PowerPoint Presentation

During my research into pop magazines as pop was the genre that I choose ,I found out that the improvement of technology has massively helped improve pop as a whole. People are becoming more aware of the genre pop as pop artists are able to produce better music through the use of auto tune and share their music online for their fans to see. Furthermore, pop has also mixed with other genres now such as r&b so all the genres have come together which makes pop music more well-known and liked. In the 1950s when televisions were available the genre became very popular with the performances from stars ABBA the pop genre had never been so popular.

During my research I came across many conventions of a pop magazine. The ones that stood out mainly were to have a trendy pop star on the front page, as this will appeal to the target audience as they may look up to them and see them as a role model. Uses and Gratifications theory would say that the target audience can identify with the model featuring throughout the magazine. The artists are usually portrayed to be happy and full of energy as it could influence the target audience in a positive way. Also, pop magazines are very dance orientated. I got the idea that pop magazines want to create a happy feeling for the target audience as everything they spoke about was topics such as boys, makeup , love and fashion, which stereotypically teenagers find interesting or enjoy doing.In what ways does your magazine product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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My magazine is similar to top of the pops as the subheadings are to do with gossip,boys,fashion,makeup etc and there are a lot of them which makes the front page crammed; I noticed this was a popular convention amongst pop magazines as the target audience want to find out about as much gossip as possible.. There is also a well known pop artist on the front cover which stands out to the target audience and there is normally one rich colour on the page which really catches the audiences eye.

Representations:Girls are represented to be very girly. They normally have lots of makeup on, trendy clothes, involved in a lot of gossip and boys. This will be appealing to the target audience as they are mainly teenage girls and at this age this is what they would normally find interesting and they may be able to relate to the content in the magazine. They will find this appealing as they will feel as if someone understands them and they may get advice from the information inside the magazine.The language I have used is mainly informal this is because the target audience will be able to follow it clearly without finding words hard to understand. The target audience is mainly working class therefore we assume they will find informal language more appealing than middle class. Also, whilst doing my research I realised this was one of the conventions of a pop magazine so it would be effective.I used the magazine top of the pops to get ideas of how to fit the conventions of a pop magazine. I decided to use top of the pops because it had the same target audience as me and it seems to be a popular magazine for that age group, so I thought it would be useful to see how they appeal to their target audience, so I could follow those ideas to attract a large target audience.

I developed several parts of my front cover magazine to fit the conventions of a pop magazine especially top of the pops. I made sure that their was a lot of subheadings as I noticed that pop magazines especially top of the pop front covers are quit crammed with different subheadings. I noticed that most of the subheadings were about pop artists, clothing or boys so I tried to relate my stories to these topics as I new this is what my target audience would be interesting in reading. The model on the front page of pop magazines were normally wearing lots of makeup and someone that you would find attractive. Therefore, when I took pictures of my model I made sure her hair and makeup was done, so my target audience would be more likely to see her as a role model.However, I did challenge the genre of pop a little bit. When I was doing my research I noticed that they used a lot of blue, pinks and whites throughout their magazines, but I choose to use red,white,grey,yellow and black. The reason for this was because I thought that the red still stands out and appeals to the target audience but it creates a more sophisticated feel for the magazine which I thought would attract a wider target audience of teenagers. For example 16,17,18 year olds would still find this appealing but so would 12-16 year olds because of the subheadings still being about topics they would want to read about and I think they will find it appealing to be able to look up to someone older and listen to their views. Also, with teenagers growing up faster and having more access to older information I think they will find it appealing. I asked a few teenagers what they thought of the colour red and they said they found it appealing , they said they would want to read the magazine if they saw red as it looks different and makes them think it is important, however it still stands out to the audience and you can still tell it is a pop magazine due to the other conventions. Therefore I thought this would be a good way of making my magazine different and making it stand out to the people wanting to buy my magazine. If the magazine looksslightly different they may find it appealing to explore something they wouldnt normally.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?In my magazine I have represented my model to be the ideal girl. I have done this by making sure she is wearing makeup and her hair is done and that you can tell she has made a effort with her appearance. This is because top of the pop magazines use a model that teenagers would see as a role model and can relate to. In the media today girls are portrayed to make a lot of effort with their appearance and want to attract a lot of attention. Also, the media has a big influence on teenagers therefore they are more likely to be appealed to see a artists that is pretty and someone they think will get a lot of attention from people because it means they can get ideas from them. Furthermore, because the artist is on the front cover we already know she is important and has status so straight away the audience want to get to know. When I was taking my pictures I wanted my model to be inspired by the pop artist Rihanna, because she is a well known artist and many teenagers look up to her as a role model. Rihanna is successful and wealthy, and is seen as someone that acts herself. Therefore by portraying my model to be like her then I would appeal to my target audience as they may look up to her as someone they would want to be like or they may get ideas for the future from her, which can make the target audience feel understood. On the front cover my model is wearing black, this is because I wanted most of the attention to be on her face as it builds a connection with the artists and the target audience, also by her wearing black it brings out the colour red more and fits the colour scheme well.

I have represented my artist in a positive light, as she takes care over herself and she has been successful in her music career. This will be appealing to the target audience as they can look up to her and get advice from her. Whereas if I represented her in a negative light then the target audience might think badly of her and therefore not be interested to read the magazine. To represent this stereotype I edited my images to make them more bright and to add more contrast, this creates a more happy feeling in the target audience and makes her stand out from the page more.

My artist for my magazine fits the stereotype of a female as females are stereotyped to be girly, love fashion and makeup and take care of themselves. I thought this was important to fit the stereotype of a female because of the age group of my target audience. Teenagers are interested in what is popular and they try to fit in with the trends, therefore they will be more appealed to someone they can get ideas from than someone that challenges the stereotype of a female.

On the contents page, I wanted to portray my artists to be happy and to show the target audience that she is happy with her life/music career in pop. I thought a good way of showing this was by her wearing a bright colour as the target audience may see the relationship between her clothes and personality; that she has a bubbly character and that she is happy. We also get the feeling that she is happy and successful by the way she is posing in the images, she has a big smile which helps the target audience put together what her personality is like. The top she is wearing also looks quite trendy which means the target audience will find this appealing as teenagers like to follow trends and her more interested in fitting in than being different.

The artist on the front pageis wearing red lipstick, this stands out on her face and fits the stereotype that women wear makeup and want to look sensual. The use of red lipstick also tells the target audience a little bit more about the artist. We get the idea that she is outgoing and confident, not easily intimidated, and goes after what she wants. This is just what the target audience might think about her, therefore they are immediately going to see her as someone to look up to.

I used Photoshop to make the saturation of the picture more intense. This was because it made the model on the front cover stand out more to the target audience and it helped create the happy feel that I wanted for my magazine. It also helped fit the stereotype that girls wear a lot of makeup and make a lot of effort with their appearance.

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?These are a few media publishers that are very popular in the media industry. However they wouldnt distribute my product as they do not publish pop magazines.IPC media- Is one of the Uks leading consumerMagazine and digital publishers, with a largeportfolio selling over 350million copies each yearIPC media groups titles under five magazine divisions which are connect,Inspire,Ignite,Southbankand TX. They own NME and Guitar and base.Bauer media group-is a large German publishing company based in Hamburg. Operates in 15 countries worldwide and was funded in 1875 being privately owned. The music magazines this publisher provides are: Q, Mojo and Kerrang. Emap- Is the second largest magazine publisher in the uk with about 18% of the news-stand market by revenue. In 2007 the company announced a strategic review and as result the company split up and sold off to business-to-business magazine sold to Guardian media group and private equitty sold to firm A pax. The new company is called incisive-emap.

Immediate media companyImmediate Media Co is anaward-winning special interest content and platform company. It is one of the biggest consumer media businesses in the UK and thefourthlargest magazine publisher.Immediate media company sell76millionmagazinesevery year andreach 33millionpeople online every month.There vision is - Creating innovative opportunities for people to explore their passions.

Their future success will revolve around using their own platforms to change the way people interact with the content brands they love.Tom Bureau, Chief Executive of Immediate Media Co, has extensive experience of running print, cross-media and digital content and platform companies.They quote We care about giving something back to society and want to make a genuine difference to people's everyday lives.

Their values suit my magazine because they want to make a difference to peoples everyday lives and my magazine wants to make people feel included and understood by being able to relate to the pop artist in the magazine. Also, in my magazine I wanted to create a happy feel throughout it so that if people are feeling down they can read my magazine to feel better. Also, because of the target audience being teenagers I feel like it is important for them to have something to relate to as in society they may feel very excluded and that they cant talk about the way they feel or problems they may have. Also, they sell a lot of magazines every year so they may want to increase that number and sell my magazine. This would help their company as more people would be becoming aware of them and they will be reaching their goals and values more.

Who would be the audience for your media product?My target audience for my magazine is 12-16 year olds. I decided this by the type of content that is going to be included as it is about gossip, boys, fashion , music and stereotypically these are the topics that teenagers would be appealed to. Moreover, the model that will be on the front cover is portrayed as young and trendy throughout the magazine therefore this specific target audience can relate to the model and they will feel as if the model understands them more if they are of a similar age or if not a little bit older.

In order to know that I was creating the right magazine for my target audience I had to gather some information from the target audience and do some audience research so I could generalise the findings and see what they liked to see in a music magazine. This meant that I could get some ideas for my own. I decided to gather this information by doing questionnaires. This was useful because I asked a set of questions about music magazines and gave them options to choose from. When I had got enough people to fill out my questionnaires I then gathered the data and found out which answers were most popular. This was useful at knowing what to use in my magazine to appeal to my target audience. I had to make sure I gave my questionnaires to the right target audience which would be the same as my magazine target audience. Therefore, I handed out my questionnaires to students at my sixth form of different ages within my target audience 12-16. The data I got back was very useful as I found out what people didnt like in music magazines and what they did like, this helped me know what to include and what to not include.

Linking my magazine to the uses and gratifications theory, I think people will read my magazine for entertainment and to identify with the artists especially the model on the front page. The model on the front cover is successful and attractive so teenagers may look up to her and they may be able to relate real life situations to hers as there is an exclusive interview where she opens up about her journey of becoming a pop artist. I think it will appeal to teenagers that are mainstream and like to follow trends as the magazine is very up to date with fashion and stereotypically everything teenagers are appealed to. Whereas someone that is a bit more unique or seen as a subculture may not find the magazine interesting as they dont like following trends/fashions in society and they would prefer to see something thats more different.

How did you attract/address your audience?My magazine attracts to my target audience in several ways. Firstly, it attracts my audience by the use of stories it contains. For example, 2015 clothing , Top music tips and it has famous pop artists listed on the front page, which most teenagers will know about and they may be fans of them which means they will be interested in reading the magazine to find out about them. Also, the artist that I have shown throughout is shown as successful and a famous star therefore the audience are going to know about her and if they like her they are going to find the magazine eye catching, whereas if they didnt know the model and she wasnt well known they may not bother looking at it. Also, I made sure the model was showing direct eye contact on the front page as this shows she is drawing the audience in and the target audience may feel included. If they see her as a role model they may feel a sense of closeness or they may feel important because of the direct eye contact with the audience making them feel like they are in the same room as each other. On the double page spread, I used half a page of text and the other half was a image of the pop artist. I thought this would be appealing to the target audience because they can see the artists up close and they have a clearer idea of what she actually looks like. This is important as they will feel like a true fan if they know exactly what she looks like. Furthermore, I thought it would be appealing to the target audience to have a double page spread on a interview with the pop artist, as this gives them a chance to get to know the artist more and they may be able to relate to certain parts of their life which will make them feel as if someone understands them and there not alone. Adding on, because my model is successful and has done well for herself this could be inspiration for teenagers and could lead them on the right path if someone they look up to is doing something positive this may drive them to want to follow a positive path, which will benefit society

The target audience will be satisfied because the subheadings are to do with topics that teenagers will find interesting. This is important because it gives them the chance to discuss these topics with friends and they may get advice from the information the magazine has included. It fits the conventions of a pop magazine as I have used a bright colour(red) throughout which will catch the target audiences attention and draw them in. Also, red has connotations of importance and love therefore it makes the audience feel like they should read the magazine and the colour red gives the audience the feeling there is a lot of interesting information inside as red is not a boring colour. Also, it fits the conventions of a pop magazine as there are lots of subheadings on the front page which are crammed together. The target audience dont want to have to read loads but they want to see lots of big subheadings and gossip on the front page, as they will feel like they can feed this gossip back to their friends.

Furthermore, I have made my magazine appealing to the target audience by giving them the chance to win x factor tour tickets. As my target audience are teenagers I thought that they will mainly watch this programme and seeing this on the front page will catch their attention. They may be more likely to buy the magazine if there is a chance to win something as they may feel like they will get something in return from buying the magazine.

Throughout my production I kept showing my work to different people, to see how I could improve my work to make it more appealing to my target audience. I found it useful and important in asking people within the age group of my target audience as I wanted to know what would appeal to that specific age group and what would drive them to buy my magazine. This helped my work as It meant I could consider changing certain parts of my magazine to make it more appealing at attracting the correct target audience and in order to appeal to lots of teenagers.

Before my feedback

After my Feedback

When I was thinking about the colour scheme for mymagazine I knew it was important to use colours that would stand out to the target audience. I wanted to use bright colours as a aim for my magazine was to create a happy feel. I thought it would be a good idea to create a happy feel as it means teenagers may be able to read my magazine when they are feeling down and it may make them more appealed to read my magazine if they see bright colours as it shows positive representations. Therefore, the colour yellow really helps create the positive representations as it make the audience think of sun and summer which is a happy season. Whereas, if the colours were just blue,greys,blacks they wouldnt feel like reading the magazine if they are already in a bad mood and it doesnt come across as a magazine you can be inspired by if its got negative representations. I made sure I used the same colours throughout the magazine as it creates brand identity and the consistency makes the magazine flow and allows the audience to make a link between pop central and the specific colours used.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this productDuring the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt a huge amount on Photoshop. I have learnt how to use certain tools such as the colour sampler tool and the polygonal Lasso tool and I have learnt the basic skills of using Photoshop such as changing the text/font and how to insert images. I used the polygonal lasso tool when I was cropping my front cover picture, and taking on the background. This meant that I had to slowly go round the outline of the picture, it was difficult because you had to be very patient and do it slowly otherwise the picture would be very bumpy. To make sure my magazine looked as professional as possible I had to make sure that I done this neatly as the target audience are going to pay a lot of attention to the artists on the front cover. I used the colour sampler tool when I had already used a colour but wanted to find out the exact colour when using it again. This was important as I had to make sure the colours were consistent throughout as I followed a colour scheme.

I found it difficult changing the colour of certain text at times as sometimes I couldnt find the colour I had previously used or it wouldnt change. Also, it was difficult having to find a certain layer at times because there started getting quite a few so it was hard to find the specific one you was looking for. However, I just had to keep looking for the layer and in the end I found it. Whilst making my magazine I started to realise how much time it takes to make a media product, as before I wasnt aware of how long it takes and how much effort needs to be put into the magazine to make sure that it looks professional and so that appeal s to the target audience.

Colour sample toolPolygonal Lasso Tool

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

If I was to redo my preliminary task I would make sure that I plan my shooting schedule better, so that the lighting of the picture is more bright. This would of make the image on the magazine clearer to see. The preliminary task was difficult because we hadn't had much experience on Photoshop so were unaware of tools to use to make the magazine look more professional and appealing to the target audience. It was also difficult because we weren't as clear on the conventions of a magazine, so we weren't aware of how to appeal to our target audience as much as possible.A good thing about this magazine was that I had used subheadings plotted across the page , which related to the type of magazine it was. However, I do believe to make this magazine better the choice of fonts should have been thought about more and to make it more eye catching the font sizes should be larger.Overall, from doing this task I have learnt a massive amountOn photo shop and it made me want to do more research in magazines especially the conventions, which helped me understand how to make a professional magazine and the time and effort that is involved.

Feedback from my magazineThe colour scheme is very effective for standing out to the audienceGood use of subheadings and contentTry and add more subheadings to fit the crammed convention of pop magazinesMake the image on the front cover larger so it stands out more

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