Evaluation of Term B

The Big Issue

To start my work on The Big Issue I researched the history that relates to it. From this I
found out that it was started/founded by Lord John Bird and Gordon Roddick in 1991 in
response to the growing number of rough sleepers on the streets. The two of them believed
that the key to solving the problem of homelessness lay in helping people to help
themselves. They would buy them with their own money and then later sell them at a price
that would give them a profit. The Big Issue is targeted at the full-time workers that can
spare a little change, as well as culturally engaged people. Most of their magazine covers
use intertextuality to make the reader relate to it, for example they took four politicians,
Nicola Sturgeon, David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, and replaced their bodies
with the members of ABBA as well as using lyrics from their songs but replacing them with
Brexit puns. By doing this it creates a comedic effect that only those who are politically
aware and like ABBA would understand.
From this I went on to create my own Big Issue cover that was relating to a serious issue in
the media at the time. I went with the theme of sexual harassment as it is a very strong
topic in the news due to the recent Harvey Weinstein cases. To create it I used Photoshop
which allowed me to use different effects to make the message powerful, for example black
and white filter on the image. This worked particularly well with the smudged eye makeup
and the distant look in her eye as it created an emotional and strong cover. Around the
image I placed quotes that are often used in victim blaming when it comes to sexual
assault/harassment accusations as I believed this would further enforce the powerful
message I was trying to portray. If I could do anything different I would possibly emphasize
more of what the magazine would contain using pictures and texts but I believe that this
could take away the effectiveness of the message.

Music Videos
The purpose of music videos is to help promote the artist/band and their song. A music
video is a short film created using a series of either performance clips or clips following a
narrative structure. A performance clip only has the artist lip-synching along to the song
looking into the camera, an example of this would be Green Day’s American Idiot video. The
effect of this is it gives the audience the feel like they are watching their favourite artist
perform. A narrative clip usually has the artist or another person following a storyline, an
example would be Radiohead’s Karma Police. The storyline normally relates to the lyrics in
the song or even the meaning behind the lyrics. This leads the audience to feel intrigued and
engaged. An Artistic video usually has no reference to the artist or the singing of the song,
and mainly includes artsy shots and effects. An example would be Chandelier by Sia as this
follows a girl dancing and the artist is nowhere in sight.
Using this I then went on to create my own music video, in Premiere, to which I used the
song ‘I Know Places’ by Taylor Swift and followed a narrative performance structure. I used
a range of different shots ranging from mid and long shot to close up to panning. By doing
this it created variety to the video and helps tell the story, which was people always getting
involved in someone’s relationship that ultimately leads to it ending. I also added a range of
different editing techniques including slow-motion and adding a filter to the video which
further helped create the look I was going for. If I were to do anything different I would try
to use a few more camera shots as well as different sound effects and editing techniques.
Overall, I was pleased with how the video turned out.
The Jungle Book
When studying The Jungle Book, I looked into Rudyard Kipling and the history of the original
book. Through this I found out that he was writing The Jungle Book as a series of magazine
short stories for his daughter who died of pneumonia in 1899 aged 6, which was then later
turned into The Jungle Book. It is a fable using animals in an anthropomorphic manner to
give moral lessons, and follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the jungle by wolves as his
friends (also animals) try to convince him to leave the jungle before the evil tiger arrives.
This book has become massively popular through history as there have been many
adaptations of it, including the first ever one called ‘Elephant Boy’ which was released in
1937 based on ‘Toomai of the Elephants’. Following this, there have been 11 different
adaptations including, the most famous ,1967 Walt Disney musical, comedy, adventure film
which also includes many cultural references to the time period as well, like some of the
characters looking like the band The Beatles.
Disney furthermore released a new version of The Jungle Book in 2016 which was live
actioned. Therefore, the character of Mowgli was played by a boy called Neel Sethi whilst all
the animals were produced using CGI and were voiced by a range of different actors. All of
these versions contain ‘Anthropomorphism’, which is the attribution of human
characteristics or behaviour to a God, animal or object, and create psychological distance
from heavy, serious themes that might be too overpowering for little children. It is used in
many different cartoons and children films like The Lion King, Scooby Doo, Finding Nemo,
Shark Tale, Pink Panther, Tom and Jerry, to get across a serious message in a light-hearted
way. Marketing for the 2016 re-make was massive. They showed a sneak peak of the movie
at a Disney fan convention and then had the actor playing Mowgli come on stage and talk/
promote the movie which built up the hype for the upcoming film that had yet to be
released. On top of this, Disney created a website that allowed people to explore the jungle
for themselves and look at the ‘rules of the jungle’.