Revision - Component1a - Advertising

Component 1 - Section A

Kiss of the Vampire Poster & 'US' Movie Trailer
Explore the ways in which these adverts use representations to position audiences.
You should make reference to:

• How groups are represented
• Intertextuality
• Genre Conventions
• Viewpoints and Ideologies

Use the bullet points given in the question to make reference to as a plan, write a paragraph on each bullet point to ensure discussion of all topics to make sure nothing is left out and everything has been explored.

• Underline
• Underlining the key words in the question will help from keeping you going off on a tangent.

• Knee Jerk reaction
• Your immediate response is the one you have familiarised yourself with the most and there is certain aspects that would jump out at you.

• Plan
• All key words/theories need to be written down.

• DAC
• 12 marks or higher you need an introduction. For this question the introduction should be shorter than normal. DAC - Definition, Argument, Context.

• Paragraphs

Knee Jerk Reaction

• Binary Opposition between the bunnies and the chaos and darkness that has been happening in the trailer. 

• There are similarities in how representations position audience through horror paradigms, however 'US' focuses primarily on a black family, which is highly subversive/atypical.

• Normally a movie uses black people as a token character however this trailer is subversive and a few white token characters are used.

Plan

• Binary Opposition - Claude Levi Strauss

• Semiotics - Roland Barthes

• Mise-en-scene - Lighting - very low key lighting a generic paradigm of a horror movie.

• Stereotypes

• bell hooks - feminist theory

• Ethnicity

• Hermeneutic code

• Symbolic code

• Genre/horror conventions

• Judith Butler - Gender Performativity

• Character Archetypes

• Intertextuality - Of the music at the beginning is a remix of a classic which could be seen as a binary opposition

• Referential code - Jaws T-Shirt

• Representation - Stuart Hall

• Paul Gilroy - Post-Colonial theory

DAC

D - Positioning is an essential technique for producers, as it allows the audience to be placed in a particular situation. One of the most effective ways to do this is through representation, the re-presentation of a group, issue or event.

C - In order to explore this idea, I shall be referring to the theatrical poster for the 1963 British Hammer horror Kiss Of The Vampire, and the 2019 theatrical trailer to the modern horror film US.

A - There are similarities in how representations position audiences through horror paradigms, however US focusses primarily on a black family, which is highly subversive/atypical.

Content

• KOTVP 
• The stereotypical way of a man controlling a woman is portrayed in the poster but only on one side of the poster, it is shown on the left hand side as we see the woman laying lifelessly whereas on the right hand side we see a binary opposition as it is the woman controlling the man so the left side and right side have switched roles showing the movie is subversive but not too subversive that it would upset the audience in 1963 as the ideas of woman having power was unheard of.

• MES of darkness, the night setting is connotative of the horror genre and is highly typical. Positions the audience as fans of the horror genre.

• Gesture and performance of the women reinforces their role within the film, and conforms to patriarchal hegemonic norms and standards.

• Woman on the left takes the role of the 'damsel in distress' archetype, positioning the audience in the role of a heterosexual man.

• Van Zoonen - Male Gaze: MES of the exposed skin, is a combination with the stereotypical attractiveness of the women assumes a heterosexual male target audience, and reinforces ideas of patriarchy.

• Iconography of the full moon hints at the supernatural elements of the film, positioning the audience through the use of hermeneutic codes.

• While the film is set in exotic eastern Europe, the actors are predominantly white and British, which reinforces patriotic viewpoints.

• US
• Almost exclusively black cast would be unthinkable in 1963, purely because the film could be seen as being financially unviable.

• Therefore for a horror film, a very atypical situation.

• Father wears a Harvard, connotative of wisdom, intelligence, and middle class identity subverts the stereotypical middle class family through the main characters ethnicity.

• Ink stains function as a hermeneutic code, and are highly paradigmatic of the psychological horror genre, to target a specific audience.

• All black cast positions audience as a young, middle class black person, subverting the expectation the audiences are predominantly white.

• Over the shoulder shot of walking along the beach, MES lightening functions as a proairetic code, suggesting bad things are going to happen.

• Extreme close up of woman's crying face is connotative of the horror film, and positions the target audience directly with the young, black protagonist.

• Referential code to the Directors earlier film Get Out, allowing it to target a pre-existing audience.

Magazine 1 - Lesson 5 - Advertising

Advertising in Woman Magazine

• Women are represented as more interested in their makeup than the men. The mid shot here emphasises that her interest, her gaze is focused on the makeup.

• Women may not be as interested in sex as the man as the man is gazing at her, the mid shot again emphasises her.

• The women is putting more make up on, the hegemonic norm of society is that women wear make up and they dont go without it.

• Direct correlation between women putting on makeup and the man getting attracted to her. The man looks at the woman like the woman looks at her makeup.

• The main reason why the man likes her is because she is making an effort in the way that she looks because she's putting on makeup and because if she didn't wear makeup then she would be seen as something less than a woman.
• Alternative reading is that she's not actually looking at the man so it ruins the stereotypical hegemonic representations of women as she is more interested in the makeup than she is in the man.

• The mid shot is used to exaggerate the expressions of both the men and women.

• The fact that the women may be at a train station it shows that the equality of genders is uprising and is empowering the women as back in the 1960's thats when the women starting getting out of the house and getting on trains, going to college etc. so it empowers women.

• Men are only interested in the women's beauty, it would be an example of patriarchal society as he looks dominant as he is choosing to find her attractive.

• The women looks completely surrounded by men so it could say that she has gone to the station to find a man and it also shows that its a patriarchal society as there are only men to be seen in the station except from her.

• The advert is being sold as by saying that women are unattractive and if they wear this makeup then they're 'perfectly lovely again'. So attractiveness is dependant on the product - consumerism.

• Female looks a herself, male also looks at her - she is the object of his gaze (Lisbet van zoonen).

Devil's Advocate

• The positives to stereotypes it gives us rules to live by.

• If we follow these rules then it makes everyone behave in a nicer way.

Magazine 1 - Lesson 4

Lesson Starter - Questions on Woman Magazine

• What messages about female identity are encoded in woman magazine?
• Women need to wear make-up otherwise they will not be considered beautiful.
• Women must rely on men for certain things in their life.
• They belong in the kitchen, need to bring up children - article on kitchens.
• What impact could this have on the target audience?
• Target audience is female, heterosexual and 25-45 years old
• It cultivates the idea of women having to wear makeup.
• It cultivates the idea that women are supposed to be housewives.
• What functions might woman's magazine serve?
• Brings together the female community to construct a target audience.
• What potential advantages are there for reinforcing hegemonic notions of gender in a primarily reader base?
• Reflects the society of which this magazine was released into.
• Its a lot better to keep telling women that they are crap.

Key Theory - Feminist Theory - bell hooks

• Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women.
• Feminism is not a lifestyle choice: it is a political commitment.
• Race, class and gender all determine the extent to which individuals are exploited and oppressed.
• Her latest book is called 'Feminism is for everyone' this quote sums up her and her theory.

Advertising from the 1960's

• Female Stereotypes
• Women are useless as she ruined the dinner.
• Women are emotional as she's holding the male's tissue and crying.
• She's failed as being a women as she burnt the dinner and she needs the male to make it better and to consolidate her.
• The male prefers the beer to the women, objectifying the women.
• Men are the beer drinkers and women are not.
• Women are in the kitchen - cultivation theory (Gerbner)
• Nurturing/maternal
• Dependant on man
• Filling a housewife and domestic role
• Romantic element

Advertising in Magazines

• Magazines generate revenue primarily through sales of copies (print and digital) and through advertising.
• Advertising accounts for approximately one third of total revenues across the industry. It is, therefore, vitally important that the magazine and advertising content target the same audience in order that the advertising brands benefit from increased sales as a result of advertising in the magazine.
• Andrew Green identifies the ways in which magazine advertising can benefit the advertisers in an article entitled 'ESSENTIALS: The Power of Magazine Advertising':
• High audience engagement.
• Less distraction likely from other activities.
• The ability to target niche audiences.
• High production values.
• Potential for placement in highly relevant editorial environment.
• Non-Intrusive - readers can turn the page.
• Long shelf life.

Representation - Advertising in Woman

• Main attraction is to the naked women, the font is extremely small so the first thing the audience will see is the naked woman, and they will then go on to read the advert to see what it is about.

• Because the women is heavily sexualised in this advert men will find her attractive and also women will want to be like her to be appealing to men so they're stuck with the ideologies that this soap will make the women look sexualised and appealing to males so they will buy it.

• Stereotypes is that women are thought to be sexy and that this soap will make them look even sexier.

• She looks like she's supposed to be sat in the bath but she's not actually in the bath as if she was then we wouldn't see her legs and her hair is all done up and her makeup is all done.

• The logo is also bigger than the text but smaller than the image so if either the primary or secondary audience decide to flip the page after seeing the naked women their attention will also go on the logo so when they see this soap they will always see the advert of the naked women and it will become memorable.

• The soap states to make you more attractive, more femininity and to be fresh, so it also has connotations of freshening your life so you dont have to worry about anything as this soap will make all your worries go away and will make your life sweet, kind and fresh again.

• The woman is being sexualised in this position as we can still see her cleavage and her legs, so it is an exceptionally racy advert for 1960's.

• Her body language is also extremely shy as her body is closed and makes her seem quite gentle although she is completely sexualised, and her body is saying that she's sexually unattainable, and makes her look as if she's empowering women as she's closing her body off away from men, which adds to the context as this happened when women started going to uni, so its a step in the right direction showing that they've changed how they used to be as this advert came out in mid 1960's.

• A preferred reading could be that women can smell, as she is now working and getting independence so it shows that women can get dirty and smelly too, so it breaks the conventions that women dont work and women are always clean and tidy, it shows that they need to maintain themselves no differently to how males need to.

• There is a binary opposition between clean and destruction.

• An oppositional response could be that through the choice of lexis and the use of 'darling' makes us feel quite flattered, whereas recently if someone said it there are assumptions that its creepy and condescending.

• The word 'freshness' comes back to the ideas of kitchens and women having to belong in the kitchen so if the women is fresh then so is her kitchen.

Audience Manipulation

Audience Manipulation

The importance behind the audience; 

• Without an audience there is no point in a media product.
• There is always a target audience
• There is a primary target audience and a secondary target audience
• Its the audience who decide the success the of the media product.
• There are different types of demographics and psychographic types of audiences.

Key Theory - Albert Bandura - Media Effects

• What happens if you watch too much TV/Youtube/Video Games?
• Alters your perceptions on things, makes you understand biased ideologies. (Stereotypical Characters) 
• Changes your personality, if you watch a show you could try to be the character and 'if you watch too many horror films you're more likely to kill someone'
• If you play too many video games then you may not take life so seriously, example; Call of Duty will make you enjoy kill people online so it could reflect that into real life. 

• The effects model - AKA The hypodermic needle model.
• We as the audience are being brainwashed by the producers ideology which they're putting into the media product, and we cannot do anything about it as we are watching it and we are taking it into account. 

• Mass media is media that can be spread to mass audiences quickly and easily. 

• Advantages of this theory;
• Assuming that is true it can get important messages across. (propaganda)
• Educating people on what's going around them.
• Its very simple and easier to blame the video games rather than sociological issues. 

• Disadvantages of this theory;
• The theory doesn't work in the majority, we can watch shooting games and horror movie's and not kill someone, if you kill someone then its probably because there is something wrong and they are ill. 

Key Theory - George Gerbner - Cultivation Theory

Cultivation Theory is the idea that prolonged and heavy exposure to TV cultivates as in grows or develops in audiences a view of the world consistent with the dominant or majority view expounded by television

• Outline of Cultivation Theory;
• Television (and by extension other tools of mass media distributions) present a mainstream view of culture, ignoring everything else.
• In doing so, television distorts reality
• Heavy television users are therefore more likely to accept this edited and distorted view of reality.

• Advantages of this theory;
• 
  
• Disadvantages of this theory;
• Not everyone's the same and may be less influenced.
• It is so simplistic as it doesn't take in the idea of the complex human mind.
• We are now watching so much different types of channels, so there are so many more conflicting ideologies so we can't just focus on one ideology and be influenced by it. 
• Its distressingly similar to the effects model. 

Applying Cultivation Theory To Advertising 

• Women do the washing we see this through the women hugging the washing powder, and women should do the cleaning as there is no men seen in the advert at all, this is an ideology that is cultivated as we are not born with this ideology. 
• She is an archetypal housewife.
• Another ideology that has been cultivated is the fact that women want to clean and like to clean through the use of mise-en-scene we see this as she is smiling, there is also a romantic love between the housewife and cleaning. 

Hegemony

• Where one group wields power over another, not through domination, but through coercion and consent.
• Examples;
• Queuing
• Homework
• Stopping at a red light
• Letting others get off the train before you get on
• Putting disabled people before yourself (seat on the train)
• The school system
• We dont do drugs in public as we would get judged
• Wearing clothes 
• Patriarchal Hegemony
• Cultural Hegemony
• Hegemonic structures of class
• Political Hegemony 

• Hegemonic Power VS Non-Hegemonic Power 

Applying Cultivation Theory & Hegemony to Advertising

• Its presenting that slim women are beautiful and can wear what they want and do what they want.
• Being able to sit on a private terrace so they can be seen as rich and wealthy
• If these women were overweight the message of the advert would change completely and it would be a body message instead, they're attractive as they're thin/blonde, we know these women are sexually attractive because of how they look and by what they're wearing. 
• Showing coke is a seasonal drink that can be drunk in summer as it cools you down and gives you a feeling of relaxation, the image codes this sense of relaxation as both the women are laying down and chilling not having to worry about anything, the colour's are also light which connotates the purity and innocence of this sexualised image. 
• Attractive, young women who may be financially successful drink coke. 

Introduction To Media

Introduction

Three Components; 

Component 1 - 35% Exam

Component 2 - 35% Exam

Component 3 - 30% Coursework

Component 1

- Analysing media language and representation

- Section A ; two questions, one on unseen media product (print or audio-visual), and one question comparing the representation to one known and one unseen product. 

- Section B ; understanding media industries and audiences 

Advertising

Print

• Codes and conventions
• Layout and design
• Composition
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour 
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• Graphics, logos etc.
• Language – slogan/tagline and copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

Moving image

• Codes and conventions
• Camera work – framing, shot types, angle, position, movement
• Editing – pace, type of edits, continuity/montage Structure/narrative
• Sound – music/dialogue/voiceover 
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 

- The advert is selling handbags, I can tell this through the shot type used in the second image of the close up on the bag.

- The mise-en-scene of the props/costume used in the advert, the jewellery she wears which you can visibly see in the close up makes her seem quite fashionable and almost like a role model to other girls, so they see this advert and want to look as fashionable as her so they think in buying this bag it will help them to do so. 

- The print used to show the branding is very minimalist and visible making it obvious of the brand. 

Key Theory 1 - Roland Barthes - Semiotics

Anything that can have meaning

The thing that creates meaning

The meaning that is created

Signs, Signifiers, Signifieds

Signifiers - Lion

Signified - Roar, Big Cat

Hermeneutic Codes - Also known as the enigma codes, these refer to something within the media product that creates mystery and suspense. 

Proairetic Code - Also known as action codes, these refer to something within a media product that suggests that something will happen. 

Symbolic Code - Something within a media product that creates a deeper meaning for the audience

- Statistics - to convince the audience that their lashes will be much longer as its got the statistics to boost the selling of the product. Symbolises quality and trustworthiness 

- The model is pretty and her face is well defined, she's also got plump limps which is considered the new in beauty trend, so they're trying to convince people if they buy this mascara then they will have all these 'natural' beauty features along with it aswell. 

- The layout is extremely cluttered, perhaps targeting it to a C2DE audience (less informal people, as you have the top A1BC target audience) appeals to a more working class audience rather than a high end fashion magazine. 

- There is a close up on the models face clearly enhancing the volume and length to promote the advert. 

- Font is all sans serif, showing that the advert is informal, showing again the appeal to the 'cluttered lifestyle' audience. 

- Symbolic Code - Close up of models face symbolises desires to be attractive. 

-Symbolic Code - New York - setting, expensive, busy, appeals to people in a busy lifestyle, so its quicker to apply, so its showing the importance of makeup and the need to want it done quicker. 

- Hermeneutic Code - close up of makeup being applied, mystery of why model is doing her makeup/ where is she going.

- Proairetic Code - Close up of mascara wand floating over eye suggests makeup will be applied. 

- Symbolic Code -  The washed out colour in the background enhances the models face, making you think if you are wearing this then you will stand out. 

- Leather Jacket - connotations of  independence

- Numerous times of mascara shot, so we are extremely clear on what is being advertised to us as the target audience, so we don't need to look into the advert very much and it is a quick thing to scan and see and understand.