TA: Research of My Images

Research Of Images 

In these comments I have been told that I have broken a very important rule, the rule of thirds. However, it has been agreed that I have done this successfully and made it work in my favour as the comments suggest, I have managed to balance the focus by using the window 

to split the photo almost perfectly in half and create contrast between the two to form a warm-toned and interesting photo. In reply to this, I agree that I have broken the rule in some ways but the focus is mainly in the top two thirds of the photo so not every aspect of the rule of thirds has been broken in my opinion even if your attention is drawn more to the window, that is still part of the photo and is intentionally placed to challenge your eyes to look at the model instead. With this constructive criticism, I will take on board that my intended focus should be made more clear but as I have broken a rule successfully, my decision for this photo will be to keep and use this image. I have learnt a lot from this and will take this knowledge with me into my practical unit.

This picture was not taken seriously due to the fact that the background of the picture makes it appear as if there is a branch growing out of my head. The tips for this photo was to edit out the tree in the background but overall the feedback for this picture turned out to be incredibly positive. People commented on the contrast created between the clashing colours of green and blue, the canted angle-using the fence as a lead in line and the softness of the photo works very well together. In reply to this, i would use this picture but i would in fact edit out the tree in the background now i have learnt how to do that during one of the photography sessions.

With this picture we decided to experiment with depth of field, using a foreground, mid ground and background but one of the branches of the tree in front of our model is blocking part of her face, many comments were made about this and it has been suggested I edit this picture to remove that particular branch. The use of natural framing has been commented on and this is one thing that we have managed to use and apply successfully, the canted angle is a feature that others seem to really enjoy and like about our picture. In reply to these comments i would most likely keep and use this picture but take the advice given and remove the branch across her face.

Making A Magazine Front Cover 1

Magazine 1

Evaluation

I feel as if I have successfully managed to create contrast between the image, puffs and fonts, giving a certain brightness to a darker and more dull image. The model is looking to camera which is a common convention of magazine covers, her clothing is representative of the target audience as she is dressed very fashionably and many of the members of the target audience will identify with this as they may dress similarly. The model is a young college student as the target audience for this particular magazine is for students aged 16-25 who may be studying in college or university. I feel as if the features of the magazine will attract the target audience as they apply to them directly, offering help with writing a CV and tips on making time for yourself as many of the target audience will struggle with due to the horrid stress of studying. Buzz words have been used to catch the readers eye and attract the target audience, giving them another reason to purchase this particular magazine.

I decided to stick with a similar font throughout, making it a common feature of this magazine as I felt it really linked to the science feature wall as a background and worked well with the overall feel and design of my magazine cover.

My masthead could have been made a lot bigger to stand out from the rest of my text but it is placed on a yellow puff and is in a different font from the rest of my magazine to clearly represent that this is in fact the masthead. I feel this will appeal to my target audience as it is a simple concept for a masthead but also addresses readers concerns about their own lifestyle be it complex or simple, many students tend to lose control of their own lifestyle and forget their own routines and may need help or advice to get back on their feet and regain control of their life after focusing on work and studying and forgetting about themselves.

Similar shapes have been used throughout, yellow rectangular puffs highlight important words and act as plugs for this particular magazine, to draw attention to particular stories or interviews that the target audience may be interested in and encourage them to pick this particular magazine up.

I have successfully managed to create brand identity through the use of synergy by using the same yellow colour throughout, this is featured on the masthead, buzz words and important stories and acts as a feature that people can easily associate with this magazine. If i were to go forward with this magazine i would continue to use this yellow colour so people can easily identify the brand and associate the colour with my magazine.

 To improve my magazine I would experiment with more fonts instead of using the same font over and over as this gets repetitive and may not appeal to the audience as they lose a sense of interest due to the magazine adapting an overall dull feel. I would also improve by making my masthead bigger and more identifiable to increase my chances at creating a brand identity, I would do this by making the font larger and perhaps using the yellow in a less harsh manner. My picture could also be improved by perhaps taking a medium close up and applying more common conventions such as this to my magazine cover.

Selection and Rejection of Photographs 1

Selects

I think this picture is good as I have managed to successfully break a photography rule by allowing the light from the window to cut my picture almost perfectly in half and draw your attention away from the intended focus, while also simultaneously allowing you to appreciate the intended focus of the picture . The lighting is warm and brings out the model's features while creating contrast between the two half's.

I like this close up as I feel the natural background of the grass and tree works well with the colours in my hair but also helps to create contrast between the bright colours in my jumper. The natural lighting and bright sky helps to soften my skin and emphasise the lighter colours and highlights in my hair. the curved lead in line and the fact the picture is in landscape helps to centre your focus on the main image, keeping to the rule of thirds as your attention is drawn to the top two thirds of the image where our main focus is.

This is one of my favourite pictures as we experimented with depth of field using a foreground of  leaves and making them slightly out of focus, the midground,  Abbie being our main focus and the background being a natural background of leaves full of autumnal colours. This really emphasises her body and pose as contrast is created between her clothing and the autumnal colours making her stand out. We also attempted to use natural framing by positioning her between the branches and leaves and intentionally using one of the branches to draw attention to and frame her face. The picture is taken in portrait to include her outfit and accentuate her pose as the camera also leans with her.

Rejects

Some of our experimentation with positioning and diagonals didn't work out quite as well as we had hoped. For example, this image is a reject as the model looks awkward and her pose seems forced, the white background and harsh lighting eliminates her facial features, the shape of the bannister is distracting as the diagonals and lead in lines don't actually  help to lead your eyes to the main focus of the picture, this may be because the picture is in landscape and the shape of the stairs contradicts the focus and shape of the image.

Further experimenting with lead in lines and we ended up with this picture. Although the lead in line is successful, the model is blurred and the light behind her means it is difficult for us to see the details of her face and outline so the main focus of the picture is ruined. One successful aspect however is the fact the picture is in portrait and follows the lead in line almost perfectly. to better this picture i probably would have zoomed in to eliminate the stairs and wall light which is distracting and takes your attention away from the model.

For this photo i attempted a candid shot of the model in action which resulted in a blurry and dysfunctional photograph. the light from the window is also harsh and the rule of thirds is broken but unsuccessfully. the picture is also taken at a tilted angle which is distracting.

The History Of Magazines from EmilyW12

The history of the big issue from EmilyW12

Sheet 5.3 Tasks

Coca Cola
I chose the Coca Cola ad “pool boy”  which is a rather recent, teenage centered advert.
https://youtu.be/wWBQP-bxfX0


I also chose “brotherly love” by Coca Cola which centres around teenagers and family life it displays the relationship between an older and younger brother in a light hearted manner which is relatable for many siblings who may tease each other and take advantage of being the older one.https://youtu.be/qdPXQLrueRg

These adverts help to present America as a light hearted, comedic and family orientated country. They seem to focus on family values and Coca Cola tries to prove  their product can help bring the family together and help form relationships.
The first clip features a teenage brother and sister fighting to get to the pool man first to give him a Coca Cola as he is shown as very attractive and they obviously want to be the one to attract his attention. The comedy comes in when they both arrive at the pool after scrabbling and climbing over eachother only to find that their own mother has beaten them to it, this pushes them to accept what has happened after a simple shoulder shrug from the mother. This also presents teenagers in America as quite a stereotypical romantic, both the brother and sister are after the pool mans attention in the hope they would get to admire him from up close, perhaps even converse with him. This is commonly used in teenage movies and tv shows, the character will make a fool of themselves while trying to impress someone that they are interested in. The second clip portrays a relationship between an older and younger sibling, again in a light hearted and comedic way, to show how even though you both may get on each others nerves, annoy each other constantly and wind each other up, you’re still family and you still look out for each other. The older brother teases his younger sibling and this is shown throughout the advert until a bully takes a Coca Cola bottle away from the younger sibling, this then encourages the older sibling to stand up and protect his younger sibling to clearly show how Coca Cola  can bring family’s together and make their bond even stronger.

I think this may be attractive to teenagers in Britain as they share a similar romantic take on life. Many British teenagers in movies or even in real life will go to extreme extents to impress someone they are interested in and by this advert trying to prove that Coca Cola is the way to someone’s heart this would encourage teenagers to buy it and try it for themselves. .
In another way this may be attractive to British teens. Siblings  across the UK treat each other very similarly by teasing and picking on eachother but always being there when needed, this could really appeal to a teenage audience if they have a younger sibling or maybe even an older sibling as they could find it very relatable.

There are some cultural differences which I feel this advert helps to erode such as homosexuality. in America and Britain it is more common and more socially acceptable than it is in other countries. By placing this within an advert and portraying it as a normal and generally accepted view, I feel this advert would be able to erode cultural differences surrounding homosexuality by actually showing people it is normal and perhaps encouraging other people to embrace their sexuality.

Levi’s 

I chose to use the Levi’s advert “sea of blue” which is aimed towards teenagers and people in their 20’s as it is set at a party and the cast are young https://youtu.be/z4wijnEVOWM

I also chose “beautiful morning” as it is quite a popular and favoured advert by teenagers.
https://youtu.be/6JwNYPgBhfM

Both  adverts portray america and american teenagers as quite a sex driven society. Both adverts promote a need to feel, look and seem appealing in order to attract a partner. American teenage life appears to revolve around the ideology that in order to feel good you need to look good and that their jeans are the solution to this. wear their jeans, you'll feel sexy and attractive and wind up with a  potential sexual partner.

This representation may be attractive or seductive to a British teenage audience because there is a pressure as well, in British society, to look and feel attractive, to become sexually active in order to fit  in because of the social construct of virginity. There is real pressure for teenagers in modern society to lose their virginity and be sexually active to seem "cooler".
This advert implies that these special jeans will boost your chances of fitting in, losing your virginity and becoming sexually active, while also making you feel and look good.

Adverts like this may erode cultural differences surrounding sex and the idea of virginity, not particularly in the best way.
The adverts are very erotic and sensual, making sex seem like the norm, perhaps helping to build up the pressure that is already on for teenagers to have sex, this could be unintentional but none the less, this still manages to be my first thought.
Some cultures may not agree with this ideology but it is now becoming more common and sex is more accepted and socially acceptable to talk about or show on  TV and other media platforms.

Over all, the aim of most teenage targeted adverts seem to be; you have to feel or look good to be accepted or you have to have an item of some sort to bring people together and these particular brands claim to be just what you need, helping themselves to also seem attractive to their audience. This applies to Stuart Hall's theory as the adverts both use strong visual representation to represent modern culture and how times have evolved, sex is practically advertised as a need and a want which is now common among teenagers, people have to have a reason to come together and coke is advertising itself as the reason. Representation is extremely important here as everybody wants to look good or feel good and by these actors within the adverts being shown as gorgeous and attractive people or role models, this urges the audience to want to look the same or be the same so by buying these products they believe they can or possibly will achieve this.

Curran and Seaton's theory applies here too as these particular adverts are in fact responding to the concerns of their audience. The audience wishes to look amazing and feel amazing or treasure the special family time they have or attract a partner and these adverts implicitly claim they are the answer to this and they can make it happen if you buy their particular product.

Research of Institutions: Bauer media

Homepage:

 The Bauer media homepage automatically grabs the readers attention by drawing their eyes to the gigantic moving slidely which incorporates cross media.

Cross media convergence is used by mentioning other platforms of media throughout the slidely such as radio and film. It advertises radio stations such as “Kiss” or “Magic”.

Although the slidely is forever moving they succeed in continually advertising themselves through the use of a banner over each image

 This is to advertise the fact they are a successful institution for a mass audience and continually sell their brand to whoever may access their website.

Links

There are multiple links and tabs on the site, which makes it very easy to navigate to different pages. Different information is stored on each page as well as different contact details.

The colour scheme of the site relies on very bright blues and contrasting colours. The blue is representative of Bauer Media as it’s logo is blue and white, something it’s mass audience will immediately recognise.

The tabs allow you to select a specific page relevant to the topic.

Cross Media and Technological convergence

As we scroll further down the homepage at the very bottom you can find very useful tools such as the “Audience Finder Tool” and a direct link to their twitter page, which allows you to scroll through their tweets creating another, cross media and interactive platform.

Genre of texts

Much of the texts are based around entertainment, music or the business industry. Some of these texts are branded and genres may appeal to different target audiences such as, fashion magazines which may appeal to a younger, trendy female audience, “performance bikes” which appeals to a masculine niche audience whose interests are based around bikes and bike racing.

Audiences

Bauer media is able to appeal to a wide range of audiences with lots of different branches reaching out so there I something for everyone. They are able to respond to the concerns of their readers by providing magazines and articles on almost every topic.

The high end fashion and beauty magazines are able to appeal to a young female audience, the biking magazines to a male audience with an interest in bikes, fishing magazines for an older male audience and mother and baby magazines for new mothers. It seems like there is almost everything for everyone you can think of.

Niche Audience Magazine

This particular magazine "Film Comment" is targeted to a niche audience due to selective interests as this film magazine focuses primarily on old and new movies, with in depth reviews and opinions.
This may be very uninteresting for some as topics such as this only appeal to a small group of people, making it a niche market.
The colour scheme for this particular cover is very bland and uses dull, natural colours such as leaf green, browns and yellows to represent the fact that this issue focuses more on old movies so perhaps these blander colours are to help relate to an older and more old fashioned audience. The cover features a large closeup of an actor with his eyes keeping contact with the camera, a very common convention of magazines. The mise-en-scene of the picture depicts him wearing a suit, he has a very stern and serious expression perhaps to represent a powerful or sinister demeanour, helping the audience to assume his character, the lighting creates shadows and highlights details of his face to further represent this.. In the background there are several other images all overlaid and faded, these appear to be other characters from movies and is a big hint to the reader as to which movies are the main focus of this issue.
The masthead takes up a lot of space on the page and covers most of the models forehead, this is obviously to advertise their magazine and to self-promote. The font style doesn't really change and remains a similar mint green colour but the issue date is white and in the top right corner. The barcode is small and situated in the bottom left corner so not to distract you from the actual cover. The magazine price is out of the way so that is one of the last things you look at in the hope that the cover is enough to persuade you to buy and certainly if this is a magazine full of information suited to your interests then you, as a part of this niche audience, would make the purchase. The theory of Curran and Seaton can be applied here as they have responded to the concerns of their readers, this being a large and overwhelming love and interest for movies, by including famous figures and different movies all in one front cover to successfully attract this niche audience by using their love of movies to their own advantage. Hall's theory of representation is present throughout the front cover of this magazine as the man in the image is represented as a stern and serious character through the use of his clothes, a sharp suit and tie to represent authority, the bland colours used further represent seriousness and perhaps a lack of fun as his facial expression suggests anger as his brow is furrowed and eyes narrowed, almost as if he is challenging the reader to pick up the magazine and read.

Research: Media Forms

What are media forms?

Well, content comes in many different formats and on many different platforms such as news, fashion and photography. Here are just a couple of media forms.

Print Media: This refers to physical forms of media printed on paper such as newspapers, magazines, billboards and posters or even direct mail. This is usually a way for companies to advertise as well as being an easy and available platform for gossip, news and much more. Newspapers usually contain lots of different content to involve all sorts of target audiences. Topics such as sport, fashion, entertainment and politics are just a few which are discussed in these types of media. This is a very common media form and is successful at reaching its desired target audience and constant consumers. However, the rise in digital media is leading to a decline in the print media world with less of a need for magazines and newspapers to be printed when it is all accessible online and at your fingertips 24/7.
Source- http://smallbusiness.chron.com/print-media-advertising-55550.html

Broadcast: This form of media includes radio and television, a standard way to communicate or present ideas, news, shows, movies, sport and much more; once again being able to appeal to a much broader target audience successfully. Most people own a television or a radio and most people use this as a way to receive their news rather than any other source. News shows are scheduled throughout the day to ensure the public receive their daily dose of information and updates, nightly news updates are put in place as well as morning news or talk shows which reiterate the most interesting news stories and current events.
With 55% of Americans choosing the television as their source of information it is easy to argue that TV appears to be the most popular format for this type of information.

Radio: This allows for a mixed opinion media as hosts who talk on such radio shows tend to share their views on current events and topics meaning they are often not as trustworthy or conventional. However, there are news and sports stations which are available and offer a very similar approach to the news featured on TV broadcast.

The Internet: This form of media is growing quickly in popularity as it is becoming easier to access on many platforms and devices. Traditional media outlets and stations are now available online as they have their own websites for news and other information which can also provide text, photographs, video and even sound which is almost all the ways of media being presented but all on one page and having a much more interactive and interesting approach for their target audience. Blogs have also become an influential form of media as people are given the freedom to write about a variety of topics, issues or events with an extremely interactive aspect of message boards where people are given the freedom to respond and offer their own opinion.

There you have it!
Media forms in a nutshell.
Sources: http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/american-government/the-media/section1/page/2/http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/american-government/the-media/section1/page/2/

Research: slideshow, history of the media industry: magazines

The history of the media industry from Leonie Palmer