Supercurricular

 19/11/25: The Media Magazine April 2022 Issue

Spider-Man: a Multiverse of Success

In this article, the writer discusses the key elements that lead to the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, with this film being the first Covid-era production to reach pre-pandemic cinema success. 

To begin, the methods of production in the filming industry is explained where, in the instance of No Way Home, Sony and Marvel co-produced this film after years of only Sony being able to make Spider-Man movies (Marvel Comics (1998) sold film rights of the character to Sony). The co-production for No Way Home enabled both companies to achieve large financial success. This is because Sony was able to fully develop more original, creative concepts, from the granted financial freedom that was created through the Sony/Marvel co-production, that have been developing since Tom Holland's Spider-Man in the MCU, 'Into the Spider-Verse (2018)' and 'Venom: Let There be Carnage (2021)'. Here, this allowed No Way Home to have Spider-Man be the only hero with the superpower to cross through cinematic universes, leading to the main plot of No Way Home, as well as the possibility of more 'dimension-hopping' films within the Spider-Man universe.

Secondly, Sony and Marvel both pandered to the concept of 'fan service' in order to engage and entertain audiences. From the usage of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland as their respective Spider-Man characters to the reintroduction of old Spider-Man villains like Electro, Green Goblin, and Sandman in trailers and other marketing (lots of inter textual references), No Way Home created quite a post-modern, 'meta' piece of cinema, adding to that sense nostalgia which not only enticed Marvel/Spider-Man fans into watching the film but also Marvel fanatics and cinephiles too.

Overall, this article showed me how the production of a movie goes beyond the actual camerawork but the deeper steps and logistics of production, where companies have to be mindful of not only the character they're portraying but also how the audience will respond to these depictions. Interestingly, many films today are following No Way Home's approach, creating a multiverse or making new content of/referencing a well-known franchise/product (e.g. 'Freaky Friday 2 (2024)', 'Barbie (2023)', Frankenstein (2025)', as well as the many Hunger Games movie) - it is evident that this technique is working for both companies and their consumers, which leaves people with the question on whether new cinema is still original/artistic anymore, or becoming just a chance to get easy money.

27/11/25: Dixon Summary: Stuart Hall's Reception Theory

Encoding: Hall states that encoding produces a mediated view of the world, as producers will report on stories but in a way that constructs a truth that they want to present to their audience to convey a specific outlook and justify their own viewpoints. Hall suggests that media encoding processes are famed using a variety of formal codes (visual and aural) to enhance the messages that media products present.

Hall discusses the production process of encoding messages where he states that:

1. an understanding of this process helps to detect the hidden bias that products have
2. genre-driven rules often frame visual or narrative structures of media products (which leads to the recycling familiar themes/events/characters which often help perpetuate stereotypes)
3. institutional context which means that the media is constructed by a fixed network of people
4. producers will encode messages that they believe will appeal to their audience

Decoding: Audiences will decode messages in different ways due to different contextual experiences. This can lead to misreading which can be formed because of:

1. overly complex narratives
2. ideas are too alien
3. language elements cannot be decoded

The mainstream media plays a crucial role in maintaining and reinforcing dominant ideologies - they create shared social constructs to maintain power to the social elites. This means that powerful people can make their vision of the world seem "natural" or "inevitable". However, hegemonies and dominant ideologies aren't fixed as marginalised groups can use the media. Additionally, audiences aren't passive and can reject the hegemony.

27/11/25: Shelter Film

Made in Social Housing

I chose this film as it was the most popular from Shelter's YouTube Account. When I googled the title, it had merchandise and a hashtag which made me believe it was much wider than a seasonal campaign. It was also made quite recently (2024) so the messaging put in place wouldn't be very out of date. 

The narrative this film presents is one of collectivism - the film uses real people from different ethnicities, ages and gender making a very inclusive and diverse campaign, representing a number of people. The film is very encouraging and subverts stereotypes of people need social housing by representing them as hopeful and inspiring. To people who need social housing, it uplifts them and encourages them. For those who can donate, it creates an "we're all in this together" feeling, suggesting that if they take part in the campaign, they can make a real difference and help those in need.

 

Beauty Advert October 2025

 I placed the perfume on a duvet to show to create the sense of exclusivity (only the audience can find this in their home), intimacy, private wealth and luxury to entice the audience into buying the perfume.

For layout, I included a slogan to attract the audience “look good, feel good, smell good” by making them believe that if they buy this product, they will be like the slogan. I also  used little amounts of text as to not draw attention away from the product as the image is the central focus. The font used is also serif to convey importance and luxury. The idea of wealth was also connoted through the purple masthead “Yardley”. 

Limited colour palette was used (purple, pink, white) to create more cohesion between the text and image, so audience would not feel distracted from the product. 

The cover lines beside the perfume are also used to attract the audience through the use of the superlative “newest” to suggest this is the latest, most modern thing (creates a sense of urgency to buy it), and the phrase “smell of success” to convey the idea that if the audience buys the product, they will be successful.

School Advert September 2025

What I learnt about:

Using the DSLR Cameras: I learnt how to angle the photos correctly so that the best lighting and effect is achieved. I also was able to see the different photo features and what the best one is for different shots that I’m taking.

Our task was to represent the school so we used pictures around the sixth form block to show student life and education in school. Because of this, I used less words as I thought pictures would be more effective to show the school slogan e.g. the main image is of 3 students laughing to show friendships which demonstrates the “happy” in SHSG. 

School Advert: