Audience Pleasures in IT Crowd

Today in the lesson we learnt about the audience pleasures of the IT Crowd (again)

We learnt that Moss is presented as a standard nerd and has problems interacting with anything that is not a computer. Moss always wears a button up short sleeved shirt with a tie and glasses , he dresses smartly and neatly as that is one of the few things he control in his life. In the episode we watched today, Moss's social ineptitude is shown when a man comes down to IT clearly to ask Jen on a date to the theatre. However as the man looks nervously around the room and catches Moss's eye, Moss assumes he is asking him to the theatre. Moss's lack of social awareness is one of the audience pleasures as he does not notice subtle hints and takes everything literally which is at times humorous.

Moss's co-worker Roy is constructed as immature and childish, this is shown through his clothing and his workplace. Roy attends an office job in a t-shirt, jeans and trainers this presents him more as a teenage boy than a grown man. His desk is messy and littered with toys such as rubber ducks, empty soda cans and half eaten food. Also around his workspace are posters with either childish images or video game related images. This is an audience pleasure as people can relate to their inner childishness and can find humour in Roy's immaturity. 

INSTITUTIONS: QI and THE IT CROWD

INSTITUTIONS: QI and THE IT CROWD

Section A Institutions: QI and THE IT CROWD 

You should be prepared to analyse and discuss the following, as appropriate to the channels/stations and texts studied:

Institutional contexts:

•                  The media channels‘/stations’ brand identities

QI is broadcasted on two stations, BBC 2 and Dave. BBC 2 broadcasts the shows on Thursdays at 10pm and on Fridays at 11pm.  Both these times are after watershed which means they can contain explicit content. BBC 2 premiers all new episodes of QI  and Dave shows repeats of all seasons of QI. the showing times of QI varies on Dave from 8pm - 3am and 10-11pm slots.

 •                  The media channels’/stations’ ethos and histories (only relevant if they affect programmes)

BBC's ethos is to 'inform, educate and entertain' QI supports the ethos of the show because QI updates the viewer on interesting news as well as educating the viewer on subjects they may not have otherwise known about and also manages to entertain the the viewer with witty jokes and banter. Dave's slogan is 'the home of witty banter' QI fits under the channel's aim because of it's humour. 

 •                  Regulatory (eg Public Service Broadcasting) requirements

 •                  The media channels’/stations’ target audiences.

Dave's target audience is males aged 15-45 and BBC 2 aims for a broader audience and family audience unlike Dave. 

Institutional contexts need only be discussed insofar as they illuminate the institutions’ choice of texts; they should not be studied independently of The IT Crowd and QI.66

IT CROWD

How are the characters constructed?

Moss is constructed as highly intelligent all though socially inept. For example when Roy is trying to make Jen think that they are not IT nerds and that they often get visitors,  moss ignores all obvious signals to stop telling the truth.  

Jen is shown to know nothing about technology in the first scene as when asked about what she knows about technology she answers 'The web. Using a mouse, mices, using mice. Clicking, double clicking. The computer screen, of course. The keyboard. The... bit that goes on the floor down there.' However Jen is good socially as she manages to stop the woman from hitting roy with a shoe by making conversation about Laura's designer shoes.

Roy is presented as short tempered and irritable as he shown he has a short temper with the people he has to help with IT problems (when he shouts at the woman on the phone)

In what way are Roy and Moss standard nerds?

Roy and Moss are standard nerds as they fill the role as the stereotypical nerd that is socially inept, especially with romantic relationships, they are very knowledgable about technology and they do not go out much.

What is comic about Jen's appointment as manager of IT? 

its comical that Jen has been appointed as manager of IT because she knows about as much about IT as most people and lied on her CV about being knowledgable which caused her to end up with the job. Not only this but she tries to cover up her lack of understanding for technology by lying to Roy and Moss and they immediately see through it.

QI audience pleasures

I watched the clip from series K called 'Cat piano or katzenklavier'

Audience Pleasures:

One of the main audience pleasures of the show is the dynamic between Stephen Fry and Alan Davis. Alan Davis is the fool and acts as the scapegoat of the show as he will often come up with the unintelligent answers and be corrected by the intellectual, Stephen Fry. Alan Davis normally comes up with a humorous answer using both verbal and physical comedy, this will be followed up by Stephen Fry correcting him with the  correct answer and educating the audience. The audience gets pleasure from being smarter than Alan Davis but also learning from Stephen Fry.

MOCK EXAM FEEDBACK

-Improve exam technique, use this necessary terminology and tactics
- Revise technique in first two questions
-second sentence should begin 'The characters fit the AA genre because..."
- Write more about the jeopardy eg rockets, bombs ect
-Finish points, describe what the missiles look like, how the doctor transfers and the impact of the look of the doctor.
-Answer the questions fully + convey to the examiner that I understand
-concentrate on the things used in the extract such as the teleporting device and the futuristic features of the extract.  
-Concentrate on writing about society in last question
-Make sure that when talking about lighting that it is the correct part.
-Make sure to talk  about nationality of the characters in the extract.

AUDIENCE PROFILE RESEARCH

DETECTIVES ART OF THE TITLE

11/9/14 |  RESEARCH | THE ART OF THE TITLE: DETCETIVES

We accessed the art of the title and used it to watch the intro of the French detective series detectives. One of the ways that you could tell it is a television detective series is because in the opening sequence detective files were shown to show the main characters within in the show. It also had the opening credits in a clear white and black bold font and the title of the programme in a bigger font to make it stand out from the other credits. It also had a catchy theme song which is common amongst television openings.