Legal and Ethical Issues with the BBC

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES WITH THE BBC.

Because the BBC is such a big, famous and influential company, they need to make sure that they stick to the rules and that they make sure that their representations and effects are good.

One example of this is watershed. If a smaller TV channel put something inappropriate on before 9pm they might get away with it since not as many people would have seen it so it's not that big a deal but then if the BBC did something like that, they would be a in a lot of trouble because of how big they are and how many people would be effected by this.

Another example would be when the have controversial issues on their TV shows. They need to be very careful that the issues are represented in the right way so they don't cause offence.

Effects and Representation of Doctor Who

Effects and Representation of

Doctor Who

Gender

In Doctor Who gender is used quite wisely to add interest to the story line and the character backgrounds. The main character is male and he always travels with a young female. A lot of the time the female companion appears to have romantic feelings for the Doctor. This could be seen as sexist since near enough every female companion has shown feelings for the Doctor. Women mainly would see this as sexist because it is stereotyping women. It could appear to be suggesting women are clingy or desperate. 

Also the topic of why the Doctor who is male always chooses young females as his companions has been discussed. Stephen Moffat (Doctor Who's head writer) said  "I think the function of a companion is pretty simple. I don’t think that’s very difficult. It’s just a question of who credibly is going to agree to go in the TARDIS? Who’s going to do it? Is it going to be a mother of 15 children? No. Is it going to be someone in their 60s? No. Is there going to be a particular age range? I mean … who’s going to have a crush on the Doctor? You know, come on! It’s more than a format. It’s evolved from good, dramatic reasons.” Here he basically says that the reason for the companions always being young females and always being in love with the Doctor is for good drama. This could put peoples minds at rest who were offended by the portrayal of women in Doctor Who since they know that it's only for drama or it could anger them more because the writer has admitted that he knows about the way women are portrayed on the show and he doesn't think it's wrong because it creates drama.

Disability

Disability is never really shown in Doctor Who. The show is an action/ adventure TV show so disability wouldn't naturally come into the story line. This means that the show doesn't have to tackle this issue because the issue of how to portray disability is never really present.

However there way one episode where one of the main characters from this episode has severe dyslexia and was shown having trouble with his reading and at some points in the show he couldn't do things that other characters asked of him because of his disability. The rest of the characters were shown to find solutions to the problems he faced with his disability. For example, listening to a story book instead of reading a book or drawing a map instead of writing a map. There was never any discriminative behaviour shown towards the child with dyslexia. The fact that the other characters were shown to be supportive and tolerant of the child's disabilities

Male and Female Role Models
Because Doctor Who is a action, fantasy, sci-fi show and not a drama, there are not really any bad role models. Everyone in Doctor Who that is portrayed as good, tends to be good. On the other hand in a drama there are characters that are not the perfect role model and they have imperfect morals yet the TV show portrays them as good or acceptable when sometimes its not. This could influence people watching drama's so because if something is portrayed as good, it may actually not be. 
This is one of the good things about people watching Doctor Who, they are all good role models and have good morals and the program makes it sure who the baddies are and makes it clear that what they are doing is wrong. Especially since this is one of the most talked about and most popular TV shows in England, it has the potential to make a big impact.

BBFC Ratings

•We have considered BBFC regulation of trailers

problems with borderline texts?

•Is your trailer rated differently to the main text? Discuss context and how this can effect distribution and audience targeting

•Write up what we did in class and post a clip of your own case study product that you think illustrates significant classification factors with an explanation.

 

BBFC

BBFC Regulation of Trailers

 

Before a film, DVD or Trailer is released to the cinema, the shops or on the TV, it first has to be given a classification by the BBFC. The BBFC give the film, DVD or trailer a rating that references what age the content is suitable for. For example if the BBFC rated a film "12", this means that the film is only suitable for people over the age of 12. If a film is classed 12 then a child under 12 can not see it in the cinema or buy the film when it is out on DVD in the shops.

 

BBFC Ratings

 

U - Stands for universal and it means that the content is suitable for any age over 4. The violence will be very mild, there will be very mild language used (darn or hell), there will be nothing sexual other then kissing or cuddling, there will only ever be very mild violence and not normally any reference to drugs.

 

PG - This stands for "Parental Guidance" and content in this category should not upset children over the age of 8. However, when seeing films at the cinema, it is up to the parents to decide whether the film would be suitable for the child since it's difficult to know with children of this age. There may be minor language but the context that the language is in is monitored carefully, it's unlikely that there will be anything sexual or any sexual references. If there are

any then the chances are that it has been allowed because the target age wouldn't understand the reference anyway. There will not be much violence and any violence that is there will be mild. Blood may be shown but injury's should not be shown in strong detail. There may be small references to illegal drugs but nothing should be discussed in detail.

12A - If a film is classed 12a then it means that the film is suitable for ages 12 and over however, a child under 12 can watch the film in a cinema if they are accompanied by an adult. It is left to the adults discretion whether the film would be suitable for the child. This is too hard to monitor in retail so 12a does not exist on DVD's. It only exists in cinema releases.

12 - If a film is classed 12 it means that no one under 12 can watch the film in a cinema or buy the film in a shop. The language used may be quite strong but the context it is used in should be inoffensive. Aggressive uses of strong language would mean that the film is classed in the 15 category. There should be no discriminatory references like homophobia and racism. There may be brief references to sex but humour is usually used to tone it down. Sexual references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Moderate violence is allowed in 12 films but it should not dwell on detail. Anti social behaviour should not be endorsed.

15 - In 15 films there is no limit on the amount of times strong swear words can be use din 15 films but usually the strongest swear words are only used a few times if any and it has to be contextually justified. Violence can be strong in 15 films, it should not dwell on injury.

Distribution Of Doctor Who

Distribution Of Doctor Who Episodes

 

Where is it shown?

Doctor Who is a TV program made by the BBC to be shown on BBC channels across the world. Doctor Who is mainly shown via TV channels like BBC1 and BBC3. You can also watch the episodes online, 7 days after they are shown on TV, on BBC iPlayer. BBC iPlayer is a catch up service that the BBC provide online so that if you miss an episode of a BBC program,

you can catch up with it online. You can also buy Doctor Who on DVD. There are box sets for each series which are released after the series have finished.

 However for the Doctor Who 5th anniversary special episode, the BBC made deals with cinema's to have the feature length episode shown in cinema's around the UK and America.    

To What Extent Is The Issue Of Piracy?

The issue of piracy with Doctor Who is massive. There are always threats and worries about episodes and secrets being leaked because it's such a popular TV show. As I have spoken about previously, people were after the footage of the first episode from the second they heard it was making a come back. There is the story from when the first series of the show was in the editing process. The team in London needed to get the footage to Cardiff but the risk of someone getting hold of the footage was so great that the shows producers came up with the idea of labelling the footage with the word "Torchwood" which is an anagram of Doctor Who. This is what gave the show's main writer at the time, the idea of the spin of series "Torchwood".

 

In an article by the BBC they said that they do put in measures to try and stop piracy. The amount of detail and information in the article suggests that they do have a lot of problems with piracy and therefore they do a lot to stop it. The article focuses on online piracy as this is the biggest type of piracy. However the article also points out all the different types of online piracy that the BBC faces.

 

"Piracy can manifest itself in many forms. For example, in addition to illicit use of file sharing technologies, streaming of whole channels over the internet and services which allow unauthorised access to BBC iPlayer by internet users outside of the UK can also pose challenges. It is important that the BBC takes a consistent approach to tackling all forms of online piracy. If we didn't, there would be a risk that dealing with one type of piracy might simply encourage interest in other types."

 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/07/the_bbcs_approach_to_combating.html)

 

I think that although this article is aimed at all BBC shows, it all applies to Doctor Who since Doctor Who is one of the BBC's flagship programs.

In 2013 the Doctor Who episode "The Day of the Doctor" was the most watched TV broadcast of the year. So thinking logically, there would be a lot of piracy issues surrounding Doctor Who.


Schedule, Channel and Times

When a new episode of Doctor Who is broadcast, it will either be on a Saturday, starting between 6 and 7 or if it is a special episode it may be on, on Christmas Day or Easter at around the same time. New episodes are always shown on BBC 1 as well. (This could be another hint to the fact that it's not just a children's program other wise it would be on CBBC)

I think the timing of the new episodes being broadcast is a good time to suit the target audience.  Between 6 and 7 means that it's not too late for a young child to stay up but it's also late enough to avoid being on when families would be having tea or going out places. I think the BBC have done this intentionally to make sure that more people are available to watch the show.

Also the slot that Doctor Who has is a very good slot for viewing's in general. Not just viewings from the target audience. This is because generally, Saturday night is the kind of night where people stay in, order a take away and watch TV with the family. If a someone was sat down in front of the TV and they turned it on and Doctor Who was on, the chances are they wouldn't turn it of because usually on a Saturday you just watch TV for the sake of it and not because there is specifically one show that you want to watch. This could contribute to the high viewings.

Doctor Who being on BBC1 will also benefit the age group since (as I talked about before), it is a free channel and as long as you pay for your TV licence, you are allowed to watch BBC 1 for free. This means that it doesn't matter what the parents income is, the children will be able to watch Doctor Who. This is as a pose to if Doctor Who was on a channel that you had to pay for. If you were an adult and you wanted to watch Doctor Who on a channel you had to pay for then it's you decision to then go and pay to watch that channel so that you could watch Doctor Who. However if you are a child and you don't have control over the families income (which is likely), you wouldn't be able to just make that decision yourself, you would have to persuade an adult to pay for it and they might not want to.

So with Doctor Who I think the times and channel etc are very important when trying to reach out to the age range as a young age range doesn't have too much say in there own personal routine or schedule so you would have to please the parents as well as the children and in doing this, you make it suitable for an entire family to watch together.
 

Advertising of Doctor Who

Advertising Analysis

Here are a few examples of posters advertising Doctor Who:

 

 

In my previous posts I stated that I think the target audience of Doctor Who is 8-14 year old males. I think these official Doctor Who posters back that up because firstly, the posters are suitable for the age range. There are no references to anything inappropriate for the age range like sex, drugs, alcohol or too much violence. This suggests that the target audience is quite young because the posters were made by the BBC who have to stick to the advertising standards and therefore make there posters appropriate to the target audience that they are trying to attract to the show. If there were references like this on the posters, it would suggest that the TV show is aimed at an older target age group and the show would probably be on after watershed time. Secondly I think that the posters are suitable for the age range because they do reference the things that boys of this age range look for in a TV show. For example, danger, you can tell that the characters are scared or worried because of the expressions of their faces. None of them are smiling. Also in the "Name of the Doctor" poster, the broken glass could represent danger as  could the fire in the "day of the Doctor poster". Secondly, a boy of this age range would look for action or adventure. This is represented in the posters by the use of colours. If the TV show was all happy the colours would be bright and light but the fact of all the dark, deep colours suggest that there is drama in this. Also the backgrounds or other things in the poster suggest that this is an action adventure show. The background on the lower right poster isn't a normal location, this get's you wondering where they are and how they got there or what kind of adventure they must be on. The lower left poster suggests action by the broken glass. The broken glass could represent a fight or something going wrong witch would be action. In the top poster it's easy to see that it is action/ adventure because they have the image of one character walking out of an explosion and an explosion suggests action/ adventure. Another theme that the posters portray is excitement. The bottom left poster has a different kind of excitement though. This poster was created for a long anticipated event and I think that it's more of a teaser then an advertisement. Either way you can see the excitement in it because of the way the main character is staring though the glass with a sad expression on his face, it makes you want to know what's happened. Also the slogan on the poster "his secret is revealed" makes you want to know the secret. I think this is very powerful for pulling people in and people in the target age range would respond to this method well. THe main thing that suggests excitement in the lower right poster is the colours and the patterns. The colour's are all dark and gloomy but then there is that streak of purple going though parts of it. I think that this is really good for implying that something exiting is happening as the colour purple and that specific pattern give of the idea of movement. On the topic of movement representing excitement, if you look at the image on the poster, you expect that if it was a moving image, the whole poster would be moving around. This is because of the positions the characters are in and the background. They aren't stood on solid ground so you expect that they are either floating or falling. The top poster represents excitement mainly by the expression of the characters and the position's they are stood in. The whole thing is quite grim and dramatic and then there is the explosion in the middle. This gives of the effect of calmness and then suddenly you see the explosion and you feel like there is more to it and you want to see it.

 

So overall I think these, and most, posters for Doctor Who reach out to and draw in the specific target audience by using ways to make the posters age appropriate and show a sense of action, adventure and excitement.

 

Here is an example of an advert advertising

Doctor Who:

 

Audiance Demographics and Profile of Doctor Who

Audience Demographic and Profile of Doctor Who.

 

There is a lot of debate on the target audience for Doctor Who. Many people would class it as a family show that family's can all sit down together and watch but then lot's of adult fans would say it's a bit too childish and need's to be made for an older audience whilst parents say that it's too scary for their young kids and need's to be made more child friendly.

 

"It was a regular concern of the programme's previous show runner Russell T Davies that he had to write for two audiences: children (and the half-distracted parents they roped in to watch with them) and the hard-core adult fans, many of whom grew up with the show and kept watching even after they'd acquired jobs and mortgages and the right to decide their own bedtimes. So who should he try to please? It was a tough one, especially as TV reviewers are generally not, as you might imagine, eight-year-olds, but rather the group that likes intricate plot lines and emotional character arcs more than flatulent aliens."

This is an article written by an adult fan of Doctor Who. This segment of the article outlines the two separate target audiences. The children, and the adults. It brings to light how difficult it must be for the producers of the show to make sure they try to please both audiences.

When the shows old writer Rustle T Davis was still writing for Doctor Who, he tried to keep the show to a child friendly level and then occasionally throw in a scarier, darker episode to please the older audiences (theses were often written by Stephen Moffat).

 

Then there is that fact that it is almost written for two audiences, is this what makes people see it as a family show? I believe that when an adult watches Doctor Who with their family, it's not because Doctor Who has "drawn them in" or appeals to them massively, I think it's that Doctor Who is watched by the adults who used to watch it as kids and they are the ones who are watching it now and therefore making it okay for other adults to begin to watch it.

"Personally I believe the main target audience for Dr Who is a child - male, possibly between the ages of 7-13, but I also believe that Dr Who has other audiences who are much older or maybe that is because Dr Who has been around for a while and fans of Dr Who are loyal and those who have been fans since the beginning continue to watch Dr Who"
 
This is another quote written by an adult and posted onto a forum. It shows clearly what adults think about the topic of who is or should be the target audience of Doctor Who.
 

 

This is a forum post where people are discussing the target age for Doctor Who. In most of the posts people state the age and gender. This and the things they are saying can help give us an idea of who the target audience is from the publics point of view. However there are certain audiences that are more likely to go on public forums to debate this kind of thing. For example there are a few mothers on this forum post and not many men, this does not mean that more mothers and less men watch Doctor Who it simply means that men may not go on forums as much. 

 

Gender

So from all the research I have collected I have come to the conclusion that the official target audience's gender that the producers of Doctor Who have in mind is male. Information from Thinkbox.tv shows that girls do watch more TV but boys under 12 enjoy cartoons more and traits from most cartoons (adventure, comedy) are found within Doctor Who as well. Other things that would attract males to Doctor Who rather than females include the amount of violence, the fact that the main character is male and (as I mentioned before) the action/ adventure theme, which stereotypically, boy's enjoy more than girls.  Also females prefer the more social drama's rather then the action drama's.

 

Age
I also now think that the target age group for Doctor Who is around 8-14. As stated in my research above, I think the show is written for the 8-14 age group but there are some little things, that may not mean anything to the specific age group, that are thrown in for the older generation who watch Doctor Who. This is how I believe the BBC manage to have such a wide range of people that watch it: There is something for everyone. Even though the main themes and
storylines are based on what an 8-14 would enjoy. For example, some aspects of this TV show that would appeal to the 8-14 year old age range could be the action/ adventure theme. The fact that it's not very realistic could be something that would deter an adult from watching it, but the fantasy or action/ adventure would draw an 8-14 year old in. Some of the few things that are thrown in there for the older audience (as I mentioned before) could include; references to the older episodes that the older generation would understand, small and occasional references to sex and the psychological effects that some episodes have. For example the episode "Blink" plays with your mind quite a lot and really makes you think about what's going on rather then throwing the violence in your face.

Lifestyle and Spending Power
I haven't really discussed this category much in my research above but I think that the lifestyle of people who watch Doctor Who is quite interesting because of the fact that I don't think that it's really aimed at a particular group of people with once certain lifestyle. This might be because of the age range. Boy's aged 8-14 don't tend to have what TV shows they watch affected by whether they are single or not. Also they are not going to be married and they are not going to have an income of their own. On the topic of income, I don't think that their parents income would effect whether they watch Doctor Who either. This is because Doctor Who is on BBC which is a free channel that you don't have to pay to watch, so if you have a TV and a TV licence then you can watch Doctor Who for free. However I think income defiantly effects how "into" Doctor Who the target age range is. If an 8-14 year old boy watches Doctor Who and really likes it then they are going to want to start buying merchandise and other products that relate to Doctor Who like action figures and the Doctor Who magazine. If the family is on a low income then it is a lot less likely that the child will be able to buy, or have his parents buy, these things. This could lead to him eventually loosing interest.

Then there is the older target group that I have previously mentioned. The adult age group that aren't a target audience for the show, but the show's producers are aware of this audience and do occasionally throw in a little reference to keep them happy. I think that typically if you think of an adult that watches Doctor Who you think of a single, middle aged man. I don't think this is an accurate idea of the kind of adult that watches Doctor Who. I think adult's that watch Doctor Who tend to be adults who have children in the target audience. As mentioned in my initial research, a lot of people see Doctor Who as a family show which backs up this point. Of course you could argue that parents of this age range are likely to have younger kids too and that might cause them to not have the time or energy to watch the show but the fact that Doctor Who is on after 7pm on a Saturday could suggest that it is placed at this time in the hope that the really young children would now be in bed and the rest of the family can sit down an watch it together. This could be another reference to the fact that the show isn't just for children. Also families with children are less likely to have lot's of disposable income because of the amount of people in their family (compared to a family where two adults work but don't have any children to pay for). Having less disposable income could be linked to them watching Doctor Who because the BBC is a free channel and if they had more money then the chances are they might pay to subscribe to another channel that is more appealing and watch that but since they don't have that money, they watch free shows like Doctor Who.

So as I discussed in my initial research I still think that the show is officially aimed at young children (8-14) but it has also been made available to be watched by families.

Analysis/ Meaning - Doctor Who Clip

Analysing the Meaning of a Doctor Who Clip

This clip starts of on an Extra Long Shot from a birds eye view. It then tilts downwards as it zooms in on the main character's and the Tardis. It then continues to zoom into Rose and The Doctor until it's just the two of them in a medium shot. This single shot is very important and meaningful even if it may not seam it at first. 

The fact that the very first bit is from an extra long shot emphasises the social side of the scene. There are 4 people in the shot but then the fact that it then ends up being just Rose and the Doctor in the shot implies that really this scene is about them and even though there are other people there, they are the focus. This is confirmed when during the next section of the scene Rose and the Doctor having a conversation and to show that the conversation is just between them, the shots jump between close up's of Rose and The Doctor individually. 

Once this has gone on for a bit Mickey, one of the other characters in the scene says something. The camera then goes to a close up of him whilst he is taking. The fact that the other two characters do have speaking parts in the scene even though it's really a scene between Rose and The Doctor is probably the reason behind the Extra long, birds eye shot at the beginning of the scene.

Once the shot goes back to Rose and The Doctor they are no longer in individual close up's, they are both together in a medium shot. This emphasises that it's always going to be Rose and The Doctor (which is what the dialogue is talking about in the scene). Jackie and Micky. the other two in the scene are never shown in a shot together like Rose and The Doctor other then shots where all the characters are in it. 

After the characters have established (through dialogue) that Rose is going to stay with the Doctor, there are only shots of Rose and the Doctor in the scene. Even on some Long shots, they have made a point of making sure that Jackie and Mickey are just out of view. This could be to represent that Rose has made her decision and she has chosen to be with the Doctor. You don't see the other characters again until the end when the shot zooms out from a close up of Rose and The Doctor, to an extra long shot of all the characters again. This is where the scene ends.