The Killing

The use of a noir visual style, conventions of the police procedural and multiple narrative strands, The Killing provides a rich area of study for media language, which would form the foundation for work on the other theoretical frameworks.

• It was set in Denmark
• Created by: Søren Sveistrup
• Producers: Sandra Foss and Piv Bernth
• Director: Birger Larsen
• Production Company: DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR_(broadcaster) )
• Genre: Danish Police Drama
• Broadcast on: Amazon, BBC4 and Netflix
• Started in 7th January 2007

• The hero and victim is a female. Theory – Propp – character stereotypes
• As we only watched the first episode the themes are introduced but we are not sure on how the story ends. Todorov – Beginning, Middle and End
• Theme of city is safe and the countryside is not as that is where the girl got killed/was found – Levi-Strauss – there are 2 binary opposites (good or bad)

The Killing was the catalyst for the wider distribution of foreign language crime programming on UK television, its unexpected success influencing BBC4’s scheduling but also that of other UK
channels. The Killing was produced the Danish national public service broadcaster DR, providing the opportunity to study PSB in a different national context.
• The regulatory framework of contemporary media, with the focus on PSB
• The Killing provides a case study for the specialised nature of media production, distribution and circulation within a transnational and global context.
• The Killing personifies a successful transnational, contemporary media product with long duration (it was broadcast in the UK nearly five years after its success in Denmark) has been shown in its original form across Europe and remade by Turkish and US TV (AMC)
• Cultural industries including Hesmondhalgh

The production, distribution and circulation of the Killing shows how audiences can be reached, both on a national and global scale, through different media technologies and
platforms, moving from the national to transnational through broadcast and digital technologies.
• The way in which different audience interpretations reflect social, cultural and historical circumstances is evident in the analysis of the series which are explicitly linked to contemporary issues – often related to gender and feminist issues
• New types of characters to construct alignment for the audience/audience positioning.
• The advertising campaigns (trailers, websites at home and abroad) for the series demonstrate how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences.
• Audience behaviour in response to the series – the interest in Scandinavian culture and lifestyle.
• Cultivation theory including Gerbner
• Reception theory including Hall

No Offence

No Offence is a mainstream television series in which the codes and conventions of the police procedural 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.

• Directed by: Catherine Morshead, David Kerr, Misha Manson-Smith and Harry Bradbeer
• Released on 5th May 2015
• Production Company: Abbott Vision (Started in 2008) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbbottVision

The central way into an institutional approach is to consider No Offence as a Channel 4 programme and to examine how it can be seen to fulfill the demands of its Public Service remit. No Offence can be studied in the context of Channel 4’s commitment to be innovative and distinctive.

• No Offence is an AbbottVision production, an independent company founded by the writer Paul Abbott who also wrote Shameless
• No Offence was a critical and commercial success in the UK, it was also a ratings success in France where it was shown on the national broadcast channel, France2.
• Channel 4 uses series such as No Offence to add value to the channel through the availability of the ‘box set’ on All4.

The production, distribution and circulation of No Offence shows how audiences can
be reached, both on a national and global scale, through different media technologies
and platforms, moving from the national to transnational through broadcast and digital
technologies
• No Offence was broadcast on Channel 4, can still be accessed on All4, it was also broadcast in France.
• The way in which different audience interpretations reflect social, cultural and historical circumstances is evident in the analysis of No Offence which is explicitly linked to contemporary issues.
• Audience positioning through the construction of characters who are morally ambiguous.
• The advertising campaigns (trailers, websites at home and abroad) for the series demonstrate how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences.
• Cultivation theory including Gerbner
• Reception theory including Hall

Curran and Seaton

• “The media industry is driven by the twin forces of creativity and business. Media creatives – writers, directors, actors and photographers – are tasked to give us exciting, innovative and aesthetically pleasing products, while those we call the media’s business managers are responsible for ensuring the profitability and commercial viability of products.”
• “Profit-driven motives take precedence over creativity in the world of commercial media”
• “Money wins, while both audience size and audience share determine content”
• “Peak time television schedules (where commercial space is most sought after and costly) are dominated by lighter entertainment formats, while less popular minority interest products are sidelined to secondary channels or late night slots.”

Definitions

• Commercial Media – is a organisation that makes a product for profit – usually content made to entertain.
• E.g. In the UK, the first episode of No Offence launched with 2.5 million viewers, Channel 4’s biggest midweek drama launch for more than three years. – Channel 4 annual revenue in 2019 was £975 million GDP.
• Horizontal Integration – ownership of subsidiaries that produce similar types of products.
• E.g. Abbott Vision produced TV and film such as No Offence, Hit & Miss and Exile (all TV) as well as Tony (2009), The Odds (2009 Short) and Twenty8k (2012)
• Vertical Integration – Ownership of subsidiaries that enable a media producer to produce, promote and distribute products.
• E.g. The Killing was made in Danish and was successful there, it also got re-made in Sweden as well as in English for the US and was successful there too. It also got subtitled for UK viewers for BBC4 and was successful in the UK.
• Media Concentration / Media Convergence – a term used to describe the reduction in the number of media organisations that produce products.
• E.g. The Killing got shown all across the world with different companies and is now on Amazon Prime Video, meaning one company made a product that got spread around the world by multiple companies.

Hesmondhalgh

• Concept 1: Maximising profits and minimising risks
• Concept 2: The effects of the internet revolution are difficult to diagnose
• “The media is a risky business”

Hesmondhalgh	Case Studies
Changing Audience consumption patterns	– No Offence was originally broadcast live on Channel 4 (conventional TV) now it is also on All 4 so it can be watched at any time. – The Killing is available to be streamed via Amazon Prime Video – This links to Hesmondhalgh and how we are changing the way we consume content (available anytime, streaming, compared to set times on live TV like it used to be)
Multi-sector integration	– No Offence was made by Abbott Vision Productions and produced by Channel 4 this is horizontal integration. Channel 4 showing No Offence on Channel 4 is vertical integration
Star formatting	– No Offence does not have any massive names however Alexandra Roach was growing in fame at the start of No Offence after starring in Utopia 2013-14, Once Chance (2013) and The Iron Lady (2011). Since being in No Offence she has got some lead roles in films such as 2019’s 2nd Date Sex where she is the main female role.

Questions

What is the difference between a consumer based media regulation system and citizen based regulation system?

A consumer based media regulation system means that the content in the media is produced because it is what the consumer wants. This means that they content typically does well as it is content that is wanted; this typically increases profit.

A citizen based regulation system means the government tells media companies that they need to make certain content, i.e. news. However, the government does not dictate the media companies to make everything they want they just give certain things (again like the news) but the media also makes content for the consumer, i.e. sit-coms and Top Gear.

What impact did the 2003 Communications act have on media regulation?

Consumer based regulatory system that created the regulator Ofcom through the communications act by the labour government in 2003. The act promoted independent television production by requiring the BBC and Channel 4 to commission more content from smaller production companies. It also introduced Ofcom. Livingstone and Lunt thought the act tried to do something good however it was not strict enough and due to it being self-regulation, this meant that companies like the BBC work with a small production company you haven’t heard of (this technically applies to the act) however it can be traced back and is owned by a large media conglomerate, this does not apply to the act. The quote by Livingstone and Lunt is “little equivalent activity or accountability was forthcoming regarding actions to further citizen interests” (Livingstone and Lunt, 2012, 50)

Whats the draw back of a self-regulated system?

A self-regulated system is bad as often companies get complicates and say they look into it and actually don’t or they look at it and don’t see it as wrong. For instance, invading on the royal family/ celebrities at households to get pictures etc and this is wrong but they see it as ok. However the Leveson Inquiry started as Milly Dowler when the press got her phone and started texting her parents after she had been missing for days, this is because people would read this article however many thought this over stepped the boundary, however the self-regulated media company did not see this as wrong instead they saw it as a way to get a story to make the paper out-sell its competition.

How do you regulate media content and organisations on a global scale?

Due to the absence of government guidance organisations are left to create their own moral and ethical codes. Some companies are stricter than others allowing some papers like the guardian to be more sexually explicit. Some reasons for this are the code of conduct, audience-based factors, advertiser needs and institution-oriented factors. The only way to try to regulate the internet would be to force the search engine to regulate what is on their searches. However, it is a massive challenge to do it and for other media forms that are not on the internet it is even harder to regulate them.

Category	Similarities in the CSPs	Differences in the CSPs	Theory
Characters	In No Offence and the Killing  the main detectives have a ‘natural’ instinct and ethics for law and order / good and bad	In No Offence and the Killing the main detective is not the typical ‘male hero’; instead they are females that go against what their bosses say as they have a ‘natural’ instinct that they are right and their boss is wrong.	PROPP, presents the idea of STOCK CHARACTERS, inc ‘hero’, ‘false hero’, ‘princess’, ‘father figure’, ‘dispatcher’
Narrative	Both start with a celebration/party (No Offence – Boss’s Bday, The Killing – Detective leaving). Both quickly introduce the case that needs to be solved.	No Offence follows the police’s POV but The Killing follows both the police’s POV as well as the family’s and friend’s effected by the case POV.	CHATMAN / FREYTAG /TODOROV
Themes	Both have themes of good vs bad and young vs old as the young is the effected whereas the old has to solve what happened to them.	The Killing has themes of community as everyone seems to know one another; this contrasts to No Offence where they seem to not know many. The Killing also has the theme of urban/rural as urban is safe and rural is bas as rural is where the murders occur.	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 oppositions: right/wrong urban/rural, young/old, good/bad
Representation	Both represent the police and the law in a good way. Both represent family as a hub that stands together to stay strong.	No Offence represents the disabled community through all the victims being down-syndrome, this is radical as most shows do not represent this community as they just want a simple story that audiences engage with to make a profit.	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	Both use similar camera angles and shot sizes	No Offence: Setting is a city. Is more comedic with scenes like the meeting in the ladies bathroom. The lighting is also more high key. The Killing: Is set in rural and urban backdrops. The lighting is more low key but also has high key depending on the mood of the scene.	LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc)