How does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is based on findings and idea's I gathered from looking at the different media conventions of the magazine. I took idea's and gathered inspiraction from my findings. When I got the information that I needed, I placed the conventions into the magazine, I tried to make sure I got them all in with my double page spread, contents page and front cover. I tried to make my magazine simailr to those I researched. Those conventions I used were fonts, the masthead and the photographs. However, I challenged the other magazines by using differnt colours to the fonts and the background. I think the various colours that I used do work well.
How does your media product represent social groups?
My magazine represents those people who are particulary interested in rap, hip-hop, dance and techno. The fonts have a soft edge to them, which with rock, you would expect hard edges, I used softer fonts because it's not a rock magazine. The main image is someone who is young and he has a microphone in his hand, that represents those who do like technno music.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that the media institution will be a company like Emap as they publish a wide range of different magazines. They publish Mix Mag, which has a similar genre to what mine is.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience of my magazine would be those who are interested in techno music and are aged from 16+ but I would say that the maximum age would be 30, if that. The language used is appealing to the younger end of the spectrum.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I addressed and attracted my audience by using subtle colours and an image that is of someone young and what seems to be 'mysterious'. Readers are unable to see the face so may be curious as to who the 'new rapping sensation' is.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have gained quite alot of knowledge on how to use graphic devices such as photoshop, of which I did not know how to use before hand.
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
I have become more confident in using various techniques in photoshop. I have also learnt about the various music industries and conventions.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Contents page ideas
My contents page will have a gray background as the front page has a black background, the double page spread has a white background so I think it would be a good idea to have it gray so we have a pattern of the fading. The title will be red and the fonts of the page will vary. There also will be an image of the artist in the background.
Double page spread ideas
For my double page spread, I will be using a few images of the artist and arranging them, because most magazines feature bands, I am featuring one person so it makes sense to me to post sereval different images of the artist instead. The background will be white and the fonts will be primary colours such as: blue, yellow and red, as these will stand out on white. The font colour of the interview will be black as that also will stand out.
Front cover ideas
My font cover will be a mix of idea's I have gathered from other magazines. I will be using a beige colour as it will stand out more for my masthead. My magazine will be called MHN (Music Here and Now). The bakkground will be black as I was going to use gray but I thought that masthead would not stand out so much. For the fonts, I will be using colours like black on a purple backing etc. The magazine will feature a picture of the artist with his head down so his face cannot be seen as he is a 'new rapping sensation'.
Analysis of magazine front covers
Vibe and Blender magazine have the mast head in title, as they are in the centre, where as NME has theirs in the left corner, in my opinion, that is the better idea because it's to the side and is not covered up by the picture. However, the masthead colours are all different but the one that sticks out the most is NME's because it is bright red, highlighted in white and placed on a black bqackground.
The images used for Vibe and NME are similar as in the sense they have medium close ups of the music artists whereas Blender has a almost full body image but just the bottom of the knees are missing.
the kind of fonts that are used are similar bas the colours used are black so they stand up against the white backing and the white or gray background.
The story layout on all three magazines are similar because they are all placed at the sides of the magazine cover and so are the artists names.
I am going to take these ideas of these magazine and apply them to my ideas.
Foundation Portfolio-Main Task
This task involves me creating a magazine front cover, a double page spread and a mock contents page of a new music magazine I must create. I have to consider the key media concepts and apply them to my ideas of my music products, I will use the acronym LIIAR:
Language: The language that will be used will be entertauining as magazines are there to entertain and interesting to my audience, who are interested in the music industry. The colours and textures will be relevent to my targeted audience. For example, if the magazine is going to be like NME, the colours will be darker, such as black and red with gray etc, however, if the magazine is a pop magazine such as Smash Hits, then the colours will be ones such as pastle colours, green, pale blue, yellow etc. which will make it eye catching.
Ideology: The overall purpose of my magazine will be to entertain and inform. The kind of content will be things such as new releases of new bands, old bands and anything you imagine to be in a magazine. Depending on which genre I choose, I will promote articles on that genre too.
Institution: The institution is the music magazine publisher. There are lots of different music publishers so I chose to research IPC Media and Emap
Ipc media is the most popular music publishing company in the UK and it offers several different magazines that cater for different genres, the most popular magazine published by them is NME, this is the weekly magazine that gives information on the latest music news, gives gig dates, tracks, reviews and albums. The reviews are given by a varied amount of opinionated writers.
Emap: This is the publisher for Kerrang magazine, this is a multi-platform magazine and it's genre is rock. Emap also publish: Smash Hits, Q and Mojo, along with others.
Audience: Every magazine has their own publishers and different target audiences, my magazine will be aimed at those in late teens to the thitries.
Representation: The representation varies on the music genre, as Kerrang focuses on heavy metal/rock. My magazine will represent a sort of rapping magazine, with a techno feel to it.
Language: The language that will be used will be entertauining as magazines are there to entertain and interesting to my audience, who are interested in the music industry. The colours and textures will be relevent to my targeted audience. For example, if the magazine is going to be like NME, the colours will be darker, such as black and red with gray etc, however, if the magazine is a pop magazine such as Smash Hits, then the colours will be ones such as pastle colours, green, pale blue, yellow etc. which will make it eye catching.
Ideology: The overall purpose of my magazine will be to entertain and inform. The kind of content will be things such as new releases of new bands, old bands and anything you imagine to be in a magazine. Depending on which genre I choose, I will promote articles on that genre too.
Institution: The institution is the music magazine publisher. There are lots of different music publishers so I chose to research IPC Media and Emap
Ipc media is the most popular music publishing company in the UK and it offers several different magazines that cater for different genres, the most popular magazine published by them is NME, this is the weekly magazine that gives information on the latest music news, gives gig dates, tracks, reviews and albums. The reviews are given by a varied amount of opinionated writers.
Emap: This is the publisher for Kerrang magazine, this is a multi-platform magazine and it's genre is rock. Emap also publish: Smash Hits, Q and Mojo, along with others.
Audience: Every magazine has their own publishers and different target audiences, my magazine will be aimed at those in late teens to the thitries.
Representation: The representation varies on the music genre, as Kerrang focuses on heavy metal/rock. My magazine will represent a sort of rapping magazine, with a techno feel to it.
College magazine evaluation
In what ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
First of all, I needed to know and understand the various conventions of a magazine and when I got to grips with them, I was then able to develop and challenge the conventions. My media product uses similar designs to magazines that are already out on the market. However, I did not want to make a replica of existing magazines because I wanted mine to be original so I did try with that aspect. Even though I wanted my college magazine to be unique, I still based it on the likes of the secondary school magazine I analysed, I thought that if my magazine was too different, it would not appeal to the audience.
How does your Media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine is a student magazine so the social group would be Wyke college students, however, parents and teachers would be able to view the magazine also. The magazine represents students because it looks like how you imagine a student magazine to look like. I didn't use a picture of an adult because that in my opinion, would have been inappropriate because we would expect a student or someone who looked like a student t be on the cover, I decided to put a picture of a student reading on the cover.
What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution that would be likely to distribute my magazine is Wyke college mainly because the magazine is aimed and designed for that college, however, like said previously, parents may also wish to purchase the magazine because some parents may want to see what goes on in college. Upcoming students and their parents also may want to purchase the magazine to know what kind of things they may need to know when they start. Other colleges also may purchase the magazine to see what goes on and possibly compete against Wyke.
Who would be the audience for your Media product?
The audience would obviously be students, or it could also be students from other places or the parents of students.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I used colours that stood out and I also used an image of a student, this shows that it is a student magazine. Big words were also not used so those planning on going to Wyke could also read it as they would be younger
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have leant how to use Photoshop properly by using it and making mistakes and going back on them
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have become more confident in using Photoshop and publisher
First of all, I needed to know and understand the various conventions of a magazine and when I got to grips with them, I was then able to develop and challenge the conventions. My media product uses similar designs to magazines that are already out on the market. However, I did not want to make a replica of existing magazines because I wanted mine to be original so I did try with that aspect. Even though I wanted my college magazine to be unique, I still based it on the likes of the secondary school magazine I analysed, I thought that if my magazine was too different, it would not appeal to the audience.
How does your Media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine is a student magazine so the social group would be Wyke college students, however, parents and teachers would be able to view the magazine also. The magazine represents students because it looks like how you imagine a student magazine to look like. I didn't use a picture of an adult because that in my opinion, would have been inappropriate because we would expect a student or someone who looked like a student t be on the cover, I decided to put a picture of a student reading on the cover.
What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution that would be likely to distribute my magazine is Wyke college mainly because the magazine is aimed and designed for that college, however, like said previously, parents may also wish to purchase the magazine because some parents may want to see what goes on in college. Upcoming students and their parents also may want to purchase the magazine to know what kind of things they may need to know when they start. Other colleges also may purchase the magazine to see what goes on and possibly compete against Wyke.
Who would be the audience for your Media product?
The audience would obviously be students, or it could also be students from other places or the parents of students.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I used colours that stood out and I also used an image of a student, this shows that it is a student magazine. Big words were also not used so those planning on going to Wyke could also read it as they would be younger
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have leant how to use Photoshop properly by using it and making mistakes and going back on them
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have become more confident in using Photoshop and publisher
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Draft of college magazine
I decided on trying to make my college magazine not too bold or bright but as simple as possible. To get ideas for my magazine I decided to look at the magazines that I analysed as a started and then develop my ideas from that.
Masthead- My initial idea for my magazine was something to do with moving on from college and then going to University, so I gathered a load of words that related to achieving and moving higher in education: freedom- freedom to choose which path you choose to take part in after college. Accomplish- giving tips and help on how to achieve the best grades. Wyke's the word- How coming to Wyke College can help you get the best student life around, as this is something many students like about college, they like having a social life with other students. I think the name I will go for is Moving Forward, this means that the magazine is for those who are coming up to the end of their college life and are now going to move forward in life, whether it is by taking a gap year, getting a job or going to University
Sub Masthead- Like Love it! magazine, it has a sub masthead above the main masthead, this gives an indication as to what the magazine is about, the many features in or what kind of magazine it is. Ideas that I had for this were ones such as: All there is to know about Wyke- this may not grab the readers attention as they may not know what is in the magazine as it is too vague and does not give details. However, this maybe a good idea as parents of students may want to read about the college. I think I am going to choose Wyke's weekly mag, I am using the word Mag as it is short hand and that is the kind of language that students these days use. The word Weekly is used obviously because the magazine will be weekly, hence the low price I am going to decide on.
Main image focus- I have looked at the front cover that I analysed but decided against the idea to make my image look similar to other images as I think using an image of a student who is sat down and looks like they are concentrating on looking at a book is a good idea because it makes it look like the students at Wyke revise hard to achieve the best results that match their ability, it also will show that students do take college life seriously. I have to use an image that is universal in the sense it is not subject bias because the magazine is a general one where it focuses on many areas, especially University so me using an image that has a picture of a student in a lab coat or wearing sports gear, in my opinion, not realistic. So like I said, the image will be of a student sat reading a book.
Main Headline- As my magazine will be about University, a massive part of applying for University is getting the personal statement correct, so I decided that having my main story about how to write a personal statement would be a good idea to have the main article about how to write a decent one for those who do struggle in getting the context right. Other main stories I had in mind where ones like other University tips as other magazines have a variety, I thought it would be good to have stuck to the same topic.
Misc- To grab readers attention, I decided that at the top of the cover, it would be a good idea to have something that may want students to buy the magazine such as if there was some kind of ‘freebie’ or prizes to be won. At first I thought about putting something along the lines of ‘Free CD for every reader’ But then I thought if this was going to be a realistic magazine, I could not afford to include something like that so I decided on putting something on which may grab attentions of all people, not just music lovers, so I am going to put something like ‘Free discounts for every reader’. This is a better idea because then students who may not like music, may like this better because there would be a range of discounts at various stores available.
I am obviously going put on Wyke’s logo because it is a magazine about Wyke, it would make perfect sense to do such a thing and not put another college’s logo.
The barcode and price will be placed at the bottom, as we would expect to find on any magazine but some magazines do not put their there but I think it would be a good idea to do so.
Masthead- My initial idea for my magazine was something to do with moving on from college and then going to University, so I gathered a load of words that related to achieving and moving higher in education: freedom- freedom to choose which path you choose to take part in after college. Accomplish- giving tips and help on how to achieve the best grades. Wyke's the word- How coming to Wyke College can help you get the best student life around, as this is something many students like about college, they like having a social life with other students. I think the name I will go for is Moving Forward, this means that the magazine is for those who are coming up to the end of their college life and are now going to move forward in life, whether it is by taking a gap year, getting a job or going to University
Sub Masthead- Like Love it! magazine, it has a sub masthead above the main masthead, this gives an indication as to what the magazine is about, the many features in or what kind of magazine it is. Ideas that I had for this were ones such as: All there is to know about Wyke- this may not grab the readers attention as they may not know what is in the magazine as it is too vague and does not give details. However, this maybe a good idea as parents of students may want to read about the college. I think I am going to choose Wyke's weekly mag, I am using the word Mag as it is short hand and that is the kind of language that students these days use. The word Weekly is used obviously because the magazine will be weekly, hence the low price I am going to decide on.
Main image focus- I have looked at the front cover that I analysed but decided against the idea to make my image look similar to other images as I think using an image of a student who is sat down and looks like they are concentrating on looking at a book is a good idea because it makes it look like the students at Wyke revise hard to achieve the best results that match their ability, it also will show that students do take college life seriously. I have to use an image that is universal in the sense it is not subject bias because the magazine is a general one where it focuses on many areas, especially University so me using an image that has a picture of a student in a lab coat or wearing sports gear, in my opinion, not realistic. So like I said, the image will be of a student sat reading a book.
Main Headline- As my magazine will be about University, a massive part of applying for University is getting the personal statement correct, so I decided that having my main story about how to write a personal statement would be a good idea to have the main article about how to write a decent one for those who do struggle in getting the context right. Other main stories I had in mind where ones like other University tips as other magazines have a variety, I thought it would be good to have stuck to the same topic.
Misc- To grab readers attention, I decided that at the top of the cover, it would be a good idea to have something that may want students to buy the magazine such as if there was some kind of ‘freebie’ or prizes to be won. At first I thought about putting something along the lines of ‘Free CD for every reader’ But then I thought if this was going to be a realistic magazine, I could not afford to include something like that so I decided on putting something on which may grab attentions of all people, not just music lovers, so I am going to put something like ‘Free discounts for every reader’. This is a better idea because then students who may not like music, may like this better because there would be a range of discounts at various stores available.
I am obviously going put on Wyke’s logo because it is a magazine about Wyke, it would make perfect sense to do such a thing and not put another college’s logo.
The barcode and price will be placed at the bottom, as we would expect to find on any magazine but some magazines do not put their there but I think it would be a good idea to do so.
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