Introduction to Photoshop

Using Photoshop

In this lesson I became more familiar with using Photoshop on the Apple Macs. I became aware of the different tools as I am already familiar with Photoshop. Also I found out how to put a simple effect onto inserted text to use for my magazines masthead. As well as this I got used to the magic wand tool, inserting a border from the internet and removing the unwanted white background. I also managed to import my picture and use it as my background image. I am used to Photoshop and find it quite simple and therefore, I can develop my magazine front cover further and try and make it look professional.

Analysing a college magazine

College Magazine Analysis

This newsletter instantly catches the eye as the red banner stands out. The contrast of the red and black colours also represents the school uniform. As well as this we see the pupils at the bottom of the bulletin dressed formally and smartly in uniforms which shows that they are part of the school.

Also, the sub-title 'Christmas Concert' shows that the school also offers after school extra-curricular activities such as choir club. Although it is a school news bulletin, the numerous amounts of text displayed in newspaper form shows it has a formality show that it can also be targeted for an older audience.

The informal wall graffiti shows that the school is a relaxed one as well as a creative school, offering a different selection of subjects such as art. The 'Head's Message' also shows that the headmaster is considerate and gets involved.

The badge placed in the top left hand corner is the old school badge which represents the magazine as traditional. The magazine is informal as the second picture is slanted which shows that the school has a relaxed atmosphere. There is a contrast of formal and informal ideology in this news bulletin, It appears to be displayed as a broadsheet but has the content of a tabloid. 

Feminism and The Male Gaze in Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks clip

I found this video on YouTube which supports Laura Mulevy's 'Male Gaze Theory' and how we as males see women. The audience has to view the characters in the clip from a heterosexual male's perspective. It is as though the women in this clip are being viewed as objects and the camera focuses on their figures which also helps us as males to keep focused on the programme.

From our point of view as males, we do not focus on anything else in the mise-en-scene other than the female figure which also supports the male gaze theory. I am not a regular watcher of Hollyoaks but I understand that the majority of their actresses are attractive to the male eye and they do a calendar each year. Its as though the women have a sense of power when using their attractiveness.

Feminism in Music Magazines

Beth Ditto
Beth Ditto is an American singer/songwriter as well as a feminist. As someone who is a feminist and who was influenced by radical feminism, she states that you can’t live your life to please other people and there’s all different kinds of approaches. She also believes that the beauty of punk feminism was that you never really had to explain yourself. On a cover of the UK's NME magazine, Ditto posed nude and captioned the edition with 'Kiss My Ass', having a lash out at the media and standing up as a feminist.

 

In this edition, she is going against scopopilia and exposes her female body on the magazine cover seen here defying the conventional values on how men visualise beauty based on the 'Male Gaze Theory'. Instead of portraying an 'attractive' woman to the male eye, this cover is the complete opposite of 'traditional' beauty, trying to popularise that all women are beautiful. Its as through she is opposing to conform with what is so called 'modern beauty' and does not care about the male perspective.

 

Feminism in the Media

Feminism in Media

History of Feminism

In 1918, the first Women's Conference was held in Moscow and during the 1920s, under Lenin, the Soviet Government promoted equal rights. Marriage, divorce and contraception were made simple. However, in the 1940s, Stalin went back to the 'norm'. Divorce was then made difficult, abortion was banned and contraception restricted. In China, the 1949 Revolution brought formal equality for women and men. But in the USSR, women did the housework as well as their jobs.

During the 1960s, feminism came back again in the USA as part of a radical culture that included Civil Rights and sexual liberation. Feminist groups campaigned on issues such as childcare, health, education and abortion. In Europe, Canada and Australasia, new ideas and laws were changing society. In 1975, the United Nations announced an International Decade for Women. Revolutionary movements in Africa were including women's liberation. In Europe the peace movement became the focus for feminist activism. Feminism then boomed in America after the restoration of democracy during the 1980s.

Feminism symbol

Feminism In Media
Feminists believe that the media portray women as cleaners or housewives providing comfort and support for men or sometimes even a man’s sex object to service men’s sexual needs etc.. Feminists believe that this gender representation is an aspect of patriarchy. This is a social system where the male is the primary authority figure to social organizations. Feminists believe that the media suggests that these roles are normal and so, feminists see this as an example of patriarchal ideology- a set of beliefs which supports male dominance.

The Male Gaze
Laura Mulveys' essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema 'expands on this conception of the passive role of women in cinema to argue that film provides visual pleasure through scopophilia and identification with the on-screen male actor. Scopophilia is when sexual pleasure is gained through by looking at nude bodies, most often without their knowledge. For feminists, the male gaze can be thought of in three ways:

1. How men look at women
2. How women look at themselves
3. How women look at other women  

  

Music Magazine Qusetionnaire

I have decided to create a Music Magazine Questionnaire in order to find out what people want out of a Music Magazine. This questionnaire is an indication of what I need to include in my music magazine and will help me when creating my own music magazines front cover, contents page and double page spread. The Questionnaire is located below, if you can not see the remaining questions then scroll on the questionnaire itself instead of the blog post.

Semiotic Theory

What is Semiotic Theory?

Semiotic Theory is the relationship between signs, objects and the meaning behind it. When a person interprets the sign they believe that the sign may represent something else. The sign is the interpretation which means that it is the representation of the object; according to C. Morris people are the interpreters of signs and interpretations are concluded through three stages:

1. Perception - the person is aware of the sign in front of them.

2. Manipulation - the person starts interpreting the sign and decides how to respond to it.

3. Consummation - the person responds to the sign.

Denotation

Denotation is the literal meaning of the sign and can be referred to the dictionary as the definition of the sign. Denotation can be contrasted to connotation if the sign does not have the same connotation as the denotation. An example of a denotation is that a skull is just a part of human skeletal system

Connotation

Connotation is the person who views the sign personal opinion on what it portrays. The connotation can contrast with the denotation depending on the sign. This is the choice which responds in either a negative or a positive way. The difference between denotation and connotation is that for everyone the denotation will be the same but connotation is people's own personal opinions as this differs for different people. An example of this is that the skull has a connotation associated with death.

I used this cover from NME of The Killers as in this cover we can see multiple expressions and this can be interpreted through the connotation and denotation. The denotation is that the band are laid back and don't care about what is going on around them. As well as this, we can also see through their facial expressions how they aren't reflecting any true emotion.

The connotation in this is that really the band does care about what is going on. We can see this as it explains how they are talking about their new album at that time and their passion for the music they produce.

Here is The Killers most recent success, the single Runaways, which is the second track of their most recent album Battle Born. They have recently released a Direct Hits album which contains all of their most famous and successful songs such as When You Were Young, Somebody Told Me and Mr. Brightside. The single Battle Born was released in the UK on 9th of September 2012. It also reached 18 in the UK Single Charts. I attended their 2012 Battle Born tour in 2012 which took place in the Echo Arena and their performance was outstanding.

View of The Killers on their Battle Born tour 2012 which I took using my IPhone