how typical are your chosen texts of their genre?

Social realism is the key genre represented in the film Fish tank. The Social realism genre aims to present the closest image of reality as possible to the audience, it contains generic conventions that audiences would expect and fain gratification from. Some conventions of social realism are the use of urban locations, unknown actors and working class characters. These conventions can be found in the opening scene of the film where Mia played by Katie Jarvis confronts her friend over the phone, her friends dad after she throws stones at his window, and a group of teenage girls when she criticises their dancing. Firstly Katie Jarvis has never acted before and was picked for the role of Mia when she was seen arguing at a train station- in the film she plays a character similar to herself which makes her acting and emotions more believable. Whilst she is looking out of the flat window the audience are able to see the location of where Mia is- as there are high rise blocks of flats all around her, also the diegetic sound of traffic shows that it is set in an urban area, which is typical of the social realism genre, this links to the class as it is filmed in Tilbury which is a deprived area of London and known for its high crime rate and anti social behaviour. Other ways in which the audience can see her class is through the clothes in which the characters are wearing, Mia is wearing a tracksuit and trainers and the other girls in the scene are wearing cheap-looking clothes. The language which Mia uses also reflects her social class as she has a common accent and she swears at least 5 times in the opening scene e.g. she leaves a voicemail on her friends phone saying "ring me back you bitch".

Even though Fish tank is of the Social realist genre, the genre can not be called typical as it adapts to social change in different films. An example of this is in the film "A taste of Honey" which was made in the 1960s. In Fish tank there is a sex scene between Mia and Connor where the audience can actually see the two having sex, in todays society this is much more accepted even though it may make the audience feel uncomfortable, however in A taste of Honey this is not seen at all and the audience only see the scene before and after, as this was not ever seen on screen in the 60s

Discuss the audience appeal of your three main texts

Madmen is a critically acclaimed drama shown on Sky Atlantic at 10pm, and is produced by AMC. By broadcasting the programme on this subscription channel this already limits the audience, as not everybody is able to watch it. However Madmen is the first cable show to take home an Emmy for outstanding drama series three years in a row, which proves how even though it will never have a mass appeal it is very popular. Madmen does not spell everything out for its audience and there are often hidden issues with in the storyline, this means the audience has to take an active role when watching, and critics have described the episode "The other women" as a 'top-notch episode full of closed-door talks and identity politics'. Madmen is character driven and in this episode there is a very strong representation of each character- especially in the scene where Don visits Joan at home to talk her out of spending a night with the Jaguar boss to gain a higher position in the advertising company and to win the contract for them. This scene is sophisticated as it is constructed as a non-linear sequence and it shows the same scene from two different points of view, firstly it shows Don visiting Joan and then the flashback of his pitch to Jaguar, after this it flashes back to Joan spending the night with the boss of Jaguar but then returns to the scene where Don visits Joan but from her point of view, this adds to the sophistication as you seeing the same situation from two different perspectives, this is entertaining for the audience because this has never previously happened in any season of madmen. The target audience for Madmen is middle class 25-50 year olds who like getting cultural or aesthetic enjoyment from television programmes.
 In comparison Lost is more mainstream than Madmen and targets the widest demographic possible, by having an ensemble multinational cast it makes it easier for the audience to personally relate to at least one character, also the cast is made up of different ages so the age of the audience can range from 12-40 years old. Another way in which Lost appeals to its audience is through its hybrid genre of action, fantasy and science fiction- these are all popular genres and by combining them it targets a wider audience. The title sequence establishes the genre, and positions the audience- the scene is of Jack, Kate and Charlie walking through the jungle and Charlie says "before the pilot was ripped from the cockpit he said nobody is going to find us unless the transceiver works" along with misty writing, and the creepy music the audience can still be passive as this gives as much information to them as possible and even if the audience has not watched the previous episode, the scene then flashes back to the plane crash- this is constructed in a non-linear way to reveal more about the character and whats happened, and by showing the crash it highlights the action genre, it does this again in the episode when it shows Kate in the plane- and the audience see the plane crash from a different perspective. Lost appeals to its audience also through the use of a neutral location within the narrative, this creates escapism as it is in an exotic location, it also creates an enigma as they are so isolated. The use of enigmas guides the audience through the use of music, and camera shots, enigmas also keep the audience interested- one scene where this has been successful is when the group go on a walk to get more signal on the transceiver and they run in to a polar bear which Sawyer then shoots- the disequilibrium is set up using a long camera shot to show how lost and alone they are, a low drone plays which indicates danger, also the pace of music increases as the polar bear gets nearer and the camera movement goes shaky and it ends with a black screen. Shallow focus is used to block out the mise-en-scene and just show the characters facial expressions and this highlights also that all the characters are facing the same direction- the enigma continues once the polar bear has been shot as we do not fully see an image of the polar bear but instead get told by Kate what the animal is.
 Louis Theroux: Americas most hated family in crisis, is much different to Lost and Madmen firstly because it is shown on a terrestrial channel and also because it is a documentary. It is shown on BBC 2- a channel which has to entertain, inform and educate through the programmes it shows- by including all three uses and gratifications it appeals to a wider audience as it offers more to them. One example of the way it entertains the audience is in the opening scene of the show, the scene shows the Westboro baptist church picketing outside a college, long shots are used to show the location, the amount of people and the offensive signs which they are using which adds to the shocking factor- however Louis Theroux style of journalism softens the situation as he says "is it possible you've become more weird?" which mocks the church and makes them out to be a joke. This scene is also constructed to inform the audience as it shows the last time Theroux visited the church. Audiences are intrigued by the extremist views of the Westboro baptist church, the BBC represents this through interviews with the children where an 11 year old boy is holding a "God hates you sign" and also the viewers see a video the church made against Jewish people which included the swastika symbol, implying that they may be pro nazi.

Explore the impact of digital technologies on your selected industry.

The music industry has developed overtime to integrate into the ever changing modern society. This has helped artists to promote, market, and sell their products by interacting with fans, offering their music instantly and allowing anybody around the world to listen to them.
 Lady Gaga is a prime example of how digital technology has boosted her career by making her more well known and also it helps keep the millions of fans she already has. Lady Gaga is the worlds 2nd most followed person on twitter with 33610937 followers who read and respond to her tweets and are interested in every way- Lady Gaga, unlike many celebrities replies to her fans and calls them her 'little monsters' this gives the fans gratification because they are inspired by her and by speaking to her they gain social interaction. Through social media the fans are able to find out every detail about Lady Gaga's life and the type of person she is, Parasocial interaction has been created here, even though she knows nothing about her fans she often thanks them and reminds them that they are the reason she has achieved so much- this can only make her fans love her more.  Lady Gaga was recently interviewed by google, one of the most influential search engines in the world, and she has been named as one of the most searched artists ever this shows her popularity and how the internet enables people to find out who she is- increasing the number of fans she has through free publicity.
 Itunes, Youtube and Spotify have all worked to Lady Gaga's advantage allowing people to download and listen to her music instantly through the internet. Over 3 and a half days she was asked 54000 question via her Youtube channel also giving her fans social gratification as they are able to find out more about their favourite artist whilst listening to her music. Since 'The fame' was released in 2008 it has sold 12 million copies world wide consisting of mp3 downloads and WAV download.
  Similarly Radiohead have been more successful as a result of digital technology. When releasing 'The king of limbs' they promoted via the bands website as the band had no record label and self-released the album making digital technology such as the internet even more important. On the 14th february 2011 the band announced the release of the new album, the 19th february on the website. However the promotional video 'lotus flower' and the album were released a day earlier- a decision made by the band themselves. On the 18th the only available copy of the album was a MP3 download or a WAV priced at just £6 from their website as a result of this the internet(digital technology) was the most important factor when selling this album. Radiohead were not able to sell this through itunes etc as the price was too low, however it did have a set price unlike their previous album which was available at what the customer wanted to pay for it. Later the physical edition of the album was released through the bands TickerTape imprint on XL, showing that the internet was not the only fact contributing the success of 'The king of limbs' and a small record label like XL was useful and was able to distribute the physical edition well and on the 9th of May 2011 a wider digital release 'newspaper edition' was released via AWAL.
  However unlike Lady Gaga and Radiohead, Nirvana was unable to access as much digital technology. As their album 'Nevermind' was released in 1991 the internet wasnt common and very few were able to access it, but satellite channels were available and instead of promoting through social networking sites, or youtube they performed on channels such as MTV and their music videos were shown around the world. Aswell as satellite channels they always appeared on programmes such as top of the pops and The Jonathan Ross show. Even though the band are no longer together they still promote their music through social networking sites and by using Youtube and Spotify etc. they are able to gain new fans as a new generation can listen to their old music, 'Nevermind' is available to download instantly. This may have contributed to the fact they have now sold 30 million copies. On the 20th anniversary of the album they repackaged the album and marketed it as a special anniversary copy through social media, satellite channels and by replaying music videos.