Photos

Here are some of the images that I have taken for the front of magazine:
This iamge I took of my artist pointing at the camera becuase I wanted it to stirke the reader, and also it comes across as arrogant. Which I wanted. One of the the problems with this shot was that my teacher said that the artists hands is to big, however I disapproved because I like the image a lot. Another prolbem is that you can see the top of the background. But this can easily be cropped out.


ANother one of my images that I liked was this one becuase the lighting is quite good and therefore I won't have to edit as much afterwards. Also it makes him seem  modest, but of course stil arrogant at the same time.

Media homework

The gratification theory apply's to the typical reader of my music magazine because my magazine will have certain media conventions that I can use to appeal to my ideal reader. For example on my double page spread of my magazine I can include an advertisement of a album. Also in my magazine article I will ask my music artist questions that talk about his latest album. This is an example of the gratification theory because my ideal reader could use this information and discuss it with friends etc.. Additionally this creates a sense of belonging because the reader will feel like there in the know, and that they have the latest info on there favourite music.  My magazine will also contain entertainment through competitions that will be advertised on the front cover and this acts as a way of making the magazine sort of connect with my ideal reader, moreover it acts as a form of escapism because the reader knows that if they win the competition that they will be reward.  Another reason my magazine promotes escapism is that my music article will give them an insight into the music and entertainment world.


On of the articles I read in the Classic Rock magazine was a double page spread where various musicians  commented on a music producer with each musician praising him. For example one person said. "Jimmy was very innovation. Also he was very thorough, he knew what he wanted". This might appeal the the magazines target audience and ideal reader because they are likely to have a an in depth knowledge of who these musicians are, and will probably be very intrigued and interested to see what these musicians views are on a particular subject. On the next page which is also a double page spread they continue to interview people about the producer, but on this page they advertise the latest albums, this I think has been used to grab the readers attention as the article is quite long and they could be board, but at the same time classic rock's target audience is of a much older demographic and therefore you could argue that they aren't actually beginning to get board.

Camera angles

For this blog I have dedicated it to thinking about the different camera shots I will use for my magazine. There are various types of shots that I can use from close up, extreme close, mid shot, full length shot etc etc. For my front cover I think it would be best if I do a close up shot or a mid shot becuase firstly it would be easier to edit on photo-shop and becuase I think it stands out becuase of the simplicity of it. However the problem with close up shots is that If I try and add some text on the side it may go over the music artists face and I don't know if this would look good. So I think that I will use a mid shot for the front cover. Also on the front cover I will also have another picture which is quite small, for this i'm going to use a close up shot because the reader will be able to see the artists face easily because of the actual size of the image.  

For my contents page I will defiintely being using a variety of shots. Like close up's, and possibly long shots. This is becuase on a contents page you can put your photos basically anywhere mainly because contents page usually is a bit funky in it's design.


For my double page spreasd its harder to decide what type of camera angle that I should use. This is becuase I haven't decided how much space the picture will take up. The most important thing about the pictures I take is that it has to look as if the person in the image is artist. So things like there stance and the way they look into the camera are all key elements I have to think of. For instance i'm planning on having a picuture of my artist pointing at the camera.

Ideal reader

My Ideal reader would is a 16-18 year old male who lives in London. They usually where things like designer clothing or occasionally track suits as well as things like goodies, just generally trendy clothing. The person shops at a variety of different clothes shops like JD, H&M, River Island and a couple of other clothing shops. My ideal reader likes listening to music like RnB and hip hop along with watching TV channels like MTV base and channel AKA which are music channels that specialise in showing this kind of music. My ideal reader also watches music shows on MTV and even the apprentice, and other television shows like EastEnders which shows that they like a variety of shows.  The main channels they watch are BBC 1, E4, MTV, Channel AKA. My ideal reader would be going to college or university. 


I think my magazine would appeal to my ideal reader because it will have things that interest him eg RnB music. And also because the magazine will have things like competitions and maybe even advertisements that would interest him.

Target audience

For my target audience I decided to target 15- 25 years old. This is becuase my music magazine is going to evolve around R n B music therefore the 15-25 age group will imediately be able to associate with it because there are more likely to listen to this type of music. Also the social class I am choosing to target  is working class and possible the middle class. This is because say for example in London there are a lot of urban youths are they live mainly in working class families. I'm also targeting the middle class because I believe that middle class people listen to a variety of music genres whether it be rock, classic etc etc. So I thought that I shouldnt leave that out. On the other hand I have decided to neglect the upper class because I think they are less likely to listen to RnB let alone perchase a magazine about it. When thinking about my target auidence I also have to consider how I appeal to them. SO this is things like the colour of the magazine. So for example colours like red and white would do well when trying to appeal to my demographic. Secondly the colours I suggested are quite neutral becuase I also have to consider that I'm not just tagerting males but I'm also targeting females. One I could possible do to attract my demographic is put a male rapper on the front cover, but then I will use the text on the side I will talk about articles in the magazine that are more female orientated. Therefore I will not be alienating any particular group. Look at the cover of the music magazine vibe, where you if you look carefully on the side in yellow text they tell the reader that there is a article about mariah carey, but yet there is a male star lil wayne on the front cover.

Here is my flat plan for my front page. Unfortunately it did't come out clear as I wanted but that doesn't really matter. The front page looks organised. I've decided to this because My contents page is going to be more chaotic so I wanted the front page to look more disciplined. I'm going to have 1 main image of my music star and some text surrounding him. And maybe some pictures one the side next to the text. . On the right there is information on articles that the reader of my magazine can find. So for example it will say things like "find out how Jay-z decided the name of his new album". The mask head at the top represents my title and Right next to it will be a logo. However I'm undecided about including a logo, but when I creating my front page on photo shop I will decide whether or not it looks good. I will probably be including text on both sides of the page, but on the right there will be more text, and on the left there will be less, so that it doesn't look to cluttered. But like I said before I'm still open min dined about it and I'm willing to change the layout to making it  more chaotic if I feel it works.  Near the bottom of my flat plan where it says information I going to try and include a quotation from the article on my double page spread, I will do this to entice the reader into opening my magazine up. Also below that there is a box that says competition, this is where I will advertise something like free tickets to a music concert or cash vouchers.

WHsmith

In media our teacher asked us to visit WHsmith in order to understand how shops that sell magazines organize where they sell their magazine products for research purposes.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the women magazines where at the far right. These magazines were solely for fashion. The next shelf to the right was another women's magazine. But this time it was mainly showbiz, gossip, and soap based. This shows that the shops try to match things accordingly to what a certain demographic is most likely to be interested in.   

Afterwards there were magazines directed at a male demographic. Firstly on the top there were magazines like "men's health" that was directed at men who liked fitness and keeping themselves healthy. Then there were car magazines like formula 1, and top gear.  However the men's section was not as organized as the women's and there were varying types of men’s magazine muddled together. One thing I did notice was there was bigger variety in the men’s than the women's as the women’s revolved mainly on fashion and shopping. This potentially meant  if I am doing a magazine mainly for males I will possible have to reach out more to a varitey of age groups. How do I do this? I could add more "manly" colours however im still going to try and make it colourful and vibrant as I can because my supposed target audience is probably going to be 16-24.