Assessment Task

1)
Talk about the different ways that you will target specific audiences in your MS3 production.

2)
Discuss either the narrative structure or representation issues dealt with in your proposed MS3      production.

30 minutes to answer each question.

More on Roland Barthes

Barthes theory on Media-Codes is important to us in structural terms as well as helping us to consider the positioning of audiences.

The Hermeneutic Code (or Enigma code)This refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and which creates questions that need to be answered. The purpose is typically to keep the audience guessing until the part of the text when all is revealed, loose ends are tied off and the questions are answered.

The Proairetic Code (Action code) This builds tension; any action or event that suggests something else is about to happen. An action that prompts the reader to predict what will happen next and will result in increased interest and excitement.

The Semantic Code This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

The Symbolic Code This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organising semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of opposition, where a new meaning arises out of opposing ideas. Such as good/evil andlight/dark.

The Cultural Code This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of recognised principle that is not challenged by the audience and is always assumed to be the truth. Normally this involves either science or religion.

Task: Watch the trailer for the Crime Drama Seven and write down any of Barthes codes as you can identify.

Applying Narrative to Crime Fiction

Applying Barthes

Barthes argued that a text (from the Latin Tissue) was not one thing but a weaving together of various strands and processes. Some of them internal to the story, some of them making connections to the outside or real world.
It is interesting to consider how many different ways readers are given access to stories.
Barthes suggested that narrative works with five codes, which together 'activate' the reader.
The two codes which are internal to the text are:

The Enigma (or hermeneutic) code which sets up and usually solves major puzzles. Often, a big event occurs at the beginning of a show and the audience ask themselves ' why did this happen?'

At least two kinds of pleasure are involved; It can be as enjoyable to 'know' the answers as it is to have those predictions confounded by twists and surprises in the narrative. Of course this doesn't apply to all genres, musicals for example.

The Action (or proairetic) code which makes complex actions 'readable' through smallso we don't have to have everything spelt out. For example, the victim of a crime can be shown on a stretcher can signal a whole sequence of getting to the hospital, so it will be of no surprise to the audience when the character is next shown on a hospital bed.

Applying Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss is less interested in the chronological plotting of a single story than in repeated elements and their systematic relationship, usually across many stories. He called these the paradigmatic aspect of myths. 
A Levi Straussian approach to a particular film/TV crime drama might 
place it in the binary of crime/law and order.

When analysing a crime text you should ask yourself:
How does it embody this binary through contrast of characters, settings and actions?

It can be argued that there has been a recent shift in crime drama. The progressive defence attorney crime fictions of the 60's and 70's featured compassionate fighters for the underdog. This was replaced in the 90's with texts becoming more focussed on prosecutors. Perhaps due to a shift to the right in US and UK politics but also due to the difficulty of presenting defence lawyers sympathetically after their role in such high profile cases as OJ Simpson. (See the jaded view of the law in Murder One (1995) and LA Law (1986).

We could also point to the different detection methods of characters such as Megan and Horatio in CSI, she insists on staying strictly with the evidence, he goes with a gut feeling. They are consistently opposed, a narrative that can be seen in other crime fictions such as Life on Mars.

Task: watch this episode of Luther and apply Barthes' and Levi Strauss' theories where you can. Consider the use of narrative theory within your own research investigation and production.

Narrative Theory

Todorov's Narrative Stages:

There are five stages:

1. Equilibrium – the setting is established, key character(s) are introduced and

the storyline has begun to be set up.

2. This is then followed by a disruption whereby an oppositional character(s)

appear and the story takes a particular direction

3. Then there is recognition of disruption, in that the lives of characters and

events are interwoven. Tension builds throughout this section, which is often

the longest.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption is at the highest point of tension within

the film after which there is a change in the dynamic.

5. Finally, there is a re-instatement of equilibrium where matters are sorted

out, problems are solved and questions are answered. The equilibrium can be

described as new as the story has been resolved but the events have

possibly changed people.

Propp's Character Functions:

Character Profiles.  Discuss the Proppian and 'Stock' characters you can identify.
Propp concluded that all characters could be resolved into 7 broad character functions in the 100 tales he analyzed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their quest.
4. The princess or prize and her father — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
7. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Barthes:

is basically saying is that a text is like a tangled ball of threads which needs unravelling so we can separate out the colours. Once we start to unravel a text, we encounter a lot more potential meanings.

We can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, and create one meaning for that text. We can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle, by pulling a different thread if you like, and create an entirely different meaning.

And so on. An infinite number of times. If you wanted to.

All you need to say, very basically, is that texts may be ´open´ (ie unravelled in a lot of different ways) or ´closed´ (there is only one obvious thread to pull on).

Barthes also sets out the theory of …

Enigma codes; a theory that suggests a text (whether that be television, film, a poster etc) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and, as such, become intrigued in the piece. For instance, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story, which poses the question "Who is the murderer?"

Action codes: what will happen next?

She falls over - will he catch her?

She has been caught - what will he do with her?

Barthes codes theory from alexdabriel

Levi Strauss: 

Constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.

Crime Fiction codes and conventions

Conventions of Television Crime Drama

The genre of television crime drama is extremely large.  There are many different examples of the genre   with many different styles, formats and sub-genres.  Not all conventions will apply to all texts.  This is merely a list of typical characteristics of crime dramas.  It is unlikely that any one text will exhibit them all but many of them will be present in many examples of the genre.

Examples of Crime Drama

A Touch of Frost
The Wire
Miss Marple
Midsummer Murders
Dexter
Luther
Cracker
Lewis
Monk
Diagnosis Murder
Ironside
Columbo
Kojak
CSI
Scott and Bailey
Poirot
Boardwalk Empire
The Sopranos
Sherlock
Life on Mars
Ashes to Ashes
Starsky and Hutch

Many crime dramas are named after their lead character.  This is a strong convention of the genre.  The lead character is integral to the show and it is usually very much 'their' story.

Characters

The lead character will often be a detective or some sort of police investigator.  They will usually be a white male - 40 years old plus.  The lead character will have some sort of major personality defect or flaw such as a failed marriage, alcoholism, gambling addiction etc, sometimes there may be a physical one as well eg Ironside is confined to a wheelchair whilst Columbo has a glass eye.. 

There will often be a sidekick character - a younger and more inexperienced individual.  This is sometimes a woman though women are usually in scientific advisor roles.  If there is a woman there will usually be some sort of sexual tension between the two.

There will often be a group of support characters or 'gang' who help the lead character in their investigation.

There will often be a superior officer or 'police chief' who the lead character must report to and will often be in trouble with.

Narrative and Theme
The narrative will usually be centred around a detective trying to solve a crime - often a murder.  There will be an investigation taking place which involves clues and red herrings.  The killer's identity will often be revealed at the end of the episode. 

There will often be chase scenes present.  There may also be an interrogation scene.  There will usually be a teaser or 'hook' sequence at the start which shows the crime being committed or maybe the body being discovered.  Its purpose is to draw the viewer into the narrative.

The theme of justice and good vs evil will be prevalent in the narrative.

Format 

Episodic but usually with stand alone episodes.

Iconography
 Police cars, blue flashing lights, crime scenes, police tape (do not cross), murders, dark lighting, guns and weapons.  Flashlights in dark places.

Sound
Serious and dramatic non-diegetic music.  Often this is very sombre and brooding during dark moments and fast-paced and bombastic as action sequences occur.

Settings

Interview rooms, urban settings, police stations, crime scenes, forensics labs, morgues, the killer's lair - often dark, ominous and threatening.

Conventions Conformed to: 

The show is named after the protagonist.
Luther is a detective with personal problems - he has a failed marriage and is emotionally unstable, perhaps even suicidal.
He has a younger, more inexperienced sidekick who looks up to him.
He has a group of allies who help him.

What other conventions does this crime drama conform to?  Think about the examples stated above.

Conventions Subverted:

John Luther is not a white man though he is in all other ways a fairly conventional crime drama protagonist.
Are there any other ways that you think Luther subverts or challenges the generic conventions?

A Touch of Cloth

Conventions Conformed to:

This is an example of a parody of the genre and as such it uses the conventions to create comedy.  How many genre conventions can you identify in the first episode of A Touch of Cloth?

Conventions Subverted:

All of the conventions seen in this example are actually subverting the genre at the same time as they are conforming to it as they are parodying the genre.

Beyonce

How Beyonce keeps the Internet obsessed with her.

Earlier this week, The Beyoncé tumblr went live. And there was much rejoicing: across the web, gossip sites and news organizations alike trumpeted her decision to cultivate a web presence. Various articles figure the "release" of the site in vaguely mystical terms: Beyoncé celebrated her fourth anniversary with Jay-Z on April 4th (4/4); she was "born" onto the web on 4/5.

This is some crazy stuff, kids. As Jezebelheadlined it, "Beyoncé Joins Internet; Internet Flips Out."

But the internet wasn't just flipping out over some new website. This was Beyoncé'swebsite. Beyoncé, a fierce protector of privacy, the woman who, along with Jay-Z, rented out an entire floor of a hospital to avoid coverage of her daughter's birth. The two are reigning royalty of the music world, in part because of their tremendous talent, but also because of their substantial media savvy. Instead of fleeing paparazzi hungry for a shot of daughter Blue Ivy, they posted a set of frankly adorable pictures to helloblueivycarter.tumblr.com, paired with a note, written in what we are led to believe as Beyoncé's handwriting.

That's even more savvy than Gwenyth Paltrow, who decided to push the market down for shots of her son, Moses, but simply stepping outside and letting every paparazzi take a picture of her. (It's not a coincidence that Paltrow and husband Chris Martin are friends with Beyoncé and Jay-Z, as evidenced by the tumblr).

The question remains: What is Beyoncé doing? No web presence for so long — why now? And what exactly is going on in this tumblr that makes it so compelling?

One at a time:

What is she doing?

She's refining and reinvigorating her image. Not that she exactly "needs" it — because she's a private person, and because she's married to an equally famous person, information about her will be in demand for the foreseeable future. But as little as we know about Beyoncé, we do know that she likes control — and by releasing information herself, she's controlling the conversation about her. Every celebrity (and his/her publicist) attempt to do this; some are just better at it, or have a more interesting conversation to make. Lindsay Lohan is bad at controlling the conversation. Angelina Jolie is, in truth, only okay, and seems to care less and less about whether that conversation is negative or positive (thus the increasing skeletor conversation — if she really wanted people to focus on her films and philanthropy, she'd figure out how to put on some weight, just like she's been able to figure out how to bulk up for action roles. I'm not kidding). Gwenyth seems less and less adept at controlling the conversation, in part because Goop allows so many refractory points. Her image may be stable as that of an ice queen, but every newsletter allows people to take her words differently than she intended. It's really a bit of a trainwreck.

Point is: Beyoncé is re-sparking conversation about her, but only if it's on her terms.

But why on the internet? Why not release photos to a magazine, or sit for an extensive profile with Vogue? No web presence for so long — why now?

Because it's the only way. If Beyoncé wants to truly start a conversation about herself, she has to release information digitally. While a lengthy profile — and gorgeous, high-quality photos — would have been excerpted and linked all over the internet, it would still lack the potency of a single site. Sure, aggregators and gossip sites are taking single photos from the tumblr, but all traffic is directed back to the single, entirely controlled site.

Despite the fact that Beyoncé's image is that of a artist on the vanguard of innovation — especially in terms of music and fashion — she's been an analog star in a digital world. She's old-fashioned in the way of stars twenty years her elder. She has a Twitter account but, until Thursday, had never posted a tweet (The tweet, of course, announced the launch of her site).

Whether Beyoncé herself is "old-fashioned" or even a naturally private person is really beyond the point. Her image has acquired a gloss of privacy, and in today's media environment, saturated with celebrity disclosure, it renders her unique. Information about her is rare and, as a result, far more valuable. You don't see the launch of a reality star's tumblr burn through the internet like a forest fire.

But even the most exclusive clubs sometimes need to let someone in the door — otherwise there's no one to buzz about how exclusive the club is. So Beyoncé has to release some material, lest she disappear from discourse entirely. As foreshadowed by the tumblr for Blue Ivy, she and her team have decided that a tumblr-like site is the best way to enact this strategy. My guess is that she still steers clear of Twitter — it's just a bit too direct of a conduit. I'd even be surprised if the tumblr is updated more than a few times a year. But time will tell. For now, it's a brilliant strategy for reactivating yet controlling the conversation about her between albums/tours.

But let's get to the good stuff: what makes this tumblr so compelling?

Because here's the honest truth: I like, but don't love Beyoncé. But I could look at this tumblr all day.

I'll divide the appeal into three categories:

1. Authenticity

The tumblr is compelling because we know it is Beyoncé. I realize this is fairly obvious, but in an age of photoshop, Twitter hacking, and other forms of image manipulation, it is absolutely essential that this tumblr is "the work" of Beyoncé. This isn't a fan site; this isn't a gossip site. This is her site, that is her husband, that is her sister, this is their tropical vacation. (Which isn't to suggest that older stars were somehow "more" authentic because their images circulated in a pre-digital-technology world. They had their own issues with image manipulation, and tried to add authenticity to their images through various means, the most popular of which might have been the magazine byline. ["My Story" by Marilyn Monroe, etc.] Of course, such stories were almost always penned by press agents. Manufacturing authenticity is an ironic thing.)

Beyoncé further authenticates the site through her "analog" signature. Look, it's her handwriting! (Or, perhaps, a font modeled after her handwriting!) No matter: handwriting is one of the ways that we authenticate identity, and this handwriting matches the previous note on the Blue Ivy tumblr. No doubt: it's B. Plus she testifies that "this is my life, today, over the years, through my eyes." That's a promise: this is me.

2. Intimacy

When it comes to celebrity images, intimacy and authenticity go hand in hand. The more intimate the information appears, the more authentic it seems.

Here's where the choice of a tumblr as her main form of web presence (I realize there's a larger site, beyonce.com, but the tumblr is the real meat) is so effective: it's all images. Apart from the above welcome, there's no explanations, no distracting words. Just a waterfall of images — a virtual scrapbook.

Of course, not all photos connote intimacy. Beyoncé's Vogue cover, for example, is the antithesis of intimacy. I mean, she's separated from us by actual text! Vogue has also posed her like a mannequin, and everything about her dress, her hair, even her make-up and half-smile scream at a remove! Not friends with you! She's beautiful, she's exquisite, but she's miles away.

Compare this shot with those on her Tumblr, like the one at right. No make-up. No make-up equals authenticity AND intimacy. If you look closely, you can see that she's wearing a strapless top of some sort, but at first blush, she looks naked — bare — the very apotheosis of intimacy. Plus she's smiling, and there's an inherent warmth to the aesthetic and emotional tone of the photo. She looks relaxed, and people only relax with intimates. You're invited to her private party — a theme that structures the majority of the photos.

This photo is goofy, but it's also unflattering, and therein lies its power. Intimacy means seeing someone at their best and worst, and here you go: Beyoncé with a snorkeling mask on her face, not looking at the camera. Granted, she's wearing a beach shift that probably cost $5000, and the ocean looks gorgeous, but look, goggles distort even the most beautiful of faces! Unkempt, unflattering, in a shot that would have been otherwise discarded — it's as if we have access to the Beyoncé "between" the best shots, and we all know that's where the "real" self lies.

Beyoncé also has several "Instagram" style shots on the site. This photo in particular seems to catch Beyoncé in a private moment (waiting to take a helicopter ride? More on that below), and her positioning in the corner of the photo, glancing down, strapped in, creates a feeling of vulnerability. The photo's Instagram-ness, for lack of a better word, suggests something even more intimate: the photo was taken on a cell phone. But someone who was close to Beyoncé — someone who also got to go on that helicopter ride. The insinuation, of course, is that it was taken by Jay-Z. (The aesthetics of Instagram only add another layer — a sort of analog, fuzzy, soft intimacy that even the crisp photography from above lack).

his triptych of photos, seemingly taken at the magic hour, offers a similar warmth, but at the same time, the POV of the viewer is clearly that of the cameraman. Beyoncé vamps for the camera, cracks up, and poses again. The person behind the camera — whose place we take, even for just an instant — is clearly the cause of her glee. In this moment, we make her perform; we zoom-in for her reaction. You probably don't think of this consciously, but that's the effect of the close-up, that's why they included all three images instead of just one: she looks at the camera, but really, in this moment, she seems to be looking at you. Or, alternately, you feel you are privy to an interaction between her and Jay-Z: in this moment, you are inside their marriage. At first glance, they're just a set of silly photos — but the effect is stunning. Granted, there's no way to know who took the photos. For all we know they hired a professional photographer to accompany them on this trip and create a set of images that connoted intimacy. But for a fan (or journalist) to suggest as much makes him/her look cynical, and read constructiveness into a set of images that suggest a holistic sense of intimacy. There's no question that the choice of photos adds up to to a construct. But you can't see the seams, and that's why it works so well. Whatever they did, they did it right.

3. Conspicuous Consumption

Conspicuous consumption, according to Richard Dyer, is the process by which the wealthy display that they are wealthy. It does not have to be garish — it's not simply something Jay Gatsby would do. Indeed, conspicuous consumption doesn't necessarily mean diamond rings. It also manifests depictions of leisure: of people doing little more than not working. At least 2/3 of the pictures on the tumblr were taken on some sort of tropical vacation, exact location uncertain. But this isn't some getaway to a Mexican mega-resort. They're on vacation in some place where no one bothers them.

That sort of privacy costs a lot of money. In this way, their conspicuous consumption is, in fact, an absence — the absence of people, the absence of paparazzi, the absence of distractions. This vacation at its most pure, and its filled with snorkels, deserted beaches, and tubing behind a speed boat.

No big deal, right? Only it's leisure. Lots and lots of leisure. This is conspicuous consumption done right: it doesn't make you resent them, it just makes you want to join them. We all know that both Jay-Z and Beyoncé do, in fact, work hard. Touring, appearing in public, writing songs — it's certainly exhausting work, even as they work to elide that work. But we see very little of that difficulty here. Even the images in which Beyoncé is obviously preparing to work, such as this:

 when she's in full, intricate make-up for some sort of performance or photo-shoot, do not emphasize labor. The shot is gorgeous, but it's also included to emphasize the in-formality of the other shots.

Take a look at its positioning on the home page (the shot is in the lower left hand corner). Beyoncé at "work" (black and white) makes her at "play" (the vibrant color) all the more compelling and authentic seeming. The shot on the left is Beyoncé-as-Image, while the rest of the page reads as Beyoncé-as-Real (which, again, is also an image, but that image is "realness.") Being a top pop star may be hard work, but we see very little evidence of it here — just the benefits she reaps from that work. (She does seem a bit exhausted in this photo with Paltrow — but again, black and white is for "work," color is for "real.")

The tumblr is also filled with less discrete examples of conspicuous consumption. Beyoncé witha wall of champagne, for example, or a shot from a yacht which must, by dint of its white leather and positioning with the skyline, be expensive.

In general, however, Beyoncé is more circumspect. Nothing too conspicuous — nothing that would be dissonant with she and Jay-Z's collective image of class and sophistication. (See: every lyric on Watch the Throne). Since the 1920s and the rise of the "idol of consumption," we've looked to stars and celebrities as aspirational consumptive models. They show what leisure looks like; what consuming often and well looks like; what American capitalism taken to its extension looks like. They're what make us keep working so as to keep spending. It's a weirdly cyclical process: we consume (their CDs, their clothing lines) so that they may consume more and, in turn, inspire us to consume more. Late-stage capitalism makes my head explode.

***

Take a moment and think about your reaction when you first saw these photos. Were you a) pissed; b.) jealous; or c.) just wanted to join the party? If your answer was a.) or b.), please, I beg you, tell me why in the comments. But if it was c.), which was definitely my reaction, then welcome to the party: we're reacting exactly how Beyoncé and her team would like us to.

The Beyoncé tumblr is a public relations triumph, emphasizing that while Beyoncé may not "run the world," as one of her most famous songs suggests, she certainly runs her own image. In a time when image control is increasingly elusive, it's a feat worthy of praise. And while Beyoncé has worked hard to elide the tremendous labor required to construct such an image, my hope is that I've helped make that labor — and the discursive and semiotic layers that fuel it — visible. Making things visible doesn't mean killing the pleasure they evoke, it just makes them more nuanced. I can still look at those photos and want to hang out. But now I don't feel nearly as bad that I can't.

Rihanna

Rihanna - Change Over Time from heena93