Sneak peek!

Sneak peek: One of my photographs!

This is just one of the many pictures I have taken of my main model. I decided to take a head and shoulders shot to get as much in of the model as I could without defeating the closeness I intend to have with the model and the reader. From creating my shot list, it was always clear in my head that I wanted a white background so that none of the attention was taken away from my model. In terms of what the model is wearing, I chose the 'nerdy' look, the bow tie and large glasses symbolise the stereotypical 'nerd'. The facial expression is aggressive in a cheeky way; this is where some of the fun aspect of my magazine will come in to place.

This picture was found AFTER I took my initial photos. I found it quite astonishing that I was able to create a similar photo to this professional one of Cher Lloyd. I feel that I have achieved some very good photos and i will have a good range to choose from for my magazine.



Inspiration!

This fun and gimmicky styled photograph is exactly what I'm aiming for in my magazine. 'Fun' is the word I will be trying to incorporate into my magazine as much as I can. This photo taken for 'We Love Pop' magazine of Cher Lloyd is good for demonstrating this. This particular photograph has a white background which is exactly what I am aiming for in my own photos as it does not take any attention away from the model.

This fun aspect of pop is what I want to incorporate into my own pop magazine!

To give me a deeper insight into the type of music my magazine will be featuring, I posted these two music videos as I feel that they explain the genre of pop music well in a fun way which is what I hope to incorporate into my media text.

Carly Rae Jepson - Call Me Maybe

                                  Cher Lloyd - Want U Back

My research so far

Research

View more PowerPoint from Shireen_Afz

Shot List:

When I was creating my shot list, I was mainly thinking about which images would fit best with my double page spread feature. Since I had a clear idea of what I was going to write about in my article, I was also clear minded about what my images were going to look like. This shot list will serve as a guide when it is time to start taking photographs. It’s important that I know what I am doing during the process as opposed to making things up as I go along. Within my shot list, I made sure to include details about mise-en-scene in order to inform my model of what to wear as well as the location and style of my shots.

Flat Plan

In order for the production of my magazine to run smoother, I have created a flat plan for all of the pages I will be creating. They will serve as a guide as to how the information I include on my pages are to be laid out. 

Front cover

FRONT COVER: For the front cover of my pop music magazine I intend to have a teenage female to model in a head and shoulders shot. An alternative idea would be to have the model in a mid shot as, when thinking about my target audiences' preferences, some teenage girls like to see what the model on the front of a magazine is wearing. Many girls look to magazine models in order to gain an idea of what is fresh in the fashion industry. I will be sure to take both of these shots when the time to take my photos approaches in order to see which one looks the most effective.
As I will prefer to have a shot and snappy title, it will be bold and large to make it stand out more at the top of the page this will catch the eye of a potential consumer making it more likely that they will purchase it (that is if my magazine were to be put on the market). Some ideas I had were either something similar to 'RAW' or a spin on the word 'pop' such as 'Pop-sane!'. In turn I thought that my model should be wearing some sort of animal printed clothing to mirror the take on the word 'roar' which I turned to 'raw'. The word 'raw' to me, would relate to the gossip side of my magazine with it being 'raw' and 'fresh'. However I decided to settle with something that would instantly tell the reader what the magazine is about. 'POP CRAZE' was the best one I could pick as it screamed pop music and gave off the feel of a young, fun and of course crazy magazine .
The quote layered over part of the model is a common feature of a magazine which contains within it some sort of interview. Since my double page spread will consist of an interview, I thought that the quote on the front cover may entice the reader to read inside the magazine. I see it as a 'teaser', to make the reader want to read on.
The circle nearby the models shoulder which contains the text 'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW INSIDE' is included as I thought that this would create an authentic look to my magazine, it will hopefully make my front cover look more official. 
The overall layout of the pull quotes and features inside etc. around the model is not to overcrowded as I have observed on some pop music magazines for teen girls (such as magazine 'top of the pops'). I wanted to create a look that was simple yet interesting at the same time.

Contents page

CONTENTS PAGE: Many of the contents pages in the magazines I have looked at are pretty simple in the way the information is laid out. For my magazine, although I am going for the more mature approach to the traditionally girly teen pop magazine I have decided to create a contents page flat plan with elements that will hopefully serve as yet another 'teaser' to make the reader want to read on.
The heading of the page 'CONTENTS' appears slightly deformed (to the untrained eye!), however my aim was to make it appear as if the title is so packed with gossip that it has started to leak. Now that revisit my drawing, I think that this should have actually been underneath the word 'GOSSIP!' which would be playing on the phrase 'JUICIEST GOSSIP!'.
I have made sure to include a picture of the same model on my front cover on my contents page so that the reader will know that there is a feature about her further into the magazine. This is also to ensure that my magazine will have a running theme (continuity). I have also made the contents title purple to match the title on the front cover.
I have always had the idea in my mind to make my magazine fun in a subtle way, so after researching different music magazines I was pleased to see that this could be achieved with the smallest of features. As you can see, some of the pictures are shown as Polaroids, I decided to include these to add that scrapbook feel to the page; making the reader feel a sense of ownership of the magazine.
The shape on the bottom right hand corner is there to catch the eye of the reader. Within it contains the text 'EXTRAS', again running with the idea of subtle fun, I have decided to include perhaps the text 'free poster' as from my questionnaire I found that some of the people I asked enjoyed having free posters in a music magazine.

Double page spread

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD: This is where my interview with my made artist will be placed. The title of my double page spread is large and takes up a lot of the top quarter of the pages. This is a way of introducing the artist with a bang. Instantly the reader knows this person's name and this may prompt them to want to know more about her. The words 'Under the skin of:' is included as I thought it would be good to use it as a spin on the idea of a new artist in the music industry. The reader will think that they will know more about her than anybody who has not read the magazine.  The 'B' is a larger font than 'CHRISTINA', I thought that this would be a way of introducing the importance of her name as, a lot of artist today are known for their stage names of shortening of their birth names. I thought that this would make her name appear more official. Again I have used the colour purple to make the colours run throughout the magazine. The pictures are placed on the pages in a way that I can place the text around it so that the page does not look too dull.
The pull quote is placed at a slanted angle to give the page more of a interesting perspective and so that not everything is placed straight, it to make to page look more interesting. It is also quite common in magazines so I know my double page spread will look more authentic with this feature on it.
I have also included a box on the bottom of the head and shoulders shot sub-headed 'FIRE QUESTION TIME', this is where I plan to provide the reader with short, snappy and fun questions and answers from my artist.

Questionnaire: Results/ analysis

In order to find out more about what my target audience of 13- 18 year old girls prefer, I created a questionnaire devised of both quantitative and qualitative based questions. The quantitative based questions allowed me to present my results/data in an easy way to read and analyse the differences in opinions. The qualitative based questions can prompt people to express their opinions in more detail. Although they are harder to analyse they allow me to have a more detailed idea of how my magazine should be. I issued my questionnaire to 20 students in my year. I tried my best to not only ask those in my friendship group as I am aware that influence from others can prompt somebody to think in a certain way that is not always their own. 

Here are my results:

 As I had already vaguely decided that my magazine would be pop music based, I was pleased to see that the majority of people (after R&B) liked pop music the most. As I predicted, many people like to listen to music that is R&B based, however this did not discourage me from creating a pop music magazine as I have quite a clear idea of how it will be and how it will appeal to my target audience.

Typical Reader Profile:

Mia is 16 years old and currently in her second year at college studying Art, Media Studies and English. She tends to enjoy her independence from family as she spends a lot of her free time with friends in and outside of college. She enjoys listening to music whenever and wherever she can. She never leaves the house without her iPod which she fills with her favourite music from Rihanna to LMFAO. She is known for her daily trips to her local newsagents, always ready to check out the latest music magazines in stock, she tends to be drawn in by the magazines that catch her eye.
Mia works part time at a restaurant as a waitress, she does not earn a lot of money, so she makes sure that whatever she buys is worth the money she pays for it.
Her all time favourite artist however is 'Jessie J'. Mia has kept herself up to date with Jessie's music ever since her first single ' Do it like a Dude' was released. Mia feels like she can relate to her in terms of having a unique style. She often looks to magazines to see what's new in the fashion industry and tries to make the looks her own. 
When Mia is not working or at college, she loves to go shopping with her friends. What teenage girl doesn't? Even when she's low on money, Mia loves to window shop and dream about what she will be like when she's older. Ever since a young age she has aspired to be known for her musical talents.
However she feels that with the amount of artists already out there, she will not stand a chance to have a taste of fame. She is no longer taking music as an A level because of this. She knows that the reality of this world is tough so the only time she can see herself as a pop star is when she's in a dream world of her own.

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This reader profile will help me when creating my magazine as I will relate it as much as I can to her. It provides me with a strong platform to build a magazine that caters for a particular type of person.

'Smash Hits' - contents page

 'Smash Hits' contents page shows a unique twist on the standard contents page. The use of the ripped notebook paper image with text on it as well as the image snaps and paper clips gives the page a 'scrapbook' feel, this may attract a typical teenage girl as they may keep a scrapbook of their own so they may see this magazine in a way that relates to them and their tastes.
 Taking inspiration from this, I think that my own magazine's contents page should have a similar feel as I think that my target audience will be of the older teenage population.
 A way in which I could create my own take on this particular contents page would be to maybe add some more colour in order to grab attention to certain areas of the page without overpowering the front cover.

Quantitative and qualitative research. Which is best to use in my questionnaire?

By looking at this, I am able to create my questionnaire using a variety to gather different responses from my target audience

The use of semiotics in 'WE ♥ POP' magazine

Semiotics in a magazine may entice a person to want to purchase it as they will feel a sense of relating to the magazine if they understand the use of semiotics.

Pop Wordle!

Here is another 'wordle' to give me more of an insight of the most popular trigger words relating to pop music.