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

Since my college magazine I believe have learnt a tremendous amount of skill which I have gained now and was able to use for my final product.

 

Looking back on my previous work I can see that I’ve been able to make my music magazine look and feel much more like a more professional magazine. I’ve made sure to follow the typical conventions that you would see in a regular more professional music magazine. Looking at my college magazine I’ve noticed that in my music magazine I was able to be able to make a complete change to the photos background adjust the white balance and the brightness and contrast. The fonts used in my music magazine looks more professional whereas in my college magazine looking back at it the fonts used look quite childish given the age group it was targeted at as it is a college magazine. In the making of my music magazine I was able to plan the designing of it more efficiently seeing as I was not just making a front page and contents page but a double page spread as well.

My Photoshop skills had increased significantly increased when looking at the editing of both media products above. I used a wider range of colours for my music magazine colour scheme than the college magazine from which I simply used 2 colours being purple and yellow. I had to look at all the aspects of designing a magazine such as the colours the fonts and images used to ensure they all looked well together on the music magazine. I also made drafts of my music magazine to a general look of what I wanted and to get feedback on the unfinished product to see what people preferred.



 

Looking back at my college magazine contents page I can see that the page is quite empty which is not the case with my music magazine as I did further research into how other magazine contents pages are and they are more informative of the features and articles in the magazine itself and have a few images also to keep the page from looking too boring.

The double page spread involved writing so I was not just designing a magazine but also coming up with a real interview of the genre I have picked.

 Another thing I didn’t do for my college magazine was an evaluation of the finished product to see what was done well and what could’ve been changed. This is essential in the construction process of the magazines so I can improve on the product before it goes out to the public for constructive criticism.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the construction of my music magazine I used various technologies; this has made me skilled in a lot of areas in the Photoshop and other software’s.

In the process of taking pictures for my magazine was the cannon 550D, I became quite knowledgeable in ensuring that the ISO on my camera was correct and that each photo was in focus. I took pictures in only two different locations simply because I knew what I was going for in terms of the ideas I wanted to use my models in beforehand. Both locations was similar I took the pictures in a dark room with a plain back drop this was so it made it easier for editing in Photoshop.

Factors taken into consideration was that because the pictures were taken in a dark room I had to use a significant amount of lighting to ensure that my models were seen clearly in each photo, as the incorrect lighting would result in multiple bad photos rendering them unusable for my magazine. But also the photos couldn’t be too bright in the same sense as if they were too dark with insufficient lighting, so I had to think about whether I would be using the flash on the camera.

When uploading the photos taken to a computer I used a memory card reader to do this, which made it much faster and very easy to transfer all the photos to the computer. Once uploaded I went through all the photos to see which were the best ones and would be used in my magazine after editing. Having gone through the selection process I went into Photoshop for editing my photos into my magazine.

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

 The target audience for my magazine would be people with an interest in the music genre of Rhythm & Blues and Rap. It will not matter if the people are simply interested in the gossip, the artists’ lives, fashion or just a love for the music genre, my magazine will be for them as I aim to include all these aspects into the magazine. The target audience will be typically between the ages of 14-onwards simply because I feel if the age started from younger people of that age will not be too dedicated to a certain style of music and would most likely not be too interested in reading about it either. The cheap price of my magazine being £1.99 makes it easily accessible for all ages within my target age group.

The magazine might be to information driven than gossip to interest those younger than the age of 18 meaning that the most purchases will be made by those over the age of 18 but there are those who are interested in the topics I will cover in the magazine that would most likely be interested from a young age. The reason that my  target age group doesn’t stop at a certain age simply because music is seen to be eternal and communicates to all ages in a way or another.

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

I believe that “Seymour International” should be the publishers for my music magazine. On research of the company I know that they have over 12% market share in magazine distribution and they don’t have many music magazines being published by them and so by publishing my music magazine they would be widening the types of magazines they publish giving them a higher percentage in their market share. Giving them a bigger name in their market and in long term increase their revenue possibly and increasing their audiences to those interested in the genre of magazine like mine being music. The more different types of magazines they publish will mean less competition from other publishers.

My magazine focusing on the music industry is so different than what “Seymour International” normally publishes might lead to other music magazines to look to them for publishing of their magazines as well increasing their popularity in the publishing industry.

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

My Music Magazine Is Based on the genre of hip hop and Rhythm & Blues. And because of such I had my models portray this in the images of my magazine in their dress sense to look as an artist or group of that genre would look.

This picture shows the models used for my front cover main image for my magazine. I have them dressed in big puffy jackets one of a light blue colour and the other a navy blue colour. The two models are standing upright with hands in their pockets but their facial are seen to be stern or blank to seem as if they either don’t care or they are trying to intimidate the viewer, this concept was chosen as most hip hop artists are seen in the media as gangsters who perform crimes and get away with it. The expressions and stance on the faces of the models also shows the personality of what type of hip hop artist they are, from which I wanted them to be interpreted as serious about the music.

In this image I have the Rhythm & Blues group from my double page spread. The female models clothing aren’t seen to clearly in the image but from what can be seen I can assume that because I had them clothed in casual clothing, which can be seen on the female model on the right who is seen to be wearing a scarf, hair out as does the other female have her hair out. This was done so that the two are seen to be casual and not to serious which can also be taken from their facial expressions where the female on the left has a slight smirk on as if she is laughing and the female model on the right who is simply smiling, as most R&B artists are portrayed to be calm and outgoing and also fun as seen most their music most of the time. The male model in the middle has a slight smile also but is dressed in an informal way wearing a slightly puffy jacket like the models of the front cover image as he is the rapper of the group. He has his arms around the two female models which suggest to the reader that they are a close group.

The first image most likely represents teenagers who like to be in groups that most of the times are perceived as trouble makers involved in gang activity, these groups usually like the rap genre of music. The second image mostly represents the smartly dressed and fun, outgoing teenagers of today’s society who largely listen to rhythm & blues music.

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

My media product is a music magazine which uses many forms and conventions of a real music magazine today.  In order to ensure my magazine looked as professional as possible I first looked at the genre of music my magazine would focus on and the colours I was to use to best represent my magazine in order to set the whole tone. The genre I would base my magazine on was Rap and Rhythm & Blues and knowing the genre I knew that it’s not seen as boring but lively, cool, edgy, simple and others. From this I chose the main colour scheme of my magazine to include the colours of white, black, grey and red, with the red to be the outstanding colour as the colours white, black and grey would mould together calmly. The colour scheme is one of the focal points when thinking about the design of a music magazine, they may also relate to the features included to the magazine. Also when choosing the colour I took into consideration the main image I was planning to use for my front cover as my models wore puffy and slightly luminous jackets one was blue and the other black, I thought the whole colours scheme chosen would best show off my models. These are factors taken into consideration in the making of a real music magazine so my methods follow the usual conventions of a music magazine

The name of my music magazine is “The Sound”. The font used for my Masthead is not seen anywhere else in the magazine to keep it bold, original and ensure it stands out from the cover lines on the front page; the size of the masthead also helps this.  My mast head is made up of two fonts, with the only other font being used on one letter in the masthead the “S”. This was done in order to have that letter stand out from the rest as to ensure that it is remembered because that letter “S” would be used a lot in the identifying of the magazine almost like a logo as seen on the contents page where I use the letter to cover the whole page but at a low opacity to ensure that the contents of the page is still seen clearly.

As directed my models wore clothing Typical to music artists of the magazines genre in today’s industry to ensure that my models looked and feel like as if they were real music artists in my main image and that this was clearly shown and interpreted by my target audience which would most like likely be predominantly teenagers to people into their 30’s. On a Real music magazine it is usual for the name of the artists used in the front covers main image to be included on the front cover itself as it is with mine following a convention of music magazines. Another way in which I followed conventions of a real music magazine was to put my barcode and price on the front cover of my magazine but placed as to not interfere with the image or cover lines in anyway.

For my contents page I made it in an unconventional way not really following how most music magazines would layout the page. Although I used a few images with page numbers to show where certain articles would be in the magazine as well as one that would be seen as an exclusive. A few words from the editor as seen in a few music magazine contents page was placed in the bottom corner of my magazine also. And as usual in magazines a list of features and their page numbers for easy location in the magazine.

My Double page spread has as typical in most music magazines a nice image of the artist or group that the spread focuses on nice and big, which can sometimes take up to a whole half of the double page and a little into the other half as does mine. The double page spread also has a written article of the group explaining what heir about, what the article is for and is focusing on about the group. The written part of the spread is not to interfere with the main image like on the front cover of the magazine. As I had seen in a few music magazines a quote from the main artist o r group would be in the double page spread in a different font and usually colour to draw attention it, I employed this idea in to my double page spread, the same font and colour is used also for the name of the group placed on top of the image but at the bottom as to not interfere with the image still, following conventions of a music magazine double page spread.

Music Magazine Double Page Spread

Music Magazine Contents Page

Music Magazine Front Cover