Question drafts

                                                                  Evaluation Draft 


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

My media product develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media magazines such as the ones I used for my case studies; Kerrang! And Rocksound. The magazines I used for my case studies are very similar in terms of genre but their layouts were very different because Kerrang for example used lots of colour and did not follow the 3 colour scheme like Rocksound did, which is something that I tried to strictly follow. In terms of how things were laid out I decided to use more of Rocksound’s layout style for my front cover however I ended up adding a few cover lines like kerrangs front cover. I decided to use a mid-shot of the artists which were centred and were the only faces of artists on my front cover unlike other magazines who often try to put as many artists as they can on the cover to attract readers. I also tried to convey the topic of the article through their pose which was different to how Kerrang and Rocksound have more cover stars doing unrelated poses than related ones. I also decided to emulate the way Rocksound had a large cover line across the centre which stood out more than the others, however unlike how Rocksound kept all their other coverlines on the bottom and the top I decided to keep the other coverlines on the side like Kerrangs. My magazine also followed the way the artists cover the masthead to show their importance by doing the same but unlike how Kerrang and Rocksounds mastheads cover the full length of the page my masthead is smaller and takes up to half the length of the page whilst still being somewhat visible. I also decided to make it a bit unconventional by adding effects to it to make it seem onomatopoeic much like Kerrangs however I went for a much more noticeable effect. I also decided to keep the background of the picture instead of changing it for an effect like Kerrang did, in addition it also helped make my artists standout because it contrasted well against their clothes instead of try and match the background to the artist’s clothes like Rocksound. The artists in my magazine wore clothes that were similar to each other’s to show the reader that they were part of the same group. They also followed typical modern rock artist stereotypes which is relatively average clothing of shirts, vests and jackets which are faded or dark colours. Taking in to account that the band on my front cover is new they wore clothing which may help the reader to determine their part in the band. The drummer is wearing a vest, the guitarist is wearing just a T-shirt and the lead singer who stands out a bit more than the others because of his all black attire which has no blue in it like the others. I followed Rocksounds example and decide to follow a 3 colour scheme for my front cover but used light colours like kerrang which were against the artists dark clothes which made them stand out more. In the Contents page I tried to make the layout like Kerrangs but more to the scale of two pages rather than one, which made me include more of Rocksounds contents page style instead of Kerrangs. In the contents page I used different colours to what I had intended in the plan because I felt that the faded yellow, grey and black worked well together to represent a rock music magazine because it created a slightly dark melancholic impression on the reader which made it obvious to the reader what kind of magazine it is. I added a message from me as the editor to the readers, in which I solely promoted the big story in the issue; threes A crowd success. I kept the message concise and straight to the point so that readers would feel more inclined to read it because it is just a small paragraph, it is a mix of how Kerrang have a brief editor message to the reader unlike Rocksounds 3 paragraph message. However Rocksounds was a lot more relevant to the big story in the issue than Kerrangs so I combined what I perceived to be the successful elements to create mine because I knew people my age would prefer something short and to the point. I made sure to separate my featured and regular content clearly by keeping them on separate pages so that readers could differentiate between the two very easily and inverting the pages so I could stick with a 3 colour scheme, whilst also making the pages stand out. In the double page spread I adapted some of my previous double page spread style with my new found knowledge of magazine layouts, feedback from my first attempt and ideas from my case studies; I particularly chose to focus more on Rocksounds double page spread. I copied my first article attempt of using a slanted title but this time I centred it and made it bigger so it would be more noticeable. I experimented with different font sizes and used more than one colour in the title like Rocksounds so that it would be more noticeable; I chose to have specific parts coloured that I thought were the most important like the band’s name. I also had the header cover part of the stars similar to how Rocksound did but I made it slightly transparent so the artists were still visible and specifically made sure not to cover any of the faces of the artists. I adopted the use of basic conventions like a drop capital and a pull quote which I also used different colours on to highlight a part of the quote which would have the most impact on the reader. I opted for my image of the artists to cover both pages rather than one because I felt it helped show how big of a deal they had become, I also added more adaptions of my first article such as a dark faded background colour and I also used a gradient effect. However this time I had it around the edges so that it helped draw your attention to the artists and made them stand out more. When adding text I had it put into text boxes like Rocksound because it helped the text stand out against the background, I also made them slightly transparent so the artists were still visible. Unlike other magazines I opted to make my interviewers text a different colour to the response from the artist so that it would give the reader the option of just reading the response from the artist. I used another mid-shot of the artists however unlike the cover photo they were given more freedom on this pose because it was meant to show them having being themselves, having fun and celebrating. I felt that this was the best way to show the relatively new band off to people who weren’t familiar to them. It goes against conventions because artists are usually shown to be doing a pose that they are told to do but I wanted my double page spread to convey who threes A crowd really are.    



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

My media product represents people who are into rock music, they are roughly in the age range of 14-26. The typical ethnicity of rock music fans was Caucasians however I wanted to appeal to all ethnicities by making the magazine as diverse as possible. I did this by having a range of artists from different diversities covered in my magazine, the cover stars ‘threes A crowd’ are all mixed race and there is another featured artist who is Asian in the contents page. The artists in my magazine were presented as fairly average people who others could relate to because one of the articles’ was about them just becoming a well-known band who just got everyone’s attention the artists are also young and close to the same age as the readers so they are more relatable. They wear casual clothes that other people their age would wear and the photos used in the article were designed to be of the band acting casually, how they would in a non-forced pose, more specifically the artists just naturally having fun and celebrating their rise to fame. My magazine mainly represents male and female audiences, I did this by focusing on generally gender neutral colours that would not seem inclined towards one gender or another. The content is mixed so that there are elements that are appealing to both males and females. The language and content would typically appeal to mainly middle-class and below, which is why I used Standard English and strayed away from the prospect of using fancy words because they would seem out of place in the text and could potentially alienate some readers. However I did not want to completely rule out uses of words that seem difficult because I felt that would make the older audiences potentially lose some interest and make the younger audiences feel they were lacking in reading ability. The colours used were dark and/or slightly faded to try and give of the impression that this was a rock music magazine. I felt that this was a good mix of colours because it still gave of the aura that this was a rock magazine but that it wasn’t too serious but also not too favourable of just one aspect/sub-genre of rock.  



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

I chose Bauer Media as my magazine publisher because they already have a large amount of magazines which are very successful like ‘MOJO’, ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’ which I chose to look at as one of my case studies. I believe that Bauer Media would like to publish my magazine because they only have one magazine which focuses on rock and that is Kerrang. Kerrang is already very successful and has lots of other success as a radio station and TV channel however I think my magazine would appeal to a demographic that Kerrang does not yet focus on too much. The demographic is teens ranging from as early as 14 all the way to young adults at roughly 23-25 maximum. The teen demographic is a very successful market and there is not too much focus on them in music magazines and when there is they often are not taken seriously. However my music magazine will take a different approach that is catered to imitate modern trends which are popular amongst young adults and teens like Vlogging, however I would do it in my magazine by using direct address and lots of visual relevant images. I would take an approach that is not too off putting to teens by being too serious and I would also address them with sense of equality so they feel respected and relevant. My content would include supporting rising stars by featuring them in a part of the magazine which would be appeal to teenagers because a lot of them aspire to be musicians at this age and they would most likely want to be featured in my magazine. When distributing my magazine I would have a physical copy in shops and a digital version online, to make sure that one form of distribution does not get favoured a great deal over the other I would have special content that is only available in the physical edition and special content in the digital edition. Such as an audio playback of interviews in the digital edition and special limited edition posters in the physical edition. I think that there is still a trend and group for physical copies of magazines so it is important to have physical copies still available in popular retail shops like WHSmith, Tesco, ASDA and newsagents. I have chosen a wide-range of stores and places to sell the magazine because I think that availability is important and if the magazine is easy to find then it will have a higher chance of being sold. Due to a majority of my audience being quite young, the best way to attract their attention would be to create an app for their phones and tablets because they are on their phones a lot of the time. It is also for this reason that I will create accounts on multiple social media platforms so that the magazine can be even easier to approach by its audience.  




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

The audience for my music magazine would be early teens, from as young as 14 up to roughly 24-25 because I want my magazine to steer a bit more focus towards teens. Another reason is in my case studies I found out that the typical age range of the audience is young adults. They would be fans of rock and alternate rock as well, I would try and occasionally focus on genres like indie and metal but not too often because they are genres that are not liked by a teens as much as alternate rock. The magazine would appeal to most social classes but mainly middle-class and below because of some of the content, particularly the parts where I would do interviews with rising stars who could be from any social class. In terms of ethnicity I would try to be as open as possible even though I know that the typical ethnicity of fans of rock magazines are Caucasians but I would appeal to other ethnicities by featuring a range of artists from different ethnicities e.g. mixed race, Asian, etc. As for gender I would like to appeal to both genders but looking through my magazine I could tell it was heavily orientated towards males but there is content that would appeal to a female audience nevertheless like the style section and some of the artists featured in the magazine. The percentage of male to the female readers would roughly be 80% male and 20% female. A typical reader would be an average age of roughly 17 they would be fans or typically alternate rock, other genres as well but their main interest would be in artists of alternate rock. They would have a lot of interest in their favourite artists, so much so that they would try to emulate their look and try be knowledgeable in their activities such as upcoming gigs and songs/albums. They would enjoy talking about their favourite artists and would be open to suggestions about music recommendations. In order to support my audience I would make my magazine reasonably priced or cheaper than other magazines so that my audience will be able to afford it on a regular basis.



 5. How did you attract/address your audience?


I attracted my magazine audience by trying to be unique and noticeable visually because a lot of my audience are teenagers and having something gaudy and out there would definitely catch their eye at least. I also applied the same idea to my content e.g. unique playlist of the week and featured artist of the week. I put a lot of the focus for this in my masthead ‘The buzz’, I was originally inspired by Kerrang’s masthead which had a few effects on it represent the onomatopoeic meaning behind its name which is the sound of an electric guitar. Unlike Kerrangs which was quite subtle I made mine showy by making the whole masthead text seem as though it was buzzing and moving. I also decided on using colours which stood out and worked well together with the only contrast being with the cover stars clothes. I think it was successful because the masthead was one of the first things that was mentioned in reviews and they specifically mentioned how it stood out because they had not seen one like mine before. “I really like your masthead, its different and not everyone does it so it really stands out”. “The mast head is eye catching and different which sets it apart from other magazines”. It was also mentioned that the font should be made to look more similar to the masthead and by extension more appealing to my intended audience, this was because my previous cover line font was not that eye catching. I was able to fix it by using a new font which I believe is perfect for my target audience and the overall theme of my magazine because it does not seem too formal or informal. In terms of language I decided to stick to Standard English without much use for colloquial language on the front cover but later on in the double page spread. However in order to compensate for this I used punctuation particularly the exclamation mark for the large sub-headings to draw attention to them. The artists on the front cover are intended to be depicted as an aspirational group and in order to do this I tried to make them seem as average as possible by having them wear clothing that they already had and could potentially be owned by others, particularly the readers. The story behind the cover picture is to show the band struggling to see their hardships and problems they faced in the past which no longer affect them as much as before. I thought that this would be really appealing to my readers because as I mentioned in question 4 a lot of my readers are teenagers and it is not unusual for a portion of them to be aspiring artists who struggle to get noticed or cope with negative comments. But by finding and focusing on a story about a band who were able to overcome this would be encouraging to my readers and the fact that my magazine has a section where rising artists are featured would attract a lot of attention from the teenagers.

  

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


In the process of constructing this product I encountered new technologies I had not used before like the website Blogger. I was able to learn the basics very quickly such as uploading a post onto my blog and adding all the necessary things to it such as a title, caption to explain the post and to check how it would look on the actual blog using the preview button. However I did struggle with adding embedded items onto my blog such as the YouTube video presentation because I was not aware it was possible until we were shown how. Upon my own personal experimentation I was able to find out how to personalise my blog to my own liking. I experimented with different pre-made templates and fonts, until I finally found a style that I liked. I found that Blogger was extremely helpful over the duration of the course because it allowed me to display my work in a clear way and gave me plenty of options to adapt posts to my own style so I could make every post unique to myself in terms of the text and picture placement. Another new technology I had relied upon was Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. When using InDesign I found that it was helpful in creating guidelines and text boxes for double page spreads and content pages. I found the tools fairly easy to use and I particularly liked using the gradient tool quite a lot however I struggled a bit with adding pictures because I struggled with the task of placing them in areas I wanted to because of the unique placement dynamic of having to use two boxes; one for resizing and one for moving. Adobe Illustrator was a lot easier for me to use and I felt I got the hang of it a lot quicker than InDesign because it felt similar to another program; Photoshop. I really enjoyed the experimentation capabilities of Illustrator and I feel I would not have created the unique masthead that I did had I not used Illustrator. Photoshop was a program I had some experience with prior but I ended up using different features of the program I had not yet used, such as the healing brush tool to create background effects and fix areas I had not properly edited. I also ended up using it in a more precise manner than ever before to properly edit my pictures for the cover and the double page spread so that they did not appear edited and were as professional looking as possible. It was this task alone that took up the most of my time because I had to really zoom in to get every last out of place pixel that I could find which would lower the quality of my final product. A technology that was completely new to me was the equipment for the photoshoot such as the lighting and the DSLR camera. I already had some experience with regular cameras but I did not know a great deal about the features in a DSLR camera like controlling the shutter speed to get the right shot, syncing the camera to the lights and keeping the camera on manual. The lighting was quite easy to get a hang of and was easy to position and adjust which was very helpful during my shoot because I had a smaller time slot than usual.  



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


Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learned how to use magazine conventions a lot better than before because my understanding of how and why they were used has broadened. Which I feel is important because before I would just randomly use only one or two conventions such as a skyline and I would use it in the least effective way, by placing it at the bottom of my magazine. It was only until after I understood the uses behind each convention, for example the skyline along with the masthead should be placed at the top of the magazine because that is the part which the customer will most likely see due of how magazines are typically arranged on shelves. In my music magazine I was able to avoid this mistake and put my skyline at the top of the magazine and incorporated more conventions onto the front page such as a puff to make the cover more noticeable. I also used an original background that was from the shoot in the cover, something I did not do before and I think it helps create a more professional finish than a design I made in Photoshop. Compared to my college magazine my music magazine is more dynamic and draws your attention with its bright colours and unique masthead. In my college magazine cover I put more effort in the background and image and not enough in the cover lines, which looking back on it now makes it look less interesting because all your attention is swallowed up by the background and image. In my music magazine I was able to rectify this mistake by making everything dynamic and draw your attention equally by adding some effects to the cover lines so that they stand out and are visible against the models and the background. I also improved my layout skills thanks to my case studies because now each cover line is purposely placed. I also employed the use of a puff; something I was not well versed with when I made my college magazine. My use of programs is also a lot more efficient because I was able to use it to remove any out of place details that may bring down the quality of the final product. I have also become a lot more focused on small details and making my magazine’s final form free of silly mistakes and out of place details like my college magazine. Another thing I feel I have improved is my photography skills because I now can make better use of lighting and a models sense of place in the shot. This also includes my ability to direct the models because in my original college magazine cover photo I had to Photoshop two images together to get one group image to make the picture complete. Whereas with my music magazine I was dead set on the type of shots I wanted to take beforehand and was able to direct my models with clear directions so the shots I wanted to get were a lot easier to get, in fact a lot of them were attainable first time. This meant I had less work to do because I did not need to overly edit the models together with parts from other photos. Looking back at my college contents page I feel that there were a lot of good elements to it like the background which faded out slightly and the images on the left however I felt that the organisation of the rest of the contents page was not up to the same level. My music magazine is consistent with its design throughout which is one of its strong points because I feel it gives it gives the product a more professional look. I feel the problem with my college magazine is that I focused too much on the images and not enough on the text but in my music magazines I was able to work on this problem a lot more.