Wednesday, 30 April 2014

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.

















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.

Monday, 28 April 2014

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.

Saturday, 26 April 2014

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.