Evaluation of Magazine Front Cover

Throughout the making of my magazine front cover i think i considered a lot of the topics that we needed to such as; Genre Codes & Conventions, Target Audience, Visual Codes, Layout & Design and finally, the language. Before i began making my front cover for my magazine, i looked at three examples of magazines that are already out there and i established the generic codes and conventions of each of them.


Firstly, i had to establish what the genre was going to be for my magazine front cover. I decided on a fashion magazine for women, but for the older generation. I chose this because i thought there are so many magazines out there which are aimed at teenagers and young adults, that i thought it would be nice if there was something out there for the middle aged, older adults category. This led me to agree on the target audience i was going to aim my product at, my target audience would be 40+, but i think it is mainly aimed at women in their 40's and early 50's. Taking into account that my fashion magazine was aimed at the older generation of women in their 40's and early 50's, i think my magazine front cover aims itself at not only the demographic (populas), but the psychographic (individual) audience as well. I have shown this within the magazine front cover by the type of language used.


The next thing i had to do, was to decide on my use of visual codes, for example: what images i was going to use, and then to decide on the things i was going to write on the front cover of my magazine. When choosing the images i was going to use on my front cover, i was considering someone who was of an older age but still looked good for her age, someone that was an icon to women, and this is how i chose Sarah Jessica Parker as the image for the front cover of my magazine. I chose her because i believe that she never lets her age bring her down, as she is always dressed well and fashionably, but not forgetting that she is quite old but still looks young. I thought she would be a good person to use because i think that older women would look up to her and think; 'i want to be like her', and this would be a benefit to my magazine because it would make people attracted to my magazine, and there would hopefully be high sales. I decided that Sarah Jessica Parker was going to be the only image i had on the front cover of my magazine because i thought it would be effective if i made her fill most of the page, with just catching phrases around her of what people can expect to find within the magazine.


Another thing i had to consider was the use of language i was going to use on the front cover of my magazine. At first i was slightly confused as to what to write on the front cover of my magazine, but a flood of ideas soon came rushing to me. I personally think i made good use of sell lines by using things such as; 'How to feel young and look sexy again.' i think this was a good choice because as you are getting older, all women wish they could feel young and sexy again. I also used things such as; 'Your spring must-haves' and 'Hundreds of ideas for updating your look.' I think the use of 'your' shows that it is directly involving the audience and this shows a psychographic factor - aiming at the individual. I think i have made good use of persuasive techniques through the use of some of my writing; 'Best Beauty Buys' this shows the use of alliteration. I have also made good use of punctuation such as; full stops, exclamation marks and commas. I have also noticed that i made use of slogan, which i did not originally notice. My slogan is; 'Fashion For You', this shows that i am directly involving the audience by the use of 'you', which would draw more attention to my product. Overall, i think i let myself down a little on the language side of the magazine front cover because i think i could have made better use of modes of address, such as; the use of rhetorical questions and quotations, if i had the chance to make my magazine front cover again, i would definately make sure i included these. However, i am pleased with my use of sell lines and all the persuasive techniques i used within my magazine front cover.


Finally, i had to gather all my images and text together and decide on the layout and design of it. I had to decide on a font style, size and colour, in which did not take me too long because i already had an idea in my head of what i wanted my magazine cover to look like. I ended up choosing a pale pink colour for the background, with the use of black and lilac font for the text as i thought these colours went well with the colours of Sarah Jessica Parker's outfit. With the image i chose, i wanted it to fill most of the page so i did not have to include anymore images on that page. I did make it fill most of the page with little gaps around the edges as room for me to write my text. I also made the image overlap the title 'Glow' slightly, as i had seen this happen within the magazine front covers i analysed before starting my own magazine front cover, i think this makes it look extremely effective. I have also made use of a barcode at the bottom of the magazine front cover because this is what you would find on a magazine front cover in a shop. One thing i should comment on that i am not happy with is the top of the picture looks slightly pixelated from where it originally had a white background. However, i did not have the right software on my computer to repair this, but if i had the chance to do it again i would definately try and find a computer that did have the correct software as i think this let my final product down a litte. Overall, i am happy with my choice of colours, pictures and fonts.


To conclude, i believe the aim of my product has targetted my audience well by the use of sell lines, colours and images because i believe this would attract the correct age group that i was intending on. Overall, i am extremely happy with how my product has turned out but if i had the chance to do it again there would be a few things that i would want to change, such as; the pixelation around the top of the image i have used and i would also think about my use of text in a little bit more detail as i forgot to include the use of rhetorical questions and quotations. However, i am happy that i used a slogan that i originally did not notice until completing this evaluation. Overall, i am really happy with how i have included all the topics within my magazine front cover that i was supposed to.

Advertising

Advertising is...
WORTH: £19 billion
ACCOUNTS FOR: 6.4% of economy.


Type of TV Advertisements:
Dramatisation involve the product or service as part of a story, usually with the basic narrative structure - a beginning, middle and end. The resolution almost always features the product or service in question.
Testimonial - individual has used a product or service, and is so satisfied with it that they testify its benefits. Can be approached in different ways: Average consumer testimonial or celebrity testimonials.
Demonstration gets straight to the point and benefits of a specified product or service. Demonstration adverts use the full potential of moving images as these type of adverts would not be as effective in radio or print media.
Spokesperson/Sales pitch - usually feature a presenter who addresses the audience, directly through the camera, breaking the fourth wall. Inherit qualities of radio adverts and rarely use inventive or exciting visuals - focus is the message itself.
Documentary - could be shot in a documentary or news bulletin style, and hence would adopt these various styles i.e presenter, handheld camera and low-production values.
Song and Dance Productions involve catchy songs, mixed with fast-paced editing. Often involve a parody of a film or TV show and have numerous cultural references.
Analogy promote a likeness between 2 things represented as a visual metaphor. Purpose is to show a relationship between this product and something else.


Finally...
It is important to remember that categories are broad generalisations and that advertisers could use any number of these techniques.


T-MOBILE FLEXT ADVERT

• Analogy of what they are offering
• Everything flexes for you - relevant because the advert is showing you a flexible phone plan.
• Summertime advert - uses music that is calm, relaxed and happy - makes you think you wouldn't have any worries with it. 
• Poking the woman through the glass window shows how he can do anything on this plan.
• Target audience - 18-25 but i think it would actually target a more broad audience. 

TV Drama - Sci-Fi

Mike's Lesson on 2nd December 2010


Sci-Fi - Future shock and future interactions.


Expect to see/Must Have:

• Aliens
• Advanced Technology
• Spaceships
• Mystery/Unknown
• Unknown Location
• Human Element
• Narrative 

DR WHO:

• Always a mystery/puzzle
• Always changing
• Special effects have got better over the years
• Theme underlying a series
• The doctor is charismatic
• Good acting - quality of above a children's programme
• Turning glamorous/glossy Americans
• Becoming slick.

Still Image Analysis

Lesson on 30th November 2010


Still Image Analysis

• Colour - Mood, Representation, Gender Specific and Identity eg. Company.
• Mise-En-Scene - Props, Setting, Performer, Lighting and Costume.
• Framing - Narrative, Establishes Focus Points.
• Composition - Layout, Depth/Focus, Objects in relation to each other.
• Denotations - First level of understanding.
• Connotations - Own Experiences and Second level of understanding.
• Genre.
• Semiotics - Language, Codes - Signs and Symbols (iconic, indexical and arbitrary).
• Captions - Text, Language, Typography and Anchorage.

Analysis of Jaws

Colours
Use of red for the film name represents danger.
Gender specific colours - more aimed at males.
Mood - scary and fearful.


Composition
The layout is quite simply structured.
It focuses in on the shark and the title - the woman does not really stand out which shows us she is weak and insignificant compared to the shark and the deep blue water.


Captions
The text speaks indirectly to the audience.


Mise-en-Scene
Location is in the sea which relates to the sense of sharks being around.
The shark is doing an angry performance- teeth showing and aiming directly at the woman. It would create a different effect, less threatening/dangerous, if the shark was just swimming past the woman.


Denotations
The shark is extremley dangerous.


Connotations 
You may be used to swimming in deep water and realise the chance of getting attacked is very unlikely.

Radio Continued...

There are three types of radio: Publicly funded, commercial and community and voluntary. (I have explained the difference between these in my previous blog entry.)


Highlights of BBC Radio 2
Radio 2 is a distinctive mixed music and speech service, targeted at a broad audience, appealing to all age groups over 35.

• 40% of music in the daytime is from UK acts.
• 20% of this music in the daytime is new (either unreleased or less than one month since release - physical release, not download release.)
• 260 hours of live music.
• 1,100 hours of specialist music programmes.
• 100 hours of arts programming.

Radio 2 has key breakfast and drivetime slots as they will get more listeners in these times of the day because people will be on their way to work, or on their way back, or people could be getting ready to go to work and just want to listen to the radio while they are eating their breakfast. Throughout this time they describe the broadcasting as being positive and warm in tone - this could be because they are trying to keep drivers awake.


They show a use of a 'selling line' on the website of Radio 2: "It is our ambition to provide a service that continues to offer surprises but at the same time is more cohesive, with our digital offer taking a central role."


Mode of Address
Mode of address is the way in which we address the audience.


Mode of address can be; direct or indirect.

• Direct (inclusive) - speaking specifically to the audience member.
• Indirect (exclusive) - generic, not directly to them.

The use of register is also important because you have to decide if a formal tone is neccesary or an informal tone is neccesary. Informal tone can be colloquial (slang or chatty).


Heart FM
When we were listening to Heart FM, all we heard were songs and adverts. However, this could be due to the fact we were listening to Heart FM at around midday which is when people are having their lunch and would want to be listening to music. The songs and the artists they had on the station at the time are very well known for example: Westlife, James Morrison, Lady Gaga etc. After we had listened to at least three songs, they went straight into some adverts. These adverts were:
More Than Home Insurance, EDF Energy, Carpet Right, PayPal prize draw, TKMaxx, Toby Carvery, Tom Tom and British Gas, Volkswagen. - This shows how many adverts they put on at any one time as all of these adverts were presented one after another.
After they had played some music and presented some adverts, they went into what they call the 'Midday Latest' in which they spoke about Prince William's Marriage. After this thery went straight back into some music - 'I'm Your Man' and 'I've got a feeling'.


Heart FM compares to the BBC because they play a lot more music than Radio 2. Radio 2 contains a lot more chatting between people because they have certain slots such as: Drivetime and breakfast - in which their aim are to keep people awake.


Orson Welles; War of the Worlds

• This radio broadcast worried people because many believed it to be true. Statistics show 1.7 million people believed it to be true and 1.2 million were 'genuinely frightened'.
• Outcomes - people fleeing the area, some people reported they could smell poison or gas.
• Many people missed the repeated notices that the broadcast was fictional.
• The radio broadcast jumped between scenes and narratives which made it hard for the audience to distinguish between fact and fiction.
• At one point phone lines as well as electricity were out so residents were unable to call friends and family to calm their fears.

Moral Panics

• Moral panics start when the media are placed in a position of social control.
• Audience understanding is reliant on binary oppositions.
• Usually generated by a story that relates to the theory of deviency.
• Main problems are - it can produce more social deviancy and does not really solve any problems.

Media coverage increases, social pressure forces government action and the public feel vindicated.

Radio

Radio's new digital technology is Mass Media.


Radio in Transition
Radio is undergoing a digital revolution - every bit as profound as that affecting TV and the eventual outcomes are uncertain.


OFCOM - Regulate TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.


Reaching the Audience
90% of the population are tuning in every week and is it available across increasing range of platforms.


Differing Types of Radio:

• Publicly-Funded
• Commercial - eg. heart, capital FM. (Waving connections)
• Community and Voluntary - eg. Hospital, (non profit)

Publicly-Funded Radio: BBC national and local radio
BBC has a current share of over half of all the listening hours and in the past the BBC has dominated national service provision.


Commercial Radio
Has just 42% of share totals. Has a core audience of 15-44 year olds, share is substancially greater than that of the BBC.


Community and Voluntary
Niche radio - needs of distinct community, enjoy close relationships with audiences.

Television Drama

Mike's Lesson...


Television Drama Ingredients

• Action, mystery, strong emotion (love, hate, envy), simple characters.
• Identifiable setting and time
• Strong but complex narrative threads
• Audience appeal

Television Drama - Sub Genres

• Drama documentaries
• Crime
• Sci Fi
• Costume Drama
• War
• Spies
• Teenage
• Medical
• Love/Romance
• Adventure
• Western
• Culture/Single Play/Mini Seriex
• Police
• Post-modern
• Cross over drama eg. The X Files

COSTUME DRAMA has to have...

• Costume
• Time
• Location
• Historical connections
• and it has to be personalised in some way

DOWNTON ABBEY

• Language has been modified for our understanding (Modern)
• Props have to be accurate eg. cars etc
• Complex action but not complex in the philosophy
• Simple ideology

Research on Magazine Front Covers

Today, i also researched magazine front covers to get an idea of what the layout and choice of colours should be - bearing in mind that most of these magazines are aimed at women.

I think the front cover of this magazine looks very sophisticated and i like how they have chosen the colours for the writing to match with the colours of Jessica Alba's dress. On this magazine front cover they have made Jessica Alba the main focus of the magazine cover and have placed the writing around her. Some of the pieces of writing have been emphasised by the big, bold writing as if these are the only pieces the creator wants to stand out.
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The bazaar magazine uses minimal writing on the front cover which makes Kate Hudson the centre of attention. On this magazine front cover the creator has decided to use pastel but also bold colours. The use of the pastel colours such as: white and pink is one point to show that this magazine is aimed at women. On the other hand, there is also use of a bold colour; black to make the name of the magazine and also to make Kate Hudson stand out because it is the colour of her dress. Overall, there is not really much to analyse for this magazine front cover.  --->

The use of Kate Moss on the front of this magazine straight away shows that it is a fashion magazine because she is a style icon. Just as the designer did with the Elle magazine, the use of colours on her dress have been used as the colours for the background of the magazine. Again the colours used are very feminine colours; pink, yellow and black. Some people may think pink and yellow are quite contrasting colours but i think they work quite well together here. Just as with the other magazine front covers the designer has made only certain pieces of text stand out because they are the ones he wants people to see.
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Doing this research has enabled me to come to a decision of how i would like my magazine front cover to look. I would like to have Sarah Jessica Parker as my centre of attention and i would like to place all of my sell lines and rhetorical questions etc. around her. I would also possibly not show all of the title of the magazine, like most of the covers of magazines do.

Magazine Progression

Today, i researched many different name ideas for my fashion magazine and these are some of the ideas i found:

• Chic
• Prestige
• Glow
• Belle
• A la Mode (which means in fashion, style. In French)
• Fashionista

The name i like most out of this list is 'Glow', because i think every woman wants to glow and the fact my magazine is aimed at the older generation this would really stand out to them.


For the front cover of my magazine i have chosen to put Sarah Jessica Parker as my celebrity face because she is a woman who doesn't let her age effect her fashion. (She is 45 years old).

I think this picture would look good on the front cover of my magazine because i think the choice of clothing makes her look younger that what she actually is.

The picture would also be a little bit misleading as well because she is wearing a lot of make up and some woman may not like wearing make up.

 
I also think this picture would be a good choice for my front cover because it shows that you don't have to be afraid to go over the top.

Magazine Ideas

Analysis of Magazine Front Cover
I commented on layout and design, target audience, use of pictures, use of colours and finally the selling quote. I am going to use all of these points when considering what my magazine front cover is going to include and who it is going to be aimed at.


Ideas for my Magazine Front Cover

• Target Audience - Females aged around 30+ or 40+, This would be aimed at a populas (demographic) audience.
• Genre - Fashion Magazine, (fashion for the older generation)
• Selling Line - 'How to feel young again'
• Visual Codes - I would use a picture on the front cover of a women within my intended age of my target audience, but i would use somebody well known - for example: Sarah Jessica Parker. I would make sure i chose a picture in which she looked extremely fashionable.
• Colours - I would choose colours that would show clearly that my magazine is aimed at women, for example: pinks, purples, whites and maybe blacks.
• Layout and Design - Font Style will be bold, Colour will also be bold for the writing. Corner Banner of maybe emphasising a cheap price, or maybe they receieve something free with the magazine?
• Language - I will make sure i use rhetorical questioning and quotations that will link to stories that could be inside the magazine. Persuasive techiniques i will make use of are alliteration such as: sexy, slim... etc. Another persuasive technique i will make use of is hyperbole to exaggerate the aim of the magazine. Finally, superlatives would be another good persuasive technique i would use, for example using 'the' instead of 'a', because people might think, 'oh another one of those...'

To design my product i will use Microsoft Publisher. I will make sure that i keep a production journal in this blog to track my development. Finally, when i have finished creating my product i will make sure i complete an evaluation of how everything went, considering the topics of genre codes & conventions, target audience, visual codes, layout & design and finally, language.

Major Elements of TV Drama

Narrative - Story, conflict, resolution, equilibrium, upset etc. and characters.


Enigma - Mystery and revelations


Action - Hero & Villain, Good vs Evil and a Complex plot

Media - 8th November 2010

Semiotics and Semiology


"Semiotics is the study of how meaning is constructed through language or codes."


 Semiotic analysis allows you to de-construct meanings from media texts.


Audiences are 'readers' and as such bring something from their own background.

• Signifier = text (sound, print, still or moving image)
• Signified = idea or meaning

Symbolic Signs

• Arbitrary - Example: the word CAT does not necessarily relate to a furry animal that we know as a pet, but this is how we have been brought up knowing it, so we call it a cat.
• Iconic - such as: religious paintings, statues and stained glass windows in churches.
• Indexical - direct connection with what is being signified, for example: tears represents sadness, sorrow etc.

Signs

• Anchorage - caption underneath a photograph
• Denotation - what an image actually shows, immediately apparent
• Connotation - meaning shown through cultural experiences