Monday 26 March 2012
EVALUATION
How did you attract/address your audience?Although the price of my magazine is at £3.00 (could be considered quite expensive when attracting an audience partly consisting in the E category demographically) with the magazine being produced monthly, I feel this price is reasonable for my audience and it also ensures reasonable printing quality.
Due to my audience being integrated according to the psycho graphics (influenced by others around them as well as being confident individually) by displaying my main cover artist in a thick woolly jumper as well as a green checked shirt on my double page spread it effectively represents the alternative genre (may be viewed as an alternative way of dressing)– addressing my audience as they may feel the artist represents them in this way or they can aspire to the artist – catering for both of the inner and outer-directed parts of my target audience.
As well as this, the teasing contents may make the outer-directed part of my target audience feel ‘part of the scene’; involving those who enjoy the ‘Glastonbury’ festival may make them feel part of this group, influencing them to purchase the magazine.
The splash on my front cover offering ’15 best-selling rock songs’ may entice the audience as it is free information that they would before had no idea about; creating this idea that the magazine gives them information in a ‘freebie’ manner that they wouldn’t have had access to beforehand.
If a linking ‘SOX’ website was created for my audience, I imagine it would have a number of free apps that the audience would be able to get hold of, relating to the genre – apps that allow a stream of music from certain bands or apps that give specific festival/gig information for example. As well as this, the website would contain information that links with the magazine – extra interviews from artists, a chance to contact the institution and ask questions themselves etc. Again, this provides the audience with free information to further entice them to the products.
Due to my audience being integrated according to the psycho graphics (influenced by others around them as well as being confident individually) by displaying my main cover artist in a thick woolly jumper as well as a green checked shirt on my double page spread it effectively represents the alternative genre (may be viewed as an alternative way of dressing)– addressing my audience as they may feel the artist represents them in this way or they can aspire to the artist – catering for both of the inner and outer-directed parts of my target audience.
As well as this, the teasing contents may make the outer-directed part of my target audience feel ‘part of the scene’; involving those who enjoy the ‘Glastonbury’ festival may make them feel part of this group, influencing them to purchase the magazine.
The splash on my front cover offering ’15 best-selling rock songs’ may entice the audience as it is free information that they would before had no idea about; creating this idea that the magazine gives them information in a ‘freebie’ manner that they wouldn’t have had access to beforehand.
If a linking ‘SOX’ website was created for my audience, I imagine it would have a number of free apps that the audience would be able to get hold of, relating to the genre – apps that allow a stream of music from certain bands or apps that give specific festival/gig information for example. As well as this, the website would contain information that links with the magazine – extra interviews from artists, a chance to contact the institution and ask questions themselves etc. Again, this provides the audience with free information to further entice them to the products.
Audience feedback is shown below.
FRONT COVER.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I used an OLYMPUS SP-600UZ, 12 mega pixel camera to take all of my images for my products and used Photoshop CS5 to edit them. I also used Windows Publisher to format the main body of my article for my double page spread.
To create this image for my front cover I first used the spot removal tool to remove all of my model’s blemishes, made a copy of this layer and called it ‘skin’. I used the quick selection tool to highlight all of the skin and then located select-inverse to remove all of the background so only the skin was visible on the layer.
I then made two copies of this – just her skin. On the first copy I used the Gaussian blur tool on 10 pixels to blur the skin and darkened this copy using blending options. I then lightened the second copy using the same tool and turned the background back on. Using the eraser tool I was able to carefully erase the lips, teeth and eyes of my model – this way they appeared in focus while the rest of her skin remained blurred. With the two layers of her skin active, I selected the adjustments-levels tool and altered the levels until her skin owned a soft, appropriate glow. After merging all of the layers together, I used the overlay tool to add the glow.
I then whitened the model’s teeth by selecting the colour white on the paint brush tool, painting carefully over the model’s teeth and adjusting the opacity of the colour to suit the image.
I used the same process for my contents page main image to create the same effect – making the model’s skin appear flawless and professional. As well as this I used the quick-selection tool to select most of the background and remove it from the image – to later cover it in black using the paintbrush tool for my contents page background.
For the double page spread image, I used the same process to make her skin appear flawless but also used the stamp tool to copy parts of the red shape and cover the rest of the shape that appeared cracked. After this I used quick selection tool to select the entire red-painted shape on her face and then the Gaussian blur tool to blur the shape and make it appear smooth.
I used the tracking tool within the character tool to make the letters of my text appear closer together and used the shape tool to act as a background for my headings on my contents page as well as the splash on my cover. I used the transform scale effect on all of my text and images to position them effectively on all of my pages as well as altering the appearance of the images using vibrancy levels, brightness levels and saturation levels to make the images appear brighter, crisper and more noticeable.
I used the tracking tool within the character tool to make the letters of my text appear closer together and used the shape tool to act as a background for my headings on my contents page as well as the splash on my cover. I used the transform scale effect on all of my text and images to position them effectively on all of my pages as well as altering the appearance of the images using vibrancy levels, brightness levels and saturation levels to make the images appear brighter, crisper and more noticeable.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the progression, I feel I have become much more familiar with the tools on Photoshop and how to use them successfully. I have much more confidence using the quick selection tool – making my images look more clean-cut and professionally cut out of their original background and I have learnt the process in which to correct the models skin – making it appear much more flawless and professional (previously, I had great technically difficult with the Photoshop programme and was much slower in the editing process). I am more familiar with the digital OLYMPUS cameras and how lighting can have a particular effect on the image – making my images a greater quality. I am much more familiar with the conventions of a magazine; in the preliminary task a bar code was not evident, the date of the issue was in the left hand corner instead of a conventional masthead, a teasing contents, splash or puff was not evident along with clear main cover lines, the numbers for the pages were not clear and the content was not conventionally listed down the left-hand side of the page. I followed the majority of magazine conventions on my music magazine products to ensure an effective, professional look.
With time management, I feel I prioritised my time much more effectively when creating my magazine products – I felt I was much more knowledgeable about exactly what I wanted to create and spent a lot more time ensuring I achieved the look I wanted to. With this, I was able to re shoot my front cover images – I originally took them with a lot of time to spare, so when they didn’t result as effectively as I’d hoped, I could re-shoot the images with plenty of time for the editing process. This ensured I achieved the ‘look’ I wanted to achieve.
As well as this, by collecting audience feedback on my first draft contents and front pages of my music magazine products, I was able to decipher which parts were of better quality and more appealing to the target audience than others – by hearing from the audience directly it helped me to understand what they would prefer to see on my products and which style they enjoyed the most. Furthermore, this helped me improve my products and make them of a much higher standard.
Although the images in the preliminary task appear to contain glasses and the correct clothing to link with the ‘geek’ theme, I don’t feel like the images link as well with the products as effectively as the music magazine images do – the dominating, close-up front cover image seems to directly address the audience much more effectively as well as the use of costume representing and addressing the alternative genre audience. From this, I have learnt how to link my model’s facial expression and clothing with the storyline behind the image as well as the attitude expected from my audience.
With time management, I feel I prioritised my time much more effectively when creating my magazine products – I felt I was much more knowledgeable about exactly what I wanted to create and spent a lot more time ensuring I achieved the look I wanted to. With this, I was able to re shoot my front cover images – I originally took them with a lot of time to spare, so when they didn’t result as effectively as I’d hoped, I could re-shoot the images with plenty of time for the editing process. This ensured I achieved the ‘look’ I wanted to achieve.
As well as this, by collecting audience feedback on my first draft contents and front pages of my music magazine products, I was able to decipher which parts were of better quality and more appealing to the target audience than others – by hearing from the audience directly it helped me to understand what they would prefer to see on my products and which style they enjoyed the most. Furthermore, this helped me improve my products and make them of a much higher standard.
Although the images in the preliminary task appear to contain glasses and the correct clothing to link with the ‘geek’ theme, I don’t feel like the images link as well with the products as effectively as the music magazine images do – the dominating, close-up front cover image seems to directly address the audience much more effectively as well as the use of costume representing and addressing the alternative genre audience. From this, I have learnt how to link my model’s facial expression and clothing with the storyline behind the image as well as the attitude expected from my audience.
EVALUATION
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?On music magazine front covers such as Spin, NME and Q a large masthead stating the name of their magazine is boldly evident in the top left hand corner. I have used this technique on my magazine front cover – the large masthead ‘SOX’ is large and clear in the top left hand corner, therefore following the first obvious convention of a music magazine.
Eye contact from the artist on the front cover is something which is shown on all three of these popular music magazines so is a convention I particularly made sure I followed when capturing the image of the artist for my front cover – making sure she looked directly into the camera. This ensures an immediate connection with the audience; something which I feel is particularly important when trying to appeal to a specific audience. As well as this, on both NME and Spin magazine a medium/close-up to close-up is used to display the defined image of the artist. I used an OLYMPUS SP-600UZ, 12 mega pixel camera to ensure a reasonably high quality, professional looking image, therefore following this convention of a music magazine image.
A bar code including a date of the issue is a convention which appeared on both NME and Q magazine in the bottom right hand corners. I followed this convention by creating a bar code from scratch using Photoshop, adding a date and price of the issue and placing it in the bottom right hand corner of my front page. By following this convention it ensures my magazine looks as professional as possible.
Q magazine displays a teasing contents at the bottom of their front page and a splash/puff to advertise the inside of their magazine, attracting the audience. I followed these conventions and included a splash/puff and a teasing contents as an attempt to draw the audience in to buying the magazine as well as creating particular audience expectations about the inside content.
Both NME and Q magazine have sell lines underneath their mastheads – a typical convention in order to grab their audience and persuade them to buy. I used the sell line ‘ROCK THEM RIGHT OFF’ underneath my masthead to not only create some meaning behind the title ‘SOX’ but to also possibly create interest from the audience – the catchy, linking masthead and sell line may reach out to the teenage audience (being an almost humorous colloquial turn of phrase) and intrigue them into the magazine.
The Q magazine cover I looked at contained a large main cover line and smaller cover lines incorporating the main content of their magazine. I followed this convention and created the main cover line surrounding the main artist I looked at and smaller cover lines featuring smaller artist’s interviews; making my cover appear as professional as possible.
On contents pages such as Spin, NME and Q there is a clear ‘Features’ section containing particular popular artists that will be featured inside. I followed this convention and created a ‘Features’ section on my contents page; possibly attracting readers into reading the content because of the popular artists this section contains. Another convention on contents pages are ‘News’ and ‘Reviews’ sections – shown on an NME contents page. However, I challenged this convention and decided to include ‘Regulars’ and ‘Plus’ sections instead. This was simply because the ‘Features’ section included extra information (a brief outline of the story underneath each artist) that I felt shouldn’t be repeated in the ‘News’ and ‘Reviews’ conventional sections, therefore by creating the ‘Regulars’ and ‘Plus’ sections I ensured content information was not repeated.
NME magazine contains one large image and a smaller thumbnail image – this is a convention I followed; creating a smaller image to link it with the front cover and having one large image to dominate the page.
All of the contents pages I looked at (NME, Q, Spin, Kerrang!) contained numbers to advertise their pages without including the word ‘page’. I ensured I followed this convention by displaying the numbers clearly next to the content lines. This certifies that the audience can access the pages easily – an obvious convention of a music magazine contents page.
Some music magazine contents pages such as Kerrang! contain letters from the editor – considered a convention of a contents page. However, I challenged this convention and didn’t include an editor’s letter on my contents page. Instead, I found it more suitable to include an ‘On the cover’ section – creating a link with my front cover artist and the artist on my double page spread. Although not a typical convention, I found Spin magazine included this feature, providing useful information to their audience.
A typical convention of a double page spread article is a large image dominating an entire page – effectively used on all NME, Q and Spin music magazines. I followed this convention and made my artist’s image cover the entire left-hand side of the page. This may be a technique to draw the reader in to the article; immediately giving them information about the artist and their attitude (displayed in the image).
Both NME and RADAR magazine contain large headlines to introduce the article. This being a convention, I made sure I created a large headline ‘FRESH & FEARLESS’ to immediately link the attitude in the image to the article, further drawing the audience in to reading the content.
Although having a leading paragraph was not displayed as a convention in any music magazine articles I looked at, I found it to be a convention in newspaper articles such as The Daily Mail. I decided to include this convention in my music magazine article because I feel it introduces the article nicely, introducing the content effectively.
In a double page spread article by NME there is a photo credit beside the main image of the artist. This being a convention (it is important to give the photographer credit for their photography) I ensured I included photo credit next to my main image, making my image seem much more professional.
With a pull-quote being an article convention and displayed on RADAR magazine’s article, I created a pull quote in my double-page article. This is used as an attempt to draw the readers into my article; the pull quote will contain ‘juicy’ information from the interview spoken by the artist and will therefore intrigue them to read the entire content of the article.
A drop cap is used on all of the double page spread articles from music magazines that I looked at (NME, Q, Spin, RADAR, Kerrang!). Being a convention of double page articles, I created a drop cap in my hand-written article. By doing this, I am immediately drawing the audience into reading its content; with the first letter standing out so dramatically it brings the audience’s eyes to a point to start reading.
Eye contact from the artist on the front cover is something which is shown on all three of these popular music magazines so is a convention I particularly made sure I followed when capturing the image of the artist for my front cover – making sure she looked directly into the camera. This ensures an immediate connection with the audience; something which I feel is particularly important when trying to appeal to a specific audience. As well as this, on both NME and Spin magazine a medium/close-up to close-up is used to display the defined image of the artist. I used an OLYMPUS SP-600UZ, 12 mega pixel camera to ensure a reasonably high quality, professional looking image, therefore following this convention of a music magazine image.
A bar code including a date of the issue is a convention which appeared on both NME and Q magazine in the bottom right hand corners. I followed this convention by creating a bar code from scratch using Photoshop, adding a date and price of the issue and placing it in the bottom right hand corner of my front page. By following this convention it ensures my magazine looks as professional as possible.
Q magazine displays a teasing contents at the bottom of their front page and a splash/puff to advertise the inside of their magazine, attracting the audience. I followed these conventions and included a splash/puff and a teasing contents as an attempt to draw the audience in to buying the magazine as well as creating particular audience expectations about the inside content.
Both NME and Q magazine have sell lines underneath their mastheads – a typical convention in order to grab their audience and persuade them to buy. I used the sell line ‘ROCK THEM RIGHT OFF’ underneath my masthead to not only create some meaning behind the title ‘SOX’ but to also possibly create interest from the audience – the catchy, linking masthead and sell line may reach out to the teenage audience (being an almost humorous colloquial turn of phrase) and intrigue them into the magazine.
The Q magazine cover I looked at contained a large main cover line and smaller cover lines incorporating the main content of their magazine. I followed this convention and created the main cover line surrounding the main artist I looked at and smaller cover lines featuring smaller artist’s interviews; making my cover appear as professional as possible.
On contents pages such as Spin, NME and Q there is a clear ‘Features’ section containing particular popular artists that will be featured inside. I followed this convention and created a ‘Features’ section on my contents page; possibly attracting readers into reading the content because of the popular artists this section contains. Another convention on contents pages are ‘News’ and ‘Reviews’ sections – shown on an NME contents page. However, I challenged this convention and decided to include ‘Regulars’ and ‘Plus’ sections instead. This was simply because the ‘Features’ section included extra information (a brief outline of the story underneath each artist) that I felt shouldn’t be repeated in the ‘News’ and ‘Reviews’ conventional sections, therefore by creating the ‘Regulars’ and ‘Plus’ sections I ensured content information was not repeated.
NME magazine contains one large image and a smaller thumbnail image – this is a convention I followed; creating a smaller image to link it with the front cover and having one large image to dominate the page.
All of the contents pages I looked at (NME, Q, Spin, Kerrang!) contained numbers to advertise their pages without including the word ‘page’. I ensured I followed this convention by displaying the numbers clearly next to the content lines. This certifies that the audience can access the pages easily – an obvious convention of a music magazine contents page.
Some music magazine contents pages such as Kerrang! contain letters from the editor – considered a convention of a contents page. However, I challenged this convention and didn’t include an editor’s letter on my contents page. Instead, I found it more suitable to include an ‘On the cover’ section – creating a link with my front cover artist and the artist on my double page spread. Although not a typical convention, I found Spin magazine included this feature, providing useful information to their audience.
A typical convention of a double page spread article is a large image dominating an entire page – effectively used on all NME, Q and Spin music magazines. I followed this convention and made my artist’s image cover the entire left-hand side of the page. This may be a technique to draw the reader in to the article; immediately giving them information about the artist and their attitude (displayed in the image).
Both NME and RADAR magazine contain large headlines to introduce the article. This being a convention, I made sure I created a large headline ‘FRESH & FEARLESS’ to immediately link the attitude in the image to the article, further drawing the audience in to reading the content.
Although having a leading paragraph was not displayed as a convention in any music magazine articles I looked at, I found it to be a convention in newspaper articles such as The Daily Mail. I decided to include this convention in my music magazine article because I feel it introduces the article nicely, introducing the content effectively.
In a double page spread article by NME there is a photo credit beside the main image of the artist. This being a convention (it is important to give the photographer credit for their photography) I ensured I included photo credit next to my main image, making my image seem much more professional.
With a pull-quote being an article convention and displayed on RADAR magazine’s article, I created a pull quote in my double-page article. This is used as an attempt to draw the readers into my article; the pull quote will contain ‘juicy’ information from the interview spoken by the artist and will therefore intrigue them to read the entire content of the article.
A drop cap is used on all of the double page spread articles from music magazines that I looked at (NME, Q, Spin, RADAR, Kerrang!). Being a convention of double page articles, I created a drop cap in my hand-written article. By doing this, I am immediately drawing the audience into reading its content; with the first letter standing out so dramatically it brings the audience’s eyes to a point to start reading.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?With the genre of my magazine being alternative, my target audience could be seen as being represented quite recklessly within my products. Stereotypically, the ‘alternative’ audience are those who enjoy non-mainstream music and that of alternative bands that are not constantly situated in the charts. My front cover image and double page spread image show that of an artist who is behaving confidently by becoming free of her girl-band and going solo – both poses in these images suggest confidence and ‘rebel’ behaviour (facial expressions, outfit, hairstyle). Due to this, the alternative genre audience are therefore represented in a reckless way – their music taste is of their own and they are confident about their interests. The confidence the genre seems to express may reflect those who are inner-directed; they are sure about themselves and do not have to be influenced by anyone else.
As well as this, the teasing contents on my front cover effectively represents a British alternative magazine by involving the British festival, Glastonbury. This establishes the British audience as well as the festival effectively representing the alternative genre by reflecting their music taste (typically).
I don’t think my media products would effectively represent those in the A or B demographic categories because they may not be able to relate to the attitude that comes across in the images; stereotypically the A/B category exists of those who are highly regarded in society – the rebellious attitude that comes across in my products may not effectively represent their attitudes as people.
What type of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As well as this, the teasing contents on my front cover effectively represents a British alternative magazine by involving the British festival, Glastonbury. This establishes the British audience as well as the festival effectively representing the alternative genre by reflecting their music taste (typically).
I don’t think my media products would effectively represent those in the A or B demographic categories because they may not be able to relate to the attitude that comes across in the images; stereotypically the A/B category exists of those who are highly regarded in society – the rebellious attitude that comes across in my products may not effectively represent their attitudes as people.
What type of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For my magazine I feel that the Conde Nast publisher would be the most appropriate institution to distribute my media products. From my research, they do not seem to have any other alternative music magazines published, instead mainly target fashion and living magazines. This would mean my magazine would attract an entirely new audience for them and my magazine would have no major competitors within the same institution fighting for the same audience, therefore it would be the most successful institution to invest in. As well as this, both my music magazine and Conde Nast’s published magazines have things in common such as high-end photo shoots and style and fashion features – meaning that my magazine will both benefit and suit the institution perfectly. Both Q magazine and Kerrang! magazine are published by Bauer Media; due to having a similar target audience, Bauer Media may not benefit from my magazine because mine and Q/Kerrang! magazine are competitors so will not attract entirely different audiences therefore not as much business for the institution. As well as this, my magazine will more likely gain a wider audience and more business under a different institution to theirs; the alternative audience will only have one magazine to choose from within this institution.
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Audience feedback for Contents page and double page spread.
CONTENTS FEEDBACK.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD FEEDBACK.
Friday 9 March 2012
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