Semiology

 Semiology- Barthes

Meanings that are communicated through signs which are made up of the signifier and the signified. This process depends on the connotations of the sign.

Barthes uses the word myths to describe the way the connotations suggested by a sign have come to be seen as normal or natural.

The meanings created by these myths often reflect dominate values of ideologies.

Applying Barthes theory to Stranger things

Opening shots such as the Wheeler house give an idea of the social norm that the show may have with an idea of sub-urban domestic bliss, whilst the scenery showing hoppers home filled with beer cans and his gun may represent masculinity.

Applying to The Killing 

Scenes where they find Nanna's underwear in the woods could symbolize the violence faced against women Denmark. As well as the fellow male detective who is often seen smoking r cracking wise about the scenario, showing he doesn't care too much.

They use a close up shot and high angle to suggest that the scientist is afraid, small and defenseless. This is typical of the cultural context and historical context of the ear as it could also be used to depict the fears of the cold war for instance. The character is clearly of high importance and as a result the show seem to depict that even those in charge who are successful academic adults are still left helpless. This gives the 'monster a new level of threat.

Significant Mise en scene

• Kitchen appliances and props
• 11 and Benny's clothing
• The assassin's clothing and Gun

Significant camera shots

• Close ups of every character
• over the shoulder interactions between 11 and Benny 
• Point of view of gunshot
• Mainly mid shot of Brenner

Editing

A majority of edits in tv dramas are straight cuts, these cuts are described as 'blink and you'll miss it' as you will often not notice them and see them more as just normal occurrences and not be aware that there are several cameras at work.

Fast edits are often used in tandem with dialogue as they cut from perspective-to-perspective of the interacting characters instead of focusing on one specific characters view.

Postmodernism- Baudrillard

Images and signs are now key features of our society

Postmodernism challenges the established order and calls into question fixed ideas about identity

Hyperreality is the idea that representation are now more powerful than reality and we cannot tell the difference between the two

Hyperreal is not a representation of reality and is rather a representation of representations.

social media and stranger things

 social media has allowed fans to re-immerse themselves in the series through conversation topics and hashtags

such movements as #JusticeForBarb

The movement took such a following that Netflix put together a memorial for the character at Comicon as well as a joke at the beginning of the Emmys 

Fandom- Jenkins

Participatory culture is the idea that the development of new media allows audiences to be more active and creative rather than just passive consumers.

Audience members become avid textual poachers of media, taking content from other outlets and adding it to their own

Convergence culture- media is consumed, shared and adapted on a range of different platforms.

Spreadable media- media is adapted by audiences members and shared with others for their own purposes.

How audiences ion the US and Denmark are different?

The US is patriotic with little to no interest in any non-English speaking European nations as well as a dormant fear of Russia and other stereotypical villain nations

The have a very rich cinematic history with famous directors such as Spielberg who make big budget movies with farfetched narratives such as E.T or Jurassic Park with an often successful conclusion

The nation has a two party system (small for a country of its size) with the left leaning democrats and right wing republicans and take their politics very seriously often resulting in massive disputes.

Denmark dramas often create an open ended narrative conclusion for their audiences to interpret their own endings Public broadcasters are expected to be socially conscious and make comments about the state of the nation hence the mayoral storyline in the killing

Mockery of other nations and neighbors like Sweden are seen as normal 

How audiences engaged with the killing

In a very different way to stranger things, their aren't as many shows with the same kind of fandom as stranger things

DR set up their own dedicated website to the killing which allowed the fans to cast their own votes on who they thought was the killer 

A blog from they guardian accompanied the British release of the series

Another allowed fans to right what Sarah Lund meant to them

Audiences and audience positioning

25,55 ABC1- male and female 

significant female demographic as audiences identified with a working mother 

Culturally literate- familiar with Nordic noire and the police crime drama

Self esteem- the killing became a must see tv show

BBC4- the audience expect well written quality dramas

Media effects

Bandura believes that media can have a direct effect on the way that audiences act whether that be their values, behavior or moral dilemma. The media can also have a direct effect through social media. he argues that audiences may try to imitate what they see or hear.

Cultivation theory

Gerbner argues that the media can influence an audiences over a long period of time. he found that people who watched a lot of tv will have a much more negative view of the world than people who watched little tv as well that those who watched a lot of tv where likely to have similar views to those who also do.

Media Audience

Stranger things applies to  a number of different audiences from teenagers, sci-fi fans and adults looking for nostalgia.  

Stranger things uses nostalgia to make references to its aud9iences with blatant nodes like featuring popular foods and brands synonymous with the 80s such as Coke and Lucky charms, to intertextual references to popular 80s movies such as Alien by mirroring scenes, dialog and actions of the characters. The use of the 80s references was a way to attract fans who long for a return of their favorite films and stars, the show does this perfectly through the casting of young 80s prospects such as Winona Ryder in more mature and parental roles. Even the shows basic premise of a buddy movie mixed with a supernatural monster fighter is an idea almost nit picked from the 80s entirely. 

Young teenagers- 'they are targeted at people our age' 

'I can access them on Netflix so they are easily accessible' 

nostalgic 30+- 'The cast are really good and are well known'

'I enjoy the narrative development'

sci-fi fans-'The settings and locations are interesting and tell their own stories'

'multiple plot lines are engaging'

nostalgia marketing 

People are more willing to spend money on items that make them feel nostalgic. Stranger things is a romanticized version of the 80s as whilst their are elements of the red scare, they often focus on more of the joyful elements of the period. 

Millennial pull

The population of millennials now represent a quarter of the U.S population, this group also has an annual buying power of $200 billion, yet is considered the hardest hardest generation to market for. Whilst the series tapped the 80s nostalgia market, the fantastically fresh story telling captivated viewers and turned the series into an overnight cult classic. 

Technological developments have changed the relationships between audiences and media producers. In the past media producers created media for the audiences, now audiences have the option to create content. These 'Prosumers' have different motivations to that of the original media producers. They have created an online surplus of which audiences can gather to produce their own media.

The Big Issue

 Intertextuality- where a media text creates a references to another piece of media such as using images, lines or actions similar to others.

Big Issue

The big issue will often use intertextuality on their front covers with references often relating to their stories they feature. Such as one of their covers featuring clear references to the Alfred Hitchcock movie Vertigo, whilst others relating to Sgt Peppers front covers. 

72% of the big issues readers are in the ABC1 category

43% of readers are AB

Psychographics: Reformers Explorers

To appeal to their target audience who will have the cultural capital to understand the references 

Mass Magazine 

• Usually printed on high quality paper
• Usually stapled or bound
• Published less frequently than newspapers
• Usually categorized by theme or topics

The front covers are important because they should indicate the stories, the genre and signature of the magazine (must be familiar and similar to other copies)

Masthead-Should be instantly recognizable to the audience and can often be copped out for a logo

Coverlines-Stories top convince the readers to buy the issue, often between 6-12 coverlines to convince different audiences

Color palette-Usually three colors which run throughout the cover

Taglines/slogans-A catchy slogan which represents the brand

Feature Articles-Usually the largest font on the screen and best represents the target audience

Central Image-Usually connected to the featured article, appeals to the target audience and may have a celebrity focus. Often secondary images which relate to smaller stories

The Big Issue House Style

Is their house style followed strictly- They take some liberties with their style as whilst most issues will feature the name of the interviewed celebrity in the center, not all of them do  

How do the Big Issue front covers differ compared to a typical fashion magazine?

They The big issue tend to use a variety of styles on its covers option for a unique style with little conventions in each issue of the magazine. IT also does not follow a common color pallet scheme choosing to implement a variety of colors instead f being limited to 3 or 4.

Genre and magazine

The big issue is defined by its distribution method: street vendors

Its not constraint to one genre like other magazines

It doesn't need to be recognized by retailers

until recently it didn't even have a barcode because it didn't need one

Politics

It is a political magazine, it holds all politician of every stripe to account. Who are we to say what people are to spend their hard earned wages on 

their target is to dismantle poverty and to fight for social inclusion

They are often critical of big business who they believe suck money out o0f they economy rather than put money in.

Magazine

Magazine distribution 

• 75% of the population are reached by magazines (40million people)
• 40% of these magazines are viewed by print
• 18% through desktop
• 12% through tablets
• 51% through phones 

The Big Issue has a circulation of 83,073 per week

Regulation and long term tv drama

 Netflix's response to the FCC ending Net Neutrality

As the FCC begin their plans of ending internet neutrality, Many streaming and media giants have came out as opposed to the ideas put forward by the commission. Many streaming and media personnel welcomed the introduction of the new internet regulations as a return to form for them, companies like Version, who do not rely on internet access to operate.

Many have argued that only the top streaming services that rely on the internet will survive the new 'Trump Era' of Net Neutrality. The evidence used to support this is looking at the success of these companies. With the launch of HBO Now, a streaming service showing all HBO/Warner content such as Game of Thrones and the DC superhero movies, this is starting to show a rift in the way internet technology is moving as big media giants like Warner Media and now Disney and Fox are investing in streaming services. Netflix has seen a massive growth in subscribers over the past few years, this gives them the ability like many of their counter parts access wireless connection more efficiently than most.

Netflix is having trouble breaking into Asian markets amidst the amount of restrictions and regulations it has to follow along with not being able to produce quality content to attract Asian consumers over other streaming services in the area. Due to the new 130 markets that Netflix has attempted to enter, the Asian markets have proven the most controversial with the streaming service falling afoul of the cultural regulations as hit tv shows like house of cards are deemed too violent and sexual for Asian audiences. Major Asian markets like Indonesia have demanded that in order to operate in the country, Netflix must set up a branch in Indonesia and pay company taxes., Their are further licensing restrictions in many of the Asian countries they are attempting to break into with popular flagship shows like House of Cards being delayed in many of the countries. Furthermore considering Netflix streams many tv shows that are not owned by the service such as ABC's How to get away with murder and as a result do not have the correct rights to the show streaming internationally.

Radiohead

 Radiohead

The band formed in a school in the 1980s and would perform gigs around oxford before going on hiatus to attend university. The got back together in 1991 and made a demo and were quickly picked up. Their first single was a flop as the music was considered depressing and unfitting for the time. Their second and third singles saw amazing success in the US. The bands lead singer was not a fan of the limelight and was often critical of through mainstream American audiences that made him famous.

They had to major albums, ok computer and the bends, meaning that they had the creative freedom to do whatever they wanted away from record companies.

In 2007 they left their label and digitally released their next album in rainbows and allowed fans to pay however much they want.

They then released their next album a day before release without letting anyone know leaving it for only dedicated fans to discover this.in 2016 Radiohead deleted their entire social media presence and fading into social obscurity. They then released 

Fandom 

Trumpton

-Old children's tv show which began in the 1960's using stop motion animation

-Like sesame street in the US, Trumpton has a sort of cultural significant in British culture.

-Trumpton is supposed to represent the ideal life in Britain with no crime and everyone getting along

-Noel Gallagher even credited a line from Champagne Supernova with inspiration from the show 

-Trumpton represents a sort of myth about peaceful British life which has never really existed

Wickerman

-Wickerman is a 1973 movie about a police officer looking for a missing child on an island

-He finds that the island live in a quaint little village where everyone gets along

-The islanders are all pagan  and plan to sacrifice the police officer to the gods

Burn the witch

Was released in 2016 at the same time as Brexit and the election of a well known tribal politician Donald trump

4. A critique of the increasing trialist mentality of political factions and values in the west

The video shows all of the villagers conforming to the word of one man and sticking by them regardless of what they do. This could also show the increasing in distaste and downright hatred of those who do not share the same political views, customs and traditions. This can be seen near the start where the visitor doesn't shake the priest hand upon arrival. Before the actual burning commences, the priest turns towards the crowd to look for approval of the followers, furthering the elements of tribe mentality.

Star/brand image- a general impression held by potential or real customers.

Nirvana- Murky, down to earth, grudge

Ariana Grande- Pristine, center of attention, sex appeal 

Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre- aggressive, sex appeal, rich bragging

Emil Sande- Heaven 

 

-Unique hair style for a woman

-Gives off a hand-drawn look to the cover

-A black woman with bleach white hair 

-Head held high

-Ominous clouds around her head

-Unconventional style (cookie-cutter)

-No use of sex appeal, not revealing or seductive

-Black and white give off traits of light and dark 

-Not looking towards the camera to show she is focused on other things

Social and cultural context

In 2009, Sande featured on chipmunks debut single diamond rings, which gave them a top 10 UK chart

she often featured on other peoples songs but never her own

Heaven became her first single track and her record label Virgin wanted to make her a stand out artist when she signed for them in 2010

Setting

-set in day time in a busy city area

-use of sacrilegious imagery

-set in a diverse area

-Has a very urban and ethnic setting using a drum and bass beat

 

Camera work

-cuts to random people in the streets

-Uses light effectively

cuts between dark and light locations 

-films Sande looking up towards the sky

-Attempts to get light shining through in every shot

  

 Curran and Seaton: Media Theory

Power and responsibility

"Powerful media institutions project ideas, values and messages and have the power to shape peoples ideologies"

The Killing

Their are many important values shared in the killing, for example the discouragement of racism as we see many characters like Theis dismissing racist remarks from others.

There's a clear conflict between Swedes and Danish

The family dynamic with the protective father figure like Theis

An idea the women could be just as good as men in an important position

Stranger things

Good triumphing over evil

The family dynamic

Challenging conventions like the hysterical woman

Distrust in the government 

Hesmondhaulgh: Media theory

Cultural Industry

Risk is particularly high in cultural industry because of the difficulty in predicting success

Industry Comparison

 DR

Danish broadcasting corporation

Public service broadcasting like the BBC

Oldest and biggest broadcaster in Denmark

Has 6 TV and radio channels

Quality not profit

Government

Regulated

Vertical integration

Responsibility

Limited

Viewing figures

Famous cast

Netflix

Private media company

Creative freedom

Subscribers

Flexible

Famous casts

Viewing figures

Big budget

Quality not profit

The killing was created by Soren Sveistruep a well-known writer and producer in Denmark. He is well known for creating the three series of the killing which aired in Denmark. He also produced a movie Snowman which aired in the UK in 2017

The killing was produced by the public broadcasting service DR.

DR is funded by the public and therefor the a licensing fee is sent out to all Danish citizens who own a TV, smartphone or computer and it allows them to access entertainment services.

DR was founded in 1925

Other well-known shows created by DR are Legion and The Bridge.

DR has a much smaller budget than big media giants like Netflix, the killing reflects the economic context of a small publicly owned national broadcaster producing quality programming with one series at a time in cooperation with other national broadcasters to ensure better success. 

The series has a much smaller budget than typical BBC dramas but is synonymous worldwide as a thought-provoking, socially-conscious drama. DR put a great deal of emphasis on letting the stories of their drama develop slowly and avoid giving to much of the plot away. 

Similarities

-Follow the case of a missing child

-Have a certain focus on law enforcement

-Distrust in government figures

-Elements of the family dynamic in both as well as protective parents

-Both use dark and gritty settings 

-Both shows have quite unknown cast aside from one or two well known actors and actresses

-Both arguably have a lead female protagonist 

-Both have initially mysterious antagonists

-Saw great international success

-Both open with characters running from an unknown threat

Differences

-One is murder other is missing child 

-One follows exclusively adults whilst the other has a mix of children and adults

-Stranger things has elements of the supernatural 

-Stranger things was produced by a private media company 

-Stranger things had a lot of options on who they were able to cast whilst DR had a much smaller budget to look for a cast

-Stranger things had a lot of promotional material behind it whilst the killing relied on a tightly knit audience.

-Their were set times when episodes of the killing could be viewed whilst stranger things was designed to be 'bingeable'

-The killing takes place in Copenhagen, a lively capital city of Denmark, whilst stranger things embraces the idea of a small quiet mid-west town

-Stranger things uses synergy to give people a feel for the 1980s aesthetic with products like Kellogg's Eggo waffles appearing whilst their is no mention of any major products, shows or advertisement in the Killing 

-Because of when the killing was initially released, DR didn't have the ability to promote through social media and had to rely on more conventional mean for the time such as trailers, billboards and reviews.

-The killing is set in the modern day taking place when it was released in 2007 as the story is not affected by the ear it is set in massively, whilst stranger things is set in the 1980 as the setting wouldn't work in the modern age  

-Stranger things was released internationally on Netflix, whilst the Killing was initially released in Denmark in 2007 before being released in the UK in 2011 on BBC4 

-killing was more socially conscious and showed a reflection of the Danish government

-The killing was produced by a public service broadcaster whilst stranger things was created and distributed by the streaming company Netflix

Netflix

Netflix

• Netflix hit its 100millionth subscriber in 2017
• The company began in 2003 as a mail order DVD service 
• In 2007 after delivering their billionth DVD they began providing an online streaming service
• Shows like breaking bad saw a massive increase in popularity because of this with the creator of the show stating that the service "kept them on the air"
• In 2014 they began their first original show House of Cards with A-listers like Kevin Spacey and David Fincher in leading roles which has lead to massive success.
• The service is now available in 190 countries and has a range of original shows from children's animation to murder mysteries and documentaries.

casting and cast

For The show they looked at hundreds of young children to cast in the roles of the boys and eleven. with the boys the Duffer brothers were looking for 4 children who can play off one an others chemistry in the first scene when playing dungeons and dragons, this was incredibly important as the show as meant to take element of the buddy genre. The casting of the female character 11

Marketing

Netflix used a range of different marketing techniques in order to promote stranger things. This ranged from trailers, to word of mouth transition. Netflix also used to more modern form of marketing through social media with promotion on their Facebook, Instagram and twitter accounts of the show. 

Twitch

• A twitch stream of of fans and creators from the show and to promote the show. This clearly targeted a male gamer audience with all of the stream participants being white young males with a stereotypically geeky premises.

• Cinematic trailer was released on YouTube on 9th of June 2016
• They also released an interactive virtual reality 360 degree game of the basement around the same time.
• The advantage of using YouTube is it is able to reach a much wider audience as well as being able to be viewed by anyone at any time rather than tv or movie trailers which have set times to be viewed.

Cross media

• There was a snapchat filter to promote the show released around the same time
• The show also had its own twitter and social med8ia accounts to release promotional material
• fan art and memes created by fans and prosumers of the show.

Synergy

• Eleven's favorite food is Eggo waffles, Kellogg's Eggo waffles was not a product placement in the series and were simply a way of giving another 80s feel
• Their was a massive increase in sales of Eggo waffles after the release of stranger things, leading to more joint ventures between Netflix and Kellogg, including a trailer for the second season of the show launched at the NFL Superbowl.

Music video

Richard Dyers star theory 

Richard Dyer claims that celebrities are simply commodities Created by larger corporations to target a specific group of people to make money. These cooperation's will create and design celebrities to target a specific audience and to compete with competition and this leads to pop stars becoming disposable and irrelevant. 

Music videos in the modern day. 

Music videos are commonly viewed through more modern mediums like social media and YouTube videos, as well as music apps and services whilst more bygone forms of entertainment like MTV have fallen by the wayside. A large reason for this is because of the instant gratification nature of the modern audience rather than waiting for the chance of a video they like playing. 

Facts 

There are 43 different music channels along with countless online streaming channels and mobile apps. This all relates to what Henry Jenkins calls ‘Technological Convergence’ where lots of media platforms condensing into one. It makes the spread of information incredibly fast, prolific and spreadable. 

• If the reader isn't engaged by the music video, they will likely not watch it all. 

• They are unlikely to become attached to the song. 

• They won't share it. 

• Wont like it 

And the song will ultimately fail. 

 

Todorov- Narratology  

A narrative will begin with the status quo, something will happen to disrupt this. One thing leads to another and we lead to a new status quo. If this effect doesn't occur, then it doesn’t feel like a story and rather a random series of events. 

Levi Strauss- Structuralism 

"One way stories build meaning is by a series of binary opposites"

• Good vs evil
• hero vs villain
• dark vs light
• happy vs sad
• stories can only work with conflict

Editing and Narrative

How does media language convey meaning and build narrative?

Media Language=

1. mise en scene

2. camera shots, types, angles, movement

3. editing and post production eg effects like slowing 

Example – from music video   

Shot / reverse shot- 

Establishing shot- opening cut of a movie or new scene normally very wide  

   

  

   

Eyeline Match- shows directly what someone is looking at and will often focus on them looking into the Lense before cutting to their view  

  

  

   

Graphic Match- normally a cut between the fiction and reality in the story and most shots will replicate in two different scenarios, can be characters closing their eyes and someone else opening theirs can be visual or verbal.  

  

  

   

Action Match- show characters actions in one angle, but changes mid-actions  

  

  

  

Jump Cut- casually used in montages to show the passage of time by cutting in and out of the same shots   

  

  

  

Crosscutting- used to show when two things are happening at the same time and is used in both phone scenes and in high intensity scenarios  

  

  

  

Parallel editing-  

  

  

  

Cutaway- cutaways are degressions from the current story and can be used to show what's going on in a character's mind   

  

  

  

Insert- a shot of some detail is inserted into an action to give the action more importance, the item is in the main shot