Top 5 Christmas Songs

In the spirit of the holidays I have decided to post the top five christmas songs of all time, for me at the very least.

No. 5 - Jingle Bell Rock



I love this song for the high tempo. Most Christmas songs are very low key and peaceful and this one breaks the norm and ups the speed, strait into no. 5 on this list.

No. 4 -  Walking in a Winter Wonderland



This song is just beautiful, the great vocals delivered seal this songs place in No. 4.

No. 3 - Santa Baby



This song is just a great tune, this brings me straight into the christmas spirit as soon as I hear it, planting this into the No. 3 spot.

No. 2 - Feed the World (Do They Know It's Christmas Time?)



This classic by Band-Aid blows me away every time I hear it that chorus, even the chorus it self would have secured this song the No. 2 spot.

No. 1 - Fairy tale of New York



This is my favourite Christmas song of all time, "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot" is my favourite line in any song of all time. This song is safe and secure at No. 1 and will be for a long time unless something really special comes along.

Task 14 - Impacts of Photoshop

Photoshop can have a huge effect on society, both negative and positive. In this post I will explore aspects of both and draw a conclusion on whether Photoshop is a tool for the betterment of the Music Industry or a hindrance.

The Positives

1. The positive effects of photoshop are mainly beneficial for the magazines themselves rather than the consumers, but i'm not going to say that it isn't all bad for the consumers.
2. The music magazines have a more attractive cover and that makes the magazine sell better, which means more money.
3. It can make celebrities look like goddesses and give them a lot of great publicity.
4. The consumer has something nice to look at also.

The Negatives

1. The consumer is given a false idea of what woman look like and that gives them unreachable goals.
2. This can lead to anorexic girls and men with high expectations of woman that are unrealistic.
3. Celebrities can also be negatively impacted by this, the public can get a perception of what they look like when they completely different.

My View

I believe that photoshop is a great tool and no restrictions should be placed upon it as I am completely against censorship of any kind. But I would like a note on the cover that informs us that the image has been altered. Perhaps even just a symbol, like the recyclable symbol.        

                  

Task 13 - Photoshop Challenge

My teacher has just given me a challenge for this lesson. The challenge is to design a cover for a 50 Cent, Susan Boyle album. Yes... you read right. Susan Boyle and 50 Cent. Here's what I came up with.

The only way that I could envision this working is to play it completely serious or take it as a complete joke. Since my teachers would have a problem with me taking my coursework as a joke I choose the serious approach. I am quite happy with how it turned out, if I would do it again then I would use a better picture of Susan Boyle. 

Task 12 - More

I wanted to do another one so here it is...

and it becomes...

Task 12 - Photoshop Introduction

Unlike a lot of people on this course, I have actually used Photoshop before so it isn't really that hard for me to  pick it up and go. Although the iMacs that we are using in school infuriate me to all hell because a lot of the shortcuts aren't what they should be. He is some thing I created to show what Photoshop can be used for.

I have combined these two images...

To create...

Task 11 - Music Magazine Cover Analysis

This is my analysis of a music magazine cover.

Task 11 - Magazine Terminology

Masthead: This would be the name of the magazine

Banner: This would be text that is placed on a coloured background in order for it to stand out

Strap line: This is usually the motto by the company which can be associated with the company

Lead: These are usually written in bold as it is the opening paragraph of the magazine

Buzz Words: These are typical words that are used to get the readers attention such as "Wow" "Exclusive"

Pugs: These are usually placed at the corners of the page, these can be either price tags or bar codes

Copy: This would be the main text

Puffs: These are colourful words or boxes that advertise the exclusive features inside

House Style: This is the general distinctive design of the magazine which is unique to that brand

Caption: This is a description of an image

Headline: This would be the main story in the magazine

Sell Lines: Text on the cover of the magazine that helps it to sell the magazine to the audience

Drop Capitals: Larger letters on the opening sentence of an article

Tast 10 - Contents Page for College Magazine

This is how I would set out my college magazines contents page, the couloured boxes represent the surface area the text/pictures would take up. The text down the side is the contents list.

Task 10 - College Magazine Cover

I am going to be creating my very own college magazine to show, what I believe is the optimum way to set out a college magazine using this as my image...

I will be editing this image and applying text and other images to turn it into a cover to be reckoned with. I will be using the program GIMP Image Manipulator to do this since that is the program I have installed on my PC at home, where I am doing this.

I have added a funky header that matches with the school colour's too the top.

Next the logo was placed in the top right hand corner. Please note that this is a draft of how I would do it, the real thing would be much more refined. I also made the black sidebar larger to border the image. I also added a title/Masthead to the newsletter as well as a date.

This is my final cover, I re-did it all because the resolution was ruined. I have re-invisioned the title/masthead and am happy with the results. I made the page wider and added text.

Task 9 - Analysing a College Magazine

So, a college magazine eh, thats no magazine, if anything I would call it a newsletter. Two major things jump out at me when I look at this image, the title and the heads message. The title has a cool winter design to keep it fresh and clearly shows that this is related to a school/college. The heads message shows that he/she is clearly involved in the school and not just sitting on the sidelines. It shows him to be proud of the school and that is a great sentiment.

Other things that now jump out at me now that I have looked at the image for a bit longer are the images. The images portray the school with an Ideology of a relaxed learning environment, they also make it seem like there is a lot to do here. With the concert and the graffiti wall, this newsletter shows the school as a forward thinking school that would be a lot of fun to attend.

What I would do differently

Like I mentioned in the first line, this is no magazine so the first thing I will do is actually create a magazine. Next I would neaten up the whole thing, it is very cluttered and it like they believe to make something look good every millimetre of surface area needs to be maximised. Finally I believe that this looks very unprofessional, it looks like it was created by a student in fact, so I would overhaul the graphics on the page to make it look more professional.

Task 8 - Ideology

Ideology is the system of beliefs and ideals that govern the way we conduct ourselves and how we like other to also. When people don't match our ideologies we tend to judge or discriminate against them.

Now lets talk about the ideology of my school, as a school you generally like to be seen as safe and unthreatening so that people will come. So lets look at two images vying for the front page of the school prospectus...

The first image may look cool, but this image also harbours some vague hidden ideology that might put people off. For a start, the sky. The clouds in the sky are overcast and swirling, making the viewer uneasy as them signs are normally associated with a bad place. The building is also photographed from a low angle making it seem imposing and that might scare a young year 7 wannabe.

Now this next images is a lot more like it, clear skies, welcoming setting and relaxed atmosphere. All these things make this school seem a lot more appealing than the other image. The ideology can be very important, all though the top image looks cooler it embodies darker tones that shouldn't be associated with school.

Task 7- Applying the Male Gaze

We can apply the Male Gaze theory to pretty much anything, not just music magazines, like this clip from Hollyoaks. In this clip there are a selection of scenes from a single episode where the character of Mitzeee Minniver introduced for the first time. Lets watch...

 

It starts with a scene of Mitzeee walking down the road with her legs fully on show. There is a lot of implied sexuality and she has to even pull her skirt down when it starts to ride up. She is enhanced even more because of the people sitting around her as they follow her with there eyes, the camera then pans around to follow her backside playing of her sexuality even more and objectifies her.

Next she poses next to a window as the camera quick cuts to her face where she removes her sunglasses, pucks her lips and bats her eyelashes. Throughout this scene we also get a song called 'She Wants To Move' which as the title suggests is about a woman who likes to move which can make peoples mind wander and also starts to continues to make her seem like more of an object.

We then get a couple of quick fire scenes where she talks to someone on the phone, makes a joke about female sex toys and kisses someone randomly.

In the second to final scene it starts with a seductive shot of her lips and then a scene where she sprays someone down with a water gun. throughout this scene she is clad in just a bikini and followed around by a cohort of young men to emphasize her sexuality. Then the clip ends with acting like a prostitute and gesturing someone who she is obviously winding up down an alley. Even after she starts to get threatened she starts showing off her body to him making her seem like I've said before as just an object.

Task 6 - The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze is a theory penned by Laura Mulvey that addresses the power that woman can have over men with there sexuality. Take this image for example...

In this image we can see a cover of the music magazine Q with Lily Allen on the cover. In this image she is not being shot in a way which celebrates her music career or achievements in the industry, no, she is shot in a way that flaunts her sexuality and appeals to the Patriatical society that they want to buy the magazine. The seductive pose to the tagline 'SEXY BEAST LILY ALLEN & HER WICKED WICKED WAYS' are there specifically to appeal to the male demographic. This can be seen more clearly when I compare and contrast it with this image...

When it is a man on the cover it is the complete opposite. This is the same magazine but it now has Noel Gallagher of Oasis and now The High Flying Birds, he is not being exploited for his sexuality to appeal to the audience, because that isn't what the audience wants to see. He is actually being celebrated for his music and is pictured next to a speaker with a tagline that empowers rather than exploits him. The Male Gaze is a powerful thing. Now if we look at this next magazine...

 

This is Beth Ditto who took the theory of the Male Gaze and parodied it hard. She is not what most people would call sexy or attractive, so this was a powerful statement. But as Ditto, lead singer of punk band The Gossip, has already starred in her own porn movie with her lesbian transgender lover, and regularly takes all her clothes off on stage because she gets overheated, this nude stunt is not out of character for her, either. Therefore not really having the effect she wanted it to have.

Task 5 - Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women.

History of Feminism

Feminism has always been prevalent in all societies, as children everyone would argue on whether boys or girls are better, but the major push for it was in 1945 after the end of WW2. After the Allies had defeated the Axis forces all over the world the men who had gone off to war returned to there jobs at home, but there was a problem, they where occupied. While the men had been away fighting woman had taken over the workforce at home since there where no men left to do it and do you know what? They loved it! 

So what else was going to happen when the men returned from the battle lines expecting woman to just return to there homesteads like good little girls, NO! There where protests and riots, womankind had a taste of independence and it tasted sweet. Ever since then Feminism has put it's foot up the backside of society and it's not pulling out without a fight. They have secured jobs, rights and respect that woman simply didn't have back in the day and the world is a better place for it.

Task 4 - Semiotic Theory

Semiotic theory focuses on the social and cultural meaning of signs and codes and conventions. Signs consist of an image, a word, an object or even a certain type of practise. The meaning of signs depends on the relationship between the signifier, the signified and the referent. We all respond to signs in many different ways whenever if that is to agree or disagree on a certain topic or if we just respond to it from our own actions. These signs can be presented in many different forms whenever that is from an image, a word or a video. We identify and respond to these signs by two terms which are Denotation and Connotation.

Denotation

Denotation is the literal or primary meaning of a word or sign, in contrast to the feeling or ideas that the word or sign suggests. For example a stop sign has the denotation of stopping a vehicle. Even without words we would recognise the meaning from the shape and the colour.

Connotation

Connotation is the idea or a feeling that a word or a sign portrays for a person in addition to its primary meaning. It sets a tone or an emotional association that a word or sign has. It can be negative and positive but is usually something seen by the population in general. For example the stop sign would have the connotation of risk and danger of an accident if the person decided to ignore the sign because of the red colour background which portrays this meaning. 

Applying Semiotic theory

Let's look at this cover...

Task 3 - Questionnaire

 Please take the time to complete my Questionnaire it will be a great help.

Task 2 - Research Methods

 I need to research for my music magazines, these are the two methods I will be using to do this are:

• Quantitive analysis - used to measure and predict leading to a final course of action,
• Qualitative analysis - uses to uncover and understand thoughts and opinions.

The two types of data recorded during this is:

• Primary - Data found by you, not recycled,
• Secondary - Data retrieved second hand.

Applying Research Methods

Music Magazines can use these methods to get all of there information that they publish in there magazines... obviously. But furthermore they can use Quantitive 

Task 1 - What is a Music Magazine?

What is a music magazine? Surely it's just a magazine containing trivial things associated with music like Interviews, Tour Dates, Photo Shoots, Reviews and Music News and much more... But it isn't just that, it is a magazine dedicated to music culture at large.

Music magazine have been popular since the beginning of the 1900 with magazines from that period still running today e.g B.M.G which, fun fact, is the longest running british music magazine.

As we can see that this magazine is associated with the acoustic genre and many magazines can be associated with many genres. Kerrang! can be associated with metal as well as Q with rock where as magazines like WeLovePop can be associated with the Pop genre.

Even though B.M.G is the oldest of UK magazines it is by far not the favorite, I hadn't even heard of it before my teacher mentioned it in lesson today. That honor falls to The Fly, a free music magazine published monthly MAMA & Company. This magazine was first published in 1999 and has dominated ever since.

The future of physical music magazines is a bleak one. With the takeover of the internet and social media sites like Twitter which get all of the best scoops before thenext montly magazine can reach the shelves. This makes the physical copy, larger monthly magazine obsolete and it will soon die.

Magazine are having to rely on the older music fanbase who may not have as much access to the internet as the younger generation do.

Introduction to my Blog!

Hello,
          my name is Luke Griffiths and I am a A-LEVEL student at Cardinal Heenan sixth form, this blog is for my coursework in my AS Media course. I am passionate about music, I am even learning to play guitar. The music that I generally enjoy is rock/folk and my favourite band at the moment is a clash between 'Oasis' and 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds'.
















The whole idea of this blog is to motivate me to crack down on my work and update multiple times a week to show the progress of my studies.

My first assignment is to create a music magazine to promote an up and coming band in my local community.

The type of research that I will be doing to achieve this will consist of:

• Studying music magazines like Q, Karrang! and the Rolling Stones...
• Studying the layouts, fonts/typography, colour schemes, the type of images they use and the covers that I can apply to my own mock magazine.
• See what the target audience is and appeal to it.
• Research Genres to decide what type of band I would like to promote.

                                                              
Please look at what I have done so far and please critique as much as possible.

 Thank you,
                     Luke