Evaluation Question 7.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I have learnt about the production of magazines.  I have progressed a lot from producing my preliminary task of a school magazine. I have learnt a lot with the software we have used. I have used Photoshop a lot in the production of my music magazine. I am more used to using Photoshop now, but when I was producing my preliminary task I was not used to it at all. With using it more I have become more confident with the tools being used. Also in the progression I have learnt how to format a contents page properly.

In my preliminary task my contents page was basic with a simple masthead, images and text on the stories being featured in that magazine.  With my music magazine I have changed this I wanted to keep it a simple design but one that looks professional. Below is my front cover for my school magazine, I believe this is still of a good standard for a school magazine however there are some areas that could be improved. I feel much more confident to create a new magazine and have learnt new skills which I can use in the future.

Evaluation Question 6.

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

When constructing my music magazine I used such technologies as Photoshop. Using this tool was a great benefit to my finished product. It is a complicated tool but after a while of using this tool I found it easy and was comfortable to use it. It was the best package to edit my photos on as using other software’s for it would not be as good as the standard of Photoshop I found using such tools as the lasso tool which allows to crop photos with more precision.

I found using this a great benefit as I had to crop two of my main photos down to a size were they would fit in with the size I needed. For little touches e.g. background I used tools such as spot healing. This was also a useful tool to be used as if there was anything in the background or even in the main image than it could just be spot healed over. If I didn’t use Photoshop to edit my photos then I believe they would be of a low quality and effect the target audience I know this for a fact as if they were not to be edited then it would change majority of the front cover.

Evaluation Question 5.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

To attract my target audience 16-22 I have included on my front cover artists that people of that age will know and recognize on a front cover. To expand on an older generation I have included the group I have interviewed and inserted their name onto the front of it, any fans of an older style of old school hip hop would recognize this name and want to read it. Also to attract the correct audience for my magazine I had to make sure I did not use inappropriate colours e.g. bright pinks. This would confuse readers on the genre of the magazine as it would not fit in with the rest of the magazine. When creating my contents page this was an area which could attract an audience as it will show what is in the magazine. I had appropriate images inserted into it to link with the story.

Evaluation Question 4.

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

For my music magazine I have set my target audience at 16-22. I have chosen this age group as I believe it to be the biggest audience for hip hop readers. As I have explained in my target audience post on my blog, my magazine will be predominately aimed at a male audience, however also females because there is a large percentage of females who will read hip hop magazines, also because there are a few female rap artists so this will make them want to read it.

Evaluation Question 3.

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

The type of media institution that would distribute my music magazine would be well known newsagents. This would give people in residential areas more availability to get the magazine so it is available to more. I would also distribute my media product through an online distributor. This will appeal to more as there would be more people using the internet so if the online distributor advertises its website then they will get more subscriptions towards their magazines they distribute. An example of one of these websites that distribute a wide range of magazines would be Worldwide Magazine Distribution the link to their website is below. They have a wide range of all magazines including music, cooking and cars.

http://specialistmags.co.uk/

Evaluation Question 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My hip hop music magazine represents social groups of a teenage and early 20s. I set my target audience at 16-22. I have aimed it a male audience but as it features female artists on the contents it can also be aimed at females as well.  I believe my magazine will also attract attention of an older generation of hip hop fans as well as my main story features a story with a hip hop group from the 80s & 90s. My front cover will attract the audience of an older generation as my main image I have used for my front cover will make them think about that certain group that has been interviewed.

Evaluation Question 1.

1 in what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For my AS project I have been asked to create a music magazine which goes in line with a chosen genre, a front cover, contents page and double page spread.  My music magazine follows most conventions found in Hip Hop magazines, I know this as I have carried out research on numerous styles of hip hop magazines.  I have mainly been looking at hip hop magazines such as XXL and Vibe. I mainly focused on XXL down to the fact it is solely hip hop and is always up to date with its stories.

                                                                                                                 

 

When researching similar magazines, I found this front cover. I wanted to use this convention of simplicity in the layout of my magazine. Like the magazine above it is a simplistic layout to it. One of my conventions to my music magazine was its masthead for the front cover. I already knew that it had to be eye catching to readers. I wanted a masthead that would be clear to read but also have an edge about it. I noticed in my research I gathered, there is a high frequency of front covers with the colours red, white and some parts black mainly for text however. As you can see from the front cover above there is not a lot of text in this issue of XXL, I wanted to challenge this because also I didn’t want to have too much text as it would look boring for readers. Another way in which my  media product uses conventions found in real media products would be the font used for my main front cover. I carried a fair bit of research on this area because it would be the first thing a reader would read and notice is the font, I wanted it to be clear to read. I used this idea for my front cover using an Adobe styled font.

When producing my Contents page I kept it to the normal. I didn’t want to do something random that would not work. I wanted to keep it simple but still keeping a professional edge to it as well. I wanted to keep the same conventions as found in industry standard music magazines. I realised they use a lot of images to advertise stories within the magazine. They will include usually 4 or 5 images including the main image which is usually linking with the main image as it is the most important one.  When carrying out my research of magazines I found the majority of contents pages just stick with the original title of `Contents`. I decided to use this also as I believe it is the best option sticking with the other magazines. It is clear what page it is being Contents so there would be no confusion when looking at the page.

                                           

 

Above is a contents page from a Vibe magazine. I researched into vibe magazines as they are different to the usual contents page. I liked how they had laid out their mast head and split it into three lines. This is an effective way to make the masthead stand out to the readers. For my contents page I wanted to challenge this convention as it was easily read so I researched into styles of fonts for my masthead, I finally had five ideas for this and evaluated them all and whittled them down to one. I am happy with my final font as I believe it is effective to catching the reader’s attention.

When producing my double page spread I had a clear idea what I wanted from it. When looking at multiple double pages spreads I noticed that the majority of magazines with double page spread stories have one full page of the text, and then the second half of the pages with a main image. I looked at such magazines as Vibe as they had interesting ideas for double page spreads. For my music magazine I wanted to use this convention of a main image and then text on one side. Below is the double page spread from a Vibe magazine, it features the artist T.I.

Below is my finished Double page spread for my music magazine. I wanted to have an introduction to the interview with the group triple Three so I had an introduction on the left side as it is the first side of the double page spread that a reader would read.  I am happy with this finished product as it is a clear layout. The text is of a clear standard and simple to read. I liked the layout of a white background with black text throughout it.

My Final Magazine Front Cover

This is my final front cover for my music magazine. I have made many alterations since my last post. I Recognized many errors and have improved on them.

Double page spread

This is my double page spread. I have based my double page spread off my group which I have named Triple Three. I created this spread on Microsoft Publisher. I found this package very useful to use when creating my double page spread as there are tools that are easy to access for when editing the pages. I had already pre planned the interview for my double page spread so it was easy inserting the text into the columns in the second page. I wanted to keep the majority of the interview text to one side of the double page spread as this is what I saw a lot in my research into double page spreads.  The only paragraph I have is on my first page and is a short introduction to the group triple three.  The main image I have used in my first page is one I took myself, I edited it in Photoshop. I wanted to follow on from my colour scheme like the one used in my contents page. I think it makes the whole page look more bold and stands out.

front cover Draft

Images below is my music front cover. The final one will be uploaded soon.

Contents Page Final

This is my final contents page. Looking from my research I wanted to keep some ideas from this to base my work off. I looked at such music magazines as XXL I wanted to keep it simple with the layout but keep it with a professional edge to it.  For this content page I have used two images which I took for my photo shoot linking them with the stories also in the contents page. I kept to a white and black background. I did not like the idea of using many colours as I thought It would make it look cheap. Reading my research I saw a lot of magazines using straight down columns for their contents pages. I liked this layout so decided to do the same for my magazine. I noticed throughout XXLs magazines they have the website of their magazine and also the date the magazine came out in. I have done this also into my music magazine as it fills in space and makes it look more professional. From my draft i have edited parts of this page. i have split the text into two parts to allow a larger image to be placed. I have also edited the layout for it to have a large F which links in with the title Fresh.

Contents Page Draft

This is my draft for my contents page for my music magazine. i have identified some mistakes here and going to correct this.

Double page spread Mock up

This is my double page spread I have created for my music magazine. Throughout my research I have found many techniques that are used in other hip hop magazines. I wanted to include this into the planning of my double page spread. I have created this mock up in Microsoft publisher. This is a basis to start for my actual double page spread.

Contents mock up

This is my mock up for my music magazine contents page. I have created this mock up on Publisher. It has been altered however as it has been sent through iPad email. This mock up is a base to start for my final finished piece of my music contents page that I will also create on publisher. I have created many mock ups beforehand so this final one for my contents page was simple to create.

Contributors Release Form

Above is my Contributors release form. This form had to been signed off by contributors for my music magazine photoshoot that i carried out in a live performance

Text idea 3

This is my last text idea. I like this idea the most as i believe it is the one that will be the most eye catching. I have given this title a underline with a dot to make it stand out more from the page. Out of all my ideas ihave produced i will use this idea.

Text ideas 2

This style is my second option of text. I have selected this text as i believe it will blend in with my colours for my background. It will suit the magazines layout as well, so i bleieve this to be a good option.

Text ideas

This is my first type of text I am considering using for my music magazine. This first idea is called Harabara and I am considering this text as it is a new modern style of text. I believe this style will suit my magazine genre of hip hop as it will go a lot with the photos i have chosen for my overall magazine.

Aanalysis of XXL Magazine front cover

This is a front cover of an XXL magazine. i chose this magazine as it suited my chosen music genre of Hip Hop. I found this front cover to have an interesting layout, there is a main image of the artist Dr.Dre the photo used for this front cover is interesting as it is him playing chess which makes you think why. Dr.Dre is looking straight into the camera which grabs reader’s attention. A standard red background with white block text is used for XXLs logo, with a white text for the masthead. I believe this is an effective front cover as it shows a world famous artist and also the colours are eye catching with the vibrant reds used.

Risk Assessment Forms

These are my Risk Assessment forms that I filled out for my magazine photo shoot. It is in place to access the risks involved with its photoshoot

Vibe magazine Double page spread

For my music magazine I researched into double page spreads. I found this one in a Vibe music magazine, it is of a hip h genre so was ideal for any ideas I needed. This double page spread is well spaced with its text being only on the right page. This story features TI the rapper, there is a main imagine of him on the left page of him looking right into the camera, this image draws readers in as it covers the majority of the page. The title of the feature being Summer Time links in with the rapper being TI which is a clever trick to edit in the text. There is a good use of colours in this double page spread which is a positive as would be boring for readers if there were just black and white colours running through the pages.

Vibe magazine Contents page

This is contents page is out of a Vibe magazine. Vibe is a hip hop magazine so it was appropriate to use this one. For this layout of the contents the majority of the text is at the right of the page with the title Contents spaced into three layers. This is a good effect to use as it makes the heading bolder and stands out from the other text used. There is as always in a vibe magazine contents page a huge V in the background which over shadows the main cover photo which is Kanye West standing with a arm reaching across him, this kind of image attracts readers as it makes the reader think what it's about. There is a main colour happening in this photo being a faded white and a light grey with black text

School Contents Page mock up

This is my school magazine contents page mock up. I found this useful when creating my final school magazine as a guideline as what to include into my finished work. I have included a main title being Contents page. I have inserted 3 boxes showing where I will put my 3 images i took around the school grounds. I have edited these photos in Photoshop. They all link in with the stories I have spoken about in the contents section.

Genre Moodboard

The Image below is my Mood board i have created in Word. I have created it with the Genre of Hip Hop in mind. It is clear from looking at it is a hip hop genre as I have included such images like famous artists, and high valued cars. Creating this mood board in Word was easy as i had my images saved in a file, and was then just down to inserting them into the space where i wanted them to be.

Magazine Name ideas

Through my research of my magazine, i have been looking at numerous varieties of different Hip Hop magazines, such as XXL magazine. I found helpful as i found looking at the different text style used with the masthead useful, i have now whittled it down to a few ideas, but still considering other names. My main idea is called fresh. I like this idea for many reasons. The first is that it is a name that gives the impression of new, being on top, being the best. I believe this to be helpful within my magazine. It gives off a new and stylish image so with Hip Hop this comes in handy with the image it gives off to readers.

For my second choice of names, i have chosen The Streets. With my magazine belonging to a Hip Hop genre i believe this to be a strong choice as it has clear links with the streets where hip hop began. With it being called the streets it would stand out from other magazines on the shelf. However i have found an error with this name when researching magazines. This would be that there is a band called the streets, so mistakes could be made with judgement between whether it is a fan magazine, or a hip hop magazine.

School magazine Text Ideas

For my school magazine, i wanted to choose a new more modern text to be used in its sub headings, so for this i found this text called Harabara. i found this text to be very useful for my ,magazine as it was different to more standard texts. it stands out from normal texts which has its own advantages.

For my second style of text, i found one called Optimus Princeps. i chose this as one of my options for text as it was a classic style of text. i wanted to see how it would fit in with my magazine.  i would of used it in a black style text as my headings for my school magazine.

School magazine Cover & Contents page

For my school magazine, i have designed a front cover and a contents page. I have designed both these pages on Microsoft Publisher, with this publisher I found it very easy to produce my pages as there were all the necessary tools to be used in publisher, for my first page I created a cover page, for this I inserted many images to help this page appeal to its audience. I used the schools logo and placed it in the top left corner.  For my cover photo I used a photo I took of the school previously. This photo fits in well of showing that the school is of an old style one as well. I have also included two other smaller photos at the bottom of my cover page to show what stories have been included into the magazine.

Also for my school magazine, I have created a contents page to go with my cover page. For this contents page I wanted to keep it simple as I thought if there was too much going on in the page then it would result in readers being confused and result in them not wanting to read it. So to do this I had a simple heading of Contents using a Harabara text which I downloaded. This text was simple and stood out from its white background with its mat black fill. Also to keep this interesting to the readers I have inserted 3 images which I also taken in my photo shoot.  I bordered the text off from the images with a blue rectangle which matches in with the schools colours. Finally I filled in the rest of the space with the magazines page numbers with the titles as well.

Target audience

For my music magazine, I have chosen my target audience at being an age of 16-22. I have chosen this age group as I believe it to be the biggest audience for hip hop readers, also it is the biggest age group for people to buy music magazines for. It will predominately aimed at an male audience.  But however will be attracting a female audience as well, this is because of the inclusion of female artists in my music magazine. The social class I have chosen for my magazine would be a working class, I have chosen this class because I believe it to be the class of people this magazine would appeal to. My ideal reader would be a someone who is predominately male, enjoys most kinds of genres of music but has a keen interest in Hip Hop. 

 This person is always looking out for new talent in the music industry. But also finds more original Hip Hop like Run DMC to be better. Their clothing styles are made up from jeans with mainly hoodies to be worn. With the majority of teenagers having smartphones, they will be able to download music albums in a large quantity and also have internet access to downloads to all the latest tracks can be downloaded with ease.

Magazine Research: NME

For my second music magazine research I chose to do it on the latest NME issue. Like the first magazine this one stood out to me on the shelf. It mainly stood out to me by its use of colours on its cover page. Another reason why it stood out was the use of images on its front cover and how they were layer out. The images covered the majority of the cover page only leaving a small space for pull quotes and the magazines barcode.The main masthead is in a bold block lettering with a dark gold fill to it. The main character to fill the front cover is Johnny Marr so will be well known to NMEs audience which will help them to pull in more readers. Overall this NME front cover is well designed as it displays what stories are in the magazine and who is in it as well.

Magazine Research: Q magazine

For my music magazine I have found some music magazines to get some ideas for my own magazine, to start this off I purchased the latest edition of Q magazine. When looking for a magazine this one stood out from the rest, this is to do with its colours, there is a white background with bold sans serif black text. This helps it to standout from the background. Another way that makes this magazine is its main cover photo of David Bowie. The photo takes up the majority of the photo and draws readers in with its stories. The whole layout of the cover page is simple but it some how works with it.

Magazine Mock Up

For my school news letter i have researched into the Deyes high news letter.  The image above shows my mock up for my school news letter. I have designed this mock up in Microsoft Publisher.  Creating this mock up on Publisher was simple as there is tools in the control bar which allow you to input shapes such as rectangle into your document.  I have got my idea for this from the Deyes News letter.  This image above is the front cover for the newsletter.  When researching into school news letters i found many problems with the news letters. an example of these errors with the news letter would be its target audience, it was very hard when reading into the layout of the news letter to see what was the exact age group it was aimed at, this will confuse readers because it may be set for a wrong target audience and not come accross useful.

Tomb Raider

The very anticipated arrival of Tomb raider has finally arrived this week. released on 5th March it was an instant hit with the market.  This was down to the highly popular franchise of Tomb Raider games previous.  The new Tomb Raider was developed by Crystal Dynamics being the fifth one this time.  when designing the new Tomb raider, the creators had grown up with this game so felt so did the game as well.  the new game has been revamped with a new brand image.  The main character Lara Croft has been given a whole new image, it is a more bold and gritty style than the old style with her short shorts and boob tube. The image below here shows the new modern tomb raider lara croft, she now has khaki pants. This image was the release photo of the new Lara. she is shown here with a pistol, pick axe and a long bow.  The game has come a long way from its first game on the Playstation 1.
 The new image has done a lot of growing up when in development. Her new gritty image has been highly popular among fans,  she has now become some kind of warrior survivor as she explores new regions in the game.  the story is surrounded by Lara who is search of old relics, as she is on a ship there is a major storm at port and the ship gets destroyed, she is shipwrecked and washed up on a uninhabited island away from the rest of the survivors.  This game has been highly anticipated and is already making huge profits for its developers.  the game is being sold at a remarkable £32.00.  This price for the new game is surely going to entice old and new gamer`s to it as for a brand new game and for one as popular as the Tomb Raider franchise it is most certainly a bargain, games that first come out with a huge franchise behind it are usually marketed at a £49.99 and above market so for the price of £32.00 it is definitely a bargain for anyone who is interested. Tomb raider has been virally marketed.  It has not been shy to advertise around city centers such as on the side of public buses.  word of mouth on blogs via the internet are also to pay for its profound popularity as it was a well waited for game, following on from previous games in its franchise.  Many blogs have been founded that are solely dedicated to The Tomb Raider brand.  New information on the game was always posted there so fans would then go on to share this information which would get passed around multiple websites.  overall Tomb Raider is a success, one for its franchise being a popular one, and also down to the fact it is a new modern take on the once immature Lara Croft, so the new more gritty Lara is a definite success. 

Ideology

Ideology is the ideas behind a set of media text. it hard to explain Ideology but in a simple term,  in a photo it is the ideas and the meanings behind the photo. 

For my Deyes High newsletter, the Ideology behind it i want to portray a traditional school, with modern aspects of education. to make it look traditional photos willl be important, most probably one of the main school building with the ivy on the outside of it.  This defnes a traditional school.  to give it an modern aspect of education the students willl have to be photographed with modern pieced of technolagy such as Apple Ipads and state of the are computers.

The students welfare should also be a main priority, with this Ideology this can be portrayed with safety within the school, for this i believe a photo with students walking with a teacher, and talking aswell. this will definately portray good ideology as it clearly shows the need for the students welfare.
Another Ideology for my school newsletter is to portray students exam results. this is highly important to show off as it will show the high level of education at Deyes High. to do this there should be a section for this to be displayed clearly, it will be interesting for parents/ carers to read as it will show them how their oupils are doing in school with exam results.

Music Mag Genre

For my music magazine i have been researching into mulitple types of genres.  To do this i have been researching on the internet all music magazines and their genre. i wanted to look into more urban music genres such as Hip Hop so i looked at the magazine XXL.  this was an ideal magazine as it is the genre i want to base my music magazine off from. So for my music magazine my chosen genre is Hip Hop.
The image below is the front cover of XXLs magazine.  it is a basic layout and very simple.
The simplicity with this layout works as the colours are all matchingm  the main colours are Red, black & white.

Newsletter Review

With the Deyes there is no real link with its correct audience.  the first page is set out differently to all the rest, there is way too much text on the opening page, too much text will just make the reader less intyerested in reading the text.  so a clear need of editing with the text in this newsletter is needed.

There is a small image of the head teacher in the centre of all the text.  if the newletter wants to attract readers and keep them intwerested in the text then a more interesting image is needed,  as there is alot of text in this front cover there should be a larger image to space the text out.  Down the side of the front cover the margin is covered in a light blue, red & turquoise print. the title of this newletter is an electric blue with yellow text, these colours are too bright for a newletter and does not match with the text that is used throughout the newletter.

Throughout the Newletter there is no clear target market for this newletter,  it should specifically be for the parents or guardians of the students of the ongoings of the school as the stuydents will have already been told the ongoings in their form time.  Since it should be aimed at parents it should be set out differently, there is a section called 'puzzle time'  this is a waste as this woul be filled out by students or young children but it is aimed at a older generation so this is not needed in this newslewtter,  it is meant to contain information for the parents ort guardians to be advised on.  the whole newletter has the majority of it covered with text.  there should be more images to attract readers than just having text which is boring for readers.

Music Mag Introduction

  For my AS Media course, i have been asked to produce a Music Magazine.  By the end of this course we will have produced a Music magazine containing a front cover,  contents page & a double page spread.  we have to base our music magazine off a genre of music of our own choice.  To carry this out we will ask the public questions on their favourite type of music to see which type i most popular, to do so we will produce a questionnaire.