Gender representation

Gender is represented in the media in a very stereotypical manner, they do this to appeal to a wide audience and don't cater for exceptions or minorities. They see the male audience and try to appeal to them, by sterotyping males as being masculine, tough, and hard, and then basing their product or advertisment around this, same as with females they sterotype them as being feminine, fragile, and soft. The media's sterotypical ways rub off in society now as most people grow up with an awareness of what elements and characteristics are masculine and feminine and never challenge these codes and conventions set by the media.

Magazine history research

NME began in the early 1950's as a british magazine and the first to have a singles chart within it. Over its time NME has changed and adapted to stay popular with the audience, as it has mainly covered artists and topics popular at that certain period of time, and if that became unpopular then they would adapt the magazine in order to suit the british peoples new taste. This adaptability to change as fast as the demand of the puplic and the british music scene has made the magazine such a success, and still standing as a popular magzine over fifty years after it was first published.
Ownership has effected the magazine also over time, during the magazines life the owners have clashed with the writers and editors which has caused the magzine to change to suit. All this shows how versatile the magazine is, and why it has outlived and had more success than its rivals.
The writers and journalists where a huge element of NME and its success, as during the magazines history at some points in time the appeal of the magazine has not being the subjects but the writers themselves.

music mag evaluation

music mag evaluation

Health and Safety: Photo shoot

During our photo shoot we used redhead lights there were elements we had to take extra care with for example:

The lights are extremely fragile, and when transporting them we had to use padded bag, and be careful not to knock them.

Lights got very hot, so we had to take care when handling them.

Do not cover them because of the heat.

Do not look directly into the lights as they are extremely bright.

Switch off when not in use.

Be careful with bulbs as they are fragile and expensive.

Tape down cables so nobody trips or knocks the light.

Music magazine questionnaire

 So that I could establish what my magazine required in order to appeal to my target audience, I created a questionnaire to gather information about features my target audience believe are essential within music magazines, and also their likes and dislikes about current music magazines. These are the results from the questionnaire.

Would you prefer a music magazine to cover different genres of music, or one in particular and why you would prefer this?

My results show very mixed views on this topic, I think this will be an aspect of my magazine that I will have to try and find a balance between only having one genre, and having numerous. The reason people prefer to have one genre is so they know they will be interested in the content, and the reason people prefer numerous genres, is to offer variety to the magazine.

Name five music magazines that you could find in most shops and supermarkets today?

The results shown that Q, Kerrang, NME, Mojo, Rolling Stone were the most recognisable and popular music magazines in the market today, this helps as I can analyise these magazines and pick out ideas which make them popular to import into my magazine.

What information do you expect to see in music magazines, and what features would you like to see?

My results suggest people expect to see interviews, concert and gig dates, band/artist info, and posters, this tells me to have a successful magazine I should include these elements in my magazine 

Who are your favourite music artists?

The results show no clear winner but most artist I found repeated were just up to date artists currently in the pop charts, this shows that a successful genre of musicto focus on would probably pop, and I have found in my magazine research there are not a lot of magazines that just cover pop music.

Is your image influenced by the genre and artists you listen to?

Most my results reveal that most people dont believe their image is influenced by music, although I have these results I believe otherwise, as I believe I could guess someones music taste just from their image.

Do you consider your self to be in a particular social group e.g. Chav, Mosher, Emo, which is it, and do you think people can see this solely from your image?

Most my answers show that people dont believe they in any particular social groups, but my results also show that the people who do consider themselves in a particular social group also believe it can be seen solely from their image and style. 

Which would you prefer a monthly or weekly magazine, and why?

I had mixed results on this questions, the people reasons for saying monthly was they are usually bigger and better quality magazines with more to read, whereas the people for weekly magazines said they were more up to date and cheaper. As my results were mixed I might have to find a medium to appeal to all people.  

How much are you willing to pay for a single magazine?

All of my results were in the region of £2 - £4, this tells me this is what I should aim to make my magazine cost in order to appeal and sell to my target audience.

What element of a magazine front cover attracts you the most to a magazine, e.g. the band or artist featured on the front cover, or the actual magazine name?

Almost all my results show that it is the band or artist on the front cover that appeal to people, this shows me to have a successful magazine it is vital to chose the right band or artist to put on my cover, and should spend more time on this than a magazine name. 

  

When taking these photos I took all the camera techniques I understand into consideration to give me the best images and results possible. These are just some examples of the photos I took that demonstrate the camera techniques I used. When taking these
 photos I thought about framing techniques, and focused on trying to use nartural surroundings to act as a frame around my images for the best results. I also considered angles when taking the photos, I took all my photos from different angles to give different effects wheter they enhanced detail or scale. Next I considered depth of field and perspective, I did this by keeping  objects in both the foreground and background in focus for effect. Another element I looked at was the rule of thirds, in which I used this technique so that I could show the audience what the important piece of the photo is easilly and effectively. Finally I concentrated on balance and juxtaposition, I did this so that opposites could be used to emphasise elements within the photos such as size and scale.