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.

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.