The end of Non- Stop Pop

Dear moderator,

My name is Georgina Watkins, and my candidate number is 8042.

I have completed my Front cover, Contents page, Double page spread and Evaluation for Non -Stop Pop the magazine i have created and comepleted my Pliminary task of a school magazine.

I have moved these all to the top of my blog so you can see them easily, hope you enjoy marking my work :)

Non-Stop Pop evaluation

Here is my evaluation for my magazine Non-Stop Pop that i have created on prezi.

Non-Stop Pop Evaluation

Finished Double Page Spread

This is my finished DPS saved as a JPEG image, i am pleased with the photos i have chosen on my DPS as i feel that these suit the genre pop. I also like the fact file that i have put in at the bottom as girls in my target market like to know silly things about celebritys. The least favourite part of my DPS is the empty space at the bottom next to the pull out quite, i feel i should have carried on with the questions there rather then the next page.

Finished Contents page

This is my finished contents page for my music magazine saved as a JPEG image. My favourite part of the contents page is the page numbers with the star behind them, the reason for this is because i think it ties in nicely with the front cover, giving it extra detail. My least favourite part of the contents page is the pink blocks, i feel i could have been more creative with these instead of them just being placed on there.

Front cover finished

This is my finished front cover saved as a JPEG image so all the detail can be seen eaisly. My favourite part of the front cover is the "Easter special" and the main image of my artist, i think they both tie in nicley and beleive my target market would want to buy it. My least favourite part of the magazine is the "Adele's heartbreak" in the bottom left hand corner, the reason for that is because i dont think the blue can be seen very easily on it.

School magazine - Preliminary task

Above is the front cover and contents page for a school magazine for my pliminary task. I have taken the photos myself and used photoshop to come up with the finished peice. 

DPS development

I finished my DPS today, i have used the same coloyrs through out my magaizne so that the house style is achived, those colours being; Blue, white, balck, yellow and pink. I have put 3 different images on my double page spread all of them with my artist in a differnet outfit and setting.

I have used pull out quotes as this is something you tend to see in magazine interviews, to attract the readers attention. I have used pink and white for the question and awnsers so my target market can define easily which is which.

I have made sure that my main artist is smiling in all the photos i have used for my magazine, this is because pop is very upbeat and bright and i want my artist to follow this style. By having her smiling my target market will look at her as a good role model rather then other celebrites that arent always as cheerful.

How I cut a picture

As you can see in my previous post i cut a picture out of a girl holding her hand on her hip for my contents page. To cut out the picture i used photoshop CS4 here is what the picture look like originally:

To cut it i firstly duplicated the layer

I then had to go to the magnetic tool that can be found of the left hanf side of the page, this then allowed me to go around the image grapping simialr colours as i went. Once i had finsihed a blakc and white dotted line was shown as you can see below. I then right clicked on the image and went to layer via cut.

Once i have clicked on this, this is what my image looked like, i only need to cut out the small section by her arm and my image will be complete.

Contents page development

I hadnt really made a start with my contents page and so this is what it looked like for a long while:

I planned on having a plain blue background, the same blue as i used on my front cover. I had also placed a photo on the contnets oage which i have deicded to use as the celberity promoting clothes.

However as i started to add more text and writing i found that a plain background back the contents page look very boring and basic. As my magazine is a pop magazine aimed at young audicne i need to make sure that all features of magazine are fun. To make my contents page more intresting i decided to have a blue and white striped back ground instead of it being plain blue.

I also cut out the image of the girl promoting clothes as it didnt look very profeesional, i said that the girl was pixie lott and that she had her own fashion range out, I put the page number also on the image as this is something i want my target market to go to and read and if they can find it quickly they will be more likely to read it. I decided to add in pink blocks for the information about the contents page to go on, so it fits in with my house style.

When i first planned out my contents page i was just going to have the title and page number on it, but as i looked through more magazines and recived a suggestion from my media teacher Mrs Rogers i noticed that most magazines have a little description about each article on the contents page. I have decided to follow this and have added little comment about each article an exmaple being; "26: 63 celeb styles - be the new Cheryl Cole" by adding in little comments it will give readers a better idea of what each artlce is about and then they can go to the article that appeals to them the most. Once i had finished my contents page i still felt that it was quite basic. I noticed that i had put a star on my front cover about the "easter special" and thought that i could do the same for the page numbers, meaning that i am creating a new feature to my house style, something in which i can include in my DPS aswell. This is now my DPS finished;

Fact file for DPS

I have decided to have a factifle at the end of my DPS interview as this is something that my target market would like to know. They like to know silly facts about celebrity's such as thier favourtie food and drink because they then feel like they know the celebrity better. My target market will also want to know first before thier frends so they can discuss it at school and let them know.

Start of DPS

As i have done the interview for my DPS i have decided to make a start with it and then do my contents page afterwards. I have used the same colours as my fornt cover so the house style is follwed through out; the colours i have used are Pink, yellow, black, white and blue. I have put a little bit of writing underneath the title "Frankie" as that is what you see in most magazines expalning what the interview is about.

I have made the picture extra big as i took the picutre on my phone as i havent yet saved it as jpeg photo.

Thinking about the evaluation

In my previous Media lesson i was given the questions that i needed to awnser for the evlaution of my magazine, these are the questions i need to awnser: 

- 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?

I've been told to be creative when anwsering these and so i am going to use a mixutre of technolgies such as Video and Prezi to anwnser the questions.

Interview questions for DPS

I have planned out the questions i am going to have on my DPS interview, this is so it is easier when creating my double page spread i will only have to copy and paste the text into photoshop. In pop magazines the questions asked are short and so i am going to follow this trend in my magazine interview so it is more realstic; these are the questions and awnsers i am going to have in my interview;
1. Hi Frankie! Does it feel surreal having an interview for a magazine?Oh my yes, this time last year I was doing my GCSE’s wondering what to do next and now I’m sitting here talking to you!

2. Have you always wanted to go into the music industry?
Ever since I was younger I loved singing and performing and its was only recently tht I thought I would be able to make a career out of it

3. How would you describe you music?
My music is pop but has a meaning behind the lyrics, all the songs I have wrote mean something to me

4. We have noticed on twitter that lots of fans comment about your blond curly hair? So tell us, it is natural?
Haha yeah everyone seems to have gone a bit crazy about it, it is natural which is a but bonus sometimes as I don’t have to do anything but it can be a nightmare to control, I look wild!
5. Your album is called “hope” why is that and when is it out? The reason for me calling it that is it something my granddad sternly believed in and used to always tell me to have hope, it is out on the 24^th April
6. What is your favourite song on the album and why?Ooo it is definitely Sky line as this was the first song I wrote, listen to it!

7. Who is your favourite artist?
I love Taylor Swifts music as her songs mean something, but I also love Rihanna and Lady Gaga they have such big influences on girls today and have been so successful.

8. Who is the most famous contact you have on your phone?
Haha I am pretty close to the one direction boys as we are signed by the same record company so I’d say them!

9. Fancy giving us Harry’s number!? What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I plan on promoting my album as much as possible, I want people to be aware of it and listen, hoping that they are inspired by my music!

10. Thank you for coming in today, cant wait to listen to the album!

How i have achieved Branding and house style

In a previous post i have talked about what i learnt about branding and housestyling. I have completed my front cover and have used the follwoing covers on it; Blue, Pink, White, Black and Yellow. Becuase of this these are the only colours i can use thorugh out the rest of my magazine. When i first started my contents page i had the background all as one colour which was blue, as i started to add more text and images onto the front cover it looked very plain and now instead i have decided to have blue and white strips and this is more fun and will appeal to my target market more.

Front cover finished

Here is a picture of my front cover finished:

My friend Emily Coventry said that she couldnt see the "Hot" on the poster section as it was in black therefore i have changed it to pink matching in with the colour theme. Mrs Howlett suggested i put the "Easter special" star which was originally under the issue number in the top right hand corner next to the title so if someone was to buy this magazine the could see it was a special verison. As i have used yellow on the Easter special bit i need to use yellow else where on the front cover. I have done this on the third left of my magazine and instead of having the main headline all black i have used 3 different colours, pink, white and yellow. This is the house style of my magazine and so therfore i need to follow this through out.



Suggestions from an outsider

One lesson my media teacher Mrs Howlett wasnt in and so we had a cover teacher. This cover teacher we had, had worked in graphic deisgn and was therfore quite useful in improving my front cover. When i showed her the front cover of my magazine which was this:

She said that the title would look better a brighter pink or it could blend in with the artists forehead. A brighter pink is also something that is associcated with pop aswell. She also asked what the relevance was on the bunny rabbit and i said that has only added it as a fun factor and she said what about making my magazine an easter special so it tied in better I have taken these suggestions on front cover and this is what my magazine looked like at the end of the lesson.

Inserting a shape

As my magazine is a pop magazine it is important hat all aspects of it are fun. To make my magazine appeal more to my target market i have deicded to include shapes on my front cover; a star, oval and rectangle.

To insert a shape on photo shop i firstly had to click on the custom shape tool on the left hand side of the screen

I then had to select the shape i wanted from the drop down arrow

Once i had got my shape i could then draw it, making it bigger or smaller as i wanted.

I think by having shapes on the front cover it makes it look more intresting and attracts the readers attention, something in which i want.

Bar Code

All the images i have used in my magazine are original and my own, however to make my magazine look proffesional  and realistic i need a bar code. I typed barcode into google images and this is the image and link that came up. This is the barcode i have decided to use on my magaizne, i am going to rotate it on its side so it looks different.

Acting on feedback

During my media lesson on wendesday we had a feedback lesson. During this we looked at out peers work and suggested improvments to ensure that it was meeting the genre they had set out to begin with. This is what my peers looked on that lesson:

This is my front cover, as you can see a lot has been done so far.

This is my contents page, i havent really started this so therfore it is difficult to suggest improvments for it.

This is the feedback i recieved, it says that they feel my magazine is for young peoel between 8-12 year olds based on the front cover, due to the bunny rabbit. The feedbakc also said that they feel the genre of my magazine is pop which it is.

Another peice of feedback i recived was that they thought my target market was for 13-16 year old girls, some which is different from the comment aboive, therfore the age group needs to be defined better in my cover. The ffedback also said that i need more images and text for it to come across as a pop magazine. I plan on acting upon this feedback to improve my magazine.



How I came up with my stories for front cover

Today i planned out the stories i would have on my front cover. To helop me make desicons on what sotires my taget market would most be intresgted in i looked thorugh Heat and MORE magazine to see what celberites where in the news a lot. From my finding i noticed that celeb couple Rochelle and Marvin had recently got engaged, Pixie Geldof has brought out a fashion range and there was a supposed love triangle with Harry Styles.

From reading these articles i decided that for my magazine i am going to say that:

- Rochelle and Marvin's relationship is on the rocks
- That Pixie Lott is bringing out a fahsion range this is because, Pixie Geldof isnt someone that my target market of 11-16 year olds would be aware of and therefore wouldnt appeal to them
- I also decided that instead of aving Harry Styles's love triangel i would say that he had a poster insdie my magzine.
- Finally i decided that i would also have a story about Adele this is because after the realse of her album 21 which is mostly about love songs in which many of them have been in the top 10 a lot of girls would want to know what the story was behind them, therefore she will be on my front cover.

Deciding on the font

I didnt want to have too many styles of font through out my magazine or it would look unporffesional, so therefore i have only decided to have 2 them being;

- Berlin Sans FB Demi - Non – Stop Pop
- Franklin Gothic Book - 63 celeb styles YOURS to copy

The reason i have chosen to have these 2 fonts is because they are quite structured and bold but also arent to fancy. This is important because my magazine is for younger viewers and so the text needs to be simplifed for them to want to buy it.

Using the camera

I used my own personal camera to take the pictures as my main artist is my sister who lives with me.

 

I decided not to have the flash on as i took the pictures of my main artist this is because i took them on a sunny afternnon and was taking them by the window.

I also found that i didnt need the flash for the other photos i was using this is because it was sunny and i was in a bright area for all of the photos, this helped as i took a lot of them on a plain white background.

More images of other artists

In the previous post i uploaded images of the other arisits i plan on having in my magazine, here is a wider selcetion of the photos i have taken. I am still undecided as to what photos i should use in my magazine.

This photo is good as there face expressions look relaistic, however you can see a building to the right hand side and it makes it look unproffesional, if i was to cut this picture then half of the boy's body would be cut off.

I like this picutre as the background looks good, however i am planning on having this girl posing as a celebrity promotiong clothes as a new fashion range possibly. I dont think someone smilling would really promote this very well and she would look better moody.

This picture is good as it is quite posed and she it looking away, i wont be using it though as i have accidnetly cut off the top of her head which when i put onto the magazine will look silly.

This girl is meant to be a celebrity on the phone, however as she is standing still and isnt in a busy enviroment it doesnt look very realstic. I may have to re take this photo in a town centre for it to work.

I like this photo as he is looking away, i plan on using this boy as a celebrtiy on a poster. I dont think this will work with this photo as on most posters they look directly at the camera.

Images of other artists

I have also taken other photos of the artists i want in my magzine. I have taken more then one image of each this is just a selection of the ones i have.
I like this image as he looks very serious and is looking directly at the camera, i plan on promoting free posters in my magezine i may use him as an impersination of a celebrity as this could be used a poster in real life.

 I took this image in sixth form, i plan on using this image as the girl being a celebrity either promotiong her own new fashion range or for celebrity syles to copy. She looks very done up in this photo and as it is one a blank background i think this photo would work better as styles to copy.

I like this photo as she isnt looking at the camera, i dont however like the stairs in the photo as it doesnt look very realistic. I will cut these out in phot shop as place the image separtley.  

I also like this image and may use it instead of the other one for the star styles to copy. Or just use this image as a seperate article in my magazine.  

I plan on using this image as them being a celebrity couple who are out arguing. I think i may say that they have rencelty got engaged and have seen out looking annoyed with one antoher. As this is what my target market will like as they will have something to talk about in school.

More photos of my main artist

I took more images of my main artist as i wanted to experiment having a back ground in to photo. I got my mum to hold up a pink blanket that i wanted to use as a back drop to make the images look more professional and not look like they have been taken in my house.


I like this image as it looks like she is having an interview and talking to someone, however i dont think the back drop works in this photo, you can also still see some of the back ground which makes it look unproffesional. Therfore i wont be using this image in my magazine.

I also used the back drop in this photo whilst she is posing next to the door, i like this photo as she is smilling natrually and the back drop works, therfore i may consier using this photo in my magazine.

This photo is simialar to the one above she is not smiling as fully this time though, pop is very happy and upbeat and i want my images to follow this, because of this i wont be using this image in my magazine.

Images of main artist

On sunday i took the images i needed of my main artist for my magazine. I took the images at my house and in my garden as my sister is my main artist. I made her change outfits like a proper photoshoot or the photps i take wont be realisitc.

I like the image bellow as she is smiling and this is something you typically see in pop magazine, however you cant see the whole of her left arm and you can see the doorway, this image therefore wont work.

I like this image as it is taken from a different angle and you can see the detail on the back of her dress. This image may work on my DPS but wouldnt on my front cover.

This image looks good as it is fun and this is something i want my magazine to be seen as, i like the fact that the image is on a plain background as it will be easier to cut out if i wanted.

I have taken more then one image in this postion as i isnt like the way her face looked. I think this would work as my front cover as i want to to be an easter special and by having a bunny this is something that it can be related to. I like the fact that the background is a fence as this is also something that is quite fun.

I made her change outfits in this photo, i put a pink rug on the floor as this is something that is wuite girly, i ike the fact that she it looking directly at the camera. I could use the image on my DPS as this could be her having an interview 

Deciding on main artists clothes

Today i decided on what my main artist should wear for her photoshoot tommorow, i wanted her to wear fun, young, girly clothes becuase that is the audience i want to appeal too. I went through her wardrobe and picked out a black and white spotted dress, i feel like this is a good choice as i wont be restircted as to what colours i can have going through my magazine as the house style because black and white is basic.

I also picked out a pink dress this is a typical girly classed colour which will help emphasis who the magazine is targeted at.

Asking my friends to get dressed up!

I sent round a text earlier to the models i wanted in my magazine aksing them to get dressed up at school next week so i could take photos of them. I explained what i wanted them to wear and how thier hair too look as i had an idea of how i was going to use them in my magazine. I asked the girls to where thier hair down and styeld as i think girls would find this more appealing. I asked them to wear there best item of clothing as they would be being photographed and wanted them to be comfortbale with me taking pictures.  

Draft of Front cover, Contents page and Double page spread

I have created 2 drafts for my front cover , since doing these i have decided to change the name of my magazine to not stop pop. The orginal 2 images that i have for my front cover didnt work out when i took the photos and instead have decided to use a image of my main artist holding a bunny, i am going to make my magazine an easter special. I am going to use pinks and blues as the main house style as this is osmething you assocaite with typical pop.

This is the draft of my contents page, i am planing on putting an image of the front cpver on the conetns page and have arrows coming off as this is something i like din the Top of the pops mangazine. I plan on using 3/4 images on the front cover another image of my main artisit, one image with a girl promoting clothes as this is something my target market are intrested in. An image of what looks like a couple arguing as my target market also like gossip.

This is an draft of my doulbe page spread i plan on having the name of my main artist "Frankie" on the top left hand side of the page so it catches my target markets eyes. I ma goping to use 3 other images from the photo shoot on the double page srpead,. I am also planning on having a fact file on the DPS as all girls love to know little facts about other singers such as thier star sign and favourtie food.