What is social realism in British cinema?

Social realism is a tradition portraying ordinary working lives and social problems with documentary plainness. Location shooting and understated performance are typical.

Name two conventions of social realist film-making.

Location shooting in real places is one convention. Naturalistic performance, often from unknown actors, is another.

How do festivals help an independent film reach an audience?

A festival premiere brings critics, buyers and awards attention together in one place. Prizes give a small film the publicity it cannot buy.

Eduqas A-Level Media Studies A680QS

Media Language

Topic overview The language of media analysis: signs, codes and modes Denotation and connotation Barthes, signification and myth Camerawork, framing and editing Mise-en-scène, colour and lighting Sound and music as media language Layout, typography and print design Codes and conventions of genre Neale on repetition, difference and genre change Narrative structure and Todorov Narrative devices: enigma, character and point of view Lévi-Strauss, structuralism and binary oppositions Baudrillard, simulation and hyperreality Intertextuality, parody and pastiche Media language, ideology and developing technology

Media Representations

Topic overview Representation, selection and construction Hall and representation as the production of meaning Codes, concepts and shared conceptual maps Hall on stereotyping, power and othering Positive and negative uses of stereotypes Under-representation, misrepresentation and symbolic annihilation Realism, verisimilitude and claims about reality Social, cultural and historical context in representation Gauntlett, identity and pick-and-mix media resources van Zoonen, gender as discourse and the body as spectacle bell hooks: feminism, race and class Butler and gender performativity Gilroy, race, civilisationism and postcolonial theory Representations of sexuality, class and disability Discourse, ideology and audience readings of representations

Media Industries

Topic overview Production, distribution and circulation Ownership models and patterns of control Conglomerates, vertical and horizontal integration Curran and Seaton on power and media ownership Hesmondhalgh and the cultural industries Funding: commercial, subscription and public money Public service broadcasting and the BBC Regulation and the UK regulators Livingstone and Lunt on citizens and consumers Regulation in a global and digital age Convergence, digital technology and distribution Marketing, promotion and maintaining audiences Individual producers and the independent sector Globalisation and the international media market

Media Audiences

Topic overview How audiences are grouped and categorised Psychographics, lifestyle and cultural capital Targeting mass and specialised audiences Attracting, reaching and constructing audiences Mode of address and audience positioning Passive audience models and the effects debate Bandura and social learning theory Gerbner and cultivation theory Active audiences and uses and gratifications Hall and reception theory Jenkins, fandom and participatory culture Shirky and the end of the audience Consumption, technology and audience measurement Audience interpretation, identity and social context

Contexts of Media

Topic overview What media contexts are and why they matter Social contexts: values, attitudes and beliefs Cultural contexts and cultural change Representing minority groups and products made by them Economic contexts: ownership and funding Production outside the commercial mainstream Political contexts: ideology and power Regulation and the state Historical contexts: genre conventions as historically relative Historical change in representation Technological change, production, distribution and circulation Global contexts and non-English-language media

Newspapers

Topic overview Newspaper front pages: masthead, splash and layout Tabloid and quality press: codes, conventions and register Semiotics, structuralism and ideology in newspaper language News values, selection and the construction of reality Representation of events, individuals and social groups in newspapers The Daily Mirror as an evolving product The Times as an evolving product Newspaper ownership, conglomerates and control Funding, paywalls and the decline of print circulation Press regulation, IPSO and the Leveson aftermath Newspapers online: convergence and digital distribution Newspaper audiences: categorisation, targeting and address Audience responses, reception theory and the end of audience

Advertising and Marketing

Topic overview Advertising media language: codes and conventions Semiotics and structuralism in advertising Intertextuality, genre and persuasion in advertising The Tide print advertisement (1950s)Gender representation in 1950s advertising The Kiss of the Vampire film poster (1963)Representation and gender in the Kiss of the Vampire poster Super. Human. and the language of the Paralympic film Disability representation in Super. Human.Historical contexts: sixty years of advertising change Advertising audiences: grouping, targeting and address Audience interpretation and reception in advertising Marketing, branding and cross-media campaigns

Music Video

Topic overview Music video as a form: conventions, functions and development Camerawork, editing and mise-en-scène in music video Narrative, intertextuality and postmodernism in music video Semiotics, myth and ideology in music video Representation, stereotyping and identity in music video Gender, objectification and performativity in music video Ethnicity, race and postcolonial readings in music video Formation, Beyoncé (2016)Turntables, Janelle Monáe (2020)Underdog, Alicia Keys (2020)Riptide, Vance Joy (2013)Seventeen Going Under, Sam Fender (2021)Little Bit of Love, Tom Grennan (2021)

Radio

Topic overview Radio as a form: its history, formats and the listening experience Public service broadcasting and the BBC's mission Funding radio: the licence fee, advertising and sponsorship Regulating radio: Ofcom, the BBC Charter and impartiality Ownership and concentration in the commercial radio industry Podcasting and the on-demand audio economy Digital technology, convergence and BBC Sounds Radio audiences: reach, targeting and measurement Audience theory applied to radio Woman's Hour Have You Heard George's Podcast (BBC Sounds)

Video Games

Topic overview Video games as a media form The Assassin's Creed franchise Ubisoft: ownership, structure and global production Making a major game: budgets, teams and working conditions Distribution, platforms and monetisation Marketing, regulation and the debate about effects Game audiences: who plays and how they are reached Games and historical context: representing the past Global markets, localisation and cultural adaptation Convergence and the franchise across media Hardware cycles, technology and access Games, society and contemporary debate

Film Industries and Marketing

Topic overview Production in the film industry Distribution and release strategies Exhibition, box office and the cinema audience Film funding, budgets and public subsidy Conglomerate ownership, integration and diversification The independent and specialised film sector Film marketing across convergent platforms Regulation, classification and the film industry Black Panther: production and the Marvel blockbuster model Marketing and distributing Black Panther I, Daniel Blake: independent production and funding Marketing and distributing I, Daniel Blake

Television in the Global Age

Topic overview Television in the global age: transnational production and co-production Public service broadcasting in a global marketplace Streaming services and the changing distribution of television Ownership, funding and the economics of television drama Regulation of television in the UK and across borders Marketing television drama and targeting audiences nationally and globally Fandom, niche audiences and how audiences interpret television drama Genre, narrative and media language in television drama Representation, identity and ideology in television drama Peaky Blinders (BBC Two, 2013)The Bridge (Denmark/Sweden, 2015)Black Mirror: 'San Junipero' (Netflix, 2016)The Returned (France, 2012)Killing Eve (BBC America/BBC Three, 2018)Tehran (Israel, 2020)

Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative

Topic overview Magazine cover codes, layout and design Semiotics, structuralism and ideology in magazine language Genre conventions and the historically relative magazine Gender representation in magazines and feminist theory Stereotyping, ideology and under-represented groups Magazine industries: ownership, funding and circulation Magazine audiences: targeting, niche and specialised readers Audience reception, interpretation and cultivation Woman (23–29 August 1964)Adbusters (May/June 2016)Woman's Realm (7–13 February 1965)Huck (February/March 2016)Vogue (July 1965)The Big Issue (17–23 October 2016)

Media in the Online Age

Topic overview Media language of the home page and the YouTube channel Convergence, participatory culture and user-generated content Self-representation and identity online Representing under-represented groups online Online media industries: production, distribution and circulation Influencers, monetisation and the economics of vlogging Algorithms, curation and the attention economy Regulating online content Online audiences: fandom, niche reach and the end of audience Zoe Sugg's YouTube channel JJ Olatunji (KSI) and his YouTube channel Thiiird online magazine Attitude magazine and website

Film Industries and Marketing

The independent and specialised film sector

3 things to know
Component 1

Overview

Independent film, specialised film and social realism in British cinema.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is an independent film?

Key term

What is meant by 'specialised film'?

Key term

Give two constraints an independent producer faces that a studio does not.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is an independent film?
Model answer
An independent film is made outside the major studios, with finance raised from other sources. Creative control usually stays with the film-makers.
2
What is meant by 'specialised film'?
Model answer
Specialised film covers foreign-language, documentary, archive and arthouse titles aimed at a smaller audience. Distribution depends on specialised cinemas and festivals.
3
Give two constraints an independent producer faces that a studio does not.
Model answer
An independent has no guaranteed distribution and must find a buyer for each territory. Marketing budgets are a small fraction of a studio's.
4
What is social realism in British cinema?
Model answer
Social realism is a tradition portraying ordinary working lives and social problems with documentary plainness. Location shooting and understated performance are typical.
5
Name two conventions of social realist film-making.
Model answer
Location shooting in real places is one convention. Naturalistic performance, often from unknown actors, is another.
6
How do festivals help an independent film reach an audience?
Model answer
A festival premiere brings critics, buyers and awards attention together in one place. Prizes give a small film the publicity it cannot buy.

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AWoman's Hour began on the BBC Light Programme in 1946.

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