Primary Existing Products Research

E4 Website Anaylsis

This is the E4 homepage. The main colours within the homepage are purple, black and white. The paradigmatic choice of the colour purple on the logo especially, could suggest that E4 has a mixed gender audience. The mix between pink and blue creates the idea that E4 want to attract a larger audience, which reinforces the idea of a mixed gender audience. Also, the shade of purple could connote with youth as it is quite a young and vibrant colour. The idea of youth is then also emphasised through the style of font in the logo. The paradigmatic choice of a bubble style font is associated with graffiti in society and therefore is a cultural reference. This then creates a young vibe for the website and the company. Due to the "E" in E4 standing for entertainment, the idea of a vibrant and youthful logo could emphasise that the company want to make the audience happy and entertained, emphasising the companies overall genre. 

        The use of having a navigation bar at the top of the webpage emphasises the interaction for the audience. The use of the Anchorage within the text "Do it & win" on the navigation bar gives the audience the opportunity to get involved within the company by winning prizes for example. The use of only having a few words within "Do it & win" creates the impression that it is a very simple process and that the use of the word "win" suggests that there are prizes at stake. This will then instantly attract the audience’s attention as it is pulling them into getting involved with the company. Also, the use of the letters “WFT” on the navigation bar create a cultural content reference as in society the letters represent the phrase “What the F**k”. This reference to cultural content emphasises the young audience between 15-35 year olds as it quite a well known Abbreviation in society with young people today.

 The paradigmatic choice of the image of the Inbetweeners instantly draws attention from the audience as it is so big. The image of the boys sitting at a beach gives the impression that the object being advertised in this case The Inbetweeners Movie  is based on a beach or being on holiday. Also, the use of the bright colours on the image on both the character's clothes and the boats emphasises the young theme for the company and that the film is based at a younger audience. As the characters are in brightly coloured clothes, it suggest that the film will be quite a vibrant and happy film. Also by looking at the character's facial expressions on the image we get the impression that they are happy, which creates quite a relaxed and layed back mood, emphasising the comedy genre and its audience. By linking this image to the Anchorage used on the text "Boys Behaving Badly", it links to cultural content. This is because the phrase "boys behaving badly" has many ideas within society such as acting in a stupid manner, drinking and taking advantage of girls, which creates quite a humorous narrative. This then links with the young audience and genre as they will relate to both the film and phrase, causing the audience to be drawn in. 

By showing images of some of the popular e4 shows on a horizontal stroll, it draws attention to the most popular shows. E4 may have shown specific images of certain characters to create the idea that maybe those characters are significant at this time in the series. It creates meaning by the way in which the audience are drawn into maybe watching the show as they feel some sort of significant event might be about to occur.

This is the E4 “TV Shows” page. The main colours within this page are purple and white emphasising the idea made when discussing the homepage. This idea of the company being aimed at a mixed gender audience is then emphasised through its presentation on TV shows. Also, the aimed audience of 15-35 year olds is reinforced through the webpage’s urban style background. The use of the graffiti style writing on the white E4 logo and the idea of it being set in a car park or garage crates a young feel for the website, which is then reinforced through its shows.

The anchorage used with the word “Telly” outlining the name of the webpage is a cultural reference to society today. With the meaning of the word “telly” being associated with television in society today, it is commonly used by the younger generation aged at around 15-30. This use of anchorage is then created to emphasise the younger audience and it uses their own cultural references. Anchorage is also shown when saying "PARDY!" when advertising Made in Chelsea. This is also a cultural content reference as in society today the term "pardy" is associated the word "party". This then reinforces the idea of a younger audience as 15-35 year olds are seen as quite lively and willing to party. This could then create the impression that the show "Made in Chelsea" has a party vibe, which emphasises its younger audience. 

The paradigmatic choice of the large image of the Skins cast instantly draws attention from the audience as it is so big. It allows for the show to be advertised strongly as it is a simple image of the cast standing up against a wall, making the image more eye catching.  The idea of the characters wearing their own individual costumes creates the idea that they all have their own stereotypes and personalities. For example, the way the one character is dressed in a polo shirt and a stripy jumper suggests that he is the “nerd” style character. This paradigmatic choice links with many shows on E4, as a lot of them contain a “nerd” character and stereotype. Also, there is a character presented in rock style clothing e.g. leather jacket and long messy styled hair. This then create the idea that this character enjoys music and is quite a temperamental character. These stereotypes are influenced through many programmes on E4, which then causes the audience to apply a meaning to certain signifies  The many different styles of clothing that the characters are wearing, creates an urban and young vibe to the show. This is especially emphasised through the urban, graffiti style background as allows for a young vibe to be created. This is because graffiti is associated with young people and how some express themselves in society today.

Also, there is the image advertising "Made in Chelsea". This paradigmatic choice of the image of a couple helps the audience relate to the characters in the show. As Made in Chelsea is a Structured Reality programme and the characters situations are set up, the characters create their own interpretation of the situation and act how they would normally. This then emphasises how the audience would relate to the show. Also, as the image indicates that the show includes relationships, a younger audience may be attracted to watch the show as they find it relatable. However, the facial expression on the character "Spencer" in this image suggests that he is very happy with what seems like his girlfriend, which indicates that the show is both relatable yet fun at the same time, emphasising the target audience.

This is the Inbetweeners webpage on the E4 website. The paradigmatic choice of the black board style background creates the sense that the show is set in a school or college. This may have then been used to get the audience of especially 15-19 year olds to relate to the show and the situations that are portrayed  The black board style then emphasises the youth of the show and that the situations are relatable. Also, by looking at the drawing of the "noughts and crosses" game it could suggest that the show contains a "game like" style where the characters sometimes win or lose. This may then incorporate a sense of comedy into the shows narratives and situations.

The idea of the show being set in a school or college is reinforced through the character's costumes. As shown in the main image on the webpage, the main characters are seen as wearing a school uniform. This paradigmatic choice reinforces the idea that the show has a youthful setting. The use of having a slightly different style of school uniform could represent the different personalities that the characters hold. For example, "Will" is dressed with his blazer buttoned up, tie done up to the top and is wearing glasses. This costume choice could represent the "nerd like” stereotypes in society today, suggesting that he is boring and smart student. This idea of "Will" having a boring mindset could be emphasised through his facial expression on the image as it is quite serious and questioning. However, I feel that this idea then adds quite a bit of comedy to Will's character as it is relatable to the target audience, as they get themselves into awkward situations as often shown through the "nerd" character. Whereas the character of "Neil" is dressed in a blue school jumper with his tie not all the way up to the top. This could suggest that "Neil" is quite a messy and unorganised character. Also, his happy facial expression suggests that "Neil" is a mainly happy character who is not most intelligent. I get the impression from Neil’s overall look on this image that he comes out with very funny comments that are so funny because they are very unintelligent. I feel that this then relates to the target audience as everyone has a "stupid" friend who comes out with very random comments.

Also, by including an image of two characters, one being a girl and one being a boy, instantly creates the teenage relating issue of relationships. By using the paradigmatic choice of the pretty, blonde girl suggests that the character of "Charlotte" is the dumb, blonde who all the boys wish to go out with. Also, the use of the confident facial expression suggests that she is quite a confident and dominating character that may scare "Will". Whereas the idea of "Will" being the "nerd" in the show, suggests that he is obsessed with the character "Charlotte" and wants to go out with her. This issue may attract the audience of 15-35 year olds as they can all relate to a situation like this one. However, Will's facial expression in this image suggests that he is a very awkward character and doesn't know how to act around "Charlotte", which adds further comedy to an awkward situation.

The anchorage shown in the words "Relieve those painful school memories with The Inbetweenrs on 4oD” reinforces the idea that the audience can relate to the situations in the show. Within society today the words "painful memories" are associated with comedy and awkwardness, which represents the situations in The Inbetweeners. I feel that this anchorage was used to cause comedy from the audience and show that they can all relate to at least one awkward or funny school memory that is shown in The Inbetweeners.

After completing my primary research into the E4 website I have found that the colours, logo and language used on the fansite help create the young audience and emphasise that E4 shows are created for younger people aged between 15 and 35. By using specific language and images that are associated with younger people in society in today, help the audience to relate to the programmes, which then attract them into watching the programmes.