Sunday 24 April 2016
LR
Codes and conventions would be similar in order to identify brand identity and within Ill Manors, the branding is extremely familiar and recognisable. This would help an audience understand and clearly identify the brand. Throughout all three media platforms, the same typography is used, the bold white typography, which connotes the tower blocks and signifies the urban social realism that is being explored within the film. The protagonist of the film and the film stars are shown in order to create audience appeal; Riz Ahmed is the most recognisable character and therefore promoting the film through him would work to their advantage. This is a convention used in film posters to create audience appeal and is particularly the case with Hollywood blockbusters as this would create hype for the audience. For example, in The King's Speech, Colin Firth is clearly shown as the main protagonist through the media platforms and his co star Helena Carter Bonham is also shown as they are critically acclaimed actors. This would help to promote the film and make the audience feel comfortable watching the film. The main selling point for Ill Manors is the director himself, Plan B, who is a rapper. The promotion of the film is mainly promoted through Ben Drew himself and this is similar to A Field In England as Ben Wheatley promotes the film through himself as the auter of the film. This would help an audience feel more comfortable watching the film as there is audience recognition with the actors or the director. Although Plan B is a first time director, he has a major fan base through his music, therefore cross-promotion and synergy works to his advantage and also due to the film being targeted at the youth and young adult demographic, the e-media platform helps to cross promote the film through all media platforms and also through user generated content.
Wednesday 20 April 2016
Exam Question
How far does the platform on which they are consumed determine the construction of media products in your cross-media study?
Support your answer with reference to a range of products from THREE media platforms.
Codes and conventions are used to promote media products and this is evident in Ben Drew's Ill Manors. The film is targeted at the youth demographic and is consumed across the three media platforms; print, e-media and broadcast and synergy is created throughout all three platforms. However, the target audience is not fixed to the film as different media products appeal to a wider and perhaps unconventional audience.
Within the print platform, the film Ill Manors has been promoted through a variety of different magazines and newspapers. Ben Drew appeared on the cover of NME magazine, which was initially produced as a rock magazine. Ben Drew, Ill Manor's film director, captures and embodies the stereotypical rapper with an attitude as he is seen with his middle finger up and a cigarette in his mouth, revealing a rather derogatory image. The target audience of the magazine itself would be youths and young adults, therefore this gesture and the attitude would appeal to the young and reckless demographic and the psychographic group of the explorers. This reinforces the negative representation of young people and also creates 'moral panics' as the tag line 'David Cameron... be very afraid' is highlighted across the cover. This reinforces the stereotypes that are fixed to young people and also creates this idea of 'moral panics' as Plan B appears as a threat to society. This as a whole would appeal to the similar working class target audience as the NME magazine is also free, therefore the similar target audience are able to understand more about the film. This is a conventional technique used in order to promote a film to the correct target audience and the fact that it is made entirely explicit that Ben Drew (Plan B) directed the film shows that he is part of the USP of the film. This is a convention which is used to promote a film positively as seen with A Field In England, a 2013 British psychological thriller, as within the print posters, the director Ben Wheatley is seen as the auter of the film and almost promotes the film through him being a successful and experienced director. Both films use their USP to their advantage, which helps the correct target audience to consume their media products.
Furthermore, Plan B appears on the cover of Men's Health magazine, however we can explicitly tell from the magazine itself that the target audience would be different. The article not only entertains the reader but also informs them about Plan B's lifestyle and in terms of Blumler and Katz's uses and gratifications theory, Men's health's main aim would be surveillance as the magazine provides the reader with information about dieting. This would portray Ben Drew in a different presentation than within a magazine such as NME. The cover makes Plan B appear in a rather suave and sophisticated way, holding a dominant demeanour as a 'man' rather than a reckless boy. Men's Health holds strong ideologies towards health, lifestyle and fitness, therefore Plan B would not be promoting his film as such but more his lifestyle. The target audience for the magazine would axiomatically be males, most likely the young adult demographic as they would be interested in their image more so than the elder more mature male and therefore the psychographic group of aspirers would be the predominant readership as they are orientated around image and appearance. The fact that Ben Drew talks about his weight loss and his lifestyle would broaden his audience as he is able to promote both his diet but also his film through the talk of his lifestyle as an upcoming director. This would help to create exposure for his media products and also gather a wider audience to consume his media products; an audience that would not necessarily be aware of Plan B as a rapper or director.
As already mentioned, A Field In England uses similar codes and conventions to appeal to the core target audience of the middle-class ABC1 demohraphic. This target audience is quite different from the Ill Manors' due to the historical content involved within the film. The film poster embodies 17th century England, through the use of the silhouette and the almost sepia looking, washed out colour. The colour of the poster is extremely important with identifying the genre of the film and appealing to the correct target audience. Through this old, traditional worn out colour, an audience would make the assumption that the film is a historical drama. With The King's Speech, the colour of the poster is again very similar as the orange, yellow background connotes the authenticity of the film as the colour looks almost worn out and different. However, it also connotes passion and fire, which signifies the King's determination to speak fluently. Simply from the background colour of a film poster, the audience are able to understand more about the film. This is used as a shorthand to understanding the narrative and therefore is closely interlocked with Dyer's theory of stereotypes being shorthand. The iconography of the microphone is also used to signify the genre of this film and the fact that it is a period movie, due to the authenticity of the microphone. This iconography is evident within the Ill Manors film poster too as Riz Ahmed, the main protagonist, holds a gun, which captures the genre of the film as an urban social realistic film. The use of film poster conventions help the audience to understand the genre of the film as the construction of these film posters help to emphasise the genres.
Throughout the broadcast platform, Plan B stays true to his own ideologies and values as he appears as adopts the same personality even when the audience is different to his conventional 'fans.' The TEDx lecture that Plan B appears in has an audience that is on the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to the audience that would be viewing his film. The TEDx audience would be middle-class, ABC1 demographic and most fitting in the psychographic group of succeeders. This audience would not conventionally watch the film and therefore creates exposure to a new audeince and therefore understand Plan B's strong moral values and political beliefs. It also creates synergy through this platform as the director of the film is able to promote his soundtrack and he is able to construct the way he speaks to promote himself as a brand too. This would help the audience understand Plan B as a brand and this would cross-promote himself and his film. Although his audience are middle class and perhaps rather conservative, Plan B himself is still informal and his dialect is colloquial, revealing how he holds strong ideologies for being true to himself. This in itself helps to promote his media products through the use of him as a loyal brand. Also, he appears on SBTV, who's core target audience is very similar to the audience Plan B knows. The youth, young adult, working class demographic would be the predominant viewers of SBTV and therefore may already know who Plan B is and therefore promotes his film through himself once again. Due to Plan B's background of being a rapper and being a political rapper, more specifically, it already gains a fan base for him, therefore creates exposure through his soundtrack, which creates synergy and therefore widens the audience that consumes his media products.
Unlike Ill Manors, A Field In England decided to use a simultaneous release strategy in order for a wider audience to consume all of it's media products at the same time. Therefore due to the film being released across all platforms on the same day, it obviously had a high risk for overall profit. Also because the film is an arthouse film, it targets a very niche market and therefore these cinema goers would most probably want to spend the money on watching the film to experience the cinematic feel, whilst in a multiplex cinema the same prestigious feel is not given as many mainstreamers would go to watch a hollywood blockbuster, however succeeders would want to be alternative and show that they have money and status. The film was therefore released on demand at the same time as it was released in cinema, therefore allows a wider audience that would not necessarily typically consume this type of media product but can due to the easy accessibility of it.
Similar to Ill Manors, The King's Speech's main protagonist, Colin Firth and supporting character, promote the film through themselves as brand images, just like Plan B promotes himself to promote his film. They both act in a very natural way, which makes the interview seem more real and true; revealing Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter as genuine people rather than top class actors. The interview is on BBC which would reel in a fairly mainstream target audience. The BBC is a public service broadcaster therefore should promote positive brand values and traditional British ideologies, therefore promoting The King's Speech reinforces these positive ideologies as the film is about the monarchy. This would create exposure to a broad target audience and the film would therefore be consumed by a greater audience.
Within the e-media platform, Ill Manors proves to be the perfect example of embodying interactivity and communication within the platform. The Tag London campaign was a great way to promote the film through social media, using hashtags and allowing user generated content to be shared online and throughout London. This campaign allowed London passers-by to consume the media products and this therefore creates synergy across all media platforms too. The campaign would particularly appeal to the young adult and youth demographic as they are the most consumed by e-media and social media, therefore this is a seriously beneficial and advantageous strategy to promote the film through the target audience themselves. The users could promote the film to their friends and stimulate discussion through their own user generated content as there are no gatekeepers, therefore all the content is first hand - this could be seen as beneficial as positive reviews would be promoted and consumed by a large audience but it could also be seen as a disadvantage as a bad review can similarly be seen by a large audience and could potentially promote a negative impact for the film rather than a positive one. However, the use of social media helps through the idea of the two step flow model as opinion leaders are able to promote the film, again either positively or negatively. The fact that Plan B is a rapper also would help the fan base and audience to consume both his soundtrack and film through the concept of synergy and through social media. A Field In England's distribution strategy, as already mentioned, was simultaneous, therefore was released online too. This would allow the younger generation to perhaps come across the film through the internet and be exposed to it and perhaps watch it as they are consumed by the media. This idea of the dependency theory would be applied here as young people are dependent on the media and the internet and could therefore perhaps be influenced by others promoting the film online.
The Ill Manors brand is clearly themed on the website, through the use of the urban colours and the overall gritty feel it has, which relates to the genre of the film. The logo itself for Ill Manors is consistent and appears across many media platforms, which helps the audience to recognise the brand. Also the use of Ben Drew being iconic as the director is part of the brand and appears as the USP of the brand and the most iconic part of the film. The website for A Field In England similarly embodies cross-promotion through all media platforms and captures the essence of the film as a period drama movie. The similar layout and aesthetics from the film poster is used within the website. The branding is clearly themed on the website just like in Ill Manors, which makes the brand of the film clear to see. The colours are very washed out and traditional, which shows the authenticity of the film. Both websites have direct links, however A Field In England has links to the institutions that helped promote the film through their websites and stream them, whilst the Ill Manors website has links to social media too. This shows how the Ill Manors website has more conventions to help it be consumed by a larger audience.
In addition to this, The King's Speech website also has codes and conventions to help capture the brand of the film. The fact that the genre of the film is a historical period drama would explain the historical picture used as the heading of the website. It embodies the film as a whole as it is based on real life historical events. The website aesthetically is very simple and captures the seriousness of the film and would appeal to the target audience. The website, unlike the Ill Manors website, does not have any direct links to social media, similar to A Field In England, providing no synergy between the social networking platform. There are also no e-media campaigns for either film, however this is not particularly surprising as the core target audience would be middle class and mature, therefore they would not particularly be interested in e-media campaigns as they probably would not be associated with many social networking platforms. Also, because both films are historical, giving the audience historical insight into the film, through the website, would perhaps be more appropriate as they would get a higher understanding of the history behind the films. This would help the audience to consume the media product with positive influences as it provide information - linking to the uses and gratifications theory of surveillance.
Overall, Plan B uses the three media platforms to promote his film, using synergy throughout as a denominator to encourage audiences to consume the media products in a positive way. The construction of these media products helps the audience to understand Ill Manors as a film and also Plan B as a brand. This is also evident within A Field In England as the director, the auter, Ben Wheatley is seen as the brand of the film, being the USP and therefore promoting his film through the use of himself and also his unique, unorthodox distribution strategy. Tom Hooper also constructs media products in particularly interesting ways in order to promote the film to a wider audience, through the use of the protagonist as a brand and also through mainstream institutions such as the BBC. Due to Ill Manors and A Field In England being low-budget arthouse films, it would mean the construction of their media products would need to be exposed to a wide audience in order to promote the film and allow a large audience to consume their media products, whilst with a film such as The King's Speech with a relatively high-budget and critically acclaimed actors would not especially need as much exposure in order to promote their media products.
Within the print platform, the film Ill Manors has been promoted through a variety of different magazines and newspapers. Ben Drew appeared on the cover of NME magazine, which was initially produced as a rock magazine. Ben Drew, Ill Manor's film director, captures and embodies the stereotypical rapper with an attitude as he is seen with his middle finger up and a cigarette in his mouth, revealing a rather derogatory image. The target audience of the magazine itself would be youths and young adults, therefore this gesture and the attitude would appeal to the young and reckless demographic and the psychographic group of the explorers. This reinforces the negative representation of young people and also creates 'moral panics' as the tag line 'David Cameron... be very afraid' is highlighted across the cover. This reinforces the stereotypes that are fixed to young people and also creates this idea of 'moral panics' as Plan B appears as a threat to society. This as a whole would appeal to the similar working class target audience as the NME magazine is also free, therefore the similar target audience are able to understand more about the film. This is a conventional technique used in order to promote a film to the correct target audience and the fact that it is made entirely explicit that Ben Drew (Plan B) directed the film shows that he is part of the USP of the film. This is a convention which is used to promote a film positively as seen with A Field In England, a 2013 British psychological thriller, as within the print posters, the director Ben Wheatley is seen as the auter of the film and almost promotes the film through him being a successful and experienced director. Both films use their USP to their advantage, which helps the correct target audience to consume their media products.
Furthermore, Plan B appears on the cover of Men's Health magazine, however we can explicitly tell from the magazine itself that the target audience would be different. The article not only entertains the reader but also informs them about Plan B's lifestyle and in terms of Blumler and Katz's uses and gratifications theory, Men's health's main aim would be surveillance as the magazine provides the reader with information about dieting. This would portray Ben Drew in a different presentation than within a magazine such as NME. The cover makes Plan B appear in a rather suave and sophisticated way, holding a dominant demeanour as a 'man' rather than a reckless boy. Men's Health holds strong ideologies towards health, lifestyle and fitness, therefore Plan B would not be promoting his film as such but more his lifestyle. The target audience for the magazine would axiomatically be males, most likely the young adult demographic as they would be interested in their image more so than the elder more mature male and therefore the psychographic group of aspirers would be the predominant readership as they are orientated around image and appearance. The fact that Ben Drew talks about his weight loss and his lifestyle would broaden his audience as he is able to promote both his diet but also his film through the talk of his lifestyle as an upcoming director. This would help to create exposure for his media products and also gather a wider audience to consume his media products; an audience that would not necessarily be aware of Plan B as a rapper or director.
As already mentioned, A Field In England uses similar codes and conventions to appeal to the core target audience of the middle-class ABC1 demohraphic. This target audience is quite different from the Ill Manors' due to the historical content involved within the film. The film poster embodies 17th century England, through the use of the silhouette and the almost sepia looking, washed out colour. The colour of the poster is extremely important with identifying the genre of the film and appealing to the correct target audience. Through this old, traditional worn out colour, an audience would make the assumption that the film is a historical drama. With The King's Speech, the colour of the poster is again very similar as the orange, yellow background connotes the authenticity of the film as the colour looks almost worn out and different. However, it also connotes passion and fire, which signifies the King's determination to speak fluently. Simply from the background colour of a film poster, the audience are able to understand more about the film. This is used as a shorthand to understanding the narrative and therefore is closely interlocked with Dyer's theory of stereotypes being shorthand. The iconography of the microphone is also used to signify the genre of this film and the fact that it is a period movie, due to the authenticity of the microphone. This iconography is evident within the Ill Manors film poster too as Riz Ahmed, the main protagonist, holds a gun, which captures the genre of the film as an urban social realistic film. The use of film poster conventions help the audience to understand the genre of the film as the construction of these film posters help to emphasise the genres.
Throughout the broadcast platform, Plan B stays true to his own ideologies and values as he appears as adopts the same personality even when the audience is different to his conventional 'fans.' The TEDx lecture that Plan B appears in has an audience that is on the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to the audience that would be viewing his film. The TEDx audience would be middle-class, ABC1 demographic and most fitting in the psychographic group of succeeders. This audience would not conventionally watch the film and therefore creates exposure to a new audeince and therefore understand Plan B's strong moral values and political beliefs. It also creates synergy through this platform as the director of the film is able to promote his soundtrack and he is able to construct the way he speaks to promote himself as a brand too. This would help the audience understand Plan B as a brand and this would cross-promote himself and his film. Although his audience are middle class and perhaps rather conservative, Plan B himself is still informal and his dialect is colloquial, revealing how he holds strong ideologies for being true to himself. This in itself helps to promote his media products through the use of him as a loyal brand. Also, he appears on SBTV, who's core target audience is very similar to the audience Plan B knows. The youth, young adult, working class demographic would be the predominant viewers of SBTV and therefore may already know who Plan B is and therefore promotes his film through himself once again. Due to Plan B's background of being a rapper and being a political rapper, more specifically, it already gains a fan base for him, therefore creates exposure through his soundtrack, which creates synergy and therefore widens the audience that consumes his media products.
Unlike Ill Manors, A Field In England decided to use a simultaneous release strategy in order for a wider audience to consume all of it's media products at the same time. Therefore due to the film being released across all platforms on the same day, it obviously had a high risk for overall profit. Also because the film is an arthouse film, it targets a very niche market and therefore these cinema goers would most probably want to spend the money on watching the film to experience the cinematic feel, whilst in a multiplex cinema the same prestigious feel is not given as many mainstreamers would go to watch a hollywood blockbuster, however succeeders would want to be alternative and show that they have money and status. The film was therefore released on demand at the same time as it was released in cinema, therefore allows a wider audience that would not necessarily typically consume this type of media product but can due to the easy accessibility of it.
Similar to Ill Manors, The King's Speech's main protagonist, Colin Firth and supporting character, promote the film through themselves as brand images, just like Plan B promotes himself to promote his film. They both act in a very natural way, which makes the interview seem more real and true; revealing Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter as genuine people rather than top class actors. The interview is on BBC which would reel in a fairly mainstream target audience. The BBC is a public service broadcaster therefore should promote positive brand values and traditional British ideologies, therefore promoting The King's Speech reinforces these positive ideologies as the film is about the monarchy. This would create exposure to a broad target audience and the film would therefore be consumed by a greater audience.
Within the e-media platform, Ill Manors proves to be the perfect example of embodying interactivity and communication within the platform. The Tag London campaign was a great way to promote the film through social media, using hashtags and allowing user generated content to be shared online and throughout London. This campaign allowed London passers-by to consume the media products and this therefore creates synergy across all media platforms too. The campaign would particularly appeal to the young adult and youth demographic as they are the most consumed by e-media and social media, therefore this is a seriously beneficial and advantageous strategy to promote the film through the target audience themselves. The users could promote the film to their friends and stimulate discussion through their own user generated content as there are no gatekeepers, therefore all the content is first hand - this could be seen as beneficial as positive reviews would be promoted and consumed by a large audience but it could also be seen as a disadvantage as a bad review can similarly be seen by a large audience and could potentially promote a negative impact for the film rather than a positive one. However, the use of social media helps through the idea of the two step flow model as opinion leaders are able to promote the film, again either positively or negatively. The fact that Plan B is a rapper also would help the fan base and audience to consume both his soundtrack and film through the concept of synergy and through social media. A Field In England's distribution strategy, as already mentioned, was simultaneous, therefore was released online too. This would allow the younger generation to perhaps come across the film through the internet and be exposed to it and perhaps watch it as they are consumed by the media. This idea of the dependency theory would be applied here as young people are dependent on the media and the internet and could therefore perhaps be influenced by others promoting the film online.
In addition to this, The King's Speech website also has codes and conventions to help capture the brand of the film. The fact that the genre of the film is a historical period drama would explain the historical picture used as the heading of the website. It embodies the film as a whole as it is based on real life historical events. The website aesthetically is very simple and captures the seriousness of the film and would appeal to the target audience. The website, unlike the Ill Manors website, does not have any direct links to social media, similar to A Field In England, providing no synergy between the social networking platform. There are also no e-media campaigns for either film, however this is not particularly surprising as the core target audience would be middle class and mature, therefore they would not particularly be interested in e-media campaigns as they probably would not be associated with many social networking platforms. Also, because both films are historical, giving the audience historical insight into the film, through the website, would perhaps be more appropriate as they would get a higher understanding of the history behind the films. This would help the audience to consume the media product with positive influences as it provide information - linking to the uses and gratifications theory of surveillance.
Overall, Plan B uses the three media platforms to promote his film, using synergy throughout as a denominator to encourage audiences to consume the media products in a positive way. The construction of these media products helps the audience to understand Ill Manors as a film and also Plan B as a brand. This is also evident within A Field In England as the director, the auter, Ben Wheatley is seen as the brand of the film, being the USP and therefore promoting his film through the use of himself and also his unique, unorthodox distribution strategy. Tom Hooper also constructs media products in particularly interesting ways in order to promote the film to a wider audience, through the use of the protagonist as a brand and also through mainstream institutions such as the BBC. Due to Ill Manors and A Field In England being low-budget arthouse films, it would mean the construction of their media products would need to be exposed to a wide audience in order to promote the film and allow a large audience to consume their media products, whilst with a film such as The King's Speech with a relatively high-budget and critically acclaimed actors would not especially need as much exposure in order to promote their media products.
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