Charlie's Double Page Spread

FINAL

Charlie's Contents Page

Harry Lang - Media Evaluation

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

When I started to look at magazines in preparation for my task, I looked at different types to gain a feel for how the different genres used conventions. For example, a heavy metal magazine may have a band dressed in all black with dull lighting on the cover. Whereas for the pop genre your more likely to see an artist in a suit etc. After seeing some Indie mags, I gained inspiration as to what I would like to achieve – so I looked deeper into Indie and did some research. I set my target audience at teens to young adults, this is because these are the kind of people that will buy my product, as the indie market has reached an all time high for this age group. These magazines often feature the same kind of thing; a new/ upcoming band, a few interviews of recent popular artists, news and dates of tours and also a freebie. Once I gained an insight as to what was appropriate for my magazine I had to come up with my exact headlines, features and images. Firstly, I took some pictures for my cover – I told my model to wear something which stood out from the rest, this would assure my magazine was taken off the shelf. Now I had my pictures, I did a questionnaire which I gave to my peers so that I knew exactly what people were looking for. Based on the results I could see what to feature and what to leave alone.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There is a range of social groups represented in my magazine, because it has an average age range from around 15-25, there are social groups such as college students, younger workers and university students. The genre of my magazine has a representation of individuals dressed how you wouldn't expect, for example; wearing an oversized t shirt - and this is the take I used on it, which changed the way in which I edited my photographs; I tried to jazz them up and make them catch the eye. My images also have good connotations, this is because I used mostly the same aged models as my target audience, so the social groups are able to look at these images and relate them to themselves.

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

I looked at a range of media institutions for example: The National Magazine Company and Future Publishing. The media institute I decided my magazine would benefit from is Bauer Media this is because they distribute magazines which are similar to mine such as Q and Kerrang! magazine and I think that Bauer would suit my magazine as they would know how to market and distribute my genre. They are good at what they do and have great experience with distributing magazines – this is because they own more than eighty influential brands and have over 300 magazines in 15 countries. They are well experienced and manage to distribute many magazines, therefore, I feel that this is a very wise choice to choose them to distribute my music magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I aimed my magazine at an age range from 15 – 25. This is because I feel people who are into the indie genre are most likely this aged, however, it's not just about the age – it is also about their music taste so I made sure it was not strictly for these people by adding in some material which would relate to all ages. I feel my audience would be into the same things as I am e.g. listen to some of the same bands as me, which makes it easier for me to relate and to make the magazine content more interesting and fun for an indie lover. Because I didn't want to take any chances, I made a questionnaire which I gave to peers in my year, this gave me more of an idea of what people wanted from the magazine. Once this was over I evaluated their responses and injected it into my product.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

I thought that it was important when creating my magazine that it would catch a viewers eye from the second they saw it, to do this I used a model of the same age group as my target audience and got them to dress in a stylish and individual manner, this would relate to the audience themselves. Next, I thought about my font – I tried my magazine cover with a few different styles which gave the magazine alternative feels to it. I decided on a 'Courier' font which fitted great with my genre of choice. Another element to my magazine which I did to entice my readers is the way I wrote the text, this being informal, the reason I did this was I believe it makes the audience feel more at home and at ease with my magazine and made the reader want more.

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

During the creation of my media product I have learnt a lot about technologies which has greatly helped. Throughout the construction of my magazine I uploaded information about what was going well and what wasn't, I also blogged some drafts of my front cover, contents and double page spread. I used lots of different technology and some software to create and manipulate my product, some of these were: digital camera; this was used for capturing my images, adobe illustrator; which helped me piece together my magazine, and adobe photoshop; which was used to manipulate my images. These were all key elements in finishing my product and were all fairly straight forward, although, I did struggle with getting to grips with adobe illustrator, although after some use I started to experiment by altering hue/ saturation, contrast and other manipulation tools – which in the end paid off as I was happy with my final product.

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

I have learnt a lot producing my product. One factor I have learnt is how important planning is, for the prelim I don't feel I knew enough about my target audience and what they wanted to see from my magazine, which lead to my piece not containing enough interesting material. However, it was vital that I made this mistake as otherwise I wouldn't of noticed what my magazine was missing. I have also learnt a great deal on composition of a front cover and what looks good or not – this meant I could apply my knowledge for my final product. For example, in my preliminary task, my cover was bland and one dimensional, but I managed to pick up on my mistakes and was able to position and create the best ratio between text and image. Finally I have gained knowledge on how to address, and interest the audience – by this I mean what the audience want to hear, in terms of band gossip all the way to freebies. I am glad that my preliminary went how it did otherwise I wouldn't of been able to pick up on the mistakes I made.

Charlie's Evaluation

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

How does your media product represent Particular social groups?

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

How would you attract/address your youth audiance?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product and looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 

Imogens Analysis

Here is my analysis of my media work.

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience

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

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it

 to the full product?

Imogen's two page spread

Here is my two page spread ideas. I decided from the start i wanted writing round the edge and have the pictures as a focus in the middle. I decided to use a different text to our main text because it was the main two page spread so needed to be eye catching and interesting.

With feedback from teachers and fellow students i decided to change my writing from red to white. Meaning that it would stick out more. And also in doing this will mean that the title will also stand out more and has meant that people don't miss out Hazza as it seems more part of the title.. 

Imogen's content draft

Here are my contents drafts. I wanted to try and make my writing stick out as much as possible and i decided tis would work if the back ground was darker. So heres how I got to my contents design.

Harry's Front Cover Drafts

Once we had taken pictures for our front cover, we individually chose our favourites. Next we had to develop the image by adding on logos, text and information.


These are a few of my drafts for a front cover:

I am happy with this first draft of 'cyclone' magazine as it
looks stylish and catches the eye. However, what i could
do to improve it would be to make the banner (logo)
more bold and readable as i feel it could be more pronounced. Also it is hard to read most of the writing, therefore, i need to change colours of the text.

I prefer this front cover as i think it looks more like a magazine. What i like about it is that you are able to read all of the text and also there is a key feature, this interests the reader more. Lastly, the image very powerful which i think is what makes this front cover look great.

Charlie's Front Cover

I have enjoyed developing my front cover and trying to make it a piece that pleases the eye and immediately caught the readers attention.

 

 

h

. 

                                                                                                                                                                                  

d

Imogen's Drafts

Now i have started working on my drafts, I am doing them in small changes. My first i just wanted to get the main back ground and logo on a sheet and arrange it where i wanted it to be.
Here are my first to drafts, as i am only making small changes this is how they have changed. Next lesson i aim to think about my picture. Once i have my picture it is likely that i will edit my draft but for now it is good because it gives me idea of what i am gonna include on it.

This was my first draft with a picture. I really liked this
first draft but things didn't stick out enough so needed to find a way of making it more obvious.

I thought that changing the title colour and adding a
white outline would make it more eye popping.
And having the colourful back ground to the
writing meant that the writing was more obvious.

The full colour blocks took away from the picture
to much so i decided fading the blocks will allow it
to blend in the picture more. I but the coloured blocks
in that order because then it was in the correct place with the right sized background.

I decided to change the order to make it alternate
so that it didn't look so neat which would go more
with our genre.  I also made the 2 page spread title red
because then it is seen as more important. 

I changed the title back to the white outline so that
it stuck out more  and also made 2 page spread title
stick out more as it isn't the same as the title . I have decided this to be my final draft and am happy with the way it has come out. it has been successful and much better then my preliminary task cover.

Logo ideas

We decided on a simple logo so that it would be seen but not take up to much of the front cover. We have been working on ideas and here are some of our examples.

This logo is great however it doesn't look exactly like it says 'cyclone'

We really like this design because its simple, and straight to the point. And it will stick out on most background colours.
Its hand drawn so will be quit individual.

This design is a font from illustrator. Its also very simple. But it is a little bit to plain.












This is to posh for our magazine design. It doesnt really represent our indie theme to well.

Analysis of Music Magazine - Harry Lang

When you first look at this magazine cover, your eyes are drawn to the main feature - Kanye West, this is a good guide as to what genre music this mag covers; in this case, I know Kanye West is a rap artist, so I assume this magazine covers Rap. They have colour coordinated the front page by using the same colour text as his jacket, this subtly makes it more attractive and is also I technique I would like to use on my magazine. There is also a great use of complimentary colours used in the text, which fits well with the neutral background.

Colour Testing

Colour is an important part in making our front cover and contents page look powerful and eye catching. Here is what we think of each colour


Black, this is great because it is easy to read and has a nice finish - although it may be to plain for what we are looking for.


Red isn't bad at all and could definitely look good with a complimentary colour. However, it may be hard finding another colour which works well with the red.


Yellow is very hard to read which is why we don't think we should use it; also it doesn't fit with our genre of magazine.


This colour looks fantastic, it stands out, will work with most colours and also isn't too boring. Which is why we think, so far, this is the most appropriate choice.


We like this colour but think it's slightly to bright. One thing we do like about it is it's unique, which is what we want.


We decided we would go for a blue, but we had to select a blue. After a discussion we decided we would go for this nice sky blue. This is because, it will look great with a lot of other colours, it suits our genre and finally it is unique.

Audience

We decided through the results of our questionnaires and interviews that our target audience would be Teenagers aged 15 to 21. And Boys and girls who have a great interest in indie(individual)bands. It would be made for letting the audience know up and coming gigs, albums and the top new releases. As money is usually pretty short for teenagers we are going to price our magazine at £2. And it will be released monthly as this was the most popular choice in our questionnaires. This will mean that this audience will be able to afford the magazines and become big fans.

Questionnaire Result Analysis

We gave out 30 questionnaires to students of Highdown sixth form to find out there opinion on music magazines. Here are our results.
We randomly gave them out to 30 people to get a range of result from all different groups and tastes. So this would give us a wider range of info to make the decision on the genre and how were were gonna price, what to put in it and how often it was gonna be produced.


Do you read music magazine?

What is your favourite genre of music?

Whats's your favourite music magazine?

What would you be interested in seeing in your music magazine?

Would you like freebies?

How much would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?

Analysis of Music Magazines

This is a magazine cover from Q, which covers all genres of music. What i like about this cover is simplicity of the logo, but how it is so eye catching. I also think the colours compliment and contrast with each other, which enhances the whole look of the cover. An area which plays a key role in making this look amazing, is the composition - and this is what makes this magazine look so striking.

Music Magazine Questionaire

We made this music magazine questionnaire and handed it out to 20 students at our school. 
Here was the questionnaire.

Font Testing

We had to decide which font we wanted to use throughout our magazine. There are many different types of fonts, which each give a different feeling - this is why we had to be careful choosing. Here are our thoughts:

Times New Roman isn't really what we want, as it is slightly bland and we're looking for something different. It also looks a bit too sophisticated for our target audience.

This second font looks neat, but is too basic, and it doesn't suit our genre.


Courier looks fantastic, and is different from others - which is everything we're looking for. Another plus side is that it isn't everyones first choice.


Trebuchet is also a nice font which is simple and easy too read. But i think it needs to be more interesting.


Overall Courier is our font of choice. The reason being - it fits with our genre, looks great and can be read with ease. 

Deciding a Genre

As a team, the first thing we had to do was decide on a specific genre; which we would then research and create a template magazine. Firstly, we brainstormed and inputted our genre of choice, next, we had to negotiate and decide as a team which genre we would go for. The two final options were Indie and Pop, we came to the decision that we would go for Indie, this is because we thought, as a group, we were generally quite knowledgable in this area of music.