Sunday, 25 April 2010

Q7. Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Looking back at my preliminary task to make a front cover and contents page i feel that i have learnt a lot in the ways of producing a magazine to make it look more professional.
I feel that i know now how to use the programs Photoshop and QaurkXpress to my full potential. Whereas before i could not use the programs very well and i struggled in creating effects on the programs.
The research that i did for my preliminary task was near to nothing. I basically just went in and created my magazine straight waway without doing any research into things such as my target audience and looking at other magazines in my specific genre.
I used the genre indie and i believe that my final magazine that i created was a lot better. This is because it had a much more professional look to it and i velieve this is because i did further research into my target audience and what real, professional magazines should contain.

Friday, 23 April 2010

Q6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Technology is very important when creating a media product such as a magazine because without it then the whole concept of making a magazine would be useless.
Photoshop- This was the main piece of technology that i used throughout the whole process of making my magazine. I was able to manipulate photos as i wished and with ease. Without the use of Photoshop it would have been a lot harder to construct my magazine.
Photoshop is very easy to use and the icons were very easy to understand. i have learnt how to use the program more effectively, to make it look more professional, using the icons on the program more usefully and cropping layers and images and also to make the magazine look to a very high standard. Without the use of Photoshop when making this media product, The magazine would not have looked anywhere near as professional as it does when using the program.


Quarkxpress- Overall this program was a lot harder to do than using photoshop. This is because the tools were more complicated to use. Though saying this, i do believe that using this program gives a better, more professional finish, especially on the double page spread. On the double page spread, i found it was easier to do this than on anything else. This is because it was easy to lay it out so that it looks like a professional magazine. It was also easy to put the pictures in the boxes.
The only problem that i had when using quark was when it came to uploading it to my blog. But apart from this it was an essential process in making my media product.

Digital SLR- Again i would not have been able to complete my media product without the use of this piece of technology. Without the camera, then i would not have been able to take my pictures and therefore i would bot have been able to produce my media product.
It has many different functions to a normal digital camera, for example, you can brighten colours or even make it focus in on a portrait style.
By using a digital SLR camera i was able to get a much more professional look than what i would have using a normal camera.

DaFont.com- This helped me create the correct font that i needed to capture my target audience. This was a very important program in the making of my magazine. This is because this website helped me with the font on both my front page and on my contents page.
So it has obviously came in very useful because without this i would not have gad a professional look to my magazine and also i would not have attracted my target audience in the same way.

Blogger.com- this was the basis of my magazine. Without this i would not have been able to blog my magazine. So his was very useful in the process of making my magazine.

Question 4&5





Question 5-How did you attract/address your audience?
The sort of people that i was trying to attract whilst making my magazine were young people aged between 16-25. The way that i attracted them was by using bold and colourful text. I also used simple language so that younger people will prefer to read it than to read any other magazine.
I also used a simple layout when doing my double page spread. This, again was to make it easier for my audience to read and understand my magazine. so in this respect this type of language that i used was their preferred reading.
The preferred reading in my magazine is based upon the music genre of indie.

Beacuse of doing this magazine, i asked people, who were in my specific taget audience range to give me feedback on what they thought my magazine was like, whether they like it or not.
The feedback i got was all positive and here is the feedback that i got from asking people face to face what they thought of my magazine.

zak- I think the magazine is good because it looks like it was done professionally. I also like the colour scheme you have used because it is simple but effective.

Simon- I like the way you have kept the layout simple because it makes it easier to read. I would definitely pick this up if I saw it in a shop. I also like the colour scheme you have used.

Tom- I believe that this magazine is very good because i like the way you haven't gone over the top. You have kept it simple but overall it has a very professional style to it. I like the fact that it is easy to read because i will be able to relate to it more this way. Though i have to say that i would have chosen to use a different colour scheme.

It was significant for me to get feedback on my magazine because this way i know what i have done right and what i can improve on in the future.

Question 3.What kind of media institute might distribute you media product and why?

Because the whole indie genre goes against the mainstream idea, the media institution that would distribute my magazine would be an independent publisher. This is because the people who would buy my magazine would be because they care about the music and would go out of their way to by a magazine that they care about. I would also distribute my magazine over the internet. This way my target audience can easily buy the magazine and wont worry about going to certain stores to buy it.
My magazine will not be sold in major stores such as WHSmiths, Tescos and other supermarkets etc.
I am not selling it in such places as these because the whole indie genre goes against the mainstream and by selling my magazine in places such as these will contradict this whole idea. My target audience are supposed to have a passion for music so will not mind going on the internet and ordering the magazine.
My magazine is not expecting a high profit turnover from selling the magazine. It is being produced to supply information about music and new bands etc. My magazine will sponsor new and upcoming bands going on tour, and this way they can make a profit from this.
I belive that by not using a mainstream store to sell my magazine in, i will be able to attract the right target audience that i want to suit the genre of music i have chosen. Also by selling on the internet i will be able to pull in the younger generation with more ease. This is because younger people are more likely to search for things like this on the internet than go out and buy a magazine in the shop. This way it is easier and time effective.

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Question 2.How does your product represent particular social groups?

I believe that my magazine is mainly aimed at working-middle class males aged between 16-25. I belive, having done my magazine that it does suit this audience type.
The whole 'Indie' genre is seen as 'cool' and 'trendy'. It also has a 'Break the rules' type vibe to it. That is why most indie magazines have a basic (usually dark) colour scheme and bold, rough text/font. I have done the same in my magazine to relate better with my audience.

The representation of males in my magazine is shows as cool and a bit of fun. I believe that this will also relate to my audience. I hope them to find my audience can see a little bit of themselves in the males that are portraid in my magazine.


This magazine is not ethnically or maorally wrong. It does not express any comments to undermine other ethnic or social classes. So this makes my magazine have a wider target audience as it does not express dislike to other races ot classes.
I believe that i have stuck to the stereotype of an indie male in my magazine. I also believe that teenagers can relate very well to my magazine because the language in the typing is not that of hard understanding. That is why the younger generation of my target audience will want to buy my magazine.
The dominant ideology of my magazine would be the youth and trend. This is because my magazine is targeted at such a young market. So my magazine includes things that young people would like and language they can understand better.

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?

I based my whole magazine around the 'Indie' genre. This is because i can relate to this easily and i could make my magazine appeal to the audience i wanted better.
The conventions with my chosen genre is a sort of a 'Break the rules' type of atmosphere. Most indie magazines use bold and rough sort of fonts to use in their Mastheads. I have also used this sort of a font because i feel that this was the best way to capture my audiences' favour. Also i used a very basic colour scheme. I did this because it fits the usual conventions of a typical indie magazine and again i believe that this will relate to my audience. Another way that i used similar conventions to other magazines in my genre is that i had pictures on the front cover. This is because I feel this is essential, not only to the indie genre but to all types of magazines.
The way that i challenged the conventions of a typical indie magazine was that for my main sell i did not use any people on it. Instead i used an image of a landscape because i feel that it suited what my magazine was about. Though it did relate to a story inside my magazine which does suit a normal convention of any magazine.
In my double page spread i have used the traditional layout of columns. This is because i did not want my magazine to be seen as aimed at children. It also makes the magazine look professional and makes it not seen as an immature, children's magazine. The same goes for my contents page. I have used a layout that is similar to a normal magazine to give it a professional style to it.

Friday, 19 March 2010

Friday, 12 March 2010

Friday, 29 January 2010

Brief introduction

For my media cousework i have been asked to create features of a magazine that i have to do completely on my own without any help from anybody else or from uploading any images from the internet. All of the images that i use in my final magazine have to be taken and uploaded by me.
We have been asked to create a front cover of a magazine, a contents page and a double page spread, all in the chosen genre of your magazine.

Planning sketches







This is the sketch of my ideas about the front cover, the contents page and my double page spread feature.
This is the sort of thing that i am trying to capture in my final magazine.

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Mood Board



This is my mood board. it covers all the aspects that i am trying to capture in my genre of magazine. I believe that all of these images suit my target audience and these are the things that they will like.

Audience Feedback

I can tell from my audience feed back that they feel that my mood board is suggesting that my magazine will be in the 'indie' genre. I have said initially that i wanted to make an indie magazine and because my audience realize this, i will definitely be using this genre for my magazine.
From the feedback, my audience have suggested that the mood board needs more colour so i will take this into consideration when I am making my final magazine.
I am not yet decided upon if the front cover of my magazine will be black and white or whether it will be in full colour. i believe that if it were in black and white, it will add the effect that i am trying to capture in the whole stlye of my magazine.

Monday, 18 January 2010

Overall Analysis

To conclude my magazine research I have decided that I will use an image that will stand out from the rest of the magazines on the market in my specific genre. I may use the image of a band of of one specific aspect that will link to the genre of my music. The name of my magazine i have not yet decided upon but again it will be short and bold and will have a catchy ring to it. The font style of the masthead will be bold and maybe a different colour to the background. I would do this so my magazine will be eye catching to mu audience and will stand out from the rest.
The colour that i will use on my Background image (main sell) will most probably be black and white. I will do this because i believe that black and white adds an effect that will suit my genre of music. The sort of thing that i am looking to do is to make it have a 'don't care' attitude to make my audience relate to the magazine.
From the feedback i am getting from my mood board, it is clear that people will want to see more colour in my magazine than i was showing on my mood board. I will obviously take this into consideration when i am producing my final magazine. I may choose to do the front cover in black and white and do the rest of the contents page and double page spread in full colour.
The font i am going to use on my final magazine cover i have not yet decided upon but again i want it to match the indie genre i am going for.
So i am trying to keep the magazine as a whole to a minimalistic ideal as i believe this will relate the best to my target audience. i will do this but still maintain a high standard of work with a professional style to It.

Thursday, 17 December 2009

The kerrang magazine has always been one of the top indie/rock magazines of its generation.


This magazine is good because it appeals to its audience in the way that it, again has the picture of a band on the front. Though saying this, the magazine is not as thick and does not contain as much information/stories as other magazines in this genre like 'Q' or 'NME'. But it still sells as the best weekly-music magazine on the market.

It still has as much of a professional look about it as much as the others. Though saying this I do believe that the other magazines (Q and NME) have a more 'high quality' feel to them. They also have a lot more information inside the magazines. But this may be to the fact that it is a monthly magazine and kerrang is a weekly magazine.

The use of colour in this magazine has a very dark feel to it as many of the colours are very dark and bland. Even the colours that the band seem to be wearing in the front image seems to be very bland colours. The background of the initial front image is also a dark colour. I believe in a way this is good because it is very simplistic and effective in the way that it gives a feel that suits the magazines genre.

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Evaluation

For my product I was asked to create a front cover and a contents page for a magazine. We got to choose everything about the magazine including the name. The name we decided to go for was sketch. this is because we wanted to go for something slightly indie and not mainstream. The font we decided to go for, (for the masthead) was one off the website http://www.dafont.com/ and it was one called '28 weeks later'. The colour of the font is a bright green. We chose this colour because it was the same type of green that we used for the background. I believe that the idea of using one colour throughout the whole magazine will attract the audience because they will find it easier on their eyes.

For the main sell we had to take a photo in a mid close up style. We took a photograph of our friend. We chose this person because we liked his style because it suited the theme of the magazine and he was the type of target audience that we were trying to reach out to.

We decided that for the cover lines we would try to use topics that our target audience would be interested in. We chose to talk about topics such as winter fashion and music. For the music topic we decided that we would do 'Arctic Monkeys'. This is because their type of music that they play is what we would consider the right type of genre that would be suitable for our target audience.



The target audience for our magazine would probably be around the age group of 16-19 year olds. This is because we have been asked to do a college magazine and this is the age catagory that goes to college. The style for our target audience would mainly be of the indie style. We believe that this has a good style that is actually rather neutral so people will not find weird or offensive. Their intrests would probably be in a lot of music and fashion. They would probably like their music so this is why we have incorperated a significant amount of the topic of music in our magazine. We also have chosen to include fashion. This is mainly because we feel that this would encourage the female audience to buy the magazine as we will not be focusing entirely on the male gender.

Friday, 13 November 2009













Title - NME





Genre - again the genre for this magazine is indie. You can tell this from the two characters on the front cover. I know that 'The Last Shadow Puppets' are in the indie genre.


Audience profile - I believe that this magazine will appeal to its audience. This is because the layout of the initial front cover has a good structure to it. It is essential to a music magazine to look busy because then it looks like the buyer has more to read. This will in turn entice the person to buy the magazine.


I can not get a picture of the contents page but i have read it. Again it looks as though it has a professional style to it. The contents page is one of the most important features in the magazine. This is because this is the first page that the reader looks at when they open the magazine. The contents page has to look good and have a good variety of contents because this is what will entice the reader to carry on scanning through the magazine. So it has to look well presented and have some interesting features. The NME magazine has a good, clear layout on its contents.


Looking through the magazine, I can see that all of the pages are filled with stories and information. This shows that the magazine is taken very seriously because the producers have obviously gone to a lot of effort to put the whole of each magazine together.


Each page of the magazine has a glossy feel to it. This also makes it feel as though the magazine has a professional style.




Music Magazine Initial Research



.Title - Q Magazine. They have chosen to use this title because it is short and catchy. The title is also in a very bold style which I believe is an essential for a magazine. It needs to have a bold, clear title and this magazines is probably the best around because it just has one letter as the title and this is an original and inventive idea which has obviously paid off for them.
.Genre - Indie/Rock
.Audience Profile - Male and female (Indie) aged between 16-25 (Hedonists)
.Front cover - The front cover of this magazine would appeal to its audience because more often than not the image on the front cover will be of a band member. The fans of the band will buy the magazine because it will include a exclusive interview or story about them.
Just people who like this type of music would also buy this magazine.
Content - The sort of features that would expect to find in this type of magazine would probably be something like a free CD with the magazine every month. I would also expect to see things like a special story on one of today's top bands. Another thing that I would expect to see inside the magazine, would just be stuff on old and new music. A lot of people who listen to indie music also enjoy the older type of music and bands such as 'Led Zeppelin'. If I were reading a magazine like this then I think I would like to read about older bands making a comeback. If this was included in the magazine I would find it interesting and I would buy it to read that sort of article.
Q do actually do stories on the older generation magazine. I believe that this type of thing reaches out to the older generation and it is quite clever in the way it is done.
Mainly, the type of photographs that are taken to go on the front cover are ones of the band or artist that there is a story on inside the magazine. Other photos are things like things related to a story in the magazine.

Monday, 2 November 2009

Front cover and Contents page




this is the front cover and contents page of our magazine.

Monday, 5 October 2009

Name of magazine:
connotations - students, active, youth, fun, enjoy music, sociable
denotations - i will conote youth and fun by using maybe a rounded font. I will conote sociable by using a suitable image of a student, and could use this image to conote active and enjoys music.

Target audience - 16-19 yrs

Rough sketch of magazine


We have decided to use the colour scheme of:
dark green, black and white.
The image we have decided to use for our magazine cover is of a student who is stood in front of graffiti.
The font will be black with a bright green or white outline. this
will ensure that it will stand out against the background.

Monday, 28 September 2009

college mag



This magazine has an image of a woman on the front cover.

The font on the masthead is a formal font.

The colour on the magazine is simple and mature.

One of the sub headings is about tatoos which suggests a maturity about the students.

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

Audience Profile

You like a wide range of music
You have of are interested in getting a job
You live in worcester
You are interested in sport
You like buying expensive clothes
You may or may not drive
You are interested in gossip and whats goin on around you
You use sicial networking sites
You have an i-pod and you use your phone frequently