Finished Front Cover

Here is my finished front cover for my media product. As you can see i chose a green, black and white house style with red to draw the readers attention to different aspects of my magazine. The model i chose was a teenager, who looks 17-18 which is the initially age for my target audience. As you can see he is looking into the camera and is directly addressing the audience. I chose bands such as Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon which are indie/alternative bands which is the genre of the magazine and i want to appeal to my target audience. My front cover also includes the price, date and issue number of the magazine which is a convention on most magazines. 

Finished Contents Page

Finished Double Page Spread

Pre-Lim Cover

Here is my finished front cover for my school magazine. I have used skills such as the magic wand tool, the lasso tool, text tools and blending options to create this front cover.

Positive Comments

• Clear house style
• Large clear masthead
• Nice style model
• Gives academic look (reading)

Pre-Lim Contents

Here is my contents page for my school magazine. I have used conventions such as including page numbers and images on my contents page.

Positive comments

• Consistent house style
• Use of school badges
• Clear title and masthead
• Use of page numbers

Evaluation 7 Presentation

Evaluation 6 Blogpost

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your product?

During the development of my media product there are several new and unknown technologies, which I have had to familiarise myself with in order to construct my music magazine, contents page and double page spread.

Social Networks

Whilst constructing my product social networking sites have help whilst gathering feedback for my media product. I have used social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Blogger to gather feedback for my product. Whilst already being a member of Facebook and Twitter I have had to develop my understanding of the site Blogger, from which all posts from the preliminary task up to now, have been posted on.

Cameras and Computers

One of the most important aspects of a music magazine are the pictures which feature of the front cover, contents page and double page spread. To take my photographs I had my own Nikon 3500 DSLR camera, I already had some knowledge of certain camera techniques that enhance the image by just looking at the angle, framing and composition of a shot that I took. But by looking on YouTube for some camera tutorials I have developed my knowledge further by discovering new, more professional techniques, such as the Rule Of Thirds.

There was also a change in the PC’s I used. Whilst being a frequent user of a Windows oriented computer, my knowledge and skills of using a Mac computer were lacking and I had very little knowledge on how to use and navigate one. For the entirety of this project I have had to use a mac and become more familiar of how they function and work, as these are more frequently used in media institutions that would publish my product.

Programs and Websites

For the most part of constructing my product I have used certain computer programs in order to put my ideas together. Whilst primarily using Adobe Photoshop to edit my original images and put my magazine’s front cover, contents page and double page spread together. Before this project I had some knowledge of Photoshop and how to use it, but to ensure that my media product looks professional I had to further develop my knowledge, I did this by looking at tutorials on YouTube. These helped me gather information on how to correctly cut an image out of a background, use blending techniques to make my cover appear more professional and text tools to ensure my text on the cover is suitable. I also used Adobe Illustrator for the text on my contents page and double page spread. I used this software because it enabled me to edit the text to how i wanted it arranged on the page. By using this software i was able to organise my text into paragraphs and
columns, this software also allowed me to justify my text. I was also able to add a drop capital into my text which is a regular convention on music magazine double page spreads.

There are some new websites I have used to create blog posts whilst constructing my media product. One of these being Prezi. Prezi is an online presentation creator that allows me to create and design my own presentations. Whilst never having used this website before I decided to use it in order to show the conventions of a contents page and double page spread, and give some variety to the type of blog post I did. The online presentation creator allows a user to zoom in and out of the presentation at specific points, set by the user, in order to draw the audiences attention to certain text or images. By using this website I had to develop my knowledge of presentation software, I did this by practicing a few times on mock presentations before applying the knowledge into a real presentation. I learnt how to draw the audience’s attention to specific details by using different zoom tools, such as the hidden bracket and the circle tool. I also used SlideShare, this allowed me to upload presentations to the Internet and therefore be able to post them onto my blog. By using this website I have been able to use Microsoft PowerPoint, a program which I was already comfortable with using, and then upload the presentation onto my blog.

Evaluation 5 Prezi

Evaluation 4 Podcast

Evaluation 3 Presentation

Evaluation 3 presentation from RhyaCeri

Evaluation 2 Prezi

Evaluation 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Masthead

In order for a magazine to stand out on the shelf amongst other magazine it must have an eye-catching masthead. For my masthead I decided to challenge the convention of having a masthead across the top of the magazine and usually being one word. I decided to do this so I could have a larger image on my front cover and also to make my magazine stand out against others. Similar to magazines such as ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ they position their masthead in the top left hand corner of the magazine and usually double up as a logo for the company. Here is my masthead, as you can see it is quite similar to ‘Q’ in that its positioned in the top left corner and has a solid colour background. Also here is Kerrang!’s masthead, as you can see I have challenged their convention in putting a masthead, which spreads across the top of the magazine. I wanted my masthead to be bold and be different which reflects the genre and will relate to my target audience. I chose a solid colour background because it is vibrant and stands out against the dark colour of the back of the magazine. As this is a new media product I wanted the masthead to be readable and clear from a distance and not be covered by an image, like most mastheads are, when the magazine becomes more established it would be possible to try ideas like partially covering the masthead.

Front Cover Layout

One way I followed the conventions of a real music magazine was the layout of my cover. The image I had taken was a medium close up shot with the model looking directly into the camera, which makes the audience feel like he’s looking at them. I also included the Issue number and how much the magazine costs which is a regular convention of most music magazines. I also included buzz words on my magazine such as Exclusive and Plus which draws the readers attention and makes it seem like they are getting extra value for their money, most magazines use this to entice more people to buy their magazine. I also used banners which most magazine’s use to attract the readers attention to certain stories and articles, much like I have done, I want the readers to see that we have an exclusive story on Jason Smith and this will attract fans of Jason Smith to buy this magazine specifically for the content on him.  I have also included a bar code on my front cover, which is a regular convention of music magazines. In addition I have also filled the front cover with bands and artists similar to the cover artist and others to attract the most potential audience for this magazine. By including other artists this widens the market for the magazine and gives the reader more choice. I also chose to include bands of a similar genre to the cover artist as this reflects the target audience of the magazine and in return reflects their likes and dislikes.

Contents Page Layout

I also followed the conventions on my contents page. As you can see I have included the word contents to give an overview of the page the reader is one and I have included my masthead, from the front cover, along side to keep reminded the reader of the magazine. I have also included the issue number and date on the contents page, again to remind the reader. As you can see I have clear titles of all the areas the magazine has articles in, including News and Features, which are conventions on most magazines. When deciding on the articles I was going to include in my magazine I decided to use all the cover artists and give a brief one line on what the article is about and what page number it is on. Here I also included another picture of Jason Smith along with the page number the double page spread is on so readers can go directly to it. Including all the page numbers and artists’ give the readers clear direction to read the magazine in and direct themselves. In addition I have included a Subscribe Now! Feature, which allows the user to subscribe to the magazine for a lower price than if they were buying the magazine every week. This is to attract the target audience more as the magazine isn’t that expensive and isn’t that cheap so this allows the people with less disposable income to be able to afford the magazine. I have also included social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, this makes it so you can have the magazine on a multiple of platforms not just a physical magazine. I have also added a welcome paragraph, which isn’t a convention on most magazines but is included on Kerrang! And is used to welcome the reader to the magazine and give them an overview of what is in the magazine and which articles to look out for, I used this as it gives the reader something little to read about the magazine before they find an article they want to read.

Double Page Spread Layout

There were also several conventions I used on my double page spread. As you can see I have used paragraphs, which are set out into three columns and are justified. This is a regular convention on most music magazine double page spreads as it looks professional and organises the page.  I also have a footer on my double page spread, which similar to the contents page and front cover has the logo of the magazine, this is to keep telling the reader this is VM magazine.  Also on the banner I have added the buzzword exclusive. This is to tell the reader that this is an exclusive article and they are getting something that not everyone has, this is highlighted in red text as it stands out and matches the colour scheme.  The double page spread also has a page number on the left hand page. This is to correspond with the contents page and so that readers know which page they are on. This is a generic convention on most magazines, as they want the reader to know exactly which article is on which page. I also developed a convention of having a pull quote from the article spreading across both pages. This is sometimes used on magazines to attract the readers’ attention if they were flicking through the pages and initially grabs the audience’s attention. This is similar to Kerrang magazine. They use a pull quote on the double page spread to give an overview, shown here.

 

Social Networking Icons

Here are two social networking site logo's that i am planning on using on my contents page. This shows what different platforms you can see the magazine on and it opens it up into a larger audience. This is to match my target audience as young adults often spend their time on social networking sites and this gives them a new way to view the magazine and the brand.

Contents and Double Page Spread Changes

I decided to change the image on my contents page and transfer it to the double page spread. I did this because overall the image felt more suitable for the larger spread and lifted the page making it brighter and more appealing. Using one of the images i used from my second photoshoot i decided a black and white image would be best to match the tones on the contents page. The model in the image is wearing a motorcycle t-shirt which matches the rock image i was going for and he's holding a guitar which shows its a musician. 

Photoshoot 2

For this photo shoot i decided to use an older model in the photographs to appeal for the older audience for my magazine, rather than the young cover model. This creates a contrast of representing both older and younger audiences for one product.