NEA: Research of Hello! Magazine Front Cover

"HELLO!" Magazine 

Hello! Magazine is a British (with Spanish origin - "!Hola!) magazine that mainly covers stories and gossip about the royal family and celebrities that are well known in Britain - even Hollywood celebrities. However, while it covers the real-life stories of celebrities and the royal family, there doesn't seem to be any stories covered about ordinary people who aren't celebrities. The "Hello!" Magazine doesn't cover common current affairs or common experiences of lower class people.

The front cover of the Hello! magazine above composes of up to seven images - all of which show what the main stories they will cover will be. The cover itself looks 'crowded' - indicating that there is a lot to read about in the magazine, however, the cover is also highly orientated around the Royal family.

MASTHEAD

The masthead of the magazine stands out from the rest of the magazine cover because it is a bright red box with bold, white, serif font text in capital letters. The exclamation mark "HELLO!" works well with the chosen colours as it almost 'calls out' to its readership as if greeting them and drawing their attention to the magazine itself. The colour scheme, although it shows that the brand follows the royal family and is 'loyal' to England, it is unfortunately used for almost every magazine cover and brand. In a sense, it is old-fashioned meaning that I would rather use a different colour scheme to make my magazine more modern, unique and interesting. As a way of doing this, I would like to use a different colour palette. As part of my research for creating my own magazine product, I searched for a "colour palette generator" in Google and found the website 'Coolors - The super fast color schemes generator!' This website enables people to create their own colour palette and has even been used by big media companies such as Disney, Dreamworks, Microsoft etc.

The masthead above also includes the issue number, the release date and the cost of the magazine itself "Number 1684", "3 May 2021" and "£2.75". It appears to be a rather compact design that provides all the information that their readers need in regards to the magazine itself. However, the black text doesn't seem to stand out as much against the red box as the "HELLO!" does. Because I have now taken this factor into consideration, I would like to ensure that the colour palette I use is not only unique, but also easy to read and easy for the eyes to look at with very little strain.

TEXT

The text on the front cover of the magazine summarises the main stories that are going to be featured within the magazine, however, the white text in front of the main image of Prince Louis is similar to the text of the masthead - this suggests to me that this is the main story that they are going to cover and that will have the most detail. However, because it overlays a rather light background, it is a little difficult to read.

The enlarging of the text "KATE'S ROYAL MILESTONES" emphasizes that the story is actually about her and her thoughts however, they obviously include Prince Louis and her husband Prince William. Although the phrase "...given her a reason to smile" indicates that there may have been some negativity involved in her life and creates a sense of drama to the story. It compels readers to support her by reading the magazine and sympathizing with her.

                               

The text also links to the royal colours of the United Kingdom - allying the magazine brand with their customers.

EXTRA

The "EXCLUSIVE BUMPER ISSUE" box suggests on the front cover, that the magazine will include special stories through the adjective "Exclusive" - this is what is known as a call-to-action because it compels people to but the magazine to read the the "exclusive" stories included.

The images here highlight that the magazine remains up-to-date as it covers recent events that involve the royal family, such as the recent passing of Prince Philip. The white text again links to the masthead and the use of the word "untold" makes the story more interesting and compelling to read as their readers want to become more connected with the royal family and their loss.

NEA: Initial Thoughts to Briefs 3 and 4

 Brief 3: Magazines and Online Website

Brief 3 requires me to produce a real-life story 'magazine' product with two editions - each including one front cover and the contents page(s); launched by Bauer. I also need to create two pages for a working website that promotes the 'magazine' product. The targeted demographic for this product is a younger audience between the ages 16 to 25 year olds.

My initial thoughts for this brief were the basic conventions such as a masthead and logo - one of my main ideas for this is "More Modern". The reason for this is because Magazine products are outdated and I also believe that the stories and the genres that they generally cover are also outdated and overused because the main reading audience, is usually middle-aged women. Instead of the cliché "He cheated on me!" or the "Top 10 knitting tips according to..." stories and articles; I would like to include more modern topics that will actually interest the targeted demographic. Therefore I believe the logo "More Modern" will highlight that there will be modern issues, topics, hobbies and even interests included in the product. I would also like to include more positive stories that are actually interesting, however, I will also probably include stories that cover issues within modern day society.

Another convention I need to consider is the actual company name and logo which at this point in time I do not have an idea as to what they will be. I will need to consider this as a I progress through making my 'magazine' product. 

I have already began to consider what stories I would cover and what topics I would include to appeal to the audience, these include: modern hobbies and interests (i.e., gaming (how it has increased due to current affairs and issues in the world), movies and art), different competitions within local areas and maybe even travel. Another topic I could include is how people are adjusting to current life due to Covid-19 and how they are beginning to recover from the backlash of the pandemic - this could be linked to the gaming topics as well as maybe include stories that include issues with social media apps such as Tik Toks (i.e., the increase in comments such as "Oh I wish  had Fibromyalgia/Tourette's Syndrome", or even faking they have these conditions) For these ideas I am obviously going to have to complete research and maybe even ask family members who I know suffer from these conditions - have them act as interviewee models for my product.

For Brief 3 I also need to consider models and skills that I require to take photographs and edit them using AdobePhotoshop and AdobeInDesign. I will most likely ask friends and family if they would be comfortable in being my models for the photographs and would be willing to travel to different places for the 'travel aspect' of the magazine. Some of these places may be Leeds, Cleethorpes or even more local areas such as Hull, Nottingham Hall etc. I need to use different images from the 'magazine' product to the website meaning I should take extra photographs instead of just 3 or 4. 

Brief 4: Music Video and Online Website

Brief 4 requires me to create a 3 minute music video for a love song that doesn't already have an official video to it; and an online website associated with that music video/artist. 

Unlike Brief 3, there isn't exactly room for creativity and there isn't a gap in the market in regards to music videos. This is because I think that music videos - especially for love songs are so over done with the same sort of cliché depressing, cheesy or sexualised elements. The brief also doesn't leave any room for conceptualisation meaning the music video has to be more obvious and out there instead of symbolic.

 However, it would be an interesting difference to have an LGBTQ+ relationship portrayed in the video instead of the stereotypical and toxic representation of a heterosexual relationship. It would promote equality between all sexualities and make the music video more unique as well as targeting a wider audience range. I also think it would be better to portray a homosexual male relationship because unfortunately there isn't as much representations of gay men - it isn't as accepted or received positively as the representation of lesbian couples. One example is the most recent Cadbury advert for its 'Golden Goobilee' 50th anniversary because it was demanded to be taken down because a gay couple shared a crème egg in the same bite. If I am to do brief 4 I would like to combat these negative reactions that are more aimed towards gay couples.

For brief 4, I am also going to need to ensure that the actors/singer(s) included in the video are comfortable and happy with the high performance demand for the video and that they are able to attend each video shot. This means it would probably be better if I don't "create a band" because that may over complicate the filming process as there will most likely always be one person who can't attend. I would also have to constantly check the weather forecast to make sure that any scenery outside is perfect for the video and that lighting wouldn't affect the filming either. Finally I would also need to record the singer singing at a separate time from the video shoot and then edit it so that it overlays the music video because the music video would be received better with a more crisp audio track rather than a quiet and gravelly audio track (caused by distance and wind or movement).

In general I would need to practise and improve my filming and editing skills in regards to making the video meaning I would most likely need to spend a view weeks before the actual video shoot, practising these skills.

Unlike Brief 3, I am not required to use different images from the video shoot for the online website, however, i think the website would look more authentic and intriguing if I was to include some images or videos from a BTS (Behind The Scenes) shoot for the music video. These could include 'interviews' with the actors and the singer.

Conclusion

After thinking and looking over the two different briefs I have come to the conclusion that it would be better if I worked on Brief 3. The reasons why are that I can think of more creative and different ideas for it than I can for the music video. This is because there is a larger market gap and more room for including different topics/ideas than there are for a love music video.

 I am also not that confident in my technical skills in regards to editing videos and recording videos so I believe it would be less complex and stressful for me to work on my photography and picture editing skills, this would also mean that the magazine product would be better because I will have developed on my previous photography and editing skills instead of trying to focus on new skills I haven't tried before. I also believe that it is a lot easier to plan photoshoots or days to organise and complete the photoshoot to work on my magazine product

Finally I also find Brief 3 more interesting to try and attempt as there are so many techniques and perspectives that I could try out and include that could interest the targeted age dynamic instead of repeating what many artists and media designers have done in the past with the music video.