I have created a house style for my magazine. For example, I have used the same smashed fonts all the way through along with the same colour scheme of red, white and black. Many magazines do this in order to create the same quality of consistency throughout.
My main artists are also shown all the way through the contents, cover and double page spread as they are the main feature and many magazines follow this structure.
My media product uses many of the rock magazine conventions. For example, the Rock genre is iconic for being loud and violent, therefore I have included distorted and damaged text consistently through out my media product like many other rock magazines do.
I have also created continuity throughout my magazine, for example on my cover, the bands mentioned appear on my contents. The page numbers on my double page spread also match the numbers it tells you on contents.
My Cover
My cover mostly conforms to rock magazine conventions, however it also goes against and develops them in areas. For example:
In my cover I have included a guitar pick as a plug, to further push the iconic features in a rock magazine. My media product also follows real media product conventions as I have created a logo for a band in order to show they are official and realistic.
My cover conforms to magazine conventions as it includes a footer in which gives the reader further information to what is inside. Like most magazine, it lists further bands which are mentioned in the magazine in order to entice fans of those certain bands.
My magazine gives a way a gift which is a convention in most magazines as that is one of the main features that draws the audience in as I have learnt from my audience questionnaire:
My cover conforms to the violent ideology of rock magazines as I have put smashed glass effect over the masthead in order to achieve a damaged violent effect. Further more I added a broken texture to the masthead in order to further support this ideology.
My cover conforms to conventional cover structure as my main image feature in in the center, with all the feature stories, plugs and headline around it. My cover also includes other pictures on its cover as it makes the feature stories more interesting and attractive to the reader.
My media product also develops the iconography of a rock magazine as many rock magazines don't include free CD's as they are trying to appeal to a low class audience. Classic Rock magazine gives away a CD but that is because that is a fairly expensive magazine and it aims at a higher class. My magazine is the first I have seen that appeals to lower classes but gives away a CD.
My media product challenges some forms and conventions of real media products as most rock magazine covers tend to have a dark main image on their cover, however mine is white. I think it still works for a rock magazine as the colour scheme for the layout of the magazine and the costume the models are wearing still follows the iconic rock colours. Some Rock magazines also have a grungy filter over their main image in order to further promote the violent iconography.
My media product also goes against Rock magazine conventions as most rockstars don't wear casual clothing when on a photo-shoot (my models do) however this can be argued as most modern punk-rock bands do wear casual clothing whilst promoting and playing live. This shows that I am also developing the conventions as rockstars wearing casual clothing has become more apparent thing in this day and age.
(Examples of pop punk bands)
My magazine cover also challenges rock magazine conventions as it has a slogan and all the major magazines don't. I have included a slogan saying "Unleash your inner rock" in order to encourage the reader to buy my magazine as they will be convinced that if they don't buy this magazine, they aren't true rockers as they haven't unleashed it.
Contents
My contents also conforms, develops and challenges real life media products:
In my contents page, I have darkened my models surroundings in the main image, this presents him as evil and mysterious, as if he is lurking in the shadows. This evil mood is what I was hoping to create as many Rock artists are presented this way in magazines in order to represent the genres ideology.
My contents conforms to the features of real life media products as there is information included that informs the reader on how they can subscribe to this magazine. This is very common in most magazines as it tempts them to further support the magazine company.
On the contents page, I have also created merchandise for my magazine company name in order to make my magazine appear official and realistic. It also makes the audience who purchase it, feel like they are part of a community. My magazine also has an editors page which is very common in most genres of magazine and gives the magazine a very professional edge as the editor can talk about what parts of the magazine they like and dislike.
My contents page main image is also a medium shot which is a convention in most magazines as the artist isn't too far away but isn't too close to the camera that it is uncomfortable. The artist is also establishing a direct mode of address to the audience, which is also a common convention in most magazines as it makes the audience feel like they have a personal connection with the artist.
My contents conforms to the structure of real magazines as it includes screenshots of double page spreads, this lets the reader know how much content is inside which will give them a chance to evaluate if it is worth their money to buy.
I have included paper tear effects to act as a border for my categories of content. This conforms to real media products as it represents the violent rock ideology.
My contents also conforms to the structure of a real media product as underneath the headlines, there are descriptions giving the reader more information to what the topic is about.
I have included paper tear effects to act as a border for my categories of content. This conforms to real media products as it represents the violent rock ideology.
My contents also conforms to the structure of a real media product as underneath the headlines, there are descriptions giving the reader more information to what the topic is about.
The colour scheme of my contents conforms to the conventional dark rock colours as I wanted my magazine to support the rock genres dark ideology.
My contents page main image challenges the mise-en-scene of real media products once again as my artist is wearing casual clothing instead of a more suited costume. However the mise-en-scene does conform as it is dark and the artist is wearing a headband which is iconic in rock fashion.
Double Page Spread
My double page spread challenges, conforms and develops conventions of real media products also:
My double page spread conforms to the conventions of real media products as it includes a controversial / interesting pull quote from one of the artists being interviewed. This is very common in most magazines as it draws the reader in and makes them want to read the article. Furthermore, I have included a blood splash effect in order to follow the conventional, violent rock ideology many double page spreads do.
Like a conventional media product, my interview is structured into columns and the interviewer's questions are in bold in order to separate them from the artists answers. This makes the article easier to read for the reader.
The double page spread has a headline before the main article, this is a convention in most magazines as it gives the reader a brief description to what the article is about, therefore they can see if it will interest them or not. Furthermore, the headline is in an ink splash effect in order to follow the convention of rock magazines being violent, messy and grungy, therefore representing its ideology.
My double page spread conforms to the conventions of real media products as it includes a controversial / interesting pull quote from one of the artists being interviewed. This is very common in most magazines as it draws the reader in and makes them want to read the article. Furthermore, I have included a blood splash effect in order to follow the conventional, violent rock ideology many double page spreads do.
Like a conventional media product, my interview is structured into columns and the interviewer's questions are in bold in order to separate them from the artists answers. This makes the article easier to read for the reader.
The double page spread has a headline before the main article, this is a convention in most magazines as it gives the reader a brief description to what the article is about, therefore they can see if it will interest them or not. Furthermore, the headline is in an ink splash effect in order to follow the convention of rock magazines being violent, messy and grungy, therefore representing its ideology.
My media product develops the conventions of real media products because on most double page spreads, the main image is taken in a green screen room, however I have gone that step further and took it and a real life location. This location I think follows the conventions of the Rock genre as it is very urban and damaged, which brings out a very grungy mood.
Main images are conventionally a medium shot in real media products, however mine is a long shot in order to show the grungy, ran down environment the artists are in. This develops the conventions of real media products as it doesn't look out of place due to the grungy background.
2) How does you product present particular social Groups?
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3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My chosen audience is young Rock fans, both male and female. I have targeted this audience as I have based my magazine on Kerrang, and like Kerrang, my magazine focuses on all rock sub-genres there for it appeals to a mass audience of all rock fans.This is my reader profile:
I tried to re-create the audience Kerrang has as my magazine is very similar. In the Kerrang audience, there are significantly more male buyers than female, therefore there are more male than female readers of Kerplunk. Rock fans are also stereo-typically male due to the dark ideology, so I did want the male buyer percentage to be higher.
I put the median age as 17 because some of my friends out of college are regular buyers of rock magazines like Kerrang and are 17. I also used this information when describing my audience. My friends are "dedicated fans of rock" who buy video games and play guitar. Other information about the rock audience I got from Kerrang magazine's reader profile. I chose to include this information as I wanted my audience to be typical modern day teenagers and it is iconic that teenagers play video games. I chose to use some information from Kerrang as I wanted my audience to appear realistic.
I chose to put that my audience wear clothing to "express Rock ideology" as I wanted my audience to be the stereotypical dedicated rock fans who wear dark clothing and wear band T-shirts in order to support the rock culture. I also chose to put this in because it is also from the Kerrang audience profile and therefore it is accurate. Also, some of my friends who purchase this magazine dress the same way.
-I put "60% buy over 40 albums a year" as I want my audience to seem dedicated to the rock genre and their favourite bands.
-I put "80% own an Ipod" as I wanted them to be young and up to date with the latest technology as this will make them sound young.
-I put "15% work full time" as most of my audience is young and probably don't work, however there will be some adults who read this magazine.
-I put "15% download the magazine online" as the magazine audience is young and therefore is up to date with technology, however it still isn't as popular as purchasing a physical copy as you don't get the free gifts.
For readership and Circulation I searched the average readership and circulation music magazines get in order for my audience profile to be accurate.
I also added quotes in order to show realism in the magazine.
I also carried out other research, for example I made a Focus Group Video.
This helped with my research as it helped me understand what makes a good cover along with how thick the average magazine should be. For example, both audiences liked the fact that both magazines had bright, complementary colours in order to catch their eye.
They also helped me understand how to price my magazine in terms of page to price ratio. For example, one of my audiences said they would pay £3 for a particular magazine as it had alot of pages (It had around 250 pages). Another one of my audiences said they would pay £2.50 for a magazine with around the same amount of pages.
The focus group video helped me understand how to make a cover stand out. One of my audiences said they like the fact the "smashed glass brings out the inner rock" and that is what attracted them too it as it follows the genre. As you could see I took this information into account when making my magazine as I included smashed glass effects on the logo.
The focus group also helped me decide what gift should be included. One of my audience members said the CD makes up for the price of the magazine which was at £3. This showed me that audiences aren't willing to pay big prices for magazines unless that get a good quality gift in which can be used many times.
5. How did you attract / address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Technologies I have learnt:
Blogger - I have learnt how to create a good quality blog which looks presentable aswell as informative. In blogger, I have also learnt how to embed videos and presentations also which has helped me out alot when completing tasks set.
Prezi - Prezi is a website where you can create interesting presentations that help you explain the topic you are writing about clearly. I have learnt how to format my Prezi's in an interesting way as well as embed video's and images in order to further explain myself or to provide evidence for my research.
Emaze - Emaze is a similar website to Prezi in terms of it helping you create animated slideshows to show your planning and research. On Emaze, I also learnt how to embed videos and images in order to clearly explain my research.
GoAnimate - Using the website; GoAnimate, I have learnt how to animate cartoon characters to talk to each other and explain what I have found in my research on magazines. I have also learnt how to make the characters do actions in order to further explain my topic as well as add music so the videos are more interesting.
Powerpoint - I have learnt that converting Powerpoint slides to Jpeg's is a really easy way to display information on my blog. It opens up an opportunity to embed well explained, nice looking slides without having to sign up to different websites.
Lighting - In the green screen room, I learnt how to professionally light my artists when taking my images. I used 3-point lighting as this displays a good looking, clear image which also makes the photo easier to edit when on Photoshop.
Sony A5000 - I learnt how to operate a Sony A5000. I learnt how to focus an image properly and blur the background so the main figure of the photo stands out.
SD Card: I also learnt how to import files ferom an SD card so I could then edit them on a computer.
DaFont: I learnt how to use the website DaFont so I could access a variety of fonts, which allowed my to conform to the conventions of smashed text.
Using Vegas Pro 11:
Vegas Pro is a video editing software in which I can present information in an interesting way. For example, I can animate my video so it zooms in on parts of my cover. This is helpful as I can explain specific parts of my cover clearly by adding text next to these zoomed in parts:
I have also learnt how to add music to my videos in order to make them more entertaining:
I have learnt how to fade in and out my video in order to give it a professional, well edited look:
I have learnt how to use the photo editing software: Adobe Photoshop.
I learnt how to select images and paste them in many different ways. For example, you can select an image by either using any of the shaped selection tools, any of the lasso tools, the quick selection tool and the pen tool. The pen tool gives a more precise selection than the rest. To copy and paste you just go to Edit, then Copy. Then Edit, Paste.
I also learnt how to create shapes, for example in my first draft of my cover, I used a whole variety of shapes.However, they didn't look very good so I had to change them.
Blogger - I have learnt how to create a good quality blog which looks presentable aswell as informative. In blogger, I have also learnt how to embed videos and presentations also which has helped me out alot when completing tasks set.
Prezi - Prezi is a website where you can create interesting presentations that help you explain the topic you are writing about clearly. I have learnt how to format my Prezi's in an interesting way as well as embed video's and images in order to further explain myself or to provide evidence for my research.
Emaze - Emaze is a similar website to Prezi in terms of it helping you create animated slideshows to show your planning and research. On Emaze, I also learnt how to embed videos and images in order to clearly explain my research.
GoAnimate - Using the website; GoAnimate, I have learnt how to animate cartoon characters to talk to each other and explain what I have found in my research on magazines. I have also learnt how to make the characters do actions in order to further explain my topic as well as add music so the videos are more interesting.
Powerpoint - I have learnt that converting Powerpoint slides to Jpeg's is a really easy way to display information on my blog. It opens up an opportunity to embed well explained, nice looking slides without having to sign up to different websites.
Lighting - In the green screen room, I learnt how to professionally light my artists when taking my images. I used 3-point lighting as this displays a good looking, clear image which also makes the photo easier to edit when on Photoshop.
Sony A5000 - I learnt how to operate a Sony A5000. I learnt how to focus an image properly and blur the background so the main figure of the photo stands out.
SD Card: I also learnt how to import files ferom an SD card so I could then edit them on a computer.
DaFont: I learnt how to use the website DaFont so I could access a variety of fonts, which allowed my to conform to the conventions of smashed text.
Using Vegas Pro 11:
Vegas Pro is a video editing software in which I can present information in an interesting way. For example, I can animate my video so it zooms in on parts of my cover. This is helpful as I can explain specific parts of my cover clearly by adding text next to these zoomed in parts:
I have also learnt how to add music to my videos in order to make them more entertaining:
I have learnt how to fade in and out my video in order to give it a professional, well edited look:
I have learnt how to use the photo editing software: Adobe Photoshop.
I learnt how to select images and paste them in many different ways. For example, you can select an image by either using any of the shaped selection tools, any of the lasso tools, the quick selection tool and the pen tool. The pen tool gives a more precise selection than the rest. To copy and paste you just go to Edit, then Copy. Then Edit, Paste.
I also learnt how to create shapes, for example in my first draft of my cover, I used a whole variety of shapes.However, they didn't look very good so I had to change them.
When using Photoshop, I learnt how to use alot of tools in order to get the effect I need on my magazine. For example, I learnt how to use the magic wand tool, this allowed me to change the texture on my masthead. To improve the texture I was able to learn how to use layer blends. Then to finally finish my logo off, I added an outline to my logo known as a Stroke:
Here is a video showing you how I did it:
I also learnt how to use the polygon lasso tool along with the quick select tool, this allowed me to select my artists in a photograph, and paste them onto a different background. For example, this is a demonstration when doing my google mock up:
Here are the artists who I would like to take from this blank background, using wither the quick select tool or the polygon lasso tool, I can select these artists and move them onto this background:
I also learnt how to put different background effects onto my main image. What I did on my College Magazine cover, I selected the background layer and then went to Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. This allowed me to blur the background so the main attraction of my main image (the student) was shown more prominently and that the other students in the background weren't.
I also learnt how to use tools such as the spot healing tool, this allowed me to get rid of any spots and freckles on my artists face in my music magazine just by clicking on them:
As you can see, I have also brightened up his face as well as removed some spots and freckles. This was done by using the paint brush tool. What I did was copy the colour of a brighter patch of skin on his face, then with the Opacity at about 20%, I kept brushing over the dark areas like his eyes until his face was lighter and stood out more. Another example of this is when I re-did it for a different photo for the contents:
I also learnt how to use the rubber tool effectively when you need to remove a white outline that surrounds your artist, after you have just pasted them onto a different background. What I did was put the layer with the artist on to around 50% and the rubber opacity to about 70%. I then gently rubbed out the white:
On this video you also see me using the Burn tool, this allows me to darken my artist so he fits the background. Even though I didn't use the background shown in the video, I still had to re-do this process.
Furthermore, I learnt shortcuts in order to get my photo editing done quicker, for example Control + T is a shortcut to scaling your image. Also, if you want your image to stay proportional when you are re-sizing it, you hold Shift.
I also found out how to use the crop tool so I can zoom in on the parts I want to keep in my image. I used the crop tool when cropping a landscape picture into a portrait picture.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
