Homework over summer - questions and answers for waterloo road

Media Representations –Waterloo Road

Who is being represented? The teachers are being represented by the school , through a variety of issues that a normal school would face on a daily basis .

• In what way?
• By whom?

Why is the subject being represented in this way?

The teachers are being represented in an authoritarial role in order to show its audience that a school’s job is to be professional at what they do – to teach and lead students to get good results.

• Is the representation fair and accurate?

No the representation of teachers is inaccurate , as in normal school you do not find teachers who run around trying to look for problems that a child has – drug dealing . Or do you find that teachers are in a romantic relationship , if that was the case then no kissing would be shown to students in a normal situation at a school of any kind .

• What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject? The teachers are aloud to represent themselves in a professional manner , and know how to deal with educational issues that surround the school , i.e its failure in exam results as well as how they push students to get the best opportunities for self improvement.

Media Languages and Forms

• What are the connotative levels of meaning?
• What is the significance of the text’s connotations? I think that the text mainly issues around everyday things such as relationships between staff and students , how to help them get the best out of their education. As well as this students are given the opportunity to express themselves freely , from topics ranging in love all the way to cheating in their exams.
• What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)? The school does appear as a typical one , with students wearing uniforms , and staff wearing the typical suit and tie or skirt and tops . Looking like professionals .
• What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings? The makeup is fairly simply and plain , however the props used by the students in the science lab are the same as those that are found within any secondary school teaching science subjects . The setting is a school , and this is successfully portrayed by the programme , as they have lockers , teaching rooms as well as a huge playground set on grass and stone.
• What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text? There are subtitles available during the show itself , so those who are in a noisy environment can easily follow what is being said during the show . The sound track is mainly a guitar alongside bass.
• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text? The main images that can be seen in waterloo road are those of the students , one such example is when the students were protesting against their headteacher leaving the school , thanks to the LEA failing the headteacher.The themes of the text therefore highlight the importance of what students think that the success criteria are of a professional headmaster .
• What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)? The editing in Waterloo road is very good as the storyline follows a particular structure . One that is linear anad makes sense .However the BBC have been successfull in creating different storylines within the same episode that is being seen . For example a drug addicts mother going away and leaving the child , whilst another scene may be to do with the teacher taking responsibility over the student with the drugs , therefore keeping the student out of social services .

Narrative

• How is the narrative organised and structured? The narrative follows a structured pattern , whereby one storline follows onto the next . Like the time when a boy got two girls pregnant , lead to both girls becoming angry with the boy , this plotline was followed by another storyline where one of the girls miscarried and another guy supporting her as a boyfriend . This therefor shows that the narrative is structured in a linear fashion , which in turn makes more sense to the audience members who are watching it .
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• How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative? The audience are made more aware of the common issues that are faced by the general public , such as drug misuse and dealing drugs to keep some money . Another issue is teenage pregnancy which faces toward the growing number of girls having underage sex without some form of protection .
• How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created? Most of the characters in waterloo road are heroes , but the boy who got the girls pregnant is not , he never took on any form of responsibility for his actions . By leaving the girls to fend for themselves .
• What techniques of identification and alienation are employed? There are no techniques of alienation but identification is employed as the audience are made fully aware of certain issues , like drug use and abuse and what it can do in the long tem .
• What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative? All features within waterloo road are important as they combined form the whole narrative of the storyline .Without it the storyline would be pretty basic and flawed . Music is mostly suspenseful which adds drama and tension to the scene that is being played.
• What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody? The major themes of the narrative are heightened tension and suspenseful drama. The narrative manages to capture the audiences attention from the beginning of the episode . Some themes are more powerful than others such as love and passion between teenagers , which is typical of a teenage drama series . The values that it embodies are the realisation between fact and fiction , which Waterloo Road manages to successfully portray. A relationship between two adults in the show is fiction , but real life issues like drug misuse and abuse is fact .

Genre

• To which genre does the text belong? Waterloo road is a drama for teenagers.
• What are the major generic conventions within the text? The conventions of the text are heightened suspense throughout the series , as well as dealing with issues such as cancer quite sensitively.
• What are the major iconographic features of the text? The main features of the text are that the show has a hero – the headmasters assistant, and a villain – the irresponsible teenage boy who gets tow girls pregnant.
• What are the major generic themes? There are too many themes in waterloo road , mainly the one that is reoccurring are those to do with real life situations such as life and death , love and hatred , cheating and success.
• To what extent are the characters generically determined? The characters roles are successfully portrayed throughout the show , they tackle issues in the most mature way possible , and so the audience is made to feel as if they are part of the show itself .
• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically? The audiences expectations are not cheated but fulfilled as certain issues are tackled in a responsible manner , it also educated the teenage community about  being responsible for their own actions such as cheating before an exam has started . The text does conform to the characteristics of a drama , as the language used by the characters is believable.
• Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have? The director of the show is strongly associated with the drama conventions . The BBC has made other programmes in association to waterloo road such as footballers wives .

Media Institutions

• What is the institutional source of the text? 

Waterloo road is produced by Shed productions – they are an independent company who also produce programmes like footballer’s wives and bad girls . Based around contemporary themes and ideologies.

• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it? Some programmes such as Eastenders are also aired on the BBC which focuses on adult relationships, this may have influenced the BBC to produce a programme based around school kids .
• Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text? PSB – Its aired on BBC1 therefore is available to all for free, funded by the t.v license as its only source of income. Main difference is that there are no advertisements that have been commercially produced by private companies. Only adverts are for upcoming programmes.

• Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does this matter? BBC is owned and controlled by the government .Hence why all the programmes are controlled by the bosses who decide what is to be scheduled when and at what time .For example childrens programmes will be shown between 3-5 as this is when they come home to relax from school . Whereas the apprentice and waterloo road are scheduled much later , as they target an older audience, not suited towards a younger audience .
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• How has the text been distributed? Mainly distributed through BBC1 from 7:30-8:30pm via television broadcasting, but if a programme is missed then bbc iplayer is available for catch up t.v .

Media Values and Ideology

• What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or naturalised within it? I’m not sure what is meant by this .
• What criteria have been used for selecting the content presented? What does this mean ...

Media Audiences

• To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience? The programme waterloo road is addresses mainly to an older teenage audience, perhaps females more than males , as the issues deal with things like teenage pregnancies and drug dealing .

• What assumptions about the audience’s characteristics are implicit within the text?
• What assumptions about the audience are implicit in the text’s scheduling or positioning? The audience can assume that due to the scheduling of the programme being broadcasted during the evening then its not suited for children at all .

• In what conditions is the audience likely to receive the text? Does this impact upon the formal characteristics of the text?
• What do you know or can you assume about the likely size and constituency of the audience? The likely size will target the majority of teenagers who are from middle class backgrounds. It consistitutes those who perhaps deal with family problems at home that range from the social services getting involved to drug dealing and excessive alcohol consumption. Some issues that have been dealt within the programme do include bullying and no fitting in properly with other students. As well as teenage pregnancies and miscarriages these are sensitive issues which the BBC has dealt with responsibly and carefully .
• What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text?
• How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background etc? As a sixth form student I am reading the text from this position . I work with teachers in order to complete tasks that have been set on time . This enables me to see the strength and weaknesses that I am experiencing in a particular subject. The teachers in the programme are supportive of their students especially if the children are having certain home life problems for example having to look after a young boy on their own without the help of an adults presence .