This is a nice, snappy task which will not only round off the year, but will also help you to prepare for the next one! After Christmas we are turning our back on industry and audience and moving on to media language and representation, and the very first lesson we will be discussing these front covers. Therefore this lesson is essential!
What's the difference between the print editions and the set texts?
This handy slide should help. This is very confusing so don't worry if this makes little sense!
The set texts - used for representation and media language analysis
Download these two images and shove them in your blog!
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The main task - constructing meaning
This is really simple: for each front cover, write a brief paragraph explaining how meaning is created. Use the following bullet points to inspire you:
- Point of view and ideology
- Masthead
- Headline
- Body text
- Captions
- Layout and design
- Composition
- Selection of stories
- Columns
- Photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
- Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)
- Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up
- Graphics, logos
- Language – headline, sub-headings, captions
- Anchorage of images and text
- Elements of narrative
Another way of doing this is for each bullet point, find an example from the newspaper front page, and briefly explain what this means.
TOP TIP - for the media language question, you basically need to come up with what the product means on the spot. A good way to do this is to keep asking yourself why questions, and then answer them! So here are some examples:
WHY does this masthead feature a combination of sans serif font and bright red background?
WHY has a close up shot of Johnson been used?
WHY is the word 'zero' in bright yellow?
WHY have so many numbers been used?
and so on.
I hope you enjoy completing this very simple and yet so very important task! Merrrrrrrry Christmas!