Deconstructing Media Products

To deconstructing media products I will look at the ‘types and contents of media products’, by comparing a fictional product with a non- fictional product. Also the ‘different stylistic features and genres of media products’, by comparing two media products from different sectors. Then finally the ‘different messages of media products and their effects on audiences’, making reference to two separate media products and there positive and negative effects on the audience.
Here is a map of all the different media coverage. At the centre of the map is the digital media coverage, which divided into different parts of media coverage, which this map shows you how they split into different parts. 

In this section of my blog I am going to talk about the types of contents of media products.
The fictional film The Hunger Games and the second part of the sequel catching fire is a typical action, SCI-FI film.
The Hunger Games is a sequel of 3, which is in 4 different parts and the story is about a television show where two teenagers that are picked at random from each of the 12 different districts of Panem to fight for their life. This takes place in an arena and there is only one person who can survive the games each year.

However in the 74th Hunger games two people win, which then comes onto the second film of the sequel were all the 12 recent winners from the districts have to fight each other for the 75th Hunger Games. The purpose of this film is to entertain the target audience of people aged 12+ and who enjoy watching action/adventure films. This film has succeed in entertaining its audience by giving the film a great story line that gets the audience excited to see the next film of the sequel also in The Hunger Games Catching Fire it finished on a cliff-hanger to get the audience wanting more, meaning that they will want to go and see the next movie.

By analysing the poster for Catching Fire it appears to be purposely designed to attract a wider audience, because the poster design looks like a western fantasy movie rather than a action/adventure movie.
The Structure of The Hunger Games is linear there is a beginning and middle and an ending however this film is in 4 parts but the story is in 3 parts.
This film matches the theory of Todorov which is:

The first stage is an equilibrium and yes in The Hunger Games it starts off normal where Kasness is just hunting for food and there is also no conflict which tells me it is a normal stars.

The Second stage of his theory is called the disequilibrium which is were the conflict begins in relation to the first Hunger Games the conflict begins when its the reaping event and katness sister prim is chosen to be one of the tributes but katness decides to volunteer as tribute to save her sister's life.

The third stage is where the action begins and Katness's goal is to win the games for her sister prim which starts when she tries and runs out to the sides of the arena.

The final stage is when a new equilibrium starts when Katness and peter win the games and return to their families.
In the second part of the story they use Flash backs to a pervious film which are used effectively when Katness and Peter visit the different districts Katness has a flash back of Rue dying in the games when she visits her district. They also used dreams of her in the games or something relating to the games when Katness gets a nightmare. These devices affect the way the audience sees the film and for the people who haven’t seen the first part of the story they are very useful for them to know what has happened in the story in a brief detail. There are a few main characters:

The hero and the heros lover is Katness and peter who are both in the games from the same distric

The villian of the film who is the creater of the Hunger games President Coriolanus Snow and his team of helpers

Haymitch Abernathy is the Katness helper in the games he helps her and peter to focus on the games

There is a basic message from this film which is that the state controls the Districts where people live. However individuals can make a difference, which can be true in real life for example Nelson Mandela who fought against the apartheid. Now i am moving onto the non fiction tv realality show Jeremy Kyle show

The non- fictional TV show Jeremy Kyle is a typical reality show about bad relationships with parts of the show for people who are wanting a dna test to see if they are the father of the child. For example in a previous show there was a woman made allegations that her sister has stolen money from her mam and that she has also slept with her boyfriend. In the end Jeremy found out thar not only did she did steal from her mam and she slept with her sister's boyfriend the sister who rang the show also slepted with the accused;s boyfriend

Jeremy Kyle address the shows participant’s in a very direct way, especially to the people who are in the wrong. For example people who tell a lie and when he confronts them they keep saying the lie detector is wrong. However he gets very direct towards the participants who lie. He can get personal with the participant’s for example he talks to the person who phone the show up as if they were friends. Also Jeremy talks informally throughout the show in friendly terms and slang quotes
The purpose of this TV show is to highlight social and personal issues of peoples relationships and there is an entrainment in the way its structured which is various couples who he talks to and also argues with. He also gets the audience involved in the arguments and they show the disapproval which adds tension and anxiety to the participant’s.
He Tell the audience the story by saying a brief description about it and he shows people on tv a couple of shots about what’s coming up next. This device helps the audience understand what the story is going to be about before it starts. They use live footage of the backstage room which is shown in the stage area wall showing expressions to the comments made by the person who phone the show
The Main Character is Jeremy Kyle who is the host of the show, there is also a person who helps Jeremy and the families that come on the show. Also there is the audience in the stage area and the families that are having family issues wait backstage till Jeremy calls them on stage.
The message of the show is that relationships can be worked out with a bit of help and understanding.

If we compare the main differences of the fictional film with the non-fictional TV show there are variances, which are the purpose of content. The purpose of The Hunger Games is to entertain the target audience of people aged 12+ and who enjoy watching action/adventure films and The Jeremy Kyle Show is to Entertainment the audience on social issues. The structure is different because the content of The Hunger Games is a purely fictional film because these games don’t exist in the real world, but some of the real life wars could be related to this film and the content of the Jeremy Kyle show is purely non-fictional because its real life relationships at a breaking point. The messages and Values are different because the message in The Hunger Games is tell is the audience individuals can make a difference compared to the Jeremy Kyle show his message is that relationships can be worked out with a bit of help and understanding.
In this section i will be talking about The different stylistic features and genres of media products. i will be comparing the stylistic features of the film Harry Potter and the deathly hallows with its video games.

The style of the film is modern which is a middle ground setting with a mixture of realist and fantasy settings. In many fantasy movies such as Harry Potter and the deathly hallows where the locations and props are realistic. However some of the scenes and objects are computerized. This is a typical feature for the modern style

The posters for part 1 and 2 of the deathly hallows has the same type of background colour which is a grey blue which is similar to the colours using in the film. The poster for part 1 makes the audience think why and who are they running from. The poster for part 2 makes the audience think that harry potters time is up! Also the poster seeks danger in the film                  The camera work is varied throughout both of the films for example in the wedding scene from Deathly Hallows part 1 there were more mid shots in this scene. They were loads of mid shots because there was loads of conversation with the different characters. However there were also some over head shots and there was also a Dutch Tilt and a few wide shots and some of them were floor level looking up at the blue magic in the middle of the dance floor. Also with the effects of the wedding party making them all look vulnerable.
The mise en scene of both films is similar. For example In the sequels of harry potter the are a few places that continues in every one is Hogwarts magic school, the forest and the surrounding country side. In the wedding scene the setting was a party in some marque in the surrounding country side. The clothing, makeup and hair styles all look like they are from a mixture of the 40s, 50s and 60s styles. For example some characters were wearing clothes you would expect to see in a wedding. However some of the characters were wearing eccentric clothes looks like what the Victorian people would wear. Also there are flame torches around the castle which makes the audience think this was in the Victorian times.
The lighting in both of the parts of this film in the sequel is low keyed and natural. There is flame touches in the hall which looks as if gives the scene light. This makes the film look more realistic, which makes the audience think its real. Some of the scenes are lit up by the special FX. For example in the scene above a spell is made and flashes of light come off the wand.
The Editing of these 2 parts of this film there are a combination of Slow editing, straight cuts, fast cut editing which build up action, tension and drama to entertain the audience. For example in the battle of Hogwarts where the trolls are coming across the bridge there are fast cut adding when there is action of explosions and fight scenes and in one part of this scene there was a slow motion scene that looks to the audience point of view that it has been frozen in time for a few seconds to build up the tension. The Harry Potter video game has the same storyline as the film. However the difference is this is an interactive experience of the film's storyline. This allows the gamer to experiece 3 different characters roles in this storyline. The video game rated the same as the film however this may attract younger audience due to the gameplay.

 

 

 

The poster for the first part of the game has kept the blue/gray colour theme associated with the film. However the second part of the film   has changed its theme to a brown shades this may appeal to an older audience because it looks like there is a war going on.

Now I am going to talk about the different messages of media products and their effects on audiences One of the latest adverts is for a brand of E-Cigerettes is VIP. The brand VIP E-cigarette is quite new to the market over the last 5 months. They have been advertising it mostly through ITV but they also advertise in some national stores such as Boots and Superdrug and also in the health care centres and in their own shop.

On a denotation level the first image shows the products items on its poster, which is completely different to the image of its TV advert which is a woman in an evening dress against a studio or green screen background. On a connotation level the poster suggests that this is for smokers also looks like a reusable pocket size E-cigarette for smokers who want to quit. However the TV advert suggests that the woman looks like an escort advertising sex because of her body language and face expressions.                  The negative impact is the TV advert showing the product in a extremely sexualized way. The message that it’s sending out is that sex can replace cigarette smoking to the audience. There have been many complaints to ITV about this advert be played in between I'm a Celebrity get me out of here. In the Daily Mail there was an article about this advert with the headline “Parents' outrage at e-cigarette advert during I'm a Celebrity... that appears to be a woman talking about oral sex There is a positive side to this product, which is promoted through its own stores and other clinical/health shops and centres. The posters design is plain and appropriate showing exactly what they are selling, which may persuade the audience to use VIP to quit smoking tobacco.

Now I am going to talk music videos that have an impact on the audience for example

This music video is - My Love by Route 94

This music video starts off as a normal view of a man walking into a club. However when he steps into the club the whole video turns into a heat sensitivity effect. This video may appeal to people under influence of drugs.

 

The lyrics to the song and the content of the video and the name of the song tell us that there is only sex in love these days. This also sends messages to young males that sex is easy to find in nightclubs and females are regularly easy to get with. 

 

Females are show in a highly sexual way because the females were dancing in a sexual way and they were also feeling there casual partners.

 

The only positive for this video is that young people shouldn't feel lonely they can always go to a club and find love or to socialize with others even though it may be a bit shallow

Now I am going to talk about the audience profiles for all the media products discussed in the blog

The Hunger Games

The hungers games attracts a primary audience with a age group of - 16 - 25 because in America a book was released and the top age group was 16 - 25 so the film will be the same audience. There will also be a strong secondary audience with a age group of under 15s because these age groups have been grown up with fantasy films such as twilight and Disney films.

 

The hunger games attracts all 3 genders because:

• strong attractive female character which will be appealing to males or  people who are transgender also there is a lot of action/adventure which will attract males or transgender to watch.
• Females will identify themselves with the female character also there is romance in the film which also appeals to females
• This film also has characters that dress in a fashion that is designed for transgender or similar interests  

The social grades for the hunger games are:

• Grade C2 (skilled working class) - skilled manual workers
• Grade D (Working class) - Semi skilled and unskilled manual working (part time workers)
• Grade E (Those at the lowest level of subsistence) - these include pensioners, widows, unemployed, students. (no other earner casual or lowest paid workers)

This depends on the primary audience because lots of people aged 16 - 25 are still in full time education or they have a part time job or are still looking for work.

The Jeremy Kyle show
The Jeremy Kyle Show attracts a primary audience with a age rating of 15 - 80 because different people of this age group start to watch this show so they can be entertained by the issues that just go out of hand but according to the ITV sector the target audience for this show is the following

females

young people

Housewives with children 

The social grade of the Jeremy Kyle show are

• Grade D (Working class) - Semi skilled and unskilled manual working (part time workers) - Some people in this category will watch this show because they are off work and they have nothing else to do.  
• Grade E (Those at the lowest level of subsistence) - these include pensioners, widows, unemployed, students. (no other earner casual or lowest paid workers) This is because its a day time TV. Therefore the Jeremy Kyle show is going to be what they will watch instead of working.

Harry Potter sequel
Harry potter attracts a primary audience with a age group of - 16 - 25 because in America a book was released and the top age group was 16 - 25 so the film will be the same audience. There will also be a strong secondary audience with a age group of under 15s because these age groups have been grown up with the Harry Potter franchises

 

Harry Potter attracts all 3 genders because:

• strong attractive male character which will be appealing to females or people who are transgender also there is a lot of action/adventure which will attract males or transgender to watch.
• Males will identify themselves with the male character
• Also there is romance in the film which will also appeals to females

The social grades for Harry Potter are:

• Grade C2 (skilled working class) - skilled manual workers
• Grade D (Working class) - Semi skilled and unskilled manual working (part time workers)
• Grade E (Those at the lowest level of subsistence) - these include pensioners, widows, unemployed, students. (no other earner casual or lowest paid workers)

This depends on the primary audience because lots of people aged 16 - 25 are still in full time education or they have a part time job or are still looking for work.
 
 
 
VIP E-cigarettes advert
VIP E-Cigarette advert appeals to a primary audience of an age group 25 - 44 because the smokers of this age want a healthier life style. People under this age have generally just started and some of them think its cool to smoke. 

VIP adverts are mainly targeted at males because:

• according to market research males smoke more than females meaning this advert has been designed to target specifically males.
• The advert is over sexualized which this also appeals to males. However this advert may appeal to females because they may identify themselves with the woman in the advert.

The social grades for VIP adverts are all grades depending on if you are a smoker.

My Love - Route 94
My love appeals to a primary audience of an age group 16 - 24  because this age gap is when people become more sexual active than other age groups with a strong second audience of an age group 25 - 44 because they spend time in the clubs to socialize. 

 My Love (music video) mainly targeted at males because:

• This video show the perspective of a male in a that finds a girl he likes and has causal sex.
• Most males can identify with the main character.
• Most males like to have casual sex with no strings attached.

The social grades for The music video My Love are all grades depending on if you are a male that likes partying and casual sex with no strings attached.






 Below is a table of each different social grades and what they mean

Social grade	Social status	Chief Income Earners’ occupation
A	Upper middle class	Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	Middle Class	Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	Lower Middle Class	Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, admin or professional.
C2	Skilled Working class	Skilled manual workers
D	Working class	Semi – skilled and unskilled manual workers
E	Those at the lowest level of subsistence	State pensioners or widows (no other earner) casual or lowest grade workers.