Link your knowledge of audience to your chosen pair of TV programmesLook at the advertising campaigns (trailers, websites at home and abroad) for your chosen CSP TV series and think about how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences across local, national and global scales.

• To attract viewers for THE KILLING, producers create adverts that are exciting and dramatic. Using dark scenes and imagery makes it clear that the programme is not meant to be comedic. This programme can relate to Katz, Gurevitch and Haas’ Uses and Gratification theory as the programme aims to fulfil personal needs. People may watch these programmes to escape their own lives.
• To attract viewers for NO OFFENCE, producers create adverts similar to every other murder investigation programme, as they know this will be effective.

Both television programmes are aimed at viewers that are interested in crime drama. By tailoring to these specific interests, the production companies can be sure they will secure viewers.

Following a specific predictable format can provide security for the production companies, as they know that following the predictable story line of a main detective following the case of a murder will do well on TV.

George Gerbner said, ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behaviour, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘.

The two-step flow theory by Paul Lazerfeld is about the idea that media gets shared via opinion leader who is shown as common people who in actuality are more connected to the media who share their opinion on media to which the consumers (us) who are passive to media so we have a choice,

Paul Lazarfeld recognised that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. As such, in 1948 he developed the Two Step Flow model of communication, which took account of the way in which mediated messages are not directly injected into the audience, but while also subject to noise, error, feedback etc, they are also filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.

Research into this area began with Denis McQuail and Jay Blumler, who in 1969, looked to study the 1964 UK Election. In the early 1970’s they were joined by Elihu Katz, Joseph Brown, Michael Gurevitch and Hadassah Haas. 

In essence, they put forward research to show that individual audience members are more active than had previously been thought and were actually key to the processes of selection, interpretation and feedback. In essence, individuals sought particular pleasures, uses and gratifications from individual media texts, which can be categorised as:

steve neal : Genre

Neale states that the film and its genre is defined by two things: How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes.

Genre Theory is a collective term used to describe theoretical approaches that are concerned with how similar situations generate typified responses called genres, which serve as a platform for both creating an understanding based on shared expectations and also shaping the social context.

Genre is important for both consumers and media producers. Consumers can make choices about media texts they wish to consume and media producers can create a media text for a specific audience. Audiences will also expect certain audio codes such as tense, dramatic music.

The two-step flow theory by Paul Lazerfeld is about the idea that media gets shared via opinion leader who is shown as common people who in actuality are more connected to the media who share their opinion on media to which the consumers (us) whoo are passive to media so we have a choice,

Category	Familiarities between Capital and D83	Differences between Capital and D83	Theory
Characters		In Capital there is a focus on the stories of characters from multiple different cultures. However, in D83 the main character, Martin Rauch is central to the development of the story.
Narrative	Dramatic Irony – In Capital most of the audience will be aware of the context of production and how this was based during the time of the economic crash, which is signified through Rogers disappointing bonus. Similarly, In D83, many will know about the civil war, the outcome and the impact this had on Germany. Both period dramas.	Enigmas: Episode 1 we do not know the identity of the postcard sender. The use of music also adds an air of tension to otherwise ordinary scenes in the opening episode causing the viewer to suspect multiple characters.	Todorov – Equilibrium Episode 1: Martin’s equilibrium quickly established. Job, ideology, family and girlfriend. Disruption: State kidnapping. Recognition: Learning to spy. Attempt to repair: Stealing the documents. New equilibrium: Martin’s ongoing status as a spy.
Themes	Period dramas use the past as a form of escapism. Part of the pleasure is knowing how events fit into history (a form of dramatic irony – the audience know elements of the future).	Capital is a miniseries – Mini-series are usually an event. They have higher production values and higher artistic values. They are usually shown at a prime-time when broadcast and usually have trailers and advertising to build up anticipation. Dominant Ideology: The series does not seem to actively target capitalism despite the fact that it is set just before a huge financial crash.	Neale and Genre – The difference comes in the form of hybridizing the genre. This is due to the way the show is adapted from John Lanchester’s novel. The show promises guaranteed meanings and pleasures as a crime drama, as social realism and as a form of satire. The mini-series adaptation of a well-known novel is a way the BBC often offsets cost of production.
Representation	Both represent the socio-economic and political climate of different cultures as well as in different times (1980s VS early 2000s)	Capital – Capital provides a wide range of representational areas to explore; the family, place, nation, class, ethnicity, race and issues. This fits with the promise hinted at through the choice street name. Pepys Road is a reference to Samuel Pepys the Restoration diarist. The novel aims to be a distillation of London at a crucial point in history. Negative and positive use – or subversion – of stereotypes The Kamals are a demonstration of stereotype theory. Using Dyer we can see that they have been stereotyped by bot the novel writer (Lanchester) and Peter Bowker who wrote the series (Dyer: those with power stereotype those without). You can also see how Medhurst’ theory (stereotypes are a handy initial shorthand for producers and audiences) applies here. The Kamals are initially presented as a sterotypical corner-shop owning Pakistani family. As Episode 1 continues the family begin to take on more layers and more nuance. The family are also an example of Perkins’ theory that stereotypes are based on some form of truth. Yes there are a large number of Pakistani family run corner shops. Yes there are identity tensions in the British-Pakistani community. D83 –	The narrative of Deutschland 83 can be defined as postmodern in its self-reflexive style Everything is artificial in media. Even the narrative. East Germany: Retro. “Ostalgie” East German nostalgia. West Germany: Katja Valaskivi – ‘Cool Nation’ branding; a branding that has understood how the national is also foreign and exotic. Martin is faced with the German “economic miracle” in the supermarket scene.
Technical Codes (LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc))	The production, distribution and exhibition of Capital and D83 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.	Walter Luzzolino. Italian T.V. producer who works for Channel 4. Created the “Walter Presents” Video On Demand Service for Channel 4. Aims to bring the best of world T.V. To a U.K. audience. Deutschland 83 was the first show (2016).	Hesmondhalgh’s major points that link to Capital: Media industries are powerful factors in our lives but usually need to be recognised as profit making businesses. Kudos is a private company which works for a PSB to provide content which can be sold in a global market. Often media products seem to be artistic, anti-establishment or rebellious but this is part of the industries competing with each other for the audience’s attention (Often part of the strategy is defining themselves as cultural, and artistic and the audience expects non-conformity from the arts). Capital needs to appear artistic and anti-establishment to justify the BBC’s existence using a hypotheticated tax. The quality of the artistic product offers a socialized artistic experience where all payers of the license fee gain access to high quality cultural product no matter where geographically or financially. D83 – Hesmondhalgh! RTL is using AMC, and the Sundance reputation and reach, to access the US market. Increased potential profit. The use of genre and serialisation helps to sell the product and maintain audience. Reduces risk. Use of 80s set period drama taps into fashionable time period (music and style) and popular format. Helps to sell to international market. Reduces risk. Risk is spread by multi-national production and broadcast. The narrative twist (hero as Stasi spy) helps to sell the product as artistic and non-conformist. Reduces risk.

1. Show knowledge of the changing media regulatory landscape and the shift towards globalisation– Firstly, the media provide an extensive transnational transmission of cultural products and, secondly, they contribute to the formation of communicative networks and social structures.
2. How do industries target audiences? –  Members of a target market exhibit certain similar characteristics, such as age, gender, geographic location or buying habits that make them more likely to buy a company’s products or services. Industries target these people because they are the most likely people to purchase or watch their product therefore different industries target them by using certain types of language and stories.
3. Present your own CSP case studies (with institutional details) as illustrations and explorations of this issue – No offence is in English and is advertised on channel 4 targeting audiences who watch this channel who are from the UK. However, The Killing is in Danish but has English subtitles. By doing this, the industry is targeting multinational audiences making their product appeal to people viewing in different countries.
4. Highlight Hesmondhalgh’s propositions for the way in which the media industry mitigate this ‘risky business’. – Hesmondhalgh believes that the media industry is a high risk business but he says cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business. The impossibility of predicting audience tastes coupled with the high costs of production and the affects of mass competition mean that the business of making commercially successful media is very difficult. (Media industry is a high risk business, impossible to predict audiences tastes and has high costs of production, hard to compete. Tastes change all the time, cannot guarantee success.)
5. Touch upon Curran and Seaton’s arguments for a more diverse media landscape – Curran and Seaton
6. Present your CSP case studies (with specific textual reference) as examples that either support or refute Curran and Seaton’s ideas.
7. Coupled with some reference to audience theory– Stuart Hall explored how people make sense of media texts and claimed audiences were active not passive. An active audience engages, interprets and responds to a media text in different ways and is capable of challenging the ideas encoded in it.

• An active audience engages, interprets and responds to a media text in different ways and is capable of challenging the ideas encoded in it. 
• A passive audience is more likely to accept the messages encoded in a media text without challenge and are therefore more likely to be directly affected by the messages.

Preferred reading

When the audience responds to the ideas in the way the media producer wants them to. For a programme like The Voice UK or The X Factor this could be large scale audience voting and the purchase of the winning singer’s single.

1. Conclude your essay with a summative paragraph.

The Killing: Produced by Nicole Yorkin. Targets audiences globally, Swedish, Danish, America, British. (Netflix).

First episode aired: April 3, 2011

No Offense: Produced by Paul Abbott. National audiences in Britain.

First episode aired: May 5, 2015

Curran and Seaton are able to argue that the UK governement is partly responsible for the widespread domination of the media landscape by huge congomerates.

George Gerber’s Cultivation theory– the idea that long-term exposure of violent media will lead to a distorted view that the world seems more violent than it actually is. (audience theory.)

The Uses and Gratifications Theory– suggests there are certain reasons why an audience responds to different media texts:

Reason	Description
Entertainment and diversion	Audiences consume media texts to escape from their everyday lives. They choose entertaining texts that allow them to divert their attention from the real world, perhaps by watching a fantasy film like Harry Potter or reading a fashion magazine like Vogue.
Information and education	Some media texts are consumed by audiences when they want to be informed and educated. Newspapers, news programmes and current affairs documentaries educate and inform. They help the audience to find out what is happening in the world.
Social interaction	Some media texts like The X Factor or I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here provoke interaction with the audience. Social media can now spark an immediate reaction and get people talking while the action is still happening.
Personal identity	Some audiences like to watch or read media texts because they can compare their life experiences with those represented in it. Audience pleasure comes from empathising and identifying with characters or content represented in them. Soap operas or lifestyle magazines can offer audiences this kind of enjoyment.

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	Kernels, There are detectives in both series and they both include crime. Satellites are things that can be left out and wouldn’t have a massive impact if they weren’t included for example the Witnesses was set in Normandy and The Missing was set in Germany.		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)

CATEGORY	FAMILIARITIES: from your chosen CSP’s	DIFFERENCES: from your chosen CSP’s	THEORY
CHARACTERS	Both the shows have character types the propp suggests	Deutschland has a main protagonist whereas capital has an ensemble of characters.	PROPP, presents the idea of STOCK CHARACTERS, inc ‘hero’, ‘false hero’, ‘princess’ (Witnesses), ‘father figure’, ‘despatcher’ (Missing)
NARRATIVE	Todorov- equilibrium happens in both programme. equilibrium is restored once they solve the postcards, or in Deutschland when martin returns to east Germany after completing his mission.		CHATMAN / FREYTAG /TODOROV
THEMES		Capitals ia more modern show whereas Deutschland is more historical.	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	Culture differences are represented in both capital & Deutschland (west vs east, Middle eastern vs white)	more than just white people represented in capital
TECHNICAL CODES / LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc)		Deutschland includes music and props of 80s culture.

category	famliaralties	differences	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	both the missing and witnesses finish the episode with a cliffhanger, e.g in the missing Baptiste saying he doesn’t think the girl who returned home was Alice Webster and in witnesses it ends with a blurry figure who was shooting at Paul and you don’t know who it is	the missing contains flashback scenes the narrative does not follow a linear scale whereas witnesses is in chronological order	CHATMAN / FREYTAG /TODOROV
THEMES
REPRESENTATION