Work Placement



 

 

 

Here are some images from my trip to Comic Con at the NEC in Birmingham

Work Placement

My placement was an independent one, I worked alongside Nathan O’Connor, one of Adtrak’s web designers, as I was doing visual design I thought a placement such as this would be relevant. Nathan showed me his personal, professional blog and taught me how I could improve my current blog and spoke to me about how creating my own blog would look more professional as I could make it unique and it would be a perfect platform to showcase my work. I also watched him design a business card from scratch, I saw how clients contacted him asking for a business card to be designed and Nathan was given only a few details of what the client wanted however it was his job to create something innovative while meeting the client’s needs. I showed Nathan the business cards I had designed and he gave me constructive criticism and told me how I could improve my designs, we compared our business cards and I saw how much more advanced his were to mine however I took some useful ideas away with me and began to put this into my work. Nathan also asked me to write a small piece for his blog simply using my words and no one else’s, I had to undertake a lot of research whilst not copying anything from any websites, this task was difficult however I managed to meet the requirements and he posted this piece onto his blog and said he would contact me in the future if he wanted any other pieces writing. My role fit within the organization because I was learning firsthand what level my work and skills would need to be at in order to potentially pursue a career in the media industry, I got a feel of what it was like having to research and write something that I wasn’t entirely interested in but knowing it could potentially be posted online for everyone to see pushed me to complete it. From this I learnt skills such as creativity, problem-solving, the ability to pay attention to detail, and I gained some knowledge of web design and these are skills I will continue to develop through my work. In terms of my performance I would say I worked quite efficiently, a lot of the placement was me watching and learning but I made sure I was 100% focused and that I was taking in everything that Nathan was saying to me, Nathan used InDesign CC when creating business cards, I also created some small designs using InDesign, that Nathan looked over and told me how I could make them better and how to incorporate a company name into the logo/business card, to reflect their business and what type of company they are. During one of the days at my placement, I went into Adtrak and was able to look around and see the different type of people who work there, how big the team was, the different roles everyone played and how the company worked together as a team to ensure they were delivering the best service. I realized that it wasn’t just designers and managers that built up the team but there were many other positions I was unfamiliar with, for example, copywriting, telecoms, creative director and more. It was really useful looking around the offices, I learnt that Adtrak are a company that also looks after its employees as well as its clients, and the work space is a relaxing environment with a pool table and vending machines, the employees said they felt this space allows creativity and It is a place they can take a break where a calm atmosphere is maintained. It was also interesting to find out that there were more female roles than I expected, web design is often stated as being a male dominated profession however even some manager roles were female dominated, for example, operations director, head of accounts, head of telecoms, head of graphic design, etc. This was surprising yet very pleasing.

 

From my placement, it definitely added to my knowledge of the media industry as I was able to see how a media company runs and works and the different types of roles and people it takes to make the company work, I learnt that it is important for the employees of the company to bond therefore the cooperation and teamwork becomes more natural and the work that is produced is of higher quality and everyone just works well together, it also creates a positive working environment and the company then sees a rise in success. It was interesting to get a real feel for the industry, to see the production side of things and see how things are created and how the ideas come together, how websites are created, how the company makes connections and uses their own website to showcase their work and the different companies they are in business with. Adtrak’s website provides a lot of information, it tells you who is a part of the team and what they do for the company, however meeting some of them was a useful experience, although pursuing a career in the industry is difficult, maintaining it is just as challenging, the work load is very high and the demand to get the work done on time is even higher. During my placement, I spent the majority of it with Nathan, watching him work from home and seeing how that it is no different from that of being in the office, although being at home allowed him to take as many breaks as he wanted, the work still had to be done and just as efficiently. It was very helpful spending my placement with Nathan because he was able to work with me independently and we were able to talk one to one about my work and how I am going to achieve a job in the industry after I leave university. Nathan told me his journey and how he landed his job role, he worked hard for many years and like me, attended university where he learnt much of his skills, he was fortunate enough to get a job interview and due to his high standard of work, he was successful and has been a web designer for the last 6 years. It was refreshing to know that he was once where I am now and that it is more than possible to achieve your dream job with hard work and dedication.

In comparison to the rest of the course, my placement was definitely more of a learning experience although the course allows me to create media products and showcase them, actually visiting a media company and seeing the process is far more of an experience. This course has taught me a lot about media that I will put forward in the future when obtaining a career in the industry, I have gained new skills and developed them and I hope to continue developing them but a work placement provided me with a lot more and I was able to learn further skills with someone who is currently a part of the industry therefore could give me and show me an insight into the work he does and this experience is something I will take with me into my final years of study.

Visual Design - Production Day 1

For our first production day, we had to design and create our own magazine called 'Trashion' with images and articles provided. I chose this image because I liked how she wasn't directly looking at the camera and the clothes worn worked with my magazine which featured an article about spring. Looking at 'VOGUE' magazine I tried to structure my front cover in a similar way, having the price in a yellow circle on top of the title and have the title touching the models head. I decided to include the month of the magazine which all magazines tend to do. I chose to have 'The ultimate guide to fashion' as the first bit of text to suggest the magazine is a fashion magazine and this is the guide to being fashionable. I used the titles of all the articles on the cover to show readers what is inside, contrasting the house colours black and pink. I used different fonts for different articles to suggest what kind of article is it, I chose fonts 'Gabriola' and 'Lucida' I thought these contrasting well together. I chose to have 'Spring fling' in a bigger font and at the bottom of the cover to suggest this is the main feature of my magazine. 

The first article was about how to make your own pair of shorts, because this was a creative piece I wanted to emphasise this in the pages. I decided to source an image of a ruler to suggest measuring and thought the image of the ruler and pencil would make a really creative border. I decided to only use two of the images from the shorts article, the beginning result and the end as I didn't want to overcrowd the article with images. For the title I used two different fonts, for 'How to' I chose a big, bold, capitalised font to give the article a kind of DIY look and then contrasted it with a feminine, fancy style for 'Shorts' to suggest this is aimed at girls and the article itself is feminine with the use of pink. I decided to use cartoon images of the equipment needed to make the shorts because I wanted to give it a fun and lighthearted feel to emphasise the creativeness. I used pink boxes on the numbers and to label the trousers and shorts just to add some colour and to make the article look more appealing. I decided to make the first letters of the article bigger font sizes as this is how the majority of magazine articles are structured and I did this throughout the magazine. 

The second article was about arts and crafts therefore I really wanted to give this piece more of a creative feel than the others. I created triangles from a hexagon using the pen tool and used this around the article as a border, I thought it looked as if someone had cut around the border and thought this tied in nicely with the article. For the title I chose a fun and funky almost bubble writing font, I chose to make the outline colour as well as the colour of the font itself, pink, to emphasise the bubble writing and to give it a cartoon like feel. There was only one image for this article, which I decided to place a grey box behind to add more colour and to make the image seem more interesting and eye catching. I sourced another image to add to the article because I thought it lacked images, I chose this image because it connoted arts and crafts and I thought it worked well with the other image, I placed the image in a circle to contrast with the square image and had the text bending around so it didn't look like it was just placed there. From looking at other magazines I noticed how they would take a quote from the article and blow it up to show readers what the article is about and to grab their attention. I decided to do the same, I chose this quote because it suggests what the event is really about and shows its not as boring as the article may suggest at first. 

For this article, which is mentioned on the cover of my magazine, I decided to use the same fonts just to keep it all the same, rather than trying to contrast too many fonts together. I used a pink border to contrast with the title and to keep with the house style of pink. I felt this article was rather feminine and I wanted to reflect that, I decided to use a picture of Judy herself as this article is about her and I also used her logo above to show readers her business logo. I again chose a quote from the article and placed it next to her to make the article more personal and to show readers how far she has come throughout her career. I used the image from her vintage fair and placed it in a circle with the text b ending around just to be traditional and make this article quite like an ordinary interview type. I decide to keep this article rather simple instead of trying to overcomplicate it. 

This article was about shopping in London therefore I wanted to represent this in the article. I sourced an image of the great British flag, because of how iconic London is, being the capital of England and how well it is known in Great Britain. I made the image slightly transparent in order for the title to stand out, I contrasted the title using the 'Trashion' title font used on the cover of the magazine with a bold, capitalised vintage style font, I chose to do this to connote both 'Trashion' and 'Vintage' separately. Using both the images of the 'Rokit Vintage' shop in London, one new and one being old, to contrast the changes. I placed both in circles connecting together to show how the shop itself and vintage has changed over the years, I also thought the circles connecting gave it a London eye effect, which again was a representation of London. I used a black border on the top and bottom of the article to make it seem more bold and to contrast with the images and text rather than having a white page. 

We were given a variety of images from stalls at a vintage market so I decided to give this article the title 'Vintage from home' using a bold font, I used three pink lines to underline the title because I thought it looked appealing and contrasted nicely. I used an image of a pink and white checkered pattern to create the border, to look like a picnic blanket or table cloth which I thought gave the article a 70s/80s feel. I chose the image of the table and chairs set because I thought it was the best image out of the ones I was given, I wanted this article to be about buying vintage pieces for your home so I used an image of a sticky note to advertise the table and how much it was; I thought this was keeping with the vintage theme of the article and I tried to be creative. I used a handful of the other images to suggest other antiques to have around the house, I gave all the images a outer shadow to add more depth and  I thought the images looked too plain and simple having them flat. I used a pink box behind the images to give the page some colour and to make the middle image stand out a bit more. 

The image I used for the front cover of the magazine was part of a photo shoot, which I wanted to expand on. I decided to use the images to showcase spring clothes, where they were from and how much. For the title I chose a bold and striking font to stand out as there wasn't much text used or needed in this article. I gave all the images an outer shadow to give them a slight 3D look, I decided to use backdrops of blue to make the images stand out and to make the article more eye catching and colourful. I drew stars using the pen tool, I thought they looked more interesting and made the article more fun and vibrant. I thought the colours contrasted well together, I used the same font as the title because I just wanted to keep it the same and didn't think it was particular necessary to find another font. 

 

       

When I looked at 'VOGUE' magazine an article inside was called 'Beach Chic' which featured clothes for summer time, I decided to have 'Spring fling' which featured on the cover of my magazine and decided to do the same, creating an article that shows clothes for spring time. I used the same font for the title that was used on the cover of my magazine. I sourced an image of a women wearing a denim dress to suggest denim is in this season. I chose to have different denim items around her with labels of where they are from and the price. I decided to have some text below explaining why denim is in, I titled this 'Denim for march' and made this a bigger and bolder font to stand out. Below I used images of different bikinis for spring, again with the shop and the price of the items and used the slogan 'In there like swimwear' to make the article more fun and to play on words. I thought the font used represented the images nicely, and thought this article was structured similar to that of other popular magazines. Although spring is the season that begins to get warmer it can also still be a cold time, I decided to use images of different spring jackets and also used a model wearing a casual jacket, I used text to tell readers that although spring is here, jackets are still needed, I chose to label the jackets just like the other clothing items because I want readers to know where they can find these items. When sourcing images I came across Caterpillar boots in three different colours and decided I wanted to also feature shoes in my article. I placed the boots in this way because I thought it looked more interesting and made the article more playful and gave it more of a structure. I again, used a famous slogan 'Get your kicks on route 66!' just to play on words like the swimwear piece, using the same font. I gave a brief explanation of how much the boots were, I didn't give them a label because of how commonly sold these boots are and they can be found in almost every show shop from around the same price. Overall I think I have been successful in creating a magazine and I am very pleased with how I have put everything together and designed my magazine to look like a popular read magazine. 

Visual Design - Production Day 3

For our third and final production day 'Marketing in a day', using mock ups we had to showcase 'Trashion' as a business. I decided to go for these mock ups because of the different ways of how I could market my magazine. For the iPhone and the badges I decided to keep them the same, as this is the main image of the magazine, also featured on the front of the magazine. Throughout the designs I decided to give 'Trashion' a drop shadow because I thought it added more depth and made it look more appealing. I decided to use a different layout for the cards just to change the look and so I wasn't using the same image throughout. I used this image because It contrasted nicely with black and pink, the house colours. I decided to play around with the words and use a different font for 'Fashion magazine' I chose this font because it looked retro and vintage which is the theme of the magazine. When designing the T-shirt I went for a typical love heart 'Trashion' to represent the magazine and who it is aimed at, I wanted to go for a girly style and thought this looked the best. Finally I changed the pass card to a female image and my name and included 'Fashion blogger' just to make it more personal and to give it a feminine touch.

With these mock ups I decided to be more creative, I created the album cover using a black and white image just to be different from the other coloured images used, I also thought it looked more retro, which is what I named the album. I chose this font because when creating a backdrop it gave it a 3D effect which I thought looked really appealing and fit in with the album style. For the business cards I chose a similar image from the cover of the magazine, I particularly liked this image because of how the model is looking directly at the camera and I wanted to use an image that would attract audiences. Again I used black and pink borders to keep with the house colours and gave 'Trashion' a drop shadow, just because I wanted to keep the all the marketing products fairly similar. For the back of the business card I chose the same image as the previous cards, using black borders to give it more colour and depth, I chose to put the information at the side of the image rather than in the middle because I wanted to keep the two separate so audiences could really see the image. For the clipboard, I used the image of the models from the website homepage because I felt I was using a lot of the same images but I also wanted to use an image that featured in either the magazine or website so it wasn't completely random. I placed 'Trashion 2015' on top of the image because I wanted to replicate the website, however this is the extended image. I decided to use the space to write briefly about 'Trashion' and what to expect from 'Trashion' as a way to market the business to audiences to explain to them why 'Trashion' is expanding in this way, I did this to make 'Trashion' seem more realistic and to create a marketing pitch. 

Visual design - Production Day 2

For this weeks production day 'Multimedia in a day' we had to create a 3 page website, including a home page, an article and a fashion spread. I decided to create my homepage using the exact title from my magazine to keep with the style, colours and theme. I used cosmopolitan's website for ideas and inspiration. I decided to use the traditional layout of the different pages available and the subscribe and follow options along with a search engine. I chose black for my outline because I thought it contrasted nicely with the shade of pink I had chose. I used images with headings below to represent the different articles, which most of the online magazine websites I viewed used. I also decided to use an image behind the title to make my website look more interesting and appealing, I wanted to use an image that represented spring but instead came across a collection of models, I thought this would fit in more as the website is fashion based and I wanted an image that would compliment the rest of the page, the models are all wearing black and white which gives it a monochrome feel, i think this ties in nicely with my house style and the rest of the website. 

I decided to include Judy Berger's article because I was able to play on words from her article and I was able to use different colours to make my website a little bit different. The use of red in her logo allowed me to use this for the title which also complimented the extra colours used. Looking at other websites I noticed social media was included in the articles so I decided to lay mine out in the same way, also stating how many shares the article has received via social media. I also added a comment option as this was also an option on the majority of magazine websites I saw, I wanted my article to be of a similar layout to popular magazines such as Vogue and cosmopolitan. I decided to keep the search bar from my homepage just to give it more of a website feel, I also included a recommend button to view other articles on the website. I wanted to make my article appealing to audiences and to look like a popular magazine website. 

For my fashion spread, we had to create a photo gallery, from looking at other online photo galleries I saw it was laid out in a particular way. Because I wanted my website to look like a real photo gallery I structured mine in a similar way. Instead of using only one photo I decided to use a few to make it more eye-catching and because I wanted to include a few of the photos from the shoot because of how different they all were. I tried to recreate a photo gallery using 'See all photos' and 'View gallery' options, which gave it more of a website feel and I think it looks more professional rather than just using the images. I decided to include a caption under the images to explain what the photos were entailing and to give the page more texts. 

Here are some examples of how each page of the website would look on an Apple mac computer, a Macbook Pro and an Apple iPad. 

MED4104 - Directed Study Week 8

This week we looked at digital television and the impact it has on audiences. From my own personal experience, digital television had a positive impact on me, growing up television was very limited as we only had 5 channels for a number of years, eventually we got SKY installed and it was the best experience for me growing up at home. I was able to watch a variety of different television shows I'd never knew about before and I was able to engage in conversation with my friends about the shows. Even now digital television still has a positive impact on me, for example, the film 'Sin City' which is now shown on television, uses CGI throughout, watching that film was a new experience for me because I'd never seen anything like it. Digital television has definitely had a huge impact on me as I don't particular enjoy old films/TV unless they are a specific part of my childhood memories. 

Recent technology has changed the way I consume film/television because even now television is constantly updating and it is something that interests me massively, I am forever amazed by how things on television are created and put together. Television can  now be viewed online, if I miss a programme I can watch it later on my phone or my computer whereas before I would have to wait for catchup. I can also watch a programme live on a device, I don't necessarily need a television to actually watch it I can even consume films without having to go to the cinema, films are available to watch online via Netflix. Technology has developed entirely, that I no longer have to be at home to watch a programme. 

Looking at the set reading, which discusses the theory 'First-shift aesthetics' this explains my experience of technology because it looks at programme strategies to attract viewers, which as a viewer I can relate to. Strategies such as "Hammocking" this is where new and untested shows are launched between successful and rating proven series (Everett, 2003: 134). As a viewer I can say this has had a somewhat successful affect on me, for example, I watch programmes such as 'Fraser' on the odd occasion, which then led me to start watching 'Rules of engagement' because it appeared on the same channel and was of the same genre it appealed to me, causing me to watch it more regularly. 

In terms of research, it could be interesting to look at digital technology and audience consumption, for example, researching whether with only the standard 5 channels on television, would television still be valued as highly as it is now? Would it still be culturally/socially practised?. If I was to research this topic in depth, I would gather a small group of individuals and have them only watch television with the standard 5 channels for a number of days to see whether they become more appealed with digital television or whether they become less interested in watching television due to the lack of variety. This research would show me the level of impact digital television can have on an individuals life and whether if something wasn't as easily available would we still be so concerned with it. 

References: 

Everett, A and Caldwell, J (Eds) (2003), New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality, Routledge, London and New York - pp 127-144.

MED4104 - Directed Study Week 7

This week we looked at the study of audiences and their readings of 'text', we discussed theorists such as Certeau, who stated that once audiences have seen and analysed images via television 'We are still left with the question of what the consumer constructs with these images' (De Certeau M, 1990: 52). In terms of reception theory, theorist Fiske rejected theoretical assumptions such as; capitalist societies producing illustory promotional products, text only having one meaning to all and people being cultural dopes at the mercy of capitalism. Fiske believed subordinate classes could resist against this. We also discussed theorist Stuart Hall, who insisted that there remains limits to interpretation, meaning cannot be simply 'private' and 'individual'. 

In relation to audiences I have developed a research question that allows me to explore the study of audiences. My question is 'How has the discussion of 50 shades of grey brought female audiences together?' I have chosen to use virtual ethnography to look at how females interact online by sharing their opinions of the film. My object of study will be blogs such as blogspot, blogger, etc. 
Looking at various blog posts, I found that the discussion of '50 shades of grey' the film, has caused a lot of controversy, a lot females had very different, strong views on the interpretation they received from watching the film. Many of the bloggers had read the books previous therefore were comparing the books to the film and discussing issues that have been raised in the media. Some key points I picked out from my findings: 


- Online blogging is a bigger platform for anyone and everyone to have their say on a particular discussion topic, having a blog gives everyone the chance to come across it while on the internet and the chance to give an opinion, even an anonymous opinion if they wish to do so. Women from all over the world were having their say about the film and how they perceived it.

- The internet is used so widely and globally that it gets around a lot faster than just being told about it by someone, being so publicly used, larger audiences are engaging with the discussion, women who were sharing the same or similar opinions were beginning to share a bond, finding similar interests and hobbies through the discussion.

- Audiences receive pleasure through voicing their opinion to such a huge audience and finding people who share their views gives them pleasure, the blogger was pleased with how much controversy the discussion caused and how many women were viewing the blog.

In relation to the set readings, Gillespie talks about soap gossip, the gossip that 'Bond female friendships', Gillespie also looks at how 'Pleasure is derived from exchanging views and opinions' and how it 'Brings the interest and concerns of the private sphere into the public domain' (Gillispie, 2003). From my findings I saw the women were receiving pleasure from having such a heated debate on a matter of opinions. A blog draws away from the private sphere i.e a conversation about the film from one woman to another, to a public domain for thousands of women to converse. In the Long and Wall textbook, it looks at how online audience activities create communities, meaning and identity. In answering my question, the discussion of '50 shades of grey' has brought female audiences together through the use of a public domain, allowing strangers to converse and find other interests in the process. 

References: 

Gillespie, Marie (2003) “Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change” IN Will Brooker and Deborah Jermyn (eds.) The Audience Studies Reader. London: Routledge.

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Investigating audiences: what do people do with media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2^nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 300-337.

Trout, J (2015). "Get Over It!" How not to respond to critics of 50 shades of grey. Jenny Trout. Available at: Jennytrout homepage. <http://jennytrout.com/?p=8740> (Updated February 2015, Accessed 22nd March 2015). 

Directed Study - Album cover design

This week we looked at colour and image in order to create the front and back of a CD cover. I chose to do The Weeknd because he is one of my favourite artists. I really liked the original cover, the use of the black and white image with a turquoise/green colour scale. I chose this specific image using flickr because it reflects the artist and the songs relate to the image. I didn't use an image of the artist because I was unable to source one that would be effective, I thought black and white would be more effective than colour in order for the title and the colours of green to stand out. I tried to use a font for the title that was similar of the original, I used Arial black and made the text bold, I decided to use a shadow behind the title because I thought it gave the cover some depth and I thought the 3D looked more interesting and eye-catching. I decided to use the same colour scale from the original cover because I thought it stood out and I didn't want to change the cover entirely. The original cover featured lines underneath the title and the colour scale, I chose to use two lines underneath the colour scale and have them connected at one end but different lengths at the other end, I thought this was more creative rather than only having two lines, I thought it made the cover look more intriguing, I decided to do the same underneath the title of the album but reversed just to change the dynamics slightly. I was unable to find the exact font for the album title so I decided to recreate it using Herculanum font and then I used the line tool to add in the extra lines to recreate the original title. I am really happy with this design, I think I have been really creative but have still used some elements of the original album cover. 

I also created the back of the album cover, I again wanted to use a black and white image to fit in with the front cover and to make the text stand out, I decided to change the transparency so it didn't clash with the black text. This image is quite similar to the other image used to fit with the theme of the album and artist. I chose to use the same font Herculanum but instead used bold just to be slightly different, I thought this font worked nicely with the image. Instead of using an image I decided to recreate my own 'Explicit Content' sticker to try and be creative, I was unable to find the exact fonts but found some that were relatively similar and changed the shape of them to try and make them more like the originals. Overall creating both a front and back cover has been enjoyable and I am very happy with what I have created. 

MED4104 - Directed Study Week 5

This week we focused on the concept of discourse and looked at readings in relation to this. In the key readings we can see how ideology, discourse and power are linked; power relations are discursive, power is transmitted and practised through discourse (Machin, 2012: 2) the readings explore how critical discourse analysis (CDA) sought to develop methods and theory that could better capture the interrelationship between language, power and ideology (Machin, 2012: 4). 
Looking specifically at discourse, Micheal Foucault who created the theory, believed that discourse was a way for the bourgeoisie to control society; he thought that discourse dominated how we define and organise both ourselves and our social worlds. He believed that power authorises and produces practices and knowledge however he was also optimistic about power, he said that where there is power, there is always resistance (Long, 2012: 364). The following analysis looks at a character who resists from normality and what is expected of them from society.

For this week I have chosen to look at the film 'Bend it like Beckham' (2008) which deals with ideas of what behaviour is and isn't deemed acceptable in a certain culture. Jess, the main character in 'Bend it like Beckham' comes from an indian family who have certain expectations for her, she rebels against these expectations as football is her passion, she is the opposite of a stereotypical indian girl. She is even asked the question "What nice indian family would want a daughter in-law who can kick a football all day but can't make round japati's?" playing football is not an acceptable way of living in her family's eyes, indian girls are expected to cook and marry. From this we can see the discourse of culture shown from the language used but also cultural practises from the family, for example, the film opens with an indian wedding being filmed and the camera man saying "Look sad, indian bride never smiles" this suggests the discourse of how indian women must behave. The main themes of discourse I came across were; culture, which we see from her family and the way they live and expect Jess to live. Sexism, as it is frowned upon that a girl is interested in football, especially an indian girl and racism, being an indian girl living in modern day society, racism is still an issue as Jess faces racial slurs from footballers.

Looking at 'Bend it like Beckham' in relation to the set readings in terms of discourse, we can see from Machin, that discourse plays a part in the communication of power relations, discourse analysis is openly committed to political intervention and social change, however we can also resist power. Foucault speaks of 'Regimes of truth' that are produced by practices and languages, we believe that certain discourses in some way are 'objective' in their pursuit of knowledge; 'Regimes of truth' operate in relation to power, to determine what we can do or how we act in relation to others (Long, 2012: 364). Jess is an example of 'Resistance', doing things that aren't considered normal, however Foucault believed the more the abnormal was practised the more normal it became, in the end of 'Bend it like Beckham' her family become accepting of her identity and her interest in football, it becomes something normal that wasn't considered to be in the beginning. 

References:

Long, P and Wall, T (2012). 'Discourse, power and media' IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, context. (2nd edition), London: Pearson. pp 363-369. 

Machin, D and Mayr, A (2012). 'How to do a critical Discourse Analysis', London: Sage. pp 1-29. 

YOUTUBE (2008). Bend It like Beckham Trailer. Hotfuss44. Available at: Youtube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmbObwStSQ> (Updated November 2008, Accessed 8th March 2015).

Directed Study - Grid case studies

This week we looked at 'Making the Grid' which consists of using a grid layout on Indesign to create for example, a magazine using rows and columns in order to create structure for the magazine. Looking at some examples of magazine articles I noticed some were also 'Breaking the grid'.

Here is an article that uses the grid system but also breaks the grid. Diagonal lines have been used to split the article across three sections in order to make the article more creative and different; each section contains a guttering in between them which gives the layout structure and rhythm. Black and white are generally the only colours used in this article, which creates a continuous house style throughout, both colours have been used to compliment one another, for example, white text has been used on black background and vice versa, black and white images have also been used to keep with the colour theme. The article title is '6 Brands for the summer' this article almost contradicts the title as dark, dull colours are used to represent summer which is going against the normal stereotypical summer type articles. The title is quite simple using all capitals but there is nothing eye catching or appealing about it. This article has a monochrome feel to it, restricted to only two colours however the images used are quite appealing and all are placed quite structurally which gives the article some depth, Subheadings are underlined to show the 6 different brands showcased in this article with an image for each one which is consistent, however not all the texts are next to their images which makes the article seem abit scattered and confusing. Breaking the grid in this article has created more tension and made it more interesting to readers, because this article is about fashion the layout represents this through the use of creativity but also simplicity with the colours and texts that have been used. The images themselves are almost placed on top of or next to the text which gives it almost a scrap book effect. The author has clearly broken away from the normal conventional magazine article which creates depth and makes the article more daring and bold, it makes a statement, which fashion is suppose to do. 

Here is an example of an article that sticks to the grid and uses conventional themes, which can also be seen as plain and simple. This article uses columns to structure the text which flows from one column to the next. This article uses a house style, using colours of purple and blue which contrasts each other nicely and gives the article depth. The text used isn't a normal one, it is less formal maybe to represent herself, some words are capitalised as well to stand out to readers. The title has been used in a classic, formal speech bubble, to represent and connote the title 'Outspoken' which is creative and clever, speech marks are also used in blue boxes at the start and end of the article to stand out and show this is the author 'Speaking out' essentially. The word 'Spoken' is bolder than the rest of the title and is a different font to stand out maybe to suggest the article is all her own words, the word has almost a feminine font to represent her. Quotes are also used to stand out to readers, to show them what the article is about before they read it, this is very eye catching. A main quote has been used almost in the middle of the article to make a statement and to represent why the author is so 'Outspoken' and what about. An image of the author has been used as this seems to be her regular column and featuring an image of herself gives readers the chance to interpret what kind of person she is and get a real feel for the author without trying to imagine what she could possibly look like, the text bends around the image which is very traditional, it makes the article look more interesting and she fits into the article rather than being placed on the end. A section in the middle at the bottom is used to make the article more interesting and also so the article is not just about her thoughts on babies. Black, bold, curved brackets have been used to almost create a box for the text as it isn't related to the article, it is an extra, which causes this section to stand out. The font is capitalised and is different from the rest of the text to make this sub section stand out, an image of a jumper is also used to contrast with the title. Again the blue boxes are used for the numbers to stand out and give the article some more colour, keeping with the house style. Looking at both magazine articles we can see they both take on different approaches to stand out but both equally are eye catching and appealing, using simplicity with an undertone of creative elements. 

Directed Study - Grad makeover magazine

This week we looked at creating magazines using Indesign, as a group we were given text and images but had to decide together on how the magazine was going to look, what colours to use and so on. As a group we had to chose a house style, we opted to use Times New Roman with a font size of 9 as we wanted the text to be quite ordinary in order to be able to contrast the rest of the article with it, we thought font size 9 was a reasonable size for our magazine. We decided to create a university magazine therefore we all used the BCU logo to represent the university. We decided to use dark blue as the colour theme, one of the BCU colours and we thought yellow would be too harsh, I chose to create a border around the article to not only give it some colour but to give the article more structure and I thought it made the article look more interesting and it gives the article depth instead of having only white pages with black text. I chose this specific font for the article title because I wanted it to stand out but also to be nice and simple, I chose to tilt it slightly to give it more of a young, fun feel and to almost make a statement to catch readers attention. I thought the light blue contrasted nicely with the dark blue and wasn't too much. I chose to have the text bending around the images just to give it more of a magazine feel and because I thought it made the article look more interesting rather than just an image placed in the centre of the page. Overall I am happy with what I have created, I have kept it quite simple but appealing, I also chose to make the article headings bold and a font size bigger to stand out and give the magazine a structure. As the font and font size had already been decided within our group, we were slightly limited on what we could do with the magazine however as this is my first attempt I think I have made choices dependent on the type of magazine this is and I have kept it quite simple but structured it using the grid.

The Rolling Stones - 40 Licks

Here is another album cover that I have created using Indesign, however this cover doesn't feature a photograph, I have created everything on this front cover using Indesign and Illustrator. I chose to do rolling stones 40 licks because it wasn't too tricky to recreate and I thought I could be creative with the title in order to create something fun but still maintaining  some of the rolling stones original cover ideas. First I decided to have the title going round in a circle to keep my design together and neat and because I liked the idea of having the text going around in a circle. I drew the mouth on Adobe Illustrator, I wanted to keep the lips red but have the tongue green to suggest sourness and to also connote the band themselves and the songs. I wanted the mouth to have a cartoon feel to it because Rock 'N' Roll is quite fun and lively and a lot of The Rolling Stones' albums are quite playful and I wanted to stick to this theme. I chose to have '40' on the tongue to make the visuals of the album title quite literal, I thought this was creative and again, fun. I drew water droplets on Adobe illustrator because I wanted to emphasise how sour the '40' is and just to make the cover funny and appealing. I wanted it to be eye capturing but I didn't want to go over the top and do too much. 

I also created the back of the album cover, I chose to use black because I thought it tied in with the band being Rock 'N' Roll and I wanted to use white writing to stand out. I kept the font the same but decided to tilt the font to give it an italic look but not too italic. I also chose to use capitals to make it more appealing and also I thought it made it look more interesting. I used 'The best of the Rolling Stones' to give the cover something more than just the song titles and I wanted to show this album was a collaboration of their best songs which the original is. I used capitals again not only to stand out but to keep with the rest of the text. I thought using only text was a bit plain so I decided to find a small image that would act as a sticker but also their logo which is often used on the back of the Rolling Stones cover. I used this specific image from flickr because I thought it acted not only as a logo but also a barcode which made the cover more fun and also gave it some colour. 

MED4104 - Directed Study Week 4

This week in the lecture we discussed media regulation, 'Censorship', effects and moral panics. We looked at moral panics around media and regulations; moral panic is a widespread public fear that evildoers are attempting to destroy the fabric in our society, Stanley Cohen's work really launched this phrase. It is assumed that the media has direct effects on peoples behaviour, for instance, making audiences depraved from references to sex and violence through media thus, depoliticising audiences. This is where regulation comes into place, to protect vulnerable groups from these media effects, for example, censorship is in place to protect children from being exposed to this and also adult embarrassment. People who are for censorship believe it upholds morality held in society, citing moral panic and social behaviour, those who are against say it imposes standards rather than reflects them. 

For this weeks reading I found a journal article that looks specifically at censorship as a regulation 'Channel 4 and the Red Triangle: A case study in film curation and censorship on television' by Justin Smith. This article discusses channel 4's attempts at using a symbol of warning rather than censorship. The main issues of concern addressed in this article are, channel 4 showing films on TV that include sexual scenes and violence that certain viewers come across unknowingly. Channel 4 had to 'Ensure that programmes on channel 4 contain a suitable proportion of matter calculated to appeal to tastes and interest' (Smith, 2014: 487). Channel 4 wanted to find a way to go around this without breaking any regulations, Isaacs said "I came up with the notion of the red triangle" (1989: 122) the red triangle was a symbol that was used to tell viewers this programme contained either strong language, violence or sexual scenes, this triangle was a warning sign that remained in the corner of the screen throughout the programme. This sign provoked controversy, effective publicity and considerably higher audiences, however eventually this came to an end and channel 4 lost the battle of freedom over censorship as '92% wanted more information about programmes' (Smith, 2014: 493) and felt 'Text-based systems provided the best detail about programme content' (Smith, 2014: 493). 

Looking at the political context and the development of TV regulation in terms of censorship, we can see there has been a massive development in what is now acceptable to show on TV. Censorship is still in place for the same reasons however, sex and violence have come along way on TV and is now seen as quite ordinary, although some programs can be more graphic than others, audiences are warned that they may be affected by what they are about to see. Looking at the set readings; Bignell suggests that 'Bad language, sexual scenes an violence are considered to be outside the norms of behaviour' (Bignell, 2004:231) he believes regulations maintain standards of political neutrality. Nelmes states that 'Rather than reflecting standards, it imposes them' (Nelmes,1999: 48) he also believes that sexual scenes and violence through TV shapes social behaviour. Also looking through the Long and Wall textbook I can also see the effects and influences stated 'Because television seems to offer so much sex, violence, swearing and so on, and is ever present in the home, so society follows its lead' ( Long, 2012: 295). Overall from all readings we can see that without regulations in place TV/media is then to blame for society's behaviour and for creating negative effects.

References:

Bignell, J (2004). An Introduction to Television Studies, London: Routledge. pp 229-252

Long, P and Wall, T (2012). ‘Producing audiences: what do media do to people?’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 274-299

Nelmes, J (1999). An Introduction to Film Studies, 2^nd Edition, London: Routledge. pp. 48-53

Smith, J (2014). Channel 4 and the Red Triangle: A Case Study in Film Curation and Censorship on Television. Journal of British Cinema and Television. 11(4), pp 481-497. 

Directed Study - Colour&Photographic

When finding images to modify, adapt or build upon, for example, creating text from images; it is important to source them from reliable places and to make sure you aren't breaking any rules that the owner of the image has put in place. To locate an image, firstly, I went onto creative commons which gives me a few options of where I might want to retrieve this image from. I am able to tick boxes that allow me to A) Use for commercial use and B) Modify, adapt or change, this allows me to use the image in whatever way I want without going against any rules and regulations. 

I click the websites that specify 'Image' and begin my search, as an example, I searched 'Beach', the obvious choice would be google images but I decided to use Pixabay, I found an image straight away and made sure it was the right size and double checked the enhanced License TIFF, which told me I was allowed to use this image for commercial purposes and I was able to change it to how I wanted. I then downloaded the image and was able to use on indesign to recreate the image to however I wanted. 

Sourcing the following images were just as quick and easy. 

So far I have looked at how typography and shape are used for advertisement and logos, I am now going to look specifically at how colour and photographs are used to create meaning and add depth to a message. I have decided to look at chocolate and how different brands have used specific colours and why. Looking at the brand 'Milka' purple has been used, purple has connotations of royalty, success, wealth, 'Milka' could be suggesting they are the most luxurious chocolate bar from every other brand. Purple also has connotations of divine, pure, transcendence; this could be to represent how chocolate is seen; as being a guilty pleasure, chocolate causes the brain to release endorphins which increase feelings of pleasure. Using purple, has connotations of how chocolate makes you feel, it attracts people to buy this product because of how the colour purple makes them feel. Purple is a very warm, appealing colour, this type of purple isn't too much, its quite neutral. 

Toffee crisp have chosen to use orange, which has connotations of excitement and enthusiasm, I think this ties in with the brand because of how playful and cartoon-like the typography and the brand itself is. Orange represents a friendly, cheerful and confident brand, this makes sense as toffee crisp is mainly aimed at children and teenagers. Orange also has slight connotations of royalty, toffee crisp could be suggesting through the use of orange they are also a wealthy, successful brand. I think the connotations of orange really fit in with toffee crisp as a brand because of who it targets and how fun and creative the product is. 

As well as colour, photographs are also used to add depth to a message. For example, this poster adds more depth because the images used gives the title a visual, which emphasises what it is advertising and captures audiences attention through the images. The images are essentially the title in a picture, without having to use text to describe what the poster is looking for, the images are children which shows audiences who it is aimed at simply just through the title. The title itself is quite self explanatory, but when I first saw this, I first saw the image before the title and soon after the two came together and I got the message the poster was trying to create. Overall it is successful and enhances the poster, attracting audiences and getting out a message in just two words.

Here is another example of how images are used to enhance meaning. I think this example is very effective the images are different types of 'Energy', the images flow together nicely and is overall very powerful. The images create a message and shows audiences how energy is used and how it is used by us. This image shows the world from a different perspective, they're images we don't tend to see on a daily basis or really think about but this image makes you think about the energy we use, how the world is affected by it and how we don't think about the world in this way, we go about our day without thinking about the energy we use that we don't necessarily need to use. 

MED4104 - Directed Study Week 3

For this weeks task we had to create a presentation as a group about the Language of TV/Film, in our group we decided to look at Sherlock Holmes (Film). 

First we looked at the background history, for those who have never heard of Sherlock Holmes as a film franchise, here is a little bit of background information. It was disrupted by Wanner Brothers Studio in late 2009.The film is set in the late 19th century in London.The main protagonists in the film are Robert Downey Junior playing as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr Watson. The main antagonists are Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood and  Rachel McAdams as Iren Adler.  The film plot is about murders committed by lord blackwood, once captured by Holmes and Watson, Blackwood is executed. Days past but can lord Blackwood rise back from the grave? Holmes and Watson investigate into Backwoods return, with some help from Iren along the way. We chose to look at semiological analysis because it offers a few ways to understand the language behind the film. Semiological analysis is a theory by Theorist Ferdinand de Saussure, it literally means the study of signs, imagery in this case. It is broken down into two parts, 'Signifier’ – sound/object (physical properties) and ‘Signified’ – concept/mental construct that the signifier invoke. This is perfect for a breakdown analysis of a film such as Sherlock Holmes because it can offer more details into the language behind the film. We will be using theory from Ellis, John and Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey to get a better understanding of the media texts. 



We used the trailer for our clip, looking into the language used in the clip briefly, there was a lot of editing elements, quick cutting, slow motion. The editing was done in a sense to create ties with the audition, it creates emotion and fear. The choice of music was rather dramatic and well placed, which can create a certain edge of urgency and can effect the pace of the media text as well. Use of costume to give a character a better sense of who they are, even before they open their mouth, for example, Lord Blackwood wearing Black, which give the audition an understanding that he is villain in this film, which is suggested by Nowell Smith “Even before the character opens their mouth, the spectator can gather what sort of character they are likely to be playing"(Nowell-smith, 2000). Special effects are used to keep it explosive and exciting for an audience. There are other language elements used in this clip, such as sound and lighting. Later on, the media language we discovered were; editing, music, costume, special effect, sound and lighting, which will be looked at in more depth. But first, here is a look of three different scene that we picked up on.

Big Ben

Looking at this image from a semiological point of view, the director is trying to communicate a number of ideologies to its audience, through imagery. Big Ben has many signifiers, it is tall, well decorated, loud when it strikes the hour, it is a tower above all others, it is part of the one of the most powerful buildings in the world, parliament and the sky being dull and grey. In further detail the signified of Big Ben being tall is reflection on the film being set in powerful era of the late 19th century. Big Ben being well decorated could suggest that iconic places such as Big Ben reflects British culture being rich. However, the clashing of the dull grey clouds could suggest that London has a rough side to it, that London culture and the character in the film are not living to the standards of Big Ben. The clock of Big Ben open up as a timer of the plot of the evolving over time. However, Big Ben being part of the parliament could suggest that Big Ben lives in in its shadow, which could reflect sherlock Holmes living in the shadow of Lord Blackwood. One of the great things about film, suggested by Nowell Smith, that film can make an audience question what is happening in the scenes to further make sense of what the film producer is trying to narrate (Nowell-Smith, 2000).

London Bridge

London bridge signifies that it is a technological advancement, it is iconic, it has a rather dull construction with the color grey, rather tall, it is surrounded by water. Looking into the scene in more depth, London bridge is like the films crown jewels, it is an advanced piece of technology for the time period the film set in, the construction being tall has been purposely done to make the audience's attention focus on the London bridge, for how iconic is it today in British society. Breaking down the colour of London bridge being grey could suggest that London society is dirty and unclear for this time period, which can be also backed up by the dirty water that surrounds the bridge. London bridge being constructed could also suggest that it is a metaphor of the joining of two sides, the audience and the film maker, in creating a relationship that works.

Saussure's theory of semiological was not originally intended for film, Saussure's theory was based around the understanding of language in other cultures. Why do words mean this, for example when we associate an object such as a pen, why do we associate the word pen with it? Saussure's theory was to question language for its meaning, breaking it down, Saussure's theory was then put into practice for film by theorist Christan Metz. Christan Metz wanted to prove something, but what did he want to prove?. 

River Thames

The River Thames from a primary level looks ordinary, unclean water, surrounded by boats and it is a network for transport. From a secondary point of view, it has been purposefully made to look ordinary to fit the time period that the film is set in and the plot of the story, also to fit the society and culture of the industrial revolution. The scene being unclean could make the audience more interested in what's going on. The boats going up the river could be another form of transporting the audience through the films story. Expanding on the boats on the river, the different coloured flags could show deeper meaning of how aesthetics   play a part in film industry.

Looking back on the history of the language of cinema, there were a lot of debates around whether cinema was a language, Nowell smith clearly states “Cinema is a language” (Nowell-Smith, 2000:11) and explores this idea and looks at different theorists such as Metz who claimed that “Cinema had to be seen as a composite artistic language”(Nowell-Smith: 2000). However Saussure’s inspiration was that languages exist as networks deployed as it were horizontally, so that concrete instances of meaning need to be analysed. He believed language was a system, where everything holds together. Eventually Metz recomposed the world of the fiction film as an elaborate web of filmic and cinematic codes and sub codes, systems and subsystems (Nowell-Smith, 2000:12). Theorist Bordwell rebelled against Metz’s semiotic apparatus, Bordwell’s theory was what he called the narration, his model saw the film producing not so much signification as information. This information is contained in the dialogue and in the various movements of the picture shots (Nowell-Smith, 2000:13). This meant the language of TV/Film was not only about dialogue but about analysing the film itself, analysing how it was filmed and edited.

Today language of TV/film consists of:

•Lighting

•Music and sound

•Performance

•Direction

•Editing

•Special effects

•Camera angles

•Costume

From looking at the trailer, you can see the different elements of language throughout, for example:

•Different types of lighting have been used to create mood, suggest time of time and to set the scene, the clip begins with a scene in an old prison, candles have been used to create light and to suggest the location is dark, gloomy and is underground, there is no natural light

•Sound effects are used to create tension and mood and at times to make the film seem more naturalistic, the sound of thunder and lightening is used when Sherlock is stood on London bridge with the sky behind him, sound effects used in the trailer builds up tension and excitement putting audiences on the edge of their seats

•Special effects are used in fighting scenes, slow motion is used to capture the whole scene, this is affective for the audience because Sherlock gives a dialogue throughout the fight to tell audiences how he is injuring his victims, the camera zooms in on this, for example on the line “Cracked rips” the shot is a Close up of Sherlock punching someone in the ribs in slow motion therefore making the scene more effective.

•The camera shots of London show audiences the location of the film and famous sights E.G Big ben, London bridge, because they are iconic and the trailer is trying to showcase this through visuals instead of dialogue 

         
In conclusion, Film language can be understood in different forms of theory, whether it be  
through the narration or the connotation and detonation. No matter what the theory is, film 
theory as a whole is based around the relationship of portraying reality, society and culture. 
However, the description of the films image can substitute the films plot interlay and can 
create new meaning and understanding to each individual watching the film. I believe the 
language of film can be understood to fit a person particular view or point on culture,  
society etc. Which in effect, creates an even stronger relationship between film maker and 
audience. 



References: 

Ellis, John (1982) Visible Fictions: Cinema, Television, Video, Routledge: London - pp. 127-159

Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (2000) ‘How films mean, or, from aesthetics to semiotics and half-way back again’ in Gledhill, C and Williams, L. (2000), Reinventing Film Studies. London: Bloomsbury Academic.