How global is the appeal of your three main texts?
Nirvana, Lady Gaga and Radiohead all had different ways of making their albums appeal to their audiences. This could be done through the material of the product, the promotion of the album and the use of technology.
Nirvana took a long time to rise to the top, it took them 5 months to get to number one in the charts even though they were on a major music label, this was partly due to limited marketing because there was no use of internet and partly due to the fact that the 'grunge' music that they played appealed to a niche audience. Their second album "Nevermind" wasn't expected to sell anywhere near as many copies as it did, with initial production of only 35,000 copies made for the UK. The appeal of Nirvana to their audience was their rebellious appearance. An example of how Nirvana appealed to their audience was their performance on the Jonathan Ross show when they were supposed to perform their new single 'Lithium' but instead performed 'Territorial Pissings'. This showed their rebellious attitude towards fame and this appealed to their fans. Their music video "Smells like teen spirit" adds to their appeal to their fans, the video shows the band members wearing casual clothing and having a rebellious attitude, appealing to their young teenage fan base.
Lady Gaga has a large fan base and uses high production value music videos to promote her album and appeal to her audience. She released the album "Born this way" in May 2011 and it sold over 1.1 million copies in its first week of release in America alone. This was due to her being on a major music label called Interscope records, this helped promote her music through marketing and helped her rise to the top of the charts quickly. This was something that Nirvana could not do because of the time that they were around, the internet was not available to be used as a promotion tool, this is why it took them 5 months to reach number 1. The appeal of Lady Gaga's album appeal was focused on her love of fame and individualism and this was backed up in her music video for the single "Born this way". The music featured on the album is very similar to the music on her previous album, this repetition in style is part of her appeal to her audience. The video uses lots of different sets and lots of dancers, this makes the video appear as more of a production and appeals to a much wider, mainstream audience. Lady Gaga also makes a reference to her fans in the video, she calls them "little monsters" and in the music video she says "put your paws up", this reference appeals to her fans because she makes a personal connection with them.
Radiohead appeal to a much more niche audience than Lady Gaga or Nirvana because their appeal is strongly focused around fans of the band. When they released the album "In Rainbows" they decided to launch it in an unusual way. They decided to put it on their own website and let people decide what price they paid for the album. The idea behind this was that real fans of the band would contribute a fair price in order to support the band. The following album "King of limbs" was also released on their website at a price of £6 for a downloadable copy. Again, this meant that the album was first released to their hardcore fans, this is because Radiohead are an independent band, they are not signed to a record label and therefore don't have the marketing and publicity that a band on a major label would get. This means that it is harder for them to appeal to a mainstream audience so they choose to just target their more niche, loyal audience.
Tuesday 13 May 2014
Thursday 6 February 2014
Peaky Blinders question
How has your chosen text attracted its audience?
Peaky Blinders is a drama that is set in Birmingham in 1919. It is aired on BBC2, a broadcaster that historically targets the arts, culture, drama and some comedy. BBC2 has a large viewing audience, serving most of the population of the UK. The target audience is usually an active audience, who would gain gratification from watching Peaky Blinders.
The text features a variety of famous film stars in its cast, such as Cillian Murphy and Sam Neil, this helps to attract a wider audience as people may view the text because of a certain actor/actress to gain gratification and viewing pleasure. Peaky Blinders has also been complemented for its high production value and cinematography. An active audience will gain gratification from watching this.
The non-diegetic music used in the text is modern, for example in the fight scene between the Peaky Blinders and the gypsies. This contrasts with the time that the text is set in and displays the idea of post-modernism in the text.
Peaky Blinders is a drama that is set in Birmingham in 1919. It is aired on BBC2, a broadcaster that historically targets the arts, culture, drama and some comedy. BBC2 has a large viewing audience, serving most of the population of the UK. The target audience is usually an active audience, who would gain gratification from watching Peaky Blinders.
The text features a variety of famous film stars in its cast, such as Cillian Murphy and Sam Neil, this helps to attract a wider audience as people may view the text because of a certain actor/actress to gain gratification and viewing pleasure. Peaky Blinders has also been complemented for its high production value and cinematography. An active audience will gain gratification from watching this.
The non-diegetic music used in the text is modern, for example in the fight scene between the Peaky Blinders and the gypsies. This contrasts with the time that the text is set in and displays the idea of post-modernism in the text.
Tuesday 28 January 2014
Mad Men - Episode 11, Season 5
Discuss the audience appeal of the text
Mad Men is aimed at a niche audience so its appeal is very different to a mainstream text. Its appeal is based around the idea of retrophilia, the love of things from the past. The text represents the 1960s through things such as the miss en scene of old clothing, the men wear suits and the women wear floral dresses which are representative of the fashion at the time. The text also represents the difference in power between men and women at the time. In the scene where Don visits Joan, there is a low camera angle that looks up at him from Joan's perspective. This makes Don look more powerful than her and this represents the power that men had over women in the 1960s.
The style of the text may also appeal to the niche audience. There is a lot of attention to detail in the film, for example when the scene is set in the office there is a lot of diegetic sound such as type writers in the background and sirens and sounds from the streets. These details give the film authenticity and give a good representation of what it would have been like at the time working in an office environment in a big city.
Research
Reviews:
New York magazine TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz said "the shows main draw is behaviour, observed with such exactness that one can imagine the shows being transposed to the forties or eighties, with different clothes, slang and inebriates, but still delivering the same basic satisfactions".
Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men said in a recent interview that "the programme is not for everyone" because of the niche audience that its aimed at. He says that he "doesn't work to a formula" to create the show, he does this so that the show pleases an audience that is character driven.
A fan forum, The Orange Couch reviewed the episode 'the other woman' and said that in the opening scene of the episode women are given the option to either be "humans or objects". This suggests that women have the choice to escape the idea of being 'sex objects' and relates to Laura Mulveys theory of the female gaze.
Mad Men is aimed at a niche audience so its appeal is very different to a mainstream text. Its appeal is based around the idea of retrophilia, the love of things from the past. The text represents the 1960s through things such as the miss en scene of old clothing, the men wear suits and the women wear floral dresses which are representative of the fashion at the time. The text also represents the difference in power between men and women at the time. In the scene where Don visits Joan, there is a low camera angle that looks up at him from Joan's perspective. This makes Don look more powerful than her and this represents the power that men had over women in the 1960s.
The style of the text may also appeal to the niche audience. There is a lot of attention to detail in the film, for example when the scene is set in the office there is a lot of diegetic sound such as type writers in the background and sirens and sounds from the streets. These details give the film authenticity and give a good representation of what it would have been like at the time working in an office environment in a big city.
Research
Reviews:
New York magazine TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz said "the shows main draw is behaviour, observed with such exactness that one can imagine the shows being transposed to the forties or eighties, with different clothes, slang and inebriates, but still delivering the same basic satisfactions".
Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men said in a recent interview that "the programme is not for everyone" because of the niche audience that its aimed at. He says that he "doesn't work to a formula" to create the show, he does this so that the show pleases an audience that is character driven.
A fan forum, The Orange Couch reviewed the episode 'the other woman' and said that in the opening scene of the episode women are given the option to either be "humans or objects". This suggests that women have the choice to escape the idea of being 'sex objects' and relates to Laura Mulveys theory of the female gaze.
Thursday 23 January 2014
Lost scene analysis
Most media texts target a range of different audiences. How true is this of your text?
Lost is a mainstream text that is originally broadcasted in the US. We can tell that it is a mainstream text due to the use of enigma codes used in the scene. The main enigma code in the scene is not knowing what is running towards the group. There is loud diegetic sound and there are clips of the creature coming towards them in the long grass, the creature is never fully shown as it runs towards them so it creates a sense of mystery and makes the audience want to watch on to find out what it is.
The use of an ensemble cast also helps to attract a wide audience. By using a wide variety of characters from different cultures and backgrounds, different types of audience are drawn towards the text because they can relate to the characters in different ways.
By creating Lost as a hybrid genre, a more diverse audience is attracted. By combining two genres, more people will be encouraged to watch the text because they get gratification from watching a certain genre. For example, in this clip there is a lot of action with Sawyer shooting the bear that is running towards them. This may attract more of a male audience because they gain gratification and excitement from this.
Lost is a mainstream text that is originally broadcasted in the US. We can tell that it is a mainstream text due to the use of enigma codes used in the scene. The main enigma code in the scene is not knowing what is running towards the group. There is loud diegetic sound and there are clips of the creature coming towards them in the long grass, the creature is never fully shown as it runs towards them so it creates a sense of mystery and makes the audience want to watch on to find out what it is.
The use of an ensemble cast also helps to attract a wide audience. By using a wide variety of characters from different cultures and backgrounds, different types of audience are drawn towards the text because they can relate to the characters in different ways.
By creating Lost as a hybrid genre, a more diverse audience is attracted. By combining two genres, more people will be encouraged to watch the text because they get gratification from watching a certain genre. For example, in this clip there is a lot of action with Sawyer shooting the bear that is running towards them. This may attract more of a male audience because they gain gratification and excitement from this.
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Targets
To achieve my target grade I need to:
- Spend more time revising independently
- Read more items on the blog
- Refer to key scenes in technical detail to make analysis more relevant to the question
- Mention other films from each genre
- Stop being too general with answers
- Revise key scenes
Thursday 5 December 2013
Drive question
The film Drive uses a mix of conventions from both the film noir genre and the action genre. In the first scene there is low key lighting, this is a common convention of a film noir because it suggests danger is ahead and also suggests themes of horror. The mise en scene in the film also suggests themes from film noir. The film is set in an urban environment and on the wall of a building we see neon lighting. Neon lighting and built up, urban environments are both common conventions of Noir films and these themes are shared in Sin City. In the first scene of Sin City we see a long shot of a city, showing the setting of the film and the surrounding buildings. There is also a scene in Drive where 2 people are killed with a gun. The gun is regular iconography from the film noir genre and is common in Sin City as well as drive, it suggests crime and violence, both of which are common in Noir films.
Tuesday 3 December 2013
District 9 question
Most texts today mix genres. How is this true of District 9?
In the film District 9, the first few scenes are filmed in a documentary style, there are close up shots of people being interviewed and the shots are recorded in a handheld style. There are also clips where the film is shot in the style of a news report, there are tracking shots following people on the ground from the view of a helicopter. These styles of filming combined make the film seem realistic and show elements of a documentary genre.
In the scene where they are in the hospital, there are conventions from both the sci-fi genre and the horror genre. There is a close up of Wikus' arm after he has started to go through his transformation. Transformation is a common convention of sci-fi and this is combined with the use of CGI to make his arm look like an alien. This convention is common and can also be seen in films such as The Fly when he transforms in to a fly, he undergoes transformation from a human and starts to see changes in his appearance that are constructed using CGI.
When people are shot in the film, there are conventions of realism, horror and sci-fi. An example of this is in the scene where the alien is told to stand by the wall and is shot. The alien is shot using a futuristic alien weapon, alien technology and weapons are a convention from the sci-fi genre.
In the film District 9, the first few scenes are filmed in a documentary style, there are close up shots of people being interviewed and the shots are recorded in a handheld style. There are also clips where the film is shot in the style of a news report, there are tracking shots following people on the ground from the view of a helicopter. These styles of filming combined make the film seem realistic and show elements of a documentary genre.
In the scene where they are in the hospital, there are conventions from both the sci-fi genre and the horror genre. There is a close up of Wikus' arm after he has started to go through his transformation. Transformation is a common convention of sci-fi and this is combined with the use of CGI to make his arm look like an alien. This convention is common and can also be seen in films such as The Fly when he transforms in to a fly, he undergoes transformation from a human and starts to see changes in his appearance that are constructed using CGI.
When people are shot in the film, there are conventions of realism, horror and sci-fi. An example of this is in the scene where the alien is told to stand by the wall and is shot. The alien is shot using a futuristic alien weapon, alien technology and weapons are a convention from the sci-fi genre.
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