Evaluation Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

When doing my research I found out which artists from the Pop music industry people liked. I used this research in order to gain inspiration for my magazine. I have mainly looked at female artists as the artist that features in my magazine is female. I have looked at style of dress, makeup, body positioning's and location when they are featured on a magazine. Most magazines tend to have photo shoots in a studio and therefore keep the white background as they fill the rest of the space with colourful graphics. I found doing this questionnaire helpful because it meant that I could find out what the audience liked and how I could merge my idea around the ideal view of what people will buy.


Costume 


 I have looked at a range of celebrity's styles mostly looking at dresses and play-suits as these are the two items of clothing that I chose for my main model to wear in the magazine. The reoccurring colours in these images are pink and blue. The pattern is floral and layered ruffles of material. I think that these patterns and colours are quite feminine therefore they appeal to a female audience. I liked the different styles of clothing and necklines. the sweetheart neckline looks really flattering as well as the straight cut of the jumpsuit.

When picking my costumes I looked at a range of clothing that was a possibility for my model to wear, the long prom dress appears in the magazine on the contents page for one of the smaller features of the magazine. I thought that the blue lace dress and the blue jumpsuit suited my main model better as it complements her skin tone.

 My Costume 

For my costume I have chosen youthfully feminine clothing. I have chosen two different outfits for my main model to vary the photographs within the magazine. The first piece of clothing is the blue dress with the black waist band. I chose this dress because the lace fabric and the layers adds a feminine touch to the dress, the colour blue challenges the conventions of pop because the colours usually associated with this genre of music is bright and colourful colours for example pink is hugely used.  The other item of clothing that I had chosen is the floral playsuit in blue. Again this is quite feminine and fun. I think that the floral pattern makes the image feel summery therefore portraying a happy mood to the audience as summer is associated with being outside in the sun having fun. The shoes that I chose my model to wear were glittery silver heels from Primark. I think that the shoes add to the image and make it more glamorous to the audience. The clothing and shoes is trying to represent the current generation and the latest fashion styles that are worn.  

When selecting the shoes for my model I had a range of different pairs to choose from that would have fit well with the model. They are different styles therefore they could have changed the way that the outfit looked. For example the black boots with the dress could have still looked nice but they would have being a bit to plain and boring. Personally I think that the glittery platform heels suit the style of my artist better due to it adding a bit more glam to the image. 

Body Positioning 
I have looked at a range of positions, these are a few examples that I have used in my work. I have mainly looked at Katy Perry and Pixie Lott for my main artist that is featured in this magazine. 

Evaluation Question One

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media products?

My front cover has being designed in order to fit the conventional pop music magazine front cover. I will compare this to an existing front cover that is already very popular in music magazines aimed towards a younger audience.

Double Page Spread Ideas

In this double page spread I have made the figure bigger and changed the way that the text is presented. Even though the background is quite plain I think that it looks good because the text adds the colour to the page. 

I have changed the quotes that I have included in my article instead of having the love hearts to show the quotes I have taken a quote out the text and made it size 11 and in bold. I don't really like this one because it takes away a bit of the colour away from the page.

In this layout I have added a pink gradient to the background behind the figure and moved the main image to the other side. I have wrapped the text around the figures hand and spaced it out across the page.

I have kept everything else the same and changed the background to white to see if it looked any better with a simple colour.

I have gone for a more colourful background using both of my main colours as the background. I think that this looks okay but its really in your face bright. 

Double Page Spread Idea

This is an idea for my final double page spread, however I think that it can be improved and can be made more consistant with the rest of the magazine

Testing Different Ideas

I will use black body text for the main part of the article. 

This is using blue writing for the question text and blue hearts, this sticks to the colour theme with the blue and pink however it doesn't stand out very well as blue can connote sadness and not a happy article about a new artist. 

Next I tried pink hearts with blue writing for the article, Even though it does stick to the colour theme I don't think that it works very well. 

Finally I have gone for pink writing and pink hearts. I think that this suits the article a lot better. 

The Article

I have made my article using published, this means that I can have a drop cap letter at the beginning of the article which is conventional. It also means that I can have columns in my article that are spaced out evenly. I have used size 10 font and the font used is the same font which I have used for my front page and contents page, I have used "Segoe Print".


My Article

Alexa Parks has taken the world by storm with her hit single “Unfaithful”. She won over her fans in an overnight sensation. After 10 minutes of the song being released worldwide it has 2 million downloads now reaching into the 10 million.

Did you know how fast you would hit 2 million?

No I am hugely surprised by how quickly people took a liking to my music, I took a chance and it turned out amazing.

“Unfaithful” is quite a deep song with lots of meaning how did you come up with these ideas?

I recently went through a tough time with an ex who got me into a lot of trouble and was unfaithful to me. All the emotion I was feeling I added to a tune and wrote a song. I had some help from a couple of friends and producers but it’s all very personal to me and I think that’s how it touches people and how they can really relate.

Where are you from? Has this influenced your music?

I am from quite a small town near Hull, it is quite unknown to quite a lot of
people as the population is very tiny. Being one of the only girls there that is my age I had a lot of time on my own therefore I started to write music in order to pass the time.

 Have you felt like you have given a message across to the audience? If so what message?

The message behind this song is that you don’t need a boyfriend or to be in a relationship at such a young age
 because you are still very young and don’t understand. You need to live your life first before you get busy in the
relationship zone.

Which famous musicians do you admire? Why?

I love Taylor Swift and Meghan     Trainor, they are both huge inspirations in my work as they have both become hugely successful. They show that if you work hard you really can achieve.

Have you ever embarrassed yourself on stage?

OMG yes!, I was dancing along to the instrumental part of the music and my lace was loose on my shoes, I caught it by accident and nearly ended up on my bum in front of thousands. Thank god for the dancers behind me who caught me when I fell. I went red in the face.

How do you handle college and music?

At first I still attended college as I was not travelling around but it soon got difficult therefore I am now doing online college.

Did you sing when you were younger?

I sang at my local church as part of the choir, I then got into more modern
music when I joined the school singers who sang covers of songs. I’ve always loved to belt out tunes even from a young age. “ Always live up to your full potential.

If you could go back in time what would you do differently?

No I wouldn't go back in time because my life is perfect right now. I love going on tour and travelling the country. I can’t wait to go to another country and explore all the things that the world has to offer.

Have you ever been caught at an embarrassing moment if so what was the picture?

Yes I have being caught at an embarrassing time when I was doing my shoot I was messing around and the photographer took a joke shot.

Questions For My Article

The questions that I will use for my article will be

1. Did you know how fast you would hit 2 million? 
2. Unfaithful is quite a deep song with lots of meaning how did you come up with these ideas? 
3. Where are you from?  Has this influenced your music? 
4. Have you felt like you have given a message across to the audience? If so what message? 
5. Which famous musicians do you admire? Why? 
6. Have you ever embarrassed yourself on stage? 
7. How do you handle college and music? 
8. Did you sing when you were younger? 
9. If you could go back in time what would you do differently? 
10. Have you being caught at an embarrassing moment, if so what was the picture?