Summary of the Preliminary Exercise
For the preliminary task since I have chosen to do an information & technology magazine for male students 15 – 18, I must discuss the codes and conventions of what my magazine is all about, how I will attract my target audience with the front cover and the contents e.g. title, pictures, colours and a range of different ideas involving technology. This includes creating the front page of the magazine myself. However to complete this I must take on other tasks first to get a good idea on what I’d want my magazine front cover to look like, how to attract my target audience, the media language used and representation of the school’s information technology department.
The Reaction I had due to the Task I had to Complete
My reaction to the task wasn’t shocking or depressing but I was rather excited to take it on for it was media based and it all consisted of taking charge and monitoring what I was doing, the fact that it all related to computer work I was comfortable about and making sure my work was of a high standard.
My Decision on what to do First
I decided to start of with my research to get a better understanding of what my magazine will need to look like such as layout, colour palette, pictures etc. My example magazines are a huge help for they basically summarise what a magazine really looks like and definitely give me several ideas for when I’m creating my own. Once I found my exampled magazines I had to explain the codes and conventions of them, and how those magazines attract their audience which I believed really helped me for when I finish my magazine I’ll be able to evaluate it and explain with no problems about the codes and conventions of the front cover and my target audience and what makes it just as good as my examples.
How I Adapted in Completing the Research
By researching my example magazines such as the football magazines, I had to adapt by choosing another genre such as information technology magazines which related to what I wanted my magazine to look like even though the “Four Four Two” magazines had a much better design. The reason for choosing the generic idea of an information technology magazine is because it obviously relates to what my school magazine is similar to and it basically has all the key ideas that I could use in my own front cover.
The Conventions of Magazine Front covers
The conventions of the football magazines are the famous players at the front page in a mid shot posing and the football teams, the design of the magazine in which the colours are used and the font size and design of the text is an intriguing convention of the front cover which makes it very eye catching. The information technology magazine convention is the hi tech gear in the pictures and the image of the man who’s dabbing something with his finger as if it’s a touch screen pad, the picture to me looks like a high definition picture. Also the bold bright yellow text stands out a lot and includes a graphical look to it with the hand.
Techniques used to encourage teenagers
The techniques which are used within the front cover of a football magazine is the Prizes such as: winning a free PS3 if you answer a question or a free England shirt which definitely encourages the teenage years into reading the magazine, this also includes the sell lines that highlight mostly what’s in the magazine and the biggest issues that occurring. However in the information technology magazine you have brief sentences or sub titles briefly explaining.
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| Example of a simple, interesting Information Technology Magazine |
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| An example of a football magazine with a more dramatic design |
The Target Audience I intend to target with my School Magazine
With my school magazine I intend to target male students in their teenage years, my reason for this is because most of the students have a huge interest for technology and have adapted to it which has most likely given them the idea to make it a career when they’re older, such as: It engineer, electrician etc. Also this is slightly a new innovative idea which is yet to be seen, there are rarely any information technology school magazines out there, this will be something new to the market and will gain a huge majority of students who will then pay a great interests in learning from the magazine once they see the front cover and what the contents page has stored within it.
The Methods in which I'll use to Target them
The picture’s I’ll be using is of an IT student working on a computer in full concentration probably in a mid shot, or a close up medium shot, showing the focus on his face and the rest of the environment around him which will show the calm, peaceful but working environment around them.However if I don’t succeed in delivering this picture then I’ll be relying on taking another picture of student in a medium shot or close up facing the camera with the hands raised level with their shoulders as if they were typing away on a keyboard but in mid air which I’ll be able to use my graphical skills to edit showing to my target audience that it’s a keyboard similar to one of my examples.
