CUFFS QUIZ

Left to right, name the officers (1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) Donna, Lino, Jake, Jo, Ryan, Carl, Chief Super Intendent Robert, Felix

9 Who is this? Misha

10 Name the owner of the corner shop Mohammed

11 Name the racist thug Benson

12 Name the drug addict Nathan

13 Name the mother whose child is taken by her ex husband Mrs Quirk

Cinnamon  - Toothpaste

Exam Practice

 Q.3 How far does Cuffs adapt police drama conventions to fit its family audience at 8 p.m. on BBC1?

In your answer you must

• state what conventions you could expect from most TV police drama
  
• analyse the programme's use of genre conventions, making sure that you cover the whole episode (not just the extract played in the exam). This means explaining all the crimes that occur in the episode and everything that the police have to deal with that may be upsetting for viewers.
  
• explain who the audience is for Cuffs
• explain how far the programme adapted conventions
  
• draw conclusions about how far the extract adapts the conventions of police drama to fit its scheduling and audience

Cuffs adapts its police drama conventions to fit its target audience before the BBC watershed by using censorship and obvious slapstick humour to distract from the subtle adult humour.

The conventions from most police TV drama include brutal fight scenes, often bloody bodies, and crude language and themes. Cuffs avoids and adapts this using light censorship to keep the implications of certain events, and to keep enough adult humour to appeal to their target audience without being too explicit for children. An example of this would be the scene of an 'implied' murder, as we hear and know the struggle of a fight and killing, but it is not explicitly shown on screen - therefore not exposing children to too much gore and explicit content. This is also done for a more light-hearted scene at the start of the episode - when a naked man pushes a young man's face close to his privates. Throughout the scene, no explicit nudity is shown on screen beside the occasional naked buttock, which not only harks childish 'butt joke' humour for younger audiences, but 'shields' them from the more adult humour in the scene.

Continually, the slapstick humour in this scene may also be appealing to younger audiences, as the characters fight in a chaotic disorder - which creates excitement in the ridiculousness of the content. By using slapstick humour, Cuffs adapts certain conventions of 'brutal fights' in usual conventions, and censors the subtle adult humour while doing so. For example, references to sexual humour being the scene where the arrested women makes facial gestures towards a policeman almost immediately after being detained by him, which creates a comical contrast between her previous distressed attitude and her now flirtatious, bold advance - most likely in hopes of 'pleasing' her way out of jail. This creates subtle sexual humour for more adult audiences, while being absurd enough in contrast to be laughable to younger audiences, without fully disclosing her likely intentions to young children. This also censors the convention in police drama of sexual humour and references - as it keeps the convention there, but vague enough so that it may be suitable for younger audiences before the BBC watershed, which appears usually before the average child's bedtime.

(not done)

Analysis of language in MOJO and BBC Magazines

Make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the media language is used differently to fit different kinds of music. (15)

The media language in each magazine is used differently to the extent that they cater to different audiences expecting content and therefore matching themes of different music.

Mojo uses media language to convey the dramatic contrast of 'The Cure' to modern societal norms, using contrasting colour palettes and high exposure to exaggerate the bright, luminous white from the star's appearance, appealing to older generations in the familiarity of the difference and individuality rock-stars from MOJO brought to music. 'The Cure' appear as eccentrically iconic figures alongside their music - using contrary gothic makeup, paired with figured, dense black hair. Mojo circles this appearance with puffs and side-titles in complementary yet contrary colours to focus on the star's face, in order to bring attention to the distinguishably different look which makes up their appearing persona on the magazine - Mojo's trademark of framing the front-cover star in a serious, respectful light.

Whereas the BBC's classical music magazine uses media language to convey muted, traditional and simple tones that are associated with the genre of music, and may appeal to yet older generations than the audience of MOJO, who enjoy the appeal of soft palettes which don't overwhelm or overexaggerate the 'legendary legacy' of the subject. The layout does not circle the front-cover star, but is minimalist and informative, rather than anticipating and performative like MOJO - because the target also want familiar styles of music, but more for the content of the subject rather than the relatability and identity of the fandom surrounding the subject, like MOJO fans. However, the use of a younger musician adds diversity in the target audience, and represents a new generation of classical artists - allowing the reader to anticipate and expect new music, rather than hailing the legendary old music, again like MOJO fans.

In conclusion, MOJO and BBC magazines use media language to cater to different target audiences, and appeal to the expectation of the subject the audience is shown on the cover. It is used differently to the extent that MOJO uses the context of older stars to show them 'in their prime', and speak of their achievements, to install hope and relatability in the reader, whereas BBC music uses the context of the genre of classical music to bring newer faces and a new generation to install anticipation and expectation in the reader.

Social and Cultural Contexts in the Observer 1960's

 Representation of women:

Lingerie and clothing ads - representing the context of housewives caring about clothes and luxuries as men went out to work most of the day. Also represents women as sexual objects and as performers of beauty and pleasure rather than having actual thoughts, as the women presented in the ads are more mannequins than people - having less of an opinion, while the clothing would appeal either sexually our desirably to the reader.

The Queen herself in the paper is only valuable as 'the crown' - she may bring comfort and hope and is respected as royalty, but she doesn't offer solutions or have a political stance in media or as a royal power as represented in the newspaper.

Representation of ethnicity:

The representation of black Olympians reflects the changing of racial stereotypes in the coming decades, and was certainly a mark in history for racial equality. While racial slurs are used, they would probably be custom at the time - but no longer excusable in modern society.

The use of these slurs implies the newspaper was written and edited by white British persons, who wouldn't think twice with the racist societal norms to use such language, which complies with the context that Black persons at the time would not be allowed the education to get such a job, nor the money to pay for such.

Social Conditions:

The inclusion of the mining town disaster show the appalling social conditions the townsfolk had to live under - their land and occupation being sold away to a force that killed their next generation. The fact that none of the public had the money or influence to control this, while capitalists cashed in on cheap mining, shows the classism of the time - and how a visit from the Queen to the site of a tragic event caused by unbridled capitalist greed which she and other people in power were perfectly able to prevent would not be as appreciated by the locals compared to the media.

Yr 10 - 03 Brief 1

Hobby Magazine for 14-18 Age Group:

Name Ideas:

The Whitecap (reference to a violent wave, loud and contains seafoam and 'bubble plumes', similar to red tops?)

The Plume (reference to feathers and smoke)

The Spritz ('The Sunday Spritz', reference to possible terminology for spray paint techniques, possible reference to tabloidized content)

The Cordial(pleasant tasting medicine/fruit juice, and adjectively used to describe something pleasant)

Front Page:

Use empty canvas? Mixture of digital art and photoshop in terms of editing. Use previous paintings, or create photoshop/collage examples to fill in the blanks)

Add in dummy/side articles, summarize them but keep the focus.

Main Hobby Article Ideas -

Painting/Fine Art:

('Interview' with 'an artist' (borrow Claudia/Lucy?)) 

Relatability to audience - 

('Young adult finds solace in art during global pandemic, starts Christmas card company, makes thousands in large wave of recognition') ("I used social media to promote my company, in hopes of gaining traction - but I never thought that within a span of six months, I would go from using painting as a personal coping mechanism to an actual part-time job, which now pays most of my rent, and is soon to be my sole source of income.")

Dummy/Side Article Ideas - 

Theatre/Acting related - 

Tie into fine art/painting ('interview' with 'an actor/actress' (definitely borrow Claudia))/ description of a performance? Possibly one based off of a painting or artist - ("Monet", a performed biography of the Founder of Impressionism)

Fine Art/Design related -

('Architects experimented with Minecraft as an engineering and design tool, the city they built is now under construction')

('Florida Man sells 13-year collage piece for 70 million dollars')

(' 'Banksy' involved in Reading Bridge Graffiti war')

Incorporate a person's similar magazine/article? (collaborations between projects / favours / mentioning of the same event (articles exist in the same magazine reality?))

Yr 10 - 03 Creating Media

 If I were to choose immediately at this point, I would likely choose:

For the music video, I would likely choose a song such as 'Smalltown Boy' by Bronski Beat, which has a narrative and story already in the song, so lip syncing isn't entirely required as long as there is engaging and matching imagery and scenes, but it does have relatively understandable and malleable themes that could work well with different editing styles and shots.

In terms of the 'hobby magazine', activities such as gaming, particular areas of the Arts or music would be favourable, purely because of the expression and freedom they allow in terms of design and structure in the layout and theme. Plus, I'm better at performing on paper than on a platform, so it may be easier than the music video and factual programme.

However, the factual programme would allow me to cover historical, social and geographic concerns and topics, that would likely cover uncommon true topics such as Mariya Oktyabrskaya, a Soviet mechanic who's soldier husband died fighting Nazis in WW2, and in response she bought a tank named "Fighting Wife", and set out as a soldier on her own to kill many more Nazi soldiers herself. This is a topic that I'm surprised is not talked about much, but might not be appropriate for 14-18 audience depending on how it is approached.

Yr 10 - 01 The Avengers

What is your impression of the sixties era? 

The sixties era was a time of change as people began challenging unfair standards, beliefs and rights with movements and new ideals to achieve equality and balance.

Where does this come from? 

As values were changing with the new Labour government in this post-WW2 decade, the production of more controversial ideals, movements and products challenged past and present standards of that time, shown in the Equal Rights Movement, the second wave of Feminism, and the rise of popular yet unexpected idols such as the Beatles. Plus, student movements across the US began alongside the Vietnam war, as the public started to realise there was more loss than gain, and that they were barely numbers on paper to higher powers.

5 key events from that era that shaped it:

The Vietnam War, JFK's Assassination, The Equal Rights Movement, The Second Wave of Feminism, and Moon Landings.

5 famous figures associated with that era: 

Martin Luther King Jr, John F Kennedy,  The Beatles, Muhammed Ali and Alfred Hitchcock.