This is a much more complete front cover. I kept all the conventions and just added the skyline, page numbers and price. I changed the fonts of the sell lines so its less boring and more handwritten to imply that the magazine is more diary like so that the readrers feel comfortable to read the magazine. The us of double explaination marks connotes more excitement and shocking. I also kept the page numbers beside the sell lines and it's conventional to be small and black font. The ''OMG'' is still the same but in bold to make it more dramatic. I moved the web address to the bottom and placed the price at the left top corner because it's cheap it's big and bold to appeal the audience to buy it because conventionally the price is £2.35-2.99. If I chose the price to be £2.35 it would be near the bar code. The tag line is now bold and in a serif font to tell the audience it's a magazine but not a simple and boring magazine. The sky line is in white sroked with black to give the connotations of importance the white connotes poisitivity and good music.
I changed the splash colour to pink because then it's consistant in colour it also matches the the masthead and that's imporatnt because Pop girl is promoting a new artist. The pull quote has been changed to a handwriting format however I couldn't do it black because it doesn't stand out because her jeans are black so I needed the pull quote to be bright as possible because it's this story that's interesting the audience to buy the magazine, I chose the quote to be ''How I became a star'' because it sounds influencial. The USP is smaller but the same and placed on the left side. I could add more sell lines and feature pictures to make it look more exciting and fun.

Sample frame shots for draft music covers

These photos are for my first draft and I conventionally have done 3/4 frame shots leaving a bit of space at the top for my masthead.

This shot is a good medium close up, there's no shadows and he's making direct address to connote confidence.

In this frame the lighting is good. Pictures of boys is conventional for music magazines because boys attratct girls quicker.

This is a good posture as she is still making direct address and smiling. The lighting is also there's no shadows but her hair coukd have been more neater because it was hard to edit.

This shot is also a good photo however if her hair was a bit more neater so it would have been easier to edit.

This is a medium close up however there's shadow on her face

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This is a good shot of her and a very conventional pose as her hands are on her hips. The lighting is good and also making direct address.

This picture is blurry and not good the lighting is wrong.

Analysis of the second draft

This is the second draft of my music cover.  I have included the basic conventions such as masthead, bar code, main image, USP,   pull quote and website address, however I haven't included skyline, price and date and other feature pictures therefore my cover looks incomplete and plain. For the main image it's 3/4 medium frame shot this is a conventional frame shots for nearly all music magazines this angle allows the audience to see the facial expression and their clothes. I have chosen a girl to feature my front cover because pop female singers represent younger female audience and therefore can relate to the audience. I could also have a male pop singer but he has to be young and good looking to appeal the audience. I ave also included the sell lines because they're conventional as it appeals the audience to buy the magazine to read more. For my masthead I have used the colour pink because stereotypically pink is a girls colour, the font looks like a hand writing and age appropriate. This font connotes bubbly and fun this creates an effect on the audience because it looks fun.  I have outlined the masthead to make it obvious and exciting, the stroke effect is also conventional but the stroke would be white to connote positivity and purity and not black. The masthead should also be behind her head because the main image is promoting the magazine and in that way the magazine becomes well known and popular.  The ''OMG'' effect inspired me from another pop magazine it's in caps and a shape to give the effect of importance and shocking. This word is abbreviated and matches young teen audience's dialect this is important because the audience feel relatable and comfortable to read the magazine because it's appropriate. The name of the artist is in a big font and outlined in black to keep the colour consistant. The pull quote is in pink but not appealing this has to be more bold and exciting because this is the main story for the magazine.  I need to include the price and date near the bar code, it's usually written in a shape to make it more clear but because it's expensive the price is little and un-noticeable.

Top of Pops front cover analysis

LIIAR analysis of Pop music magazine

This magazine front cover is featured by Justin Beiber and this will apeal a lot of young girls becaus he has a lot of teen girl fans. The brightness of the cover is quite bright in colours, this connote that the magazine is fun and positive. The use of pink reflects on the audience as because the target audience are young girls and pink represents girls. However if there were different colours like green and brown, the cover wouldn't be so appealing as the colours are dull and boring and will give a different connotation about the magazine. This will also appeal to the audience because of the featured pictures of other young male celebrities and young popular female celebrities as because they've got a new show/songs or even gossip and advice.
The institutional logo is at the top left corner sponsored by BBC, this is conventional as so the audience know where it belongs and what type of magazine it is. the logo is always the same font so that the audience can recognise BBC. The target audience are young teenage girls from 14-19 but the statistics show that the younger audience from the age of 11 like to read Pop, this could be because as they're hitting puberty they feel quite insecure and different so they'd like advice from young female celebrities on how to style and to live a healthy lifestyle so that they can appeal to people. They could use young male celebrities to feature on the cover because young girls go through that phase of fancying good looking boys. The representation of the front cover is very clear as anyone would know who the magazine is targeted at because of the use of pink and pictures of girl clothes. without these pictures it would've been difficult to recognise the target audience.

Conventionally the front cover has a masthead, barcode, date, price, pull quote, sell lines, main image and feature images. Top of Pops also uses page numbers on the cover next to the topic to persuade the audience to buy the magazine and to to read more. The masthead is very bubbly and bold in pink with a white border to make it catchy, the masthead connotes fun and innocent. The main image of Justin... he's stood making direct address connoting confidence his smile is wide this will make the audience happy. The sell lines are in caps to make the magazine look busy and appealing also the font colours are pink and white this is keeping the theme consistant if it was multi coloured font it would give a different connotation and reflect on a much younger audience. I think if there wasn't a barcode the cover would look like a poster. The price and date is very important because the audience will know if it the magazine's old or new. Without these conventions the front cover wouldn't look so exciting and appealing.

Drafts and planning for my chosen genre Music magazine

This is sktecth of my models clothing, this is what i'd like to see and what other would like to see . They are skinny and healthy becuause it;s attractive in themedia and also a good inspiriation to younger kids. All of them are wearing white and elegant or sophisticated dress/skirts. Also hair down and smiling looking confident.

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This is my draft for the magazine front cover. I have included all the conventions such as masthead, USP, sky line, banner, main image, house of style, sell lines, bar code and date, price, page numbers, website, institutional logo and feature pictures. I decided to do pink because stereotypically it's a girls colour and it's also conventional. White also a conventional colour and blue because it's a nice contrast to the pink. In my main image I have planned for the model to wear a crop top and a skirt to connote confidence and summer/nice weather. She'll making dierctr address and smiling to connote happy.

For my contents I have followed the conventional layout of the magazine which has three columns and is categorised to make it easier for the readers to get around the magazine. The colours will be the same as the font cover.  

Sample frame shots

This is a long shot and bad lighting, there's too much shadow. However this isn't a conventional frame shot for a front cover.

This is a medium close up. What a conventioanl photo looks like for a front cover, this frame allows the audience to see the face clearly and clothes. This also has good lighting.

This is a medium close up however teh light is in the wrong place creating shadows on her face which isn't professional.

This is also a medium close up but there's props in the frame which I should have been more aware of also the lighting doesn't look right.

For a group photo it's neccessary to position the people right within the frame, to get a equeal and clear view of everyone of them. This shot also allows us to apply a masthead above their heads because there's space. The lighting is also good no one has harsh shadows on their faces.

This shot is also a good photo however it would have been better if they were more closer or two of them at the back.

This shot could have been more closer but everything else is okay.

Draft and analysis

The mock up of the music magazine I had created has convetnional features of a pop magazine. I included main image, masthead, website address, sell lines, bar code, price and a plug/USP. Doing this gave me some practice and ideas of how a magazine front cover should look like. 3 main colours were, orange and white, these colours are stereotypically girl colours because a pop magzine is generally targeted at young teen girls so it has to appeal to their interest. I chose purple for the masthead and the spash because stereotypically it's a girls colour and this colour connotes fun.The colour orange is to connote autunm because of what Cher Lloyd was wearing her costume connotes comfort as she isn't wearing anything revealing or short she's instead wearing a hoodie. What I have learnt about the magzine is that page numbers are shown on the front cover for speacial features and institutional logo is always on the left side top corner. The price of the magazine is kept the same because it's conevtnional. This main image is digital image form google. Cher Lloyd is a pop singer admired by a lot of young girls as she is fashionable and young.

This magazine cover is now improved and looks more appealing as I have stroked the masthead to stand out more to connote excitment and also stroked the name, pull quote and the USP becasue it looks plain and cheap with out strokes it also doesn't stand out due to the darkness of the costume. Black strokes match her eyeliner and connotes strong and evil however the connotaion of black stroke doesn't match the audience as the audience should be gullable, fun and sweet. I could add an institutional logo more feature pictures and more sell lines so it looks full and exciting.                                                         

Mock up of music magazine front cover

Conventional drafts of pop magazine (hand drawn)

Contents draft for college magazine

College magazine front cover draft

Contents page draft

LIIAR analysis of a college magazine

Samples of different camera angles for the college magazine

College magazine analysis 3

College magazine analysis 2

college magazine analysis 1

Conventional draft of a front cover

Final mgazine front cover

Contents analysis

The conventions of a contents page is that it should have the title ‘’contents’’ have subheadings ‘’Features’’ and ‘’regulars’’ and must have page numbers for the audience to get around the magazine. The images are usually on too one side this could be conventional within the layout the date and colours are also conventional for the readers to be appealed too.  The difference between a popular magazine contents page to a college contents is that college contents page is simple and less information because there’s less pages however the popular contents have a lot of pages and there’s more to read. Also the images in a college magazine are ordinary hut the popular magazines would be images of up coming celebrities or famous models.

Evaluation

Evaluation

Research

First I had analysed the typical conventions of magazine cover. I analysed three to show my understanding and to gather more ideas for my front cover. The conventions of a magazine front cover are masthead, taglines, bar code, skyline, date/issue and main image. I then did a LIIAR analysis of a college magazine cover. I annotated the cover discussing why it’s conventional for language, image, colour, frame shot, institution representation and audience, and how it connotes through the use of LIIAR. 

After research I drafted out my front cover layout on publisher and my contents page. I included the conventions of a front cover layout. That included masthead, taglines, skyline, bar code date/issues and main image. On my contents page I included the contents title, image, features, regulars and page numbers.  For my contents page it was important to add page numbers so that the readers can make their way around the magazine. In most magazines the features and the regulars are always categorised, this is a convention and it also makes the page tidier. The image in contents page isn’t always the same model from the front cover it’s usually images based on the topics in the magazine.

Planning

 For my planning I did a mood board using LIIAR. For my language I decided on the taglines to be quite inspirational. I wanted my colour theme to be bright to connote success and happiness and my masthead to be the same colour as the college’s name. As it’s conventional to have a medium frame shot I decided to take a picture of student holding folders to connote intelligence and ready to learn. I randomly chose a student from class she had no makeup on and was wearing appropriate clothing, I was glad she didn’t have makeup on because this connotes how simple the college is and you don’t have to be peer pressured in to trends as nowadays teenagers do. The young simple students represents the year 11’s because they’re at the same stage in life also similar age and mind concept. The institution for my magazine is my college (Wyke College sixth form) because it’s much easier for me and just so that my location on the front cover doesn’t look wrong I wanted it all to be realistic within the location students and information. The audience for my magazine is for year 11’s to appeal them to come to Wyke also parents because they also decide on their child’s future.

Digital images

 After all that planning I never got to plan my location or model or organise a camera so to save my time I quickly borrowed a camera from the media department and randomly chose a female student for no specific reason, luckily the day was pretty and bright this connotes happiness and fresh if it was raining it would have connoted something different and I would have had to take a picture inside. I took a typical picture of my model holding a folder my photo however isn’t so professional or creative I’m not a photographer but I did avoid shadows because negative darkness on the front cover will connote negativity about Wyke College. I had also taken pictures in different angles to do my shot frame analysis. This analysis discusses about why certain frame shots are conventional and what it usually connotes.  I just took pictures of my student in different angles but for my close up I took a picture of a flower and for my establishing shot I took a picture of Ash and Wilson.

Editing

I used Photoshop to edit my front cover. I’m not an expert at using Photoshop so I use my study periods to create my front cover because it takes me a while to work my around Photoshop. Firstly I cropped my main image to medium shot because it’s a conventional shot frame for a college magazine, also to identify the expressions and location clearly. I then added my first tag line and put on the right side of my student model. I edited the colour in yellow to connote brightness and success I did the same with another tagline and I added speech marks to give the audience a quick review about the college.  I saved a bar code picture from Google images and applied it to my front cover and placed it on the right corner of my page.  Bar code is conventional for all magazine front covers. However I didn’t put a price down because college magazines are free for all students and parents. I then added the date and issue number under the masthead it’s conventional to be there and it’s important for the audience to know it’s an updated magazine, so that it will appeal to the audience to read the new magazine. In my main image the college’s name is written at the back this was a good opportunity for me to use it smartly and put another word before it. I then came up with the name ‘’successful Wyke’’, I tried to put the word successful behind the student models head because popular magazines usually have that effect and it looks professional so I wanted my magazine to look real as possible. I used YouTube to learn how to edit a word behind the object but after so many tries I still wasn’t able to do it so I asked for help. I also added the sky line ‘’exclusively for new students’’ with black background and bright yellow to font colour to stand out to appeal the audience.  Lastly I put another tag line at the left bottom corner and it’s in white to mainly stand out and to connote fresh start. I have noticed that most professional have three colours and I have followed that convention and used three colours; purple, yellow and white.

Overall I didn’t perform well as I wanted to do my time management wasn’t good. I was running out of time and had to rush through my evaluation and also upload all my work on blogger, which I don’t even know how to use therefore I had to save time to work my way around blogger.

Planning for college magazine

Initial ideas

photogrpahs of; students studying for the front cover
                          holding folders
                          medium close up conventional angle
                          two gender type of students connoting unisex college

Target audinece 16-19 college students also parents and teachers ( for new beginers)
front cover- coneventions; masthead, main image, skyline, sell lines, bar code, date/issue and colour
magazine names; successful wyke, wyke winners, wyke college and institutional wyke logo

Research of front covers

This is an example of a medium close up in other words 3/4. I will be using this shot for my front cover as it's conventional. Medium close up is important for the audience to be able to see the facial expressions. The happy facial expression will appeal to the audience a lot because if the student looks happy, If the student looks happy then it automatically gives the connotation of a good college.

Brief

Preliminary Exercise; Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of new school/college magazine featuring a photograph of a student in medium close up plus some appropriate-laid out text and a masthead.Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Main Task; The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine all images and text must be original produced by you- minimum of four images.