5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Here are ways I have addressed and attracted my audience which are features to the magazine. however there are many other ways I attracted such as the context used e.g the people talked about on the front cover and on the contents page.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I previously made a reader profile which portrays my typical target audience.

This here is Simon Townie. He is 16-years and lives in Edgware, Northwest London.

He is currently in his last year at secondary school doing his GCSE’s. Simon likes to dress very casual including jeans from Levi when he has a lot of money or from Primark where they are often quite cheap or maybe even sometimes tracksuits from Nike, Addidas and Reebok as he feels more comfortable in them.

He loves to eat frosties and coco pops for breakfast because they are very sweet and for dinner or lunch he likes pasta, Caribbean food such as rice and peas or jerk chicken or sometimes on the weekend he goes for the unhealthy side and eats McDonalds, KFC and Nandos.

Simon goes to Capital City Academy in hendon and gets 20 pound pocket money a week and 15 pound lunch money but he saves it up so he can out with his mates on the weekend.

On the weekend he likes to go to parties and cinema or maybe just likes to hang around the streets with his friends in his estate (stone grove). Simon also plays for Mill Hill Rangers football team whereby he plays center midfield on Sundays and he also the captain.

He loves to speak on his blackberry phone to his girlfriend Cindy who he has been going out with for 5 months now.

TV shows he likes to watch are 2 and half men, jersey shore, family guy a lot of reality TV and soaps such as Eastenders and hollyoaks. He loves listening to Rap and RnB such as Drake, Jay Z, Kayne West, and Rick Ross. But he has a hidden hobby of listening to rock music and pop such as Britney spears, The wanted and 

stereophonics

My magazine reaches out to my target audience in many ways such as the clothes my main artist is wearing and also the clothes i am promoting in my magazine such as snapback hats which is a huge fashion accessories 

with teenagers to date. In addition my magazine includes sub heading which talk about these artist that simon likes such as Jay-z.

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

Well when I was doing research I found that one very common media institution that publishes a lot of magazines is ‘Time Inc’ also known as time who publish 130 such as ‘What’s on TV, NME, Nuts and many more.

I would believe this institution would distribute my media product as they publish a wide range of magazines from lifestyle to sports and to music showing a variety of genres.

 

In addition there are other institutions such ‘IPC Media’ who again focus around different types of magazines. Also from some researching I have found out that IPC is one of five institutions that publish 90% of magazines across the world.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My main aim for my front cover was for the main genre and my target audience to stand which I believe I have done so. This is evident through the picture I used as my main image showing the two girls which are very young and modern representing the social groups that would see the magazine to be something they are interested in.  Just like the clash magazine Dizzee Rascal was the main image portraying the genre of the magazine but also the social group that the magazine reaches out to as Dizzee Rascal is a huge pop icon so having him as the main picture is a good media device.

In addition, I tried to reach out to both males and females by including pitures of people that represent the magazine and a particular social group. My media product also represents a particular social group as I used a fashion device that my social group are interested in such as return the of ‘snapbacks’ which has taken over the modern youth of today as it is one of the biggest accessories to date which is being worn in this picture.

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

I would strongly say that my media product is conventional in many ways. Firstly I based my magazine cover on the magazine ‘Clash’ which is a professional magazine.  I used the layout of the magazine to reflect and gain some ideas on how mine should be laid out, such as the main title of the magazine/name of magazine.The idea to put the music note to represent the 'S' in my title came from the looking at the clash magazine which also uses a symbol to represent words illustrating my use of forms and conventions of my media product.

Also I would say my picture is conventional as well as the way the girls are dressed and represent the type of media product I am trying to produce e.g. hip hop/RnB/pop. This shown by the clothes they wear which may be seen as ‘ghetto’ as it is not really normal for girls to wear new era hats so by her wearing the hat represents her background which reflects the magazine genre.

Flatplan For 1st Draft Of Double Page Spread

 Here is my flat plan for my first draft of the double page spread I previously made. As you can see there are many things wrong with the flat plan itself which reflected on the double page spread when being created on photoshop. However not only did this first draft help me understand what I needed to improve on but it gave me the chance to think about the content I needed to include which is evident with all the writing I have done so for by looking at other double page spreads. I have now drawn up a completely different but more compatible flat plan for my double page spread and am now in the process of creating it.

First Draft Of Double Page Spread

Here is my first draft of my double page spread with no context in it. Its not a very good draft therefore I went back to my teacher to get sonme advice on how to improve it. one thing I did wrong was not analysing other magazines to get an example of what should be and look like a double page spread. therefore learning from my mistakes I went and looked at a couple of magazines however the main magazine I used was 'terrorizer' which I mainly was looking at the layout rather then the context as I had already done my research on the context I needed to used. Therefore I decided to re-do the whole double page spread using a different layout but the same context which would make the double page spread look more professional.   

Audience research on front cover



no picture



When I finished my first draft of my front cover I needed advice on what needed to be improved and what needed to be changed which I displayed in previous post when I annotated my front cover with changes that needed to be made. however I needed to do some adience research to do with the small image of phantomz on the left. so i wetn around asking people which cover they preferred such as with a faded picture, no picture and a bold picture.



bold picture



faded picture

Here are the results of audience research for my magazine cover. I clearly shows that the magazine cover without the picture was the most favourable and when asked why they had chosen that particular cover many of the answers were because 'The picture looked out of place' and some said that 'It stood out on the cover'. Moreover the audience I used to research are mainly my target audience therefore their opinions and advice are always useful to improving my magazine. I have decided to use the magazine cover without the pic as it was the most like however will still edit a few things that i feel need some improving on such as filling in the gap whereby the picture was removed from or even jus moving the 'Top 50 Rap Artist' down to fill the gap diving the front page more space and better positioning.

Flatplan for contents

This is the flat plan I used to make my contents page. it was just a rough idea of where everything would be position and the context that I needed to include to make it more like a magazine contents page. Using another magazine called 'Clash' helped put together my contents page as it gave me an insight on how a professional magazine contents page should look.

Front cover and Contents Page

Analyzing Magazine contents pages

When I first done a contents page for my preliminary task I didn't have a clue in what i should include due to the fact that I had done no research or analyzed any contents pages that I could get ideas from. This lead to my first contents page not being good. I used that as a positive so that for my main task I could improve on it and by doing that I used the magazine 'Clash' as a template for my contents by analyzing it. This meant looking at the context used and how its displayed, also the layout and types of pictures used. Gave me a rough idea of what needed to be included in my contents page. It gave me ideas and also allowed me what i needed to do such as keep the colour scheme the same as the front cover to make it look more professional.

Variety of pictures

When working on the front cover of my magazine, I had to think about what picture would be perfect for the magazine so I took a variety of different pictures with different camera angles which could be used not only for the front cover but for the contents page and also the double spread that I will be attempting to do in the future.
 Here is just a small amount of pictures  took.
I've tried to take as many different angle shots as possible that can be used at every aspect of my magazine. There are plenty more however i just wanted to show one from each type of shot I took.

Semiotic Theory Lesson

Semiotics- Study of means and signs

1. iconic signs-which actually looks like what they represent
2. symbolic signs-which have a meaning that must be cultrally learned to what they represent
3. indexical signs-which have a connection to what they represent and are suggestive rather than directly resembling what they represent

• saussure (1954) and barthes (1972)
• plysemic meaning-the way that the same sign can mean lots of different things to different people.

motivated signs

Signs can be more or less motivated. Loosing motivated it is open to different theories. The latter takes a lot of individual interpretation. people have different views on different people, a more motivational sign just has more limited range of possible interpretation. There was a example where the teacher showed a picture of a baby and then we used connotation and dennotation to work it out and there was lots of different views such as is it a boy or girl and we had to use hte clothing to determine if it was a boy or girl, or could it be a son, daughter, nephew or niec . Later on we saw another picture of the baby with the father and then we realised that is the fathers son.

Flatplan for front cover

This flat plan was made in order for me to be my organised when planning my front cover. It gave me a clear idea of what I wanted on my magazine cover and where everything should be positioned. I only used this as an oppurtunity to decide what text I should put on my magaine which I analyzed other magazine to get an idea of the type of text that should be used on magazine covers.
I used boxes to show where everything should be place which made it easier to position everything. I also made my main stories stand out by making it more bold on the flat plan to represent it on the main front cover.
Anything I can improve just comment

Changes that need to be made

When looking at my first draft of my music magazine, I went around asking a couple people of what they though i could do to improve on it. I asked my teacher for some professional advice. I also thoght it would be a good idea to ask my friends as they are intially the same as my target audience so their input would be very useful in improving the magazine cover as it would give me an insight in what the target audience are attracted to.

Magazine front cover

     This is the first draft of my music magazine which i believe is a good job for a first draft. Firstly when coming up with the name of the magazine i came up with 5 different types of names that I felt were appropriate for the magazine and went around to people who I believe would be my target audience to get their votes on which one they liked best and to no surprise my favourite one was picked the most so I name the magazine 'Music Addiction'. When thinking about the main picture I needed to something to stand out , that would catch the audiences attention therefore I took many images and this picture stood out so I used the close-up shot for the main picture. I also wanted to use a wide range of different fonts for different reasons e.g a more larger/bold font for the main story and the colours used to emphasise the story by standing out. The layout was similar to a magazine that I read myself which is the vibe

Typical Reader

As I am on the verge of creating my own music magazine front cover, I need to consider a target audience.

Firstly my main age group range for my magazine who I would be targetting is teenagers roughly the age of 13-19 with a more urban approch to life whereas they can relate to the type of music the magazine I am making will express. Gender isnt really an issue with target audience as the music I will be using is diverse. My target audience would be very sociable, likes to go out with friends to parties, cinema etc. they would be very fashionable and up to date with the latest things such as clothes and elctronics. the magazine would have to include things to their interest such as artist they like, urban ones obviously like drake and jay-z

Analysing music magazine front covers

When looking at the magazine vibe first thing that catches my eye is the title of the magazine. The way the title is portaryed allows the main heading to stand out from the other heading which shows its importance within the magzine. The main picture of keyshia represnets alot to do with the magzine and the fact she is naked may infer that the magazine is informal. As keyshia Cole is the main and only picture on the front cover may give the audience an idea that the main story in the magzine is to do with her which is also shown by the size and boldness of her name on the front cover unlike the other names such as nelly and bow wow. In addition, the colour schemes (red,blue and white) are used very clevery here to represent the country the magazine was published in which is the USA. The red represents the important people used ithin the magazine and also the boldness

Analysing this front cover shows a clear difference from the vibe as this music magazine is portrayed as a more  formal due to the pictures to used, language used and also the font, also you may be able to argue that its formality is evident due to the music the magazine is trying to express. The picture used gives a clear in sight on what type of music the magazine is about showing a musician holding a violin and just like the vibe magazine the main picture is used to show who or what the main story will be on contributed bt the bold writing of the musicians nam (sarah chang)

                                                               

evaluation of preliminary task

When evaluationg my front cover and contents page there were many good things about it but also quite a few bad things.
Firsly I looked at the things that worked such as the title 'Bishop Banter' which related to the type of magazine that I was trying to produce which was a school magazine that represented the fun, enjoyable side to school. Additionally the main picture used on my front cover did also relate to the meaning of my magazine as there was a young student jumping at the joy of school.
Some more good points about my work was I used a variety of different shots when taking pictures which gave a clearer view point of the school such as the long shot I used to portray the P.e students.


However I also looked at the negative points to my work.
This includes such things as the colour scheme between my front cover and contents page. the colour scheme between my contents page and front cover did not match due to the main colours of the front cover which were black, white, red and orange whereas the main colours of my contents page were grey, white and black.
Also my contents page was not really done with as much effort as I put into my front cover. It lacked text and background information on on the magazine stories which I had included on my front cover.
another negative was the framing and lighting of my pictures. when taking the pictures I didnt look at the background colours which would effect the pictures and some of the pictures taken had things cut off such as hands, bits of heads.
 From my evaluation I will improve on my skills and use them on my main task.

Contents Page for school magazine

I wanted to follow the colour scheme of black however I tried it out and it didnt look to good so I decided to go for a darker grey colour so there wasn't too much difference in the colour. This contents page was rushed abit therefore it isn't really the best I could do.
There is a lot of improvement needed with this contents page such as the detail of information produced on the contents and the pictutres could be used in a more effective way such as having them spread out amongst the page rather than having it all in one position.

First draft to magazine cover

Here is my first draft on my school magazine. 
the colours used were throughly thought about due to the point of how i wanted to get the idea of my magazine across such as the fact that school is a fun place therefore I used a black  background in order to contrast the main picture of a student so it stands out on the cover.
Additionally the fonts of the writing were also vital as my main stories needed to be eye catching therefore using a red bold font would be the best way to get attention as it stands out as well.
There are a couple changes that need to be made in order to perfect it which i will do when i get feed back from people about it.
comment if anything

Photoshoot time!

Heres a couple of photos i have taken for my magazine front cover and its contents page. Not all the pictures will be used but its always good to have back up pictures just in case i feel one picture doesnt suit the magazine.
With these pictures, im trying use them to suit the topics of my magazine which is to promote the fun enjoyable side of school such as sports day, prom queen and king and socilaising with friends in free time or it can even be working together when working .
Comment on the pictures

 

Identifying the Target Audience

This here is Simon Towie. He is 16years and lives in Edgware, Northwest London.

He is currently in his last year at secondary school doing his GCSE's . Simon likes to dress very casual including jeans from levi when he has a lot of money or from primark where they are often quite cheap or maybe even sometimes tracksuits from nike, addidas and reebok as he feels more comfortable in them.

He loves to eat frosties and coco pops for breakfast because they are very sweet and for dinner or luch he likes pasta, carribean food such as rice and peas or jerk chicken or sometimes on the weekend he goes for the unhealthy side and eats McDonalds, KFC and Nandos.

Simon goes to Capital City Academy in hendon and get 20pound pocket money a week and 15pound lunch money but he saves it up so he can out with his mates on the weekend.

on the weekend he likes to go to parties and cinema or maybe just likes to hang aound the streets with his friends in his estate (stonegrove). Simon also plays for Mill Hill Rangers football team whereby he plays center midfield on sundays and he also the captain.

He loves to speak on his blackberry phone to his girlfriend cindy who he has been going out with for 5months now.

TV shows he likes to watch are 2 and a half men, jersey shore,family guy alot of reality tv and soaps such as eastenstenders and hollyoaks. He loves listening to Rap and RnB such as Drake, Jay Z, Kayne West, Rick Ross. but he has a hidden hobbie of listening to rock music and pop such as briteny spears, The wanted and sterophonics

Main photo For School Magazine

                                                                         

When going through my pictures that I had taken this ppicture was the one that stood out the most.

It caught my eye due to what the picture was saying which I was trying to show the fun, enjoyable side of school rather than the boring working atmosphere alot  of school children face.

In addition it reaches out to my target audience which is young school kids.

Teen Film Posters

17 Again

The main photo is of Zac Efron which may be use to portray a teenager in their prime with fashionable clothes or as some call it these days 'swagger'.
In addition the slogan used (who says you' re only young once?) may be illustrated to signify what the film is about and images used such as the suit and briefcase on the floor represent the hatred for adult life and the love for teenage life.  














Kidulthood

The setting the poster seems to look like a very urban area which contributes to how the teens look. in addition the clour are very dark which may infer that the area they live in is bad. Evidence odf this may be the baseball bat seen being held by one of the teens .

the slogan (before adulthood comes kidulthood) is very short and catchy and may relate to every day life .

The Beginning

First Magazine- VIBE

This is the first magazine I have analysed. My choice of 'Vibe' magazine is based on my interest in the music industry therfore I thought it would be a good idea to anaylse a magazine of my interest.

The colour used on the cover contrast each other as you are using a bright colour on top of a dark one which makes the bright orange stand out even more.

In addition the font size also is a big factor when analysing especially the name 'Michael Jackson' as that would get the public attention to the size of the font and who the person is, it almost as if the bright colour orange is to signify the importance the story or the celebrity.

Continuing my point on celebs the closeup shot of Michael Jackson is the most eye catching factor as it takes up most the cover and because of who the picture is of gives the reader the impression that there is some information or a story on Michael Jackson.

Comment on anthing i've missed out

Enter the blogger!
Finally set up my blogger. Look out for different types of magazines that I will be analysing and commenton anything that you feel I might have missed out when analysing .
Peace