Final Product

 

Final product:
Front Cover, Contents page and double page spread.

 

Blog Evaluation

Question one
'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'
My media product uses many forms and conventions of real media product. My media final piece was done from looking at many different covers and interview pages and contents pages to get ideas of layouts and they way thing was set for example, the image below of a contents page. Using a lot of colour can be very costly and can effect the environment dearly so many media product use most of their colour on the cover page rather than the detail inside. So my product, just like this was very plain and black and white inside with a slight use of another colour to associate with the gender for example, this product here has used pink as its a girly girl magazine on the other hand I used red black and white because my magazine may have had a girl as the main story but she isn't girly girl so using the colour pink would have been opposite to the theme 'rock' which my magazine is about.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilJFFmqaPdM

The link above is an example of how to make a magazine front cover, however I challenge what he says when he said that it has to be 'plain'. Out of every magazine from NME to KERRANG they were full of text and shapes and colour so I disagree that a front cover does have to be plain. Examples that challenging what he said.




 

Both of these magazine use primary colours and a lot of colour on the front covers, primary colours stand out more this why many big magazine companies use them  as its more eye catching and hey both use a limited amount of colour just like my cover 'use of 3 colours' this is because to much colour could be a distraction.

Question two
'How does your media product represent particular social groups?'
Different social groups see things different such as rock is only liked by rock groups pop is only liked by pop groups older people prefer older music stereotypically. My magazine has used a lot of stricking colours on the front to grab especially young people's attention. Not many people would of heard of new releases as only people who watch the charts, which is stereotypically seen would have. Below is a link to the charts table currently and it shows that there are a number of different genres as socially every style of music can't be mixed.

http://www.officialcharts.com/uk-top-40-singles-chart/

Also, after looking at number of album covers on the rock page I notice a lot of colours stereotypically associated with rock is dark colours such as red and black which is also what has consistently been used throughout my media magazine. Link is below.

http://www.officialcharts.com/rock-and-metal-singles-chart/



Question three
'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?'
I believe that IPC would be a good media institution to distribute my media product. IPC is the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher with more than 60 iconic media brands. Some of the brands inclue NME, NOW,Chat. An example of some of the brands the magazine distributes is underneith.

A great deal of these magazines are well known and popular well selling magazines which IPC have helped improve from the begining and funded. I noticed NME, which was a majority of the time used as my style model is distibuted by IPC and is a well seeling magazine.Therefore i believe they would be a good business to distribute my magazine as it's done so well for NME and has more contacts with rock bands meaning more artists would be able to share their stories in my magazines and there would be the funding aailible to make any needed improvements to make it one of the best selling magazines in the market at the moment.



Question four
'Who would be the audience for your media piece?'
The audience for my media piece is teenagers, this is because teenagers are more likely to listen to music of all different genres. Also, the only people who tend to buy magazines are teenagers and I did a questionnaire which is also on my blog to show that teenagers are more than likely bound to read my magazine.

I used a young girls for the front of the cover and the main page, pictures are below, because this could attract young male attention and also it's the fashion of girls these days as well as promoting her music. Most female artist are seen as 'gorgeous' and good looking so it was important I used a good looking girl for this as it will grab teenage attention. Also, by my model being seen as a popular character and as example is underneith my photo's.

 

 

 

 

Question five
'How did you attract/address your audience?'
I attracted and addressed my audience by using  common words teenagers would use such as Win, every teenager likes to win things and its common now that clothing is most popular amongst teenagers so this would impact the attention my magazine would get.

Also, I wrote in a friendly tone just like other magazines because teenagers like to be persuaded and spoken to friendly so it was important I did this. The audience for my pice being teenagers meant that the style had be like 'OMG' or 'REALLY?!' like very gossipy for the audience and not seen as dead boring as they would get bored if it's just a piece of text that went like he did that or she did this as they would get bored.

This is an example of a link i used for my magazines which helped me throughout the making of my magazine.

Question six
'What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?'
I have learnt that technology plays a great part into the process of a magazine and that it's not as easy as it looks. There are many different buttons and techniques to do certain things for example editing the pictures and text there is so many buttons. An example of some ways to edit texts are underneith.

However, this program does make it look more professional than other programs such as publisher and word as there is my ways to do different things such as overlapping pictures and doing the layout of a magazine. An example is below.

In this example given above, the way the Q is around the text and the picture in the top right hand corner cant be done on word or publisher because it's not technical enough to be able to do layouts apart from the standard layouts. Also, you cant change the colour of the pictures for example to black and white you can only keep the picture as it is apart from changing the basics for example cropping it.

I also had to use a professional camera and a tripod to get better quality photo's, again this being something that i dont usually use and learning the buttons on the camera was tricky and where to position the camera etc. My photos went wrong a few times as i go where i had to aqim the camera wrong and cut half the model off so the photos were unusable, this software and camera are not easy to use and therefore it makes magazines more professional.


Question seven
'Looking back at your preliminary tasks (The continuity editing task) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the full product?'

I believe that i have learnt a great deal from the preliminary tasks to the continuity editing task, even though i struggled doing both as i couldn't get my head around the software photoshop, my final magazine looked a lot more profesional than the prelimianry. All my colours were messy and the pictures were not so good and it just looked a mess. My final magazne cover look dark but used the limit of 3 colours so it didnt look to distracting and it looked well getting the right amount of text on it.

The contents page i used a style model for which helped and guided me however only id pages 1-4 as we only did the first 4 pages of a magazine therefore there was only a limited amount of what could be said. I used the same colour scheme but did it on a white background as so much colour could be costly.

I learnt the way magazines produce and the limits to colour and the dos and what not to dos for example not to use so many different colours and too much text as it could make it look unprofessional and messy and would put people off the magazine rather than want to read it. I did the double page spread white and black as most magazines use white and black to keep costs down.

I feel i have learnt a lot of knowledge as well as learning how to use the software which was difficult. I don't feel confident with photoshop still but i feel a lot more confident than i did before when i was doing my prelimiary as i didnt have a clue how to use the software then so i believe my knowledge has grown and i have progressed throughout this time.

Improving Front Cover

This is the making of my front cover and the improvement of it. At the moment there is an insufficient amount of text and the cover is too plain however I have stuck to the rule of 3 using primary colours. I feel like this too plain therefore some more text and shapes need to be added to it to make it more engaging to meet the readers eye and make it more interesting for them to read.

 

I added a red text box and put a white 'exclusive in the middle of it' to make it more interesting and appealing to the audience. I don't feel putting a lot of text on the front would benefit it as it would overpower the picture and could look tacky and messy which would put people off buying the magazine. I feel there is an acceptable amount of colour on this front cover and a reasonable about of text to catch people of this audience 'teenagers' eye. 

These are photo's I took which were ideas to use for the magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread.

 

These are just a few examples of the photos I took. I tested different times of the day, different environments and different girls to see which suited best to my theme. I used different backgrounds such as a bridge a tree and a brick wall as I was testing different places and I chose the best pictures to go inside my magazine.

Carried on Double Page Spread Development



Just like the style model, I have used a quote as the subheading but done it in a different colour to the heading, this being red. I have done this as its similar to the colours on the image towards the left and its also on a white background as its cheaper to publish with white paper. I have done it in font 18 to make the text bigger than what the rest of the text would be as this again makes it more eye catching to the audience.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/01/09/high-quality-free-fonts-2012/

This is a link to a website that helped me decide on fonts throughout my magazine.

 

This is my double page spread edit into a black and white theme again. This is just to experiment some ideas on how I want my double page spread to look.

 

This is a photo I took of an interview double page spread this just like my magazine double page spread is very dark and  just like the theme in my magazine, also its used a very limited number of colours being black white and pink, pink being associated with a female.  This is the layout that my double page spread will be based around and also the fonts are basic common fonts usually used in newspapers for example Arial, times new roman and Georgia etc.

 

 

This is the development of the text. Just like my style model I have done a short introduction and done the questions in bold and the responses in regular. This just symbolises and shows the difference between both the speaker and Mel Lowe. Again in black and white as that's the theme and rock is very black and white.

 

This is the completion of my double page spread. I went for a simple layout just like my style model and used red for the quote as it brought a bit of colour not too much and not too little to make the double page spread more interesting, and not too colourless. The text is in 2 columns like most articles are rather than massive chunky paragraphs as the audience is for people my age.

 

 

 

 



Double Page Spread Development

Style Model

 



 

This is an example of a double page spread. This is contained with a large medium close up photo and text which is an interview so it's very text contained. it uses black and white and pink, use of 3 colours and the pink symbolises the female which is central as the interview is abut her. Its very plain and the heading and subheadings and quotes are in a different front to the replies this.

This is the start to my double page spread where I positioned the photo just like the photo on my style model, to the right and made it rather big taking up a lot of space to centralise the person who is being interview and to make it less unappealing and boring to the reader, as too much text can be seen as boring.

 

                         

 

This is the photo headline font where the title just like the style model is big and stands out. This just like my style model is the artist name. I've done it in black as it is a rock magazine and black is stereotypically seen associated with a rock band/singer. I've done it font size 60 to fill the space at the top and really make it stand out.


                            

 

This is the effects on editing the text of the heading. This is the effects I used, inner shadow, outer glow and drop shadow. These effects can make the text look more appealing than just a plain font in a large size. It also shows professionalism that I'm able to use effects and features to make a magazine.

Style Model

This is my Contents page and NME's magazine contents page which i used as my style model. I liked the way NME used the black boxes to highlight the titles such as 'News'; and 'Features' because it brings more colour to the page rather than a page with most white and text. It has to be a white background because it can cost companies a lot of money to print the number of magazines that they do all in colour. Also, this magazine contains more pages than what mine does so there is more text and as there is a lot more information contained in the magazine which the magazine has to ocver. On the other hand, mine has the front cover, contents page and a double page spread meaning that not much information is contained in my magzine so i can only have a limited amount on my contents page without giving too much away. I adapted the subscription advertisment as it fills a big chunk of space and also can bring potential customers to buy the magazine as it's a simple way to advetise and fill space.

 

The text of the titles on my style model are big and bold and not the style of text that you could write chunks of text with therefore it makes the subheadings stand out more. Underneith they have used a traditional fontm, traditional fonts are fonts easyt to read which are used in texts such as newspapers, books, advetisments and other texts which contain a large amount of text.



Front Cover

Process of Development Contents Page

This is the start and basics to my media cover contents page getting the basics of what each page contains using a headline and a short snappy sentence an image the title ' Contents March 2013' and ID which is short for the magazine IDENTITY. There is a picture on there of Mel Lowe as she is the cover to the magazine and is the 'Headline' story. I contuined to use red as it's on the cover and also it is a bold eye catching colour.

 

After looking at some NME contents pages from different issues i have noticed many subscription adevertisments all in a black box with yellow and white text so i have adapted this into my own magazine also on the contents page using the same theme.

I changed the font of the subheadings to Tuer's Cardboard because it's a clear but more harsh unusual font then a times new roman whch is more formal. The target audience isn't older people because it's a music magazine for the younger generation so it can be done. I have highlighted the page titles with a black background as this was done in NME and i thought it was eye catching and made the magazine look more interesting rather than just lots of text on a white background with a picture on it, so it makes it moreunteresting for readers adding a bit of colour.

 

 



I have changed the picture which is on a slant as originally both pictures were took in the same location and as they was both blonde many people told me they look like the similar girl when they are both different. Also i've chosen pictures where both facial expressions of both girls are completley contrasted, one being happy and one being more serious, This gives to different moods to the magazine givin the reader a bigger sense of drama rather than a depressing mood magazine and i have also started to fill the gap at the top with a short letter to the reader testing different fonts.

 



Process of Development

 

This is my first idea into development of the magazine 'IDENTITY' in which I'm making. I have chosen black and white and she's a rock singer and therefore isn't singing happy cheery music which is related to colour and other things which would be colours such as red and pink. The girl used on the cover is mysterious to draw more people in and has a facial expression which hides a lot to want readers to find out about this girl.

An example of a photo used on a black and white cover from 'The Face' is the photo above. A picture of a girl giving the same facial expression making readers want to know her story and everything she is about.  The only difference between my photo and this photo is the type of shot and where its taken. This photo shows more of the background whereas the photo on my possible front cover is a closer shot so less background can be seen.

I have used a black and white theme as its more mysterious. The font I used for the title of the magazine was Uptown. This font is quite modern and not fulfilled just like the message the cover gives to the readers, that they have to read the magazine to find out the story so it is relevant. I also used this for the headline ' The naked truth as it is' this means a dark story just like the theme and again gives the audience a though of mystery engaging them in. The size of the title is 150pt using an inner glow as well because the title has to stand out more than the rest of the magazine and it is more blockish.

The size of the title of the story is 32 because it has to be made to also catch the readers eye and make them wonder what the magazine is about. I don't want to give to much away on the front cover because people wouldn't buy it if there was too much too soon.

 

The font for the price '£2.00' is in Franklin Gothic Heavy and in size 24pt as it's not the most important part of the magazine. It's in the bottom right had corner above the bar code as that is usually where most prices are on products including magazines.

 

I have put a circle blocked filled in red with white writing in the font stride di Fuoco size 35pt in front of the circle as its a competition and makes it stand out to readers that if they buy the magazine they have a chance of winning a T-shirt just for buying the magazine.

 

I have used red and black again for the contents page because they are primary colours and bold making the titles stand out.

 

 

 

 

 

Data Protection

Privacy Policy for Hearst Magazines UK which is the trading name of The National Magazine Company Limited.

Hearst Magazines UK is committed to protecting your privacy and we have prepared this Privacy Policy to describe to you our practices regarding the Personal Data we collect from users of our services.

Costs

Costs

NME is a music magazine and is a multi-platform in media proposition. This company does not only do magazines but it also has a website, a video line and a radio. Also it's live events and awards reaches over 1.1 million music fans weekly. It is the longest published and respected music weekly in the world giving readers the very best new music, latest reviews and realses and guides them to the best new bands. This magazine was first launched in 1952.

The audience for this is 66% male and 34% female in the ages between 15 to 34.

This magazine sells for £2.40

 

Another magazine which targets a different age range is the 'TeenNOW' magazine. This contains more younger bands for example 'One Direction' or 'Union J' which more than likely originated from the show 'X Factor'. This isn't a weekly magazine, it's more of a monthly magazine and has 92 pages containing the latest gossip, exclusive interview, affordable fashion, beauty and a free poster. This is aimed at teenagers who are girls and is based on celebrities.

 

The audience for this magazine is teengaers aged 11-17 and mainly females.

 

This magazine sells for £2.50.

 

 

Hearst Magazine is the UK's leading media company with 20 magazine brands and 20 digital assests. Some of these digital assets are: allaboutsoap.co.uk, redonline.co.uk, womenshealth.co.uk, ELLEuk.com.
This magazine company does it in a numbher of different cat

  



Internet Research On Audience

Audience Research.

Questionnaire
1)What's your favourite genre of music?

--- Rock
--- Pop
--- Hip-Hop
--- Indie
--- Punk
--- Classical
--- Other (Please State)
_______________________________________

2)In which age cateogory are you in?

--- 16
--- 17
--- 18+

3) How many hours a week do you spend listening to music?

--- Under 1 hour
--- 1-2 hours
--- 3-4 hours
--- 5-6 hours
--- 7+ hours
--- Never

4) Do you buy/read music magazines?

--- Yes
--- No
--- Sometimes
--- Often

5) If i wrote a music magazine on your favourite genre of music, would you buy it?

--- Yes
--- No
--- Maybe

Mayday Inspiration

Inspiration On my Idea.

Mayday Parade is another american band, rock band, from Florida. They are a successful band selling 50000 copies of thier debut EP without label support so they have a rather large fan base. This abnd signed up to Fearless Records in 20066 and signed up to a major label in 2009 to Atlantic Records.
Again this band is a contains 5 members all being male and having the rock style.
The band influences are 'Taking Back Sunday', 'Green Day' and Jimmy Eat World.
This band has a twist and doesnt make their career simple they use pop songs and make them rock for example they covered 'when i grow up' by pussycat dolls.

When i Grow Up Cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmkCzMQddWM

Derek Sanders – Lead vocals, Keyboard

Jake Bundrick – Vocals, Drums

Alex Garcia – Lead Guitar

Brooks Betts – Rhythm Guitar

Jeremy Lenzo – Vocals, Bass guitar

Inspiration of Bands

Inspiration Of My Idea.

http://lostboysclothing.com/8123
The maine is an american rock band from Arinzona which was formed January 21, 2007. They are a alterantive rock/indie rock band with five members which are all male. They have realeased a number albums including a film and are very successful. The last song released was in 2011 and the band are still together now. Since then Indie rock has been a very successfull genre that has selled many albums and become more common especially in the younger audience such as teens.

The albums released by this band are:

• Stay Up, Get Down
• Can't Stop Won't Stop
• Black and White
• Pionerr

The Band have been signed by a number of record labels such as: Sire Records, Warner Bros, Records and Fearless Records. The band was influenced by 90's radio rock bandsand pop sounds and was in high school at the time. They did their first tour in 2007 which is also when they relseased their first 5 songs which was successful.
Their band has been rate quite high aswell as their albums and say future development is going to happen.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-maine-mn0000667657

The band members in this band are:
John O'Callaghan (lead singer)
Garrett Nickelsen (bassist/back up vocals)
Pat Kirch (drummer)
Kennedy Brock (guitarist)
Jared Monaco (guitarist)

Research and Planning

Research and Planning for Print

This is an example of an existing magazine front cover.
This is a simple contents page which has used one big image which is centred and edited. Again, the writer has stuck to three main colours being white,grey and black making them more dark colours which all contrast.
The heading is split up on different lines such as 'CO' 'NTEN' 'TS' making it stand out more than the rest of the text as there is a dramtic change in font size. There is a difference between fonts are there is 3 minimum different texts used throughout the contents page, these are used for the heading of the page, the subheadings and the actual text about whats contained in each page. This page is simple using one image and small text with not much which is effective as most people prefer to read a bit of text and look at the images rather than read loads of text that waffles.

This is a magazine for a young audience such as girl teens, this is shown with the glittery pink title and the themes colours are pink red and purple which tend to target female readers. The writer also uses lines such as 'Is she stealing your crush?' and 'Who's the fittest Justin & Harry battle it out'. These can enagge female readers especially younger ones to read as they  have their 'celebrity' crushes. They use a number of shapes such as circles, squares and arrows to make the page more creative and interesting to appeal to the target audience. The language is very simple using words such as 'hottest; and 'spooky' so that its readable for the target audience.









This is one fo the worst selling issues of the vogue magazine. The cover photo is very textual and unbalanced. There is the use of a pastel green and a shocking pink and baby pink, this looks more childlike considering its an adult magazine. The central picture of lady gaga is very revealing making it inappropriate for young readers contrasting with the colours and layout of the text. There is a lot of text on the front which could be offputting to the audience and everything is in block capitals which makes the sentences harder to read.It's not proper english to write in full block captials throughout every piece of text as it's hard for the reader to consontrate. The picture of Lady Ga Ga doesn't look appealing and looksa rather scary so again couldnt engage or appeal to te readers. Also, there is hardly any spare space meaning there is too much text which can quite frequently be seen as 'boring'.