Front Cover Drafts

My first draft:

My second draft:

My third draft:

My Original Images

                               

                                     

My Target Audience Research

I made my survey on a website called survey monkey because it is free and easy to use. It is also easy to send out and people can answer it anonymously. I asked 10 people around the ago of who my magazine is aimed at. I asked them questions like what music genres they like, what they would like to see, how much they would pay, etc. these are the results:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurveys.aspx

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

When looking back at my preliminary task and my finished products I can see a huge difference in the quality of the products.

Before I had started making any of my media products I had already had quite a lot of experience in Photoshop. There wasn't much more I could learn, however my preliminary tasks are nothing compared to my finished products. I spent a lot more time on my finished products and I was able to make them a lot more professional.

The first thing that I changed is the fact that on my preliminary task I didn’t cut out the model at all. As you can see she is still standing against the wall the photo was taken on. This doesn’t look that good, and if you look at a lot of professional magazines most models are standing against a plain coloured background. This is why I chose to cut out my model on my finished product. The easiest option to cut my model out would have been the magic wand too or even the quick selection tool but although my model was just standing against a plain black wall the magic wand tool didn’t work as they're were too many colours surrounding her. The tool I used was the magic eraser tool, as you can zoom in to cut the model out perfectly with it. I then just added her on to a plain white background.

A second thing I changed was the actual appearance of my model. On my preliminary task I didn’t really change my model that much. I changed the brightness contrast, but I didn’t really edit her features. she doesn’t really look that "perfect" compared to the model on my finished product, which is the look on most professional magazines. On my finished product I used the liquify too to change some of my models features such as her face shape and nose. I also used the dodge tool to enhance some of her features like her eyes.  I also changed the contrast, vibrance and curves of the image to make the lighting more flattering. The photo on my preliminary task also looks stretched inwards.

Lastly I also didn’t use that many different fonts and colours  on my preliminary products. on my front cover and contents page I only used a couple of colours, and one type of font. this made it look quite unprofessional and boring. where on my finished products I used lots of different fonts and at least 3 colours which made it look more eye catching. I didn’t want to use too many colours however as I didn’t want to overdo it. the logo on my finished product also looks a lot more professional as I downloaded the font, and used a drop shadow and stroke. it looks like one you might find on a real magazine whereas the one on my preliminary front cover looks very amateur.

Overall I think that my finished products look a lot better, and a lot more professional, compared to my preliminary task, and I have learned a lot about making media products since the preliminary task.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When I was making my media products for my Media AS coursework I used a range of different programs. The programs I used were:

Adobe Photoshop CS5

When I was making my media products for my Media AS coursework I used a range of different programs. The programs I used were:

Adobe Photoshop CS5

This is The main program that I used when making my media products. I had used This program a lot at home so I was very skilled in it before using it to make my media products. I already use it a lot in my free time so it was very easy to use when it came to making my coursework. I particularly found it useful when it came to editing my pictures I had taken of my model. I wanted my pictures I used to look very airbrushed as these are the sorts of photos that are on fashion magazines and the kind of magazines that are made. most models on magazines tend to look "perfect" and this was the look I was going for. it was a very useful tool as it enabled me to remove any blemishes easily. it also enabled me to change any features. For example I made my models nose a bit thinner, and changed the shape of her face slightly. I also enhanced a lot of her features like her eyes. It also came in handy when adjusting and creating all the text that went on my front cover, contents page and feature article. I was able to add little details like drop shadows and strokes which made it look more professional. 

Microsoft Word

I used this program when I was analysing my mood boards or magazine pages for my research and planning. I found it useful because it is a very easy program to work with, as it has been around for years and everyone knows how to use it. I recognized that a lot of people used Flickr for the analysing, but I had never used Flickr before and just found Microsoft Word much easier. It was then really easy to post it on to my Blogger. However a disadvantage of this is that every time I wanted to post it on my blog, I had to save it as a PDF, then JPEG as Blogger doesn't recognize word files.

Dafont

When I was creating my coursework I wanted to use a lot of different fonts that Photoshop didn't have. Most of my fonts I used if not all of them were download from dafont. This is a great website for downloading all different sorts of fonts whether its gothic, fancy, hand written or retro. they are also all free so its a very good way of making your media products look professional without paying the extra price. However a disadvantage is that I had to making all my course work at home because you cant download any of these fonts at college. and it doesn't enable you to work with them because of this. Luckily I already have Adobe Photoshop CS6 on my computer at home.

Blogger

This is where I posted all of my AS Media coursework. I found it very useful when posting of my work and it was a great way when my teacher came to marking my work. I found it very user friendly, and it is free as well. However a disadvantage of Blogger is that whenever I wanted to post my work I had to covert it to PDF and then JPEG otherwise it wouldn't recognize the file.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The audience I wanted to address on my magazine was Teenage girls aged 16-20 interested in Pop music, Celebrity Gossip, fashion and women's issues such as relationships, health and sex. On my front cover I used very feminine colours such as pink, and yellow. Not only does to appeal to girls but they are very bright colours. it is very eye-catching and would draw them in. I tried to use phrases that sounded young, and informal. if my magazine was formal it might seem old fashioned and aimed at the older generation. I also used a variety of fonts to attract my audience. This made my magazine look more interesting. I tried to choose fonts that would appeal to my audience, for example a lot of the fonts I used looked like they were handwritten, I thought this looked quite quirky and cool and would appeal to teenagers. I also used some bold fonts to highlight the important bits of my magazine.

I think that the titles of my magazine "Bubblegum" would attract my target audience. The name sounds very you and fun and would appeal to people of that age. there would be no point having a name like that if I was aiming my magazine at the older generation because older people don't usually chew gum that much its more of a young persons thing which is why I chose it as it would appeal to teenagers. I did the title in pink as well because this goes along well with the whole theme, and Bubblegum is stereotypically pink. I made the title in a round bubble writing font as this compliments the word bubblegum.

I also would include advertisements in my magazine from popular clothes brands such as New Look, Top shop, Make up brands like Rimmel, Max Factor, L'Oreal and I would also include vouchers for fast food restaurants such as pizza hut, McDonalds and KFC. This would attract my target audience as these are the sorts of brands that would appeal to teenagers. My target audience would not only love music but would love to buy clothes, so adverts in the magazine from popular clothes shops would be very appropriate and keep them wanting to buy the magazine each month.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience for my magazine if very widespread. the people who buy my magazine would not necessarily all be the same. My magazine is based around mainstream music, and lots of different people listen to this genre. however the main sorts of girls who would buy it would probably be very girly. The sorts of music that would be in the magazine would be very pop, like Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Katy Perry, kesha ect.

Another reason they would be girly is because my magazine is also based a lot around fashion. the types of clothes I would have in my magazine would have is types of clothes like Jeans, Dresses, Shorts, T-shirts, Girly Tops. It would also have a wide range of Girly shoes like High heels, stilettos, boots, and converse. Although converse aren't really that girly they are very "in" at the moment and are very mainstream. It would also have a range of pretty jewellery like necklaces and bracelets. Another aspect of my target audience is that they would be the sorts of girls that are interested in celebrities and gossip. this wouldn't be a huge feature in the magazine like, it is in magazines like "hello" and "ok" but it would just add to the whole theme.

My age range for my magazine is around 16-20. I think this is an appropriate age for my magazine because 16 is the age when teenage girls start to really mature, and begin to turn into young women. This would be important because my magazine not only focuses on music but it also based on relationships and women's issues such as sex, health, careers and beauty. If the audience for my magazine was any younger, a lot of what would be in my magazine would be a little inappropriate. It would also be the best age, because this is the age when a lot of teenagers will start to have jobs and consequently will be able to afford the magazine each month, and the clothes included in the magazine. they would also be able to afford buying the music from Itunes or places like HMV.

Clothing: There would a variety of brands of clothing that I would include. they wouldn't be too expensive and some would be more expensive than others.

- New Look

- Debenhams

- Miss Selfridge

- Next

- Pilot

- Topshop

Food: There are a selection of food shops that my target audience would go to. They wouldn't be too fancy as teens their age would probably prefer fast food.

- Pizza Hut

- McDonalds

- KFC

- Burger King

- Subway

Makeup and beauty: I would also include a variety of makeup and beauty brands to sell in my magazine.

- Rimmel

- L'Oreal Paris

- No7

- Maybelline

- Miss Sporty

- Max Factor

- Pantene

- Tressemme

- Elive

- Dove

- Boots

- GHD

- Boss

- Gucci

- Calvin Klein

- Chanel

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

I always knew my magazine was going to be mass produced when i was making it. this was due to the music genre and social group my magazine was based around. if it was a rock magazine like Kerrang, or NME that are more niche, self publishing might seem more appropriate. Considering this I decided that using a big publishing company like the IPC media company. IPC has over 60 iconic magazine brands, and has sold over 26 million of their media products to adults across the UK. they already publish quite a few magazines similar to mine such as Marie Claire, Look, and Now.  Their websites also reach over 25 million global users every month. With all in this in mind it seemed a very appropriate choice of the institution to distribute my magazine.

I also thought IPC would be a great choice for a number of reasons.  firstly when I'm making the magazine each month and try to publish it I wouldn't be alone. although it may be a little more expensive with IPC I would a large team of people at my side helping me along the way if they agree to invest in it such as editors, printers, packagers, sales people, distributors, and accountants. Another good reason for using IPC is the sponsorship. If I was to choose a third party publisher such as IPC I wouldn't have to spend my time on the sponsor ship of my magazine. IPC would do all the work when approaching the advertisers, and settling prices. all this wouldn't take time out of your daily schedule, as far as I'm concerned my job would just be making the magazine. another problem I wont have to deal with, is the marketing. It could be very difficult getting someone to buy my magazine especially when I'm first starting off.  this would take both time and money.

However there are quite a few problems with choose to go through this method of publication. One of the main problems I would come across is the lack of control. By choosing IPC I would loose a lot of control in term of when I'm making the magazine. For example people who self publish have complete control on every process of the magazine. every decision would be theirs. But because I would be paying IPC for investing in my magazine I would have to let them make changes if they decided to, in order to sell it. I would have all the right and I would have complete control.

Overall I think choosing IPC would be the most appropriate for the type of magazine I created. As my magazine is mainstream and mass produced it could be advertised in places such as HMV, Itunes, on the TV, and on the radio. this would attract my target audience as these are the sort of places where young people would go, be involved in. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The particular social group I'm aiming my magazine at are Young girly girls aged 16-20 who are interested in pop music. the group my magazine is targeted at doesn't really have a specific name but the magazine I made is very much for the mass. The magazine would mainly be aimed at lower class or lower middle class which is why i put the price as three pounds. this is a little more expensive than some magazines such as "hello", "pick me up" and "ok". their prices can range to even below a pound which shows there aimed at the working class. My magazine is mainly aimed at white Caucasians living in the UK but that's not to say all ethnic group cant enjoy it.

My magazine also gives people the chance to buy a magazine that is based on chart music. There are very few magazine on the charts with the exception of rolling stones and billboard. I wanted to make a magazine like cosmopolitan which combines fashion and glamour with music. It gives people the chance to become a fan of it if they are not already and discover other bands that come into the charts. because of how widely produced the music genre is there is a huge gap in the market for my magazine and it has a lot of potential.

When taking pictures of my model I took into account the kind of photos that are on most fashion and music magazines today. I looked at a variety of different magazines and the main influences were Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour and Sugar.

Posture: The image I used on my front cover of my model was very simple and basic. She is smiling and looking straight at the camera, this is quite a laid back pose and shows that my magazine fun and not too serious. I didn't want the pose to be aggressive, as this pose would be more suited for a rock magazine.  For my long shot I also used a posture that is once again very relaxed and casual. My model leant against a wall this was a very laid back and simple pose to do.

Camera angle: When taking my photos most of my photos were of head and shoulder shots. I did this because most females on the front of fashion magazines are of head and shoulders. it really makes it so you can see all their features, and makeup and hair is a huge aspect of a fashion magazine. I did a couple of shots which were from about the thighs up. these shots were intended to be for my contents page as I wanted an image to take up the whole of one side of the page and when looking at magazines like Vogue most of the people on their contents pages were of a full body shot. I wanted my images to also have a variety.

Lighting: when I was taking my photos I used the strobe lights which were set up in the studio I used. I did this because I wanted my images to be as good quality as possible and I felt like lighting did this as it made them for bright and it really highlighted all the features. When making the magazine in Photoshop I edited the images quite a bit. for example when I took them the quality was ok but they did look that vibrant and I felt like they could look a lot better. on the front cover of some already made magazines their models had a lot of colour in them. to improve my photos I turned up the contrast. this made my photo stand out more and made it look less washed out. I also turned up the vibrance and edited the curves, this gave the photo more colour and gave the model more of a perfect look. with the edited lighting it was a lot more flattering for the model.

costumes: The costume I chose for my model wasn't too extravagant, as my music genre was mainstream pop i wanted what my model was wearing to be reasonably "normal". I wanted it to fashionable and trendy. My model was dressed in a Jack Daniels t-shirt. This appeals to the target audience because the younger generation would probably like to drink this and alcohol appeals to adolescents. also clothes that have trademarks or logos tend to appeal to this audience. My model was also wearing some denim shorts. this also appeals to my audience because short are very in at the moment especially for teenage girls, and shorts are "mainstream" in their own way. Most teenagers wear denim especially when it comes to jeans and for some teenagers, jeans is all they wear. my model also wore some black tights which matched with the whole outfit really well.

Expression: The expression for my magazine was very important. For example in a more rock based magazine the model might look very serious, cross their arms or look aggressive in some way. however as my magazine is pop based I wanted a more light and fluffy expression. To achieve this is most of my photos I got my model to smile and look directly at the camera. this is a very happy expression and fits in with the genre of music really well as pop is known as being joyful and upbeat.

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

Conventions are a way of presentation that the magazine has been following for years. they are a norm of the way things have always been. some magazines are more conventional than other depending on the type of magazine. the genre of my magazine Pop but it includes elements of music, fashion, celebrity gossip, and other aspects of adolescent life. Pop is a music genre enjoyed by the masses and is very much main stream. it is a genre that is occupied by in the charts and it is a genre that affects me a lot. therefore there would be a big fan base for it, and I recognized that there isn't really any Pop magazine out there that combine it with fashion and celebrities. you don't get that many mixed magazines out there when it comes to chart music.  the biggest influences when I was making my magazine was cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan is quite similar to my magazine in that it is a very mixed magazine and combines aspects of young adult like such as love, boys, careers, and music. i also got a lot of the ideas of where to put things on my front cover and contents page by a variety of different cosmopolitan covers and contents pages. Also it wasn't just the physical appearance of my magazine that cosmopolitan influenced. it was also the content of my magazine, for example the headlines on my cover and on the contents page. although cosmopolitan was the major influence other magazines that influenced it were Glamour, Sugar, and Vogue.

The name of my magazine is "Bubble Gum." the main reason i chose this for my magazine is because one of the words associated with the word bubble gum is pop, as it creates an image of someone blowing a bubble. this is a play on word as the music genre I'm covering is pop music. another reason I chose it is because I wanted a magazine name that is fun, and light and fluffy. Bubble gum also creates an image of the colour pink, and this goes well as my target audience is females. When I was designing my magazine logo I made it so it looks as if it is in bubble writing but this fits in the theme of the bubble effect. I also predictably created it in pink as this fits in with the theme and shows that the target audience is again for females.

When composing the main image for my magazine once again my main influence was cosmopolitan. I wanted a simple head and shoulder shot as this was a close up of the model and you can really see all her facial features. this would appeal to females because the aspects that would mostly appeal to them would be the makeup and the hair. whereas if my magazine had a target audience of males than a whole body shot would be more suited. My model is around 16-17 which shows that my magazine is for a younger audience. she is also female which shows what type of audience the magazine is trying to attract, as girls would probably relate much better to a girl. on the front cover then a boy. I have use headlines that have short quick sentences that stand out so they attract the reader. I have also used them in very feminine colours like pink, yellow, white and black. this fits in with the overall house style and female audience. I have also used certain parts of my headlines in a different font and colour this shows that certain part of the magazine and more important and other. it also makes them very eye-catching and attracts the reader.  For my double page spread I wanted to include an interview of a famous singer, as I wanted to show that my magazine wasn't just music related. The famous singer I chose was Taylor swift as I am a big fan of hers. For my main image on the double page spread I couldn't use a picture of the singer for obvious reasons such as having to take the photo yourself, so instead I used a picture I took of her latest album. this gave the feature article more content and would persuade people to buy the album once they read the interview. I also used other things on it such as drop caps, quotations, and gutters. this made it look professional.

Overall my magazine goes well together as it stick the a colour scheme of pink, black white, yellow and sticks to its young female audience from an age range of 16-25. 

Double Page Spread

Contents Page

Front Cover