Evaluation Question 7

                               

                                                       Evaluation q 7 from WillJKearse

Evaluation Question 6

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


The first and most used Technology is the site in which I use to post my coursework for my music magazine, Blogger. Over months of using Blogger to update my blog I have found it increasingly easy to use, as the layout is very simple and allows for easy and quick production of posts. A part which took me a while to get to grips with was how to embed files from other websites onto the blog and so being able to do this in the early stages of development was difficult. But all round it is a very easy site to use and makes posting your ideas very easy with the ability to personalise your blog and make your posts as individual and different as you like.

Adobe In Design CS5.5 was again one of the most used technologies, as It was the software I used to create my three magazine pages. At first when Introduced It looks complicated, but once you have the basics in creating layers and shapes then the rest comes through experimenting and trial and error. I found it to be a very good and officiant way of designing my magazine pages as it was surprisingly easy to use and I would recommend it to anyone doing a similar project, and considering I have had no past experience with a programme like this, it provided me with all the necessary tools that where easy to find and use.

   SlideShare although I did not use much I found to be a very effective way of presenting updates to my blog, especially for my evaluation, it made it easier as there is a clear flow through the information and it looks neat and tidy on my blog compared to a oversized blog post. So I wish I had used it earlier as I think it would have gained me extra marks. But it is easy to use as all you have to do is upload a power point presentation and then embed it into a blog post. And out of the three way to present a blog, this would be my favourite, because of its ease of use and good presentation. 

Prezi as a way to present your work I found to work well, it gives you a large variety of options and even allows you to add music and animations like fade in and out. Although I personally did not like the software, as at time it was just to overly complicated and sometimes the website would have technical issues and not let me upload. But the principle was good as it offers a different way of presenting your ideas, and so I did find it quite useful, to an extent.

This was probably the programme that i used the least, only to touch up on the brightness and to increase colour contrast in my images. I have had a lot of past experience with this programme and have used it in many other projects like for A level Art coursework. It allows you to edit images at your own will with a vast erray of tool available to customise or add effects to images to enhance their look, a very good, but complicated programme to use, but I did not think I needed to use it to its full potential. blah blahahah

Other technologies that I used in the process of the magazine design are Laptops and computers, my mobile phone, to sometimes view my blog when on the move. And most importantly the SLR camera that I took all my images on, providing me with the professional quality i needed to create a good looking magazine.

Evaluation Question 5

                             

Evaluation question 5 from WillJKearse

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation question 4 from WillJKearse343

Evaluation Question 3

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

 

 

If my Magazine was a genuine publication on shelves to the public, my obvious answer to publish my magazine would be Bauer Media, and to distribute, Frontline. As Both have shown to be leaders in the media empire. 

         

 

Bauer are one of the biggest and most trusted media corporations in the world, they have been successful over many different media platforms and as technology has adapted and become more avalable, Bauer adapted to these changes and turned them into a posative by expanding their brand online and in other form like radio TV and more. And i believe this would be a great company to publish my product as they could expand my brand further to other platforms and getting it to a larger range and amount of people. Bauer as a brand is one of the most trusted as with all its brands it gives the reader, watcher or listener constant updates on information that is precise and relevant. It owns a wide range of companies and brands, from gossip magazines to Hard core metal music magazine.

 

There are rivals to Bauer, like IPC Media and Warner, and these would also be good choices to make when concidering publishing your product. But for me Bauer has the scale, heratage, and trust that cant be matched by many other corporations, and owns the majority of magazine brands I know. In terms of distribution Frontline would be my choice as it has worked with Bauer in the distribution of its brands like Q magazine which has always been a leader in the magazine industry before more platforms and free magazines came into the picture. I think my product would be able to contribute towards Bauer as It is more specific than Q magazine and tailors the the young rockers out there who dont want to read about Pop artists like in Q or other brands. It may be part of a smaller audience but I believe it will contribute successfuly towards the company. 

 

 



Evaluation Question 2

How does the Media product Represent a particular social group?

 

For this question I had to ask myself how did my images appeal to my audience of a particular age and social group. In my images, majority being on my Main artist, I wanted to convey a direct link between the model in the image and that of my audience, of age range 16 to 25. I wanted my Front cover to give the same effect on the audience that Q magazine does. Usually with one individual being the centre of the image with raw emotion giving the reader the insight into that artists music.

 

For my main cover image I wanted to change the steriotype of male leading artists and use a female so my magazine will draw in both genders and not just pradominantly one. I was going for the Indie almost Hipster esk costuming as my magazine does not just focus on the heavy rock and alternative genres. But to tend to the alternative spectrum of readers I wanted the costume to be mainly dark colours like for instance the beanie and the black skinny jeans. I think that you can tell a lot about an artist and the sound their band produces from the way they act, and in turn their costume. With her also holding a guitar down by her side, it gives the reader a small but needed insight into what this band is going to sound like, clean, vibrant, and emursive. I did not want any over done make up, just enough to bring out the look in her eyes and her expression correctly.

 

Her body language I hope gives the impression of a careless attitude. The lack of eye contact with the reader and the relaxed body language.

 

 For my main Article image, I wanted to bring in a new band to give my magazine more authenticity, again with this image I wanted to give an expression of relaxation, predominantly in the males and then the female in the centre looking more agressive, so she was more the centre of the image, telling the reader she is the lead singer of the band. A big part of my magazine was to introduce up and coming bands to my audiene and not just follow the normal codes and conventions of the everyday magazine, and this image of "Rage City" is a part of that.

In my article image the model is wearing the same costume and so the principle for representing my audience is the same, I wanted people who dress the same to her to find an interest in the magazine. In this image is now an acoustic guitar highlighting the softer side of their music, acoustic sets and tours. And I also wanted to represent the Indie genre through the location in which this image was set, a summer house. These images of my leading artist in the magazine represent one large group of my target audience. As my magazine focuses on multiple genre specific groups, This image and my cover will tend to the Indie crowd, with the more mellow music taste. Like Q my magazine does not focus on one specific genre of music, one week they publish a cover with the lead singer of Muse and the next week it could be Lilly Allen, or Jay-Z. I wanted to also convey the same idea but with more closely tied music genres, Indie linking to soft rock and Alternative and them leading to Rock and Metal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Evaluation question 1

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



Front Cover

My front cover for my Music magazine sets a clear and concise target audience for the brand, like many rock/ alternative music magazines the front cover is what draws the readers in with the choice of colour and images. A lot of my inspiration for my cover came from mostly Q publications, I wanted to convey a clean looking style, embrasing not a minimalist style but I know I did not want the cluttered look, that of Kerrang.  Origonally I used colours like yellow and blue in my cover along with my Red, Black, and white but it through my eyes made my page look muddled and more along the lines Mojo or Kerrang.


The codes and conventions king of my Magazine Cover can be seen in the images, both technically and Symbolicly. Technically, as in Camera work, for my subsidiary image of the Yellowcard concert, I knew prior to the concert it would be good to use this as an opertunity for me to take some images for my pages. I wanted to take them from the view of the crowd, so this involved getting as close as I could to the stage. Although in the image it looks that of an amature photogapher, to be honest I wanted to try and challenge the common conventions in magazine photography by attempting to create a better link between audience and magazine. By taking it from an audience members perspective, it creates the sense that we are one of the crowd, we are amoungst the audience not just in the back rooms doing exclusive interviews and photo shoots.


The codes in the Symbolic way, can be seen in the expression in my main image and in other images of the main artist, like in my Article. The blank expression and with the model looking away from the camera gives a almost care free attitude, she is someone who doesnt care what people think, she is confident in herself and independant, and the lack of eye contact presents this personality well. The attitudes of the artists have a direct effect on the reader and that is what Iwanted my magazine to be able to do. The magazine is fitted and taylored around its audience and by presenting certain emotions and expressions the audience as part of the magazines following will subconciously mimik these actions to fit to their desired taste in music and artists.


My music magazines Masthead Unstrung was tailored around Q magazines masthead. I wanted the same effect in it being eye catching but also simplistic at the same time. I loved the colours udes with the Q magazine masthead, the vibrant red with the white gave it a strong, easy to recognise effect. I used the same for mine, but adding my own idea to the table as well. On the head of guitars are usually the Name of the company that produce the product, E.g Gibson, Epiphone, Ibinez. These are usually in slanted fonts with flowing lines. I wanted to make that link to my own masthead, by having this guitar background with he masthead it creates a link with the magazine and genre. Usually are associated with guitars are genres like Rock, Alternative, Metal and Indie.



For this area of my magazine cover, following the typical grid fashion I placed my coverlines and my splash. I stuck to the three main colours and to my two main fonts, Scrip MT Blod and Franlin Gothick Heavy. The base colour being black but i used red to highlight the more relevant infromation in the section and then for a larger story, "Yellowcard" I used white to make it stand out amoungst the rest, as in my opinion its along with "The Waiting Game" was one of the top storied accessable in the magazine. This follows the usual convention for most magazines, but Ichose to keep all my information on one side of the page, apart from a pull quote. Whereas some magazines have it on either side of the main image, but like Q, I wanted a less cluttlered look so the reader was not overwelmed with information all over the page. I kept the coverlines to a minimum only using the best stories and news to fill this space. Like exclusive access to information, again drawing the reader in, making them feel special and fortunate. Part of a group of people to know the information amoungst the huge crowd "Exclusive 2014 Gig Guide!"









With my Header and Footer bars I wanted to not distract the reader to much from the main information so I kept information to a minimum, and used them just as a way to promote smaller stories or to show the audience that the brand is a multi-platform brand, as the Fotter bar gives a link to the Brands website where as said in the Header bar you can vote for last years top artist, and in the Footer bar gives referance to other media forms like videos ect.


As I said my magazine had been made around the ideas in the Q magazine publications, but the majority of Q's pulished covers do not have header and footer bars. Origonally I was going to follow the same but I did not like the look of the page without them. I think they play a key roll in tying the page together by creating a boarder on the page.

I wanted to display this post in a Prezi, But I found that transfering it to blogger made it easier to read and follow where I was, and what I was speaking about. My other two posts on the Article and Double Pge Contents will be in the Prezi Format. And will later be added to this Post.

Evaluation q 111111111111111 from WillJKearse

UPDATED FRONT COVER.

I found that my previous update of my front covers image was a little to small and the background of the image took up too much space on the page. So I decided to make the model in the image larger to dominate the page more. I think that this has resulted in the page being even more eye catching to the reader and has made the page look more like a real magazine as the proportions on the page now fit correctly.

Unstrung Magazine Article

For my final design of the first page of my article I again wanted to make the transition from the previous page. (Contents page) clear. So to do this I used the same colour in the background that I hoped would be lighter but came out darker in the image, but i think it still atchieves it. Also I used the Mashead in the corners of the page which also breaks the pages classic look with more viberant colours, like red. The article itself consists of around 1000 words on the topic of a upcoming band, The Waiting Game. In this i wanted to present a sense of proffesionalism in the journalism but also have that uthamistic side that applys it more to the target audience and to make it more entertaining. I did this by including questions that would inhibit a funny or entertaining answer to my made up band.

The second page is simply the full page image of my band member "Ray" again the page follows the same layout with the white boarder with the contrasting Masthead. In the picture I wanted to convey the informality not shown in the article. By taking the photograph outside with the model sat down on the ground creates this effect.

Unstrung Magazine Double page Contents

This is my final finished version of my contents page, holding all the information on what my magazine will be made up of. To follow on from my front cover and to make the two pages look similar. I used the same fonts, colours. As the overall background i wanted to use a subtle colour and I had noticed in magazines like Q they used light cream occasionally and so i copied this design as it makes the page overall look sufisticated.

To create variety in the page I made up another band "Rage City" just to add to the effect of the magazine, to make it feel and look as real as an A level design can be. I also included smaller details like page numbers and also a section containing links to social webpages online. Again this shows that the magazine covers multiplatforms, not just the printed out copy. A nd the editors comments i think make the page seem more personalised, giving and overview on this weeks issue from the head Editor of the Brand. Other small details include the Masthead in the corner of the pages, this help make the link between the cover and the contents making for an easier transaction between the pages for the reader.

The two pages follow a simple structure with the images being in the middle and the information on the outside boardering them. This information is split into sections, such as news, Tracks to listen to this week, and albums. To tye the page together i croped a image of the neck of a guitar and used it almost as a page boarder as i found that the page alone just looker empty so i pushed the information inwards and added the graphic. Although the quality is not great I just wanted to be able to represent the idea clearly and if more time was avalable i would have taken a better quality imaged and made sure the cropping was done to a higher standard.

Unstrung Magazine Cover

To my final finished Unstrung cover I made a few slight changes to the original first update, including I changed the font of the Splash to a less chunky Script Mt Bold which I think complements the genre specific Main Image, of an Indie styled Artist. Also to show that my Magazine is a multi-platform brand, In the Footer bar I put the link to the Unstrung website, as a way for the reader to gain access to extra content like interviews and as a way to get involved directly with the magazine through the online chat rooms and comments pages.

I also got rid of the text underneath the Splash as I think it made the page look to cluttered with information which was not what I was aiming for as a final page. I was heading more towards the less cluttered Q magazine styled front cover, not its Kerrang counterpart.

Additions to the page include the Main Image, in which I used the background of my dining room as I thought the faded patterned wallpaper gave it a alternative Indie style to the page. For the Model I used my friend Jemma to pose making sure not to make eye contact with the camera as I believe this also adds to the indie vibe. For costume I wanted to give the typical alternative look with black skinny jeans, wrist bands and a beanie hat. This look can directly relate to my audience as it will be how they dress and there will be similarities in fashion sense. I also added a subsidiary which is of the band Yellowcard, the quality of the image is not the best but I believe it plays an important roll in tying the whole page together and contrasting with the light background.

Unstrung Music magazine cover first upload

I followed my draft design quite closely using the same colours and text. I still need to add the images to the cover, both my main and my subsidiary image of the Yellowcard concert. I decided to use this draft as my outline because I felt that my first draft was to cluttered and so in this one I hoped to make it look more simplistic, following in the lines of Q magazine rather than an NME styled cover. Weather the colours of the text will fit the background or the main image, I don't know yet so I may have to alter them accordingly to whichever suits best. Also i need to make the proper design for my masthead, but I am not 100% sure weather the masthead I designed will go with the style of the magazine but I will try to make a rough one to see how it looks on the page. And finally the last thing I need to add is the pug in the top right hand corner of the page, which will include information on merchandise details and a competition.

School Magazine contents page

Here is the final design for my school magazine contents page, it follows the same colour scheme, fonts and design as the front cover so that the two look similar. I used pictures of my class taking images for their music magazine covers and I also included links to social media websites to show that the magazine also has multiple media platforms.

second Music Magazine cover

This is my second attempt at a magazine front cover, the first I though was to cluttered and did not portray my target audience correctly. With this version I have created a much softer image, relating also to indie music, not just rock. More like Q magazine than Kerrang. Also in this I decided on a colour for my Masthead, I think that the dark red will stand out amongst the rest of the page and draw the eye to it. As with the other cover the colour scheme will be finalised when designed on adobe, so I can play around with different styles

Draft Of Article Music Magazine

This is the one half of my article page, with the main image and focus being the half close up face shot of the band member. On the other side of the page I plan to do the same but with a darker or red filter on the camera. This can relate to the two sides of the person, good and bad, and I think it will make an interesting image that will draw in the reader to the article. As for the rest of the page the article will be based around the main image and follow round the edges, with a small fact box to break up the information on the page.

The colours will follow the covers scheme, dark reds, greys blacks and whites. This will be shown in the background and the title of the page "Interview unstrung".

Draft for double page contents

 

The color scheme will follow on from the front cover page as it will through all pages. I have decided to use two pages for the contents as this will create more space allowing the page to hopefully look less cluttered and allow an easier viewing, so relevant information for the reader is more easily accesable. The page will include images of live bands and small advertisments dotted around the page.

Draft Of Music Magazine Front Cover

 

Although not shown in the draft the colour scheme for the page will be black white red yellow and maybe light blue. This draft shows the basic layout including how I would like to structure my Main image with a three member band, of which will link to the splash. The abundance of colour is because when designing the page on a program I want to be able to experiment widely with the color of the page so I can find a more suited scheme to fit the magazine, my audience and the genre of music that I will be focusing on