QR Codes (Real Media Conventions and Technologies)

The poster is based around a QR code, a form of barcode that can hold much more data than the traditional version, including links to videos and websites. QR codes have been around since the 1990s but have become increasingly popular in the UK in the last year or two because smartphones such as the iPhone are able to read them.

This is example of a postmodern semiotic advertisement. The message that the film poster conveys is that the woman behind the QR code could symbolise that she is 'Trapped behind technology' maybe suggesting that she cannot escape from the modern digitalised world. Another message that the poster could signify is the image of the attractive woman, inviting the audience in. This could link to the study of the 'Male Gaze' that the woman was placed on the poster as a 'visual pleasure', drawing the male society in through her eyes gazing out from behind the code, as if from behind the bars of a jail cell, while the framing of the image, the thick white margins either side of it and the way the name of the film and its stars are squared off so neatly all seem to contribute to boxing her in. She seems

trapped behind the poster, rather than a part of it. The image strongly portrays her imprisonment.

Although this is used for a film poster, this could easily be used for a cover of a music album. Below, is an example of a current album cover with the semiotic modernised symbol of the QR code. The cover cleverly merges a sense of vintage mise en scene, through the 'tea bag stained' background colour and the naturalistic typeface and earthy colour of a brown font. This contrasts with the modern symbol of new technology of the QR code.

Colours in Culture

Colours in Advertising...

The advertising world revolves around the principle of attraction. Whatever the product, in the end, the advertisement should attract the consumer. How do ads manage to attract attention? One of the first things you notice about any advertisement is the colors. In ads that don’t have a multimedia advantage (like ads in the newspaper or on a billboard), the colors and design are the only things holding the ad together. Colors, therefore, are one of the things that advertising experts study, especially since they can have so many different connotations in different contexts.

I have used Yellow/Gold in Goldbloom's logo of the 'Golden Sun'. Yellow is a two-faced advertising color. Although it is the most eye-catching color, yellow can be fatiguing to the eye and overbearing to the mind. The use of yellow for important things, though, can be a good property as well. Yellow is a happy, energetic color, that sometimes symbolizes rejuvenation; hence the use of the color yellow in beauty products. People tend to associate yellow to sunshine and happiness, so towards that effect, it remains a good advertising color tool.

Orange is a more neutral shade of red. It has all the energetic warmth of the warmer half of the color wheel, but it doesn’t have red’s association with negative emotions. It is used as an adrenaline power shot, with a lot of use in energy drinks, orange-flavorings and children-associated products.

I have used the colour scheme of a black background against white writing on GoldBloom's website. According to research, black and white can be two of the best colors for advertising because they create a strong contrast when paired together. Black and white often signify opposite emotions: white is often associated with purity and perfection, while black usually represents power, elegance, or evil. When used together, however, black and white can create a sense that a company is highly professional. Often a splash of color, such as red, is included to accent the starkness, but the overall appeal of a black and white advertisement is created through contrast.

Guardian open journalism: Case Study (Real Media Conventions)

Why was the advert created?

In today’s ever changing news economy, companies and publications are continuously forced to reinvigorate and recapture their audience’s attention with every move that they make. Many of us know that writing has existed on the wall for quite some time, but realistically many news organizations are still digesting what it means. The folks at The Guardian in London are currently trying to step down off of whatever invented platform that most journalists think they have and are beginning to prescribe to ‘open journalism‘ in which they’re crowd sourcing their readers to learn more about what types of stories should be covered and in what manner.

To have fun with it, their web producers just created a mini advert for open journalism by re-imagening how The Guardian would cover the case of the Three Little Pigs in today’s world via print, online, and social media coverage. It’s meant to be cute and welcoming and does a good job of capturing the imagination of a reader and making them interested in the publication. Now granted, it’s clear they’ve got the resources to pull this type of advertisement off, but they make it work. I can’t think of another publication promoting itself in the digital age this creatively.

STORYLINE - Merges 'old' known fairytale story of "The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf" with promoting NEW ways in which the headline can be accessed through NEW technology.

OPENING - The opening image immediately is showing the viewer that the GUARDIAN can be accessed on the web. Having the ONLINE image as the first immediate image, conveys it's hyperbole to the company and it's target audience.

EDITING - The scene when one of the three pigs is arrested in the house, the voice over of the news presenter begins, which quickly is then edited to scene of woman watching the news presenter online. This is showing how quick the GUARDIAN can pick up on the 'Latest Headlines' and how quickly it can be leaked online for viewers to immediately access and get hold of the FULL STORY!

- Cleverly edits to faint image of the 'MSN' icon, with a voice over of the woman expressing her views and opinions about the situation for others to see and agree/disagree.

- Image moves from promoting how people can access the GUARDIAN, showing people using the computer, to the iphone, to then the ipad - promoting all the different ways people can access the GUARDIAN.

- Clever use of a mix of different languages e.g English voices and Chinese voices, this is to show that the GUARDIAN is global, targeted at a globalised audience for other around the world to fill in on the 'Latest Headlines'.

- Footage of the TWITTER page and YOUTUBE video, to then image of the PRINT version of the GUARDIAN newspaper.

ENDING - Quadratic sections of someone using the APPLE ipad, someone reading the GUARDIAN Newspaper, someone accessing the GUARDIAN homepage on the iphone, and someone using the internet. The edits change from the quadratic sections to a multiple of small sections to promote globalisation, and how the GUARDIAN have acknowledged that.

G

WEB/PRINT/TABLET/MOBILE

- WEB: at the front, suggests that it is mostly accessed in today's mediated society - more GUARDIAN readers go on the homepage to find out latest headlines

-PRINT: Second most popular access of the GUARDIAN (also traditional way of accessing recent news)

-TABLET: Otherwise known as the 'ipad' is thirdly the most popular online viewing of the GUARDIAN

- MOBILE: Now connects to the internet, quick easy online access to the GUARDIAN

All NEW technology that is promoted are products from 'APPLE' - this is showing that the GUARDIAN have acknowledged their ONLINE subscribers, and have shown that they are aware of recent technologies and the latest Digital gadgets, which eventually leads to promoting a newspaper that fits in with the WEB 2.0 digitalised environment.

In the Age of Media - 'power to the People'

In the last ten years, we have moved into a new age of participatory media. The advent of online social media - often referred to as Web 2.0 - has bought about a much broader media revolution. This includes blogs and online forums which provide opportunities for ordinary people to have their say, and to speak back to those in power. For example, it's a GREAT way for bands and their fans to interact, and allows their audience to express opinions about what they like and what they would like to see to improved.

Through social networking sites we can represent ourselves and connect with other people in new ways; while online sharing sites like Youtube allow people to distribute their own media content to global audiences. The most active participants in the creative world of Media 2.0 are the 'usual suspects' - people who are already privileged in other areas of their lives.

Age profile is another popular category of online participation. While younger people initially drove the uptake of social networking sites, for example , older people are not the fastest-growing group of subscribers. The same is true of mobile communications; while the micro-blogging service 'Twitter' is largely dominated by middle-aged people. Young people are sometimes the 'early adopters', but the idea that they are a uniquely 'digital generation' - and that there is a kind of technological generation gap - is rapidly becoming outdated.

Who's making Money?

Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite...now it's the people who are taking control!

The two richest and most profitable global media corporations are now Google and Facebook. Both are increasingly diversifying from their initial business - as a search engine and a social networking site - into a whole range of other media and branded products and services.

Who's doing the work?

Much of the marketing is itself 'user-generated' and 'interactive'. This is the most obvious case of viral marketing, where consumers are effectively recruited to distribute commercial messages on behalf of companies.

Fan Websites

Fan Websites which have been very much celebrated by enthusiasts for Media 2.0. Some argue that fan websites are about consumers taking back control of the media, making their own meanings from existing media texts, and leading towards a more democratic media environment.

Is it really liberating or empowering ordinary people to take control of the media?

I personally feel that the success of web 2.0 has definitely benefited small bands, much like GoldBloom, as ordinary people/obsessive fans have been over taken the power of being able to interact and to personally contact the bands though successful social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook. This has allowed the bands to interact with their fans, which is boosting the bands success as their fans are getting to know them as individuals as well as musicians, they are more likely to feel like they have to now go and see their live tours, visit their websites, buy their merchandise and buy their music.