Magazine Layout Overview

I looked at issue 234 of top gear magazine. The front cover is made dominated by a big picture of a Ferrari F12 and an Aston Martin One-77. The masthead is in the Top Gear font and above that is the BBC logo on the left and an inside quote filling the rest of the top strip. On the left, the big stories (coverlines) of the 2 cars are displayed and at the bottom there is a slightly diagonal strip that gives an idea about a couple of other stories to expect inside. On the bottom right is the bar code, dateline and price.

The big picture is there to catch people's attention and give the theme of the magazine. The top gear logo is well known and the big, iconic masthead will definitely draw in an audience it is also at the top of the page so that it can be seen in the stacking of magazines. The BBC logo is simply to show that it's a BBC magazine and the quote is there to give an insight to the celebrity story in the magazine (in this case, about Jeremy Clarkson). The coverlines are there to give an insight on the magazine's content and are normally on the left, also due to the way the magazines are stacked.

Lifestyle Magazines Worksheet 1

homework on positive and negative representation of women in music videos

1st negative video: Meek Mill ft. Young Chris  -House Party

Mise en Scene: Most women in this music video are wearing clothes that show a lot of skin, which suggests that all they want to do is get together with the men by looking attractive. They are also (as the song name says) at a house party, which normally have bad reputations for things such as trashing the house, as well as having reputations for everyone being careless, getting drunk and a lot of people getting sexual. There appears to be a scene at a bar which gives the impression of women (although, in fairness, men too) getting drunk at parties.

Cinematography: A lot of the shots zoom in on the girls and track them, which could imply that they want to get noticed, this is also portrayed by the close ups of them. The mid shots/long shots of them with the men suggests that these women are there more for the reputation of the party than the party itself (by that I mean that they want the men to notice them and they try to get involved with what the men are doing). There are a few 360 shots and pans which could be suggesting that the girls want to show themselves off.

2nd negative video: The Roots -What They Do

Mise en Scene: The women in this music video are wearing either their underwear or bathing suits which is an immediate implication of them being eye-candy or objects of desire. They all seem to be at the house of a rich person and go with them to other places which could suggest that they are trying to impress the rich guys and only care about representation instead of the person they're actually with.

Cinematography: just like the Meek Mill song, almost all of the cinematography consists of zooms, pans and mid/long shots. This, once again, suggests that the girls are trying to show themselves off to the men and be involved with them. Which is kind of the entire point of the music video scenes that involve the women.

Positive Video: Lindee Link -The Next Time

Mise en Scene: Lindee and all the other girls in this music video are wearing perfectly acceptable clothing, which doesn't even need a description to why it's positive, it's just the opposite to the others. The scenes involve a forest pathway (specifically on a bridge over a river), a coffee shop, a silver back wall, a black back wall and a runway. A forest is a nice, refreshing, natural place to be which could represent the personality of Lindee by saying that she is kind and happy with who she is. The coffee shop is a general place for people to be when they want a break and it is almost the opposite to a club or party, which are the places normally shown in negative music videos. The runway is an open place which could suggest she is happy to be free with who she is and not narrow her choices down to just rich guys or celebrities. The black wall was mainly just there to represent the sad moment and the silver wall for the good times. She is wearing minimal jewellery (an earring and a ring) which are perfectly reasonable things for a woman to wear and they're not there to give her a representation of looking rich to buy it all. Her make-up consists of eye-liner and lipstick, which, once again, is a perfectly reasonable and normal for a sensible woman to wear.

Cinematography: There are many close-ups in this music video which I think are there to make the viewers feel more connected to her. The camera shakes a lot which could be a suggestion of her having strong feelings (relating to her lyrics). Other cinematography used are pans, tilts and 360 shots. The tilts and pans are mainly there to show that what she's feeling doesn't stay the same and her feelings are constantly changing whilst the 360 shot is probably there to show that she's made a turnaround (because she's forgetting about the past and moving on which is what the song is about). The final usage of cinematography are long shots which I think (again, relating to the meaning of the song) that she's keeping the ex-boyfriend away so that he stops hurting her feelings).

photoshop 2

Last time, i wrote instructions on how to make a hollow circle. I knew this but I didn't know how to make thick, curved lines

to do this, you use the pen tool, tap on one spot and then hold your mouse on  another spot and drag. This creates a curve. You can then right click the curve and select 'stroke path' to turn it into a line made with the same thickness of your brush.
The pen tool can also be used to easily make straight lines.

The pen tool may sound easier than making a hollow circle, but it's not. If you use it incorrectly you'll end up making loops in your curves or, if the lines are wrong in comparison to your brush, you may get an ugly line at a thin part. Making a curved point (cat's claw shape) can also be difficult to do if you don't know what you're doing (you need to tap, drag, tap in the right positions). It takes a lot of experimentation to succeed with the pen tool, even if you do know how to use it. It's not the most complicated thing in photoshop but you must make sure that you use it correctly and drag (or not drag) the mouse correctly to not make a mistake.

Representation homework 2

Statement 1: In many rap videos women have no identity except as sexual playthings and "eye candy"

Statement 2: These images do provide pleasures to some viewers. But the concern is that men may internalise the notion that women are nothing more than sexual objects waiting to be used.

Statement 3: These sorts of images are not unique to hip hop. Objectified female bodies are everywhere. They appear throughout our culture in films, advertisements, television programmes etc. However, within music videos, this is virtually the ONLY vision of women available.

Statement 1: This is a fairly reliable explanation of women in rap videos. This is shown in many videos such as: 50 cent - in da club, the roots - what they do and Sir mix a lot - baby got back.

Statement 2: This is most likely true. No-one can say that it definitely is but it's likely. The concern is also possible because human nature is to see everything of a certain 'category' (e.g. women) that they like as the category as a whole (so they will see these women like this, like it and then that idea will get stuck in their heads) this is, in essence, humans being stereotypical towards women after seeing them in those videos because that's what they've seen them as and, as I've said, because we focus more on what we like, that's how that particular stereotype forms.

Statement 3: this is mainly true because this is how the media wants to display women. The media wants a sort of 'beauty standard' for women to get a wider audience interested in the media, they mainly do this to get this wider audience to spend money on magazines, etc. for the women, earning companies money. One difference is that it isn't the ONLY vision available. It may be the main vision, but not the only one. In a few videos women will just be seen as an audience or a general friend. The media wants to display women like this but there could be problems and complaints if they only portrayed women as eye candy or playthings.

This is only my view on the statements because anyone can see them differently but in general, I believe that these statements are almost completely true with a small amount of exceptions.

WWW EBI representation of stereotypes

WWW: Video format
             Detailed answers
             Clarity of communication
EBI: Put the points up at the time in the video
        Back up points with pictures of when and where in the video
        We could have presented ourselves as well as with the video
           

Hip hop presents a very rigid and narrow version of manhood - one that suggests that to be a "real man" you must be strong and tough, you must have a lot of women and money, you must always be in control, and you must always dominate women and other men.

If you do not live up to these ideals, you will be ridiculed for not being man enough. You will be called names like "soft, weak and wimp"

This statement accurately describes the stereotype of Hip-Hop. If you look at Justin Bieber's music video 'boyfriend', there are a lot of girls and a lot of expensive cars to support the women and money idea. You will also notice that a lot of young adults in the videos, normally partying, showing off or showing that they are a tough person, supporting the strong and tough 'real man' idea. It also normally shows them as the main attaction, being looked at and respected by everyone else, supporting the domination idea. In some music videos, you will see the men that are not cool, tough, etc. being bullied and mistreated. This can be seen in 'white and nerdy' by 'Weird Al' Yankovic, where the nerd is disrespected by the cool men.

In conclusion, I do agree with these statements because most hip hop videos will show some form of them, whether it's having money and being cool, or being disrespected because you're not. The whole point of a hip-hop video is to produce a stereotype that the cool guys get all the 'good' things in life (such as cars and girls) to try and persuade the viewers into following that stereotype. The videos are, in essence, trying to make the audience have more of a gangster personality than a geeky one. This could be because the gangsters in life like who they are but the geeky people want to be more like them so that they're more respected. 

learning something new in photoshop.


I didn't know how to make a hollow circle in photoshop but i found out how. You choose the ellipse tool, then you go to fill and choose no fill before going to stroke and choosing anything other than 'no stroke'. What I looked up said that you had to 'hold shift and drag your mouse' to create the circle but I'm not sure that you need to hold shift.

Connotation / Denotation Homework

Media Homework.1)2)3)4)5)6)7)8)9)10)1) The cover has a cartoon style, scary characters and fire and magic lurking around. There is 'the devil' and an old witch. The witch is wearing modern, loose clothing. The typography of the text is: informal, red, fairly big text with a white outline with not much space between the letters and looks very comic-like with different shapes to normal fonts.    The loose clothing on the witch could represent an urban/gangster theme to the album. The devil could suggest a rock album where there is a lot of shouting and people often associate the devil with rock music. The style and design of the whole album gives a very informal feel and the magic lurking around could suggest that this album is out of the ordinary. The text just gives an overall evil feel and the strange shape of it could suggest that the album is about strange things2) The cover has the back of a man's blue jeans with what appears to be some sort of red hat hanging on. You can see the back of his white shirt too and the m,an is in front of a red and white striped background.    The colour scheme represents the the album being quite bright and happy whilst the type of clothing suggests that it is a casual, everyday album to listen to.3) You can see a black glove on a white trouser leg on a white background.    The black and white could suggest that the album contains more sad and moody songs than number two. The white trouser leg on the white background may also suggest that the meanings of the songs may be unclear whilst the black and white could suggest a level of contrast in the songs that works well.4) The album cover is very dark with 4 people that appear to be old fashioned with unhappy faces.    Black can be associated with power and elegance, which ties in well with what the people are wearing and the power that they suggest with their facial expressions. However, black can also be thought of as a colour of grief and death, suggesting that there would be some sad songs.5) A black background with some sort of grey pattern on it.    The colour scheme and weird pattern could suggest a sense of mystery within the album. The pattern could also suggest inspiration, showing that something can come from nothing (the black background)6) Two people are shaking/holding hands and they are surrounded by many warehouses. There is blue sky behind them.     The two people shaking hands could represent friendship, suggesting that the album with have a bright, happy feel. The warehouses may suggest that it is a big album with a lot of songs on it or that it may sell well and the album cases would fill up a large amount of warehouses.7) Three people are standing next to a memorial on a hill with a cloudy background.     The entire look of the album cover suggests that it has a sad theme and the hill suggests that the songs could be about people having a tough time and finding it hard to go ahead.8) The whole album is pink and stripy.     The pink suggests that it's a girly album and the single colour suggests that it is simple and basic. The stripes go in contrast with that, suggesting that there is something worthwhile and interesting there.9) Men wearing black and a woman in the middle wearing white on a black and white striped background.    The fancy clothing could suggest that the songs there are good for celebrations such as wedding parties. The black and white, as i mentioned before, suggest that the songs could be quite basic and there is a level on contrast in the album.10) The picture is a man's face on a black background.       Once again, this album feels mysterious and the fact that it's a man's face could suggest that the songs in the album are about/relate to him.

This is the waterloo road logo. It looks like it is made out of school tables and looks quite like there is mess around them. These school tables symbolise that the show is about a school and the mess around the tables represents the disrespect for the school that we saw in the opening scene of the show. The logo is designed to show a school and the disrespect there is for it. If I could change the logo i would make it a bit more dull instead because the bright colours give the idea that the school shines out and is good whereas it's disrespected and is failing. The main target audience is probably schoolchildren and because the logo is based around school tables it represents them.

These are the cast members of waterloo road. The wide variety of characters represents that everyone dislikes and disrespects the school and that the school is more of a place for people to make themselves known than for students to work and for just a few to stand out. In the separate pictures they are mainly frowning or other expressions other than smiling and with the photo of the students they are all smiling. This shows that the students care more about each other than they do about their school and education and would just prefer to 'hang out'. All of the teachers have a blank expression which represents that they don't care about the school anymore because of the behavior of the students. All the schoolchildren look around 16-17 which is the stereotype age for them. because when you think of secondary/high school, you normally think of the older ages and not the 12-13 year olds. Maybe younger students could be added to the show to make it more realistic. However, to make the show less realistic, you could add the stereotype 'love story' characters that you often get in sows involving school. The most realistic characters are probably the teachers, they are normal people who are having trouble dealing with the very difficult schoolchildren and, if you look at realistic schools, you can find teachers that struggle to deal with worse children than at this school.

The program is scheduled to broadcast every thursday at 8PM on BBC. It is broadcasted on a school day and after school. Because it is a school day it gives more of an atmosphere because the children watching this in the evening will have already been at school. Effectively, the fact that children can watch this on a school evening and compare how bad that school has done compared to them, encouraging good behavior. This could also suggest that the good parts of the students' school days are in the evening rather than the boring part of the school day. On ITV1, Emmerdale airs at the same time and gadget man is aired on channel 4. These are both soaps/comedies and Waterloo road has the same sort of theme. These shows are only on certain channels because there is a big competition to make the best soap/comedy

Waterloo Road Connotations And Denotations:
At the start of Waterloo Road's introduction, you see a boy smashing a window. He, like everyone else, does not wear the proper uniform. This suggests that they have no respect for the school and d not care for it. The boy was wearing a white shirt, a green jumper,  a big medallion and jogging bottoms. You also see many people in the introduction arguing and fighting which represents that the school has not impacted their discipline. There is one scene where you see a boy in a hoodie, a sideways cap and other  clothes that would suggest that he is a gangster, looking shifty, doing something (possibly trading) with another boy in a leather jacket. At one point you see the teachers standing in the middle of the playground smoking. They are not doing any work and this suggests that they don't care for the job, they just needed it and wanted it to be the end of the day. They are also not stopping the students from doing all the mischief they're getting up to which again shows how little they care for the school and the students. At the end you see the head teacher / principle getting really angry and throwing various paper-based objects off of the roof. He has possibly been driven insane by how bad the school is being run by the teachers and how disrespectful the students are.

Media Diary

Media Diary

I started my Friday morning by using the alarm clock on my phone to wake me up. The alarm on my phone is simple and efficient and i don't need a separate alarm clock. Before I went to school I used my tablet's internet to check when the bus was coming (this is so that I don't have to wait at the bus stop for ages). When walking down the streets, I saw advertisements on buses and the sides of the road that are there to get me interested in products. Throughout the school day I used various pieces of technology such as computers and looking at 'smart' boards. When I went home, I used my computer to talk to my friends via Skype and watch videos on YouTube for entertainment.

On Saturday I woke up late and didn't have time to do much so the day pretty much consisted of me playing games on my computer, talking to friends on Skype and watching Top Gear on the television.

This morning (Sunday), I woke up to my alarm clock once again so that i could go to church. I then took the same small journey down to my bus stop so that I could get there. When I got there, the theme of the week was the youth. So i used a microphone to talk to the church members and watched the big screen as the youth trip was shown. I then got the bus home and went on my computer for the rest of the day.

GCSE media has started