I am contrasting my magazine to Look professional magazine. Firstly the photography is nearly the same, however in Look the model is closer in the frame, where as my image is a mid close up shot. My magazine image is professional just like Look's, with my model in sharp focus and there is lots of light which creates an up beat mood. My models eyeline falls on the top third just like Look's model, Dannii Minogue's does. This creates direct address with the viewer making them feel more comfortable and it makes the product appear more personal. The costume and accessories in Look are very in trend, most likely because Look is a fashion magazine and their audience pick it up and buy it because they are interested in fashion.
My page layout has sell lines in the same fonts but the main features are larger than the smaller ones to make them stand out more and to add variation. This challenges forms of real media products such as Look magazine, which use many different fonts of all different sizes. I could have used 2 or more different fonts however I wanted the page layout to be clean and uncluttered.
Look magazine doesn't use a 3 colour palette, instead having a big range from, black, white, pink, orange and yellow. To me this makes it a bit too complicated. My magazine does use a 3 colour palette, this makes it easier on the eye whilst still adding variation and creating interest.
Magazines have their target audience just like I have mine for my media product. The sell lines in Look are very interesting and draw fashion conscious readers in, especially lines such as "WOW biggest fashion issue ever" and "Huge High Street Outfit Special" only to name a few. Also the magazine focuses on celebrity news too, so it has sell lines such as "Posh, Devastated Over Davids Cheating Smears". They are appealing to their target audience, just like I am to my College Student audience by including sell lines linked to education and a future career. Also money saving articles are featured as some students want to save for university. I have also included sell lines related to fashion, "Spice Up Your College Wardrobe". My sell lines cover many topics and interests because college students are all different, however they all have in common academic goal.
My media product isn't instantly recognisable as representing a particular social group or "click". My magazine has represented the student body as being fashion and body conscious, interested in their studies and in news about college life or the college itself and interested in their future at University or in employment. I have used a slight stereotypical model for my magazine, she has an indie hipster style and I wanted to portray this in my magazine by dressing her in vintage clothes; the denim jacket and "nightie" style dress. She also looks respectable, interesting and happy - which is a very important emotion to portray to young people. My model portrays the student body as fun, fashionable and healthy. Here is a video from http://www.uktribes.com/ that outlines the stereotype my model portrays.
Most of the college are fashion conscious and are into alternative fashion; high street with a mix of vintage. By using a model that outlines this image it will draw the mass of students to pick up and buy the magazine. I have tried to challenge in some ways perceptions about students by showcasing features on my front cover that are educational such as the article on "How to get the A-Levels You want" and on my contents "Top 5 International Student Cities". Some people may have a stereotypical perception of students as being lazy and just interested in social arrangements, when many in fact throw themselves into their studies.
The audience for my media product in a montage:
Knowing who your audience is makes it a lot easier to design a product for them because you are aware of their interests. I knew the product was going to be fun and innovative and exciting to draw students in. I was influenced by how young people act, dress and what their interests are. I chose a student as my model, this makes it relatable to the target audience. I dressed her in alternative fashion as I know many young people are fashion aware. My three colour palette; black, purple and light blue compliment each other very well and whilst people may associate black and purple as dark emotive colours they show the seriousness of the magazine but on the other hand the light blue shows fun and happiness. These colours suggest a "healthy" balance between work and play which students should come to do. I have used Standard English language which students can relate to and understand. My main cover line is "How To Get The A-Levels You Want", I think this is really effective because the genre is a College magazine so students reading will want to get the best out of college which means obtaining the best A-Levels they can. Another cover line is "Best Nightlife Uni's & Top 5 International Student Cities" this draws in students especially in their second year as they are looking for Universities, and many young people love night life and going out, and also may be interested in International study. Some students are on a tight budget or want to try and save money so "10 Easy Quick Packed Lunches That Can Save You Money" can catch students attention. There is a feature "Contraception; The Truth" which is accompanied by an image relating to the article, and gives young people lots of vital information that they may be too worried to ask and also really want to know. The image is central so the model's eye line falls on the top third line. This creates direct address with the viewer, making them feel comfortable and makes the product appear more personal.
I used everything I've mentioned above to attract my audience. My model acts like a magnet in drawing readers in as she is the first thing you see along with the main sell line "How To Get The A-Levels You Want". I have asked 5 of my piers what they like and dislike about my media product, the results are as follows:
I have learnt a lot about the technologies I have used in the process of constructing my media product, I have used the following software simultaneously:
I used to scanner to scan my flat plans onto the Mac's and onto my blog.
I have picked up many new skills from Adobe Photoshop that have all gone into creating my media product. Photoshop has been a brilliant tool for my product and has helped me generate what I sketched out in my front over flat plan.
I have used all of the above software, Photoshop and In Design, all on the Apple Macs.
I have learnt how to operate the college cameras effectively; learning about shutter speeds, and devloping my skills using the camera. They have been very useful in capturing the perfect shot I needed for my media product.
