30th October 2015

In the past two weeks in my Media class, we have been researching and looking into the conventions of a magazine. I have found out that there are many common features on a magazine which different companies change to catch the attention of the target audience that they are trying to reach. After this, I looked at various different magazine covers for school magazines that I thought I could take ideas from and get inspiration from.

School Magazine Inspiration For My Front Cover

 

 Here are two magazines that I personally thought could be used as inspiration for my school magazine front cover. The Left magazine is very eye-catching as the picture is hand-drawn and this is not what the viewer would usually expect from a magazine front cover. In addition to the eye-catching main image, the masthead is in two different colours which effects the reader as they are primary colours, drawing them in and making them want to know what the magazine is about; especially after reading 'Rethinking Schools' as this is an exciting masthead for the magazine which will intrigue the reader. Finally, the main image is anchored by a cover line which reads 'Fighting for our schools', this gives a sense of curiosity for the reader as it is an unusual title making them wonder what has happened to the schools that need to be fought for.

so, moving on to the second magazine that I chose for inspiration, the one on the right. This is a less professional magazine and I believe it may have been made by a student or someone that does not have much experience with magazine making; this is why it is perfect as inspiration! It is easy to read with clear heading and plenty of text; I especially like the fact that the main image is of two (what look like) students in a happy pose holding props that relate to the content of the magazine. 

 

School Magazine Annotations

This school magazine does not have the same connotations as normal magazines; this could be because it is meant to be sold to a narrower target audience. It also does not have a price or bar-code, this is due to it not being sold in shops; it may be an on-line edition of the magazine or it could have the bar-code and price on the back of the magazine. As in most magazines there is a cover model, however it is not someone who is well known or famous, or even a photographic model. Similarly as in most magazines they have used a puff to try and persuade the target audience to buy it; this is in the form of a competition where the reader could win a prize.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the school magazine that is shown here is very basic and so would not attract many people from the target audience. In my opinion the magazine does not have many features that attract me to it, however this is largely because I do not think I am the target audience for the magazine. This research has been incredibly valuable as it shows that I need to make my cover photo as attractive as possible for the reader to actually want to buy it. I will defiantly consider putting a variety of fonts and colours as the school magazine shown above does not do this which means it is quite plain an boring and not eye-catching at all.



Magazine Annotations

Heat Magazine

Heat is a magazine about celebrity's and it's target audience are generally women aged 20 - 30; this is because the celebrity's highlighted in the magazine are in that age range. Heat magazine's tag line is 'This weeks hottest celebrity news', this is above the bold, red Masthead saying 'Heat'. They target their audience in various ways by using connotations of a magazine. As you can see their central image is a cover model who is well known. In addition to this the central image portrays her as upset and lost as her expression makes the reader think this. There is a bold cover-line next to the picture which allows us as the reader to understand that the main article is about Nikki's love life. The puff is in yellow which stands out against all the other colours of the magazine showing another article that has been written in the magazine. Furthermore, the theme of colours - yellow, blue and red - are used within all editions of the heat magazine which help the magazine to be easily recognisable in the sea of magazines that are on the shelves. Finally, the barcode and price have been clearly stated on the left side of the magazine; they do not ruin or distort the image.

Cosmopolitan Magazine

The cosmopolitan Magazine clearly shows that it is targeted towards women as all the main font is written in pink. This is because pink is usually associated with women so the target audience will be more likely to pick up the magazine. They have a puff that is yellow, which is different to the rest of the cover, and promotes a freebie of vouchers to persuade the target audience to buy the magazine. The central image is of a happy, young cover model that is the main story of the magazine. We can tell how the central image relates to the magazine because the cover-line next to it gives us information about what the article is about. The tagline is 'The world's No.1 women's magazine.' This depicts that the magazine is targeted to women. The article uses a direct mode of address to make the reader feel as though they are relating to them as a person, they do this by using the word 'YOU' in capital, bold writing that is a different colour from the rest.

Conclusion

In conclusion, after looking at other magazines I think it will be massively important for me to ensure that I have targeted my magazine to the target audience as this will be the main people that pick it up and if they don't like it, then the magazine will not do well! Firstly, I think the top feature that the readers will look at is the colour scheme, I mean, if the magazine is targeted towards teenage boys it would be a very bad idea to start making all the headline bright pink as they just won't pick up the magazine!

Conventions of a Magazine



The Prezi that I have embedded shows a detailed explanation of what the conventions of a magazine are and why companies decide to use them. The main conventions are an important part of a magazine because they have been specifically highlighted as part of the magazine that the target audience will consider when they are thinking of buying the magazine. Would you buy a magazine that has not got a bold masthead? I don't think so!

After doing plenty of research into what the conventions of a magazine are and why people use them I have decided that I will use most of them on my music magazine cover. This is because they help to make the magazine eye-catching for the target audience which will help the magazine become popular within the target audience that I choose. 

16th October 2015

This week has been a very exciting start to my Media project and I am curious as to how a magazine is made eye-catching so that the target audience is drawn towards it. In my Media lessons we have been looking at different types of magazines and what the features of them are.

What Is The Course About?

How Will This Course Help Me?

This media As coursework project is firstly designed to get us, as students, to plan and construct our very own media product using a variety of different types of skills; this includes being able to research the appropriate material to be able to create a media product that is of good quality and suits the target audience. Secondly, the course allows us students to use different programmes when making the media product and to also develop our skills and confidence in using these programmes.

The following blog post will contain my entire As Media coursework which will be assessed and moderated. I will show not only a (hopefully) professional-looking final piece, but I will also show how my work has progressed through the course.

Briefing

Preliminary Task: For this task, I will use Serif to produce a front page and a mock-up contents page for a school magazine. It must show a medium close-up image of a student with some text and a masthead.

Main Task: The front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine. All the images and text must be original and produced by the student. There is a minimum of four images.

Starting my Media As Journey

 

 I am starting my As Media coursework which will be about magazines and their conventions. I will have three final pieces that will be a double-page spread, front cover and contents page; these will all be inspired by other magazines that I have seen and the target audience’s ideas.

I used to study Biology however I found it very challenging so I opted out and changed to another subject that I have always been enthusiastic about. Personally, I believe it is very important to learn how the media works as it plays such a large role in many people’s lives today; this will be a great opportunity for me to understand what is involved in the process of magazine making and how the magazines make their money.

Throughout my entire life I have always been a creative person, whether it was painting pictures and making animals out of clay when I was younger; to drawing huge art pieces as part of my GCSE art coursework so I think this is a perfect time for me to put my creativeness to good use, especially as I have a passion for what goes on in the media around the world.