Textual Analysis Of A Music Magazine Front Cover

The mise en scene techniques of the front cover of "SPIN" consists of the following:

Props:

In this magazine cover photo, we can see that there are no props given to the band members. I think this has been done to show a natural picture of the band without props rather than a fake looking photo with too many props.

Lighting:

The lighting is very high key and emphasises the light around their faces, also showing some shadows. This is done for a professional look and for a clear photo.

Costumes:

The band members are dressed quite normally considering they are on the front cover of a music magazine. The lead singer has coloured bands around his arm. I think this is done to show that he is the main member but also to show that this band is different from other bands. It also shows their individuality as a band, not only through fashion.

NVC:

The non verbal communication clearly shows the band are posing, but as they all have straight faces and are staring into the camera, as if to be staring at the reader, suggests that they are trying to tell the audience something. This could also be used as a way to sell the magazine because this photo will attract readers and therefore the sales of this magazine will go up.

Setting:

We would imagine the setting of this magazine is in a photo shoot studio, as the backdrop is white and there are no clear indications of where it is set. However, the white backdrop suggests that the magazine is professional.

Introduction

The next pieces of work that i will be uploading to the blog will be my main task work. I will be producing a front cover, contents and a double page spread of a magazine.

Evaluation: Preliminary Task

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When designing and creating my own college magazine cover and contents page, i did follow the conventions of real media products. For example, my masthead was at the top of the page, typically like a real magazine. I had a central image like most real magazine covers do, and text on the front page. I also believe i followed the conventions for a contents page, however i think my contents page broke the conventions slightly of a real magazine as i didn't use just text, i used shapes to help form my page. Also i changed the rotation of the writing making it look less like a real magazine.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product mainly represents a teenage, young, social group. I used an image of a student in the college on the front cover. I decided I wanted him to be posing with a book as this would appeal to other college students, so that it was clear it is a college magazine. He was dressed in his own clothes, which were stylish and would attract young readers. I did this deliberately so that the magazine would appeal to young readers such as college students. However I believe that the magazine could also appeal to a slightly older audience too, as teachers or adults who take college courses could read it. For the contents page, I also followed these conventions. I included pictures of students within the college, all with happy expressions, which is typical of most real magazines. In these images, the models also had props such as books to show that they are students and that studying can be fun too, as their expressions show they are happy.

Question 3: How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using different fonts and colours within my magazine. I didn't use a typical, standard font for the front cover as I thought this would be boring and wouldn't appeal to younger readers. So, instead I used a more appealing font, which would catch the readers' eye. The photography also would persuade a young audience to read the magazine as it includes images of students of the same age as the targeted audience, so they would relate to the magazine. I used standard English for my pages as although I was targeting a young audience I thought it would be inappropriate to use slang, as it would look unprofessional. It is important to use the right fonts when designing a magazine because they need to appeal to the correct audience. For example if you were creating a magazine for small children you would use something big, bright and fun looking, not a boring, plain and dull font. The use of clothing, jewellery, styling, hair style, are also factors in attracting your audience to your product because they should be dressed appropriately and look interested in what they are being photographed to do. For example if you had a model who was very scruffy looking and had a blank expression on their face, this would not help to attract your audience. It is also good to have the model at a similar age to the target audience because this makes the audience more inclined to purchase the product. People look for something eye catching an interesting to read about. We know that 40% of all magazine purchases are determined by the content of the front cover, instead of brand loyalty. So, this shows that the cover and contents pages are the most important and need to be interesting as well as suitable for the target audience.

Question 4: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of creating this product, i have realised that it is very important to have a suitable and well photographed image. For example, it can't be at a strange angle, with poor lighting or of something that doesn't relate to the subject at all. The lighting needs to be correct, giving enough light to see the subject but could also include shadows and highlights to make it a more interesting image.
Photoshop is another important element which is included in creating the product. I used photoshop to manipulate my image, making it more suitable. I used the 'magnetic lasso' tool to cut the background out from my image as i thought it would look better and stand out more without the background. I also used some of the 'filter' tools, such as 'render' to adjust the lighting of my image.
The technology was enabling enough for me to create my product. However i think there were a few thing which limited the creative process. For example it was hard to make the images on the contents page look professional as the technology didn't provide enough tools which could help me blend them well.

Audience Feedback:

"It looks really professional."

"the colours and images work really well together and the layout has been put together well."

"It looks well constructed."

Magazine Contents Page

This is the contents page for my college magazine. Here I also used the same colour scheme as on the front cover to keep it professional looking. I also used photos and text to make it look like a real college magazine.

Magazine Front Cover

This is the front cover of my college magazine. I have used an image of a student to make it clear that it is a college magazine. I have also used different sized fronts to make it look professional and like a real magazine cover. I also used text and information which you would find on a real college magazine to keep it as realistic as possible. Here i have used a minimal colour scheme of blues and whites to make it look professional.