Magazines: Oh Comely - Industry

Our final concept for Oh Comely magazine is industry.

This is crucial concept because Oh Comely is a small, niche independent magazine - completely different from the global brand that is Men's Health. We need to explore the surprising rise in independent publishing in recent years and why small print magazines seem to be surviving and thriving in the digital age.

Lesson notes

The independent print magazine is characterised as:

“…published without the financial support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution…'independent' in spirit due to a maverick editor or publisher who leads the magazine in an exploratory, noncommercial direction” (Thomas 2007).

Source: Writer's Edit




Print: the challenge for publishers

Despite the renaissance of print through independent magazines, there are still huge challenges:

• Distribution: finding distributor, risk of unsold stock
• Lack of advertising revenue: meaning high cover price (all over £5, many around £10 or more)
• Audience: finding and targeting a viable audience

Ironically, the internet has proved an unlikely saviour for independent magazines – it facilitates direct sales and subscriptions and allows magazines to find niche communities, crowdfunding and contributors.

Iceberg Press: an independent publisher

Iceberg Press is completely different to Hearst UK – the publisher of Men’s Health and subsidiary of global conglomerate Hearst.

It publishes just two magazines: Oh Comely and The Simple Things.

Oh Comely Industries case study - blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to complete your work on the Oh Comely magazine CSP. There are plenty of questions here but you will be given lesson time to start this and will find the reading gives you a brilliant insight into a vital aspect of media - the power of independent institutions.

Iceberg Press

Visit the Iceberg Press website - particularly the Who Are We page and the Why Are We Here page. Read the content and then answer the following questions:

1) Why did the people behind Iceberg Press set it up?

2) What is the Iceberg Press mission statement? (It's on the Why Are We Here page and is a series of statements).

3) What are the two magazines that Iceberg Press publishes?

4) What similarities do you notice between The Simple Things magazine and Oh Comely?

5) What differences can you find between Hearst UK, publisher of Men's Health, and Iceberg Press?


Writer's Edit journal article

Read this excellent Writer's Edit academic journal article on the independent magazine industry and answer the following questions:

1) What is the definition of an independent print magazine?

2) What does Hamilton (2013) suggest about independent magazines in the digital age?

3) What is the aim of Kinfolk magazine and what similarities can you draw with Oh Comely?

4) Why does the article suggest that independent magazines might be succeeding while global magazine publishers such as Bauer are struggling?

5) How do independent magazines launch? Look at the example of Alphabet Family Journal.

6) What does the article suggest about how independent publishers use digital media to target their niche audiences?

7) Why is it significant that independent magazines are owned and created by the same people? How does this change the creative process and direction of the magazine?

8) What does the article suggest regarding the benefits of a 'do-it-yourself' approach to creating independent magazines?

9) The article discusses the audience appeal of print. Why might audiences love the printed form in the digital age?

10) What are the challenges in terms of funding and distributing an independent magazine?


Irish Times feature

Now read this short feature in the Irish Times on the growth of independent magazines and answer the following questions:

1) Why are independent magazines so popular?

2) Why is the magazine publishing industry set up to favour the big global conglomerates?

3) What does the article suggest regarding finding an audience for an independent magazine?

4) What are the challenges for magazine distributors?

5) The article suggests that many independent magazines only make money by diversifying into other products. What examples do they give?


TCO interview with Ruth Jamieson

Finally, read this excellent interview on the TCO London website with Ruth Jamieson, who has written a book on the renaissance of the independent magazine sector. Answer the following questions:

1) Why does Ruth Jamieson suggest there's a renaissance in independent publishing?

2) What are the common themes for successful independent magazines?

3) How many of these aspects can you find in Oh Comely? Make specific reference to the CSP pages where possible.

4) How does Jamieson see the future for the magazine industry?

5) How might this future impact Oh Comely? Do you think Oh Comely will survive the next five years - and why?


There is plenty of work here but this concludes our work on Oh Comely and the Magazines unit. Complete for homework - due on Friday along with any other magazines work you haven't posted.

Coursework: Summer Project 2019

The summer project is a vital element of your coursework - an opportunity to plan an outstanding TV drama trailer and then present it to class in September.

Your summer project contains compulsory and optional elements; everybody will be researching TV drama trailers, investigating their chosen drama genre, creating a TV drama concept, writing a first draft Statement of Intent and presenting this to class as an Ignite presentation in September. However, if you wish to also plan and film your production over the summer while you have time and actors available we would fully support you in this approach.

Summer project tasks

Complete the following tasks on a blogpost on your coursework blog called 'Summer Project: coursework planning':

1) Research: TV drama trailer analysis 

You need to write detailed 250-word close-textual analyses of six TV drama trailers in your chosen genre. For each trailer, focus on a different aspect of media language, and embed each one on your blog:

TV drama trailer 1: Narrative and genre
How is narrative and genre communicated quickly and clearly to the audience?

TV drama trailer 2: Mise-en-scene
What do you notice about the use of mise-en-scene to create meanings for the audience? Think CLAMPS.

TV drama trailer 3: Camerawork
Here you are looking for particular camera shots and movement. E.g. Are close-ups used to introduce key characters to the audience? How are establishing shots used?

TV drama trailer 4: Editing
Analyse pace, transitions, number of shots and juxtaposition e.g. eyeline matches. Does the pace speed up towards the end of the trailer? 

TV drama trailer 5: Sound
Analyse both diegetic and non-diegetic sound - music, dialogue, voiceover, SFX, background or foley sound etc.

TV drama trailer 6: Trailer conventions, graphics, text-on-screen etc.
Here you need to explore trailer conventions - what does this trailer have that you've spotted in all the trailers you have analysed so far? Look for things like text on screen, graphics, title, release date, social media links and more.

You can find a range of TV drama trailer examples in this blogpost.

2) Planning: TV drama concept

In order to produce a successful trailer, you will need to plan out the overall narrative arc for the whole season or series of your drama. This will include the number of episodes, the narrative conflict driving the main protagonist, episodic narratives and cliffhangers and more. This overall picture of the drama will inform both your TV trailer and culture magazine feature.

Complete this TV drama pitch template to plan these elements (you can copy the questions into your blog or complete on Word and link from your blog) to demonstrate you have planned a complete TV drama series in your chosen genre. 


3) Statement of Intent

Write the first draft for your genuine 500-word Statement of Intent. This will be submitted to the exam board alongside your media products and is worth 10 marks of the overall 60 marks available.

Guidance is provided by AQA in their NEA Student Booklet but we strongly recommend you also look at our Statement of Intent questions to consider document too.


4) Ignite presentation

Prepare a 5-minute, 20-slide presentation using the Ignite format in which you present your coursework project. In effect, this is your statement of intent in presentation format. You must cover:

• Your TV drama concept: title, tagline, genre, narrative, character etc.
• Media language: how you will use conventions, camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene and sound to create an effective TV drama trailer.
• Media representations: how you will use or subvert stereotypes; representation theory.
• Media audiences: your target audience demographics and psychographics; audience pleasures; audience theory.
• Media industries and digital convergence: the potential companies or organisations that could produce or broadcast your TV drama; how your trailer will encourage audiences to discuss your new TV drama on social media.

Ignite presentations have very specific rules: you must create exactly 20 slides with each slide set to 15-second auto-advance. This means your presentation will be exactly five minutes followed by questions and comments from the class. You will deliver your presentation on your coursework planning in the first week back in September.

Your Ignite presentation will be marked out of 30 on the following criteria (each worth a possible 5 marks):

1) Research (through presentation AND blog) 
2) Concept
3) Language: terminology and theory
4) Representations
5) Audience and Industry
6) Delivery

You can find more information about Ignite presentations - including examples - in this Ignite presentation blogpost here.

Summer project deadline: all tasks above due in first week back in September



Summer project: optional extensions

Pre-production tasks

Some students have already expressed an interest in filming their TV drama trailers over the summer break. This makes a huge amount of sense - far more availability of actors, much more time to schedule filming etc. However, if you want to do this, you need to read this Guardian feature on how to create a film trailer and then complete the following aspects of pre-production:

Script
Write a script for your TV drama trailer. There is some debate with regards to whether trailers have scripts (the script would obviously be for the full TV drama series) but you absolutely need to plan out every aspect of your production and a script seems the most logical way to do it. It may well be that your trailer script contains a lot of stage directions/description but there will be dialogue (and possibly voiceover) in there too. You'll find guidance for writing a script in the BBC Writers' Room (click on the Script Library to read real examples of professional TV drama scripts from recent BBC drama productions).

Storyboard 
Sketch out a range of critical shots from your trailer, take a photo of the storyboard and upload it to your blogpost. What visual style are you trying to create? Storyboard sheets are available in DF07 or you can download and print out an AQA storyboard template from here.

Shot list
Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film for the trailer AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. I advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word to set out your shot list - you can find an example here. It makes sense to organise your shot list by scene or location rather than a huge list of every shot in the trailer in chronological order. 

Mise-en-scene
What iconography are you including to ensure your audience understands the genre you have chosen? Plan your cast, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. This can be simply completed using your blog or Microsoft Word - the key aspect is to have planned all the critical details. 

Shooting schedule 
Plan a shooting schedule for your filming over the summer. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Again, this can be on Word or Excel or you could simply use your blog. The most important thing is that you've planned it!

Non-assessed participants
You will need to provide a written record of all non-assessed participants in your production work (both TV drama trailer and culture magazine). Keep a record of everyone involved - actors, camerawork, sound etc. You will also need a keep a record of any non-original sound you used and note it on the Candidate Record Form. Keep these on your blog for easy reference when submitting your work in Year 13.

Production: Filming and photography

Once you have completed your pre-production tasks, you can film or carry out photoshoots as you wish.

Good luck!

Coursework: Summer project Ignite presentations

Your summer project will involve researching and planning your coursework. You will then present this work to the class in the first week of September in the form of an Ignite presentation.

This will be a hugely valuable exercise as it will allow you to test your idea in front of a potential audience - and make sure the narrative and genre are communicated clearly. The Ignite presentation format offers a particular challenge and will force you to carefully consider how to pitch your project to the class.

The Ignite tagline is simple:

“Enlighten us, but make it quick.”

Ignite talks are a popular presentation format online. The rules are simple:

• 20 slides
• 15 second auto-advance
• 5 minutes
• 1 topic

Here's a good Ignite talk about giving an Ignite talk:

Here are some media-related examples:

And here's another Media-related example that shows you why PRACTICE is so important - the speaker never keeps up with his slides and therefore the whole presentation is rushed:

Summer project: Ignite presentation

Your Ignite presentation will be on your coursework plan - effectively a presentation version of your Statement of Intent. This means telling your audience the genre, title, narrative, media language choices, representations, audience and industry factors in just 20 slides and 5 minutes. You can find all the Summer project tasks in the original blogpost here.

Good luck!

Coursework: TV drama trailer examples

Learning the conventions, pacing and construction of TV drama trailers will be essential to achieving a top grade in your coursework.

The following TV drama trailers will hopefully give you an idea of what we need to produce:

Killing Eve (BBC)



Wild Bill (ITV)



Bodyguard (BBC/Netflix co-production)



Holby City (BBC) - first two minutes to introduce multi-strand narrative



Friday Night Lights (ABC - extended trailer - family drama)



Black Earth Rising (BBC/Netflix co-production)



Broadchurch


Luther

Trip to 'The Museum of Brands and Advertising'

Please make sure you're on time for the Media trip this week:

• Wednesday 3rd July 2019, at 9:15am.

Meeting point:

• Outside the 'Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising', 111-117 Lancaster Road, W11 1QT;  

Get there via Ladbroke Grove underground station.

Bring equipment: A pen, pencil, folder, paper, and a clipboard would be useful.

And - if you haven't handed in a permission slip you MUST bring a signed letter of consent form your parents or we'll have to send you home!

• Student Briefing - Trip details, maps, etc.

When we're there you'll be completing two worksheets. We'll distribute print copies on the day but here they are should you want to refer to them beforehand or at another time:

• Gender in Advertising Worksheet
• Brands and Advertising Worksheet

Radio: Final index

We have now finished our work on the latest targeted close-study products - Radio. Next we're on to coursework! 

Before we start the coursework, we need to complete a short Radio index to ensure we've completed the three tasks for this unit. 

As ever, this will highlight if you've missed anything through absence, trips or exams and allow you to catch up if you have fallen behind with anything in the last fortnight. 

Your Radio index should include the following three tasks:

1) Radio: Introduction to Radio
2) Radio: Life Hacks
3) Radio: War of the Worlds

For your index, the text should link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work on each aspect of the case study quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can catch up with the work and notes and won't underperform in future exams due to gaps in your knowledge.

Note: there will be a baseline assessment at the start of Year 13 testing your latest CSP units on Magazines and Radio.

Index due date: Wednesday 3 July

Magazines: Oh Comely - Language and Representation

We need to analyse selected pages from Oh Comely to explore how it is constructed and the way issues of representation and identity are presented.

Oh Comely deliberately offers an alternative version of the women's lifestyle magazine genre and we need to explore how page design, content and conventions are used or subverted to create this effect. We also need to consider the different representations that can be found in these features.

We recommend you buy your own copy of Issue 35 of Oh Comely - the selected CSP issue. You can order this from the Oh Comely website here. Alternatively, selected pages of the magazine are currently available to view online through the website Issuu here.

Oh Comely Language and Representation: blog tasks

Language: close-textual analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your close-textual analysis of the Oh Comely CSP pages:

Front cover

1) What do the typefaces used on the front cover suggest to an audience?

2) The words under the title introduce the content and topics addressed. What do these suggest about the potential audience of Oh Comely?

3) How do the cover lines use narrative to create enigma? What do the cover lines suggest about the magazine's content and audience?

4) Write an analysis of the central image.

5) What representation of gender can be found on this front cover?


Feature: Speaking Out

1) What does the headline and standfirst suggest about Oh Comely's feminist perspective?

2) What do the interviewees in this feature suggest about the values and ideologies that underpin this magazine?

3) How conventional is the page design in this feature? Why?

4) Pick out specific aspects of this feature that subvert the stereotypical representation of women in the media. Are they different to what we may find in conventional women's lifestyle magazines such as Glamour or Cosmopolitan? Why is the absence of men a key feature of Oh Comely?

5) How does the photography offer a fresh or unusual perspective on women?


Feature: More than gender

1) How does this feature offer a fresh perspective on gender and identity?

2) What is the significance of the writer and photographer? How does this fit with the Oh Comely brand?

3) What style of photography is used in this feature?

4) What representations of the transgender lifestyle can be found in this feature?

5) Why is the biographical information at the end of the article significant? (Clue: the writer is also an editor of a niche, creative magazine called Entitle).


Representation and identity

Work through the following questions on representation and Oh Comely:

1) How do representations in Oh Comely challenge stereotypes? 

2) What representations of race, ethnicity and nationality can be found in the 'Speaking Out' feature?

3) What representation of women and femininity can be found in Oh Comely?

4) Why might Oh Comely deliberately under-represent men? (The absence of men in the magazine appears to be a largely deliberate move by the editors).

5) Does Oh Comely fit into the possible fourth wave of feminism? Or is it evidence of post-feminism - that feminism is no longer needed?

6) How does the 'More than gender' feature challenge Levi-Strauss's structuralist theory of binary opposition?

7) Judith Butler argues gender is a performance. How does Oh Comely challenge traditional gender roles? You should refer to both the cover and the selected CSP features. 

8) Angela McRobbie explored the empowering nature of women's lifestyle magazines in the 1990s. Oh Comely seeks female empowerment in a different way. What differences can you find between Oh Comely and more traditional women's lifestyle magazines such as Cosmopolitan or Glamour? 

9) David Gauntlett argues that identity is becoming more fluid, media representations change over time and that there are generational differences. Does Oh Comely support this viewpoint?

10) It has been argued that Oh Comely is a far more open text (Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding/reception theory) with more room for negotiation in interpretation. Do you agree with this view? Why?

You will have lesson time to complete these tasks but will need to finish for homework - due next week Friday.