Magazine covers

It's Superman vs the Gods

Sink your teeth into the Vampire diaries

Massive preview special

 Hip Hop's new religion

The re-re-invention of Rihanna

Who's Army

Magazine cover analysis

Write a detailed analysis of this 'Doctor Who magazine' front cover using the 12 key conventions from the notes. For each one, explain the purpose of the convention and the effect or impact it has on the audience.

Title of publication: The title of publication is Doctor Who Magazine. The size of the font is relatively big but the main actor's head slightly covers the title. This is because of the huge popularity of the TV show which makes the title recognizable despite it being slightly hidden. The font size of 'magazine' is significantly smaller than 'Doctor Who'  as it is fairly obvious that the print is a magazine and to focus the reader's attention on the fact that is Doctor Who related.

Slogan:  'Celebrating 50 years in space and time' is the slogan used for the magazine. This indicates that this is the overall topic which the magazine would be focusing on. It is short and as the relevance to space and time is always repeated in each of the magazine issues, it will be remembered by the readers.

Central image: The central image used is the current doctor but in the background, two of the previous doctors are also shown. The fact that the current doctor is in the middle, supports the tagline, 'The doctor's past comes back to haunt him...' and assures the audience that the focus will be on the current doctor. As the previous doctors are still in the picture, this shows that they are rather important as well. The facial expressions of the characters on the magazine portrays serious emotions which foreshadows the atmosphere of the particular episode and the content of the magazine.

‘Flash’ / Cover Line / Sell Line: There are several cover lines used on the magazine but the most important one seems to be 'Matt Smith & David Tenant exclusively chat to DWM about the biggest TV event in the history of the universe'. This would attract many people to buy the copy of the magazine as Matt Smith and David Tennant are very famous actors who people would be curious to find out what they have to say about this special TV event. Also on the right hand side of the magazine, free gifts and prizes available to win are advertised to influence people to buy the magazine.

Free Offer: The free offer is displayed on the right of the magazine. The text used are relatively big and they stand out due to the font colour being red which attracts attention. Also pictures are used to show the readers what exactly is inside. All the advertising of free gifts is located inside a brown box which is a different colour to the actual background. This makes it more prominent so the readers will be able to immediately notice the free gifts the magazine offers.

Colour scheme: The colour scheme consists mainly of four colours; black, red, white and brown, with variations of the specific colours being used.The colours used depicts the overall vibe to be mysterious and emphasizes the genre to be sci-fi. The red not only highlights the free offers and important information to know but it also may have connotations of the episode having some dangerous elements to it.

Name Checks:  The names of the famous actors that are going to be featured in the magazine are shown in a different font colour. This draws attention to the names and allows the audience to recognise the actors more quickly which may influence fans to buy the magazine, whether they are just fans of doctor who or fans of the actors.

Language:  The words that are used on the front cover seems to be very scientific which shows the great relevance to the TV show. This means that the fans of the TV show are the main target audience for the magazine. Also, as there are many references to the past, this may mean that previous fans of doctor who, who may be of an older generation may be interesting in this magazine as well.

Competitions: The competition is not specified in the actual front page maybe because if the competition is difficult, it may not attract people to buy the magazine. However the word 'win'  is brightly highlighted in red which will make the readers curious as to what the competition is which may make them buy the magazine, especially since the prize is clearly shown of the front.

Direct Address & Asking Questions: There aren't any direct addresses and questions on the front of the magazine, maybe due to the already largely established fan base of the TV show. However, the word 'exclusively' makes the readers feel that they are very special to be able to read what is the magazine exclusive.

Bar code, Date and Price:  The barcode, date and price are significantly smaller than all the other words on the page so there is not much attention drawn to it. This may be because of the high price of the magazine being £7.00 may drive away buyers. The less attractive features such as the price, unless it is very cheap, will always be quite small to avert the attention away from the price. Also the barcode is not too big so there is space on the page to include everything that is needed to include. 

The ‘Real’ Target Audience: The real target audience of the magazine may be primarily young males around the ages of 13 - 25. This is because, the sci-fi genre is increasingly attracting those of a younger age as it is very interesting and thought provoking. The official target audience may be slightly older such as 17 - 40 due to doctor who being a long running TV show that has been very popular over the years.

Ill Manors - TEDx Lecture

Make notes on the lecture: focus on Plan B/Ben Drew's views on the opportunities for young people in London and how these inspired Ill Manors.

• Many young people have no authority and feel ignored by society
• Plan B came from a less fortunate, dysfunctional family and decided to make an album that reaches out to the young people from similar backgrounds to him by speaking there language (quite a lot of swearing) and hopes to teach kids in an unorthodox way, the realities of gang life.  
• society dehumanizes youth of a less educated and less fortunate background by calling them chavs. (In Plan B's perspective, chav stands for council housed and violent)
• this derogative word for the youth with a bad background and society continues to label youth through the media. 
• Plan B is passionate about helping these less fortunate kids and tries to give them opportunities when he sees talent.
• Ill manors acts as a warning to youth so they would not end up like the characters in his film.

What are Plan B's beliefs/politics? What are his values/ideologies? Explain your answers.

Plan B, due to his own experiences, believes that young people should be receive the same opportunities despite their family and financial background. He believes that society is very judgemental towards the youth and use derogative labels such as chav to push these kids out of society completely, leading to many of the youth disregarding authoritative figures and have a similar lifestyle to the characters in his film. As Plan B himself grew up in a dysfunctional family and did not have a very good education (as he was kicked out of school in yr 10 and no other schools wanted to take him), he feels empathic towards today's youth and tries to use his position to offer as many opportunities to the youth who show talent. He hopes to show viewers, through his film, that it isn't the young people's fault as to why they are in the difficult situations they are in and maybe, with a little more acceptance from society, the youth will be able to have more control and lead a life with hope that they can succeed.

Who is the target audience of the TEDx lecture? Demographics? Psychographics? How do you know? How does this compare to the audience for his music/films?

Unlike the demographics and psychographics for the actual film, the demographics and psychographics for the TEDx lecture is very different. The demographics seemed to be aimed at group A primarily as group A consists of wealthy, upperclass people who would be able to make a significant difference in the youths' lives. People within group A would be able to offer young people with job experience and help them have a future. The psychographics that the lecture seems to be aimed at are reformers as they would be able to reform societies misconception that the youth are useless and can be a threat to society. Also, reformers would be passionate about helping young people on the right track and influencing them to think carefully about their future. The audience for his films and music are more aimed at young people as the media form it is in is more appealing to a younger audience. Also Plan B often swears and speaks very casually in his music and films in order to get through to the younger generation. His films and music acts as a warning to the youth whereas the lecture acts as a request for help to change these youth's lives.

What does Plan B say about the media? Explain how this can be linked to Cohen's media theory of moral panics? Read this summary of moral panics and the definition from Wikipedia and use them in your answer.

 Plan B says that the media intentionally labels the youth with derogative and offence words in order to completely push them out of society.Cohen's media theory of moral panic being that certain issues that challenge the dominant view will become a major concern for society. Plan B believes that the media portrays the youth as out of control therefore causing a moral panic in society. As the media constantly highlights youth's wrongdoings, the young people are slowly becoming demhumanized which may be one of the reasons that is leading them to go out of control since they are aware that they will never get society's approval.

Learner Response

Identify the key narrative techniques used in the trailer

The overall narrative of the trailer is a non-linear because in between the several shots of the athletes training hard, there is a short interval where the parallel music stops and flashbacks from the athlete's past are used to quickly show how it is possible to get a disability. This is the climax of events as the atmosphere of the trailer drastically changes and allows the audience to think about (but not focus on) the background stories of the athletes. Channel 4 want to show their viewers that although these accidents have occurred, what is important is how they carry on their life and aspire to become great. The lighting used at the beginning is low key lighting but when the lights are turned on, it could signify the importance of sport in these disabled athlete's lives. Although the audience may have believed that the girl who was walking in the low key lit room was the protagonist , as the trailer progresses, it is evident that there aren't any particular protagonists. The advert is shown without any specification as to the characters being disabled people therefore, the audience only assume that it will be a normal sports advert due to the iconography of a typical sports advert as a person is walking in dimly lit settings, looking very determined and motivated. This shows that athletes with disabilities should be considered the same as normal athletes who are passionate about their particular sport.The various action codes and enigma codes shown during the trailer causes the audience to anticipate and be excited to watch the programme. 

Ill Manors Trailer Analysis

1) What are the typical codes and conventions of film trailers - what information is usually provided?

The typical codes and conventions used in film trailers are listing the production institutions, the actors and reviews of the film. The trailer's format is often a montage of different clips from the film that gives the audience an overview of the overall narrative. Some trailers may also have voice overs or text on the screen to not only help audiences understand what the film is about but also creates drama and enigma codes to make the audience want to watch it. The trailers often include music as well, to convey to the audience, the overall atmosphere of the film e.g creepy, slow paced music would be played for a horror film trailer whereas light, fast paced music would be played for a comedy film trailer. Trailers will almost always include the date of the release of the film to inform the audience when they can see the film.

2) How are trailers distributed?

Trailers are often shown as adverts on TVs as many people own TVs and the trailers would be able to reach the audiences easily. Trailers are always shown in cinemas as well, before playing the film because the trailers would be able to reach their target audiences (film fanatics) directly. Trailers can also be shown as adverts on the internet before being able to access the content that you actually wanted. Trailers are most commonly shown on sites such as You Tube which allows the viewers to skip the advert, but there are several people who will not skip adverts and would be compelled to watch the different trailers on the adverts.

3) How does the Ill Manors trailer use trailer conventions?

Ill Manors use many of the key trailer conventions such as listing the production institutions, revolver entertainment and Plan B enterprises to not only make the audience aware of the institutions used in the particular film but to also advertise for the institutions. Unlike normal trailers, Plan B does not show the names of the main actors in the trailer. This is mainly due to the actors not being very famous but it also makes the movie seem less like fiction and more like reality which any of the viewers can be involved in. Also, since the actors are not shown in the trailer, this may lead the audience to be intrigued as to what kind of acting style the actors have. Ill Manors is Plan B's first feature film and as he is quite experienced, the audience may not want to watch the film but as positive reviews of the film are shown in the trailer, it may persuade more people to watch the film. However, there are several reviews from magazines that are typically for men which proves the film to be more oriented around men's tastes in film which may result in a small loss of female audience members. Film trailers are often a montage of different clips from the film which gives a brief overview of the plot but the way the trailer has been edited makes it slightly difficult for the audience to decipher a storyline. It does show off the atmosphere of the overall film as the various clips of guns, drugs and violence is shown which may have been enough to attract a large audience. The text shown at the beginning of the trailer enhances the audience to believe that there is a deeper significance of the film's concept and also highlights the fact that there is a moral to be learnt at the end of the film.

4)  Who is the target audience? Does it have a unique selling point or use particular techniques to appeal to the audience? Consider the way the scenes are edited together – does the trailer give away any clues about the narrative? Are the main stars visible in the trailer? Is there information about the director of the film? Is there information about the release date? Is a narrator’s voice-over used? Why?

The target audience of the film seems to be men ranging from the age of 18 to 25. This is because Plan B tries to explicitly show that there are a large proportion of young adults who leads similar lives to the characters and show that anyone has a possibility of leading a life like that. It might be aimed at young male adults as the main characters are of a similar age and young males would be able to identify with the main characters more. The unique selling point of the trailer and the film are that Plan B's original raps are used to narrate the story and give the audience an overview of the film. The text shown at the beginning of the trailer gives importance and stronger meaning to the events that take place in the film  

5)How has the genre of the film been represented through characters, settings, lighting, colour, music/dialogue, camera shots/movements/angles and editing?

The genre of the film is an urban crime drama. The audience are able to tell that the film is an urban drama due to the settings of the film being primarily in the streets. Even the different houses and indoor locations are shown to be very run down and gives the audience the idea that the characters are not very wealthy and are of low class. Also, The scenes are mostly shot during the night which accentuates the shady, criminal activities going on. The characters speech patterns also highlight the genre of the film as it shows that they are quite young and not of a high background.  The different camera angles used emphasises the fast paced story plot and allows the story to jump from different plots that are ultimately woven together. The editing of the scenes during the rap narration are often sped up which matches with the speed of the rap that is used. These scenes often include some sort of violence or drugs which, once again, shows that the genre is a crime drama genre.

Progress report

As none of our actors were free, we were unable to film any of the important shots on Wednesday period 5 and six but we were able to shot a few establishing shots. Also, were able to find some potential non-diegetic music to use in the background along with a gun shot sound.
Our next step is to film the more important scenes with our characters after school.

Ill Manors Review

Ill Manors is a low budget, British film, directed by rapper and song writer, Plan B (Ben Drew). The film depicts the financial struggles of people within a low class and the consequences they face when they turn to illegal means of earning money. The film has several different storylines which are ultimately weaved together, by using Plan B's original raps to narrate different parts of the story. This is a very unique aspect of the film which not only reflects Plan B's originality as a director but as an artist as well. The rap is very relevant to the film as it sets the overall atmosphere of the film to be a gritty, urban crime and drama film.

 The characters' family background seems to be central to the film as it gives a reason for the character's to be in the situation they are in. The characters experienced several different issues as children such as abandonment and sexual abuse which is shown to have affected them to be who they are in the film; drug dealers and prostitutes. Plan B bravely presented the audience with the realities of life to film watchers who would not be particularly familiar with this sort of lifestyle and brings awareness to the consequences of this reality. The film also shows that today's youth are increasingly getting introduced to criminal activity and believe that it is "cool" to be involved with these kinds of things. This is explicitly shown in he film when Jake, a very young boy who looks around the age of 13 or 14 tries to buy weed from a gang. To gain access to the weed and respect from the gang members, Jake was willing to assault his friend who gave him the money. Also, to be acknowledged by the gang leader, Jake even went to the furthest extent by committing and extremely severe crime. This warns the audience of the measures that young people in today's society, are willing to take. The film is very appealing to the aimed target audience as the events in the film are experienced by characters around a similar age to the target audience making the characters easy to identify with.

Unfortunately, although Plan B may have primarily aimed the audience to be men due to the violent scenes and props, some women (maybe even men) may be offended by the representation of women. The main women depicted in the film are Michelle and Katya who are both sexually abused, constantly. This shows that women who live in this environment are powerless against the men (apart from the scene when Michelle hits one of the men who abuses Katya, to escape). In the film, the men all seem to have something that gives them power whether it is a gun, drugs to sell or a gang, whereas the women do not have any of these things and maybe even have things that make them weaker, for example, Katya's baby may be considered by some people as her weakness.

A point that makes the film likeable may be the fact that although all the characters either commit or experience some sort of criminal activity, the characters are not shown to be completely bad as they try to do some good deeds as the film progresses. The most surprising good deed for me, was Ed saving the baby from the house on fire. Throughout the film, Ed is portrayed to be very emotionless (apart from his anger) and does not care about anything other than money but he decides to save a life at the end, while sacrificing his own. This shows the audience that no matter what extent people go to, to survive, they still have a conscious and despite their situation, they will try to do what is right.

Overall Ill Manors is a very explicit crime drama which shows the audiences another side to life. Although my personal view of the film was that some of the events were too explicit for my liking, i enjoyed the character  developments and the engaging plot of the story. The storyline was very realistic which was one of the points as to why it was very fascinating and the important morals taught during the course of the film may be very useful for society's youth.

Ill Manors review plan

Director: Plan B, a rapper whose first full length feature film was ill manors. As Plan B, a well known rapper, is the director for the film, his musical personality is also shown due to the film containing rap to tell the story opposed to characters or a narrator.

Main Stars: The main stars are not very well known actors so the audience will not be very familiar with them however, some of the main actors also have rapping careers, similarly to Plan B. This allowed the characters to use rap to narrate the story.

 Plot: The plot surrounds the different stories of different characters who are all included in criminal and/or violent actions. The film's protagonist seems to be Aaron, who drug deals with his friend Ed. Due to Ed believing his phone was stolen at Kirby's house, he forces prostitute and drug addict, Michelle, who he believes had stolen the phone, to have sex with men to earn money for the phone. Elsewhere, a boy named Jake and his friend try to buy weed from a gang, who tel him that they will sell him weed if he assaults his friend. Desperate for not only the drugs but the respect as well, Jake assaults his friend and Marcel, the gang leader welcomes Jake into his gang. Marcel orders Jake to kill Kirby but Jake accidentally also kills one of the girls, Chanel, who was with Kirby. Upon hearing this, Chris, Chanel's brother uses the help of Jody to find the person who killed his sister. Chris ends up killing both Jake and Marcel and hides his gun in the toilet of a nearby pub. Aaron finds the gun while he is hiding some of his drugs and steals the gun to take it to Ed. While on the train, Aaron witnesses a mother leave her baby on the train. He tries to get the woman's number but was unable to. When Aaron reaches the station, he notices several police officers and sniffer dogs which lead him to hide the gun and the drugs in the baby's pram.  Aaron is determined to find the baby's mother but Ed decides to sell the baby to the pub owner and his wife. The mother of the baby, Katya and Michelle appear at Aaron's door looking for the baby and the three go to the pub to retrieve the baby but unfortunately, a fire started and the room in which the baby was in, was locked. Meanwhile, Chris approached Ed to find the gun and so, Ed runs into the burning pub to get the gun. He hears the baby crying and shoots down the door to get the baby. He throws the baby out the window for Aaron to catch and the baby is safe but as Ed tries to jump out the window, he slips and falls to his death.Aaron takes Michelle and Katya to his social worker's house who gave him a letter from his mother, revealing that he was abandoned for his own safety.

Characters: The main characters are Aaron, Ed, Kirby, Chris and Michelle. The acting shows off the similar kid of upbringing that all the characters had; lack of love and guidance with a lot of inappropriate things going on around them. 

Genre: The film seems to have a crime and drama genre due to the film rotating around the illegal actions of the characters. The character's background creates a lot of drama and also evokes sympathy from the audience.

Sound: Six original songs of Plan B were used in the film which is very important due to the songs being rap songs that narrate the story to the audience. The music is parallel to the film as it seems like the expected genre of music that characters in the film would listen to. It also accentuates the gritty urban atmosphere of the film

Audience: The target audience of the film would probably be young adults around the age of 18-25. This is because young adults would be able to relate to the film the most. The psychographic group the film is aimed at may be strugglers with a demographic of D and E as they will be able to identify with the characters and the story line.  

Course work Mise-en -Scene

Mise en scene:

• During flashback - casual clothes for both Ruth and Josh
• Waking up - Night clothes for Josh
• Park scene - Josh and his friends are al wearing causal clothes, the mysterious men are wearing hoodies and are all in black, Ruth is also wearing a hoodie and dressed al in black but she's wearing sunglasses

Casting details:
The characters include-

• Josh
• Ruth
• Friend 1
• Friend 2
• 2 extras - one walking their dog, another on the phone
• 3 suspicious men

Locations:

• near an alleyway
• park

Props:

• football
• phone
• sunglasses
• contacts

Lighting:

the lighting throughout is natural lighting

Storyboard

Audience focus group

Since our TV show will be shown on E4 our target audience would be 15-35 year olds but due to the supernatural, yet teen drama elements, our TV show may appeal to those of a younger age such as 15 to 25 year olds. Our Tv show may fit into the pyschograhic group of mainstreamers and explorers. This is because, currently, there are many mainstream TV shows that  are dramatic ad supernatural, which are similar traits of are TV show. Since our show is a supernatural drama, a very popular genre, it will attract mainstreamers. It will attract explorers as the explorers may be curious as to what the show is about due to the strange concept of people’s eyes changing colour. Our demographic group would largely be group E since students and casual workers, who are our target audience, are categorised under group E.

The focus group consisted of two other groups who fit our target age audience. From the discussion in the focus group, we were reminded that some of our settings such as alleyways  may be slightly dangerous to film in, and so, we decided not to show the entrance to the alleyway but fade the screen to black before we have the characters enter it . 

Also, at the time, we had not decided on a title, and we managed to get some useful input of what kind of titles would suit our production and what would not. After thinking about all the suggestions, we realised that something common with all the suggestions was that they included something to do with the eyes so we decided our title should have a meaning relating to the eyes. 

We were also advised that since the characters mainly consist of teenagers, we should make sure we include many teen colloquialisms and not shadow the age of the characters with the supernatural and dramatic themes. Initially, our script didn't have many colloquialisms, but after adding only a few, it instantly added some more personality and depth to the characters who had rather minor roles. 

The group thought that our overall idea was very unique and reminded us that if we wanted to make the eye colour change look significant and effective, we must pick contact lenses that stand out and look unnatural, so we decided to look for very brightly coloured contact lenses without pupils to enhance the supernatural atmosphere of the production. 

Shot List

1	Long shot- Josh and Ruth walking	3 secs
2	Long shot - Josh and Ruth walking, shot from behind	3 secs
3	Medium tracking shot - Josh and Ruth walking	5 secs
4	Medium shot at left side angle - Josh and Ruth walking	3 secs
5	Medium shot at left side angle - Josh and Ruth about to take the shortcut into the alleyway	4 secs
6	Medium shot - Josh and Ruth talking	3 secs
7	Medium shot at left angle,slightly from behind - Josh and Ruth walking into the alleyway , shot from behind, fade to black, gun shot heard	3 secs
8	Medium shot - Josh suddenly gets up from bed	2 secs
9	Medium shot at right side angle - Josh and his friends talking	3 secs
10	Medium shot - Josh talking	3 secs
11	Medium shot - Suspicious man, watching from behind the trees, while josh is still talking	3 secs
12	POV long shot - Josh and his friends	3 secs
13	Medium shot at left side angle - friend 2 talking	3 secs
14	Medium shot at right side angle - Josh talking	2 secs
15	Medium shot at left side angle - friend 1 talking	4 secs
16	Medium close up - Josh laughing and rolling his eyes	2 secs
17	Match on action - Josh turning to face his friend	3 secs
18	Medium shot from right angle- Josh, shocked when he sees friend 1’s eyes	3 secs
19	Over the shoulder shot - friend 1’s eyes, friend 2 leans in and talks	3 secs
20	Long shot from right angle - Josh stands up	3 secs
21	Match on action - Josh turning to look around	2 secs
22	Medium close up - Josh walks closer to the camera and looks around	2 secs
23	Long shot -  a person on the phone and someone walking their dog	3 secs
24	Close up - person the phone	2 secs
25	Close up - person walking dog	3 secs
26	Long shot -  friends talking eyes back to normal	2 secs
27	Medium close up - Josh looking confused	2 secs
28	Long shot -  friends talking, sister in the background	4 secs
29	Low angle shot - Ruth	2 secs
30	Long shot - Josh talks and runs off the frame, the friends watch him go, confused	4 secs
31	Long shot - Ruth walks closer to the camera and turns around to face Josh who comes walking behind him	4 secs
32	shot/reverse/shot/  and 180 degree rule, long shot - Daniel talks	3 secs
33	long shot- Josh talks	4 secs
34	medium long shot - Daniel talks	2 secs
35	medium long shot - Josh talks	4 secs
36	Medium close up - Daniel talks and takes his sunglasses off	5 secs

37	Medium shot - Josh talking	4 secs
38	Long shot - Suspicious men appear	2 secs
39	Medium shot - Josh talking	2 secs
40	Medium long shot - Ruth talking, sh grabs Josh and runs away	6 secs
41	Low angle shot - Suspicious men appear	3 secs