1. Textual Analysis – California Screaming
California Screaming has been reviewed in ‘total film’, a well-known film magazine that
generates a mass audience each month. The product represented has been featured on a
double page stead, symbolising its significance and the mass audience that it would like to
generate by having a full page spread.
The majority of the product is dominated by the image
which holds significance to the product, as of it being
featured within it, further allowing the audience to identify
(uses and gratification theory) with the product. The
features of the image are of planes, these planes were
symbolic to the war as it was the main aspect of fighting
over boarders and ‘spying’ on
enemies. Air-raids were very
common during wars; hence
the development of gas-marks,
a symbolic feature to wars. Moreover, the planes could
potentially signify freedom and the freeness that the war could
bring. Furthermore, the pieces within the air represent the
damage the planes have done as they portray the parts of buildings and houses,
representing the damage created from war and how significant
the planes were in causing damage to the enemies. The colours
are represented as dark and mysterious, causing an enigma to
the audience as they will begin to wonder what the product
entails. The dark colours are connoted with mourning, hurt and
pain, all emotions that the war brings to people involved due to
the immorality the war upholds. However, a binary opposition is
portrayed with the background colour of a shaded grey/white; white connotes purity and
innocence, representing an opposite with the dark colours.
The product challenges stereotypical conventions of a
magazine article as it steers away from the house
style that most magazines follow. Within the page
review there are no conventional page numbers and
font titles. Moreover, the use of challenging this
entices the audience as they gain a sense of enigma as
to why this product is portrayed as ‘different’ as the
rest of the film reviews. This entices the audience to want to
watch the product, due to them possible thinking it to better
than the rest and higher reviewed as of it challenging and not
sticking with the normal conventions of how the previous
reviews have been represented.

2. Textual Analysis – California Screaming
Additionally, the typography and the actual article has
been reviewed at the bottom of the page, decreasing its
importance as it has not been represented within the rule
of thirds, which is the audiences direct eye line. The colour of the typography has been
portrayed in the colour white, signifying its purity and innocence. However, this has been
challenged by the title being portrayed on a black background, connoting a binary
opposition between the two colours, which can potentially represents the villain and the
hero (trodovs 8 props) within the product. Moreover, the product stays within the
stereotypical conventions of house style,
when it comes to the article as, due to the
columns being presented and the title
represented above the typography which
is stereotypically conventional, though it
has been previously challenged with
where the image had been placed.
The image has been represented within the rule of thirds and, therefore, dominating that of
the text; however, the text has been represented in a different colour, contrasting that of
the main image which could represent a binary opposition within the narrative of the
product. Furthermore, the layout of the text has been represented in columns structuring
the article like expected of that in a film, though with scenes, splitting up different content
mentioned about the product in order to have the article flow like that of the narrative. The
double page spread reinforces the idea of the product being significant due to it being
spread out; this further entices the audience as an enigma is built of why the article has
been represented differently to that of the stereotypical house style of the magazine,
enticing them to want to read the product. The language is very limited in order to not
reveal much about the product so that the audience are left on an enigma of how the
product develops or what happens at the end of the product, enticing them to go and watch
the production. War is a significantly fragile subject due to the damage caused and those
lost, therefore, the article needs to be of a tamed nature due to a wide range of audiences
reading the magazine for various reasons, conversely, this is not necessarily a negative as
more enigma is built by the use of the limited explanation of how the narrative of the
production unfolds.
Conclusively, the article stays within the stereotypical conventions of representing a war
time product, due to the natural and earthy colours used. The symbolic connotation of the
war, such as the helicopter allows the audience to further identify (uses and gratification
theory) with the genre of the article.