Laura's AS Media Blog

Friday, 1 April 2011

Contents page analysis

q-contents, a photo by LILLOZZAA on Flickr.

Thursday, 31 March 2011

Picture of draft Manic magazine cover

Monday, 28 March 2011

Skills Development - Looking back at your premiminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have lerarnt in the progression from it to full product?

Comparing to the preliminary task outcome, I think this piece has so much more improvement to it. The fonts and language has improved and also the photo is of a much better quality. The title for “MANIC” magazine is bolder, brighter and has more pulling quality. The double outline and filled in middle has more potential to pull the reader in because it’s more interesting and bold. The cover lines for “CHECK” magazine are small and uninteresting where as in “MANIC” magazine they have a colour decline where the colour goes from black to white over a gradual colour change. It contrasts with the background to stand out. Over all “MANIC” magazine proves to be much more appealing than “CHECK” magazine. My knowledge of using Photoshop has increased a dramatic amount. Before I was only using tools at the bare minimum due to the fact that I didn’t know what a lot of the tools could do so I was limited to roughly 5 tools whereas now I can be more independent on Photoshop but sometimes still need some help with requirements

There is an obvious difference in these two contents pages. Firstly the thing the audience is first going to look at on the CHECK magazine contents page is the part entitled “CHECK”, this doesn’t tell the reader what they are going to be reading or anything about it therefore they won’t be interested in what is being written. Where as in the second picture (on the right) is it quite obvious what the reader will be reading as the thing that is in bold is “CONTENTS”. The whiteness of the letters, boldness and size all helps for it to be the thing that stands out first. The picture is bigger and the writing has been more carefully thought about.

Photoshop helped me achieve the improvements to my magazine and helped the me to create a look for the magazine. My knowledge of Photoshop has increased but i am still not a master of Photoshop. I have learnt how to use the “crop” tool(cuts down parts of the photo or picture that is unneeded), “spot heeling tool”(takes away imperfections), “layer” tool(allows new pictures and text to be added to the piece), “smudge” tool( makes the edge of an object less sharp and more blurred) and many more whereas before i didn’t know what any of these did.

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

Programmes used:

Photoshop
Flickr
Blogger
Intranet
Google
Google images

The disadvantages of using the majority of the websites are that a user account is needed and remembering the password and username is sometimes hard. But I learnt a lot especially from Photoshop. I had never used it before so this experience helped me acknowledge ways in which to use Photoshop. Camera angles and shots were taken into account when choosing and taking photo’s. For the front cover I wanted a close up of someone’s face shouting at the camera because it ties in with the title of the magazine. The other photos were taken spontaneously and happen to look good.

Flickr

An advantage of using Flickr was that Flickr allowed me to upload JPEG’s to Blogger and without flickr it would have been quite a bit harder and also that the basic package is free to use and doesn’t have an expiry date. A disadvantage of using Flickr is that the website crashes and isn’t always reliable.

Blogger

An advantage of using Blogger was that blogger is the place that all of the final work is presented. It showcases all of the work completed and presents it in a clear neat fashion. A disadvantage of using Blogger is that blogger can be complex to use and isn’t always straight forward.

Google

An advantage of using Google was that it made looking up new websites so much easier and quicker and also when it came to looking things up on the internet independently, the websites could be easily found using Google. A disadvantage of using Google was that once you know the website address, Google has a no longer purpose.

Addressing My Audience - How did you attract/adress your audience?

The language used in my pieces is situated to the kind of people reading it so many ellipses and modal verbs are used. Ellipses are used frequently because the people who are reading it are most likely to use it in their speech. The reason I incorporated them into my pieces is because I felt that the audience would be able to relate easier to the text if they aren’t as foreign to it. Some of the language is colloquial but it is not so that the reader is made to feel stupid. Also some of the writing is written in shorter form for example, Information as info.

The music type also has an influence on the kind of language used because the kind of music focused on wouldn’t used much formal language, it would consist of informal to semi- formal and fillers, ellipsis and direct address. The layout of my magazine was obviously mainly influenced by other magazines. Two of the influential magazines are music magazines and the other is a fashion magazine. I chose these as style models because I felt their properties would address the target audience of my magazine. Also asking people who fit into the target audience of my magazine helped me achieved looks and graphic designs for the magazine.
The colours chosen where because they were dark and contrasting to grab the readers attention. Also these are the kind of clothing colours the male indie youth would wear. The slanted cover lines where influenced by an NME magazine because they try and attract the same kind of youth group. Its edgy, exciting and different. This also definatly describes the target audience.

Target Audience - Who would be the audience for your media product?

These are the kind of people I would expect to buy my magazine because they look as though they fit into the demographics and psychographics of my magazine. They look as though they are of a similar age and what they’re wearing fits what a typical indie kid would be wearing.

Advertising things such as Acoustic guitars, Converse trainers, Festivals, Parties, Alcohol, new bands and things like this would be appropriate for this target audience because it’s the kind of thing they can afford to buy and also it’s the kind of thing they would want to buy. The things that would appeal to the reader would be placed at the front of the magazine because in theory if the reader sees things they’re going to like, reading on will follow.

Demographics
Age : 18-22
Gender: Male
Race: Any
Class: low-middle
Nationality: Birtish/English speaking

Institutions - What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Bauer Media connects and engages 19 million consumers every week with the most influential brands in the UK. Bauer Media bridges the insight gap with the battle-tested consumer knowledge that has underpinned its own success in fierce consumer markets, and from an advertising standpoint, its unrivalled experience in providing creative solutions to its customers.

Bauer magazine would be the best company to publish ’MANIC’ magazine because I think it would be best suited for my magazine. I think this because Bauer are the owners of Kerrang magazine who are an influence for my magazine. Also I would like Bauer to publish my magazine because Bauer are one of the best known publishing companies; they would be the best company for making my magazine reach its full selling potential.

An advantage of being with Bauer would be the fact that sales would be high and they have lots of experience with big name magazines. Another advantage would be that Bauer have a lot of distributors around the country so having my magazine published with them could mean that the magazine would make it in the large stores. A disadvantage would be that because they are so busy with other magazines they may choose to not promote my magazine. Another disadvantage would be that Bauer already has a similar music magazine; competition would be high and would be dangerous for the magazine if the magazine was to be beaten by the competition. Something else to be considered with being associated with a big magazine publishing company is the credit you’ll actually get for creating the magazine and how much influence the publishing company will have on the magazine. Because they are publishing it, in their right they could completely change the magazine from its original design.

Being with a big publishing firm could also mean the chance to have sister products such as a radio station or TV channel; there would also be a hope for the magazine to promote smaller bands on iTunes to help them enter the world of fame. This could bring numerous numbers of readers to the magazine and smaller bands to get promoted in the magazine in the hope of getting on a music sharing website such as iTunes.

Representation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social class for a magazine is incredibly important because without it prices for magazines would be sky high and no one would know what magazine to buy. The demographics of my magazine are:

Age - Teens (16-24 years)

Gender – male

Education – High school/ young college students/youth

Income of family - Low to middle

Marital status - Single

-The psychographics of my magazine:

Lifestyle – Easy going, Busy with homework and coursework sometimes, love music

Religion – No specification

Activities and interests – Hanging around with mates, listening/playing to music, educational work.

These two photos have similarities in the way that they are both male, leaning against a hard surface and sitting on the floor. Their clothing is also similar, jackets and jeans but their background could be of a different ethnicity. The camera angle is not also the same in both photos the first second photo has a front view whereas the first photo has a side on view. The lighting in the photo's looks quite natural and not edited. In the photo on the left and the right the lighting is natural and complimenting and not made to look synthetic.

The subculture that my magazine fits into and is targeted at is indie. “Indie kids” are known for listening to music that tends to only consist of a singers voice, guitar, bass guitar and drums. They wear converse trainers, skinny jeans and a t-shirt, sometimes they play guitar, and Indie is a mix of the Mods and Rockers. The magazine would have quite a lot of advertisements in because I feel that the audience would like to look at advertisements, they would be of a more visual type.

The magazine is aimed at the male indie youth. Their personality revolves around being a little bit rude but overall a good person to be around. They buy converse trainers and would play guitar. They also might smoke and drink alcohol and attend festivals in the summer and gigs in the winter.

Friday, 18 February 2011

Media Magazine Coursework Evaluation

Media Coursework Evaluation – Forms And Conventions

Conventions in a magazine are very important. They are what make a magazine, a magazine, without them a magazine would not function well enough for a reader to buy. The genre of the magazine is Indie. Indie music would include bands such as “Vampire Weekend, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand”. Music magazines such as NME, Rolling Stone and Wire, These magazines influenced the way the magazine looked. Using similar fonts and colours and also using some of the language techniques used, for example, ellipsis.

My Coursework magazine cover was influenced a lot by a NME magazine cover, although the two covers don’t look similar things like fonts and placing of text has been replicated. The reason i chose to do this is because I think the NME cover is very appealing to “Indie kids” meaning they would want to buy the magazine due to a good looking front cover. The title of the magazine I created is “MANIC”. The reason I chose to use the name “MANIC” is because I wanted a name that will stand out and that will be easy to remember. The name “MANIC” Connotes that the magazine is going to be busy and that there will be plenty of thing to do and read inside. The colours for the title were influenced by the NME magazine also, the red filling and white and black outline make the title stand out and become more appealing and attractive to the reader. The masthead being placed at the top makes the magazine very typical meaning it fits in with the other music magazines in its competition. The date line is in white so it’s in contrast to the darker back round, this makes it stand out more but at the same time is has a thin font and is also in a smaller font to the masthead. This is so the masthead is the first thing people look at, and not the date or selling line which is also in white above the masthead with a slightly thicker letter size but still the same font. The mise-on-scene of the image on the front cover is constant of only one thing and this is a girls face screaming in to the camera. The main image takes up the hole of the page with a face of someone screaming which relates to the masthead “MANIC”. The screaming face relates the masthead because it shows that the person is stressed out and is obviously going through a hectic situation. The cover lines are all on the left side of the page so that the main image doesn’t get covered in the wrong places. The titles of the cover lines are intentionally disorientated and some are larger than others, this is confusing and strange but the intention was to attract readers and by changing font size and colour, the reader should be attracted more to the front cover. The colour of the writing in the cover lines starts of as a dark grey and then as the cover line goes down the page is become lighter and lighter to the point of the last sentence being white. The type of language used in the cover lines is very short and to the point, this is so not all the information is given away but enough is given for the reader to be interested to read on. A barcode has also been included on the cover page of the magazine placed in the bottom left corner.

The costumes and props in the photo are very casual, due to the fact that people who follow indie trends tend to dress quite casually for the majority of the time. She is wearing a grey and pink scarf and a kaki coloured coat. There are no props seen in this photo but in actually fact the model is kneeling on a table, but the table is not visible because it was not seen as necessary. The model in the photo is made to look around the age of 18 because the target audience has the age of 16+. She has a very obvious attitude and it’s quite an “in-your-face” photo. She has an obvious problem and is screaming about it, this relates to the title, “MANIC”.

The contents page was influenced by a fashion magazine contents page because i thought the look of it was quite mellow and a little less loud than the front cover but still has attitude about it. The layout consists of the writing being on only one side of the magazine (like the front cover) and is in a grey font (like the front cover). There is again only one photo but this time it only covers one of the sides of the pages. This keeps the page tidy and also simple. “Contents” is written at the top of the page so the readers know exactly what they’re reading, it is also written in bold block writing so it’s clear. The sub-heading on the contents page is enlarged so the reader doesn’t necessarily have to read all of the writing underneath the sub-heading. Also the colour of the sub-heading is slightly different.

The double page spread was influenced by a music magazine double page spread (NME). The NME double spread is more indie/rocker but it looked quite interesting and pulling so I chose to try and replicate some of the features for example the picture in the background, the layout of it consisted of the picture covering the whole two pages and it’s the only picture on the page, nothing else is included in the picture apart from a group of men standing in simple positions on a white background. The caption on my double page spread has a brick background and also has only one guy and three girls in but covers the whole of the page. There is one thing that covers the picture apart from the text and pull quote and that is a side bar, it has a black back ground and white writing and has information on the interviewees band album (the stating topic of conversation in the article). Gutters and a drop cap are included in the spread. I only used one pull quote as I felt this is all that was necessary. The writing is a different colour to the background of the pull quote and caption to draw the reader in. The body text is all the same size to make it look even and is also all the same colour, black. The language used is semi-formal because the majority of people reading the article will use semi formal register. Also because the article is an interview the people speaking have a certain idiolect which in this context was purposely used. The idiolect used is not completely different to the majority of people’s speech due to the fact as I want people to still be able to read the text and not have a difficulty. Things like ellipsis, modal verbs, polysyllabic lexis and face work are all used in the interview to increase interest.

The house style of this magazine is created when all of the above is put together. I believe that this magazine will appeal to people who have an interest in Indie music. This Magazine fills a gap in the market because it targets an audience that not many other music magazines have tried to target. The few that do target an indie audience do not seem to be sold in large stores where NME and WIRE are being sold. These two magazines are aimed at people who like rock music. The audience for my magazine is unfortunately a popular age group because the age group of 16-24 years old is when the majority of people seem to purchase magazines.