Front Cover Mock Up

 



 

 



Life Style Questionnaire

To find out more about my target audience I created a life style questionnaire. This was posted on a survey question site. I then asked people who fitted in with my target audience to complete the questionnaire, in order for me to find out more about them and discover what they would like to see in my magazine. Below is the questionnaire that I created.

10 people completed my survey during the time it was posted on the survey website. Out of those 10 people 9 of them were male and 1 was female. My magazine will be mostly targeted at males, however, some women may find that it attracts them as it is not typically about anything to do with men e.g. sport.

I asked the question about age as I feel that it is a good idea to understand the ages of you target audience. This is because you can then choose your font and colours and also the cover models according the age of your target audience.40% of people who took my survey were aged 31-35, 30% were 26-30. My magazine is going to be targeted at mainly the middle aged person as jazz music appeals to them most.

Below are some more graphs that summarise each of the views from the people who participated in my survey. I like to use graphs as it gives a visual representation of the answers from the questionnaire.

Prezi for Semeotic analysis of NME Magazine

This is a Prezi I made to show you a semeotic analysis of NME magazine. I found using Prezi very easy and think that it is a interesting way of displaying the information.

Semiotic Analysis of Music Magazines

I did these semiotic analysises of music magazines to try and look at why people layout a magazine the way they do. I found it very interesting to see the colour schemes change and sometimes how conventions are broken.

Target Audience and Imaginary Entity

During this lesson we discussed the idea of finding a target audience to target our magazine towards. We learned about demographic and psychographic profiles.

Demographic profiles and classification are social grade divisions that allow people to be placed according to their income and job statues on a sliding scale from A to E.

National Readership Survey (NRS) demographic categories

Social Grade	Social Status	Occupation
A	upper middle class	higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	skilled manual workers
D	working class	semi and unskilled manual workers
E	those at lowest level of subsistence	state pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers

However, demographic profiles only show the class, age, gender, marital statues, wealth and almost anything else that can measured. Although this can be hugely helpful in creating a target audience, it does not show the needs, wants and interests of the consumer which are very important when deciding who you are targeting your product to, this is when you use physcographic profiles.

My Imaginary Entity

Simon is aged 35 and lives in an up and coming, trendy part of London. He enjoys working at the office but also likes a chilled weekend at the bar with his friends, listening to relaxing music. Simon loves travelling and has an interest for fine art and jazz music. He has visited New Orleans many times for leisurely trips and also travels to New York frequently for business trips where he does enjoy the live entertainment in the lobbies of the hotels. Simon has a passion for the 1920's and frequently finds himself seeking the lifestyle of those found in the movies such as The Great Gatsby. Although he knows this is unrealistic he loves the allure of the era and loves music that reminds him of it.

Contents Page Digital Mock Up

This is a digital mock up of my school magazine contents page. I used the house style and stuck to the same colours of the front cover. I also used the same font as the mast head for the title 'Contents'. This is because I thought that it stood out sand again kept to the house style. I put a picture of the school logo and the stained glass cross to show that the school is catholic and also give a look at the school. I made the page numbers spread out so that it was easy to read.

School Magazine Final Edition

This is my final version of my school magazine. I am really pleased with the outcome. I changed some things slightly to make them stand out more and catch the readers attention.

 

Firstly I changed the font of the Masthead. This was because I thought that the font on the mock up was not bold enough to catch the readers attention. Also it also belnded slightly into the background as although the outline was a different colour the main colour of the font was the same as the background. I did however keep the colours the same as the house style because this makes the magazine more recognizable.

 

Secondly I changed the 'Ofsted' pug. I changed the colour from a deep purple to blue as I think it stood out more as a lot of the things where purple, including the pug. I also outlined it and added an shadow. Again I did this to make it stand out as the Ofsted report is very important for perspective parents to see, so I needed it to stand out.

 

I changed the pug in the corner from 'GCSE Edition' to 'Summer Addition'. This was because there was not anything on my cover that related to GCSE's so I thought it was a rational decision to change this.

 

The two smaller secondary images were changed also as the previous photographs were not my own. However I kept the anchorage the same as they still applied to my pictures.



 

 

Chosen Photos that have been Edited

Below is my digitally altered photo of the cover model. This photo will be my central image. To digitally alter the photo I have removed the background. Alongside this I have also increased the saturation and the clarity of the photo. This was to make the quality of the image better and to make the colours brighter.I also used retouch on Serif Photo Plus to make the cover models skin appear even and all one skin tone. 

 For this image i cropped the edges so that the model was central in the photograph. Again I also increased saturation, as well as brightness as the photo was slightly dark, this also brightened the colours of the sports kit which will attract the readers eye. Again I also used the retouch tool to enhance the models skin.

Photo Selection Process

These are the two photos I took for the central image. They are both very similar images however I had to choose one to use as the central image for my school magazine. I decided to use the second image because I like that the models face is tilted slightly. This makes the model appear very happy. Also the St Gregory's booklet is higher and more prominent in the second photo. This promotes the school and makes it clear what the school is. Also in the second image the model has a more natural smile. I think this works better as it looks less forced and makes the student appear less false, which is the look I wanted on the magazine. In the first image I did not like that the model had his chin lifted. It may have been that the camera was at an awkward angle, however I preferred the more natural look in Image 2. Overall I am very pleased with my central image and think that with some digital editing I can really make the photograph stand out on the cover of my magazine.

 

 

 Image Not Used

Image Used

 

For the below photos I used the third photo. This was because in the other two photographs the model was not looking at the camera. This was very important as I wanted the model to look proud of her achievement for the school magazine and when the model did not look at the camera I felt that the pride was not portrayed as clearly as in the last photograph. Also in the last photograph the model has a much bigger smile, again showing her pride towards her achievements which is what the article for the magazine was about.

 Image Not Used

 Image Not Used

Image Used



Photoshoot Planning

For my magazine, I want a mid-shot for my central image. I want my cover model to be a young boy who is happy and smiling. This will hopefully convey that the school is a happy environment to be a part of. I want the young boy to be holding the St Gregory's booklet. This is because it has other excited students on it so again shows the happy school community but without the front cover of the magazine being to crowded and over whelming.

For this I am going to se my younger brother who is 11 as he is photogenic and it is easily accessible to photograph him. I will use my IPhone 6 to photograph him as it is of a high standard of quality for a mobile phone. To keep the photoshoot simple and quick I will photograph my brother in the natural light as it is the most complimentary and will allow the quality of the photo to be better. I ill also bring along the St Gregory's booklet for him to hold.

I plan to take a photograph of a single sports student aged around 15/16. I want them to be in sports kit with their tied back and smiling. I want the photo to be taken against a white wall so that the student really stands out. Again I will use my IPhone 6 to take the photograph and use the lighting from the ceiling lights in the gym corridor. This is because they are very bright and will allow the quality of the photo to be of a good standard.

I also plan to take a photo of four AS Drama students to show the range of activities the school offers. For this I will use the four people playing the characters in the AS Drama production 39 Steps. I will have them in their costumes, and ask them to have facial expressions of their character. This is because I want the target audience to see the talented pupils. Once again I will also use my IPhone 6 and the lighting available to me. I will shoot the photographs in the gym hall up against the wooden wall.

Deconstruction of Heat Magazine

The weekly gossip magazine Heat is notorious for their juicy stories of celebrity icons. Heat magazine, published by Bauer which has a circulation of around half a million.
Heat magazine as well as other gossip magazines specialise in keeping celebrities in the public eye. Without them celebrities such as Katie Price and Peter Andre would have been forgotten, with gossip magazines they are 'reinvented'.

However, gossip magazines do not always do good. In fact in most magazines women are viewed in a nasty light and are often sexualised to target the curiosity of the consumer.

The primary audience for Heat magazine tend to be women aged 18 to 35, whilst the secondary audience tent to be women aged 35 to 55. Alonside this they also tend to be white, urban, female, working class who have an interest in celebrity gossip.

 

To attract the target audience, Heat magazine uses bright, saturated primary colours such as reds, blue and yellows and also high key lighting. They do this to anchor the codes and conventions of a gossip magazine. As well as this they also have many photographs on the cover (there is a high ratio of photography to text), again another key convention of a gossip magazine.

 

 

The masthead is stereotypically aimed at the female audience. Heat uses a clear font which is recognizable to their audience. This creates a strong brand identity.

 

Throughout the magazine there are many pictures and photography that is cluttered. It is aimed to catch the readers attention by using different style pictures and sizes. Also the variation of the font and sizes anchored to the images draws the attention of the reader and makes it clear what text goes with what picture.

School Magazine Mock Up

This is a mock up of my school magazine. I really like the cover photo, however, I think that I can edit the photo better to make the edges less rigid. I also really like the colours because they match the colours of the St Gregory's booklet. I did this so that it kept the house style so that it was clear to people what the magazine was and what school it was for. My central image is of a smiling year 7 boy holding the St Gregory's booklet. I did this because it makes a good impression of the school as the child is smiling. Also I made him hold the St Gregory's booklet because it also shows other students who are happy and smiling, again it connotes a happy and friendly environment. The reason I put pictures of both a school sports team and a drama show was to show that the school is an all round school, not just academics but also extra curricular activities. For the picture of the show I anchored it with quotes of what people said about the show. This was because it shows the achievement of both the school and the pupils in the performance. For my real version I am going to take my own photos of a schools sports team and a school show. I may also change the font of the masthead as I don't think that it stands out and catches the attention of the reader as much as I would like.

Annotation of a School Magazine

For the preliminary task I have annotated a school magazine. The central image draws a lot of attention as it spreads across the whole of the cover. The coverline and anchorage for the central image is very clear and bold. The secondary images show different places at the school. This is effective as it relates to the central image which is about the proposed extension to the school. The masthead and edition are also shown very clearly.

Annotation of 2 non-music Magazines

Below are two fashion magazines, Look and Glamour. They both have similar magazine conventions on there cover page. These include mastheads, a cover model, anchorage and coverlines. I chose these two magazines to show the similarities between the types of magazines and the conventions used. The cover models used are very affective as they are iconic celebrities which draw peoples attention as they are likely to buy a magazine if they are interested in the celebrity. The colours used are very light and girly and would appeal to many women. Also the coverlines draw peoples attention as they are specifically targeting certain people. For example, 'Love your body.' This appeals to many women as the desire to love your body and feel good is very prevalent in society. Both magazines have given me very good examples of the way I should layout my magazine as well as making sure I make the cover relevant to my target audience.

Conventions of a Magazine

Today in class I learned about the conventions of a magazine. Different conventions of a magazine include a masthead, tagline, central image, cover model, anchorage, secondary images, coverlines, puffs, modes of address, pugs, barcodes, prices, edition, font and also the use of colour.

The masthead is displayed at the top of the cover and is the name of the magazine. The masthead must be relevant to the magazine to draw peoples attention and to also inform the reader of the type of magazine. For example, a football magazine called Four Four Two is appropriate because it is the usual formation of a football team.

The tagline is a short sentence, usually near the masthead to provide more information about the magazine itself. It is not related to the particular issue but about the magazine in general. For example, the tagline for Heat magazine is, 'this weeks hottest celebrity news'.

 

Another essential convention of a magazine is the central image. The central image is very important because this is the most eye catching part of the magazine cover. The reader will most likely look at this first before reading any text, so it is imperative that the central image is relevant to the purpose of the magazine. The central image may also be strongly related to the feature article.

The central image may well be a cover model. A cover model may be a well known icon or celebrity the is in relation to the magazines genre or topics. However magazines may also choose a photographic model of their choosing.

We also learned about anchorage. Anchorage is a term that means how an image is referred to. Most pictures in a magazine will be anchored by a caption, headline, articles or coverlines.

Other things that may be included on the cover of a magazine is a secondary images. This is used to show other things that are included in the magazine, such as other articles, these are usually anchored by a coverline. A coverline tells the reader what they will find in the magazine and what the articles are about. They are located at various points on the magazines front covers.

Magazines may also choose to use different modes of address. Magazines can choose to use a direct or indirect mode of address depending on the message they are trying to communicate with the reader.

A puff draws the attention of the reader and promotes certain things in the magazine. They are usually a different colour from the background and the text is most likely in a shape for example circle or star. Pugs are another promotional feature of the magazine and are placed in the left and right hand corners. They can contain either the price or the a promotion for that edition of that magazine.

Barcode, price and edition are an essential part of a magazine even though they are a very simplistic feature. They are strategically placed as to not cover any of the main parts of the magazine.

The use of colour is very important on a magazine. It can vary form edition to edition. However, some magazines may choose to stick to a house style to make there magazines identifiable.

Font is also another important stylistic feature of a magazine and is usually used to convey menaing into text.

First Blog Post

I am an A level Media Studies student and this is my first blog to start my A Level coursework. I am immensely excited to start my coursework as I am interested in looking at the way in which media is used. I am also excited to start my coursework because I want to produce media, which will be my blog and magazine.