Evaluation Diverse Magazine

transcript

Evaluation George Loftus

Magazine

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• Masthead

My magazine masthead uses codes and conventions of existing magazines to create continuity amongst other magazines. This is because it is a similar style to Q magazine’s masthead with the white on red style.

- The use of a Red rectangular box as this is a bold image and I think it suited my magazine well.

- Similarities

- Differences

My magazine Masthead challenges codes and conventions of existing magazines as it is quite simple but outstanding on the page as it is very attracting to the audience.

- The font used is a Sans Serif font different from other music magazines such as the competitor Q.

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

•People in the MagazineHayden; lead singer of the

weekend is very young to be the main feature in this months Diverse magazine but it connects better with putting a younger star on the front of the magazine. This will relate to the targeted audience which is the same age bracket as the band itself.

The band uses conventions of Mise-en-scene because of

what he is wearing a t-shirt and jeans or chinos which suggest a musical background and many other Indie groups wear this sort of style.

Another point is that the band challenges conventions on other Indie artists as for a start there is only three in the band which unconventional towards this genre as it usually consists of four people.

Also the group are very young to be head features on a music magazine but this is challenging conventions which can relate towards the audience.

•Layout of Contents PageMy contents page contains elements that follow the codes and conventions of existing music magazines. For Example, I have included an editorial explaining what is featured in this months magazine.I have included a main image in my contents which is a common element of music magazines as this is the band in feature usually.A very common element that is used on a music magazine is the subscription which I have also featured in mine showing the use of conventions.

The use of the rule of thirds has been used with the contents down the left hand side and the main contents taking up two thirds of the page.

I am challenging conventions

with the use of two images

on the contents page as

there is usually only one but

with the use of two images it

gives a variety to the

audience with two artists

connecting to the target

group the most.

•Music genre and how I have tried to portray it.The Main genre of my magazine is

Indie with a hint of Rock influences. I have tried to make my Genre quite clear throughout the magazine by using names of bands on the front cover to relate them to there particular genre. It was hard for me to connect with the genre well on the front cover as my image was very simple but powerful and was hard to relate it to Indie/Rock.

On the contents page the genre has been showed through again the use of extra artists in the contents list but also the use of an acoustic guitar which implies Indie music but also could mean Rock depending on how you look at things. Also the use of colours of red, black and white which are common colours for this genre. However I have added an extra colour of green so that it stands out amongst the rest and also it is the colour of this months magazine.

2.How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

My Media Product represents the particular social group of

16 – 25 year olds, this group consists of people who enjoy music,

visit festivals and have a strong independent side:

Pic of the band

The age of the band is key to the

audience representation as they are

only 17 years of age which

automatically links with the age

bracket of the target audience of the

In the Photo on the left the band are wearing clothing such as T – shirts, Jeans and other festival/ Indie type clothing. This is a key interpretation for the audience as festivals are predominately full of the targeted audience so thee clothes they are wearing are showing the representation of the particular social group.

As you can see from the two images that they are similar just one is from Q magazine and the other is from my own Diverse magazine. The similarities are key to the target audience as the shots of both the photos are done outside and not in a studio creating a different style for the mise-en-scene attracting the Indie feel between both images.

Another representation between the two images is that the lead of both the bands has the same stance

to show his confidence and leadership. This helps connect with the social group that I am aiming

at as it shows the confidence of a teenager of the age of 16 – 25. The background is key as they are going for a Urban look to the photo with the brick wall suggesting that they have had a hard background or bringing up also showing independence which Indie music brings forward.

The only differences of the images are that the Band I have featured are younger than the band from Q magazine, however the target audience of Q magazine is an older audience than my own with them aiming at a more middle aged audience as for me I am aiming at a more youthful age.

3.What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product and Why?

As I said from my Planning and Researching I have chosen a new publisher called Dennis Publishing, the have had mush success with their most famous magazine Men’s Fitness which has reached a sale of over 200,000 magazines per month showing a key desire to sell magazines. Also Dennis Publishing has never published a music magazine before so would put all their efforts into making it a unique and very big magazine. However there is a downside to Dennis Publishing as this would be there first music magazine so they do not have much experience in the category but it is a risk you have to take.

I firstly considered to take on Bauer Media as they have had great success with magazines in this category such as ‘Q’ magazine and have a readership of over 19 million people for all of there magazines. However they already distribute a very similar magazine with ‘Q’ so I think that they would not publish a competing magazine with ‘Diverse’ magazine.therefore the likes of Dennis Publishing are good as they do not have a music magazine at this moment in time.

3.What kind of Media institution might distribute your media

product and Why?

4. Who would the audience be for your media product?

I decided that my target audience for my magazine is teenagers of the age of 16 – 25, these people are mostly aspirers as they want status through clothes, technology and other things, I believe that my magazine offers such things for these aspirers and also mostly people under the age of 23 are aspirers as they are still deciding what they want to do. This is because I have represented my magazine on the particular theme of Indie/ Rock which many people of this age range follow.

Another type of person that would be the audience for my magazine is people in the group of C1, C2, D and E. The NRS social status is low for this magazine because the target audience is young not many people are over the age of 21 when the NRS social status starts, in addition many people between 21 to 25 will be either students or just starting out at work so therefore could not afford an expensive magazine. Meaning I have a higher C2DE readership.

I have aimed my magazine at a more masculine approach with the use of a band containing all boys. However I have included a female artist and photo on the contents page so it attracts a feminine audience as well as a male audience.

Another aspect to the audience of Diverse Magazine would be that they are devoted to Indie/Rock as many of the artists are not popular to the proportion of the youth there is today as many enjoy Pop, R&B and others as Diverse is solely concentrated on an Indie style.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?Critics Profile

Ellie 16 year old girl youngest of the critics give us an idea of how it attracted the younger female audience.

James aged 19 with him studying at Gloucester university Geography and middle of my target aged group he gives an opinion and how it attracted a student.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?Critics Profile

Jess aged 21 and also a student at Leeds university gives us opinions on how I attracted a female student.

Sebastian

Sebastian aged 24 is the oldest critic out of the four however he is an architect and gives us his attraction to the magazine from a working mans perspective.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

What do you think of the front cover of Diverse Magazine?

Ellie: I think that the photograph is very affective due to the half a face on page making it stand out from the other magazines. Very appealing, eye catching and I especially like the use of the Masthead.

James: Also I agree that the photo is an effective tool on the front cover, However the reason that I wanted to buy the magazine is because I really like the band that is featured in the magazine.

What do you think of the front cover of Diverse Magazine?

Jess: I am attracted to the front cover the most by the text that is used, its simple and uses bright colours which I think is important for a magazine to consist. However the colours are bright but fit well in to the scheme of the magazine..

Sebastian: I think that its really eye catching with the use of a single persons half a face on the front and also the use of an affective footer which fits in well with the colour scheme of the magazine.

What do you think of the Contents page?

Ellie: Again you have kept the same colours throughout the contents page which shows continuity between the front and Contents page. It has got every thing a contents page needs; clearly laid out, nice clear headings directing to each page simply.

James: The pictures fit in well with what’s on the front cover and the headings on the contents page. Fits in well with the colour scheme. And that also the scheme is kept throughout the magazine.

Jess: the photos are very good again with the keeping to the theme of an indie magazine with the use of a guitar in the photo. It offers a variety of boys and a girl on the front which opens more doors to attract indie people. And also I like the way that the picture of the front cover is on the contents page to corroborate with other magazines.

What do you think of the Contents page?

Sebastian: a key feature which attracted me on the contents page was the editorial which is common amongst music magazines but shows a more professional approach towards the contents page.

What do you think of the Double page spread?

Ellie: The double page spread is very nicely presented with the use of a big main image to control the double page. It makes it have a more professional look and it attracted me to the magazine. The image is good as they are posing for the camera which makes me think they have put effort into the magazine.

James: It has got a very clear layout which makes the page seem more professional. It makes it different because the layout is not all the same to others attracting audiences.

What do you think of the Double page spread?

Jess: it makes it interesting that the layout and colour scheme is different to the rest of the magazine giving it a unique look. It makes my think that there is something more important about the band due to the change in colours.

Sebastian: I like the use of the puff tat the top because it makes it look effective and special to the band in feature. An attracting part is the opacity of the text box as it is faded it makes a professional look.

Improvements…

Ellie: On the front cover I think that you could have used up a bit more space to make it look like there is more in the magazine.James: I think that the double page spread could be altered through the colours used as they have used the main colours red, green and black but it is dominated by green which doesn’t seem to fit in with the original colour scheme which is predominantly dominated by red.

Jess: I would improve the contents page in the ay that I would change the photo of ‘Isabella Lopez’ because it looks rushed and not professional. I think with a bit more time to alter the image it would look 100% professional.

Improvements…

Sebastian: although I like the double page spread I think that there is too many pictures on the page.

Would you buy the magazine?

Ellie: Yes definitely it appeals straight away for me.

James: Yes it would seem money well spent.

Jess: Yes I love everything about the magazine.

Sebastian: Of course it would be a shame not too as it appeals straight for me.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

(Screenshots will help to illustrate this)

I transferred my original images to the computer using the USB port.

Using Photoshop to create my Cover page to the best it can be and using the resources to manipulate the image.

Using Adobe Indesign to create my Contents page and double page spread. It helped me to use the features to create a professional style pages that I could can get.

One thing that I have enabled myself to do is to take quality pictures with the camera so I can get good raw images straight away. This means that I do not need to alter my images as much in Photoshop. Some of my Raw

images…

Raw Images

Photoshop

I have used Photoshop for my Front cover because it consists mostly of my main image. Even though there is text it is predominantly the image and Photoshop deals with the images the best.

Firstly I used Photoshop…

I have used Photoshop to my advantage by using for my Front cover it meant that I could manipulate my images to get a more professional look about them. This was done by using auto levels on the image adjustment tool.

I have attempted to smooth the edges of where I have cropped the image and it is still rugged, so I have selected the eraser tool to smooth unwanted edges and corners.

One key thing that I have learnt on Photoshop is the use of the history tool to undo aspects which I do not like on the front cover on the magazine, these include image levels, change of colour and others.

InDesign

I have chosen to use Indesign for my Contents and Double page spread pages. This is because it helps me the best with the text, where to put things, what size and other specifics. It is key with boxes and templates to help design the page effectively.

Here I have used the stretch tool to get my text in a ‘impact’ sort of text but with the font scheme that I have originally chosen which is Britannic Bold. Here it shows that I have used an effective tool to copy my front cover image.

Secondly I have used InDesign…

On Indesign I have used effects to make my images stand out from the text. I have decided to use Indesign rather than Photoshop to alter the image because it was a simple effect which Indesign was able to do with little effort, however it makes the image more stronger and bolder.

I had to place my front cover into Indesign because after I had completed my other pages I would have to export them. By importing my Front cover it meant that I have used key skills with Photoshop and Indesign to place my image into the software.

This is my first design of my double page spread and it shows the use of a different colour scheme to implement the page.

Inserting a shape from Photoshop to Indesign. This shows that I can work well between the two with the shapes that I had to create on Photoshop to importing it onto Indesign.

Allowing my pages to shuffle lets me move things about which it never let me on my preliminary task this shows that I have advanced since making my preliminary.

I have created a blog account using “Blogger” to post all of my research and planning activities as well as my final magazine and evaluation.

I have used programmes such as Slide share and Microsoft PowerPoint to advance my research and evaluation. Before making my magazine I never used features such as ‘Slide Share’ and Blogger. And now I feel confident that I can use these in the future.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it

to the full product? Front Cover

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it

to the full product?

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to

the full product?

Similarities between My Preliminary Task’s front Cover and My Music

Magazine Front Cover

I believe that my preliminary task

front cover had a good structure

towards the layout of the page. This

meant that it helped me towards

the design of my Main task

magazine helping me get to the

quality that I wanted it at.

The use of only one person on the

front cover I believe made the

magazine stand out on my

preliminary task as it attracted the

target audience straight away.

This allowed me to use one person

again on my main task but I

developed the persons design and

made it look more unique.

I have used common codes

and conventions on my

preliminary and main task

such as the masthead in top

right corner, a footer used,

slogan and the date issue

no. and price.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the

progression from it to the full product?

Differences between Preliminary and Main task – Front Cover

A difference between my preliminary task and my Main task is the background for the photo as I went for a studio approach for the Main task as I associated the new fame of a Band To be taken in a studio rather than against a rural background showing that they have progressed to real stardom.

I have learnt how to download interesting fonts from the internet to make my font selection much better but still keeping to the font style I selected. This means that I am increasing the visual appearance of my magazine.

I am attracting a difference audience for my main task compared to my preliminary so I have chosen a man on the front instead of a women having a more physical approach to the music magazine

I have increased the complexity of the my layout by the use of Photoshop and knowledge I have gained through the programme.

Differences…

Something that I have done

similar to my preliminary task is

that I have carried out the

colour scheme from my front

throughout both of them

showing a consistency in the

magazine.

The images are all anchored

with text so that they can be

found easily through the

contents page. As you can see from my

preliminary task I have

used the rule of thirds to

structure my contents.

Therefore with the good

structure I have used it as

affective in my main task.

I have used a colour scheme

in both of my contents to

match the front cover page.

Contents Similarities…

The differences between the two is

very obvious as you can tell my

attempt on the preliminary task is

very weak with lots of empty

space…

I have tried to use all the space

in the main task contents to

make the page look more

professional. This has been

done by the use of a editors

comment which helps the

‘Music’ magazine look

professional.

In my main task I have used

one main image instead of a

two equally proportional

images as in the preliminary

task. This helps the page more

effective towards the feature

I added a subscription to my

magazine. This makes the

costumer more entitled to buy

the magazine in the future.

Contents Differences…

Double page spread…

AS you can see from my

preliminary task I did

not create a double

page spread so it shows

that I have progressed a

lot since my preliminary

with the use of a double

page spread.

The use of having to put two pages together and having to export the spreads together was a task as I have learnt to do that now.

I have used a different colour scheme for my double page spread so that it stands out to the contents and front cover.

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