LO4 Task 5 Script: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues

Introduction:
Hi and welcome to the final installment of Education Wise where today we will be talking about  ethical, legal and regulatory issues with films, which we will be focusing on The Simpsons Movie.

Passive and Active Audiences:
When it comes to audiences there are two types; passive and active audiences. As said by Theodore Adorno in the 1930s, "Media has a negative impact because the mass audience believes everything they hear." this is known as the hypodermic syringe theory and is basically saying that these are the type of audience who will take it seriously or go out and do whatever they hear or see in the film. An active audience is the opposite as they are able to filter and adjust to the content in the media as said by David Gauntlett.  The film doesn't show any form of sexual content so this doesn't cause any negative impact on woman, but there are traces of violence and representations of the audience. Firstly, the film has a negative impact on violence as the town come to kill the Simpsons Family as shown by the nooses, torches and the fact they are in an angry mob, this may be taken seriously by the  passive audience and see it as unsuitable for the audience it's targeted at. then there is the negative impact of representation, which I see as though its insulting the target audience, which is Americans, and that this may be spotted out by the passive audience. The reason I think this is because the film represents Americans as immature, this may be because it's a comedy, and the active audience may see it that way, it also shows them as wasteful and uneconomical, as shown at the start of the film, where the town throw junk at a band, on a float in the middle of a lake, which is polluting the lake. As I will explain later in the video, Stuart Hall said that all representations are mediated which means that it's done on purpose, and maybe 20th Century Fox is secretly trying to spread the message that America is these things and so needs to improve in regards to protecting our planet and recycling. Next is the positive impacts of the film, for two reasons; it shows that family values are important and that you should all work together as a family and stick as a family, which the Simpson's do show in the film. Finally, the film shows a positive impact of role models, as Carl Rogers once said is you "Ideal self" and one strong characters who you could see as one is Marge Simpson, the wife, mother and carer of the family, she is the perfect example of a caring and selfless person and wants to save Springfield whilst Homer does not, as he is represented as the opposite, and this fits into the saying that "Opposites attract" and this is why Homer and Marge are perfect together.

Representation:
"All Representation are mediated" said by Stuart Hall in 1980, which he is basically saying that its done on purpose. Tessa Perkins in 1979 had a theory that  not all stereotypes are false, and that there are stereotypes and counter-types in films. Stereotypes are characters with common characteristics that relate to a group of people outside the diegesis of the film. Counter-types on the other hand are challenged stereotypes, so the opposites of what a stereotype is, for example, males are dominant stereotypically, but if a woman comes across as dominant, the character would be a counter-type. The film doesn't show any representation of the woman stereotype which is that they are objectified, as Mulvey in 1975 said, but because this is a kids film, which families would go and see, this stereotype doesn't show up in the film. Then there is the representation of men, which is that they are dominant and in control, as said by Earp and Katz in 1999, saying "Equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence", an example of this from the film is when Homer Simpson strangles Bart Simpson, this also shows dominance as Homer is more masculine as he can use violence to gain control. Finally, in 1979 Stanley Cohen said the representation of the youth is "Folk Devil", so obviously this is a negative representation of the young aged characters. The representation of this in the film is Bart Simpson as he's the troublemaker of the film and is definitely shown as a 'folk devil'.

Legal and Ethical:
Copyright infringement is the use of content without the permission or rights to use it, you can prevent it by getting permission from the creator of the content by working out a deal normally with money, otherwise they may sue you and you'll have to pay a fee. So to get a song for example you'd need to seek permission to use it which isn't cheap. One song from The Simpsons Movie would of had to seek permission for was an A&M records song called "Close to You" which wouldn't of been cheap, as the company would want a lot for it to be used in the film. Another song could be "Happy Together" a song owned by Flo & Eddie, Inc. Like I mentioned before, Homer strangles Bart, and this can be seen as offensive to parents in the audience, but it's a cartoon, meaning that one; it isn't real and shouldn't be took seriously, especially when it's a comedy. And two; it's a running joke throughout the series.

Regulatory Bodies: 
The BBFC is the British Broadcast of Film Classification, which are the people who rate a film based on the content of a film. The Simpsons Movie in Britain was classed as a PG-13, which means that kids with parents guidance are only aloud to watch it below the age of 13, this is is mainly because of irrelevant humour. The age rating didn't change once from it being in the cinema on the 2nd of July to it being released with full content on DVD on the 18th of December. It kept to the PG-13 age rating by no showing any discrimination, drugs and violence that he kids would likely copy, the film does contain one or two mild bad language, but this is acceptable with PG-13, the scenes with actual violence are not prolonged either and there is no sexual content involved either. The ASA are the Advertising Standards Authority and they regulate the Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, also known as the CAP or Committee of  Advertising Practice code. A CAP code that is a specific example to printed material and movie posters, is Harm and Offence, which is to ensure it doesn't cause offense to the audience, this includes avoiding offence to ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age, but the content may be judged on the context of the films reason for including it in the poster. The poster cannot cause fear to the audience, but can if it's justified and isn't over-exaggerated, the Simpsons Movie poster does not show any content of this. If it refers to a dead person, it mustn't cause any offence to them or the audience, and once again, the Simpsons Movie poster doesn't contain any content of this. The next rule is that it must not contain anything that encourages violence, the Simpsons movie poster does contain a mob with torches and weapons, but because the movie is animated it isn't as dramatic as if it was in real life, so its almost more humorous than offensive to the audience. Then there is the rule that it shouldn't contain anything to encourage children to cause unsafe practice, which the film poster doesn't show. Another rule is not to encourage drinking and driving, which the film poster doesn't contain any encouragement of drinking and driving. The final rule is to not to cause any photosensitive epilepsy to the audience who are affected by it, but once again, the poster doesn't feature anything like this. The reason behind not having any explicit content, and it being appropriate and inoffensive, on the posters is because the posters will be seen public spaces, in which anyone under the age certificate will be able to see it. It will not only be shown in public spaces, but public spaces internationally too and that's because of the mass audience the film is targeting, and if the poster is offensive and inappropriate then it will most likely gain a bad representation.

Thank you for watching this final episode where we learnt about what production companies have to consider in their films, which were ethical, legal and regulatory issues, this was Education Wise. Good Bye.

LO4, Task 5: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues (Notes)

Ethical: Representations i.e. Gender, age and ethnicity.
Legal and regulation: Copyright (Music/ Soundtrack). Certification of age rating given by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) which certifies broadcasts and adverts, as well as prints of posters for films for example.. Regulation issues like violence, sex and language can effect the certification.

A) The products impact and effect on the audience.
B) Relevant issues of representation.
C) Relevant legal and/or ethical issues
D) Role of relevant regulatory bodies.

A) Passive and active:
Passive: Hypodermic syringe (Theodore Adorno, 1930's)- Media has a negative impact because the audience (Mass) believe everything hey say/hear.
Issues about:
Violence? The town of Springfield try to kill the Simpsons as shown by hangman ropes and pitchforks.
sexual content? no
representation? Represents Americans as stupid, wasteful and uneconomical, as shown by them not caring about the environment at the start.
Positive impacts? Family values.
Role-Model? Marge: She is caring and wants to save Springfield whilst Homer does not.

Active: Able to filter and adapt the content in media (Gauntlett). We have uses and gratifications theory- people use media for there own purpose?






B) Representation:
Who is being represented? (All representations are mediated (on purpose) - Stuart Hall, 1980)
Is there use of stereotypes/countertypes (Tessa Perkins, 1979). Not all stereotypes are false.

Stereotypes: Common characteristics of different groups of people. Most of the time they are negative stereotypes.

Countertypes: Challenged Stereotypes i.e. Males are dominant stereotypically, but the countertype would be a dominant woman.

Representation of women- are they objectified (Mulvey, 1975)- Its a kid film so it doesn't.
Representation of Men (Earp and Katz, 1999)- "Equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence"- dominant, in control.

Representation of ethnicity- non-white- "Exotic, dangerous, humorous, pitied" Alvarado, 1987
Exotic: Accent, Clothes.
Dangerous: Different to the more dominant ethnicity in the film.
Humorous:
Pitied: empathy, feel sorry for.

C)Legal and Ethical:
Legal: Copyright infringement?- Main worry in film industry illegal downloading?
Ethical: Offensive material? Sensationalism? Censorship- has the film been censored

Copyright Infringement: Use content you don't have permission/rights to use.
To prevent- get permission otherwise you can get sued and have to pay a large fee.

Offensive Material:
Racism
Sexual Content
Strong Language
Violence
Drugs
Offensive because of age especially towards the passive audience.

Censorship:
Removing content that is not approved.

Advertising and promotion notes - LO3 Task 4

Adverising and Promotion: Marketing the film to create maximum awareness to a specific target audience.
- Billboards/poster - Mass Audience
- TV - Mass Audience
- Radio
- Merchandise
- YouTube/ websie banners
- Synergy 
- Events
- Social Media
- Sponsership
- Interviews
- Magazines and Newspapers.

Technological Convegence:
David Gauntlett (2002)- The rise of web 2.0.
("The change in the internet being static, one way form of communication to a two way interactive medium") - static/one-way, only consume. interactive/two-way, prosumer (producer- consumer).
A prosumer can rate the movie, share information about movies and comment about the movies.

LO3 Task 4 Distribution Script (Updated)

Introduction:

Hi, I'm Taighlor McNally and welcome to the 4th instalment of Education Wise, today we're going to be learning about the distribution side of the media industry.

Distribution Channels:

Distribution means how a product is given to the audience and how something is advertised and promoted. Distribution of films has been hugely impacted by technological convergence over the years due to technology getting more mobile and easy to access. "The Simpsons Movie" can be watched on many platforms, especially after a few years since its release it should be able to be seen on nearly all convergences such as; Cinema, DVD, Blu-Ray, via streaming and TV. This is all because of 20th Century Fox's intended audience, which is mass and mainstream meaning that its global and international. Watching a film online can be done by many internet streaming websites such as Netflix, Putlocker, Amazon Prime and YouTube, then there are websites which let you download the film, such as, Google Play and iTunes, then you can also illegally download films if you haven't paid for it because then you don't have the rights to it. The only downside to downloading instead of streaming is the fact it takes up memory space on a device if so. Then you can watch films on TV when they are premiered, with 20th Century Fox this would be easy for them to put The Simpsons Movie on Sky because, like 20th Century Fox, it’s a subsidiary of Fox and so this helps them cross promote the movie. The Simpsons Movie was released for every one of the platforms. Technology convergence is when technologies come together to provide new services to the audience, just like the internet it has changed overtime, around ten years ago the web was in the version 1.0 and the only people who really used it were business's and scholars who were educated to work them and was only mainly used for distributing information and academic reasons. Today we are using Web 2.0 and is completely more accessible to everyone and is more interactive with uses like videos, shopping, communicating and storing files online. With films, there was two methods, analogue and digital, analogue is like web 1.0, it only included VHS and cinema which was way more expensive than now. Today we use the digital method and this includes online viewing, DVD, Blu-Ray and still including cinema. With cinema today, instead of using conventional film reels, Digital Screen Network made it possible, which the films are put on a hard drive which can now be streamed and organised to be displayed on the digital projectors onto all the different screens at the same time instead of having individual film reels for each screen which is more expensive. The Simpsons Movie is one of the highest grossing films of its category which is animated TV adaption, grossing a total of a one hundred and five hundred twenty-seven million, seventy-one thousand and twenty-two dollars, 34.7% of this profit was in America which was played at 3,926 cinemas, this is because the intended audience is America. Therefore having a range of distribution channels enabled more access and choice for the audience, also profit for 20th Century Fox.

Advertising and promotion:
The Simpsons Movie's target audience was its domestic country, America. It had a lot of marketing, especially events and merchandise, with 13 different marketing techniques, with a few being web 2.0 based. Firstly, they were selling "The Simpsons Movie" posters with every character from the show, this was probably the cheapest marketing they used. 

Next, one of the many website based promotions to come, is the "Create your own Avatar tool" which let you create your own avatar based on the Simpsons cartoon style, this made it very interactive to the audience. 

Then there is another website promotion for the social media website "Myspace" which was quite popular and new in 2007, when the movie was being promoted which was called "Simpsonize Your World". It let you change the theme of your Myspace account to a Simpson’s theme, which you could then enter your account into a competition to win prizes like an Xbox 360 with a Simpson's skin, which again was new at the time. This is synergy between 20th Century Fox and MySpace, which like I explained in a  previous video, is when two separate companies, or even subsidiaries of the same company, work together to create a product and because of this, they can promote their film, but at small cost, creating a greater profit from the outcome of extra people knowing about it than if they didn't work together and didn't get those extra people, and this goes for the rest of the synergies involved in the promotion of the film.

Next is Burger Kings website which let you 'simpsonize' yourself by just using a picture, and with there being nearly 7,500 restaurants, it’s definitely isn’t unpopular and so this helped towards the cause of promoting and because it’s on the internet it was easy to access, which again Synergy is created between 20th Century Fox and Burger King to have a larger profit in their outcome.

The final website that was promoting The Simpsons Movie at the time was 'JetBlue Airways' which advertised the characters describing their favourite destination in America, this helped promote the company and the film at the same time and because multiple audiences from across America came to book tickets, it surely got a huge promotion in that case, another synergy with 20th Century Fox to help promote the movie. .

 The next marketing technique is competitions and this helps raise awareness of the film by giving people the chance to win things related to the film, lots of people can do this, and if it includes you having to phone in they may charge you and the money will go towards the profit. An example of a competition for the film was when they had all the different towns in America called Springfield enter a competition where people could view these videos and vote which were their favourite, whichever one won would Premiere the movie, in the end Vermont won with 109,582 votes.

Next is another way they promoted the film, and this was an event, it especially worked because they worked with a popular American commerce company called 7-11 (7-Eleven) and this probably helped the film out a lot due to families going to the shop would see it and then maybe be convinced to go see it. The shop replaced its recognisable logo with the similar looking logo of the shop "Kwik-E-Mart" from the Simpsons series. They replace many of their items with stereotypical things from the show like Homer's Doughnuts.

Finally, The Simpsons Movie's final promotion was merchandise, and this is when they partnered with 'Vans' the shoe manufacturer, where specifically designed sneakers that were Simpsons themed were produced. This helped promote to people who were buying them because they are widely bought across the country.

So in the end, all this promotions was quite successful as they targeted their domestic country as this was their target audience, because the Simpsons represent American families and so the audience can relate to them. So aiming to work with popular American companies helped them a lot as many Americans would consume these companies’ products and so would have caused a lot of promotion.

  

So thank you for listening to Education wise and we will see you in the next video.

 

LO2 Task 3 Script

Introduction:

Hi and welcome to the next episode of education wise I'm going to be talking to you about the audience of the film 'The Simpsons Movie', as discussed by Len Ang, she said that media producers imagine an audience or entity before actually making the product and that these imaginations are getting more diverse as do the audiences. John Hartley says that "Institutions are obliged not only to speak about an audience, but crucially, for them to talk to one as well; they need not only to represent audiences but to enter into relation with them" which means that they need to understand their audience so that they can effectively target them to make a great product for them. The target audience for The Simpsons Movie are the majority male and the median age of 18 because it may be a cartoon but it does feature some adult humour that kids may not notice but teenagers do, they also may fit into the National Readerships Survey Life style class C and fit into the ABC1 class of C1 to D.

Gender:

The gender of the target audience is mainly male but also a little bit female and the reason is because of a few scenes and characters in The Simpsons Film. Homer is the main protagonist in the film; he makes the mistakes in the film and is shown to be quite selfish but his character soon changes because of the problems in the film. Men may relate to him as the humorous side of men as Homer is quite immature in the film. Then there is the serious side of men represented by the antagonist president of EPA who is trying to destroy Springfield because of environmental reasons and so is trying to be responsible which all men try and do at one age. Bart is another male and he represents the younger male audience of the film and how they may see him as a role model, but not a good one, he takes lots risks and tries to annoy Homer. Then there are the female characters that, unlike the male protagonists, are the mature ones and are seen as quite smarter than the males. Marge is the house wife in the Simpsons Movie and TV series and so takes care of the family; this means that she has quite a lot of responsibility as do actual house wife's and if families will see this there's mostly going to be actual housewife's who see it and so they would definitely relate to Marge. Finally, Lisa is the 2nd youngest of the family but also the smartest, she resembles a young female who watches the film as she is the one that would most likely want to make her parents proud as does Lisa and like in the actual TV series and film she looks up to the mother as a role model.

Age:

Next is age and the median age I said was 18 and I say this because of the adult humour in the film, but that isn't to say that it can be for the younger audience. The first example is the oldest person in the film is the old wise lady and she teaches Homer to realise that everything isn't about him and that he should be considerate of other people and so is perfectly represented as a wise lady as it shows that she has become experienced in her life. Next, is Homer and Marge's age which is around 40 years old and this would relate to the parents watching the film with their kids as they are the ones who could afford the ticket or by the DVD. Next is Bart whose 10 years old and he isn't very mature or responsible, he is more childish than his younger sister, and represents the most juvenile kid in the family and is more likely to be a brat. Then there is Lisa who is 8 year old and she is the smartest in the family, because she's one of the youngest she tries to impress her parents as she is most likely not being noticed especially when Bart is causing trouble and being noticed all the time. Bart and Lisa are both examples of an ideal self for the audience they represent as young boys would want to be like Bart and knowing how to skateboard like a professional, and be like Lisa and be intelligent and know a lot of things, his can lead to a young girl wanting to be intelligent, which leads to getting a good job and lifestyle.

Life Style:

NRS is the National Readership Survey and they provide estimations of the number of people who interact with media like TV, radio, Newspapers and Movies. The NRS life's style rating of the Simpsons Movie is C which means that they are classed as Settled Suburban, meaning that they are family people who have decent jobs, such as plumbing and services like Police and fire fighters. This can relate to the films protagonists as they're a family, the first example of this is Homer as he has the job of being a nuclear safety officer which he earns about $20,000 a year with, this is a bit low for someone his age which is more of a 20 year old's salary. Unlike Homer, Marge is a housewife and so is unemployed which makes her classified as a 'Have-not' because she has no job and may not even have any qualifications. Both Lisa and Bart are kids and so are classified as have-nots as both of them are still in education and still have a few years before they have qualifications. This could obviously relate to the target audience of the film, who are kids the around the same age of the Lisa and Bart, and the kids may also relate to the characters as they are into the same things as them, stereotypically, the male kids will be interested in sports, hanging out with friends and video games, just as Bart is too whilst maybe the girls are into dolls and also hanging out with friends, and Lisa is also represented as a mature figure which the girls in the audience may want to look up to. In 1972 Denis McQuail said "There are four reasons that people consume media products or pleasures they gain from them" firstly the media has surveillance which lets you learn something new especially on the news for example. Next is escapism and this is when a film is submersing, which immerses you into the diegesis and if it's done well then it will get you wanting more of the product, you may keep being submerged in the film and also TV show as it's an animation and will most likely always have something happening and so you always entertained and always interested. Then there is the building of personal identity which is when the audience relates to the location and characters or actors, it could be that you relate to the characters because it’s your 'ideal self' as explained by Carl Rodgers, which means that it’s what you imagine our self as and sometimes what your ideal partner is. Finally, the building of personal relationships outside the diegesis, this is when the film gets people bonding and talking because they're talking about the films lore and scenes. The film was released with a lot of merchandise, for example electronic plushies of the main characters and these were sold at around £20 at the time and this isn't cheap, but it also isn't really expensive either. It's an average of £23,000 salary in their class C jobs; this means the merchandise is a bit below their spending power, which they earn about £7 an hour, meaning they get about £56 pound per shift, so they can afford it.

Spending Power:

Spending power is the money left after all the debs and necessities have been paid. The NRS social grade or ABC1 for the audience of The Simpsons Movie is most likely C1 and ranges to D, C1 is lower middle class, C2 skilled working class and D is working class. All of these classes spending power could easily or barely pay for the cinema ticket, a genuine ticket for the film when it first came out was about £5 so its hardily going to be expensive as these class of people would have some spending power around £20-30. With the extra spending power, they have they can also use it on pleasures like video game related things and day trips out, these are usually the things Americans would stereotypically do as America is full of places families can go, like zoos, amusement parks and cinemas. There's also the case that the target audience, which again is children aged around 8 to early teens, and going back to what they would typically do, which is related to what the characters Bart and Lisa do in the film, the male children would most likely be into sports, hanging out with friends and video games this could go for both teen males and younger male kids, whilst the female children would probably be into playing with dolls and also hanging out with their friends, whilst teen girls will more likely be buying make-up, clothes and accessories. So in the male and female case, hanging out with friends would typically cost about at most £10, this is for like buying food and drinks, and if they're going to the cinema it may even cost at most £20, this can be easily afforded, if this is on maybe a weekly basis as they could save up money over the week, if they get pocket money. In the male case, lets say for sports they do skateboarding, which Bart does. Getting a skateboard is around £20 pound, for one that is mass produced and sold at a local sports shop, but for a more professional one it would cost at the very least £40, and seen as they are quite young and only doing this for fun they may go for a the cheaper option, but as they become a teenager they may want to get the more professional one, this may be harder to afford with the spending power they have, as they will be most likely using their parents spending power, unless they have a job.Video games on the other hand, when brand new they cost around £40, this could easily be afforded with their spending power if they save up for a while. In the female case, a female in her early teens, may buy clothes, make-up and accessories to keep up with current trends, this isn't the kind of character Lisa is represented as, but it is a stereotype in the real world, which Lisa may take up when she is in her early teens as she is only eight years old. This would cost about £20-30 a month, if they do buy these monthly, and that is affordable with the spending power.  

Okay this was Taighlor McNally and this was about the audiences of films and how they can differ between different films, I will see you in the next episode, bye!

LO2 Task 3 Script plan

Introduction:
1. State what I've been asked to do for this video.
2. What did Ien Ang and John Hartley discuss? Why is this important for media producers. Give reasons (M/D)
3. Who  is the target audience of your film (support with audience profile and imaginary entity you made) (P)

Gender: 

1. 5 examples from your chosen film that represents the dominant gender of the audience for your film and why.

Age:

      1. 5 examples from your chosen film that represents the median age of the audience for your film  and why.

LO1 Task 2 Tutor Feedback

LO2 Task 3 Audience Profile

LO2 Task 3- Audience

Demographic means a study of a population like an audience.
Categories we can classify an audience, like age, gender, location, spending power/class (disposable income/ leisure pound, what you have left after all the necessities have been paid such as bills), education, ethnicity and life style.