Understand how media producers create products for specific audiences
The Target Audience
The Sun
The sun's target audience, Is mainly aimed at people above in the age bracket
of, 18 and over. the age range is easily seen, through the front cover along.
Mainly focusing on the anchored text about celebrities and the comical if not
informal fonts and titles for each different piece. The sun itself uses a lot
of images with querky and humour headings that aim to inadvertently tell what
the article is about by adding humour.
In terms of this, here you can see a previous headline used by the sun, that
may come across as humorous but talking about a serious subject.
On this cover, you can see, the way the font is laid out in a way that the
audience will be more inclined to by the magazine. The newspaper itself, has
print circulation of 1,696,685 and reader 4,316,000. The facts here explain
about how much The Sun magazine is sold and the amount of people who actually
read it as well. The information itself, also talk about the people who read
the magazine and there age range. When looking through the information about
the age range of people reading the magazine, 25.9% of people reading are 65
and older. The age bracket that read the magazine range from 45-64 and over as
the percentages are at the highest of people reading The Sun.
The sun is written the way it is, to cater to a mass audience. They wouldn't
think twice about using informal text or slang words in there articles as they
focusing on getting the information across in more of a way that people can
read easily.
Information Sourced from
http://www.newsworks.org.uk/The-Sun
The
Times
The Times target audience, is aimed at the more intellectual and also the more
upper classes in society. The newspaper uses a lot of different layouts but
always makes sure that the masthead of the newspaper is at the top in every
newspaper as it is the most recognisable for the audience to notice and make
them want to read it.
When doing research into the the times newspaper, I discovered that the
majority of people reading the newspaper are aged from 65 and over, coming out
at 34%. The newspaper tries to display information in more bulk text to create
more of a audience that will only read the front to get there information for
the day.
The Times use formal language, as the newspaper itself is more focused towards
the upper class and also the more formal part of society. The Times focus
themselves to more of high end society as the terminology and language is
focused souly on people with high end roles in the industry.
Cross comparison
You
can tell the difference between the two newspapers for there different approach
on the different subject matter. The sun approach the situations with a sense
of humour and intelligent tag lines, these help to high light the context
without giving to much away. this is a lot different to the times as they approach
subject matter in a formal way that they can cover the story while approaching
it from several angles. The sun focus on covering a lot
of celebrity happenings where as the times focus on covering more politics
and more upper class subjects that need more of a overall point of view.
Codes and Conventions
Codes are what makes a different understanding using media text. Codes can be
divided into two categories technical and symbolic, and when looking at the sun
magazine. They use the form of technical codes. They use very prominent
headings that contain a wide range of skills. Including humour at the main
part. The Sun audience are attracted to the in your face font of the front
cover. The use the strap line to explain the main article through a brief and
somewhat self-explanatory tag line.
Technical codes and conventions
The Sun
Masthead
The
masthead for all of the suns newspapers is in the same, place done to show that
this is their brand and title of the newspaper. It easy to identify with the
newspaper, and understand easier the name of the newspaper. The positioning of
the masthead is a convention that makes it easier to see when placed on
shelves. Placing other newspapers in front, you can still see the
name and find it easily.
Headings
The
heading of this piece, is quite basic but straight to the point of what the
newspaper is talking about. Usually done to attract the audience to find out
more about what the newspaper is going to be talking about.
Pug
The
pugs are condensed small adverts in the corners of the newspaper. On the sun
magazine, this can be found by the masthead of the newspaper. As time progress
the adverts usually become more and more related the festive seasons. As you
can see in the image, the advert in the corner of the newspaper is talking
about Christmas trees.
Splash
The
sun use a lot of splash content to get people to buy their newspaper. Their
main headline is usually the one that is on the front cover. On this cover it
talks about celebs and benefits that are associated with the UK. The
newspaper as well has a lot of information that is to do with the
presidential election
Photograph
The
photograph on the sun newspapers that is in the centre of the page is usually
about the main article and is used to get people to read the story. On this
cover the images are smaller then usually and they to do with the main stories
that are this issue.
Strapline
The
straplines used in the sun magazines are usually related to the main article,
giving a brief explanation of what is being spoken about. The strapline in this
sun newspaper is talking about exclusives and also the celebs personal life.
Semiotics
The
colouring of the Sun is a lot more vibrant and also more eye catching to make
people more inclined to read it. The use of red in such a block colour is more
likely to intrigue someone and also male them feel as if they are
looking at something that is uplifting and enlightening. This issue of the
newspaper also advertises Christmas trees in the corner, the use of green
surrounding the x mas tree, is representative of a clam colour that
is associated with Christmas.
The Times
Masthead
The mast head on The Times newspaper is present a
lot more in a formal way to show what audience age bracket and part of the NRS
scale they fit into. Whereas the sun new paper uses a lot of informal spelling
and colouring in their title. The only down side to The Times front cover
would be, that when it is placed on a shelf for purchase is going to be harder
to find as there isn’t much of a indication that lets the audience know what
the newspaper is.
Splash
There isn’t a splash per say as the front cover of
The Times Newspaper, as the main page story isn’t referred to mush after.
Strapline
The strapline is easily notice able as it is places
directly below the mast head and can be easily noted by the box surrounding it.
Photograph
Unlike The Sun, The times on this issue only
displays the main image but not to large that it will distract you from the
text surrounding it.
Heading
The Times use formal terminology and keep it small
to describe the story but apart from that, it is plan and formal straight to
the point as well. The difference between this and The Sun, is the use of size.
The Sun use the same font and style but on a much larger scale to catch the
audiences eye whereas this is only to explain and simplify what the article is
about.
Byline
The Byline, is mainly seen on more formal and high
end newspapers. A Byline is the name and date of release of the article.
Looking at the times sometimes the information is outsourced so therefore they
must refer to who’s work it is. The use of byline is also display who
wrote this article to get there name out into the world.
Caption
The caption of the image seen underneath the image
in The Times newspaper. It is used to display the person who got and took the
image and a brief overview including things like locations and dates. The
use of a captions is to explain the image and tell you what the image is about.
Cross head
The cross head is used to divide content from
another. Taking the place of sub heading, the use of cross heads usually to
illustrate key points that take place during the article/text. The cross
head in the issue above is subtle by being small and therefore only giving the
information but keeping it quick.
Cross comparison
When reviewing the two different newspapers, the reason
behind the difference is the layout and text. The reason the sun is a tabloid,
is because The Sun uses more image based on the front cover whereas The Times
is more text based. This can be seen from the images above and the use of
by-lines to create contrast. The Sun, in the image above, it is very clear that
the sun focuses more on celebrity news as well whereas the times focuses on the
more politics side of the news. The Times itself includes things like by-lines
and Cross heads. These are signs of broadsheets, the inclusion of this shows
the more formal way The Times is written. In comparison to The Sun, the
information on the front cover and the cover itself do not include these different
things. The reason being as The Sun is more of a company and most of the
articles were written by them. This is where the use of by-lines can show how
the information for the artless is sourced. The Times sometimes use other media
outlets, such as reporters and interviews. Therefore, to reduce the chance of
copyright they would place the writers name at the end to show who wrote the
article. The article can also be written by them and the by line can be used to
create more popularity for writer. The cross head on the times magazine is the
same on the different broadsheets out there. The difference between this and
The Sun would be that the sun doesn’t have them. The main article is the main heading
on The Sun and the other information is just put into little page numbers
including a short title. The use of cross heads on The Times is to make sure
that the reader knows what other information is key to the newspaper. This
shows the difference between the two different types of newspapers and shows
the audience what will be important in the newspaper.
The Sun moodboard
The Times moodboard
