Analysing A College Magazine

College Magazine-

This is the cover of our school magazine which is given out every term to students to take home. It contains all the recent news and goings on in the school on one page. 

By looking at the multiple pictures we see that the school is very focused on the students enjoyment and the extra curricular activities that they provide. The theme of this issue is christmassy/ winter, we see this through the colours chosen as red and white together usually represents the christmas time. The winter these is also visible through the snow on top of the masthead, plus the headline "christmas concert".

We can also see that the head teacher is very involved in the running and activities of the school, not many head teachers would be as involved as the write an article for the magazine.

However this magazine is not very visually appealing with the pictures placed so central on the letter drawing your eye away from the text. Another bad thing about this cover is that the text is very over powering, if I saw this amount of text on something i wouldn't be drawn in to read all of it, being aimed at the students the text should be in short, quick paragraphs that students didn't have to sit down for 10 minutes to read. Also for a magazine aimed at 11-16 year olds it looks very out dated, if i were to make an improvement i would include more colourful features such as banners to liven it up more. 

Magazine analysis 2

Magazine Cover Analysis

Here i have analysed an NME music magazine cover showing my knowledge of magazine features and how they are used practically

Annotation of a music magazine

This is a copy of Vibe magazine which I have annotated. Some regular features of magazines were not included on this example, for instance a strap line wasn't used. A strap line is a memorable phrase recognisable to a brand. An example of this is "Q" magazine where at the top of nearly all of their issues is the strap line "the UK's biggest music magazine"

Feminism Applied

Feminism Applied

I have analysed the first 10 minutes of this episode of Hollyoaks. I was looking out for how women were portrayed in a show like this (television soap).
the first woman we see is in the dark somewhere, she looks isolated, however the mise-en-scene suggests she is a dark character hiding a secret. The shots we see are neither high or low so we are given no indication of authority.
another woman we see is in an army uniform, this would suggest that she has power and authority, or a higher status in society. Her body language is very masculine especially when she is standing up straight with her shoulders very wide.
The woman we see in the pit/hole is very venerable, especially the way the camera looks down on her, the dark environment suggests that someone is keeping her here against her will, which is emphisised by the screams.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

 

In the preliminary task I have been asked to create a front page of a college/ sixth form magazine. This will include me looking at other magazines as examples to go off and to refer to. I have been told that the main image has to be a medium shot which i have taken myself this also must look professional. Along with this i should have a mock up of a contents page with a realistic layout. This must be completed on publisher, however I can use photoshop to expand my skills.



 i have chosen these examples as they look professional and include medium shots and other key features that i must include when i make my own magazine cover.

Feminism

Feminism

Feminism first became big in the late 19th century when groups of women would come together to overturn rules and laws that put men above women in society, such as voting and freedom of speech for all women. Then a second wave of feminists came in force fighting about gender inequalities such as uneven pay between men and women and also the gender roles given to women as they wanted to lose the label of staying at home cooking and cleaning. In these times women were seen as objects for mens sexual pleasure, which is something women across the world were not happy about. 

Post modern feminist beliefs were the claims of inequality in pay which some women described as exploitation of the women by the males in society who had the more well payed, respected jobs whereas women were the ones who cooked and cleaned, and any man who were to clean up would be seen as feminine or would be questioned of his sexuality. 

However more modern claims of feminism are to do with childbirth and how it makes working mothers feel vulnerable coming back after maternity leave. they would believe we live in a culture of patriarchy, which means everything is run by males. 

One of the more famous feminists is Anne Oakley. She has many theories about feminism including the theory of canalization in which parents show their child the difference between boys and girls while they are young, and would give them gender related toys and do gender specific activities such as boys receiving a football or cars to play with while girls are given play kitchen sets and baby dolls. she suggests that we are teaching children the values of the 19th century in which women are to stay home and cook or look after children. She believes that parents are manipulating their children. 

Laura Mulvey another feminist came up with the theory of "the male gaze" which focuses on how heterosexual males would view females in pictures, movies, music videos ect. She thought of this phrase in 1975 and believes film audiences have to view people in peices of media through the eye of the heterosexual male. She believes that when the camera is showing these women on television they are perceived as objects for men to look at rather than just another person on the screen.


The magazine cover on the right shows a woman who to most males would be classed as unattractive, wearing no clothes. This is someone who does not fit into the theory of the male gaze. Although she is showing off her body, males wouldn't look at her the way they would look at other women they saw like this. this picture could be seen as a statement against models or other celebrities that would usually be seen in these pictures and looked at by males. The caption "Kiss my ass" could be seen as her not wanting to conform to the generic view of beauty.  the picture could also be depicting that every woman is beautiful.

Semiotic Theory

Semiotic Theory

Semiotic theory is also known as the study of signs. There are 3 stages of this theory:

The perception stage - A person recognises a sign

The manipulation stage - A person realises how to respond to this sign.

The consummation stage - The person carries out the action ordered by the sign

Denotations and Connotations-

A denotation is the literal meaning of something or describing something how it is, putting something in its simplest form. Connotations however are hidden meanings behind things. These are things that we aren't told but associate them with these things. 
EXAMPLE: The denotation of a fox would be a small,brownish orange animal with a bushy tail. However the connotation would say that a fox is cunning and sly. Two very different ways to perceive the same object/animal  this is how easily signs can change the way we see things.




On this magazine cover, there are many of these signs, you just have to look closer to see them. One example of this is that all of the group members are giving direct address, which means they are looking directly at the camera this would connote the connection they want to feel with the audience, as though they were looking right at you. The placement of the members would also suggest that the man standing in the middle would most likely be the main singer or front man in the band.