Magazine Cover Analysis- Vogue

Vogue Magazine- January 2011

 

For this cover of Vogue magazine they have used actress Keira Knightly for their main image. Her face is shown to be big enough to catch he readers eye on the news stand and Keira Knightly is making direct eye contact. She is depicted as being rather seductive in the position of laying down leaning on her arm. With only her chest and her arms on show she is not being shown in a revealing way, but is still sexualised. The bright red necklace she is wearing and her red lipstick adds to this. By using Keira Knightly for their front cover tis could help vogue to gain a wider audience as fans of the actress may wish to buy the magazine.

 

The main audience for this magazine would be 18 - 30 year old women in the C1, B and A demographics. This is clear as Vogue magazine advertises high end fashion clothing that only people from these demographics would be able to afford. Vogue uses a lot of cover lines which are distributed around and over the main image to gain attention but not so much as to distract from the main image. This magazine is clearly aimed at women as one of the articles is "all over makeover". The main cover line takes up at least a fifth of the cover and is shown is shown in a bold white colour. This is to ensure that it is the first thing that captures the attention of the reader after the main image.

The masthead for Vogue magazine is displayed in the typeface. This title is specifically designed to the typeface to make it unique and recognisable to anyone that see's it.



Music Video Analysis- Typical Conventions

Fleshgod Apocalypse- The Violation 

 This music video includes many typical conventions of heavy metal videos. Such as a close up shot of the main singer with black smudged make up on his face to give the effect of corpse paint, but not fully have it on. This is typical of death metal as they wish to have a 'dark' look which mirrors the music. There is also low key lighting with high contrast on the band as they play the music. aLso shown with close ups and canted, and low angles. The miss es scene of what the bad is wearing is tuxedos and suits that are quite scruffy. Some have fake blood on them and look like they have dirt on them.

Parkway Drive- Dark Days

The music video to Dark Days is all about the lyrics to the song. The Band Parkway Drive are an environmentalist band, this song particularly is about the pollution that man kind does to the earth. This is shown throughout the video with clips taken from different documentaries showing oil being dumped into the ocean and people rubbish being dumped into landfills. The lyrics "I can't watch it burn' is repeated at 3:00 to 3:28. At 3:28 is when the main heavy drop happens and it shows clips of rubbish piles being burned in land fills, forrest fires, bombs going off creating mushroom clouds and bombs being shot out of tanks. This is to show how man is killing themselves by destroying the planted and each other. Also to mirror the lyrics. 

Survey Analysis

Survey Results

• 52% of the people who answered my survey were male, making them the majority.
• 32% were the ages of 18 to 24. majority.
• 28% answered that they only moderately often watch music videos.
• Favourite artists are varied, but linking with peoples favourite genre of music most like heavy metal, rock and alternative music.
• Music videos mostly watched on Youtube
• only 1 person out of the 25 said that they do actually buy the music videos when they buy the music online.
• Looking at the results for what people most like about music videos, the answers are varied. It seems that the majority like the video to have a story which goes with the lyrics of the song. Also for it to include gruesome, crazy things.

Music Video- Planning

Music Video

                   Song choices

• Black Label Society- Lords of Destruction (1919 Eternal)
• Parkway Drive- Sleight of Hand (Atlas)

Inspirations
Hatebreed- Destroy everything- Lines to make it look like a screen
Tool- Schism- creepy and weird
Avenged Sevenfold- Hail to the kind- crow, skull, tree& candle. filming reversed, slow-motion        extreme close ups.
Bring me the horizon- Go to hell for heavens sake. Fire shots, use of videos from films or TV shows (hands on skill, bugs, crows) hanging with birds flying around in the background. Swings.
Fleshgod Apocalypse- The Forsaken- small light in line with mouth when singing, low key lighting only light& high contrast
Dimmu Borgir- Gateways- Mask put into bath of white liquid, put into reverse and slow-motion so like the mask is coming out of the liquid.


       

         Parkway Drive- Sleight of Hand; Lyrics


No comfort
Fear, in the face of the unknown                                                   
Born to die in a lonely world
Hostility, breeds within the void
Left by the loss of understanding
Hatred, the true face of ignorance
Force-fed to the masses with the promise of salvation
Knowledge controlled, power withheld
In the name of one, let all blood spill
There is no god, that could love this world
I find no comfort
In a life lived on my knees
No comfort
Devine judgement, I could never believe
No comfort
I could never believe
To live a life without regret
Is it not enough
To love, and to be loved
Nothing lasts forever
Nothing lasts
Superstition rules in the land of the weak
Fear, in the face of the unknown
Born to die in a lonely world
Hostility, breeds within the void
Left by the loss of understanding
Hatred, the true face of ignorance
Force-fed to the masses with the promise of salvation
Knowledge controlled, power withheld
In the name of one, let all blood spill
There is no god
That could love this world
I find no comfort


This song is about seeing the results of fear, ignorance and guilt. How many lives have been lost, how much blood has been spilled and how much wealth and power has been placed in the hands of so few, in exchange for a human construct designed to control and provide justification for human existence? When you step back and look at where we have placed our faith and the hands in which we place the power, is this really anything like a world that a god would wish his/her children to live in?


With the results from the survey I have found out that what people most look for and enjoy in music videos is for them to have a story. A story that matches the lyrics of the song.


                                                          IDEAS FOR VIDEO

• Talks of the violence that religion and mankind have cause this world to become. most are ignorant to this.
• Could have shots of a young child (girl) playing with her dolls in front of TV while the news is showing reports of violence caused by religion. e.g. - 9/11, violent religious protests?
• Child walks/skips past news stand that has headlines of religious attacks OR walking with mother/father that stops to buy newspaper and reads it while the child takes no notice of it what so ever and is stood looking at something that interests them (bird, rainbow, bike etc.)
• As child gets little older starts to notice things, puts down the dolls and watches the news.
• Stops and reads the paper at the news stand.
• No longer blissfully ignorant.
• While showing this story of the child, I will also show clips of violent protests, riots and destructive bombings that happen in other countries due to religion. Taken from internet.
• Also I will film people to act as the band playing the music, possibly in a church? With close up shots of the instruments. Canted angles of the church. low angle shots of singer. possibly close up/extreme close up shots of religious statues in church and the stein glass windows.
• Come end of the video the little girl has grown up. Part of a Christian protest? OR believes the same as the lyrics to the song and could be stood with the band.

Representation task

Magazine Cover Analysis- Elle

Elle Magazine- June 1014

For this cover of Elle's magazine they used actress Amanda Seyfried for their main image. The face is big enough to stand out on the news stand with Amanda Seyfried making full eye contact. She is depicted as quite seductive. She is wearing what looks to be a sports bra to have her body on show, but her hair is used to cover up most of her chest area. Using Amanda Seyfried for the cover of Elle could help in attracting a wider audience as fans of the actress may want to buy this magazine to read the "most unexpected interview ever" with her. 

The main audience for this magazine would be 20 - 35 year old women in the D, C1 and C2 categories. This is clear from coverline "The £7 hair hero you have to try", showing that it is trying to make the product it talks about in the articles affordable to the reader. Elle uses a lot of cover lines which are distributed around and over the main image without actually distracting from it too much. This magazine is obviously aimed at women as one of the articles is "how do i really know i love him".  The main cover line takes up at least a fifth of the cover and is shown in two different colours of black and white. This is to ensure that it is the first thing that captures the attention after the main image. This also opens the magazine up to a wider audience as it doesn't just focus on fashion it also has articles that most women could relate to. 

Unlike most fashion magazines Elle actually has their masthead in front of the main image rather than having the middle of it unseen and behind the main image. Elle's masthead is displayed in the typeface. The title is specifically designed to the typeface to make it unique and recognisable to anyone that see's it.

Margin Call analysis

Margin Call

The scene begins with an establishing shot to show that it is set in New York City. There is the diegetic sounds of people talking, phones ringing and muffled voices that gives the impression that it will be about people working in offices. The shot of New York is shown to be over a passion period of time as the clouds move at quick pace and the shadows change over the course of the day. There is also the diegetic sounds of calming music. There is then a jump cut to the office to show a long shot of people walking down a corridor. The lighting is high key and the surrounding area appears to be very plain and white. The people are seen to be in sharp suits to look professional, their facial expressions are quite serious but vacant.
There is a cut to a close up shot of one of the characters Will Emerson (Paul Bettany), this is used to introduce the audience to this character. The diegetic music then changes from light and calm to quite tense to mirror the mood. The other two characters we are introduced to, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) and Seth Bregman (Penn Dayton Badgley) are shown in a two shot to show the concern they are feeling through their facial expressions and how they both share that concern. There is a juxtaposition between the Peter and Seth, and Will as they are clearly worried about the situation. Will is paying no attention to the people entering the office. He is sat in his chair getting on with his work and chewing gum. This shows that he is a laid back character.
When Peter and Seth are watching the people entering the offices we can only assume that from the dialogue they are people of a higher authority. The foreground of the camera is focused on the Peter and Seth. Even though the background is out of focus we can still see the other people in the offices also staring at the people entering the office reassuring the idea that they are people of authority and are something that everyone, apart from Will, is worried about.