Tuesday 17 November 2009

Contrasting magazine covers .

The initial response when viewing this cover is that it will be directed at a male audience . This is made clear through the central image taking up the majority of the cover - A young woman in very little clothing standing provocatively . This image is used to attract men as it catches their attention and men are typically attracted to women such as these . Personally i feel this is the biggest clue to the expected audience .
Also the woman in the central image has a direct mode of address which is also a very significant hidden visual code . Men will aspire to be a part of the woman's life , and by using a direct mode of address the male readers will feel as if the had personally came into contact with this woman luring them into buying the magazine .
However there are other signs to show us this such as the pug in the upper right corner stating that the GQ is the bestselling up market men's magazine . However although the textual information such as the articles shown is not directed at the typical man's-man it illustrates just how much men have changed over the years and are now becoming a lot more focused on their appearance . The types of article's shown would emply the possible psychographics of a male aspirer , aiming to give off the best impression possible to create a 'Wealthy' and 'important' reputation .
The central article represented on this cover is "America's most outspoken starlet Megan Fox will not be censored " is typical of a men's magazine . The male readers will hold fantasies of being in relations with women such as Megan Fox so being allowed into explicit and non"censored" details of her life will enforce the men to be a part of her life , partially making their fantasies a reality .


This magazine cover is clearly contrasted to the first magazine cover aiming to appeal to an alternative audience of women . There are various hidden codes within this cover helping to attract the targeted audience such as colour schemes and textual information .
The articles shown on the cover are the expected for a women's magazine for example " get a flat tummy in 7 days" and "318 bags , shoes & love-your-body fashion buys" the word "fashion" immediately attracts the typical psychographic groups the aspirers- who will want to keep up with the latest trends to create a good reputation and fun-lovers - who are known to do vast amounts of shopping and want to stand out .
In contrast to the male focused cover Cosmopoliton also uses a female as their central image , however she is more covered up and almost takes on "the girl next door" appearance . The central image is cleverly used to attract the female audience as older women will aspire to be the woman on the front cover and younger females will be attracted by this image as the model is smiling and has a direct mode of address which will invite the audience to purchase the magazine . The direct mode of address attracts the target audience as they feel as if the model is communicating with them , almost making the magazine feel personal to themselves .
The colour scheme is also a hidden visual code . The use of scarlet connotes
empowerment and strength which will convey to the women that this magazine is strong in its opinions and after reading the magazine the women will feel a sense of achievement and importance , this is very important as the women will feel they are receiving something from the magazine they are more likely to purchase it .

Sunday 8 November 2009

Genre in film - Mrs Vandersanden

What film genres are the most popular at present and why ?
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What genres do you think were popular back in the 1930's and 1940's ?
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Thursday 22 October 2009

Womens Weekly


Woman's weekly audience profile 
A mature woman between the ages of 35-60 whom is settled and content , has a genuine lust for life , open to new experiences and is image conscious.

How do the images shown on the Woman's weekly home page match up to the audience profile ?
The only image shown on the www.goodtoknow.co.uk webpage is of the latest issue itself . The front cover of the magazine has a themes set of colours used throughout ; lilac , pink and white . These 3 colours reinforce the idea that the typical reader of this magazine is a woman .
 
The main focus of the cover is the image of a smiling woman , this particular image is matched to the audience profile as it shows the woman to be happy and full of life , just like the audience profile stated 
" woman whom is settled and content , has a genuine lust for life". The readers of the magazine will aspire to be like this woman who is probably slightly younger then the readers of this magazine , this links to the audience profile as the woman are very conscious of their image , the want to appear youthful just as the women showed on the cover itself . 

Also the smaller images on the front cover ( food , clothing etc) also illustrate that the reader will be a older woman instead of a younger female who is either a housewife or a woman conscious of both the appearance herself and her home ,

What products and services do you think will be advertised ?
I think the magazine will advertise mostly beauty products aimed at older women such as wrinkle cream and anti-aging moisturisers , this is because the magazine is aimed at the image conscious older woman probably 35+ meaning products such as these are well suited . 
The magazine will consist of many articles on how to look younger , how to boost the confidence of the reader "50 instant energy boosters" and will also consist of a lot of household advise such as cookery including a number of recipes etc .
Lastly i feel the magazine will offer an insight into the more mature celebrities of today through articles , photograps etc in order to create a sense of escapism for the reader , making them feel young and vibrant just as the older celebrities are .

Sunday 4 October 2009

'the final destination' Poster analysis .



' The final destination '

The poster does not actually state the date of release and instead only states the month of release  , this meaning it is a teaser - the soul aim of this poster is to capture the viewers interest and to create excitement for the actual release . The word 'August' is the only piece of text in a red font this is done to ensure that this piece of text is noticed and taken in .

The poster does not feature much textual information , this putting emphasis on the text there is . The font used is simple and white , the use of white alows the text to contrast against the dark background showing its importance . 
The phrase "Rest in pieces" is placed at the top center of the poster , the phrase itself is a play on the phrase "rest in peace" this connotes there will be death involved but the character who dies will not die peacefully and instead will be forced into an unexpected and brutal death.

The main 3 colours used in this poster are black , white and various shades of blue . The use of black connotes darkness and creates a sense of absense from life or evil  . The blue and white contrast with the black background creating focus on the blue and white elements of the poster , this connotes the idea of escape which is the expectation of the film after viewing the other 3 films of the series .

The use of a shatter mirror effect , showing half of the live persons face against the other half a skull connotes that the binary opposition will be between life and death . The shattered glass also connotes that the usual way of life will be broken , meaning the events that will take place in the film will be far from the everyday norm . The bullet hole in the shattered mirror connotes that the series of events that will take place will all unravel from one specific incident . 

The womans face takes up a third of the poster , creating focus on subject matter . This connotes that this character will be of great importance throughout the film and is likely to be the main character presented .
The womans eyes in the poster have been blacked out by shaddow this connotes a lack of soul , control - It is made obvious that their will be a death  or alternatively somebody will have to go against their personal morals in order to escape , losing their soul . The fact that they eyes are so dark , contrasting against the white skin connotes that darkness/evil will overcome good and will ultimately win . 

The open mouth skull is made to appear to almost be screaming at to you as it is at the centre of the image and straight on . This connotes fear , illustrated by the screaming and almost makes the viewer feel as if they are being directly addressed by this figure , capturing the focus of the viewer .

Thursday 1 October 2009

Defenitions of media terminology

Cropping - refers to the removal of the outer sections of an image in order to improve the framing of the image and create focus on subject matter .
In order to fit an image into a smaller space than the image its self you will have to use cropping .

Juxtopose - to place to contrasting things together .
The two characters in the relationship juxtopose as one is of great beauty whilst the other is beastly .

Anchorage - text or some form of key element that directs the viewer to a prefferedview of the image .
The anchorage of this image makes us percieve the man in the image as being an angry and lonely father .

Semiotics -this is the study of signs . helps to take images apart to analyse them in order to get the behind meaning of the image rather then the initial meaning , so reading into the connotations etc .
The use of semiotics helps us to understand the hidden meaning of a wilting rose representing a lost love and suffering , perhaps the end of something .

Mise - en - scene ( french for 'put in the scene' ) - this refers to the different elements included in a scene for example costume, lighting, acting, make-up, props and seting.
The mise-en-scene in 'Mean girls' illustrates that the primary target audience is Girls age ranging 12 - 17 and the secondary audience being both genders age ranging from 15 - 35 . This is shown through the youthful costumes, the young teen girls being the central characters and the main setting being a high school .

Homage - This is when one directer uses certain stylistic features or images that a past director has used in order to pay tribute to them .
The director has used homage through use of copying Steven Speilburg's infamous camera angles as a tribute to his directing .

Demographics - Details of the population , these include ; Status , age , gender , class .
The demographics of ' Monsters inc ' is likely to be children from both genders of a younger age group . The secondary group would be of adults .

Psychographics - This refers to the attitudes , values , interests and lifestyles of people .
When creating a moving image piece for Greenford high school students it is nececary to take into count the Psychographics .

Binnary oposition - term refering to the idea that films are centered around two conflicting elements . This could be two people , two cultures .
The binary opposition in Bride and prejudice is the clash of the two cultures .

Iconography -the elements in terms of props and visual details from a film which distinguish that it is from a certain genre .
The iconography of ' Friday the 13th ' is strongly representive of the Horror genre through the use of blood , weapons , darkness etc .