Magazines: Tatler CSP case study

Print magazine Tatler is our first Close Study Product. We need to study the media language and representation of people, places and groups on the front cover of Tatler (January 2021).

Some of the key notes from the lesson are here:

General

• Tatler is Britain’s oldest magazine (founded in 1901).
• Targeted at upper classes and upper-middle classes.
• Lifestyle magazine with focus on fashion; high society events such as balls and celebrities such as the Royal family and members of the aristocracy (people with inherited wealth, titles and land.)
• There are versions in Russia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
• Over the years, Tatler has remained interested in the lives of the Royal family, but has tried to re-invent itself as more ‘edgy’ and modern in recent years, to try and target a younger audience. 

Watch this trailer for BBC's Posh People - a documentary about Tatler, the oldest magazine in Britain.

 


Media language

• This refers to how the producers communicate their message to the audience through the media text. 
• Mise-en-scene: what you see - remember CLAMPS (Costume / Lighting / Actors / Make-up / Props / Setting)
• Typography / Fonts: serif title and sans serif cover lines. 
• Words used and their connotations. 
• Colour schemes: usually two or three in a magazine. Sometimes title matches or is juxtaposed with colours elsewhere on the cover.

Representations

• Tend to reflect dominant representations/stereotypes of wealthy upper-class British people on the cover through images and cover lines.
• The cover star is Emma Weymouth (aka Emma Thynn, Marchioness of Bath) and is a rare black cover star for Tatler. Emma Thynn's father is a Nigerian oil billionaire and her mother is an English socialite (socialite: a person who is well known in fashionable society). This cover star shows Tatler is trying to update its representation of race in the magazine in response to recent cultural changes such as the Black Lives Matter movement.
• Average age of Tatler reader is 41 but the cover tends to focus on celebrities or models who are younger than this (due to dominant ideals of beauty in the Media).
• Cover lines (stories inside) tend to focus on preoccupations of upper classes e.g ‘Inside the new British establishment'; Blond ambition (about Boris Johnson's brother); Off-duty Royal dressing. 

Social and cultural contexts

• The issues that Tatler is concerned with tend to be political but not in a particularly gritty way because the magazine is more interested in fashion, merchandise, beauty and ‘lifestyle’ rather than dealing with news in any depth. Hence references to Boris Johnson's brother and 'the workings of the Westminster web'.
• The preoccupation with parties, private schools, luxury holidays and exclusivity (the ‘Tatler Privilege Club’) assumes a high level of income and an elitist attitude which may alienate or offend people from a different social class. 81% of the readership has an above average income. 44% buy shoes or clothes more than once a month so the cultural context of the magazine could be judged as ‘niche’ (for the few) rather than ‘mainstream’ (for everyone).
• Some of the stories featured in Tatler can be seen as outdated as they are concerned with riding, hunting and shooting which are pursuits generally only enjoyed by upper classes. 

Here's an annotated copy of the cover of Tatler to help you (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access this).

Tatler: case study blog tasks

Work through the following tasks and questions to build a detailed case study for Tatler issue January 2021 (below). This will give you plenty of background information to use in an exam question on print magazines. First, create a new blogpost called Tatler CSP case study.

Introduction - Tatler Media pack

1) Look at the Tatler Media Pack. Go to page 2: how does the editor introduce the magazine?

2) Now go to page 4 of the Media Pack. Focus on the print magazine (NOT tatler.com - the website). List the key demographic details: age, gender %, ABC1 % (social class), HHI (Household Income), % of those living in London and the South East. What do these demographic details suggest about the average Tatler reader?

3) Look at page 6. What do Tatler readers think about fashion? How much do they spend?

4) Go to page 10. What are the special editions of Tatler that run throughout the year? What does this suggest about the Tatler audience? What about the pyschographic audience group that best fits Tatler?


Media language

Revise the 12 magazine cover key conventions and check how many feature on this edition of Tatler.

1) What different examples of typography can you find on the cover of Tatler? What are the connotations of the serif and sans serif fonts?

2) How do the cover lines appeal to the Tatler target audience?

3) What are the connotations of the Tatler colour scheme on this particular front cover?

4) How is the central image designed to create interest in the magazine? Find three reasons for your answer. (E.g. the model, the mise-en-scene such as props, costume and make-up, body position, facial expression etc.)

Representations

1) What celebrities or famous people are mentioned on the cover? Why do you think Tatler put them on the cover?

2) What do the cover lines suggest about the lifestyle of rich people in the UK?

3) Looking at the image and cover lines together, what different groups of people are represented on the cover and how are they represented? (E.g. men/women/rich people/race & ethnicity etc.) 

4) Are there any stereotypes being reinforced or subverted? How? Why?

Social and cultural context

1) What aspects of British life or people are NOT reflected in Tatler? (Watch the clip above again if you need help with this - the clue is in the title 'Posh People')

2) Tatler runs special issues on holidays, spa breaks, cosmetic surgery, watches and jewellery and private schools. What does this suggest about the magazine's representation of life in Britain? 

3) What audience groups might be offended or insulted by the front cover of Tatler April 2017? 

4) Find three other front covers for Tatler from different months. What issues, subjects or people are regularly featured in Tatler?


Grade 8/9 extension tasks

1) What would be the preferred and oppositional readings to this cover of Tatler?

2) Are there any misrepresentations or under-representations of certain groups? What might this suggest about the target audience?

3) How does the front cover engage audiences with possible narratives? Look for stories, cliffhangers, dramatic cover lines etc.

4) Read this Guardian article on the BBC documentary about Tatler called Posh People. What does the article suggest about the people who produce and read Tatler?

Complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom.

Magazines: Typography Photoshop workshop

Typography is a crucial aspect of communicating meaning to an audience.

"Typefaces give voice to words"

There are two main terms that we need to learn:

Serif
Serif fonts have tabs (or 'feet') at the corners of the letters. Serif fonts are more old fashioned, traditional or authoritative. They are particularly suited to long passages of text as they create a 'line' for the reader to follow.

Sans Serif
Sans Serif fonts are more modern and do not have tabs or 'feet' on the letters. They are used for titles, headings and create a more contemporary, modern feel to the product.


Typography: Photoshop workshop

Task 1

Create an A4 document in Photoshop. Choose a font to represent the following words (you may need to Google their meanings).

Think about:
UPPER or lower case? Font size? Angle? Position on page?

• Mistake
• Harmony
• Falling
• Personality
• Elastic
• Emperor
• Brittle
• Globe
• Radiation
• Relax
• Madness

Task 2

Choose three of the words and create an instant graphic identity for each (see image right). Use the tools, effects and colour available in Photoshop. 

Task 3

Create your own magazine and design a graphic identity for it in Photoshop. 

Choose a font which represents the name
Add an image, shape, colour or slogan that combines with the name to create a brand identity for the magazine.

You will have lesson time to work on this - it will not be set for homework.

Film Industry: I, Daniel Blake

Our second Film Industry CSP is Ken Loach's independent social realist film I, Daniel Blake.

Remember: for film, we only need to study the industries key concept - so this means the companies behind the film, the budget, the marketing and promotion and finally the box office success.

Hollywood v Independent cinema

Independent films are very different to Hollywood blockbusters like Black Widow. The style of ‘indie’ films is very different to Hollywood blockbusters, as the directors and producers have more creative input – it’s being made in their vision, not in the vision of studio bosses.

Independent films have much smaller budgets, and are often supported financially by public service broadcasters, film institutions and charity funding. They are also distributed by smaller companies.

I, Daniel Blake notes

I, Daniel Blake is an award-winning independent British Drama film. The main character, Daniel Blake, 59, who has worked as a joiner most of his life in the North East of England needs help from the State for the first time ever following an illness.

He crosses paths with a single mother Katie and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie’s only chance to escape a one roomed homeless hostel in London is to accept a flat some 300 miles away.

Daniel  stands up and fights for his dignity, leading a one-man crusade for compassion that will transform the lives of a struggling single mother (Katie) and her two children.   It is a drama that has a strong political message about Britain in an age of government austerity.

Key details:

• I, Daniel Blake was released in 2016 and was directed by Ken Loach. The film was rated by the BBFC as a 15.
• A UK/French co-production, the film is a classed as a drama due to the nature of the narrative and themes within the film.
• The cast is made up of lesser known actors, including Dave Johns, Hayley Squires and Sharon Percy.
• The film is classed as an independent film, due to the fact that it is a low budget film with a relatively unknown cast.

Director power: Ken Loach

Ken Loach has been a director for over 50 years. He’s never had Hollywood success, mainly because he’s never wanted it. Loach’s style is social realism – telling stories that represent the lives of ordinary working-class people and the social issues they face, for example unemployment, poverty and addiction. His films also have political themes. Rather than create films for entertainment or money, his goal is to expose and educate people to the issues that many people in society face.

Ken Loach's 2019 film Sorry We Missed You highlighted the difficulty of working class people working on zero hour contracts (you can watch the trailer here). Here he talks to Sky News about the film and how it compares to Marvel superhero blockbusters like Black Widow:

Marketing and promotion

Along with traditional trailer and print adverts, the film makers eOne also used disruptive marketing such as:

• Organise free (or ‘pay what you can’) screenings and talks in community centres across the UK to build local enthusiasm for the film’s message.
• Film was premiered not in London, but Newcastle (where the film is set) to gain local support. 
• Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn attended the London premiere and people that had been denied benefit payments were asked to placard the event.
• ‘I, Daniel Blake’ was projected onto the Houses of Parliament ('guerrilla marketing') and in various cities
• Loach appeared on BBC Question Time to talk on issue giving the film extra credibility

A conventional trailer was also produced for the film:

Additional promotion:

• A partnership was set up with Trinity Mirror (Daily Mirror owners) to run a marketing campaign based on the film. The Daily Mirror traditionally supports the Labour Party and left-wing causes so therefore agreed with the main message of the film.
• The film also paired up with NomadiX Media's iProjector to create an outdoor campaign using quotes from the film.
• Ken Loach and the writer did interviews with newspapers and magazines to promote the key messages of the film (see clip from Economist below).
• Finally, a video was released using members of the public and politicians that supported the film’s message. This was highlighted with the hashtag #WeAreAllDanielBlake

Secret Cinema Youth screening

Secret Cinema, as part of their charitable Secret Youth campaign, organised a screening of the film in both London’s East End and Newcastle. The event was aimed at first-time voters, and the event happened just before the 2017 general election

The screening was accompanied by talks from Ken Loach and performances from artists that either supported or had a connection with the film’s themes. They also organised food bank donation stalls at the screening and encouraged people to contribute

Budget, box office and critical success

It is very difficult to establish the exact production costs of ‘I, Daniel Blake’ although 16 Films Producer, Rebecca O’Brien, said it was a ‘modest amount’, even for a Ken Loach film. We know some of the funding it received (e.g. £300k from the BFI) and can estimate it to be around £2 million. Compare that to the $200 million that it cost to make our other CSP, Black Widow.

I, Daniel Blake was exhibited in 24 countries and performed well in Europe and other smaller countries. The film grossed £11 million and received a wide range of positive critic reviews.

‘I, Daniel Blake’ Is Ken Loach’s most successful UK release ever and continued to sell well around Europe. Like all Ken Loach films, it did particularly well in France. As well as Box Office success, it was also a critical success and award winner (including the renowned Palme D’or from the Cannes Film Festival).

Regulation: BBFC rating

‘I, Daniel Blake’ was awarded a 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC).  This was despite the following scenes being included:

• Bad language (uttered by the main characters out of anger and frustration or for emphasis. Was justified by context and not impactful.)
• Sexual scenes (There are some verbal sexual references voiced in the film, particularly in a scene where a man pays a surprise visit to a woman who is working as a prostitute secretly, to try to dissuade her from prostituting herself.)
• Frightening and Intense scenes (There are two notable scenes of emotional intensity. They include 'the food bank' scene and the ending 'funeral' scene.)

I, Daniel Blake: blog tasks

1) What is independent cinema and how is it different to Hollywood blockbusters?

2) What is I, Daniel Blake about?

3) Who directed I, Daniel Blake and why is this important?

4) How was I, Daniel Blake promoted to an audience? List at least three different methods used by the film's marketing campaign and how they targeted their audience.

5) What unusual or creative marketing methods were used to get audiences talking about the film?

6) What was the estimated production budget for I, Daniel Blake and how much did it make at the box office?

7) How can independent films like I, Daniel Blake compete with Hollywood blockbusters like Black Widow?

8) In your opinion, was I, Daniel Blake a success?


Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Media Magazine article on the disruptive marketing campaign used to publicise I, Daniel Blake. Media Magazine is an excellent publication aimed at A Level Media students and it's a great resource for GCSE students aiming for the top grades.

Read this marketing case study on I, Daniel Blake. What does 'making a film launch a political movement' mean?

I, Daniel Blake is an A Level Media text for another exam board. Watch Media teacher Mrs Fisher's YouTube lesson on I, Daniel Blake and make notes on the key points she makes.

Read this Hollywood Reporter interview with executive Alex Hamilton on film marketing - including the I, Daniel Blake grassroots marketing campaign. Why was it successful?

Complete for homework if you don't finish it during the lessons - due date on Google Classroom.