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Emanuela Comandini

AS Media Studies

Masthead: I have made the masthead black in order to capture the attention of the audience. This is because it stands out as Ihave made all other writings on the page of different colours. Additionally I chose to call my magazine “Beat It” because it’s amusic term , therefore it represents the whole music industry, which includes all type of music genres. This is designed to captureall audiences who love music.

Cover lines: I positioned the cover lines aroundthe main image to give the magazine aprofessional appeal, therefore its kind ofchallenging the form of a real media product. Itis also conventional across all media products toposition the cover lines around the image. Ichose a light blue and white colour schemebecause they were two the colours which weremost rated by my target audience ; therefore itis designed to keep the viewer engaged with themagazine. In addition to this each cover line isuniquely produced to make the reader build upinterest for the magazine. For example for thiscover line “Exclusive Interview With DrakeEleonor” I used a famous R&B artist to endorsethe magazine and create a sense of interestfrom the viewer , which is designed to pursuethe audience to buy the magazine. The artist’sname is linked to the double page spread andcontents page.

Main image (mise en scene): The main imageplays a crucial part in the magazine. Theindividual is wearing red lipstick which ispopular amongst R&B female artists, therefore adds a realistic appeal to themagazine overall. Moreover the gold chainconnotes the importance of money andwealth as it can create your status in themusic business. I chose the character to bedark skin because most of the R&B femaleartists are black women , which builds up arealistic sense. Moreover the character isdressed with everyday life clothes to connotethat artists are normal people. This is designedto build up a “friendly relationship” betweenthe audience and the artists by showing theirsimilarities. The high key lightning constructs apeaceful atmosphere. Additionally there’sdirect eye contact with the audience whichmakes them feel involved.

Price: The price was chosen by my target audience andmyself , I think that £1.00 is a reasonable price, affordable for all ages (from the youngest to theoldest)

Website: The link allows direct and quick responses fromthe audiences who are interested in the magazine. Thiswill allow a chance for interaction between the magazineproducers and the audience.

Barcode: This allows the magazine to be scanned.

Similarly to the real media product’s masthead, I chose to make my masthead bold and of a largescale in order to stand out. Additionally I utilised the same technique of the real media productwhich includes making the colour scheme of the masthead ,black. This is different from othertext included in the magazine front cover, therefore it works really well as it makes it unique andmore clear. I chose a simple font, in order to make it easy and clear for the audience to read, which has also been done in the real media product.

The term “Beat it” is popular when it comes to talking about music. I chose it because it attractsall lovers of music , which is beneficial as it will not only increase the audience , however alsoraise profit from everyone who purchases it.Furthermore I felt like I had to add the fading effect to the masthead in order to make it fit inwith the light background. To get the fading effect from below , I used Photoshop. I utilised theeraser tool , therefore I challenged the real media product by adding a further touch of the use ofPhotoshop.

Eraser tool

Produced by Dafonts.com

This is the image of the original picture. I chose to use a medium shot in order forthe viewer to capture the body language and emotions of the character. The mainimage is really important as it kind of creates the front cover itself and is one of themain things that immediately attracts the attention of the audience. This shot typealso allows me to include the acoustic guitar which is the main music symbol in thephotograph.However one way I could improve the mise-en-scene of picture is by changing theclothes of the individual into a sophisticated and classy look , for example a blackdress , with the red lipstick being more visible, which is more suitable for an R&Bmusic genre. Additionally I would also change the setting of the picture, into a plainbackground colour . This is because it may position the read to only focus on thecharacter.Since I used the picture on the right , which has an open setting , I used Photoshopto make the background blurry in order to “relax” behind the individual.

Alternative pictures (mid shot)with plain background. Thereason for not using them isbecause for the first image Iwanted the character to havedirect eye contact with theaudience and for the 2nd image, Itried to edit the picture onPhotoshop by cropping the toppart , as a result the picture waszoomed in too much andbecame pixelated with a weirdappeal.

First Picture Second Picture

Similarly to the front cover I made thetitle’s colour different from other text inthe page , in order for it to stand outeven if is not bold. The reason for makingit large is to make it visible and clear inorder for the reader no to face anydifficulties.

Brief Introduction: During the process of composing the contents page I faced difficulties , such as what images or what colour scheme to use. However I overcome this challenges by utilising the help of research of various contents pages , also the questionnaire I used and peer feedback. Although the links between the front cover and contents page are not visual , I have used various features and cover lines of the front cover which creates a link between this media products.

Article Titles: the function of article titles is to keep the audience up to date , for example “Exclusive Interview” is the title of one of the articles. This makes the reader aware that they can keep up to date with the R&B celebrity , creating a sense of satisfaction for the audience. This is conventional across real media products therefore I have used the “article titles” form.

Mise en scene: The main image is a close upshot in order to show the facial expression ofthe character which is designed to make theaudience show emphasis towards thecharacter. Additionally the red lipstickconnotes a sense of maturity and gives thecharacter a celebrity appeal as it is popularamongst them. Furthermore the curly hairbuilds up a classic look which is similar to thecelebrity appeal. Also the gold chainconnotes the importance of wealth andmoney in the music industry.

I have used two other pictures a long shot and a medium close up shot which is similar to the layout oh photographs in the contents page on the right side . This means that there’s evidence of real media product forms in my media product.

Dateline: to shows that is an up to date monthly magazine which shows development from real media products as some contents pages lack a dateline

Evidence that front cover and contents page are linked “Beat It Magazine”

Ways to improve…

One of the issues of my contents page is that it does not show a visual link to the front cover. Therefore I though that if I made the background colour lighter It would visually link to the front cover. However this did not work , therefore I have to try out another option , which includes changing the writing of my front cover from white to blue.

This made me notice that the front cover with white writing stands out more.

Before

After

Before

After: Experimenting the background Final result

Main image: The main image includes a long shot of the character. I chose this because I personally think its suitable to cover a whole page. This is also conventional across real media products as shown in the image below. Mise en scene: The female artist is wearing a red dress , which connotes her passion towards music . Additionally this is backed up by her happy facial expression. The body language demonstrates that she is relaxed and happy. Furthermore the curly hair shows that she cares about her looks which is similar to the other female in the real media product. The lighting works really well as it highlights the smile. Finally the gold chain gives the character a celebrity look.

The background is blue which shows contrast as the dress isred. This will make the model stand out, therefore it willimmediately capture the audience attention .

Furthermore I kept the blue and white colour scheme as itwas mostly rated by my sample.

Additionally the font of the article is simple , whichshows that I have used the real media productform . I kept the size of the text little in order togather a lot of information as the article in the realmedia product.