Ancillary Task Deconstructions 1

Bowie: The Five Faces of Bowie - Radio Times

David Bowie - Five Years 

 This is a double page spread promoting the BBC documentary "David Bowie - Five Years", which focuses on five separate years that shaped Bowie's career. The article in whole doesn't focus as much on the documentary as one would expect, however, it focuses on one of the years that is primarily mentioned in the "Five Years" documentary - the era between the release of "Hunky Dory" and "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." The double-page spread consists of an image of Bowie in his Pierrot Clown outfit from the "Ashes to Ashes" era on the right hand page with the text justified to fit round Bowies hand. The overall colours of the image are mostly cool colours - consisting of white and various shades of blue, along with the occasional black and red. The house style is also reinforced with the scans of the letters that Bowie sent to the Radio Times writer, Steve Turner - also the writer of the article. In addition, the blue has also been used for the title of the article - "The Five Faces of Bowie" - the "Bowie" part of the text being in a much larger font than the rest to draw attention to the fact that the article is about Davie Bowie. The "The Five Faces of Bowie" is in a smaller font which is all inside the "O" of "Bowie"; as the title is references the different "faces" of Bowie, the "O" of Bowie could represent the Face/Face shape. Above the title is a strap line: "Who is the real David Bowie? From the suburban boy to sell-out at the V&A, Steve Turner followed Britain's most mysterious rock star every step of the way." The pull quote is in simple black text, with Bowie's name in bold - this, in addition to the above point about the title, draws attention to Bowie's name to grab attention of fans/readers.
The article is about the "Hunky Dory"/"Ziggy Stardust" era from Steve Turner's point of view, which is why the first paragraph is justified around a photo of him - despite not entirely mentioning the documentary in the article itself, the essential information of the BBC documentary and what date and time it is aired. Having the essential information of the documentary above the article puts emphasis on the fact the article is promoting a documentary.
The article, unlike most, doesn't start with a drop caps - instead the drop caps is a few paragraphs into the article. The paragraphs before the drop caps are a lengthy introduction of how Turner met Bowie and become involved into his career. Once this his been described, the main article talks about one of the eras that the documentary focuses on - the era of "Hunky Dory" and "Ziggy Stardust" - from Turner's point of view. There is a pull quote from Bowie also used beside the image of him - the pull quote is from an interview done with Turner in the early 1970s - something that most likely would have been mentioned in the documentary.

The Story of Now- ITV
Now, that's what i called music! - Radio Times
This is a double page spread promoting the ITV documentary "The Story of Now". The documentary is about Richard Branson and the story of Virgin Records. The article, like the previous documentary article, sets the scene of the music industry in the '70s, intertwining quotes from an interview that the author of the article had with Branson to further set the scene/tone of the article and therefore the documentary. The main title of the article "Now, That's What I Called Music" is simply placed at the top of the two pages, in a black font, with the word "Called" in red. The use of the black and red links to the logo of Virgin (Virgin Records), setting a house style for the article which features mainly black text.The house style colours are also seen in the photo on the right side of the double-page spread on the tape that Branson is holding, drawing together the text and the image. The use of the red for "Called", along with the link to to Virgin logo, also emphasises on the fact the documentary is about something that happened and was created in the past - Virgin Records - and is therefore a look-back onto both the company and Branson. Below the title, is a strapline "Richard Branson reveals the true story of Virgin Records - and makes Danny Baker the offer of  a lifetime..." The names Richard Branson and Danny Baker are both in bold font in order to grab the attention of anyone who is looking through the listings magazine. In addition, after grabbing the attention of readers with the bold names, the use of phrases such as "reveals the true story of Virgin Records" further entices the reader into wanting to read the article - and therefore watch the documentary. The ellipsis at the end of the strapline leaves the readers abruptly in order to make them want to read on, almost as if the article is letting them into inside information - a common feature that magazines do.
In the article, there are two images been used; the main image consists of Richard Branson holding a "Now, That's what I Call Music" tape with another man who is holding a record signed by Branson. Although the image is mainly on the right hand page, there is a slight overlap where the other man's arm is on the left hand page and the text - all on the left hand page- is justified around it. The use of having the image so big, as mentioned with the bold names in the strapline, is a technique used to grab attention; although, the large image could represent how important Branson is. There is also a pull-quote placed on the shirt of Branson in the main image. The pull quote - "The girl in the shop? She became my wife" is a quote from Branson. As the quote doesn't nessecerily give out any information, it makes people want to read the article and watch the documentary in order understand the context of the quote. In addition to this image, there is a smaller black and white image on the left page of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne with Richard Branson. The use of the black and white image could represent how long Virgin Records has existed. The image also could grab attention as Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne are well known celebrities.
The article begins with the name of the documentary along with the date/time and channel in which it is aired. This information is separate from the article in order to make clear to readers when the documentary is aired, so they don't need to go through the whole article in order to get the essential information - as the article is mainly there to simply back the essential information and intrigue readers. As the main article begins, below the essential information, a drop-caps has been used for the R in Richard Branson's name. Although drop-caps are mainly used to emphasise where the article begins, the R could represent the importance of Branson in the music industry. The overall article features both descriptive and quotes referencing the time in which Virgin Records was established.

Road to Rio - Dave
This article is one that is advertising a documentary for Dave called Road to Rio. The documentary is about Mark Watson and Henning Wehn when they took a road trip across South America. Unlike the previous documentary articles that I have deconstucted, this article is set out very differently. Although the article features many colours, the most obvious/bold are the use of red and yellow - the yellow appears to be in reference to Brazil and the yellow on it's flag. The red, however, appears to simply be in reference to the main house style of the listings magazine. The article is split up into many different sections - there is a main, background information section, followed by six separate sections to reference the six episodes of the documentary and the six different countries.
Unlike the previous deconstructions, this article does not have a plain white background, instead the background is what appears to be part  of the world map that features South America - linking to the context of the documentary. Because of this feature, the first introductory text is featured in a simple white font in order to stand out enough to be able to read against the dark colours of the background. Above the introductory section is a strapline; "Footie-mad comedians Mark Watson and Henning Wehn take a road trip across South America". The stapline, as with most straplines, doesn't give out any in depth information about the article, nor the documentary. As the names of the comedians are in bold, it grabs the attention of the readers - the strapline then makes them want to read on, only giving a clue that the documentary is about football - further supported by the image of the world cup placed beside it.
Each of the six main parts to the article are about a different country and  feature a very similar layout - a large still-shot from the documentary - set out as if they are placed on a wall/pinboard - a smaller image of a footballer from that particular area, and a main body of text with a numbered heading of the country in red and yellow - the colours relating back to the house style of the magazine and the title of the article.