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. 

X Factor- Mediation Process

X Factor

Jake Quickenden;

With this contestant we don't hear his back story until we have already heard him sing once. It is clear he appeals to women as Judge Mel B shows that she is attracted to him. When we hear his back story is that he lost his younger brother the year previous we see close up shots of him to show his emotion and cause the audience to feel empathy for him. This is also shown as one of the other contestants waiting to go on says "I feel dead nervous for him, i just want him to do good", they show this to also show the audience that that is how they should be feeling towards Jake at this point. Even when he has finished singing the diagetic music they play enforces the feeling of hope and empathy that the audience are feeling.

Major;
These two contestants known as 'Major' are shown in a complete contrast to Jake Quickenden. These contestants are shown as a joke, something for the audience to laugh at and to entertain them. They are only shown for less than a minute, we don't get their back story, see who is supporting or them or anything that would emotionally involve the audience. The only close up shots we get of the judges is to see their reaction of laughter towards the pair. They are seen to run onto the stage with a lot of confidence acting quite silly, could be viewed as being strange. This is purposefully made like this to make the audience laugh at the contestants, they are there purely for entertainment.

Representation in Media

Representation of CRASH in the media

Class- Newspaper; Middle Class

This article has a very negative representation on the high income middle class. The article states that the children of middle class parents will struggle to 'get on with life'. The media producer believes that all high income middle class families hand everything to their children, never challenging them to do better. It is believed that the lower and working class achieve more in education due to their 'not so wealthy' upbringing. Causing people for these social classes to work harder in life.

Gender- TV Show; Modern Family

The hit comedy series 'Modern Family' shows very stereotypical gender roles. In the three families in the series the women are shown as societies idea of the 'perfect housewife'. The men work and provide for the family and the women are shown to stay at home looking after the house and the children. The wife's are often seen to be in the kitchen as the picture shows. This is a very negative stereotype of women as it shows them to be inferior to the man. It portrays that the man has power over the household as the woman is unable to provide income for the family. 

Age- Film; Harry Brown

In the film Harry Brown the representation of different ages is very different. The younger generation is shown to be very violent. They are involved in drugs, violence and illegal weapons. The youths are often seen hanging round in a tunnel causing disturbance and threatening anyone who approaches them. The youths are shown in a very negative way. In contrast to the view of the older generation. They are shown to to have better morals and values, as the lead character who is of the older generation, goes out of his way to stop the hoodlums and get justice.

Race- TV Show; 2 Broke Girls

In the TV series two broke girls the owner of the diner 'Han Lee' is shown in a very stereotypical way. As he is Asian he is shown to be a nerdy workaholic. In one of the episodes the character Ket say "You can't tell an Asian he made a mistake, He'll go back and throw himself on a sword'. 

Sexuality- Film; Transformers

In the first Transformers film actress Megan Fox is shown in the film purely for the purpose of pleasing the male audience. Throughout the film the character 'Mikalea' is shown to be extremely underdressed and in sexual positions as shown in the picture above. This can be seen as an exploitation of a woman's sexuality. If we took out Megan Fox from this film it would not change the narrative at all.

Introduction task- Scottish Referendum

Scottish Referendum

The Scottish referendum is an issue that has been widely discussed in the media for over a year. But as the vote for independence draws closer, the topic has been making more of an appearance in everyday media.  Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond has been at the heart of the campaign, he is largely represented as he pushes for the people of Scotland to vote yes to independence. The leader of the opposing party Alistair Darling has been said to be viewed as very negative in the campaign. He has resorted to trying to scare the Scottish public into voting no. There had been two televised debates between the two leaders to try and sway the public’s vote. Interviews with the Scottish public have also been televised to find out what their opinions are on the matter.  Throughout Scotland propaganda posters and billboards saying “We love our kids we’re saying no thanks” and “Not Nationalism, Normalism. Vote yes”.  Due to this being such a public issue the minority are being represented as the majority, as it is all down to the Scottish public which way the vote goes. Since it is so close to the vote it is becoming more and more about Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond and other politicians closely involved in the campaign.

Certain celebrities such as Alex Cummings and Frankie Boyle have been featured in the media recently as they show their support for an independent Scotland. The media and the people involved in the Yes campaign have used this to try and sway people opinions. By using these stars it can attract a wider audience to the Yes campaign. Newspapers such as The Daily Record have been covering the Referendum from day one. The difference with this newspaper is that they have not just focused on politicians and celebrities, they have interviewed members of the Scottish public to find out the view of the everyday person. Making the minority, the majority. Personally I hope that Scotland do vote yes and gain their independence. Scotland’s independence is something that had been fought over for hundreds of years. I believe that it would be beneficial to Scotland and its people. I think that the media focuses too much on Alistair Darling and the opinions of people voting no. I asked my some of my family members who are an older generation on their opinions of the Referendum, as they all currently live in Scotland. They agreed that the Media’s coverage on the vote has been more focused on Alistair Darling and his no campaign. They all agreed that they vote yes to independence.  Throughout Scotland the main issue in the media is the Referendum and will certainly focus more and more on it as the vote date draws closer.

Sources;

·         Sky News

·         http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26275521, 05/09/14

·         http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29109006, 08/09/14

·         http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/news/284650-how-to-watch-stvs-alex-salmond-vs-alistair-darling-referendum-debate/, 08/09/14

·         http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/291274-leading-economist-warns-scots-to-be-very-afraid-of-independence/, 08/09/14