Preliminary task: Front Cover Textual Analysis

Denotation: The magazine cover consists of a colour photograph of a woman looking directly into the camera. it is a medium-long shot (showing her head, arms and waist). She is standing on her own, looking relaxed and happy. She is smiling. she is wearing sporty, light clothing. The background of the photo is in a green park with grass and trees. The photograph covers the whole of the magazine cover. Behind the woman is the College Masthead in red, and in front of her are 5 separate cover-lines in black and blue. The bar code is visible in the bottom left hand corner.

Masthead: College's Masthead is quite plain, but catchy. It is in red, which matches the colour of the girls shirt. It stands out because the background is green, and green/red are complimentary colours. The font used is a serif font and all the letters are separated. The font used looks plain but modern and youthful (curved edges make it look youthful. Thick/plain letters make it look modern). The word College simply indicates that this magazine is about College and education/curriculum.

Character: The photograph is of a woman, supposedly a college student, dressed in sporty, loose, casual clothing.

Costume: The woman is wearing a sporty American-Football-like Top, and denim shorts. the clothing would mainly attract males as she is showing a bit of skin and she is a female. It can also attract the female audience because what she is wearing might be the latest style/trend for her age range.
NVC: The woman is standing very calmly, and smiling which can show that 'College' is a nice place to be and it is enjoyable. It can also indicate that the magazine is entertaining and can possibly make you smile/interest you.
Setting: There is little setting, but I can recognise greenery which may mean she is in a park or field. This can symbolize freedom and that college is a place where you make your own choices etc.
Lighting: The lighting is natural and high key.

Cover-lines: The main Cover-line seems to be linked to the photo of the woman, as the cover-line mentions 'SMU Campus', and her shirt says: 'I(love)SMU'. So the SMU Campus must be a nice place. the cover-line also says: "A new kind of balancing act' which sounds like a new rule/law, but the word 'balancing' makes the 'act' sound fair and equal, like what college should be. The other cover-lines are not exactly linked to college, such as 'She's 15 and pregnant' which is a interesting story, but isn't really relevant to college. 'Avoid sleeping your way to the top; Networking 101' seems to mean, social networking. so the target audience will have something in common with that (most teenagers spend time on social network websites).

Target Audience: Understanding all of the above, I believe that the target audience will be people (both male and female) within the age range of 16-25. They would most likely be attending college or university and/or well educated, but have a slight interest in gossip.

Induction: Movie Poster Textual Analysis

Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull Image Analysis

Denotation: An image of a Tall man standing still. Behind him is a fiery image of a big skull. The setting appears to be some sort of Aztec- like jungle.

Connotation: The man is standing in a bold, confident stance which shows he is a confident person. He is the only character we see in the poster, which implies he is the main character in the film. The film is called 'Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull'. We can depict that Indiana Jones is the man in the poster, but we cant tell if the flaming skull behind him is the Crystal Skull. What I can say about the fiery skull is that it symbolizes Indiana Jones will go through many obstacles and challenges to get to the Crystal skull.


Mise En Scene:

Costume: He is wearing exploratory, dirty clothing which shows that he is prepared for physical activity. He wears his hat for a reason and not just for fashion (heavy sunlight/heat may be the reason). The colour of his clothing is all similar (beige/green/khaki) which is used mainly for camouflage, this shows that he will be out in the jungle/forest. He could be wearing camouflage clothing to hide from dangerous animals or enemies in the film.

Props: His Whip which he is holding firmly in his left hand; shows he is ready for fighting/self-defence, or it could be used as a tool to get past obstacles. Indiana Jones would only bring what he needs with him on hi adventure, so the whip is obviously an important item. This tells the audience that he will be using the whip often or using it for a special reason during the time in film.

Setting: The setting appears to be some sort of Aztec-like jungle. We don't see any modern items in the poster so the film may be set in a historical theme.

Lighting: Lighting is both high key and low key in the image, but it isn't natural lighting. The darker tones in the image symbolize the bad side to the film (Indiana Jones may have a 'bad side', or the obstacles/enemies he will face may be the 'bad side'). The low key lighting makes the photo look mysterious/interesting because not all is revealed. this attracts the audience to take a 'closer look'.

NVC: His facial expression is quite blank but cautious which shows he is aware or concentrated. He also shows a cunning grin which can symbolize he is a cunning man. It can also mean that he knows what he is doing and feels invincible (he is prepared for the adventure that lies before him, or knows he will get what he wants. That links to his confidence). Both his fists are clenched (even though only one of his hands are holding something) this shows he is aggressive or ready for physical battle. This tells the audience that there will be violence in the film. His posture is very masculine and strong, which shows he is a strong man, it can also symbolize he shows little emotion.


Anchorage: The text displayed is all Sans Serif: The colours are warm/hot which portrays speed/heat/action etc.. I believe that type of font was used, to show that the film isn't dated, its a modern film which includes some sort of relic hunting adventure. The main title ('Indiana Jones') Has a perspective/ angle, which symbolizes distance. This can mean that the character or story includes taking a long journey. The hot colours mean there is a lot of action and intense scenes.

Induction: Re-Creation of a movie Magazine Front Cover

This is my 1st copy of a magazine cover. I have used photoshop before but only to crop photos and move layers. using the shape and text tool is new to me. removing bond from the background was also new to because i usually use the 'magic wand tool' but this version of photoshop did not have it. I missed out the text under the subtitles. To edit bond and the background I went to filters>pixelate>colour-half tone. Overall this task was easy because it mainly consisted of adding shapes and text. Putting the Masthead behind Bond was a challenge because I used the quick selection tool instead of the magic wand, which selects part of the background as well as Bond. Another difficulty was finding fonts similar to the original magazines text.