Evaluation1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Front
cover: The Front cover that I designed has followed the original
plan that I created but with more detail put in my original design
follows that that is used in most music magazines that are out
today. The Masthead is located at the top of the page and consists
of green and black colours. The beginning of the words The and Drop
are green and the rest black this just makes it more interesting to
look at rather than just one colour. The text used has a modern
Young hip Graffiti edge to it that links to the style of music that
the magazine consists of. It is in large bold text, which is used
in most magazines for the masthead. It is centralised and at the
top of the page as well so it is the first thing that is read by
the reader. The P at the end of the word Drop has a long straight
tail to it with an arrow at the bottom this represents and stands
for the Base Drop which is a term and music technique used in the
genre of music covered by this magazine. The arrow also points and
directs the reader to the main headline on what is in the
magazine.
The Picture used is of the Musician being George Goodwill and is
central of the page leaving space above the head for the Masthead
but with a little of it overlaying. This adds layers to the front
cover that come out at the reader adding depth and follows the
convention of other music magazines that makes multiple overlapping
layers to make it more interesting to the eye. The picture has a
green outline to and a slight green tint to the picture. One the
lasers represent the lights and strobes used in nightclubs/ parties
where this genre of music is played and two it follows the colour
theme of green, black and white so it flows across the page.
The cover-line is simply the name of the Musician George
Goodwill the Text is in the same green and the Black rectangle it
overlays is slightly transparent. I found that having the rectangle
slightly transparent and being able to see the image through it
slightly had a more original look than a solid black colour, its
also a slight contrast to the rest of the other solid black areas
on the front page. It follows the conventions of it overlapping the
main image and also at a slight angle just so it interrupts the
other horizontal text on the page making it less dull. I changed
the angle of the text compared to the original design as the image
of George is leaning to the left (looking at it) so tilting the
text to go with him rather than against had a much more
professional and smooth appearance.
Contents page:
The contents page that I designed followed my plan rather
closely, this plan follows the conventions found that the text for
the page numbers are usually found down the left of the page and
usually has a larger image on the right side/ column. The title
Contents is at the top and central of the page which is the same as
most other magazines, it also uses the same font and colours as the
Title on the front page. However the central T is also in Green and
the tail is extended down the centre of the page to separate the
two columns, this was an idea I personally came up with and I think
it works really well and is original to other musician magazines
which usually have a separate line to split the page or nothing at
all. The pages are numbered and laid down the sides followed by a
short title on what will be on that page, without giving much away
so they have to go to that page to find out more. The colour scheme
of the page again is green, black and white and flows with the
front cover with most magazine always using the same2-4 colours
throughout the magazine. The contents page also has a bunch of
pictures throughout that link to the subheadings and gives a small
preview into what will be in the rest of the magazine these
pictures fills the page and is more inter3sting that just text and
keeps the reader interested and wanting to keep read through. It
also has the image of the beats Competition to entice readers to
enter into it. The Top of the page in the upper left of the page
(looking at the page) has a logo to represent the magazine which is
just a simple green solid filled circle with a black down arrow
representing the title of the magazine The Drop and it means
whenever readers see this logo they can identify what it represents
and who it is for. The image used is again of the main musician and
is at the far right, I used this image as it looks like he is
thinking and can relate the reader thinking about what page to go
to, to read I also put him at the same level that the page title to
his double page spread is at so it directs his eye line and the
readers to his interview, which is the main story.
Double page spread: My double page spread as shown consists of
the left side having 3 pictures of my interviewee (George Goodwill)
with his logo above him. Ive edited them so that they appear to be
standing behind and next to each other. It adds depth to the page
and sets up 3 columns which I can use on the other side as seen
with the text. The text from the interview is laid out in 3 columns
as well so that it matches the page and has a pleasing aesthetic
look to it. Using this younger musician as a main story usually
goes against that of magazines that usually focus on the already
big and older musicians, so having a younger face shown throughout
the magazine is a difference to that expected. The title is of the
musicians name and is at the top of the right side of the page
above the text and is in bold black text so that it stands out. The
logo mirrors this by being at the top of the left side of the page
above the 3 images of the musician. The DPS (double page spread)
again follows the colour scheme by having white, black and green,
having the colour scheme flow throughout the magazine however each
page uses the colour scheme in a different way so they are all
distinctive to themselves but are still related through the means
of the images and text styles.The image is contains two of the
musician looking directly at the audience this is used with many
other magazines so the reader can relate and feel in contact with
the musician themselves, the other picture of the musician is
looking across to the text to draw their eyes to the interview and
gives them a psychological urge to read it.
2. How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
Front cover: the title on the front cover I designed uses text
that has a graffiti and hip look which can be related and connects
with the young teenage audience the magazine is aimed for. The
title also consists of green and black the green and black can be
identified as colours similar in night clubs as they are usually
dark with green strobe lights, and usually attending these clubs
are teenagers/ early 20s. The Musician used on the front cover has
headphones and is dressed in smart/casual attire (Shirt, Jeans,
headphones) this appearance can be related and associated with the
teenager community again especially when guys are going on a night
out or to a party giving the impression that this magazine is based
around this social group. The outline of the Musician on the front
cover contains a green laser like glow and shadows, again this can
be seen and have the appearance of being in a nightclub and usually
found in these social areas are teenagers or early 20s students.
The front cover has a young fresh and fun party appearance to it
and by having the young musician on the front cover also can show
that its portraying the younger adult group of people.
Contents page: The contents page again uses the same font so it
carries on the Graffiti feel to it usually done by the younger
adult generation. The black and white hazy transition between the
two colours used can be seen as spot lights shining down on a dark
stage or club floor/room bringing up the same point about the young
adult group that mainly attend these social events. The advert for
the Beats earphones displayed is an add usually aimed towards the
you adult social group that like to listen to lots of modern music
at a high quality, by having Adds that aim towards the same
audience as the magazine itself it represents the teenager and
young adult group more effectively as they link together. Double
page spread: The double page spread has 3 strong images of a young
musician, looking cool and chilled which relates to how teenagers
try to look and act in society nowadays. The logo at the top again
has a Graffiti style and the clan logo kind of feel which teenagers
usually scribble or use to mark their areas.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
I believe that the Bauer Media group would be an institution
that would be interested in distributing my magazine. The Bauer
Media group has over 300 magazines distributed over 15 countries
the two main music magazines they publish are Kerrang and Q.
Kerrang does also aim towards the teenager target audience but this
magazine focuses on new young bands that have come up where as my
magazine focuses on a completely different genre of music. This
institution doesnt currently have a magazine that bases around the
genre of Dubstep and House music so it would fit into a place in
the market for them and especially since its a niche market it
offers them more opportunity to expand their readers. It can offer
a new group of people to talk to and learn what they like to be
involved in this genre of music and also learn about the many huge
events held with this style of music. The Teenage audience is also
a very strong buyer of music magazines as they usually listen to a
lot of it so they want to be up to date with all the latest tunes
and hits that are found and played at parties and
nightclubs/events.
4. Who would be the audience be for you media product?
The main audience for this magazine would be the people who
listen to and love the Genre of Dubstep and electro house music;
usually these people are of the younger adult generation and
teenagers. Age wise this would include male or females from 16-24
that usually go out on nights or have parties and enjoy the upbeat
tempo and dance style of this music. There are still people of
older age that listen to this music and will buy this magazine
however the majority of buyers/audience would be the younger
generation of adults. From my market research and findings this
also supports who would buy my magazine and what I used to create
the magazine so that it would ensure that the audience I was aiming
for was involved and listened to in the creating of the product.
The research showed that the majority of people interested in a
product like mine would be any gender aged 16-24.
5. How did you attract/ address your audience?To attract my
audience I made sure that I listened to and used the findings that
I received during the audience research part of the development of
my media magazine product, by doing this I involved everything they
wanted and also included what they would expect and like to see in
a magazine of this genre. This made sure that they would be happy
with the contents and improve the chance of it being successful and
them paying the set price for the magazine. The layout and feel to
the magazine relates to the audience so they can feel like they are
connected with the magazine and they know what to expect from whats
inside. In the making of the magazine I used the language that my
audience would probably use on a day to day basis again so they can
relate and understand the magazine to a level in which they feel
involved and apart of the community and makers of the magazine, the
layout is also simple and effective in that it relates to other
magazines that use a similar and well known format. On the Front
cover of my magazine I Included a competition heading that informed
readers straight away about a possible chance of being able to win
a pair of Beats earphones, this could entice them to buy the
magazine and read further in to find the competition since the
prize is of high cost and high quality. The image I used on the
front cover of my magazine of the musician is open to the viewers
and he is looking directly to them giving them a sense of
connection and that they are being looked at and drawn towards the
magazine
On the contents page I used the competition again but with an
image of the prize so that it again got my readers attention. It
uses a familiar layout to magazines and means that the reader isnt
confused or is put off by a new form of layout. I including many
pictures and simple headlines to tell them what is on each page as
I found out during my research they dont like a lot of information
to read they prefer it to be straight to the point.
6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of
constructing this product?
During the course of this project I have managed to learn the
vast amount of picture editing Photoshop can do at a high quality
and effectively and it only took a little bity of learning from
online sources and self-teaching to understand the basics and uses
the tools to come out with some professional looking media product.
By doing it on computer the transportation of files and information
and items being used is much easier, time efficient and reliable
rather than hand crafting it with a lot of paper based sources.
Technology such as a high quality camera that I used allows for
professional looking images and the ability to take as many needed
and quickly and it is all saved in one place that can be moved to a
computer in minutes. Anybody can turn a few images and text into a
media product as long as they have the software and the patience to
self-teach.
7. How do you feel you have learnt from the progression of the
preliminary task to the full product?
From the preliminary which was to create a front cover for a
college magazine in about 2 hours to the media product I have
created and finished now I believe I have learnt many new
techniques and the abilities of tools and what they do. I have also
learnt that there many different aspects in creating a magazine
such as Depth, colour schemes, positioning and the percentage and
coverage of text to images. I have also been opened up to the fact
that if you want a high quality looking page then you have to put
time and effort into it and get feedback from others on what you
have done every now and then because others approval is always
reassuring to your work as you go along.
I learnt that planning in advance of what you are doing is a
great advantage in the long run and it means all your ideas are
there already down in basic form and it motivates you to create the
whole thing. It gives you a kind of prototype to look at and then
uncover anything that doesnt work or could be added or removed.
In the preliminary task we didnt do any audience research and
this meant I created the front page to look like how I wanted it to
look rather than what people reading it would like. By doing the
audience research for the full product It gave me the chance to
actually ask potential readers and get their input on what they
wold like to see, and what would grab their attention.