Pop videos

I have added this video for my research because JLS are one of the biggest bands at the moment and my magazine will appeal to my audience if the biggest bands and artists at the moment are in my magazine.

Pop videos

This video by Lady GaGa is another pop video, wheras my other pop video would appeal to my younger audience, Lady GaGa will appeal to my older audience which will help sell my magazine to the wider audience.

Pop videos

I have chosen this video from Girls Aloud as they are inspirational to young girls as they have achieved the dream and many young girls want to be like them, dress like them and have the life they lead. I might include Girls Aloud in my magazine as I know the younger audience of my target audience will like to know what they are up to and whether they are going to make another album and single. 

Feedback - 28/11/09

Very good research Romany! Good use of pictures etc... Dont forget you can put videos on also - for Youtube - you may want to put some pop videos on here when you are planning.

Now display your questionnaire results - pick the most useful question/s and make some bar charts/pie charts etc... Dont forget to use psychographic profiling (Young and Rubicon) and Maslow to determine your audience and how your product will appeal to your audience.

Go onto the ABC website to find out audience/circulation figures for magazines too - is there a market out there for your product?

Now move onto planning ( see the last two sheets on the 'before you blog' handout) Start your mood boards, rough mock up of pages, props list, shooting schedule etc....

Institution

My media text belongs to the institution that creates it. My media text meets the demands of my target audience by advertising my media text on television on channels, such as, BBC three, E4 and many music channels. My media text also follows the 'character' of the institution by adding traits from the channels that meet my target audience. My media text will also follow the remits/rules that the channels my media text will be advertised, for example, PSB remits for channel 4 and BBC.

The typical traits of this institution is that everybody knows what media texts follow. For example, Hollywood films follow the traits of big budgets, big stars, simple story lines, make believe, CGI and STX, whereas British films follow the traits of small budgets, complex story lines, unknown stars, reality and they usually end unhappy.

With magazines, different magazines follow different traits. For example, OK! magazine follows the traits of medium budgets, well known stars, good gossip that everyone wants to read and the magazine isn't expensive to buy. Whereas, music magazines, such as NME that only comes out once a month, has high budgets, well known artists but also upcoming artists and competitions.

I have found different example of this institution in music magazines by researching many different magazines. Each magazine has different traits but also have similar traits.

Representation

In my media text there will be two protagonists as they are the new girl group that will be the main feature in my music magazine. There will be many pictures of my main characters that will be in different locations. They will be represented in clothes which will represent my music magazine. My protagonists will be stereotypes as my music magazine is pop and the pop stereotypes do have distinctive clothes. The media uses stereotypes as a shortcut to creating their media text as they relate to different audiences.

The characteristics of my protagonists are related through the images from my music magazine and this is another part of my magazine that will extend my audience.

Walter Lippmann came up with four functions of stereotypes. He said that stereotypes are shortcuts for journalists, they are an ordering process, a map of the world so people can associate different places with different stereotypes and Walter Lippmann also said that stereotypes are an expression of our values and beliefs.

Audience

My primary target audience are young girls to older teenagers. My magazine is available to everyone, not just specific people. My age range is 13-18 year olds but 19 year olds would probably like my magazines as well so I think my age range is 13-19 year old girls. My music magazine will essentially belong to the middle class right through to the subsidence class. By using psychographic profiling I can determine my audience. My audience will be young to older teenage girls. As my magazine is a music magazine it will be up to date as it will have the latest celebrity gossip and music. As climate change is a big problem, my magazine will be made out of eco-friendly paper. By using eco-friendly paper, my music magazine will appeal to other audiences which will widen my target audience.

My secondary target audience for my magazine are boys as they are half of the population and by excluding them will limit my audience. The age range of my secondary target audience will be from 13-15. This is because many boys don't want to know about celebrities and so wont buy my magazine. Again, the same as my primary target audience, my magazine will be available for everyone. My magazine will be mainly for middle classes to subsidence class.

Through using Maslow's Hierarch of Needs my text will fill nearly all of the basic human needs. My magazine will fulfil the Esteem need by showing different body shapes to make my audience feel comfortable in their own body and it will show respect for others. My music magazine will also cover the self-actualization need, my magazine will show creativity, acceptance of facts and morality. This will appeal to my audience as my magazine appeals to many different people and they look for different things in music magazine's so each of the basic human needs will appeal to different people and different times.

My product will appeal to its audience as the colours will be for my target audience age range and the music that will be in my magazine will be artists that are for my age range of target audience. There will be groups for teenage girls and groups for young girls, for example, Girls Aloud and The Saturdays.

As part of my research, I have created a questionnaire with ten questions to give to my primary audience, however, I have also given my questionnaire out to my secondary audience to help me with my research. I have given my questionnaire out to 15 people within my age range of my music magazine. However, I have had to change my questionnaire as I put the wrong ages so my audience were a bit confused as to which age box to tick.

Questionnaire

(Please tick your answers where necessary.)

1. Do you buy a music magazine?

Yes

No

2. Do you buy a music magazine weekly or monthly?

Weekly

Monthly

3. What music magazine do you buy?

NME Kerrang! Vibe

Top of the pops Other (please state)

4. How much money would you be prepared to spend?

£2 - £3 £3 - £4 £5 +

5. Which music do you prefer?

Pop Hip/hop RnB

Rock Dance

Other (please state)

6. Would you like music magazines with extra information and if so Celebrity news or Fashion? (If ticked yes, please tick either Celebrity News or Fashion)

Yes No Celebrity News Fashion

7. Why do you buy music magazines?

Because they interest you

Because they entertain you

8. Which part of the magazine do you prefer?

News Competitions Interviews

Reviews Other (please state)

9. Are you male or female?

Male Female

10. How old are you?

13 – 14 15 – 16 17 – 18

19 +

Narrative

My magazine will follow the typical narrative structure because many people know what they are getting if the typical narrative structure is followed and audiences like the fact that they know what there getting. However, I would break some of the rules but I have decided not to as I risk my target audience not liking my music magazine. But by doing this I am also limiting my market as any people do like different things and can relate to them. My front cover, content page and double page article will follow the typical narrative structure of headings, sub headings and strap lines. These entice the readers to read on and choose which article they want to read.

Genre

The genre my project is going to follow is music magazine. My music magazines genre is pop. Pop is one of the most known genres in the music industry. My music magazine is a hybrid as it is a pop magazine plus celebrity gossip. This is known as genres with sub genres, such as music magazine with lifestyle magazines. I have chosen to do this because most teenagers like music and celebrity gossip, so my magazine will appeal to many teenagers. My target audience is for young girls to teenagers, mainly in the age range of 13-18. I have chosen this age range of 13-18 year old girls as they mainly buy celebrity magazines as they are interested in the fashion and what is happening with their favorite celebrity, also in the ages 13-18 music becomes a major part of their lives so many will buy music magazines. By creating a hybrid music magazine, it means that my audience can buy music magazines with celebrity gossip.
The conventions of my genre are researched. The characters are typical, new girl group, under 20, which can appeal to younger girls as role models. The mise en scene of my genre is young and the style of the new girl group is he latest fashion. The props of my girl group are make-up and jewelry, which are the main props that show the age of the girl group.
The genre I have chosen to research and create my project around is known worldwide. Some of the biggest bands, for example, Girls Aloud and The Saturdays are bands from my genre and they appeal to young girls as well as teenagers as role models and style icons.
My unique selling point is the fact that not many pop magazines are hybrid. Many are just music magazines or music magazines with fashion but not many have celebrity news as their sub genre. Graham Burton comments on how the unique selling point of genres makes the genre text the same but different. He said, “Genres are created through a process of repetition and recognition leading to anticipation and expectation.” Also, Nick Lacey also comments on how genres change. He said, “The same but different.”

Research - Double page article

This is double page article that shows me how a article should be. The use of different pictures and different sizes conveys what the article is about, in this case, it is about Madonna. In this article the use of headlines and subheadings catches the audience and interests them in reading further into the article. The text usually involves witty remarks and puns about their latest album or newest single, puns are used as an artist doesn't feature in an article unless they have something to sell, for example, a new album, new single and a new tour.

This article isn't a interview with the artist in the pictures, instead it is an overview of the artist and what they are promoting. This article uses text grabs to break up the columns, this is used to make the reader read the article as the text grabs are usually brought out of the article at certain points to entice the readers.

This is another article that I have researched to help me with my double page article. This article is an interview with the featured artist, which is Pink. This article has an interview with Pink but before the article starts there is an overview of the singer. However, there is only one big picture with dominates the second page and there is no text grabs which grabs the readers eyes to make them carry on reading the article. This article is promoting the artists new album which is the reason why there is an article on the artist. To entice the readers to reading the article the big picture that dominates the second page grads the readers eye and makes them read the article about the artist.

Research - Content pages

Content pages are very important in magazines as they inform the audience what is in the magazine and where each article is, there are also many pictures to bring attention to the different articles.

The colour's also run from the front covers to the content pages and throughout the magazine. The use of offers and competitions on the content page appeals to more audiences as people who like music, for example, want to win tickets to see Kings of Leon in concert and the use of adding extra information brings wider audiences to the magazine.

The use of bright colours encourages the audience read on to the different stories and by splitting the content page into sections appeals to the audience as they can search what they are interested in without having to go through the whole magazine.

This content page shows the audience which genre the magazine is. It also connects well with the audiences as there is direct address, the content is split into sections and there is use of bright colours. The title of the magazine is also on the contents page which usually will run throughout the magazine. This content page has used images more than text and this appeals to audiences as many readers don't read what is on the contents page and just look at the images to search what they want to look at in the magazine.

Research - Magazine covers

As part of my research for my project, I have looked at different music magazines to see how they attract the customers eyes and appeal to their target audience.

This music magazine appeals to young girls as the Mise en Scene and colours connect to what young girls like. The pink and glittery letters show the youngness of the magazine and the image of Buffy appeals to young girls because her music is for young girls to older teenagers.

Although, the image on front of the magazine appeals to younger girls more than teenagers, the use of subheadings shows the audience what other stories are in the magazine so they can choose which story they want to read. The use of subheadings appeals to the wider audience so other ages will buy the magazine.

By using bold headings and subheadings, they connect with the audience to bring them into the magazine, also by using direct address it also connects the audience with the magazine. By using a strapline at the top of the page, it shows that the magazine is not only a music magazine it is also a fashion magazine which appeals to more audiences.

As my magazine's genre is a pop magazine, I also have a sub-genre with is gossip. As my magazine is for teenage girls, music plus celebrity news is the perfect combination to appeal to all ages of girls, mainly 13-18.

The bold headings and colours which follow the magazine each week appeals to teenage girls as they know that reveal's colours are pink and yellow and all they have to do is look for them colours. The images are off the most famous celebrities at the moment which makes teenage girls want to buy this magazine. The straplines and images appeals to the audience as they know what is going to be in the magazine without reading the content page.

The reason I am researching celebrity gossip magazine helps me to plan what is going to be in my magazine and how to design my front cover.

The use of colours in this music magazine appeals to the younger audiences aswell as the older audiences. The use of direct address drags the audiences into the magazine before they even open the magazine. The image works well with the magazine as the people in the image are very famous at the moment and young to teenage girls want to know what is happening with them.

As this magazine is a music magazine, it also has a sub-genre of gossip and this shows in the image's on the front cover. The different stories and pages in this magazine appeals to the wider audience and this improves profits and sales.

Preliminary Task - Hand drawn contents page

For my second part of my preliminary task, I have hand drawn a content page for my college magazine. The contents page consists of pictures and sub-headings so it can inform the students about what is in the college magazine and where each article is. The contents page will follow through the colour pattern of Blue and Yellow. The heading will be the same font throughout and the same colour. I like how the contents page is set out as it provides the right information in the right way. For the contents page the main articles are shown and they connect with the pictures.

However, I would change quite a lot from this contents page. If I was yo do this again I would split the contents page into sections so it is easier to read and put so many pictures on as they over shadow the text. I would also, like my front cover, change the colour's so they stand out more and appeal to more students. Also, I would add a logo onto my contents page, it will be the same logo that will be on my front cover if I was to do the front cover and contents page again.

Preliminary Task - College magazine front cover.

As part of my preliminary task, I have had to create a college magazine front cover. I used InDesign to design the front cover but I didn't use Photoshop. I like my cover as it gives the right information to inform college students about what is happening in their college. I have used Blue and Yellow as my colour's because Blue and Yellow are the college colours, I think they work well with my main image about brand new laptops. I am also pleased with my image as the props and clothes connect well with the style of my front cover to convey what the whole magazine is about. By using direct address, it makes my cover clear and brings out my masthead.

However, there are some things I would change about my front cover. I think the blue doesn't stand out where I have placed it as the image is quite dark. I also think that the blue and yellow colour's don't make the front cover stand out which would mean my audience wont pick it up. I would also add a logo as anyother magazines that are created for college will have the logo and if students only see the logo then they will know what type of magazine it is.

In order to make my front cover better, I would add different styles of fonts and colour's to make it stand out so student's will see it and read it. If I was to do this front cover again, I think I would pick a lighter image so the colour's I chose would stand out more. I would also pick different props as in my front cover at the moment you can not see what the whole front cover is about.

My First Post - Brief

My name is Romany Grieshaber and I have chosen to create a music magazine. My music magazine's genre is pop. Also, I am going to have a sub genre. My sub genre is going to be gossip. Although I am creating a music magazine, I think it is good to have other genre's so it will appeal to a wider range. I have chosen to do pop because I am interest in this type of music as my favourite pop stars are in this genre and I have chosen to add gossip into my magazine as teenagers between the ages of 14-18 relate to celebrities and are inspired by them. My magazine will consist of a title page, contents page and a two page spread of a new artist which are promoting their first album after their first single has gone to number one the week before.

I will be using InDesign and Photoshop throughout making my music magazine as they are most commonly used when designing a music magazine.