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| Front Cover |
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| Contents Page |
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| Feature Article |
Friday 15 April 2016
Friday 8 April 2016
Final Improvments
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| Front Cover |
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| Contents Page |
We were given this exercise as an extra blog post, we were all given coloured tags: Red - Level 1, Yellow - Level 2, Green - Level 3 and Blue - Level 4 (lowest to highest.) Being assessed on our front cover, contents page and feature article, by our peers and helping us improve on the work we thought ourselves were classed as finished. These tags were placed on the page to help us reflect on the improvements we needed to make.
As you can see this is my first draft of my magazine and all the improvements I had to make made my media product look more professional and it contained all the requirements of the media conventions.
Friday 26 February 2016
Evaluation Questions
1)
In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My music
magazine uses a variety of codes and conventions of real media products. For
example, my masthead is a very typical convention of a magazine. The point that
it is big and bold makes it stand out, also the colour pink contrasted on the
blue background puts more emphasises on the title as they are two different
colours. The font, size and colour of masthead would ideally be specific to my
theme. This is helpful as it can be easily recognizable and can be linked with
other brands.
Furthermore,
my media product has a simple colour scheme. I decided to only use pink, blue,
black and white to make it look more sophisticated. I didn’t want to use too
many bright colours as they would clash and I didn’t want to make a typical pop
music magazine.
My cover
star uses direct address with the audience. This is common convention used in the
magazine industry as it allows the front cover to be more personal – it is as
if the cover star establishes relationship with the reader. Ideally, A-J; my
cover star is very famous and so he and attracts a bigger audience due to his
reputation and fame. Readers may also look up to him as an idol since he is
rich and well known, people may want the same lifestyle as him therefore A-J
needs to portray it in a way that compliments him; they may be able to relate
to him due to his contextual story.
My pug and
skyline on my front cover are also a typical convention of a media magazine.
They both add value to the magazine as it pulls some attention away from the
cover star and show the reader what other content is available in the magazine.
This way, the market and circulation is increased to not just A-J’s fans as the
pug and sky-line advertises other artists. This is also another way to gain
more attention to the magazine, some readers may not like A-J but prefer
another artist mentioned on the front cover, this way the magazine is still put
in use.
In my
feature article, I set A-J on the left hand side. As an English audience would
read from left to right, his picture would be the first thing a reader would
see on the page. I also put in a stand first to induce the reader to read the
feature article and my drop cap is also another typical convention of a
magazine; it allows the reader to be focused to where the article starts.
I also advanced
and modified many conventions so that they could be used more effectively for
my media product. For example, I decided to make my strap line catchy. A strap
line would be a straightforward sentence describing the magazine, however I
decided to use ‘2015 IN REVIEW: ALL THAT WAS COOL, CRAZY & CLASS’ and
placed it above the masthead; this could also be the second thing the reader
sees as the first thing is the masthead, therefore it is important to have a
strap line. The advantage of doing that is that it’s catchy and can stay in
people’s minds. This way it acts as a reminder or symbol of the magazine.
On my
contents page, I wrote and Editors Letter, this is normally a paragraph written
by the writer of the magazine to engage with the reader without even having to
be there, the reader gets a sense of commitment with the magazine making it
more interesting to read. Also this is another way for the writer to interact
with the reader – this is another form of direct address.
As well as
using a variety of conventions, I used a sweet spot in my media product, I
originally placed my sweet spot in the lower right hand side but after the
feedback I got I adapted to move to the upper left hand side as this would be
more noticeable. I gave it a yellow background and made the text black; the
contrast on dark on light makes this convention stand out more.
2)
How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
My media
product represents certain social groups; 13 to 19 year olds. The target
audience I am mainly aiming for is males, this is because there is more of a
chance for a male gender to pick up an R'n'B or Rap magazine than a woman.
Females are even likely to pick up a Pop magazine. However the magazine I have
created can be aimed at both men and women in some ways. This is established by
the images and content of the stories.
It is
unlikely for an older audience; 20 years and older to go into a shop and pick
up a magazine for teenagers, as the older audience would be interested in
something more mature and less disruptive. Therefore I have created a media
product that looks more fun and eye-catching to look at. Older readers would be
attracted to a more plain approach to the magazine.
3)
What kind of institution might want to
distribute your media product and why?
I would
prefer that well known public limited companies distribute my media product
such as ASDA, Tesco, Morrison, Sainsbury etc... Due to the popular interests
customers have with these big industries it would be perfect to give out my
magazine through this. I am creating a monthly issue therefore it is always
looking at ways to improve that it can attract the audience each issue
4)
Who would be the audience for your media
product?
The
audience for my target audience would be 13 to 19 year olds. I chose to aim it
at this age because it was the ages from 13 to 19 that occurred the most when I
carried out my questionnaire. Also targeting to this age was smart as this is
the majority of ages that pick up R’n’B/Rap magazines, unlike an older audience
would pick up something more appropriate for their age.
My target
audience was marketed to teenagers and young adults as in their lifestyle they
are always listening to music.
5)
How did you attract your audience?
There were
many different ways in how I was to attract my audience in the best way
thinkable. The first way in which I could attract my audience was by using
bright bold colours and making the front cover look interesting with using
different font sizes and styles for them to see my magazine more easily. I have
kept the colour scheme similar throughout the magazine to keep it continuous
and so the reader doesn’t get bored. The cover star of ‘A-J’ I also used to
attract my audience preferably for my target audience as my audience is more
like his age and can relate to the magazine making them pick the magazine up.
In my media product I have used to constant colours; pink and blue, this is
because I didn’t want to aim it at just one gender. As if it was a full blue
magazine, it is more likely for a male to pick up the magazine, however if it
was a full pink magazine, it is more likely for a female to pick up the
magazine.
6)
What have you learnt about the
technologies from the process of constructing this product?
While
making my music magazine I was able to adapt many technological skills using
different technology and software’s such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and
DSLR cameras. With using Photoshop I was able to learn many different things
such as: how to crop images, insert different backgrounds and use a selection
of different tools to make ‘A-J’ look as if they are a part of the music
industry. By using the desktop publishing software called InDesign, I learnt
how to layout and structure my own magazine so it would look more professional,
with this I was able to create a front cover, a double spread contents page and
another double spread feature article. The last type of technology I used was a
DSLR camera; this gave me the chance to take different types of shots and angles
to help get a higher evaluation. I could change the lighting, setting, costume
etc… This helped gain an understanding of how it could be experience in the
real world, as these skills make you see things in an altered perspective.
7)
Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt?
When
looking back at my preliminary task I feel like I have been able to learn new
skills and my understanding of the magazine industry in general as increased.
The feedback I got from my teachers and peers helped me improve on my knowledge
of my own work, as well as using new equipment and new programmes; being able
to experiment with things such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and using Canon
camera’s benefitting my familiarity of media industry in the future.
During
this process I learned how to keep up with a blog on Blogger-Google. This blog
page expressed the process of which my magazine was being created including all
the evaluations I had to do with this topic. On the blog page I was able to
make posts with text, pictures, and videos and also embed links onto my entries
to show I was able to present my work in many different ways.
Friday 12 February 2016
Friday 5 February 2016
Friday 29 January 2016
Friday 22 January 2016
Friday 15 January 2016
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