Feminism

Feminism is a representitive theory in which women believe that they should be treated equal to men. For example they believe they have the right to equal pay, equal rights etc.
Feminists would see today's media as disempowering women due to them not being included as much as men are within newspapers and magazines. Also, they are hardly ever used as the lead protaginists in film and media productions. The protagonist roles are usually assigned to men as they carry a "macho" image that is required to fit into the mainstream.

The TheoryAcademic feminist theory emerged as a response to the activism that became popular during the 1970's. Laura Mulvey's male gaze is often considered to be the most recognised and accurate theory that is put into practice. In film the male gaze consits of taking a viewpoint from a male's perspective in which a woman may be objectifed, for a example the camera may focus on the curves of a woman's body. Thus showing how women are often objectified and considered passive objects in both film and the broader media outputs.
 The media is considered by feminists as being constructed for men. It is sometimes viewed as a Patriarchal society in which men command the power and women are subordinate, this is often portrayed for example in a police drama where men are in a position of power over women, such as being higher rank.

Women seem to believe that they are just used for the "sex appeal" in today's magazines. For example, if we had a image of a young, attractive woman in revealing clothes and a sexy pose compared to a middleaged woman in her normal everyday wear, it it believed that the first option will sell more magazines than the second.

Mood board

This mood board represents the music that will be featured within my music magazine.

School Letters Analysis

The image above is of the Deyes High School Newsletter which we analysed together in class using media terminology and critical viewpoint.
The Deyes High Newsletter is exteremly basic, boring and generally quite plain.
I think that this is mainly due to the lack of colour used and the face that the layout is quite symmetrical.
The image at the top of the frontcover is one of the main focal points of the piece and yet, it is a pencil drawn image which gives the cover a dated look within today's modern society. However, I believe that the main reason the image is used is because the newsletter will become more appealing to the students parents, giving the school a more professional image.
The use of the Science logo and the words "Specialist Science College" emphasises the schools achievements, automatically allowing anybody who looks at the newsletter to be aware of what the schools main achievement is. It is common for schools to do something like this as it "bigs up" the schools achievements, another example of this is Maricourt High School which emphasises the schools skills in Mathematics.
There is a mix of fonts throughout the cover for example, the first sectoin of text "DEYES HIGH SCHOOL" is in Times New Roman with the 1st word being in bold, automatically drawing the readers attention to the letter. The use of "Comic Sans" font on the "Newsletter 2 December 2010" causes a mix of fonts within the page, giving off a very unprofessional look to the cover. It seems that the mix of fonts is trying to appeal to both the students parents and the students themselves by giving a professional and unprofessional approach to the cover.

The image above is of the St Ambrose Barlow Newsletter cover which we also analysed together in class using media terminology and critical viewpoint

The newsletter cover uses bold and bright colour which automatically draws the reader to the newsletter unlike the Deyes cover which isn't appealing at all. There are many features of a magazine cover which are incorporated in this cover giving a more professional look to the newsletter such as; Puffs, Pugs, Headline etc.

However, the cover looks more like an article page within a magazine as it consists of the main story and the contents list on the cover. The use of a "Redtop" masthead has also been used, creating a eye-catching and professional looking cover. Redtops are quite often used in other magazines & newspapers such as; The Sun, The Mirror, Hello! etc.

However again, the use of "Comic sans" asthe main font makes the cover look unprofessional and childish, but, the used of 4-colour images which have been cropped and edited to fit in with the anchorage which is a lot more professional and eyecatching than the pencil drawn image on the Deyes letter, causing it to give a younger appeal to the students instead of the parents.

Terminology for Magazine Analysis

Buzz Words: "Wow", "Free" and "Exclusive" are examples of a buzz word.

Puffs: Colourful boxes promoting the features within the magazine

House Style: A magazine's distinctive design that sets it apart and makes it noticable from it's rivals.

Strap Line: A slogan

Banner:  Text which stands out on a coloured background normally positioned at the bottom of the page

Copy: The main story in the magazine

Anchorage Text:  The way in which text helps to pin down and emphasise the meaning of a picture for example

Pugs: Placed at the top left and right corners of the paper and are known as the 'ears' of the page they're featured on. The price of the paper, the logo or a promotion are often positioned there.

Motto: Memorable phrase that is recognisable to the brand.

Headline: Catchy title for the main article

Sell Lines: Text on the front cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience

Caption: Description of the main image

Masthead:  Name of the magazine

Lead: The introductory paragraph of an article (usually wrote in bold or capitals)

Drop Capitals: Really big letter that starts off an article.

Newsletter Mock-Up

This is a screenshot of my mock-up newsletter layout for a college magazine front cover that we will be producing soon.
I have included a pug and a picture box which will ebable me to decide where each section should be placed allowing me to effictively manage the space on the page.

Cohen's Moral Panic

Moral Panic is a condition, episode, person or groups of people who emerge as a threat to the societal values and interests.

Feautires of Moral Panic:

• Concern - Behaviour of a particular group is represented as being a threat
• Volatility - Short lives drama, were the panic emerges dramatically then fizzes out
• Hostility - "folk devils" constructed to create clear diversion between "them" & "us"
• Consensus - widespread acceptance of the threat
• Disproportionality - wild exaggeration of the evidence.

Cohen in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics lead the way in determining what a Moral Panic was and got the public interested in what the idea is.
An example of Moral Panic is the drug and alcohol filled lifestyle of Amy Winehouse, who the media decided was influincing young people into living their lives this way.

Coursework Brief

For my media AS Coursework I have been asked to design and create a front page, contents and double page spread for a music magazine.

For inspiration on how to design my music magazine I will examine music magazines that already exist such as: Kerrang & NME.

I will look at how these publishings are presented and analyse the content within them.

I will use the information I have found to design my magazine and make it appropriate for the target market.

Whilst examining these magazines I will take into account:

• Layout
• Font style
• Use of colour
• Use of pictures
• The size of the different pictures in relation to their respective text
• Overall relevance to the purpose

By examining these features I will be able to use the knowledge I have found to creat a better finished product that is most suited to my tagert market.