B4. Explore the marketing strategies used by your selected industry. Use the examples you have studied to illustrate your answer. [30]
My first chosen text, Nirvana, has used many marketing strategies in order to promote their music. For example,  they relied massively on the production of their music videos in order for audiences to gain an insight into their attitude to society whilst simultaneously promoting their sound. Their 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' music video sold the message of rebellion, which provided teenage audiences with a similarity to the band of desiring freedom. With the video being set in a relatable location; a school gym, this further provides visual support as to who they're targeting and therefore teenagers are more likely to take away the desired interpretation that the band want to be free from genre expectations of 'radio friendly'  music - just like teenagers want to be free from social rules and confinement.
Nirvana also relied hugely on TV performances as they pulled PR stunts live to the nation in order to make an impact, which was then easily communicated by audiences and they are likely to discuss it; giving the band free promotion. When the band appeared on 'The Jonathan Ross Show' they were asked to play a "radio friendly" song, this aggravated their initial attitude to 'confinement' and therefore resulted in them playing their heaviest song.  

Genre Theory

"Genres are created through a process of repetition and recognition leading to anticipation and expectation."
"The familiar and the expected" - (G.Burton, 2000)
"Same but different." (Nick Lacey, 1999)

How typical are you three main texts of their genre?

• Key Signifiers and iconography
• Story-lines and plots
• Characters and their functions
• Stars/celebrities
• Use of camera, sound and editing
• Use of dialogue, language and music

Genre texts are successful because...

- Audiences like familiarity

- They give us an informed choice

Genre Change - avoids boredom

- Hybridity

- New techniques

- Modern social issues (Fish Tank)

- Different characters

FILM NOIR

'The Spirit' - made 3 years after 'Sin City' by the same writer

- Private eye

- Female police officers; links with 'Sin City' and the women's fight for power

- Voice over

- Femme Fatale 

How typical are your chosen texts of their genre?
My first studied text is 'Fish Tank' which is typical to it's social realism genre due to particular conventions such as the representation of real life with all its difficulties, hand held camera work, and predominantly diegetic sound.
The use of hand held camera work, specifically the frequent use of a shallow depth of field is used very effectively in this text as it captures in the narrative exactly what the eye would see. This causes the audience to feel as though they are directly viewing the film as it is happening.

Most media texts target a wide range of audiences, how true is this of your chosen text?
My first studied text is the series five edition of 'Mad men', specifically the episode 'The Other Woman'.  Matthew Weiner intended his award winning series to be targetted at people aged 25+ of a certain standard of education with specific relations or interests in things such as the business world, historical context or realistic plotlines.
'Most media texts target a wide range of audiences' is not true of this chosen text. The series is only aired on the subscription channels 'AMC' and 'Sky Atlantic' and so for viewers to tune in to watch it, they must be paying for that channel. This immediately defines 'Mad Men's' audience as niche.
Furthermore, the plotlines of each episode is not subject matter that would interest everyone, and does not gratify their audience through escapism, for example, it deals with issues of feminism in the 60's which aids historical content and so therefore limits the people that will feel gratified from this. Also, the slow pace scenes and minimal non-diegetic sound reinforce the sense of realism causing unintended audiences to lose interest, but simultaneously engaging their preferred group by giving them more ways to relate to it to their own life.

Promotion via the music video

Lady Gaga used marketing via digital technology when producing music videos in order to promote each of the five singles that she released from the album "The Fame". These music videos were cleverly designed in order to gratify her target audience with a specific mode of address. An example of this is visible in the music video "Love Game" in which she dresses provocatively to gratify her audience's need for aesthetic enjoyment, for example she wears a leotard that shows the majority of her body and combines this sexual appearance with provocative dancing. 

She also targets the preferred audience with the use of product placement, in which she combines aspirational and relatable products with the use of 'Chanel' shoes and 'Beats' earphones. Also the relatable setting of an underground train combines with aspirational qualities, as it is full of dancing models. 

The use of Twitter and its benefits

Lady Gaga is also well known for using the social medium of Twitter to communicate with her social networking teenage fans on a regular basis. Via adopting this strategy of digital technology in her marketing Lady Gaga increases her sales by providing fans with exclusive You Tube videos directed straight from Lady Gaga herself, to her 33 million followers. This then creates a parasocial relationship between her and her fan base; the 'Little Monsters', highlighting her tendency to seem like she is one of them. It builds loyalty and a false sense of a friendship which "E" believes will make fans less likely to illegally download her music, and therefore guarantee her and her record label more money.

She is also able to use Twitter as a way to promote other brands and further increase their sales, as she has the power to 'tweet' a link to a particular website for something such as 'Ray-bans' and combines this with some of her own words, telling her fans how much she likes them. This is the likely to encourage them to buy these items, as they will then feel as though they have something in common with Lady Gaga, whether she genuinely likes them or not.  

Discuss issues of representation of gender and race
Females in 'District 9' are under-represented, presenting them as just relations to the men. For example, when the 'Tania Van De Merwe' is being interviewed, the screen graphics present her as "Wife of Wikus Van De Merwe", providing evidence for the fact that the film could exist without female input.
The men are portrayed as violent and inhumane, with no regard for other cultures.

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

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

My first text, Sin city, lies within the hybrid genre as it combines both film noir and comic book conventions.

A particular convention used within Sin City that defines it as film noir is the use of the Femme Fatale which helps reflect the time in which this film is supposedly represented. Due to this being set post World War 2, the femme fatale's are used to represent the women of real life society; during the war, the women would have got a sense of what life was like without men, and what it was like to be independent and no longer oppressed. And so, when the men returned from the trenches, after possessing all the power, the women did not want to return to being reliant, instead they wanted to hold onto the independence they had. This is mirrored in 'Sin City' as the women are seen as strong and independent, which can particularly be referenced to Shelley. She is presented to be in control of Jack when he comes home drunk and she refuses to let him in, and belittles him with her language. She calls him a "jerk loser" on more than one occasion and pinpoints that he hits her in order to "feel like a man". She becomes the voice of reason at this time, as domestic violence would have been a regular occurrence, but by standing up for herself she reflects her Femme Fatale characterisation. 

Another particular Film Noir convention is the representation of the cynical protagonist, which is typical to Propp's theory of character roles. With this film being set post World War 2, and in the midst of the cold war, the male protagonists are shown to have little, or no value for their own life. This is proved by Dwight when he tells Shelly to let Jack in, and states "I'll take care of this". Despite the inevitable consequence of Dwight getting hurt, his approach to it is slightly unnerving as he doesn't seem to possess any sort of concern for his own welfare.

Finally, the use of the trench coat is both a convention of the Film Noir genre and the Comic Book genre. The coat is very typical to the stereotypical 'private eye' characterisation that is presented in Film Noir conventions, but equally has connotations of the Comic Book genre as it often acts like a cape. With particular reference to Dwight, he puts the coat of just before he is about to save Shelly from Jack. Highlighting his sense of heroism.