In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Originally, I planned on designing a magazine that fits the majority young audience of pop music, however I changed my mind and tailored the magazine to a more mature audience because I know there is a niche market for a pop magazine for older pop music fans and the results of my post production survey also showed that teenagers would prefer a more sophisticated and mature design. My magazine lets the audience view pop music in a more mature, critical way. My magazine challenges forms and conventions of a pop magazine by bringing a sense of sophistication to the design and content, and integrating modern themes with traditional designs. I also featured articles about fashion because that would appeal to the target audience.
I looked at a range of magazines for inspiration in designing my magazine. I mostly looked at Rolling Stone, Q magazine and Vogue. I looked at Rolling Stone and Q because we have a similar target audience. The Rolling Stone magazine is one of the few magazines that focuses more on the traditional aspect in designing their product as opposed to magazines such as Blender magazine which has a more modern design. Also, I think the style of photography is similar to the style of photography I want to use for my magazine. They are high quality studio shoots that I think would appeal to my target audience. Also the style of fonts are traditional and fashionable,which would suit the style of my magazine. The Q magazine is issued monthly which is why the magazine is not as visually stimulating as other weekly pop magazines, it is designed in a way that the main attraction of the magazine is the high quality design and content and not bright colors and promotions, I intended to do the same with my magazine.
Another magazine that I looked at is Vogue, despite not being a music magazine, I looked at the design of the magazine, because my target audience is also interested in fashion and they would be attracted to the fashionable and stylish design. The thing that I took inspiration from in this magazine is the use of fonts and the style of photography. The fonts are mostly traditional, elegant fonts because they are feminine and would appeal to the female TA without the use of feminine colors such as pink because it might be too vibrant and aggresive. I also liked the style of photography of Vogue, they often use darker tones in their photographs because it conveys maturity, the subjects of the photographs are always portrayed as fashionable, sexy and elegant, which is how I want to portray my subjects in my photographs. They are often neat, pristine, high quality studio photographs that are heavily Photoshopped.
Studying these magazines gives me an idea of the codes of convention of the genre I selected and how I could manipulate them in my design. Magazines such as We love pop is a typical, conventional magazine targeted at young teens, it has bright, feminine colors (purple, pink) and visually exciting headlines, the main image has a high contrast to make it more attractive. It is fitted to the genre because Pop music has a majority of female audience and the majority are young teens. My magazine breaks the codes of convention in the design and content, the content and design is more mature and sophisticated, it gives a new perspective in viewing pop music.
Here are some magazines that I took inspiration from
I chose these magazines because they have a similar TA to my magazine and they have a sophisticated, stylish, traditional mix modern design, particularly in the photography style and font use, and I want to use a similar design for my magazine.
They really focus on the artists’ sex appeal when they photograph these artists, this is a somewhat conventional way of portraying pop artists and that is also something I’d like to incorporate in my photographs. On the cover of the first magazine(Billboard), the artist has thick, voluminous hair and perfect makeup to make the artist more attractive. Also, the artist took up most of the cover to put focus on her, this is because pop music focuses a lot on the artists’ appearances, this would not be conventional in other genres of magazines such as rock because it focuses more on the music and musical instruments. She has a seductive expression with her fingers on her lips, this is also to emphasize her sex appeal to make the artist more desirable. I find that this is a recurring trend in a lot of magazines and is one of the codes of conventions in photographing pop artists.
From these magazines, I learned more about the codes of conventions of pop magazines.
As you can see, one of the codes of conventions of pop magazines is that the masthead is always on the top of the magazine to catch the eyes of the audience, this is a conventional way of placing the masthead and grid use. They are often in simplistic, modern fonts to make it easy to read.
Also they include words such as ‘pop’ or ‘billboard’ so the audience would immediately recognize this is a pop magazine. ‘Billboard’ is also used to rank pop songs, which the audience would immediately relate to when they see the masthead of the magazine.
The codes of conventions of the headlines of the magazines are that they are often quotes or a sentence related to a pop artist, this would attract pop fans because they would immediately recognize the artist.
The codes of conventions of the main image of the magazine is that it is often a studio photograph or professional photograph of a pop artist. They are often portrayed as attractive, sexy and glamorous. This reflects the stereotype that most pop fans are very concerned about appearances. They are also often the main focus of the front cover because they are often very well-known and the artist alone might be able to entice the audience.
The codes of conventions of the color scheme of pop magazines varies between age groups and gender. For example pop magazines such as We love pop and Top of the pops are targeted at a young, female demographic, which is why they used a more feminine colour scheme with colours such as pink and purple.
While magazines such as Billboard and Rolling Stone are targeted at a more gender neutral and mature audience, which is why they used gender neutral colours such as white and red.
I needed to create a character for my artists that suits the music genre, I took inspiration from the content of these magazines on how I want the featured artists to be like in my magazine. So I looked at various articles and interviews of pop artists.
Also you could notice that female/young pop magazines ( we love pop ) has more promotions than gender neutral/mature pop magazines ( billboard ). This is because a younger audience do not care as much about quality as they do about promotions such as free giveaways, whereas a mature audience focuses on the actual quality of the magazine.
These interviews also give me an idea of how these artists are photographed.
I did a total of 5 sets of photograph, because I want to have more photos to choose from and because I want to experiment a little before I choose which photo I use for my cover photo. Before taking these photographs, I looked at a lot of photos to take inspiration from, I know how important a cover is in presenting the message and style of the magazine, so I took into consideration the color scheme, the model and the composition. Here are a few photos from the mood board for my cover photo.
These photos are great for inspiration because they are exactly how I want to portray my artist and how I want my magazine to be represented, sexy, elegant, sophisticated and mature. So using the above photos as my inspiration, I chose the model, the backdrop, costume, makeup and the time for my photos. I realise most cover photos of pop magazines are professional studio photographs with a plain white backdrop to ensure they have the most flattering lighting to make the artist look more attractive, however I decided that in my cover shoot, I will use the Chapel as the backdrop because I want to use the brick walls and staircase to replicate a chateau or a castle, to reflect the elegance of the artist. I didn’t use any props because I want to put the focus on her. I chose a little black mini dress as the costume as black is a mysterious, modern and sexy color, it also goes well with the color scheme. I styled her hair according to how I want to portray the artist, I curled her hair and added volume to it so it looks sexy, luscious and voluminous. This is a fairly conventional way of photographing a pop artist. I didn’t use any dramatic filters when I edited my photographs because I want them to look natural as opposed to indie or rock magazines which could have dramatic contrasts and hues to make the band look more alternative.
The font use follows the codes of conventions of a pop magazine. All the fonts I used throughout the magazine are neat, pristine and modern to represent pop music because this kind of fonts would appeal to the majority of the mainstream audience unlike rock and indie magazines where they use distressed fonts to attract an audience with an alternative taste in music. I looked at a lot of fonts before I made my decision, I decided to use two font for my front cover, a traditional, neat and simple font for the masthead and a light, modern font for other text. The old-fashioned font-use could make the front cover look more sophisticated but I didn’t use that font for everything in the magazine because it might seem too boring and dull to the readers and they might lose interest. I came up with this idea when I looked at Q magazine, The masthead ‘Q’ is in an old-fashioned, traditional font, however the rest of the text are very modern and bold. This opens up the magazine to the mature audience
Like most pop magazines, I used a house style throughout the magazine, I used similar fonts with black, white and turquoise being the main colors. Although the majority of my TA are females, I chose to use turquoise instead of the more obvious feminine color pink because it might be a too vibrant and agressive color for the style I want to use for my magazine.
I chose to use the masthead ‘Loud’ because it conveys that mainstream pop music is very popular and could be heard everywhere, it also represents my TA’s desire to be heard, to tell people that although the pop genre has a lot to do with appearances, that doesn’t make pop music any less respectable.
Although people could also argue that Loud could relate to rock music or hip hop music because it implies the use of loud instruments in rock music or the aggressiveness of hip hop music. However I clearly demonstrated that this is a pop magazine from the use of fonts.
I used a stylish, modern, simple, delicate font to illustrate that this is a mature and feminine magazine. The audience would also be able to recognize the font as a very popular font used in fashion magazines which my TA would be interested in. The audience could clearly recognize this is a pop magazine because it is different than the fonts used in hip hop magazines or rock magazines.
This is the masthead of a hip hop magazine, compared to the masthead of my magazine, it is a lot more masculine and bold, it conveys the aggressiveness of the genre and the male majority of the TA.
This is the masthead of a rock magazine, it is in the colour black and the masthead ‘kerrand’ reminds us of the sound made when instruments clash together. The masthead is also distressed in white lines which represents how rock fans are rebellious.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Pop fans are usually very fashion-conscious and care a lot about their appearances, I believe this is driven by how pop artists are presented, they have a standard of beauty that every pop fan aspire to achieve. Unlike rock fans, they are less interested in instruments and concerts. They also engage in less rebellious activities such as smoking, tattoos, piercings etc. They are interested in fitting in to what the mainstream media call beauty.
My product represents my target audience, 17-35, fashion-conscious pop music lovers. They are modern, trendy, fashionable and they want a magazine that is modern and tasteful. My magazine represents them by having a typical pop artist as the front cover, which most of my target audience would look up to. It represents my target audience by using image of what they aspire to be.
Throughout my magazine, I have not once used a photograph of a musical instrument or an artist holding an instrument. There was also no photos of artists performing, this is to represent that my TA do not care very much about concerts or instruments. They wouldn’t be attracted to a front cover of a pop artist performing because the image is not flattering to the artist, they would be more attracted to studio photographs. This shows that the TA is more interested in the style of the pop artists than the actual music.
Pop music is a very image driven genre, I tried to illustrate this by carefully planning the tone/register, photography styles, mise-en-scene and costume/style choices, attitude/pose of artists, props. I used professional lighting to make sure the lighting is as flattering to the model as possible. In the photographs I took indoors, I made sure I used something to difuse the light to make sure it looks natural and flattering.
The subject of my front cover has wavy volumnous hair, big eyes, a slim body, these are what the mainstream media would call the standard of attractiveness, this represents my target audience because a lot of my female target audience would look up to and aspire to be her, and the male target audience would find her attractive. Her dress is also very sexy and trendy, this represents my target audience because this would be clothes my female target audience would want to wear/buy, they will feel more engaged with the artist. She is posing standing up, with her hand slightly touching her lips, she’s not smiling and has a very seductive expression, this is also to emphasize her sex appeal and attractiveness, this represents my target audience because this is what they would aspire to be like. And the chapel in the background is to replicate a chateau or castle, to reflect her sophistication and elegance, this represents my target audience because they are looking for a more sophisticated and elegant design. This is backed up by my post production survey that suggests over 80% of the audience would prefer a more sophisticated design.
My second artist represents a different segment of my target market, while still appealing to the mainstream audience, this artist is represented in a more edgy way. The lighting used for this artist is more harsh and creates a bigger contrast compared to my other artists, and she’s wearing a leather jacket with red lipstick. She’s also sticking her tongue out and pulling her jacket, this is to show her playful and wild side that could be reflected in her music. This represents the target audience that enjoys pop rock music.She is inspired by pop rock bands such as panic! at the disco and the Ting Tings
My third artist ihas blonde hair and wears a gold dress, she has her finger on her face as if she was asking a question. she is wearing a playful smile. She is photographed indoors using professional lighting. She addresses the segment of my audience that enjoys mainstream pop music because I arranged the mise en scene for her to look like a pop artist. I also tried to recreate a studio in my room using limited resources to reflect the quality of my magazine.
Other than using images, I also used font to address my audience, I looked at the font use of different magazines, pop, rock, rap etc. And every genre uses a different font style. For example Rock fans would be attracted to this masthead:
because rock fans want something that represents their rebellious personality. This masthead has a bold, thick and distressed masthead with an exclamation mark, this represents the rock fans as rebellious, artsy and agressive.
I understand that font use is very important so I chose my fonts carefully, I wanted a font that is stylish, elegant, modern and delicate. I looked at the fonts used in other magazines for reference
For example:
Although my magazine represents my target audience stereotypically as girls who cares a lot about their looks, I also tried to present them as music lovers who are interested in listening to other genres, I tried to illustrate that by using artists with different styles in my magazine
I also took a photo of makeup brushes to represent my target audience’s interest in makeup artistry, design and art.
Since my TA are very interested in appearances and the way they are dressed, they are often seen as vain and superior, I tried to represent that with the quality of my magazine. This shows that despite being of the same genre, my magazine and magazines such as We Love Pop has a different target audience because their TA are not represented this way in the magazine.
In a way, the models used in my magazine represents my target audience, which means that since all the models used are attractive, they would feel that they are also more attractive and has a good sense of style, this would make them feel superior, this is one of the attitudes I wanted to convey in my magazine, that the readers are proud of their good sense of fashion.
Below are some images and examples of the target audience for my product:
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Some magazines that are similar to mine would be Q magazine and Rolling Stone
I think my magazine would go the best with the company style of Q magazine and Rolling Stone because we have a similar design and both our aims are to set ourselves apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing, with an emphasis on style.
Q magazine has its own website, Q awards, and it also has an online merchandise shop. This is very important to magazines, especially because nowadays everything is done digitally, the target audience would soon lose interest in printed formats and lead to a decrease in sales, which is why having an efficient website and having online publications is crucial to a magazine’s success.
Q magazine’s publisher is Bauer Media Group, which also publishes Kerrang!, a rock magazine, you could notice a common theme in Kerrang! and Q magazine and I think my magazine would be a good addition that focuses more on pop music.
Another institution that might distribute my magazine is Conde Nast. Despite not having a music magazine, we have a similar company style, high quality photographs, sophisticated and mature design. This is a good institution to distribute my magazine because Conde Nast publishes magazines about fashion and style which my target audience would find interesting. Conde Nast also has its own youtube channel.
Conde Nast has a very stylish webpage that allows the audience to select which magazine’s webpage they want to go to, it is easy, fast and efficient.
When you click a magazine, you are immediately brought to a page where you could choose how you want to purchase this magazine, you are given options to subscribe to the magazine, iPad edition, Mobile App, see events or get Media Pack. This easy, efficient, stylish webpage design would appeal to my target audience. also they provide digital versions of the magazine on iPads and iPhones, devices that my TA would probably have, it is a fast, efficient way of distributing the magazine that my TA would like. Since my TA are very trendy and wants the newest technology, they would slowly buy less and less print copies of the magazine and more digital versions, which is why it is important to provide digital copies.
Using a cross platform to market and produce the product is very beneficial to the company because the use of each of these products would encourage the use of another thus increasing profit. This also increases brand awareness which increases brand loyalty which increases sales. Also by utilizing these devices (iPad, iPhone etc.) they could easily obtain customer information, it is a cheap way of doing market research, these devices could help obtain information such as phone number, email address, location, contacts etc. They could also send notifications to remind their customers when a new issue is out, it is a cheap way of advertising and it is a win-win scenario for these companies.
4.Who would be the audience for your media product?
Here are examples of what my target audience is NOT likely to look like:
Here are examples of what my target audience is likely to look like:
The demographic of my target audience are 17-35 in age and mainly female, however I included male artists to make it appeal to both genders. You could tell this magazine is targeted at females by the elegant, feminine design and delicate fonts. A majority of my audience would be university students, ( music or fashion major ) The articles in my magazine are written in a high level of english to attract them. My target audience would have a high educational background and would aspire to become singers, music producers, song writers, dancers, fashion designers, or something in the performing arts, music or fashion industry. My audience would have a fairly high-paid job, which is why my magazine is a high-priced monthly magazine.
My target audience are very fashion conscious, they wouldn’t wear baggy jeans, snapbacks or band tees. They would most likely follow fashion trends in fashion magazines and attend fashion shows. They would also be interested in makeup, nails, hair/beauty products etc.
Here are some pictures of how my TA would dress:
The interests and hobbies of my target audience would include singing, design, art, makeup artistry, fashion, social networking etc. My target audience would enjoy reading magazines to catch up on the latest fashion trends (hence why I placed a fashion section in my magazine) They would also be interested in art and design (architecture, fashion design, interior design etc). They would also be interested in makeup artistry. Although they are a more mature segment of the market, they are generally young and enjoys social networking. They might use social networking for their hobbies and interests such as watching youtube videos about makeup or following fashion setters on twiiter.
Websites my target audience would go on include Billboard, Vogue, Style.com, and for social networking sites, they would go on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram etc. They might go on fashion websites or become or follow fashion bloggers, this is becoming very popular amongst the age group of my TA.
Since my target audience invest a lot of their time on social networking and are very up-to-date with the latest technology, they would prefer devices that are fashionable and allows them to easily access these social networking sites. Examples are Samsung Galaxy, Iphone 5, Ipad etc.
My TA would also be interested in shopping for clothes. They would like high street brands such as Topshop, River Island, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Zara, H&M etc However, for the older TA with higher income, they would probably prefer expensive brands such as Chanel, Dior, LV, Gucci, Armani etc. They would also be interested in shopping online, which is why most of these brands have a website for online shopping. The TA would like to be able to shop online via their devices.
http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/page/home/
http://www.americanapparel.net/
http://www.louisvuitton.co.uk/
http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard
http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/styleguide/
5. I think my magazine attracted the right audience because according to my post-production survey, most of my TA would buy my magazine. I invested a lot of time in making sure my photographs are top quality and to have the most attractive design possible because I think that is what my TA would look for in my magazine and my post-production survey supports that. I think my magazine attracts my TA because it is genre specific, even though I integrated elements of rock, rap and fashion into my contents page, 75% said they could tell what genre the magazine is. I took a risk in not putting any promotions in the magazine, because as I did research of my TA, I realized they are more likely to be enticed to buy my magazine because of the quality and not promotions, too many promotions could lead my TA to believe this is a magazine of low quality, which is why I didn’t put any promotions in my magazine, and I think made the right decision because up to 87.5% said that they were not put off by the fact that there were no promotions. I also did something quite unconventional with the design, I am targeting a very specific market, a mature audience for pop music, which is why I used a mature, sophisticated design instead of the conventional urban, bright-colored design. I was not sure if I made the right decision by using an unconventional design in a pop magazine, however I asked my TA which design they prefer, Mature, Sophiticated, dark color tones, high quality photography or Young, bright colors, loads of promotions, visually exciting and they responded with the former.
6. To create this magazine I used two programs. I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe InDesign CS5. I used photoshop for editing images and inDesign for editing the layout of my magazine.
A lot of my photoshopping skills came from my first School magazine, I learned how to change hair shape, body shape, recolour, erase blemishes etc. All of which are very important to present my model as attractive.
Although my model has near perfect skin, I used the clone tool to fix any minor blemishes that might have appeared in the photo, such as wrinkles, spots etc.
I used the liquify tool to change the shape of her body, face and hair. I made her hair more volumnous and I added a bit of muscle tone to her arms. I also changed her face shape ever so slightly, I reduced the size of her forehead to emphasize her delicate, feminine features.
I adjusted the color balance and brightness to enhance the lighting, since it was very hard to manipulate indoor lighting without a photo studio or professional resources, I decided to take this photo outdoors and even though the weather wasn’t the best, I managed to fix this with photoshop.
I also used the paint tool for her makeup, having insufficient experience with photography makeup, I didn’t put on anything dramatic enough to pull the attention to her face, I was also worried that adjusting the brightness might wash out her makeup and make her look pale, which is why I made up for it using the paint tool.
I used the paint and clone tool to remove any wrinkle or discoloration in her dress, I wanted her dress to look absolutely perfect.
A lot of my photoshopping skills came from my first School magazine, I learned how to change hair shape, body shape, recolour, erase blemishes etc. All of which are very important to present my model as attractive.
Although my model has near perfect skin, I used the clone tool to fix any minor blemishes that might have appeared in the photo, such as wrinkles, spots etc.
I used the liquify tool to change the shape of her body, face and hair. I made her hair more volumnous and I added a bit of muscle tone to her arms. I also changed her face shape ever so slightly, I reduced the size of her forehead to emphasize her delicate, feminine features.
I adjusted the color balance and brightness to enhance the lighting, since it was very hard to manipulate indoor lighting without a photo studio or professional resources, I decided to take this photo outdoors and even though the weather wasn’t the best, I managed to fix this with photoshop.
I also used the paint tool for her makeup, having insufficient experience with photography makeup, I didn’t put on anything dramatic enough to pull the attention to her face, I was also worried that adjusting the brightness might wash out her makeup and make her look pale, which is why I made up for it using the paint tool.
I used the paint and clone tool to remove any wrinkle or discoloration in her dress, I wanted her dress to look absolutely perfect.
Retouching is very important in pop because it is a genre based on image and style, which means the more attractive you are the more fans you will have, so it was absolutely crucial that in order to portray the artists as famous, successful, popular artists, I must ensure that the images are as flattering and attractive as possible.
Since my dad is a photographer, I managed to borrow a professional camera for my photoshoot and it made a huge difference in making my photos look more professional, the image i got was not pixelated and very high quality which I might not have been able to achieve with normal cameras.
I also relied a lot on the use of the internet, uploading all my work on wordpress means I would be able to access my work on any device with an internet connection, it was fast, efficient and saved me a lot of time. I also used the internet to research a lot for my project. I looked at hundreds of magazine covers from fashion magazines to pop magazines to look at what worked and what didn’t and how I could integrate that into my magazines. It is amazing how much you could do with the internet, without the internet it would’ve meant I’d have to go buy all these magazines and evaluate each one by one.
Also using wordpress means I could express my ideas in different formats, audios, images, links, videos etc. This was very useful because doing so digitally means I could present my idea in a lot more ways than if it was on paper. Using a multi-format platform to communicate with my audience makes it a lot easier to communicate with my audience.
Also, I used Poll daddy for my market research. I wrote questions related to my magazine and let my audience answer them. It was very fast and efficient, the response also helped me build, create and evaluate my product ( what I did well and how I could improve) Having direct response from the audinece means I could very easily improve my next magazine to suit my target audience. This technology allows direct communication between us and the audience, and I think this is crucial to creating a good magazine.
Technology is very important to this genre because with internet, there is a new platform for unknown aspiring pop artists to become successful. One good example is Justin Bieber, before he became famous he posted videos of him singing on youtube and people started to notice him and he finally got signed and became an international popstar. This demonstrates how useful these platforms are for these artists and the music industry as a whole.
With HD cameras easily available in almost anywhere, more and more people are using video cameras to record their talents and share it on platforms such as tumblr or youtube. This encourages unknown artists with limited budgets to become successful. Right now there are numerous people with music channels on youtube who have become more and more successful over time. They are able to make money on youtube by placing ads in their videos. Some even earn so much from Youtube that they make it their full-time job to create videos. Many music channels start off as just videos of them making music, however in time, with the number of views increasing, talented musicians then have an increased budget to create their own music videos and gain popularity. Some even have concerts and world tours, despite not being signed to a record label.
This just shows how powerful the internet and social networking platforms could be.
7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back, I think I did quite a good job with my first school magazine. It was targeted at a different TA, the TA of my School magazine is primarily male and aged 15-20, whereas my music magazine’s TA are females aged 17-35. However, from this task, I learned how to target my target audience. For example, I learned how to manipulate sunlight to take the most flattering photographs and enhance photos using photoshop. I used a big green field as the backdrop because a lot of my TA play sports and they would be attracted to the sight of a field. However, there are school building in the upper part of the magazine, which indicates this is a magazine for students. I learned how to use a color scheme to attract my audience. I used a quite colourful color scheme to attract my TA, I did this because these colors would attract young teens and I wanted to use colors other than the conventional red and black. I also chose my model carefully in how he could represent my target audience.
The things I didn’t like about my first magazine was the use of color. Looking back, I felt like there were too many colors and no universal color scheme to convey that this is a high quality magazine. There might also be too many headlines and it might be too visually exciting for the TA. Also although I did spend a lot of time in font choice, because I used several fonts, there was no unity and it looked a bit messy. This is why I decided to be very careful with that in my music magazine. I downloaded a lot of fonts before choosing the right font, I looked at modern, traditional fonts etc.
However I did like the layout of my magazine, I learned how to follow the codes of convention of a typical magazine. In both my magazines, I placed the masthead on top like how conventional magazines do. I especially liked the layout of my contents page and I decided to bring that to my Music magazine, you could see that I used a similar layout with a different design.
I also learned how to use programs such as indesign and photoshop, my photoshopping skills improved quite a lot and I was able to do a lot of things I wouldn’t be able to do prior to the first task such as changing hair color, changing body shape, enhancing lighting, erasing blemishes etc. Which I brought into my Music Magazine and it was extremely useful, this is because in both my magazines, I had to present my model in the most flattering, attractive way possible, and that’s where my photoshopping skills comes in hand.
Throughout the first task, I think what I learned was the importance of planning because I did design my magazine according to my flatplan and it saved me a lot of time and I think plays a huge part in making the magazine as good as possible.
I also made a checklist prior to every photoshoot, is this the model I want? What props should I arrange? should this be indoors our outdoors? What outfit should they be wearing? All of this would be shown in the mse en scene. I also did test shoots prior to every photoshoot, to test the lighting and the quality of the photos.
Throughout this year, I learned how to use various technologies such as using wordpress as a multi-format platform, InDesign, Photoshop etc. but most importantly I learned how to communicate with my audience, how to manipulate the mise en scene and how to create a media product that could attract my target market. It is important to conduct market research because it is very important to know what the TA expects from your magazine, you have to have a good idea of the demopgraphic of the TA to understand how you could tailor the way you produce and market your product to your TA’s needs. And technology such as poll daddy and iphones has made it easy to obtain market research, it allowed closer communication between companies and the TA to ensure high quality magazines.
I also have a better understanding of how visual codes such as how the artists are dressed and what fonts we use could directly affect what message the image conveys. I am now able to look at a real magazine cover and understand the meaning behind the imagery. I also learned that It is vital to use all these elements to portray your genre in your magazine because if the TA could not recognize and is not attracted to the magazine, they wouldn’t purchase the magazine
sarahcheung 