Development/Ideas Of Three Magazine Front Covers And Contents Page.

These are the three front covers, and three contents pages that we designed in class. We did this as a development process so we could 'play about' with the layout of each page as to where pictures, cover lines and masthead's should be placed. We did this so it will help us when it comes to it being our turn to create our magazines.   

                 

Double Page Analysis

The colour scheme for this double page spread consists of a lot of neutral and dominant colours. This is affective because the topic of this is fashion so the background has neutral colours; whereas the clothes have dominant colours to help the clothes look better on the model in the photographs. Meaning that because the clothes are standing out in the pictures it is selling that product more and more to the target audience. The colour scheme also attracts the target audience, in this case it is women aged 28-45, because they are attracted to the neutral colours which take up most of the page. Also the dominant colours of red and some black on the clothes also attract the target audience as they picture themselves looking as good as the model in the photo. Also because there is not much writing on the page, this also helps the photos stand out as there is no reading to do therefore you can just concentrate and glare at the pictures.

For the text on the pages they have used pink which makes this text stand out from the neutral colours behind it, and the pink is used because this text is the most important text on the page. I can tell this because underneath the pink text are the prices of each item of clothing and accessories from the pictures, which are in black so they do not stand out and because they are extortionately priced. Also the pink text is fashion information telling the reader what clothing and accessories go with other clothing and other accessories.

At the bottom of these pages is a small information box. This is just more information telling the reader more on what hair styles and make-up goes with the clothes. This is basically just telling the reader what the models are wearing, which is what the reader wants as they want to look as good as the model in the pictures.

There is a small title in the top right hand corner of the page, I wouldn’t class this as a masthead as it is small and in the top right corner rather than the top left, meaning it doesn’t stand out. Also it is a brief overview of the double page spread as it reads ‘Fashion Confidence’ meaning that the model in the pictures is very confident of the clothing she is wearing, also trying to get across to the reader that they would be confident in these clothes too. This means they are trying to persuade the reader to go and buy these clothes.

Prelim Task; Re-Write Of Article

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Exam Boards Forced To Change GCSE Grade Boundaries, Why? Good Question!

Letters have been released, from Ofqual wrote to Edexcel exam board, to change GCSE grade boundaries. The letters show Ofqual forcing the exam board to change GCSE English mark boundaries, half way through the school year.

These letters show that worries about the rise in C grades, asking the exam board to act quickly to make results closer to predictions for English. The exam board were quick to reply to the public on this topic and said that the grade boundaries are ‘fair’ and that they would not be changed.

As these letters were published the CEO of Ofqual faced resignation however, has not since stepped down from the position. A head teacher and former member of Ofqual said that the CEO of Ofqual was un-defendable and had become compromised. He also said that because of his actions bringing down the amount of C grades to be awarded, that he should resign.

Ofqual are trying their best to defend themselves by saying that the content of these letters were ‘entirely proper’ and are part of their work to maintain standards and can be compared to previous years.

Students in Wales will see their grades un-affected as the education minister demanded for their papers to be re-marked.

Leighton Andrews said that Welsh pupils had been victims of an ‘injustice’ action made by Ofqual and the exam board. The Edexcel correspondence is the latest twist in the scandal as it comes closer to Stacey giving evidence to MPs.

Apparently in the letters, Ofquals director of standards, Dennis Opposs, made Edexcel aware that that pupils awarded with a C grade would mean it would be eight percentage points higher than expected. They asked the exam board to act quickly on this matter so the grades were much closer to predictions, adding that it may require them to move grade boundaries a lot more than normally required.

Edexcel replied the next day stating that the grade expectations form Ofqual are only an indicator of performance, based on Sats results aged 11. Changes in the school year and new modular exams have been mentioned in this enquiry. Edexcel finally said that ‘we believe this to be compelling evidence that our award is a fair award and we do not believe a further revision of our grade boundaries is justified’.

Edexcel also make aware to Ofqual that they cannot change the minimum mark for a C grade for one English unit up to 65 marks as it stood at 55 marks in January. Ofqual replied saying that Edexcel are obliged to change boundaries to keep in line with other exam boards whose boundaries were closer to predictions. They also say that it is up to Edexcel to decide how this is achieved. 

Jay-Z Double Page Spread Analysis From Q Magazine

This page has the house-style of the Q magazine with the red banner across the top of the page. On the left page, of this double spread, is a huge picture of Jay-Z himself. This is purposely used so we can see what the text in the article is relating to. Also in the picture it shows Jay-Z lighting a cigar. Stereotyping of cigars are usually big Mafia bosses who are very wealthy and powerful therefore, it shows Jay-Z's wealth and power in the music industry. 

In the bottom left hand corner of the picture we can see a quote. This quote I assume is a quote of Jay-Z's as a lot of quotes made by him are all over the internet for example on Facebook and Twitter. Also I believe the picture is used to help take up space of the double spread page so the editor's can put the writing in small font to make it look like there is a lot of information in this article. Two columns have been used for the article, making it easier to follow and read. They have used a medium sized box for a fact-file of the rapper of things like his date of birth and where he lives. This is just a little extra information included in the article for the reader. Also the box helps take up a little more space on the page. 

The colour scheme is consistent throughout with its red, black and white throughout each page. It is an affective colour scheme because the colours contrast well making it easy for the audience to read. Also the colour scheme makes the magazine look sophisticated, specific to its target audience.

Q Magazine Contents Page Analysis

As we can the 'Q' logo is in the top left hand corner of the page. This is done purposely as we read from left to right therefore, it is directly in our eyeline. The background of the logo is coloured in red. Red has been scientifically proven to raise the males heartbeat. Also the menu column for the contents on the left hand side of the page is also background coloured in red. Red is usually portrayed as an aggresive and angry colour. This effectively suits this page because the main feature article photograph is of Richard Ashcroft from the band 'The Verve'. It is a very dominant picture and the red is effective because it helps to portray Richard Ashcroft's rock and roll music and lyrics of his era. Richard Ashcroft is seen to be holding his arms in the air like the Angel Of The North. This has a very evangelical style to it and shows his god-like status as a rock and roll artist. 

There is little writing on the page as it's a mens magazine and men are highly likely to just flick through the picture and scan read rather than stop to read every tiny bit of information on the page. Also there is only one column on this page down the left hand side of the page making it directly in our eye-line like the masthead at the top of the page. 

Magazine Cover Analysis

As we can see from the image, the magazine's masthead is placed in the top left hand corner of the magazine, this is so when it is placed on shelves it is easy to spot and also because we read from left to right making it directly in our eye-line. The font of the masthead is in red because it helps attract the target audience, in this case men, because red raises a man's heartbeat.

The feature article photo is placed directly in the centre of the cover. This is so the image stands out on the cove to attract the eye of the target audience. This image is relevant to the topics of the magazine, hence why it also attracts the target audience. A lot of the time the image will always overlap the masthead, it doesn't really matter that it overlaps as the magazine is so famously known we know what it is.

Due to the feature article photo being placed in the middle of the magazine, all cover lines have been placed on the edges of the magazine. The main cover line is in a very large font. This is to make it stand out on the magazine so the reader reads that information because it is important to the topic of the magazine. It could also be classed as a plug as it is the magazine's unique selling point. The other cover lines are in a medium font and in a white colour because they are not so important. This is because this magazine is only really bought for the pictures it contains, therefore not much information is needed on the cover because the target audience haven't bought it to read.

Just underneath the masthead is a plug. This is not much information on what's on that page but gives the reader a slight in-sight as to what is on that page. However, it is written in a white colour making it not look very important as the reader will skip through all the pages looking at the photo's anyway. The price isn't even on this cover as it is probably rather expensive. Therefore, because it has an outstanding cover with use of plugs, masthead and photograph the reader will buy this magazine whatever price it is when they found out at the till. The bar-code is at the bottom left corner, this is purely for the member of staff at the shop, but it is out of the way so it doesn't affect the appearance of the cover. There is no strap-line used in this cover, just like most 'FHM' magazine's.  

Everything we see on this magazine cover had been put there for a reason, including font, size of font, colour of font and positioning of everything. Very effective cover as it is dedicated to it's intended target audience. 

Key Media Concepts

Key Media Concepts Consist of;
-Target Audience, who the product is aimed at.
-Genre, different categories for different things, like music and films.
-Conventions, these are what we expect from a certain genre of something, like death in a horror film.
-Codes (Symbolic & Technical), Symbolic code, as in if we saw a pumpkin in a scene we would know it's Halloween. And Technical code, as in for a horror film we expect the lighting to be very dark.