My Contents Page

My Double Page Spread

My Music Magazine Cover

Image Analysis Of R&B

In class today, I have been researching extensively and looking at what makes up a good R&B image. In doing this, I have come across some of the biggest names in the industry in researching this, such as Drake. Although his appearance seems to be dapper, and stylish and his clothes smart, I found that, for instance, for his album covers's, he does not necessarily what he is wearing that tells us he is in that industry, I found it was more the poses and the facial expressions being pulled more then anything, the expressions in the photos, were more seductive and innocent almost calling for affection more than anything. However, not all the photos i found displayed this, there were some photos that looked they wound into the hip hop genre, this isn't a surprise, as the artists normally associated with the R&B genre, are also associated with the hip hop genre also.  Therefore, from this little investigation, I found that for my image, I will not necessarily need to have my "actor"wearing smart clothes, it will more dependent on the faces that will be expressed when taking the photos.

Double Page Spread Plan

In class today, we were asked to create a basic layout for our article which will feature in our music magazines. I used a program call In Design CS3, which is a program which allows you to manipulate a lot of things from the colour of the text, to the way in which it is displayed. I used the shape tall to show the basic layout of where things will be, in example, the image. I will attempt to re-create this design when doing the double page spread, in more detail.

Market Research

Today in class, we were asked to create a questionnaire, asking people music magazine based questions, both open question, which means it is free for interpretation and closed questions, which means it's either a yes or no answer, for instance the most common general question, is what gender are you? Although this question seems unimportant, for my magazine it will be vital for me to know my target audience, as i will need to incorporate things into the magazine, that will talk to this audience/type of gender. In doing this market research,  have found it is vital for me as well other media based company's to research into the market, as for anyone to be successful in the industry, you need to know the market and its current  situation, and what type of things are in fashion, and what speaks to them and interests.

Psychographics Of My Magazine

In class today, we looked at the different psychographic segmentations within a society. We found that there are seven main aspects that intertwine to create a person. The segmentation that someone falls mainly under, is the type of person they are. These seven aspects that media based company's use to target a certain type of person, all differ however, they can be associated with how someone is feeling at a certain point in life. For instance,  there may be a point in someone's life , say after university, some one will want to take a gap year, this may be a realization, an enlightenment that they want to explore the world making them fall under the psychographic of the Explorer. I think the main groups that i will be aiming to address will be innovators, these are the kind of people that are looking for new things and will be more likely to buy a new product on the shelves. I would also be aiming my magazine at main streamers: I think these people would buy the magazine because they are the type of the people who like to live for the day and concentrate on routine and domestic activities.

Cultivation Theory And The Adorno Theory

The cultivation theory, is the idea that the image on the front of the magazine opposes a stereotype.therefore attempting to change the stereotype over time. For my magazine, I used an image of someone from a different ethnic background to the stereotypical image of the R&B which is that of a mixed race or black person being the only ethnicity involved and good at that genre of music and showed them in a positive light, by using a person of different ethnicity I going with the cultivation theory and challenging the stereotype.

The Adorno Theory states that with media magazine, its only aim is to entertain and that is all. However,I believe this theory is completely wrong, although when making a magazine you hope it is entertaining for someone to want to read and buy, but the is not the only gratification that is offered and explored by a magazine. For instance,when a magazine is telling you about what is going on in someones life via a article or news update, you are offering the reader the surveillance,which basically offers insight in to the lives of a celebrity. Another way of gratifying the audience, is through personal identity, which gives the reader the ability to compare ones own life to the subjects in the magazine, it also gratify's the reader by allowing them to talk about what the subjects doing and allow them to talk in groups about the subject in the publication.

Use of Language In Music Press

Today in class, we were asked to use our advanced knowledge on the language that is used within the music press. We were asked to take a look at sort of language conventions that are included in the articles we were given, I took a close look at an article about the singer Ray J, that is known in the industry of R&B, for both is talent but his personal life also.

The overall language in the article is rather informal, and this is to gratify the reader through using the sort of language they use everyday, this is a form of personal identity. An example of many in the article is " nah, Im just playing" the article offers and insight into his life, and the chance to hear what he has to say about his closely followed personal life. This gives an extra-dimension to the reader giving them the opportunity to get a further understanding of the man himself, giving them a form of surveillance, "well, we hung out a lot" offers an insight into his life that many may not have known about him.

This article is clearly aimed at the audience of young girls who have an interest in the industry R&B, this article gives them a chance to diverse and come away from the troubles in their life, it also allows them personally identify with them, as he mentions in the article " I like older women because they know what they want" this may give some women of the older generation who are interested in him, the hope of being with him.

Evaluating Blogs

In class today we were asked to evaluate other peoples blogs, to get a further understanding of the conventions involved in creating a blog, and understanding what goes into it and what sort of things we should be looking to incorporate into our own blogs. After looking at some peoples blogs, I have concluded that a good blog will include a clear layout that will allow the reader to clearly read the post without difficulty, clear easy to read font that corresponds with the background colour of the post itself. It will also need to include a well thought out theme that will correspond both with the overall mood to your blog another factors such as font colour.

I also took closer inspection in to the blog of http://petesmediablog.blogspot.com/. I found that his blog had a very clear and easy to navigate blog that, some one with minimal skills in using computers could easily use, this was down to the sidebars not being visible, and being located at the top of the blog under a drop down menu, which in turn just made the whole overall layout look a lot tidier.

Music Magazine Mastheads

Today in class I used www.dafont.com to download fonts to manipulate fonts and test out which will be best for my music magazine.

Audience Segmentation

Media producers use three different strategies in splitting up the market into separate groups. They split these groups into specific groups, which enables the producers to then clearly identify the audience they are targeting with there media product. 


One method is the NRS system, which grades people based on the amount of money they are making (income). This then lets the producers know,, if they are targeting an audience that doesn't have a large income to price the magazine lower.

The next system used by producers to class their consumer base is the ACORN system, which groups consumers on where they are living and the standards they are living in also. This enables the producers to get a broader overview of their target audience.

      Self actualisers                Focused on people and relationships, individualistic and creative,
                                                enthusiastically exploring change, 'in a framework of non-prescriptive
                                                 consideration for others'.
      Innovators                       Self-confident risk-takers, seeking new and different things, setting
                                                 their own targets to achieve.
      Esteem seekers                Acquisitive and materialistic, aspiring to what they see are symbols of
                                                 success, including things and experiences.
      Strivers                              Attach importance to image and status, as a means of enabling
                                                  acceptance by their peer group, at the same time holding onto
                                                  traditional values.
      Contented conformers    Want to be 'normal', so follow the herd, accepting of their
                                                  circumstances, they are contented and comfortable in the security of their own making.
      Traditionalists                   Risk averse, guided by traditional behaviours and values, quiet and
                                                  reserved, hanging back and blending in with the crowd.
      Disconnected                   Detached and resentful, embittered and apathetic, tending to live in
                                                 the 'ever-present now'.


The third and final system of segmentation is a values system, which is a system which highlights a persons moral and values and split them into seven different social value groups. This will then enable the producers to know what and not to put into the magazine based on what their audiences values are.


My magazine is aimed at teenagers aged between 12-18, both male and female therefore I will have already identified my target audience. However, I need to take into account the other system. Through research I have discovered and decided that the social values of the students are mainly 'contented conformers' and 'traditionalists'. The students are also likely to be of the mid grading in the NRS system, so therefore C1-2 and B. To appeal to the students I will be looking to replicate how they see themselves and there backgrounds that will likely allow the to form a personal identity with the 'main image' and other articles within the magazine.

Evaluation of Music Press Front Page

Magazine analysis

View more Presentations from Dominic Callinan.

This is my analysis of Front pages of two different magazines with reference to uses and gratifications.

Template Change

Today while customizing my template, I found a website where I could download templates that have been created by other people. I downloaded a template called mymusic of the website http://btemplates.com/

Just Thought I'd let you know!

Photo Manipulation

In class, I took a photo for the front of my magazine, i then noticed the contrast and sharpness of the photo could be tweaked a little to improve the photo.

Preliminary Task: Front Cover And Contents

Preliminary Task: Cover and Contents Analysis

Front cover analysis

View more presentations from Da_Bhoy.

Advertising In Magazines And Their Uses And Gratifications And Tabulation Of My Results

In class I contextually analysed two different genres of magazines. I took a look at two magazines that I believed would be aimed at similar target audiences and compared their layouts and how they appealed to that specific target audience. I produced two pie charts for the magazines comparing the ¼, ½ and full page advertisement sections in both the magazines and the amount of features. I think the 'top of the pops' magazine is intended for a young female audience between the ages of 10-15. I think this because of the advertisements that were included within the magazine, they involved adverts like 'always' and 'tampax'. I found that the ‘Top Of The Pops’ magazine included many more adverts than the other magazine I analysed which was 'black beats', this magazine included less adverts and I think it was down to the fact the magazine is aimed at a more mature audience but that of a similar gender to the other magazine and around the same age group, however the adverts were mainly based on beauty products, i think this is appropriate and gratifying to the target audience as the target audience (girls) at the targeted age group, are starting to become more aware of their appearance and will be more subject to taking notice of these ads and more susceptible to purchasing these products in order to gratify their wants and needs. Both magazines offer to their audiences a form of escape from the real world (diversion), they do this by offering an insight into the latest products out, this will then allow them to feel they are away from lifes stresses and problems while reading and viewing these advertisements. The magazines also advertise by using celebrity's to advertise the product, for instance they will have a "Jennifer Lopez" ad, advertising her own perfume, this therefore is fulfilling the active use of surveillance, as it offers an insight into what "Jennifer Lopez " is doing at the moment and also allows them a form of personal identity as this may influence the reader to aspire to be like her and purchase her perfume to smell like how she would therefore allowing the the abilty to compare and put themselves in her shoes. This, will then influence other personal uses for the reader, as they will then go converse with others about this new product out with peers. In completing this task, I now understand  the codes and conventions employed by the magazine in order to communicate with their target audience.

Mast Head Research

We have been asked to research into the mastheads of music magazines of different genres and audiences. I have commented on what different types of fonts and font colour they have chosen to use and the sort of effect used if any and finally why they may have chose to use these style, i.e to reflect the genre of music they're writing about. In Doing this task, I have now grasped and further developed my understanding of different music magazines and the effects they use to communicate with their target audience.

Preliminary Cover Plan

Today In class, along with my fellow classmates we developed a layout for the front cover of my school magazine, this is complete with full annotations about the the conventions of a magazine cover. This was vital in furthering my understanding of the conventions of the magazine and why the conventions are where they are and why they are used.

Experimenting Using Dafont.com

Here I have downloaded and installed different typefaces from Dafont, this is a website designed to offer different typefaces that can be installed onto your MAC/PC for your use. I have used experimented with six different, yet similar styles of font. I have attempted to use the same similar style from dafont to enable myself to clearly aim my magazine at my audience which is that of school children aged between 12-18. I have opted to use the font at the top, i have chosen to use this font as, I feel the different options on Photoshop, that allow you to customize the outer shadow, inner, bevel and other features have had a great effect on this type of font, and i believe show the best results. In using Photoshop to try determine a font, I have learnt basic skills that will I believe will benefit me over the course, as this course requires use of Photoshop, to bring out the best in your magazines and blog.

Magazine Analysis

In class we have been asked to highlight all the conventions on a magazine cover, here i have demonstrated an understanding of what makes up a magazine cover and labelled them, this labeling is of a music magazine Called NME. The NME magazine cover uses all the conventions of a successful magazine, a clear masthead, cover stories and other conventions. The magazine is aimed at the audience of rock, which is a universal genre of music that is listened to by various generations, both male and female. I can tell it is of this genre, due to the colour scheme used, that of red and black, red being the angry, loud and rebellious side of rock and black being the darkness behind some rock music. This colour scheme can be clearly noted all over the cover and within the magazine itself, this is to maintain the overall feeling of the genre. They may also use the contrasting colours of black and red, as these colour draw the attention to the centre point of the magazine the main image which is usually that of the main story in the magazine, which in being witnessed may influence the person in purchasing the magazine. The way the magazine addresses it's audience is that of a formal and informative voice that is used to get across to its audience what is happening in the industry, which offers the reader a form of diversion and surveillance, in offering them a way out of everyday pressure and an insight into other people's life. It also allows them to form a personal use to the magazine, it gives them the opportunity to talk with eers about what is going on in say "Jessie J's" career at the moment. It may also allow them to compare what going on in their lives at the moment with what is going on in another individual's life. Overall, from this task I am able to gain the understanding of what goes into the production of the magazine, and why everything that is included on the cover is included. 

Introduction to AS Media

Hey, I'm Dominic Callinan; I'm 16 years of age and currently studying AS Media Studies at Acland Burghley School in London in Sixth Form. I have many interests that range from a variety of things such as, football (along with many other sports), current events and various other things that each will be recognised through my blogging over time through what sort of things I read and research into.

As I mentioned above I am currently studying and being educated at a AS level in Media Studies. I have therefore been asked to create this blog in relation to what I am doing in lesson, which is to provide evidence of the making and development of my AS Music Magazine, and to generally just vent personal thoughts, which will be updated regularly. My AS Music Magazine will be targeted at an audience of 16-19 year old's, however, the magazine may appeal to those of a more mature audience and even a more older generation still struggling to escape the the deadly grips of RnB! The magazine will consist of various double page spreads, along with singular spreads and a contents(double) and front cover page.


I have taken some time to take a look at some blogs to get an idea of what sort of things I should be looking to re-conjure. The Everywhereist I found to be rather helpful in giving me an idea of what a successful and interesting blog should like. I found this to be very interesting as this person travels across America(hence the name) and photographs various sights and then uploads them to her blog as JPG's and then writes a brief description of what and where she is. I found this to be a eye opener to what sort of standard of effort i should be putting into my blog, which is an update everyday, I have also developed an interest in the blog, and may have a look at what crazy things and places she has visited!

Thanks for Taking a Look!