Exam Question about The Observer home page

PREP Answer the exam question. You will find page 9 of News (print and online): industry and audience helpful.

The Observer home page uses a array of techniques to captivate and entertain its audience. The Observer audience generally think of themselves as open-minded and accepting and so the observer tend to allow both sides to have an argument in articles. 

The layout of the observer front page helps to create meaning.The titles use the Serif and Sans Serif fonts because they are easy to read and look very professional and formal. It has been shown that with these fonts the human eye finds it easy to read from one word to another. The Blue, white and Maroon colour scheme used on the front page imply: Formality,  seriousness, fairness, royalty and professionalism. The different news articles are laid out into different sections (e.g. feature, sport, interviews, etc.), this layout makes the paper look professional and also makes it easier for the reader to find articles they will want to read.  All of this gives the reader a sense of professionalism themselves because they are reading a professional looking newspaper. 

The Observer display the "top" news stories on its home page and these tend to be stories that the audience are most likely to be interested in. The title of these stories often display their titles in a certain way to interest the reader and make them want to learn more. The titles give the reader a small hint of the topic of the article, whilst still leaving an air of mystery. For example the title "Can i forgive the man who raped me?", instantly draws the reader's attention. It makes them ask questions such as: "Who is it that was raped?", "Who raped that person?" and "Can they forgive him?". The reader is curious to find out more and reads the article to answer their questions. Another example of this the title "Stranded refugees denied UK asylum face "life in limbo"", immigration and refugees are still topics that will grab a readers attention and make them want to find out more. 

Another way the Observer home page grasps its audience is by providing surveillance of world events. It tells readers what is going on in the world, both in terms of gossip about celebrities, sports news, news about the latest politics and any social problems going on (e.g. disaster, criminals, refugees etc.). The "sports" section on the observer home page provides readers with information on the latest; Football, Tennis, Rugby, Boxing, Cycling and many other forms of sporting news. Readers who are interested in sport are sure to read this section. In the "interviews" section, the Observer can provide readers with news on the secret lives of famous people and what they think about certain topics. People interested in political and social issues will be interested in the large majority of the paper because they want to read news about recent events. The Observer presents readers with the opportunity to find out whats happening in the world and form an opinion on it.  

By having an online newspaper, the Observer allow for a response from their audience. If readers have a strong opinion about a topic that has been covered in the newspaper they can write to the paper or go to social media and discuss the topic with other readers of the same newspaper. The Observer allows for social discussion and debate between readers, strengthening  peoples opinions and allowing them to seek reassurance from people who hold a similar opinion to them. 

Creating Media in class

In class we created our own Media in groups, around the concept of enigma. The basic plot my group came up with was that a strange package is delivered to some people (Tom and Charlie), and they are wondering what the package might be. They then open the package to find a head inside (me (Ben)) and are even more curious about where it came from. We then see the delivery person (Callum) outside waving and smiling creepily.

We used a range of dynamic shots from several different angles. For the bit with the head in the box, we cut a hole in the bottom and i stuck my head in whilst lying under the tables. We then put bubble wrap around my head to cover up the hole. After Tom asks the question "Who would send us this?" the camera then turns to see Callum standing outside the door, suggesting that it was him who sent the package.

At times we had some trouble with getting the camera to focus but apart from that it was relativley successful.

Creating adverts in photoshop

Lego Movie poster campaign

Exam question: Analyse how genre codes have been used in The Lego Movie poster campaign to appeal to a family audience. (10 marks) Write the equivalent of a page and a half A4 in the exam. This is a major question.

The Lego Movie posters appeal to a mass, mainstream and family audience. They entice the target audience to see the film by appealing to the different groups.

This poster presents one of the film characters, Vitruvius. The poster advertises that Virtruvius is voiced my Morgan Freeman. This might entice a large verity of people to see the film as Morgan Freeman is a famous household name. Some of the other posters show other actors in the film, such as: Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pratt also star in the film and if people know and like certain actors that they know are in the film they will be more likely to see the film. 













This poster would help the film appeal to the audience of girls as it shows a strong, independent female character. If people have heard of Elizabeth Banks then it might make them want to see the film more as it has an actor who they recognise. 










This is the main Movie poster and can appeal to the audience in a lot of ways. The explosion in the background suggests there will be a lot of intense action and danger in the film which might appeal towards a teenage audience. 
A lot of people will be able to recognise some of the superheros such as: Batman,Wonder Woman and Superman. 

Lord Business can be seen in the background and is very obviously the villain. He is chasing the the heroes and so are his "Micro-managers" which gives a sense of danger. But there is still hope as he hasn't actually caught the heroes and so the have a chance of escape.  

The Slogan at the top "The story of a nobody who saved everybody" can appeal to pretty much everyone. Emmet who is right at the front of the poster is the hero of the film even though he looks very ordinary. Most people think of themselves as ordinary as well and so when they see that an ordinary person saved the whole world in this film, it will not only intrigue them to watch the film and find out how he did it, but it will give them a feeling that they too can accomplish anything. 
Emmet looks even more ordinary because he looks absolutely terrified whilst he is running away, whilst everyone else looks serious and concentrated. This further shows that he is not a stereotypical hero and also adds an aspect of comedy due to Emmett's expression.