Week 8: Audiences: Technology and the impact on consumption

This week’s lecture looked at audiences, considering technology and the impact on consumption. When digital television came about it meant that there as an end on the restriction of what audience members could see, it gave the opportunity for diversity along with a chance for audience members to interact with texts that they consumed. An example of this is 'Homocide: The Second Shift' this example is taken from the key reading of Everett where he talks about the website for the show, 'the site also gave web users at home the ability to sift through audio and video clips of the evidence itself, to interview the suspects, and to play an online version of the very arcade computer game that detectives of both shifts had played in the analog and digital worlds.' (Everett and Caldwell 2003, 128)

This relates to how technology has changed the way we consume film and television with the idea of synergy. Making texts available to us on a range of platforms for us to view in our own time. Digital TV has essentially changed the nature in which we watch television. From my own perspective, I use my phone and iPad much more to engage with and consume media rather than sitting and watching the television at the exact time that a programme is shown. Especially now due to smart phones having the ability to everything it makes media consumption a lot easier and a lot different to what it used to be.

Here applies the term of 'second shift aesthetics' which is described as 'a growing and ubiquitous world of digital that employs traditional and modified "programming strategies" in the design of everything from interface and software design to merchandizing and branding campaigns.' (Everett and Caldwell 2003,132) This ties in with my experience of technology as content is now led by audience due to it being available on multi platforms, 'media users can digitally go to almost any content, via multiple channels, at any time of the day or night.' (Everett and Caldwell 2003, 136) Content has become much more diverse and audience based leading audience to have some share hold of power due to interactivity.

In interesting area of research to look at for the development in technology would be how on demand services have become more popular over the years and how more and more channels are offering on demand services online due to the popularity. It would be interesting to see how the audience use these services and what makes them so popular. This analysis would focus closely on the needs of audience and what appeals to them.

Bibliography

Everett, A and Caldwell, J (Eds) (2003), New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality, Routledge, London and New York - pp 127-144.

Week 7: Audiences: What do people do with media?

In this week’s lecture we looked at audiences and what they do with the media looking closely at reception studies. The basis of reception studies differs from the Marxism view and instead says that the audience are not always passive but are rather individuals with different opinions. The view that audience members are actually the ones who hold power. 'It is often argued that the mass media 'give people what they want' and that the viewers, listeners, and readers ultimately determine the content of the media by their choices of what they will read, view, or hear.' (Katz and Foulkes 1962, 377)

The Long and Wall reading looks closely at key theorist Stuart Hall and his idea of encoding/decoding. With this he was 'thinking of the context in which media messages are made and interpreted, of the relationship between producer, text and audience.' (Long and Wall 2012, 308) It is the concept that in media production 'messages are part of a process, encoded in texts in production and then decoded in consumption.' (Long and Wall 2012, 308) However, Hall says that when media texts are decoded by audience members they are not always decoded in the same way due to social situations. Audiences will have one of three readings when consuming media texts: dominant, negotiated or oppositional.

The key reading of Gillespie looks at the idea that western soap opera constructs a 'symbolic community'. The reading focuses on the soap 'Neighbours' and how audience members can relate to characters in the soap and story lines. This ties in with uses and gratifications theory. 'Audiences approach texts out of a purposeful desire to satisfy or 'gratify' necessary personal and social needs.' (Long and Wall 2012, 305) Gillespie talks about the 'personal relationships' and 'personal identity' aspects of uses and gratification theory how audiences talk about popular soap operas to boost friendships and to be involved. Gillespie says 'soap talk is also seen as a way of bonding friendships, since, in discussing the problem that characters face and how effectively they deal with them.' (Gillespie 2003, 319) This fits in with 'personal relationships' while 'viewers may identify with certain characters, seeing themselves as in that characters shoes; they may regard them as a role model, imitating that character's behaviour,' (Gillespie 2003, 320) ties in with 'personal identity'.

The reading that I have acquired this week 'But This Time You Choose!' : Approaching the 'interactive' audience in reality TV' by Su Holmes. This reading is about the interactivity of audience in reality TV. This shares the concept of audiences being active so that they can interact. Holmes says 'that the TV viewer has never been so 'empowered'. Phrases such as 'You decide!' (Big Brother)' (Holmes 2004, 214) This says that audiences do have control rather than just being passive in comparison to what previous power relations were like.

Bibliography

Gillespie, Marie (2003) “Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change” IN Will Brooker and Deborah Jermyn (eds.) The Audience Studies Reader. London: Routledge

Holmes, Su (2004) ‘But this time you choose!’ : Approaching the ‘interactive’ audience in reality TV. Volume 7, Issue 2. Unknown: Sage Publications. pp. 213 - 231

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Investigating audiences: what do people do with media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production,Context (2^nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 300-337

Week 5: Representation: Ideology, Discourse and Power

This week’s lecture focused on representation involving discourse analysis. From the key reading of Long and Wall we can see a key theorist in discourse is Michel Foucault who defines discourse as 'practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak.' (Long and Wall 2012, 363)

'Foucault meant by his definition that discourses are ideas in embedded in what we do, say and think and that these create the terms upon which we know the world.' (Long and Wall 2012, 364)

Foucault did not use the term ideology as he wanted to move away from the idea of hierarchies and Marxist thinking. Instead Foucault 'speaks of regimes of truth' that are produced by practices and languages.' (Long and Wall 2012, 264) in other words known as discourse.

The key reading of David Machin and Andrea Mayr focuses on the idea of critical discourse analysis (CDA). Here the idea is that 'critical discourse analysis has its origins in 'critical linguistics'.  (Machin and Mayr 2012, 2) Meaning that critical linguistics 'show how language and grammar can be used as ideological instruments.' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 2) This is the view that language is a social construction, 'language both shapes and is shaped by society.' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 4) This relates to power as 'CDA assumes that power relations are discursive. In other words, power is transmitted and practised through discourse.' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 4)

With the example of a speech by an old British Prime Minister (Tony Blair) 'Fairclough and Wodak (1977: 273) argue that such language reflects and reproduces power relations in society.' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 6) The idea that the language he used during his speech implied that we should 'know' and 'understand'. However, it became recognised that 'meaning is generally communicated not only through language but also through other semiotic modes' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 6) and this bought about the idea of multimodal CDA.

The key reading also considers the concept of 'linguistic determinism, where our thinking is determined by our language.' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 16). However some linguists see it from a view that 'the way we see the world might be influenced by the kind of language we use rather than be determined by it.' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 16) The reading consists of the idea that the language we use is determined by social factors meaning that 'we use language to create a society' (Machin and Mayr 2012, 17) and this uses the idea of communication as a social semiotic theory.

The discourse analysis of 'The L Word' discusses the way in which sexuality is represented in the series. 'Lesbian sexual identity is represented as settled and stable' (L word page 179) while 'bisexuality is, in itself, "gory".' (L word page 181) The L Word discourse analysis raises the dominance and power of lesbianism producing an ideology of it being as a norm unlike bisexuality. However the representation of lesbians in 'The L Word' are of pretty women wearing make-up, when Shane is introduced to the show she fits the stereotype of a butch lesbian as 'she is symbolically and physically "boyish" in nature' (L word page 186) thus not fitting the ideology of the 'normal' lesbian in 'The L Word'.

Bibliography

Beirne, Rebecca (2008) Televising Queer Women, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 179 - 193

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) 'Discourse, power and media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2^nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 363-369

Machin, D and Mayr, A (2012) How to do a Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Sage. pp 1-29

Week 4: Censorship, effects, and moral panics: what do the media do to people?

This week’s lecture discussed media regulation, 'censorship', effects and moral panics.

The act of consuming media presents us with observable actions, feelings and relationships with media forms, at the individual and group levels, which we can understand in conceptual and theoretical terms.

 (Long and Wall 2012, 276)

The view that media consumed has a direct effect on audiences comes from the idea that audience are passive. 'The first model tends to relate to what we describe as 'mass society' perspectives and approaches, in which audience members are often understood as the passive receptacles for these messages.' (Long and Wall 2012, 279) However, this is not the case as effects theories such as hypodermic needle theory assumes that all audience members respond to media in the same way, but still this theory is seen as a common sense theory. A second media model 'takes a broad view of media products and their meanings as in some way determined by consumers themselves, rather than being products full of meanings simply imposed on them externally.' (Long and Wall 2012, 279)

Regulation can be used for two reasons, morality - protecting vulnerable groups and individuals and for choice - in order to provide diversity. Official regulation includes statutory state regulation and self-regulation. In Bignall's key reading he discusses how those with power are able to control what the audience can and cannot see. 'In media theory, members of the elite group that has the power to determine what information can be circulated are referred to as 'gatekeepers'.' (Bignall 2004, 231) 'the gatekeepers make use both of published regulations and guidelines about programme content, and of their own internalised sense of what is right and wrong to broadcast.' (Bignall 2004, 231)

The reading I have acquired this week talks about media culture and government policy. 'In the United States, media culture is produced and disseminated by large and powerful private industries.' (Crane 1992, 156) This relates to the concept discussed in the Bignall reading of control and power.

Television regulations have been largely made by well-educated and socially powerful elite groups in society, the underlying ideology of television regulation has considered the less socially powerful and less well-educated mass audiences of television as vulnerable and prone to bad influences.

(Bignall 2004, 242)

However Bignall suggests that using regulation and censorship will protect the audience rather than undermine them. Unlike the Crane reading which says that 'the power to decide what will be shown over the air rests with a very few.' (Cranes 1992, 157) This gives the view that when media texts are regulated it is without the choice and consideration of what the audience would want to see and rather presuming that the audience cannot handle uncensored and unregulated material.

The Nelmes reading talks about 'those who argue in favour of censorship claim that it reflects and protects standards of morality generally held in society.' (Nelmes 1999, 48) this is the belief that censorship advocates and upholds morality held in society. However, 'those who argue against it say that, rather than reflecting standards, it imposes them.' (Nelmes 1999, 48) 

Bibliography

Bignell, J (2004) An Introduction to Television Studies, London: Routledge. pp 229-252

Crane, Diana (1992) The production of culture, media and the urban art: Foundations of popular culture vol. 1, California: SAGE Publications pp. 156 - 157

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Producing audiences: what do media do to people?’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2^nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 274-299

Nelmes, J (1999) An Introduction to Film Studies, 2^nd Edition, London: Routledge. pp. 48-53

Week 3: Text: Is Film/TV a Language?

This week’s lecture has looked at how TV and film can use both rhetoric and narrative techniques to see film and TV as a language. While there are the obvious differences between film and TV, it is also important to consider the differences between image and sound. From the key reading of Ellis Part 1 - Broadcast TV as sound and image I have come to the conclusion that image is much more powerful when combined with sound. 'Sound holds attention more consistently than image, and provides a continuity that holds across momentary lapses of attention.' (Ellis 1982, 128) This is because 'sound tends to carry the details.' (Ellis 1982, 129) Therefore sound together with an image creates a more effective image rather than either of them alone.

With the idea of using rhetoric in TV and film, it takes the idea that audience will develop certain meanings and emotions when consuming the text. 'The audience is expected to understand these references.' (Ellis 1982, 134) However from the lecture I have understood that audience do not always accept the dominant ideology due to them being able to tell that meanings are constructed. '...there is in possibility of the film meaning anything without the creative intervention of the spectator in determining what to pay attention to and what sense to give it.' (Nowell-Smith 2000, 10-11)

Considering the idea of broadcast TV as a narrative of having a beginning, middle and an ending an important aspect of narrative to be noted is repetition of segments. 'Segments are bound together into programmes by the repetition device of the series. This constitutes a basic ongoing problematic, which rarely receives a final resolution.' (Ellis 1982, 158) This is what keeps audience members engaged, especially with television series that use repetition, mainly soap operas rather than film which usually finds a resolution in the ending.

Although there are differences between narratives in film and tv it is important to note that 'there is no real difference in narrational form between news and soap opera. The distinction is at another level: that of source of material.' (Ellis 1982, 159) However the difference in narratives between film and TV is of the ending. Film provides an ending 'the film text aims for a final coherent totalising vision, which sets everything back into order.' (Ellis 1982, 156) Whereas with TV 'the incidental problems are solved, but the series format provides no real place for its own resolution.' (Ellis 1982, 156)

Bibliography

Ellis, John (1982) Visible Fictions: Cinema, Television, Video, Routledge: London - pp. 127-159

Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (2000) ‘How films mean, or, from aesthetics to semiotics and half-way back again’ in Gledhill, C and Williams, L. (2000), Reinventing Film Studies. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Week 2: The Political Economy of Film and Television: Production and Consumption

In this week’s lecture we have looked at the context of film and television while looking closely at the political economy of the media and media institutions. Through the lecture the idea was discussed that media texts are seen as cultural commodities meaning that they are made to be sold to make a profit.

Revenue can come from two sources. The first is directly from the final consumers, made in some form of payment for a physical artefact.... The second is by selling some of the space in the physical artefact to advertisers, who wish to communicate with the audience.

                                                                                                           (Long and Wall 2012, 174 - 175)

Political economy 'concerns the nature of production and the wider social conditions under which it takes place.' (Long and Wall 2012, 172) This relates to what was discussed in the lecture of the three key aspects to political economy which are: funding, organisation and regulation which can be seen as the social conditions.

However another definition of political economy is concerned more with the power relations of media texts. Vincent Mosco has defined political economy as 'the study of the social relations, particularly the power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution and consumption of resources.' (Long and Wall 2012, 173)

This relates to how political economy is known to be 'concerned with exploring the relationship between the range of meanings available in media and the underpinning economic interests and ownership patterns across the different media spheres. (Long and Wall 2012, 173)

From the key reading I have found that many meanings developed from audience members consuming texts relate to the ideologies presented through the text:

A paternal system, Williams states, is

An authoritarian system with a conscience: that is to say, with values and purposes beyond the maintenance of its own power.' In this philosophy, the institution-audience relationship is primarily defined in cultural and ideological terms: 'the paternal system transmits values, habits, and tastes, which are its own justification as a ruling minority, and which it wishes to extend to people as a whole.'

(Ang 1991, 3)

From my own reading I have found that values are transmitted more easily now due to synergy. 'Synergy is a number of processes working together within a system for greater benefit than they could achieve individually' (Long and Wall 2012, 177). Tying in with the fact that 'films are produced by the same companies that are involved with other media and communication activities, and it is no secret that fewer and fewer giant corporations control these activities.' (Wasko 1999, 230)

Bibliography

Chapter 2 ("Audience-as-market and audience-as-public") in Ang, Ien (1991) Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge.

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Political Economy of the Media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2^nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp. 172-185

Wasko, J (1999) ‘The Political Economy of Film’ in Miller, T and Stam R (1999) A Companion to Film Theory. Oxford: Blackwell

Week 1: Television and Public Service Broadcasting: Industry, Institution and History

This week’s lecture looked at television and public service broadcasting, looking closely at industries, institutions and history. The lecture looked at the creation of the BBC as well as looking at the views of the audience towards commercial television.

The Long and Wall reading talks about how media histories are described and made, considering the factors that influence how a historiography can be made.

The first key reading entitled 'The origins of public service broadcasting' by Glen Creeber discusses how the BBC was created and how it developed after the Second World War. Creeber explores the difference of funding, from sponsorship to advertising. Public service broadcasting came around in 1922 when John Reith founded the BBC. (Creeber 2003) The BBC was said to feed the interests of all audience members, however the reading discusses how the interests of the elite were being catered for. 'Indeed, 'Radio Reith' had been shaped in his image, an authoritarian, paternalistic and innately highbrow institution that tended to promote the interests and tastes of the English upper middle class.' (Creeber 2003, 24) Although the BBC's aim was said to 'entertain, but also to inform and educate as well.' (Creeber 2003, 23) Post war television was described as 'radio with images' and did not instantly take off.

The reading I have acquired this week is titled, 'Shaping the early development of television' written by J, Van Den Ende. Ende talks about the creation of the mechanical aspects of television and how it has changed the way that we consume TV now. 'In the case of television, according to this view mechanical television may well have enjoyed some success, but did not stand a chance against the newer, and therefore better, electronic television.' (Van Den Ende 1997, 14) When looking at it in terms of today electronic television provides diversity for the audience as there are a range of channels and programmes to choose from in comparison to when the BBC first started out and could only offer a minority of channels and television shows. However, the article also discusses how at one point mechanical and electronic television were both doing well and it wasn't clear to see which was doing better as audiences were interacting with both.

Bibliography

Creeber, Glen (2003) The Origins of Public Service Broadcasting (British Television Before the War) in Michele Hilmes (ed.) (2003) The Television History Book. London: BFI. pp.22-26

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Media Histories’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2^nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 448 – 481

Van Den Ende, J (1997) Shaping the early development of television’ Volume 16, Issue 4 Unknown: unknown. pp. 13 - 26