Thursday, 30 September 2010

Denotative and Connotative Analysis - Kerrang Cover


Denotative & Connotative Analysis

The band members of Muse are stood so that one is in front of the other two.
The way the band is arranged shows that the male
at the front of the main image is the lead singer.
This photograph is a close up image.


The magazine has kept the same style of the title – smashed looking text.
The magazine has kept the same text because
it is instantly recognisable to the brand of ‘Kerrang’.
The style of the text shows immediate energy – as if
you can hear the ‘smash’ of the cracking.

Along the bottom there are descriptions of the posters inside, and there is a ‘plus!’ strip at the very bottom describing the contents.
Having the free gifts of posters along one strip at the bottom all connected draws your eye towards it because it is a ‘bottom-heavy’ layout. The contrast of the red, white and black text together can create a quite chic look from this combination but the effect they are trying to achieve in this form is quite  a ‘grunge’ rocker effect. The red is a strong colour – contrasted with the black is passionate and energetic.
The photograph of the band dominates the page,
and the text of their band name ‘Muse’ is in capitals and is
bigger than the magazine title.

The way they have made the band name ‘Muse’ in capital letters – larger than the magazine title- is showing that this is the most important content
within the magazine. Using black and grey colour of the text for the short headlines above and below the band name is a sharp contrast and draws your eye towards it. The big, white text of the band name makes this the first part of the magazine you look towards.

The cover is kept quite basic with all the cover lines along the bottom, apart from one section on the right stating an ‘access’ all areas.
The strips of text at the bottom and the top create a flow of consistency.


The background of the magazine is grey.
The background of the magazine is grey – using this serious colour reflects the sternness of the band’s expressions.

There are exclamation marks after nearly every sentence.
Using the exclamation marks after each sentence on the cover gives it energy – as if each sentence is being shouted.

The barcode, issue number, date, price and website information are at the bottom right corner – taking up a small amount of room.
By putting the barcode section at the bottom right hand corner of the cover shows that is the least important part of the magazine. The price is in such a small font, almost showing this is an irrelevant piece of information – saying that if you like the magazine enough already the price is the last thing you consider when buying it.
The majority of the ‘busy’ section of the magazine is towards the bottom: keeping the top fairly clear and simple – about halfway up the page, keeping a balance.
By placing the ‘access all areas’ at the right of the cover shows that this is a less important story – they have used a clear backstage pass template which I think represents the exclusivity of this article.

Denoative & Connotative Analsis

Denotative - state what you see ( colours, people, objects)

Connotative - what do these things mean? what message is being conveyed by the audience.
                                                        ^ Colour can be a powerful indicator of meaning,

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Questionnaire Analysis

Generic Conventions:

Generic Conventions of Magazine Covers

  • Barcode/price/website/issue number + date
  • Headline in large font – overlapping image
  • Cover stories advertised with small photographs
  • Headline quotes from main article
  • Free gifts and competitions advertised
  • Questions to invite audience to read on
  • Brand promotion
  • Image overlaps title
  • Different sections of page dedicated to advertising
  • 3D effect
  • Busy background
  • Main image is often cropped
  • Large, contrasting fonts
Generic Conventions of Contents Pages

  • Pages listed in columns
  • Same colours used on front cover
  • Same text styles used to achieve cohesion
  • Pictures
  • Brand identity
  • Page numbers – main stories in bold/larger
  • Divided into features/reviews different categories
  • Letter from the editor
  • Themed ^ addresses target audience ^ letter will be themed ^ signature (personal touch)
  • How to subscribe – interaction
  • Competitions
  • Website
  • List of stockists
  • Title/logo/issue number/date/headers + footers
Conventions of a Double Page Spread

  • Columns
  • Headers footers
  • Pull quotes
  • Cohesion
  • Paragraph
  • Nature of photograph – large image on the left side of the magazine/overlapping to the right of the page into the text.
  • Borders – create a sense of cohesion by creating a border over the gutter.
  • Size of font/ word count
  • Contrasted
  • No negative space
  • Capital Letters
  • Headline
  • Gutter
  • Drop cap
  • Image captions



 

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Questionnaire

Please circle your answers

Q1) What gender are you?
Male Female
Q2) How old are you?
11-13 14-17 17-21
Q3) How often do you buy music magazines?
Never Once a day Once a week Once a month More than twice a week More than twice a month
Q4) What genre of music do you prefer?
Pop & chart music rock music rap music indie music heavy metal music other (please state) .................................
Q4) Where do you buy these magazines?
Newsagents Supermarkets Music stores Internet
Q5) How much would you be willing to spend?
Under £1 £2-£3 £3 and above
Q6) How often would you prefer a magazine to be available?
Weekly monthly
Q7) What makes you buy a magazine?
Articles & content bright front cover free gifts and competitions
Q8) What you like to see more of in a music magazine?
More in-depth articles Pull out posters/free gifts More images within the magazine information of tour dates & gigs other (please state) ...........................
Q9) What immediately attracts you to a magazine?
Cover image cover stories headline name
Q10) How do you prefer to find out about new music magazines?
Internet word of mouth other (please state) ...................................

Proposal

For my music magazine I am going to aim it at a people who have a general interest in music nothing specific –a hybrid genre. My magazine will be influenced by the fashion and culture of the music especially.

It will be of a fairly small price, as it is already a wide audience of people who are interested in general music, for example ‘pop’ and ‘chart music’. I would say that this genre could be aimed at anyone, but with the reasonably small price tag it could be aimed at people in education
and up to age of a university student - so about aged 13-late teens. The socio-economic group that they would fall into would be C2 and D (Skilled manual workers/semi skilled & unskilled manual workers).
The contents will include album reviews, live gig reports and festival information. As well as this my magazine will influence people who have an interest in the fashion and culture behind this genre.


It’s unique selling point will be that it will promote new

As it is not a specialist magazine it will be available to purchase in Whsmiths, Tescos and other supermarkets. This will be a good place to sell this magazine as it is where the most well-known magazines are sold therefore people will get to know it and purchase it weekly.
bands and provide information that would otherwise be difficult to find out. With exclusive interviews and backstage insights from performances.
My magazine will be weekly and the style of the front cover and contents will be consistent – using roughly the same layout. It will each week feature a ‘star’ interview (main headline) and every fortnight there will be a free gbased on this story. The articles and contents will be based on popular culture and be relevant to the latest events each week.
ift

Semiotics

Study of Semiotics:
Images and colours can be signifiers - meaning widely shared which the media producer can use to communicate with an audience.

* When considering mise-en-scene, it is important to remember semiotics
- Pose/facial expressions
- Set/location
- Props
- Lighting & Colour

These signs combine to create meaning - each sign must be in-keeping.
For example: imagine a cowboy wearing a baseball cap. The image would jar with the audience.

Paraigms & Syntagms
Each individual item is a paradigm and they combine to create a syntagm.

E.g. hats    boots    props
       /
All paradigms but they create a whole syntagm.

Preliminary Task Evaluation - School Magazine

Skills
The skills I employed to produce my school magazine were mainly computer based. As it has been a few years since I last used the Adobe software I had to get used to using it quickly. The other skills I employed were ascetic - learning how to make the magazine look effective and what messages it would reflect in the final design.

Conventions
The generic conventions I employed to make my magazine were having a main headline and three lesser stories as main stories. The layout was simple yet the variation of subjects made it interesting and would make people want to read inside. I included a name for my magazine, the school logo, school colour, an issue number and the date.

Representation
The semiotic choices I employed when making my magazine cover and contents were using the school colour of maroon in a consistent pattern on each page. The semiotics of the images I chose to use were photographs I had taken myself to represent each story that would have been present in the contents of the magazine. The language I used was short and catchy: The Hub dishes up vamped menu and New P.E Equipment Exercises Excitement!. By making the headlines interesting enough they created a buzz on the front cover making you want to read the inside. The layout I chose to use was a main story, as the background using a large photograph, and then three lesser main stories down the side. These three images would be highlighted in the contents using different photographs.

Preferred reading
My intended preferred reading of the magazine was for students and parents to see how busy the school environment is by making the page look exciting and busy yet organised with the structure.

Audience Feedback
My target audience felt my product to be successful in reflecting busy and buzzing school life. the cover includes the main stories relevant to school and the issues within it. They thought the photographs I had taken myself were professional looking and appropriate for their purpose of advertising different elements of school life at Harrogate Grammar.

Colour Psychology - What Colours Represent.




Red - Anger/Passion/Romance (Love)
Blue - Calm/Cold/Relaxing
Green - Fresh/Nature
Yellow - Sunshine/Happiness
Orange - Creativity/Emotion
Purple - Royalty/Wealth
Gold - Age/Oppulance
Black & White - Chic/Modern/Contemporary

Tuesday, 14 September 2010

Institution Research.

IPC Media is a magazine institution; it produces hundreds of magazines.

For example, the more well known: Look, Now, Marie Claire and NME.

http://www.ipcmedia.com/

Audiences & Genre.

Genre is a term used to classify media texts according to their characteristics.
  • Pure genres (by themselves) can be comined -> e.g. 'romcom', 'sci-fi' etc to create new products; with elements of different ones.

Iconography - the signs that we associate with a particular genre; setting, characters, objects etc.

Audiences,

Audiences like genre because it is helpful in identifying the type of product and therefore we have certain expectations about it. They like the reassurance of a familiar pattern.
Producers like genres because they secure good sales, because they know the popularity of certain genres and genres combined. Genre makes it easy to promote and advertise and is an easy way to explain the film, which helps greatly in marketing it.

* Changing Audience:
Since the end of the 20th Century audiences changed because new tecnology means there is now a huge amount of choice. We used to talk about a MASS audience and you could talk about broadcasting. Today we talk about narrow casting and a FRAGMENTED audience. NICHE audiences define a small audience with a specialist interest.

* Defining the Audience:
Age/nationality/location/ethnicity/religion/politics/education.

* Socio-economic groups:
A - High management positions
B - Middle level management
C1 - Junior managers
C2 - Skilled manual workers
D - Semi-skilled/unskilled manual workers
E - Casual workers/unemloyed and state pensioners.

Audiences Reactions:
Hypodermic Needle theory,
- audience is passive and the media injects you with ideas whch you accept and don't question.

audience being passive - audience accepts the media tells them

active audience ->  modern: take from the media what they want, they don't accept and believe everything the media tells them. ( uses and gratification theory)
                                 ^ audience has a set of needs which the media meets in different forms:

1. Diversion -> escape from everyday life
2. Personal relationships -> sociability: talking about the media with other people/identification with the characters in the media
3. Personal identity -> compare own life to situations in the media
4. Surveillance -> information about what's going on in the world

MASLOW'S HIERACHY OF NEEDS
Maslow thought that you had to satisfy one layer of needs before you move onto the other.

Self actualisation - achieved goals/in control
Esteem - status/respect from others
Social - belonging to a group
Safety - job security/friends
Physiological - food/shelter -> basic needs


* Ad companys have divided up the audience on the basis of this theory.
survivors = security + routine
social climbers = status symbols and material objects
care givers = caring and sharing
explorors = personal growth and social change

THE TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY
media --> opinion readers --> individuals

Mise-en-scene (everything in the frame).

1. Costume - choose carefully the style of hair, make-up and costume of all the subjects in the photograph.
2. Location - consider what image, mood or atmosphere you are trying to create. (select your location with this in mind)
3. Lighting + Colour - this should compliment the mood and atmosphere e.g. a sense of age, use sepia; vibrant energy, use primary colours; wealth or oppulance, highlight golds, yellows and silvers; sinistra or macabre, use blacks and purples.
4. Props - part of the setting, these must compliment the intention e.g. a cup of tea in a delicate china tea cup might not be the chosen drink of a drug added heavy rockstar.

When analysing photographs or taking them, you must be able to explain the mise-en-scene.

Different Types of Media.


 
- radio
- television
- internet
- adverts
- music
- cinema
- magazines & newspapers