Critical Investigation tasks

1. Analyse the programs that you will research for your critical investigation. 'Road Wars' and 'Police Camera Action'

2. Reword your working title

3. Put up the rest of your critical investigation from your home computer on to your blog.

Notes and Quotes

“The representation of the police over time can be viewed as the gradual erosion of respect and authority”  - MediaMagazine - 

This quote can be argued to be true because time and time again we see the police involved in controversy which does lead to the gradual erosion of respect and authority for the police. The representation of the police by the media over the last 20 years has been consistently negative. Even when the Manchester police force lost two working officers on the job, the news media still found a way to critique them on the way their jobs where being done and why, for example, the police are unarmed which led to various debates online. However, this negative representation is not consistent within all forms of the media. Relating directly to my critical investigation.

However, by de-constructing the mis-en-scene of programs such as ‘Road Wars’ and ‘crimewatch’ as I have done as part of my case study, the codes and conventions used in this program create something that is completely contradictory of this quotation. These programs are attempting to re-establish clearly attempting to show the police as a powerful force which demands respect however this is not the case in reality as my linked production piece will find out.

"With the Stephen Lawrence case in 1993, the reputation of the police fell to an all-time low" - www.britsoccrim.org/volume5/003.pdf

The inquiry into why Lawrence’s murder was not properly investigated and why his killers weren’t prosecuted made headline news throughout the 1990s, culminating with the Macpherson Report of 1999, which found that the Metropolitan Police was a racist organisation, suffering from institutional racism. It was not just in the UK either that the reputation of the police was sinking: the footage of LA police attacking motorist Rodney King led to the LA riots and had a similar effect on the reputation of the police in the States.

After the reputation of the police had fallen to a all time low, programs such as 'Road Wars' and 'Traffic Cops' began making their way to our screens to attempt to change the hegemonic ideologies that had been created during the Miners strike. Due to the clashes between the 'normal' working class minors and the police, the public had created a us verses 'The Other' scenario and suddenly, the Police because the enemy. This is why during programs such as 'Road Wars' we are often forced to become a police officer and become part of their gang which inevitably leads to the audience supporting the police force in attempting to eradicate criminals. This can be supported by the repetitive use of words such as 'Us' and 'We' which connotes group work, togetherness and safety. Central to the genre of reality police shows is the relationship between the police and the  media. The use of hand-held cameras and the absence of a voice-over in the media ridealong gives an impression of the "real". However '[M]asquerading as reality, these selected 

sequences drawn from the immediacy of live events form nothing more than stories' 

"Fetveit (1999) notes that the reality television show relies on three types of visual evidence, 'authentic footage from camera crews observing arrests or rescue operations; footage from surveillance videos and recordings  (often by amateurs) of dramatic accidents and dangerous situations'. The reality police show is predominantly shot using camera crews and surveillance videos." - www.britsoccrim.org/volume5/003.pdf

The programs that I am basing my critical investigation on follow Fetviet's findings. These programs follow a  expository documentary style. This can be seen by the use of hand held camera and the lack of a voice over. Also, these programs are in fact real life footage gathered from either amateur recordings and footage shot using camera crews. This text also features some narrative theory is the form of Todorov. Chase and arrest are edited to produce an exhilarating experience for the viewer. The journey begins and ends in the patrol car with the officers, a neat circular frame on which the action can be hung. This neat circular frame can be an example of narrative theory because when the camera is in the patrol car with the officers, the audience are made to feel safe and secure but also part of the team due to the direct mode of address. (Blumler and Katz).

"At the same time, the public widely perceived they had lost the presence of the community policeman on the beat." - http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC42folder/UKpoliceShows.html

This quote links in well with my linked production. Programs such as 'Road Wars' and 'Police, Camera, Action!' has sensationalised the police so much that they have made the audience feel as if they are always chasing criminals in car chases and flying around in helicopters rather than just patrolling the local community. This links in well with my linked production because I intend to show a non sensationalist view of the work of a police man in the form of a fly-on-the-wall documentary style. This quote also links into the first quote because by the public perceiving a lack of presence in the local community, 'police over time can be viewed as the gradual erosion of respect and authority'.

"Power in this new type of society, has drained deeply into the gestures, actions, discourses and practical knowledge of everyday lives." Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. (London: Penguin, 1991)

This programs can be related to Althusser Ideological state apparatus [1] because they use these texts as a form of suppressing a revolution. This can be seen by the themes and narrative of the text. In short, 'all the texts seem to display criminals that always take a wrong turn into a dead alleyway' meaning that they always seem to get caught strengthening the idea that a revolution will fail.



[1] Althusser, Louis. "“Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)”(1970)." Cultural Theory: An Anthology (2010): 204.
By using these programs to control the ideology of audience, this in turn has 'has drained deeply into the gestures, actions, discourses and practical knowledge of everyday lives' because we take into consideration of the high level of competence of the police and therefore choose to continue to live using a capitalist system because we are scared to revolt. However, before making this argument  we must first consider how much these types of programs have an affect on the behaviour of audiences. As Palmer puts it 'These programs are about constructing a new citizenship through fear.'



"Given that most people rarely encounter the police in crime-related incidents and that only 40% have any contact with the police in a twelve-month period, exciting technologically-driven television programs about the police cannot help but inform people's perception of law enforcement agents as controllers rather than carers." - M. Stephens and S. Becker, "The Matrix of Care and Control," Police Force/Police Service, p. 224.

These statistics are interesting from a media perspective because although this is a documentary style programs, they clearly lacks social realism because they are unrepresentative of what happens in reality. "harnessed both to the needs of policing and the journalistic value of offering verisimilitude to the audience."Despite the fact only '40%' have no contact with the police in a twelve month period, programs such as 'Road Wars' and 'Police, Camera, Action' depict a police force that seem to be everywhere, arresting everyone and controlling the streets when in reality they are carers instead of controllers of the streets. 

[2] Schlesinger, Philip and Tumber, Howard, Reporting Crime: The Media Politics of Criminal Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 252.

Colonialism and Post-Colonialism

Research

• Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the dominant country claims sovereignty over the colony, and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by colonizers from the dominating country. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships between the dominating country and the colony and between the colonists and the indigenous population.

• Post-colonial studies entail the critical destabilization of the intellectual and linguistic, social and economic theories that support the Western ways of thinking of perceiving, understanding, and knowing the world

• Post-colonial theory addresses the matters of post-colonial identity gender, race, and racism, and their interactions in the development of a post-colonial society, and of a post-colonial national identity; of how a colonised people’s cultural knowledge was used against them, in service of the coloniser’s interests between the powerful and the powerless.

• Post colonial theorist Edward Said did he research on the middle east and the west and created the term Orientalism which means them vs us.

Year 13 Critical Investigation Proposal **UPDATED 08/11/12**

Working title

Why is the representation of the Police on television programmes such as 'Road Wars' and 'Police, Camera, Action!' over sensationalised?

Angle 

The police are often seen by the public as over exercising their powers. However this is not the way that they are represented through the majority of media focusing mainly on moving image but also looking at e-media and referring to books.

Hypothesis

The Police shown by the media is very different to how they are in reality.

Linked production piece

Documentary about a school community police officer that aims to give a realist, non-sensationalist representation.

MIGRAIN

Who is being represented?

·         Police/Criminals

In what way?

·         Police being represented naturally e.g behind the scenes

      Criminals represented as scum

By whom?

·         Sky, BBC, ITV other digital/satellite programs

Why is the subject being represented in this way? (U+G)

·         To make viewers feels safe

·         To show police as strong and accurate

·         To make criminals fear the law by watching examples

·         To show taxpayers money is not being wasted.

Is the representation fair and accurate?

·         No such thing as fair representation. 

·          Not all criminals are scum. Does not include white collar crime.

·        Not all police are fair http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HECMVdl-9SQ

 What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject?

·         

       As a young black male, perhaps I could challenge the stereotypes associated with that group. (Perkins)

Audience 

15-45 Both Genders Strugglers, Explorers, Aspirers and Reformers A, B, C1, C2, D E Mainly last 3

Narrative/Genre

Documentary style program? News broadcast? Opening to film? Trailer?

SHEP

Society:

• Are police doing their jobs?
• Are police working hard enough?
• Are young people victims of the system
• Computers and handheld devices allow police injustices to be filmed

Historical

• Policing has changed since the 50's and 60's in terms of approach to crime
• As early as 1962, police have been shown in the media for entertainment purposes in the program 'Police 5' and also 'JP5'
• Metropolitan police formed in 1829. Largest police force in Britain

Economic

• Marxists argue that the police are the 'armed bodies of men' protecting the capitalist system and therefore the economy.
• These programs are used to control the working class into being subordinate to the system using and therefore protecting the economy. e.g subliminal messaging.

Political

• These programs sensationalise the police and their work making them look like they are hard-working.
• Police support the government in law making by ensuring that these laws are followed.
• Criminals and threats to the government are taken care of the by the police.

Reality TV 

The programs that I am researching are all non-fiction and therefore could come under the Reality TV Genre. This is sometimes also known as "infotainment" as it combines entertainment and useful information. These police programs follow officers during their ‘day to day’ life and therefore could arguably be an expository documentary due to the shared codes and conventions.

Moral Panics

Programs like Crime Watch could arguably be attempting to incite a moral panic by showing reconstructions of criminals in actions, this could lead the Media to sensationalise the situation and blow it out of proportion following the steps of the Modz vs Rockers in the 50’s as found by Cohen in his book, Folk Devils and Moral Panics. The question could be raised regarding why exactly these programs are broadcast in the first place?

Representations and Stereotyping

In all factual entertainment programs based on police, the representations throughout are the same. Firstly, The Police an institution are made to look indestructible, powerful and strong connoting a threat to criminals. This could be a complete contradiction of how they are in real life as my proposed production piece will hope to find. Criminals are demonised by these programs. For example, in crime watch, the crimes shown are often of murders and robberies, however these crimes make up a small proportion of actual crimes reported to the police in the first place. Also, criminals are made to look derogatory in comparison to the police.

Theories

·        Uses and Gratifications audiences’ theory can be easily linked to this program as these programs hope to inform and educate the audience who can then interact with others and do the same.

·        Perkins theory of Stereotypes can be linked due to the portrayal of social actors within these programs and how they are portrayed in comparison to their true counterparts.

·        Binary opposition by Levi Strauss can be linked as the program is based around two opposites of the social spectrum, the police vs the criminals.  

Analysis of 'Road Wars' and 'Traffic, Camera, Action!'

-          The use of the non-diegetic  sound such as sirens and action style music connotes entertainment and creates Engima codes within the text.
-          The significance of this connotation is that it keeps that audience attracted to the program because they are interested in finding out what is going to happen.
-          There are a range of non verbal symbols in the text. The main symbol is the police uniform that is worn by the Police. This uniform symbolises strength, power, safety and unity and is easily recognisable.

-          The facial expressions used within this text mainly smiles and showing a different (real/unreal) representation that we as the public are not used to seeing.-          The soundtrack of this text is important and is usually the same between other police factual programs. The soundtrack is often high tempo and is composed around a siren which is symbiotically a symbol representing the police on an international scale.-          These programs also have a running commentary throughout the program which is used to explain situations from the point of view of the police.-          This text is reminiscent of the expository documentary style due to the styles and conventions shared. Also the use of the hand held camera is used to add a sense of realism to the text which therefore adds a thrill unattainable whilst watching fiction programs.-          The main colours associated with this text are blue red yellow and black, all colours that are easily relatable to the police. These colours often connote danger and emergency which makes this text more action packed. -          The narrative is structured very easily and is almost identical to the theory of narrative by the theorist Todorov.-          First there is an equilibrium which is maintained by the patrol of the police. There is then a disturbance often associated with a criminal which throws the narrative into disequilibrium and the criminal is then dealt with swiftly by the police restoring equilibrium.-          The audience is positioned behind the police. This could be a subliminal message reminding the audience that they are being protected by the police and that they are on the front line of crime.-          The way that heroes and villains are created can be linked back to Propps theory of characters. The heroes are created by Analysis of ‘Road Wars’-          The use of the non-diegetic  sound such as sirens and action style music connotes entertainment and creates Engima codes within the text.
-          The significance of this connotation is that it keeps that audience attracted to the program because they are interested in finding out what is going to happen.
-          There are a range of non verbal symbols in the text. The main symbol is the police uniform that is worn by the Police. This uniform symbolises strength, power, safety and unity and is easily recognisable.
-          The facial expressions used within this text mainly smiles and showing a different (real/unreal) representation that we as the public are not used to seeing.
-          The soundtrack of this text is important and is usually the same between other police factual programs. The soundtrack is often high tempo and is composed around a siren which is symbiotically a symbol representing the police on an international scale.
-          These programs also have a running commentary throughout the program which is used to explain situations from the point of view of the police.
-          This text is reminiscent of the expository documentary style due to the styles and conventions shared. Also the use of the hand held camera is used to add a sense of realism to the text which therefore adds a thrill unattainable whilst watching fiction programs.
-          The main colours associated with this text are blue red yellow and black, all colours that are easily relatable to the police. These colours often connote danger and emergency which makes this text more action packed.]
 -          The narrative is structured very easily and is almost identical to the theory of narrative by the theorist Todorov.
-          First there is an equilibrium which is maintained by the patrol of the police. There is then a disturbance often associated with a criminal which throws the narrative into disequilibrium and the criminal is then dealt with swiftly by the police restoring equilibrium.
-          The audience is positioned behind the police. This could be a subliminal message reminding the audience that they are being protected by the police and that they are on the front line of crime.
-          The way that heroes and villains are created can be linked back to Propps theory of characters. The heroes are created by allowing them to have  personality and speak there side of the story whilst the villans are created by labelling theory and sterotypes as suggested by Perkins
-          Identication is employed via the use of jokes and ideologies that are portrayed by the police (real/unreal)
-          This program belongs to the documentary/reality tv genre. It is a hybrid genre because the codes and conventions of both can be found easily within this text.

Links

http://www.police.uk/

http://content.met.police.uk/Home

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/22/police-chief-quits-apply-job
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDPx12IwglA

Books

Crime, Justice and the Media

 By Ian Marsh, Gaynor Melville, Gaynor Melvill

Police: Streetcorner Politicians

 By William K. Muir

Police + Criminal Justice Coursemate With Ebook Printed Access Card

 By John S. Dempsey, Linda S. Fors

Possible Critical Investigations

Production

Print Media -3 page interview with a female soap actor for magazine article for OK! magazine.

Critical Investigation

The representation of ethnic minority females in British Soaps

------------------------------------

Production

Viral advertising campaign using print and website

Critical Investigation

Whether or not print media is still a viable option when creating a viral marketing campaign

------------------------------------

Production

Tabloid newspaper front page and two page spread on the child decline in child safety in Britain.

Critical Investigation

Has our passion to keep children safe declined in Britain?

Rising cost of Premier League TV rights 'could have knock-on effect'

Summary

Due to competition from other broadcasting companies such as BT, the rising cost of premier league TV rights could create a knock on effect for other sports. The emergence of BT as a serious challenger for premier league rights has created a 7.1% increase in the value, adding up to almost £3bn. A sport that will be heavily affected is Rugby. BT has won the rights to broadcast Premiership rugby in the UK- a big loss for Sky Sports.  Under the new deal, Sky will pay £2.3bn to broadcast 116 live matches. BT will pay £736m for just 38 matches, however these are the bigger more attractive games.

My Opinion

There is clearly a problem arising. If I am a Sky Customer and I want to watch a premier league game that is being broadcast on a BT channel- do I need two subscriptions  This new deal leaves the common consumer in a sticky situation because in these harsh economic times, it is hard to pay for two subscriptions. As a sky customer, I am slightly disgruntled by having to make these decisions when I think that Sky could have worked harder and pay more to secure the rights to broadcast all games. This could create a serious issue because for those not bothered to pay for two subscriptions, It is almost easier to watch it on-line illegally leading to fall in revenue.

Evaluation

The presentation went well in my opinion. this is because I did not stuntter when presenting however, they are many things are could have done to improve and this has been reflected in my leaner respeonse. I could have presented better and should have watched the death by powerpoint presentation to make my presentation better.

Learner Response

Who are the screen writers for the Inbetweeners movie?

Ian Morris

Iain Morris (born 6 August 1973) is an English writer. Morris is best known for creating The Inbetweeners and co-hosting a show on London radio station XFM with stand-up Jimmy Carr.

Damon Beesley

Damon Beesley (born 1971) is an English writer and television producer, best known for his work on British comedy The Inbetweeners and New Zealand comedy Flight of the Conchords. He often works alongside his writing partner Iain Morris.

Filmography

• The Pilot Show (2004) (Producer)
• Flight of the Conchords (2007–2009) (Writer)
• The Inbetweeners (2008–2010) (Producer; writer; creator)

Awards

• 2008 Writers Guild of America Award Nomination, Comedy Series (Flight of the Conchords)
• 2008 Writers Guild of America Award Nomination, New Series (Flight of the Conchords) 
• 2008 British Comedy Award Win, Best New TV Comedy (The Inbetweeners)

Example of Language from film

Clips from Youtube can show the language used and why American viewers may struggle to relate to film and the language used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtqKbfjqYG4

WWW & EBI

What Went Well..

Includes researched quote
Interaction with audience
some theory
reference to daily mail (examples)
fluent presentation
confident
institutional info details
explains reasons why film didn't succeed in USA

Even better if...

Don't read from slides or use full sentences
analyse poster in more detail
lacks examples
more info who are the screen writers
More stills from film (analyse mise en scene)
stronger conclusion

Feedback

Signficance: 2
Structure: 2
Significance: 3
Rehearsal: 2

1. failed at US box office
2. Daly mail generated moral panic linked to film

Keywords:

Episodic
Coming-of-Age
Non diagetic
Moral Panic
Todorov
Equilibrium
Hybrid

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ASng6BGdpatc22K4CSRoXWNsLomgxqhWxrJUja4CXho/edit

Summer Project Notes: The Inbetweeners

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2201680/The-Inbetweeners-creator-blames-language-barrier-films-poor-U-S-box-office-performance.html

•           The Inbetweeners Movie (known as The Inbetweeners in North America) is a 2011 British coming-of-age comedy film based on the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, written by series creatorsDamon Beesley and Iain Morris and directed by Ben Palmer. The film follows the misadventures of a group of teenage friends on holiday in Crete after the end of their final year at school together, and currently serves as an ending to the TV series. It stars Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison. The film was released on August 19, 2011 in the UK and will see a US release on September 7, 2012

•           On its first day of release, The Inbetweeners Movie grossed over £2.5 million in 409 cinemas, outperforming Cowboys & Aliens. The film then went on to set a new record for the most successful opening weekend ever achieved by a comedy film in the UK, overtaking Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and The Hangover Part II after earning £13,200,000. It retained its number 1 position in the UK film charts for 4 weeks, finally being overtaken by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on 16 September 2011. As of November 20, 2011, the film's total box office gross is £45,028,695, which equates to $71,510,070.

•           The Inbetweeners Movie has received generally positive reviews, holding a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ian Freer of Empire Magazine gave the film four stars out of five, observing that "Like any holiday, it is episodic and suffers from repetition but this is gag-for-gag the funniest film of the summer and a fitting end to a much-loved series." Steve Rose of The Guardian gave the film three stars out of five, giving particular praise to Simon Bird's performance and arguing that the film "updates the teen summer holiday formula surprisingly entertainingly, considering it doesn't subvert it one iota and the formula was already done previously with Holiday on the Buses and Kevin & Perry Go Large among others." Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph also gave a positive assessment of the film, praising it as "an enormous hit, a Mamma Mia! for the Hangover demographic." Screen Daily, on the other hand, gave a mixed review, praising the performances of the main cast and proclaiming the film "Britain’s delayed riposte to American Pie," yet simultaneously arguing that it "can’t quite shake off its TV roots, and plot-wise, this is nothing the Greek tourist board would want to advertise." In contrast, Margaret Pomeranz from At the Movies called the characters "gormless" and said, "I’m giving this one star really generously".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079699/Binge-drinking-teenage-girls-likely-hospitalised-boys.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047430/Carnage-UK-pub-crawl-Nympho-Nurses-Dirty-Doctors-wild-Cardiff.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080921/999-calls-treble-New-Year-revellers-2012-old-trouble.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092770/Video-student-dancing-naked-nightclub-paddling-pool-goes-viral-internet.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076155/Carnage-revisited-Ambulance-teams-brace-drunken-chaos-Mad-Friday-2.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2024634/Worried-teens-holiday-You-says-18-year-old-astounded-saw-post-exam-break.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/22/inbetweeners-movie-sequel

http://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2011/08/the-inbetweeners-film-is-glorifying-the-drunken-antics-of-britons-abroad.html
http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/the-inbetweeners-movie-sequel-confirmed-by-shows/281101

Article on how Inbetweeners gloryfies

Narrative 
· How is the narrative organised and structured?
One of the main characters, Will is the main narrator of the film. the film follows Todorov's equilbirium, disequilbirium, equilibrium strcuture. The narrative is clever because although the ideas portrayed within the film could be argued as being working class, the language used in the narration could arguably be seen as middlelass
· How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
The audience is positioned as if the story is being retolled sometime in the future. This allows situtation which would be seen as unfunny in the present time to be regarded as hilarious.


· How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
The main story surrounds how one of the main characters, Simon is attempting to get over is ex girlfriend and we see this from a very personal perspective. Therefore, anyone who attempts to see himself as Carlys next boyfriend can be seen as being the villan.
· What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
Because the main characters are all teenagers, the ideas and thought process that the characters go through can be directly assoicated with other teenagers and therefore fufills Katz & Blumler uses and gratifications theory.
· What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?
The music used within this text connotes a party lifestyle. The main colours used are bright warm colours which connote heat and summer, a theme which this text promotes successfully
· What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?
The main themes involved include sex, drinking and relationships. This can be observed from the very beginning when SImon breaks up with his girl friend.

Genre 
· To which genre does the text belong?
This text belongs to the comedy genre
· What are the major generic conventions within the text?
there are many conventions within this text. Firstly, the comedy convention which is repeated throughout this text.
· What are the major iconographic features of the text?
The holiday movie is a iconic feature. Other famous holiday films includes Mr bean on holiday
· What are the major generic themes?
sex relationships, coming of age
To what extent are the characters generically determined?
they aim to represent a a stereotype of teenagers which conotes sex relationships drunk and irresponsible