cultural industries-

Products exist as a result of their economic context. “Media content is manufactured to create profit, or in the case of a PBS to maintain audience engagement.”

commerce vs creativity

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.

Cannot control reviews(word of mouth), reliant on marketing ad publicity so that they can thrive.

Normally a one off production – means that there is only a one off reward therefore,media companies make several media productions in the hope that one may be a hit.

CHANGING AUDIENCE CONSUMPTION PATTERNS- relates to a detective series which is currently popular with audiences from all over the world. (Crime and detective genre.) Both the missing and witnesses both come under this genre.

Although this genre is popular at this moment audience tastes can change, the producers are taking high amount of profits.

The missing is broadcasted on the BBC, this can be accessed not only on live television but on mobile devices such as telephones, i-pads, laptops ect…

The missing had a total of 7.32 average viewers by the end of series one however witnesses only had an average 800,200 views.

STAR FORMATTING- Producers will often use big stars at the time of production to push their film/series, for example in the missing the Irish actor/presenter ‘ James Nesbitt’ was used who had previously done similar acting roles in series like ‘cold feet’ (another big crime related series)

Livingstone& lunt-

consumer based- audience can choose media content they can/want to watch. Giving media producers the freedom to produce whatever the consumers choose to consume. This seeks to guarantee audience choice and promotes product diversity.

Citizen based-

Hesmondhalgh	Case Studies
Changing audience Consumption Patterns	This links to both the killing and no offence because they both have the same genre and it would be hard for producers to know what the audience is going to want next.
Multi-Sector Integration

Hesmondhalgh	Case Studies
Changing audience consumption	The Missing was created and broadcast by the BBC, this allowed for more people to watch and access the show
Multi-sector integration
Star formatting	Tchéky Karyo who starred in The Missing was also in a show called Baptiste, he starred as a detective in both of these shows
Genre based formatting	Witnesses and The Missing are both Crime dramas, these sort of shows are of interest to the public as it gives people something to ‘figure out’ and gets people to think whilst watching a show
Serialisation	The BBC often make and host Crime dramas/thrillers, the BBC know there is an established audience for this and people will watch the shows since this is a genre that they’re interested in
Independent stylising	The Missing focused on a missing boy in Germany which added an element of independent stylising as not every crime drama has someone go missing
Internationalisation

hesmondhalgh – faux benefits of cyberspace “technology as an anti authoritarian counter weight to traditional power sources”

missing – could relate to the missing in the sense that binary oppositions are used in regards to family vs community and law vs justice. This means that the traditional expectation is challenged in both sense.

hesmondhalgh – television “the internet is increasingly dominated by commercialized activity”

missing – Cooperation between the BBC, STARZ (USA) and the Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme. Means that because the BBC is a public service broadcaster, STARZ (USA, under lions gate entertainment), a commercial media company, aids to make profit through advertisements.

hesmondhalgh – serialization = enables producers to reduce the risk by constructing products that have an established audience.

missing – there was a spin off called “baptised” which had the same male protagonist and a similar plot line.

HESMONDHALGH	CASE STUDIES
MULTI-SECTOR INTERGRATION	The missing theme song is ‘come home’ – Amatorski which Is a multi- sector integration between the BBC and starz with the music industry. As well as the composer Dominik Scherrer who wrote a full soundtrack for the program.
STERILISATION	The missing had a second series – Baptiste is a spin off series of the missing.  Witnesses has 2 series
STAR FORMATTING	Tcheky Karyo the actor in the missing an the spin off baptise has been in multiple films and tv shows giving him a form of star power. As well as the fact he was used in baptise aswell so those who watched the first series of the missing and enjoyed it may be more enclined to watch the spin off.

Hesmondhalgh	case studies
star formatting	the missing: Keeley Hawes had appeared in many TV dramas before the missing therefore her starring in the missing would gain attraction towards the TV show from people who are fans of her or previous TV shows she has starred in.
internationalisation	the missing: the show gains more international appeal due to the setting being in Germany and there are switches between language through the show and providing subtitles when characters are not speaking English Witnesses: (Les Témoins) witnesses gains an international appeal as it is set in France and spoken in French throughout the whole episode however because it is a popular genre it has been broadcasted in different places around the world such as the USA and the UK and provides a translated title and subtitles.
genre formatting	for both the missing and witnesses the titles help audiences gain an idea of the narrative of the shows before watching as they both suggest a sense of mystery and crime through the connotations of the words ‘missing’ and ‘witnesses’ and both tv shows are crime/mystery dramas.
serialisation	both products, the missing and witnesses, have at least a second season therefore minimising the risk of producing as they both already have established audiences who will be excited for the next series/episodes

old post:

• 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