Critical Approaches assignment 3

Understanding of how media audiences respond to computer games

The genre of video games that I have chosen to carry out my research on is Adventure video game genre. The adventure game genre is one of the most popular game genre and some adventure games are some of the best games that have ever been made. Some great examples of some great adventure games are the Batman Arkham series, The Last of Us, Sly series and Fallout series. An adventure game is genre of video games where you usually play in a big open world filled with places to go and explore and you play as who ever the main character of the game is that the narrative is structured around and follows their story throughout the whole game. There is usually one main character that you play as but in some adventure games there is more that are either related to the narrative so you get to see their side of the narrative or they are just extras that you can play as. For example in Batman Arkham City you can play as Catwoman and Robin as DLC (Downloadable Content) and they have their own side to the story which connects to the Batman's narrative but in Batman Arkham Asylum you can play as the Joker but only in challenge maps that aren't related or connected to the story it is just an extra in the game for fun. Also adventure video games usually focus more on the narrative and come up with a great story for the players to play through instead of being more focused on cool cars to drive around in or a lot of different weapons to fight with. So adventure video games tend to have the best story lines then other video game genres for example most people that have played The Last of Us have said that it has the best story that has ever been in any video game. 

Applying audience theory's

Passive and Active Audiences

A passive audience is where the audience just accepts what is onscreen and what is told to them which means that they aren't engaged or that they won't question the media they will just accept it. So passive audiences tend to be more easily manipulated, compliant, followers, controlled and dominated. In the way that the media outlet intend it to be.

The opposite of a passive audience is an active audience where the audience doesn't just receive the information given to them and just accept it they will be more engaged in it and will question it to try and find out more information and to get a better understanding of it.The audience will make their own choices based on the new information that they have just revived. So active audiences tend to be more engaged, involved, responsive, in control and free willed.

GTA V

GTA V ( Grand Theft Auto) is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games.The game is the first main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series since 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California, the single-player story follows three criminals and their efforts to commit heists while under pressure from a government agency. The open world design lets players freely roam San Andreas's open countryside and fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles. 

The game has generated several controversies related to its violence and depiction of women. A mission that requires players to use torture equipment in a hostage interrogation polarized reviewers, who noted its political commentary but felt that the torture sequence was in poor taste.The mission also received criticism from politicians and anti-torture charity groups.The game became subject to widespread online debate over its portrayal of women, particularly in the wake of backlash against GameSpot journalist Carolyn Petit when she claimed the game was misogynistic in her review.After Petit's review webpage received more than 20,000 largely negative comments, many journalists defended her right to an opinion and lamented the gaming community's defensiveness towards criticism. Australian department store Target pulled the game from their 300 stores following a Change.org petition against depictions of violence toward women in the game.

In relation to passive and active audiences when they play GTA V and due to the theories then the passive audience would go out grab all of their torture tools, kidnap some and then they would torture them due to what they have seen and done in the game but the active audience wouldn't do this because they have more control and free will so they would think that it is okay to do it in the game but it is not right to do it outside of them game and in real life. The series has been banned in Brazil, and condemned in various countries, as well as by specific groups. MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), Common Sense Media, Freedom From Torture, and Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups have all taken issue with various elements of the games. Grand Theft Auto (or, more accurately, creators Rockstar Games) has been sued repeatedly for being responsible for inspiring teens to kill and holds the record for Most Controversial Video Game Series In History according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hypodermic Needle Effects Debate

The hypodermic needle effect theory is an audience theory that is based on the idea that mass media messages are injected directly into the brains of a passive audience due to passive audience being more easily manipulated than active audience. This suggests that the mass media has a powerful effect on the audience and they might be able in influence or control they actions due to them being a passive audience.

An example of a mass media hypodermic needle effect is the War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his broadcast of “War of the Worlds”—a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth. This caused a world wide panic after audiences tuned into the broadcast and they thought that it was a real news report and that the world has been invaded by aliens. But if this happened today hardly anyone would believe it and would think that it is a joke because we would be more aware. 


Also theorists believe that the hypodermic needle effect theory is now outdated because in the olden days there wasn't as many media sources for people to prove it wrong. Where as now we have the internet which is full of sources on all stretches of information. They also think this because given the progress of accessibility of information over that past years it has become significantly more easy to gain access to truthful accounts of an event or topic. This means that unlike in the past an audience will not have to take the statements given as fact and will refute these statements with their own information gathered from researching the topic through modern technologies such as the internet.

GTA

Zachary Burgess decided to steal a pickup truck, kidnap a woman and crashing into nine parked cars, all in an attempt to feel like a character in “Grand Theft Auto,” according to WDSU-TV.The real-life crime spree took place early Saturday morning in Baton Rouge, La., when Burgess, a lacrosse player at Auburn University, was in town to see his team take on Louisiana State University in football. Burgess, 20, was in the parking lot of a bar when the owner of a truck drove up and got out of the truck, leaving it running with a female passenger, Monique Jiarusso, inside. At that point, the suspect got in the vehicle and attempted to flee the parking lot with the woman, according to Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Don Coppola. “When he tried to flee the parking lot there were several cars blocking the way,” Cpl. Coppola told NBC33tv.com. “He began ramming into the parked cars.” Burgess quickly abandoned the car a few yards from the crime scene and a group of witnesses held him until officers arrived. The female passenger told police that Burgess “forcibly” held her captive in the truck, but she was able to jump out of the vehicle and get to safety, Coppola said. When officers questioned Burgess, they say he explained his rationale for the alleged theft, kidnapping and attempted hit-and-runs. “One of his statements was that, he wanted to see what it was to be a Grand Theft Auto individual, what it felt like,” said L’Jean McKneely with the Baton Rouge Police Department told KTRK-TV. “I guess to take a car and strike several vehicles at a high rate of speed.” Burgess was arrested and charged with theft of a motor vehicle, nine counts of hit and run and simple kidnapping, WWMT-TV reported. This is an example of Hypodermic Needle Effect Theory by someone being influenced by the video game GTA to steal a car, kidnap a women and do 9 hit and runs all because he wanted to feel like a character from GTA.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

The uses and gratifications theory suggests how media is incorporated into peoples lives. It looks into why people seek out specific media forms to fulfill their needs. There are 4 activities audiences are assumed to participate in, these are:Surveillance/Information, Personal Identity, Personal Relationships and Diversion. Also this theory was designed by Blumler and Katz in 1974. Also it is an active audience way of looking at why we play video games. So due to the research of Blumler and Katz in 1974 we can use this theory to look more at the mind set of a person and what they take in from video games instead of just what the video games tells you and we think about focusing on what we do with the media instead of what the media does to us. Also we need to remember that not all audiences are sponges and that some will actually filter the information and use it accordingly in their every day lives or try and create or do something new and different with their new information.

An example of the uses and gratification theory in video games is when a young teen shot his parents because they took the video game Halo 3 off him. In September 2007, Daniel, then 16, had sneaked out of his bedroom window to purchase the game at a store against his father's orders. When he returned home, his parents caught him with the game and took it from him. His father, Mark, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, put the game in a lockbox in a closet where he also kept a 9mm handgun, according to prosecutors. About a month later, on Oct. 20, 2007, Daniel used his father's key to open the lockbox and remove the gun and the game. The boy shot his parents, killing his mother and gravely wounding his father. As his father lay wounded, Daniel tried to place the gun in his father's hand. The 17 year old only started playing video games due to a snowboarding injury the year before which meant he couldn't live the house so he played video games while he was stuck inside. So the video games that he played became a big part off his life and part of his uses and gratification to keep him entertained. So due to being stuck at home and only playing video games he became more relied on his games. So when his video game was taking away from him he snapped and his aggression drove him to shoot his Dad and kill his Mam.

Audience Responses

The audience can respond to anything and everything in many different ways depending on if its bad or good but I am going to be talking about how the audience respond t video games. One example of a response that the audience to have towards video games is when they look forward to play their favorite video game especially after a long day at school/college or at work and they can come home relax and play what ever their favorite video game is either on their own or with there friends online. For example after I have had a long day at college working on my assignments I like to go home and play on Minecraft with my friends or play on Batman Arkham.

Another example of the audience responding to video games is when a new video game is released and they respond in a really good way and get really exited for the game and can't wait until it comes out. As soon as they see the trailer for the game they get so excited and that's all they will be able to talk about for that week and try to find out every last detail about the game just out off pure excitement. 

Another example is when they play a great game and they really enjoy they want to play as much as they can until  they complete but when they do they still want to play more so they will complete it again, get DLC for it, make their own fun in the game by making the own challenges or they might even try to recreate the game in real life in a fun way and make it feel like they are actually in the game. An example of this is done by Rooster Teeth and it is called immersion. They have done a lot of immersion videos about games in real life such as Fallout 4, five nights at Freddy's, Mario Kart and PacMan.

Audience and younger audience interpretation

The audience and consumer could interpret a video games in different ways like putting new information that they interpreted from the games that they played into their life for good to help them with certain things but they could also interpret and gain bad information that they might do in real life like committing crimes especially they are younger than the intended audience and that they aren't mature enough to understand the game. An example of this if a adult played GTA V hopefully they will understand that what you do in GTA V you can't do in real life but if a child that is under the age restriction plays GTA V they might not know that they shouldn't do what they do in real life and they could be copying a character from GTA V. 

A 14-year-old Idaho boy in Coeur d'Alene has reportedly confessed to authorities about a pre-planned murder of his family members after idolising a violent game character, Trevor, in Grand Theft Auto 5, according to a report on KXLY. Eldon Samuel III has been charged on two counts of adult first-degree murder in the deaths of his father, 46-year-old Eldon G Samuel, Jr, and his younger brother, 13-year-old Jonathan Samuel. According to the police, the boy was taken into custody after he called up 911 and confessed to the officers that he had shot his dad with a .45 calibre handgun, before killing his brother. Samuel alleged his father had opened fire outside their home while entering it and fought with him. He also alleged that his father pushed him twice in the scuffle, which enraged him to shoot his father thrice, twice on the face followed by another shot to his brain. The boy told the police that his father was still alive at the time and tried to crawl back into a room where his younger brother was hiding under a bed. Investigators later learnt that Samuel had shot his brother four times with a shotgun after the latter refused to come out of the room. After finding his brother still alive, an enraged Samuel picked up a large knife and stabbed him multiple times, before finishing him off with a machete (striking him repeatedly 30 times). Samuel later revealed to officers that he enjoyed playing as Trevor in GTA 5, which inspired him to emulate the violent character's actions in real life. Trevor is seen as a character with extreme anger issues and a tendency to pull the trigger or shoot at other characters in the game without notice. This is an example of a 14 year old that is under the age restriction played GTA V and copied his favorite character, that is Trevor from GTA V, and killed his Dad and Brother like Trevor would in GTA V.

Critical Approaches 4

Critical Approaches Assignment 4

The genre that I have chose to write about is Action Adventure. The main film that I will be looking at while talking about the action adventure film genre will be the Indiana Jones film series which I think is one of the best examples of an action adventure film. The first Indiana Jones that is called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and it was released in 1981 and it was directed by Steven Spielberg. The protagonist in Indiana Jones is called Indiana Jones and he is played by Harrison Ford and he is defiantly meant to play the role of Indiana Jones which is his second most know character that he plays. The first know character that he plays is Han Solo from Star Wars which is another classic and iconic action adventure film.

This is a trailer for all of the Indiana Jones movie that have been released which are Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost ark, Indiana Jones and the and the temple of doom, Indiana Jones and the last crusade and Indiana Jones the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 

Genre Characteristics

The genre characteristics for Action Adventure films are that the films main narrative in action adventure films are usually good verses evil ( protagonists verses antagonist ) and in by the end the protagonists triumph over the antagonist in most action adventure films.

The genre characteristics for the Indiana Jones films are mainly that Indiana Jones searches for a Treasure that has either been lost for a long time or that the antagonists has stolen it and he has to takes it and return the treasures. Another one is that Indy always has a companion that helps with him throughout the film and gets him into trouble usually by triggering a trap or being captured by the antagonist which he saves by the end. Also there is always a big fight scene between Indy and either the main antagonist or their henchmen which Indy always wins. Another one is that they travel to exotic and interesting places to find the treasure and fight the antagonists.

Codes and Conventions

The conventions for the Indiana Jones films are that they are set in big explore-able and exotic places, Antagonist and protagonist, Conflict, Big fight scene at the end, Cool vehicles, Fast paced, Loud sound effects and music, Violence, Explosions, Special Effects and Green Screen effects. 

The conventions for Indiana Jones are his hat that we wears in every movie and is one of the iconic things about Indiana Jones another iconic thing that Indiana Jones has in every movie is his whip that he uses to defeat some if the antagonists and to get over certain obstacles in his path that he needs to get past to get his treasure. Another convention for Indiana Jones is his clothes since they fit the character and they look like he has been on a lot of big adventures. Another convention for Indiana Jones is for being brave and adventurous by not backing down from any obstacle or challenge in his even if it could end in certain doom for him and his friends. 

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is a french phase that means 'placed in the scene' which is what is shown in frame in each scene. Mise-en-scene can be split up into 5 different areas and they are setting and props, lighting and colour, body language and facial expressions, costume and positioning of the characters and props in the frame.

Firstly the costume that Indiana Jones wears is a fedora, a leather jacket, safari shirt, trousers, satchel and Indy boots and all these parts of the costume create Indiana Jones iconic look that everyone knows. Also the costumes for all of the other characters have a similar look to them, in the sense that they all fit the concept for the films have have an adventurer and explorer look to them or have an evil and antagonist look to them.

 For example in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the main antagonist looks like an antagonist because he has a skull of an animal on his head, wears blood as face paint, wears a red and black costume which usually people think that they are evil when they wear them colours or have anything that are in red and black.


Secondly the setting and props in Indiana Jones are mainly set in exotic places where Indiana Jones looks for treasure, fights the antagonists or rescues the damsel in distress but sometimes they are set in places like Venice, Egypt and Berlin. 

Another iconic location that was used in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is  Al Khazneh in Petra.

Also the props used in Indiana Jones are mainly weapons, dead body parts and artifacts. The main weapons that are used Indy's whip and gun, guns that the antagonists use and swords which they mainly use for fight scenes but Indy also uses his whip as a tool to help him get across obstacles in his path or to save someone from falling off a cliff. They use dead boys parts like hearts, limbs and skeletons to show that there have been other adventurers that also tried to do the same challenges and obstacles but failed and when someone kills someone or they die. 


An example of this is in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Mola Ram rips out someone heart. 


Another example is in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark when they open the Ark one the main antagonists Major Arnold Tohts face melts off showing his skull with blood running down it.



Thirdly the lighting and colour in Indiana Jones are used to give the Indiana Jones films an old style adventure look to them by uses colour and the lights. Colour has certain effects for each different colour that all give a different meaning that helps to give each scene its own mood, look and feel. 
An example of this is the colour red that  represents evil, passion and danger, I have already said that the character Mola Ram wears red in his costume and on his head this suggests that he his the antagonist and he is dangerous which he is.



Another example is the colour black that represents power, fear and evil. The character Major Arnold Toht wears a black suit, black gloves, black shoes and a black hat. This suggests that he is evil, powerful and people fear him and he is powerful, evil and people do fear him.

Narrative Structure

The narrative Structure of Indiana Jones is a closed, single strand, anti-realist, linear narrative structure. This is all shown in the films for example in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark the film is on for 1 hour and 55 minutes from beginning to the end and the time in the film is compressed and it lasts for about 1 month from when Indiana Jones first gets the golden idol in the temple to Indy looking for the Lost Ark to when the Ark gets put into a warehouse which takes about a month to happen. Also there is a small collection of center characters which are Indiana Jones, Marion Ravenwood, Dr Rene Belloq, Sallah, Major Arnold Toht and Colonel Dietrich. The film is single strand because there is only one narrative that is being throughout the film and it is being told in order of when each event takes places and there is no flashbacks, flash forwards or anything like that. Also it is an anti-realist narrative because the narrative is not realistic for example at the end when they open the Ark ghosts or spirits come flying out of the Ark and kill everyone that looks at them and melts off the face of Major Arnold Toht.

Narrative Structure of a story has an order that it follows which is goes in order Exposition-Rising Action-Climax-Falling Action-Resolution. 

In Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark the Exposition when Indy goes to the Temple to get the golden Idol.

The Rising Action is when Indy is looking for the Ark and tries to find where it is.


The Climax is when the Antagonists tie up Indy and Marion, then open the Ark which kills everyone that looks at it when it opens. 
The Falling Action is after everyone dies, Indy and Marion get back.
The Resolution is the end scene when Indy is talking to Marion about where the Ark is then you see it getting put into a storage warehouse.

Critical Approaches 2

Magazine analyzing

I will be analyzing two different magazines for this assignment. The magazines that I will be analyzing will be TOXIC and PlayStation magazine.

TOXIC magazine is a magazine that I will analyse. The magazine is mainly contains content about movie, games, TV, jokes, comics, sports, cars, celebrity's, how-to's and competitions to win prizes. Also in each magazine there is different things like sweets and toys that come with the magazine.

The target audience for the TOXIC magazine is children aged 4-14 because they will find the magazine more entertaining than anyone that I over the age range. Also the main gender is boys because the magazine has a lot of things in that is aimed at boys such as video games, practical jokes and lots of sweets. The main interests of the target audience will most likely be playing video games, going out with their friends and watching kids TV shows. The target audience for this magazine won’t have much of a lifestyle because they are kids.

The toxic magazine is produced to appeal to their target audience by putting a lot of bright colours that stand out and captures the their attention such as bright green and blue on the front cover and also using these colours as the text colour inside the magazine. The images that they use appeal to the target audience because they use images from video games, toys and kids TV shows that would appeal to the target audience such as Disney Infinity, Harry Potter and Star Wars. Also images like these are used inside and on the covers of the magazines.

These are images of the TOXIC magazines. The one on the left is an image of the magazine still in the bag with all the free things that is comes with. The one on the right is an image of the front cover of a TOXIC magazine.

One of the codes and conventions of the TOXIC magazine is its colour scheme. The colour scheme of this magazine is mainly blue for the background and mainly red,black,white or yellow for the text colour. Also for the inside of the magazine pages the backgrounds are usually one big image that covers the whole page with text, other images and shapes that go on top of the background image. Also depending on what the background image is then that is what is shown on that page. For example if the background image is a image of Lego Marvel Avengers then there will be a lot  of other images and text that are about Lego Marvel Avengers. They do this in each magazine to appeal to their target audience which is usually children aged between 5-14. They do this because it makes it easier for their target audience to quickly know what each page is about so they know what they are reading .   

Another code and convention of the TOXIC magazine is the title of the magazine which is TOXIC and on every TOXIC magazine the title always has the same font, colour scheme size and it is usually at the top of the cover on the magazines. They do this to appeal to their target audience in each magazine. They do this because if they change their title then some of their target audience might get confused. Also it is easier and simpler to keep the exact same title on the cover instead of coming up with a different idea for each magazine.

Another code and convention of the TOXIC magazine is that there is always something to win on the cover. It is usually in a big bold font with a bright and eye catching colour scheme like red and green. They do this to appeal to their target audience in each magazine. They do this because this will get more of their target audience interested by making them think that they might be able to win some really cool prize if they buy this magazine.

Another code and convention of the TOXIC magazine is that there is always some things for free that come with the magazine, Some examples of what you can get with these magazines are sweets, some cheap toy like a water gun, and some cards from a card game like some football cards. They do this to appeal to their target audience in each magazine. They do this because this will get more of their target audience to buy it if there is something in that they might want and they think that they are getting free things with there magazine. For example of the child is collecting match attack cards then they think that they can get free match attack cards if they buy the TOXIC magazine.

PlayStation is another magazine that I am going to analyse that is mainly about PlayStation. So the magazine main content is about the games that are on the PlayStation console like the PS4 and PS3 mainly. 

The target audience for the PlayStation magazine is mainly teenagers that are gamer's and want to know more about what is happening in the gaming community. It is aimed at males more than females because there are more male gamer's than female so PlayStation aim more towards them. Also because the games that are talked about in the magazine are also aimed more towards males than females so that is another reason that the magazine is aim more towards males than females. It is also mainly aimed at teenagers because teenagers are the main age range for gamer's and they are the ones that play games more than any other age like people in there thirty's. 

The PlayStation magazine is produced to appeal to their target audience by putting images of new and good games on the front of the magazine which will gain the target audiences attention since there is a big image of something that they are interested on the front cover. For example on the front cover of their latest issue he image is of Ratchet and Clank because the Ratchet and Clank game in coming out soon and it will gain the target audience's attention since it has a PlayStation exclusive game on the front cover and it is also a great game franchise which will also get fans of the game series getting interested in the magazine.

This is an image of the latest issue which has an image No Man's Sky on the front cover. This image also shows the other things that are on the front cover such as a lot of text which tell the reader the other content in the magazine so they know what they can read about in the magazine. 

Also each magazine produces a lot of stories about different games which appeals to their target audience since it is a gaming magazine. They do a lot of different stories about different games because everyone has games that they like and want to more information about it but there will be games that they don't like so they won't want to read about them games. For example I like games like Sly and Ratchet and Clank so if I see stories about them games I will read them but if I see stories about games like Fifa and Call of Duty then I won't read them.

One of the codes and conventions of the PlayStation magazine is on each magazine there is always a main image of one game as the front cover. The game the is on the front will have more than one page, usually about 4 or 6 since it is on the front cover and it is the main game they are wanting people to read about in the magazine. They do this to appeal to their target audience in each magazine. They do this because they want people to know more about the game on the front cover and the want to raise its awareness by putting it on the front cover so that more people will know about.

Another code and convention of the PlayStation magazine is in each magazine they have a welcome page as the second page of the magazine and you can see it as soon as you open it. The welcome page gives you an introduction to the magazine and it shows some of the writers and editors and they give there opinion on some games. They do this to appeal to their target audience in each magazine. They do this because it gives new reader an insight to the magazine and it also lets the writers and editors there chance to give their opinions.

Magazine producers have go through a lot of feedback from different ways like focus groups, testing, reviews and complaints but they can use these to improve their product due to the feedback. They will have took lot through a lot of different feedback's but some could be the same and if people keep sending in feedback about the same thing then it could be good or bad depending on what the feedback is about. But if it is bad and a lot of people have the same issue then they can use that feedback to improve or solve the issue that people are having which is good.

An example of this is complaints which is also the main type of feedback that is bad. When people file a complaint and it is about something bad like an issue with the magazine then it goes straight to the magazine produces because then they can read the complaints and try to resolve the issues which could improve the magazine.

The demographics