Tabloid newspaper cover

 

 Which character do I sympathise with most?
Joyce Byers 

Which character do I most dislike?

The Bullies

Which character do I find most interesting?

The most interesting character so far appears to be Hopper, whilst characters like 11 do seem to be more mysterious he seems to have a depressive attitude to life and has clearly experienced past trauma.

Which character most captures the spirit of the 80's

Steve, 90s rebellion and teen angst.

Which character do I most resemble?

Dustin

Stranger Things In depth Study

 Stranger Things is an Si-Fi/Horror series which was released to Netflix in the summer of 2016. The show is set in the 1980s and has clear inspiration from the culture and common genres of the time. The show blends the styles, music, comedy, references, action, horror and typical lifestyle of 80s America. They also use typical conventions of the time, such as the 4 main protagonist friends being shown to be nerdy social outcasts with them playing the RPG (roleplaying game) Dungeons and Dragons and constantly referencing movies like star wars, Ghostbusters and more si-fi movies. The show also reflects several historical events and climates in the 80s, one of the more obvious ones being the 'Red Menace' of the cold war which had been going on for the past 30+ years and both peaked and declined during the 80s. However a more subtle reference to historical events is the view and treatment of minorities in the mid-west at the time. In the shows first season their is only one black child character, Lucas Sinclair, who is one of the main character and is also picked on and outcast by the other kids at school. This can represent the view on black people in the mid-west and rural towns in the 80s.

The two main Genres of the 80's were si-fi and horror, this is clearly evident in the astoundingly high profits from major movies like E.T which took $435 million, or the two star wars sequels The empire strikes back and Return of the Jedi which took in a total of $599 million overall. The development in technology at the time allowed movies like these to be brought to life and appear much more realist than previous si-fi works, This coupled with amazing directors Like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg lead to these movies inspiring a whole new age of cinema and pop-culture. The other main genre at the time, horror was not only bound to screens, but actually more captivating through books. Horror legend Stephen King was the most infamous writer of this time with horror classics like IT, Pet Cemetery, Salem Lot, Misery and much much more being released at this time. Many of his works were adapted during in the 80s into movies, such as the Shinning, Cujo and Christine.

Netflix

 Netflix began with two people in California, Mark Randolph and Reid Hastings and the idea came from Hastings who after having to pay a fine for a late VHS return, came up with the idea of a subscription DVD service. Blockbuster, which was the leading video rental store in the US was massive compared to Netflix with an annual revenue estimated of $6 Billion in 2000, whilst Netflix were on to make just $3 million that same year. They began with a postal service f movies which found them miled success, it was only after streaming became readily available did they really take off. This increase in success lead to Netflix beginning to make their own streaming shows, beginning with House Of Cards, an American version of a British show by the same name. This changed the idea and public image of Netflix, as they went from being a technological based streaming service to a creativity based targeting content producer.

Another development almost pioneered by Netflix was binge watching. Netflix released its original shows all at once allowing viewers to view it on their own time. They also used algorithms in order to offer watchers what they'd be interested in eg dramas, horror, Furthermore, with its broadcasting freedoms, Netflix do not have to censor themselves and can pludge itself into sensitive topics.

Netflix has borrowed around $12 billion at this moment in time and they send roughly $3 billion more than they make each year. Now massive companies like HBO, Disney, Amazon and more are beginning their own streaming services which will drastically affect the business as the market shrinks. It is theorised that a large media company like Apple or even Disney may merge or buy the company.

BBC Radio One

 Explain how popular music programmes target, reach and maintain their audiences. Refer to BBC Radio one Breakfast to support your answer.

One of the more modern ways in which popular music radios and other platforms like BBC breakfast radio reach their audience is through cross media convergence. Due to advancements in technology, the stations target audience of 15-29 year olds have grown up with access to more efficient means of listening to music and being entertained than listening to the radio and as a result, radio one has seen a drastic decline in listeners over the past few years whilst competitor music platforms like Spotify have seen a rise in as much as 32% of annual listeners in the past year alone. To combat this, Radio one has attempted to move more online through allowing access to the broadcasts online at any time, to setting up social media accounts in order to allow more tech aware fans to interact, ask question and request songs to be played. The integration with online platforms such as twitter, YouTube and Instagram allow those who may not have access to radio's or those who are not able to listen to the breakfast broadcast to still listen, view and enjoy the broadcast. furthermore, whilst apps like apple music and Spotify provide users with a wider variety of choice in music with freedom to pick playlists, Radio one attempts to offer an additional service of entertainment through the presenters hit has. since its creation in 1967, their have been 15 presenters to take up the role of breakfast host, everyone was hired in order to appeal to the audience at the time and increase or maintain viewers, for example 90's presenter Zoe Ball was to appeal to the clubbing culture present in the UK at the time. The current presenter Greg James uses the unique appeal of audience interaction to entice viewers to listen. This method of allowing the audience to have a say in what is played makes them feel listened to and encourages them to listen more.

Another way radio broadcasts like radio one target their audience is through the use of live performances and giving up and coming artist a platform. Firstly, radio one will have several live performances from big name stars like Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, Billie Ellish and more in order to attract fans of theirs to hear unique performances, new songs or interviews. This constant flow of talent appearing on he show will allow Radio one to edge out other opponents who can not provide the same service. Radio one also offer a stage to young up incoming talent a place to be heard. Due to the growth in many music genres such as drill, grime, rap and pop Radio one has offered a place for all those songs to be heard to attract the audiences of them, furthermore they will give rising talent within those genres a place to perform as to build a following. This will draw many listeners to radio one in order to hear new music by new artists. 

News lesson final task

 Does the UK press need to be more strictly regulated?

Personally, I believe their should be a restriction on the level of which the press is allowed to operate. Whilst I fully support the idea and continued use of a free press, there is no denying the press have built themselves a reputation for being aggressive and using deliberately harmful tactics and even going as far as to cause disruptions in order to get a decent news story. One of these cases is that of former Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas who was diagnosed with HIV, a condition which can lead to auto immune deficiency or AIDS, and instead of being able to break the troubling news to his parents, the press revealed it in order to attempt to get a story on their reactions. It is situations like this which can severely damage lives and break bonds between families as their is little to no regulations on what the press is allowed to say. In fact, if the press release a story filled with enough misinformation to be considered false, the only thing the paper is regarded to do is pay a reasonable fine, and publish a small conformation that the story is false anywhere in their next paper. This hardly does justice to falsifying stories and i believe more regulations should be in place.

Stories designed to play on readers emotions at the expense of usually famous people is a common practice with tabloid newspaper, especially the right-wing paper The Sun. This paper is notorious for its horrific bashing of celebrities from personal choices to their physical apperance, to even digging up tragedies from people past for a front page story. This is the case with Cricketer Ben Stokes who had it revealed by The Sun that before his birth, his mothers children were murdered. Whilst this makes for a captivating read and millions of sold copies for the tabloid, it can drastically change a persons life for the worse and in the case of Ben Stokes, have serious reproductions on his mental health. For these reasons i believe that their should be stricter regulations of the presses action and behaviour in order to prevent more damage being caused.

Should the government play a bigger role in the regulation of the press?

I do not believe that the government should play a bigger role in the UK press. I believe this because of the fact that the press is truly about free speech. We have always valued free speech in the UK and the press is even referred to as the fourth estate. Whilst many people may disagree with the press and many outlets and newspapers like the sun or guardian, removing the option for them to work independently will restrict the publics access to free speech and limit the what news we hear. Countries like China, north Korea and others with state-controlled press are limited to certain stories, often this is used to prevent the public from knowing certain things or to keep a positive image of the country. A government controlled press limits the number of expressive opinions a person will be able to learn and will limit a persons knowledge of the outside world expansionaly. Overall, whilst I have stated their needs to be some restrictions on what the press can do and get away with, I believe they have the right to publish freely without government intervention.

Newspaper lesson 8