riptide analysis

riptide is really interesting because it breaks almost every rule and restriction of music video and film.

only looking at the first 50 seconds.

there are a whole load of shots within this time and lot of good examples of editing.

in the exam, you don't need to go into as much detail- but this gives you an indication of what you can talk about in the exam.

the first shot is known as the establishing shot, the establishing shot in riptide is very mysterious. there's a beautiful blue serene sky but we do not know where we are, which immediately positions the audience in a slightly uncomfortable mode of address. the camera slowly pans down and at the end of this shot we are expecting to see something- for something to be established. but that doesn't happen.

at the bottom of the screen we see something highly unconventional- the text. it's something conventional to a film poster, it's a list of all the different elements of the music video. it's very small and over in a matter of seconds, the audience will have no chance of reading this in one go. this is an excellent example of why music videos need to be watched over and over again. most people watching wont notice but it provides something exciting for more interested fans and is a great example of intertextuality. and some of the words seem to be referencing horror.

the next shot is a hard cut (meaning not a fade) of a close up/extreme close up of a women's face, she has the mise-en-scene of a metal instrument in her mouth. and this shot matches up with the lyric 'i was scared of dentists and the dark.' the metal thing doesn't really seem to have anything to do with dentistry, however the lyrics and the image combine in the audiences to convey uncomfortable messages. this hardcut is a binary opposition to the calming sky. her expression connotes violence- a proairetic code for violence. her gaze lands away from the camera- presumably to the person doing this to her. the woman is hegemonically attractive- intertextuality to horror movies. being a close up the audience is positioned next to her putting them in a particularly scary position, are we torturing her? if she's being tortured why arent we doing anything? but there's also no actual mise-en-scene to denote violence, no blood or weapons. this whole shot is emphasised and anchored by the spinning light. 

then we dip to black and see a light hanging from the ceiling, the implication being it's light that was shaking over her. through the use of cause and effect and montage we know that this is a pov shot and suddenly we are positioned as the woman being tortured. we are looking out of her eyes and the dip to black suggests something has happened. so even thought no violence has been shown the gaps are filled in by our heads- this is extremely experimental but also an excellent way to show quite violent scenes without actually doing it and breaching the rules and restrictions. 

another hard cut brings us to a totally different shot, we're back at the sea but it's a more gloomy day. the camera pans and slowly zooms in on a woman in a revealing yellow swimsuit, switching the audience in an extremely voyeuristic mode of address. the fact this is shot w a telephoto lens (a long zooms lens) adds to the creepiness. she is hegemonically attractive although we can't see her face, we don't know if this is the same woman as before. this is a trick the music video uses, we switch from woman to woman all of whom look very similar but are played by completely different actors.

the next shot is bird eyes view- used a lot in the video. we see a female hand holding a book in extremely harsh highkey lighting. the title of the book is again very creepy and anchor the situation as voyeuristic- the slow zoom emphasises its importance and the red presents a diametric opposition to the white of the background and the nail polish. so far the video is very confusing.

the next shot gets even more confusing as we cut to an exterior day shot, the mise-en-scene of the setting is out of focus however it looks like a European apartment block. there's a woman with her head away from the camera and a man who looks to be in distress, wearing stereotypical 1970's costumes. again confusing to the audience and an example of a post-modern reference to a different time. why is the music video suddenly set in the 1970's? well we don't know. this reinforces the idea of narrative and the idea that this music video is set in a completely different time. if we look at the colour grading the video is washed out- like a film from the 1970's- not every shot looks like this which is confusing.

another hard cut, and pretty much precisely when the singer says 'turning green' we see a dollar bill on what appears to be a beach towel. green is symbolic of money- with a fairly literal interpretation of the lyrics. 

another hard cut to an exterior close up and hands outstretched. suddenly due to a jump cut a card (the queen of spades) appears in someone's hand. he's wearing a suede jacket which is very stereotypical of 1970's fashion and a watch that also seems to belong to a different time. the audience is forced to question what kind of symbolic code this is representing. 

suddenly a hardcut isn't used and instead a whippan is from right to left. then we see a women who seems to be wearing a very similar costume to the man in the last shot. a low angle shot is used and she's dancing with her arms outstretched. there's no anchorage here and it's very confusing. a dancing woman is very conventional to a music video but the fact shes not dancing in time to the music is extremely unconventional which once again anchors the idea this is an extremely subversive music video.

we cut once more to another exterior yet it seems to be dusk. the lighting is natural making everything dingy and it's an example of a shallow focus shot taken through a zoom lens. the graveyard setting is out of focus but recognisable. this is another intertextual reference to the horror genre. this is extremely unconventional as it doesn't fit the happy indie pop genre. her costume is glamourous and very 1970's, she doesn't appear to be one of the women previously in the video although she looks very similar and has a very similar hairstyle/colour.

the camera is being handheld and we know this because there's a slight wobble. this is further emphasised by the fact the camera has significantly zoomed in on the model- voyeurism.

suddenly right to left we cut to a whip pan of two people we've never seen before. at this stage we do not see the performer at all. there's a man and a woman a who only appear once, they're in the graveyard with a torch.

suddenly there's a whip pan, left to right. the original woman has disappeared. this functions as a hermeneutic code, this is a mystery for the audience and they're left wondering where she's gone. our mind starts to wander and dark thoughts are reinforced by the mise-en-scene of the setting and previously seen voyeuristic themes.

we whip-pan again from right to left but this time it's slightly different. suddenly it's a different time of day although it's still quite dingy and we're in another setting. another hegemonically attractive blonde has been tied to a tree, she's desperately trying to escape. this shot can potentially make the audience very upset, they're positioned as a voyeur once again- we're looking from a long distance, it's creepy and handheld like someone doesn't want to be seen. 

a narrative of sorts is being constructed here but it makes no sense and is very unconventional, women are disappearing and being tortured and need to put the pieces together. but try as we might it doesn't quite make sense. 

the camera is following the women on a dolly but zooming out at the same time, it's a very weird effect only used in a few films. it's often called a vertigo shot as it was used in hitchcock's vertigo. it's a very specific shot that demonstrates clear intertextuality. it makes the audience feel ill, a weird ultimately creepy effect is created. the audience is also positioned as someone running after this woman- horror slasher reference. why is it that this video is making reference to horror films? like the texas chainsaw massacre and Halloween. because this video can't go as far as these films in sexual content and slasher content. so they create this creepy effect by referencing it. 

this next shot appears several times during the music video when the singer uses the word riptide. it's a birds eye view shot of a choppy sea that is symbolic of distress and something unpleasant about to happen. it heightens the sense of discomfort.

it then cuts to a surprising shot of a woman who suddenly wakes up and is pulled away screaming. it uses low-key lighting and is a very clear reference to the horror genre. the audience is positioned right next to her as this is happening.

cut to a left hand holding an old fashioned microphone whilst the subtitle 'left' flashes across the screen in a really straight forward not at all flashy font. why? to make reference to foreign films? to reference the lyrics? 

the next shot is the 'master shot'- she holds the microphone under highkey lighting. she lipsyncs along to the song (not very well) she doesn't look at the audience rather somewhat to the right and her performance isn't particularly enthusiastic- she doesn't seem particularly happy but she also seems quite drugged and out of it. the mise-en-scene of her costume is glittery and symbolic of show business and celebrity yet there is something quite off about the way she is staring off into the distance. the woman is quite hegemonically attractive but perhaps slightly older than the kind of models who would stereotypically be in an indie-pop music video. her red lipstick is connotative of sex, passion and love.

wateraid initial analysis

The establishing shot of the advertisement uses mise-en-scene of a radio, something so unconventional it puzzles the audience and, as a result, acts as a hermeneutic code as the audience would question a British setting. The white on the window sill and the prominent silver of the radio prop, alongside the initial focus being on technology using a shallow depth of field, positions the audience as middle-class, the radio acting as a symbolic code for technological advancements and wealth. The diegetic sound of a British accent on the radio connotes that this is Britain. The water dribbling down the window and the monotonous voice coming through the radio creates a dreary atmosphere, the rain being a pathetic fallacy for the mood that the audience is supposed to feel. However, this water is rather unconventional as the audience would not be expecting to see any water in an advert presenting the lack of water in a certain place- this is another hermeneutic code. The camera then pans to the left to reveal a potted plant. The handheld camera movements help make the scene more vivid to make the audience feel involved and a part of the ad, this is reinforced by the ambient lighting. This shot acts as an equilibrium.

The advert then cuts to a shot of bare straw fields with a warmer colour palette. This is the first binary opposition and creates a sense of othering. The bare straw contrasts with the blooming purple flowers of the last shot (purple connotes wealth whilst the straw feels sparse connoting malnourishment). The soundbridge changes the scene to feel much drier.

Next, there's a tracking shot of Claudia walking. She's wearing shoes coloured pink. This denotation connotes love and suggests she is a loving warm person, making the audience sympathise with her. However, the shoes appear to be pristine, suggesting that she can afford to have shoes cleaned and doesn't have to work particularly hard- this is the first impression we get of the character. which subverts conventions, this theme of Zambians having certain positives in their lives is continued throughout the ad and overall this has the cumulative effect of making the British audience who have donated feel good about themselves. The mise-en-scene of a bucket is a proairetic code, it tells the audience that she's doing as Africans stereotypically do and going to get water. This is an example of the post-colonialism representation, it portrays Gilroy's theory very closely. 

Due to the binary opposition, a separation has been established between the Black Zambians and the white Brits. The Zambians are grouped together as they are given no explicit identities and represented as people who need white people's help to have any privileges such as food and water. The lack of explicit identity also rids them of their Zambian identity, they are represented as just black people struggling, their only sources of happiness are given to them by white people donating, this is shown as she is singing (something that connotes happiness) whilst fetching what white people have given her- water. The dreary atmosphere in the British setting connotes that they find little joy in technology and their privileges any more and in contrast, the happiness presented in Zambia by the warm colour palette, diegetic sounds of singing and children's laughter suggests Africans are joyous to be given a small portion of this privilege. Overall this generalises a vast race and represents them as below white people and poor, however, it makes the demographic of white people feel powerful if they donate money. This is the dominant response, as described by Hall's reception theory. The negative representations embedded within the ad is the oppositional.

repetition and difference- valhalla

Repetition and difference, and the importance of genre

"genres are instances of repetition and difference...difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre" (Steve Neale, Genre, 1980)

Task: watch this video, making notes on how Ubisoft have used generic conventions and production contexts to maximise profit while minimising risk

You can use the following headings:

Repetition and difference: how will ubisoft ensure that assassin's creed valhalla minimises risk and maximises profit?

in order to be successful a media products would need to repeat some genre conventions for familiarity but also need to offer something new and different to audiences. -steve neale theory

this is something Ubisoft are quite clearly demonstrating this with the assassins creed theory.

media industries are st up in order to do things in the least risky way possible -david hesmondhaulgh theory


It makes intertextual links to other successful games

the elder scrolls- Skyrim (left), extremely successful despite being made 9 years ago
the witcher 3- wild hunt,  recently had a Netflix adaptation series, old but also successful
Valhalla- knows they're successful and used what makes the generic conventions that made games successful

setting- broadly nordic Viking setting, the witcher three especially makes ispolish and pays a lot of attention to European myths and legends. ubisoft paid attention and have presented a game which takes in a lot od nordic mythology 

It demonstrates generic fluidity

we can apply Steve Neale's theory again

what we can see from announcements Ubisoft have made about valhalla is that this game is going to be completely open world. it's also going to have elements of multi player in it as well- recently other games have done this and been extremely successful, thus far assassins creed has been a completely single player game. 

It will repeat what made previous Assassin's Creed games popular

they'll repeat things te assains cred series does that are popular with hardcore fans and audiences, one secondary reason is that the games have a significant amount of historical accuracy, altho they obviously take a lot of artistic licence.

for example in unity there's an extremely intricate well done representation of Notre dame, it was so historically and well researched that the data from assassins creed was partly used to help develop the new Notre dame. in assassins creed you get a history lesson.

It will come out on the next generation consoles and current-generation consoles

Xbox one, series x, ps4, 

planned obsolescence- the original consoles have become obsolete as new consoles have come out so people need to spend more money.

it allows people to target a core installed audience who have the Xbox one and an updated audience which have the new ones

writing introductions + essay structure

Media studies and 'the hidden curriculum'

Like many subjects, the introduction in a media studies response is perhaps the most important paragraph of all! In an introduction, you set out your main argument, and then you stick to this argument for the duration of your exam response. Additionally, an exam response isn't just a shopping list demonstrating to the examiner that you 'know some stuff'. While you definitely will get marks for knowledge and understanding, you really want to be communicating to the examiner your opinions and ability to construct a convincing argument.

So on the outside, media studies is all about TV shows and videogames and cinematography and sales figures. And it is absolutely about all of this. But media studies, like any subject, is also preparing you for life beyond the subject. It is specifically preparing you to think logically, to question the world around you, and to calmly and rationally present an argument. These are skills which can be used in any job, and any social situation. Teachers sometimes refer to this as 'the hidden curriculum'. This term is often used negatively; for example bell hooks is critical of the ways in which mainstream teaching reinforce hegemonic structures in society, particularly among BME students. However, by flipping this on its head, we can see how media studies in particular offers students an opportunity to question the world around them, and to develop verbal and communication skills in the process.

Sample timings

Component one a - 2 minutes per mark

Component one b - 1 minute per mark

Component two - 50 minutes for each industry

Component 2 Micro-management

Intro and argument - 7  minutes

Text one – 19.5 minutes

Text two – 19.5 minutes

Conclusion  - 4 minutes

Marks per section:

Component one a - 45 marks (media language and representation. One question will be worth more marks that the other! Usually a 30/15 split)

Component one b - 45 marks (usually 25 marks for industry, 20 for audience)

Component two a (TV) - 30 marks

Component two b (Magazines) - 30 marks

Component two b (Online) - 30 marks

Example question - Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’

Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set editions of Woman and Adbusters and the historical contexts in which they were produced.

Step one - underline key terms

Underlining key terms forces you to engage with the concepts you actually need to cover in your response. You will be coming back to these key words time and time again in your response.

Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’
Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set editions of Woman and Adbusters and the historical contexts in which they were produced.

This is a pretty beefy question! But if we break it down then it's pretty simple. "The representations of men and women are no longer simple. What do you think?"

Step two -  knee jerk reaction

In order to present a coherent structure, you need an opinion. For this question, it's clear you need to evaluate, but even if you do not get prompted like this, you will still need to demonstrate your own point of view.

Never change your opinion halfway through the exam. You simply do not have the time to contradict yourself. You need to come up with a point of view, and you need to do it NOW.

Hence the 'knee jerk reaction'. What's your instant, honest response to the question?

Knee jerk reaction: Adbusters presents complex representations of gender, particularly of women, while Woman magazine presents singular, stereotypical and sexist representations of women typical of the political climate of the mid-1960's

Step three - plan

Your plan can take many shapes. It's totally up to you what shape it will take. But what ever your plan looks like, make sure you include it in the answer paper. There are lots of reasons for this, and they all involve you getting marks for it. If you write it on the question paper, or scribble it out, then you cannot get marks for it! The examiner will very likely skim the plan before she starts to mark. And if she spots references to textual analysis and theory, she can already start to consider assigning you a 'C' grade.

Here's one way of 'doing' a plan: vomit all your ideas on to the page. What concepts, theories, ideas and examples pop in to your head when you see the question?

Here's an example...

Representation 
Sexism
Objectification
David Gauntlett
Pick and mix
Stereotypes
Patriarchial hegemony
Hegemonic norms and values
Van Zoonen's male gaze
Gender performativity
Sociohistorical context

Step four - introduction

This can be divided into

Definition

Argument

Context

Using this structure, you would first define the keyword of your question, including making brief explanations for why this is important to talk about. You would then make an argument or point of view. Finally, you would discuss the context of your chosen texts, including genre, year released, director, and how the text is interesting for your point of view.

Defining key words

Here are a couple of examples of how you could define key terms

‘Representation’

“Representation refers to the construction of reality. Representations are constructed by the producers of media texts in order to reinforce the agendas, ideals and ideologies of institutions”

‘Audience’

“Contrary to previous thoughts on audiences, both theorists and producers now agree that audiences are complex, and have a variety of different needs, tastes and ways of using media texts”

Argument examples

What argument are trying to make around your keyword?

Here are two potential arguments that you could make at the start of your essay.

‘Genre’

“Genre is primarily used as a shortcut by producers in order to target audiences in the most efficient manner possible. However, many texts can subvert audience expectation, while at the same time conforming to genre conventions”

‘Distribution’

“Distribution is undoubtedly important for the newspaper. However, I will argue that other factors, such as star appeal and modern digital technologies are more important for both financial and critical success in the newspaper industry”

In what ways can newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies for their audiences?

[DEFINITION] The producers of newspapers typically incorporate a range of ideological perspectives when creating newspapers. This is for several reasons, including commercial, ideological, and audience related. Ideology itself refers to the beliefs and viewpoints of the producer. Through media language, audiences are invited to explore and negotiate a range of responses. [ARGUMENT] However, typically producers will attempt to anchor these responses through techniques such as captioning. In order to explore how newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies, [CONTEXT] I shall be exploring the examples of The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper catering to a working class left wing audience, and the Times, a broadsheet targeting a middle class, right wing audience. I shall also be supplementing these examples with material from The Mail Online, a particularly popular online branch of the right-wing Daily Mail that primarily targets a working-class female audience. 

Step five - The paragraph structure

One way you could structure the paragraphs within your response is by using

Point

Evidence

Argument

[Theory]

However, there are many other ways of structuring your responses. Just make sure to be consistent and clear!

P - The front cover of The Times, on the other hand, demonstrates an initially oppositional ideological viewpoint.
E - A mid shot double page splash wrap-around cover, saved only for the very most notable events adorns this edition. Trump gestures passively with his fist, eyes to the right of the camera, in front of the background of an American flag. The flag has clear connotations for the right wing target audience: of patriotism and of freedom and of victory. The headline, The New World is presented in a serif font, offering a sophisticated mode of address to the target middle class audience. However, the Times Does not openly ideogically support Trump in the same way that The Mirror opposes him. In an example of bias through selection, an image of Trump looking either smug or lost, depending on the negotiation of the audience is selected. His fist has symbolic connotations of power, but also functions as a proairetic code, suggesting violence ahead. This is further anchored to the sophisticated target audience through the lexis of the subheading demonstrating that Trump will send “shockwaves around the globe”.
A - The negative connotations of shockwave make intertextual reference to the disaster genre once more. However, the dominant reading is hard for the audience to deduce. The Times neither endorses nor rejects Trump’s ideology. Even the pull quote on the back cover, with its repeated use of you will be so proud” can by polysemically interpreted by the target audience.

Task: In today's session, you are going to be writing the introductory paragraph to one of the following questions:

To what extent is the regulation of the videogame industry effective? Make reference to the Assassin's Creed franchise

regulations are the rules and restrictions to which a media product must adhere to, they're usually presented in the form of age ratings as done so by companies such as the BBFC. the company who do this within the videogame industry are PEGI, an organisation that replaced ELSPA in 2003. PEGI use age ratings and content description labels which are not legally binding, simply advisory to help buyers make informed decisions. the age ratings suggest that PEGI are working under the assumption that parents are purchasing video games for their children and the detailed content descriptions may suggest that the video game industry is regulated to a substantial degree, but i shall be drawing examples from assassins creed to convey the point that the effective regulation of the video game industry is largely impossible due to digitally convergent media and exploring why the assumption PEGI works under are misguided.

the regulation of the video game industry

The regulation of the videogame industry is largely ineffective, thanks to digitally convergent technologies

Above is a straightforward conclusion that you can use in pretty much any exam response on regulation, or media industries in general. It means that it is impossible to impose regulations, as digital technologies have made it so easy to sidestep regulations

It's illegal for newspapers to harass people and publish material which may stir racial hatred. How do certain newspapers get away with it? By publishing online, where regulations are harder to impose, and letting the commentators say exactly what they really want to say instead!

Videogames are very much in the same ballpark. We have some of the strictest regulation of the videogame industry in the world, after a few notable examples such as Germany, and especially Australia. However, it is easy enough to circumvent regulation. If a game is banned or censored in the UK (for example Manhunt 2 on the Nintendo Wii), it can be imported from other countries like America, or even downloaded for free if we include piracy as an option.

this is a form of regulation used in the video games industry. these images are a form of content regulation set out by pegi. 

PEGI- pan, European, gaming information

they allow consumers to make choices about games they play, they're much more descriptive than all other forms of media. this allows audiences (most specifically parents) to make informed decisions about playing games, we can see it gets very specific and vague- 'fear' 'bad language' 'gambling'

this indicates something about the perceived target audience for video games, it's for children who have adults buying them.

video game regulation in UK was very spotty and before elspa (1998) there was next to no regulation. there were a few systems of regulation, publishers might put 'for adults' but this was very much self-regulation. 

however, due to a number of reasons it was considered very important to implement a form of consumer based regulation.

both of these were advisory as a pose to being legally binding. the levels of information provided are similar to the bbfc, with a series of ages. but pegi are very clear in the statement that this isn't based on difficulty level, not even how suitable a game is for age groups. but they relate the content which may cause harm or offence or distress.

the content descriptions go into even more detail.

there's drugs and discrimination labels.

this indicates that the video game industry is regulated to substantial degree, it also indicate the fact video games are fair more adult than a lot of parents consider, and the idea behind this system is to help parents make informed decisions.

however, pegi isn't the be all and end all. there is no obligation for video games in the UK to hold a pegi label and there's no obligation for shops or distributors to follow up on the pegi rules.

this leads to interesting circumstances.

in the UK any shop can refuse service to anybody for reasonable means, this may well come into force under the pegi system- the shopkeeper can choose not to sell to underage kids, but it's not a legal obligation.

but things can get a lot more confusing than this, 

resident evil two, released in the mid 90s for ps one.

silent hill, released in 1999 for ps one.

resident evil 2 has a bbfc certificate, previously the bbfc would regulate video games if they had fmv- full motion video, aka actual video of actual people.

the seventh guest was the first game to get one of these- released on teh PC by trilabiye in 1993, got a bbfc 15

other early noticeable games with bbfc ratings-

-nighttrap, 1994, sega mega cd

but not every game which gets a bbfc certificate has fmv.

resident evil 2 is a zombie survival horror game, it's very violent and gory which is probably why the BBFC decided to intervene. however, arguably the game isn't actually that disturbing, it's quite silly with huge spiders and crocodiles. 

silent hills is a franchise which has been abandoned by it's developers knarmy, it is absolutely terrifying as it's a psychological horror game. they focus on the mind and do things to upset and play with the audience's expectations of video games. it has many adult themes of sex, violence and mental health- all extremely adult and nightmarish. however, it's very notable that despite the fact these games were released very closely resident evil got a BBFC certificate and silent hills got an elspa certificate. 

silent hills is a lot more impactful and scarring but offered no problems of purchase and resident evil had minimal PTSD effect on players but was a lot harder to obtain.  

Regulations- the rules and restrictions a media product must follow. sometimes they're strict- UK BBFC is extremely strict. 

key thoery- regulation, sonia Livingston and peter hunt

-the increasing power of global media corporations together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media has placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.

types of regulation 

a form of regulation which exists to inform the consumers what kind of content is in the media product. this is in order to help audiences make informed choices. the best example of this is pegi. it's to make consumers make decisions, so we can choose exactly what to buy. 

where a provider, distributor etc regulates themselves. youtube regulates itself, it completely goes over the head of traditional regulation. the regulation guidelines are bonkers, the things you can and can't do are completely the opposite of what you might expect in the UK. it's extremely ineffective. they do implement an age restriction but it's incredibly easy. another example is ipso- a very vague form of regulation for news media.

the effective regulation of media products is largely impossible due to digital convergent technologies. -livingston and lunt

you can repeat this for any industry in media!!

piracy- completely sidestep any form of legal regulation.

by accessing something illegally you take the revenue away from the distributors and you sidestep all regulatory routes.

why are video games regulated?

this idea that media products have an effect on audiences (bandura, stuart hall reception)

it is important certain media products are kept out of some people's hands

murder themes, violence often in quick succession. 

certain games have been given bbfc and certain have been given pegi. tells us the regulation of the video game industry is largely ineffective. it is confused. there's no real reason which can only cause confusion in consumers.

pegi arent very effective, especially w the bbfc coming in and undermining it.

the regulation of assassins creed isn't that effective

As a bare minimum, you must know who regulates videogames in the UK and the rest of Europe, and Livingstone and Lunt's criticisms of this!

Preventing harm 

We arguably need regulations and rules for two broad reasons:

To protect intellectual property or copyright 

(to stop people from pinching your product and not paying you), and

To prevent harm

(to stop people from being mentally scarred after using your product)

We can also add in libel and defamation here, i.e deliberately damaging someone's reputation, but we don't need to think about this so much for the videogame industry.

Task - watch some of this gameplay footage from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

• What material in this game is likely to harm or offend an audience?

speech encouraging and hyping war, romanticising religion for performative reasons? images if war and death- both fmv and interactive, graphic spurts of blood desensitising and potentially scaring players, fear- tense music, creep mode (i forgot the name where they're crouching and hidden), night/dark gameplay. all the empowered characters seem to be white men (representative of the time? but a sexist ideology to give kids. teaching people about violence 'stealth attack' 'hunter damage' 'assasin damage' 'warrior damage'

racist representations 

 could offend religious people

• What age certificate does this game deserve? 

at least a 15

• How have you reached this conclusion?

it has examples of violent ideologies that decoded by younger audiences would influence far too powerfully, there's no examples of sex so i don't think it needs to be higher but the audience does need to be of age to understand the wrongs of racism, sexism and the trivialisation of religion before being subjected to the normalisation of it.

• How does being an interactive videogame affect the potential harm and distress this game may cause?

it's more immersive, the player must take responsibility for the actions and become a virtual murderer rather than simply watching one. 

• In what ways does this game try to be inclusive and accessible to audiences?

is this question referring to interactivity or audience identification?

• Who is the target audience for this game? Be very specific (age, gender, social class, etc!)

boys, 15-25? lower-middle-class, assassin's creed fans and gamers, people who like violent themes and being 'cool.'

Ubisoft, media diversity and economic factors in the videogame industry- to be added to

This unit is all about cold, hard facts

You'll find loads of key facts on the YouTube channel

How significant are economic factors in the videogame industry? Refer to the Assassin's Creed franchise in your answer

Above is a potential question that could come up in the exam. In today's lesson, we're going to work out how to answer it.

First of all, what does it actually mean? Well, economic factors are broadly to do with making money. The question asks 'how significant" is making money to the videogame industry? Well, the answer should be pretty clear: economic factors are very significant for the videogame industry!

So how does the videogame industry make money? We've already looked at a few examples.

We have learned that videogames are a specialised industry.

We have looked at how videogames are developed and marketed.

And, in just the last session, we looked at how important trailers are for marketing the Assassin's Creed franchise to both niche and mass audiences.

One thing we have not looked at so much is the company that actually make the Assassin's Creed franchise; Ubisoft themselves.

Ubisoft - a multinational conglomerate videogame developer 

Task - Before you do anything else, watch this video on Ubisoft and media diversity, making notes as you watch 

It explores once more how Ubisoft minimise risk and maximise profit (Hesmondhalgh), and goes over the concepts of vertical and horizontal integration. This concepts are essential for any industry response in the exam!


Ubisoft

the publisher + developer of assains' creed
produce AAA games in a variety of different genres.

key theory 14- the cultural industries, David hesmondhalgh

-media industries seek to minimise risk and maximise profit
every media products exists to make money- there is essentially no other reason. this is nonsense in a way, but by the by they're extremely expensive to make and have to target an audience in the most risk-free way to make money.

there are exceptions to this.

vertical, horizontal and multi media integration.
vertical integration is the idea of a media organisation owning different parts of the mode of production
horizontal integration is the idea of one organization owning other organisations in the same sector- e.g Disney owns a number of other film studios.
multimedia integration is the idea of using digital technologies to combine previously separate industries.

many organisations (including Ubisoft) are both vertically and horizontally integrated.

they're an incredibly vast company with lots of hold in the industry.  they're a multi-national, transnational multimedia company. 

they have a number of subsidiaries.

a subsidiary is a company working under another company.

their usp is that they make big games. they're a huge company making AAA games.

ubisoft games are very diverse, assasin's creed is their one of, if not the, biggest games they've made.

assains creed- teenage boys

watchdogs- older audience

just dance- family games

(all similar in the way they target and get vast audiences)

they also publish a number of 'casual games'- can be a slightly derogatory games. target a less hardcore fanbase.

they also own other franchises they were developed by other people (e.g- might and magic which they've made spin offs of)

why does Ubisoft publish such a wide range of videogames?

in short, to minimise risk and maximise profit.

if assassins creed goes down the pan it would be a massive problem for them and their shareholders, but they have other series and a multitude of audiences. ubisoft are not a risky company that venture out.

this is the game that helped put Ubisoft on the map. it was released in 1995, it's a colourful character based platformer. 

it was a very straight forward platform game. 

the usp was that it had very high production values for a 2d platformer, it subverted conventions that platformer games were always basic and quickly pumped out in low quality.

one of their most successful games was the just dance series, it's family-friendly w the usp being a range of music and that you don't need to be good at video games to play. it does particularly well on Nintendo consoles.

Diversification is a media practice where an organisation will seek to produce a diverse or different range of media products will helps them to target a range of different audiences. 

this is obviously very good sense for a media industry, and actually Ubisoft have diversified beyond video games- not a lot of companies have done this.

it was a minor success as well as being an example of vertical integration, Ubisoft own different modes of production in different industries. 

this film targeted audiences which could not normally be targeted by video games which diversified their audience. they had a pre-sold audience- fans of the assassin's creed series.

video game films are known not to be that good, but that's not what matters it's about audiences.

Key theory 12- power and the media industries, curran and seaton.

the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by power and profit. to become profitable it needs to target the biggest audience possible. this media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality.  

curran and seaton argue we need creative diversity in the industry, with diverse patterns of ownership and lots of different sectors. 

How diverse is ubisoft's output? 

while we have some diversification in ubisoft's output, all of it is targeting a mass audience and all of it is essentially out there to make a profit over everything else. their games are not a risk. 

to see how generic Ubisoft's output is we need to look no further than the assassin's creed series, 21 games in the last 13 years- with more than one game being released in one year multiple times.

in 2014 we had freedom cry, rogue, identity, unity and chronicles china. we can argue this is saturation and also demonstrates this complete lack of creativity. they release all of these because they sell. 

 when something is stagnant it gets old and 'smelly,' this is what has happened to Ubisoft in the past few years, they've essentially flogged the same horse over and over which has had effects on their abilities to make a profit against their competitors.

to Ubisoft's credit, they've stripped back their publishing of games and have focused instead on less games per year. 

if you are solely making a game to make money, there's not that much you can do with it. it limits creativity and originality 

no one can compete unless they're massive AAA companies, people only tend to play massive games limiting competition to those who dominate the market.

Ubisoft are fairly diverse, yet we all also argue they're not. they all target mass audiences and are massive. 

Task - research Ubisoft and their games. You can find instructions in the image below. You cannot pick an Assassin's Creed game for this bit!

select three games published by Ubisoft; one from the 90's, 00's and 10's.

for each game find the following information:

1997

title: pod

genre: racing video game

platform: Microsoft windows

target audience: 10-16 yr old boys

critical reception: Next Generation rated it three stars out of five, and stated that "Pod is a fantastic ride, with high-color graphics at high resolution and a steady, high frame rate. It could very well be the prettiest racing game you can buy right now."^[7]

commercial success:

2004

title: farcry 

genre: first person shooter

platform: Xbox, PlayStation, Microsoft window

target audience: 

critical reception: 89% Metacritic 9.2/10 gamespot

commercial success:

2015

title: tom clancy's rainbow six siege 

genre: tactical shooter

platform: PlayStation, Xbox, Microsoft windows 

target audience: 16-25 year old boys

critical reception: 8.5/10 ign.com 10/10 gamespot 4.6/5 common sense media 

commercial success:

Assassin's Creed: building a fact file

The exam specification states that you can refer to the Assassin's Creed franchise as a whole, but it would be good to pick out a particular game to make reference to in the exam.

I have already stated I would like you to make reference to the (as yet unreleased) Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and its marketing material (particularly its trailer). For this task, you will research any other Assassin's Creed game.

Task - pick an Assassin's Creed game that has been released, and research it to answer the following questions

Use Wikipedia and other sources to research the following

• Title: assassins creed Chronicles- india
• Premise (what country and era is it set in?): India, 1841
• Platform (eg Playstation 4 and Xbox One): Microsoft windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation vita, xbox. PS Vita version became available on 5 April 2016, as part of a trilogy pack
• Release date: January 12th 2016
• Development time and cost: In June 2009 Ubisoft reiterated that major titles for PS3/X360 cost $20-$30 million to make and that games for the next-generation may exceed $60 million. 
• Which studio developed it? (eg Ubisoft Montreal):  climax studios in association with Ubisoft Montreal 
• Commercial success (how much money did it make?): 
• Re-releases and special editions
• RRP on release
• Critical reception (google name of game and 'Metacritic' to make this easy. Post a couple of review quotes)
• Merchandise
• Anything else?