Industry and Hesmondhalgh

1. Cultural Industries – Hesmondhalgh
Cultural industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing
concentration and integration – cultural production is owned and
controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a
range of media to reduce risk.
Risk is particularly high in the cultural industries because of the
difficulty in predicting success, high production costs, low
reproduction costs and the fact that media products are ‘public
goods’ – they are not destroyed on consumption but can be further
reproduced. This means that the cultural industries rely on ‘big hits’
to cover the costs of failure. Hence industries rely on repetition
through use of stars, genres, franchises, repeatable narratives and
so on to sell formats to audiences, then industries and governments
try to impose scarcity, especially through copyright laws.
The internet has created new powerful IT corporations, and has not
transformed cultural production in a liberating and empowering
way – digital technology has sped up work, commercialised leisure
time and increased surveillance by government and companies.

2. Applicable to LFTVD?

3. D83 Production
• The show was created by the husband and wife team of American
novelist Anna Winger and German TV producer Joerg Winger. It is
produced by Joerg Winger, Nico Hofmann, and Henriette Lippold. Anna
Winger said that they did extensive research with experts who were
from both sides of Germany. Historian Klaas Voss from the Hamburg
Institute for Social Research was very important in providing historical
information. Jonas Nay, who played Martin, said he received technical
assistance from military adviser/NATO expert Steffen Meier.
• The show was shot in and around locations in Berlin, Germany. A
suburb in east Berlin was used to portray period East Germany. For
some scenes the Stasi headquarters was used as a location and the
production was able to film at the Stasi Museum, which is the actual
site of the original headquarters.
• Directors Edward Berger and Samira Radsi used the same crew—and
often the same locations—to shoot their respective episodes. One
director would prepare for shooting while the other was shooting. They
worked in parallel like this throughout the filming of the show.
• SundanceTV created a digital marketing strategy that reflected the use
of locations in Germany that were meant to recreate both East and
West Germany in the early 1980s.

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
UFXRyQ4vohY
• 1) What does Jonas Nay say about growing up in a united Germany?
2) The Channel 4 News interview is conducted in German with
English subtitles. How does this reflect Channel 4's remit as a public
service broadcaster and their target audience?
• "Channel 4 is a publicly-owned and commercially-funded UK public
service broadcaster, with a statutory remit to deliver high-quality,
innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo.”
3) Interviewer Matt Frei asks about the current political situation in
Germany. Why might this interest the audience of D83?

5. The Making of
• https://www.channel4.com/programmes/deutschland-
83/videos/all/making-of-why-should-you-watch-
deutschland-83/4685975315001
• 1) Why should audiences watch Deutschland 83 - what
does the clip offer viewers?
2) Why is history an important aspect of the appeal of
the show?
3) What technical aspects are highlighted in the video?

6. The Making of
• https://www.channel4.com/programmes/deutschland-
83/videos/all/making-of-set-design/4685975324001
• 1) Why were the set design, costume and props so
important for Deutschland 83?
2) How historically accurate was the setting, costume
and props?
3) Why were the props, costumes and music such a key
audience pleasure for Deutschland 83?

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?ti
me_continue=3&v=Eb0yFr2jVAU
• 1) The opening of the trailer uses sound and editing to draw
the audience in. Explain why this is effective.
2) How does the trailer use action and enigma codes (Barthes)
to encourage the audience to watch the show?
3) The trailer uses the song 'Two Tribes' by Frankie Goes To
Hollywood. Why did the producers select this soundtrack for
the trailer?
4) The only words heard in the trailer are in English. Why do
you think the UK trailer avoided subtitles or German dialogue?

8. • Originally shown on Channel 4 and is now readily accessible
through their ‘Walter Presents’ service.
• Walter Presents is a video on demand service of UK's Channel
4, part of its All 4 online platform. Launched on 3 January 2016,
it specialises in foreign language drama and comedy (English
subtitled). It is named after Walter Iuzzolino, who selects its
content.
• In the UK the service is a partnership between Channel 4
and Global Series Network. It is free to view and supported by
adverts. Walter Iuzzolino began reviewing potential content for
the service two years before its launch, viewing 3,500 hours of
television in all.
• The service aims to avoid so called art house programming in
favour of more mainstream productions, aimed at competing
against services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, and toward
audiences already familiar with Nordic dramas such as The
Bridge. Iuzzolino set three criteria – any selected show must be
popular in its native country, it must be "award-winning or
already critically acclaimed", and it must have "the finest
writing, directing and acting that each country has to
offer....something worth our time as viewers".

9. • The series premiered on 17 June 2015 on the Sundance TV channel in
the United States, becoming the first German-language series to air on a
US network. The broadcast was in the original German, with English
subtitles.
• In Germany, Deutschland 83 began to air after the U.S. run on RTL 26
November 2015. There, the series lost viewers over the course of its run;
the series finale had 1.72 million viewers, or approximately half of the
series premiere's viewers. As a result, German newspaper Bild called the
show "the flop of the year". Despite weak initial ratings in
Germany, Deutschland 83 became a sleeper hit.
• It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2016,
with the final two episodes shown back-to-back on 14 February. It has
since become the most popular foreign-language drama in the history of
British television with an audience of 2.5 million viewers as of January
2016.

10. • Research the following TV channels and consider their
ideology and why Deutschland 83 was aired on them
• Sundance TV – USA
• Channel 4 – UK
• RTL Television - Germany

11. Cultural Industries – Hesmondhalgh
Cultural industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing
concentration and integration – cultural production is owned and
controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a
range of media to reduce risk.
Risk is particularly high in the cultural industries because of the
difficulty in predicting success, high production costs, low
reproduction costs and the fact that media products are ‘public
goods’ – they are not destroyed on consumption but can be further
reproduced. This means that the cultural industries rely on ‘big hits’
to cover the costs of failure. Hence industries rely on repetition
through use of stars, genres, franchises, repeatable narratives and
so on to sell formats to audiences, then industries and governments
try to impose scarcity, especially through copyright laws.
The internet has created new powerful IT corporations, and has not
transformed cultural production in a liberating and empowering
way – digital technology has sped up work, commercialised leisure
time and increased surveillance by government and companies.