Photos

This is the first photo I took, I had planned for the shot to be a mid air jump as my front cover is of the new band 'on cloud nine'. However I won't be using this image as all 3 girls are not mid air and also it has come out smeared.



Whereas this one above is the photo I am using for my front cover as all the girls are in mid air and pulling happy faces that interact with the readers and connect with the main sell on my magazine front cover. In all my photos there is the background of my living room, however I will edit these by cropping out the background and replacing it with either a background of colour which matches one colour from the top of one of the girls in the photo, or a plain white background.

This is another photo that I plan to use in the article for the interview, however I prefer the one below, as its more fun and interesting to look at and will appeal to the target audience. I chose this pose to symbolise that the girl band are close and have a good time together, it also adds humour into the magazine.

Below are the other images I am using in my double page spread article. I wanted the girls to have individual photos. As the interview is going to be about them together as a group, but also they're individual personalities will be questioned too.

These are mid shots as I believe if I shot them lower towards the ground or higher than they were jumping, then the photos and the girls in the photos wouldn't look as welcoming and appeal to the target audience as much. This is because if I shot from beneath them, the girls would look very large and overpowering which I believe no pop artist should give the impression of having these characteristics, on the other hand I also believe if I had shot the image from above the girls, then they would look small and insecure which can also look like a bad photo in a pop magazine.

I chose their make up to be bold and colourful as I think most pop stars share this when in photo shoots or performing, I chose the blue eyeshadow as it was bright and stood out, and I also chose the floral tops and the blazer as these items of clothing are very in fashion at this time, and are in the public eye alot, therefore producing a pop magazine, pop standing for popular culture, I believed the floral tops and bright make up was important to appeal to my readers and target audience.

Fonts

I have chosen two different fonts for each page of my magazine; front cover, contents and double page spread.

Above is the font I have chosen for the title of my magazine, I wanted it as similar looking to a balloon-type font to illustrate the onomatopoeia of the word 'pop!' and to add effect that a balloon makes this sound when its burst.In my flat plan I had drawn the second 'p' of the word 'pop' to look like a balloon that had just been popped, but that is a difficult task to interpret on a computer so therefore I will have to change it to 'pop!'.I chose this font over the other font as this looked more balloon-like and in the other font it wasn't possible to have an exclamation mark.

This is the font I have chosen for my contents page, however this is only going to be used for the main headings as it could be hard to read and look clustered in a paragraph or a smaller size.

I chose this as I believed the other font wasn't girly enough, although it was still a curly font, it looks rough and it looks like it belongs to a rock genre magazine rather than pop. I will use a modern bold font for the list of contents and for the note from the author.

This font will be used for the title of my double page spread article, however once again like the contents page I will use a different, clearer font to write the article and any captions that are needed with images. This font is very similar to the other one I had chosen for these pages, however this one is the outline of the words so therefore its only the edges of the letters that change colour but on the other font the whole word changes colour, for this article I want the title to stand out, so I would prefer to leave the words white but the outside a bright colour. I also picked this font because of the stars that appear over the 'i's, as they tie in with the article of new found stardom for the band.

All the fonts I have chosen because they're modern, bold and different which I believe will appear to my target audience and are similar to the fonts used in the previous magazines I have analysed, however they have not used the a curly/girly font I am using for my contents page but I believe this will appeal to my target audience of girls aged 13-17.

Flatplans

Above is the flat plan of the front cover of my magazine.

The title of the magazine will be at the top of the page slightly to the left, this is normal for pop magazines as I have noticed in my previous analysis of pop magazines. I will also have the main flash the dominant story on the front cover, which is also normal for the genre of magazine I am producing, the image that goes with the main flash article will be the largest image on the page and also the background of the front cover. The main sells will overlap this image, smaller images will also be overlapping. My front cover will also include a tag line -"Blowing your mind with the latest pop news", this will be placed underneath the title. Tag lines appeal to readers by drawing them into the personality of the magazine. I will also include a bar code, price, date and the volume number to the side of the magazine, however this will not distract the readers attention from the rest of the magazine.

Here is the flat plan of my contents page.
To the right of the page there will be the list of contents which is split into groups, such as music, usual and gossip. This is simple and easy to read for my target audience. This is different to the magazines I analysed before as they didn't focus on pop music in the magazines, whereas in mine I am including a specific section to music and others to gossip and other features like competitions, star scopes, film reviews etc.

Also on the left at the top of the page, I will include a note from the author, this is very common in most pop magazines, as it allows interaction between the author and readers, this will especially appeal to my target audience. Underneath there will also be other images that are from stories featured in the magazine and also a competition to catch readers attention.

Above are the flat plans for my double page spread.

Along the top is the title of the article 'An interview with... AUDIO!', I chose this as I wanted to produce an interview with a new upcoming band rather than a story. It will include a large dominating image on the left side of the page, along with other smaller images. As well as this, along the bottom of both pages there will be a timeline of the bands career so far, e.g. how they met, what they looked like when they were younger. I think this will appear to the readers as it will allow them to see the path of the band members and will increase interaction with the magazine and the readers.

Analysis of existing magazines

Above are the two front covers of two different magazines that are within the pop genre. For this part of the blog I will be looking at the second example Smash Hits! magazine, I think they chose this title for their magazine because they may of thought their magazine is about 'smashing' the hits, informing readers about the latest hits etc. The main flash is written in a large traditional serif font, this may be for a contrast from the title of the magazine as it is written in a sans serif font. There is a pattern of colour used throughout the front cover, the yellow that is used as the main flash is the same colour as the title of the magazine, along with the borders of some images. There is no particular colour scheme with the artists and the background which is unusual for a pop magazine. The language used is persuasive yet not too complicated as the target audience is from young girls to teenagers, it is also very informal, it also includes an alliteration 'get girl band glam', it doesn't however assume knowledge of the pop genre, more along the lines of gossip and news.

The target audience could be obvious when the magazine is first viewed, it is aimed for British/English teenage girls, from 13-16 this is clear from the images/language and colours used, I believe any girls that would like a gossip/popular magazine above the age of 16 there are more mature ones on the market that's why I classed it between the ages of 13 and 16. I also think they aim it to the C2DE socio economic class as its not too expensive and the adverts included in the magazine are not too 'up market'. Readers also enjoy listening to pop music, could possibly own some of these gadgets MP3 player, games console, TV, desktop computer, laptop computer, mobile phones or a laptop, and are the kind of people that sit back, and 'go with the flow'. The main images used suggests that the man overpowering the rest of his band members is the lead singer of the band or the interview/article included in the magazine is based on him. I believe they have chosen that band as they are a new pop group with a band member that used to be in another pop band called 'Busted'. It is a posed shot, rather than a live shot, I can tell this as the band members in the background are pulling faces, this could be to add humour to the cover.

Their clothing is very similar to each others just being plain, different coloured t-shirts and jeans. The usual artist on the front cover of this magazine is either male or female, so 'Son of dork' is not out of the ordinary, the band is only known in Britain rather than internationally as they are a new band have haven't reached their potential stardom yet. The main sells in the issue of this magazine is an interview with 'Son of dork' and also gossip/insight into the habits of 'Mcfly'. There is also a chance to look at celebrities makeovers, and some other main sells are competitions that are on the front cover I believe to draw/persuade readers to buy it. The information presented is a bar code on the bottom right of the magazine, along with the price being £1.99, the date and the issue number.

Above is a contents page from Mizz magazine which is also from the pop genre. The structure of the contents is split into categories such as 'celeb, real life, style, fun, you and plus', these categories show the magazine isn't totally based around the pop music genre, but that it also includes gossip, news and other features. There is no band index included, neither is there just one main image, however there is one dominating image, but there are smaller images included on the page. It fits well with the colour with the use of colours, but other than that it doesn't tie in with the main flash, or the layout of the front cover. The fonts are also different, as all the fonts used are sans serif whereas the main flash on the front cover was written in serif.

Here is a double page spread from Top of the Pops magazine, the language used is very informal and modern, there is also an alliteration used 'dolls drama!' and also a pun being 'men utd' rather than 'Man Utd' the football team. The tone of the articles included are laid back, comical, and not so serious, which is perfect for the age of the target audience, as anything too serious or formal will not appeal to them. There are a total of 9 images used, and 6 of them being on the band which the article is about, the article and images dominate the double page spread. The other images are used to the right of the page. On the main image speech bubbles have been used which add humour to the article and there are also captions beneath or aside the image. The first picture on the page isn't presented differently than the others to make it bold and stand out, however it does include more people and a different pose is used to attract readers attention.

Target audience

This table above shows statistics of a magazine that I am researching that is similar and in the same genre that I am basing my magazine around. It shows that Top Of The Pops magazine has a total of 169,000 readers, most of which are from the CD2DE class band with 107,000 this is 0.5% of their overall readers, showing that it is aimed to the lower class. The age of the readers are mainly 15-44, being 139,000 where as 45+ is 30,000 of their readers, also it is clear that they aim the magazine at as there is 122,000 women/girls, compared to the 47,000 men/boys that read it.

Another similar magazine that aim to this audience is Smash Hits, it has been running for 28 years, and sells around 120,063 copies a fortnight, meaning 60,000 a week. They attract an audience that use gadgets such as; laptops, MP3 players, mobile phones, TV or game consoles.

I will be aiming my magazine to a similar audience, a typical reader of this genre of magazine, would be girls aged around 13-17 that are interested in English pop music, celebrity gossip, soap operas, socializing with friends, socializing networks and may use gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops and Ipods or MP3 players, these are classified as mainstreamers as they go with the flow and don't want to stand out, and are also into popluar things, such as the things listed above. Also the readers that are in my targer audience are normally classed in the CD2DE socio-economic band and are considered to be part of the lower class, people in this band are normally considered to be from skilled manual workers such as carpenters and electricians, to semi and unskilled manual workers like drivers, post sorters and labourers, and also people subsisting on state benefits such as the unemployed and pensioners.

A target audience is important to consider when creating a magazine, this is because without knowing who the target audience is its hard to aim the magazine features and articles to certain readers, and it can also become very expensive.

Source for table above - http://www.nrs.co.uk/toplinereadership.html - National Readership Survey offers a table of statistics on a large sample of general magazines, this involves total number or readers, female or male, what socio economic band most readers are from and also the age of readers.

Main task - Introduction

My main Media AS coursework is to design and produce a front cover, contents page and a double page article for a new music magazine.This will include taking images and producing an article about a new fictional band or singer. I am focusing on pop as the genre for my music magazine.During this task I will interpret my skills and knowledge from my previous preliminary task into this new coursework. Here is the link for my preliminary coursework of a college magazine http://sdcmediaaslauracarnegie.blogspot.com/

Evaluation

This is a screen shot of my finished magazine, I think it is rather successful as it has ended up how I planned it to look. I believe it will attract my target audience as the features I have interpreted were based around the target audience. However I believe I could have spent more time on the image on the front cover, making it that little bit more eye catching and interesting, or even related to the articles in the magazine, this would of added a bit of extra appeal to my target audience. I am pleased with the contents page as I think it looks different and more interesting with the decorations, this was because I thought if it just included a bit of information about the articles inside the magazine it wouldn't make the reader interested to read on.

Photographs

Here are the two photos I took for the image on my front cover. I chose the medium close up, as it shows the full face rather than minimal coverage that the side shot does. I believe the medium close up will attract more people to my magazine. I had to consider the background of the photo, the lighting and the colours as I didn't want to take any attention away from the main feature of the image. I did it at that angle because it doesn't make him look small as it would if I took it from above, or tall if I took it from below. I think this photo will attract my target audience because he is the same age and has the current look/style. I chose to just use it without framing or any editing because I think the photo suits the magazine as it is.

Flatplans

These are the flat plans for my magazine, the front cover and the contents page.
For the masthead I chose to use the font Gill Sans Ultra Bold because its big, bold and eye catching, and it is rather modern looking which should appeal to my target audience of college students. For the rest of my magazine font I used, Gloucester MT Extra Condensed, this is a serif font. I chose to use this as it is different from the masthead so it won't be boring to look at. I also used the same fonts for the contents page. I designed the masthead to be large and overpowering compared to the rest of the features on the front cover, this is because I want people to notice the name more than the contents of the magazine. The language of the main flash isn't too complicated and it gets straight to the point. For one of the main sells I used a pun e.g. OI OI sailor, to make the reader become more interested in the article. Whereas on another I use more persuasive language to lure the reader. I also included the date, issue number of the magazine and the price on the bottom right of the front cover. The contents page entitles a more in depth storyline of the articles featured and also includes some decorative art. I have chosen the layout, fonts and images of my magazine to appeal to my target audience.

Introduction

For my preliminary task we have been asked to produce the front cover and contents page of a college magazine. This will include all the normal features of a magazine such as, main flash's, main sells and images. It will be aimed at students who attend the college and include articles that are related to them.