Music Magazine Genre Conventions

Music Magazines often have a certain style that they like to use in their magazines depending on their target audience. MOJO is no different in the way they have stylized themselves to be more attractive to ages 35 and over who enjoy rock or more specifically, classic rock. This is known as a genre convention which most magazines have.

The title is "When the music calls you go with it" and then the artist's name, "Neil Young". It is normal for a music magazine such as MOJO to mention the artists name in the title and feature it on the cover. There are photos of another musician and the artist featured in the cover mount in addition to Neil Young, lit in very warm light with a slight downward angle making him seem important and powerful.

The cover is quite busy with most of it being covered by cover lines on the right side of the article in an ordered fashion and additional article and exclusives. The BBC Music Magazine features a similar layout with some cover lines positioned on the right side of the article.

There is an overall orange theme that presides of the magazine's front cover due to the lighting on Neil Young and the obscured object in front of him however, the MOJO title of the magazine is white as it usually is with a blue/sky coloured background behind everything on the magazine. Blue is a complimentary colour of the orange used in Neil Young's photo making it visually pleasing to look at.

The cover mount is a CD of the main featured artist Neil Young, MOJO often uses cover mounts to appeal to a listening audience as well as a reading audience to increase sales. This marketing to as many demographics as possible is commonly used in the magazine industry to compete with the digital media industry which has become immensely popular in the past 15 years.

Age ratings for videogames and film

Task 3
Go to the BBFC site and research age ratings. Why was The Lego Movie (2014) given a PG rating? Go to the PEGI site and research what age ratings are about. Why is The Lego Movie video game classification 7+?

The Lego Movie (2014) age rating

The Lego Move (2014) is primarily directed at children and families and thus was given a PG rating in the United States, however the film has been rated U for Universal on the BBFC site. This means that the film is deemed suitable for all ages in the United Kingdom. This is because it only contains comedic and unrealistic fantasy violence as well as very mild bad language such as "butt". There are 6 BBFC classifications, U, PG, 12A, 12, 15 and 18. 

The Lego Movie video game PEGI Classification

The Lego Movie video game is rated 7 PEGI for implied or non-realistic violence. This means that only children above the age of 7 years old should play this videogame as younger audiences may be frightened by some scenes and sounds. PEGI has 5 age rating classifications with different criteria for each one. These are 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+ and 18+. These ratings categorise games so that parents and people know what to expect (graphic content wise) from the game they may want to purchase. It can be assumed that the higher the age rating the more graphic and/or scary the game will be.

The presentation of Emmet in the official Lego® Movie Trailer

Task 1: how does Emmet come across? How effective would this trailer be in promoting the film?

Emmet's presentation

Emmet is presented in the Lego® movie trailer as an unlikely hero. He is not given any of the "traditional" characteristics we would expect from a protagonist hero. He isn't outstandingly strong, doesn't have any particular stand out skill sets and overall just wants to fit in with everyone else. There is nothing remarkable about him yet we see him become the hero and leader. The trailer provides a sole reason for this, someone believes in him. Wildstyle says "You're the special" and that he is "The most important person in the universe", this belief and the situation he is put in where a hero is needed forces him to become a hero and to become special.

Effectiveness of this trailer

Warner Bro's Productions partnered with Lego® for this film which is a much loved, timeless toy company that parents of children today would have grown up with. This immediately attracts parents as there is something familiar to them in the film that their children too would have grown up with. Not only this but Warner also possesses the rights to Lego® Batman which the trailer opens up with. This opening captivates comic readers and anyone vaguely familiar with superheroes. The overall upbeat soundtrack, captivating visuals and fast cutting between scenes is enticing to many viewers making this trailer effective.