Urfana Alam - media blog

GENRE: Black Panther fits into the genre of SciFi / Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that fuses the origins of African traditions and culture with SciFi to create a genre of its own. Its philosophy of history and philosophy of science was first coined by Mark Dery in 1993 and explored its a way through the late 1990s and still continues to rise amongst today's generation. Black Panther was perhaps the first movie to properly put the idea of Afrofuturism on the map as, after the high success of the movie, more people started to look into this genre and understand it. Many have perhaps never even imaging a Marvel movie on the sets in Africa to be released.  NARRATIVE:  The narrative of Black Panther is what plays a big of it fitting into the Marvel universe. Black Panther was actually first mentioned way back in July 1996 when the fictional character made his first appearance in the Fantastic Four series in issue number 52 and joined the Avengers in 1968. Many ...

STATEMENT OF AIMS: For my project, I will be focusing on entertainment magazines that will cover a section of the mainstream media relating to crime dramas in the world of entertainment. When designing my front cover and double-page spread, I will include a variety of celebrities that may appeal to the target audience, this will satisfy their preferences when it comes to the entertainment industry and will meet the requirements. As people age, their activities and interests change in preference, this is why I will be looking into entertainment topics that modern day adults will find interesting so that I can put together a magazine and show which feels tailor made for the audience reading. Research has shown that crime and action shows are popular among this demographic, hence why my project will be based around this genre to satisfy their needs. My show will consist of crime investigation, violence (since it's 18+), and misuse of illegal substances. In order to fit the background ...

URFANA ALAM The 'WaterAid' advert is a well known charity advert that shines light on the lack of basic facilities some people have around the world. The advert starts off with cold colours showing a radio and plant pot by the window seal where you can see the rainy weather outside, there also seems to be murmuring of the weather lady on the news to notifies the person listening to the radio of the upcoming forecast. The ad then very quickly changes scenes into a land field of crops that look to be dry, however not completely dry and dying. The colour here is now warmer and minimal however as the time passes by in the advert more and more vibrant colours are added. The very first time we see Claudia, the camera is already close to her face almost as if it's trying to create that "up close and personal" type of feeling with the audience which does definitely work. It's important to get the target audience to feel a sense of connection with the people in the a...

URFANA ALAM What is the main narrative and message of the song and how is this added to or altered by the visual elements of the video and the techniques used? Does the video subvert or confirm the messages and content of the song? Dizzee Rascal plays with the imagery of black people in a white society in the music video “Dream” to represent the difference of culture between the two races. To many people, the music video may seem to very random with no actual meaning behind it however there are many hidden details in the music video that highlight stereotypes about black people. Dizzee Rascal is a black artist from England who rose to fame through his talent in music. Only at the age of 14, he became an amateur drum and base DJ and by age 16 he had self-produced his first single “I Luv U.” From here onward his fame kept growing as he was receiving more and more recognition for his music as time went by. However, Dizzee wanted to break the cycle of black artists being in the ra...

URFANA ALAM The media often portrays generic views on certain aspects of the industry, one of these aspects are gender. Often in music videos, advertisements, and in movies, genders are shown to have very different roles and morals in comparison to one and another, this keeps the stereotypical views about genders in society on going. Jason Derulo’s released a music video on the 21stof May in 2014 called ‘Wiggle’ which featured Snoop Dogg and was a global hit. The whole song is about women dancing and “wiggling” their body as the song contains lyrics such as “you know what to do with that big fat butt” and “your booty like two planets.” Not only the lyrics, but the music video also Derulo in the middle of the bed surrounded by 8 girls, indicating girls as being sex objects. While the men are dressed in gold chains, the women are given to fancy jewellery that stands out suggesting that the men are richer in this music video and have more power an authority over the girls as t...