Evaluation

EVALUATION

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

This creates a professional look and makes the model stand out more as it brought forward

Rolling Stone didn’t have a selling line and XXLs selling line was short which I believe wouldn’t suit my magazine. This is why I chose the VIBE selling line.


Using the explanatory text to list artists makes my magazine look professional as most magazines use this and also is a good way to show what type of genre this magazine is.


The background of Shakira looks more lit up around her to mine which makes it more appealing. However my background cover I believe works well.

These are the barcode from XXL and VIBE magazine.

My barcode


Moreover as you can see the images are either really close up or takes up space from left to right. In order to achieve that I had to re plan my photo pose so it can fit the page from left to right.

TechnicalI picked a mid shot levelled camera angle as I was inspired by the pose Janet Jackson done for VIBE. I used room light and flash to make the image stand out and make it look clear. Special effects were not added as from looking at all the existing magazines that I have analysed, none of them used special effects. I also personally think it will look unprofessional if I used it on my model. I positioned my model in the centre as from looking at existing magazines with one model they are placed in the centre.

SymbolicI used lighting to present my model in a appealing way. By using lighting she looks brighter making her stand out more. My model has curly long hair, as from researching the hip hop female artists such as Ciara, Beyonce, Ashanti, Shakira and many more, they have curly long hair. So through having long hair I tried to stick to my genre. She wore a black lace dress as most hip hop artists wear dresses or casual clothing which gives a hip hop feel. I decided to make her wear a dress. I added a diamond belt to her to keep the Hip hop theme.

TextI decided to have a reasonable amount of text on my front cover. I made sure I never over done it and added to much text as I wanted my main focus on the image. I thought the amount of text I added worked well. My mode of address is direct and exclusive. My text is direct as in most existing magazine covers they use direct instead of indirect. Also my text is exclusive as only people that are into the hip hop genre will have knowledge about the hip hop artists. Such as ‘EMINEM DISSES MARIAH ON HIS LATEST TRACK’ this appeal to certain people as hip hop fans will want to know more about this whereas a rock/pop fan wouldn’t care. The language is informal as the word ‘disses’ is used which is a slang word for disrespects.

Text

I got the pink, blue, black white colour scheme from the VIBE magazine and developed it to my magazine. I thought the colours worked well as it was kept to a minimum and I

made the colours to the text match with her clothing. This made it look more professional as it was all colour coordinated like the magazine shown below:


I decided to use the just do it logo ratherthen the Nike tick as I thought it will work better and it did. The Nick tick wouldn’t suit as there is not enough space for the sign/

I decided to make my copyright sentence longer as my advert looked plain. I chose white as my font as it is clearer to read and went well with my advert.


On the above existing adverts both images are showing their product. I used this form and convention and developed my own image. I made my model wear a Nike hoodie and Nike trainers however the trainers didn’t show.

I picked a long shot levelled camera angle as I wanted the whole background to show and her trainers. I used outside light and flash as without flash it was dark so flash was needed. Special effects were not added as from looking at all the existing adverts that I have analysed, none of them used special effects on their model. I positioned my model in the centre to make her stand.

Technical

SymbolicI decided to take the image outside on a graffiti background to represent the hip hop theme. The graffiti shows the street life and also represents Nike as it makes the product seem cool.


These are the contents page from XXL and Rolling Stone. I didn’t like Rolling Stone’s contents page as it had too much text and my target audience is more visual. From these to contents page I used their titles and developed my own.

Both titles have a different title to ‘CONTENTS’ which I liked as it didn’t sound boring. I used the rollingstone.com title and developed it to mine and named my contents ‘FRESH’


I decided to look online for other content pages which I prefer. These were the final content pages I liked. As you can see all three are very different to each other and I combined these ideas and made my own.


This is from the NME magazine. This was placed at the top saying ‘this week’ clearly showing the readers this is a weekly magazine. I found this appealing and I liked the title as I thought ‘contents’ sounded common. I used this convention and developed it into my own by having my magazine title large and on the right ‘this week’ is placed in a smaller size and in pink.

This is from the Kerrang! Magazine. They have placed their front cover on their contents page. I used this convention and combined it to my title. I placed my front cover image behind ‘this week’ and tilted it to the side like the Kerrang! Magazine.


NME Kerrang!

At the bottom of NME contents page it says ‘the UK’s No1 gig guide starts p58. I used this and combined it to my contents page. Instead of having a arrow showing what page the gigs are at. I decided to add images in a film tape with text saying ‘rave review’ with contact information for readers to go to know more about it.


This is from the Kerrang! Contents page. I wanted a lot of images on my contents page so I decided to take ideas from the Kerrang! Contents page. Everything is in a square box in different sizes. The most important page is shown through having a large image which I developed onto my contents page. I decided to resize my images according to their importance. From looking at the Kerrang! Contents the numbers are given in a different colour. I used this convention and also resized my page numbers according to the importance.


I used ideas from the XXL magazine as I liked the layout of the double page spread.


In the XXL magazine the title was bold and stood out. The title was the name of the artist. As the artist has two names XXL placed on of the names behind the other and resized it to give a bold and appealing view. I decided to use this article title layout to mine. My article title was called ‘LIFE’ in larger text then ‘G.MAN’ in smaller text. This is because the article is about G.MAN’s life. I gave the model a tag as most hip hop artists have tags such as pleasure p, 50 cent and young jeezy. I also liked the caption placed next to the image which I used for my double page spread I made sure the caption was catchy and short like the other existing captions. My caption read ‘my biggest competition is myself’ showing he has no other competition apart from his self. This short caption tells a lot about the artist that he is looking for ways to improve.

The image took half the page as from researching I found most double page spread is laid out like that. So I decided to use this convention and stick to having half of the page with a image and the other half with text.


Technical and SymbolicTechnical- I picked a mid shot levelled camera angle as I was inspired by the double page spread of still Dre. I used room light and flash to make the image stand out and make it look clear. Special effects were not added as from looking at all the existing magazines that I have analysed, none of them used special effects. I also personally think it will look unprofessional if I used it on my model. Symbolic- I used lighting to present my model in a appealing way. By using lighting she looks brighter making her stand out more. My model was dressed in a adidas jumper. This is because adidas is one of the brands which hip hop artists wear. Also as you can see Mac Dre is wearing a adidas t-shirt. This adds to the hip hop and R&B theme.

TextMy text took up half the page and made sure it was in column like in other existing double page spread to make it look realistic and professional. My mode of address was indirect and inclusive. This is because it was a interview and interviews are indirect. It was inclusive as the interview was describing G.MAN’s life so you didn’t need any knowledge for this. However the language was colloquial so readers will need knowledge on slang words such as ‘live! That’s the only way I can describe it’ and also swear words were written. I chose to do colloquial language as stereotypical hip hop artists speak colloquial.

I kept the colour scheme of black, grey and blue to match my front cover. As in existing magazines they tend to have a colour scheme that matches the front cover.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I bought magazines that were probably aged for 15-19. However Rolling Stone is more for grown ups as it has a lot of text which will appeal for older people and teenagers will find it dull and boring as it is less visual. I decided to have the age group of 14-18 from help of my questionnaire. This is because I have more knowledge on what people from that age group like. I made sure it represented this age group by making my magazine more visual with interesting article titles which teenagers would like to know and gossip about. I have rave reviews which most teenagers like to know about as that is the sort of thing they do.

My magazine appeals to both sex I made sure it was presented for both sex by having a female on the front cover and male on the double page spread. I also had both female and male on the contents page.My images give a hip hop and R&B feel by having branded clothing and articles about hip hop artists which appeal to my age group. The language used is colloquial which everyday teenagers use it and using this language in my magazine will capture my target audience. I also made my article a interview as it seems less to read and more interesting and from my questionnaire this is what my target audience would rather read.

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

IPC Media is mostly magazines which compromise a wealth of leisure brands and women fashion so my magazine will not be suitable for this, therefore I will not use this.National Magazine Company publish the most well established magazine such as reveal. They do not publish music magazines so this will not be suitable for my magazine.Bauer Media includes a wide range of interests including Heat, Grazia, Closer, and FHM. Bauer Media doesn’t publish a R&B magazine making it suitable for my magazine ‘FRESH’ as it will be unique and will not conflict with other magazines.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

From my research of XXL and Rollingstone I was able to notice what genre the magazine is and its target audience by just looking at images, articles and layout. For instants the image shown on XXL front cover gives the hip hop/ R&B look through clothing and accessorize and also their pose. My genre was hip hop and R&B as they are closely related. XXL had a similar target audience to mine so by looking for ideas from that magazine I made it appeal to my target audience too. The target audience for my media product is people aged 14-18 who idolise and love hip hop and R&B artist and their style. They are people who want to know more about the artists and gossip

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I made my double page spread for my audience as I made my model to be a new artist that has been producing a lot of music and FRESH decides to get more information about him. This article will appeal to my target audience as they want to know more about the popular artists. My model is called G.MAN which most stereotypical artists have. This shows the hip hop theme. The tag itself sounds like a R&B artist. It fits in with names like Redman, B.hines and 50 cent. I also had as a strap line Rihanna and Chris Brown has he been forgiven? Truth is revealed, which is gossip and my audience would appeal to this as they want to be up to date with the news.Also the images I used I believe will appeal to my target audience as I presented my models in a R&B manner, I also had Ryan Leslie on my contents page which gave the hip hop and R&B feel.So in conclusion my audience is of a hip hop/R&B nation as that is the theme I created in my magazine.

I attracted my audience through my front cover by having the main image fit on the centre which is eye catching to my target audience as it is large and clear. Next to it the model credit reads ‘Ava Ansari going solo?’ giving the audience information on the model. This then will make the buyer want to read more about it. The model is presented in a lacy dress appealing to teenage boys and also girls as they will look up to her and want to dress like her.The masthead is catchy as it is short and memorable making it attract to readers. There is a special effect it where the letters in the middle are lighter then the others attracting the audience.The stap line will attract to my audience as it is about two artists relationship which the audience would appeal to as it is gossip. By having this as a strap line they are believed to think the rest of the magazine is interesting

How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

The explanatory text and kickers give gossip which will bring more of the buyers attention as they will like to know what Eminem did to Mariah Carey. I also provided artists name with the kicker saying ‘FRESHs 15 sexiest stars.’ this will appeal to the target audience as they are more visual and would like to see what artists the magazine has pickedAs my audience wants to know information, gossip and have fun I decided to have pages on artist interviews, gossip and also a voting page where the audience votes for who they want as FRESH’s 15 sexiest stars. I also had gig events and rave reviews which will appeal to my audience. I also added images from the rave review to show the audience how fun it will be making them want to go on the site and find out more. I also made my magazine weekly to keep my audience up to date.

What have you learnt from the process of constructing this product?Move toolZoom tool

Eyedropper tool

Magnetic lasso tool

Horizontal type toolCrop tool

Red eye removal toolSpot healing brush toolClone stamp toolEraser toolBrush toolPaint bucket toolGradient tool

Colour picker

These are all the tools I used

The move tool helped me move my layers around such as moving my text box around or image to fit a certain place. The zoom tool allowed me to zoom into my images to remove blemishes, clone and also kept my text aligned.The eyedropper tool was very useful as on my front cover my model was wearing pink and I wanted that exact pink for my text. With the eyedropper tool I was able to do this by clicking on the pink to get that exact pink for my text.I used the magnetic lasso tool to take my model out from the background to place on a new background. This tool allowed me to go around my model and when I got around I right clicked layer via cut.


Eyedropper tool

Magnetic lasso tool



Colour picker


The horizontal type tool is used for text which I obviously used for my text. I used the crop tool to just get a certain image by just making a box around that image and clicking the tick.I used the spot healing brush tool to clear all spots on my model to make them look flawless by just clicking on the spot it vanishes. I used the clone stamp tool to remove unwanted objects by holding down alt and clicking the background you want for the unwanted object. Then you just rub the unwanted object out but you may have to repeat holding down alt again to make the background realistic.


Eyedropper tool

Magnetic lasso tool



Colour picker


I used the eraser tool to make sure some of the background wasn’t visible. I done this by zooming in then rubbing out whatever I wanted to removeThe paint bucket tool is a easier way of colouring in a whole section without using the brush tool. I used this for my contents page. I made a box and clicked the paint bucket tool and chose my colour then clicked inside the box.The gradient tool was used for my background for my front cover and double page spread. This gradient tool gave a effect of the colour going from a darker shade to a lighter shade.The colour picker was used to pick what colour I wanted for my text and other things

What have you learnt from the process of constructing this product?I also learnt to layer my work so when it comes to editing it I can edit the parts I want to edit. It also helped me to give the back drop shadow effect. It also helped me overlap my masthead with my model. Layers were continuously made so I can go back and edit after getting feedback. I also learnt while resizing I should hold onto the shift button so the image doesn’t go blurry and unclear. I used the grid by going view>>grid. This allowed me to align everything up and make sure the text wasn’t out of place etc. I also used the blur tool by going filter>>blur>>gaussian blur. This was used for my models on my front cover and double page spread to make the background they were in more realistic. You can also rub out the blur on places you don’t want it blurred by clicking on the layers and using the erasing tool.I used the brush tool and colour picker to give a different colour to my front cover model. After I painted the eyes I needed it to blend into the eyes to do this I had to change the opacity level which is located on the right hand side in the layer box. This then blended my eye colour in and made it realistic.

What have you learnt from the process of constructing this product?

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

Evaluation

Education

Transcript of Evaluation