Jamie Oliver Social Context

Social context – intro
Jamie Oliver’s 30-minute meals are found on channel 10 which is broadcasted every night of the week at around 6pm. Oliver is proving to the audience that it is not difficult to cook a quick, easy meal that tastes delicious without having to go out and buy take away. The author of the text is Oliver who was brought up in a family who cooked home cooked meals every night they also owned a small business in The Cricketers in Clavering, Essex, where at the age of eight, Oliver started cooking, and has gone on to work with some of the world's top chefs. This developed his philosophy after going to a school which he referred to the food as “slop” so he wanted to cook food which was healthy, easy and tasty, that will bring the family/friends
together. The program is broadcasted at this apparent time, because this is when his target audience of young adults will be preparing their own meals. Oliver impresses the audience as he cooks meals for the family in very short time without having to go spend one hundred dollars or more on takeaway.
Form
The form of Jamie Oliver’s 30 minutes meals is in a structured video. It goes for approximately 23 minutes as watching and waiting for each meal to cook separately is not important. The arrangement throughout the show is how Oliver completes his meals in a sequence. Oliver starts with introducing the entrée then the main meal then the desert. These meals are prepared in this particular order to prove to the audience that it is not difficult to cook three mouth-watering meals in a very short period of time. Oliver spends time preparing the Peri Chicken as this meal takes longest to cook then while waiting for it to cook he prepares the desert as it is the second longest to cook. Whereas the salad takes about 10 seconds so it is made at the very end. The transitions in-between are preview photos of the meals that are going to be created. These transitions are the same as the beginning of the show and at the end to show what you can cook and what you have cooked. The show is aired for 30 minutes indicating that it is easy to cook a quick tasty meal he shares his tricks of cooking and preparing amazing food. This form makes the audience intrigued and exciting to cook what looks so easy to make.
Purpose
The purpose of the text is to provide information on cooking a meal and to persuade the audience how easy it is to do so. This is conveyed well through Oliver. He says, ‘You don’t need 5 hours to cook a roast.’ You also don’t need to go buy takeaway, when it’s just as easy to cook and way cheaper for just as tasty food. This indicates that Oliver is persuading the audience to cook his meal. He persuades the audience with a range of different techniques. One of them being how he serves his food on the chopping boards which implies that there are less dishes. It is very rustic the level of complexity is low, simple and an easy presentation for example instead of chopping up the bread into slices he pulls it apart using no utensils. Oliver like to bring family and friends together to share his beautiful food.
Audience
The target audience are males and females particularly anticipated towards younger adults with young children or hard-working individuals who start work early and finish late. Oliver prompts people to make quick decisions on whether they want to cook. The show is aired at night because this is the precise time when this category of people are watching tv and winding down after a busy day or when they are thinking of what to cook for dinner. He appeals the audience by explaining that cutting the chicken will help it cook through quicker and speed up the cooking time and uses a griddle pan. He gives tips like putting a wet cloth under the chopping board so it doesn’t slip. Oliver uses colloquial language such as “Lets rock and roll” to draw the audience into his world. The language techniques cause the audience to be fascinated to the show because they have little time to prepare meals so it is perfect for a fast and simple feast.
Stylistics
The techniques used throughout the show are incredibly clever to interest the audience.
The sound and music played in the transitions is fast motivating base guitar that elevates your heart beat to imply that the show is fast and speedy.
The over emphasise the sizzling of the chicken is to demonstrate and highlight that, is what it should sound like when they cook it. The sizzle also makes the audience salivate making them hungry and motivating to cook.
The camera angles used throughout the program are super close ups so the audience can see each element and how it goes together. For instance, in the salad the individual pieces of feta were obvious and olive oil trickling off the salad. Close-ups of the oven temperature at 200 degrees so it cannot be mistaken.
In the first section of the program the editor put whole 30-minute video into the first 30 seconds to verify what was the purpose of the show and it is fast-moving. This included the meals which were cooked.
The setting of the kitchen is in Oliver’s home kitchen, in the background is greenery mostly of his herbs. Oliver is casually dressed in his kitchen at home to show that you can cook a meal like this at home with normal
appliances.
Oliver used Social/Cultural language throughout the show when he was explaining the food: delicious, crunchy, gorgeous, smashed to amuse the audience.