In the past 5 months I have been asked to create my own magazine cover, contents page and double page spread. Below you can see a PowerPoint of the ideas I had for my evaluation. But the following are the same questions just in more detail.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Whilst comparing my own product to real media products I thought about the ways real media present theirs. As you could see I analysed 4 covers, 2 contents pages and 2 double page spreads, this helped me interpret many magazines and help me with my own. One or two of these covers were inspirational to me, like the KERRANG magazines because they attracted my eye and I liked the way they were done. Whilst working through my product I mainly took ideas from KERRANG magazine because as I said it is inspirational to me and it is my favorite music magazine so I thought if that appeals to me similar ideas will appear to my target audience. A ‘typical’ magazine sticks to convention which is what I aimed to do – have a big title across the front, a main picture and all other features in smaller writing. I created a few unconventional magazine covers by placing features in a different position and not using the appropriate font. As I created front covers that were unconventional I did challenge forms of real media products by doing those weird, different styles. But in the end I stuck to conventional as it appeals to more people. The genre of my magazine was intended to be rock, but I used conventional ways to show that I used hybrid genre because my rock theme also blended in with a metal theme.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product separates social groups through mainly age and gender. This is because it has a 19 year old on the front and also rock is more of a male thing. If I used a 20-30 year old then teenagers/young adults most probably wouldn’t be interested as an older person may imply it’s for older people. Also the way the person on the front is dressed could attract the audience and this would show that people who choose this magazine would be socially similar. When constructing my media product I used a particular theme – black, white, green and yellow which could represent the attitude of the audience and whether they are socially compatible. Also the font I used was bold and simple which would show if they are attracted to it they are into similar things. The reasons why I chose to use these features is because I wanted to make sure it would appeal to my target audience and show what people are into these days.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think newsagents and mainly convenient stores would be most likely to distribute my product because that’s where teenagers go to pick up drinks and sweets so whilst they are there they could see the magazine and pick it up. I wouldn’t choose supermarkets because 16-20 year olds do not go food shopping so they are less likely to go to supermarkets. Newsagents and convenient stores are good places to distribute my product because they are popular with young adults and easy access for teenagers as most teenagers go to shops like that after school. Digital publishing would a big part of distributing my media product because 17% of media these days come from digital publishing. I could offer merchandise with my product to distribute it even further because then it would be more appealing. I may use some thing like a website to help it become distributed quicker.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When first starting my media project I decided the main target audience would be 16-20 year olds because that’s my age group and also my friends around me so it would be easier to get more accurate feed back. Also with myself being 17 I could use my own preferences to get me started and what I like could be similar to people of the same age as me. I was choosing to aim it at people interested in rock and maybe a bit of metal. This is not a big genre compared to pop but it is some thing I am interested in and all my friends are too so I thought it would be a lot easier to do. Also not many older people buy music magazines any more because they don’t listen to the latest music so it would be pointless in aiming the magazine at them because no one would buy it.
How did you attract/address your audience?
First of all I decided to use one of my friends as the main picture. This was because he is 19 years of age and is in the age group I am aiming at. Where as if I used an older person like my brother – in – law then that wouldn’t be appropriate because teenagers/young adults would think it’s not the latest music and the person’s appearance wouldn’t be the ‘in’ style. Talking about appearance, that is another reason why the audience would be interested in my products because he isn’t wearing old clothes, baggy clothes, tight clothes or anything stupid, he is just wearing normal tops which would attract people with the same type of attitude and style. I attracted my audience by also using Guitar Hero 4 as my subject on my main double page spread because my target audience is also the same as GH4s’ target audience and with GH4 not out in the UK at the time I thought it would be a brilliant attraction as they always want the latest news on some things big like that. On my front cover I also advertised a lot of competitions which would attract my audiences attention because they are for latest CD’s and one says ‘5 COMPS INSIDE’ which would make them look in the magazine and they would be able to see that they are for upcoming gigs. That means they would buy the magazine even if it was just for the competitions. Also the colours I used were simple – black, white, green and yellow. As I said about using this to distinguish social groups, I also used it because it’s bold and attractive to catch the reader’s eye.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
When working through this project I have come across some amazing software and learnt many new things. The main thing I have learnt is how to work fireworks! When I was in year 10/11 I did try to use fireworks but I gave up because at the time it wasn’t something I really needed, but now I needed to know how to use it because I wanted to get the best possible result, and without fireworks I wouldn’t have been able to do that. From that I have learnt how to use the magic wand tool, how to fade images, how to change colour of titles that are bitmaps by using hue/saturation option, how to use the polygon lasso tool and much more. Other things I have learnt is how to use blogger because I had never used or heard of it before but now its easy to operate and find my way around. I have also learnt how to edit photos using particular software because I had a new camera and had never used to software before, it was Kodak Easyshare. First time I didn’t have a clue but after 5 minutes I knew exactly what to do. Some pictures I took I wanted to convert into black and white. I knew I could do it on fireworks by selecting commands > creative > convert to grayscale but I wanted to do it on the software and I figured out how to do it and it only took 2 minutes – it was so easy, even if I did just have to use my initiative.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Going from my prelim to my final product, I feel as though I have learnt and realised a lot. I feel the progression I made was really good and that’s because of the planning and feed back I did and got. I realised you need to plan because to get the best result you need to improve on your previous effort and also getting feed back helps you get the best results because if you just rely on your own preference then it won’t suit the audience and no one may be interested. At least if you get a lot of feed back you can use ideas from each point, put them together and end up with a really good product. Another thing I have learnt is how to operate a camera properly to be able get the best shots and outcome. As my camera contains many functions like iso, auto and high reso, I learnt what each one meant and how the use them correctly under the correct circumstances. Another thing I have learnt is that you have to experiment to get the best outcome and you have to do something different to see what’s best. This is because if you stick to something plain you don’t know if anything else would work and people could think the plain way would be boring and no one would like it. At least if you experiment and it’s not right you don’t have to use it but at least you tried.
Below are my FINAL products! I am very pleased with them and I spent a lot of time of making sure I was pleased.
FRONT COVER
The reason I chose this as my front cover is because it is the most conventional and I think it's the most appealing to teenagers/young adults because of the colour scheme. Plus it stands out more than the others and when I had feedback from my peers two of them said it looks "really professional", so that made me choose this one because also it is my favorite. I chose to do the title like that because they are contrasting colours and the font was used because its like hard rock gets broken so it is eroded and I thought it suited the cover more than others. Also the 'TOP 50 ROCKERS' title has a white border that is quite thick and is very eye attracting which I thought was good. I used the colours because they are basic and they are most associated with rock. I placed the advertisements for the competitions on the side because the background was pale and cream and using black, bold writing meant that they would stand out.
CONTENTS
The reason I chose this as my final contents page is because it goes well with the front cover and is kept in with the same colour scheme, where as all the others weren't. I have also kept it simple so it’s not all compact and concentrated with pictures. The fonts are the same and consistent. Where as before for my contents I was using the Linkin Park font off dafont.com but I changed it to match in with the front cover. I separated the features and extras because the features are the main parts and the extras are for competitions and posters, not actually articles. Behind the features and extras I added a guitar and faded it into the background, I did this because it added more effect to page but I made it so you could still read the writing. I only chose to use two pictures because I thought it looked better.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
The reason why I chose this as my final double page spread is because it stood out the most to me and I thought it was the best one. It was hard to chose between them all because I liked some styles on the others but when it got put together it didn't work. I think the colour black works best with the article of Guitar Hero so it suites it more.
FRONT COVER
The reason I chose this as my front cover is because it is the most conventional and I think it's the most appealing to teenagers/young adults because of the colour scheme. Plus it stands out more than the others and when I had feedback from my peers two of them said it looks "really professional", so that made me choose this one because also it is my favorite. I chose to do the title like that because they are contrasting colours and the font was used because its like hard rock gets broken so it is eroded and I thought it suited the cover more than others. Also the 'TOP 50 ROCKERS' title has a white border that is quite thick and is very eye attracting which I thought was good. I used the colours because they are basic and they are most associated with rock. I placed the advertisements for the competitions on the side because the background was pale and cream and using black, bold writing meant that they would stand out.
CONTENTS
The reason I chose this as my final contents page is because it goes well with the front cover and is kept in with the same colour scheme, where as all the others weren't. I have also kept it simple so it’s not all compact and concentrated with pictures. The fonts are the same and consistent. Where as before for my contents I was using the Linkin Park font off dafont.com but I changed it to match in with the front cover. I separated the features and extras because the features are the main parts and the extras are for competitions and posters, not actually articles. Behind the features and extras I added a guitar and faded it into the background, I did this because it added more effect to page but I made it so you could still read the writing. I only chose to use two pictures because I thought it looked better.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
The reason why I chose this as my final double page spread is because it stood out the most to me and I thought it was the best one. It was hard to chose between them all because I liked some styles on the others but when it got put together it didn't work. I think the colour black works best with the article of Guitar Hero so it suites it more.
This is another double page spread. I was just playing about and looking at all my spreads. In the end I decided to do this one because I preferred the title on this, liked the colours and background on another and liked the way it was set out on a different one, also I took into account the feedback I had. So I wanted to put them all together to see what it looked like.
Friday, 27 February 2009
After creating my double page spreads I decided to get some feedback from my peers. Here is the feedback I gathered:
They are all good but the ones that stand out to me more are numbers 14, 12, 6 & 5. Only because they are set out in a good way and attracted my eye straight away. I wouldn't say that using colours for this particular article would be relevant, especially for a rock music magazine. But out of those 4 I like the title on number 6 but the layout on number 5. On numbers 12 and 14, I like the red effect and the black background.
I think the colours are good but they don't work with this story. The best one created mainly have the black ground. My favorite ones are 9, 10 & 14. For a rock music magazine black suites it better. Also for number 14 using the pictures behind was a good effect because it wasn't over the top, it was just right.
Using columns rather than paragraphs is so much better! It looks like a proper double page spread when it is done like that. Keeping all the writing on one side is good aswell but having it on both sides spreads it out and makes it look less to read but it doesnt look as professional. I think that number 14 is the best because you have made the most progess but the others are good too.
This is another double page spread. I have removed the arrow and added another picture to the bottom left hand side. I think it now stands out more.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
For this double page spread I added a background to it to see if it made it any better. I think I will add another picture to see if it makes any difference.
This is the latest spread I have created and this time I added a different photo and put all the writing on the left hand side. I think it is a good double page spread.
This is the same double page spread but I have added an outline to make it stand out more. In my opinion I think it may be the best one so far.
This the same spread as the previous one but all I have done it deleted the background off the pictures of Kris.
This another spread where I ended up putting the background back to black and adding things in to make it stand out.
I decided to keep the same layout but just change the colours. I want to change it a bit more because I like the colour and the writing on in the columns but I am not too sure on the layout.
As I said I was planning to change the back ground colour and I decided to go for red, green and blue. I chose these because I thought it went quite well.
This is another double page spread. In the end I decided to cahnge my writing back into the columns as it is more conventional on a double page spread. I think the left hand side is a lot better than the right hand side because I think the right hand side is a bit bare. Also I think I may change the background colour because I have experimented quite a bit with black and white and silver and I cannot find anything that is working.
This double page spread is quite different to the previous one because I decided to make the background black and ocne again rearranged my layout. I cannot decide on how to keep my layout or background. I am not sure on keeping the writing in that postition so I think I will change it to how it was before.
For this one I decided to go back to basics and see how it turned out. I chose a white background again but in my opinion it was too plain. I thought it was good having most of the writing on one side though.
For this one I decided to take a different approach and change the layout and the background. It think it is ok but I am sure I could still do better. I will be getting some people to comment on my spreads and hopefully produce more.
This is another double page spread that I have created as I needed to play around more and see what else I could do to make it better.
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I managed to find time to do another double page spread. This is what I came up with and I asked a few friends to look at this over the internet and they have said this is the best one.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Well up to now I have created all my front covers, contents and double page spreads and now I am on to my evaluation. In my opinion I think I could do a lot better on my double page spread but since there is only one day til deadline day I will keep my latest one as the final piece. At the moment I am now working on my evalution but if there is any time left I will see if I can create another double page spread. Once I have completed everything I will post my improved double page spread (if necessary) and then my final products, followed by my powerpoint and finally my evaluation.
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This is the other double page spread I have created and as it is only one day til deadline this, at the moment, is my final double page spread.
I took a different approach to creating this double page spread, I changed the layout, the background behind the writing and also took off the main picture. I thought it was more appealing but there is another one I have made that I think will be used as my final piece.
This is another double page spread and I have changed one picture and rearranged some of the things.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
After I created those contents, I decided to now move on to double page spreads again. This is another double page spread I have created. I kept the same writing and mainly the same pictures but I added 4 pictures and changed the background to see if it made it better.
This is the contents without the black lines. In my own opinion I think its better with the black lines. Well with the black lines on everything or not on at all. Having the black lines on makes it stand out more so I still took the idea into consideration but I will stick with the black lines.
Monday, 2 February 2009
For this contents page I tried something completely different and the feedback I got from my peers was good. It actually surprised me because I wasnt sure if it'd work but I am quite pleased with the results. One thing a peer said to me was not have the black lines around the features and extras so I will try without it and see what it looks like.
This is my template of the contents I created which is shown just above in the same post.
This is the same contents page as the previous one but the only thing I have changed is the colours. The reason why I have chosen the green and yellow is because they are used on my front cover and it was more appropriate to use them.
I changed the outer emboss to an inner glow so its not as thick but it still stands out.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
This is my next idea but this time I used a background behind the writing and added a outer emboss to make it stand out more. Also I did this because it meant that the writing could be read more easily.
This is a contents page I created but in the end I gave up because I didnt think it was working. I will still use the same idea for my next attempt.
As everything else on the page is level I had an idea from one of my peers to change the title to straight. So I did it to see how it looked.
On this contents page I changed the title where I added a border around it
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
This is the cover where I have changed the main masterhead and kept it to the left side. I have tried to make it more conventional and more appealing and professional.
Monday, 26 January 2009
This is the same contents page as the one below but I just wanted to change the colours because green and yellow are featured on the front cover so I thought this would go better with the front cover rather than having blue which isnt a colour I have used a lot.
Friday, 23 January 2009
This is a contents page I have created. I didn't really like the idea of the other one but I didn't have many ideas but in the end this is what I came up with.
I changed the colours to see if it stood out more. I was experimenting but I don't think I will be keeping it like this.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
You may of noticed that I have not uploaded anything recently. The reason for that is that I am now working on my evaluation as we are coming to the end of this piece of coursework. I will still be thinking of some ideas and once my evaluation is complete I will upload my final 3 pieces and explain why I chose them ahead of the other pieces I created.
Whilst thinking about my final magazine I decided to make sure I had the best possible outcome so I decided to analyse another feature of a magazine. The main feature I want to anaylse is the main title. It is bold and covers the middle part of the page. This is something I want my magazine to have because it attracted my eye straight away.
This is another front cover. The things I have changed from the previous one is I have added a border around the poster to make it seem real and so it can stand out more and appeal as more bold. I added a little star to the bottom left hand side because on a real magazine if there is a pop star and some one can get chance to win their shirt then they always buy the magazine just to do that. Also I have rearranged the features by putting 'MORE' in big bold writing. This will attract the readers eye so they will be drawn in to read what is actually in the magazine.
Over the course of the christmas holidays I was thinking about which cover to use or whether I should create some more and see what to do for my final product. My contents pages, in my opinion, think they could be improved but I do not really have many ideas so I need to see from other peers what to do.
As far as my double page spread is concerned I think that is now completed because yes it is part of this project but I think the main attraction is always the front cover and I am trying my best on them because I enjoy doing them more.
So, I have decided to definately leave my double page spread and consider creating maybe another front cover and contents page.
As far as my double page spread is concerned I think that is now completed because yes it is part of this project but I think the main attraction is always the front cover and I am trying my best on them because I enjoy doing them more.
So, I have decided to definately leave my double page spread and consider creating maybe another front cover and contents page.
This is the same contents page as the one below but once again I wanted to see if it looked better when it was white because I thought dark was too black. But I will see what opinions my peers give me and then decide what to choose.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
This is the contents page I created. I did have ideas before this that I have showed you but they didn't have as much contents in as what normal contents pages do so I decided to do another and added everything in what a normal contents page would. As I am no good at contents pages I am thinking to keep this one as my final.
This was another one of the front covers that I created with my own image. I kept it plain and simple and decided to use a white background but as doing it I thought about using black because it always represents a rock music magazine more than what white does. But I will be asking some of my peers their opinions and then see what I come up with.
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