Big Issue Dirt Sheet

Q4 Dirt Sheet

DIRT sheet question 1

End of Year 12 assessment DIRT sheet

Media in the time of COVID-19

Music Video Analysis 

Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist(s). Refer to one of the music videos you have studied to support your answer. [10]

In production of a music video, representations are selected very carefully as they can have a large effect on the meaning of the song, how it is reacted to by the audience and how they perceive the production. 

For the music video of 'Stop Where You Are' by Corrine Bailey Rae, the representations shown in the video are clearly seen and work in partnership with the lyrics of the song. The main theme of the song is about helping others less fortunate than yourself and putting them before you as it can brighten up their day before being on your way. The video consists of multiple people of different ages going about their day to day life. The video shows how a few minutes of your time can positively impact someones day. The first person we are shown in the video is a teenage girl. This part of the video is filmed in a long shot angle to show that she is alone and potentially vulnerable. The girl has her hood up which could potentially show that she is trying to hide something or that she could be upset by something, maybe other people who have not treated her as they should have. Corrine Bailey Rae come to sit down with the girl in the dark corridor where she is situated. Corrine shows an attempt to make the girl feel better which is her main message from the song.
We next see an adult woman. The woman is also on her own and seems to be homeless or sleeping rough. The video shows a man in a suit (potentially a businessman) passing the woman. The fact that the man is in  business attire carries the connotations of him being wealthy or maybe just well off, however, he is still in a better position than the homeless woman. As he passes the woman, the woman pleads for help. The man walks on but then after some time, returns with a coffee for her and begins to have a conversation with her. As the conversation proceeds, the woman begins to show a smile and it seems that her mood is lifted as she has been acknowledged as another equal person. The differences in age between the people in the video show that you can fid anyone from any age or any background in  difficult situation and it is important to treat them as an equal and with respect. As well as using differences in age to portray the message, the video also uses differences in class to represent the message that is trying to be conveyed through the song.

Lucozade 'I Believe'

Old Spice Slides

Old Spice Work

DIRT 2B

Advertisement

big issue slides

The Big Issue

The Big Issue 

Key Terms

Circulation - Number of copies a magazine sells

Readership - Not just who buys a magazine but the total number of people likely to read it

Mass Audience - readership on a very large scale

Niche Audience - narrow group of readers with a particular interest 

Subscription - where a reader pays for a set number of copies of a magazine in advance at a lower price and receives them by post

Masthead - the title of the magazine

Plug - text that 'plugs' a feature that will appear inside the magazine

Puff - a story that is given prominence on the cover

Cover Star - the 'star' featured on the cover

Anchorage Text - text that anchors the main image and gives it context/meaning

Banner - text that runs across the lower section of the cover

Skyline - text that runs across the top of the cover

Without advertising, no magazine could survive.  If a magazine did not contain ads, then its COVER PRICE would be three or four times greater .

The INCOME for a magazine comes from both sales and advertising.  On average, advertising accounts for 70% of magazine income.

A magazine with a small CIRCULATION is more dependent on advertising than one with a large circulation.

What is the Big Issue?

Set up in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick
Sold only on the streets
Sold by people facing poverty and homelessness as a way to make their living
Built a reputation for access and attitude
It eventually went global selling in Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Kenya, France etc
It nows helps the poorest of people around the world to make a living to give them a better quality of life
Sold over 200,000,000 copies since its launch in Britain alone
Brands who trade with a social purpose can now sell through the 'BIg Issue' website
The Big Issue Invest provides finance for social businesses who work hard to help dismantle poverty
The Big Issue enables people to make a difference
About 100,000 copies of 'The Big Issue' are sold each week

Most widely circulated street newspaper
Hybrid genre (entertainment and social business)
Entertainment aspect attracts advertising revenue
Editorial content if often critical of big business, banking and champions the political cause and role of the individual within society 
Costs £2-50 / £1-25 goes to the trader

Inspired a network of 120 similar street magazines 
Primary objective
Independent publication to offer a public service and to try and improve a social problem

2000 vendors

'Ethical Capitalism'

Ethical Capitalism seeks to build deep, trust-based relationships in the service of society as well as the bottom line. In other words, it is a business model with a “higher purpose.”

Minecraft Construction

Minecraft slides

Radio 1 Production questions

What was the task you were assigned?  Construct a Radio 1 breakfast show video
Who was in your group and what was everyones role in the task? my group consisted of Hannah and I, Hannah recorded the audio and I was the main host on the radio show
What fresh ideas did you bring to the programme? The ideas I bought were the social media mentions which interacted with the audience to bring them closer to the show
Who did you interview? I interviewed Monique who was playing Mabel
What tracks did you chose and why? The track I chose was 'Still' by Loyle Carner as it is British and not so well known
What was the running order? The show started with the introduction by me, then went to the news with ben, then the interview with Mabel and finally the song to end it.
Who is your target audience? 16-29
How did you relate to/attract your audience? We used social media mentions to interact with our audience
How does the product fit the BBC/PSB remit? The product fits the remit as it includes new British music, current news affairs and showcasing of upcoming artists (Mabel)
What do you think could have improved in terms of content? I could have included a game to interact with the audience more
What was your initial feedback? It could have been more upbeat and excitable, I could have included a game to interact with the audience, the love of sound varied throughout the production which is something I need to work on
What went well? Things that went well included the content used such as the celebrity interview or news, the song was good for showing British music

Media Messages Section A - News

Stereotypes and Cultivation Theory

Media Representations are:

- Powerful

- Appear truthful

- Saturate our lives

- re-cycle existing ideas in our society 

- appear natural

Construction - The most Basic use of our media language - the layout of the page, the balance of image to text and the prominence that a story is given. If the lead front page is always dominated by stories by stories of asylum seekers and problems of illegal immigration then this will come to be seen by readers as the most important issue. The fact that such stories are repeated day after day reinforces this idea

Mediation - How newspaper or magazine photographs are cropped and captioned; how real life events are portrayed in a news report - which image is selected; what the caption says; amount of space allocated; front page or page 4

Selection - This refers to what has been selected to include in a media product. Stories that might offer a different view to that of the newspaper are often not reported or reported with a different spin

Stereotypes - The simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through basic or obvious characteristics - which are often exaggerated. They can be used to describe people quickly, relying on existing audience recognition. Stereotypes are dangerous as they can lead audiences to generalise about people or places

Ideology - The ideas and beliefs, held by media producers, which are often represented in their media products*: IN a newspaper, the ideology of the owner or senior editors could influence the way stories are represented, such as leading support to a particular political party 

Cultivation Theory :George Gerbner - The idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e. cultivating particular views and opinions). The idea that cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies)

Reinforcement Theory - 

Mean World Syndrome - Mean world syndrome is a cognitive bias where people perceive the world to be more dangerous than it actually is due to long-term, moderate to heavy exposure to violence-related content on mass media, mainly television.

12A Radio 1 Breakfast Show

radio 1 construction

Daily Mail Front Cover Analysis

For both front pages, the main story is that the ex Duke and Duchess of Sussex have decided to leave the royal family in pursuit for a more normal life. Both front pages are presented in different ways due to their political views and standpoints.
The daily mail is a conservative newspaper aimed at social groups ABC1 which are upper middle class, middle class and lower middle class. The daily mail is pro-monarchy so this story for them is more important than it is to the Guardian.
The Guardian is a more left-wing and labour favoured paper and is also aimed at ABC1 social groups. The Guardian is a more anti-monarchy so the relevance of this story is lower compared to the Daily Mail.
On the daily mail front cover, the story takes up the whole of the front page and is addressed as a 'Royal Bombshell Special Issue'. The font size is large and in bold. In yellow, 'WE QUIT' is used to stand out as it is the main focus of the headline. The language used on the cover of the Daily Mail makes the story sound more scandalous and serious whereas the language used on the cover of the Guardian makes the story seem less severe. As the Guardian is a more anti-monarchist paper the story is less relevant which explains the fact that the font size is smaller and the picture is smaller. The Daily Mail sees this story as more important as the are a pro-monarchy newspaper. To make the headline seem serious the Daily Mail state that the Queen is furious and that the Sussex's 'dramatically step down as senior Royals - WITHOUT telling Her majesty, Charles or William'. The use of capitals and words such as 'dramatically' make the article seem more interesting and exciting as it is seen as a sot of scandal. Unlike the Daily Mail, the Guardian has one than one story on the front page. Whereas on the Daily Mail cover there is no article discussing the topic, the article for the Sussex's is on the front page, perhaps giving a brief insight which will be further elaborated on in the paper.
On the cover for the Guardian other stories such as 'Trump edging away fro war with Iran' to 'Suzanne Moore on Elizabeth Wurtzel'. This shows that although it is big news, the Guardian do not feel that the story is important enough to warrant a special edition or a whole front page to its self due to its anti-monarchy stance, whereas the Daily Mail who are more pro-monarchy feel as though the story is important enough to have a special edition such as this which is titled 'Royal Bombshell Special Issue'
On the daily Mail cover, the picture is edited to make it more dramatic. The photographs on each cover are the same but just fro a different angle. The Guardian's picture looks unedited and natural whereas the Daily Mail's cover is seen to be edited to add effect. The colours look more saturated and shadows look like they have been added or darkened to create a sense of dramatisation.

News language

Radio

Summer Work

Task 1

In the trailer for Channel 4's 'Deutschland 83' the director uses split screen at the beginning to differentiate the character from when he is in uniform as a soldier compared to when he is undercover as a spy. The director uses split screen here to highlight the two different lives that the character is portrayed to play during the war; as a spy in the west, and as a soldier. in the east. The music used in this part of the trailer seems to be similar to that of a war documentary as it contains orchestral sounds and dramatic notes which add suspense and tension. The dramatic music then fades and blends into a typical 1980's style of electronic music.

The costumes used fit perfectly into the time period and make it easy for the viewer to follow the plot and understand when the character is a soldier or spy. When a soldier, the character is dressed in the army suit with the badges stitched onto the lapels of the blazer. In the trailer you see the character being handed a red Puma t shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of white Adidas trainers. Adidas and Puma are both were both German brands and very popular during the 80's because of their sporty as a well as stylish look incorporating bold colours. When wearing this, the idea for the character is that he fits in to the public and does not look suspect when undercover. 

When split screen is being used large white bold writing is used on either side contrasting each other such as; 'east' and 'west', 'over the wall' and 'undercover', and 'soldier' and 'spy'. This is used to contrast and create an opposite to show the complete opposite lifestyles that the character has to live.



Task 2

The 'Big 6' consists of; 20th Century Fox, Disney, Universal Studios, Paramount, Sony and Warner Brothers. However, now, it is the 'Big 5' as Walt Disney Studios bought '20th Century Fox' meaning that '20th Century Fox' is no longer part of the 'Big 6' as it is now owned by another company. The 'Big 5' all own other companies as well. 'Walt Disney Studios' owns companies such as 'Lucasfilm', '20th Century Studios', 'Marvel' and many others. Universal Studios owns companies such as 'Dreamworks' and 'Carnival Films'. Paramount Pictures has assets such as 'Nickelodeon' and 'MTV'. Sony owns companies such as 'Sony pictures animation' and 'Tristar'. Lastly, Warner Brothers, has assets such as 'TNT', 'Boomerang' and 'Cartoon Network'.
A recent product from Disney would be, 'Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker' which is the latest film production from the Star Wars franchise which has recently been bought by Disney. 'Rise of the Skywalker' included actors and actresses such as, Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver. The budget for this production was $275Million and profited at around $927.5Million.  Universal Studios have recently released '1917' which is a film set during WW1 and directed by Sam Mendes, actors such as George Mackay, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth and Mark Strong. The budget for this production was $90Million and profited at around $249Million. 'Joker' was produced by Warner Bros in 2019 and directed by Todd Philips. The budget for this production $55-$70Million and had profit levels of around $1.071Billion. The main actor of 'Joker', Joaquin Phoenix, played the Joker, and went through a lot of physical changes to be able to play the character. A lot of the acting during the production was improvised which added to the effect and authenticity of the acting.
'Rocketman' is a recent production from Paramount pictures about the life of world-wide superstar Elton John. The budget for this production was $40million and included a cast containing actors and actresses such as Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jamie Bell, Rocketman was directed by Dexter Fletcher and grossed $159.2million in box office. Lastly, a recent production from Sony is Bad Boys for life. The budget for this production was $90million and it grossed $226.9Million at the box office. Bad Boys For Life is directed by Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi and produced by Will Smith, Jerry Bruckheimer and Doug Belgrad. The big names starring in this production are Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig. Bad Boys for life is a follow up sequel from its prior 'Bad Boys' which was first produced in 1995.