Newspaper Comparisive Analysis

The Daily Telegraph Wed 16/09/2009

Issue No 47,989

The masthead of the newspaper is written in calligraphy. This older style of font appeals to an older audience. The masthead connotes that the target audience of the newspaper are old, aged around 40+. Also, the word ‘telegraph’ connotes that the newspaper is aimed at older people because telegraphs are an old form of communication. There is no colour in the masthead. This makes it look a lot more sophisticated as colour connotes youth. Also, colour printing wasn’t around when The Daily Telegraph began. The masthead is centre aligned at the top of the page. This makes it seem more important as it takes up a lot of space and is in the middle of the audience’s focus.
The slogan of the newspaper is ‘Britain’s best-selling quality daily’. The word ‘Britain’ being in the slogan makes the newspaper seem patriotic so would appeal to a patriotic audience, who are generally older. By stating that it is ‘best-selling’, the newspaper seems to be more prestigious.
There are two kickers side by side at the top of the page. The colours used in the kickers are blue and yellow. Secondary images are used in each of the kickers, connoting what the articles are about. The fonts used in the kickers are quite masculine because of the sharp edges. This, along with the colours, would make the newspaper appeal to a male audience.
The main image on the front cover is Keith Floyd, a TV chef from the 1980s. An older audience would remember him and might have been fans of his cooking. This would attract their attention to the newspaper rather than other newspapers on the stand. The colours of the clothes that he is wearing and the background of the main image are similar to the colours used in the kickers. Also, the clothes that he is wearing are quite sophisticated. They are the sort of clothes that would be worn by an older, middle class audience, which is the target audience of the newspaper. The pose of the chef makes him look dominant and happy. This would appeal to people because it is a pleasant picture.
The main article headline is bigger and bolder than all the other headlines on the page. This connotes that it is the most important article in the newspaper. Also, it is about cars, which are stereotypically associated with males rather than females.
There is an article on the cover about the Conservative Party urging to “scrap 49 out of 51 benefits”. This makes it seem as though voting for the Conservatives will result in people losing their benefits. A lot of older people rely on benefits if they are unfit to work, so this is an article that might interest an older audience. There is another article about Premium Bonds, which were common in the 1950s and 1960s, so an older audience would know more about them than a younger audience.
There is a small cartoon with a caption. This brings a lighter hearted element of fun to the newspaper because most of the articles are about serious issues, so the cartoon relaxes the mood. It would also draw in a younger audience.
There is a large advert of a Cartier watch. It is a men’s watch, so appeals to a male audience. It appeals to higher class people because of the price of Cartier watches being quite expensive.

The Daily Telegraph Thu 22/10/2009

Issue No 48,020

There are two kickers side by side at the top of the page. The colours used in the kickers are purple and orange. Secondary images are used in each of the kickers, connoting what the articles are about. The fonts used in the kickers are quite feminine because of the soft edges. This, along with the colours, would make the newspaper appeal to a female audience. One of the kickers mentions that there is a “free DVD” of an Alfred Hitchcock film. Alfred Hitchcock, being a filmmaker from the 1940s, would instantly appeal to an older audience as opposed to younger people. Also, the buzz word (“free”) would make the kicker stand out and attract more attention.
The main image on the front cover is of Luise Rainer, an actress from the 1930s. A young audience might not know of her but an older audience, although they might not have seen any of her films, might have heard of her before. This could be enough to attract their attention to this newspaper rather than other competing newspapers. The colours of the clothes that she is wearing and the background of the main image are similar to the colours used in the kickers. Also, the clothes that she is wearing are quite classy. They are the sort of clothes that would be worn by an older, middle class audience, which is the target audience of the newspaper. The pose of the actress makes her seem like a dominant and powerful woman. This pose would appeal to women because it makes them seem more superior and challenges the patriarchal ideologies that are usually associated with texts aimed at an older audience.
The main article headline is bigger and bolder than all the other headlines on the page. This connotes that it is the most important article in the newspaper. Also, by mentioning that “Tori’s will ‘shame’ Britain”, the headline reinforces the patriotic feel of the newspaper. It is also a biased headline, so the readers of the newspaper might be swayed to turn against the Conservative Party.
There is an article on the cover about the NHS discriminating “against elderly patients”. This is an article that older people would want to read more than younger people because it affects them more, which makes the newspaper appeal to its target audience. There is also another article about womb transplants, which women would be more interested in than men. The appeal to women is similar to other aspects of the front cover, such as the colour scheme, feminine fonts in the kickers and the main image of a dominant female.
There is a small cartoon with a caption. This brings a lighter hearted element of fun to the newspaper because most of the articles are about serious issues, so the cartoon relaxes the mood. It would also draw in a younger audience.
There is a large advert of Tiffany & Co. earrings. These appeal to a female audience, although they could attract some males who might want to buy them for someone else. They appeal to higher class people because of the price of Tiffany & Co. earrings being quite expensive.

The Tooth Fairy

Film: The Tooth Fairy
Distributor: Fox
Genre: Fantasy Comedy
Release Date: 22nd January 2010
Rating: PG

Fantastic Mr Fox, another 20th Century Fox film, was released in November 2009. The Tooth Fairy was initially scheduled for release in November 2009 but Fox decided to move the release date to January 2010 to avoid competition with Fantastic Mr Fox.

The film stars Dwayne Johnson, previously known as The Rock. Almost all of the films he has previously been involved in are comedies. This means that he has an already established audience of people who have seen films he has done before and like the genre. They know what to expect from this film.

The score for The Tooth Fairy was composed by George S Clinton. This film is a fantasy comedy and in the past, George S Clinton has composed musical scores for fantasies, such as Mortal Kombat, and comedies, such as The Love Guru. This means that the composer was experienced enough in the genre to know what type of music would go well with it.

15 Upcoming Films

The White Ribbon (13th November 2009)
Period Drama, German, €12 000 000

Invictus (11th December 2009)
Biopic, American, $50 000 000

Nine (25th December 2009)
Musical Drama, American

Daybreakers (6th January 2010)
Horror, Australian, $21 000 000

Leap Year (8th January 2010)
Comedy, American

The Book Of Eli (15th January 2010)
Sci Fi/Action, American, $80 000 000

The Spy Next Door (15th January 2010)
Action/Comedy, American

Legion (22nd January 2010)
Fantasy/Thriller, American, £15 000 000

The Tooth Fairy (22nd January 2010)
Comedy/Fantasy, American

Edge Of Darkness (29th January 2010)
Thriller, British/American, $90 000 000

The Lovely Bones (29th January 2010)
Supernatural Drama, American, $100 000 000

When In Rome (29th January 2010)
Romantic Comedy, American

The Princess And The Frog (5th February 2010)
Family Fantasy/Musical, American, $105 000 000

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (12th February 2010)
Fantasy, American

Shutter Island (19th February 2010)
Thriller, American

What UGC have you produced?

UGC stands for user-generated content. This is when normal members of the general public produce the media, usually eMedia such as blogs.

I have produced a blog to post all of my media work on. My blogs address is http://ashakabadehmest1.blogspot.com/. I started my blog in October 2009. I only post my media work on my blog and nothing else.

For my media homework, I had to analyse a film trailer. This would have been difficult to show on paper. However, on my blog, I was able to embed the film trailer from YouTube, another UGC site, onto my blog so people can watch the trailer there.

I also had to analyse magazine front covers. It was very simple for me to just upload the front covers as images onto my blog with the analysis underneath.

Many people now produce UGCs, whether it is on Facebook, YouTube, MySpace or any other site made up by the public. There are many advantages and disadvantages to user-generated content. An advantage of it is that it is very easy to get instant communication with many people around the world. However, it can be seen as a cause for people becoming less and less socially intelligent. People now spend their time communicating with people through social networking sites rather than going out to talk to them in person. UGCs make it very easy for people to communicate but it can be argued that it is now too simple and it is to cause for the dumbing down of generations.

Summer Blockbusters

The Dark Night - Thriller/Action, 20-40 year old males
Iron Man - Action/Adventure, 35-50 year old males
Indiana Jones - Action/Adventure, 35-50 year old males
Hancock - Action, 16-35 year old males
Wall-E - Family animation, 5-13 year old males and females
Kung Fu Panda - Family animation, 5-13 year old males and females
Sex and the City - Romantic comedy, 25-40 year old females
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Fantasy/Adventure, 16-30 year old males and females
The Incredible Hulk - Comic book adaptation, 16-50 year old males and females
Wanted - Thriller, 20-40 year old males and females

At present, horror is a very popular genre and there are more and more horror films being produced. Also, there are a lot of family animations and a lot more films are being made in 3D.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, I think that horrors and thrillers would have been popular. People would have just stopped focusing on mainly film noirs, but the horror aspect of them would have still been popular. I also think that comedies would have been popular, but not as popular as horrors and thrillers.

The Walt Disney Corporation

Go to this website and choose one company and write a description detailing their media ownership

Walt Disney owns many products over two different platforms of media.
Broadcasting:
Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Pixar are a few examples of the film companies that The Walt Disney Corporation owns. They own TV companies such as Disney Channel, Toon Disney and ESPN. Disney Channel and Toon Disney are both aimed at children but ESPN has a different target audience. This gives The Walt Disney Corporation the opportunity to cater to a wider audience. The corporation owns radio stations and music companies – Walt Disney Records, Hollywood Records and Lyric Street Records. Hollywood Records produce albums for artists that have emerged from Disney, such as Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers. Children are the primary audience of most Disney products, so the artists that are signed to Hollywood Records appeal to children too.
Print:
Some of the publishing companies owned by The Walt Disney Corporation are Disney Publishing Worldwide, Disney Press and Disney Editions. Other print products that the corporation owns are magazines such as Discover, Disney Adventures and Family Fun. Because the corporation own products over different platforms of the media, they are able to provide a range of products for their target audience.

Research the company: where are they based? What audience do they cater for? How many different platforms do they own?

The company is based in California. They cater to all members of a family, but mainly target children. They own two different media platforms and also own parks, resorts and theatre companies. These are places that children would want to visit and also, their parents would want to go with them.

How do magazine front covers use symbolic, technical and written codes to appeal to their different target audiences?

Different magazines use different techniques to appeal to a certain target audience. The main differences are colours, fonts, images and straplines. These differences can be clearly noticed when comparing a magazine aimed at males, such as Top Gear, to a magazine aimed at women, such as Heat.

The colours on the front cover of Top Gear magazine are dark. Also, there are not a lot of colours used. The main colours on the front cover are dark blue, orange and white. The dark colours would appeal to men. The use of only a few colours is simple so would also appeal to men. When you look at the front cover of Heat magazine, the difference is immediately noticeable. The colours are a lot bolder and brighter than the colours that are used in Top Gear magazine. They are also a lot more feminine. Pink and yellow are more feminine than dark blue and orange. The colours are not as dark as those used in Top Gear magazine, and there are more colours used. Top Gear used three main colours but Heat used five. This would appeal more to women because there are more things to catch their eye and more colours create a happier mood.

The fonts that are used on these front covers help to make the magazine appeal to a certain target audience. On the masthead of Top Gear magazine, the font is italic. This makes it seem more masculine because it is edgier than a normal font. This would make the magazine appeal to a male audience. The font used in the masthead of Top Gear magazine is different to the font used on the masthead of Heat magazine. The masthead of Heat magazine is a lot more feminine that the Top Gear masthead because it doesn’t have any sharp edges. This would make it appeal more to women than to men.

There are a lot more images used on the front cover of Heat magazine than on the front cover of Top Gear magazine. Top Gear only uses one image and has no secondary images. The main image takes up a lot of space on the page. Heat magazine uses more than one image for its main article. There are four images that are all connected to the main article. There are also four secondary images on the front cover, with two of them being for the same article. Men would be attracted to a magazine front cover that doesn’t have a lot of main images, such as Top Gear magazine, because it is clear what the magazine will be about from just one image. It is simple and the size of the main image makes it eye catching. Women would be more likely to be attracted to a front cover with more images, such as Heat magazine, because it shows a lot more about the content of the magazine, which they would want to know about before they buy it. Also, because there is more of a variety of articles in Heat, more images show the different types of article that will be in the magazine, whereas a magazine like Top Gear is just about cars.

The straplines on Top Gear magazine are not as noticeable as the straplines on the cover of Heat magazine. Apart from “New Lambo”, the fonts of the straplines are all small and they are all the same colour. There are also not any puns or buzz words used in the straplines. The straplines on the front cover of Heat magazine are a lot more noticeable because of the bigger size. The cover also used different colours for different straplines. Two of the straplines use rhetorical questions to get the reader more involved. The strapline at the top of the page uses a buzz word. The main article is about bad skin, so, in the strapline, the word “skin” has spots drawn on it. All of these make the straplines more noticeable and more interesting. This would appeal more to a female audience because it involves them more. The straplines on the cover of Top Gear magazine would appeal more to a male audience because of the simplicity of it.