magazine

My magazine will be of the film genre type. It will be specifically aimed at new upcoming films, new film festivals/ film festival awards that recognise new directors etc. The edition of the magazine that I will create will specify in Thrillers for example Looper, Taken 2 and Argo. the cover will feature my star. It will include a section on me as a director also as indicated by one of the cover lines. 

magazine layout

Here I looked at the layout of a generic magazine cover and identified what each section was named at where each part was placed to really emphasise it's purpose.

Here my teacher gave me a flat plan of a magazine and told me to create just with words a magazine aimed for pre-teen to teenage boys.

As the picture isn't very clear I'll just outline what I have written. I have chosen for my Masthead- a simple font with no fancy bits- making it slightly more masculine and the colour to be Black with a white or red outline. This whilst making it stands out doesn't compromise of the masculinity.

I haven't done any logos as I personally think that a logo can cheapen the look of a magazine, and can also be seen as too feminine. 

For my tag line I want some slogan like 'Best boys mag in town' or something along those lines. I would like it written in black and in bold and capitals- for easy reading and it catches the audience's eye.

For my incentive I have chosen to have a large yellow star with 'FREE POSTERS!' written in it, the yellow isn't feminine but is very eye catching which works out perfectly.

My cover lines I would have either side of the models image, I would have written things like: 'How to get the girls- 10 top tips.' 'Sport- How to be the best.' 'New tunes' 'Style tips- How to impress 'n' be da best!' Things that young males would either relate to or would be impressed by.

The cover star I think would have to either be a sporting star like David Beckham, a current musician like Ed Sheeran or an actor/actress such as Chris Hemsworth or Mila Kunis. They would have to be attractive and have something to do with the content of the magazine, so the sporting star would in my opinion be the safest option.

Magazine

Different types:

• Glamour
• Fashion
• Gossip
• Sports
• Gaming
• Lads mag
• Music
• Teen
• Film
• Porn
• Gadget
• Hobbies/interests
• Agricultural
• TV guide
• Well-being
• Fitness
• Newspaper

These are the different types of magazines that I could think of, for my magazine, I will have to choose what type of magazine it would be and a lot of them wouldn't fit in with a film at all eg. the Agricultural and others would rely too much on the star eg. Fashion. As I'm not using well known actors this would be a problem.

I have whittled it down to a few options that I could use and they are:

• Music- as I could talk about the soundtrack chosen
• Film- for obvious reasons.
• Newspaper- Newspapers often help to promote local people creating something artistic
• Teen-This would depend on who your target audience is though and the age rating given, it would have to be a U, PG or a 12. 
• Lads mag- Lads mags often have bits about films but I think that the genre of the film would have to be an action/ horror or have a famous actor in it for it to be placed into a lads mag. 

I think that my best bet is Music magazines or Film magazines. 

I analysed one of each to help me to decide. 

magazines on Prezi

Magazine terminology from Oliviacalleja

graphic narrative analysis

Here I have done a brief analysis of two different graphic novels one is Superman and the other is Crankshaft.

Superman

Graphic narrative analysis on Prezi



Crankshaft

Graphic narrative analysis on Prezi

Audience

When creating my film trailer I am going to have to consider who i'm going to aim it at. I need to consider various different things such as age, gender, ethnicity, economic status and more. I looked at The Beano as one example.

BEANO

Target audience: Boys/ children- dennis is the focus and young boys want to be as rebelious as him.

Age: 7-12 years old- Boys at this age can relate to Dennis, any older and they grow out of it.

Education: Comprehensive schooling as it focuses on the misbehaviour of Dennis and Dennis takes the mickey out of Walter for being rich.

Economic status: Dennis is poor, Walter is rich, Mickey take of Walter but Dennis is cool. Working class?

Ethnicity: White British. No other ethnicities involved in the Beano

Gender: Boys/male- boyish behaviour, potty behaviour.

VAL's: Working class jobs. Mum= traditional. Behaviour= school boy behaviour.


You watch the story through Dennis' eyes. You're on his side. He's in every single shot. Dennis is cool, he's the leader.

gender representation

Females

What is shown here?

• Boobs
• Legs
• Reds
• Yellows
• Sexy
• Skin tight clothing- revealing
• High heels- impractical but makes the character look more feminine as heels make your legs look longer and bum bigger.

Women are represented in graphic novels and films as sexual objects. They are always saved by the male characters or they help men. They are rarely the centre of attention more just side stories. Women are generally portrayed as weak and vulnerable, there are a few exceptions to this rule for example Lara Croft. For my film I will try to go against the female stereotypes as much as possible without making a character too alien to what the commerical audience is used to. 

Men

Men are shown in comic books as:

• Masculine
• Strong
• Dominant
• Main characters- therefore a lot more important
• Womanisers

Black characters:


Black characters rarely appear in old comics but when they do they are portrayed as:

• Poor
• Rebels/naughty
• Thieves
• Plain
• Criminal
• Really muscular or skeletal
• Aggressive

This stereotype is slowly dwindling, there has been a slight increase in Black characters with positive stereotypes for example: Falcon.


The Falcon is the first superhero of African descent not to have the word "black" as part of his superhero name. Although The Falcon first appeared in  Captain America #117 (September 1969) he hadn't really been seen in the public so the black culture didn't really have any superheroes to look up to until he appeared in the 2012 'Shawowland' storyline after which he becomes an operative in the new incarnation of the Heroes for hire team in the book of the same name. He later appears in the 2012 Avengers vs. X-men.

Image analysis

I looked at graphic narratives, other than the stereotypical comic book. I have looked at some work done by Dave Mckean.

'David McKean is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer 

filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found 

objects, digital art and sculpture.' Wikipedia

The illustration that I looked at showed different images of trees, leaves, an old man dead in bed, railway tracks, roadsigns, baseball ball.  What I like about this graphic novel page is the fact it doesn't look like the typical novel, it incorporates pictures with drawings and paintings. He uses a lot of yellow and green tones. This gives a sepia effect giving the impression of age. The yellow and greens are natural colours, this could be connoting that the life cycle this man in the story has gone through is natural and is something we will all have to face.The overall feel of the piece is depressive,dark, gloomy, tragic.
Although it doesn't look like a normal graphic novel it does follow a lot of the conventions of graphic novels. It has frameing and internal dialouge but the mixture of photography, collages and drawings gives it an individual feel to it.

Graphic Narrative Analysis

graphic narrative analysis on Prezi

Uses and gratification theory

Uses and gratification theory.

It is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications_theory

• Preferred/Dominant reading - The writer/producer's main aim, the viewer will enjoy it and it will fit their age group, gender or the target audience.
• Negotiated - The audience will consider viewing the media form, but perhaps reluctantly.
• Oppositional - The audience will refuse to watch the media form

I applied this theory to my personal life:

Entertainment(Excapism, relaxing,fill time, emotional release):

Next top model/Jonathon Ross show- I like these shows because it's easy viewing, I don't have to sit there and figure out the plot etc. 

Information (Social or psycological needs of the individual):

House- Why I like House- It's a medical drama, which I just find really interesting. I find Hugh Laurie very attractive, so it gives a physical and mental attraction to the TV programme. It makes me think a lot as in each episode a lot of enigma codes are sent out to the audience and often you are left on a suspenseful ending which will draw you into the next episode and it subtly teaches morals and work ethics. I think that although it is still easy viewing opposed to documentaries it still feeds into the audience information which I think is very effective. I don't think that it's meant to be aimed at me, I feel as though it's aimed more at the older generation as in the TV series they deal with a lot of issues that possibly would draw you in more if you'd of been through them yourself but I just came across it a while ago and just found it amusing as the jokes within it suit my idea of comedy.

Interagation/social interaction (gratification from the content/media itself [specific genre,social content]):

X-Factor- I don't really like it as a show and I believe that the majority people on it do just go on it for the money so in some aspects I really dislike it, but, in the opening weeks it gives everyone an excuse to laugh at the bad acts and this means that people talk about it and communicate through texts or talk about it the next day. For me personally it's all over my Facebook news feed, all over my twitter and my mum forces me to watch it with the family. I think it's one of them shows that is a key way for a lot of people of any age group to interact. 

Personal Identitity:

Missing Andy/ The King Blues.- I really like these bands as I think they appeal to my age group and also the working class. They both sing about different political issues which I think is very interesting and it's something that I really connect with. 


An example that fits into a few of these categories for me is the singer Bruce Springsteen. 
I have grown up with the music due to my father drumming it into me as good music to listen to, listening to his music has taught me a lot of morals, and political thoughts of the working class background which is a category I personally fit into (Personal identity). 
Listening to Bruce has allowed me to talk about him and his new songs and old stuff with my father. I have also found something in common with a lot of strangers by just listening to this artist so has allowed me to gain social interaction. His music is very catchy and also a lot of it I use for relaxation so it gives me something to use for escapism too- Entertainment. Although I don't think that this artist is aimed at my gender or age group, I do believe that his music is aimed at the working class people, so by just slotting into one category I have really enjoyed his work. 

Looking at Springsteen as an example it has really made me think as to why people will want to watch my film and how I can capture certain people just by the trailer. 

Graphic novel research

I'm looking into graphic novels at the moment due to the fact media can be portrayed in various different ways, movies is just one medium, another is graphic novels. I think that looking at graphic novels will help me later on with my designs for my film poster and magazine cover by allowing me to see different styles that are just in graphic novels alone. I also think it'll be very helpful when it comes to storyboarding for my film. 


I looked at two different ways of telling the same story and which I thought was more effective. The first that I looked at was Silhouetted images.
 I think that this is a very simple way to tell a story and was good for me as it doesn't require much artistic talent as it doesn't require detail. I do think that it can almost alienate an audience though as as you can't see any detail, you can't see facial features and so it's obviously a lot harder to connect with. I do think that there is better methods but, as a quick simplistic drawing it's a great technique. 

I then moved onto looking at the style of Manga. I chose to do Manga after looking at Silhouette as i think it provides a massive contrast as Manga is all about the bold colourations. I feel like the simple detailing was a lot more effective in telling the same story. i like the way that it's very quick and simple to do as you can portray emotion through simple icons, such as an exclamation mark for anger and a tear drop for upset. With manga colours are a key for showing different emotions for example:

 red= anger

blue=upset

green= jealousy 

The only thing that I dislike about manga is the way that it is read but I could always change that to suit me when i'm creating my storyboard. 

Contrast in English and American narratives

contrast on Prezi


In this prezi presentation I was looking at the generalization of mainstream cinema products. Whilst looking at the comparison between the two, as a citizen of the United Kingdom so being a British director myself I would stick to the English conventions and not be afraid of what the conventional commercial audience are looking for at the moment, I would be looking to test the audience's comfort zone. This may work out well, or it could seriously limit my audiences and be a massive downfall. I have no choice but to keep the film low budget with unknown actors with no real special effects, but I can still create an effective trailer through my different shot choices and angles etc. 

Narrative Analysis

Looking at Vladimir Propp's theory of characters, which is a well known idea used by most Directors be it in a comic book, film or game. 

I applied this theory to different films, first focusing on Disney classics Lion King and The Little Mermaid:

The Lion King:

VILLIAN: Scar

DISPATACHER:Scar 

HELPER: Timon and Pumba, Mufasa

PRINCESS: Nala, freedom from scar/ hyenas 

DONOR: Zazu, Timon and Pumba

HERO: Simba

FALSE HERO: Scar

The Little Mermaid:

VILLIAN:Ursula

DISPATACHER:Ursula

HELPER:Flounder

PRINCESS:Ariel

DONOR: Sebastien 

HERO:Eric

FALSE HERO:Ursula.

just from using disney films alone, I could see that characters could overlap on their roles for example in the little mermaid Ursula is the villian, dispatcher and the false hero.

To show that it isn't just Disney that follows these character roles i decided to look at the Harry Potter film series:

VILLIAN: Voldemort as he tries to kill Harry and rule the world

DISPATACHER: Dumbledore as he guides Harry to defeat Voldemort 

HELPER: Ron and Hermione, as they help him along his journey to defeating Voldemort

PRINCESS: Ginny as she gets saved by Harry and eventually marries Harry. Also the defeat of Voldemort
DONOR: Dumbledore as he helps Harry to try to defeat Voldemort

HERO: Harry Potter, he tries to defeat Voldemort and restore the equilibrium in the wizarding world.

FALSE HERO: Draco Malfoy as he, on multiple occasions, tries to take credit for Harry's actions. 

When looking at narrative analysis you have to look at more than just the character roles. You have to include:

• Setting
• Characters
• Binary Opposition
• Emotion Content 
• Enigma Codes
• Equilibrium- disequilibrium- new equilibrium 
• Themes

I applied this to the Hulk comic book.

It was set in the desert shown by the cacti, and the sandy floor which suggests the desert possibly in America.

The main character is Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Who is the Hero/Villain. The alter-ego Bruce Banner/ The Hulk is the binary opposites.

The narrative shows an equilibrium-disequilibrium-new equilibrium which is: The Hulk on the ground- The attack on the Hulk- Hulk being with the girl (princess character) after being attacked.

I would say that the theme of this narrative would be the constant fighting action. The emotional aspects expressed in order to get the viewers attention  would be the Hulk bringing in a civilian into the fight. The enigma codes would be 'Will the Hulk save the civilian?'

A2 G324: Advanced Portfolio In Media

The unit requires you to engage with contemporary media technologies, giving you the opportunity to develop your own skills in these technologies. It also enables you to develop the skills of presentation that are required for further study at higher levels and in the workplace.

From this brief you will produce:

• A media portfolio, comprising a main text.
• A presentation of research, planning and evaluation in digital formats.

The media portfolio will be produced through a combination of 2 or more of the following media:

• Video
• Print

Each candidate will reflect upon their work digitally. This evaluation may be done collectively for a group production or individually. Examples:

• A blog
• DVD
• Powepoint

MARKED OUT OF 100.

Evaluation:

In the evaluation the following 4 questions will be adressed:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from audience feedback?
• How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evalutation stages?

Assignment Brief:

You have been commisioned by a production company to create a promotion package for a new film, inspired by an original greaphic narrative idea of your own.

To include a trailer, plus:

• A film magazine front cover, feat. the film.
• A poster for the film.

This will be done in 3 stages:

1. Research - including film trailer and graphic narrative case studies. Magazine and poster conven
2. Construction - Of your trailer, magazine cover and poster.
3. Evaluation - It is recommended that you work on this throughout the first two stages.

graphic novel terminology

terminology on Prezi