02 NEWSPAPERS

 

If you access The Observer print edition online, you can access added features. What are they?

Online readers can access multiple features that physical Observer readers cannot. Firstly, online readers are able to make comments on articles and stories that physical readers can't do, which makes The Observer a much more interactive paper. Also, online readers have a much broader selection of articles as they can access older stories which normal Observer readers can't do unless they've already bought previous issues. Also, in the online versions of the newspaper, there are tabs across the pages (which you can also see on the front pages of the issues above as the green numbered tabs) which may perhaps give more information, or may take you to similar articles if you click on them. This gives the online reader more choice to go further in depth on the articles they are most interested in and a much more detailed, personalised and informative newspaper each week, compared to a normal Observer reader who buys the physical print..

This is The Observer's Twitter page. What do you notice?

The first thing I notice is the fact that the caption says 'tomorrow's front page'. This tells me that if you are a follower of The Observer's twitter, then you get early access and allows you to see what articles will be appearing on the cover, making you feel more up-to-date than the general population. It also gives you the opportunity to decide whether you want to go out and buy the issue, from what the front page has on it. Also, I notice that people have the ability to like, comment and share (retweet) the posts. This makes the readers of The Observer feel like they can interact and have a say in what is written about in the next paper - for example, the comment on the photo above shows a person stating their opinion on one of the articles.

CHARITY POSTER

RESEARCHING WHAT MAKES A POSTER STANDOUT

 

01 PROMOTING THE LEGO MOVIE

The uses and gratification framework, outlined by Bulmer and Katz, identify 4 main audience pleasures.

In my view the most important audience pleasure offered by the Lego Movie Video Game, relates to escapism, diversion and entertainment. It is a very active audience pleasure as a game player, as you are invited on quests and to undertake tasks, positioned as the hero who has to solve problems and complete missions to prevent Lord Business from taking over. The video game is set in a fictional world which means the player can escape from their everyday life into this new world full of heroes and creatures. The Lego Movie Video Game offers a menu of about 50 different characters which you can become and it allows player to immerse themselves in the action, rather than being passive.

The Lego Movie Video Game allows players to engage in a battle to save the world and to be on the side of everything that is good, creative and right. The archenemy throughout the game is Lord Business. There are a variety of heroes, eg. Emmet. For younger plays, Emmet is a very accessible avatar as he isn't a superhero; he is a nobody like the average younger game player. Someone who needs the support of his friends, with luck and skill, will battle through and save the day. Female players would find that the ability to play as female characters is empowering because characters such as WyldStyle are strong, independent and superior to other male characters.

Another really important audience pleasure in gameplay, is that it is a co-operative game that you can play with friends. Equally, all video games are the subject of enthusiastic conversations between the game players as it is a shared experience and the Lego Movie Video Game offers a great deal of humour as well as action. This is sometimes known as the watercooler experience which us when people enjoy talking about being fans of any particular media, eg talking about a concert, or a tv program. People who play the same video games enjoy that sense of community with like-minded people.

03 CREATING MEDIA

The first part of today's session is planning how to take forwards my hip hop music video under lockdown at home. I came to these decisions:

• I will approach family members to act as cameraman and discuss suitable filming times outdoors, indoors, in the garden - at the moment my brother has agreed to help me film during my lunch hours and my mum has agreed to help when she can.
• Montage sequences: I started today by making a practice photo in PowerPoint using 'remove background', featuring myself as performer against a school locker hall background (below). By doing this I learnt I should wear more colourful clothes as I feel like I don't stand out enough from the background. By knowing wear my video will be set, I am able to adjust the lighting to fit the scene, e.g. indoors - bright white lights, outdoors - softer yellow lights.
• A series of such images could be cut to the beat. Therefore, is the montage sequence likely to go with a 'quiet' (slow) bit of my lyrics or a 'busy' (fast) bit? That decision will affect what I shoot and how I edit my clips together. For example, when the chorus is being performed, the camera can move rapidly in multiple directions and be edited on beat, however when the verse is playing, the pace can slow down and the narrative can be told.
• Greenscreen: I have the possibility to use my greenscreen at home, the OCR board will allow found images in the circumstances. I could use it to place myself in ideal locations for my music video such as school halls. It allows to be film in locations that I otherwise wouldn't be able to use in llockdown.
• I will re-imagine my music video so that I am able to do it in the lockdown conditions. E.g. new storyboard and selection of camera angles/movements. I will have to think of new locations which I can film at that I am allowed to go to.

PLANNING IDEAS FOR MY MUSIC VIDEO

I aim to create a music video to go with the song 'Same Thing' by The Kid LAROI. The music video must appeal to a teenage audience of 14-18 year olds and must accompany a hip-hop music track. The song I will choose is a hip-hop song which is just slightly over 2 minutes long. I plan to make a music video which involves multiple locations, a story narrative and a range of camera shots, angles and movement.

Song

The song I plan to choose is 'Same Thing' by The Kid LAROI. This song is in the genre of trap, hip-hop and R&B. I plan to choose this song as I love The Kid LAROI's music and so do a lot of other people my age. The Kid LAROI is only 17 so not only does the song relate to teenagers but also the artist. The song is about a boy who finds out that his girlfriend is going out and speaking to other people behind his back. However, the boy is not mad at her because he admits that he does the same things as her.

Narrative

The narrative for my music video relates to the message in the song. I plan to convey the story of the boy (me) who finds out about his girlfriend going behind his back. This will relate to the teenage audience as many teenagers have gone through similar situations of distrust in relationships. I plan to include a mix of performance shots of me lip-syncing to the song, as well as narrative shots of the boy and girl. I plan to use a range of shots to portray the story narrative including multiple camera angles, such as establishing shots and close-ups, and camera movement such as zooms and pans.

Performance

The performance for my music video, I will include multiple locations which are stated in the paragraph below and plan to use a mixture of camera angles to show the performers emotion when lip-syncing.

Location

I will use multiple locations, mostly across the school grounds. Other locations I am planning to use are green screen and night time scene which we are not sure the exact places I will shoot yet. I have had ideas to film my performance scenes in the school sports hall with a basketball hoop in the background. I am planning to do this as the song is American and the outfit I plan to wear is quite American. This location will also link to that as a lot of American teens love basketball. The narrative scenes will be shot across the school grounds to tell the audience that this is all happening at a school. This relates to a teen audience as most teens attend school.

PAPER 1 Q5

 Paper 1 Question 5

5. Explain how historical contexts influenced the portrayal of heroes and villains in television programmes. Refer to The Avengers from 1965 to support your answer. [10 Marks]

5.      During the time of the Avengers, World War 2 had ended a few years ago. This shook the British public and were still recovering from the damage in the 1960s. Also, the Cold War has also just started so people were very scared that war would happen again. The Avengers: Town of No Return presents the idea that the UK is being invaded again and John Steed and Emma Peel are there to save the day. This depicts the invaders as the obvious villains as the 1960s audience would have hated them for wanting to start a war. It also makes Steed and Peel seem like the obvious heroes as they are very British and will do everything in their power to stop them. Steed is strong, smart and has gadgets which can defeat any enemy, and Peel is athletic, agile and brave and can put up a fight against anyone, no matter the gender. This also makes the women watching at the time believe they are equal to men and can fight for equal rights. Also, the fact that, in the end, Steed and Peel save the day and stop the invasion, reassures the 1960s audience that even if war did break out again, the country would be okay because we have people like Steed and Peel to protect us.

THE OBSERVER QUESTIONS

Q.5 Analyse the representation of gender on the front cover of The Observer. Give two examples from the extract. [5 marks]

Firstly, the majority of the articles and stories on The Observers cover are about men. For example, the majority of the people in the photograph are men, the headline is about the prime minister (a man) and in the skyline there is an article about 'me and my dad, Clive James' both men. Also, all of the writers on the cover are men. For example, Toby Helm wrote the article on Boris Johnson and Jamie Doward wrote the article about the police.

Q.9 In this question you will be rewarded for drawing together elements from your full course of study, including the theoretical framework and media contexts.

How far does the media language on the front cover of The Observer. reflect genre conventions? [15 marks] I have explained terms a bit to guide you!

In your answer, you should:

• analyse the media language, using specific examples 
• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the media language reflects generic conventions (= looks like a quality broadsheet front cover) or other areas of the theoretical framework (= meets audience needs) and media contexts (= looks like a typical Observer production, bearing in mind its target audience and its ethos).

PLAN

TABLOID

soft news

size

BROADSHEET

hard news

writing

This edition of The Observer reflect genre conventions as The Observer is a tabloid, however it only recently became a tabloid in 2018 and for over 200 years before that, it was a broadsheet. This means that The Observer of conventional tabloid features as well as conventional broadsheet features.

Firstly, The Observer contains conventional tabloid features as it has soft news on the cover which is typical for tabloids. It has a skyline above the title which contains soft news such as cooking techniques and recipes as well as family stories and often has sports and celebrity news as well. The skyline is filled with colour and pictures which is a contrast to the hard news below it and the skyline is a place where people can take a break from all the political and economic news below it. Also, The Observer is quite small for a newspaper and is the size of a typical tabloid. This is a conventional tabloid feature as The Observer used to be a broadsheet which is twice the size.

The Observer also has conventional broadsheet features as, firstly, it mostly contains hard news articles about current problems in the world. This is a conventional broadsheet feature as most broadsheet newspapers are filled with hard news and very little soft news. In this edition of The Observer, the headline is about Boris Johnson and his methods of dealing with COVID 19 and the photograph is about the police and how an officer died on duty. Also, a lot of the hard news has very little colour or photos which is the same for broadsheets as they contain lots of writing and very little colour. If you look at a newspaper from the 60s then you will see that the entire front cover is practically filled up with writing with a few black and white pictures on the page.

In conclusion, The Observer contains both tabloid and broadsheet conventions however I believe it is more of a broadsheet than a tabloid as it primarily about hard news than soft news. It still has some soft news and tabloid features but The Observer is more of a broadsheet newspaper - even though it is actually a tabloid.