Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

The first task I was set was to produce a school magazine and contents page. For my school magazine I made numerous creative decisions that would fit in with the genre of the magazine. The creative descions I had to consider were:

-Location of the pictures

-Name of the magazine

-Props

-Contents of the magazine

-Coverlines

-Colour scheme

These things would have to link in with the school genre which I tried my best to create.

My preliminary task was to create a school magazine front cover and contents page which is shown above. With the school genre I had to carefully consider what type of cover lines and images were to be included in the magazine. I learnt that the type of magazine has to link in with the pictures and information in the magazine. Before doing this task I had little experience on Photoshop and in design and so this magazine does not show the full potential of skills that I have learnt on Photoshop after making this magazine. To create this background I used my school logo and stretched it across the page, and then I used the gradient tool to create the faded effect. On top of this I then placed the picture of my model. Making the cover lines I found out that a typical technique of magazines was to increase the size of certain words to make them stand out. For the contents page I learnt that magazines set their contents pages into columns and so I split mine into three different sections. In each section is different headings which give an idea of what is inside the magazine. I used the same colour scheme throughout which is maroon, blue and cream to link the two pages together.
From this magazine I learnt:
-Different tools and effects on Photoshop
- How to put cover lines onto a magazine-How to split a page into columns
-Different text effect
-Picture editing

This is my music magazine; it is a chart magazine and required different elements than my school magazine because they are two different genres. On this magazine I added a barcode, price, date and issue number which is a typical element of real media products. As well as this I learnt how to add stickers onto the magazine which says ‘voted #1 UK chart magazine 2010’ this is to entice people to buy and read my magazine and is used on many famous music magazines. This type of image involved me linking two layers together which I had learnt to do. With my contents page I split the page into 3 columns but made the second column double up, the reason I did this is because I wanted to have the large image which is used to advertise my magazines double page spread.
Through this magazine I have learnt:
-How to edit text further-How to add stickers onto the magazine
-How to overlap text
-How to use Indesign-How to link layers together on Photoshop
-How to put colours behind images (contents page)

This is my double page spread which is something I did not create for my preliminary task. This was new for me and so I had to learn from the beginning how to create a double page spread. First of all I learnt how to split the page into 6 columns, I placed the text and just pasted it into one the text boxes. By doing this a red cross showed up at the bottom of the page which enabled me to transfer the text into the next text boxes until no more were needed. I learnt how to place a picture in Indesign by 'placing' a picture. I also learnt that you had to change the quality of the page to high so that the pictures did not blur. A typical feature of a double page spread is having a drop caps which I learnt to do. There was a tool in the tool bar of indesign that allowed me to adjust the size of this. I found this size was the best as it still stood out but did not over power the double page spread.

Through making my double page spread I learnt:

- How to add text and pictures

- How to set it out like a double page spread

- Layer text

- Add background

- Make and add pull quotes

OVERALL...

Evaluation Question 6

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

Creating a magazine can be a very complex process for those who are not used to the kind of software involved in making a magazine. Before s

tarting this task I had never used photoshop, indesign, taken professional pictures or used an apple mac meaning I had to use a combination of initiative and online tutorials to help me along the way.

PHOTOSHOP
This programme is used by professionals who make magazines. They use all types of tools in this software such as:
-the patch tool

-the clone tool

-colour picker-image adjustm

ents

They use these tools to create professional pictures and make the magazine look unique stylish.
Just like them I also used photoshop to edit photos, create coverlines and the overall image of my magazine and contents page.
For example this is a picture taken from my contents page which shows the adjustments I have made in order to make this colour.

At first photoshop was hard to get used to and was very time consuming, but after continuous practice and research into different tutorials I soon got the hang of it and was able to complete many different effects for my magazine.

INDESIGN

After using photoshop I began to use Indesign to create my double page spread. I found this much easier to use than photoshop because there was less tools and an easier layout. However having less tool

s did pose a few problems such as filling in text boxes, most of the time I would have to creat text and picture edits on photoshop then save and place them into indesign. This was very time consuming but was the only way to get pictures onto the double page spread.

Indesign made it easy to split my double page spread into 6 collumns which is typical of any double page spread it a magazine. It was therefore easy to place the text to fit into 6 collums. By using the different effects such a text wrapping it was easy to put pictures on my double page spread without covering any text.




As you can see from this screen grab I put my double page spread over three collumns and then spread the text over the other three. I have added pull quotes which I made in photoshop and then placed them into indesign.



APPLE MAC

Before creating my magazine I had never used an apple mac before so getting used to this computor was difficult at first. However once I got the hang of it, it was easy to use and helped to create my magazine and double page spread. The large screen made it easy to seen what I was doing in detail and the screen grabs enabled me to show the process of me making my magazine.








NIXON CAMERA


This is a Nixon D8O DSLR which I used to take my pictures for my magazine. I used this camera as it had a 10 mega pixel quality to it and a good zoom range. It gave my pictures a quality to them, these are the type of camera that professionals use. Some of my pictures did come out blurry because I did not have a tripod and the camera was quite heavy and difficult to steady.

Other programmes I used to help with my media coursework was google and you tube which is where I got pictures, videos and information from real media products.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine is mainly aimed at the male teenage generation and so I tried to incorporate as many language and image devices to attract reader is to buy my magazine. Firstly I used the colour scheme of blue gold and white. Blue is a masculine colour and so I thought this would make it obvious and attract the male teenagers to buy the magazine. Using the addition of gold and white meant I did not segregate the female population entirely.

The mode of adress on my magazine is quite relaxed there is no complex language due to the readership age of my magazine. The colour scheme and style of the magazine is not over complicated, this means that teenagers will find it easy to read.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is teenage boys around 13-16, whilst researching on UK tribe these would come under the heading mainstreamers. Which can include Ravers, Townies, Chavs, Boy Racers, Sports Junkies, Street Rats & Casuals.

This is a summary of the mainstreamer's interests...

It shows that these type of boys enjoy the television and shopping in high street stores such as River Island. The left hand side picture shows that these boys are quite heavy on magazine reading however the only put off here is that they are mainly reading magazines that include female women in them, even though my magazine is a music magazine I have included a poster of a female artist (as shown below) to attract male readers. On the other hand there is a lack of young male magazines which could be the reason for them not reading music ones. They are also heavy on radio showing they have key interests in the mainstream music.

Here I have drawn a cartoon picture of what my ideal reader would look like. They are wearing a baseball cap, a branded hoodie, jeans and nike trainers. This therefore does fit in with the interests UK tribe provided as they want to look good and fresh by wearing clothing with designer lables on them.

Evaluation Question 3

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

In the magazine industry there are two main companies that produce magazines, these are:

IPC MEDIA - This company produces two music magazines; NME and UNCUT.

This is the companies logo - (visit their website at http://www.ipcmedia.com/)

BAEUR MEDIA - This company produces three main music magazines; Kerrang, Mojo and Q.
This is the companies logo - (visit their website athttp://www.bauermedia.co.uk/)

In the past Bauer Mediaproduced the music magazine Smash Hits which would have been the main competitor with my magazine. This magazine is no longer made and therefore there is an opening for this type of magazine in the market.

As it stands my magazines main competitor is TOP OF THE POPS which is produced by the BBC.

This is mymain compeotitor because the genre of this magazine is also chart music. Its target audience aims towards teenage girls which is represented through the pink and purple colour scheme and also the male artists included on the front of the magazine. The bbc describe this magazine as

"Every issue is packed with amazing star gossip, plus hot fashion and beauty advice, sexy lads, and side-splitting cringes. Take a personality quiz to find out more about yourself, check your horoscope, sing along to our songwords, or simply pop an exclusive poster on your bedroom wall."

From the simplistic languageused here for example "sexy lads" shows that this magazine is aimed towards teenage girls whowill want to read about heart throbs like Justin Bieber.

Over the years it has become increasingly easier to make magazines meaning the number of entrants to this market has increased dramatically. However not all magazines that enter the market get past the introduction stage of a products life cyclewhich is why the magazine industry is a niche market. Magazines are in the niche market because they are specific products for specific market needs; it considers the price of the magazine, production quality and also the demographics that it intends to impact. Amagazine used to be very costly to make and distribute because computors and their software were expensive as well as the printing costs. However as technology has advanced it has become increasingly easier and cheaper to produce magazines. With the help from CAD, editing software and top of the range computors magazines can be made at a quicker speed (time is money) the less time it takes to make the more time you have to sell the magazine.Email and faxing has allowed companies to send their finished products straight to the printer. Companies will usually send their magazine to the printer near where they want to distribute to reduce transport costs.

I think that Bauer Media would be the right media institution to distribute my magazine because as it stands they currently have 3 MENS music magazines and nothing that focuses on the younger boys. Q focuses on the biggest stars in the business and also includes sport and comedy in their magazine; it uses complex language in order to target the older male market. Mojo focuses onclassic bands and soul music featuring bands such as the beetles and radiohead. Kerrang is a rock magazine and so includes bands such as slip knot and metallica. As you can see Bauer Media do not publish any chart magazines and therefore I feel there is a gap in the market. All three of Bauer magazines have been successful and so with the right direction I feel SYNC magazine could be a real hit with the younger generation.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As you can see my image on my front cover has similarities to Q's magazines. The model Brandon Flowers is wearing a black suit with a neck tie; although he is faced at an angle he is still looking directly to the camera. With my image I also placed my model at an angle and got him to look straight at the camera. The reason I did this was so that it connected with the readers. If the image was looking at them when they picked up the magazine then they would feel more 'connected' with the magazine and therefore buy it. This is a technique used by all magazines which helps to sell their magazines. The lighting on my image is darker than the other image, this is because the background is black and so I lit the image to give it a glow and define him from the darker background. Q did not need to do this as the image has been placed on a white background and so it is already light. My models facial expression is similar to that of Q's magazine it is a straight serious image portraying that my artist is serious about music. This photoshoot was taken in a bedroom, it was hard to edit some of the items out of the shot and so making it darker helped to blank out some of the background. He is holding onto the beam in the bedroom with his body positioned in the openings of the beam. So that it did not weird having the photoshoot in the bedroom on my double page spread I placed a caption by the picture which said he wanted the photoshoot here so that his fans could see the real him.

Both magazines possess a male artist on the front however this does not mean that the gender is one sided. Q magazines main reader is male at 68% with the percentage of women reading Q magazine at 32%. Even though my magazine is not gender based I feel that it would appeal more to males due to the blue colourings however so that females are not left out I used gold and white colours to add a feminine touch. The reader age of my magazine differs with Q magazine. Q magazine has an average reader age of 29 whereas mine is 16. This is because teenagers are mostly into mainstream music, aiming this at the older generation would not be appropriate as they prefer more complex language and mature bands, whereas my magazine focuses on artists in the charts which the older generation may not necessarily know or heard of.

Evaluation Question 1

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

The music magazine market is very competitive; meaning it was easy for me to look at the wide varitey of magazines and take certain ideas into account for my own music magazine. Looking at other music magazines allowed me to create a brand identity that would appeal specifically to its genre and the type of people who would be reading the magazine.

This is the title for my music magazine 'Sync'. When creating the identity for my magazine I wanted something short and catchy which would fit in with the music scene which is when I came up with 'sync'. This masthead is usually assosiated with mp3 players when you sync your music to your computor; this opened up a varitey of opportunities for me as I could offer things such as free mp3 downloads which would fit in with the mast head of the magazine. This sort of promotion would be used to entice readers to buy the magazine. I went with the colour blue for the masthead as it is quite a universal colour, it is a prodominent colour throughout my magazine with the addtion of white and gold to give it that feminine touch and not single out any one gender. I added a line under this elegant type face to draw attention and define the title. I used the eraser tool on photoshop to erase the line which orignally went over the 'y' of 'sync'. The black background of the mast head helps the text to stand out more which again draws attention to it. The other 4 famous magazine names show the similarities between my magazine and my

This is my magazines strapline; using 'sync' as my magazine name gave me the opportunity to play on the word 'sync'. Sync has connotations of being informed or in the know which meant I could use 'Be in SYNC with today's top charts' playing on the word sync allowed me to make this slogan catchy and fun. It informs readers of the genre of my magazine by using the word 'chart' giving away that it is a chart magazine. Similarly other music magazines such as billboard use 'experience the buzz' and VIBE which uses 'real rap'.

This sticker is a unique selling point for my magazine as it was voted number one UK chart Magazine 2010. To be voted something such as this means it must be good which will then entice people to buy the magazine. I made this sticker on photoshop by selecting the eliptical tool which allowed me to draw the cirlce shape. I then pressed ctrl and the back space to fill in the cirlce black. To give me the blue outline I put a drop shadow on it and created a new style which then allowed me to choose the colour and opacity of the outline. As you can see the outline is the same colour as the mast head which links its house style together. The font I used was 'love ya like a sister' I felt this font gave the magazine a quirky look as it is not your basic arial font. I used a hash (#) instead of using number because this gave the magazine a younger feel and also meant the text fitted much more comfortably within the sticker.

I used this idea from other magazines which used the same style and layout....

The magazines above use the same style as the sticker I used; it enables the magazine to either promote whats inside the magazine or state any awards the magazine may have done. It is easily readable and will draw attention for the reader. The idea is that the will see the image and want to read inside the magazine.

This is the main image and coverlines of my magazine; this is typical of any magazine in which they use coverlines to promote the magazines contents. I have three main coverlines on the magazine 'exclusive interviews' 'uk TOP 40' and 'Your chance to win an Apple Ipad'. The UK top 40 also suggests that this is a chart magazine. This is an abrieviation of the UK top 40 music charts; those interested in this sort of magazine will have seen this before and therfore know what it means however it could entice those who want to know what the UK top 40 is. Linking in with the music theme there is an offer to win and Apple Ipad which is also a music device. I have a wide variety of exclusive interviews again used to entice readers. There are exclusive and so can only be read in my magazine. My artist is wearing a smart grey suit, by changing the lighting the suit has been made to look almost gold like. It is hear that I colour picked his suit to get the golden colours for certain text and images. The full image is of him holding a beam with his left hand and looking at the camera. This enabled me to define his chin line giving the photo that professional look.

These three magazines also have their coverlines down the left hand side; this is typical for magazines. Like my image it is placed towards the right hand side of the page so that the coverlines stand out more. As well as this you will find that most artists are looking directly towards the camera lense. This is a technique used so that when someone picks up the magazine the image is looking at them drawing them in. I tried to use the same technique in my magazine even though my artist is placed at an angle.

This is the lower half of my magazine; it shows the main headline of the magazine with a section of the double page spread printed just beneath it used as a lure. When readers see this they may think to themselves 'what was he being saved from?' and therefore will buy and read the magazine. Sebastian and Gold are in two different fonts. The Sebastian has been put in a bold font with a silver chromed effect which is similar to the Gold which is in a gold colour which therefore represents the name well. At first this text was plain but I felt it just looked as if it was pasted onto the magazine so using this effect gives it a 3D feel. At the bottom of the page is another strap line which shows the other artists included in the magazine. The font 'courier' is prodominent throughtout the magazine. This is similar to other magazines which use a specific font and use it throughout their magazine. The strapline at the bottom is used by numerous magazine such as Kerrang and NME to promote the contents of the magazine.

This is an example from Kerrang magazine using a strapline to show the artists that are included in the magazine. The type of artists represent the type of magazine it is.

Here is a narated video of my contents page

My double page spread still represents my unified house style. I have used the same golden colour throughout and lightened the 's' and 'g' so that it stands out. I have used pull quotes which is a typical convention of any magazine. These quotes will entice the reader into reading the double page spread.

This is an example from an real magazine, it shows how other magazines also use this techinque to draw readers in. The idea is to use the most interesting phrases which will therefore interest the reader into reading the whole double page spread to find out what it is talking about.

This is my drops caps and a drops caps from NME magazine; as you can see they are presented in the same style. You enlarge the first letter of the article to start it off, almost like a guidence for the reader. They know that this is where the article starts from. This feature is used by almost every magazine because it makes the article look much more attractive to readers and so this is why I chose to use it on my double page spread.

This is my music magazine compared with my school magazine, as you can see they have been made in different styles because the theme of the magazine is different