Research of Magazine Covers

 

Pick Me Up!

This cover links with the codes and conventions of other Real Life story magazines. Neales repetition and difference is clear here as the the main article and photograph is on the right with other stories and images arranged on the left. There are seven images on the cover with 17 individual subjects. The main images follow conventions for a magazine as the subjects are all looking directly at the camera, as if they are looking out the magazine and at the viewer. The brand identity is seen through the consistent use of the same font and the use of the colour red for the important stories - the same colour as the magazines logo. The red and purple colour scheme on the cover reminds viewers that it is a festive edition of the magazine. These colours are used effectively with the headlines of the articles with different colours used to highlight the exposé or different buzz words, eg "BEST" is in yellow. These sections are also used as call to actions to make the reader notice these key points and want to find out more. This cover appeals to a wide range of social groups, there are stories about family, sexuality and one that focuses on disability as well.

Bella

Just like the last cover, this one follows the same conventions by having the main story on the right hand side with other, smaller stories on the left. Again there is a collection of different images on the cover. There are 9 different images with 8 different models. The main image is shown as important as her head covers part of the masthead. In addition to this, it breaks magazine conventions as she is not looking at the camera and is instead gazing to the side. This allows readers to create early representations of the model. This sly and slightly aggressive facial expression works well with the main article "New fears for Linda." Readers can tell this is the main article because the box-out behind the text is the same colour as the font in the masthead, which continues the brand identity. All the other stories are in their own shapes and banners. Unlike other magazines, there is no consistency with the colours of these graphics as they are all different colours. In my opinion this makes the cover look messy and unorganised. Like other magazines, the buzz words are capitalised and there is a call to action - a link to the website in the masthead. This magazine doesn't represent social groups as well as others, there are only white, mostly female models - most of a similar age.

That's Life!

Just like the other two, this magazine has the main model on the right hand side of the page. This photograph follows magazine conventions as the model is looking straight at the camera - this is the same for six of the other seven images on the cover. She is wearing minimalistic make-up but the lighting still makes her skin shine. The background of the cover is the same colour green as her dress. The brand identity is conveyed the same way as the other magazines - the colour of the masthead is also the colour of the box-out on the main article and on the buzz words - "TERROR." The colours on this cover have also been selected carefully, with purple and yellow being used for the other articles. The yellow could be symbolic of the deceit or hazards in some of the articles and the purple could by symbolic of loyalty and trust in the brand. Again, the cover is not appealing to different social groups as it mainly images of women the same age. There is no representation of different ethnicity, age or gender. Just like the Bella magazine, in the bottom right corner their is a call to action, promoting the puzzles inside. 

Annotating Magazine Covers

 

Researching Masthead and Sell Line ideas.

 1) I looked at the word story for a masthead and found the word tale, and the idea of telling tales. 

2) Another word I enjoyed playing around with was the idea of MORE. And the puns "more than a magazine." The synonym to boot was also one that I liked and the phrase 'a boot up the backside' which is a bit tongue and cheek and 16-25 year olds would find it funny. Then there was the idea of a logo being a boot. 

3) I also looked at more energetic words for my magazine

Initial Response to briefs 3 and 4

 Brief 3 - Magazine:

The real life story magazine for a 16-25 year old target audience fills a very prominent gap in the market. These magazines are usually targeted at older ages and at predominantly women. They are very melodramatic and contain a lot of gossip. As a result, i could create more tailored stories to the specific age groups, breaking them down into different categories, 16-18, 19-21, 22-25, as these age groups are all going through different stages and scenarios in life, and I could include stories that could help and inspire them with what to do next. I could also this about mastheads and sell-lines, with different words for stories, talk, chat. I also likes the use of the word more in the title and then use a pun in the tagline, subscribe for more,

more than a magazine. I could also easily represent different social groups with different ages, stories for different genders, a focus on sexuality in young people. Different topics could be covered, eg. sport, music, travel ect. I would create a survey to ask people within the age group what would interest them into reading the magazine. The cover of most current real life storie magazines contain a montage of images. For example Chat magazine always has a main image on the right with smaller images and stories on the left. This creates a brand identity which is easily changed by changing the photos and stories. The website also needs to continue my brand identity. This could be done with the continued use of logos, shapes, colours and fonts. I like the aspect to create a video for the website.

I could create an interview style video like Vogues 73 questions with Liam Gallagher and create an interview with cross cuts to action in the video. The website needs a navigation bar at the top with a link to one more page. There will need to be more photography for the website, I could take some photos in the summer whilst on holiday in the north east on beaches, boat trips, at castles or with studio shots. 

I personally feel that I would choose this brief as it covers more aspects of media, photography, video, magazine editing and video editing. It also covers a gap in the market so all the ideas can be original and new. 

Brief 4 - Music Video:

The requirement for brief 4 is to make a video for a love song. There is no gap in the market for this and it could become quite cheesy if it is done wrong. It also could be quite hard to find the song. It needs to be longer than three minutes. The target audience for this brief could also be quite challenging as 16-25 year olds must feel emotionally engaged. This would be hard because the different ages are going through different things in there life, for example a 16 year old may never have been in a relationship and felt love whereas someone who is 25 may be getting married and thinking about starting a family. To try and achieve this I would have to chose a song with a lot of emotion and symbolism in the lyrics which is something I have struggled to do. Whilst filming I would need at least two cameras to create cross cuts in the video, and would need to ensure a performance and narrative aspect. The representations of sexuality could be implemented into the video, with a narrative of someone coming out - but then this would limit gender representations in the video. Age and ethnicity could be hard to implement as well as the two main characters in the video would need to be a similar age. In

addition to this, the website would need to create a brand identity for the artist, but looking at previous examples including Adele's website (www.adele.com). This was a collection of images with and a biography. This could be improved with a navigation bar to different sections including a gallery, tickets, dates, about the artist ect. 

I feel that I would struggle to create something original as there is no gap in the market. I would also struggle to emotionally engage the whole range of 16-25. As a result of this, I would rather choose brief 3 as there are more ideas and ways to engage the audience.