Wednesday 12 May 2010
Monday 15 March 2010
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is a music magazine. This music magazine has a front cover, contents page and a main article. My music magazine is based mainly on rock but it also has some information on other types of music. My audience for this magazine are people that like rock but are also interested in other types of music like pop and R’N’B. So I have a much broader audience than for example Kerrang. My magazine is published weekly so it can challenge the likes of NME and Kerrang.
Before I started my media product I looked at examples of magazines, which I have bought, and examples in the lesson. There was a wide range of magazines that I looked at for ideas throughout my article. I looked at Kerrang, NME, Mojo and Q. I also looked at magazine websites like http://www.kerrang.com/, and http://www.nme.com/home I used ideas for the pictures from the magazines as well as the layout. I used a medium long shot of the band for my front cover.
This is the picture that I have used for my front cover. It’s a medium long shot picture.
It follows conventions of other magazines that I looked at because the style is similar and the topic is about the same. In the market I will be competing against magazines like Kerrang and NME because they are both rock, and mine’s rock. I used drop shadow on the title so the title stood out on my front cover, I got that idea from other magazines, all magazines had titles that stood out from the rest of the text on the page. Some magazines had a hook bar right at the top of the page which looked affective, so I took that idea and put an information hook bar along the top. My main article had three columns evenly spaced and sized and I got that idea from some magazines such as NME and Q. The band was brought up in a working class environment so the readers feel similarities between them and the band, you can also tell that they are not rich by the way they dress. They dress the same as everyone else, which would tell the reader that fame hasn’t gone to their heads.
The finished
version of my front cover. Title stands out. Black bar across
the top and the bottom with some key information inside.
I limited the number of colours on the front cover because it won’t look professional and it would have looked untidy because other magazines such as Q limit their colours on the front cover. The three main colours I used were yellow, white and black. The main picture on the front cover is a convention that all magazines use. They put a star on the front cover of the magazine which will attract people to buy it. I limited the number of fonts in the magazine because that would have looked untidy as well. You can see this convention on the cover of mojo.
How does your media product represent social groups?
My media product is aimed to teenagers and people in their early 20’s. This magazine will attract men more than women because my research showed me men prefer rock music rather than women. By looking at the front cover people might think it’s a boy’s magazine, but this magazine does appeal to both genders as you can tell by reading the contents page because there are female artists which will attract girls as well as boys. On the front cover the band aren’t represented as rebels, they are represented in a positive light. People think that rock stars have a bad reputation but in this I have made half the band look positive and appealing to all. This goes to show that not all rock stars are bad. When readers read the main article they would think that any band could make it. This band had a difficult life playing at clubs but one day they were given a chance and they took that chance to become big. This band does tell people never give up on your dream and work hard when you are given that chance. It can be the same for girls as well, not just boys. Girls can be put in a similar position and can be given that chance, just as long as they take it.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine is based on the conventions of Kerrang so the media institution that will be interested in my magazine will be the same media institution that distributes Kerrang, which is Bauer Media. Bauer Media distribute over 80 magazines, TV and radio. My magazine can help Bauer become the dominant force of the market. The age range for my magazine is 14-26 and is big so potentially there would be a lot of people buying the magazine so Bauer would make a lot of profit from this magazine. Also this magazine ranges in music but its mainly rock so it appeals to most people. This magazine as it is a rock magazine it will compete with Kerrang mainly. The competition with Kerrang will mean that Bauer could increase its profits even more. My magazine isn’t as rebellious as Kerrang so this magazine will suit people more.
What would be the audience for your media product?
My ideal audience are mainly men aged between 14-26 as that is the age range where people buy magazines and it’s for people that like all ranges of music. My research has shown that there is a gap in the market for this type of magazine
Profiles
Name: Robert Steele
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Gender: Male
Interests: Football, listening to
music.
Disposable income: £50 a week.
Spends £10 of it on downloads
from iTunes and magazines.
Opinion on music magazine: “When I saw the front cover of the magazine I instantly thought that it looked professional, It was eye catching and it had plenty of info along the sides. There was a wide range of artists that do different types of music and I like that because not only do I like rock I also like other music. The contents page had all the information that it needed. It was also helpful to find a certain page or article in the magazine quicker. The main article was so inspiring to many people including myself. The band is from Gateshead like myself and that makes it more inspiring that working class can achieve greatness. I liked that the band are so down to earth, this just goes to show that success hasn’t went to their heads. Overall I think it’s a great magazine and if it was published I would buy it every week as it is very informative, it is a good read and it is cheap so that will help me.”
Name: Annabel Harbour
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Gender: Female
Interests: shopping
Disposable income: £30
£5 Spent a week on downloads and
Magazines.
Opinion on music magazine: “This magazine I thought was really good in a way that it appeals to teenagers like myself. I thought the front cover that a simple layout and design but it is very effective to drag people’s attention to it. What also made me read the magazine in the first place was the stars on the front cover like Kanye West. When you notice a big name in music you have to read what it says. I liked the contents page and this had a simple layout as well. The pictures on the side of the magazine were interesting as well. When I read the main article the bands life story really touched and appealed to me as they had a tough life trying to make it onto the scene but with time and effort you can fulfil your dreams as they did. Overall I thought the magazine was a good read and enjoyable”.
Other people have said, “The magazine is really informative and interesting to read”, “great, exciting and worth every penny” and “fantastic, up there with Kerrang”.
How did you attract/address your audience?
To make people interested in my magazine I needed to use various techniques. I researched what it is that attracts readers into buying the magazines and that includes the story that is in the magazine. For example I know that if I include well known people in my magazine it will attract more readers. For the main article I decided to talk about two famous rock stars in the world today. This means men are into this kind of music because they would like to be the famous figures. They have hit singles and albums and that draws the reader to them as they are successful. I also used appealing fonts because font types and sizes attract a reader so throughout the magazine I have used fonts which appeal to readers and I looked at other magazines like MOJO to see what fonts they have used to attract an audience. Throughout the magazine I used fonts that can be easily read by readers. Also the colours need to be basic but attractive so I used colours which looked good with each other, also I used bright colours like yellow on the contents page to attract a reader. Also if the price is too big no one will buy the magazine so the price is cheap and that will bring in more readers. The audience that I am appealing to is of a similar age to mine because the audience can look up to them so I used the Blumler and Katz approach (1974) which is that to appeal to an audience you need to understand them, and seen that I have a similar age to that audience I can understand them better. The band also had a similar lifestyle to them when they were young so that will appeal to this audience. I had given this band a similar lifestyle because it is something that the readers can relate to and it makes them enjoy the article too knowing that famous people used or still do live like them. I used men on the front cover for two reasons. One is that there are mainly male bands out there, and they appeal towards this kind of music. I also used colloquial language so the audience can relate to the magazine. I gave the audience what they wanted.
What have you learnt about new technologies from the process of creating this product?
I had never used Photoshop before in my life until now so I had to learn how to use it from scratch so I learnt many techniques whilst doing this project. I have also become more confident in using Photoshop. I learnt how to make pictures better by cropping them out etc. I needed to crop out pictures that they could go on the background of my front cover. If I had the whole picture as my background it would look boring.
This is the picture I used as my
front cover and it was cropped out.
I also learnt how to mix colours together to make it look better and appealing as I have done throughout my magazine. I used the tool colour overlay. I have also learnt how to make pictures sharper by using some of the tools on Photoshop. Also I learnt how to change the pictures colour by changing it to black and white or adding colour to it by accidently cropping part of the people in the picture. I also learned how to balance the colour on peoples faces for example. If there is a shine on someone’s face I would decrease the brightness on the face to make it look better. Other techniques that I have learned are the photography. I know what sizes the photos have to be. I know what position the camera has to be in to have a better picture and I know that using a tripod produces better photographs and I know where the style models have to stand and what they need to look like to get an effective photo. The main thing that I learned throughout this project is blogspot. I had never used blogspot before so I was learning something different. We had to update our blogs every week with the work which we have been doing. When we post our work onto blogspot it is visible for everyone to see and people can comment on my work and they can tell me what to improve on, so I’ve gone from being a consumer to a producer.
https://www.blogger.com/start
What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the beginning to the full product? I have learnt many things during this media project. I have learnt that you can change pictures to your liking. I have also learnt that fonts really matter. If you have a boring font people automatically think that the magazine is boring and they don’t read the magazine. So my fonts in the magazine are not boring. I have also learnt that there are many tools I can use to help my project for example making the colour on the picture look better and clearer. I have also learnt how to take better pictures which would save me time on changing it in the future. The easiest way is to keep the camera still by using a tripod so there are no more blurred images. I also know the importance of market research because I didn’t know what the majority of people like also to get a feedback from members of the public is extremely helpful as well, in case I needed to change a few things.
’s a medium long shot picture.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is a music magazine. This music magazine has a front cover, contents page and a main article. My music magazine is based mainly on rock but it also has some information on other types of music. My audience for this magazine are people that like rock but are also interested in other types of music like pop and R’N’B. So I have a much broader audience than for example Kerrang. My magazine is published weekly so it can challenge the likes of NME and Kerrang.
Before I started my media product I looked at examples of magazines, which I have bought, and examples in the lesson. There was a wide range of magazines that I looked at for ideas throughout my article. I looked at Kerrang, NME, Mojo and Q. I also looked at magazine websites like http://www.kerrang.com/, and http://www.nme.com/home I used ideas for the pictures from the magazines as well as the layout. I used a medium long shot of the band for my front cover.
This is the picture that I have used for my front cover. It’s a medium long shot picture.
It follows conventions of other magazines that I looked at because the style is similar and the topic is about the same. In the market I will be competing against magazines like Kerrang and NME because they are both rock, and mine’s rock. I used drop shadow on the title so the title stood out on my front cover, I got that idea from other magazines, all magazines had titles that stood out from the rest of the text on the page. Some magazines had a hook bar right at the top of the page which looked affective, so I took that idea and put an information hook bar along the top. My main article had three columns evenly spaced and sized and I got that idea from some magazines such as NME and Q. The band was brought up in a working class environment so the readers feel similarities between them and the band, you can also tell that they are not rich by the way they dress. They dress the same as everyone else, which would tell the reader that fame hasn’t gone to their heads.
The finished
version of my front cover. Title stands out. Black bar across
the top and the bottom with some key information inside.
I limited the number of colours on the front cover because it won’t look professional and it would have looked untidy because other magazines such as Q limit their colours on the front cover. The three main colours I used were yellow, white and black. The main picture on the front cover is a convention that all magazines use. They put a star on the front cover of the magazine which will attract people to buy it. I limited the number of fonts in the magazine because that would have looked untidy as well. You can see this convention on the cover of mojo.
How does your media product represent social groups?
My media product is aimed to teenagers and people in their early 20’s. This magazine will attract men more than women because my research showed me men prefer rock music rather than women. By looking at the front cover people might think it’s a boy’s magazine, but this magazine does appeal to both genders as you can tell by reading the contents page because there are female artists which will attract girls as well as boys. On the front cover the band aren’t represented as rebels, they are represented in a positive light. People think that rock stars have a bad reputation but in this I have made half the band look positive and appealing to all. This goes to show that not all rock stars are bad. When readers read the main article they would think that any band could make it. This band had a difficult life playing at clubs but one day they were given a chance and they took that chance to become big. This band does tell people never give up on your dream and work hard when you are given that chance. It can be the same for girls as well, not just boys. Girls can be put in a similar position and can be given that chance, just as long as they take it.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine is based on the conventions of Kerrang so the media institution that will be interested in my magazine will be the same media institution that distributes Kerrang, which is Bauer Media. Bauer Media distribute over 80 magazines, TV and radio. My magazine can help Bauer become the dominant force of the market. The age range for my magazine is 14-26 and is big so potentially there would be a lot of people buying the magazine so Bauer would make a lot of profit from this magazine. Also this magazine ranges in music but its mainly rock so it appeals to most people. This magazine as it is a rock magazine it will compete with Kerrang mainly. The competition with Kerrang will mean that Bauer could increase its profits even more. My magazine isn’t as rebellious as Kerrang so this magazine will suit people more.
What would be the audience for your media product?
My ideal audience are mainly men aged between 14-26 as that is the age range where people buy magazines and it’s for people that like all ranges of music. My research has shown that there is a gap in the market for this type of magazine
Profiles
Name: Robert SteeleAge: 17
Occupation: Student
Gender: Male
Interests: Football, listening to
music.
Disposable income: £50 a week.
Spends £10 of it on downloads
from iTunes and magazines.
Opinion on music magazine: “When I saw the front cover of the magazine I instantly thought that it looked professional, It was eye catching and it had plenty of info along the sides. There was a wide range of artists that do different types of music and I like that because not only do I like rock I also like other music. The contents page had all the information that it needed. It was also helpful to find a certain page or article in the magazine quicker. The main article was so inspiring to many people including myself. The band is from Gateshead like myself and that makes it more inspiring that working class can achieve greatness. I liked that the band are so down to earth, this just goes to show that success hasn’t went to their heads. Overall I think it’s a great magazine and if it was published I would buy it every week as it is very informative, it is a good read and it is cheap so that will help me.”
Name: Annabel HarbourAge: 16
Occupation: Student
Gender: Female
Interests: shopping
Disposable income: £30
£5 Spent a week on downloads and
Magazines.
Opinion on music magazine: “This magazine I thought was really good in a way that it appeals to teenagers like myself. I thought the front cover that a simple layout and design but it is very effective to drag people’s attention to it. What also made me read the magazine in the first place was the stars on the front cover like Kanye West. When you notice a big name in music you have to read what it says. I liked the contents page and this had a simple layout as well. The pictures on the side of the magazine were interesting as well. When I read the main article the bands life story really touched and appealed to me as they had a tough life trying to make it onto the scene but with time and effort you can fulfil your dreams as they did. Overall I thought the magazine was a good read and enjoyable”.
Other people have said, “The magazine is really informative and interesting to read”, “great, exciting and worth every penny” and “fantastic, up there with Kerrang”.
How did you attract/address your audience?
To make people interested in my magazine I needed to use various techniques. I researched what it is that attracts readers into buying the magazines and that includes the story that is in the magazine. For example I know that if I include well known people in my magazine it will attract more readers. For the main article I decided to talk about two famous rock stars in the world today. This means men are into this kind of music because they would like to be the famous figures. They have hit singles and albums and that draws the reader to them as they are successful. I also used appealing fonts because font types and sizes attract a reader so throughout the magazine I have used fonts which appeal to readers and I looked at other magazines like MOJO to see what fonts they have used to attract an audience. Throughout the magazine I used fonts that can be easily read by readers. Also the colours need to be basic but attractive so I used colours which looked good with each other, also I used bright colours like yellow on the contents page to attract a reader. Also if the price is too big no one will buy the magazine so the price is cheap and that will bring in more readers. The audience that I am appealing to is of a similar age to mine because the audience can look up to them so I used the Blumler and Katz approach (1974) which is that to appeal to an audience you need to understand them, and seen that I have a similar age to that audience I can understand them better. The band also had a similar lifestyle to them when they were young so that will appeal to this audience. I had given this band a similar lifestyle because it is something that the readers can relate to and it makes them enjoy the article too knowing that famous people used or still do live like them. I used men on the front cover for two reasons. One is that there are mainly male bands out there, and they appeal towards this kind of music. I also used colloquial language so the audience can relate to the magazine. I gave the audience what they wanted.
What have you learnt about new technologies from the process of creating this product?
I had never used Photoshop before in my life until now so I had to learn how to use it from scratch so I learnt many techniques whilst doing this project. I have also become more confident in using Photoshop. I learnt how to make pictures better by cropping them out etc. I needed to crop out pictures that they could go on the background of my front cover. If I had the whole picture as my background it would look boring.
This is the picture I used as my
front cover and it was cropped out.
I also learnt how to mix colours together to make it look better and appealing as I have done throughout my magazine. I used the tool colour overlay. I have also learnt how to make pictures sharper by using some of the tools on Photoshop. Also I learnt how to change the pictures colour by changing it to black and white or adding colour to it by accidently cropping part of the people in the picture. I also learned how to balance the colour on peoples faces for example. If there is a shine on someone’s face I would decrease the brightness on the face to make it look better. Other techniques that I have learned are the photography. I know what sizes the photos have to be. I know what position the camera has to be in to have a better picture and I know that using a tripod produces better photographs and I know where the style models have to stand and what they need to look like to get an effective photo. The main thing that I learned throughout this project is blogspot. I had never used blogspot before so I was learning something different. We had to update our blogs every week with the work which we have been doing. When we post our work onto blogspot it is visible for everyone to see and people can comment on my work and they can tell me what to improve on, so I’ve gone from being a consumer to a producer.
https://www.blogger.com/start
What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the beginning to the full product? I have learnt many things during this media project. I have learnt that you can change pictures to your liking. I have also learnt that fonts really matter. If you have a boring font people automatically think that the magazine is boring and they don’t read the magazine. So my fonts in the magazine are not boring. I have also learnt that there are many tools I can use to help my project for example making the colour on the picture look better and clearer. I have also learnt how to take better pictures which would save me time on changing it in the future. The easiest way is to keep the camera still by using a tripod so there are no more blurred images. I also know the importance of market research because I didn’t know what the majority of people like also to get a feedback from members of the public is extremely helpful as well, in case I needed to change a few things.
’s a medium long shot picture.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
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