Thursday 18 May 2017

Media essay

Does your case study suggest that new and digital media have had a positive impact by offering audiences a more diverse range of values and ideologies?

New and digital media has had an impact on the way products are now consumed. For example there has been a decrease in the way traditional media platforms are being viewed by a younger demographic which has caused a decline in newspapers, TV news, people watching TV, increase in illegal streams ect. 

In the music industry there has been a decline in the amount of people who are buying physical copies of music albums. This can be seen through the increase in numbers of people illegally streaming. This could be argued that the consumers now have more free will and choice which is why they can decide if they want to buy the physical copy or not and this would be suggested by Pluralists. There are now apps such as Spotify that allow people to stream music rather than downloading it illegally. However although this is the case there is also a payment needed which is required for the premium membership. This is £9.99 but students are charged £4.99. This impacts the amount of downloads it receives as those who are students are more likely to be on new and digital media devices hence the accessibility of receiving music from one app. With the decrease in price it will affect the amount of physical copies sold and they're already paying monthly for an unlimited amount of songs.

Moreover, Marxists would argue that there is still control within the industry and that the ruling class still have authority. Rather than it being physical copies being sold they're still able to make money digitally which is why artists also promote their music on iTunes which may also create a large revenue. For example Beyonce released her album on iTunes before even releasing the physical copy. Artists promote this through social media and because they're opinion leaders the audience are more likely to act in a way that the celebrity is saying. This would be purchasing the digital copy as well as the physical one. 

Also, due to globalisation people are now able to gain the interest of songs from other countries and genres and this allows them to access all types of music from one platform. There is no affect of the hypodermic needle model as they audience aren't seeing the same text or song over and over again. There are comment sections which allow people to give their views and opinions linking to user generated content. Pluralists would argue that this is a good thing as the audience are able to have more of a choice and because of this they can attract a large audience due to globalisation which means an increase in downloads for apps such as Spotify. For example there are now songs that have people from two or more different countries making songs together due to globalisation because of new and digital media allowing globalisation to take place.

However, media Institutions that usually promote people's albums such as record companies will have a decline in revenue due to a lack in sales of physical copies. For example this is seen with Amazon as they had lost money on illegal streaming for The Grand Tour which meant they had lost out on millions. Also in the film industry with A Field in England where they had a simultaneous release of the film on all platforms so that they didn't lose out on money through illegal downloads. Spotify is now the leading app in sales for music and there are other ways to stream music illegally through uTorrent and zips that people are using. This is due to new and digital media which affects the power that the media Institutions have and gives it to the audience instead. This is because pluralists argue that there is now more freedom amongst the audience to pick and choose what they want to do.

Audiences can now interact with apps as they can upload songs themselves. For example apps such as soundcloud allow the audience to make a song and put it online without the use of having a record label. This means that there's a change in power as the audience now have control. This means that there's less revenue for the record company as people don't need to be signed to a company in order to produce music. Marxists would still argue that this is a new way that the media Institutions have started to gain control rather than traditionally through other platforms. 

In conclusion, new and digital media has had a positive impact on the audience as they're now able to have more control over what they want to do. This is because of new and digital media and globalisation has helped put this in place. However, the media Institutions are losing out on revenue and have lost control.

Tuesday 16 May 2017

MEST3 PPE - Learner Response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

Q1. How does it link to authority and trust

Link to question

Q2. Need much more explanation

How does it get the audience to agree
Wider examples
Lacks question focus

Q3. How does it link to the question


Q6. Need to introduce case studies

Lacks focus on question
Link to question
Need more detail 
Link to question/NDM
Talk about decline of newspaper industry, stats, examples

2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade for A2 Media? If not, how many additional marks do you need across Section A and Section B to achieve your target grade?


I didn't meet my target grade and in order to do so I need to link back to the actual question by using examples of the wider media. Also, use statistics and talk about the theories of media and how they link to what the question is asking such as Marxist theory of the elite having control but are losing their power due to a decline in media.


3) Read through the mark scheme. Pay particular attention to pages 6-8 that have suggested content for each of the questions in Section A. How many of these potential points did you make? Did you successfully answer the questions? The original question paper is here if that is helpful.


Q1. Need a sophisticated in terms of analysis and use critical autonomy.


Q2. Need more examples, critical autonomy, sophisticated analysis and a wide range of media debates, issues and theories.

Q3. Sophisticated and detailed evaluation, showing very good critical autonomy.


4) Which was your strongest question in Section A? Why did you do better in that particular question? Note the number of marks each question is worth.


Question one was the better question in section A because of the analysis of the two clips and how they linked to the question.


5) Which was your weakest question in Section A? Again, try and identify why this happened. Did you misinterpret the question? Did you run out of time? 


My weakest question in section A was question two this is because there wasn't enough detail and a lack of analysis. There should be more on the impact on the audience that the clips had.


6) Now look at pages 11-12 of the mark scheme for Section B - New/Digital Media paying particular attention to the suggested essay content on page 12. How many of the broad areas suggested by AQA did you cover in your Section B essay? Did you successfully answer the question?

I covered some of the areas and didn't answer the question directly. In order to gain additional marks I could've spoken about the demand of consumers changing, the role of the media before and how the traditional media platforms came out every 24hours or during specific times and not instantly.

7) Read the Examiner's Report in full. For each question your answered, would you classify your response as one of the stronger answers or one of the weaker answers the Chief Examiner discusses? Why? What could you do differently next time? Write a reflection for EACH question in the paper: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q6 OR Q7.

Q1. Focus more on the media techniques that were used to ensure getting into the higher grade.


Q2. Refer to a wider range of media examples and answer the question directly rather than going off topic.

Q3. Better evalutaion and more analysis; also, answering the question and not going off topic.

Q6. More examples and statistics, better media analysis, more media examples.

8) Choose your weakest question in Section A and re-write an answer in full based on the suggested content from the Examiner's Report. This answer needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme. This will be somewhere between 3-6 well-developed paragraphs (depending on the question/number of marks available).



The redrow appartments are encouraging the audience to see them with a certain set of values through the actual brand itself. For example it is seen to be strong, successful for the wealthy. The advert transmits that ideology into the needs of the audience. This links to the hypodermic needle model as the advert states a belief and message which is now apart of the consumers ideology. This can be seen with adverts such as the nivea advert for men where they're presented with the stereotypical hegemonic male that highlights power. 

In addition, this is also done with the clothing of the protagonist; for example he was seen to be wearing a cheap suit looking tired and scruffy. As the narrative progresses he becomes successful, has a new suit and looks the audience directly as he goes up the elevator. This links to Todorovs theory as the new equilibrium was the male being successful. This can be seen in the Peter Andre advert as towards the end of the introduction he wore a suit highlighting that transition of clothes and character.

Also, this is seen as the protagonist is in the office working but manges to escape and this highlights a change in lifestyle and the brand being able to guide you to a better life making them trustworthy. The setting is then changed to London at night and the overview of the city which illustrates power and dominance which contributes to the values that are being shown by the product. Apple products also do this as they make the upper middle class have that power and authority through their products.