Rochelle Fergus-Dormer

This challenges certain magazines because they only place more than on person on the front cover of a magazine if they are

members of the same group and appear in the same feature article or just one person advertising the puff piece, present in the Smash Hits magazine where the winner of big brother is featured with the

title for the puff piece reading, ‘inside my mental

mind’, revealing the focus of the main article and how personal is it to

the person featured shown to the left.

I develop and challenge certain magazines as firstly I have placed two people in my main image that are not part of a group together however the individuals positioned on my magazine both relate to and share the title of the feature article although not both of them feature in the puff piece. The individual that the puff piece will contain is identifiable by the use of proxemics as he takes up more room, is placed overlapping the female and is closer to the reader. ‘Fruity’ suggests juicy gossip that is further described with the line situated on top of this reading, ‘the unknown is revealed’ informing the reader of their involvement and contribution to the contents of the publication. The theme for the two people on my magazine regarding secrecy and its revelation is reinforced by their facial expressions with the female putting her finger against her lips with connotations of secrecy and the sound ‘ssshhhh’ alongside the male who is smiling. As already stated I planned on placing a third individual on the front cover who had the gesture of her hand by her mouth conveying shock. The individual that the puff piece will contain is identifiable by the use of proxemics as he takes up more room, is placed overlapping the female and is closer to the reader.

Starmix additionally develops pop magazines as the majority of publications in this genre do not have an actual double page spread but plenty of pages regarding different artists whereas the ones that do, that do are based upon an interview with the interviewee’s questions and the celebrities answers whereas mine is an actual article pictured below with only two pictures that in comparison to the top of the pop’s spread are not part of the background allowing more room for the information and article that I wanted to focus more on challenging typical conventions to the fullest.

Similarities include the use of columns which is a convention throughout all magazine publications as well as the stand-first, typically in bold that introduces the article in a small paragraph. In many magazine articles certain words are highlighted perhaps in bold, in another colour, different font or with a different coloured shape around it in contrast to the rest of the text. I used the quote, ‘I was moon walking from the age of three’ as it is unusual and weird acting as a lure enticing the reader to read on and find out more. I also included the title of the magazine in the top left and the page number using conventions on the page as well. A mini random question and answer task was included at the end of the article incorporating conventions of other magazine puff piece’s and maintaining the fun aspect right the way through the magazine.

I also used the left third to my advantage just like NME so that lures could attract the potential readers to the magazine and inform them of a few things that are included in this edition.

The lures target the female audience with things that stereotypically girls would be into. These also display that Starmix does not just focus upon music and its

industry with even references to soap operas with ‘who dunnits?’ most commonly question within these

programmes and the accompanying image of a shadow contributes to this mystery.

The lures for NME also play up to its genre advertising rock bands such as fall out boy and the Kaiser chiefs

and featuring them in the magazine.

Alongside Starmix, NME include the advertisement of the giveaway but in the top left corner, with a

background of yellow making it stand out, whereas the giveaway of Haribos is on the bottom left in the shape of a star relating to the magazine, with the

word ‘free’ in each point of the star highlighting the giveaway so at whatever angle it is identified it can

be seen. Similarly to NME I have placed the masthead an the strap line for Starmix partly in the left third for easy

identification for stacking purposes.

Both magazines contain a pug that acts as a lure as an additional

giveaway for Starmix and the main giveaway for NME as the size is

emphasised.

Just like the professional publication of NME I included the date, price and issue number on the front cover illustrating that the magazine is continuous and is required to be purchased shown to the left.

Starmix, unlike this edition of NME occupies a bottom strip which is additionally angled to fit in the point of the star and to introduce the fun, relaxed element of the magazine.

My magazine represents celebrities as happy, relaxed, laid back, inspirational individuals unlike their stereotyped descriptions as controlling, attention seeking, rude and sometimes miserable. This is done throughout all of the magazine pages I have created, where my celebrities featured, take ‘Starmix’ shopping, inform the readers of the unknown plus their body language and facial expressions on the front cover portraying happiness and maintaining non-verbal communication with their direct eye contact with the readers creating a relationship between readers and the celebrities similar to the main image on the top of the pops magazine shown beside it. As well as the front cover, the contents page presents them as fashion icons with the same celebrity pictured in winter and summer fashion developing the advertisement used on the advertisement for smash hits fashion who focus on the one look presented at the far right, yet the page also provides the readers with more of the topics the celebrities are willing to cover and reveal displaying their generosity.

The double page article inspires the readers as the intentions and rise of a celebrity are disclosed already identifiable in its title (right), perhaps changing the audiences previous opinions of them.

Representation...

My target audience are teenage girls, firstly as they are most likely to be influenced by celebrities which is why throughout the magazine pages that I have created, everything is positive ensuring that I do not portray any negativity about celebrities for the girls to be influenced by. These girls would be most likely to be interested in fashion, beauty and cooking advertised on the cover and contents as well as the colours pink, purple and yellow which are the main colours used known stereotypically as girly colours.

I speak to this target audience as if it is a one on one conversation, especially in the contents message showing interaction between the magazine and the readers.

My targeted audience are additionally attracted as their cognitive needs in Maslow's hierarchy are satisfied because the potential readers have the opportunity to gain knowledge, particularly about the main article that is advertised on the front cover with ‘Fruity’ accompanied by the line ‘the stars reveal the unknown’, plus their chance to explore what the celebrities have been doing and gain an insight into their lives promoted on the contents page.

Another need in Maslow's hierarchy is fulfilled as the reader can receive sweets and posters so they are gaining something back from the purchase of the magazine

Audience Research…

I interviewed 15 people of 15-16 year olds about what attracted you to the front cover of a pop magazine and the most popular was the giveaways, celebrities and gossip which were all introduced on my front cover.

The pie chart to the right shows that the majority of the people I interviewed were quite happy to buy a magazine weekly or fortnightly, that is why I made my music magazine issue weekly highlighted on the contents page.

The graph to the left shows the feedback for the question how much would you be prepared to pay for a magazine and nearly half of them were happy to pay

between 2-3 pounds which is why I settled the price at:

Throughout the course of constructing this magazine I have learnt that using the technologies was very confusing. I am intrigued by the technical aspect of the lighting, photography and it’s need for accuracy. I wanted it to seem that the pictures of those on the front cover were taken in the same mise-en-scene, but when they were all in the same frame it involved complications with height and overlapping, so I decided to take the photographs individually as well while keeping the settings the same on each to create this effect. As I learnt more and more my reasons increased for not using the third image I planned to put on the front cover in the main image as the lighting was different in contrast to the other two and the backdrop affected the lighting also which would make my magazine look unprofessional when compared to the image of top of the pops (top right).

Looking back at my preliminary task of a school magazine, I feel I have learnt to scale different aspects of my magazine to the right size and proportion on the page for example my left third, as there are significant changes regarding the width. On my preliminary task the masthead takes up a lot of room in contrast to that on a typical magazine which I corrected on the Starmix magazine. The main image on my preliminary task did not act up to its definition as the image as not a central piece that I improved on my Starmix magazine. improving my magazine creating it to look more professional as well as the contents page lacking images that I incorporated into this recent magazine helping it to appear more professional.