Main Task - Double Page Spread.

Main Task - Contents.

Main Task.

Preliminary Task - Contents

Preliminary Task - Cover

Evaluation - Question 7.

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



From doing the preliminary task I have learnt that it takes a lot of time to edit a photograph to make it look professional, and all the small things, like making sure that you can see the text properly, using an appropriate colour scheme to fit in with the photograph and basically does the overall product look professional enough to see it alongside other leading magazines, finally does it complete its purpose to persuade people to buy it. I felt with this task that you were able to make the magazine how you wanted it to look as it was a school magazine, the conventions weren’t so restricting, so I used many colours to make it appear fun and school like.

For the preliminary exercise I found it quite restricting in terms of creativity because it had be to a school magazine, so it's features where more specific than the main task, also time was limited to lesson time. Whereas for the music magazine it was more flexiable you were able to choose a genre and create your own touches to it. For the preliminary exercise I didn't do much research as it didn't seem to be many school magazines out there. Due to all the music magazines I was able to look at front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. I researched all music magazines to start with such as Q, NME, MOJO and many more. Looking at the kind of things I liked and typical conventions, having chosen my genre I looked more closely at magazines such as Vibe and Clash.

I then got two of my friends to pose as music artists and also my sister, I wanted to get a range of different photos so my magazine was interesting. For Matt (Shyne) I took a variety, from all different angles as he was going to be on the front cover and interview – double page spread, so I thought about mise en scene the types of clothes he wore to represent a Hip Hop artist.

For Jo (Lady Red) I wanted a photograph that was a bit more fun different from the average shot so I took photos doing different poses with her hands, inspired by lady Gaga in her music videos. Eventually decided to have the one of her sitting down looking quite moody. For my sister I wanted to take close up shots of her face looking cocky, she is wearing a black coat with a oversized collar which I thought looked cool with a stripy scarf. With Photoshop I experimented more with the photographs, putting them up against different backgrounds changing the contrast making the skin tone a bit more bright to give that air brush magazine effect.

Evaluation - Question 6.

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


I have learnt from the technologies that there is so much you can do to change a photograph, I have become familiar with the software Photoshop while proceeding with the construction of my magazine. I found certain elements to Photoshop quite difficult at the start, such as using the lasso tool can be quite tricky, you have to be patient.

Evaluation - Question 5.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Core Audience;
Consists of males 16 to 24. The genre of my magazine is Hip Hop/RnB which would cover a broad range of music, lifestyle, entertainment, culture and the urban music movement. How I attracted my audience are by the following features;

• The style of my photograph, the look on my models face, this carefree attitude with his arms crossed, young men will be able to relate to him be inspired etc. I looked at other Hip Hop artists in photographs on the internet like Jay-z, Dizzie Rascal and others in magazines such as NME/Vibe/Clash and they don't tend to smile they either look quite serious, cool with this sort of care free attitude, this is what I tried to portray though my photograph.

• For the clothing of my model I thought about it a lot to attract my audience, made a decision which was a white vest, and a chain with tags on. I had to make sure his image went with the style of my magazine. His muscles are on show so this will appeal to young men as they will look up to him, want to be like him.

• I wanted the audience to instantly recognise the iconography and style of my magazine so I did this using three block colours red, black and white. All of my headlines relate to this kind of music or other famous artists in the industry, that attribute to the music industry in a positive way such as Lady Gaga.

Secondary Audience;

Consists of female around the same age 16 to 24. they are more likely to read the magazine because of 'Shyne' on the front cover has the sex appeal, these age range are likely to fancy him.

• The white vest exposing his muscles, slightly smiling will attract the females. He looks good, cool and charismatic.

• The other music headlines will attract the secondary audiences as some of them are famous music artists. Includes a double page spread of an interview with 'Shyne' this will attract young females as it offers more pictures of him and an exclusive interview.

• When producing my interview I thought about my secondary audience what they would like to read about, so I tried to think of interesting questions for 'Shyne' a representation of a famous Hip Hop artist, I looked at the interview in NME with Dizzie Rascal to see the types of interview/style of the questions and answers they give.

Tertiary Audience;

This consists of people of all ages who are into music magazines of this genre, urban music followers, people who are interested in the people in my magazine. All these features aim to attract my core and secondary audiences too.

• Using a representation of successful music artist on the front cover someone to aspire to be like.

• Using catchy headlines to attract audience “Malta Special Wozee Zozzee it's on!” I suppose this is context bound and not everyone would know what it is, but its a big MTV festival that takes place in Malta every year, so I made this one of my headlines I thought it was interesting and had a ring to it.

Overall how I address my core audience is by using someone likeable on the front cover a representation of a Hip Hop artist, sticking to three colours throughout keeping it consistent and having interesting headlines which stick to the theme of my music mag. How I address my secondary audience is using people that could represent the genre of music in a contemporary way. To attract other audiences I have just combined the core and secondary audiences.

Evaluation - Question 4.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The core audience for 'Compilation the mixed music magazine' consists of males between 16 to 24. My magazines appeals to the core audience through having an aspiring representation of a Hip Hop artist on the front cover, young males can relate to. He has a white vest with his muscles on show, looks good. He is fit, so men would want to look like him. They would also be interested in the female singers so I have used two models to be on my contents page, 'Lady Red' because she looks like a girl you would see in everyday life assessable. 'Esmee' is a representation of a RnB star the males would find her attractive, fancy her.

My secondary audience consists of females aged 16 to 24, the magazine will appeal to females, because 'Shyne' on the front cover is good looking, quite sexy which will appeal to women around this age. Women that are interested in this style of music Hip Hop/RnB. I also used two representations of two female music artists which they would be interested in, females to look up to and aspire to be like.

Finally the last audience type is males and females of any ages who are interested in Hip Hop/ RnB music, Rhythms and Blues, contemporary RnB. Hip Hop is music which has a deeper meaning, discusses concerns of political, social and personal issues.

Evaluation - Question 3.

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

The kind of media institution that would distribute my media product would be Emap because it offers a wide range of media products; I think this i

nstitution would be suitable for my magazine as it does other magazines such as the popular 'Q the music magazine', and MOJO etc.

“Emap started life as a local newspaper company in 1947. Today Emap is a global media group, playing a crucial role in giving the retail, media, finance, fashion, health, education, government and automotive sectors the essential news, analysis and access they need to succeed.”

Even though 'Q' magazine has a good cross selection of the audience, a broader target audience its a great music magazine with high standards of photography so this would be why I would like Emap to distribute my magazine, the quality is similar to 'Q', I have a more specific target audience, and the genre of my music magazine is different but it offers variety 'Q the music magazine.' 'Compilation the mixed music magazine.'

Evaluation - Question 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The model represented on the front cover of my music magazine is 19, a Hip Hop artist, who has already made it in the ind

ustry having successful numbers ones and an album release. My core audience is males 16-24 but obviously other people will buy the magazine. But its aimed at young, urban followers of the Hip Hop culture. Secondary audiences could be Females that are into RnB and Hip Hop women of a similar age. 'Shyne' the model on my front cover of my magazine ismixed race, working class male represents his age group and gender as successful and inspiring, he portrays his race in a positive light, hard working and determined to well. This audience will be able to look up to but relate to him. He is good looking so young males will be able to connect with him, a large female fan base. He is represented as a Hip Hop artist such as Jay-z, Chipmunk, Chris brown etc.

'Lady red',the model I have used to on the contents page of my magazine is a white female aged 18, represents an RnB artist in the music industry from a previous girl band she is going solo, again from a working class background made it big, she will appeal to my target audience males, she is pretty but her style is what makes her very cool, different like Musician Pink in her style and look.

Whereas 'Esmee' is the stereotype of an RnB artist beautiful/stunning which my target audience males will want to look, females will aspire to be like her. She is represented as young artist in in the industry but a well established artist having hit records and three albums. She portrays her age and gender as being successful women. Like either Cheryl Cole on her solo work or Rihanna.

Evaluation - Question 1.

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


I have looked at conventions that are successful in existing magazines, to follow, developing my own magazine, so that the audience I am targeting will recognise the conventions. For the front cover of my magazine I have used a model which fits in with the look of a hip hop artist. He is wearing a white vest exposing his muscles this is a fashion trend and often worn by artists in the industry (Chris Brown).

Therefore he fits the criteria to be able to be on a music magazine, which follows real conventions as he

looks like a hip hop artist. The colour used on my magazine instantly establishes that it’s a music magazine as I used black, white and red The real media products that usually use these colours are 'NME' and 'Q'. I use three block colours keeping it consistent throughout. I’ve also realised through my research all music magazines stick to three colours, sometimes more for the text/headlines but usually it’s just three. Magazines such as vibe use conventions such as famous music artist modelled on the front cover, so I have done this too, they also have the title of the magazine quite short easy to remember and spread across the top of the page, so I have also stretched my title however my title challenges forms as its quite a long; “Compilation, the mixed music magazine”, its a mouthful but I think it sounds professional, I used 'mixed' in the title to explain that my magazine isn't just one genre like 'Hip Hop' or 'RnB' its a conglomeration of the two. I created a music magazine about music artists, fashion, sounds, lifestyle culture and the urban music movement, this is clear through the headlines I use on the front cover of my magazine.

A theory I could apply to my print would be Laura Mulvey (since the 1970's) 'The male Gaze' – to refer to the way you look at the image of people on screen/print. Jonathan Schroeder (1998), “To gaze implies more than to look at – it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze”Even though the theory looks at how males look at females this is still useful, to look at in terms of the gazer how the audience look at someone.

My magazine is direct address to the viewer of the magazine, the facial expression of my model is carefree slightly smiling but also seductive. The ways my media product uses conventions of real media products is; I used all of my own photographs in my music magazine, for the contents page I related it to the front cover headlines, sticking with red and black colours to give it continuity. I follow conventions by making my magazine as user friendly as possible, making it easy to access the pages people want to read about, for my double page spread I linked it to an interview with the model on the front The front cover is the most important in terms of advertising, as its the first thing people look at therefore attracted to clutch it in there hands and look more closely, it has to have something which catches the customers eye, makes the magazine stand out amongst others. This is usually done by having a certain role model, someone in the public domain that people are simply fans of; popular celebrities, pop stars, models etc.

So thinking about this, as I was producing my music magazine, I indented to have someone on the front cover who represented music in a contemporary way and looked like hip hop artist. With this in mind I did some research looking at how hip hop/RnB artists looked in photographs, especially in magazines such as 'Vibe', 'NME', 'XXL'. This is why the person I chose to be on the front cover has a cocky, cool, confident look. On existing magazines this is what sells it the person on the front so I knew I had to have someone that people would like.

Deciding on a photograph.

I've taken different photographs of Jo from lots of different angles, shes going to feature on the contents page. I've placed her on a dark background at the minute but I'm going to experiment a little before I decide. I think the trainers look really good against a dark background as there white, but her hair doesn't look so good as you can tell I've cut her out, using the lasso tool on photo shop, it's slightly lighter in parts so it really shows up, I need to consider this when choosing a background colour, however I might just use a white background.

Superimposed.

I was just playing with pictures, got the background from google changed it to black and white, superimposed Matt over the top obviously you know it's not real but that's what I like about it, because I've made Matt largely out of proportion to the picture.

Kings of leon.

I really like this background it looks really cool, however this would be extremly difficult to do and photograph so I'll have to think of something else, at the minute I'm thinking just a plain grey background.

Just an Idea.

This is one of my idea's for the front cover, however I think it looks kinda cool but it does look fake, you know it's not one photograph. I have got the graffiti from google images and placed Matt over the top. I'm not sure it fits the conventions of a music magazine either, plus I think it would be hard to read the text, unless I had it a bright colour.

Graffiti.

This image is from google. I'm thinking about different backgrounds I could have on the front cover with my model over the top. Previously I wanted to have a busy background because often 'Q' magazine tend to do busy backgrounds but it all comes together, but I'm not sure this idea would go together.

Matt.

I've started taking photographs for my front cover thinking about different shots, I've used an effect called fresco for this image I think it looks quite effective, but I'm not sure it will fit in with the front cover so this is something to think about.

And Again.

I've taken photographs as he was putting his hoodie on, I was thinging for my double page spread, it could be a photoshot, an action shoot of him. I've messed about with the images having them horizontal, diagonal. I put Matt against a white background to make him the main focal point.

Photshop Experiments.

Sophie.

This is my sister im also going to use her on my contents page posing as a music artist.

JO.

This is another one of my friends, Jo is going to feature on the contents of my magazine as a solo pop artist.

Matt.

This is my friend im using for the cover of my magazine and double page spread posing as a music artist.

Katy Perry

I have uploaded this image of Katy Perry, because I like her facial expression because it serious but looks really cool, I think I want my models to look more serious than cheesy, as mostly in magazines the models on the front cover and contents page don't tend to smile.

Pixxie Lott.

In this photograph I like the way her make-up is done with the black eyeliner, I am looking for a least two female artists to feature on my contents page after having done my research there a few images/artists on the contents pages In the magazines I've looked at NME etc, having looked at these I'm also going to think about make-up and hair styles for my models, what kind of image I want to put across to the audience. I want my magazine to young audience, so I want my models to be a little different.

La Roux

I like La Roux's hair in this picture, this is another singer that is quite different I'm going try and do my models hair like hers to feature of my contents page. This it will be tricky but with a lot of hairspray it might work. :)

Models for my magazine

Thoughts on the Photographs...

The previous post are all photographs I have taken of the Festival I went to in Malta, some of the first ones I took are clear because it's light, but the ones I took later on in the evening are of poor quality because it was so dark.

I have thought about it, and having spoken to my teacher I decided not to use these photographs to be in my magazine, because it doesn't really fit in to what my magazine is all about target audience wise etc. Also because I've decide to do an interview for my double page spread I don't know where I'd put them.

Maybe if I had been close enough to capture lady Gaga or the Black Eyed Peas or even Metro station, then they would have looked great in my magazine because people would be more interested.

But anyway have a little look. :)

MTV Festivl in Malta.

A Trip to Malta.

In the summer I went on a trip Malta. While I was there I went to the MTV Malta Festival, where famous people where doing some singing, this gave me a lot of inspiration for the headlines that I could use to put on the cover of my magazine to entice the readers into buying my magazine. I managed to get video's and photographs, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get any of the artists as I was to far away. I've got some though I'll put them up.

The artists which performed were Esmee Denters, Metro Station, Lady Gaga and the black Eyed Peas!

Black Eyed Peas.

Alive - A song I like at the minute.

Pharrell Williams.

I'm looking to have someone similar to his image on my magazine, this is the shot I'm going to have on the cover of my magazine. I also like the facial expression its not cheesy or to serious.

Wil.i.am From the Black Eyed Peas.

I have posted a image of Will.i.am as I like his image. When taking my photographs this is something I'm going to think about how I want my models to dress. Or I might just go with something simple like have them wearing a vest top.

Travis McCoy Again..

I just like this photo, this is the type of artist I'd like to feature on my magazine.

Travis McCoy

This is Travis Mccoy from Gym Glass Hero's as you probably know.

I love the style of the photograph, full body shot, I'm looking to have a full length shot on my front cover or a middle shot.

He looks incredibly cool, I'd like to get someone like this to be on my magazine, although its not going to be easy for me to get someone who has tattoo's and all the rest it.....

I going to have someone who is a little different to feature on my magazine to represent hip hop/pop music.

Change Of Mind.

I have decided to change my double page spread to having the artist on the front to be in the double page spread, I was going to do a girl band, but I think its harder for the readers to relate to like 4 people rather than just one artist. I am having a boy who I have named Shyne, he is a rapper/ hip hop artist.

Wordle.

Magazine Titles

This is a wordle I have created of all the possible titles I could call my Magazine.

Pitch.

Music Magazine Powerpoint

View more presentations from laurenlaura.

My Opinion

The magazine 'NME' seems to be more busy, a lot going on in the cover seems to look a little bit like a newspaper. Whereas I think 'Q' magazine seems a bit more sophisticated, eye pleasing, more calm than NME. I think both are effective and I'm going to take Idea's from the both, but for me I prefer the 'Q's'style.

Genric Conventions

I looked in different magazines to see what layout my double page spread was going to be like, looking at how many images were on one page, if I was going to have one large image, with an interview on the oposite side, with a quote from the interview, underneath the musician quoting something controversial, or interesting to grab the readers attention.

I looked at generic conventions of music magazine as they vary from fashion magazines. I noticed that the contents page in all magazines, the text is in columns, separated in sections, for easy access. In the Q contents the page numbers,titles are in read, so Im going to pick a theme colour for my magazine and use this style. The text also seems to have a block colour behind it.

I think I'm going to have some images on the contents page but not to big as I think the text is more important. I've looked at Q and NME to get inspiration, I also looked closely at the style of the magazine as I might decide to do a similar style to one of these.

Q Double Page

Interview with Pink taken from 'Q' music magazine, I have uploaded this interview as I like way it just uses one photograph on the opposite page. The photograph is a close up which shows maybe she's letting you in, she is laughing so this is a different side to her we see in the interview. The photograph also has a reference for where it was taken and photographer. Looking at the interview I think the big close up of her works, but I'm not sure whether I'm going to have just the one photograph or several on different locations because I think this layout is effective.

Q Magazine Contents

This is more research on 'Q' magazine, I looked at the contents to see what was the typical layout of it was, I noticed that they use 'contents' as the title. Having looked at a few magazines some music mags have contents as the title whereas others don't, but I think I'm going to have the title contents on my magazine just so it's clear. They use quite a large photograph of the band that feature most in the magazine, this is quite a simple photograph features some countryside may suggest they're from this type of background or just a simple background. They stick with colour bright red which is used a lot on the cover as well, so all the pages are linked/go with each other.

Q Magazine Cover

This is a recent issue of the famous 'Q' magazine, the photograph is an extreme close up of Noel from Oasis, this makes you believe that 'Q' gets up close and personal with Noel, the photograph is also black and white this may be the style, or because he is an older musician. I like 'Q' magazines logo because its simple and short which makes it memorable. When you see this logo you instantly know its 'Q' magazine, so advertising has succeeded. This is a logo I wish to create obviously people wont of heard of it or even see it, but in terms of being memorable and standing out from others.

NME Double Page

This is a double page I looked at from NME, with a band called the 'Teenagers' this is an interview, they use enlarged headline quotes which will attract the audience. They stick with a bright blue colour to highlight key information, with a white background, this makes the photograph of the band the focal point of the double page spread.

NME Contents

I also looked at the 'NME' magazine's contents page to give me inspiration and to look at the way they set the story's out. Everything seems to be in columns in sections so its easy to go to pages you want to read about.

NME also has a band index so its quick and easy to look up want interests you, I think this is a good feature making it quick and easy this is something I'm going to think about when doing my contents page.

NME Covers

This NME magazine features Morrissey, its interesting as NME use various different music artists to feature on the cover, they don't stick to one type of singer/group.