HOW MY MEDIA PRODUCT USES, DEVELOPS AND CHALLENGES

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS

Evaluation: Question 1

Front cover Firstly on my front cover of my magazine, I have covered the various positioning of

my masthead and main sell line from the magazine Mojo.

Front cover I used this positioning because it relates back to most music magazine on the

market at the moment, the consumer has an idea where these generic things are placed on the front cover, so it is important that I follow this convention to make my magazine look more professional and organised like its competitors on the market.

Also on the front cover I have challenged the convention of colour in my front cover image.

Front cover As you can see from my front cover, the colours of my image aren't just limited to

only a few and a plain background, it has various colours edited to look grainy. This is because it has a deep meaning behind the image. For example the NME cover has Jimi Hendrix with grey skin to represent that he's dead but which differs from his clothes which are bursting with colour and life signifying that his legacy still lives on. With my image, the musician has a heart of darkness with a pure soul which is represented by the blend of shadow on one side and light on the other.

Red and black

Black, red, beige maroon

Black and white

Contents page For the contents page, I have also made some observations to some media

conventions that I have researched. For example I have taken the idea of Mojo’s image mash of what’s in the magazine and made my own take on it.

I have copied the ‘Ariel’ font that is used because during my research I found that this seems to be the most clearest out of all , and is used across all varieties of magazines. Also I have used NME’s coloured page numbers to give my magazine more identity that its colour is ‘blue’ and unique also different from other magazines.

Also I have used some of the ideas from my style sheets photography and used it in my contents page

Contents page Also I have taken the font from NME’s contents page.

I have copied the ‘Ariel’ font that is used because during my research I found that this seems to be the most clearest out of all , and is used across all varieties of magazines. Also I have used NME’s coloured page numbers to give my magazine more identity that its colour is ‘blue’ and unique also different from other magazines.

Contents page

I have used a plain white background, mid-shot of the artist with eye-contact with the camera. I found that these photo’s tend to be the most common in music magazines, which is why I used the style.

Double page spread For my double page spread, I have also followed some media conventions found in

other magazines. I have used the simplicity of the colour scheme in the NME spread that I researched. I limited the colours just like it as the colour isn’t too distracting, keeps its brand image of blue and still maintains the deep meaning behind the musicians photo.

Drained colours sink into the background, Blue and Black

White, Blue and Black

Double page spread Also I have copied the layout of the NME spread with some subtle comparisons

The capitals at the start of the column have been used, using the colour of the magazines image but to also just simply signify the start of the article

 

The quote used in my magazine also breaks the column and the same colour as my

magazines brand colour

I have copied the overview of the band and article below the headline, but also

using the same branded blue colour to highlight the main parts of the paragraph.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT

PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Evaluation: Question 2

Question 2 My magazine affects social groups in various ways. For example my age group

aimed at teenagers / young adults. I have represented this as the musicians in my magazine are all teenagers themselves.

(original photos)

Question 2 Also from my research, I have found that magazines aiming at this audience use no

slang in their articles but easy to understand language to that anyone in their teenage audience can read it clearly. I have also taken this into account and used it in all of my text throughout my magazine.

Question 2 I have also portrayed gender strongly to my research too. In the magazines that I

have researched, there is a really strong presence of male musicians. Therefore I thought it was only logical to put more male musicians than female as the genre is more male dominated.

Question 2 From what I have researched from Q magazine’s reader profile, most of its

audience fall under the working class spectrum. I have taken this into account in my writing and my contents page. For example, my gigs section in the contents is focused on local gigs which are much cheaper than festivals so that my audience can afford them.

Question 2 Finally what I’ve seen and researched about my magazines it has a strong view on

a white ethnic background in all the magazines due to its heavily white reader base of the genre.

This is because the genre of rock is generally populated on white ethnicity. Rock is an evolved and adapted version of blues, which is dominated by black ethnicity. This making rock simply a white mans blues.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT

DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Evaluation: Question 3

There are several publishers that I have researched in my blog that publish the magazines which I have researched.

IPC Media

IPC media are the sole producers of NME magazine. IPC are also the producers of magazines such as Marie Claire and TV Break. This instantaneously says that they only have one magazine to their label and it will probably be a good choice to go with IPC to help them compete with their rivals in the music magazine market.

Bauer Media Group

The second publisher that I researched is Bauer Media Group. Bauer Media Group are responsible for the publishing of Q magazine and Mojo. I would rather not choose this publishing company. Even though I will have Q and Mojo on my side with their market dominance, but Bauer already have Q and Mojo the two magazines which relate to mine the most so I doubt that they would want to publish another copy of what they’ve already got.

To conclude, I would use IPC Media for my publishing. They only have one music magazine to their name but of a completely different genre too. They have experience publishing a music magazine and also other successful magazines too such as Marie Claire so I would be comfortable using this publisher as my choice.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR

MEDIA PRODUCT?

Evaluation: Question 4

Age The age of my audience for my magazine can be identified by the photography that

I use.

The models I use for my magazine are either 16 or 17. It can be said that my magazine has an audience based on late teens to young adults. Also the language that I have used when I write my articles has been fairly simplistic to support the younger audience.

Gender The gender in my magazine can too be defined by my photography.

As you can see, my photography is heavily dominated by male models, which reflect the reader base to be more male dominated. Also with my media pack research, I have found out that the magazines that I researched had more male than female readers. Also the area were one of my photographs were taken is a gritty, graffitied area. The meaning behind the photo being that he is rough and tough. This wouldn’t work as well on a female as the stereotype doesn’t involve them being rough, it usually involves them showing sex appeal or in a studio. This reflecting on my male reader base.

Class I have shown my class in my magazine to be quite middle class. This being taken

from the research that I did with the media packs about their average class being middle. My magazine boasts about showing ‘local gigs’ as one of their hobbies were going to gigs.

This is a regular feature as my class will have some disposable income for a various amount of gigs per month.

Also in the fashion I have shown ‘middle class’. From my audience profile I put that they were such brands as Fred Perry. In one of my photos we see someone posing with a Lacoste polo.

I have done this to relate my artists to my audience as that will be their main preferred fashion taste. Also they will have enough money to be able to afford these clothes as they are middle class.

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS

YOUR AUDIENCE?

Evaluation: Question 5

Masthead I made the masthead on my front cover big and bold. My masthead holds the same

colour as my corporate image which attracts my audience in giving them a feel like they are in a unique group of people that buys the magazine. It brands a uniqueness to the magazine as it shares no other colour scheme to any of the magazines that I have researched making them feel extra special when they buy the magazine.

Photographs My photographs were taken with a keen perception to the similarity that the

musicians have with my average reader.

For example, this photo:

Shows the model wearing a lacoste polo. In my average reader post which I put in my blog, I highlighted that the fashion they wear will be commonly associated with Fred Perry etc. Thus falling into the same category of clothing. This attracting the audience due to them having similarities with the artists in taste, making them more interested in the person, making them want to read the article and therefore buy my magazine.

Colours For the colours of my magazine I kept in mind what I researched whilst considering the

thoughts of what my audience would like.

For example:

In my contents page I support my research by showing a basic colour scheme but also I give that colour scheme my unique brand colour. This brand colour spreads throughout the magazine and gives the impression that the magazine can be identified by just looking at the colour. It will attract the audience by being unique, standing alone and almost saying ‘there’s no alternative’. The colour is shared with no other magazines that I have researched to. This making it stand out and becoming more desirable to my audience.

Layout Other than my unique colour brand, another thing that will attract my audience is

the layout. People who buy music magazines expect things to be in similar areas, making it clearer to them of the layout, because of this my magazine has followed some of the layouts of others to give off a clear impression and so that my reader doesn’t get lost whilst looking at it.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM

THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS

PRODUCT?

Evaluation: Question 6

Research and planning I used a various amount of technology when making my blog.

For the research and planning side of it I used: Word PowerPoint Blogger Memory stick Google Acrobat Survey Monkey Computer

Some of this technology I had never used before doing this coursework such as: Blogger Acrobat Survey Monkey

Research and planning I have never used Blogger or a blogging site at all. Whilst making the media

product. I have learnt how to post my coursework, edit the design of blogs and also edit the template of them too. Blogger is what I used to present my coursework in a professional and clear layout.

I have never used an online multimedia programme before, I have never had experience with the sort and knew very little about them until making my media product. Now I have learnt to add and combine multimedia files and secure documents.

I never used an online survey before and never knew they existed before creating the media product. I used it for collecting the user requirements for my music magazine and this played a big role in the production that went into it. I have learnt to create an online survey and post it quickly around the web, sharing it on a number of sites such as Facebook.

Production For the production side of my magazine I used technology such as: Photoshop Word PowerPoint Camera YouTube Publisher Blogger Microphone Google Paint Memory Stick Computer

The piece of technology that I have never used before is: Photoshop

Production

Before creating the media product the only image manipulation software that I touched upon was Paint. Using Photoshop allowed me to use incredible tools to manipulate all my images to look more professional. Without Photoshop, my magazine would look very tacky with the images that I took. But with it, it allowed me to transform my images to signify whole new meanings. I have learnt to edit and manipulate images to an average standard.

Evaluation For the evaluation, I’m using technology such as: Word PowerPoint Slideshare Blogger Google Blackboard Memory Stick Computer

The technology that I never used before was: Slideshare

Evaluation

Slideshare is allowing me to share all of my evaluation on my blog in the form of PowerPoint. This makes it much easier to upload and looks much nicer than typing it up on the blogger website, saving a lot of time. I have learnt that I can share multimedia PowerPoint’s on the web with ease.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO

YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO

THE FULL PRODUCT?

Evaluation: Question 7

College magazine

Final, music magazine

Photography

 

As you can see from my photography of the front covers of both magazines, there has been certain techniques that I have used to make it look considerably better. On my college magazine, there has been no editing at all to the photo. Since creating the magazine I have learnt to you adobe photoshop. I used the ‘colour levels’ tool to play around with the photographs colours and create a grainy affect making it look vintage. Also I played with the brightness by making it darker. The dark side of the picture is to give it meaning and representation to ‘dark heart pure soul’. Without editing the college photo looks cheaply taken and makes the magazine tacky.

Font  

The font used in both magazines is using the same ideas from the magazines that I researched, which is to make sure its clear for the benefit of the reader. But my music magazine uses this and makes it look more better.

I was keeping the key concept of keeping it clear, but I managed to learn about the website:

dafont.com

This allowed me to download the font Titania. This allowed me to use a font that is not only clear, but gets rid of a typical Arial font, making it more unique and exclusive and also I gave it my magazines, blue colour making it even more exclusive and unique.

Also in my masthead, I learnt about the outer glow tool. The glow tool puts a sleek white glow around my masthead and helps make it clearer by being able to define it from the background, unlike the college magazine.

Layout and colour The layout of my music magazine and college magazine are quite different:

 

Layout and colour To start, I was able to brand the page with the magazines ‘N’ by learning to use the

resize:

I was able to make it smaller and wider and put it on my contents page using the resize tool.

Also I learnt to use the eyedropper tool. This allowed me to use the same shade of blue throughout the whole magazine, unlike my college magazine which used different shades.

Finally I learnt how to use the justify tool. This helps keep the text that I write at even line lengths for good presentation in my magazine. Unlike the college magazine which has text which is uneven.

Music magazine blue College magazine blues

Music magazine College magazine