Self Evaluation

Attainment- 2- I think there's some room for improvement.

Effort- 2- I put a lot of effort into media and complete the work that is set- homework and class work but i should put more effort into the homework.

Punctuality-1- I very rarely come late to lessons.

Submission and quality of homework- 3- I very rarely don't give in homework on time but sometimes the quality can be improved.

Ability to work independently- 2- I feel i work well by my self.

Quality of writing- 2- The quality of my writing might not be the best but it's good.

Organisation of Media folder- 1- i have seperate folders for each teacher and they are kept very neat.

Oral contributions in class-2- I regularly contribute to class discussions.

Module 1- Exam Practise

Seventeen- Magazine Front Cover

The Purpose of a teenage girl magazine front cover such as 'Seventeen' is to give the target audience an insight into what the magazine contains and to persuade them to purchase it. 'Seventeen' is an American magazine published by Hearst corporation which Rupert Murdoch originally owned (then called Triangle Publications).

The main image is a medium shot of well-known actress/singer Beyonce with a big smile on her face and wind coming towards her making her hair blow away. The use of this celebrity endorcement by the magazine not only help to persuade the audience to purchase the product but also creates a non-stereotypical definition of a desired female shape. The caption next to the image of her says: "Beyonce: 'I was like enough of this- I'm eating'", which signifies the idea of a curvey woman being independant and with a high self-esteem as she would simply rather eat than diet. This subverts the media's portrayal of a perfect woman and therefore subverts Mulvey's theory of women being passive and controlled by males giving the ideologies to the audience of being happy with their body size.

On the other hand, the use of Beyonce and the represenatations that follow are contradicted with the "Make-over tips" covering Beyonce's chest at the bottom of the page as it shows a long shot of a woman who is fat and then thin in another image with the title "Get the body you want" as well as "look hot like a model" and "shiny hair secrets". This representes women to be very self-concious and gives out the idea of omwan having to look perfect not only with the "model" body size and shape achieved by dieting but also with "shiny" hair thus getting rid of the represenations associated with Beyonce. This contradiction is very harmful because not only would the target audience, consisting of female teenagers with C2-D socio-economic grading already want to aspire to be like celebrities including beyonce but they may already be self-concious about their weight and this magazine's mediated represenations forces it upon them even more.

The use of the neutral colours including orange, cream, yellow and green challenge the idea of a female audience as well as them being subjected to the female gaze. On the other hand, it creates a new look on the feminine atributes. Also, this issue was in Januay therefore it can also be associated with a new beginning.

The slogan of the magazine, which is written at the top of the page is "9 ways to become his girlfriend!" and so makes the audience want to feel belonged to a man. The style of the diction used in this portrays the female gender not be independant and want to be "his girlfriend" instead of him being "her boyfriend". This contradicts with the independant ideologies associaed with Beyonce.

Module 1- Practice Exam

Casino Royale (2006) Film poster

The purpose of a film poster is to, prior its cinema release, promote the film by giving insights into main characters, themes, slogans and titles in order to maximise profits. Casino Royale is one of many 'Bond' sequels by MGM/Columbia Pictures, a major film distributor.

There are four images: one major and three minor. The one major image is situated on the left of the poster and consists of a long shot of James Bond, already signifying his major role and importance in the film to the audience. The use of the long shot also allows the audience to see his dress code. He is wearing a black suit with a white shirt suggesting his authorititive figure yet he adds a casual look by his bow doing not being done suggesting a change in the Bond as actor wise he has changed. His smart dress code as well as his shirt button being un-done promote the idea of the male-gaze with the idea of post-modernism and the reversal of Mulvey's female gaze theory. This is abandoned because there is a lack of female representation, suggesting the idea of a patricarchal society and his personality becomes an enigma to the audience, thus the film poster successfully persuads them to watch the film and find out.

The image of Bond also consists of him holding a gun and could be interpreted as a phallic symbol as well as allowing the audience to acknowledge that fact the gun is an icon of an action genre film. The female gaze is present again as Bond's blue eyes contrast with his suit and the grey background allowing them to stand out and are enhanced.

The first of the three minor images on the right hand side of the poster is an extreme long shot of a boat, an aeroplane and a helicopter; Bond and his 'girl' being in the back boat avoiding the chaos of an aeroplane crashing as they were probably trying to escape from it. Thistherefore gives an insight to the narrative of the film and shows a picturesque image (a boat travelling in the river with a man and woman inside it) distructed by the areoplane- a theme present throughout the 'Bond' movies. The second image is a medium shot of Bond and his 'girl' in water un-dressed again emphasising the idea of patricarchy as he only uses the girl for sex. The thrid image is a long shot of the fron of Bond's black care with an explosion behind it yet the car does not seem effected. All of these: the suit, boat, woman and car represent a capitalist society whereby the audience would aspire to acquire money and material wealth and see this as the norm just like Bond as all of them.

The long shot of James Bond is especially striking because of the lighting. There is light from the back-right of him causing some of his face to be in shadow. This adds to the enigma of the character by creating him to be a mysterious figure, yet a witty one. Therefore, Bond is presented as a white, witty, smartly dresses, sexy and rich man creating the audience of boys to want to aspire to be exactly like him. The audience would therefore be teenagers to young adults of C1-D socio-economic grading.

Behind the long shot of James Bond is the infamous oo7 logo which is cut off and then used to seperate the three minor images. This is in grey and creates the idea of continutity of the other Bond films, making the audience aware of this as well. Also, with the absence of other ethnic groups (other than whites) sense of nationalism can be portrayed as well, espeically due to the fact that Bond has this appearance of being part of the bourgeios because of his materialsitic posessions.

This "Casino Royale" film poster is overall, trying to communicate to its audience the contiunity of the great success of the Bond films, through the iconography of an expensive car, a girl, a boat, a gun and a suit, as well as a new characteristic: a new Bond. Therefre its fills its purpose and does it successfully. The ideas it is expressing through its mediated representation are firstly a sense of the audience aspiring to be like Bond through a capital society as well as a patriarchal one.

Module 1- Practise Exams

'The Shawshank Redemption' DVD cover (1994)

'The Shawshank Redemption' is a prison break themed film, which was produced by Carlton and released on DVD in 1996. Carlton is not a popular film institution but it's success was and still is great. The purpose of a DVD cover is to attract, engage and inform the audience as much as possible,persuading them to purchase the DVD.

The title of the DVD is written at the top of the page, centered to engage the audience and gain as much acknowledgement due to the them always starting to read from the top of any page. The font is not bold but the colour contrasts with the background; the title being white and the background being black. The colours black and white are associated with the extreme past (or a long period of time), which emphasises to the audience the fact that this film is a remake of a true story.

There is a long shot of the two main characters Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins centered on the DVD cover, which makes the audiece acknowledge that they are the two main characters in the film as well as revealing their dress code. There is a difference in type of clothing between Freeman and Robbins as the former's being ragged and old compared to the latter's representing a class division between the ethnicities: black and white; the white being socially and economically superior to black people. However, both Freeman and Robbins are preferably in the prison therefore class is not an important factor because they have now become dis-associated with the norm (or the outside world) where it would indeed matter. Freeman's clothes therefore, may infact be older than Robbin's simply because he may have spent a longer amount of time in the prison compared to Robbins. Another siginifier of this being the fact that Freeman is a lot more older than Robbins.

Adittionally, Freemans's facial gesture is a very big smile at Robbins suggesting intergration in the 20th century. on the other hand, Robbins is looking infront of himself, away from Freeman and he is not smiling back, showing hostility towards Freeman and again, this may be because of the difference in ethnicities or race. Another welcoming gesture of Freeman is the posession he has of a base ball glove and ball connoting enjoyment in the prison. This would juxtapose with the audience's idea of life in prison and so the image challenges their perception of prison life.

Through the hostility of Robbins, as he may not want to play Baseball, there is an idea of a serious and un-welcoming representation of white people specifically men as there is a lack of represenations of women.

Not only is it obvious that the images are of the men in Shawshank prison by the number of Freeman's shirt but also by the image behind them. This is also a long shot but this time of men working in a field; this being prison work. This is put togther by computer and the fact that it is behind Morgan and Freeman could show how they want to escape the prison work and the prison life.

The image is a brown colour connoting the past and a long period of time, similar to the colours of the title and background. Therefore, it could be an image taken when the real prisoner escaped Shawshank Prison, highlighting the Uses and gratifications theory- paticularly Blulmer and Katz's extention by which the audience consume a media text in order to relax as well as be eduacted. This DVD cover does both.

Violence is portrayed as well through the warden holding a gun in the image behind Robbins and Freeman suggesting the genre not only to be prison-break but ones such as thriller and adventure. This siginifies that the audience of the film would be of A/B socio-economic grading, who are middle aged and university educated for the reason that it is a true story and an independant audience would want to watch the film to be eduacted, with full knowledge that it is based on a true story.

The gun could, on the other hand, represent a phallic symbol but the themes presented on the DVD cover could disregard this idea. However, it is for this reason and the macho look of the film that the secondary audience would be teenagers to young adults of both male and female who would want to watch this film for entertainment- not particularly aspiring or knowing the fact that it is a true story.

The iconography of Freeman holding a baseball glove and the warden holding a gun juxtapose each other as baseball is associated with youth, enjoyment and innocense whereas a gun connotes danger, death and rebelliousness. This represents a difference of prioities as well as roles between the classes- the prisoner and the warden, perhaps suggesting a corrupt prison.

This DVD cover "The Shawshank Redemption" is trying to communicate a brief insight into the two main characters including their relationship towards each other as well as subtly portraying this idea of mixed of emotions in the prison. Through its mediated representations, it expresses the ideas of ethnicity, social intergration, prison life and prison expectations. It fully potrays to the audience the key idea of the film- being a prison break- as well as creating enigmas for the audience as to why Robbins has a hostile facial gesture.