Magazines

Mammoth Revision PowerPoint

The Task To produce the front page, contents and a

double page spread of a new music magazine.

Your research and planning needs to look at existing examples of each. This should be by way of analysis tasks and planning tasks.

The following slide is the checklist provided in the G321 booklet. This is a list of the work you should have already submitted.

Task Checklist (Minimum Requirement) Brain storming details of initial-to-final ideas. Should include mind maps on genre/magazine ideas. Page layouts that are readable and contain image, colour, shot types, any text and key

conventions. More than one draft! Planning edit: e.g details of image manipulation from one shot to the other so that editing is

planned. For example desaturated…, or colour boost…, or focal point and blur… etc. These should also be evaluated.

Test Shots: Annotated photographs/sketches of test shots are important. Decisions need to be justified and relate to genre conventions, if students challenge the generic blue print then they need to explain this.

Costumes, props and objects: All ideas should be annotated. ‘Characters’: Brief background details of the nature of the characters are important. Although you

are focusing on music you need to have an idea of who your ‘artist’ is. Casting of ‘characters’ – brief explanations of casting decisions. Some student hold auditions for

roles and include pics or notes related to auditions. Avoid casting 6th formers who are meant to be hardened gangster rappers otherwise the magazine will be unconvincing.

Equipment list: Digital camera (students must include name of camera), tripod, lights, filters for camera etc. Details of any special effects.

Shooting schedule: Organisation of time (dates when going to shoot), to include locations and names of actors required.

Analysis of three magazines in the same genre. This should include cover, contents and double page spread for each example.

Inter textual references: Student’s ideas need to be explained: 1) Reasons for choice of ideas. 2) Source of ideas with explicit or implicit references to thrillers you have researched. This could be through location, costume, character, action, shot type, soundtrack. This is HIGHLY IMPORTANT

G321 Booklet Print is on the o drive; O:\Media Studies\A Level\AS\G321

Example Page Layouts

Example Test Shots - LocationI took some test shots at my chosen location and some of the surroundings. This was done to test the lighting within the room to see how the photographs would come out. In the first shot the flash was not on and you can see how the photo is not very clear or sharp, but in the other shots when the flash was on it made the location look better.

Example Test Shots - CoverFront cover shots: I decided on the composition and clothing style that my model had. I chose a brown tweed jacket, white shirt and tie, casual skinny jeans and smart brown leather shoes. Typically this is the way which a person interested and linked into the Indie Rock genre dresses. I knew this is the type of style that I wanted to use, this was influenced by my research into the representation of the Indie Rock Genre. I tried 3 different kind of compositions which were a white background with the model standing and posing. The next was one where the model sits on some steps posing with the guitar. And the last one was the model standing up against a dark wooden background.

Example Test Shots – Double Page SpreadDouble page spread shots: For my double page spread I have positioned my model to sit on a chair whist playing his guitar. The setting I chose shows key iconography of the Indie Rock genre. In the background audience can see shelves of records. I chose the guitar in which my model used for the pictures, this was a vintage Gibson 1964 guitar. This certain guitar is typically associated with the Rock and Indie Rock genre. I chose to use this guitar for my photographs because of what genre it shows. Also the fact that it is red was another reason for my decision. As in my beginning draft designs I had used a lot of red within the designs, in things such as title, copy and shapes. So I thought this would be my best choice for an instrument.

Example Image Manipulation

Example Analysis - Cover

Example Analysis - Contents

Example Analysis – Double Page Spread

Institution You need to show understanding of your magazine’s

institution. Identify who is responsible for the publication of

similar magazines in your chosen genre. Collect key information about them and the

magazine. Add this to your audience research.

You should be making reference to institution in both your planning and your analytical tasks. Explain whether or not you would want the institutions you have looked at to produce your magazine and give reasons why/why not.

Magazine publishing houses. IPC

MediaMagazines published:• NME• What’s on TV• Horse and hound• Golf monthly• Soaplife• Look• Now • Style at home • Chat • Cycling fitnessAnd more…

History:The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963 following the merger of the UK's three leading magazine publishers - George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications - who came together with the Mirror Group to form the International Publishing Corporation (IPC). Five years later IPC was created (1968) these 3 company's already had a lot of history after being founded in 1881, 1890 and 1880 respectively. IPC was acquired by Time Warner in 2001 and was renamed Time Inc. UK in 2014 after Time Inc. acquired the company in connection with its spinoff from Time Warner.

IPC Media had a revenue of 6bn pounds as from September 2014 to September 2015.

They recently sold their ‘Nuts magazine’ this shows that they want to be a more respectful company and do not support pornography. This would give the company a higher name in the industry. Other magazines produced by IPC Media have target audience’s like older males as they have editions such as ‘golf monthly’ and ‘cycling fitness’ but also accommodate for young female adults with things such as ‘chat’ and soap life’. Magazines such as ‘NME’ are for everyone as they cover a range of bands. Which all have a wide variety of fans. Magazines such as ‘style at home’ are for everyone from families to young couples and this magazine helps them with designs in their new homes.

The mission statement for IPC Media is Iconic media brands. Content built on amazing relationships and inspired conversations with millions of consumers.

General circulation figures:• What’s on TV: 1,253,697, magazines

printed per year but has risen 0.3% since last year.

• Chat: 374,730, magazines printed per year, dropped -9.7% in the last year.

• Marie Claire: 266,881, magazines printed per year but has risen 0.7% in the last year.

• NME: 15,384 printed per year but has risen 21.1% in the last year.

Bauer MediaMagazines published:• Kerrang • Take A

Break• Tv Choice• Q• Women's

weekly• Empire And more….

History:At the beginning of the 20th century, Bauer is one of the first companies ever to publish a free advertising paper in Germany: the Rothenburgsorter Zeitung. Today the Bauer Media Group is Europe's largest magazine publisher and a market leader with its titles, including the key markets of Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland and the USA. The company has a presence in a total of 20 countries. Since 2010 responsibility for the family company has been held by Yvonne Bauer, the fifth generation to lead the publishing corporation. She is driving the expansion of international business as well as the continued development of the magazines and digital business.

General circulation figures:• Take a break: 791,001, magazines printed

per year but has dropped -%5 since last year• Kerrang!: 42,077 magazines printed per year

but has dropped -2.1% since last year.• TV Choice 1,404,382 magazines printed per

year but has dropped -4.3% since last year.• Empire: 167,056 magazines printed per year

but has dropped -3.2% since last year.

Mission statement:The UK’s most influential media brand network

Example Market Research

Conde NastMagazines published: Vogue, Glamour, Wired, House & garden, Pitch fork, Golf world , Brides And more…

55 million subscribers.

History: The publishing house was founded by entrepreneur Condé Nast in 1909 in the United States. His first purchase was Vogue, a high-class fashion magazine at the time, an elegant compilation of beautiful verses and photos. Condé Nast inherited his high society vision from his French mother and it helped him get to know the target audience of his new magazine and its demands. As a result, Vogue became a raving success in the US.

Conde Nast reports 15.5% in pre-tax profits.

Condé Nast International is the international arm of the New-York based publishing company which produces many of the world's best known magazine brands, including Vogue, Glamour, Gentleman's Quarterly, Architectural Digest, Wired, House & Garden, Condé Nast Traveller, Tatler and Vanity Fair. With headquarters located in London, Condé Nast International publishes 126 magazines, close to 100 websites and more than 200 tablet and mobile apps.

Conde Nast's Target Audiences:• Prestige Pioneer (prestige beauty buyer/first to try)• Big-Basket Beauty (mass beauty/volume buyer)• Right from the Runway (luxury fashion follower)• Eclectic Stylist (high/low fashion buyer)• Alpha-Millennial (young peer leaders)• Lovemark Mom (moms who buy brand names/not generics)• Motor Maven (luxury car experts/the source for their friends)• Shopping without Borders (global traveler)• Tech-thusiast (volume consumer electronics buyer)• On-The-Towners (leading-edge singles, large social network, love to socialize)

Future Media

Magazines published:• Guitarist• Pc gamer • Film• PlayStation • Fast Etc….

The company was founded as Future Publishing in Somerton, Somerset in 1985 by Chris Anderson with the sole magazine Amstrad Action.  An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers, the first company to do so.Anderson sold Future to Pearson PLC for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, with Future chief executive Greg Ingham and Apax Venture Partners, for £142m. In 2001 Anderson left Future.

The high-end magazine publisher's pre-tax profits fell for the second year in a row – profits have halved since 2011– with much of the blame due to investment in its fashion and design college and information technology.Turnover at the company, which publishes a range of titles including Tatler and Vanity Fair, fell by just over 6% to £109.95m.

Future Publishing has reported the first profit at its struggling US business in seven years, as the embattled media owner cut total pre-tax losses to £1.3m in the half year to the end of March.

Future, publisher of a portfolio of websites and magazines including T3, Gizmodo and Total Film, also reported that 50% of its revenues now come from digital and diversified businesses.

The company, which reported a £35m loss and cut more than 400 staff last year, said that the transformation of the struggling print-focused business into a digitally diversified content business is now almost completed.

Adjusted profits – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items – were £1.8m in the six months to the end of March

Music magazine related to the publishing house:

All the preceding slides were taken from the following blog;

http://hcronefoundationportfolio.blogspot.co.uk/

It is worth looking at as there are other tasks on there you might like to use.

Another good blog is;

http://6103racheljinksg321fp.blogspot.co.uk/

Although you should be looking at existing work to help inspire you please remember it is not acceptable to copy another students work. Copying work and passing it off as your own is plagiarism and could mean your coursework is disqualified.

Revision The following slides are from previous lessons on audience

theory and how to decode a text.

You should be making clear reference to audience theory in both your analysis and your own planning. The most relevant one is the uses and gratifications model combined with Maslow.

It is also worth looking at Andrew Goodwin and Star Image as well as Laura Mulvey and her Male Gaze theory.

Bear in mind that at A level there is an expectation for your to do independent reading and research on theories. This should form part of your 10 hours independent study.

Audience TheoryThree questions:1) Why do audiences choose to consume certain texts?

2) How do they consume texts?3) What happens when they consume texts?

Audience Theory There are three theories of audience

that we can apply to help us come to a better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience.

1. The Effects Model or the Hypodermic Model

2. The Uses and Gratifications Model3. Reception Theory

The Effects Model The consumption of media texts has

an effect or influence upon the audience

It is normally considered that this effect is negative

Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence

The power lies with the message of the text

The Effects Model This model is also called:The Hypodermic Model Here, the messages in media texts are

injected into the audience by the powerful, syringe-like, media

The audience is powerless to resist Therefore, the media works like a drug and the

audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.

The Effects Model Key evidence for the Effects Model1. The Frankfurt School theorised in the

1920s and 30s that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments

2. The Bobo Doll experimentThis is a very controversial piece of research that apparently proved that children copy violent behaviour

The Effects ModelThe Bobo Doll Experiment

This was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura

The Effects Model In the experiment: Children watched a video where an adult

violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo Doll The children were then taken to a room with

attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch

The children were then led to another room with Bobo Dolls

88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour

The Effects ModelThe conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content

There are many problems with the experiment. What do you think are the flaws with the methodology? Does it indeed prove that children imitate violent media content?

The Effects ModelThe Effects Model (backed up by the Bobo Doll experiment) is still the dominant theory used by politicians, some parts of the media and some religious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts.

The Effects Model Key examples sited as causing or being

contributory factors are: The film Child’s Play 3 in the murder of

James Bulger in 1993 The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan

Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a

number of rapes and violent attacks The film Severance (2006) in the murder of

Simon Everitt

The Effects Model In each case there was a media and political

outcry for the texts to be banned In some cases laws were changed, films

banned, and newspapers demanded the burning of films

Subsequently, in each case it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and the violent acts

The Effects Model The Effects Model contributes to

Moral Panics whereby: The media produce inactivity, make

us into students who won’t pass their exams or ‘couch potatoes’ who make no effort to get a job

The media produces violent ‘copycat’ behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisements

The Uses and Gratifications Model It is still unclear that there is any link between

the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour

It is also clear the theory is flawed in that many people do watch violent texts and appear not to be influenced

Therefore a new theory is necessary This is called the:Uses and Gratifications Model

The Uses and Gratifications Model The Uses and Gratifications Model

is the opposite of the Effects Model The audience is active The audience uses the text & is NOT

used by it The audience uses the text for its

own gratification or pleasure

The Uses and Gratifications Model Here, power lies with the audience NOT

the producers This theory emphasises what audiences do

with media texts – how and why they use them

Far from being duped by the media , the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit

The Uses and Gratifications Model Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify

needs for: Diversion Escapism Information Pleasure Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one’s

own Sexual stimulation

The Uses and Gratifications Model The audience is in control and consumption of

the media helps people with issues such as: Learning Emotional satisfaction Relaxation Help with issues of personal identity Help with issues of social identity Help with issues of aggression and violence

The Uses and Gratifications Model Controversially the theory suggests the

consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful

The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence

The audience’s inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts

Reception Theory Given that the Effects model and the Uses and

Gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s

This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences

Reception Theory The theory suggests that: When a producer constructs a text it is

encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience

In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say

In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message

Reception Theory Stuart Hall identified three types of

audience readings (or decoding) of the text:

1. Dominant or preferred

2. Negotiated 3. Oppositional

Reception Theory1.Dominant Where the audience decodes

the message as the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it

E.g. Watching a political speech and agreeing with it

Reception Theory2. Negotiated Where the audience accepts,

rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views

E.g. Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested

Reception Theory3. Oppositional Where the dominant meaning is

recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons

E.g. Total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

Reception TheoryAudience Decodes

Meaning/Message

Dominant or preferred

ProducerEncodes NegotiatedMeaning

Oppositional