AS MEDIA STUDIES

Foundation PortfolioResearch & Planning

Centre no: 11049St. Francis Xavier College

Name: Ayotunde Adetoye

Candidate Number: 2033

Preliminary Project – Research & Planning

My target audience was teenagers/students aged 16 – 18. Preferably for students that attend St. Francis Xavier Sixth form College; This meant I had to work around the image of the college and the preferences of the students. Examples of this are having not using too many colours so the pages don’t look childish, however using enough so the page doesn’t look too boring. I ranged between 2 main colours which were green & red, and used the neutral colours black & white when I thought it was preferable. It also meant the text shouldn’t be too difficult to read, but also not too easy as to not patronise the audience. I had to make sure the language used in the magazine wasn’t too colloquial but also wasn’t too complicated. This meant a middle-level form of register. I also had to make sure the text didn’t look too boring as to not discourage students from looking at/reading the magazine. This meant I had to put a fair amount of pictures comparing to the amount of text on the page. I had to be careful when picking images also, as it was easy to choose pictures that fall off topic with the genre of the magazine due to the many activities teenagers partake in. Taking images of the students playing sports or recording music may have changed the idea of the magazine completely when looking at it, so I had to make sure I chose images that tie in with the genre specifically, which meant taking pictures of students working and socialising in college.

I was quite familiar with the use of Adobe Photoshop before the task, so the key points I learnt about Adobe Photoshop are that there are easier ways of cutting out images than using the rubber tool, such as using the magnetic polygon tool. The key points I learnt about Adobe InDesign is that it allows you to link your work from other programs into InDesign, and that it is a way of sorting out grids and columns for pages that need them, such as a magazine page may need lines across for text.

Preliminary Project

College magazine Front Cover

College magazine Contents Page

Reflections & Feedback

Next time I create a magazine cover and contents page, I would make sure there are more cover lines on the front page and that they’re more clear as now they’re not sectioned correctly as I had trouble trying to find a space for them due to the positioning of other images. I would make sure the cover-lines are either aligned to the left or right also to make it look neater. I would also try to improve on the positioning on images and make the front page more blunt, in the sense of making it more obvious that it is a student magazine. This would mean using more representations and features that are related to the student magazine and appeal to the target audience. Furthermore I would like to create a more interesting background instead of just using the gradient tool and creating a simple background as it would make my magazine more effective.

The feedback I had got from my classmates made me realise that my main image was well done. However the cover-lines and positioning of the image sand cover-lines were poor. I was told that I needed more cover-lines on my page and also need to be sure of the images I am putting on the magazine. People felt that the sub-images were unnecessary and poorly placed. However the colour-scheme and masthead were complimented many times so I knew these were strong points of my magazine cover. The contents page also had the problem of images being placed in odd positions. I was also told I could have used columns more effectively as some of the information doesn’t follow the columns and grids.

I need to improve on the way I choose columns and rows in InDesign, and sticking to them when they’re chosen/used, as during the creation of my contents page I made columns & rows, yet for some aspects of the page I didn’t follow these, such as the text in the features boxes. Furthermore the use of effects in Photoshop could be used more effectively instead of being used for the sake of it.

Music Magazine

The genre of my music magazine is hip-hop/rap. This genre consists of a majority of upbeat songs with the usual topics being money, love, sex, parties and struggle. With this hip hop is usually presented through dark colours surrounded by many bright things such as expensive jewellery etc. Some celebrities that are known hip hop artists include: Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, J. Cole, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Jay Z and many more. This is also a genre which tends to use a lot of slang in their music making the language differentiate from normal. They use more urban and street language and clothing which means my magazine should relate to this culture.

The title of my music magazine is ‘I Live Life’ which can be abbreviated into the word ‘ILL’. The reason I chose this title is because ‘ILL’ is a slang term used by many hip hop artists and their audience which makes a straight relation to the title through the abbreviation alone. The full title ‘I Live Life’ represents the extravagant and flashy lifestyle conveyed through the majority of hip hop artists music and expensive appearance.

Music Magazine – Research & Planning

During my research I analysed many hip hop magazine’s front pages, contents pages and double page spreads. These are the first two covers I looked at when researching and planning.

What I learnt from this…

Cover Design. The magazine ‘Scratch’ uses a dark background and the colour scheme of yellow, white and blue writing which creates a contrast between dark and bright colours. On top of this the character in the main image wears a majority of dark colours while the sub image is wearing bright colours which makes it easy on the eyes as there is a good balance between dark and light colours. The magazine uses a strap line and a masthead in a cliché fashion. However with the stroke around the masthead it serves it’s purpose as it’s clear what the title of the magazine is. The use of the XXL logo in the strapline will immediately bring in XXL’s audience which would make for more sales which means the design is effective. The attraction to the audience is made clear through the representations shown through the props the characters in the images are holding/using. The main image holds a microphone and the sub image is using a DJ mixing/studio board which makes it clear the magazine is a music magazine; the use of props effectively is something I learnt is an effective way to draw in your target audience. The main image is aligned slightly to the right of the magazine and the sub image is on the left.

Cover Lines. The magazine has 8 cover lines and a main cover line. . The main cover lines vary between all 3 main colours used on the page and it is clear these are the main cover lines as it is much larger than the over cover lines. The cover lines keep cohesion on the page of both magazines as they use the same colour scheme as depicted in the mastheads which is something I should make sure I do in my magazine as a way to keep organisation and professionalism.

For my music magazine…

As said in my target audience research, my target audience is hip-hop music fans ranging between the ages of 13-28. They would mainly be located in urban places such as Croydon of South London or Islington of North London etc. My target audience is heavily associated with the use of slang and dark colours which are stereotypes of their social group.

The magazine will be released monthly.

Although not said on the front cover or any of the other pages; the price of the magazine is £2.99.

The publisher of my magazine will be Bauer Media.

The unique selling point of my magazine is that in each issue it gives you an exclusive insight or interview of a music artist that has a buzz around them in the music scene at that time.

This is the face of the magazine

The magazine starts with the magazine logo in the top left hand corner. It is followed by a strapline and underneath is the masthead. In the middle of the magazine is the main image and on top of it is the main cover-line. To the left of the magazine there are the cover lines and the sub image; then followed by the barcode at the bottom of the magazine. The magazine uses a colour scheme of Red, yellow and white, which the background being a dark grey mixed with black. The main image is the same story used for the double page spread I have constructed.

Here are the 4 original photographs I shot for the project……

I modified each photograph; here is the original next to the final version:

This image was used for the main image of my front page. As shown in my production log I had to use the polygonal selection tool in Photoshop and outline the character in the image. I then use the delete function to delete the background. Once the background was deleted I used the copy and paste functions to paste it onto my music magazine. I then used the free transform tool to enlarge the image to the correct size I wanted it. Having done this I used the ‘mirror’ function also known as flip horizontal in Photoshop to flip the image from one side to another. The background had to be deleted so I can put it on my magazine cover and still keep the background that was already on my cover. I enlarged the image so it was large enough that It would be clear that it was the main image; it also had to take up the majority of the page. The reason I used the mirror function was because the normal image was too wide and the right arm of the character was too far out and clashed with the cover-lines; but by using the mirror function I was able to make sure it didn’t clash with cover lines which allowed my magazine to stay organised.

2nd Image

The first thing I did was open the image in Photoshop as shown in my production log. I then used the polygonal selection tool to outline the character. I then deleted the background. I used the resize option in Photoshop to make the photo smaller as it was too big to fit on my double page spread. Having done this I went to filter and artistic features and used the dry brush feature. This was because I wanted to differentiate my magazine images from other magazines. The dry brush also allows it to blend in with the white background more. Having done the effects I copy and pasted the image onto my double page spread in InDesign and used the free transform tool to size it correctly. I used the selection tool to place it into the correct position on the page.

3rd Image

To place this image on my contents page I had to use the polygonal selection tool to outline the character and use the delete function to delete the background. I copy and pasted it on the contents page. Having done this I resized the image using the free transform tool so it was the correct size. I then went into effects and added an inner bevel and also an outer glow. This makes the image stand out a lot more and makes the purpose of it clear.

4th Image

This was the easiest of all images I had used to edit. The only things I had to do to this image was import it into InDesign so I could place it on my double page spread. Having done this I used the selection tool to place it in the correct position. I used the free transform tool to resize it to the correct size. I then went to effects and added a stroke of 5pt to make the image blend with the background more instead of it looking as if it wasn’t suppose to be there. The stroke takes away from the ‘floating’ feeling that an image can give when it is misplaced.

Here are a couple of research models for my contents page

This is my contents page

The features column on the right of the magazine presents all the information that is held inside the magazine

The images relate to the articles inside the magazine

The colour scheme is the same as the front cover without the use of the cover yellow

Much like the front cover, there is a word faded in the background. (In the front cover it is ‘ILL’. In the contents it is ‘LIVE’)

The background is the same as the front cover

How does the contents page link back to the cover page?

My contents page links back to the cover page in many ways. One way in which it does this is through the colour scheme. The colour scheme on the front page is red, yellow and white and this is the same for the contents page except from the use of yellow. This was replaced with the use of the colour black. This shows cohesion through the two pages. Another way my contents page links back to the cover page is that they both use the same background which makes them look extremely similar but without looking like the same product. Furthermore the use of fonts also links back to the cover page as fonts such as ‘Impact’ which was used for the masthead on the cover page was also used for the text in the features part of the contents page.

Key points of contents page

I’ve made the reader want to read on with the use of descriptions underneath the page numbers. I made the descriptions sound as attractive to my target audience as possible with the use of slang and features that will draw the audience in such as saying certain articles are exclusive making it unique compared to other magazines.

The images are linked to the words as the words describing certain pages are about the characters in the images. For example the image with the number ‘5’ on it links to the features description for page 5 which describes what the article is about.

The use of images determines the dominant stories. Using images makes these stories stand out as they seem unique considering the rest of the stories don’t have images to represent them. This makes these articles seem more important.

The information on the page is in a column starting with a description of the lowest page going to the highest.

How does the contents page flag up your double page spread?

The contents page flags up my double page spread as it gives a description in the features section of what is to come on my double page spread. This allows the audience to know what is in store before they read it; allowing them to be more familiar with it as they are reading it.

Here’s an example of an inspiring double page spread…

This is why I think that double spread works

This double page spread works because the colour scheme is suitable. The use of only two colours makes it easy to see for the human eye to see; also the use of a neutral colour complemented with a bright colour makes it easier to read.All information is arranged neatly in columns. They have used two columns for the first page and one column for the second page making it easy to read as organisation is clear. The pull quote is sectioned in the middle of the magazine making it differentiate from usual magazines.There are two images, although it is not clear which one is the main image as the probable sub-image is on the first page while the probably main image is on the 2nd page; they both complement each other as they show two different sides of the artist that is being featured. This allows you to find out a lot more information about the article before even reading it.

This is my double-page spread

This is how my double page spread works

My double page spread is organised through the use of columns and grids. The two columns make sure the text is always sectioned correctly which makes it easy to read. The same effect is also shown by the colour scheme of the colours green, red and black. The colours green and red are complementary colours which makes this attract the audience automatically as they are also bright colours so they catch the readers attention. The main images also show many representations of the hip-hop drama such as wealth shown through jewellery and arrogance shown through facial expressions. The use of props such as a microphone also reminds the audience that this is a music magazine.

This is how all three components are linked together….

The use of the font ‘Impact’ is on all three pages which creates cohesion of text features.

The colour scheme is shared between all three pages as the colour red is a main colour on all three pages.

Images of hip-hop artists create cohesion between the three pages. The main image on the front page and one of the main images on the double page spread are of the same character.

The contents page and front page show advertisements and information for the story on the double page spread.

Key modifications to double spread from feedback

Feedback from my friends and classmates has made me realise a few things which should have been modified. One of these things is the background. Many of my classmates felt as if the background was too boring in comparison to the background used on the front page and contents page. I was told “It would’ve been better to use a brightly coloured background as the two backgrounds on the other two pages are dark. Although white is a lot brighter; there is not enough happening in the text and images to make sure the background looks busy”.

Evaluation

You can find my blog here:

http://adotriches.blogspot.co.uk/

And You can find my evaluation with responses to

the 7 questions in the blog. It is in 3 parts.