top of page

Media institution investigation

Ownership

The BBC is a 'public corporation'. It is neither a private corporation nor a government department ( it's an independent body which is held in trust for the British people). The high ideal is that it is held in trust for the public of the UK by the BBC Trust (the successor to the Board of Governors following the renewal of the BBC Charter by the government in 2006) and free from commercial and government influence.

BBC Operating model

​

Products

The BBC runs nine national TV services providing entertainment, news, current affairs and arts coverage for the whole of the UK. These TV channels include BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliment, BBC Alba. BBC produces multiple genres of television programmes such as, Children's, Comedy, Drama, Entertainment, Factual, Learning , Music, News, Sport, Weather and Religion and Ethics. The BBC also runs 10 national radio stations offering distinctive, high quality music and speech programming to everyone across the UK. 

​

BBC Values:

  1. Educate

  2. Inform

  3. Entertain

Market Position

An example of a recent BBC product that shows the market position on the BBC is the new drama series on BBC One, Our Girl. In terms of the number of viewers Our Girl has and a competing Media Institution has such as an ITV Drama series Victoria, on the week of 19th September - 25th September at 9pm, Our Girl retained 5,536 (000s) viewers and Victoria retained 6,879 (000s) viewers.

​

​

Competitors

There are many media institutions that compete with the BBC to retrieve the largest audience. These media institutions include, ITV, Channel4, Channel5, Sky and Netflix. Ways in which these institutions compete with the BBC to accumulate the most viewers are by broadcasting their leading programmes at the same times.

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, and is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation. It is also the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with over 20,950 staff in total, of whom 16,672 are in public sector broadcasting; including part-time, flexible as well as fixed contract staff, the total number is 35,402.

Model

​

  1. Funded by license

  2. Charter dictates programme type

  3. Audience research for smaller details

  4. If programme fails/people are unhappy they can complain

  5. Too many complaints and BBC loses license

When the BBC makes a programme, they always have to consider these factors:

  • Research

  • Planning

  • Pre-production

  • Production

  • Editing

  • Promotion

  • Tie ins

  • Present Programme

Media institution product analysis

Purpose

The main purpose of this advert is to advertise a new drama series Our Girl. It has also been created to introduce the TV programme and give it an identity in the hope of attracting more people to watch the series. 

Genre

The genre of this audio-visual promo is promotional which is identified through the use of the BBC One logo throughout the entire clip.

Form

The form of this clip is a trailer. This trailer has been released on Youtube, RadioTimes and the BBC website.A trailer is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. Trailers consist of a series selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, the editors will select segments of the film that are the most exciting, funny, or interesting but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers.  A trailer has to attract the audience in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds. 

Style

This clip is an audio-visual promo advertising an upcoming UK television series.

Content 

In this trailer there are a mixture of slow motion and fast action shots however mainly fast action shots to successfully portray the genre of the media product (television programme). The use of any special effects (explosions) and background music defines the characteristic of the audio-visual promo, plays an important role in its basic construction and sets the tone. 

​

The narrative in this trailer is immediately given away through the dialogue from the leading actors and actresses (medic being asked to go on a mission). The story is then told visually through the key elements of the programme so the storyline is not given away to the viewers. This also persuades the audience to watch the programme as it leaves them wondering what will happen. 

Meaning​

The meaning of the text used in this media product is to essentially advertise the media institution. For example, 'BBC ONE', (which is shown throughout the entire trailer), the BBC website url that takes viewers directly to their website and a hashtag which is a way of viewers tracking posts and tweets about Our Girl on Twitter and other social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. The meaning of the music in this trailer is to specifically emphasise the genre of the product as the beginning of the music chosen is emotional then builds and turns fast pace which creates a dramatic and intense effect. ​The camera techniques in this media product includes slow motion shots and quick pace action shots. These different shots contrast each other and therefore create a greater impact.

Production process

This audio-visual promo will be created by simply constructing a condensing version of a the television series. The trailer must contain a collection of the greatest elements. The genre will primarily guide the trailer process and portray the overall representation of the visual product. For example, if it is a comedy, drama, horror, thriller or action. There are other factors that need to be considered during the production process of making a trailer. Such as, the use of any dialogue used in the series that is appropriate for conveying the narrative. Job roles that would have been working on this project would have been primarily editors. The editors would've been respoinsible for assembling recorded raw material into a finished product that's suitable for broadcasting. The material may include camera footage, dialogue, sound effects, graphics and special effects. 

Market Position

bottom of page