Representation

Representation of Gender in the media
Within the media genders are stereotyped and simplified. This is suggested in the comedy TV series "The Simpsons", throughout the series the Simpson family is stereotyped because the character "Marge" is stereo-typically the stay at home mother without a job, and "Homer" is the unintelligent worker who drinks beer. This presents a representation that the media limits the genders into categorizes, especially in the Simpsons.

Representation of Ethnicity in the media

Representation of ethnicity is most of the time racist and stereotypicical. This is also shown in the series "The Simpsons" through the use of the character "Apu". This is a indain character who owns a corner shop and has a strong indain accent and he has a large family. This is a sterotype which shows that the representation of ethnicity in the media is more or less racist.  

Representation of Age in the media
Representation of age in the media normally limits the older generation as people who cant maintain themselves and cant function normally. This is represented in the comedy TV show "Community" through the use of the old character "Piece". This character is a old fashioned man with a bad back and poor hearing. This is a stereotype which makes old people seem weaker then younger generations. 

Representation of Events in the media
-BBC News
-The Sun

Representation of Issues in the media
-BBC News
-The Sun

Representation of National/Regional identity in the media
-Get out-Moonlight

Audiences : how different audiences are positioned
-Guardians of the galaxy
-Rogue one

Audiences : why audiences respond differently to media texts
-Family Guy
-Get out

Report

When creating my preproduction i did a range of research to learn and understand what is a thriller film and how are they presented. Firstly, i watched a 1991 thriller film named "Silence Of The Lambs". After watching the film i analysed and research information on what makes a good thriller film. I reviewed examples and conventions alongside analysing the structure and technical codes within thrillers. From my research i have found that thriller films contain a range of themes. This includes but not limiting: crime, romance, death, action, fear, violence, mind games and countless more. Most of these themes were included in the thriller "Silence Of The Lambs" and other thrillers which i have reviewed. In addition to this, thriller films contain a range of editing and technical codes. Whilst researching, i have found that a range of camera angles are key factors to provoke the audience in understanding the narrative. Close-ups of characters faces emphasis the character's emotion, making it more intense for the viewer. Likewise, a wide-shot could be used to display the atmosphere of a room making the audience feel more immersed in the film. Alongside this, the narrative and structure of thriller films are similar to one another. Each thriller film contains a antagonist in some way shape or form which makes chaos or disagreements, the protagonist is the hero of the film who defeats the antagonist and saves the day, likewise in "Silence Of The Lambs". Commonly, the structure of a thriller film includes a first conflict with the protagonists and antagonist which then later on follows a main conflict which brings the film to an end.

           "Silence Of The Lamb"

"The Figure"

I have watched a range of other films and TV series, these media text has influenced and informed my preproduction storyboard. From watching the TV series "The Walking Dead" i have learnt some key features of lighting and sound effects. Throughout this series, lighting is used to create the mood and atmosphere, making it more immersive. I have chosen to mainly have moody lighting in my storyboard to make it look more mysterious and appealing to my audience. Likewise, the choice of camera angles in "The Walking Dead" has informed me to use certain music in particular scenarios. Using slow and quite music in the background creates tension which makes the audience on edge about what is going to happen next. Alongside this, the comedy TV series "Community" uses a certain  mise-en-scène. I have used mise-en-scène to build narrative, my storyboard includes certain props to form a appealing story line. In the fantasy world of the TV series "Game Of Thrones" a range of editing is used to also create tension and narrative. From this series i have learnt how to effectively use a fade between scenes to represent time going by, and i have been informed on how to successfully use cuts between scenes.

My thriller film's target audience is young male/female teenagers aged 12+ and people who are interested in thriller films. Targeting a thriller film at this audience can come with a range of factors which had to come in consideration when designing my thriller film's poster and DVD cover. For example, most teenager targeted films have streamlined and easy to follow/understand narratives. But on the other hand making it too simplistic can cause difficulties, it could make them feel like its insulting their intelligence or it could just cause them to be uninterested. To resolve this there needs to be a balance, to successfully appeal to my target audience. Alongside this, teenagers appeal to a protagonist who is the same age as them, so that they can relate. That's why the main image of the DVD cover and poster are of a female teenager. When developing my film, i needed to consider suitable rude/offensive language and violence so that the film is still interesting and intriguing to the audience. After taken all of this into consideration my film must connote to the themes of violence, mystery, death and paranoia to efficiently attract my target audience.

"The Figure"

"The Hole"

"Red Riding Hood"

My production which is a DVD cover and poster of a thriller-horror hybrid film is titled "The Figure", my production has a range of strengths and weaknesses. Firstly, a strength of my poster takes advantage of technical codes like lighting. My main image is powerful and eye catching, through the use of it's piecing choice of colours of black and red, these colours suit my thriller theme. The red represents blood and violence and the black represents death and mystery. In addition to this, another strength of the main image is that it is bold, making it stand out from everything else on the poster. I used this choice of colours because of the many other thriller films which used this colour scheme, such as the film "Red Riding Hood". As shown in the "Red Riding Hood" poster, the colours of black and red is effectively used to suit the thriller theme. This poster influenced my poster design, the idea of using this type of colour scheme and layout is very appealing to my target audience. Likewise in the poster "The Hole" it uses dark colours to make the main image stand out. In addition to this, the choice of both of these posters having a main character displayed as the main image is another factor which i have used in my poster. The burst of colour also used in the film poster "The Hole" suits the usual conventions of a thriller, but meanwhile it still uses darkness to emphasise the main image.

"Dead Silence"

In addition to this, the theory "Levi-Strauss" of binary oppositions made me notice the opposition of villain VS hero is a often theme used in most thriller films. My film's poster has elements of this theory, alongside themes of paranoia and mystery.

Furthermore, my title was inspired by other DVD posters, especially the poster "Dead Silence". The choice of the faded and mysterious font emphasises the thriller theme and appeal to the target audience. My thriller film  took this into consideration, i used a worn and corrupted look with my title, this style perfectly suits the thriller theme and also looks creepy, mysterious and compelling which appeals to my target audience. Likewise, my choice of font used in my text was influenced by "Dead Silence"'s title, the blurred font connotes confusion and mystery. Furthermore, i decided to design my main character within the shadows and mist to suit the titles name, this connotes the feeling that the character is being watched or stalked. On top of this, the placement of the title is regarded from the "Dead Silence" title, both my and the "Dead Silence"'s title is placed clearly but both of them are damaged which suits the horror-thriller theme. Furthermore, the damaged/eroded title represents the idea of conflict or violence and the colour scheme of red and splatters of blackness illustrates death and danger. 

On my DVD cover i took advantage of including an review and star rating to illustrate to the audience the type of film it really is. Likewise i used reviews and star ratings on my poster to intrigue the audience and make them curious.
In addition to this, the reviews are from trustworthy sources which suit my target audience age range. This idea was instructed by the poster previously, "The Hole".

Although my DVD cover and poster have identical main images, they both display a young teenager which suits my target audience, making them able to relate. But both images are unique and different, the poster presents the main protagonist with elements of evil and a hint of death or violence. But on the other hand the DVD cover makes use of lighter colours which represent are more protagonist feeling to the audience but with a twist of mystery. These conventions was from the range of colours used throughout the posters previously viewed. Both of the deathless stares from the poster and DVD cover connotes the themes of a horror-thriller.

For my poster and DVD cover i included a tagline of "The shadows are watching" this tagline further resembles the thriller and paranoia theme. This was inspired by the "Moonlight" poster, its tagline is "This is the story of a lifetime", its tagline is more mysterious and intriguing, this shows that my tagline could use some improvement. In addition to this, the font and placement of the "Moonlight" tagline is small and doesn't draw your eye from the main image. My tagline for my poster stands out and draws the audiences attention, this is a weakness which could use improvements. Likewise my DVD's tagline is more hidden but it does still stand out through the use of its white font.

My poster also includes social media coverage through the use of the twitter, Facebook and Snapchat icons and hashtags along the bottom of the poster. These websites help audiences follow the film and find further information about it. This suits my target audience especially the Snapchat hashtag appeals to the teenage audience. Furthermore, i included the text "Coming soon" to make the audience create hype on the release of the film, and the audience could use the social media hashtags to follow updates,

With reference to your own detailed examples explore what affects how an audience may respond to a media text.

The target audience of the  TV series "The Walking Dead" are teenagers/young adults, aged 16+ who are interested in action and violence in a show. Someone who isn't the target audience may not decode the show correctly, so the action and violence may seem inappropriate to them. unlike people aged 16+ because they are able to decode the show and understand what is happening in the show. In addition to this, language and mode of address will seem alien and wrong to other audiences. For example, an older male may not understand the colloquial language used throughout "The Walking Dead", but teenagers will understand the choice of lexis. However, technical codes are also used to position the audience in an appropriate angle to particularly present a scene. For example, first person is to show a character's point of view, making the audience experience what the character is experiencing. On top of this, the choice of music will make audiences react differently.  

On the other hand, "The Walking Dead" contains a substantially large amount of blood and gore, particularly  in season 7 episode 1 were two main characters were slaughtered in front of their own friends. A audience who has a cultural belief of non-violence may respond negatively to this episode, making them not decode the show correctly to what he producer coded it about.

Likewise, in the comedy TV series "Community" the target audience is teenagers, the show appeals to their audience through the use of the theory personal identity. This theory will make the audience gain pleasure because they can relate to the show. In addition to this, the show can be used for social interaction, so that the audience can use the narrative of the series as experience in their own lives. But if a different audience watches the show, they may not decode it in the same way as the teenagers; causing confusion and misunderstanding. In addition to this, other viewers may be negotiated readers who only interprets some of the show. Through the use of the gratification theory of: entertainment and diversion, the target audience consumes the show to escape from pressures of everyday life.

Furthermore, culture/ethnicity groups may find some of the humor in "Community" offensive because they are oppositional readers who do not agree with the ideology of the content. Likewise, age differences can cause them to not decode the show correctly. And the use of minor language and sexual content can make the older generation feel uncomfortable.

In the movie "Doctor Strange" it guides the audience through a confusion and complicated fantasy world, the movie's target audience is 12+ so it contains no contain which is too graphic or rude. Although it has a young target audience, older people may not understand or interpret the movie to what the producers hoped for. For example a 63 year old man may not understand the narrative correctly. Likewise different cultures can cause people oppositional reading where they do no agree with the ideology of the movie.

Stereotypes Of Men and Older Woman In The Media

In a TV series called "Community" there is a main character named "Abed" who is a young man who is stereo-typically socially awkward. This is first presented in season 1 episode 1 when he continuously talks about irrelevant topics. However the young male stereotype is that all men are strong, do all the work, do sport, messy and spend to much time on the computer. This character doesn't follow any of these stereotypes expect "to much time on the computer" this emphasises that in this TV series men are not typically and deliberately stereotyped. In another TV series called "Big Bang Theory" young males are the majority of the cast, and all of them are stereotypical: awkward, intelligent and do all the work. Unlike the young female named "Penny" who was presented in the first couple of episodes, she was the complete opposite to the men.  

In the TV soap opera called "coronation street" older woman are stereotypical mothers and house wifes who look after their children, do chores and make dinner. Unlike the other men on the show who "important" task. Also in the show, the middle aged female character "Michelle Connor" is a woman who desperately desires a child but in the TV she loses a child at birth. This raises a stereotype that all women should be mothers. The TV series, Brothers & Sisters, broadcast from 2006 to 2011 by ABC (USA) and a year later by Channel 4 (UK) with quite high audience rates, starts when the patriarchal figure, William Walker, dies of a heart attack and two female figures around their sixties come centre stage: his wife, Nora Walker, and his long-term lover, Holly Harper. Once the patriarchal figure disappears, the female characters regain visibility by entering the labor market and starting relationships with other men. In that sense, both protagonists experience aging as a time in which they are increasingly freed from social and family constraints. However, their roles as nurturers keep on bringing them back to the domestic space in which they are safe from being involved in uncomfortable and unsuitable situations. Drawing on previous studies on the representation of the older woman in fictional media, this article intends to discern to what extent stereotypes related to the older woman are challenged through the two main protagonists of a contemporary TV series.

Explore representations of older people in the media today

TV Advert

In today's TV adverts across the media, older people normally are side characters in the background who stereotypically read news papers and stare into space such as the advert "Direct Line". Likewise in adverts about technology, they tend to use an older person to represent how difficult and outdated a piece of technology is, such as a phone or TV provider. So they simply have a older person using a old device and have a voice over saying how bad it is, then briefly after they present their new device with a young man using it and they carry on how "amazing" it is.

TV Drama   

In most TV dramas older people are stereotyped as:grumpy, slow, deaf, wise, never go anywhere and they doesn't know how to use technology. In addition to this, they are never normally the main character, unless if it's based in the olden times but never modern. Also in TV dramas older people are the "wise" people who know everything, meaning young people ask them for advice and guidance and not other young people. 

Programmes

In programmes such as the soap opera "Coronation Street", have a mixture of old people who seem to have be on the show for their entire life are stereotyped. These older people in the show never seem to go anywhere apart from the square and the local area. On top of this, in the show they hardly know how to use technology and they still use phones which look like bricks. All of this emphasise how older people are seen as in our everyday programme, even very popular shows.

Factual TV

In factual TV older people are represented as people who always need help and assistance with tiny problems, also they are show as needy and fragile. In addition to this, they are seen as higher priority people who receive extra help even if they don't need it.

   

Audiences

Audiences Positioning
Most media texts are created to organise audiences in a certain position in similarly to the particular text. Audience positioning effects the relationship between the audience and the text. The media text's produces encode the text with a number of indicators which the audience decode. Depending of the audience , they will decode he same text in variety of ways and with then have a different reactions.

How do media texts position audiences? 
By the use of technical code in-bedded in the text. In a video text, the camera angles and shots used move the audience in a certain position. For example, the use of a camera angle such as a close up; can emphasise an expression of a characters face. This expression could be sadness, resulting sympathy from the audience. A certain point of view shot positions the audience as a character and makes the experience events from that particular perspective. Media texts can also position audience in close ups which can make them feel scared and uncomfortable in horror or thriller films. Likewise, media texts can position audiences by using mode of address, colloquial language in young teen magazines positions the intended audiences to relate to them and interest them. On top of this,  media texts position audiences through the use of construction of the text and of the audience within the particular text .

Preferred Reading – This is when audiences respond to the product the way media producers want/expect them to.


Negotiated Reading – This is when a member of the audience partly agrees with part of the product .e.g Film, documentary, TV programme.


Oppositional Reading – This is when the audience are in complete disagreement with the product’s message or setting.

Uses of gratifications theory
Entertainment- A certain audience which is targeted by the entertainment will view the media text to experience literal reality but can feel involved in a different world that is completely fantasy and made up. For example. Star Wars is a is the reality of that a world is cmade through technical codes , narrative and characters

Social interaction- Certain media texts are discussed by the audiences as they currently happen, this is referred to as "water cooler" TV. The audience will view the movie, programme, series or even video game. To then discuss the experience to other people.

Personal identity- Audiences will gain pleasure from certain media texts because they are able to compare their own lives with those feature in the text. For example, series include "Community" can relate to the audiences experiences because the narrative can suit that own life at college.

NEWS- Crime in London rises

'Huge concern' as teen moped crime in London rises















The BBC have stereotyped these criminals as "teens" even though they have not been identified, alongside this, the BBC in the UK as "teen moped crime" as shown by the title and the image shown above. This poorly represents teens through the use of bold and eye catching image, it highlights the threats which people in London could face. Also shown in the image show that the "teens" wear black clothes http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38294358 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/20/violent-crime-in-england-and-wales-rises-police-figures