Semiotic Theory

Semiotic Theory

Semiotic Theory is the relationship between a sign, an object and the meaning behind it, when a person interprets the sign they believe that the sign represents the object. The sign is the interpretant which means that is the representation of the object; according to C. Morris people are the interpreters of signs and interpretations are concluded through three stages:

1. Perception - the person becomes aware of the sign in front of them.

2. Manipulation - the person starts to interpret the sign and decides how to respond to it.

3. Consummation - the person responds to the sign.

Denotation

Denotation is the literal meaning of the sign, this can be referred to the dictionary definition of the sign. Denotation can be contrasted to connotation if the sign does not have the same connotation as the denotation. An example of a denotation is that a red rose is red with a green stem.

Connotation

Connotation is the person who views the sign personal opinion on what it portrays, the connotation can contrast with the denotation depending on the sign. This is the emotional suggestions or the associations connected to the sign and then we can choose to respond in either a negative or a positive way.
Connotation is people's own personal opinions as this differs for different people. An example of this is that a rose has a connotation with love and lust.

This theory can be applied to all music magazines for example I have chosen this issue of VIBE and Eminem is on the cover. The denotation is that he has an angry or arrogant expression on his face. It says on the cover that he "comes clean" so his body language is a way of expressing the seriousness of what he is going to say.
The connotation of the magazine cover in my opinion is the fact that he is using these facial expressions and using his body language to show his image to the readers. He is going to be talking about a sensitive subject because he is coming clean, so there will be a side to Eminem that his fans have not seen before; I think this is way of doing this while reminding the fans of his image.
Also the colour scheme the main colours are red and black, this is because these are dark colours and red is associated with danger and I think this is why this colour scheme has been chosen.

Rap Representations

The rap genre is one of the most stereotypical genres because of the way that it is represented to the audience. The representations are:

• Arrogance
• Bad influence on children
• Drugs
• Violence
• Sexually explicit material

All of these negative representations make rap artists an easy target for the media to criticise which has led to all the negative publicity. The general colour schemes of music magazines are:

• Red
• Black
• White

As you can see on this music magazine front cover that the colour scheme I have mentioned is the same for this front cover.

He also has the arrogant expression on his face which is one of the representations of rap music. On some magazines the masthead is across the image, but because it is not it relates to the arrogant image because he wants to be the centre of attention so the masthead is behind the image.

The music video I have embedded is a music video of 50 Cent's song "21 questions" and you can see here the "gangster rap" image in the music video.

Music Magazine Questionnaire

I have created a music magazine questionnaire to find out how many people buy and don't buy music magazines and then discover the reasons for this. This questionnaire will help me understand in detail why people purchase and don't purchase music magazines, and this will surely help me in my research. The questions in the questionnaire are specifically designed depending on whether you purchase music magazines or not.  Please complete my questionnaire it is displayed below.

 

Types of data

Types Of Data

There are different types of research that can be carried out the two methods are qualitative and quantitative research. The data that you collect can be both primary and secondary depending on where the information came from.

Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research is where more open questions are asked to get a more detailed answer to your questions.
• This type of research helps you understand thoughts and opinions of the people you are interviewing to aid further decision making.
• Qualitative research is used to develop a hypothesis you have already conducted and can be used to help generate ideas and identify needs of an target audience.
• This research is traditionally carried out through either one on one interviews or in focus groups.

Quantitative Research

• Quantitative research is where closed questions such as yes or no questions are asked to gather statistics and get an idea about the general consensus of how people think.
• This data can be used to offer validation on what you think you already know.
• The data can measure the satisfaction of the target audience and determine the average price that customers would purchase a music magazine.
• Both the types of research can be combined to find the most accurate and effective results.

Primary Data

• Primary data is when you conduct your own research manually making it unique and relevant to your research, this is original data.
• The advantage of this data is that you can address specific research issues because you are the one finding the data.
• There is no chance that the data will be outdated which can be a problem with secondary data because you will be finding this data at the time that you need it.



Example of  music magazine article

• The most popular ways of collecting this data are surveys, interviews and focus groups.

Survey

Secondary Data

• Secondary data is data that has already been conducted in the past and collected for another purpose.
• The data might not be relevant to your research and can also be outdated.
• You can get this type of data from sources such as newspaper and magazine articles and internet websites.
• Secondary data is less time consuming than primary data and can support findings of primary data, and you can use secondary data to compare with primary data results.

Music Magazine Task 1

NME magazine

Music Magazine Task 1

A music magazine is a magazine that tailors to music and music culture, the first recorded magazine published worldwide was Billboard magazine which was released in 1894. Interesting facts about music magazines are:

Q magazine

• The first UK music magazine released in 1903 is BMG magazine which is still running to date making it the longest running music magazine.
• NME leads the sales in the UK and has since it was released in 1952.
• Q release magazines that are revolve around lists such as "100 greatest songs ever."
• Q is considered the "world's greatest music magazine."
• The Fly is the most popular music magazine in the UK.
• The Fly is a independant magazine which means it is free.

The Fly magazine

I think that there is a bleak future if not no future for music magazines due to the rapid increase in technology in today's society. Since the internet, music magazines have been recording declines in circulation and due to the fact that technology is only going to go from strength to strength, circulation shows no sign of increasing.
Magazines have now released websites showing articles from the magazine but in an attempt to raise profit do not contain all the articles that the magazine but this has still failed.

I think all the magazines that target one specific genre will try to include content in their magazines that are attractive to their target audience such as the bands and artists reviewed and interviewed and the colour scheme.

VIBE magazine

I don't have a favorite music magazine because i'm not that much into music but I have found my favorite artist Eminem on the cover of Vibe. I listen to all types of genres but I have more rap songs than any other and is the genre I know most about.

This "Real Rap" issue of Vibe has a very balance colour scheme of red and black and that is why I like it. They can be considered as dark colours and because that most of rap music can be considered dark through the meanings of the songs I think this makes it a perfect colour scheme.

Introduction Blog

Introduction Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog!

As a part of my AS Media Study A-Level I will have to keep a blog, in this blog you will find:

• My Planning throughout the course
• My research throughout the year
• My Evaluation

About Me