Coursework-Planning Graphs
graphs-from-questionnaire-results
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Audience Profile
I designed a music questionnaire to ask twenty people, I did so in order to collect the data, make graphs from the results and use them to incorporate ideas into my magazine, using obviously what the majority of my audience seem to like. From assessing my questionnaire, I gathered that the majority of my audience are female and who prefer pop music to any other music genre. My graphs also suggest that most people receive their music from the internet rather than buying CDs and that they listen to music mostly on their iPods or at a party. I can conclude that my target audience wants to see a music magazine which looks like a fun read also because the individuals seem like outgoing party people. From the music genre question I can identify that pop music is most popular so therefore I should base my article and double page spread on an artist/ band which are known for their impeccable pop music skills. I wish to target an audience who are fashionable, trendy and outgoing. The fun aspect of their personality is definitely something I want to include within my magazine.
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Coursework-Planning Magazine Brief
Magazine Brief
I wish to create an identifiable magazine, one which is instantly recognisable to people everywhere. I am aiming my magazine at young teenagers who are aged between 13 and 19. This six year range enables me to capture a wider audience and appeal to a larger group of readers. I want to construct a music magazine directed at females only; my reason for this is simply since it is rare to find music magazines which target females alone. As I fit this category, being a young teenage female, creating a magazine suitable for my gender won’t be too challenging.
I researched into a variety of music magazines in order to understand exactly what my audience will expect. I researched into popular magazines such as NME and MOJO. NME especially took my interest. The magazine is Britain’s weekly music guide. It features the UK’s most comprehensive gig guide, shows reviews of the hottest gigs, tracks and albums, and displays fiery comments from some of the most opionated writers. This is the magazine I wish to use to help me create my own music magazine.
A young target audience will allow me to use vibrant, youthful colours and be creative with my design. I wish to create a really feminine approach to my design scheme. Exaggerating the use of a typical “girly” pink suggests immediately that the magazine is directed at females.
By looking at already existing music magazines, I wish to follow some of the codes and conventions used such as a pull quote from my main article which will highlight a fundamental aspect of the article, this additionally will add to my design as well.
My images will be my first priority as this will be the base of my music magazine. A good photograph is a necessity for my front cover especially as it is the first thing that the audience will notice. I am thinking a considerable amount about which type of image to use. Either a fun, lively photograph of my sister and her friends wearing pink tutus, as they fit the age category this would be a perfect image or perhaps using a shot of a single person of a teenage boy or teenage girl as both would appeal to girls. I believe a camera shot of one person will be more effective on the front cover than a group of people since it directs focus on just one person and therefore I can use a long shot of the individual without deducting detail since it is a reasonably close shot of them. I plan to take many photographs in order to pick the best few and have a lot to choose from, this will be one of the essential parts of my planning as the images of my magazine will play a fundamental part in conducting a successful overall media product. I must take into account the clothes, makeup and jewellery being worn by my chosen model for my photographs since this will play an important part in interesting my target audience. I wish to create an image which both inspires girl and which girls can relate to, so therefore most likely a cute dress which young teenagers wear today but which also music celebrities would wear.
I want to create a detailed magazine, one which considers most of the codes and conventions used by music magazines but which also does not look squashed with information. I want my layout to be organised and for my images and writing to be positioned in the best possible way since I think the placement of words and pictures has an overall effect on whether the magazine is successful and whether it is suitable for the target audience it is directed at.
Using real life will tolerate young teenagers to relate to certain topics and inspire them to perhaps reach their goals in life. I intend to write an article narrating the life of just an ordinary teenage boy or girl who has reached their ultimate goal of becoming a pop star. I think this article will be appealing to my target audience and inspire them greatly to try and achieve their aims throughout life.
My magazine will contain many images so therefore these visual features will attract the audience almost immediately drawing them into what is seen before what is written. Large, bold headlines on the front cover will also capture the reader’s attention. I wish to include an iconic letterhead for the magazine, one which has a certain style which will be immediately recognisable. I have ranged from ‘Tomgirl’ to ‘Pixey’ and from ‘Daisychain’ to ‘Confidentiality’. I believe that it must be a name which is diverse and so therefore I think I should use a name which best describes my target audience. I plan to use ‘Rebel’ as my music magazine name.
I would like to apply a quiz to my double page spread to involve readers even further. From past experience I have realized that quiz’s are greatly effective and produce a fun element to the magazine. It is not entertaining to just read pages and pages of gossip and articles. Including at least one quiz which occupies the reader and allows them to take part engrosses them significantly. However if this idea doesn’t seem to work, I will consider creating my own pop star and conducting an interview with him or her on my double page spread. In a different way will just as easily engage readers.
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Coursework- evaluation of my magazine
Media Coursework Evaluation
When designing and producing my magazine, I tried to expand and challenge other real media products such as music magazines like NME. My magazine is unique and enforces a sturdy feminine approach on music therefore aiming my magazine at females. In a way I felt obliged to convey aspects of the conventional style used in all magazines. I assumed this would be necessary in order to appeal to the majority.
I created my own pop star to interview on my double page spread, it helped to make my magazine individual and as my pop star was promoted on the front cover I felt it was appropriate to base my double page on her.
My inspiration came partly from NME music magazine but mainly from one of the most well known teenage gossip magazines ‘Company’. This is where I found myself sticking with original pieces already existing. I followed the idea of simple necessities such as barcode, price, title and image to truly capture my ideal audience. I followed generic conventions of music magazines by incorporating a large photograph to my front cover using long shot which is generally pursued by the majority of music magazines such as NME. My layout is symmetrical which is a frequently followed convention as well. I used a limited colour range in order to follow codes and conventions of generally all music magazines; this was one of the most effective outputs as it demonstrated by ability to incorporate simplistic details from original music media products existing today. Additionally, I used the same font for my magazine name for all the pages I produced to eliminate the problem of a disorganized design, my idea to do this was taken from music magazines.
My media product represents the typical teenage girl. I have demonstrated my ability to grab attention from my target audience by using an archetypal teenage girl who specifically depicts the young female audience I wish to attract. My magazine represents mainly the pop industry but expresses a variety of music genres such as hip-hop, rap, rock, indie and R&B, aiming my media product at many music fan groups rather than specific ones. Typical “girly girls” favour colours such as shades of pinks and reds so I have incorporated this greatly into my colour scheme. My simple, easy to read layout on the front cover exhibits a sense of youthfulness. It presents the information without being overpowering which I believe is essential when trying to capture the attention of the social group in which my magazine tries to detain. I have dedicated ‘Rebel’ to girls ranging from their first teenage year to their last who are interested in all music, particularly girl bands and solo artists. Even the title of my magazine had to be taken into consideration so therefore I picked a word which could be associated with the stereotypical view of young teenagers today, the idea of them being rebellious characters.
I researched into publishing companies to decide who will produce my magazine. In conclusion I came to a decision that IPC, a leading UK consumer magazine publisher would be the most ideal publishing company for my particular magazine since it appears very popular with almost two in every three women and 44% of UK men reading IPC magazine. I believe that ‘Rebel’ is dissimilar to their majority of magazines as it targets a younger female audience rather than adults. Approaching a well-liked publishing company is essential in order to produce a magazine which slightly differs from standard music magazines. IPC offers something for everyone, ranging from typical music magazine NME to a classic boys magazine such as NUTS. However, their diverse selection still does not offer a magazine similar to mine so I feel they would be the most appropriate publishing company for ‘Rebel’.
I also believe supermarkets like Tescos, Sainsburys and Waitrose might distribute my product. It is appealing and could instantly attract shoppers. It displays a reasonable price in a bright yellow circle which grabs attention immediately. The price is also not expensive so is suitable for supermarkets to distribute. I would hope to believe that institutions such as popular music stores HMV and Virgin Megastores would be interested and likely to distribute my media product. I think that it is very different from any magazine they have ever offered. Since it targets females, this target audience may be more drawn to music since this magazine appeals to their gender alone and the appearance is more likely to attract them than the more masculine products sold today.
I believe my decision to target my music magazine at females only was individual and original. I chose to be unique and target at a smaller audience rather than produce an almost duplicate of magazines already existing which are targeted at a wider audience. I also feel that most music magazines are unintentionally targeted at males alone as using reds, yellows and black aim the focus on males as these are very masculine colours. It was easy to target at females between thirteen and nineteen since I, myself, fit into this category.
I have attracted my audience by firstly capturing their interest in my front cover photograph which of course is the first noticed feature as it covers almost the entire page. I paid careful attention to detail such as jewellery, makeup, shoes and clothes since I wanted my target audience to relate to the image being presented. I had to take into consideration the fact that Belle Bidacoska is this year’s mega music star so I had to ideally, construct a photograph of a girl striking a model-like pose. Secondly I used iconic features such as lips and hearts to portray the true “girly” feel I wanted to illustrate. The exaggerated use of pink in my magazine completely identifies my audience and addresses feminine “girly girls” directly. I restricted my colour scheme to a limited amount of colours as I believe it stands out, pink and black seem to work effectively together as they contrast with each other. I used buzz words such as “exclusive” and “plus” which attract interest from my particular audience who want individual information in addition to what the magazine offers already. I tried to incorporate rhetorical questions on the front cover which try to convince the audience to read more about it. I applied bright yellow arrows to display special, extra information to the reader quickly and attractively on the contents page. The colour instantly draws attention from the rest of the page highlighting key features of the magazine. On the double page spread, it was necessary to use a pull quote to reveal a line from Belle’s interview before having read it. This reveals a small piece of the article and persuades the audience to read it. I created an attention grabbing headline to ensure that the article was instantly appealing, the use of alliteration helps to attract my audience and concludes her story in an effective way. I used shadows on all of my photographs; which makes the image jump out at the audience rather than blend in with the background. I deliberately used neutral colour backgrounds such as the light pinkish grey for the front cover and the off white for the double page spread; this allows the writing and images to stand out in a dramatic way. Using an introductory paragraph on the double page sets the tone to the article and attracts my target audience by gradually “wheeling” them in. The drops cap at the start of this paragraph initiates the beginning of the article and its bold appearance draws you to the opening of the piece of writing. I felt it was important to tell the reader more about what is on each page with justification, I wrote an additional sentence next to the page’s title to ensure the reader is satisfied with the purpose of the page. This also is another appealing quality for the audience and attracts them.
I have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this product. Before starting AS media studies I had never used Photoshop, I have grown to appreciate the many different features of the programme such as the magic wand which I found myself using continuously, using it to select an area of an image based on it’s colour. I was also able to use the crop tool to trim unwanted areas. Throughout the year I feel I have progressed greatly and have learnt from the mistakes I have made along the way. The programme allows you to use a range of tools and develop your skills using them. I have developed my ability for using tools I had never used before such as the marquee tool which is a quick way of selecting a series of pixels simply by dragging out a rectangle in most cases, but furthermore dragging shapes like circles as well. I believe I have developed my knowledge of technology and have produced a successful magazine.
My design skills have definitely improved throughout the course of this year. My preliminary task shows little individuality within it’s design, whereas when constructing my media product I incorporated as much personality and distinctiveness to produce a unique magazine. Although gossip magazines tend to be directed at girls, there are very few music magazines which target females alone so by developing my design skills and making it look feminine by using colours such as pinks it positively constructs my aim. I also made my images and texts spaced out in order to avoid confusion of the readers.
I believe I have largely improved when comparing my preliminary task to the coursework. The preliminary task allowed me to experiment with the tools and permitted me time to make mistakes and learn from them. I feel that the preliminary task definitely helped me to progress my skills using the programme as it allowed me a certain amount of time to practice using the editing devices. Overall I consider myself to have greatly advanced especially in comparison to where my level was at the start of the year and throughout the preliminary task. I think my final project; the music magazine looks far more professional than the pilot project of the school magazine and so therefore demonstrates my development and improvement.
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