Construction of Preliminary Task Magazine

Preliminary Task Planning

Introduction to Preliminary Task

On the 14th of November, my class was introduced to the AS Media Coursework. The preliminary task was to create a school/college magazine/newsletter. In the class we went through a few magazine covers and were given the list of conventions in a magazine:

• Masthead: This is the title of the magazine/newspaper usually placed at the top of the front cover. The main aim of this is so the reader can identify which magazine/newspaper company wrote the articles. Examples of Mastheads are: Entertainment Weekly, Empire Magazine, The Daily Mail, The Sun.

• Publication: A printed text that has been published. The magazine/newspaper is a publication as it has a collection of articles written.

• Flat plan:  A page plan that shows where the images and text will be laid. Editors of a magazine will have a flat plan to have a sense of understanding. Flat plans are useful for they allow editors to section certain thematic articles in an area.

• The ‘hook’: The hook is a phrase which attracts the readers attention. They can either be the headline or the small tagline. The hook is aims to instigate a feeling in the reader whether that causes the reader to be curious, happy or angry. Examples of 'hooks' are 'The End Is Nigh!' - Empire Magazine, May 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse X-Clusive Cover Edition; 'Ben Affleck UNMASKED: Why he's out for revenge?' - Loaded Magazine, January 2015, Heroes Issue

• Buttons: Buttons are small phrases with a shaped background. These help stand out to relay significant information to the reader. Examples of Buttons are 'Meet Harley Quinn' - Empire Magazine, December 2015, Suicide Squad Cover Edition; 'THE GRANDEST ADVENTURE WE WILL EVER SEE ON FILM' - Empire Magazine, November 2014, Interstellar Cover

• Plugs/Teasers:  Teasers are short phrases on the front cover of a newspaper/magazine to tempt readers to buy the publication. Teasers are there to tempt readers into other stories within the magazine. Examples of teasers are 'An engagement to remember and a marriage to forget' - Vanity Fair Magazine, February 2016, Megyn Kelly Cover; 'Ben Affleck: Revenge of the Babysitter' (Translated) Vanity Fair Magazine, September 2015, Johnny Depp Italy Cover

• Typography: Typography is the typeface or font used in print text. Alternate fonts attract readers attention because having the same font on the page doesn't strike out well to viewers.

• Skyline: The Skyline is extra bits of news placed at the top or 'skyline' of the magazine. Skyline are usually the first convention that the reader will see when picking up the magazine to read.

In class we first listed the conventions of a few magazines of our choices, to help us to understand each convention and its purpose.

In the magazine I listed the conventions and explained their purpose to the reader.

During the lesson we were also introduced to the main task which was to create a four page music magazine of any genre music. When making my music magazine, I must think about the conventions listed above in order to attain the highest marks.

Narrative theory

The extract begins with an establishing shot of the setting with cactus and Dust Mountains to convey to the audience that the scene is set in the desert. It is later explained to us that the setting is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We find out the setting from the close up camera-like shot of the character Walter White (Bryan Cranston). The rest of the shots are wide shots which show the audience the action that is the caravan is going down a dusty road before he crashes that caravan in a ditch. The final shot is a mid-torso shot which shows Walter White pointing a gun to a far distance.

Some of the movement is presented to show Walter running away from the police because there are faint siren sounds of police cars. Glass is breaking because of the shaky movements of the vehicle and there are people sliding up and down on the floor of the RV in a pool of brown liquid. Smoke is used to reflect the crash that happened in the ditch.

Walter White is at first seen to be naked, only just wearing white briefs and shoes and socks however towards the middle of the scene, he is wearing a light green shirt along with bull-rimmed glasses and a gas mask. The caravan is dark in the inside which conceals the clues to figuring out the plot of the scene. Natural lighting is used to make the setting of the desert realistic. Walter White is portrayed to being an outlaw family man because he attempts to run away from the police. In addition he films a goodbye message to his wife, Skylar and son Walter Jr. He is at first upset and crying however his demeanour changes to a somewhat anger as he points the gun directly to somewhere in the distance.

A gas mask is used because it suggests that there is a toxic chemical either liquid or gas in the RV which could kill the passengers. The dead people represent the effect of the toxic gas/liquid. The scene begins silently before the RV comes in to shot with a fast-paced drum-like beat to represent the rushed panicky nature of the scene. There are faint police sounds that grow larger when gaining closer to the location of Walter White. The sounds at the end have a high chime and it ascends slowly from low to high before it immediately halts to a stop.

The scene follows Barthes theory of enigma code because it demonstrates a mystery from beginning to end. Various questions are asked like:

•     Who is Walter White, Skylar and Walter Jr.?
•     Why has Walter thrown his trousers away?
•     Why are there dead people in the RV?
•     Why is he running from the police?
•     Why does he have a gas mask?
•     Why does he shoot the gun in the distance?

All these questions are generated in the audiences thought process and it makes the audience viewer want to watch more to have those questions answered. It creates a sense of suspense and mystery which allows the audience to interact and explore different theories behind their thoughts on the scene from the Breaking Bad scene.

Camera Angles

In this post, I will be discussing about three types of camera angles that are used in the media. Along with that I will explain why the camera shot is used as well as the effect it has on the audience.

The Shining (1980), Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance

This shot is a close up shot and it shows Torrance's face between two door ledges while he has a malicious look. His teeth are bared and his eyes look to his left which suggests he's looking at something. He has a strand of hair on his face and his nose is flared. The close up shot allows us to examine the intricate details on Torrance's face as well as getting an understanding of the characters emotion. This is an iconic shot as it has Torrance yell "Here's Johnny!" to someone. The close up shot allows Torrance to display a menacing psychopathic look on his face and it helps him to deliver the iconic line. This has an effect on the narrative for it shows to the audience, a sudden twist in the plot.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) left-to-right, (Eli Roth as Donny Donowitz/The Bear Jew and Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine/Aldo the Apache)

This shot is a low/point of view shot as it makes Donowitz and Raine the main subject of this shot. They both are looking down directly on the camera as Donowit has a hand (with a gun?) stretched out in front of us while Raine brandishes a large knife in front of us. This shot shows the dominance and power in the characters. The weapons also help in making these characters stand out and be more powerful. The point of view shot allows the reader to be immersed in the scene and make the audience almost feel like they are in the forest and are about to be killed by Raine and Donowitz. This is effective as it makes the story suggest that this is a suspense or action.

Mean Girls (2004), left-to-right, (Rachel McAdams as Regina George and Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron)

This shot is an over the shoulder shot as it gets the audience to focus on George. We look over Heron's shoulder as a part of the scene but it also allows the audience to almost empathize with Heron as she listens to George. George has an disgruntled look on her face which suggests that she is unhappy about something to do with Heron. George's focus is completely on Heron and this adds on to her face that she is ignorant to anything else around her. This portrays to the audience that the movie is quite a dramatic movie due to the facial expressions and the mundane surrounding.