Research and Planning: Drafts Redrawn

I have chosen to re-draw my drafts for my pop music magazine and base my new drafts on my audience research and questionnaires, and I have also considered how most professional and existing pop music magazines look and incorporated some of those elements into my new drafts:

Research and Planning: Costume and Props Research

I have looked at existing pop music magazines and looked closely at what the female artists (models) are wearing and what props (if any) which they have.

I have done this because I think it is important for me to make my magazine as realistic as possible and market research will help me to achieve this.

I have discovered that all of the females are wearing 'girly' clothes and also fashionable clothes which would appeal to a teenage audience. The clothes are quite bright and definitely stand out.

Also, I have noticed that the location of the model shoot is basically a white canvas behind the model, and I think that they do this because they want the sole focus of the image to be the artist.

Research and Planning: Contents Page Analysis

Representation:

The contents page represents the artists as friendly and approachable, but most importantly - young. The reason that they make the artists look this way is so that young teenage girls reading it can relate easier to the artists than they would if they did not look like 'one of them'. If the youngsters did not or could not relate to the magazine models, then it would be less likely for them to read it as it wouldn't appeal as much.


Layout:

The layout is straight-forward and professional; it has the typical three columns which magazine use, and also incorporates images onto the page neatly, ensuring that the images do not cover any writing. 
This makes the magazine look professional and therefore I will also incorporate these particular things into my design to make it look good also.


Genre:

It is clear that this magazine is a pop magazine. The reason I know that the genre is pop is because of the sheer layout of the contents page; the text is informal and 'girly'; the colours are all light and bright, signifying that this is an informal magazine; the images are all of popular pop artists; there are fashion accessories on the page; the cover lines/articles are all gossip news related.


Audience: 

I think it is clear that the audience of this magazine is females around the age of 11-17. I think this because the magazine has quite a young, fresh design which would attract girls in that age range because of elements like the fashion and gossip used on the contents page to intrigue them (which both of those stereotypically do).

Research and Planning: Equipment and Software List

1) iMAC computer

2) Canon Camera 1100D

3) Photoshop Software

4) InDesign Software

Research and Planning: Costumes and Props List

My choices for costumes and props are all based around what I have seen on front covers on a pop music magazine. I want my model to look pretty and 'sweet' but also young and full of life. I think this will appeal to young teenage girls because they want to look like their idols (the artists) and if they see my model wearing young, 'party' like outfits that would also be available to them, they will be happy and want to read about them and how they become even more like them through fashion tips etc. I have ensured that my choices are decent and not too revealing as I do not want to encourage young girls to be like that; I think my outfit is just right for a pop music magazine.

Research and Planning: Production Schedule

Research and Planning: Double Page Spread Analysis

Representation:

The artist on the page is Justin Bieber; a highly successful pop artist, whose immediate target audience is young teenage girls (commonly known as 'beliebers'). You can also see that the magazine is aimed at young teenage girls because they have stereotypically made Justin Bieber look attractive; in other words, transforming him into a 'teen-heartthrob'. The mise-en-scene used in his photograph tell me lots of things about the representation of the artist; for example, his facial expression is quite cheeky and therefore alluring - it makes him almost a 'bad-boy' which will intrigue the audience. Also, with a plain white background behind the artist, we know that the designers want the audience to focus solely on him. And also his clothes look quite young and teen girls will relate to that as they will see boys their age wearing the same kind of clothing as Justin is; making the artist more relatable and seem normal to the fans.

Layout:

The title of the article is a key quote from Justin's interview, which immediately shows us that this magazine is quite informal; another way to attract young readers.
The magazine covers the three-colour rule and this shows that it is professional. 
Due to the fact that Justin Bieber's photograph takes up the whole right page, it makes the amount of text on the page small which also shows that it is an informal magazine aimed at young people.
Another key element that I noticed when analysing this double page spread was that they have incorporated a small box in the lower corner of the left page regarding 'dressing room demands' - in other words, fashion tips. I have noticed through my research that fan girls are highly interested in the fashion world which comes from pop music, and therefore this small box highlights the magazines target audience.

Genre:

The article is an interview surrounding love life (with Selena Gomez) and generally the artists personal life and relationships, which teenage fans will want to know about. However, the interview does mention his music and his latests hits in the charts, but I would say that the ratio between gossip and music would be 70/30 - I will take this into account when making my double-page spread.

Audience:

Taking all of the other elements into account, I think it is obvious that my audience for my pop magazine will be to teenage girls between the age of '13 - 18'. 

Research and Planning: Audience Interview Videos

Through this research, I have found that 2/3 of the audience wish for my model to be female; and they think this because a young teenage girl would relate to a female model rather than a male as they will want to know about their female icons. Also, the majority think that my three colour scheme would be Pink, Light Green and Yellow and they chose these because they think they are quite feminine colours and my audience is girls so they will obviously be attracted to that. Thirdly, they think that the price of my magazine should be around £2.99. Lastly, they all thought that the front cover should be my main focus when creating my pop magazine as that is what (in their opinion) initially attracts the audience to get the magazine rather than the cover lines etc.

Research and Planning: Interview Questions

1. What colours do you expect to see on a pop magazine aimed at young teenage girls and why?

2. How much would you pay for a teen-pop magazine and why?

3. Do you think my model should be a female or a male and why?

4. What is the most important element that I should focus on when creating my magazine and why?

Research and Planning: Target Audience PowerPoint Presentation

Research and Planning: Questionnaire Results

 Through these results I have discovered that my target audience will prefer to have my pop music magazine like this:

1) Masthead named 'HOT IN POP'

2) The colour of my masthead should be 'pink'.

3) The gender of my model should be female.

4) The majority of my target audience buy magazines weekly.

5) The price that my audience would expect would be £2.99

Research and Planning: Questionnaire Questions

1. What should the name of my magazine be?

a) HOT IN POP
b) The Pop Life
c) Pop Is Us


2. What colour should my masthead be?

a) Blue
b) Pink
c) Light Green

3. Which gender should my main model be?

a) Male
b) Female

4. How often do you buy music magazines?

a) Weekly
b) Monthly
c) Daily

5. How much money would you usually expect a music magazine to be?

a) £0.99
b) £1.99
c) 2.99

Research and Planning: Masthead Designs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my initial masthead designs. I have established through audience and market research that my masthead font should be big and bold - this is to attract the readers attention and to also indicate that the magazine is quite informal as it is a music magazine aimed at young teenagers rather than a serious, news-filled magazine.

Research and Planning: Different Shot Types

Research and Planning: My First Podcast