FRONT PAGE ANALYSIS 2

I have decided to analyse the front cover of another magazine. I have however decided to analyse, in my opinion, a front cover that is badly made and does not fit the appropriate forms and conventions of a magazine. This therefore will make it easier for me to understand what works and what doesn't work in these kinds of magazines.

Looking at the example, I am immediately shut off and are not drawn in unlike the 'In View' magazine.

The first issue is that the background image is an object. This does not agree with the appropriate form as the magazines as they usually contain a celebrity with a direct gaze. This makes me feel less engaged with the ideas they are attempting to present across. All together, I can clearly see that the person creating the magazine has a limited ability when using the chosen editing software. This means that the final product becomes less visibly attractive. The mast head is usually bold and contrasting with the background. In this case, the mast head is small and not bold. The main selling line, 'The Art Block!' does not contrast with the background and blends in. This dramatically takes away from the effect and when looking at the magazine, The main use of a mast head is to make it the first thing the audience looks at. In this circumstance however, there is no visual draw to the magazine. The creator uses only a single font. In my opinion, the font is not professional and therefore does not fit the conventions of a sixth form magazine. In a sixth form magazine, you would expect a professional and classy design in order to draw in readers and a youthful tone to appeal to the majority of the audience. However, the font, the images and the use of '!' is not professional and therefore does not fit the forms and conventions. 

To change this, I would first of all add a bar-code, a date and an issue number so the magazine matches the appropriate forms. I would then change the mast head to make it bold and a different font. I would also add more information in 'puffs'. I would add a competition to gain more interest and the prize would be appealing to the audience. 

From analysing the front cover, I have discovered what parts of a front cover is the most important and I have also determined what is needed to maintain the appropriate conventions of a magazine.

FRONT PAGE ANALYSIS 1

I decided to analyse a Sixth Form magazine in order to familiarise myself with the appropriate layout of these kinds of magazines.

From first glance, I know that this magazine is a Sixth Form magazine and is very appealing. This is because of the clear representation of the ideology of a Sixth Form student, due to techniques used (listed below) which have a direct link to the appropriate conventions of this kind of magazine.


Background Image 
The background image is the main image and dominates the majority of the front cover. It has very influential effects as it is the main draw for  new readers and it is usually the first thing. In this magazine, the image is in mid-shot which is commonly used in magazines. The photo connotates that they are enjoying Sixth Form Life due to their posture and smile. Both of people in the photo have a direct gaze which is used to address the audience. This picture directly relates to students and formally addresses them due to the uniform they are wearing. Mid shots also make it easy to register facial expressions. In this example, the reader will immediately recognise that they are happy at their school as the photo denotes this.

Mast Head
The mast head is the main title of the front page and is used to advertise what the magazine contains. It is also the main draw for the audience and takes up a majority of the space. It is usually in the same font and in the same location on every issue in attempt to build a  The mast head is 'in view'  and is white. This contrasts with the green background making it more powerful. The font, draws me to the form of a student magazine and is rather stylish. 'in' is not in bold and 'view' is bold. This makes the magazine seem more professional as these kind of techniques are used to highlight the bold word 'view'. The way the mast head is presented clearly conveys a professional and high achieving school.

Headlines/ Cover lines
The feature cover line in this example is 'Step up to sixth form' which is used as the main attraction point for new readers. It is usually in big bold text and situated at the bottom or the top of the magazine. In music or television magazines, they usually contain the name of a celebrity in attempt to relate to the readers and encourage them to read about them. They are usually rather short and catchy. These bits of text are important when referring to the appropriate form. In this example, I can clearly see that the cover line links in with the form as 'step up to sixth form' relates directly to a sixth form magazine.

Strap-lines
Strap-lines are usually situated under the headline. In this example, the positioning of text stays true to the conventions of a normal magazine. The strap-line is used to add extra information about the magazine. The strap-lines are not the immediate pull factor of a magazine and are usually the secondary. The reader usually will read the headline first and then read the strap-line situated under it. In this example, the strap-line is 'students enhance their learning with a broad range of opportunities'. This agrees with the forms and conventions of a sixth form magazine. This particular strap-line is in my opinion, very effective as it is professional and highlights the professionality of the sixth form that will in turn, attract new students.






In this particular example, the devices used by the school, portray the form and conventions of a Sixth Form magazine through the way it is set out and the content it includes. This particular example of a student magazine is in my opinion, extremely well presented and this is why I chose this example. It also connotates a clear link to the target audience which is in this case, a Sixth Form student. This analysis has helped me decide what to include in my magazine and how my decisions are vital in influencing the targeted audience.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my BlogSpot. Here, I will post regularly on my production of a student magazine. I will deeply analyse and explain my decisions in what I choose and I will learn more about the A Level media syllabus as the year progresses. I am extremely interested in the media in how it functions. I am a regular media user and I spend a large quantity of my free time browsing, creating and posting. I have a YouTube channel where I produce videos for 920* fans.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWobjXi6rnVGZ8iS6cwnoIA

I hope from this course I will be able to improve my skills at Photoshop and in the end, I will be able to leave with a better knowledge of the media and how it works.



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

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style). Maximum four members to a group. All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.

In the evaluation the following seven questions must be addressed:

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Who would be the audience for your media product?
How did you attract/address your audience?
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

*920 from 06/10/2016