Media Exam

1) Explore the ways in which media language combines to make meaning in this film poster (30 marks, 40 minutes)

The mise-en-scene of the colours used throughout the poster, black and white, presents a binary opposition in many aspects. The contrast of the sans serif font, seeming similar to font used by far-right ideologies, and the actual title of the movie, ‘Black K Klansman’ alongside the anchorage of the title immediately shows that the movie will be politically charged, and possibly hard to watch by an audience that isn’t the target of the movie.

The contrast continues with the composition of the black and white background, with the white section of background forming a triangle in the centre of the frame. The black and white can connote good and evil, or two different opposing sides, presenting us with an idea of what this movie is about. The white triangle in the centre of the frame is a reference to hats worn by the KKK, which makes it even clearer what this film is about. 

Both the lexis of ‘infiltrate’ and the mise-en-scene of the binoculars connotate a spy theme, suggesting that it is a crime-drama. This is taken even further with the mise-en-scene of the actors on the poster – a black man and a white man. The mid shots of the actors, with only half of their face being shown also suggests that they make a whole, or are rather part of a team, furthermore suggested by the spy elements on the poster.

The presence of other colours on this poster being washed out suggests the film is set in the past, possibly in the 70s or around the civil rights movements, also suggested by the mise-en-scene of the costume and hair; The black actor having an afro and wearing a leather jacket, which were popular at the time.

2) With reference to The Daily Mirror, explore how economic factors can shape newspapers (20 minutes, 15 marks)

The Daily Mirror is owned by Reach PLC, a horizontally integrated conglomerate. This company owns multiple other newspapers, though it could be argued it is vertically integrated as it also publishes news online, which reach an entirely different target audience. Physical newspapers are aimed at an older audience, while younger audiences will usually opt for online news due to using the internet more often in their daily lives as well as growing up using it. This change in audiences has caused the development of online news sources, changing the industry. The website for The Daily Mail features lots of ads on the sidebars of the site, most likely being their main source of revenue, rather than the money they make selling physical copies of the newspaper.

The audience for The Daily Mirror is middle-aged working-class people. The layout and design of the newspaper reflects this, using sans serif font and slang to connect to the audience more easily. The Daily Mirror also uses more pictures than a broadsheet newspaper, with pictures taking the majority of space on the page. The newspaper is also relatively cheap too, which may be related to the amount of ads displayed on the front page, usually being one of the main focuses and offering a seemingly good deal to the reader. 

3) How do adverts appeal to their target audiences? Make reference to the WaterAid advert (20 minutes, 15 marks)

The WaterAid advert appeals to a middle aged, working class and mainly white audience. The song that Claudia sings in the advert, called ‘Sunshine on a rainy day’, originally came out in the 1990s, which the target audience is able to recognise and relate to, forming a connection between them and Claudia. It is also suggested that the target audience could be middle class too, as the mise-en-scene of the setting at the beginning, a rainy day in England with a radio in the frame, suggests that it takes place in a more middle-class home. The binary opposition of these two settings tells the audience of the huge differences between them and the people in Africa, but share similar experiences like singing a song. 

The WaterAid advert is an unconventional charity advert, being more upbeat and happier as opposed to conventional charity adverts showing sad and unhappy scenes. The mise-en-scene of the colours in the advert present a bright and colourful environment different to the usual desaturated colour scheme. This is more appealing to the audience, meaning they are less likely to skip the advert, and are more likely to donate to make a difference. The song used also reflects the cheerful advert, and makes it memorable and catchy, so it is more likely to stay in people’s heads. 

The producer encodes the ideology that the location in the video, an unnamed country in Africa, is undeveloped and needs help. The target audience takes the preferred reading of this, assuming that the rest of the continent is undeveloped and dry like the setting in the video. This advert only aims to target their audience of both white working class and middle-class audiences, as a different audience such as younger, non-white people would take a negative reading, and are less likely to donate.