Thursday, March 22, 2007

VirGiN MeDiA To BaCk BiG BroThEr...

Virgin Media has been confirmed as the sponsor of Big Brother 8 with the company's mobile arm to be the main service promoted.

Virgin Media has signed on for the main summer series - as revealed by MediaGuardian.co.uk - but not next year's Celebrity Big Brother version.

Channel 4 has not yet announced if there will be a Celebrity Big Brother in 2008. However, it is understood that Virgin Media will be given first refusal on extending the sponsorship if the trouble-laden show runs without a hitch this summer.

"Of course we had worries [about this year's Celebrity Big Brother], we would have been foolhardy if we didn't," said James Kydd, the managing director of marketing at Virgin Media.

"We spent a lot of time talking to Channel 4 about how they were sorting out their internal processes to make sure there wouldn't be any sort of escalation again. But Big Brother is always controversial, it is the nature of the beast. We just wanted to be reassured that there wouldn't be a situation that got out of control again."

Carphone Warehouse pulled out of its £2.5m a year sponsorship of Big Brother following the Shilpa Shetty racism row in January.

The Big Brother sponsorship package includes branding and advertising opportunities across TV, video-on-demand, online, radio and mobile.

"The sponsorship will be split between our mobile and media services," added Mr Kydd. "What Big Brother does is give a fantastic opportunity to bring to life quadplay in action and the core 16-34 demographic BB reaches is a bullseye for mobile. Virgin Mobile will be the lead sponsor but we will absolutely push Virgin Media messaging."

My ComMentS...
I think that its really conterversial for virgin to support big brother since carphone warehouse dropped out as they felt that them sponsoring Big brother would ruin their reputation, since they adgree with the public that Jade Goody was being racist. It will bring a great deal of profit to the company.. but how will the public respond to this?

Thursday, March 08, 2007

RTL VoWs To TuRn ArouNd FiVe..

The RTL Group chief executive, Gerhard Zeiler, has admitted he was disappointed with UK subsidiary Channel Five's falling audience share but pledged to turn the broadcaster's fortunes round with its multichannel strategy.

Five's audience share fell to 5.9% in 2006, down 0.7 percentage points, proportionately the worst performance of the five main UK terrestrial channels.

Mr Zeiler said the launch of digital services Five Life and Five US in October would drive growth in 2007, and pointed to the recent management shake-up that saw Lisa Opie made head of content.

"Am I happy the audience share went down? No - otherwise we wouldn't have changed the programme team," Mr Zeiler said.

"The change is more radical, exactly what we expected. We have a new director of content, Lisa Opie, and we fully trust in her, that she will turn it around in terms of audience share. Our main goal is to grow our position

http://media.guardian.co.uk/city/story/0,,2029395,00.html?
My ViEw...
Channel Five was the last edition to the terrestrial channels. When channel five was launched in 1997 it was new to the world as SKY TV was expensive and not many people had it. Now that SKy is in demand terrestrial channels like Channel 5 are losing their viewers. Most people watch channel 4 for documentaries, ITV and BBC1 for their regular shows such as Eastenders. Since SKy is so developed, each channel caters for their audience which allows the viewers to chose what they want to watch, instead of waiting for a ceratin programme to come on.


Labels:

EsSay QuEsTion…

UsInG ThE ComPaRiSioN Of TheSe TeXts As YouR StaRtiNg PoiNt, ExPloRe ThE MeDiA IsSues AnD DeBaTes WhIcH ThEy RaiSe…

‘The Revolution will not be televised’ by Gil Scott-Heron and ‘Your revolution’ by Sarah Jones are two texts that covey serious issues and debates about society during their time. Due to inequality and racial abuse, society was forced to repress their personal views and live in a democratic state where the government decided on what was seen the right and formal thing to do. Both artists express their views on society and how it affects them and the people with similar problems.

Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘The revolution will not be televised’ critiques the status quo and challenges the establishment. The beat to the song is slow but catchy as it is repetitive throughout. Since this song discusses serious issues having a repetitive beat is vital, as it allows the audience to remember it along with the words. Heron raps slowly and clearly with a deep masculine voice. This again reinforces the sincerity tone of the song and informs the audience on how important the issue is. ‘There will be no pictures of you and Willie May pushing that shopping cart…’ Heron here is stating that black people are only seen as criminals and insignificant to society. He makes close references to the Marxist theory as he believes that society is easily influenced. The song was written in 1972 which means that a capitalist society did exist and black people were not as much considered.

Sarah Jones ‘Your revolution’ takes a similar approach by using the same methods but by projecting a feminist voice. In her song she discusses females in the rapping industry and how unequal it is. It is a track about female empowerment and women’s rights. The beat is slow, and regular like Heron’s. By doing this it reinforces the point she makes. Like Heron, Jones is critiquing the black people in the media and telling the world how the music industry is patriarchal. She mentions the issue about women in the music industry with close references to Foxy Brown about how they sell their body to get higher status. Throughout the song, Jones uses parody to portray how she feels about men in the music industry by mocking the strong males in the industry such as LL Cool J. She uses intertextuality to emphasies her point by singing his song. She mocks him as he undermines women.
She feels somewhat hatred towards artists like him as in his lyrics he has strong references to sex and has the power to influence the people who listen to his music. It’s down to males like him that women are still objectified today.
A key theorist, Laura Mulvey argues there is a the active male hero and the passive female characters who's mere purpose is their quality to be looked at ness and they are objectified as sexual objects and become objects of the male gaze. This is key to rap music as it is a typical convention used in rap videos for women to be inferior to men. ‘Your revolution’ is a song that rejects all the typical conventions and stands for its own. We see it in the majority of rap videos, with big famous artist such as ‘Snoop Dogg’ and ‘Dr Dre’ have semi naked females dancing in the backgrounds of their videos. They objectify the woman as they refer them to ‘bitches’ and ‘hoes’ and state that their only use is for pleasuring a male. Jones goes against all these acts and shows that she can be in the music industry like every other woman however does not need to show or sell her body to be successful.

In conclusion both texts are similar in there ways as they both do not conform to the typical conventions that occur in rap videos. They are both projecting there voices in what they believe in. they are similar as they are dealing with real life issues which are considered as important to them as well as to society. Even though Heron’s song was released at an early date in comparison to Jones it shows that ways have not really changed and that society and still remains to be the same to a certain extent. The purpose of the songs was to create awareness and inform people about the contemporary issues.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

NeWs ViewS...

How Would You PrioriTise TheSe NeWs VaLueS?
I would priortise the news values in which the readers impact on the article. It would depend on how the audience intrepretate the news and what they gain from it. In my opinion composition would be the most important since it balances the news.

What Is GateKeEpinG?
The Gatekeepers are usually the editors, who are responsible for selecting the and ordering the news broadcasts or selecting and planning the newspaper layout.

What do We Mean By Bias?
Bias would mean when a story is one side viwed and influenced by the attitudes and background of its interviewers, writers, photographers and editors. People could be biased through selection and omission or bias through placement for example.

Galtung and Ruge's NeWs Values...
Frequency- The time span of an event and the extent to which it fits the frequency of the newspaper.

Threshold- How big is an event? 'Celebrity Big Brother' JADE OUT'

Unambiguity- how clear is the meaning of the event?

Meaningfulness- How meaningful will the event apper to the receivers? 'Sucide bombings in IrAQ'

Consonance- Does the event match the audience's expectations?

Unexpectedness- Father’s hug 40 years ago turned out to be death sentence for his daughter” the event is highly unpredictable.

Continuity- 'Big Brother Jade and racism story' This story has been featured sevreal times in the news and will continue to remain in the news untill things are resolved.

Composition- This is a matter of the balance of the news.

Reference to elite nations- This relates again to 'cultural proximity'. Those nations which are culturally closest to our own will receive most of the coverage.

Reference to elite persons- The media pay attention to important people. "Cameron declares his faith in a state education for his children”

Personalisation- This connects with umambiguity and meaningfulness.

Negativity- Bad news is good news in term of what is reported.

CuLt OF The CeLebrIty...
How much celebrity driven media do you consume? Do you consume these texts in spite of the celebrity focus or because of it?

I dont really purchase many magazines but recently i did buy Heat, Ok and HEllo which featured the Big brother gossip about Shilpa, Jade and Daniella. I was bored so thats why i bought it but i dont go out of my way to buy these magazines weekly.



Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Jade Goody, at the centre of an alleged race row on Celebrity Big Brother, has been evicted from the Channel 4 show.

Goody, 25, was up against Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, who had been the target of the alleged abuse from Goody and others in the reality TV show.

Almost nine million people watched Goody being interviewed by host Davina McCall, according to overnight ratings.

Goody said her behaviour was "nasty" adding: "I'm not racist, but I can see why it has had the impact it's had."

On seeing clips from the show, she said: "I look like one of those people I don't like."

She looked shocked when McCall showed her TV news headlines - revealing that Goody's comments and behaviour had become the subject of questions in the House of Commons and public debate in India.

She was silent for a few seconds before saying: "That's intense."

Goody, who received 82% of the total votes cast, added: "I apologise to anyone I offended."

Goody, who rose to fame in the non-celebrity version of Big Brother in 2002, already had an inkling there had been a furore around her alleged racist comments before leaving the house.

She made up with Shetty before the eviction, with Shetty saying she did not believe Goody was racist.

Earlier, Shetty was asked by Big Brother whether she felt her argument with Jade was racially motivated.

But Shetty said: "I think it's a sequence of events that created that misunderstanding and made me believe for maybe a fraction of a second that I thought she was being racist.

"But I don't think so today, in hindsight, that she was being racist."

My View:
I think that big brother was totally blown out of proporation. Big brother was the talk of the year and it was internatioanlly broadcasted on order for everyone to see. Not many poeople were interested in it but as soon as they heard that a so called racist comment was said, everyone switched to watch what was going on. Jade reacted the way she would when she was angry, but she should have calmed down since she was on TV as so many people were watching the inccident. It was more of a bully scene that a racist one. It was uncomfortable to watch when danielle and Jo sat their laughing in a middle of an argument between shilpa and jade. They should have known better... they not even celebrities anyway..

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Module One PrePReRaTion...

Migrain Analysis

M- Long shot of the woman in a blue background. She is wearing a bight orange dress which allows her to stand out. The woman is the only image on the front cover, which means she is dependant on catching the readers’ attention. None of her body parts her fetishsized, which gives us an idea that the audience is primarily young women like the woman featured on the cover. It has a sophisticated approach which links back to the name of the magazine.

She is standing upright with her hands on her hips. Her body language expresses how she feels, young, modern and confident. The magazine could possibly connoting independent ideology across all women who purchase the magazine. She is also smiling, which gives a positive vibe to the magazine; she is proud of the way she looks and feels. The magazine is also using celebrity endorsement to sell their magazine. This leads consumers to aspire to be like ‘Mandy Moore’ as she is a young beautiful woman who is happy and confident.

Bright colours such as yellow, orange and blues are used. These colours all represent and connote summer. This links well with the magazine as it’s a summer feature. ‘Get summer and Sexy in just one week’. The loud colours used could reflect how women should be feeling as summer is a happy season.

High key lighting is used on the woman, to allow her to stand out from the bright blue back ground. A great deal of lighting is used on her face, to show her features and emphasis on her smile and reinforce on there idea of being sexy in summer.

I- Cosmopolitan magazine


G- Print advert

R- The cover is representing young women in society today. There are allowed to feel sexy and young, not for the male gaze but for themselves. The cover shows a young white female, on her own, independent and free. The magazine is not specifically targeting young white woman, but woman all over the world.

A- Primarily the magazine is targeting young woman possibly the age of 24 to 34, middle class. It could also attract women who have interests in sex, fashion, men and beauty.

I- the front cover is there to attract females attention. It is there to prove that a patriarchal society no longer exists and that women are now equivalent to men. Articles such as ‘8 new places to have sex’ and ‘orgasms unlimited’ convey the message that women are no longer inferior to men and that they are allowed to enjoy activities that men would take pleasure in such as sex. The magazine is also a source of knowledge as its there to inform, and educate women about life it self.

N- Front cover magazine for women.

Film posters


M- The image is of a rollercoaster, long shot in order for the viewers to see who is in the film and possibly how many characters there will be in the storyline. The image isn’t pleasant, as it illustrates people suffering and frightened. This here creates an enigma as it allows questions to build in the viewers mind about how did the characters get into this dilemma in the first place? Is the main storyline based on the rollercoaster?

Three main colours are used to highlight the image, white, black and blue. White connotes purity and calmness along with blue which is a soothing colour. These colors are then juxtaposed with black which has strong connations of death. These colours could symbolize the storyline, equilibrium, disequilibrium and conclusion. It could also imply that someone will die. The dark colours could also signify that it is a serious film.


I -Hollywood mainstream, directed by James Wong

G- Horror, Hollywood film

R- Final destination 3 stereotypically represents a group of teenagers who go out to a theme park and sit on a rollercoaster which is built to kill them all one by one. It represents teenagers.

A- The audience of this film will be people over the age of 18 as this film was rated 18 due to the strong references to sex and bad language. Ideally the film will be aimed at teenagers and young adults. The poster has been made attractive to these people as it features teenagers on the poster.

I- this film doesn’t really promote any specific ideologies or values. It’s a film constructed simply for entertainment. It’s a route to escapism for the audience. It follows the typically conventions of a horror film, however in this case, the narrative is driven by a woman than a man. This gives a idea that woman are no longer inferior to men as in this case men are killed of as all as woman. The girl theory can be applied here.

N- A clairvoyant high school senior (Winstead) has a premonition of a fatal roller coaster accident at an amusement park that involves her and her friends. Her vision prevents her and her friends deaths, but the unseen forces of darkness once again set out to kill the survivors that were supposed to die in the freak accident.

The anchorage is has a significant purpose since it has a listing of who stars in the film. This is vital, as some people just go to the cinema to watch certain actors. The catch line ‘the ride will be the death of you’ also creates an enigma. The unique selling point in this film would probably the rollercoaster that features in the film usually in horror films, the typical convention would be a bad omen or a evil person would be the killer, however it is different in this case.


The Sun

Technical Code:

The page lay out is simple and to the point. The main headline is at the top of the page which allows people to see it straight away. Two other stories are displayed on the front page.

Son serif font is used. This is usually associated with being informal and laid back. The head line is bold and big, which again catches the readers’ attention. The headlines have images as well as word creating a pictionary affect. This goes well with the informal ness of the paper.

The image of the plane is big and in the center with HIJACK written along side it.

Other images of people who might be responsible for this crime are printed on the front of the paper as well as pictures of footballers that are included in the other articles displayed.

The photographs relate to the story as the story is about the plane being hijacked. However the pictionary words are there to mock the whole idea of the Afghan terrorist not getting what they want, and they believe by hijacking the plane will resolve everything.

Written code:

The headlines are much bigger than the rest if the test on the page as the main title must stand out as it’s the many story.

The other images such ‘ Sponge bob’ and the picture of the ‘gun’ signify informal ness and show portray comedy through the stories which makes the readers seem if they take the news seriously.

The typical conventions used are, the masthead, captions and puns. Also the way bits of the story are previewed on the front page influencing the reader to read on and purchase the newspaper.

Symbolic Codes:

The masthead and the title signify importance of the newspaper. It’s a red top newspaper and that is reinforced by the usage of the colour red in the masthead.

Specific colours are used to create an impact. For example, the colour blue is there to represent the sky, as the plane was hijacked while it was in the air. The colour used can also be ironic as blue has connations of calmness. Here they have juxtaposed a chaotic situation against the colour, creating emphasis on the story.

Front page overall:

The overall layout of the front page is good as it coveys the right message. It’s satirical, however, it allows the consumers to think and release that what the Afghan terrorist did was pointless and cruel as many innocent people died. The masthead and headlines are brought out bold and at a reasonable size in order for the readers to see and read it. The font suits the tabloid and poisoning of the articles are comfortable as its more easier to read. Not much text is seen in the front page, this is seen as good as it keeps the reader intrigued and to read on. The quality of the images are excellent and at a good size as it topics the whole newspaper and gives an idea if what the actual paper consists of. The images are polysemic.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

CoKe FiNdS 'PeRfeCt CouPle'

Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin are to appear together in a commercial for the first time to promote Coca-Cola.

A 30-second ad, called "The perfect couple", will run on the giant digital sign in London's Piccadilly Circus throughout December.

Rooney, sporting a black and white suit, is promoting male-targeted Coke Zero, dubbed "Bloke Coke"; McLoughlin, dressed in silver, is promoting Diet Coke.

But Coca-Cola said that McLoughlin is not set to be the new "face" of Diet Coke. The company is planning to bring back its "Diet Coke break hunk" in the new year.

Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy, wife of Ashley Cole, helped launch Coke Zero in July with a one-off press ad.

Diet Coke had previously used a unisex advertising positioning. However, with the arrival of Coke Zero in the summer, the soft drinks company decided to return to marketing the brand at its core female audience.

McLoughlin is currently on TV as the face of Asda's "Pretty woman" ads for its Must Haves clothing range.

Rooney was dropped as the face of Asda just three months into a £3m deal in July.

My opinion

Wayne Rooney advertising Coke is a really good way of promoting the drink. Even though coke has a well known reputation, by a famous footballer advertising it it will boost the sales of coke. Football has became a very popular event by being the most acknowledged sport in the world today. Businesses and big fims take days off to watch the footballer as society see it as a nationalistic approach.

As Rooney plays for one of the most supported aand well knpwn teams in the world, Man united, many youths would aspire to be like him and therefore by the drink. Coke have done well by taking advatage of celebrity endorsement to advertise their product.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

UsEs AnD GraTiFiCaTiOns TheOrY...

Blulmer and KaTz

DiVerSion... This doesnt apply to me, as i dont watch soaps and dramas to escape from everyday problems. I have my own problems to worry about lol. I simply eatch Eastenders and other programmes on Trouble for pure entertainment. Its like a routine for me.

PerSonal ReLationShips... Nowadays many TV programmes are based upon the family life and what teenagers and parents have to deal with. Many programaes deal with contemporay issues such as drugs, alcohol and violence. This doesnt really aplly to me as such things dont occur in my household. Agian, i just watch this programmes for entertainment.

PeRsoNal IDenTity... When i watch films and other media texts, i can identitfy with the character and see where they are coming from. Like, i would put myself in their situation, or sometimes the characters do things that can reflect my own life. However, i would create my own identity as its all fiction and nothing is real in the cinema world.

SuRVeiLlaNce... Surveillance is probelry the only reason of why i might consume a media text from Blulmer and Kats list. I watch the news and sometimes watch the weather forecast to keep up with whats going on in the world. I also watch football results with my Dad and brother.

DeNnIS McQuail...

InFoRmaTion...
I watch the news to find out about relevant events or condiotions. However, i dont rely on the Tv as much. I use the internet as a primary resource to find out information more as its more effiiencent. With Television, it tends to be time consuming as you have to wait for particular things to come on.
I dont seek advice from the TV but specific progammes broaden my knowledge about partuclar things.
If there is anything particular i want to know about i just usually tend to watch the news or find out from the internet. That genreally satisfies my curiosity.

LeaRning...
I watch TV sometimes to gain knowledge about things, such as what is going on in the world from the news. However, i simply watch TV to be entertained. You can learn new things everyday, even from soaps and dramas.

PeRsoNal IdeNtiTy...
This media consumption does not apply to me, as i dont find personal values from TV. As everything on TV is constructed in a specific way. The producers and makers of shows want particular idelogies and values to be believed in society. I got my own persoanl values that i have been taught to believe in my family and freinds and of course myself bruv. I dont really care about celebrities, to me they are just objects to be looked at. I dont identify with them because i beleive they dont live in the real world as consumers do. We watch them, they dont watch us so there is no need. But i would love to be one of them just to see how it feels :D

InTeGRaTion AnD SoCiAl InTeRaCtIon...
Gaining insight into circumstances of others is important. On channel for they tend to broadcast documentaries of unpriveleged people with illnesses. Its important to be aware of such things. I might not watch the entire show, but enought for me to know what it talks about.
Sense of belonging- like i mentioned previolsly i do not rely on the TV as i dont use television programmes as a route of escapism.
Finding a basis of conversation and social intereaction. This media consumption does apply to me, as i would talk about something that i watched on TV the night before. For example, Eastenders, big brother or a film.
Having a substitue for real life conpanionship. This does not apply to me, how can you substitute people on Tv as for real life? I find myself watching TV when i am bored.
Media texts do not help me carry out social roles and does not connect me with my family or friends.

EnTerTainMent...
I dont watch TV to divert myself from my problems or to escape. I only watch it to create problems when my brother wants to watch TV and i intrude by changing the channel.
I watch TV to relax sometimes on the sofa and eat :D
Like mentioned before i would watch TV to pass time if i have nothing else to do.