The document discusses theories of genre, representation, audience, and realism that will inform the development of a new TV channel and website. It will draw on genre conventions like soap operas and reality TV to attract broad audiences. Representations will follow theories of the male gaze and use stereotypes to seem realistic and appeal to psychographic groups. The website, ads, and listings will work together through consistent branding and the incorporation of social media to create an active audience.

1. Theoretical Research

2. Daniel Chandler’s genre theory:
Daniel Chandler’s genre theory states that genres tend to
be based on the notion that they constitute particular
conventions of content, with this applying to our TV
website because we have to fully make sure that a range
of genres are depicted within the channel because this
will subsequently allow a range of audiences to become
engaged with our channel and our shows. This therefore
means that by fitting with the conventions of genres, we
will allow our audience to instantly become synonymous
with the themes that we represent which therefore
means that we are sticking to Daniel Chandler’s genre
theory.

3. Daniel Chandler’s genre theory:
For example, when representing our soap opera,
which is the predominant aspect we wish to
convey because this can attract a mass
audience, we will constitute the entertainment
genre by highlighting the typical settings within
the soap. This means that we can represent
working-class people – a typical convention of
soap opera settings – because these characters
are regarded as primarily belonging to the soap
opera genre.

4. Neale’s genre theory:
We wish to subvert from Neale’s genre theory in a sense,
as he states that ‘genres are instances of repetition and
difference’, which is something that we follow because of
the repetition aspect as this will allow the audience to
instantly recognise our soap opera as a flagship show –
though because we wish to stick to the conventions, we
will not differ with our representation of other genres.
For example, we wish to convey our reality television
programmes on our website as conventional reality
shows as this highlights Neale’s theory of repetition,
though we will subvert in the sense that the glamorous
lifestyle will not be paramount to the representation.

5. Uses and gratifications
The uses and gratifications theory applies
intrinsically for our TV website, due to the fact that
the audience will view our website in order to seek
pleasure – hence meaning that we will provide
them with a range of genres in order to allow them
to recognise the typical features of a TV website so
that they can engage with the content. This is why
we find it so important to follow the conventions,
as the audience will have recognition of the aspects
that are important, with our channel focusing on
representing genres like soap operas and reality
television – essentially the entertainment genre.

6. Aristotle’s theory:
Therefore, this also relates to Aristotle’s theory that
different emotional responses link to different genres and
also that genres can offer a sense of escapism, this
highlights the type of demographic that we can
predominantly focus upon because we want to allow our
brand to be accessible to those that are 18+. With our
television website being conventional, it means that
Aristotle’s theory is paramount for us because we can
elicit different responses from the audience by conveying
different types of genre on our website, as this allows a
range of emotive responses and also a variety of
audiences to become engaged with our shows through
the website.

7. Deborah Knight’s theory:
Deborah Knight’s theory will apply within our TV website, as
we wish to convey that genres will satisfy certain audiences
which is therefore the reason why we will use the
conventional aspects of entertainment genre, as this is an
extremely popular genre. Moreover, Knight says ‘genre
provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation’,
hence connoting that if we follow the convention of soap
operas by ending on a cliff-hanger and using Freytag’s
dramatic structure, then we will create audience interest and
anticipation as they will want to seek the events that happen
next. This is something that is invaluable for our TV website as
we have to include a promotional video for our brand within
the advert, so connoting our flagship shows is integral for our
website.

8. Laura Mulvey’s representation theory:
We will be following Laura Mulvey’s male gaze, with this
theory depicting that women are objectified through the
eyes of a heterosexual male. We will follow this with our
TV website through the connotations of the programmes
that we highlight, as we will create the promotional video
for the site by representing the stereotypical woman to
have less power than the male characters, therefore it
shows we are following conventions and the male gaze
theory. By highlighting the female as the passive
character that is being looked at, we can create suspense
with our promotional video due to the power that the
male will have – as we can show this through the use of
low-angle shots and level status of both genders.

9. Janice Winship’s representation theory:
We will be opposing Janice Winship’s notion of complicity
because this depicts that the female is complicit in
creating an ideal version of herself for a male audience,
though we do not wish to give gratification towards the
female as we are using the male gaze theory instead. This
relates to the fact that we are also contrasting David
Gauntlett’s empowered female theory, as we wish to
connote the female as stereotypical which therefore
indicates that the male will have more power, meaning
they will follow traditional feminine features alike how a
heterosexual male would depict them.

10. Propp’s character types:
The theory supports about characters and actions as having
narrative functions. Every character has one of these
functions, and they provide a structure for the text. We will be
using aspects of this theory within our website as we connote
the characters within the promotional video for the channel,
though our character types will alternate slightly to fit with
the conventions of soap opera characters. Rather than having
such character types as a hero, donor and dispatcher as these
are prevalent within Propp’s character types theory, we will
focus upon representing Levi Strauss’ binary oppositions with
essentially a good character against a negatively portrayed
character, with soap villains vital to keeping the audience
engaged.

11. Narrative theory:
We will not be creating an entire piece of drama for our
project, though we have to indicate a story of interest
towards the audience, hence why we wish to use stages
of Freytag’s dramatic structure with the focus on ending
on a climax to generate audience interest towards the
channel. We will be using aspects of Todorov’s narrative
structure, though primarily this will indicate the initial
stage of equilibrium before ultimately ending in a state of
disequilibrium so that the audience is drawn towards the
denouement of the action – meaning they will be enticed
to watch the new channel we create.

12. Multi-strand narrative theory:
The presentation of our channel is integral to
indicate the audience that we wish to aim at,
therefore meaning that we have to highlight the
sense of narrative within the promotional videos
and images for our TV website. Soap operas use a
multi-strand narrative meaning that several
different storylines will occur at the same time,
subsequently meaning that it is fundamental for us
for represent the different character types, showing
our own representation of Propp’s character types
but we will use conventional soap opera types.

13. Proairetic code theory:
We will use Barthes’ proairetic code because this involves advancing
the narrative, something that we wish to do because this will generate
audience interest towards our flagship shows for the channel, so by
building tension within our promotional aspects on our website, it
makes the reader anticipate what will happen next. This is similar to
the way that we will use Barthes’ hermeneutic code as we will leave
our promotion without a denouement and without resolution,
meaning that the climax becomes a mystery to the reader, so by
leaving a mystery it will ensure that the audience will certainly want to
see what happens when the show is broadcast. Furthermore, by using
these two codes it allows us to use synergy with the use of web 2.0
due to social networking. By using Barthes’ codes, we leave our action
without a climax and this means that the audience will generate
interest of a climax through Twitter and Facebook, with word-of-mouth
ensuring that the show will become extremely popular due to
an active audience becoming engaged with the show.

14. Audience pleasure theory:
We will be using the intellectual puzzle aspect of
audience pleasures, due to the fact that we are connoting
a mystery towards the audience by not showing a climax,
meaning that the audience need to unravel the story
themselves – hence making them active. The audience
receive pleasure by seeing a new channel and becoming
engaged to it as we are aiming at an audience of around
18+, so conveying our advertisements and promotions for
our new channel with the use of a promotional video,
they can decipher aspects from a plot in order to forecast
what will happen. This therefore indicates that the
audience will wish to seek what will happen on our shows
for our channel in order to gain pleasure.

15. Mediation:
We will use mediation within our products because of the fact that we
will only convey the information to the audience that we as a brand
wish them to have. This demonstrates that we will use aspects of
selection, in order to only show the information that is of fundamental
importance, because the audience will not be interested in
insignificant aspects, with mediation applying primarily for our TV
listings magazine double page spread. We will also use organisation, as
we will structure our TV listings magazine in order to make our channel
appear as integral for the audience to watch, with the use of hyperbole
within our double page spread drawing a range of psychographic
audiences towards our shows. This is why we wish to use two flagship
genres at the forefront of our advertising, with soap operas being
paramount for a mass audience, as we can attract a mass audience
through our representation of these shows.

16. Focusing in mediation:
Moreover, we will use focusing so that we can draw the audience towards the
most vital aspects of our channel which means that we need to convey the
main aspects of the channel, with our brand identity the pivotal part for our
advertisements because this will indicate the types of audience that our
shows will be accessible to. An important part of mediation that applies to
our products is that we will be showing aspects of a reality television show for
our TV channel website, with this being an extremely mediated aspect for our
channel, as we need to represent the characters as realistic so that the
audience can relate to them, as the psychographic audience of aspirers will
appeal to this because they are materialistic and seek assurance from others.
This also highlights that we will use synergy because of the fact that typically
younger audiences find assurance within reality television, as well as this
audience being the most integral for the use of social networking, so we are
wishing to parallel with ITV 2’s (due the psychographic audience of this
channel being similar to ours) flagship show TOWIE, with synergy used
extremely well for this programme.

17. Constructionist View:
The constructionist view applies fundamentally within
our products due to the way that representation needs to
be a mixture of things because we are appealing an entire
brand, so although we focus upon 18+, a mass audience
can be achieved through the representation of a soap
opera as a flagship show. This relates to our product
because features like the context of the society in which
the representation is taking place will appear as very
important for us, as we are subverting the entire
glamorous lifestyle that a lot of reality television goes for,
meaning that the context of our location is something
that will appear as a dominant representation, with the
subversion hence creating audience interest.

18. Dominant Ideology:
Dominant ideology is something that we have to consider when
representing our genders within our channel, as we do not want to
aim towards a specific gender itself – but rather towards a range of
psychographic audiences, as the range of psychographic audiences can
appeal to our flagship shows.
• Aspects of dominant ideology are:
• People should put their families first
• Women should be modest
• Women should look after their appearance
• These aspects need to be considered for our group in order to make
sure that we do not appear as offensive to audiences as this will
mean that people will not be interested within our shows, though I
expect that we will wish to follow these conventions within our
soap opera because of the fact that this is meant to depict a
realistic representation of life within a show.

19. Stereotypes:
We will feature stereotypes within our programmes and within our entire branding
identity because of the fact that although some people perceive stereotypes to be
demeaning – they are an extremely popular overview of the audience’s opinions.
Stereotypes can be used for us as an institution in order to allow us to target our
audience with specific demographic and psychographic audiences. This theory allows
us as a brand to explain the connections between character traits in programmes and
how a stereotypical audience will receive this – we need to make sure that the
audience will interpret our brand successfully and this applies in aspects much further
than our representation of programmes. Simple aspects like colour schemes and fonts
are something that allow us to use this theory in order to help us – as if we use a blue
colour at the forefront of our brand then it may discourage females from using it and
this applies vice versa if we used pink as a dominant colour, alike how ITV’s new
channel ITV Be is using a pink colour to primarily aim towards the female audience.
We need to be neutral with our branding to make sure that we do not single out an
audience, therefore creating a mass audience in terms of genders by allowing the
brand to become accessible towards both male and female, which draws more people
towards our programmes and our identity also.

20. Sociological view of stereotypes:
The sociological view of stereotypes is something that we seek as very
important for our brand, with this being the idea that though
stereotypes are beneficial to some, they are ideologies that result in
the diminution of others. For example, older characters within a soap
opera are classed as wise, approachable and typically nice people,
which may seem as particularly degrading to them and this is because
of the stereotype being used at their expense – even though the
intention is to look positive, it is not entirely dignified and could be
perceived as rather patronising towards them. However, because of
the fact that our target audience will seek experience, representing
older characters like this can appear as fundamental, as the audience
will wish to relate to characters, though we will use the mediation of
stereotypes to allow them to engage with characters.

21. Realism theory:
The realism construction of stereotypes is very important for
us because we need to have a clear interpretation of how to
strengthen our representation within our products. Firstly, we
need to make our brand appear as realistic so that it has a
clear chance of being able to become extremely popular alike
with similar channels of our target audience, with ITV 2 and
E4 looking at similar types of audience, though our target
audience looks at slightly older people. Realism will apply
intrinsically when we use the conventions of products in our
own products, as this means that by keeping to the traditional
aspects of existing products, then the audience will already be
able to distinguish what our product is and how they can
become engaged to it through our use of realistic advertising.

22. Plausible realism:
Plausible realism is the type of realism that we need to consider over
the other aspects predominately, as we will be representing characters
within an advertisement or promotional show by manipulating the
portrayal of characters, this means that we convey them as realistic so
that the audience can engage with characters as they seek assurance
or experience, so a student audience of around 18 years old and
psychographic audience of explorers will look to these characters for
assurance within themselves. However, these characters are fiction
and we still wish to highlight them as real, we need to be plausible in
the aspects of realism to allow the audience to become engaged to
characters in order to like them and seek assurance from them, or
dislike a character, with villains concurrent in soap operas and also
reality television too – because they generate interest.

23. Pluralism and Postmodernism:
We follow the pluralism debate due to the fact that this conveys the
ability of the audience to consume the media for their own
gratifications and needs. This therefore creates an active audience and
this is something that we wish to follow due to the fact that we are
aiming at an audience that will seek assurance from characters and
also because they are the most integral audience for using modern
technology and web 2.0. By showing characters and our brand within a
certain way that does not appear as aiming at a specific gender, we are
able to create a bias within our shows to represent that we are
accessible to anybody, meaning we are essentially manipulating our
audience into the acceptance of dominant ideology, though they may
not be aware of this when looking at our brand. Furthermore, we
agree with postmodernism as this argues that developments in
technology and improved access to this technology have resulted in
empowerment for consumers.

24. Pluralism and Postmodernism:
We therefore agree with this due to the fact that we wish to
incorporate synergy throughout all of our products, because this
allows the audience to be able to become active through the
combination of the website, newspaper advertisement and the double
page listings magazine, with aspects like social networking links all
integrated into each product for consistency, as well as because this
means the audience can access more information. This conveys the
fact that we are agreeing with the postmodernism theory as due to
the improved access of technology and development of web 2.0, as
this means we can represent our brand through this technology in
order to convey our brand and programmes within a specific way,
therefore giving us the advantage because we are in total control of
what we depict towards the audience.

25. Scheduling theory:
The primary scheduling theory that we will be conveying within our
products is the ‘dayparting’ aspect because this allows us to represent
our genres are certain parts of the day because they will appeal to
specific demographics and this is something that we found from the
genre research of ITV. We want to divide our programming into
different parts of the day, with daytime television geared towards a
higher demographic audience and this target audience will engage
with our programming at this part of the day. Prime time within the
‘dayparting’ scheduling will involve our representation of the soap
opera because we wish this show to entice the largest audience due to
the fact that it is a flagship show, whereas our reality television will
focus on a later slot because this is conventional of reality television,
meaning that we have a clear indication on when our genres of
programming are most effective to draw in the largest audience.