Tzvetan Todorov:

In this theory, Todorov mentioned that there are 5 stages that a character will go through; those are Equilibrium, Disruption, Recognition Repair the Damage and Equilibrium Again. There are a lot of works that has been implementing this narrative structure in the story.

Steve Neale:

Neale believes that films of a type (genre, like romance or horror) should include features that are similar, so the audience know it is a horror film or romance, but also include features that are different, to keep an audience interested. This is his theory of repetition and difference

David Hesmondhalgh:

Most products are consumed when used and have to be bought again, but media products are bought once and continually used – they never wear out.

Cultural industries: Film, television, radio, music, books and press

Creative industries: Design, architecture and advertising.

Vladimir Propp:

Vladimir Propp was a folklorist researcher interested in the relationship between characters and narrative . Propp argued that stories are character driven and that plots develop from the decisions and actions of characters and how they function in a story.

Propps 8 different character types:

• The Hero
• The Helper
• The Villain
• The False Hero
• The Donor
• The Dispatcher
• The Princess
• The Princess’s Father

Stuart Hall:

Stuart Hall’s REPRESENTATION theory is that there is not a true representation of people or events in a text, but there are lots of ways these can be represented.

Culture is defined as a space of ​​interpretative struggle. He argued that the media not only reflects reality but also “produces” it while “reproducing” the dominant cultural order, in particular the order inherited from the Empire.

Judith Butler:

JUDITH BUTLER questions the belief that certain gendered behaviours are natural, illustrating the ways that one’s learned performance of gendered behaviour (what we commonly associate with femininity and masculinity) is an act of sorts, a performance, one that is imposed upon us by normative heterosexuality.

Product: The Missing TV series (season 2 episode 1)

Media Representations:

The Missing provides a range of representational areas to explore; gender, the family, place,
issues, events, class

• Representation of place – northern Europe and the Middle East

• Feminist debates – Violence and the representation of gender. This could include the controversy around using violent crime against women as popular entertainment

Media Industries:

The Missing is the BBC’s response to the success of ITV’s Broadchurch which reintroduced the English language extended serial format to UK drama schedules following the success of foreign language series such as The Killing and the The Bridge. It is an example of co-operation between the BBC, STARZ (USA) and the Belgian government’s Tax Shelter scheme.

Media Audiences:

The production, distribution and circulation of The Missing 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

Product: Witnesses TV series (season 1 episode 1)

The production, distribution and circulation of Witnesses 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 advertising campaigns (trailers, websites at home and abroad) for the series demonstrate
how media producers target, attract and potentially construct audiences.

Social, political, economic and cultural contexts:

Witnesses is part of cultural phenomenon of the early twenty-first century which for the first time saw TV series not in the English language become part of mainstream UK broadcasting

The series used the genre to explore – amongst other themes – society’s fear of and desire for violence, social isolation and changing gender roles

Audience:

Hypodermic model (passive consumption):  in which the SENDER is transferring a MESSAGE, through a MEDIUM (eg Print, radio, TV, etc) that has a direct effect on the RECEIVER. OR WHO, SAYS WHAT, THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL, TO WHOM, TO WHAT EFFECT.

Can be traced back to Harold Lasswell 1927 who wrote “propaganda technique in the world war.”  ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’

This approach was later adapted by Shannon and Weaver in 1949, as the Transmission model of Communication, which included other elements, such as NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK.

Industries

David Hesmondhalgh describes the media industry as a risky business.

PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, CONSUMPTION. – write about those.

Mergers, Globalisation, Regulation.

Language

Genre, semiotics, narrative, structure, codes and conventions,

Representation

Post colonialism

Key words

1. Hypodermic model (passive consumption)

Early theoretical work on the relationship (or effects) of media consumption are often traced back to Harold Lasswell, who developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’ (link). As Martin Moore notes, Lasswell, as a behavioural scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1 (2019:122). 

2. Two Step Flow of Communication (active consumption)

At the same time Paul Lazarfeld recognised that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. As such, in 1948 he developed the Two Step Flow model of communication, which took account of the way in which mediated messages are not directly injected into the audience, but while also subject to noise, error, feedback etc, they are also filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.

As Martin Moore suggests, ‘people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read or heard in the media. Voters were far more influenced by their friends, their families and their colleagues’ (2019:124).

3. Uses and Gratifications (active selection)

The distinction is this approach is rather than categorising the audience as passive consumers of messages, either directly from source, or from opinion leaders, this theory recognises the decision making process of the audience themselves. As Elihu Katz explains the Uses and Gratifications theory diverges from other media effect theories that question: what does media do to people?, to focus on: what do people do with media?

1. information / education
2. empathy and identity
3. social interaction
4. entertainment
5. escapism

It is suggested that much of this research was informed by Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs (1954), which argues that people actively looked to satisfy their needs based on a hierarchy of social and psychological desires. Maslow’s thinking was centred around Humanistic psychology According the web page ‘Humanist Psychology’ (link here) the basic principle behind humanistic psychology is simple and can be reduced to identify the most significant aspect of human existence, which is to attain personal growth and understanding, as ‘only through constant self-improvement and self-understanding can an individual ever be truly happy‘.

Metanarratives- Provides audience with moments that draw attention to the idea that they are watching a story.

Frame stories- Stories told inside stories, testing Todorov’s ideal narrative structure through the presentation of nested moments of equilibrium and disequilibrium.

The difference between the culture industries and other industries is that the fact they run off/ adapt towards the majority/dominant culture to appeal to them more.

Public service broadcasting

Public service broadcasting is a non profit organisation which is independent but relies on the government for money. Its an organisation for everyone.

The ethos of the BBC is to inform, entertain and educate.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Poster 1-Titanic

• Name of actors starring in the film
• Title
• Small print displaying key companies and people
• Information on previous films
• Titanic ship in the centre (dominant signifier)
• Strapline

Poster 2-Scream

• Title
• Strapline
• Mask placed in the top centre.
• Release date
• Name of actors starring

Poster 3-Oceans Eleven