Thursday, 5 January 2012
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
16th December 2011
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I analysed several existing magazines to make sure that my magazine followed similar codes and conventions, these magazines included Q, Rolling Stone, Billboard and We Love Pop. I made sure that my cover included a masthead, a slogan, relevant plugs, at least one high quality cover shot, a bar code, the magazine cost and the issue number. I ensured that my contents page was branded and included a list of the magazine's articles, a title, several photographs, page numbers and the issue number. These are features which I found are the conventions of real products. My double page spread showed a clear link over the two pages, a photo and an article written in a similar interview style to existing articles in magazines. I chose a price for my product which was close to or the same as existing products which I viewed.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I feel that my magazine represents people who are more interested in music than gossip on music stars. It represents people who are willing to listen to music which might not necessarily be of their favourite genre but simply music which they find appealing. For this reason my magazine covers over several genres which stem off the initial pop music genre. It represents people who would willingly buy a product which would also appeal to the opposite gender.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Having looked at magazines with a similar price range, target audience and sophisticated appearance to my own, I feel that Heart Corporation would be a good distributor for my magazine. Hearst Corporation currently distributes 23 magazines in the United Kingdom, 20 in the USA and many others internationally. These range from fashion magazines such as 'Elle', 'Cosmopolitan' and 'Company' to 'Country Living Magazine' and men's magazines such as 'Men's Health' and 'Road & Track'. They do not currently distribute any music magazines which is why I feel that it would fit in well with them as they have no competing products. I feel that the appearance of my magazine is similar to that of the other magazines distributed by Hearst.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
I feel that the target audience for my product is fairly wide and covers both genders. I believe that a variety of age groups would be interested in my product as I have tried to keep the appearance appealing to a wide age group. I feel that it would be older teenagers to middle ages individuals who would buy the magazine. The target audience would be people who are fond of popular, current music, not solely of the pop genre but of a wide variety of genres which feature in the official music chart. I feel that the medium price range would be appealing to a wide variety of people as it is not too expensive.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by trying to keep a unisex appearance throughout my magazine. Although the cover photo is more often then not the reason somebody buys a magazine I feel that this particular issue would appeal equally to both genders. Despite this future issues may appeal more so to a certain gender due to the cover photo of that issue. To try to avoid this being an issue I have tried to make the other features of the magazine appealing to men and women. I have used a bold blue as my main branding colour along with black and white, all colours which I feel both men and women would approve of. Other font colours are those selected from photos to match outfits etc. and so would compliment the photos. I feel that these would not be too distracting or distasteful to a gender as they would not occur as often so would be less noticeable. I have used a total of four fonts throughout my magazine. I have chosen fonts which are easy to read and not too extravagant and off-putting. I feel that the masthead font stands out but still looks professional. This I feel will enable me to appeal to a wider audience. I have kept the appearance of the magazine clear and sophisticated so that I can also appeal to a wider target audience older than teenagers and young adults. I have ensured that the contents includes something for everyone and each issue will feature articles from different genres of music. These include a variety of different types of articles, such as interviews and reviews, which are based on artists from a variety of ages and from both genders. The articles will mainly consist of information on the artist's music as the magazine is aimed at people who are more interested in music and not gossip.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I feel I have improved my skills in using the software Serif DrawPlus x3 throughout this process. Although I was familiar with the software, which is why I used it initially, I have learnt how to do more with the it. I have enhanced my skills using the cut out studio as this is a difficult tool to use, however, I now feel more confident in using it. I have discovered effects which can make text, pictures and shapes look more interesting which I had previously not known of. I have also uncovered the colour picker which allows you to select colours from photos or text so that the colour can be used elsewhere. I found that this was a very useful tool for selecting colours to make them compliment throughout the pages. Despite the software having many tools which were excellent for making my product, the program made the computer crash on many occasions which made it reliable. This made saving work regularly an essential part of the process.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that by doing more research for my main task, on a wider variety of existing products, I was able to pick out more key features and conventions of magazines and ensure that these were included in my own. I realise now that my masthead should have stood out more in preliminary task as it was not a large enough size for the thin font which I selected. I believe that my layout on my main task was much more appropriate and specific to the target audience than that of my school magazine. I feel that I had a much clearer view of who my target audience was on my main task and how to appeal to them. I made the plugs on my main task stand out more after feeling that those on my preliminary were a little drowned out by the photo.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I analysed several existing magazines to make sure that my magazine followed similar codes and conventions, these magazines included Q, Rolling Stone, Billboard and We Love Pop. I made sure that my cover included a masthead, a slogan, relevant plugs, at least one high quality cover shot, a bar code, the magazine cost and the issue number. I ensured that my contents page was branded and included a list of the magazine's articles, a title, several photographs, page numbers and the issue number. These are features which I found are the conventions of real products. My double page spread showed a clear link over the two pages, a photo and an article written in a similar interview style to existing articles in magazines. I chose a price for my product which was close to or the same as existing products which I viewed.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I feel that my magazine represents people who are more interested in music than gossip on music stars. It represents people who are willing to listen to music which might not necessarily be of their favourite genre but simply music which they find appealing. For this reason my magazine covers over several genres which stem off the initial pop music genre. It represents people who would willingly buy a product which would also appeal to the opposite gender.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Having looked at magazines with a similar price range, target audience and sophisticated appearance to my own, I feel that Heart Corporation would be a good distributor for my magazine. Hearst Corporation currently distributes 23 magazines in the United Kingdom, 20 in the USA and many others internationally. These range from fashion magazines such as 'Elle', 'Cosmopolitan' and 'Company' to 'Country Living Magazine' and men's magazines such as 'Men's Health' and 'Road & Track'. They do not currently distribute any music magazines which is why I feel that it would fit in well with them as they have no competing products. I feel that the appearance of my magazine is similar to that of the other magazines distributed by Hearst.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
I feel that the target audience for my product is fairly wide and covers both genders. I believe that a variety of age groups would be interested in my product as I have tried to keep the appearance appealing to a wide age group. I feel that it would be older teenagers to middle ages individuals who would buy the magazine. The target audience would be people who are fond of popular, current music, not solely of the pop genre but of a wide variety of genres which feature in the official music chart. I feel that the medium price range would be appealing to a wide variety of people as it is not too expensive.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by trying to keep a unisex appearance throughout my magazine. Although the cover photo is more often then not the reason somebody buys a magazine I feel that this particular issue would appeal equally to both genders. Despite this future issues may appeal more so to a certain gender due to the cover photo of that issue. To try to avoid this being an issue I have tried to make the other features of the magazine appealing to men and women. I have used a bold blue as my main branding colour along with black and white, all colours which I feel both men and women would approve of. Other font colours are those selected from photos to match outfits etc. and so would compliment the photos. I feel that these would not be too distracting or distasteful to a gender as they would not occur as often so would be less noticeable. I have used a total of four fonts throughout my magazine. I have chosen fonts which are easy to read and not too extravagant and off-putting. I feel that the masthead font stands out but still looks professional. This I feel will enable me to appeal to a wider audience. I have kept the appearance of the magazine clear and sophisticated so that I can also appeal to a wider target audience older than teenagers and young adults. I have ensured that the contents includes something for everyone and each issue will feature articles from different genres of music. These include a variety of different types of articles, such as interviews and reviews, which are based on artists from a variety of ages and from both genders. The articles will mainly consist of information on the artist's music as the magazine is aimed at people who are more interested in music and not gossip.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I feel I have improved my skills in using the software Serif DrawPlus x3 throughout this process. Although I was familiar with the software, which is why I used it initially, I have learnt how to do more with the it. I have enhanced my skills using the cut out studio as this is a difficult tool to use, however, I now feel more confident in using it. I have discovered effects which can make text, pictures and shapes look more interesting which I had previously not known of. I have also uncovered the colour picker which allows you to select colours from photos or text so that the colour can be used elsewhere. I found that this was a very useful tool for selecting colours to make them compliment throughout the pages. Despite the software having many tools which were excellent for making my product, the program made the computer crash on many occasions which made it reliable. This made saving work regularly an essential part of the process.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that by doing more research for my main task, on a wider variety of existing products, I was able to pick out more key features and conventions of magazines and ensure that these were included in my own. I realise now that my masthead should have stood out more in preliminary task as it was not a large enough size for the thin font which I selected. I believe that my layout on my main task was much more appropriate and specific to the target audience than that of my school magazine. I feel that I had a much clearer view of who my target audience was on my main task and how to appeal to them. I made the plugs on my main task stand out more after feeling that those on my preliminary were a little drowned out by the photo.
15th December 2011
I have added another plug which relates to the artist in my double page spread. I have used part of the article as the brief information given by the plug, 'Broadway lead to pop superstar', as well as the artist's name. I have changed the artist's names in the right plugs into the same blue as the masthead to give the page a more complimenting appearance and make the names stand out more. Both the artist's names and the information which goes with them have a bold font to make them stand out against the picture.
I have added a slogan to the magazine, situated below the masthead. This reads 'MY MUSIC. MY SOUND. MYTUNES'. I have chosen to include a slogan as I found that it is something which the majority of magazines have. I have used repetition with 'my' in the slogan to make it sound catchier and emphasise that it is the magazine for you. I have decided to use three short sentences as I feel that this makes it sound more dramatic and to the point.
14th December 2011
I have now used the cut out studio on Serif to cut out part of the glow around Amy as I found that it was too much having it all the way around. Instead the glow is now just around the upper half of her body and her left shoe. I have decided to rearrange the buildings as I was not completely happy with how they looked. I have made the buildings smaller as I found they were too dominating over the page. I have copied and pasted some of the buildings so that they still fill the width of the page at their smaller size. I found that the layout looked a little odd with Amy's shoe appearing straight over the buildings in the background and looked unrealistic. To improve this I have placed an auto shape rectangle across the bottom of the page. I have made this rectangle black and have faded it into the buildings. I feel that this makes the scene look more professional and sleek. I have decided to leave out page numbers on my double page spread, something which I found that existing products do when they do not fit in or look appropriate on the pages. As this article would be over several pages, some of the other pages would have numbers so that readers can easily find articles. I believe that my double page spread is now finished.
13th December 2011
Now that I have all of the necessary features on my double page spread I have now enhanced the appearance of it. I have used the colour select tool on Serif to pick out the red of the dress in the photo. I have then changed the font colour of the questions asked in the interview into the selected red. I have chosen to do this as I feel that it makes the questions look much clearer and more distinguishable from the answers.
I changed the font colour of the title 'Scarlet Hudson' to black and have added a red glow around it to make it look more like the 'Chicago' title. In contrast to this the 'S' and the 'H' have a white font colour with a red glow to make each word stand out more similarly to the 'C' in the centre of 'Chicago'. I have also used the white font with the red glow for both quotes to make them clearer to see and to enhance the theme throughout the page.
I have placed an arrow at the end of the text on the page as the whole article does not fit on the two pages. This is something which I found articles in existing magazines do when the article continues onto another page. I have used an arrow from the auto shapes, however, I have cropped off the tail so that it is just the triangle part. I have made the arrow a similar height to the font and have line it up with the text. The arrow is also white with a red glow around it. I have faded the buildings slightly to make the article clearer to read as I thought it would be more difficult with the heavy contrast of the buildings. Similarly to my contents page, I have drawn around the photo of Amy again in white using picnik. I have done this as I found that you could still see green around certain areas of the photo. I have gone around where the green was still present and then cut the photo out again using the cut out studio on Serif.
I have decided to place a glow around the photo to make it look like the light is shining off her. I have done this by copying and pasting the image and placing it on top of the original photo. I have then taken the transparency of the fill down to 0% to make it completely transparent, allowing you to see the original photo below. I have then edited the line by giving it a red glow. 12th December 2011
I have introduced my article with a quote from the interview which reads 'Sometimes I just want to wear my fishnets and strut my stuff as Roxie!'. I have chosen to start the article with this as it gives a brief snippet of information as to what the article is about which grabs the reader's attention. I have chosen a quote which I feel is interesting and goes with the Chicago theme of the double page spread. The quote is written in first person and as it is about being the lead role in a Broadway musical, readers will know that it is Scarlet speaking, which again will make them want to read the article more so if they are a fan. The quote features the use of the alliteration, 'strut my stuff', which makes it sound more appealing to the ears and so makes the sentence stand out. I have chosen to write the sentence in bold and have used larger font size to the rest of the article to make it stand out more.
Below the quote I have written a brief introduction to the article. The use of the phrase, 'From a lead role on Broadway to pop superstardom', informs the reader what th artist is famous for if they do not already know and if they do this emphasises the point. I have then written that Scarlet is going to be 'Sharing the secrets to her success', again the use of alliteration makes the sentence sound more interesting, and 'shedding light on her new album'. I have given the reader an idea as to what topics will be covered in the article so that the reader will know if they want to read it or not by what topics are told. However, I have kept the brief quite vague so that not too much has been given away and I have chosen general topics related to music so that most people would find this interesting to read. This paragraph has been written in a font size in between the main article and the introductory quote.
I have placed a white line above where the main article begins so that there is a clear divide for the reader to see. I have begun the main article using direct speech used by the interviewee to again draw the reader's attention. I have then continued by describing Scarlet's entrance to the interview and how busy she is. I have then asked an array of questions and shown her responses. The majority of the questions asked relate to Scarlet's music as this is part of the IPC of my magazine to be mainly about the music and not gossip. The questions and answers have the same font size, however, the questions are written in bold so that they can be distinguished easily. I have left a line after each answer before the next question so that it is clearer to see different questions with their answers. I have laid the main part of the article out into four columns across both pages. I have arranged the text so that it curves around the shape of the photo of Amy as this makes the layout look more professional.
I have placed another quote from the article in the centre of the right page in a larger, bold font. This is something which I found magazine articles often features as they grab the reader's attention. I have chosen a quote which I again feel is interesting and I believe will entice the buyer to read the article. I have placed speech marks above and below the sentence, using a much larger font. These immediately indicate that someone is speaking which again draws in the reader as they want to find out what the artist has said.
8th December 2011
I have now started to enhance my double page spread now that I have the basic layout and photo which I want to use. I have looked at a poster from the movie of the musical 'Chicago' to get ideas for the double page spread. I have decided to try and mimic the idea of having the cityscape in the background with the figure stood in the foreground in the centre of the page. I have found some photos of skyscrapers which I had from a trip to New York and have cut them out using the cut-out studio on Serif DrawPlusx3. I have changed the colour of the buildings to black and white so that the figure stands out more and have arranged the buildings in a sweeping arc along the bottom of the page. 
I have copied and pasted some of the buildings and placed them elsewhere so that the buildings take up all of the bottom of the page. I have arranged them with some higher than others so that the buildings dip where my photo of Amy is to make her stand out more and give the page a more interesting appearance.
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