BBC Radio 1 - Life Hacks: Blog tasks

BBC Radio 1 - Life Hacks: Blog tasks

Analysis

1) What do the titles The Surgery and Life Hacks suggest?

  The titles are made to suit younger audience who Radio 1 is trying to attract as 'Life Hacks' is something that more younger people are into rather than the older generation as it is more of a modern idea as younger people look for easier and most efficient alternatives of doing things. 

2) How are the programmes constructed to appeal to a youth audience?

Both shows ran around times that suit a youth audience as it is during times when a lot of them would be free and just relaxing so they can listen to the radio whilst doing so. 

3) What does the choice of presenters (Cel Spellman and Katie Thistleton) and Dr Modgil suggest about the BBC’s approach to diversity and representation?

The two main presenters are both from a white background which doesn't show much diversity, however they're both quite young which suits the demographics of their target audience. Dr Modgil is a British doctor who is from a different, Asian background which finally adds diversity to the show and shows how Radio 1 is a diverse broadcaster accepting different races to work for them. 

4) Go to the Life Hacks iPlayer page and analyse the content. What does this suggest regarding the Life Hacks audience and what the BBC is hoping to achieve with the programme?

BBC have used colour whilst also keeping the layout and professional and easy on the eye so it's not too overwhelming for the audience. 
They have also avoided using lots of text and made it more visual and easy on the eye so it looks more appealing to the audience and makes it easier for them to make a choice. 

5) Go to the Life Hacks podcast episodes page. Listen to a few episodes of the podcast and explain how the topics may a) appeal to a youth audience and b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster.

The podcasts are all based on topics that are issues in society that people are trying to raise awareness for; especially the youth, which would raise their interest in Radio 1's podcasts. 
They also fulfil their responsibility as a public service broadcaster by educated people on topics that are based on ongoing issues in society. 

Audience

1) What is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?

Their target audience are the younger generation although they are currently struggling to attract them at the moment. 

2) Who is the actual audience for BBC Radio 1?

The actual audience for them are middle class and working class, mid-age age people. 

3) What audience pleasures are offered by Life Hacks? Apply Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory.

Personal identity because it helps people identify things about themselves through the media which they may have not previously known about or lacked knowledge on. 

4) Read this Guardian review of Life Hacks. What points does the reviewer make about Life Hacks and the particular podcast episode they listened to?

The reviewer talks about how they subconsciously listened to a few life inspiration/entrepreneurial podcasts last week.

5) Read this NME feature on Radio 1 listener figures. What are the key statistics to take from this article regarding the decline in Radio 1 audience ratings?

- Radio 1 has lost 200,000 weekly listeners since May, when they attracted 9.4 million listeners a week.

- 9.2 million listeners that Radio 1 now pulls in each week is officially the second-lowest ever recorded ratings for the BBC station

- The lowest weekly rating of 9.1 million (May 2017)

Industries

1) How does Life Hacks meet the BBC mission statement to Educate, Inform and Entertain? 

They inform and educate people on social issues and attempt to raise awareness on issues that need more media coverage and attention to make people more conscious of these issues. They entertain by having celebrities and upcoming people coming in to talk on the radio about various different things. 

2) Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. Pick out three key points in the summary section.

- What the BBC is
- What expectations they need to meet and their mission statement
- TV license

3) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points relate to BBC Radio 1 and Life Hacks?

People expect a lot from the BBC as it is a public service broadcaster which their TV license fee go towards. BBC got Ofcom to help them set up the license fee for the nation. 

4) What do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?

- Support social action campaigns on BBC radio; it helps educated and raise awareness of things which helps them achieve one of their mission statement. It also attracts more younger audience it shows they care about social issues. 

5) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

Announcing an in-depth review of how different audiences are represented and portrayed on the BBC.
As part of our analysis we plan to examine the on-screen diversity of the BBC’s programming, including in its popular peak time shows. 

Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?

Ben Cooper’s eye-catching and ambitious mission to make BBC Radio 1 like a Netflix for radio.

7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?

He reckons the most common age of a Radio 1 listener is 18. And for its YouTube channel it is 12- to 17-year-old females. 

8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?

He states- “Are we distinctive from commercial radio? Yes we are,” he says. “We will play something like 4,000 different tracks a month, commercial radio plays about 400. 

9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?

Because their target market is the youth audience and seeing as many of them aren't listening to Radio 1, they're having to go out their way to use different methods to reach their target audience. YouTube is quite popular amongst youngsters and a lot of other groups in the market so it is a smart decision made by BBC to post their content on it. 

10) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.

As BBC is a public service broadcaster, they should have something to offer to everyone and if they didn't target the younger audience, it'd leave a gap in the market so it is good that they're targeting them. The future of BBC also lays in the younger generations hands as their views and popularity's starting to decrease and they need to do things to reach out to the newer audience and keep them viewing in order to continue running successfully a few years down the line.

Film & TV assessment: Learner response

Film & TV assessment: Learner response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: Good examples included from CSPS.

EBI: More focused on the demand of the questions, especially Q2.

2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify at least one potential point that you missed out on for each question in the assessment (even if you got full marks for the question).

1 - A range of different genres are suggested on the poster – e.g. the background is almost

space (sci-fi); the silver symbol in the background alludes to comic books/Marvel universe; the woman on the left suggests martial arts or kung-fu movies – this is reinforced by the faint images in the background.

2 - Promotion of Chicken was through a combination of traditional marketing methods (trailer, film poster with review quotes, interviews and reviews such as Mark Kermode’s review on the BBC) and new/digital media.

3 - the effect of social and cultural context on representations.

The contexts of production are more important and influential than any intent of the

‘authors’ as it is impossible for the individual to transcend social and cultural contexts Television drama is powerfully influenced by dominant social and cultural attitudes to e.g. ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality

Television drama draws on a long and enduring tradition of narrative and genre conventions; therefore drama itself as a form is much more significant than the social and cultural contexts of any individual production.

3) The first question demanded a response using postmodern terminology. Write a definition here of the three main terms:

Bricolage: Bring ideas from other things to make a new one. Almost like taking inspiration and combining different ideas together to create a new meaning. 

Pastiche: Similar to a parody but the intention isn't to imitate and make fun of a different context. Borrowing ideas from other media forms. 

Intertextuality: The shaping of a text's meaning by another text. The relationship between texts, especially literary ones. 

4) The second question was on the film industry. Write down two points from the mark scheme about Chicken's promotion and distribution that you didn't include in your answer. 

- Digital distribution in USA/Canada followed in January 2018 and the film is now available on Amazon Prime in the UK. The distribution of Chicken was challenging but ultimately quite effective for a niche micro-budget film.
- The struggle to distribute a micro-budget independent film in a global market dominated by major conglomerates. Chicken took two years from the film being made (2014) to appearing in cinemas (2016).

5) Look over your mark, teacher comments and the mark scheme for Question 3 - the 25 mark essay question on your TV Close-Study Products. Write a complete essay plan for this question based on the suggested answers in the mark scheme. You can either use something similar to your actual answer or alternatively start from scratch. Make sure it is an extensive, detailed plan focused on the question (representations; social and cultural contexts of production) and offering specific references to Capital and Deutschland 83 for each section. Try and cover the two texts equally if you can and aim to plan around 5-6 paragraphs in total.

The representations in Capital reflect social and cultural contexts in London as they have used loads of stereotypes to reflect the diverse culture in London. Although the TV drama is only based on one road in the whole of London. The way events, issues, individuals and social groups (including social identity) are represented through processes of selection and combination is putting life in London into a nutshell which gives people that live out of London to also get an understanding and almost experience the London life through the actors shoes. They have used a lot of diversity when it comes to race, religion, social class etc. which is normal to find in London; this concept therefore creates realism and shows how much diversity and various different lives people live in one city - especially one that is popular world wide. For example, they have included a Pakistani family who reinforce stereotypes of an Asian family that live in London as they give importance to family values and all living together as one, owning a corner shop and they also have one extremist in the family who is very passionate and serious when it comes to his religion and their beliefs. They have the British White bankers life in contrast to this family who's main is to make as much as possible and even though he's earning a lot, it doesn't seem to be enough for him as he is just greedy for more and more. 

Introduction to Radio: blog tasks

Introduction to Radio: blog tasks

BBC Sounds:

1) Why does the article suggest that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’?

It has half the national market, with dozens of stations reaching more than 34 million people a week. Radio 2 alone reaches 15 million listeners a week and for all the criticism of the Today programme, one in nine Britons still tune in to hear John Humphrys and his co-presenters harangue politicians every week.

2) What percentage of under-35s use the BBC iPlayer catch-up radio app?

Purnell says just 3% of under-35s use the iPlayer catch-up radio app.

3) What is BBC Sounds?

A new app and website which will bring radio livestreams, catchup services, music mixes and podcasts together under one roof.

4) How do audiences listen to radio content in the digital age?

-  Spotify has started to include a large number of podcasts; including BBC material.

- A growing number of people listen to the radio via voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa.

5) What does Jason Phipps suggest is important for radio and podcast content aimed at younger audiences?

They need to reconsider the entire tone of how the BBC tells stories, shifting away from rigid formality if it wants to attract the precious under-35 audience: “It has to be a warmer, more story-led journey. You need to report the very personal experience of it.''

6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?

Because it is one of the oldest broadcasting channels that's been around from the beginning days and it'd be a shame if BBC becomes extinct because they're not able to keep up with changes in society and development in technology because they've made the effort to try by introducing things such as BBC iPlayer and BBC sounds to keep up to date and attract a younger audience. 

7) What content does the BBC Sounds app offer?

The BBC sounds app is a radio station aimed at a younger audience where they can listen to radio on their phones as it more convenient for them to listen to it from where they are. Other than music, the topics of discussion are chosen specifically to suit a younger audience as they discuss social issues that young people would be more interested in and passionate about e.g. the LGBTQ society which older people wouldn't really want to discuss as they are less accepting of this. 

8) How does it link to BBC Radio?

It is quite similar to BBC radio as but the only difference is that the content has been changed to suit a different audience as they play different types of music and discuss different topics to suit their target audience.

9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app?

Sounds is easy to use, though I found the programme information a little tricky to access, and the search – as ever with the BBC – isn’t sensitive enough. My other main problem is there isn’t enough content. The BBC has thousands of amazing audio programmes! If you browse podcasts via, say, the Apple Podcasts app, you have 16 categories to choose from, and within each, at least 20 series to try. Sounds needs to feel as packed as Netflix in order to properly work.

10) Two new podcasts were launched alongside the BBC Sounds app. What are they and why might they appeal to younger audiences?

The Fear, The NoSleep Podcast, Spooked.

ShoutOut Network

1) What is the ShoutOut Network?

ShoutOut Network is a London-based network of diverse podcasts.

2) What podcasts are offered by the ShoutOut Network?

They offer a diverse range of podcasts to suit different target audience e.g. Wolves in The City is fortnightly podcast for black men exploring their sexuality in the city.

3) What audience do they reach?

Race wise they're aimed at a broad and diverse audience but when it comes to age, their main target market would millennial's and the younger audience as ShoutOut Network talk about issues that may not usually be regarding on usual radios and podcasts which are usually created to grab the older audience's attention. 

4) What are the 2015 statistics on podcast listening in the UK?

From Autumn 2015 approximately 3.7 million adults listened to podcasts which is around 6.5% of the adult population. 

5) The article suggests podcasts are ‘picking up more steam’. Do you think podcasts the future of radio?

Podcasts could potentially be the future of radio as people are able to access it more easily whenever and wherever they want in most cases, they could even download it to listen to it later on when they don't have data or signal. This makes it more convenient for people especially as many people in the city lead a busy life with a packed schedule so it'd be most appropriate for them to download podcasts and listen to them during their journey's rather than radios are radios are usually a live stream. 

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean blog tasks

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean blog tasks

Media Magazine reading: Billie Jean, birth of an icon

1) What was the budget for Billie Jean? How did this compare with later Michael Jackson videos?

The budget for the video was $50,000 which wasn't enough for all the things Michael wanted to do. The budget then increased to $300,000 five weeks after the promo was released and for ‘Thriller’ it was $2million. The budget started increasing after Billie Jean as record companies were willing to invest more after seeing the popularity of the music video.

2) Why was the video rejected by MTV?

MTV refused to air the video, arguing that it didn’t suit their ‘middle America’ audience. In other words. they didn't want to air music by a black guy.

3) Applying Goodwin's theory of music video, how does Billie Jean reflect the genre characteristics of pop music video?

Billie Jean music video could be classified as an Illustrate as it reflects the pop culture with the lights and MJ's dancing and it has a link to the song itself. 

It could also go under the category of Amplify as some of the scenes were repeated to suit the story-line within the video. 

4) How do the visuals reflect the lyrics in Billie Jean?

Because the spy and pop genre have both been carried out well in the music video mainly using elements of mise-en-scene e.g. costume, setting, props etc.

5) Why does the video feature fewer close-up shots than in most pop videos?

Because messages were also being conveyed through the things around such as setting and costumes. Close-ups weren't an essential as audiences didn't need to pick up the persona's facial expressions to get an understanding on what's happening. 

6) What intertextual references can be found in the video?

There isn't much intertextual reference in this video as it is quite old, however there are links to the film industry as he has used a film set as one of the settings. 

7) How does the video use the notion of looking as a recurring motif?

Throughout most the music video MJ doesn't look directly at the camera which connotes that he doesn't pay attention to the media and paparazzi; he doesn't let them distract him. However there's a close-up shot which then turns into an extreme close-up of his eyes at 2:25 where he references a woman claiming a baby is his which he has been falsely accused for in real life, the shot of his eye could be to represent that he's not lying.

8) What representations can be found in the video?

The representation of paparazzi as they're just following MJ around everywhere he goes and the costume the reporter/photographer's been given is like what spy detectives wear which connotes that the media and paparazzi are spying on MJ and trying to catch out anything he does by following him.

Close-textual analysis of the music video

1) How is mise-en-scene used to create intertextuality - reference to other media products or genres? E.g. colour/black and white; light/lighting.

Mise-en-scene is used to create intertextuality

2) How does the video use narrative theory of equilibrium?

The in-equilibrium is that Michael Jackson's being followed by paparazzi and people are trying to make false claims about him. It is then solved when he avoids all the images they try to capture of him and he also references it using his lyrics to indirectly get the message through that they are false claims.

3) How are characters used to create narrative through binary opposition?

Michael Jackson is shown as the hero whilst the photographer who's following him around is represented as the villain which shows binary opposition. 

4) What is the significance of the freeze-frames and split-screen visual effects?

It helps add more emphasis as freeze-frames make audiences pay more attention to a certain scene that the editor wants them to. Split screens helped the scene change from one to another more smoothly in those days, especially if it was from one setting to another or featuring a different person and scenario.

5) What meanings could the recurring motif of 'pictures-within-pictures' create for the audience?

'Picture-within-pictures' could be used to refer to other scenes that previously took place. They could also be carrying out messages within the music video that aren't being conveyed through the lyrics but they still want to get through to the audience. 

6) Does the video reinforce or subvert theories of race and ethnicity - such as Gilroy's diaspora or Hall's black characterisations in American media?

There's not much to do with race in the music video itself other than MTV refusing to air a black guys music on their channel even though they wouldn't admit to this. There have been no direct reference to African culture not black characterisation.

7) Does this video reflect Steve Neale's genre theory of 'repetition and difference'? Does it reflect other music videos or does it innovate?

Especially because Billie Jean was created a few years back, there wasn't music videos for MJ to get inspiration from so I believe that the whole idea was innovated by them also because he wanted to do something new. 

8) Analyse the video using postmodern theory (e.g. Baudrillard's hyper-reality; Strinati's five definitions of postmodernism). How does the 'picture-in-picture' recurring motif create a postmodern reading?

The music video has a lot of postmodern aspects for something that was created in the 80's. There were a lot of new visual effects, lighting, shot changes etc. The 'picture-in-picture' was a new concept and reflected a lot of postmodernism as not many people were aware of the idea of showing a shot within a shot whether it's an image, video or anything else.