Presentation Feedback

WWW:

• Effective starter activity as it was visual and lead to paired discussions
• The handout included good content
• There was a good historical overview 
• There were well designed PowerPoint slides 
• We used keywords such as broadsheet 
• There was a reference to new technology and synergy 
• We had a good presentation style as we were clear 
• We addressed the political angle

 EBI:

• We could have asked why people may think the picture would/would not be on The Guardian's Gallery
• Summarise the content on the handouts 
• Define and explain the keywords 
• Elaborate on the political angle

WWW: 

   - It addressed all the points that we needed to address

   - It was clear and simple 

   - There were visual elements 

EBI: 

   - Go into more detail with the different aspects of the newspaper 

   - Talk about the newspaper as a political paper 

   - Include more facts 

Media Institutions

The Guardian

It was founded by John Edward Taylor in 1821 and it was influenced by the Peterloo Massacres and the anti-corn laws campaigns. It is a broadsheet newspaper, which was the first to be fully coloured. It is also globally recognizable as an international newspaper; it covers a range of different media platforms, such as the applications and online.

BBC

The BBC's remit is to inform, educate and entertain, which the Rethian values; the values that John Reith, the founder of the BBC, wanted to achieve. The BBC is a PSB (Public Service Broadcaster) that, we as UK residents, pay for through the TV license fee. BBC also has other channels, having a large synergy basis, BBC2/3/4 and also radio stations. They also have BBC iPlayer for on demand catch up TV. 50% of their expenditure is on TV so most of the things produced are TV rather than radio.

Twitter

Jack Dorsey founded Twitter in 2006. Twitter uses User Generated Content (UGC) to convey it's message as it is a public site. Twitter also owns Vine, which is a rapidly growing video site. Twitter is ranked one of the 10 most visited social media platforms, however the number of users was overtaken by Instagram. There are also some issues associated with Twitter as it is quite controversial due to the fact that it can be used to organise protests and these can spread rapidly. Negative publicity can also be viral very quickly, which is a disadvantage of the social networking site.

News Corporation

It was founded in Australia by Rupert Murdoch and is split into two subsidiaries; News Corporation and 21st Century Fox because Murdoch wanted to focus on both the media and publishing. It is a conglomerate, which has many other assets worldwide used to promote each other. News Corp own some of the most well-known newspapers such as The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. They also own HarperCollins Publishers, which is the world's largest English language book publishers.

The Walt Disney Company

The company was founded by Walt Disney and is a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It is the second largest conglomerate, after Comcast, in the world. They use Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) in their family animations; the most iconic of these images and characters being Mickey Mouse. The synergy involved in Disney is so varied; from merchandise to radio. Disney itself is so broad as it has Walt Disney Pictures, Disney Land, Disney Live, Disney Store, Disney Channel, Disney Comics and many more outside the Disney brand, such as Marvel and ABC.

ITV

The ITV was founded in 1955 and is the biggest commercially founded programme, controlled by Ofcom. It is a commercial broadcaster which has synergy, from ITV2/3, ITV player, weather, news ect. ITV is not owned or operated by just one company but instead many licensees. It is regulated by Ofcom and the TV show with the most viewers (20th September) was Downton Abbey, which had 8.08 million viewers.

Sony

Sony Corporation is a multinational conglomerate head quartered in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1946 by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka. It's primary focus is electronics and owns Sony Pictures/Music/Computer Entertainment and Sony Mobile Communications. It is the parent company of the Sony Group. Sony own Columbia Pictures, which is their biggest acquisition so far. They own CBS Record Group, Naughty Dog, Bigbig Studios and many more companies.

Vivendi

Vivendi is a French multinational mass media company, primarily focused on digital entertainment. It owns Canal+ Group, which is a pay- TV channel and movie producer in France. The water company Compagnie Générale des Eaux, branched out into transport, construction, property and more; in the 1990s, they expanded into mass media. They then changed the name to Vivendi and launched digital channels in other countries.

Viacom

Viacom, Inc is an American global mass media company, who focuses on cinema and cable TV. In terms of revenue, it is the 6th largest broadcasting and cable company. National Amusements, which is owned by Sumner Redstone, has voting control over Viacom. Viacom was produced from CBS Corporation. Viacom also owns DreamWorks. The synergy created after Viacom signed a contract with Microsoft allowed both Microsoft and Viacom to advertise with and through each other. Microsoft also collaborate on promotions with the BET and MTV awards, which are also owned by Viacom.

The Guardian Newspaper

Print Advert Analysis

This print is advertising the women's fragrance 'Hypnotic Poison' and is produced by Dior.

The image is of a glowing woman laying down, who has a snake wrapped around her neck.The woman seems almost like an audacious femme fatale as her pose is seductive as her lips are slightly parted, connoting a flirtatious expression also as she is addressing us directly with her eyes, we can almost say that she is trying to put the audience in a trance, due to her wearing the perfume. Perhaps wearing this perfume can cause you to mesmerise someone.
The femme fatale's face is not shot directly portrait yet rotated slightly, exposing more of her neck, which is another flirtatious sign conveyed within this poster. Her dress is tight, revealing her curves and also the shot is a medium shot, which suggests her provocative nature. Also the snake around her neck connotes poison and sin, the fact that the composition of this picture merges the snake and her dress, due to the colours being the same and also the patterns, suggests that she herself is poisonous, due to wearing this perfume.
The colour of the whole poster is almost an immense shade of purple, suggesting that she has supremacy. The colour purple signifies wealth and importance; she is completely immersed within the shade making her seem highly important; this highlights the fact that wearing this fragrance makes you powerful and passionate.

The background lighting is dark, making the woman appear mysterious, however the lighting on the woman is not low-key; this expresses her dominance as she is not afraid to be in the light. Perhaps wearing this perfume gives women control and to have the ability to be supreme.

The name of the perfume is centre-right, which is ideal as we look from left, starting at her face, then follow the formation of her body, ending at the text. The text is clear and easy to identify, the French tag line below reading, 'Dior est mon Poison' translating to 'Dior is my poison,' re-emphasises the entrancing nature of this poster. French is essentially 'the language of love,' provoking a very passionate poster, with an audacious atmosphere created by the model. The brand name is in the top-right corner, which is a symbol for the branding as their logo is conventionally in the top-right.

The subject matter of this poster is the perfume, which is in the left corner of the poster. Even though the woman takes up more of the poster in size, we can clearly identify the subject matter being the perfume as Dior is such a famous fragrance brand.

The target audience is women, although the woman appears provocative and shows sex appeal, this engages women as they want to be like her; having the audacity that she does and being as bold as she is on the poster.

The dominant reading of this poster is that wearing this perfume can potentially provide the targeted demographic with a sense of supremacy and we can infer this through the semiotics displayed; such as her facial expression revealing quite a powerful and strong woman, having the ability to hypnotise anyone. On the other hand, the oppositional reading is that this woman is too strong and as we are in a society that dominantly follows the idea of patriarchy, this completely conflicts that and therefore could be seen in a negative way. Also, although this woman is not revealing a lot, she is still provocative within her facial expression and body language, therefore this opposes the idea of feminism too as she believes she is overpowering and manipulating men through her and of course the perfume.

Reading An Image

This advert poster has been endorsed by 50 Cent, promoting the Reebok brand name.

The poster denotes a very serious looking 50 Cent, his quote and a tag line which covers the poster. Also the brand logo, Reebok, appears at the bottom right.

The whole poster is monochrome with various shades of black and white included within the imaging. The use of monochrome may be reflective of the rappers past and how he has been through dark times. This is further supported by his background being purely black. He himself is directly addressing the audience, within his pose, and looking towards the light essentially, connoting his 'enlightenment' or the fact that he has moved past his darkness and is now emerging from the shadows.  His eyes are intimidating as his expression is stern and almost angry, perhaps connoting his deception as an individual. The fingerprints are denoting his identity yet connoting the fact that he has a criminal record and he is not ashamed to hide that.

The composition of this poster is particularly interesting as both his fingerprints and him himself take up the same amount of space, both equally sized. Here we can assume that this is deliberately done to suggest that his wrongdoings are who he is and he can't change his fingerprints so he cannot change his past. The lighting of the poster creates a mysterious atmosphere for the audience but also makes the poster bold and explicit. Although it is not bright, in lighting or colour, it is still bold and it still stands out, making it seem much more powerful, supporting the fact that 'pictures speak louder than words,' as before even reading the text, we as the audience are intrigued.

The type of shot used is a medium close-up on 50 Cent, adequately showing his expressions and emotions without deterring our attention from the right side of the poster too.
The tag line across the poster reads 'i am what i am,' again representing the idea of identity. The typography is in a serif font, which is quite traditional, connoting him as a classic rapper. Furthermore, as the 'i' is not capitalised it could specifically connote to the audience that no matter who you are, you can pursue your dreams and achieve whatever you want to achieve, regardless of how grammatically correct you are or how educated you are. However, the use of the sans-serif font for his quote, connotes his modern edge. This type of font is clear to read and has a more simple design, perhaps this is used to simply and explicitly communicate the message to the audience; it's so powerful that it does not require any fancy calligraphy or flicks, just minimalistic font.

The subject matter of this poster is to essentially advertise the Reebok brand as there is no product on this particular poster, therefore the aim of this poster is to promote the brand. The subject is potentially success and individualism, on the whole and Reebok may have been attempting to tell the audience, through the use of 50 Cent, that regardless of what has happened in your past, these Reebok products can essentially help you reach success and find out who you are as an individual.

The target audience is mainly youths and we can assume this by the use of 50 Cent promoting the brand. Young people would be interested with this product as soon as they see 50 Cent, who is primarily addressing the audience with his eyes and communicating with us. The use of the quote also shares a bit of his life with us and gets the audience to connect with him, therefore attracting the younger demographic.

The dominant reading of this poster is that no matter who you are and what troubles you have experienced in your past, we all have the ability to rise to success through the Reebok brand. We can tell this as the image on the right, fingerprints, connotes criminality however this has been expressed in a positive light as it shares the message that everyone can be whoever they want to be, even if you do have a criminal record. However, the oppositional reading is that this poster almost promoting criminal behaviour. The Hypodermic Needle Theory expresses that the mass media has a direct influence on the targeted demographic, therefore conveying a message of  'being a criminal is good,' provides a negative impact upon society. The stereotype of black people being criminals has been institutionalised and the fact that 50 Cent is on this poster freely promoting misconduct produces a bad image for both him and the brand. 

Media Consumption Audit

Newspapers

• I very rarely read newspapers, however when I do I usually read the stories that are headlined and bold. I do this because they catch my attention; the most striking headlines intrigue me to read more about the story. I never read the government and politics section of the newspaper as I am not particularly interested in politics. Although it does affect me, I feel as though it doesn't, therefore I never read it. Usually, I read the tragic stories as they are more shocking and thought provoking. To be honest I have never bought a newspaper in my life, normally my dad would buy the newspaper and everyone else in my family would just read it. I much prefer to look through online newspapers on my phone as it is quick and easy. Also, with the app, the headlines of top stories flash onto my screen so I am always up to date with the recent news and am aware of what's going on around the world. 

Magazines

• Magazines do not particularly interest me as the content is not always as compelling as the front cover. The most intriguing magazines are music ones; such as NME, however I would only ever buy this magazine if there is an interview with an artist I liked. 

Television

• Weekly, I probably watch about 4 hours of television and I would usually watch it in the evening, after doing all my work. On TV I don't really watch a variety of channels, it's customary for me to just watch Comedy Central, programmes such as; Friends, Impractical Jokers, Two and a half men. Now and then I also watch Coronation Street but that's only when my parents are watching television. I prefer watching comedy shows as it is more entertaining for me. In the evenings, my parents normally just put on what they want as I'm not too fussed when it comes to television programmes. I prefer watching TV series' like Gotham and also on Netflix, Dexter. Watching shows on Netflix provides flexibility as I can pick up from where I left off and also do not need to keep remembering to record the programme. I would usually watch this on the PlayStation or on my phone. The advantages of watching TV on my phone is that I can watch programmes whenever I want and when on the move. 

Radio

• The only time I listen to the radio is when I am in the car and I hardly ever listen to it. Normally, I like listening to Westside Radio, however the radio hosts are terrible so I usually switch between Kiss too as I like the Kisstory part of the radio. I like to listen to my own music rather than the radio as the music is predominantly mainstream on the radio, something that I do not enjoy. 

Cinema

• In the last month I have been to the cinema once to watch Sinister 2. Commonly, I watch movies online or on apps like ShowBox. Recently, I have watched Mad Max and Spy. In the cinema, I watched the movie with my friends but at home I usually watch films alone or with my family; we all decide what film to watch and come to a mutual agreement. Typically, I watch films on the PlayStation, using Netflix, or on TV or my phone. 

Online

• Daily I access the internet. I use the internet at home, at school, when I'm out, pretty much anywhere and everywhere. Regularly, I access the TFL Bus times site, I also always look at music news online; Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q news mostly. I use social media apps such as; WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. I use these to communicate with friends and for entertainment purposes and the reason why I use these particular sites is because they are interesting as they provide me with the knowledge of my favourite music artists. In addition to this, they would promote their music on every media platform available, therefore belonging to Instagram and Twitter,for example, is informative. Furthermore, I use online shopping sites as it is quicker and easier to search specifically for what I am looking for. The primary device I use to access the internet is my phone and I use the laptop when doing my homework so would use that device to access the internet then. 

Action Plan:

My action plan is to watch a variety of more television programmes and also listen to the radio more often. This would therefore broaden my media consumption. 

Introduction

I chose A Level media because I really enjoyed the GCSE. I'm really creative and love coming up with new and unique concepts and this subjects allows me to do exactly that.
Media, on a whole, is definitely an important and essential aspect in today's society. Daily, the media is growing, changing and developing and the new media is our future.
I want to learn how to expertly put together and edit a film, making it look as unique and intriguing as possible.
Above all else, I am interested in the music industry of the media, simply because it is constantly developing. With music videos, I think the directors are more free to be more ambitious within the way they portray the video, whilst there is more of a limit with film.
My media experience is limited to GCSE media.

Alongside Media, I am also studying Graphics and English Literature.