Good mag cwk blog

http://www.alevelmediastudies09-11.blogspot.com/

Representations

Excellent resource on magazines' representations (of gender): http://www.theoryhead.com/gender/discuss.htm

A Guide to Posters (and other products)

Pages 1-3 are on posters, 4-5 on sleeves/covers which are an option as additional texts.
There's much detail on what goes in posters, though really you can each work this out for yourselves, and should be comparing your posters to several (similar genre) posters when nearing completion. The last 2 points on this doc are crucial: keep a detailed record of tools used and steps taken to construct your poster, saving as a low-resolution JPEG each and every time you make a major change or addition (so you can evidence the work you did and your use of technology) + try to link every detail on your poster to some existing text, providing images for comparison where you can.

Posters and Products Layout Guide

UK Film Mag Circulations

[THERE ARE FURTHER ARTICLES ON EMPIRE etc ON THE BRIT CINEMA BLOG - WHICH YOU SHOULD BY NOW BE A FOLLOWER OF]

Although there a range of smaller-scale, Indie rivals, the film mag sector in the UK is dominated by just two players, Empire and Total Film - both of which are published by major companies (Bauer and Future respectively - see the mags blog for info on Bauer), a conglomerate with global reach in the case of Bauer.
Both are quite Hollywood-centric, not especially going out of their way to reflect what the UK film industry is up to for its UK audience! Their covers routinely lead on some Hollywood star or director.
Flick towards the back of each and look at the ads: all these invites to ring up young ladies for a nice chat suggests each sees the male reader as their primary demographic, a common assumption in both music and film publishing which I've always found a rather strange reflection of our culture (these companies are very, very good at knowing who reads their mags!).
The latest ABCs are out - figures are released monthly but half-yearly and annual comparisons are always paid particular attention to for highlighting trends. I'm sure you know by now that ABCs are how the official circulation (not necessarily sales) figures by the Audit Bureau of Circulation are known!
Here's the latest summary, from the excellent (though troubled itself; ironically the Media industry has struggled to support media on the media: The UK Press Gazette and MediaWeek the main players)  
....


THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST CAN BE SEEN AT http://mediabritishcinema.blogspot.com/2009/12/uk-film-mag-circulations.html !!!! 

Semiotic analysis of a teen mag cover

Semiotic Analysis of Teenage Magazine Front Covers by Siân Davies

SOME POINTERS ON THE MAGS TASK

The marking criteria would be a good place to start - I summarised all aspects of this in http://a2mediablogs.blogspot.com/2009/11/final-deadlines.html

some of the more unsual covers here are actually from Thai film mags, source: http://blackholereviews.blogspot.com/2007/03/movie-magazines-in-thailand-spoilt-for.html

If we take the specific criteria for PRINT products, this is how an excellent, A-grade product is described:

Level 4

The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
using IT appropriately for the task set;
showing understanding of conventions of layout and page design;
showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size;
accurate use of language and register;
appropriately integrating illustration and text;
framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
shooting material appropriate to the task set;
selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
manipulating photographs as appropriate to the context for presentation, including within text, within particular IT programmes, cropping and resizing.
Where a candidate has worked in a group, an excellent contribution to construction is evident.

 A few quick thoughts then on how to arrive at this exalted level:

STAGE ONE: RESEARCH CODES, CONVENTIONS, INDUSTRY, AUDIENCE TARGETING

1. research actual film mags, noting aspects of layout/design/colour and balance of image/text, plus aspects such as use of fonts, font size, breakout boxes etc
   
   
2. try to include some data on the size of the film mags sector - ie ABC data (see the earlier posting on mags for useful links here) - and some detail on what challenges face it (oh, say the threat/opportunity that new media/web 2.0 presents! But also the democratisation of punditry: through blogs and websites, and reading user comments on amazon, YouTube and many others, we no longer rely quite so much on the expertise of professional print and broadcast journalists to form our views of new movies)
3. make sure that you're thinking about target audience as you take notes; look for obvious signifiers such as plentiful shots of scantily-clad ladies and smutty humour/double entendres in mags with a primarily male target aud (HotDog, an otherwise rather good film mag, was an example of this - not to be confused with the curious canine mag!); reviews of rom-coms will often say much about the target audience too. The style of language used is critical: informal, slang for downmarket/mass market publications, perhaps more formal and complex language for a more sophisticated, film literate audience - it would be useful to make some reference to Sight and Sound as an eg of an upmarket film mag
   
4. pick out an actual magazine publisher - this could be one without any film mags currently - and do a little research; explain how your concept for a film mag would fit within its profile 

Okay, so you've researched the codes and conventions, and looked a little at mag publishers too...so what about the creative side?

Mag article design tips

Magazine Pages Design and Analysis Tips

Film Magazine Resources

I've put notices in both staff and student news asking for donations of film mags - ask around yourselves; the more you have to look at in F6 the quicker and easier it will be to get this part of the coursework done, and done well...

You'll find some useful info and links on the mag industry at http://bauermags.blogspot.com/ though its been a while since i've added to it.Don't forget there are THREE mags held by the Library on film; you may just have noticed the subtle blown-up-to-A3 hint on this in F6...

Basing your style fairly closely on an existing mag is fine; as always be clear and specific on your "influences"! Style of language, design choices, headlines and tone appropriate for the target audience (which you need to detail) are all important. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT AT ALL IMPORTANT THAT YOU PICK A MAJOR MAGAZINE TO MODEL YOUR MAGAZINE ON; A FANZINE IS FINE SO LONG AS YOU DETAIL THE REASONS BEHIND YOUR DESIGN AND LANGUAGE CHOICES

There are obvious resources such as www.guardian.co.uk/media/magazines (and its regular features on ABCs - Audit Bureau of Circulation figures - not the same as sales, but a verified count of the number of magazines in circulation, including free titles and 'bulks'). You probably haven't come across www.magforum.com which has many great features - including a guide to the terminology used to denote the various features of magazine covers, and a glossary.

There is more of this over on the mags blog, but you can find a lot of info on specific companies by looking up the Media Guardian, but also sites such as http://www.mediauk.com/owners/88/bauer-media and publishers own sites (eg www.ipcmedia.com). The Press Gazette is useful (eg http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44141&c=1)
Also did a quick bit of googling (starting with "uk film magazines" and then trying some variations) to unearth the following:

http://www.empireonline.com/magazine/
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazines-newspapers/empire/
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Press-Office/News/ABC-Circulation-Figures-January-June-2009/ [includes figures on their film title, Empire]
http://www.totalfilm.com/magazine
http://shop.littlewhitelies.co.uk/product/little-white-lies-issue-26-the-where-the-wild-things-are-issue
http://www.world-newspapers.com/film-magazines.html
http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/issue.php?sel=cur&siz=1
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/issue/200912
http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_journals_and_magazines
http://britishfilmmagazine.com/
http://www.premiere.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiere_%28magazine%29
http://www.horrorfilmmag.com/
http://www.fangoria.com/ [wouldn't work for me at home, but possibly as I tend to block cookies]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_journals_and_magazines
http://uk.dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Movies_and_Film/Genres/Horror/Magazines/
http://www.filmquarterly.org/index2.html
http://independentfilmquarterly.net/
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/
http://www.indiewire.com/
http://www.ifmagazine.com/
http://www.indieslate.com/
http://britishfilmmagazine.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/20/business/the-media-business-american-film-magazine-sees-the-end.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2001/apr/07/books.guardianreview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Weekly

Mag Cover features

Its worth putting this in as a separate post; image comes from http://www.magforum.com/cover_diagram%20copy.jpg - an excellent website all round this
The written analysis can be found at http://www.magforum.com/cover_secrets.htm 

WHAT 2009 HOLDS FOR THE MAG INDUSTRY

The Guardian did a series of analyses of media industries looking at the likely outcomes for 2009. In this article they predicted:

• larger publishers (there's none bigger than Bauer in the UK) will be relatively fine; its the Indies, without opportunities for cross-subsidy (profit-making titles supporting loss-makers), that will struggle to survive
• advertising income will slump BUT perhaps not so much for the glossies - part of the mystique of high-end brands comes with their use of prominent ad campaigns in glossy mags; if they stop advertising in these they risk losing out to rivals [however: rem the example of Vogue: the largest pagination for any magazine ever in 2008, but a huge fall in this by 2009]
• niche titles will be okay: advertisers simply won't have much option but to continue to target these titles
• mass- and mid-market titles will suffer more as here advertisers have much greater choice
• B2B (business-to-business) titles will suffer (note that Bauer focusses on consumer magazines, not B2B). Reed-Elsevier was forced to abandon the attempted sale of its B2B wing, finding no takers [DB: even the media can't sustain their own publication: The Press Gazette has been shut down]

The recession is forcing all publishers to look again at the possibilities for making online content pay - but this remains an issue they haven't resolved. While The Financial Times has successfully operated fees for its online content - and The Sunday Times is about to try the same - magazines, with competition from e-zines too lets not forget - haven't been able to make this work. Yet...

VARIOUS HANDOUTS & RESOURCES

I've uploaded a range of materials at http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12634228/1l686p0d89xhb6sw61bq
There's more specifically on Bauer at http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12634332/nggqefmk05qvodsjfy3
A range of PPA reports and more at http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12634381/bbq7i7b7njvb8dkq42a
Two essays (slightly old, but still useful if you're preparing a comparison of a men's and a women's mag) on men's mags at http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12634482/1pfnp0zwony6rkpt0x3o
These docs are on Representation generally, with some focus on women's mags: http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12634560/175ohnqtga82ybaji4se
Media Language docs at http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12634626/522643f3v6746f3yjym

BAUER IN TODAY'S MEDIA GUARDIAN - discusses/compares methods of distribution + monetizing

One of the cover stories of today's Media Guardian centres on Bauer magazines. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/08/the-face-magazine-press ("If the Face fits, wear it" by Stephen Armstrong, 8.6.08 in Media Guardian)
The Face is an iconic magazine published from 1980-2004 by EMAP (see Wiki); this could mark a reversal of Bauer's strategy of closing or 'suspending' various under-performing EMAP titles they acquired in their 2008 buy-out.
Armstrong discusses the pros/cons of various methods of distribution/monetizing the publication:

• ONLINE-ONLY - seen as the likeliest route; will fit with the mag's zeitgeisty, up-to-the-moment brand. PlayStation's PR agency argue "These days, youth culture is all online and all immediate. The Face is still a huge brand name, even globally, so it could become an authoritative site on what's cool in the UK." Style mags with limited online offerings are struggling (The mag I.D. - by Indie publisher F+W - is reducing its publication frequency to 6 times a year; it has 'a very basic site with video clips from photo shoots and a back catalogue for sale.' Contrastingly, 'Vice magazine, which launched in Canada 15 years ago and now distributes 1m copies worldwide, is flourishing, mainly on the strength of its website [which is blocked by web filter in school!]. "Our broadband TV service, VBS, reaches around 4 million people a month - which took us 18 months to grow rather than 15 years for the magazine," says Matt Elek, the title's European publisher. "In Europe and North America we expect our digital revenues to overtake our print revenues this year."' [see Independent article on Vice's success]
• ONLINE-ONLY CAN'T COMPETE WITH GLOSSIES? - '"It's not the case that no online advertising works for the rich and stylish," says Margaret Johnson, the chief executive of Patek Philippe's agency, Leagas Delaney. "But glossy print advertising is still the way they expect to be advertised to. You really can't see the sumptuous detail if you're looking at it in a pop-up."'
  
• FREE OR SUBSCRIPTION-ONLY - free mags risk being seen as downmarket and its hard to control the readership to match up with the audience advertisers want; subs-only mags struggle to publicise themselves: '"How do you maintain the cachet if you give it away for free?" asks one former editor. "Dazed, Vice, etc would murder it. Like Shortlist, it would be read by Polish cleaning ladies on the way home from the 4am shift. The subs [subscription] issue is equally tricky. How do you sell the subs? Who wants it? Or is it controlled subs - free to trendy shops - in which case it has no editorial teeth and no budget."'

The points above cover 3 of the 4 Key Concepts: Forms & Conventions; Audience; Institution

Covers + Content Pgs

Here's 25 covers/contents pages of Bauer titles from May/June: http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12525809/1j52gf80rljp7v3wrisk
Zoo images to follow

Meeja Guardian

Following the revision class on Tues 2nd June I'll start posting materials here. For a starter, though, do be using the Media Guardian online, especially http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/bauer and http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/consumer-magazines

Some recent articles of note:

Bauer Media to cut 30 more jobs ' - Bauer is clearly feeling the heat from the ongoing recession: following the axing of Arena and several other titles since its takeover of Emap 18 months ago, its had to instigate two rounds of redundancies, starting with 15 jobs within its radio operations (now moved outside London to cut costs) but now taking a further 30 across its magazine wing.

'Hello! moves to Mondays with help of the Mail' - Bauer's celebrity titles like Heat have to compete with OK!, which has the considerable backing of Northern & Shell, owners of the Express/Star newspapers. Now Hello is linking up with Associated Newspapers, owner of the Mail titles, in a new distribution and co-promotion deal - enabling it to publish on a Monday, a day before any of its rivals (wholesalers traditionally shut at 10am on Sundays, but have been persuaded to stay open longer for this new deal). --So, the move towards greater frequency of publishing is now intensifying further, with a new battleline over how early in the week celeb titles are published.Trinity Mirror terminates £65m-a-year Dawson Holdings contract' - One of the UK's major magazine distributors is facing closure after a series of publishers pulled their contracts with Dawsons - including 'Frontline, the joint venture between Bauer Media, Haymarket Publishing and BBC Magazines, worth £83m'

' Colin Kennedy appointed FHM editor' - mens mag market leader appointed the former Empire editor to FHM; CK famously edited an edition of Empire featuring a cover mask of Darth Vader - when opened, readers were treated to the familiar breathing sound of Vader! He oversaw a period of continuous growth for Empire. 'FHM sells more copies than GQ and Loaded combined, but Kennedy will need all his skills to arrest falling sales in the declining men's market, in which Arena and Maxim have closed this year. // The magazine's sales fell 13.5% from 315,149 in the second half of 2007 to 272,545 in the final six months of 2008. // FHM's lead over fitness magazine Men's Health is more than 22,000 copies a month, down from about 75,000 in the second half of 2007. // The magazine has been moving upmarket in recent years as the lads' magazine market crashes, highlighted by the closure of Maxim UK earlier this year.'