Construction, Anchorage, Selection, Omission, Mediation.

The Construction and Mediation of Representations

A news photograph for example may appear to be presenting us with a factual image but it has been through a process of construction:

• the photographer has selected his/her position, lens, angle,

exposure and framing before taking the picture

• the picture editor will decide if the image needs to be cropped, enhanced or in any way altered before inclusion into the paper

• an editor will choose which, of the many available photographs of the image, will be the one chosen for inclusion in the newspaper and, importantly at this stage, the images

which do not meet the needs of the text will be rejected

Even then, further mediation takes place:

• Will the photograph be large or small? •     Will the photograph be     on the front page or, less visible, on page 8?

Placement choices like this, along with cropping and framing, act to focus the attention of the reader in a certain way.

• What headline and text will be used to accompany the

         photograph?

•    Will the photograph have a caption?

•    Will it be positioned close to another photograph?

Anchorage is basically used in media to attach meaning to something through either the matching of words to images or the juxtaposition of two images which construct a meaning.

For example in advertising, an image alone is polysemic open to a range of interpretations. To clarify what the image means and so to make the image relevant to the purpose of the advert, text can be added. Thus the image serves as the 'hook' while the text anchors meaning. This can be said also for photographs attached to newspaper articles. The same photograph takes on different connotations with different accompanying texts.

Selection

Whatever ends up on the screen or in the paper, much more will have been left out. Any news story has been selected from hundreds of others which the producers have decided were less interesting for you, any picture has been chosen from an enormous number of alternatives.

Omission is knowing about something but just refusing to focus on it or bring light to the facts.

In 2005, the New York Times knew about the Bush Administration using Telecom companies (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) to spy on Americans. The story was held back for over a year as the Times received pressure from Bush White House to kill the story. The Times didn't kill the story completely but they did wait until after the November 2006 elections before they actually reported on Bush Administration breaking the law

Mediation

Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it. This may seem like an obvious point, but it is something that is easily forgotten when we get caught up in enjoying a text. 
If you see a picture of a celebrity kissing her boyfriend, you may find it unsurprising that the picture has been altered and does not show the reality of the situation, but in fact we should bear this in mind whatever we encounter in the media. 
The media place us at one remove from reality: they take something that is real, a person or an event and they change its form to produce whatever text we end up with. 
This is called mediation. You should be looking for this with any media text.

What the BBC classified as ‘riots’ in London become ‘protests’ in Beitounya

Audience Theories

Audience theory provides a starting point for many Media Studies tasks. Whether you are constructing a text or analysing one, you will need to consider the destination of that text (i.e. its target audience) and how that audience (or any other) will respond to that text.

Remember that a media text in itself has no meaning until it is read or decoded by an audience.

Ways of categorising audiences/users and audience/user composition. 

Media Audiences an Introduction from alevelmedia

Psychographics is the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.[1] Because this area of research focuses on interests, activities, and opinions, psychographic factors are also called IAO variables. Psychographic studies of individuals or communities can be valuable in the fields of marketing.

“A media text is always created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this target audience.”
These audiences can be categorized and how the target audience is made up affects the media language employed by and the commercial viability of a text. The key thing to remember about the media industry is that it is a money making indu$try. What this means is each media text is a product that needs to be made for, and sold to, the right target audience in order to gross a profit.
In other words, everything is done with the target audience in mind.
Due to this being the case a lot of money is invested in audience research and the industry will refer to key theories when considering how to attract/represent this group.

 MASS AUDIENCE: 

Mass audiences are basically large mainstream audiences who consume mainstream or popular culture (Marxist would claim that this audience is largely made up of the ‘working class’), such as Hollywood films, Eastenders, reality TV, Premiership football, simple Hollywood, tabloids etc.
High culture, by contrast, is usually associated with broadsheets, opera, ballet and BBC Four.

 NICHE AUDIENCE: 

A niche audience is smaller than a mass audience but usually very influential. E.g. those that Marx would define as upper class/middle class, who controlled the media and may wish to see ‘high culture’ programs. Hence the launch of BBC Four for those who wish to hear/see artistic high culture programs.

Niche audiences don’t have to be this group though, they can be any small, dedicated group who advertisers feel are worth targeting or creating products for.
Examples could include, certain films (e.g. 'adult' movies - which can not really be called ‘high art’), fishing magazines, farming programs, underwater knitting!

When media text producers profile their audience they take into account AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS (class/economic status, gender, age, geographical location) along with their viewing preferences/needs: In other words, they think about the following before developing a text...

1) What social class will the primary target audience fall under?
2) What gender is the primary target audience?
3) What age will the primary target audience be?
4) What nationality will the primary target audience be?
5) What values do the primary target audience have? (Ideology).
6) Audience appeal - what will the primary target audience be looking for in a text? (UGT).

They then think about how they can best represent their primary target audience through;
genre, narrative, characters, cast, locations, cinematography, sound, editing, advertising etc.

Key Theories 

The following theories are all taken into account when profiling, representing and pitching to audiences:
Class: One of the most common ways of identifying a target audience is the social-economic model. Even though this model, used by the NRS (National Readership Survey Ltd), has been used for a long time, it is still useful way of identifying an audience and deconstructing a text.
The basis for the system is money – A/B audiences for example are assumed to have more spending power than CDE audiences. However, it is also presumed AB audiences prefer high culture (e.g. art-cinema, broadsheets and late night art programs on TV). While C/D/E, who stereotypically like Hollywood commercial films and consume more texts, make up a lager proportion of society making this the 'mass audience.'

 EFFECTS THEORY: 

The ‘Frankfurt School’ is the term given to a group of social scientists who were originally based at the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt. They conducted research into the potential power the mass media had over audiences.
They were concerned that the media could be used as a tool of fascist propaganda. The founders were left-wing (Marxist) and criticised the capitalist system controlling the mass media for creating a mass culture that eliminated any opposition or alternatives.
This group was responsible for the ‘HYPODERMIC NEEDLE MODEL’ believing that the mass audience were passive and could simply be ‘injected’ with messages created by media producers.
Even though some critics still believe that there is some truth to this model (hence why age restrictions exist and some products are banned completely) others felt that this model over simplifies the situation.

For example, the theorist Stuart Hall deals with ‘Reception Theory’ study which determines how different audiences view the same text.
He found that the way audiences interpreted a text generally fell under one of the following:

• A preferred reading; of the text most likely to be received by the intended target audience who share the same ideologies (people read it as the creators intended – this is the closest to the hypodermic needle).

• An oppositional reading; generally by people who are not in the intended target audience (they reject the meaning intended and receive an alternative meaning).

• A negotiated reading; basically accept the meaning but interpret it to suit their own position/ideologies.

In short, what this shows is that the majority of consumers are not passive and their reading of a text is influenced by their own ideologies – a product simply cannot ‘brainwash everyone’ like an injected drug. However, some are more susceptible and easily influenced (especially children who have yet to complete the early years of the socialization process), hence age ratings etc.

Two-Step Flow

The Hypodermic model quickly proved too clumsy for media researchers seeking to more precisely explain the relationship between audience and text. As the mass media became an essential part of life in societies around the world and did NOT reduce populations to a mass of unthinking drones, a more sophisticated explanation was sought.

Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet analysed the voters' decision-making processes during a 1940 presidential election campaign and published their results in a paper called The People's Choice. 

Their findings suggested that the information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered through "opinion leaders" who then communicate it to their less active associates, over whom they have influence. 

The audience then mediate the information received directly from the media with the ideas and thoughts expressed by the opinion leaders, thus being influenced not by a direct process, but by a two step flow. This diminished the power of the media in the eyes of researchers, and caused them to conclude that social factors were also important in the way in which audiences interpreted texts. This is sometimes referred to as the limited effects paradigm.

Nationality/values: IDEOLOGY: 

Ideology is an important factor to consider when creating a product because you have to represent the ideology your target audience wish to see. Ideology refers to the system of beliefs that is constructed and presented by a media product. As Marx claims, the dominant ideologies are those that already underpin society.
This can differ country to country, for example a soap made for a UK audience will differ to one made for a US audience, Spain or Iran (the same can be said for social realist programs like Shameless, music and comedy). This should in theory mean that British audiences should prefer British texts, however this is not the case because America has dominated the market for so long that American ideologies have been adopted in these countries (a form of cultural imperialism). As Kissinger (2011) stated; "globalisation is really another name for the dominant role of the United states" because they consider national and international cinemas as vehicles to represent and protect USA values. In short, Hollywood caters first and foremost for American audiences, but because Hollywood films have dominated the market place for so long many other countries, the UK included, see themselves represented by the values portrayed.

Uses and Gratification Theory: 

 This theory is the opposite of effects theory because it relies on the premise that audiences have free will and choose to consume certain things for different reasons. The theory was developed in the 1960s and was in expanded in 1974 by Blumer and Katz who suggested a series of possible reasons why audience members might consume a media text:
• Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)
• Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life OR using the cinema as a social event).
• Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)
• Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

THE FOUR C’S (cross-cultural consumer characteristics): 

This is one of the earliest, but still most popular, ways of profiling audiences. It profiles the audience in terms of wants and needs, not simply demographic. The categories are as follows:

 • Mainstreamers (this is the largest group. They are concerned with stability, mainly buying well-known brands and consuming mainstream texts).

• Aspirers (they are seeking to improve themselves. They tend to define themselves by high status brands, absorbing the ideologies associated with the products and believing their status alters as a result).

 • Succeeders (people who feel secure and in control – generally they are in positions of power. They buy brands which reinforce their feelings of control and power).

• Reformers (idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products and buy brands which are environmentally supportive and healthy. They also buy products which establish this ‘caring and responsible’ ideology). Individuals (highly media literate, expects high-production advertising and buys product image not product, requires high-profiling sophisticated advertising campaigns).

How media producers and texts construct audiences and users.

Constructing Audience

When a media text is being planned, perhaps the most important question the producers consider is "Does it have an audience?" If the answer to this is 'no', then there is no point in going any further. If no one is going to watch/read/play/buy the text, the producers aren't going to make any money or get their message across. Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, and comparisons to existing media texts, and spend a great deal of time and money finding out if there is anyone out there who might be interested in their idea.

It's a serious business; media producers basically want to know the

• income bracket/status
• age
• gender
• race
• location

of their potential audience, a method of categorising known as demographics.

Once they know this they can begin to shape their text to appeal to a group with known reading/viewing/listening habits.

Creating Audience

Once a media text has been made, its producers need to ensure that it reaches the audience it is intended for. All media texts will have some sort of marketing campaign attached to them. Elements of this might include

• posters
• print, radio, TV and internet advertisements
• trailers
• promotional interviews (eg stars appearing on chat shows, information leaked to Internet bloggers)
• tie-in campaigns (eg a blockbuster movie using McDonalds meals)
• merchandising (t-shirts, baseball caps, key rings)

Marketing campaigns are intended to create awareness of a media text. Once that awareness has been created, hopefully audiences will come flocking in their hundreds of millions.

How audiences and users are positioned 

(including preferred, negotiated and oppositional responses to that positioning).

Stuart Hall - Audience Positioning from reigatemedia

Modes of Address

Modes of address can be defined as the ways in which relations between addresser and addressee are constructed in a text. In order to communicate, a producer of any text must make some assumptions about an intended audience; reflections of such assumptions may be discerned in the text (advertisements offer particularly clear examples of this).

Once audiences have been constructed, media producers will assess the correct mode of address to use.

Direct - Identifies with the audience directly - 'Get out of the rain'.

Referential - Refers audience with advice - 'You might be better indoors'.

Expresssive - 'It's pissing down with rain'.

Poetic - 'How heavy fell the rain that day'.

Texts Genre

Texts - genre conventions

Genre

Genre is a French word for 'type.' 'Genre' is a means of classification for texts based on common elements/shared characteristics - the correct term for this is 'generic conventions/elements.' 

When working out what genre a media text is the following 'generic ingredients' need to be analysed(when you 'channel hop' the brain does this subconsciously because all genres have certain common characteristics the brain picks up on):

1) Mise-en-scene (iconography, props, set design, special effects, lighting, costumes, cast, shot types, camera angles etc.)

2) Typical narratives (historic/contemporary/medical/crime etc.)

3) Generic/stock characters e.g. doctors, police, stereotypical gender roles, different classes etc.

4) Themes e.g. police v criminals, affairs, youth v age, working class v upper class etc. 

It is important to remember that hybrid genres exist.

Genre Definitions

Teen Drama

http://www.e4.com/skins/

Teen dramas are created for teenage audiences, they represent this group through starring young people and through dealing age-specific issues.

Soap

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m86d

Stereotypically, the target audience for soaps is working class women. Soaps are never ending and convey a sense 'of real time.' They rely on audiences finding them almost believable, for this reason they could almost be classes as 'social realist.'

Costume Drama

http://www.itv.com/downtonabbey/

Britain is famous for this genre (both in film and TV drama) they are often adaptations of a famous 'classic' novel or play but can also be original works. They dramatize different points in history and can be quite different from contemporary dramas. The typical target audience for period dramas is women in social grades A-C.

Medical/Hospital Dramas 

http://www.fox.com/house/

Medical/hospital dramas play on the human fascination of witnessing  horrific events. They often share narrative similarities with soaps but can also be more informative/educational than soaps (e.g. technical terminology is used by the characters). The typical target audience of medical drama is women in social grades C-E, however some A/B women and some men may like some medical dramas if they feel they are represented.

Crime Drama

http://www.sho.com/sho/dexter/home

Crime dramas work in a similar way to medical dramas, but instead of showing the viewer medical gore they show horrific crimes (the type of crime and level of gore depends on the target audience). The main appeal to crime drama is working out 'who done it.' There are a number of crime dramas on television, this means that the target audience is as vast and varied as the shows (e.g. some may be pitched at young men while others may be pitched at women 50+)

Sci-Fi

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0

Sci-fi offers escapism through a 'space-opera' - they both displace and draw on reality in order to hook the target audience. They are generally set in space and feature aliens. The target audience depends on the show, but stereotypically the target audience is males who enjoy sci-fi.  

Fantasy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mjlxv

Fantasy works in a similar way to sci-fi, only aliens are replaced by characters like wizards, dragons, dinosaurs etc.

Comedy Drama

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-big-bang-theory

In terms of Blumer and Katz Uses and Gratification Theory, comedy dramas are obviously created to entertain, distract and make people laugh. The target audience depends on the comedy because different people find different things funny. 

Social Realist

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/shameless

Social realist dramas work in a similar way to soaps but may have more hard-hitting themes and may only appeal to a niche market.

Lesbian/Gay Drama

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tq4d9

Lesbian/Gay dramas focus on the lives of lesbian/gay/bisexual characters. They are often create for a niche market but sometimes attract a mainstream audience. 

Iconography

(echoing the narrative, characterization, themes and setting) - a familiar stock of images or motifs, the connotations of which have become fixed; primarily but not necessarily visual, including décor, costume and objects, certain 'typecast' performers (some of whom may have become 'icons'), familiar patterns of dialogue, characteristic music and sounds, and appropriate physical topography;

Generic conventions are the features shown by texts that allow them to be put into a specific genre for example almost all westerns use the iconography of cowboy hats, six shooters and horses.

GENRE CONVENTIONS_MUSIC_R&B

 Conventions of RnB.

F A S H I O N. MEN:

Topless – For example Trey Songz (see below) is usually pictured in his videos with very minimal clothes on; this is because a lot of male RnB singers target market is young teenage girls.

Jeans – If the artist is pictured topless they are usually wearing jeans, slightly hanging low so you can see their boxers. They will also have a designer belt on which a few close up shots will be done on as a form of advertising for that particular item.

Tattoos – A lot of RnB male artists have tattoos a majority of the time they are on their chest if not it will be on their arms. They also have multiple tattoos, it will not just be one.

Jewelry – Unlike males in hip hop, RnB stars wear subtle jewellery like a watch, chain and earring – where as in hip hop they would wear bundles of jewellery.

F A S H I O N. WOMEN:

Minimal clothing – women in R&B usually have very little clothing on and their stomachs are on show a majority of the time; this is because to male fans they are meant to be seen as objects of desire.

Hair & Makeup – their hair is always styled in a very dramatic and eye catching way. Their makeup is also very bold and defined, especially their eyes they always have dark coloured eye shadows with gold's which makes their eyes very alluring. To show power some females wear red lipstick in their videos.

Heels – R&B females wear very high heels to elongate their legs because if they are wearing hardly any clothes the higher the shoes the longer their legs will look. However some R&B females wear trainers in their videos for choreographed scenes. 

Jewelry – Big earrings, necklaces but usually when they wear a lot of necklaces they are breaking gender stereotypes because it is usually R&B males that wear that much jewelry.

Poses: Often reclining with a direct mode of address. Looking straight out at the audience.

ICONOGRAPHY. MEN:

R&B videos are usually very sexual and the topless men in the male R&B videos connotes that sense of sexuality. A majority of R&B videos these days are filmed in grey scale/sepia tone which adds a sensual tone to the imagery in the video. R&B male stars wear jewelry however not as much as Hip Hop stars do because although they are trying to depict their wealth, a majority of the video will have close ups on their bodies and abs. 

Trey Songz – Can’t be friends:

Similar to males in the R&B genre, females in R&B also convey their sexuality through their clothing which is very minimal; they also place emphasis on their sexuality through their makeup. R&B females are usually portrayed as soft goddess type people in their videos, but more recently there has been a lot of gender stereotypes being broken in their videos with the females being seen as more powerful than men. Ciara's "like a boy” video.

 

• CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES:
• Recently, producers of videos are challenging gender stereotypes more and more, especially when dealing with  female R&B stars. In some videos females will be depicted in similar ways to males in their videos, conveying a message to the audience that the woman is a powerful person. This message is often conveyed through costume, because a change in the way women are dressed can make them seem powerful automatically – although the stereotypical image is black skimpy clothing .
• SLOW SONGS:
• Slow R&B songs that are often about being in love or breaking up. These kind of “love” songs are usually performed by females. Rather than wearing very minimal clothing, females in these songs will wear clothing that depict them in the same light as goddesses; the clothing will be bright and colourful to show happiness if the song is about being in love. 
• Whereas if the lyrics are about breaking up, the typical convention used is often a grey scale filter to show emotion and they will be wearing dark clothes. A lot of nude coloured/natural makeup will be used to convey the sense of natural beauty, because a lot of close ups of the artist's face will be included. Some of these types of songs have a narrative but some of them will just be shots of the artist. 
• A majority of the time the location for these songs will be a beach or a tropical island looking place (this will then mean a lot of wide shots showing the location) – especially if the video is a love song. 
• Songs about breaking up usually take place in a plain black room with  a chair or very minimal items in the room, because these songs tend to concentrate on the artist by using close ups to show significant facial expression and body language.
• FAST SONGS:
• Fast tempo-ed R&B songs by females usually involve them wearing bright colours, but it not about being in the club like the way the males depict themselves. A lot of videos by females are done in the studio because there are a lot of special effects especially in the background (for example: Rihanna – rude boy). 
• 
  
• The typical clothing for these type of videos are very revealing clothes with high heels to elongate legs, a lot of jewelry is worn as well where as in the slower songs, jewelry was kept to a minimum. Brightly coloured makeup is also worn, if it is not strong eye makeup it is usually very strong lip colours like reds and bright pinks. These videos do not tend to follow a narrative but will usually have a male co-star or also involve male dancers because there is usually a lot of dancing and choreography in these videos. These videos will also portray the musicians in a more powerful light although there is not a total gender switch up, they still seem more powerful than they do in videos for love songs.
• Regardless of where you view them, the purpose of music video is to promote a song. In your research, you should have come across Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. For those that remember this song it is impossible not to think about the heads in the video floating around the screen. Videos create a buzz around a song and help it get noticed. Then purchased.
• Some critics such as Andrew Goodwin, argue that music video changed the way we view moving image. Through MTV, the music video has moved away from the classic hollywood narrative structure; 3 acts with a start middle and end. So, if you start to analyse them using the same rules then they won't work.
• 
  
• Target Audience:
• A majority of R&B fans are teenagers/young adults roughly between the ages of 13-25. This could be because of the explicit lyrics in some of the songs, a majority of this age group are also females. 
• It is usually females that are attracted to R&B music because female R&B artists stereo-typically make songs about being in love or being heartbroken – this is something that will appeal greatly to teenage girls and young adults. 
• The fast paced R&B songs will also involve a lot of fashion and the synergy of music and fashion is something that will also attract females because if they are into that sort of music they are usually also interested in fashion.The target audience of R&B males is also majorly made up of females because they are portrayed in a very sexual way, through their nudity and lyrics. Females will find this appealing because usually they will also be physically attracted to the male artists. However some males will be attracted to the jewelry, naked women and depiction of wealth in these videos.

Task1: Rihanna's 2007 hit Umbrella was arguably the biggest selling song of 2007 in most countries around

 the world. Analyse the artwork and the video to see how both conform or challenge genre conventions of

 R&B. 200-300 words.