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Media Studies- AS/A Level > Oh Comely > Flashcards

Oh Comely Flashcards

1
Q

Examples of magazines for mainstream audiences

A
  • Grazia
  • Q Magazine
  • Men’s Health
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2
Q

Examples of magazines for niche audience

A
  • Homes and Antiques
  • Horse and Hound
  • Oh Comely
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3
Q

In terms of general audiences, what types of magazines are there?

A
  • Mainstream (mass produced)

- Niche (specialised interest)

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4
Q

What is Oh Comely now called (2020)?

A

‘Oh’

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5
Q

How is Oh Comely different to other women’s lifestyle magazines?

A
  • Not glossy
  • Niche interests/minimal ads, more expensive
  • For those who appreciate printed art form
  • Bi-monthly
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6
Q

What types of publishers are there?

A
  • Media Conglomerates e.g. Conde Nast and Hearst (publishes Men’s Health)
  • Independent publishers e.g. Iceberg Press
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7
Q

Who publishes Oh Comely?

A

Iceberg Press, indie publisher who bought the mag from the founders who it has close links w/.

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8
Q
  1. The print industry is in decline. Who are print magazines competing with?
  2. What have the most popular magazines responded to these changes?
A
  1. Online only magazines and blogging platforms which provide free content, produced by writers incl. writers, celebs, gen public
  2. Publishing their own online editions w/some free content and interactive features.
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9
Q

How do the Oh Comely team describe the mag?

A

‘oh comely is a curious, honest, and playful independent magazine. It’s a place to meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life a little differently.’

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10
Q

Overview (Oh Comely)

A
  • British Independent
  • Comely=attractive/pleasing (nostalgic & quirky). Changed to OH!
  • Curious/honest/playful mag- readers = writers/models
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11
Q

Which issue of Oh Comely are we studying?

A

Issue 35- Theme: Strength

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12
Q

What is one of the main appeals of the magazine? Why wouldn’t it appeal to everyone?

A

‘Authentic and genuine’. Cultural nature of mag will exclude some audiences due to a lack of cultural capital to access the content.

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13
Q

Oh Comely- Front page general codes and conventions

A
  • Strapline: ‘stories/culture/curiosities/makers/ideas’
  • Departure from mainstream aesthetic (no cover stars used)
  • Cover- sparse/minimalist/high-end/lifestyle/tasteful
  • Masthead lower-case (handwritten/personal)
  • Main image- strength non-verbal codes, direct address anchored by coverlines ‘Power/Poise’
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14
Q

Speaking Out section- basics

A
  • Positive contribution of 5 women

- Use of white space, clean, uncluttered

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15
Q

More than Gender feature- basics

A
  • Columns
  • Presented as a conversation between siblings rather than a formal interview
  • Shifting gender identity
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16
Q

Representation overview- Oh Comely

A
  • Focus on female empowerment and strength
  • Anti-celeb/Alt- multi-cultural
  • Gender- power/poise- masc to fem-as strong as men
  • Issues of gender identity, gender fluidity
  • Female-andro figure. Challenges ideas of femininity.
  • Women as aspirational, successful, women from diff ethnic backgrounds
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17
Q

Audiences overview- Oh Comely

A
  • Av age 27 (graduates/ethically aware/diverse/disposable income), value creativity and individual expression
  • Left-leaning
  • No children- positively feminist
  • Metropolitan ABC1- mid to high earners mainly working in high level creative jobs; tend to be city dwellers.
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18
Q

When was Oh Comely established?

A
  • 2010, London-based Brit Indie mag; 3 Oxford uni pals started it; now globally produced by Iceberg Press.
  • Available in small newsagents, indie mag shops, online
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19
Q

Who is the editor of Oh Comely?

A

Liz Bennet

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20
Q
  1. Does Oh Comely have advertisers?

2. Does Oh Comely have an online version?

A
  1. Few advertisers (only brands that suits its ideologies), high cover price. Subverts trad idea of prioritising ad revenue.
  2. Celebrates print media but integrates w/social media
21
Q

Oh Comely readership figures

A
  • Social Media Reach: 100k
  • Readers Per Issue: 25k
  • Average Age of reader: 27
  • Sold via independents, WHSmith, international outlets, and Waitrose
22
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the main image in the traditional context of magazine front covers?

A

Single image which takes up whole front page- unconventional as mainstream mags tend to try to fill the front cover with as much content as possible

23
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the cover model’s paralanguage/pose and direct adress?

A
  • Leaning back, creates slightly compressed, shortened image- unusual, coupled w/her direct gaze to audience could indicate she isn’t being exposed in sexualised fashion and thus is not catering for the male gaze.
  • Hands raised + crossed over head- powerful pose
24
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the model’s costume (clothing, hair, make-up)?

A

Costume is unconventional for traditional magazines:

  • Military style green jacket w/sequins across lapels
  • Minimal makeup,
  • Hair styled off her face in casual fashion- praactical and professional
  • Sparkly chandelier earrings
25
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the lighting and the colour scheme?

A
  • High-key lighting w/blurred background so as not to detract from the model’s face.
  • Coupled w/desaturated colour scheme and greenish tones of jacket+background it draws audience in to engage directly w/model.
26
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the masthead?

A

Masthead font appears to be hand-written which gives it a handmade and creative feel connoting creativity + individuality.

27
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the tagline in terms of its presentation and meaning?

A
  • Presentation: Tagline has a website header board feel to it in its minimalist and precise presentation. Use of lowercase indicates a more relaxed and casual feel to mag
  • Meaning: enigmatic (e.g. stories, mischief, ideas, along with film and fashion)
28
Q

Front cover- what is significant about the coverlines?

A

Unconventional- short phrases listed at the bottom centre of the page. These are enigmatic (eg power and poise, surprisingly strong things), enticing audience to open mag to discover their meaning in more detail.

29
Q

How are large amounts of white space a key design feature of the magazine (Speaking Out)?

A

Editors have made a design choice to place text in middle of page w/large white borders as an outline to the images and text.

Stripped back aesthetic- connotes photos/paintings hung in museum.

Contrast of colour in images w/extended white borders and the small font size make pages stand out to audience

30
Q

What is the effect of the stripped back design/house style of the articles?

A

Deliberate style choice for the editors- makes articles appear more contemporary w/effect of making mag feel more like a book or journal.

31
Q
  1. How do the images used in the articles contribute to the overall house style?
  2. How does the font used in the articles contribute to the overall house style?
A
  1. Images are mainly photos, support relaxed, casual effect the editorial team want to achieve (e.g. pictures of influential women, landscapes)
  2. Sans serif font in articles- contemporary, minimalist aesthetic, works w/formatting + white space to give mag a modern feel
32
Q

Does the image of Megan Jayne Crabbe, body positivity blogger, appeal to the male gaze?

A

Shows her body- in many contexts this could be seen as sexualised image but in Oh Comely it isn’t- she’s a body positivity blogger, and her photo conveys a woman who is relaxed, self-confident and self-assured.

33
Q

Visual and technical codes of the image of Megan Jayne Crabbe

A

Natural lighting + home setting- casual, candid photo; these technical and visual codes offer a non-sexual image to the audience

34
Q

How does Oh Comely view its audience?

A

Mag has clear focus on women both as consumers and as creators or contributors (prosumers)

35
Q

Why might some women be drawn to the magazine?

A

Arguably reflects ‘push back’ against male dominated media companies

  • aimed at a niche audience
  • created by women who feel their views are not represented by mainstream organisations.
36
Q

Uses and Gratifications- How might Oh Comely be a tool for diversion?

A
  • Articles and features in mag reflect interests of readers, coupled w/interesting use of photography and imagery ensures the audience feel engaged and the product is worthy of consumption.
  • Abundance of nature- escapism for city dwellers
37
Q

Uses and Gratifications- How might Oh Comely be a tool for surveillance?

A

Interviews inside are informative/educating for readers and range of features eg stories, recipes and interests relate directly to interests of this audience who will want to know about women’s rights and feminist activities.

38
Q

Uses and Gratifications- How might Oh Comely be a tool for personal identity?

A

Essence of the mag is that of a community of women who work and think creatively and reading the mag gives them access to a network of like-minded women.

39
Q

Uses and Gratifications- How might Oh Comely be a tool for personal relationships?

A

Niche nature of mag- could argue this is less relevant for readers- a smaller fanbase that might not provide much social interaction. However, it’s likely readers of this mag most probably are members of similar online communities.

40
Q

Oh Comely facts about sales, prices, etc

A
  • Cover price is now £6.00- keenly priced for this type of niche mag
  • Approx. 10,000 are sold of each edition- company receives about £60k/month, or ~£720k in a year.

Once costs of printing, production and distribution are covered, this wouldn’t leave much profit.

41
Q

To increase profits, most magazines take on board advertising and sell space in their magazine. Why does Oh Comely only have minimal advertising content?

A

Despite readership having high earning potential + professional jobs the magazine has minimal advertising content.

  • Editorial team have high standards, v, particular about brands they promote in the mag.
  • Possibly to protect clean, minimal artistic appeal of mag
  • Part of their requirement of partner brands is that they are ethically producing sustainable goods- a standard not easily met by brands.
42
Q

What has been the effect of Web 2.0. on the independent scene?

A

Due to Web 2.0 indie media products have had
resurgence, prosumers can create and post their own creations for free onto Internet and they can then become successful.

43
Q

How might the increasing convergence of media ownership add appeal to the magazine?

A

Desire for more indie, og media to counteract growing supremacy of global companies.

44
Q

What kind of lifestyle does Oh Comely promote?

A
  • Anti-consumerism

- Creativity

45
Q

What does the traditional industrial relationship in print prioritise?

A

Profit from ad revenue. Filling the pages in between w/content that encourages commercialism, consumption among readership is the norm. Mainstream audiences used to seeing pages of ads in mags.

46
Q

Why doesn’t Oh Comely, conform to the traditional industrial relationship?

A

Audience can be assumed to be sus of consumer culture + critical of any incursion into its pages of off-message ads

47
Q

What type of outside house ads does Oh Comely have?

A
  • e.g. London Loop, knitting and crochet suppliers- an audience as interested in making their clothes as buying em; ad 4 indie record label- indie labels appear to offer connection between genuine artists + audience- alternative to manufactured, homogenous pop
48
Q

Front cover main image- what is significant about the (relatively unknown) model’s facial expression and cinematography?

A
  • Head and shoulders shot is conventional
  • Position and low-angle shot are unusual- signify theme of the issue ‘strength’; non-verbal codes function on a semantic level- determined expression, direct address
  • Feminine slight parting of lips- open, communicative

Media Studies- AS/A Level (28 decks)

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