Planning

In this task I drew out drafts for my front cover, contents page and double page spread to get a rough idea of what I was aiming my magazine to look like right at the start. The order below goes double page spread contents page front cover

Cover photo and feature ideas

In this task I was asked to find out what my target audience thought of my cover pics and what ones they prefer and would like to see. I videoed there responses and used this when deciding what pictures I was going to include.

The first person I asked said that they prefer the first picture because its a close up and you can see there face rather than focus on there body accessories. however they said that the person should be smiling as it helps makes the audience wanna read it as the facial expressions brings the audience in as the main image needs to seem interested in whats going on.

The second person I asked said that they prefer the 5th one because you can see the models outfit and might like her style and might want to carry on reading because they like her trend and clothing. IT also helps that she is smiling as its nice to see and encourages the readers to pick up the magazine and want to read it and buy it.

The third person I asked said that they prefer the 3rd one because its a medium close up shot so you can see her whole body and its good that she is smiling and making eye contact with the readers to it makes the audience feel more connected.

Overall I will take more pictures so I can combine all that feedback and get a medium close up shot so you can see the models face and facial expressions and feel connects and so they model can make eye contact with the audience but also so you can see her outfit and as its a pop magazine my target audience might wanna follow her styles and trends. I will make sure the picture I take the model is smiling and and looks happy and enthusiastic and looks lively and it will attract the target audience a lot more.

Fonts, colour and additional style ideas

In this task I had to video my target audience and ask them what fonts, colours and additional things they would want to see on my magazine and why. I would video them ands then edit it on final cut and add text and pictures.

Fonts:
My target audience said that the font should be elegant as it seems more professional and more aimed at my target audience of late teens as it seems to be more grown up and not to babyish. They also said it should be a bold font so it can stand out a lot more and people can see it a lot more clearly.

I think in my magazine I'm going to use the fonts, 'Caviar Dreams' and either or and 'Champagne & Limousines'. As I feel they look more professional and elegant and looks more grown up to me aiming at my target audience and not to babyish and fits my target audience well while also not looking to out of the pop genre.

Colour:
My target audience said I should keep to a few colours and they like the colour red and white as a colour scheme. however one of the people in my video said I should still make it girly as thats what my target audience is and what it should appeal to first. A colour scheme of 2/3 colours so it doesn't seem to messy and I shouldn't stick to 1 colour otherwise it could be a stereotype if it just plain pink for example.

I have chosen my colour scheme to be a deep pink and white as I feel it needs to be girly as thats whats my primary target audience is but it can't see to childish as its aimed at teens and above so having a deep pink makes it seem less childish but will appeal to my target audience and look neat and professional. I will keep to 2/3 colours as I feel it will look more professional, grown up and less messy if I tick to a colour scheme.

Article ideas

In this task I was asked to come up with potential article ideas. I came up with around 6 ideas and with these ideas I had to ask my target audience on the 3 ones they preferred and why.
I would video there answers and then edit it on final cut and upload it on my blog.

My results included..
"Newest trends within pop", my target audience said they would like to see an article and should be to do with trends, fashion and social media. They also said they would want to keep up with the trends and styles with the pop stars that are in the limelight at this moment.

Someone else said they liked "Shop and Pop" and tell us about the fashion and where the celebrities shop and what kind of clothes they buy and places they go to get them. This article should show a couple of celebrities where they shop, and what they look for when shopping.

My final target audience said "Whats in the top charts", they said this because as its a pop magazine they want some insight towards the pop genre and also care and what to look at what kind of music is on at the moment and where it comes in the charts and where it stands.

Overall I will take what my target audience says and apply it to my magazine and use these 3 article ideas and include fashion, gossip, music and celebrity trends in this magazine and as people look up to some celebrities I would find out where they shop, interview them and find out what they want and say, the gossip about each celebrity. I will also want to include having an interview with someone and find out the gossip about them and what kind of pop music they prefer and why and what pop artists they look up to and listen to and why.

cover line ideas

In this task I had to gather opinions from my target audience to find out what cover lines they preferred and why. Also what they would like to see on my front cover of my magazine and w hat it should include. I had to ask my target audience on there opinions, record it and when edit it on final cut and take a picture of the sheet I gave to my target audience so the people reading my blog could see it as well.

I asked 4 people who my magazine is aimed at, what they thought of my cover line ideas and what they would like to see and read about. The first person I asked said that they prefer the cover line "fresh music for a fresh start". This is a catchy phase and also because it repeats the word "fresh" it can stick into your brain more and appeal more. She also said she loves the phase " Get,great,gossip" as the use of alliteration appeals more and makes it stick in your head more.

The second person I asked also said she liked "fresh music for a fresh start", this seems to be very popular and it seems catchy and easy to remember as it is repeating a word. This person also said "inclusive insight into the pop industry" because the magazine is about pop music so the audience will be mostly interested in the genre pop so the magazine needs to show its about pop and when the audience first reads it, it has to be clear with genre it is.

The third person I asked said that they prefer "Get the latest trends from the celebs you adore", because celebs are trendy and they are the role models people can look up to and want to be like so they will copy them and listen to there advice on it so teenagers can look up to them.

Finally the last person I asked said they liked "Get,great,gossip" because its really informative about what the audience will be receiving, its catchy and alliteration so it can stick in your head more. Also they said "Smash hits in the top chats" as its a pop music magazine so the audience are looking for the pop music and want to find out what kind of music is in the pop charts and are available to listen to.

In conclusion I have decided to use to the cover lines "Get,great,gossip" as its catchy and simple and easy to read and can tell the reader its a gossip magazine which the audience will like. Also the cover line "Get the latest trends from the celebs you adore" as I think my target audience could be needed advice on trends and wanting to see some celebs wearing different makes and gain insight to styles and looks for them to wear. Also the cover line I will use "Smash hits in the top charts" as I think as it being a pop music magazine there needs to be information about the music and the top charts and my target audience will pick the magazine up with thinking about what music is on right now and how far up in the charts.

planning: treatment title,genre,slogan,prices,tones

In this task I asked 4 people their opinions on my choices and ideas for my magazine front cover. I asked about the slogans, prices, the masthead and tone/themes. I decided to video my target audience and hear what they have to say about my ideas and what the prefer. I then gathered all the videos and used final cut to put them into a video and crop, edit and use images to make it as best as it could be.

 For the slogan section I asked my target audience which ideas there preferred and why. The most common one which 3 out of the 4 people I asked said they prefer the slogan "play,pause,rewind" as they said " it has the most relation to music" and " short and simple". another common one which 2 out the 4 people said they liked was "love music, love this" and there reasons were " its catchy". Overall with my slogan I have decided to listen to my target audience as thats who I'm aiming my magazine at so their opinions matter a lot and go with the slogan, "play,pause,rewind". I like this slogan as well as its catchy, simple and includes music and as doing a pop magazine its a clear title to tell the audience what genre my magazine is.

 For the next section I asked people on what they think my masthead should be. I had many ideas of which I was very keen of. Out of everyone that I asked all of them said they liked "Audio Weekly" as they said it sound professional and as it is directed at an older target audience, late teens it can't sound to cheesy so I also like the masthead 'Audio Weekly". Some of my target audience also said that they liked "Charts" as they said " its want you want to see and hear about". I personally think it doesn't fit my magazine as good as "Audio Weekly" does and everyone liked "Audio Weekly" so This is the masthead I'm going to use as its not to cheesy, its bold, it sounds good and it isn't too short or too long to use.

 I then asked my audience about what kind of prices they would pay for this monthly magazine. I had many ranges from £1.50- £2.75. My audience gave a range of opinions. 2 of them said £1.50 and then another 2 said £1.50-£2.50. they said that if its £2.50 it would be a better quality magazine and it isn't a lot of pay each month. The reasons for people saying £1.50 they said as it is affordable, and more people will spend money on it and its a good price as its not to expensive and doesn't sound to cheap. overall I have decided to sell my magazine for £2.50 as its per month so i would need a suitable income from selling these magazines and also its a good price per month and it is affordable and as its more professional and for later teens I think that having a good price which isn't too cheap shows people that you magazine is more upmarket and isn't for just little kids or anything.

 The last ideas I showed my target audience was what tone/themes would they like to see in my magazine and what they think should be included and directed at. i gave many ideas from being formal to informal, from being direct to being personal and many more. All of the people I asked said they would want it to be formal as they said it looks more "sophisticated and professional" and if its aimed at the older target audience it can't be to informal. people also said it needs to be direct as it will appeal to the target audience and also make the audience engaged and want to read and buy my magazine so it can be personal and direct. They also said they want some gossip in the magazine as it needs a little gossip as the target audience are late teens so they like knowing about celebrities and what gossip which goes on and like to have an insight to whats happening and if they are the ones reading my magazine then it should include gossip.


Overall I have decided to use the themes, gossip about celebrities, formal as it is an upmarket magazine so can't be to informal but at the same time still be personal and direct so appeals to my target audience a lot more. IN conclusion this task has been very helpful as i know exactly what my target audience feels and thinks towards my ideas about my magazine and what I should and shouldn't include in it. it has also helped me to decided what to include and what they prefer and what they want to see on my magazine and appeals to them the most.

Conclusion of research

Throughout my research I have found it very useful and beneficial to me due to the fact I have better knowledge and a clear understanding on what to include on my front covers, double page spread and contents page. I have learnt a lot about backgrounds, textual analysis, genres and target audiences within music magazines.

The analysis of the front covers, cover pages, contents page and double page spread helped me to identify the target audiences in a magazine and what needs to be indued in order to appeal to that audience. I learnt the common themes within music magazines and what tends to be on each page. 

The background/context part of my previous tasks helped me to gain insight into the history of music magazines. 

This helped me to decide what genre I wanted to make my magazine aimed at and I gained a lot of information on what genres and wants fonts are needed. 

Also in the background/context of my research I completed tasks including a video diary, a wordle and much more. when producing the video diary I felt it was a good opportunity to fit a lot of information into a short video. It also helped me by using all different web tools so I gained knowledge on how to do certain things. I also researched into two contrasting publishers with one being a big company and the other being a small company. This was mass vs niche publishcations. This helped me get insight into ways that magazines are produced. 

I learnt a lot the gratifications theory, I found this an interesting task and it was useful as I now know what magazines aims are to create and there person identity. This will help me when doing my own one as I can apply the same theory to my own magazine.

In the next section I was deciding what magazine genre I was going to make my magazine. by carrying out this research I was able to find out a lot more about the pop music genre and what to include in my own one. 

looking at my genre (pop) magazines this has helped me get a really good idea as to how my magazine will work as I can use the same concepts and layouts as the magazines I have analysed. This also helped me to see what language techniques were used and what kind of fonts and colours also were. 

Following this I researched general textual analysis of Pop magazines. I looked at two front covers, followed by an contents page and double page spreads. I looked a lot into how they function and what is shown on each of the. 

finally I researched into my target audience and found my primary, secondary and tertiary audience. I am now ready to go into the production of my magazine as I have a lot of knowledge and clear path of what to do with my magazine. 

Target audience - Emaze

In this task I had to choose which age group I would like to view my magazine first. I choose to do a magazine that could appeal to females, females are the primary audience aged 16-22 as I thought at this age you don't want the cheesy gossip magazines, but you want the more grown up magazines but also with gossip in, so I thought this was a perfect aged group. I then looked at my second audience and this included both sex's as a magazine can appeal to any sex that chooses to read it and I would greater the age range to do so. Then I looked at my tertiary audience and made this age range wider and think about who I didn't think would immediately pick up this magazine but who can also read it and get some enjoyment out of it. I used go the website Avachara to make my model audience and dress then on how i think they would look and what i was expecting so i could get a better picture on who may be reading my magazine.

Preliminary Task and Evaluation

For this preliminary task i was asked to create a school magazine front cover and contents page using photoshop. I have used photoshop previously as I did media GCSE so I knew how to use it and this made rework quicker and more efficient. I have practiced loads of tools and how to do many things so when I do my real one I will know what i want, where and the quickest way to do it. i have also further my knowledge on how to use photoshop and what worked well and what did work well when completing this task. 

POP moodboard

This is my mood board task. I took the pop genre and songs and made my own mood board. I used pictures of famous arenas and celebrities and i also used pictures of there fans. I the used iMovie to produce a moodbaord with many songs put together and different pictures on every beat.

summarising what i have learnt from textual analysis.

completing the textual analysis tasks i have made me further my knowledge on how to use certain tools and also my knowledge about magazines and the pop industry.
The analysis of the front covers, cover pages, contents page and double page spreads were very helpful for me as i now know what the target audience look for and the important parts and the less important parts of a magazine. I feel a lot more confident when i do my own magazine as i also found out specific details to include and what works well and what should and shouldn't be included.
The task of uses and gratifications theory was very useful and i can apply it to my up coming magazine.
All magazine need to include a theory so by researching into this one as made me more confident when i start my own cover. I will know what needs to be added to fit the demands of the theory and what works well and what doesn't work so well.
I also now know whats popular with my genre and the target audience so i can apply this when designing my own.

uses and gratifications to a pop magazine

In this task I look at a magazine and used the uses and gratifications to analysis it and find out about the throes and what I need to do to apply it to my magazine. I found out what people look at and what should and shouldn't be included.

introduction to uses and gratifications

During this task I look at the introduction of uses and gratifications, i found out the throes and researched into it so I could further my knowledge of the theory and be able to apply it when doing the next task of applying it to magazine.

analysing double page spread X2 Prezi

In this task i analysed to double page spread magazines of the genre pop. I look into the font, colour, target audience, quotes and the celebrities. I look at how the page was set up and what interests the audience the most and whats eye catching and the text it self. I looked at two different ones and presented them both through a prezi.

analysing 2 contents pages with my chosen genre pop

For this task I looked at two different contents pages with my genre of pop. I look at the target audience, the font, colour, who was the main image and what they were trying to get across, how the text is set out and what is included. I looked at two different magazines, Billbaord and Top of the pops.

electropop- subgenre

For this task I have looked at the sub genres of pop, I came across bubble gum pop, country pop, electro pop and a few more; however I have decided to explore the sub genre electropop.
I have researched more into electropop; the history, development, style of music, the target audiences and their influence of other people.

Electropop is a musical genre which combines electronic music and pop music. Electropop songs are electronic and pop songs, and are often with simple, catchy hooks and simple dance beats to the song. The sub genre became very popular during the 1980's and has still remained popular. Electropop began to appear in the late 1970's with the "robot pop" of German band Kraftwerk.

The genre has changed so much, by keeping up with the trends and younger audiences. electronic dance music is now very popular with the current audience. 

There have been many awards for artists that have produced electropop. For example calvin Harris won 2 MTV awards in 2012, one being for his music video of the year and the other one being best video of electronic single. Avicii has also won many awards regarding electronic music. 


Electropop was mostly played in clubs this is where people would hear the songs when there out, and then it would become more and more popular. Now people listen to electropop music on spotify and other music apps. 

There a different kind of magazines that are specific to this sub genre, an example is MixMag.  MixMag is a British music magazine which has aspects that focus on the sub genre electropop, which is also electric dance music. 

There are many electropop music wrists such as Lady Gaga, Kesha, David Bowie, Madonna.

The type of people that are mostly likely to listen to Electropop music are men ages 18-24.

analysing 2 front covers magazines of the chosen genre - pop.

Genre research, Pop

In this task I looked into the pop genre, pop music and pop industry. I did this research to get a clear understanding and to further my knowledge within the pop genre. This task helped me to understand the history of pop, artists, pop magazines and the pop industry. This is benefit me in the future as I will know what to indue and what appeals more and the history behind the pop industry.

Two contrasting magazines, annotating webpages, Anthem

This page is very eye-catching as it uses 2 colours one that is dark and one that is light and are very bold. This webpage makes its very easy to subscribe to Anthem as there are many things you can click to subscribe as well as having there one section for it. This page compared to Bauer is very different as this one is more bold and convincing. They also have a section for music magazines and able to subscribe below it and also have a picture of the magazine so you get to see what it looks like. This webpage is also eye-catching as bold. They have many options you can click on such as Back Issues and Subscriptions ext. They also make it very clear are the top of the page that its free delivery within the uk, money-back guarantee and they deliver worldwide. This is a very good way to connect to audience as they are only paying for the magazine and not everything else that comes with, as if they go to a shop and buy it they wouldn't pay for delivery. so it's not only the same price its also easier than going out and you can subscribe weekly, monthly ect.

two contrasting magazines, annotating webpages - Bauer

The use of the newsroom allows us the audience stay up to date with the latest reviews, stories and posts on Bauer. This is quite a personal webpage as it allows us to notice peoples pictures and names. Tells us about the latest releases and tells us what is nominated and the awards that are considered. Also tells us about spokes people giving us there names and pictures and what magazine they are the spoke-people for. this webpage clearly shows what more Bauer does. Tells us about the adventure, Bauer academy and you can click on this categories and look into it more to see exactly what Bauer is about, what they do and there academy. Tells us about their entertainment and events they hold and the entertainment hub on Bauer, also also there awards and achievements. They set this out very neatly so its easy to click on and find exactly what you are looking for and what your trying to find. Bauer publish loads of magazines, as well as bigger brands such as Heat and Mojo. Bauer has many small specific brands as there are way to many magazines that are included in this industry. This page shows the magazines they publish along with there logo as us as a audience can recognise it more when sold in shops or out and about. This webpage lets us look at the digital side of what Bauer does, the magazine side, TV side and radio side.

Competitor Research- WordItOut

In this task I had to make a wordle of words that link with pop and the pop genre. i used different colours so it appeals more on my blog. I learnt what magazines and what words associate with pop and would be beneficial when doing my own magazines to see what common things should be included.

Summary of what i have learnt so far.

During all the tasks I have completed I have gained much knowledge on magazines and the music industry; I have also gained a lot of knowledge on using new blog tools within my work. My insight to the music magazine industry has developed a lot since the start of getting the tasks. I have learnt many things such as the two most popular and well-known music publishes, being Bauer and Anthem. I have learnt a lot about these two publishers when researching into them for one of my tasks. I have also learnt the main key concepts that are applied to a music magazine, eg, the audience, genre, representation and institution, and how they are applied and what they include. I am mostly interested in the pop industry within music magazines, so I want to further my knowledge and apply my tasks to be around the pop genre. I have also learnt from my research all the different genres on music magazines eg, rock, pop, jazz, rock and many more. During my next tasks I’m sure I will gain more knowledge about the music magazine industry and apply it to my work.

Music iconography mind map

In this task I looked into different music artists and looked into different music genres. I learnt the different types of people who produce different kinds of music. This will help me in the future in m y tasks as i will be able to see what kids of people should be on my front cover and contents pages in order to appeal to the correct target audience and using the correct genre.

Key concepts of music magazines.

Research into 6 Different Music Magazines - Similarities and Differences

My Video Diary

Task 2 video diary. Magazines come in all different types of genres. Examples of these are car magazines, gossip magazines, fashion magazines and many more. The magazine genre that I am looking into is the music genre. These genres and sub genres include, rock, pop, jazz classical and hip hop. A music magazine includes music, current artists, the making of music, music culture gossip about music and the music industry. There are lots of very popular music magazines like Top of the pops, NME, rolling stones and many more. NME is associated with rock and indie music. Billboard is associated with pop music. Top of the pops is usually the teenage current music and top charts. Over the past years there have been a drop in magazine sales as people can know look up the information on the internet. To prevent this magazines have made it so you can only subscribe to these magazines which helps the sales a lot as people find it more difficult to then get there information. The biggest magazine publisher in the UK is Bauer, they have over 25 million consumers in the UK itself. Bauer publish very famous music magazines such as MOJO and Q. This may be because, these two genres are popular amongst the target audience. Pop music magazines is also a popular genre as they have the biggest target audience which is generally females ages 13-18 in secondary school. And a secondary target audience of females aged 21+. They are also very popular as they interest a lot of the audience and have many different celebrities that can fit into the pop genre. Chart music today usually revolves around Pop music, so this could be why the magazines are popular. The artists that are on the covers are usually the ones in the limelight at the moment or have issued an album or a song or have new about their career. This helps them a lot with spreading the word of there album or new single. Overall, I found out that pop and rock genres are very popular within the music magazine industry.

Comparing Magazine Publishers- mass vs niche

In  this task I looked at 2 different magazine publishers, there history and what they include and produce. I looked at genres and the pricing and lots of extra information about them. I looked at mass vs niche publishes, in this task I looked at Bauer media and Anthem publishing and looked into depth about each of them.

wordle on music magazine names

This is my wordle, i chose to use these words because they all are related to music magazines and are all relevant. Within my wordle there are words of the magazine names, features of what you would see on a front cover of a magazine, what is written in magazines and what they show and are about. i found out that magazines have a target audience and have a colour pattern going on within there magazine, they also all use most of the same features and use the same techniques.

media introduction

COURSE WORK MEDIA.

About me

Hi, im Anna i am 17 years old and i study at JCoSS. I have chosen to do media A level not only have i done it in previous years but i also thorourghly enjoyed it and want to further my skills and my knowledge.

The brief

This is media A level however the first year is an AS. My AS coursework counts as 50% of my final AS media grade. The task we have got given is to research into media magazines and what is popular in the magazine industry. We will also be making our own magazines which has a front page, contents page and a double page spread, which is relevant to the music genre of magazines. I will focus on a target audience which i will be targeting and working towards with my magazine.