Analysis of Research for Pre-production

Dominic Joy

Analysis of Research for Pre-production

The style of magazine that I will be creating is of a professional looking sports magazine for older and more experience audiences. A good example of what I will be basing my design on is of "FourFourTwo" magazine. Both my research through the survey and textual analysis has given me a good understand of how my pre-production will look.

The survey that I created featured 10 questions, ranging from 7 closed questions such as "How often do you buy magazines?" to 3 open questions like "What qualities does there need to be in a magazine to make you want to buy it?". The reason I chose 7 closed questions was to get quick and simple responses that would help give me a clear understanding of what makes a good magazine. The 3 open questions were more time-consuming for the person answering, however game me more person and in detail information which is equally important in good research. 

From my research I learned a number of things for how to present my magazine. For example I was told that magazines are becoming less and less popular than reading online for many different reasons such as it being a lot easier and comfortable to get information from online compared to going out and buying a copy of a magazine. Also that in order for someone to want to pick up my magazine it had to be bright and exciting to the reader, even though FourFourTwo is more of a professional looking magazine compared to another football magazine like "KiCK!". However I know that there is a much greater chance of someone wanting to pick up the magazine if it attracts your attention with bright colours and bright text. The cover must also feature a well known celebrity or icon that attracts your attention through eye contact. Along with this should be bold and exciting heading to make you want to open up the magazine and find out information as opposed to reading it online. As for the prices for magazines, 9 out of 15 of the people I asked said they were willing to spend £5 or more for a good quality magazine. This suggests that if they were willing to spend that much on a magazine then it would have to have sufficient and interesting information.

From my textual analysis, I know that the presentation of magazines like "FourFourTwo" make them stand out among other sports magazines as having a good amount of information but also a professional looking design, hence the reason why it is aimed at a much older and mature audience. These types of magazines use much longer and complex words for its audience rather than with magazines like "KiCK!", which are clearly aimed at children because of its use of such words as 'cool' or 'wicked'. However the reason why my magazine will be very different to this is because its presentation is much clearer and professional. This would be different to a kid's magazine which is often very messy or filled with pictures of well known footballers. Instead, my cover will feature just one main image, with a classic and smart looking title and attractive headings. This is because my target audience is going to be very similar to "FourFourTwo" because of its professional look. Also it will feature a lot less images, something that a child would not be interested in and more bored with compared to something like "KiCK!". My target audience specifically is people aged 17-40. However this is very flexible because while a lot of older people prefer to read newspapers, some would still read my magazine. Therefore I would place the audience anywhere from the 'C' to 'A' groupings because of age rating and the type of information you get from the magazine. 

Magazine Textual Analysis

FourFourTwo

This particular magazine is aimed at people in the 'C+' category as it is more expensive an professional than other such magazines. As it is a football magazine, the main audience will be men but also some women that are interested in football, with a general age of 18-40. However this can vary as football is popular among all ages but you would expect an older audience to be buying the magazine because of its level of information and price. People over the age of 40 could also buy the magazine because it has a lot of information relating to a sport that they like, even if it is a lot more modern than alternatives such as newspapers. It may also appeal to different people due to the different cover lines. For example it may only appeal to an England fan because of the article about England, rather than the main image. The masthead "FourFourTwo", is the visual branding of the magazine and is done in a very specially designed typeface. In this case, the text is in red to stand out amongst the rest of the contents on the cover and the pale background colour. It is also written at an angle to make it look more modern and exciting in relation to football and how the game is always changing. It could also be like this to match the action of the player on the cover and to show that he is ready to play. 

There are many cover lines written all over the page, surrounding the player. This is done to capture the audience's attention but also not to detract too much from the main image itself, as this is often a big mistake made by magazines as the text runs over the image. These cover lines are all distributed around the player and are also at angles. These include things like players names in red to match the masthead and stand out. This is because players such as Sneijder, Ozil and Canales are popular people and are more likely to make the reader want to pick up the magazine than if they see regular sentences as they want to find out about them. There are also phrases like "New Look!", "New Playing Section!", "42 Things We Know About Footballers Thanks To Twitter" and "Free Mag Inside: The Future Of England - Part 1". These all use exciting words and phrases to get people's attention and make them want to buy the magazine. For example, people will want to know what the 42 things are as they are fans of football. Many of the readers are from England which means they will be interested in finding out about England's future or how to improve performance through the "New Playing Section!" 

The dateline of the magazine is important as it guarantees the audience up to date information and news about football. This month's edition is September and is near the beginning of the season when football comes back. This is why along with things like the cover lines and main image, will probably be enough to grab people's interest in the magazine. 

The main image of the magazine is of Dutch player Wesley Sneijder, in his national team jersey. The main image of a magazine is usually used in a classic way, with certain parts of the person standing out more than others. In this case, the players leg is clearly the centre of attention as he is in a kicking motion. Those who recognise the player or colour kit will be immediately drawn towards them as they stand out more than anything else on the page. As the kit is a prodominantly orange, it contradicts the white, pale background and draws your attention more than anything else on the page. This is why the main image is the first thing that a readers sees when looking at a magazine and is what will hopefully make them want to  read on. Also it is helpful to have someone like Sneijder on as the main image because he is very popular and well known internationally, meaning more people are likely to want to read the magazine whether it be Dutch people or fans of Sneijder himself or the club that he plays for. The main image is linked with the main cover line which is "Return Of The Playmakers". This strongly suggests there are many more players just like Sneijder that are just not mentioned on the cover but conveniently means if the reader wants to find out who the others are then it will mean opening up the magazine. Strangely the player is not making eye-contact with the reader. This is something which is commonly done, especially in fashion magazines so that they feel more related or drawn towards the magazine. In this magazines case however, they do not  need to as he is a footballer and him looking away into the distance is also acceptable to illustrate that he is focussing on paying well as the playmaker that he is.

The main cover line, as mentioned, is "Return Of The Playmakers". However underneath this is a sentence that says "Why football's magician's are taking back centre stage." This along with the main cover line and the image of one such player, catches the audience's attention and is just the right amount of information to make them want to read. They could have chosen to show more of the playmakers on the front cover but have decided not to because it would stop people opening up the magazine and finding out for themselves. The whole text is once again slanted or at an angle to match what the player is doing. Another way that this is done is to have the word "playmakers" smashing or coming apart as the player kicks through it. This makes it seem more exciting than usual as most magazines would just use a more generic main cover line with an image, making someone more likely to buy "FourFourTwo" than any of the others. 

Kick!

This magazine is aimed at a much younger audience, between the ages of 5-14 years. However the category of the boys or girls is likely to be much lower than for "FourFourTwo". However this can vary because it doesn't matter what background the kids come from, they will all still prefer this type of magazine to 'FourFourTwo".  The main reason that it is clear that the magazine is aimed towards kids rather than children is because of the layout. It is clear that doesn't look as professional and is very messy compared to "FourFourTwo". It also uses much simpler language and techniques to attractive kids differently to if they were aiming their magazine at adults. 

The masthead of the magazine is "KiCK!". It looks a lot less professional than "FourFourTwo" because it uses a flying football as the "i". It also is much smaller than on the previous magazine. This is probably because for kids, they will not by the magazine because of where it is from, but because of who and what they see on the cover. This is why players like Suarez and Sturridge slightly over-lap it because they are very popular and are role model to young kids. As for the cover lines, they use much simpler wording and a variety of texts which looks very messy and unprofessional from an older person's point of view. However to a kid, it would be more attractive and exciting, therefore seeing it more as being less boring than the previous magazine rather than seeing it as being messy or unprofessional. It uses much simpler text like "Off To Brazil!", "Wicked Posters!" and "Countdown To The World Cup!". This is to suit the target audience and make it very simple, yet entertaining for them to read the magazine and then want to buy it. The arrangements of the cover lines are also very messy and uses many different and bright colours to get the reader's attention. These are also paired with even more pictures of footballers to try to attract the kids' interests rather than using long sentences. 

The dateline and price are also very different as instead of putting the month and year, it simply has 'Issue 103'. This is much less professional as magazines like "FourFourTwo" use the month and year for their editions. It also has a price of £3.50 on the cover so that people know how much to pay for the content of the magazine. However it is less visible in the previous magazine because many people but it regardless of the price as they know that there will be good content inside. 

The main image of the magazine features 5 Premier League footballers. However in more professional magazines, they would use one image and it may be done in a studio. But in this magazine, it looks like they have just been copied and pasted onto the front cover because it is less important to kids to have a professional image. They just need to put onto the cover players that kids will recognise and to make them want to read the magazine. It also looks like all the players are celebrating to show their excitement and hopefully also to get the kids excited about reading the magazine. They are matched with the main cover line 

Representation

Class (newspaper): The Sun

The representation is a negative one because it shows Prince Harry wearing a swastika and has the heading "Harry the Nazi", suggesting that he is a supporter of the nazis. However we know that he is in fact not a nazi, but is being made to look like one by the media. This newspaper is mainly for lower class people who are not willing to spend much money on reading the news. It uses very simple language for everyone to read.



Gender (tv show): Loose Women

Age (film): Harry Brown

Race (tv show): 

Sexuality (film): 

Magazine

The magazine that i have chosen to analyse is an edition of SFX Magazine, which specialises in movie news and science-fiction. The masthead of the magazine reads "SFX" in big, shiny letters to represent the new and exciting topics mentioned in the magazine. It is done in a specially designed typeface to be instantly recognisable to anyone picking up the magazine and know that they specialise on the latest movie news.

The cover lines on the magazine include "Interviewed!: Milla Jovovich Talks Resident Evil: Retribution" and "Plus: Massive 2013 Film Preview!". These are distributed around the main image, without detracting from it too much. These headings are exciting to the reader as they give just enough information to make you want to open the magazine without giving too much away.

The main images used is placed in the middle of the cover and is of Robert Downey, Jr. This is because he is well known for playing superhero Iron Man, and the image of him relates to the main cover line which is "The Avengers 2". This will get people's attention before anything else does as it is right in the middle of the page and used in a classic way. Also he is making eye contact with the reader which is more likely to draw their attention. Anybody that is a fan of Iron Man or superheroes will instantly want to know what the new movie is because it feature one of their favourite superheroes. He also has his arm out which suggest action and gets the audience excited for read on.

The main cover line of the magazine is "The Avengers 2". This is the first thing that catches your attention after the image as it is written in the biggest font apart from the masthead. It is also a major component of the success of the magazine as it is one of the main factors that makes the reader want to pick up the magazine. Fans of superheroes will also be aware of the first Avengers movie so will be interested in the sequel.

The target audience for this magazine is mainly for males, however can still be read by girls as superheroes and science-fiction is very popular to both genders. The age of most readers would be 16-30 as this is the main age group to watch superhero movies. Any older and i don't think that people would want to buy the magazine as there is no cover line on the magazine to grab their attention. Even if people, especially girls, don't like superheroes then they might but it because of the heading relating to "Resident Evil". I would think that most readers would be in the 'C 1 and 2' group and some in the 'B' group because this is not a very expensive or psophisticated due to the layout and theme of the magazine. People in the 'A' group would read something more expensive such as GQ Magazine, while some from 'B' would read it because they might have an interest in superheroes, despite their profession.

Textual Analysis

"Blame It on Me" by George Ezra

Mise-en-scene: Set on a regular street with no cars around. It mainly focuses on the singer walking down the middle of the street, drawing your attention towards him to show the song may be about him. However it occasionally focusses on other people in the same setting. Either side of him are shops, and it is a sunny day. The red cup that he drinks out of near the beginning could represent death and what is going to become of him.

Shots: Mainly medium to medium long shots of the singer. Extreme long shot near beginning when the two men are talking by the side of the street to show the size of their surroundings. As one of them is the singer, it shows that he choses wrong after he is asked "are you sure you want to follow the yellow brick road?" Then it goes to tracking with the singer as he walks down the street.

There is a bird's eye angle when the bird dropping lands on him from above. It uses a long shot when he meets the dog and then also when the car drives over his guitar to show the whole of the person or objects used and draw attention to them. There is a close up of the driver in the car as this happens so we know who is doing it and that she does it intentionally.

The lighting is mostly very bright with the exception of one part, and uses soft lighting to get a clear view of what is happening. This is also appropriate as it goes with the song which is mainly uplifting rather than a sad or slow song. There are some longer shot durations such as when he is walking along the street and some montages throughout such as the ending gun fight between the police and the robber.

As it is a music video, the music is non-diegetic but at times he is also singing out loud. However when the rain comes, that is diegetic and is the only time in the song, that it appears darker. The guns at the end use diegetic sound as the police and robber are actually firing guns it is happening on screen. At the beginning there are simple sounds like birds and the car driving past to represent the quiet setting.

There is a serious close up at the end when the gun fight takes place of the singer when he is walking through the middle of the scene. Then there is an extreme long shot of him walking away while in the mise-en-scene, we see the damage of the gun fight and there is smoke in the sky to show that time has passed and he is moving on.

This then starts an avalanche of bad luck for him such as getting bit by the dog and having his guitar ran over as a result of the decision he makes at the beginning. "Blame It on Me" is supposed to represent when he walks through the police without getting shot, it shows that he caused it.

Margin Call - First 10 Minutes

At the beginning we hear non-diegetic voices talking while the screen is black. For the miss-en-scene, we then see tall skyscrapers in a city. The lighting is very dark to begin with, then as the day goes on, it becomes brighter. A high angle who is used to the show the buildings and the city skyline. There is a mix of hard and soft lighting on the buildings and streets. 

Over the top is played quite mysterious music showing uncertainty and then we hear a big bell ring off screen at the end of the opening credits. It then cuts to a hallway inside one of the buildings where it is a bright, sunny day. The miss-en-scene is people walking in a line through the corridors and quickly through very modern looking offices with computers and other modern day technology. Quite slow and sad music is played over the top and is non-diegetic. 

The camera pans along while the woman is walking with the man. We can hear a lot of the diegetic sounds in the office like telephones, computers, typing and talking. The non-diegetic music matches the character's emotions and feelings and gives the sense that they are worried or do not know what is going to happen. It then cuts to i the office where the boss is being fired and the music stops. There is close ups and medium shots used of the man and two women, just to show the top half of their bodies. There is no music here to draw the audience's attention to what the characters are saying.

A medium long shot is used as he leaves the office after being fired. As he does so, the lighting on him is hard, while in the office next to him it is brighter. This represents that he has lost hope and has been shut out from everyone else. A low show is then used to look up at the boss, possibly to show how low he has gotten, with serious non-diegetic music over the top. It then goes quiet again as he is told more important information by a colleague. 

It is mainly edited very slowly using long duration shots, to show the the scale of the office building and the work that is going on which attracting attention to the main character/s on screen. As the boss moves on through the building, a tracking shot is used to follow in front of him and draw attention to his face with a close up, again to show his emotions and that he is very disappointed to leave. It is also quite dimly lit in the corridor to represent the change in his emotions and that things are very unclear going forward into the future. 

He gets to the end, where the light is now more consistently brightly lit, where he meets two of his younger colleagues. This could show their future being brighter and containing more hope. He then leaves through another door, separating him from them, and boards a dimly lit elevator, which could represent that he is going down in the world and losing all that he has now that he has lost his job.

Construction and Mediation

The X Factor

The first contestant on The X Factor is Michael Marouli. However the clip is very short, lasting just 46 seconds. This suggests that his performance is not very important along with the fact that he is dressed in a sparkly costume. As he begins to sing it seems obvious to anyone that he is not very good and this is highlighted by the rest of the audience laughing as well. 

After he finishes singing, they decide to play funny music over the top to emphasise how bad he is. But if you were watching it on TV you would have no idea what his name is because it does not say. Nor does it say his occupation suggesting he knows he is really bad at singing and is just out to get attention and be on TV. This is he opposite to a good singer because they would get more time and attention.

The second contestant was Jay James. This audition was completely different as he was a good singer and got through to the next round. This is why the clip lasts longer than 5 minutes because he is worth watching. There are also a lot more close ups used by the cameraman to show Jay's emotions and get the viewer to feel emotion for him. 

Also included is a back-story which informs us that he is an ex-soldier and had to leave due to injury. This immediately makes us feel sorry for him and as he sings well it seems like he has achieved his dreams which is why we show more emotion towards him than others like Michael Marouli. We also hear very slow and emotional music over the top and a shot of Jay's family to show that he has a family to provide for and his music means everything to him.