HOW GLOBAL IS THE APPEAL OF YOUR CHOSEN TEXTS?

 

 

The global appeal of my chosen three artists is changed by their ideologies and marketing strategies.

 

Lady Gaga, known as the 20th century queen of pop, had worldwide sales of 15million for her album 'The Fame' released in 2008. She achieved this by being on a major record label Interscope which allowed her to distribute her album worldwide. This company has enough money to promote her and her music to each continent giving a mass population as an audience which gave her the platform to Tour these counties continuing promotion.

 

 Releasing 6 music videos from her album, 'The Fame' made Lady Gaga appear in the charts constantly over the 18 month period. 'Just Dance' her first single from he album topped charts in America and the UK, giving her a loyal fan base with the pop song. When 'Paparazzi' was released she had dominated the westernised markets where it It gained a place in the top 10 in over 12 different countries worldwide. The big budget video for Paparazzi was an 8 minute long mini movie- following in the footsteps of Michael Jacksons Thriller video. A Swedish director to make the French new wave style film, who also worked with artists such as Madonna, who also had worldwide success. The mise-en-scene attracts a large, multicultural audience as many teens all have the same aspirations and ideologies to do with money and love. The opening shot of the music video you see the palm trees, showing an exotic location, it then pans across to a white mansion which looks luxurious, many fans will see this as the lifestyle to have.

 

Finally, the use of the internet has allowed Lady Gaga herself to develop a parasocial relationship with her fans. On twitter, Lady Gaga has 37.8 million followers, meaning that many people see her tweets and are influenced by her posts to do with music, fashion, news etc. It lets her fans know more about her as she shares personal information. The twitter account also responds to the fans tweets, this makes them think Gaga knows each of them personally and cares for them, i.e. a parasocial relationship. However I don't believe a global superstar will be doing this herself which shatters the allusion she has created, but most of her fans are besotted with the 'Mother Monster' they ignore all bad publicity or statements.

 

In contrast to Lady Gaga, my second chosen text is Radiohead, a niche English rock band that targets the alternative scene. The band formed in 1985, and in 2011 the band released their 8th album 'King of limbs' which sold around 400,000 copies. Radiohead developed an established fan base from its early days which were promoted through their record label. However now Radiohead managed to secure number 6 on the Billboard top 200 in the USA with the 'King of limbs' by self promotion through their website and one music video for the album 'Lotus Flower'.

 

The only promotion Radiohead did, was release the low budget music video of 'Lotus flower' and a live concert through their website, months after the album was released on February 18th 2011. The video is an arty production that targets the global niche audience they already have in which they  brought experimental music to the mainstream platform.

 

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An artist who did not have the Internet to promote and gain wider global success was Nirvana. Nirvana who had a short few years in the music industry as Kurt Cobain, the lead singer, committed suicide in 1994, changed  the mainstream music by introducing the grime genre.

 

The first step to Nirvana reaching a global audience was the decision to move from SUB POP records to Geffen records. SUB POP



EXPLORE THE DIFFERENT REPREENTATIONS OF EITHOR WOMAN OR ETHNICITY IN YOUR CHOSEN TEXTS.

 The texts I studied are Sin City, Fish Tank and District 9. Each of these films have different representations of women and ethnicities to have polysemic meanings in order to support the narrative and genre.

Sin City, made in 2007, is a hybrid of film noir and comic book therefore a fictional narrative. In order for the text to attract a larger audience, it includes historical issues and controversial representations about female objectification, women's rights and ????????.

Females in Sin City are represented by a Femme Fatal character role. A femme fatal is a mysterious, seductive woman who lures men to do their jobs normally resulting in deadly situations. In order for men to fall at their feet, the woman must be attractive on the eye. This is shown to the audience through Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory. For example, when Hartigan walks into the bar, the camera look up to Nancy on the pole, as we are looking through his eyes. As she turns, the camera caresses her curves which are highlighted through the change of light to soft lighting. It is objectifying Nancy as she is being seen as male property, they all can own and control her at desire.

'Old town' in the narrative is a place where several female prostitutes live and work. In itself this is a negative representation of females, however the polysemic meaning is about them fighting for their rights during the cold war period of the 1940's, where most film noir films are set. This is shown during the show down with the cops, in which Gail and her team of hookers are helped by Dwight to murder them, in the scene called 'the big fat kill'. The prostitutes are fighting for their rights to be equal to men, showing they will not let men defeat or own them anymore, yet will they use them to their advantage. They are simply clinging on to newly gained power after the men returned from the World War 2, like the 'Maltese Falcon' made in the 1940's with the same genre and ideologies.

"MOST MEDIA TEXTS TARGET A RANGE OF AUDIENCES" HOW TRUE IS THIS FOR YOUR CHOSEN TEXTS?

The three chosen texts I analysed are Lost, Mad Men and Louis Theroux 'Most hated family in America, revisited' which all target different audiences in order to make them successful.

The pilot episode of season 1 cost $10million to make the 2, one hour episodes of Lost. With lots of money behind it, J.J Abrams the director needed it to be popular in order for them to make a profit from the series. This was done by Lost being a hybrid genre, using an ensemble cast and a score.

Lost targets its audience by merging together 3 genres; Sci-fi, action and Fantasy. Throughout the second pilot, there are many flashbacks to when the plane is crashing which keeps action in the mix using fast-paced shots and exaggerated sound effects. It also attracts fans of the fantasy genre in the scene where Soya, shoots a Polar bear after a tracking shot of the animal through the long grass. The fantasy aspect that Lost viewers will ask is why there is a polar bear in the jungle on an empty island? Using the 3 different genre conventions in the narrative allows Lost to attract a wider audience, as a hybrid text will gratify more viewers than if it was just 1 genre.

An ensemble cast will allow Lost to target a wider range of audiences as more people will be able to relate to the characters, personal identification from the Uses and Gratifications theory. In the narrative there are 14 protagonists ranging in age from 10 with Walter to 60 with John Locke. It also has both genders and a variety of different ethnicities. However, Sun and Jin Kwon, a Koreans couple received bad responses to their relationship calling it 'Old fashioned', suggesting the text did not suit all audiences as some rejected the message of the couple.

The use of a score allows a text to attract a range of audiences as it helps viewers to understand the narrative. For example, when Walter is looking for his dog in the forest, a high pitched piece of non-diegetic sound starts and gradually becomes louder as his search continues. This alerts the audience that something is not right and they should become suspicious of the situation. A score is generally used when the audience is passive, as it tells them how to feel without paying much attention to the narrative. It helps Lost target a larger audience as many people enjoy watching a drama for entertainment and escapism rather than to be gratified by information on social or historical events typically like Mad Men does.

Mad Men is an American TV programme, with incredible critical acclaim. It is a niche drama targeting an active audience who can understand the historical issues involved within the narrative. It attracts this audience through its scheduling, relatable storylines and historical relations.

In the UK, Mad Men is shown on Sky Atlantic. This channel has to be subscribed to, therefore the programme can not reach a wide audience, it targets people who can afford to pay for the channel. Its scheduling means Mad Men is shown at 10pm which is late so clearly targets active adults.

Secondly, Mad Men is set in an advertising firm which audiences will be able to relate to as Mad Men's target audience will probably all have demanding jobs. In the episode named, "The Other woman" which is episode 11 from season 5, the advertising company is campaigning for the right to advertise for Jaguar. Now not all audience viewers can directly relate to the situation, but may relate to having pressures at work and escaping by coming home to their families, exactly what Don Draper and Pete Campbell do during the episode. However, this confirms that Mad Men targets a niche audience.

As the programme is set in the 1960's, women are becoming more valuable to the work place and this is shown in this episode. Don Draper, the male protagonist with authority in the business faces many issues where the representation of woman changes. For example, Peggy announces she will be leaving the company and in another scene, his wife Megan upsets him by implying her work comes before her husband. These are not normal character roles for the typical 1950's/60's housewife, and they demonstrate woman gaining rights and power, a real historical issue. This will gratify the audience as they will be gaining information from the cultural issues, which links to the Uses and Gratifications theory which explains why people watch programmes.

Louis Theroux presented and directed a documentary called 'The most hated family in America, In crisis.' It shows the life of a cult of Christians who live with the rules of the West Baptist church in America. The show targets its audience by its genre, the presenting style and the reinforcement of beliefs.

A documentary is there to educate the audience by providing information. The documentary was aired on BBC 2, in April 2011 and BBC's mission statement is 'To enrich peoples lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain its viewers.' Louis Theroux creates an interactive documentary therefore getting more information from the family and deeper gratifying the target audience through the strange and niche topics. For example, the Westborough Baptist church believe all homosexuals are going to burn in hell for eternity and illness is given by God for bad behaviour. Not all audiences will want to hear about this subject, therefore it does not target a range of audiences.

Louis Theroux presenting style has been linked to Gonzo Journalism and this is a way the BBC targets a niche audience. Gonzo Journalism puts subjectivity and style over accuracy. Louis Theroux does this by being awkward, rude and sarcastic to the family, making it humorous to the audience. This is seen in the scene where Louis is talking to Noah, a young member of the family. Noah is explaining a vision his family have about 'pink caves' and Louis uses his sarcasm which makes Noah laugh at his own comment making the family seem silly. However Noah probably felt intimidated by Louis and this has made the documentary be criticised by reviews.

HOW DO YOUR CHOSEN TEXTS USE GENRE CONVENTIONS?

 

 

 

My three texts I studied within this industry are 'Sin City', 'Fish Tank' and 'District 9'. They all follow certain conventions in order to establish a genre and gratify the chosen audience.

 

Sin City, made in 2007 is a hybrid genre made up of Film Noir conventions and a Comic Book style. The narrative follows Vladamir Propps theory of character roles (hero/villain/princess) which is common in Comic Books. For example, when Dwight (the hero) fights and confronts Jackie Boy (the villain) for the love of Shelley (the princess).

 

A cynical protagonist is a common convention of the Film Noir genre, as it reflects the time when there was the threat of nuclear annihilation during the cold war period of the 1940's when the film noir genre was born. Marve, a protagonist in the narrative says "hell is waking up everyday not knowing why you are here." This quote is said as a voice over, clearly showing the

 

 

ASSESS THE MAIN ADVANTAGE OF THE INTERNET FOR YOR THREE MAIN TEXTS 

The internet is an important distribution and marketing tool used by the artists of today like Lady Gaga and Radiohead, however in the 1990's the internet wasn't widely available causing Nirvana to find success in other ways. The internet creates nostalgia for Nirvana using Fan sites, Youtube and other apps.

One main advantage of the internet for Nirvana is providing a platform for new fans to access their old music keeping the band and their influences alive. Their popularity is kept alive through fan-sites such as Facebook or on other websites as people can access music and learn about the ideologies they supported as a sub-culture of the mainstream music in 1991.      For example, an instagram page called 'NIRVANAFANPAGE' which has a large amount of followers (13780) in the short time the app has been running. It allows followers to look at old pictures of the band and their back stories, creating longevity.

Secondly, Nirvana's music videos and live performances can be viewed on youtube anytime, anywhere and this continues to promote the band even though they stopped making music in 1994. 'Smells like teen spirit' the first single on the 'Nevermind' album which was released in 1991, now has 107million views on youtube. Youtube was founded in 2005, meaning the video was uploaded 14 years or more after the single came out and still is popular in the modern day. 

Music is widely available through websites and apps such as Itunes and Spotify. Nirvana's album 'Nevermind' is available on these sites and the record label still makes a profit from the album being bought. Geffen, the major record label Nirvana signed to in 1991 to release their 'Nervermind' album and allow worldwide distribution will still be making a percentage of the sales on the websites like Itunes. A consumer advantage is that they can download this music and have it on any device and through word of mouth through friends it promotes the app and the album they are listening too. In effect this makes 'Nirvana' very much still alive as even today they have an influence on the teen market, who support their belief of going against society and rebelling.

Lady Gaga, the new queen of pop, reaches her audience through the internet by creating a Para-social relationship and YouTube.
Lady Gaga, the most followed person on Twitter at 37.1million, uses social network sites to; have a para-social relationship with her fans. This is an important use of the internet for Lady Gaga as it gives her fans identity and feel like they interact with the 'mother monster' herself. Online social networks also let's Gaga express her opinion on music, fashion and social matters which makes her an online influencer as so many people will read what she says and admire/trust in it. By doing this it creates a strong bond that grows into its own community allowing for greater marketing influence that the industry has never seen before.This is why Lady Gaga makes a revenue of  around £20million pounds off Twitter alone.

YouTube is an important way for Lady Gaga to reach her fans and upload her new music videos. Her official page has 120 videos uploaded and the total views is 2000million following closely behind Justin Bieber, a megastar in the industry. By releasing music videos on YouTube, her fans get instant access to her productions which is a way of promotion and marketing. For example, her 5th single on 'The Fame' album, 'pokerface' follows mainstream views and popular conventions in a song, therefore it will attract a large audience and market to YouTube users who have not seen the video before.

Radiohead have been formed since 1985 and are still going strong, releasing the album 'The king of limbs' in 2011. They have experienced both eras of music and have adapted and changed to address the new technologies of the 20th century by releasing album over the internet, using Spotify and performing their concert album over the internet.

'The king of limbs' is the 8th album to come from the alternative rock band. Radiohead found a new way to distribute their album as they realised everyone is downloading rather than buying CD's, so with no record label they released the album over their website on the 18th February 2011. To please their established fans, they released it on CD and Vinyl later the next month. Without the internet this could not have been done, the band would have had to release the album in physical form and spend a lot of money on the distribution which means smaller profit margins.

Radiohead experimented a lot during this album which is clear in the abstract music video to 'Lotus Flower'. The songs were all made and recorded in the studio and the band were not sure they could recreate the sounds to a live performance. Consequently, they put off a tour and instead after practicing and getting the songs up to scratch they performed 'live from the basement', a TV exclusive which was also put on their website. Allowing their fans to access the performance and watch the footage when they pleased, promoting the album months after it came out.

The internet is a home of discussion and where opinions are projected widely. Liam Gallagher from the 'Artic monkeys' launched an online attack against the album saying its a load of rubbish as they are "writing a song about a fucking tree". Due to his high profile and Radiohead's fanbase (who ignore the negative reviews) this promoted the album meaning that Radiohead had greater success from the negative publicity from the internet.

LOST

"Most media texts target a range of different audiences" How is this true for your chosen texts?

Lost is a television programme produces by ABC, an american network company. The episode i studied was season 1, pilot 2 which cost around $10-$14 million to construct. ABC was able to spend this much money on an episode as it targets a large audience through having an ensemble cast, a hybrid genre and the use of location.

The cast is made up of 14 principal characters, all of different demographics like age, gender, race making the cast an ensemble. Lost was made up of these so it could target a large audience as a variety of different people will be able to personally identify to a or multiple characters using the uses and gratifications theory. This becomes obvious when Soya and Syeed are shown having a fight, Soya being white american and Syeed being middle eastern. ?????

Secondly, Lost targets a range of different audiences by having being a hybrid genre. This means it is made up of many different genres in order to attract a wider target audience. Lost is predominantly made up from action, fantasy and sci-fi.

MAD MEN

Most media texts target a wide range of audiences, how true is this of your chosen text?

My first studied text is the critically acclaimed 'Mad Men' produced by AMC. The text i have studied is episode 11 of season 5 called 'The other woman'. The preferred audience for this text is a similar age to the cast, with an interest in historical issues and similar models of behaviour. I think this text does not target a wide range of audience because the programme has a niche audience because of the scheduling, non-diegetic sound and lack of variety in the cast.

The first reason i believe Mad Men targets a niche audience is the channel the programme is shown on. In the UK, the show is played on Sky Atlantic at 10pm. Sky Atlantic is a subscription channel therefore not available to a large proportion of available audiences. The time it is scheduled is late into the evening, making it difficult for the younger or older generations to catch the episode. Meaning that the targeted audience is adult and wealthy enough to afford the subscription, making us think they will be successful and take a preferred reading as they interact with the narrative on an intellectual level.  

Secondly, episode 11, like all other episodes of Mad Men do not include any diegetic sound. All sound in the 50 minute running time is in the scenes from when they were filmed. An oppositional audience would find this very dull and boring, as no sound effects or music will not make the text a 'light' viewing. However the preferred niche audience would find this gives the programme a sense of realism and help them relate to the situations.

The cast of the show is all of a similar age, ethnicity and is slightly more male dominated. The age range is from 30-50's for all characters, making it difficult for an audience outside this range to understand the feelings and actions the characters make. In episode 11, only one African-Amerian woman is seen for about 3 seconds in the whole episode consequently the text is dominated by white, middle class characters. For a multi-cultural audience they may feel objectified by the lack of variety in the audience and not become gratified. Others may accept the time setting of the text and realise this is an accurate reflection of the lives lived in that era and gain information from being transported back in time. 

In summary following on from my analysis i believe the statement of "Most media texts target a wide range of audiences, how true is this of your chosen text?" is false in regard to Mad Men.