PREP 02 MUSIC & NEWS question 5: How is media language used to reflect the genre conventions of a music magazine? Make bullet points below the magazine cover.

• the stars take up a majority of the cover
• modernity in the sans-serif
•  pug in the top right 
• glorifying the stars  "ALL SAINTS"
• 
  

Exam prep

In the beginning of the scene, we get a slow upwards pan of Brighton's coastline. This allows the viewer to become familiar with where the show will take place. The camera then hard-cuts to a pan of the beach hinting at where the action may be taking place. It then cuts to Ryan in the car with a close-up shot of him, introducing him to the audience. As the two men are attacking one another the audience is shown a reaction shot of Ryan, we are able to see the stress on his face and are able to understand how he feels in this situation. 

Music Magazine Cover

When creating this cover I stuck to red and white colour theme as I felt they were opposites. Red is a bold and violent colour, where white is a pure and calm colour. This gives diversity to the cover as a whole. I got some inspiration from looking at other students covers, I liked how Alex Bond used a diagonal line in the top corner of his Cover I felt that it would be good to include something similar. 

Mrs Mann, if you have any problem with viewing the picture let me know and I will try to fix it. 

Genre Conventions in Soap Operas

Here we are shown the title sequence, this gives a naturalistic feel to the show as the animation is very cluttered and messy. As if it was made by a child creating a scrapbook.

This shows who the target audience is, rebellious teenagers. As you can see that they are messing around with their food, showing that they find entertainment in messing around which most teenagers do.

The show shows that it is meant to be as if it were real as you can see that the table is a mess, and even badly drawn children's drawing on the wall. This tells the audience that there won't be any false aspects of the show.

To stick with soap opera conventions there is always a problem and a resolve, each problem can lead to another problem which is then solved in the next episode, thus keeping consistent viewers.

10 D: Q.3 CUFFS

How far does the extract try to create a sense that it is portraying 'real life'?

• In your answer, you should: analyse aspects of the extract giving detailed examples 
• judge how far these aspects create a sense of watching 'real life'

Throughout the TV show "Cuffs" real life is portrayed in numerous areas. To begin with, there is no altered light within the entire series. The first scene we see begins with a cloudy sky, immediately you get a sense of realism as it shows that England isn't very sunny place. The camera bobs as Ryan walks onto the beach, Making you feel like you are there watching him. Ryan walks onto the beach observing the naturalist beach sign. The sign is aged and defaced, again giving a feel of that life in this world(the world of Cuffs) is not all sunshine and happiness. 

Cuffs Exam question 2

How is sound used to create meaning? (5 marks) Give at least two examples.

The scene begins with the police officer's walking past a shop a dark and eerie tone plays over. This creates a great amount of suspense for the viewer, as it makes it plainly obvious that something is about to happen.  A car pulls up to the side in diegetic sound, we can hear the car engine shut off. This diegetic sound allows the viewer to get a sense or realism, it shows that the world is still going on around the characters. The camera spins to face the police officers, an engine noise erupts out as a pickup truck race past the officers. The engine noise really takes you off guard, it shows the viewer that it was something no one was expecting as it happens so all of a sudden. 

Ryan and Jake are in a cafe with other police officers, all is calm and seems well. The calm is disrupted by a distraught voice barking through the radio, this is called an off-screen sound. This shows how quickly the police had to change from ordinary life to their duty. As the Ryan and Jake get in the police car a heavy bass guitar is playing at a fast pace, the sirens are heard in the diegetic sound. The guitar gets your heart rate up and makes the viewer feel the tension. The Sirens allow the viewer to feel like this is real-life as they add a sense of raw and unfiltered. This is also shown in the following chase scene as the tyre squeals and sirens are easy to hear. The tyre squeals also show how fast they are needed to go to catch the robbers. 

Looking at what I have talked about it is clear that the sound has a huge impact on the meaning of the show.  

BBC Radio one Live Lounge

The Live Lounge, BBC Radio 1 is our case study for a major exam question worth 10 marks.
We are expected to write a page and a half, in the exam about our case study in answer to question 3

Explain how and why producers of radio programmes target different audiences. Refer to the Radio 1 Live Lounge to support your answer.
  
Today in class we go through the exam question set in the specimen paper along with the model answers supplied to us by the exam board. 
We listen to those Radio 1 Live Lounge radio programmes that are available online.
We learn about:

• PSB broadcasting
• The BBC remit to entertain, to educate, to inform
• How local radio targets specific specialized audiences
• or mass audiences
• or specialized audiences on a national scale
• BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge's 'unique acoustic performances from a range of established and breakthrough artists'
• How an older demographic is targeted Throwback Thursdays
• How national radio may offer traffic reports
• while local radio offers local news, weather, traffic reports and sports coverage
• How younger presenters are used to engage younger audiences such as Clara Amfo in the mid-morning slot

Short Enigma

As it was meant to be a short enigma we deiced that it would be a good idea to allow the viewers to let their imagination do the work on what was happening. For starters at the beginning of the short clip Callum(the delivery man) enters the room, not once is it referred to that Callum is a delivery man or who he is. This gives the viewers a motive to question who he is or even create their own story for the character.

Then after finding the box Tom and I take the box to our, so called, lab to see what is inside of it. This enables the audience to make their own story on where is the lab or what is it. As Tom and I open the box we are greeted by a head staring back at us, it is uncertain whether the head is living, dead or false. As viewers see it, they are presented the head with a high angle shot which adds to the creepiness factor.

After seeing the head, Tom and I remark our disgust towards the incident. This gives the viewer an understanding that this is definitely strange for the characters. Tom then asks "who would send this to us?", after this is said the viewers crosscut to Callum behind the door without his disguise smiling at his work as if he had been watching the whole time. 

After seeing all of the events unfold the viewers may question who our Tom and I's characters as like many other things they are a mystery. By the ending of the clip, the viewers would have been given just enough information to create their own story and see things in their own way.   

Further PhotoShop experiments

Advert Created through Photoshop

The LEGO Movie poster campaign

The Lego movie's marketing team seem to be very good at their job, judging from what they did with the poster campaign. Each poster seems to highlight a character that would relate to each member of a family. For starters, the parents in a family are most likely to know who Morgan Freeman as he has been acting for over 40 years. Vitruvius' poster would not just be familiar with parents but his character would also be understood by young children, they would most likely see that him having a long white beard is distinguishing him as a wizard.

Wildstyle's poster seems like it would appeal to teenagers as she has an edgy and angst appearance, which groups of teenagers aim for that appearance as well. The voice actor of Wildstyle also appears in the Pitch Perfect series, which would mean that those who enjoyed watching pitch perfect will know who the actor is, thus increasing the chance for them to watch.

Lord Business' poster is more of a character-defining poster than a poster that is meant to relate to the audience. This is because of the way Lord Business is presented, he has an aggressive look on his face and a large amount of red takes up the poster. It is clear that the film producers are wanting us to know that he is the villain. 

Emmit's poster doesn't show that he is the protagonist of the film. The poster shows him screaming, but somehow he still has a blank expression. At the time that the LEGO Movie was published, not many people knew who Chris Pratt was. It seemed that he was at the start of his film acting career because during that year (2014) Chris Pratt only appeared in one other film (Guardians Of The Galaxy).