1. Institutions and Representation
Aims:
To define and explore these two terms

5. What is an institution?
An institution is responsible for producing the product – for example – Adidas produces trainers and sportswear
Each institution has its own set of values which are often evident in the products they make. For example ITV (a TV channel in the UK) relies on advertising to pay for its programmes so has to make programmes that will appeal to a wide audience to make its money back. The BBC, on the other hand, is funded by the licence fee and has to make programmes which are informative as well as entertaining
Think of two different institutions and describe their values

7. Representation is about:
how social groups, subcultures, occupations, age groups and places are portrayed in the media
how audiences interpret these portrayals

8. No media representation can ever be neutral or unbiased.
The word representation implies that people and places are re-presented by the media in ways which may or may not be accurate.
No media representation can ever be neutral or unbiased.

9. Representation
Producers of media texts know that visual representation is a very powerful tool when it comes to persuading your audience what to think about a topic. Look at these two different representations of the actress/singer Miley Cyrus
Same human being, different representation. What choices have been made about framing, lighting, make up, cropping, costume in each case? Can you guess what kind of news story each image is from? What does each image make you think about Miley? How do you think these very different representations affect her image as a star?

10. When thinking about representation you need to consider that:
Genre can affect representations
Target audiences also shape representations
The institution producing the text will affect representations

13. Using Representation
Who is your favourite band/artist? Think of an album or single they have released and design a new CD cover for it.
Think carefully about Representation – who is the target audience of your artist? What features will you use to appeal to them?

14. Think carefully about:
What will the band members be doing on the album cover? How will they pose?
What sort of place will they be in? Remember they need to appeal to the target market.
As usual, think of colours, titles logos, etc.
Complete a draft copy and annotate to explain how you have used Representation.