My Evaluation!Analysis of my front cover, contents page and double page spread…

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions…

Example of a real magazine cover…

MastheadOne of the main conventions of any magazine, not just a music one, is a clear bold masthead across the top of the page. I followed this typical convention and put my mast head – being the title of the magazine - along the top of the cover in distinctive font that would be used on any other issue of that magazine. This is so the name is visible and becomes memorable to my target audience, so they remember to buy the magazine again.

Main image/ focal pointA popular and obvious convention of a music magazine I found is to have the main artist that the magazine will feature on, in the centre of the magazine. I followed this convention by using a medium long shot of my feature artist in the centre of the cover, looking straight at the camera. This makes it look like the artist is looking directly at the audience and drawing them in, persuading them to pick up this magazine. The large scale of the image also creates a focal point for the audience and attracts them to read about their favourite artist, knowing they will be featured in this issue.

PlugThe specific type of music magazines I have been looking at include plugs as it creates a more informal appearance for a younger, feminine audience. I have followed this convention as it gives my magazine the conformity of similar styles of music magazines. The pink colour stands out from the grey scale background and adds to my informal look.

QuoteThe ‘pull quote’ is a typical convention of a music magazine. I followed this convention but slightly changed it by using multiple colours. I did this to draw more attention to the quote so the audience would be drawn in to reading the magazine. It also fits in with the colour scheme giving the magazine coordination.

Cover LineA cover line is a commonly used feature of music magazine front cover, so I used this convention on my front cover. I noticed most magazines I looked at had their cover lines boxed off in colourful shapes. I altered this idea slightly as I thought the boxes gave the covers a slightly scrapbook effect that I didn’t want. Instead I mixed the size and colour of the font. The ‘50’ is larger and in a different colour to the rest of the text. This is to gain interest from my audience and drawn attention to what’s inside my magazine.

Conventions…

Example of contents page…

Strap line/titleI used the same typography for the name of the magazine, to create a memorable appearance for my audience. It wasn’t a popular convention of music magazines, but I wanted to change my magazine up a little bit and make it original. I followed the convention slightly by putting the title and ‘contents’ at the top of the page. This is so the reader knows what they’re looking at as it’s the first thing they’ll read.

ContentsHaving the contents in formational columns was a common convention of the music magazines I looked at. I followed this feature by organising it in columns and sections of what’s in the magazine. This is so its easy for the audience to find what they want. The pink boxes make the title of the sections stand out, and fit with the common colour scheme. The bold parts make the contents look more graphic which creates a less formal, and interesting look.

Front coverI have inserted a replica of my front cover, and used arrows to indicate what pages the cover lines are on. This isn't a typical convention of a music magazine, but a common one for women's, and children's magazine. This attracts my target audience of young females as it appears less formal and more attractive to look at.

ImagesA common feature of magazine contents page are images. These are used to entice the audience into reading that article. They also suggest that particular article s more important or interesting. I used these pictures on my contents page to make it more visual and add a graphic element to the page rather than just writing. I rotated the images slightly to make them appear a little less formal and more scrapbook like. This was to interest my target audience of teenage girls. I also used heart icons to show what page the people in the images will be on, so that the reader didn’t get confused and would find it easy to locate the article.

Conventions…PosterIn most of the pop magazines I have looked at, a typical convention of a double page spread was a poster. I used this idea as I thought two full pages of writing would be too much for my target audience and interest would be slightly lost. My poster, I think, adds a visual interest to the double page.

Example of double page spread…

ColumnsI followed this convention of a double page article. It was in the majority of music magazines I looked at and I thought it would go well with my genre. The straight columns make my double page spread look professional and organised, which makes it easy to read. The drop cap is also a typical convention of a music magazine that I followed. I used two different colours for the text. I saw this in pop magazines for younger audience and wanted to make my double page spread more visually appealing.

Pull quoteA pull quote is an important feature of a music magazine as it attracts the attention of the audience, to an important part of the article, and draws the reader in. I placed mine at the top of the page as I noticed that was commonly done in pop music magazines; this means it’s the first thing the audience will read. A pink box also makes it visually appealing and adds colour to the page, by making the quote stand out even more.

ImageUsing images in the double page spread is also an important convention of a music magazine. I t creates a sense of personal identity as the image shows another side of the stars personality to the reader. It also breaks up the writing making the article slightly easier and more interesting for a younger audience to read.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social Groups…Gender: My magazine represents gender in a number of ways. A dominant representation of girls is that they like the colour pink, take care of their appearance and tend to be more gravitated to the pop music genre. My magazine reinforces this idea by having a colour scheme of all different shades of vibrant pink to give the magazine a womanly, feminine feel. I have also included heart icons on the contents page. This represents girls as the cartoon, hand drawn like image is stereotypically related to young, teenage girls. It relates to how they would tend to draw or write in their own diaries etc. The lips on the front cover, in addition to the heart idea, also represents a girly feminine stereotype and portrays the idea of the magazine including celebrities that young girls ‘fall in love with’. The young girl on the front cover of the magazine ‘Amelia’ is shown to be well groomed, wearing casual but girly clothes, and has her make-up and hair done. This backs up to dominating representation of girls liking to take care of themselves.

Age:Age is represented throughout my magazine. The ‘pop stars’ I have included pictures of are all either teenagers or young adults. They are all shown to be posing, appearing confident and almost image ‘obsessed’. A stereotypical view of young adults and teenagers is that they take pride in their appearance, and like to take care of themselves. This is reinforced in these images I've used and creates personal identity to those reading it; people want to look like their favourite pop star, so if they are generally the same age, it will be more relatable. Also, the genre of the magazine, being ‘pop’, also represents age. This is because the younger generation are more likely to enjoy listening to chart music rather than older people, who may prefer classical or music from their own generation.

Social groups…Class:Class is represented slightly throughout my magazine. The people in the photos are show wearing casual, high street clothing apposed to posh designer wear. This represents a middle class, almost ‘student like’ appearance. In contrast to this, the magazine has no representation of lower class, or working class people.

Ethnicity:Ethnicity is shown in my magazine. The ethnicity represented is white British. This is not because my magazine is racist however, it is because black people are more associated with R&B or rap music rather than pop music, as this genre is widely dominated by white people. There was also no black people available, in my friendship group, to take photos of.

Social groups:The social group mostly represented in my magazine is your more average typical teenage girl. There is nothing to represent hipsters, punk or even indie kids, whereas a popular teenage girl stereotype is widely distributed throughout my magazine. The popular clothing most girls wear are also being worn by the pop star, there is nothing unique or different about their hair and make-up either. The look and feel the magazine gives is something most typical teenage girls stereotypically like.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Institutions…Immediate Media Company Limited Publishes…

And…

Top of the Pops

Publishes…

And…

Egmont We <3 pop

Bauer Publishes…

And…

Q magazine

Institution…“BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine is the biggest-selling teen lifestyle title in the market, focusing on self discovery, self expression and the world of celebrities. Featuring the latest fashion and beauty, star gossip, real life stories and celebrity advice, the magazine brings readers exclusive and exciting content every four weeks”

I have chosen Immediate Media Company Ltd. to publish my magazine. This is because they have published a similar magazine to mine, Top of the Pops, but for a younger audience. When looking into the companies website, top of the pops magazine was located in the ‘under 15’s’ section; I feel like there is a gap in the market for this company to produce a magazine along the lines of top of the pops, but for an older target audience; my magazine ‘Melody’ would be perfect for this. The website also revealed that the company publish very popular magazines that are read by a great amount of people, as BBC worldwide work with them. My magazine is also aimed to be popular and in demand, therefore this is why I chose immediate media company ltd. to distribute it. This type of institution is perfect for my magazine as it is connected with the BBC, and the age group that tend to watch BBC programmes or listen to BBC1 radio for example, are young adults and older teenagers, which is the target audience for ‘melody’ magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Audience…

My target audience is a majority of females; I took this into consideration when making a colour scheme and using the specific type of images and typography, as females are stereotypically related to pink, hearts and curly, scrapbook like lettering. My audience is also 14 -18 with a middle class background , as my magazine includes the chart music that this age tend to listen to apposed to rock or classical. This age range also have spare time after school or college to sit back, read and enjoy the magazine. The target audience for my magazine will aspire to be like the stars included in the magazine such as Beyoncé or Miley Cyrus as they're not much older than the reader themselves and started at the exact same point as the reader before their fame. My target audience also like taking care of their appearance, and like to look their best, which I reflected in my magazine by including articles such as ‘look like your favourite pop star’.

How did you attract /address your audience?

Attracting…I attracted my female target audience by including images that appeared hand drawn and scrapbook like, and are stereotypically related to girls. The heart and kiss faces are relatable to girls as you would expect to see this type of imagery in a young teenagers diary for example. This creates personal identity between the audience and the magazine’s contents.

I also used a fitting colour scheme to attract my target audience. One of the biggest stereotypes of a girl is that they like the colour pink. Therefore I used a pink colour scheme. However, because my target audience are teenagers and young adults I wanted to make the colours seem more interesting and exciting to look at, so I added different shades of pink, white, black and grey. This created a more mature look to attract my audience.

I used particular typography and fonts to attract my target audience. The top one, used for the title of my magazine, appears graffiti like and resembles rebellion, which my target age and gender appeal to. The font I used for the titles on my double page spread are more rounded and curled which appeals more to a female audience as apposed to more squared off, box like font that would appeal to a male audience. Finally, I used a font that looked hand written and scribble like, which my target audience would be attracted to as it is art like which females are stereotypically more into.

Addressing…My use of props in the photographs addresses my target audience. The fact that ‘Amelia’ is shown signing into a pink hairbrush addresses the audience in a way they feel comfortable with. The hair brush resembles everyday life, and makes the star appear down to earth and similar to the audience, and the fact that it is pink also links to the colour scheme and the stereotype of females liking the colour pink. They then can then relate and feel more comfortable reading the magazine.

When choosing models, I took how I wanted to address my audience into deep consideration. I wanted my audience to feel comfortable reading my magazine and I wanted personal identity to be created. Therefore, I choose a model who was the similar age to my target audience and who didn’t look too high maintenance – with their hair and makeup done - and higher class than my target reader themselves. I dressed my models in high street clothing that the audience might wear, to make sure they could relate the ‘stars’ in my magazine itself. The models also posed naturally so they look like just one of the target audience.

The way I wrote titles and articles was done or purpose to address my target audience in a way they would appreciate. ‘Wow’ gives the sense of informality, and sounds like something my readers would say to each other. I also used capital letters and explanation marks throughout to create excitement and enthusiasm, as that’s stereotypically how young teenage girls behave – over enthusiastic and giddy.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Technologies…In-designI used in design to create my double page spread. I learnt how to use breeders to control the usage and proportions of space for my images and columns. I have also learnt how to copy and paste writing from paragraphs into ‘in design’ to make it into columns. I used word documents to plan out my article first so I could use spell check, as in design did not have it. This technology also taught me how to create drop caps, and shapes and make my text surround separate writing.

PhotoshopI used Photoshop technology to create my front cover and contents page. I learnt the most from this technology, including how to change the colour levels, vibrancy and brightness of an image. I also learnt how to bring part of an image in front of another, as demonstrated on my front cover with the image and mast head over lapping. In addition to this I also learnt how to import different fonts from ‘Da font’ and use them in Photoshop.

PremierAnother technology I used and learnt from during this process, is premier. I used this to edit and adjust my interviews I did as preliminary material. I learnt how to cut out parts of a recording, and add images an titles to a video over the top. I used a voice recorder to record my interview with two people. This was a piece of technology I had never used before, so I had to learn about it first to use it.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Progression…Before…

This is the college magazine I created at the very beginning of the course. This was before I had any knowledge of the technology I was about to use, as I had never used it before. In addition to this, I had not yet carried out any of my magazine research tasks. Therefore, I wasn’t completely sure on how it should look, or how to even make it look professional with Photoshop. As you can see from this image I couldn’t make my font or text stand out from the mis–en-scene in the background.

From the image I have used, you can also tell that I didn’t know exactly how to use the colour levels, brightness and vibrancy effects correctly as the image appears almost white and fake.

This college magazine also appears very plain and empty. This is because I had not yet gained the specific skill to incorporate images, stickers and sub titles onto my work.

Progression…

After…

As my work progressed, my skills and capabilities improved. Compared to my college magazine at the start, my images were a lot more professional like, after being carefully and skilfully edited in Photoshop. They looked real, naturally lit and good quality images.

I had also gained more knowledge on how popular music magazines are designed and what they include on their front cover and inside pages. This is shown through my use of images, stickers and sub headings that my previous college magazine didn’t have.

Furthermore, I learnt how to make my images and typography stand out separately, rather than merging into one like it did on my college magazine. This improved my final piece as it made it look professional and more interesting.