I believe my cover page mainly uses and develops the conventions of a real media product. I have used a variety of conventions such as main cover lines, splash/puff and barcodes, all which are present in a real media product e.g. vibe magazine cover page. I have tried to make my masthead as large and dominant as possible, to the extent that it takes up a 5th of the page, the masthead besides the main is what should be seen first, therefore in needs to be as big as the can get it. I realised this while I was researching other magazines. The masthead also is what informs the consumers which magazine company actually made the product. If the masthead was the same size as a cover line, it would not stand out as much and could be mistaken for a cover line. In a music magazine, there is always a main image which is the cover star. This could be n individual or even a group. The purpose of this is because in the current issue there will be an article or Q&A about the cover star. The main image is usually of a person of whom the public knows about e.g. celebrities. The main image I have used is a picture of a rising star. I believe the main image suits the genre of my music magazine, which is R&B/hip hop, very well. Another convention I have is the barcode; a barcode is a conventional piece of the front cover on a magazine. The barcode is useful as it can tell the issue, the price and even the date. I believe most magazines which have the conventional barcode on the cover use it because it gives a professional feel to the magazine, and people are more likely to spend their money on a professional media product. Every convention that is used in a magazine has a reason for why it is there, I have deliberately put the teasing content ‘ who do you thing is the best rapper alive’, in the front cover because I believe it will appeal to hip-hop fanatics as they will want to vote for their favourite rapper. This can also lead to the company making money as people may subscribe to the magazine to vote. The company will then be making money which is the overall objective of a magazine. The faran exclusive is also put there to make money, an exclusive which only this magazine has means that fans of the rising star will have to buy this magazine to see the exclusive. For the exclusive to be visible, I have made it stand out from the cover, almost as the masthead. I have also made the writing in the colour red so it will stand out but still follows the house style.
For my contents page, I haven't used much of the conventions that would be present in a contents page. I have only used two images with one of them being a giveaway poster to the customers. I mad e the picture of Liam and jay quite big as I want the audience to be attracted to it when they look at the page, it should be the first thin that the audience look at. I believe the quote is another thing which stands put as it is colourful and contrasts from the back ground. I have not used a reviews section, editor’s letter or a news section. The ‘new things coming to flow.com’ may be regarded as new as it is informing the audience about the magazines website and the things coming new to it. The reason why I have not used conventions such as editor’s letter and reviews section was simply because I ran out of space, if I were to the task again I would make sure to include them.
My double page spread also uses the conventions of a real media product. My main image is on the left hand side of the double page spread, which is where it should be conventionally, if it is other wise it is regarded as unconventional. I have used an introductory paragraph, though it is questions that will be answered in the Q&A below it. My pull quote” my music is completely original. No matter what anyone says”, is what I believe to be a major factor in if the Q&A will actually be read by anyone. I believe this because anyone with a keen interest in my artist will want to know what is going on, why has the artists said that? And to find out they will have to read the Q&A. I have not used a drop cap and the reason behind this is, I researched a few magazines ( which have Q&A as double page spreads), and found out that they actually do not use the drop cap on a Q&Q. to my knowledge I believe the drop cap is only used in articles.
How my magazine represent social groups
I think the demographics socio economic groups play a huge part on how may magazine represents social groups. According to the s.e.g for my magazine, I focused o mainly groups c2, D and E. I have chosen these groups because a third of my target audience are in group E as they are between the ages of 16-19 and the majority will be in college and not earning a lot of money. Groups D and C are groups I am also focusing on because they are also in my target audience, people in group D and C2 are semi skilled workers who either have jobs are in further education. I believe that my target audience, ages 16-24 will read my magazine as they will have something to relate to, most of my target audience are people in college, they will have a lot more to relate to the magazine then people in groups A, B and C1. People In these groups are the higher managerial position and will not have a lot that the can relate to the magazine. This could be because they like the genre of my magazine or just because they have different tastes in music. My main image has a lot to do with how my magazine represents social groups. The main image of faran is of him posing, this has connotations that can my target audience can relate to. The main idea of my main image was so it can communicate to the audience, the image can relate to the audiences love for R&B music. What he is wearing also gives An R&B feel; he is wearing a very big, diamond covered watch, which is what current R&B artists wear. So the audience will get the feel that the artist aware and knows current trends. The reason why my main image communicates with the audience is because It is in the same genre, this is very important as people who love R&B music will not buy a music magazine that has a rock artist on the front cover. This is the reason why I haven't represented other artists from other genres etc., because they are not in my target audience and putting them in my magazine may deter other potential buyer from purchasing my magazine.
What kind of media institution might distribute my magazine?
I think Bauer Media would be the media institution that would distribute my magazine. The current music magazines that Bauer Media distribute are: Kerrang, Q, MOJO and empire. Even though my music magazine differ from the magazine distributed by Bauer Media in terms of genre, but I think that this is the reason why Bauer Media would distribute my magazine. Right now Bauer Media do not distribute a magazine with the genre of R&B/HIP-HOP, which is the genre of my magazine. An agreement in which Bauer Media distributes my magazine will be beneficial for myself and Bauer Media. I will benefit as my magazine is being distributed and will gain recognition and popularity. Bauer Media will benefit as they do not have a magazine in my genre, so they have a big gap in the market for which they can make a lot of profit if successful. Another reason as to why I think Bauer Media would be a better choice of distribution for my magazine instead of distributers such as Conde Nast is because Conde Nast distributes mostly life style magazines such as GQ, traveller, easy living, house and garden etc.so I don’t think they would be interested in distributing a music magazine. IPC media is another option that could be explored to distribute my magazine, but IPC media distribute a range of magazines from music to high street fashion. IPC media only distribute one music magazine which is NME. I don't think IPC media would be a good choice of distribution as it seems they only distribute one magazine from different areas of life style, for example they only have one music magazine and one cycle magazine.
Target audience and attracting audience
The target audience for my magazine is mainly 16-19 year old on the demographics group. I have chosen this age group because I believe the genre for my magazine is popular in the age group. To attract audience in this age group, I think a decent price on the magazine will secure their attraction. Originally, in my initial ideas for my magazine I thought the price for my magazine should be in the range of £4.00.The reason for this is that I thought that because most of my target audience is teenagers and they have a lot of disposable income due to the fact that they don’t have to worry about jobs etc., they would pay more for a magazine that is monthly made. I then realised that two thirds of my target audience are not teenagers and are people who do have jobs and have things to worry about, so I lowered the price so it is affordable for my entire target audience. The price cannot be too high or too low as people will not buy a magazine with a price that is too high but a large bulk of my target audience are teenagers and even though they do not earn a lot, they have a lot of disposable income as opposed to older people who have bills to pay etc. The psychographics groups I have focused on in my magazine are groups that are inner and outer directed. I focused on these groups because most of my target audience are in college, so they will be achievers and societal conscious as they're in education. Because my target group are societal conscious, I believe they will buy my magazine as they will want to know about new faces in the music industry. Continuous information that will make them aware of what's going on around them would ensure that they will buy the magazine. Special offers will help in attracting the target audience, even though most of my target audience will have disposable income to spend on magazine and such , special offers such as ‘100’s of free downloads’ will help to get to my target audience. The reason for this is because my target audience are people who love music so free downloads will help in getting to my target audience. Even though they are buying the magazine they will feel like they are getting part of their money back with the special offers. My target group in college may also buy the magazine in order to ensure themselves that they are part of the ‘scene’.
Technological process (Photoshop)
For my main image, the process was:
Once I had taken the picture I then had to put it on the computer and open it on Photoshop. I then used the quick selection tool to remove the unwanted background and move the image to my front cover draft. Once this was done I then blurred the edges f the image so it felt like the image belonged in the cover page and so it didn’t look out of place. I then transformed the scale of the image and resized to the size which was appropriate for the front cover. This had to be perfect as to big could emphasise that it is the most important thing on the front cover and too small would make it less important. I then used the spot remover tool to remove any unwanted spots etc. the spot remover tool gives the image a more professional look. The blur tool is also another tool that is essential for giving my magazine a professional, this is because by using the blur tool, I blurred the edges of my main image so it didn’t look out of place with the white background and blended in with it, the blur tool make two different images look like one. This is a very useful tool as if I didn’t use the tool, my main image would not go with the background, it would stick out to the audience and not in the good sense and not to mention it would look extremely unprofessional. The quick selection tool is also another tool used alongside the scale and blur tool. The quick selection allows you to take a part of an image and delete the unnecessary parts. This came in very handy as for my main image; I only needed the part of it that showed the cover star, the background was useless and not needed. One I used the tool cut out the background, the image needed could then be moved to another layer (this is when the blur and transformation tools are used to make two pictures one). One of the tools I did not use was the Gaussian layer tool; the reason as to why I did not use the toll was not because of my inability to do so, but more because of the colour of the main image. The main image is slightly yellow (this is due to the fact that the picture was taken under a light), so if I were to use the Gaussian layer I wouldn’t have got the ‘perfect’ feel to the image. This is one of the things I would change If were to the task again. I would make sure the image will be of high quality so I would be able to use the Gaussian layer. The Gaussian layer is a tool used to give the image a professional feel, the effect given to the picture is that it looks like it has been tampered with to make it look better, but not too much so it looks unreal.
A screen shot of the spot healing process
Original picture I had to use quick selection tool and spot removal on in order to move to cover draft
Previous drafts
progression form preliminary task to the main task
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| music magazine |
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| college magazine One of the main things that I know now that I did not know when I was producing my college magazine is how to make the picture look more professional, I did not know how to use spot healing tool which had a big impact on the professional look of my magazine. Another thing I did not include in my college magazine which I have included on my music magazine is the conventions of a magazine. I did not use skylines, barcodes, splash etc. I have included conventions in my music magazine. This is purely because of the fact that I am now more aware of them and understand the purpose of such conventions. The reason for which I believe the two pieces of work are so different is down to the fact that when I was producing my college magazine, I did not know exactly what to make of it and I did not research thoroughly into other magazines so that I would understand the sort of things which need to be included and what my target audience wants. With my music magazine, I understood what needed to be done, what needed to be included for my target audience ( the content), because I understand the conventions and what my target audience needs, I believe my music magazine is much better and more professional looking than the college magazine I produced earlier on in the year.
If I were to the main task again the things I would do differently would be:
• Better time management
What I mean by this is I would create a deadline for each products and things that needed to be done by a certain date, so I wouldn’t spend more time one thing and less on the other e.g. spend a lot of time with the front cover and not enough with the contents page and double page spread.
• Plan the contents page differently so I can add the conventions that I didn’t have space for at the time e.g. editors letter, feature section etc.
I now know how it important it is to add certain conventions purely because of the fact that by adding them, it would look more and more like an actual magazine.
• Spend equal time on the individual products
This would ensure that the individual products were of the same quality and belongs with one another.
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A screen shot of the quick selection tool in use
