Elements of Production Analysis

1. Elements of Production Analysis 1. Who Owns the Media? Patterns and nature of media ownership 2. Who and What Makes Media Content? Division of labor and nature of workforce; how genre formulas shape producers 3. How Commercial-Technical Issues Shape Media Content? To what degree and in what ways do technical forces and technical decisions shape media forms and content?

2. WHO OWNS THE MEDIA?Patterns of control Two main trends: A. Increasing horizontal consolidation, if not monopolization: more kinds of media (TV, film, radio, newspapers, web portals, etc.) owned by same people V E R T I C A L B. Increasing consolidation: owning several levels of production (film studio, TV station, distribution corp., movie theaters, cable companies); also means more media owned by non-media corporations with many other interests

3. For and Against Media Merging Arguments for monopoly mergers: A. larger scale is more efficient & thus less costly B. free enterprise should not be interfered with C. ownership is irrelevant to text production which is not done by corporate CEOs but by the "creative staff” D. provides more choices

4. Argumentsagainst monopoly mergers: A. minimizes risks & “dumbs down” content by always seeking widest audience B. censors coverage of controversial but important issues C. inserts corporate values everywhere, rather than respecting non-commercial spheres D. drives up prices of media services by limiting competition E. encourages collusion up and down line of vertical interests

5. Other Significant Trends Globalization: more and more US media produced with world market in mind; increasing dominance of US media texts (cultural imperialism) Digital Integration: computer technologies like the CD format cross the lines of media, allowing integration of TV, film, newspaper, and the Internet

6. 2. WHO AND WHAT CONTROLS THE PRODUCTION OF MEDIA TEXTS? A. Who among these does most meaning shaping?: For TV: media moguls? CEOs of network? executive producers? producers? agents? advertisers? directors? editors? genre formula? technicians? scriptwriters? actors? viewers? For mass market fiction: media moguls? CEOs of publishing house? editors- in-chief? literary agents? editors? writers? readers? B. Do most all of the above tend to share limited “subject positions” and “cultural competencies/incompetences? do the class, racial, regional, gender and other biases of most all of these people involved in production become reflected in content? C. Do even those outside dominant subject positions “pre-censor” themselves by trying to please executives & avoid work that criticizes corporate capitalism?

7. Visible and Invisible Production Visible Production: some pop culture texts have clear, Visible “authors” or producers, but most do not. Typically pop culture is a highly collective production process involving much division of labor and many layers of workforce. Only the rare celebrity director, fashion designer or media star remains visible. This tends to give the entire production process a glamor that hides other layers of production. B. Invisible Production: the invisible production force consists of those workers, often extremely poorly paid, who do the hands on, material production of pop culture artifacts (like the women sewing designer clothes in Third World sweatshops, or illegal child laborers fashioning dolls for First World children.

8. 3. HOW DO THE COMMERCIAL-TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF PRODUCTION SHAPE CONTENT? A. Pop culture formulas are partly driven by commercial needs to speed up production & limit costs B. formats limit variety: the 3 minute radio or video song; the 1/2 sitcom; the 1/2 hour news show; the 1 hour-long documentary or drama -- all driven by commercial more than aesthetic concerns C. technical elements of medium determine form: for example, presence of commercials makes TV news exaggerate visual & melodramatic elements & limits detailed analysis in order to compete with newspapers; or cable TV allows some break from formulas; or Internet technology refigures range of presentation media for film, TV & other existing forms

9. PRODUCING AUDIENCES: CONSUMERS OR COMMODITIES? A. Does the overall commercial nature of all popular culture inherently shape its meaning? Do all meanings become reduced to commercial value, become commodified? B. Do things like the intrusion of commercials into text content undercut the variety & seriousness of the content? C. Do audiences themselves become commodities (products) when they are sold to advertisers by producers?

10. HOW DOES PRODUCTION ANALYSIS RELATE TO OTHER KINDS OF ANALYSIS? TEXTUAL: textual meanings are highly unstable, & partly unconscious; thus media authors/producers aren’t fully aware of or in control of their meanings AUDIENCE: texts are also inherently “polysemic” & thus audiences will decode them in a variety of ways; in addition to accidental misreadings or different readings, audiences can actively choose to resist dominant meanings; most media products fail to find an audience (80% failure in some) HISTORICAL: texts produced in one historical period are often recycled (rerun; reissued, etc.) in another different time period & the new time context will bring new & different interpretations