To The Examiner

Dear Examiner,

I have really enjoyed the process of constructing my magazine, right from the early stages of planning. I feel I have learnt a lot throughout this course, and I have developed a wide range of new skills. To navigate around my blog, there is a blog archive down the left hand side of my page, to access all posts right from the beginning. They are clearly labelled with the content on each post.

Thank You
Natalie Clarke

Evaluation Question 7 - FINAL

Evaluation Question 6 - FINAL

Evaluation Question 5 - FINAL

NOTES

I attracted my target audience in a number of ways; I managed to do this because I researched into what attracts them, earlier in the course. The colour scheme, the images, my particular model, the poses my model makes and the graphological layout of my pages are in particular the elements to which my audience look for, for a successful, innovative and eye catching magazine which will make them want to read it.

The colour scheme I have used for my magazine are very basic, of black, white and a dark red (burgundy), which is the house style of my magazine. I believe that the dark red attracts the girls, because it has connotations of class and sophistication, which are what females feel is their specific role in society. On my cover and double paged spread, this colour doesn't feature to the extent it does on the contents, because the house style is a very exquisite theme, which I know will attract my target audience.

The use of images and how they are framed also elaborate on the exquisite effect, because I have ensured that the border is delicate so that it makes the magazine look neat and professional. The photos themselves have been taken in a studio with three lights, and a Nikon D300, with clothing arrangements sorted by myself, to ensure they fit the genre of the magazine as well as capture the audience’s attention. I specifically decided that my artists should wear casual clothes rather than revealing clothes, because this would attract females instead of males, who are my main audience.

After researching into my target market, I found that aesthetic appreciation was one factor that cropped up massively with regards to how things are presented. I made this element of my task therefore one of the most important because I believed that this was key, to ensure I pleased my audience to the best of my ability, showing a range of skills.

Over the course of the production process, I took almost 400 photos, with a range of poses which I asked my models to perform. I found this part of the task challenging, because without trying to make a picture look cheesy, I wanted to pull of the professional look. I left it with two of the three photos I used to be mid shot photos with the girls looking directly into the camera with little emotion, I believed the connotations of the images I produced indicated professionalism, as well as mystery to the audience, which would persuade them to pick it up and read it. I then used a photo with character for the double paged spread to show of the band in a humorous, more chilled out way, to represent their personalities as people rather than a band.

My justification for using only mid shots in my magazine are that I believe this was the best way to direct the emotion of my photographs across to my audience. I feel emotion can be expressed through very little body language, unless there is focus on the face. Thus meaning that a mid-shot was the best image to do this, as I felt that with test shots of close ups I didn't create the best images, and they didn't pull off  a professional look. I also have used just mid shots, because magazines such as - MOJO, Q, FADER, Dazed and Confused, Clash, Wonderland and Rhythm use solely mid shots throughout the magazine issues I have researched into look at. I believe therefore I have challenged the conventions of a normal magazine, however because I have found examples this shows that this is perhaps the way magazines are going about presenting images, or this is the best way to present them to my specific audience. I have also done this because I believe the images can be presented with more elegance, for example on my front cover, the photo has a thin black border to show off the detail with in the facial features that stand out on my band.

Evaluation Question 4 - FINAL

I have decided that my target market will be females aged 16-26, because I believe that is prime age to which where fan girls occur, as well as those who appreciate aesthetic on a page. One of my friends Krish has a big obsession with singer songwriters such as Ed Sheeran, Lewis Watson and Sam Smith, however doesn't follow them to the extent of which 'crazy' fan girls do on twitter, who follow them globally.
Krish fits my target market of mainstream fan girls because with in that category they like a wide range of clothing styles, as well as music, film and magazine variations, because they are generally just interested in most types of media. You would typically associate my type of target market with girls who spend a lot of time on twitter, and the internet following the tracking of celebrities and what they are releasing.
My band are the typical type of artist which would feature at all the main festivals, such as Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading, T in the Park and BBC Radio 1's BIG WEEKEND. This is because their fan bases are interested in a wide variety of music, which makes these festivals perfect, as they have many genres, such as Indie Rock, Electronic, Pop and Hip Hop.
On Krish's iPod, she has talented artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lewis Watson, Gabrielle Aplin, Frank Hamilton and Nina Nesbitt, however also has many unknown YouTube stars which will be up and coming with in the next few years such as Hobbie Stuart, Taylor Ames and Andrew Bazzi, who are all typical mainstream artists, who cover many different styles on song, on their channels.
In her spare time, my particular target market are interested solely in getting the latest 'gossip' and therefore fashion isn't the most important element to their lifestyle. However they do follow fashion trends, particularly ones that are taking the shops at the current time, so shopping in outlets such as ASOS, Topshop and River Island. Krish respects fashion statements made by her idol Gabrielle Aplin, however doesn't copy her because she doesn't feel she needs to, to be a fan, she can just idolise their figures, as well as the extremely expensive clothes they wear, therefore meaning she isn't bothered about designer brands as much as others her age.
Krish works in a newsagents locally, approximately two minutes walk from her house, and therefore meaning that due to not being old enough to pay board to live at home, she uses her wages of £30 a week on music from stores such as HMV and iTunes, or magazine from the place in which she works, as she gets 10% discount.

Evaluation Question 3 - FINAL

Evaluation Question 2 - FINAL