Summer work

Intro to context:


BIG NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS...


BREXIT:
David Cameron announced a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU. The Brexit referendum (also known as the EU referendum) took place on 23rd June 2016 in the UK. Leave won by 52% to 48%. The referendum turnout was very high at 72%, with more than 30 million people voting - 17.4 million people voted for Brexit.


POLITICS:
David Cameron announced his resignation on 24th June 2016. After he stepped down, Theresa May won the election to be the next Prime Minister on 11th July 2016. During the time Brexit has been occurring, Jeremy Corbyn (the Labour leader) has grown in popularity however, this is for all the wrong reasons. Despite being hated by many, many people, Jeremy Corbyn has been visiting disabled people etc. to try and convince them to think like him (but in a subtle way). 


ROYALS:
Kate Middleton and Prince William got married on 29th April 2011 and now they have 3 children (1 girl and 2 boys). Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got married on 19th May 2018. 
The Queen turned 90 years old on 21st April 2016. She has two birthdays: her real birthday which is on 21st April, and her 'public celebration' birthday which is on the second Saturday of June. 


TERRORISM AND HATRED:
Westminster Bridge attack - In less than 20 seconds, the attacker caused absolute devastation by driving into pedestrians before crashing into railings. 6 people died, including the attacker, and at least 50 people were injured after this terror attack. 

London Bridge attack - At 21:58, a van with 3 attackers inside drove onto London Bridge from the north side of the river. The vehicle then crossed over, before returning in the opposite direction 6 minutes later. After it reached the northern end of the bridge, police said that it made a U-turn and mounted the pavement. It then crossed the bridge again, ploughing into innocent pedestrians, including 3 of those killed.

Finsbury Park attack - This attack was a vehicle-ramming attack in Finsbury Park on 19th June 2017. A van was driven into pedestrians by Darren Osbourne, causing 1 death and injuring at least 9 people. This occurred near the Muslim Welfare House, 100 yards from the Finsbury Park Mosque. 

Manchester terror attack - 22 people died in this attack, including a number of children. This was all after an explosion tore through Ariana Grande's concert at Manchester Arena on 22nd May 2017. More than 800 other people received physical or psychological injuries in the blast.

Jo Cox death - On 16th June 2016, Jo Cox died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, where she had been due to hold a constituency surgery. Thomas Mair was found guilty of her murder.


SYRIAN WAR:
IS took over large parts of Iraq and then moved into eastern Syria, where they were able to gain land and power. On 12th June 2012, the UN for the first time officially proclaimed Syria to be in a state of civil war. The conflict began moving into the two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.



SPECIFIC UK ISSUES:

Theresa May's downfall - Theresa May entered Downing Street for the first time in July of 2016. She set herself two main goals. The first was to do more to help "ordinary working class families" and the second was to deliver the Brexit that the British people voted for. Due to not being able to deliver the Brexit everyone wanted, she resigned in May 2019. Boris Johnson has since taken over in her place.

Grenfell Tower - The Grenfell fire disaster highlighted huge social divisions in London. It focused attention on income and housing divisions within Kensington and Chelsea.

Windrush - The Windrush scandal is a 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases, wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office.

NHS - There are many difficulties that the NHS is facing, including: an ageing population, the growth of digital technology, political changes, people are suffering everywhere (especially with poverty) and also a break down in communication. Furthermore, many refugees feel the need to try and come over to England so that they can benefit off of our NHS. There have been man protests and strikes from many of the staff working for the NHS to battle against governmental issues/debates. For patients waiting to start treatment at the end of October 2018, the median waiting time was 7.0 weeks. The 92nd percentile waiting time was 22.0 weeks.

Charlie Gard - The Charlie Gard case was a best interests case in 2017 involving Charles Matthew William "Charlie" Gard, and infant boy from London, born with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. This is a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive brain damage and muscle failure. MDDS has no treatment and usually causes death in infancy. The case became controversial because the medical team and parents disagreed about whether experimental treatment was in the best interests of the child.

 Football sex abuse scandal - Evidence from 23 victims details how former chief scout Eddie Heath groomed and abused young boys aged between 10 and 17 during the 1970's. Since then, there have been many, many other cases of child grooming in football and there have been a lot of persecutions based on such crimes.

Murray wins Wimbledon - In 2013, Andy Murray won his first Wimbledon title and ended Britain's 77-year wait for a men's champion with a straight-sets victory over world number one Novak Djokovic. Andy Murray, 26, converted his fourth championship point in a dramatic final game to win 6-4 7-5 6-4 and claim his second major title.

2016 Great Britain Olympics success - Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics. These games were the most successful for Great Britain since 1908, winning a total of 67 medals, which exceeded its London 2012 tally of 65 medals, therefore becoming the first nation to surpass its medal total at the Olympics immediately following one that is hosted.

Immigration - Limits on immigration from Ireland to the UK could cause problems. The UK and Irish governments have said that they want free movement between their countries to continue. Many people are concerned that freedom of movement within the EU makes it easier for terrorists to travel around the continent. Poland is the most common country of birth and country of nationality in the UK.

Youth aggression - There has been a surge in violent crime across the UK during 2018, including a 22% increase in knife crime and an 11% rise in gun crime. In London alone, there have been 123 homicides so far this year, including 70 fatal stabbings and 14 shootings (all of this has been reported in November 2018).

Trump election - The 2016 United States presidential election was held on Tuesday 8th November 2016. Trump won the election over Hilary Clinton, despite losing the popular vote. He took office as the 45th president. He won the election 304 votes to 227 votes.

#METOO campaign - The Me Too movement, with a large variety of local and international alternative names, is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. The campaign also has its own website.

#BLACKLIVESMATTER campaign - Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systematic racism towards black people. The campaign also has a website in which it has lots of details about their aims and achievements etc.



CULTURAL TRENDS OF 2017-2019:

Films - Over the last couple of years, many movies have seemed repetitive, especially the Disney remakes. Many of the films under the same genre have similar plot lines that end the same way. This is because companies want their audience to enjoy the movie and so it lacks originality as they have similarly copied a movie which has already been liked/enjoyed by people.

TV Programmes - There are 5 programming trends that TV programmes typically use. These include: less dystopia, omniculturalism, even more reboots, going global and bigger names, smaller shows.

Music - When filming music videos, videos of the same genre of music are very similar to each other. For example, pop videos are a lot more colourful and unoriginal. Whereas indie music videos are more unique.

Video games - Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video games. As computer and video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture.

YouTube - YouTube is (in my opinion) one of the only platforms that shows uniqueness and differentiation in terms of video ideas and originality when creating their videos. YouTube is a reflection of our culture and emerging sentiments in our society are often reflected in the creative output.

Fads - One of the most recent cultural fad is the dab as well as dances from the Fortnite video game. In addition to this, many footballers celebrations after they have scored a goal link to internet viral videos/dances.

Language and representation exam DIRT sheets

"This is America" - Childish Gambino music video

Camera:
F A M - Frame, Angle, movement.

Mise en scene:
C L A M P S - Costume, Lighting, Actors, Makeup, Props, Setting.

Contrapuntal - opposite to what you're expecting.


FAM:

• ls.
• mls - accentuates 'crazy' facial expressions.
• track in/track out.
• rotating.
• 17 seconds - bad things, representing the death of 17 students.
• guy with guitar shown at the beginning and the end of the video.
• shows how casual and easy it is to shoot someone.
• grotesque smiles/facial expressions.

CLAMPS:

• underground car park.
• shirtless - neutral colours.
• gospel singers.
• natural lighting.
• yellow shoes - only colour? (cars at end are coloured).
• cars/horses/(gospel cloaks).
• cars are stolen?
• Glover looks confident.
• Glover dances.
• shocking, violence.
• intertextuality.
• juxtaposition - dancing distracts from chaos.
• Glover represents America not paying attention.
• equality.
• Black Lives Matter.

EXTRA:

• he's acknowledging the dehumanising way black people were treated.
• guns are treated with more respect than black lives.
• choir is a reference to Charleston, South Carolina massacre.
• polysemic = multiple meanings.
• camera pans to kids with phones - white people muzzling police brutality - high angle.
• horse relates to the bible.
• dancing!

Charity essay

Analyse how social and cultural contexts can influence advertising?
Use figure 3 to support your answer.
In your answer:

• analyse how social and cultural influence advertising
• make judgements and reach a conclusion on why they are advertised in this way

Social Context

 

Social Anxieties - Inequalities (gender, race, sexuality, class) - Conflicting Social Values

Cultural Context

 

Consumerism - Celebrity Culture - Feminism - Postmodernism

These posters each emphasise what the campaign tries to achieve in helping the homeless. By advertising the Shelter campaign, it is targeting tough topics that relate to people’s everyday life. This proximity targets the emotions of people that see the campaign so that they feel inclined to do something about homelessness. Homelessness is a fairly sensitive subject as it negatively affects a lot of people in the world. There are so many people who are homeless and so by the Shelter campaign creating the type of posters shown in figure three, they are emphasising the need for help and donations to the campaign.

On each of these posters, the people behind the text have similar expressions on their faces. Their emotions seem relatable to those who are homeless (as the campaign represents homelessness and aims to tackle it). All the posters show normal, white people who are losing or have lost their home due to things like jobs etc. Even though these posters don’t show diversity between races, there is diversity shown in gender. This allows everyone to be able to relate to them and it shows togetherness/a community.  By using men and women as the face of the campaign poster, it shows how homelessness could happen to anyone.  

The camera shot is a close up so that you can clearly see their facial expressions (showing sadness/depression etc.). The contrast between the light pigmentation of their skin and a very dark shade of hair links with sadness (which is what many homeless people feel).

Furthermore, the text used (lying on top of the actor’s faces) illustrates the fact that homeless people need help. The rhetorical question “But where will we live?” is an open question that anyone can have an opinion to answer. The idea is for people to automatically think about how serious the situation is and what they can do to help. Also, the use of the word “can’t” emphasises the negativity that the situation of homelessness brings to people’s lives. Meaning that when someone is being threatened of losing their home, it is very common to become depressed or having negative thoughts.

 

In conclusion, Shelter uses many social and cultural contexts in order to promote what they aim to do - help the homeless. They do this by targeting people by showing normality in the ads to make people feel included and a community that should help each other out.

Lucozade advert analysis

Lucozade sport:

• Gareth Bale is represented as strong and powerful - facial expressions, colour scheme etc.
• Gareth Bale stats - how Lucozade has improved him.
• The drink itself stands out in the bottom right-hand corner of the advert - shows logo - swoosh - direction of flow - Lucozade = better than etc.
• In a different league - better than anything else.
• Scientifically proven.
• YES.
• Do you believe?

Information on context etc....

• Created 1927 as Glucozade - meant to give energy to the sick.
• Renamed Lucozade in 1929.
• 1983 rebranded as a sports drink rather than a health drink.
• Lots of sponsorship deals with various sports.
• Lucozade sport is its No1 drink.
• £4 million campaign.
• Agency = Grey London.
• GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare - owners of Lucozade in January 2013.
• Lucozade sold to Suntory in September 2013 for £1.35 billion.
• Ad stars: Gareth Bale and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.
• Campaign banned in January 2014 by ASA as it failed to show that it only had benefit during prolonged exercise.

Consumerism - the total value of the soft drinks market in the UK is around £15 billion.
Celebrity culture - capitalising on star appeal/star as commodity.

Advertising

Paper 1 Section B: Media Language and Representation

4 questions on news

• Old Spice
• Lucozade
• Shelter (charity advert)

Marketing can be defined as the process of promoting a media text to potential audiences.
Marketing aims to:

• create awareness of a film's release.
• create interest in the film itself.
• generate desire to see the film and action in the purchasing of a cinema ticket.

Ultimately, the purpose of marketing is the importance of audience figures and profits and gauging the commercial success of a media product.



The 4 P's of marketing:

• Price.
• Promotion.
• Product.
• Placement.

What is the Medias USP?


Structural features of adverts:

• Copy.
• Slogan.
• Logo.
• Central image.
• Typography.
• Brand identity.

Analysing an advert...

• Aim of the print advert?
• Denotation and connotation.
• Media language - camera shot(FAM), mise en scene (CLAMPS), typography, editing.
• Representation of males/females.
• Representation of themes.
• Representation of brands.
• Psychology - which human needs is it satisfying?

Don't forget about camera - image.
(FAM - frame, angle, movement)

The Big Issue essay

Question 5 Explain how the representations in magazines reflect their contexts. Refer to The Big Issue covers you have studied to support your answer. [10]
In the majority of The Big Issue covers, they have many things in common. For example, there are normally lots of bright and bold colours to draw the reader's/audience's attention. The covers are eye-catching with usually one main person on the cover. The Big Issue likes to challenge political topics like Trump and the Tories or even topics like poverty and homelessness. The magazines are always playing around with their words, creating puns in order to make the audience be intrigued in the ambiguous story titles. Furthermore, celebrities and well-known people are always doing interviews for The Big Issue which aids in attracting younger people. One of the biggest things that The Big Issue does is intertextuality. The term intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. There is a lot of intertextuality between political issues and entertainment themes in a lot of the magazines. For example, in some of The Big Issue magazines, the people on the front cover may be holding a The Big Issue magazine, further advertising the brand. This aids in influencing people to read further into the magazine.The two magazines below have similarities and differences. Each one represents certain aspects of The Big Issue and what they aim to contain in their magazines. For both magazines, there is evidently an aspect of entertainment. On the left cover, the entertainment is shown by the use of a character from a new film that came out about an icon in history. On the right cover, the entertainment is shown by the use of the judges from The Great British Bake Off which has been going on for many years. Both covers represent icons in history. The Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) cover shows an icon in music history whereas The Great British Bake Off cover shows an icon in baking history. The Freddie Mercury cover represents individuality and uniqueness. These are qualities in The Big Issue that are constantly repeated to show people that being unique and different is okay because everyone is equal no matter what. This cover is a fantastic way of showing power as Freddie has his hand up (this is a large part of the brand as they believe in a hand up, not a hand out). The Big Issue are always playing on words and creating puns however they have used words (in this cover) to symbolise the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. They have done this by creating Freddie Mercury out of lyrics from Queen songs, which is a very inventive and creative way (this is typical for The Big Issue). The Great British Bake Off cover represents a community and being proud. This is emphasised in the repetition of hints of the baking icon Mary Berry who is no longer on the show. The repetition of Mary Berry shows how she was a large part of the show and also how people miss her as she has changed people's lives all around the world. Some of the plays on words include French words (like 'bouche', meaning 'mouth' in English). This relates to French cuisine/French baking. As has already been said, intertextuality is used in this cover in the bottom left-hand corner on the mug. Even though The Big Issue normally shows people of different races, this is not evident on this cover. However, there are different genders so it does link in to how the magazines from The Big Issue try to target all different audiences (e.g. age, gender, ethnicities etc.). Both magazines use bold fonts in bright colours to attract the attention of people. The colour text on The Great British Bake Off cover stands out from the rest of the colours enough for people to know that that is the main topic. On the other hand, the colour text on the Freddie Mercury cover is the same colour as the 'clothes' that Freddie is wearing however, it still stands out because it is very large and it is also on a black background 9further making it stand out). Like the other cover, this boldness is enough for people to recognise that Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) is the main topic. This could be linked to how The Big Issue magazines stand out from normal magazines as they represent community in an equal and positive way. The light colours used for the main topics could then also be related to how The Big Issue magazines are always trying to show the positives in society.

How is Minecraft regulated in the UK

Minecraft merchandise

Minecraft essay

intro - what it is, outline of its history, explain why it has been a commercial and critical success.

Minecraft

Minecraft is a sandbox game that was created by a Swedish game developer called Markus Persson (also known as Notch) and later it was developed by Mojang. The game initially released o 17th May 2009. A sandbox game is when there is a virtual world which the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear gameplay. Therefore, Minecraft is a sandbox game as it is a virtual land where users/players can create their own worlds and experiences freely using building blocks and other resources discovered on the game. The game is only limited by the player's imagination. You can play the game in two different modes: survival and creative. Creative mode is when you are free to use any blocks/resources even if you don't have them, meaning that the resources are unlimited. However, survival mode is when you begin with absolutely nothing and you have to get it all yourself. When you begin survival mode, the typical thing to do is chop down a tree and get a crafting table etc. You have to fight off mobs in the dark (these include the spawning of zombies, skeletons, spiders etc.) in order to continue surviving. You have to be careful not to drown and also, make sure that you feed yourself otherwise you will die of hunger. There are many different servers that you can access and also there are a lot of competitive games/parkour games that have been created for anyone to access.
There are six main reasons as to why Minecraft is so popular. For one, the game is a sandbox game with infinite replayability and so it is only limited by the imagination of the player. The game has a very strong community and due to this, the player's creations are Minecraft's own marketing campaign. Minecraft is platform agnostic. This means that it can be played on everything including things like PC, laptop, tablet, phone and many more. Children have co-opted the game due to how large the fan base has become. It is not limited by genre and it also fulfils our human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness. This means that anyone who plays it can make/tailor everything to how they want and so they can make it (in a sense) their own 'utopian' world full of adventure and mystery.
Minecraft is playable on Windows, Mac and Linux at a cost of £20. Minecraft can also be described as 'cross platform play' which is a term used to describe the ability of a video game across different platforms such as computer/PC, XBOX, Nintendo and mobile phone. All of these platforms increase target audience and therefore increase sales and revenue, which can be reinvested back into the game in order to improve it. Overall, this benefits the producers as well as the audience.
Due to the increase in Minecraft users, Minecraft decided to add in-game currency for players to be able to use skins in game. Skins are certain looks for your character to have in order to make your account and worlds more personalised to you. These skins are both fan made and company made. Originally, there was a skin referred to as a 'Steve' skin. Many people over the years have used this skin however, many more have been made.
Twitch is a streaming service that allows people to stream and/or watch videos of people playing their favourite video games. For example, Ali-A has used this service. The Minecraft twitch channel has got 34,803 followers with a total 2,372,538 views. It is a very successful service and it is also free online and as an app on the AppStore.
Minecraft merchandise helps significantly with targeting a younger audience. By advertising merchandise like t-shirts, bags and books etc., younger children will ask their parents to buy them these things and so the Minecraft fan base will

Minecraft timeline

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

Video games

Types and examples:

• RPG - Skyrim.
• Sports - NBA.
• Strategy - Fortnite.
• Action/adventure - The Last of Us.
• Construction/strategy/building - Fallout.
• FPS - Counterstrike.
• Simulation -
• Horror - Left for Dead.
• Puzzle solving - Portal.
• Children's - Club Penguin.

Platform - different formats games are available in.
Cross media platform - games available on more than one format.
Conglomerate - e.g. Sony, large owning smaller companies.
Developer - who comes up with the game.
Digital distribution - making game available to audience.
Engine - system designed for distribution/development of video games.
PEGI - age rating system - regulation.
Designer - who brings concept of game to life.
RPG - role playing game.
MMORPG - massively multiplayer online role playing game.
FPS - first person shooter.
Event release - hyped date used heavily in marketing.
Triple A Game - highest development budgets/levels of promotions.
Open world - players free to roam in virtual game world.
DLC - downloadable content.
Sand Box - style of game allowing user to change the world around them whenever.

Minecraft

• Markus Persson aka Notch (creator).
• has sold over 150 million copies.

6 reasons why it's so popular:

1. A literal sandbox with infinite replayability. Only limited by your imagination.
2. A strong community. The player's creations are Minecraft's own marketing campaign.
3. Can be played on everything (it is a platform agnostic). PC fan base.
4. Has been co-opted by children. A household name.
5. It is not limited by genre.
6. It fulfils our human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness.

QUESTIONS:

1. How many subscriptions does Ali-A have?
2. How many years has he been doing it?
3. Why did he start playing Minecraft?
4. What's he trying to do with his content?
5. His average working day?
6. Why might we watch YouTube?
7. Average time on Twitch?
8. How much does Ali-A earn?
9. How much was Minecraft purchased for?
10. What are 3 reasons behind Microsoft's purchase?
11. How might this affect the game?
12. What is Minecraft's biggest asset?

1. 16 million.
2. 10 years (2009).
3. because his subscribers wanted him to.
4. survival series (make one).
5. YouTube, social life, hard to get evenings free due to 3 videos a day, has to plan free time. Wakes up at 12-2, sleeps 1-5.
6. as a means of entertainment.
7. a streaming service - 4 hours a day (average).
8. 3 million.
9. purchased from Mojang in 2014 for 2.5 billion.
10. a) money - profits, gain money. b) audience that Microsoft wants - doesn't already have. c) oversee the future of it etc.
11. hopefully positively - game will grow/improve.
12. community (fan base).

Successes of Minecraft

Why is Minecraft is so successful?

• strong sense of community.
• new kind of game.
• lots of freedom and independence.
• reaches all ages (families etc.).
• wide target audience.
• platform agnostic.
• drip-fed content.

BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show - Google Slides

BBC Radio 1 Self-Review Test

1. How long has Greg James been presenting The Radio 1 Breakfast show?
Greg James began presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast show on 20th August 2018.

2. What is the age range of the target audience that the R1BS aim to attract?
The targeted age range is 15-29 year olds.

3. What are the main differences between R1BS and commercial stations' breakfast shows like Capital FM?
Only adverts from the BBC are allowed to be shown under their rules and regulations. Contrasting to smaller radio shows where they are able to gin more income due to advertising a variety of commercials.

4. List as many ways audiences can access Radio 1 that you can think of.
Phone, Tablet, Computer, Radio, MP3 Player, Laptop, Mainframe, Supercomputer, Watch

5. How can the audience interact with the R1BS?
The audience are able to interact with Greg James because of th games that are played. Including: 'Pass the pasty', 'Unpopular opinions and 'Jan slam'. These games all make the audience participate by calling in etc. James also hosts many quizzes each day where the audience can submit their answers via the show's social media or by ringing into Greg James himself.

6. Which professional body regulates Radio and how might this affect what is broadcast?
Ofcom regulates the content standards of the BBC's radio, on-demand programmes and television. The BBC does handle complaints however, Ofcom is the regulator for the BBC.

7. How does The R1BS fulfil its remits as a public service broadcaster?
It does this by its consistent audience engagement through social media platforms, games and the latest news.

8. Why is the controller of Radio 1, Ben Cooper unconcerned about the drop in listening figures for the R1BS?

Ben Cooper says that you have to take in account of all innovation, in particular digital, YouTube as well as the actual show itself. Listeners have dropped over the years due to an increase in popularity on things like YouTube and Instagram however, people are still tuning into the show.

9. How does the program promote British music?
On average, 53% of the music played every hour and a half is British.

10. What genres of music were played during your slot? Give some examples.
Pop, Rock, Alternative/Indie, Rap.

11. Celebrity interviews - Who is being interviewed and what are they being interviewed about? How many of the interviews are with British people?
------------------------

12. News items - List the stories and identify which relate to Britain.
immigration, Brexit, Sport, Film nominations.

13. Quizzes and games - what can you win?
You can win tickets to sports matches/festivals/concerts.

14. How does the broadcast fit into the BBC ethos of 'informing, educating and entertaining'?
Everyday, the radio informs and educates people on the latest news and also it entertains by playing music and talking to celebrity guests/the public.

15. How does it differ from commercial breakfast shows?

16. Who do you think the audience is from the content of 'your section'? What evidence do you have for this?
15-29 year olds. the content talked about is fairly mature so younger people are not suited to hear it. Also, their is a wide range of music played to suit different ages.

17. How large is the audience for the Radio 1 Breakfast show?
On average, there are 5.10 million listeners per week.

18. Which five audience categories did the BBC Trust use to measure audiences in 2016?

19. Which BBC radio station is most targeted at a mass audience?
BBC Radio 2 is most targeted at a mass audience because it covers more content and it last for a longer period of time.

20. Which BBC radio station is most aimed at a niche audience with high levels of cultural capital?
BBC Radio 1 is the most aimed at aa niche audience due to the smaller age group of their target audience.

BBC Radio 1 Essay

How is the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show reaching, targeting and encouraging audience interaction?

The BBC Radio 1 breakfast show uses a variety of strategic ways in order to reach and target their audience. For example, they have quizzes that are only heard if you listen to the breakfast show. Therefore, people who are intrigued/interested in the quizzes would have to listen multiple times to the breakfast show in order to find out the answers to the quiz. Also, they do a segment called 'unpopular opinions' where the listeners of the show share the opinion on certain topics that would normally be disagreed by the majority of people if asked.

The target audience for the Radio 1 breakfast show is 15-29-year-olds and this is very evident on the music that is played. Meaning that the songs played are used to target different social groups (e.g. edgy songs for edgy people etc.). A mix of contemporary music and speech is used in order to engage people to the show. Radio 1 have been suffering because their core audience began turning away from live radio. A main reason for this is the use of streaming services (like Spotify). As the years have gone on, there have been technological advancements allowing younger generations to access the internet and social media. Nowadays, the target audience of the radio spend a lot of time on their phones which is why they are so used to doing things that include their phone. Hence, why the radio is listened to a lot less than it would be if phones were not as popular. Due to the audience being British, predominantly British music is played (53%) and so this is a way that emphasizes the country’s pride in our good music and artists.  

BBC Radio 1 has had a change in presenters since they began. Currently, Greg James is the presenter of BBC Radio 1 since the 20^th August 2018. He has brought a lot to the show for the short amount of time he has hosted. Since he took over Nick Grimshaw, James has brought higher statistics/ratings to the show. He has done this by engaging with the audience a lot more within the radio everyday by playing quizzes and little games to add a sense of fun to the show. These games include: 'Unpopular Opinions' - where he gets 5 people from the audience on the line to give an unpopular opinion, 'Jan Slam' - where every day in January, they hosted this where you have to answer a few questions and text into the show (resulting in a prize every day, like tickets to sports games/festivals) and '10 Minute Takeover' - where Greg James chooses 3-4 people who are listening in to choose any song to play on the radio. Consequently, Greg James has made the audience go up by 240,000 people since Nick Grimshaw hosted the show. He is a very significant part and reason as to why Radio 1 is now becoming more successful again. Even though Greg James and Nick Grimshaw have both brought their own element to BBC Radio 1, Greg James has had more views/listeners. Nick Grimshaw took over in order to try and influence people of aged 30+ to tune in to the show and view/listen in. However, there were less viewings from his takeover and when Greg James then took over, he stuck with the original 15-29-year-old audience and consequently, made the statistics increase again. One of the games that BBC Radio has done is ‘Pass the pasty’. This game was created because a caller in mentioned that she had never had a pasty before and so a pasty was then passed all around the country from Cornwall all the way to Scotland. This is a great example of how the radio interacted/engaged with its audience as many people participated in order to drive the pasty to its destination.

Radio 1 uses a strategy referred to as the 'trail of breadcrumbs'. This is a strategy that is used by the radio in a way of recognising what he audience wants. They do this by monitoring comments and feedback on all platforms (including YouTube and Instagram etc.). This aids in keeping the content relevant to their target audience. All of the social media advertises the radio station and publicises the great content that they have. Not only do the comments and feedback help with the number of viewers, but when people share posts on platforms like Facebook, it is a very quick way for the radio station to spread news to draw more people in.

The news is broadcasted every half an hour where things like Brexit, other political debates and crimes are discussed. As well as this, they talk about personal stories and celebrities in order to interest everyone.

BBC Radio 1 Breakfast show group work

What was the task you were assigned?

We were assigned to create a 3 minute breakfast show to act as an audition. Meaning that we were trying to include everything in order for us to be picked to be the new breakfast show group.

Who was in your group and what was everyone's role in the task?

In the group, there was me (Regan), Tilly, Fred and Ami. We all created the script together.

What fresh ideas did you bring to the programme?
I brought the ideas of the music and parts of the celebrity/guest interaction.

Who did you interview?

We interviewed a caller in named Gertrude from Guernsey and we also interviewed David Attenborough.

What tracks did you choose and why?
We chose Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Don't Call Me Up by Mabel and Play by Jax Jones and Years & Years. We chose Bohemian Rhapsody as it is a classic song that everyone (of all ages) knows. Then we chose Don't Call Me Up and Play because they are both fairly popular songs that the younger audience likes.

What was the running order?
> Song
> News and weather
> Song
> Intro to game
> Song
> Phone in from a listener
> Celebrity in studio

Who is your target audience?
Our target audience is 15-29 year olds - the same as Radio 1's.

How did you relate to/attract your audience?
We played songs which the audience would be very familiar with and so this attracted the audience as they like the songs. Also, we attracted them by including them in our celebrity crush game.

How does your product fit in with the BBC/PSB remit?

What do you think you could have improved in terms of content ?
We cold have linked the song Bohemian Rhapsody with the newly released movie.

What was your initial feedback? What did others say about your production?
People said that we had very good content/information as well as when we represented our social media/phone numbers. Our phone sound when 'on the phone' to Gertrude was really good and realistic. Our 'do call us up' joke was quite funny and relatable to how comedic a breakfast show usually is. However, we need to be less happy in our voices when talking about the news/murders and we need to try to not repeat 'across the country' in our weather content. Furthermore, at one point in the show, the background music is pretty much louder than the presenters voices and so we need to quieten it down in order for the audience to hear the presenters talking/giving out information.

Identify what went well and with hindsight what would you do differently?
The speed in which we filmed everything went very well as we managed to get the filming done in the first day (as it only took us one day to complete). Also, our content was informational and fun in order to intrigue the listeners/audience. Next time, we could organise the filming a little bit more in a way that would be more effective and less stressful.  

BBC Radio 1 timeline

Episode Timeline Activity

We are going to create a timeline of everything that happens in an example of the Radio 1 Breakfast show.  In the exam, you need to be able to explain how the content of the show follows PSB rules and attracts its audience, and will therefore need to refer to real examples from a broadcast.  

Each group will be given a different section of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show to listen to.  The section will be approximately 30 minutes in duration. Your group must note down everything that happens in your 30-minute section onto the grid.  At the end of the activity you will hand in your grid and your teacher will make a copy of it for the rest of the class.

Here is an example of the detail that you must go into when noting content:

Questions:  

After you’ve identified and written down the content of your section, you must answer the following questions:

• How does the programme promotes British music?  

It plays a mixture of Canadian, American and British songs. They mix up the genres and singers to draw interest and make people continue to listen. The programme played slightly more British songs. Also, the presenter praises the artists and shows off their achievements.

• What percentage of tracks played during your slot were British?  

Roughly 56% of the tracks were British and roughly 44% of the tracks were American or Canadian.

• What genres of music were played during your slot?  Do a tally.

Alternative/indie - 4 tracks

House - 1 track

Dance/electronic - 3 tracks

Pop - 4 tracks (including pop-rock and R&B)

Hip-hop/Rap - 4 tracks (including R&B)

• Celebrity interviews – who is being interviewed and what are they being interviewed about?  How many of the interviews are with British people?

• News items – list the stories and identify which relate to Britain.  

> Personal story about running.

> Weather

> FA Cup final - football - sport

• Quizzes and games – what can you win?

> Meet Greg James.

> Competition to win cricket tickets.

> Guess the 3 letter word.

• How does the broadcast fits into the BBC ethos of ‘informing, educating and entertaining’?

The presenter definitely entertains people as he frequently makes comedic comments to bring a sense of normality and everyday humour to the broadcast.

• How does it differ from commercial breakfast shows?

They don’t advertise any commercials that aren’t to do with the BBC unlike other broadcasters that play commercials to advertise businesses or companies.

• Who you think the audience is from the content of your section?  What evidence do you have for this?

People aged 10+, some of the vocabulary used and some of the topics talked about during the segment may not be acceptable for young children.

• What platforms is the show is distributed on?

Radio, Internet Stream.

This show can be heard on the radio however, it can also be streamed on the internet.

List A	List B	List C
Bruno Mars: Finesse	Avelino: 1 in a Million	Dream Wife: Hey Heartbreaker
Camila Cabello: Never be the Same	Big Boi: All Night	Fekky: My Size
Craig David: I know You	Diplo: Get it Right	Hailee Steinfeld: Let Me Go
Eminem: River	Dua Lipa: IDGAF	Jorja Smith: Let Me Down
James Arthur: Naked	G-Eazy & Halsey: Him & I	Kendrick Lamar: All the Stars
Jason Derulo: Tiptoe	HAIM: Nothing’s Wrong	Marmozets: Major System Error
Jax Jones: Breathe	Isaac Gracie: Terrified	Moose Blood: Talk in your sleep
J Hus: Bouff Daddy	Jessie Ware: Your Domino	Paramore: Fake Happy
MK: 17	Justin Timberlake: Filthy	Rae Morris: Atletico
Not3x: My Lover	Liam Payne & Rita Ora: For You	Rudimental: These Days
Ramz: Barking	One Bit & Noah Cyrus: My Way	Sunflower Bean: I was a Fool
Raye & Mr Eazi: Decline	Portugal: Feel it Still	The Vaccines: I Can’t Quit
Sigrid: Strangers	Post Malone: I Fall Apart
Taylor Swift: Gorgeous	Steel Banglez: Bad
Tom Walker: Leave a Light On	SZA & Calvin Harris: The Weekend

Radio One Play List for week commencing 22nd January 2018

Each BBC Radio station has a playlist of songs that it must play every day/week. These songs will be picked to help meet the service licence and mission to promote British talent and to attract the audience.  

Use the grid below to note down the programme contents:

For any song played you must identify the genre, the name of the artist/band and song, and whether the artist/band are from the UK.  

Timing	Content
6:30	Introduction, referencing Radio 1. Intro to presenter (Greg James).
6:32	personal story about running.
6:33	STING intro to cricketer who has accomplished- lists accomplishments (8:00). Ticket giveaway and 8
6:34	Song- Can’t feel my face (Weeknd)
6:36	STING followed by self advertising. Track- Play (Jax Jones, Years & Years)
6:42	STING- followed by public tweets. Jingle
6:44	Box of goods, prize given to listener. talking to radio technician.
6:45	Track- One More Time (Pale Waves)
6:47	Reference to technician, Laughing, technical issue. Intro to BBC R1.
6:48	Track- There’s nothing holding me back (Shawn Mendes)
6:51	STING- Self advertising Track-Thursday (Jess Glynne)

6:55	Fixed Technical issues, background music, referencing similarities between radio and other workplaces
6:57	referencing FA cup Final from previous show
6:58	plays audio clip of fellow presenters show Track: All The Starz (Kendrick Lamar & SZA)
7:00

Timing	Content
7:00	> Presenters and co are talking about news from around the world and discussing it using their opinions etc. > Jingle is played - sting - introducing news on Harry Kane and football/rugby etc.
7:01	> Weather gets talked about to inform people. > Update on the time. > Sting.
7:04	> Sting. > Intro to Radio 1. > Greg James welcoming everyone and thanking people for having him on. > Talking about the quiz from yesterday - Scott (citizen) involved in the competition. > Talking about songs on the way.
7:05	> Track: Chalice - Donae’o.
7:09	> Track: Still into you - Paramore.
7:11	> Sting. > Advertisement for winning tickets and meeting Greg James
7:12	> Track: Sweet but psycho - Ava Max.
7:15	> Presenter talking about previous tracks and being comedic. > Sting. > Talking about winning tickets again and also quiz from yesterday - welcoming Scott (person taking the quiz). > Quiz being played.
7:21	> Sting. > Track: Javelin (Calling out your name) - Adelphi Music Factory.
7:24	> Presenter talking again over the end of the track. > Being comedic and relatable. > Talking about people who have written to the show. > Sting. > Track: Hurtin’ me - French Montana and Stefflon Don
7:27	> Presenter talking and making jokes about the previous song. > Sting. > Track: Medicine - Bring Me The Horizon.

Timing	Content
7:30	Football- A Harry Kane penalty that put Spurs ahead of Chelsea in the League Cup Semi Final
7:33	Rugby Union- Rugby player given a red card and suspended for the next 3 weeks
7:35	Cricket World Cup Final
7:38	Guess the 3 letter word
7:45	Song-It's not living by the 1975
7:49	Song-Fit But You Know It (The Streets)
7:52	Song-Lullaby by Sigala and Paloma Faith
7:55	Competition to win Cricket World Cup Final Tickets
7:58	Song- We Appreciate Power by Grimes

Timing	Content
8:00	Programme ident, News, (sting), News, (sting), News, Weather, (sting), ident.
8:03 (1:30)	Prize Giveaway (Cricket world cup), gives out info to enter details. (81199). (sling)
8:08 (1:35)	Song, It not living (If it’s not with you) 1975, (sting), ident.
8:11 (1:38)	Song, Fit but you know it, The Streets
8:14 (1:41)	Song, Lullaby, Sigala and Palmona faith,
8:18 (1:45)	(sting), ident, Cricket giveaway description, Calls the public
8:21 (1:48)	Graeme swan back in the studio,
8:23 (1:50)	Song, Mountain at my gates, Foals, (sting).
8:26 (1.53)	Rugby Union giveaway, ident
8:28(1.55)	Song, We appreciate power, Grimes, (sting)

Timing	Content
8:30	News and Weather (uses Sting)
8:33	GJ gives small info on what’s to come, Radio’s Indent; 2 tracks (Ariana Grande ‘thank you next’, Kodak Black ‘ZEZE’)
8:40	GJ gives a contact number for people to call; Play’s a game with listeners (Unpopular Opinion)
8:45	Track Plays (Sam Fender ‘that sound’)
8:47	Small conversation with a listener about the game before the track (He talks to them calmly and like they’re friends)
8:51	Track Plays (Sigird ‘Sucker Punch’); Reads some comments from listeners
8:55	Ten Minute take over (Skee-lo ‘I wish’, Justin Timberlake ‘Senorita’, Blink-182 ‘What’s my age again?’)
8:59	Radio’s Indent (Annie Mack)
9:00	News and Weather

9.00	Continued Track - I Wish (Fabiolous Barker)
9.02	Track  - Senorita (Justin Timberlake)
9.06	Sting
9.06	Track - Mountain At My Gates (Foals)
9.08	GJ concludes ‘10 minute takeover’
9.09	Sting
9.09	Track - Baby (Clean Bandit)
9.13	GJ talks about what’s on at 10am.  Introduces upcoming songs.
9.14	Track - Fit But You Know It (The Streets)
9.16	GJ talks about Carol Cook and her tweet “in the first 7 days of 2019, Jersey has only seen 6 minutes of sunshine, making it the dullest start to the year in 96 years xxx”
9.18	Track - We Appreciate Power (Grimes)
9.21	GJ talks about ‘Window Weather’. Talks about upcoming on BS
9.22	Track - Only You (Theophilus London)
9.25	GJ introduces upcoming songs and upcoming news.
9.26	Sting
9.26	News - Military increasing technology to stop drones in Heathrow against illegal drone activity, Teenager attacked by 3 men, voting in house of commons, Spurs VS Chelsea, Saudi teen has been given refugee status in USA, Best Film Nominations,
9.30	Window Weathers - Jersey

9:30	Jersey weather update over phone call ‘window weather’
9:33.01	‘close to you’ By Ellie Goulding & Diplo Genre- Pop UK
9:36.04	‘Dimentions’ By Sub Focus&Dimentions Genre- Dance/ Electronic
9:40	Scotland vs Wales – six Nations advert/ superbowl and game opportunity
9:41	‘King princess’ By Talia Genre- Pop
9:44	‘Heathens’ By 21 pilots Genre- Rap rock/ alternative/indie
9:47	‘Party for One’ By Carly Rae Jepsen
9:50	Greg James chats with the audience, light hearted conversation
9:52	‘praise the lord’ By ASAP Rocky Genre- HipHop/ Rap
9:55	Greg James chats with audience briefly
9:56	‘Love has all been done before’ By Jade Bird Genre- Alternative/ Indie