TV: Deutschland 83 case study

 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.

In a strategy successfully employed by This Is England, the Wingers are developing a sequel set in 86, followed by a conclusive series in 89, when the Wall came down.
It was riddled with very silly inaccuracies, which were required for the plot to work; and it was on at the same time as the Voice.

2) Why does the second Guardian article suggest the Germans didn't like the show?
By focusing the story around Martin Rauch, a young East German border guard going undercover in the west, it doesn’t just make the viewer empathise with a Stasi agent on a human level. the peace movement in the west turns out to have been infiltrated not just by Soviet agents, but gay Soviet agents at that – a McCarthyite fantasy come true. In Germany, where the cold war can still send chills, that feels a bit too simple.


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?
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. Loved it, and was amazed to find out how much was historically accurate


Promotional interview

Channel 4 News: Matt Frei interviews Jonas Nay



1) What does Jonas Nay say about growing up in a united Germany? 
'we have a certain obligation towards humanity as a democratic country' and that there isn't a east or west Germany anymore just Germany

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!)
a remit to deliver high-quality, innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo.

- this falls under alternative content as the show is in a different language and reflects German cultural and social contexts


3) Interviewer Matt Frei asks about the current political situation in Germany. Why might this interest the a Channel 4 audience?
The audience may not know much about the politics in Germany so they would want to know how Germany progressed after the time the show is set

Textual analysis: Audience pleasures and representations

We need to consider the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 alongside various representations created in the first episode.

Type up your analysis from the lesson using the headings below. You may want to watch the key scenes again and develop your notes in further detail - the more specific and memorable your analysis, the better it will serve you when writing an essay on TV drama. Here's a Google doc we have worked on in past Media lessons on this topic - feel free to use these notes alongside your own. You'll need to use your Greenford Google login to access this.

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

Handheld camera- follow him around, taking audience through the party

• Representation of East & West Germany / Family / Gender

East Germany- doesn't have things the west does but there is still a positive representation. 

(fetishisation of working class)

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

Low angle when he gives in and is seen as inferior , colourful locations-imagery of the west, Andy Warhol-esque set dressing, iconic puma shirt

• Audio codes – particularly music

Music builds up as he starts running(non dietetic sounds), song in supermarket- sweet dreams are made of these

• Representation of East & West Germany / Communism & Capitalism / Historical accuracy

Police are eating ice cream- 'the real luxury of the west is that no one pays attention to you', 'the cold war is getting hotter' - historical

• Audience pleasures

Tension, pop music 80s, reality/history, post modernist elements

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

Fast paces editing (montage), graphics on screen, jump cuts, camera shots through objects for surveillance effect

• Audio codes

Non diegetic sounds from the 80s

• Audience pleasures

Nostalgia for older German audiences/ personal relationships 

• Intertextuality

Feels like a bond movie (gadgets and spies)

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

Shot through blinds (CCTV, surveillance)

• Audio codes – diegetic and non-diegetic sound

Loud heavy breathing sound - non diegetic - it builds up when he almost gets caught 

folly sound

• Audience pleasures

Tension, Personal relationship- we want to see Martin succeed 

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? 

UFA Fiction is a German award winning film and television Company and a unique leader in the German film and television market, offering a remarkable portfolio of films and series which have strongly influenced the German production landscape.

2) What kind of company is Freemantle and what do they produce?

One of the world's largest and most successful producers and distributors of entertainment, drama film and documentaries

3) How does Deutschland 83 reflect the international nature of television production?
The series was released internationally before it was released in Germany. To add to this, D83 was produced with funding from american production companies like AMC and freemantle media

Walter Presents

Watch this Channel 4 trailer for their Walter Presents international drama:

 

1) How does Channel 4 introduce 'Walter'?

It introduces it as mostly crime and mystery genre television

2) What audience are Channel 4 trying to appeal to with the 'Walter Presents' series?
Young adults and older teenagers

3) How does the 'Walter Presents' series reflect the changing nature of television in the digital age?

It is more graphic and revealing and shows more torture, crime and violence. - now accepted more in society


Marketing and promotion

Trailer



1) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer? Think about Uses & Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz).

personal identification - Germans could identify with Martin and the struggle of torn identity with the east and west

Diversion - the fight scenes and written text of 'undercover' to entertain those into the crime spy drama

2) How does the trailer use action and enigma codes (Barthes) to encourage the audience to watch the show?

Martin running is an action and enigma code to the audience suggesting there is danger who is running from and makes the audience eager to know who or what he is running from or to?

3) The only words heard in the trailer are in English. Why do you think the UK trailer avoided subtitles or German dialogue?
To appeal to the British audience because of it was in German the audience wouldn't know what was being said

Press pack

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?

she did a lot of research. It’s all based on facts! 'Basically, we used the timeline of real events and the real political climate of the time as a backdrop, and set our fictional characters free in that space.'

2) Anna Winger discusses the use of music. Why might the soundtrack attract an audience?

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.  - an audience will recognise the music and its presence is still prominent in germany today

Press release

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?

After launching with 1.49 million viewers, the first episode has now consolidated with 2.5

million viewers, overtaking the launch of The Returned (9th June 2013) on Channel 4 which

previously held the record with 2.2 million.

2) How does the press release describe Deutschland 83?

“It’s only January but let’s call it already: coolest show of the year.”

Grazia

“This is the next subtitled sensation……..unmissable TV.”

TV Times

International marketing

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 the sub-genre of the drama?

The painting on the wall could suggest romantic elements and Martin wearing headphones could suggest a coming of age and adolescent feel

2) How do these use font, colour and graphics to appeal to an audience?

The colourful Sundance tv advert creates a more playful, vibrant connotation compared to the DVD cover with restricted use of colour and split use of colour on different sides to create that political, split of east and west Germany

3) Why might the distributors Freemantle International have used different marketing campaigns in different countries? 
Different target markets like countries have different  understanding of cultural and social contexts worldwide. The UK cover is more political and reflects more historical contexts however the American Sundance poster is more playful and could be perceived as more coming of age