Deutschland 83: case study blog tasks
Introduction: Reviews and features
Read the following reviews and features on Deutschland 83:
The Guardian - Your next box set: Deutschland 83
The Guardian - Deutschland 83 Pity the Germans don't like it
1) Find one positive aspect and one criticism of Deutschland 83 in the reviews.
"It’s a perfect moment in a near-perfect series. Deutschland 83’s first episode of eight was the most-watched foreign-language drama in UK history." - Positive
"Deutschland 83 has wowed the world – pity the Germans don’t like it" - Negative
2) Why does the second Guardian article suggest the Germans didn't like the show?
2) Why does the second Guardian article suggest the Germans didn't like the show?
Deutschland 83 was designed to be the big ballsy production that restored German TV’s pride, with the marketing budget to go with it. Yet by the time the last episode was shown in Germany last December, it had shed half its starting audience, with only 1.72m viewers. The odd situation is that after decades of being seen as boring and ugly, Germany has found a way of making people abroad think it is cool and sexy – yet Germans don’t like it as they wanted to be seen in a more serious way other than just going abroad to Germany as "cool" and "sexy"
3) Find three 'below the line' comments from either of the Guardian articles. What did the audience think of Deutschland 83? Do you agree with the comments?
Cool theme tune, lovely sets … otherwise it's a risible attempt at historical drama marked by woeful acting and hilariously implausible plots. Ducking out after five episodes. A triumph of marketing over substance, blatantly.
As an East German I enjoyed it, however, the English translation was atrocious and left out important clues, like in the last episode when they gave away that Martin was the son of Schweppenstette and Ingrid, that was completely lost in translation. They translated "our boy" simply as "Martin". There was another incident which I don't remember now. All in all, it made me feel strangely nostalgic!
Deutschland 83 was meh. I watched it on Amazon because The Americans does not come on again until March and I needed a fix of 80s Cold War spying skulduggery. Some excellent supporting actors, but the main actor was a bit blank IMHO and not quite up to carrying the weight of the show.
I feel like the audience shared a mixed review with Deutschland 83 but overall they were really happy and entertained by what they were watching. This is because it did make them feel like they were taken back in time during the Cold War and helped them live and share the experience through Martin.
Channel 4 News: Matt Frei interviews Jonas Nay
1) What does Jonas Nay say about growing up in a united Germany?
Jonas says while he grew up in a united Germany when he was born in 1990 there was no such thing as a East and West Germany and that when in school he learnt about the Cold War which was more focused on WW2.
2) The Channel 4 News interview is conducted in German with English subtitles. How does this reflect Channel 4's remit as a public service broadcaster and their target audience? (Clue: revise your work on Channel 4 and Public Service Broadcasting here!)
2) The Channel 4 News interview is conducted in German with English subtitles. How does this reflect Channel 4's remit as a public service broadcaster and their target audience? (Clue: revise your work on Channel 4 and Public Service Broadcasting here!)
It reflects their remit and as a public service broadcaster and their target audience as they are able to target more audiences as they are promoting a different language which is German so they can appeal to German people living here in the UK.
3) Interviewer Matt Frei asks about the current political situation in Germany. Why might this interest the a Channel 4 audience?
This might interest the Channel 4 audience as they want to know where Germany may go while also just being curious to understand just how much their politics had changed during the split and then after.
We need to consider the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 alongside various representations created in the first episode.
Scene 1: Garden/BBQ scenes (East & West Germany)
4.58 – 8.20 and 34.00 – 37.20
Make notes under the following headings:
- Technical codes – particularly mise-en-scene
* Hand-held camera - to connote that we are at the party as well.
* Camerawork - 360 degrees turn - gets that constant feel of Martin being under pressure (always being watched).
*Actor Placement - a lot of people at the party eating and dancing makes the party feeling positive and warm.
*Body Language - formal but still feels uncomfortable to watch.
- Representation of East & West Germany / Family / Gender
* West - Cold, unwelcoming, unpleasant.
*East - Warm, welcoming, joyful.
*East - represented positively, family oriented, friendly, close. Example of working class/ East Germany?
*West - plenty of food, big house but cold.
- Audio codes (music dialogue, SFX)
* Diagetic pop music Nena - 99 Red Balloons Go By - establishes time period of the 90's and helps build warmth to the party.
* Music non-diagetic builds tension and pressure.
- Audience Pleasures
* Personal Identity - Older Generation can relate to what is happening in Germany at the time.
* Personal Relationship - We get to meet Martins family.
Scene 2: Martin/Moritz first sees the West German supermarket
14.30 – 20.25
Make notes under the following headings:
- Technical codes – particularly mise-en-scene
- Audio codes – particularly music
- Representation of East & West Germany / Communism & Capitalism / Historical accuracy
- Audience pleasures
-Zoom in on clothes, iconic puma red shirt.
-Medium shot of the supermarket, west has more supplies.
-Lighting is much warmer.
-80s music in the market with lyrics "some of them want to use you", refer to Martin.
-Postmodernism, Andy Warhol pop art.
-Excess items, e.g: fruits.
-Authorities deliberate in west, ice cream.
-Gender rep when Anette is mentioned, mocking stereotypes.
Scene 3: Training montage scene when Martin/Moritz learns how to be a spy
20.40 – 22.40
Make notes under the following headings:
- Technical codes – particularly camerawork and editing
- Audio codes
- Audience pleasures
- Intertextuality
-Camera shot through leaves, reinforcing surveillance.
-Gender reinforced through cameras, spy.
-Upbeat music , parallel and fast with sequence.
-Dialogue used to fill in narrative gaps.
-Women dressed as a man to kill real Martin.
-Fruit split screen, east has none.
-No supplies are East shows repeated motif.
-Nostalgic 1983 names for items in the West.
-Kalma introduced, feel reassured that he's not alone.
-Intertextuality feels like a James Bond movie.
Scene 4: Briefcase scene when Martin/Moritz is stealing the NATO nuclear plans
31.13 – 33.30
Make notes under the following headings:
- Technical codes – particularly camerawork and editing
- Audio codes – diegetic and non-diegetic sound
- Audience pleasures
-Spy shot through blinds, CCTV.
-Intense close-up for movement, stress, documents.
-Bomb image, Ronald Reign signiture (president).
-Uses real life documents as reference.
-Slow tense music builds tension.
-Entertaining.
-Character relationship of Martin and receptionist.
You will do the majority of this textual analysis work in class - this section of your case study simply requires typing up your notes in an easy and memorable way (bullet points are fine).
Production and industry contexts
Deutschland 83 was produced by German production company UFA Fiction and distributed internationally by Fremantle International. It was broadcast on RTL (Germany), SundanceTV (US) and Channel 4 (UK) as well as many other broadcasters around the world.
1) What kind of company is UFA Fiction and what shows have they produced?
Freemantle produces and distributes culture defined entertainment, drama film and documentaries. They have one of the most successful formats their series/films are watches in 180 countries all around the world. Some of their productions are My Brilliant Friend, This England, the Hand of God where they have an empathise on commitment to creative freedom and diversity.
A world leader in creating, producing and distributing across entertainment drama, film and documentary content. produced - Too hot to handle, The piano, Got talent and X factor
It reflects the international nature of television production as it was produced in Germany but written by an American and became a hit in the UK, this shows how the show/film doesn't always have to appeal to the intended audience allowing foreign films to grow in other countries.
Walter Presents
Watch this Channel 4 trailer for their Walter Presents international drama:
1) How does Channel 4 introduce 'Walter'?
Introduces 'Walter' as being all about gritty international drama filled with action and tension.
They could be appealing to a mid 20 audience, maybe both male ad female as there is a lot of violence and destruction present that is counterattacked by the romance which may have some explicit scenes like nudity. The viewers might have to be more mature to enjoy there dramas as most of them reflect history or real life situations.
The internet is allowing for the recognition of international works that would have otherwise been in the complete unknown while the media now allows us to highlight and share on a mass scale allowing shows like these to garner support through things like 'Walter'.
Trailer
1) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer? Think about Uses & Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz).
Personal Identity- Martins identifies as a young male as a boarder solider who's now a spy.
Personal Relationship- Martins character connections with his family and his girlfriend Anette.
Diversion - Promises drama, action and even romance.
Surveillance - The show is presented as using historical events to push the narrative but is completely fictional while still teaching about the event/threat of WW2 that it is based off of.
Action codes - Lots of chase scenes and explosions to make viewers feel more excited and building up tension during the drama.
Enigma - The ambiguity of Martins character and personality as just being presented as a spy draws in the audience to learn who he is and why is he so important to this story about possible nuclear annihilation.
There might be a slight stigma that foreign film is not 'British' enough or the thought that it will just not appeal to an audience that doesn't understand German.
Read the Channel 4 press pack interview with writer Anna Winger. (If the link doesn't work, you can find the text from the interview here).
1) How did she use the historical context and real-life events to create a successful drama?
Historical context and real life events created a successful drama through Anna Wingers idea to tell the story form the point of view of the mole. This was able to blend history with the fiction genre of spy. She also talks about how people were really open to seeing Germany in a new light empathising a huge audience who had a love for football that was also seen as really important in the past. Describing a divided Germany to someone young it sounds like a kind of absurd fantasy set up or science fiction this only illustrates how the drama was a success of not making it too fiction pack and more seeming like a documentary as it had real life events.
Music was key to the story from the beginning. The top 100 songs of 1983 are still on the radio all the time! It was just an incredible year of pop culture and the songs really travelled, maybe because music videos started around that time as well, so there was a visual component for the very first time. Fashion, hair styles and colour palette, suddenly became a part of the 1980’s music experience. Music will attract an audience that is familiar with it or fans of and in the case of the 80s it will be those people experiencing the nostalgia of listening to that song in that time, nostalgia is a great seller for any product especially a TV drama that may not exactly be relatable if you didn't live in Germany during the 80s.
Read this Channel 4 press release on the success of Deutschland 83. (If the link doesn't work you can find find the text from the article here).
1) List the key statistics concerning audience figures. Why was it considered the most successful foreign language drama?
2.5 million views on the first episode and is considered the most successful as it has overtaken shows like 'The Returned' which had previously held the record for most views on launch at 2.2 million.
There has been a lot of hype from the press towards this series gaining a lot of praises for its “Evocative and gripping” narrative.
Look at these two different marketing campaigns - the UK DVD release (left) and the American Sundance TV advert (right).
1) How does the UK DVD cover communicate with the sub-genre of the drama?
It shows genres of romance and action and spy as we see in the poster on the left on the wall there being graffiti with one side of the wall saying "Over The Wall" which connotes actions and fighting but then on the other end of the wall it saying "Under Cover" showing the romance side of this drama as it shows two people kissing. However on the right side there is another similar Deutschland advert with the same similar genres popping out but with one dominant genre sticking out on this one which is action. This is because we see images of rockets which can indicate nuclear weapons which can connote the ideas of mass destruction and chaos which shows that Deutschland is a mix of a various of genres but when all come together form the perfect drama.
2) How do these use font, colour and graphics to appeal to an audience?
2) How do these use font, colour and graphics to appeal to an audience?
A lot of contrasting and vibrant colours on both images such as yellow and blue which shows mainly the action in what is going on in the images.
3) Why might the distributors Freemantle International have used different marketing campaigns in different countries?
3) Why might the distributors Freemantle International have used different marketing campaigns in different countries?
They may be different in other countries as they might need to get the right target audience. This is because in the UK they have a lot more realistic plan to show the idea of social realism and reinforce the idea by showing it on most British TV and is enjoyed by most British people. Whereas, audiences in the USA might want to see more vibrant things like colours or images stick out more to the viewers as they prefer something that catches their eyes straight away instead of looking into it and trying to gain a deeper understanding of the text they are looking at.
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