News Analysis - Airplane passenger 'takes picture of UFO that was giving off bright lights and orbs' on ground near top-secret Area 51 military base

Tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail, has an article written by Julian Robinson which details about a potential UFO sighting on the famous North American top-secret military base. The bullet points right beneath the headline of the article help provide more information to the reader in quick detail about what he saw and what information is in the body text of the article while simultaneously places the event in context. However here the writer details a lot of the evidence in quotations but doesn’t provide a clear evident source to reference from, writing that the source of information comes from an “unnamed man”. This here provides the reader with very little truth to the article and can then take this information in as mere speculation rather than fact. While this may be so, the way in which the article has been constructed can make the audience believe this story since Area 51 is a top secret military base that’s rumored to hide extraterrestrial life, but in turn opens many ‘doors’ since the presumed UFO could just be another military weapon test

Particularly I don’t understand why the gatekeepers would allow a tabloid online newspaper like this to publish an uncreditable and un-sourced article such as this one. I believe that this article serves as a filler article to the company’s website to draw in more hits. As to be expected though, the news agenda of The Daily Mail does cater to stories that can provide speculation within the audience, such as articles about celebrities gossiping about one another, this is just another form of that but with different content and context. The images here are cleverly placed in the article supposedly taken from the man’s phone of the UFO, to provoke the audience to share the article or try and cause truth as evidence to the articles un-sourced claims.

Furthermore this article is unexpected as these ‘UFO sightings’ reported only are a rare occurrence. Since this event is out of the ordinary, this article would essentially push most of the articles off the news agenda. 

Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3332099/Airplane-passenger-takes-picture-UFO-giving-bright-lights-orbs-ground-near-secret-Area-51-military-base.html?ito=social-facebook

Audience - Christmas Ads

Adverts:

John Lewis – Man on the moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuz2ILq4UeA

Sainsbury's OFFICIAL Christmas 2014 Ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

Sainsbury’s OFFICIAL Christmas Advert 2015 – Mog’s Christmas Calamity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRn2S7iPNU

Cadbury Christmas 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1UdCPVdJEo

 All four of these Christmas adverts share a common theme; joy. Joy is explored through the enjoyment the majority of people experience on Christmas day, however with the one exception out of these four being the John Lewis advert, which depicts an elderly man on the moon. Considering that the elderly man is on the moon and there is nothing there except himself and his house, the visual codes here helps to construct the message delivered to the audience that while you’re enjoying Christmas celebrating with family and friends, most elderly people are all alone and have no one to share the time with. However not only focusing on the elderly themselves, I feel that this advert also closely relates to unfortunate children who aren’t able to spend time on Christmas with their families, simply because their parents might have abandoned them or put them in foster care. Hence the message that each of them displays at the end of the advert in   The film Short Term 12 clearly shows the state of mind that these children have to endure and how lonely they can become without affection and care. Therefore I think the intended audiences for these adverts are to cater to the middle class families who are fortunate enough to engage in social familial activities with the direct message to remind them of the less fortunate, to do something charitable this Christmas or keep their elderly relatives in mind. Friendship is also a theme that’s covered in sainsbury’s 2014 Christmas advert as it shows people going to war with each other and then greeting each other as if they were allies and enjoying themselves, the technical codes here are delivered in a message to the audience to amend ties with anyone who you bare hatred to this Christmas and of course, purchase Sainsbury’s chocolate product and share it with friends and family; in an effort to use war and charity as a means of profit leading the consumers oblivious to this.

Characterization - Vito Montana

Characterization

Character: Vito Montana

Background: Italian

Vito Montana was raised in London during the 1980’s, in a household with his two parents who are part of the average working class. His family had always been struggling financially as they had moved over from America to London while he was still a baby due to problems with the American police; his father to blame for the most part. Vito’s father, Don Montana, has always had a temperamental temper as Vito would often see him abuse his vulnerable mother whenever he get’s angry or feels jealousy arise. This was the impetus that made Vito want to pursue a career in justice, such is the police force. However due to the influence of his father being a violent man, Vito takes after him when pushed to the edge, which he can use as an advantage against criminals in order to successfully get out information rather than using legal methods.

News Analysis: Paris attacks: France mobilises 115,000 security personnel

Paris attacks: France mobilises 115,000 security personnel

From the headline above, this article from an ordinary standpoint can give off two meanings that the writer, who is not named by the BBC, want’s to convey. “Paris attacks” followed with a colon, seems as if even though the unfortunate events that have unfolded in Paris, the writer tries to manipulate this and make out that Paris are the ones preparing to attack the Islamic militants by mobilizing one hundred and fifteen thousand troops in the capital in an effort to display power and how they’re going to retaliate.

Details within the body text state how France has made 128 raids on suspected militants within the country and has also enforced air strikes on the Islamic State overnight in the country of Syria.


Naturally, the writer’s aim is to put France in good light and try and represent them as the dominant one because of the West’s view on the war, otherwise the media corporation, BBC, would be put under fire. This is extremely good for Europe in general, as now from this article we learn that the majority of countries in Europe now have a common goal to defeat ISIS, it makes the audience feel involved and makes us feel like we are part of one huge team who share a common ideology.


The article continues to inform the audience about what Europe are doing to counter the  common enemy which is IS. The bullet points also provides the audience with clear information on the attackers who were involved with the bombings and mass killings, which makes it easier for the reader to take in  as they don’t have to read the entirety of the article. It also provides a good insight onto how France are dealing with these terrorists and informs us of their status.



However this article seems to go a bit off topic but while also staying on the subject that the article is based around. The writer should be providing information about why the security personnel are being deployed throughout the country and should go further in depth as that’s what the topic is about but the writer seems to talk about the politics within the European Union and how they’re dealing with this matter while also informing us about interviews with the attackers relatives.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34840699

Thriller poster ideas

I like the style this poster had been designed because the two faces next to each other with the smoke effect resembles being mysterious, with the addition of the dark lighting and use of black colours between the two people suggests that an epic conclusion is going to happen near the end of the film which would result in someones death The caption below the protagonist and antagonist is well-placed because it summarizes what the film is about and what the protagonist's motives are; which draws in an individual to go and watch the film.

This poster caught my attention because of the two contrasting images from the top and the bottom. The top picture of Shia la'beouf appearing nervous/cautious around him is relevant to my film that i'm basing my poster around because the protagonist is searching for the serial killer who's wanted by the police so this portrays the protagonist as being on edge about where the killer is located and generates an effect of how the antagonist could be everywhere which signifies danger and hostility. The bottom image could be of a victim that survived an encounter with the antagonist and show's the persons feelings after the event occured which could further fuel the protagonists motive to catch the antagonist of my film.

Similar to the one above, this one creates an effect of mystery and solely focuses on the protagonist alone as if someone is watching them or chasing them. The colour and font of the text suggests that the film is also of the thriller genre hence the captial letters with the red font which links to danger.  

News Analysis -

This article published by the Daily Mail, explains how the “budget” superstore ‘Lidl’ Is planning and currently renovating all of it’s stores in an attempt to attract new customers. However even though the information written by the author of the article, Rupert Steiner,  within the body text does indeed explain that the reasoning behind this is to attract wealthy customers and to quote from the heading “to attract more wealthy customers” implies that the majority of the customers that shop for goods at the supermarket Lidl  are all part of the lower or middle working class group, demeaning them and categorizing what kind of customers they want. This is part of the economic inequality worldwide problem and doesn’t just solely focus on the gap between the rich and the poor in our country alone, since it’s an international issue which I believe only exists due to natural causality within every society in order to benefit the people who hold a higher social standing compared to the average working class people.

The images in the article below feature a set of before and after photos of the old Lidl store and the new revamped version. This is there to provide a deeper insight onto how the supermarket used to look in contrast to the new refurbished one. However I also think that the multiple uses of images here are used to create filler for the article to make it seem longer in length in order for the reader to stay on the page and keep scrolling down to read more with the aim to click on another article featured at the bottom which in turn generates more profit for the online broadsheet newspaper due to the online ad revenue that they gain from advertisements exposed to the readers.

The writer also causes a lot of controversy through the article he has written stating his opinion of how Lidl has copied the rival supermarket chain, ‘Waitrose’ design and layout “by appearing to make its stores mimic upmarket rival Waitrose.” This put’s pressure on Lidl as it makes them being presented in bad light and hurts the supermarket chains appearance to consumers which could inflict a reduction in sales due to false presumptions by the media. Furthermore this affects Lidl’s representation because of the information written by the daily mail, the majority of the audience automatically takes this in as fact without taking the chance to have another read of it to realize that it’s just an opinion written by one individual, from this it spreads from word alone like wildfire in a forest.


There is some truth to the article though, it does indeed suggest that the supermarket chain ‘Lidl’ are trying to accommodate to the wealthy customers, with the inclusion of more luxury deemed foods along with the refurbished supermarket. This clearly hints at how desperate they are to earn more money and try and make their supermarket look better from a social standing point of view, since the store is considered a budget cheap grocery store compared to the likes of Tesco, Waitrose and Asda just to name a few. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3314693/Lidl-goes-posh-new-look-s-just-like-Waitrose-Store-aims-mimic-upmarket-rival-bid-attract-wealthy-shoppers.html

Censorship in the media

Censorship in the media can have many good and bad aspects of preventing certain information from being displayed to the public. These censorships are deemed what’s harmful to the vulnerable viewers which are enforced by the dominant ideologies that lead huge media outlets, businesses, governments and private organizations. This is there to suppress people’s ideology and truth’s that would normally undermine the dominant ideology that most key powerful people have, for example politicians within the government or company directors such as those of Apple or Google.  However even though censorship is often deemed unjustifiable by most, censorship is there to act as a means of protection from keeping the vulnerable at bay when viewing content that could be explicit, harmful, politically incorrect, sexual or even feature  dangerous religious content.

Music broadcast stations that induce censorship onto the content that the present tends to be the most popular form of censorship known to the majority. The original song produced by the artist would feature explicit language which will then be checked by these stations and be edited over with an alternative word or sometimes would be replaced with a sound effect as a whole. This is not entirely a bad thing because there are some people who prefer not to listen to explicit content in songs in order to enjoy the content which is the main focus of why it’s there, obviously intended for vulnerable people, on the other had the explicit versions are for the consumers who are invulnerable to this type of explicit content and therefore caters for two separate audiences.

Two other popular forms of censors occur within the film industry and the video game industry. Though this normally occurs when a film or game is produced in the country of origin then is attempted to be localised somewhere else, for example, Australia due to it’s strict law’s on gore and violence; the material would be severely edited or even banned in the country by the dominant ideology that deems it unsafe for the public.  A film’s content could be manipulated to change certain parts of the film that would have relevance to the plot, characterization, humour or dialogue. This is mostly only edited for television viewing though, the material being broadcasted by basic cable television and broadcast television. The use of this is not only allocated for use by these companies though, but distributors also have the right to change films content. Video game censorship is essentially the same however the censorship of a game is normally put forward by the countries law. A recent example is the release of Fallout 4 being delayed till December 2015 in Japan due to references in the game that link to the nuclear weapons that were used in World War II against Japan, which Japanese people are extremely vulnerable about such topics; to the point where the government still tries to deny their wrongdoings in war history.

News Analysis - Sinai plane crash: IS claims 'propaganda', says Egypt president

The recent plane crash incident supposedly  purportrated by the terrorist organization ISIS has been written about in a report by the BBC. According to the Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the crash was not by ISIS themselves but militants who have strong links to the organization and was brought down as a means of showing propaganda. This information is located in the sub-heading of the article and the language used here is formal which details what type of audience the newspaper caters for which is the working class people. From this and considering that the online newspaper is BBC News, they report serious informative events that occur around the world and don’t use hyperbole to make the headline dramatic, we can realize that this quality online newspaper is a broadsheet.

The bullet points in the article are there to cater more information closely linked with the incident that they’re reporting on such as how the Russian media are reacting to this news considering more than half of the passengers were Russian citizens, these bullet points are here to mainly place the event in context. The article also gives some backstory to previous events of what the military has been doing in conjunction to this incident, for example how the military had launched an insurgency against the late president of Egypt that’s used to display power within the country and make the country seem as if they’re in a better light.

The aftermath is also detailed in the bodytext of the article as to give information on what caused the bomb, if there are any theories as to what really occurred mid-air on the flight too. The images are very informative as they depict where the airplane exploded, the debris of the airplane and a mapping of the debris to make it more simpler for the audience.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34706639

Short Term 12: Analysis

Short term 12 is a film that’s revolved around foster parents taking care of deranged and “under-privileged” children in an effort to make them have a better life than the past experiences that they’ve had through living with their own biological parents. The film was directed and written by Destin Daniel Cretton, released in 2013. From the beginning of the film, we are introduced to the first scene where two of the protagonists who are a couple alongside another co-worker are telling the new temporary carer a story about a child who attempted to escape, reassuring him how easy it is to look after the kids but then suddenly amidst the conversation they are gripped with the frightening reality as soon as one of the kids, Sammy, tries to escape the residential facility screaming as if he was in agony. This completely changes the mood of the scene from when they were joking around with laughter. From this point on, this is a common trend that occurs within the majority of the scenes in the film; where happiness abruptly turns into chaos. As evidence this can be compared to scenes such as when everyone is outside playing a game of baseball while everyone is enjoying themselves, suddenly Luis makes a harsh remark about Marcus’ mother which is the impetus to changing the mood which leads to the assault on Luis being attacked with the baseball bat.

Themes in this film are depravity, loss and hope.These themes are thoroughly explored through situations that are presented to us in the film with the intention to provide the audience with a view on what some less fortunate children are going through and how they are always overlooked by the media which links in to how these characters feel forgotten by society and forced to live like this, the only hope existing within these kids is the hope of getting out and living a normal life. This is emphasized through Marcus’s character development through the scene where Mason comes into his room to give him company creating a beat on the drum kit for Marcus when he raps. Marcus raps about how much he’s suffered throughout his childhood and expresses himself through lyrics about how he hasn’t been able to live a normal life. The close up shot of his face while he says this is there in order to let the audience understand his facial expressions to let us know how he feels.

The residential facility that the kids live in certainly resembles a prison; typically, prisons are associated with criminal behavior and symbolize having no freedom at all which relates to the facility where the kids are being cared for. This gives a negative impression and representation on kids who live like this in the real world, people from the audience who have since seen this film would now realize the living conditions that most kids who live in foster care have to face However although this would make the audience realize the circumstances that they live in, this also leaves behind a negative ideology that society has which in turn doesn’t help the fact that these unfortunate kids are shunned by the majority of society’s ignorant ideology as a whole. To support this statement, an example shown right from the beginning of the film where Grace is pumping her water gun telling Nate that he’s only there just to keep them in a “safe environment” before aiming the gun at them in an attempt to wake them up. This performance shares a tremendous amount of similarities to a prison guard informing a new recruit about his duties before going to each cellar to wake up each individual prisoner. Many other aspects of this film relates to a prison lifestyle, such as the story of one kid who was found dead in the bushes after escaping (links to prisoners being shot for attempting escape), the shaving of Marcus’ head resembles the routine prisoners have to undertake of getting their hair cut trimmed, the siren that’s alarmed once someone escapes and lastly the close up shot of the rehabilitation room’s rectangular window gives us the impression that a prison guard is looking through. The community meetings in Short Term 12 widely resemble rehab patients seeking help and ex-convicts seeking redemption.

The character ‘Nate’ who plays the role of a student taking a year off school to gain first-hand experience dealing with kids who are forced into a residential facility is a significant character in this film, not for the sake of entertaining the audience through his mistakes, but there as a means to show how different we are to the kids living there and to display how ‘normal’ ordinary people such as ourselves fail to understand how the less fortunate experience growing up. Through the performance of this character, the audience can understand how unprepared Nate is and how he doesn’t really care that much for their sense of wellbeing through use of derogatory terms and actions, calling them underprivileged and rushing to use hand sanitizer on his face after wiping the saliva spat on him by a kid implying that they’re dirty; ultimately treating them as if they’re a disease to society through his actions. Essentially Nate is there to show how people from middle class fortunate families would react from being around a household such as this.

Jayden represents who Grace once was and what position she was in which is why Grace can really understand her feelings that explains as to what lengths she will go to try and