From my post production feedback that I have received my front cover has proven to be an success with the feedback being positive with my masthead being the main attraction and standing out which is the first thing that will catch my target audience's eyes which would possible draw them into buying my magazine which would beat off competition from other magazines. I agree with my feedback that the masthead is the best thing on the front cover as I was really trying to replicate the urban inner city feel which I think believe I have achieved. Also the white boxes around my cover-lines proved to be a success aswell as it made them stand out more and appeal to my target audience as it was one of the first thing to look at as the white box gave it that important look that was needed to attract my audience. However the cover-line about Tinie Tempah was quite negative as the feedback came back saying that it was hard to see and that it should of been given a bigger stroke which I totally agree with. If I was to do this front cover again I would only change the Tinie Tempah cover-line as that was the major problem on the front cover other then that I would leave it the same with my rating out of 10 being 8/9.
With my contents page the positive feedback seemed to be focused on the layout which meant it was easy for my target audience to read and select what they wanted to read along with the consistent colour scheme which I have on all three of my products to keep the professional look throughout. The negative feedback seemed to be about the sub-headings which should of been a different colour to make them stand out and look different. I don't really agree with this as the sub headings are designed to stand out by using my selected colours of white and black however negative feedback is always a positive thing as I know what to do to improve my product more. Personally if I was to do this again Wouldn't change anything other then maybe replacing the top left hand picture as the lighting looks poor.
With my double page spread the strengths seem to be the way my writing is laid out and structured which makes it easier for my target audience to read the content on the page and also the image on the second page shows the importance I'm trying to get across with no writing being selected on my subject as it would ruin the image aswell as the dominance I'm trying to create. The quotes on the left hand side of the page was given as negative feedback as I was told they look too small this could be due to the fact at how the person looked at double page spread however in reality when the double page spread its printed to the right size then the writing would look normal. Alternatively if I was to do this again I would change nothing as I think that this is the best out of all three products that I have designed with everything being designed referring to a real life magazine and to get a compliment by having someone say it looks like a real life magazine double page spread, makes me happy as I know I have achieved in what I set out to achieve and that's to produce a magazine that was of the highest quality and I feel I have attracted my target audience with the way I have designed my magazine through the conventions that I have used and personal I feel that the fans of my chosen genre would actually buy my magazine as its packed with gossip, big name stars and exclusives.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Post production feedback(on Facebook for double page spread) what they liked and dislike about my double page spread and how to improve it and also rated out of 10.
trushmer.blogspot.com
- Jade Baty 10/10
- Kevin Sanchez me thinks this is the best out of the 3 posted here :) 10/10
- Haidi Tran really good the way you carried your image on the second page and good layout but the white text on the bottom left is kinda hard to read
- Haidi Tran 8/10
- Ben Tuckwell The double page is quality it looks like a proper magazine 8/10
Post production feedback (on Facebook for contents page) what they liked and dislike and what to do to improve it and rated out of 10.
trushmer.blogspot.com
- Jade Baty 10/10
- Kevin Sanchez youre hired i.e 10/10 :)
- Haidi Tran good layout and i like the consistency of the colour scheme but the subheadings should be a different colour. 8/10
- Ben Tuckwell This is well good! I like the layout of it all and the writing stands out well
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?
Since doing my preliminary task I have learned alot of things and skills that have help me with my full product . One of the main ways that has help me was the way I followed real magazine conventions which has improve the quality of my music magazine massively. By looking back at my college magazine it shows that I wasnt really following the conventions as I had large coverlines coming half way across the page with even some of the coverlines moving on to the picture.
whille for my contents page I didnt finished which shows the poor time management that I had at the time of making this magazine compared to now as I have worked hard on my full product to ensure it is completed on time without any problems and to ensure that the quality is of a much higher standard and the fact that I have not followed a simple convention of the same colour scheme shows the lack of understanding I had when doing the preliminary task.
Seeing as I used Photoshop for both tasks I feel that through the preliminary task I have learn more about Photoshop which has help me improve the quality of my full product and helped me learn from my mistakes that I made in the prelinminary task. Also the fact that I have only done a front cover and contents page in the prelinminary task while the main task also included these plus a double page which meant I got use to working on A3 canvas which meant I had to use the space effectively.
Through the process from the preliminary task to the main product I have fully understood how to attract my target audience by choosing a certain style of conventions to ensure that my magazine had that wow factor which caught the eyes of my social group and which meant I had to do some background research into my social group to get a better understand of how to focus and ensure that my magazine is suited to this social group. With my preliminary I was targetting a mass audience as it was targetted at the population of a college and at college their are different ethnicities which meant it was harder for me to appeal to this target audience which is why the research I conducted was very useful as it gave me an idea of how I was going to present my target audience in my full product.
Alternatively since the preliminary task I have learnt how to use the Canon E0S 400D which ensure I took good quality images which was virtual in ensuring that my magazine looked professional, which in the preliminary task was a problem as I wasn't familiar with the camera as I was taking pictures anywhere without the right lighting which meant my pictures didnt look professional.
Alternatively since the preliminary task I have learnt how to use the Canon E0S 400D which ensure I took good quality images which was virtual in ensuring that my magazine looked professional, which in the preliminary task was a problem as I wasn't familiar with the camera as I was taking pictures anywhere without the right lighting which meant my pictures didnt look professional.
Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the process of making my music magazine I have learnt so many things about technology which I use to help me construct my magazine. Firstly the first bit of technology that I used was the Canon camera which I used to help take my images. For the preliminary task I had problems getting to grips with how to use the camera but the main task I was really comfortable with the camera and took all of my pictures in one location other then one of pictures. This meant that my images would look as professional as they can be to help attract the target audience and make my magazine more professional and appealing as I used the flash to enhance the quality of my images. One of the main problems I encountered with using the camera was the getting the red dot from the camera on my subjects eye to get a better focus which gives me a more clearer image, my subject was standing at arms length away from the a Bowen Gemini Esprit Gm500 60cm softbox which uses radio trigger which meant when I pressed the button on the Canon EOS 400D Digital camera radio wave was sent to the softbox which then produced the flash to enhance the quality of images with the shutter speed being at 1/200 of a second with the focal lenght being 32mm.
Another technonlogy that I used to help contrust my music magazine was photoshop CS3, but before this process my photoshop skills were very limited as I didnt really know how to use photoshop alot. I used this program as it was easier to edit and make changes to my images without causing to many problems and this program is designed to edit images and make images more professional.
Seeing as I took high quality pictures I didnt have to manipulate my images which meant that I didnt really use many tools as my magazine was based around the high standard of my images.
However I did use some tools such as the rectangle tool to highlight the important content on my front cover and to make the content standout.
Another technology I learnt was how to use effects which were used to make my work more professional and it was a way of me attracting my target audience and it made my magazine stand out. I used all different effects such as Bevel and Emboss, contour, stroke and even gradient overlay. It was quite easy using this tool but the difficult part was getting the right amount of stroke to help the content stand out as if it was too big it would ruin the design of my magazine and if it was too small it wouldnt stand out enough.
I also learnt that photoshop was good for changing files into JPEG files which meant I could upload my work onto blogger as, blogger only accepts JPEG files, this could be easily done by photoshop.
while also constructing my magazine Photoshop allowed me to upload fonts which meant my magazine could look more appealling and attract my target audience as without these fonts my magazine would not look how it intended to look.
so through the process of using photoshop I have construsted my magazine to a high standard which I personal feel would really attract my target audience.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Firstly the way I attracted my audience was by having a dominant figure on my front cover who is relatively my target audience age so that they could associate themselves with him. By having my model stand in this dominant pose with his finger raised is my way of using Non Verbal Comunication to attract my audience and its a way of connecting and making the audience feel part of magazine and connecting with my certain age group and to show that im not just producing a magazine to appeal to my target audience but to show that I am the same age as my target audience. Also by getting my model to dress in the stereotype way of and R'n'B and Hip Hop stars I challenged as the model is dressed in a casual way while in a real life music magazine the model would have had baggy jeans or loads of jewellery so I wanted to be different so that i could be different form other music magazines.
By having the masthead designed in this sort of way attracts the audience as it different as it has a different style compared to other magazines and it reflects the fact that my magazine is called Urban and seeing as urban is usually given a conotation of an inner city theme with council estates and a high population which is not necessarily true but through my masthead we get that inner city feel which attracts the target audience who are mainly from inner city backgrounds.
Secondary by having big name artists from America such as 50 Cent and Eminem automatically get the audience looking at my magazine as there are well known and have been recognised for a long time in the R'n'B and Hip Hop industry and the audience know excactly who my magaizne appeals to, along with that I have also included an British artist who is known not just in the British music industry but also in the American music industry which means that I could be appealing to both audiences but my magazine appeals mainly to the British target audience. Also by stating the price at £2.99 gives me an advantage over my competitors and real life magazines as my magazine is cheaper then say XXL magazine. Also by having exclusive on my front cover shows that the content in my magazine is only found in my magazine giving me an advantage over other magazine as im using selective information to target my audience.
Thirdly by having four different aritsts on my contents page is also another way of me attracting my audience as it shows the diversity that I have and also to show the diversity that is within my magazine and also the R'n'B and Hip Hop industry. I have given no names to the artists on the contents page as the audience already know about these stars and have a broad knowledge about the genre. However by having the names of popular artists down the left hand side of my contents page is another way of attracting my target audience as they know what to expect from my magazine and they know the artists very well which attract the audience to read my magazine. Also by having a quote gets the audience thinking who said that and get them excited to read more. Alternatively by having such a large amount of female artists on my contents page may help to persuade the female audience to look out for my magazine and also the fact that I have used so many female artists to show that I treat women with respect as I havent exploited them like real life magazines such as XXL or even king magazine and also to show that women can dominant the R'n'B and Hip Hop industry not just men, so I have challenged the stereotype of women being in magazines to show a bit of boobs which would target a large male audience, to help give my magazine that unique selling point and competitive edge over other magazines and to target a more diverse audience with both males and females.
To attract my audience through my double page spread I have ensured that jordan who is the model in the picture is represented in a original way as I have told him to be his self which resulted in no heavy posing or trying to look hard which made the image unique and stand out from other music magazines. The colours use are suitable as they match the models shirt buttons and make my double page spread stand out, they are not really bright or over the top which means I have played it safe by basing my colours around the image.
However the way I have addressed my audience is by acting as part of them, I am their age so know what the industry is about and I address them as if im talking to a friend and not like a expert as some magazines have people who try to know it all when they are not even at my target audiences age, where they try and tell them what is going on when cleary my target audience are more aware them those who think they are experts.
Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
By stating that my magazine is the number one R'n'B and Hip Hop magazine gives an clear indication that I'm targeting a young audience of 15-22 year olds who will be British. This is mainly due to the fact that Britain has a large R'n'B and Hip Hop music scene not just for fans but also the British artists who are starting to take America's music industry by storm and are starting to dominate more.
I have decided to target this audience as more and more young people are starting to listen to R'n'B and Hip Hop meaning by having the choosen image on the front cover will mean that I'm trying to appeal to my audience. However my music doesn't just appeal to them certain ages, it appeals to anyone who has an interest in this sort of genre as my magazine is entertaining with gossip, exlcusive and interviews with artist that have been around for quite a long time and artists who are well known within in the music industry. Also by selecting this Audience represents me as I am more of an R'n'B and Hip Hop person myself which means I can relate to this magazine as I know what is happening and know the artists on the front cover as I'm familar with this genre.
I have decided to target this audience as more and more young people are starting to listen to R'n'B and Hip Hop meaning by having the choosen image on the front cover will mean that I'm trying to appeal to my audience. However my music doesn't just appeal to them certain ages, it appeals to anyone who has an interest in this sort of genre as my magazine is entertaining with gossip, exlcusive and interviews with artist that have been around for quite a long time and artists who are well known within in the music industry. Also by selecting this Audience represents me as I am more of an R'n'B and Hip Hop person myself which means I can relate to this magazine as I know what is happening and know the artists on the front cover as I'm familar with this genre.
The ethnicity of my magazine would be young black males and also females who are into this genre as R'n'B and Hip Hop is generally associated with this ethnicity largely due to the fact this sort of genre has been dominant by the black population over the last 15 years, however this could not be so true as more and more white males and females are listening to this type of genre and also more of the white population are starting to make a success from this genre as its very popular so my magazine would appeal to all etnicities as some of the population inspire to be like these artist as they follow the clothing trend which means that if an artist wears baggy jeans fans will pick up on this so R'n'B and Hip Hop changes the fashion across the world.
Q3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The media institution that I think that should publish and distribute my magazine should be Bauer media group. The reason I say this is because Bauer media doesn't publish a magazine that is associated with my type of genre this therefore means that they will be entering a new market which would mean that Bauer media would be able to target a larger audience which would increase their popularity.
secondly by publishing and distributing my magazine means that there will be a huge financial benefit for the Bauer media group as they will be entering a new market which has a large audience which would result in their profits increasing dramatically as there is no other competition within the company as they Publish and distribute music magazines such as Q and Kerrang which have a rock/indie theme to them while my genre is the totally opposite.
Also as Bauer Media group have a 50% stake in Box television means that seeing as Box television acts as the content subsidiary that produces several popular music channels such as Kiss TV and 4Music advertising would be much easier and more efficient as the magazine would be out there targeting more people as millions of people watch TV, also as Kiss TV and 4Music play alot of R'n'B and Hip Hop tracks this would link in well with my magazine as there will be a connection, which would increase profit aswell as the company's popularity making the company more recognisable to the audience.
I would most probably distribute my magazine in shops like HMV and WHSMITH as well as in local newsagents and this means that my magazine is easily accessible to obtain for my target audience and also HMV is one of the Uk's most popular music store so it would make sense to distribute my magazine to this store, while for WHMSMITH the store is popular for all types of different magazines which are sold at this retailer so it would make sense to rival those magazines as WHMSMITH is a leading retailer and is recognized throughtout the UK.
Q2: How does your media product represent a particular social group?
My music magazine target audience is teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15-22 who will be both male and female who are interested and listen to R’n’B and Hip Hop, which means that they will be target from urban cities and the ethnicity could be both black and white people but mostly black people. I have done this by the selection of images that I have chosen for instance the model on my front cover show this. One way we can see that this model represents my genre as the male model is wearing a checked shirt which shows the audience that looking smart is all part of the part in being a R’n’B Hip Hop star leading to the prospect of now saying that music is all about the money and your own personal self and not the fans, however by having the checked shirt against the black shows the dominance this model has and to show the superior that stars have on the music world and to also represent my particular genre.
The jewelry on the model presents the typical R’n’B and Hip Hop star as most stars where jewelry to show the dominance and power that they have and to support the genre that I have chosen. The model also poses in a dominant way with his finger pointing up to the camera to represent the particular social group as it shows that the model is indicating that he has a I don’t care attitude which is sometimes times is associated with my particular genre.
The headphones gives the model this sort of I’m a boss look which means that in my particular genre that no one can be beaten by someone else without there being some sort of backlash and to show the fact that money is the dominant factor in my particular genre and to represent my genre as most real life R’n’B and Hip Hop have artist on the front cover that wear headphones, which are very popular in my chosen genre.
Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Before I actually started my music project I did some research to gain a better understanding and knowledge of how real life music magazines are designed and how they attract the target audience, the convections that I found were three main convections in the way music magazines are sold to the target audience and these are done through masthead, cover-lines and a selling line to make the music magazine different from other magazines. After the research was conducted I drew up front cover, contents pages and double page mock ups to give me more of an idea of how I want my music magazine set out.
I have a big masthead which is very dominate to attract the target audience and make my magazine look as real as a proper music magazine would with the non-serif front which I downloaded from Dafont.com makes the magazine more professional and stand out from other magazines and to also to give my magazine that inner city culture and to assiocated this inner city culture with large cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester where the population is so diverse and unique as the masthead is placed behind the model.
Another convention used in my music magazine is a selling line; a selling line is used by music magazines to help attract the target audience to buying the magazine. My selling on my magazine was UK’s No.1 R’n’B and Hip Hop magazine which clearly indicates to the reader that my magazine is specifically for R’n’B and Hip Hop fans and to show to the audience that there is no other magazine around like mine.
Another convention used in my music magazine is a selling line; a selling line is used by music magazines to help attract the target audience to buying the magazine. My selling on my magazine was UK’s No.1 R’n’B and Hip Hop magazine which clearly indicates to the reader that my magazine is specifically for R’n’B and Hip Hop fans and to show to the audience that there is no other magazine around like mine.
In my magazine another convention that I used was the barcode at the left hand side of my front cover along with the price which is above the barcode, every magazine should have these conventions if they want their target audience to purchase there magazine. I don’t have a date on my magazine even though most music magazines generally have a date but I have instead gone for the issue number on my magazine instead of a date even though some magazines have these, I have chosen to be different and not include a date as the issue number will be the week that the magazine would have been published.
I have even included a website at the top on the left hand side just below my masthead to make my music look more professional and to help my magazine stand out.
To fully maximize my music magazine and attract the target audience I have used cover lines which are used in every magazine to give the target audience an insight into what is in the magazine and to help sell the magazine if the cover lines are good enough as it will help persuade the audience to buy the magazine. I have used the same font for all of my cover lines which was the Trajan pro font, and even made some of my cover-lines bold to attract the audience and to have that wow factor that will make my music stand out from other magazines. However the main cover-line has a white rectangle box around to make this cover line stand out from the rest and to ensure that the target audience knows what the main cover-line is and was placed on the right hand side of the magazine with more space so that the target audience know directly that this is the main story in my magazine.
Preferably my image is male in a medium close up to illustrate the dominance that the image has on my magazine and how without an dominant image the magazine would lack the professional factor as it would not be attracting the target audience. Having the model stand in a position side on means that I’m trying to replicate that dominance.
Preferably my image is male in a medium close up to illustrate the dominance that the image has on my magazine and how without an dominant image the magazine would lack the professional factor as it would not be attracting the target audience. Having the model stand in a position side on means that I’m trying to replicate that dominance.
My contents page also follows the conventions that are used in real life magazine. Firstly my images that I have included as used in so many R’n’B and Hip Hop magazines to express to the audience what is included in the magazine which may eventually determine whether my particular target audience would buy the magazine. I included so many pictures on the contents page to engaged and attract the audience and to correlate with the picture I have on my front cover to give my magazine that sense of continuity.
I have included categories on my contents page to make the magazine more organized and structured for the target audience and also to make the contents page more professional, which means my pictures were allocated to one side of the magazine so that the audience have to look to the left hand side of the magazine then revert their eyes to the right hand side which means that the audience eyes are not wondering and making sure that the audience is constantly looking at my magazine.
My Double page spread uses and develops the conventions of a real life double page spread. Firstly I use a colour scheme partly the same as my front cover and contents page
To give my magazine that real life look and to make my magazine more professional look. Also I have arranged my articles in to columns with a headline and a short introduction of what will be happening on my double page spread which means my magazine is following the conventions of a real magazine, with the image being allocated on the left hand side of the page.
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