Old Spice

Lucozade Analysis

Magazines

Magazine: The big issue
Social, cultural, political context

The big issue is a niche magazine outside the commercial mainstream that learners may not normally engage with. It provides a contrasting example of how the elements of the theoretical framwork for media language can be used o construct alternative representations that appeal to particular audiences.
Learners must study 2 front covers of The Big Issue, from Sep 2018.
- alternative to the mainstream
- national significance

CLIFT
CLAMPS
FAM

Key terms:
- Circulation - No. of copies a magazines sells
- Readership - not just who buys a magazines but the total number of people likely to read it
- Mass Audience - readership on a very large scale
- Niche Audience - narrow group of readers with a particular interest
- Subscription - where a reader pays for a set number of copies of a magazines in advance at a lower price and receives them by post

Intertextuality

Key Terms:
- Masthead
- Plug
- Puff
- Cover Star
- Anchorage Text
- Banner
- Skyline

                 Producer
   Audience.           Advertiser

Advertising accounts for 70% of magazine income
Small circulation is more dependent on advertising

100,000 big issues sold per week
2000 big issue vendors in Britain
Vendors buys copies for £1.25
Made more than £5M
120 countries involved

Minecraft Essay

Minecraft is an open world sandbox game created by Markus ‘Notch’ Persson in 2009. A sandbox game is one where it is completely open and there are unlimited possibilities. These include exploring, building, and playing with friends. The structures you can build are made out of 3D cubes with different textures, for example grass, dirt, water and more. There are other aspects and game modes, for example creative mode and survival mode. In creative mode the resources are unlimited and there is little combat, and in survival mode you begin with nothing and you have to collect materials in order to craft weapons, armour and other structures. One of the reasons Minecraft is and has been so popular is due to the flexibility of the gameplay, so casual players who want to create structures and build can play creative mode, and players who want a challenge and more intense gameplay can play survival mode, so they have to try harder to gain the same amount of possibilities as creative mode, as they have to explore and collect all of the materials they need to build and craft.

Minecraft has been a huge commercial success, getting bought by Microsoft for $2.5 billion, and having over 90 million players every month, which is an increase of 20 million from the previous year. One of the reasons of the huge success and continuous player base is the variety of platforms it is available on. At first, it was only available on the PC, but over the years, as more consoles came out the game was adapted and made so that these new consoles can support them. The game is now available on PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox one, PS3 and 4, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, iPhone, androids, tablets and Macs. Therefore, due to the amount of devices it is now playable on, that means that almost everyone has access to it, so their audience keeps increasing year by year, due to the vast availability of the game.

Other ways it has grown in popularity is social media presence. For example, many big YouTubers including Ali-A have played the game and uploaded it to their channels, which makes people watching want to play it and learn more about the game and how to play it and get better at it. This influence of social media has allowed the community to grow, with people creating famous buildings and sharing them with others, for example someone recreated the entire Stranger Things town.

Another way it has grown has been the conventions that started back in 2011. Minecon is 90 minutes long and is streamed on YouTube and Twitch. There is information, Q&A panels, and the community generally comes together to celebrate Minecraft, with a lot of fans dressing up, and bringing props such as a foam pick-axe, and cardboard box helmets.

Minecraft has also been a huge critical success, being the second most successful game of all time, having a 93% score on Metacritic and a 9/10 score on IGN. The reason it has been popular with the critics, is because it doesn’t have a specific genre, so is tailored for anyone to play, no matter what they are into. For example, Minecraft is a survival, building/construction and an action and adventure game. This means it is difficult to write bad reviews about it, as it doesn’t have to do just one thing to a high standard, as it does so many different things to a high standard.

Introduction to Minecraft

1. How many subscriptions does Ali-A have on his YouTube channel?
Over 16 million.

2. How many years has he been doing this?
He started uploading videos in 2009

3. Why did he start playing Minecraft?
His subscribers asked him to make Minecraft videos.

4. What doe she say he is trying to do with his content?
Try and see how he can improve his videos day by day.

5. Describe his average working day:
Wake up between 12-2pm. By 3-4pm check emails, then he makes 3 videos for the day. He has 3 different channels that he uploads on, the first video will be ready at 7:30pm, the second at 10pm and the third at 1am.

6. Why might we watch YouTubers?
To find out more about different games, to learn how to play and get better at games, and watching others play games or other types of videos for entertainment.

7. What is Twitch and what is the average time spent on it by a viewer?
Twitch is a streaming platform where people can record themselves playing games and stream them live to an audience. The average time spent watching streams by viewers is 95 minutes per day.

8. How much do you estimate Ali-A earns in a year? Check Social Blade.
Between £160k - £2.6 million.

Microsofts's purchase of Mojang:

9. How much was Minecraft purchased for?
$2.5 billion.

10. What are three reasons behind Microsoft's purchase?
a. It was already a profitable game and company so the risk wasn't too high.
b. Microsoft don't target this type of audience and their main products are slowly in decline.
c. Microsoft's assets will allow them to help players and creators of the game develop it further when they need to.

11. How might this affect the game?
It won't affect the game in a negative way, it just means that it now has a strong foundation which it can develop on further and more often.

12. What is Minecraft's biggest asset?
The community as it is constantly growing and designing new things within the game and sharing their ideas with each other.