AS Media

My research began looking at a range of magazines, keeping an open mind into the style, target age group, and genre of music magazine I was to produce. I began with G magazine, in particular a front cover with the world renowned star Cheryl Cole. This particular photograph attracts a certain audience already, from her wet hair, leather jacket and rock styled make up, to the positioning and looks of the shot, with her tounge licking her ring. Automatically creating a certain audience and taste. Although the star is loved by many different age groups and genders, this front cover is most definitely directed at a predominately male audience, who are either interested in Rock, Cheryl Cole, or her music.
Deciding against this specified target range, I started to explore teen magazines; in particular ones directed at young girls (aged 11-14). One of the most popular I found was Top of the Pop's, with starts such as Justin Bieber, JLS, and now the reactively new One Direction. These young male starts seemed to be the main attraction for the magazine. The colour palette was different for this particular front cover I found, with girly pinks, purples and some yellow popping out at you-conveying bright and happiness, compared to the more grunge colours of Q. The cover is busy too, with many different stories and headlines appearing, with smaller photographs linking up to smaller stories and interviews.

Double page spreads were similarly set out, with bright colours and busy backgrounds. This particular spread from Pop Girl magazine is targeted at a slightly younger age-group, (7-11) shown through little animated characters and symbols; such as hearts and flowers. The main focus is on the cut out of the female members of S Club 7, appealing to their market at time of publishing.
           After looking into the different variations of magazine genres, target audience's, covers, I feel my favourite target age range would be 13-17 years olds, with the genre of Pop in mind. I feel there is a space in the market for a magazine catering for both this age-group and genre, a sophisticated magazine for teens. Similar to an older version of Elle, but with a Pop music dominated genre, a music version of Teen Vogue.

An analysis of a Teen Vogue front cover, similar to that I intend to create;

Photography

Looking into photography for the front cover, contents and double page spread, I found it was all very pure, innocent and natural. Empty backgrounds and isolated locations are the norm for the sets of a lot of the photo shoots, showing the stars and models angelic sidle dressed in white or pastel colours, natural wavy hair, and flowers in their hair. 

Below is another example, this time a more playful shot, similar to that I would like to create my my double page spread. In a relaxed and enticing environment by the sea, but this time with both the pose and actual photograph looking natural which I prefer for the DPS. However, this would not be right for the front cover. 

Inspiration; Lana Del Rey

After looking at shots suited more for the DPS, my attention turned to the FC and Contents photographs. I started looking into the sort of model and star I wanted to create. I came across a photograph by parasian born Karim Saldi, photographed for V magazine, in statement black and white. The star is Lana Del Rey, someone who I ended up using as inspiration for my front cover star. The photograph caught by eye, from the colour scheme, pose, facial expression and dress sense; something I wanted to re-create for my own front cover. 

I began by using a friend as my model, practicing simple shots with props and a light box for the best lit shot. The light box sat directly infront of my model, as to light her face as well as possible. A difficulty was eliminating all the shadows, where  had to result in playing around the the light box and moving the model. I decided that using a blank wall for this shot would be the best background, being easy to edit around too. 

I wanted to practise one more time before my final shoot for the FC, lining my new practice model against a blank wall with natural lighting, (rather than a light box) like I planned to do for the actual shoot. 

Front Cover Shoot

As I visualised, I set the front cover shoot up against a blank wall as I had previously practised, with natural lighting. I styled the model with gold cross earrings, a slightly 'trashy' tee, and her long brown hair flowing free, with natural make-up. Little touches such as the hairband on her wrist brought her personality through to the shot: relaxed and chilled, presenting her music genre too.  

For the remaining blog on this project visit;

Final Pages