Tuesday, 27 January 2009

These are some photos that i took in a lunch time of an unsigned band called 'gravity of witch men.' ......The band members are; James Parsons(lead vocals), Nick Steward(bass guitar), Tim Dutton(lead guitar), Tom Jenkison (rythm guitar), Benj Maloney(drummer)...here are the photo's.....




I like the lighting of this photo and i think that this would be good iamge to inlcude on the contents page or article. i would have to edit the photo to make it cleaer and also to get rid of the boxes in the background.

Thursday, 15 January 2009

I'm now creating a blog to publish all of my media studies coursework. The first thing i am going to do is to upload my magazine essay that i did over the christmas holidays. Here it is...

Music Magazine Essay Writing.

The article is called ‘What rock ’n’ roll has taught me…’ and is written by a photographer, Pennie Smith and has been published in an NME magazine .The article is about a photographer, Pennie Smith, and the tips she uses when doing a photo shoot. She also tells us about her background and why she came into the photography business in the first place.
I am going to analyse this article by first talking about the institution; who produced it, how large is the institution. The audience; who the target audience is, how you now it form reading the article. Forms and conventions; what features your magazine uses; comment on the opening paragraph and how quotes are used. Representation; Who/what is being represented and how it is done; talk about attitudes (are they positive or negative.) Finally, I will finish with a conclusion, which will be a brief summary of my analysis.
NME is sold all over the world so has a global institution. The producers of the NME magazine are also responsible for producing other media products such as internet sites and also other magazines, with a range of genre’s, such as ‘Ideal home,’ ‘Soap life,’ Super bike,’ ‘Woman,’ ‘TV and satellite week,’ and many more.
The NME also has a lot of competitors, most of which are other music magazines such as, ‘The big cheese,’ ‘Kerrang,’ etc.
‘What rock ’n’ roll has taught me…’ article, has a wide ranged target audience of about 16 to mid-late to 50. I think this because she talks about careers and choosing a career. ‘Don’t plan a career,’ Enjoy the aspects the job.’ You could say that this is aimed at people 16 to late thirties as this is the ages when you need to think about what you want to do for a career. Also the bands that she has worked with in the past can appeal to a wide range of people, like The Clash or Oasis, The Stones Roses or Led Zeppelin. This will attract a range of people to the article as it has a range of bands mentioned in it.
The layout of the article is typical of a music magazine article, with a large picture centred in the middle of the page and the text placed around it.
There are also sub-headings that are bolder than the rest of the text that grab your attention, it’s usually they give you a short, interesting sentence out of the whole article that make you want to fond out more, consequently making you read the article.
There is also a lot of highlighted text, making it stand out form the rest. It is like a short title for each paragraph, this also grips the reader making them want to read on. The yellow highlight also links in with the yellow text in the title box that reads Pennie Smith, the author of the article, and also the sub heading in yellow text.
It uses a bold font for the title, much bolder than anything else on the page, this immediately brings your attention to ‘What rock ’n’ roll taught me…’ I think that this article will entice a lot more rock and roll fans, just because of the title. The bold white txt on a solid black background clash adding to the effect, making it appear even more visible.
The use of the colour for the featurette is also very effective. It stands out slightly more than the black text but doesn’t take the focus off the article. The red colour clashes with the yellow, allowing both the text too appear separate.
There are a lot of rock bands represented in this article such as The Stone Roses and Led Zeppelin but also other people who encouraged Pennie Smith (the author of this article) to become a photographer. Nick Kent a journalist for example.
There are messages and values being out across in this article, one of which I think is to choose your career carefully, and that it’s not always what you thought it would be. The representation I certainly positive, the producer isn’t promoting any racism or stereotype. I do feel that men are mostly portrayed in this article as she talks about bands such as The Stone Roses, Led Zeppelin and Oasis. Plus the pictured featured in this article is of a band with men in it. I don’t think that this is sexist, the article talks about her career, and is just a coincident that she has worked with mostly male bands.
There are certain quotes form the article the article like ‘If I get electrocuted, take my picture.’ A quote from Joe strummer, band member of The Clash. This gives a friendly fun atmosphere to being a photographer, you get to talk to famous bands and have a laugh with them, it gives the effect of promoting photography and being a photographer.
Another quote that promotes this is ‘I love being on the road. I feel free.’ This promotes the idea of freedom as a photographer you can just pack up a small bag of equipment and go where ever you wanted. It’s like the dream life, no negative anything.
Overall this photographer’s article, published in the NME magazine would be suited for young music lovers ranged between 16 and 50. It features the key points of being a photographer and the career of Pennie Smith, the author of this article and photographer. Its use of layout, sub headings and font makes this article appear more enticing and effective.

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