LFTVD 30 mark practice

•  CRAIL
• 1/2 Theorists
• Contexts- social, cultural, historical, political & economic
• In depth-study
• Synoptic- make judgements and reach conclusions

'The Differences in the codes and conventions of long form television dramas reflect the different values, attitudes and beliefs of the audiences that consume them' How far do you agree with this statement?

In your answer you must:

• Consider the contexts in which LFTVD are produced and consumed
• explain how media contexts may have influenced the codes and conventions in the set episodes of long form television drama you have studied
• refer to relevant academic ideas and arguments
• make judgements and reach conclusions about the reasons for the differences in codes and conventions between the two episodes

Plan:

• question "what are the differences between ST and TK and to what extent is this because of the audiences watching this
• Intro macro:
• Netflix vs DR, Private vs Public
• Audience differences:
• millenials/gen z vs older ABC1 demographic
• Industry:
• Ownership structures and differences- formats, bingeability vs weekly showing
• Representation and media language:
• Lund vs Meyer, kids vs adults, Denmark 2007 vs USA 1980 (cultural context)
• editing, camera shots, lighting, mise en scene
• Theorists- neale- genre, hesmondalgh- industry and repetition
• Conclusion- what makes these shows successful? is it the audiences that control the production or is it something else?

Introduction:

The differences in codes and conventions do reflect the values, attitudes and beliefs of the audiences that consume them because media producers and creators must create content that is suitable for their target market audience in order to engage with them individually, regardless of how mass or niche the audience is. Large media companies such as Netflix operate in 190 countries, emphasising its need to appeal to lots of different global audiences, and the codes and conventions must reflect their values and beliefs to keep them entertained. On the other hand, small PSB's such as DR, only need to primarily appeal to a niche, Nodic audience. DR needs to appeal to the Danish audience, as they are funded by the license fee, highlighting DR's need to reflect their values and interests as a public service broadcaster, and Denmark.

Para 1

Both Stranger Things and The Killing reflect the values of their key audiences. For example, in 2016 Netflix produced Stranger Things as a hybrid genre to appeal to lots of different audiences, therefore creating a wide market share. This appeals to audiences interested in horror, science fiction, buddy, romance and coming of age genres. Here, Netflix can successfully distribute a global product that will match their interests and draw them into the show. Steve Neale's genre theory can be inputted here, by which genre's are fluid and evolve to become hybridilsed, and engaging with different fans of different genres. Conversely, in 2007, The Killing's Danish audience values the realistic, politicalised, and 'whodunnit' storylines reflecting the social issues in denmark: corrupt politics, racism and genre representations. The Killing subsequently reflects these values to interest the audience and appeal to its codes and conventions. The success of the show outside of Denmark into countries such as U.K., Asia and south america reflect the culturally ware audience who prefer darker tones.

Para 2

However, it could be argued that Netflix and DR was able to interest the audience through it's ownership structure of the shows. For example, Netflix was able to exploit their hybrid genre with its vast budget. Although it wasn't publicly revealed the budget for Stranger Things season 1, the Duffer Brother's commented that production costs were low. Despite this, Netflix's subscription is £5.99 a month normally, and with it's 183 million subscribers, it definatley understands that this budget was used to create a successful show for its global audience. Netflix also gave full control of production to the Duffer Brothers, who decided on two main stars: Winona Ryder (Edward Scissor Hands) and Matthew Mordine (Batman trilogy) with the rest of the cast being unknown child actors, to minimise risk. Hesmondhalgh's cultural industry theory reflects this, with mass media companies repeating genres and stars will minimise risk, but maximise audiences. Netflix took advantage of this with its multiple genres to attract a wide audience, and used the repetition if two well known actors, however, the rest of the cast was unknown which defeats this theory. DR however, only need to appeal to a niche, danish audience who were paying the license fee. Even with the license fee, DR still co-produced with ZDF enterprises, due to the economic context of being a small publically owned broadcaster, and the license fee only supporting 5% of production costs for The Killing. The content of the shows was a priority for DR, who had 20 50 minute episodes to appeal to its audience and be a success. The Killing is indicative of a media product from a public broadcaster than can only finance one long form television drama per season.

para 3

The format of the shows also reflect the attitudes of their key audiences; Stranger Things season 1 contained eight 60 minute episodes, and it was all released on one day, to adhere to Netflix's bingeability formula, which is preferred by millenials and the Gen Z audience, the core of Netflix's audience demographic.

Conversley, The Killing, who had twenty 50 minute episodes was released in weekly showings, as each episode represents 24 hours of the Nanna Birk Larsen investigation. This appeals to an ABC1, educated and culturally aware audience, which is again DR's only primary audience. In the U.K, It was shown on double bills, with a special saturday night slot on BBC Four, after the watershed hour on public television, again with the same audience

Para 4

The content is also influenced by the cultural background of the audiences. Many of the stranger Things millenia audience was brought up with the influence of 80's films and products, such as Steve Spielburg and the books of Stephen King. Penetrating this Nostalgia, The Duffer Brothers used intertextuality to the 1980's with many different refrences to appeal to this type of audience. This is evident through refrences to Aliens in s1e1, linking to Steven Spielburg's E.T, the game dungeons and dragons, descriptions of the demagorgon and the Goonies. The adults who know and love these 80's films and books will be naturally drawn to Stranger Things, as the show is based in 1980's USA, with mostly every scene having somewhat an intertextual refrence, again linking with Hesmondalgh and repetition. 

Para 5

The Narrative of The Killing is similar in some ways to Stranger Things; the disappearence of a child. But, DR chose to focus more on the domestic interactions of adults whereas ST is more focused on children. Lund breaks the stereotype of the hard male police detective, even though she is represented as feminine and materialistic. Compared with Meyer, she breaks the stereotype and reinforces masculine values through the portrayal of her character as a protagonist. Both shows are set in a political period; The killing in the wake of the recent Danish elections in which a coalition was formed, showing corrupt elements. Stranger Things is set in the 1980's , a time of government skepticsm of secret experiments, and the fear of the unknown. These fears can be seen in the fear of the demagorgon, and the shady characterisation of Troels Hartmann, especially at the end of episode 1.

Conclusion

To conclude, the codes and conventions of the killing and stranger things, reflect the different values, attitudes and beliefs of their key target audiences, one a global mass audience and the other a niche nordic audience. Stranger things uses genre hybridisation, repretiton of narratives and a bingeability format to attract a mass and wide audience, whereas the killing sticks to hard-hitting, emotional and serious narratives to appeal to the audience and reflect their values of a ABC1 culturally aware audience.