The pair I’ve chosen is The Killing and No Offense.
The Killing:
“Inspector Sarah Lund is due to move to Sweden, however, after the murder of a young girl, she is unable to leave the case behind. She spends the next 20 days investigating the teenager’s death. It interlocks three different stories.”
The primary audience for The Killing are adults, probably those who speak Swedish as this is the language the show is shot in. Because The Killing can be found on Netflix, the secondary audience is probably Netflix users.
No Offense:
No Offense is written by Paul Abbott, and is a police series which features a team of cops, based in a criminal-ridden part of town, work together to keep the streets safe.
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.
Money wins, while audience size and audience share determine content.
Succesfull media formats are often replicated to deliver to mass audiences.
Horizontal intergration of large conglomerates can reduce production costs while maximising profits.
Advertising prompts media broadcasters to make content that focuses on capturing an ABC1 demographic. – (wealthier demographic of people.)
Products with less popularity are often sidelined into late night slots on secondary channels.
Commercial Media:
No Offense‘s PSB is Channel 4.
Fox Broadcasting Service is American owned commercial broadcaster for The Killing.
Produced by DR (Dutch) and ZDF Enterprises (German)
DR = CEO Maria Rorbye Ronn, Public service radio and television broadcasting, founded 1925 Denmark
ZDF Enterprises = German, founded 1993, child company to ZDF (independent non profit, public service broadcaster), THOMAS BELLUT (general director)
First American
APPEALS TO INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE
Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for this product?
What audience theories can you apply to which help you to develop a better understanding of the potential target audience?
What organisations (rather than individuals) are involved in the production, distribution & exhibition of this product?
DISTRIBUTED on Amazon Prime
Female protagonist – radical
Crime drama – stephe neale genre theory – repertoire of elements (repeated features, specific to crime drama so it’s recognisable to the audience)
Narratology – TODOROV – beginning, middle, end, equilibrium then balances out again at the end, can happen more than once, has to be resolved to end a story
Feminist critical thinking BELL HOOKS, VAN ZOONEN
Audience theory – Hall – theory of preferred reading
Primary audience – Directly receive communication (Viewers of the TV show), crime drama show lovers aged 16 upwards, swedish people
Secondary audience – Indirectly receive communication (People who analyse it, critics), netflix watchers
Tertiary audience – People are familiar with someone conveying the communication, focus group (friends / family of the producers / actors)
Audience theories: Reception theory / preferred reading
Organisations involved :
Production – Søren Sveistrup (screenwrite) (has also been remade by Turkish and US TV (AMC)
Distribution – (How it’s shown to an audience) , Amazon, BBC4 and Netflix
Exhibition – TV show, moving image
NO OFFENCE
OWNERSHIP
Anna Ferguson Simon Meyers Philip Leach
m=Manchester
Mainstream TV series using code and conventions of the police crime drama intertwined with aspects of social realism
THEORY OF GRATIFICATION
TODOROV
STEPHE NEALE GENRE THEORY – hybrid – combination of more than one genre to create one sub genre (drama, social realism, crime)
Negtative and positive representation of stereotypes (female police)
RADICAL – dominance of female characters (counter-type)
REPRESENTATION THEORIES – HALL
Streamed on Channel4, All4 and in France – public service broadcasting DISTRIBUTION
The Killing is a Danish TV series released in 2007 that was adapted to an English version in 2011.
The primary audience for this product is people who are interested in crime dramas, as this is the genre of the series.
The secondary audience would be people who wish to learn about the TV culture of foreign countries like Denmark since this series is produced in and set in Denmark.
No Offence is a production by AbbotVision, An independent company founded by the writer Paul Abbot who also wrote Shameless.
No Offence was a critical and commercial success in both the UK and France, similarly to The Killing No offence became popular in a different country to it’s country of origin.
Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) – No offence was originally aired by the public service broadcast Company Channel 4- Media made less to make money and focusing more on artistic intent.
“High quality minority interest programming is provided [by PSBs]”
“Diverse Ownership creates diverse products”
Commercial Media: Channel 4(NF)
Public Service Broadcaster (PSB): Channel 4(NF), DR(TK)
Horizontal integration:
Vertical Integration: Channel 4 Television Corporation is the owner of Channel 4. C4TC owns other companies in the Television industry such as Film4. The parent company is the department for digital, culture, media and Sport, a department of the UK government.
Hesmondhalgh: How media Companies minimise risk and maximise profit
HESMONDHALGH
CASE STUDIES
Internationalisation
No offence became popular in France and was broadcast on the French national broadcast channel, France2. The Killing was broadcast in the UK were it became popular in a different country to it’s country of origin.
Remakes
The Killing received an English language remake of the original series
Serialisation
No Offence used the same cast as Shameless, A series produced by the same company who produced No Offence, Abbotvision.
Livingstone and Lunt:
Consumer-based Regulation System – Based around the desires of audiences who consume the media.
Citizen-based Regulation System – Directs media producers to “contribute to the enrichment of cultural and social life and the potential for self-development of individuals, groups and communities”.
The implications of the 2003 communications act on media regulation: Created Ofcom, a government regulatory organisation As a result, independent televsion production companies were freed up to produce content that was more commercially viable (Consumer based rather than Citizen based). “Little accountability was forthcoming regarding actions to further citizen interests”.
The drawback of a self-regulated system is that without outside regulation there is no way for standards and laws to be enforced within media companies.
CATEGORY
FAMILIARITIES: from your chosen CSP’s
DIFFERENCES: from your chosen CSP’s
THEORY
CHARACTERS
Both in The Killing and No Offence detective characters are female, some middle aged instead of the traditional young male, independent character
PROPP, presents the idea of STOCK CHARACTERS, inc ‘hero’, ‘false hero’, etc.
NARRATIVE
CHATMAN / FREYTAG /TODOROV
THEMES
murder story in the killing – In no Offence, the police team is dedicated to enforcing law and justice in a “criminal-ridden” area.
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)
The narrative of Deutschland 83 has been controversial – particularly in Germany -through its use of binary oppositions to contrast East and West Germany
The narrative of Deutschland 83 can be defined as postmodern in its self-reflexive style
Conventions of the period drama and reasons for its popularity
It is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television (German and American), positioning it to exploit the national and global market.
Media Language The series is visually interesting, constructing a stylized representation of ‘real’ places which transmit meanings about characters, places and issues. A detailed analysis of different aspects of mise-en-scene will provide students with a strong foundation to build on in terms of analyzing representations, ideological meanings and audience positioning. Analysis should include: • Mise-en-scene (placing on stage) analysis • Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings • Postmodernism: Use of pastiche and bricolage (construction or creation from a diverse range of available things.
Curran and seaton
commercial media – an organisation that makes or distributes products for economic gain. commercial media usually makes products for entertainment purposes.
A total of 20 broadcasters and subscription VoD services have picked up German thriller series Deutschland 83 from FremantleMedia International (FMI).
2. Media industry is driven, Curran and Seaton tell us, by the twin forces of creativity and business
3. Media creatives are tasked to gives us exciting innovative and aesthetically pleasing products.
4. UK government policy is responsible in part for widespread domination of media landscape by huge conglomerates (deutschland 83 RTL group, free mantlemedia)
Horizontal integration – ownership of subsidiaries that produce similar types of products
fremantlemedia producers of Deutschland 83 have the subsidiaries fremantlemedia north america and wildside which both produce films.
media concentration/ convergence a term used to describe the reduction in the number of media organisations that produce products
capital is owned by kudos which an independently owned company which is owned by parent company Endemol
Category
Familiarities
Differences
Theory
Charecters
PROPP, presents the idea of STOCK CHARACTERS, inc ‘hero’, ‘false hero’, ‘princess’ (Witnesses), ‘father figure’, ‘despatcher’ (Missing)
Narrative
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)
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”
Walter presents, Deutschland 83, The two-step flow of communication model says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media.
A Danish tv programme that’s synopsis is ‘a crime series that follows the police investigation of the murder of a young girl. It interlocks three different stories.’ There is 44 episodes and was produced in Vancouver by Veena Sud it can fit into these genres: Serial, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Crime film, Adventure, Crime Fiction, Action/Adventure and Police procedural. Stream on amazon prime or BBC but original broadcast was DR1. Denmark’s first television station.
Original UK air date
UK ratings (BBC Four)
1
“Episode 1”
7 January 2007
1,550,000
22 January 2011
472,000
CATEGORY
FAMILIARITIES
DIFFERENCES
THEORY
CHARACTERS
the detective who has a ‘natural’ instinct for law and order
The Killing, The mising has the main detective as female
PROPP
NARRATIVE
the first episode often introduces a lot of different characters
The missing girl was found dead in the first episode.
TODOROV
THEMES
the use of binary oppositions around familiar themes: family, community, law and order, justice.
identity. a female is the main hero.
LEVI-STRAUSS
REPRESENTATION
reactionary representations of police, family, law and order, urban/rural
Radical gender roles and having a male sidekick
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.
Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for this product?
The primary audience is people who speak Swedish or are Sweden because it is a language they would understand. Secondary could be Netflix watchers.
the character of Sarah Lund is a familiar detective stereotype and conforms to the concept of the celebrity detective
No Offence
No Offence is a British television police procedural drama on Channel 4, created by Paul Abbott. It follows a team of detectives from Friday Street police station, a division of the Manchester Metropolitan Police (a fictional version of the Greater Manchester Police). Channel 4
No Offence was broadcast on France2 the public service broadcaster, to very high viewing figures; the perceived weakness of French broadcast TV provides opportunities for export.
the series’ focus on the detective narrative and crime drama is familiar and understood globally, the representation of the independent, female detective has proven popularity.
The Killing is an American crime drama television series that premiered 2007 , on AMC, based on the Danish television series Forbrydelsen (The Crime).
film was originally danish, however was reproduced in April 3, 2011, in english language – this helped target a more national and global audience, as it gained a larger audience through having a recreating in a different language.
No Offfence
No Offence is a British television police procedural drama on Channel 4, created by Paul Abbott. It follows a team of detectives from Friday Street police station, a division of the Manchester Metropolitan Police (a fictional version of the Greater Manchester Police). Looks at social issues in Manchester
produced by Paul Abbots company AbbottVision – an independent company – Paul Abbots also wrote the shameless ( an American comedy drama.
deals with a range of social, cultural and politcal issues arising from comtemporay contexts. – the Manchester police force is used as a microcosm of society – focus of case featuring children with downs syndrome explores the position of people with disabilities in wider society.
The economic context can be explored through
patterns of ownership and production and how the product is marketed nationally and globally.in the uk, first e.p was launched with 2.5 million viewers – aired on Channel 4 (Biggest mid week drama for around 3 years)
the series average remained at 2.5 million and finished 47% up on channel 4s slot average
In France, the first episode was launched in 2016, feb 26th on the channel France 2 – watched by 5.46 million viewers , 20.4% of tv audience.
tv series that shows codes and conventions of the police procedural crime drama – combined with aspects of social realism
genre = crime – allows students to be educated as it enables us to understand and reflect on the dynamic nature of genre.
miss en scene ( arrange of props, scenery etc)
provides a wide range of representational areas to explore: gender, location, city, race etc (represents Manchester and its implications of crime.
The advertising campaigns (trailers, websites at home and abroad) for the series demonstrate how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences – we can link this to Cultivation theory (Gerbner)
cast:
Joanna Scanlan – a cast iron cop
Elaine Cassidy – a strong yet impulsive member of the team
Alexandra Roach – equally brillant detective
CATEGORY
SIMILARITIES
DIFFERENCES
THEORY
CHARACTERS
– They both have female detectives – both have a similar instinct on the case
(The Killing) has the main detective as female
PROPP ( presenting areas of stock charaters) – both present a stock character of. hero and a villian
NARRATIVE
(The killing) found out she was dead at start, normally they are found dead at the end
TODOROV/CHATMAN/TODOROV – both series use key themes to structure stories and characters around themes of family, community, law and order and justice.
THEMES
The killing – murder story No Offence – police team is dedicated to enforcing law and justice in a criminal ridden area. ( Manchester)
identity
LEVI-STRAUSS
REPRESENTATION
radical response- the detectives are females, normally seen as males.
PIERCE / BARTHES / SAUSSURE (SEMIOTICS) radical and reactionary representation of police, family, law and order – this is seen through a range of signs from audio, visual graphics, narrative etc.
TECHNICAL CODES / LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc)
clues are identified throughout the series
curran and seaton
power without responsibility is concerned ( media landscapes has fallen under the control of global media conglomerates )
creaitivity vs commericality
media industry is driven by the force of creativity and business
media creatives – writers, directors, photographers – tasked to give us exciting athesticaly pleasing products
media business managers –
are curran and seaton right in suggesting that mass audience products tend to be sanitised or lightweight?
conglomerate advanatages
argue that prohibitive costs and risks associated with the production of media products has resulted in the organisation of media companies into vertically and horizontally aligned conglomerates.
COMMERICAL MEDIA – an organisation that makes or distributes products for economic gain. – makes profit for entertainment purposes.
No offence production company (abbotvison, an independent television production company) aired the programme on channel 4, making a profit of
horizontal integration = no offen was made by a independent production company called abbottvison, and has then aired onto the company channel 4.
vertically integration =
the killing: the produced by DR in coproduction with ZDF enterprises ( media company in minz germany)
no offence:
media concentration and media convergence =
The Killing is a detective crime drama that originally premiered on AMC. After two seasons AMC decided to cancel the series, but after a renegotiation between FOX and Netflix
The primary audience, is Swedish people as the series in spoken in swedish.
The secondary audience, In the wake of the successful series, The Killing became another Scandinavian crime hit with British viewers when it was shown on in the spring of 2011. Although subtitled, it attracted more viewers than, scored audience appreciation figures of 94%, and has been described as “the best series currently on TV”. The success has created an interest in all things Danish, and the female detective’s has been the subject of newspaper articles as well as becoming a sought after online item.
The tertiary audience, As well as the UK, DR also sold the series to a number of other broadcasters worldwide, and The Killing was eventually shown in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Russia and Spain with varying degrees of success.
Organisations: Produced by DR in co-production with ZDF Enterprises.
Audience theories: Reception theory Stuart Hall … A more conservative audience may respond negatively to the Swedish liberal attitudes to sex, … To Sofie Gråbøl’s sweatered detective in ‘The Killing.
Definitions:
Production = These are the stages that are created in order to produce a finished piece of media.
Distribution = Refers to how the media source is given to its audience (ie online, DVD, videos and E-Books).
Exhibition = This is how the media source is shown to the audience, such as through a tablet screen or a cinema screen.
What organisations (rather than individuals) are involved in the production, distribution & exhibition of this product?
Who is behind the Production?
There are two versions of this programme: one developed in the US by Netflix and Fox Television Studios and another developed in Danish by Danish production company DR in collaboration with ZDF Enterprises.
Originally, before the programme was taken over by Fox Television Studios and Netflix, it was produced by a production company called DR in collaboration with ZDF Enterprises.
The American version of this TV series was originally created by Veena Sud, it was also produced by Fox Television Studios in collaboration with Fuse Entertainment and later taken over by Netflix
How was “The Killing” Distributed?
In January 2007, it was broadcasted on Danish television for the first time.
Since being broadcasted on Danish television, it has also been distributed to many countries worldwide.
There has been many TV shows based on “The Killing” and it has both a Danish and English (US) version.
The English US version is available on Netflix and the Danish version is available online on Amazon.
What audience theories can be made from this TV show?
Stuart Hall’s theory of reception can be linked to this TV series as there will be 3 types of people: the people who love the series and want to continue watching it, people who may like the series but prefer a different programme and those people who absolutely despise the TV show and prefer to watch an alternative. However, it can be argued that George Gerbner’s cultivation theory can be applied to this TV show as some people may despise it, however, their views might change overtime the more that they see advertisements of the TV show and the more that they hear about people liking the TV show.
Audiences
Primary audience = this would be people who speak and understand Danish as this programme is produced in Danish and would want to watch the TV series again.
Secondary audience = these would be people such as critics and people who aren’t likely to watch the film, however they want to analyse the aspects that go into the TV programme.
Tertiary audience = these are the people that do not want to watch the TV show and they are only watching it because there is a theme that interests them. The tertiary audience for “The Killing” would be people who do not speak/understand Danish and people who like TV shows in the mystery genre. The tertiary audience would not want to re-watch the series again ,unlike the primary audience.
No Offense:
AbbottVision
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.
Plot:
Single mother Dinah Kowalska, an off duty detective constable, pursues a murder suspect through the streets of Manchester, only for him to get knocked down and killed by a bus.
Curran & Seaton:
writers directors actors and photographers are tasked to give us exciting innovative and aesthetically pleasing products. while thise we call medias business managers are responsible for ensuring the profitability and comercial viability of products.
culture is controlled by social elites: media is controlled by a minority of wealthy institutions often work for the benefits of themselves
Commercial media: An organisation that makes or distrubutes products for ecenomic gains (Profit).
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.
Horizontal integration: ownership of subsidiaries that produce similar types of products.
Vertical integration: ownership of subsidaries that enable a media producer to produce, promote and distribute products.
Media concentration/media convergence: A term used to describe the reduction in the number of media organisations that produce products.
Hesmondhalgh
case Studies
Star formatting
No offence directed by Paul Abbott is also well known for directing shameless. The killing is directed by Birger Larsen who is well known for his award winning film Dance of the polar Bears.
Changing audience consumption patterns
No offence originally only viewable on channel 4 is now available to view on all 4 at all times. The Killing is now available to view on Amazon Prime video.
Genre based formatting
Both No offence and The killing have females portraying detectives as the lead role on their series.
What is the difference between a consumer based media regulation system and a citizen based regulation system?
consumer based media regulation is designed principally to encourage media plurality and to ensure that a diversity of broadcasters operate within the media landscape. Allows audiences to be able to access a broad range of content, opinions and ideas. (What you want).
Citizen based regulation is maintaining acceptable standards of content. Content makers are tasked to ensure that accuracy is maintained. (what you need)
What impact did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation?
Allowed consumer based regulation to dominate the media landscape
superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984
Created Ofcom. trying to ensure that the media landscape is not dominated by a single organisation.
Ofcom established institutional structures and roles relating to consumer policy. strikingly little equivalent activity or accountability was forthcoming regarding actions to further citizen interests.
independent television companies were freed up to produce content that was more commercially viable.
lacks the civic minded republicanism that had been fostered within previous regulatory frameworks.
What is the drawback of a self-regulated system?
Allows for wider variety in the media landscape
Freedom to say and do whatever you want
newspapers and advertisers are self regulated
‘Get away with anything’
CATEGORY
FAMILIARITIES: from your chosen CSP’s
DIFFERENCES: from your chosen CSP’s
THEORY
CHARACTERS
Both lead roles are females. Both detectives.
One is from Sweden. One is from England
PROPP, presents the idea of STOCK CHARACTERS, inc ‘hero’, ‘false hero’, Within both shows both lead characters are portrayed as heroes as they are trying to solve a murder as they are detectives.
NARRATIVE
THEMES
REPRESENTATION
TECHNICAL CODES / LANGUAGE OF MOVING IMAGE (music, setting, props, lighting, use of camera, editing etc)
Curran and Seaton argue that the UK government is partially responsible for the widespread domination of the media landscape by some large conglomerates. – This links to No Offence because Channel 4 ed the show therefore the UK can be responsible for the widespread of the domination of media.
Money wins, while audience size and audience can share determine content. – Money is the primary reason these shows are made (to make profits)
Successful media formats are often replicated to deliver to mass audiences.
Commercial broadcasting is based on the sale of audiences to advertisers.
The success of horizontal and vertical integration means that most commercial print, film television based media in America and the UK is now controlled only by 6 global players
Horizontal integration of large conglomerates can make profits larger whilst reducing production costs.
commissioned and originally broadcast by the BBC which gives the series brand identity internationally – particularly through its subsidiaries BBC America and BBC Worldwide
Kudos, the independent producer of the series, specializes in TV series which can be sold or remade for the US market, making it typical of contemporary media institutions that operate globally rather than nationally
Freemantle (international production and distribution company), Pivot TV (US), and BBC Worldwide all in deals to distribute the series globally
promoted in the UK as a ‘state of the nation’ event series
themes and setting are also constructed to appeal to an international audience: setting includes recognizable London iconography, familiar to an international audience from film and TV. Themes span the domestic and global – family melodrama, romance as well as reference to the economic crash, terrorism, and migration
the series combines the national style of social realism with the generic conventions of the crime drama and focus on a crime to be solved
multi-cultural, a multinational cast of characters addresses an international audience with diverse cultural experiences.
Deutschland
distributed by Freemantle, a British production and distribution company, subsidiary of RTL media, a global company which is designed to target an international audience
it is a co-production of AMC Networks, SundanceTV (US) and RTL Television (German and American), positioning it to exploit the national and global market
AMC and RTL were able to develop the series in the context of new opportunities for distribution and exhibition – e.g. the Walter Presents platform in the UK, which is a subsidiary of C4, exploiting broadcast and digital opportunities
focuses on German – and European – history and politics
the cast of relative unknowns – even in the country of production – were still used to promote the series through the focus on young, visually appealing male and female leads
• themes and setting are constructed to appeal to an international audience through the familiar narrative tropes of an ‘innocent abroad’ and the “Romeo and Juliet” romance. The series is visually stylish using a familiar postmodern style which exploits the current popularity of retro styles in fashion and music
• exploitation of social media; part of the Sundance TV marketing strategy was the use of historical sliders, live-tweeting of the program by the actress who played the lead character, playlists of 1980s music linked to Spotify and through the Twitter account.
With reference to Witnesses (Les Temoins, France) and The Missing (UK).
Witnesses (Les Temoins, France):
product of French public service broadcaster – France 2 – associated with quality, serious drama in continental Europe
France 2 was able to develop the series in the context of new opportunities for distribution and exhibition – e.g. the Walter Presents platform in the UK which is a subsidiary of C4, exploiting broadcast and digital opportunities. Series distributed in US, Australia, Europe
style, content and characters of the series deliberately designed to replicate international success of Nordic Noir in order to target audiences beyond the national
The Missing contains a mix of French regional, local identity with more familiar genre conventions and characters
the series was marketed using familiar (to national audiences) actors but focused on the familiar iconography of the thriller and horror aspects abroad
the postmodern, hyperreal style is fashionable; internationally recognizable, and popular.
