Age Representation

Age

 

Within my magazine, I also prominently represented a younger age group consisting of teenagers or younger adults as all of my images present teenage models.

 

I chose to do this because, when I carried out a general public survey, I concluded that the majority of people who would purchase a music magazine would be aged 16 years old which is an age similar to my models.

 

Therefore, I chose models of approximately the same age as this should appeal to members of my target market as they will be able to relate to them due to the similar age range and intrigue them to discover more about them.

Gender Representation

Gender

I used my magazine in order to represent gender. I have mentioned the names of male artists within the plugs on my front cover and also in the page headings on the contents page. This will make my magazine slightly unisex to allow it to appeal to a wider target audience.

 

 However, all of the photographs which I used on the final copy of my magazine present females models. I chose to predominantly make my magazine gender specific by including girls in order to engage a specific target audience. I chose to do this as the results of my survey proved that girls are most likely to purchase music magazines. Therefore, I portrayed the ideology of the perfect role models for young girls to appeal to them individually.

 

Furthermore, appearance is a vital aspect for teenage girls meaning they will be appealed by the use of female models to act as an inspiration as they may aspire to be more like them. Stereotypically, girls are attracted to the perfect ideology of their social group and are appealed by the magazine as the ideal models could act as an inspiration, influence or role model to them.

 

Final Double Page Spread

This is the final draft of the double page spread of my magazine.

My image uses the conventions of ‘Q’ magazine in terms of an A4 image being presented on the left-hand side page. However, I developed this convention as I presented the model in my photograph on the left-hand side but ensured the background of the image covered both pages and was placed behind the text so that the imaged spanned the centre line of the page. Furthermore, I challenged the code of mise en scene in my image in comparison to the image of Lady Gaga on my prominent style model. On ‘Q’ magazine, the artist is presented in a mid-shot to allow her relatively seductive pose and outfit to be presented. This also allows her facial expression to be shown clearly and her eye contact with the audience will be enticing. This is a feature I did incorporate in my image as my model is looking directly at the camera to act as a personal pronoun to allow the reader to feel she is talking directly to them.

I also continued elements of the consistent colour scheme as the title is presented in pink, the main body of the text is presented in black and smaller pieces of text such as the caption and quote are presented in white. Therefore, I included this feature which is included in ‘Q’ magazine. The title is the key text which should be noticeable to entice the audience to read this article. Therefore, I presented the heading in the pink colour to allow it to stand out in contrast to the darker coloured background. I also presented the heading of the page in a distorted font. This challenges the convention of my style model as this presents the heading in a simple font. I challenged this convention as I believe it accompanies the consistent house style of the magazine as previous titles on my magazine were written in similar distorted styles.

Similar to my style model, I placed the main body of the text in the article in a 3-column format. This technique allows a lot of writing to fit on to one page without appearing to look too much like an essay which could prove to be relatively daunting for my younger target audience. Columns are generally more appealing in magazines as they allow for organisation and ease of reading. Furthermore, it fills in excess blank space for a more atmospheric and aesthetically pleasing feel.

I placed the logo of my magazine in the bottom right-hand corner of the page in the form of a block capital letter ‘A’. It is presented in the consistent house style due to the pink colour and distorted font to allow it to stand out. The logo is placed on the page to allow the reader to become familiar with the magazine and recognise it to define that it is the official version of the magazine. This is a common convention which I utilised from ‘Q’ magazine to make mine more successful. The logo is placed alongside the page number which is another common convention of the majority of music magazines including my prominent style model ‘Q’.

Final Contents

This is the final draft of the contents page of my magazine.

I wrote the title ‘Contents’ in the familiar house style of my magazine. This is a cracked font presented in the pink colour for consistency throughout and to allow the reader to become more familiar with the magazine. The cracked, distorted font challenges conventions of Q as it is generally presented in a simple sans serif font for added simplicity and for ease of reading. However, I thought it would make it more noticeable and recognisable to the audience. The title allows the audience to understand the purpose of the page. It is written in the largest and boldest font on the page for added noticeability and to further emphasise it standing out on the page.

I placed a column down the left-hand side of the page including the title of each page alongside the corresponding page number to eliminate confusion and enable the reader to understand what they can expect to find on each page. I also placed a short description of what will be included on each page to allow the reader to decide whether or not they wish to view any specific pages in advance. However, I only used this convention beneath some of the titles; not all of them, Therefore, I slightly challenged this convention.

On the contents page for ‘Q’ magazine, the different types of articles are sectioned into various boxes depending on the content of each page. For instance, on my style model, there are sections titled “Features”, “Every Month”, “Q review” and “Oasis Special”. Therefore, I developed and utilised this convention by naming my sections “Features”, “Interviews” and “Hot This Week”. This will allow the content to be organised for ease while the reader searches for their desired pages.

My contents page is image led. This challenges the conventions of my ‘Q’ style model as the contents page of this magazine is text led. However, it utilised the convention of another of my style models, ‘Vibe’ magazine. I chose to make it image led as it will clearly present the feature of the main article within the magazine to eliminate confusion amongst my target audience and allow them to develop an understanding of what they can expect to read about. The model in my photograph is using direct eye contact and is in a straight angle to the camera to act as a personal pronoun as she is looking directly at the reader and personally enticing them to continue reading.

On the contents page for my style model ‘Q’ magazine, the logo was placed in the top left-hand corner of the page to allow the reader to become familiar with the magazine. However, I challenged this convention as I did not incorporate this feature on my magazine as I believe the magazine will become recognisable due to the consistent house style.

I also developed the conventions of the ‘Q’ contents page by including a section presenting the website and means of subscription.  Although this was not incorporated on the contents page of my prominent style model, the website was presented in the corner of the page and I decided to develop this convention in an attempt to persuade my audience to subscribe to the magazine by presenting the details in a box in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

Final Cover

This is the final draft of the front cover of my music magazine.

I used the common convention of presenting the masthead in a large, bold, sans serif font which is generally included on each of my style models. This allows the heading to stand out on the page and become more noticeable for the reader. The style of the heading would be an iconic style of each version of my magazine to allow the audience to become familiar with it. The heading of my magazine is also monolithic meaning it is just one word. This is a convention of the majority of my style models as it makes the title simple, memorable and eye-catching.

I also included a mid-shot of my model on the front cover. This image presents the artist standing in a straight angle to the camera while maintaining direct eye contact. This is a common convention of ‘Q’ magazine and it could also act as a personal pronoun as she is looking directly towards the audience in order to entice them to purchase the product. The image is also superimposed over the masthead which challenges the conventions of ‘Q’ magazine as the heading is placed over the image. However, I challenged this convention as it doesn't only enable the image to stand out on the page but it also proves it is a popular music magazine and the producer is confident that the audience will immediately realise what the title is.

Furthermore, I utilised the convention of incorporating 3 prominent colours within my colour scheme. I used pink, black and white. I wrote key pieces of text in the pink-coloured font as this is the most vibrant colour to allow these pieces of text to stand out in contrast to the darker background. For instance, the masthead and names of artists were presented in this colour in order to make them more noticeable for the reader.

I included plugs which I placed in a column along the left-hand side of the page to present intriguing articles which can be found within the magazine to entice my audience to buy the product as they will be intrigued and wish to continue reading.

On the cover for my prominent style model, ‘Q’ magazine, a tagline is presented including the slogan “The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine”. I therefore used this convention on my cover as I used the slogan “The Nation’s Favourite Music Mag”. This will entice the public to read on in order to discover what makes it so good and successful.

 

PhotoShop

In order to edit my photos for my magazine, I used the computer software program 'Adobe PhotoShop'.

This software allowed me to cut out my photos to remove them from the background. This was helpful for presenting photos without a background such as on my final front cover or for superimposing images over various features on the page.

This program also allowed me to edit some of the photos for my double page spread to a black and white effect.

 

These are the tools which I most commonly used on PhotoSop...

 

 

Double Page Spread Photos

From researching my prominent style model, 'Q' magazine, I discovered that the most popular photograph on the double page spread of the magazine presents either an A4 size image on one half of the page or an A3 image which spans the centre line of the page.

I decided to prominently follow the convention of the double page spread presenting the singer 'Lily Allen'. This image presents the singer as she is posing and the photograph is spanning the centre line. Furthermore, I decided to take inspiration from the font which has been used for the heading as it is unique. This ensures it is noticeable and eye-catching for the reader so it entices them to read the article.

Therefore, this is my final photograph on the double page spread of my magazine...

I also included some smaller photos of my model on my double page spread to present more variety and enticement to the reader.

Contents Photos

From researching my prominent style model, 'Q' magazine, I discovered that the most popular photograph on the contents page of the magazine presents a close-up or mid-shot of a model as they are looking directly into the camera and it is often predominantly text led. However, it is often image led and presents a model in a long shot to present the full character.

Although the majority are text led, I decided to follow the convention of making my contents page image led. I chose to do this as I felt it would fill in any excess blank space and make this page appear more interesting. I also felt that it would appeal to my target audience of teenage girls as, stereotypically, they are more attracted to images rather than text. Furthermore, it would enable the reader to understand the subject of the main article within the magazine in order to eliminate confusion and entice them in.

Therefore, this is my final photograph on the contents of my magazine...

Cover Photos

From researching my prominent style model, 'Q' magazine, I discovered that the most popular photograph on the front cover of the magazine presents a close-up or mid-shot of a model as they are looking directly into the camera.

The fact that they are looking directly at the camera acts as a personal pronoun as it appears as though they are looking directly at the audience and enticing them personally to purchase the magazine. Furthermore, the close-up or mid-shot allows many aspects of mise en scene to be represented. For instance, it allows their clothing, facial expressions and pose to be shown clearly. Therefore, I decided to incorporate this convention for the cover of my music magazine.

Therefore, this is my final photograph on the cover of my magazine...

Taking Photographs

I was required to learn about technologies throughout the course of this project. Therefore, I had to learn how to use an SLR camera will full success.

  I firstly learnt about exposure. In photography, this refers to the quantity of light reaching a photographic film.  An image can be ‘over exposed’ creating an image which is too light or it can be ‘under exposed’ creating an image which is too dark.

 

I was also required to learn about shutter speed. This refers to the length of time which the camera’s shutter is open as a photograph is taken. This can affect the exposure of an image. It can also detect movement. Selecting a slow shutter speed allows more data to be captured in the image before the shutter closes allowing movement to be presented in a  photograph. However, selecting a high shutter speed mean less data can be captured and the resulting image will present a moving object appear unnaturally frozen.

 

I generally used a high shutter speed to make my images appear still which was a common convention on all of my chosen style models. I was also able to alter the aperture to ensure the image was of a suitable brightness and to make it appear higher quality.

Photographs

For the back drop for some of my photos, I used a small studio situated in my media class room at school. This gave the final photographs a more professional appearance due to the white cloth used for a plain background and the lighting equipment surrounding the shooting location. I also used an SLR camera to take the photos as it presented them in high quality. It also allowed me to adjust various settings such as focus, aperture and shutter speed to improve the appearance of my photographs.

 

Group Discussion Video

I carried out a group discussion amongst members of my target audience and recorded the results. This allowed me to understand what would appeal to them as they are representing the focus group. Therefore, I will take into account their responses and ideas and incorporate them in my magazine in attempt to attract members of my target market to buy it.

Photo Planning Timetable

I will use a camera borrowed from school to allow for high quality photographs. I there must record the times in which I wish to borrow a camera and schedule the time to ensure I can use it.

	Period 1	Period 2	Period 3	Period 4	Period 5	After School
Monday	During period 1 and 2 on Mondays, both me and Laura have no lessons meaning I could take some photographs of Laura during this time.		English Language lesson	Textiles lesson	Media Lesson
Tuesday	Textiles lesson	English Language lesson	Media lesson	Me an Laura both also have free lessons on Tuesday afternoons and during this time we can focus on taking more photographs.
Wednesday	General Studies lesson		Media Lesson	English Language lesson	Textiles lesson	Photographs of my brother and sister must be taken at home so I chose Wednesday to do this as I have free time on this day.
Thursday	Textiles lesson	Enrichment Course		Media lesson	English Language lesson
Friday	Media lesson	English Language lesson	Textiles lesson
Saturday			On Saturday I will take photos of Laura on the beach as it will leave us with plenty of time to do this.

Photo Planning Double Page Spread

Double Page Spread

On my double page spread, there will be one main image taking up one A4 side of the page of my friend, Laura. This will be taken on the beach to add to the mise en scene and make the artist appear more down to earth. Also in terms of mise en scene she will be presented in younger, more modern clothes to allow her style to appeal to the younger target market. I will also include a smaller image to split up the large blocks of text of the same artist. This photograph will present her doing something productive such as playing a instrument or working in the studio.

Photo Planning Contents

Contents

On the contents page of my magazine, I want a few photographs to represent the content of the magazine. One of these photographs will be of my brother, Andrew and another will be of my friend, Laura. Furthermore, one will be a medium close-up shot and the other will be a long shot of someone posing. This will present a range of shots to appeal to the audience and show a variety of different pages which could interest and intrigue them to read on. The images will be presented in squares and I will use the rule of thirds to decide where to place my images on the page in order to make them most effective.

Photo Planning Cover

Photo Planning

Cover

On the cover of my magazine, I want one prominent photograph. This will be a close-up shot of a music artist. I will take a photograph of my sister, Kate standing in front of a plain background so I will be able to cut out the image on Photoshop easily and superimpose it over the title on my cover. The majority of magazines which I studied generally all have one main image on the cover and it is most often a close-up shot. Therefore, I am taking inspiration from these to make my magazine appear as professional as possible.