1a. Identify the main targeted audience of Mad Men
Mad Men targets a niche and mainly active audience
1b. Idenfity one way the text has been encoded to appeal to that type of audience
One way in which Mad Men does this is with it's complex female characters
1c. Justify how that point would gratify your previously identified type of audience
The female character Peggie in Mad Men goes against the typical female role, Peggie is independent and gains power through her intelligence, an active audience would notice this and appreciate how Weiner has challenged the typical female stereotype
1d. Describe a narrative sequence where this point is present
This is present during the scene where Peggie confronts Don Draper in his office and tells her she is leaving, this shows independence and dominance, this is emphasised with the usage of a low camera angle when focussing on Peggie, to show she is the current power holder
2. Does lost target a passive audience? Justify your answer
Yes, Lost uses many mainstream conventions which attract a passive audience, for example the use of a score, during scenes such as the final scene in episode 2, the score became more intense and dramatic as Charlie said 'guys, where are we?', a passive audience would simply read this as the JJ. Abrams intended, where as an active audience may find this patronising
3. Identify how Lost is encoded to gratify a passive audience?
Lost gratifies a passive audience with the usage of the dialogue, characters spell things out for the audience, enabling a passive audience to simply watch and enjoy the film, an example of this is when Soya says to Jack 'you're the hero', this is a character role within the Propp theory, if Lost was encoded to gratify a more active audience, then we would be left to figure it out for ourselves, however because Lost targets a more passive audience, it's spelled out for us
4. Justify one point that would force Mad Mens audience to decode the text actively in order to gain gratifications
The lack of a score forces the audience of Mad Men to decode the text actively as the score isn't backing up how certain characters are feeling or how you should feel during the scene, you are left to work things out for yourself and decode the narrative in which ever way you can
5. Explain and justify how Peaky Blinders has been encoded to gratify both a passive and active audience
Peaky Blinders is considered a high brow text in which attracts an active audience, it's usage of good quality cinematography within the first two minutes of episode 2 of a fight between The Peaky Blinders and The Lea Family are certain things an active audience would enjoy watching and would appreciate, however, a passive audience enjoys things such as the usage of a very obvious soundtrack, during exciting scenes, music by The White Stripes is used, during sad scenes the soundtrack becomes much more slow paced and sad, this enables a passive audience to simply watch and enjoy the text and decode it as Steven Knight encoded it
6. Justify the statement 'Lost is encoded to be inclusive'
Lost is encoded to be inclusive with the usage of mainstream character roles such as the character Shannon, she is the typical dumb blonde, we see this during the scene where the polar bear charges to attack and whilst everyone else has ran away, Shannon is still stood there screaming, this typical characters role is very mainstream and attracts a passive audience as it's what they're used to seeing
7. Why does the use of a score appeal to a more passive audience?
The score appeals to a passive audience as it tells them how to feel, during a sad scene a non-diegetic soundtrack/score would start to play, you wouldn't even need to understand the narrative to realise this was a sad moment within the scene, which gratifies a passive audience.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Monday, 24 February 2014
Discuss the audience appeal of your three main texts
The three texts I shall be discussing are the television series Lost, created by J.J Abrams in 2004, Peaky Blinders, created by Steven Knight in 2013 and Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner in 2007. Lost is a mainstream text, in which most of it's viewers are passive, the audience simply reads the text as Abrams intended.
Focussing on Series 1, Episode 2, 'The Pilot, Part 2', there are mainstream conventions within the narrative and technical conventions. Within the first minute of the episode I realised this was a mainstream text with the use of a non-linear narrative, the scene starts off with 3 characters walking through a jungle/forest, this sets the scene, however there is then a close up of one of the characters and then a flashback to a clip within the plane, this is a very mainstream narrative convention, attracting a mainstream passive audience.
Another huge mainstream convention used within the episode is the usage of enigma codes. In this episode there are about 5 different enigma codes, all used to keep the viewer interested just before going to a break. One of the first enigma codes we get are with the handcuffs, whilst Walt is wandering through the forest alone we get a point of view shot of him looking around, the score (another mainstream convention) builds tension, and then the handcuffs are brought into the shot, us as an audience straight away wonder what these handcuffs have to do with anything, who's are they, where are they? None of these questions are answered, leaving the audience wanting to know more. The biggest enigma code of them all has to be the very final one during the last scene, Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boon, Sawyer and Sayid all go on a 'quest' to reach high ground to find signal for the radio, they receive a distress signal which had been playing for 16 years that says 'help, everyone is dead', the camera then cuts from character to character with the score becoming more sinister, it then zooms in on Charly as he says 'guys, where are we?', and then the end of the episode, this is a huge enigma code to enable the passive audience to discuss with others what might happen and to ensure that they watch next episode.
Another way in which Lost is a mainstream text is the usage of an ensemble cast. There are wide range of character roles in this show, different race, age and gender, which all get equal screening time, meaning a wide range of people can watch the show and relate, Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory would suggest that this show enables the audience to personally identify with the characters.
Now moving onto Mad Men, a very different text in which targets a niche and mostly active audience, it is considered a high brow text, intellectually and culturally rich.
Mad Men is shown on AMC, an american cable and satellite television channel, a very niche channel, which cares not about money but only producing high quality shows, Matthew Weiner, the producer of Mad Men, paid £250,000 to play a minute of the Beatles track 'Tomorrow Never Knows' in an episode, this is one way in which Mad Men is a niche text, with it's very successful placement on AMC.
Another way in which Mad Men is considered a niche text is it's usage of complex female characters. Some of the female characters in this show break the stereotypical female role, focussing on Series 5, Episode 11, 'The Other Woman', Peggy enters Don Drapers office and tells him that she is leaving, she is very dependant, and strong, the usage of a low camera angle on Peggy emphasises this, this breaks the stereotype, however, then you have Joan who is sexualised, she is forced to have sex with the head of Jaguar to ensure that he buys Drapers idea, she is using her body to gain power. But then we have Drapers wife, Meg, who is somewhere in between, she uses her independence to tell her husband that she is following her dreams no matter what, but then goes to an audition in which the producers ignore everything she says and just stare at here body. These complex and wide variety of female character roles draw in a niche active audience.
Peaky Blinders is quite a tough audience to define, it isn't as mainstream and simple as Lost, but it's not as intellectually and culturally rich as Mad Men. Peaky Blinders is a crime drama set in Birmingham which follows former World War one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. It is placed on BBC 2, which has a reputation for producing High Brow drama series. Peaky Blinders has a very specific audience, in which most are active, one way in which it attracts it's audience is with it's usage of high quality cinematography. Within the first two minutes of Episode 2 there is a fight scene between The Lea Family and the Peaky Blinders, the scene has no dietetic sound whatsoever, and was editied in slow motion with lots of different unusual camera angles, this was all done to emphasise the scene and get the audience to focus on it more, a passive audience would've merely read the text and enjoyed, however a more active audience really would've appreciated the amount of work that went into that editing and camera work, which is what the director Steven Knights would've hoped to achieve.
Another way in which Peaky Blinders attracted it's audience is by breaking the stereotypical representation of regional identity, in this case the Brummie. Typical representations of the Brummie is that they aren't very smart, and the accent makes them seem very stupid, you see things in magazines such as the Daily Mail that have headlines like 'Brummie Dummie', Peaky Blinders
completely goes against this sterotype and represents Brummies as much more smart and formal.
The score and soundtrack within Peaky Blinders is a very mainstream technical convention, the music often reflects the mood of the scene, during scenes of excitement tracks by The White Stripes are often played, build up of the score is used to build tension, sad scenes the score becomes very sad, this enables the audience to become passive and simply enjoy the text, however, some audiences found this very patronising, almost as if the film was telling us that this scene is now sad, when we clearly already knew this.
Focussing on Series 1, Episode 2, 'The Pilot, Part 2', there are mainstream conventions within the narrative and technical conventions. Within the first minute of the episode I realised this was a mainstream text with the use of a non-linear narrative, the scene starts off with 3 characters walking through a jungle/forest, this sets the scene, however there is then a close up of one of the characters and then a flashback to a clip within the plane, this is a very mainstream narrative convention, attracting a mainstream passive audience.
Another huge mainstream convention used within the episode is the usage of enigma codes. In this episode there are about 5 different enigma codes, all used to keep the viewer interested just before going to a break. One of the first enigma codes we get are with the handcuffs, whilst Walt is wandering through the forest alone we get a point of view shot of him looking around, the score (another mainstream convention) builds tension, and then the handcuffs are brought into the shot, us as an audience straight away wonder what these handcuffs have to do with anything, who's are they, where are they? None of these questions are answered, leaving the audience wanting to know more. The biggest enigma code of them all has to be the very final one during the last scene, Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boon, Sawyer and Sayid all go on a 'quest' to reach high ground to find signal for the radio, they receive a distress signal which had been playing for 16 years that says 'help, everyone is dead', the camera then cuts from character to character with the score becoming more sinister, it then zooms in on Charly as he says 'guys, where are we?', and then the end of the episode, this is a huge enigma code to enable the passive audience to discuss with others what might happen and to ensure that they watch next episode.
Another way in which Lost is a mainstream text is the usage of an ensemble cast. There are wide range of character roles in this show, different race, age and gender, which all get equal screening time, meaning a wide range of people can watch the show and relate, Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory would suggest that this show enables the audience to personally identify with the characters.
Now moving onto Mad Men, a very different text in which targets a niche and mostly active audience, it is considered a high brow text, intellectually and culturally rich.
Mad Men is shown on AMC, an american cable and satellite television channel, a very niche channel, which cares not about money but only producing high quality shows, Matthew Weiner, the producer of Mad Men, paid £250,000 to play a minute of the Beatles track 'Tomorrow Never Knows' in an episode, this is one way in which Mad Men is a niche text, with it's very successful placement on AMC.
Another way in which Mad Men is considered a niche text is it's usage of complex female characters. Some of the female characters in this show break the stereotypical female role, focussing on Series 5, Episode 11, 'The Other Woman', Peggy enters Don Drapers office and tells him that she is leaving, she is very dependant, and strong, the usage of a low camera angle on Peggy emphasises this, this breaks the stereotype, however, then you have Joan who is sexualised, she is forced to have sex with the head of Jaguar to ensure that he buys Drapers idea, she is using her body to gain power. But then we have Drapers wife, Meg, who is somewhere in between, she uses her independence to tell her husband that she is following her dreams no matter what, but then goes to an audition in which the producers ignore everything she says and just stare at here body. These complex and wide variety of female character roles draw in a niche active audience.
Peaky Blinders is quite a tough audience to define, it isn't as mainstream and simple as Lost, but it's not as intellectually and culturally rich as Mad Men. Peaky Blinders is a crime drama set in Birmingham which follows former World War one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. It is placed on BBC 2, which has a reputation for producing High Brow drama series. Peaky Blinders has a very specific audience, in which most are active, one way in which it attracts it's audience is with it's usage of high quality cinematography. Within the first two minutes of Episode 2 there is a fight scene between The Lea Family and the Peaky Blinders, the scene has no dietetic sound whatsoever, and was editied in slow motion with lots of different unusual camera angles, this was all done to emphasise the scene and get the audience to focus on it more, a passive audience would've merely read the text and enjoyed, however a more active audience really would've appreciated the amount of work that went into that editing and camera work, which is what the director Steven Knights would've hoped to achieve.
Another way in which Peaky Blinders attracted it's audience is by breaking the stereotypical representation of regional identity, in this case the Brummie. Typical representations of the Brummie is that they aren't very smart, and the accent makes them seem very stupid, you see things in magazines such as the Daily Mail that have headlines like 'Brummie Dummie', Peaky Blinders
completely goes against this sterotype and represents Brummies as much more smart and formal.
The score and soundtrack within Peaky Blinders is a very mainstream technical convention, the music often reflects the mood of the scene, during scenes of excitement tracks by The White Stripes are often played, build up of the score is used to build tension, sad scenes the score becomes very sad, this enables the audience to become passive and simply enjoy the text, however, some audiences found this very patronising, almost as if the film was telling us that this scene is now sad, when we clearly already knew this.
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Study the Uses and Gratifictions theory and question, which gratifications audiences would gain from each of your studied texts.
According to Blumler and Katz, people watch texts to gain something from them, whether that be a use or a gratification, Peaky Blinders fits in to this theory. Within Peaky Blinders is retrophilia, you are constantly given historical content from the time in which it was set, in this case, 1919, in terms of the Uses and Gratifications theory, Peaky Blinders informs it's audience, for example, during the scene where the horse has a broken leg, Tom Shelby and two other men that work in the barn are under the impression the horse has been given a curse by gypsies, this informs the audience of the ideologies of people in Birmingham at that time and gives them a little background information, a passive audience may merely ignore this, however an active audience would take in this information and appreciate that it's there. Peaky Blinders gratifies it's audience with entrainment and escapism, they do this with their usage of highly concentrated cinematography, a number of scenes within Peaky Blinders have been so highly edited and so thought out that they don't seem real, an example of this is the scene where there is a confrontation and fight with the Lea Family, there are a number of different shots and camera angles used within the scene however it's not as face paced as it may seen, it's completely slowed down and there is no diegetic sound whatsoever, only music, this lacks a sense of realism and enables the audience to escape within the text.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
How does Peaky Blinders attract it's audience?
Peaky Blinders is a crime drama set in Birmingham in 1919 which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. It is placed on BBC 2, which has a reputation for producing 'High Brow' drama series, intellectually and culturally rich texts.
Peaky Blinders has a very specific audience, in which most are active, one way in which it attracts it's audience is with it's usage of good quality cinematography. Within the first two minutes of Episode 2 there is a fight scene between The Lea Family and the Peaky Blinders, the whole scene consists of no dietetic sound whatsoever, and it was all in slow motion with numerous clips used, this was all done to emphasise the scene and get the audience to look at it more, a passive audience would've merely read the text and enjoyed, however a more active audience really would've appreciated the amount of work that went into that editing and camera work, which is what the director Steven Knights would've hoped to achieve.
Another way in which Peaky Blinders attracted it's audience is by breaking the stereotypical representation of regional identity, in this case the Brummie. Typical representations of the Brummie is that they aren't very smart, and the accent makes them seem very stupid, you see things in magazines such as the Daily Mail that have headlines like 'Brummie Dummie', Peaky Blinders completely goes against this sterotype and represents Brummies as much more smart and formal..
Peaky Blinders has a very specific audience, in which most are active, one way in which it attracts it's audience is with it's usage of good quality cinematography. Within the first two minutes of Episode 2 there is a fight scene between The Lea Family and the Peaky Blinders, the whole scene consists of no dietetic sound whatsoever, and it was all in slow motion with numerous clips used, this was all done to emphasise the scene and get the audience to look at it more, a passive audience would've merely read the text and enjoyed, however a more active audience really would've appreciated the amount of work that went into that editing and camera work, which is what the director Steven Knights would've hoped to achieve.
Another way in which Peaky Blinders attracted it's audience is by breaking the stereotypical representation of regional identity, in this case the Brummie. Typical representations of the Brummie is that they aren't very smart, and the accent makes them seem very stupid, you see things in magazines such as the Daily Mail that have headlines like 'Brummie Dummie', Peaky Blinders completely goes against this sterotype and represents Brummies as much more smart and formal..
Thursday, 30 January 2014
Explore the different ways in which audiences and/or users respond to your chosen texts
AMC's and Matthew Weiners critically acclaimed Mad Men is a niche text targeting an active audience, which is not encoded to gratify a mainstream audience. As Mad Men goes against typical mainstream conventions, the audience has responded in a numerous ways.
The audience of Mad Men have responded via social networking sites, Charlie Collier, the president of AMC mentioned how they brought out a game in which you could go make an avatar based on Mad Men and then share it on a social networking site where others could see their avatars, and of course, the name of the show. There are also other games such as 'the personality test', this enables the audience to connect more with the show and compare themselves with other Mad Men.
The audience of Mad Men have responded via social networking sites, Charlie Collier, the president of AMC mentioned how they brought out a game in which you could go make an avatar based on Mad Men and then share it on a social networking site where others could see their avatars, and of course, the name of the show. There are also other games such as 'the personality test', this enables the audience to connect more with the show and compare themselves with other Mad Men.
Thursday, 23 January 2014
How does Lost attract it's audience
JJ. Abrams Lost attracts a wide, mainstream audience. Lost has been encoded to be inclusive, both active and passive audience can be gratified by it.
The texts usage of mainstream narrative conventions are what bring in such a large audience. First off, Lost is a hybrid, it uses conventions of Action, Fantasy & Adventure. During Kates flashback of the plane crash, there is a usage of fast editing when the plane first starts going down and also the usage of special effects when the back of the plane is ripped off taking some of the passengers with it, these two techniques are very typical of the action drama. Lost also links in with the Adventure and Fantasy genre, as 20 minutes in to the episode, Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boon, Sawyer and Said go on a 'quest' through the jungle to reach high ground to get signal for the radio, a quest for the characters to complete is often set in the Adventure and Fantasy genre. Abrams decided to make Lost a hybrid text to make sure those who have an oppositional reading of individual genres, aren't unable to watch the show, making the text able to be watched by more people, making it a mainstream text.
The texts usage of mainstream narrative conventions are what bring in such a large audience. First off, Lost is a hybrid, it uses conventions of Action, Fantasy & Adventure. During Kates flashback of the plane crash, there is a usage of fast editing when the plane first starts going down and also the usage of special effects when the back of the plane is ripped off taking some of the passengers with it, these two techniques are very typical of the action drama. Lost also links in with the Adventure and Fantasy genre, as 20 minutes in to the episode, Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boon, Sawyer and Said go on a 'quest' through the jungle to reach high ground to get signal for the radio, a quest for the characters to complete is often set in the Adventure and Fantasy genre. Abrams decided to make Lost a hybrid text to make sure those who have an oppositional reading of individual genres, aren't unable to watch the show, making the text able to be watched by more people, making it a mainstream text.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Lost
The television series Lost is a mainstream text, in which the majority of the audience are passive, they simply watch the show and enjoy. We know this from it's usage of technical conventions and narrative.
The first convention that makes me believe this is a mainstream text is in the first minute of the second episode, a non-linear narrative. We start off by seeing 3 characters walking in the forest, we assume this is where the entire show will be set, however, we then suddenly get a close up of a male character and then a cut to this same character sat on a plane, this is a flashback, which is a very mainstream technical convention.
Another convention that makes me believe this is a mainstream text is the usage of lots of enigma codes. Enigma codes are usually shown just before an advert break to make sure the audience come back for more, this is very commonly used. One or two examples of this are when John Lock and Walt are on the beach, they are both having a friendly chat on the beach discussing an old game, when all of a sudden there is a change in the music score, it becomes much darker, a close up and zoom is then used on John to whom then says 'wanna know a secret?', the clip then changes. Another example of an enigma code is right at the end of the episode, when a group of our characters have gone on a hike, to then find out a loop of 'help me, please save me, it killed them all' being played through a radio transmission for 16 years, the score then once again reflects the mood and Charly says 'Guys, where are we?', it then cuts to the end of the episode.
Another convention which adheres to the mainstream is
The first convention that makes me believe this is a mainstream text is in the first minute of the second episode, a non-linear narrative. We start off by seeing 3 characters walking in the forest, we assume this is where the entire show will be set, however, we then suddenly get a close up of a male character and then a cut to this same character sat on a plane, this is a flashback, which is a very mainstream technical convention.
Another convention that makes me believe this is a mainstream text is the usage of lots of enigma codes. Enigma codes are usually shown just before an advert break to make sure the audience come back for more, this is very commonly used. One or two examples of this are when John Lock and Walt are on the beach, they are both having a friendly chat on the beach discussing an old game, when all of a sudden there is a change in the music score, it becomes much darker, a close up and zoom is then used on John to whom then says 'wanna know a secret?', the clip then changes. Another example of an enigma code is right at the end of the episode, when a group of our characters have gone on a hike, to then find out a loop of 'help me, please save me, it killed them all' being played through a radio transmission for 16 years, the score then once again reflects the mood and Charly says 'Guys, where are we?', it then cuts to the end of the episode.
Another convention which adheres to the mainstream is
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