Class: Language and Representation

Language and close-textual analysis

1) Write an NCIS analysis for the episode - using notes from the screening in class. Make specific, detailed reference to moments in the text using media terminology (e.g. media language - camera shots and movement, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene etc.)

Co-owner of a Lonely Heart

Narrative:It shows how April now has super power due to her sharing a heat with the shadow king. Her dad appears, but April tries to attack him and scares him away. April is taken home by Ram in his car and then they start to show their "feelings" towards each other, then April's mother catches them in "the act", later on they talk and then Ram leaves. The headteacher and Ms Quill are talking about the flowers, because whenever they cut someone or something then they start to clone, the head teacher makes a deal with Ms Quill, that if she finds out what the cause for them is then they will remove the thing that is controlling Ms Quill. Then it shows that April's father was waiting and trying to keep himself secret, so he ends up going to April's house then he confronts April's mother about April's superpowers, then April shows her super powers in front of her mother and then she is talking about how her father has ruined her life and her mother's life then cuts her dad with the swords, Ram then appears and then he calms April down and stops her from killing her father, she then spares her father and then Charlie, Mattheuz and Tanya appear and see what is going on, April then gives the heart to her mother and then her mother is able to walk again and is out of her wheelchair, then April rips into the space and creates a portal to the shadow realm and then she goes to hunt down the shadow king, Ram jumps into the portal last minute to go along with April

Character:April, Ram, Tanya, Charlie, Mattheuz, Ms Quill, Head teacher, Huw(April's father), Jackie(April's mother), Corakinus(Shadow king), Shadow kins, Ram's father.

Iconography:Phones , Cars, Pink petals, soul cabinet, swords, heart, digetic, non-digetic, fast-paced sound effects.

Setting:Shadow realm, April's house, school, classroom.

2) How does Todorov's theory of equilibrium apply to Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? Try and use the expanded version of Todorov's theory: Equilibrium - Disruption - Recognition - Reparation - New equilibrium.

Equilibrium: April is the co-owner of Corakinus' heart

Disruption: April reveals her superpowers towards her father

Recognition: April's father confronts April's mother about her behaviour

Reparation: April is fighting with Corakinus to survive

New equilibrium: April travels to the shadow realm to defeat the king

3) Applying Propp's character theory, what character roles do each of the main characters in Class fit into? Alternatively, you may wish to discuss how characters do not fit Propp's character types. The Hero(ine)s would be April, Ms Quill, Charlie as they are trying to stop Corakinus, Princess would be April, even though she is a hero she is also the damsel in distress as she is sharing a heart with Corakinus. The villain would be Corakinus, he is the one who is trying to destroy earth and is the aggressor. The Donor is Ms Quill as she is helping charlie and April in their quest.The false hero would be Ram, as he is assumed to be the hero but April is the main hero. The dispatcher would be Huw, (April's dad) as he is the one who informs April's mother about April's powers.

April, Ms Quill, Charlie are the hero(ine)s, they are trying to defeat the shadow king

4) What enigma and action codes (Barthes) can you find in Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? Make specific, detailed reference to the text using media terminology (e.g. media language - camera shots, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene etc.)
The conversation between Mattheuz and Charile and how they talk about the cabinet of souls. April becoming Aggressive in her history lesson, which shares the personality of Corakinus. The mother regaining the ability to walk, shows the genre of si-fi, making something that may seem impossible possible.
5) What examples of binary opposition (Levi-Strauss) can you find in Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? How do these create narrative or drama for the audience?
Light v dark: Planet earth (humans) and shadow realm (shadow kin)

Humans v aliens: Tanya, Mattehuz contrasted to Ms Quill, Charlie and Corakinus

Good v evil: Heros, dispatchers trying to defeat Corakinus and retrieve April's heart back(Restoration of normailty) 
Love v hate:April defending her mother, and attacks her father and then confronts her father

Representations

1) How is gender represented in Class - Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? Are gender stereotypes reinforced or subverted?
I think Gender is subverted as it shows April (female character) as the main character and the main hero, it shows a sense of being a strong individual. 
2) How is age (e.g. teenagers; older people like teachers or parents) represented in Class - Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? Does the show reinforce or challenge stereotypes about young people?
It is mostly younger people while reinforcing the stereotype of the teenagers and how they use their phones and the subject of school.
3) How is race and ethnicity represented in Class - Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? Are  stereotypes reinforced or subverted?
There is a diversity of race and ethnicity, it is somewhat reinforced as Ram being Indian and his father and Ram for his passion for footbal, Tanya being African and her mother telling her about her studies.
4) How is sexuality represented in Class - Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? How does this reflect the BBC's remit to represent modern Britain?They have some sort of diversity as they have two homosexual characters; Charlie and Mattheuz so it shows that the BBC is becoming more diverse with more things as people and sexuality evolves.

5) How is disability represented in Class - Co-owner of a Lonely Heart? Why are disabled people generally under-represented in the media and how does Class try to address this? It shows that April's mother ,who is also disabled, is in a wheelchair, she also has a regular appearance throughout the series as they may want to seem more diverse with their characters. Disabled characters are not usually shown as they couldn't  do much throughout the series so they are shown rarely.

Doctor Who: Industry and Audience blog tasks

 Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Has it changed since 1963?
Doctor who would appeal to 12-40 years old  but then after the reboot later gained younger fans towards the show
2) What audience psychographic groups might particularly enjoy Doctor Who?
people who like si-fi, horror, action, mystery
3) What audience pleasures are offered by An Unearthly Child? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: How the girl: Susan is a student so that this will appeal to younger audiences  

Personal Relationships: Susan and her grandfather and her teachers

Diversion (Escapism): Si-fi, action, horror, mystery

Surveillance (Information / Facts): It is somewhat educational only a tiny bit though as it is si-fi and does include subjects such as science and maths

4) What additional Uses and Gratifications would this episode provide to a modern 2020 audience?
More of including celebrities that may appeal to younger audiences.
5) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to An Unearthly Child? Visceral as it is somewhat a hybrid of si-fi, action, horror and mystery


Industries

1) What was the television industry like in 1963? How many channels were there?
It included various different shows but there were from the BBC and broadcasted by them
2) Why is Doctor Who such an important franchise for the BBC? 
It became a very big thing as it blew up and many other series are being made and then they include different actors they even made the 13th doctor a female to show diversity
3) How does Doctor Who meet the BBC's mission statement to 'inform, educate and entertain'?
it meets entertain and somewhat educated as it is a si-fi and it is a show to entertain people of ages groups of 12-40.
4) How is the BBC funded?
Through TV licences 
5) Who regulates the BBC and what is the watershed?
OfCOM, they moderate the content being shown on the TV and are allowed to fine or ban certain shows that could be broadcasted.

Grade 8/9 extension tasks and reading

Read this New Statesman feature on Doctor Who as a global phenomenon. What does it suggest about Doctor Who fandom, British identity and the importance of the brand to the BBC? 

The doctor is very iconic and so it his tool that he uses, there have been many instances of the doctor but the most iconic was the 13th doctor as they made the doctor the first ever female character, they included more characters and even added black, gays, etc, to make it more controversial. 

Read this Guardian feature on the representations of race and ethnicity in Doctor Who over the last 55 years. How has the programme changed in its representations of race and how does this fit the BBC's remit to inform, educate and entertain? 

BBC have been broadcasting a variety of different shows like documentaries and kids shows or news channels, they all have a form of informing, educating and entertaining, some of the kids shows have some form a education and entertainment so do the other channels being broadcasted throughout the whole BBC.

Media assessment - Learner response

 Create a new blogpost on your Media blog called 'Media assessment learner response':

1) Type up your feedback in full - WWW & EBI. You do not have to write your mark and grade if you don't want to.
WWW:Mostly secure knowledge  of narrative theories

EBI: Need to work on your textual analysis of unseen media products, remember denotation and connotation (CLAMPS), also revise; social cultural and historical contexts of CSP's, remember that 1 paragraph is equal to 4 marks so 12 mark question will need 3 paragraphs

2) Look at Question 3 in the assessment - the media analysis of the Under Armour advert.

Use CLAMPS to revise mise-en-scene and write about each element of CLAMPS for the Under Armour advert.

C - Costume: The player is wearing red and black rugby kit which has connotations of anger strength and darkness

L - Lighting: The stadium floodlights shows how it it focused on the rugby player and only him so it may show how this will get some attention to the people who wear this product.l

A - Actor placement and movement: The rugby player is struggling to move the tyre, so his face shows that he is struggling as he is closing his eyes and grinding his teeth.

M - Make up: The player's face is shining under the lights which makes it look like he is sweating a lot which shows the hard work he has done to lift the tyre up

P - Props: The tyre is significant because it is big which isn't always normal so it shows that the tyre is some sort of obstacle that the rugby player has finally got around 

S - Setting: the stadium setting suggests to the audience that the product that he is wearing will be seen for sure during the matches being played in the stadium.

3) Look at Question 4. What is Todorov's theory of equilibrium? How does it link to the Audrey Hepburn Galaxy advert?  The equilibrium is that everything is fine and normal, no disruption to anyone. The disequilibrium theory is that something has appeared and disrupted something or causing a problem to the people. The new equilibrium is that there is something or a problem has been solved and or there is no problem anymore.

4) What social class is Reveal aimed at? (Extension - what do the cover lines on Reveal suggest about what working class people are interested in?) it is aimed at working class as it is cheap due to the price tag shown in the corner the 99p tag which shows how cheap the product really is. The cover lines show some sort of gossip title or something that will hook the audience from towards the magazine so the producers of the magazine are showing or saying that working class people are into gossip.

5) Pick three cover lines from Tatler that reflect upper class British culture and society. Explain what they suggest about the lifestyle and beliefs of upper class British people.

1.The one month gap year.(you wont sleep much but it will be fun)

2.James Corden's La life (with his Aristo (yes, really) buddies

3.Oops all my clothes fell off (which is fine because all you need are the new accessories]

Number 1 shows that it is showing that they want student to do a gap year and do what the magazine says to do

Number 2 shows a name of a British celeb James Corden, so this is a link to the British life style and how he has Aristo friends.

Number 3 This shows that the magazines want them to buy their products and that it is directed to the reader.