Analysing a Collage Magazine

Collage Bulletin Analysis

In this collage magazine we see how the school can create a magazine and what it consists of. The cover uses red and white which represents Christmas. Also the text and images reflect Christmas as there is a Christmas tree and a penguin. We can see how it is aimed towards parents than the pupils as the old layout and traditional logo. Also a lot of texts are used which I didn't think many pupils would like to read. A heads message is also used which shows that all of the teachers are being interactive with the pupils. The cover also uses capitalization to make subheadings and headings stand out to the reader and to give key information. This also uses a informal technique to show its a school bulletin and aimed towards school pupils and parents. This also has a connotation of Christmas as it contains Christmas features such as the Christmas tree and penguin. Also we see the snow on the "cardinal" in the heading. We can also see how the school are being interactive with the school and parents through the heads message.

Music Magazine Annotation Analysis and Comparrison

After creating two annotations of music magazines I have decided to analyse them as they are both different in there own way. For the first "Florence" magazine I found that it had a more structured house style compared the "The Killers" cover as it stayed to one particular house style and colour scheme. Om the other hand "The Killers" cover used a lot more bright colours and seemed less formal.
Also after annotating two NME magazine covers I have noticed how they really vary in the types of magazines and genres they specialise in. Also I have noticed how include some of the same features as they each follow a specific layout.
This comparison clearly shows 2 completely different genres and how they are presented on a magazine cover, also why they have presented the in this way. WE see why they have portrayed a specific genre this way as it may reflect the band a specific way whether its negatively or positively. Simple things such as the colour can represent a band or genre as through most metal covers are dark.

Music Magazine Annotation 2

Music Magazine Annotation 1

Applying the male gaze

Applying the male Gaze in Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks EP - 11th Oct 2013

Throughout the episode i have noticed that most of the women wear make up and for the most part are very attractive and seductive through there personality which supports the male gaze. Women would be against this as they may see it as the characters are representing women as slutty. Although this can just be women being jealous as the character are attractive and get a lot of attention. In hollyoaks women always seem to have the more dominant role, we see this as one of the female characters has another tied up, in this scene dark lighting and close ups are used to show expression on the characters faces as well as to make it more dramatic. Close ups can also be used to show there attractiveness.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

Our first preliminary task is to create a magazine front cover for cardinal heenan sixth form. When designing a front cover there are many things to take into concideration including a structured layout, a good reflection of colours through the entriety of the cover, covers usually include a medium shot to really show the character, formal or informal texts, a strong facial express that may show the tone of the magazine.
These are just some of the key features magazine covers include. Colour reflection is sometimes used in cover to present the mood and atmosphere and sometimes paralinguistic features that show a hidden meaning such as in this cover red, blue and white stars are used to maybe show he is from america and his music may be about that.

The Next Task

The next task will consist of me advancing in the course to research in detail about collage magazines and what we should put into our own collage magazine. As i research i am going to see what is important to put into front covers and why it is. As you see from the above i already have a clear understanding of what the contents of a music magazine cover are and what affect they have graphologically. As i create my magazine front cover i am going to use programs such as photoshop to further enhance the affectiveness of the front cover by maybe changing the layout more suitable for a collage cover.

Feminism

Feminism

The term "feminism" is only a recent theory although the roots go back much further. Marie de France was the first ever feminist who used poems to express her opinion. In the fifth century there was a french writer called Christine de Pisan who is considered the first ever "feminist" who would write about her opinion on men and the appearance of women. A key event for feminism is in 1787 where british translator and journalist joined a radical circle of intellectuals to get her opinion out there. Another key event was in 1854 were Barbara Leigh Smith drew together a group calling themselves the "feminists" as they campaigned to change laws. This then led to the outbreak of "feminism" as more and more people would become feminists. This created the womens rights campaign in the 1960s which ensured discriminatory laws for women.

The popularity in feminism then led onto people having other theories that relate to feminism such as "the male gaze" (1975) by Laura Mulvey. This idea represents how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women. For example a man might think Scarlett Johansson is attractive and seductive, she might also think that she is attractive but other women may think she represents weakness to women and they are a piece of material, women may also think this as they could be jealous of her.

Here we see beth ditto naked on the cover of nme. This is used to represent feminism and show the impact feminism has. Because this cover shows a more unattractive naked woman it makes feminists unconfortable as it suggest that there is no such thing as feminism and instead shows how it really is just how woman may be jelous. Also this cover shows how women dont have to be attractive to be on the cover of a magazine. Feminists would also support this because it has made males against this and not buy it. 

Semiotic Theory

Semiotic Theory

Semiotic Theory is the relationship between a sign, an object and the meaning behind it, when a person interprets the sign they believe that the sign represents the object. The sign is the interpretant which means that is the representation of the object; according to C. Morris people are the interpreters of signs and interpretations are concluded through three stages:

Perception: when a person becomes aware of the sign in front of them.

Manipulation: when a person interprets the sign and decides how to react or respond to it.

Consummation: when a person responds to the sign

Denotation

Denotation is the literal meaning of the sign, this can be referred to the dictionary definition of the sign. Denotation can be contrasted to connotation if the sign doesn't have the same connotation as the denotation.

Connotation

Connotation is the person that is viewing the sign and there personal opinion of what it portrays as. The connotation contrasts with the denotation depending on the sign.

I have used this cover from NME of the killers as in this cover you see multiple expressions and this can be interpreted through the connotation and denotation. The denotation is that the band are laid back and don't really care about what is going on around them, also through there facial expressions you can see how they aren't showing any true emotion. The connotation in this is that really the band does care about what is going on and what there image portrays as. Also you know this as it explains how they are talking about there music and are passionate about it. The cover also uses a lot of lighter and friendly colours such as pink and yellow to show the depth of the content aswell as how graphic it may be.