How to teach audience - Valentine McCarthy

• Valentine McCarthy & Kirsty Painter June 2006

How to teach ... Audiences

Page number 1-3

Contents Audience demographics

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Theories of Audience

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Social Class Questionnaire

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David Gauntlett - 'Ten things wrong with the "effects model'" (1998) )

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David Gauntlett - 'Using creative visual research methods to understand media audieflces' (2005)

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Documentary - Definition for a digital age

40-47

Documentary resources

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S~&'~_ Channel 4 Monthly viewing profiles' ~~~\ M BARB information - ~ ~ ;\-e i'

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BBC articles on Digital tv and World cup 2006 coverage

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Daily Mirror article - Wednesday 21 st June

66 - 67

Bibliography

• Valentine McCarthy June 2006

Audience Demographics A - Upper Middle Class - (Higher managerial Gudges, surgeons) B - Middle Classes - Middle Managerial (Lawyers, teachers, doctors) C1 - Lower Middle Classes - skilled Non-manual- Supervisory "White collar" (clerical, junior management, bank clerk, nurses) C2 - Skilled Worker - "Blue collar" Goiners, electricians, plumbers) o - Working class - Semi and unskilled manual E - Lower level - (pensioners, widows, casual workers, students', unemployed) Registrar General presents a "Social Class" scale based upOn occupation and referred to as The National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification .

1. Higher Managerial and Professional occupations 1.1 Employs and managers in larger organisations (e.g. company directors, senior company managers, senior civil servants, senior officers in police and armed forces) 1.2 Higher professionals (e.g. doctors, lawyers, clergy, teachers and social workers) 2. Lower Managerial and Professional occupations (e.g. nurses and midwives, journalists, actors, musicians, prison officers, lower ranks of police and armed forces.)

3. Intermediate occupations (e.g. clerks, secretaries, driving instructors, telephone fitters.)

4. Small Employers and own account workers (e.g. publicans, farmers, taxi drivers, window cleaners, painters and decorators.)

5. Lower supervisory, craft and related occupations (e.g. printers, plumbers, television engineers, train drivers, butchers.)

6. Semi-routine occupations (e.g. shop assistants, hairdressers bus drivers, cooks.)

7. Routine occupations (e.g. couriers, labourers, waiters and refuse collectors) 8. This category covers those who have never had paid work and the long-term unemployed

(courtesy of Richard Harvey's pack 2002 - How to teach ...Audiences)

Valentine McCarthy June 2006

Psychographic categories Mainstreamers/conformists Make up 40% of consumers, are those who do not want to stand out from the crowd; they need to feel that they can trust products and services they buy and will therefore tend to buy well known brands

Aspirers Are those for whom personal status is if significant importance. They aspire to success and would want pro~ucts and services that are considered smart and fashionable and demonstrate that success. Products would have to contribute towards the aspirers' perceived image.

Succeeders Have already made it and have nothing to prove. They have already arrived rather than being on their way up. They will be looking for luxury and comfort and can afford to pay for it. What characterises them is their need for control in their lives and their work. Advertisements that stress power and control are targeted at them.

Reformers Are a highly influential group, mostly well-educated and interested in influencing society. They are likely to put the quality of life before the acquisition of material wealth.

Individualists Are determined to be different and want to try something new. But will not want to be part of the crowd: Package holidays are not for them.

(courtesy of Richard Harvey's pack 2002 - How to teach ...Audiences)

Valentine McCarthy June 2006

Lifestyle categorisation YAKS - Young Adventurous Keen and Single 18-24 year olds who have no heavy financial burdens. They live at home or rent cheap property EWEs - Experts With Expensive lifestyles - At the peak of their earning, children have left home. Probably 55+ and at the end of paying off their mortgage, more disposable income with all long term debts paid.

BATS - Babies Add The Sparkle - These are probably EWES who are in a second or third marriage and have young children CLAMS - Carefully Looks At Most Spending - Probably aged 33-44 with heavy financial burdens, mortgages and possibly school fees OWLS - Older With Less Stress - In the 45-55 age range and moving towards their peak earnings, children leaving home and the end of the mortgage in sight.

MICE - Money is coming easier - Aged 24-34 with two incomes, mortgage but no children. Sometimes also referred to as DINKies - Double Income No Kids

(courtesy of Richard Harvey's pack 2002 - How to teach ...Audiences)

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Theories of Audience - a' comparative summary Refer to this chart as you study further pieces of research.

Theory/Model

What does the theory suggest?

Strengths of this approach?

Effects Studies 1:

'hypodermic' is a word usually associated with needles, drugs & injections.

The idea that the media has effects on audiences does draw attention to certain ideas about the media: • media producers have a lot of power to create texts • the kinds of media texts available to audiences becomes a matter of debate and argument

The 'hypodermic' model

In this context it suggests that the messages from the media go directly into the minds of the viewers.

Effects Studies 2: Cultivation Theory

Effects Studies 3: Desensitisation

Effects Studies '4: Modelling or copycat theory

Uses and Gratifications theory

Some theorists of this model have actually suggested that the media can be "addictive", just like narcotics.

It suggests that the more TV the audience watches, the more likely it is that they will develop certain kinds of views about the world. The worry is that these will be "fal~e" views.

An example of this theory in application is that the view of crime offered in programmes like Crimewatch feeds perceptions that crime is on the increase in the UK. This theory suggests that the audience's attitudes to violence can be affected by having been exposed to too much violence on screen.

Exposure to too much fictional violence is argued to amount to the audience being 'desensitised' to real life violence.

Whilst the idea of watching a film is often linked to negative behaviour e.g. Power Rangers might make kids copy the kicks, or Natural Born Killers may have sent young Americans on killing sprees; very little research has been done to test this assertion. It is a theory that is maintained by the Press, rather than by research.

This theory challenges the assumptions underlying the different theories of the effects tradition. In this model it is argued that people will 'read' the media in very different ways according to their

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This approach does acknowledge that viewerS may gain some of their knowledge of the world from television.

Rather than insisting on direct effects, it shifts the argument towards the idea that television is a profoynd or important feature of our social lives.

Weaknesses of this approach?

The audience is always considered to be passive and powerless. This model has been more usually applied to studies of children or women and the media.

There is very little attempt to account for the very many different ways people use and enjoy the media.

The attitudes measured in these approaches are not measured against the audience's wider set of values and where these have come from.

People might believe there is more crime in the world for a whole series of other reasons e.g. real life experience, press, job experience etc.

One of the main strengths of the theory is that it draws attention to the sheer volume of violence on screen and raises questions about the degree of exposure audiences should have to violent and aggressive images and language.

It is extremely difficult to prove how attitudes may have been affected by the single stimulus of media.

There may be many other variables involved.

One of the reasons the idea of copy-cat behaviour has such power is that parents do report , anxieties about their children's behaviour.

Short-term behavioural changes are easy to observe but if a child copies Power Rangers kicks at 6 years old, does this mean they will do this all their lives?

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Of all the strategies available to parents to teach their children good habits, the advice to limit television seems one of the most achievable.

The audience is assumed to be thoughtful and intelligent and capable of distinguishing fiction from fact.

Sometimes arguing for audience power has been done at the expense of thinking about questions of media power or the power of ceJ:tain texts.

Work in this tradition speaks about consumer

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personality and how they are positioned in the world. People may be affected by the media if it confirms their beliefs or enhances their role or image. However, it argues that the media will not change beliefs that have . been accumulated from life experience.

choice giving priority to exploration of the ways in which audiences may use the media.

Life experience is stronger than media experience.

The media is' credited with providing pleasure for audiences and pleasure is not seen as abad thing.

Some theorists in this tradition have Claimed that the media has no influence or effects at all.

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Research Question

Research Method

Conclusions

Where was this reported?

Does television encourage antisocial behaviour?

Researchers observed the behaviour of children In 51. Hel~na, a small South Atlantic Island, as television was Introduced for the first lime. The chddren's behaviour was studied before and after television was Introduced. Although a small community, many groups were observed to give a sense of the Island's life.

Researchers found no increase In hilling, punching, pinching or fighting after television was Inlroduced. This was despite the content of television being much stronger in 51. Helena Ihan In BrItain and the absence 01 a 'watershed'. The strong sense of community had a much higher Impact on children's behaViour than did television.

Reported in Ihe National Press. The study was seen to have Iitlle application to the media salurated countries like GB and US. The conclusions about a small Island In Ihe South Atlantic were not seen as proof that the medIa has no Impact on children's behaviour.

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Albert Bandura, Ross & Ross (1963) - it US study

Can aggressive behaviour In children be stimulated by violent Images they watch on the television? He predicted that the closer the Images on television were to the audience's reality, the more likely 11 was that they would be Imitated afterwards.

Bandura studied 48 boys and 48 girls aged 3-5. He placed them in four separate groups, each exposed to different Images of violence Involving either it real-life dramatisation of violenc.e or cartoon violence where characters were yelling or hilling a rubber doll ('bobo-doW).

One group saw no film or action at all. After the 'viewing' the children were deliberately made angry, then placed In a room with toy guns and the 'bobo' doll. Behaviour was ranked according to how much aggression was displayed towards the doll.

Hodge rr Tripp

Hodge and Tripp were Interested In the way research Is conducted.

Are children affected by the wider ways in which Issues are dlscuued?

Before the children (aged 8-9) were told what the Interviews were 10 be about, they were asked 10 give their opInions on a cartoon called Fangface. This had received some crillcism In Australia lor its mild violence. Alilhe children expressed enjoyment of the programme and showed a good understanding of how the programme worked. The same groups of children were then shown the cartoon again with an 'Adult Only' warning In front of Jl. The second Interviews levealed that the children were very worried that It was a programme that could harm children. They changed w~at they had originally said about the programme because of the 'Adult Only' warning.

Hodge and Tripp argued that their study showed that it Reporled In a book called Children and Is not always possible to lake what children say at face 7elevisfon. The findings In the research have value. What children report may change according to been discussed widely amongst other Ihe context. Their study threw Ilght on the whole researchers but have not made a big Impact on concept of research and has Influenced the ways In .the debate as presented in the national press. which research f.indings should be Interpreted.

Are there differences In viewing habits between young offenders and non'offenders?

Questionnaires about vieWing habits with groups of young offenders (78 In total), and with 500 non-offenders In schools. Questionnaires were followed by interviews In some cases.. Most were. boys. Most were Interviewed in either the young offenders' Inslllution or at home, If non-offenders.

Offenders and non-offenders .watched approximately equal amounts 01 televlsion.:ln both groups over 40'lb revealed that they preferred films awarded a higher . c1assillcallon I.e. '18' filmS-The research conduded lhat there was lillie difference In what they watched. As a result they argue that these findings need to be developed further inlo an examination not of what offenders watch but how they watch and how they understand what they see.

This research was funded initially by a consortium 01 regulators: the BBFe. the Broadcasting .: Standards Council and the ITe. The researchers have since reported that II was very difllcultto gel Journalisls to write about the findings objectively as this'research did not state causes. The researchers maIntain they had something very Interesting to show: that the slgnificanl faclor In Ihe effect of screen violence on behaviour is not so much about what people watch but how they Interprellt.

Does violence on television contribute to society's Ills?

The aim was to eKamlne the extent and range of violence on us television. In this three year study over 2700 hours of television were examined for violent content. The researchers noted thai 57% of network programmes hay!! vIolence In them; 33% have at least 9 acls of.vlolence; 2S'lb of violence Involves the use of guns and in H% 01 cases the perpetrators go unpunished.

the researchers concluded that the volume 01 violence on television must have an Influence. SuI the researchers noted lhatthe violence will have different effects on different groups of people·· children already predisposed to aggression are more likely \li be allected. The mass media will maintain, re-enforce and strengthen the aggressive disposition 01 certarn individuals.

ThiS study was reported Widely In academic journals and at conferences. II was a publicly funded study, by the Department of Health In the us and the researchers outlined their alms as being about encouraging more responsible televisIon programming and Viewing.

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an Australian study

Tim Newbum and Ann Hagell (1994)-11

British Study Into Young Offendels and the Media

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The experiment concluded Ihal the children who had been exposed to the violent acts displayed most aggression. Bandura drew a diStinction between the groups that had seen the 'real-life' enactment and those who had seen filmed or cartoon violence. Ife concluded that the film violence had a greater Impact than the 'theatrical' violence. He said that 'film characters suggest Ihat mass media, particularly television, may .serve as an Important source of social behaviour'.

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The National TelevisIon VIolence Study - Edited by Donnersteln lind Danlelllnz (US) (1994-

vllal piece 01 research that proved a link between watching media and behaviour. It Is the most frequently quoted piece 01 research on children and violence.

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Reported in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (1963) in the US. It was seen as a

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"Social Class" questionnaire

About you What does the term "class" mean to you?

List the connotations you associate with the following terms: 1. Underclass

2. Chav

3. Middle class

4. Upper class

5. Posh

6. Lower class

7. Aspirant middle class

8. Working class

9. Social mobility How would you define your own social class?

How would you define your parents social class and why?

How would you define your grand-parents social class and why?

Explain whether you have decided to go to university and why you feel it may/may not be important to you?

Valentine McCarthy June 2006

What are your parent's occupations?

What are your grand-parent's occupations?

What would you like to do as an occupation?

Why is this occupation important to you?

What interests you about your chosen occupation?

How would you describe the area in which you live in terms of "class", and why?

Valentine McCarthy June 2006

IV David Gauntlett From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search David Gau~tlett (b. March 15, 1971) is a social scientist specialising in the study of contemporary media audiences, and the role of media in shaping self-identity. He took his PhD and then 'taught at the University ofLeeds, UK, from 1993 to 2001. He was appointed Professor ofMedia and Audiences at Bournemouth University, UK., at the age of31, in 2001.

His critique ofmedia 'effects' studies sparked controversy in 1995 (see book, article), and since then Gauntlett has published a number of books on the role of popular . media in people's lives.

'Ten things wrong with the "effects model'" This article was published (as 'Ten things wrong with the "effects model"? in Roger Dickinson, Ramaswani Harindranath & Olga Linne, eds (1998), Approaches to Audiences - A Reader, published by Amold, London.

The article is by Š David Gauntletl, 1998, Not to be republished withoutpermission, May be used/or educational purposes, provided that the author and source are acknowledged.

About this article: This essay provides an overview and restatement ofwhat I was trying to say in Moving Experiences. The book examines all ofthe studies in detail, and generally concludes that the research has failed to show that the media has any kind ofdirect or predictable effects on people. This essay takes a slightly different approach, setting out ten reasons why 'effects research' as we have seen it so far seems to be fundamentally flawed and is often surprisingly poor. This leads to a slightly different (implicit) conclusion, that media influences are something that we still know very little about, because the research hasn't been very good or imaginative... and so, therefore, it's still an open question. At the same time, it remains true that no research is going to find direct or predictable effects. Viewers wondering what other approaches to media influences there might be, may want to look at Video Critical, which demonstrates a new audience research method using video production, and discusses other altemative approaches.

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It has become something of a cliche to observe that despite many decades of research and hundreds of studies, the connections between people's consumption of the mass media and their subsequent behaviour have remained persistently elusive. Indeed, researchers have enjoyed an unusual degree of patience from both their scholarly and more public audiences. But the time comes when we must take a step back from this murky lack of consensus and ask - why? Why are there no clear answers on media effects?

There is, as I see it, a choice of two conclusions which can be drawn from any detailed analysis of the research. The fIrst is that if, after over sixty years of a considerable amount of research effort, direct effects of media upon behaviour have not been clearly identifIed, then we should conclude that they are simply not there to be found. Since I have argued this case, broadly speaking, elsewhere (Gauntlett, I 995a), I will here explore the second possibility: that the media effects .research has quite consistently taken the wrong approach to the mass media, its audiences, and society in general. This misdirection has taken a number oHorms; for the purposes of this chapter, I will impose an unwarranted coherence upon the claims of all those who argue or purport to have found that the mass media will commonly have direct and reasonably predictable effects upon the behaviour of their fellow human beings, calling this body of thought, simply, the 'effects model'. Rather than taking apart each study individually, I will consider the mountain of studies - and the associated claims about media effects made by commentators - as a whole, and outline ten fundamental flaws in their approach.

1. The effects model tackles social problems 'backwards' To explain the problem of violence in society, researchers should begin with that social violence and seek to explain it with reference, quite obviously, to those who engage in it: their identity, background, character and so on. The.!media effects' approach, in this sense, comes at the problem backwards, by starting with the media and then trying to lasso connections from there on to social beings, rather than the other way around.

This is an iniportant distinction. Criminologists, in their professional attempts to explain crime and violence, consistently tum for explanations not to the mass media but to social factors such as poverty, unemployment, housing, and the behaviour of family and peers. In a study which did start at what-! would recognise as the correct end - by interviewing 78 violent teenage offenders and then tracing their behaviour back towards media usage; in comparison with a group of over 500 'ordinary' school pupils of the same age - Hagell & Newburn (1994) found only that the young offenders watched less television and video than their counterparts, had less access to the technology in the fIrst place, had no particular interest in specifIcally violeI,lt programmes, and either enjoyed the same material as non-offending teenagers or were simply uninterested. This point was demonstrated very clearly when the offenders were asked, 'If you had the chance to be someone who appears on television, who would you choose to be?':

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IL 'The offenders felt particularly uncomfortable with this question and appeared to have difficulty in understanding why one might want to be such a person... In several interviews, the offenders had already stated that they watched little television, could not remember their favourite programmes and, consequently, could not think of anyone to be. In these cases, their obvious failure to identify with any television characters seemed to be part of a general lack of engagement with television' (p. 30).

Thus we can see that studies which take the perpetrators of actual violence as their first point of reference, rather than the media, come to rather different conclusions (ano. there is certainly a need for more such research). The point that effects studies take the media as their starting point, however, should not be taken to suggest that they involve sensitive examinations of the mass media. As will be noted below, the studies have typically taken a stereotyped, almost parodic view of media content.

In more general terms, the 'backwards' approach involves the mistake of looking at individuals, rather than society, in relation to the mass media. The narrowly individualistic approach of some psychologists leads them to argue that, because of their belief that particular individuals at certain times in specific circumstances may be negatively affected by one bit of media, the removal of such media from society would be a positive step. This approach is rather like arguing that the solution to the number of road traffic accidents in Britain would be to lock away one famously poor driver from Comw;ul; that is, a blinkered approach which tackles a real problem from the wrong end, involves cosmetic rather than relevant changes, and fails to look in any way at the 'bigger picture'.

2. The effects model treats children as inadequate The individualism of the psychological discipline has also had a significant impact on the way in which children are regarded in effects research. Whilst sociology in recent decades has typically regarded childhood as a social construction, demarcated by attitudes, traditions and rituals which vary between different societies and different time periods (Aries, 1962; Jenks, 1982, 1996), the psychology of childhood developmental psychology - has remained more tied to the idea of a universal individual who must develop through particular stages before reaching adult maturity, as established by Piaget (e.g. 1926, 1929). The developmental stages are arranged as a hierarchy, from incompetent childhood through to rational, logical adulthood, and progression through these stages is characterised by an 'achievement ethic' (Jenks, 1996, p. 24).

In psychology, then, children are often considered not so much in terms of what they can do, as what they (apparently) cannot. Negatively defined as non-adults, the research subjects are regarded as the 'other', a strange breed whose failure to match generally middle-class adult norms must be charted and discussed. Most laboratory studies of children and the media presume, for example, that their findings apply only to children, but fail to run parallel studies with adult groups to confirm this. We might speculate that this is because if adults were found to respond to laboratory presstU'es in the same way as children, the 'common sense' validity of the experiments would be undermined.

IS In her valuable examination of the way in which academic studies have constructed and maintained a particular perspective on childhood, Christine Griffin (1993) has recorded the ways in which studies produced by psychologists, in particular, have tended to 'blame the victim', to represent social problems as the consequence of the deficiencies or inadequacies of young people, and to 'psychologize inequalities, obscuring structural relations of domination behind a focus on individual "deficient" working-class young people and/or young people of colour, their families or cultural backgrounds' (p. 199). Problems such as unemployment and the failure of education systems are thereby traced to individual psychology traits. The same kinds of approach are readily observed in media effects studies, the production of which has undoubtedly been dominated by psychologically-oriented researchers, who - whilst, one imagines, having nothing other than benevolent intentions - have carefully exposed the full range of ways which young media users can be seen as the inept victims ofproducts which, whilst obviously puerile and transparent to adults, can trick children into all kinds of ill-advised behaviour.

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This situation is clearly exposed by research which seeks to establish what children can and do understand about and from the mass media. Such projects have shown that children can talk intelligently and indeed cynically about the mass media (Buckingham, 1993, 1996), and that children as young as seven can make thoughtful, critical and 'media literate' video productions themselves (Gauntlett, 1997).

3. Assumptions within the effects model are characterised by barely-concealed conservative ideology The systematic derision of children's resistant capacities can be seen as part of a broader conservative project to position the more contemporary and challenging aspects of the mass media, rather than other social factors, as the major threat to social stability today. American effects studies, in particular, tend to assume a level of television violence which - as Barrie Gunter shows in this volume - is simply not applicable in other countries such as Britain. George Gerbner's view, for example, that 'We are awash in a tide of violent representations unlike any the world has ever seen... drenching every home with graphic scenes of expertly choreographed brutality' (1994, p. 133), both reflects his hyperbolic view of the media in America and the extent to which findings cannot be simplistically transferred across the Atlantic. Whilst it is certainly possible that gratuitous depictions of violence might reach a level in American screen media which could be seen as unpleasant and unnecessary, it cannot always be assumed that violence is shown for 'bad' reasons or in an uncritical light.

Even ~e most obviously 'gratuitous' acts of violence, such as those committed by Beavis and Butt-Head in their eponymous MTV series, can be interpreted as rationally resistant reactions to an oppressive world which has little to offer them (see Gauntlett, 1997).

The condemnation of generalised screen 'violence' by conservative critics, supported by the 'findings' of the effects studies - if we disregard their precarious foundations can often be traced to concerns such as 'disrespect for authority' and 'anti-patriotic sentiments' (most conspicuously in Michael Medved's well-received Hollywood vs.

America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (1992)). Programmes which do not necessarily contain any greater quantity of violent, sexual or other controversial depictions than others, can be seen to be objected to because they take a

I~more challenging socio-political stance (Barker, 1984, 1989, 1993). This was illustrated by a study of over 2,200 complaints about British TV and radio which were sent to the Broadcasting Standards Council over an 18 month period from July 1993 to December 1994 (Gauntlett, 1995c). This showed that a relatively narrow range of most complained-of programmes were taken by complainants to characterise a much broader decline in the morals of both broadcasting in particular and the nation in general.

This view of a section of the public is clearly reflected in a large number of the effects studies which presume that 'antisocial' behaviour is an objective category which can be observed in numerous programmes and which will negatively affect those children who see it portrayed. This dark yiew is constructed with the support of content analysis studies which appear almost designed to incriminate the media. Even today, expensive and avowedly 'scientific' content analyses such as the well-publicised US National Television Violence Study (Mediascope, 1996; run by the Universities of California, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin), for example, include odd tests such as whether violent acts are punished within the same scene - a strange requirement for dramas - making it easier to support views such as that 'there are substantial risks of harmful effects from viewing violence throughout the television environment' (p. ix).

[Footnote: Examination of programmes in full, sensibly also included in this study, found that 'punishments occur by the end of the program (62%) more often than not for bad characters', however (Mediascope, 1996, p. 15). Despite this finding, and the likelihood that a number of the remaining 38% would be punished in subsequent programmes, much is made of the finding that 'violence goes unpunished (73%) in almost three out of four scenes' (point repeated on p. x, p. 15, p. 25; my emphasis)].

This study also reflects the continuing willingness of researchers to impute effects from a count-up of content.

4. The effects model inadequately defmes its own objects of study The flaws numbered four to six in this list are more straightforwardly methodological, although they are connected to the previous and subsequent points. The first of these is that effects studies have generally taken for granted the defmitions of media material, such as 'antisocial' and 'prosocial' programming, as well as characterisations of behaviour in the real world, such as 'antisocial' and 'prosocial' action. The point has already been made that these can be ideological value judgements; throwing down a book in disgust, smashing a nuclear missile, or - to use a: Beavis and Butt-Head example - sabotaging activities at one's burger bar workplace, will always be interpreted in effects studies-as 'antisocial', not 'prosocial'.

Furthermore, actions such as verbal aggression or hitting an inanimate object are recorded as acts of violence, just as TV murders are, leading to terrifically (and irretrievably) murky data. It is usually impossible to discern whether very minor or extremely serious acts of 'violence' depicted in the media are being said to have led to quite severe or merely trivial acts in the real world. More significant, perhaps, is the fact that this is rarely seen as a problem: in the media effects field, dodgy 'fmdings' are accepted with an uncommon hospitality.

5. The effects model is often based on artificial studies

J~ Since careful sociological studies of media effects require amounts of time and money which limit their abundance, they are heavily outnumbered by simpler studies which are usually characterised by elements of artificiality. Such studies typically take place in a laboratory, or in a 'natural' setting such as a classroom but where a researcher has conspicuously shown up and instigated activities, neither of which are typical environments. Instead of a full and naturally-viewed television diet, research subjects are likely to be shown selected or specially-recorded clips which lack the narrative meaning inherent in everyday TV productions. They may then be observed in simulations of real life presented to them as a game, in relation to inanimate objects such as Bandura's famous 'bobo' doll, or as they respond to questionnaires, all of which are unlike interpersonal interaction, cannot be equated with it, and are likely to be associated with the previous viewing experience in the mind of the subject, rendering the study invalid. .

Such studies also rely on the idea that subjects will not alter their behaviour or stated attitudes as a response to being observed or questioned. This naive belief has been shown to be false by researchers such as Borden (1975) who have demonstrated that the presence, appearance and gender of an observer can radically affect children's behaviour.

6. The effects model is often based on studies with misapplied methodology Many of the studies which do not rely on an experimental method, and so may evade the flaws mentioned in the previous section, fall down instead by applying a methodological procedure wrongly, or by drawing inappropriate conclusions from particular methods. The widely-cited longitudinal panel study by Huesmann, Eron and colleagues (Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder & Huesmann, 1972, 1977), for example, has been less famously slated for failing to keep to the procedures, such as assessing aggressivity or TV viewing with the same measures at different points in time, which are necessary for their statistical findings to have any validity (Chaffee, 1972; Kenny, 1972). [Footnote: A longitudinal panel study is one in which the same group of people (the panel) are surveyed and/or observed at a number of points over a period of time].

The same researchers have also failed to adequately account for why the findings of this study and those of another of their own studies (Huesmann, Lagerspetz & Eron, 1984) absolutely contradict each other, with the former concluding that the media has a marginal effect on boys but no effect on girls, and the latter arguing the exact opposite (no effect on boys, but a small effect for girls). They also seem to ignore that fact that their own follow-up of their original set of subjects 22 years later suggested that a number of biological, developmental and environmental factors contributed to levels of aggression, whilst the mass media was not even given a mention (Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz & Walder, 1984). These astounding inconsistencies, unapologetically presented by perhaps the best-known researchers in this area, must be cause for considerable unease about the effects model. More careful use of the same methods, such as in the three-year panel study involving over 3,000 young people conducted by Milavsky, Kessler, Stipp & Rubens (1982a, 1982b), has only indicated that significant media effects are not to be found.

Another misuse of method occurs when studies which are simply unable to show 'that one thing causes another are treated as if they have done so. Correlation studies are typically used for this purpose. Their finding that a particular personality type is also

J6 the kind of person who enjoys a certain kind of media, is quite unable to show that the latter causes the former, although psychologists such as Van Evra (1990) have casually assumed that this is probably the case. There is a logical coherence to the idea that children whose behaviour is antisocial and disruptional will also have a greater interest in the more violent and noisy television programmes, whereas the idea that the behaviour is a product of these programmes lacks both this rational consistency, and the support of the studies.

7. The effects model is selective in its criticisms of media depictions of violence In addition to the point that 'antisocial' acts are ideologically defined in effects studies (as noted in section three above), we can also note that the media depictions of 'violence' which the effects model typically condemns are limited to fictional productions. The acts of violence which appear on a daily basis on news and serious factual programmes are seen as somehow exempt. The point here is not that depictions of violence in the news should necessarily be condemned in just the same, blinkered way, but rather to draw attention to another philosophical inconsistency which the model cannot account for. If the antisocial acts shown in drama series and films are expected to have an effect on the behaviour of viewers, even though such acts are almost always ultimately punished or have other negative consequences for the perpetrator, there is no obvious reason why the antisocial activities which are always in the news, and which frequently do not have such apparent consequences for their agents, should not have similar effects.

8. The effects model assumes superiority to the masses Surveys typically show that whilst a certain proportion of the public feel that the media may cause other people to engage in antisocial behaviour, almost no-one ever says that they have been affected in that way themselves. This view is taken to extremes by researchers and campaigners whose work brings them into regular contact with the supposedly corrupting material, but who are unconcerned for their own well-being as they implicitly 'know' that the effects will only be on 'other people'.

Insofar as these others are defined as children or 'unstable' individuals, their approach may seem not unreasonable; it is fair enough that such questions should be explored.

Nonetheless, the idea that it is unruly 'others' who will be affected - the uneducated? the working class? - remains at the heart of the effects paradigm, and is reflected in its texts (as well, presumably, as in the researchers' overenthusiastic interpretation of weak or flawed data, as discussed above).

George Gerbner and his colleagues, for example, write about 'heavy' television viewers as if this media consumption has necessarily had the opposite effect on the weightiness of their brains. Such people are assumed to have no selectivity or critical skills, and their habits are explicitly contrasted with preferred activities: 'Most viewers watch by the clock and either do not know what they will watch when they turn on the set, or follow established routines rather than choose each program as they would choose a book, a movie or an article' (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan & Signorielli, 1986, p.19). This view, which knowingly makes inappropriate comparisons by ignoring the serial nature of many TV programmes, and which is unable to account for the widespread use of TV guides and VCRs with which audiences plan and arrange their viewing, reveals the kind of elitism and snobbishness which often seems to underpin

Ij such research. The point here is not that the content of the mass media must not be criticised, but rather that the mass audience themselves are not well served by studies which are willing to treat them as potential savages or actual fools.

9. The effects model makes no attempt to understand meanings of the media A further fundamental flaw, hinted at in points three and four above, is that the effects model necessarily rests on a base of reductive assumptions and unjustified stereotypes regarding media content. To assert that, say, 'media violence' will bring negative consequences is nbt only to presume that depictions of violence in the media will always be promoting antisocial behaviour, and that such a category exists and makes sense, as noted above, but also assumes that the medium holds a singular message which will be carried unproblematically to the audience. The effects model therefore performs the double deception of presuming (a) that the media presents a singular and clear-cut 'message', and (b) that the proponents of the effects model are in a position to identify what that message is.

The meanings of media content are ignored in the simple sense that assumptions are made based on the appearance of elements removed from their context (for example, woman hitting man equals violence equals bad), and in the more sophisticated sense that even in context the meanings may be different for different viewers (woman hitting man equals an unpleasant act of aggression, or appropriate self-defence, or a triumphant act of revenge, or a refreshing change, or is simply uninteresting, or any of many further alternative readings). In-depth qualitative studies have unsurprisingly given support to the view that media audiences routinely arrive at their own, often heterogeneous, interpretations of everyday media texts (e.g. Buckingham, 1993, 1996; Hill, 1997; Schlesinger, Dobash, Dobash & Weaver, 1992; Gray, 1992; Palmer, 1986). Since the effects model rides roughshod over both the meanings that actions have for characters in dramas and the meanings which those depicted acts may have for the audience members, it can retain little credibility with those who consider popular entertainment to be more than just a set of very basic propaganda messages flashed at the audience in the simplest possible terms.

10. The effects model is not grounded in theory Finally, and underlying many of the points made above, is the fundamental problem that the entire argument of the 'effects model' is substantiated with no theoretical reasoning beyond the bald assertions that particular kinds of effects will be produced by the media. The basic question of why the media should induce people to imitate its content has never been adequately tackled, beyond the simple idea that particular actions are 'glamorised'. (Obviously, antisocial actions are shown really positively so infrequently that this is an inadequate explanation). Similarly, the question of how merely seeing an activity in the media would be translated into an actual motive which would prompt an individual to behave in a particular way is just as unresolved.

The lack of firm theory has led to the effects model being based in the variety of assumptions outlined above - that the media (rather than people) is the unproblematic starting-point for research; that children will be unable to 'cope' with the media; that the categories of 'violence' or 'antisocial behaviour' are clear and self-evident; that the model's predictions can be verified by scientific research; that screen fictions are of concern, whilst news pictures are not; that researchers have the unique capacity to

observe and classify social behaviour and its meanings, but that those researchers need not attend to the various possible meanings which media content may have for the audience. Each of these very substantial problems has its roots in the failure of media effects commentators to found their model in any coherent theory.

So what future for research on media influences?

The effects model, we have seen, has remarkably little going for it as an explanation of human behaviour, or of the media in society. Whilst any challenging or apparently illogical theory or model reserves the right to demonstrate its validity through empirical data, the effects model has failed also in that respect. Its continued survival is indefensible and unfortunate. However, the failure of this particular model does not mean that the impact ofthe mass media can no longer be considered or investigated.

The studies by Greg Philo and Glasgow University Media Group colleagues, for example, have used often imaginative methods to explore the influence of media presentations upon perceptions and interpretations offactual matters (e.g. Philo, 1990; Philo, ed., 1996). I have realised rather late that my own study (Gauntlett, 1997) in which children made videos about the environment, which were used as a way of understanding the discourses and perspectives on environmentalism which the children had acquired from the media, can be seen as falling broadly within this tradition. The strength of this work is that it operates on a terrain different from that occupied by the effects model; even at the most obvious level, it is about influences and perceptions, rather than effects and behaviour. However, whilst such studies may provide valuable reflections on the relationship between mass media and audiences, they cannot - for the same reason - directly challenge claims made from within the 'effects model' paradigm (as Miller & Philo (1996) have misguidedly supposed). This is not a weakness of these studies, of course; the effects paradigm should be left to bury itself whilst prudent media researchers move on to explore these other areas.

Any paradigm which is able to avoid the flaws and assumptions which have inevitably and quite rightly ruined the effects model is likely to have some advantages. With the rise of qualitative studies which actually listen to media audiences, we are seeing the advancement of a more forward-thinking, sensible and compassionate view of those who enjoy the mass media. After decades of stunted and rather irresponsible talk about media 'effects', the emphasis is hopefully changing towards a more sensitive but rational approach to media scholarship.

References

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Aries, Phillippe (1962), Centuries of Childhood, translated I: Baldick, Jonathan Cape, London.

Barker, Martin, ed. (1984), The Video Nasties: Freedom ani Censorship in the Media, Pluto, London.

Barker, Martin (1989), Comics: Ideology, Power and the Cr Manchester University Press, Manchester.

Barker, Martin (1993), 'Sex Violence and Videotape', in Sigl Sound, vol. 3, no. 5 (New series; May 1993), pp. 10-12.

Borden, Richard J. (1975), 'Witnessed Aggression: Influenc Observer's Sex and Values on Aggressive Responding', in J( Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 567-5 Buckingham, David (1993), Children Talking Television: The Television Literacy, The Falmer Press, London.

Buckingham, David (1996), Moving Images: Understanding Emotional Responses to Television, Manchester University F Manchester.

Gauntlett, David (1995a), Moving Experiences: Understand Television's Influences and Effects, John Libbey, London.

Gauntlett, David (1995b), '''Full of very different people all together": Understanding community and environment thrc classroom video project', in Primary Teaching Studies, vol. pp. 8-13.

Gauntlett, David (1995c), A Profile of Complainants and thE Complaints, BSC Research Working Paper No. 10, Broadcas Standards Council, London.

Gau ntlett, David (1997), Video Critical: Children, the Envirc Media Power, John Libbey Media, Luton.

Gerbner, George; Gross, Larry; Morgan, Michael, & Signori!

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(1986), 'Living with Television: The Dynamics of the Cultivc Process', in Bryant, Jennings, & Zillmann, Dolf, eds, Perspe, Media Effects, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Gerbner, George (1994), 'The Politics of Media Violence: Sc Reflections', in Linne, Olga, & Hamelink, Cees J., eds, Mass Communication Research: On Problems and Policies: The A the Right Questions, Ablex Publishing, Norwood, New Jerse' Gray, Ann (1992), Video Playtime: The Gendering of a Leisl Technology, Routledge, London, Griffin, Christine (1993), Representations of Youth: The StL and Adolescence in Britain and America, Polity Press, Camb Hagell, Ann, & Newburn, Tim (1994), Young Offenders and Viewing Habits and Preferences, Policy Studies Institute, Lo Hill, Annette (1997), Shocking Entertainment: Viewer Resp, Violent Movies, John Libbey Media, Luton.

Huesmann, L. Rowell; Eron, Leonard D.; Lefkowitz, Monroe Walder, Leopold 0, (1984), 'Stability of Aggression Over Til Generations', in Developmental Psychology, vol. 20, no. 6, 1134.

Jenks, Chris (1982), 'Introduction: Constituting the Child', i Chris, ed., The Sociology of Childhood, Batsford, London.

Jenks, Chris (1996), Childhood, Routledge, London.

Lefkowitz, Monroe M.; Eron, Leonard D.; Walder, Leopold C Huesmann, L. Rowell (1972), 'Television Violence and Child Aggression: A Followup Study', in Comstock, George A., & I Eli A., eds, Television and Social Behavior: Reports and Pa~ Volume III: Television and Adolescent Aggressiveness, Nati Institute of Mental Health, Maryland.

Lefkowitz, Monroe M.; Eron, Leonard D.; Walder, Leopold C Huesmann, L. Rowell (1977), Growing Up To Be Violent.' A .

Study of the Development of Aggression, Pergamon Press, Mediascope, Inc. (1996), National Television Violence Stud) Summary 1994-95, Mediascope, California.

Medved, Michael (1992), Hollywood vs. America: Popular C the War on Traditional Values, HarperCollins, London.

Milavsky, J. Ronald; Kessler, Ronald c.; Stipp, Horst H., & I William S. (1982a), Television and Aggression: A Panel Stu, Academic Press, New York.

Milavsky, J. Ronald; Kessler, Ronald; Stipp, Horst, & Ruben S. (1982b), 'Television and Aggression: Results of a Panel ~ Pearl, DaVid; Bouthilet, Lorraine, & Lazar, Joyce, eds, Telev Behavior: Ten Years of Scientific Progress and Implications Eighties, Volume 2: Technical Reviews, National Institute 01

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Health, Maryland.

Miller, David, & Philo, Greg (1996), 'The Media Do InfluencE Sight and Sound, vol. 6, no. 12 (December 1996), pp. 18-2 Palmer, Patricia (1986), The Lively Audience: A Study of ct Around the TV Set, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Philo, Greg (1990), Seeing and Believing: The Influence of Routledge, London.

Philo, Greg, ed. (1996), Media and Mental Distress, Longmc Piaget, Jean (1926), The Language and Thought of the Chi! ~race & Company, New York.

Piaget, Jean (1929), The Child's Conception of the World, R London.

Schlesinger, Philip; Dobash, R. Emerson; Dobash, Russell P Weaver, C. Kay (1992), Women Viewing Violence, British Fi Publishing, London.

Van Evra, Judith (1990), Television and Child Development.

Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New' Jersey. [ Return to main page]

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I

Introduction Research into the impact of mass media on its audiences can be simplistically grouped into two traditional strands. One strand has used a range of methods in a bid to <set up> individuals so that the researchers can point to some aspect of their behaviour or response which can be represented as a media <effect>. The other strand has sought to avoid this crude and patronising approach, by speaking to individuals about their media consumption instelld. Both approaches are somewhat unsatisfactory, since they rely on interpretations of instant responses rather than more reflective self-expressions, and they fail to give individuals the opportunity to express themselves creatively, or to significantly affect the research

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David Gauntlett

Using Creative Visual Research Methods to Understand Media

agenda.

This article discusses a, new approach to qualitative audience research, based around methods in which participants are asked to create media or artistic artefacts themselves. The process of making a creative visual artefact- as well as the artefact itself (which may be, for example, a video, drawing, collage, or imagined magazine cover) - offers a different way into an exploration of individuals> relationships with media culture.

The Centre for Creative Media Research at Boumemouth Media School, UK, has becn established to provide a hub for work in this emerging area (built in particular around the ArtLab website [www.artlab,org.ukl, events such as the Symposium at Tate Britain in London which we organised in May 2004 [www.artlab.org.ukltate.htm]. and the forthcoming book The

Audiences This article ilttroduces an emerging area of qualitative media <audience' research. ill which individuals are asked to produce media or visual material themselves. as a way of e.JCploring their relatiollShip with particular issues or dimellSions of media. The process of making a creative visual artefact _ as well as the artefact itself (which may be,jor e.JCample. a video, drawing. collage, or imagined magazine cover) - offers a reflective entrypoint into an e.JCploration of individuals» relatiollShips with media culture.

This article sets out some of the origins, rationale and philosophy underlying this methodological approach; briefly discusses two e.JCQmple studies (Olle in which children made videos to cOlISider their reiatiollShip with the environment, and one in which young people drew pictures of celebrities as part ofan e.JCamination of their aspirations and identificatiollS with stars); and finally considers some emerging issues for further

New Creative Audience Studies). This article aims: _ to set out some of the origins, rationale and philosophy underlying this

methodological approach; _ to briefly discuss two example studies; _ and to consider some emerging elements for further development of this

development of this method.

method.

It is commonplace in media studies to observe that (in developed, Western r'••. ~ __...

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\ Audiences. methodology, visual culture, qualitative re.search, c.reativity i

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societies at least) we live in a world where individuals are bombarded with a large quantity and range of images and messages from television, radio, print, the internet, other forms of media, and the advertising and corporate material that surrounds us. This material, as well as being very ubiquitous, is also usually very visual, or a complex mix of audio and visual material.

It is also commonplace in media studies, howev~r. to explore the question of people's responses to this material through language alone: using 2/32

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methods such as interviews or focus groups, researchers typically expect media consumers to provide more-or-less instant accounts, in words, of their feelings about these complex visual or audio-visual experiences.

There is little reason to think that this would be an easy or straightforward task for most people. It is difficult to generate, on demand, a verbal account of a complex audio-visual experience'.

Therefore, the approaches which this paper proposes offer a different way into these issues. By operating on the visual plane, these visual/creative methods mirror the visual nature of much contemporary media - so that there is a <match> between the research process which operates (or at least begins) on the visual plane, and the research area - people's relationship with contemporary culture - which also operates (or at least begins) on the visual plane.

When participants are asked to make a creative artefact, this brings about a considerable change in the pace of statement-generation within the research process. Language-based methods are relatively time-pressured: if I ask you a question, it would seem strange if you didn't begin to provide me with an answer within a few seconds. Creative tasks, on the other hand, are understood to take longer, and lead to a more reflective process, where it seems <natural> to take time to think about what is to be produced, and how this can be achieved; and furthennore, during the time it takes to make the work, the participant will have spent further time - creative time - thinking about the research issue and their response to it, so that by the end of the process, even if we do ultimately resort to language, they will have developed a set of responses which may be quite different to what their initial <gut reaction> may have been. (This approach is not necessarily <better>: asking people to verbally provide their spontaneous reactions to certain research questions can be valuable in certain circumstances, but by definition such responses will not be the most reflective or carefully considered). Moreover, the physical process of making something drawing, for example - involves the body in a physical engagement with thought which, again, may affect personal response: some artists would suggest, for instance, that the physical effort of making a creative piece means that the engagement with it begins in the mind but comes through , There is not space here to add to the extensive previous discussions of the limitations of the established approaches (but see, for example, Moores, 1993; Ang, t996; Gauntlett & Hill, 1999; Ruddock, 2001). This article is instead an attempt to begin a consideration of alternative and complementary methods.

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the body, and that this bodily engagement is a significant part of the thinking-through of the piece (see, for example, Kuh, 2000, and Palmer, 2004).

This approach recognizes the creativity of audiences. It is obviously quite different to those studies (which, indeed, it was developed in opposition to _ see GauntJett, 1995, 1997,2001) which offer participants a limited range of possible ways to express their response. Such response-limited studies include, for example, surveys where respondents have to concur with one of a pre-set range of views, or <effects> studies where the <subjects> have their behaviour categorised, within a pre-set range, by observers. By contrast, participants in visual/creative studies can offer a wide range of responses, and ideally should be able to significantly change the researchers' agenda or frames of reference. (Of course, as with any kind of research, such studies can be done badly, or unimaginatively, or used in a way which ultimately categorises participants in limited ways; but that should not be the intention).

Furthennore, it is contended that setting a task which invites participants to engage in a visual creative activity (making a media or artistic artefact) - as opposed to a language activity (the traditional spoken or written response) _ leads to the brain being used in a different way. A full understanding of neuroscience is not necessary for this point to be made. Recent introductions to the latest scientific findings regarding the human brain and how it works, such as Winston (2003) and Greenfield (2000), reflect that even specialist scientists themselves do not have a clear understanding of how the brain works. However it is clear that earlier <modular> models (which suggested one comer of the brain dealt exclusively with language, for example, and another dealt wholly with movement) were not quite right, as different areas of the brain appear to work together. Nevertheless, different brain patterns, and different area networks, are associated with different types of activity, and so visual/creative studies will use some parts of the brain, and some kinds of brain activity, which are different to studies which ask participants to generate language/speech. Combined with the more reflective process, this could"': possibly, at least -lead to a different quality of data.

Finally, this kind of approach tends not to treat people as <audience> of particular things. A standard approach in media studies is to see people as the <audience> of a particular individual media product - a particular soap opera, or a particular magazine, for ell:ample. This kind of approach, by 4/32

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contrast, prefers to recognise that most individuals are typically surrounded by a very broad range of media which they engage with on various levels, and involving different dimensions of pleasure, intellectual connection, distaste, voyeurism, apathy, enthusiasm, desire, and other feelings. It seems best, then, not to single out specific branded <bits> of the media for examination, but rather to look at the impact of different broader elements, spheres, or styles.

Making visual things We know that humans have been engaged in artistic expression for a very long time. The drawings in the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in southern France, for example, have been found to be at least 31,000 years old (Lewis-Williams, 2002; Clottes & Feruglio, 2004). To get back to this period in a hypothetical time machine, you would have to travel back to the fall of the Roman Empire, and then travel a further twenty times as far back into history. It is worth pausing to consider this long-standing human interest in the creation of imagery.

Friedrich Nietzsche suggested that human beings, since ancient times, have felt the need to make marks to represent their lives and experiences not simply as a reflection of private dreams, or to communicate instrumental facts about survival, but as a kind of necessary celebration of existence: an «impulse which calls art into being, as the complement and consummation of existence, seducing one to a continuation of life» ([1872] 1967: 43). We can see that this principle could apply to any number of creative works from any period - linking, say, a Chauvet cave sketch of running horses, with a Vermeer painting of a woman reading a letter, with a Hollywood romantic comedy.

For many centuries the purpose of art was generally seen as being the attempt to reflect the beauty of nature - stemming back to Aristotle's notion (c. 384-322 BC) that the purpose of art should be the imitation of nature (mimesis). This was meant in a broad sense - art simply had to offer, as Richard Eldridge puts it, the «presentation of a subject matter as a focus for thought, fused to perceptual experience of the work» (2003: 29). Art did not have to be a simple <copy> of what we see in the world, then; music, for example, fitted very well into this definition of imitation. Furthermore, in Poetics, Aristotle argued that art arises because «representation is natural to human beings from childhood», and because «everyone delights in representations» and we like to learn from them (2004: 4). He also stated 5/32

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that the function of art is «not to relate things that have happened, but things that may happen, i.e. that are possible in accordance with probability or necessity» (p. 12), thereby suggesting that art is about possibilities, and perhaps a thinking-through of ideas about ways of living.

These ideas about art, then, were often complex and sophisticated, but did not place special emphasis on the psychology of the artist themselves. The Romantic era, from the second half of the 18th century, embraced the idea t~at art was primarily the self-expression of the artist (feelings, emotion and experience). The groundwork had been laid by George Berkeley, who in An Essay Towards A New Theory of Vision (1709) established the idea that we can only have mental representations of things, and not fully <know> a thing in itself. An artwork, then, could not be about the world, but about a person's experience of the world - giving much useful fuel to Romantic critics who were happy to celebrate artistic expression, and the mind's creative power, as superior to the <accurate> but unfermented view of the world produced by a camera obscura.

«In the light of this», as Julian Bell explains, «eighteenth-century artistic theory turned from how the painting related to the world towards how the painting related to the painter» (1999: 56). The artist David Hockney, whose work includes a range of experiments with representation - in particular rejecting the conventional Western approach to perspective says that artistic depiction «is not an attempt to re-create something, but an account of seeing it». Hockney cites Cezanne as a painter who made this especially apparent: «He wasn't concerned with apples, but with his perception of apples. That's clear from his work» (Hockney & Joyce, 2002: 58). A similar point is made by Arthur C. Danto in The Transfiguration of the Commonplace (1981): «It is as if a work of art were like an externalisation of the artist's consciousness, as if we could see his way of seeing and not merely what he saw» (p. 164).

In an attempt to provide an even broader account of creative production, Richard Eldridge suggests that the motive of all creators and artists is «To express, and in expressing to clarify, inner emotions and attitudes - their own and others» - in relation to the common materials of outer life» (2003: 100). This useful phrase highlights the working-through of feelings and ideas, and the way in which creative activity is itself where the thinking-through and the self-expression takes place, as well as being a process which creates an artefact which represents the outcome of those thinking and feeling processes.

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Indeed, many key thinkers on the meaning of art have similarly seen artistic making as an act which reflects, and works through, human experience. In his Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics, originally delivered in the 1820s, Hegel describes the making of artworks as a universal human need to consider one's own existence: The universal and absolute need out of which art, on its formal side, arises has its source in the fact that man is a thinking consciousness, i.e. that he draws out of himself, and makes explicit for himself, that which he is ... The things of nature are only immediate and single, but man as mind reduplicates himself, inasmuch as prima facie he is like the things of nature, but in the second place just as really is for himself, perceives himself, has ideas of himself, thinks himself, and only thus is active self-realizedness (2004: 35).

Making <external things> upon which a person inevitably <impresses the seal of his inner being> gives that person the opportunity to reflect upon their selfhood; <the inner and outer world> is projected into <an object in which he recognises his own self> (p. 36). Hegel's implication that something made by a person will necessarily express something about its creator interestingly predates Freud's suggestion, which would emerge almost 100 years later and in a quite different tradition, that artworks along with dreams, slips of the tongue, and any other product of the brain will reflect aspects of conscious or unconscious personality.

Novelist Leo Tolstoy also felt that art communicated selfhood, but his model anticipates more deliberate action. In 18%, he wrote: «Art is a human activity [in which] one man consciously by means of certain signs, hands onto others feelings he has lived through, and that others are infected by those feelings and also experience them» (l %0: 51). Although Tolstoy's transmission model - where feelings are implanted into a work by its creator and then <infect> its audiences - seems rather simplistic, his point is that art should primarily be about the communication of genuinely felt emotions. On this basis, he rejected numerous higWy-regarded works of art, including many of his own, as decadent and <counterfeit>, because they were based on spectacle and an attempt to capture beauty or sentiment, rather than stemming from truly-felt emotions. Only works with this authentic base in feeling (whatever its character - joy or despair, love or hate) would be able to evoke a matching experience of such feelings in the audience.

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In the twentieth century, John Dewey, in Art as Experience ([193411980), argued that looking at artworks - or at least, particular works of art that are meaningful to us - <elicits and accentuates> the experience of wholeness and connection with the wider universe beyond ourselves (p. 195). Dewey does not mean famous <111asterpieces> in particular (although those are likely to have become celebrated because of these properties, at least in part); for Dewey, art is part of everyday experience. «The understanding of art and of its role in civilization is not furthered by setting out with eulogies of it nor by occupying ourselves exclusively at the outset with great works of art recognized as such» (p. 10). Dewey suggests that understanding an artistic experience is like understanding how a flower grows - rather than simply noticing that it is pretty - and therefore involves an understanding of <the soil, air, and light» which have contributed to the aetiology of the work and which will be reflected in it (p. 12). This means that, just as we associate a botanist with the study of flowers, we could expect to associate a sociologist with the exploration of artworks.

Dewey suggests that art can introduce us «into a world beyond this world which is nevertheless the deeper reality of the world in which we live in our ordinary experiences». This may sound quasi-religious, but Dewey's concerns are pragmatic: «I can see no psychological ground for such properties of an experience, save that, somehow, the work of art operates to deepen and to raise to great clarity that sense of an enveloping undefined whole that accompanies every normal experience». This brings «a peculiarly satisfying sense of unity in itself and with ourselves» (p. 195).

Therefore, simply put, making or looking at a work of art encourages reflection upon ourselves and our place in the world.

These theories all suggest, albeit with different emphases and nuances, that creativity and artistic production is driven by a desire to communicate feelings and ideas; and that such works will almost inevitably tell us something about their creator. In particular, artistic works are a thinkingthrough and reflection of social and psychological experience.

Interpreting visual material produced by research participants When creative or artistic works are produced not as an exercise in <spontaneous> self-expression, but rather because a researcher has requested that they be made, questions about the interpretation of such work seem especially poignant. In studies where participants have been asked to produce material such as a drawing, collage, photographs or a 8/32

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video, the problem of how this imagery can be used in a way which does not rely too much on the researcher's own subjective interpretation can seem to be a serious hurdle.

One response to this dilemma is to observe that researchers always have a job of interpretation to do; whether their data is a set of images, or a set of verbal statements generated in an interview or focus group, the researcher can only do their best to interpret this material. By reminding us that the meanings of language-based data are far from self-evident or selfexplanatory, this point - which I have made myself in the past - is useful.

However, it ducks the main problem: franldy, if we are looking at visual material in the hope of ascertaining how the artist/producer feels about something, this is more difficult than if we are faced with a verbal statement where a person says how they feel about something. Interpreting the latter is not necessarily straightforward either, but the researcher has something clear, intentional, and verifiable, to go on.

An example will make this obvious point even more clear. Compare two pieces of data provided by a participant called Sarah: _ Item A: A drawing of Tony Blair, where he appears to be frowning, and pointing. _ Item B: The verbal statement ÂŤI think Tony Blair is terrible, he's very arrogant and he's doing a bad jobÂť.

If we only had Item B to analyse, we would not feel uncomfortable

asserting that Sarah believes that Tony Blair is <terrible>, <very arrogant> and <doing a bad job>, because she has said so in those very words and we have little reason to think she is being untruthful. Furthermore, the meaning of these words is widely understood, and so we could go beyond quoting those particular words and generate other adjectives which we could also be confident about: it would be OK to say, for example, that Sarah is disappointed by Blair's performance; she feels he is too single-minded and is failing to listen to others.

If, on the other hand, we only had Item A to analyse, we could be much less certain. Perhaps the drawing shows that Sarah finds Blair disagreeable, as seen in his dictatorial pointing and in the frown with which he dismisses other people's views; or perhaps she feels that Blair, a decisive leader, deals assertively with each day's challenges. Or something else.

In an attempt to find or develop a methodology of interpretation, I studied a lot of texts from the field of art therapy, since art therapists have for

decades been eliciting artworks from patients in a bid to understand them better (for example, Betensky, 1973; Di Leo, 1973, 1983; Klepsch & Logie, 1982; Koppitz, 1984; Malchiodi, 1998a, 1998b; Matthews, 1998; Oster & Montgomery, 1996; Silver, 2001; Thomas & Silk, 1990). Of course, art therapy is a diverse field with different approaches and practices. Some have always used the art as a loose kind of starting-point for therapeutic explorations. Some believe that the psychoanalytic approach to reading dreams (first outlined in Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900), in which images are read as metaphors, can be applied to children's artworks (Diem-Wille, 2001, and Furth, 2002, are recent exponents of this approach). Another body of art therapists, for much of the twentieth century, had sought to use art as a direct diagnostic tool. Specific tests were developed, such as the <House-Tree-Person> test (Buck, 1948, 1964) where the patient would be asked to draw a house, a tree and a person, and then the clinician would use diagnostic charts to <identify> psychological problems based on aspects of the drawings. Unsurprisingly, in the past two or three decades this seemingly deterministic and simplistic kind of approach came to be less popular (Thomas & Silk, 1990; Malchiodi, 1998b). Today, it is m.ore common for art therapists to encourage their clients to produce drawings (or other artwork), but then talk with them about the artwork. Instead of the therapist interpreting the image, the person themselves interprets their work - which makes much more sense.

In the traditional approach, the <expert> would impose their interpretation of the work. Such an imposition is a methodological problem and also, in therapeutic terms, devalues the knowledge and experience of the client. As art therapist Cathy Malchiodi writes:

In my own work with children's drawings from a phenomenological approach, the first step involves taking a stance of <not knowing>. This is si'milar to the philosophy described by social constructivist theorists who see the therapist's role in work with people as one of co-creator, rather than expert advisor. By seeing the client as the expert on his or her own experiences, an openness to new information and discoveries naturally evolves for the therapist. Although art expressions may share some commonalities in form, content, and style, taking a stance of not knowing allows the child's experiences of creating and making art expressions to be respected as individual and to have a variety of meanings (l998b: 36).

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From recent developments in art therapy, then, I learnt the answer to the problem of how you interpret an artistic or creative work: you get the artist to interpret it themselves. Therefore, to return to the above example, we would ask Sarah to do a drawing of Tony Blair and then, after she has spent perhaps 10 minutes thinking and 30 minutes drawing, we would discuss different dimensions of the drawing with her, asking what different suggestive parts of it might mean, which would probably stimulate a focused and thoughtful discussion of her feelings about the politician.

Why bother with words at all?: The place of language in visual culture Can we simply do away with words altogether? It seems not. Almost all formal academic communication takes place in language, and for good reasons: our clearest thoughts take the form of language, even when they are <only> in the mind and have not been expressed. In his book Visual Thinking, Rudolph Arnheim (1969) argues that thought operates primarily on the visual plane:

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Purely verbal thinking [without reference to non-language impressions and images] is the prototype of thoughtless thinking, the automatic recourse to connections retrieved from storage. It is useful but sterile.

What makes language so valuable for thinking, then, cannot be thinking in words. It must be the help that words lend to thinking while it operates in a more appropriate medium, such as visual imagery (p. 231-232).

Arnheim argues that the kind of thinking which can be done in words alone - the logical form of thinking that computers can imitate - is fine but very limited. He suggests that humans routinely form thoughts and make judgements based on perceptions, impressions, feelings, and visual material which cannot be reduced to words which are beyond words. Arnheim admits that language can then be helpful, bringing order: «It supplies a clear-cut, distinct sign for each type and thereby encourages perceptual imagery to stabilise the inventory of visual concepts» (p. 236). This idea of language bringing stability to the visual is fruitful. Arnheim himself, with his own mission to promote the visual as being at the heart of thinking, is not so impressed: «The function of language is essentially conservative and stabilising, and therefore it also tends, negatively, to make cognition static and immobile», he notes (p. 244). tt/32

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Nevertheless, language helps enormously with reliable communication. We can readily propose ways in which images alone can <communicate>, of course, and it is easy to assert that images can express <so much more> than language. Such a view is always nice, and often true. But it is interesting to note what happens in Julian Bell's excellent book What is Painting?

(1999), when, after many pages of writing about painting as the expression of ideas and emotions, he seems to get fed up with it all, suddenly shattering the prior assumptions of his own text with this passage: But let us be brutal: expression is a joke. Your painting expresses - for you; but it does not' communicate to me. You had something in mind, something you wanted to <bring out>; but looking at what you have done, I have no certainty that I know what it was. Your colours do not say anything to me in particular; they are stuff to look at, but looking is not the same as catching meanings ... [A work] has <meaning>, insofar as we open our eyes to it and allow them to wander and gaze in fascination; but that <meaning> is not an idea or an emotion, not a specific, unequivocal message. What we see is what we get: a product, not a process, lies on the wall.

But we are not happy to accept this. We yearn for expression to be communication, for every wandering mark to find its home. As a result, alongside this two-eenturies-old growth of the painting of personal expression, a massive institution of explanation has grown up to control and stabilise the market» (p. 170)'.

It is interesting to note that Bell, like Arnheim, says that words are deployed to <stabilise> the meaning of images. In terms of academic research, or more specifically research about the ways in which individuals relate to media material, it would be difficult to ditch words altogether.

The feminist critique of traditional research methods It should also be mentioned that the methodological approach proposed in this paper has been influenced by the feminist critique of traditional

, Bell admits that his own book is part of that industry of writing words about pictures.

«But the book is trying to point the way through the institution's dim interior, towards the exit. To steer a path through the maze of words, towards the complex, but largely wordless pleasures of looking - that is the broad intention of this text, because it comes from a painter, someone committed to producing objects specifically for viewing» (1999: 171).

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research (see for example Roberts, 1990; Reinharz, 1992; Hesse-Biber & Yaiser, 2003; Letherby, 2003). This is not simply in the sense of preferring qualitative to quantitative methods; and, in terms of its impact here, has little to do with gender issues. Rather, we note that feminists have criticised both qualitative and quantitative researchers for their tendency to use participants as mere suppliers of data. Traditionally, a researcher merely encounters <subjects> and takes <data> away, without giving anything back to the people involved. Participants are not involved in the process, are not consulted about the style or content of the process - apart from in the moment(s) in which they supply data - and do not usually get an opportunity to shape the agenda of the research. The process usually involves little real interaction, or dialogue. The creative/visual methods do not inherently or necessarily avoid this, but they provide more opportunities for participants to shape the content of the enquiry, to bring in issues and questions which the researcher may not have considered, and to express themselves outside of boundaries set by the researcher. (It is in the area of interpretation and analysis, as noted above, where the researcher regains the power to diminish and misunderstand the contribution of the participants; this is why the participants should be enabled to set the agenda here too, interpreting their own work rather than having an interpretation imposed upon them).

History of the approach Unsurprisingly, the idea of asking people to produce visual material within research is not new (although it seems that using it in media audience research, as outlined in this paper, is quite new). The book Image-Based Research, edited by Jon Prosser (1998), offers a range of interesting chapters on the growth of visually-oriented methods in social research.

Many of them are about sociological uses of photography. Douglas Harper's «An Argument for Visual Sociology» (1998) is a good introduction to visual sociology, but much of it is about (documentary) photography - photographic records of life - rather than using imagecreation within a new research process. Similarly, Prosser & Schwartz (1998) discuss whether photographs can be trusted as authentic repres.entations of social life. (Of course, such questions are not significant if we are discussing visual material which is seen as a record of selfexpression, rather than as a record of exterior realities).

Art and drawings are considered in some chapters of Image-Based 13/32

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Research, though, most notably in the chapter by Noreen M. Whetton & Jennifer McWhirter. Back in 1972, Whetton developed the <Draw and Write Technique», as part of a project which established that although children aged 7-8 may not be able to communicate certain emotions through words (whether written or spoken), they could feel them and understand them in others. This was revealed through the children's drawings, and their subsequent faltering speech about the emotions depicted in the drawings: It became apparent that the children experienced and empathized with a wide range of emotions including anger, frustration, despair, remorse, guilt, embarrassment and relief as well as delight, enjoyment, excitement. The children differed only from adults in that they did not have the vocabulary to express themselves» (Whetton & McWhirter, 1998: 273).

Since then, Whetton, with colleagues, has used children's drawings to explore various aspects of their world, such as a study looking at how they drew a story involving drug dealers (Williams, Whetton and Moon, 1989a), a study exploring how children picture the insides of their bodies (Williams, Whetton and Moon, 1989b), and a study revealing children's interpretations of dental health campaigns (Whetton & McWhirter, 1998).

In media audience research which did use some visual material and asked participants to do a creative (writing) task, members of the Glasgow Media Group asked participants to write their own news headlines or reports to accompany actual news photographs or headlines which they were given, or sometimes asked to write scripts to accompany other material (see for example Kitzinger, 1990, 1993; Philo, 1990, 1996; Miller, 1994). These studies aimed to show how the public have been influenced by (or, at least, have remembered the discourses of) media coverage of particular topics.

More recently, new media researchers have looked at websites produced by fans, activists, and other <ordinary people> using the internet to express themselves, exploring these as a kind of unsolicited data, non-mainstream visual and textual constructions which can tell us something about people's relationship with mainstream media and mainstream politics (see, for example, chapters in Gauntlett & Horsley, eds, 2004).

And I have recently, belatedly, become aware of the work of Horst Niesyto and his colleagues at the University of Ludwigsburg, Germany. Niesyto has . been working on the idea of using visual and audio-visual productions 14/32

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.MedlenPiidagogik_ within qualitative research since the 1980s, mostly in German and in German-language publications (with English-language articles appearing since the late 1990s). His thoughtful discussions (such as «Youth Research on Video Self-productions: Reflections on a Social-aesthetic Approach,., 2000) focus on the ways in which media materials are thoroughly integrated into the everyday experiences of young people, and are part of their construction of their social worlds. The method developed by Niesyto since the mid-1980s - projects in which «young people had the chance to express personal images of experience in self-produced video films» (p.

137) - is based on a philosophy which has much in common with that which I thought I had been originating (!), separately, since the mid-l990s.

Niesyto writes: In view of media's increasing influence on'everyday communication, I put forward the following thesis: If somebody - in nowadays media society - wants to learn something about youth's ideas, feelings, and their ways of experiencing the world, he or she should give them a chance to express themselves also by means of their own self-made media products! (p. 137).

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More recently the methods have become more complex'; see, for example, the article by Peter Holzwarth & Bjorn Maurer (2003) which details the international collaborative project, Children in Communication about Migration (known as CHICAM - see www.chicam.net). in which young people used collage (with cut-up magazines), disposable cameras, various videoed activities, arrangements of photographs with music, and specific photo tasks (such as a photo essay on likes and dislikes, or on national symbols), as well as video productions, which were shared and discussed internationally via the internet. Holzwarth & Maurer suggest: In an era when audio-visual media play an increasingly influential role , In 2000 there was a conference in Germany, 'Eigenproduktionen mit Medien als Gegenstand der Kindheits- und Jugendforschung' [' Self-productions with media as a subject of childhood and youth research'), in which German researchers presented several studies inclUding video, graffiti, audio and computer-based media productions (see Niesyto, 2001). There was also the international project 'VideoCulture' (19972000, coordinated by Horst Niesyto), which explored the potential of images and music in the context of intercultural communication (see Journal of Educational Media, Special Issue: The VideoCulture Project, Vol. 26, No.3 (October 2001); Niesyto, 2003; www.ph-Iudwigsburg.delmedien Ilforsch).

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in children's and adolescent's perceptions, it is important that researchers not rely on verbal approaches alone, but also give young people the opportunity to express themselves in contemporary media forms. Audio-visual data should not be considered an alternative to verbal data but rather a source of data with a different quality» (p.

127).

They conclude that: Using their own media productions as communication links makes it easier for children to talk about their world and living environment [... J these works provide openings into the children's world which language barriers would otherwise render inaccessible (p. 136).

CHICAM is co-ordinated by David Buckingham, whose work on children's media literacy in the 1990s was undoubtedly an influence upon this emerging sphere of work (for example, Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1994). Most recently, Buckingham & Bragg's study of young people's responses to media portrayals of sex and personal relationships (2004) gave teenage participants a blank notebook and asked them to keep a <diary> or <scrapbook>, containing personal reflections upon such material seen in the media, with intriguing results .

It is hoped that, as researchers become aware of the similarities between projects being developed in different countries, we can start to come together more, share ideas and collaborate.

Examples of the method in action Our own examples of the visual/creative approach in action can be found at the website of the Centre for Creative Media Research, at <www.artlab. org.uk>. Some are more developed than others, ranging from a published book-length monograph to smaller pilot studies, as well as activities where the approach is used with an emphasis more on teaching, or art workshops, rather than for research. Here we will consider two examples of research projects, one involving video production, the other involving drawing,

Video Critical In this study, published as the book Video Critical: Children, the Environment and Media Power (Gauntlett, 1997), the researcher worked with seven groups of children aged 7-11 to make videos about <the environment>. The participants were from Leeds, UK, and attended mostly 16132

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inner-city schools characterised by a diverse ethnic mix and relatively poor socio-economic backgrounds.

The study grew out of a need to assess the impact of the environmental messages which had been appearing in a range of media consumed by children in the early to mid I990s. Having established that traditional <effects> research was unable to offer valuable models for assessing the influence of the media (Gauntlett, 1995,2001), this study sought to take a distinctly different - or even <opposite> - approach. Where traditional <effects> research is interested in participants' responses on a pre-selected axis, recorded quantitatively (for example, how many times they hit a doll or press a button), the Video Critical research was interested in participants' responses, whatever they may be (for example, the children could choose what to put into their film, how to film it, what messages to include or narrative to follow). Where <effects> research sees children as passive receivers of media messages, this research was interested in participants as creative and thoughtful individuals. In particular, <effects> research would not offer young people the opportunity to demonstrate any intelligent or critical responses, whereas this research presented participants with a platform to demonstrate their abilities.

The <data> for analysis in such a study is not simply the videos that are produced, but rather also - perhaps more importantly - includes the researcher's ethnographic observations of the entire production process, from first thoughts and discussions, through planning and various filming sessions, and responses to material in progress, through to completion.

The study was able to demonstrate a high level of media literacy in even the youngest participants. In their few years of experience as media consumers, the children had learned elements of genre and presentation, as well as acquiring a lively awareness of the way in which things could be represented, and misrepresented, on camera. The children's familiarity with the constructedness of the media, their ability to imagine the final edited text even as they recorded elements of it out of sequence, and the sheer speed with which they picked up how to operate the equipment and began creative activity, all confirmed that an (open research method which allowed children to express themselves would lead to a much more positive picture of young media consumers than the <closed>, inherently negative methods used by <effects> researchers.

In terms of environmental issues, the study was able to show that the children felt quite a high level of concern about environmental issues, 17/32

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particularly pollution and the need for green, open spaces. The children related to environmental issues most closely at the local level, although some global extrapolations were made. However, the children did not focus on global issues primarily in their videos, and the published study (Gauntlett, 1997) discusses the idea that the absence of a global or <macro> focus in the environmental media coverage consumed by children led to their understanding of the whole issue being (bent> towards the individualistic,localleve'.

The time spent observing the planning and production of each video, over a period of weeks, revealed that the impressions generated in the group interview in the first week of the study (equivalent to the focus group which is often the only information-gathering element of other qualitative studies) were often inaccurate, with some being distinctly misleading.

Children who had seemed indifferent to. the environment in conversation were found to have quite strong views on some issues - particularly where related to the quality of their own lives - whilst others who had emerged from the initial discussion as keen environmentalists were found to be rather less committed where significant amounts of actual effort would be required. Over time, it generally became clear that the children were more familiar with environmentalist values and discourses than had been initially apparent; but also that environmental concern was not singular or straightforward, as conflicts were observed between the idealistic desire to be environmentally friendly on the one hand, and the more pragmatic or hedonistic pull of enjoying themselves and <not bothering> on the other. By the end of each project, one could see that the initial group interviews had represented a kind of <brain dump> of potential interests and concerns, which in subsequent weeks were sifted and filtered to reveal the more genuinely-felt opinions.

The video-making process gave children a voice, not only to provide considered answers, but to set their own questions. They were even able to use the persuasive vehicles of humour and satire to make their points. Such findings contrasted pleasingly with the findings of <effects> studies, which typically positioned young participants as likely victims of the media,-and seemed most happy to find any partial evidence which would confirm this view. By contrast, this study was able to show that children are far from being simply passive or reactive in relation to the mass media. The content of television programmes and other media goes through complex processes of critical interpretation and integration with existing knowledge and 18/32

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understandings, and so cannot have direct or predictable <effects> on attitudes or behaviour. Children are generally sharp and cynical readers of the mass media - as they are able to demonstrate when given the opportunity to be writers of such media. (For more about this study, see online presentation with photographs at www.artlab.org.uklvideocritical).

Drawing Celebrity This study, conducted 2003-04, explored the idea of asking participants to do drawings as the way of getting into participants' responses to media material. The research sought to explore how young people think about celebrities, and whether <celebrity culture> (seen as being especially dominant at this time in the UK) was having an impact on their aspirations or lifestyle values. The work also considers changing perceptions of gender identities.

The study involved 100 <Year 10> students (aged 14-15) in the south of England. Participants were asked: «Draw a star, celebrity or famous person who you would like to be. H there's nobody you'd like to be, at all, then choose someone who you think is good or cool». They were also asked to «put them in a particular setting and/or doing something», and were reassured that their drawing skills were of no concern.

See fig. I for examples of some of the images. Clearly, it would be difficult to interpret such pictures in isolation - and indeed, as discussed above, I do not feel that one can justify a researcher imposing their, or any other, <external> interpretation (since we could never agree why one interpretation was correct and another one was not), and therefore the solution has to be that the artist interprets their work themselves.

Therefore, after spending 30-40 minutes on the drawing, participants were then asked to complete a single-sheet questionnaire, the most important part of which was the open question «Do you think it would be good to be like this person ... and if so, why?». (It would have been better to conduct interviews, so that aspects of each drawing, and specific points expressed in answers, could be explored; but time constraints - in terms of how much disruption school teachers would allow - meant that a written response was often the only practical solution). Answers to this question included, for example: • Female who had drawn actress Julia Roberts: «Yes, because she's rich, famous, pretty and is a fantastic actress. I like all the film's she's in. She deals well when the public criticises her. She's really talented and 19/32

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secure».

• Male who had drawn rugby star Johnny Wilkinson: «Yes because he's the best in the world. He has lots and lots of money. He plays rugby (better than football)>>.

• Female who had drawn pop star and actress J-Lo: «Have lots of money».

Very famous. Can have anything she wants. Loved by lots of people.

• Male who had drawn singer Bob Marley: «Yes, because he was out of this world (if you get what I mean). He wrote a lot of good songs, had a lot of wives and solved a lot of political problems in Jamaica».

In a relatively small number of cases (16 per cent) the artists had decided that they did not actually want to be that person after all, or had mixed feelings. For example: • Male who had drawn football star David Beckham: «No, because even though he is really rich and famous, he's always in the papers. I wouldn't be able to cope with all the media coverage he gets. It would be good to play for Real Madrid and be that rich but not so famous».

• Female who had drawn Friends actress Jennifer Aniston: «Maybe.

Because it would be nice to be married to Brad Pitl. Being famous would be nice but maybe a bit annoying. She is very attractive».

• Male who had drawn singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy: «Some parts would be good, like having lots of money and having singing talent.

Also having the lazy lifestyle would be good. But the fans and fame I would not appreciate».

A second question, «What setting did you draw them in, and what are they doing in your drawing? And why do you think you drew them like this?» usually only elicited descriptive responses, although occasionally they were a little more revealing. For example: • Female who had drawn pop star Christina Aguilera: «I drew her singing at the Europe Music Awards. I drew her in this setting as I would love to sing live in a stadium in front of all those people and have them all love you».

• Male who had drawn Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson: «Richard is posing in front of his planes, trains and his shops and phone services. I drew him like this because it shows what a good business man he is».

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• Female who had drawn Friends actress Jennifer Aniston: «She is shopping and is by her big house. I drew her like this because she is able to go shopping and spend a lot of money and can spend her money without wondering if they can actually afford to spend that amount of money.

Arguably the most interesting written responses were given in response to a third, more <closed> question, which said: «Can you think of three words which might be used to describe this person, and which also describe how you would like people to think of you?». Although apparently offering less scope for rich qualitative responses, this question drew consistently interesting, thoughtful answers. David Beckham, for example, was described by one young man as <happy>, <a family man> and having <lots of friends>. This choice of three phrases interestingly leaves out football skills, and positions Beckham as a father and family man. Other responses from males included: • Bob Marley - Sound; Funny; Warm • Roger from Less Than Jake - Cool; Modest; Friendly • Orlando Bloom - Talented; Cool; Good looking • Matthew Perry - Funny; Original, unique; Interesting • Bruce Lee - Focused; Mellow; Supple

Coming from male teenagers, responses such as these - which are emotionally reflective rather than <macho> - suggest either that young masculinities are changing (Frosh, Phoenix & Pattman, 2001; Gauntlett, 2002), or that the drawing process gives research participants time to develop more nuanced thoughts about the subject-matter. (In fact, I believe both of these to be the case). Studies of gendered self-presentation have found that the school context still typically requires young males to create a performarice of masculi!1ity within very particular boundaries. In terms of media research specifically, David Buckingham (1993) discusses how his efforts to discuss television with groups of boys aged between seven and twelve, in English schools, 'encountered serious difficulties because masculinity was actively <policed> by the boys themselves. Although they were able to have relatively complex discussions about sexism in cartoons, the boys kept each others' masculinities in check, so that any boy who began to step out of line - by expressing a more <feminine> view, or even by suggesting that they liked a female character - would quickly be <corrected> or made fun of, so that their self-presentation was hastily 22/32

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pushed back into the more traditional masculine mode.

The drawing exercise does not necessarily get around this problem indeed, drawing may be a more self-conscious activity than speech - but it seems that once young males have decided to participate in the activity, they are then perhaps a little more willing to engage seriously with associated issues. Rather than being a study which leads to confident assertions of findings, this study was useful in developing ideas about the use of drawings in research - some of which are discussed a little more in <A few more thoughts), below.

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Other studies Further projects which have made use of this approach include: - Designs 011 Masculinity - PhD project by Ross Horsley (2001-M), in which young men aged 16-30 (some in school or college, some working men, some in prison) are asked to design a men's magazine «which you would like to read, but which you also think would appeal to men in general». Horsley's findings suggest an equation between the process of constructing a magazine and the process of constructing one's own gender identity. Some information at www.artlab.org.uk, and see the developing website at www.readinginto.comlmagazines.

- The Passport of Me - Art and identity project in collaboration with Peter Bonnell at Royal College of Art (2004). Young people were given a blank passport, art materials and polaroid camera, and asked to create a document recording aspects of themselves (tying in with the exhibition about documentation, This Much is Certain). See (www.artlab.org.uk/ passport.htm> .

Some other recent studies and activities are mentioned in «Popular Media and Self-Identity: New approaches» at www.artlab.org.uklinaugural.htm and a few earlier ones appear at www.artlab.org.uklprojects.htm.

A few more thoughts on visual methodologies Following on from my most recent research experience - the study outlined above in which teenagers were asked to do drawings of celebrities - I would like to mention a few aspects of this approach which are worth thinking about.

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Avoidillg linearity A valuable aspect of static imagery, used in research - such as drawings or collages, for example, but not video in this instance - is its lack of linearity.

When we seek verbal or written responses from research participants, that data has to necessarily be sorted into an order. As Rudolph Amheim notes in Visual Thinking (1969):

Intellectual thinking [as expressed in language, and as opposed to visual thinking] strings perceptual concepts in linear succession ...

Intellectual thinking dismantles the simultaneity of spatial structure. It also transforms all linear relations into one-directional successions the sort of event we represent by an arrow (p. 246).

When visualising a concept or a problem, we might picture a number of things at once, and perhaps see them as interconnected, but language forces us to put these into an order, one first and then the others, with the former often seeming to act upon or influence the latter. As Amheim put it later, in his New Essays on the Psychology ofArt (1986): Propositional language, which consists of linear chains of standardized units, has come about as a product of the intellect; but while language suits the needs of the intellect perfeclly, it has a desperate time dealing with field processes, with images, with physical and social constellations, with the weather or a human personality, with works of art, poetry, and music (p. 20-21).

Pictures obviously offer us the opportunity to reveal «everything in one go», without the material being forced into an order or a hierarchy. Often it is useful to have some explanation in words, after the initial (and central) impact of the imagery; but the primacy of the image can be retained. The example of the <mind map> of Beethoven's ninth symphony prepared by Benjamin Zander, ~onductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, illustrates this nicely (see www.artlab.org.uklinaugural.htm). Mter much research and immersion in the symphony and the world of its composer, Zander created his visual guide to the piece, which is then presented to the orchestra. Although some of the meaning of this mind map will be translated into language, as the orchestra discusses it with Zander, the visualisation itself remains the primary reference point. Similarly, when a research participant creates a static artwork, their work offers a . simultaneous range of themes and interpretations which may be explored.

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Picntres as propositions. and as reflections of mental concepts Nicholas Mirzoeff, whilst defining visual culture, notes that «visual culture does not depend on pictures themselves but the modem tendency to picture or visualize existence» (1999: 5). If modem living is primarily an experience of the visual, then getting this imagery <from) the mind, and <into) the realm of analysable research material would be a central goal for researchers. Art and drawing would seem to be the most direct way to do this. Of course, it is not direct at all: individuals have different levels of artistic skill, and on top of that, have different levels of confidence - or more usuaUy lack of confidence - in those skiUs. Furthermore, as Gertraud Diem-Wille reminds us, in psychoanalytic terms, artworks will always be <compromise formations> - <compromises between the instinctual wish and all forces that oppose instinctual gratification» (2001: 120). In other words, even when artworks are intended to be expressive of something particular, they are always compromises between a revelation of something, and the social and psychological forces that prevent the artist from simply showing it.

Even the idea of putting a mental <picture' onto paper is far from straightforward, since the image we have of something in the mind is not usually fully-formed, like a photograph, but is more likely to be fractured and impressionistic. Virginia Woolf described consciousness in this way:

Examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day. The mind receives a myriad impressions - trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or engraved with the sharpness of steel. From all sides they come, an incessant shower of innumerable atoms ... ([1919] 2003: 69).

This continuous <shower> of new material could be said to run down the valleys of the brain and enter the <stream> described by psychiatrist Anthony Storr: Although we may describe what goes on in our own minds as continuous, the <stream of consciousness>, we cannot actually perceive this. It is more like a stream of unconsciousness, with elements we call conscious floating like occasional twigs on the surface of the stream.

When something occurs to us, a new thought, a linking of perceptions, an idea, we take pains to isolate it, to make it actual by putting it into words, writing it down, stopping the <flow> of mental activity for the time being as we might reach out and grab one of the twigs floating past. (1992: 169).

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When not translated into words, elements in the stream may be revealed to us as what Amheim (1969: 108), after Titchener (1926: 13), caUs <visual hints« and <flashes'). Philosopher Susanne Langer (1942) notes that certain perceived images may be deliberately stored, in a way parallel to Storr's grabbing of twigs, in a process where the raw perceived moving image data is <projected) ... into a new dimension, the more or less stable form we call a picture' which has «a unity and lasting identity that makes it an object of the mind's possession rather than sensation» (p. 66). Nevertheless, of course these mentally stored perceptions are not the kind of recollection which might easily be mistaken for <actual> pereeption; rather, Langer says they «have all the characteristics of symbols», and therefore that we «attend to them only in their eapacity of meaning things» since they are «symbols whereby those things are conceived, remembered, considered» (ibid).

Langer, who felt that language is «a poor medium for expressing our emotional nature» (p. 100), sought to systematise the interpretation of symbols, with a debateable degree of success; but here we can simply take the point that humans store particular symbolic images - or at least, visual notes - for particular meaningful reasons. Turning this visual concept (in the mind) into a simple two-dimensional drawn image (in the physical world), is not likely to be simple.

Nevertheless, a person typically makes an effort and is able to put down something; something we can look at and consider. Here another point made by Amheim seems provocative: Every picture is a statement. The picture does not present the object itself but a set of propositions about the object; or, if you prefer, it presents the object as a set of propositions (1969: 308).

If we apply this to the example of the celebrity-drawing study outlined above, it would suggest that we could examine each artwork as being a set of propositions ibout that admired celebrity. To avoid imposing a reading, once again, this would need to be explored as part of a dialogue with the artist; the researcher could ask the participant to suggest what these propositions might be, and could offer some for discussion, ultimately perhaps agreeing on a list of such statements.

Further possibilities Instead of asking participants to produce just one image, it may be more fruitful to ask them to produce as many as they like - partly so that a 26/32

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MedlenPiidagogik_

thought can be refined and presented in different ways, and partly because we often have a range of thoughts about any particular topic'. This would also mean that the participant could talk the researcher through each image and construct an account, or a narrative, of the connections and differences between the different images in the overall set.

Furthermore, future developments of this kind of work might allow participants more choice and variety in the ways in which they are enabled to express themselves. Instead of the researcher saying «Here's the video camera», or «Here's the pens», participants could be allowed to select their own forms as well as styles.

Conclusion As was outlined at the start of this paper, this approach, in which participants are asked to provide a visual, creative response to a certain question or issue in media studies: Is different to most methods in audience/social research, which require participants to produce illStant descriptions of their views, opinions or responses, in language; Is a different way into a research question: inviting participants to create things as part of the research process; - Operates on the visual plane, to a substantial degree (as does most media and popular culture); Involves a reflective process, taking time; Recognises the creativity of <audiences>, and engages the brain in a different way; Generally avoids treating individuals as mere ,audience> of particular products. , The idea that we might need more than one image comes, once again, from RUdolph Arnheim: <1 mentioned earlier that drawings, paintings, and other similar devices serve not simply to translate finished thoughts into visible models but are also an aid in the process of working out solutions of problems. Of this, one receives little evidence from studies that yield only one drawing for each task. Therefore, in the experiments of Miss Caplan [a student of Arnheim who had asked fellow students to do drawings of concepts), subjects were encouraged to «use as many pieces of paper as you need: a new piece for each new idea; a new piece each time you want to correct an old idea. Continue until you are satisfied with your drawing! Think aloud as you draw and explain what you are doing as you do it!,. Eleven subjects produced an average of nine drawings each; one drew as many as thirteen, and nobody settled for fewer than six). (1969: 129-130).

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This approach - to make one further point - seems to usefully bridge the divide between dheory> and <practice> in media studies. At both school and university level, media and communications studies is often taught as a subject of two halves - the <practical> work (making media) on the one hand, and the <theory> work (studying media) on the other. This dichotomy is often a source of frustration for both students and teachers, and unhelpfully carves up the field. The approach to media studies discussed in this paper fuses the two together - studying media by making media; or, to be more specific, studying media and its place in the everyday world through working with people in the everyday world to make media productions.

References Ang, I. (1996). Living Room Wars: Rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world. London: Routledge.

Aristotle (2004). Poetics, translated by Malcolm Heath. London: Penguin.

Arnheim, R. (1969) Visual Thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Arnheim, R. (1986). New Essays on the Psychology of Art. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bell, J. (1999). What is Painting?: Representation and Modern Art. London: Thames and Hudson.

Betensky, M. (1973). Self-discovery through Self-expression: Use of Art ill Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.

George Berkeley (1709). An Essay Towards A New Theory of Vision, ed.ited by David R. Wilkins, 2002, Dublin: Trinity College. http://www.malhs.tcd.ie/-dwilkinslBerkeleyNision/ Buck, J. N. (1948). «The H-T-P Technique: A qualitative and quantitative scoring manual», Journal of Clinical Psychology 4: 317-396.

Buck, J. N. (I~). The House-Tree-Person (H-T-P Manual Supplement).

Beverly Hills, California: Western Psychological Services.

Buckingham, D. (1993). <Boys talk: Television and the policing of masculinity>, in Buckingham, D. (ed.) Reading Audiences: Young people and the media. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Buckingham, D. and Sefton-Green, J. (1994). Cultural Studies Goes to School: Reading and Teaching Popular Media. London: Taylor and Francis.

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Buckingham, D. and Bragg, S. (2003). Young People, Sex and the Media: The Facts of Life? London: Palgrave Macmillan.

C1ottes, J. and Feruglio, V. (2004). The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc. Website at http://www.culture.gouv Jr/culture/arcnatlchauvetlen/. Paris: Ministere de la culture et de la communication - Mission de la recherche et de la technologie.

Danto, A. C. (1981). The Transfiguration of the Commonplace: A Philosophy ofArt. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press.

Dewey, J. ([1934] 1980). Art as Experience. New York: Perigee.

Di Leo, J. H. (1973) Children's Drawings as Diagnostic Aids. New York: BrunnerlMazel.

Di Leo, J. H. (1983). Interpreting Children's Drawings. New York: BrunnerlMazei.

Diem-Wille, G. (2001). <A Therapeutic Perspective: The Use of Drawings in Child Psychoanalysis and Social Science>, in T. Van Leeuwen and C. Jewitt (eds) Handbook of Visual Analysis. London: Sage.

Frosh, S., Phoenix, A., and Pattman, R. (2001). Young Masculinities: Understanding Boys in Contemporary Society. London: Palgrave.

Furth. G. M. (2002). The Secret World of Drawings: A Jungian Approach to Healing Through Art - Second edition. Toronto: Inner City Books.

Gauntlett, D. (1995). Moving Experiences: Understanding Television's Influences and Effects. London: John Libbey.

Gauntlett, D. (1997). Video Critical: Children, the Environment and Media Power. Luton: John Libbey Media.

Gauntlett, D. (2001). «The worrying influence of <media effects> studies», in M. Barker and J. Petley (eds) III Effects: The Media/Violence Debate - Second Edition. London: Routledge.

Gauntlett, D. (2002). Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction.

London: Routledge.

Gauntlett, D., and Hill, A. (1999). TV Living: Television, Culture and Everyday Life. London: Routledge.

Gauntlett, D., and Horsley, R., eds (2004). Web.Studies - 211d Edition.

London: Arnold.

Greenfield, S. (2000). Brain Story: Unlocking our inner world of emotions, memories, ideas and desires. London: BBC Worldwide.

Hegel, G. W. F. (2004). Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics, translated by Bernard Bosanquet, edited by Michael Inwood. London: Penguin.

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Hesse-Biber, S. N. and Yaiser, M., eds (2003). Feminist Perspectives 011 Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hockney, D. and Joyce, P. (2002). Hockney on ,Art,. London: Little, Brown.

Holzwarth, P., and Maurer, B. (2003). <CHICAM (Children in Communication about Migration): An international research project exploring the possibilities of intercultural communication through children's media productions>, in M. Kiegelmann and L. Giirtler (eds) Research Questions and Matching Methods of Analysis. Tiibingen: Ingeborg Huber Verlag.

Howells, R. (2003). Visual Culture. Cambridge: Polity.

Kitzinger. J. (1990). <Audience Understandings of AIDS Media Messages: A Discussion of Methods>, Sociology of Health and Illness 12: 319-35.

Kitzinger, J. (1993). <Understanding. AIDS: Researching audience perceptions of Acquired Immune Deiciency Syndrome>, in J. Eldridge (ed.) Getting the Message: News, Truth and Power. London: Routledge.

Klepsch, M. and Logie, L. (1982). Children Draw and Tell: An Introduction to the Projective Uses of Children's Human Figure Drawings.

New York: BrunnerlMazel.

Koppitz, E. (1984). Psychological Evaluation of Human Figure Drawings

by Middle School Pupils. Orlando, Florida: Grune and Stratton.

Kuh, K. (2000). The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Modern Artists.

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo.

Langer, S. K. (1942). Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite and Art. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press.

Letherby, G. (2003). Feminist Research in Theory and Practice.

Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press.

Lewis-Williams, D. (2002). The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art. London: Thames and Hudson.

Malchiodi, C. A. (1998a). The Art Therapy Sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House.

Malchiodi, ~. A. (1998b). Understanding Children's Drawings. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Matthews, J. (1998). The Art of Childhood and Adolescence: The Construction of Meaning. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Miller, D. (1994). Don't Mention the War. London: Pluto Press.

Mirzoeff, N. (1999). An Introduction to Visual Culture. London: Routledge.

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Moores, S. (1993). Interpreting Audiences: The Ethnography of Media Consumption. London: Sage.

Niesyto, H. (2000). <Youth Research on Video Self-productions: Reflections on a Social-aesthetic Approach>, Visual Sociology 15: 135153.

Niesyto, H. (2001). Selbstausdruck mit Medien. Eigenproduktionen mit Medien als Gegenstand der Kindheits- und lugendforschung. MUnchen: kopaed.

Niesyto, H. (2003). VideoCulture. Video und interkulturelle Kommunikation. Grundlagen, Methoden und Ergebnisse eines internationalen Forschungsprojekts. Miinchen: kopaed.

Nietzsche, F. ([1872] 1967: 43). The Birth of Tragedy and the Case of Wagner. New York: Random House.

Oster, G. D. and Montgomery, S. S. (1996). Clinical Uses of Drawings.

Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson.

Palmer, J., ed. (2004). Private Views: Artists Working Today. London: Serpent's Tail.

Philo, G. (1990). Seeing and Believing: The influence of television.

London: Routledge.

Philo, G., ed. (1996). Media and Mental Distress. London: Addison Wesley Longman.

Prosser, J., ed. (1998). Image-Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist Methods in Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press.

Roberts, H., ed. (1990). Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge.

Rose, G. (2001) Visual Methodnlogies. London: Sage.

Ruddock, A. (2001) .. Understanding Audiences: Theory and Method.

London: Sage.

Silver, R. (2001). Art as Language: Access to Thoughts and Feelings Through Stimulus Drawings. London: Brunner-Routledge.

Storr, A. (1992). Music and the Mind. London: HarpeICollins.

Sturken, M., and Cartwright, L. (2001). Practices of Looking - An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Thom~s, G. V. and Silk, A. M. J. (1990). An Introduction to the Psychology of Children's Drawings. Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

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Titchener, E. B. (1926). Lectures on the Experimental Psychology of the Thought-Processes. New York: Macmillan.

Tolstoy, L. (1960). What is Art?, translated by Aylmer Maude.

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

Whelton, N. M. and McWhirter, J. (1998). <Images and Curriculum Development in Health EducatiOn>, in J. Prosser (ed.) Image-Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. London: RoutiedgeFalmer.

Williams, T. Welton, N. M. and Moon, A. (l989a). A Way In. London: Health Education Authority.

Williams, T. Welton, N. M. and Moon, A. (l989b). A Picture of Health.

London: Health Education Authority.

Winston, R. (2003). The Human Mind, and how to make the most of it.

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Woolf, V. ([1919] 2003). <Modem FictiOn> in The Comman Reader: Volume I, London: Vintage.

David Gauntlelt Professor of Media and Audiences Boumemouth Media School University of Boumemouth, UK Web: www.theory.org.uk/david E-mail: dgauntlelt@boumemouth.ac.uk

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Documentary - A Definition for the Digital Age Documentary texts are supposedly those which aim to document reality, attempting veracity in their depiction of people, places and events. However, the process of mediation means that this is something of a oxymoron, it being impossible to re-present reality without constructing a narrative that may be fictional in places. Certainly, any images that are edited cannot claim to be wholly factual, they are the result of choices made by the photographer on the other end of the lens. Nonetheless, it is widely accepted that categories of media texts can be classed as non-fiction, that their aim is to reveal a version of reality that is less filtered and reconstructed than in a fiction text. Such texts are often constructed from a particular moral or political perspective, and cannot therefore claim to be objective. Other texts purport simply to record an event, although decisions made in post-production mean that actuality is edited, re-sequenced and artificially framed. The documentary maker generally establishes a thesis before starting the construction of their text, and the process of documentarymaking can be simply the ratification of their idea. Perhaps, to misquote Eco, the objectivity of the text lies not in the origin but the destination?

The documentary genre has a range of purposes, from the simple selection and recording of events (a snapshot or unedited holiday video) to a polemic text that attempts to persuade the audience into a specific set of opinions (Bowling For Columbine). Audiences must identify that purpose early on and will therefore decode documentary texts differently to fictional narratives.· • Modes of Documentary

In his 2001 book, Introduction to Documentary (Indiana University Press), Bill Nichols defines the following six modes of documentary •

•

•

•

•

•

The Poetic Mode ('reassembling fragments of the world', a transformation of historical material into a more abstract, lyrical form, usually associated with 1920s and modernist ideas) The Expository Mode ('direct address', social issues assembled into an argumentative frame, mediated by a voice-of-God narration, associated with 1920s-1930s, and some of the rhetoric and polemic surrounding WW2) The Observational Mode (as technology advanced by the 1960s and cameras became smaller and lighter, able to document life in a less intrusive manner, there is less control reqUired over lighting etc, leaving the social actors free to act and the documentarists free to record without interacting with each other) The Participatory Mode (the encounter between film-maker and subject is recorded, as the film-maker actively engages with the situation they are documenting, asking questions of their subjects, sharing experiences with them. Heavily reliant on the honesty of witnesses) The Reflexive Mode (demonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engages actively with the issues of realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality judgements they arrive at. Corresponds to critical theory of the 1980s) The Performative Mode (acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas as part of a context, haVing different meanings for different people, often autobiographical in nature)

These roughly correspond to developmental phases in the genre, when new generations of documentary makers have challenged the forms and conventions that have gone before, and re-invented what documentary means for them.

Further Reading

• • •

Towards A Definition of Documentary - a selection of articles from Reality Film Definition of Documentary - from New Frontiers in American Documentary Film What Is A Documentary?

•

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Documentary name Techniques Used

?<ti~ Touching the void

Spellbound

Super Size Me

Capturing the Friedmans

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Kirsty Painter June 2006

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Task 2 Grid Techniques Used Narrative structure: What information are we being given and in what order?

Cinematography: Shot types and movement

Sound: diegetic I non-diegetic

Editing

Settings: Consider why these settings were chosen

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Character: What type of people are they and how do we know this?

Kirsty Painter.

June 2006

--

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Documentary name Techniques Used

Touching the void

Spellbound

Supersize Me

Capturing the Friedmans

Scene 2: 06.23 - 08.30

First scene (Including titles)

Scene 'Day 22, more burgers' - 1.21.45 - 1.25.00

Scene 3 - 18.05 - 21 ish

Observational 'realist' documentary:

A commercially successful cinema documentary:

Award winning documentary film:

Actuality

Video Diary

Formal IV's

Handheld

Voice over

Rostrum photographs

GV's (General Views)

Formal interview

Home video (archive) footage

Formal and informal interviews

Archive footage (news)

Archive (news)

GV's (to set up IV location)

GV's

A Drama-documentary: Dramatic reconstruction Formal interview (often used as voiceover) Graphics ('Day One') Music (builds suspense)

Interview question often heard (off camera)

â&#x20AC;˘

Graphics

Graphics - to intro setting, people and narrative (used instead of voiceover).

Cut Away (close up shot of knitting during ranch ower IV)

t

....

-"" . .

_.

June 2006

Task 2 Grid Techniques Used Narrative structure (what information are we being given and in what order?)

The narrative structure is a 'format'; a programme with a structure that will be replicated in all the programmes in that series (Like 'Faking It', 'Wife Swap', Big Brother', 'Strictly Come Dancing') Formats are popular with audiences as they are easily recognisable and guarantee 'predictable' entertainment. These are reliable family viewing programmes, placed in prime time slots.

Introduction.to each family.

TV Production companies I channels like formats as they are cheap to make, easily replicated and create big revenue when sold as a format idea to other countries (The BBC sold 'Strictly come dancing' to 27 countries including the USA. Pre -titles tease - to hook the audience by giving theme glimpse at the action to come.

Introduction to family 1 - their life and their holiday Introduction to family 2 - their life and their holiday Cutting between interviews (IV's) and actuality of both families accentuating their differences.

Cinematography (Shot types and movement)

Establishing family portrait shot (This is a 'trademark' of many format shows - it places them in their setting). â&#x20AC;˘ Actuality of what they do - for example, a variety of shots showing Mr Baker being a mechanic etc.

GV's ( of banger racing to build up a picture of the sport).

Movement in shots and lots of variety to make it visually interesting Shots are often 'reveal' shots - ie: the person comings into view, or the camera pans u to reveal the character - For example this is used as a way to introduce the two girls on their bikes.

Sound - diegetic I non-diegetic

Non- diegetic: Music montages - the music reflects the action.

Theme tune Soundtrack Voiceover - strongly guides the narrative.

Diegetic: IV's to set up family, background, character and their place in the narrative. The dialoQue helps to set up I

e

_.

._

.--._ .... ,.... __ ... _.

Actuality sound (often mixed with IV, music and Voiceover)

_.... _.,-_.-

... -

Editing

The speed of the editing changes depending of the action I family: Fast paced editing for the montage of Banger racing Slower paced editing to reflect the more leisurely pace of life the middle class family have.

Cutting between families to accentuate their differences.

Editing special effects like 'wipes' and 'split screens'

Settings

IV settings used to reflect the persons character (and class) - snug, warm living room I Caravan and debris I Garage Baker family - garage (dirt, oil etc), busy road, caravan, office, pub.

Armes -large house and garden, playing cricket, looking at photos on laptop, playing cards.

Character

Baker family are seen to be Working class because: Employment: work in a garage Holiday location: Skegness in a caravan Costume - overall, vest, tracksuit bottoms Accent - Colloquial rough and ready Armes Family are seen to be middle class because: Employment: They are psychologists Holiday Location: Morocco nomadic desert adventure Costume: smart casual attire â&#x20AC;˘ Accent: well spoken, 'posh'

Kirsty Painter June 2006.

-P

-P

Useful Documentary terms

Observational

Fly on the wall

Actuality

Handheld

Vox pops

Voice over ii

Formal interviews

Informal interviews

Dramatic reconstruction

Music montage

Cut away

GV's (general Views)

location

Rostrum

Archive footage

Video Diary

Kirsty Painter June 2006

Kirsty Painter June 2006 Useful Documentary terms

Observational

Style of documentary making where we observe ordinary people in every day situations

Fly on the wall

Similar to Observational: We the audience are voyeurs, watching people who act as if the camera is not there. It's realist.

Actuality

The type of footage you film in observational documentary. It is the filming of everyday things (like someone making a cup of tea or driving to work).

Handheld

A documentary shooting style: Shaky, less polished look, making what you are watching seem more credible and real. ..

,

Vox pops

The voice of the people: Short IV's with people in the street asking for their views about a certain subject

Voice over

A tool to create a narrator who drives the narrative forward. This is placed in after the filming, within the editing process.

Formal interviews

Structures questions, often with characters sitting down, in a set up location (sometimes a studio), professionally lit.

Informal interviews

'On the hoof interviews, unstructured, often when the character is doing something (like making tea). Feel far less formal and often more personal.

Dramatic reconstruction

Reconstructing a real event I situation using actors (Crime watch I drama doc's)

Music montage

A selection of shots interestingly cut together with music to summarise a narrative.

Cut away

A shot used to 'cut away' from the action, often used to hide edit points

(so in an interview you may cut away to a close up of the interviewers hands).

GV's (general Views)

Literally general views of things - so shots of New city, to use with an interview about New York.

location

Another word for the setting of a scene, interview, event etc. filmed.

Rostrum

Still photographs that are used within documentaries are place on a 'rostrum and recorded with a high spec camera so that the quality of the image is good.

Archive footage

Footage filmed in the past: News footage, home video etc.

Video Diary

The video diary is a private recorded moment, where the individual is allowed to speak openly within being heard. There ~ no interviewer and the person speaks to' the camera.

These is a very personal filming technique.

Kirsty Painter June 2006

Channel 4 Monthly Viewing Profiles

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Info

I Sponsorship I Awards'& Events

Channel4Sales.com I Audience Data I

Audience Data Overnights Weekly Impacts Top Programmes. lVR Audience Share Viewing Profiles 10 Year Share Chart

Profiles

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29106/2006

ISSUE 10 JUNE 2006

Welcome to BARB Bulletin - the BARB Newsletter with a face-lift. Listed below are the topics we are covering in this issue - we do hope you find them informative and interesting and welcome your feedback.

New people meter technology

Sky+ PVR playback reporting

UKTelevison OutlookA View Into The Future

Developments in interactive measurement

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BARB and RAJARjoint R&D initiative

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BARB investment in new people meter technology BARB has committed to an investment in metering equipment for its current panel.

To complement BARB's recent introduction of reporting from Sky+ homes, the first use of a new meter, which will be installed in up to 10% of BARB panel homes during 2006, will be to identify time-shift viewing from other systems of disc playback - PVRlDVRs (other than Sky+) DVD recorders etc.

The new metering technology is the 'Unitam' people meter, designed and developed by BARB's metering contractor, AGB Nielsen Media Research. It is based on a content-matching technology and underwent extensive testing in the UK by AGB Nielsen Media Research and BARB throughout 2005. In time Unitam is expected to offer measurement potential for other new types of viewing, such as broadcast content on demand.

The deployment of Unitam was envisaged when BARB's contract with AGB Nielsen Media Research was extended at the end of 2004 and demonstrates BARB's continued development of the service throughout the life of the current BARB contracts.

â&#x20AC;˘

~.

Time-shifted viewing in SKY + homes Reporting of "time-shifted" viewing via Sky+ boxes was reintroduced within the BARB panel on 6 March 2006.

In the eight-week period 6 March to 30 April 2006. time-shifted viewing accounted for 13.8% of all viewing by individuals in Sky+ homes (including guests). Approximately 40% of Sky+ individuals' time-shift viewing took place on the same day as the original broadcast. Peak-time programming was subject to a greater degree of time-shift than the all-day average.

Women Children 4-15

16-34 35-54 55+

ABCl

TIme-shifted viewing includes viewing of programmes recorded to the hard disc and subsequently played back within seven days, as well as viewing after pausing (or ret.-ir:Jding) live TV. Data from the 6 March to 30 April period suggest that 35-54 year olds time-shifted a slightly higher proportion of their viewing than other age groups. On average. 15.7% of 35-54-year-old viewing was time-shifted compared with 11.0% for over 5Ss and 9.6% for children.

ODE adults Average sample base: 458 individuals in 165 Sky+ homes.

Although variation across demographic groups is not particularly marked, use of Sky+ across individual viewers varies widely. During this period, 8% of viewers used their PVR to time-shift half or more of all their television viewing, and 28% time-shifted 20% or more of their viewing.

A number of factors may cause results for time-shifted viewing to

vary, for example: take-up of the devices; seasonality; changing programme schedules; changes in PVR functionality.

~

View Into The Future On 6 April BARB presented "UK Television Outlook A View Into The Future': It came across clearly from our Future Into View consultation, launched last Summer, that the industry would like assistance in navigating the issues of the future. BARB has generated some future scenarios work (available in full on the BARB website). Possible outcomes of the development oftelevision up to 2015 are included.

Growth in new types of viewing (such as mobile) or an increase in time-shift viewing are examined. The projections have been developed as part of BARB's forward thinking agenda - to help to define BARB's future priorities.

It is clear that with more options for distributing and consuming content we need to develop views about what may be important and â&#x20AC;˘ when. Conclusions on where the lines should be drawn for what BARB should deliver, however, will need to be made.

Some challenges for the future are known - transportable content, out of home viewing in its different forms, mobile viewing, the nature of live broadcast vs time-shift vs on-demand. The aim of the work BARB has done is to aid understanding of a range of possible outcomes and to take thinking forward on how these factors may affect the industry.

We want to understand what our challenges might be so that we can be in a position to make more informed decisions to ensure that the BARB service remains relevant to the industry we serve. We are encouraging feedback of alternative scenarios, or assumptions that should be considered.

We also outlined (as shown in the chart) where we were and what we expected to be working on in the Summer of last year and where the line has now moved to. Of particular significance are the introduction of Viewing On Same Day As Live figures (VOSDAL) which reports same-day playback figures into the overnights and the delivery of reporting from Sky+ homes.

Our delivery capability has moved on and we continue to progress a number of projects - for example, expanding interactive measurement (described in this Bulletin) and capturing broadcast content on demand.

I

BARB starts field tests for interactive measurement A new measurement technique has been developed for its potential to expand BARB's 'measurement of interactive services.

Currently, interactive applications are identifiable by BARB if they constitute a separate broadcast stream on the digital satellite platform. Visual bar-coding is the new technique aimed to extend measurement within and across platforms. It will enable, for more interactive applications, an assessment of reach of viewers using interactive content and time spent in the services. This could provide a valuable extension of the service for broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies.

The technique was conceived by BBC Technology Group and has been developed, over the past two years, with input from BARB and AGB Nielsen Media Research. It involves the insertion of a 'visual barcode' on to the bottom four lines of the active picture area in interactive applications. In virtually all homes the barcode will not be visible as most TV screens over-scan the picture area to this degree.

Bar-eoding has passed a number of stages of testing on the digital terrestrial and digital satellite platforms. BARB hopes soon to be able to confirm that the technique will also be applicable on the digital cable platform.

Field testing, anticipated to continue through to July, will demonstrate whether bar-eoding is viable in a range of different home configurations and validate that there is no adverse impact on BARB's ability to collect all forms of viewing from these homes. We hope that we will then be able to determine whether to expand the use of the technique throughout the full range of digitally enabled BARB panel homes. This will depend upon an assessment of whether the technique can deliver a valuable service to the industry.

If the decision to go ahead is made, it is anticipated that BARB may be able to begin formal reporting of data in mid 2007.

â&#x20AC;˘

~

BARB and RAJARjoint R&D initiative BARB has embarked upon a new joint R&D initiative with RAJAR, commencing in January 2007. BARB has initially committed to involvement for one year.

A new panel of 500 adults will be recruited for R&D purposes from within the M25. This is an exploratory exercise intended to give BARB a more rounded understanding of the potential for portable meters for television measurement and the issues involved in detection, identification, processing¡ and reporting. The panel will be administered and managed by TNS, utilising Arbitron's PPM (Portable Personal Meter) device.

â&#x20AC;˘

One of the challenges for TV measurement in the future is increased viewer control. Some of the devices through which television content will be received are likely to require measurement techniques supplementary to BARB's existing fixed wired electronic meters. A wireless technique is likely to be needed in order to identify consumption of transportable content, or for certain designs of television equipment that will be difficult to wire unobtrusively for the monitoring process.

This project will not form part of BARB's offering of data to the industry but will exist to determine possible future benefits. It is being entered into by BARB to help understand whether such approaches may be able to offer solutions for measurement of some of the new ways that content is likely to be consumed. BARB will benefit from efficiencies by engaging with RAJAR in this project. It should not be interpreted as a prelude to cross-media measurement onv & Radio - the data derived will be delivered separately to each organisation, which will retain sovereignty over the data for its own medium.

BARB

We always encourage feedback, so do tell us what you think BARB 18 Deri ng Street, London W1 S 1AQ Telephone 020 7529 5529 Fax 020 7529 5530 www.barb.co.uk

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Time-Shifted Viewing Accounts for 13.8% In Sky+ Homes

S. VIEWING SUMMARY

B.ARS

In the eight-week period 6 March to 30 April 2006, time-shifted viewing accounted for 13.8% of all viewing by individuals in Sky+ homes (including guests). Approximately 40% of Sky+ individuals' time-shift viewing took place on the same day as the original broadcast. Peak-time programming was subject to a greater degree of time-shift than the all-day average.

Time-shifted viewing includes viewing of programmes recorded to the hard disc and subsequently played back within seven days, as well as viewing a.fter pausing (or rewinding) live TV. Data from the 6 March to 30 April period suggest that 35-54 year olds timeshifted a slightly higher proportion of their viewing than other age groups. On average, 15.7% of 35-54-year-old viewing was time-shifted compared with 11.0% for over 55s and 9.6% for children.

6 March - 30 April 2006

Individuals Adults Men Women Children 4-15 16-34 35-54 55+ ABC1 adults C2DE adults

% of viewing time-shifted Peak time (1800All Day 2300) % % 13.8 17.4 14.4 18.0 17.3 14.1 14.8 18.8 9.6 12.4 14.8 19.4 19.4 15.7 13.2 11.0 13.7 17.6 15.6 18.7

AVerage sample base: 458 individuals in 165 Sky+ homes.

Although variation across demographic groups is not particularly marked, use of Sky+ across individual viewers varies widely. During this period, 8% of viewers used their PVR to time-shift half or more of all their television viewing, and 28% time-shifted 20% or more of their viewing.

Proportion of viewing timeshifted

% Individuals

BARB

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% 7

None 0-10% 10 - 20% 20 - 50% 50+%

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47 18 20

8

A number of factors may cause results for time-shifted viewing to vary, for example as the take-up of the devices expands, or due to time of year, changes in programme schedules, and changes in PVR functionality.

Notes for editors Reporting of 路"time-shifted" viewing via Sky+ boxes was reintroduced within the BARB panel on 6 March 2006. For technical reasons, reporting continuity of Sky+ homes is currently lower than for other types of homes on路the panel. As a result, the level of time-shift viewing reported from Sky+ homes is likely to be slightly under-estimated.

BARB was set up in 1981 to provide the industry-standard audience measurement service for television broadcasters and the advertising industry. It is a not-for-profit limited company owned by BBC, lTV, Channel 4, five, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

BARB provides in-home TV viewing measurement tor the UK. This is obtained from a panel of 5,100 homes. These homes return data from around 11,500 viewers. Viewing from visitors to the home is included (Guest Viewing). Viewing figures are available to subscribers the morning after transmission. VCR and Sky+ playback is incorporated within 7 days of transmission (Consolidated Viewing). Audiences are reported on a minute-by-minute basis.

The panel design is representative of the whole of the UK. People are recruited from all sectors of the population. All viewing environments in the home are represented. Multiple TV sets are measured. BARB measures both analogue and digital delivery via cable, satellite and terrestrial distribution.

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Digital viewers can access interactive TV for news, updates, stats and a whole lot more than 90 minutes of action, around the clock.

BBC Sport online/interactive schedule

BBCi is offering a double interactive service for the World Cup with highlights, analysis and alternative commentaries during live BBC matches, plus an additional service for times when games are not showing.

Available on all digital TV platforms around the clock, pressing your red button will offer two main services - Live Match and Replay. The permanent BBCi service of sports news and results will also be available.

Fans can send in their own opinion by email or SMS which will appear live on screen, and BBCi will be asking specific talking-point questions throughout the game. â&#x20AC;˘ Viewers will have the audio choice of BBC TV or Radio Five Live match commentary, the real-time noise from the stadium.

And live match coverage on interactive will be extended beyond BBC One transmission to allow for extra post-match analysis.

Viewers will also be able to replay matches in full.

The BBCi World Cup Zone will be up and running in between BBC match broadcasts.

This will include a non-stop England stream, repeats and highlights from every match and every goal from every game on demand.

Press the red button for a host of options

The exclusive service dedicated to the England team on and off the field will show the most up-to-date interviews with SvenGoran Eriksson, press conferences, video player profiles, news and views from Germany and those all-important full repeats of England matches.

With all the build-up to England games, including a look around the stadia, BBCi gives living-room supporters a real flavour of the atmosphere and tension of Germany.

And following every evening's highlights programme you can have your say.

The interactive Talk Forum will open its doors through digital TV, on BBC Radio Five Live and video-streamed live on the internet at bbc.co.uk/worldcup to host a full hour-long discussion for fans with BBC pundits.

Every night of the tournament, fans can send in their emails and SMS messages to the studio to get their views aired live on air, get it off their chest and share their gripes with other viewers.

The text service offers all the top stories and breaking news, including live stats, latest scores, key moments from the big games, match previews and reports and group tables.

There will also be expert analysis from BBC football pundits Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson.

This is in addition to the permanent red button service for sports news and results. Press 302 on Freeview, satellite or cable for the latest football headlines, 301 for news from all sports and 300 for the main menu. Satellite and cable viewers can also catch our video update through the day.

â&#x20AC;˘

Frequently asked questions regarding the BBC's coverage of Germany 2006.

Please check the questions here before sending further queries using the form on the right.

TV COVERAGE

Q: Why are you only showing one England group game on TV? A: The BBC and nv share the live rights to broadcasting World Cup matches in the UK. In the first round, the BBC is showing the Paraguay game live, with the Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden matches on lTV. However, if England progress to the second round and quarter~final, those matches will be exclusively live on BBC. And if they get to the semis or final, both broadcasters will show it.

II Here's our full schedule WATCHING ON BROADBAND

Aashish Chandarana, who oversees our broadband operation, has been writing about this issue on our editors' blog.

Read his post here

The answers to specific questions you have asked are below.

Q: Why is broadband viewing online restricted to UK residents?

A: The main reason is because the sports bodies, who hold the rights to events such as the World Cup, sell those rights on a country-by-country, or regional basis because that's the way they make the most money. In the case of the World Cup, where the BBC and nv hold the UK rights, other broadcasters will be providing a similar service in their own territories.

Obviously the internet is a worldwide medium and we ensure that the bulk of our website is available to all, regardless of location. But as a public service organisation, which is funded by UK licence fee, BBC Sport's priority has to be the British domestic audience.

Q: How do you do this in practice?

A: We determine your location via the IP (Internet Protocol) address of your connection. From that, we can tell whether you are in the UK or not and whether you are entitled to see the content.

Q: But why can't you make it available overseas on a pay-per-view basis?

A: Rights are sold on a territory by territory basis. The total worldwide fee is estimated at 1.2 bn euros. So any attempt to get global reach would cost rather a lot!

We would have to charge so much no-one would take it up. That is before you even consider whether it is something we should be doing as the British Broadcasting Corporation, funded by people living in Britain, or indeed whether the rights holders would allow us to obtain the rights to so many territories.

bO Q: So how can I follow the games abroad?

A: There are our usual text services - but this year we are offering a new service - instant graphical replays of all the games and this will be available everywhere.

Q: The main appeal of watching on broadband is surely for people at work who can't access a TV. But won't most companies simply block this?

A: We make the content available freely on the internet within the UK. If your company chooses to block the service, that is its choice unfortunately. We have no call over a company's IT policy I'm afraid.

..

Q: What steps are you taking to ensure demand for this does not bring down the whole UK internet?

A: The SSC constantly works with the ISPs and the industry as a whole to make sure we don't impact on people's services.

As part of the SSC's long-term plans to deliver content to new platforms, we've been working with the industry to take measures that will help us deal with the levels of demand that these sorts of major events can generate.

Q: Is there anything IT managers in UK companies can do to restrict access to the BBC's live broadband coverage?

A: Yes. An IT manager may be able to block access to the streams from within a company's firewall.

Click here for a full list of URLs for the streams

Q: Will it cost anything?- ie is this for all UK broadband users, or only licence-fee paying UK broadband users?

A: It is a free service. You do however need a TV licence.

In the long run, it may well be that the government decides the TV licence needs to be replaced by a more relevant funding model, one not solely based on television ownership. For instance, it is considering things such as a tax on personal computers.

See this story for example

Q: What quality will you be streaming at?

A: At least at 256kbps.

We are still trying to see what works best. While we appreciate some people have really fast connections, not everyone has yet and it is a question of making sure we get the balance right between providing the highest quality that is still widely accessible.

Naturally, we are trying to make sure as many people as possible can watch it (because we are funded by aI/licence fee payers).

The difficult thing with streaming online is being able to handle a large number of concurrent users. This also affects our decisions on quality (ie the higher the quality, the fewer concurrent users we can serve).

Q: How will the content be streamed? Will it be done through a medium (Quicktime) or through something slightly less Mac-usable such as Windows Media or RealPlayer?

A: The SSC in the early days of the web, took a decision to work with Real Player.

At the time and given the state of the industry, it made sense. One of the main reasons behind offering content in Real is that it works on many platforms (e.g.

Windows, Mac, Linux). In 2004, we took the decision to start supporting Windows Media as well.

There is always going to be a debate on why we picked those two formats.

However, we all know that Windows is the most prevalent operating system out there and when you unpack your new machine, Windows Media Player is already on there. Real gives us the ability to deliver to other operating systems.

Q: Are the games only going to be shown on the day or can they be accessed for up to 7 days like 'listen again'?

A: We will offer live simulcast of all the SSC games and then four minutes of highlights of all matches available throughout the tournament and for a period afterwards. We have to abide by rights holders restrictions.

Q: How can you assure us the service won't break down because of all the people trying to access it?

We are working towards making this available to as many users as we can and to make it as stable as possible. We have already made a huge quantity of live sport available successfully and hope to continue this for the World Cup.

Q: I get constant rebuffering when I try and access video on the web. Is this your fault or mine?

A: There could be many different reasons behind this. One reason could be poor performance of your computer and its connection speed. Or it may be the fault of your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Or it maybe because there are so many people accessing the service, there are problems serving it at our end.

We are actively pursuing a number of ways to minimise this type of problem. For instance by multi-casting the stream. This means we transfer it directly to an ISP and they broadcast it, which reduces the direct load on our servers. Sut constant rebuffering can be down to a number of reasons and we would need more information. Please contact us using the feedback form on our audio video help pages, stating the type of connection you have (i.e. are you at work or at home and what speed your service is).

What is multicasting?

Q: I do live in the UK but I often get an error message saying I don't..

A: It may be your service provider may be non UK, or not on the SSC's list of UK ISPs.

6L For this and other eneral technical audio video

â&#x20AC;˘

Q: What do I need to do to watch the World Cup in HD TV? A: You need a High Definition Television Set and a High defintion feed going in to it. You can get this on Digital Satellite and on some Digital Cable services. There is also a technical trial for a limited number of Freeview users.

More on HD WATCHING ON BIG SCREENS AROUND THE UK

Q: Where will you be showing the games?

A: There will be permanent fixed screens in the following city centres:

Manchester Exchange Square Birmingham Chamberlain Square Liverpool Clayton Square Hull Queen Victoria Square Leeds Millennium Square Rotherham All Saints Square Bradford Centenary Square They will show all SSC & lTV England games.

There is also a temporary screen in Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, which will show all the games.

Two big screens will also be touring the country. See the television section of this guide for more details

UK World Cup 2006 TV audiences plateau

by Kevin Alavy Brand Republic 27 Jun 2006 from Media Bulletin Beckham: captaining England - LONDON - While England's World Cup 2006 campaign gathers momentum following their victory over Ecuador, UK in-home TV audiences have fallen compared with England v Sweden, writes Kevin Alavy, senior analyst at Initiative Futures.

Initiative's most recent ViewerTrack shows England's first match of the knockout stages at World Cup 2006, against Ecuador, sealed by a David Beckham free kick, attracted an average programme audience of 14.2m in the UK. This was higher than England's opening two matches against Paraguay (8.8m) and Trinidad & Tobago (11.3m), but failed to topple the England v Sweden inhome audience of 14.4m.

This was despite the fact England had to beat Ecuador to remain in the competition, whereas they were already guaran~ed progress to the next round when they took on Sweden.

There are a number of reasons for the lower average audience for England v Ecuador compared with England v Sweden. The match against Sweden was arguably a more exciting game, being less one-sided and with more goals scored. Initiative's previous ViewerTrack studies have all shown how audiences respond to more competitive matches and more goals.

Another reason for the lower audience is that England v Ecuador kicked off at 4pm on Sunday when fewer people typically choose to watch TV, compared with a peak 8pm midweek kick-off against Sweden.

England v Ecuador drew a much larger audience share at 75%, however, compared with 58% for England v Sweden.

While England v Ecuador drew a smaller in-home audience, the scheduling of the match means it is likely that the out-of-home audience was larger than for England v Sweden.

Initiative's Real Youth Panel has shown that people are more likely to opt for out-of-home viewing on a Sunday afternoon than on a weeknight.

The in-home audience for England's Second Round match in 2006 is also lower than for the same stage at the last two World Cups. England's Second Round match against Denmark at World Cup 2002 attracted an average programme audience of 15.7m. This match was simulcast on BBC One and ITV1. England v Argentina in World Cup 1998 drew a massive 24.1 m viewers, nearly 10m more people than last Sunday's match.

:

World Cup TV audiences soar Stephen Brook Monday June 19, 2006

Global television audiences for the 2006 World Cup have surged, with audiences up nearly 30% for the opening matches compared with 2002 and Brazil the most popular team among viewers.

Last week's Brazil v Croatia match attracted an average global audience of 60 million people, owing to its evening scheduling and the enormous popularity of the Brazilian team, which won 1-0.

Italy v Ghana was the next most popular match, attracting 59 million television viewers, according to media analyst Initiative, which surveyed audiences for live matches in 23 TV markets.

The study found that the average global audience for each match had grown by 26% since the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, mainly as a result of better timezones for viewers in Europe. â&#x20AC;˘ The study found that Germany's 4-2 victory over Costa Rica was the third most popular match, with an average of 50 million viewers.

England's 1-0 victory over Paraguay brought in an average of 29 million viewers and was the eighth most popular match.

The study found audience levels were down in Asia, compared with the last World Cup. The survey also found the tournament was very popular in countries that did not have a team playing.

Relative to size of population, each match was watched by on average 13% of Hungary's population, beating the UK, where on average 9% of the population watched each match, and France, where 8% watched each match.

The average audience for each match in the host nation Germany was 14%.

DAILY - - . Wodnosday, J.... 21,2006

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