super curricular

SUPERCURRICULAR



The Breakfast Radio 1 Show


I learnt that the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show is carefully positioned to reflect the station’s identity as a youth-focused, contemporary radio brand. The show promotes itself as offering “the biggest pop stars and freshest new music,” which makes it clear that it targets a younger audience who are typically interested in current pop culture. This directly matches Radio 1’s core demographic of 15–29-year-olds.


I also learnt how the show uses upbeat promotional language and highlights “fresh new music” to remain relevant to youth trends. Across its YouTube and social media platforms, Radio 1 has built over 7.5 million subscribers, suggesting strong engagement from a tech-savvy and digitally active audience.


I learnt about the importance of regular segments in shaping the show’s identity. These include Live Lounge, where artists perform exclusive or acoustic versions of their songs; Newsbeat, which delivers short, accessible news updates aimed at younger listeners; and The Essential Mix, a long-running feature showcasing electronic music and DJ culture. These segments reinforce Radio 1’s brand values and help maintain youth appeal.


Overall, I learnt how the Breakfast Show uses content, tone and branding to attract and retain a young audience while competing in a crowded digital media environment.






Behind The Scenes Video Of The Legend Of The 10 Rings


 From studying the behind-the-scenes production of Shang-Chi, I learnt how a range of modern visual effects technologies are used to create large-scale fantasy films. I discovered how green and blue screens allow filmmakers to replace plain backgrounds with detailed CGI worlds, making impossible locations believable. I also learnt how CGI itself is used to create mythical creatures, glowing visual effects, and huge landscapes that could never be filmed in real life.


Another key point I learnt was the use of digital doubles, which are 3D copies of actors used for dangerous stunts. This helps keep actors safe while making the action look seamless. I also learnt how motion capture records real human or animal movement and applies it to CGI characters, giving creatures like dragons realistic behaviour.


I learnt that simulations help create magical and natural effects, such as water forming shapes or energy trails from the Ten Rings, making supernatural moments feel believable. Finally, I learnt about set extensions, where only part of a set is built physically and the rest is added digitally, which saves money and makes locations look much larger and more impressive.


Overall, I learnt how different visual technologies work together to blend real footage with digital effects, creating the visually rich and believable world seen in Shang-Chi.











SMILE Media Magazine SUPER CURRICULAR-




The article looks at the horror film Smile and explains how the movie uses a smile — something we normally see as friendly or positive — to represent trauma and mental health struggles. Instead of being comforting, the smile in the film becomes a warning sign that something is seriously wrong. This twist makes the story more disturbing because it takes something familiar and turns it into something threatening.


It also explains the plot, where Rose, a psychiatrist, witnesses a patient’s violent suicide and then starts seeing creepy smiling faces everywhere. These appearances represent how her trauma follows her around and affects her everyday life. The article shows how the film uses unsettling visuals and practical effects to communicate how overwhelming trauma can feel for someone who’s trying to cope.


From reading this, I learned that horror films often have deeper meanings behind their scares. Smile isn’t just about frightening moments — it’s really about how people hide their pain behind a smile and how mental health issues can feel impossible to escape. It made me think about how horror can be used to explore serious emotional themes.






Shelter advert commentry:


The Shelter Christmas Appeal advert shows a clear narrative about families who are struggling with homelessness, especially at a time of year when most people are thinking about comfort and togetherness. The advert represents these families as vulnerable and in need of support, which encourages the audience to feel sympathy and imagine what it would be like to be in their situation. This links strongly to altruism and prosocial behaviour because the advert is designed to make people want to help others without expecting anything in return. By showing real hardship and using emotional storytelling, the charity aims to trigger empathy, which is a key factor in motivating people to donate, support the cause, or take action. The message is that helping others is both morally important and urgently needed, so the media text works to promote caring, generosity, and social responsibility.







Jean Baudrillard:









Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality explains how modern media can blur the boundary between what is real and what is artificial. In my extra reading, I learned that Baudrillard believed many images and representations no longer reflect real life but create their own version of it. This idea became clearer when I looked at examples like advertising, influencers, and reality-style content, where what we see is often edited or staged to appear more convincing than reality itself.

The extra reading also helped me understand how hyperreality influences the way people interact with media. I realised that audiences often respond more to these constructed images than to real experiences, which shows how powerful simulations can be. This made Baudrillard’s ideas feel more relevant, as I could see how media shapes people’s expectations, identities, and beliefs through versions of reality that may not truly exist.



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