Conventions of a double page spread

Learning Objectives: To create a rough out of a DPS in preparation of MS2 coursework.

Key terms: Image, quote, celebrity, stand first, by lines, colour scheme

Codes and conventions of a double page spread

Task 1: 

Rough out a DPS and submit for feedback if you plan to create this for your pre production or production.

For this double page spread on Adele, a large image has been used that covers more than half of the page. This striking image will capture the reader's attention straight away and invites them to read this interesting article. A simple title in black offers a brief overview of what is included in the next couple of pages; the readable font shows the idea that text can be interesting and informative at the same time. 

Audience Categories - Young and Rubicam (4 C's)

Learning Objective:  

How different audiences expect media texts to satisfy their wants and how to categorise these audiences.

• Key words: Young and Rubicam, Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation, Four C’s.

THE FOUR C’S (cross-cultural consumer characteristics): 

This is one of the earliest, but still most popular, ways of profiling audiences. It profiles the audience in terms of wants and needs, not simply demographic. The model divides audiences into 7 types but there are four main categorise for us to consider.

• Mainstreamers

• Aspirers

• Reformers

• Succeeders

The categories can be defined as follows:

 • Mainstreamers; this is the largest group. They are concerned with stability, mainly buying well-known brands and consuming mainstream texts.
People that follow the crowd.

• Aspirers; seeking to improve themselves. They tend to define themselves by high status brands, absorbing the ideologies associated with the products and believing their status alters as a result.
People living a 'champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget'

• Succeeders people who feel secure and in control – generally they are in positions of power. They buy brands which reinforce their feelings of control and power.
People with lots of money and can afford more high class products

• Reformers; idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products and buy brands which are environmentally supportive and healthy. They also buy products which establish this ‘caring and responsible’ ideology. Individuals (highly media literate, expects high-production advertising and buys product image not product, requires high-profiling sophisticated advertising campaigns).
-People who are worried about ethical issues/want to change the world

Task 1:

Assess which of Young and Rubicams 4C's are being targeted in the print based ad

Audience Theory - Two Step Flow

Learning Objective:

Key terms: Opinion leaders
These are people in society who may affect the way in which an audience interprets the media. For example politicians, teachers, celebrities and parents

Two Step Flow theory 
The idea that ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population.
This theory reinforces the idea that audiences are sophisticated in their responses, they are individuals, active not passive.

An audience may not have witnessed an actual event themselves, hence the two step flow  but may be influenced by the opinion leader. 

For example the reviews in a newspaper by recognised film critics and similar quoptes on film posters will influence an audience who have yet to see the film in question. This is particularly true if they trust and value the opinions of those commenting on the text.

Politicians commenting on a newspaper story may influence an audience who have not actually read the article themselves.

Task 1:

Write a paragraph which includes the following words about the newspaper front page below.

Opinion leader, editor, mediation, selection, omission, construction, moral panic.

Audience Theory - Pick and Mix (David Gauntlett).

Learning objectives: 
To consider David Gauntlett's Pick and Mix theory in relation to

Key words: Sophisticated audiences

This is another theory that understands the autonomy of the audience. It couteracts the theory that all audiences are affected by what they read. 
Gauntlett focuses on the way in which magazines and advertisements attract and represent audiences. His suggestion is that audiences are sophisticated and use texts to satisfy their needs. They pick the bits of the text that are appropriate to them and their lives and ignore others. 
This challenges the theory that women, for example, will be adversely affected by the unrealistic images they see on the front covers of women's magazines. They may read the magazine, ignoring the articles relating to sex and relationships and 'pick' the articles on fashion and beauty.

To conclude, Gauntlett talks about a highly sophisticated media user that isaware of what they want and don’t want from media texts and is also aware of themselves as a consumer.

Task 1:
Apply Gauntlett's pick and mix theory to the magazine front cover below

Task 2: 
List the modes of address and language used on the cover.

Audience Theory - Uses and Gratification

Learning objectives: 
To apply Uses and Gratification theory to 

Key words: 
Diversion, Information, social interaction, Personal identity.

Uses and Gratification Theory. Blulmer and Katz.

Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what does media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do people do with media?"

• Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)

• Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life OR using the cinema as a social event).

• Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behaviour and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)

• Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).



Task 1:
How could you apply Uses and Gratification theory to the feature film Harry Brown?

Task 2: Apply Uses and Gratification theory to the text in your own coursework investigation.

Audiences - Responses

Learning objectives:


Key words: Stuart Hall

The positioning of audiences by media texts suggests that the audiences shouls accept the messages contained within the text and decode the text in the way expected by the text's producers. However, audiences do not all respond to the texts in the same way.
They may accept or challenge the messages encoded within the text.
Stuart Hall accepted that audiences were active, not passive and suggested that there were three main ways in which audiences may respond to a media text.

There are a few important things to remember about the three different positions that we can take.

Preferred Reading

Is not just about 'liking' a text - you must understand what the purpose of a text is and agree with its ideologies and the messages it carries.

Oppositional Reading

Is not just 'disliking' a text - there are many reasons why someone may take an oppositional reading - but whatever these reasons are, the audience member must understand what the intentions of the text are, but reject them.

Negotiated Reading

Can be the case whereby an audience member agrees with some ideologies and not others, but it can also be the case where the audience doesn't fully understand the intentions of the text - or is confused about the purpose of the text.

Task 1:

Discuss reasons for the three different possible readings of the trailer below.

Bullet points.
* This text can be your specific example for the exam.

Audiences - Positioning

Learning objectives:
To consider how audiences have been positioned in the trailer for the feature film American Sniper.


Key terms: 
Active audience. This describes an audience who responds to and interprets the media texts in different ways and who actively engages with the messages in the ways suggested here.
Passive audiences. This describes an audience that does not engage actively with the text. They are more likely to accept the preferred meaning of the text without challenge.  this also suggests that passive audiences are more likely to be directly affected by the messages contained within the text.

• Encode
• Decode

Audience positioning

Media texts are constructed in order to place audiences in a particular position in relation to that text. Audience positioning concerns the relationship between the text and responses an audience may have to that text.
The producers of the texts encode the text with signs and messages and the audiences decode these messages.
Different audiences will decode the same text in different ways and will therefore have a different response.

The Encoders are those who produce the texts - in the case of a magazine this would involve:

• Editors
• Journalists
• Photographers
• Designers

In question 2C or 3 of the MS1 exam you may be asked to discuss how media texts position audiences.
You must support your points with specific examples.

How do media texts position audiences?

Through the technical codes employed by the text. In a moving image text. the camera shots and angles used place the audience in a particular position.
For example, the use of a close up shot at an emotional time in the narrative may encourage the audience to be sympathetic to that character.
A point of view shot positions the audience as a character and allows them to experience events from that perspective.
This may enhance audience pleasure in the text. However, the positioning may be an uncomfortable one.

For example, the use of an extreme close up shot of a character's face during a tense moment in the narrative may make the audience feel uncomfortable. The camera may take the audience where they do not want to go, for example in a horror film.

Task 1: 
List how you think technical codes used in the trailer for the film American Sniper may position the audience.

Audiences - Key points

Learning objectives: To list the main points of audience theory in preparation for the exam.

Key words:
(Effects / Hypodermic needle model)
Active audiences/passive audiences
Psychometric audience profile (Young and Rubicam's 4C's)
Stuart Hall response theory
Uses and gratification theory (Blulmer and Katz)

Understanding audiences - Key points:

• The relationship between the media text and the audience is fluent and changing.
• Unlike in the past there is no longer assumed to be only one way of interpreting a text and only one audience response. (Effects / Hypodermic needle model).
• Audiences are not mass and their responses are complex and sophisticated and are influenced by a range of factors.
• The audience are made up of individuals whose social and cultural experiences may affect how they respond to any text.
• Media texts and the industries that produce them are acutely aware of their audiences and the strategies needed to attract them.
• There are a range of theories that explain the ways in which audiences respond to media texts and the reasons for this.

Task 1: 
Summarise the following audience terms and theories using the links provided.
Bullet points - Orange books - work in pairs.
Psychometric audience profile (Young and Rubicam's 4C's)
Stuart Hall response theory
Uses and gratification theory (Blulmer and Katz)
NRS

Rep of Ethnicity

Learning objectives: To consider the representation of ethnicity in the media.

ETHNICITY ON TV

Martha From Dr Who

     The representation of people from different ethnicities has changed massively over the years.  This is probably because the population in Britain has become much more diverse recently and current society is much more used to mixing with people from all different cultures and backgrounds. 

      Here are some examples of very negative generic stereotypes that used to be seen (and in some case still are) in film and tv:

·      White people – often shown as good, pure, heroes, strong, or sometimes racist

·      Black people – often shown as exotic, strange, tribal, criminal, poor

·      Asian people (Chinese, Korean etc) – often shown mainly as intelligent, submissive (quiet and shy), nerdy, interested in technology

·      Indian people – often shown as being poor, living in large families, very traditional, working in corner shops

·      Middle Eastern people (arabs etc) – often shown as being terrorists, violent, aggressive, rich

·      Immigrants – often shown as being a drain on society, criminals, illegal, bad for Britain, taking British jobs.

      People often note that in TV drama, people from particular ethnicities have storylines that all centre around their culture.  For example, Indian characters often battle with the clash between British culture and their traditional culture eg: arranged marriages etc.  They rarely have storylines that don’t have something to do with their ethnicity.  People also have commented that often people from minority ethnic groups (eg non white) are often portrayed in a very negative way.

      If you get “ethnicity” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• ·        Can I identify what ethnicities people are?
• ·        Are people from different ethnic backgrounds shown as different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• ·      Is their ethnicity represented as being important in their life?
• ·      Are people from particular ethnicities portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• ·      Are people from particular ethnicities portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others? 
• ·      How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different ethnic backgrounds?
• ·      What is the message the clip is trying to portray about ethnicity?   

    Clips with examples of ethnicity to analyse

   Spooks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjwvCoiKZ-8

   Hotel Babylon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG5GJQjyGo

   Eastenders http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y094LCAUMTo 

Ben from Hotel Babylon

Rep of Gender in the Media today

Learning objectives:
Consider how gender is represented in Cosmopolitan Persil ads

Key terms:
Subversion of stereotypes - This is where a media text presents an alternative and different representation that 'plays with' or challenges audience expectations.

Key Figure: 
Laura Mulvey - is a feminist film theorist whose work on the sexual objectification of women through 'male gaze' can be used to analyse a range of media texts, films, ads, magazines etc.

When it comes to representation, you need to show that you have explored these areas:

• The role of selection, construction and anchorage in creating representations.
• How media texts use representations and the effect those representations have upon audiences.
• The points of view, messages, and values underlying those representations.
• You will be expected to have studied a range of examples of representations in media texts and you must be able to write about them using key media terminology.

Women:

The representation of women in the media has developed and adapted to reflect cultural and socialogical changes. As women's roles in society have undergone a transformation, this has been reflected in some areas of the media.

However, there are still some stereotypical representations of women where they are defined by how men see them and how society expects them to look and behave. 

Women still tend to be judged on their looks and appearance foremost.

Representations tend to concentrate also on their sexuality; emotions and narratives tend to be based around relationships.

The way in which the representation of women is constructed in texts like glamour magazines is unrealistic and instills unattainable aspiration in the audience.

In an examination response it is important that you explore the representation of gender at a sophisticated level and go beyond basic discussion of positive and negative, it is much more complex than that.

_______________________________________________________________________

The representation of Fearn Cotton as the cover image on Cosmopolitan (October 2011) magazine would appeal to both men and women.

In simple terms, women want to BE her and men want to BE WITH her.

The cover line related to her defines her very much in terms of a relationship and of emotions; 

'Being in Love'.

The image is constructed through visual codes, costume and mode of address. 

The image is ambiguous; her posture and body language are strong but she is also very sexualised.

She is defined in terms of her body image and her size.

By highlighting her 'firm thighs' the magazine presents this representation as that which every women should aspire to.

The other cover lines suggest the discourse of the magazine and represent women in terms of beauty, sex and consumerism.

The sell lines of 'miracle beauty buys' gives hope to those readers who do not look like the female construction of the magazine. The representation is obviously unrealistic and the construction includes image manipulation such as airbrushing to give a representation of perfection. Unattainable for most ordinary women.

When you are discussing areas of representation such as stereotyping, you must be sure to analyse the representation according to the context in which it appears and the purpose.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Subversion of stereotypes

Whilst there remain many stereotypical representations of women in the media, there are also texts that are constructed to challenge these representations. These texts hold messages that offer a more realistic or refreshing representation of women in the media today. In film and television we see more and more women who have key roles and that are active rather than passive. They are defined by what they do, rather tan what is done to them. They are less the victim and more the hero.

Some texts cleverly play with accepted stereotypes in order to challenge them. This is true of the GHD hair straighteners Twisted Fairytales campaign.

Here the stereotypical representations of women are subverted to create strong women who do not have to rely on men to rescue them. The campaign uses Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding hood, in each case they leave the stereotypical male hero behind in a twist at the end. 

In the print advert above, RRH is shown to be both sexually attractive and purposeful. She engages in a direct mode of address with the audience. The iconography and graphics remain that of a fairytale but the representation is very different (as the rhyme indicates)..

However, it is also true that, although the women are strong and independent and over come the men in the GHD campaign, they are also stereotypically beautiful and it is their beauty aid, hair straighteners that are deemed responsible for their success.

In this respect, the representation of women in the campaign is ambiguous.

Task 1:

Write 200 words about the representation of women in the Persil ad below

___________________________________________________________________

Men:

Key terms:

New man - this was a term introduced to describe a new breed of men. These men rejected sexist attitudes; were in touch with their feminine side and were therefore not afraid to be sensitive, caring and could sometimes be seen in a domestic role.

A good example of a media text that reflects this changing role is James Bond, here the representation of men has become more acceptable.

Key Figure: 

David Gauntlett - in his book 'Media, gender and identity considers the changing representations of men and women in the media. He also discusses the Pick and Mix theory. This suggests that audiences are active rather than passive and will choose what to do with the media rather than having the media manipulate them.

Stereotypically, men in media texts are represented differently from women but their representation, like that of women, has changed in order to address changes in society.

There have been many cries that masculinity is in crisis and that men no longer have a traditional role to play in society as they once did.

However it is the case that men, just like women have had to change their roles and this has been reflected in their representation across a range of media texts. With the advent of the 'new man' there appeared different representations of masculinity. 

However, even when disguised as a new man, representations of men in the media still tend to focus on the following:

• Body image and physique
• Physical strength
• Sexual attractiveness and relationships with women
• Power and independence

One media area that has developed dramatically is the men's magazine market. Now men as well as women are given aspirational and unrealistic role models to emulate.

Men too have to be concerned about their weight and body imageand buy into an unattainable lifestyle through the representations presented to them.

Men's Health magazine is now the best selling men's magazine, overtaking FHM in 2010.

Below is a constructed image that defines men very clearly.

The central image is one of perfection and has clearly been manipulated to present the 'perfect body' image.

The mode of address is direct and the use of imperatives is commanding and powerful.

However, as this is a new man, he is also concerned about his health and his diet, but reverts to a more traditional type, refering to sex rather than relationships.

The cover lines include quick fix problem solving to suggest a healthy lifestyle and acquiring this body is easy.

The body language of the model suggests that he is proud of his shape and is self obsessed, looking away from the audience.

However, there still exist in the media the more stereotypical representations of men in strong roles defined by their power, independence and their ability to survive against all the odds. These representations tend to be associated with particular genres, for example the action film, still largely the domain of the male protagonist.

In Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, the audience is presented with James Bond, the action hero. The iconography that places him in this role is evident in these stills from the film; dinner suit, gun, action shot and the beautiful woman.

However, on closer analysis, this representation is more ambiguous and reflects the new man that is James Bond.

The woman is not an accessory; she is next to him and has clearly been part of the action. His bow tier is missing and his suit is dishevlled. His expression is not the usual cool and calm, but moody and unhappy. In another shot he is seen as protecting the female and looking intimidated himself. Different to the old James Bond.

Task 1:

Write 200 around words on the representation of men in the three texts, 

American Sniper, 

Casino Royale and 

Men's Health.

Rep of issues in the media today

Learning objectives: To consider the representation of the issues of body image and youth delinquency.

Key words: 
Tokenism: This is where a media text includes a few members of a minority group, for example some plus size models in a glamour magazine. This appears to redress the balance but in fact, as the group is in the minority they have no real power within the text and their difference from the norm is also highlighted. Tokenism also tends to present a stereotypical view of that group so that audiences can recognise them easily.
Delinquency:
minor crime, especially that committed by young people.

_______________________________________________________________

The issue of body image.

As well as representing groups in society, the media also construct representations of issues and may be partly considered to be the cause of the issue itself. This may be the case with the issue of body image in the media. We have become a society obsessed with how we look and what constitutes beauty. The definition of what it is to be beautiful has narrowed and focusses almost solely in the media on being white, thin and perfectly formed. This issue also links to the way in which women in general are represented. The issue of body image in the media is represented across a range of media texts including:

Unrealistic images of perfection for both men and women in magazines.

Gossip magazines where imperfections in the bodies of celebrities are highlighted for discussion and ridicule.

Documentaries raising awareness of the issue.

Newspaper images of catwalk models that are size zero.

Images that challenge this representation but that tend to be tokenistic.

Advertisements for products that aim to make the user more beautiful, less wrinkled and flawless. However, these images are unrealistic and have probably been digitally enhanced.
MP Jo Swinson succeeded in getting two beauty adverts banned for including images that were over airbrushed and significantly digitally manipulated. The advertisements for Lancome and Maybeline included Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington were deemed unacceptable by the ASA as they did not offer a realistic representation of what the product could achieve when used.

Many ads now, often in small print, must declare if the image has been enhanced with implants or hair extensions and post production.

Task 1: 
Consider how the magazine above has represented the issue of body image. Use Men's Health magazine as another example to help you with your answer.
200 words

________________________________________________________________________

Task 2: 
How has the issue of youth delinquency been represented in the texts below?
200 words

___________________________________________________________________________

Further reading:

Re-presentation: Events and Issues in the Media

Rep of Events in the media today

Learning objectives: To prepare for an exam response on the representation of events through the study of the London riots and the Sainsburies Christmas TV ad.

http://trinityfilmandmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/year-12-media-representation-of-events.html

There is a possibility that you will be asked a question on the representation of events.

You must have detailed knowledge of how TWO events have been represented in TWO different ways by the media. The question will be worded 'in the media today' so we should be discussing contemporary events. 

For each of the case study texts you must do the following:

1.  Identify exactly what representation has been constructed.

2.  Identify HOW that representation has been constructed using textual examples 

(behaviour, dialogue, sound, mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing).

You must also consider the following:

The ideology of the text in which the event features. Make it clear what the text you are using thinks about the event. Is there any evidence of opinion or bias in the representation?

How the event has been presented, referring to , for example, language and mode of address, anchorage, technical, visual codes, audio codes, use of images.

The construction of the representation. The elements that go to make up the final textwill have been constructed in a way that real life is not. When we witness an event in real life we would not see it from all these different camera angles or in slow motion. This is often the way we view an event as it is presented to us in the media.
It is a selected construction and has been edited often to show us a particular viewpoint.

The process of selection. For whatever ends up on the screen or in print, a lot more will have been left out. Decisions have been made about what to include and what to omit. Editors, photographers, journalists etc.

Mediation has occured.

The focus of the representation. The way in which a media text is mediated encourages the audience to focus upon a particular aspect of the text to push us towards making assumptions and to draw conclusions. For example, our eyes are drawn to the headlines and cover lines in a newspaper and magazine.

The role of opinion leaders in influencing the audience about the event.

The audience who will consume the text and their response to the representations encoded within it.

Rep of Events: London Riots

Task 1: 
How might opinion leaders affect the way in which an audience might respond to an event as represented in a media text?

200 words. Orange books.

Research the events (Lonodon riots 2011) and write how they were represented in the media.
Consider how the issues of racism and youth were dealt with through,
mode of address  (at the bottom of the post)
creation of moral panic

Use different types of newspapers to illustrate and links to online articles about the events.

Task 2:
How has Christmas been represented as an event in the ad below?

_______________________________________________________________________

Further reading

RE-presentation: Events and Issues in the Media

Representation of Age in the media today

Learning objectives: 
To Identify how media text producers consider the construction of age representation in media texts.

Key words: Representation, stereotypes, positive, negative, 

AGE ON TV

The representation of people of different ages has changed massively over the years.  Up until the 1950’s, there were really only two age groups shown in films and television (adult and child).  This was because that most children left school at a young age and went straight to work and became adults.  

In the 1950’s more young people started staying in education and began leading very different lives from both children and adults and so developed the idea of the “teenager”.

Having said that, there are still some stereotypes associated with different ages:

·      Children – often shown as being young, innocent, naive, pure, sweet, helpless, powerless.

Childhood
British children are often depicted in the British media in positive ways. Content
analyses of media products suggest that eight stereotypes of children are
frequently used by the media.

• As victims of horrendous crimes – some critics of the media have suggested that White children who are victims of crime get more media attention than adults or children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• As cute – this is a common stereotype found in television commercials for baby products or toilet rolls.
• As little devils – another common stereotype especially found in drama and comedy, e.g. Bart Simpson.
• As brilliant – perhaps as child prodigies or as heroes for saving the life of an adult.
• As brave little angels – suffering from a long-term terminal disease or disability.
• As accessories – stories about celebrities such as Madonna, Angelina Jolie or the Beckhams may focus on how their children humanise them.
• As modern – the media may focus on how children ‘these days’ know so much more ‘at their age’ than previous generations of children.
• As active consumers – television commercials portray children as having a consumer appetite for toys and games. Some family sociologists note that this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure, ‘pester power’, the power of children to train or manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase the children’s status in the eyes of their peers.

·      Teenagers – Often shown as being aggressive, moody, lazy, criminals, hate school.

      It is significant when discussing the films to emphasise that they are representing working class youth, rather than youth generally. Middle class youths are absent from these type of representations.

There is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructing youth in terms of lifestyle and identity. Magazines are produced specifically for young people. Record companies, Internet music download sites, mobile telephone companies and radio stations all specifically target and attempt to shape the musical tastes of young people. Networking sites on the Internet, such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, allow youth to project their identities around the world.

Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority and consequently constructed as folk devils as part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950s have been manufactured around concerns about young people’s behaviour, such as their membership of specific ‘deviant’ sub-cultures (e.g., teddy boys, hoodies) or because their behaviour (e.g., drug taking or binge drinking) has attracted the disapproval of those in authority.

·      20’s-30’s – Often shown as the ideal age for love, parties, fun, making money, being glamorous and attractive.  In films the heroes are often this age group.

·      Middle Aged – often shown as being past it, unattractive, not aware of popular culture, uncool, boring lives, dominant over others, no real connection to their kids, grumpy.  In films the villains are often from this age group.

·      Elderly – often shown as being unattractive, slow, weak, ill, confused, pathetic, powerless, not important, dependent on others.

Sociological studies show that when the elderly do appear in the media, they tend to be portrayed in the following one-dimensional ways.

• As grumpy – conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change.
• As mentally challenged – suffering from declining mental functions.
• As dependent – helpless and dependent on other younger members of the family or society.
• As a burden – as an economic burden on society (in terms of the costs of pensions and health care to the younger generation) and/or as a physical and social burden on younger members of their families (who have to worry about or care for them).
• As enjoying a second childhood – as reliving their adolescence and engaging in activities that they have always longed to do before they die.

When considering age in a text, you should be thinking about the following things:

• ·       Can I identify what approximate age the characters are?
• ·      Are people from different age groups shown as having different interests, personalities,      attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• ·      Is their age represented as being important in their life?
• ·      Are people from particular age groups portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• ·      Are people from particular age groups portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others? 
• ·      How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different age groups?
• ·      What is the message the clip is trying to portray about age?
• 
  

      Task 1: discuss - How are youth represented in this still from Waterloo Road?

The wearing of the uniforms could symbolise rebellious nature, not wearing it properly according to school rules and not looking smart quite the opposite. Mixed cultures are portrayed and the idea of male aggression is evident. 
      This could raise the issue anti-social behaviour within a plot line which has been covered in the program. Waterloo road does focus on teen-related issues such as under age sex, binge drinking and youth aggression. 

      Task 2: Watch the following clips and write a paragraph about how people of different ages are     represented 

      Clips with examples of age

      Monarch Of The Glen   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VyjH9HUCt4   

     Eastenders  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ohiEFW2e0

     Blackpool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L85qL5ph0J0

     Skins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho69_sCkwyI

_______________________________________________________________________________

     Representation of Age in the media today

Young people.

      The way in which young people are represented in the media today is often controversial and a topic for debate. This was never more so than during the riots in London in 2011. The main way in which the event was presented to the audience was through the news media and therefore we can say that it was mediated through the dominant ideology of the particular paper. The newspapers became opinion leaders offering a constructed view of young people and also of the events as they unfolded. As most of the audience could not have first hand experience of the riots, they relied upon the news and newspapers as their sources of information. Language is a very powerful communicator of ideology and is apparent in these front pages.

What points to make in your response about the representation of young people here?

Make general points in your introduction about what representation means and how representations are constructed by the media texts to elicit a response from an audience.

Demonstrate your understanding of how the ideology of the text may affect the representation of certain groups issues or events.

Comment on the use of hyperbole in the headlines and the specific, emotive vocabulary in the sub headings.

The main image used has been specifically chosen and appeared in both newspapers and others on the same day. Analyse the visual codes used including the clothing and the background. What are the connotations? 

Comment on how this image became iconic as a representation of young people during that event. How would audiences decode these images. (Use Stuart Hall's theory).

Comment on how the images, headlines, captions and copy are all constructed to create a negative representation of young people.

Consider the purpose and effect of the features of these fron covers.

Although in this case we have considered how young people are represented in the media. This example can easily be used to explore the representation of events in the media.

Task 1: Answer the following questions using the points above and the links to other pages we have studied.

a) What kind of world is being constructed by these media texts?

Consider: That the “reality” of the world presented by texts is constructed
      That audiences respond to texts according to their experience and knowledge of the world presented to them

b) What ideologies / messages might be contained within the representation/s?

Consider: 
       The view being presented through the text.
       Question whether the particular interests / views of the world are being challenged, reinforced or promoted.
       Consider whether the texts are promoting, challenging or judging the roles of young people..