Audience: Dependency Theory

What do YOU primarily use the media for: entertainment or information? (Or something else?)

I use the media for entertainment, information and also sometimes for personal work and knowledge. I use the media for entertainment purposes in the sense that a lot of the television or movies I watch are done online, rather than the generic version of watching them on television. It's the concept of "on-demand" that is very appealing to me as I like to have the choice and power of when I want to watch something. In terms of information, media is also very important as it is crucial in the going ons of society around me. I read a lot of my news through social media and other places such as reddit. These help me to have a sense of what is happening and stay up to date. A lot of the work that I do relies heavily on the usage of media especially such as social media which helps me to stay in touch with what society is up to in the sense that I am able to use the latest trends to my advantage when it comes to designing of posters and marketing to a specific age range. I generally use websites such as reddit for my own knowledge and personal gain.2) To what extent do you feel we are dependent on the media?

I think we are definitely too dependent on the media, especially teenagers. We tend to rely too much on media, for example, I think in social situations, teenagers have a hard time not looking at their phones every two minutes which generally affects the atmosphere negatively. We as teenagers also tend to overuse certain media and only use it as a pass time, and we also tend to only use certain media depending on the latest trend. For example, at the time, MySpace was widely used, however it has died out and is no longer popular.

Has our dependence on the media changed over the last 10 years? How?

I think our dependence on media has changed quite drastically over the past 10 years, and I think it has reached almost to the point where it possibly has become a social hindrance and generally stunted our growth as people in society. However, there is no denying the fact that the rapid evolution of media in such a short space of time has greatly helped us to connect with each other with greater ease and generally helped the populace expand in ways we thought were not possible. I think the usage of media will only expand more and allow for a greater platform of a freedom of speech. 

Read this Telegraph article – does this support Dependency theory? What is your personal opinion on this issue? 

I think it does support the dependency theory as many teenagers are way too dependent on the internet and social media. As teenagers, we are constantly trying to socialise and staying connected with one another, so it is rare now a days to see a group of teenagers just sitting and talking with one another, but rather you tend to see that some of them will be on their phones even when in a social situation. So I personally believe this tends to make social situations much more tedious and boring as everyone is too busy being "glued" to their phone screens and not paying more attention to their surroundings.

Audience: Audience Theory blog tasks/questions

Hypodermic Needle Model

Read this Mail Online article about the effects of videogames. How does this article link to the hypodermic needle model?

The article writes about how there is a direct correlation between the people that play violent video games and their aggressive behaviour. It uses studies and facts to show to the audience that those who play violent games have a higher chance of behaving much more aggressively. This links in with the hypodermic needle model as violent games could be "injecting" a certain behaviour pattern into young people such as aggression. It could also be linked as the article itself is "injecting" an opinion disguised as a fact using specific research into the audience. This is very dangerous as it can make the audience think or react in accordance to what the media wants.

How does coverage of the Talk Talk hacking case link to the hypodermic needle model? Why might someone criticise this front page? 



The headline talks about the hacking case and how a young fifteen year old teenager was able to hack the mobile provider TalkTalk. However, the coverage can be linked with the hypodermic needle model as the coverage uses specific stereotypes to reinforce and target a specific age of young people. It uses video games as one of the main factors as to try and justify the reasoning behind the motives of the hacker. However, it can be easily argued that these two aren't linked at all. This situation asserts the hypodermic model as the Daily Mail "injects" opinions disguised as facts to try and sway the perception of the audience. 

For this reason, the Daily Mail could be criticised quite easily as they tend to skew the situation out of proportion by publishing opinionated theories and linking completely irrelevant factors as justifications. Therefore, in many cases the Daily Mail isn't a reliable source of information most of the time due to it's biased influence on its readers.

Two-step flow model

Summarise the two-step flow model. In your opinion, is the two-step flow theory still relevant today?

The two step model is a theory that was developed in the 1940s because it thought the hypodermic model was too simplistic. It focuses and suggests the idea that society and audiences are influenced by certain individuals who control the audience's reactions through their own personal opinions and also allow for general discussion through a general consensus of agreement or even disagreement.

How does this YouTube blogger fit into the two-step flow model?

TotalBiscuit is a youtuber who does a variety of different things through his videos. He is most known for his videos where he plays and critiques different games. He is also well known for his reviews and explanations of new and upcoming games. He fits the two-step model very well as he has a huge audience to his channel, the audience which rely on his expertise and opinions before buying a game. His critique is also considered very important as he has been doing his videos for a very long time and it is obvious that through his experience he holds a lot of great knowledge as to what makes a good game or not. This means that he is seen as an "opinion" leader and directly affects the reaction of the audience of certain topics.

How does this Telegraph article on influential tweeters fit the two-step flow model?

It suggests the idea that the stars and celebrities of the media world have a higher following than those of decision makers. It is very important as it suggests that the ones that affect the perception and opinions of the media audience are not actually the ones in power, for example, the stars of One Direction have at least 12 million Twitter followers compared to David Cameron's 400,000. This shows that the people with higher amount of followers are the ones who would be able to influence the opinions of society much better than those with fewer followers.

Read this BBC profile of Jamal Edwards. How does Jamal Edwards link to the two-step flow model?

Jamal Edwards fits very well into the two-step model as he is shown to have created his own platform from where he expresses his opinions. This is very unique especially since his SBTV was the reason for a huge artist like Ed Sheeran who gets over 7.7 million views. This shows that people actually agree with his opinions and shows that his expertise is not only valued but it is very accurate in the sense that he knows what is good and what isn't in both the music and media industry.

Audience: Psychographics

Young and Rubicam: Psychographics

Your psychographic group

Aspirers

Introduce your example couple that represents your group:

Names: Jeremy and Nicole

Where do they work/study?
Jeremy - Sales assistant, aspires to be an entrepreneur
Nicole - Fashion designer, aspires to own fashion magazine

What do they do in their spare time?
Jeremy - PS4, cooking
Nicole - Window shopping, shopping, brand searching

Now suggest their media consumption  

Print: What newspapers/magazines does your group read (if any)? Is this on paper or tablet?

Tablet users mostly but sometimes print during travel

Broadcast: What TV programmes/channels do your group watch? Radio stations? TV package - Freeview or Sky? Films?

Sky+, and generally blockbuster or mainstream cinema

On demand, Netflix

E-media: What technology do they own? What websites do they visit (if any)?

Apple users, Twitter, online news, social media, Netflix, tablet users.

Narrative: Narrative Theory YouTube clip Analysis

500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer is unique in the sense that it's narrative is not presented chronologically. In the movie, we don't go through the story in a linear perspective.

ENIGMA codes: In the trailer, the audience is left with many enigma codes such as, why does the girl break up with Tom? What happens afterwards and what happened between them to cause the break up?

ACTION codes: The audience could consider the action code could be when she breaks up with him.

Equilibrium: The equilibrium that we the audience see could be before Tom meets the girl and goes out with her.

Disequilibrium: The disequilibrium is the obvious and clear point where the girl breaks up with Tom as it creates a lot of complications for Tom and essentially changes him as a person.

New Equilibrium: The new equilibrium is when he tries to change and move one but has difficulty in doing this. This part is not shown too much in the trailer so it leaves it up to the audience as an anchor to try and watch the movie and find out.

The Villain: The woman could easily be both the Villain or The Princess.
The Donor and the Helper:  In this trailer, we see many friends helping Tom in his break up so we can see that they are the ones to help him resolve the disequilibrium.
The Princess: The woman could be the Princess but also it can be interpreted that she is not a typical Princess. It could also be interpreted that the Hero is in fact the Princess all along and that he has to save himself from the break up.
The Hero: Tom the main protagonist is the clear and apparent hero of the story.

Daredevil

ENIGMA codes: In the trailer, the audience is left with many enigma codes such as, who are the two main characters and why are they fighting? What are their motives and what are the reasons behind their binary opposition?

ACTION codes: The audience can see that the action codes of violence are presented when Fisk kills the man in the beginning of the scene.

Equilibrium: The equilibrium that we the audience see could be the calm state of the city and the generally setting.

Disequilibrium: The disequilibrium is the obvious and clear point where the first character (Fisk) kills a man to show violence and create disequilibrium in the natural order of affairs.

New Equilibrium: The new equilibrium is when we are introduced to the main protagonist Matt Murdock who is fighting for justice as a lawyer to try and "make the city a better place" and go against Fisk.

The Villain: We don't see him as the villain at first but it is Wilson Fisk shown at the beginning. He could also be the False Hero as his intentions are good but are immediately presented as bad after his actions of killing a man.
The Donor and the Helper:  In this trailer, we see many friends helping Matt but the most dominant ones are the Vicar and the blind old man who helps to train him.
The Princess: We could interpret that the princess that needs to be saved could be the city and setting itself as both the villain and hero talk about saving the city repeatedly.
The Hero: The main protagonist in this trailer is Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer.

Batman Arkham Knight

ENIGMA codes: In the trailer, the audience is left with many enigma codes such as, who is the masked person at the end with a gun to Batman's head? Is Batman going to survive? Will he be able to stop the threat of the Scarecrow?

ACTION codes: The audience can consider that the action code would be the arrival of Batman. This is generally very stereotypical of Batman in the sense that he has this grand entrance to save the day.

Equilibrium: We don't see an equilibrium, but rather we're immediately thrown into the disequilibrium.

Disequilibrium: The disequilibrium is when we see Gotham city in a state of panic because of the threats of the villains and riots.

New Equilibrium: The new equilibrium is present when Batman enters the scenario in order to "even the odds", he is fighting the villains constantly to bring a state of order and peace.

The Villain: There are many villains in this trailer, but the most significant one has to be the masked Arkham Knight at the end who clearly has the upper hand over Batman.
The Donor and the Helper:  We see the police commissioner helping Batman regularly in order for him to save the day.
The Princess: In this scenario, we could say that the city is the princess in need of saving.
The Hero: Batman is the stereotypical protagonist of the narrative.

Blog feedback and learner response

WWW: 
Firstly, it is important to acknowledge the brilliant start you have made in Media lessons – your engagement and contributions to discussion and debate are impressive and appreciated. Your blog also reflects that engagement – the 50 Cent RBK advert analysis is excellent with particular insight in terms of dominant and oppositional readings.

EBI: My concern is that your blog is missing some work. Based on the high standard of everything I've seen so far, I'm assuming this is due to a lack of organisation rather than any deliberate attempt to avoid work. However, Media (the subject and the industry) is project and deadline-based and organisation is a critical skill. You’re missing your own advert analysis to go alongside the RBK advert and the institution work is also unfinished (summaries of the institutions we researched). Clearly we need to be aiming for the very top grade in A Level Media but you will need to manage workload to achieve that!

LR: Add the missing/incomplete work. Next, reflect on your first month of AS Media. What is your strongest piece of work so far? What is your weakest? What specific skills or knowledge do you need to develop over the rest of the course?

Learner Response

I've thoroughly enjoyed my first month of AS Media. It's a subject that I always had a passion for and I definitely have fun in every lesson that I have.

I personally think that the piece of work for the MEST 1 blog that I think is my most strongest piece is the analysis of different adverts. I've also been able to use the ideas of dominant and oppositional readings which I thought were very interesting in the sense that it gives us an insight in every day media and how behind the scene, these techniques can affect the every day audience and in turn influence our perception of different things. 

My weakest, I have to say is the Brand Values piece, as I feel like the values that I thought about, although are correct in my perception and relate to the brand, are vague to say the very least. I think breaking down something and really looking at something from the perception of a brand's marketing values is something that I might have to work on as I currently have trouble seeing from their point of view. I also think I need to work on my essay and analysis skills further and come up with a variety and range of ideas rather than just a few.

Institution: Brand Values

Coca Cola

The Coca Cola brand is all about happy families, which helps to give the sense of belonging to the audience and allows them to relate to the brand quite easily. The brand is quite old which creates reliability in the product, and is probably the reason Coca Cola is a favourite when it comes to choosing drinks. In the majority of their commercials and posters, they try to invoke the sense of belonging by adding images of families sharing their products together and having a good time. This shows to their audience that their company cares about the ideals of an every day family.

Coca Cola's brand is all about family and reliability, with quality content.

Coca Cola in one word: World wide

McDonald's

McDonald's started of as a small chain that sold sandwiches. The brand easily fits in to the idea of happy families and welcomes people to their products. They want their customers to belong; they do this by making their interior and design or products much more appealing to a family demographic. They also have a product called the Happy Meal which is aimed for children, therefore they want their consumers to bring in children and have a meal together. Their commercials are generally aimed at a family audience, as we normally see a whole family sitting down and enjoying a McDonald's meal together.

McDonald's brand is all about family and happiness with good food.

McDonald's in one word: Fast-food

Starbucks

The Starbucks brand and company are all about quality, lifestyle with a personal touch. It generally comes across as a local coffee place but is really a major business known world wide. Starbucks could fit into the idea of happy families as their signature move is to ask for your name for when you go to order, and also it could fit into successful careers as many of the people that generally go to Starbucks order coffee whilst going to work. Their company generally shows passion for their brand and a general passion for coffee which is shown in their products and employees.

Starbucks is all about passion for their brand and products.

Starbucks in one word: Quality

Sony

Sony's brand is all about rich and luxurious lifestyles as many of their technologies are expensive and generally for a higher class of people. Their brand value could also be dream and fantasy for successful people as many of their consumers are generally people that are rich. Their brand could also create aspirations for many people as it gives the general people for something to look up to that they could dream of buying their expensive products. Sony is also linked to entertainment so their brand value could also be linked to happy families that can use their products together.

Sony is all about happy families, innovation, and creating aspirations for successful careers.

Sony in world: Technology

Google

Google's company and brand focuses on technology and innovation for their products. It is all about professionalism and presents the idea of elite people and experts. This is true as many of the products that they create help to revolutionise the technology sector and many of their products are developed by experts in their fields of knowledge and technology. The brand value could also be related to successful careers as many of the employees of Google are successful people with expert and technical skills. This means that they are always at the top and the best of the best.

Google is all about passion and technology, it focuses on aspiring to be and making the best.

Google in one world: Innovation

Institution: Major Media Institution Research and Presentation

1. Trinity Mirror PLC - Trinity Mirror prints and distributes thirty-six major newspapers for the UK. The most influential and well known newspaper is the Daily Mirror and its sister paper the Sunday. Trinity Mirror also owns a number of local titles in Northern England and in Surrey and Berkshire, after acquiring a number of titles from the Guardian Media Group in 2010.
2. BSkyB - British Telecommunications company which formed in 1990 and is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Formed from the merger of Sky television and British Satellite Broadcasting. This merger was due to the fact that both companies were struggling financially because both had competed with each other for viewers.
3. News Corporation - An American multinational mass media corporation based in New York. It's the world's fourth largest media group in 2014 in terms of revenue. Founded in Australia in 1979 by the founder Rupert Murdoch.
4. Sony - Most well known for the Playstation, Sony Pictures and Sony Music. Sony has focused mainly on the Playstation area as their consoles have progressed over the years. They don't focus on Sony Movies as many of their movies aren't successful. They have moved their famous Walkman's idea onto their mobile phones.
5. Vivendi - Founded in 1853, and was originally a water company called Compagnie Generale des Eaux. It is considered the European equivalent of Sky because in 1983 the channel Canal+ was created and was the first ever pay-TV channel in Fance. In 1998, the company's name was changed to Vivendi.
6. Time Warner - An American multinational media corporation in New York. It is currently the world's largest television networks, filmed TV and entertainment company in terms of revenue. It is generally considered to be the American version of Virgin Media and currently has major operations in film and TV.
7. Viacom - Originally a spin off from CBS corporations created in December 2005. Founded by Tom Frestion and Summer Redstone. The current CEO is Philippe Dauman. It is currently the largest portfolio of ad-supported TV network in the USA.

The BBC
The BBC is a public service broadcasting channel which is located in London. It is the world's most oldest national broadcasting service and the second largest in the world by the number of employees. 

The BBC is run by a group of twelve governors which are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the government ministers. The organisation was created under a royal charter and strictly recognises that the company should be independent from any other organisation, and that it should always be neutral.

The organisation's is mainly funded through the TV license fee which are something that every home should purchase by law. It also is funded through other ways such as commercials.

The Walt Disney CompanyIt is a multinational mass media conglomerate founded in 1923 by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. It is currently the world's second largest conglomerate by revenue, after Comcast. The company first established itself as the leader for animation before moving onto live action film production, television and theme parks.

The company also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network and channels such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family. The company also owns 14 theme parks around the world. 

Mickey Mouse, a well known cartoon creation of the company, is a primary symbol of The Walt Disney Company.

Comcast

Comcast is an American multinational mass media corporation founded in 1963. It is the largest broadcasting and cable company in the world in terms of revenue. It is also' the third largest home telephone service provider in the United States.

The corporate owns NBCUniversal since 2011 which is an international media company. It is the producer of many feature films and television shows made in America.

The company's customer services often ranks among the lowest in the cable industry.