Foundation Portfolio in Media Kayleigh Stevens - Keatley 6449

 • In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?   I think my preliminary task fits the brief well. My cover shows a mid shot of my model on a school magazine, and the masthead is shown at the top of the magazine, conforming to the normal conventions that the mast head is always at the top of the front cover so that is stands out and the audience are able to see it clearly.   • How does your media product represent particular social groups? The front cover has a male model wearing the uniform that represents the Chatham 6th form, as well as having the primary colours that represent the school (Silver and green). The front cover also has the school emblem in the corner in order for the target audience to spot the magazine clearly.   • What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?   A school would distribute my media product as it was focused ...

Billboard Magazine is an American music magazine, it specializes in the music industry and the most popular music at the moment. Its headquarters are in New York City and is owned by Prometheus Global Media. The target audience for Billboard magazine are college graduates as well as the age range that varies from young teenagers from the age of 16 to adults at the age of 26. This is because the magazine provides its readers with the latest updates from the charts and has a variety of music artists to interest people of different ages. Billboard sells 17,000 magazines per week. For my focus group I have decided to have a group of 20 between the ages of 16 and 26. I will show them 4 Billboard Magazine covers and ask them to choose their favorite. I created a Survey containing my 4 favourite covers from the brand and asked my focus group which one was their favourite. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/S5PBGH7

When preparing for my preliminary task I decided to take one of the Media Studies camera's and trial a few different angles and lighting techniques. Below are the photo's that didn't work and my reasons why.  When taking this photo I didn't consider the glare from the window in the background. However when seeing the image on the computer monitor it was very visible and was changing the lighting on Jon's face. For my second photo I realized the glare was too much from the window, making the surrounding features black and in shadow, I also realized the rope to the blind was obstructing the image. With this image the model moved as the camera was focusing, making the photo useless, there was also too many objects in the  background, drawing away the attention from the main focus of the model. For the last image the model was in focus however the background was too obstructive and also the angle of the model was...

  Representation of Men/Masculinity       Easthope (1986) argues that a variety of media, especially Hollywood films and computer games, transmit the view that masculinity based on strength, aggression, competition and violence is biologically determined and, therefore, a natural goal for boys to achieve.   Gauntlett argues that there are still plenty of magazines aimed at men which sexually objectify women and stress images of men as traditionally masculine. Rutherford suggests that these magazines are symbolic if what he calls retributive masculinity  - an attempt to reassert traditional masculine authority by celebrating traditionally male concerns in their content, i.e. 'birds, booze and football'.   Gauntlett (2008) focuses on the relationships between the mass media and identity and argues that the mass media today challenge traditional definitions of gender and are actually a force for social change. There has also been a ne...

  Representations of Women/Femininity   Tunstall: (2000) Argues that media representations emphasise women's domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media generally ignore the fact that a majority of British women go out to work. Men, on the other hand, are seldom presented nude or defined by their marital family or family status.   - Working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive, possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. It is often implied that working mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of the emotional neglect of their children.   -Research into women's magazines suggests that they strongly encourage women to conform to ideological patriarchal ideals that confirm their subordinate position compared with men. Ferguson (1983) conducted a content analysis of women's magazines from between 1949 and 1974, and 1979 and 1980. She notes that suc...

After choosing the style of music magazine I wanted to go for (top of the charts, current trend music), I decided to use Billboard Magazine as my inspiration, below is a presentation of the standard codes and conventions of Billboard Magazine. http://prezi.com/ng_n_tg-dfid/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Upon further research into magazine covers I am going to create my final piece inspired by the Billboard Magazines. I like their use of colour schemes and also the different lighting choices (i.e the Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas cover) I also like the fact that on certain covers they put the artist in front of the title (such as the Idina cover, Beyoncé, Drake, Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga).