Evaluation

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

My media product, i would say uses the forms and conventions of real media products. I don't think i have changed or challenged the forms and conventions, i think maybe i have developed them because they are my own ideas and my stamp on the real magazines.On the front cover of my magazine, i have the mast head at the top starting from the left. I did want to use the forms and conventions of a real magazine because i thought that it would look better if it looked like a realistic rather than totally different.I used the main image in the centre of the page and included the big bold headline across the image. I have seen this many times on various magazine front covers. I have also used the big font in the middle then the smaller headlines around the sides. I have also got the traditional bar code rectangular shape, with the price above it. If i wanted to challenge the forms and conventions i could have done the bar code a totally different shape, a triangle or an arrow for example.

But i just decided to stick to the original. I also included the date which is always on the front cover and i added the website. Ive only ever seen a couple of front covers with the website on but i decided to add it above the masthead.

On the contents page i think i have challenged the forms and conventions a bit. On some of the contents pages i looked at, there wasn't really a block colour as the background unless it was white. But i decided to change that and have a block colour of black. I didn't want it looking emo or rock-ish. But i have a colour scheme on the front cover of black red and white so i decided to carry that over to the contents page. Also i did use the typical forms and conventions; on most of the contents pages i research the images were towards the right and the text was to the left. I'm not sure whether this is challenging or using the forms and conventions, i have a subscription to the magazine on the contents page with an image of the magazine itself. I have seen this done before but not very often.

On my double page spread i mostly used the forms and conventions of a real media music magazine double page spread but i have challenged one or two things. I have kept everything pretty much the same as every other regular double page spread.

Forms and conventions i think I've used:


-The name of the artist in large, clear font, for a big impact amongst the other text.

- A continuous colour scheme across the two pages

- An introduction to the article which again is bold and more noticeable than the other text. I choose to use a larger font that the interview but smaller than the masthead and i highlighted words i thought were important in pink.

- The average interview with questions and answers clearly shown

.- Highlighted quotes from the interview. I saw this a lot in my research.

The things i think i challenged:

- Instead of having many pictures of the artist i decided to go with just one main image which i have seen done in my research. I did give the choice to view further images of the artist through the website.




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

The media product i created is mostly aimed at girls but can be aimed towards boys too. It isn't a 'Girls Only' magazine. The age range is between 14 +. Maximum age is probably late 20's. I don't think mature women in there 30's would want to be reading about young music artists. I choose this target audience because teenagers buy music magazines more than any other age group. The social group that mainly appears in my magazine target audience is teenagers. I think my colour scheme represents this through the black red and white, i think it comes across as wild and rebellious which most teenagers are. My models who i used are wearing white and black so it all fits. Also i think that my models represent the social group because i think that they look around 21 onwards even though they are 26 and 28 however i think them looking 21 makes teenage girls look up to them and makes teenage boys want to look at them.


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

I think that 'Bauer Media Group' publishing company who publish 'Heat' Magazine, 'Bella','Take a break' and more, could distribute my magazine. I know that they don't really focus on music but i think that maybe they could take on a new music section to their publications.

 

'Heat' is a very popular British entertainment magazine As of 2004 it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million.

'Thats Life' magazine is aimed towards a young female demographic and specialises in gritty real life stories contributed by its readers. The magazine has a circulation of approximately 378,551 a week.

These are just two examples of many magazines that 'Bauer Media Group' publishes. I thought that they could publish my magazine because mine is quite girly and it could fit in with their image, maybe not so with the real life magazines. But heat is quite close to a music magazine. Also 'Bauer Media Group' clearly get a lot of sales and their magazines are very popular so i would like mine to become as popular as them.



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

My audience would be aimed to Boys and Girls aged 14+. However, it could come across as quite a girly magazine. I created this on the idea that boys would enjoy this also. But i also had the idea that more girls would purchase it. I got my age audience from personal experience, i started buying magazines around 14, under that age kids/teenagers are still buying top of the pops or mizz.
Also 14 + is the age you start to wear make up and become interested in fashion and shoes so by including style icons for whom the teenage girls would look up to and would like to read about. Also, that's the same for the boys, if one week Justin Beiber was on the front cover that could make them want to buy the magazine because they are interested in what hes wearing and what hes doing because he is quite young so could be around there age. However, this doesn't rule out the older ones for example, 19,20 to late 20's. If a more mature artist was on the cover, Rhianna for example they would still be interested in whats going on with them. There is a lot more stuff included in the magazine that caters for my target audience.



5. How did you attract/address your audience


I decided to attract my audience through the colours and fonts. I did this with the main image, bold fonts and colours, a free give away (clearly marked at the bottom of the page) just an attractive front cover. I included what was inside the magazine on the front cover the the viewer of the magazine could see the variety there was before they bought the magazine. The front cover is the first thing readers see when they browse along the shelves so i had to make mine noticeable and eye catching. The main image i used on the front attracts both girls and boys, my models are young and attractive so buys may want to purchase the magazine to have a look and find out more and girls might want to purchase it to have a good look because girls like to look at other girls to see what they are wearing, look at their make up and their hair. So i thought that my image attracts my audience.
When it comes to information, people always want exciting news and the real thing. In my interview I had to make sure that it seemed realistic and believable. So to attract my audience I offered a real insight into how the girls are together and how they are getting on and there future plans, this gave them the real deal and more importantly the truth. This addresses the target audience as they can be excited as to what the band has to offer, and to see what happens in the future.


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

Microsoft PowerPoint and publisher were the two main DTP i used. That was all i needed.  I used PowerPoint when creating my front cover and contents page. It made it alot easier creating the ideas i had. PowerPoint is alot more advanced from a couple of years ago i was able to crop and edit pictures whilst on PowerPoint. I have learnt how to create word art and adjust the sizes and font to be able to position them right on my page. When using publisher it made it easier to create a double page spread, because publisher specialises in brochure, magazines, leaflets etc. I learnt about the different size fonts and how they differ from when they are on the screen and when they get printed.

I also gained a lot of experience using the free editing software 'Gimp' this allowed me to edit backgrounds out of images, add a different background in and a lot more. Before doing this project i didn't really understand the software but once i had a play around with different images i could edit them anyway i want. I adjusted the colour saturation, the size and the quality of the images.

Before this project i never really took pictures for photography purposes so i learnt a lot in positioning and lighting. I didn't use a profession camera i just used my own Sony Cyber-shot digital camera.



7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In the beginning of this project i was very excited to get started because i had done GCSE Media and enjoyed it then. When starting my college magazine i wasn't really sure where to start because there was a lot to include. When taking my images i just knew that i had to find a girl or a boy, preferably a student who could be on the cover of the magazine. The first few pictures i took were very poor they were wonky and just not very good but then i came to take a decent image to put on the cover.
The images i took compared to the music magazine were not very good. I learnt when doing the music magazine that i need to put a lot more effort into taking the pictures. When creating my actual product i had a lot more drafts in the music task to the college task, i needed to get it absolutely perfect with the music one.
I learnt what the actual forms and conventions of a magazine were, in the preliminary task i wasn't too sure where to place things and what was needed to be included. But when it came to the music magazine, i knew what was what and what needed to go where, due to all the research i had done. I think that my music magazine looks more professional than my college one.
When it came to timing, the preliminary task took a lot longer than expected because i wasn't too sure what to do and didn't realise all the little details that had to be included to be a college magazine. However, when it came to the music magazine, i felt more confident doing things, it did take a little longer than the college one but that was expected.
Finally, i learnt that research really does help. You think that you know what a magazine looks like but there is so much more detail behind it; there are so many different styles and genres. So the research really did help when planning and understanding. Overall i think i improved from my college magazine to my music one. I had more understanding of what i needed to do and i think i was able to complete this project to the highest standard i had hoped for.

Final Double Page Spread

This is my final one. I had to make a few little changes from my last draft. When i printed my double page spread to see what it would like on two A4 sheets the text looked really big and it looked as if i made the text font big to fill space so i didn't have to write much, but on the computer the text looked normal size so i had to make it smaller. I had to change the font a few times, i kept making it smaller and it still looked big once it was blown up. I did have to write more but i didn't mind cause i had plenty to write because when i first did a completed draft i didn't have enough room to write what i wanted. I started with a font size of 12 and the ended up with 7. The questions and answers are in the same sized font just the questions are in bold, i wanted to make it clear which was which so people didn't get confused. However, in the quotes i put the font size up to 8 so they were noticeable. In the interview i asked questions what i thought i would like to read if i was reading a magazine with an artist i liked. I asked personal questions as well as career ones. Through out the magazine i kept thinking what would liked see/read in a magazine and that helped me.Overall i think that its came together, i like where the image is and I'm happy with the interview and the size of the font.

Stages of Production - Drafts/Messing.

This is the first draft i did for my double page. I created my mast head in paint, i thought that i could continue the colour scheme from the front page through to the double page spread but then that could suggest again that the magazine is some sort of special edition but i didn't really want that. But i liked the mast head so i thought that i would try it, also the it looks quite rock chick with the rough edges around the masthead and also the girls are wearing black, I'm not sure yet if that's the look I'm going for. I placed my image that i had chosen on the left hand side just to try it.I then wrote up part of my interview and placed in on the page more towards the right hand side but i did just put it on there randomly so i could see the right size and which font would look better etc. I have a title above my interview which says 'The O'Neill Sista's Exclusive' i thought this was relevant to open the interview, because my masthead says 'Fame And Fortune' i choose this because i thought that could be what the interview is sort of about, their rise to fame. I think that it looks really plain, i know that it obviously isn't completed but i know that i need more colour, or need to position things differently.

 This is the second draft. I haven't changed much, all I've done is change the position of things, i decided to try the image on the right hand side, i wanted to see which looked better. I think that because the text starts on the left it does look better that it then follows for the image to be on right as you come to the end of the interview.

Another draft. I still haven't changed anything dramatically, i just changed the mast head because like i said on the first draft i don't want a continues colour scheme through out the magazine. I thought i could make it a bit more girly, so i decided to add some pink in. I don't think the mast head is big enough, and it could maybe be a bit too long. Looking at it, i don't like where its positioned either. I just don't think that it looks right. The text which is the interview still hasn't changed because i know what I'm doing with that,I just need to finish it off. I'm just concentrating at getting the layout sorted.

I now have started thinking about space and positioning so i added boxes and labeled them 'Tagline' and 'Interview' so i knew what i was doing. I have changed the masthead, i have made it a bit bigger and changed the font. I wanted it to stand out. . Also again i think that the mast head doesn't look right. I will have to change some things.

Instead of changing little things a bit at a time, i decided to complete one and then see if i liked it and see if there were any problems or changes that needed to be made. I have now shortened the mast head down to just 'O'Neill Sista's' because i added a tag line so i didn't really need to say much in the mast head. In the tag line i just basically said an interview with the O'Neill Sista's and about their album. I also added some pink in there on the words that i thought were important. In the interview i wrote, i choose to ask questions about being sisters and there private life and obviously there music. I wanted to mix it up a bit rather than just having it all about music. I also saw in some of my research that between questions they add a quote from what the interviewer had said so i choose to put a quote in. Also at the bottom of the page, i added a little bit more text saying about the O'Neill Sista's album. I didn't want to have too much white space so i decided to fill it in with that information, also i think it is relevant it wasn't just added randomly.I like this draft but i still don't think that it is finished. I think that it still looks plain and boring so i might have to add some more colour to it.

I have now added so more pink into the interview, where the quotes are i made them pink because i think that they are important. Also it breaks all the black text down by having the little bits in there. In the  text i have at the bottom of the page i added some pink in there also, i thought highlighting particular words like i did in the tag line looks good. The word album and the date is now pink. I really think that makes it look so much better. I then added some more text to the right hand side of the image at the bottom to basically say there are more images available. I did this because, i didn't want to have more images on the page because i like the idea of just having one main one, but then i thought it looks a bit stupid not having any other images so to make it look like there was an photo shoot i wrote that the images are available on the website. I think that is good for getting people to go on the website as well of giving them the choice whether they want to look at the images of the O'Neill Sista's.

Final image - (edited)

Ive now edited the image by getting rid of the background. I can now start to do my interview.

Stages of Production - Deciding which picture.

This is one of the images i edited to remove the background. I tried it on the double page using 'Publisher'. I knew that i just wanted one main image because i liked that style from the research that i did. I don't think that this sized image works very well, it's more horizontal so the larger it would get the further it would move across the page so there wouldn't be more room for the interview. There is quite a lot of room above the image but i didn't want it the text to go around it. And also with the masthead that would have taken up a bit of space so the text could get squeezed in and wouldn't look very good.

With this image, i decided not to edit it because it takes to long and there isn't any point if I'm not going to use it. This is very similar to the previous one, it is pretty much the same size and takes up the same amount of room. Even though the background isn't edited i can still see that this isn't the right image for my double page spread. I now know that i need a fairly long image that will fit top to bottom which either fills the left hand side or the right.

I really think that this is the right image. I haven't edited it yet but i can see that it fits from top to bottom and still leaves room for the interview. I originally did want the interview to be relaxed and have the idea that the interview was at home, but i thought that it doesn't really matter because most interviews that are featured in a magazine are with celebrity's who come to there studio, do a photo shoot and get interviewed. So that's the idea I'm going with because this image that i want to use is quite formal and looks planned so readers will know its from as photo shoot and also because I'm only going to be using one main image, i will include some where on my double page that the images from the shoot are viewable on the website.

Stages of Production - Pictures

These are a few pictures that i decided to take to put on my double page spread, it is going to be a exclusive interview with the 'O'Neill Sista's'.

This was one of the first one's that i took. I knew how i wanted my images to be from looking at research. I wanted them to be relatively close up. Most of the double page spreads i looked at had only one person so it would be easy to have that close up image of that person. But because i have two people it had to position well so it would fit on the page. I took this image before we were going out for a meal for my aunties birthday. I thought that this picture would be good because they were in the process of getting ready so it didn't look to glam and it looked relaxed and casual. I didn't really mind what was in the background because i knew that i wanted to edit the background out, so that it would be white just like the page. A few bad things about this image is that Gill (on the right) looks like she isn't wearing any clothes, but she is! So that wouldn't look appropriate to put on my page. Also i don't think the height of the image is right for what i wanted. But i will try it once i have edited the background.

This is the same image once i had edited out the background.

This is another image i took before going out for my aunties birthday. I like how natural this was. I found it hard to get the positioning right because i had no idea what it would look on the page. I decided not to edit the background from this one straight away because it takes a long time. But as soon as i uploaded them image from my camera to my laptop i thought that it wasn't going to be right.

I then decided to take my camera with we when we went to restaurant. I knew that i would be able to get natural images whilst out. With this one, i tried to get the height that i imaged i would need. Again, if i decided to use this image i would edit the background. I like the colour and lightening in this image, but i don't think its something that a professional photographer would take and put in a magazine. Gill (on the left), looks like she is closer and the image doesn't look even to me. But i will try it and see.

This is a final image i took still in the restaurant. I really love this one. I know the background ruins it but again if i wanted to use this i would edit it. I love how it really shows their sisterly love, because after all; they are sisters in real life so the chemistry is really there. They are dressed quite similar just like the front cover image and they look relaxed and glam but still quite casual and natural. I also like how the height fitted in. This is a huge contender for being my image. I know that it isn't up close like i wanted it but as i took these i realised that maybe it just wouldn't work having two people in a shot to fit on a A4 page.

Double Page Spread - Research

This is one of the first double pages i looked at from NME music magazine. This is an interview with Lily Allen. To start with, the head line is big and bold. This seems to be a quote from Lily, so this would make readers want to carry on reading to find out more about her. The big image of her covers the whole right hand side, i like how this is. It attracts attention as if she is looking directly at the reader. The background of this article is white, that makes the black writing and the image stand out a lot more, also i don't think that there is too much white space, i think that its just right. The columns of text are quite small, this could be used to make the reader think that there isn't that much too read. This is a good thing because sometimes people look at pieces of text i think its too long and skip to the next page. Finally, i think that this is a good double page i like where the image is position and i think that there is just enough text, there isn't too much or too little. The only bad thing is, i think that its a bit plain and boring i do think that it works but i wouldn't choose anything like this for mine.

Another double page i looked at included 'Pink'. I'm not too sure which magazine this is from. This is quite similar to the previous one. The main image takes up the whole of  right hand side, this image of Pink is relaxed and natural, she is laughing and it looks really nice. The main head line of this article seems to be 'Cash for questions' Then underneath that just the word 'Pink' There doesn't seem to anything Fancie about these two, they are clearly different from the rest of the text on the page but they don't really grab attention. There is a bit more text in this article than the previous one, it looks organised and not too bad to read because it is divided up into paragraphs and looks easy to read. Finally, i like the way this one is laid out and the colours are simple. The only thing i don't like is the head line, there isn't a specific one and the text that there is doesn't attract attention so that's what i will make sure mine has.

This is a double page from 'Iterview' Magazine. This one included a interview with 'Madonna'. I really like the image, its so up close and personal. Again the image is taking up a whole side, but this time it's the left hand side. I like the mast head, its big and bold and really noticeable. Also the text doesn't look to much to read and the text is easy to read because parts of it are in bold to separate the question from the answer. Also the image and the mast head seem to have quite pastel colours, the light blue, the greenish colour and the image is very light and soft.

The final double page i looked at is from 'Bliss' Magazine, this is more for the younger teenagers. This is an interview with the 'Jonas Brothers'. This one is a bit different from the other ones i looked at, there is more images and more colour in this one. The main image is on the left hand side joined with the mast head 'BROTHER' - 'love'. I do like how there is a lot more images but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with mine, ill have a play around and see which looks better. There seems to be a bit more going on in this one, it has to be bright and fun so that teenagers will want to read it. There is more space between each question so that it doesn't look like there is that much to read. Also the questions are highlighted in green so it separates the question from the answer.

Final Contents Page

This is my final contents page. I have made a few more adjustments since the last draft and decided that this is the one. I decided to go with the black ground rather than the white because i simply thought that it looked better. I know that the white is obviously a bright colour but the front cover was white so i thought that it would fit to have the contents page black. The mast head of this is 'Contents' which it has been since the first draft, i have changed it slightly by using tools on PowerPoint. I also felt that having the 2 music notes didn't look very good so i decided to have a strip of notes just under the masthead. I also added a logo which i didn't include on my front cover because the music note is also part of that image. The 'MM' stands for 'More Music' and underneath it says more music. I got this idea from 'Q' magazine which i showed in my research, it is a lot different but i liked how the 'Q' was in the background of the mast head 'Contents'. For my images i wanted them similar to what i used on my template images. These are some of the images i took:




For the award, i didn't actually have one so i took a picture of an ornament from my house which i thought looked like an award. There are so many different shaped awards so i don't think that this looks any different.

This was the first one i took, i  needed it to be against a white back ground so i put a blank piece of paper behind it. It didn't really take hoe i would have liked, the lighting isn't very good because there is a shadow and also the paper behind isn't straight so that really didn't work.

Another try, the lighting really didn't work well here, also i didn't get the background right. There was a shadow again as well. For the next try i think that i need to position the background right with the ornament and also fix the lighting issues.

This is the final one that i took, this came out reasonably well .The background blended in good and the lighting is better. I did edit it a bit by changing the brightness and the contrast to make it lighter and to change the shadow.






I just decided to replace the image of Cheryl Cole with an image of my friend.

This was just a simple easy image to take. I knew how i wanted her to look and i knew that i needed a simple background this one wasn't white because i didn't want all the images to look the same. I choose to have the image up close, and i like the lighting, it took well. So i  decided not to take another one because i am happy with this image.


Then finally i replaced the image of Justin Beiber with an image of another friend. I already had images of him because i used him in my college magazine. So i thought it would just be relevent to use one of them images i took, obvioulsy one of the ones that werent used in my college one.

I decided to use this one because i thought that it is really good because i wanted my images to be head shots. I edited the lighting a bit, because i thought it was a bit dark. I also thought that it was quite similar to the Justin Bieber image.

Stages of Production - Contents Page

This was my first rough draft of my contents page.I decided not to use the ideas of the last contents page i researched i decided to use some ideas i had from the begining. I wanted to have it neat but but messy at the same time, like have the writing neat and then have images scattered around. The fonts i used were quite formal, and the plain black and white wasn't very interesting, i thought that i would try it because i tried it with my front cover but that didn't work. But i don't really think that this works either; its just so plain and boring. Obviously its not finished but i just couldn't do anything with it so i decided to try my next draft.

This is my first proper draft but my actual second one. I wanted to make it easy on the eyes so that the readers could easily find the informarion they wanted. I know that black isnt a bright colour but i thought that with the red and white it all contrasted well and the white writing stood out a bit more and looked good. I've used the same font throughout all mast head's, and also i wanted to include the logo of 'Pixie' Magazine, but now it is 'More Magazine but i did change the name last minute so the frist couple of drafts have the name 'Pixie'. I dont think that the music note (logo) looks good on the black background because the music note itself has a white background. I wanted my page numbers to be clear and organised. The norm is probably to have it in order eg. 123456, but i decided to put mine into sections. Interviews, Music and Features. I also have included 2 stars to attract attention one says 'Exclusic news' and the other says 'Have Your Say' i choose to do this so that it is bold and eyecatching.

On this draft i decided to change the back ground colour to white and add some images. I wanted to to see what the background would look like in a different colour because the logo (music note) had a white background so it looked a bit odd against a black background. I used these images as templates to where i would put my own images. I choose to put the images where they are because there was alot of blank space between the writing and the stars. I also rotated the position of the music notes on the top of the page, i thought that it looked better and more tidy.

Contents Page Research.

This is the contents page for 'Q' Magazine. I like this, i think that is very plain and straight to the point, however there are a few things that i would like to include on my contents page which aren't on this one. The contents page is labeled clearly so the reader knows exactly what they are reading and that they know that this in the page which will give them the page numbers they need and to know what else is included in the magazine. There is a subtitle 'on the cover' this is a write up about front cover, explaining what it's about - the main feature (Johnny Borrell). And also it says 'Judge for yourself by reading the interview on page page 62' this is so that the reader can find quickly and easily where the main feature is, which is most likely why they bought the magazine. I think that there is enough images, but i don't think that there is enough information about what is inside, there isn't that many page numbers mentioned. Also i don't think that it stands out that much. I know that i will have most things if not all what is inside my magazinem and i will have it organized and attractive.

This is the contents page for 'NME' Magazine. I'm not too sure about this one, i like it and i don't. I like how the colour scheme is, all the colours seem relevant. In the centre of the page it seems as if there is a 'sneek peak' to the article which is 'Oasis kicked off their world tour' i like how this is done but wouldn't really want to include that into mine. The image is obviously relevant because it is members of Oasis. However, i don't like how there isn't any other images of anyone else who is featured in the magazine. On the right hand side there is more of the details of what is inside, i like how there is sections - News, Reviews, Features etc. Also on the left hand side there is a 'Band Index' I'm not too sure if i like that, because index's are usually at the back of things, but i suppose that it does fit well on the contents page. Also i like the 'Subscribe Today' box i think that is a good feature to have a contents page, most of the magazines i read have a choice of subscribing.

This is the contents page for 'Billboard' Magazine. I really like this one, i like the position of the images and the page numbers. I really like the way the images on the right hand side are placed, they are the same size and also the page number is situated on every image on the bottom left corner. I like the colour scheme i think that is is calm and bright, i think maybe there is a little too much white. I also wondered why there was a image bigger than all the rest so i googled the front cover of this issue 'July 18th 2009' And i found this...

This shows the reason why the image was there which was too show the main cover story 'Paramore'. I like how that was done but i don't think i will use another picture of my main cover story on my contents page. I think I'm going take into consideration the contents page's i looked at but i think this final one will give me my main ideas.

Final Front Cover

This is the my final front cover. I changed the font because i felt that on the previous drafts it wasn't standing out enough and didn't look bold and interesting. On the left hand side, i have the blurb about the interview which is the main feature of this weeks magazine. Also i have a cover line just below that which is a totally different artist. On the right hand side i have '150 songs you need right now'. I thought that this would be a good cover line because people are interested in the charts and the tops songs etc. Then just below that i have a image of an award which is for the feature 'Award Madness', i thought that this was relevant to have on the front cover because thousands of people watch the Music Awards and would be interested in an article about it and backstage information. Also i have a list of music artist who either have interviews or there is articles about them, i thought that this would be a good thing to have so people know that there is a lot more artist inside the magazine, rather than just the O'Neill Sista's. Most of the magazines that i looked at in my research are similar to mine, they have one main image and then the main cover line and also other cover lines which are inside.

Front Cover Drafts

This was the first draft of my magazine, i wanted to use a black and white colour scheme because i thought it looked more sophisticated. I decided to have my main cover story which was to go with my main image ' O'Neill Sista's Barrel of Laughs because they are sisters in real life and there second name is O'Neill. I choose the barrel of laughs because they look like they are laughing and i thought ahead and though that for my double page spread the interview could have been about them and there 'Music Career' and how fun it is. I decided to call my magazine Pixie because i like name, and i got the inspiration from 'Pixie Lott' even though the magazine is nothing to do with Pixie herself. I decided to show what the interview would include on the front to make people more interested. Also '150 songs...' i thought that would be a good cover line to have because people love to know the top songs. Another cover line i decided to use was 'Fergie...' i decided to use that because she is a popular music artist, and people love her; so they would want to buy the magazine to read more. Also i have the bar code and the price, i think that £2.00 is a reasonable price; most magazines i looked at were around £2.00. Above the title of the magazine i have included a website, i decided to use that because i did see it when i was doing my research on 'top of the pops' magazine, however i do think that it is appropriate because most people read papers of the Internet and access magazines through the Internet so i think that it looks good and it is relevant. The bad thing about this draft  is that there is a lot of white space.

This is a second draft, and i decided to add some red into the colour scheme to mix it up a little because just the plain black and white was a bit boring. I also decided not to have 2 other smaller pictures of the 'O'Neill Sista's, i just tried it with one; that gave me a bit more room to include more text on what is inside. On the right hand side of the magazine, i added some more cover lines; these are artists that are included inside. I think that some of the cover lines are crowded and could have some more space to make each individual one stand out. I changed the font of the main cover line and also the colour to make it more eye catching, i think maybe the font is a little too big because it is more to the left rather than in the middle and i think it looks odd.

Third draft - On this one i didn't change much i was just having a play around. I moved the image to see whether it fitted there better, but i don't really like it where it is. Also i just changed the position of the main cover line, i decided to try it diagonal and i made it a bit smaller but it doesn't really look good because it is taking the importance of the main image; it just seems a bit too much around the facial area which is the most important bit.

Fourth draft - On this one i changed little bits, i decided to take away the extra image of the 'O'neill Sista's' because having more than one image of the main image gives the impression that this magazine is some sort of special edition so i just deleted it. However that created more white space so i tried to include i special feature to make people want to buy it and to fill in some space, it is relevant. I also moved the position of the bar code i thought that it would look better up there and even though it left some white space i thought that i could find something to put there which is relevant to the magazine. I decided to change the main cover line to just 'O'Neill Sista's' because having the other one took up to much room and it didn't fit that well and didn't look good no matter how many ways i tried it. The position of where i have it now isn't that good because it doesn't stand out that much; it might be the font or the size, so ill have a play about with that in my next draft.

Fifth draft - This is a rough copy of what is nearly complete. I made the 'Free inside' larger and changed the position because it makes it more noticeable and i though it looked better. Ive been thinking of changing the name because it seems too related to Pixie Lott and people might get the wrong idea, that it is based on Pixie Lott.

Few quick name ideas...

M4U - i got this idea from MTV, it stands for 'Music For You' - 'Music 4 You'. I don't really think it would look right on my magazine so i decided against that.

Play that funky music white boy - i got this idea from a song but i don't really think this is the right one because it is a bit long for the title of a magazine and also it would be see as racist so i also decided against this one.

Base - I just got this idea from 'MTV BASE' music channel but that probably makes the magazine specific to the 'Base' genre. So i decided against this one.

Boom - This was just totally random, like when you think of some music its 'Boom, Boom, Boom' as if its exciting and loud so i thought that might have worked but it just doesn't seem right, it was a close contender though, but again i decided against this.

More Music - I got this idea from 'More' Magazine, i know it's a fashion magazine, but i decided to put my twist on it with 'More Music'. I thought this would work because it gives of the message of more and more music and i thought that people would get the idea that this magazine would give more information about the music world. So i decided that i would change my magazine name to this.

Stages of Production

Images:

These are the two images i considered using on my front cover
I decided to have a black and white colour scheme so that's why my models are wearing black and white dresses. I did plan to take a few pictures with these models, who are my cousins. But they are big fans of going out every weekend so i thought that would be a good opportunity to take some pictures whilst they were dressed up rather than getting them all dressed up just to have to take all their make up of again. These images were taken at Gill's house before they were going on a night on the town. They had a few drinks which made them more relaxed when taking the shots.

This one i like because it looks like they are dancing and they are about to laugh which is natural. The black and white dresses i think is good because they look similar. The cons are that the background isn't so good, i thought that i had taken it behind a white background but ended up having a bit of a picture in it and also the radiator.

This one is very natural and relaxed. I like the position of the picture within the white background, however i think there could have been more room around the image, there isn't really enough space to fit the masthead above their heads. Also the image is very dark.






I decided to use the first one on my front cover, although the girl on the left has her hand covering a little of her face i still think that it works because i don't like when images are airbrushed and really perfect on a magazine, i think it looks so much better when it is natural. Because of the radiator and the picture in the background i decided to photo shop the background because i did try to take the picture again but it wasn't as natural so i decided to keep this one.

I think that it looks really good with the white background and will look even better when i start to create my front cover. I decided to use these girls because they are pretty and young and i think they fit the image of a music artist.

Music Magazine - Front Cover Research

This is one of the first magazines i looked at to get ideas for my music magazine.This is quite plain, blue black and white colour scheme, which i think looks good. The main image is Taylor Swift, popular pop star. Unique selling point having her as the main image. Also her name is bold to show importance. I also think that the fonts on the right hand side look a bit lost they could have been bolder.

This is another music magazine i looked at. I think this one is better than the previous one. I love the black white and red colour scheme i think that really works. Madonna is the main image her name is in big bold text. Also there is a 'Free Inside' this makes people want to buy the magazine. It also gives lists of people inside which the magazine has interviewed, they are all popular music artists or popular t.v people so that makes the magazine more appealing to people.

This is a third magazine i looked at during my research. This one is relatively plain, there isn't too much writing on it. The main image is Mary-Kate and Ashley Oslen, popular actresses, they aren't involved in the music industry so i don't know why they are on the front cover of rolling stones, however popular music artists which are featured on the inside are named on the front cover. I think that the image fits well with the text and the masthead. The only thing i don't like is that the main image and where it says fall fashion are covering the masthead the only thing that you can actually see is 'Rolli', rather than rolling stones. I don't think it looks very good, and will defiantly not doing that on my magazine front cover.

This is the final front cover i looked at, just to show the difference in age. This one is very girly, the colour scheme is pink and yellow which are girly colours. It is also a little crowed it is too busy, there is a lot on the front cover and i think it takes it away from the main image because there is other pictures which is different to normally just having one main image. The main image is Alexandra Burke a popular pop artist which loads of teenage girls admire, and also the main cover line 'how i beat my my bullies' that is a good selling point. A lot of teenagers go through bulling and having a celebrity who has gone through the same thing, they are going to want to buy the magazine to read about it. Again the mast head of the magazine is covered which doesn't look right to me.