Monday, 11 March 2019
Friday, 8 March 2019
D83 Trailer Questions
1) The opening of the trailer uses sound and editing to draw the audience in. Explain why this is effective.
This combination of sound and editing creates a very intense, but also intriguing trailer for an audience to watch. We notice that there is a lot of fast-paced sharp cuts along with the music, to create a trailer with lots of action and things going on in it. The audience would naturally be a little confused with the relative speed of the trailer, and might therefore, want to watch it again (I.E. it leaves you with lots of questions to answer). Combined with the famous song, audience attention is driven straight to it.
2) How does the trailer use action and enigma codes (Barthes) to encourage the audience to watch the show?
There is no doubt, that throughout the trailer, the action is intense at all points (as aforementioned, lots of fast editing and pace, nothing is on screen for more than a few seconds). However, the action seems to be lots of running, and quite a bit of violence and physical conflict. This really does help to intensify the intended conflict situation that the audience member is going to be feeling whilst watching the trailer. With regards to enigma codes, there are a wide range of questions that the audience member might have whilst watching. The first is, potentially, how close the countries are to full on war. (Explosions, as well as LOTS of conflict is shown).
3.
All three of these screen shots can carry the typical conventions of a spy-based show. For example, being given an alternate identity, having to open and pick locked doors, and possibly some eavesdropping or wiretapping events. If we take into account Steve Neal’s theory, these three conventions are portrayed across several different spy-based shows, and help the audience to create this.
4.
A lot of 1983-style scenes and settings have been created with the usage of MES. Firstly, the audience is made aware of this through the accurate selection of props that have been used in the trailer. Two of the most important points could be the use of the old small tube TV, as well as the old Walkman. Both of these devices were extremely popular in Western areas in the early 1980s, to make a convincing composition. The Musical choices also help to do this, with songs such as ‘Sweet Dreams are Made of These’, actual songs of the time, triggering relatable scenes within the minds of the audience members.
5. The choice of the song, not only creates a sonically accurate recreation of the early 1980s, but the song is also period-correct, and carries a deeper meaning about the Cold War. References to communism ‘Comrade Number One’, and ‘One is all you can score’, really create a sense of the war that the song was actually about. In addition to this, the song also fits in well with the fast pace and action within the trailer, so the song is a natural fit.
6. This is potentially an effort to make the programme more appealing towards British audiences, who may have previously been drawn away from subtitled programming. If C4 decided to use German speech, not many people would be able to understand the trailer, and get a good idea of the historical context behind the series.
Monday, 25 February 2019
East Germany Background Data
HISTORICAL CONTEXT – EAST GERMANY
By the end of the Second World War, the entire country was in a state of absolute devastation, which contained a seriously damaged economy, and disrupted infrastructure. In August 1945, after the holding of the Yalta Conference, it was officially declared that Germany would essentially be divided into four areas, controlled by the UK, US, France and the Soviet Union. Berlin was also divided between the four countries, and the German Democratic Republic formed. East Germany was essentially a satellite state which belonged to the Soviet Union, and therefore, much of the operational principles and ideology of the country’s top officials was identical to the Soviet Union. The country formed a part of the Eastern Bloc, alongside the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Much of the state was strictly controlled by these top officials, including having a generally negative viewpoint upon the west, which was forced upon the citizens.
The Berlin Wall was established in 1961, in order to stop and prevent any East German citizens from fleeing to the western areas, where many people were imprisoned, and in most cases, killed at the border, however there were official areas where supervised crossing of the border were allowed, such as Checkpoint Charlie.
Towards the latter portion of the establishment of East Germany, there was an increasing presence of peaceful protests against the country, and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, which began after the introduction of free elections into the country. The government opened the wall in November 1989, and the famous destruction of the wall began in June 1990, where the Unity Party fell, and the country was re-unified with the rest of Germany.
THE STASI
The Stasi was the Ministry for State Security within East Germany, and the operation of the Stasi was controlled by the overall main government body within the country, the Socialist Unity Party, and was primarily set up to solidify and establish their rule. They had an objective to be the ‘secret police’ and to have a watch on what everyone was doing within the country, and to investigate any possible breaches against the country’s regime. They had a significant network of intelligence, ranging from insiders, and wiretapping. Overall, they had intelligence of over a third of the entire country’s population. The organisation was disbanded shortly before the reunification of Germany in February 1990, and the Unified German Parliament passed a law to ensure that East Germans could view their Stasi records.
LIFE IN EAST GERMANY – ACCESS TO MEDIA, ETC.
Most of the events within the country were completely state controlled. I.E., the country adopted a centrally planned economy, and the prices and supply of different products, such as food and housing were set by the government, and not through the laws of market forces. The country adopted a very large agricultural economy, as well as working on assembly lines, which was also common in the area.
The East German media was similar to that of the Soviet Union, essentially meaning that most of it was based around, and contained communist themes. Lots of investment was placed from the central government into the recreation of classical German music. In the 1980s, whilst East Germans were listening to mostly orchestral music, western Germans were listening to more of the popular music at the time, featuring electronic elements and synthesisers.
Film was also enjoyed in East German, with most home-grown movies also being centred around the theme and idea of communism, and movies about general daily life within a family were largely popular.
Friday, 15 February 2019
VOD Industry Research
Regulation topic
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Relevant information
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Topic 2 - The regulation of media and long form drama in the UK
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The first article explained the new regulatory position that the UK’s Ofcom is taking to provide stronger regulations within the VOD areas. It is worth noting, that the previous ATVOD only covered UK based VOD services, however, the new approach will also include regulation of services provided internationally, such as in this example, Netflix.
The second source explains how Ofcom actually regulate the VOD content. It is found that it is actually similar to what is required of TV stations within the UK, with regards to hate speech, adult content and so on. Two important things here. The first, is that it details how people are to go about making complaints, and the second, is how people who have complaints on content shown on the BBC’s VOD service, iPlayer, should be directed to the BBC first.
The third source explains how these popular services, when in the EU, should also place good visibility on shows and content produced in Europe. This is intended to bring the services closer to the kind of regulation that TV programmes are subject to.
The fourth source is a further elaboration of the above, stating that Netflix is not happy with the new rules being introduced, and has tried several times to point out how the service is already compliant with this. For example, The Crown being based around the British monarchy and so on.
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Topic 3 - The impact of new media technologies on regulation
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The first article explains how the issue of availability of different streaming services are present across countries. For example, the US form of Netflix has different content to the UK form, and vice versa. The article also explains how this will also impact users watching abroad. For example, if someone from the UK went on holiday to the US, and wanted to watch Netflix, they would now be allowed to do so, but they would only have access to the US content.
The second article also touches on the issue of prevailing European-based drama, but goes on to mention how the programmes are going to be funded, either they pay for them themselves, or place a fund into a central fund.
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