For my Magazine from cover, I am going to use a picture (of my own) of a female statue and adjust it to make it look cartoon like as if it is from Ancient Rome as it’s where the game is based, this means that it is an indexical sign because there is a link to Rome but not a direct or obvious representation. It will be the main focus/focal point of the magazine as it will be the main statue of the arena in the game. This is also why I have decided to include an emerging background of the Rome Colosseum. This can be considered an iconic sign because it directly links to Rome and this why the game title is “THE COLOSSEUM OF GAMES!”.

The game title links to the magazine’s name as it is called “GAMING CIRCUS”, meaning that circus which is a form of entertainment would be held in giant stadiums like the Colosseum. I included a Moto being “The New Is Out And The Old Is In” it means that “classic games” and games based in “the past” have become more popular with teens within the recent years, hence why I wrote “A Game TEENS will LOVE”. I will write “TEENS” and “LOVE” in capitals to draw attention to the target audience which is teenagers and that they should really enjoy the project. This is why I included a ‘Pan European Game Information’ (PEGI) rating of 12 so that the customers and the receivers of the text will know that the game has slight violence and that it isn’t realistic and why it’s suitable for teenagers. On the bottom of the Magazine there is writing that says “Featuring HD 3d Models” letting the buyers of the magazine know that the game will have 3d models of a high quality which has become really popular in the gaming industry. To the right of the writing, in a separate section, there will be 3d models which will be the main character(s) in the game. I also included a price of the magazine as a white circular sticker with writing in the middle as it helps someones attention be directed to it. I also included a sticker that indicates that there will be collectible stickers throughout the magazine which customers of real magazines sometimes par-take in for fun, this can encourage people to buy that magazine again in the future so the company will make money, become popular and be well remembered .

I want the games main character to be chosen by the player which is why there is one male and one female character. This goes against the dominant ideology of women having power which will help to attract female gamer’s and get as many players as possible in general. This shows that the game will be a radical text because it goes against what society view a woman as which would be damsel in distress and on standby however, in the game the female protagonist will be a ravenous, blood thirsty warrior who enjoys fighting. The game will also be able to be seen as a reactionary text because the male protagonist will also be a ravenous, blood thirsty warrior which in the gaming industry is a very popular character trope. An example of this would be Kratos from “The God of War” games. Both characters will not be over sexualised but will have big muscles which is expected from warriors

The Typeface of the informative pieces of writing and game title is copper black, which is serif as it has decoration, which is mostly in black writing as it’s easy to read for most customers. This doesn’t include the Price tag or the Sticker information, they are blue writing with a standard sans-serif font which means without decoration. This is because they aren’t as important and don’t need as much attention as the other parts of writing, it’s also why they are smaller. The writing that stands out the most is the title of the gaming magazine “GAMING CIRCUS”. It is a serif typeface as it has decoration which draws attention to it and the text receiver should remember it easily. It’s also grey writing which contrasts with the background which is a dark green with an opacity of 80.

I included borders on the front cover to separate certain aspects from each other, a border to separate the header from the body and a body to separate the footer which is separated into three sections which all have a purpose. This also helps to keep it neat and look professional.

The colour scheme of the magazine is very brown and gold with other little colours that stand out. This is to give it an old roman like vibe. The background of the magazine is gravel which adds to the roman like aesthetic of gravel walkways and paths.

Statement of Intent
The choice of red as one of my main colours on the front cover was intended as a symbolic sign to represent danger and emphasise the sense of horror in the game ‘Psycho’. I also chose to make my main character (front cover image) red to increase a sense of fear in the reader. The yellow text contrasts against the red of the character and background so stands out. The red and yellow colour scheme is not associated with a single gender therefore making my magazine unisex. My target audience, therefore, is anyone aged between 15 and 25who would be interested in horror and dark games. This game would not be suitable for younger children. I used the Dollar signs as an indexical sign to signify money which would be appealing to this audience as they are young and probably don’t have as much money to spend on smaller / luxury items such as vouchers compared to older individuals. The word ‘FREE’ is in the same colour as the dollar signs to make it stand out and having ‘FREE’ and ‘$$$’ close together makes the reader subconsciously think about free money. I would maintain an iconic style with all of my front covers and make it aesthetically pleasing over multiple issues so that it becomes a magazine that readers would want to collect which would appeal to the audience, as gamers often enjoy collecting random gaming related items. This is because gaming has become a lifestyle for many as well as a hobby and I would want my magazine to be a part of that lifestyle.My title ‘DR GAMING’ has a catchy style to it and the DR also stands for Digital Reality which is a memorable tag to accompany the title of the magazine. I used a mixture of gaming related terminology and code to appeal to my audience. The effect of a large title that stands out in the top third of the magazine cover is to attract readers as this is all they would see if the magazine was in a rack at a shop. The main image appears behind some text and in front of the title to give it a 3D effect and stand out to the reader.
 

The target audience for my magazine is targeted at 13-15 years old’s who have a strong interest in gaming. They would also be in education and wouldn’t work but the parents would be middle class. The point of my magazine is to provide escapism and enjoyment for its readers, the goal is for them to want read and learn more about here favorite games.

I researched into what gaming covers look like, what games are enjoyed and the most popular types. I used a gaming cover to base my cover from by being inspired by there layout and how they had presented it to give it an overall fun look.

I decided to do my magazine on reviewing the most popular gaming icons and rating them, this would be done by a made up YouTube star. This would be a reactionary sign due to it being very common for male video gamers to bring out magazines. I used many popular gaming icons which I made on 8 bit art which captures an. audience due to there popularity. I used a black background to make the characters stand out against the dark background. I used a plugs to show the context and to make it more appealing.

Overall i think i did a good job at creating a interesting magazine cover which attracts attention and serves the purpose of providing people with the choice to escape reality.

Representation My magazine cover follows dominate ideology (reactionary) because the reviewer of the games is a male which is common for gaming magazines. My front cover is also mainly about popular game characters which is again common game idea and often used, this makes it an iconic sign as it is so recognizable.

Audience theory My audience would interpret my magazine as dominant reading as there interested in gaming, other people may view it as oppositional or negotiated but the people how buy it will enjoy gaming so they will like it.

Statement of Intent

Working Title= “High Score”

Target Audience= My magazine is targeted for girls between 13-20 years old for all levels of gaming. I chose to focus this magazine for girls because most gaming magazines are stereotypically aimed at boys and I wanted a magazine just based on girls. I chose this age range because it is quite a big scale from early teenagers to going into early adults so more people can buy it and the content can be more widespread.

Niche Interest context= My intention for this magazine was to not only to focus it on girls but to have a widespread of gaming content such as competitions and exclusive interviews for example. I put a girl playing a video game as my main image on my front cover to make her the main focus of the magazine, by doing this is allows the readers (girls) to feel more included in this type of media. I used colours such as pink to draw girls in and used black and white to make the text stand out.

Why is this a variable magazine title?= This is my title because it symbolizes that by reading this magazine it will guarantee the readers to achieve the best score and results. It gives the readers confidence by reading the title that they can do this. I made the master head big and bold by using a standing out text and using the colours black and white.

Proposed use of language= My front cover and my magazine will include informal language and codes to support the age group of 13-20 years old. By doing this it matches the generation and the readers can relate more to the text. But I will include some formal language to make it look more professional.

Proposed representation form for the audience= I aim to present my magazine to girls aged 13-20 years old. This magazine is for all classes and races so there is no stereotype for girls who can buy it, upper or lower class, it doesn’t matter. I made it for all girls to brauch out the interest of it because it is stereotypically for boys but by having a girls gaming magazine it allows girls to feel more excepted.

Where will I get my content from?= I know quite a few girls who like to game, so I can take photos of them for my magazine just like the girl on the front of my magazine. By doing this it gives the readers examples of people who like to game. All my content I include will be original and all my own.

Media Statement of Intent

To start creating my media front cover, I researched some magazine where I could get inspiration from and get an idea for my own front cover. I managed to gather a couple magazine front covers, and I choose one to use as an interpretation, which is this one shown here.

I have called it art of gaming as my magazine front cover is about the creation of gaming, which shows behind the scenes of how to create gaming characters. It is based around the theme horror, so, I would say my audience is mainly for people who like horror and scary gaming magazines.

Firstly, I gathered some of my drawings I used from my previous magazine cover, so I could add them into this current one. I made sure I had at least four images for my front cover.

To start with, I opened up Photoshop and started creating my title and masthead. I used the colours red and black as I feel that these colour create a dark, cold and eerie atmosphere, as the colour black is associated with power, fear and mystery. It can also be associated with authority, I have chosen this colour as I feel that my magazine front cover could have authority over other magazine covers that are seen as competitors. As the colour red is associated with fire, blood and strength, I feel that it’s a good colour theme to use for this specific gaming magazine cover, as it is based around the theme horror.

Next, I added my background photo, which is the girl holding the mask. I have chosen to do this as I feel like it brings attention to my cover, is it looks quite sinister and spooky.to make it more sinister looking, I photoshoped the face, by simply adding contour to darken areas of the face. I also photoshopped the eyes black, as it thought it finished the look. From my research, I saw I magazine cover which really intrigued me, so it inspired me to add a mask in with the photoshoot. (I made this mask using cling film and cello tape.( This item made my front cover stand out more as it looks creepy and gives more of sinister atmosphere.

At the bottom of my front cover, I added in plugs, to show what was inside the magazine. I set out three images, which I have hand drawn myself. I decided to hand draw these, as I feel it gives my creation and imagination to the whole aspect of the front cover. Furthermore, as my magazine is about the art of gaming, I feel like drawing my images was a good idea. I have drawn two menacing pictures, which will be showing how to create scaring characters from drawings, and the other image of a person, which will be showing how to create gaming characters from drawing people. Before putting these photos on to my magazine, I edited them in Photoshop to make them more eye catching and outstanding. For example, for the middle image in the plug section, I added more tints of black, and contoured around the drawing similar to how I edited my main image.

I have added some text, for example, “new and exclusive”. I have added this to intrigue customers into buying my magazine as it is one of my selling lines. Another selling line I have added is “limited edition”. This is a good idea to put into my cover as it shows that it’s a special magazine.

The reason I have chosen the price to be £3.99, is because that is the average selling price of a magazine. Also, I didn’t want it to be too expensive as I didn’t want people not to afford it. Furthermore, my audience isn’t specifically for young children, due to the sinister and menacing games theme, so there’s I didn’t want to lower the price, as my target audience is for older people who like horror, and they are more likely to afford it then a child.

REPRESENTATION: I would say that my front cover is radical and reactionary. Firstly, i think its radical as i believe that it is a unique gaming magazine, as it doesn’t advertise actual games, it focuses on the art of games, and how they are made. So, people are intrigues by the concept of not actually being games, but the actual art and creativity within it. On the other hand i think its reactionary because it supports the dominant ideology of the theme horror, due to the creepy features I have involved, such as the mask. In my opinion, I think that girls are always seen as the dominant figure in horror movies, however, in horror games, i feel that males are the dominant figures. So when people realize its a horror gamers front cover magazine, it turns from reactionary to radical.

AUDIENCE THEORY: George Gerbner theory of cultivation says that “Cultivation theory suggests that repeated exposure to television over time can subtly ‘cultivates’ viewers’ perceptions of reality.” In my magazine cover, i feel that my message to society/customers/people is that games have a very creative world of art, and that it need to be appreciated more.

following the concept of art of gaming, I believe that my intended message, which is that people need to perceive and value gaming more as art and creativity, not just playing a game for entertaining, i feel that my dominant audience would be mainly people who has an interest in art and people who have a very creative personality.