Report

Lucy Carr

AS Media Report

Pre-Production

For my pre-production I chose to create two magazine front covers, of which I accumulated primary research including the use of secondary sources in my textual analysis on two front covers and creating a questionnaire via Survey Monkey, then analysing my results found.

I analysed other magazine covers that would give me inspiration for my pre-production.

To capture the audience, December 2012 Glamour magazine has their model, singer Cheryl Cole, was smiling and making eye contact with the camera, with the appearance of a very pretty and happy women. The way in which she is looking straight into the camera lens is seen as a way to draw in the audience. With this in mind, I decided to have my models looking directly into the camera lens, to make the readers feel as though they have direct eye contact with the readers of my magazine. Although, to contrast with the Glamour magazine, I chose to have my models looking more serious to portray power and independence to the audience. This also makes the magazine not capturing as if the model is looking directly to you. Furthermore, the use of colour within the front of the Glamour magazine is very feminine due to them having used bright pink, this also stands out with the bold font of the masthead and the cover lines on the white background. Therefore I Incorporated this into my preproduction as I used a large, bold font using the colour red for passion and love, also the colour white for the cover lines to convey an innocence of the model. Additionally, the mise-en-scene within the Glamour magazine, included a plain white background allowing the model to stand out. Also the clothes of which Cheryl is wearing a very pretty, as if she's about to go out somewhere important, this will allow the magazine to be eye-catching because girls, who are the target audience for this magazine, may like her outfit. Additionally the way in which Cheryl has been positioned on the front cover of the Glamour magazine, follows the role of thirds as she is in the centre of the page. As well as that, Cheryl has been placed in front of the masthead covering up some of the letters within the name conveying the magazine is well known due to the readers already knowing how to identify this magazine. Therefore, for one of my front covers I've placed the model in front of a white background in order for her to stand out and look more powerful. Although my second front cover, I chose to take the picture of the model in front of bushes and trees because it was winter themed and it allowed the natural high-key lighting to set the scene of a cold winters day. One of my models is wearing a pretty dress to look as if she's on a night out, however at the same time not having much skin on show making her not look sexualised. Whereas my second model is wearing a scarf and a big jacket as that would be a common convention of a winter magazine.

From analysing this Glamour magazine cover, I predict that the main target audience of this magazine will be women due to the white, pink and black colour chooses. Therefore encouraged my pre-production to be purely based on women. I believe the age range of the audience will be 20 to 30-year-olds as it talks about "men's sexual habits" which would be inappropriate for a young teenager. However I decided to target more 16-21 year olds as I preferred the young fashion idea. Lastly the audience will be around C1-E on the socio-economic model because the uses and gratifications of this magazine, will be to entertain the audience allowing them to escape from reality giving them an emotional release after a hard day’s work. However it might also be informing as it includes gossip about the celebrities therefore may also include aspects of social integration as it will allow discussion between people who buy this magazine. My purpose was to aim my audience at a similar socio-economic range, between C2-E as there won't be many 16-21 year olds in an occupation in group C1. Additionally, the main uses and gratification for my pre-production and production is to entertain, as I believe students can read it after a long day at school or college etc. As well as that, it will be informative, as big fans of this magazine or readers will see it as a way to find out information about their favourite celebrity.

I then created a questionnaire to gather primary research which influenced the presentation of my pre-production, asking questions such as, “what type of magazine do you read” “What would you buy a magazine for” “What attracts you to a magazine?”

With the majority of the audience being between the ages of 11 to 20 years old, influenced my target audience to also be around that age as a young fashion magazine. To portray this in my own pre-production, I made sure my models were also around that age, therefore making it obvious to whom my target audience is. 70% of the people who answered my survey were female, therefore alongside with my textual analysis, influenced both of my front covers to have a female model because this then reflects who my target audience is. Furthermore, I found out that 50% of the asked audience prefer fashion magazines, and the least favourite type of magazine was sport. This gave me a good indication for my pre-production to be on fashion as it seems it is the most popular. Additionally my questionnaires results highlight that the most popular attraction to a magazine is the main image and the least popular attraction is the font. This then gave me the idea to make the image of my model to cover the whole front page, as I believe it draws the readers in more as it is eye-catching. As well as this, I included a big, bold and simple font, making it stand out in order for the audience to instantly spot it alongside all the other types of magazines. Lastly, from the information and data I gathered from my questionnaire, I found out that the audience aren't tempted into buying a magazines by the competitions within it, more so by the image. Therefore I didn't add a competition within the pre-production nor the production as I focused on the presentation and the other aspects to draw in the audience. My questionnaire results helped me to create and design my pre-production as it gave me a clear insight on what genre is most popular, allowing my magazine to be worth the read.

 

Production

I believe my production piece is successful in the way I have made it the same genre as my pre-productions, therefore they link well together. I made an interview style double-page spread where I ask the fashion designer (my friend) about her life before and after her occupation. I began with planning the first A4 page to be a big, black and white picture of Megan (my chosen model), with near to no writing as my main image. This is eye-catching as she is looking glamorous and has direct eye contact with the camera lens. This gives the readers the impression that she is looking directly at them, which allows them to be drawn in by this picture, making it very effective and, again, successful. For the written section of my production I decided to do an interview between me (interviewer) and Megan (model), talking about her life as a fashion designer and how she grew up with this strong ambition, with near to no money e.g. “What is your inspiration” “how long have you been in the fashion industry” “what was it like growing up with this desire” “how did you start this ambition” and “if you could go back to any hiera, which one would it be and why”. I believed this was effective as teenage girls around 16-21 are stereotypically interested in fashion and gossip. People find fashion as an easier way to express themselves as a person, therefore influenced me to have that as the genre of my magazine. My creation also fits the uses and gratifications model as it has social integration factors due to the audience being able to convert over the article allowing friends to feel more united as them have another interest in common. Additionally my double-page spread has a sense of personal identity with the designer, maybe some members of the audience can relate to the desire of wanting something but not having the right resources to act upon it. Therefore puts the designer on the same level as the audience. Another strength of my magazine is that the text and colours are bold and bright making my production more eye-catching and young-like. I also used the same colour for the mass head of the production to the questions within the interview to bring the whole thing together, instead of introducing another colour and risking a messy and busy look.

If I were to improve certain aspects of my production piece I would add more images on my written side of the page to maybe capture Megan's earlier life as a fashion designer and compare it with her life now and see the drastic change. I would also include a caption on the main image as it is a main magazine convention and would add more authenticity to my work. 

I based the main layout of my production on a vogue double page spread about Lady Gaga. I used their idea of having a giant picture of the model on the left page in black and white as I believed it is very effective. However they talk about Lady Gaga's life and things which she has accomplished, whereas I found it easier to write an interview between me and Megan. Furthermore, I was inspired by their idea of having simple horizontal lines under the masthead, and at the bottom of the page due to it creating a simple boarder to my production piece. Lastly I noticed that the picture taken of Lady Gaga makes her look very sexualised as she doesn't seem to be wearing any clothes, only black chains around her neck. However this, I saw as inappropriate for my production task as my magazine is aimed at 16-21 year olds, it wouldn't be seen as a good influence on the readers. Therefore, I had Megan in a body-con dress, in order for her to look appealing, although it has a high neck so it isn't revealing.

To conclude, I believe my two front covers and my double-page spread are successful, and if I were to recreate these I know the improvements and changes I would make. I feel as though my pre-production are the main eye-catcher among my audience as my use of bright colours. I believe my target audience would take a preferred reading of my magazine as they would be interested in fashion and gossip. Older people however, 50+years, will take the oppositional reading as they may not know who the models are nor have any interest in modern fashion nor gossip. Lastly, I believe the negotiated reading will be from 20-30years as it seems mature enough for someone of that age, however may get deterred through the topic of fashion designers. 

 

 

Uses and Gratifications

Personal Identity- Divergent

Preferred reading- young girls from the age of 13-21 who can see some aspects of themselves in Tris, the main character. In groups C2-E on the socio economic scale.

Negotiated reading- men and women the age of 25-45 as they may not be able to relate to the characters. In groups C2-E on the socio economic scale.

Oppositional reading- older men and women from the age of 50+ due to them not liking the sic-fi genre nor being able to see themselves in any of the characters. In groups A-C1 on the socio economic scale.






Information- Herald Newspaper

Preferred reading- middle aged men and women who have an interest in politics. In groups A-C2 on the socio economic scale.

Negotiated Reading- male and female teenagers who have a interest but aren't old enough to vote. In groups A-C2 on the economic scale.

Oppositional reading- male and female teenagers who aren't interested in voting or politics. In groups C1-E on the economic scale.





Entertainment- The Jeremy Kyle Show

Preferred reading- middle aged men and women who have had a busy day at work and want to escape from the stress of reality. In groups C1-E on the socio economic scale.

Negotiated reading- young men and women, aged 16-25 who need help but don't want to go on the show or aren't old enough. In socio economic groups C2-E.

Oppositional reading- men and women aged 50+ as they may not like the aggressive nature of the people on the show. Usually in groups from A-C1 on the economic scale.

Social Integration- Big Brother

Preferred reading- young males and females from the age of 15-25 who watch it as well as their friends. In socio economic group C2-E.

Negotiated reading- males and females, aged 15-25 who watch the programme but their friends don't watch it and aren't interested. In socio economic groups of C2-E.

Oppositional reading- middle aged men and women who have no interest in reality T.V. and aren't a fan of any of the celebrities in there nor the amount of swearing and vulgar attitudes. Usually in socio economic groups A-C2.

Stereotypes of Ethnic Minorities

• Exotic- A recent news report revealing the very festive and cultural Caribbean carnival.

• Dangerous- 
• Pitied- Adverts which talk about world hunger saying "save Africa" and the opportunity to adopt an African child.

• Humorous- The film 'East Is East', includes humour in order to make it entertaining

 

• Sexualised- Music videos inparticually, as they objectify women as well as sexualise, due to their repetition of close ups to significant sexual areas, such as cleavage, legs, bum etc. This is illustrated in a lot of Nicki Minaj's music videos, for example in Anaconda.

Film Analysis

Jaws
The Jaws film poster conveys the genre of the film, which is horror, as the main image carries an important message. I believe the women swimming like a swan at the top of the water looking calm in the high key lighting is conflicting with the low key lighting of the water where the great white shark is. This is a juxtaposition. It plays on the mind, creative the fear of the unknown and carries a 'shock' factor.

The title on the film poster is big and bold symbolising the size of the shark, it is also bright red representing blood. The block capitals remind me of a warning sign emphasising the danger of being in the water and the cost you'd have to pay (death). The colour of the shark, being blue, is the same shade of blue as the colour of the sea in this film poster therefore the shark blends in with the mise en scene. This illustrates that the shark is hard to see from a distance, you'll only notice it when it is very close, by that time it would be too late to get away. These two colours are contrasting and remind me of good and evil (good being blue and calm, bad being red and danger). This opposes the sharks mind as in this film its only aim is to eat whatever is in its path.

This image is perfectly central on the rule of thirds depicting the shark is right on target for it's dinner. This convention adds to the genre horror as it implies your life chances in this situation are very slim.

Personally, I think the layout of this film poster is interesting as they have made the image separate from the headings and actors names with a subtle white boarder and then a big, thick, black boarder for the information, leaving only the mass head on the imagery. This permits the image to stand out more, emphasising the meaning and the size of the shark, making it eye catching for the audience.

The Ring 2

The ring's film poster depicts the genre horror due to the low key lighting being a typical convention for this genre. This image on this poster is very subtle in its colour choices due to it just being black and white almost like an old torn photograph.

The image is quite plain and could be argued whether it is eye catching due to the simplicity of it, although it definitely creates mystery due to the shadow over the girls face which I believe is her hair. This implies something may be wrong with the girl in this image because sitting with your hair over your face isn't seen as normal. This makes me curious to what this girls face will look like as I assume she it won't be what I expect. The mystery of what something looks like is a common convention in the horror genre. Opposing this, the ring which is in place of the 'o' in 'two' above the girls head almost looks like a halo, implying innocence, good and pure. This is a juxtaposition as I don't believe this girl is good.

The font of the title isn't what you'd expect to be on a film poster, being big and bold, instead it is as if a 10 year old child has written it, there isn't even a capital letter for 'the'. This tells me that this girl may have wrote it, allowing me to expect she is evil and sinister.

The layout of this film poster is very simple, like the imagery, it doesn't consist of famous actors of which may attract you to the movie, it is just one sentence saying "fear comes full circle" this could imply that fear may go away, but it will come back to you, so don't mess with other peoples fears. With this sentence being indirect and vague allows the audience to stop and think exploring the possibilities of what exactly it means.

Film Print Base Analysis

The Last Song

 The audience for this film would be 14-18year olds due to that being similar to the age of the characters. This movie is a romance with a touch of drama therefore it would be women who would watch it as men usually prefer to watch an action film. From this film poster, with the high key lighting, we know it is going to be a romanticised film as the sun in the picture is placed in the middle of their faces portraying lust and love. This film would have a wide socio-economic group, A-E due to everyone being able to relate to love. People from first, through to working class can relate to love therefore i believe this film doesn't have a specific socio-economic group.

The Cat In The Hat
This film is about a mischievous cat who just wants to have fun, as this is more of a fantasy, the main audience who would watch this would be children of ages 5-12 years old. The element of the film being about a cat with a hat is humorous and different therefore attracts this specific audience. The bold colours on this film poster is eye-catching and will appeal to the younger members of public. Boys and Girls would be fascinated by this film, being the main target audience, due to the main characters are a little girl and boy therefore children can relate to the annoyance of having a sibling at that age. The socio-economic group of the audience who would watch this film would be A-E because it doesn't matter whether you are first class or bottom class, every child can connect to the storyline.

Magazine Print Base Analysis

The age range of the audience who would buy this magazine would be 18-25year olds due to it talking about mens sexual habits which would be inappropriate for a 15year old to read. Also, people who are older may think it's not necessary and uninteresting. Women would be the target audience who would buy this, firstly because it says "Britain's No1 Women's Magazine" at the top. Secondly because the use of the colour pink is chosen for most of the writing on the front of this magazine, which is stereotypically a colour for girls. The audience of this magazine would be in groups C1-E on the socio-economic model. I think this because "The £20 presents that sorts anyone" is said at the bottom left of the page. This would be seen as a good idea from this target audience. Although may be seen as too cheap and not good quality for a christmas present for someone from the A or B groups.

The age range for this particular magazine would be more 30-45year olds due to the model being older than the typical young male, muscular model. Men would be the audience who would buy this magazine because the writing is in blue which is a manly colour, also the big bold heading at the top of this page says "Men's Wealth" which implies it is all about men. This is symbolic as the writing of the text is big and bold which relates to the content inside the magazine which is about getting bigger and stronger muscles. The socio-economic group of the people who would buy this magazine is A-C1. This is because it allows people to invest in companies, and a person from the A group is able to invest more money than someone from group C1.

Winters Bone

The first 10 seconds of this film starts with an extreme long-shot of the mise-en-scene revealing the cold, damp trees and mountainside with high key lighting and the diegetic sound of light rain, this is pathetic fallacy as the weather has set the mood of the film. Shortly following a non-diegetic sound of an old women singing almost in a sinister, creepy style over the top. This makes the audience feel on edge as they don't know what to expect.

Then it changes to a long shot of two children, a boy and a girl, having fun, jumping on a trampoline displaying the wooden house in the background. The happy emotions of the two children is in contrast to the dull scenery and woodland area in which they live.

The hand held camera gives a sense of realism as the kids are having to make their own fun to entertain themselves. They own a lot of dogs too which could suggest they are lonely and need comfort. There is a tilted pan from right to left which highlights the little boys feet as he is about to jump onto his skateboard. As well as this the lyrics of the song in the background has repeated. This all could forebode that life there is the same every day, nothing new and exciting happens, it's always dull and slightly boring.

The scene changes to having low key lighting and it is a mid-shot of the young girl washing her hands. The fact it is a mid-shot may suggest the room isn't very big, this implies the house may too be small as they can't afford a better life. The camera then cuts to the two younger children lying on the sofa trying to sleep, this makes me feel sorry for her as it implies that is what she uses for a bed. The girl is wrapped in the blanket suggesting that she is cold and they may not have any type of heating, the blanket is bright red which could symbolise danger or something bad is going to happen.

There is another mid shot of the eldest daughter cooking dinner for everyone, this implies that they have to do everything themselves. She then handed the little girl a tub of food for the dog after smelling it first to see whether it hadn't gone off. This highlights that they may have to saver food in order for it to last longer as they can't afford to waste it. This illustrates that they have a harder life than most people and implies they may be working class or below.

The film then cuts and changes to a pan from right to left and stops at the two shot of the oldest daughter brushing her mothers hair implying that she doesn't just do all the house work, she also has to look after her mum. It is as if the oldest daughter is more the motherly figure instead of her actual mum. I think this because for whole induction of the film we see the eldest looking after her two younger siblings and doing all the housework, including cooking. Although it is only until after the induction we (the audience) see the real mother, ironically having things done for her. This emphasises the point about the children having to do things themselves and having to mature at a young age in order to prepare them for later life.