HNT and U>

In today's lesson we discussed the Hypodermic Needle Theory and the Uses and Gratifications Theory. Beforehand we had to research these theories for a homework task, and here's what I found out -

The Hypodermic Needle Theory - mass media is seen to have an immediate an influential effect on people and their behaviour. This is done by 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. This theory is also known as the Magic Bullet Theory, in the sense that the message is directly 'fired' into the persons mind. My knowledge on this theory was furthered in today's lesson, as we learnt that this theory assumes the audience to be passive receivers of the messages who accept or do not challenge the messages. There is a quote from SpiderMan that says 'with great power comes great responsibility', this was applied to the mass media as they are so powerful they can 'inject' whatever messages they want to into their audience. A really good example of just how effective this theory is, is Margaret Thatcher's victory over Neil Kinnock in the elections in the early 1980's. Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Sun, hated print unions for pulling a print of Arthur Scargill (President of the National Union of Miners) and so wanted Margaret Thatcher to win the general elections because she also wanted to crush the Unions. Rupert Murdoch continually used the Sun to help, and promote Thatcher, so that ultimately he could print what he wanted and not have to listen to Unions. Thatcher won, and the Sun accounted for a lot of the reason for it.  

The Uses and Gratifications Theory - This theory focuses on why people use particular media rather than the contents. It is more concerned with what people do with media. The gratification of social or psychological needs of the individual. Gratifications can be obtained from a medium's content, e.g. watching a specific programme, and from the social context it used, e.g. watching TV with the family. Studies suggest that peoples needs and moods influence how they use and respond to a medium, for example, feeling bored encourages exciting content and feeling stressed encourages relaxing content. The same TV programme may gratify different needs for different individuals. Individual personalities, stages of maturation, backgrounds and social needs = individual needs. The Uses and Gratifications Theory assumes that the audience are actually active receivers; they use the media text to gratify certain needs, e.g. a need for diversion, information, advice, etc.

classical music magazine deconstruction

This is the cover of the music magazine, Classical Music. This is almost the opposite to my chosen genre, and this can be seen just by a first glance. It looks very classy and sophisticated as it includes a french artist called Pierre-Laurent Aimard, sitting on a bench in a probably expensive suit looking out into 'the unknown' as it were. The font style is swirly and fancy, which immediately sets the tone for the rest of the magazine, it is going to be very smooth and elegant which is what they are trying to portray. There is a three colour theme of blue, red and white. These are all cool neutral colours indicating that this magazine is going to have quite a calm tone throughout, and will only feature music relevant to the genre of this magazine.

music magazine deconstruction

This is the cover of the music magazine Plugged, made by another student. Straight away the first thing that i notice is the image, it is a mid shot and she is dressed all in bright red. They have matched the colours of her clothes and makeup to there overall theme and fonts, as there is an almost pinkish grey background with splashes of red in the font, in the bursts and behind the masthead. There is use of several fonts to advertise different things, e.g. Lil' Red On Tour! Is in a crayon style font which may be one of her advertising signatures, so that when audiences see this they automatically associate it with this artist. The gift of free earphones with purchase is in a burst making it one of the first things that stand out on the page. When readers see this they are likely to be more inclined to pay the reasonably priced magazine of £2.00 when they realise they are going to get a set of free headphones thrown in. They have included a small barcode in the corner, which is both nondescript but still noticeable, so readers no straight away that this magazine is to buy and not to browse like a brochure in a travel agency. Something that could maybe be changed about this piece for the better would be to eliminate the black bar at the bottom, and just have writing over the top of the image instead of inside this black box, as it makes the page look like it has a border as the masthead is also large, square and blocky. This is not a good feature to include and eliminating it would make the cover look more professional and creative.

music magazine deconstruction

This is a cover of the music magazine Vibe and is also similar to my chosen genre of a hip hop magazine. In this cover they have successfully matched the colour scheme to what Kanye West is wearing, by using the same bright blue on his collar for the masthead. They have also placed the close up of his face in front of the masthead, making it the central and most important feature. They have also made good use of the pink which traditionally contrasts well with the baby blue, and also the use of the black is paired well with his matching hair colour. There is a good clear and bold font throughout, making it easy to read, and showing very direct statements. The background colour is a neutral grey which is a good contrast against his dark skin, and the striking colours of the font. Another good point to make is that the masthead is sitting on top of the title, which is partially obscured by Kanye's head, and there is something in media terms called audience pleasure, and the audience pleasure here is that frequent readers of Vibe magazine, will already know what the title is and feel that they know the typical news and features this magazine is going to contain, whereas as people who are new to this magazine are not going to experience the same thing, as they may not even be able to decipher the title. They have missed out on an opportunity here to spread there magazine further around, as thy have not included any links to social networking sites anywhere on the page. They could have also maybe included a big bold competition on the cover to initially entice the readers, so they want to pick it up and at least flick through it to find out more.

completed school magazine

This is the completed version of my school magazine. I am happy with the final result as I have included;
- a Mast Head
- Boosts
- a Strap Line
- Links to Social Networking Sites
- a Mid Shot of several students from all different years
- and a continuous Theme of Colours based on the Southfield School Colours.

draft of school magazine

This is the first draft of my school magazine.

I have included;

- a masthead

- a main image

- links to social networking sites

- boosts

Through further development, i shall include a strap line and additional key information about term dates, and a different image that will include a student from each year group.