The Future of Magazines

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What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?

·         Intro -  developments in digital media

o   Previous compared to now – its impact

o   What’s happening now in the world of digital media?

·         Introduce IPC and Future PLC media

·         Explain how institutions (IPC and Future PLC) have progressed with web 2.0 – NMT’s - developments

o   examples – NME and Metal Hammer

·         Web 2.0

o   NMT’s – Developments – IPC  - NME – Multi-platform approach – synergy – shockwaves music awards – have won awards themselves

o   Future PLC

o   Covergence – consumers are now prosumers – Rupert Murdock quote – consumers needs are changing – constantly evolving to suit consumers needs

o   How are NME and Metal Hammer meeting their prosumer’s needs?

o   Social Networks – Twitter and Facebook – NME and Metal Hammer need to come up with a USP to keep on selling their product

o   Globalisation – how both companies have evolved

o   Available to access on tablets, phones etc – your response is rapid – companies are allowing instant access

o   Brand loyalty – creates a connection with their audience so they will come back for more

·         Stats of mag circulation – has this dropped – web 2.0/NMT’s – advantages and disadvantages

·         Printing an actual magazine – expensive and out of date earlier – NME are constantly updating their website

·         Prosumers create UGC

o   Prosumers are now making fanzines because of technology developments – competition to NME and Metal Hammer – ‘unbiast’ view

Exemplar response to Section B: Magazine Industry

In recent times the media industry has witnessed meteoric rise in new technologies.  The advancement of the internet, for example, as it entered its second phase enables consumers to access media in new and unparalleled ways.  For the magazine industry, this has presented both challenges and opportunities.

Print media is mostly in decline, a worry of course for producers of magazines.  Therefore they must assess just how important technological convergence is for helping their magazine to survive in the long run.

The Future Plc title Metal Hammer is a monthly rock and metal magazine, that has existed since 1994. In that time, Metal Hammer has built a reputation as a bible of both modern and traditional metal music. It’s publisher, Future, is an independent company with a portfolio of magazines aimed at niche market sectors.  As a whole, Future, has performed well in a declining market, with Metal Hammer and Classic Rock reporting increases in circulation, with Metal Hammer reaching a circulation of 50,269 and classic rock 70, 188 (ABC, Dec 08).  Perhaps Futures strategies involving technological convergence have something to do with this success.  One of their ‘pillars’ of business strategies  is to implore upon their existing convergences in order to further appeal to prosumers.  This is important; Future defines ‘prosumers’ as “young men or young-at-heart men (Future licensing.com). In general this demographic will be one of the most technologically involved, in the know about the latest technologies.  They are also, incidentally the most valuable demographics for advertisers.  In this respect, convergence is extremely important for Future and indeed Metal Hammer in retaining advertising revenue.  Advertising revenue has already fallen for Future, as they already saw a 15% drop in advertising from December 08-March 09 (futurelicensing.com, 2009).  It is therefore, vital that they use technological convergences to remain advanced enough to attract advertisers.

Metal Hammer’s target audience is a young audience, interested in music, “converging adults”, according to futurelicensing.com The National Readership survey 08, the latest available, shows Metal Hammer readers to be 64% male, average age 22.  Again, this is an audience that will be interested in many forms of media. So for Metal Hammer to maintain their loyalty they must fulfil their newly evolving needs (Uses and Gratifications, McQuail).

The Metal Hammer website is a demonstration of convergence, and has proved popular with nearly 60,000 individual visitors since starting (futurelicensing.com).  Alex’s web traffic analysis suggests that visitors are mostly male, aged between 18 and 24 and spend around 2.7 minutes on Metal Hammer.co.uk. Therefore the website has apparently targeted the right audience for Metal Hammer.  Users can interact, voting in polls such as “who has the best slipknot mask?”, giving users the sense that they are contributing to a community. They are also educated and entertained with video exclusives, Metallica Live, and Opeth on tour.  In this way convergence maintains interest in the Metal Hammer brand.  Web 2.0 allows users to submit and generate a content, so Metal Hammer has competition in that users can go elsewhere for such videos .  It is up to Convergence in order to provide the best service for users.

Metal Hammer has also had successful synergies created as a result of convergence.  On 2008, Metal hammer.co.uk encourages users to send in photos taken on their mobiles of them playing “Guitar Heroes”, combining the internet with mobile technology.  The guitar hero synergy  combined with a party sponsored by Metal Hammer at the O2 (Metal Hammer.co.uk), Podcasts have allowed content to be sent faster than ever to multi-media formats.

Indeed, distribution is an interesting issue to consider for the magazines industry.  The internet, podcasts and video channels allow readers to access their wanted content within seconds.  Where as hard copies of a magazine must be ordered or brought from a shop. Indeed it could be suggested that the gathering of content from the internet or mobile has replaced the need for buying the magazine itself, as subscriptions for Metal Hammer rose 8% from Dec-march 09 (futurelicensing.co.uk) suggesting there is not the same novelty when buying a magazine. 

However, whilst technological convergence is important for the magazine industry, publishers must consider that the extra content offered to consumers via convergences in technology, could replace the magazine itself.  IPC’s NME is an example of this as circulation dropped 24.1%, whilst its website has been praised for the amount of content on offer.  Metal Hammer has a unique community created by the interacting mode of address; ‘Join the Crusade’ and writing style filled with expletives ‘F*** You!’, readers of Metal Hammer feel a string sense of unrivalled community within the magazine.  The magazine sticks close to its ideologies of anti-establishment , avant-garde by  featuring adverts appropriate to his such as Attitude Clothing and HMV Metal, whilst the website has adverts by O2, Orange and T-mobile.

Overall techno convergence is important as consumers needs alter and change but for the magazine industry to survive they must make any technological advancements not a replacement for the hard copy of the magazine as Future have so far successfully done.  As online advertising reached 18% for future it is important.

Explanation/analysis/argument-  /20

Use of examples-  /20

Use of terminology-  3 /10 

Terminology

Web 2.0 – what we know to be the internet now – two way communication between the sender and the receiver – important term and used in exam

·         Go onto social networking sites – talk to people

Prosumer

Combination of consumer and producer

·         With developments and advantages in technology it’s possible for everyone to be film producers and distributers (youtube) – we ask more and expect more from media texts

·         How doers NME and Metal Hammer allow audiences to be prosumers?

Convergence

Technological convergence – when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them

·         NME Website – read articles from the physical mag (also converged onto the internet) and listen to NME radio station (multiplatform approach)

Media Convergence – old and new media intersect in such a way that the way in which media producer and media consumers interaction changes

·         Communities have been created on websites to share tips, stories, reviews and experiences of music and upload photographs. Consumers can become prosumers and actually be a part of the production of the magazine

Synergy

Interaction of two or more forces, where their combined effect is more powerful than the sum of their individual effects

·         Promotion if a sale of a product (and all its versions) throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate – films, soundtracks, or video games

·         NME Radio station/ sponsorship of festivals and events = synergised marketing

·         Advancement of technologies – allowed for greater synergy

o   NME Facebook and tweet updates and RSS feeds encourage listeners of the podcast – drives subscribers to their websites – website drives fans to the free information.                Links among all these activities become the synergy where activity in one area improves the entire experience

Viral marketing

A marketing technique aiming at reproducing ‘word of mouth’ - usually on the internet and through existing social networks

·         Signs - Schwepps

·         Texting and driving

Guerrilla Marketing

The use of unconventional and low cost marketing strategies to raise awareness of a product

-          Putting up wanted posters/ commissioning works of graffiti

-          Companies know that they need to be unique to catch consumers eyes

UGC

User Generated Content

Content that has been generated by the user/consumer

-          Music reviews, forums, vlogging, podcasting

USP

Unique Selling Point

Making a product different from a competitior/ another product in the same market, making it unique

PAD

Point Of Difference

Differentiating a product from another; maiking it unique; the actual way in which as product us different from another in the same market

-          The USP and perhaps the POD of NME compared to Matal Hammer is that they offer a multi-platform

UPB

Unique Percieved Benefit

What the consumer believes they will get from the product; what do the consumers believe they will agin/ benefit from using the product?

Could be linked to mainstream/ niche magazines; the community created through forums; therefor resulting in loyal customers

Loyal Consumers/ Brand Loyalty

Commitment to re-purchase the same brand/ the same magazine

                -Nme consumers are extremely loyal and trust the brand to be faithful th their needs

Proliferation

A rapid increase ikn the numbers if a certain types of product

Multi- platform

Series is a form of entertainment where the story is told over a range of media platforms – magazines, radio stations, videos, podcasts

Vertical Integration

Absorption of several firms into a single firm involved in all aspects of a products manufacture from raw material to distribution

-          Rock start games have become a vi company by buying developers they have previously worked with (DMA Design -> Rockstar North -> Angel Studios -> Rockstar San Fiego)

o   They have control over…

Section B - Magazines

To succeed

-          Case study on two music magazines published by two institutions within the contemporary magazine industry and distributed in the UK

-          Focus on how the magazine is produced, distributed (pro-mo, sold in print formant/ online), exhibited and consumed (subscribed)

o   Advertising – major feature

Comparative case studies

-          Need to look at main and niche magazine

o   Mainstream – IPC Media – NME

o   Niche – Future PLC – ‘METAL HAMMER’

Possible questions

-          How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences?

-          With reference to your case study, consider how important interactivity is to media institutions

-          What has been the impact of increased connectivity been on the media production, distribution and exhibition process?

o   Given 9 possible questions in exams

The impact of changing media landscape, and the impact this is having on the magazine industry

Need to produce a creative presentation discussing what you believe to be the future of magazines

-          Need to research in detail and come to your own conclusions using your findings

Regional Identity

What is regional identity?

Regional identity is identifying a person and a persons identity which is rooted not only in the setting of the film but also in speech, costumes etc and in the region they live in.

How can you identify regional identity?

–Setting

–Accents

–Dialogue

–Props

–Make up

–Class of characters

–Costumes

Examples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?index=0&feature=PlayList&v=zSlB8Gtu_ik&list=PLB5F132F34B3DA430

Shameleass – Manchester

-          Silly – handheld camera – maybe drunk as it highlights his un-steadiness – slurred voice

-          Alcoholic – close-up on a woman sleeping – mid shot – can see an empty bottle if wine on the floor

-          Doesn’t open the door straight away – suspicious – tells someone in the background that they can ‘get the baseball bat if you want’ to make them feel safer – there’s not actually anyone else in the house with her  - rough neighbourhood – not safe – need protection – saying it to scare people off

-          Light, clarinet used for incidental music – Contrapuntal  -show it’s not that rough – lightens up the setting

-          Over the shoulder shot – can see his facial expressions – looks drunk – why she asks if it’s a ‘wind-up’

-          Establishing shot - Small houses close together – housing/ council estate – doesn’t look nice – poor

-          Boys looking out the window – noisy

-          Set at night – dark

-          Mise-en scene – hooped earings and gold jewellery – chav – bad

-          Diagetic sound of high heels – emphasised by Foley – she’s a woman in a dark allyway – not safe

-           Start off following a woman – catches man looking at her – what you lookin’ at?’ – vicious

P.E.E Sentence

From this extract of Shameless, the viewer can see that the people of Manchester are represented as alcoholics or that they like to drink through the use of camera angles as when we first see the man at the beginning, a hand held camera shot is used, which suggests that he might be drunk as using a hand held camera is unsteady and has jerky movements, which the viewer can relate to when they themselves are drunk, creating verimilitude and thus highlighting his unsteady drunken walking.  This is then highlighted further through mise-en-scene when we later cut to the woman where through a mid shot we can see an empty wine bottle and glass by her sofa in arms length, suggesting that they find it easy to finish off an entire bottle of wine and the fact that it was at arm’s length, suggests that it’s close by and easy to get to and so they must do it all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp8YsBks4OE&feature=autoplay&list=PLB5F132F34B3DA430&lf=PlayList&playnext=1

Shameless – Manchester

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlpqDHQTk3U

Brookside – Liverpool

-          Violent – dialogue – raised voices

o   The way everyone is standing – big group of boys – mum and child behind a man in the middle – trying to prevent that fight

o   Boy head butts one of the other boys practically straight away and them everyone joins in

o   Woman joins in, but gets thrown off

o   Young boy hit’s the old man – ‘serves you right’ – didn’t see hitting him as his problem – when he calls the old man ‘grandad’ the older man hits him – audience surprised – old people seen as quiet and scared of young generation

§  When younger boy sees that he’s hurt he runs at the granddad – no morals – would hit an old man

§  Shot reverse shot – show reactions

§  Over the shoulder – see other persons reaction

o   Cuts to three older people

§  Even they are quite violent/ hostile – old lady rips up paper and throws it over the man and woman – say’s you can ‘stick it’ – angry vocab/ phrase

-          Mise – en- scene

o   Tracksuits – ‘chav’ – hard, tough, scary, don’t want to get on the wrong side of them

o   Looks like a nice neighbourhood – semi-detached houses – even ‘middle class’ people are violent there

-          Point of view shot using hand held camera – gets close to the action – audience can really see how violent they are – unsteady and quick – highlights the violence and tempo of the clip

-          Can only hear diagetic sounds – causes the audience to really focus on the fight

-          Set in the day – nice houses, nice street – verisimilitude – shows the audience that in Liverpool people will have a go at you in the niceness of the day, which is meant to be safe – thus makes Liverpool seem very un safe

P.E.E Sentence

People from Liverpool are represented through diegetic sound as violent as the dialogue is colloquial, for example when one of the youths in a tracksuit tells the ‘grandad’ that he should stay out before he ‘really get’s it’, which confirms the stereotypical view that teenagers are violent, but that the ones in Liverpool are especially as he spoke really abusively to an old man and threatened to hit him. However, what really stresses the stereotypical view of people from Liverpool being violent is the fact that the old man actually hit the teenager, which is surprising as we, the audience, see old people as quiet and non-violent, so the fact that the older generation hit the younger generation confirm the stereotypical view that ‘liverpudlians’ or ‘scoucers’ are all violent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfd6tVqCS5s&feature=related

The Only Way Is Essex

-          Men and women are tanned – care about their appearance

-          Joey Essex doesn’t know what botox is – close up on his face shows his confusion – makes him seem dumb

-          Big hair, lots of make-up

o   Lipgloss

o   Blusher

o   Foundation

o   Bronzer

§   – but not done well/ to look natural – care about their appearance, but makes them look cheap

-          Tight fitting clothes, short – show off their body – Mulvey’s Male Gaze – want men’s attention

-          Dilogue – laugh about getting Silvester Stilones’s name wrong – makes them seem immiture

o   Talk about all the work they’ve had done (see earlier notes) they’ve all had a lot done

o   Sit gossiping about one of their group being on a date with Joey Essex – stereotypical view

o   One sequels in pain at the Botox – low pain threshold – not as strong as men

o   Talk about the boob job as if it’s a serious operation – makes them look quite dumb

o   Colloquial language – ‘well jel’

o   Awkward silence when one of the girls doesn’t want to have Botox done – Shot reverse shot – shows both girls reactions – one girl looks shocked  – not normal for one of them not to do what the others are doing – like sheep – need guiding – by men?

Full shot – shows the living room – white sofa’s, expensive furniture, nice pillows – pink – associated with girls – how does she have a nice house?

-          Mise- en – scene

o   Brightly coloured clothes – want to be looked at – eye-catching

o   Pink uniform – beautician – typical ‘girl’ job

o   Very light inside – girls live ‘colourful’ and ‘bright’ lives

P.E.E. Sentence

The women in Essex are portrayed through mise-en-scene as the stereotypical view of women, where women are seen as objects without brains, as they wear a lot of tight fitting and shot clothes, such as the pink beautician’s uniform, which is used to attract the male gaze (Mulvy). The pink of the uniform is also associated with girls, stressing this stereotypical view. The girls also wear lots of make-up, such as bronzer, blusher, lip stick and have big hair, which isn’t done well as it’s not natural, so it shows the women care about their appearance, but that they also look cheap, suggesteing that the women of Essex look cheap and ‘fake’ as they have a lot of make-up on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v-X3VlXwIk&feature=related

Made In Chelsea – London (Posher Area)

Mise-en-scene

-          Flashy cars, yachts, nice clothes – they have a lot of money

-          Lighting – quite light and bright – they live nice lives

-          No –one seems to have a job – stereotypical view – live off of their parents

o   Modelling contract – told to ‘cut his hair’ – close up shot shows shocked expression – doesn’t want to do that

Dialogue

-          going to Cannes on holiday – close up shot of surprised and excited faces – surprise trip – not planned – shows that they can do what they want, when they want without any consequences

-          ‘pick up dry cleaning’ – man surprised at this – ‘no, no’ – not an acceptable or respectable job

-          Clip ends with ‘I want you’ – audience can see that from their lifestyle he will get what he wants

Editing

-          Quick shots – emphasise that they life busy, bright and exciting lives – adds to the drama and makes it more eye-catching as a trailer – makes you want to see more

-          Title/words flash across the screen – also quickly – adds interest to their lives – almost patronises the audience – their lives are so exciting, while yours isn’t,  so you must sit and watch theirs

Sound

-          Upbeat music – adds to the ‘fun’ vibe

-          Digetic and foley sounds – seagull – Caggie’s facial expression to hearing that Spencer dumped Funda the night before – adds humour

o   ^ - emphasises that he can do what he likes – doesn’t care about what others think

-          Dialogue – quite posh accents – well spoken

Shots

-          Low angle – looking up – makes them look superior

-          Shot reverse shot – show convo

-          Establishing shot – shows where they are

The cast of Made in Chelsea are portrayed as posh and rich through mise-en-scene as in every shot you can see lots of expensive cars, yachts, clothes; houses with balconies and long driveways, which is highlighted by the lighting used in the trailer as everything is so light and the colour is boosted, suggesting that the people who live in Chelsea, London live very extravagant and ‘colourful’ lives themselves. Also, through the settings of the clip, no-one appears to be working, which follows the stereotypical view that they are spoilt rich kids, who rely on their parent’s money to have a good times and don’t work themselves.

The Representation of Ethnicity

Definition:

1.       Ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association.

2.       An ethnic group: representatives of several ethnicities were present.

Examples

Asian people:

·         Rich, business people

·         Religious,

·         Have been portrayed as terrorists,

·         Good at making curry.

·         Own corner shops.

·         Big families and they all live in one house with all relatives.

o   Masoods in Eastenders have their own business - typical of a Muslim family.

§  They own a curry place and are good at making it - is a typical representation of an Asian family.

§  They speak in a typical Indian accent.

§  However, have recently been praised as one of the most realistic "ethnic" families to ever have inhabited soap land and haven’t been subjected to the usual stereotypical storylines such as owning a corner shop, being subjected to racially motivated attacks, etc

§  We have also seen Syed realise he is gay - bending the stereotypical view of Muslim’s as they believe that being homosexual is wrong and it is forbidden in Islam

Travellers:

·         AKA gypsies

·         Usually Irish/foreign (Bulgarian/Romanian)

·         Associated with fun fairs

·         Live in caravans

·         Take over peoples land/destroy it

·         They make a mess and steal

·         Lacking in education

·         Wear vests and jeans and slobber everywhere

·         Sometimes long hair

·         Excess of lynx

·         Women wear big dresses and hooped gold earrings

·         British/Irish travellers prefer to be called ‘Travellers’

o   In waterloo road they moved their caravans onto the school grounds and many people were unhappy so they confronted them with conflict. It caused many problems and the police got involved – makes them seem like trouble makers and that they need to be controlled by the law. It also makes them appear selfish as they purposefully moved onto school property and didn’t want to move

o   Also in The Simpsons, their house got taken over by gypsies and they had to fight their way back in – see notes above

§  These examples only represent a small number of gypsies, but these stereotypes paint a negative picture when realistically we know they are not all bad.

Polish people:

·         Cheap labour

·         Poor

·         Have young families

·         Own kebab, chicken, pizza shops

·         Take all of our jobs. e.g. builders

o   In Coronation Street there were two polish girls who Carla employed. They were both illegal immigrants and one of them died so Carla had to cover it up by hiding her body. The other girl, Vicki, carried on working but no one liked her even though she was a good worker and she tried to make friends. But people began to like her after a while and she was then treated like everyone else

§  shows that stereotypical views can be changed

The “Brown” Race

·         “Brown” - often the general term used to describe the category of South Asian races

·         Most notably Indians are stereotyped – despite the fact that there are several countries who make up part of this geographic area

·         Seen as “comic relief” for dominant white culture – ridicule other countries such as Sri Lanka or Bangladesh  

Tessa Perkins

·         Said that all stereotypes have a bit of truth about them which makes them plausible

o   Said that most terrorists are Muslim but, not all Muslims are terrorists

A stereotype is normally viewed negatively

Positive representations are called corrective stereotypes -  where new ideas are created about a previous group to change our view about them. 

Common Representations of Race

·         Typical stereotype of an Asian woman - doctors or accountantsﾉnot artists, actors etc

·         Stereotypes of black people

o   Living in slums

o   On welfare

o   Need help from community

o   Less intelligent 

o   Over sexual

Black Men

o   Being lazy

o   Promiscuous

o   Bad fathers

o   Obsessed with rap

o   poor - nearly twice as often as their true incidence

o   Criminal

§  In video games - 79% of African-American males were shown as verbally and physically aggressive, compared to 57% of white males

o   late arrivers

Black women obsessed with

o   How much money a man earned

o   Were "strait-laced" compared to white women when it came to sex

o   Usually linked to black men

·         Asian people - invaders or karate experts.

o   own corner shops in England

o   Doctors

o   Engineers

o   Mathematicians

o   Newsagents- small businesses – entrepreneur

o   Ignorant

o   Extremely smart people

o   Men are threats to white women

o   Insensitive

o   Disrespectful towards women

·         Hispanic people - comics, banditos or gang members.

·         Native Americans - savages, victims, cowards or medicine men

·         People from Middle East are - terrorists or oil sheiks.

·         White people can’t dance

o   Dumb blondes

o   Greedy

o   Materialistic

o   Businessmen

o   Middle/upper class

o   Posh/ well spoken




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl5EDzss4-Q

Hotel Babylon
 - follows stereotypes
 - Black people - lazy - friend wants him to slack off of work and have a party - want to have a good time with the lady's - talk in slang
- foreign maids - low paid job - uniform - have to do other things to get more money
- White people seem to be in charge - business men and women - own business clothes - well spoken - white chef makes pain and un-interesting food - therefore the British are seen as dull

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjwvCoiKZ-8
Spooks
Follows stereotypes - Indian/ Asian terrorists - have British citizens held captive in a dark and dreary house - tied up - British brought 'chaos and anarchy' to Iran - payback - threatening and therefore bad, while the British are good
- use of a video camera to make a ransom video - see it on the news
- British say they won't kill people themselves - but will send others to drop bombs - just as bad as terrorists - not stereotypical view
- Asian man wears a suit - business dress - powerful - not something you would see a 'terrorist' wearing - same sort of dress as the spies - show that both ethnicities are actually quite similar - not stereotypical