New statement of Intent

Product 1:

My magazine is called ‘CANVAS’ and targets a culturally sophisticated, 16–25 class AB target audience. One of my entertainment magazines will depict a low angled, long-shot of a young woman with a guitar, representing my theme of music. She will be labelled as a new upcoming pop singer/musician, as this is the most popular genre of this generation. The magazine will promote her new song, 'If I had you', which is about a homosexual relationship, representing the LGBTQ community. Furthermore, this will also be mirrored through my intertextuality of Hattie Stewart. Hattie Stewart is a self-proclaimed 'professional doodler' with a unique and playful illustration style that extends itself through the worlds of advertising, art, and fashion. She draws over the covers of influential publications such as Interview, Vogue and I:D. I, therefore, intend to create a similar style onto my original photograph with colorful, bold shapes, imitating a flag, to represent the pride attribute of the LGBTQ community but to also reflect the 'pop' genre, displaying a fun, quirky and eye-catching front cover. Due to this daring experimentation, the model will be dressed in quite dark, simple clothing amid a plain background. Exposing amicable, confident body language and direct mode of address, – allowing the audience to connect with the singer – the girl will be placed in the center of the magazine, highlighting her importance and her soon to be star power, acting as an ambassador for my magazine.

For the second edition, I want to portray a young woman, who differs ethnically and in age, as a ‘returning actress’, promoting their new action film, appealing both genders due to the male-dominated genre and the portrayal of a woman on the front cover. The colour theme of this magazine will preferably be white, pink and orange text, with red clothing and dark background, The blurred, creative and mystical background I will create will support the typical convention of an action magazine, as well as the three contrasting colour of the text. The clothing for this edition will also have a sophisticated appeal, almost connoting ideas of a ‘red carpet’ ensemble and will further reflect the title of the newly released film: 'The Girl in RED'. The makeup will ideally be richer and more compelling, complementing the selected clothing and complementing the background and text. The lighting will also differ from the first edition; I desire the lighting to be darker and rather intense as the movie orientated magazines, such as Empire, choose serious, harsh lighting, almost acting as a spotlight, whereas the first edition will be warm, subtle and light.

Representing strong, powerful females in both magazines dispute the typical stereotypes of women in this society, highlighting the togetherness of ‘womankind’. This reinforced representation of strong women will attract my target audience as they are the age category who are oppressed the most in terms of gender and racial discrimination, and will, therefore, enjoy reading about the female successes. A

Product 2:

In terms of structure, for my website, I will use inspiration from the Empire and Entertainment online editions. Linking to the colour scheme and layout of my contents page and front cover, my website will mostly consist of the colour red and shades of black and white, with some contrasting bursts of colour from the images. The masthead will appear on the left-hand side, as this is a typical website convention and my links will be placed underneath: Home, TV, Movies, Music, Art, Theatre, Podcasts and Celebrities. These will be divided with the sub-headings 'latest news', 'featured stories', 'reviews', 'recaps', 'what's new' and 'what to watch'. Additionally, the website will also show unique features of 'Canvas Collabs' and 'Canvas Concerts', showing uniqueness and creativity. The highlight-hande will consist of the search bar, the profile login, links to social media and a subscription button. The continuous colour scheme and repetition of my Logo show synergy and convergence between my magazines, website, and social media platforms. My website will further include diverse ethnicities, ages, genders, and sexualities, as well as comprising an equal distribution of interests for both male and female, and will continue to present a sophisticated exterior to attract my AB target audience especially through the language and clothing. The company that produces Canvas is Hearst who has announced an innovative social impact initiative to inspire change and give back to causes that matter most to its brand and readers. This is why I will include diverse representations of class, age, gender, sexuality, race, etc in my magazine and website, as well as containing chances to win prizes, for example, to give back to those who matter most. 

How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? 

To show convergence, both my website and print will contain the same masthead font, showing the brand's identity and logo. Canvas will also have a theme of collages that will run throughout the website and both contents pages. Additionally, my website will include written articles that will be featured in the magazine's contents pages, as well as the images, which will also be featured on the social media platforms. Furthermore, within the front covers and website, there will be a continuity of colours, typography and layout in the contents pages. For example, the Hattie Stewart doodles on the front cover will also appear inside, as well as the circled shapes in the background on the second edition. On the front covers, I will use a similar structure, using the same fonts, mastheads, labelling of tabs and featuring the same puffs, for example, 'The music guide'. In a similar way, the contents pages will also have the same layout, with a collage, images on the left-hand side, articles numbered and labelled etc.