preliminary task

production log

I have completed a draft of my double page spread. I have again tried to follow conventions of a magazine by using a pun on the article heading. Also by making use of a floating quote as well as using some images along with questions and answers in an attempt to fill up the spaces on the page which is a typical feature of music magazines.

Contents page draft

This is another stage of the production of my contents page. I managed to follow most of the conventions on a contents page by making use of images supported by relevant texts. Also by having an editorial and separated information on special features and regular features.

production stages of contents page

Production stages of Contents Page

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production log

I have almost completed the construction of my contents page. Again I have tried to follow the conventions of a contents page by presenting images with the relevant texts to back it up. Also I have made use of an editorial and departments such as regular features and special features specific to this edition of the magazine. I have tried to again base mine on contents pages done by professionals such as Vibe and XXL.

potential Contents page images

These are some of the potential images I am looking to use for my contents page. Some being relevant to the fashion section of my magazine and some representing artists in my magazine.

contents page sketch

production stages of front cover

production stages of front cover

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This is the production stages i have gone through for my front cover of my magazine. I have decided to use a white font as the third font instead of blue because there were too many primary colours. I have also included more sell lines to make the magazine follow the typical conventions of a music magazine. I have also varied the sizes of the font as I said I would because some stories are more important than others and it is important to emphasise this fact.

Front cover draft

production log

I have managed to finish the construction of my front cover and have done this in comparison with an edition of Vibe magazine where the artist is applying the same pose as the artist in my magazine. I done this because the shot size is an MCU and uses firect mode of address where the reader is targetted directly by the model. As he is making eye contact with the audience. Also I have managed to make the masthead 3D by using different layers of fonts and merging them together to form a shadowed layer making the font look 3D.

Mise En Scene for Front Cover

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This is the second stage of the production of my front cover. I decided to change the image of the model as I believe that this image is more suitable as the other was slightly slanted. Also I made adaptions to the font using the blending options tool.

Rejected images

These are the first images I took for the front cover of my magazine, unfortunately these photos were too blury and so I decided to not use any of them but instead I will add take new photos of my model.

Front cover analysis

This front cover is off the XXL magazine. XXL specialises in the genre of Hip Hop. Like the other XXL magazine of Fabolous and The Dream from this magazine you can see that the target audience young people in the age range of 16-26 that have an interest in this genre. Sell lines include stories of other mainstream artists like Eminem and Trey Songz. This reinforces that the magazines targets a mainstream audience. Following the typical convention of a music magazine this front cover successfully makes use of 2 colours (black&red) which makes it simple and easy for the reader to follow. The layout of the magazine is also conventional with a key image of one of the figureheads in the music industry let alone the genre of Hip Hop, Jay Z. This artists importance is highlighted from the main sell line which states 'IS JAY Z BIGGER THAN HIP HOP' from this sell line you can see that this artist has a dominant role in the Hip Hop genre. The use of a low angle shot further reinforces the dominance of this artist. The use of skyscrapers in the background is again used to show his status and the heights that he has reached in his career as he is as tall as these buildings. This could also indicate that he is out of the reach of the artists from this genre. The mise-en-scene used also shows his power. The use of all black attire and the long black coat connotes his power as people of power wear black. The sunglasses also which is a typical feature for most artists shows his status. Like most other issues from XXL this magazine doesn't offer any incentives for readers of this magazine which could be an indication of the demand of this magazine as they don't need to offer anything extra for readers. The synchronising motif of 'HIP-HOP ON A HIGHER LEVEL' uses alliteration which eases the reading for the reader. Like almost all XXL magazines this issue also adhers to the typical conventions of music magazines through the use of limited font colours, sell lines and stereotypical representation of the artist on the front cover.

textual analysis of Double page spread

This double page spread is from NME magazine, it is an interview featuring Lilly Allen. This magazine both follows the typical conventions of a music magazine double page spread but also subverts these conventions. The main image in the article is a stereotypical representation of a pop/rock artist as Lilly Allen is presented with her hands on her hips which implies that she is laid back and is not fazed by anything which is the image that most Rock/Pop stars try to portray. Also her choice of costume is also conventional of a rock star as she is wearing a checkered shirt with her sleeves rolled up and the top buttons undone which is what most artists of this genre chose to wear. So we could use this choice of costume as an indication of her belonging to the rock/pop genre. Her choice of make-up for example black eye-liner also presents her as a typical female pop/rock artist this is also presented through her jet black short hair. Furthermore her facial expression presents her as emotionless and not bothered which is also typical of artists from this genre.The size of the image could emphasise her importance as a star as she takes up one side of the double page spread which could suggest that she is a very important star. The size of the image makes the article pleasing to the eye as it is a Mid-Shot and this allows the image to persuade the reader to go on and read the full article. The use of one image in the article is subverts the typical conventions of a double page spread as most magazines including NME use many smaller sized images in their articles.

The layout of the article is conventional as the text is presented in columns which is a convention of articles. The length of the article could indicate that it continues on to the next page as most magazines take up more than two pages in their articles. This article applies direct mode of address which is convenient for the targeted audience of NME so that they can relate to the text. This is a key feature to magazine articles as the readers must be able to associate themselves with what is said in the text because you wouldn't expect rock artists to speak formally as this would be a turn off for their targeted audience. NME also make use of a floating quote which is a typical convention of music magazine articles where they take out a quote from the artist which is appropriate and has most emphasis in the article. The floating quote used 'People think I'm an attention seeker, but I'm just honest' this quote is intentionally extracted from the article and highlighted to put emphasis on this quote this is because the targeted audience who aspire to live her lifestyle can read this quote and immediately relate this quote to themselves especially teenage audiences as they are mostly represented in this way. The size of the quote however is also unconventional as it consumes a lot of space on the page which is not usually done in music magazines. This article also has no heading which is again a typical feature of a music magazine article.

The use of colours in the article is also unconventional as it looks like a newspaper layout where the font is black and white. The use of colours is something that most magazines particularly rock magazines make use of. The plain layout of the text in this double page spread is intentionally done to draw the reader's attention to the main image of Lilly Allen as many magazines make use of many images and colours.

In conclusion I would say that this magazine mostly subverts the typical conventions of a music magazine despite also following some of the conventions of a magazine. As there is no main heading and the limited use of colours. However I still believe that this magazine is successful in appealing to their main targeted audience. This is done particularly through the main image and floating quotes which allows the audience to relate themselves to. I also believe that audiences that read this article for personal and social integrative needs in relation to the uses and gratifications theory. I say this because audiences that read this do this in order to talk about with their friends and also to boost their status and morale as the targeted audience associate themselves with this artist and may want to emulate their lifestyle.

Gregga Media Powerpoint

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From these results I can conclude that the majority of the people that completed the questionnaire prefered the R&B and Hip Hop genre to any other this is the reason why I have chosen to base my magazine on these two genres as I believe it would appeal more to the audience I have targetted. Also people said that they would like to have freebies with their magazines and of these freebies most would like to have CD's. So I have taken this into account and decided to include a free CD in my magazine. I have also decided to make my magazine cost £2.49 this is because most people said that they would like to spend between £2-3 on a new magazine. And finally I have decided to make my magazine monthly as most people have decided that they would prefer a monthly magazine to a weekly one.

Contents page analysis

This is a contents page off Vibe magazine. This contents page follows the typical conventions of a contents page as it provides a limited amount of information for readers where they could find the page numbers of the main parts of the magazine. The purpose of a contents page is to allow readers to know where to find the information they are looking for.

The use of several images supported with relevent text is again a convention of a music magazine as it provides the essential information needed. This magazine also subverts the typical conventions of a music magazine because there is not use of an editorial which is a feature typical to contents pages. I believe that this is a fashion based edition as all the artists in the images are presented in different outfits and the captions indicate what these outfits are. That again is another convention as most music magazines use captions along with the main images to attract the reader. The images used are of different male artists in differing attire the purpose is to attract the targeted audience and to put emphasis on the choice of costume of these artists and prompt the reader to emulate them. I believe that the targeted audience is people aged 16-25 who have an interest in the Hip Hop/R&B genre and particularly also with an interest in fashion. This contents page relies more on images backed up with bits of information to attract their target audience which is another convention of acontents page.

The layout of this magazine is conventional to music magazine contents page and is also a layout that Vibe have made use of in several magazines. The masthead is a synchronising motif used by Vibe where they use that typography to appeal to their audience. The way the information is presented is standard as well as the audience can see the relevant texts they need to.

I believe that this contents page makes use of surveillance from the uses and gratifications theory, I say this because the reader will find out information from this contents page on fashion and try to imitate the dress sense of these artists for their own personal gain. Also personal relationships as the reader could speak with their friends/family about the latest fashion trends.

I also beleive that the proucers make use of direct mode of address on most of the images where the reader is directly targeted and expected to be influenced by the models costume.

Front cover analysis

This Magazine is XXL and similar to Vibe this magazine specialises in the genres of Hip Hop and R&B. From the front cover of the magazine you can see that the target audience of this magazine is young people aged about 16-26 with an interest in Hip Hop. The sell lines consist of different stories about mainstream artists such as Mary J. Blige and Ludacris. This highlights that the magazine is targetting a mainstream audience. The typography of the magazine is basic consisting of mainly three colours (white, blue and red). This is a typical convention of a music magazine. The layout of the magazine is also typical with a large key image with the main headline in the largest font. Similar to Vibe the size of the font varies with the importance of the text. For example in this magazine the most important story is on Fabolous and The-Dream so that is positioned in the centre of the front cover and is in large font and also written in upper-case. The mode of address is direct. This is shown through the key image as the artists are looking directly at the audience engaging them. The main image of this magazine is an image of two mainstream aritists Fabolous and The-Dream. This image follows stereotypes as you see the jewellery worn by these artists and the tattoos which is associated with artists of these genres. The choice of costume for the artists is also typical of artists in this genre like the Cap and the sunglasses. Also the champioship belt worn by The-Dream connotes that he views himself as the champion of R&B. The tattoos and jewellery represents the luxurious life that these artists live. The serious facial expression by the artists similar to Plies on the cover of Vibe is another typical feature associated with artists of these genres. The colour scheme of the front cover is red, white and blue this may have been done to associate these characters with the USA as that is also the colour scheme of the USA flag. In contrast to the Vibe magazine this magazine doesn't have any offers for readers and this is a theme in most editions of this magazine. 'Hip Hop on a higher level' is a synchronising motif used in every XXL magazine and the use of alliteration makes it more memorable. The front cover of this magazine adhers to the typical conventions of a music magazine. Male artists of the Hip Hop and R&B genre are represented stereotypically as living a luxurious lifestyle signified through their jewellery and tattoos. This magazine is published by Harris Publications who also publish 'Scratch' magazine.

production log

31-01-2010

I booked the MPA room to take photos of my model for the front cover of my magazine. I also tried to begin the construction of my front cover. The images of my model came out too blury so i need to retake my images and make sure that the lighting is done appropriately for my next set of images. I am also going to inform my model of the new set of props that I believe are needed for the front cover of my magazine.

production log

28-01-2010

Now I have decided to name my magazine 'NOTORIOUS' as I believe that it is suitable to the genre of my magazine. I have also taken pictures of my model for my front cover in the MPA room I decided to use a studio setting for my model with a white background in the meantime. But I may need to change this as the teacher said I may need to add a background.

Production Log 27/01/10

27-01-2010

Today, I sketched the first draft of my front cover. At the moment I am unable to decide on a title for my magazine. I had couple of ideas in mind. However I decided on the layout of my magazine and the colour scheme.

Textual Analysis- Front Cover

Vibe is an American magazine that specialises in the genre of Hip Hop and R&B. It was founded and produced by Quincy Jones. From the front cover of this magazine you can see that the target audience is predominantly young people aged 16-35 who are followers of the R&B and Hip Hop culture.

The sell lines on the front cover of the magazine contributes to the targeting of the audience. These sell lines consist of issues that their target audience can identify themselves with like 'Passion, Pleasure and Panties'. This sell line talks about issues that young audiences like to hear about. The use of alliteration in this sell line makes it easier to read and more pleasing to audiences because it rolls off the tongue. The sell lines also consist of interviews with mainstream artists such as Lil Wayne and Beyoncé this is vital to the magazine as these artists have a large fan base and so will attract audiences to purchase this magazine. The use of only two or three colours on the front cover is a typical convention in a music magazine. In this case the colours green and black are used on a white background. This is used to make the text stand out. Also the key information on the front cover of the magazine is in a bigger font this is key as they are meant to be the main sell lines. For example the story on "THE LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF PLAYA'S" is written in bold and is written in the largest compared with the other sell lines this connotes the importance of this story to the magazine and emphasises it as one of the main sell lines. The main image of the poster is an image of the artist Plies.This image follows the typical conventions of a Hip Hop magazine. Through this image the audience is encouraged to associate this artist with the stereotypical luxurious Hip Hop lifestyle. This is connoted through the mise-en-scene, the artists costume consists of jewellery. He is wearing multiple chains with a ring and watch also he has grills in his mouth. Which is typical of Hip Hop artists. Also through the Cap he is wearing and from the tattoos the artist's Hip Hop credentials are highlighted to the audience, as that is the typical attire of artists of this genre. From the artist's smug-like facial expressions the audience sees the audience can see that the artist is serious and this facial expression is again typical of artists of this genre. The typography of the front cover of this magazine predominantly consists of three colours green, black and blue this is again typical of music magazines. Keeping the typography simple. The sell lines vary in size reflecting the importance of some of these sell lines. One of the sell lines which is used in almost all magazines is a gift guide or top holiday locations this offers audiences escapism as they can escape from everyday life learning of locations where they could enjoy life and live a luxurious lifestyle. The slogan on the front cover is 'yessir!' which is a phrase associated with this artist as he repeats this phrase many time in his songs. The use of slang also assists in the targeting of the audience as young audiences are associated with the use of slang. Audiences are offered 41 tips for holiday locations. The use of a number in the front cover of a magazine is a synchronising motif as it is present in many magazine front covers. The magazine is published by Vibe and they produce magazines of this genre along with R&B.