Lo4, Task 5: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues

Hey its me again Sammie and this time I am going to talk about the Ethical, Legal and Regulatory issues of the film 'The Fault in Our Stars'

The products impact and effect on the audience

The first thing that I am going to speak about is the Hypodermic Syringe theory (Theodore Ardono 1930). The Hypodermic Syringe Theory links to a passive audience and it suggests that media has a negative impact on a mass audience as they believe everything that they see and hear within the media. A passive audience is an audience that believes everything that see and hear in the media and then they re-enact what they have seen and heard. A passive audience can also be positive as although they are re-enacting what they have seen they are re-enacting the positive things they have seen instead of the negative. An active audience however, are able to filter what they have seen and heard within the media don't go and re-enact these things. A theory that links to the active audience is David Gauntlett's theory as he says 'we are able to filter and adapt to content in the media'. Both of the main characters in 'The Fault in Our Stars' are positive role models. The audience can see this because they are both teens that have been struggling with cancer most of their lives. The Hypodermic Syringe theory could be positive also because the main characters do things that ordinary people do like hang out with friends and go on holidays which encourages young people that are in the same sort of situation in real life to do the same because they are influenced through watching the film. This also links to Carl Rogers  theory 'ideal self, ideal partner' because the young people that are influenced want to be the main characters. There aren't really any negative impacts on the audience from the film  as they don't really do anything negative that the audience could copy. The only thing that could be classed as having a negative impact on the audience is the mild uses of strong language, the mild sex scene and also the vandalism of a persons home and car. The vandalism is a good example of having a negative impact on the passive audience as they are vandalising a persons home with eggs and toilet paper which could influence the younger audience and they may re-enact this.

Relevant issues of representation

The next thing that I am going to speak about are the relevant issues of representation. Stuart Hall (1980) says that 'all representations are mediated' this means that everything is set up to be represented in the way that it has been. In the film the struggles of teenagers with terminal illnesses are being represented which is what makes it iconic. I am also going to speak about Tessa Perkins theory (1979) as she says 'not all stereotypes are false'  this is very true as in every stereotype there is always a small element of truth.  One positive stereotype from my film is when Hazel is portrayed as the stronger protagonist as even though she struggles she is still emotionally stronger than the male protagonist. this is also a countertype as stereotypically the male would be both emotionally and physically stronger than women. One negative stereotype in the film is when the two main characters are on their date and Hazel is portrayed as shy and submissive which is how women are stereotyped usually because this is how we are or used to be, nowadays women are more confident. In the film there is also a challenged representation of disability due to the fact that both the main characters have Cancer. Another thing that is challenged is age as they are really young, however they are really mature and very responsible for their age this is again due to dealing with a terminal illness. An example of this is when Hazel is at Augustus' funeral and speaks his eulogy. This is a really big responsibility for a 16 year old girl as usually this would never happen. The representation of young people with disabilities is also challenged as in the film 'The Fault in Our Stars' as they do things that you wouldn't stereotypically see disabled people doing such as when Hazel and Gus go right to the very top floor of the Anne Frank Museum and also when they go to Amsterdam as they have so many different problems to overcome yet they do it. This is an important representation as it shows the teenagers that watch the film that they can do anything whether they are disabled or not, it shows them that people can live with their disabilities and still enjoy their lives even if the things they can do are only limited.

Relevant legal and/or ethical issues

The third thing that we are going to speak about is legal and ethical issues for the film 'The Fault in Our Stars'. So the first thing that we are going to speak about in this section is copyright infringement and what this is and the consequences of it. So, copyright infringement is the use of any content that you don't have the rights or permissions to use such as soundtracks, songs and also images. To prevent copyright infringement the producers of the film would have had to ask for permission to use certain things. There are many different ways that they could do this such as emailing, phoning or sending a letter to the creator. One example from the film 'The Fault in Our Stars' that would need permissions to use would be the song 'Boom Clap' by Charli xcx. The record label that would have needed to be contacted to gain permissions is Atlantic Asylum Neon Gold. The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification). This is the company that decides what the viewing age of a film should be based on the content. The film has been classed as a 12 by the BBFC which means that it is only suitable for an audience of people over the age of 12. If a film is classed as a 12 or a 12A then it usually means that the film contains some material that is not suitable for anybody under the age of 12. The guidelines for the BBFC state that strong language may be passed at a 12 depending on the manner in which the language is used. This also depends on who is actually using the strong language, how often the language is used and also whether it is used in a certain context. Films that are 12's can also contain sex which is brief and discreetly portrayed. There can also be uses of verbal sexual references which the BBFC say shouldn't go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Also there may be nudity but it should only be brief and discreet. The Fault in Our Stars contains one use of strong language according to the BBFC standards and then also use of milder language. the film also contains discreet sexual activity, mild sexual references, references to soft drugs which are used to treat the characters terminal illnesses. In the film there is also indications of a persons alcoholism. The indications towards the alcoholism comes from a scene where they are in Amsterdam going to see Hazel's favourite author and he tells them in not so many words that he turned to drink when his daughter died of Cancer. The discreet sexual activity and references is during the scene in Amsterdam when Gus and Hazel go back to his hotel room after visiting the Anne Frank Museum. These things all adhere to the BBFC standards. This film was never cut or re-edited as it says on the BBFC website that all versions of this film passed. The last thing within this section that we are going to talk about is the fact that 'The Fault in Our Stars' is an adaptation of the book by John Green therefore permissions would have been needed. The permission for this would have been given during the early stages of pre-production.




Regulatory bodies

ASA:

The ASA is the UK advertising industry that sets the standards in the successful self-regulation of adverts. They govern with codes of practice that have been designed to protect the consumers. This company makes sure that the adverts that the consumers see are not misleading, harmful or offensive. They regulate all sorts of advertisements from magazines and newspapers to posters and DVD's. Many different CAP codes regulate print materials such as children. I, however am going to focus on Harm and Offense. The website says that the principle of this is 'Advertisements must not be harmful or offensive. Advertisements must take account of generally accepted standards to minimise the risk of causing harm or serious widespread offense. The context in which an advertisement is likely to be broadcast must be taken into account to avoid unsuitable scheduling.'  There are many different rules within this code and the poster for 'The Fault in Our Stars does comply with all of them as it doesn't cause any harm or offense. It also doesn't show anything that would cause a person under the age of 18 any physical pain. It also doesn't 'encourage or condone' any harmful discriminatory behaviour or any violence. It complies with all the rules of this code, and also all of the other codes that are used.The reason the posters do not contain any harmful or offensive material is because it would be seen in public places, advertised on billboards, buses all to attract a mass audience. Another reason being that children under the age of 12 would see the posters and this wouldn't be appropriate which therefore means that the posters connote romance between the two main characters and the romance that is involved in the narrative.

LO4, Task 5: Ethical, legal and regulatory issues notes

ethical- representations i.e. gender/ age

legal- copyright (music/ soundtrack)
- certification (age rating) BBFC - British Board of Film Classification
- BBFC also comes under regulation. - ASA- Advertising Standards Authority

the products impacts and effect on the audience
relevant issues of representation
relevant legal and ethical issues
relate legal and ethical issues to the role that the relevant regulatory bodies play in upholding guidelines and regulations.

for a merit give examples from the film

research age ratings
whether they have changed
whether the rating it different in America to here- why is this different?

knowledge of audience theories-

active- uses and gratifications- audience pleasure
passive- copycats- they re-enact the film- they are influenced by the film


a) The products impact and effect on the audience

1) passive audiences- hypodermic syringe (Theodore Adorno 1930)- media has a negative impact on an audience. Mass audience believe everything they see and hear.
Issues about sexual content?
what negative effects does it have on the audience?
what is in the film that the audience could re-enact.

2 examples of positive impacts- positive impacts and role models- role model Hazel and Augustus and also Isaac.

2) active audience- we are able to filter and adapt to content in media (David Gauntlett 2007) We have uses and gratifications theory- people use media on their own purposes.

b) relevant issues of representation

Who is being represented?
All representations are mediated ( Stuart Hall, 1980)

mediated- set up to be represented that way

is there use of stereotypes/ countertypes (Tessa Perkins, 1979). Not all stereotypes are false, they are based on a small element of truth.

Stereotypes- common characteristics of different groups of people.
- most stereotypes are negative.

Countertype- challenged stereotypes

Representations of women- are they objectified (Laura Mulvey, 1975). Representation of men (Earp and Katz 1999) 'equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence'

c) relevant legal and/or ethical issues

Legal- copyright infringement? - main worry in film industry illegal downloading?

Copyright infringement- the use of content that you don't have the rights or the permissions to use.
To prevent copyright infringement you need to make sure that you have the right permissions to use whatever it is that you need.
There are many ways to gain permission
if you use something without the creators permission legal prosecution could take place, you could also be sued.

could be used as a form of marketing- illegal downloads


Ethical- offensive material- racism, sexual content, strong language, violence, drug use
age of the audience and the negative impacts- passive audience

Sensationalism- making something bad look good

Censorship- removing content that is not appropriate. re-edited based on the content that is included in the film.

d) role of relevant regulatory bodies

LO3, Task 4- Advertising, Promotion and Distribution

Hey again, its me Sammie this time I am going to be talking about advertising, promotion and also distribution.

Advertising and promotion means to market a film to create maximum awareness for the films target audience.

There are many different ways that a film can be advertised such as:

- Posters
- Billboards
- Cinema Adverts
- Magazines and Newspapers
- Social Media
- Flyers
- Video Adverts
- Interviews
- Web Banners
- Endorsements
- and many more.

Theorist David Gauntlett (2002) talked about Web 2.0 and stated that  this is the point where the web went from being a static medium to a two way form of communication and also an interaction platform.

The Fault in Our Stars was advertised in many different ways. A few of the ways that it was advertised are: video advertisements, trailers in the cinema and on youtube, bus adverts and many other ways. Below I am going to speak about some of these ways.

The first way that we are going to speak about is the poster. This poster was put up in many different places such as cinemas, supermarkets and it was also shown in magazines and newspapers. It shows the it was based on a book which means that not only is the film being advertised but the book is too. This is a good thing as it encourages young people to read the book as well as go to see or buy the film. The poster encourages and tells people to go and see the film as it also shows the two main protagonists Hazel and Augustus which also appeals to young people as they are young and attractive which could be why the advertisers chose to use this image. This is a very simple film poster and doesn't give away what the film is really about which then intrigues the target audience because they then want to find out more and so watch the film. Using posters has always been a way for film industries to advertise films and it has always worked for them  as they are a good way of creating awareness which is why they still use them now.

Bringing out a soundtrack before the film comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray is a good thing as it is another good way of advertising it. This is because it helps people to remember that the film will be following soon. The music is also played on music channels on tv and also on the radio which again reminds people again about the film as if they watch the music videos then they will see parts of the film incorporated in the video. A good example of a music video that has the film incorporated in it is Charlie XCX's video as this was the main soundtrack recorded specifically for this film. This is again another thing that film industries have used for a long to advertise but it has only really become more popular the past few years as most big films now bring out the full soundtrack. This then boosts the sales of the film as they are cross promoting. And the target audience can hear the soundtrack regularly.

Video Advertisements and the trailer were used to advertise The Fault in Our Stars. They would have been played on television, on internet sites such as YouTube and vivo, it will have also been played in the cinema before the film was released for viewing. Video advertising is fairly new as the internet like we know it now is also fairly new.

These are some screenshots from the trailer and they tell the audience in a minimalistic way what happens in the film which then intrigues them to then either go to the cinema and watch it and then also maybe buy is on DVD.

Overall, I believe that the advertising methods that were used to promote the film The Fault in Our Stars is one of the main reasons why it did so well.

Distribution is the act of giving or selling an item or product to an audience.

Technical Convergence is the theory that over time technology converges into different pieces of technology that are new and improved and they are also easier to use. It also means that one piece of technology can be used for more than one thing.

The Fault in Our Stars was distributed on many different mediums such as DVD and Blu-Ray, Cinema and also a copy for internet streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube and many other sites, a person can use these sites on many different devices. For the online streaming sites a person has to subscribe and pay to watch things. As long as a person has a subscription they can watch anything unless it is YouTube as you have to pay for the films on there now. When a film is brought out in many different ways it means that the film will become more successful as more people will watch it as it is easier to access. There are many different illegal sites too which means that people can download torrents and then have the film for free and this is where the film industry loses income as there are so many illegal sites out there.

Here are some stats that show how well the film did because of the way that it was advertised and distributed. These stats however, do not include streaming and illegal downloads which could have boosted the profits if it was bought.

Domestic Box Office- $124,872,350 - £82,840,316.99

International Box Office- $178,700,000 - £118,549,580

Worldwide Box Office- $303,572,350 - £201,389,896.99

Home Market Performance:

Domestic DVD Sales- $24,517,240 - £16,264,737.16

Domestic Blu-Ray Sales- $17,779,344 - £11,791,260.94

Total Domestic Video Sales- $42,296,384 - £28,059,421.14

Based on how much it cost to make the film and and how well the film sold in the box office and on DVD, a profit has been made from the sales of this film, which means that the advertising and distribution in many different places worked to promote the film.

Audience Profile and Imaginary Entity

"Sophie, 17 loves romance. This informs most aspects in her life especially film and music. The Fault in Our Stars does this especially as she is a sucker for the emotional films. She also gets all her ideals for a relationship from this sort of film, she is inspired by the unconditional love that is shared between characters and wants this in her own life."

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LO2, Task 3

Introduction

Hi there, its Sammie again. This time I have been asked to look at the demographics for my film 'The Fault in Our Stars'. Ien Ang (pronounced Yen)  (1991) and John Hartley (1987) suggested that producers create invisible fiction or imaginary entities before creating a media product. This is true as the producers want to get a feel of what their target audience likes to do and what sort of things would interest them to incorporate these into the film. The main target audience for my film is teenage girls from the ages of 15 and upward.

Gender

The first example that represents gender in the film 'The Fault in Our Stars' is the relationship as it links to Carl Rodgers theory. His theory is 'Ideal self, ideal partner' and this links to the film as the main characters ideal self would be to not be ill and this relates to the target audience as they have other things wrong with them that they would like to change to become their ideal selfs. The ideal partner is Augustus because he is an attractive and caring young person like the target audience and they feel like they could see themselves with somebody like him, however this appeals mostly to girls. The next example that represents gender is again the main characters relationship as it links to Claude Levi Strauss's theory of 'Binary Opposition'. This links because Hazel is more dominant than Augustus most of the way through the film and so doesn't meet the average stereotype of the male being the dominant partner and the female being the subordinate partner. We can tell that this film is aimed mostly at a female target audience because of the fact that Hazel is more in control and so shows the females that watch the film that they can be in control. The third example is again linked to the main characters relationship and also to Strauss's theory of 'Binary Opposition' as the roles are reversed and Augustus becomes the dominant stereotypical male and Hazel becomes the stereotypical subordinate female. This shows the target audience that the roles can be reversed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Age

The age rating of this film is a 12 but the median age is a 15 as the themes of the film are for a more mature audience that would understand what the meaning behind it is. The first example of this is the fact that this is a film about two teenagers that are battling Cancer. It shows the target audience that they can overcome anything if they try and if they really want to. The second example of this that I am going to use is when Hazel and Augustus go on their first date. This is an example because they are falling in love for the first time and it shows that if they can do this even if it is just for a short period of time, then the target audience can too. It also helps the target audience too believe in love if they don't already. The third example is when the lead characters travel abroad and go to Amsterdam. This shows the target audience that they can go anywhere and do anything that they want to. The fourth example is when they go to the Cancer Support Group as it shows that they are sociable and can still make friends even if they are terminally ill. This appeals to the audience as many of them may be involved in a support group for other problems that they have, also the target audience will be if an age where they are just learning g to cope or deal with social issues. Another example of the target audiences age is the book as this is a young adults fiction book.

Lifestyle and Uses and Gratifications

NRS stands for National Readership Survey. The target audience for my film 'The Fault in Our Stars' is in the lifestyle category E of the NRS which is Urban Ventures. The technology from the film back this up as the main characters have up to date technology such as I-phones and laptops which their parents have probably bought for them as they are teenagers and still live at home. It backs it up as most people have up to date technology because their parents can afford these kind of things and so can the characters parents in the film. This also relates to the target audience being digital natives. Digital natives are people who have been brought up within the digital age and they have witnessed the development of technology. Denis McQuail (1972) says that there are four reasons why people consume media products. These are; surveillance, escapism, building a personal identity and finally building personal relationships. An example of escapism in my film is when the two main characters go away to Amsterdam. This is an example as many people want escape and to go away on holiday and do things like they do in the film. Another example that links to escapism is when the main characters go on their first date as the target audience can escape and imagine that they are on the date with whichever main character that they like as they are both attractive. An example of building a personal identity is when the target audience can relate to the characters or the actors. They want  to be or replicate them. The audience could relate to them because they have an illness that they are trying to overcome, or they can relate to the love story that is incorporated into the film.  The film could also be in lifestyle category A: affluent achievers as many successful people will watch the film too such as people from the medical world that will understand the problems and the downsides of the illness that the two main characters suffer from. This would help the affluent achievers to build relationships too as they could talk to people similar to the characters in the film that suffer from the illness in the real world as they understand the themes that are included in the film.

Spending Power

This film will influence two different groups of people, who have different lifestyles. The first is Urban Ventures and their demographics would be C1 and C2. This means that they will have an income but it will be very little as they will be at college or university which means that they will probably have a part time job where they will earn minimum wage. The second is the thriving greys and affluent achievers and their demographics will be A and B. This band are all upper middle class and middle class people which means they have a good job and a decent wage and a disposable income. The first group of people may be able to go to the cinema to watch the film or buy the book or the DVD. But the second band of people could afford to go on holiday to Amsterdam like the two main characters do in the film. They could also afford to donate money to charity every month.

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