Friday, 10 October 2014

Magazine Analysis - PC Gamer

PC Gamer-
Age: 12-25
Economic Range: C, D, E
Audience: Men

Masthead
Displays the name of the magazine in bold, red and black as the iconic logo, though it doesn't take the top spot, the "free DLC" advert trying to draw people more than just the name of the magazine alone.

Main Image: 
A Counter Terrorist holding a gun, his gaze not on the audience, but looking "off screen" in an attempt to draw the readers attention to find out what he's looking at and what he's doing. The image is gritty, and follows the games art style, as a small representation of what it might be like.

Coverlines: 
Pop out to the target audience, with things like "E-sports gone wrong!" that instinctively makes people want to read it to see what people did wrong. "Secrets of Simcity" works similarly, since most people are interested in secrets, even if they're fictional/meaningless to them.

Main Coverline: 
Rather than using a proper method alluding to an article, they say something inherently interesting to draw the reader in. Call of Duty is a big name brand, that most households and people know about, especially the gaming community, so "Shot at the crown" is a very powerful statement to be throwing around, especially since a lot of gamers will know the name.

Wednesday, 1 October 2014



Mise En Scene;
The scene is set in a school, from the costume uniforms, the books, sheets, bleachers, track field, etc.
The music video choreography is about the singer and the other schoolgirls leaving school. It shows them tearing up papers, celebrating, dancing, etc, in preparation for prom. They're highly styled and very modernised with hair dyes, short skirts and heavily sexualised, which is also referenced in the song, with the bus driver double taking along with the store owner later, connoting the confidence the song is meant to inspire.

Camera;
The camera is on the singer for most of it, with close ups of her singing or dancing, as is typical in a music video, though in the wind down of the song it uses establishing shots to show the scene and to sort of give insight to their actions and what they're doing, in this case, buying new dresses/clothes for prom in celebration for leaving school/"breaking the rules"

Editing;
The shots don't transition too quickly, and are mostly in time with the song, changing with the beats so it feels more "natural". It offers jump cuts to show movement near the start for the singer and her clique, making them feel and look more important due to them walking slowly but being artificially sped up by the cuts of image.

Lighting:
The lighting is mostly natural, though the filter placed over it makes it very high key, bright to connote happiness and joy. Even at the end of it, in the particularly dark area, it's still brightly lit, despite when the chaperone pours the paint over them, since they're still particularly happy.

Sound:
The sound is purely non-diegetic, all natural sound is removed and replaced with the song, with no exception, since the music video itself is secondary to the song itself. The song references the video, since they're tearing their schoolbooks and papers apart talking about "breaking the rules"


http://www.channel5.com/shows/secrets-lies/episodes/episode-1-676

Mise En Scene;
The start of the programme starts in a forest, and is primarily set in a suburban area, the costumes are quite normal, and are typical of what normal people would be wearing at the time of day. Attention to detail was placed in, since the man was meant to be running, sweat patches can be seen on his clothes. In the forest, bugs and other carrion are seen, which immediately connotes death or murder, due to the nature of the insects. In the suburban area, however, it's very quaint and nice, making it seem like a normal place to be, not a place where a murder would take place.

Camera;
When the protagonist runs in the forest, the camera constantly pans to him, the focus of the scene being on him and supposedly what he's running from, though it never shows the audience, keeping them in suspense. The camera is mechanically still, not hand-held, to give it a more professional, constructed feel to the scene itself. It makes it seem more cold, less personal to the audience.

Editing;
The shots transition as expected, when the scene reaches an end and the new one begins, with basic cuts from scene to scene.

Lighting;
Low key, natural lighting is used at the start of the episode, to show the dire situation that the protagonist is in, despite this, very little information is given to the viewer. After it's revealed that the protagonist found a dead body, and the time skips, it changes very suddenly to high key lighting, though, despite how happy and bright it should seem, it's juxtaposed onto the very depressing and real situation at hand, which shows that the show itself is going to be pseudo-realistic, since they're not trying to artificially change the scene too much, thus we can expect a more gritty, and dark theme from the rest of the series.

Sound:
Music is put in suspenseful moments, especially when he's running away from the body near the start, though after they've actually discovered the body, though it fades to the back when it cuts to the scene where the police have set a perimeter around the body, with mostly diegetic sounds of police cars, the bustle of people moving about in forensic suits, and the dialogue.