Final post - images

This final post is updating our original decision to have every photo in our music magazine in black and white with an item in purple pulled through. We have decided that we no longer wish to include this feature in all of the photos in our music magazine. We made this decision because we felt that it ran the risk of becoming repetitive, boring and predictable; making each page look too similar. Therefore, we have instead decided that every issue of the magazine will have the image on the contents page in this style. This way, our idea of conveying brand identity through photography is still in place, and our magazine is less predictable and more colourful!

EVALUATION: Question 7 - 'Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?'

These are the images from my two front covers; the left is from my preliminary task and the right from my music magazine main task. I think that I have learned a lot from devising my preliminary task, and have used what I learned in order to create a front cover for my music magazine which was a lot more interesting and professional looking. My preliminary task is not very visually interesting; the most obvious difference is the typography. Since creating my preliminary task, I have learned about Paul Fenton's Typography rules; and I have therefore thought more carefully about the font styles that I used on my front cover. I learned that it is perfectly acceptable to use different fonts on a page; the use of a lot of different fonts not only makes the page look more interesting, but also helps to create some brand identity to some extent. Using different fonts and colours finally has the effect of exaggerating certain words and features, drawing attention to them. Secondly, I learned more about the mode of address of a magazine from creating my preliminary task. I learned that certain buzz words need to be used in order to really attract an audience to a certain feature, and therefore I used words such as 'exclusive' and 'bonus feature' on my music magazine front cover; something which I learned not only from creating my preliminary task but also from studying the conventions of other music magazines. My knowledge of the use of box outs on the front cover was expanded after completing my preliminary task; on my school magazine none of the cover lines really stood out very much, and had I tried to experiment with box outs more then perhaps this could have been different.

 

With regard to my contents pages, I thought more carefully about the layout of the page. With my preliminary task, I unintentionally made it very simplistic, something which - had I done the task again I would have thought more carefully about. My target audience for my preliminary task was school children, and therefore it would not have suited them to have a contents page in a magazine that was so basic and conventional; childrens' lives are busy, and my contents page should have reflected this. With my main task, I previously looked at other contents pages on the internet in order to gain inspiration from them - as I have explained in previous posts. By doing this, and by thinking more carefully about my target audience, I have been able to make my music magazine more appropriate and professional looking for my ideal reader. With regard to the images on my contents pages, I learned from my preliminary task and the study of the conventions of other contents pages before creating my music magazine that contents pages tend to be very busy so as to attract the attention of the reader as much as possible. I included one main image on both of my pages, but with my music magazine I positioned the image so that it was part of the page and also added other images such as a photo of each of the editors as well as examples of pages found in the magazine. Through learning about the conventions of other music magazines, I have also learned about the use of the eyeline of the model in images in order to attract attention to other areas of the page. I have conveyed this knowledge in my contents page, as my model is looking at the images of features in the magazine, so as to draw attention to them. Finally, I did not frame any of the shots on my preliminary task. On printing it I realised that the images did not really stand out very well, and decided to include frames on the rest of the images that I used in my music magazine. This can be seen most obviously on my features page, where I have put a white background around some images so that they look like polaroid pictures; I also anchored these images in a serif font in order to add to this polaroid idea. However, I also framed the images of the features pages on my contents page; this made my page look more professional as well as making the images stand out further.

Through creating my school magazine, I have learned the above techniques and applied my new ideas and knowledge in order to create a more realistic and professional looking main task; a music magazine.

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

The following are the images which I took for my music magazine. I have only included the ones which I used in my final product.

Features page images

 

 

Contents page

Front cover

The most obvious use of technology throughout the creation of my music magazine is that of a camera. We used a simple digital camera in order to take the images. We decided against using other, related equipment such as a tripod, predominantly for the reason that we wanted to experiment with taking the images from different angles. Tripods are used in order to create a stiller image, and therefore had we chosen to use one we may have created images which were more professional looking. However, using a tripod may have inhibited our ability to experiment with various camera angles and shot lengths; for example - especially during the shoot for the images of our contents page - we often took the images from on the ground or from a height, in order to create some variation in our images. Had we tried to use a tripod, we could not necessarily have achieved these variations, and though this may have made our photos look more professional, they may not have been as visually interesting.

In terms of software used to edit my images, I have learned a lot from the programmes I have used to do so. I used Microsoft Publisher in order to create my magazine, and used programmes including Paint and Windows Photo Gallery in order to edit them. We decided that we wanted the images in our music magazine to show some of the brand identity of the magazine; we wanted to put each photo in black and white and highlight one item as purple in order to convey the house colours of the magazine. I used Photo Gallery in order to do this; I changed the colour of the photo to Sepia, also altering the contrast so that the images were clearer and more professional looking. Creating another layer on the image, I changed the transparency of this image, selected an item and then chose the colour of the image on this second layer. The most obvous example of this in my magazine is on the contents page, where I have edited the model's shoes to be of a clearer and more exaggerated purple colour.

I have also used various programmes through the internet in order to move forward with the production of my music magazine. I regularly use the social networking site Facebook in order to interact with my friends, but until this project I had never used sites such as Slideshare, SurveyMonkey or even Blogger! I have, by using these sites, expanded my knowledge of not only these individual sites but also of the vast opportunities available on the internet. The site which I have learned the most from is arguably SurveyMonkey. The ability to not only create and customise your own personal survey, but also to chose how to distribute and analyse it has been very useful to me personally, and I intend to use my account often!

We did not really experiment much with lighting equipment in our photos, as we thought carefully about the settings for the images and generally altered the contrast and brightness of the images after they were taken if necessary. However, in the photos for our contents page we thought more carefully about the lighting equipment that we used; we put two spotlights onto a black background and saw that this created an interesting shadow effect. When we took the flash off the camera we were using, this created the perfect lighting for our image, with the shadow from the light cast onto the white floor that the model lay on. This helped me to more carefully consider not only lighting, but the effects of the lighting on the backgrounds featured in photographs.



Media Blog: EVALUATION Question 5 " How did you attract/ addre...

The above is a video which answers question five of our evaluation. We thought that by creating  a video, this would enable us to be more creative when evaluating our work; we were able to interview a member of our target audience, which was obviously useful as we were able to get feedback from someone who would ideally purchase the magazine. We also discuss the use of programmes such as SurveyMonkey, and the creation of our reader profiles, with regard to helping us create our magazines and make them as appealing as possible to our target audience.

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

This picture is an example of my ideal reader; a teenage girl. I have previously detailed the interests of my ideal reader, in the post containing my reader profile.

My ideal reader's main interests are shown on my reader profile (see left); an average teenage girl is typically interested in makeup, fashion, music, celebrities and boys. Girls who are interested in fashion would typically purchase clothes in high street stores such as River Island, Topshop and New Look, as these stores provide clothes that are fashionable and reasonably priced - two essential factors. They would typically watch trending TV shows such as The Inbetweeners, Skins, Glee and The X Factor; as these are shows which involve people who they can identify with and are also shows which people talk about. They would listen to music which - similarly - is in the charts at the moment, again to create a talking point with people. A lot of teenage girls may also be interested in finding new artists who have not yet been discovered, so as to further create discussions with others. Influential artists such as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are seen as role models to many teenage girls, and so this female pop genre is currently very popular.

 

This 'ideal reader' would buy my magazine because it has everything that interests them in it; the latest up and coming artists and producers, exclusive interviews with the most inspirational and famous stars and the gossip on artists. It is also reasonably priced at £2.50, so it will not 'break the bank' if bought weekly!

EVALUATION - Question 3: 'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?'

One of the best known magazine distributors is IPC. This company is responsible for the distribution of one of the world's most popular music magazines; NME.

Obviously as NME is a music magazine, this automatically means that it has factors in common with my own magazine, the clearest of these being the genre: music. However, the ideology of NME is also similar with that of my own music magazine, FML. I drew inspiration from the name of 'NME'; I thought that it was a catchy and memorable name for a magazine, especially seeing as it is consists only of three letters. The ideology of NME is also similar to that of my own magazine. For example, the full name of NME is the New Musical Express. This magazine promises to give it's audience the latest updates in new music, bringing the most interesting new artists and exclusive interviews. This is very similar to my own magazine; on the front cover alone there is promise of a feature on the most exciting new producers in music, as well as an exclusive and rare interview with a fictional and respected artist.

IPC also distributes well known lifestyle magazines such as Look and Marie Claire. These magazines are often focussed on the latest celebrity gossip, trends and lifestyles; something which teenage girls are typically interested in. The fact that IPC distributes these magazines further shows that it would be an appropriate distributor for my own magazine, as my magazine also has elements of lifestyle magazines, particularly in the interviews whereby a lot of the questions ask focus on artists' personal lives so as to have maximum appeal to the teenage girls that the magazine is intended for.

One of the latest processes involving the distribution of NME through IPC Media was the Sack the DJ partnership with Dell computers. This was a competition in which the audience had to compile a playlist of the songs they would pick if they were DJing, with an opportunity of playing the playlist to an audience at a Club NME destination somewhere around the world. This process enabled the audience to interact with and be a part of the magazine; one of the most important parts of a magazine is making the audience feel as though they are part of an exclusive community. My magazine offers exclusive prizes known as 'FML Freebies' as a means of including the audience in the community of the magazine, and therefore this further demonstrates that not only FML and NME have more in common, but also that IPC Media would be a very appropriate distributor for my magazine.

I also researched into other well-known magazine publishers. One of the examples that I found was Rhinegold Publishing - the information screen for which I have shown on the right of this paragraph. This publishing company specialises in classical music, and is one of the leading publishers in this sector. Due to the fact that this company specialises in classical music, it would not be appropriate for the distribution of my own magazine, because this it does not discuss this particular genre of music. Therefore, my first choice for distribution would be IPC advertising, for the reasons shown above.

EVALUATION - Question 2: 'How does your media product represent particular social groups?' INSERT CONTENTS PHOTO

This image (LEFT) is the image from which we drew the inspiration for our contents page. Before constructing our music magazine, we decided to search the internet using Google Images, in order to find inspiration. We typed “music magazine contents page” into the search bar, and this was one of the images that came up.

We were immediately drawn to this image due to its individuality – the pose that the model is positioned in is very visually interesting. On studying the image in more detail, we also agreed that we liked the overall layout of the page; the model’s position in relation to the text in particular. The main attraction to us was the fact that the image fitted around the text; with the text fitting in perfectly between the model’s legs and head, as her legs were stretched out above her so that she was in an ‘L’ shape. We also liked the overall expression and connotations of the photo. The model in the photo looked very glamourous, and as the shot was in an almost sepia tone this created a very classy look; something that we decided we wanted to recreate. The glamour of the photograph was something that we were especially interested in imitating. Our magazine is specifically intended for teenage girls, and one of the passions of teenage girls is looking good, using methods such as makeup and clothes. This is seen on my reader profile, where I have included images of various makeup items and well-known high street stores such as Topshop and River Island. Our image is taken from a slightly different angle, as we did not want to exactly imitate the image above, but simply draw inspiration from it and make it our own. All of the images in our magazine are in black and white, with one item in purple, so as to create some individuality and brand identity for our magazine. In this case, we chose to have the shoes that the model wears in purple, as this drew the most attention in our opinions. We also slightly altered the image; having the model listening to an iPod so as to reiterate the musical genre of the magazine. In terms of mise en scene, we had the model wearing simple high-waisted shorts and a top, as we wanted to appeal to the target audience as much as possible. By having our model wear clothes from the high street, we are appealing to and representing them more because they have a budget when buying clothes, and therefore often cannot afford the latest designer clothes; models wearing designer clothes can be offputting to teenage girls as they feel inferior due to the lack of money which comes with young age. We placed our model on a white floor against a black background, and used spotlights to create a shadow against it, making our photo look more professional and classy. The price of my magazine (£2.50), is also a representation of my target audience; as it is not overly expensive for a weekly magazine, something which is important for teenagers because they obviously cannot afford to spend a lot of money every week on a magazine. The interest in new music of my target audience is represented in my magazine through features on the most exciting new artists and producters; this indicates the fact that my target audience are open to discovering and supporting new musical talents.

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

My music magazine uses many conventions of other music magazines. The most obvious convention followed is that my magazine solely concentrates on the music industry, though it does not necessarily focus entirely on the artists performing the music like some other music magazines. For example, my magazine also features some music producers and music moguls (see contents page), and this could therefore be seen as a challenge of this convention. There are conventions which can be seen – for example – on my front cover and contents page, and these are used basically and typically. Examples of such conventions are a masthead, list of features, headline and byline. By using these conventions, I have almost created a brand identity, as I have made it obvious first and foremost that my media product is a magazine, but also, on further analysing these conventions, I have made it obvious that my magazine is of the music genre; for example the list of features on the contents page includes ‘on repeat; the week’s hottest singles’ and ‘live and loud; your guide to gigs’.

There are also some conventions which I have developed in my own music magazine. For example, on my front cover, next to the barcode there is a small quotation which is visible. This quotation is a lyric by the artist featured on my front cover, and this is a development and imitation of an idea that I saw on the cover of an edition of NME. I decided to use this as I thought that it would create some brand identity for my product, making it more original and memorable. I also hoped that it would give some insight into the type of artist that is featured on my front cover.

One of the main challenges in my magazine is the fact that I only have one real image on my contents page (apart from the photos of my features pages). Though this is not necessarily a traditional convention of magazine contents page, most of the contents pages that I looked at for research had at least three different images on them. I decided to challenge this convention as I felt that the image featured was such a strong photo that it needed a page to itself in order to create a maximum impact. As my features page is quite busy, I wanted my contents page to be a lot more simplistic, and therefore this is why I chose not to include more than one image.

Below is a slideshow which I devised in order to further analyse the conventions of my music magazine.

Media as coursework – music magazine evaluation

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