The Avengers 1960s

Which institution (channel) produced the show?

ITV

Who was the primary and secondary audience (age rating/gender/interests etc).

Adults, 15 years and older, working class. Interested in new exciting dramas.

When did the first episode air?

On 7th January 1961.

How many viewers followed the show?

How many seasons were made?

6

What date/year was the last episode aired?

On 21st April 1969 in the United States, and on 21st May 1969 in London, England.

What was the budget of series 4?

$2 million

The fourth series was different to the third due to a $2 million deal with ABC. It was shot on film. What did this mean in terms of: locations, production values, editing, camerawork and sound?

British television did compete on the world market, with prestige productions such as The Avengers being sold to many countries overseas (90 countries by 1969). A lucrative deal with the American Broadcasting Company (reportedly $2million) required the fourth series of The Avengers to be shot on film and allowed high production values for television of that era. Previous series were very studio bound, as was conventional for television of that era, and so appear to be very 'stagey' by contemporary standards. Videotape editing was difficult and costly process so most television was mixed live, with mistakes and fluffed lined left uncorrected. Many programmes were lost as expensive videotape was re-used for new programmes. Shooting on film for a higher budget enabled more sophisticated camerawork, greater use of locations, more controlled editing and a more sophisticated soundtrack, with a through-composed score.

Who were the stars of Series 4 Episode 1: The Town Of No Return? Name the actors, include images and background information on them e.g. age, gender, previous roles.

• Patrick Macnee as John Steed
• Diana Rigg as Emma Peel
• Alan MacNaughtan as Mark Brandon
• Patrick Newell as Jimmy Smallwood
• Terence Alexander as 'Piggy' Warren
• Jeremy Burnham as Vicar, Johnathan Ainsbury
• Robert brown as Saul
• Juliet Harmer as Jill Manson
• Walter Horsbrugh as School Inspector

ITV was seen as the working class channel, compared to BBC's middle class. How did The Avengers compare, in terms of the representation of rising youth culture, compared to the BBC's flagship drama: The Forsyte Saga?

The BBC was slowly weaned away from its stuffy 'auntie' image by the rigours of competition with ITV. However, channel loyalty tended to split on class lines, with ITV seen as the more working class channel- at a time when, with the rise of youth culture, it was suddenly 'cool' to be working class- and the BBC seen as more middle class. Thus the BBC's flagship drama of the mid 1960s, The Forsyte Saga, was a serialisation  of a set of novels by Galsworthy, a Nobel prize-winning British author. In comparison, ITV series such as The Avengers appeared much more daring, youthful, irreverent and sexy.

The 1960s

LO: Research the 1960s (UK) in terms of the social, historic and political climate of the decade; research the TV show the Avengers

The swinging 60s:

• Poverty: people were poorer 
• Had a bath once a week
• Respectful to their elders
• Didn't have much health and safety 
• Hippies protesting free love
• Easier to have sex outside of marriage
• Decade of free love
• First time women had a contraception pill

The 1960s life in the UK:

The most famous bands in the 1960s

• The Beatles
• The Rolling Stones
• Pink Floyd
• The Jackson 5
• The Monkees

The music was different during previous decades experimented with several musical styles.

The most famous sports people in the 1960s

• Muhammad Ali
• Willie Mays
• Wilt Chamberlain
• Johnny Unitas
• Jim Brown

Political leaders in the 1960s

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Robert F. Kennedy
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Richard Milhous Nixon
• J Edgar Hoover

Three youth group fashions in the 1960s

• Hippie style was the new Bohemian look based on folk costume with a gypsy influence
• Woman with Afro hairstyles
• Girl in mini skirt, patterned tights, and ribbed top

Science/ technology developments in the 1960s

• The first video game console. Ahh, theres nothing like a rainy afternoon with your console so we have a lot to thank Ralph Baer for when he envisioned the original in 1966
• The first computer mouse
• Light Emitting Diodes
• Dynamic Random Access Memory 
• Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Television: Serial TV Dramas

What is the difference between a TV Drama and a Soap Opera?
Contains a series of real life situations which are exaggerated yet relatable, through the use of: themes, settings, issues and narrative. Intended to be more serious than humerous.

What is the difference between a TV Drama and a Serial TV Drama?
serial TV drama is defined as any television drama that is organised into a series of episodes (as opposed to one-off dramas). Typically, a series contains between 3 and 12 episodes. A serial has a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode-by-episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span an entire season, or even the full run of the series , which distinguishes them from traditional episodic television that relies on more stand-alone episodes.

What sub-genres can you divide TV drama into?
Most popular:

• Crime drama-Broadchurch, Line of duty, Happy valley, Luther, Sherlock, Midsomer murders,  The fall.
• Period drama-Downton Abbey, The Crown, Peaky Blinders, Mr Selfridge, War and Peace.
• Teen drama-Skins, Misfits, The Inbetweeners, The vampire diaries, Riverdale.
• Medical drama-Casualty, Call the Midwife, Holby City, Doctor Foster, Doc Martin.
• Science-Fiction drama-Doctor Who, Black Mirror, The 100, Stranger Things, 
• Fantasy drama-Once upon a time, The Vampire Diaries, Lost.
• Political drama-House of cards, Scandal.

Television: Duopoly in the 1960s

The era of two competing broadcasters, ITV and the BBC, is refers to by many as a "Golden Age" of broadcasting in the UK. The two institutions had full control over the programmes as they produced them in-house.

How might this competition and control have positive outcomes? What negative effects might this have?

Positive:

• Full control of all aspects from creation to editing. 
• Producer/ institution as auteur (has a personal creative vision which can be followed right through without external pressures).
• Competition between the organisations led them both to strive for better content.
• Allowed in-house talent and content to be developed over time and build a loyal audience.
• Production became more of a business, talent was developed and processes improved.

Negative:

• Hard for voices outside of the institution to be heard (the concept of the "old boys network").
• Ideas subject to the ideologies of those in control/ political pressures.
• Some argued in competing with ITV the BBC "dumbed-down" some of its content.

HOMEWORK 4: Uses and Gratifications

Bloomer and Katz's Use and Gratification Theory:

The four main reasons for using media are:

1. Entertainment- offers distraction from the world.

2. Personal Identity- helps us consider who we are; what ideas and values we identify with.

3. Relationships- we find things we can share and discuss with others.

4. Information- new information we want to know or take pleasure in knowing.

Examples of recent movie/video game simultaneous releases:

1. The Lego Movie

2.

3.

Why do companies often release tie-in video games alongside the films?

Companies do this, to maximise the profit of the film, also, the game makes the characters to people, so they would want to watch the film, and know the characters. Also, it gives people the chance to be part of it, and they chance to control the film that they loved. The companies also do this, because it helps advertise both products and increases the potential audience for both.

The four main reasons that companies often release tie-in video games alongside the film:

1. Profit Maximised- the promotion of a film will create a receptive awareness in potential consumers     of the game: they have heard of it and are familiar with it.

2. Familiarity- the brand, plot and characters are already known; recognition of the fact we liked the film so may enjoy the game based on it.

3. Extends the measure of the Film- a chance to continue to 'be part of' the film that we enjoyed. Chance to play the roles we saw in the film.

4. The game promotes the film, the film the game- efficient use of marketing of both products and increases potential audiences as fans 'crossover' between the two platforms. Think of how the theme of Bond film piggy-backs on the promotion of the film and vie-versa.

How does The Lego Movie video game fit Bloomer and Katz's theory?

1. Entertainment- offers distraction from the world.

2. Personal Identity- helps us consider who we are; what ideas and values we identify with.

3. Relationships- we find things we can share and discuss with others.

4. Information- new information we want to know or take pleasure in knowing.

How is The Lego Video Game used to promote The Lego Movie to the target audience?

-Explain two reasons why a film company would release a tie-in video game to a film. 

-Explain how the game (colour pallet/ set/ characters/ narrative/ sound etc.) represent different people in the audience attracting them to the film & game.

-Analyse how the uses and gratifications offered by the lego movie video game are reflected in the cover.

The Lego Movie video game helps promote the movie to the audience, to maximise the profit of the film, because the potential consumers will be aware of it, and be familiar with it. Also, the game promotes the film, and the film promoted the game- efficient use of marketing of both products and increases potential audiences as fans 'crossover' between the two platforms.

The colour pallet used on the video game is bright and colourful, representing there primary target audience of children, this is because they will be attracted to the brightness, and it makes it look fun for them. The characters in the game are the same as the characters in the movie, this makes the audience familiar with them, so if they haven't seen the movie, but have played the game, they know who the characters are.

Television: ITV

Channels:
ITV, ITV 2, ITV be, ITV 3, ITV 4, CITV.

Strategy:

Most popular programmes:

Coronation Street

The XFactor

I'm a Celebrity Get me out of here

Britain's Got Talent

Emmerdale

Love Island

This Morning 

Broadchurch

Other platforms:

How does it generate income?

• Advertising
• Franchising programmes
• Premium rate phone lines
• Reality TV shows
• Product Placement
• Sponsorship
• Box sets
• Online services

What is the advantages of ITV being commercially owned?
They have their own opportunity to generate more money.

Television: Commercial Institutions

These generally have no guaranteed income (even ITV, C4,C5 which have small PSB remit) therefore it is essential they are profitable.

They can generate income by:

• Subscription e.g. BT Vision, Sky Sports/Movies
• Pay Per View e.g. Sky Box Office
• Sponsorship- many programmes often contain sponsor stings or sometimes 'thanks to' messages on credits. Strands of programmes may also carry sponsorship e.g. ITV3 afternoons
• Advertising- companies pay for advertising slots based on programme ratings. The more potential viewers, the higher the advertising slot (£250,000 for 30 seconds during Britain's Got Talent).
• Product Placement- since 2011 this is allowed o British TV (not during news or children's) subject to Ofcom regulations (certain products are banned e.g. cigarettes). Companies pay to have their products shown in programmes.

Television: BBC

Channels:

The BBC have nine national television channels: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliament, BBC Alba and BBC Three - the first TV channel in the world to switch online in February 2016.

Their mission, vision and values:

Our mission: To enrich peoples lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.

Our vision: To be the most creative organisation in the world.

Our values: 

• Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest.
• Audience are at the heart of everything we do.
• We take pride in delivering quality and value for money.
• Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation.
• We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best.
• We are one BBC: great things happen when we work together.

Most popular BBC programmes:

The most expensive BBC programme was Rome, costing £9 million per episode!

Most expensive Programme to make:

Doctor Who is the most expensive programme fro the BBC to make, costing £1 million per episode!

How does the BBC generate its income?

The BBC generates income from: license fees; selling original programmes to other overseas channels (Blue Planet, Doctor Who etc.); selling original TV shows as box sets (Blue Planet, Silent Witness etc.).

Televisions Industries: Ownership

LO: To explore the history of ownership in two key channels.

Public Service Broadcasting:
In the UK the term 'public service broadcasting' refers to broadcasting which is intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns.
In the UK, the BBC is the main PSB channel.
Lord Reith- first Director General of the BBC (1927-38) said: 'TV should not give people what they want but what they ought to have.'
The BBC, funded by the licence fee, initially had a monopoly over broadcasting in the UK.

Because they are funded by the public, the BBC have to meet the PSB REMIT in terms of the genre variety, audiences, representation and quality of programmes they produced.

In January 1927 the BBC was established by Royal Charter as the British Broadcasting Corporation and Sir John Reith became the first Director-General. The Charter defined the BBCs objectives, powers and obligations.

When it returned in the late 1940s the elements of children's TV, news and weather were introduced to schedules.

In 1953 the live broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II saw massive increases in TV sales, and in 1955 the launch of commercial TV in the UK brought the BBCs first ever broadcast rival.

Television: Industries and Audiences

LO: To research the history, companies and regulators in the Television Industry

Exam Unit Introduction:
Paper 1: Section A

• You will be given an unseen extract from a TV drama to watch and analyse.
• You will be asked THREE questions about the extract.
• You could be asked about: 
•     How MEDIA LANGUAGE has been used to create meaning.
•     How the INDUSTRY has influenced the meaning.
•     The Audience's reaction to the extract.
•     The SOCIAL, CULTURAL and HISTORICAL CONTEXT.

Terminology:
Publicly owned TV channel- Owned media is any communication channel or platform that belongs to your brand that you create and have control over.

Commercial TV Channel- Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programmes and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship.

Convergence- Media convergence is the interlinking of computing and other information technologies, media content, media companies and communication networks that have arisen as the result of the evolution and popularisation of the internet as well as the activities, products and services that have emerged in the digital media.

Watershed- The watershed means the time when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for children can be broadcast.

Segmented market- Marketing segmentation is the activity of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers based on some type of shared characteristics.

Mainstream- Traditional forms of mass communication, such as newspapers, television, and radio regarded collectively.

Self-regulating- Media self-regulation is a joint endeavour by media professionals to set up voluntary editorial guidelines and abide by them in a learning process open to the public.

Franchise- A media franchise, also known as multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work, such as a film, a work of literature, a television programme or a video game.

Channel-surfing- Channel surfing is the practice of quickly scanning through different television channels or radio frequencies to find something interesting to watch or listen to.

PSB- Public Service Broadcasting is broadcasting made, financed and controlled by the public, for the public. It is neither commercial not state-owned, free from political interference and presure from commercial forces.

TV licence- A TV Licence is a legal permission to install or use television recieving equipment to watch or record television programmes as they are being shown on TV or live on an online TV service, and to download or watch BBC programmes on demand, including catch up TV on BBC iPlayer.

Scheduling- Media scheduling refers to the pattern of timing of an advertising which is represented as plots on a flowchart on a yearly basis. The plots in the flowchart indicate the pattern of periods that matches with favourable selling periods.

Conglomerate- A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprise, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the internet.


Research Task:

When was TV introduced to the UK?

Broadcast television started in the UK in 1936, but was subsequently shut down during the war years (1939-45). Broadcasts were restarted in 1946.

In 1965, how many channels were there in the UK and what were they?

When did ITV start? Why was it different? 

Which UK channels have to follow PSB remits?

Who regulated TV now?

Who regulated TV channels in the 1960s?

List the differences between TV in the 60s and now.