Assignment 1 - Print

Assignment Bank 1

  

Topic: print – magazines and newspapers

Title: investigate the audience appeal of a magazine cover

Primary Key Concepts: media language and audience

Teaching Objectives:

• connotation and denotation

• audience – actual and target

• shot types and impact

• representation – stereotypes

• introduction to photography.

Task 1 (AO2) 500 words

 

Task 2 (AO3)

 

 Present your ideas for a cover of a magazine promoting a new soap opera and aimed at a

specific target audience.

You will need to explain your intentions with reference to your use of media language and

how it appeals to the target audience.

 

 

 

To help you with the start of Assignment 1 preparations please click on the link and look at the example Controlled Assessment 1 on Magazines.




The Key Concepts that you should be identifying and using clearly in your response are:

•  Target Audience
•  Media Language

Tarrget Audience – Who is the audience? Demographics – age, sex, ethnicity, lifestyle. In what publication was the ad found? Uses and Gratifications – Aspirational? Identification?


Media language/terminology – Consider some of denotation/connotation, shot type, camera angle, direct/non-direct address, mise en scene, use of copy (tone and register appropriate to target audience?), use of fonts and colours, lighting, slogans, dress codes, action codes, facial expressions. In all cases the effect of the media language should be considered.


Remember:
D = Denotation = What you can see
C = Connotation = What it means
A = Analysis = WHY it is produced in that way and the EFFECT on the reader/audience


Some discussion of Representation might look at the use of stereotypes, perceptions of beauty, messages and values. Institutional factors might be raised in terms of how advertisements help to finance magazines, how the print ads are part of a cross-media campaign or the use of institutional information such as stockists or websites.

Read through the example response and the marker's comments at the end.  You can see this scored 13 out of 15.


Your response should be similar; whether you've picked newspapers or magazines!


Click here for the example response.