Junaid Media Blog A-Level

Social Media in the Online Age - Zoella Overview Zoe Sugg is a well-known British social media influencer, known by the name of 'Zoella'. She began uploading videos to Youtube in 2009 and gradually attained popularity and many views. At the same time, she had also created a blog page involving lifestyle, fashion and cosmetics which also gained her many blog visits. She worked as an apprentice for an interior design company after finishing her A-Levels in college. She suffers from anxiety disorder which was one of the reasons why she did not attend university. Content Zoella's content is based mainly on YouTube although she also has a large audience on her blog page. Her videos are typically focused on vlogs as well as videos on shopping trends. Her 'personal vlogs' involve her opening up to the audience in a less-enthusiastic manner as she explains her personal thoughts and experiences. These types of videos shine a l...

The Bridge Genre conventions The typical narrative of crime-drama television shows are normally centred around a detective who is given the responsibility of solving a crime, usually a murder. Over the course of the episode, clues will gradually be revealed which contribute to solving the crime or finding the killer. Some television shows reveal the killer by the end of the episode whilst others may reveal them at the end of a set of episodes or even the end of the series. The subtle clues allow for the audience to try and solve the crime before it is revealed. The lead characters have a back story and often parts of the episodes will flashback to a moment in the character's life which will affect the storyline. It's also very common for every episode to end on a cliffhanger to keep the audience engaged.  Along with narrative, there are also codes of crime-drama which are used in television shows that make it easy for the audience to identify the genre. For example, action seq...

Life on Mars Analysis Genre Life On Mars consists of two genres which is seen to be a 'drama' series which has 'sci-fi' and 'fantasy' sub-genres from the first episode revealing the genre and plot for the series. The main character who plays as a police officer who is hit by a car and wakes up in the year 1973, still as a police officer and in the same city. After the scene where the police officer wakes up in 1973, the audience may be able to recognise that whilst the show has still maintained the 'drama' genre, it also introduces the 'sci-fi' and 'fantasy' subgenres to make the audience realise that the plot of 'transporting to a different year in the past' raises the element of 'fantasy' being introduced as a genre. This relates to Steve Neale's genre theory of 'repetition and difference' which is what he sees as forming the genre of a television show or movie. Life On Mars follows this theory by including a...

Genre Conventions of Luther Identifying the genre The most important aspect of producing a television series is forming the genre and maintaining it. The genre of a television show is needed to attract the desired target audience to watch the programme. 'Luther' is a television series that is made by the 'drama production' subsidiary of the BBC. They manage to convey to the audience the crime-drama genre through the iconography, characters and themes containing elements of the crime-drama genre which are recognisable from other similar shows. It borrows these typical genre elements on purpose to attract and engage the audience who are interested in the genre. The show's genre conventions could also act as a catalyst for new audiences who are not used to watching crime-drama shows and become engaged with this new show. Characters The characters in 'Luther' are generally based on the genre character stereotypes. When analysing the main cha...

Statement of Aims I have chose to do the print product to go alongside with my audio-visual television sequence. For this, I created a poster and DVD cover as a way of promoting my television series. I have chose the style and layout appropriately to fit the brief requirements for this. The requirements included for me to create the poster and DVD covers directed towards 16-25 year olds who will watch the television series. I have decided to go for a crime genre for my television sequence as it appeals to the target audience and I have implemented genre related aspects in my poster and DVD cover. During my research for the production, I learnt that the desired age group was interested in crime shows the most. I chose a navy blue background for the poster as well as for the DVD cover to connote the dark theme that surrounds my programme. I decided not to go for black since I believe that it wouldn't stand out compared to a dark blue colour that implies the tones of midnight whi...

Production: Defining Television Programme Programme title Who Killed Him? Genre Crime. I was unsure on whether I would settle on a comedy-drama genre however from my research it seems as if the target audience are interested in crime shows. From this, I aim for 'crime' as my main genre and include drama tones as my subgenre. Summary of programme themes It will probably be based off of the other typical 'fictional-crime' shows and movies. Since the rest of my television series will be based off of the first episode and most importantly the opening, it will have to be produced and made well. Since it will be crime, the opening could be a murder scene so that it sets the plot for the rest of the series and makes viewers focus on the details of the opening. A scene like this would be a great way to introduce the characters. Similar programmes Spooks; Murdered By My Boyfriend. Television episode summary Begins with a group of three friends walking around a woodland, who are ...

BBC 3 About - BBC 3 is a British channel which is operated by the BBC. The channel launched in February of 2003 with the aim of attracting a target audience of 16-34 year olds with a mixed-genre of British shows. It also encourages innovation through exploiting its content on digital platforms such as the internet, mobile devices and interactive television. It is believed that this is meant to give the audience more control on how they access and interact with content.  Shows and content  - The majority of the programmes shown are comedy-drama as popular shows include 'Gavin & Stacey' and 'Little Britain' which consists of the comedy-drama genre. The channel also broadcasts American shows such as 'American Dad!' and 'Family Guy'. The series 'Torchwood' which is a science-fiction drama had 2.4 million viewers in 2006. It seems as if comedy-drama is the preferred genre from the target audience. Other programmes include documentaries, news and ...

Beyoncé Formation Music Video Context As Beyoncé is one of the biggest artists in the world, she uses her popularity to raise awareness about important issues going on in America. Just like many of her other songs which are linked to the subject of 'Black Lives Matter', her controversial song 'Formation' was very spoken about back at its time of release. The song was released the day before her Super Bowl performance for her album 'Lemonade'. It seems as if she did this on purpose so that she could grab all the attention and as a way of promotion from the Super Bowl event which is watched by around 100 million people. In the music video, the first line of lyrics is by Messy Mya who was a popular YouTuber and rapper before he was shot and killed in 2010. He says 'What happened at the New Wil'ins?'. Since he was born and raised in New Orleans it is an intro to what the video is about and refers to Hurricane Katrina which was one of the deadliest hurric...

What is Brexit? The term 'Brexit' is referred to the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union. The term was created from the word combinations of 'Britain' and 'Exit'. In June 2016, a referendum was held where voters had to decide whether the UK should leave the EU or remain. Around 52% of voters voted to leave the EU and so the UK left on the 31st of January 2020.  Brexit was a big deal since it would impact many connections between the UK and the EU with impacts on the economy as well as imports and exports. Audience The general target audience for tabloids are aimed at working-class people. Tabloids are different to newspapers as they appear in more photographic segments and are informal. The purpose of tabloids are to exaggerate news stories for the purpose of entertainment rather to inform the reader on important news. The general format of tabloids contain a collage of pictures on the front page with big sized text which captures the attentio...

Paper 1 A - Beyoncé Music Videos Career Beyoncé is an American singer who is seen as one of the biggest and most important figures of her time because of her music, image and lifestyle. She has been credited for her success which stemmed into inspiring other artists and women of this generation to use her as a role model. She first achieved fame around the year 2000 when was in a girl group known as 'Destiny's Child'. Then around the year 2003, she went solo and released her first solo debut album 'Dangerously in Love' which saw positive reviews on her discography.  If I Were A Boy The music video as well as the song is different from Beyoncé's other music as the main meaning on the song is the power of men compared to women. The song's lyrics focus on the misunderstandings between the genders and indicts the male side of relationships. The music video itself is in black and white which is seen for her other music videos including 'Drunk in Love' and...

How do the representations in Figure 1 position the audience to desire the Patek Phillipe watch? Figure 1 is a poster which advertises the Patek Phillipe watch. First of all, when looking at the colour scheme used, it is simple and not colourful or vivid. The colour palette chosen is unusual as the image of the poster itself is in black and white with the only other colours being gold for the logo and brown for the banner which has the watch in silver and blue-grey. This colour scheme could have been chosen to make the audience focus on the watch which is in colour and stands out as well as the black and white image of the man and his son which is the main focus. The logo and text is in gold which normally symbolises wealth or something expensive and luxurious which in this instance is the watch. The brown banner gives the feeling of old and antique however with the gold text, it gives the audience the impression that it should be kept in good condition to maintain its value over t...

 Late Night Woman's Hour Overview The Late Night Woman's Hour is a programme on BBC Radio 4 which is broadcasted every Thursday and Friday at night around 11pm and is the late night edition of the main programme 'Woman's Hour'. The programme first ran in 2015 and is currently being broadcasted. The radio podcast was a success after its first episode where the hosts talked about dating which found many people interested. Format The radio programmes are broadcasted in a podcast format. They are streamed on the radio station and are available for download on the BBC Radio website. It may seem that they decided to go for a podcast format because it is the most suitable for the programme as it only involves the hosts talking to each other and therefore it is not necessary for there to be any visual and relies on the listeners to focus on the audio. These podcasts are available to download from the website and listen on any device that supports audio. Topics and target au...

Radio Industry BBC Sounds Radio 1 seems to play mostly mainstream music which are generally recent releases. The music genres differ from Pop to Rhythm and Blues, and even Rap. Radio 1 does not only play music all day as it also includes speech and talking segments which may be done to attract listeners to not only the songs but to the talking segments. This radio station seems to engage with young listeners with its target audience being from the ages of 15 to 29. It focuses on modern popular music in the UK as well as America. Radio 3 focuses on the genres of classical, opera, jazz and world music. The radio station also shows live performances of orchestras and singers. The target audience is around the age of 65 and has slightly more female listeners than male. Similarly to Radio 1, they also have talk segments which feature mostly adult/ worldly related topics compared to Radio 1 focusing on modern, trendy topics. Radio 4 is very different to Radio 1 and 3 as this radio statio...

I, Daniel Blake Overview The film is about a 59 year-old carpenter who suffers a heart attack which leaves him unable to work and relies on the government's 'benefits system' for money. Even though his doctor agrees that he cannot work, he is denied from the benefits by the authorities and is told to resume his job. He then has to find a way to appeal for these benefits and convince the authorities where he meets a single mother who is struggling with two children and they form a close friendship. The budget of the film is unknown however it is an independent film which was funded by the BBC and the British Film Institute. The film was deemed a success with the box office grossing $15.8 million. Cast and director The director is Ken Loach who is a British filmmaker where his movies focus on the topics around  social issues such as poverty, homelessness, and labour rights. Loach is known for his independent films which include: Kes, Sorry We Missed You and Sweet Sixteen. Loa...

Black Panther Overview Black Panther is a 2018 superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The name is based off of a Marvel Comics character of the same name. Critics praised the film's direction, screenplay, acting, production values and the soundtrack. It is deemed a mainstream movie due to the genre being a superhero movie and being produced by Marvel Studios which is a well-known studio. It also has racked up a big budget of $200 million and easily managed to surpass budget figures with the box office  revenue reaching $1.347 billion.  Marvel storyline Black Panther does not really continue the storyline of the other Marvel movies and instead the movie is a whole different section to the rest. It is still part of the same timeline as the other superhero movies as it was kept in consideration since the first Iron Man film. In 2016, two years prior Black Panther's release, the main character was featured in Captain Ameri...

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Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag analysis Game context Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is an action video game released in 2013 which was developed by Ubisoft Montreal which is Ubisoft's studio in Montreal in Canada. It is the sixth main instalment of the franchise which is connected to the previous game in the series in terms of the storyline. The game is set in the present-day just like Assassin's Creed III. The game's plot follows the battles and struggles between Assassins and Templars where the assassins fight for peace whilst the Templars fight for peace through control. The company behind the game - Ubisoft, is a well known video game company based in France who have made some of the most played video games today such as the Watch Dogs, Far Cry and Assassin's Creed game series. Ubisoft have subsidiary studios all over the world that develop the games. Ubisoft in general have a slight bad reputation despite making successful games where they have been accused of...

Mainstream and Independent Films What are mainstream and independent films? Mainstream movies are movies that have a big budget and are made for profit. They usually are made by large production companies and in big studios. After the cinematic run-time of the movie, it is released on tape or DVD for popular stores. Hollywood movies tend to be the most known mainstream movie industry. Independent films are films that are not produced in big movie studios and instead are made from a small team where the genre is recognised by the style and artistic way the director portrays the film. It is very unlikely that indie films are released to stores. They are also unlikely to be shown in many theatres. Messages of the movie The difference also narrows down to the difference between movies and films where a movie gives the audience what they want through the plot and are seen as escapist movies so that the movie leaves the audience happy or satisfied with the movie but usually are unchanged by ...

'Riptide' Music Video Genre and context The genre is clear almost right from the start and the genre of this music identifies as indie-folk with a pop undertone to it. It can be seen as indie because of the style of the song as well as the music video that accompanies it. The fact that this song is heavily based on the indie genre, it is quite unique as it is music not released from a major label and rather only when Vance Joy gained attention to then be released to Atlantic Records which is a well-known sub-label of Warner Records. This was his first single that he released in USA and became rated platinum. The music video itself appears to have a low budget as there are no big special effects and the visuals are quite basic. The low budget look of the music video leaves the audience wondering why there are no special effects. They could think that either Joy wants a simplistic visual effect to it or it could be because of the low funding. It could also be Joy's decision t...

Dizzee Rascal - 'Dream' music video analysis Narrative The narrative of the song is about Dizzee Rascal telling this audience that he had a dream and managed to achieve it. The overall tone of this song is inspirational and Dizzee wants to get his message across that you need to work hard and be committed to achieve your dreams. The music video is set in a elderly woman's living room as she is playing a piano. The actual setting of the living room is fairly simple in colour by the wallpaper being a simple cream colour and the curtain by the window being a brown colour. The small snippet of the living room already shows that it is set in a stereo-typically ideal British woman's living room and from listeners expecting a darker tone and setting due to Dizzee Rascal being a grime rapper and there are dark undertones of the genre, however the music video and the beat is quite upbeat and colourful making this song by Dizzee an unexpected surprise.  Camera and lighting The li...