Sunday 29 April 2012

BBC News


Media forms- What techniques are used to establish the genre?
 The genre of the text is politics as it deals with political affairs and informs the audience. The title sequence used in the beginning is an image of a globe rotating this connotes the BBC bringing new from all over the world and how the institution is globalised. The voice over used to commentate on the visuals anchors the viewers to let them know what’s happening. Furthermore the commentator is a male voice so this enforces the patriarchal ideology as it’s empowering and dominant. For the first 1:20 it talks about the headlines so it tells us the summary of what the news is going to cover, and the main story is focused more on in the headlines, for this example it’s about Rupert Murdock and the phone hacking scandal. Again the news presenter is male also white with a British accent so it enforces the institution to be white and British which is 85% of the UK’s ethnic background.

Representation- How are people represented in the extract?
The presenter in this extract is put forward to be formal and business like, as oppose to wearing jeans and a t shirt which the audience would not take serious. Even though the news is suppose to be giving unbiased views but really, by the way they phrase words and the news they let in tells us the way we should think by injecting the information giving our political views (hypodermic syringe).

Institution- How is this text typical of BBC output?
The non-diegetic sound in the title sequence is typical for the institution because its the same theme tune everytime the BBC want to broadcast the news. Therefore the consumers are able to recognise the brand from listening to the sound on its own. Also they’re able to manipulate the text by choosing what goes into the broadcast and what stays out as they’re the gatekeeper (Galtung and Ruge) giving us our views.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Call of Duty


Media Forms: What codes and conventions does the trailer use to establish the text’s genre?
The non-diegetic music combined with the quick paced montage of clips produces an energetic mood creating adrenaline and excitment for the the viewer. in the first 3 seconds of the video it displays an age restriction notice for 'mature 17+' so this would make the targetted audience feel like they belong in this instituion and that its a special game for a 'mature' audience. 'blood and gore, drug reference, intense violence and strong launguage' all of these warnings just invites the audience in even more as gore, drugs, swearing is used in the video entices teenagers to carry on watching. The various explosions emphasises the violence even more thus creating an exciting brand image for the institution. The point of view shots make the audience feel as if theyre playing the game themselves, engaging the connection between  them and the game. So this puts them in the position of playing the game, hooking them in and after, convincing them to purchase C.O.D. The constant shots of the globe shows that using the game, you could virtually visit the whole world and at the same time create havock which stereotypically is the best thing for teenagers. Also the colour used: different shades of green and black connotes advanced technology and also links to 'The Matrix' which also has a violence theme to it.
Media Representations: How is war represented in the trailer?
War is being represented as somethimg that is fun and full of excitement when in the real world its the opposite. Also the images of the globe shows that the game is set in different locations which portrays C.O.D to be very globalised  (Mcquail). Also the way war is being represented has two redings,the preferred reading is that its jus creating fun and entertainment for the pleasures of young people. But the oppositional reading would be that the game is in fact promoting the idea of war creating a more violent generation, with all the guns and weapons, killing and mass distruction.

Media Institutions: In what ways is the trailer typical of the video game industry?
The logo for the 'X box 360' is displayed so that is could sell its brand name and also the customers that are already loyal to the brand would recognise that its something that they will be happy with as it an already known brand which would encourage them to buy the game. This is game is very americanised as we can see the american ideologies for example the american airforce one plane thats crashed and the typical army uniform. so the game is patrotic whic is typical for and american brand

Media Audiences: Who does this text appeal to and what pleasures does it offer?
For the socio-economics the game would appeal to both the ABC1 category and the C2DE because on the one hand the game consoles needed to play the game is very expensive so people with good jobs or have an exposible income are able to afford this. But on the other hand its normally students who buy consoles so the exact audience for the game has a wide range. The game puts forward a patriarchal ideology from there being no females and the soldiers all being male, and this attracts the male audience to purchase the game. Furthermore the game trailer shows that it can be played in multi player which produces social interaction (uses and gratification, Blumers and Katz)