Controls and Constraints

Controls and Constraints Constraints in media productions are limits or restrictions on what producers are able to do.

These can include formal controls (laws and rules), or practices influenced by available technologies, economic/budgetary factors, political pressure or beliefs and values. Each of these constraints influences professional media productions in a variety of different ways.

PETBAT Political Ethical Time Budget Audience Technology

POLITICAL Political controls and constraints involve the laws of the country where the product is made and sold. This includes issues such as censorship, ratings classification, privacy laws, and copyright.

ETHICAL Ethical constraints concern the personal values of the producer. This involves what they include, what narratives, and what they will do in order to create and complete their product.

TIME Most media productions will have a deadline of some form or another. Hollywood movie production shoot: Twelve weeks Soap opera TV show production: One week, five episodes. Video game production: three years Other time constraints: world events, awards or trade shows, release seasons.

BUDGET The amount of money available will determine the scale of the production. It will also determine the calibre of talent involved, and what they will be expected to do.

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS The audience will have expectations from previous experiences, their own values A product that is too distant from mainstream values will struggle to become popular. With the Internet, audiences, especially fans, have become more powerful.

TECHNOLOGY Pop-cultural are restricted by what the available technology can achieve. Some established producers may be able to develop their own technology to fulfil their needs- studios creating SFX, or game producers creating game engines.

Constraints and Pop Culture Controls and constraints can affect a pop-cultural product and therefore reduce the numbers of audience, and profits or advertising. The most dominant constraints for pop-culture are political constraints and audience expectations.

Question Write down all the constraints facing your particular chosen pop-culture product: Political Ethical Time Budget Audience expectation Technology