THE MAGAZINE FOR STUDENTS OF FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES APRIL 2019 ISSUE 68 THE i SORRY TO BOTHER YOU TAIKA WAITITI AND MASCULINITY LIFE ON MARS SEMIOTICS IN RUSSIAN DOLL TELLTALE GAMES NIKE & COLIN KAEPERNICK CITY OF GOD BANDERSNATCH Contents 04 MediaMagazine Conference MediaMagazine is published Koatherr Aggouche and by the English and Media Aqsa Safdar from Burntwood Centre, a non-profit making School review the day. organisation. The Centre publishes a wide range of 08 Sorry to Bother You classroom materials and & Code-switching runs courses for teachers. 08 Giles Gough explores the If you’re studying English relationship between race, at A Level, look out for capitalism and language emagazine, also published in the much overlooked by the Centre. but essential new film. 12 The i, the Little Paper that Could It may be the new kid on the block of British newspapers, 16 but the i is showing its older siblings a thing or two about keeping up with the times. Georgia Platman explains. 16 Cinematic Language and Representation in City of God 24 Photography and montage editing construct a powerful representation of life in the The English and Media Centre Brazilian favela in Meirelles’ 18 Compton Terrace City of God, says Sophie Muir. London N1 2UN Telephone: 020 7359 8080 20 The Ideology of Beauty Fax: 020 7354 0133 Joanna Bailey deconstructs Email for subscription enquiries: the disturbing messages [email protected] in Jean-Paul Gaultier’s perfume commercial ‘Welcome to the Factory’. Editor: Claire Pollard Illustrated by Tom Zaino. Associate Editor: Dan Clayton Copy-editing: Jenny Grahame Andrew McCallum 32 Subscriptions manager: Maria Pettersson Design: Sam Sullivan Newington Design Print: S&G Group Cover: Bandersnatch/Netflix 2 Contents 24 The Theory 48 Searching for the Drop: Semiotics Truth in Sugarman Claire Pollard explains how Caroline Birks asks whether semiotics is more than just audience’s expectations of a set media theory - it’s reality are being manipulated something you do every in an apparent search for ‘truth’ day in your own life. in Searching for Sugarman. 28 It’s the Freakiest 50 Interview with 52 Show: Postmodernity Stephen Segerman and Life on Mars Maggie Miranda interviews Jonathan Nunns the man who began the shows how you can use search for Sixto Rodriguez. theories of postmodernism to help negotiate the 52 Cuarón, Realism & world of Life on Mars. Y Tu Mamá También Nick Lacey examines 32 The Rise of the Narrative Cuarón’s use of the long Adventure Genre and the take, just one of the methods 38 Fall of Telltale Games he uses to create a sense Telltale Games were one of realism in his films. of the most successful companies in the industry. 58 He’s a Real Bad Egg Laurence Russell suggests the Kirsty Worrow examines reasons behind their downfall. representations of masculinities in the 38 Just Don’t Do It films of Taika Waititi. With their latest campaign Nike have turned shopping 64 The Careers Download 42 48 into an act of revolutionary Imriel Morgan, CEO of the protest. Welcome to the end ShoutOut Network explains of history. By Rashid Nix. her role and route into the world of podcasting. 42 Bandersnatch: Choosing Your Own Adventure 66 Film Notes Swimmer in an Online World Symon Quy and his With the new Black Mirror imaginary A level student giving the viewer control discuss Lynne Ramsay’s over the narrative, are we hypnotic short. all becoming consumers and producers at the same time? Missouri Sutcliffe looks at the options. 58 This magazine is not photocopiable. Why not subscribe to our web package which includes a downloadable and printable PDF of the current issue? Tel 020 7359 8080 for details. 3 STUDENT CONFERENCE 2019 Koatherr Aggouche and Aqsa Safdar from Burntwood School review the day. The day needs to What made Excellent choice Very enriching. be longer, as the event is so Anamik Saha’s talk so of guests that directly Students have a better amazing that by the end of interesting is that most relates to the A Level. understanding of the it I was ready for round two! people can identify with Excellent venue. contexts of media Daniel Bostock, student being stereotyped in Dawn Baldwin, and the industries. at Seaford College the media or real life. Xaverian College Rebecca Doncaster, Gurdev Tumber, student Beechwood School at Beechwood School 4 Ian Hislop compares Trump to Mussolini and declares that print media are not dead MM editor Claire introducing the guests Photos: Gizem Kirdagli Gizem Photos: uring the MediaMagazine conference, A Level students from various schools were presented with a Drange of different speakers from all areas of the media landscape. We gained a better understanding of the industry, benefiting our general knowledge but also helping us with our Media Studies course. Alex Hudson on Online News The first speaker was Alex Hudson, deputy editor of MetroOnline talking about online news. He explained the way MetroOnline calculates readership Alex Hudson explaining how Metro.co.uk targets or ‘success’ and how much that means their younger, more socially aware audience to him as a writer and editor. His team came up with an algorithm which goes helpful in clarifying the importance It was therefore interesting to receive beyond counting how many ‘clicks’ their of the circulation of online news. a professional’s viewpoint. We were articles get; instead they’re interested shown two music videos: Bronksi in how much time is spent on articles, Emily Caston on British Beat’s ‘Smalltown Boy’ from the 1980s whether people read to the end and Music Video which dealt with homosexuality, and who their loyal readers are. This gives The Moonlandingz’ ‘The Strangle them a better understanding of what Professor Emily Caston produced of Anna’ from 2017. This raised the online readers are doing whilst on his over 100 music videos and discussion of representation of gender page and how he can improve on it to commercials for extremely famous in society. She told us that great gain a larger audience. His speech was artists before becoming an academic. music videos are about breaking 5 Tobi Oredein and Imriel Morgan talking about how they made successful careers outside the mainstream media industry Anamik Saha speaking about race in the media the rules and not mirroring the mainstream industry’s ideologies. Ian Hislop Ian Hislop was our third speaker. He is best known as a team captain on the BBC show Have I Got News For You and as the Private Eye editor since 1986. He by far brought the most humour to the conference that day. He made it known to us that he has been sued many times due to his various controversial yet very funny newspaper Kirdagli Gizem Photos: articles and statements. He talked to us about different newspaper companies her father had lied about her mother Anamik Saha on Race in the and how ownership and control are leaving them when she was very little. Media Industries important issues for media students. He walked us through the making of his film and how most people worked Our final speaker was Dr Anamik Q&A with Alfie Barker, for free; any expenses to make the film Saha from Goldsmiths University. We Director were covered from his own pocket. were presented with a clip from Citizen Due to his young age, he was very Khan and asked whether or not we Alfie Barker, a 22-year-old filmmaker relatable for A Level students wanting thought it reinforced or challenged and graduate of the BFI Film Academy, to go into filmmaking and it was very cultural stereotypes. It was evident screened his short film I was 3 about a inspirational to hear his experiences. that the majority of students thought young woman (Katie Jarvis) finding out it reinforced stereotypes. One student 6 STUDENT CONFERENCE 2019 Allfie Barker talks Out of the Box Panel about the films that Discussion inspired him to pursue filmmaking Finally, there was a Q&A session with Tobi Oredin and Imriel Morgan. Tobi Oredin is a journalist who edits an online publication Black Ballad. Imriel Morgan is a podcaster who has produced many events and festivals including ShoutOut Live (see Imriel’s Careers Download on page 64). Both talked about their struggles finding their way into their industries as young black women. They mentioned how a few years ago large companies did not want to hear their opinions but now, as companies struggle to put out content that attracts certain audiences, it is women like these that they turn to for help. Black Ballad is an online magazine that covers many black women’s stories. Their aim is to get the everyday black woman’s story heard to the public and overall give black women a platform where their voices will be heard. They pay and support the women who write for them as they understand that journalism for black women should be valued just as highly as any others in the journalism industry. It was incredible to hear these women’s stories and how much they had to struggle to reach the point that they’re at today. Overall the MediaMagazine Conference was a truly eye-opening experience. We can sincerely say that we have both learnt so much about Photos: Gizem Kirdagli Gizem Photos: the different aspects of media in ways we never knew about before. from each side was asked to justify their to witness the discussion and hear reasoning. One student stated that it people’s viewpoints and ideologies. Koatherr Aggouche and Aqsa Safdar indeed did reinforce stereotypes due Dr Saha explained how diversity has are A level Media Studies students at to the references made to so-called become a box-ticking exercise, and Burntwood School in London.