IT Crowd Audience Pleasures

Today we learnt about audience pleasure in the IT Crowd.

Moss is a highly intelligent young man with a lack of social skills. He is presented as a "standard nerd" who struggles to communicate with anything that does not have a keyboard. Moss lives at home with his mother, who also dresses him and packs him lunch which represents him as reclusive and he likes to avoid social contact, he takes everything literally, and doesn't know when to shut up. Tries to mimic "proper men" by taking online course in how to talk like football fans, but really he is a buttoned up boy, with large glasses and awful hair.

Roy is a laid-back IT technician from Ireland. He goes to great lengths to fob off workmates so he can sit around doing nothing. However, when something does happen, he is always the one who gets the wrong end of the stick and is constantly either injured or in distress. He and his co-worker Moss are described as "standard nerds". Roy is desperate for a girlfriend but as much as he tries  he is hated by the rest of company. He is almost like a teenage boy as he wears teenage T shirts, behaves immaturely, makes sexist jokes and plays with toys and reads comic books. He does want to be a ‘real man’

Jen is made Head of IT computer illiterate so she lands in ludicrous situations. She is represented as an agony aunt to the boys. Jen wants to find a boyfriend but as much as she tries the boys seem to get involved and mess it up for her (e.g. the theatre)

PLANNING | WARDROBE

10/11/14 | PLANNING | WARDROBE

Today we planned what each character in the final film was going to wear.

For the main girl in the film opening we decided that she should either wear jeans or leggings, this will look quite and make her seem as though she is any other girl. This will make her seem very innocent.

We decided to make the boys in the film go for their own looks. This makes it seem very real as they are wearing clothes similar to what the audience would wear.

TV film openings; Girl with Dragon Tattoo and Day After Tomorrow

9/10/14 | RESEARCH | RESEARCH INTO SIMILAR FILM OPENINGS; Day after Tomorrow

The Day after Tomorrow (Roland Emerrich, 2004) opens with a very long track shot over the Antarctic. The shot is long to create the feeling of a remote location. The shots made me wonder whether the immense ice shelves were actually CGI or not. The title credits all appeared to be reflected in the water. The colours used in the opening are dark blue and white to build up the dramatic atmosphere. The music is dramatic and it created a feeling of majesty and awe.

9/10/14 | RESEARCH | RESEARCH INTO SIMILAR FILM OPENINGS; The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This film opens with an extreme close up of a man un-wrapping a parcel, creating suspense and tension as the audience doesn’t know what is in the parcel.

This gave our group the idea of having an extreme close up of the girls eye which will make the audience are curious on what’s going to happen next.

There are also connotations of technology in it: one of the scenes contains a small section of keyboard in it, showing the audience that the film is based around technological devices. Within a few seconds there is another scene where there are lots of USB wires, reinforcing this idea. This gave us an idea to base our story around a particular technological device/thing that happens.

In another scene you can see a person being chained up, this connotes violence.

A person is covered in black liquid. Black symbolises evil, and if you look closely to the person’s face you can see signs of suffering. There is suspense as the audience is wondering what has happened to the person.

What I did last lesson

Last lesson, our group worked on our storyboard as our old one got thrown in the bin by Ollies nan.
I then worked on my production log after discussing with my group what there is left to be done.
On my productiong portfolio I worked on my makeup construction section and improved it, I still need to take a photo for one of the sections which I will add in.

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 QI:

 •                  The media channels’/stations’ target audiences.

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

The media channels’/stations’ ethos and histories AND Targeting audiences. 

QI is shown on both BBC 2 and Dave. Dave used to be UKTV but re-branded as Dave because 'everybody knows a bloke called Dave'. It addresses mainstream adult audiences, primarily male. It is 'the home of witty banter' and also factual programmes. Currently, it hosts programmes like Dara O'Briain 's School of Hard Sums, Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You and QI (our text). 

BBC is a PSB channel with a public service remit to entertain, inform and educate. It is a good fit with QI which offers factual information about a wide range of subjects such as history, science, culture, nature, food and so on. 

Dave is currently screening QI on Tuesday nights at 8.00 p.m. and Friday night at 11.00 p.m. The BBC is currently screening QI, on series L, on Thursday night at 10.00p.m. and Friday nights at 11.05 p.m. 

BBC Two’s remit is to be a mixed-genre channel appealing to a broad adult audience with programmes of depth and substance. It should carry the greatest amount and range of knowledge building programming of any BBC television channel, complemented by distinctive comedy, drama and arts programming.— BBC Two remit

Institutional contexts The IT Crowd:

•                  The media channels‘/stations’ brand identities

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

 •                  Regulatory (eg Public Service Broadcasting) requirements

 •                  The media channels’/stations’ target audiences.

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.

C4 hosts The IT Crowd , currently shown on 4OD Offering texts on demand, previously on Friday evenings 10.30 p.m. 4OD is for younger audiences; they prefer online content.
The IT Crowd is screened on Channel 4, and has a brand identity of 'providing television for people who do not have enough of it'. The ethos of Channel 4 suits the same trend of entertain, inform and educate as the BBC and Dave. The show broadcasts a stereotypical geeky IT computer department. This is more acceptable for a programme such as the IT Crowd as opposed to that of a formal, well know programme, due to the fact that the IT Crowd is watched by a very niche audience and is therefore very little known and allows the producers to take risks and get very near the mark with some of their jokes that may come across as offensive to some.

IT Crowd

Stereotypes are very much part of the sitcom genre. Although Moss is constructed as highly intelligent he is very much 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 represented as someone who seems to know nothing about the job she is applying for. When asked about what she knows about technology and computers, her answer is very basic from the knowledge she would actually need to know; '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, unlus like Moss, she is very good within a social manner. 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, an example of this is when he shouts at the woman down the phone.

Is the audience positioned on equal terms /omniscient?

The audience are positioned on equal terms and omniscient becausse we understaand the jargon that's going on and we understand all the jokes that they are making about the other staff when they are all the way down in IT.

Are we positioned as superior?

Yes, we as the audience are positioned as superior because no matter how hard they try both Roy and Moss are social failures and don't quite understand what it means to be social. We are also positioned as superior towards Jen because she is IT illiterate and although the man that hires her doesn't see it, we do.

In what way are Roy and Moss standard nerds?

Roy and Moss are very much standard nerds as they fit the role as a stereotypical nerd who seems to know everything in within their field of knowledge. However, they are both socailly inept, especially as Roy always tries to get the girl but never succeeds.



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

It is comical that Jen has been appointed as the IT manager because she seems to not know as much as she should to be able to fill the role. She also lied when asked questions just so she would get the job. It is also commical that when she tries to cover up her little understanding towards Roy and Moss, being the stereotypical nerds they are, they see right through it.

QI Audience Pleasures

Link to clip here

• This clip shows the celebrities eating spicy foods and their reactions provide comedic and good entertainment
• The running commentry of the panellists provides good comedy
• some of the comments and jokes proivde the audience a bundle of laughs