Monday, 24 March 2014
Preliminary task evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine complies with the conventions of a real magazine by placing the texts and images in the appropriate areas. This is shown by the masthead being placed at the top of the page, being bigger than the rest of the text on the page. It is placed in the center which is more popular than positioning it to the sides of the page. I have followed the conventions by placing an issue number along with the date beneath it which is significantly smaller so that there is no emphasis taken away from the title. I have used images which are appropriate for the magazine’s purpose and I feel that they would make the reader feel part of the student life and society my magazine attempts to illustrate. I have developed the convention of having a big masthead but developed it so that it is bold as well, making it stand out more. I have not fully followed the conventions with the text positioning which creates a challenge to the typical magazine. However, I feel that this reflects the audience of the magazine being diverse and busy. I have used different size fonts and different font colours to make it easier to read due to separation and variation. I have tried to make the magazine seem fun and energetic so that it is more appealing to those reading it, saying this it does seem to look more like a fashion or celebrity gossip magazine by the way I have used their conventions as a template for the magazine. Being a school magazine, I feel I have portrayed the positive aspect on school life accurately, from the images, and from the content advertised.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I feel that my magazine represents students as fun, happy and ready to learn. I wanted the images in the magazine to portray this and I feel that I have done this well as the students appear to be in a learning environment and to be enthusiastic about their education. I would like to think that if the student’s parents were able to get hold of a copy of my magazine they would be impressed with their child’s education. I think the stereotype of this age group is very harsh so this magazine is a contrast to how some older generations see this social group. The students in this magazine are representing the sixth form and the lower school, I feel like I have portrayed them well enough for the whole school to be presented as a good one.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Due to my magazine being a school one, the only institution to distribute it would probably be Plumstead Manor School, which my magazine is representing. If there were an open evening or an enrolment day, I think this would be an ideal time for it to be distributed because upcoming students and parents would like an insight to how the school is run and what it has to offer. This would be seen from the front cover by the cover lines about achieving high grades and exciting upcoming events.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience for my magazine would be the current students attention aged between 16 and 19. I have also used appropriate language and content in case the student’s parents are interested. By following the conventions for magazines aimed at a similar age range, the audience will be interested due to the colours and how the magazine is presented. There is a dress code which is evident in the images used and therefore the audience know that this dress code applies to them and not the lower school; this is also emphasised by the “best dressed student” cover line on my front cover. I have used a mixture of colours for the magazine and therefore it does not apply to only one gender as the lighter colours such as peach and yellow apply to females, yet the black and blue can appeal to males. Colours such as purple and red are appropriate for both genders.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience mainly by my masthead being so big and bold. It is not a typical colour used for institutional magazines yet my audience is young and energetic and they’re more likely to be attracted to it than a darker, duller title. My language used is not necessarily informal, however I have made it more appropriate to the audience by incorporating stories which are fun and exciting such as giving them a chance to give their opinion, as well as using exclamation marks to make it seem more exciting and appealing. My bottom right picture has eye contact with the reader which will draw them in and feel more included with what the magazine is addressing. By using students who currently attend it is also a very personal way of making the students attending feel like a community because they will know the people who are being mentioned and could be mentioned themselves.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a great deal from constructing this magazine as I previously had limited experience when working with Microsoft’s Publisher. However, I found it easy to pick up as I went along by using a great deal of text boxes. Compared to using Photoshop where there is an automatic alignment when moving around layers, I did not know how to use the rulers in publisher before discovering it in Photoshop. This has really helped improve my alignment from my preliminary task to my final product. I have also learnt how to save my documents in different formats. I found it very confusing how to save and upload my products as a JPEG but after asking for help and repeating it multiple times it became a lot easier. The same complications arose for me with the size of my files and upload limits, but again it was easily overcome. With my images, I felt very restricted to how I could edit and manipulate them compared to using Photoshop as I was completely clueless when trying to work out how to crop, change background and change the brightness and contrast of each photo. I am now able to do this confidently without struggle.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt?
I have learnt that magazines and media in general, have conventions which in order to be successful, need to be followed. Saying this, I have also learnt that by breaking some of the conventions, you could be advertising diverse media products which could appeal to a different type of audience. I now have knowledge of what to focus on, such as my alignment and positioning of my texts/images, which will make my music magazine more appealing and successful. I have learnt about colour schemes and how this can affect the responses of the audience and also what will attract a person to a certain product. Using research has been a massive help for me and I know now that in order to have a successful product, I need to do research into how I can make it appealing to the audience. Changing from publisher to Photoshop will make my product better and by planning and having more resources I feel that this will greatly improve the quality of my music magazine compared to this product as well and the images I will be producing by using better equipment.
My magazine complies with the conventions of a real magazine by placing the texts and images in the appropriate areas. This is shown by the masthead being placed at the top of the page, being bigger than the rest of the text on the page. It is placed in the center which is more popular than positioning it to the sides of the page. I have followed the conventions by placing an issue number along with the date beneath it which is significantly smaller so that there is no emphasis taken away from the title. I have used images which are appropriate for the magazine’s purpose and I feel that they would make the reader feel part of the student life and society my magazine attempts to illustrate. I have developed the convention of having a big masthead but developed it so that it is bold as well, making it stand out more. I have not fully followed the conventions with the text positioning which creates a challenge to the typical magazine. However, I feel that this reflects the audience of the magazine being diverse and busy. I have used different size fonts and different font colours to make it easier to read due to separation and variation. I have tried to make the magazine seem fun and energetic so that it is more appealing to those reading it, saying this it does seem to look more like a fashion or celebrity gossip magazine by the way I have used their conventions as a template for the magazine. Being a school magazine, I feel I have portrayed the positive aspect on school life accurately, from the images, and from the content advertised.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I feel that my magazine represents students as fun, happy and ready to learn. I wanted the images in the magazine to portray this and I feel that I have done this well as the students appear to be in a learning environment and to be enthusiastic about their education. I would like to think that if the student’s parents were able to get hold of a copy of my magazine they would be impressed with their child’s education. I think the stereotype of this age group is very harsh so this magazine is a contrast to how some older generations see this social group. The students in this magazine are representing the sixth form and the lower school, I feel like I have portrayed them well enough for the whole school to be presented as a good one.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Due to my magazine being a school one, the only institution to distribute it would probably be Plumstead Manor School, which my magazine is representing. If there were an open evening or an enrolment day, I think this would be an ideal time for it to be distributed because upcoming students and parents would like an insight to how the school is run and what it has to offer. This would be seen from the front cover by the cover lines about achieving high grades and exciting upcoming events.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience for my magazine would be the current students attention aged between 16 and 19. I have also used appropriate language and content in case the student’s parents are interested. By following the conventions for magazines aimed at a similar age range, the audience will be interested due to the colours and how the magazine is presented. There is a dress code which is evident in the images used and therefore the audience know that this dress code applies to them and not the lower school; this is also emphasised by the “best dressed student” cover line on my front cover. I have used a mixture of colours for the magazine and therefore it does not apply to only one gender as the lighter colours such as peach and yellow apply to females, yet the black and blue can appeal to males. Colours such as purple and red are appropriate for both genders.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience mainly by my masthead being so big and bold. It is not a typical colour used for institutional magazines yet my audience is young and energetic and they’re more likely to be attracted to it than a darker, duller title. My language used is not necessarily informal, however I have made it more appropriate to the audience by incorporating stories which are fun and exciting such as giving them a chance to give their opinion, as well as using exclamation marks to make it seem more exciting and appealing. My bottom right picture has eye contact with the reader which will draw them in and feel more included with what the magazine is addressing. By using students who currently attend it is also a very personal way of making the students attending feel like a community because they will know the people who are being mentioned and could be mentioned themselves.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a great deal from constructing this magazine as I previously had limited experience when working with Microsoft’s Publisher. However, I found it easy to pick up as I went along by using a great deal of text boxes. Compared to using Photoshop where there is an automatic alignment when moving around layers, I did not know how to use the rulers in publisher before discovering it in Photoshop. This has really helped improve my alignment from my preliminary task to my final product. I have also learnt how to save my documents in different formats. I found it very confusing how to save and upload my products as a JPEG but after asking for help and repeating it multiple times it became a lot easier. The same complications arose for me with the size of my files and upload limits, but again it was easily overcome. With my images, I felt very restricted to how I could edit and manipulate them compared to using Photoshop as I was completely clueless when trying to work out how to crop, change background and change the brightness and contrast of each photo. I am now able to do this confidently without struggle.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt?
I have learnt that magazines and media in general, have conventions which in order to be successful, need to be followed. Saying this, I have also learnt that by breaking some of the conventions, you could be advertising diverse media products which could appeal to a different type of audience. I now have knowledge of what to focus on, such as my alignment and positioning of my texts/images, which will make my music magazine more appealing and successful. I have learnt about colour schemes and how this can affect the responses of the audience and also what will attract a person to a certain product. Using research has been a massive help for me and I know now that in order to have a successful product, I need to do research into how I can make it appealing to the audience. Changing from publisher to Photoshop will make my product better and by planning and having more resources I feel that this will greatly improve the quality of my music magazine compared to this product as well and the images I will be producing by using better equipment.
Friday, 21 March 2014
Progress Reflection Sheet
How will I use magazine conventions to represent my genre of music and appeal to my target audience?
Images: I have represented a young female artist (pop). I have used a camera on its natural setting with a medium close up shot. I have put them in nice colourful clothing to show the upbeat stereotype of pop music. It will also include a positive image which will give off a positive message about the music genre.
Content of the text: I will talk about fashion, confidence and independence/individuality. This will send out the message that it is ok to be confident with yourself and to teach the audience to be less judgemental and better people. The pop genre should focus on self confidence and a feel good attitude.
Positioning: I will position my artists in the centre of the magazine and making eye contact with the camera. This will make them pick up my magazine over the others because the audience will feel more connected to the artist. I will use the layout to follow where the eye goes to first, making the most important stories to stand out above the rest. The audience will find it easy to access the messages given to them because my model will portray the confidence and individuality Iwant to transmit. My layout will be positioned clearly and accurately so that the reader can follow it easily.
Language, tone and register: I will be using a friendly and positive tone to my language and this will attract the target audience because no one will want to have a magazine that has negative attitudes towards topics and serious issues. I will attract my target audience by also using language which will be familiar to the age range I am addressing, I will do this by using familiar slang or words which they will find cool and will be able to relate to the magazine more because it's on a more personal level rather than a general one.
Appealing to the audience - Uses and gratification: My target audience will want to pick up my magazine because it will address the need for them to feel accepted and understood. I will be featuring sensitive topics aswell as artists interviews. They will focus on not only uplight and humourous topics but also the hard times which teenagers face. I will demonstrate how they may overcome them and become independent.
Images: I have represented a young female artist (pop). I have used a camera on its natural setting with a medium close up shot. I have put them in nice colourful clothing to show the upbeat stereotype of pop music. It will also include a positive image which will give off a positive message about the music genre.
Content of the text: I will talk about fashion, confidence and independence/individuality. This will send out the message that it is ok to be confident with yourself and to teach the audience to be less judgemental and better people. The pop genre should focus on self confidence and a feel good attitude.
Positioning: I will position my artists in the centre of the magazine and making eye contact with the camera. This will make them pick up my magazine over the others because the audience will feel more connected to the artist. I will use the layout to follow where the eye goes to first, making the most important stories to stand out above the rest. The audience will find it easy to access the messages given to them because my model will portray the confidence and individuality Iwant to transmit. My layout will be positioned clearly and accurately so that the reader can follow it easily.
Language, tone and register: I will be using a friendly and positive tone to my language and this will attract the target audience because no one will want to have a magazine that has negative attitudes towards topics and serious issues. I will attract my target audience by also using language which will be familiar to the age range I am addressing, I will do this by using familiar slang or words which they will find cool and will be able to relate to the magazine more because it's on a more personal level rather than a general one.
Appealing to the audience - Uses and gratification: My target audience will want to pick up my magazine because it will address the need for them to feel accepted and understood. I will be featuring sensitive topics aswell as artists interviews. They will focus on not only uplight and humourous topics but also the hard times which teenagers face. I will demonstrate how they may overcome them and become independent.
Explanations of choices made on front cover and contents
For my front cover I had chosen to make my masthead really big and place it at the top of my page in the middle so that it was clear to the reader what the name of the magazine was. I would like the colour of my masthead to be bright and bold so that it will be easier for them if they wished to purchase it again in the future. My research findings found that the reader would prefer bright colours and therefore, making my masthead bright it will have a slight advantage over those who have dull colours.
I had chosen to place my date and issue number in the right corner underneath the masthead in a small font. This is so that it is neatly kept out the way and will not take any emphasis away from the mastehead but will link them together. The selling line of "music that pops" will be in line with the dateline and will be a little bit bigger than the dateline but not too big. I would like it just to sit to the bottom left of the masthead.
My main image will be placed in the centre of the page and will be a medium close up of a female with long hair and bright coloured clothes on. My magazine is pop genre so this is appropriate both for the genre and the target audience's age range of 11-16. I would like her to be wearing make up and to look really pretty so that it reflects how pop culture is stereotypically. To the sides of her face there will be 4 or 5 cover lines which will be mentioning stories on the inside of the magazine and will be famous names such as "Beyonce" and "One Direction" who are also popular in pop music. Beneath these will be the main cover line. This will be the headline story for the artist on the front cover and will be a big statement which will draw the reader in. It will be a bigger font than the cover stories and a little bit smaller than the masthead. The colours will be striking and will capture the readers attention.
My main colours will be pink, orange, white and black as these were the most popular answers for the questionnaires I had previously handed out on the music magazine research. I will try and match the clothes of my model to the colours I have chosen for my colour scheme as I want the model to blend in with the magazine and not look out of place. My barcode will be placed in the bottom left hand corner out of the way so that it is not drawing attention away from any of the stories or features on the page.
To the right hand side of the magazine, slightly upwards will be a plug, this will either be for a free poster or for a free product included with the purchase of this magazine. I will place it in a contrasting colour to the white background, and this will make it stand out more than any of the cover stories. My research findings showed that people would be more likely to buy a magazine if there were some sort of chance or reward to purchasing the magazine.
For my contents page, I kept the colour scheme the same and tried to make sure that the overall appearance and layout was similar. The contents header will be big, bright and bold like the masthead and will be slightly smaller in order to fit in all of the contents along the left hand side. I plan to have the numbers on the left hand side of the stories featured so that it can go in ascending order.
There will be a long shot image placed in the contents page of the magazine. I chose for it to be long shot because I would like it to take up a large amount of space. It will be placed beneath the contents title and above a small story or text box next to the contents collumn. The box will have a coloured background of probably pink and then black writing so that the colour scheme is not distrupted.
For my double page spread I would have my title big and clear taking up nearly half of the left page. Beneath it will be a small description of the content that will be discussed (an interview). The rest of the page will be the interview and in the middle of the text will be an important quote from the interview.
The right page will consist of a medium close up image of the artist and to the right of her will be more of the interview and an additional photo of the artist which can be a "behind the scenes" style photo with a green screen or some sort of editing area to show how she creates her music.
Again I will stick to my colour scheme and will try to balance all of the colours out equally so that one colour doesn't dominate over all of the rest.
I had chosen to place my date and issue number in the right corner underneath the masthead in a small font. This is so that it is neatly kept out the way and will not take any emphasis away from the mastehead but will link them together. The selling line of "music that pops" will be in line with the dateline and will be a little bit bigger than the dateline but not too big. I would like it just to sit to the bottom left of the masthead.
My main image will be placed in the centre of the page and will be a medium close up of a female with long hair and bright coloured clothes on. My magazine is pop genre so this is appropriate both for the genre and the target audience's age range of 11-16. I would like her to be wearing make up and to look really pretty so that it reflects how pop culture is stereotypically. To the sides of her face there will be 4 or 5 cover lines which will be mentioning stories on the inside of the magazine and will be famous names such as "Beyonce" and "One Direction" who are also popular in pop music. Beneath these will be the main cover line. This will be the headline story for the artist on the front cover and will be a big statement which will draw the reader in. It will be a bigger font than the cover stories and a little bit smaller than the masthead. The colours will be striking and will capture the readers attention.
My main colours will be pink, orange, white and black as these were the most popular answers for the questionnaires I had previously handed out on the music magazine research. I will try and match the clothes of my model to the colours I have chosen for my colour scheme as I want the model to blend in with the magazine and not look out of place. My barcode will be placed in the bottom left hand corner out of the way so that it is not drawing attention away from any of the stories or features on the page.
To the right hand side of the magazine, slightly upwards will be a plug, this will either be for a free poster or for a free product included with the purchase of this magazine. I will place it in a contrasting colour to the white background, and this will make it stand out more than any of the cover stories. My research findings showed that people would be more likely to buy a magazine if there were some sort of chance or reward to purchasing the magazine.
For my contents page, I kept the colour scheme the same and tried to make sure that the overall appearance and layout was similar. The contents header will be big, bright and bold like the masthead and will be slightly smaller in order to fit in all of the contents along the left hand side. I plan to have the numbers on the left hand side of the stories featured so that it can go in ascending order.
There will be a long shot image placed in the contents page of the magazine. I chose for it to be long shot because I would like it to take up a large amount of space. It will be placed beneath the contents title and above a small story or text box next to the contents collumn. The box will have a coloured background of probably pink and then black writing so that the colour scheme is not distrupted.
For my double page spread I would have my title big and clear taking up nearly half of the left page. Beneath it will be a small description of the content that will be discussed (an interview). The rest of the page will be the interview and in the middle of the text will be an important quote from the interview.
The right page will consist of a medium close up image of the artist and to the right of her will be more of the interview and an additional photo of the artist which can be a "behind the scenes" style photo with a green screen or some sort of editing area to show how she creates her music.
Again I will stick to my colour scheme and will try to balance all of the colours out equally so that one colour doesn't dominate over all of the rest.
Double page spread analysis comparison
They have taken up half of the spread and placed a picture of Cher Lloyd, the artist featured in the article, and made her pose as though she has done something wrong, which links in with the title of the article - "I was the girl parents blamed for their kids turning out wrong". This title is in two colours to possibly connote that there are 2 sides to the story or that the black half is the story and the pink half is anothers opinion. There is a tag line underneath which continues with what the title is focusing on. There is a picture placed in the centre of the text which shows that the story is surrounding her life and it is focused on her. A text box has been placed in the corner to let the reader know what the image is from or of. Parts of the interview are highlighted to show the important quotes in her answers. Different colours are used for the interviewer and Cher Lloyd's answers. Block colours of pink are used to keep the colour scheme constant and to make things appear more bold such as her name in the top right corner, the page number bottom left and the start of the interview.
There are small text boxes around the band (The Wanted), and these are quotes from the interview which the article is about. The title is again big and bold and using two different fonts to make it stand out more. Inbetween the text of the interview is another picture of one of the band members on his own. Advertised on the top right is a free poster for the reader which is another reason why the reader would buy it. The band are wearing outfits suitable to the article and also what a young teenage girl (target audience) would want them to be wearing. The page numbers are placed at the bottom of each page which is different to the one above, however the same idea of placing them in a different colour is used which makes them stand out more. The same technique of using a different colour font to the answers and ones answering is used which makes it easier for the reader to read.
Contents page analysis for TOTP magazine
The title is big and bold to make sure that the reader knows
this is where they will find out where all of the stories are inside. The font
is in style of handwriting to stick to the target audience age of teenagers as
this is seen to be cool.
They have placed a picture of the front cover inside the contents page so that it can be labelled and these fonts are bigger than the others surrounding it in the categorised boxes because the front cover is what drew the audience in therefore they would like to know where the stories on the front are placed first.
By using boxes that are categorised it makes it easier for the reader to find what they would be interested in inside the magazine. The pictures which are placed at the bottom of the page also have bigger fonts because they are one of the main attractions of the magazine, if the reader likes what the picture is advertising, they can see right away which page to go to.
They have placed a picture of the front cover inside the contents page so that it can be labelled and these fonts are bigger than the others surrounding it in the categorised boxes because the front cover is what drew the audience in therefore they would like to know where the stories on the front are placed first.
By using boxes that are categorised it makes it easier for the reader to find what they would be interested in inside the magazine. The pictures which are placed at the bottom of the page also have bigger fonts because they are one of the main attractions of the magazine, if the reader likes what the picture is advertising, they can see right away which page to go to.
There is a colour scheme of pink, white, yellow and black
which is consistent throughout the magazine and is used also on the front cover
as seen in this content page.
There is a key in the top right hand corner so that the reader can navigate to that key area straight away.
There is a key in the top right hand corner so that the reader can navigate to that key area straight away.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Pop music questionnaires response
Following a questionnaire I had previously
handed out to research my target audience into pop music I concluded with the
following results:
I handed out questionnaires to students in my school to ask them about what music magazines they would be interested in. This was so that I could focus my one around those ideas which sell the magazine. All ages were between 14-21. My results found that 60% said that they like magazines, which look colourful. 30% said they like their magazine spaced out and 10% like it packed whilst the writing being bold. From this I will make my magazine bright and colourful with a bold text for the main cover line. When asked if they would like gossip, fashion and other features surrounding the celebrities to be put into the magazine, 70% said that they thought the magazine would sell more, whereas 30% said they didn’t know whether it would or wouldn’t. 80% said they would like the magazine to contain competitions to win tickets, prizes and meet and greet chances. I will put this feature in my magazine so that it will attract more readers, as they will feel like they are getting more than what they have paid for the magazine. To gather more ideas on which kind of artists I should feature in my magazine, I asked if they were aware of anyone in the charts. My answers consisted of artists such as Lady Gaga, Drake, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, One direction, McBusted and Katy Perry. Most of these artists are from the pop genre and therefor even more appropriate for them to feature in my magazine as this is what genre I will be focusing on. People they would like to be featured included a range of artists from different genres such as rock and RnB; therefore I will put artists in my magazine that can link in to pop due to their fashion or gossip with a pop artist. The colours that were most wanted for the magazine were white, black, red and purple. I will feature some of these colours into my magazine, depending on whether they match the colour scheme of the images and fonts.
Music questionnaire research
I handed out questionnaires to students in my school to ask
them about what music magazines they would be interested in. This was so that I
could focus my one around those ideas which sell the magazine. All ages were between 14-21.
My results found that 60% said that they
like magazines, which look colourful. 30% said they like their magazine spaced
out and 10% like it packed whilst the writing being bold. From this I will make
my magazine bright and colourful with a bold text for the main cover line. When
asked if they would like gossip, fashion and other features surrounding the
celebrities to be put into the magazine, 70% said that they thought the
magazine would sell more, whereas 30% said they didn’t know whether it would or
wouldn’t. 80% said they would like the magazine to contain competitions to win
tickets, prizes and meet and greet chances. I will put this feature in my
magazine so that it will attract more readers, as they will feel like they are
getting more than what they have paid for the magazine.
To gather more ideas on which kind of artists I should
feature in my magazine, I asked if they were aware of anyone in the charts. My
answers consisted of artists such as Lady Gaga, Drake, Justin Timberlake, Miley
Cyrus, One direction, McBusted and Katy Perry. Most of these artists are from
the pop genre and therefor even more appropriate for them to feature in my
magazine as this is what genre I will be focusing on. People they would like to
be featured included a range of artists from different genres such as rock and
RnB; therefore I will put artists in my magazine that can link in to pop due to
their fashion or gossip with a pop artist.
The colours that were most wanted for the magazine were white, black,
red and purple. I will feature some of these colours into my magazine,
depending on whether they match the colour scheme of the images and fonts.
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