NOTES ON SUGAR RUSH

Sugar Rush is a British TV drama series about sexuality, mainly homosexuality, with slight hints of comedy. It is set in Brighton which is a British landmark for gay, open relationships. The series is based on the book written by Julie Burchill.

Kim, the protagonist, has just moved to Brighton and developed a hormone-surging crush on her new best friend, Sugar. Kim uses the word "identikit" to describe her two gay neighbours. I noticed that the young characters in the narrative are identikit young people because the narrative consists of the young characters constantly thinking about sex or having sex.

There is a scene when Sugar and Kim are in Sugar's room. Sugar's idea of dressing like a woman is looking like a hooker, this represents alot about Sugar's charisma. She advises Kim on dressing this way to attract the male builder that Kim fancies. But as Kim arrives home in her new outfit she catches her mum cheating on her dad with the same builder that she had feelings for. Kim then rushes out of her house needing a 'sugar' fix. This connotes that Kim has quickly developed a strong attraction for Sugar and she needs to see her whenever she's feeling down. This may be Sugar's natural effect on most of the characters in the narrative

Media Evaluation of Preliminary Task

The media products I have created and posted on my blog include questionnaires, a magazine front cover, magazine contents page, etc. My college magazine front cover uses some of the regular conventions of magazines today, but it also breaks few of the conventions. My masthead is at the top left of my magazine, which is a convention of magazines due to the way magazines are sorted in shops for sale. The background image of my magazine is a mid-shot of Chris Newman (Head Boy of COLA Sixth Form). I believe there is a big significance of the Sixth Form HEADBOY being on the front of my magazine; he is an important representative of the sixth form and relates to ideas and audience of my college magazine: college students, teachers and parents. I named my magazine “CityLife” as this is phrase that college students my find catchy or cool.

My media magazine also breaks many of the usual conventions of a magazine. I didn’t include any splashes of information or story headlines on the front cover to leave my audience more curious/contemplating of what was going to be in the magazine once they looked at the front cover. I also decided to use a minimal amount of text on the front cover to make the background image more explicit. The pieces of text on my magazine only include the key features/conventions of a magazine; masthead, price, date and issue number. I used an effect from Ulead PhotoImpact to alter the colours of my original photo of Chris Newman, giving it the look of an artistic painting in black in white. The typography of my masthead is also unique. I chose an unusually graffiti font to break the conventions of a standard formal font, stand out and suit young people as my magazine is aimed at college students.

I would like my College magazine to be distributed in the Atrium of the City of London Academy. This would be ideal for my target audience because the sixth formers can purchase it anytime during school hours for themselves or their parents/guardians and this would also suit teachers who want to purchase the magazine. Students in the secondary school who are considering to attend the sixth form once they are older can get an insight into life in the COLA Sixth Form by reading my magazine.

I didn’t include any splashes of information or story headlines on the front cover to leave my audience more curious/contemplating of what was going to be in the magazine once they looked at the front cover. I also decided to use a minimal amount of text on the front cover to make the background image more explicit. The pieces of text on my magazine only include the key features/conventions of a magazine; masthead, price, date and issue number. I used an effect from Ulead PhotoImpact to alter the colours of my original photo of Chris Newman, giving it the look of an artistic painting in black in white.

Front Cover & Contents Page of my College Magazine

Front Cover

Contents Page

British TV Drama - Our Friends in the North

Season 1, Episode 1
Our Friends in the North is unlike many British TV Drama depictions of North East
England. This is because it has fully rounded characters with authentic regional
accents. It also uses real political and social events specific to Newcastle and Britain as a whole during the era portrayed, including general elections, police corruption, etc.


In the beginning of the clip Nicky arrives back from the USA and he goes to visit his girlfriend. There is a mid-shot whilst his girlfriend’s mother answers the door to him, but she doesn’t seem happy to see him. This could indicate to the audience that Nicky has disappointed his girlfriend in the past so her mother doesn't approve of him.


Nicky and his brother (Geordie) have a very typical male relationship. They both know that they
love each other but they prefer to hide their feelings with quick insults and sarcasm.
As Geordie enters Nicky's bedroom, there is a slight long shot of the bedroom. There are many posters of Civil Rights activists to represent Nicky's support of the Civil Rights Movement. But Geordie's views are the complete opposite

The narrative shows many typical values of families (not just Northern ones). They sit
around the dining table as a family as Nicky’s family give him his birthday presents.
We also notice that Nicky acts childish whenever he receives a gift which contrasts his appearance of a mature, young man

Flatplans for my College Magazine

Flatplan of Front Cover

Flatplan of Contents Page

QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

I gave out 20 of my questionnaires to an even amount of males and females so that the results would be evenly representative of gender. The majority of people I questioned were aged between 16-19 years old and this affected the results I received in Question 4. Question 4 I asked my potential customers how much they spend when purchasing a magazine. I will use the results from this question to estimate a suitable price for my magazine. The results from Question 3 illustrated that the majority of people read magazines weekly so this tells me that I need to release my created magazine every week to relate to my target audience.

There was a mixed selection of people’s favourite magazine genres. This tells me that I may need to include a mixture of topics when I create my own magazine so it can appeal to everyone, even though this may negatively affect the content of my magazine in the long run as it will be difficult to impress everyone. The results from Question 6 showed me that Heat Magazine is one of the most popular magazines amongst teenagers. They also said that the “hot gossip”, bright colours and the explicit imagery is what attracted them to purchase Heat Magazine.

Question 7 was significant in telling me the most important features of my magazine according to my potential customers. The pie chart below illustrates how the majority of my target audience/potential customers are attracted to purchase a magazine by the images on the front cover and the font of the masthead/text. So if I focus on making these two features more appealing, this will attract the majority of my target audience

Here is an example of my questionnaire

10 Original Photos

I love winter

My future vehicle

Ugandan Flag. The Pearl of Africa

The sky is the limit

My most important possession

Xbox 360. When I'm stressed...

Blackberry Curve 8520. More than just a phone

Chef in the canteen preparing a meal for me

Education is the key

The staircase to success...

MAGAZINE ANALYSIS - Heat Magazine

British TV Drama - THE HUSTLE

Season 2, Episode 6

The Hustle is a British TV Drama about con-artists getting back at society. The episode I watched was about Mickey's plan to steal the Crown Jewels whilst they are being moved from the tower of London. At first the group assume that Mickey is joking but Mickey asks them to trust him and so they agree to the intricate con. This is one of the biggest challenges that they have taken on. Mickey's believes that the group are good enough to pull it off. Ash poses as a cleaner so that the can get a job in the gallery where the diamond is going to be exhibited. After Ash examines a blueprint of the exhibition room he says that it is almost impossible to get near the diamond with the level of security, but Ash finds a way.

(From left to right) Ash, Albert, Mickey, Stacie and Danny  

Ash’s plan is to cut power for 30 seconds, use the blackout to re-route the CCTV and with all the alarms on the street going off, turn off all the motion detectors. The gang are ready but so are the police. Surrounding the gallery and desperate to catch Mickey and the gang in the act, the police lie in wait. The gang are one step ahead and when the police charge into the gallery they discover that the gang have disappeared, and so has the diamond. The team are caught by surprise when they arrive home later that night and the police are ready to take them into custody.

There is a low angle shot whilst Mickey is lowered down in a harness to get the jewel. This shows the intricacy of their operations because if Mickey drops he will activate the alarms. Danny is represented as the immature one of the narrative in the scene where he is playing the Mission Impossible theme tune. This also indicates how Danny is viewed by the rest of their group

REVIEW ON ABIGAIL'S PARTY

From http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/461315/

Originating as a Hampstead Theatre production and first broadcast as part of Play for Today (BBC, 1970-84), 'Abigail's Party' (tx. 1/11/1977) is Mike Leigh's best-known television work, and perhaps the most celebrated TV play of the 1970s, as important to Play for Today as Ken Loach's 'Cathy Come Home' (tx. 16/11/1966) was to The Wednesday Play (BBC, 1964-71). Its enduring popularity has seen it staged in countless theatrical productions around the world, including a 2003 revival in London's West End.

The action, presenting an appalling evening of domestic entertaining in suburbia, takes place entirely in a confined living room in the home of Beverly (Alison Steadman) and Laurence (Tim Stern). The party which provides the play's title remains off-screen, initially misleading the audience into thinking that the real action is happening elsewhere.

'Abigail's Party' is morbidly compelling. None of the characters seems to like each other; the relationships between the couples appear to be based on mutual irritation and all seem self-preoccupied. Nor are any of them particularly likeable, which allows a comic mood to prevail even when events darken - Laurence's death, for example, is more farcical than it is tragic.

The play is dominated by Alison Steadman's mesmerising performance as the overbearing hostess Beverly, one of television's most memorable characterisations. Beverly's sing-song delivery of clichéd phrases fails to disguise a truly monstrous individual - she taunts her husband, flirts with Tony (John Salthouse) and manipulates her other guests for her own gain; her forced attempts at hospitality are to be endured rather than enjoyed. Yet Beverly's awfulness is captivating; she is an archetype of the aspiring middle-class matriarch. Defined by a set of attitudes which don't fit together, she hides her lack of identity behind received ideas of taste. Her motivation remains unclear; she easily controls the others but they seem to give her little in return, except to fuel her misplaced sense of power and mastery.

While the play's dialogue, as Alan Bennett has noted, is "instantly real", the performances are determinedly not naturalistic. The play is self-consciously theatrical; from the confined set to the marked sense of audience - the guests both follow the action at Abigail's party and are onlookers to the spectacle provided by their hosts. Nevertheless, the characters, while exaggerated, are immediately recognisable, the social discomfort palpable. It is this instant and lasting sense of connection which ensures the play's continued impact.

MEDIA SKILLS AUDIT

My main strengths in Media are using the internet for many different purposes, working well in a team and I am highly confident in using Microsoft PowerPoint. I am also good at keeping records of my work, manipulating images and texts in Microsoft Publisher, indentifying different camera angles and recognising different types of genres in different narratives.

My main weaknesses are using online blogs, making my own music, I don’t have a high experience in taking digital photographs, I rarely listen to the radio and I rarely read magazines