Tuesday 31 March 2015

Monday 30 March 2015

Evaluation 

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



























Below are three magazines with all of their conventions annotated.


































Below is my own magazine with its conventions annotated:













MASTHEAD:









My masthead follows very similar conventions to other popular rock magazines. All three example mastheads are written in capital letters, a pattern my masthead follows. In the "Classic Rock" masthead there is a plug on the side that covers the masthead slightly, many other rock magazines adopt this technique and it is something I decided I would adopt also. However, despite all three mastheads being written in white font, this does not mean to say I've broke conventions. Many rock magazines stick to two main colours with their mastheads: white and black. My magazine, because of the main image, had to have a black masthead. Also, The "Kerrang" masthead has small black lines that divide it and give it a broken or shattered look, I adopted this technique, but with one diagonal line only that splits my masthead entirely in half. Also in the "Kerrang" masthead there is an exclamation mark at the end, I liked the idea of an exclamation mark as it adds to the rock genre. However, I decided it would be a good idea to replace that letter "i" in "Distort" with an exclamation mark. The majority of rock magazines, including my three examples, have their mastheads centralized. My masthead follows a similar rule with it spanning from left to right. The placement of my masthead makes it the first thing a reader/potential consumer sees. 


SKYLINE



My biggest masthead influence of the three of my examples if definitely "Kerrang", I adopted the technique of it being a banner which spans from left to right and is filled with a particular colour, in my case, black. The top of my masthead I rubbed out slightly on Photoshop to give it a torn look, almost like a torn piece of paper. Then in the middle I have three short and snappy pieces of text. Skylines often incoporate short and snappy stories to grab the reader's attention. Also, when I distribute my magazine it will be mainly distributed in America and England, however, large chunks of the American population is espanic so I included one piece of Spanish text on my skyline "Sentir el ruido" which translates to "feel the noise", the name of a new hit single in the rock chart. Many rock magazines incorporate text that is espanic so I adopted this convention.


MAIN IMAGES






























My main image is conventional because it uses a direct mode of address. This is used because it creates a bond between the reader and artist, alsmost as if the artist is look directly at the reader and subconsciously telling them to purchase the product. My main image is also conventional because it is the largest image on the front cover and stands out amongst the rest as the main feature story image. In each rock magazine example their skin looks pale and flawless and their hair is usually brown or black, this is something I adopted and as consequence I selected a model who had jet black hair and had pale skin. I made it flawless by using the Spot Healing Brush. I therefore followed the conventions of how a main image should look. A similar pattern is followed with regard to costume, the constumes are all dark, usually black, which is something I also followed. However, I broke conventions because props are not normally used in the main image. Because my magazine features a story of the world's best guitarists I thought it appropriate to include a picture of an artists with a guitar.




MAIN STORY











My main feature story follows the convention of featuring large text, the largest pice of text on the front cover, excluding the masthead. Also, it is conventional for the main feature story to be written i capital letters, a convention I followed. Another convention I adpoted was that the name of the band/artist is written largest and then an actual hint of the story is followed in much smaller font. The main feature stories usually feature words such as "dangerous" "ultimate" "outcasts" and "rock god" I adopted this convention and used the adjective "outragous"




PLUGS
















I followed the convention of using a plug. Mine, like many plugs of conventional rock magazines, covers a fraction of the masthead and also partially crosses over the border of the page making some of it unseeable. In my plug I advertise a prize, to "win a £700 guitar" which is a conventional prize of rock magazines because it is something they know their readers like. The word "WIN" is written the largest to grab the readers' attention. then the number "£700" is highlighted in yellow to draw the readers' attention to the value of the prize. My plug is black and has white and yellow text with a red border, all are very conventional colours of rock magazine plugs. Many rock magazine plugs feature capitalized text which is another convention I followed.







2) How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

I wanted to represent certain age groups and stereotypes within my media product. Particularly, readers of rock magazines, such as Kerrang, are stereotyped as the social group "emos." Obviously not all readers of my magazine are part of this social group, or even label themselves as this social group, but a considerable number would be. It is typical of "emos" to favour the colour black which is perhaps the most used colour throughout my media product.  

Additionally the majority of this social group are aged between 15 and 24, which also happens to be the age of my target audience, so I decided my writing style would be grown up and not condescending but not so formal that it comes across as boring. I wanted my writing to be snappy and quirky. 

Furthermore, with regard to social class I feel my magazine applies and represent the working class much more than the middle class. I represent my working class readership by selling it at the healthy and affordable price of £3.99. I also represent this demographic by including a prize worth £700 which would be much more relevant and interesting to a member of the working class as opposed to the middle class. 

Below is an image that features several rock artists/bands. 































Above are several rock artists including Dave Grohl, Billie Joe Armstrong, Kurt Cobain, Black Veil Brides, Gerard Way, Marilyn Manson and more. There is one prominent colour that stands out above the rest; black. Black is the most conventional colour of the rock genre. Many aspectsts of artists are black including their hair, constume and even makeup. The colour itself connotes power, death, evil, mystery and even the end of all things. Many rock songs consider these connotations, especially death and evil. They are themes that have been considered in rock music since the genre began. Another aspect of these rock artists/bands that they all follow, is that they do not smile. Often rock artists look angry or expressionless. This adds to the dark, even gothic, connotations of their music. The colours and moods of these photos give off a generally angry, sad or even depressive feel. Generally these artist/bands present a dark and outcast feeling. Certain of these artists, including Marilyn Manson and Black Veil Brides wear makeup, more makeup than the average women. They adopt personas that suggest they do not wish to conform to social expectations.


CLOTHING:
































By using a leather jacket on my main feature story artist I am representing, not only artists within my genre, but many social groups. Half of my target audience is male, I represent them because leather jackets are worn, as found in a recent survey, by 1 in 4 men. And in another survey it was founded that 70% of men own, or have owned, a leather jacket. So therefore I represent them because it appeals to them more. With regard to my female readership, many will favour my main image because it is arguably physically attractive and aesthetically pleasing.


HAIRSTYLES

































FACIAL EXPRESSIONS 


Rock, as a genre, can give off many feelings. Certain feelings considered within rock music are that o unhappiness and discontent, be it with life or relationships. Other feelings include anger and cause from having an unsatisfactory life. Many rock stars turn to drug use which can cause them to look intoxicated in the media. Certain rock artists adopt personas of being outsiders or outcasts that are not part os society. But above all else, the majority of rock artists rarely smile in photos, be it from one of the reasons above or another, they rarely smile and often look angry, unhappy and discontent.






























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






Bauer Media Group was founded in 1875*



























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

I decided that because my magazine adopts similar design qualities to Kerrang! that it would be a good idea to aim it at a similar readership. See table below:



















As it can be seen above, the Kerrang! readership includes slightly more men (4.7%) than women but generally this is a healthy balance of both men and women. 51% of the people who read Kerrang fall into the ABC1 demographics which tells me the majority of the readership are financially stable and presumably middle class. However, this does not mean the 49% of presumably working class demographics should be disregarded as they do account for almost half of Kerrang! purchases. The main age range is 15-24 which comes in at 56.1%. Because of this I decided it would be important to aim my magazine at: Both men and women, both working and middle class and the age bracket of 15-24. However, my magazine could be viewed as slightly more masculine because of its prominent and dark colours and could be viewed as slightly more in favour of the middle class because of its sophisticated writing style. This does not mean, however, that women cannot enjoy prominent dark colours and that the working class cannot read sophisticated writing.

Below are some tables showing results from my market research.































As evidently shown in the first table, there is a nice healthy balance between men and women but unlike the Kerrang! readership figures my market research included slightly more women. (47.06% Men - 52.96% Female) but generally when designing my media product it was designed with both women and men in mind and is aimed at both men and women equally.

In the second table the vast majority of people who took my survey were aged between 16 and 19 but I decided it would be more profitable to aim my magazine at a slightly higher gapped age group of 15 and 24.

And finally, 88.24% of people who participated in my survey were in full-time education which again reflects a younger age group and not only that, but an age group of people who do not have jobs and therefore have no income. This is why it was crucial for me to make my magazine an affordable price (£3.99)

Below is my reader profile. By extending my magazine to application form via iTunes it immediately extends to the digitalised world. By having a D!STORT app it increased the chances of increased readership and consumption of my product.







































5) How did you attract/address your audience?






























I was able to survey 26 people aged between 15 and 19 (Which falls into the age bracket of my target audience) about what they thought to my Media product. Above the results can be seen. Thankfully the vast majority of people answered positively. A total of 22 people said they would happily buy my magazine, the 4 people who did not want to buy my product said it was connected with not liking the genre rather than the product. Even more people (24) said they liked the colour scheme. Almost half of the people I surveyed, 12, said that improvements could be made. In the GoAnimate link below some are highlighted. However, 14 people said no improvements could be made. Every single person said the product price was very good, certain individuals stated it was too cheap and made my product seem cheap, but the majority were happy with this price of a fortnightly magazine. All but 1 person said they'd recommend to a friend and everyone believed the magazine was conventional and true of the rock genre. In conclusion, I'm very happy with these results, despite improvements being needed it's still a generally positive results. This is because if the majority of people think it's well-priced, well-made, conventional/true of the genre and would buy it then this means I'm definitely addressing my audience or the vast majority.

http://goanimate.com/videos/0svkEa1KvTMM?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent

Above is the link for a GoAnimate animation the also reflects certain responses from individuals that took part in this survey.

I feel the main reason I was able to attract and address an audience with such a positive reflection is partly due to my main cover story and image. I feel the expressionless face of my artist is interesting and captivating and makes my reader want to learn more about him. His guitar and sunglasses are also particularly trendy and I feel like this is very intriguing to my readers. Also the feature headline "MILES JACKSON: HIS MOST OUTRAGEOUS INTERVIEW YET" suggests a really good, thorough and interesting interview and not only this, but it gives the impression that my artist is rebellious and this fits well with many other artists in my genre.

I also feel like my use of colour will definitely apply to audiences and readers who enjoy this genre. Many dark colours are used within my media product, especially black which is the main colour of the rock genre. Artists and audiences alike love the colour black, they wear it and even dye their because it connotes death, evil, mystery and power which is what a lot of rock/heavy metal artists write and sing about and feature in their videos. The second most used colour is red which runs alongside black very nicely. Red has connotations of danger, power and war which, again, are themes included in many of the artists songs within my genre. The majority of people who wear and associate themselves with the colour black fall into the age bracket of 15-24. Why? Because they're not adults and do not have to conform in order to gain a job. Yet they still go to full-time education which is a character-building experience for all teenagers and some, like my target audience, rebel against regular conventions by wearing black and some become part of social groups such as "goths" and "emos", by advertising a product that looks like and associates with my target audience they will be more inclined to buy it.

I feel like my magazine content will hopefully include something that appeals to everyone. There is a large range including: A guitar to be won, album reviews, feature stories on 30 Seconds to Mars, Slipknot and My Chemical Romance (three VERY big bands within my genre), a guide to top ten tours of the year, posters and finally it features many other rock bands and artists. By having such a large range of things on my front cover, there must be at least one thing that applies to most people.

Finally, I feel like the fact my magazine is produced fortnightly is an advantage because the vast majority of music magazines in my genre are produced monthly which certain people from within my market research have stated is "too long" this is partly because people want to be in the loop and updated about their favourite bands and artists and that by only receiving the information once a month they're more inclined NOT to buy it and just read the news online.  I also feel my price (£3.99) is very reasonable and offers brilliant value for many that hopefully attracts many readers and audiences.

6) What have you learnt abut technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When I started this course and project I had never used Photoshop and knew absolutely nothing about editing. Thankfully, I feel I picked up Photoshop quickly and was soon able to use a large range of tools to create a hopefully high standard media product.































Below I have pasted some screenshots and explanations of certain progression during the making and designing of my contents page. Hopefully, they demonstrate a good understanding of what I've learnt about technology, specifically Photoshop, throughout this process.


1) Certain magazines that come under my genre have a large picture of the cover story on the contents page and therefore I adopted this technique. I also thought it would be effective to present the picture of the cover story in black and white (Black and White are the two main colours associated with my genre (rock) so it seemed appropriate) I did this by going to 'Image' > 'Adjustments' > 'Black & White'




2) By doing this I was presented with a colour scale that allowed my to increase or decrease the percentage of particular colours in use.



3) I lowered the red to around 17% which, I feel, made the guitar darker and therefore stand out more. I also moved the yellow up slightly so the face would still look healthy and colourful and not unnaturally/unrealistically dark.




4) I also decided to clean up the subject's face by using the "Spot Healing Brush Tool" which is a clever and effective tool that allows you to dispose of any imperfections on people's faces (spots, pimples, etc.)



5) I decided the colour of the page heading ("CONTENTS") made the whole page appear quite dull. This was largely because I changed the photo of the cover story to black and white. I decided to change the page heading to red as I feel it's eye-catching and also a colour relevant to my genre. On the entirety of the contents page I'm going to have a theme of four colours (red/yellow/black/white)




6) To replicate the grungey looking font on my front cover I simply selected the eraser and put it on a setting that I believe was quite patchy. Slowly and carefully I began to remove small parts of the words "CONTENTS" until it matched my front cover headline.




7) Below the finished heading can be seen.
























8) I also decided to add two smaller pictures (of the cover story star) to the upper half of my contents page. I did this because I felt just one picture was too plain and not busy enough. To decrease to the plainness I left them in colour and feel they tie the upper half together very nicely. I cropped and re-sized both photos to make sure they were the same which adds to continuity. I also added a white border to each photo which almost creates a 'snapshot' idea which, again, I like.




After writing my letter from the editor I needed to write a signature. I decided to choose a font that looked scribbly and had a convincing hand-written style. I settled for a font called "Pristina" and decided to call my editor "David"






















7) Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

























Sunday 15 February 2015

Friday 6 February 2015

Contents Page 

My contents page is almost finished. All I have to do now is take some more photos (which I will do) and make three miniature D!STORT magazines that will go at the bottom where I'm advertising a subscription.



Tuesday 3 February 2015

Contents Page

I decided it would be a good idea to show slightly what the "£700 strat guitar" looked like. So I simply took a photo of the neck of one of my guitars (However, I didn't use the same guitar I'd used on the front cover)


I cropped the neck of the guitar out using the polygonal lasso tool and I placed it slightly underneath the heading. I think it is very effective because a contents page should have many photos.