Research: magazine front covers

 

Magazine Front Cover

 

Masthead keeping in with the rule of 3 whit grey and black.

The word British is presented in the masthead to say the audience that it is promoting British values being a British magazine.

"exclusive" Telling the audience that you will never find this anywhere else.

The text is surrounding the Celebrity and not covering him up creating the main focus. The preferred reader is someone who is a fan of Michael B Jorden and the Black Panther movie.

The use of "your" makes it more personal for the audience creating direct address.

mise en scene= The cover image for this magazine is a close up of a well know actor. He is well known through his sport career then switching to acting. Because he is American it links British and America together. He is represented through his clothes are chic and classy with the barea on his head but then cool and collected with his leather jacket on. The celebrity is looking straight at the camera with his body slightly turned away from it, creating direct mode of address. This creates a confident pose/posture.

There is a call to action with the website being under the cover line to find out more information. 

"Rise Up" is in a bigger font then the rest as it encourages the audience motivating them. this is serif typography. 

The background is plain and simple keeping with the theme of the magazine. The lighting is very dim of the actor to keep the darkness of everything else. 

This magazine gives credit to the people that write the separate stories.

NEA Brief 2023

Overall I find the brief quite challenging and overwhelming. Reading it felt daunting to me thinking that it's quite a lot.

Quite a lot of the briefs revolve around lifestyle. Lifestyle to me is who people live there life, from food to sports to clothes ect. Everything that people get involved in.
  

Brief no.1: Television and Online 

For this brief you have to  have a 3 minute opening sequence of a new lifestyle programme for Channel. I find this very challenging as I can't think of one lifestyle programme that is on TV at the moment.  

None of the program below are great but they don't meet the specific target audience for the brief. It wouldn't be anything interesting for 16-25 year olds, with it being such a huge age gap. People who are 25 probably don't like the same things as a 16 year old as they are in different stags of their lives. These types of programs are aimed at an older audience. This rules out brief one for the one that I want to do.

Brief no.2: Radio and Online

For this brief you have to create a 3 minute opening sequence of a new celebrity interview programme for a local commercial radio. I thought that this would be very hard to to the fact that you would have to get someone who can act like a celebrity but then still have two other people to interview the celebrity. You'd have to make up the celebrity as well, whilst providing a audience hook and interaction. 

When I looked up if there was any celebrity interview on the radio I found it hard as the ones I found were all BBC which is not a commercial radio. Although this would be better or the age gap as radio is more diverse in age. All together this rules out Radio for being my choice of brief.

Brief no.4: Music Video and Online 

For this brief you have to make a music video for an anthem, which according to the brief is a song that celebrates and inspires elation or pride. From the top of my head I couldn't think of any songs that were anthems. It makes it harder as well that the target audience is for people who are aspirational. I have found songs that are inspirational but are not necessarily anthems.
 

Stranger Things fandom, merchandise and marketing

2017 Superbowl trailer season 2

Netflix decided to start the trailer of with a homage, creating authenticity for a newer audience but  nostalgia from the older audience. This is due to Eggos becoming more popular with them using them in the show.

 

 Immediately the advert changes gear with this blurred effect, recreating what Will goes through with the multi-verse. This creates the suspension of disbelief. It immediately brings it into the present day.

This is part of their synergy making a recognisable brand for the series. When you see red, neon graphics people know that it links to Stranger Things. The sign of the logo is the same for the first season but with the added addition of the 2 in the background people will be more excited. This creates more fandom as people want more and are expecting more from the show, this new content with the same feel as the first season.

Throughout the trailer many thing are presented upside down creating synergy through the trailer. Branding it as their own, linking it all to the upside down world in the series.

Netflix relies on shows like this to create more money and gain popularity to keep the streaming platform going.

Posters of Stranger Things

 

Season 1 

This poster gives us many clues about the season ahead.

Will and his mum look really worried in their facial expressions. It's like they've seen something disturbing and unpleasant. This created a sense of mystery.

Under his mum Nancy is holding a baseball bat, like she is using it to defend herself from something, this could be the same thing that Will's mum and brother are looking at. There could be violence.

Under Nancy is Jonathan, he has the same facial expression as his mum and brother. But he looks like he's seen something wrong that he's just taken a picture of.

There is a sense of authority with the sheriff to the right of the group. Who could be there to help, with the radio in his hand he could be calling for backup. but he doesn't have the same concerned facial expressions as everyone else.

The light shining from the bikes suggest that these characters play a significant role, with Eleven in the middle of the poster. This is suggested by the fact that the girl is much bigger compared to the character around her. Eleven also gives the sense of science fiction with the power pose she showing, like she's controlling something with her hand.

To the bottom left of the poster there is a hazmat suite, glowing which links to science, connecting to  the lab building behind. this gives us a sense of science fiction and a problem that may accrue with the lab due to the suite glowing. This also creates a sense of mystery.

This poster set the brand for Stranger Things. The uses of dark, blues and reds became iconic of Stranger things. The logo also became recognisable, giving of the sense of the neon lights, that were popular in the 80's, shing in a bright red. The alphabet, with the lights in the background was also used as a key connection to the show. all these thing were used everywhere to represent the show. Especially with the fandom that came with the character Eleven, everyone cosplayed her.

Season 3

This poster is more brighter having a lot more characters in the poster, but still gives of the sense of Eleven is still being the main character, with the same pose as the original, this could mean that she still has the power she had in the first season.

The sheriff, Will, Nancy, Johnathan and the mum are still in the poster but had been significantly shrunken down from the original. Johnathan has still got the same pose with his camera suggesting that the camera plays a key role throughout. Nancy is now holding a pad and pen becoming more mature in this season. the others still have the same facial expression as the first poster, but this time they look like they are running towards something.

We have more character like : Steve, Max, Robin, Suzie and Erica.

The plot has definitely thickened from the first season due to the new character but also from the fact that we now know about the monster that has been threatening them all. Taking up one third of the poster, making it a huge deal. This gives the season a sense of sciences fiction again. it also gives the sense of mystery as we don't know what the monsters intentions are.

includes in this poster is a lot of triangles from the sign to the characters to the monster at the bottom. The neon sign gives the poster that sense of 80's again (when it was set) keeping it on brand. it also gives a 3-D feel to it. the sign is still on the same colour scheme of blue and red.

In the background there is more going on then in the first season. The fireworks are the same colour scheme going off in the background, which are normally used for celebrations, meaning that there could be triumph in this season. 

More fun is seen in the bottom left hand corner of the poster depicting a fun fair. But this looks like this could be ruined due to the man infront with a gun in the air.

In the right hand corner there is another character, Billy. He could be trouble due to him being separate from the rest of the characters. I think that the rats are also linked to him as they are all crawling at the bottom towards him, with some even being dead on the ground. the lighting for the corner is different, in a lighter blue standing out more from the black background. this creates a sense of mystery.

Still Stranger things are keeping it on brand with there logo, with a slight twist. The lettering is more crisp and clear, it doesn't glow as much with a smaller font. to represent the third season there is a huge 3 behind the lettering still in bright red.

Jungle Book 2016 evolving technology

 A bigger budget helped the film to advance into new more high quality technology. Using ground-breaking visual effects techniques - many of them led by UK-based company MPC - the aim of the filmmakers is to make the viewer feel for the first time that they are actually in the jungle with Mowgli, Baloo and the rest of the gang. Instead of shooting live-action, before cut-and-pasting animation on top, the filmmakers built the entire jungle within a computer, using footage from real Indian jungles for reference. Mowgli was filmed alone on a small Los Angeles soundstage and the world was then constructed around him. Once the jungle had been constructed, its animals needed to be turned into characters. Rather than applying motion-capture, they instead used the more complicated process of key-frame animation, using real animals for reference - to capture photo-realistic images of the creatures, but with the visual characteristics to express the emotions and vocal performances of the actors. The animals are not entirely realistic though. Wanting his film to reflect a childlike view of the world, many of the creatures and plants are slightly larger than their real-life counterparts, adding to the feeling that the audience is experiencing the jungle in the same way as Mowgli - as a small boy in a big world.

Creating this took over 800 artists to make more then 70 species of animals. This took a huge amount of time - because of his size and furry nature, it took artists almost five hours to create each frame of film featuring Baloo.

The History of Radio 1 Breakast show

The first breakfast show presenter was Tony Blackburn, who spoke the first words on Radio 1 and remained in the slot for nearly six years. Other DJs who have hosted the breakfast show for more than five years are former hosts Nick Grimshaw, Mike Read, Simon Mayo, and Chris Moyles. Moyles was the longest-serving Radio 1 breakfast show presenter, having hosted Radio 1's "The Chris Moyles show" for eight years from 2004 to 2012.

Tony Blackburn was the first voice on BBC Radio 1 and picked the first song to spin – The Move’s Flowers in the Rain. He started on the Pirate Station. Tony had said “There was a lot of stuff that came out of the 60s which actually wasn’t very good." “When I was on the pirate ships, being honest, we had 100 records coming in every week and if you had two really good ones out of that you were lucky. But the thing about the 60s is it was an interesting decade because so much happened within it. It was a revolution in radio certainly and I’m proud to have been a part of that.”

Nick left BBC Radio 1 in 2021, he said that he wanted to do something else as he had been at radio one for 14 years and ad interviewed everyone, twice. Nick joined the BBC in 2007 and co-presented a youth show with Annie Mac. He was made presenter of the Radio 1 Breakfast show in 2012, taking over from Chris Moyles. He stayed there for six years before swapping with Greg James and taking over the drivetime show.

He simple wants to move on.

Nick did have 10 million listeners weekly, doing 4 days a week. In 2020 it was changed to 5 days a week.

Greg James only presented the Breakfast show for 2 years, as he was then replaced by Dev and Alice Levine. Presenting the early breakfast show from October 2007, on 21 September 2009 replacing his Drivetime show. he had 4.72 million weekly listeners.

magazine copy cover

 

Magazine copy cover

 

One week old

 

The Big Issue

    

This version of The Big Issue is indexical of Christmas. With the different decorations that are to the left hand side of the front cover, these are joyful, kind and loving times. The baubles are the same colour and shape as the circle its hanging from. This is a bumper edition of the magazine, this is due to their ethos. There is more content in this magazine because it's closer to Christmas time. This is the worst time of year for the poor, so they upped their prices to give a little more at this time of year. "A hand up not a hand out" this is their splash head. The writing on this front cover is in red and an old fashion font, representing Victorian Christmas. The writing shares with us that people are not changing and are still ashamed about how the poor are still treated. Guarnlett theory can be used on this magazine as people will be influenced by this and how themselves treat the poor and what they can do to help. " Haunts" represents how scary this situation is. Cultural symbol on this front cover is the link to Dickens who created Scrooge and the Christmas Carol. He stands for poverty and equality as he has been poor himself when he was growing up. The candle that Scrooge is holding is symbolism of warmth, hope and having the money but just keeping it for themselves.   

 

Will.I.AM is the main focus of this front cover. He's popular with a huge name in the music industry. Baudrillard theory is used in the picture of Will.I.am as the image is hyper realistic, it's not really him, it's just him made up off tiny little pieces. This matched with the text being made up of the same shapes. Guantlett is also represented in this cover. The sentences around his head are representing not giving up, power and having ambitions like everyone else, building him up. A symbolic sunset makes up the background. Red is the power that he has and the yellow/oranges are the warmth around him. 

 

This cover of The Big Issue is from the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markel, who ended up moving out from England to America. This is using Curran and Seaton's theory because this is what everyone wants to see, because it was relevant at the time. Prince Harry and Megan have been hand drawn with them representing themselves as the issue as they are dressed like the people who hand them out. Gauntlett  is used to show they look gender neutral, with huge heads meaning that the magazine is still taking the mick of the royal family. At the bottom of the cake is the ethos of the magazine. It's a really important message that you can still achieve your dreams no matter what happens to you, like Davis Tovey, who had big things going for him then having every taken away from him. He's now not given up and continued to work him way back up, with the drawing of the front cover.