This theory suggests that NARRATIVES (=myths) are STRUCTURED around BINARY OPPOSITIONS eg: good v evil; human v alien; young v old etc etc. As such, it encourages students to understand narrative as a structure of key (oppositional) themes that underpin action and dialogue to develop a set of messages that the audience are able to decode and understand. The use of BINARY OPPOSITIONS also creates an idea of conflict between the two sides for the audience to support who they want.

It therefore creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film, TV programme, advert, music video, animation etc. So in this way audiences are encouraged to make a judgements about characters, groups, places, history, society etc. In this way, texts can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society, which would make it a reactionary text ,or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society, in which case it could be seen as a radical text.

BBC News – John Kelly

Released on 20 June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment, its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain’s streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later – the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.
But, clearly, it expressed the mood of the early days of Thatcher’s Britain for many. “It was clear that something was very, very, wrong,”

With a mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain’s burgeoning multiculturalism. The band’s 2 Tone record label gave its name to a genre which fused ska, reggae and new wave and, in turn, inspired a crisply attired youth movement.

My film will be about a construction worker who is working on restoring an old abandoned house, he will then find a hidden basement in the house which once he enters seals him inside a labyrinth of hallways and different environments he will have to try and find a way out whilst avoiding all of the different creatures that lurks within the hallways. The film will be a horror with elements of humour and suspense.

A really good way to think about NARRATIVE STRUCTURE is to recognise that most stories can be easily broken down into a BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END. The Bulgarian structuralist theorist Tztevan Todorov presents this idea as:

Equilibrium
Disruption
New equilibrium

Multiple equilibrium sequences- contemporary media products often try to produce a roller-coaster effect for their audiences by deploying multiple disruptions before resolving them in a final transformation. This offers audiences multiple moments of narrative calm and excitement.

Tangible elements of producing media :
– Actors
– Extras
– Filming equipment
– Stylists
– Accommodation
– Director
– Prop Team
– Stunt Team
– Editing

Conceptual elements of producing media :
– Storyline
– Performance
– Emotions
– Events
– Characters
– Themes
– Protagonists/Antagonists
– Linear/Cyclical Structure

Key Terms

Peripeteia – a change in fortune
Anagnorisis – a moment of dramatic revelation within the protagonist
Chronological – an order where events pass in an order of time.
Sequential – when a media product is following a logical order or sequence.
Catharsis – realising yours’ and societies’ virtues

Proppian character stereotypes are used
In their purest forms these stereotypes normally revolve around heroes, princesses, and villains.
Flexi – Narratives
Long format television products deploy multiple three act structures in a similar pattern to the master plot.
Condensed equilibriums
Smaller audiences tend to have a smaller range of concentration so producers tend to move the plot forward faster to keep the audience engaged.

Blinded by the Light is an example of a US/UK co-production and distribution.

Its distributorNew Line Cinema is associated with ‘indie’ films although it is a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Pictures, part of the global conglomerate , WarnerMedia.

New Line Cinema –  is an American Film production studio and a label of the Warner Bros.

WarnerMedia – is a Global Conglomerate of Warner Bros, Home Box Office, Turner Entertainment Networks, CNN Worldwide, etc

Blinded by the Light is a low-mid budget production ($15m) co-funded by New Line Cinema (an American production studio owned by Warner Brothers Pictures Group) and independent

Blinded by the light has a trailer on Youtube posted on the Kinocheck.com channel with 1.1 million views.

It has a twitter page called “Blinded by the light movie” which has 3,489 followers and following 6 people.

 Distribution techniques – reliance on new technology; VOD, streaming.

• In the present day, a lot of people aspire to be in a creative occupation however it is a struggle when you aren’t in a family or know people who can get you into it, no matter the creative ability you have, e.g cultural work in the complex professional era is that many more people seem to have wanted to work professionally in the cultural industries than have succeeded in do so. Few people make it, and surprisingly little attention has been paid in research to how people do so, and what stops others from getting on.
• David is currently a Professor of Media, music and culture at the University of Leeds.
• He has wrote books such as Understanding Media: Inside Celebrity (Maidenhead Open University Press, 2005), Media Production (Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2006), Media and Society, 6th edition (New York: Bloomsbury, 2019) and many more.
• Hesmondhalgh analyses the relationship between media and work as well as the media industry.
• Applying/getting a job requires luck or a family member to be successful.
• David Hesmondalgh says that the creative/cultural industry is a risky business.
• Businesses are divided into three sectors such as production, distribution and consumption.
• The strategies that minimise the risks are strategies such as the ‘Horizontal integration’ which enables large-scale institutions to achieve scale base cost savings while also allowing them to maximise profits by positioning brands so they do not compete with one another. A second way to minimise the risks is the vertical integration, this is where production, distribution, marketing specialist subsidiaries and media conglomerates can control all aspects of their supply chain while also achieving significant cost saving efficiencies. The final strategy of minimising risk is the multi-sector integration, this is the buying of companies across the culture industry, allowing for further cross-promotion opportunities and the deployment of brands across media platforms.

1. Cultural industries  
   An industrialised culture concerned with producing, reproducing, storing and distributing good
2. Production
   The creation of a piece of media
3. Distribution
   How a piece of media is delivered to masses
4. Exhibition / Consumption
   How media is presented and consumed by the masses of people
5. Media concentration
   The ownership of a piece of media by a number of individuals
6. Conglomerates
   A large company that owns the rights to multiple other company’s that are linked to media
7. Globalisation (in terms of media ownership)
   The worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
8. Cultural imperialism
   A theory that certain nations have a control over media around the world
9. Vertical Integration
   When media company’s own multiple company’s in the same chain of production
10. Horizontal Integration
    A media company that owns multiple company’s of the same value
11. Mergers
    Acquisitions of a media company by another
12. Monopolies
    When either an individual or a company has complete ownership of a genre or sub-genre of media
13. Gatekeepers
    When people determine who can look at specific pieces of media
14. Regulation
    When certain things are blocked from being published by the media
15. Deregulation
    The idea that there should not be regulations on what media can be posted due to the right of free speech
16. Free market
    A voluntary exchange and the law of supply and demand that provides for the economy
17. Commodification  
    The transformation of the relationship, which is trafficked into things that are free of the commercial nature of the relationship.
18. Convergence  
    The merging of media technologies and platforms through digitalization and computer networking
19. Diversity   
    A diversity of ideas, viewpoints or content opinions on a certain media subject
20. Innovation  
    An invention of a new value or idea for journalism

David Hesmondhalgh stats that the media business is a very “Risky Buisiness”. However company’s work towards minimising the risk of the business.

An example of this would be companies acquiring other smaller company’s that are