Task 3: Magazines & Audiences- Part 2.

Task 3: Magazines & Audiences- Part 2.

For second part of this task for my coursework I had to Upload a magazine cover of my choice and an analysis of the genre, target audience and what convections the cover has used.

Bruno Mars on GQ magazine.

GQ magazine is specifically targeted towards men in the age ranges between 21-35 this is due to the bold and plain colour scheme. However, GQ could also be targeted at older men between the ages of 40+. The audience is hooked to buy this magazine and also gives them a dream based upon the front cover and content. The audience would also be straight males due to the fact, half naked women feature inside and several stories are all about women.

GQ magazine does both entertaining and informing, and is a type of guide into living a certain lifestyle, regardless of your income level. The main editor tries to promote his own lifestyle through the magazine well sending a message that this is how men should spend their lives, how to act, dress, what cars to drive and what gadgets to have. The magazine also features a celebrity interview and stories about them, which is why they are used on the front cover.

This GQ magazine has appealed to the audience by the colour scheme that is clean, simple and smart which is the message behind the magazine in which sort of men read it.  The cover features the idea over an ideology that all men should be well groomed, smooth and sleek which is Bruno Mars dressed smartly shows this clearly. And this links into what some of the articles are about e.g. Style Bible and how to look his best.

This magazine has many convections that are evident on the front cover. For example this magazine has a large masthead in the foreground that is displayed in two contrasting colours. This adds to the effect of being more distinctive and eye catching so the reader will buy the magazine. Gq also includes a left third that display some of the big stories and articles that will feature inside the magazine. This also gives the reader a chance to see the type of stories inside and can also persuade them to buy it due to the short titles (Puff piece). As above the cover also has the representation of the intended and ideologies for example the cover line of how dress and style and the advice on how to pull it all together.

Finally, GQ magazine has also presented a Plug and Puff. The ‘special edition’ of the magazine will attract readers as they will want to find out what is different from this issue to the others and diverse articles that will be included compared to normal issues. The plug and puff has also been placed in the masthead so the reader will almost instantly realize. This would attract the reader more and make them willing to buy the magazine.

Magazine Research and Analysis

Magazine Research and Analysis

For my coursework I was set the task of researching and analysing existing music magazines. These magazines had to be of different genre e.g. Rock, Pop or Indie Music.
I had to annotate different features of the magazine covers such as the Masthead and main image and comment on which sort of audience this magazine would appeal to.
Below is my research and analysis of the magazine covers of different styles:

 Above is Rolling Stone magazine which is Rock and Roll music. This Magazine would appeal to both Men and Women aged between 20-40 due to the content and musical style.

 I next looked into Heavy metal Music which is featured in Kerrang Magazine. The specific audience would be mainly for Men aged between 16-30 who liked Rock music.

Mizz Magazine is a different music magazine which is targeted at Young Teenage Girls due to the pink colour scheme. The genre for this music Magazine would feature chart Pop Music.

Finally NME magazine would also have an audience of Men and Women aged 20-40. The genre would be both pop and rock music. It also includes new music hence the magazine Masthead (New musical Express).

Task 3: Magazines & Audiences- Part One

Task 3: Magazines & Audiences- Part One

For part one of the magazines and audiences I will create a glossary that includes examples of terminology that is associated with magazine design. Below shows my glossary of the Media Terminology:

1. MastHead- A large name or banner printed in large type at the top of the front page of a newspaper or magazine.
2. Plugs and Puffs- The fonts, colour and design that attracts the customer to buy the magazine.
3. Codes and Convections- Codes are systems of signs or rules which create meaning. Convections are the things we read and the general accepted way of doing something.
4. Pull Quote- A quotation from an article that is typically placed on a larger type face. This is used to highlight a key topic and entice the readers.
5. Ideologies- A world view or a system of values ( a powerful idea) shared by a culture or society. The media is called dominate ideologies.
6. Audience- The people the magazine appeals to and will consume the product. For example based on age, sexuality, or gender.
7. Genre- The Type of magazine it is about and can be categorised. For example Fashion, Music, Sport, Lifestyle.
8. Left Third- The third section on the left of the magazine features the main stories and titles. This is so the customer is enticed and want to read the magazine.
9. Main CoverLine/Image- This is the main story that will feature in the magazine. Generally relates to the image in which a celebrity may have an article about. 
10. Barcode- The optical readable representation of the product. It also shows the price of the magazine.
11. Colour scheme- The choice of colours that are used in design for the front cover and magazine. The colour scheme may also change with the seasons etc.
12. Date Line- is a brief piece of text included in which a magazine that  describes where and hen the story occurred.
13. Niche- is a sub category of the market on which a product is focusing on. For example magazines have particular audiences.
14. Representation- The way in which something is portrayed by the media for example particular groups,  communities, experiences, ideas or topics.
15. Thematic Link- is what makes the magazine relevant and link with one another. For example the Colour scheme and seasons of the year -greens and reds may feature when it is Christmas time.

Task 2: Getting to know Blogger

Task 2: Getting to Know Blogger

Things you can do with blogger:

• There are several functions you can do with blogger, such as importing text and images to make your blog more atheistically pleasing. There are also ready made templates you can use and customise your blog to make it more professional. Text and fonts are also easy to change.
• Simple and easy to use- blogger is easily accessible and you can quickly write a post and publish it onto your blog. You can also post on the go using the internet so can post where ever you are.
• Blogger is also free to use so they host the domain name where you can blog about your chosen topic. It also saves the use of paper so is more environmentally friendly and also people from across the world can read your blog.
• You are able to read and comment on other peoples blog posts so can receive feedback.

How I think Blogger will be useful for my Coursework: 

• Blogger will be useful for my coursework as it allows me to quickly and easily upload task work/homework to my blog for my lecture to see. This is also useful as it means i do not have to use several pieces of paper which can easily get lost.
• Writing a blog will also help me with my course work as it means my teacher can see my reply and give me feedback on my blog posts. This would help me to write targets and also in what I can improve on. 
• Blogger would also be useful in the fact that you are able to edit and publish your posts. This would help in my coursework because if I Have not finished a task I can easily complete it at home without having to write it on a separate piece of paper. This is also helpful as I can also review my feedback to improve my blog posts.
• Blogger is very readable so I can post and keep up with my blog if I  do not have access to a computer. This would help during my coursework as I can upload during any time of day from any location.

How to embed a powerpoint presentation to my blog:

• create the powerpoint using microsoft powerpoint
• Sign up and make an account in SlideShare.net
• Click 'embed in webpage' and copy address information
• Next past onto a new blog post
• Next publish blog post

How to embed Videos to my blog:

• Find a relevant or upload your own video
• Copy the embed code
• Create a new blog post
• Next paste the code onto the post
• Publish the blog post

Task 1: Skills Audit

Task 1: Skills Audit

The first task within my AS Media Studies coursework research and planning was to tick and complete the skills audit check.  I have realised that I can confidently do most of the questions which involve a computer, applications and taking photographs. 

I can use photoshop and indesign to edit photographs and can easily function my way around a Mac and it's applications as I have a mac book at home.

'Do you currently have a blog?'

I did not tick this on my skills audit as I have not had a blog account before, so during this course I will learn and to publish and edit blogs using blogger.

Below shows my completed skills audit which I have taken a photo and scanned in the image into the Mac. This clearly demonstrates that I can do this.