Star formatting – foregrounding of star power in order to gain an audience – Sarah Lund (The Killing)

Genre formatting – genre is the category of a certain type of media (film, book, etc..), the format is how the genre is structured – crime, mystery, thriller, drama (The Killing)

Steralisation – includes a prequel/sequel – No Offence has 3 seasons and The Killing has 4

Multi-sector integration – vertical & horizontal integration – The Killing was originally shown on DR (a Danish broadcasting corporation) but is now available on Amazon Prime and BBC (and was shown on Netflix)

Theory	Quote	Killing / No offence
The media is a high risk business	“the cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business”	cultural references, ie locations filmed in, native language/actors
Media businesses rely on changing audiences consumption	“audience tastes continuously adapt making it difficult to produce material that guarantees satisfaction”	The Killing was originally an American Tv show, DR (Dutch) and ZDF Enterprises (German) made their own version
Remakes	“the media industry further reduces risk by recycling archived material that has enjoyed successes”	^
The media is resilient on marketing functions	“controlling messages delivered by reviewers or publicity partners of other companies is very difficult”

1. Read the Hesmondhalgh H/O
2. Fill in the table on Hesmondhalgh
3. Read the Livingstone and Lunt H/O (think about the 3 questions)

1. Hesmondhalgh
2. Livingstone-and-Lunt

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

Consumer oriented regulation encourages media plurality and diversity. It is designed to offer a broad range of content, ideas, opinions and icons to its audiences. On the other hand, a citizen based regulation system focuses on the continuity of accuracy and that programmes deal with issues in a fair and objective manner. Civic-minded media providers also ensure not only to entertain their audiences but also to inform and educate them.

Consumer based – content produced FOR the audiences. Media makers are given a lot of freedom to make media that audiences want to consume.

Citizen-based regulation – where media producers make content that contributes to social and cultural health of the societies in which they operate.

What impact according to Livingston and Lunt did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation –

• Promoted independent television production by requiring the BBC and Channel 4 to commission more content from smaller production companies.
• Although this led to the production of content and media that was more commercially viable, it also resulted in the production of programming that lacks civic-minded interest or republicanism.
• Communications Act introduced OFCOM, OFCOM tried to ensure that independent media organisations didn’t dominate (good). e.g Capital was produced by the BBC and Kudos. However, Kudos is owned by Endemol and another large conglomerate. In reality Kudos isn’t a small company and is part of a larger structure.

Q. What is the drawback of a self-regulated system?

It doesn’t work.

Less government control means that media organisations are mostly free to create their own ‘codes of conduct’ which can vary drastically. Self-regulation is reliable as companies are unlikely to ‘own-up’ to something that may be deemed offensive by some. Neo-liberalist culture.

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

You don’t.

One way to regulate media is to regulate technology alongside media as technology currently cannot be regulated.

Hesmondhalgh	Capital	Deutschland 83
Changing audience consumption patterns	The representation of multiple identities, cultures and people of different socio-economic statuses will allow for a broad demographic composed of multiple different people to relate or be interested/ attracted to the show. The show incorporates features of multiple genres such as crime, mystery but also contains some elements of humour.	(It is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction, with international distribution by RTL Group’s FremantleMedia International and North American distribution by Kino Lorber). As the show was originally aired in America, the audience consumption pattern may be diverted to more foreign produced or related shows.
Multi-Sector Integration	Kudos Film & Television Company. Kudos was  Formed in 1992, since 2007 it has been part of the Shine Group. In 2007 it also set up the film unit, Kudos Pictures. In 2011, the Shine Group was 100% acquired by News Corporation[1] and was part of the 50-50 joint-venture Endemol Shine Group. On 3 July 2020, France-based Banijay Group bought the studio through former’s acquisition of Endemol Shine Group. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Amazon and Netflix	UFA Fiction was created through the merger of the UFA subsidiaries teamWorx, Phoenix Film and UFA Fernsehproduktion in the context of a restructuring of UFA and the strategic goal to bundle all companies under one brand in the future. AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered, Deutschland 83 is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television. AMC operates the cable channels AMC (its eponymous brand), IFC, We TV, BBC America (through a joint venture with BBC Studios), and SundanceTV; the art house movie theater IFC Center in New York City; the independent film companies IFC Films and RLJE Films; and premium streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder. In addition, the company operates AMC Networks International, its global division.
Star formatting	Toby Jones is a fairly well know British actor, appearing in productions such as Captin America, Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. Therefore, with him as one of the main characters in Capital, with an already developed following and reputation, many would be attracted to watch the show initially because he is in it.	Jonas Nay ([ˈjoːnas naɪ], born 20 September 1990) is a German actor and musician known for starring as Martin Rauch in Deutschland 83, the first German-language TV series shown on American television, and its sequels, Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89. As this show first aired in America, many viewers many have been persuaded to watch some of the other shows or films the actor has appeared in.
Genre based formatting	Labelled as – Crime Drama and Social Realism	Labelled as – Drama, Romance, Thriller
Serialisation	Capital is a three-part British television adaptation of John Lanchester’s novel Capital.  Those who were fans of the original novel means that the show already has some form of audience, even prior to its production and release on the adaption.	The Sequals to Deutschland 83 are Deutschland 86 and 89, via these latter productions, an audience has already been created therefore, limiting advertisement costs whilst increasing profits through consumers.
Independent Stylising	For Capital, however, there is a less noticeable aesthetic due to broad range of characters. However, one common theme aside from the postcards, would be the cinematography and how the camera or audience is positioned multiple times behind characters, appearing to follow them, linking to the people or person who keeps sending the postcards	Deliberately shoes multiple non-stream aesthetics as the show is based in the 80s. There are two key aesthetic used to distinguish between the capitalist West, and Socialist East. Positive representation of German culture despite prejudices that may have been held due to WW2.
Internationalisation	Endemol Shine Group B.V. is a production and distribution company. The show was originally commissioned for the BBC however, it is now available to purchase and watch globally on sites such as Acorn TV via Amazon Prime TV.	This show was originally screen in America by the production company UFA fiction. The show was later distributed by the companies FremantleMedia International Kino Lorber In Germany, Deutschland 83 began to air after the U.S. run on RTL 26 November 2015.[77] There, the series lost viewers over the course of its run; the series finale had 1.72 million viewers, or approximately half of the series premiere’s viewers. As a result, German newspaper Bild called the show “the flop of the year”.[65] It premiered in Ireland on 29 November 2015, on RTÉ2.[78] All episodes were added to Australian streaming service Stan in December 2015.[79] On 14 January 2016, the series was made available for streaming in The Netherlands via Videoland.[80] It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2016, with the final two episodes shown back-to-back on 14 February. It has since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers as of January 2016.[81] The series was aired for Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan by BBC Persian in October 2017.

Hesmondhalgh: ‘The media is a risky buisiness

How do media companies maximise profit and minimise risk.

Hesmondhalgh	Case studies
Star formatting – Using a star to gain an audience.	The Killing (Sarah Lund)
Genre based formatting – This provides familiarity for audiences	The killing and no offence: Crime/police drama
Remakes – reduces risk by recycling old successful material. Provides an element of nostalgia.	Using a female detective.
Independant stylising – does the product invoke a non-mainstream aestethic?	No offence: Using people with downsyndrome is representation of a disabled cast.
Serialisation – Includes a prequel or sequel which maximises audience investment.	No Offense: 3 series The Killing: 3 series
Multi-sector integration – Vertical and horizontal integration are used.	The killing: Originally broadcast on Danish DR1. Then on amazon prime, BBC and was on netflix.

HESMONDHALGH	CASE STUDIES
Reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns	No Offence – Weekly episodes The Killing – Originally Danish but translated for foreign audiences.
Serialisation	No Offence – created 3 series, the 3rd did not do as well as series 1
Genre-based formatting	Both TV programmes have the same genre of true crime.
On demand services	Both The Killing and No Offence are available on online streaming services (Channel 4 Player & Amazon Prime)
Internationalism	Both TV programmes are available in English
Creative Symbol Makers	No Offence did not do well in their 3rd season – maybe the creators didn’t have much of a say when making this season as they wanted to stick to what they knew the audience liked previously and made them successful. Not keeping up with changing audience interest.
Star Formatting	No Offence – Included stars like Will Mellor and Paul Ritter who have already made themselves known in British TV (Mellor – Broadchurch) (Ritter – Friday Night Dinner)

HESMONDHALGH	CASE STUDIES
maximising profits and minimising risks	No Offence used the concept of serialisation as they tried to reduce risks by producing a range of series in the hope that some will be successfull.
internalisation
star formatting	The Killing uses the Canadian actor Evan bird who is best known who playing in Maps to the Stars (also gets more Canadian audiences – increasing the global internalisation of the film) No Offence used the Irish actress, Elaine Cassisdy, who was also best known who playing the lead character in the american tv series Harpers island ( could also gain audience from Ireland )
genre-based formatting	The killing has orignally danish film, which was then reproduced into an english film. This was unabled them to reshape the “product” for a new audience, a different language (danish to english)
serialisation	No Offence created a 3rd series, however it wasn’t successful
remakes
independent labelling

• “Media businesses are reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns” – Relates to The Killing because audience consumption patterns have been changed as there is a female lead character which in a crime show was not all all common.
• Internationalisation – Relates to The Killing because it is produced by Danish company DR and advertised as an American TV show and therefore has global audiences.
• Independent stylising – Relates to No Offence because it is a TV show that is described as “extraordinary” and in terms of genre doesn’t fit into a box and has a mixture of British police drama, comedy and action that is often satire and/or crude in humour.
• Television – Relates to The Killing which was broadcasted both on Satellite TV and also able to be found on Netflix.

Star Formatting	Capital-Toby Jones
Genre Formatting	Capital-Crime Drama
Independent stylizing
Re-make

Star formatting: this process is hard to make someone a star but when you do you guarantee customers of the loyal fans who are simply consuming for the star

Genre Formatting: This is when you try to get consumers by luring them in with a genre to categorize their media to which they could be interested in with the pre-promise of enjoyment

Independent Stylizing: This is when the media will try to make itself more independent to which consumers who don’t like mainstream media are more likely to the consumer under the pretense that it is alternative or niche when in reality it isn’t.

Re-make: This is when you re-make a typically old shown again which was popular to try to revitalize the said media to get the consumers who would want the nostalgia aspect of the remake

CATEGORY	SIMILARITIES	DIFFERENCES	THEORY
CHARACTERS	the detective who has a ‘natural’ instinct for law and order Both the Victims are young helpless females- this is reactionary	The Killing, The missing has the main detective as female	PROPP
NARRATIVE	the first episode often introduces a lot of different characters	There can’t be a resolution in the missing for the victim because they’re dead.	TODOROV
THEMES	the use of binary oppostions around familiar themes: family, community, law and order, justice.	The missing has a lot of deceit whereas the killing is a lot of action and brutality.	LEVI-STRAUSS
REPRESENTATION	reactionary representations of police, family, law and order, urban/rural	Radical representation of the father figure he should be with his family being supportive but he’s just cheating.	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.	The killing music is more upbeat.

What is it about?- Tony and Emily Hughes go to France on a holiday with their five-year-old son Oliver. However, when their car breaks down one night in a small town, Tony suddenly loses sight of his son.

Tertiary audience: is when a person is only listening to the station because they are familiar with the guest that is on. This could also be a friend, sister, a particular celebrity and others. Primary audiences are those who receive the communication directly and are also known as the target audience. The person is also usually the decision maker. Secondary audiences are those readers who are not the primary addressee, but are still included as viewer

The Missing is an international co-production between the BBC and Starz. The first eight-part series, about the search for a missing boy in France. It’s fiction.

Theorist	What does it mean (in your own words)	How does it apply to the advert (in your own words)
Equilibrium	The state of being at equilibrium is being constant and fine with nothing bothering you e.g all stories will have a exposition, complication and resolution. Equilibrium would be at the beginning then the complication happens and ruins it but the resolution brings it back to equilibrium.	The advert starts off at equilibrium when they’re happy and feel comfortable with what they’re wearing and how they look then the mascara is the complication because they want to be ‘bossed up’ and once they’ve used it they’re happy and comfortable again therefore at equilibrium.
Binary Opposition	Binary opposition is a pair of related concepts that are completely opposite e.g white&black, North&South or the could be a neutral balance e.g a product only for women and not for men has been made available to both genders.	This advert has made a product genuinely associated as a product only for women and made it neutral for men and woman by having both genders in the same advert. They have also used a black woman and a white man to make it neutral. The opposites are they’re in New York to show how extravagant they are as opposed to St. Helier a small Jersey parish that isn’t very glam.
Character Types	There are certain types of characters which are always within stories e.g they may have different personalities but they play a role like a hero, villain, victim, princess, dispatcher.	The heroes were MannyMUA and MakeupbyShayla as they’re the main characters and they use the product and are magical and special. The suitcase man is the dispatcher as he gives them the product and the other makeup brands are the villains as they’re trying to defeat and beat them.

The Missing:

The Missing is a complex mainstream television product in which the codes and conventions of
the crime drama are recognisable but they are also challenged and sometimes subverted.

Mise-en-scene analysis
• Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings

narrative techniques are used to engage the audience

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

e narrative structure of The Missing offers gratification to the
audience.
• Narratology including Todorov

Conventions of the TV 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.

belonging to the drama and crime genres

The relationship between Genre and Myth
• Genre theory including Neale

Negative and positive use of stereotypes

e representation of gender in
The Missing – Judith Butler

Feminist debates – Violence and the representation of gender. This could include the
controversy around using violent crime against women as popular entertainment
• Representations of family and their ideological significance

The Missing is the BBC’s response to the success of ITV’s Broadchurch which reintroduced the
English language extended serial format to UK drama schedules following the success of foreign
language series such as The Killing and the The Bridge. It is an example of co-operation between
the BBC, STARZ (USA) and the Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme.

production, distribution and circulation of The Missing shows how audiences can
be reached, both on a national and global scale, through different media technologies
and platforms,

a producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences.
• Cultivation theory including Gerbner
• Reception theory including Hall

Witnesses

Mise-en-scene analysis
• Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings
• Postmodernism: Use of pastiche and bricolage

narrative conventions of the crime drama – use of enigmas,
binary oppositions, restricted and omniscient narration etc -– position the audience?

narrative of Witnesses can be defined as postmodern in its self-reflexive style –
particularly in its narrative about the family.
• Narratology including Todorov

series as belonging to the drama and crime genres
• Conventions of the TV 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.

Representation of national and regional identity (Northern France)

Representation of gender: The woman as detective, the male boss, gender stereotypes
etc.
• Feminist debates – Violence and the representation of gender. This could include the
controversy around using violent crime against women as popular entertainment
• Analysis of how the representations convey values, attitudes and beliefs about the world
• Theories of representation including Hall
• Feminist theories including bell hooks and Van Zoonen

Witnesses is part of a recent trend – which really started with BBC4’s showing of The Killing – for
foreign language series to perform well critically and commercially with particular UK audiences.
Witnesses, as an example of French Public Service Broadcasting provides the opportunity to
study PSB in a different national context. Originally broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK, Witnesses
was also part of the new online channel ‘Walter Presents’ providing an example of the influence of
new technology and convergence on media industries.

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

demonstrate how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences.
• Cultivation theory including Gerbner
• Reception theory including Hall

Witnesses is part of cultural phenomenon of the early twenty-first century which for the first time
saw TV series not in the English language become part of mainstream UK broadcasting. That
these series were dominated by the crime genre was part of a wider cultural phenomenon which
saw the crime genre become the key form for exploring social and cultural contexts. The series
used the genre to explore – amongst other themes – society’s fear of and desire for violence,
social isolation and changing gender roles. The debate around the representation of violence
against women has become particularly controversial and is part of the political context of the
series. The economic context can be explored through patterns of ownership and production and
how the product is marketed nationally and globally

Commercial media – starz for the missing

Public service broadcaster – BBC for the missing

horizontal integration – starz and BBC for the missing

 The series was co-produced by New Pictures, Company Pictures, Two Brothers Pictures and Playground Entertainment 

vertical integration –  The distributor is All3Media who sold the series at MIPCOM,

Media concentration/ convergence : companies working together i.e starz and bbc for the missing

media pluralism : different companies making different sorts of production and culture instead of one company making all the productions

Hesmondhalgh researches what it’s like for media workers and media concentration.

media bussiness are reliant upon changing consumption patterns.

reliant upon marketing and publicity

internet is dominant by a relatively small number of providers

internet increasingly dominated by commercialized activity