Capital. AMC Network is part of the production for Deutschland

“Vertical integration” – Banijay Group is the parent company of Capital

Hesmondhalgh	Case Studies
Horizontal Integration	AMC Networks was part of the production in creating Deutschland 83 and it is a horizontal integrated company
Risky buisness	Deutschland initial funding was $830,000
Genre based formatting	The genre of Deutschland is about a spy which is a genre which has been around for years which audiences enjoy
Internationalisation	Deutschland 83 was a German made film however it was first released in USA
Remakes	Capital was a book before it was a show
Risk reduction	Capital follows a mainstream genre of mystery which entices audiences

Citizen-based regulation – Citizen-based regulatory systems outline a civic role for the media and encourage media makers to produce content that contributes to the social and cultural health of the societies in which they operate.

Consumer-based regulation – A regulatory system in which choices regarding content are largely devolved to audiences and where media makers are given as much freedom as possible to make the media that audiences want to consume.

The communications act 2003 – Designed to modernise and help the UK’S regulatory systems. Brought in Ofcom. Independent companies were freed up to produce content that was more commercially viable. Also made it so that in the production of planning there was a lack in civic-minded republicanism that has been fostered within previous regulatory frameworks.

Self-regulated system – Regulations made by the producing company for their own content. They can choose what is accepted and what is rejected.

In what ways is ‘genre’ beneficial for transnational audiences?

In what ways is ‘genre’ beneficial for transnational institutions?

CATEGORY	FAMILIARITIES: from your chosen CSP’s	DIFFERENCES: from your chosen CSP’s	THEORY
CHARACTERS	In the Missing & Witnesses the main detectives have a ‘natural’ instinct and ethics for law and order / good and bad	In the Missing & Witnesses the main detective is not the typical ‘male hero’ Missing French, old, retired, limping. In Witnesses young, bold, female, French, immigrant, single mother	PROPP, presents the idea of STOCK CHARACTERS, inc ‘hero’, ‘false hero’, ‘princess’ (Witnesses), ‘father figure’, ‘despatcher’ (Missing)
NARRATIVE			CHATMAN / FREYTAG /TODOROV
THEMES			LEVI-STRAUSS the use of key themes to structure stories and characters around familiar themes: family, community, law and order, justice. Often set up as binary oppostions: right/wrong urban/rural, young/old, good/bad
REPRESENTATION			PIERCE / BARTHES / SAUSSURE: SEMIOTICS radical and reactionary representations of police, family, law and order, through a range of signs (visual, graphic, audio, narrative, thematic etc)
TECHNICAL CODES / LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc)	light setting, Consistent camera shots,

Audience

2-step flow – Lazerfeld suggests that the media inject us with messages which we receive through opinion leaders. These are people who share their views and opinions about messages which the media prevail upon.

Hypodermic needle – political communication was used to disseminate propaganda.

Uses and gratifications – Blumler and Katz say that there are 5 ways in which people interpret media. Entertainment, Education, Social interaction, Identification and escapism

Hierarchy of needs – Abraham Maslow suggests that there is a hierarchy of needs which shows the different needs that humans have in order from most important to least important. For example the most important needs we have are breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping etc. He also says the least important needs are things like creativty, problem solving

• “Power without responsibiliy, is concerned with narrating the story of how media has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomorates” – PSB (first published 1981)

• “profit driven motives take precedence over creativity in the world of commercial media”

• “protect UK PSB to counterbalance the free market”

• “the need to produce mass audiences means that the television industry replicates rather than originates”

• Commercial media – Amazon prime (broadcaster) KILLING
• PSB – ZDF Enterprises KILLING

• Horizontal integration – DR founded European broadcasting union, operates 6 TV stations and 8 radio stations
• Vertical integration – ZDF (parent company) founding ZDF Enterprises

THE MISSING

Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lund is in her last day with the Copenhagen police force; about to move to Sweden to join her fiancé and transfer to the Swedish police. Everything changes when 19-year-old Nanna Birk Larsen is found raped and brutally murdered. Sarah heads the investigation and is teamed up with her replacement, Detective Inspector Jan Meyer. Troels Hartmann, politician, is in the midst of a hard-fought mayoral campaign when evidence links him to the murder. The girl’s family and friends struggle to cope with their loss. Over a span of 20 days suspect upon suspect is sought out as violence and political pressures cast their shadows over the hunt for the killer.

Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for this product?

The Killing acted as a catalyst for the globalisation/ distribution/ popularity of foreign language throughout UK television. However, The Killing was first released in Denmark, 2007, and only aired on UK television 4 years later in 2011.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE:

SECONDARY AUDIENCE:

TERTIARY AUDIENCE:

What audience theories can you apply to which help you to develop a better understanding of the potential target audience?

The reception theory by Stuart Hall – A more conservative audience may respond negatively to the Swedish liberal attitudes to sex.

What organisations (rather than individuals) are involved in the production, distribution & exhibition of this product?

The original series is created by a production company called DR in collaboration with ZDF Enterprises. It was broadcasted on Danish television for the first time in January 2007. After that, it was distributed to many countries worldwide. The show was then recreated in english for the US by Fox Television Studios in collaboration with Fuse Entertainment which was later taken over by Netflix.

WITNESSES

A French crime series explores the dark realms of the human mind with themes of vengeance. Three bodies with no apparent connection to each other are discovered in a show home, based in northern France. The police find the deceased man, woman and teenager staged as if they were a living family. Detective Sandra Winckler arrives at the morbid scene to search for clues leading to the perpetrator but instead comes across a photo of ex-police officer Paul Maisonneuve. The retired policeman is forced to return to work in order to get to the bottom of the grim mystery.

Nordic-Noir: Symbolic montage of the title sequence, muted colours, subdued low-key lighting, long slow pans and tracking shots over landscapes and landmarks, settings often wintery, rural landscapes often presented as ‘bleak’ and urban landscapes presented as industrial.

Example of Nordic-Noir in Witnesses:

• muted colours
• symbolic montage of title sequence
• urban landscapes; shown through aerial tracking shot
• subdued low-key lighting
• bleak setting; bad weather – pathetic fallacy, sense of lifelessness
• flawed protagonist

Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for this product?

PRIMARY AUDIENCE:

SECONDARY AUDIENCE:

TERTIARY AUDIENCE:

What audience theories can you apply to which help you to develop a better understanding of the potential target audience?

Hesmondhalgh’s Ideas on Cultural Industries:

Hesmondhalgh acknowledges that media companies are operating a risky business and there is no guarantee a creative product will be a success. They offset this risk through the use of stars, sequels, well-known genres and vertical integration.

He points out that societies with profitable cultural industries have minimal government regulation. Regulated by Ofcom which work directly with broadcasters to implement a Code for television and radio, which is set out in terms of principles, meanings and rules and include a set of ‘practices to be followed’ by broadcasters.

Examples of Hesmondhalgh’s Ideas on Cultural Industries:

• Released a season 2
• Confirms to conventions of the Nordic-noir and Crime Drama genres
• Walter presents = a joint initiative between Global Series and Channel 4 in 2016
• Witnesses made in France, which would be seen as having a profitable cultural industry.

Todorov’s Narrative Theory:

Equilibrium – Police/detectives just doing their jobs, protagonist taking child to school

Disruption – The bodies are found in Paul’s house, who the protagonist knows. Lipstick found in boyfriend’s car

Recognition – Investigation of the bodies. Goes to graveyard where bodies were dug up. Protagonist speaks to Paul and his relatives.

Repair – As this is the first episode, has not yet taken place.

New Equilibrium – Will be established in a later episode, probably at the end of the TV miniseries = narrative prolonged. Instead: goes back to disruption.

What organisations (rather than individuals) are involved in the production, distribution & exhibition of this product?

Newen Distribution:

Promote shows for Tele group and independent groups such as cinétéve.
‘Programmes of quality which unite viewers’.

Cinétéve:

Independent production company: film, TV and documentaries with a serious focus ; intellectual.
Produced Witnesses.

Kudos Productions:

British film and television production company which has produced television series for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Amazon and Netflix. Film unit ‘Kudos Pictures’ set up in 2007.

Walter Presents:

A joint initiative between Global Series Network and Channel 4 launched in 2016. Video-on-demand service dedicated to showcasing award-winning foreign language drama. Launched in March 2017 in US as a VOD service and in November 2017 as a pay-TV service in Australia.

CURRAN AND SEATON NOTES THAT RELATE TO WITNESSES AND THE MISSING

• Curran and Seaton argue that the Uk government policy is responsible in part, for the widespread domination of the media landscape by huge conglomerates.
• Peak time schedules are dominated by the lighter entertainment formats, whereas less popular minority interest products are sidelined to secondary channels or late night slots
• Curran and Seaton suggest that a second and equally turbulent wave of ownership consolidation took place in the latter half of the 20th century
• Owning a variety of media company types enables the conglomerate to distribute product benefits across a range of media forms

Product: Capital TV series

Selection Criteria

Television – A product which will provide rich and challenging opportunities for interpretation and in depth critical analysis.

Media Language

Capital is a complex mainstream television product in which the codes and conventions of the crime drama are intertwined with aspects of social realism. Detailed analysis of this media form including the process through which media language develops as genre will provide students with an opportunity to understand and reflect on the dynamic nature of genre. Analysis should include:

Mise-en-scene analysis Semiotics:

how images signify cultural meaningsNarrative

Which narrative techniques are used to engage the audience in the opening episode of Capital?

How does the use of the narrative conventions of the crime drama – use of enigmas, restricted narration etc. – position the audience?

Capital is characteristic of contemporary TV narrative style in its use of multiple story structure.

The ways in which the narrative structure of Capital offers gratification to the audience.

Narratology including Todorov

• Narrative
• Which narrative techniques are used to engage the audience in the opening episode of Capital?
• How does the use of the narrative conventions of the crime drama – use of enigmas, restricted narration etc. – position the audience?
• Capital is characteristic of contemporary TV narrative style in its use of multiple story structure.
• The ways in which the narrative structure of Capital offers gratification to the audience.
• Narratology including Todorov

• Genre
• Conventions of the TV mini-series and the way in which this form is used to appeal to audiences; how it is distinct from, but related to series and serials.
• Definition of the series as a hybrid genre, belonging to the drama, social realism and crime genres
• Genre theory including Neale

• Media RepresentationsCapital provides a wide range of representational areas to explore; the family, place, nation, class, ethnicity, race and issues.

• Negative and positive use – or subversion – of stereotypes
• Representations of family and their ideological significance – Capital constructs its

Wanda Group (38%) Silver Lake Partners (28%)

• How the media landscape has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomerates.
• costs and risks associated with the production of media products has resulted in the organisation of media companies into vertically and horizontally aligned conglomerates.
• Mass market news: news designed to appeal to huge readership
• Commercial media: an organisation that makes products for profit
• Horizontal integration: Ownership os subsidiaries that produce similar types of products.
• Vertical integration: Ownership os subsidiaries that enable a media producer to produce, promote and distribute products.