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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?)
Front Cover
In my front cover research I looked at many different types of music magazine, trying to make sure they all associate around similar genres of rap, hip-hop and R&B unless I couldn't manage to find them. Whilst I was analysing magazine covers, I was realising of certain features that we're being repeated, such as the cover being colour scheme pacific and always having the writing, image, and colours match up to look attractive to the reader. The cover lines tended to not all be one colour, they changed colour and used eye catching ideas such as alternating the colours to attract the audience.
I didn't really know what features would attract the audience, but I chose to use features that attracted me like a good colour scheme that contrasted the background colour but also complimented other features on the page. The result of this is that the audience will be invited in by the cover and feel compelled to read the information available on the cover and this should mean that the audience will read on through the magazine.
I also considered the size and placement of the image or images on the front cover. Most front covers would use one large image, and would vary the types of shots use, as you could have a long shot, mid shot or even a close up and they would all be large images and fill up the page and catching the eye of the audience, hence attracting them to take interest of the information on the front cover and within the magazine.
The effective use of space on the front cover was one of the features I noticed as well. There was never a space on the page that wasn't used. There was so much information being packed onto each front cover than some of the text was having to be placed on images so that it could actually be put on the page because all the other space was taken up. In some cases this meant that the page was too pack but the writing wasn't completely so packed onto the page that you couldn't read it, it was enough to add mystery from a cover line or an image which would reel in the audience to find out what was going on with the celebrity who was the cover image or what the cover line was describing.
Contents Page
In my research on contents pages, I found that they were not much like a front cover. They would normally have a title of the magazine or a title "Contents" and then would have a large image and maybe a column or two of stories describing the articles and stories available within the magazine. The colours weren't particularly eccentric but the writing would contrast the background colour and the important information would stand out from the background colour.
I chose to stick to a background which was light and would be able to use dark writing that would easily contrast the background colour, as well as helping me stick to my colour scheme of using red and black so therefore it also linked the colour scheme from the front cover to the contents page. The strength of this was that the writing would be stand out and catch the eye of the audience and hence they will pay attention to the writing and take the information in that is on the page and guide them self through the magazine to the stories they want to read.
I chose to also use a large image on my contents page. Using the large image allows me to use it to catch the attention of the audience and then the audience will pay attention to the page, and will look for the story surrounding the celebrity in the picture. The strength of this is the audience will be attracted in by the image on the page and then the image will draw attention to the other features on the page which have the relevant information like the column of text. I chose to put the image in the centre of the page to be in the best place to catch the eye of the audience and a strength is that the audience is further invited into the page.
The column of text was a mixed bunch, where some contents had used one big column with big writing, some had use a smaller column with smaller writing, others use two medium sized columns with medium writing and this meant I had a large variety of layouts. I chose to go for two thin tall columns, one column on each side of the image. This means that the image can attract the audience then the audience will notice the columns either side and look at and absorb the information available for the audience on the page.
The title on other contents page is always at the top and may be aligned in the centre, on the right or left. I chose to make my title no different and make the text large and align it to the left side of the page, because typically my target audience will read the page left to right so therefore if I place my title at the top of the page on the left, it is the first thing they see and will immediately let them know this is a contents page. The title is simple and named "Contents..." and it isn't there to be glamorous or make the page look unique, it simply lets the audience know this is the contents page and they can find out where certain stories are within the magazine, and a strength of this is that the audience will be informed of all the information they need to know from this page and the title helps them acknowledge it.
The sell line from the contents page is on top of this page and it is there because it offers an element of continuity within the magazine, as well as reminding the audience what magazine they are reading. The strength of this is that it makes the magazine flow better and and also raise awareness of the magazine which will result in more sales via of friends talking about the magazine via word of mouth.
Double Page Spread
In my research of double page spreads I didn't manage to find examples that were all specific to the genres that I had used for the previous front covers and contents that I had used. So therefore some of the double page spreads that I have found represent different genres like rock and pop and may help me better with reaching a different target audience. Therefore these features can still make a good contents page but may appeal to an audience of a different music taste, age and possibly gender.
The titles on the double page spreads had variations of how they were set out. There were titles that were over the top of the two pages, there layouts which had one title on one page, there were two separate titles on each page, etc. This meant that I had different ways to put the title of my article on my double page spread. I chose to use the title over the top of two pages in order to make my writing bigger and to be more eye catching as well as catching the eye of the audience on both pages.
The written text on most articles was not made to totally stand out and catch the attention of the audience. The colour of the text always contrasted or slightly contrasted the background colour so that when the audience read that writing it was still clear and easy to read because it stood out on the background colour. There was not a set writing colour because there was not a set background colour, for example a black background used white writing and a white background would use black text. My double page spread was an interview style layout. I thought it would be a good idea to use a different colour writing to outline the answers from my celebrity who was being interviewed. This would also add a feature of being an eye catching feature if it was clear the colour of text had changed rather than slightly changing it, for example black and dark blue writing. Therefore the use of the writing and colour I have used clearly identifies the red text as important.
The images on double page spreads are varied. There can be 1 image, there can also be around 10 images. So there is a lot of variety within this section. On some of the examples I found there was a main image which other minor images around the page. On some examples there were 2, 3 or 4 images which all stood out just as much as each other and all varied in size, orientation and how they were edited. I chose to use 3 images on my double page spread, using one large image as a main image and use two small images to fill a space on my page and not use too much writing on my double page spread to avoid boring the reader.
The colour scheme on the double page spread was never a fixed feature, and would normally link up the use of colours. There would be colours that compliment each other as well as colours that contrasted to make certain features stand out and be an eye catching feature for the reader. So therefore it was important that I made the colours of the text, title and images link up to make the page look attractive so the use of black and read writing contrasted the background and also the red writing complimented the red in the image, which was an attractive feature.
The use of space in the double page spreads I found was always a well used factor. The writing always filled up the space and there was always enough images to fill up the space. Therefore I couldn't afford to leave a random area of space on my page because leaving an area space where you could use an image or insert some text is a waste as a double page spread will never waste space. So therefore I used writing to fill up the bottom of the left page and the left side of the right page and used images to fill the rest of the page, and hence space wasn't wasted.
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(How does your media product represent particular social groups?)
My product represents age as younger people are representing older celebrities because young aged people can be mature. I have used images of students from my school, and I have used an image of one of them to represent Kanye West, a music artist in his thirties. Therefore this shows that I am prepared to use younger people as an older celebrity because younger people are trendy and becoming more mature and can have the same factors as a well known celebrity like Kanye West who is stylish and also mature. I have promoted Kanye and people in their thirties by giving them a mature approach to the way he answers questions from the interviewer, by now trying to be cocky like the stereotypical young person and therefore I am showing the middle aged group as a group of people who are laid back and approachable, as they are being shown as not being cocky and they answer the questions with honesty and don't make it a complicated process. I also show them as a stylish age group as they are wearing clothes associated with younger people, younger people who obsess about having the best body, best clothes and looking the best whereas the older and mature adults don't waste their time normally, and this is showing that even though they are older, it does not mean they change completely.
My product represents gender by showing men as an in-demand gender. I have used all images of men and this is because a hip hop and R&B magazine is more likely to appeal to males because of the bass behind the rhythm of the song, which stereotypically appeals more to a male audience. Using males for the images therefore has a sexual appeal to females and they will buy the magazine because they will be attracted to the males in the images. Therefore this represents males as superior to females in this instance because the females will buy the magazine for the celebrities they like and the images in the poster. It would be the other way round if it was aimed at males, with images of females in the magazine. It is also a negative representation of women because I haven't represented any women in this magazine apart from on cover lines. Therefore the audience may think that I have not included women in the images because "They are not good enough for the magazine". This is not the case but this negative vibe can be taken from my product.
My product represents sexuality as all people of any sexuality are equal as I haven't went out of way to make effort to show heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual people in a different light, because they are equal and I haven't commented about sexuality anywhere in the magazine, and I haven't used images that have clearly outlined the sexuality of the model and therefore there is no negative representation in my product, only positive representation that all sexualities are equal.
My product represents social class by showing rich celebrities and upper class people as the models that working class and lower class people idolise and want to be. It can also be linked to colour because black people are stereotypically working class. Therefore my magazine mostly represents celebrities and will grab the attention of my audience who will idolise the celebrities. However, Kanye West is black and stereotypically wouldn't be idolised because of his ethnicity but because of his celebrity status he defies this stereotype.
My product represents physical ability in a positive light and and disability in a negative light. All my images have models in who are perfectly able to walk and have no physical disabilities. Therefore I am showing people who are disabled as a group of people who I won't use in my magazine and that they are not someone that the target audience would want to know about and not someone the target audience would idolise. Therefore this is a negative representation because I am pigeon holing them as a group of people which will bring the reputation of my magazine down.
My product represents regional identity by showing American people as a superior and contemporary group of people when it comes to them being celebrities. Most of the names of celebrities on my magazine are Americans because their are more famous Americans and most music artists which are "Superstars" are quite often American so therefore the use of American artists promotes Americans as in a positive way to the audience.
My product represents ethnicity in different ways. There is the way which makes it seem all ethnic groups are equal because I am using different ethnic groups in my images throughout the magazine and therefore promoting equality throughout all the ethnic groups. There is always a positive light for white people because I have used an image of a white person on my front cover and contents which is the first page the audience will see, and hence this could be using the ethnic group that I believe will attract the majority of the audience, and therefore this is a positive light for white people and Caucasian groups whereas all other ethnic groups are all promoted in a negative light. However, there is another instance in my product and that's the use of 3 images of a male who is black on my double page spread, and this could be seen as a positive promotion of the black ethnic group as they are good enough to be used on one of my main articles and therefore they are interesting and will be able to satisfy the needs of the audience with their story and the audience won't be repelled away from the article because of their ethnic inheritance.
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(What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?)
I have looked into 3 different media groups, which were; http://www.ipcmedia.com/, http://www.condenast.com/ and http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/.
First of all I looked into the IPC media and looking at the current magazines and media that they currently promote, there is space for my magazine to be taken and distributed, because they currently do not promote any music magazines. This means that my magazine would be the first music magazine within the IPC media group. However a worry for me is that if I did distribute my magazine with this group that with their inexperience and not currently distributing any music magazine that they would not be a good media group to distribute my magazine to audiences with an effective distribution media. So therefore I do not think that the media group would sign me because they focus on a different area of the magazine market, focusing on leisure magazines, sports magazines and also a men's lifestyle magazine like "Nuts". Hence, the expertise of dealing with and distributing music magazines is not within their skills, and I don't think they would distribute my product.
I next looked into the Conde Nast media group. The magazines that they distribute are all involved in making the subject of the magazine look glamorous such as men's fashion magazines like "Details", women's fashion magazines like "Vogue". There are also fashion magazines for younger ages like "TeenVogue" and therefore will promote fashion for younger people. Magazines for brides, golf, food magazines, a travelling magazine and also a magazine about gossip and general life. These magazines all have glamorous front covers, and all have stories which will either seem outrageous, or help you with life, or will help you improve your fashion style, etc. Therefore my magazine would fall into the category of a magazine which is contemporary and in fashion, but none of these magazines are music magazines and therefore this media group are not interested in distributing music magazines, and even though there is a space for a magazine of the genre of my magazine, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is good for my magazine to be apart of this media group. I don't think Conde Nast would take me on as they will want to stick to the areas they are familiar with and not go into an area which is not in their area of expertise of distributing music magazines, but there is also a chance they would take my magazine because they do not currently have a magazine of my genre, hence there are two answers to this query and it will depend on the whether the company are looking to grow into other types of markets for distribution of other types of magazines.
Thirdly and finally, I looked into the Bauer media group. This media group represent magazines in women's lifestyle and entertainment, and men's lifestyle, as well as a mixture of gardening, transport, sports, pets, motoring, photography and general lifestyle. There are music magazines distributed from this group and they are of the following genres; pop, rock and punk. Therefore the group distribute music magazines but do not currently distribute a Hip-Hop/R&B magazine. The company have space for a music magazine of my genre and hence it is most like that my magazine would suit this media group best because they have experience in distribution of music magazines and if they use my product, then they will have another genre on the market covered and then will apply their expertise in distribution of music magazines to the distribution of my magazine, and the result of this will be my magazine will be there to satisfy the needs of the target audience and then the media group will receive income that they weren't receiving previously, so it is a good deal for business, rather than distributing more rock magazines like they currently distribute and end up competing with themselves. They would be entering into a market where they wouldn't have to compete with magazines within their own media group and would grab more of a different type of audience.
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(Who would be the audience for your media product?)
The target audience of my product is aged primarily 16-19 but will also look to capture the youth in general, so from ages 15-30 as well as fans of hip-hop and R&B. I aim to capture the youthful audience by using images of younger aged models, and the effect on the audience will be they want to know about people around the same age that they are and how well they are doing and what music they make. This puts the audience level with the celebrity because they are the same age and they feel a more personal connect to them than an adult would. A way of capturing the attentions of the younger audience to is by using extremely well known celebrities, for instance Kanye West. He is an iconic figure and everybody knows about him so therefore this will reel in most audiences and the youth will buy the magazine because they will want to read about an iconic figure in music and the world. A way to capture the audiences that like hip-hop and R&B music is by including articles and images in the magazine of artists who are artists in those genres, and they can be superstars, moderately good artists or new artists who are on the rise to fame. Doing this will attract the fans of hip-hop and R&B when they see the name or image of the celebrity on the front cover of the magazine.
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(How did you attract/address your audience?)
I used different features to attract the target audience. I didn't specifically put on the front cover it was a hip-hop and R&B magazine, but I used names of celebrities which are common and well known names in those magazines as well as making up the name of a potential new artist, by the name of "Brogdo". Doing this promoted the artist well and the fact he was on the front cover must mean he is an important person and can draw in the audience with interest. It could also repel because not using a well known artist might not grab the audiences attention as much as if a well known artist was on the cover. Mainly the use of celebrities names on the front cover, outlined by an eye catching colour scheme using on the cover lines would then strike the eye of the audience. From this, they would recognise the name of the artist, and then would buy the magazine because the famous artists have articles within the magazine. On the contents page I also mentioned these names and highlighted them in red, so that they would stand out from the other text which was black. Doing this meant the audience would see a colour different to the rest and recognise that to have a higher importance than the black colour. This will then make them realise the artists who are featured in the magazine and will cause them to be attracted to the article about them within the magazine, inspiring them to read on.
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(What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?)
Camera skills - I had a basic level of using cameras when I first started this project. I had not took a lot of photos before and had only used cameras with a film strip attached or a Polaroid picture camera. It was the first time I would use a digital camera so I had to become familiar with how to use it and I did have minor problems along the way. I didn't know what mode I was in, so sometimes I recorded videos when I was supposed to be taking a photo of my model, but I managed to become familiar with the digital camera and avoid making this mistake. Also, another problem which I encountered was that I wasn't sure how to transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer. I had to ask classmates to help me and quickly after being shown how to, I learnt that I had to take the camera memory chip and attach it to a USB device which attaches to the computer. Then after this I search through the files and find the files which are the photos I had just taken, and transfer them to "My Pictures" via a drag and drop method.
Computing skills - My computing skills were good before I started the project. I have used a computer daily for nearly 5 years now so a computer isn't a new device for me to be working on. I knew basic skills like turning the computer on and off, how to navigate the program, how to navigate the Internet and how to communicate using the Internet. Therefore the skills I had and was using during my project was just updating the already advanced skills that I had and I didn't learn much new from this in terms of computing skills apart from how to research for front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. This helped me learn how to use Google images more effectively.
Program skills - My program skills started off at good level/advanced level because I have computers daily for nearly 5 years now. The programs I was using were programs I had used before. Microsoft Publisher was where I was creating my my documents and I have used publisher many times, from previous work in other lessons from the last few years. Therefore all I was doing was updating my publishing skills and slightly extending them with effects on the text, images, etc.
Editing skills - My editing skills were basic before I started this project. The program I used was Macromedia Fireworks, and I had used this a few times before this project. I managed to use the program without much problem because it was easy to navigate and well laid out so that even if you were inexperienced with the program, you would not have too much trouble using it. I learnt how to remove the background from my images using the tolerance magic wand tool and using the rubber to rub out any other unwanted features. Another place to edit my images and text was in Microsoft Publisher. I had to update my skills with altering the styles, sizes and colour of text. I also updated skills of altering the size, placement and any effects on images. This meant I learnt how to use these features more effectively for the next time I use Microsoft Publisher.
Blogging skills - Before this project, I had never used a blog before, so therefore it was a completely new skill for me to be learning, as I didn't understand the aspect of a blog. I quickly learnt that a blog was in fact a very simple tool to use, and that at any time I could log on and add some analysis or evaluation about any work that I had uploaded. Therefore I quickly learnt how to use a blog basically by being able to navigate around my blog, and being able to access and add parts to my blog when I wanted without much effort.
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(Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?)
From the preliminary task I researched school front covers and analysed them and using them as a basis to make a front cover for my school front cover. From this part of the preliminary I managed to learn how to research front covers and learnt how to get better results of Google images for what I search for.
Other factors that I progressed from was the creation of my documents. In the preliminary, the documents I created were nowhere near professional level and literally anybody could have made the documents I made. Therefore what my skilled progressed in were the innovation and creativity put into ideas towards the creation of my front cover, contents page and double page spread to make them look professional, and to a standard that would be seen in a national music magazine.
Another factor which I improved on since my preliminary task was my analysis. In my preliminary I wasn't sure what I was analysing and when it came to the music magazine, I knew what I was doing and which features of the document or image I was analysing and to say the strengths and weaknesses and why I would or wouldn't choose to use it which was a great improvement because in my preliminary I didn't do this well.
