final post

my blog is now finished

Evaluation

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
i included all of the mandatory necessities, ie, mast head, issue number bar code etc. the mast head was printed on a banner to make it more visible and all cover lines were also in boxes or banners. the double page spread has columns of text and is bordered by a pictured of the featured artist and branches of leaves, i took my inspiration from the evaluated Q double page spread which used this picture and had text on the left;


i also took inspiration from the Q contents page, using several images and added the page number it relates to in the picture, i do not feel i pushed the boundaries of the form.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
i chose the image that i did for the front cover as it was one in which the model was with his electro-acoustic guitar, to relate to the rock music fans, the double page spread has a lot of space dedicated to the pictures as to not scare people away with text heavy articles and the language used is quite informal as it is aimed at a teen audience.

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
most retail outlets and newsagents that sell magazines would be an ideal place for this magazine to be sold, although there doesn't seem to be a large gap in the market of music magazines.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?
a primarily male teen audience into the rock/new music scene. i have represented them in the formality of the text, the articles chosen and the photographs that have been taken.

• How did you attract/address your audience?
the front cover is bright and colourful and it is ergo eye catching, it is more colourful that most music magazines that i evaluated and would therefor stand out more.

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
i used GIMP in the editing of all my pictures, a programme that was new to me. i learned how to apply new backgrounds to images, use the smudge tool to remove imperfections on the models.

this is an example of both the smudge tool and implanting an image into the foreground of a picture.

• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that my final project is a lot more visually appealing than my preliminary task, for example the contents pages are quite different, i added a lot more images and i think it benefits greatly from the addition, it looks more professional and more inviting to the reader. The front page also looks more professional, there is no empty space, the image of the model is a lot bigger and looking at the camera, the sub headings are more relevant and pictures look better, all adding to a better front cover.

this is the preliminary contents page, the lack of pictures and dark tone make it seem less inviting

the main contents page however has more pictures and is much lighter, making the reader feel more welcome.

amended contents page

Treatment sheet

The Magazine; Fresh Talent

Target Readership; the magazine will aim at a primarily male audience within the age range of around 16-20, the group in which the "i know more than you about music" pretense is most common, as the magazine will focus on new artists/groups breaking into the music scene, and also to this end the genres that will be given most attention will be rock and its branching genres. the magazine will also often take time to go over the bands journey to popularity to offer information and encouragement to those of whom wish to become famous, a dream shared by many teenage males.

Form and Style; Fresh Talent is an A4 full colour magazine that contains interviews with musicians, album reviews, information on newly released Cd's and any relevant news. covers will feature bands and other musicians. the cover lines will talk about featured artists and bands, and other main features. it will sell for £3.00, a price determined by feedback on the questionnaire.

Potential Advertisers; clothes retailers of which produce clothes aimed at the rock scene, adverts for touring groups and new releases.

a few grammatical corrections

Using GIMP

here i have the original image, which i edited with the GIMP image manipulation programme using the magic want tool to select the background and paintbrush tool i was able to make the background white, without going over the part of the picture i wanted, making the lines more crisp and look more professional.



then i was able to use the magicwand tool again to select the background, the invert the selection to select the image, which i could then copy and paste onto a pre-chosen background which is what i then used for the background of my double page spread.

and here we have the final contents page, comments please

contents page so far

the double page spread interview

front cover

upon thinking more of audience etc, i decided it better to change the front page, changing the theme to new music to apeal to those of whom are looking for something new.

new front cover

upon learning how to add a background to my images i decided to change my front cover design to this, i think it looks a lot better to the previous design with a plain white background

this is my plan for the double page spread, just need some text now

Front cover

what do people think?

Name of the Mag

i've come up with a few names, what do people think?

Excelsior

Power

Adrenaline

Symphony

Sonata

Didacticity

Catalyst

front cover pic

which do you think would be best for the front cover picture?

Double page spread

and for the third and final time, changes, critique etc

Contents Page

Heres the plan for the contents page, again if you would comment and criticise:

Front cover

heres my plan for the front cover:



any ideas on how to improve it or what you'd change would be appreciated

photo shoot

I have collected several photos during the first photshoot, however due to a lack of instruments i am going to prepare another wherein i shall be using a borrowed guitar to add diversity to the photos and add the the theme of music.

What do you find more interesting?
	Voyeuristically peering into someones life
	What someone is wearing
	Someones daily routine
	Talking about someone private life
	Learning about someones motivation and inspiration
pollcode.com free polls

Double page spread: miss america

similar to the other double page spread this has the text on the left and a picture of the featured artist: Taylor Swift, on the right.
the title is split into two, "miss" being black text in a white box and "america" in white text in a black box, it looks stylish. The text of the article is all white, as the picture covers the whole of the spread and black text may be too hard to read. the text is split into two columns, as the article is not too long but this way still takes up most of the page.
the picture of Taylor Swift is a long shot of her on a wooden walkway over a lake with a picturesque autumn wooded area with golden leaves littering the floor in the background. She is wearing a black and white prom style dress inkeeping with Q's colour scheme.
there is also, in the bottom right hand corner and quote from ne-yo on Taylor swift, with his portrait and a quote from his quote above the quote to anchor the quote.

Questionaire

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. Colour scheme; three or all of red, white, gold and black seems to be the most popular in music magazines, would it be the best idea to play to form or chose a different route?


4. What would interest you most for a double page spread? An interview, review or article on a band.


5. Pictures are important, but would a collage be better than a large picture? and to what ratio to the text?


6.Whats your favourite type of music (or just some bands you like)

7. What magazines do you read?

8. How often?

9. And why?

double page spread: a round with Jon Bon Jovi

the left hand page is all text whereas the right hand page is medium shot of Jon Bon Jovi pouring a glass of white wine (possibly pinot grigio, which is mentioned in the text). is body language shows a relaxed, casual attitude, as he is leaning on a bar (we assume by the fact he is pouring wine, there are many coloured bottles behind him, blurred and the surface he is leaning on looks like that of a bar somewhere expensive. It is revealed in the text that he co-owns a fancy restaurant, this could partly influence the scene, however it is more likely a feature of this regular article: "a round with", of which the first line of the interview, is "It's Q's round. What are you having" which suggests the interview is being orchestrated in a bar type location.
he is in all black and wearing sunglasses adding to the casual ambiance.
And the annotation says "Jon Bon Jovi: Wine and cheese" a play on words for comic effect, wine and cheese makes you think of the food and drink, but its in reference to his "cheesey" grin.

The text is lain out in four columns, with the regular bold for questions and normal font for answers, in the middle of the text is a quote taken from the text which has been deemed interesting and is a feature often used in articles to intrigue the reader, and get them to read the said article, because its funny, interesting or just confusing, the one used here plays off the fame of Obama: "I've written a song for Obama".
Only three questions actually relate to his music career, the others relating to different events of his life such as his aquisition of a restaurant by accident and his football team.

Q contets page analysis

Unlike kerrang the Q contents page is spread over a double page, with with pictures bordered by a list of contents on either side, and a boxed title with "contents" in black on the first page, with the Q awardon the left. And "issue 281" in white on the other with a minature front cover on the right. The box is red with black lines around it to seperate it from the rest of the page and border it, it looks better than if it were just a red box.

the left side contents is the features, the title "features" is in white text highlighted in red (as is the regularstitle on the right) with the main feature (the Q awards) in bold and a bigger font with the breif overview in a red font acompanied by a picture of Al Murray "your convivial host". with following features in a repeating format of page number / title in bold, with a red line seperating the overview with a thin red line between the next feature, this style is the same on the other list of contents. this provides a stylish symmetry.

the pictures aren't so evenly split, with the large picture on the left laying over the fold in the middle, it takes up almost half the page and features the band on the cover. it has a picture of the fron page of the Qawards over it, keeping the main band and main article together in the contents, with other articles mentioned on the cover and a few others on the right.

the footer contains page number, the month of the issues release, the Q logo and website to subscribe to the magazine, this is repeated through out the magazine unless obscured by a picture, (there is the Q magazines official website missing from the contents.)

Kerrang contents page

Font for titles is messy, subtitles for different articles (ie news etc) is in a red bold text with lists ofarticles in white, with page numbers in bols to the left. inkeeping with the colour scheme on the front page.

the majority of the page is taken up by a picture of a guy of whom i assume the target audience would know, crowd surfing. Its very dark, with the main source of in shot light is the lights of the bar and a neon sign that appears to say: "(something) doom"


The letter form the editor is in the top right hand corner, next to three pictures of bands/artists (I assume), with cover lines that dont reveal much about the articles.

additional information provided is the issue number, date of release, and information for about subscribing to the magazine.

Again the lead singer of the band featured on the cover is most prominent and in front of the rest of the band members. Their colour scheme is simple, all wearing black and white (except one red tie) but unlike Q they are in colour. The colour scheme is, like Q: red, white, black and gold. however it is a much darker cover with a background of grey and black being the most prominent colour.


The Masthead is behind the lead of the lost prophets but infront of the other band members with the tagline "Life is loud" in gold, over the shattered, black "kerrang" on a white banner. The word kerrang is shattered supposedly to represent how glass is shattered by noise. There is another gold banner above the masthead, a red "free!" followed by a list of white text band names featured in the free posters. The word "FREE!" is also on one of the cover lines, in red, standing out next to the white text of the rest of the cover line, again referencig the free posters, this time with picturse of the bands.

Below this is a red "PLUS!" over a banner with several band names. The words free and plus are convincing words for someone to buy a magazine, free as people enjoy free things and plus suggests something extra.

Q

Main focus is the band, of which the singer/guitarist is at the front, and drummer is at the back. A common convention in group shots of bands. Also, the band is in black and white, (except the Q award, which is gold) this, with the lack of a background, keeps the colour scheme simple; red, white, black and gold. If too many colours were used the picture would not mesh and the magazine would not look visually appealing. the golden Q stands out as to draw focus, as it is relative to the main theme of the issue; the Q awards.

The name of the magazine; Q, is printed in a large white font in a red box. The red helps the title to stand out as it is the largest amount of the colour on the page with only a few other sentances in red.

There are two banners; one at the top and one just under half the way down. The top banner says; "the awards issue", the main feature of the magazine as opposed to the bigger banner lower down that goes into more detail about this subject, listing names of artists and bands who are "the winners", with "arctic monkeys" in a larger font. these stand out and are intended to get people to buy the magazine if they are fans of one or more of the mentioned artists or interested in the subject.

(Q used to be called cue but the name was changed to avoid any confusion with the sport of snooker)

With the preliminary task finished
I must now start on the main task of a music magazine.
Due to snow, holidays, exams etc,
the blog is starting late, with 2 weeks gone.
so to compensate I must attribute:
1.5Weeks to the front cover analysis and construct
1.5Weeks to the contents page analysis and construct
2.5Weeks to the double page spread analysis and construct
1Week to the evaluationusing any remainding time to
review feed back and finalise everything