Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Evaluation - Question 2
Transcript:
Linking to
NRS, most of my audience will be working class as most of them will be students
attending college or university. So doing this, it will be affordable as most
of them may not be working or employed. My audience will range from age 16 to
32. Most of them will be teens and young adults. My model represents the
audience of the magazine as he is a black male and they are the type of people
that are the most likely to listen to r’n’b and hip hop. By doing this, it
reinforces the codes and conventions of the genre. However it is aimed at both
male and females as lots of females do listen to r’n’b music. The back story
for my model is that he ‘started from the bottom’ as he has been working his
way up to get to where he is. This is anchored by when he says on the front
cover of the magazine “I’ve finally made it” showing that not all teenagers are
stereotypically lazy and can’t be bothered to do anything. He represents that
if you believe in yourself you can achieve great things in life.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
Evaluation Draft
- In
what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My magazine
name is "Major" and it is of the genre Hip hop and r'n'b. I decided
on this genre as it is the genre I felt most comfortable with as I am one of
the main audiences for that type of music and it’s the type I listen most to. I
also chosen that name because the genre is very huge and popular in the music
industry and also it makes my magazine stand out from the rest with such a bold
title. The name also relates to music as well. I chose many names such as
"Musik", "Example" but eventually I found one that felt
right for the magazine as I wanted one related to music and the genre. I did a
lot of research about the genres and the magazines within it. For my case
studies I looked at a hip hop magazine and a rock magazine, “XXL” and “Q”. I
got inspiration from both of them but most from XXL because it contains the
genre I am working with. I got inspired by factors such as colours, layout,
cover lines, shot types and many more. As you can see I used most of the
colours xxl has used like red, white and black. This is because these are very
simple but powerful colours as the complement each other very well. They do not
clash or make one harder to see than another however I decided to add yellow
instead of the gold that is shown on the cover. This is because I wanted to
make my magazine stand out as much as possible by using a bright fourth colour
as with the other reasons it goes very well with the other colours. For my
model I used a medium shot as did xxl with jay z because I wanted to show as
much of him as possible but without taking up too much space on the cover. He
is in that pose because it links to the cover line “I’ve finally made it” and
is wearing sunglasses to represent a bright future. I have both conformed and
broken the rules of the stereotype of the hip hop and r’n’b genre by have a
black male on the front cover. This is because this is the type of person that
is most related to the genre as he represents most of the audience and the
artists. However other artists have more representation of power with things
like money, gold chains and other jewellary while my model stays bare. I made the masthead go behind my model as I
wanted to big attention to him but I still made the masthead viewable like in
the xxl magazine. I added a skyline and different colour cover lines to make it
look very eye catching. I made the name of the artist big and bold making it
stand out like jay z’s in the xxl magazine.
For my
contents page I decided to make a double page spread instead of a single page.
I’ve done this as I realised from my preliminary task that a single page of
contents is differently not a lot of space. Especially because I have a lot of
stuff to add to get the best grade possible. I’ve added many images and extra
information the two pages. The main image of the contents page is the one of
the left which is of me. I am a young black male just like the main model of
the magazine; this is because I represent the audience of the magazine and both
of the music genres. Therefore making the image stand out and catch the eyes of
the readers reinforces the fact that the magazine is a hip hop and r’n’b one.
The pose I am doing connotes that I am having fun which reflects the music. Hip
hop is very lively and is very dance worthy and this is shown through the iconography
of the picture. I’ve added social media links because it is a big part of mist
young people’s lives and it would widen the audience of the magazine and
benefit them as they can see what is going on without even reading. I kept the
colour scheme consistent as it makes the whole magazine flow very well. This
was concerned the best part of the three parts of my magazine from the feedback
I got from my peers. This is because of the clear layout which is major
improvement from my previous contents page I made for my preliminary. This
proves that doing a double page was very appropriate for my music magazine. I
have an image of drake and my sister on the top right of the second page. This
fits in perfectly with the magazine as it is a hip hop and r’n’b one, as he is
one of most famous artist from the genres this was highly appropriate. This
would definitely attract my audience to read the magazine. I laid out my
contents pages in a similar style to one of my case studies “Q” magazine. As
you can see I have one main image on the first contents page and with lots of
other images around on the second contents. I also did the text in a similar
design too as I found it very clean and easy to see where everything is.
Although it is of a different genre the layout was still a very good
inspiration and helped me improve from my college magazine contents page. I
made the text and editorials different colours to make it stand out as well as
the images while still using the same colour scheme. I’ve added simple conventions
of a contents page such as page numbers on the corners and on the images too,
contents title, and headlines for each of them too.
I’ve laid
out my double page spread in a very similar way to “XXL” double page spread for
jay z. One side has the main title and the journalistic text while the other
side has the main image and the pull quote supporting the text and the image. I
kept the magazine flowing by using the same colour scheme and all the
conventions of a double page spread as well as the conventions of a magazine. I
used a similar layout to the xxl magazine because I found it simple yet very
effective. For example I put the title behind a black background while having
the journalistic text underneath. I wanted to separate them from the image as
it would be too much and might overwhelm the reader, making them not want to
read the article. I used the same model from the front cover on the double page
spread as “xxl” did as he is the main attraction. This is because he is
probably the reason the audience would pick up the magazine so it would be
right to put him on the main article. The first page includes the name of the
main model and description about the text below. The text is an interview that
includes seven questions which is in red and answers which is in black. This is
so the reader knows which is which and does not get confused. One the second
page I added a pull quote from the interview as it anchors the main photo. He is
seen looking to one side while laughing while the quote denotes “They thought I
would never make it here”. This tells the readers that he is laughing at the
people that didn’t believe in him and now he is where they thought he would
never get to. This links to the main theme of the article which is, if you
believe and work hard enough you will get to where you want to be. This will
inspire young readers to follow him and give them the confidence to believe in themselves
too. I added the usual conventions such as the page numbers, magazine title and
website. In addition I added credit to the photographer who took the main
image. To be honest I added this because it slightly filled in the page.
2.
How does
your media product represent particular social groups?
Linking to
NRS, most of my audience will be working class as most of them will be students
attending college or university. So doing this, it will be affordable as most
of them may not be working or employed. My audience will range from age 16 to
32. Most of them will be teens and young adults. My model represents the
audience of the magazine as he is a black male and they are the type of people
that are the most likely to listen to r’n’b and hip hop. By doing this, it
reinforces the codes and conventions of the genre. However it is aimed at both
male and females as lots of females do listen to r’n’b music. The back story
for my model is that he ‘started from the bottom’ as he has been working his
way up to get to where he is. This is anchored by when he says on the front
cover of the magazine “I’ve finally made it” showing that not all teenagers are
stereotypically lazy and can’t be bothered to do anything. He represents that
if you believe in yourself you can achieve great things in life.
- What
kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine
will be sold through retail stores such as Sainsburys, Asda. As well as
newsstand which other music magazines are sold too. This is because it would be much easier for
the younger audience, for example teenagers to access and much more convenient
too.
I will be
available to read online as it will attract a lot more people from the
magazines audience. As we live in a technology age where most people would find
it easy and more enjoyable to read on the computer, phone or even tablet. This
would be very useful for young adults (university students) as they are
probably employed.
This is the
last way to get the magazine and it is very quick and easy. this is too make a
customer know for sure that they will getting every new issue, even before it
is offically realised in stores. This will be online as well as to their doorstop.
I selected
this publisher because it was very suitable for my choice of genre for my music
magazine. This is an American publisher and because R'n'B/HipHop is hugely
popular there it, I thought it would only be appropriate for them to be my
publisher. They're also the publishers of 'XXL' which was one my case studies.
This is one
of the magazine companies that 'Harries Publisher'. This is similar to my
magazine so it was a right choice.
4.
Who would be the
audience for your media product?
Teenagers
/ Young Adults
Female (35%)Male
(65%)
Age
The age
of the target audience is 16-34 but the main ages would be people in their
20's. this is the age most people would be able to relate to the lyrics of the
music of the genre.
SecondaryCollegeUniversity0102030
Education
The
higher the education instition the more likely the people would actually buy
the magazine. This could be due to the fact that the older people get the
interested they are.
16 -
2526-34
Example :
Nicholas
-Lives in
London. -From the Caribbean (Jamaican) -Aged 20 -Interested in women -Very live
and out going -Loves to party and socialise
5.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I have used
(Dermarion Brown) for my main model as he is black and male which represents
who most of the audience would be. He also is a teenager which a lot of the
audience are. He represents a stereotypical hip hop and R'n'B listener and most
of the actual hip hop and R'n'B artist in the music industry. So using him to
attract my target audience to my magazine was a good a idea as most of them
would identify with him. He is wearing a hoodie and some jeans as most black
males which anchors the point of representing the actual audience.
I have used
the colours red, white and black which are similarly used in both of my case
studies which was "XXL" and "Q" so I have taken inspiration
from those magazines. I have also added yellow as it is a very eye catching
colour. This is so people will take a second glance thus dragging the audience
attention.
Most of the
magazines audience are young adults and teenagers which similarly are the
people that use social media the most. We live in a period where all of this
can be accessed with a click of a button so to make it easy to keep up to date
with the magazine so "Major" has social media accounts such as
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. It also has a website with links to
all of them and even more information. This makes it much easier for the audience
to interact with the magazine itself.
6.
What have you learnt
about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I used this
to upload all my AS Media coursework to. You can post almost anything to
blogger which is why it's such a great way to keep all your work in check.
People can also view my work and give me feedback by commenting, which i can
then edit my work. I found blogger very useful for these reasons and that its
was very easy to use and not complicated. Because of this, posting was never a
problem which made it quick to get into the habit of uploading my work to my
blog regularly.
I used this
to create my front page and edit images and fonts used for the rest of my
magazine. In GSCE media i used this software to create a CD cover however it
took me a while to get used how to use it. I have learnt many things about
photoshop this time around, such as alignment, brightness, contrast, effects,
erase and how to layer properly. This software was very appropriate for a front
cover because of all those tools and options. It took time but eventually i got
my front cover to actually look like a magazine which made me confident about
the rest of my magazine.
This was
very similar to photoshop although at the same time it was different. I've
never used indesign before this course so it took a good while to get used to
everything that the software had to offer. I used this to create my contents
page and my double page spread. I learnt so much and eventually it became much
more easier to use than photoshop. This was due to the fact that used it more
regularly as i made both my contents and dps using this software. i found that
indesign was laid out better and felt more user friendly than photoshop in my
opinion. This was because of the amount of different options there were to
choose from. One thing that bothered me about the software was the fact that
when placing images during construction they would be pixelated and remain that
way until it was exported as a JPEG but other than that, it was very much a
pleasure.
I took
pictures for my magazine in the photography studio. I used a Nikon D-7000
(DSLR) for this and it was pretty simple to use for the most part as I actually
do photography. I had to take some notes about the camera and the whole studio
before shooting. This includes notes about lighting effects and options on the
actual camera.
I also
learned about the different angles and shots for our pictures. If I didn't get
this right, it could potentially affect my whole image. For each of the pages
for the magazine there were different standards required such as different
angles and shot types.
I used this
to present my magazine proposal to my peers and teacher. I've never used this
program before so it actually was a bit tricky to use at the start. But
eventually I got the hang of it as I would. It's actually very fun and
interactive for making presentations, such as adding lots of media like images,
videos but it is much more advanced than powerpoint.
I didn't use
this for my magazine, as I was planning to. I planned to make my masthead using
this software but I found it too difficult and ending up finding out I could do
it in photoshop instead. However using this gave me inspiration of what i
wanted my masthead to look like.
Timetoast
was used to enter all my deadlines for all my tasks. It definatly helped as I
would check it regularly and make sure I am up to date with all of my work.
7.
Looking
back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
In my
preliminary task, I’ve had very little idea on how to make a magazine. One of
the developments ive made is my photography. This picture for my magazine was
taken with a Samsung galaxy s4 and the image was zoomed in for the magazine
which made it very low quality. As you can see it is very blurred and is
definately not a good image for a magazine cover. Another thing I improved on
is location choice. This was taken outside of my college and as you can see the
background does not fit the magazine at all. It doesn’t go with the colours
I’ve chosen and it is very gloomy and dark. This takes away the attraction from
the magazine and makes it looks less appealing then actually planned. Finally
my photoshop skills where not the best when i constructing the college
magazine. As you can see the colours for the masthead, cover lines, skyline
etc, do not go with the background. I didn’t add any effects or edit the image
at all as I was not very confident when using the software. It looks very
unprofessional but it was my first attempt at making a front cover of a
magazine.
There have
been a many improvements from my college magazine to my music magazine by the
photography, the photoshop skills and other little decisions that have been
made to make it look the best it possibly can. First improvement is the
photography; the image was taken in the photography studio with a Nikon. With
the set such as the backdrop and the lighting it made it much more suitable for
a magazine cover. Another development
was my photoshop skills; I’ve gotten more confident when using the software and
actually started experimenting with the editing technics. I fixed the main
image by adjusting the brightness, contrast and the saturation as the original
was too dark and had too many shadows. I also started playing with effects such
as adding drop shadows to the cover lines and the masthead. Finally the simple
decisions such as the colour scheme were definatly an improvement as it sits
the magazine. As well as where to place the cover lines and the sizing of each
piece of text. Overall all this has made the final product much better than the
college magazine.
In my
opinion my college magazine contents page is much better than my college front
cover. However the two are very different, so much they look like two separate
magazines. Different colour scheme, layout and appearance. I was more confident
using indesign as appose to photoshop as I find it much easier to use. This is due to the clearer layout and it is
less intimidating because you know exactly where everything is. There are also
some downfalls to my contents page as it looks very blocky and too crammed
together. This is because everything was done on a single page instead of a
double page. If I did a double, everything would be much more spaced out and
much clearer to see all the text and pictures. Some of the text blocks are even
on top of the two images. Some of the text isn’t even clear due to the colour
I’ve chosen, for example the white text does not go well with the grey
background.
On to my
music magazine contents page which turned out really well in the end. As this
was my third time using indesign and I have mad many improvements from the
second time. Firstly the layout is so much better, it is very clear as the
space was used. You can see the text and the images because I paid close attention
to where to place them and what colours to use for each of the text used. This
was so I didn’t make the same mistakes I made when making the college. This was
a possible because I decided to use a double page instead of a single page. This has enabled me to add more images and
information such as the social media links, website masthead logo and more
columns. I used mostly dark colours for the text as the background is very
light.
In
conclusion I have improved a huge deal from the preliminary task all the way to
now, in more ways than one. For example my photography skills and decision
making improved, such as what angles and shot types use when taking photos.
This includes where to take the photos and how it will affect the rest of the
magazine. My software skills developed when using photoshop and indesign like
how to edit certain images and text. Where to place items and how they will
affect the rest of the project, such as the photos and the text.
Friday, 9 January 2015
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