Textual Analysis

Textual Analysis - Sophie Gillott


The two magazines that I am comparing are Nova and Look *. The magazines are vastly different in many ways but also have certain similarities, both Nova and Look are aimed at a female market, but over a period of time the audience’s have changed beyond recognition and also has a status of women has had a complicated journey. This is reflected in the cover of both magazines. The cover shot is of feet instead of a celebrity, this doesn’t follow the modern conventions of a magazine aimed at a female audience, as a medium close up of a celebrity is usually seen. Nova would have been one of the first women’s magazines that did not include a negative stereotype of a women being a housewife. The image on the front has no anchor, so the meaning of the image could be open to interpretation. On the shelves this magazine would stand out, as there is no medium close up shot of a beautiful woman. This sends out a message that women are not objects. The masthead is relatively small and it is placed in the top left hand corner. The typeface used is Serif font and is uppercase. The name Nova has connotations of heat and brightness as Nova means a white dwarf star, which is not very feminine. The placement allows space for more of the image to be shown. It is also in yellow; this is good, as it would stand out on a stand in the shops. The cover lines on the magazine are also on the left hand side of the page, they are in the same typeface and are very small. However if you look at Look magazine you can see that there are cover lines all over the page and they are in various sizes. Having so many cover lines on the front page reduces white space. Due to the lack of cover lines on Nova, you don’t know a lot about what is in the magazine, but this can be good as it provides an enigma code and thus might intrigue readers to find out more. There is no splash at the top or bottom of the magazine whereas on Look there is a splash at the top of the page that is quite deep and very bright. There are no graphic elements on the cover of Nova, but if you look at Look you can see that there are pull quotes, and features for buying new clothes. The mise-en-scene is red and this is a bright colour it is a studio shot with strong directional lighting from the right and it would attract a audiences eye. ‘Fashion needs…starts here,’ shows that there will probably be a sequel to this issue about fashion, ‘Start here,’ may show that this is the start to a fashion bible. Digital Image Manipulation would not have been used on the cover shot, as this technique may not have been discovered in the sixties, but on the cover of Look the celebrities face might have been airbrushed using Photoshop as her skin is smooth, flawless and her teeth seem whiter. Abril and part of the international Cosmopolitan group publish Nova magazine. On the cover of Look magazine, you can see that there is a photo of a celebrity instead of the feet featured on Nova. Non-verbal communication has been used on the cover shot as the celebrity is smiling and this makes you feel like she is addressing you (1). The mise-en-scene is constructed to appear as if she is at a fashion event. It has the effect of focusing in on the person on the front. A similarity that you can see is that the titlepiece of the magazine is in Serif and upper case just like Nova. It is also in a bright colour so you can see it in a shop. There are many cover lines all over the page, whereas on Nova all of the cover lines were on the left and side of the page, so you could see more of the image (2). The splash at the top of the page is thick and again in a bright colour which makes it stand out. The cover of this magazine is filled with content so there is minimal room for white space whereas on Nova there is a lot of room for white space. Look has a many graphic elements on the front cover, one of these being the barcode at the bottom of the cover. This is easier to see compared to the little tag at the top of Nova. The number ‘64’ is interesting as readers are now bored of reading articles that have even numbers. There is a use of alliteration on this cover…’Figure Fixing,’ these words may appeal to the reader as figure fixing can tell a woman how to make her figure look better. ‘Get ‘em now,’ is a good use of slang that people use in everyday life in the streets, this may appeal to the reader, as they are everyday words that people are used to. Look is offering a high street lifestyle, as all of the clothes being shown are from a high street. Looks readership consists of 278000 ABC1 people reading the magazine and 221000 C2DE people reading it (3). Look magazine follows the PCC’s (Press Complaints Commission) Code of practice (4). Look can be used as a start of a social conversation between women about new fashions and hot gossip. IPC Media publishes Look magazine. IPC publish 70% of all magazines sold on the shelves. IPC has a particular house style that it uses in all of its women’s weekly magazines. IPC publish ‘Pick me up,’ ‘Now,’ and ‘Chat.’ Look could be advertised for free in these magazines as they all belong to the same company. If we look at Bulmer and Katz’s theory of uses and gratifications we see that Looks audience get new fashion, hot gossip, real life stories and knowledge out of the magazine and that audience would be able to escape from their daily routines and relax whilst enjoy reading Look. The content of these magazines are similar as they are both about fashion and real life. They both have similar target audiences, these being young females and women. Both of these magazines are designed to inform the reader about the world that they live in (5). Women may be perceived as more powerful in Nova magazine as in Look they are being described as something to look at. Look is trying to sell clothes and shoes, whereas Nova seems to be one of the first magazines to set off the fashion trend in reading, now more recent magazines seem to be following the same trend.

Footnotes

1. Nothing is covering the celebrities face, as this is one of the main selling points of the magazine.
2. Having more cover lines is useful as it informs you about what content is in the magazine.
3. 4170 readers of Look magazine are aged 15-44 and 8200 of their readers are aged 45 and over. The interesting part is that only 3500 men read Look magazine whilst 4640 women read Look. Statistics from NRS Readership Estimates – Women’s Magazines. AIR – Latest 12 months (Oct 07 – Sept 08).
4. The PCC is a company that stops magazines being racist, sexist, and it also stops them writing about a crime and using witness’s names. They are also not allowed to pay witness’s/suspects for information of a court case. Children under 16 need to have parent’s permission before being interviewed or photographed for a major magazine. The PCC received 3,325 complaints in 2006 from members of the public. Factual inaccuracies are when newspapers and magazines get things wrong and that their story is false and made up. Factual inaccuracies were the cause of around 2/3 of complaints from the public.
5. From fashion to love, gossip to real life, they both inform women and men about what is happening in the world. * Nova was produced in 1973 and Look was produced in 2009. I chose these magazines as they interest me and I thought that they would be useful as the covers of them are different as they are from different periods of time.

British Vogue Case Study

British Vogue Case Study.


1. What magazines are in competition with British Vogue? Then... Find as many music magazines as you can across as many demographics.

- Harper's Bazaar is in competition with British Vogue as it is another leading fashion magazine. These two magazines are often referred to as fashion Bibles. Vis.a.Vis is also a competition to Vogue as this is a high fashion magazine, that would feature top designers and haute couture clothing.

2. Look at all the elements that make up British Vogue and create the opposite magazine.

-

3. Build a typical reader profile of a British Vogue reader. Look at what is advertised for help. What sort of lifestyle is being represented through the adverts? Is there anything in the features of the magazine that might lead you to the same conclusion?

- The typical reader of British Vogue will probably be a woman with a lot of money to spend on clothes, make-up and accessories. She will be interested in haute couture and upcoming designers as well as upcoming designers and models. She will also be interested in the photographers as she will probably have a great knowledge of fashion and the world surrounding it.

- Another typical reader could be a young girl that aspires to be in the fashion business and is looking to improve her knowledge in fashion. Whether she decides to be a model herself, an editor for a magazine or a photographer.

- Finally a man/boy could be interested in the magazine as he might be in the fashion business or looking to come into it. He would be a man/boy that cares about the way he looks.

4. Gather information on the circulation and readership of British Vogue, then find similar sales figures.

- 865 people in the ABC1 category read British Vogue whilst 358 people that are in the C2DE category read British Vogue. 859 readers of British Vogue are 15-44 years old and 364 of their readers are 45 and over. 155 men read Vogue whilst 1068 women read British Vogue. - NRS Readership Estimates from October 2007 - September 2008.
Vogue sold 220,325 copies in February 2008.

5. Who produces British Vogue and what other products do they create? Find out a little more about the company and its rivals.

- Conde Nast Publications create Vogue. They also publish GQ, GQ Style, Vanity Fair and Love. All of these magazine are top Men and Women's fashion magazines. They also publish Bridal magazines and House and Garden magazine.

6. Produce a short history of British Vogue.

- British Vogue was created in 1916, when the first issue was published by Conde Nast Publications. [The image above is a cover of the September 1916]. The first Editor-in-Chief was Elspeth Champcommunal and she was the Editor-in-Chief until 1922 where Dorothy Todd took over until 1925. There had been two other Editors-in-Chief since Todd's departure in 1925. Audrey Withers has so far been the longest serving editor-in-chief as she had the job from 1940-1960, serving 20 years as the role of Editor-in-Chief . The current Editor-in-Chief is Alexandra Shulman who has had the job since 1992.

Many famous people have graced the cover of Vogue including:

- Diana, Princess of Wales (July 1994)

- Cheryl Cole (February 2009)

- Kate Moss (December 2008)

-Agyness Deyn (June 2008)

-Sienna Miller (December 2007)

-Cate Blanchett (June 2005)

-Stella Tennant (November 2005)

British Vogue is considered to be more commercial than any other Vogue around the world, even though it is the most profitable Vogue besides American Vogue. It it also the most profitable British magazine in the UK.

7. Gather information about the cover features of British Vogue.

- On the cover of British Vogue, the masthead is one of the main features. It is mostly in a different colour every issue as the same colour would be boring for the reader. Depending on the size of the image on the front the 'G' in Vogue could be taken out so you can see the models face. Vogue is in big letters so it will stand out on the shelves. The background of the photoshoots are usually neutral colours (white, gray, green and black) but are sometimes bright and colourful, this makes it stand out as it is different than other magazines as they always have bright colours. The neutral effect makes the magazine seem more grown up.

8. How is Vogue produced?

-

9. Does Vogue have a website? What is the benefit of having a website as well as a print publication? How does the website differ from the printed version of the magazine?

- Vogue does have a website (www.vogue.com). It is good to have a website as you can post videos onto it, whereas in the magazine you cant post videos. You can also have exclusives on the website that wont be able in the magazine. Previous covers can be displayed on the website as well so you can find out who was on the cover in certain months. You can also place online competitions on the website that you would not be able to take part in if they were in the magazine.

10. Design a front cover.

- m

2.

wit

Love is Gone - The Completed Video

Music Video Production Evaluation

Music Video Production Evaluation

Firstly, I researched different genres of music videos for many hours to get inspiration and to see the conventions of music videos, these conventions being based on the conventions of Andrew Goodwin [1]. There were many music videos that caught my eye and gave me a lot of ideas that I could use, for example videos such as Basshunter - 'Now Your Gone', as this has a narrative of a boy and girl falling in love. This song also created a trilogy of music videos that included a narrative that followed on from the first single, 'Now Your Gone.' After researching many music videos, I got into a group and we created a treatment. Whilst creating the treatment we discussed what age group our music video would be aimed at, we decided that teenager and young adults would be our target audience. Choosing the song was a difficult task as there were many songs that we all liked, in the end we all decided to choose ‘Love is Gone’ by David Guetta as it could be used to create an interesting video due to the lyrics as it is a understandable story. It is also a dance track and many teenagers and young adults are into dance music, so we thought that this would be appealing.

We then created a storyboard to show how the music video would look when it is filmed and edited. The storyboard didn’t take long to create as it was easy and there were four people to help draw, and we shared different scene between each other.

We were then showed by our Media teacher and one of the schools Media experts how to using an editing software. The software that was chosen for us to use was Final Cut Express. We had 2 to 3 lessons practising on Final Cut Express. These lessons included learning how to:
Create a split screen
Change the speed of the video
Change the colours of objects

After finishing the tutorials we made a short video based on a girl getting a drink. After filming this we used Final Cut Express to edit this video. This went well as I found that using the editing software was easy to use. It was also easy to pick up.
We then created an animatic, this is a video that is the same length as the song, and our storyboard is used so we know when to edit different scenes. To do this we scanned our storyboard images into Final Cut Express and fitted them into the music. This was to show how the video would look when it was completed.
After completing the animatic we created a shot list.

This contained a list of all the shots we needed to film and the order they would be filmed in. This list made sure that we had everything we needed and that we knew what we were doing.
My group and I then went out into Wem to shoot the footage that would become our video.We had restrictions as we didn't have the funding that a professional video would have. We needed many sessions to film as our lessons are an hour long and this wasn’t enough time to film a whole video. Our teacher decided to let us have 3 lessons to film, as this would be a substantial amount of time to film. There were some issues in filming our music video, as we decided that our video didn’t make sense [3]. Creating a new idea took time as we had already shot a lot of the video. We then made a different music video to the one on the storyboard, but we decided to make the video around the shots we had already filmed, this was difficult to do, but we all worked as a team and shot the remainder of the footage.
After filming for the first time we edited what we had so we could figure out what needed to be done. This didn’t take long as we only edited bits of the video down to show what the whole scene was about, we didn’t edit it properly as this could be done in the final editing process. [4]
We then proceeded to film our missing scenes in another 3 lessons; it took this long to film the remaining footage, as we wanted to make sure that we had enough footage to last a 3-minute song.
After completing the footage 3 lessons later we started to edit the video. This would take a while as we wanted to make sure that the video looked professional and that the transitions between each piece of footage were smooth. We then ran out of time to edit and it had to be completed in after school sessions lasting 1 hour.

My music video will be promoted by the artist being on radio stations, having interviews with magazines. It will also hopefully be on MTV One, as they have a series of Making Of. They can also produce a Video Diary of the making of the video and post this on their website. Their official Facebook, Bebo and Twitter sites can also show what they are doing. The official video could be played on the official artists website rather than Youtube, due to copyright constraints. This constraint would not allow us to put our video on Youtube.

It will be distributed on MTV Dance, The Box, Flaunt, TMF, Clubland and Youtube. These are all dance channels and Youtube is a site for all types for music. It will be used on these channels as the music is a dance genre.

The scene where Tim is in the toilet may be harmful to viewers as it looks like there is brief nudity, or sexual content due to the connotations of a young boy being on the toilet reading an 'Arts and Crafts' magazine. There was no intention for this to happen as it was just meant to look like a boy was on the toilet reading a magazine.


Altogether I think that the process of shooting the footage was successful, but I also think that if our group had worked together better we would have had more timing perfecting the editing. The sound in the middle of the video, where the song is faded, could have been recorded in a classroom in silence so you could hear it better, as when we were out filming there was a lot of background noise which was hard to drown out. I think that the final video was very good and I am proud that I created a whole music video on a software I had never used before.

Footnotes:

1. Andrew Goodwin decided on 6 conventions of music, these being:

· Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (E.g. a dance routine in a girl/boy band.)
· There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
· There is a relationship between music and visuals.
· The demands of the record label will include the need of many close ups of the artists and the artist may develop motifs which will recur across their work.
· There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

· There is often intertextual reference to films, TV shows and other music videos

The images are taken from The Scripts song Talk You Down and from Warriors Dance by The Prodigy. These are some of the videos that we researched. There are also shots from our filming.

2. The video would appeal to our target audience, as the people included in the video are the same age as the target audience. The narrative of a relationship breaking down would appeal to our target audience, as our audience is teenagers and young adults. The people in the video are also good looking and could be come a teen icon, if they were spotted by any magazines.

3. Personalities clashed during the filming and our group divided into 3 people and myself. We split as we were having trouble deciding on a new idea, and some members of the group wanted one idea when the other part wanted another story. We decided that we had to work together as this would be the only way of making sure that the music video was shot as professionally as possible.

4. When it came to editing our footage, I had to use Final Cut Express, an editing software that I had never used before and had no knowledge of. I knew editing would be a challenge, but thanks to our teachers tutorials I found that Final Cut Express was an easy software to use. During the first editing stage, my computer decided the freeze and I therefore lost the work that I had been using. I had to move computers and copy all the footage back onto another computer. After copying all footage over I edited the video down to what was missing and what we needed to film.

Pre - Production Evaluation

Evaluation

I think it is important to plan out research so you can make the best treatment for the music video as possible. I have watched other videos by The Script to see what the genre characteristics the videos have. They are usually videos with a story and they have a meaning that could affect members of the viewing audience. The audience would expect a video with a storyline and meaning as it is consistent with other music videos that they have produced. They may also find the other videos interesting. Other music videos have attempted to entertain their audiences by using interesting and creative ideas along with their stereotypical video. This can be seen in Britney Spears' Womanizer video, she is changing into different people but still keeping her videos narrative. This is a typical video by Britney Spears. I also discussed videos with my peers and we wrote down what the conventions and genre characteristics the videos had.

I have used the Codes and Conventions of a music video by linking the lyrics to the visuals. This can be seen with 'I can feel the colour running,' as in the video, the lead singer of the band will be crying multi-coloured tears. This makes the video more exciting to the eye. I have also met the demands of the record label by including close ups of the band. There are close ups when the lead singer is travelling in the car and singing, this would make it easier to relate and feel the emotion that is portrayed by the lead singer.

I think the video would appeal to an audience of teenagers and young adults, as it is creative and they may be able to relate to it. I have chosen to do a black and white video as it is more emotional. The colour was added to give it a bit of life and to make it more interesting. This would appeal to a young audience as they like bright and colourful things and it also makes the video more happy rather than it being sad due to the black and white effect. It would be more appealing, as it is now harder for people to watch black and white for a long period of time, as it is not normal now to watch black and white films or TV shows. The use of colour helps make the video easier to watch, as a lot of films, music videos and TV shows are in colour. The video would be original as not many videos would use the mix of colour and monochrome as it might confuse the audience as to why they are using different effects. In my video I think that using different colours would be good as it is interesting and it would stand out when people are flicking through music channels.

My ideas relate to the current media output because they are narrative and people can relate to them. The competition is every other Indie/Pop band out there as they also do music videos similar to this, but I hope that this video will catch people's eye as it has a spruce of colour which will attract the eye. Beyonce's 'If I Were A Boy' video will be a competitor as her video is in black and white as has a relatable narrative. The video would reach its audience by being broadcast on music channels such as MTV, The Box, TMF and Bubble Hits along with other leading music channels.

Originally I wanted to to have the band playing in the air but I had to think about how it would fit in with the rest of the video. If I had chosen this idea it would not have been consistent with the rest of the video, therefore I had to change my idea. Changing my idea made the video keep a pattern with other videos that The Script have produced. If I could do anything differently I would try and make the video more emotional so people can try and go through what the lead singer is going through. I think that I could have done more planning as research helps you to see what audiences may want and how they would react to the video. If I had the time I would have created mood boards, to describe how the character might be feeling in the video. I would have also drawn pictures of surroundings and places where I would have wanted the video to be shot as this can give a greater understanding of what the video should look like. In the current media climate, I think that my video would have been acceptable as there is no reference to drugs and violence. Usually when videos have references to these subjects the music video broadcasters (such as MTV, The Box and Q) will not show the videos on there channel as it would be giving out a bad message to the audience watching it.

Talk You Down - The Script (Lyrics)

I can feel the colour running
As it's running from my face
Try to speak but nothings coming
Nothing I could say to make you stay
Grabbed your suitcase called a taxi
It's 3am now where you gonna go?
Gonna stay with friends in London
And that's all I get to know

Just a cigarette gone
No you couldn't' be that far
So I'm driving in my car
Where I hope you are
Maybe I can talk you down
Maybe I can talk you down

We're standing on a tiny ledge
Before this goes over the edge
Gonna use my heart and not my head
And try to open up your eyes
This is relationship suicide

Cos if you go, I go...

Taking shortcuts through the alleys
While your racing through my mind
Cops can chase but they wont catch me
Not before I get to speak my mind
If there's still time

Just a cigarette gone
No you couldn't be that far
So I'm driving in my car
Where I hope you are
Maybe I can talk you down
Maybe I can talk you down

We're standing on a tiny ledge
Before this goes over the edge
Gonna use my heart and not my head
And try to open up your eyes
This is Relationship suicide

Cos if you go, I go...
Cos if you go, I go...
Cos if you go, I go...
Cos if you go, I go...

We're standing on a tiny ledge
Before this goes over the edge
Gonna use my heart and not my head

Just a cigarette gone
No you couldn't be that far
So I'm driving in my car
Where I hope you are
Maybe I can talk you down
Maybe I can turn around

We're standing on a tiny ledge
Before this goes over the edge
Gonna use my heart and not my head
And try to open up your eyes
This is Relationship suicide

Treatment for The Script - Talk You Down

The whole of the video is in black and white, apart from certain things which will be mentioned later on in the treatment.
When the video starts, you see the lead singer of the band (Danny O’Donoghue) with multi-coloured tears running down his face as his girlfriend is leaving him, this gives a link between the lyrics and visuals. As the lyrics are ‘I can feel the colour running, as it’s fading from my face.’ He is singing the lyrics as she is walking round getting her things into a suitcase. The TV will be on and this is an intertextual reference. The girlfriend then gets her suitcase and calls a taxi. Danny runs down the stairs from his flat and gets in his car and follows her. His car is in colour, as everything revolves around him. This part of the scene ties in with the lyrics ‘Grabbed your suitcase called a taxi’ and ‘So I’m driving in my car where I hope you are.’ Then there will be a shot of the clock inside the car showing that it is 3am. His car then pulls up to a old warehouse where the rest of the band are playing the song. This would be a Medium Long Shot and at Eye Level so could look at the band in full and clearly. Then you cut to Danny who is running in the middles of the street, with couples all around him, so you can see the emotion. He will be in a white top and jeans, but the white top will be animated so it says certain phrases on it, this shot will be filmed using a Dolly camera and it will also be shot from above using a Crane, so you get two different views. He then runs to the beach onto a promenade and sees a girl at the edge of the pier leaning over the edge. He then realises that this is his ex-girlfriend. At this point the phrases on his t-shirt stop and the wooden beams start to light up as he runs faster towards his ex-girlfriend. He goes towards he and takes her hand. They both look over the edge. The visuals here tie in with the lyrics ‘This is relationship suicide.’ He then jumps off the pier with his ex-girlfriend and this blends into an alleyway that looks like a maze. Here we will have a close up of Danny's face again. As he is wandering through the maze he gets to dead ends. At these dead ends the other members of the band will be there playing their instruments. Now his trainers will be changing colour and leaving colourful footprints in the 'grass'. Then we cut back to him in the car again so you get a feeling of deja vu. Then we cut back again to him and his ex-girlfriend jumping off the pier. Then this will blend back into the start of the video where he is sitting on his sofa. The image of him and his ex-girlfriend jumping off the pier will be playing on the top of his forehead as he crying. This part of the video ties in with the lyrics 'Gonna use my heart not my head.' Now we go to a replay of the beginning of the video, as Danny follows his ex-girlfriend out the house, this intertwines with the lyrics 'Coz if you go I go'. Now we go back again to where the band is playing, as The Script are a pop/indie band so they therefore need a performance. The band carry on playing whilst the visuals cut back and forth from the maze to the old warehouse. This carries on until the final verse/stanza of the song. At this point we go back to the pier where the 'couple' commit 'relationship suicide'. Danny closes his eyes and opens them back up again, to see that his ex-girlfriend has gone. Here the visuals correspond with the lyrics 'And try to open up your eyes'. Danny then looks around and finally jumps off the pier once again.

This is where the pier scene would be set.

Visit http://fofieyade.blogspot.com/2008/12/talk-you-down-script-lyrics.html for Talk You Down Lyrics...x