Change in genre

I am changing my genre as I have collected audience feedback that indicates that my magazine would be better suited to this genre of pop. 

I asked a group of 20 people, when looking at my front cover and contents page, what genre would you say suits my magazine best? 

1.  Rock/pop = 2
2. Rock = 1
3. Pop = 9
4. Indie pop= 5
5. Indie rock= 3

This pie chart shows that my audience thinks that my magazine works best as a pop magazine, however some of the headings need to be changed to pop bands instead of my old genre of rock/pop bands. 

My new genre will appear similar to the front covers below:

Mrs D

Well done for reaching your contents page deadline. You were even early. Keep up the good work. Your colour scheme, font choices and images work well, but aren't really reading rock. You could possibly consider changing your genre slightly. You could also go back to your RMAs and check how many other features they offer to help with your articles and get some audience feedback.

Contents draft 4

In this draft, I have added in more articles in the middle column and made sure the cover lines have the correct page numbers, I also made these articles centered and made sure that the colour schemes and fonts link to the front cover.

Contents draft 3

In this draft I have added an additional image and changed  some of the headings to link to the stories on the front cover, for example; Purple sea & tide with the right page number and Florence and the machine tour dates released. I also changed the band name for the free competition at the bottom of the page so it links to the cover and I have placed the 'free kings of leon poster' at the bottom of the page which also links to the cover. I have kept the same colour schemes and fonts so there is a house theme. 

Contents draft 2

I have added text that links to the front cover, for example I have used the cover line from the head story and used the same fonts and colour schemes. Although, I have used the wrong band name at the bottom of the page in the competition and I will change this on my next draft.

Contents draft 1

Today I started to put together my contents page, I have tried to link it clearly to the front cover by using the same colour scheme and fonts. I have also tried to link it to the front by using the same model for the covwer photo as it shows the cover story being linked to the contents page.

Contents page planning

I plan to take photos for my contents page, the images I want to produce will appear similar to the band on the right (Q magazine) contents page and I will also have some individual photos of artists, similar to the left (NME magazine) contents page. However, the design of my contents page will not have as many images as the contents page on the left but will have more than the contents page on the right.
I plan to have an image that links to my front cover, being larger than the other images on the page to show the link to the front cover. In the other images I plan for there to be a girl band dressed in dark rocky clothes, a male artist holding an electric guitar and another two images of female artists. The articles featured on the front cover will be in a bolder font to the others - showing a link to the front cover, and the articles with images will have more description to the article underneath the heading.

Photo editing

Today I edited an image for my contents page, I lightened the image, making the background and her face lighter, I also made her eye make up thicker and darker to make her appear more rock looking, linking to my genre.

original image

Edited image

contents

Today I am installing my serif software and will be researching images that I would like to inspire the images I will produce on Friday

Contents page planning

On Friday I will be taking images for my contents page and on Saturday (if Serif has arrived) I will edit and put the images onto my contents page.
However, my models were unavailable as they were ill so we have rescheduled for Wednesday, but in order to meet my deadline I plan to take images of different people in the poses I would like, and then at a later date I will change them.

Contents page draft

Today I have started on my contents page and I have changed the fonts on the front cover as my audience feedback suggested.

Audience feedback - front cover

My audience feedback shows that mainly there is a confusion of the genre of music, the artist does not portray enough of a 'rock' genre. I am going to change this by making the mise en scene fit better by adding darker make up and maybe an instrument or microphone.
My audience feedback also shows how they cover lines should have a variety of fonts and sizes to make it more eye catching. Also there could be a slogan placed on the black line.

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your front cover draft deadline. You show excellent understanding of page design and integration of text and image. You need to ensure that genre and audience is clear and that the the colour and language matches these. Post more regularly to show good time management.

Magazine front cover drafts

Edited photos

This is the before (right) and after (left) image, it shows the editing has lightened the image and emphasized her red lips. The top of the image has been removed as there was part of the ceiling on the original image. This will be sorted out when put onto the front cover by copying the colour of the background.

Chosen Photos for Magazine (without editing)

This image is the image I chose for my front cover because I thought it portrays the artist as powerful as she has direct address with the camera and the camera angle is looking up at her. She is wearing black, white and red as this fits in with the theme and scruffy hair meets with the rock/pop theme as she has put in little effort with her hair but still looks good.

This image will be on my double page spread, I chose this image because I feel it  shows the artist looking less powerful and more innocent and natural, this could appeal to my female market as she looks more naturally beautiful and they can aspire to her. The colours tie in with my theme and her hair and clothes match the genre of rock/pop as they are quite 'scruffy' showing how she is unique.

This image will be on my contents page  because it has direct address to the camera and shows how she is an important figure as the camera is looking up at her. Also the pose can be considered natural, showing she's naturally pretty and so catches the eye of the female audience. The colours match my theme and genre. 

Audience feedback - images

I asked my audience which of the above images they though would be the best for a front cover, these were the results:

(from top to bottom)

1st image:

2nd Image: 5

3rd Image: 8

4th image: 4

5th image: 6

6th image: 3

7th image: 2

8th image: 4

9th image: 3

My audience feedback shows that the most popular image for a front cover would be image 3. I will use this image as it was popular to my target audience. 

Magazine name ideas and audience feedback

Female audience, Pop/rock Magazine:

• PRP (Pop rock parlor) = 2
• Rock Chick = 7
• Pop N' Rock = 2
• Rock Chique = 8

My audience feedback shows that the most popular name for my magazine was 'Rock Chique', my audience said that they liked this because it still shows rock but links to the female audience because the word 'chique' suggests its not heavy rock, maybe something more toned down and easy for them to relate to.

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your planning deadline and getting best ict-er of the week. The planning is pretty thorough and you have used a range of ict too. What other contents will you offer you audience? Avoid inputting construction schedules retrospectively. It should be about planning your time.

Audience feedback - Fonts

I asked an all female group of 20 which font they thought would be best for the heading for a pop/rock magazine aimed at women and this was the results:

(Going from left to right)

Heading 1: 5

Heading 2: 3

Heading 3: 1

Heading 4: 3

Heading 5: 1

Heading 6: 4

Heading 7: 3

This shows that the most popular font is heading 1, a clear bold font in capitals. The least popular font was heading 5, a tall thin font which is unclear. This means that I will choose to use a clear bold heading in capitals, similar to the most popular one, for my headings in my magazine. 

The results for these fonts, to be used as my fonts 2 and 3. 

For font 2 (cover lines and key words) :

(from left to right)  

Row 1:

1st font: 0

2nd font:1

3rd font: 1

Row 2:

1st font: 3

2nd font: 2

Row 3:

1st font: 4

2nd font: 6

3rd font: 3

This feedback shows that the most popular font was on the bottom row, and the second font in. This is clear and simple, its bold but still elegant, this will link it to my female audience. However the  audience said that they think that for the cover story, an artist name or key details could be in a font from the middle row.

Audience Feedback - Colour schemes

I went out and asked all an female group of young adults which colour scheme they thought would work best for a pop/rock magazine aimed at women, these were the results:

Red, black and white = 8
Blue, black and white = 6
Orange, black and white= 2
Green, black and white = 4

These results show that the most popular colour scheme was red, black and white and the most unpopular colour scheme was orange, black and white. This means that I still will use the colour scheme red, black and white for my magazine as it proves most popular within my audience.

Construction schedule

Maintaining a house theme

I will maintain a house theme throughout my magazine as I will consistently use the same fonts, colour schemes and language. For example; on the front cover there will be red text for the most eye catching and important words, and on the contents page there will be key information such as artists names, contests and page numbers in red and on the double page spread the colour red would be used for things such as the drop capitals and pull quote quote marks, it will also be used for key words in the article title and page number. This will show a consistency throughout the magazine as it makes the audience link the red with the magazine.
I will also consistently use the same three fonts, font one for titles, font two for quotes and important information e.g. page number, artist's names and font three for large amounts of text. Font three will be a simple font that is still elegant so it's clear for the audience to read however this font is less likely to be on the front cover as it is more main body text and the front cover will have cover lines (font 2) and the magazine title (font 1) but on the contents there will be the font 3 as there will be some amounts of text describing the articles being shown.
The language I will use will not be slang as this can be considered childish and will not appeal to my audience, however it will not be formal language as this would appeal to an older audience and not my audience of young adult women. So I will use informal language to appeal to my genre, age range and gender of audience. The use of this kind of language will be used throughout the magazine to maintain a house theme and to show the audience that the magazine all links together.

Test Shots

I took these test shots to try and see what will work. I feel that the photos that don't use direct address are not powerful enough for my front cover and I would like to produce more powerful imagery with direct address similar to the image directly above. 

I would like to produce an image similar to the one below. This is because the direct address shows power and female dominance, the red lipstick would link with my house theme, and the fashion would link to my pop/rock genre as it is quite alternative and appears 'thrown together'.

Letter of acceptance

Dear ...
Within my media AS level I need to produce some photographs for my coursework. By signing this letter it shows that you understand and accept that the images of you will be published onto the internet and that I have ideas for the location, make up and costume that will need to be followed by you to meet my genre.



Lydia Cutting
Edgbarrow School

Mrs D

Your planning is coming along nicely. Well done. I like your location chots - you show some good skill in terms of cropping. However, I'm not sure how these locations fit your genre and audience. Please add some analytical coments linking to A and G and maybe go out a take a few more to give yourself opptions. Go back to your RMAs and check contents pages for ideas.

Location ideas - Front cover, double page spread

Idea for front cover 1

Idea for front cover 2

I think that the two images above would be good for my genre as they could be considered urban, this links with some of the magazines that I have looked at previously as they have placed their artist against a urban background.

Idea for front cover 3

Idea for front cover 4

I think that the image to the right and below left would be good for a front cover as there could be a contrast made between the power of the artist and the fact they are in a natural setting could make it stand out a lot more. For example bold, dominating colours would make the artist stand out in comparison to the calm background.

Idea front cover 6

Idea for double page spread 1

Idea for double page spread 2

Idea for double page spread 3

Idea for double page spread 4

Idea for double page spread 5

Idea for double page spread 6

I think that these images could be used for the double page spread as they would link to the front cover and they would continue to make the artist seem bold and powerful. This would appeal to the female market as it shows 'girl power' and it would also show how the genre stands out as the artist would contrast with the background.