PREP Write freely about the house style of Clash music magazine. Your focus is on 'media language', that is, how the musicians are represented, layout, font, colour and so on.

Clash magazine has quite a unique house style that is different to many other music magazines. The Magazines all  have large sans-serif block text, always in white, and sometimes add a tumbling effect to the edition number. 
The front covers are very clean and have little text, which reduces the clutter of the page. Clash present their musicians in a somewhat surreal way, sometimes using vibrant colours and sometimes monochrome. Sometimes the musician is partly out of shot and sometimes there is a close-up on their face. In one magazine the musician is presented as saint-like - gazing up in an angelic way - and in another front cover, the musician is presented as "untouchable", since they appear to be looking down their nose at the reader. 

Analyse the representations found in the UK television ad break for The Lego Movie.

There is a wide range of representations in the Lego Movie ad break to appeal to a wide range of audiences. The ad break includes adverts by BHF, Confused.com, BT and Premier Inn, all recreated using Lego. These are well known adverts which almost everyone will recognise and will thus appeal to a wide audience, since they are trusted brands. This will especially appeal to an older audience since the adverts feature actors such as Vinny Jones and Lenny Henry. The use of well known adverts and actors that represent reliability and quality will attract a larger audience to see the film. 

The ad break also uses humour, represented by how these famous adverts have been changed and replaced with Lego characters. The BHF  advert is particularly humorous by using Vinny Jones, who is often portrayed a 'tough-guy', to teach people about CPR. 

Real life is presented by the normality of the content in the ad break, showing everyday things such as domestic life, insurance and health. These representations would appeal to a wide audience and encourage more people to see the film. 

At the end of the ad break there is a trailer for the Lego Movie itself, which would be the most likely to incite the audience to see the film. Representations are also made in the trailer, both stereotypical and non-stereotypical. Emmet is to an extent presented in line with the stereotypical strong male character. However, this stereotype is largely challenged as Emmet acts quite frightened in most of the trailer and does not seem like much of a macho hero. The character of Wyldstyle also challenges the stereotypical female character and is instead presented as strong, fierce and independent. These anti-stereotypical representations would interest a large audience to see the film, especially a young one.   

 

Analyse the representation of Jamaican Reggae music and musicians such as Bob Marley in this MOJO front cover. (5 marks)

On the MOJO magazine cover, Jamaican reggae music is presented as quite exotic and vibrant. The red, yellow and green used for the text connotes this, as well as being the colours of the Jamaican flag and colours often associated with reggae music. This is also presented by the colourful clothes Bob Marley is wearing and the intricate patterns on the speakers shown in the cover mount.  

As usual, MOJO presents the musicians on the cover as having a dark past and being haunted by internal demons. 1979 is described as "a year of reggae revolution!" and the cover states how Bob Marley went "from gang war to one love". Even with reggae music, MOJO depict the musicians as having had a dark past from suffering. 

PREP: Analyse the representation of musicians in extract 1, which is from MOJO magazine

The magazine uses a monochrome colour scheme for the main splash and light blues and blacks for the text. This connotes seriousness and follows the MOJO trend of treating musicians with respect and reverence. As usual the musicians are presented as having had a hard struggle in their lives and Joni Mitchell claims her "gift was born of tragedy". 

Most MOJO magazines present male musicians on their front cover, but this one is an anti-stereotype and presents a female musician. Also contrary to most covers, the musician looks quite friendly and welcoming, whereas usually they seem to be placed upon a pedestal above the reader.   

PREP: Analyse the use of media language to create meaning in the online Observer home page. Give 2 examples from the extract.

The Observer home page uses a lot of media language to create meaning. One example is its colour palate. The use of royal blues and wine purples connote formality, intelligence and organisation. The dark blue header especially, creates a serious tone.

Another example is the layout of the home page. The way in which the articles are ordered on the page and the minimised use of photos, decreases the clutter and creates a sense of formality. It also connotes seriousness and professionalism.  

Study the online newspaper extract to revise exam Q. 9 (below): copy / paste the text below and identify all relevant articles or features that represent the newspaper's values:

1. The major use of newspapers is to offer a sense of knowing
what is going on in the world.The Observer knows that its readers are serious and interested in international affairs. This is evident in hard news articles about.....Brexit, Donald Trump and the riots taking place in Paris.  

2. The Observer meets its audience's need for a range of cultural, sporting and artistic news. It provides these with...articles about the 2019 Brit awards and about a new Oscar nominated film "Roma". 

3. The Observer does not shy away from 'difficult' issues that could make uncomfortable reading, such as...a Saudi teen's "long journey to safety" and a hunger strike taking place in an Iranian prison. 

4. The Observer has sections which are designed to appeal to
different types of readers.The Observer reflects the diversity of its readership in articles on...Business, politics and entertainment. 

5. Newspaper readership can still be used as a symbol of one’s social identity. The term ‘Guardian reader’ connotes a certain
type of social attitude and The Observer similarly reinforces
a set of social and political attitudes, and thus identity, in its
representations. For example, Observer readers like to think
of themselves as open-minded and this is reflected in the
Observer’s practice of allowing both sides of an argument
equally to be put when the newspaper is clearly on one side
of this argument. There is an example of this in....the  two separate articles about Dag Hammarskjold as well as opinion pieces on Brexit. 

6. The entertainment function of newspapers may take the
form of humour. It may take the form of diversion into
a celebrity world of ‘glamour’. It may take the form of human
interest stories in which readers are invited to sympathise with
the subjects of the article. Newspapers further offer games,
puzzles, crosswords and the like. At the higher end, sections
such as the New Review in the Observer may offer the pleasure of extremely well-written think pieces and literature reviews. An example of this is....opinion articles about Brexit and the article on Body Image. 

PREP: To revise for q.2 (4 marks), copy / paste each of the following descriptions into your blog post. Write either SB or TD at the start of each, to indicate either Avril or Wheatus. Some answers may refer to BOTH so put both initials.

SB: This video is documentary style mostly hand-held camerawork, de-saturated colour and fast-paced editing.

TD: This video has saturated colour, more controlled camerawork, slower-paced editing.

SB: This video consists of mostly montage shots.

TD: This video has more developed editing with cause and effect.

SB: In this video, the singer values rebellion, which is seen in the narrative.

TD: In this video, the singer values 'fitting in', conformity, albeit to an oppressive system, which is seen in the narrative.

SB: This video is set in LA, a big city, with its connotations of street credibility.

TD: The mise-en-scene of this video is American suburbia with its connotations of conformity. 

TD: This video is intertextual in its narrative (=it makes references to high school drama).
In this video, the singer performs to camera.

SB: In this video, real locations and 'everyday' costume for the performers connote a sense of naturalism.

TD AND SB: In this video, there is a sense of linear narrative (a story is told, in the order it unfolds).