A summary of the course Entertainment Communication of the college of Communication Science at the UvA. The file summarises the book, lectures and tutorials and all the materials you'll need for the exam.
Tutorial
Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game
contexts in order to influence behavior
Human Resources gamification: Soliciting the best employees by creating a competitive
environment
Psychological profiling
- Effective approach to digital mass persuasion?? (Definition??
Lecture
Entertainment= The action of providing (and sustaining) amusement and enjoyment
Interpretations of what is entertainment:
- Entertainment content (or art) takes a representative of the entertainment world to
actually turn it into a work of entertainment (painters make paintings, art-people
make it art)
- Entertainment is not a product, but a response
- Entertainment is a complete, dynamic and multifaceted experience one goes
through while consuming media
Infotainment= including entertainment content in information based media content or
programming in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers
Edutainment= Adding educational messages to popular entertainment media (or vice versa)
with the goal of positively influencing awareness, knowledge, attitudes and/or behaviors
Gamification= The method of applying game mechanics and philosophy to non-gaming
applications in the real world to improve creativity, learning, participation and motivation
(Like Idols game; we are motivated to recruit the pop-stars by texting?)
Pop culture= set of practices, beliefs, and objects that are dominant or ubiquitous in society
at any given point in time. Constantly evolving, represents and influences culture!
Lasswell’s communication model for analyzing entertainment
Who says what through which medium to whom, and what is the effect?
Who (speaker) à What (message) à Medium (Channel) à Whom (audience)à EFFECT
But one question is missing… HOW does the content affect audience? What is the process,
what factors influence the outcome…?
Vorderer, Klimmt, Ritterfeld aim to make sense of media effects
, - Proposes that user prerequisites, consuming motives and the message
characteristics (media prerequisites; technology, content, aesthetic) and its effect
are mediated by enjoyment. The effect it has on consumers, in turn, affects user
prerequisites.
- Enjoyment, according to the model, manifests itself in diverse expressions related to
emotion and personal experience
What it proposes (critique lecturer): Media will only have an effect on you if you enjoy it.
Small scope? But it’s a step towards understanding it.
Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM), Valkenburg & Peter
- There are three factors that predict children’s media use
o Disposition Person-based traits that could influence a person’s
media use, including gender, personality,
temperament, intelligence, motivations, and cognitive
schemas.
o Developmental level Age or level of cognitive development affect media use
(for example, toddlers prefer slower, familiar and
simple TV-shows; teens may prefer porn or relatively
complex content like 13 Reasons Why)
o Social environment The social environment of the media user affects the
nature of their media usage. Social environment affects
on a micro (peers, family), meso (church, school), and
, macro (culturally dominant norms and values) level.
(e.g. parents may forbid some media, friends may
encourage consumption of some media, school may
give media homework…)
- These factors also predict the effect upon the user; they moderate the state of
response, and in this way, the effect.
- Critique lecturer: too focused on children. Also doesn’t really address How it affects
children.
à The Media Entertainment cycle: aims to create one model for the production design,
experience and effects of entertainment.
Defining users
Three categories that compose identity
- Demographics
o (age, income, education, ethnicity, location…)
- Dispositional variables; traits
o (loneliness, social skills, beliefs, cognitive capacities, but also very temporary
things like emotional state, mood)
- Social environment
o (family, friends, peers)
Four steps in media entertainment cycle identified:
Whether you consume the entertainment on how It is marketed to you, and how
motivated you are to watch it
Your experience of the media is determined by your overall experience of it (content, but
also environment and medium content is displayed on, your mood, etc…)
Your response to the media characterized by a change in either
o Emotion
o Cognition
o Excitation
Your outcome of consuming media is characterized by the success of the experience;
whether it has had a (desired) effect on you (will you watch it again, etc... à will there be a
sequel because it’s successful?)
Entertainment
- Entertainment consists of medium (audiovisual; internet, TV, games, movies) +
message (content; genre, theme, setting…)
- Entertainment is developed to create, keep and satisfy the consumer
o How to create, keep and satisfy (as many consumers)? à Marketing!
§ Globalization: Producers try to incorporate elements that appeal to
everyone, diverse cultures (crime, drugs, car crashes)
§ Localization: The process of translating an (entertainment) product in
different languages or adapting a product for a specific country or
, region (think Arab inflatable pool advert, extra scenes with local
product placement)
- Users’ needs and desires guide their selection of entertainment
o How/Why do they select entertainment exactly? Selection theories:
EMPHASIZES PERSONAL CONTROL
§ Main motivation: Escapism (escape from real world
§ Uses & Gratifications: selection is an active process based on the
fulfilment personal uses and gratifications for content
§ Selective exposure: media is selected because it confirms what user
assumes to be right(eous)/not selected because it contradicts it
§ Mood management; Hedonism – People select media that incites or
prolongs a more positive mood (only counts for light entertainment
like comedy; not dramatic movies like the titanic!)
§ Self-determination Theory: Three psychological needs that motivate
selection: Need for competence, autonomy, relatedness.
LESS PERSONAL CONTROL
§ Media Habits: Not actively selected, more of a habitual, unconscious
process (doesn’t matter what you consume, as long as you fulfil the
habit of consuming)
§ Social Cognitive Theory: We copy behavior from models, so we will
also copy the media they select (mother watches GTST, daughter will
watch it too)
§ Social conformity: Select media not because you like it, but because
you want to fit in with a group (you can’t communicate well with the
popular girls if you can’t talk along with them about PLL?)
§ Nostalgia: Selection likelihood is enhanced by the presence of
elements that remind you of your youth (think Pokémon Go)
§ Media addictions: Obsessive, compulsive and excessive use of media
despite associated negative consequences; helps you feel normal
- Media convergence= development that all types of content are incorporated into
one medium (e.g. smartphone, smart TV)
- Transmedia storytelling/Cross-media fertilization) = Elements of a fiction get
dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of
creating a unified entertainment experience (e.g. Hunger games; book, movie, game;
Snow White the story, the movie, the Barbie doll, the character you can meet in
Disney World; goes beyond the original franchise!)
Design
- Design is a combination of elements that form the language of entertainment and
thereby communicate an experience to the audience. Elements:
o Structure (Sound, Special effects, Editing, Graphics…)
o Narrative (conflict, plot, characters)
- Medium and content provide boundaries and/or guidelines for elements that are
included in the design
- Experience of the design
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