for the purposes of the mock examination I am expecting you to have considered some material from the youth market with the general theme of Youth drama
The case study expects you to study a range of texts across all platforms on your chosen area. For youth drama this can mean viewing episodes of broadcast media products aimed at a youth audience such as Skins, Misfits; considering the representation of youth in web sites of products aimed at them [such as the sites for E4 or BBC3]; films such as Attack the Block or Kick-Ass or In-Betweeners; posters for such products and youth in mainstream products - newspapers; Tv shows.
You need an over view to begin with - this can be attained by asking the usual questions:
[1] what do we mean by youth - how are we defining this group?
[2] what does youth demand of media products?
[3] how do media products 'talk' to them? - how are youth seen? represented?
[4] how do products exploit youth?
[5] which stereotypes are used? for what purpose? how accurate are these?
Let's look at Attack the Block
Here is the trailer [Broadcast platform]
- What does the trailer convey in it's representation of 'youth'? How is this done?
- What stereotypes [of youth] are used?
- How accurate are these?
- Where do they originate from?
- What in the trailer appeals to the youth audience?
Next up is print platform [the poster campaign]
- How does the print product [poster] appeal /attract youth audience?
- What ideas does it construct about youth [hint: you are not like us!!].
What can we discover about the web-site [E Media platform]?
Clearly, the Sony site has adopted a fairly minimalistic option with little beyond where to buy, how to buy and some brief notes about cast and crew.
We might ask how this sites trailer differs from the original and why this might be so?
What aspects of youth representation is contained in the Sony blurb?
From the producers of Shaun of the Dead, ATTACK THE BLOCK is a fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen street gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London housing project into a sci-fi battleground, the low-income apartment complex into a fortress under siege. And it turns a crazy mix of tough street kids into a team of kick ass heroes. It's inner city versus outer space and it's going to explode.
Here we might ask some questions around the idea of appealing to youth:
- What representations are offered of the programmes [and thus the audience that might choose to watch them]?
- How does E4 brand itself as a youth product?
We might engage in the wider issue - why BBC3 is proposing to move to on-line only and what this tells us about audience needs of the media and their access/uses of media especially broadcast. This might be a very productive field for an essay / case study.
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