Monday, 21 October 2013

Genre Typecasting

In media typecasting is the process by which particular actors become strongly linked with certain roles and genres. This can be bad for an actors reputation as they might not be able to play big roles in films that's genres do not match

An example of this is Jim Carey, he is usually shown as a comedic character as he mainly appears in comedies such as; Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber.































Another example of typecasting in genre is with Bruce Willis. Bruce Willis mainly features in action films like the "Die Hard" series and The Expendables. He is usually portrayed as a tough guy character for example in the die hard films he plays John McClane

















An actor that is also often typecasted is Hugh Grant, he is usually in romantic comedies and is usually the main character. He has been in films such as Bridget Jones' diary and Notting Hill

Film Ratings

Film Rating



All classifications decision are based on the BBFC's

Ratings used in Britain: U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18, R18











The BBFC decided to put ratings on films in 1912 because they thought that some films were too graphic for children to see. In America in 1984 the rating PG-13 was introduced because people thought there were films on the border between PG and R

The history of the BBFC can be found on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_British_film_certificates


In the past there have been examples of films that's rating has changed. Such as Rambo which got chanced from a 15 to a 18



Film ratings exist because there are some scenes in films that are not appropriate for people of younger ages. They also act as a guideline for whether or not a person will like some of the themes in the films.

Thursday, 10 October 2013

How Men Are Represented In Thriller

How Men Are Represented In Thriller



In the majority of thriller films men are shown to be the traditional stereotypes of men. Some examples of stereotypes of men are; that men are tough, men like cars and men are usually the hero most pieces of media

To find a list of traditional gender stereotypes follow this link: http://1020blog.wordpress.com/2007/01/25/stereotypes-of-the-male-and-female/

Men are more often than not the mains characters in films because they are stereotypically "the hero" this is evident in many thriller films such as "Taken", "Jack Reacher" and "Shutter Island". Men in these films are tall and strong characters this is stereotypically heroic and they are often clever or witty to add to the charactistics of the protagonist. All of these values added together often makes a very likeable or preferable character

Monday, 7 October 2013

Audience Research Methods

Audience Research Methods



Media is measured in many ways, these include; Sales, Subscriptions, Ratings and Figures.

One of the companies that do this is "NRS", this is the website for that company:

http://nrsmedia.com/

BARB - www.barb.co.uk

Booksellers

"At NRS Media, we focus on developing successful direct sales campaigns for the media industry. We’ve been in business for over 21 years and have delivered US$700M in additional revenue globally." - Taken from the NRS website

New media can measure audience through social networks like FaceBook and Twitter. They can also use video sharing sites such as YouTube that have a like/dislike system in place. YouTube also record the amount of view on each video which is another way to record the size audience a piece of media has.











When looking at audiences, there are two main types of research: Quantitive research which is questionnaires and is number based and is usually very factual.

The second way to research is qualitative research which is things like interviews and focus groups.

Audience engagement - This describes how an audience interacts with a media product, different people reacts to the same product in different ways

Audience expectations - These are the ideas the audience have in advance of seeing a media product. This particularly applies to genre pieces. Don't forget producers continually play or shatter audience expectations. 

Audiences

Audiences



All text are made with an audience in mind, there are two types of audiences, mass audiences or  niche audiences.

Mass Audience - A film with an audience of a large scale.
Niche Audience - A film with a Small/specific audience.

Without an audience there would be no point in making media products. Organisations make media products so that they can make profit on their films.

No Audience = No Profit

Katz and Blumler were two theorists that researched audience behaviour, they discovered that audiences like media products for three main reasons

1. To find out information on a certain topic "satisfying curiosity", people may read a newspaper in order to find out about current events.

2. To gain a personal identity or to find a role model to base their personality on

3. For integration or social interaction as it enables you to connect with friends or family.

Impact of new technology

Old TV, Radio and Newspapers are classed as old media used to have a very large audience now have to work harder to maintain audience numbers

Digital technology has led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define audiences with the general agreement being that a group of people reading or watching the same thing is an audience. digital technology includes smart phones and social media.

Demographic - Age
                       - Race
                       - Gender
                       - Class/Status
Psychographic - Audience's interests

Mass audiences are forms of media that appeal to a large amount of people this would be films such as the James Bond Films or the Harry Potter films.














Whereas niche audiences have less viewers but are very influential in that field. An example of a film with a niche audience is This is England.




A full list of how audiences are categorized with detailed notes can be found at:

http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.914

From this link I have learnt how audiences consume media and how audiences are divided into categories so that they are easily recognisable.

Group A is made up of Doctors, Scientists, Lawyers and other well paid professionals.

Group B - teachers, Middle Management and fairly well paid professionals

Group C1 - Junior Management, Bank Clerks

Group C2 - Plumbers, Electricians and Carpenters

Group D - Manual workers such as Post sorters and drivers

Group E -  Students, Pensioners and unemployed