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 as not all of us have access to Photoshop at home.

Advertising & Marketing: Final index

We have now completed our work on Advertising and need to publish a final index to demonstrate we have finished every blog task. 

Every index you create is an excellent way to make sure you are revising the course as we go - as well as highlighting if you've missed anything. Your index should include the following:

1) Advertising and Marketing: Key conventions

2) Gender stereotypes in advertising 

3) Advertising CSP 1: OMO print advert 

4) Advertising CSP 2: Audrey Hepburn Galaxy advert

5) Media assessment 2 learner response

6) Advertising CSP 3: Represent NHS Blood campaign 

For your index, the text should link to YOUR blogpost for that topic so you can access your work quickly and easily for checking and revision. This also means if you have missed anything you can catch up with the work and notes and won't underperform in assessments and exams due to gaps in your knowledge. Look at the video below if you're not sure how to create an index.

Advertising and marketing assessment

You will have an assessment on our advertising and marketing topic when you come back after half-term. This will focus on language and representations so make sure you revise these areas alongside the three CSPs. Remember the three categories of flashcards we need to keep writing:

• Media terminology
• Media theory
• CSPs

Revision cards available from your teacher - just ask!

Recap: How to create an index

To create an index on your Media blog, first copy the list of tasks above and paste it as plain text into a new blogpost called 'Advertising & Marketing: Final index'. Then, open your Media blog in another tab and use your blog archive to open up all your work from last term. For each post, copy the URL - this is the web address that will end .blogspot.com/name of the post. For example: 

https://mediamacguffingcseyear1.blogspot.com/2020/01/representation-introduction.html

Once you've got the hang of it, you should find the index only takes 10 minutes to produce. Here's a short video showing you how to create a blog index in Media in case you've forgotten:

Advertising CSP 3: Represent NHS Blood campaign

Our final close-study product for Advertising and Marketing is the NHS Blood and Transplant online campaign video 'Represent' featuring Lady Leshurr.

This product provides an excellent opportunity to explore a range of different representations: ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, class, age, disability and ability and place. It's also a different type of advert as it's not promoting a product but instead is a campaign designed to influence the audience's behaviour.

Sample questions for Advertising and Marketing

In your Media exams, you are likely to get questions similar to these:

1) Why do advertisers use stereotypes? [6 marks]

2) Explain how advertisements reflect the social and cultural contexts in which they were created. [12 marks]

Think about how you might answer those questions based on the CSPs we have studied.

Advertising campaigns

Some adverts are produced in a series as a campaign. An advertising campaign is a series of advertisements that share a singular theme, message or idea. These are used to raise awareness of an issue or of the brand itself. The best campaigns have an emotional impact on audiences.

An advertising campaign will usually appear across multiple media platforms - print, broadcast and online.

Represent: background information

Lady Leshurr is an English rapper, singer and producer. She is famous for her freestyling rap style and has her own clothing line. 

This is the advert CSP:

This is a 'making of' video about how the Represent video was made:

The two articles we read in the lesson provide details on the campaign and how it was developed. This also gives information on why blood from people with a BAME background is so vital. 

GLOW words to use in connection to this campaign

• Literal – the actual, obvious meaning 
• Semiotics - the message behind what you see (hidden messages)
• Reinforce stereotype – when a representation is what we expect
• Challenge/subvert stereotype - When a representation goes against what we normally see in the media
• Mass - A mass audience is made up of a large group of people (men, women, children, elderly)
• Niche - A niche audience is a small subset with very unique interests or characteristics 

Codes and conventions of urban music videos

• There are many low-angled, close up shots in hip hop videos, to imply the artists’ power over their audience. The low angle gives them the power, because they look down on the audience and the close up gives status because it implies they’re important enough to have a frame to themselves.
• Sections of direct contact with the camera (the artist usually spends a lot of time looking straight into the camera as if to talk or have a conversation with the audience and relate to them)
• Props regarding costume tend to be used, for e.g. gold jewellery (male rap artists are commonly known to wear heavy chains or prominent rings)
• Show a clear display of emotions – if the tone of the song is angry, the artist is likely to present this through their gestures and facial expressions.
• Strong editing cuts between concept / performance and narrative.

Represent NHS Blood & Transplant campaign: blog tasks

Work through the tasks in this blogpost to make sure you're an expert on this CSP.

1) What is an advertising campaign?

2) What is the objective of the NHS Represent campaign? 

3) What does this advert want people to do once they've seen it (the 'call to action')? 

4) Why is the advert called 'Represent'? 

5) Why have the producers chosen celebrities to feature in the advert? Give an example of three well-known people who appear in the advert and why they are famous - make sure you write their names and spell them accurately.

6) What are the connotations of the slow-paced long shot of empty chairs at the end of the advert?

7) How does the advert match the key conventions of a typical urban music video?

8) How does the advert subvert stereotypes? Give three examples (e.g. ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, age, class, disability/ability etc.) 

9) How does the advert reinforce certain stereotypes? Could there be an oppositional reading where some audiences would find this advert offensive or reinforcing negative stereotypes?

10) Choose one key moment from the advert and write an analysis of the connotations of camera shots and mise-en-scene (CLAMPS).


Grade 8/9 extension tasks

1) Read this MOBO press release about the "B Positive" campaign - the follow-up to the Represent advert. How does it aim to build on the success of the Represent campaign?

2) How is celebrity endorsement or star power used to make the campaign stand out?

3) Research the following stars in more detail: Lady Leshurr, Ade Adepitan, Kanya King. Why are they famous? How do they help the campaign reach different segments of their niche audience?

4) How does the advert use genre and intertextuality to appeal to the target audience? You may need to research these key terms first in order to answer this question.

You will have lesson time to answer these questions but will need to complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom. 

Media assessment 2: learner response

Well done on completing your latest Media assessment - the more we practice these kind of questions the more confident we'll be in the exams next year.

The first part of your learner response is to look carefully at your mark, grade and comments from your teacher. If anything doesn't make sense, ask your teacher - that's why we're here! 

Your learner response is as follows:

Create a new blog post called 'Media assessment 2 learner response' and complete the following tasks:

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access this). Write down the mark you achieved for each question:

Q1:
Q2:
Q3:
Q4: 
Q5:
Q6:

Where you didn't achieve full marks, write WHY you think you missed out on the extra marks. Use the indicative content suggestions in the mark scheme to help with this. If you got any media terminology wrong in the assessment you can make a note of it here.

3) Look specifically at question 3 - did you successfully write about both the preferred and oppositional readings? Did your answers match any in the mark scheme? Copy in one answer from the mark scheme that you could have used.

4) Now look at question 4. Write a definition of vertical integration plus the benefits of it listed in the mark scheme to revise this key industry terminology. You may find the blogpost on ownership and control helpful here.

5) Finally, look at your 20-mark essay - question 6. Read this exemplar answer to help give you an idea of what a top-level response looks like. Then, write five points from either the exemplar answer or the mark scheme that you could have used in your answer. This will be excellent revision for a future film industry exam question. 

Your learner response is homework if you don't finish it in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.