THE MISSING

Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lund is in her last day with the Copenhagen police force; about to move to Sweden to join her fiancé and transfer to the Swedish police. Everything changes when 19-year-old Nanna Birk Larsen is found raped and brutally murdered. Sarah heads the investigation and is teamed up with her replacement, Detective Inspector Jan Meyer. Troels Hartmann, politician, is in the midst of a hard-fought mayoral campaign when evidence links him to the murder. The girl’s family and friends struggle to cope with their loss. Over a span of 20 days suspect upon suspect is sought out as violence and political pressures cast their shadows over the hunt for the killer.

Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for this product?

The Killing acted as a catalyst for the globalisation/ distribution/ popularity of foreign language throughout UK television. However, The Killing was first released in Denmark, 2007, and only aired on UK television 4 years later in 2011.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE:

SECONDARY AUDIENCE:

TERTIARY AUDIENCE:

What audience theories can you apply to which help you to develop a better understanding of the potential target audience?

The reception theory by Stuart Hall – A more conservative audience may respond negatively to the Swedish liberal attitudes to sex.

What organisations (rather than individuals) are involved in the production, distribution & exhibition of this product?

The original series is created by a production company called DR in collaboration with ZDF Enterprises. It was broadcasted on Danish television for the first time in January 2007. After that, it was distributed to many countries worldwide. The show was then recreated in english for the US by Fox Television Studios in collaboration with Fuse Entertainment which was later taken over by Netflix.

WITNESSES

A French crime series explores the dark realms of the human mind with themes of vengeance. Three bodies with no apparent connection to each other are discovered in a show home, based in northern France. The police find the deceased man, woman and teenager staged as if they were a living family. Detective Sandra Winckler arrives at the morbid scene to search for clues leading to the perpetrator but instead comes across a photo of ex-police officer Paul Maisonneuve. The retired policeman is forced to return to work in order to get to the bottom of the grim mystery.

Nordic-Noir: Symbolic montage of the title sequence, muted colours, subdued low-key lighting, long slow pans and tracking shots over landscapes and landmarks, settings often wintery, rural landscapes often presented as ‘bleak’ and urban landscapes presented as industrial.

Example of Nordic-Noir in Witnesses:

• muted colours
• symbolic montage of title sequence
• urban landscapes; shown through aerial tracking shot
• subdued low-key lighting
• bleak setting; bad weather – pathetic fallacy, sense of lifelessness
• flawed protagonist

Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for this product?

PRIMARY AUDIENCE:

SECONDARY AUDIENCE:

TERTIARY AUDIENCE:

What audience theories can you apply to which help you to develop a better understanding of the potential target audience?

Hesmondhalgh’s Ideas on Cultural Industries:

Hesmondhalgh acknowledges that media companies are operating a risky business and there is no guarantee a creative product will be a success. They offset this risk through the use of stars, sequels, well-known genres and vertical integration.

He points out that societies with profitable cultural industries have minimal government regulation. Regulated by Ofcom which work directly with broadcasters to implement a Code for television and radio, which is set out in terms of principles, meanings and rules and include a set of ‘practices to be followed’ by broadcasters.

Examples of Hesmondhalgh’s Ideas on Cultural Industries:

• Released a season 2
• Confirms to conventions of the Nordic-noir and Crime Drama genres
• Walter presents = a joint initiative between Global Series and Channel 4 in 2016
• Witnesses made in France, which would be seen as having a profitable cultural industry.

Todorov’s Narrative Theory:

Equilibrium – Police/detectives just doing their jobs, protagonist taking child to school

Disruption – The bodies are found in Paul’s house, who the protagonist knows. Lipstick found in boyfriend’s car

Recognition – Investigation of the bodies. Goes to graveyard where bodies were dug up. Protagonist speaks to Paul and his relatives.

Repair – As this is the first episode, has not yet taken place.

New Equilibrium – Will be established in a later episode, probably at the end of the TV miniseries = narrative prolonged. Instead: goes back to disruption.

What organisations (rather than individuals) are involved in the production, distribution & exhibition of this product?

Newen Distribution:

Promote shows for Tele group and independent groups such as cinétéve.
‘Programmes of quality which unite viewers’.

Cinétéve:

Independent production company: film, TV and documentaries with a serious focus ; intellectual.
Produced Witnesses.

Kudos Productions:

British film and television production company which has produced television series for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Amazon and Netflix. Film unit ‘Kudos Pictures’ set up in 2007.

Walter Presents:

A joint initiative between Global Series Network and Channel 4 launched in 2016. Video-on-demand service dedicated to showcasing award-winning foreign language drama. Launched in March 2017 in US as a VOD service and in November 2017 as a pay-TV service in Australia.

CURRAN AND SEATON NOTES THAT RELATE TO WITNESSES AND THE MISSING

• Curran and Seaton argue that the Uk government policy is responsible in part, for the widespread domination of the media landscape by huge conglomerates.
• Peak time schedules are dominated by the lighter entertainment formats, whereas less popular minority interest products are sidelined to secondary channels or late night slots
• Curran and Seaton suggest that a second and equally turbulent wave of ownership consolidation took place in the latter half of the 20th century
• Owning a variety of media company types enables the conglomerate to distribute product benefits across a range of media forms