The Future of Magazines - Tweetable Truths

• 92% of U.S Adults read magazines
• Consumers spend more than $86 Million
• 322 Million paid subscribers
• Magazine subscriptions are rising each year
• Magazine launches surged 10%
• 75% of teenagers read magazines
• 54 magazines closed in 2008
• almost a quarter of all new magazine subscriptions come from the internet

          www.magazine.org/tweetable-truths

Exemplar Response to Section B: Magazine Industry

In recent times the media industry has witnessed meteoric rise in new technologies.  The advancement of the internet, for example, as it entered its second phase enables consumers to access media in new and unparalleled ways.  For the magazine industry, this has presented both challenges and opportunities.

Print media is mostly in decline, a worry of course for producers of magazines.  Therefore they must assess just how important technological convergence is for helping their magazine to survive in the long run.

The Future Plc title Metal Hammer is a monthly rock and metal magazine, that has existed since 1994. In that time, Metal Hammer has built a reputation as a bible of both modern and traditional metal music. It’s publisher, Future, is an independent company with a portfolio of magazines aimed at niche market sectors.  As a whole, Future, has performed well in a declining market, with Metal Hammer and Classic Rock reporting increases in circulation, with Metal Hammer reaching a circulation of 50,269 and classic rock 70, 188 (ABC, Dec 08).  Perhaps Futures strategies involving technological convergence have something to do with this success.  One of their ‘pillars’ of business strategies  is to implore upon their existing convergences in order to further appeal to prosumers.  This is important; Future defines ‘prosumers’ as “young men or young-at-heart men (Future licensing.com). In general this demographic will be one of the most technologically involved, in the know about the latest technologies.  They are also, incidentally the most valuable demographics for advertisers.  In this respect, convergence is extremely important for Future and indeed Metal Hammer in retaining advertising revenue.  Advertising revenue has already fallen for Future, as they already saw a 15% drop in advertising from December 08-March 09 (futurelicensing.com, 2009).  It is therefore, vital that they use technological convergences to remain advanced enough to attract advertisers.

Metal Hammer’s target audience is a young audience, interested in music, “converging adults”, according to futurelicensing.com The National Readership survey 08, the latest available, shows Metal Hammer readers to be 64% male, average age 22.  Again, this is an audience that will be interested in many forms of media. So for Metal Hammer to maintain their loyalty they must fulfil their newly evolving needs (Uses and Gratifications, McQuail).

The Metal Hammer website is a demonstration of convergence, and has proved popular with nearly 60,000 individual visitors since starting (futurelicensing.com).  Alex’s web traffic analysis suggests that visitors are mostly male, aged between 18 and 24 and spend around 2.7 minutes on Metal Hammer.co.uk. Therefore the website has apparently targeted the right audience for Metal Hammer.  Users can interact, voting in polls such as “who has the best slipknot mask?”, giving users the sense that they are contributing to a community. They are also educated and entertained with video exclusives, Metallica Live, and Opeth on tour.  In this way convergence maintains interest in the Metal Hammer brand.  Web 2.0 allows users to submit and generate a content, so Metal Hammer has competition in that users can go elsewhere for such videos .  It is up to Convergence in order to provide the best service for users.

Metal Hammer has also had successful synergies created as a result of convergence.  On 2008, Metal hammer.co.uk encourages users to send in photos taken on their mobiles of them playing “Guitar Heroes”, combining the internet with mobile technology.  The guitar hero synergy  combined with a party sponsored by Metal Hammer at the O2 (Metal Hammer.co.uk), Podcasts have allowed content to be sent faster than ever to multi-media formats.

Indeed, distribution is an interesting issue to consider for the magazines industry.  The internet, podcasts and video channels allow readers to access their wanted content within seconds.  Where as hard copies of a magazine must be ordered or brought from a shop. Indeed it could be suggested that the gathering of content from the internet or mobile has replaced the need for buying the magazine itself, as subscriptions for Metal Hammer rose 8% from Dec-march 09 (futurelicensing.co.uk) suggesting there is not the same novelty when buying a magazine. 

However, whilst technological convergence is important for the magazine industry, publishers must consider that the extra content offered to consumers via convergences in technology, could replace the magazine itself.  IPC’s NME is an example of this as circulation dropped 24.1%, whilst its website has been praised for the amount of content on offer.  Metal Hammer has a unique community created by the interacting mode of address; ‘Join the Crusade’ and writing style filled with expletives ‘F*** You!’, readers of Metal Hammer feel a string sense of unrivalled community within the magazine.  The magazine sticks close to its ideologies of anti-establishment , avant-garde by  featuring adverts appropriate to his such as Attitude Clothing and HMV Metal, whilst the website has adverts by O2, Orange and T-mobile.

Overall techno convergence is important as consumers needs alter and change but for the magazine industry to survive they must make any technological advancements not a replacement for the hard copy of the magazine as Future have so far successfully done.  As online advertising reached 18% for future it is important.

Explanation/analysis/argument - 15/20

Use of examples - 16/20

Use of terminology - 5/10

Definitions and Terminology

Definitions

Web 1.0 was the first version of the Internet – a one way communication, from the sender to the receiver

Web 2.0 is what we know the Internet to be now – a two way communication between the sender and the receiver

A ‘prosumer’ is a combination of the words:

-          Producer

-          Consumer

Technological Convergence:
Convergence of technology occurs when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them.

Magazine Example: NME website; you cannot only read articles from the physical magazine (which have converged onto the internet) but you can also listen to NME Radio station (this is a multiplatform approach).

Media Convergence:

When old and new media interact in such a way that the way in which media producers and media consumers interact changes.

Magazine Example: ‘Communities’ have been created on websites to share tips, stories, reviews and experiences of music and upload photographs. Consumers can become prosumers and actually be part of the construction of the magazine.

Synergy:

The interaction of two or more forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

In the context of the media it can be the promotion and sale of a product (and all its versions) throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate. For example, films, soundtracks or video games. To give a detailed example the Spider-Man films had toys of web shooters and figures of the characters made, as well as posters and videogames, this resulted in the creation of more revenue for the creators of the Spider-Man franchise than if they had just released the one film.

Magazine example: NME Radio Station/sponsorship of festivals and events = synergised marketing

The advancement of technologies has also allowed for greater synergy.  For NME, the tweets and Facebook updates and RSS feeds encourage listeners of the podcast. The podcast drives subscribers to the website. The website drives fans to the free information. The links among all these activities become the synergy where activity in one area improves the entire experience.  

Viral Marketing
Definition: A marketing technique aiming at reproducing "word of mouth", usually on the internet and through existing social networks.

Guerrilla Marketing
Definition: The use of unconventional and low cost marketing strategies to raise awareness of a product.
E.g. putting up ‘wanted’ posters/commissioning works of graffiti.

UGC – USER GENERATED CONTENT

Content that has been generated be the user/consumer.

Magazine example: music reviews; forums; blogging; podcasting.

Unique Selling Point

Making a product different from a competitor/another product in the same market; making it unique

Point of Difference

Differentiating a product from another; making it unique; the actual way in which a product is different from another in the same market

Example sentence; the USP and perhaps the POD of NME compared to Metal Hammer is that they offer a multi-platform website that allows consumers to surf their site; whilst listening to their radio station and watching their TV channel.

Unique Perceived Benefit

What the consumer believe they will get from that product; what do the consumers believe they will gain/benefit from using the product?

This could be linked to mainstream/niche magazines; the community created through forums etc; therefore resulting in loyal consumers.

Terminology

Loyal Consumers/Brand loyalty:

Consumer commitment to re-purchase the same brand/the same magazine; NME consumers are extremely loyal and trust the brand to be truthful and to meet their needs.

Proliferation

Definition: A rapid increase in the number of a certain type of product.

Multi-platform

A multi-platform series is a form of entertainment where the story is told over a range of media platforms; such as magazines, radio station, videos, and podcasts.

Vertical Integration

Absorption of several firms into a single firm involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture, from raw materials to distribution. For example; Rockstar Games have become a vertically integrated company by buying developers they have previously worked with, such as DMA Design who became Rockstar North and Angel Studios who became Rockstar San Diego. By doing this Rockstar have control over development, funding and marketing of their products.

The Future of Magazines

The Future of Magazines

View more presentations from 957323.

Regional Identity in TV Drama

What is regional identity?

Regional identity is identifying a person which is rooted not only in the setting of the film but also in speech, costumes etc and in the region they live in.

How can you identify regional identity?

> Setting

> Accents

> Dialogue

> Props

> Make up

> Class of characters

> Costumes 

Manchester - Mancunians, or Mancs

 Liverpool – Scousers


P.E.E - Regional Identity


Shameless
In the TV drama Shameless, the accents and setting help the audience identify where the characters are from (region). Us as an audience can tell that this TV drama is set in Manchester because of the way the characters speak. The setting is a council estate which is dark and dingy, usually associated with lower class poorer people. Both characters we see in this clip look and sound drunk. This is very stereotypical of people that live in Manchester, e.g. 'Mancunians'.


Brookside
The accents, dialogue and costumes in the TV drama Brookside help show the region identity. The clothes that the characters are wearing are quite 'chavy', the clothes are usually those of poorer families. The audience can tell that the characters are from Liverpool because of their accents and the way that they speak. The characters are portrayed as violent, and nosey; while the younger characters are fighting, the older characters are coming outside to see what is happening. People from Liverpool are stereotypically known as 'Scousers'.


The Only Way Is Essex
In The Only Way Is Essex the regional identity is being shown through the characters accents, the way they talk and the make-up/costumes. As it says in the title, this TV drama is set in Essex. The audience can hear that as of the way the characters speak. The characters shorten some words; for example 'Surge Verge' this means surgery virgin, another example is 'Well Jell' this means very jealous. This way of speaking is very typical in Essex, mainly with the females. The way they dress is very classy, but some elements of the characters are 'fake', this includes the fake tan, hair, teeth, etc. They look higher class, but they don't really sound like it. 


Made In Chelsea
In the TV drama Made In Chelsea, the regional identity is being shown through the way the characters speak (accents), and they way that they dress (costumes). The characters in this TV drama are stereotypically 'posh' and 'well spoken'. The males are well groomed and are wearing suites, the females look classy and are wearing beautiful dresses. Both the way the characters speak and they way they dress make them higher class.

Representation of Ethnicity - Hotel Babylon

This is a clip i found on YouTube from the TV Drama Hotel Babylon. This clearly represents ethnicity through immigration. 
Hotel Babylon is a TV Drama series set in the sexy world of the luxury five star hotel, on a journey beyond the facade of the smiling faces and glittering chandeliers and into the frenetic, non-stop world of the staff.
Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG5GJQjyGo

Ethnicity in TV Drama

Ethnicity Definition - The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.

Stereotypes:

Asian people: Rich, business people, religious, have been portrayed as terrorists, good at making curry. Own corner shops. They have big families and the all live in one house with all relatives.

E.g. The Masoods in Eastenders have there own business which is typical of a Muslim family. They own a curry place and are good at making it which is a typical representation of an Asian family. They speak in a typical Indian accent. 

Travellers: AKA gypsies, are usually Irish/foreign (Bulgarian/Romanian). We associate them with fun fairs, live in caravans, they take over peoples land and destroy it. They make a mess and steal. Lacking in education. Wear vests and jeans and slobber everywhere sometimes long hair. Women wear big dresses and hooped gold earrings.

E.g. In waterloo road they moved there caravans onto the school grounds, many people were unhappy and they confronted them with conflict. It caused many problems and the police got involved.

Polish people: cheap labour. Poor. Have young families. Own kebab, chicken, pizza shops. Take all of our jobs. e.g. builders.

E.g. In coronation street there were two polish girls who Carla employed. They were both illegal immigrants and one of them died so Carla had to cover it up by hiding her body. The other one, called Vicki carried on working and no one liked her. She was a good worker and she tried to make friends. People began to like her after a while and she was then treated like everyone else

Representation:

Asian woman = doctors or accountants


Black men being lazy, promiscuous, bad fathers and obsessed with rap


Asian people are perceived as invaders or karate experts

Native Americans as savages, victims, cowards or medicine men

People from Middle East are seen as terrorists

On TV, black people are depicted as poor

Black people tend to be stereotyped as criminal

White people can’t dance

Asian people own corner shops in England

Black people

> Usually linked to black men

> Crime

> Living in slums

> On welfare

> Need help from community

> Less intelligent 

> Over sexual

White people

> Dumb blondes

> Greedy

> Materialistic

> Businessmen

> Middle/upper class

> Posh/ well spoken

Asian people

> Doctors

> Engineers

> Mathematicians

> Newsagents - small businesses - entrepreneur

> Ignorant

> Extremely smart people

> Men are threats to white women

> Insensitive

> Disrespectful towards women

Cast Offs - Disability in TV Drama

'Cast Offs' is a darkly comic drama series telling the story of six disabled characters. They have been sent to a remote British island for a fictional reality TV show. In this episode we are focusing on Dan, he is in a wheelchair. We can see that Dan needs help from his dad around the house and day to day life; Dan is shown at a lower angle than his dad. All sound is diegetic, and a hand held camera is used to show the reality of the program. The only no-diegetic sound is the sound of the typewriter when the text appears on screen. The audience can see that Dan is just like you and me; this is shown with an eye level mid shot to show we are equal. When Dan is shown struggling across the beach, it is shown in an extreme long shot to show how far he has to go unaided.

Representation of Sexuality

Homosexual Men -  Higher pitch voice/tone, camp, posture, well dressed, the way they walk, hairdresser, fasion, designer, makeup artists, feminine, care about their looks

Hetrosexual Men - Wear suits, smart, respectible, goes to the gym, sporty, family men, builder, estate agents, military, police.

Homosexual Woman - Manly, short hair, loose clothing, little makeup, maculine tone, hockey, rugby, pe teacher, butch.

Hetrosexual Woman - High heels, smell nice, blonde hair, makeup, shop assistant, secutary, teachers, housewife, wine, family women.

Skins

Notes:
use of hand held camera
slow motion
fast music
in a pub
gold hoop earings
fast cuts
close-ups
Younger people are having fun, while the older people are watching over them.
police sirens
jump cuts
when the fighting starts, music gets faster.
low angle, slow motion jumping off roof, shows freedom.

PEE
Youth in this clip is represented through the use of the hand held camera. The hand held camera is used throughout the clip. It shows the fun and movement of the young people, as this programme has a younger audience, it would feel like you were there with them through the use of the jumpy hand held camera.

e.g. PEE

Point - your comment about the area of representation
e.g. Youth is represented through diegetic sound.
Evidence - your micro element that tells us this
e.g. The dialogue is colloquial.
Explain - link the two
e.g. This conforms to a stereotypical view of young teenagers, that they are rebellious in speaking their own language.

Representation of Age

Youth:

• Positive - Physically able to do lots of things, Social, Innocent, Adventurous.
• Negative - Bad reputation, Rude, Independence ruled by parents, Hormonal, Want to behave like adults (e.g. Smoking) but are not old enough, Naive, Venerable.

Old Age:

• Positive - Freedom, Tend to have stable lives, Very respected, Wise.
• Negative - Venerable, Patranising, Mentally and physically fragile, Gosipy, Boring, Grumpy, Lonely.

TV Drama -

Representation of Old People
Mise en Scene - Lighting is dark and grey, stairlift, walking stick, grey hair, wrikley faces, tea and buscuits, antiques, tidy
Sound - Radio, clasical music, grammaphones, birds, slow, formal, polite
Editing - Jump cuts to show the passing of time
Cinematography - Use of a tripod to show stability, Close-ups of wrinkles,

Representation of Young People
Mise en Scene - Hoodies, groups, make up
Sound - Mobile phones, music, loud, fast, dialogue - Text speak (CBA)
Editing - Sort quick shots
Cinematography - Use of hand held camera to show energy