Introduction

My product was a Music/Fashion hybrid magazine, I had to make my magazine on my own and take my pictures for the magazine. I Also had to create a Front cover, a contents page

and a double page spread and to go with the double page spread I had to write a music article.

Audience testing

I asked 10 of my audience 7 questions to test what my magazine portrayed and to see if it gave the off the right idea of what genre the magazine is suppose to be.

1. What does the title suggest to you?

All 10 people said Music/Fashion Magazine

From these results, I can clearly say that my title was a success due theeveryone thinking it was a Music/Fashion magazine.

2. What genre/type of music does the magazine focus on and how do you know this?

Answers Given

Vintage/Retro

80's

Indie Rock

My genre is Vintage/Retro/80’s so I’m pleased with the results because it shows my research was good as I picked up the right ideas.

00.5

11.5

22.5

3

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Text

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Series 1

What makes the page look unprofessional and what makes it professional and what stops it from being professional?

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1

2

3

4

5

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Very Genuine

Genuine Not Genuine

Answers given

4. How genuine does the front cover seem?

Amount of people who answered

Does the contents page simply inform or does it also manage to interest you in reading the magazine?

Answers given

Just informsJust interestsBoth

The pie chart shows that 7 people thought the contents page interests AND informs them and that 3 people think it just interests them. The pie chart shows no blue therefore no body thought the contents page just informs them.

6.Does the article sound like a piece of journalism? If not which bits?

9 out of 10 said it sounded like a piece of journalism because of “the casual attitude” it had to it and also because “the text grabs where relevant”

1 person said it didn’t sound like a piece of journalism because it “wasn’t long enough”

7. Does the article layout make you want to read it? If not why?

All the people asked this question said the layout of the article made them want to read it. Some of the reasons given was because “it contains text grabs that drew me in” “the pictures went very well with the attitude of the text grabs” “the colours weren’t too off putting and bright”

in what way does media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real products?

The title is slightly covered by the artist’s head, this can be quite common on real products

I kept the price reasonable and roughly the same price as normal magazines

Using a barcode my product appear more realistic

I made a artist comment stand out by using making the photograph black and white.

I made the contents black and white because my genre required simple but interesting techniques of presentation

I included real artists in my sub headings

I included different fonts, weights and sizes in my sub headings

I made it a music/fashion hybrid

ColoursThe colours I chose linked well with my genre because they are subtle and simple which sums up what indie vintage is like. The font of my title is retro styled shaping, and I then coloured it with a subtle colour, but a colour that’s brighter than shades of grey. This goes against the conventions of real products because real products front cover tends to be full of bright noticeable colours which get your eyes moving and on the ball where as mine are made to make you feel relaxed.

ModelFor the front cover shot I put my model in something that is quite quirky but not too much that it will throw the all the vintage fonts and colours. What helped me choose the colour that will be different to the grey was the colour of the guitar. I made this stand out, this doesn’t follow the conventions because it isn't normal for magazines to have colour coming through black and white.

Texts and presentationThe word ‘contents’ is in a sort of ‘whisky bottle’ style font which goes back to the western days. The western period plays a huge part in modern day vintage, that's why I tried going with that sort of theme on my contents page. I placed the artist photographs in polaroid pictures as this is very retro. I also burnt them a small amount to create an old feel. Instead of putting the page numbers on my photographs I simply put them next to the sub titles, this breaks the conventions too. I created a background of words such as ‘decades, vintage, retro and fashion’ this was to quirk up the atmosphere so it wasn’t too plain.

Mise en sceneI added some of the orange again to spice up the page but not a lot because I left two of the photographs in colour. I got creative with the pictures as I just had the main model again and no photographs of anything else to do with the magazine, unlike normal magazines. I changed the outfit in the last photograph and took away the prop to give the page more interesting features. I used a guitar for my prop to clearly indicate she’s acoustic loving artist. I layered the polaroid like they were lead on a table, this looks more particle instead of everything looking digital

Contents page

For my double page spread I kept the colour scheme flowing, and also livened things up with different styled fonts and a bit more fun fonts. To make the article easier to read I highlighted the question in red. And to make the readers want to read I put in some interesting text grabs, this will intrigue the readers as it gives little tasters of what questions where asked. The font I used was to make the article look like a 1960s article and the kind of fonts they used then.

I had the artist facing upwards so it looked liked she was looking at the text, showing interest. This isn't a typical convention because normally the artists are shot doing something which has nothing to so with the article. I kept the pictures in colour to create more character and so it wasn’t too much like my front cover photograph.

The bottom right photograph is the entire background as it is the studio back drop, I did this because it gives the effect of the writing being on the wall behind her instead of it being two separate consentrate4d areas. This also makes Jodie look like she's more involved with the article.

Article page

In my product I chose to represent my female as a indie vintage artist, to achieve this i chose colours like browns, creams, light pinks and blacks and also props like guitars to give off the impression of acoustic subtle music. This is often seen in real indie products. I styled her hair with wispy curls, a boof and vintage feather fascinators, this gave a 1900’s look. Her clothing was also based on this years as I chose a Victorian boots and a laced waist jacked with shoulder pads and poof sleeves to go over a flowery dress.

Artist representation

Because my genre is very niche and not a lot of people take interest in this kind of music and style, I had to work hard to represent my artist is a way people may be able to understand. So keep my product quite I made sure I represented Jodie as a individual artist with unique poses.

I made sure that Jodie was quite stereotypical to other vintage artist like Elisa Doolittle and Jason Mraz, I did this by ensuring she wore 20th century clothing and even older styles like Victorian times, this bring out the vintage aspect.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Because both of the people who answered by questionnaire said my magazine looked very indie I think the magazine ‘indie’ fit well with mine mainly because of the colours and fonts. I didn’t want to break the conventions too much so I didn’t leave my cover blank but I did keep the font simple and the subtitles short and sweet. Because of the model on the front it is clear that ‘indie’ is aimed at the same age group as mine is 17-24 years. ‘indie’ also has a grey scaled plain background like mine.

I think they would publish my magazine as indie is popular but there isn't many indie magazines for people to read. Also it offers fashion as well as music information and although individual niche readers like simplicity, they are still only human and subtitles will still pull them in to read as I've provided very relevant information. I believe my magazine stands out as well as being individual to other magazines by having that vintage aspect to it.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• 17-24 year olds• Socio economic status E• Ethnicity- British

My product is aimed a 17-24 year old because the artist featuring in my magazine is 17 and because the content is mature and mainly for people who are serious about their music also because my magazine isn't expensive (£2.50) because I understand about university fees and board and at this age people tend to start getting jobs there for teens and early 20s are more likely to be loyal buyers of my magazine. The younger generation wont be loyal buyers as they don’t tend to have regular money and older generation don’t tend to have a lot of spare time to make leisure options like reading magazines as they have responsibility. My artist is British which is why my target ethnicity is British as America and other countries don’t have the same social taste as Britain or the same understanding of niche music.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

To attract my target audience I used simple colours and structure as that is how my genre like things as it’s the fashion, the simpler the better. I used natural colours like brown and cream to give off the mood of relaxation which is what my age rage like to do, relax. I used a retro styled title to catch the eye of retro lovers and I used a black and white image for the front cover to create mystery as indie population like to discover.

To further grab the audience attention I brought the colour orange through black and white to stand out in the title I also did the same to do the artist subtitle and the guitar, it works well with the guitar as indie artists are acoustic singers and used acoustic instruments which with address their genre.

I used interesting texts which I found on a dfont.com, this would grab my genre audience’s attention as this is their style and their interest.

What have you learnt about the techniques form the process of consulting this product?

InDesign- I used InDesign to set up my the structure and the layout of all my magazine. I am a photographer and use InDesign a lot but I did learn a lot more about the programme such as how to change specifically layout a article mage of a magazine.

Photoshop- I also use Photoshop a lot but I did learn how to cut out and place a photograph using the pen tool, this is very helpful when making music magazines

Digital camera – I did learn anything more about using a digital camera as it’s an everyday tool I'm used to.

Blogger- I have never used blogger till now and it has made a huge difference on how id present my work, it is neat andf easy to use

looking back on your preliminary task what do you feel you leant in the progression from it all to the full product?

Coming from my preliminary task I’ve learnt the importance of a magazine layout and how much of a role it take part it to achieve a quality efficient magazine. When reviewing my preliminary task I couldn’t find much to be happy about as during the journey from the preliminary task to my final magazine I learnt so much about how to make it look professional.

For my front cover I learnt how to make the model engage with the title, before I learnt this I would of thought that it wouldn’t look right as you can hardly see the title but after doing it myself I realized how professional it made it look.Also I learnt that spacing is very important, you can neither cram subtitles together or have them to space apart, so using the guide lines in In Design I chose a specific measurement to space my subtitles.

Also what has improved massively is the cutting out of the model, as you can see on my preliminary task, the edge the girl is very jagged and also the quality of the photograph is poor. This all improved as for my professional magazine I used my camera and a studio to take my photographs. For a very neat edge I took my time using the pen tool on photoshop.

The main story on my magazine is a lot snappier and catchier than my prelim task which gave me more room to add different subtitle, this would give the reader more to benefit from if they purchased my product. Also I used a better understanding of colour and how they link to my theme of simplicity.

My contents page compared to my final contents in very low standard, I feel the colours are very artificial and not magazine friendly at all. Also the way the person was going to be placed is very boring and not exciting at all. From my prelim I have learnt how creative I can be with fonts and layouts.

Conclusion

Over all I can say I’m very pleased with how my media product turned out, I think the colours and the fonts reflect well on my theme of vintage acoustic music as they where simple and retro. I'm most pleased about how my photographs worked, I think they look very professional and my clear. I think the extreme simplicity I’ve used doesn’t only link well with my theme but also made me magazine look over all professional as I didn’t look like I had over done it with information which can sometime scare readers away as the public like to relax their brains.

I think there is a major jump from my prelim task to my final because of the use of InDesign and photoshop, these are two very professional softwares and with the knowledge of these makes a massive difference. I also learnt more about how to present a magazine and what works and what doesn’t since my preliminary task.

I think what I could fault on the most is the low use of colour, my theme does intend to display minimal presentation but I think more colour would of boosted up a bit of excitement as readers love to be pushed to excitement. Also I could of pushed a little more retro in the magazine with a few vintage whiskey bottle patterns, this would of brought out the antique aspect more. Despite these faults I am overall extremely happy with my final product and it has giving me a different look on media product and how, what and why they draw me in.