Storyboard

How and why do media institutes profile audience

For an institution to make profits, it is important that they are targeting the right people- therefore institutions tend to segment the market and focus on fulfilling the needs of  more niche groups of people. The music industry in particular focus on this segmentation, in order to market to their correct potential listeners.

One way that an institution may segment a market is through creating assumptions based demographics, focusing on a person's socioeconomic position in society. This way of marketing can be effective in certain markets- for example, more high end media institutions may look at marketing towards a wealthier and more socioeconomically established group of consumers. The technique is easily measurable and can portray the links between disposable income and consumerism. However, especially in 2017, where most media is accessible by anyone, this structure can be deemed unhelpful, as it doesn't take into account the complexity of people's lifestyles. It also misses out a large chunk of consumers- people who aren't in full time employment for various reasons. Possibly one of the most predominate group of people would be teenagers and kids when looking at media consumers- these aren't accounted for in a socioeconomic demographic measurement. It limits the understanding of individuals whilst also making very broad assumptions.

Media institutions also tend to look at tribe or subculture models. In the past 50 years, youth subcultures have proliferated massively- this sees a whole group of people ranging from 55+ to below 16 who all have the large variety of cultures to associate with. Therefore the use of tribe models is very useful as most people have some sort of associations with said groups. Media is responsible for the development of these subcultures and some medias have strong links to cultures, where usually they become lifestyle signifiers. For example, music plays a massive role in cultural identity. With the punk subculture, music is responsible for the whole movement itself essentially. This model also allows for much more in depth segmentation of a market as it using these links in order to create these different segments. However it stills stereotypes people and doesn't allow us to specifically target individual demands that efficiently.

The use of lifestyle profiling is more efficient at doing this. Using YouGov's survey system, we are able to link together individual tastes surrounding specific products and the average person's similar likes. This allows us to take into account a more specific taste of media. Whilst subculture models allows us to take into account the stereotypical tastes of subculture groups, it doesn't allow us to visualise the complexity of individuals and their, not necessarily, labelled tastes. It also allows us to link together similar individuals who might have similar interests, and thus be interested in your media. However this method can sometimes prove ineffective- the survey system isn't necessarily always reliable as people don't follow average trends. Each individual has their own complex tastes that don't link to the average person's likes. It is also unreliable as some interests shown aren't actually an interest and more of something that may come up out of a person's lifestyle- for example, when looking at Peppa Pig, the average consumer was a 55 year old woman. This suggests abnormalities in the data and could be a hindrance when gathering data for segmentation in this way.

Young and Rubicam came up with a way of segmenting consumers- they suggested that consumers were split into 4 categories; mainstreamers; aspirers; succeeders and reformers. Although it takes a more in depth look at lifestyle rather than income, it still has a very vague category for people. People with completely different tastes may fall into the same category. Or with the proliferation in identity exploration, people may fall in different categories or may be in more than one.

Media Language Analysis

Discuss how narrative structure is used in 'Choreograph' by Gilligan Moss

The music video for ‘choreograph’ by Gilligan Moss utilises a linear structure which can be interpreted using Todorov’s concept of narrative. It only encompasses a three act structure. An equilibrium (the boy’s mind being distorted), followed by the conflict of him putting his earphones on causing the change into a disequilibrium, where he is proving a persisting annoyance to the family. The action builds up, adding more characters to finally climax at the point that he turns into an old man in the third act, the new equilibrium. The disequilibrium is his ignorance to the action around him, and this accumulation of the constant ignorance, with the addition of more and more characters, leads to the denouement of when he becomes the old man. The conflict of the boy without the headphones, in obvious mental pain, versus the friction it causes when he does have his headphones on means that the audience are awaiting a climax of the reaction of this friction. The ending rejects the normative structure of the family and instead breaks away from hegemonic family structures. Instead of conforming to the stereotypical reinforcements and ideals of family life, the boy zones out from that and lives his life in a rebellious and conflicting way. Todorov’s three act structure allows us to understand how the video creates friction and thus a conflict, and how we as an audience are constantly awaiting the product of such a conflict.

This message suggesting a resistance against dominant ideologies is shown through a metaphorical story, showing a stereotypically depicted family and a child who is obviously contrasting to that. The structure is fairly closed in how the story flows- we see the boy at a negative equilibrium, and he resolves it creating conflict with his family but has developed a new, more positive for him, equilibrium. We follow this story up front, however we are only shown the basics of the story. The ambiguity of time, setting and context suggests that as an audience, we are expected to piece together are own prologue and prior narrative to create an understanding of the action now. The circular elements within the linear structure give the impression that time is moving quickly, contrasted with the slow movement of the boy. The two contrasting paces make for a more ambiguous product and thus considering it a more open structure.

This video follows many of Louis Barthes codes. Although much of the video is proairetic, it also follows quite a symbolic code. The use of the headphones is fairly proairetic as it takes the boy from the equilibrium to the disequilibrium and conflict. However it also holds symbolic purposes as it suggests a less specific release of tension. It essentially portrays his rebellion and holds this image specifically but uses it to connote a larger meaning. Throughout, it is essentially following a proairetic code as it is each part is constantly moving the story forward, and apart from the beginning where we see the boy in distress, we are hardly following an enigmatic code- we don’t tend to ask many specific questions concerning certain parts. Although the use of an artificial set used as the back drop in addition to the use of multiple actors playing the same roles, evokes questions as to why, they are used as more of a progressor. The shots of the eggs being placed are used as a signifier of time. We associate eggs with breakfast and assume breakfast is had once a day- this suggests that one egg means one day. Therefore we assume a development in time which is also then reinstated when we see the boy having aged significantly with the large sum of eggs on his plate. These two concepts both suggest that the video is fairly proairetic.

The accumulation of eggs, showing a movement in time can be described as a narrative driver as it is taking us through time. It’s showing us a forward movement in the story, and showing us a development in the period that we are watching. The other narrative device is the headphones. It takes us from one section to the other. We start in a conflicting equilibrium which is resolved by putting the head phones on but causes a wider conflict and thus a disequilibrium within the story.