Research Homework - Production

List of 3 texts that I will use for my investigation, these magazines consist of:

· Heat
· Star
· OK

Heat – The website is controlled by Bauer London, a company incorporated in England and Wales. The magazine is concentrated around the generation of celebrities, lifestyle and gossip. The magazine offers the best in entertainment and celebrity news every week, This magazine is one the best selling magazines in the UK. The magazine was first launched in 1999 as a general entertainment mag. and was expanding in the market as years went by due to the success of readers and sales.

Star – The magazine was founded by a male called Rupert Murdoch in 1974 as a competition to the tabloid. The magazine mainly focuses upon celebrity coverage and gossip. Star was a great success and was soon recognised and established. The magazine is updated weekly and was first produced in the United States. It is said that, “The magazine came out on top as the most-read magazine, book or blog in a survey of 11- to 14-year-olds” and is consumed by a significant amount of young teenage girls.

OK- the OK magazine is packed out with big celebrity stories, photographs and stars from the world of showbiz and entertainment. This magazine includes all sorts of features for its audience, such as; fashion, gossip, competitions, break up and make up etc. In 1974 the institution started as a small publishing company with limitless vision. In the 80’s a range of special magazines were launched and only a specific amount were sold in the 90’s. However, the celebrity publishing was a success and women were the main target for these sales and readings. The OK magazine made the magazine print industry stronger as there were celebrity connections from the magazines. the process of making decisions can be done very often, and this is due to having the advantage of short lines of communication. Also, due to the ownership, which includes reproduction and distribution, there was tight control and there was commmitment as well as stamina, which contributed to the investment until the title had reached a higher status and had become market leader.



Whilst analysing this text we can see that, OK magazine has used bright and appealing colours in order to attract the audience eye. For instance; the colours yellow and red have the connotation of love and happiness. Meanwhile, there is high key lighting that is used for the medium shot image and big bold fonts to attract the reader’s attention. Also, the fact that they have 'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS & PHOTOS' draws the audience to wanting to read the magazine.

In 1974 the institution started as a small publishing company with limitless vision. In the 80’s a range of special magazines were launched and only a specific amount were sold in the 90’s. However, the celebrity publishing was a success and women were the main target for these sales and readings.

The target audience for this text would be mainly females aged from around 16+. The magazine can be consumed through audience gratification, for instance, individuals may relate some of the articles to their own personal relationship or for escapsim purposes. Perhaps, they may just read the text simply for their visual pleasure.

The representation of the front cover of OK shows that in some way Tiger Woods is being represented as a sexual object as we can see some clevage through her provocative top.