OSP: The Voice - blog case study

Our second Online, Social and Participatory CSP is the Voice newspaper website - a niche publication targeting the black British community.

The Voice has a significant place in the social and historical context of race relations and representation in Britain, launching in 1982 in the wake of the Brixton race riots. It is also the perfect case study to further develop our understanding of Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory we studied last lesson.

The Voice - background and notes

The Voice, founded in 1982, is the only British national black weekly newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GV Media Group Limited, and is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. The paper is based in London and is published every Thursday. 


The first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982. Its cover price was 54 pence, and was only sold in London.

You can read more background from The Voice website here.

The Voice: social and historical context

In 1981, the Brixton race riots shone a spotlight on race relations in Britain. 

The Voice emerged in 1982 partly as a result of these riots – both due to the need to offer a voice and representation to black Britons and also due to a business loan from Barclays Bank. The bank was keen at the time to improve their reputation with the black community due to investments in Apartheid South Africa.

Social context - The Battle for Brixton documentary

The Voice analysis: production values

The Voice offers a strong contrast to Teen Vogue with significantly lower production values across its digital operations – website design, video content and social media. However, the growth of digital technology means that the Voice can effectively compete on the same playing field as Teen Vogue, albeit targeting a niche audience.

Watch this video on influential black women in business and compare it to Teen Vogue’s video content – similar in ideology but very different in production values (note the view count too):

The Voice: representation

The Voice was launched to cater for the interests of British-born black people. Applying Gilroy’s work on “double consciousness”, it could be argued that the Voice was launched to give black audiences an opportunity to see the world through their own eyes rather than through the prism of white, often-racist mainstream British media.

The Voice: industries

The Voice is owned by Jamaican media organising the Gleaner company and published in Britain by GV Media Group. It is a significant contrast to Teen Vogue and the international giant Conde Nast.


Recently, in a similar move to The Guardian's request for donations, The Voice asks its readers to support the publication by paying donations via PayPal. This raises interesting questions regarding the financial viability of online news media and particularly niche publications such as The Voice (or indeed Oh Comely).


The Voice: case study blog tasks

Language and textual analysis

Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice homepage?

2) How does the page design differ from Teen Vogue?

3) What are some of the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content, values and ideologies of the Voice?

4) Look at the news stories on The Voice homepage. Choose three stories and discuss how they have presented the news from an angle or perspective that reflects The Voice's role as a voice for black Britons.

5) How is narrative used to encourage audience engagement with the Voice? Apply narrative theories (e.g. Todorov equilibrium or Barthes’ enigma codes) and make specific reference to stories on the homepage.

Lifestyle section

Now analyse the Lifestyle section of the Voice and answer the following:

1) What are the items in the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section and what does this suggest about the Voice audience?

2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?

3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?

4) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?

5) Choose three stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?

Feature focus

1) Read this Voice news story on Grenfell tower and Doreen Lawrence. How might this story reflect the Voice’s values and ideologies? What do the comments below suggest about how readers responded to the article? Can you link this to Gilroy’s work on the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?

2) Read/watch this Lifestyle feature about the Black Magic Awards. How do the article and video content reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice? What do you notice about the production values of the video interviews?

3) Read this feature about the Young, Gifted and Black Awards. What does this story suggest regarding how The Voice is trying to change the representation of black people in British media? 

Audience

1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice website? Consider demographics and psychographics.

2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).

3) Give examples of content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.

4) Studying the themes of politics, history and racism that feature in some of the Voice’s content, why might this resonate with the Voice’s British target audience?

5) Can you find any examples of content on the Voice website created or driven by the audience or citizen journalism? How does this reflect Clay Shirky’s work on the ‘end of audience’ and the era of ‘mass amateurisation’?

Representations

1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?

2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying? Why?

3) What kind of black British identity is promoted on the Voice website? Can you find any examples of Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” or “unruly multiculturalism” here?

4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?

5) Do you notice any other interesting representations in the Voice website? For example, representations or people, places or groups (e.g. gender, age, Britishness, other countries etc.)

Industries

1) Read this Guardian report on the death of the original founder of the Voice. What does this tell you about the original values and ideologies behind the Voice brand? 

2) Read this history of the Voice’s rivals and the struggles the Voice faced back in 2001. What issues raised in the article are still relevant today? 

3) The Voice is now published by GV Media Group, a subsidiary of the Jamaican Gleaner company. What other media brands do the Gleaner company own and why might they be interested in owning the Voice? You'll need to research this using Google/Wikipedia.

4) How does the Voice website make money? What is your opinion of the 'asking for donations' approach that The Voice is now using?

5) What adverts or promotions can you find on the Voice website? Are the adverts based on the user’s ‘cookies’ or fixed adverts? What do these adverts tell you about the level of technology and sophistication of the Voice’s website?

6) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make profit?

7) What examples of technological convergence can you find on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content?

8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?

9) Analyse the Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as MailOnline or Teen Vogue)? Are there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?

10) Study a selection of videos from the Voice’s YouTube channel. How does this content differ from Teen Vogue? What are the production values of their video content?


Homework and deadlines

There is plenty of work here - at least 3 to 4 hours - but this is the only blog task on the Voice and covers all four of the key concepts. You will also have two full weeks to complete this.

Finish for homework - exact due date specified by your exam teacher.

Coursework: TV Drama trailer pre-production

The Ignite presentations have been both entertaining and inspiring - now it's time to take the next steps in our planning.

Pitching a creative concept to a group is a daunting prospect and from our presentation and feedback we should now have a good idea of what will work and what needs re-drafting.

You should already have the following posted to your Media 2 coursework blog:

1) Summer project research
2) TV drama pitch
3) Statement of Intent
4) Ignite presentation, feedback and learner response

Statement of Intent: tutorial

Over the next couple of weeks in lesson time, you will have an in-depth tutorial with your coursework teacher on your Statement of Intent. This is worth 10 marks but more importantly MUST set out a detailed plan for your actual coursework (including specific references to aspects of film language such as shots, edit points and use of sound). You must also address how you will use representations and how you will meet the brief. The Statement of Intent should use sophisticated media terminology throughout.

You may want to re-draft your Statement of Intent having reflected on your feedback from the Ignite presentation. Feel free to do this but make sure your teacher has the latest copy so your tutorial feedback is on the correct version.

TV drama trailer: pre-production

When you're not receiving your Statement of Intent tutorial, you need to complete a series of pre-production planning tasks prior to shooting and editing your film trailer. Work through the following aspects in lesson time and for homework while tutorials take place in class:

1) Script - full guidance here
2) Mise-en-scene planning - full guidance here
3) Shot list - full guidance here

There will be specific blogposts with top tips for each of these aspects of pre-production - the first being how to write a great script.

Pre-production deadline: Friday 1 November

Coursework: Preliminary exercise feedback and LR

The preliminary exercise is a brilliant opportunity to learn or refresh the basics of filmmaking before creating your actual coursework project.

After the screening of the preliminary exercises in class, you need to create a blogpost called 'Preliminary exercise learner response' and embed the video from YouTube. Then, complete the following tasks as your feedback and learner response:

1) Type up your teacher's feedback in full plus a summary of the comments you received from other students in the class.

2) Using a combination of your own reflection on the preliminary exercise and the feedback you were given, write three WWW bullet points and three EBI bullet points for your TV drama scene.

3) How effectively did you complete the objective you laid out in your mini preliminary exercise statement of intent?

4) What have you learned from the preliminary exercise that will help you in the actual coursework project?

5) Now you have completed the preliminary exercise, will you change anything in your actual TV drama trailer? This could include narrative, character and script or technical elements such as mise-en-scene, camerawork and sound.

These feedback and learner response tasks must be completed by your first coursework lesson after half-term.

OSP: Paul Gilroy - Diasporic identity

There are several important theories we need to learn and apply to our Online, Social and Participatory media unit.

These include Clay Shirky's End of Audience theories, Stuart Hall's work on representation and reality and Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory of black diasporic identity.

Notes from the lesson

Stuart Hall: representation and reality

Stuart Hall suggests individuals each have their own conceptual map – effectively what we use to decode and understand media texts.

Building on this, Hall outlines three approaches to understanding the relationship between reality and representations: 

Reflective approach: the media simply mirrors (or reflects) the real world. This is a limited approach that minimalises the power or complexity of the media.

Intentional approach: the producer of the text constructs the world as they see it and the audience accepts those values encoded in the text. This is effectively the dominant or preferred reading (reception theory) and leaves no room for the negotiated or oppositional reading.

The constructivist approach: this was Hall’s preferred approach and closely matches reception theory with preferred and oppositional readings. This suggests concepts and signs do have some shared meanings but they are not all inherent and can be interpreted by the audience in a number of ways (dependent on their own ‘conceptual map’).

Paul Gilroy: black diasporic identity

We first explored Paul Gilroy’s theories of black diasporic identity when studying music video.

This is the idea that black identity is informed by diaspora – literally the ‘scattering of people’ across the world. He suggests this creates a “liquidity of culture” that means black identity is formed by journeys across seas, not the solid ground of a home country or culture.

Importantly, Gilroy sees this identity as impossible to reverse – there can be no return to the place of origin as the experience of slavery and displacement can never be “rewound”.

Gilroy: black British identity

The Voice newspaper was formed in 1982 to create a voice for the black British community. Gilroy wrote of the dominant representation of black Britons at that time as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation”.

Gilroy suggests diaspora challenges national ideologies and creates “cultural tension”. This tension helps to create the diasporic identity but often comes with negative experiences such as exclusion and marginalisation. 

More succinctly, Gilroy sums this up as the white racist’s question to BAME people: “Why don’t you just go home?”

BBC controversy

Gilroy wrote about this in the 1970s and 1980s but it's been in the news much more recently. The BBC found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty's response to Donald Trump suggesting congresswomen should 'go home' to the countries in which they or their parents were born. The original clip and full article can be found below:





Paul Gilroy and Russell Brand

In 2017, Paul Gilroy took part in Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast, exploring ideas and modern culture. Watch the following two extracts and consider how Gilroy’s ideas reflect recent events and media culture.

Extract 1: 17.50 – 25.45
Extract 2: 44.30 – 48.08

Paul Gilroy - blog task

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?

2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?

6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?

7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.

8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?

9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?

10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

This is your half-term homework - due in your first exam lesson after half-term.

Make sure you've also got the last sections of your Teen Vogue case study complete plus your regular stories from Teen Vogue and The Voice:

Teen Vogue - audience and representation
Teen Vogue - industry and social media
Teen Vogue and The Voice - weekly story focus

Make sure all of the above - including today's work on Gilroy - is complete for your first lesson after half-term.

Coursework: Pre-production - Shot list

The final aspect of your pre-production planning is to write a comprehensive shot list for every single possible shot we plan to film for our TV drama trailer.

A shot list is a full list of all the shots in your trailer with detailed information for each of them (shot type, action etc.) Creative shot choices aside, it’s easy to forget that a shot list is a strategic document. Creating a shot list is essentially like creating a shooting gameplan for the day.

Here's our friend Darius with a reminder of the different shot types and angles:




Here are some top tips for writing a shot list:



...And here's a specific guide to shooting a dialogue scene:



Your a shot list needs to contain EVERY shot you plan to film for your trailer AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar.

We advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word to set out your shot list - you can find an example here. It makes sense to write your shot list by scene or location rather than a huge list of every shot in the trailer in chronological order. It's also important to remember that trailers require a range of shots from the whole TV drama series - so make sure your shot list reflects this.

Finally, although trailers are very difficult to create, there is some good news: there will almost always be a series of fast-paced shots towards the end of the trailer that get across the drama and emotion of the show. Make sure you plan these in your shot list! These often don't require context or dialogue - just something dramatic, emotional or visually striking. Plan it in!

Once complete, post the shot list to your Media 2 coursework blog.

Optional pre-production: Storyboard
Hollywood filmmakers will also storyboard every shot they plan to film. They use storyboard artists to create a visual representation of the shots they wish to film - and use it to communicate a visual plan to the film crew. If you work well visually or are artistic you may wish to create storyboards for key shots in your trailer. If so, storyboard sheets are available in DF07 or online here.

Coursework: Pre-production - Mise-en-scene

Create a Mise-en-scene blogpost planning everything that will appear in front of the camera in your two-minute film trailer. 

Remember CLAMPS: Costume, Lighting, Actors (cast, placement and movement), Make-up, Props, Setting.

Costume
What will your characters wear? What is the costume supposed to communicate to the audience? How does this link to your Statement of Intent in terms of creating representations?

Lighting
How will you light your trailer? Day or night? Interior or exterior? If outside, can you use streetlights, shadows, reflected sunlight or other creative techniques to achieve the lighting style you want? If inside, experiment with creative lighting techniques using windows, blinds, artificial lights, phone flashes and more.

Actors
The first thing you need to plan is your cast - who will be in your production and which characters will they play? Try and cast people who are reasonably similar to the character they are playing (both in age and personality). Next, plan their placement and movement in key scenes in your trailer. Do you want them to appear trapped in a claustrophobic close-up? Or isolated as a tiny person in a wide shot?

Make-up
Plan any make-up you require - this can be very important for characterisation or particular sub-genres of TV drama (but make sure it still fits the crime/family brief).

Props
What props will you require? Remember, you can't use anything that might resemble a weapon in a public or school location (this is VERY important). Well-planned props can help to communicate genre and character quickly - vital in a short trailer.

Setting
This should already be largely planned using your script. However, now is the time to specify exact locations - if a classroom, which one? How will you arrange it with the teacher? When will you film there? For external locations, try and take pictures of settings or use Google Maps and Google Earth. Spending quality time planning your locations can make a huge difference to the professionalism of your film. AQA also seem to prefer external rather than school-based locations.

Here's a video guide to Mise-en-scene at degree or film-school level:



...And here's Darius Britt on the top 15 mistakes new filmmakers make - there are a few key aspects of Mise-en-scene in there:




Post your Mise-en-scene planning as a separate blogpost on your Media 2 coursework blog.

Coursework: Pre-production - Script

Your TV drama trailer needs a professional script that comprehensively plans every aspect of your production.

Read this blog on how to write a trailer script and watch the following videos too.

As we've seen previously, Darius Britt is a film blogger with loads of great tips on making short films. Here is his guide to writing drama:



And this is his actual guide to putting together a film trailer:



BBC Writers' Room
There are more great resources out there for scriptwriting. You'll find fantastic guidance for writing a script in the BBC Writers' Room. Click on the Script Library to read real examples of professional BBC scripts.

Post your finished trailer script as a separate blogpost called 'Pre-production - script'. 

Feel free to lay it out professionally using Microsoft Word and then attach a link using Google Drive in your script blogpost.

Pre-production deadline: Friday 1 November

OSP: Teen Vogue - Industry and social media

The final aspect of our work on Teen Vogue involves an industry case study and textual analysis of the magazine's social media presence. 

Industry is the final key concept to address in this in-depth study. It's important to remember that the exam question could cover anything from how Teen Vogue makes money to what attracts audiences to their social media pages. This means we need comprehensive knowledge across the board.

Notes from the lesson

Industry: Conde Nast

Teen Vogue is owned and published by Condé Nast, an American media organisation that publishes around 20 magazines including Vogue, GQ and Wired. The company targets a wide range of different audiences – 164 million consumers across its brands.


In March 2018, Condé Nast announced the launch of Influencer Platform Next Gen, a digital campaign that links advertisers and content creation. The goal is to “connect to a new generation of audience”.

Income sources

Teen Vogue’s main source of income is through selling advertising space online – adverts that are targeted using browsing history. 


However, they also monetise their customer data and loyalty, encouraging readers to register online for updates, offers and access to the ‘Insider’ area of the website. This data can then be sold to other companies or used to attract ‘advertorial’ or sponsored content. 

Teen Vogue also makes money through YouTube with plenty of 1m+ views on their video content. This is an example of digital convergence – a traditionally print-based product moving into multimedia and accessible on one device.


Finally, they run events such as the Teen Vogue summit and US tour.


Teen Vogue: fashion industry player

Although Teen Vogue has been creating headlines for its political content in recent years, it is also an important part of the fashion industry. Both editorial content and advertising is designed to create a strong desire in their audience for products featured. This links to Condé Nast’s role as a major media company interested in maximising profit.


Some argue that Teen Vogue’s more diverse coverage offers a form of public service through its political coverage. But are features criticising capitalism hypocritical when the brand is owned by a media giant like Condé Nast?

Teen Vogue: Industry and social media blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Teen Vogue Industry and social media' and work through the following tasks to complete the final aspects of your Teen Vogue case study:

Industry: Condé Nast

1) Research Teen Vogue publisher Condé Nast. What other magazines do they publish and how much money did they make last year?

2) What are Teen Vogue’s main sources of income?

3) How are traditionally print-based products like Teen Vogue diversifying to create new income streams?

4) Why is sponsored content and ‘advertorial’ particularly important in media linked to the fashion industry?

5) Do you view Teen Vogue’s content as a form of public service media or is Condé Nast simply interested in clicks and profit?


Closure of print edition research

Read the following short articles to learn the background to Condé Nast's decision to close the print edition of Teen Vogue in 2016 and then answer the questions below:

BBC: Teen Vogue: How will going online-only affect readers?
New York Times: Condé Nast Ends Teen Vogue’s Print Run
Folio: Your Teen Vogue Hot Takes Are All Wrong

1) Why does the BBC suggest “Teen Vogue’s digital game is strong”?

2) What does the BBC suggest is responsible for the Teen Vogue website’s success?

3) How did Teen Vogue justify the closure of the print magazine?

4) In the BBC article, David Hepworth suggests there is a risk to going digital-only. What is it?

5) How do online-only publications make money?

6) What does Sarah Penny suggest regarding audience consumption for print and digital – and how might it be changing for Generation-Z?

7) What does the New York Times say Conde Nast is known for?

8) The New York Times states that Conde Nast expects to bring in less revenue in 2017 than 2016… by how much?

9) The Folio article also looks at the switch from print to digital. Pick out a statistic that justifies the digital-only approach.

10) Finally, Folio also highlights some of the aspects we have studied elsewhere. Pick out two quotes from the article that link to our work on the Teen Vogue audience, representation or design.


Social media analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Teen Vogue's social media presence:

1) Look at the Teen Vogue Twitter feed (you don’t need to sign up to Twitter to see it but may need to log-in at home). How many followers does Teen Vogue have?

2) Now look at the content. Classify the first 20 tweets you can see using the sections on the Teen Vogue website: News & Politics, Fashion, Entertainment, Beauty, Lifestyle, Wellness and Homecoming. What does the Twitter feed focus on most? Does this differ to the website?

3) How are the tweets and headlines written? Can you find examples of clickbait?

4) How does the Twitter feed use videos and images?

5) Analyse the Teen Vogue Facebook page. How many ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ do they have?

6) Click on the Videos link on the left-hand menu. What type of content do the videos feature? Does this differ to the website or Twitter feed?

7) Now look at the Events tab to explore past events. What are these events and what do they tell us about how audiences interact with the Teen Vogue brand?

8) Go to the Teen Vogue Instagram page. How many followers do they have on Instagram?

9) How does the Instagram feed differ from other social media channels?

10) What examples of digital convergence and synergy can you find on Teen Vogue social media including the Teen Vogue YouTube channel? (E.g. opportunities to engage with the brand across different platforms). 

This is your final set of blog tasks for Teen Vogue and will complete your comprehensive case study for this in-depth CSP. Complete for homework - due on Friday 18 October.

OSP: Teen Vogue & The Voice month in focus

One of the key aspects for your Media Paper 2 essay on Teen Vogue and The Voice will be a range of relevant and interesting articles from these websites.

We recommend putting this homework into your timetable so you have a regular slot you complete it every week - as we'll be doing this again later in the year for the newspapers topic.

The details: for the next month, you must find a weekly news story from Teen Vogue and The Voice and read, summarise and comment on them on your blog (A*-B candidates will do more).

Teen Vogue
The Voice

You'll also find stories related to the media linked from our Twitter account, @blogmacguffin (access it online here if you don't have the Twitter app) so make sure you're following that too.

Most importantly, you need to do the following on your blog for each story...

1. Provide the title and weblink;
2. Include a relevant image, graphic or screenshot;
3. Summarise the story in your own words;
4. Explain how or why this story appeals to an audience (use media terminology and theory here);
5. Comment on the story: to what extent does it reflect the values and ideologies of the website? Is this an example of quality journalism or simply clickbait? 

You'll be presenting these to the class each week (we'll randomly select a student and you'll be expected to present from memory, so make sure you come prepared) and this will ensure you build up an archive of stories from the CSP texts to widen your media knowledge base and provide examples to use in exam questions and essays. 

What will this look like? Although this was for a slightly different task for the old specification Year 13 exam, this blog post from one of our previous Media students gives you an idea of what a valuable resource these stories quickly become.

Due: EVERY week for the next FOUR weeks - no excuses. Exact day set by your exam class teacher.