Write about how musicians are represented on this MOJO cover

 

On this MOJO cover, John Lennon is the centre of visual interest. This is so that people are attracted to buying the magazine as John Lennon is very famous; furthermore, it allows the reader to see who will be featured in the magazine.                                                                                                                          John Lennon conveys a solemn look which leads the reader to believe that the section about him in the magazine will be serious. This will also attract readers as they'll be interested in reading about possible hardships that John Lennon has faced to reach the musical success that he has.

Lennon is in front of a plain dark blue background; this means that the reader will not be distracted by anything on the cover but him. He is also wearing a plain green tank top; very simple clothing allows the reader to solely focus on the musician, not the outfit. This plain background and simple clothing combination means that the reader will see John Lennon as more of an ordinary person, rather than a star with abstract costume and makeup. The image therefore doesn't make him look like the stereo-typical well-known, successful musician. He looks down-to-earth; which is another theme that may catch the readers attention.

Furthermore, the image is a mid-shot and the lighting is quite bright; meaning it is a clear image. The light exposes Lennon; the article about him in the magazine may also do this. 

While John Lennon is obviously the main focus, different musicians are also mentioned in the cover lines, such as Nancy Sinatra, Bowie, Pink Floyd and The Stone Roses. These names would appeal to many readers as they are all quite well-known musicians. Even if they are not the main focus, they do attract attention.

Magazine Vocab

OCR fact sheet prep

 Newspaper industries –ownership and control question: who controls The Observer / Guardian and what are its values? 

The Observer and the Guardian are owned by a trust which was set up in the 1930s. 

The Astor family established The Observer's liberal values, with David Astor as the editor until the mid 1970s. the newspaper easily fitted the values of the Scott Trust.

Press freedom and regulation question: What is meant by 'a free press'? When The Guardian newspaper investigated (and revealed) what The News of The World newspaper had done to get stories, what big changes in press regulation resulted?

'A free press' means that newspapers and older media are able to campaign on political issues and journalists are expected to be extremely critical of those who are in power. 

When The Guardian newspaper investigated and revealed what 'The News of The World' newspaper had done to get stories, in response, the majority of the press joined a new regulator named IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) which refused to apply to the recognition body as they saw this as unwarranted state interference in the free press.

Convergence question: "When newspapers operate online there is technological and cultural convergence." What does this mean in The Observer?

This means that The Observer online recognisably follows the structure of the print edition, but with greater prominence for the lifestyle, food and sport sections that are kept out of the main section of the print newspaper, plus a much higher proportion of photography and headlines to copy on the home page. 

Newspaper audiences question: The Observer has different sections designed to appeal to different types of readers. Explain this with examples.

There are interviews, comedic opinion pieces and reviews of theatre, dance, music, cinema, architecture, computer games, and television listings; all of this appeals to the culture consumer. If there is a variety of different sections in the newspaper, it can be appealing to a variety of different readers.

Uses and gratification question: how does The Observer meet readers' needs for personal identity and social integration?

For personal identity, it allows the readers to read about topics that interest them and learn more about their interests. For social integration, it allows the readers to share their interests and create discussions regarding certain topics. 

Active/passive audiences question: in what way can The Observer's audience be 'active' ?

Readers of The Observer can be 'active' as they can share articles or comment on them. This can give The Observer an idea of what the readers think about certain subjects.

Covid-19 Poster

 

Twitter page of The Observer (prep)

 What are the added features of The Observer print edition online?

When viewing the paper online, you have the added feature of zooming into images or news stories. 

The comments of the Twitter page enable followers to discuss certain topics covered in the newspaper; this could also gain the paper more attention

People can re-tweet the paper to others who may be interested; this will gain The Observer more readers/followers.

What do you notice about The Observer's Twitter page?

The tweet allows followers to see what "tomorrow's front page" will be. This allows the followers and readers of The Observer to see the most exciting or eye-catching headlines; this will encourage them to want to read the paper. Also, In the skyline, there are three celebrities who are getting attention recently for a variety of reasons. This encourages readers/followers to want to read the paper, as they will be interested about the gossip surrounding these celebrities. 

Uses of Gratification: Lego Video Game

 

Explain at least two uses and gratifications of video games using Blumler and Katz’s theory. Refer to The Lego Movie Video game to support your answer:

Blumler and Katz's Active Audience theory is based upon the concept that the audience decides what they would like to watch, play or read based upon 4 main gratifications. 

These are:

1. Personal Identity- How the audience relates to a character or situation they identify with.

2. Social Interaction- An opportunity to interact with others.

3. Entertainment (escapism)- An opportunity to relax, fill time, do something for enjoyment or even to escape their lives.

4. Information (surveillance) - To find out more about a subject or society.

This time, I will illustrate 2 different gratifications, still using The Lego Movie Game as an example.

Social Interaction is a gratification the audience receives through gaming. The Lego Movie Game, while not an online multiplayer game with worldwide community interaction, still allows for plenty of interaction for the player- either as a 2-player locally or solo.

The PC (playable character) that the gamer chooses, connects with the familiar characters and surroundings of Bricksburg just as they appear in the much-loved film. The NPCs (non-playable characters) are there for the player to have dialogue with and to work with, for example, teaming up with Batman to destroy Cloud Cuckoo Land.

The humour and familiarity of the Lego world and its characters give the player a sense of belonging, which could be a real source of comfort for someone who might ordinarily feel isolated at times. Therefore, computer games can be an important form of social interaction.

Another gratification received through gaming is Information (surveillance). The Lego Movie Game has some learning benefits for the people who play it, teaching them about working towards goals and to keep practising until you succeed. As tasks and puzzles are completed, the PC moves on through the levels of the game and gains a sense of achievement. They can also 'unlock' secret, more desirable or rare characters, making them feel like they have earned something exclusive. 

These skills can have real-life uses beyond game-play. The player learns through mistakes or wrong decisions they've made, so that they are better informed when they try again. They also gain knowledge of the game itself and how to play it, giving them a feeling of having expertise. 

Players are also rewarded with virtual 'coins' that they can exchange for items to upgrade their PC.  How they spend these is practice for the real world, around making choices on what to spend the money you have earned on. Therefore, there is a lot of information that can be learned through computer games.

Lego Movie Ad-break Questions

 1) The fact that British Heart Foundation, Confused.com, BT and Premier Inn paid for the production cost of the adverts themselves shows that they were very eager to promote their brands. Furthermore, it was a clever tactic which enabled more people to gain information about these companies. The adults would understand the adverts while the kids would perhaps even see a slight entertainment value in these ad-breaks, as the people in the adverts were made out of Lego. These companies paid for the production cost themselves as they knew how popular Lego was, and so the ad-breaks not only gained anticipation for the Lego movie itself, but they also gained popularity for the companies involved. 

2) The theme of building the 'world' out of Lego links to the Lego movie as in the movie everything is constructed purely from Lego. The ad-breaks therefore gave the audience an insight into what the Lego movie would look like. If the people who watched the adverts were amused by the 'Lego world' in each advert, it means that these people would most probably enjoy watching the Lego movie. Another way in which this links to the Lego movie is because while the adverts are mainly aimed at the adults, the Lego is aimed at the children. Both adults and children would watch these adverts and find some sort of entertainment; there are jokes in the Lego movie that only adults would get but the children would still watch the film because of the action and Lego. Therefore, the idea of the ad-breaks being in a Lego world was definitely a conscious decision made by the marketing team as the adverts can be enjoyed by all ages; as can the Lego movie. 

3)It is important to maintain the brand identity by including characters, such as Batman or Vitruvius, because it helps promote the brand and gain anticipation towards the release of the film. Introducing these characters in ad-breaks helps to remind the audience of the underlying proportional message of the film as it give the audience an idea of the wide range of characters included in the film. Furthermore, many children and adults will know the character 'batman' and will therefore be excited when they see him appear in the adverts. A person at any age will be amused by the ad-breaks and therefore would be amused by the Lego movie.