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VIACOM, INC. HEADQUARTERS

Based in New York owns most of the music channels on cable and also some of the biggest film producing companies.
Cable: Viacom Inc. Owns 30 music channels and websites overall, consisting of some of the most well known successful ones such as MTV and Nickelodeon. Almost all of the cable websites and channels they own are music and game orientated. Gaming websites such as Neopets and addicting games target at a younger audience of about 5-mid teens and in some cases also older teens and early 20’s. Basically pleasing anyone who is interested in gaming and seems to be more male orientated. Entertainment is there key element when owning a business.
I would say that their target audiences vary. Some of the channels and websites are targeted at very young audiences; some are for teens and some for older audiences. The gaming sites mainly targeted at kids and the music channels and websites mainly targeted at teens such as MTV and VH1. Also for parents they have parents connect where they are given parenting tips and are able to discuses about issues amongst other parents. With BET, MTV being their top two cable channels this shows that VIACOM tend to cater for a youth audience also with BET targeted at the black audiences shows their diversity of VIACOM yet still the main subject around BET is music.
Film: Viacom owns:
• Paramount Pictures
• Paramount Home Entertainment
• DreamWorks Studios
• Paramount Vantage
• MTV Films
• Nickelodeon Movies
• Home Entertainment
Own two of the leading film and music brands bringing music that audiences love and movies that they love together. They do this to try and reach a diverse audience.
Paramount pictures, one of their leading film brands produces distributes and also provides music for movies. This shows vertical horizontal as they own all stages of the film from creating it up to when the movie is seen by the audiences whether this be in a cinema or at home on the TV. Paranormal activity, transformers, the god father are only a few of the ultimate hits they have created. The movies they create differ, there are different target audiences, and those you seek thrills, entertainment, Rom-com. They cater for everyone but the more youth audiences such as children of ages younger than teens are catered by Walt Disney.
Viacom own many different types of platforms such as T.V channels, films, websites, gaming sites etc. This allows them to cater for a wide audience ranging from various ages and with various desires. Not only does this help their audiences, but with such successful names under the company and being one of the leading providers, VIACOM are able to make a huge profit and stay on top of their market.

Vertical and horizontal integration.

Horizontal integration is where a larger business takes over another one of its kind. For example one large company owning many radio stations. Global radio owns Heart fm, Galaxy Fm, LBC and many more, this is a form of horizontal integration. For the company that own many companies, they have both advantages and disadvantages.

Dis Ad's:
There may not be a wide range of variety available in these companies, for e.g. the radio stations may have the same news on.
More money from the owner to run these businesses.
Much more work is needed in order to make all the businesses succeed and make a profit.
Biased information can be sent out a lot due to so much ownership from the company.

Ad's:
For the owner itself this can lead to a huge amount of profit being made from various businesses it owns.
Competition lessens.
Lot more consumers.

Vertical integration is when businesses come together because they have something in common. It’s not taken over, but they just work together to form one bigger company. They own everything which is involved in the business. For example, where the product is too where the products are sold off. Oil companies seem to be vertical integrated.

Dis Ad's:
If one company is doing really well, the amalgamation of the two business may cause some sort of downfall for some of the business
This risk can go horribly wrong; it’s a risk which needs to go well.

Ad's:
If two really big companies come together, which are very popular among the public they can make a big profit.
More capital can be put towards making the new company more successful.
For customers this can be better for them as they can get the best of both of the companies in one.

Contrasting Magazine Covers

Sugar magazine is well known for its true stories and fashion involvement that targets at an audience of females between the ages of 14-18 years old. The main attraction for any audience is what is in the magazine and how it is laid out on the front cover in an eye catching way. On the Sugar magazine cover the main image is of Leona Lewis that is famous for her singing and is at a young age which attracts the young audience they target to. Her stance shows a very ‘diva’ like pose and is something to which the audience aspire to be like. We can say that the target audience are aspirers therefore; they want to know about the lives of the rich and want the latest trends to send of signals that they are rich and can afford the latest stuff. The colours are very neon like and stand out very brightly in contrast to the darker background. The top stories within the magazine are also stated on the front cover and intrigue the readers to buy the magazine and read the rest of the story. There are many signs given off to the readers immediately by the cover, the bright pink colour denotes the fact it’s orientated around females. The dominant reading is to portray to the readers all about relationships, partly celebrity and fashion.

The men’s health magazine is a male orientated magazine hence why the title is “Men’s Health”. The target audience are males of middle age with a few years younger and older. From the title itself we can co notate that the target audience are very image conscious. All the strap lines are about health with the bold words such as ‘strong’ and ‘fit’ standing out the most. The psychographics of the target audience are the leaders, who set trends and are business men. With Obama being the first black president the covers becomes very influential attracting a wider audience as many males look up to him and in some way aspire to be like him. The writing is very bold and again relate to a more dominant male stereotype.

Self Evaluation

Attainment-1, because I understand everything on the course and know how to use the key terminology when appropriate.

Effort-2. I always try as hard as I can in the lesson and outside to make all my work to the best of my ability.

Punctuality-1, I arrive on every lesson on time I’ve never been later than 5 minutes, also if I miss a lesson I try my best to catch up.

Submission and quality of homework-2. I’ve completed all but one of my homework’s so far and every one I have submitted I have done to the best of my ability.

Ability to work independently-2. I can work well on my own but I feel that if I work with more people I can get more ideas about the work and understand other people’s views.

Quality of writing-2. Every single piece of work I have completed I have used all media terms I can at appropriate places.

Organisation of blog-2. I don’t really like the blog and just submit my work on it but it is organised.

Oral contributions in class-1. Every lesson I have contributed in debates, discussions, when asked a question etc.

WWW: I have understood everything in the course so far, completed my work as best as I could and contributed a lot in lessons.

EBI: in the future I think I need to be more motivated and determined to complete ALL my work and be as precise in work as possible.

Banned Adverts !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_UOVFqjay0
The advert shows obvious reason to why it was banned. In the advert some guy with a mask runs after a woman. At the end the woman manages to escape and the masked stranger slows down in defeat, showing that with the Nike trainers you can get “super speed”. This very clearly had scared some of their viewers of the adverts and therefore received complaints to be banned. Especially the young generation who may have found it very disturbing.
I personally think that by banning the advert the ASA made a good choice. A lot of the viewers whether young or old must of gotten very scared after watching the advert. Also rather than selling their trainers it might actually scare some people because they might think something like that could happen to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4_SNdsGcTA
In this advert the pigeon is killed by the bonnet of the car. This again has obvious reasons for it to be banned. Many animal activists may have had complaint severely to the ASA. This may have also disturbed some children.
I think it was a good idea to ban the advert because thought it was meant to come across in a satirical way, it had upset some people. Also it could influence some viewers to be “Evil” like the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGxWxjEr6F8
This was a kinder surprise advertisement which was broadcasted in the 80’s between 4pm-5pm which was the ideal slot for children’s programs. Which seems to be ok, but the thing is that most of the children got scared of the cartoon image of “humpty dumpty”.
I think that the advertisement meant no harm and the character was not intentionally supposed to look scary but. Banning the advert could be seen both good and bad because it was not intentional but it did scare the kids. So I support both ideas of it being banned and also not being banned.

"Woman's Weekly "

The woman’s weekly magazine website show al things that women are interested in. At the top of the website there are tabs which read “health”, “diet”, “ sex and relationships” etc. the audience profile for woman’s weekly magazine read’s “ the 59 year old woman reader is said to be happy, and settled, with a real lust for life, open to new experiences and image conscious”. This is supported by the way the website is shown, the diet and health sections show that one of the main concerns for their reads is their body.

The cover for the issue of 7th-13th October has the main image of Claudia Winkleman who is well known for her appearance on “strictly come dancing- it takes two”. Who again is well known amongst the age group for women in their 50-60’s. The video on the right hand side shows tips on how to do hair which also helps with the image conscious of the women.

The webiste consists of:
Also inside this week's Woman's Weekly (on sale 7th - 13th October)...
• Fashion: The best cosy cardigans from the high street
• It's a funny old world...says children's author Jacqueline Wilson
• Real life: Living with Alzheimer's
• Three ways to ease the pain of varicose veins
• Brighten your garden with pretty pansies
• Travel: Glorious mansions and gardens of Washington and Virginia
PLUS: Puzzles, stars and expert advice

This shows what the issue will contain. The pages of "Jacqueline Wilson" shows that the women are most likely to be Settled. Towards the bottom of the website there are comments left by readers and some of them contain their age which show that the reader profile is quite correct.

"Takers Analysis"

Takers.
The names of the characters are placed right at the top of the poster, showing that these actors are well known as their names are more important than the name of the movie itself. The title of the movie is placed at the bottom allowing the main image to dominate the poster. The title is written in white which contrasts to the shades of grey and blue used throughout the image. The dark colours tinting the whole image gives a very serious look to the movie and atmosphere of the setting of the poster, the serious is then supported by the facial expressions of the characters.

The iconography plays a huge part in the poster in portraying the genre to the audience, the gun on the table connotes violence, death, crime, the silver briefcase connotes money, power, robbery, and the cigar also connotes power and wealth, all these connotations show that the movie is of the action/ gangster genre. Like all gangster movies, the money and business plays a massive part in the plot, which is shown by the briefcase. The city view and the alcohol show a city life of the men. The whole mise en scene shows the typical stereotypes of a gangster/action movie. The champagne connotes celebration which can that they have gotten what they wanted which typically would be the money in the briefcase.

The shot of the image is a medium long shot as you can see more than just the shoulders of the characters, but all characters are positioned either far back in the image of right at the front, which shows the importance of the characters. The male on the left hand side in the front has a very serious face which shows he means business this makes the audience see that he is not interested in jokes, he’s here for what he wants and he could be the “taker”. The male in the middle in the front shows a more laid back approach to the image he seems comfortable and more sinister than the other characters, the audience may also see him as the main character as he has been given the privilege of sitting in the middle and on a seat. The male on the right in the front has a more up front stance, he sits with his body positioned slightly forward which shows he is eager and in it for the money, and he also seems sly by his facial expression, he also seems more cunning and could deceive his "family".

The male on the left hand side in the back seems to be more of the young, inexperienced one, his hand positions show’s he’s trying to be big or fit in, also his face tries to mimic the others but he does not reach the full potential. The male in the white seems to have the most power within the show as he is the only one who is dressed in a totally different colour, and he also holds a cigar which shows power. His face is somewhat relaxed and this could be because he is protected from all sides, which again shows he is the most powerful and the most important one, as he is being protected. The male on the right hand side in the back seems to be oblivious to the whole scene, his eyes are fixed away from the lense, and therefore not specifically directed at the audience, the drink in his hand unlike the others shows the audience that he is just here for all that he can get and maybe is not too bothered about the money which everyone else is.

By all the men looking directly at the camera, except one of them instantly creates a relationship with the audience and makes them feel like they are what they “after”. This also intimidates the audience as they feel over powered by the characters.

The low key lighting helps to create a dark atmosphere around the whole image, and gives the characters less of a “glamorous” and more of a brave, masculine outlook. The slogan reading “everyone’s after something” shows the audience that the men are only working with each other in order to get what they want individually, they are only in it for the good for themselves.
The “mafia” look usually contains people from the Italian origin, but as it is based in America having black characters shows the stereo types of the “street people” in America. Having a completely male based poster shows that there is sexism, as women were not seen to have enough significance to be the protagonists of the movie. This can also show that the only relationship the men are looking for are related to money.

There is a play on words where “taking theatres soon” is placed, this shows that they are very powerful, and again they want to take over the audience.

The movie overall is very Business and money based, the iconography helps to show the stereotypes of a American gangster genre, the facial expressions also help to support the seriousness of the image. The dark tint running through the whole image also shows a sinister cunning look to the set.

Definitions

Anchorage- a certain element that bases the meaning of an image on to it and gives the audience a certain view on things
Cropping- the trimming or cutting if an image to enhance the photograph, focus on a certain feature or fit the space
Semiotics- studying signs, breaking down visual moving images in to pieces and analysing what each movement may mean.
Juxtaposition- putting something side by side to either compare or contrast the difference e. g bittersweet.
Mise en scene- director choosing everything that is to be included in the shot/scene, lighting, props, music etc
Homage- when a film director, uses images or certain scenes from a movie to play a tribute to the movie in his/her own movie.
Demographics- info providing information about the population including, gender, age. Social class etc.
Psychographic- graph or chart showing the individual personality traits of a character
Binary opposition- theory that narratives are structured to portray opposition in real life e.g, life and death, day and night.
Iconography- key elements that hint out the genre of the movie.
· The anchorage of the movie was the little girl.
· I cropped my picture so you could not see anything else than the face.
· The semiotics showed that the woman was planning on killing her secret admirer.
· The love and hate themes were juxtaposition.
· The mise en scene of the movie allowed to give the movie a sinister atmosphere.
· The director of scary movie used homage to the movie scream.
· The demographics shows that there are more females aged 13 than males.
· The psychographic chart showed that target audience of the movie had interests in shopping
· The movie god father used great binary oppositions to show the sins and the birth of a new child by using a montage of shots.
· The iconography of Texas chainsaw massacre clearly portrayed that the movie was of a horror genre.