A) Audience Effects

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Media can have a profound effect on its audience and can influence its audience. The theory of the Hypodermic Needle suggests that the mass media could influence a very large amount people directly and uniformly by metaphorically 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. The audience is either as passive or active audience. Passive means they will watch the content and take on what it says and thats it. The active audience will watch the film and then discuss it on the media with people. The bullet theory represents the bullet being the message fired from a media gun into someones head. People are seen as passive and are seen as having a lot of media material "shot" at them. People end up thinking what they are told through what they watch In the media. The Cultural Effects Theory model recognises that people are heavily influenced by the media and the people that control it. This means that they are gradually influenced by the media over time and it gradually shapes their common sense and assumptions. Reception Theory was developed by Stuart Hall asserts that media text are encoded and decoded. The producer encodes messages and values into their media which are then decoded by the audience. Dominant or preferred reading - this is how the producer wants the audience to view the media text. They will have to have follow an easy to follow narrative and if it deals with themes relevant to the audience.  Oppositional Reading - This is when the audience make their own meaning for the text. This can happen if the audience disagrees with the themes displayed in the media. I can also happen if the narrative is complex and the themes are not linked with the modern world. Negotiated Reading - This is when the audience accept the producers views swell as making their own. This can happen if the narrative is complex but the themes are relatable. 

 

Many factors could affect whether the audience take the dominant, oppositional or negotiated reading.

• Age

• Beliefs

• Culture

• Gender

• Life experience

• Mood at the time of viewing

 

The Reception theory best links with Game Of Thrones because people have different views when watching it. With Game Of Thrones, the audience either just watch the show and go along with the producer intentions or they can have their own interpretations. Most people have their own interpretations because the story and narrative is complex. The Cultural Effects theory least applies to Game Of Thrones because the show is based in a fantasy world which is far from realistic. 

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B) Representation 

 

Representation refers to the idea that everything we see or hear in the media has been constructed. Just about everything you see in the media is a representation of something. Representation can be how media presents gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience. Some representations that are used in media are gender, age, sexuality, religion, jobs and race.​ You can represent characters in different ways by using different camera angles. Someone who is high in power will have a low angle looking up at them. A high angle shot looking down at someone makes them seem lower in power and less significant. Editing can be used by producers to manipulate the emotions of the audience by representing characters in different ways. Slow, quiet music will relax the audience whereas fast, upbeat music could be used in a battle to get the audience worried and connect them to the scene and whats happening.Visual codes can influence representation. An example is someone wearing a suit with a briefcase will come across important and high in management whereas someone who is wearing baggy, ripped clothes will come across poorer and less successful. Stereotypes are widely held but fixed image or idea of a particular type of person or object. Many media use stereotypes to create a story and tell it. Sometimes these stereotypes are wrong and reinforce false beliefs about a particular person, group of people or object behave, look and think. Stereotypes are dangerous because children can become influenced by stereotypes and believe them and generalise these people and objects. Age is an example because in media. Teens are seen as rebellious and old people are seen as friendly but slow and useless. This will give children wrong or misunderstood ideas about different aged people. Gender is another example because the media give different stereotypes on being male, female, gay or straight. A prime example is boys are associated with the colour blue and girls, pink. ​Women are viewed as being mens possessions and never fighters but Game Of Thrones switched this around with one character called Daenerys who used to be used for mens pleasure in the show but, soon became of one the most powerful and strong characters in the show, even killing and controlling some of the higher powered kings. The producers also make sure that camera angles are low, looking up at her and give her significant symbols such as dragons on her clothing which strikes fear, contrasting with the normal, exposed clothing she used to wear. There is a clear representation between high powered people in Game Of Thrones and unfortunate, mistreated, less significant people. The producers have created this representation by using camera angles and visual codes. Characters such as Twin Lanniser who is a king in Game Of Thrones and he has many scenes where the camera has a low angle looking up to him so the audience know that he is powerful. This character also dresses with very expensive, royal looking clothing and his mannerisms are professional. In other scenes where there are slaves and poorer people, the camera angles are high, looking down on them as well as them having bruises, cuts and wearing ripped and wearing dirty clothing to reinforce the fact that they are insignificant and poor. The powerful people in Game Of Thrones also speak professionally as higher class royalty are meant to making the audience realise that these people are important.  In Game of Thrones, gender is one of the big stereotypes that is used because all the women are very sexualised and are viewed as possessions of men. They wear very exposing clothing and sometimes even nude in the show. Men on the other hand are seen as powerful, controlling and always in charge just as they were seen in the past and even seen now by some people. This is a negative stereotype because we are at a time where equal rights for men and women are becoming recognised and action is taking place to bring these rights and , if children were to watch the show they would think that mistreating women would be normal. 

 

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C) Legal and Ethical

 

The legal considerations are connected with the law. An example is the employers and employees rights in the industry such as they need to be paid annually, have a maximum of 48 hours per week working and having holidays. Legal considerations are taken into account so the company does not go against the laws that are put in place. Ethical considerations are defined as the moral principles that are taken into account to make sure employees and employers are. comfortable in the working place. The product itself needs to have ethical considerations as well if it has sensitive aspects to it that could offend the viewers. Filming people is a legal consideration because consent is needed from the person who will be in the film. This is particularly important the case when filming in the street and people are walking passed. Where consent has not been obtained, filmmakers must decide if they can still include the image or whether they will need to take steps to obscure the individual’s face. If their film or tv product has sensitive themes or messages then the producers need to make sure that the messages in the sensitive themes are portrayed without being offensive to the audience. The product also needs to also meet the publics interest. Ethical considerations also need to be thought about with the employers, employees and actors because they all need to feel comfortable when working. This is done by giving them their privacy and trusting them. If they fail to ensure their film is legal, the film will cancelled and production will be stopped. The filmmakers could be sacked or could be taken to court. In June 2013, album cover artist William Roger Dean filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox and the producer of Avatar because he thinks that the world of Avatar and the planet they designed for it was copied from some of his books. The movie “Erin Brockovich” brings a number of ethical issues because she portrays the business world in a negative way. People criticised the film and PG&E made a lawsuit against it. In Game Of Thrones, one legal consideration example is getting the authors permission to make the show about the story of their book. Making a product on someone else's story without asking for permission is stealing. Another legal consideration that needs to be followed is when they are filming in other countries because every country has their own filming laws. Game Of Thrones production included having to film in Ireland, Canada, Spain, Croatia and a few others. As well, a few had to get visas to be able to ravel to these countries. One last example is when the parents had to give permission for the children being involved in the show. Game Of Thrones had lots of complaints about rape that they had to change some things in season 6. It was criticised by many people and even discussed within the US senate. The cast and crew said Game Of Thrones is a violent and full of sexual harassment which was their argument against the criticism.

 

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D) Regulations

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The BBFC are a group of people who give films that are released in the UK a rating of which is used to tell viewers what age you should be to watch the film. BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. They look at issues such as discrimination, drugs, horror, dangerous and easily imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, and violence when making decisions. All these things are sensitive to children under the age of 12 and this is why there is a 12A rating which is where the sensitive issues start to occur in movies. Game Of Thrones include most of these issues which is why it has such a high age rating is at the maximum of 18. BBFC can do a range of things to control the films that are released into the UK. They can tell filmmakers to cut sections of the film or show that are too intense or inappropriate for children or adults to watch. If the film is suitable for age rating but only at a high rating, they may consider changing a few things to like cutting a scene to lower the rating. Compulsory cuts are when they film may have scenes that are completely inappropriate. For some examples, they may promote violence, unacceptable behaviour and show too much sexual content. BBFC can also reject complete content if the work is completely inappropriate or take too many changes to become suitable for anyone to watch. The Last House On The Left from 1972 was banned from being viewed in the UK. Game Of Thrones is an 18 because it includes a mass amount of issues such as sex, nudity, alcohol use, dangerous behaviour, and lots of other issues which is why it is very unsuitable for children and young teenagers because these issues can cause younger people to copy and become influenced by the actions that take place in the show. People under the age of 18 will find the issues very sensitive and can influence bad things to children. They could grow up to find violence a normal and acceptable thing.  It did not get a higher rating because 18 is the maximum rating that can be given. The amount of violence and sexual content could have forced BBFC to give it a higher rating. When it comes to entertainment, if the film makers want audience the age of 18 and above, they will be comfortable adding in BBFC issues because they're target audience are able to watch the show/film. However, if filmmakers want to make a documentary or to educate, they will take into consideration the issues that BBFC look for if they want some more audience at younger ages. In Game Of Thrones, violence occurs a lot and scenes such as stabbing and beheadings are fully shown in the show which instantly makes it an 18 because they're guidelines state that they want to protect children from seeing unacceptable content that can influence problems.