"Jurassic Shark" was broadcast as part of a series of related programs and feature films on Channel 5, which was titled the "Terrors of the Deep - Weekend". This essay will focus on the contents of the documentary

Introduction: "Jurassic Shark" was broadcast as part of a series of related programs and feature films on Channel 5, which was titled the "Terrors of the Deep - Weekend". This essay will focus on the contents of the documentary as well as its approach towards the audience. The spirit of the program: By being part of the "Terrors of the Deep - Weekend" it seems unlikely that this documentary was just aiming to attract unbiased hobby-marine-biologists. Since the film "Jaws" 1 at the latest the word shark already attracts attention on its own. So what can the viewer expect when hearing a title like "Jurassic Shark"? The close relation of the name to "Jurassic Park"2 is surely not just coincidental. The one-hour documentary's intention was to inform about the history and evolution of sharks from the Jurassic period until today. Considering this special weekend though the viewer would also be expecting something a bit more frightening than just a normal documentary. Approach: Documentaries have become very popular again over the lost couple of years. This might also be due to the fact that computers have made it possible to give a far better impression of how life may have looked like, in a time that could not be captured by photography yet. "Jurassic Shark" opens with a teaser. It shows a huge shark passing by from the screen towards the endless ocean. The viewer's position

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Soap is the most common form of drama on British Television: is this beneficial or detrimental to the future welfare of British drama

Soap is the most common form of drama on British Television: is this beneficial or detrimental to the future welfare of British drama? Soap opera is the most popular genre of television programming across the globe and has been the leading favourite of British television for the past forty-six years. The trend evolved from the radio soap operas of the 1930s and 1940s, surfacing first in the United States and later spreading across the world. It attracted large audiences consisting mainly of female listeners and with the growing popularity of television it soon became firmly rooted on the screen. The long running Coronation Street was the first British soap opera to make a significant impact on UK drama in 1960s. Its aim was to target mainly working class people in creating a microcosm of the working world we live in, focusing on realism as opposed to the escapism forms of the American soaps. In order to conclude on whether the dominance of this genre is beneficial or detrimental to the future welfare of British drama, I'm going to study the pros and cons of soap opera as a form of British Television. Over the years soap operas have been continuously praised and condemned by the general public and despite of its popularity the genre continues to carry the connotation of a degraded cultural form of television drama. There is the common belief that soap operas are for

  • Word count: 1342
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Soap opera history.

By Luke kyriakdes Since their introduction back in the thirties, people have rushed home from work or hurried their chores so they are able to watch or listen to their favourite soap opera. For most families, the soap has become the focal point of their day. For some, it's to escape, when they come back from work, or have just had a bad day, they can watch someone else's problems on their favourite soap, to take their mind off real life problems. The name 'Soap Opera' originated all the way back in the thirties in America. In the early thirties, drama series were broadcasted on afternoon radio, aimed at female audiences. The shows were broadcast in between soap powder commercials - mostly sponsored by large companies such as Procter & Gamble. The first British radio soap opera began in 1942, it was called Front Line Family. From the 1950's, soaps took over television, with the very first soap launched on BBC in 1954 running until 1957. ITV launched in 1956, By 1960 it flag shipped the very first mass-watched drama, which realistically reflected real life. It is still running today. BBC finally learnt in 1984, when it launched Eastenders. Eastenders is also still running today. The soap world has witnessed a number of failures. For example, BBC launched Eldorado in 1992, with a rage of publicity. The BBC foolishly spent £2m building a village in Spain. It failed miserably

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Soap opera scheme of work.

Year 10. Soap opera scheme of work. In this essay I am going to analyse the representation of women and young people in Hollyoaks and Eastenders. The target audience of Hollyoaks are young people because there are young people in Hollyoaks. It won't be for an older audience because they will be watching other soaps like Eastenders because there are old and young people in it. Hollyoaks is on at 6:30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, some people will be at work but the younger people would of come home from school a couple of hours before Hollyoaks starts. Older people will be able to watch Hollyoaks on Sunday because they might not be working on a Sunday. It's on at 12:00 so they will be able to watch it if they what to. There is a range of characters in Hollyoaks young school kids, young women and some old people. Old and young people watch Eastenders because most people would of come home work, young people would of come home from school so all ages could watch it. Eastenders starts at 8:00 and sometimes at 7:30 so old and young people have time to watch it. It is also on, on Sunday. There is a range of characters in Eastenders, there are old people like Dot and Pat, there are middle-aged women like Laura and Kat, and there are young people like Zoel and Sonya. The main ingredients of soaps are things like: affairs, murders, most people get pregnant, generally

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Soap operas or 'soaps' criteria

This work is all about soap operas or `soaps'. A soap is a drama on TV which shows various aspects of family, or ordinary daily life. Soaps include aspects of family life, issues within families are greatly used parts in soaps. With family life you can see people growing up, people's attitudes towards each other changing, for better and for worse. You can see families develop, falling in love, getting married like Nat and Barry in Eastenders. You get to see what the outcome is when one partner of a relationship goes behind the back of the other one, they have an affair. Eventually the good partner finds out the there are a lot of questions, will they stay together, will they not, what about the baby if there is one. Also what about the person the partner was having an affair with, what happens when the people around them find out. There are a lot of issues that can be raised by family life and an almost endless list of situations that can be created. These family life storylines are based around real life and shows good information and hidden messages to people, especially younger people about what goes on in life. They also show a number of outcomes and resolutions to help viewers. A soap is generally set in a limited location because as they concern family life the soaps stay around the area in which the families live, the house, the work place and public places like pubs

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Television and the distortion of reality

Television and the distortion of reality TV in today's society often distorts our view of the world and its reality. This often happens when people start to relate to everything they see to be real, or "Written in Stone," as some may say. Hopefully at the end of this article you will look at television a little more unrealistic than realistic. When looking at this subject, it is easiest to break it down into six categories, which are derived from cultural critic George Gerbner's research: Sex, age, race, work, health, and crime. (Waters 166.) The most common role in the sex category is the way the family is portrayed. The perfect example is the show the Wonder Years. It is often portrayed as the way families were set up in through out the fifty's and sixties. There is the male, father, and man of the house. He is expected to be in charge. What he says goes, and everyone listens. The mother is usually known as the common housewife, not daring to get a job, because the husband is the so-called "Bread winner." Her role is to clean the house, cook all the meals, and tend after the children. Even all-major decision-making is left to the male. It's always, ask your father. The children may try to talk their way out of trouble with the mother, but very rarely with the father. They know he will get mad and say no. In the second category, age, we will consider as people over the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Television Institutions.

When we home from school, work or aver fining we switch on the television to watch a particular programme. We have certain expectations that the programme will start and finish at a specific time. We see television as it is a normal part of everyday life. Like reading a newspaper, shopping or going to school. One of the biggest channels is BBC. BBC is funded through the licence fee. Everyone in England how has TV must pay for this licence. This licence pays for the programmes on the BBC and on the radio stations owned by the BBC (radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). There are no adverts on the BBC or these radio stations. It is a non-commercial (not there to make a profit) stations whereas ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are commercial stations (there to make profit). Channel ITV, channel 4 and channel 5 are been owned by large moneymaking organisations whose aim is to make profit for their shareholders. So they charging advertisers large sums of promote their products on these stations (usually six minutes of adverts per hour). SKY and cable have no restrictions on how many adverts they show in any hours, therefore, have far more adverts as this means more profit for theme. Most of the channels complement with each other, for example on Thursday the 20 of April on ITV there is Emmerdaleand at 7.00o'clock and on BBC1 there is watchdog with Anne Robinson at 7.00. Then at on 7.30 on BBC1

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Television is the scapegoat for society's ills." Discuss.

Television is the scapegoat for society's ills." Discuss. In the past few decades, the cultural and moral values of our society have been decaying rapidly, partly due to the unhealthy competition in society that had arisen together with the insatiable demand for wealth. In fact, this decay is taking place so rapidly that people are desperately searching for the root of the problem. Naturally, the various groups of citizens in this society would be less than willing to put the blame on themselves and as a result, television, a form of mass media whose popularity has rise so alarmingly in the past few years, has conveniently been made a scapegoat for our own mistakes and problems. Unfortunately, it is undeniable that in a small way, television has contributed to some of the problems in our society. In a bid to boost ratings, producers have added much violence and sex to programmes to make them exciting. As a result, minors have been exposed to the wrong ideas. Besides, some programmes are so "exciting" that people spend too much time watching television, neglecting their work or studies. The promotion of sexual liberalization has also destroyed the conservative cultures of >numerous nations. Hence, many people have blamed their problems on television. However, television is merely a tool of mass communication. The actual masterminds behind the popularity and content of

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Television show volume vs. commercial volume.

Television Show Volume vs. Commercial Volume Have you ever flipped through channels on a television and decided to watch a commercial? If you have, you probably decided to watch the commercial because something grabbed your attention. The attention grabber was probably the audio level. Sound waves are usually the only attention grabber of commercials. Most commercials do sound louder than television shows. Television sound waves give many interpretations to the brain. As television sound waves contact ear drums, the ear drums move and convert the energy of sound waves into electrical surges that are sent to the brain. The stronger the sound waves are, the louder it sounds. However, the brain does interpret sounds in different ways. This means that some waves may seem to have a sound louder than others, even if the loud and soft sounds have the same volume (Hislop, 2001). A way to measure loudness of sound is by using the decibel. It is one tenth of a bel (named after Alexander Bell). However, the larger unit, bel, is rarely used. The decibel uses many different scales to measure sound. One scale, the dBFS, uses zero as the highest sound that can be reached. The dB stands for decibel and the FS stands for full scale. The dBFS uses negatives to describe sound. The farther away a sound from zero in negatives, the lower the sound is. For example, if a sound was

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Television Violence and the Effects on Children

Television Violence and the Effects on Children Television Violence: Effects, and Solutions Allison Thornton University of Lethbridge April 1, 2002 "Every television show is educational. The lessons taught can vary infinitely." (Spicer). What lesson is violent television teaching our children? It is a sad reflection on today's media when children are hurt because other children are reenacting what they have seen on television. The cases in the news are many, the boy who thinking he was a "Power Ranger" and seriously injuring a friend. More recently the Taber, Alberta and Littleton, Colorado shootings, where the perpetrators at Colombine mimicked a scene from a movie, and with Taber mimicking the Colombine incident. This essay will cover three major effects of television violence on children and what can be done to protect children from television violence. The Issue "Media are means. We aim, through media, to indulge and serve our hungers by inviting images and sounds into our lives, making them come and go with ease in a never-ending quest for stimulus and sensation." (MacIntyre, 2002) Television can influence you everyday to buy certain products by advertisements, and influences your beliefs by the dramas, documentaries and newscasts. The concern is that Television can influence your actions after you walk away from the television. This makes the effect of violent

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Media Studies
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