Skip to main content

Featured Post

Welcome to my blog!

Hi. My name is Jack, I'm 17 years old, and I'm taking Media Studies at Hills Road. This is my coursework blog. I've been tasked with producing a cross-media piece, consisting of a 2.5-3 minute audio-visual sequence, and a double page magazine spread and front cover. The video piece must be from an ITV or Channel 5 show of my creation, either factual or fictional, with a target audience aged 18-35, and containing either 'a key turning point, a point of significant conflict, or a resolution', while the print elements will contain interviews and promotional materials relating to the show. I haven't yet decided which channel, genre, or direction my piece is going to take, but I'm excited at what lies ahead. I'll be keeping my blog up-to-date with all my progress, so feel free to stick around and have a look!
4 comments

Millennials

Millennials* are perhaps the first generation to have grown up in a truly digital age, and as such, have media consumption habits completely unlike other generations. For example, one third of millennial TV viewing is done through means other than traditional TV, compared to only 11% from adults over age 35 - see the diagram below. 

While this data is from a US study, the figures are much the same over here too. Source: https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/millennials-on-millennials-a-look-at-viewing-behavior-distraction-social-media-stars.html

This diagram doesn't take into account other forms of video media that are slowly but surely taking the reins from traditional TV, either - think Netflix or YouTube. In response, broadcasting companies are having to change their tactics. Most channels now offer VOD (video on-demand) services, which have in recent years stepped up from just being for catch-up, often also having exclusive behind-the-scenes clips or highlight reels, or allowing streaming of entire series before they have been aired on traditional telly. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is BBC Three, a once-terrestrial TV channel now based on the internet entirely (although this move was not without opposition).

As for what they watch, drama is the first most popular genre for a millennial audience:
Source: https://www.oath.com/insights/insights/video-content-what-millennials-want/

This isn't necessarily surprising: drama has long made up a significant chunk of fictional audio/visual media produced for television, and so it's naturally going to have high viewing statistics. Millennials are also predisposed to media which carries a strong social or political message, in particular one which aligns to their generally left-leaning views, or tackles issues that are close to their hearts, such as mental health. Drama, as a genre, is well suited to tackling these issues, and it's easy to embed a message in - as is (well-made) comedy, the number one millennial-watched genre.

It may be difficult to embed a message in such a short snippet of a show without overdoing it, especially without a chance to necessarily build up the characters as much as I would like, and so demonstrating this aspect of the piece may be better left to the magazine portion of the task, in particular the interview section.


*Definitions of 'millennial' vary, with most agreeing that the generation starts somewhere in the mid '80s and ends somewhere in the mid-to-late '90s, or early 2000s. For the purposes of this post (and indeed the rest of this blog), 'millennials' will refer to those in the 18-35 age range - the target audience for my piece as defined by the coursework specification - and thus may also incorporate the first few years of the cohort more commonly known as Generation Z, depending on who you listen to.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aims and Intentions

Learner Name: Jack Larkin Word Count: 407 As a fan of many of the highly-cinematic, high-budget-feel crime dramas that ITV and the BBC have put out in recent years, I’ve decided to do one myself. My drama will emulate the cinematic, Scandi-noir-esque feel of many of ITVs greatest successes, such as Broadchurch, by using a range of media techniques. The show will be heavily graded, emphasising in particular the greens and blues, while still keeping the colour palate fairly muted. As the scenes from my extract are quite intense, with a lot of strong emotion on display, the shots (particularly those of the DS in the car) will have handheld-style camera movement and a shallow depth-of-field, alternating between medium shots and ECUs on the faces of those involved, or important props. Regarding characters, the lead DCI and DS will hopefully be male and female respectively, reflecting many modern ITV crime dramas and providing cross-gender appeal – however, this depends on who I can c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Magazine copy

I've started the process of writing my magazine copy, which I'm doing as I edit my audio-visual piece. I've decided to format it as a Guardian-esque Q&A-style interview, like so , as opposed to a more in-depth article piece like this . This is partly down to space constraints - there's quite a lot I want to fit in, covering all the topics I can't get across in three minutes of out-of-context extract. I'd like to discuss diversity and representation of different groups, and how it's changed over recent years on ITV; why the show has been such a hit; the move ever towards 'anytime, anywhere' streaming over traditional TV, particularly in millennial markets such as the one the show is targeting; as well as other, more filler-y things, like you get in a genuine interview. This would be a lot to fit in if it was fully fleshed out into article form, which is why I chose the Q&A style.
Post a Comment
Read more