Weekly News Article

16 Year Old Rebecca Watts has been missing from her home in Bristol since February 19th 2015

23rd February 2015
Concern is growing for a 16 year old girl missing from the Bristol area since last Thursday. Rebecca Watts was reported missing after not returning to her home in St George, Bristol. Officers said it was "out of character" for her to not contact somebody if she had planned not to come home. She is described as white, 5ft 4in tall with long red hair.

27th February 2015

A lake is being searched as police attempt to locate a teenager who has been missing for more than a week. Rebecca Watts, 16, was reported missing after not returning to her home in St George, Bristol, eight days ago. Police are searching the lake in St George park. They have previously searched Troopers Hill nature reserve. 

28th February 2015

Two people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of 16 year old Rebecca Watts from Bristol. About 150 people joined a search for the teenager, during which a laptop was found. She was known to have had a laptop with her on the day of her disappearance. 

1st March 2015

The police have now searched three houses in Bristol to search for missing teenager. Police said houses in Wilton Close, Southmead, the city's Barton Hill district, and family home, were all "lines of inquiry". Forensic teams have now ended their search of the Barton Hill property for the night, but police presence will remain overnight. Meanwhile, police have said a laptop computer found by search teams in woodland on Saturday is not related to the inquiry.

2nd March 2015

Two people have been arrested on the suspicion of the murder of missing teenager Rebecca Watts. A 28 year old man and a 21 year old women were arrested on suspicion of kidnap on Saturday and further arrested earlier, Avon ans Somerset police said. Officers can hold the pair for another 36 hours. They are also appealing for details about the movements of a car.

(UPDATE)

3rd March 2015
Four men and one women have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Police have been given an extra 24 hours to quiz a 28 year old man and 21 year old woman on suspicion of murder. Officers went to a house at Barton Court in the Barton Hill area of the city after receiving new information Monday night.



A coffin was removed from the rear of the property on Barton Court on Tuesday lunchtime and was taken away in a private ambulance. Floral tributes have been placed outside Becky's home and the Barton Court address.
Det Supt Courtiour added: "This is devastating news for Becky's family and friends and our thoughts are with them. We will continue to offer every support we can to them during this terrible ordeal."

4th March 2015

Police have until this afternoon to question two people suspected of murdering missing teenager Becky Watts. Becky's stepbrother Nathan Matthews, 28, and his girlfriend Shauna Phillips, 21, have been named locally as those being held on suspicion of her murder. Ms Phillips was taken to hospital after "feeling unwell in custody", Avon and Somerset police have said, she was later brought back to custody. Police have until 3:00PM GMT time to either charge or release Matthews and Phillips.

(Update)
Nathan Matthews, the stepbrother of missing 16 year old Becky Watts, has been charged with her murder. His girlfriend Shauna Hoare, 21, also known as Shauna Phillips, has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. The pair, of Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, are due before magistrates on Thursday at 10:00AM GMT.

Award Ceremonies

What Are They and What Are They For?
Award Ceremonies are formal occasions at which prizes are given to honour achievement in a specific field. For example the Grammy's give awards to those in the music industry. The awards given are to give recognition to those in the industry, and to show appreciation to someone for their work. I will talk about 3 different award ceremonies those being: The Grammy's , Golden Globes and The Brits.

The Grammy's (2015)

This year was the 57th annual Grammy awards and were held on Sunday February 8th at the Staples centre, Los Angeles, California. Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time. The Grammy's award those in the music industry in 83 different categories including: Album of the year, Song of the year and best new artist. During the awards a series of different artists perform for the audience between the award announcements. 

Some of the 2015 winners were: 

Sam Smith - Best New Artist

Paramore with Ain't It Fun - Best Rock Song

Pharrell Williams with Girl - Best Urban Contemporary Album

Kendrick Lamar with I - Best Rap Performance

Beyonce ft. Jay Z with Drunk In Love - Best R&B performance 

Golden Globes (2015)
The Golden Globes 2015 were the 72nd annual Golden Globes. It was held on January 11th 2015 and was hosted by Tina fey and Amy Poehler. It took pace in the Beverley Hilton Hotel, Beverley Hills, California. The Golden Globes honours the best in American Film and Television. It consisted of 25 different categories with 5 nominees in each catergory including: Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best television series - comedy or musical and Best Director - Motion Picture.
Some of the 2015 winners were:

Eddie Redmayne in The Theory Of Everything - Best Performance by an actor in a motion picture - Drama
The Grand Budapest Hotel  - Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
How To Train Your Dragon 2 - Best animated feature film
BoyHood - Best Director - Motion Picture
Transparent - Best Television series - Comedy or Musical

The Brits (2015)
The Brit awards give out awards for excellence in music. They mainly focus around British artists but do include a few International awards.The 2015 Brit awards were held on 25th February 2015. This was the 35th edition of the British Phonographic industry's annual pop  music awards. The were held at the O2 arena, London and were hosted by Ant & Dec. It consists of 12 categories including: MasterCard British album, British group and international female solo artist.
Some of this years winners were:

Royal Blood - British Group
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars with Uptown Funk - British Single
Paloma Faith - Best female solo artist
Sam Smith - British breakthrough act
Ed Sheeran with X - MasterCard British album

Games and Radio

5 Games

Grand Theft Auto 5 (Gta)
Genre -  Action-Adventure
Location - Fictional state of San Andreas, USA
Ownership - Rockstar Games
Time Period - 2013

The Last Of Us
Genre- Action-Adventure survival horror
Location - USA
Ownership - Naughty Dog
Time Period -  2030

Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Genre - Military Science Fiction
Location - A series of different countries
Ownership - Activision
Time Period - 2054 - 2060

Evolve 
Genre - First Person Shooter
Location - Fictional planet 'Shear'
Ownership - 2K Games
Time Period - Distant Future

Fifa 15
Genre - Sport
Location - Various football pitch's
Ownership - EA
Time Period - 2015


5 Radio Stations

Capital FM
Genre - Mainstream/Chart Music

Smooth
Genre - Soul

Heart
Genre - Club Classics and Mainstream

Classic FM
Genre - Classical

Kisstory
Genre - Old School

Opening Paragraphs - Representation and audience questions

Representation: 
Opening paragraph relevant to the representation of gender

The media is the most persuasive and most powerful influence that changed how we perceive men and women. Both Men and Women are represented differently throughout a range of media texts, whether it's a magazine or a video all forms of media communicate images of both gender's in an unrealistic way. I will talk about three different ways that gender is represented or how its represented. Firstly the media is constructed to institute messages into our minds by encoding their own beliefs into the media texts. Secondly the media sets high expectations for both men and women so causes both the struggle with body image and lastly women are often under-represented which falsely implies that men are more powerful which may be partly down to the dominant ideology.

Audience:
Opening paragraph relevant to a question about audience.

Explore, with examples, how audiences may respond differently to the same media text?
The aim of all media texts is to target a specific audience, however audiences don't all act the same way, audiences are made up of individuals who respond differently to the same media texts due to a range of factors. Some factors are Gender, age, ethnicity, culture and experiences. It can also be dependent on their upbringing. However audiences may also react differently due to their uses and gratifications. Audiences may be attracted to media texts due to the attempt to find their own personal identity, to find out information, or for entertainment.

Representation of Age in the Media

Some Stereotypical characteristics of teenagers are that they are immature, lazy, careless and self-entitled. They also tend to be linked to gang culture, drugs and drink.

Whereas some stereotypical characteristics of elderly people are grumpy, slow. Weak and hard-of-hearing.

During May 2006 a content analysis of 2130 news items across the main television channels was conducted.  They found that young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society. It seemed that the media only delivers a one dimensional picture of youth, one that encourages fear rather than understanding. For example the Croydon riots fuelled the teenage gang stereotype as it is said most people involved in the riots were teenagers

Middle aged people are usually seen as quite uptight and stressed, and revolved around work.

Upper Class and Middle class elderly people are often portrayed in television and film as occupying high status roles such as world leaders, business executives and judges.

Age is represented in Mrs Brown Boys through different characters. Grandad brown is shown to be weak and constantly complaining, he is usually pictured to be lying down on  chair sleeping as if he has no energy, where as young Buster Brady is represented as stupid and as if he’s never going to achieve anything.

Demographics and Psychometrics

Demographics: Demographics are the statistical data relating to the population and particular groups with in it.  Demographics are studies of the population based on different factors. These factors include age, race, gender, economic status, level of education and income level and employment.

Social grades
A- Higher managerial, administrative and professional
B- Intermediate managerial, administrative and professional
C1- Supervisory, Clerical and junior managerial
C2- Skilled Manual Workers
D- Semi skilled/un skilled manual workers
E- State pensioners, casual and lowest grade workers, unemployed with state benefits only.

Demographics are used to learn more about the population's characteristics by governments, corporations and non government organisations for many purposes including policy development and economic market research.
The size of different demographic groups will change over time as a result of economic, cultural and political circumstances.

Psychometrics: Psychometrics is the science of measuring mental capacities and processes. It is concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes and personality traits. It is particularly concerned with the study of differences between individuals. A psychometric audience profile defines and audience by their values, attitudes and lifestyles. As the concept of class and audience become a less appropriate way of defining an audience, advertisers considered different ways of categorising audiences.
Young and Rubicam are a New York advertising agency who developed a method of categorising people into recognisable stereotypes that reflected their motivational needs and VALs (Values, attitudes and lifestyles). The main groups are:

Mainstreamers- These make up 40% of the population. They like security, tried and trusted brands. They like value for money and are less likely to take risks.

Aspirers- They want status and prefer brands that show their pace in society. The are happy to buy designer labels on credit and may be persuaded by celebrity endorsement.

Explorers- They like to discover new things. They are attracted by brands that offer new experiences.

Succeeders- They already have status and control and have nothing to prove. They prefer brands that are serous and reliable.

Reformers- They are defined by self esteem and self fulfilment. The tend to be innovative and are less impressed by status. They are socially aware and not materialistic. They may be more inclined to buy brands that are considered healthy or environmentally friendly.

Visual and technical codes

Music Video: Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars



Visual Codes: At the very beginning a woman's legs are shown walking in heels which the song will be about a woman or women. It then continues to show a montage flashing between the woman and the men standing over the other side. The camera rises every time the woman is shown, and she walks past two men and the rest of the music starts to play. All the men are dancing whilst Bruno Mars also sings, all of their outfits are bright e.g. pink blazer, white suit. All of these colours stand out against the dark buildings that are shown behind them with the colours of plain black and navy blue. All the men are also wearing thin gold chains around their necks which suggests wealth. Several women then walk past one by one and all the men lean forward and look at them as if admiring them.

Technical Codes: The camera spins around in front of them at some points causing the men to look as if they are upside down, this creates a sense of movement along with their dancing. Many if the shots are longs shots because their is more than one man so they are all able to fit in the scene. The camera moves backwards as the men walk towards it to again create a sense of movement  and to make it seem like you moving with them. Close up's are also used at times to show the movement in more detail or the show the most important part of the scene.

Magazine Cover: Bazaar

Visual Codes: The Masthead is really big and is in gold so that is stands out against the black background. Their are also a few other subheadings that are coloured in gold and any other sub headings are in White. Both of these colours contrast the black background. Natalie Portman features on the front of this magazine and she is wearing a necklace, the necklace shines a golden colour around the edges which matches the masthead, one earring is also shown that is golden and stands out against her skin. Her lips are red so they stand out and you focus on her face as well the rest of the magazine. They tried to make her look classy and mentions she is wearing 'Audrey Hepburn's dress' as she is a very feminine classy figure.

Film Poster: Identity

Visual Codes: The use of the hand is really effective because we all have our own handprint and we all have fingerprints that are different and create our own individual identity. Also the red on the side of the hand implicates blood so makes the film seem like it would be a thriller. The handprint is directly in the middle so the main focus will be on the hand. The black and red hand stands out against the white background. The fingers of the hand are made out of human figures which makes me imagine the film is about trying to find the identity of someone. The title is quite small and also features the black and red that is shown on the hand. There is a facial expression shown on the hand that looks quite scared which also makes the think this is a thriller and is aimed at the audience of 18-30 males and females. The phrase at the top of the poster "Identity is a secret. Identity is a mystery. Identity is a killer." This phrase makes me imagine that people in the film are confused about identity in some way.

Technical codes: The face inside the hand print was put there deliberately to send across and image of fear and worry about the fact that they cannot find or understand there identity. All the shadows of the people are on the same hand so they may have done this to make the viewer think that the characters are linked in some way due to their identity. 

Film trailer: The Hunger Games

Narrative: This trailer tells me that it is set in the future because it is not realistic for the 21st century, I can also tell that the setting is in the country side. You can tell they have to go through some sort of training and have to fight in an arena against one another.

Visual Codes: The area nearer the beginning of the trailer is very green which tells the audience it is set in the countryside for most of the film. A group of people are walking and it shows their faces to be quite dull and unhappy. The people are wearing boring plain clothes which suggests that they are poor, however when it shows the lady standing at the microphone she is wearing vibrant interesting clothing with an unusual hairstyle. Comparing her to the rest of the people this suggests she is rich and can afford expensive things. The film shows themes of family within because the protagonist is shown hugging her sister. They write "from the best-selling epic novels" which suggests that the main audience of the film will most likely be people who have read and are fans of the hunger games. At the end the book logo appears and all the writing is in gold because that is the same colour as the logo and the fire that is shown. They include the book's signature slogan at the end.

Technical/Audio Codes: At the very start the sound of birds can be heard which sets the scene and shows that they are in the country and a close up of the protagonist is shown with her hair blowing in the wind which shows the weather. The lady talking is speaking through a microphone which suggests her authority over others. A close up of a hand is shown in a bowl ready to pick out a piece of paper which creates a sense of tension. It features of close up of both 'tributes' looking towards each other, both look very sad and scared which suggests what they are going to go through isn't good. A quick establishing shot of a city is shown to show where they are going. Many different quick shots are shown in a montage of the 'tributes' training and audio is heard over explaining the rules of the games. The music that is playing nearer the end gets higher in pitch to create tension and to build the atmosphere, the music stops suddenly when they enter the arena and a countdown begins. When a gunshot sounds, loud fast tempo music plays before the franchises signature whistle plays and the logo appears.