Preliminary task - Analysing Existing School Newsletters

Conventions of a School Magazine:

In order to create a school magazine I first had to identify the codes and conventions in regards to semiotics, language, layout, graphics and images by analysing others. This is an analysis of the Deyes High monthly newsletter.

Front page:

   A part of semiotics is the use of a house style, this is shown through layout, graphics and colours. It is the expected conventions for a specific type of article. The colours used are those associated with the school, for example in Deyes High School these are blue, white and red. The masthead is the same used on all documents, this is just as recognisable to the institute as the Deyes High logo. On the front page there are two shades of blue and red boxes, this is to link in and show again house style.

  There is a pug in the top left corner of the magazine of the Deyes High Logo, this is an instant indicator to the institute and is instantly recognisable to those associated with the school.

  The images are of students and their achievements. They are dressed smartly, engaging with their props, this is all part of the mise en scene to connote smart and active students.

    The font on the front of the page, used both in the masthead and the folio, being the date of issue of the newsletter, are in a sans serif font and are quite large and bold. This is not what I would expect Deyes High School to use for their target audience of all students and parents. This may have been OK when aimed at younger students however Deyes High School should convey their formality in their text as all part of the mise en scene. This newsletter is aimed at older students, those of all different abilities and parents, therefore I would expect a conventional school newspaper to have a less bold and more elegant serif font.

Double Page Spread:

     The first convention of a magazine apparent is the columns used with the images relevant to the text and also the subheadings.

   Images showing the students activities and achievements are very conventional as the school wants to portray their selves and their students as successful.  They also include images of school trips to show the students are active and the school does support this and to show they are fun. All images are relevant to the individual article. All students are dressed smartly under their B&Q uniform which is all part of the mise en scene.

  The language used is very formal with some monosyllabic words such as "generosity". I do feel that most students and parents alike of all different abilities would be able to understand this language and the context. The language is formal to establish their status and to show they hold power. There are features of power in the text. There is also shared understanding, one example being in that the magazine states "Miss Treanor" without explaining who the person is, assuming the reader will know.

  The text used is not what I would expect to be conventional of a school magazine, as with on the cover text is of a sans serif font, I would expect a more formal serif font making the school look more professional, however the text is easy to read and will not intimidate any readers.

Preliminary task - School Magazine Mock-Up

Through analysing the Deyes High School magazine, I was able to identifty the conventions to therefore use in my own creation. The blog below this one shows the conventions identified and I have also recently posted another of magazine terms. I have been able to use this knowledge I have gained in my own school magazine, this is the mock up below:

Planning Possible Images - Preliminary Task - School Newsletter

   For my school newsletter I have planned images I have chosen to use that match the conventions of a school magazine. These shots will reflect the contents.

   The first image I have decided to take is an establishing shot of the school building for the front cover. This will establish the setting of the magazine and show the contents. The D block building is significant as this is the newest building in the school, built in 2011. This means the school will be represented by a modern, well built, high tech establishment.

   The second image I have chosen to take is a long shot of a sixth form student in a classroom holding a book. This student has made an achievement in the subject of the book, for example in this case an A* in music A-Level. This will be a long shot so that the environment of the noticeboard with other images and achievements can be shown in the mise en scene and a neat looking student in their uniform.

   The third image I have chosen is of the inside of a newly refurbished room, which will be the textiles room.  This will be an extreme long shot to show the whole room. I may even use a high angle so all features can be seen.

  The fourth image will be of students at a computer screen in my article about how students are using the internet more for school work and new technologies within the school.  This will be a mid-shot so that I can include a few students and show the computer screen.

   The fifth image may be in the PE department to show students in physical activity. This will be a long shot to show a few students doing different activities. The mise en scene will be PE equipment and the school PE uniform.

Cohens Moral Panic

       In 1972, Stanley Cohen proposed a theory of Moral Panic. He explained that the trigger of this was when the “condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests”.

      The mass media hold authority to influence changes in society through publicising threats to the public. This may be threat from other countries, cultures, religion, drug and gang culture or even everyday things such as health risks to smoking and sunbeds.

      Goode and Ben-Yehuda suggested that moral panics can be recognised through several features. They may consist of the following characteristics:

·         Concern – Awareness that the behaviour of the possible defined threat and that it may have a negative impact on society.

·         Hostility – Society showing hostility towards the opposing group or threat. It can be seen as ‘them’ and ‘us’

·         Consensus – Concern does not have to come from a majority or be nationwide. There is moral panic if there is a large group of people opposing the threat and that these accept that the group in question poses a threat to society. The “moral entrepreneurs” which are the people that benefit through raising awareness and gathering support against the threat such as the mass media aim to make the opposing group appear weak, wrong and immoral.

·         Disproportionality – The action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the accused group.  Meaning that the mass media will heavily publicise and raise awareness of the threat to create more support against the opposing group.

·         Volatility – Moral panics are highly volatile and do not tend to ‘sit on the fence’. They completely oppose a threat and do not question other possibly reasonable ideas. Moral panics tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared, this can be due to the mass media continuously proposing other threats and being heavily influential, meaning interest can be consumed by the next moral panic.

   One example of moral panic is violent video games. Jack Thompson, an American attorney, is widely known for his role as an anti video game activist. He is known for creating hysteria in court over the use of sex and violence in video games and how this affects gang culture and the youth in society.
  In history, Nazi Germany created a lot of moral panic against race and religion. Jews were driven out due to moral panic, to quote Hitler in 1938, "If we do not take steps to preserve the purity of blood, the Jew will destroy civilisation by poisoning us all".
  An example of a tabloid newspaper creating moral panic is when the Daily Star published an article on the 2nd December 1988 about the spreading of AIDS. To quote, "Surely if the human race is under threat, it is entirely reasonable to segregate AIDS victims, otherwise the whole of mankind could be engulfed.  
   
     In regards to a music magazine, it is important to understand the audience. Music magazines trade on oppositional culture. Those aimed at youths will not promote the typical things the mass media will promote. Other media texts such as newspapers, particularly tabloids will aim to create support against the opposition and what is ‘wrong’. However music magazines aimed at a younger generation can be aided by moral panics as youth rebel against confinement and what other generations and those more conservative may oppose. For example, Pete Doherty still remained on the front page of NME and other similar magazines and still an idol to many despite being pictured by the paparazzi falling out of clubs, heavily smoking and drinking.

Ideology;

Tasks for Friday 27th period 1:

1. Use your own reading and the information on the handout to come up with a blogpost your own definition of 'ideology' and why this is important for a magazine

eg. Kerrang and their "break the mould" mission statement!

2. What might the ideology be for a school newsletter?

3. Mindmap possible mock-up photos to use in your own version of the school newsletter.

4. Make sure all other posts are up to date, to ensure no gaps at this stage.

  In Media Studies the concept of ideology refers to beliefs and ideas behind a media text. Through the media feeding us information, they have the power to construct and influence our views, attitudes and behaviour towards whatever is concerned.  For example, a newspaper will usually have a clear political ideology, siding with a particular party, this constructs and influences their readers to vote for this party.

     The creator of each media text will have a purpose or subject to portray. Ideology may be presented clearly or be an underlying issue that is given to the audience to understand.

  It is because of the constant ideologies presented to us by all forms of media around us that we become to have these dominant beliefs in society. For example, the government and media industry work closely to ensure that war is supported, this was particularly necessary in World War One and Two. The audience is fed information and is heavily influenced, perhaps without even realising.  

Hegemony and Dominant Ideologies

   Gramsci, an Italian politician and political philosopher, defined hegemony as the way in which those in power maintain their control over the public. Dominant ideologies are considered hegemonic as they are widely believed views influenced via the mass media to portray the political parties as they choose. It is views that are accepted because the audience is told and do not question, such as the law is correct and also patriotism that we should respect and care about the monarchy.

   Althusser argued that ideology is a force in its own right.

    Chomsky argues that the media can be used to divert the public’s attention from real issues that the government may not want us to know, in order to present Britain in a positive way. He maintains that most prefer to be entertained and see an ideal world in a media form therefore opting for fiction such as soap operas, instead of choosing to understand the truth of the world through gritty documentaries.

  To identify an ideology, it is important to consider:

·         Whether the text is implicit or explicit

·         How the text employs dominant ideologies

·         What ideological assumptions are made from the text

·         Are these ideologies cultured, institutional or both

·         Do the ideologies reflect the type of text, for example in a washing powder advert the ideology may shape the form and content of the whole advert.

   In regards to ideology in a music magazine, they will influence their audience heavily as journalists are able to portray their ideas with euphemism or make the artist or product sound worse than it is. Magazines are heavily influential as the reader will already agree to many views of their chosen genre and they feel that the magazine is in power, particularly if the magazine is well established or has dedicated readers, such as Rolling Stones magazine. If this magazine said that an up and coming artist was great and promoted them well with a lot of publicity, the dedicated reader is unlikely to disagree. Many magazines portray the ideal lifestyle for their reader to aspire to, they are able to identify the ideal lifestyle by their demographic and audience, for example a reader of a pop magazine would aim to have a glamorous lifestyle with beauty and luxuries.

   The ideology for a school newsletter would be support of the school and its staff and accept that they have authority over the pupils. Also the importance of the pupils and this would be shown through focusing on the students and the pictures. This would be presented using the language and would not be clear to the audience as they would make it appear that the pupils are the most important feature.

Feminism

Feminist Theory  
    Feminism is the opposition to out of date and derogatory view points of women that many people in society still share today. Feminism aims for equality and to portray a strong image of women. In recent history and still in many different cultures around the world that men hold the dominant role. In the twentieth century many British women moved the feminism movement forward.

     It is clear that in terms to careers within the media that there is more powerful  and hold more positions in today's society, however many theorist show that although there is more equality women still hold a different purpose within the media. Three theorist I am particularly interested in for this topic is Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler and David Gauntlet.


The Male Gaze

   Laura Mulvey, a British feminist film theorist,argues that audiences interact with the media"voyeuristically" and "fetishistically". Cinema audiences watch a film without being watched by the characters on screen and usually in a darkened cinema so other audience members do not observe them either. Therefore they are almost voyeurs, watching the people on screen, this can lead to two effects


     objectification of female characters in relation to this controlling (male gaze)


     narcissistic identification with an ideal image seen on the screen


   Mulvey argues that this is voyeurism involves turning the represented figure itself into a "fetish"
or an object so that it becomes even more beautiful. This is simply just a visual object for the audience to appreciate, the identity that follows is usually mild as to focus on the beauty of the character. Mulvey suggests, this leads to the cult of the female movie star, who's appearance is widely appreciated but considered as an object and often treated as such.


    Propps Narrative is another theory related to feminism. He stated that conventional Hollywood films have a male protagonist in the narrative and assume a male audience. Male characters are "active and dynamic" and not always "conventionally attractive". Actresses must be glamorous and attractive but are often given supporting roles, such as the princess to Prince Charming and therefore are on screen as "eye candy" to appease the male gaze of the male audience.


Gender as performance


Judith Butler argues that we all put on a gender performance, regardless of sexuality. By choosing to subvert, we might work to change gender conventions and the binary understanding of masculinity and femininity as represented in the media. She suggest that: 


   "Gender is not some inner truth but the presence of received meanings,"


   "Gender is not fixed but constructed".


    Gender representations are used to construct identity in the media you can see how these 'performances' can be manipulated. Music artists who often construct complex gender ideologies as part of their image - "Madonna has constructed images which are expressly  feminine, overtly masculine and less extreme over her career". Other artists who aim to construct particular gender identities to present particular ideologies to an audience - Eddie Izzard and David Beckham both use feminine gender identity at times as part of their image, presenting less conventional ideologies to their audience. In order to change representations and expectations, Sigorney Weaver shaved her head completely and was not filmed in a far more 'male' context than had previously been the case for female characters in conventional sci-fi film, who, whether human or alien were usually products of the male gaze


Gender and Lifestyle
David Gorndlett argues that in contemporary society, gender roles are more complex and that the media reflect this. He points out that the female role models today are often glamorous as well as successful (Ali McBeal) in a way that previously they were not. He argues that much of this is due to the rise of 'girl power' in the media, through identities constructed by music artists such as Destiny's Child as well as contemporary actresses, for example who are demanding less passive film roles. He argues that our expectations of gender are flexible and culturally dependant and therefore will continue to change. He tracks these changes through different media texts, especially lifestyle magazines.