Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Monday, 15 March 2010
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
An example of a typical reader of an indie-folk magazine.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Alongside my use of Adobe Photoshop, I also edited my pictures in Adobe Lightroom. Again, I was already very familiar with this product and I find this the easiest way to manipulate images.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
1) How does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is similar to the current magazines shown above, which all present the genres rock and indie rock. Therefore I purposefully took inspiration from these magazines as I intended my magazine to present an indie/folk genre. The similarities between my own magazine and the others listed are the typical elements of a magazine such as a masthead, barcode and strap lines but also the features specified for the genre such as the font and language. The font used in my magazine and the current ones is a sans serif font, typically used to connote colloquialism and to appeal to younger audiences. The language mine and the other magazines have used is a chatty, informal style but as well as showing intelligence.
However, my media product shows some difference in style and content because it was an indie/folk magazine. This is shown through the colour scheme being quite neutral, laid-back colours as apposed to NME’s ,for example, bright red, black and white scheme.
Friday, 12 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Friday, 22 January 2010
Time Plan
- Small contents shot to be taken, image of two people in a pub/club, smiling.
Saturday 23rd January:
- Double page spread image 1, medium close up shot of someones feet for album cover.
- Double page spread image 3 & 4 to be taken, involving a boy and girl in quirky outfits. It will look as though they have just been pulled straight from the street even though I am using models.
Sunday 24th January:
- Double page spread photo five, image of a boy sat in an armchair or a field if the weather is nice playing a mandelin or acoustic guitar.
- Large contents shot: Taken in a field including a 4/5 mixed group, all with instruments.
Tuesday 25th January:
- Front cover image to be taken, outside if the weather is good, if not in a studio.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Planning: Shot list
Here are some examples of the kind of style I want in my cover image:
Large contents shot: Wide shot, landscape, group of about 4/5 young people. Various instruments will be in the shot to show that they are in a band. The picture will look very casual and natural rather than posed.
Small contents shot: Wide shot, portrait, the editor of the magazine and a band member stood next to eachother smiling with arms around one another. There should be a distinction between the editor in the shot and the band member. E.g. clothes, height, age?
Double page spread photo one: Mid shot, Image of something quirky e.g. socks with sandals? To represent an indie film.
Double page spread photo two: Wide shot, image of a crowd of people to represent a gig. I may be able to take a picture of an actual gig if the opportunity arrises.
Double page spread photo three: Wide shot, portrait, of a girl in the high street wearing desirable indie clothes.
Double page spread photo four: As above but with a male.
Double page spread photo five: A medium close up image of something herbal like to represent a herbal high, or an actual legal high if I can get my hands on one.
Double page spread photo five: I will upload a two second video clip of someone playing an instrument like a mandelin or guitar and I will then do a screen shot, crop it and then include it in my double page spread.
Audience research on rough sketches
Here is the rough sketch of the contents page. It looks quite bare but I intend to fill the whole page with a lot of text which will include not only the content of the magazine but with a note from the editor aswell. Next to the text detailing the content of the magazine I hope to include a large image of a band with a page reference, and beside the note from the editor I plan to include a small image of something relating to the note.
Finally, this is a rough drawing of the double page spread I will include in my magazine. I decided to include a variety of information such as fashion, film and music as a result of the audience research I gathered.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Audience Research
These are the questions and responses:
Does this appeal to you, Why?
" Yes, it has lyrics from bands I like... and features logos of magazines I already read"
"It appeals to me... it is suited to teenagers because it has images like the Topshop, Myspace and WKD logos"
Would you read this magazine? All those asked said they would
"it looks interesting to read"
What would you want it to include?
"stuff about gigs and festivals and new music"
"a mixture of fashion, music and general issues"
What do you think about the fonts?
"I like the fonts because they are varied and interesting"
" really like the fonts at the bottom"
For an uptodate view of the mood board follow this link;
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/photo.php?pid=4360862&id=727423277
Now that I have gathered this information, I will bear it in mind when I create rough drawings of my magazine which I intend to do next.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Research and Planning: Distribution
Contradictorally Vice, and independant UK magazine who have a very different distribution strategy. Their magazine is free, and this is because it is only distributed to places where their target audience will go and this consists of bars, cafes, record stores and galleries and is therefore not in stocked in mainstream stores such as supermarkets. This quirky way will appeal to their target audience as they will feel that they are connecting with them on a personal level.
After researching into the distribution strategies of major and independant magazines I have decided that I would distribute my magazine through independant distribution and I intend to stock it in mainly bars and cafes. This is because it will make it more personal for my audience, who are into quirky and independant music, and I think they will appreciate it.
I will have a multi platform strategy where the audience can listen to and watch independant music and films made by my company.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Audience Profile
- Generally aged between 14 - 21 although age can vary depending on personal taste.
- Mostly female, with some males.
- Intelligent, but won't put as much effort in at school as possible e.g. leaves homework to the last minute.
- Will shop at Topshop, Urban Outfitters and various charity shops.
- They will most likely smoke, and have tried or intend to try cannabis.
- They may have a saturday job, and spend their wages on gigs, alcohol and nights out to the cinema/ restaurants.
- They will have a piercing somewhere, a popular choice being a plug.
- They will have a facebook/ Myspace addiction.
- Will be interested in unsigned bands/ interested in quirky music.
- The girls will own at least one long cardigan
- Both genders will own a pair of skinny jeans and a checked shirt.
- Their favourite TV programmes will include Skins, the Inbetweeners, Misfits etc.
- The films they are likely to favour are ones like Juno and 500 days of summer.
Summary of Research
- A 3 way colour scheme, with a fourth colour used to highlight particular areas.
- A capitalised masthead in sans serif font.
- A main image of a popular band within the chosen sub culture looking directly at the camera.
- Cover lines and reversed out cover lines to give the cover variety and depth.
- A large image dominating the contents page with the actual content listed in a box to the side.
- A lot of small text on the double page spreads with one large image and a few smaller ones.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Mood Board
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Research and Planning 2: Detailed Analysis (unfinished)
I intend to create an indie folk magazine, however I couldn't find any magazines within this genre and so I have analysed rock magazines as they have a similar target audience with similar conventions.
Rock sound is a rock magazine which specifically features new music. A typical audience member may generally be a male who plays an instrument and may be in a band. He will most likely wear jeans and a t-shirt and attend many parties but won't dress up for them. He is a hedonist and perhaps someone who is intelligent but probably didn't put in enough effort at school to get the highest grades he could. This person will enjoy finding new music to listen to and his favourite band will be one which produces many albums such as Muse. To appeal to this 'couldn't care less' attitude Rock Sound have included colloquial arrows and vocabulary with large in your face fonts. The colour scheme they have used is Green, white and yellow which are bright, quirky colours which will stand out. They have included a list of many bands, some of which the audience member will not have heard of and will be interested to find out about them. The main sell of this particular issue is an interview with the band Muse, who are also the main image on the cover.
Rock Tribune is another rock magazine, who include music from the sub-genre metal. The reader of this is likely to be male and, depending on their personality, would either wear jeans and a hoodie or a long black coat. They will most likely have long hair and will aspire to grow some form of a beard if they don't have one already. Their favourite band is likely to be Megadeath and they will spend their time watching Youtube videos, most likely of stunts, and playing games on the Xbox such as World of War Craft. They are quite introvert and will have a social networking site but will rarely use it.
To appeal to their target audience, Rock Tribune have made their magazine simpler and have organizationally laid it out. The front cover has a sophisticated feel to it, which is encouraged throught the use of fonts, this particular issue appears very gothic. This is because the main sell "Nightwish" are a gothic metal band and this is portrayed on the cover through the use of serif font, dark colours and the vampire-esque appearance and pose from the band.
Kerrang is very similar to Rock Sound, but they will include interviews and information not just on new music, but bands which have been around for a while too. Because this magazine is so similar to Rock Sound, the readers are most likely to have the same qualities. However I think the readers of Kerrang are likely to be into heavier bands and have more of a rebellion about them than readers of Rock Sound. The masthead has been intercepted by the main image, showing that it is a well established magazine. They have used a sans serif font which, teamed with the chatty language used, makes the magazine seem colloqiual.
NME is a music magazine which includes all the sub-genres of rock and so includes information on lots of bands. The first thing I notice about the front cover is the colour scheme, white, red and black which connote to rebellion, and is continued throughout the magazine. Rather than their contents page detailing what pages to find the features, NME have listed all the bands mentioned in the magazine and the pages on which to find them. This is because they know that their readers will be very into their music and will want to be able to find the information on their favourite bands straight away. The contents page isn’t actually a full page, merely a column to the side of it, with a large image and news of another band dominating the rest of the page.
On this double page spread, which is in keeping with the set colour scheme of the magazine, there are a couple of large sized images, several medium sized images and a few small ones. This indicates the importance of the band the image is of, and is also indicated through the boldness of the font in the text around the picture.
NME includes music which is of a more indie style and therefore its readers will be slightly different to the ones mentioned previously. A typical audience member will shop at Topshop/ Topman, go to many gigs and festivals and will most likely have a MySpace.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Research and Planning: Initial Analysis
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Evaluation
The cover was made using photoshop. I took the photograph of the model infront of some green shrubbery, as well as adding bright colours to the cover this also connotes to the healthy eating side of the magazine. The reader can relate to the magazine as the model is the same age as them, she isn't the type of model who you would see on the front of high fashion magazines although she had been edited slightly to make her skin perfect which suggests to the reader that if you read this magazine then you can be happy and look as good as her too. This is similar in the second magazine which sports a young man infront of a brick wall; he looks edgy and cool which appeals to the audience.
We used a modern font for the masthead to catch the readers eye and then used a more sophisticated font and language to appeal to the target audience as we thought the readers would be mainly middle class. We made our main sell catchy and interesting which entices the reader to buy the magazine and also included regular things such as a barcode, issue number, date and price.
We used a programme called Quark Express to make the contents page, however we all felt that this was rushed and therefore not done to the standard we wanted it. We included one large image, which we decided to do as a result of the research we had previously done, and then listed in collumns the contents of the magazine.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Contents page research
http://www.stevegiralt.com/blog/wp-content/myfotos/77-food-network-magazine-cover/JM_Spring_09_Drop1_064298.jpg
Both magazine contents pages are laid out in collumns and they also both have large main images, this is a feature which almost all magazine contents pages will have. The page informs the reader of what is included in the magazine in further detail and tells them what page they can find it on.
The magazines appeal to their target audiences by using colloquial language which makes the reader more comfortable with the magazine, this also means that the magazine can be understood by everyone. Also, the contents page is full of short snappy sentences that draw the readers attention to that particular article.
The contents page for both magazines uses the same font throughout the publication, this adds to the keeping of the identity of the magazine.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Audience Profile
- Students aged 16-2o
- Middle class students
- Students who are interested in cooking/ food
- People who regularly visit restaurants, pubs etc.
- People who are concerned about their diet.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
College Magazine Analysis
http://www.campuslifemagazine.ca/images/campus_life_magazine_cover_spring2008_large.gif
Bounce Magazine
http://www.mukamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/iya-villania-bounce.jpg
Latins University Magazine
All the magazines have similar cover images as they all contain one main image which was photographed as a medium close up. However, all of the magazines have different colour schemes, such as 'Campus life' is saturated, 'Bounce' is brightly coloured and perhaps connotes to being in a club and 'Latins university' looks more natural but the white background makes her stand out.
I would prefer to read 'Campus life' as it looks more sophisticated and less trivial compared to the other two. The cover model has been placed on a desaturated background creating a powerful image.
The target audience for this magazine would be young men attending a college or university who are most likely to be aspirers or achievers as they are attending university, and are also therefore most likely to come from a well off background and so are more likely to be middle class.
The model on the magazine looks like an intellectual person, as well as being fashionable with his checked shirt, which as it is red, stands out as the only bit of bright colour on the magazine cover.
The language on the magazine is modern and would appeal to the younger population, particularly the age range of 16 - 19.