MEDIATION THEORYMediation Theory is what the producer wants us to see and not reality. So the media would take something in reality and produces a different perspective to it, which creates entertainment for the audience. Examples such as;

- When recording a show (such as comedy) the director may get the actors/comedians as well as the audience to re-record scenes/jokes until they believe that it is good enough for broadcasting. So filming the show could take up a whole day. But when it is being edited, the whole show may last up to half an hour only.

- When producing a song in studio, the producer may take hours and hours editing a song track before it is released.

There are 3 main points in mediation that producers/directors focus on.1) Selection (for example a news report) specific sections of video footage

may be chosen to be broadcasted to the public because its more interesting/informative/engaging to the audience (as the producer/editor may believe).

2) Organisation (for example in movies) specific video footage will be chosen to be used in the movie. For example when recording for a comedy show (how they would record over and over again until they believe that they have a good footage to be broadcasted).

3) Focusing (for example in movies/TV shows and magazines) when we are watching or reading something, we are ‘encouraged’ to focus on something that the movie/magazine is telling us. In a way, the editor will make us focus on specific thing. For example in movies, the camera may zoom into something and make us focus on that specific thing that they are zooming in on. In magazines, the editor may choose to write specific things in their magazines – for us to be informed on things that the editor believes to be informing/interesting/engaging.

So if we were to watch something such as Doctor Who, we are engaged into ‘their world’. So mediation is basically an escape from reality in which we are engaged into another world.

Representations of London

Love Actually (2003) – Richard Curtis

Green Street (2005) – Lexi Alexander

The Bank Job (2008) – Roger Donaldson

Love Actually represents London to be modern. We see the setting to be ‘normal’ to us because they have used typical scenes/settings that we are used to (homes, primary school, church, Downing Street etc). However, the story line is different and is not really like reality. For example, the Prime Minister falls in love with his assistant. This movie is plausible to an extent of which they use ordinary daily life surroundings, but the non-plausible side of this movie is that things such as the Prime Minister falling in love with his assistant and appearing back stage at a primary school stage is highly non-plausible because it’s not bound to happen in reality. However, the audience is engaged in this movie and is in a different world because everything is different – for example, they don’t have an actor to play the part of a real Prime Minister and instead they make up their own Prime Minister, so it is like their own world.

Green Street represents London to be modern. They use different London settings, such as; train stations/underground, West Ham and Mill Wall football stadium/club. We see the typical settings of London. However, the storyline of this movie is very violent and it represents the violent side of London and football. This movie ends with death and has violent scenes of fighting in. The plausible side of this movie is that London has a lot of gangs/hooligans that get involved with fighting a lot, but the non-plausible side of the movie is that it takes violence to the extreme.

The Bank Job represents London to be modern. The setting is the usual London setting (use of the London underground and frequent sights of London buses). However, the story of this movie is about a bunch of people trying to rob a bank (peoples safe box) and is twisted with death due to the victims of the safe boxes have lost something important/classified information that they don’t want the public to know about (pictures). This then involves blackmail and eventually death of some of the men who robbed the bank. This movie is plausible to an extent of which they use modern technology and settings. However, their evil scheme in breaking into the bank was to dig a hole underground to the bank floor. This may be realistic but it’s something that happens often in London.

Mediation Theory essay

In Love Actually, Richard Curtis represented London to be a modern surrounding. For example, some of the settings that we see are homes, primary school, church, Downing Street etc. This is very typical of London and in our daily lives. This may be because Curtis is trying to portray reality but has mediated it by including comedy.

However, in Love Actually, Curtis changes reality to portray a more ‘exciting plot/story’ to entertain and engage the audience into feeling that they’re experiencing it too. This mediation is done by the characters. For example, there is an actor that plays the part of a Prime Minister. This already tells us that it’s a ‘different world’ compared to reality, because otherwise they might have had an actor that plays the role of the Prime Minister at that present time. This may also be because Love Actually is a Rom-Com and it is supposed to portray the comedy lifestyle that the audience will be absorbed/engaged into.

Also, Love Actually is focussed on Christmas time. So many of the scenes include bright festive lights which makes the movie seem happy, which sets the audiences mood to be relaxed and enjoyable.

In Green Street, Lexi Alexander portrays London to be completely different to Love Actually. The difference can be seen by the actors (personalities and backgrounds) and the surrounding settings. We are able to tell that Green Street was set/filmed in London because they set the storyline around 2 football teams/stadiums – Mill Wall and West Ham which both are in London.

The actors in Green Street portray a completely different personality than Love Actually. They are seen as violent and hooligans that are involved with gangs (we see this in many scenes of the movie). This crime fiction portrays London to be violent (on the football and gang life). This takes the audience away from reality to experience something they might not be used to and they might find it interesting to watch.

Also, Green Street is filmed sometimes in the day and some at night. But when filmed in the daylight, the director/producer doesn’t really focus on the lighting which makes the movie seem gloomy and not cheerful in any way. This is probably deliberate to set the mood/emotion of the movie.

In The Bank Job, Roger Donaldson portrays the crime side of London. This is focussed on by the actors as the robbers, surrounding settings and also the lighting. We are able to tell that it was filmed in London because we are able to see the red London buses and a scene from the London underground.

The actors involved in this movie portrays how they have evil schemes/minds to get what they want when they need something. This mediation escapes reality, because it’s not often when people would dig underground to a bank and steal peoples possessions (from their safe box).

This action film lets the audience escape reality by mediating reality to a different perspective. This may be because the storyline is interesting to the audience

because they’re not used to that perspective of life. The Bank Job also includes scenes such as violence where people are beaten and shot to their death. This is mediated to an extent of which people can escape reality from.

To conclude how different producers/directors portray London, depending on what genre or storyline the movie is about, the actors, settings and even lighting will be affected. This is because they mediate their movie to fit around their target audience so that they are able to set the mood and allow the audience to participate by being engaged to the movie.

VERISIMILITUDE

Definition: The construction in a text of a plausible (believable) world.

Internal Logic – we believe/accept what isn’t real to be real Reality Logic – we believe/accept what we see to be based around realityAuthentic Reality to Hyper Reality – to understand how film directors manipulate what we see

When watching a movie/episode, we are aware of what we are watching, but we choose to believe/accept the untrue to be true. Examples:

Doctor WhoPlausible: Earth/London setting

English characters Relationship between different characters

Non-plausible: Time/space travel (Tardis) Sonic screwdriver Monsters/aliens Darlics ‘Mr Smith’

Soap Operas: Eastenders/Coronation StreetPlausible: Storylines reflect everyday life

Stereotypical characters Scene settings (set)

Non-plausible: Exaggerated storylines Exaggerated emotions Everyone has different names – its deliberate to avoid any

confusion in different characters