Presentation 4: The Key Concepts

1. Presentation 4: The Key Concepts

2. Key Aspects of Media Studies TEXT CATEGORIES • medium, purpose, form, genre, style, tone LANGUAGE • technical and cultural codes, anchorage NARRATIVE • narrative structure and narrative codes REPRESENTATIONS • selection, portrayal, ideological discourses decode encode INSTITUTION • internal controls • external controls AUDIENCE • target audience • differential decoding TECHNOLOGY CAPITAL MEANING select affect TIME SOCIETY • individual, social, cultural, economic, political events and ideologies

3. Explanation of Concept Map • The concept map tries to show how the key aspects of media studies are integrated. The map shows that the media are involved in a twin circuit of meaning and capital. • In SQA Media Studies arrangements there are seven key aspects: Categories, Language, Narrative, Representation, Audience, Institution and Technology. The map has an eighth key aspect – Society. • The concept map tries to express the following: Media institutions, working under internal and external constraints, select aspects of society for representation. Media producers encode meanings in texts for target audiences through categories such as genre, through technical and cultural codes, narrative and representation. How audiences decode texts depends on the individual and social differences of audience members. How they react has more or less influence on society. Technologies of production, distribution and reception are central to these processes. The arrow of time through the centre indicates that this circuit of meaning is a continuous, dynamic process.

4. Basic Information Directed, Produced, Written by: Morgan Spurlock Starring: Morgan Spurlock; Alexandra Jamieson Music by Doug Ray, Steve Horowitz, Michael Parrish Cinematography: Scott Ambrozy Editing by: Julie "Bob" Lombardi Distributed by: Samuel Goldwyn Films; Roadside Attractions Release date: May 7, 2004 Running time: 98 minutes Country: United States Budget: $1,065,000 Box office: $30,000,000

5. Categories: Medium The medium of “Supersize Me” is film The film was also followed up by the book “Don't Eat this Book”

6. Categories: Purpose • Media texts can have a variety of purposes: entertainment, information, education, artistic expression, persuasion, propaganda, profit, … Q. Which of these purposes do you think motivated the makers of ‘Supersize Me’? Use evidence from the film to justify each of your answers. Q. Of these purposes which one do you think was most important? Use evidence from the text to justify your answer.

7. Categories: Genre • One way of categorising documentaries is by the degree of creative treatment of recorded material. Three subgenres are: • realist documentary: imposing minimal treatment on recorded material i.e. ‘fly-on-the-wall’ • formalist documentary: imposing a particular narrative structure on recorded material i.e. ‘fly-in-the-soup’ • subjective documentary: which express the filmmaker’s personal vision. • Any one documentary can mix these techniques. Q. In recent years there has been an explosion of ‘reality television’. What is meant by this term? What different kinds of reality television have you seen on television? Q. What kind of documentary is ‘Supersize Me’?

8. Categories: Documentary Conventions • Most documentaries have different look and sound from fiction films. Q. What is the conventional look of documentary? In other words, how does the documentary look connote realism? Q. How does sound connote realism? Q. Do you think ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is a typical documentary. Why? Q. Does it use any techniques which are similar to fiction films?

9. Categories: Tone • A documentary (like any film) can have different tones: serious, light-hearted, optimistic, pessimistic, celebratory, condemnatory, resigned, critical, uncritical, ironic, … Q. Identify different tones in ‘Supersize Me’. What are the purposes of these different tones? Identify how these tones achieved are achieved through images, sound and voice.

10. Language: Technical/Cultural Codes You should already know how to describe shots in terms of camera distance, camera angle, camera movement and lighting. You should be able to analyse how shots are edited by describing the transitions and whether or not continuity editing is used. Q. Analyse a sequence in terms of technical codes. Why have these codes been used? The film wishes to persuade us of the authority of the evidence about fast food and the need to tackle the problem immediately. Q. What cultural codes are used to connote authority?

11. Language: Anchorage • Images or sounds on their own may have many different possible meanings i.e. they are polysemic • Anchorage refers to the ways that image and sound are combined to reduce the polysemy of each on their own. The meaning is pinned down or ‘anchored’ by the combination of sound and image. Q. Analyse a sequence to show how images and sound/music construct meaning and mood.

12. Narrative: Rhetorical Narrative Typical features of rhetorical narrative are that it: • Presents a reasoned argument • Appeals to the emotions • Addresses the audience directly e.g. to camera or by voiceover • Uses repeated motifs to emphasise its argument e.g. recurring images, sounds, phrases • Suppresses, mocks or criticises contrary opinions • Encourages the audience to act. Q. Identify how ‘Supersize Me’ uses each of these features to advance its argument.

13. Narrative: Argumentation Schemes • When we construct arguments about issues we use a number of typical ways of arguing (argumentation schemes). • The fact that a scheme is used does not mean the argument is valid. • Examples of argumentation schemes are: • Problem-solving: “If X is a problem, then do Y” • Numbers: “If number X is too large/small, then do Y to reduce/increase X” • Authority: “As expert X says …” • History: “History teaches us that …” • Illustration: “As the situation in X shows …” • Comparison: “If X can do A then so can Y.” • Identify different argumentation schemes in which Morgan Spurlock uses in 'Supersize Me' Q. Do you think that these arguments are valid? Justify your answers,

14. Narrative: Narrative Codes • One can analyse narrative in terms of overall structure. However narrative can also be analysed in terms of narrative codes which work moment-by-moment in a text. • One of the most important is the enigmatic code. Focusing on the enigmatic code lets us view a film as a sequence of questions and answers. The film poses enigmas (questions) which engage the viewer’s attention and these questions may, or may not be, resolved (answered) by the end of the film. Q. What are major enigmas are posed in ‘Supersize Me’? Are these enigmas resolved by the end of the film?

15. Representation 1 • Documentaries are not ‘a window on the world’. Rather they select particular aspects of the world and portray these in particular ways which reflect the beliefs and values of the organisations which make the film and of the audiences who watch. • The film was made primarily for an American audience so it uses narrative structuring familiar to American audience from fiction feature films.

16. Representation 2 • In American mainstream fiction films we are usually invited to identify with one special individual who is driven by individual psychological forces rather than collective social forces. • Such films often use a narrative structure which Joseph Campbell has called the hero’s journey. In this a hero(ine) undergoes tests and struggles before achieving his/her goals. Joseph Campbell said we all have to undertake a hero’s journey to find fulfilment in our own lives and that can be done by ‘following our bliss’. In other words, to be truly happy we must find what really motivates us. Q. How has director Morgan Spurlock used these fictional techniques to structure the film? Q. Another aspect of American ideology is its ‘can-do spirit’. How does the film reflect this spirit?

17. Audience: Target Audience Q. ‘Supersize Me’ is aimed primarily at a US market. What evidence is there for this in the film? Q. What might put people off going to see the film? Q. What steps have been made in the film to broaden its appeal? Q. What other groups of people could be considered the target audience for the film?

18. Audience: Mode of Address The film uses various modes of address: • Direct address to the audience with Morgan Spurlock's voiceover and talking about his experiences. • Uses ‘popular media’ human interest approach by appealing to our emotions • Uses ‘quality media’ approach by the use of rational argument. Q. Identify sequences in the film which make an emotional appeal. Q. Identify sequences in the film which use rational argument.

19. Audience: Preferred reading / differential decoding • What is the preferred reading of “Supersize Me” in relation to fast food? • Different audiences have different reactions to the same film because of age, gender, social class, ethnic group, lifestyle, politics, religion, values, taste, education and so on. • How might different people react to the film? (Which groups of people might respond differently to the intended, preferred reading?)

20. Institution: Market Context • Documentary features very popular in recent years: • ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ (budget $6m est., US gross $119m), • ‘March of the Penguins’ (budget $8m est., US gross $77m) • ‘Bowling for Columbine’ (budget $4m, US gross $21m) • Often feature alternative viewpoints which receive little coverage in mainstream news • Has encouraged companies to finance production and distribute documentaries • Supersize Me cost just over $1m and grossed $30m

21. Institution: Internal Context How does the internal context shape the text? Can conceptualise the internal context of film production as a struggle between the allocative and operational (productive/creative) levels of control In film, this often comes down to who has right of final cut In ‘authored’ documentaries authorial control and ‘authorial stamp’ must be considered

22. Morgan Spurlock as ‘Auteur’ Morgan Spurlock an ensemble of signs which connotes ‘ordinary guy’ Inserts himself into public debates Staged encounters with authority (‘big shots’ do what they want and don’t care about ‘ordinary folks’) Mixes comedy and tragedy Comic/ironic use of music Funny, opinionated, sometimes eloquent Expert editing and structuring of material with montages of McDonalds, fat people, etc

23. Institution: External Context 1 How does external context shape text? • Documentary features very popular in cinemas in recent years • Documetaries often feature alternative viewpoints which receive little coverage in mainstream news • Should lead to more being made and gaining distribution • Successes in cinemas may affect reality tv e.g. Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) has signed deal with US cable channel FX to make 30 Days in which someone will spend a month in an unfamiliar environment e.g. prosecutor spends month in jail, Christian lives as a Muslim

24. Institution – External Context 2 Execs believe reality TV has made audiences more accepting of documentary HBO, Discovery, BBC (Storyville), C4 are allowing filmmakers to experiment in styles, formats, topics TV wants topics that appeal globally Want a point-of-view and narrative style that borrows from reality formats Budgets $0.25m..$1m per hour