Location, props and costume report

Location:When chosing the location to shoot my music magazine I decided I did not need a background so it would be most logical to shoot in the college photography room as it offered lighting, white/black backing and props if needed. Also, by using the photography room I could use one of the colleges cameras which offered a higher quality picture than what I would have been able to get myself.

Props:
When shooting I experimented with some of the props the photography room had to offer. I took a picture with a old fashioned telephone to offer some variety of needed but when it came down to editing the only prop I used was a seat in which my model sat on. I could have used props to make the photo better and more interesting but I felt the image should focus on what my model was wearing which was achieved as there were no props to take the attention away from this.

Model:I only had one model when taking the photographs which limited my variety. I could have used a different model on the contents page to change things up but unfortunately I did not have enough time. My model fits well with what I was trying to acheive for my images which was a successful mainstreamer.

Featured article draft

This is my finished featured article as my featured article was lost in the making of this one. It was similar to the finished one except that I changed the text under the title so that it stood out to the readers and they could tell what the article entailed. I also edited the big 'F'. It was originally across the whole page but I felt it looked confusing as to why it was there so I made it smaller and put in at the first paragraph so people could tell it was there as the first letter of the article. I also changed the pictures so that they fit the article a bit better. Before they were a bit out of place and didn't look very professional.

Contents page draft

Unfortunatelty my draft has been lost in the making of my contents page but it was similar to my finished product except that I changed the colour of writing in ther contents box so that the improtant information stood out to the audience. I also added more to the contents page so that it looked it had more topics in the magazine and therefore would probably appeal more to readers.

Front cover draft

This is my first draft of my magazine, but I made a few changes to make it look more professional and classy. I took away the blue circle near the bottom left as I felt it didn't suit the rest of the front cover. I also changed the cover lines font with the sub articles as I felt it worked better and made the text more visible and noticeable. Furthermore, I straightened up the edition number, price and date so that it is more in line and neat.

Original ideas statement

Original ideas

 

Juice

Target Audience - Demographic

Gender: Both genders equally

Age: 16-30 years old. The reason is because this age group would have been exposed to this music due to the charts being played on the radio ect.

Class: Mainly ABC1's predominantly but generally for all classes.

Race: All

Region: All

Target Audience - Psychographic

The “tribe” that my magazine is targeting is “mainstreamers” who are people who listen to popular music like chart music

Price Point

£2.50 as it is an affordable for every class meaning there is likely to sell more copies but the price is not so cheap that the income would be a success as well.

Weekly or Monthly

I would have monthly issues as this way my target audience will be more excited to read the magazine instead of reading it regularly (weekly), I feel this would increase sales. I would also have a special edition every 3 months focused on a specific artist as this way it adds to the excitement of the magazine and also could give the opportunity for the target audience to collect the special editions.

 

Content

Specifically chart music and have upcoming artists in this type of music. Also have special reviews for albums and interviews. Also have readers diaries and celebrity gossip.

 

Style

Clean, glossy, modern, and different. The reason behind this is so that the target audience is proud to read it.

 

 

USP or Position On The Market

I believe that there is a space in the market for this type of magazine as the target audience is so large due to the fact that this music is played everywhere. Also, although I am targeting 16-30 year olds there is room for 30 years and older to buy the magazine as they are exposed to the type of music.  I would like my magazine to be published by IPC media as I feel it has a gap in their brands for a magazine like Juice.

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

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

My product uses forms and conventions of real media products quite regularly as I thought this would give it a more professional look. As my magazine is a mainstream one, I thought it would be suitable to make the magazine look like regular magazine so people could get an idea the magazine is mainstream when they glance at the front cover. I have put my masthead right at the top of the page in big, red capital letters; I copied this from other successful mainstream music magazines. I tried to make my image the main attraction as this is also what magazines like ‘Q’ does. I did this by keeping the writing on the cover quite basic so it didn’t take much attention away from the image. I have a similar colour scheme to ‘Q’.  The colours red, black and white seem to suit a mainstream magazine as they are popular colours used regularly.  I know there are plenty of mainstream music magazines around but I know there is a big audience for them so my magazine could be successful.

I was quite heavily influenced by ‘Q’ magazine as it is covers the genre of music I listen to most and I like the design of it; the lay out and colour scheme. I also like how the ‘Q’ is always in the top left of the front cover so that customers can recognise the magazine instantly. My magazine will always have a big, clear masthead as it is an unknown, upcoming magazine.

As hundreds of other magazines, Q follows the basic convention of placing the magazine title in the top left of the page; however Juice is in the middle at the top. Also, my research exposed the fact that many magazines rotate the barcode 90 degrees in the bottom right of the page, to add more content space. Juice did not follow this convention as I didn’t want it to collide with other text on the front cover.

Another convention I gave to my magazine, Juice, was competitions and freebies for the readers. There is a Bruno Mars competition and posters of famous celebrities for the readers to take out and use. I liked this idea as I think this could engage the readers and persuade them to buy other issues of Juice.

 

evaluation skills

Tools on Photoshop that I found useful

The stroke tool –This allowed me to make my text standout on my front cover and contents page by adding a shadow effect around the letters. I feel this was effective as readers are more likely to take note of text which stands out. I also think it is quite a good design. On my front cover the red masthead is shadowed by a white border which I feel gives it a professional look.

The Crop tool – This allowed me to cut images out that I had previously taken and put them against a different background. This made the images look more professional and more effective. I could also cut out parts of the image I didn’t want, to just leave the bits I did. If I didn’t know how to crop images my photos wouldn’t have suited the background, making the product look unprofessional.

A variety of 'Blending options' - This allowed me to paste in a certain texture, and overlay it on certain image, such as the one on the contents page. This creates a vintage effect, and adds of course, more texture to the page.

As the college magazine is aimed at a neutral audience I tried to make the image more direct and appeal to more people whereas my music magazine is aimed at a narrower target audience.  For my music magazine I used more precision in addressing my audience as I was more aware of their interests.