MediaEdu Sample Exam
OCR G322 AS Media Studies
Time allowed – 2 hrs.
Answer Section A: Question 1 and Section B: Question 2
Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation
WATCH THE UNSEEN MOVING IMAGE EXTRACT
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You are allowed 2 minutes to read the Section A Question
The extract will be screened 4 times
For the first time just watch
During the second screening take notes
There will be a 5 minute gap between the first and the second screening when you are
advised to take further notes
The extract will be screened a third and fourth time during which you can again take notes
Ensure you strike through your notes with a diagonal line before the end of the exam
Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the
extract only:
Extract: Doctor Who – ‘The Christmas Invasion’. Doctor Who was first screened on
the BBC in 1963; this clip is the opening of the 2005 Christmas Special introducing
the actor David Tennant as the new Doctor.
1. Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of gender
using the following:
(50 Marks)
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Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
Editing
Sound
Mise-en-scene
This is the first full episode of Doctor Who starring Tennant, an actor who was and is
typecast in unusual roles. The episode starts by showing the BBC ident which for
many audiences is a promise of pleasure in terms of production values but also
arguably a signifier of mainstream representations which links to the representation
of gender (both the programme and channel have a reputation for tradition and
Doctor Who has an obsessive fan base as well as a mainstream fan base and
occasional viewer). Close ups of a Christmas bauble intercut with the planets encode
connotations of Science Fiction which traditionally and stereotypically attract male
audiences and would have expectations of this in relation to gender representation.
The bauble also signifies the time period for audiences while the mise-en-scene
indicates a typical working class household in terms of objects and props and
furnishings. Stereotypically we see a woman tending the Christmas tree who we
later find out is the mother of Dr Who’s assistant played by Billie Piper – the mother
conforms to the cultural stereotype of a blonde, casually dressed, working class
housewife and this is anchored by her accent and restricted language code.
Traditional family values would be recognised by audiences.
Emotive, non diegetic incidental music ensures audience absorb that it is the season
of good will (it was broadcast on Christmas Day) while the domestic scene then cuts
to a motor vehicle workshop – these two scenes ensure audiences understand a
form of equilibrium has been established. In the workshop are male motor
mechanics which again conforms to the gender stereotyping already establishing
with intertextual references to Eastenders suggest working class culture is being
represented. Diegetic sounds of the radio playing Slade’s famous Christmas hit
‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ signifies the time of year and reinforces the ‘normality’
of the situation. Disruption to the equilibrium is in the form of unusual diegetic
sounds, which audiences with cultural capital would recognise as the sound of the
iconic Tardis, Doctor Who’s Space Ship-come Police Telephone Box. Star marketing
initially arouses audience expectations in the guise of Kidulthood director and actor
Noel Clarke who races out into the street to follow the sounds. The scene cuts to a
crane shot (aerial shot) establishing location via a bird’s eye view – it is a London
council estate.
Multiple camera technology (encoding high production values) and fast paced
editing heralds the arrival of the Tardis as a low angle shot reveals the arrival,
dramatically crashing into buildings before coming to rest in front of the protagonists
who have raced out to see what is happening. A shot of the Tardis door sees it open
to reveal Doctor Who as David Tennant standing, framed in medium shot, wide eyed
and as shocked as the bystanders who have rushed out into the street. This is the
first introduction audiences would have to the ‘new Doctor’ so representations have
to be established swiftly to ensure narrative continuity for the programme –
immediately we see he conforms to the established, eccentric representation that
tradition has established for Doctor Who; he is not just wide eyed but pulling
unusual facial expressions and seems ‘unusual’ in some way. This conforms to John
Ellis’ theory of the ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’ where protagonists seem like us
(the Doctor appears human and looks like us) but has extraordinary powers (he is a
Time Lord and Time Traveller that younger audiences would aspire to through his
escapist representation).
The mise-en-scene further reveals his representation as although the cultural
stereotype of an eccentric scientist (common in the Science Fiction genre) but also as
a character who has been framed for the female gaze – David Tennant has a
significant female fan base who are attracted by his unusual, dynamic representation
in the same way that the Hollywood star Johnny Depp is often framed. The Doctor is
wearing all black and a black leather jacket, which has connotations of hyper real,
stylish masculinity. He moves forward swiftly and greets his friends (who fail to
recognise him because he has ‘regenerated’ as the new Doctor). He embraces them,
controls the narrative space, wishes them ‘Happy Christmas’ but then collapses. This
allows for next shot to cut to the Doctor’s assistant, Rose who also appears from the
Tardis as before, played by Billie Piper.
Audiences will be familiar with the role of Rose as she was assistant to the previous
Doctor. She is framed centrally in close up with blonde hair, blue eyes again adhering
to the stereotype of a glamorous assistant – tradition dictates that Doctor Who is
always male and has always had a female, good looking travelling companion who is
framed for the male gaze as a hegemonic cultural stereotype. Audiences would also
recognise Billie Piper from her singing career where again she was invariably
objectified for male audiences and seen as role model for young female fans. Later
on in her career she continued to use this representation in Diary of a Call Girl. The
camera cuts to Rose’s mother who utters in response to the word ‘Doctor’, ‘Doctor
Who’ which immediately allows for (in terms of narrative timing) the opening
sequences to roll. Familiarity is further established by the non-diegetic theme tune
and CGI special effects showing the Tardis travelling through space.
Act 1 of what audiences would expect to be a classic three-act structure begins to
unfold as ‘the problem’ and key characters are introduced. The Doctor is nursed by
Rose and her mother and it is clear he is ‘the special one’ for Rose as she talks of her
feelings for him which again is common for the Doctor – to ensure his hyper real,
masculine representation continues Doctor Who scriptwriters have often written a
back story that involves unrequited love for him in regards to whoever has played his
assistant and the Billie Piper character follows this pattern. The concept suggests
that because she has witnessed him overcome every enemy, save the world, save
planets, successfully battle the Daleks and the Cybermen she is in love with him. A
similar representation and relationship has existed within the Bond franchise but
with more overtly sexualised representations. Rose is seen in close up tending to the
Doctor who is lying still in bed – she speaks softly, examines his ‘two hearts’ to make
sure they are still beating again ensuring notions of exclusivity and the concept of
extraordinary is maintained for audiences even while he is inactive.
The next shot reveals Rose and her mother watching a news item on television about
a Martian Space Probe bringing information back to Earth with a piece to camera by
a female Prime Minister – this reflects a more pluralistic approach to gender
representation with a female in charge of the country but the choice of actress is
interesting using Penelope Wilton who often plays weak and vulnerable characters
and would be known to some audiences as playing Shaun’s mother in Shaun of the
Dead. The representation of gender on the whole is mainstream and stereotypical
however reflecting the tradition and history of the programme and the younger
target audiences. Representations have evolved over time but still conform to
audience expectations.
Section B: Institutions and Audiences
Answer the question below, making detailed reference to examples from your case
study material to support the points made in your answer.
2. What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products
available to audiences in the media area you have studied? (50 Marks)
Mainstream film production globally is controlled by The Big Six Hollywood film
distributors/studios while the rights to independent film production tends to be
owned by a number of smaller independent production companies and
individual Directors e.g. Shane Meadows and East Midlands Media producing
films such as This is England (2006) and Somers Town (2008).
Film ownership is complicated but essentially bigger budget, mainstream films
like Star Trek (2009) tend to be often owned, in terms of film rights by one of the
‘Big Six’ because they are the distributor who has made the most significant
investment in the production – normally both in terms of production budget and
distribution. The Big Six oligopoly are Warner Brothers (Harry Potter franchise),
20th Century Fox (Ice Age), Paramount (Star Trek/Star Trek into Darkness), Disney
(Pirates of the Caribbean), Sony who own Columbia Tri Star and MGM (Skyfall)
and Universal (The Bourne Legacy). Globally these companies dominate the film
industry, particularly in the US and the UK and in terms of access dominate
cinema exhibition.
This pattern of global film ownership in recent years has been that these
organisations in turn have been bought by multinational conglomerates such as
the News Corporation (20th Century Fox), NBC Universal (Universal), Time
Warner (Warner) and Viacom (Paramount). This has meant for the film industry
more synergy, convergence, merchandising opportunities, higher production
values, saturated distribution, star marketing and a wider access to a range of
products for mass audiences. These products include cinema exhibited film,
DVD/Blu Ray, digital distribution e.g. through Amazon and Love Film all giving
easier access to mainstream films and dominating access to digital technology.
Sony PlayStation evidences synergy through streaming films via the console while
Microsoft X Box can evidence synergy through streaming via Netflix.
Star Trek is a successful and long running film and television franchise owned by
Paramount Studios – it is a valuable brand which has extended into a twelfth film
in 2013, Star Trek into Darkness. Owned and distributed by Paramount it
currently has (as of March 2013) a saturated advertising campaign and as with
the previous film was exhibited in over 500 multiplex cinemas in the UK. This is
evidence of the control through ownership of a films release ensuring maximum
coverage to attract mass audiences – Star Trek (2009) had deliberately in its
marketing campaign tried to attract a wider range of audience, moving away
from the science fiction stereotype to ensure the film was a blockbuster success
at the cinema attracting a broader male and female demographic. Paramount’s
funding allowed for supreme high production values and the star marketing of
Director JJ Abrams as a unique selling point.
Saturated media coverage included high concept trailers both in the cinema an
on television and an approach that used the multi platform opportunities that a
film distributed by a major Hollywood studio could exploit. Additional specifics of
the campaign included digital marketing on Lost and Fringe web pages (television
programmes produced by JJ Abrams), www.imdb.com adverts (expensive), Sky
Sports super headers and a Star Trek logo as cursor icon on the Yahoo home
page. Facebook applications exploited web 2.0, fan kits and wallpapers could be
downloaded and synergy was evident with Sony PlayStation. Magazine covers
were devoted to the films release including Big Issue, GQ and Esquire. With
synergy the range of products available goes beyond the film whether as a
theatrical release, on DVD or Blu Ray, merchandising its own products or as
downloadable or streamed content – key promotions were secured with
mainstream food outlets such as Burger King where you received a free ‘Star
Wars Movie Toy’ with your meal, competitions at Phones4U and Hamleys and a
Heat magazine promo which encouraged the stereotypical female reader to
become engaged with the film. The result was predictable in that Star Trek was
commercially successful and the 7th biggest box office film in 2009 taking 20% of
the international box office that year. Paramount spent big to make big.
One of the key impacts of the Hollywood studio dominance is the effect on the
British film industry – for many years British film, with key exceptions such as The
King’s Speech (funded by private equity firm Prescience and the UK Film Council)
British film has on the whole had to rely on Hollywood investment to achieve
critical success. British film has achieved almost the status of local culture with
most mainstream multiplex cinemas catering for an artificially created and
maintained hegemony for Hollywood film. British film stereotypically tends to be
narrative and production led while American film is distribution led. Iconic British
films like The Full Monty and Slumdog Millionaire were both distributed by 20th
Century Fox with much of the profits going back to this organisation. Working
Title, the British production company owned by Universal Studios almost
exclusively specialises in producing British films for mass audiences that are
distributed by its parent company – an example of many UK/US collaborations.
Harry Potter and Bond films can be categorised as culturally British but they are
underpinned by Hollywood institutional factors including investment, production
and distribution.
British Film commercial successes focus on specific genres such as the Period
Drama and the RomCom while British Film’s most critically successful genre is
Social Realism. Non-realist Hollywood escapist films like Avatar, Lord of the Rings
and Harry Potter belong to the successful fantasy genre while another key
success in terms of genre in Hollywood would be Science Fiction, Action and
Comedy. This brings us into the realm of definitions – arguably one of the most
important effects of the Hollywood hegemony in terms of ownership has been
the continued success of independent film. Independent films, although having
limited distribution due to lack of ‘ownership’ by major studios/distributors have
the opportunity for their products to be distributed using a range of digital
outlets but to a niche audience. Independent British Films like This is England
tend to offer more realist representations which explore complex narrative
themes while UK Films that collaborate with Hollywood studios often have
positive outcomes to appeal to mass audiences. British Film has benefited (only
critically) from a range of independent distributors e.g. Optimum (This is
England), Icon (Looking for Eric) and Vertigo (Football Factory) although Vertigo
in 2009 collaborated with Hollywood for their first UK/US collaboration – The
Firm which was a remake of the 1989 Alan Clarke film starring a young Gary
Oldman playing a football hooligan, a culturally British storyline used many times
before in Green Street, ID and Football Factory.
A key collaboration for independent British Film has been between Film4 and the
UK Film Council (now a disbanded Quango) on many films. This ensured another
site of exhibition (Film4) that along with the historical UK Film Council’s Funds
(Premiere Fund, New Cinema Fund, Development Fund and Prints and
Advertising Fund) were looking to sustain success within the British Film Industry.
The UK Film Council’s role has now been subsumed by the BFI. Fish Tank (2009)
was released the same year as Star Trek but under very different circumstances.
The film only was distributed to 40 cinemas but achieved a significant degree of
critical success including winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and
nomination for the Palm D’Or. In 2010 it won the Best British Film BAFTA. In
complete binary opposition to a film like Star Trek, owned and distributed by
Paramount Studios in securing commercial success, Fish Tank like many British
films, use the theatrical release at the cinema as marketing platform. It was
produced by the Director, Andrea Arnold’s production company suggesting
auteur ownership and was awarded funding from the UK Film Council’s Prints
and Advertising Fund (£70,000), £644,000 from the Development Fund and a
further £20,000 going into production.
In terms of distribution the small Artificial Eye Company took it on with a
reputation for involvement in so called ‘World Cinema’, Art House and critically
successful films. The production budget was £1.8m, which is considered high for
an independent film (Shifty cost £100,000). Although major studios are investing
in the future of digital distribution currently, there is more of an opportunity for
independent films to exploit this format despite the oligopoly domination of
Hollywood. Obvious commercial boundaries between major studio ownership
and more independent productions arguably are being challenged with perhaps
the cultural imperialism of Hollywood as less dominant – this potentially could be
an oppositional reading with the ability for Hollywood to constantly reinvent
itself and exploit every opportunity from the early studio system to star
marketing, to high production values to the blockbuster format to symbiotic
relationships with multiplex distributors to high concept films to event movies to
technology such as 3D and online distribution. Ownership of the means of
production and distribution ensures commercial and ideological dominance is
maintained.