q1) conventions (form/genre) - evaluation
TRANSCRIPT
Pop artists are mostly fashionably dressed in a stylish, mainstream culture attire.
Both male and female artists are conveyed happy, positive and most of the time blissful (maybe due to their pop music being a success to their teenage audience).
Female artists are principally portrayed stereotypically attractive, especially in the media; TV, interviews and magazines etc.
As a female teenage audience are more likely to buy a pop music magazine than male teens, girl teenagers like to aspire to be more like their favourite celebrities (who are typically represented in an attractive way).
Within pop songs, the lyrics are mostly about love, relationships and partying; ideologies being sent that ‘it’s all about enjoying life and having a good time, with maybe meeting a few problems along the way’.
Pop bands, like The Vamps, often express the message of ‘unity’ through their lyrics, which associates with other teenagers (who are part of the primary target audience).
Most pop songs last approximately between 3-5 minutes. These songs would have a consistent beat and a fixed structure. Pop songs follow a particular form, similarly to a verse-chorus-versestructure.
Adorno, a Marxist theorist, would argue that it is the repetitive structure which appeals to teenagers, as it distracts them from true creativity. It also lulls them into reproducing the ideologies of pop, as part of a homogenous group.
The promotion of pop music is done via
radio stations and magazines. In the UK
(even in the USA), pop songs are certainly
heard everyday on popular radio stations.
The pop music industry are not usually
independent in creating something new,
unique and different to the teenagers’
ears, and mostly follow current trends.
The music pop genre is usually conveyed
through the lyrics or the setting and
dressing in a music pop video.
Pop is mainly themed with bold and eye-
catching colours, which connote a positive
vibe from a type of media (e.g. pop
magazines).
Pop music videos are known for their vibrant colours, which makes the video increasingly attractive and appealing to watch - this is because they promote a binary opposition to the drudgery of reality.
Technologies have recently been used as a major part of music videos; animation is used to create an exciting and lively atmosphere – technologies are also a postmodern feature designed to appeal to a media literate teenage audience, who enjoy intertextual references to other media forms.
Hair and make up are part of the importance of appearance in constructing the star, and are commonly being used as a way to commutate the artists feelings, views and express a message. This also plays a major role in pop music videos.
TEXT
COVER LINES
SKYLINE
SUB HEADINGS
COVER LINES:
- cover lines about particular artists or events on the front cover, should feature within the magazine.
- I believe my magazine successfully correlates between the cover lines and the content on the contents page. I made sure there was a link, however, I did not follow this through before I made the last minute changes to my production.
The main background image should feature a (female or male) band or artist, who is relevant to their target audience and music genre. The featured artist must also be of interest to the target audience, supported by the main cover line. The main focal image on the front cover should relate to the major gossip inside the magazine, and must be part of the main focus from the readers’ eye.
The majority of pop magazines generally use the bottom third of the front cover, to present a range of topics that are found inside; such as gossip columns and interviews.
Pull quotes are a feature of pop magazines, often in the splash, and their appeal is the connotation of gaining an insight into the star’s personal feelings.
The front cover must consist of various different images of bands/artists, placed strategically to catch the audience members’ attention. Some of the images often contain a pop star in a studio shoot, and the artist makes eye contact with the reader. I have conformed to this convention in my magazine by showing four separate artists (out of five) directly addressing the audience by looking at the camera.
The masthead is the name of the magazine and is conventional; it is commonly placed
on the left side of front page. I have conformed to this by placing my masthead exactly
on the left side of my magazine front cover, therefore, I am not drastically changing the
position of this convention in any way that will make it look individual from the rest of
common magazines (following the same trend of layout).
The masthead should stand out against the background of the magazine front cover, and
needs to be eye-catching. This is so it easily appeals the teenage audience, especially
from a stand when its on sale in a shop. However, the reader should still see a relation
to its genre, meaning the masthead should be bold in contrast to the rest of the
conventions seen on the front cover, although, it should not look too odd or random. I
have associated pop with a bold masthead on my front cover, as it creates ideologies of
being confident (which could be seen as ironic when the genre promotes the values of
following a trend / Maslow’s love and belonging as opposed to trend-setting and
individuality).
I recognised that most of the pop music magazines have the word ‘pop’ within their
masthead, which is indicative of its genre. I wanted to conform to popular pop magazine
conventions that have the word ‘pop’ inside the masthead, due to the popular trend of
this specific convention in most existing magazines. I believe this would also help the
reader to immediately recognise the magazine’s genre, and the kind of music content
and gossip the magazine contains. Therefore, I called my pop music magazine
‘POPWORLD’ due to it easily illustrating what my magazine is about to its female
teenage audience (especially since they aren’t the sophisticated type of audience).
An example of a popular existing pop magazine that has an appealing masthead, suitable to its audience, is ‘WElovePOP.’ magazine.
The font of the masthead is simple in black text, however, the touch of the pink love heart placed inside a speech bubble design, connotes its youth and gossip type nature of the magazine (in relation to pop music).
It also promotes the traditional ideology of the importance of love, even though this is seemingly unrelated to music in any real sense – this is a hegemonic process enacted on girls from a young age, which seems to promote a positive and common sense of journey to finding true love (when it actually just promotes the progression and the continuity of the state, through producing children).
A young female teenager would recognise that this convention relates to the pop genre, due to the feminine creativity.
This would grab that particular audiences’ attention, and the idea of the masthead being placed on a pink setting doesn’t make it blend in with the background.
The use of fonts within music magazines is representative of genre.
Fonts that are bold in sub headings (contents page) or cover lines (front cover),
indicate what the story/music gossip is about throughout the whole magazine. I
have used bold fonts on every page to highlight the importance of particular text
that the reader can scan over.
The colour of the text is important as it must relate to the nature of the genre of
the magazine, e.g. black/dark colours commonly used for rock, and
bright/colourful colours for pop. My use of light and attention-grabbing colours is
an intentional way of attracting the teenage readers’ eye in sale news stands. The
colours of light blue, red and yellow are colours which I decided to use for the
main colour scheme, and is briefly used throughout the pages of my production.
The blues and reds also have a connotation of passion and rebellion more than the
‘girly’ pink colours (however, this is again hegemonic; making the audience THINK
they are in control, when actually the ideologies of the magazine keep them
passive).
I have had thoughts on whether I have used a suitable colour scheme, because I
sometimes think the colours aren’t ‘girly’ enough to appeal a female reader.
However, I decided to stick with it because they are ‘tomboyish’ colours as well,
which still relates to my teenage audience. These specific colours have also been
used by existing magazines, like ‘WElovePOP.’ for example, therefore, my
decision on the colour scheme isn’t uncommon. This shows that I want to attract
female teenage readers and because of this, I’ve used a teenage associated colour
scheme. The feminine touches to the magazine pages along with the text, such as
the red heart design, associates to specifically females as well.
The text must engage the audience, and entice them to continually look further through the magazine in a buying environment. Tag lines must also be inviting.
I have attempted to achieve this throughout the front cover, contents page and double page spread. I have used a mix of different size and style fonts, showing diversity along with a variety of images. I think this is important when wanting to appeal a young teenage audience, as they are fox thinkers, therefore, they will get bored if the pages are consumed by too much text.
Depending on the type of genre of the magazine and its audience, the language of text must be chosen correctly. As my magazine production is focused on pop and aimed to appeal a young female teenager, I have mainly used colloquial language. This is because it suits my type of audience, and the influence of ‘text-speak’ is due to the audience being digital natives, making their speech more colloquial. I have used this throughout my production of the magazine as it appeals to the younger audience, and requires less sophisticated vocabulary.
The text within the interview of my double page spread is mixed with informal and slightly formal language as the interview is aimed to be casual, however, the reader would still want to know true information about their favourite celebrity artist – also receive information and surveillance (uses and gratifications).
An approximate of 4-6 images should be found on the contents page. However, one main image must stand out against the other images on the page.
The name of the magazine is often repeated throughout the type of media.
Sub headings next to the page numbers aim to give a clear idea to its reader of what (music) gossip is inside the magazine. It also makes it easier for the reader to navigate throughout the magazine. The page numbers next to the sub headings are used, in which they are highlighted in a different colour and a bold font to show their significance, followed by a few words to say what is on every page.
Every image mostly have a caption box to draw the reader to the particular story. On my own contents page, every one of my images has related text somewhere around it.
The contents page should have an equal balance of text (information) and images, as this specific page aims to provide the reader information and a taster of what the magazine contains. It also provides an easier navigation for whereabouts their favourite gossip is inside the magazine.
The artist/band illustrated on the front cover of the
magazine must be relevant to its cover line, including the
type of context inside the magazine, and attract its
audience. When the artist directly looks at the camera,
they address their audience which is a way of grabbing
their attention and connotes honesty (which is important in
an age of manufactured celebrity).
Choosing the most suitable model is important because
they are representing the specific genre. It cannot look like
they’ve been randomly chosen and placed on the page
meaning since the image is usually a studio shoot, it
therefore has an element of construction.
My choice of models had to be quite specific because I
wanted to make sure that all my 7 models had the
potential to work in pop culture, because they are all
stereotypically attractive. I made sure that my models were
suitable to be seen on my magazine pages. I chose a
diversity of male and female models, aged between 16-27
years old, to be found on my pages. They represent young,
aspiring artists who a female reader would look up to, plus
they are all smiling which connotes their positivity about
being in the music business. This sends an encouraging
message (ideology) that ‘you can have great success by
doing something you love’.
• I especially chose Charley Flowers to
represent a young, 16 year old growing
pop artist (as the main image) because
I think my target audience can relate
more to someone their own similar
age. They easily receive personal
identity and they are inspired to be
like Chaz Flora, due to her positive
attitude about everything (in her
interview)
Richard Dyer’s star theory, which I have looked at in my theoretical research, is
applicable here in my production.
When applying this particular theory, my models on my magazine pages are made up of
three separate features - some more noticeable than others to be spotted with all these
features;
Star as Construction:
- The main focal image of Chaz Flora, on the front cover, can be ‘constructed’ by its
management and marketing, to meet the needs of my female teenage audience. The
image comprises separate elements of the ‘construction’ such as:
- CHAZ FLORA:
Empowered
Female
(Teenager)
...due to part of her hobbies
being tennis which she loves
playing, along with her busy
music career.
...David Gauntlett’s
empowered females,
and she is not portrayed
in any kind of sexual
manner.
...a young reader would look up
to her as she is a young teen
herself, who is successfully
producing music.
...you don’t need a boyfriend in your
life to be happy (it’s not always about
relationships).
Star as Commodity:
- The young 16 year old pop singer, known as Chaz
Flora, becomes a selling tool and something my 13-
16 year old audience can ‘buy’.
- My teenager readers buy my pop music magazine
product, and then ‘buy’ into Chaz Flora’s lifestyle as
they are aspired to also be successful with their
talents, even at such a young age.
Star as Ideology:- Chaz Flora, within the double page spread
especially, sells a positive ideology towards
my female fox thinkers that ‘you can be
happy and successful with your talents,
which can also encouragingly aspire others’.
- On the front cover, ‘The Gallades’ send a set of
‘ideas’ that ‘working together as a group by doing
something you love can follow with a happy
celebration of succession that you all deserve’.
Pop songs are stereotypically associated with teenage people as they include a beat which is dance orientated.
Most of the imagery is focused on ‘partying’ or ‘sex’ as this is what the majority of teens enjoy. However, I did not want my pop music magazine to be based around these things, as mine aims to appeal a younger teenage audience of 13-16 year olds. Therefore, my pages do not present anything related to ‘sex’, but my artists are portrayed being positive and successful in what they do. My magazine contains exciting new gossip, in relation to their music, in which most female teenagers would enjoy reading about.
Today, there are a mix of pop artists who use their success in separate ways. There are artists, such as Miley Cyrus or Nicki Minaj, who express a seductive and sexual image with their pop music. They try to lure the audience in a show like manner, in which Janice Winship’s notion of complicity is mostly applied. This is because they are placing themselves in the male gaze, meaning they are complicit in creating the ideal version of themselves for a male audience (due of the gratification they will receive).
On the other hand, there are artists who dress in a provocative way which conforms to David Gauntlett’s theory of empowered females. This mostly applies to my production as I want my artists to be set as good role models for my teenager audience, and want to send an ideology about ‘success but also having fun by doing the things you love’, instead of something like ‘wearing loads of make up would gain your popularity’.
Whilst working through my
production, I wanted to make sure
that there were positive
representations of my female/male
artists presented on every page of
my magazine. This is so my target
audience of female teenagers can
aspire and look up to their
favourite celebrities on a positive
note. They are also easily
influenced as they are not as
sophisticated, and are seen more
as a mass and passive.
I did not want to sexualize any of my female models, as my magazine is
primarily aimed at a young teen audience. Therefore, I did not use any
camera shots that would present them in a sexual manner (not applying
Laura Mulvey’s male gaze or Janice Winship’s notion of complicity). I am not
aiming to attract men and when the parents buy the magazine, they would
most likely not want to see anything that is presented in a sexual way. Again,
I want to apply David Gauntlett’s empowered females, and illustrate strong
females who are in control of their sexuality. This is what the females’
parents would like to see as they would like their daughters to succeed in
life.
I have done this by presenting Chaz Flora, on the front cover, smiling in a positive manner directly towards the camera, wearing a trending looking top that is not revealing in any way. She is simply represented as a normal teenager with a big future ahead of her, nothing that appealing to boys who aren’t the prime target audience.
Also, Chaz is showing a funny gesture on the
right page of my double page spread when
holding the items. The pose connotes a certain
innocence and freedom which isn’t complicated
by the demands of a relationship or sex.
The long medium shot of Nicole, on
the bottom right side of the contents
page, presents her in a more revealing
way, however, the aim of this
particular shot is for the female artist
to show off her fashion sense which
the majority of female teens are
appealed to. This is so there is
something more for the female
‘gossipers’ to talk about with their
friends (increase of social
interaction), alongside the celebrity’s
music.
• The form convention - pop magazines
often cross over into gossip and fashion
magazines, which I had to be careful
about to keep focus on the music.
I wanted to evaluate different aspects of my
production, and I may have also pointed out some
criticisms (and how I could have improved on them)
FRONT COVER-• The skyline is focused on
a separate artist (before I
made the changes, it was
focused on Maddy Core,
however, she is already
featured on the front cover).
This increases social
interaction between my
teenage audience, due to
the increase variety of
artists talked about on my
pages. The rhetorical
question also causes my
female readers to wonder
and look further through
my magazine. • I particularly used this
convention on my pop
magazine to combine
music, gossip and fashion.
• My magazine still hugely
focuses on pop music, but I
decided to also talk about
fashion and make up so
there is a little more
entertainment for my
audience to read upon.
However, I have related the
fashion items to the artists
in a way that my female
teenagers can relate to.
• I think I have met
the conventions of
my pop genre when
relating to the vivid
and engaging
colours that I’ve
used as my main
colour scheme.
• I’d placed the main focal
image of Chaz Flora over
the masthead logo, to
create more effective (and
is another common trend
which most magazines do).
• The overlapping of the
masthead could also
increase as the brand’s
popularity and
recognisable aesthetic
does.
FRONT COVER-
• A red love heart
design to add a little
more femininity, and
correlates to my young
teenage audience.
• I also wanted to
create interest to the
fact that the red love
heart is included on
my front cover,
despite wanting to
promote young women
as not governed by sex
- It just proves how
strong dominant
ideologies are!
CONTENTS PAGE-• The masthead has an attached
connotation of pop. I got this idea
from the existing pop magazine
‘WElovePOP.’, in which there is
evidence of the brand logo on the
contents page (next to the small copy
of logo). This shows a clear
correlation throughout the magazine.
If I had extra time, I would have
probably done a little more research
about the different tools of
‘Photoshop’. This is so I can attempt
to remove the shadow on the female
model’s legs.
• The vibrancy of colours and the
contrasting variety of images are
conventional of the younger audience.
• I have used different fonts for most of the
text, however, they are all quite similar in style.
Therefore, it does not affect the continuity of
conventions, but still connotes a little diversity
(so every section of the page grabs the readers’
attention)
On my contents page, I wanted to make sure that there was an equal balance
of gossip (text), images and music content.
I wanted this particular page to still be appealing (with its images and fonts),
however, I also wanted to focus on providing my readers with the information
they need, which is usually found on a contents page, so they know what
features inside my pop magazine.
When comparing my front cover and the contents page, the contents page has
a slight increase dominance of gossip/music content (text). This is because
the purpose of my contents page is to inform the reader about the type of
content that features within my magazine, whereas, the front page aims to
grab my target audiences’ attention with its appealing and bold style of fonts,
and its variety of images.
Most of the content on this page is focused on the music, which is what my pop
magazine is all about – I may have added extras that are slightly unrelated to
music (e.g. make up), however, the majority of text is centred on music pop
entertainment.
I have also maintained sticking to the main colour scheme of light blue, red and
white on the contents page and throughout, which is known as the house style.
(During my research and planning, I had looked through a couple of pop
existing magazine, such as ‘WElovePOP.’, and found that there is some content
about fashion and boys (etc), other than just music – therefore, the extras that
I have added in my own magazine production does not hugely affect anything).
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD-
I’ve used a font that is readable, but also since my teenage audience are fox
thinkers (therefore, they will most likely scan through the text rather than read
every single word), I changed the colour of font to red from black. This
highlights the important key parts of the whole text in every response. I’ve also
kept to the main colour scheme of light blue, red and white (the house style)
which is why I chose these colours.
• I would have actually preferred to highlight the key text in a yellow highlighter,
which I was planning on doing instead of changing the colour of font, however, I
struggled with this as I did not know how to highlight text specifically on
‘Photoshop’. I attempted to research a little on how I could do this, but I could not
get the answer I was looking for. Therefore, I just changed the colour of font which
still works in my opinion.
- I believe if I had a little extra time that I would be able to find out where this
particular tool was. In general, it did not really affect anything too much in a way.
Light blue bold text
(highlight questions
asked)
Red text (highlight
key text in Chaz’s
response)
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD- I’ve used the same background
design for both pages within the
double page spread. The
continuity of designs and fonts is
created, including the same with
the consistency of colours
(yellow and light blue). This kind
of design appeals to a younger
teen audience as the bold bright
colours creates more excitement
to the pages.
• I’ve used pull quotes, which are found in
one of Chaz’s responses, for more appeal
and to highlight the artist’s key quotes.
• I’ve done this also because my audience
are young teenagers and will most likely get
bored if there was just plain text presented.
• Therefore, I made the pull quotes stand
out by placing them on a yellow design, and
placed randomly on the interview page (I
only created two as I didn’t want the page
to look too over the top).
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD-• The response stating that she
“feel(s) cheery knowing that
(she’s) put a smile on their
faces”, connotes Chaz Flora’s
light-hearted personality which
appeals to the young readers as
they feel acknowledged and
important in the eyes of this 16
year old artist.
• The other response stating that
she “hardly remember(s) what the
garden looks like”, connotes her
busy lifestyle and portrays how
much her music means to her,
aspiring her young fans to also
have that success in something
they love doing.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD-
This is something which I might have changed, by continuing the text onto the
next page (right page), somewhere next to the image of Chaz Flora. I think this
would have worked better, plus there would have been more to see on the right
page as I also think there is not enough text on that particular page – I believe I
should have filled the space a little more, so there is an equal balance of
information on either page.
I believe there is too much
text on the left page as it
might seem too
overwhelming for my
teenage readers. They are
not exactly the sophisticated
type of audience, therefore,
they would most likely
prefer to scan over simple
gossip and images, rather
than just small text (and the
majority black).
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD-
I am glad that I had taken this
photo of Chaz Flora holding a
microphone, a tennis racquet
and balancing a book on her
head. This is because it relates
to Chaz’s response in the
interview, and its not just about
her music but her other hobbies
as well.
I think the image is effective
and connotes the love for her
hobbies and the importance of
living a healthy lifestyle, along
with her music career. The
image type is quite adventurous
instead of Chaz just posing
casually and looking at the
camera.However, I think the quality of
the image is not as sharp as I
hoped it would be.
Throughout the planning of my double page spread, I wanted the interview to focus on Chaz Flora’s music (as it is a music pop magazine), however, I also wanted to add some of the female artists’ other hobbies and family life. This is so the reader receives a little more information about their favourite artist, and so they can relate to Chaz more – get more personal identity. I wanted to portray that Chaz is still a normal 16 year old teenager, even though her growing music success might show another life she lives.
I wanted the heading to be simple and easily understood, but also grab the teenage readers’ attention as the word ‘REAL’ (in capitals and different coloured font) connotes some truth into Chaz Flora’s character, which causes the audience to wonder and read on – entices the reader as they want to know more about the young artist’s lifestyle.
I have used Levi Strauss binary oppositions which is indicated in the heading ‘meet the REAL Chaz Flora’; the media’s usual perspective of Chaz Flora vs Chaz Flora’s true character/lifestyle from her own P.O.V. These two concepts will create a more interesting interview, as Chaz might reveal something about herself that her fans had no idea about, due to the media maybe giving the same information about her.
FRONT PAGE: I believe this page mostly conforms to conventions
due to its variety of shot types of different genders of artists, its
bright and appealing colour scheme and the style of fonts which
correspond to the magazine’s genre. There is not a lot that I
would change ,however, if I had the chance I would probably have
added more images and text to fill in the extra space and so
there is more for the audience to look at and relate to.
CONTENTS PAGE: In general, I am quite pleased with the layout
of text and images, and there is an equivalent balance of the two
on this particular page. If I had to add something extra, I would
have created more quotes and images as this is the layout that
most existing magazines follow on a contents page.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD: I think this page least conforms to
conventions as the volume of text on one page seems too
overwhelming to look at, if seen by a young teenage audience.
The large quantity of text would have suited more to an older
(sophisticated) audience – would appeal more to my secondary
audience, who are older females.
Throughout creating my pop magazine production, I had to be careful that
my magazine wasn’t focused too much on random gossip, such as fashion.
I needed to stick to the music and the artists.
I did slightly challenge this in a way as the content on my magazine pages
had a mix of gossip particularly about the artists’ music, but also on
fashion and make up.
I think the convention IS for pop magazines to combine music, fashion
and gossip.
However, I did keep this in mind and combined fashion and gossip with the
music of artists. For example, on the contents page, it talks about make
up which were seen worn by a variety of popular celebrity artists.
Therefore, I did try and link new gossip to pop artists.
Before I did my corrections, on the right centre side of the magazine, it
said ‘Nicole’s love for fashion’, however, this wasn’t really relating to the
type of genre my magazine is. So I eventually changed it to ‘Nicole’s tips
for pop success’, which focuses on the music element of my pop
magazine. This is to ensure that I kept to the brief of the production.