MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS: ELLE

BRITISH FILM REPORT: NOWHERE BOY

Nowhere Boy is British biographical film about John Lennon's adolescence years (1955-1960)  before he became famous. It is based on a biography written by John's half-sister Julia Bird. The audience learns about his relationship with his guardian Aunt Meme, his absentee mother Julia and about his band before The Beatles, The Quarrymen. The film stars Aaron Johnson (John Lennon), Kristin Scott Thomas (Aunt Mimi), Anne-Marie Duff (Julia), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Paul McCartney) and many more. The film was directed by Sam Taylor Wood as was released in the UK on the 26th December 2009.


Audience
Nowhere Boy was certificated 15 due to its violent and sexual scenes. Therefore the films target audience is young and older adults of both genders. This film would also appeal to Beatles fans as the film is about one of its lead singers and the very early start of the Beatles.

Production
This film was given a budget of £1,235,500 by the National Lottery and the UK Film Council to produce the film. This is a small budget compared to other films of the same genre which can cost up £100 million. This is because no special effects like explosions were required as well as the actors/actress were not majorly famous within the film industry. It was shot in Liverpool as this is where Lennon was born and raised, as well as being shot at Ealing Studios in West London. The producers and production companies include Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Film 4, UK film council, HanWay films and Ecosse Films.

Distribution
In order for everyone to know about the film's release promotion is key. This includes film trailers, posters, billboards, bus advertisement, magazines, newspapers, television and cinema adverts.



Synergy
Synergy within media is when two different products are released at the same time and work together to promote each other. In this case the Nowhere Boy DVD and Soundtrack CD were released at the same time in order to boost each others sales.



The impact of new technology
The extreme growth of technology is very beneficial for the film industry. Social media plays a big part in promoting films and getting people talking about it. Even though in this film no major special effects were used, technology has helped other films to create even more extraordinary effects especially on a computer. Due to technology the way we watch films has changed, now we stream films online instead of renting a DVD from a shop. We are also seeing the rise of 4D cinemas where you watch the film in 3D whilst experiencing physical effects that are synchronized with the film. This includes blowing winds, rain drops, seat movements and special smells.

TV DRAMA REVIEW: EASTENDERS

Eastenders is a British soap opera that has been broadcasting since 1985 and has nearly 5000 episodes lasting on average 30 minutes. The opera has won a wide variety of awards including Best Soap & Continuing Drama, Best Drama Series, Best Story line and 309 more. Eastenders is set in the fictional borough Walford, East London, where it follows the everyday lives of its characters living in Albert Square. The viewers see the domestic and professional side of the characters, their families and community. Eastenders is prone to display a lot of conflict, relationships, hatred, love, crime and overall dramatic drama in every episode grabbing its millions of viewers daily.

Current Story line

Currently in Eastenders Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) is one of the main characters who features in every episode. His only daughter Lucy Beale was murdered, which is still being investigated by the police leaving incredibly stressed and emotionally depressed. After lying about where he was the night Lucy died his dirty secret finally came out that he was with a prostitute. This is bad news for Ian as he doesn't want his fiance Denise Fox (Dianne Parish) to found out as it could end their relationship. Luckily Ian's kind friend Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) who owns the famous Queen Victoria Pub, offers to cover up for him so everyone will think it was Mick who hired the prostitute. However Mick cannot keep the secret for long as it starts to tear his own family apart. But Mick isn't the only person who knows about Ian's dirty secret... Before Denise's step-dad Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) suffered from a major stroke causing him to be hospitalized , he found out about Ian's secret after the prostitute returned back to Albert Square.Now Patrick is able to return home from hospital Ian starts to panic as Patrick comes to live with him and Denise whilst giving him full time care. Now being threaten by Mick and Patrick to tell the truth to Denise, who will tell her? Will Ian get a chance, or will someone else do it for him?

Audience
In my opinion I would say Eastenders' target audience is for ages above teenage years. I do not think it is suitable for young children as some episodes contain some subjects that are quiet distressing which they wouldn't be able to understand. These subjects include murder, death, illnesses, crime, family/relationship breakdown, the effects of alcohol and drug abuse.

Representation
Eastenders gives a snapshot of what life is like living in the East of London. In the program there are many different cultural, ethnic and minority groups including Muslims, Africans, Homosexuals and the British. This suggests that places within East London have these variety of groups as this is what Eastenders is representing. The characters all have fairly low paid jobs including working on a market stall, corner shop, public house, fast food restaurants and more. This suggests the real people living in East London do not have many luxuries and are all working class. Many residents may find this upsetting and unfair as everyone is putting into the same group due to only where they live

Narrative
There are always several mini narratives that all run alongside each other in every episode. The maximum number of story lines that can be played in one episode is six, because if there were more than the viewer would become too confused. However all these story lines are usually similar as they all build up to a dramatic ending where they all collide together to make one big huge story.

INTRODUCTION

My name is Victoria Amber Cowburn and I have chosen to study media studies at A Level as in the future, I would like a career in the media industry. I am very interested in television, film and photography which this course covers, therefore I assumed this course was perfect for me! I especially enjoy learning about the production and behind the scenes of films and television shows.
This blog is dedication to my media studies bridging unit work which will include reviews of film, television programs and annotations of a magazine cover. This work is to prepare me for AS where I will be analyzing TV dramas and examining how the British film industry manages to survive against the American. This means I need to prepare myself to understand and discuss the process of production, distribution, marketing, exchange and much more...