Television

Television: Industries & Audiences

29/10/18

L/O: To research the history, companies and regulators in the television industry.

Terminology:

Publicly owned TV Channel:
TV Channels that are funded by the government and license fees, it is made for the public and has tighter regulations on what they can show.

Commercial TV Channel:
A TV Channel that is owned privately and broadcasts on all TV providers, they are funded through advertisements and have advertisement breaks.

Convergence:
The coming together of obsolete companies to create a greater, more powerful and influential company.

Watershed:
The split between times on TV allowing what can and can't be shown due to children watching, in the UK this time is 21:00 to 05:30.

Segmented Market:
The different target audiences that are divided into different groups by tastes and interests.

Mainstream:
Media that influences large amounts of people as an audience and that is regarded as normal views by the mass audience.

Self-Regulating:
TV Channels that are not regulated by outer bodies and make their own regulations for their TV Channel.

Franchise:
A license from a company to a Channel of a product to use the show, ideas or the format of shows and characters.

Channel-Surfing:
The act of quickly scanning through different TV Channels to find something interesting to watch.

PSB:
Public Service Broadcasting that delivers trusted news to the audience by demand of the regulators that create certain guidelines and requirements as part of their license to broadcast publicly.

TV License:
A license needed to view and record a TV Channel to fund a Public Broadcasting Company.

Scheduling:
Organising the broadcast of TV Programs on TV Channels.

Conglomerate:
A company that owns several smaller businesses and uses them to provide products or services that are usually very different.

1. When was TV introduced in the UK
TV was introduced in the UK in 1936

2. In 1965, how many channels were there and what were they?
There were 3 channels, BBC One, BBC 2 and ITV

3. When did ITV start? Why was it different?
ITV started on the 22nd of September 1955, it was different due to it being the first commercial channel and therefore had adverts.

4.  Which UK Channels have to follow PSB remits?
BBC, ITV, STV, UTV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C

5. Who regulates TV now?
Ofcom

6. Who regulated TV channels in the 1960s?


7. List the differences between TV in the 60s & now?
3 Channels, No colour, Very expensive, No recording

Television Industries: Ownership

1/11/18

L/O: To explore the history of ownership in two key channels.

Public service broadcasting refers to broadcasting which is intended for the public benefit rather than purely for commercial concerns.

In the UK the BBC is the main PSB channel.

The BBC, funded by the license fee, initially had a monopoly over broadcasting in the UK.

Because they are funded by the public, the BBC have to meet the PSB remit in terms of the genre variety, audiences, representation & quality of programmes they produce.

BBC

Commercial Institutions

These have no guaranteed way of income, they are generally funded by advertisements and merchandise, they need to sell these to make a profit, they can also run subscription services and pay per view services, they can also be sponsored by brands or companies. Companies pay for advertising slots based on programme ratings. Product placement can be done to show companies products in certain programmes.

ITV

ITV is a network of lots of different regional companies, the ITV are a terrestrial TV, so therefore they must produce TV catered to the general population's needs and must broadcast events and happenings of national importance.

Serial TV Drama

L/O: To explore the TV drama genre and conventions.

A TV Drama contains a series of real life situations which are exaggerated yet relatable, through the use of: themes, settings, issues and narrative. Intended to be more serious than humorous.

A serial TV Drama is defined as any television drama that is organised into a series of episodes, typically a series contains between 3 and 12 episodes. The story unfolds episode by episode, and typically follows main story arcs throughout a whole season.

Sub-Genres for TV dramas:

• Crime drama
• Medical drama
• Period drama
• Teen drama
• Science Fiction drama
• Fantasy drama
• Political drama

TV Dramas:

Peaky Blinders - Period drama

Sherlock - Crime drama

Doctor Who - Science Fiction drama

Breaking Bad - Reverse Crime drama

Game of Thrones - Fantasy drama

13 Reasons Why - Teen drama

Sons of Anarchy - Action drama

Bodyguard - Crime drama

The Crown - Period drama

Casualty - Medical drama

Merlin - Fantasy drama

House of Cards - Political drama

A SERIAL has a narrative that continues from episode to episode (e.g. Luther, Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders)

A SERIES contains the same characters throughout, but each episode is a different story. So you can start watching a series from any episode (e.g. CSI, Friends, Casualty)

A TV Serial Drama has a plot that unfolds episode by episode. They usually shows that have a complex narrative. They follow many story arcs that span throughout the seasons or the whole series. It is popular in many sub genres because to give connection to characters over the whole of the series to a point when usually they die, leave or there is a turning point in that character's story. For example Game of Thrones is an extremely successful TV Serial Drama that kills off many of its loved characters for this specific reason, it gives a release of sadness for seeing that character go away.

The Avengers & 1960s

L/O: Research the 1960s in terms of social, historic and political climate of the decade.



Who were the most famous bands? How was this music different to previous decades?
The most famous bands were Rock n' Roll bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

Which political party was in power in 1965? Who was PM?
The conservative party was in power until 1964 until labour got voted in in 1964 with Harold Wilson as PM.

Main three youth group fashions? What were the groups like in terms of stereotypes?
The main three youth group fashions were the mods, the rockers and the hippies. They all followed their stereotypical public opinion.

Were illegal drugs, according to the media, a big part of culture?
They were not according to the media, however they indeed were a big part of youth culture.

What scientific development changed women's lives?
The contraceptive pill.

What significant historic events happened?
Apollo 11

What wars were being fought around the world?
Vietnam War, Start of the Cold War

What were people protesting about in the UK?
Bristol Bus Boycotts against racism to get bus companies to hire blacks and asians as drivers.

The Avengers (1965)

L/O: Research the TV show The Avengers

1) Which institution (channel) produced the show?
ABC television first produced the show in the UK under the ITV.

2) Who was the primary and secondary audience (age rating/gender/interests etc.)?
Adults mainly male, interested in crime, mystery and British culture. Mainstream audience for the mass of people.

3) When did the first episode air?
The 7th of January 1961.

4) How many viewers followed the show?
The show was ITV's most popular.

5) How many seasons were made?
161 episodes over 6 seasons.

6) What date/year was the last episode aired?
May 1969.

7) What was the budget for series 4?
£56,000 per episode.


ITV was seen as the working class channel in the 1960s, it was seen as cool to be working class.

Over the top, far fetched stories for each episode, set in an ideal Britain, not always a problem in the episodes' stories.

8) As it was before shot on video tape, they could now take their film cameras outside and film on location instead of a set up studio, greatly increasing the believability of the series. The production value went up due to it costing less to buy film, but it was also good for the fact that background props would not need to be bought for a studio. The sound would have to be recorded on location and would naturally have some ambient noise. The camera could actually be moved easily now. The film could actually easily be edited, it looked much more impressive and expensive due to this.

9) Stars (2 Main Characters):

Patrick Macnee as John Steed

In the series since the start.

Diana Rigg as Emma Peel

Joined the show recently.


10) The Forsyte Sage was set earlier than the 1960s, the family was upper class and it was a period drama. It seems much less interesting than The Avengers. The Avengers seemed much more fast paced, it was not evidently upper class themed, relating to middle or working class people instead. The women in The Avengers were the first strong, independent female characters. Much more light hearted and enjoyable.

TV: Media Language

L/O: To revise and research key terminology for use with audio-visual analysis.

The Avengers: The Town of No Return

L/O: To explore the narrative, characters and context of Series 4 Episode 1

The narrative

John Steed and Emma Peel are sent to a small town after 4 agents go missing to investigate their disappearance.

Everything goes fine until they work out that everyone isn't who they say they are. An unknown force decides that they are going to take over Britain starting in the small town and bring in people 12 at a time in underground bunkers and pretend to be the old residents of the town.

The characters

John Steed, Emma Peel, The Vicar, Piggy, The Blacksmith, The Headmaster, The Teacher, 

The links to social and cultural context

The strength of Emma Peel as a female character is represented to uplift society, especially the lower classes as her and John Steed are both upper class but are much more daring and exciting than the stereotypical upper class characters.

Audience Appeal

Aimed at the working class, was much less serious and more comedic than the other series available at the time.

L/O: To analyse representation and use of media language in series 4 episode 1.

Britishness:
Afternoon British tea on the train scene
Typical seaside town
Saw the pub the most
Fishermen on the beach
Wary of outsiders
Quiet
Bowler hat & umbrella
Queen's English Steed & Peel
Town country accent
Suit & Tie
Piggy's absolute unit of a moustache
Polite

How was media language used to show the social context of the 1960s?
In this extract media language is used to show social context of the 1960s such as the use of Emma Peel's leather outfit to represent the ongoing sexual revolution where women were empowered to dress sexy and be independent.

The use of the fast paced editing shows the rising youth culture as their lifestyles would be much higher intensity and fast lived than the older generations. This could also represent the rise in the use of drugs which also was very common in the youth of the time.

John Steed's formal dressing crossed with Emma Peel's dressing represents the divide and growth of new, youth fashion, Steed wears a suit, the fashion of the previous years and quite formal whereas Peel wears her part leather tight suit which shows the depth of youth fashion at the time.

The funky jazz music throughout the fight scene and the cheeky sound effects when either of the characters is hit or makes a sudden movement represents the lightheartedness of the youth's sense of humour and culture where men and women could fight together on an equal level.

The high angles that belittle Steed and the low angles that empower Peel shows the rising strength of women at the time, the fact that they are fighting in the whole scene shows the acceptance of this compared to previous years' views on how women should act and behave.

The long shots that show the whole of Peel's room shows the art and decor found throughout her apartment, some of the art is very abstract and out of the ordinary which reflects the art styles of the 1960s as they were influenced by drugs and youth movements.

Explain the effect of the media language

L/O: To reflect on and improve exam style answers.

Targets

Literacy: The basics! Capital letters for names of people, places, titles and episodes.
Structure: Use the PEEL structure.
Point
Evidence
Explain
Link
Terminology: Use accurate terminology and media language.
Context: Avoid big sweeping generalisations.


Terminology: Good definitions. Exam terminology - where is it?.TV Drama Conventions: Good understanding shownBBC & ITV fact files: well researched1960s Social Context: good research - not finishedAvengers Episode Notes: good. Practice Q Avengers: great first attempt Jamie, well done!WWW - you've identified examples and linked them to the social contextEBI - You explain the effect and examples in more detail using accurate terminology.DIRT: IMPROVE QUESTION USING MY FEEDBACK & THEN COMPLETE ANY NOTES

Television in the 2010s

Cuffs released in 2015
Many various shootings, mostly in the US
Paris attacks

Large threat of terrorism in the west

Ireland legalises same-sex marriage

Refugee crisis in Europe

General election

UKIP support growth

Talks of Brexit

Fear of illegal immigration

Political:

The conservative party was in power in 2015, David Cameron as prime minister. UKIP was becoming more and more popular in the general election, being seen as a viable party to vote for due to the refugee crisis and the fear of illegal immigration being on the rise. Trump was elected.

Fears and issues:

In the west there was a growing fear of terrorism and illegal immigration due to at first 9/11, then the Paris attacks and the refugee crisis. Nuclear capability of North Korea

Wars:

War in North-West Pakistan

Civil War in Iran

Conflict in the Niger Delta

Insurgency in Yemen

Kivu Conflict

Balochistan Conflict

Insurgency Paraguay

Fatah-Hamas Conflict

Mexican Drug Wars

Trans Saharan Conflicts

War in Ingusheita

Nomadic wars in Sudan

Caucasus Conflicts

Boko Haram Insurgency

South Yemen Insurgency

Somalian War

Sinai Insurgency

Syrian Civil War

Further Sudanese Conflicts

Shia Insurgency in Bahrain

Lebanon Conflicts

Northern Mali Conflicts

CAR Conflicts

Renamo Insurgency

M23 Rebellion

Tunisian Insurgency

Turkish Conflicts

UK Protests:

NHS and public sector funding protests, gender pay gap. Hacking Scandals.

Youth Culture:

Social Media, iPhone, Drug Culture, Knife Crime, Rap Music, Video Game violence in the news.

Both in movies and video games in 2015, violence was rising rapidly, the youth of this time was becoming more and more bloodthirsty every movie or game they were introduced to. The rise of rap music led to movies like Straight Outta Compton being produced, showing how violent and twisted the youth of today can become when influenced by loudmouth bigots. Games like "bloodborne" and "call of duty" are very explicit and violent, young people seeing stuff like this would surely influence them to become more violent in nature.

2015 vs. 1965:

2015 will be more explicit both in sound and visual, it will have a more diverse cast in terms of race, gender and sexuality. The story itself will feature more stereotypes due to acceptance of homosexuality, women and other races. The 2015 story will be less predictable to a modern audience already having seen many older styled stories and movies. The production value will be much higher and props will be more realistic due to resources being available that just weren't there back in 1965.

Cuffs: Series 1, Episode 1

L/O: To analyse the narratives and characters constructed in an opening episode.

Main Characters
PC Ryan Draper - An officer that is belittling to PC Jake Vickers when he is matched with him, believing that Jake only got into the police force through his father being Chief Superintendent.

PC Jake Vickers - Jake got into the police force very recently, being inexperienced and unaware of many important factors of how the police force works. He comes across as quite quiet and insecure at first but throughout the episode gains more confidence.

DS Jo Moffat - Jo is an experienced Detective Sergeant who seems very outward but also doubting herself in certain situations, she seems proficient at her job.

Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers - Robert is the father of Jake, in the first episode he seems to care only about making his son into a proficient officer, from this he does indeed treat Jake with a more casual and uplifting tone than others.

DC Carl Hawkins - Carl is dedicated and focused to his job, he seems to take on a lot all at once and finds peace from solving crimes and investigations.

DI Felix Kane - Felix is not shown much in the first episode.

PC Donna Prager - Donna seems like one of the most casual of all the main characters, being partnered with Lino, they both seem to take their job seriously but still are good friends with seemingly most of the officers in the force.

PC Lino Moretti - Lino is represented as the most casual of them all, and the least physically fit of them all, he seems the most comedic of all the characters.

Television Industries: 2010s

L/O: To explore the TV industry in the 2010s and the effect on TV shows and audiences.

Break up of family viewing - the fragmented audience
Erosion of channel loyalty - the BBC viewer or ITV viewer
Channel surfing - seeking the eye-catching
Audience as schedule creators - on demand, streaming, record
24/7 media - issues of saturation
Demand for content - different or new
Demand for quality - stars; production values
Binge viewing - watching a whole series in a day
Impact of meme TV shows - Who killed captain Alex; Rick and Morty
Search for latest trendy shows to share on social media - popularity brings viewers, free advertisment
Need for shock or issue based TV to attract attention - creates mystery and interest
TV shows as brands - X Factor, Britain's got Talent
Using social media to comment on live TV - dual screening / second screening, audience involved

Cuffs

Cuffs was a new TV series to BBC1. It was in the genre that is termed "police procedural" - a series that focuses on the day to day actions of the UK police in solving crime.

Intense music, dramatic scenes, romance, violence, cuts in music.
They have presented police life as a dangerous, action packed place that is probably very melodramatic.
They represented personal dramas as common and exciting/intriguing.
They have used fast paced editing and cross cutting to preview part of the story effectively.

Cuffs & Social Values

L/O: To explore today's social values and analyse how these are represented in cuffs

First aired October 2015
Aimed at wider family audience
Broadcast at 8pm on a Wednesday
Broad audience of 16-65
Range of characters and storylines to appeal to as many segments of demographic as possible
Fits modern 2010 populist series format
Meant to be engaging but not threatening to mainstream audience, lacks depth and dark story of post-watershed shows

Social Values

Values are the ideas that shape how we see the world and our place in it. They shape our actions, what we see as right or wrong, appropriate/inappropriate, acceptable/unacceptable.

In the 1960s swearing was not allowed at all on TV, smoking was very common in dramas though.

UK as a whole in the 1960s was mostly of white race, in the post 2010 era the UK was much more multicultural than back then. The BBC reflect this in Cuffs, where the police force is diverse in gender and race.

Episode 1: Social Values

For ethnicity, the first episode had many different races of police officers, race was also used as a targeted crime where a racist white male stabbed an asian male to death with a screwdriver in the middle of a store due to his race.
Gender is also diverse in the police force, many high ranking officers being female.
Sexuality is a main part of the story in cuffs, the Chief Superintendent's son is homosexual.

Characters or Tropes?

A trope is a common or overused theme or device; a cliché.

Alpha Male - Big, Strong and Brave - Conan The Barbarian 1982

Girly Girl - Emotional, Weak and Relies on Others - Cinderella

The characters have a conflicting relationship that looks standard for the police force of an experienced officer and a new recruit. The stereotype of Jake being the weaker man here is shown by his partner being the alpha male in this situation, expressing his anger and dominance through his loud voice. The clip represents the idea of being modern and relatable by Jake expressing his sorrow and it not being accepted and instead gets told off for it, this is quite common in most of society in the 2010s. The audience is constructed to feel the anger that is being shown, it is violent and loud and really presents it to the audience effectively.

Exam Practice Dirt

The Chief Superintendent's speech as a sound bridge has been used to create a sense of overarching dominance over the police force. By having his voice louder than any other in the whole clip, he comes across as the most important and that the clip is mostly centred around him. When the Chief Superintendent is not speaking, loud rock music is playing to keep the excitement high. The Chief Superintendent focuses at the start of his speech on his pride of the police force and how it operates, he then sneakily moves on from this into welcoming his son into the police force to show the link between the pride for his son and the pride for the police force.

The cuts between the background sound on the beach and the background silence when it cuts back to the police station shows that both of these events are happening at the same time, contrasting the pride of the police force shown in the police station by the naturist beach incident.

Cuffs & the PSB Remit

L/O: To evaluate how effectively the BBC meets its PSB remit.

Public Service Broadcasting means a broadcaster intends to be used for public benefit rather than for commercial interests.

PSB Characteristics:
High Quality
Original
Innovative
Challenging
Widely Available
Distinctive

The BBC has extra PSB requirements, written into its Royal Charter, because of its distinctive funding.

Cuffs does this by having multicultural characters. Different viewpoints on the police and of criminals.

Cuffs meets the PSB remit and the BBC's core mission by informing the audience of the problems of prejudice in modern day society, that it is still prevalent if not more common than the past few decades, especially in recent years. It educates the audience on the struggles of the police force and just how much they really have to deal with daily both mentally and physically, it shows how demanding the job is and that us as an audience should stop mistreating the police force because they get enough trouble already, this is especially shown when in the scene of the woman in the street and Jake goes to arrest her, she makes it very hard for him to do that to her and people start to record it, finding his behaviour unacceptable. It entertains the audience by having some capturing and funny scenes contrasting with some serious scenes, this really appeals to most if not all audiences as the mix of it will grab the attention long enough for the viewer to want to see more. Cuffs also appeals to the PSB remit by having an original story in an original location, it has a diverse cast and is set in Brighton, which for a crime drama is an out of the ordinary choice. The show is high quality, as shown by the smooth camera movements, accurate props and graphic scenes.

Tiger Aspect & Cuffs

Tiger Aspect Productions has a long track record in both comedy and quality drama.
Julie Gearey created Cuffs in 2015.

How did Cuffs fit into the BBC schedule in terms of targeting audiences and why was Tiger Aspect chosen to produce it.

Television Audiences in the 2010s

L/O: To explore targeting television audiences and technologies

Family viewing is not as common due to multiple ways to watch a show.
Can watch it on stream, record or on catch-up.
Television audiences now are far more segmented than in the 1960s.
In 2015 81% of people watched shows while they were being aired, and 19% was other means.

Uses and Gratifications Theory:
Personal Identity
Information
Entertainment
Social Interactions

Cuffs U&GT:
Personal Identity - Shows diverse identity of various people, it shows off how many various religious beliefs and cultures are shown in the police force.
Information - Shows the audience how the UK police force works and handles itself in various situations that involve many social confrontations and ideas.
Entertainment - There are many jokes and funny moments throughout the episode that break up the seriousness and conflict to appeal to lighter hearted audience. Has high action scenes and various narratives that develop over the whole series.
Social Interactions - Ends on a cliffhanger-esque scene ready for the next episode made from the actions of various characters and dialogue. The character developments can link with the audience to get them interested over episodes and feel connected with character narratives.

Exam Question

Explain the Uses & Gratifications offered to audiences in Cuffs. Give examples from Episode 1.

Personal identity is explored in cuffs by using a diverse cast to represent the police force and the community of Brighton. For example in the first episode in the scene where a bulldozer and a truck steal an ATM, there are 2 female police officers, one middle-eastern muslim PCSO, and a white assumed-atheist PC. This shows that the police force in the UK are accepting and not judgemental of people's cultural and religious beliefs. Many high-ranking roles are also taken by female officers, such as Detective Sergeant Jo Moffat. The show also presents many different sexualities as accepted in the police force, the Chief Superintendent's son, Jake, is homosexual, as well as one of the lawyers being homosexual.

Information is shown about how the police force operates as one of the first scenes shows how the police force works together with other public services such as the paramedics when faced with an attempted suicide or negative thoughts by a citizen, it shows both PCs working to calm down the citizen while paramedics arrive to fully treat the person's wounds on his forearms. This representation can present

Exam Preparation

L/O: To review the exam format and possible question types.

Section A: TV 5 questions
Section B: Lego Movie

Exam is 1h45m
First 30m is viewing time of the extract
Spend a mark a minute on each question

Section A:
Three questions on the extract
Two questions on TV Industry, Audiences, or Context
45m for this section
Can include media language, representation, TV industry, TV audiences, social, political, and historical context

Q1- Media Language; Analyse the extract using one area of media language and giving at least two specific examples. - 5 mark question (5m)

Q2 - Media Language & Representation; Same as question one but with Representation and need to make a judgement. Could be asked about Viewpoints, How Groups Have Been Represented, How Has The Audience Been Positioned, give 3 examples from the extract. - 10 mark question (10m)

Q3 - Long Essay Question; Analyse the extract using Media Language and representation, and make a judgement. About how viewpoints, values have been shown, how the audience has been positioned, how context has affected. Give at least 3 examples. Link to context. - 15 mark question (15m)

Q4 - TV Industry; About the TV Industry in general. Could be asked about scheduling, regulation, PSB, technology. Explain ideas in full. - 5 mark question (5m)

Q5 - Context; will be asked about the social, political, or historical context of either programme. Could be asked about social context, political context, differences between 1965 and now, effects of context on programme. Mention specific events and dates. - 10 mark question (10m)


Section B:
Lego Movie, likely to be asked four questions in this section, two short answer and two long answer questions.
30m on this section
First two questions likely to be promotional techniques
Longer questions will be using Lego Movie as an example

Q6 - Fact Based; could be asked about regulation, film industry, promotional methods. Need to be accurate. - 1 mark question (1m)

Q7 - Reasons Why; asks why certain promotional methods are used, could be asked about promotional methods, targeting audiences. Explain why each method is used. - 4 mark question (4m)

Q8/9 - Essay Style; Asks about promotional methods and asks to use Lego Movie as an example for support in the answer. Could be asked about audience appeals, targeting audiences, genre conventions, promotional methods. Specific examples from Lego Movie promotional campaign. Explain ideas in full. - both 10 mark questions (10m each)

Mock Feedback:

Q1
Use terminology
Be specific
Connotate

Q2
Terminology
Media Language
Representation
Narrative Analysis

Q3
Characters
Give Examples
Explain
No Right Answer

Q4
Ofcom
BBC has strict regulations - Money off of TV licenses
High Quality
Diverse
Only ITV or BBC

Q5
Accurate Knowledge
Social And Historical Context

Targets:

Revise cuffs context
Help me
Revise Lego Movie