School Magazine title ideas

Hey guys

Obviously 'Idsall weekly ' isn't a very good title, so I need to decide on a better one, and fast.
I have presented my ideas on a Prezi document which is more visually exiting than if I just copied a word document into my blog post .



Personally I think that 'ACCESS IDSALL' is the best as it sounds both professional and catchy, it gives the reader a sense of 'accessing' information about what's going on in the school.

Logo editing

Hey guys

For my magazine I need a logo to obviously say what my magazine is about or involves, I didn't want to use the school logo so I created my own from a photo I have taken.

Here is the original photo of the main tree in the school:

 Then I editied the photo by removing the background on Fireworks

I also edited the logo further by adding a circular boxout behind the tree in a conrasting colour so the tree would stand out, then I used a thick black outline to outline the circle so it wouldnt blend in with the rest of the magazine

 



The LIFE MATRIX tool

Wait, not that kind of matrix....................i'm sorry

The LIFE MATRIX idea is a form of audience targeting that was developed by MRI and Roper ASW, it defines ten different categories for audience placement and focuses on values/attitudes and beliefs and more important and relatable audience categories:

Tribe Wired	These people are digital, free-spirited and creative young single people
Fun/Atics	These people are Aspirational, fun seeking and very active young people
Dynamic Duos	These are driven and very high involvement couples
Priority Parents	These people have very strong family values and participate in activities, the media is an important part of their lives
Home Soldiers	These people are very home centred, family orientated and ambitious with media
Renaissance Women	These people are very sporty, caring and affluent mothers who are influential to their children and peers
Rugged Traditionalists	These are mostly men who show and adopt traditional make values, they also have a great love for the outdoors and nature
Struggling Singles	These people are single but with high aspirations, however they often have a low economic status
Settled Elders	These people are older and often live sedentary lifestyles
Free Birds	These people are important, active and altruistic senior people

 

The difference between audience research and audience theory

Theory: is different ways of thinking about audience

Research: produce evidence about the relationships between the media and audiences

Audience research is always linked closely to a certain audience theory:

E.G.  if your researching if shows like the walking dead encourage violence in teenagers, you are working with the idea that the media strongly influences teenage audiences


Their is the idea that audience research does not always produce facts about the audience, it's influenced by strong assumptions about the audience which it tries to prove. When a research question is formed their are always some assumptions that form it

E.G. if you do some sort of investigation after your family watch an episode of Downton Abbey, you must assume that different members will act in different ways to the programme, this makes use of the'uses and gratifications' approach to the audience.


 DIFFERENT TYPES OF AUDIENCE THEORY:

The Hypodemic model :

Suggest?- that the media 'injects' the message they want to put accross directly into the audiences minds (not literally), this infers that the media could be as addictive as drugs
Strengths?- this idea draws our attention to the power that the media produces, it also stresses the importance of the different typed of media (e.g. TV, radio ) that audiences have access to
Weaknesses- however this idea is often seen as powerless and passive because it is mostly applied to wh?en women and childeren are the subject of reaserch, also the actual way people use the media is often unnacounted for

The Cultivation theory :

Suggest?- its main idea is that if the audience consume more and more media they could develop some views of the world that are often false
Strengths?- this idea is good as it draws our attention to the fact that the audience gain alot of knowlege form the media therefore it becomes an important part of their lives
Weaknesses?- however this theory is hard to prove

The Desensitisation theory:  

Suggest?- its main idea it that if we are exposed to too much violence/sexuality in the media that we will become less sensitive to violent and sexual behaiviours
Strengths?- it draws peoples attention to how violence/sex is strongly represented in the media and the volume of it.
Weaknesses?- the problem is that it cannot be easily proved because it has different effects on different groups e.g. class/gender/location

The Copycat theory:

Suggest?- that people immitate what they see in the media
Weaknesses?- it feeds off the types of concerns that many parents have about their childs high exposure to media and their use
Problems?- for example different people have different levels of risk to different media due to their lifestyle and upbringing. Also it's really hard to measure the long term effects

Uses and Gratifications approach:

Suggest?- this theory studies what the audience does with the media and how they relate to it, this approach takes account of peoples personality and needs
Strengths?- this idea views the audience as an acitve/intelligent group of people and it states that life experience is way more important than media experience.
Weaknesses?- this view is too optimistic of the audience and it overlooks the power that some media texts have on us

Reception analysis and Ethnography:

Suggest?- that audiences are reffered to as active producers of the meaning of media rather than just mere consumers
Strengths?- it values the very specific, detailed responses of individuals and groups, it strongly suggests that life experiences are more important than media exdperiences an it helps them to make active and positive life choices
Weaknesses?- however more emphasis is given to the responses of the audience than the institutional aspects of the media therefore some researchers end up analysing audiences lifestyles meaning the actual media reception is often neglected for a vers socialogical approach.

Media representations of Class and Status

How is it represented in the media ?

Social class and status is often exaggerated and stereotyped in the media to keep audience interest, after all nobody would watch if their was no drama or someting out of the ordinary.
 
The social class system is described as MERITOCRATIC (where social position is achieved by merit or good work rather than the family you are born into. But the social class you are born into can impact your life goals and achievements meaning the transition for lower classes into higher classes can be very difficult. Most upper class citizens hold their position due to inherited wealth.

Upper class stereotypes

• Snobs
• look down on people
• smart clothes
• older people
•  speak in proper English
•  lawyers
•  high earners
•  public school
• inherited wealth
• own land

The lives of the rich and the jet setting lifestyle of the rich are portrayed as a glamorous world we can only dream about, they are often portrayed as having lavish lifestyles which reinforces the idea that normal people wont enter that class system. The upper class are often shown in period dramas.

 

Examples of the upper class in the media include

The TV drama DOWNTON ABBEY

The drama series Pride and Prejudice

 

 

Middle class stereotypes

• Well paid jobs
•  management
• majority of the taxpayers
•  hard workers for little reward
•  have children
• working families



The middle class are over-represented on TV dramas and situation comedies.

Part of the British newspaper market is specifically aimed at the middle classes and their consumption, tastes and interests, the content of newspapers such as the Daily Mail suggests that journalists believe that the middle classes of middle England are generally anxious about the decline of moral standards in society and that they are proud of their British identity and heritage. 



 

Sitcoms and family dramas represent the middle class strongly. Examples of the middle class in the media include:

 The sitcom My Family

 

 

 The sitcom Mrs Browns Boys

 

 

And the sitcom Outnumbered 

 

Lower class stereotypes

 

• unemployed
• live off benefits
• chavs
• lazy

• live on a housing estate 

The media tend to portray the working class as people who live off the government; they are often over exaggerated to keep audience’s attention , the lower classes are often portrayed in TV dramas or sitcoms. Examples of the lower class in the

Media include:

 

 

 

 The sitcom The Royale Family

 

The sitcom Shameless

 

 

Audience as consumers

Young and Rubicams Four Consumers:
Advertisers have to start thinking about audiences in different ways because the idea of 'class' is becoming less popular. One of the most famous ideas is from the advertising agency Young and Rubicam, where they spilt the population into four consumer types:

Mainstreamers: this group makes up about 40% of the general population, they often like the security of being in a group
Aspirers:this group want status and the confidence/esteem of others. They like status symbols and designer labels
Succeeders: these are people who whave already got status and control
Reformers: these people are most noticable by their self-esteem and self-fulfilment


The VALUES,ATTITUDES AND LIFESTYLES APPROACH:
 This idea is very similar to Young and Rubicam's, however it shows a more detailed approach based on the audiences values, attitudes and lifestyles

 

Actualisers	These people can be pessimistic and are concerned with image. They live in the moment and have a high income.
Fulfilleds	They are hardworking high earners who are mature and well educated. They are open to new products and ideas.
Achievers	These people are motivated by achievement and are often successful work orientated people. They respect authority and show off success to their peers.
Experiencers	They are a high resource group who are motivated by self-expression; they have lots of energy and spend a lot of money on clothes. They are interested in new products and services
Believers	They are a low resource group who are motivated by ideals; they have a conservative way of thinking and are often in favour of established brands. They have reasonably modest incomes.
Strivers	These people are a low resource group who are motivated by achievement; they have few economic, social and psychological resources and strive to be like the people they admire.
Makers	They are motivated by self-expression and value self-sufficiency. These people appreciate practical and functional products
Strugglers	They have a low income and are not motivated. They have the fewest resources and often tend to be elderly so they stick with brands that they feel comfortable with

Magazine cover practice

Now lets get down to buisness, as I am creating a magazine I need to create a suitable layout to make it half decent. I have used the edited image of Hayley Williams as the main image of my magazine then I edited the rest on fireworks.

The final idea

The original image

 The first edit

for the first edit I used picmonkey to retouch the image to give a smooth finish so when it came to applying the filter the image looked consistent. I used a filter to make the image look more bright

The second edit

 

This is the second step where I cropped the background of the photo on photoshop.

 

 



The third edit

And finally for the third step I used Fireworks to add layers of text/ images and colours.
I have layered the image over the masthead to brong the photo forward so it looks more interesting, the headline is locted on a boxout in a contrasting colour to add interest, the text is placed at an angle to make the cover look more quirky. The main headline is in a contrasting colour and in a different font to keep audience attention. The secondary leads (text here) are located on box outs to make the text stand out

Photo Editing Testing

As I will be including photos in my magazine I might need to edit them to make them look better or more professional, I have tested the image of my school building as it obviously relates to the topic of my school magazine. The  editing software I have used is picmonkey.com  which is a free professional online editing website.

 

Using filters and saturation tools

Before

 

After

 

 

 

I first increased both the brightness and colour contrast to give a more fun feel to the image, Then I increased both the saturation and lightness of the image to make it look like it was taken on a sunnier day. After I increased the colour vibrancy which makes the grass look greener and more polished.


I have also edited a portrait picture of a medium close up of Jennifer Lawrence on picmonkey.com

 Before

After

 As you can see I have edited it by using a filter to give a more gentle tone and a softer light, this makes the image less harsh as the colours blend better, I have also increased the brightness and reduced the colour contrast to give a softer look. I could use this technique on the medium close up photo on my school magazine front cover to reduce colour harshness which will make the cover look more professional.

Cropping and Airbrushing a photo

Before

This image is a medium close up but I want to remove the background so I can layer the image with another image, also I want to airbrush the image to give it a more professional look,
After

This image has been airbrushed to give a smoother finish so if I want to use a filter the color will look more consistent, I have also cropped the background away so the image can overlap another image,  I have edited it on picmonkey.com then on fireworks.
then
Removal and editing using Photoshop

Before

Here I want to remove the tattoo af Anjelina Jolie.

 
After

 

 

I have used photo shop to remove the tattoo by cloning a similar area of skin tone then blending away the tattoo, then I used the healing brush tool to make the skin smoother so the editing looks natural