Applying narrative to a2 magazine coursework
- 1. Applying Narrative to A2 Magazine Coursework We analysed narrative in existing magazines such as NME and Lincolnshire Life. Narrative Structure - We used familiar conventions of existing media products for our magazine, for example, for our contents page we followed a particular layout. - Our magazine is aimed at students so the genre was based around music and events that young people would attend. - Our double page spread consisted of tips for students living in Leeds and therefore we used examples of the best nightclubs to attend which students are stereotypically interested in. - Our magazine promotes an interactive narrative as we use direct address on the front cover. - We have used a ‘hero’ shot as we have used a band on the front cover which is a popular band in Leeds. We have used a long shot of the band ‘Kaiser Chiefs’ which shows the audience looking up to the stage which creates a heroic image of the band allowing for students to interact with the magazine. - Enigma Codes - We have used pointers on the front cover, for example ‘top 10 tips for students’ which entices the audience to read the magazine. - In terms of narrative, Narrative Theorists - Roland Barthes - narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. He suggests that culture is one of the five different codes. Culture is a narrative device which the audience can recognise as being part of a culture. This applies to our magazine as it is aimed at students living in leeds so the audience reading it will feel part of a culture. Andrew Goodwin - Star Image (protagonist), lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention. -Goodwin referred to the star image as a vital aspect of the music video, he/she makes the music video look more appealing to the audiences while bringing a unique style to the video in the way he/she is portrayed to the audience. The start image is always very unique in the way he/she is presented e.g. the costume, moves and appearance. This helps to promote the artist/star’s image in public and also helps to promote the video while creating a public reputation for the artist. We can relate Goodwin’s star image theory to our magazine as we have used an image of a band as the front cover with the audience looking up to them which creates a heroic image and may persuade the audience to buy the magazine.
- 2. Narrative themes In our magazine we encode the social comment of equality as we don’t represent women as objects by using pictures of half naked, photoshopped women in our magazine like others do. We represent both genders as equal as we don’t write about either gender differently. We also represent racial equality because of the fact we show students of all ethnicities rather than just being specific to one ethnicity. This is because we focus our magazine on the people of Leeds rather than any specific type of person. In our magazine we give the opinion that Leeds is the best place to live by the way we discuss how good it is in our articles.