skills development

Do you know how to scan images into a Mac?

Task 3: Essay - To What extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

In this essay, I will be explaining to what extent teenage magazines should be held responsible for the consequences of their media representations.

When searching for a magazine, teenage girl magazines in particular the first thing that captures your eye is the front page and how it has been represented. This may tell you how to dress, how to do your make up or how to do your hair sticking to the key stereotype of a teenage girl. By telling girls how to look and what to look for some may think that this is damaging teenagers self esteem by not letting them have there own style and a sense of individuality.

 Bright colours such as pink and blue are being used to tell us that this magazine is aimed towards the female teenage generation, this colour scheme is linked to girls and this age through stereotyping that pink is a very feminine colour and that baby blue is a very innocent colour that should determine how girls should act. If the magazine was for a different crowd such as rock music listeners the magazine in that area may have much grittier colours to link with the genre.

Teenage icons play a large part in the industry of teenage magazines. Many may look to these people as role models and may use them as a basis to set their own style upon. If your icons are telling you how you should dress what you should say and how to do your make up, what chance of individuality do you or the reader have. They are telling you what you should look like, sticking to the stereotype of a teenage girl and most of all telling you where you should spend your money, first of all on this magazine as its being promoted by a teenage icon that you may look up to and is talking about subjects that supposedly a teenage girl is suppose to be interested in according to the stereotype, and second of all on what clothes and makeup to buy as you should be sticking to a certain style and by certain brands as they are the brands your icons a buying.

 The subjects being brought up in these magazines have to be questioned “are they really appropriate to the age group its aimed towards” I ask this as they put pressure on girls with sexually explicit material. Many magazines have the average age range of readers between 11 and 16. At the youngest age, it may not be appropriate to pressure girls with this type of media material and this can have social ramifications.

The models being used in these magazines are models, readers may feel pressured into the idea that to feel socially accepted they have to look the part, whether it be size, weight, or looks, this is the disgusting impression that is given to the readers, that they are far away from perfect and should change the way they look just because someone wants them to be a part of a stereotype that doesn’t even exist in this day and age.

For my conclusion I have come to the decision that I believe that the writers and editors of these magazine should understand that in this day and age there are no stereotypes any more when it comes to teenage girls, individuality cant be set so there for you cant have any influence into what products girls should be buying and how they should dress. Its clear that some of the articles in this magazine are inappropriate to the readers such as talking about sexual material and stereotyping.

I would much rather like to see a magazine aimed towards teenage girls that actually has advice to their everyday life rather then just having your self esteem knocked down.

Task 2: Magazines & Audiences part 2

 

This film magazine “Empire” presents itself by its distinctive title of Empire that can be recognised at the top of the magazine; the picture always shows a big production film that is on location from that month’s issue. The title is bright red and bold, this really stands out from the gritty background. This magazine makes itself clear what its about and is clearly for an audience who are into films. Above the header is a subheading “our most ACTION-PACKED issue ever! This really engages to the audience and tells them if you’re into action themed films, this issue is aimed specifically around you. This magazine clearly isn’t for children or for cooking, the font and the styling on the front show that this magazine is obviously aimed for a mature reader with a passion for film.

                            

This issue of Empire magazine shows a cool pose of a man holding a gun; this could suggest to us that this man is a spy or a villain or could be dangerous; these questions make us want to look further into the magazine and to read on what he plays a role in. The cover also mentions other films and actors that are brought up inside the issue along the bottom of the issue such as spider man and Tom Cruise keeping to the action genre. In a separate plug in they have talked about sci-fi films, this is put separately to show diversity in the magazine and to show that they have an issue that might attract multiple crowds.

 

The magazine front cover keeps to a colour scheme of grey, blue and red they all go really well with each other, the red really stands out from the gritty brick and grey claustrophobic background. By using the actor Jeremy Renner to pose on the front of the magazine as the protagonist that he is playing in the Bourne Legacy film that is advertised as well on the front, any fan of either the actor or the film franchise may want to pick up this issue if they see it in a shop as they want to know more about his work or the film because the magazine shows that there is a large portion of information inside the magazine; even if the reader may not usually buy this magazine they may be pulled in buy the particular film being showcased.

 

The word Empire is plastered onto the magazine in a stylish red front, this could signify to the reader that this magazine is meant for a mature audience that have a passion in the subject, also the word itself Empire suggest that the magazine have a very large following and that to run an Empire you must know what you are talking about and that they are the people who know the most about film so if you would like to know more about film then you must join this Empire.

Task 1: Getting To Know Blogger

Things you can do with blogger:

• Create Posts.
• Edit Posts.
• Create Pages.
• upload Photos.
• upload Videos.
• upload Links.
• Get Feedback From Readers.

How i think blogger will help with my coursework:

• I can have all of my work in one place.
• Having it online will disable the chance of loosing work.
• I can easily keep up to date with my work.
• I can use different media dimensions with blogger  which makes it very interesting.
• I will be able to update anything from home or anywhere with internet connection.

IPC Case Study

About IPC

IPC (The International Publishing Corporations ltd) was formed in 1963 after the merge of three of the UK's leading publishers: George Newnes, Odhams Press, and Fleetway Publications. With all three publishers having originated from the early 1880's, they were rich in illustrious history. 

In 1965 IPC set up a management development department that would rationalize it's holdings, ensuring that it's various subsidiaries would not be at competition with one another for the same markets. 

This lead to a reorganization of the group in 1968 into six divisions:

• IPC Books- all book publishing (headed by by Paul Hamlyn, whose personal company had been taken by IPC)

• IPC Magazines- consumer magazines and comics

• IPC Newspapers- including the People and the Sun (which was soon sold on) as well as the Daily Mirror and Sunday Pictorial

• IPC New Products- launching pad for products which used new technology (headed by Alistair MacIntosh)

• IPC Trade and Technical- specialist magazines

In 2000, IPC Magazines is renamed IPC Media, a new start to coincide on a strategy of them soon being a brand-centric business. Then in January 2010, IPC Media restructured around three key audience groups: Connect - mass-market women, SouthBank - up-market women, and Inspire - men.

The Audience Groups

IPC Connect: IPC Media's mass market women's division with a range of brands. Connect's magazines are read by 9.4 million mass market women, equating to 49% of all mass market women, while its digital brands reach over 5.3 million unique users and deliver 35 million page impressions every month. Connect's audience is incredibly valuable and responsive, responsible for a large majority of UK purchasing decisions.

IPC Connect caters to it's consumers specifically through various components: celebrity and fashion, lifestyle, traditional, TV and entertainment, real life and casual gaming.

Examples of IPC connect:, Woman's Weekly, Now, GoodToKnow and Tv Easy.

IPC Southbank: IPC Southbank is the higher-of-class women's section, focused on the three key markets of Fashion, Women's Lifestyle and Home Interest.  Southbank is home to some of the most iconic magazine brands in publishing including Marie Claire, woman&home, Look and Ideal Home.

Southbank has a magazine for large varieties of interests in a woman's life, from the aesthetically conscious, to home owning, to getting the best lifestyle possible. It's titles reach a readership base of over ten million and go unchallenged by other magazines.

IPC Inspire: IPC Inspire is IPC's men's section. It has a large portfolio of 38 brands, which cover a huge spectrum of interests, such as Marine, Equestrian, Country, Music, Shooting, Mens Lifestyle and Technology. IPC Inspire magazines include familiar names from Country Life and The Field, to Nuts and NME.

In April 2012 IPC Media won an award for 'Best Production Team of the Year' at the Professional Publishers Association Production and Environment Awards 2012. As well as now having reached an extremely vast portfolio, shifting over 350 million copies of their magazines each year. 

QUESTIONS ON IPC

Having looked into IPC Media and creating a factual case study, I'm enabled to answer questions and give my personal opinion on the company.

1. What types of magazine and target audiences has IPC been associated with over the years?

IPC media has been associated with a variety of niche audiences, which range from common/working class females, middle-class females, to a large mixed male audience. Their magazines range in topic, from home owning, to fashion, to music and country life.

2. Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?

IPC Media do not publish music magazines and look into that medium as much as they could. They only publish one music magazine, NME, which is credited as one the most successful music magazines. If they put their focus into the music industry they could potentially make a hit by catering to a variety of musical interests as they do with their other audiences, potentially coming up with something very different to that of other publishers.

3. What sort of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish?

Statistically speaking, males are the prominent consumers of music magazines. The Inspire section of IPC is aimed in my opinion at a very mixed audience of men, though it claims to be leaning to the middle-part of the social spectrum. I think that IPC would create a magazine that looks at music quite seriously, producing something similar to the likes of Q. 

4. Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate?

Bauer is also a publisher with a large portfolio and has two main areas of interest, magazines and radio. This means that they would have the two components necessary to create a successful music magazine and so it would be logical to publish a magazine with Bauer as you are guaranteed to get a credible outcome.