Music Magazines

 Look carefully at the front covers of MOJO and RNR magazines. 

QUESTION: How far do MOJO and RNR use different media language to create different connotations? (CONNOTATION meaning: an idea or quality that a word makes you think about in addition to its meaning.)

Answer on your blog. This is a high-value question and should take all lesson to answer. You can use the class blog search engine for more examples of how to analyse music magazines.

In your answer you should have 2 paragraphs:

• analyse the media language in MOJO and RNR magazine. 'Media language' includes the placement of the main image, the type of photography, lighting, colours, fonts, how busy or restrained the cover is, the layout (such as alignment to the margins), how serious or playful 

• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the media language is used differently in both extracts to create different connotations. Are there similarities in both covers? What sorts of audiences are they targeting? You could think about MOJO's rock aesthetic of living loud and dangerously compared to RNR's folk, rock, blues vibe. 

In MOJO, you can see that it is a very chaotic magazine cover, with lots of text all over the place, and a man in a very aggressive way, with his arms out and showing his teeth. However, in RNR it is all very organized, with the man on the cover in a very comforting and warming position, like he is trying to invite you into the cover. On MOJO you have lots of very bright colours that make it stand out and really pop, like red, white, blue and green. All of these colours contrast, and compliment the eyes, as they are trying to get readers to want to buy it. RNR is very different to this, as they use a fairly plain browny beige colour, to show that they focus on more earthy, and calming songs and artists, like folk music or the blues. This helps their target audience understand what kind of music this magazine focuses on, and the text above the title only further confirms it.

RNR is most likely trying to go for an older audience than MOJO, and are less willing to take risks with their covers, so they stick to beige, which is a colour that older people generally like. Unlike MOJO, RNR covers less rock music and more country or folk songs. The cover of RNR also has much more tame headlines. For example, where RNR has "These days it's yoga, camomile tea and three Our Fathers", MOJO has "We've been to funerals, We've been to jail...", showing the contrast and different topics these two magazines covers. The CDs that come with the magazines are also incredibly diverse, as while MOJO has a bright green one with a skeleton playing the guitar, saying "This is a call!", RNR has a more calming, plain one, which is beige and has nothing but a Zebra in the frame. The only other thing in this CD is the list of songs, all in very small white text. This is also different to MOJO, as on its CD, it has the songs written in a large font, with a black border and a big red number 15 above it.

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MAGAZINE COVER

 

MOJO: REPRESENTATION

 TASK:  Copy this MOJO 2019 cover into a new blog post entitled  MOJO: REPRESENTATION. Then write 4 points, one each about about the following.

How the producers have chosen to construct a version of reality that represents events, social groups and ideas to fit their purposes:

MOJO represents their front-cover musicians as heroic figures, as they try to draw in their target audience by presenting them this way.

• MOJO wishes to attract a target audience that shares its reverence for ‘classic rock’ so constructs a version of reality that represents musicians as authentic heroes, striving for excellence

The messages and values conveyed and issues addressed:

• MOJO’s front cover associates musicians with quest, danger and struggle, celebrating the values associated with rock music of ‘living fast and dying young’
  

How and why (e.g. to enable quick interpretation) stereotypes have been used, including anti-stereotyping / counter-stereotyping:

• MOJO’s selection of a cover photograph of a white male may be to fit the stereotype of rock musicians – this will enable instant recognition by audiences
  

• MOJO’s anti-stereotypical positive representation of older people as popular musicians. This may reflect the anti-ageism of an older audience

Which social groups are under-represented or misrepresented:

Many of the MOJO magazine covers heavily portray a white-male musician on the cover, with a very rare female, usually in a small box in the corner, as seen with DEBBIE HARRY in the MOJO cover beneath. It also doesn't represent musicians of colour, as many of their central figures on the cover are white, under-representing the coloured community

• MOJO’s front cover represents predominantly white male musicians in photographs, under- representing female musicians and musicians of colour

WHAT IS A TWO-SHOT AND HOW CAN IT BE USED (POPCORN PREP)

A two-shot is used in media to show the relationship between two characters, by using the reaction of these characters. A two-shot requires two characters to be in the frame, however, they do not have to be next to each other, as one character could be in the foreground, while another could be in the background.

Yr 10: LEGO MOVIE POSTER CAMPAIGN

PREP You all have a handout with the individual character posters and the ensemble poster.

Analyse how gender has been represented in The Lego Movie poster campaign. Use the written handout to help you answer this exam question (10 marks). 

The Lego Movie poster for Emmet is seen with him screaming and running away. This shows that he is not the typical male lead hero, as they are typically depicted as brave men, with hench arms, running towards danger. This is trying to break down gender stereotypes with this showing of Emmets vulnerability.

Wildstyle is seen as the polar opposite of Emmet, as she is smiling, not looking afraid of the danger. While she is seen as a atypical female side-character, she also has lipstick and long eyelashes, showing how she is still portrayed to have some amount of femininity in her character.

Vitruvious is seen as a wise old man, as he has a long flowing beard, and has white hair. He also has glowing eyes, showing some mystery with his character, as it makes the audience wonder as to why his eyes are glowing

Lord Buisness is shown as very sinister, and is supposed to be able to strike fear into people that see him. We can tell this as he is shouting, showing that he is an authoritative figure, and that he is an important character. We also know that he is supposed to be feared, as he is showing teeth, not only in his mouth, but also of his helmet, which is a red, making him seem evil and unforgiving.

All of these posters show the differences in the characters, as you have the scared, but suposedly heroic Emmet, and then the evil and petrifying Lord Business. There is also a strong female character, as shown in the character of Wildstyle. All of these things create a very diverse ensemble of characters.

LEGO REGULATION

 Task 3: Go to the BBFC site and research age ratings. Why was The Lego Movie (2014) given a U rating? You need to click on the Ratings info

The reason it was given the a U was due to there being fight scenes and violence, however, there was no blood or direct murder, thus resulting in it being family friendly. The Lego Movie does however have "very mild bad language", such as butt darn or heck.

 
  

Go to the PEGI site and research what age ratings are about. Why is The Lego Movie video game classification 7+?

 

The reason for it's 7+ classification is not due to the difficulty of the game, but instead to the age you should be to play. This is most likely due to minor fight scenes and mild bad language, such as butt or heck.

LEGO INDUSTRY

• synergy - The promotion of linked products across different areas of media. For Example The Lego Movie uses synergy through linked products like - the superhero cast from DC comics, minifigures
• tent-pole production - A film that can make large profits to support funding of other projects
• ensemble cast - A cast made up of multiple important characters
• conglomerate -  A company that owns multiple companies involved in mass media enterprises
• vertical integration - When a single, or merged, company controls both the production and supply of a product
• Franchise - A collection of media products all based on one original work. For Instance Star Wars