Case Study- Skyfall

Skyfall (2012) is a British spy film and its the 23rd film in the James Bond series, produced by Eon Production, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. The film features the theme song Skyfally by Adele. In Skyfall, James Bond is played by Daniel Craig, which is his 3rd time. And the main villain named Raoul Silva played by Javier Bardem.

Audience

Target Audience and Appeal

Skyfall's target audience mainly consists of white males aged 12A, this target audience has been relatively the same throughout the entire James Bond franchise. However they do have a female audience presence recently. Skyfall appeals to their target audience of white males with the use of the main protagonist, James Bond being a stereotypical, white, masculine English man. The target audience can relate towards Bond and even see him as a role model due to his exciting life filled with action, exotic countries and woman. However, Skyfall does widen their target audience with the use of a increase of female main characters, such as Judi Dench as M and Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny. These female characters are seen as independent woman who are equally strong and powerful as James Bond. Furthermore, Skyfall deliberatly targeted a for a low age rating of 12A to make their film more avaliable to a increased number of people, no matter the age.

Industry

Marketing 

It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(MGM) and Columbia Pictures. And MGM could advantage of their positive reviews and included them in advertisements to increase sales and views across the globe. To connote this, Skyfall received countless awards and nominations which highlights the quality of the film, this can be suggested by the table below:

A Global Text?

Skyfall is a global Text and has entertained audiences across the world which can be demonstrated by the gross revenue of over $1.1 billion. Furthermore, the age rating of only 12A increases the number of young audiences can view the movies, even though the film does consist of violence and sexual content.

Text

Genre

Due to Jame Bond films having similar genres throughout the entire franchise, Skyfall is no different, in most cases. Therefore, Skyfall contains a range of codes and conventions of action and spy films and sub-genres including elements of romance.  

Narrative

 The narrative in Skyfall is quite linear and therefore, fairly predictable; James Bond against a evil villain. Throughout Skyfall James Bond (Main protagonist) faces a evil rogue agent turned into a cyber-terrorist. However, within Skyfall James Bond is represented as a flawed-hero due to him failing basic training mission in the first half of the film, making the narrative about his progression and development into his iconic and super-spy which audiences can recognise.  

Representation

With Skyfall there is a range of representations which span the film and even the franchise. Therefore, masculinity is a continuous theme throughout old and modern films, but James Bond films wouldn't even exist without it. SkyFall's masculinity is over exaggerated to make James Bond save everyone and be the hero.  Masculinity is the backbone of James Bond. All of their films stereotypically represent that white English men are privileged and upper class  with their wealth and power, alongside their line of woman following them. This poorly represents how general people live in England.

Furthermore, the representation of woman throughout the James Bond franchise is controversially degrading, woman are often represented as objects and damsels in distress. This is suggested in Skyfall due to the gradual increase of  woman which James Bond has slept with through the course of the film. This is a common and overlooked theme in all James Bond films since the start of the franchise. Additionally, In total, Bond has slept with 53 women over the course of the 25 completed films.

Case Study- Kingsman

Audience

Target Audience and Appeal

Kingsman (2014 Dir.M.Vaughn) has a age rating of 15 due to the violence, sexual and action throughtout the film which could disturb a younger audience. Furthermore, Kingsman is attempting to contrast but relate to stereotypical Jame Bond films, making their target audience mainly young males and females but does appeal to a more broad audience with the use of a variety of different characters with difference ethnicity, age and genders, making the character relateable to most audiences.

Industry

Marketing 

Kingsman was distributed by 20th Century Fox and they  used a range of trailers to advertise and promote the film to their audience with sneak peaks and teasers which could potentially interest and appeal to their target audience, as shown below:

Adding to this, to further advertise Kingsman, they released and displayed a number of intriguing and appealing posters (example top of page) featuring protagonist and antagonist characters to present the main actors performing in the film. 

A Global Text?

Kingsman was published across the world and become very mainstream due to its high budget of $81,000,000, therefore by the weekend it made over $42,000,000 (13/2/15) and had a gross profit of $128,017,991. 

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Genre and Narrative

Kingsman consist of a variety of genres, this includes: comedy, action, spy, etc. These genres appeal to the target audience. Additionally, the narrative of Kingsman is fairly linear, however it does contain some multi-narrative elements with the use of different character perspectives

Representation

Kingsman positively represents woman through the use of the Spy Roxy, is represented as a independent and strong woman who can stand up for herself. She is equal or even better represented as a better Kingsman Spy then Eggsy. On the other hand, Kingsman poorly represents woman, this can be suggested  in the relationship between Eggsy and Princess Tilde, which  is simply limited to a controversial sex scene at the end of the film. Additionally, Tilde is also represented as a damsel in distress due to her imprisonment, which relates to a princess locked in a tower, waiting for a strong male hero to rescue her. which suggests that Kingsman represents woman in a range of lights, negative or positive.

Case Study- Adele

Brief Background

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on the 5 of may 1998 in Tottenham, London. Her mother was Penny Adkins and her farther was Marc Evans, however her farther left when Adele was only two years old. Adele started singing at the young age of 4 years old, and when growing up she spent most of her spare time singing and not studying. Adele graduated frin BRIT School for performing Arts and Technology in Croydon May 2006 with her class mates Leona Lewis and Jessie J.

Audience

Adele's target audience is 15 to 30 year olds females who are interested in Pop, soul, blue-eyed soul and R&B music. But her audience does consist of other people who are male, additionally alot older and younger than the target range.

Industry

Adele is extremely popular across the entire world, thanks to her breath taking music, however she is most popular in the UK. Her global success as a singer/songwriter has made her music very  accessible for all audience. Adele's music is all over YouTube, Spotify and Itunes and her own CD's. When she first started, her music started attracting listeners on Myspace in 2007 and he received the Brit award "Critics' Choice" and also won the BBC sound of 2008 poll.

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Previously, Adele's songs were within the soul, blue-eyed soul and R&B music genres, however recently her music investigated some mainstream Pop music elements, to potentially feed into a more main stream audience. Furthermore, her lyrics reflect some of her life's experiences and 

feelings, such as references to her up bringing, with only her mother to raise her. additionally, in some of her music videos contain narrative to link the song to a specific event and to relate to their audience.

Case Study- Stormzy

Brief Background

Stormzy, also known as "Micheal Ebenzer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr" was born 26 on July 1993 in Croydon, London, England and he is a grime/hip hop artist. Stormzy started rapping since he was 11 and would clash with much older rappers at local youth groups. He stated "I was a very naughty child, on the verge of getting expelled, but I wasn't a bad child; everything I did was for my own entertainment. But when I went into an exam I did really well." But then he adds "six A*s, three As and five Bs at GCSE, but then only achieved a "humbling" ABCDE at A-Level" 

Audience

Appeal and target audience
In Stormzy's early music career, his audience consisted of mainly young males who were interested in grime and hip hop. But recently he has gradually became more and more main stream with his pop music, therefore his audience has expended to males and females between the ages of 13-25. He appeals to his audience by making his songs relatable to his audience and he appeals to his audience through social media, like Twitter with his 1.22 million followers.

Other literal responses

Industry

Global appeal
Stormzy is very well known and popular across the world, but especially in the UK, his global success as a artist is very unique and outstanding. Additionally, Stormzy gained this popularity through how he published his music, making it very accessible for his audience, and other audiences. He did this through YouTube in his early music career, but later on he released music CD's and he was available on music platforms, such as Spotify and Itunes. 

Marketing and promotion 

Stormzy has been published in all kinds of press, but recently he has been on the news website "Independent" (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/stormzy), this website explores important events in his music career. When Stormzy is in the press, he is being promoted, and his music is being advertised to a even larger audience. Stormzy has also been on: newspapers, magazines and TV. Additionally, Stormzy has been on radio talk shows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkyorIPV6zY) where they discuss his music and his life. Furthermore, Stormzy's music has also been promote through the range of awards he has won, as displayed above.

Text

Stormzy is a singer/songwriter, his songs is within the grime/hip genres but recently his music has explored pop genres, to potentially feed into a more main stream audience. The lyrics in his music also is used for the rhythm of the song and to display issues and experiences about his life and in the world to relate and appeal to his audience. Furthermore, he uses narrative in his music videos to further relate to a personal experience or a story to give his song meaning, making audiences decode it in many different ways. For example, in his song "Cigarette and Cush" he uses narrative to demonstrate a love story about a drug dealer and police officer, which makes the song have a deeper meaning if the audience reads into the lyrics.  Furthermore, in his music videos, Stormzy tends to wear fancy uniforms to counteract the stereotypes towards black males, even in "Cigarette and Cush" where he is a drug dealer.

Case Study- Ed Sheeran

Brief background

Ed Sheeran is a English singer and songwriter who has currently released three albums. He didn't come from a rich family, and he started off performing off the streets and now is performing across the world. 

Audience

Appeal and target audience
Ed Sheeran target audience is made up of a variety of males and females aged between 15-25, however this target audience is not a restriction, Ed Sheeran's audience also consists of much older or younger listeners. This is due to his wide range of different music genres he experiments and thrives in, this includes: rap, pop, indie and mixtures of in-between. Ed Sheeran appeals to his audience through social media, no wonder he has over 16.6 million Twitter followers. Furthermore, Ed appeals to his target audience due to his age, he is only 27, which is quite young compared to his major success the music industry.

Other literal responses
Ed Sheeran's popularity has grown massively due to his outstanding albums and unique singles. In 2011, Ed released the album "+" and it got over 4 million sales world wide, in 2014 his album "x" sold over 14 million copies and in 2017 he released "÷" and he got over 3 million sales. This can be demonstrated through this table below:
  




Uses and gratifications
Ed Sheeran uses social interactions to relate and appeal to his audience, in multiple occasions he has supported and surprised his fans. For example, he has surprised fans at their weddings by singing live at the wedding parties. Furthermore, in one instance he overheard a young girl singing one of his songs at a mall, so he jumped on stage and sang it with her. This presents that Ed loves to be with his fans to surprise and improve their lives.

Industry

Global appeal

As stated previously with information and statistics, Ed is very popular and his global success of an music artist is outstanding and will continue to do so. Furthermore, his popularity is due to the accessibility of his music from CD's to YouTube Videos, audiences are able to get his music anywhere. In YouTube alone he has over 28 million subscribers and his song "Shape of You"has received over 3.3 billion views world wide which is one of the most viewed videos on YouTube.

Marketing and promotion 

Ed has been all over the press; newspapers, magazines and TV. And he has been on countless radio talk shows discussing his newest songs and next plans. Furthermore, Ed Sheeran's music is promoted through his endless amounts of awards such: Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act. Some of his awards can be seen below:

In addition to this, Ed Sheeran has his own website to promote his next tour and newest songs: Here. Furthermore, he uses his website to advertise and sell his own branded merchandise of clothes and other products.

Who owns what radio station?

This blog post identifies who owns what radio station, to discover similarities and differences in ownerships between radio stations. 

For example, a unexpected ownership of the radio station "Smooth" lead to the research, that Smooth radio actually owns a number of very well known radio stations, such as:Heart, Capital and Classic FM, as well as LBC, Radio X and Gold. This company is led by Founder & Executive President, Ashley Tabor, Global Group CEO, Stephen Miron and Director of Broadcasting, Richard Park. However the radio station "Magic" and even the radio stations: Kiss, Absolute Radio and Heat radio is owned by the same company called "Bauer Radio" . 

Music Timeline

This blog explores the music timeline from 1950 to 2018 by showing the key moments in these years, such as the launch of new music platforms, digitalisation, talent competition, piracy and even complete new genres.

First music 
the first ever recorded proof of music was in 325, constantine declares Christianity the offcial religion of the Roman Empire. The spread of Christianity in the western world spurred the development of European music.

Music digitalised
Music was mainly digitalised in the early 2000s with the help of the rising technology of computers and other devices for the primary means to record, store, play and distribute music. Therefore, music was more available and had more of a variety for consumers across the world.

Music Plat forms
January 1993- Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) was the first free online music platform ever launched to the public.

January 2002- Last.fm was launched as a music platform that uses music recommender to build playlists and specific user profiles

September 2005- Pandora launched as a rebranding effort for music genome project with the goal of using scripts and song organisation programs to produce specific user radio stations which is based on the user's history and music.

Sir Ken Dodd died age 90

The infamous comedy superstar Sir Ken Dodd has sadly died at the old age of 90, he was a very well known comedian, who leaves his audiences with stitches due to his hilarious and original one liners.
Some of his best one-liners include (Information from BBC news):

1. "My dad knew I was going to be a comedian. When I was a baby, he said, 'Is this a joke?'"

2. "I love my girlfriend, my girlfriend loves me. She loves my hair, she loves my eyes, she loves my teeth. She loves my teeth because I'm the only person that can peel an orange through a tennis racket."

3. "I haven't spoken to my mother-in-law for 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her."

I have chosen this piece of news to demonstrate that famous people can always be remembered, and their downfalls will slowly fade away due to their reputation. Through my research i couldn't find any notable negative information. This could suggest that famous people would always have a good reputation over time, perhaps Harvey Weinstein's reputation would bounce back over time, as well. In my opinion,  I have not heard about Ken Dodd, but he seems like a amazing comedian and a generally happy and good person. 

Terrestrial vs Digital Television

This blog demonstrates the history of terrestrial and digital TV also how it has changed since it was first introduced. Furthermore, this blog explores the main players of television and shows have they have evolved and influenced the the TV industry.



Terrestrial television was the first broadcasting technology, its first lone ranged public broadcast transmission from Washington D.C on 1927. However, the The British Chambers of Commerce (BBC) was the first to have a regular television broadcasting schedule in 1930, with the use of BBC1, but these programmes were very poor quality due to its out-dated mechanical scan technology which didn't entice the public. TV became widespread after  WW2 with the use of new electronic scan technology inventions. Due to the success of radio networks, television broadcasting followed their model, which the use local TV stations in towns and cities with a range of government controlled(EU) and commercial(USA) content in channels. However all of these channels were displayed in black and white but was gradually revolutionised colour in 1950-1960. This brief history of television shows how far TV has changed and improved since 1927.

On the other hand, digital television is far more advanced and better quality than Terrestrial, therefore digital television has faded out most terrestrial television across the world, apart from some developing countries. Digital television was a innovation in 2006, which represents one of the most signification evolution of TV technology after colour TV. Digital TV allows a number channels in the same bandwidth that a Terrestrial TV needed to allow one channel. This change enabled a dramatic increase of more channels in comparison to basic terrestrial TV which only had a limited amount of channels.

Digital television changed the TV industry forever, making more information available for more audiences across the world. This proliferation of technology boosted the amount of TV shows alongside long running shows from before such as: Eastenders(1985), Coronation Street(1960) and Doctor who(1963). Additionally, it allowed countries to influence other countries through television, therefore propaganda could be easily spread with the use of the increase of global television channels. Without digital television, people would be secluded from from other countries and even their own, this is because digital television enables news channels to expand to the entire country easily, unlike local terrestrial channels. Due to the major success of digital television, reality TV shows such as: X-Factor(2004), Britain's Got Talent(2007) and I'm A Celebrity(2002) have sky rocked in views over the years because they broadcast the shows across the globe thanks the digital television.

However, in recent years, digital television channels has recently decreased in popularity due to the increase of web-based television providers such as Netflix and Amazon who allow audiences to stream a range of TV shows and films which they produce themselves, or from other channels with a monthly subscription. Therefore, the future of digital television is uncertain, due to competitors who challenge its throne. But that doesn't mean that TV hasn't got a place in the industry, it has a future but streaming is a growing industry.

In my opinion, I do not watch television very often, however it has come a long way and it has improved massively since it first started in 1927 from a single simple transmission. Additionally, i think that digital television was very important, and it did spread culture and information from one country to another to make them not secluded. But due to more advanced technology like the internet which allows organisations to stream shows for audiences, digital television has become increasingly irrelevant.

Weinstein's Staff Were Treated Awfully

Throughout many reports, Harvey Weinstein was terrible person to work with, in addition to the endless harassments which he has be accused  of. People who worked under the disgraced film producer were "damaged, mentally" by the experience.

The Director of Film4, Daniel Battsek, who is now Director of Film4, informed the BBC Radio 5 live that he was not not surprised about the Weinstein bullying claims, but previously he didn't know anything about the sexual harassment allegations.

I have chosen this piece of news to demonstrate how Harvey Weinstein uses his masculinity within the film industry to take advantage of people who work under him. However, this piece of news doesnt specify who he bullies, which implies that he bullies both male and females.

In my opinion,  Harvey Weinstein is generally a terrible person who should of been exposed the first time he sexually harassed and bullied anyone, but everyone was too afraid to speak out against him, due to his power in the film industry.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri beat The Shape of Water to the best film prize.

Sunday's Bafta Film Awards saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri beat The Shape of Water to the best film prize.

Both of these outstanding films were fighting for this reward so that they can potentially achieve the Oscar aswell. The two go head to head again at the Academy Awards on 4 March. Will Three Billboards triumph once more, or will it be the turn of Guillermo del Toro's film to shine?

This win could indicate that they would also win the Oscar, however, The Baftas and the Oscars haven't agreed on best picture since 12 Years a Slave in 2014.

I have chosen this piece of news to demonstrate competition within the media, to represent how these rewards would result in major publicity for the films. This competition could be used I one of my exam question to compare how many awards my three films won.  In my opinion, these awards boost viewers of the films and therefore increases profits for them.

Margaret Atwood talks about the Me Too movement and harassment

"There should be a new etiquette guidebook in the light of recent sexual harassment scandal, Canadian author Margaret Atwood has said."

Margaret Atwood faced a Twitter storm after writing a column on the Me Too movement - suggested men needed advice on behaviour. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World at One, she said "personal behaviour" needed to be tackled.

The Handmaid's Tale author said "ordinary people" needed the advice. She faced a backlash after questioning the impact of Me Too, which was sparked by the accusations made against Harvey Weinstein and others in Hollywood. In her first broadcast interview since then, she repeated her view that such a movement is a "symptom of something being wrong", but "it's not an end goal".

I have chosen this piece of news to demonstrate masculinity within the media, to represent how woman feel about Harvey Weinstein situation. In my opinion, the Me Too movement allows woman to stand out and get in-front of Harvey Weinstein and other men..

Evaluation

This text evaluates my final production work of my video game cover and poster. The inspiration of my production work came from the research i gathered about other games, such as Tomb Raider. Therefore, my finished work reflects some aspects of my research.

The main image of my video game cover and poster, is a photo of my sister which i took myself. However, i captured a number of photos which i contemplated  to use, but i settled with my first photos, these photos were influenced by my research investigation through the use of their camera angles. My main front video game cover displays a women who is suggested to be two faced, which illustrates that she is more than people think. Furthermore, the colour scheme of both sides of the image are opposite from one another, which demonstrates the protagonist and antagonist of the video game. The choice of colour was influenced by my research investigation and how those games use colours to link to themes and genres. Additionally, the title had a number of different forms and structures, but i settled with "Fracture" with a sub heading of "The Lost Reality" to imply the story of the video game and suggest the genre of mystery and drama.

Furthermore, the font and outline of the title suits to the theme of the cover whilst effectively standing out from the bright background. The format of my title was inspired by my research investigation, specifically Bioshock Infinite, due to their steam punk looking title design. However, I am not completely satisfied with the fracture elements which I used in the game cover, due to the poor cracking features which draw away from the image. The back video game cover displays a range of images which suggests levels or cut scenes within the game, however they don't particular represent gaming aspects; such as health bars or weapons which typical video games have. But the back cover resembles most common video game covers with use of the layout and game icons, age rating and information. Lastly the reviews are good for covers to have, but the reviews don't seem very realistic and genuine, due to their simplicity.

My poster's design, layout and colour scheme is superior than my game cover in my opinion. The main image at first was slightly blurry and pixellated, so i split the image into three section and added a colour gradient, similar to the cover. This idea was inspired through my research investigation, due to the poster of Tomb Raider which had similar elements of this style. The finished main image is very eye catching and intriguing whilst matching the cover to link them both. Furthermore, the fracture on the poster and cover links to the title and it draws the audience in with the bright white and mysterious cracks. The title of the poster is the same as the cover's title, however the title doesn't seem to stand out as much, but it doesn't distract the viewer from the main image. Additionally, the reviews on the poster  are the same as the cover's reviews but they both give the viewer a insight into the game.

In conclusion, my production work of my video game and poster both consistently appeal to my target audience through its intriguing and bright colours within the main images and the bold titles. In my opinion i think that my poster looks more visually appealing with the use of its main image and colours, but the cover's image still looks eye catching and interesting. Therefore the final version of my production work effectively gives the viewer some idea into the actual game-play whilst not giving to much away to spoil it.

Exam question- Explore the use of digital technologies in your selected media industry. Refer to your 3 main texts.

Digital technologies is the back bone of the film industry, therefore Skyfall (2012, Dir.S.Mendas), Kingsman (2014 Dir.M.Vaughn) and Moonlight (2016, Dir.B.Jenkins) take advantage of a range of Digital technologies to appeal to their target audience.

Within Skyfall, a range of technical codes are implemented to entice their audience. For example, background music is a digital technology which is continuously used throughout every scene. Therefore, in the opening scene of Skyfall, there was a chase scene between James Bond and his enemy, throughout this introduction there was non-diegetic fast paced action music which played over the chase. This choice of music draws the audience in without them even noticing it. Furthermore, within Kingsman the choice of music in the opening scene was a stereotypical old fashioned James Bond themed action song that was timed with the actions in the scene. This made the opening scene have a slight comical edge whilst demonstrating action and destruction. Furthermore, within Moonlight atmospheric music is introduced within sad scene to build tension and suspense. For example, in the scene where the main protagonist Chiron was about to attack his school bully with a chair, there was a build up of non-diegetic music in the background to draw the audience in and suggest something was about to happen.

Additionally, another digital technology which is commonly used throughout Skyfall is a range of editing techniques. These techniques allow the films to fluently progress and guide the audience through the film. Editing is used countless times in skyfall, for example it is used in the scene where James Bond investigates his new equipment from Q. The cuts and other editing made the scene more presentable and fast paced, which provides are short but entertaining scene.

Bruno Mars wins almost of the all Grammys

Bruno Mars almost won all of the Grammys and made a big outcry by taking the album of the year trophy which most critics thought it would go towards Lamar's rap tour da force, damn. Therefore Bruno Mars achieved more votes from Bruno Mar's popular R&B, but Lamar ruled the rap categories.

These rewards are mile stones for Bruno Mars, however hardly anyone else won a reward. Woman artist were especially overlooked in the Grammys due to their lack of winnings all females achieved. Alessia Cara was the only female who won a major prize by getting the best artist prize. 

I have chosen this piece of news to demonstrate how masculinity dominates the music industry, to represent how overpower females in the charts and in competitions.

In my opinion, Bruno Mars is a amazing artist who deserves these rewards but it is a shame that no one else won a major prize. However this competition is a good thing because it drives creators for development and improvements to be the best.