DIscuss the audience appeal for Mad Men

Mad Men has targeted the same audience throughout, differing it from the modern texts. It is represented in the 1960s where society struggled financially alongside other issues such as gender & race. As women where seen more as objects in the 1960s women in the modern society may want to watch to relate; however will not be useful for modern women.

Mad Men being a subscribers only channel on Sky Atlantic limits the viewers it can gain, As this programme is set at older date it may prevent elderly audiences which may have been around at that time to view the channels as they may find it unnecessary to subscribe for one channel.

As Mad Men is Character driven (story is based behind characters rather than a plot) it is likely to appeal to a high class of audience who takes personal interest in the characters; for example females may have interest in Joan as she is represented in the olden 60s feminist manner (sexist view by the writer) There is a story behind each character therefore which gives audiences more options to favourite someone specifically as they all differ in some way.

It is likely that the audience stay attached to the series throughout as the show has received various awards for such; e.g 15 Emmy Awards & Golden globe awards within the first 4 seasons. This suggests that modern audiences which 'flick channels' are less likely to view this, as attached fans are most likely to be the main audience.

LOST

Lost is about a group of multinational people which are involved in a mysterious plane crash, resulting to be trapped on an abandoned island with a unknown creature which may be causing a threat to the survivors of the crash. The beginning of season 1 episode 2 straight away indicates that LOST is an hybrid genre production, the producers have done this by involving action drama by making Jack the 'Male Hero' role for rescuing injured survivors and leading the majority of the group; Kate is seen as the 'Female main character' as she creates many enigma codes related to the handcuffs and Marshall rescue etc. Each character plays a role, these are the typical roles you would see in an action film; scenes such as shooting the polar bear also reinforces this genre. Sci-fi is another genre which arises in this episode, scenes such as fighting the polar bear on an abandoned island suggests this (what is a polar bear doing on habitat where it doesn't belong?) other issues such as the unknown creature the person in the recording is talking about, are all conventions of a sci-fi. The Narrative is from a traditional Fantasy genre, it introduces the audience to a group of role-playing characters which are about to embark on a journey type quest to escape from the island; thus creating a mixed hybrid genre.

Lost is a much more modern production more suitable for a passive audience; the use of sounds (Diegetic by the use of source music), camera angles,  

                  Explore the impact of digital technologies on your selected industry

digital technology has evolved rapidly since the past 20 years, making text far more assessable for audiences. In the music industry, the evolution of technology has allowed music to be expressed worldwide by social media and even global marketing were music is shared through websites.

The movement from old to new digital technologies has effected the music industry by easier access; this benefits the modern artists such as Lady Gaga as her music is shared through modern techniques.
This involves methods such as downloading; as her music is made viral it is possible to download her content through applications such as Itunes and Spotify. The older generation did not benefit from this as they didn't have access to this form on technology. Lady Gaga has been able to produce then promote her music using the online media e.g fansites, social websites like facebook.

Nirvana could not compete with the modern technology due to the lack of global interaction. Lady Gaga has had 156m views struck off her official YouTube account today just one month after the online video provider reduced the play counts of many major label acts by 2 billion views.

Gaga's popularity on Twitter is unparalleled, she has gained 22 million followers putting her ahead of Justin Bieber (18.1 million), Katy Perry (15.75 million), Shakira (14.56 million) and Rihanna (14.49 million).

Lady Gaga has eight million fans on Facebook and more than 800,000 "circles" on Google+. Thanks in part to her viral marketing and social network sucess, the pop sensation's latest album has sold more than eight million copies worldwide.

The best-selling singer puts the popularity of her following down to writing tweets herself, rather than hiring staff to do so - as many other stars do.

She occasionally offers her followers backstage concert tickets and unveils promotion pictures on her account, but mostly she tweets about anything from fashion and music to cookies.

Gaga, who has sold an estimated 23 million albums worldwide, has come in for criticism over the aggressive online tactics employed by her fans,

These figure reinforce the idea of the growth of evolution; artists are enabled to function independently; manage social accounts and increasing public interest by interacting in a social manner enables them to grow. where as in the past when this wasn't available for artists like nirvana to this extent; they would require a record label to manage and promote without the use of modern technology.

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre?

Sin City being my chosen text is classified as a Hybrid of Film Noir & Comic book genre, making Sin City a post modern text, this means that the genres conventions are mixed to create a new appealing genre to appeal to a wider range of audiences.

Sin city is a film made in 2005 based on a graphic novel which focuses on street wars between groups of prostitutes and mercenaries, violence, romance and horror is openly expressed in this film, it contains elements of various genres allowing it to attract many audiences.

Film Noir is known as black film in french, this genre consists of dark but modern features, this was expressed in Sin City by low key lighting, the majority of the film was black/white with key subjects such as the colour red in high contrast to create denotations & connotations for the viewer, making the film more appealing and creating suspense for the audience.

In the scene which involves the first action/fight scene with Hartigan, typical conventions of Film Noir are displayed. During the fight sequence the contrast & brightness is kept low, the scene remains in black & white to change the mood of the audience and represent dark danger by having flashing lamp posts and many other conventions such as rain and thunder with lightening effects. when Hartigan is betrayed by Bob and shot continuously, No audio sound of Hartigan in pain is played, instead a non diegetic voice over is done of Hartigan in a masculine, deep voice discussing how he's been betrayed by his 'partner' Bob in his attempt to rescue the little girl. Diegetic sound is used throughout scene with rain pouring down in the dark streets, a girl crying at the death of Hartigan and gun shots; all these are typical conventions of Film noir.

the comic book genre is openly reflected in Sin city, Unrealistic/superhuman abilities on characters such as Mark represent this genre. In the scene where Mark is framed for Goldie's death, unrealistic stunts are performed by Mark to escape the scene (e.g jumping down the flight of stairs whilst getting shot), he then jumps across roof tops and finally he survives multiple bullet wounds relating Mark to a superhero, in reality this is clearly not possible therefore making this scene a typical Comic book genre text. The structure of the scenes are also related to this genre (equilibrium, new equilibrium & disequilibrium)

'What can an analysis of the representations of Chris Brown and 50 Cent reveal about stereotypical attitudes to contemporary music?'

Akshay's Research Investigation

'What can an analysis of the representations of Chris Brown and 50 Cent reveal about stereotypical attitudes to contemporary music?' These artists music genres create a great influence in the current modern society, they target the majority of young audiences across the world, stereotypical values are reflected on each of the artist to create a role model for many of their audiences. Representation for these celebrities are strictly unique to make them socially acceptable, allowing them to be popular. Attitudes to contemporary music tend to change regularly for audiences, however for the artists they stay the same throughout, creating a strong, expressive artist. By doing my research I am looking to find out how deeply the impact of Chris Browns & 50 Cents music has on its audiences and society.

For my research investigation I chose to analyse two media texts, the texts includes 2 album covers, both by different representatives. The 2 artists chosen for the album covers were rappers Chris Brown and 50 Cent, these are two competitive artists with a different style and representation, for example the style of music and individual identity differs from a normal teenagers or a young adults life, they create motivation for different types of targeted audiences; however, they both create similar type of music (RnB, Pop and Hip Hop). The aim for my research is to compare and contrast the two album covers (F.A.M.E by Chris Brown & Get Rich Or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent) and reveal how they appeal to different types of audiences and how this effects their behaviour considering masculinity.

The theories that will be applied for my research will be uses and gratifications and issues of representation, I will be focusing in detail on how targeted audiences (such as teenagers and females for Chris Brown as his music is more soft and expresses love songs the majority of times, and young teenagers to young adult aged men for 50 Cent as his music is far more aggressive and male dominated than other artists) react to the music created by these two artists and how it effects their lifestyle, norms and values along with how the audience interpret the text.

One of the main issues which arise from the representation from these two artists concern masculinity, both artists appeal differently to different groups of audiences. In some cases 50 cent appeals more as a dangerous and evil type of character due to his style, music and past, as reviewed by many audiences;[16] where as Chris brown appeals as more of an 'cool' and 'non violent' towards his audiences, this is because Chris Brown didn't go through as much of a struggle as 50 cent,[11] various reviews and conventions are created based on how he is represented on his music videos, this creates a female-friendly character for Chris Brown and strictly masculine for 50 cent.

Masculinity is a major issue in the media as it reflects on the behaviour on the male gender which listen to the artists music, for example, the male audiences that listen to 50 cent are likely to be more aggressive and verbally aggressive as 50 cent tends to swear often in his songs e.g 'P.I.M.P', comparing this to Chris Brown, he has a reputation for being more friendly and less aggressive as he has a more emotional approach with his songs e.g 'with you'. The artists became role models for their audiences creating a huge fan base, which then act and behave the same way as they do in their songs, as people resolve their life mottos around lyrics and participate in buying merchant goods such as T-shirts based on their role models to relate or show appreciation.

I looked closely at the album F.A.M.E by Chris Brown and Get Rich Or Die Tryin' by 50 cent by analysing songs on the album with in depth research on reviews and feedback from many other artists in the same genres. On the album F.A.M.E Chris brown created a number of mixed genre songs such as RnB with a mix of Hip-Hop and Pop and romance [11] 'She ain't you', 'beautiful people', 'next to you', many of his songs feature artists which appeal to a variety of audiences and both genders, e.g Justin Bieber 'Next to you'. However, opposing audiences create conflict for his songs due to their personal opinions [15], Strictly masculine males believe that Chris brown is not suitable for the Rap/hip-hop genre of music due to his previous songs and who he features with on his tracks and his personal identity (were he's from, how he behaves, who he targets his music at), Chris brown has many talents which include acting dancing and singing, expanding his professions allows him to appeal to a variety of audiences with similar tastes, for example dancers with an interest in his music like street dancers, he creates inspiration for many of his audiences, this separates him from 50 cent which is limited to his professions.

50 cents album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' represents 50 cents lifestyle, he always has a masculine theme by the way he looks (90s gangster clothing, snapback durag etc), his personal identity (aggressive attitude towards music, focuses on nothing but money) and power over the music industry, he was known to be the 2nd richest artist at one stage just below Jay Z, making him a rival. 50 cent differs in various ways and forms from Chris Brown as he's represented by the media as less socially friendly in his songs, due to 50 cents history, being brought up in a violent urban estate in New York Queens, facing money problems which got him arrested for dealing drugs, he was also shot 9x and survived, recovered and dominated the music industry[12]. His behaviour is stereotyped as a typical 'gangster' and 'dangerous or violent' male from the South Side of New York, as well as wealthy, his album GRODT' being a hit in various countries around the world shows how his audience has reached a wide range [12]. 50 cent tends to target audiences which have been in a struggle in their life, to help motivate or influence fans by creating deep meaningful lyrics (e.g from the song 'Many Men'), this highly effects his audience as they interpret what he says and try to fit it in their lifestyle, e.g some of his lyrics from 'High all the time' encourages the uses of drugs.

Although 50 cent may be represented as a dark, vivid by the pictures in his album covers, he appears a not so educated male, however another reason for success in his career involved his business partnerships with Reebok and Coca cola, this changed personal opinions from competitors such as Jay-Z and many fans [12] as well as being a successful rapper and influencing young adults or teenagers he's managed to influence professional boxers into business men like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, 50 cent's also a shareholder of 'Vitamin Water' and many other merchandises, as well as being a solo artists he's the CEO of the music group 'G-Unit' which includes many successful rap artists [18] this suggests that he was for more intelligent and succesfull than it appeared.

Chris Brown's album cover for F.A.M.E (1) contains many enigma codes, for example the various amount of bright colours associated with the rainbow, the connotations a reader would get from this would be a joyful, happy and a unique album, implying change as a person; in a marketing view, these effects could also work on the consumer as they could be attracted easily to the album cover. Chris Brown has used an artistic approach for his album colour by using graffiti-slang type font and artistic styled colours and a picture-collage in the background, all these codes are representing a different type of male as an artist. F.A.M.E stands for Forgiving All My Enemies, this supports the fact that he is trying to change as an artist to perhaps become more friendly towards his fans and competitors. Chris Brown having a poor history with Rihanna (domestic violence allegations) could have been the cause for this album cover name as a form of apology or implication of a new man. As a role model, this convinces fans or potential listeners to be encouraged to be more apologetic and create changes in their lifestyle, becoming more socially friendly and less aggressive.

I have found from my research that Chris Brown has various types of audiences (from both genders to a various age group of people) around the world, songs such as 'International Love' (which sold 500,000 copies within 3 weeks based on total album sales)[11] aimed for audiences across the world allows his music to spread and become more popular not only in america, but other states, both genders appreciate his work, they are deeply influenced by his actions therefore making him a potential role model[14]. The titles for his songs[11] are all associated with 'love' and 'emotions', therefore i believe the album is targeted at females and the emotional males at a teenagers-young adults age; e.g 'Wet the bed' & 'She ain't you' idolizes him as a male with a high sex appeal.

50 Cents cents album cover for Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2) represents danger and brings the thought of 'bulletproof', i know this because on the album cover the main picture is 50 cent behind a bullet hole which had been shot from the glass, these enigma codes imply that he may be 'wanted' or he believes he is 'bulletproof', 50 cent appeals to his fans in a strictly dangerous and violent way by creating deep and violent lyrics, for example in the song 'Many Men' he talks about the murder of his enemy 'He shot me, 3 weeks later he got shot down'[13], this may imply that he is well protected and focuses on revenge, allowing him to become unique and gain a strong personal identity. He believes that he is overly masculine which results to him being represented as a dominant male. 50 cent is known by professionals business partners and close peers to be highly intellectual and smart, his approach to music differs from many of his competitors therefore making him successful [12].

GRODT' was more of a motto for 50 cent, this motivated him and fans to make money by any means, his album name represents this 'Get rich or die tryin'. This album being a hit highly effected the population of audiences in the hip-hop genre as it was strictly motivational and referred to 50 cents lifestyle of success. the song title 'Patiently waiting' and 'If i cant' in this album reinforce the fact that he is trying to bring motivation into the society, a lyrics from this song "if i cant do it, homie it cant be done" shows a sense of confidence and strong motivation, this attitude allowed him to release a positive influence on the society. This has led me to believe that this album is targeted at those which are struggling financially or those who can relate to his life, the style and lyrics of his songs makes it more suitable for mainly males as most of the songs associate with prison/sex/swearing & struggle of financial problems.

'What can an analysis of the representations of Chris Brown and 50 Cent reveal about stereotypical attitudes to contemporary music?', in reference to my research investigation, from reviewing music videos and fans feedback, I have managed to assess that both artists have a different approach and contribution towards the attitude and behavior of audiences in their targeted music genre. This makes both artists different in various ways from dominant masculine (50 cent) attitudes to soft but determined attitudes (Chris Brown), I have learnt that audiences interpret both artists attitudes and messages in different ways, but both artists are effective to their audiences. RnB being a soft and less aggressive culture and Hip-hop being a aggressive and masculine culture makes it difficult to compare as they are both differentiated in audiences eyes. Chris brown being a mix of both genres makes him difficult to evaluate as his audience range is broadened where as 50 cent is strictly hip-hop/rap, allowing him to become more stereotypical. Reviews from popular music industries reviews reinforce the fact that minimal conflict occurs and the artists appeals to many audiences[17].


[1]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/ForgivingAllMyEnemies.PNG  - F.A.M.E album
[2]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/Get_Rich_Or_Die_Tryin%27.JPG - GRODT' album
[11]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.A.M.E._(album)  -  Chris Brown
[12]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Rich_or_Die_Tryin%27_(album)  - 50 Cent
[13]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3crqpClPY - 50 cent - many men music video
[14]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdXesX6mYUE -  Chris Brown ft Pitbull - international love
[15]http://thatgrapejuice.net/2011/03/album-review-chris-brown-fame/ - Chris Brown FAME reviews
[16]http://www.metacritic.com/music/get-rich-or-die-tryin/50-cent  - 50 Cent GRODT' fans reviews
[17]http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3045-get-rich-or-die-tryin/ industry review
[18]http://www.singersroom.com/content/2007-06-14/Hip-Hop-News-50-Cent-Making-Millions-on-Vitamin-Water-Sale-But-Not-400-million/ - 50 cent vitamin water deal

The phenomenon that is LOST has come to an end... Lost fans, what are you going to do with yourselves? How can you fill the gaping void the show has left behind?


Lost has various audiences, all their merchandise is based on the characters as the marketers know that audiences will be most attracted to specific characters because of their personal identities, some audiences such as the younger audience may find them inspiring therefore contribute in purchasing a toy based on the character they prefer.

SHOW SUMMARY

 EDIT

After Oceanic Air Flight 815 tears apart in mid-air and crashes on a Pacific island on September 22nd 2004, its survivors are forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive. But they discover that the island holds many secrets, including a mysterious smoke monster, polar bears, housing with electricity and hot & cold running water, a group of island residents known as "The Others," and a mysterious man named Jacob. The survivors also find signs of those who came to the island before them, including a 19th century sailing ship called The Black Rock and the ruins of an ancient statue, as well as bunkers belonging to the DHARMA Initiative -- a group of scientific researchers who inhabited the island in the recent past. Lost has won a Golden Globe, 10 Saturn Awards and 9 Emmy awards.

From left to right: Faraday, Boone, Miles, Michael, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, Frank,Shannon, Desmond, Eko, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, Sayid, Libby, Sun, Jin,Claire, Hurley, Juliet, Charlie, Richard, Bernard, Rose and Vincent

LOST FAN REVIEWS (2585)

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9.1

AVERAGE

46,450 votes

 

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  best show ever..

  10

  By hammadi1220, Sep 29, 2012

  will stay in ppl minds for generations,, don think any show will come near it for another decade..

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  Watch "Lost" again.

  8.0

  By alilynsmith, Sep 19, 2012

  You will kind of "get it" this time.

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  FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  10

  By ChantelleShaw, Sep 14, 2012

  awesome.......absolutely awesome....from the beginning right till the end....i dont think anttv show can ever top this series....like mant ppl have said it was a love hate but for every person on the show...in the end...it was all worth it...i would love to see some other intriguing show like this again...to the writers...u have a great imagination n keep using it!

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• 

  LOST.

  10

  By BaderAlOtibi, Sep 05, 2012

  LOST Ahhh what a mess
  
  ..
  
  Live Together, Die Alone

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  the best tv show i saw

  10

  By LionServ, Sep 04, 2012

  the best tv show i saw ever

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  Lost for words?

  8.5

  By Tim_H, Aug 11, 2012

  I've been watching Lost since episode one, I've been hooked since then. Lost had everything I hoped for in a TV show, dynamic cast, mysterious location, plenty of character development, and questions I couldn't wait to find out.
  
  
  
  That being said, it developed into a love-hate relationship at times.
  
  
  
  Love Most of the show, John Locke, Dharma, Ben, and Sawyer.
  
  Hate Kate
  
  So many good things to say, practically grew up on Lost, will never forget it.
  
  
  
  Still my favorite show, I've seen every episode at least four times. (Once on air, then download in iTunes, then right before the next new episode, and a fourth because I missed it after it ended)
  
  
  
  The show ended poorly*, probably because of poor planning. So many loose ends were left for the viewer to figure out. The type of loose ends that need addressing, seeing as they are almost impossible to decode. Feel like all of this mystery that hooked me, dragged me around, and made me fight to reel it in turned out to be a catch and release. I don't think anyone could have ended Lost in a fashion where I would be happy, all I've got to say is, "Thanks for the Journey, it meant a lot to me."
  
  
  
  *The ending was still better than some of the ones I was expecting, probably an 8.5, but nothing over a 9.
  
  
  
  Show could have been a perfect 10. It was up until the ending, just too many threads left untied.

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  This show is for smart people.

  10

  By Daveishere88772, Aug 11, 2012

  This show is for clever and smart viewers. This is the thinking man's tv show. From the first episode to the last one its all fantastic. Very addictive. And it makes you think. It respects the viewer's intelegence. That ia why its the best show ever made.

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  i absoloutly love this t.v show...

  9.4

  By ch4nt3113, Jul 16, 2012

  i absoloutly love this t.v show its soooooo interesting...my fav actor/actress from lost is...all of them they all play there roles very well...i think evrey season it gets more interesting and thats the more you want to watch it...i absloutly love watching it and i like it coming on once a week because then you know that you wont miss any of the episodes...and i like it when they be telling all there storys before the plane crash thats what makes it even more interestinger...then you want to watch it even more and more and thats why evrey season it gets more interestinger!!!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  from these reviews we can see that LOST has a range of audiences which is beneficial for the for the show as it attracts a larger variety which boosts the reputation for the show.

  Some fans argue over the show and criticise characters simply because the don't appeal to them, this causes interest in the show as other people may disagree on their opinions, this proves that the audience theory is taking effect to its targeted audience.