Friday, 11 March 2011
Friday, 11 February 2011
Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Above, you can see my preliminary task magazine (school magazine) compared to my main task magazine (music magazine), in which there are great differences between them, and there are many differences on how I approached each task and how I achieved what I got.
One of the main differences between the front covers is the main picture, which also then affects almost all other aspects of the front cover. On the school magazine, my picture has two people in and is a medium shot of both of them. Since there are two people, trying to fit them both in has meant that they are both at the edges of the page, where other stories and headlines are supposed to be, and there is a gap in the middle of the page where the people are supposed to be, or even a big headline. This has resulted in headlines that don't stand out that well. However, on my music magazine, I have a single person, who is slap bang in the middle of the page, and is also a medium close-up shot of him. This makes the main picture have more presence as he takes up the very middle of the page, whilst leaving enough space round the sides and bottom to put the main headline and other headlines, without them looking out of place or hard to read. After doing my school magazine, I realized how important the main picture is on the front cover since everything seems to be based around the picture. By the time I came round to making my music magazine, I realized this and put a lot more thought and planning into the picture I need and how it would fit in the cover, and how everything else would be able to fit around it.
On the contents page, there is again a big difference between the two designs. My school magazine contents has the two different columns of articles and the 'from the editor' section, but it isn't laid out as well as the music magazine contents. There are no set columns on the school contents for the articles, they are just placed on either side of the page, which doesn't help them stand out, whereas on the music contents, I placed them in a grey box/column to separate them and therefore easier to read. There also appears to be big gaps on my school contents, of wasted empty space which could have been used better. The 'from the editor' section is also very large, and the titles small, which makes it stand out less. On the music contents, I have crammed it in a lot more to make the most of the space. I have made the article titles a reasonable size and even given the important ones a small description. I also shrunk the size of the 'from the editor' section since in professional magazines, it is never that big and doesn't dominate a quarter of the page, like it did on the school contents.
Above, you can see my preliminary task magazine (school magazine) compared to my main task magazine (music magazine), in which there are great differences between them, and there are many differences on how I approached each task and how I achieved what I got.
One of the main differences between the front covers is the main picture, which also then affects almost all other aspects of the front cover. On the school magazine, my picture has two people in and is a medium shot of both of them. Since there are two people, trying to fit them both in has meant that they are both at the edges of the page, where other stories and headlines are supposed to be, and there is a gap in the middle of the page where the people are supposed to be, or even a big headline. This has resulted in headlines that don't stand out that well. However, on my music magazine, I have a single person, who is slap bang in the middle of the page, and is also a medium close-up shot of him. This makes the main picture have more presence as he takes up the very middle of the page, whilst leaving enough space round the sides and bottom to put the main headline and other headlines, without them looking out of place or hard to read. After doing my school magazine, I realized how important the main picture is on the front cover since everything seems to be based around the picture. By the time I came round to making my music magazine, I realized this and put a lot more thought and planning into the picture I need and how it would fit in the cover, and how everything else would be able to fit around it.
On the contents page, there is again a big difference between the two designs. My school magazine contents has the two different columns of articles and the 'from the editor' section, but it isn't laid out as well as the music magazine contents. There are no set columns on the school contents for the articles, they are just placed on either side of the page, which doesn't help them stand out, whereas on the music contents, I placed them in a grey box/column to separate them and therefore easier to read. There also appears to be big gaps on my school contents, of wasted empty space which could have been used better. The 'from the editor' section is also very large, and the titles small, which makes it stand out less. On the music contents, I have crammed it in a lot more to make the most of the space. I have made the article titles a reasonable size and even given the important ones a small description. I also shrunk the size of the 'from the editor' section since in professional magazines, it is never that big and doesn't dominate a quarter of the page, like it did on the school contents.
Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In making this magazine, I have used various amounts of technology, and different types in different ways. I used software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, and various other things. I also used different hardware such as a Mac computer, and 2 types of camera.
The two cameras I used were a Fujifilm Finepix S1500, and a Canon EOS 450D. The Fujifilm is my camera which is a bridge camera between a standard digital compact camera and a digital SLR. I used this camera for my Preliminary task and for some of the music magazine photos. It worked very well, but I felt that I could do better with a better camera, so I borrowed the Canon and the quality of picture was much greater, since it was a Digital SLR, and the camera was still very easy to use. I also used 2 lamps when taking the pictures in the music magazine to make them clearer, and when using the Canon, I used an additional light sensitive flash as well to add an extra light angle, since whenever the flash on the camera would go off, the sensor detected that flash and set the additional flash. The combination of technology that I used, which is the camera (including the camera's superior flash), the 2 lamps and the additional flash provided good quality pictures suitable for the front cover and other pages. To transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer, I used a card reader, where I took the SD card (both cameras used SD cards) out from the camera with the pictures on, put it into the card reader, and inserted the card reader into a USB port, where I could then get the files/pictures from the card onto the computer. This is an example of combining different technologies to overcome a problem.
I used two different types of computer over the course of making my magazine, an Apple Mac computer at school, and a Dell PC at home. I used the Mac mainly when making my magazine since it had all the software I needed, such as Photoshop and InDesign, whereas my PC didn't. I therefore did all the making side of the project on the Mac where I needed the software, but used my PC for other things such as the typing up, and blogging, which I found easier to use on a PC. I felt that if my PC had the right software (Photoshop is £700, and InDesign another similar fee. Too expensive), I would have used it the whole time since I don't like how Macs work and have tried to improve on PCs but in doing so have just made it either more complicated, or just more frustrating to work with.
The software I used for making the magazine itself was Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, however there were other programmes which helped contribute towards the production of my magazine such as Firefox and Microsoft Word. Both the front cover and the contents page were produced in Photoshop since there was little writing involved and pictures were the main features. Photoshop is also very good for creating titles since it can apply various effects to a word such as drop shadow, stroke and emboss. Most of the production of my front cover and contents was on Photoshop meaning I could edit the pictures I used before I put them into the magazine, For Example: I cut the the background of the picture out leaving just the person using the Magic Wand tool and the Quick Selection tool. This meant I could place just him on the gradient background I made myself. I could also make the picture stand out more by changing the brightness and contrast, making it a much clearer and sharper image; and to make him look at his best, I used the Spot Healing tool which cleared all the imperfections. Various fonts could be taken for free from the site Dafont.com, which has thousands of different fonts, and I was able then to find suitable fonts for my magazine. My double page spread was made primarily made in InDesign, because there was a lot more writing involved, and it takes priority over the pictures in the double page spread article. InDesign firstly splits the page into columns, which already makes it suitable for a double page spread since the writing is normally done in columns in professional magazines, and therefore provides a useful template for my article. InDesign also has other attributes that make it suitable for a double page spread since it has the ability to wrap text around pictures, which gives it a more professional look, since the words form round an invisible contour line round the edges of the picture. InDesign can also create drop-capitals so that the first letter of a word in enlarged, which is another technique used by real media products. However, InDesign wasn't as good for the pictures in the double page spread since the array of options available were shadowed by what was available in Photoshop. Therefore, when it came to editing the pictures and effects, I did it in Photoshop and then moved it into InDesign. This meant that i could have the best of InDesign combines with the editing capabilities of Photoshop.
In making this magazine, I have used various amounts of technology, and different types in different ways. I used software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, and various other things. I also used different hardware such as a Mac computer, and 2 types of camera.
The two cameras I used were a Fujifilm Finepix S1500, and a Canon EOS 450D. The Fujifilm is my camera which is a bridge camera between a standard digital compact camera and a digital SLR. I used this camera for my Preliminary task and for some of the music magazine photos. It worked very well, but I felt that I could do better with a better camera, so I borrowed the Canon and the quality of picture was much greater, since it was a Digital SLR, and the camera was still very easy to use. I also used 2 lamps when taking the pictures in the music magazine to make them clearer, and when using the Canon, I used an additional light sensitive flash as well to add an extra light angle, since whenever the flash on the camera would go off, the sensor detected that flash and set the additional flash. The combination of technology that I used, which is the camera (including the camera's superior flash), the 2 lamps and the additional flash provided good quality pictures suitable for the front cover and other pages. To transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer, I used a card reader, where I took the SD card (both cameras used SD cards) out from the camera with the pictures on, put it into the card reader, and inserted the card reader into a USB port, where I could then get the files/pictures from the card onto the computer. This is an example of combining different technologies to overcome a problem.
I used two different types of computer over the course of making my magazine, an Apple Mac computer at school, and a Dell PC at home. I used the Mac mainly when making my magazine since it had all the software I needed, such as Photoshop and InDesign, whereas my PC didn't. I therefore did all the making side of the project on the Mac where I needed the software, but used my PC for other things such as the typing up, and blogging, which I found easier to use on a PC. I felt that if my PC had the right software (Photoshop is £700, and InDesign another similar fee. Too expensive), I would have used it the whole time since I don't like how Macs work and have tried to improve on PCs but in doing so have just made it either more complicated, or just more frustrating to work with.
The software I used for making the magazine itself was Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, however there were other programmes which helped contribute towards the production of my magazine such as Firefox and Microsoft Word. Both the front cover and the contents page were produced in Photoshop since there was little writing involved and pictures were the main features. Photoshop is also very good for creating titles since it can apply various effects to a word such as drop shadow, stroke and emboss. Most of the production of my front cover and contents was on Photoshop meaning I could edit the pictures I used before I put them into the magazine, For Example: I cut the the background of the picture out leaving just the person using the Magic Wand tool and the Quick Selection tool. This meant I could place just him on the gradient background I made myself. I could also make the picture stand out more by changing the brightness and contrast, making it a much clearer and sharper image; and to make him look at his best, I used the Spot Healing tool which cleared all the imperfections. Various fonts could be taken for free from the site Dafont.com, which has thousands of different fonts, and I was able then to find suitable fonts for my magazine. My double page spread was made primarily made in InDesign, because there was a lot more writing involved, and it takes priority over the pictures in the double page spread article. InDesign firstly splits the page into columns, which already makes it suitable for a double page spread since the writing is normally done in columns in professional magazines, and therefore provides a useful template for my article. InDesign also has other attributes that make it suitable for a double page spread since it has the ability to wrap text around pictures, which gives it a more professional look, since the words form round an invisible contour line round the edges of the picture. InDesign can also create drop-capitals so that the first letter of a word in enlarged, which is another technique used by real media products. However, InDesign wasn't as good for the pictures in the double page spread since the array of options available were shadowed by what was available in Photoshop. Therefore, when it came to editing the pictures and effects, I did it in Photoshop and then moved it into InDesign. This meant that i could have the best of InDesign combines with the editing capabilities of Photoshop.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Evaluation Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
Firstly, I had to find out who my target market was, and I did that earlier for my magazine research which can be seen if you Click Here. After that, I identified my target audience as 'metal heads' and then based my magazine around them. There are many methods I used to attract/address the audience for my magazine. Firstly, the cover is the main part that will be used to attract the audience since the cover has to hook them in and look attractive for them to pick it up and start reading in the first place. The colour scheme I have used on the front cover helps it stand out to my audience since all the colours are associated with the music genre (red, black, grey). This will make my potential audience to take a second look at it to see what it actually is about. Another way in which the colour scheme attracts readers is that they are dark colours, whereas most other magazines are brighter colours such as white and yellow. Having a dark magazine amongst bright magazines will make it stand out, and will make people have a second look since it is different to the others. The main headline will also attract my target audience since I have put the band's name 'Iron Maiden' in a very large font, and in the band's own font, so it instantly recognizable as the band's logo. This will hook in any person who has an interest in rock/meta
l music since they will know who they are, especially because they are one of the most famous band's ever, and are easily recognizable. I have also noticed that other magazines in this genre, such as Classic Rock also use this technique. You can see in the example here that they have written 'Motorhead' in the band's own font, and has the same colour scheme of a black to grey gradient.
Hopefully, the front cover will have encouraged them to pick the magazine up and have a quick read/flick through. The writing/language on the front cover will appeal to my target market since it a mainly male dominated market, and I have therefore put short, sharp, powerful sentences on the front cover: "WIN sonisphere tickets. MACHINE HEAD new UK tour". This style of writing appeals to males since it is short and powerful, tells them what they need to know very simply. It tells the reader exactly what the story/article is on the cover, but that's it, meaning that to read it in more detail, they have to buy the magazine, which is then a success since they have bought the magazine.
Firstly, I had to find out who my target market was, and I did that earlier for my magazine research which can be seen if you Click Here. After that, I identified my target audience as 'metal heads' and then based my magazine around them. There are many methods I used to attract/address the audience for my magazine. Firstly, the cover is the main part that will be used to attract the audience since the cover has to hook them in and look attractive for them to pick it up and start reading in the first place. The colour scheme I have used on the front cover helps it stand out to my audience since all the colours are associated with the music genre (red, black, grey). This will make my potential audience to take a second look at it to see what it actually is about. Another way in which the colour scheme attracts readers is that they are dark colours, whereas most other magazines are brighter colours such as white and yellow. Having a dark magazine amongst bright magazines will make it stand out, and will make people have a second look since it is different to the others. The main headline will also attract my target audience since I have put the band's name 'Iron Maiden' in a very large font, and in the band's own font, so it instantly recognizable as the band's logo. This will hook in any person who has an interest in rock/meta
l music since they will know who they are, especially because they are one of the most famous band's ever, and are easily recognizable. I have also noticed that other magazines in this genre, such as Classic Rock also use this technique. You can see in the example here that they have written 'Motorhead' in the band's own font, and has the same colour scheme of a black to grey gradient.Hopefully, the front cover will have encouraged them to pick the magazine up and have a quick read/flick through. The writing/language on the front cover will appeal to my target market since it a mainly male dominated market, and I have therefore put short, sharp, powerful sentences on the front cover: "WIN sonisphere tickets. MACHINE HEAD new UK tour". This style of writing appeals to males since it is short and powerful, tells them what they need to know very simply. It tells the reader exactly what the story/article is on the cover, but that's it, meaning that to read it in more detail, they have to buy the magazine, which is then a success since they have bought the magazine.
Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The primary type of person that my magazine would be targeting would be people who like rock and metal music, generally called Metalheads. People who listen to metal music are usualy in a minority and therefore feel/act differently than most other people. Their tastes in other things are different to others, but more focused between themselves.
Metalheads listen to old metal music, as much as they listen to new metal music, which is different to most other people who follow only new music and dont follow older music as much. The age range of Metalheads range from teenagers to middle aged people, because teenagers are generally associated with rebellion and the rock/metal genre is also associated with rebellion, and middle aged people who grew up in the 70s/80s, when rock/metal was breaking through and arguably at it's best, will still listen to songs from then since there is no real modern equivilant to it. This is a mainly male dominated market, the proportion of male metalheads to female metalheads is low, possibly due to the music's aggresive style (however, the number of female metalheads is slowly rising). This makes advertising to the market more concentrated and the language used can help adapt to the audience's style.
Metalheads are more inclined to stick to certain brands such as Relentless, Jack Daniels, Harley Davidson, Marshall, Vans, and for music magazines, Kerrang and Metal Hammer. These brands can help establish what a typical Metalhead likes, and potential advertisors can alter adverts around this.
Since there are many sub-genres of metal and rock, the bands shown in my magazine each conform to a different type of sub-genre to appeal to a wider range of people who like different types of metal eg: Iron Maiden - classic heavy metal, Metallica - thrash metal, Rammstein - industrial metal, ACDC - rock n roll, Turisas - folk/viking metal. To normal people, most of the music will sound the same, but to Metalheads, there is a big difference between them.
The primary type of person that my magazine would be targeting would be people who like rock and metal music, generally called Metalheads. People who listen to metal music are usualy in a minority and therefore feel/act differently than most other people. Their tastes in other things are different to others, but more focused between themselves.
Metalheads listen to old metal music, as much as they listen to new metal music, which is different to most other people who follow only new music and dont follow older music as much. The age range of Metalheads range from teenagers to middle aged people, because teenagers are generally associated with rebellion and the rock/metal genre is also associated with rebellion, and middle aged people who grew up in the 70s/80s, when rock/metal was breaking through and arguably at it's best, will still listen to songs from then since there is no real modern equivilant to it. This is a mainly male dominated market, the proportion of male metalheads to female metalheads is low, possibly due to the music's aggresive style (however, the number of female metalheads is slowly rising). This makes advertising to the market more concentrated and the language used can help adapt to the audience's style.
Metalheads are more inclined to stick to certain brands such as Relentless, Jack Daniels, Harley Davidson, Marshall, Vans, and for music magazines, Kerrang and Metal Hammer. These brands can help establish what a typical Metalhead likes, and potential advertisors can alter adverts around this.
Since there are many sub-genres of metal and rock, the bands shown in my magazine each conform to a different type of sub-genre to appeal to a wider range of people who like different types of metal eg: Iron Maiden - classic heavy metal, Metallica - thrash metal, Rammstein - industrial metal, ACDC - rock n roll, Turisas - folk/viking metal. To normal people, most of the music will sound the same, but to Metalheads, there is a big difference between them.
Here are a band that represent the typical Metalhead stereotype. They are all wearing jeans and a black t-shirt of some sort, most of them have long hair, and have tattoos. This picture shows how they can all be very similar, and very different all at the same time. They all look the same in the ways just explained, but they all have different types of hair, if they have any, some have beards, all have different types of jeans on, one is wearing a jacket, and they have different accessories. They are largely similar but then have their own indiviualism things to destinguish themselves a little bit.
Friday, 4 February 2011
Evaluation Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
There are a number of media institutions that might distribute my Magazine since they are in the magazine industry already and have some music magazine titles which they would like to add to. There may be some less well known ones as well since they don't have a specific metal genre magazine and would therefore like to try and break into the market.
Bauer Media Group
Bauer Media Group already publish many magazines in the UK and that includes quite a few music magazines. Famous titles include 'Q', 'Kerrang' and 'Mojo'. Bauer Media Group may want to publish my magazine since the most rock/metal genre of magazine they have is Kerrang, and that mainly covers rock, and not as much metal music. However, they may not want to publish it if they feel that it is too similar to Kerrang, or is too concentrated on metal music and therefore won't get the sales it needs to keep it running and in publication.
Future
Future isn't as big as Bauer Media Group, but is still very good at the magazines it does publish. They only publish two music magazines which are 'Classic Rock' (which occasionally splits up in other mini magazines such as 'Prog Rock') and 'Metal Hammer'. Future may be looking to expand in the music magazine business and would therefore need to start publishing new magazines. However my magazine is very similar to 'Metal Hammer' and therefore would be unlikely to be taken on since Metal Hammer is already a proven successful brand of magazine and Future wouldn't bring out a competitor for its own magazine.
Haymarket Media Group
Haymarket Media Group is in the middle of Bauer Media Group and Future in terms of number of magazines produced, but they only publish one music magazine, 'Gramophone', which is a classical music magazine and therefore isn't relevant to my music genre. My magazine could have potential here if they ever decided to expand further into the music magazine market, since they would need new magazines to break in. The only problem would be if they didn't want to try more music magazines for one reason or another.
Overall, I believe that Haymarket Media Group would be likely to publish my magazine IF they were ever looking to expand however, since the magazine industry is generally declining, this may not happen. The other two publishers already have a magazine in production that is roughly the same genre as mine, and therefore would be unlikely to take it on, since it would be taking sales away from their own magazines. If my magazine aimed slightly more towards the metal side of music rather than rock, then Bauer Media Group may be interested since it is further away from the Kerrang audience, and would be a good rival for Future's Metal Hammer magazine. Future wouldn't publish it since it is very much like Metal Hammer, and therefore would be taking their own sales, and it would cost as much money to keep both magazines going. Bauer has Kerrang, and that is a cross between rock and metal music, so to stop them clashing, my magazine may have to be aimed more at metal, so there are more differences.
There are a number of media institutions that might distribute my Magazine since they are in the magazine industry already and have some music magazine titles which they would like to add to. There may be some less well known ones as well since they don't have a specific metal genre magazine and would therefore like to try and break into the market.
Bauer Media Group
Bauer Media Group already publish many magazines in the UK and that includes quite a few music magazines. Famous titles include 'Q', 'Kerrang' and 'Mojo'. Bauer Media Group may want to publish my magazine since the most rock/metal genre of magazine they have is Kerrang, and that mainly covers rock, and not as much metal music. However, they may not want to publish it if they feel that it is too similar to Kerrang, or is too concentrated on metal music and therefore won't get the sales it needs to keep it running and in publication.
Future
Future isn't as big as Bauer Media Group, but is still very good at the magazines it does publish. They only publish two music magazines which are 'Classic Rock' (which occasionally splits up in other mini magazines such as 'Prog Rock') and 'Metal Hammer'. Future may be looking to expand in the music magazine business and would therefore need to start publishing new magazines. However my magazine is very similar to 'Metal Hammer' and therefore would be unlikely to be taken on since Metal Hammer is already a proven successful brand of magazine and Future wouldn't bring out a competitor for its own magazine.
Haymarket Media Group
Haymarket Media Group is in the middle of Bauer Media Group and Future in terms of number of magazines produced, but they only publish one music magazine, 'Gramophone', which is a classical music magazine and therefore isn't relevant to my music genre. My magazine could have potential here if they ever decided to expand further into the music magazine market, since they would need new magazines to break in. The only problem would be if they didn't want to try more music magazines for one reason or another.
Overall, I believe that Haymarket Media Group would be likely to publish my magazine IF they were ever looking to expand however, since the magazine industry is generally declining, this may not happen. The other two publishers already have a magazine in production that is roughly the same genre as mine, and therefore would be unlikely to take it on, since it would be taking sales away from their own magazines. If my magazine aimed slightly more towards the metal side of music rather than rock, then Bauer Media Group may be interested since it is further away from the Kerrang audience, and would be a good rival for Future's Metal Hammer magazine. Future wouldn't publish it since it is very much like Metal Hammer, and therefore would be taking their own sales, and it would cost as much money to keep both magazines going. Bauer has Kerrang, and that is a cross between rock and metal music, so to stop them clashing, my magazine may have to be aimed more at metal, so there are more differences.
Evaluation Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Before making the music magazine, I did researched my target audience (as shown in a previous post under music magazine research) on what they like, what they do, and other things which allowed me to pinpoint my magazine directly at them. Using the website UKtribes.com, I was able to establish that the 'tribe' I would be aiming my magazine at would be the 'Metalhead Tribe'. I used the information I collected from UKtribes.com to throw a few extras into my magazine to make it more appealing to the target market. For example: one of the tribe icons were said to be 'Metallica', so I put Metallica on the cover along with other associated bands. 'Metal Hammer' magazine was said to be among the brands they like, so I made adjustments to make it more like Metal Hammer such as big cover picture dominating the front cover and using the band names in the band names font/style.
UKtribes.com also told me what they wear which helped me for the pictures. "You’ll mainly see them wearing black, though not exclusively. A black band t-shirt and blue pair of jeans would be the typical look of a Metalhead." Using this information, I made my front cover picture have a black band t shirt, which helps target the reader since their favorite bands and idols are wearing the same as them, making them feel better towards them. I also used the brands associated for help with the pictures. It is said that they drink a lot of beer and 'Jack Daniels' so for the double page spread picture, he is wearing a t shirt that says "drink sensibly. don't spill it". This also increases customer satisfaction since the reader feels that the band/artist understands them, and shares the same opinions and thoughts.
A typical group of metalheads. band tshirt, blue jeans.
Before making the music magazine, I did researched my target audience (as shown in a previous post under music magazine research) on what they like, what they do, and other things which allowed me to pinpoint my magazine directly at them. Using the website UKtribes.com, I was able to establish that the 'tribe' I would be aiming my magazine at would be the 'Metalhead Tribe'. I used the information I collected from UKtribes.com to throw a few extras into my magazine to make it more appealing to the target market. For example: one of the tribe icons were said to be 'Metallica', so I put Metallica on the cover along with other associated bands. 'Metal Hammer' magazine was said to be among the brands they like, so I made adjustments to make it more like Metal Hammer such as big cover picture dominating the front cover and using the band names in the band names font/style.
UKtribes.com also told me what they wear which helped me for the pictures. "You’ll mainly see them wearing black, though not exclusively. A black band t-shirt and blue pair of jeans would be the typical look of a Metalhead." Using this information, I made my front cover picture have a black band t shirt, which helps target the reader since their favorite bands and idols are wearing the same as them, making them feel better towards them. I also used the brands associated for help with the pictures. It is said that they drink a lot of beer and 'Jack Daniels' so for the double page spread picture, he is wearing a t shirt that says "drink sensibly. don't spill it". This also increases customer satisfaction since the reader feels that the band/artist understands them, and shares the same opinions and thoughts.
A typical group of metalheads. band tshirt, blue jeans.
Evaluation Question 1
div>In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
There are many ways in which my magazines use, develop on, and challenge existing forms and conventions in real professional magazines.
Firstly, my magazine is a music magazine and therefore fits into a big market of music magazines. There are many music magazines on sale in shops proving that there is a demand for them, in all different styles and genres. My magazine fits into the metal/rock music genre, which there are already a few of on the market with magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'Metal Hammer'. By looking at professional magazines that are aiming for the same target market as mine, I can compare and contrast on how my magazine fits in with the conventional forms and ideas and where it develops on or challenge them.
Front Cover
My front cover has many parts to compare to a professional magazine, starting with the title of the magazine. 'Metal Militia' is a suitable name that fits in well with the target audience, relates to a song, and has the same basis as other titles. 'Metal Militia' identifies the music genre in the title straight away so that potential readers can easily find out at a glance. Also, the idea of Militia fits into the target audience and genre of music, a society that fights against the main powers. The real magazine of 'Metal Hammer' also has this idea; the Metal easily shows off the music genre and the Hammer represents rebellion and power, themes associated with metal/rock music. The style of the title uses conventional ideas, but also develops in some ways, in my opinion. Having the colour as red helps it stand out and link into the genre. However, I believe I have developed on professional magazine titles since I have placed a colour gradient over the title making is darker at each end. This gives it the effect of a search light going over it and adds to the effect of the genre and pulls the reader in.
The main picture on the front cover also plays into typical themes of the music genre and subsequently used by real magazines. The shot is a medium closeup that takes up most of the cover, with the headline below. The pose of the person in the picture also plays to conventional magazine methods. He isn't standing there looking happy, he is giving a hard stare into you and has a fair amount of stubble which can come across as anger or rebellion, linking into the music genre. The clothing also comes across with the music genre and therefore with other magazines. In my picture, he is wearing a rock band t-shirt, and a black beanie hat. The band t shirt easily fits into the atmosphere of the picture since its all about music and rock/metal, but not showing the band's name on the t shirt since having another band's name on the front cover can confuse the main story, and having your own band t shirt on can look vain from the reader's point of view. I believe that I have also challenged conventional magazine methods for my front cover picture; Most music magazines picture the whole band in the front cover when having a band as their main headline. I have challenged this idea since I am doing a story on a band, but I have decided to only put one person on the front cover because I believe that putting the whole band in the picture makes the front cover seem more messy and makes the focus of the picture less powerful.
In the picture above, the top arrow shows how both covers have a competition advertised on the cover with the title 'Win'. The 2nd arrow shows how both backgrounds are based on gradients, but my one is darker as i feel it suits the genre more. The 3rd arrow shows how they are both the same in the picture. They both have a black tshirt, they are both medium close-up, they both have the same expression on their face, and they both have facial hair to some degree. And the 4th arrow shows how the language is the same. both have 'Exclusive', and then the title of the article, followed by a one-sentence description.
Contents page
My contents page has many similarities to a professional magazine contents page, which will hopefully improve reader satisfaction when reading and it is as helpful as possible. Firstly, the articles have been split up into two different groups, Features and Regulars. Most magazines do this because its an easy way to highlight their big front cover stories, which are usually the feature articles. This makes it easier for the reader to find the pages and get more satisfaction from reading the magazine. Since each of the feature articles take importance, due to the fact the most money has been spend on getting them and they are what the reader wants to read the most, each of the articles and page number has a brief description of what the article is about. This attracts the reader to read the stories since it gives them a preview to the story and acts as a hook to go on and read more about it. By splitting it up into different sections, two columns are made and most magazine contents organize their contents with columns since it separates everything and makes it easier to read for the reader Another part of the contents page which is used in real media products is a small notice written from the editor. It usually includes the editor talking about what is in the issue and what has been happening at the production offices. This is a small touch, but gives an extra closeness between the reader and the magazine. It is usually in a conversational tone which makes it more personal.
This compares my contents to Metal Hammer's contents. The top arrow shows how both have used a 'features' and 'regulars' layout of article, seperating the both into two different columns. The 2nd arrow shows how a description of the article has been shown with the article title and page number, helping the reader, and advertising the story more. The 3rd arrow shows that both magazines have a 'from the editor' section, and the 4th arrow shows how pictures with page numbers on have helped advertise the articles to back up the written contents
Double Page Spread
There are different parts of the double page spread which compare to double page spreads in real life magazines. Firstly, there are basic things such as the layout of the page since it has been organized into many columns, which gives it a more professional look and the colour schemes link it into the music genre like what other magazines achieve. This is used by real media products as it makes it easier for the reader to read and navigate round, and the colour scheme appeals to the readers music genre. Other ways in which there are similarities between my DPS and real life ones is the text-wrapping round pictures and the drop-capitals. Text wrapping enables the writing to detect the edges of the picture and fit exactly round it, saving space on the page, and making it look more professional, and the drop-capitals help the reader see where the begining of the article is and attracts attention to it. Most real magazines use effects like these, so i felt that i should encorperate it into my magazine to help it look more professional and look better to the reader, as well as being more practical.
There are many ways in which my magazines use, develop on, and challenge existing forms and conventions in real professional magazines.
Firstly, my magazine is a music magazine and therefore fits into a big market of music magazines. There are many music magazines on sale in shops proving that there is a demand for them, in all different styles and genres. My magazine fits into the metal/rock music genre, which there are already a few of on the market with magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'Metal Hammer'. By looking at professional magazines that are aiming for the same target market as mine, I can compare and contrast on how my magazine fits in with the conventional forms and ideas and where it develops on or challenge them.
Front Cover
My front cover has many parts to compare to a professional magazine, starting with the title of the magazine. 'Metal Militia' is a suitable name that fits in well with the target audience, relates to a song, and has the same basis as other titles. 'Metal Militia' identifies the music genre in the title straight away so that potential readers can easily find out at a glance. Also, the idea of Militia fits into the target audience and genre of music, a society that fights against the main powers. The real magazine of 'Metal Hammer' also has this idea; the Metal easily shows off the music genre and the Hammer represents rebellion and power, themes associated with metal/rock music. The style of the title uses conventional ideas, but also develops in some ways, in my opinion. Having the colour as red helps it stand out and link into the genre. However, I believe I have developed on professional magazine titles since I have placed a colour gradient over the title making is darker at each end. This gives it the effect of a search light going over it and adds to the effect of the genre and pulls the reader in.
The main picture on the front cover also plays into typical themes of the music genre and subsequently used by real magazines. The shot is a medium closeup that takes up most of the cover, with the headline below. The pose of the person in the picture also plays to conventional magazine methods. He isn't standing there looking happy, he is giving a hard stare into you and has a fair amount of stubble which can come across as anger or rebellion, linking into the music genre. The clothing also comes across with the music genre and therefore with other magazines. In my picture, he is wearing a rock band t-shirt, and a black beanie hat. The band t shirt easily fits into the atmosphere of the picture since its all about music and rock/metal, but not showing the band's name on the t shirt since having another band's name on the front cover can confuse the main story, and having your own band t shirt on can look vain from the reader's point of view. I believe that I have also challenged conventional magazine methods for my front cover picture; Most music magazines picture the whole band in the front cover when having a band as their main headline. I have challenged this idea since I am doing a story on a band, but I have decided to only put one person on the front cover because I believe that putting the whole band in the picture makes the front cover seem more messy and makes the focus of the picture less powerful.
In the picture above, the top arrow shows how both covers have a competition advertised on the cover with the title 'Win'. The 2nd arrow shows how both backgrounds are based on gradients, but my one is darker as i feel it suits the genre more. The 3rd arrow shows how they are both the same in the picture. They both have a black tshirt, they are both medium close-up, they both have the same expression on their face, and they both have facial hair to some degree. And the 4th arrow shows how the language is the same. both have 'Exclusive', and then the title of the article, followed by a one-sentence description.
Contents page
My contents page has many similarities to a professional magazine contents page, which will hopefully improve reader satisfaction when reading and it is as helpful as possible. Firstly, the articles have been split up into two different groups, Features and Regulars. Most magazines do this because its an easy way to highlight their big front cover stories, which are usually the feature articles. This makes it easier for the reader to find the pages and get more satisfaction from reading the magazine. Since each of the feature articles take importance, due to the fact the most money has been spend on getting them and they are what the reader wants to read the most, each of the articles and page number has a brief description of what the article is about. This attracts the reader to read the stories since it gives them a preview to the story and acts as a hook to go on and read more about it. By splitting it up into different sections, two columns are made and most magazine contents organize their contents with columns since it separates everything and makes it easier to read for the reader Another part of the contents page which is used in real media products is a small notice written from the editor. It usually includes the editor talking about what is in the issue and what has been happening at the production offices. This is a small touch, but gives an extra closeness between the reader and the magazine. It is usually in a conversational tone which makes it more personal.
This compares my contents to Metal Hammer's contents. The top arrow shows how both have used a 'features' and 'regulars' layout of article, seperating the both into two different columns. The 2nd arrow shows how a description of the article has been shown with the article title and page number, helping the reader, and advertising the story more. The 3rd arrow shows that both magazines have a 'from the editor' section, and the 4th arrow shows how pictures with page numbers on have helped advertise the articles to back up the written contents
Double Page Spread
There are different parts of the double page spread which compare to double page spreads in real life magazines. Firstly, there are basic things such as the layout of the page since it has been organized into many columns, which gives it a more professional look and the colour schemes link it into the music genre like what other magazines achieve. This is used by real media products as it makes it easier for the reader to read and navigate round, and the colour scheme appeals to the readers music genre. Other ways in which there are similarities between my DPS and real life ones is the text-wrapping round pictures and the drop-capitals. Text wrapping enables the writing to detect the edges of the picture and fit exactly round it, saving space on the page, and making it look more professional, and the drop-capitals help the reader see where the begining of the article is and attracts attention to it. Most real magazines use effects like these, so i felt that i should encorperate it into my magazine to help it look more professional and look better to the reader, as well as being more practical.
Double Page Spread production
Finally, I have given the article an extra and big proffesional magazine feature which most magazines use. I have got the writing of the article to text wrap closely around my pictures. This saves space on the page meaning the page seems less crammed with writing, and makes it look more proffesional since the writing can detect the edges of thepicture and just goes up to it and round it.
Double Page Spread production
I have now improved my double page spread in a number of ways. Firstly, and most noiceably, I have added in titles for the article, which includes the magazine name, 'Exclusive', and the actual title of the article. I used the same titles that I used for my front cover for Metal Militia and Exclusive, since I could get an exact copy which helps build towards a house style. I also got Iron Maiden from my front cover, and I also made the word Revolution in Photoshop, like the others, since there were more options to customise it and was easier to make than in InDesign itself. I then saved them each individually as PNG files and inserted them into InDesign. This meant that I could keep all the effects I had used on them from photoshop, which InDesign is unable to do to the same level.
To make my magazine look more proffesional, I also placed Drop Caps on the first letter of the article, 'I', which is a technique used by currently existing and succesful magaines.
To make my magazine look more proffesional, I also placed Drop Caps on the first letter of the article, 'I', which is a technique used by currently existing and succesful magaines.
Double Page Spread production
Here is the first draft of my Double page spread. I have 2 different pictures, a large one on the first page, and a smaller one on the second page. This is so that it grabs the reader's attention at the beginning of the article, and then have a more informative 2nd page once they have got into reading it. I have decided to have the pictures in black and white because it links into the type of story, a young/modern person, joining and old band, so I have shown that with a young/modern person, in an old style of photograph. Since I have black and white photos, a black or white background won't work well since it will compromise the pictures, so I have decided to use a proper colour. I have decided to use the colour red in a relatively dark shade because red is a colour associated with Metal music, and bright red will look too bright. To help achieve a house style, I have put a gradient border at the top and bottom of the page. This is the same gradient used at the bottom of the front cover, and is the same colour as the background of the contents. I have also made it larger at the top on the first page to make it big enough to hold a title.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Improvements on Contents
I have made improvements on the contents page, based on people's recommendations. Firstly, I have made the page numbers a bigger font to the description to make it stand out more ad easier to look at at a glance, rather than have to read it all fully. I have also made the 'Features' box taller, so that the top of it is in line with the 'Contents' box, which makes it look neater and therefore have a more professional look.
Improvements on Front page
I have made a couple of improvements to my front cover from suggestions made by others. I have made the headlines "Exclusive" and "New bassist interview" stand out more using effects such as outer glow. it was suggestted to change the colour to stand out more but the only other colour that would work with the rest of the cover would be grey/white but it would clash with the design on the T-shirt. Another improvement is to make "Iron Maiden" more 3-D and with a more metal effect, which helps it link to the genre, and makes it stand out at you.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Feedback + Recomendations
I presented my front cover and contents page to others to get their thoughts and opinions in them. On the sheet are good points of the magazine cover and contents, and places where I could improve to get a better look.
Friday, 14 January 2011
Contents page production
I have now added effects to the grey boxes that make them seem more 3-D and therefore stand out more. i have also added a texture to the title contents box to make it seem like a rock, to link into rock music. I have then changed the colour of the sentences that arent headlines to grey/white, which makes it slightly easier to read, makes the headlines stand out more, and links back to the olour styles of the front page.
Contents page production
I have added effects to the text to make it stand out more and therefore make it readable, mainly by adding stroke to the words, but making it small so it works, but is less noticeable. I have also added a glow around the picture to make it stand out more.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Contents page production
Here i have made further additions and improvements to the contents page. I have moved the text boxes up so I can fit more in the bottom of the page, such as a picture, with a page label on to make the story stand out more. I have also added in a small paragraph of a 'from the editor' section to make it seem more like a professional magazine.
Contents page production
Here is the first draft of my contents page. I have put the same black/grey gradient over it as the front cover and used the same fonts to make them match up. I have also split up the list between features for this issue exclusives, and regulars that appear every week. I have written a quick sentence about each feature article since it will take more importance that the regular stories.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Front page production
Finally, i have added in a barcode, price and issue number to make it seem more proffesional as if it was to go on sale for real.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Front page production
I have added extra stories onto the side of the page, which means mroe on the front cover and more to attract potential buyers in a shop. Having the titles of bands, and Win bigger helps catch peoples attentions and encourages them to read the magazine.
The date has also been added below the title. It is a different font so that it is more readable, as it is purely for information, not advertising the magazine. it is also grey to make it more discrete and therefore doesnt distract from the main headline and picture. Other changes have been minor changes to fonts to make them stand out more, or more readable.
The date has also been added below the title. It is a different font so that it is more readable, as it is purely for information, not advertising the magazine. it is also grey to make it more discrete and therefore doesnt distract from the main headline and picture. Other changes have been minor changes to fonts to make them stand out more, or more readable.
Front page production
I have now added the main headline. It has the same type of font as the rest of the cover except for the band name "Iron Maiden". For that, I have found the band's font online to download and have written Iron Maiden out in a similar shade of red. i have then added an outer and inner glow of white to make it look almost exact to the band's actual name style (search Iron Maiden on google to see comparison).
I have added a bar at the bottom with a metallic-like gradient on it which lists other minor stories in the magazine. I have also started to list more stories down the side, however, more should be added. The transparent grey over the main headline and the other stories helps them stand out from the background more, and also help the picture stand out more.
I have added a bar at the bottom with a metallic-like gradient on it which lists other minor stories in the magazine. I have also started to list more stories down the side, however, more should be added. The transparent grey over the main headline and the other stories helps them stand out from the background more, and also help the picture stand out more.
Front page production
I have set a black to grey gradient set as the background for the front page. I have the black at the top to help make to colour of the title stand out. Black is a good colour since it relates to the darkness of the music genre involved, and grey also fits in since it is generally the colour of physical metal, which can link to the music of metal.
The title is bright red so that it stands out, but I have put a slight gradient of black on each end of the title, so that it has the effect of a light shining on it, or a searchlight, as if it is in the darkness trying to be hidden.
The title is bright red so that it stands out, but I have put a slight gradient of black on each end of the title, so that it has the effect of a light shining on it, or a searchlight, as if it is in the darkness trying to be hidden.
Front page production
Of the two pictures I showed earlier, i have decided to use the bottom picture for my front page, since the lighting is better, it fills more of the page and the facial expression links more into the metal theme.
The first things I have done is to use the spot heal tool on photoshop to clean up imperfections on his face and clothes. The brightness and contrast have also been changed so that the colours stand out more, and Ihave cut him out from the original background.
The first things I have done is to use the spot heal tool on photoshop to clean up imperfections on his face and clothes. The brightness and contrast have also been changed so that the colours stand out more, and Ihave cut him out from the original background.
Magazine title
After sending out a survey with the previous different names for the magazine title, the name that came out on top was "Metal Militia"
This is an appropriate name for the magazine since it identifys the music genre in the title straight away so that potential readers can easily find out at a glance. Also, the idea of Militia fits into the target audience and genre of music, a society that fights against the main powers.
This is an appropriate name for the magazine since it identifys the music genre in the title straight away so that potential readers can easily find out at a glance. Also, the idea of Militia fits into the target audience and genre of music, a society that fights against the main powers.
Photos for magazine
After taking 109 pictures for the front cover, i have narrowed it down to the last two that i will decide between for using.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)