Clare's A level Media Studies Blog: July 2012

Local Newspapers

Local newspapers are only sold in one specific area, which may be a town or county. Whereas, regional newspapers are sold in large areas of the country and national newspapers cover the whole country. Local newspapers use conventions that are both similar and different to national and regional newspapers. Firstly, the front covers of local papers use a masthead, the name of the paper, as most newspapers do. This may include the name of the town, city or county in the name, for example, Somerset Standard, Frome Times etc. or will be mentioned in the sell line, underneath the masthead. The price and date are also included in the sell line. There will also be one major image on the cover, used for the main story. This will include a large headline. Although this image and text is large, it is not as dramatic and shocking as national tabloid newspaper covers generally are. Instead the stories are about ‘feel good’ stories or other local issues that will have an impact the community. These are used to give a good image to the town or county. For example, a story about teens from the area helping the elderly will create a positive image for area. If a negative story is used, it may be used to encourage readers living in the area to do something to help the situation. It may be about rubbish in the parks, encouraging people to put litter in the bins. The main image used for this is, like the heading, is less shocking than tabloid papers, and is used to project a positive image of the town or county. The first part of the main article is printed on the cover, in the form of columns. Often there is more article text on local newspaper covers, than tabloids. This is because the aim of the newspaper is much less attention-grabbing than national papers.

Also, the article is continued inside the paper, to persuade people to buy the paper and read the rest of the article. There will also be adverts featured on the cover. This is because often local papers are either free or very cheap, meaning they get most of their profit from other businesses paying them to feature advertisements. For example, The Frome Times is a free paper; therefore around half of the paper is taken up by adverts. Also, there are promotional offers on the covers, offering vouchers, discounts and free gifts, if you buy the newspaper. The only colour that is usually seen on local paper covers are on the masthead and images, and are usually less colourful than tabloids, as they attract less attention.

For the rest of local newspapers, there are several different features included inside. Firstly, a letters page is featured for people living in the local area to send in letters and emails that are printed. These are often discussions about topics in the area, or suggestions for changes. There will also be a sports section, which would include sports match results for local teams. There will be other stories, similar the stories on the front page, focusing on local events. The audience for local papers are generally families; therefore the stories are less sensationalised. Often local stories are written by people in the community, as there are not enough local journalists to write all the articles. This also means the stories are from the public’s perspective. Sometimes there are historical or archive features connected with the area, which is interesting for people who want to find out about the history of the town or county. A large amount of the space inside local papers is taken up by adverts and classified pages. This is the newspapers main source of income. There may also be competitions for people in the area, local weather specifically in that area, TV listings and reviews of local events and concerts.

Documentaries

Documentaries are filmed texts that aim to document reality, depicting people, places and events with veracity. There are many genres of documentaries, including nature, historic, docu-films, which have many film-like qualities and profile documentaries, which focuses on one person and follows their story. Firstly, they almost always include interviews. This may be with the person a profile documentary is focusing on, or it often is with experts like archaeologists or nature experts. Friends and family of the subject in a profile documentary are frequently interviewed.

In crime documentaries, witnesses will be interviewed, to get many sides to a story. In interviews, it is conventional for the interviewee to be positioned on the far left or right of the screen, not in the centre, and often looking towards the other direction and never into the camera. Text at the bottom of the screen is always shown, telling the viewer exactly who the interviewee is and their occupation or relation to the subject. Equally, subtitles over filmed clips are sometimes needed to translate the language spoken in the clips, or because the dialogue is too quiet or unclear to understand. This makes it easier for viewers to follow and understand what is going on. Images are shown a lot, not only professional photographs, but also images taken by the subject or the subject’s family, often with low quality cameras. This adds a more realistic portrayal of the subjects. Home videos can also be included for a higher veracity. Archive images can also be used, to show events or people in the past, such as news or security footage.

Newspaper scans, such as headlines, can be shown, if the documentary is about an event or person that featured a lot in the news. Filmed crucial events are shown, which may be taken from someone’s mobile phone, handheld camera or archives. Re-enactments may be filmed for a documentary, because there is no other documentation of crucial events, so actors re-enact an event using a description from someone who actually witnessed the event. This is a lot more interesting and informative that if they just talked about it. Sometimes video diaries are featured, when someone, whether is it the subject or presenter, talks about their day and what they thought about it. For example, they may see what it is like to be homeless, and with a handheld camera is able to document their feelings and opinions of their experience.

Sound is important and music is used to add to the mood of the documentary. For example if something horrible happened and was documented, there would be sad sounding music, and if something inspirational is documented, uplifting music will be played, for example, in the docu-film, ‘Man on Wire’, Philippe Petit is shown tight roping across the twin towers, while inspirational, elevating music was played. Voiceovers from narrators or presenters are always used to tell a story, or give facts and statistics. Often interviewee’s voices will be carried over other clips or pictures, as they may be describing the event or person, therefore helps to have them shown together. Lastly, almost all documentaries follow a story, so need to have an introduction, and then go on to discuss or explore many issues within the topic, showing both viewpoints from many peoples perspective and lastly, they finish with a conclusion, that allows them to bring everything together.

Music Videos

Music videos are the visuals that go with a specific song, and often feature the artist/s performing and actors in a narrative story. They have a variety of codes and conventions, depending on the type of music video. These types include, narrative music videos, which show a story within the song, almost like a film. These actors may or may not be the musicians. If the musician of a song acts in the narrative, this is called a cameo. Also, there are performance music videos, in which the visuals show the musicians performing their song. This may be on stage, in a studio or any other location. Many music videos use a mixture of these types, having performances and narratives in one video, to make it more interesting. Lastly, an abstract music video may have narrative elements within it; however, it is used, not to tell a story, but just for a visual backdrop to the music. This may create a mood with use of shots that may or may not be linked with the song.

The shot types vary between each music video, but often, a variety of angles are used, to add to a narrative or to show musicians performing. For example, a high angle may be used above a band playing on stage. Pans and tilts are almost always used in performance music videos, to show all of the stage or location. Also, tracking shots are sometimes used, often if the musicians are moving as they perform. Crane shots are always used for stage performances to get an overall view. Close-ups of facial expressions, both in performance and narrative videos are used to show emotion of the musicians/characters. Musical instruments and other props are also often filmed close up.

Editing is important in music videos, as visuals need to match the music, for example, loud, upbeat music may show clips of the musicians dancing energetically, or slow, sad sounding music may be played with a shot of an actor crying. Changes in the mood or lyrics of the music need to match with the mood of the visuals. Also, there may be some diegetic sound, which adds to the narrative of the music video, but not part of the song. This may be dialogue from actors, or any other diegetic sounds. This makes it more like a story, as if it were a film. Other editing techniques can be used, such as jump cuts, to show passing of time or CGI for graphical effect. Greens screens are often used to create a unique and unusual location for the video.

Mis en scene is considered for all music videos. This depends on the genre of the music and type of music video. Firstly, clothing varies between genres, for example, rock bands would wear darker colours, band t-shirts, generally more casually, often with tattoos and piercings, for a rebellious look. Whereas, a female pop singer may wear very glamorous, expensive and sometimes revealing clothing because of the genre of music. Sometimes artists may be very dramatic and creative with their costume and makeup to add the style and mood of the video. The singer, Katy Perry often uses makeup and costume to add to the theme of her songs, for example, the song ET; she dresses up as an alien, which adds an entertaining element to the video.

Location is also key, and may be a stage with a crowd, a recording studio, or another location that adds to the narrative. For example, a performance music video may take place on stage, whereas a narrative video may be filmed in a range of places, such as someone's bedroom, for example. CGI can be used to create a location using green screens. Sometimes, performance videos can be filmed in unusual locations like a desert, to make the video more interesting. Lighting is considered as well, which may be very natural lighting, especially in narrative videos, as it needs to look realistic. However, performance videos tend to have unnatural lighting, for example, stage performances use bright flood lights, often in different colours. Lastly, props are filmed in music videos, which include instruments like microphones, pianos, drums etc. or there may be other props that are important for the narrative of the music video

Clare's A level Media Studies Blog

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Monday 30 July 2012

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Wednesday 18 July 2012

The Codes and Conventions of Local Newspapers, Documentaries and Music Videos