Resit: Final Contents Page

Resit: Final Front Cover

Question 7: Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

 

 

At the beginning of the year when I first did my preliminary task I had to create a front cover and contents page for a college magazine. It was very clear that i wasn't and expert at using photo even though I had used it before, but over time I learnt many useful tips and skills which have enabled me to produce final pieces for my music magazine. Personally I feel that I have learnt to use Photoshop in a more effective way for example if I was to use Photoshop now I would be able to know what tools to use and what tools to use and the outcome it will have on my work.

Furthermore as i progressed into making my music magazine i noticed that i had to produce a front cover,contents page and double page spread and i hadn't yet learnt how to because i only had to make a front cover and contents page for my preliminary task. So this was an opportunity for me to work on a different size canvas, in this case an A3 canvas.

By doing my preliminary task i learnt i had to conduct some research to find out what my target audience wanted and what i could do in order to attract them to read and buy my magazine ,but before hand i didn't know i had to do this because i didn't think it would have an effect on my magazine at the time.

Finally from doing my preliminary task i was able to use an extremely high quality camera (the canon E05 400D) and by using this camera I was capable of producing good high definition pictures to use for my magazine and also gain the knowledge of how cameras work for future references.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

My music magazine is aimed at a teenage audience from the ages of 16 - 23 whom have an interest in hip hop. The reason for this is because most of the cover lines and stories in this magazine are in relation to young people because the artist featured in this magazine are young themselves. I chose to target a young which about the same age as me because I will be able to relate to them more and I would have a better idea of what it is the want. However if i decide to target an audience aged 30 - 45 I would have less to say and very little idea of what it is that they wanted because I wouldn't be able to  relate to that audience as much, and people that age may be less interested in music.

The audience would also preferably be people that love to stay up to date with the lastet and people who generally like to enjoy life on a whole .

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product & why?

Condé Nast is a company that distribute magazines like vogue, glamour, house& garden and brides. None of these genres in is relation to music so I think that Condé Nast will benefit from distributing my magazine as it will bring something new to the company and widen their target audience. If they get a bigger target audience this means that they will be making more money resulting in  an increase in  their profit margin allowing the publishing house to invest in other parts of the company for example the marketing and advertising section of the company or to even distribute other magazines like mine. This would be due to the introduction of my music magazine.

Condé Nast is all about culture, fashion, travelling and home, my magazine is about music, fashion and different culture the reason for this is because I wanted it to be aimed at a younger audience as that is the audience which isn't mainly focused on. Hip hop has a culture and fashion off its own so I believe that this publishing house would be the best company to publish and distribute my music magazine.
Finally Condé Nast will not be in competition with any other publishing house as they would already behead with their sells because of the more brood audience they have. Therefore not having to worry about competing with the other companies.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The target audience which I was aiming to target was mostly teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 - 23 with an interest in  hip pop/grime. I decided not to narrow down my audience by just making my magazine for males or just for females so ma magazine is aimed at both males and females. As i was trying to represent a specific social group in my magazine I tried to do this by the colour scheme which I used which was black mustard yellow and purple originally i wanted to go for a black and yellow colour scheme but as I wanted to challenge the media conventions I took the purple which was the colour of the hoodie my model was wearing, in order for the colours to stand out more and be more interactive  Another way I represented the particular social group in my music magazine was by the sort of image I took, which was a mid shot. The non verbal communication of the model denotes a passion because he is giving the camera strong eye contact for example is the 'vibe' magazine below we see Eminem looking directly at the camera and by doing this it make the image powerful as well as the him.

Furthermore the costume also represents social groups in this case the model is wearing a denim jacket and a hoodie this is quite a masculine look. Artist like Chris Brown and Jay z current hip hop artist in the music industry follow. The costume is different but has an edgy feel to it, it connotes a more modern hip pop artist.

Resit: Final Double Page Spread

Q8. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your final product?

Front cover
Strengths:
"The image represents the genre of the magazine because the subject (artist) costume looks casual and also a prop(microphone) has been used and it relates to music. In addition it was easy for me to identify this"
"The colour scheme is different and very consistent in all the pieces"
"The sticker effect is really good. It must of taken ages to do."

Weaknesses:
"The WEEK is a little bit too big because it goes init the subjects neck."
"The date in the top right could of been more eye-catching or even bigger"
"It looks like there are too many fonts, but i noticed that there was only two fonts expressed in different ways."

Contents page
Strengths:
"I like they use of different images of the main subject."
"Good colour scheme"
"The way the different categories are set out shows that the layout is neat and clear."

Weaknesses:
"I think the contents page is the most weakest out of the three."
"One of the images are a little dark"

Double page spread
Strengths:
"Personally the double page spread was my favourite piece out of all the three piece. It is plain and simple and also has less things going on."
"I love the effect that is on the bottom right ,it bring the whole page together."
"The font/design of the quote at the top of the page is very eye-catching. "

Weaknesses:
"Towards the top left there is a bit of a space which could of been filled up"
"Some of the text is overlapping  the image."

Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

At the beginning of the year when I first did my preliminary task I had to create a front cover and contents page for a college magazine. It was very clear that i wasn't and expert at using photo even though I had used it before, but over time I learnt many useful tips and skills which have enabled me to produce final pieces for my music magazine. Personally I feel that I have learnt to use Photoshop in a more effective way for example if I was to use Photoshop now I would be able to know what tools to use and what tools to use and the outcome it will have on my work.

Furthermore as i progressed into making my music magazine i noticed that i had to produce a front cover,contents page and double page spread and i hadn't yet learnt how to because i only had to make a front cover and contents page for my preliminary task. So this was an opportunity for me to work on a different size canvas, in this case an A3 canvas.

By doing my preliminary task i learnt i had to conduct some research to find out what my target audience wanted and what i could do in order to attract them to read and buy my magazine ,but before hand i didn't know i had to do this because i didn't think it would have an effect on my magazine at the time.

Finally from doing my preliminary task i was able to use an extremely high quality camera (the canon E05 400D) and by using this camera I was capable of producing good high definition pictures to use for my magazine and also gain the knowledge of how cameras work for future references.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Whilst making my magazine I used a number of different technologies such as YouTube,Photoshop CS3 and CS5, Blogger, Canon camera E0S 400D, Bowens Gemini Esprit GM500 60cum soft box and a radio trigger. During the making of the music magazine I was able to learn many things about these technologies including how to use them effectively to create the magazine.

I used the same Canon E0S 400D camera to take the pictures for my preliminary task so I was more familiar with the camera therefore I was able to use it more faster and easier. I was able to produce more professional pictures because i knew what to do, for example by the subject standing in a particular place(at a reasonable distance away from the Bowens Gemini Esprit GM500 60cum soft box and a radio trigger ) it will allow the light to flash evenly across the subjects face, so there would not be any unwanted shadows. The pictures were taken in a studio on two plain backgrounds (black and grey). The background was kept simple so that i could work with different colours instead of sticking to the colours of the specific background.

Another technology that I used was YouTube this helped me to create the effect on my masthead and the quote on my double page spread. I followed a step by step video tutorial on a glass shattered effect. By using that tutorial i made the following effect.

I found it a little bit tricky to start with but after a few attempts I got the hang of it. I used YouTube alongside Photoshop CS3 and CS5; the reason for this was because whatever i learnt i had to apply on Photoshop. Using Photoshop wasn't too hard for me because i had used it before but not at such a high level. However Photoshop was a key feature in the making of my music magazine. I used a selection of tools such as Polygonal Lasso to crop out the parts of the letters which i wanted to move, to created the shattered glass effect but before that i had to rasterize the layer which i was working on.

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience in several different ways. On of the ways was by using the audience research I did which was just by asking a range of teenagers aged 15-19 questions related to music, existing music magazines, costs and this was done via Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger in order to see what it was they wanted. The first way i attracted my audience was by giving my magazine a fairly mixed look. The colours I used for my background and masthead were quite dull (grey, dark blue). However I made it standout by adding a splash of red and white text and strokes to captivate my target audience. To therefore have a vibrant magazine I added a fair amount of pictures and colours.

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

As mentioned before the audience which I was aiming at was more or less both male and female teenagers between the ages of 16-20 that would want the best of both worlds (British and American music).According to my audience research most people liked RnB or Hip Hop so I based my magazine on an RnB genre. I didn’t choose too much of a wide audience because it would have been too much of a mixture and different opinions to work with. The audience I targeted was more of a young audience because there are many existing magazines that are targeted to more of an older or extremely younger (11 under) audience or that are full of American gossip/lifestyle. So I wanted a more niche audience that will enjoy a combination of British and American music and gossip.

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that IPC Media would be the best publishing company to publish my magazine because it is something which they do not already fully have. IPC also publish NME but it is a magazine that will appeal to people that enjoy rock. If my magazine was to be published by IPC it will bring them a whole new audience because the audience they have now are both male and females between the ages of 30 and 70. My magazine will benefit them because them because it will bring them financial success because it is a new product. IPC are currently publishing magazines like TV easy, Homes and gardens, Cycling weekly, these magazines mostly talk about everyday life some about fashion some about country life and so on. On the other hand my magazine will target a much younger audience aged 16-19. Plus by publishing my magazine IPC will have a much more diverse company because my magazine is the only genre that is missing from the company.

Secondly, publishing ‘ULTIMATE MOTIVE’ would increase the profit that IPC is making because they wouldn’t have any competition. It will also increase their reputation.

The best place to distribute my music magazine would be in a well known retail store for example WHS and corner shops the reason for this is because most young people go to the corner shops to buy their essentials and normally magazines are the first thing you see when you enter a corner shop. WHS is a store that will be easy to access because it is a store with many franchises and the UK.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents a particular social group by the type of clothing and props that were used. The clothing was something quite plain and simple;a black jumper with some text on it, this connotes a little bit of power and an interest in money seeing as the jumper says "Money Talks". Some male R&B artist don't like to reveal a lot so they wear dull colours such as grey,black blue and this is what i have incorporated into my music magazine in order to represent a particular social group. In this case the subject that is on the front cover represents more of an R&B/Grime type of group. The print that is on the jumper shows that money talks and in this type of music genre money is used to show off and is one of the main features. The jewellery was just neck beads which gave the clothing a culture theme to it and finally the earing stood out well with the neck beads because they were both white.

In the front cover facial expression connotes a sense of seriousness, the subject is also giving the camera direct eye contact and this is something which R&B artist tend to do because they do not want to give too much away.

There was only one prop and it was a microphone, the reason for using it was so that the audience can also get involved and express how they feel. Many teenagers express how they through writing songs, singing, rapping or many other ways so including a microphone allows them to open up freely so what they have to say can be heard by all. Once I had all my ideas together I did use some ideas from an existing magazine (as shown above) because it was the same genre that my target audience enjoyed and so I thought it will relate to them as well as represent them.

Q1. In what ways does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

To start of with I went through several different magazines to see what I had to include in order to make my magazine look as professional as an existing magazine. So to therefore produce a music magazine that looked professional I followed conventions of a real magazines. The first thing I did was give my product an eye-catching masthead that would be one of the main focuses and this was put at the top of the magazine. Font wise I created my own font I didn't download a font so that my work would be more original. I also added an outer glow for it to stand out from the other text on the page. The masthead was also placed behind the subjects head so that it would look a little different and exciting.

My magazine also has barcode which is an important factor at a magazine it also has a dateline which is an important factor of a magazine. It also has a dateline which is under the masthead ,I put it there because i wanted it to be in a visible place, however normally the dateline is together with the barcode.

Another convention that i followed was to include a selling line. Many magazines include a selling line because it is an easy way to attract and give a little bit of information to the audience.

My magazine consisted of cover lines, which are used in a wide range of existing magazines.The cover lines are there to give the target audience a little insight on the stories that are inside the magazine. My cover lines were short and to the point they also complemented eachother as i used at least two different fonts and put a different coloured stroke around them. The main cover line was made larger than all the others so that it would stand out. So the main image and main cover line would be the main focus on the front cover. The image that was used for the front cover was a medium close up.

My contents page followed a convention as well. To make the magazine consistent i included images of the main subject which was on the front cover but it was a different kind of shot (mid shot).This shows the subject doing something different from the image on the front cover. As well as the main subject i added images of other people that featured in the magazine. From ma research my target audience wanted the contents page to have an equal amount of images and writing so that is what i tried to do. My contents page had four categories ,they were organised in columns vertically. However it is clear that I moved some images and features around to make it my own. Most magazines would normally have a clear neat layout with some images and an editors note.

My double page spread also followed a convention plus it develops it. The colours scheme I used was quite simple but i was a colour scheme that was consistent throughout my three products(front cover,contents page and double page spread ).My double page spread had a headline,stand first,page number and quote it was also arranged in three columns of different sizes, to even out the text. The questions and answers denotes the different colours of red and white so that all the text wouldn't be white.

Main Task: Front Cover Draft