Friday, 25 March 2016

Evaluation task 7

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

The preliminary task was a good way for me to understand what makes a good magazine. I looked at the front cover and contents page of real magazines and analysed them, from the analysis I saw that for magazines to attract an audience they need titles that stood out, eye catching images and cover lines/ tag lines. Designing a layout helped me to make a school magazine and the school magazine was a starting point in learning how to make a magazine, so when I moved on to creating a music magazine I could develop the magazine further, because I had a better understanding of the conventions of a magazine.

Also before starting my music magazine I did a case study of 'ok' magazine, I analysed the front cover,contents page and double page, this allowed me to work out how to create my music magazine, as I looked at the colours used, the language used and the target audience. Looking at these features helped me to make a plan for my music magazine.

After making the music magazine I developed many skills from photoshop and if I was to do the task again I would know how to make my magazine quicker and much better because I've experimented on photoshop and developed a pop music magazine. Lastly after making my music magazine I understand the magazine production process,institutions and industry a lot better and the sort of software they use to make magazines.

Thursday, 24 March 2016

Evaluation task 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have used different forms of software to help develop my magazine. I used "1001fonts.com" to create titles for each page. I have developed my skills through this because after the title was snipped on to Photoshop I had to cut and erase the background of the title and make it look neat. Photoshop was the main piece of software I used to develop my magazine. Using Photoshop has meant that I have developed many skills including cutting out photos and placing them on to backgrounds, exploring the effects on photoshop and also just getting used to using a range of different tools on photoshop. The magazine industry often uses software such as photoshop to edit images of celebrities for the front cover of magazines. lastly I used Google images to help choose my backgrounds for the magazine, the screenshots below show this.



Evaluation task 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I used different fonts so that each page stood out and wasn't repetitive. Each font I used was a darker shade of the background colour so that it remained simple but visually appealing. In addition the colour of text was a similar colour to the background. The colours I used for the background of the magazine were unusual but this attracts the audience because its not common to see pop music magazines with orange and turquoise pages. The font on the contents page stands out because I used an outer glow shadow so the writing doesn't look flat, this allows the audience to be attracted to the magazine so that they`ll continue to read on.The images of all three pages have been brightened and the contrast has been changed to enhance the magazine, so therefore the audience can be attracted. The content on the front cover attracts the audience because there are many cover lines which inform the reader on what the magazine is about. Also to address the audience the content on the double page is about an interview, so the information is entertaining and informing.


Evaluation task 4

Who would be the audience for your magazine?

The target audience for my magazine is mainly females between the ages of 13-22 and is aimed at all ethnicities. The older readers who may have just left university would have an income of just over £20,000. However the teenage audience could have part time jobs, although their income would be rather low, this means that  teenagers have less disposable income so they can`t buy as many luxuries; including magazines as the older readers. The hobbies and interests of the target audience would be an interest in modern pop music such as Taylor Swift  https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiv6ZmWwdnLAhVLXRoKHZLnAuAQyCkIHzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DAgFeZr5ptV8&usg=AFQjCNHD3KdfWsjHUa4YeW4b5mXj-OcV7Q&sig2=R43LzWSV9reJD5FAudFTbg ,instruments and hanging out with friends. The fashion of the audience would be inspired by celebrities in pop magazines, so generally in season and hair and make-up would be based on outfits and celebrity looks.








Evaluation task 3

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

Bauer media group is a European based media company. The group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 different countries. In the UK there are two divisions of the Bauer media group because Bauer is a sister company of H Bauer publishing. Bauer media might distribute my magazine because they distribute magazines such as " Heat and Grazia". These magazines have similar features to my magazine which include: Fashion, celebrity gossip and music. These are well known pop magazine features. Also Bauer media has a wide portfolio of influential brands which distribute different genres of magazines, from music to sports to motoring. This allows audiences to connect to content through different platforms of brands.




Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Evaluation task 2

How does your magazine represent a particular social group?
 My magazine represents a teenage social group because the front cover includes typical features of a pop music magazine for example interviews, top songs and style advice.I have decided to use this social group because pop culture is well known to be associated with teenage girls and young women.










Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Evaluation task 1

In what ways does your magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real magazines?

My magazine uses some features of real magazines, when researching magazines of "pop" genre; the conventions of the magazine would include an eye catching title usually of a bright colour, cover lines, and a picture of a celebrity for the front cover. Following my research i decided to use the forms of real magazines to create my own based on the genre. "Billboard" magazine uses one celebrity for the front cover i used this as inspiration to make my front cover similar and i placed the image of my model in the center of the page, the effect of this is that it stands out for the audience. Both "Smash Hits and Top of the pops" use bold titles and cover lines so i was able to use this as a guideline to create my magazine. The only difference with my magazine that possibly challenges the form of pop magazines is that my model uses an acoustic guitar was used for the front cover and usually guitars are seen on rock music magazines and not on modern day pop magazines.







Saturday, 20 February 2016

Understanding Ideology and dominant values

1. What Ideologies and values are being promoted/ sold by each magazine you analyse? How does each magazine's audience read these beliefs in the text?

Ideology is a set of ideas,beliefs and values that guide our lives. Heat magazine promotes the idea that we should follow a celebrity lifestyle, the audience reads these beliefs by reading what the latest style is so that they gain beauty and style tips to make themsleves look and feel good. I've also previously analysed "OK" magazine and it gives out similar Ideologies as the genre of the magazine is the same as "heat" and attracts the same target audience this means that the magazines are in competition with each other to set Ideologies that are different in which the readers will follow to benefit them.

 Kerrang and NME are both music magazines with the genre of rock. Kerrang ideology is to be who you are and express musical rock. The magazine follows this ideology by showing its readers bands who have made their way up to fame to show anyone can do it. NME promotes the consumption of new indie music and are interested in new and upcoming music, they like to know and share music. The magazine does this by appealing to a mostly male audience who value the genre of rock.

2. What Ideology and values do you want your audience to read in the music magazine you will design? What lifestyle will you be selling to your readers?

My music magazine I'm designing is going to be a pop music magazine. I want the pop genre to stand out against all the other genres there are in music. My ideology is to make pop music bold by promoting different values and making pop eye-catching by: sight-reading pop magazines and listening to pop music so the audience consume pop more. The lifestyle I will sell to my readers is similar to kerrang which is to be who you are and express new pop music.

Understanding Ideology and Values

Heat magazine

1)  The famous- pictures of celebrities
     P.10-46- Articles about celebrities and what they've been doing recently, including information about their personal life. Some of the celebrities are Zayn Malik, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Kimberley Walsh.

P.47-61 Beauty products such as make up and clothes; shops where you can get them from "in season" fashion.

P.63-97 What's on tv including shows and movies. TV soap spoilers, music,books and food and also the heat interview.

P.98  Lauren Platt's likes and dislikes.

2) p.10-46 The message it gives the reader is general gossip about well known celebrities and their lifestyles
P.47-61 People should wear the latest fashion to follow trends and to aspire to celebrity styles so that they look and feel good
P.63-97 Suggestions on what people should watch based on reviews 
P.98 Shows that celebrities are like us - their likes and dislikes and have similar lifestyles

3) Three main topics the magazine covers are celebrities, shopping and a TV playlist 

4) Ideologies are values,beliefs and ideas that guide our lives. The lifestyle heat magazine promotes to its readers is the idea that we should guide our lives like celebrities by valuing their fashion and looks and believing that we can be like them if we follow their behaviour and trends. The magazine promotes this idea by giving it's audience articles about celebrity lifestyles and also other magazines which are similar to heat for example "OK " which uses a similar format and genre to set the idea and values.

5) The target audience for heat magazine is mostly females between the ages of 14-25. The ideal target reader may find the articles interesting because it lets them know about latest fashions they can copy, to make themselves look and feel good. The articles entertain and inform the reader on what's going on.



Monday, 1 February 2016

Photos for Music Magazine

    Photos for music magazine

The magazine i will be creating is a pop music magazine. The photos i`ve taken represent pop music as some of the pictures show a guitar and microphone quite a few pop musicians sing with a guitar. The background of the photos show a music setting and the clothes worn are casual to fit in with the genre of pop music.