Evaluation Q1

This is my front cover. After my research into existing magazines, I knew my page must be cluttered to be recognised as a pop magazine. To stick to this convention, I organised as many photo shoots as possible so that I was able to get lots of different photos to use on my magazine. When taking my photos, I kept in mind that for a pop genre, I had to have the model wearing bright makeup and clothes, and looking into the camera lens looking smily, happy and innocent as someone for my young audience to look up to. By shooting the photo so that the model was right of frame with a white background, I allowed myself plenty of room to fit in a lot of pictures. My original intentions were to place three photos and pull quotes down the side of the model, however after beginning my construction I found that I didn't have as much space as I had hoped. This means everything on the page is tightly squashed together with not too much blank space, which follows the conventions of a pop front cover.

I also broke the conventions of a music magazine by including a lifestyle section. My reason for this was that almost every single one of the existing successful magazines aimed at this age range include a fashion section within the magazine somewhere. Although it does go against conventions, I feel that by adding in this section makes it more obvious of the genre of the magazine and who it is aimed at. It also gave me opportunity to add in more shapes, puffs and different fonts which is used on magazines aimed at the younger generation to provide variety.

The red colour used on the artists name was also used throughout as a house style which follows the usual conventions of pop magazines. I also used the same pink/red colour on some boxes and fonts to tie the page together and give it a colour scheme. The red I used was chosen from the model's dress to make her involved in the rest of the page.

On my contents page, I followed conventions by using pink colours to appeal to a younger female audience. The fonts were chosen carefully with the intention to make it look young and girly. I placed the santa hat in the corner of the page to fill blank spaces and link back to my festive December issue. I concentrated not to let the festive theme take over as this would break conventions of a music magazine.                       
                                                            
I followed the convention of the three columns, and large numbers. I also used a technique in not only pop magazines, but many contents pages of various different magazines, to add a small caption after each topic to give a bit of information as to what will be on the pages. The banner at the bottom was originally intended to be a poster banner however I didn't manage to collect enough photos to fill the banner so I put in social networking details instead which I think works better. The language used follows the conventional colloqialism of pop magazines which makes it easy reading for the young audience.

I broke the conventions of a contents page as it doesn't follow an obvious colour scheme. I intented to use red and green to fit the ongoing Christmas theme, however it doesn't look as classy as I had hoped. I think this is because of the large yellow square and the pink background. We filled in the background a light pink to try and appeal to our young audience and make the blank spaces appear filled in, but if anything I think it has just made the page look overall messy and unfinished.

A lot of research into existing magazines was done for the double page spread. The language used and the way it was displayed was decided by slightly manipulating the typical conventions of the pop DPS's. The interviewing question-answer style was done in almost every existing magazine I looked at. The question was done in a different coloured font to the answers in order to separate them and the reader is able to quickly read what they want to without it getting boring. As with the contents page, I used colloqial language which in this case encourages the reader to hear the interviewee's voice whilst reading.
I originally intended to have all pull quotes in a circle. However after many drafts, I decided to use lips which I feel work well with the genre and age group. Following conventions, I put in the cloud at the top which makes it easily accessible for the reader to find the interview with the cover star.
I broke conventions of a double page spread by using the yellow colour as a drop capital, the rest of the page is red, black and green so the yellow stands out, and I don't think this works well.

Evaluation Q2

I used colloquial language on my magazine pages to represent young modern teenagers. By using direct address, "girlies" I have also made the reader feel involved which is conventional of a pop genre. "+ juicy goss!" is something you may hear my target audience saying everyday, so this appeals to them as it is like talking to a friend which is what my target audience are looking for in a magazine. I used young pop terminology such as "jam-packed" and "celeb gossip".


I used this pink colour on my
contents page as this represents
females, and Pop World is
                                                         heavily female orientated so
 hopefully by using pink, we are able to attract and represent our target audience of 12-16 year old girls.



This is the lipstick my model was wearing on the front cover shoot. By wearing bright pink lipstick, she is representing the pop culture and it's audiences. The pink lips and red dress also ties in with the pink and red house style running throughout the magazine.

I also used lips for a pull quote on my DPS. This is typically very girly and young, which represents my audience. It also ties in with my models bright lips on the front cover.





By using buzz words such as "WIN" and "EXCLUSIVE", I can immediately draw in my audience. This type of language represents young people as excitable, and the pop culture as the stereotypical fun and bouncy.

Evaluation Q3

Evaluation Q4

http://prezi.com/lgmtbwehz2fm/who-would-be-the-audience-for-pop-world/

Evaluation Q5

I used informal, chatty language to make my audience feel involved and make it easy reading. My original intentions were to use formal language on my contents page, however after looking at existing magazines I decided to use language which fits the conventions of a pop magazine.

On my front cover, I used buzz words such as "exclusive" and "win" to draw in my audience.

The way I posed my model was also done to attract my audience. I made sure she was wearing bright lipstick and makeup which would typically be worn on pop-stars which would give my young readers a role model to look up to.

The front cover is colourful and jam-packed with pictures, shapes and different fonts to make it really eye-catching for my young audience. The colour scheme is centred around different shades of pink as pink is stereotypically associated with 12-16 year old girls. Looking back, the green box doesn't look right with the rest of the page so if I did it again I could probably make the box the same as the "exclusive" box so that it creates a red/white house style which also fits with the festive December issue. On reflection, this could also help the sales of the magazine to the industry as they can see how seasonal editions could become very popular; the magazine could also have special editions in the future.

In addition, we chose a model with braces. This was intentional as many young girls feel negative about their appearance and we hoped this would show how you can still be a pop star with braces. In fact, we hoped to connote that care for your health eg teeth, weight etc is important. On reflection, I would like to have pursued this further and had a feature that linked to gossip/ lifestyle that reinforced the idea that you don't have to be as stunning or as thin as Miley Cyrus. Our TA said they did like this image and I thought that was very positive.

Our house style and choices don't target boys in any way. This was a definite decision and I still think it was the right one. Boys have very different interests to girls especially in this age group. I wouldn't change this at all. 

Evaluation Q6

When I first began using Adobe, I was clueless about all of the tools on there. The first tool which I could confidently use was the spot healing brush. I used this on all of my photos to make the models look flawless and professional. 

I learned how to use so many of the tools which I found very useful when editing all the photos for my pages. 

Another tool I found useful was to change the levels on a photo as some of them were in unflattering light which made the quality lower. 

When I was able to confidently use the camera, I chose the lighting and angles carefully to get the best outcome I could. Also, by adjusting the ISO and aperture I was able to take photos in a range of different lightings. 

The photo I used for my double page spread had to be cropped so I used the clone tool to create a consistent background for my text. 

In my final DPS picture, I blurred the background by selecting the model and applying a Gaussian blur to the background. This makes the model appear more in focus because it look sharp and bright.

A popular convention of pop magazines is to have the pull quote in a coloured circle. I manipulated this slightly by inserting a dotted line to outline it, this makes it look classy and professional while still keeping with the young pop look.
I drew the dotted circle on a word document and copied it over to Adobe. I then used the eraser to hide the white and went around the dots individually to make sure it was all clear.

This is the text I used on the contents page. I have used slang to keep with conventions and direct address to make my audience feel involved which is what a pop magazine is all about. I used a handwriting font for the address and note from the writing editor which I felt was very effective in the existing magazines I looked at.
I learned how to shape the text into the circle to make it look professional and merge it all together rather than having block spaces where the text stops.

I learned multiple ways to cut out an image from a background. Here are two examples of ways I have cut out images. Both these images were on white backgrounds, but I did it differently to create different effects. The woman on the left is representing the fashion and lifestyle section and is positioned near the bottom to back up the text. I used an eraser with a feathered brush to make her fade into the background and give it an overall soft look. The boys were selected and zoomed in to make sure every last strand of hair was selected and then erased the background which wasn't selected.

From my previous research of existing magazines, I discovered that a lot of the double page spreads run over onto a third page or have a related section, and to illustrate this they use arrows which fit the house style. This is what I have done here using the shape tool.

Evaluation Q7

http://www.slideshare.net/BeckyReynoldso/evaluation-on-progression

Finished Front Cover

Finished Contents Page

Finished Final DPS

Organisation of models

In order to get my model (Morgan Faulkner) to be in my photo shoot, I had to book in time with her when we were both free. I allowed myself 3 hours for the shoot, including costume changes and setting up. The photoshoot for the front cover and DPS took place inside my house and I hung up a white sheet as a background to avoid me having to cut out the photo on Adobe later.
During the shoot I told Morgan exactly how to stand, smile and where to put her hands. The light source I used a single lamp shining directly onto the model.

Getting familiar with the cameras

Before studying media I'd never before used a camera properly besides taking normal photos. I think the only thing I already knew was that the photo should be sharp. I learned about the depth of field in a photo, and how to get the right setting for low light photos. I learned how to keep the camera still by resting it on my knee when taking the photo to avoid blur. I learned about the rule of thirds, and the correct lighting to use when taking my photos., and using reflector to highlight the models' face and make their eyes appear welcoming. I feel I have learned a lot about using camera in a short space of time.

Getting familiar with Elements 11

I started out knowing knothing at all about how to use Elements 11. After just a few lessons on it I discovered so many things I could do on it. One of the first tools I successfully used was the "spot healing". I found this particularly useful on all of my photos. I learned how to adjust the levels on a photograph to give it the desired effect. Now I feel as though I am confident in using a lot of editing tricks on Adobe Elements 11.

Contents page copy on Adobe

I began to try and copy some of the main elements of a contents page on Adobe. I soon found that it was a lot harder than I was expecting as there still remained a lot of things i was unable to do. I managed to get in some of the basic shapes but even just this proved very difficult.

Contents page paper mock up

DPS paper mock up

Front cover paper mock up

Analysis of TA research

http://www.slideshare.net/BeckyReynoldso/analysing-target-audience-research-ppt

I created a powerpoint on the analysis of my target audience research then uploaded it to slideshare.

Changes after TA research

In my target audience I got most of the answers I was predicting. I was already thinking of constructing a boyband to photograph before One Direction came up so popular on the audiences answers.
I think we'll do the masthead slightly thicker than planned as this is what our audience has said they prefer and it's become clear afterwards we just needed their input.

Designing the masthead

My partner and I were struggling on finding a way to make our masthead look more professional by adding a border. In the end we decided on drawing around the cloud on Adobe Elements 11.

Mastheads

I took a look at some mastheads of the most popular music magazines read by my TA. From these two, "Top of the Pops" and "We love Pop", i can see that they are san-serif fonts which are simple and easy to read. Top of the Pops has a swirl on the S which would probably have been customised for effect.

     This has helped in the design of "PopWorld" masthead because i know it should be an easy to read san-serif font to stick to the conventions of the genre.

Second set of photos on Adobe

http://www.flickr.com/groups/vale_media/




This is one i started to edit on Adobe Elements 11. I adjusted the levels on it and also sharpened and lightened her eyes however i'm not sure if this has made her appear too fake or just the usual airbrushed look of magazines.

Following the photoshoot

After doing my photoshoot for the front cover and DPS last week, I found that the desired lighting effect was extremely difficult to achieve. I pinned up a white sheet, and shone a single light onto the model. I also used a reflector in an attempt to highlight her face but the shadows were still visible. I will be able to sort this out on Adobe Elements 11 using a range of different tools.

Media Institutions Pitch - Bauer

Hi.
I'm here to present to you my magazine "PopWorld" in the hope that you'll see potential and sell this on to your audience.
I've examined current pop magazines that are out there, aimed at young children and teens. PopWorld is different because it caters for a wider range of audiences. It includes features aimed at younger teens such as freebies and cluttered pages. However it isn't too immature looking that a 16/17 year old wouldn't be tempted to pick it up. It has artists inside similar to One Direction and Selena Gomez, these are a couple which really stood out in our TA research. I think that if you invest in PopWorld magazine, more teens will be encouraged to buy pop magazines. Also, a new magazine look on the shelves will entice new audiences to buy as we've tried to give it a slightly different look from existing ones, but still followed the vital conventions and sell points needed in order for the target audience to be drawn to our magazine.
I hope you choose to sell PopWorld because getting a new magazine on the market will definitely widen your audience to the teens who perhaps weren't interested in pop magazines before.
Thanks.

Using Celtx - models accessories

Prezi

Research into media institutions

Wordle

Planning the photo shoot

CONTENTS PAGE

Portrait photo
Models; unsure
Location; Music studios in school
Costumes; unknown
Props needed; maybe microphones
Type of shot; long shot/ mid shot, Group shot
Lighting; artificial
Pose; arm around each other, smiles

Planning the photo shoot

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Date; 14/11/13
Landscape
Model; Morgan Faulkner
I will need 1-3 photos from this shoot
Location/ Mise en scene; White background, sheet
Costume; Different dress to front cover
Makeup and hair style; same as front cover
Props needed; microphone?
Type of shots; long shot, mid shot, medium close up
Artificial lighting
Pose; Laying/sitting down

Planning the photo shoot

FRONT COVER

Date; 14/11/13

Portrait

Model; Morgan Faulkner

I need 1 image from this shoot

White sheet background 

Costume; Christmas lights, tinsel, christmas dress

Makeup & hairstyle; Natural wavy hair, glitter eyeshadow

Props needed; christmas lights, tinsel

Type of shot; Long shot

Lighting; artificial

Pose; happy, stood up, leant forward, face visible

Model clothing ideas

I'd looked around for dresses that i could dress my model in as i have decided on using a female model for the front cover with help from existing magazines and my TA research. As i am creating a December issue i thought red was quite a Christmassy colour however it might clash with my masthead which i was also thinking of doing in red.

This type of dress also stood out to me as its sparkly and during the Christmas party season my teenage girl TA will be wanting inspiration of what's fashionable to wear this year. If there is a star on the front wearing a certain style or colour of dress it might inspire their outfit choices.

This stands out to me as a pop outfit. It's also wintery and if my cover model was wearing something similar to this then it would compliment the rest of the cover well.

Problems with Celtx

I tried using Celtx to create a storyboard of my model clothing ideas. However i wasn't able to upload photos of the 3 outfit ideas that i had chosen.

More initial ideas- freebies

I have discovered that pop magazines sometimes use freebies as a good selling point for the magazine. By giving away nail polishes such as these, it will help give me the leisure and fashion section i will need to briefly include in order to stick to the codes and conventions of a pop magazine, although i still want to make mine different from existing magazines otherwise i'd have no chance of the company selling it.

In my TA research, I asked my audience which freebie they'd most prefer out of a given choice of Christmas orientated gifts. A very large majority of the people who were asked said they'd like a santa hat in a Christmas special of the magazine.

Mood Board

I created a mood board to link together a few of my ideas about the codes and conventions of pop magazines, and the pose i might want my models, the outfits i might want to dress them in and the colours i'm likely to use. I've also included some Christmas features of pop magazines into it.

Initial ideas- posing model

I came across this photo of Lady Gaga wrapped in Christmas lights. I really like this idea and think it would be perfect for the front cover of my magazine as it will be a christmas issue.
I could put a white background behind my model and dim the lights so that the lights are visible.

DPS analysis

I found this double page spread, it isn't for a pop magazine but i wanted to see what differences between genre there were.
Straight away i can see that the overall look of the page is darker and more mature. They have used the same red, white ad black colour scheme as one of the pop DPS's that i analysed, but they've focused a lot more heavily on the black, which will appeal to a different audience.

They've used a drop capital at the start of the article, which is conventionally used in magazines, and works really well here because it ties it together with the lead.

The model is posed across both pages, which again brings together the whole article and clarifies that it is definitely about her. The pose, hair and makeup of the model are giving off an "I don't care", dark sort of attitude, which is the opposite of what I am looking for in my models.
In the headline they have used 2 different fonts and colours for the words. The "Wild" might have been done in this scratched out, handwriting font to show the wildness of Taylor. Then the "Child" has been done in a bold, white, san-serif font. This contrasts the black background and is the first word people see because it's the biggest and most noticeable. This could be because she's most known as a child actress in "The Grinch" and she's trying to break away from this reputation.
There are 2 columns in the article and the font is very small. This suggests to me that it is targeting an older, more mature audience than teen pop, because older teens/ young adults will be more likely to want to read the article without so many visuals.
The model has half her face covered by her hair, which suggests mystery and that there is more to her than sees the eye. For my pop magazine i will be looking to pose my model completely differently so that they're clean cut and the reader can see their face, making them feel involved.
This DPS doesn't have a border to link the pages, i think this is because it would go against the conventions of this grungy look and make it look too cluttered.

Christmas edition

After research and discussion,  I've discovered the different ways in which magazines, especially pop, change their style slightly in a December issue to make it visible that it's a Christmas special. I need to make sure i don't let the seasonal aspect take over, as it will be a music magazine and should be planned around music, not Christmas. To do this i will plan out the magazine first, going by the typical codes and conventions of a pop magazine, and then add the seasonal specials on top of this, so that they are just extras. I can also plan the outfit, hair and makeup of my model around the Christmas season so that the photo will fit in with the rest of it.

DPS analysis

 This is another double page spread for a pop magazine.
They have used a red, white and black colour scheme across the 2 pages and Justin's outfit also fits in with these colours. I think this is why they have used a long shot so that he links the pages together well. I can see two red banners across the page, these pull together the pages, making it a double page spread.
The headline is also a pull quote, which automatically makes the reader feel engaged with the article. The pose of the model and the fact that he is looking directly into the camera also engages the reader and makes them feel involved with what's going on.
They have their signature jagged line feature at the top which makes the magazine recognisable for the reader.
By posing the model on a white background, he fits in really well with the style of the rest of the page, and could make the reader feel like he's really there on the page with them. He is a young boy, which teenage girls find appealing so i will try to take this into consideration when choosing my models.

DPS analysis

This is a double page spread for the December edition of a pop magazine. The colour scheme is red, blue, yellow and white which is christmassy. The yellow contrasts the other colours which is why they've highlighted certain parts of the interview in yellow to draw the readers' eyes to that section. They've placed the pull quote "Rylan walked around naked most of the time" at the bottom of the page. It's white writing on a red background which links to the dps colour scheme.
A speech bubble has been inserted near Olly's mouth which links to their house style and masthead.
For the photoshoots, they've used a medium shot because this allows you to see his jumper which also keeps to the colour scheme. In the other shot they have him dressed in a santa hat and wrapped in tinsel which shows the reader that it is a December edition. The white and blue snowflake background also shows that it is a Christmas themed issue of the magazine and it creates a border around the pages which links them together.
I've noticed that the page with the interview slightly crosses over to the next page, not a lot but it still looks very effective.
The main image also doubles as a poster to cut out which is a good selling point for the magazine as it appeals to their target audience-teenage girls.
A sans-serif font has been used for the title and interview text which is easy to read and also appeals to the TA. The title "Merry Christmurs!" takes up a lot of the page leaving little room for a lot of text as the target audience they are aiming to please won't bother reading it if there is too much. It is also a pun which is made clear by the "murs" being in a yellow font whereas the rest of it is white. This also adds a little bit of fun for the reader before they've even began reading the interview. The title is on a banner which looks like the ribbon you would use to wrap a Christmas present, this links back to the December theme.
They've placed a lead under the title which is in a different font and colour. This separates the title from the text and gives the reader a little bit of what it's about before they start reading.
For the actual interview they've written it in a question-answer style. To clearly show where Olly starts speaking, the interviewers question is in red. They've used a drop capital at the start of the text which is a convention in magazines. The text is 2 columns long which is not too much for the reader to handle, and the spacing between each question and column is typically larger than other magazines but it appeals well to the target audience.The arrow at the side of the writing shows that there is more to read overleaf, and it's red to fit in with the rest of the double page spread.

Contents page analysis

This is the second pop contents page i have come across. It is in the magazine "Top of the Pops."It has a feature where they label the different stories on the front cover with page numbers so that readers can flick straight to the story that appealed to them when they chose the magazine.I like this feature because it is visual and easy which appeals to my TA. However from my TA research i've found out they would prefer to see different pictures in the contents page than the front cover because they would like to see lots of stars.
In this contents page they've used a purple colour scheme which appeals to the target audience because it's a colour that teenage girls are typically supposed to like. Most of the camera shots used are group shots because this appeals to the target audience as they are very social. They have used an informal mode of address "Hey girls!" which makes the reader feel involved, this wouldn't work on any other genre of magazine but it works perfectly to this one.
This contents page has the different sections with page numbers underneath, i prefer the way "We Love Pop" magazine did this because there is a lot less writing which is perfect for my TA and what i have found out through my TA research.

I've also noticed that pop magazines like using group shots in their contents pages. I like this idea because it makes the magazine sort of like a social event for the young teen readers.

Both the contents pages I have looked at follow some sort of colour scheme. This one has a purple colour scheme which brings the whole page together nicely. The colour schemes don't actually tend to match the masthead which i find interesting because that is what i was planning on doing before i discovered these contents pages. This has made me change my mind as to maybe do a complete different colour scheme in the contents page than the masthead but still obviously use bright pop colours.