Deutschland 83
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.
The Capital
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
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 November 2016, Capital won the best TV movie/mini series award at the 44th International Emmy Awards.
Deutschland 83 has received a number of international and domestic awards including an International Emmy Award,[66] a Peabody Award,[67]Grimme Prize,[68] The Golden Nymph,[69] a Metropolis Award,[70] two C21 Drama Awards,[71] a Golden Camera,[72] the “Special Jury Award” of the Roma Fiction Fest,[73] and Series Mania 2015 for Best World Series.
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.
The two i’ve picked: No offence and The Killing
The Killing
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. | | |
| | | | |
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
Deutschland 83 and Capital
Capital:
Media Language:
– A complex mainstream television product in which the codes and conventions of crime drama are intertwined with aspects of social realism
Media representation:
– Capital provides a wide range of representational areas to explore; the family, place, nation, class, ethnicity, race and issues.
– Explore the Steve Neale’s representation theory
– It is within the hybrid genre – drama, social realism and
crime genres
– Representation of place – London and by implication, the nation
– Analysis of how the representations convey values, attitudes and beliefs about the world
Media Industries:
– Capital is a BBC programme
– It fulfils the demand of public service broadcasting
– It has a purpose to ‘inform, educate and entertain’ and could be seen as part of the need to represent different groups, nations and regions.
– Capital is a Kudos production for the BBC, an independent company which also produces
successful programmes for other broadcasters.
– Kudos specialises in TV series which can be sold or remade for the US market, making it
typical of contemporary media institutions which operate globally rather than nationally
Media Audiences:
– The production, distribution and circulation of Capital 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
– Follows Gerbner’s cultivation theory
– Follows Hall’s reception theory
– The way in which different audience interpretations reflect social, cultural and historical circumstances is evident in the analysis of Capital which is explicitly linked to contemporary issues.
– The advertising campaigns (trailers, websites at home and abroad) for the series demonstrate how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences
Deutschland 83:
Narrative:
– How does the use of the narrative conventions of the spy thriller and crime drama – use of enigmas, binary oppositions, restricted and omniscient narration etc. – position the
audience?
– The narrative of Deutschland 83 has been controversial – particularly in Germany -through its use of binary oppositions to contrast East and West Germany
– The role of the hero and effect of audience alignment with Martin Rauch, a Stasi Officer
– The narrative of Deutschland 83 can be defined as postmodern in its self-reflexive style
– Narratology including Todorov
Genre:
– Conventions of the TV series and the way in which this form is used to appeal to
audiences
– Definition of the series as belonging to the spy thriller genre
– Conventions of the period drama and reasons for its popularity
– Analysing the use of specific genres to discuss wider issues in society
– Genre theory including Neale
Media Representations:
– Representation of national and regional identity (East and West Germany (Europe))
– Representation of gender: male hero and spy, the female ‘love interest’ etc., the way
characters signify wider issues in society.
– Analysis of how the representations convey values, attitudes and beliefs about the world –
both contemporary and past.
– Theories of representation including Hall
– Feminist theories including bell hooks and Van Zoonen (role of women)
Media Industries:
– It is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television (German and
American), positioning it to exploit the national and global market.
– Bought by C4 in Britain as part of their ‘Walter presents…’
– Cultural industries including Hesmondhalgh
Media Audiences:
– The production, distribution and circulation of Deutschland 83 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.
– The reception of the series in Germany, Europe and the US
– 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
Research
– Commercial media = organisation that makes or distributes products for economic gain. Media is usually made for entertainment purposes
– BBC creates a total revenue of £115 million = https://www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport/2014/executive/finances/commercial.html
– Kudos creates £5m in commercial interest rates = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudos_(production_company)
– Horizontal Integration = BBC has horizontal integration with BBC News, BBC radio 1
– Endemol Shine Productions UK bought out and now own Kudos the production company
– Vertical integration = BBC has vertical integration with CBBC, BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3 and BBC news
– Media concentration/convergence = describes the reduction in the number of media organisations that produce products
– Media concentration/convergence = Kudos is owned by Endemol Shine Group UK, who are under the News Corp, who are then under Murdoch and his empire.
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 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
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
creaitivity vs commericality
are curran and seaton right in suggesting that mass audience products tend to be sanitised or lightweight?
conglomerate advanatages
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 Killing:
Birger Larsen director
Main cast :
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?
How was “The Killing” Distributed?
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?
What is the drawback of a self-regulated system?
| 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) |
Capital and Deutschland 8
Capital
Capital won the best TV movie/mini-series award at the 44th International Emmy Awards.[10]
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.
Bullet points identified from Curran and Seaton:
– The numerous radical press pamphlets and small scale newspapers of the Victorian Era, Curran argues, were engines for social and political change.
– Curran and Seaton suggest that a second and equally turbulent wave of ownership consolidation took place in the latter half of the 20th century
– Money wins, while both audience size and audience share determine content
– 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
– There was much to celebrate at the outset of the internet’s invention in terms of its potential to challenge the top down nature of traditional media.
– Radio 4 is only 1 of a few UK based radio stations that are dominated by spoken work broadcasting
– Commercial media has not been able to dominate UK television and radio markets completely
– Media formats that are successful are replicated to deliver to mass audiences. For example, the Great British Bake Off has morphed into the Great British Sewing Bee
– Curran and Seaton argue that the Uk government policy is responsible in part, for the widespread domination of the media landscape by huge conglomerates.