Sunday, 2 October 2011
Thursday, 4 November 2010
AS Magazine Blog
Presentation Slides
Evaluation
For my music magazine I worked with the genre of Bhangra music which I have hardly any knowledge of, at first I didn’t want to work with that particular genre because there were others that I would have liked but I soon came to realise that if I want to work within the media industry or any others I am going to have to do tasks that I don’t particularly like so I came to the conclusion that I would research to the best of my ability to create a fantastic music magazine.
When researching especially fro my target audience I looked at websites such as;
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product challenges the common conventions of a real music magazine as it includes things such as:
• The barcode
• The price
• The issue
• The date
• Prize giveaways and competitions
It contains an image where the model for my front cover has a huge relation to the target audience and is posed in a way to attract the audience.
In normal magazines it is common for the genre to have a huge relation to the main image for example; a hip hop magazine will have an image of someone wearing all the ‘bling’ they could possibly have with the artist or person having tattoos and posing like a gangster and not showing any happy emotions. As mine is Bhangra I had decided that something in my image should relate to Indians and in my case I had my model pose in traditional Indian clothing which I have placed in my magazine front cover.
My media product fits with the forms and conventions of a real media product. When I found out that I was working with the Bhangra genre I had to research into what Bhangra music was and what type of shots or iconography they used in their media especially the magazines. From research I often found that the model or artists would wear traditional clothing and men would pose as if they were cool and the women would pose signifying a sexual appeal. I found that in most music magazines the main image appears as a medium shot. This relates to John Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ as men look, women appear, women watch themselves being looked at and this shows women’s presence as a sense of being appreciated by others – ultimately men but in the fact the women watch themselves being looked at that will be the majority of the target audience and a minority men.
For the masthead of my magazine I used “IMPACT” as my font for the title “DHOL OUT!” section I stuck to the colours black, white and red because these colours seem to be the colours that are common in most magazines. The “DHOL OUT!” section of my masthead follows the codes and conventions of some existing magazines. For example it could be compared to “NME”, in the sense that this masthead is also bold, red and surrounded by a black box. My Slogan or brand identity “The Bhangra Bible” also uses the colours red and white which are common conventions of a magazine. Large and vibrant text and fonts often have a direct link to young people who are a part of my target audience. This relates to J.Butler’s (1990 -1999) study on gender identity in magazines into consideration, he found that gender was identified as a social construct.
The mis-en-scene of my images followed the codes and conventions of music magazines. This is because; most magazines that have posed images often use plain backgrounds with a plain colour which are common such as grey, white and black so I used a purple and black gradient background. However I challenge the common conventions as I use a purple colour which is unique and was my initial plan, which was to make my music magazine a unique selling point and in this way it will be attractive to the audience. This is similar to what NME do but they tend to use dark colours.
My image is of an Indian girl and she is dressed in Indian traditional clothing which is unique for any music magazine which relates to the colour purple on a music magazine. The girl is young singer who relates to my target audience. However the target audience is teenagers with a slight bias towards Indians and females. Using this girl as my model for my front cover will allow the audience to relate to the main singer and aspire to be like them as the target audience are more likely to be interested in the magazine than say if there was a English Man as the main image so the audience can relate to it especially Indians as it is a Indian (Bhangra) magazine. Also the image is one that can be considered eye-catching especially for females. This leads to the theory spoken of by L.Mulvey (1974/5) Visual pleasures & narrative cinema. The theory presents women to be objects of male pleasure but in my magazine the opposite has been devised to allow females to take interest in the magazine.
I created my title ‘DHOL OUT!’ in a red bold font which was IMPACT and this follows common conventions as most magazines use straight and bold fonts, however I used another font before this one which challenged the conventions as it was a more bubbly and curvy font but because the font was only present on my personal laptop I could not transfer it to the software in college so I decided to changed the fonts to ones which were mutual.
Overall, I think that my front cover develops and challenge forms and conventions of real media products. My media products look like a real media product. Therefore, I created it so that it looks professional and realistic and used the forms and conventions used in real products.
I have challenged the common conventions for my contents page so far as I have taken into account the shot sizes of a common music magazine contents page which are medium shots which I have edited it so that it looks professional. My final contents page follows the same colour scheme as my front cover purple, white, black and red showing continuity throughout the pages which is as conventional for existing media products such as NME. The form of my contents is ordered but quite packed out which is common for contents pages as they have too produce a large amount of information to get the target reader ready for the magazine or persuade them to read on. The colour red connotes love and is a very strong colour so I used this as one of my main colours in order to draw in the reader so they can create this sort of passion towards it. I used these techniques in order to attract my target audience.
My choice of content is similar to many existing media products as it contains interviews with established artists as well as news, gossip, and top songs which is common within music magazines as it gives the reader a chance to get involved with the magazine.
When looking through a variety of media products, I established a common convention in all of them was details of subscription. They often situated it on the contents which are intended to grab the reader at the beginning so as to immediately bring the idea of subscribing to the minds of the readers. I did this, placing the details in the bottom corner. I ensured that it was noticeable by again using bright colours however not taking up too much room of the page. I also added a small photo of the cover, which I found to be conventional with a lot of other subscription details in other media products.
The photos I used have been manipulated in some way or another using Photoshop and are related to the listed content as well as images that are attractive to the target audience. There are a variety of shots such as close ups and medium shots which suggests a sense of variation towards the reader which will be attractive. I positioned page numbers on most of the photos as this is a common convention in many magazines.
I challenged the common conventions for my double page spread as I have taken into account the layout of a common music magazine double page spread which usually have from about 4 or more images with one main big one. My final double page spread follows the same colour scheme as my front cover purple, white, black and red showing continuity throughout the pages which is as conventional for existing media products such as NME. The form of my contents is ordered similarly to the dizzy rascal NME double page spread below as I have one main image which covers the whole page:
My double page spread is being designed so that the written story has the smallest part of the spread and at the same time doesn’t lack content. Most of the double page spreads I have researched have some dialogue with speech marks. I am making a bold title in order to stand out which most magazines do such as the Dizzy Rascal one above.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Although the music genre of my magazine has a dominant representation of a specific ethnicity which is Indians as the music of Bhangra originates from the Punjabi region it also usually represents the youths as the music is lively and bubbly so my magazine chooses to represent these aspects. My photography represents both of these social groups and can be associated with both groups. I looked at other magazines and images to see what a youthful pose looks like and had many different types of poses. The way my model is dressed will also represent the social group; this is the traditional Indian clothing which are highly identified on Indians. The colours I used will also do this.
I designed my media product to represent the different social groups as my main image is of a young girl who is Indian. These are the social groups that I am so far representing in my media product and these can be easily identified. The young girl is pretty with a clear face and a nice body which all young girls would want so this is the best way to attract them and by looking at the models facial expressions you can tell she is out going and who everyone wants to be. Also the colours I am using on my media product are associated with the Indian tradition so it represents them.
Additionally, the image is on that can be considered eye-catching especially for females. This leads to the theory spoken of by L.Mulvey (1974/5) Visual pleasures & narrative cinema. The theory presents women to be objects of male pleasure but in my magazine the opposite has been devised to allow females to take interest in the magazine.
My contents page contains 4 images, the first image is of the young girl that appears on my front cover and this is a youthful pose which can attract the target audience as it reinforces their relationship with her and can attract them even more, as well as be a representation of the social group I am targeting. My second image represents the young women who are the target audience, and is an image of a young woman posing model like. This is attracting the target audience as they feel that they want to know more about this figure and relate to her in some sort of way. My third image is of two boys; one looking cool and the other looking stressed as this contrasts it represents the problems and benefits of being a youth as the image connotes two emotions, this also relates to my tow colours used; red and black as red connotes love and black connotes darkness or depression. My last image is of boy who is pointing and he is part of my attraction to the magazine as my main audience targets females this male will attract them and he is pointing at the readers as if he will be indirectly talking to each individual in the market. This represents the theory that women have no control and men have all the control in relationships. It also represents the feminist theory that woman should be subservient to men. However David Gauntlett argues that women who are represented in media are often successful due to the rise of ‘girl power’.
I designed my music magazine so that it represents my target audience which are youths specifically girls and Indians. My page numbers will not be the common number at the bottom, instead I’m placing my numbers on an image which I created which is meant to be a dhol drum and I am doing this because a dhol drum can be associated with Indians. The drum represents this social group and will do so on every page in the magazine. The poses in my images are youthful poses and she is there to represent the youths especially the woman although male are to be the minority. I am putting some contact details on the spread of Sabeena and these are social network sites which represent youths
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think Media institutions such as Bauer Media and BBC magazines will be the best and most reasonable to distribute my music magazine because as leading magazine major distributors I think this magazine would be a unique selling point for them as it is rare to find a Bhangra music magazine because I know I never acknowledged one before my research. This will also allow my music magazine to be charged at any price as they have monopoly; however a charge too high will result in low sales, so I would suggest a reasonable price. Bauer Media has a worldwide circulation and have expanded into different markets so introducing this magazine could reach the target audience in the 16 countries they are already located in. They also have many television and radio broadcasting channels such as Box television which the magazine could take advantage of by using it to advertise. I also think that it could be distributed at media stores such as Virgin or HMV as the target audience will be able to get quick access at these stores.
I think Media institutions such as Bauer Media and BBC magazines will be the best and most reasonable to distribute my music magazine contents page because as leading magazine major distributors.
I also think that it could be distributed at media stores such as Virgin or HMV as the target audience will be able to get quick access at these stores. For example Rupert Murdoch of News corporation owns a wide range of media and if he decides to enter a new product he has the control to automatically make it popular reaching his target audience.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my music magazine would be teenagers or youths aged from around 16 -24 based on the fact that they like socialising and partying which all relates to the ideology of this magazine. Also I am going to aim this music magazine at Indians as seeing one of their own will be a great way to appeal to them as it relates to culture and being proud of their culture. This magazine has a slight bias towards Indians as it is based on their own culture of music so they would be the potential buyers and most things in the magazine will relate to them. It also has a slight bias towards young females as well. . Looking at the study on teen females by A.McRobbie (1977), acknowledging that the conservative ideology that magazines promote gentility/domesticity, I altered the ideology and conventions to suite young people as a collective not just appeal to one gender.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I am attracting my audience by using colours that stand out but not in a bright way but in a way that the colour is unique and is not really used a lot and this can be my magazines unique selling point as well as it being a Bhangra magazine. I am using the colour burgundy to attract my audience as it is a popular unique colour which people don’t use everyday so to go with its unique selling point as a Bhangra magazine I am attracting my audience so that it stands out to them. I am also selling the music magazine at a price of £2.50 which suggests that the audience will be able to afford it because it is a reasonable price for a unique magazine as this is the amount they would spend on a meal or some cosmetic items but this can connote a mental cosmetic item for females as it could attract them because of their relation with the main character/image. The colours I used such as black, red, white and purple are also attracting my audience as these are the common colours that are used and can be identified with the target audience. For example J.Winship (1987) study on mags, focus on competition and romance/women against each other.
I am attracting the target audience by using the continuity of colour from the front cover on the contents page which may have the same effect. I have processed that by using unique magazine colours as you wouldn’t normally see a purple/burgundy colour on a magazine. Also on the contents page where the details of subscribing are, shows the price of it per month and they will calculate and see that it is the cheaper option which would attract the target audience. On the subscribing section is my fourth image mentioned earlier and the attraction which was also mentioned. I placed it in this section because it’s as if he is individually pointing out the market persuading them to subscribe. The used of the two colours on my title suggest to the audience that there is always two sides to everything i.e. music, life etc. which may interest the reader and allow them to become engaged in the magazine.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the creation of my front cover I have learnt a lot about technologies and they have helped me and improved my media product.
I used my school PC’s to create some of my work on especially the Photoshop work but I used my RM laptop at home to create most of the InDesign work. I haven’t really learnt anything new from using this technology because most of the things on there I have experience with.
I also used my LG memory stick to transfer work in between the two locations.
Throughout my production I equally used both InDesign and Photoshop CS3 which I have had experience in manipulating images but I don’t know everything such as cropping around images so learnt a little bit more about layers and how to fill in backgrounds.
Overall I have learnt a lot about technology throughout this project; before creating my magazine I'd never used InDesign or BlogSpot before. However I now feel quite confident in using all of them.
I have not learnt much since I created the front cover but there are a few things I have learnt including things I have improved on. I learnt a little bit more about the Nikon D3000 camera as I learnt how to focus on images.
I also learnt a few more new tricks on InDesign even though it is not big I learnt how to rotate images manually and automatically.
Designing my double page spread wasn’t really challenging in terms of technology because throughout my front cover and double page spread I had took on board all the difficulties of technology being used. InDesign was quite easy to use in the process of my double page spread; however I learnt how to use different options such as the effect one where I used the transparency tool as well as some shadows.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since creating my school magazine my knowledge of using Photoshop has increased considerably. For example now I know how to crop and manipulate images to high standards, and also how to work with layers. I have also learnt about the common conventions of normal magazines such as cover lines, images and main stories which I did not use in my preliminary school magazine. I have also researched into the quality standards of their main images which are often high so I decided to use a more professional camera and a more professional model which worked out well for my main product. My mis en scene techniques improved in my main product as I had actually researched the mis en scene of other similar magazines for example their shot sizes and how they were placed and the setting of the image if not fully cropped.
Since my preliminary task I have learnt that contents page in media products may take as much detail and as much time as the front cover. I have improved on my learning of media products such as these as well as the technologies used to create them. In my preliminary contents page I imply took images and put them anywhere on my page without giving them much thought.
The same as my front cover I believe that through my contents page I have improved in my ability to communicate with my audience which has been learnt from analysing different music genre magazines contents pages such as NME and their audience and finding relations in between the two. I learnt that attractive images are the most effective way of communicating with your audience which is what I had done on my main task. I already knew that presentational devices such as the use of colours, images and cover lines can help you attract your target audience but in my preliminary this was not expanded on so in the main task I improved on this.
Since my preliminary task I have learnt that in media products the front cover, double page spread and contents page all take as much work as each other. I have improved on my learning of media products such as these as well as the technologies used to create them. In my preliminary contents page I imply took images and put them anywhere on my page without giving them much thought.
Everything you do when creating a magazine, has to take into account targeting the audience.
I started off the project by getting used to Photoshop and InDesign but because I am familiar with similar software’s such as PhotoImpact X3 it wasn’t to difficult for me to get used to it as it has a few similarities. I first tried out images and on different backgrounds and how to crop around the images which I found quite easy as I would usually use a magic wand or the rubber in my personal software which I believe is harder to handle than the marquee tool etc. I was taught how to unlock layers and how to deal with them while designing but I had little knowledge of how to use this so it took me a bit of time. I then created a brief preview magazine with the A4 setting of how a magazine could look using different colours and textures on the background and different images. I was pleased with my designs and so were others so I thought I was ready for my preliminary task which was to create a school magazine. I brainstormed ideas and looked at other examples of what my school magazine would look like. I had 2 models for my image and took many photos so I could choose the best one and I designed my magazine front cover and contents page extracting images off the internet and using them on my product. I understand that if this was real life or professional I would have to ask for permission before my use of the image. I used many different effects on my magazine cover and contents page. I thought of images that would appeal to the target audience because I took it as if it was the real practical work. Everything went well for me with a lot of positive feedback from classmates and I think the hardest part of the preliminary for me was saving it because I had difficulty especially with the low space storage on the computers but it was solved by me saving it on my e-mail file storage section which I recently found out about. Apart from that my preliminary task was a success.
Music Magazine Front cover
Pre-Production
For my music magazine I was given the genre of Bhangra music which I have hardly any knowledge of, at first I didn’t want to work with that particular genre because there were others that I would have liked but I soon came to realise that if I want to work within the media industry or any others I am going to be given tasks to do that I don’t particularly like so I came to the conclusion that I would research to the best of my ability to create a fantastic music magazine.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product will challenge the common conventions of a real music magazine as it will include things such as the barcode, the price, the issue, the website and even the date. It will also feature prize giveaways and competitions. It will contain an image where the model for my front cover has a huge relation to the target audience and is posed in a way to attract the audience. 
My media product fits with the forms and conventions of a real media product. When I found out that I was given the Bhangra genre I had to research into what Bhangra music was and what type of shots or iconography they used in their media especially the magazines. From research I often found that the model or artists would wear traditional clothing and men would pose as if they were cool and the women would pose signifying a sexual appeal. I found that in most music magazines the main image would appear as a medium shot. 
Overall, I think that my media product will develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products. I will try to make my media products look like real media products. Therefore, I think that I will create products that look professional and realistic and use the forms and conventions used in real products. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Although the music genre of my magazine has a dominant representation of a specific ethnicity which is Indians as the music of Bhangra originates from the Punjabi region it also usually represents the youths as the music is lively and bubbly so my magazine chooses to represent these aspects. My photography represents both of these social groups and can be associated with both groups. I looked at other magazines and images to see what a youthful pose looks like and had many different types of poses. The way my model is dressed will also represent the social group. The colours I used will also do this.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think Media institutions such as Bauer Media and BBC magazines will be the best and most reasonable to distribute my music magazine because as leading magazine major distributors I think this magazine would be a unique selling point for them as it is rare to find a Bhangra music magazine because I know I never acknowledged one before my research. This will also allow my music magazine to be charged at any price as they have monopoly; however a charge too high will result in low sales. Bauer Media has a worldwide circulation and have expanded into different markets so introducing this magazine could reach the target audience in the 16 countries they are already located in. They also have many television and radio broadcasting channels such as Box television which the magazine could take advantage of by using it to advertise. I also think that it could be distributed at media stores such as Virgin or HMV as the target audience will be able to get quick access at these stores.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Music Production
In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I am challenging the common conventions for my magazine so far as I have taken into account the shot sizes of a common music magazine which is a medium shot which I have edited it so that it looks professional. In normal magazines it is common for the genre to have a huge relation to the main image for example; a hip hop magazine will have an image of someone wearing all the ‘bling’ they could possibly have with the artist or person having tattoos and posing like a gangster and not showing any happy emotions. As mine as Bhangra I should probably have something in my image relating to Indians and in my case I had my model pose in traditional Indian clothing which I have placed in my magazine front cover.
How are you designing your media product to represent particular social groups?
I am designing my media product to represent the different social groups as my main image is of a young girl who is Indian. These are the social groups that I am so far representing in my media product and these can be easily identified. The young girl is pretty with a clear face and a nice body which all young girls would want so this is the best way to attract them and by looking at the models facial expressions you can tell she is out going and who everyone wants to be. Also the colours I am using on my media product are associated with the Indian tradition so it represents them.
How are you attracting/addressing your audience?
I am attracting my audience by using colours that stand out but not in a bright way but in a way that the colour is unique and is not really used a lot and this can be my magazines unique selling point as well as it being a Bhangra magazine. I am using the colour burgundy to attract my audience as it is a popular unique colour which people don’t use everyday so to go with its unique selling point as a Bhangra magazine I am attracting my audience so that it stands out to them. I am also selling the music magazine at a price of £2.50 which suggests that the audience will be able to afford it because it is a reasonable price for a unique magazine as this is the amount they would spend on a meal or some cosmetic items but this can connote a mental cosmetic item as it could attract them because of their relation with the main character/image.
Post-Production
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For the masthead of my magazine I used “IMPACT” as my font for the title “DHOL OUT!” section I stuck to the colours black, white and red because these colours seem to be the colours that are common in most magazines. The “DHOL OUT!” section of my masthead follows the codes and conventions of some existing magazines. For example it could be compared to “NME”, in the sense that this masthead is also bold, red and surrounded by a black box. My Slogan or brand identity “The Bhangra Bible” also uses the colours red and white which are common conventions of a magazine.
I think the mis-en-scene of my images follow the codes and conventions of music magazines. This is because; most magazines that have posed images often use plain backgrounds with a plain colour which are common such as grey, white and black so I used a purple and black gradient background. However I challenge the common conventions as I use a purple colour which is unique and was my initial plan, which was to make my music magazine a unique selling point and in this way it will be attractive to the audience. This is similar to what NME do but they tend to use dark colours. This image also follows the common conventions of a woman’s magazine as it is seen that females think they are all beautiful or act like it.
My image is of an Indian girl and she is dressed in Indian traditional clothing which is unique for any music magazine which relates to the colour purple on a music magazine. The girl is young singer who relates to my target audience. However the target audience is teenagers with a slight bias towards Indians and females. Using this girl as my model for my front cover will allow the audience to relate to the main singer and aspire to be like them as the target audience are more likely to be interested in the magazine than say if there was a English Man as the main image so the audience can relate to it especially Indians as it is a Indian (Bhangra) magazine.
I created my title ‘DHOL OUT!’ in a red bold font which was IMPACT and this follows common conventions as most magazines use straight and bold fonts, however I used another font before this one which challenged the conventions as it was a more bubbly and curvy font but because the font was only present on my personal laptop I could not transfer it to the software in college so I decided to changed the fonts to ones which were mutual.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the creation of my front cover I have learnt a lot about technologies and they have helped me and improved my media product.
I used my school PC’s to create some of my work on especially the Photoshop work but I used my RM laptop at home to create most of the InDesign work. I haven’t really learnt anything new from using this technology because most of the things on there I have experience with.
I also used my LG memory stick to transfer work in between the two locations.
Throughout my production I equally used both InDesign and Photoshop CS3 which I have had experience in manipulating images but I don’t know everything such as cropping around images so learnt a little bit more about layers and how to fill in backgrounds.
Overall I have learnt a lot about technology throughout this project; before creating my magazine I'd never used InDesign or BlogSpot before. However I now feel quite confident in using all of them.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since creating my school magazine my knowledge of using Photoshop has increased considerably. For example now I know how to crop and manipulate images to high standards, and also how to work with layers. I have also learnt about the common conventions of normal magazines such as cover lines, images and main stories which I did not use in my preliminary school magazine. I have also researched into the quality standards of their main images which are often high so I decided to use a more professional camera and a more professional model which worked out well for my main product. My mis en scene techniques improved in my main product as I had actually researched the mis en scene of other similar magazines for example their shot sizes and how they were placed and the setting of the image if not fully cropped.
I believe that through my front cover I have improved in my ability to communicate with my audience which has been learnt from analysing different music genre magazines such as hip hop and their audience and finding relations in between the two. I learnt that appearance and the direct mode of dress are the most effective way of communicating with your audience which is what I had done on my main task. I already knew that presentational devices such as the use of colours, images and cover lines can help you attract your target audience but in my preliminary this was not expanded on so in the main task I improved on this.
Music Contents Page Production
In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I am challenging the common conventions for my contents page so far as I have taken into account the shot sizes of a common music magazine contents page which are medium shots which I have edited it so that it looks professional. My final contents page follows the same colour scheme as my front cover purple, white, black and red showing continuity throughout the pages which is as conventional for existing media products such as NME. The form of my contents is ordered but quite packed out which is common for contents pages as they have too produce a large amount of information to get the target reader ready for the magazine or persuade them to read on. The colour red connotes love and is a very strong colour so I used this as one of my main colours in order to draw in the reader so they can create this sort of passion towards it. I used these techniques in order to attract my target audience.
My choice of content is similar to many existing media products as it contains interviews with established artists as well as news, gossip, and top songs which is common within music magazines as it gives the reader a chance to get involved with the magazine.
How are you designing your media product to represent particular social groups?
My contents page contains 4 images, the first image is of a young boy pointing at the screen and this is a youthful pose which can attract the target audience by allowing them to think they are being pointed at(mainly the ladies) thinking ‘he wants me’. My second image represents the young women who are the target audience, and is an image of a young woman posing model like. This is attracting the target audience as they feel that they want to know more about this figure and relate to her in some sort of way. My third image is of two boys; one looking cool and the other looking stressed as this contrasts it represents the problems and benefits of being a youth as the image connotes two emotions, this also relates to my tow colours used; red and black as red connotes love and black connotes darkness or depression. My last image is of an Indian girl, the same one on my front cover and this is put there to represent the social group as well as to reinforce the fact that the reader can relate to the magazine and will attract the market.
How are you attracting/addressing your audience?
I am attracting the target audience by using the continuity of colour from the front cover on the contents page which may have the same effect. I have processed that by using unique magazine colours as you wouldn’t normally see a purple/burgundy colour on a magazine. Also on the contents page where the details of subscribing are, shows the price of it per month and they will calculate and see that it is the cheaper option which would attract the target audience. The used of the two colours on my title suggest to the audience that there is always two sides to everything i.e. music, life etc. which may interest the reader and allow them to become engaged in the magazine.
In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When looking through a variety of media products, I established a common convention in all of them was details of subscription. They often situated it on the contents which are intended to grab the reader at the beginning so as to immediately bring the idea of subscribing to the minds of the readers. I did this, placing the details in the bottom corner. I ensured that it was noticeable by again using bright colours however not taking up too much room of the page. I also added a small photo of the cover, which I found to be conventional with a lot of other subscription details in other media products.
The photos I used have been manipulated in some way or another using Photoshop and are related to the listed content as well as images that are attractive to the target audience. There are a variety of shots such as close ups and medium shots which suggests a sense of variation towards the reader which will be attractive. I positioned page numbers on most of the photos as this is a common convention in many magazines.
My double page spread is being designed so that the written story has the smallest part of the spread and at the same time doesn’t lack content. Most of the double page spreads I have researched have some dialogue with speech marks. I am making a bold title in order to stand out which most magazines do such as the Dizzy Rascal one above.
Music Magazine Double Page Spread Post –Production
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In my music magazine I have a bold title which is seen to be common on double page spread as my one state STRUT LIKE SABEENA in capital letters so it has an affect of catching the eye of the audience. I used the colour red for this title as it is a consistent colour in my magazine. The contact details for social networks are common in magazines so I enforced this idea into my magazine but making some original images and names. During research I found that a lot of magazines had some speech marks on some of the text. Common magazines usually just have a simple page to find the page their looking for but my magazine expands on this and does the different so here I challenge the common conventions. In music magazines the images or the main images used have someone that is facing the camera or in this case the reader.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Constructing my double page spread seemed to be the hardest in creating so I learnt a lot more during the process. I have improved on my current ability to use Photoshop, InDesign, and BlogSpot etc. In the creation of my double page spread so I feel even more confident with the programs. In InDesign I learnt about how images can be manipulated when placing them into the document and how to overcome this. I also increased my knowledge of the transformation tools and how to use them. In Photoshop I learnt a little more about saving images with layers on them and how to be able to place into another program and I also was corrected on my feathering when manipulating the photos because I usually don’t think about the pixels but I was told that the common one to be used should be 2 pixels.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Constructing my double page spread seemed to be the hardest in creating so I learnt a lot more during the process. I have improved on my current ability to use Photoshop, InDesign, and BlogSpot etc. In the creation of my double page spread so I feel even more confident with the programs. In InDesign I learnt about how images can be manipulated when placing them into the document and how to overcome this. I also increased my knowledge of the transformation tools and how to use them. In Photoshop I learnt a little more about saving images with layers on them and how to be able to place into another program and I also was corrected on my feathering when manipulating the photos because I usually don’t think about the pixels but I was told that the common one to be used should be 2 pixels.
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 the preliminary task I think I have learnt a lot dramatically as I believe when I started I had a creative knowledge but since then it has expanded to a more professional level. I have expanded my skills on manipulating images and saving them as well as using tools on InDesign to create my product. I have also learnt more about analysing and the connotations of the images so I can adapt it to my work.
How are you designing your media product to represent particular social groups?
I am designing my music magazine so that it represents my target audience which are youths specifically girls and Indians. My page numbers will not be the common number at the bottom, I’m placing my numbers on an image which I created which is meant to be a dhol drum and I am doing this because a dhol drum can be associated with Indians. The drum represents this social group and will do so on every page in the magazine. The poses in my images are youthful poses and she is there to represent the youths especially the woman although male are to be the minority. I am putting some contact details on the spread of Sabeena and these are social network sites which represent youths.
How are you attracting/addressing your audience?
I am attracting my audience by the images I have used and the icons featuring on the page. My images and icons on my double page spread are being placed so that it will appeal to them. My images are of the same girl that was on my front cover and on my contents page as well. All four of my images on my double page spread are of the same person and this relates to my story.
I am attracting my audience by using colours that stand out in a bright way and in a unique way and is not really used a lot and this can be my magazines unique selling point as well as it being a Bhangra magazine. My story is being designed so that the audience is targeted and form the visual appearance my story shows that it is about a video which is what interests youths these days.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I also learnt a few more new tricks on InDesign even though it is not big I learnt how to rotate images manually and automatically.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since my preliminary task I have learnt that contents page in media products may take as much detail and as much time as the front cover. I have improved on my learning of media products such as these as well as the technologies used to create them. In my preliminary contents page I imply took images and put them anywhere on my page without giving them much thought.
The same as my front cover I believe that through my contents page I have improved in my ability to communicate with my audience which has been learnt from analysing different music genre magazines contents pages such as NME and their audience and finding relations in between the two. I learnt that attractive images are the most effective way of communicating with your audience which is what I had done on my main task. I already knew that presentational devices such as the use of colours, images and cover lines can help you attract your target audience but in my preliminary this was not expanded on so in the main task I improved on this.
Music Magazine Double Page Spread Production
In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I am challenging the common conventions for my double page spread so far as I have taken into account the layout of a common music magazine double page spread which usually have from about 4 or more images with one main big one. My final double page spread follows the same colour scheme as my front cover purple, white, black and red showing continuity throughout the pages which is as conventional for existing media products such as NME. The form of my contents is ordered similarly to the dizzy rascal NME double page spread below as I have one main image which covers the whole page:
Front Cover Evaluation
For my music magazine I worked with the genre of Bhangra music which I have hardly any knowledge of, at first I didn’t want to work with that particular genre because there were others that I would have liked but I soon came to realise that if I want to work within the media industry or any others I am going to have to do tasks that I don’t particularly like so I came to the conclusion that I would research to the best of my ability to create a fantastic music magazine.
When researching especially fro my target audience I looked at websites such as;
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product challenges the common conventions of a real music magazine as it includes things such as the barcode, the price, the issue, the website and even the date. It also features prize giveaways and competitions. It contains an image where the model for my front cover has a huge relation to the target audience and is posed in a way to attract the audience.
In normal magazines it is common for the genre to have a huge relation to the main image for example; a hip hop magazine will have an image of someone wearing all the ‘bling’ they could possibly have with the artist or person having tattoos and posing like a gangster and not showing any happy emotions. As mine is Bhangra I had decided that something in my image should relate to Indians and in my case I had my model pose in traditional Indian clothing which I have placed in my magazine front cover.
My media product fits with the forms and conventions of a real media product. When I found out that I was working with the Bhangra genre I had to research into what Bhangra music was and what type of shots or iconography they used in their media especially the magazines. From research I often found that the model or artists would wear traditional clothing and men would pose as if they were cool and the women would pose signifying a sexual appeal. I found that in most music magazines the main image appears as a medium shot. This relates to John Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ as men look, women appear, women watch themselves being looked at and this shows women’s presence as a sense of being appreciated by others – ultimately men but in the fact the women watch themselves being looked at that will be the majority of the target audience and a minority men.
For the masthead of my magazine I used “IMPACT” as my font for the title “DHOL OUT!” section I stuck to the colours black, white and red because these colours seem to be the colours that are common in most magazines. The “DHOL OUT!” section of my masthead follows the codes and conventions of some existing magazines. For example it could be compared to “NME”, in the sense that this masthead is also bold, red and surrounded by a black box. My Slogan or brand identity “The Bhangra Bible” also uses the colours red and white which are common conventions of a magazine.
The mis-en-scene of my images followed the codes and conventions of music magazines. This is because; most magazines that have posed images often use plain backgrounds with a plain colour which are common such as grey, white and black so I used a purple and black gradient background. However I challenge the common conventions as I use a purple colour which is unique and was my initial plan, which was to make my music magazine a unique selling point and in this way it will be attractive to the audience. This is similar to what NME do but they tend to use dark colours. This image also follows the common conventions of a woman’s magazine as it is seen that females think they are all beautiful or act like it.
My image is of an Indian girl and she is dressed in Indian traditional clothing which is unique for any music magazine which relates to the colour purple on a music magazine. The girl is young singer who relates to my target audience. However the target audience is teenagers with a slight bias towards Indians and females. Using this girl as my model for my front cover will allow the audience to relate to the main singer and aspire to be like them as the target audience are more likely to be interested in the magazine than say if there was a English Man as the main image so the audience can relate to it especially Indians as it is a Indian (Bhangra) magazine.
I created my title ‘DHOL OUT!’ in a red bold font which was IMPACT and this follows common conventions as most magazines use straight and bold fonts, however I used another font before this one which challenged the conventions as it was a more bubbly and curvy font but because the font was only present on my personal laptop I could not transfer it to the software in college so I decided to changed the fonts to ones which were mutual.
Overall, I think that my media product develops and challenge forms and conventions of real media products. My media products look like a real media product. Therefore, I created it so that it looks professional and realistic and used the forms and conventions used in real products.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Although the music genre of my magazine has a dominant representation of a specific ethnicity which is Indians as the music of Bhangra originates from the Punjabi region it also usually represents the youths as the music is lively and bubbly so my magazine chooses to represent these aspects. My photography represents both of these social groups and can be associated with both groups. I looked at other magazines and images to see what a youthful pose looks like and had many different types of poses. The way my model is dressed will also represent the social group; this is the traditional Indian clothing which are highly identified on Indians. The colours I used will also do this.
I designed my media product to represent the different social groups as my main image is of a young girl who is Indian. These are the social groups that I am so far representing in my media product and these can be easily identified. The young girl is pretty with a clear face and a nice body which all young girls would want so this is the best way to attract them and by looking at the models facial expressions you can tell she is out going and who everyone wants to be. Also the colours I am using on my media product are associated with the Indian tradition so it represents them.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think Media institutions such as Bauer Media and BBC magazines will be the best and most reasonable to distribute my music magazine because as leading magazine major distributors I think this magazine would be a unique selling point for them as it is rare to find a Bhangra music magazine because I know I never acknowledged one before my research. This will also allow my music magazine to be charged at any price as they have monopoly; however a charge too high will result in low sales, so I would suggest a reasonable price. Bauer Media has a worldwide circulation and have expanded into different markets so introducing this magazine could reach the target audience in the 16 countries they are already located in. They also have many television and radio broadcasting channels such as Box television which the magazine could take advantage of by using it to advertise. I also think that it could be distributed at media stores such as Virgin or HMV as the target audience will be able to get quick access at these stores.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my music magazine would be teenagers or youths aged from around 16 -24 based on the fact that they like socialising and partying which all relates to the ideology of this magazine. Also I am going to aim this music magazine at Indians as seeing one of their own will be a great way to appeal to them as it relates to culture and being proud of their culture. This magazine has a slight bias towards Indians as it is based on their own culture of music so they would be the potential buyers and most things in the magazine will relate to them. It also has a slight bias towards young females as well.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I am attracting my audience by using colours that stand out but not in a bright way but in a way that the colour is unique and is not really used a lot and this can be my magazines unique selling point as well as it being a Bhangra magazine. I am using the colour burgundy to attract my audience as it is a popular unique colour which people don’t use everyday so to go with its unique selling point as a Bhangra magazine I am attracting my audience so that it stands out to them. I am also selling the music magazine at a price of £2.50 which suggests that the audience will be able to afford it because it is a reasonable price for a unique magazine as this is the amount they would spend on a meal or some cosmetic items but this can connote a mental cosmetic item as it could attract them because of their relation with the main character/image. The colours I used such as black, red, white and purple are also attracting my audience as these are the common colours that are used and can be identified with the target audience.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the creation of my front cover I have learnt a lot about technologies and they have helped me and improved my media product.
I used my school PC’s to create some of my work on especially the Photoshop work but I used my RM laptop at home to create most of the InDesign work. I haven’t really learnt anything new from using this technology because most of the things on there I have experience with.
I also used my LG memory stick to transfer work in between the two locations.
Throughout my production I equally used both InDesign and Photoshop CS3 which I have had experience in manipulating images but I don’t know everything such as cropping around images so learnt a little bit more about layers and how to fill in backgrounds.
Overall I have learnt a lot about technology throughout this project; before creating my magazine I'd never used InDesign or BlogSpot before. However I now feel quite confident in using all of them.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since creating my school magazine my knowledge of using Photoshop has increased considerably. For example now I know how to crop and manipulate images to high standards, and also how to work with layers. I have also learnt about the common conventions of normal magazines such as cover lines, images and main stories which I did not use in my preliminary school magazine. I have also researched into the quality standards of their main images which are often high so I decided to use a more professional camera and a more professional model which worked out well for my main product. My mis en scene techniques improved in my main product as I had actually researched the mis en scene of other similar magazines for example their shot sizes and how they were placed and the setting of the image if not fully cropped.
I believe that through my front cover I have improved in my ability to communicate with my audience which has been learnt from analysing different music genre magazines such as hip hop and their audience and finding relations in between the two. I learnt that appearance and the direct mode of dress are the most effective way of communicating with your audience which is what I had done on my main task. I already knew that presentational devices such as the use of colours, images and cover lines can help you attract your target audience but in my preliminary this was not expanded on so in the main task I improved on this.
Contents page Evaluation
In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I have challenged the common conventions for my contents page so far as I have taken into account the shot sizes of a common music magazine contents page which are medium shots which I have edited it so that it looks professional. My final contents page follows the same colour scheme as my front cover purple, white, black and red showing continuity throughout the pages which is as conventional for existing media products such as NME. The form of my contents is ordered but quite packed out which is common for contents pages as they have too produce a large amount of information to get the target reader ready for the magazine or persuade them to read on. The colour red connotes love and is a very strong colour so I used this as one of my main colours in order to draw in the reader so they can create this sort of passion towards it. I used these techniques in order to attract my target audience.
My choice of content is similar to many existing media products as it contains interviews with established artists as well as news, gossip, and top songs which is common within music magazines as it gives the reader a chance to get involved with the magazine.
When looking through a variety of media products, I established a common convention in all of them was details of subscription. They often situated it on the contents which are intended to grab the reader at the beginning so as to immediately bring the idea of subscribing to the minds of the readers. I did this, placing the details in the bottom corner. I ensured that it was noticeable by again using bright colours however not taking up too much room of the page. I also added a small photo of the cover, which I found to be conventional with a lot of other subscription details in other media products.
The photos I used have been manipulated in some way or another using Photoshop and are related to the listed content as well as images that are attractive to the target audience. There are a variety of shots such as close ups and medium shots which suggests a sense of variation towards the reader which will be attractive. I positioned page numbers on most of the photos as this is a common convention in many magazines.
How are you designing your media product to represent particular social groups?
My contents page contains 4 images, the first image is of the young girl that appears on my front cover and this is a youthful pose which can attract the target audience as it reinforces their relationship with her and can attract them even more, as well as be a representation of the social group I am targeting. My second image represents the young women who are the target audience, and is an image of a young woman posing model like. This is attracting the target audience as they feel that they want to know more about this figure and relate to her in some sort of way. My third image is of two boys; one looking cool and the other looking stressed as this contrasts it represents the problems and benefits of being a youth as the image connotes two emotions, this also relates to my tow colours used; red and black as red connotes love and black connotes darkness or depression. My last image is of boy who is pointing and he is part of my attraction to the magazine as my main audience targets females this male will attract them and he is pointing at the readers as if he will be indirectly talking to each individual in the market. This represents the theory that women have no control and men have all the control in relationships. It also represents the feminist theory that woman should be subservient to men. However David Gauntlett argues that women who are represented in media are often successful due to the rise of ‘girl power’.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think Media institutions such as Bauer Media and BBC magazines will be the best and most reasonable to distribute my music magazine contents page because as leading magazine major distributors I think this magazine would be a unique selling point for them as it is rare to find Bhangra music. This will also allow my music magazine to be charged at any price as they have monopoly; however a charge too high will result in low sales. Bauer Media has a worldwide circulation and have expanded into different markets so introducing this magazine could reach the target audience in the 16 countries they are already located in. They also have many television and radio broadcasting channels such as Box television which the magazine could take advantage of by using it to advertise. I also think that it could be distributed at media stores such as Virgin or HMV as the target audience will be able to get quick access at these stores. For example Rupert Murdoch of News corporation owns a wide range of media and if he decides to enter a new product he has the control to automatically make it popular reaching his target audience.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my music magazine would be teenagers or youths aged from around 16 -24 based on the fact that they like socialising and partying which all relates to the ideology of this magazine. Also I am going to aim this music magazine at Indians as seeing one of their own will be a great way to appeal to them as it relates to culture and being proud of their culture. This magazine has a slight bias towards Indians as it is based on their own culture of music so they would be the potential buyers and most things in the magazine will relate to them. It also has a slight bias towards young females as well.
How did you attracting/addressing your audience?
I am attracting the target audience by using the continuity of colour from the front cover on the contents page which may have the same effect. I have processed that by using unique magazine colours as you wouldn’t normally see a purple/burgundy colour on a magazine. Also on the contents page where the details of subscribing are, shows the price of it per month and they will calculate and see that it is the cheaper option which would attract the target audience. On the subscribing section is my fourth image mentioned earlier and the attraction which was also mentioned. I placed it in this section because it’s as if he is individually pointing out the market persuading them to subscribe. The used of the two colours on my title suggest to the audience that there is always two sides to everything i.e. music, life etc. which may interest the reader and allow them to become engaged in the magazine.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I also learnt a few more new tricks on InDesign even though it is not big I learnt how to rotate images manually and automatically.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since my preliminary task I have learnt that contents page in media products may take as much detail and as much time as the front cover. I have improved on my learning of media products such as these as well as the technologies used to create them. In my preliminary contents page I imply took images and put them anywhere on my page without giving them much thought.
The same as my front cover I believe that through my contents page I have improved in my ability to communicate with my audience which has been learnt from analysing different music genre magazines contents pages such as NME and their audience and finding relations in between the two. I learnt that attractive images are the most effective way of communicating with your audience which is what I had done on my main task. I already knew that presentational devices such as the use of colours, images and cover lines can help you attract your target audience but in my preliminary this was not expanded on so in the main task I improved on this.
Double Page Spread Evaluation
In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I challenged the common conventions for my double page spread as I have taken into account the layout of a common music magazine double page spread which usually have from about 4 or more images with one main big one. My final double page spread follows the same colour scheme as my front cover purple, white, black and red showing continuity throughout the pages which is as conventional for existing media products such as NME. The form of my contents is ordered similarly to the dizzy rascal NME double page spread below as I have one main image which covers the whole page:
My double page spread is being designed so that the written story has the smallest part of the spread and at the same time doesn’t lack content. Most of the double page spreads I have researched have some dialogue with speech marks. I am making a bold title in order to stand out which most magazines do such as the Dizzy Rascal one above.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I designed my music magazine so that it represents my target audience which are youths specifically girls and Indians. My page numbers will not be the common number at the bottom, instead I’m placing my numbers on an image which I created which is meant to be a dhol drum and I am doing this because a dhol drum can be associated with Indians. The drum represents this social group and will do so on every page in the magazine. The poses in my images are youthful poses and she is there to represent the youths especially the woman although male are to be the minority. I am putting some contact details on the spread of Sabeena and these are social network sites which represent youths.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think Media institutions such as Bauer Media and BBC magazines will be the best and most reasonable to distribute my music magazine because as leading magazine major distributors I think this magazine would be a unique selling point for them as it is rare to find a Bhangra music magazine. This will also allow my music magazine to be charged at any price as they have monopoly; however a charge too high will result in low sales. Bauer Media has a worldwide circulation and have expanded into different markets so introducing this magazine could reach the target audience in the 16 countries they are already located in. They also have many television and radio broadcasting channels such as Box television which the magazine could take advantage of by using it to advertise. I also think that it could be distributed at media stores such as Virgin or HMV as the target audience will be able to get quick access at these stores.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my music magazine would be teenagers or youths aged from around 16 -24 based on the fact that they like socialising and partying which all relates to the ideology of this magazine. Also I am going to aim this music magazine at Indians as seeing one of their own will be a great way to appeal to them as it relates to culture and being proud of their culture. This magazine has a slight bias towards Indians as it is based on their own culture of music so they would be the potential buyers and most things in the magazine will relate to them. It also has a slight bias towards young females as well.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by using I am attracting the target audience by using the continuity of colour from the front cover and the contents page which may have the same effect. I have processed my double page spread so that it will attract the audience using an unusual background with smoke behind it. This will attract the audience as it has a smoke background and smoke connotes as something exciting or dangerous which would persuade the reader to read the text. On my pages the page numbers are not the usual ones but they are placed in a dhol drum which Is associated with the target audience and because they can identify it, it will be attractive to them. My other images also represent Indians and youths and seeing someone like them is attractive for the audience as they will read the text thinking that they can relate to them.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Designing my double page spread wasn’t really challenging in terms of technology because throughout my front cover and double page spread I had took on board all the difficulties of technology being used. InDesign was quite easy to use in the process of my double page spread; however I learnt how to use different options such as the effect one where I used the transparency tool as well as some shadows.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since my preliminary task I have learnt that in media products the front cover, double page spread and contents page all take as much work as each other. I have improved on my learning of media products such as these as well as the technologies used to create them. In my preliminary contents page I imply took images and put them anywhere on my page without giving them much thought.
Everything you do when creating a magazine, has to take into account targeting the audience.
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