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Textual Analysis by Grzegorz Wycislok

Channel 4 Advertisement
In this newspaper advertisement mise-en-scene is particularly evident. The
lighting in this poster is an essential part of character profiling. The right hand
side has darker and more shadowed lighting therefore causing the person to
portray aggressive antagonistic behaviour therefore signifying to the reader
that he is essentially representing the bad guy .
On the left hand side we see the lighting progressively becoming brighter and
less shadowed. This, when combined with the facial composition of the boy
allows the reader to acknowledge that he represents the victim, by looking
directly into the camera, he links with the audience and emphasize the
sympathy for him . As well as this hand gesture represents the image of a gun,
this emphasises that the show is in fact about disarming Britain as the web
link suggest.
It allows us to see how the a dark boy in a shirt is the stereotypical
representation of a gun owner. However this subverts from the dominant
ideology; typically we would associate gun crime with gangs of older men in
their late 20s from a city background. On this picture we have two children,
which creates another impact on the audience, because young people are
linked with innocence. Although the dirty wall fits this profile we lack the image
of a gang therefore allowing the audience to assume that it is a more serious
issue than they may realise. It does not only exist in a city setting but also in
unexpected environments.

Representation
It also follows the typical Channel 4 convention by
adding a simple 4 symbol. It works to promote the
show as specific to this channel. White 4 causes the
logo to stand out against the dull background
emphasising that this is the show presenting it. Channel
4 uses this type of advertising throughout their
promotion therefore they are recognisable simply
through the symbol 4. As well as this they have a small
tag line to show the website and name of the show. This
minimal advertising allows the audience to focus on the
imagery presented therefore causing it to become more
effective. The singular word disarming Britain is written
in small text, this emphasises the idea that the imagery
is supposed to do most of the advertising and the tag
line simply defines where it can be found and what to
look for on the channel. No more advertising is needed.

Audience
This documentary advertisement is aimed at a more
mature audience as it target their sympathetic parental
natures, mainly because children were used on the picture.
The explicit imagery intends to shock and scare the
audience into understanding the reality of the situation,
especially as it is called disarming Britain. These issues
often occur within the late teenage to adulthood years of
someone's life, therefore by targeting this audience as
opposed to one of younger children they are forcing it upon
an appropriate age to understand, as well as facing an
audience who may have to deal with such a situation
themselves. The setting is one which would be recognised
throughout an older society causing their message to have
the necessary effect and bring in a wider audience base.
The use of children actors allows us to assume the target
audience will be both male and females in late 20s.