Q4 MOJO Magazine cover and representation of artists

MOJO magazines present musicians and artists as important and powerful, often with strong and confident stances looking at the camera. They're positioned in front of the name of the magazine, implying that they're more important than the magazine itself.

The magazine has broken its usual stereotype of only having male rock icons on the cover, which shows that this woman (Joni Mitchell) has made a big impact on the music scene. The black and white colour pallet makes it seem as though Joni is part of history, engraved in music legends.

The tagline of 'The agony & ecstasy' makes it seems like she has gone through a lot to get to where she is today and that she has had failures and triumphs in her career. Her quote "My gift was born of tragedy" enforces this point as she clearly has had a hard time but it only made her stronger and better.

Q8 - 5 marks - Observer online

PREP
To revise the 'media language' question, you focus on the layout. It is a quick and easy question, worth 5 marks and only 2 examples needed. Please copy the question onto your blog and write the 2 examples taken from the recent Observer online. The answers below will help you.

The use of a dark blue colour for the header connotes serious, sober and objective news. The colour blue infers a serious and formal feeling to the site and helps tell the reader that this newspaper covers hard news.

The highly ordered layout of the homepage with columns and squares making it clean and sorted, the use of white for a background and the little use of graphics and big pictures present a fresh, non-cluttered experience for users which also presents a seriousness that tells the reader that there will be hard news.

Q9 Observer online messages and values

1.  The major use of newspapers is to offer a sense of knowing what is going on in the world. The Observer knows that its readers are serious and interested in international affairs. This is evident in hard news articles about..... politics (Brexit) and protests in foreign countries (yellow vest protest in France)



2. The Observer meets its audience's need for a range of cultural, sporting and artistic news. It provides these 
with... articles about music and history involving Britain



3. The Observer does not shy away from 'difficult' issues that could make uncomfortable reading, such as... the hunger strike in an Iranian jail and violent protests in France



4.  The Observer has sections which are designed to appeal to different types of readers.The Observer reflects the diversity of its readership in articles on... students and education as well as foreign people like Rahaf al-Qunun 



5.  Newspaper readership can still be used as a symbol of one’s social identity. The term ‘Guardian reader’ connotes a certain type of social attitude and The Observer  similarly reinforces a set of social and political attitudes, and thus identity, in its representations. For example, Observer  readers like to think of themselves as open-minded and this is reflected in the Observer’s practice of allowing both sides of an argument equally to be put when the newspaper is clearly on one side of this argument. There is an example of this in.... the main article on the page about Brexit and how they have opinions on Brexit and the current state of the government further down

6.  The entertainment function of newspapers may take the form of humour.  It may take the form of diversion into

a celebrity world of ‘glamour’. It may take the form of human interest stories in which readers are invited to sympathise with the subjects of the article. Newspapers further offer games, puzzles, crosswords and the like. At the higher end, sections such as the New Review in the Observer may offer the pleasure of extremely well-written think pieces and literature reviews. An example of this is.... the article on 'why today's leading men are driven to be buff'

Year 11 prep: Music Video Question

TD - Teenage Dirtbag
SB - Sk8er Boi


This video is documentary style mostly hand-held camerawork, de-saturated colour and fast-paced editing. - SB

This video has saturated colour, more controlled camerawork, slower-paced editing. - TD


This video consists of mostly montage shots. - SB


This video has more developed editing with cause and effect. - TD


In this video, the singer values rebellion, which is seen in the narrative. - SB


In this video, the singer values 'fitting in', conformity, albeit to an oppressive system, which is seen in the narrative. - TD


This video is set in LA, a big city, with its connotations of street credibility. - SB


The mise-en-scene of this video is American suburbia with its connotations of conformity. - TD


This video is intertextual in its narrative (=it makes references to high school drama). - TD


In this video, the singer performs to camera. - SB


In this video, real locations and 'everyday' costume for the performers connote a sense of naturalism. - SB 


In this video, there is a sense of linear narrative (a story is told, in the order it unfolds). -SB & TD