A2 Media Studies - Print Work Analysis of Britain's Forgotten Children

1. Textual Analysis – Print Work
CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY –
B R I T A I N ’ S F O R G O T T E N C H I L D R E N

2. Background Information
‘Britain’s Forgotten Children’ is a week-long series featured on
Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The documentary uses the uses
and gratifications theory to educate and inform audiences about the
issues faced by children living the care system in the UK today.
The documentary also uses the uses and gratifications theory by
aiming to entertain audiences through different documentary
conventions, such as interviews, reconstructions and archive
footage.
The documentary’s purpose is to encourage attitudinal change
amongst it’s viewers.
For this textual analysis, I will be analysing the print work of the
documentary; this will help me understand codes and conventions
which I will need to consider in my own documentary print work.
Furthermore, it will also give me a good understanding of how to lay
out my own print work in a professional and effective way.

3. The advertisement shows people
passing by and ignoring the child in
need of help. This has been done to
connote that the people of Britain are
oblivious to the children who are
being put into Britain’s care system
everyday.
Visual
Image
The people passing by appear to be
adults. This is done to represent the
documentary’s view that it is adults
who are ignoring the children.
The location appears to be
an average street in
Britain. This is done to
connote that this is
happening throughout the
country, rather than one
specific location.
The image shows
the child sinking into
the ground around
him as he tries to
hold on. This
representation links
to the purpose of
the documentary
‘Britain’s Forgotten
Children’ and
connotes how many
children in today’s
society are being
forgotten about and
are essentially
disappearing into
today’s care system.
The image of the child
remains in sharp focus,
while the surrounding
adults are blurred. This
helps to connote how
the adults are quickly
walking past the child
and are unaware of the
issue taking place. This
is unusual to see in
society; most adults
would help a child in
need. This alternative
representation helps
to make the
advertisement more
shocking.
This is a striking section of the image and
immediately draws the audience’s attention.
This section of the image dominates the
advertisement, making the child unnoticed and
irrelevant in the background.

4. Lighting &
Colour
The child is wearing
a bright red, a
colour which
immediately helps
to catch the
audience’s
attention. This
colour helps to show
the focal point of
the documentary,
the children of
Britain. This is also a
powerful colour,
which can be used
to connote danger.
This gives the
audience the
impression that the
child is in danger.
The floor tiles and surrounding people consist of dark and dull
colours and tones, such as grey. This is done to connote
sadness, as well as the fact that the documentary is going to be
covering a serious or saddening topic.
The lighting used in
the advertisement is
slightly low-key,
which also connotes
that the documentary
is going to be covering
a serious/saddening
topic. Nevertheless,
the lighting around
the child is slightly
higher-key, helping to
draw the audience’s
attention towards the
focal point.

5. Codes &
Conventions Adverts must match
the requirements of
specific television
channels. For
Channel 4, the
requirements are an
A4 landscape
poster.
A convention of
documentary
advertisements is
that they often
show the title and
scheduling
information of the
program. This is
important to inform
audiences of the
name of the
documentary and
when it is going to
be aired to the
public on television.
It is a convention for
documentary
advertisements that
the institutional logo
of the documentary is
visible to audiences.
For Channel 4, the
institutional logo of
the documentary is
always on the right
hand side. In this
case, the institution
logo has been placed
over a section of the
poster consisting of
dark colours and a
blurred image. This
helps the white
channel 4 logo to
visibly stand out to
audiences.
This text has been put in colour block to help it stand
out against the rest of the advertisement. Channel 4 has
also the same house style and font to connote that the
program is a Channel 4 production.

6. Language
Very little text has been used on this advertisement to enhance the audience. The only text featured
has been used to inform the audience what the documentary is about and when it’s going to be aired
on television. This leaves the audience guessing about what happens in the documentary and
encourages them to watch it to find out.
It is an important
feature of print
advertisements that
the title is simple
and can easily be
seen and
understood from a
quick glance.
Large amounts of
texts may put
audiences off the
advertisement; they
may not want to
read it or may not
have the time.

7. Space, Sizing & Positioning
The rule of thirds is a concept in which the frame is divided into 9 imaginary sections. It is used as a
guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images. This process works by creating
reference points which can act as guidelines for framing images.
In this particular
advertisement, the
focal point, being
the child, has been
placed in this third.
Points of interest,
such as the child in
this advertisement,
should occur at 1/3
or 2/3 of the way
up (or across the
frame), rather than
directly placed in
the centre. This is
not a necessary or
desirable feature,
but it is a rule to go
by to help create
effective visual
images.

8. Emily Newson