The very first thing we did as a Media Studies class this year was go through the many areas existing within the media today. It was great to be able to delve into the depths of the industry and be reminded after a long summer how much I enjoyed it all!We also had a look at a poster, and analysed the positions and status of the characters on the poster. This was a great excercise for us all to get our brains whirring with the media minds again!For homework, I also analysed a poster advertising Mcdonalds (the fast food chain) which was saying that they now have more natural resources as appose to the more manufactured type they have been associated with. I wrote about the logo, the background and the various meanings intended by the designer that I interpreted.Next lesson, we had a look at all the technical names for magazines and what kind of things the majority of magazines possess, for example the 'masthead' is the headline, and 'cover lines' are the little collections of paragraphs on the front page, designed to hopefully catch your interest.We also looked at the codes media producers use to communicate through different paths in the media industry. For example, a camera shot used on the front page would be a technical code and decide the status of the person in the shot. Body language however, would be a symbolic code. We analysed a number of different magazine covers to get to grips with using the technical terms, and being able to translate and explain what we see using terms. The most recent thing we have done is take a trip to the chain supermarket, 'Tesco' and have a look at their magazines. I answered the questions we were given by doing the research in the store!- How many types of magazines are there?
I discovered that there are 8 types of magazines; Real Life, Woman's Lifestyle, Celebrity Life, Homes and Leisure, Men's Interest, Motoring, Technology and Sports.
- How do Tescos display their magazines, and what genres do they use?
Tescos put all their magazines within their genre over a couple of shelves in the store - they keep all the magazines of the same genre together. The genres used are the ones listed above.
- What is the most popular magazine?
The most popular magazine I found was hard to find, because the same numbers of a lot of magazines seemed to be there.
- What is the most popular genre?
The most popular genre was the Celebrity Life and the Real Life magazines. This shows that an awful lot of the public tend to like reading about other people's lives!
- What is the most expensive magazine?
The most expensive magazine for men was the sports magazines, there was a variety that costed £4, and with the women's magazines, the fashion ones were also up to £4, for example one called 'BAZAAR'.
- What do all the magazines have in common?
Each of the magazines have the masthead at the top of the cover, and an image on the cover relating to the genre.
- What differences do they have?
Each of the magazines have different genres, so that means that have various images relating to those. I noticed that in the majority of the women's magazines, pinks, purples and gentle blues were used in the headings and as the main theme on the covers- the majority of the backgrounds were white. In the men's magazines, the colour theme on the covers was mainly bright orange, red, or a sharp, deep blue. The backgrounds were mostly very dark, ranging from grey to black.
It was interesting to see how many different styles and genres there really are around us these days because it's something we tend to bypass as we all have our own interests, therefore our own individual choice of magazine we would buy. The research I have done so far will definately contribute to the decisions I make for my very own magazine.
