Ownership and control

1) Why did Facebook buy Instagram for $1bn in 2012?

They bought Instagram as they wanted to expand their business and to cancel out the competition.

2) What are the benefits for media companies of vertical integration? 

The companies can make more profit if they have an ownership with other companies and maintain control of the products.  

3) What are the benefits for media companies of horizontal integration?

It allows companies to widen their audience and find other ways to make money. Also  if one company goes out of business you will still be making money as you'll still have other companies.  

 4) What is a subsidiary?

It is a smaller company owned by a larger company.

5) Give three examples of media companies that have used synergy to maximise the profit from a brand (there is one above to help you).

 Harry potter- Theme parks, concerts and merchandise.
Star wars- merchandise, soundtracks and events.
Marvel studios- soundtracks, events and merchandise.   


6) Read this BBC article on Disney buying 21st Century Fox. List 10 companies that are part of the Disney media empire. This graphic may help you:

ESPN
Marvel studios
Lucas film
Pixar
Dreamworks
The Muppets studio
ABC entertainment
Hulu
A+E cable channel 
ABC news and radio

7) Why did Disney buy Fox - what are the benefits?

Disney bought fox to expand their global reach, widen audience and make more money. 

Audience effect theory

1) Passive audience: this is the view that the audience can take information on how other people can see things.

2) Active audience: this is the view that audience can interact with and make choices regarding the media.

3) Hypodermic needle: this is the suggestion that all audience is passive and take the intended message.

4)
Information/surveillance
News - tells you different information around the world.

Identity
Drama's - you can relate to them.

Diversion/Entertainment
Actions and adventure movies -  they are entertaining and makes you feel like your really there

Relationships
News - when they show people in war, people who where kidnapped or who were killed it makes us think about our family.

5)

The clip from 00:16-00:19 shows vicarious pleasure and shows us what the characters are experiencing.
The clip from 00:21-00:30 shows a voyeuristic pleasure as it is hidden camera in the ocean and we can see what the fish are doing.
When they go under the water it is a visceral  pleasure as it gives some people goosebumps and make them feel scared.

Extension :

The preferred reading is that science is developing and making it easier to find out about the ocean.

The negotiated reading is that scientists know everything about the ocean.

The opposite reading is that scientist still don't know everything about  the ocean.

Reception theory

1) The preferred reading of media text is  to tell people different things so they can keep up to date with all the news.

2) The opposite reading of a media text is that the media sometimes tell false information about different things.

3) The Harry Brown trailer makes the audience feel that teenagers are violent and disrespectful.

4) But young people will think differently about teenagers being violent as they are either not bad or they might think they are just having fun.
5)



The preferred reading for the McDonald's  Big Mac advert is to show the audience that it is a delicious meal so they can persuade costumers to come and buy one of them so they can make money. They also wrote a text so they can give what the audience better information about it.

The opposite reading would be that it is very unhealthy and it is not vegetarian or halal. Also some people are gluten-free or have other allergies so the Big Mac would not be suitable for these costumers. Its not as good as they say it is and they probably use a fake model so they can make it look nice. 

The negotiated reading is that the burger doesn't look as good as they say and they have made it look nice so they can make people come and buy it.

6)



The preferred reading is that the chicken is pure chicken and not mixed with any other type of meat so they can make it sound nice so the audience buy it. They also write the text so it catches people's eyes so they go and buy it. They also make the writing big and leave a lot of space for it so people can see and it stands out.

The opposite reading is that the meat is processed meat as it is a fast food shop so they would want it to taste nicer. Also they would put different chemicals so it would last longer.

The negotiated reading is that it is not healthy as there is a lot of fat. Also the chicken is mixed with all different chemicals to keep them taste nice, so they don't get rotten for a long time and it is deep fried which is very unhealthy. 

October assessment learner response

1) Total = 17 = grade 5

 WWW - A perfect start with good knowledge of terminology shown. If you work on a couple of aspects of exam technique you will push towards the top grades.

EBI - The high-mark questions are holding you back. You need to make more points and offer evidence or examples to support them .
-keep an eye on written English.

LR - see blog.

2)
Q1: 1/1
Q2: 1/1
Q3: 2/2
Q4: 2/2
Q5: 1/2 - I could have added a few one more point to show the effect of the placement why the title in the film poster such as the bold font to make it eye catching for the audience.
Q6: 3/3
Q7: 2/2
Q8: 2/4 - I could have talked about the room left for the text and how the blur was to make the poster focus on the boy.
Q9: 3/8 - I didn't talk about the denotation or the background.

3)

4) I done well on question 6 because I stated the correct features of a movie poster and used the correct terminology.

5) Question 8 was one of my weaker questions as I got 2/4./ This is because I only stated 2 points, I could have talked about the blur and the space for the text.

6)

Q9)
The denotation is a young boy whose clothes are ripped and off colour. This means that this boy is poor and doesn't have enough money for essential needs.
The producers (people making the advert) use children's pictures in charity adverts to make the
 consumers (people watching the advert) feel sorry for the children. This also means that if we do feel sorry for the children we will give money to the charities so people who need it can have it for water, food, shelter or whatever they need it for. They also put pictures of children to make the adverts stand out, make people look at it and to make the people feel sorry for it. They also make use of the child's colour as he is most likely from Africa this is because they have problems with not having enough water.