Analysis of Non Fiction

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• Analysis of Non Fiction

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EMPIRE

•  
• In pairs, answer the following questions as
  fully as possible from researching the Website.
  Each person should keep a copy of the answers for
  future reference.
•  
• Who do you think reads this magazine? What are
  their interests/lifestyles/levels of interest in
  film? How would you define their socio-economic,
  demographic and psychographic profile (related to
  personality, interests, lifestyle etc.)
• What kind of brand image does Empire try to
  create of itself?   
• Who might not like this magazine and why?
• What opinion do the producers of Empire want the
  target audience to have about the magazine
  (preferred reading)? 
• All magazines rely on attracting advertising as a
  main source of income/investment. Look at the
  types of advertisements in Empire, the way they
  are designed, and the amount of space they take
  up. In what ways might the need to attract these
  advertisers affect content, style and
  representations in the magazine as a whole?  
• Is there a difference in the way men and women
  are portrayed/represented in the magazine?

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Categories

• Select and apply categories appropriate to the
  text.
• The categories to be applied are medium, form,
  genre, purpose, tone and style.  
• Medium
•  
• In assessment, state the medium.
•  
• Medium is the channel of communication through
  which a text is produced and consumed. Obviously,
  Empire is in the medium of print.

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Medium

•  
• In assessment, state the medium.
• Medium is the channel of communication through
  which a text is produced and consumed. Obviously,
  Empire is in the medium of print.

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Form

• In assessment, you should be able to state the
  form, and justify what you say by referring to
  the text. Look at the front cover in
  particular, the size of the magazine, paper
  quality and print finish.
•  
• Form is the shape a text takes. Form is often
  closely related to genre.
• Each medium embodies many forms. The forms of
  print, in particular, are virtually never-ending
  and may include advertisements, websites,
  leaflets, brochures, newspapers, fliers,
  magazines and so on.

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• The magazine form has several
  characteristics. These include
• coverlines which indicate that the magazine
  contains a number of different articles, with the
  implication or direct information that they are
  by a number of different authors.
• the date of publication, indicating that it is
  produced periodically.
• a bar-code and cover price, which indicate that
  it can be bought over the counter and is
  therefore partly distributed via the newsstand.
• a size which is approximately A4 (210 x 297mm),
  and therefore typical of most consumer magazines.
• a glossy, full-colour cover, whose main content
  is a photograph/ illustration of people/equipment
  connected with the subject(s) that the magazine
  covers.

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Genre

• In assessment, you should be able to identify the
  genre, and justify what you say by referring to
  the text. Look particularly at the content and
  front cover.
• Genres are types of media text that we
  associate with particular media.

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• Genres are constructed around a central, core
  element or series of elements. They are
  identified by the particular conventions they use
  and which we come to recognise through regular
  consumption.
• Conventions are any elements which are repeated
  in such a way that they become familiar,
  predictable and associated in their use with a
  particular genre.

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Genre Empire Film

• There are various magazine genres. These can be
  split into trade and consumer magazines.
• Consumer magazine genres can be discussed in
  terms of general interest or special interest.
  General interest magazines provide content on a
  wide range of subjects that the target audience
  may be interested in.
• A special interest magazine is likely to contain
  specialist terminology as well as content and
  in-depth features revolving around a narrow range
  of topics, all related to one special interest
  area.

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Empire Film - Genre

• Therefore Empire Magazine would obviously be
  considered as a special interest (film magazine)

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• Look again at the front cover. Which elements
  identify the magazine as a film magazine?

• Words related to film such as movies,
  box-office, and blockbuster
• Instantly recognisable film titles such as
  Titanic and Harry Potter
• Instantly recognisable film stars such as Will
  Smith and The Rock
• The roll of film design of the featuring section

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Genre and Audience

• Media producers want their texts to be instantly
  attractive and understandable to the audience,
  and they do not want to waste valuable time
  setting up characters and plots or describing
  what a text is about. Genres using key
  components that are quickly recognisable are
  therefore particularly valuable.
•  

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Genre and Institution

• Dividing products into genres is also a useful
  marketing tool which allows media products to be
  packaged and targeted at audience segments.

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Genre and Purpose

• Genre is useful for attracting investment.
  Because their potential audience, and
  consequently their potential profit, can be
  relatively easily assessed, a genre product and
  its audience can be easily packaged as a
  commodity to advertisers or investors who want to
  minimise risk. Thus, genre can be seen as a way
  of delivering an audience to the media industry
  which, like any other, is primarily concerned
  with profit. Audiences are, however, fickle, and
  no amount of analysis can guarantee success!

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Purpose

• In assessment, you should be able to identify
  purposes at both a communicative level and at an
  industry level, and justify what you say by
  referring to the text. Consider individual
  articles and the magazine as a whole.
• Purpose refers to the reason(s) for production.
• Communicative purposes may be to inform,
  entertain, instruct, investigate, report,
  criticise, persuade, educate, and so on.
• The purposes of a media text at an industry level
  may be to attract investment, make a profit,
  attract advertising, fulfil regulatory
  requirements, justify investment and so on.

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• Consider this front cover for its communicative
  purpose(s).
• Identify the main purpose(s) and the features of
  the front cover that contribute to them. (Comment
  on technical and cultural codes where
  appropriate.)

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Tone

• In assessment, you should be able to identify
  tone(s), and justify what you say by referring to
  the text. Consider particular articles and
  pull-quotes.
• Tone is the way that something sounds or the
  manner in which it is written/conveyed. In media
  texts, tone can often be analysed with reference
  to more than words. It often indicates the
  producers attitude towards the subject being
  treated, or the attitude he/she wants you to
  adopts towards the material when you consume it.
•  
• Words to describe tone might include humorous,
  serious, light-hearted, sarcastic, critical, sad,
  irreverent, dramatic and so on. There may be an
  overall tone in the text, or there may be a
  number of tones that you can analyse. The latter
  is usually the case with magazines.

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• Consider this front cover for tone
• Identify any use of tone that you see and comment
  on how it is created mention technical and
  cultural codes where appropriate.

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Style

• In assessment, you should be able to identify
  style, and justify what you say by referring to
  the text. Consider the magazine as a whole.
•  
• Style is the way in which something is done,
  designed, expressed or performed. An analysis of
  style involves the consideration of many aspects
  of the text and the ways in which they combine to
  form an overall style.
•  
• Words to describe style include modern,
  traditional, unconventional, realistic, surreal
  and so on. Styles may also be typical of
  particular forms, genres or other categories.

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Clearly and validly justify at least 2 categories
by relevant textual and contextual references.

• It is not usually necessary to have a separate
  section for this part of the assessment. It is
  likely that you will use textual and contextual
  references throughout justify your analysis.
•  
• Relevant textual references
• This means that you should back up the analysis
  of at least two categories by referring to,
  describing or quoting relevant aspects of the
  magazines content and/or appearance. This, in
  conjunction with (a) above will form the bulk of
  your analysis.

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• Relevant contextual references
• This means that you show your understanding of
  the ways in which the basic categories relate to
  production and consumption contexts. If you
  analyse purpose at institutional level, you are
  immediately making relevant contextual
  references.
• You will also do this if you relate purpose, tone
  and/or style to audience. You could also talk
  about the relationships between genre, audience
  and institutions. It is difficult to be specific
  about how much you should write about this part,
  as it really depends on your level of
  understanding. Aim for at least one or two
  paragraphs.