History of TV

1936 - BBC launched first broadcast from Alexandra Palace

1939 -  BBC stops transmitting during World War II

1955 - ITV launches at Independent Television not funded by tax payers

1960 - BBC rebrands to BBC TV

1960 - The first episode of Coronation Street is aired.

1964 - BBC 2 launches in higher definition therefore not possible for every TV owner to receive.

1964 -  BBC TV rebrands again to BBC One

1964 - BBC One broadcasts the first ever Top Of The Pops

1966 - BBC One and ITV broadcast The World Cup with 32.3 million viewers in total.

1967 - BBC 2 transmissions colour TV

1969 - Colour transmissions begin on BBC One and ITV

1969 - ITV, BBC One and Two all broadcast the Apollo 11 moon landing

1972 - The first episode of Emmerdale is aired

1974 - The introduction of Teletex

1975 - Fawlty Towers is first aired

1979 - Industrial strike within ITV and stops broadcasting for ten weeks. Upon return they showed repeats for two and half months with no original material being transmitted.

1982 - Launch of Channel 4

1985 - The first episode of Eastenders is aired.

1990 - SKY launches as a pay monthly subscription service including film rental.

1997 - Channel 5 launches, with availability on SKY

2002 - Launch of Freeview a digital service provider

1997 - Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph co found Netflix

2004 - November saw Top Of The Pops switched over to BBC Two in a bid to revive the show.

2006 - In June TOTP was cancelled with the last edition being aired in July.

2006 - Channel 4 starts up 4 On Demand allowing free downloads via the internet. This is the first sign of 'Catch Up TV'

2007 - Shortly after ITV launches their own version of on demand

2007 - In the same year BBC iplayer becomes available online a

2007 - Netflix introduces streaming

2009 - Netflix becomes available on iphone and ipad in the same year Blockbuster files for bankruptcy.

2012 - Sees the national 'digital switchover' to which analogue transmissions cease in all areas.

2014 - Netflix reports 50mn users

News Article

With the capability of social media and technology on the rise there are growing concerns about young people's safety online. The Mirror reports that according the NSPCC are extremely and concerned and campaigning for government enforcement's on safety and privacy settings across social media platforms. This would in turn prevent websites and apps from providing young people with inappropriate content or subject to grooming by predators. I

I think The Mirror reported the story well, covering a news item that may not be headline news but one that needs to receive equal awareness.The article included well rounded statistics and quotes as chif executive of the NSPCC, Peter Wanless claimed that according to their survey of 1,725 children more than sixty percent of young people asked said that social platforms need to do more to keep children safe.' The NSPCC warns that these sites and apps can have negative effects on children and with 92% of the children having used video messaging sites such as Omegle and Chatroullete, admitting to finding inappropriate content which could in turn see these negative effects arise. I think this article by The Mirror is good advertising for the charity as it draws attention to the issue and also includes a link to 'net aware' the NSPCC's guide to the 50 most popular social networking sites and the risks involved including parenting advice and recommendations. 

News Article

A mum has been charged with murder after 'dumping new born baby in rubbish bag and leaving child to die.'

Nausheen Rahman from Staten Island New York, was initially charged with concealment of a human corpse before investigators realised she had thrown the baby away whilst it was still alive. The 28 year old attended hospital with severe bleeding on the Friday night before deciding to dump the baby girl in the local rubbish. The hospital had no record of the child's birth and it was later found that the baby was born at home. 

I found this story on the Mirror. I think it was an interesting story for them to report because it is not ordinary or typical news. However, I think they could have developed the story more and researched in Rahman more to give a better insight. Personally, I think it is obvious that the mum must have been suffering with mental issues after child birth to have such extreme behaviours, and to be thinking so irrationally, therefore it could have been reported slightly more sensitively. 

Amy

Amy, released in 2015, takes the form of a documentary style piece telling the life and death of singer songwriter Amy Winehouse whom was found dead in her Camden home, aged only 27. The British made film directed by Asif Kapadia has received 29 film awards to date including a BAFTA and an Oscar. The film took £3million from the box office in the opening weekend however also received controversy for its portrayal of Amy's father Mitch whom attempted to sue as he felt he was shown to neglect Amy when it came to her health. Overall, the film was a great success in giving an insight into the late singers private life, showing unseen footage and hearing her friends and family reminisce.  According to the film and various interviews shown throughout it became apparent that initially Amy wanted to stay true to her humble upbringing and simply write songs and produce them. A clip from her first interview with Jonathan Ross is shown and she talks of being made to take elocution lessons, an example of how the industry tried to shape her into their ideal from a very young age, simply to make her more marketable. Several years into her career Amy was on demand by various labels, overwhelmed, she attempted to change management as she feared she was being moulded into a pop star and was losing herself. In the end, Amy became bigger and more successful than she expected. She started out as blues and soul singer with the aim to create music and reach out to a fan base of this genre. Instead her character and wit meant that people fell in love with her and how to down to earth she was. Her music became more and more popular across a wide audience to the point where her music could be heard globally. 

 Since Amy's death technology has had a huge impact on Amy's career. When she died her friends took a vow of silence to never discuss her private life. Kapadia however conducted over a 100 interviews with friends and families, in a sensitive and personal way that friends of Amy felt comfortable with. Kapadia said in an interview for The Telegraph I just sat there in a room with a microphone,’ he says. ‘I turned the lights off and we sat in the dark and talked. It became the technique for this film because it was so personal. Sometimes people wouldn’t want to talk, or they’d agree to talk just for 10 minutes, then it would become an hour, two hours, five hours…’ . On the other hand, it wasn’t always the case that technology had a positive impact on her life. Her brief relationship with Blake was often documented in the media, and from this is what most believe was the demise of Amy as her drug and alcohol fuelled life is what lead to her death in 2011.

Kapadia explores various representations throughout. The representation of issues is shown through Amy's drug and alcohol abuse, also the pressure she felt from the music industry and pressure to produce albums despite her telling management that she wasn't in the right place to write. The representation of youth is explored as Amy was 27 when she died and therefore became apart of the '27 club' amongst other stars such as Kurt Cobain that died so young due to reckless living driven by alcholism and drug addiction. In addition, family issues are represented through the seperation of her parents when she was 8 years old which it is believed was her downfall and what ultimately lead to her being so dependant on Blake and on substance abuse. 

News Article

An anorexic teenager has outlived the two weeks doctors claimed she would survive. Charlotte Amos fought anorexia for six years eating only fruit and chewing gum, less than 50 calories daily. The seventeen year old from Devon has made news to encourage reinforcement on anorexia sufferers as she claims she only survived after being banned from ballet for fainting. Amos' parents told their daughter could return if she attempted to gain weight and through her love of dance she found this a reason to save her self.  Charlotte claims 'for me to realise that i may never have danced again was heartbreaking- I had no energy but it was all i wanted to do, that's when i knew it was time to change.'

I think the Daily Mirror were right in publishing this story as it could really help people that find themselves in a similar condition. The article was written sensitively and I think has the potential to be very encouraging.

Music Industry

Adele:

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on the 5th May 1988 and is known as a signer song writer. She rose to famous graduating from the BRIT school in 2006, and has released three albums to date, 19, 21 and her latest one 25. Adele's breakthrough song 'hometown glory' was released in 2007, followed by 'chasing pavements' in 2008. In 2009 Adele was awarded three BRIT awards, best British female, best British single and best British breakthrough act. Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the time wrote her a letter to which he thanked her for her music labeling it 'a light at the end of the tunnel.' In April 2012 she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine and her success shows further through being listed number six in Forbe's list of world's highest paid celebrities under the age of 30, due to her having earned £23 million from May 2011 to May 2012. 

In June 2013 Adele was appointed an MBE for her services to music, receiving the award from Prince Charles the following December. Her success also expanded across the film industry as she was recruited for the 23rd Bond film - Skyfall, for which she won a BRIT award for best single and best original song. 

In recent news The Guardian reports 'Adele cried all day' as the multi Grammy winner took the opportunity to perform a song off her new album at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Unfortunately there were technical errors in her performance to which she told US chat show host Ellen Degeneres she 'was embarrased' however she's learnt and feels that it 'cannot gen much worse than the Grammy's now.'

Jessie J:

Jessie J formerly known as Jessica Ellen Cornish was born 27th March 1988 and graduated from the BRIT school the same year as Adele. Growing up in London she began her career in the West End performance of Whistle Down the Wind at aged 11. Following on from this she attended the BRIT school of performing arts before being signed to Sony, writing for Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus. Her breakthrough came with her debut single Do it like a Dude followed by Price Tag topping the charts in nineteen countries.  First identifying as a soul singer she has now recorded many songs of the pop and RnB influence. She has released three albums to date, claiming she is currently working on a new one with the hope of collaborating with different artists due to her previous success in this with chart toppers such as Bang Bang with Ariana Grande. 

Similar to Adele, Jessie J's success also lead her to opportunities in the film industry as she to was recruited for the 2015 film Pitch Perfect 2 with the song 'Flashlight'. Jessie J's net worth is estimated at around £8mn to which she has out to good use supporting charities such as Comic Relief, Children in Need and Red Nose Day events, infamously shaving her head for Red Nose Day 2013. She is also a supporter of UK children's charity Believe in Magic who enables terminally ill children to be granted their final wishes. Jessie J's personal life is always of speculation in the media as she is open about her sexuality exclaiming to In Demand Radio in March 2011 'I've never denied it. Whoopdie doo guys, yes, i've dated girls and boys - get over it!' Jessie J has recently been reported to be dating American singer Luke James having relocated to L.A as she believes the US appreiciates her voice more. 

News Article

The Daily Mirror reports that Cricketer Chris Gayle has been 'slammed over sexist remarks to TV interviewer that included "don't blush baby".' The controversy was caused after Gayle asked the female reporter out during a live interview. After a game played in Melbourne he was interviewed by Australian presenter Mel Mclaughlin. The Mirror reports he made comments such as 'I wanted to come and have an interview with you as well' and 'that's the reason i'm here, just to see your eyes for the first time. It's nice.' It is said Mclaughlin remained professional replying that she was 'not blushing' after Gayle commented 'Hopefully we can win this game and have a drink after. Don't blush baby.' The Mirror covered the story well even including a tweet from former England batsman Andrew Flintoff who claimed Gayle 'made himself look a bit of a

chop there.'

Who Owns What

Disney

The Walt Disney company is a conglomerate therefore owns many different companies within its own company. Headquartered in California it is the world's second most largest conglomerate relating to revenue made. 

Walt Disney founded the company in 1923 and began to grow through the American animation industry. The company's successful expansion over the years has lead it to achieve owning 

•  ABC Network
• Disney channel
• ESPN 
• 14 theme parks globally - including, Orlando, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai 
• ABC Family - airing shows such as Pretty Little Liars amongst other teen dramas
• The Muppets holding company
• Marvel Entertainment - superhereos 
• Lucasfilm
• Maker Studios- a youtube company that generates billions of views annually 
• Pixar Animation - creators of Toy Story and Monsters Inc.
• Dorameon - an agreement to buy a Japanese Anime series from Japan's TV Asahi Corporation 
• Disney XD - for which Dorameon is aired
• Radio Disney
• Have recently filed three patents for the use of drones - August 2014

The company operates through four main 'business segments' 

• The Walt Disney Studios 

This includes the film production companies, the musical record label and theatrical divisions

• Parks and Resorts

This features the companies theme parks, cruise ships and other aspects of Disney travel. 

• Media Networks

These include their TV channels (Disney channel)  and other networks (ABC) they have merged with/ taken over as part of the conglomerate.

• Disney Consumer Products

This produces toys, clothing and other merchandise under the Disney company name and often sold in Disney concept stores. Also, including games to do with their shows and animations, also social media platforms they now own such as Club Penguin. 

   

Coursework Development

From the second draft of my coursework I have decided that I need more primary research included in my investigation as it currently consists of secondary research only. Previously I have used articles from magazines, online journals such as the one from Paul Hunt and researched into my TV shows using the internet. Therefore, I decided to create a questionnaire as a practice run for what questions will be featured in my documentary so that I can see if the types of questions are likely to work. The questionnaire is designed to investigate into the magazine industry as well however after narrowing my area of research down I have decided to focus on TV and film only therefore these questions will not be included in my final piece.

Coursework Development Questionnaire from abbybiggle

Production Idea

The questions asked in my production will come from the questions used in the questionnaire included in my research investigation for my primary research. 

Production idea from abbybiggle

News Article

The Sun Newspaper had a whole page and photo included titled 'I just had a Jacko Moment'. The feature was about a mum yelling 'Wacko Jacko!' as she dangled her baby out of a window with a 15ft drop -  in a bid to interpret the Michael Jackson balcony stunt. The Sun writes about how the woman recieved a 16 week jail sentence at Hull magistrates court however the newspaper reports that her defence simply called it a 'moment of madness'. I think the story is irrelevant to have page 11 of The Sun as the article failed to say why the mother did it or even suggest to readers how wrong and irresponsible her actions were.

Weekend

Weekend is a 2011 piece directed by Andrew Haigh. I would say the film is Romantic Drama featuring aspects of Social Realism. The film is based on homosexuality with the main protagonist being Russell a man in his late 30's who struggles to identify as gay. Although he is comfortable coming out to his friends, he prefers not to show his sexuality when in public. This is where it could be argued the film has elements of a 'coming of age' genre as by the end of his two day experience with Glen he ignores the fact he is in public and kisses him at the train station despite getting heckled. The Social Realism aspect throughout comes from the two men being of a middle social class with regular jobs and incomes. 

The film was independently made and featured Tom Cullen and Chris New as Russell and Glenn. I like how realistic the whole film was and although I thought it was slow at times it just followed the pace of a normal weekend opposed to being fast paced and unrealistic like Box Office hits tend to be. I liked the natural approach to filming it with intimate camera angles that let the audience feel they were apart of the conversation, especially as the film was dominated by dialouge throughout. 

News Article

Following the tragic events in Paris this weekend the Metro covered the topic tastefully. I think it is important for the event to be reported sensitively due to the amount of people that lost their lives and those that lost their loved ones. 

Amongst other news, The Xfactor also managed to be very sensitive around the issue deciding that finalists Lauren and Monica should change their song choices for 'movie week' as the lyrics were deemed insensitive. 

Simon Cowell also interupted the live recording of the show to wish for viewers safety - ‘In light of what happened in Paris we’d like to send out thoughts and prayers to everyone affected in Paris, last night,’ Simon said. ‘Please stay safe.’ 

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/15/the-x-factor-simon-cowell-makes-last-minute-song-choice-changes-after-paris-attacks-5503196/#ixzz3raxv6jel

News Article

The Daily Mail reports that there is a serial sex attacker in the South London area.  Over the past 22 days there have been 8 other sexual assaults in the Brixton and Clapham area, all taking place within 1.5 miles of each other. Two men were arrested under suspicion however have since been released on bail. 

I think the media has dealt with this case relatively sensitively releasing positive statements from Chief Inspector of the case Tony Hirst 'I would like to reassure the public that we have increased police patrols in Clapham and Brixton areas.' I find this better than scaring the public simply to make a good story and therefore the Daily Mail show they are thinking of their readers, also telling people to be cautious 'Always call police if you feel in danger'.  It is also reassured that night time patrols have increased and gave further advice to women to 'remain vigilant when travelling at night'. 

Saving The Cyber Sex Girls and Race Riots

Stacey Dooley investigates Saving the Cyber Sex Girls:
Saving the Cyber Sex Girls is a BBC3 documentary presented by Stacey Dooley. The show explored how young girls are being exploited and sexually abused online, particularly in the Philippines. Themes explored throughout the documentary include sex, social class, age and poverty. Poverty was a dominant theme and consistently referenced. Dooley looked at how a lack of income can force families to using their own children for sex trafficking, showing the true extent of their desperation. Children as young as five were described to being forced to perform sexual acts on webcam with some being shipped off to meet with foreign men that would later pay for sex. Dooley was clever in the way she spoke to victims to enable the audience to see their thought processes and if they think of themselves as being exploited. At one point in the show Stacey visited an internet cafe and spoke to a fourteen year old girl that had recently lost her virginity to a man that had flew to the Philippines especially to pay for sex with her. The show explored how these arrangements are often made on Facebook, a social media site that is so popular and can be so innocently used  it is hard for the audience to believe such terrible deals could me made via.  

To further investigate the cyber sex industry Dooley visits an organisation that created a fake online persona - ten year old Sweetie. In less than two months the character was contacted by more than 20,000 predators that wanted to make sexual arrangements with her or asked her to perform explicit acts. Sweetie's creators were able to trace 1,000 of these paedophiles and 110 were found to be British. Shockingly, out of the 1,000 predators contacted there were only 6-8 prosecutions.  

Overall Dooley concluded that the boom in cheap internet access and the extremely low age of consent at 12 is what makes the Philippines the perfect grooming ground for cyber sex. I like Stacey's Dooley's way of reporting as she can give a true insight into problems without being intrusive. She enabled the audience to see the extent to which young girls are being exploited and gave not only their side of the story but their perpetrators by visiting a local prison. 

Reggie Yates' Race Riots:

Race Riots USA is a recent documentary made for the BBC and presented by Reggie Yates. Yates investigates how black people are treated in American society, particularly in the town of Ferguson. The show was mainly focused on the death of Michael Brown a black eighteen year old who was killed by a white police officer Darren Wilson on the 9th August 2014.  The documentary featured footage of the riots that followed the death of Brown and how the town has been segregated between black and white ever since. Themes explored throughout are race, police brutality and also the representation of black people and white police officers in the news especially.

  I really liked the style of the documentary how it took the audience around the town and allowed us to see where the event unfolded. Reggie also visited a lawyer linked to similar cases, a charity shop opened after the death of Brown and also a large portion of the show was dedicated to Reggie meeting Brown's friend Clifton who had to watch his friend's body remain in the road for four hours. Moreover, I like how the documentary featured facts to help the audience develop their opinion such as the ratio of black to white people in Ferguson being at 70% to 30%. The show also looked at the protesters aiming to clear Wilson of his reputation who believe that although Brown was killed he wasn't innocent as he had stolen from a local shop, therefore possibly put himself in that situation at his own risk. My favourite part was watching Reggie be put in a crime situation and given a simulated gun. This was to test if he would succumb to pressure and reach for his gun - which he did.