Explain how media producs can be said to have cultural and social significance

• The song is part of an album entitled Black America Again: a call to social action that asks its audience stand up and be counted
• The titles makes explici the social signisficance since we are, potentiallt ,'the free' and are connected culturally to a tradiotion of protest songs
• The video's setting explicitly connects to the social issues which is also evident in the lyric (institution aint just a building", new Jim Crow"
• These are cultural references in both senses via 'race issues' and an aesthetic lineage shich goes back through Maya Angelou ("THE CAGED BIRD SINGS FOR FREEDOM") and Billie HOliday ("Southen trees we hun from - strange fruit).
• There is also a cinema verite awsthetic (black and white film , realistic locastion, element of histroical accuracy) which has cultural capital
• The song and video are both connected with the award - wommomg documentary 14 (about the 13th amendment) and link to work with high status collaboratos like Bradford Young (the cinematograpger) and the director Ava DuVCernay 
• High profile cultural and social inpact of performance of the song at the white house for Barack Obama 
• This is a question about the way in which products establish social and culutal significance through working within media industrial contexts and in response to  audience endorsements 
• Social significance is about creating meaning for other peopl ein a wway that makes them confent inwhat they do and see, it is all about products being interventions that have implicastions for society 
• Cultural signisficance is about haveung intrinsic (eg aesthetic) value whihc us predicated on status derived from expert opinion or popular support ad/or being intrinsic to a parrticular way of life (geographical,ethnic, professional).

Explain the appeal of low to medium budget fiolmms to Hollyowood conglomerates 

Use Hidden Figures to support your answer (15 marks)

General Points 

• This question iabout industrial contexts of media production and patterns of ownership an control in he contemporary context 
• This  question requoires not the analysis oof the Close Study Product but rather a cmmentray on whta it reveals about the current stqte of media production, distribution an circulation 
• The question invites students to explore the subtlerries of media production, distribution and circulation and itds contexs wherein success is measured in terms other @profit (prestige,credibility, social conscience, blalance and 
• Hidden figures is a co-production between independen production companies and a major hollywood conglomerate theough its film subdivision Fox 2000
• Fox as a conglomerate with diverse cross-media elements including facilities for media production,stribution and ciculation means they have the structures and the means to get films with and independent 'feel'/consciousness/aesthetic to a mainstream audience 
• The wider strategy of media aconglomerates is to facilitate thei control of the markets around the world this includes low budget and low to medium budger fare like Hiddenn figuares, films perhaps more likely to garner awards and attract prestiege. 
• With a budget of $25m Hidden Figures is a low to medium budget Hollywood film, an idustry category which has recenly been recognision 
• Distribution techniques - focus on tradtional distribution and exhition linked to targeted audience 
• The concept of "risk- taking" in terms of subject matter which might not be tackled by big budget productions set against specific targeting of budget and audience 
• Focus on social and cultural 'capital' as well as commercial return: marketing predicated on the 'untold story' of black female mathematicians 
• Strong links to contemporary cpmcerms and debates about race in the US 
• The film is alos targeted at an audience often ignored by Hollytwood due to age, gender and race and thus can be explored in terms of social and cultural context in which it was produced. Also the film tests out the vialbility ofthis audience as cinema-goers 

Goodwin music video 

In what way is 'letter to the free ' a typical music video?

Performance video 

Lead singer 

Edited 

Length of song

How does 'Letter to the free' use and/or subvert the conventions of an R&B music video?

How is media language used to :

Create tone/atmosphere?

Reinforce Common's brand image?

Create a point of view for the audience?

How do these uses of media language combine to create an overall stroy/message within the video?

How has the social and/pt cultural context influenced the construcyion of the music video?