Q.2. How does your media product represent a particular social group?

After carrying out research on my target audience I discovered that my readers would likely be males aged between 17 and 25. These people will have an interest in much of the media looking for something good rather than something of a specific genre. I feel that by using dark colours and a bold font I will have successfully appealed to my demographic as it looks rather rough. The heavily contrasting colours also add to the atmosphere I try to create of a rock magazine that will cover less mainstream higher quality music.

taking photographs I tried to create aggressive and dominating poses further adding to the atmosphere I was trying to create.

These three different poses capture the attitude of the character as cocky and fearless, an appearance some have come to expect from rock music. My demographic will either empathise with this character or envy him meaning they will want to read about his life. Using a particular artist will also encourage their fanbase to buy the magazine. This means picking a well-known artist within my target audience will boost sales. Comparing this to some other characters in magazines I have looked at my artist captures the image that is conventional within rock music.

My magazine represents this audience as it represents their lifestyle. Young people (more so in men as portrayed by the media) tend to live reckless lives, drinking too much and partying too hard. Rock culture is shrouded in this image and my magazine through the use of bold fonts and a cocky artist as the subject. Besides this I also appeal to a much older audience as my magazine covers band which are not currently popular but considers as “vintage” or “old school”. This brings in a separate part of rock culture with people looking to rekindle their youth through the feeling of nostalgia.

Q.1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My brother the devil: various trailers

The Hobbit desolation of smaug: Various trailers

The Hobbit the desolation of smaug: The star system

The star system was the method of creating, promoting and exploiting movie stars in Classical Hollywood cinema. Studios would select promising young actors and glamorise and create personas for them, often inventing new names and even new backgrounds. Examples of stars who went through the star system include Cary Grant (born Archie Leach), Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur), and Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.)

The star system put an emphasis on the image rather than the acting, although discreet acting, voice, and dancing lessons were a common part of the regimen. Women were expected to behave like ladies, and were never to leave the house without makeup and stylish clothes. Men were expected to be seen in public as gentlemen. Morality clauses were a common part of actors' studio contracts.

This however, is no longer the case with the star system being exploiting or hiring an actor to ensure commercial success. Some actors will become specifically tied down to a role as Robert Downey jr is to Iron Man and Ian Mckeller is to Gandalf. The Hobbit employed a number of well known british actors in order to appeal to the british audience. The main 4 were Ian Mckeller (X-MEN), Stephen Fry (QI), Martin Freeman (Hot Fuzz) and Benedict Cumberpatch (Sherlock) who are notoriously known for a variety of British films and television series.

My brother the devil: Soundtrack analysis

My brother the devil's soundtrack was a compilation of relevant music which helped to set the scene, promote unknown rappers and draw in the fans of well known rappers like "Cashtastic". Being reflective of the atmosphere of the film these songs would often play in the background un-noticed although the film would feel empty without them. They are urban tracks creating a dark backdrop. Featuring artists like Benny Banks, Joe Black and Cashtastic.

The Hobbit desolation of smaug: Soundtrack analysis

The music of The Hobbit film trilogy is being composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore. He was the obvious choice for the soundtrack as not only did he work on the original Lord of the Rings trilogy but her also worked on The Hobbit and unexpected journey.

Howard shore has made a big name for himself in the film soundtrack world having worked on other films such as the twilight saga, Eastern promises and the departed. This repertoire and a need to replicate the feel of the original LOTR trilogy means that his place on the crew was almost ensured.

A surprise addition to the soundtrack was Ed Sheeran and his song "I see fire". Written specifically for the Hobbit 2 it created buzz within the Ed Sheeran fandom and also gave the film something to promote that wasn't so fantasy heavy. This synergy benefited both The Hobbit and Ed Sheeran with their fan bases crossing over.