Meghan Trainor 'Dear Future Husband'

21 year old Meghan Trainor faces criticisms over her new song and music video to match. The song 'Dear Future Husband' talks of 'buying groceries' and 'baking apple pies' referring to things 'associated with women.' The brightly coloured video sees Trainor dressed in feminine outfits in a 1950's style house doing chores that are now seen as outdated. For some people the video doesn't phase them, however a lot of people see it as sexist and claim it has 'set women back years.' 

Personally, I think the song and video was Meghan Trainor innocently trying to break stereotypes. The lyrics overall say that she doesn't plan on being a 'housewife'. 'You got that 9 to 5, well baby so do I, so don't go thinking i'll be home and baking apple pies.' Is her way of saying that women are equal to men in modern society and so I think she is agreeing with thousands of feminists. I agree however she may have gone the wrong way about it as it has brought up an old and over discussed issue that is gradually being overcome and some of the lyrics could be interpreted that she will revert back to old ways with persuasion - 'cause if you treat me right, i'll be the perfect wife, buying groceries, buying buying what you need.' 

Album cover development

Maroon 5:

Songs About Jane is the first studio album from Maroon 5, released on 25th June 2002 by Octone and J Records. The album contains internationals hits including She will be loved and This Love with five singles from the album making it into the charts. The album is infamous for being a 'sleeper hit' a term that refers to an album being successful for a long period of time despite having little promotion. All of the songs were written or co-written by lead singer Adam Levine who claims that there is at least one line in every song inspired by his ex girlfriend Jane. Levine also writes that he spent a lot of time in New York where he 'was exposed to an urban and hip hop culture' he believes this had an impact on his song writing and the general idea behind the bands debut album. 

I think the band have tried to match the cover to the genre of music throughout, therefore it explores the urban hip hop theme Levine talked about. The cover itself is in shades of maroon and also black, this links with their name and also suggests inside they will show they can be versatile with their music. I think the name is very clever as it attracts a wide audience of people because it isn't specific of any particular type of genre. From the name of the album I think it is clear the band were targeting at an older audience opposed to a young teen audience. This is because the name is very serious and appeals to people who have experienced break ups. However, personally I believe the name would have been more suited and had a bigger effect on a more established artist as it would attract a fan base and overall audience who would be more interested in an established artists personal life. 

The visual codes include a cartoon woman on the front who could resemble Jane. Hence why she is holding a box with swirls coming from it. This follows the idea that the album tells a lot of a past relationship and spills the truth on Levine's previous relationship. This ties in with how About is in bold font to highlight that it is an album in which through the lyrics he opens up. In addition the woman even seems to be looking away from whats coming out of the box, implying she doesn't want to know or would be ashamed. The woman's hair is long and covers her modesty, this is a way of hiding her identity slightly and although writing about her a promise not to completely reveal who she is. 

Overexposed  is the fourth studio album from Maroon 5 released on 20th June 2012 A&M Octone Records. The genre of this album is labelled as pop and several songs made it into the charts including Payphone featuring Wiz Khalifa. The band released the album after the success of Moves Like Jagger that was featured on the third album which they were not pleased with. They decided after a mixed variety of genres featuring in the album before with Overexposed they wanted to stick to a certain genre. The album explores the pop genre featuring 'reggae beats, soul rock and dubstep influences.' 

I really like the album cover because I think it would stand out against others on a shelf. It is very colourful and gives a good insight into the 'pop' style music inside, rather than a dark cover suggesting ballads and sad songs. The artwork was created by an LA based art project Young & Sick. The collage of cartoons, depicting modern images, crowd the front cover. The cartoons are all different cleverly linking with the title Overexposed suggesting (like Songs About Jane) the album is going to reveal a lot and 'overexpose' the band. In the same way things are seen spilling from the mouth in the centre of the cover. This is the only other album cover out of four that is similar to their debut album and uses similar visual codes to give a significant message.  The parental advisory sticker featured is also similar to Songs About Jane in that it also shows the album is targeted at a more mature audience rather than young teenagers. The name of the album isn't obvious, seen at the bottom left of the cover. I think this is to also tie in with the crowded look of the front cover and potential consumer having to study the cover to find out more, therefore attracting an audience. Other visual codes include a bright and fun colour scheme to attract people suggesting an exciting and upbeat album. 

The Computer Game's Industry

The computer games industry came in to business around the 1970's with the release of the arcade game 'computer space'. Initially targeting focused markets, gradually becoming more popular and appealing to wider audiences over the years,up to present day. This was then followed by Atari's release of 'pong' allowing people to buy consoles they could play at home rather than on arcade cabinets. Around the mid 70's Atari's consoles VCS quadrupled console sales.

Computer space was the first computer game created. Its creators were Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney who would later found Atari,inc. The game was played by controlling a rocket ship with various arrows, the game became extremely popular and was even featured in the 1975 Jaws.

The industry itself is huge, and growing. The industry employs thousands of people worldwide to cover various jobs, some include:
producers, animators, engineers, designers, programmers, artists and marketing. According to the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) took in approx 11.7 billion US dollars in 2008 and $25.1 billion in 2010. It is now also estimated that the industry revenue is $81.5 billion which is more than double the film industry revenue for 2013. 

Key milestones for the industry came around the 1990's with the advancement in technology, this included CD based storage, Microsoft, 3D graphics, the internet, mobile gaming, and multi play competitive gaming. 

In 2000's social media was gaining popularity and through sites like Facebook games such as Farmville were introduced. In addition, IOS and Android devices made mobile gaming a more convenient option and games could also be downloaded for free on the App Store for example.

From 2010 computer gaming is not as popular, console gaming is developing however not as fast as mobile gaming with games like Candy Crush and Flappy Bird. Consoles have also developed from Nintendo and Atari with popular consoles now being PS3 and Xbox 360. These computer games are now much more developed in that voice recognition and motion detection is now common. 





Narrative, Representation and Audience:

Different games follow different narratives and because of this they target different audiences. 


For example Fifa 12 is the 19th game in the Fifa series. Developed by EA Canada released in 2011 for play on Xbox, Playstation and Xperia play amongst others. The narrative of the game is to select a player and play. Team selection, success and salary all comes into play and can help individuals progress in the game. 

Fifa's target audience is teenage to young adult males. The game is aimed at sports fans, in particular football supporters, with the majority of consumers being male. The game fails to have the option to play as a women and all front covers of the game, through the whole series, fail to feature a women on the front cover. Race is focused on in Fifa as players can have the option to choose their race and so racial discrimination in the game is not a problem.

Personally I think Fifa need to look expand their target audience as the game is not dominated by male players anymore. On doing a survey around college for the class presentations, we found that more males than female playthe game, however some females still did. Everyone agreed that race was not a problem as you could personalise players. The majority of people we asked said that they would play as a female if they had the option and agreed that Fifa fail to recognise that female players should be an option.

Sir Terry Pratchett

After a long battle with Alzheimer's, Sir Terry Pratchett has died aged 66.

Pratchett was knighted for his huge contribution to the fantasy genre, with his last book a new Discworld novel in the summer of 2014. His writing struggled from here on wards due to the disease. 

Terr's daughter Rhianna Pratchett paid tribute to her dad on twitter posting 'The End'.

Prime minister David Cameron was sad to hear of his death saying 'his books fired the imagination of millions'. Sir Terry Pratchett is best known for his Discword series of up to 40 volumes. A line from the 28th novel reads "If you don't turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else’' story." – from The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents.

Revision Plan

• Representation - sex, race, age, class (dominant ideology)
• Audience theories - Hyperdermic needle theory and Uses & Gratification
• Todorov's theory
• Maslow's hierarchy
• Production cycle
• Visual, Audio, Technical codes
• Character development

• Practice papers 
• Looking at different exam possibilities

Vogue editor provokes fury

Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis has been the victim of internet trolls this week as she took to Instagram on Saturday and posted an image of a homeless woman. The photo taken in Paris shows a homeless woman reading a copy of Vogue Magazine. The photo posted by Elisabeth was captioned 'Paris is full of surprises.... and @voguemagazine readers even in unexpected corners!'

People took to Instagram to call her 'cruel' and 'tasteless', within five hours of posting it the editor had deleted it. The 32 year old responded to the criticisms she received, asking 'Why cruel? The person to me is as dignified as anyone else!'

Personally I think people took the post too seriously and shouldn't have taken offence. I think Elisabeth was just innocently posting a photo of readers of her magazine. She was in turn actually showing that it is a magazine for anyone, all different social classes and backgrounds - even the homeless. The criticisms towards her would have been more suited if she had commented negatively on the homeless woman reading the magazine. However she was in fact doing the opposite, promoting the magazine as a versatile read.

Coursework Improved - Promotional Poster

Award Ceremonies

Award Ceremonies are formal occasions whereby prizes are awarded to honour certain achievements. Within the media industry award ceremonies are a frequent occurrence with some famous examples being:

BAFTA's
The Oscar's
MOBO's
Teen Choice Award
National Soap Awards
Grammy's
BRIT Awards

BRIT Awards:

The British Phonographic Institute is the trade association for Britain's recorded music industry. The first ceremony was held in 1977 at Wembley Conference Centre and the name BRIT was later developed into a 'backronym' for 'British Record Industry Trusts Show'. The BRITS
 award their iconic prize for various categories including; British female solo artist, British male solo artist, British breakthrough act, Critic's choice and International artists amongst others. The BRITS's is a popular annual concurrence in Britain with its highest viewing figures in 1999 with 9.86 million viewers. However the show has seen a reduction in viewers with only 3.84 million people tuning in last year. 

The BRITS voting academy included over 1,000 music enthusiasts from record companies, managers, agents and media enthusiasts in general. A list of eligible artists is compiled and given to the academy via a secure website, each member then draws up their own top 5 list for each category and these are then short listed.






The Oscar's:

The Oscar's also known as The Academy Awards is annual awards ceremony in America held around February or March. They honour 'cinematic achievements in the film industry' with the prize being the gold plated Oscar statuette of a knight. The shows can be seen live in over 200 countries with its highest viewing figures being in 1998, the year of Titanic, with more than 57.25 million people tuning in. Various categories include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Film Editing.


The voters consist of 5,783 members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy is split into different disciplines, with each one voting online after being invited to do so by a board of governors.

Teen Choice Awards:

The Teen  Choice Awards is an annual ceremony shown by the Fox Network. Prizes are awarded for music, movies, television, sport and fashion with a total running time of around 100 minutes. The show is targeted at teenage demographic however can be enjoyed by all ages. Voting takes place on their website http://teenchoiceawards.com/signin.aspx with voters being between the ages of 13 and 19. The iconic surfboard prize represents the 'freedom of summer vacation for teens' and each one is custom made costing around $800 each.