Thursday 31 March 2016
Tuesday 29 March 2016
Monday 28 March 2016
Friday 18 March 2016
Evaluation question 1 DRAFT
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
My magazine title ‘Re-Wired’ uses the font ‘Dolce Vita’ that I downloaded from the website ‘www.dafont.com’. This font was good for my magazine masthead as it is bold and stands out to grab the attention of the reader. This style of text is seen and used in the majority of music magazines, as they want to achieve the same eye-catching magazine. I chose the magazine title ‘Re-Wired’ as it is similar to the music magazine title ‘Wire’, also it appeals to my target audience as Kasabian have a song called ‘Re-Wired’.
My magazine title ‘Re-Wired’ uses the font ‘Dolce Vita’ that I downloaded from the website ‘www.dafont.com’. This font was good for my magazine masthead as it is bold and stands out to grab the attention of the reader. This style of text is seen and used in the majority of music magazines, as they want to achieve the same eye-catching magazine. I chose the magazine title ‘Re-Wired’ as it is similar to the music magazine title ‘Wire’, also it appeals to my target audience as Kasabian have a song called ‘Re-Wired’.
The front cover is very simple; I have used ‘Neou’ on my front cover using the different styles the font provides. I have used larger text, which is bolder for my band name, to make sure the band is known before the audience read the magazine. I have used different coloured fonts on my magazine but kept the monochrome style by using white text and coloured background and black text on white background to make the text revealing on a contradicting colour. I used black text for the price and issue, to make sure the audience can see how much the magazine will be before buying. I also used different artists featuring in the magazine, these are important for my magazine, as it is what will grab the audience’s attention, as they will want to see their favoured artists. I used the white text on the cover line, as it needed to stand out on a dark background; this is also the key topic/article in my magazine.
The white background is the most dominant colour to make the text more visible and stand out for the customers to notice the magazine. The sizing of my text depends on the importance, for example my masthead is the biggest text, as it will attract the customers to buy the magazine. The cover line is the second largest text as this will be the second text the customers will look for after noticing the magazine title/masthead. The layout and structure of my magazine was based around ‘Loud&Quiet’ magazine as this follows the simplistic style that I was going for. This was the magazine and structure I was going for at the start, although I gave my own perspective. I developed my own ideas after inserting a barcode and price which the ‘Loud&Quiet’ magazine does not follow as they gave their magazine out for free. I followed the usual convention of music magazines with my masthead being the main focus and largest part of the magazine and placing it on the top of the page as the main focus. I also wanted my magazine to be simple and basic with not much on the page, similar to ‘Clash’ or ‘Fantastic Man’.
The costumes and iconography I used will attract my target audience. This is because my target audience is ‘New Casuals’ so to fit their preferences I have my models wearing typical ‘casual’ clothing with brands such as Fred Perry, Pretty Green, and Ellesse. I found this from Clash magazine as they use fashion to style their magazine to fit and suit their target audience. My two models on the cover can be seen wearing Ellesse and Pretty Green to fit the style of my magazine. In the image I have used in my magazine, the models have city building in the background making the magazine seem street to attract different target audiences.
My models were styled in multiple different outfits to find the one that fit the audience the best. To ensure my magazine kept the fashion side, I ensured that my models were dressed appropriately for them to feature in my magazine. I am using the conventions of real media products as my artists fit the magazine style and genre of Indie, with the certain target audience. My models do not look out of place and they fit the genre of my magazine in my cover, contents and double page continuing the monotone layout throughout.
On my contents page, I continued the greyscale scheme with one image in colour. I did this as the two either side of the middle picture were black and white so this emphasised the colour of the trainers in the image. This is similar to the ideas of Loud&Quiet as although they use black and white, they use coloured images to add emphasis to the pictures and their detail. My contents page has a clear layout from the top left of the page, to the bottom left. There are images down the right side of the page leaving the text isolate along the left, this structure is similar to Clash magazine as they have a simple contents layout which is effective as it still includes the key details of the content of the music magazine. The contents page has significance as this is the page that the reader will visit to find the parts of the magazine they wish to read.
For my double page spread, I have adopted the structure of many magazines by having a page dedicated to a photo and one with text. The text follows the typical magazine structure of the use of columns to split the text apart, they fit across the page enforcing image text cohesion. The image I used was of one of my models, I chose to only use one as the article is very much interacting with one band member, with the image being the band member spoken to. I wanted to follow this structure of double page spread as it is very effective with the drop capital to start off the article. The article mainly focuses on interacting with the band and questioning them about their career. I have questioned them as an interview would but I have adopted a story-like structure to my writing to make the audience feel involved and can relate to it.
Wednesday 16 March 2016
Evaluation question 2 DRAFT
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
During the research and planning leading up to the creation of my music magazine, I researched into the different audiences, finding 'scenesters' and 'young alts' as my audience. However, I also wanted to add elements of 'New Casuals' to my magazine through the clothing worn in the images of the magazine. I had to ensure that the product I was making fitted and attracted my target audience which were member of the indie/alternative genre and social group. By realising my social group and target audience it has given me a clear idea of what content should be in the magazine in order to attract my target audience. Now this had been identified this it would make it easier to style my model in clothing that will appeal and suit my genre. The research I carried out was from 'www.UKtribes.com' this website gives has a large variety of categories for typical target audiences which I picked mine from. From looking through the website, searching for my audience I found my audiences and based my magazine around these to try and make the magazine appealing to the certain audiences. From the research the website provided me with an audience from which I can use related music for that genre.
I have represented my artist in the Indie Scenesters social group as they needed to suit and appeal to my magazine. My models Tom Cooley and Jack Horne have similarities with Jake Bugg and Liam Gallagher. This is because Liam's iconic fashion brand 'Pretty Green' is being worn by one of my models. They both are dressed to fit the indie style, very much similar to the artists mentioned. The clothing represents the indie style to target the audience I am aiming my magazine towards. These artists are very popular amongst the indie music genre itself, with Liam being part of the notorious band 'Oasis'. My models are wearing Ellesse and Pretty Green, these brands represent my social group which I have researched. My artists are both aged 17, fitting my target audience of 16-30 year olds. These brands have also become very popular recently as well as retro clothing and clothing worn by 80s football hooligans.
During the research and planning leading up to the creation of my music magazine, I researched into the different audiences, finding 'scenesters' and 'young alts' as my audience. However, I also wanted to add elements of 'New Casuals' to my magazine through the clothing worn in the images of the magazine. I had to ensure that the product I was making fitted and attracted my target audience which were member of the indie/alternative genre and social group. By realising my social group and target audience it has given me a clear idea of what content should be in the magazine in order to attract my target audience. Now this had been identified this it would make it easier to style my model in clothing that will appeal and suit my genre. The research I carried out was from 'www.UKtribes.com' this website gives has a large variety of categories for typical target audiences which I picked mine from. From looking through the website, searching for my audience I found my audiences and based my magazine around these to try and make the magazine appealing to the certain audiences. From the research the website provided me with an audience from which I can use related music for that genre.
I have represented my artist in the Indie Scenesters social group as they needed to suit and appeal to my magazine. My models Tom Cooley and Jack Horne have similarities with Jake Bugg and Liam Gallagher. This is because Liam's iconic fashion brand 'Pretty Green' is being worn by one of my models. They both are dressed to fit the indie style, very much similar to the artists mentioned. The clothing represents the indie style to target the audience I am aiming my magazine towards. These artists are very popular amongst the indie music genre itself, with Liam being part of the notorious band 'Oasis'. My models are wearing Ellesse and Pretty Green, these brands represent my social group which I have researched. My artists are both aged 17, fitting my target audience of 16-30 year olds. These brands have also become very popular recently as well as retro clothing and clothing worn by 80s football hooligans.
Monday 14 March 2016
Evaluation question 3 DRAFT
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There are many distribution companies that distribute music magazines, these include Bauer Media Group, Time Inc., IPC and many others. I think that Bauer Media Group would distribute my magazine as they are a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Bauer published magazine such as Q, Kerrang! and Heat. These magazines are all indie and associate their magazine around the same age group as I have. However, IPC could be a good distributor as they have a large range of experience within the publishing and distribution of many categorised magazines, also certainly the experience and knowledge of publishing a music magazine with related topics and genres to my magazine which would be entering the same market. These also distributed NME, which is a magazine based around the same style as my magazine. I was inspirited to use internal/external advertisement and promotion as a way to gain my production company funding by a large range of other magazine producers such as Loud and Quiet, Clash magazine, ID magazine, Dazed and Confused & Fader magazine. Looking at the type of magazines Bauer Media Group is associated with, I feel I would most likely make the publication of the magazine monthly, similar to Q as it is distributed through paid circulation and sold monthly via subscription or could be bought in specific music type stores. I would like my magazine to do the same as it could mean it becomes as big as Q magazine, which is a hit music magazine around the world.
The money for production and publishing of the RE-WIRED magazine would be funded from advertisement and promotion of other internal and external, such as advertisement for multiple gigs around the country and the ones that seem the most popular. This would benefit them as they are gaining potential customers through reading my magazine each month. This would also create a cycle as the money gained from promoting events could be spent on producing and distributing my magazine around the country.
There are many distribution companies that distribute music magazines, these include Bauer Media Group, Time Inc., IPC and many others. I think that Bauer Media Group would distribute my magazine as they are a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Bauer published magazine such as Q, Kerrang! and Heat. These magazines are all indie and associate their magazine around the same age group as I have. However, IPC could be a good distributor as they have a large range of experience within the publishing and distribution of many categorised magazines, also certainly the experience and knowledge of publishing a music magazine with related topics and genres to my magazine which would be entering the same market. These also distributed NME, which is a magazine based around the same style as my magazine. I was inspirited to use internal/external advertisement and promotion as a way to gain my production company funding by a large range of other magazine producers such as Loud and Quiet, Clash magazine, ID magazine, Dazed and Confused & Fader magazine. Looking at the type of magazines Bauer Media Group is associated with, I feel I would most likely make the publication of the magazine monthly, similar to Q as it is distributed through paid circulation and sold monthly via subscription or could be bought in specific music type stores. I would like my magazine to do the same as it could mean it becomes as big as Q magazine, which is a hit music magazine around the world.
The money for production and publishing of the RE-WIRED magazine would be funded from advertisement and promotion of other internal and external, such as advertisement for multiple gigs around the country and the ones that seem the most popular. This would benefit them as they are gaining potential customers through reading my magazine each month. This would also create a cycle as the money gained from promoting events could be spent on producing and distributing my magazine around the country.
Friday 11 March 2016
Evaluation question 4 DRAFT
Who would be the audience for your media product?
From my research into the audience of my indie/alternative music magazine, I came to the conclusion that my audience would be aged 16-30. This age range would fit my magazine as it is the age where people start listening to upcoming bands/artists to not follow the mainstream crowds. As in my magazine, only upcoming or less popular bands feature adding to the indie style and genre. I have based my audience from the research I have found from 'UKtribes.com' and used the different groups I found to base my artists that feature in the magazine. My audience is indie 'scenesters' - 'Setting themselves apart by creating new trends by co-opting fashion and music from across the Tribal map and blending it with their own individual attitudes. Ever difficult to pin down, they move at lightning speed through youth culture – moving onto whats ‘next’ before it has a chance to become ‘now’.' I am also targeting young alts - 'Young Alts are a long standing youth Tribe – the entry level Alternatives that simply want to set themselves apart from the Mainstream by looking alternative, listening to alternative music, having alternative views… Even if they are Mainstream in every other sense!' these are key groups in the indie genre. Although, I also want some aspects of New Casuals groups in my magazine. This will be done through the clothing and costumes of my models in my magazine. I have chosen the age of 30 as a cut off point as people around that age are the most likely to be interested in the music and football. These are common football goers fitting the football hooligan social group. The genre of my magazine and music within is Indie/Alternative, this means the magazine will focus on the characters within the crowd which like to be different to others in any way, the clothing they wear, hair styles they choose or just the way they choose to act. I see there is a gap within the market for my genre of magazine as there is the only particularly well-known ones ‘NME & Loud and Quiet’ available. So from this I am aware I have had to offer a larger range of artists and information within my magazine and still price it at a reasonable price, the price I chose was £3.00 whereas NME is £2.50 & Loud and Quiet is free, but I did market research and the largest percentage said they would be willing to spend this price on an Indie/Alternative magazine. When designing my magazine I had to ensure my model was wearing the correct clothing for my magazine. My models were wearing the correct clothing to appeal to my target audience with football 'casual' clothing. I also styled and designed my magazine so it was very basic and simplistic to meet the differences of my indie/alternative genre. I didn’t include much on the pages; they are all simply laid out. Artists of this genre tend to be played on BBC Radio 1 which also features a variety of other genres, so Radio 1 listeners tend to be open to lots of types of music.
From my research into the audience of my indie/alternative music magazine, I came to the conclusion that my audience would be aged 16-30. This age range would fit my magazine as it is the age where people start listening to upcoming bands/artists to not follow the mainstream crowds. As in my magazine, only upcoming or less popular bands feature adding to the indie style and genre. I have based my audience from the research I have found from 'UKtribes.com' and used the different groups I found to base my artists that feature in the magazine. My audience is indie 'scenesters' - 'Setting themselves apart by creating new trends by co-opting fashion and music from across the Tribal map and blending it with their own individual attitudes. Ever difficult to pin down, they move at lightning speed through youth culture – moving onto whats ‘next’ before it has a chance to become ‘now’.' I am also targeting young alts - 'Young Alts are a long standing youth Tribe – the entry level Alternatives that simply want to set themselves apart from the Mainstream by looking alternative, listening to alternative music, having alternative views… Even if they are Mainstream in every other sense!' these are key groups in the indie genre. Although, I also want some aspects of New Casuals groups in my magazine. This will be done through the clothing and costumes of my models in my magazine. I have chosen the age of 30 as a cut off point as people around that age are the most likely to be interested in the music and football. These are common football goers fitting the football hooligan social group. The genre of my magazine and music within is Indie/Alternative, this means the magazine will focus on the characters within the crowd which like to be different to others in any way, the clothing they wear, hair styles they choose or just the way they choose to act. I see there is a gap within the market for my genre of magazine as there is the only particularly well-known ones ‘NME & Loud and Quiet’ available. So from this I am aware I have had to offer a larger range of artists and information within my magazine and still price it at a reasonable price, the price I chose was £3.00 whereas NME is £2.50 & Loud and Quiet is free, but I did market research and the largest percentage said they would be willing to spend this price on an Indie/Alternative magazine. When designing my magazine I had to ensure my model was wearing the correct clothing for my magazine. My models were wearing the correct clothing to appeal to my target audience with football 'casual' clothing. I also styled and designed my magazine so it was very basic and simplistic to meet the differences of my indie/alternative genre. I didn’t include much on the pages; they are all simply laid out. Artists of this genre tend to be played on BBC Radio 1 which also features a variety of other genres, so Radio 1 listeners tend to be open to lots of types of music.
Wednesday 9 March 2016
Evaluation question 5 DRAFT
How did you attract/address your audience?
On my front cover I have used a bold masthead to attract my audience, this is similar to most magazines such as Loud&Quiet, Clash etc. My masthead is positioned in the centre, being bold and the biggest text. This will be the first part of the magazine that the audience will notice as it is the largest text on the front cover. In a magazine most consumers intend to read the page from the top band downwards which explains why I placed this layer there. This allows my magazine to be easily noticeable on shops shelves etc. The font I used was 'Dolce Vita' as this is bold and stands out. This makes my magazine easily noticeable as the masthead will grab the attention, forcing them to view the whole cover/magazine. This was inspired by conventions of some of the magazines I have researched in the way that they also use similar bold, bulky fonts for their front page mast heads, an example is Loud and Quiet magazine or Clash magazine, being aware that other magazine in the market use this is re-assuring that it will appeal to my selected target audience.
On my front cover I have used a bold masthead to attract my audience, this is similar to most magazines such as Loud&Quiet, Clash etc. My masthead is positioned in the centre, being bold and the biggest text. This will be the first part of the magazine that the audience will notice as it is the largest text on the front cover. In a magazine most consumers intend to read the page from the top band downwards which explains why I placed this layer there. This allows my magazine to be easily noticeable on shops shelves etc. The font I used was 'Dolce Vita' as this is bold and stands out. This makes my magazine easily noticeable as the masthead will grab the attention, forcing them to view the whole cover/magazine. This was inspired by conventions of some of the magazines I have researched in the way that they also use similar bold, bulky fonts for their front page mast heads, an example is Loud and Quiet magazine or Clash magazine, being aware that other magazine in the market use this is re-assuring that it will appeal to my selected target audience.
My model is wearing the appropriate clothing to appeal to my target audience. I have my models wearing 'casual' clothing or clothing associated with football hooligans. These are what my target audience are interested in, so having my models wear the clothing will attract more people to my magazine. I have my models stood with a city behind with multiple buildings in the background, to add the 'street' effect to my magazine, to also appeal to other audiences.
My cover lines are simple being the bands name across the front of the cover page, underneath is a quote I made for the band as their motto. My first cover line of 'The Palaver' will attract the audiences as they will want to find out about the upcoming band and will want to know who it is that is featuring on the cover. I have used minimal cover lines such as the issue number, price and date. Compared to Clash magazine with their cover line smaller than the masthead but it is still large and bold. This expresses the main artist within the magazine; it also has smaller cover lines which express the other artists/bands within their magazine.
On my contents page I used various bands to attract as many audiences as I possibly could, all in the genre that I had chose for my music magazine. I kept my products contents page, very simple in the way it is easy to navigate around the page and read all of the text. I included 3 images on my contents page, with 2 being in black and white and one kept in colour. When making my contents page, I was inspired by Clash magazine with the text going down the left hand side of the page. I thought this structure was effective as the reader can read straight down to find their favoured artists or articles quickly. I also used black rectangles to separate the different parts of the contents page, with the different parts under their headings, such as an interview section with the multiple interviews listed below the heading.
On my double page spread I include an introductory line of 'The Rise of The 'Palaver' this tells the reader what the article is going to be about and what the content will be. The text is in columns on the left page, usually the text is on the right and the image is on the left. However, I followed Clash magazines structure of the opposite way around. My article was in columns on the left page with the image of one of The Palaver who regularly features in the article. In my article I have used language associated with my audience of slang words. This might help appeal to my audience as they will be attracted to the text and the content of my article. The band will also be known in this genre with the audience being automatically attracted wanting to read the article to see how they live their day to day lives.
I have the image on one of the pages with my model leaning against a rail on the top floor of a car park, this adds effect as it makes the image seem street and lets the audience know that the magazine may appeal to them letting them know what the content will be based around and how things are interpreted.
Monday 7 March 2016
Evaluation question 6 DRAFT
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When taking the images in college, I used a Nikon D3200 camera, when using this camera to take images for my draft magazine pages I found that the Nikon provided a high quality image. Although, I did not use this camera to take my final images that I used in my magazine. For the test shots of my magazine, I used some artificial lighting, which allowed my images to have no shadows and look much clearer when opened on a bigger screen. For my final images, I used a Nikon D200 to take my photos after visiting different locations around Leicester to find the perfect place to take some photos. This camera provided good quality and worked well with the lighting providing no shadows. These photos came out well and are the one I have used in my final piece.
When taking the images in college, I used a Nikon D3200 camera, when using this camera to take images for my draft magazine pages I found that the Nikon provided a high quality image. Although, I did not use this camera to take my final images that I used in my magazine. For the test shots of my magazine, I used some artificial lighting, which allowed my images to have no shadows and look much clearer when opened on a bigger screen. For my final images, I used a Nikon D200 to take my photos after visiting different locations around Leicester to find the perfect place to take some photos. This camera provided good quality and worked well with the lighting providing no shadows. These photos came out well and are the one I have used in my final piece.
I have learned how to use different programmes such as PhotoShop. I used this programme on the college computers to put together my template and magazine. I learnt how to edit and manipulate images to fit my needs, for example cutting out certain elements with the lasso tool, for example removing backgrounds from an image. All of my pages were produced using Photoshop CS6, including multiple layers to add each part of the pages together. I had a small amount of knowledge about Photoshop before producing my magazine, but after completing my practical work I now have a much greater understanding of the programme. Although, when I started I was not 100% sure on how to use the programme and what uses the different tools had.
I used several online websites to create my magazine. I used different programmes when researching and planning. I used Blogger to create my coursework blog, I uploaded every piece of coursework I had done step by step onto Blogger so my teachers could regularly check my work. I also used animoto to create videos on some of my posts, such as my magazine pitch, this sold my magazine ideas in one video, informing everyone on how I would construct my magazine. I also used many websites to research such as Google: the search engine, Da Font: to download fonts for my pages & UK Tribes: which is where I did the main research for my target audience. I also used Google Drive to embed my work onto my blog without using Blogger to type the work up. This was also used when storing all my photos of my models and what I was considering using for my magazine.
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