• Chicken received positive reviews and holds a 100% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critic reviews. The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars and said “first-time director Joe Stephenson elicits lively, empathic performances from his small cast.”
• No guaranteed previous audience as it is the debut film for the director/producer Joe Stephenson.
• Production company: B Good Picture Company
• BFI film fund uses the money paid for lottery tickets to provide financial aid and support to young filmmakers. It contributes to the British Film industry by giving these young filmmakers the platform to be able to produce films that otherwise would not be created or recognised. These films often target a niche audience.
• Was premiered and played at multiple film festivals.
• The British Board of Film Classification is a non-governmental organisation founded by the film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works released on physical media within the United Kingdom.
• Marketed through a facebook page, twitter and youtube.

• B Good Picture Company
• Chicken had its world premiere on 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival.
• Showed at multiple film festivals
• Came out on Blu-ray and DVD on 18th September 2017
• Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature — Joe Stephenson (New Hampshire Film Festival 2015)
• Award for Best Film — Chicken (Cine A La Vista International Film Festival 2016)
• The film was shortlisted for Best Director (Joe Stephenson) and Best Newcomer (Scott Chambers) by the British Independent Film Awards.
• Was originally a play by Freddie Machin
• £110,000 (raised through investment)
• Hoping for a deal with Netflix
• Currently available on Amazon Prime and iTunes for rent and purchase
• Marketed the film through Facebook, Twitter and Facebook
• Making the main character have learning difficulties
• Film festivals – small artsy films
• 2003 Communications Act – allowing small production companies to create and show their films
• Curran and Seaton – diverse media landscape – main character with learning difficulties, living in a caravan, a life and environment that the media doesn’t often show. Can the often reach wider audiences.
• Hesmondhalgh – he didn’t make the film to make money, but instead made it to educate society.

Film: Chicken is an example of micro budget film making and raises issues around the role and future of national cinema as well as the viability of media products produced outside of the
mainstream for niche audiences.

‘Chicken’ was B Good Picture Company’s debut feature film. The critically acclaimed film had its theatrical release in 2016 in the UK during its award-winning festival tour.

The film went on to be selected by the curators of MUBI, and acquired by Film4. Its journey continued in September 2017 with its Blu-ray & DVD release in the UK courtesy of Network Releasing.

‘Chicken’ was released in the US exclusively on iTunes early 2018, and continues to maintain its 100% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating.

As well iTunes, it is now available in the US & UK on Amazon Prime

Starring –

scott chambers –

Fiona –

Production company	B Good Picture Company
Release date	27 June 2015 (Edinburgh)20 May 2016

Chicken received positive reviews and holds a 100% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critic reviews. Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars and said “first-time director Joe Stephenson elicits lively, empathic performances from his small cast.”

Accolades

• Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature — Joe Stephenson (New Hampshire Film Festival 2015)^[2][9]
• Silver Griffoni Award for Best Film – Generation 18+ (2nd Prize) — Joe Stephenson & B Good Picture Company (Giffoni Film Festival 2016)^[9]
• Award for Best Film — Chicken (Cine A La Vista International Film Festival 2016)^[9]
• Scott Chamber’s performance as Richard got a Special Critic’s Circle mention (Dublin International Film Festival 2016)^[9]
• The film was shortlisted for Best Director (Joe Stephenson) and Best Newcomer (Scott Chambers) by the British Independent Film Awards.

B Good Pict6ure Production Company

Funding
In order to make Chicken, director Joe Stephenson raised £110,000. Key points:

• Raised entirely through investment by individuals (e.g. rich friends/contacts)
• No funding body (e.g. BFI Film Fund) was willing to fund Chicken
• Raises questions about whether film industry is accessible to lower-income filmmakers

Production
Key points for making Chicken:

• Adapted from a play by Freddie Machin that originally ran at Southwark Playhouse.
• Filmed in 19 days, almost all external locations so victim to rain, issues with lighting etc.
• Film produced and distributed by a new company set up by director Stephenson: B Good Picture Company.

Distribution Chicken’s distribution has been very difficult:

• No distribution deal secured in 2014
• Two-year festival circuit won awards and generated interest and critical acclaim for film
• UK cinema release followed in May 2016. Selected for film subscription service MUBI and acquired by Film4 for TV premiere in April 2017.
• UK DVD release distributed by Network Releasing. Digital distribution in USA/Canada – January 2018.

Promotion Alongside film festivals, new technology was vital to promoting Chicken to a wider audience: 

• Some traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes etc.
• Social media very important to market film – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
• Film available on-demand now; Stephenson hoping for deal with Netflix or Amazon Prime to bring in revenue and find wider audience.

Who was the film distributed by?

• B Good Picture Company – Joe Stephenson’s own film company.

How do indie films usually find a major distributor?

• By going to film festivals. Example: Tangerine went to Sundance Film Festical and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures

How did Joe Stephenson try to control the distribution Chicken?

• He used the power of New Digital Media (the internet) to keep control over his product through both marketing and distribution

How did Joe Stephenson use festivals to benefit Chicken? What was the result?

• He used festivals to bring his film to the attention of critics. He received glowing reviews from Mark Kermode, BBC and Variety). The film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Big critic endorsements means free advertising for the film.

How do big critic endorsements benefit a film?

• Free Advertisement

How does Chicken subvert the traditional film business structure?

• The distribution company, especially when we think about independent films, is usually a separate entity from the production company and exhibition company. In Chicken’s case, Joe Stephenson was the director of the film (production) and owned the distribution company: B Good Pictures.

In the UK, what streaming services was Chicken made available on?

•  BFI player (which tells the audience that is is a product with artistic merit).
• – Others include big services such as iTunes and Amazon Instant Video.
• – As well as curated services such as Film Doo and Volta, which serve an audience who want to watch international, independent films. These are niche services which reach a niche target audience.

How does Chicken avoid traditional distribution chains?

• The film is available through streaming services, as well as being available on DVD and Bluray through Amazon.

How were FilmFour involved in the film?

• Helped to finance the film and so had exclusive screening rights. The film was shown on TV on the 5th April 2017.

How did B Good use a range of strategies to tackle the limited budget for distribution?

• The aim was to build a buzz through putting the film in front of tastemakers (critics, tastemakers and the like – Ian McKellen gives a glowing review and is coincidentally in B Good’s next film) and using the internet (streaming services) to slash the cost of distribution and exhibition.

How did Chicken use YouTube?

• Official trailer available on YouTube, as well as being embedded in Chicken’s own website. This helps to promote the film virally, encouraging a broader audience as YouTube is accessible globally. Comments and likes help to produce a buzz as well as building a community aroud the film and providing it with free advertisement (positive comments and likes.)

What type of filmmaking is chicken an example of?

• Independent filmmaking – a film that has no financial support from a major studio or lacking in a major distribution deal. Such films, once financed – usually on a limited budget – seek deals with small arthouse cinemas or franchised cinema chains.

Use of conventional film marketing – Trailers, teaser posters, theatrical posters, billboards, magazine features.

What style of film is this?

Social realism. Films in this style are concerned with representing the lives of ordinary people. In doing so, such films construct a narrative enabling the audience to engage with pressing social issues which, in the case of Chicken, is disability.

• 2015 British drama film directed by Joe Stephenson. It is based on the play of the same name by Freddie Machin.

• Production by Joe Stephenson, Tina Galovic

• written by christ new

• starring: Scott Chambers Morgan Watkins and Yasmin Paige

• production company: B good Picture company

• release date 27th june 2015

• running time: 86 minutes

• Chicken had its world premiere on 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film had its international premiere in competition at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival

• It eventually received a limited theatrical release in the UK on 20 May 2016.

• It was then acquired by MUBI UK, and had its British TV premiere on FilmFour April 2017. It received its DVD and Blu-ray release by Network on 18 September 2017.

• Funding
  In order to make Chicken, director Joe Stephenson raised £110,000. Key points:

• Filmed in 19 days, almost all external locations so victim to rain, issues with lighting etc.

• No distribution deal secured in 2014

• Alongside film festivals, new technology was vital to promoting Chicken to a wider audience: 

• Some traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes etc.
• Social media very important to market film – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
• Film available on-demand now; Stephenson hoping for deal with Netflix or Amazon Prime to bring in revenue and find wider audience.

essay plan

• talk about distribution companies involved
• Livingston and lunt learnt about the 2003 communications act – law about small production companies having a chance to show their films, rather than Hollywood films
• curran and seaton – we are seeing more diverse media – main character who has learning difficulties and lives in an urban environment (caravan)

• Start your essay with a short introductory paragraph that outlines your intention for this essay. So think – what is it you want to argue / discuss / present in this essay?
• Show knowledge of the film industry, specifically the key stages of: production, distribution, consumption
• position contemporary film production within a couple of key theoretical positions for example:
  1. Hesmondhalgh’s ideas that mitigate the ‘risky business’ of cultural production. – even though he didn’t make money from the film, he was able to show society about the urban and poor environment of the world through the and the understanding (didnt make money, wanted to educate soiety
  2. Curran and Seaton’s arguments for a more diverse media landscape.
  3. Livingstone and Lunt’s suggestion that cultural production exists in a loosely regulated framework, biased towards a consumers rather than citizen model.
  4. The impact of new media technologies for cultural production.
• Present details of the CSP (Chicken) but make sure you focus on production, distribution and consumption and NOT on a textual analysis of the film – remember the examiner / assessor is assuming that you may not have seen the film.
• Feel free to add in some audience theory.
• Conclude your essay with a summative paragraph.

 Chicken is an example of micro-budget film making and raises issues around the role and future of national cinema as well as the viability of media products produced outside of the
mainstream for niche audiences.

approximately £110,000

Chicken is characteristic of contemporary cultural production in its use of new technology at production and distribution stages. Reflects shifting patterns of audience consumption. As a low-budget film, it will be interesting to consider this film in its economic context, especially in comparison to big-budget Hollywood films.

Note how there is a focus on making judgements and drawing conclusions in this essay

Release

Chicken had its world premiere on 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film had its international premiere in competition at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival, followed by screenings at the New Hampshire International Film Festival,^[2] Giffoni International Film Festival, Cine A La Vista International Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Schlingel International Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival. It eventually received a limited theatrical release in the UK on 20 May 2016.

It was then acquired by MUBI UK, and had its British TV premiere on FilmFour April 2017. It received its DVD and Blu-ray release by Network on 18 September 2017.

Critical reception

Chicken received positive reviews and holds a 100% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critic reviews.^[3] Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars and said “first-time director Joe Stephenson elicits lively, empathic performances from his small cast.”^[4] Mark Kermode rated the film at four out of five stars stating that Scott Chambers’ performance is “superb”.^[5] Anna Smith of Empire magazine gave the film a rating of four stars, responding that the film is “an enjoyable, involving British Drama with and impressive turn from newcomer Scott Chambers.^[6] With a three-star rating from Cath Clarke of Time Out, she commented that Chicken is “an impressively acted British Drama about a young man with learning difficulties.”^[7] CineVue praised the film and mentioned that it is “the sort of British indie which restores faith in cinema”.^[8]

Accolades

Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature — Joe Stephenson (New Hampshire Film Festival 2015)^[2][9]

Silver Griffoni Award for Best Film – Generation 18+ (2nd Prize) — Joe Stephenson & B Good Picture Company (Giffoni Film Festival 2016)^[9]

Award for Best Film — Chicken (Cine A La Vista International Film Festival 2016)^[9]

Scott Chamber’s performance as Richard got a Special Critic’s Circle mention (Dublin International Film Festival 2016)^[9]

The film was shortlisted for Best Director (Joe Stephenson) and Best Newcomer (Scott Chambers) by the British Independent Film Awards.

.

The production of media is now accessible to the everyday day throughs means of new technology the everyday phones can achieve up to 1080p HD quality so this means it is more likely that a common day person will produce a film as it isn’t that exclusive and expensive to do anymore, 110,000

Distribution : mubi, world premiere 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival= art over money British TV premiere on FilmFour April 2017. It received its DVD and Blu-ray release by Network on 18 September 2017.

consumption : special needs lead, “trailer trash”, niche, 100% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critic reviews.

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)

“media formats that are successful are replicated to deliver mass audiences “

– no offence has audience to uk tv and french tv, on Channel 4 and France 2.

– the killing was a danish police procedural drama tevelision seires created by soren sveistrup and produced by DR in co-production with ZDF Enterprise. Premired on Danish national televison channel DR1 on January 7th 2007

united kingdom – aired on BBC Four ( remake aired in 2011)

– it has been broadcasted in several countries (particularly united kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands.

– proved to be an international success – receiving numerous awards and nominations including a BAFTA Award and an international Emmy.

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

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

Paul Lazarfeld– 2 step flow theory

Step 1 – from media to opinion leader

Step 2 – from opinion leaders communication to the masses

 This theory suggests that the audience are active, not passive

Links to the missing as, since there are two season, the audience is clearly active and communicating with other viewers and possibly the producers so that they are confident in airing another season

Uses & gratifications (Katz, Gurevitch, Hass) = Idea of active audience, we choose information based on what we want – information / education, empathy and identity, social interaction, entertainment & escapism which can related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954)

Links to the missing as the audiences

1970’s – Cultivation Theory – Gerbner (Chomsky vs Skinner) = Relationship between violence on television and violence in society. Suggests that we an use the media to change peoples behavior & what the think/believe in over time

1980’s – Stuart Hall, preferred reading = Idea that we can take an opposite stance, we don’t have to believe these things. He says there are 3 ways to read a text: a dominant position, a negotiated position or an opposition position

2000’s – Clay Shirley, end of audience = There is no such thing as audience, there is only individuals. WE are not one, we are many, the idea of intersectionality. A mass of individuals not just a mass

“The more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.” Shirky – TED Talk 2013

2019 – Zuboff, surveillance capitalism = we are no longer a mass, but individuals

To what extent do television producers attempt to target national and global audiences through subject matter and distribution?

Show knowledge of the changing media regulatory landscape and the shift towards globalisation:

The 2003 Communications Act was designed by the British Labour government in order to create modern Regulatory System’s within the UK and help the television industry become competitive with the globalized media landscape. This means that independent television production companies were freed up in order to create content that was more commercially viable, resulting in a more Consumer based regulatory system.

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

Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

Subject matter; crime show that focuses on detective(s), different tones to the shows – one has elements of comedy and another may provide a sense of escapism (Uses and gratifications theory).

Hesmondhalgh argues ‘Independents…provide a useful means of engaging audiences’ .

“Media businesses are reliant upon changing audience consumption patterns“

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: 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.)