Representation in Media.

Individual people are often represented badly in the media depending on the situation it is and how much power they have. A good example is the football managers, if he is in the wrong then he is normally slandered in the most ways possible.

As you can see from the source to the left, the article about football is large on the front page, as apposed to being on the back or maybe further into the paper.




Social groups vary on how they are represented mostly on films and soap operas. If represented badly then it can then reflect on those groups. For example the Democrats could be represented badly on the news on television with accusations that they haven't made, when they deny these it normally conspires in argument and debate.

Social issues are normally slipped into soap operas to result in entertainment, things like racism, sexism or violence are normally used. For example, in Eastenders there was conflict between a character named 'Denise' and a character named 'Phil' debating on whether he was racist towards her, and this lasted at least 4 episodes.




Places are normally represented in textual media and is most of the time true they depict what the area is like and how most of us think of it. For example, Croydon has been seen badly due to the riots on the 8th August 2011, this has now lead to Croydon not receiving as much funds as it would normally.



Stereotypes often consist of races, cultures, sexuality, or sub-culture. It is normally shown in soaps and puts an image into all of our heads of what the rest of 'them' are like as well. For example, in Eastenders the character named 'Christian' is a homosexual, he acts feminine at times and is muscle bound. This gives us an image of what homosexuals are like unless you do know one of course, but this apples to what country you're from, what music you like or how you live your life.

Meaning Created through Techniques

Cropping is used to sharpen clips if they are too long and make them flow thoroughly. This helps the audience feel as if they was watching a realistic film. For example, if there was a few seconds at the end of a two way conversion for every time someone spoke, it would seem really artificial.

Sizing is important if you are making a particular type of audio visual content, the size will depend on what is is you are doing. For example, a film will be around 1hour 30minutes whilst a documentary will be around 30-45minutes. You get the sizing wrong you might end up putting in too much information or sometimes not enough.

Camera angles can be tricky if done wrong, when you create a piece of audio visual the camera angles and shots are important to give the right feel to the type of video you're making. For example, if you had a close up shot in a car chase would prove useless unless followed up by a tracking shot, because you wouldn't know what was going on.




One of the most important elements to a drama or a film is the theme music without this, the code is sometimes not understood. For example, if a character was to walk into a bar without any music it would be hard to distinguish what the deal is with him/her, but if evil, eerie music plays it tells us that this character is bad.


Captions are used to add another message to usually pictures, normally in newspapers you will find added information underneath telling you more about whatever is going on. For example, if there was a picture of just a boy, the captions could say "Boy killed at age thirteen".

Font  helps distinguish the way you mentally read a passage of text. For example, 'The Sun' has quite bold rounded text for a more eye-catching look but 'The Times' has quite formal text for quite sophisticated people.





Stars can prove to be viable in certain pieces, mostly due to the fact that some actors are especially good at playing certain roles. For example, Jason Statham is always playing a killer, because his acting abilities and appearances are suited to the role.

Meaning Created in Media pt.2

Connotation helps a piece of media become more intellectual because it gives a word or phrase a back meaning that you have to think about for example, a cross is a symbol of a religion. Connotation relates to anything that may be associated with the word or phrase for example, an implied judgement feelings or value.

Denotation does the opposite to what a connotation does, it literally gives you what you're looking for or at. It sometimes helps if the audience isn't capable of understanding the connotation. For example, a simple cartoon hearts denotation is an actual heart, as the connotation is love and affection.    








Signification sets its purpose to help the audience know certain things without them literally being in sight,  to signify something with another action. For example, if a character is having morning sickness, it suggests that she is pregnant.










Iconography is used to gives characters iconic attributes and helps the audience figure out what type of person or place it is. For example, in the old westerns, if someone rode in on a black horse wearing all black, it is trying to tell us that this type of person is bad. 








Anchorage is used in media to attach meaning to something through either the juxtaposition of two images which construct a meaning or the matching of words to images.
For example in advertising, an image alone is polysemic- open to a range of interpretations. To clarify what the image means and so to make the image relevant to the purpose of the advert, text can be added.

Content For Print

Hard news is news that is more serious for example, politcs is hard news.

soft news is news that is not as serious for example, new born puppies.

The Gutter, also known as an alley is the small space between the articles to let binding take place.

Camera angles

When shooting a short film or an extended piece of media you have a vast majority of shots to choose from.

Firstly you have the close-ups. Close-ups are used to condense a person or object into a magnifying shot drawing attention to it. Close-ups range differently, you can also use extreme close-ups which enhances the view on the object by great proportions.

Here is an example of a close up.

POV means point of view, so when you have a POV shot, you have the camera acting as a persons view. Normally you would have something called a head cam on someones head and then he/she would walk around as you see everything that they would see. It is a great way of putting the audience into the actor/actresses shoes. Here is a photo from a T.V. show called 'Peep Show' they talk to camera as they would the actor, making it look like he is talking to the audience.

Like the close-up there are a few different shots linked in with distance. There is the medium shot which covers the head to shoulders area and and a long shot covers the whole body and of course the extreme long shot is just further than a normal long shot.

The cutaway shot shot is when you purposely cut from the subject at matter for a short period of time to reveal something else concerning the subject. Similar to the 'cutaway', the cut-in shot normally cuts to close up of an object of importance, normally it is something a character is holding or something they don't know about.



A panning shot is when the camera rotates normally on a tri-pod) left to right or vies versa. The tilt shot is like the panning shot but works vertically.

A 'dolly shot' is often referred to as a tracking shot, it consists of the camera moving along a tack of some fashion, it then stays focused on a particular subject whether it be living thing or a vehicle.
To the right is picture of tracking shot in progress, you can see the track they use and how much it takes to set up this shot.

A crane shot is similar to the dolly shot as it is on a large pivoting device, it is used to swoop down onto a certain subject normally from a higher view.

Ensemble shots are simply shots of a group of 3-6 people often used to show a hierarchy in the group if a character is backed up with other characters behind her/him.

Media Terms

Cultural Changes (print)

The newspaper has changed dramatically over the last few years, firstly our culture affects it increasingly over time. For example, when newspapers and magazines used to publish their issues they used to be really different, things like articles never used to be about homosexuality but as it is a more modern lifestyle people don't feel compelled to hide it. So this issue is often discussed in the newspapers when they stretch the lifestyle of being a homosexual, such things as marriage or adoption become a big issue that probably wouldn't have been discussed many years ago.

Racism is also something we did not think needed to be discussed years ago. This became more of an issue when our country became more of a multi-cultural society. We often press the issue that racism is portrayed as an extreme crime, and that most crimes are linked into racism. There is even a BBC Asian network for the radio, just as there is sections devoted to people with different cultures in the newspapers/magazines. 

There was also not as much talk of Islam, as there was only talk of Anglo Saxon protestants. But as a post 9/11 society we naturally have focused more attention onto the Islamic society just as we did with homosexuals, by we have made an issue with whatever thing has an impact on our lifestyles for example, building another mosque in a christian neighbourhood.

Audience needs and lifestyles (soaps)

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Economic Reasons (soaps)

Reasons for film directors and producers to cut back would be the recent recession causes them to have a lower budget. This dramatically effects the quality and production value of the soap.


Having a low budget causes the shows to not broadcast live because there is too much production work involved to do there and then. Films budgets are normally a lot higher than soaps due to the income that films make. For example 'Spiderman 3' cost around 258 million to make in 2007, when an average soap opera would of spent around 30 million. This shows for a fact how much films have to spend money on stunts and various action scenes, whilst soaps often need to give the impression of something happening rather than actually show it. Eastenders is only aloud to have 16 speaking characters per episode to remain within their budget. All together  the BBC spent around 102 million on six T.V. soaps. Eastenders got an bonus of 500,000 pounds for the live episodes they did.


The actors/actresses of Coronation Street are said to be getting pay cuts. This is all to do with the show not making enough money and the recession combined to make the shows struggle a lot. Some Coronation street characters have had to been cut from the show recently due to                                        budget cuts.

Advances in technology (print)

Offset printing is a popular printing style which the image that is inked is transferred from a plate to a sheet made of rubber, then to the printing surface. When combined with the lithographic procedure, the offset technique employs a smooth flat image carrier on which the image obtains ink from the rollers they used, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film, keeping the non-printing areas free of ink. This technique was used since 1875 and was proved most useful and efficient










There was many types of printing after that such as mimeograph, screen printing, laser printing and thermal printing. but whats been most successful recently has been the digital press. Digital printing is printing from a digital based source image directly to a selection of media. Digital printing has a down side, it has a higher cost per page than basic offset printing but this price is usually offset by the saving in cancelling out all the technical steps between to make printing plates.








Now something is slowly taking over, it is newspaper articles on the internet published by the companies running the papers. These individual websites are proving to be more efficient to produce and easier for their audiences to view. This has the same effect that the material paper has, but is easier to use. There is full articles and there are still adverts on the sides and occasionally on banners in the middle.  

Audience needs and lifestyles (print)

Before the internet people only used to get the regular newspaper occasionally if they were out or they would have to go out specifically for it. This seemed liked the most efficient way to do things and seemed like we didn't need to change it. Then Tim B L came along and invented the internet, this had changed things in following years, things like books, movies, pictures and in fact newspapers.


As people started to adapt to computers it didn't seem necessary to buy as many material goods, this affected many industries especially the newspapers. When people discovered that they could read newspapers online, less issues were sold of each newspapers. So the newspapers did something smart, they made it so you had to pay a subscription fee monthly to view their paper.


Although this didn't appeal to some people because they didn't always want to read every paper, so they thought that they weren't getting their moneys worth. It was only newspapers like the Metro that earnt their money from the advertisements that gave their newspaper away for free at train stations and public places, they soon started giving their newspapers away online for free as well because you can have advertisements on the side and on the top or have banners across half way down the page.

People then started to use smart phones and tablets to access the internet and use applications of their favourite websites. The newspapers then caught on and offered the same deals for the access to view their newspaper via smart phone or tablet. This was extremely useful because it combined the freedom to take the newspaper anywhere and not having to actually go to a hop and buy it.   

Cultural Changes in content(soaps)

In the few starting episodes of Coronation Street there were mostly only white people on set because Britain wasn't that much of a multi-cultural society. Money was tough at this time, most people were working class. The main age group was middle age men/women, because that's who it was aimed at. How women were treated was different because they were treated at second class citizens, it were aimed at mostly men of working class which is seen as sexism now. The only issue really was arguments between men and women and married life.

In newer episodes there were more people coming out and being gay, not caring what people thought of them and be equals. Although they were viewed as quite immature and clean, though this was not always true. There was quite a lot of people actually listening the show passively watching it, whilst most people actively watch it all depending on what they think about the show.

In the newest episodes there are more people from different cultures and different sexualities compared to the first episodes because before there wasn't as many foreign people in our country to act. The fact that Coronation Street is more multi-cultural it seems more realistic and true to England. With more diverse people in the show it would relate to more viewers. Now we would get younger viewers due to the fact that there are young actors in the show, so that more people have a section that they will seem familiar to their life.

Economic Reasons, (print)

There are many ways in which the newspapers have changed due to the economy. Firstly, there is a major rise in price for ink, this then has a major effect on the prices of the actual newspaper. For example, in the 1980s the paper was said to be around 20p but now it is recently been priced at 50p, that's over double! This is mainly because it costs more for the companies to print of each issue.

 There are also high rises in advertisements over the past few years, this would also have an impact on how much the newspaper charges, depending on their view of the situation. For example, 'The Sun' charges for their issues of the newspaper this is their main source of money, although there is some newspapers like, 'The Metro' that offer the newspaper for free for people that are in a hurry on the trains, but wait! how do they make their money? They make all their money solely on advertising.

Multi- Nationalism (print)

Throughout the years the newspaper has being growing in many ways, in this piece of work I'm going to be exploring how it's became a multi-national source of media.

I will start with of course, Rupert Murdoch owner of such papers as 'The News Of The World' and 'The Sun'. He helped make newspapers multi-national a great deal. He was born in Australia and inherited 'News Limited' from his father and then went onto expand in the UK, later he went onto working in the states. Then went to buy 'The Times' his first British broadsheet.

Something else that helps the newspapers become multinational is the internet. Without this we would have to print one countries paper in another countries. The World Wide Web enables anyone with an internet connection to access information online, of course including newspapers. Some papers allow people to see the issue  for free, but usually have loads of advertisements making them money, whilst others have a subscription fee (usually monthly).

Having newspapers in different countries in a way links us together on whats going on in the specific country. It is also ideal for if you're on holiday and you want to read up on whats going on, its the cheapest and best way to stay in the know on your own country.

Letter to OFCOM

Dear OFCOM,

I am writing to inform you of a certain episode on your show, Eastenders where the character 'Ronnie Mitchell' stole another characters baby ' Kat slater' played. I am compelled to write this because i find that this is very inappropriate content to be broadcast on the programme because it is simply plain wrong to steal anything from anyone especially a child.

This was a very bad act of storyline to show on the television, Maybe instead, they could of had her try to steal the baby whilst the parents were still there, there would've been great tension and dispute between the two couples. There is also the issue of young viewers seeing this, it is not good for their eyes to see this and for them to maybe think that it is acceptable.

Yours sincerely

                         -Alex Crowcombe

Media Codes and Conventions

Codes and conventions

A media Convention is what the viewer would expect to see in a specific genre. These do not have to be in the film, but it is likely that they will be.

A media Code is a certain effect or event that indicates that something is going to happen.

Musical

Conventions:

Dancing

Songs

Upbeat feel

Medium shots of people dancing and singing

Costumes

Non Diegetic instruments

Codes:

Smooth slow music means that there could be a romantic scene coming up.

Upbeat fast music suggests that a character is happy or has achieved something.

Action

Conventions:

Guns

Chase scenes

Vehicles

Damsel in distress

Crane shots over fight scenes

Death

Codes:

Silence could suggest that a burst of action is about to happen.

Weather of the scene could show the characters emotions.

Spy

Conventions:

Guns

Gadgets

Suits

Girls

Violence

Revenge

Stealth

Codes:

Eerie music suggests that something bad is about to happen.

Non diegetic music shows how the main character is feeling at the time.

ASA

ASA:


The ASA is the UK's independent supervising of advertising across all media. It's their job to make sure all adverts meet certain requirements and if they're appropriate for all audiences.

 The shear power of the self-regulatory system lies in the independence of the ASA and the help and commitment of the advertising industry, through the CAP, to maintaining the top standards laid down in the Advertising standards, which are made to keep people safe from advertisements and make it fair for other advertisers.

These are a few examples of the types of adverts they do

1. Radio 

2. Adverts on the television

3. Shopping channels

4. Posters

5. Brochures

6. Leaflets

7. Special offers

8. Prize draws

9. Competitions

10. Cinema commercials

11. Magazine and newspaper commercials

12. Direct mail 

13. Door drops

14. Internet advertisements 

15. Ads on CD ROMS

16. Faxes

17. Comercial emails

18. SMS message ads

Advances in technology

I am going be pointing out differences between when Coronation Street started on the 9th December 1960  to the 3rd November 1969, then eventually the HD version on the 31st may 2010

This is the debut episode of Coronation street (9th December 1960) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_7Z3046_dg


The scene is black and white which gives the effect that it's a depressing place ( dull,lifeless, not a nice place to live), which can not the class of people which live there. The movement of the camera at the beginning is not very stable as you can see it shakes around more than it does now, it was simple tracking which made it not very smooth. They used very simple camera shots to show dynamic views, they do this by having people behind the lead character in the scene so that the stars look more important with power.

There is a really depressing feeling to this clip mostly due to the fact that its in black and white, this also reflects onto the characters. The tracking of the camera is very simple and this gives the camera a very shaky effect. They were quite clever with having people stand out as a powerful character by having people stand behind her.

First colour episode in colour. (3rd November 1969).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5MjTO54UNw

The introduction is now in colour but little green making the set seem like it is still a depressing place to live, because it connotes lower class citizens because of the places they live in that are all cramped up in a small place. The camera movements have been upgraded and are now smoother but it is still not smooth in some parts. The pub in coronation street is a conversation that skips to another conversation and it pans to another conversation, it is all very confusing to watch.

Intro now in colour, although not really organic colours in there so it still has a quite depressing feel to it. Yet again connoting the characters in cramped living space. The camera has seemed to get better but on the more complicated shots its still shaky.

First HD episode of (Coronation Street. 31st may 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdfLn5dHhzI

Coronation street has developed a lot now because it is in HD and the camera movement has improved vastly. The set is more like a middle class as it has people roaming the streets in fashnoble clothing. There are stores and cafes with extras in them making it look like a happier brighter place to be and it also gives the impression that it is more populated. The picture quality is so much better as it does not have any bent camera shots and it is all shot in the greatest quality possible, instead of being blurry.

There are phenomenal differences from when Coronation Street first started to now. Such as the quality is now High Definition and the camera movement is much smoother. The place looks more upbeat and happy, extras create an effect of it being a civilised environment. It appears they have taken longer on each shot, they are all clear and not blurry at all

Coronation St. changes in style (soaps).

Coronation Street Changes In Style (Soaps)

Coronation Street has changed majorly over the years, from things such as editing effects, camera shots or even introductions. In 1961 there were no transitions of any kind, whereas in 1979 they started adding in fades and dissolves.

The 1961 did not have as much silence, the key code adding tension to a scene compared to the 1979 version where the was a lot of tension created by silence. This effect could be key to linking the actors emotions with the viewers.

Another key element to soaps are Camera shots. The shots in 1961 version were called ensemble shots, which had 2-3 people in them, these often showed a social hierarchy if the person talking had other actors standing behind each other, sometimes it didn't if they were standing separately. The camera shots were also really bumpy due to the low budget the show that it had at the time, although in the 1979 version the shots distinguished the hierarchy in a clear way and the movement of the camera was a lot smoother. There was also a crane shot featured in the 1979 version, this shows that shows budgets were raised since 1961 as the crane is quite expensive to hire.

Colour was also a key ingredient to making Coronation street a successful soap, the first episode in colour being on the 3rd of November 1969. This was better but it didn't show vibrant colours, they were dull and murky. This wasn't a big of a problem in the 1979 version as they brightened up a little.






By 2012 Coronation Street has changed a lot since 1961, for example the production budget has been raised substantially. This one factor changes everything, the camera shots were a lot better in smoothness and the places they could get to shoot the shots was also really great. Coronation Street has greater knowledge of the codes they need to be using to create the emotional links between the actor and the viewer. Coronation street has gone from black and white to shooting in high definition.

Discuss the effect of representation in media products on target audiences/ consumers.

In some media products people are often displayed in ways that might not seem as innocent as they might actually be. Often this is because of something they've done in the past or is in action of doing. Social groups often get represented in media products badly because a minority decide to do something bad, although this is not always the case, they could be represented in a good way.
There is always an on-going issue with sexism, violence and racism, it always seems to be a problem or a reason to do something. For example, an Asian woman was shot and robbed in the street this morning, this is really just a regular crime but the newspapers will have to turn it into this whole debate on whether it was because she was Asian, or because she was a woman, when really most of the time it's neither.
Places always get representations whether it be good or bad, mostly this is because of the past, i.e. wars, conflicts. There are few outstanding people that depict what society thinks of them, then those types of people whether it  be race, culture or sub-culture become the stereotype of that certain group.

Every now and then there will be more popular media products, really its all to do with the consumers, nowadays it's the more youthful people who invest in things like online newspapers etc. Apple are a really good example for influencing mass audiences because they give discounts to schools, the students then get used to their products influencing them to buy their own for when they're at home. Also a spokesman from apple would have a conference on a new product that would be releasing soon, giving people a short insight to what's in store for them, this is a really genius idea on their behalf, making their products so desirable for the youth of today. Also when celebrities get seen with certain media products they set a trend for people who are often younger and inspired by them.

Meaning Created In Media pt.1

Colour can determine how a article or picture is presented and it helps the audience relate or understand whats join on in the picture, whether it be positive or negative. The way the text is presented in could add passion or spirit into the story or article reaching out to the audience and establishing an emotional link. For example, the sun uses quite bold, simple text for more simple people whilst the 'Times' uses more formal text aimed at more sophisticated people. Language will also emphasis the text or spoken words and add passion of whatever the subject may be. Music influences the sub culture or the feeling of a video or film, for example if the music is quite angelic, the visual will be of something peaceful and the audience will feel peaceful as well . Simple things have an impact on the audience of a piece of media such as images whether it be of a dying child or a group of puppies, most viewers need a guideline on what the article is about.

Sounds effects can be the key element to a feature film or a short video, they emphasise certain movements or actions, for example in the clip above, the punch doesn't make as loud of a noise as it does in the movies. Performers are a vital part to a performance or a video, all depending on whether they meet the expectations of the director, the whole production could rely on whether the actors create an emotional connection to the scene. 






Mis En Scene creates meaning because it leads us to believe that we are looking at a real piece, not an act. For example, if you were watching a film about police and the actors were not in police uniforms  you would feel as if there wasn't a sense of verisimilitude. Props, like the costumes are vital in sustaining the viewers belief in the television show or movie. For example, the film 'Full Metal Jacket' wouldn't be as believable without the military equipment.

Changes in Style & Content (print)

The name of the newspaper I will be looking at today is The Sun. The edition was published Tuesday, May 2nd 1992. There are two stories on the front page. The headline was 'Gotcha' it was a political story which is hard news. Your eye get drawn towards the Headline the down towards the picture of a gunboat, this is really eye-catching. I believe that 'The Sun' at this time published harder news stories and more straight to the point.

The second headline on the front page was also political which too is hard news. The Sun is a tabloid which means it is smaller and easier to read. There are pictures of warships on the front to draw peoples attention, also its more understandable. There are no advertisements most likely because The Sun does not rely on making their money from advertisements as they charge money to get their newspaper.



The second newspaper is in-fact the 'The Times' published on Thursday 13 January 2011 the Headline isn't as big as The Sun's above, the main story is about Britain having to save the Euro, this is hard news. Although the picture is significantly smaller than the second stories, i believe they've used the text to seem like the French PM is trapped in a sticky situation, pressured and stuck.

     The second story is about a boy who died saving his brother in a flood, this is also hard news because someone died. What they've done is made the picture really big to show the appreciation of the sacrifice he made. There are Advertisements on the page, they do this so they will earn more money. 'The Times' itself looks  highly intellectual compared to 'The Sun'. It is a broadsheet, so its a generally bigger newspaper, normally six rows across.

Multinational Eastenders

Multinational Eastenders.

Task 1

Eastenders is shown in UK, New Zealand, America, Holland, Africa, Canada ands other various european countries. We found 79 countries in 10 minutes. We didn’t expect to find this many countries, because we didn’t realise that this many countries would be familiar with the british cultures. Yes, for example the vast amount of african nations, that may or may not use english as one of their national languages.

Task 2

We believe it is shown in other countries because it gives other nationalities an insight into our national values. The types of people that watch Eastenders tend to be at opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. They may find it interesting to see what different stereotypes and vocal messages the show puts across about the british culture.

Task 3

It is watched on their national terrestrial television channels. It is watched on various international channels, such as ABC TV, TVNZ and Prime. It is available on websites in other countries for examples 4od can be viewed internationally. You can watch it on your tv, computer, laptop, phone, mp4 and tablet. Yes because not all of the countries speak the English language. 

Extension Activity

Britain is represented as a working class, politically influenced unstable country. From watching this you would know that the British like to socialize in specific meeting areas for example the pub (Queen Vic). 

Areas to Consider

There is a wide majority of age groups ranging to newborns to the elderly people. There are a vast amount of religions represented in Eastenders due to the increase in multinational cultures migrating to the UK. There are a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities represented in Eastenders such as British Africans, British Asians and British Caribbean (Patrick Truman). There are a wide range of jobs mainly lower class due to the characters surroundings. The character’s happiness varies due to unfortunate events which happens in the programme. They go to the pub to socialize with friends.