Film Poster and Trailer Analysis

For this assignment i have to analyse an image poster for a film and a moving image trailer for a film. For my image poster i will use the poster for the film "Pulp Fiction" and for the moving image i will analyse the trailer for the movie "Star Wars The Last Jedi''.

 

Firstly i will be analysing the visual image poster for the movie ''Pulp Fiction''. The layout of this design is done in a way that mimics the early 1990's design for magazine covers (such as the example shown above beside with the pulp fiction poster), this was inferred by the 10 cent price tag shown on the cover. The similarities are shown in the layout with the large title along with a picture of an iconic individual covering a majority of the cover. In this case, the main image design was made to focus on the character 'Mia' on the front cover, played by the actress Uma Thurman . This actress is very iconic as she is best known from some of her roles prior to pulp fiction in movies such as Mad Dog and Glory, Jennifer 8 and Henry and June. This is why she was placed purposely on the majority of the cover as iconic representation, this is to attract the audiences attention to the film as they resonate the good/bad actor with the film she is starring in, to determine if they wish to watch the film or not. The colour of the design is bright in some areas such as the large title, however, dark in others such as the hair and clothes of the icon below, this is to produce a contrasting image which captures the eye and really highlights what's being presented on the cover. The Typography used for the title is quite bold and the font colour is a bright yellow over a red, this is to make the title stand out, therefore attracting more attention toward the poster. There is not a form of address that i know of on this certain poster unfortunately, however you could say the 


There are multiple props shown in the poster, however, the most intriguing prop would be the gun and it is what will draw the audience the most. This is because guns have many connotations , such as crime, violence and danger, all of which would be associated with a crime-thriller/ action film, giving the audience a clear indication of genre. Another prop would be the cigarette in the woman's hand. This would give connotations of this character being a fashion icon of sorts, firstly, because cigarettes at the time where more of a fashion accessory rather then a means of relieving stress. Additionally, the modelling magazine design also links to this same idea of this woman being a sex object in the film. Also, the woman's hair and clothing choice of black also gives connotations to the audience to this character being quite dangerous or troublesome rather then light-hearted and innocent, this is also shown through her stern and serious facial expression.


Below the poster title we have the words ''A Quentin Tarantino film'', this is clearly for the purpose of audience expectation and another example of iconography, as this director is well known and respected director for cult classic films for films prior to pulp fiction such as True Romance or Reservoir Dogs, this could also link to promise of pleasure as audiences expect Tarantino to produce another classic and enjoyable film, persuading them to watch it. Another important feature of this poster would be the star billing down the left side of the poster, this makes the audience aware to actors/actresses starring in the film which could determine if they wish to watch it or not based on their opinion on the choice of stars, so this could also be another form of iconography. Finally, at the very top of the poster is the expert criticism, which is ''Winner-best picture 1994 Cannes Film Festival'', this persuades the audience to watch the film as they take into consideration the criticism over the film being described as 'Best picture', this will assure fans of the directors films to see the new addition to his work, on the other hand this will also intrigue new audience members to gain a trust and interest in the film to eventually go watch it.

For my moving image, i have chosen the trailer for the film ''Star Wars The Last Jedi'' as seen above. In this trailer the technical codes such as the design could be described as mysterious and exiting, this is due to the trailer including scenes of conflict and also including scenes and reveals of iconic characters that will be starring in the film. The trailer primarily uses both lighter and dark tones such as the iconic colours blue and red which is shown multiple times throughout the trailer. This is for dramatic effect to show the audience a clear indication of the protagonist and the antagonist, due to the red lighting creating connotations of a evil and sinister tone whereas the blue light creates connotations of light and trust. This blue and red contrast throughout the star wars film could be regarded as audience expectations, as the colour scheme pays homage to the Sith which is represented with the colour red throughout the franchise to show their destructive intentions, whilst the Jedi are also shown with lighter tones to represent their peaceful intentions. The exact same ideas could be described with the Sith wearing primarily black, militarised clothes rather then the white, grey or , Furthermore, throughout the trailer many scenes of conflict are shown, this indicates that this is a action/thriller film which tells me the audience for this media could range from young children who gained a interest in the exiting franchise to seasoned fans of the franchise in their adult years.

 The trailer itself expresses no sign of comedic relief but instead just pure tension and conflict, this is to indicate to the audience that this will be one of the most serious and important instalments in the franchise, persuading the audience to become eager to find out what is this tension leading too and what will be the climax, even the title itself ''The last Jedi'' also brings these same ideas of importance and build of of tension as the audience would also be intrigued  to find out why only one Jedi remains and what happened to the rest, all this links to promise of pleasure as the audience expect to be shocked and thrilled by the outcome of the 8th instalment of the franchise. Star billing and iconography is also shown repeatedly throughout the trailer with the constant scenes of each iconic star wars character, this is to create interest and excitement for those that have watched the previous instalments or for those that would wish to watch it due to the cast of respected and popular actors actresses.

The visual codes such as camera shots used in this trailer are seen to be seen mainly Long shots and Establishing shots. The long shots allow the audience to gain more information about the characters and the situation, this is because the are shown the iconic characters and their surroundings to enhance the understanding and even excitement due to the eye-catching scenery shown. Furthermore, establishing shots are used throughout this trailer to rapidly advance the narrative of the trailer by showing the audience where the action is taking place this will give the audience expectations of what will happen next which enhances his pleasure, this is to the panning shots used in the trailer also, as when the camera moves across the scene, imparting information to the audience as its used to show location, also a down to up tilt shot was one of the first scenes which introduces the character ray, this is used to imply mystery when introducing a character by focusing first at the bottom then gradually moving toward the face which allows the audience to make assumptions about the character. Close-ups of different characters are also shown at certain points, this is for dramatic effect to present the audience with the chance to read the characters emotions and make them understand and predict what the narrative of the movie itself may be, making them even more intrigued in finding out the outcome. In the trailer there are multiple examples of editing and post-production due to all the fade transitions and cuts to create a dramatic effect and also to get the audience familiar with the characters.

The audio codes heard in the trailer consists of sound effects, music, dialogue and voice overs. Firstly the sound effects used consists of iconic sounds familiar to fans of the series such as a characters signature voice or sound effect, the trailer even starts with a tilt shot followed by the main character taking a deep breath, this is to add to the realism but also give a indication of genre such as in this trailer their are a lot of action codes such as explosions, conflict and gun-fire. Furthermore, throughout the trailer voice-overs and dialogue is heard at certain points, examples include ''breathe, just breathe, now reach out, what do you see? and another character responds with ''light...and darkness'', this dialogue gives the audience connotations that darkness is coming which is important audio as this dialogue has the purpose of imparting information to the audience to establish characters, relationship and even help understand the plot prior to the whole film being released. Another example of a voice-over is when a character simply says ''this is so much bigger'' this is non diegetic sound to serve information to the audience as this voice over is directly telling the audience that this film will be more bigger, and by that it tells us it will be more dramatic, exiting and eye-catching, persuading the audience to go watch the film further by giving them promise of pleasure. Lastly, the music heard throughout can be described as instrumental and dramatic due to the orchestra being used to produce the soundtrack. The music also becomes greater in sound the further in to the trailer you go and has certain parts where it pauses for dramatic effect, this certain sound track is to build tension and suspense in the audiences anticipation. Music is an important audio code as the specific song used will convey narrative information to the audience as music, as with other audio codes, suggest genre.

Advertising of a image and a moving image

The charity image i have chosen to analyse is an advertisement poster for a campaign against gun violence in the US by a organisation called 'Moms demand action!'. The posters visual codes show one child holding a kinder egg and another holding a firearm, this is quite disturbing imagery which could strike fear in the audience, however, this can intrigue an audience to support the campaign. At the top of the poster a slogan is showed which reads ''One child is holding something thats been banned in America to protect them. Guess Which one'', this is highly persuasive as us as the audience know which item is legal in the US which would be the firearm. This poster challenges their governments logic to expose its corruption as we see find out a kinder egg (something that is not known to be a danger to society) is banned in the US rather then a firearm which result in many deaths yearly. This way of advertisement is more hard selling as it shocks the audience into doubting their safety within their own society. The layout of the poster is less taken up by script and more by the image itself and the slogan right above the main focus point (the children)as they are trying to get there point across to the audience in the most direct and efficient way possible. Lastly, the colour the poster is dull, no bright colours or monochrome. I can infer that they have done this to achieve a more serious tone to persuade the audience to realise how serious the matter at hand is.

The moving image i have chosen to analyse is a charity advertisement for a campaign to prevent extreme poverty globally by the organisation 'Oxfam GB'. This video shows visual codes of representation such as different religion, race, age and gender, this is to give a coded message of unity to persuade the audience that what's best for the world as a whole is to work together to gain a more prosperous global society. Furthermore, this goal of unity is shown continuously whereas other charity videos have the same visual dark monochrome tones, and audio codes such as sad, slow and emotional music, this is to guilt trip the audience into believing their just cause. However, this video brings a different take, as instead of a dark visual tone you get bright colours, and instead of sad audio you get more upbeat inspirational music playing, this is a coded message to show the audience of how life is for all these countries across the world if we support these charities rather then showing grim imagery that depresses the audience into donating. This ad gives a positive tone to the situation and also gives hope to the audience to a better and more prosperous future. Additionally, i can infer that the visual code of the people from different cultural backgrounds and the text shown in the beginning ''The countdown to ending extreme poverty has begun, and here's how we can achieve it'' persuades the audience to realise that it isn't only countries such as Africa or India that experience poverty but even in our society as we see a British and an American included in supporting the campaign and this shows the audience us that our societies are also effected by poverty and this is why they should finally achieve this goal and act upon it to finally rid society of this limitation.

In this ad were also multiple close ups of each of the different people, this may have been to capture each person in each of their unique ways and keep it equal between them or just so the cause/point of the ad was shown more directly to the audience as if your looking eye to eye with these people and so the audience can sympathise with their opinions and emotions. In the ad we also see techniques such as iconic representation and celebrity endorsement by the white American male seen in the ad. The man is Michael Stevens, an American educator, comedian, speaker, entertainer, editor, and Internet personality best known for creating and hosting the popular education Youtube channel Vsauce which has over 12 million subscribers. The organisation worked together with Michael to help bring a larger demographic/audience to support the cause and trust the company just as this iconic figure has. 

The significant audio codes that can be heard from the dialogue (spoken by the multiple people form different cultural backgrounds) can be heard from those such as when we see a white man who is clearly British who says ''i dont know why we put up with it'', here i can infer from the word 'we; that he includes his own country/society is as much effected by poverty as others are too, linking back to my previous point on the idea of unity. Shortly after we see an white American male and he says ''In just fifteen years extreme poverty has been halved'' then, a young girl says ''in the next fifteen, it could be gone'' they are using statistics as a persuasive tool to shock the audience and some hopeful dialogue to encourage the audience into rethinking just how significant these charities have been to help and support those in need and how much the future could really be improved. Lastly, we get multiple cuts at the end to multiple people as they all chant the word 'together' again tying the whole ad together into a simple but effective message of global unity.

Trainer campaign images analysis

For all three my images i have utilized PowerPoint and Photoshop to use my photos to create posters for our trainer brand 'FSE'. Furthermore, i used png images of balls for all two images and paint stroke png for all as i thought this would show how our trainers strive to be fluid between sports but also showing our casual design using the paint stroke theme, i would have used actual sports balls, however i did not have any except a black basketball at my disposal at the time of producing these images. Furthermore to create our logo i utilized Photoshop by using the shape tool to produce three circles, then using Photoshop's fonts i wrote the separate letters F, S and E and place it within he circle, i then changed the colours to fit the design for each shoe photo/poster.

For the first image, i have used my Air Force 1's. This shoe was a good choice for the photo as it shows that our trainers are versatile due to the trainers heavy look to show protection but also comfort. Additionally, the white colour of the shoe also shows our brand can produce appealing trainers which proves they are street/casual wear and  performance enhancing shoes rather then a shoe just optimized for performance. To promote this shoe i turned my photo into a png photo file using the Photoshop pen tool to cut out just the shoe itself and delete the background, however i havnt done this as accurate as possible as you may see white around the shoes in the final product, this is due to my limited skills in Photoshop and this tells me that i should improve. With the png photo of the shoe i then places it into PowerPoint where i places it over a black background with three png photos of a red, green and yellow paint stroke i obtained off google images, this was to make the shoes seem more appealing against the black background i set. I then obtained a png photo of a football and placed it next to the shoe, i decided to use one shoe from a side view angle as i feel this would best suit my layout of making it seem as if the shoe is kicking the ball and it also shows the key features of the 'tick' on the side of the shoe, showing our product to be ascetically appealing aswell as performance enhancing. I then placed our logo at the top in white colour to make it contrast with the black background, i also did the same with our slogan but instead placed it at the bottom right from inspiration off Nike ads.


For my second image, i used my 'Vans Old Skools'. For this photo i utilized a shoe known for its comfortable wear and how versatile it is. This is so the audience can really relate this to our companies desires to achieve the most functional trainer that can be used for any activity the wearer wishes. Furthermore, this design is more suited toward people who are more interested in street/casual wear, although they still wish to have a shoe suited for any activity. For this design i again turned my image of the shoe into a png photo and place it onto the PowerPoint slide where i set the background as a photo of New York city that i obtained from google images, which i turned grayscale. This is to achieve one monochrome design. The photo of new York city as the background was used to convince the audience into relating this certain shoe to a street/casual wear which would be associated with 'city life'. Following the theme i used a white paint stroke; sticking to the monochrome design, to help make the black shoe stand out as the background itself has a natural gradient where the city scape at the bottom has a dark tone and gets lighter as you see the sky. I used this to my advantage and place the shoe amongst the city scape at the bottom with the slogan beside it in black font to match with the shoe against the white paint stroke. I then used black font for the logo and placed it in the top left of the poster as i thought the light grey of the sky would help contrast against the black logo to make it stand out more to the audience. I decided to use one shoe for this design from a side/top angle to give the audience a good scope of the shoe to show the casual design of the shoe and along with the city scape background show the durable streetwear aspect of them aswell.



Lastly, for my third photo I have used my Jordan 13. I used this trainer to represent our brand as i feel as if this shoe can be suited for those who wish for a more performance aspect rather then street/casual wear. This is to cater to all our costumers so we fit every desire and therefore sell more of our product. The 3m reflective material around the the shoe is strictly used for functionality, this is because i wanted to bring attention to the design as this will help with athletes such as runners who wish to run at night or even just everyday wear at night, the reflective material will make you more aware to any passing vehicles increasing user safety which is what our brand wishes to achieve. To produce this image i again turned my photo of the shoes into a png file using the same method with the first shoe, i then followed the same theme and used a blue png paint stroke off google images to place behind the shoe, this is because it stands out on the white background and makes it eye-catching to audiences, following the same precept i increased the saturation on the shoe image to make the blue more prominent to again make it stand out more and blend better with the blue paint stroke. I then took a png photo of a basketball from google and places it beside the shoe to indicate to the audience its functionality in the sport. I placed our logo at the bottom to demonstrate a different design, however, i changed our logo and slogan black to contrast with the white background. I then placed our slogan across the top rather then the usual words being under each other. I decided to use both shoes for this design as i feel these were my most appealing shoes which is why i used them to show this is what our brand provides the consumers, also i used the top side view once again to show the full scope of the shoe to really present the consumers ascetically pleasing design.

Music Video Analysis (J.Cole)

For our report we have chosen to use music videos from the artist J.Cole, as in many of his videos he tells a story or addresses issues in society such as crime, drugs, alcohol and depression.

The video i chose to analyse was the music video for ''She Knows''. Firstly, the video starts out with a long shot of a eerie and foggy street which already gives a coded message to the audience to show that this is more of a serious music video rather then a upbeat and fun video. We then get represented with our first main focus of the music video as the audience is then thrown into the life of this young teens life using many close up shots of this character. We get a small look of this teens parents and house, giving us a glimpse of his household life. The audience are shown crosses on walls and on the top of the dresser which gives the audience connotations to the teen having a religious family and therefore possibly as strict family, this is later confirmed as we are shown to first part of dialogue from his father as he aggressively shouts his sons name as he looks for him in the house.

The scene then switches to the boys mother driving him to school, where we hear or see no words being shared between each of them but instead they only give slight glimpses almost as if they are not trying to catch one another's attention. once the boy is dropped off he gives a almost frightened or worried look as he sees his mother drive off, this shows the audience that he either worries for his mother or it could even show signs of domestic abuse. After this scene the tone switches from the dark and gloomy atmosphere that was set in the beginning, to a more bright and fun atmosphere as we see the boy reunite with his friend as they set off to mess around and have fun instead of going school, this shows us he is a misbehaved character which could suggest the stress and depression from home effects him to then do acts such as this.

Later in the two boys adventures we see them consuming drugs as we are shown them to smoking and one of the boys then proceeds to vomit. They are then shown to go to a arcade followed up by them trespassing on private property to skate and also drink alcohol. Things then become more fast paced and tense as we then see the two boys manage to escape and avoid arrest from a police officer as he chases them. These actions also suggest its his coping method to the depression he has built up from his depression. As the two boys sigh in relief they look back at it in humour and return home. Once the boy gets home the atmosphere changes back to the dark monochrome colours showing the boys decent back into this dark corrupt atmosphere. The audience are then treated to a grim scene where the mother is scene to be with another man rather then his father. In this scene the music pauses creating a very serious and tense atmosphere. The boy then says no words as his mother begins to panic in surprise, only for them to just storm out the house and run away along with his friend. From this scene the audience could also suggest that the fathers strict religious lifestyle takes a toll on the mother as well as the boy, resulting in her cheating on the father.

The music video ends on a very disturbing and eerie scene as we see the family all around the table prepared to eat dinner as the father begins to say grace whilst the son and mother give each other indirect stares due to the son previously witnessing his mother cheating. This scene is immensely tense as this corrupt household contrasts to the strict religious family as instead of telling the truth, the kid does not expose his mother for what she's done but instead stays silent whilst's the prayer plays in background as the music fades silent. This audio code is effective as the prayer in the background contrasts with the dark scene making this a very disturbing but realistically grim.

Overall, the actual artist himself J.Cole is represented in quite a negative way in his short-lived scene where he is discovered to be the mothers affair. This shows this he might have wanted to show the audience that he is a alpha male but also there are many connotations in this video that this boys perspective could have been J.Cole himself and his past dark experiences, his family problems, struggles and his life as a delinquent back when he was younger.

How do different news papers cover the same event?

For my assignment i will use the political event 'Brexit' newspaper coverage by outlets such as the guardian, daily mail and the times. I will see how these different news outlets cover the same event. I have chosen covers that saw Brexit as a necessary means of improving Britain and also covers that see the end result of Brexit in a positive light or those that see Brexit as a means to destroy Britain's economy.

Firstly, from the source above you can see that they are for the Brexit movement and see it in a positive light. As in the cover you see the British politician Nigel Farage on the front cover with him looking rather exited due to the outcome of Brexit, above him is the large bold words 'WE'RE OUT!' in this headline it makes their view of the event seem clear and the words we're out has connotations to being locked up so the daily mail is persuading the readers that if we were to continue to be in the European union it would be as if Britain were in a prison and restricted of freedom, the bold title is also eye-catching and will bring more attention to their coverage. Furthermore, the text also stands out more, which is used to gain a larger audience and therefore more people to send their coded message too. This event is the only news coverage on the front page as they wanted to shift all focus to the Brexit event this was it being a relevant and most indulging event at the time that they knew would captivate readers to read their newspaper.

On the other hand, these two sources above are against the Brexit movement as the first cover from The Guardian has the headline ''Obama: Brexit would put UK at back of the queue on trade'', from this statement you can see that they are against the Brexit movement and the guardian has used the opinion from a very powerful influence (the president of the united states) they have done this to sway the audience in there favour as if they see such a person of high power go against the movement. Also the actual statement of the headline is outlining that Brexit will cause financial problems for Britain's economy, this is too somewhat frighten the audience which is to gain a larger audience by exaggerating a story. Furthermore, on the other newspaper cover from the news outlet The Times they do they same strategy by slightly exaggerating the story to frighten the audience, this is due to the headline stating ''Brexit puts jobs at risk, say 200 business chiefs''. Here The Times is using a problem very prominent in todays society due to the sensitive subject of limited jobs for British citizens, this might anger and frighten the audience to be convinced that preventing Brexit is the right direction.

Age Representation in Media

This representation suggests that this is generally considered the dominant representation of young people in the media, enough to encourage a parody. The main media texts which offer positive representation of young people are usually situations which allow them to represent themselves, within a specific context. For this assignment i will research on how people of both young and old are represented in the media with examples.

Firstly, i will explain how the elderly are represented in media, the example i have uses for this is the dinner table scene from the christmas movie 'National Lampoon's christmas vacation' as seen above.From this scene, there is a christmas family celebration as they gather at the table to say grace before they eat the banquet, and on the table there are the elder family members such as the grandpa, grandma etc. And in this scene they are represented to be senile, this is shown with the older woman who cannot hear so she requires her other elderly partner to shout in her ear in order to hear him, this is the stereotype that older people have poor hearing and this relates to all the stereotypes of older people being slow and too senile to even understand whats going on around them, also the way her husband reacts to her not being able to hear/understand what hes saying he gets frustrated in his many attempts to try make her understand by constantly yelling in her ear, so this could link to the grumpy/bitter old man stereotype. This contrasts against the other view of elders being more wise, smart and knowledgeable.

I will now explain the different ways younger people are represented in the media, the example i have used is the trailer from the 'Inbetweeners movie' shown above. From this trailer young people are shown to be very sexually competitive, as throughout the trailer and the movie itself you see the group of friends all attempting to get the attention of an attractive woman but only to fail each time. This is due to this representation of young people to be the stereotypical 'nerd'. This is why these characters are shown to be sexual failure but obsessed with sex at the same time. The 'Lad' stereotype is also shown in the trailer with all the drinking and stupid and ignorant behaviour of some of the characters during the movie, this is how they code youngsters throughout. However the audience accepts this due to the comic relief of the characters as they are also presented to be the stereotypical 'nerd' which persuades the audience into supporting or sympathising with them in finding a love interest.

Ethnicity Representation in Media Analysis

For this Assignment I will be using the music video for 'welcome to the jungle' by the band AXE Sunar, which I will analyse to find the representation of ethnicity in media.

Firstly the music video begins with us seeing the scenery through the eyes of a young white blonde women, she walks through dense fog only to discover that the first thing she sees on the other side to be a group of thugs/gangsters, all consisting of young black males, the audience is greeted by this gang who are shown to be quite aggressive and dangerous as the young black male most close to the camera has a almost rabid looking dog who is aggressively barking toward the camera (the audience). This gives the audience the idea that the city is filled with dangerous people, those of which are black, showing that there showing black people in a bad light. Furthermore the black males are shown to all have big chains which clearly relates to the stereotypical look of young black males nowadays. This shows this music video has already shown us there using clear stereotypes to represent the black people overall, even throughout the rest of the video they aren't shown in a different light except how they were shown in the first opening of the music video.

On the other hand, white people in this ad are shown in a much different light, this is because the first white male we see in this ad is a older man sitting in a limo with many younger women by his side, this gives us and idea that he is wealthy and has a large status whereas the black people are shown to be thugs and almost animalistic looking as they screw the camera. Furthermore, nearer to the end of the music video white people are also shown to be wealthy men of high status once more as when the main women (the audience) is lost amongst all the people she finds a way through tall buildings and in those buildings are wealthy middle-aged white men in suits throwing money down from the building as it rains down on us. This is giving white people another image of wealth and status as a suit is a sign of masculinity and power, and the white businessmen throwing down money prove the idea of them being wealthy whilst in this ad women are shown to be sex objects with the models and dancers, and black people are shown to be dangerous thugs. This is the idea this music video is giving the audience what the experience of city life is like.

Product Advertisement Half-Term Assignment

The product we chose to advertise in our campaign is a trainer, for sport activities, fashion or just for casual wear. I will explain how we are going to inform, persuade and sell our product by using persuasive elements and what will distinguish ours from others.

Our campaign looks to inform, persuade and sell to the general public by using methods to target our most receptive audience with certain traits (also called target advertising), based on the our product, so in that case any age, gender, ethnicity or religion, however those more interested in sports or casual wear. the Traits we will look for in demographic would only be economic status and income level as we wish to make our trainers affordable and available to as many people as we can. And for our campaign we will also use psychographic values to target our desired audience such as our costumers values, personality, attitudes, opinions, lifestyles and interests as i feel this will be essential in finding the right audience for our product for the most effected sales. We will also take in behavioural variables, such as their recent activity. We use are using all these variables to find costumers who are likely to have a strong preference and will receive the message of our product instead of those who have no interest.

The different platforms for our advertisements would use traditional forms such as billboards, newspapers and magazines to make sure the older costumers and those who do not have access to many access to electronic devices are taken into consideration to reach as wide a audience as we can, but for our main source of advertisement we will look to advertise online. This is due to information and communication technology developing greatly over the recent years resulting in a wider audience on ICT technologies such as the internet, mobile environments and social medias, these forms of media are the most important as its where the largest demographic stands, mostly consisting of younger people such as teens, children and also young adults. These demographics spend huge amounts of time on the internet and social medias, making it the most beneficial media to advertise your product on. 

So to persuade our large audience we will need to make our advertisement stand out above all to achieve maximum exposure so that means using some sort of a aspect of humour to be a entertaining but also a serious depiction of our trainers performance which means our ad can than resonate with those who want the trainer to improve there capabilities to there full potential to really show our products worth and what it actually has to offer costumers, even with the design of our trainers, its to captivate audiences into fashion but also make our product more efficient for its uses in sports to really sell our product as not being a waste but instead to persuade them to understand that its a valuable investment into helping themselves achieve their various goals to make themselves more confident. And finally we must make our advertisements relatable overall as in the end thats whats gonna earn our audiences trust, respect and attention.

To do this we must use various visual and audio techniques. For our visual techniques we were to use different scenes of different people, such as different ages, ethnicity, religion and gender, and even body type as this is to consider every possible person in our audience when watching the ad to make them feel involved and not left out or discriminated, this will also create a bigger audience. We also wish to show all the different people wearing our trainer during the ad, this is to sell our main product to the audience as we will show these people participating in different sports as well as a scenes of some of them doing casual activities or hobbies, this is to show the audience that our trainer is not only for sport but for casual wear too. also their will be captions on screen spelling out the slogans that will be heard throughout whilst cutting scenes for each person, it would sound like this:

Person 1: anyone can succeed
Person 2: in your passion
Person 3: if you work for it
Person 4: and believe in yourself

and so on..

each slogan is read out in each different scene this is to persuade the audience to become more confident in their passion and inspired to improve, and our product will help them complete those goals. Other audio codes we will use will be things such as inspiring and exiting music to really get our audiences interested in our ad to gain their full attention, and finally a closing scene with just our trainer in the spotlight to draw all attention from the previous scenes onto the shoe to help the audience focus on our product to be the last thing they see before it ends to achieve a desire for our product.

An example of how our ad would be presented is similar to this Nike ad shown below. however in the Nike ad they didn't advertise there products as much as we would've in our own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYP9AGtLvRg&t=196s

Representation Analysis-

Meghan Trainor - 'Dear Future Husband'

For this essay I will be analysing the music video for the song ‘’dear future husband’’ by the singer Meghan Trainor. During this music video there are many representations of men and women in different ways and you could even say it changes throughout the video. I will be analysing the music video to analyse Meghan herself and also the male extras to see how each is presented throughout. I will be talking about how they are represented than I will go on to talk about the technical techniques used such as audio and visual codes.

Firstly, the setting of the video is seen to be around the 50’s as seen by the quite vintage clothes shown in the video. We than look at the story or characters there are in the music video. Meghan herself seems to be a housewife who cooks, cleans and looks after the children, which was common in the 1950’s whilst the men would go to work. But in this video Meghan attempts to change that stereotype as the video goes on. Her clothing also changes throughout the video as in the beginning she is wearing traditional clothes worn by women back in the 1950's such as a long skirt and a buttoned shirt, so overall not very revealing. However as the video goes on she begins to act rebellious and begins wearing leather jackets, short leather skirts and animal print clothing, which is not usually associated with house-wives in those times, this is showing that Trainor is challenging the norm.

In this video Trainor considers herself a symbol for female empowerment, she than combats the medias and societies unhealthy obsession with women being 'perfect'. As the main thing shes trying to point out in the video is ant culture that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles, which is why in the video she tries her hardest to contrast against this usual view of a house-wife, and she somehow does it successfully. She's also telling us that we live in this patriarchal society sees the historical model of the 'perfect wife', who thinks of a women who cooks, cleans, look after kids and wants to please her husband. Trainor combats the notion of the societal idealisation of the 'perfect wife'.

Aside from Trainor showing stereotypical representation of women she also shows a very feminist view of how men should treat women. This is shown by the many shirtless male back-up dancers which she uses to combat the usual stereotype of half-naked women in music videos. Also throughout the video she is shown to have many husbands serve her meals, and at first a man makes a very delicate, small amount of food on a plate beautifully presented, however she does not take a liking to this and sends him away, this also challenges the norm of the wife making the husband dinner but also her disliking his cooking of a delicate small dish could show that shes saying shes not a women that likes to eat a small amount of food (which challenges the norm of women having to be thin and skinny) and instead near to the end of the video Trainor answers the door to see a man which a box of pizza and she instead accepts him rather than the other man, again this is to challenge the norm of women being thin, Trainor once addressed this before in one of her previous songs called ''all about that bass'' which showed that larger women should also be accepted and people should appreciate there curves.

'Save the Children' Advertisement Analysis

I think that this ad is very effective due the imagery of children in danger and also a good use of the common problem in todays society of the threats of terrorism, however this ad is based in London, this is significant as they use this to tell the viewers to ask themselves would they care if it was their children in that nightmare of being in constant fear. They have done this as they feel as if people aren't really realising the problems going on else-were such as the war in Syria and they want people to help and act instead of just brushing it aside due to this not effecting their lives personally. The use of a child's point of view in a apocalyptic setting such as this allows the audience to sympathise easier with this cause knowing that this is whats really happening to other kids elsewhere but the main point was to show that this could be our kids one day and to see it in that light, and so they should help the cause to help our future generations from a world of violence.

Representation of men and women

The show 'Big bang Theory' shows a different side to the 'macho man' stereotype and instead embraces these characters as instead the nerdy or dorky character. The series also attempts to create a false reality or even fantasy for these characters and this is what i will be addressing, the false representation of men and women and how the show creates a unlikely situation for the audience to love and immerse themselves with.

From the analysis video i have shown, the speaker makes valid points which i undoubtably agree with. One of the problems with this show is the false reality it creates, as these nerdy, awkward and somewhat unattractive characters manage to be very close to this beautiful women seen across the corridor, and she even begins to form a bond with one of these men, this is a false reality as the writers of the show give the audience of a realty of a women that finds these dorky men attractive, this is to feed into the viewers that can relate to the characters and wish there lives could be like theres and gives them false hope. However you could say people respect this show as it does acknowledge the people that aren't the manly representation of men shown in the ''blurred lines'' video and what is shown nowadays as the norm of men and how they should be. But this show makes these dorky characters sympathise with the audience and makes them adored by the audience also, despite there unattractive actions.

I will now talk about the characters and what representation best links with them. Firstly, when it comes to each of the characters there all very competitive with finding a girlfriend, however, due to them being stereotyped as the nerd and as sexual failures they are unable to obtain a girlfriend, accept for one or two characters, and the producers due this because they need the audience to be happy with the end outcome of all there efforts to satisfy them and again feed into this false reality, and so because of this they give the characters a underdog story to satisfy the audience. However these sexual obsessed characters are shown to be quite perverted especially one of the characters who is a borderline sex offender, sometimes committing crimes throughout the show such as candid filming of models and even sexual harassment, feeding more into this sexual obsessed nerd stereotype, however because these characters are someone comedic this is acceptable to the audience and they find it funny even if making sexist remarks which is quite rude but the way its delivered and the nerdy character who says it, the audience find this humorous. however if you put a manly/alpha male stereotype cast of characters rather than the nerdy/dork stereotype, the actions and things they would do would instead be seen as creepy and the audience would hate these characters and see them to be irritating.

In this show the stereotype of male, smart nerds is the main premise of the show as each characters are all defined with these terms, but this stereotype of intelligence being gendered masculine is also a example of representation on this show as all characters are also very intelligent, especially in subjects such as mathematics and all sciences, however due to them being nerds they lack the social aspect of their personalities and end up being very socially awkward and sexually repressed and because if that contrast they end being loved by the audience.

Independent Assignment - TV advertisement campaign

The TV Advertisement campaign i have chosen to analyse is the Nike 'Come out of Nowhere' ad:

The target audience of this Nike ad would mainly be focused on someone of any age however it would target more people interested in sports, this is nike being mainly directed towards sport equipment or sport efficient clothing, this theme of sports is mainly shown through the basketball star featured in the video, Lebron James. I think this message is conveyed very well throughout the advert, the message being to strive to become the best despite failure to keep trying to succeed, this is shown from the recurring sentence ''it is not supposed to be here'' showing the boy to be insecure about his poor basketball skill compared to the other kids and than he says ''yes, you would be told that you'll be one of the great someday. The ad also repeats the words 'take chances'. I feel as if this ad is very convincing to inspire and relate to everyday people the audience watching the ad although i don't think it is very effective in selling nikes products. However you could say that due to this relatable ad of how you must make mistakes to improve and succeed, this is something everyone can relate too in one way or another, so maybe this could be used for people to share a bond with this ad and than maybe even the nike brand in general by knowing and relating to the thoughts of the audience. This can help build trust in the nike brand than leading to sales in their products whilst being convinced to strive to be the best they can be.

Representation Analysis-

Robin Thicke - 'Blurred Lines'

In this essay i will be analysing the music video for Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines', and i will be addressing the different stereotypes, techniques and representation shown also throughout the video. I will be going through the video an picking out certain scenes, camera techniques, post-production techniques and audio codes/visual codes. Firstly, i will talk about the representation shown throughout the video, such as Age and Gender. I will also begin to talk about the main ideas of how both genders are shown throughout the video than il proceed to talk about the more technical aspects of the video.

I'll begin by talking about how men are represented in the video, as in the video all three men are shown to be quite focused on sex, this is the main theme of the entire seen as even the hooks reads ''i know you want it'',  this is extremely sexual during the song as they stare and lust over the under dressed women. This is called the 'Male Gaze' In feminist philosophy, the male gaze is the act of depicting the world and woman in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine and heterosexual point of view, which present women as objects of male pleasure. All the sexualisation in the video with the under dressed women are because they aim to the male audience in the music video, so they made a presumption that it would mainly catch a male audience. Also the male representation is also shown through all three men wearing suits and wearing gold watches which are usually a stereotype of men, to be wearing a suit having a briefcase, always working and having a busy work life, unless that the point they wanted to show to say that there successful, or even boast about there wealth. You could also say that the glasses they wear could be shown to be something that masks there true feelings, almost hiding that insecurities.

However, women are represented much differently throughout the video, firstly, there mainly just shown to be a sex object throughout the whole video, as they have almost no dialogue and instead just dances and almost teases the men whilst being very under dressed showing that they have no agency. The only dialogue by one of the three women was one ''meow'', this has many different connotations, such as women being compared to pets, or showing there animalistic desire for sex. Furthermore, due to there limited agency throughout the video rather than the high and mighty representation of the men suggests that there almost being used by men and even disposable as there shown to have no distinctive features in the actions, again adding to the ideal of them being only objects that you can replace.

60 second video project

For my 60 second video i have decided to talk about myself mainly, such as my various hobbies and activities i enjoy to do in my spare time. I than begin to talk about facts about myself such as my past in rugby, my pets and siblings. I than finish the video by explaining why exactly i chose media to give the viewers an insight into why i thought it would be a interesting subject to study. 

What i used to film my video was my Samsung J5 phone camera, it was all i could use at the time due ti my limited resources however I'm satisfied with the final result. To make my video less tedious to watch, i added an instrumental which i voice-over using non diegetic sound to give the information about myself, as i thought it would make my video more interesting to listen too, which would also represent my creative side.

 For the post production techniques of the music and text i used multiple apps from the google play store, this was due to me having no video editing software as well as little knowledge in video editing, the phone application made it much more simplified and easier to add the music in the background and the different text that appears throughout the video. For the video i used a medium close-up, also known as the 'newsreader shot', i set my phone camera at this distance i thought it would be the best option as i felt as if too close it would uncomfortable to watch and too far would be to disorienting to watch if I'm directly talking about myself to the audience. For the lighting, i used a lamp from my parents room which i than turned over onto its side so the light would be directed toward my face which is the main focal point of the video as when someone is speaking directly to the readers they should be able to clearly see there faces to help the construction of the message i was sending. Also for the visual codes used, colours  for my video where strategically planned as i used a dark background, and for myself a light focusing on me and also wearing a blue hoodie with a bold graphic on it to make me stand out more form the background which would again help the viewers focus more on me during the video.

The audio code i used in the background 'Bank Account' by 21 Savage was used to convey my narrative as the song itself represents my personality in a way, my liking to RnB and Hip Hop gives the viewers a extra insight into what type of person is shown. Also i perform very mild gestures whilst i give the information but i also use some iconography when i make the slight humorous jokes in my text shown to point out my mistakes and also at the end of my video revealing to the audience that i did not edit the video using computer software but instead a phone application further increasing the self deprecating humour, these where some of the language features i used, my informal mode of address.

What is cross-platform advertising?

Erik Manu
A/S Media - Unit 2

What is cross-platform advertising?

Throughout this essay i will be exploring the definition of cross-platform advertising; i will be referring to sites such as Quora, Wikipedia, Degordian Education Hub, Los Angeles Times and The Drum, which will help me determine the real definition and meaning of cross-platform advertising. I will also be analysing cross-platform ads such as Facebook, Google Analytics and a usual business campaign such as subways 'train with tommy' competition.

What exactly is cross-platform advertising? The official Quora tells us: Cross-platform, also known as cross-media, is a reference to the state of your advertising spanning multiple media types, e.g. TV, mobile and paid search . I say "reference" because the phrase out of context doesn't have useful meaning. Anyone with a decent with a decent budget advertises across multiple platforms/media types. Not even a decade ago, advertising campaigns were created specifically for one platform such as TV. But why should we use cross-platform advertisements/campaigns rather than single platform? This is because nowadays, single platform campaigns are slowly disappearing. Advertisers have recognized the advantages of new technologies and are starting to implement them into their traditional TV, radio and print advertising campaigns. Today, more potential costumers spend time on the internet and social media than watching TV or listening to radio. Services such as Facebook or Twitter manage to connect people and provide them with a place to share their experiences and conversations with their friends. With internet being more accessible to a wider audience, social media services can just increase in use and popularity.

Cross-platform advertising also increases reach and engagement, this is due to advertisers integrating campaigns. advertisers can dramatically increase the reach of their campaigns , as well as the engagement of potential customers. Increased reach and engagement produce better results which are relatively easy to track and analyser. For example, Facebook's ad platform enables easy tracking of conversions through Facebook, while Google Analytics enables integration of conversion tracking into any web site or application. To find out more about conversion tracking on Facebook. Subway recently ran a 'Train with Tommy Competition' across INM (Independent News and Media). The competition allowed rugby teams, schools and tag rugby teams the chance to win £872 for their club and a training session with Irish International rugby player Tommy Bowe. This multi-platform campaign was driven through native content, display advertising, print advertising and a strong social strategy. The completion attracted entries from over 100 rugby teams across Ireland. In addition to running on Independent. i.e., this campaign ran across our regional titles online and The Herald newspaper. By using the right advertising placements, we ensured we reached Subways target audience.

Campaigns that integrate multiple platforms in their implementation are called cross-platform campaigns. Such description of an advertising campaigns will have to be cross-platform in order to reach relevant audiences. Nowadays, it is not enough for an advertiser to create a TV spot or place an ad in the daily newspaper and expect miracles from their advertising campaign. It is necessary to adapt the campaign and its communication across multiple channels in order to achieve the best possible results in terms of brand awareness.

A 2014 Tribune company study recently discovered that consumers are 75 per cent more likely to take action when they've viewed an advertisement on more than one platform. This includes both print and digital formats. For those who follow the advertising niche (denoting or relating to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population) closely, this isn't too surprising. Why do combination print and digital campaigns work? Todays society are very tech-savvy and like knowing what's happening now. They're still reading the print newspaper over breakfast, but might check the evening edition on their tablet later in the day or might look up the latest news on their laptop over lunch. But what's crucial about this is that they are fully committed to using two sources to get the information they want which is print and digital.

Intro to Representation -

Sexuality/Race/Religion:

In the media through platforms such as music, you are able to send a message, this is how the young artist 'Logic' presents his views and also societies views a a whole in his song latest song: '1-800-273-8255', as shown above. This song has been known to resonates with peoples views for equality for all races, gender, religion and sexual orientation and to also mental health. This is demonstrated through the music video of a student attending high school, first to be seen acting like any other student would however it is soon revealed he is homosexual and the story then takes us on his efforts to succeed as well as everyone else, however due to his sexuality he is ridiculed and bullied presenting how fast some people can judge and discriminate against someone who's not the same as them or don't share the same views/opinions, even if he's still the same student he knew before his reveal. Only in this video it is shown to focus on sexuality however many more factors are presented as a whole from just the song alone. The song has three main choruses that all tell somewhat of a story through an untold person perspective, most likely representing those who are battling discrimination. Firstly, this is shown as the first line of the chorus one reads '' I don't wanna be alive'' this tells as that this is the point in where the depression has consumed them and no longer feel the need to live. Secondly, the first like of chorus two reads ''i want you to be alive'' and this is meant to be representing the person supporting them through there hard times and Lastly, the first line of the third chorus reads ''i finally wanna be alive'' this is meant to show the listeners the resolution of there hard times and how they can persist through them if their willing to be confident enough to find their self worth; despite what others say, either through themselves or support from the people around them. The producer has used media language to encode this message through representation in this music video to the audience so they can decode it to also attempt to change there perspective on the situation on depression and discrimination.

Age/Youth:

In most recent times social media has became some sort of an essential and incredible tool for millennials, its has been used to achieve Internet fame, exposure/promotion for organisations and simply the ability to easily communicate with one another on the Internet due to platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Sound Cloud, Twitter etc. These platforms are highly popular amongst people in today's society with millions of users and they have found many ways to use this new found tool to benefit themselves or others. Social media is a way for people to express themselves or just find general entertainment. This high use of these platforms results in companies wanting to sell and promote their products through a sponsorship or ads and therefore create income for these young people off a free social media platform. Social media has created a completely new way of achieving success through the Internet sometimes with minimal effort. Although it could be argued that the negative effects of social media such as the need for attention to prevent depression and to reassure confidence can overwhelm the positive effects, its undoubtedly true that social media does provide more opportunities for young people. From the video i have shown above ''How social networks have changed the world''. It also reflects my point of view of how social media has become highly useful for today's society however somewhat risky also. Here the producers of this documentary encode the message sent to present the view of the negative and positive sides of social media, allowing the audience to decode the message to get an insight on how they can become more careful/mindful when being on the internet.