Throughout a musician's rise to fame, it is often expected to see their music and accompanying material improve in quality over time, due to the musician's being able to afford better staff and equipment in helping create their material.

A key example of how musicians are able to create better work as their fame grows is the fact that they are able to afford, both in regards to reputation and finances, better teams and bigger budgets to create work with higher production values. Music videos, for example, are something that can be used to highlight the growth of a musician over time. This can be shown through the contrast of music videos towards the beginning of a musician's career in comparison to the music videos they use most recently.

Ed Sheeran's video for his first single "The A Team" was directed in 2010 by Ruskin Kyle, a director who, in regards to the music industry, has little experience. The music video is both reflective of the directors lack of experience, the small budget (which was announced to have been just £20), as well as the year (2010) in which it was made in, being that a lot has changed and developed in regards to technology and visual trends in the previous seven years.

In comparison, the music video for one of his more recent singles, released in 2017, "Castle On The Hill", was directed by George Belfield. A major difference between the two videos, which can be related to the difference in status and fame of Ed Sheeran, is the director. George Belfield has worked with other established musicians within the music industry, including Tom Odell and Paloma Faith, and his experience and professionalism can be seen clearly in contrast to the video for "The A Team" when considering the number of locations used and the advanced visual and technical codes.

Both videos, however, do share similarities in that Ed Sheeran does not appear in either video, which is somewhat strange - especially towards the beginning of his career - as appearing in his own music video is likely to strengthen the connections between his name, brand and music. Likewise, both videos rely on a narrative, rather than being performance based.

However, whilst there is usually a correlation between the quality of a music video and the stage of the musician's career, as there is with Ed Sheeran, not all music videos towards the beginning of a musician's fame have low production values or unknown directors. For example, Adele's first video, "Hometown Glory", was directed by Paul Dugdale who has worked on various films and documentaries within the music industry, including with big names such as One Direction, and so was arguably already a notable name within the industry. Although, in regards to production values, it can also be argued that her videos have improved as she has gained more popularity. One of her more recent videos, for "Hello", a single from her album "25", was directed by Xavier Dolan and differs to her earlier videos through the incorporation of a solid narrative: the music video appears more like a film, which could be influenced by the fact that Dolan is a filmmaker by trade, which tells a story than it is a music video focusing on performance, such as "Hometown Glory".

Interestingly, both songs "Castle on the Hill",  by Ed Sheeran, and "Hometown Glory", by Adele, refer to the artist's hometowns and roots, helping to represent them as grounded individuals who are still in touch from where they have come from. I think that this is important in creating a fanbase as well as created positive connotations with the artist's brands. This is especially evident in the fact that director George Belfied, who directed the music video for "Castle on the Hill", declared that the local community where eager and cooperative in helping to create the music video. This is an example of how these positive representations of Ed Sheeran might have helped in the production process of the music video.

Ed Sheeran has been listed on TIME 100, TIME Magazine's annual list of the "Most Influential People In The World" which acts as clear evidence of Ed Sheeran's extensive reach and globalisation.

Labelled by Taylor Swift as having "one of the most impressive self-made careers in music" in Sheeran's tribute on the list, this accolade for the singer-songwriter highlights the fact that Ed Sheeran has attracted a breadth of fans (the more committed referred to as "Sheeranators" or "Sheerios", arguably a marketing technique utilised by many musicians within the industry to create a sense of brand loyalty), both of the public and within the music and media industries. 

The award also suggests the fact that his audience often adopts the preferred reading to him as a person as well as to his music, which has been previously supported by the fact that he has won other awards for his music, such as his 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

The second film in the Kingsman franchise, Kingsman: The Golden Circle has moved it's release date forward to September rather than it's initial release date in October. According to news distributors such as Yahoo! and Den of Geek!, this is because the previous release date would have seen it released at the same time as Blade Runner 2049 which Yahoo! named as "one of the most anticipated sci-fi sequels of all time". Likewise, the cast of the film has grown, incorporating more high-profile actors such as Channing Tatum, Halle Berry and Elton John.

Digital Spy also commented on the use of social media by the film's cast to anticipate the release of the movie. For example, Taron Egerton posted a photo on Twitter which read "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.". This is said to link to the death of Colin Firth's character at the end of the previous film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, teasing the concept that his character may make a return in the new film. This shows the importance of social media in marketing a film and creating a buzz within media and public discourse.

To what extent do your three main texts target a mainstream audience? 30 marks.

10 June 2014. B1: Discuss the marketing strategies used by your selected industry. Refer to your three main texts. (30 marks)

Within the film industry, an array of different marketing strategies and techniques are used to ensure that the films effectively reach as large an audience as possible, often subsequently generating as much profit as possible.

For example, films often use the concept of synergy and intertextuality to ensure that their brand is seen across multiple platforms, therefore broadening the audience. A clear example of a film that uses this concept is Skyfall (2012), directed by Sam Mendes, as well as the James Bond franchise as a whole.

The concept is explored in regards to promotional appearances such as the section of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony in which the character of James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, appeared in short video alongside the Queen. The timing of this appearance was important in that it took place in the July of 2012 and Skyfall was released in the October of 2012. The appearance itself was important in regards to the fact that it tied the film and the James Bond franchise in with traditional British values, therefore appealing to the British audience, as well as the fact that the opening ceremony was seen by an estimated audience of 900 million worldwide.

The concept of synergy is also explored within the marketing of Skyfall in the music that was released. British singer-songwriter Adele's soundtrack for the film was released at the beginning of October, the film released later than month, and assisted in creating a hype surrounding the film.

Similarly to these concepts, the use of merchandise can also be used as a marketing technique in the way that it those who purchase the merchandise are subsequently marketing the film whenever they choose to display said merchandise. An example of this would be the 007 aftershave, as a part of the James Bond franchise, which if someone was wearing the aftershave could create a conversation regarding it, therefore acting as marketing for the franchise and consequently the film.

The concept of merchandise is used within other films, too. For example, Pride (2014), directed by Matthew Warchus, created and sold t-shirts and stickers. By creating merchandise that people can and are likely to wear in public, this marketing technique helps for the film to penetrate the public discourse and for word of the film to be spread through conversation.

A film that takes merchandise to a different extent is Kingsman: The Secret Service (20140, directed by Matthew Vaughn. Through the film's website, the audience are able to purchase the clothes and brands that are featured within the film, whereby buying into the "lifestyle" of the film. This allows the audience to immerse themselves into the film further, sporting clothing that is associated with the film and therefore encouraging marketing through word of mouth.

Another marketing strategy that is often used within the film industry is the utilisation of social media which acts as a similar concept to word of mouth, which strategies such as creating merchandise encourages. Social media allows the producers of a film to communicate with their intended audience, using various controls to ensure that the correct audience is targeted, and allows ease in communicating exactly what the producers want to communicate about the film: whether that be positive reviews, important news or to create a dialogue with their audience. Social media also encourages users to share posts, therefore helping to reach and engage a larger audience.

Pride effectively uses social media to communicate to it's audience. For example, the film's Twitter page offers regular updates regarding the film in order to inform the audience, as well as sharing reviews from news outlets such as The Guardian regarding the film to increase the reputation of the film. Likewise, Pride also released the film's trailer online and used social media to promote it. This is a cost effective way of releasing the trailer which also allows it to have a large reach, with the ability to share posts helping to increase the reach further. Similarly, Kingsman and Skyfall also utilise social media to share the same information, with Kingsman sharing behind-the-scenes and exclusive content regarding the actors of the film and the promotional appearances as well: i.e. the premieres and special screenings of the film.

As previously mentioned in regards to Skyfall, promotional appearances are also used as marketing techniques by Kingsman and Pride. For example, Kingsman offered a special screening of the film which saw the majority of the cast, including high profile names such as Colin Firth, appear to engage in the screening. Pride, on the other hand, took a more physical approach to appearances and engaged in a deal of guerrilla marketing in which the producers were able to directly sell to their audiences as the "Pride" marches in Manchester and London prior to the release of the film. This ensures that people are exposed to the film's print advertisement - posters, banners, etc. - and also have the opportunity to discuss the film, creating a hype before it's release. Likewise, upon these appearances, those involved in the Pride team also handed out merchandise in the form of stickers and t-shirts which links back to the advantages of merchandise.

In conclusion, there are various different marketing techniques that films are able to engage with in order to ensure that there is optimal reach to their target audiences. Some of these techniques, such as social media, are accessible to films with lower budgets but some of the techniques, such as using synergy, are likely to be more plausible for a film with a larger budget, such as Skyfall which had an estimated budget of $200 million.

The headline does not explain the details of the story and uses conservative language, not allowing for expletives and profanities. This is arguably because the BBC caters to a mass audience and so must censor a lot of what they publish to ensure that no one is offended.

On the other hand, Complex, an online music, sports and entertainment blog, decided to publish a starkly different headline for what was ultimately the same story:

Stormzy Calls NME A Bunch Of "Real Life F*cking Pu**yholes" For Front Cover Of Their 'Depression' Issue

This is because the blog does not cater for such a range of demographics nor does it have the same social responsibilities as the BBC do and so they can choose to deliver their content in a more explicit way.

The ways in which audiences respond to media texts are often determined by a number of factors. For example, in film, an audience member is arguably more likely to adopt the preferred reading, as per Stuart Hall's reception theory, if they are able to identify with the characters. For example, in Kingsman: The Secret Service, directed by Matthew Vaughn in 2014, the preferred reading of the text is to view Eggsy as the protagonist and as a "good" character and one way this can be achieved is by making him relatable to the audience. As a working class teenage boy, many consumers of the text are likely to identify with him and therefore understand the trials and tribulations that he endures on a level personal to his character. This concept of identification also links to the Uses and Gratifications theory whereby audiences choose to consume a media text based on the fact that they can relate and identify with elements of it.

This concept of the audience being able to identify to the characters is also used throughout Weekend, directed and written by Andrew Haigh in 2011, is likely to appeal to an audience of homosexual people better than it would an audience of heterosexual people for the reason that homosexual people would be able to identify with the issues, themes and narrative somewhat better than a heterosexual person might. This can be evidenced through the fact that the film was restricted to just ten cinemas in Italy after the Italian Bishop's Conference Film Evaluation Commission branded the story "indecent" and "unusable". This shows the opposition reading to the film in that people were offended by the contents of the film rather than understanding the issues explored and discussed. However, the ban across the majority of cinemas was soon lifted after audiences adopted the preferred reading to the text and the film took the highest per-screen-average takings in it's opening weekend.

Again in regards to being able to identify with the characters or themes of a film, a film that this is likely not true for is Skyfall, a film directed by Sam Mendes in 2012 that belongs to the James Bond franchise, as the lifestyles represented are not likely to be relatable to the general public. Regardless, audience response to the film has been positive, given the fact that the box office figures of Skyfall are 1.109 billion USD. There are many reasons that the audience may have responded so well to the film. Some of these reasons include the fact that the film belongs to an already popular franchise, being the 23rd film under the James Bond name, and so there would have been considerable anticipation - especially within public and media discourse - regarding the film. Likewise, the use of star power in having famous names such as Dame Judi Dench have roles in the film is likely to have appealed to the audience. In regards to genre, given the breadth of action films across the film industry - from popular action franchises such as Men in Black and the Bourne series, for example - it is connoted that the mass audience is made up of a considerable number of fans of the action and so, by meeting the conventions of the action genre, it is likely that the film would generate a positive response from fans of the action genre. This positive response, in regards to Skyfall, can be measured by a number of factors, including social media response. The James Bond franchise has 369k followers on Twitter, for example, and these followers are more than likely to be audience members who enjoy the James Bond films.

Regarding to measuring audience response, as well as observing box office figures and social media statistics, the awards that films receive are also a measure of how the audience's reponded. For example, Weekend won the Audience Award Emerging Visions award at the SXSW Film Festival which shows that the audience responded positively to the film. Likewise, Skyfall won an array of different awards, including two Oscar Academy Awards, a Golden Globe and two BAFTA Awards, amongst a breadth of others. Kingsman: The Secret Service was also award winning, having won two Empire Awards.

To conclude, audiences often respond in different ways to different texts, adopting either a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading based on a number of factors which may effect their perception of the text. As active audiences, the way in which they have perceived a text can often be measured by the way in which they physically respond: the number of people who consume a film, for example, or whether or not a film has received awards nominated by the audience, as another example.