Ideology

Ideology

Ideology is one of the most important key concept as it underpins the construction of any media text.The idea of ideology in media is mainly built on a system of beliefs that is constructed and then presented by many forms of media. An example of this would be with different newspapers, Such as The Times may regard their audience as more sophisticated readers whereas readers of The Mirror may be regarded as less sophisticated and more fun loving.

This would be very important within a magazine as this would setup the main demographic for your magazine. This could be because if your ideology is more suited towards a specific demographic they will be the main audience of your magazine. Kerrang's ideology is to oppose the mainstream, this can be seen with their mission statement 'Break the mould', so you would not expect the readers of NME to also be reading Kerrang as their ideologies clash.

Ideology of School Newsletter

The ideology shown here from the schools newsletter is that the school is full of fun activities that children can get involved in, t also makes the school look very positive with the images of the children working and talking together.

Front Cover Box Mock-Ups

Front Cover Box Mock-Ups

Here are two magazine covers that I have created mock-ups of.


























The Kerrang Magzaine has a very distinctive layout. Kerrang Magazine have the same Masthead on each of their magazines, this makes them instantly recognisable to people who may be looking to buy the magazine. Kerrang also have a slightly less pristine layout compared to other magazines, but this is all done to fit in with the genre of music that the magazine chooses to create its content on and fits in with the demographic of the magazine.

The main image of the Kerrang Magazine also shows alot about the magazine, this is mainly because the main image covers the Title of the Kerrang magazines, this shows that the Kerrang magzaine must be pretty much insatantly recognisable by its house style as people do not need to see its title. This also makes Corey Taylor look more important than the magazine itself.

There are many pugs used within the front cover of the Kerrang magainze, these have been used mainly to attract the attention of the potential buyers of kerrang as they are very eye catching.They are also being used to promote some of the other content that is within the magazine apart from the main content within the magazine.

The NME Music magazine on the other hand has a completely different layout when compared to Kerrang. NME goes for a more minimalistic look for its layout and colour scheme, this is also representative of the genre of music that NME creates it's content for and also once again of the demographic of the NME magazine.

Rule Of Thirds Example Photo

Rule Of Thirds Example

This is the Photo I have taken for my Rule Of Thirds Example. As you can see the Van is taking up roughly Two thirds of the photo and would be lying on one of the intersections of the Rule of Thirds Grid.

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds (Sometimes called the Rule of Thumb) is a guideline which can be applied to photographs and paintings. The photograph should be spilt into 9 equal parts which should be used as guidelines for positioning objects within the photo. It is proposed that the main focal point should not be centre of the picture, it should be placed on one of the intersections of the grid. (See below for example). This makes the photo look more natural and appealing to the viewer.

The Male Gaze Theory.

The Male Gaze Theory

The Male Gaze Theory was first introduced by Laura Mulvey. It suggests cinema audiences look at films in two different ways, Voyeuristically and Fetishistically. This is because films are watched by audiences without the audience being watched themselves, it is also usually in a darkened room where it is hard to view other films viewers. This in effect makes them almost voyeurs which inadvertently will cause two things to happen:

• Objectification of characters
• Narcissistic identification with ideal image in the films

As stated above it is also suggested that characters may into objects, in a way which makes the characters more objectified and desirable to the audience. This has led to iconic female actors who is celebrated more for her looks than she is for her talent. This is just seen as more 'Eye Candy' for male audiences.

I will now give a brief overview of some films in which the Male Gaze theory can be easily applied.

1. Into The Blue

Into The Blue is a good example of where the Male Gaze Theory can be applied easily. This is because of the way in which Jessica Alba's character is portrayed in the film. As you can see in the poster to the right, Jessica Alba is dressed in a bikini which makes her easy 'eye candy' for the male audience. But also the males in the films are also shown to be strong and handsome making them an ideal image for males to want to follow.

2. Transformers

Transformers is another easy film to apply the Male Gaze Theory onto. This is because from the very start of the film Megan Fox is shown to have no big part to play as she is only a helper, yet she is in many scenes and is shown mainly to be once again 'Eye Candy' for the male audience.

3. James Bond: Casino Royale

James Bond is one of the biggest films that the Male Gaze theory can be easily applied to. This is mainly because it is the epitome the man that males want to be. Bond is shown to get all the girls and also take down all the enemies without breaking a stretch which is what other males idolise about him. Also many of the women in bond films a shown to be objects rather than actually people making the females once again 'eye candy' for the male audience.

4. Mission Impossible 4

Mission Impossible 4 is another good film on which the Male Gaze Theory can be applied. This is ponce again due to the fact that the main character is easy for males to idolise for his talents. Also many of the leading females are shown to be eye candy to the male audience but yet they also play some pivotal roles within the mission impossible films lowering the effect of them being objectified.

5. Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is another film in which the Male Gaze Theory can be applied. This is mainly due to the all female cast making them the main focus of the film, which is of course appealing to the male audience. But the female cast is shown to be less objectified for doing this. This is because none of the cast are perceived as eye candy as all of them serve a main role within the film.

School Newsletter Evaluation

School Newsletter Evaluation

In this post I will be evaluating the front cover and the double page spread of the school newsletter.

Front Cover

This front cover portrays many of the characteristics that we would expect to be on the front of a schools newsletter. Firstly the schools logo is placed at the top and is the largest thing on the page, the other pictures are also scenes from within the school environment. The colours used on the front page also fit in with the colours of the School Logo (Blue,White And Red) this is the house style for the newsletter.

Double Page Spread.

The double page spread also used some of the characteristics that are expected within school newsletters. Firstly the language used throughout the pages in formal, this is because the newsletter has been made primarily to inform students then to entertain. The house style is also rather similar with the white background and the blue text for the headings. The layout it also set-up as columns which is also very formal which is to be expected from a school newsletter.

Prelimminary School Magazine Work

School Magazine


In a school magazine you would expect to see many different things. Firstly in terms of the colours used throughout the newsletter would usually be related to the school in some way,this will probably be the colour of the schools uniform giving a general image to the magazine, this would become the house style of the whole magazine ans would be able to be seen throughout.

Secondly the language used throughout the newsletter could either be formal or informal depending on who is writing the magazine, if the magazine was written by staff for pupils then the language used would be more likely to be formal, whereas if the magazine was written by students for students then it would most likely incorporate less formal language.

There would also be many pictures throughout the magazines depicting scenes throughout school, these would be related to the articles throughout the magnetic, there would also be a picture of the schools logo usually on the front cover of the magazine.

Semiotic Theory

Semiotic Theory


Semiotics is the study of signs, sign can be described as something that stands for something other than itself. For example the colour red can be used to show Passion and Anger.


There are really two main theories when it comes to Semiotics, the first belongs to Ferdinand de Saussure with hisDyadic Semiotic System. With this theory there is a Signifier and a Signified, The Signifier is what can been soon or what is there whereas the Signified is what is meant or otherwise portrayed by this.

The next theory comes from a man called Charles Sander Pierce who invented the Triadic Semiotic System.In this theory there are three different elements.

Charles Sander Pierce's
Triadic Semiotic System

• Index
• Symbols
• Icons

Charles Pierce described different types of signs. Indexes are signs that directly link to the meaning. Icons are related to the meaning but only slightly, and Symbols do not link to the represent the meaning in any way.

Music Magazine Questionnaire.

Magazine Questionnaire.


I have created a questionnaire on-line for my music magazine. It can be found Here.

Research Methods

Qualitative and Quantative Research.


While creating my magazine I will  be required to gather information to help better suit my magazine to the intended target audience. There are two different research methods that I shall be using, these are:

Qualative: This research involves gathering quality information from the target merket. This research will deal more with decriptions, which can be more in-depth and contain more quality information. This type of research contains data that is easy to observe but is not very easy to be measured.

Quantitative: This research involves gathering a large quantity of information from the target market. This can be done through questionnaires and surveys. This type of research will deal more with figures and facts, which can easily be measured once they have been obtained.

While conducting research for my Magazine I will be using a Quantitative research method in the form of a Questionnaire. This is because it allows me to gain a large amount of information from my target audience which can then easily be sorted.

Tom Cannon

Outline of the Brief

This blog has been created to aid in my AS Media Coursework. The brief I have recieved has tasked me to plan, research and then create a music magazine using this information. My magazine will be comprised of a front cover, Contents Page and a double Page Spread.
However, before I can create this magazine there is the initial task of creating a Front Cover and Contents Page for College Magazine. I must research other existing magazines first in order to gain knowledge into how these pages are constructed.
Once the research is finished I will then create Mock-ups of my own magazine before I start creating it. Then finally I will produce a finished copy of my magazine.
All work will be posted on this blog to show the progression of my magazine.

Tom Cannon