Original Photographs

These are my original photographs which I took at the beginning of the coursework. I took a variation of photographs, using different clothes to give different appearances, as well as structuring different poses and positions for effect.





The Four Photographs I Used (Before Modification)
Front Cover Photograph

This is the first photograph to which I took, before editing and placing on my front page of the music magazine. Once placed onto Abode Photoshop, I changed the red eye tool, healing brush tool, after changing the brightness and contrast buttons slightly. The last tool I used was the magic wand tool to cut out the photograph so I could place it on my front cover using a different background colour, as it was a gradient colour used.










Contents Page Photograph



















On my contents page, I decided to use these two photographs. The photograph to left shows a slight smile with direct eye contact, so I thought this suited the contents page. Her appearance fits the genre in terms of the clothes, make-up and jewellery. To edit this on Photoshop, I both used the magic wand tool, brightness and contrast adjustment, and use the spot healing brush tool. For the photograph on the right, I decided I was going to create a CD and upload it to the contents to inform the readers of her success. To do this, I cut out using the magic wand tool, got rid of the red eye tool slightly as there was not a large amount of red eyes, cut out and created the CD.

Double Page Spread Photographs




















Finally, for my double page spread I used two photographs. I decided to use two slightly different positions of sitting and when opened up on Photoshop, I used the crop tool to crop out the feet or unnecessary parts that were not needed, as well as using the magic wand tool, healing brush tool and then dragging them and opening them up in In design to the double page spread.

Evaluation Question 7

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

Looking back at both the main task and the preliminary task, I can notice the changes within them both. Because I created the preliminary task at the beginning of the course, I did not have as much experience as I do now, and I didn't have the skills and techniques in which I have learnt over the past months since September 2010.

Front Pages-Preliminary (Left) and Main Task (Right)




















Comparing my design from the preliminary task to the final task, I can see vast improvements within my work. When creating the preliminary magazine, I had just started to get to terms with both the Apple Mac and Adobe Photoshop. These improvements which stand out to me include the photographs. This is because with the design on the left, the photo is slightly blurred, showing that I was new to taking photographs, but I feel the lighting worked. Looking at my magazine on the right I can see that I have got the model to give direct eye contact, adding depth and character into the shot, as well as the posture and lighting being accurate. Although I have used primary colours for both magazines, I feel they both stand out and contrast to the text colours used.

Contents Pages-Preliminary (Left) and Main Task (Right)

As you can see, both magazines clearly display the three columns meaning the page has clearly been divided equally, and the use of colour schemes are relevant and use of primary. However, I can see that I have improved since the preliminary task due to the boldness of the magazine to which I have portrayed for "volume." The use of the colours are more brightened meaning that they will stand out more and give the effect I was looking for when creating the magazine, to fit in with the genre. However, the preliminary task consisted of a school magazine, so because the targets were different, the colours were also different to fit in with the genre. The use of a soft blue rather than a bold bright blue was due to the school colours at "Wilmington Grammar School for Boys." I feel that by the time I created my music magazine, I had come to terms with cutting out photographs on Photoshop, using the magic wand tool, which enabled me to cut my model out of the photo, rather than leaving the background in tact alike I had done previously with my preliminary task.

Other things included which I learnt was page design and time. Before enduring on the contents page, I didn't realise that page layout had to be put in three columns. Because of this, I learnt how to do so, and I found I kept in time and had enough time to complete the task.

Evaluation Question 6

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

Looking back at creating my music magazine named "Volume" I had to use many different uses of equipment and technologies in order to end up with the finished product.

Below shows a few pieces of technology in which I have used throughout the unit of creating a music magazine:

The Camera The camera I used for the main task was a "Olympus X-940" which is shown in the slide show. Researching on the cameras qualities I found:

• 14 mega pixel
• 4 optical zoom
• 4 digital zoom
• USB
• face detection

Looking at professional cameras, quite a few off them have either the same megapixels available, or lower, with only expensive ones higher. Comparing this to my camera I used, I feel that mine was most appropriate as it was cheaper, smaller and easy to carry around and I got a high quality for a low price.

Apple Mac Book I used the Apple Mac book for the first time to create the magazine. Aswell as the keyboard and mouse being slightly different to other computers, laptops and net books to which I was used to, i had to pick up tools and skills and learn how to navigate around the system. After practising and getting use the system, by the end of the unit I found myself known with what to do, the programs to use and how to navigate around, including the websites, programs and different tools available.

In design and Photo Shop With the magazine task, it was my first experience when using Photoshop and In design. I needed to learn all the new skills and techniques within each program, especially Photoshop, as I used this for my front cover and contents, but then In design for the double page spread. They both were quite straightforward to pick up and to use, and I found that these programs have helped me if I need to use the programs for the future. I used the magic wand tool mostly, to cut out the photographs of my model to which I used. I used PhotoShop for things like cutting out photographs, different texts and fonts, whilst I learnt skills from In design, learning how to use text wrap, creating columns and how to put text in different columns.

An a example to the left shows the text wrap. As you can see, all the text now goes around the photograph on the page, and when/if I want to change or move the photograph, the text will modify along with this.

The Grab Tool As I was working on a Apple computer, there was no "Print Screen" button meaning that I could not easily use screen shots in my work to show proof or evidence of what I was doing. To over come this, I had to use the "Grab Tool" which was located at the bottom of the tool-bar on the Apple Mac Books. I had never used this tool beforehand but I found it easy to pick up and very useful also, as I could take screen shots or a selection to which I wanted to show on my blog.

Blogger and Picasion Along with the other methods of techniques I have previously stated, I had not heard of or known about either Blogger, or Picasion, but since my music magazine have used both programs. Blogger is used for the whole publishing of my work, and displays my coursework, whereas picasion is a website which creates GIF animation, meaning I could show a slide show of photographs (as shown above.)

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word was a program which I had used previously on many occasions, and this was used to create my double page spread on. This included the use of "symonoms" to exchage words for a mnore professional use, and to check spelling and grammar as well as punctuation.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Before even starting on the task in hand of creating and developing a music magazine which could be sold within the music industry, I analysed and developed magazines to see which magazines were most popular and which genres were suited best among a certain age group. To the conclusion, I found that there were plenty of "POP" music magazines being sold within distributors alike "Asda" and other leading supermarkets, as well as local post offices and corner shops. Because of this, I decided to create and develop a magazine influenced to "Indie Scenesters" so that a new range of magazine could develop and create a range of audience, especially those within the age group of 16-24 year old, to create a "USP" - unique selling point.

The first thing I had to think of was the title. This included the font, colour and whether it would stand out to the customers if sold within the industry. Knowing my colour scheme included "Black" "White" "Red," and "Grey", I also considered "Neon Green" to see if the colour would suit the genre as it was bright so would stand out. Another factor whilst considering the effect of my magazine was the font. Relating to the genre and style of the magazine, I decided to use a font that was modern looking, stood out and easy to read. The top two choices were my final decision, but something was still not right.

Front Page

I knew that to attract my audience, my title had to have that something a bit special to it, and looking at my title currently I felt that it lacked something and it needed to be modified somehow. With careful consideration, I researched how other magazines had used effects and photographs. (shown below) "Loops" magazine has edited and modified the title to ensure that the name of the magazine relates to the title, as there are several "Loops" within. The other example I found was "Paste" where as you can tell a font has been used to give the appearance that each letter has been pasted onto the magazine. Concluding from this, I can now see that they stand out so much more than using any font.

After consideration with my music magazine of "Volume" I came up with the idea to input a record disc replacing the letter O. Doing this, I hoped to ensure that the title was still readable, and in hope that it would stand out among other magazines being sold.

Above shows the finished product once it had been edited, and as you can tell it stands out more and correlates with the colour scheme more effectively. When asking for peoples opinions of my finished magazine, this was one of the first things they picked up on as it gave the magazine character.

Another major fact I took into consideration when I was producing my magazine front cover was the colour of the whole page. I decided that I wasn't too sure on the black background with red writing as I felt many current magazines alike "NME" and "Kerrang" had done the same, so I wanted to go for a different aspect and try the grey effect.

I felt that both magazines could stand out to the other magazines within the industry and I found it hard to choose between them both.

I then asked 50 people what one they preferred through the use of school, Facebook and family members. The results were:

Red & Black: 28 Votes

Grey & Black: 12 Votes

Looking back on the two designs, I felt that although more people voted for the red version, I chose the right decision as the colours with the red and black detail contrast but still relate to the colour scheme and "Kirsty Walters" clothing and appearance, so I thought that it addressed the reader greatly.

Contents Page

In order to attract my audience, the contents page had to have bold colours and clear instructions about how to navigate around the page, as well as lots of photographs which are appealing to the user. Comparing my title of the music magazine, I feel they all look similar with bright colours used. I decided to add "contents" to the page just for effect as the leading magazines within the industry had done similar things that fit into my genre.

The other important technique when making a music magazine is the layout, especially for the contents. For this, I looked at current and existing magazines within the industry, and researched the best way a contents should look so that it stands out. Comparing both my magazine with Q's contents page, I can see that the layout is very similar, with a large and long column on the left with a small box with additional information within. The use of colour is also similar, with the use of red, white and black, primary colours.

Double Page Spread

The last page which I needed to create was the Double Page Spread. The first step was planning out how/what the layout was going to appear, and researching/planning the photographs as they are a main point to make the magazine stand out. Looking at the photographs, I have found celebrities or current magazines within the industry which displays the same or similar poses and positions as my model.

Looking to the left displays both photographs from magazines, from a well known and published one and my own. The pose is similar and I feel it attracts the audience with the wild form of eye contact, with a direct look at the head shot.

Looking and comparing the second and other photograph used, my model has fulfilled a similar pose and position to Lily Allen. Although the clothing appearance is different, the make-up and hair is close, but I feel that the position attracts the audience via the eye contact and the "hands on hip" movement shows a slight sense of attitude which could help engage the audience within the genre of the magazine.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have extracted this photograph from the website "www.UK tribes.com/" to show the genre and target audience in which my magazine focuses on when I created "Volume" magazine.

The photograph shows my main target to "Indie Scenesters" and shows that it can link to "Townies" "Trendies" "Hipsters" "Craft Kids" "Geeks" and "Young Alts." (shown below)

Within the trend of "Indie Scenesters," includes their interests, hobbies and appearances. It is important to focus on these factors whilst creating and designing a music magazine as you need to understand their interests in order to set a colour scheme, language or colloquial format, as well as the appearance for the models.

My target audience is the age from 16-24 years, and from my research they are all into the fashion trends. Looking on UK tribes, I found this quote about the genre:

"The Indie Scenester still likes to be ahead of the game when it comes to discovering new music. They still can’t quite shake off the skinny jeans though."

The model I have chosen to choose as someone that would buy my music magazine would be someone alike, Sam. Sam is ages 20 years, and as you can see, dresses and acts like a "Indie Scenester." Wearing a floppy hat, cardigan, chino's and army boots, he fits the description of the appearance. Although you cannot tell, he also has a hair cut where it is long on the top and short on the sides, meeting the requirements as described on the website.

To the left shows the interests of a typical "Indie Scenester" and shows their interests and hobbies. This image was also taken by UK tribes and shows what they are into, the clothing brands they prefer to wear as well as how much media they pay attention to. As you can see the three large ones include Internet, Magazines and Newspapers.

Click here to view the link of a typical "Indie Scenester."

Following the link above, I received the following information to find out just how a typical "Indie Scenester dresses:

Clothes:
Typical foppish hat
Waistcoat
Thick rimmed glasses
Cardigan
Stripy T-shirt
Tight jeans, or chino's
Harrington-style jacket
Long on top haircut, short on the sides hair-cuts
Converse or army-type shoes
(the options highlighted in red show what my example of my target audience, Sam is wearing above.)

The final aspect I looked at was the music that my target audience listens to, to understand the genre of the magazine. To complete this, I looked at "UK tribes" and looked on the topic of Indie Scenesters to find the bands that are on rotation on favourites within the group. Looking at this website, I found that the general bands that were liked and popular involved bands like "Friendly Fires" "Florence and the machine" and "The New Sins."
To show you a preview of a type of song to which is preferred or liked within this genre, I have posted a You-Tube clip which will allow you to listen to a well-liked video.
Friendly Fires-Paris

Evaluation Question 3

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

When researching magazines previously before making a start on my own, I found that with magazines alike Q and Kerrang, the company named Bauer Media Group.

Bauer Media Group publishes over 300 magazines in 15 different countries around the world, and are a very popular and well known company. Bauer Media only recently in 2008 joined The Media group and has now over 6,400 employees working for the company to bring out special magazines and interest new trends in the market to influence new range of ages and people. In 2008, Bauer Media Group circulated a massive turnover of 2.08 billion Euro's!

Relating to this, my magazine fitted the genre that Bauer focused on, as the company mostly produces magazines with the genre of indie/rock, meaning that this would be suitable for a magazine just like mine, with "VOLUME."

Looking at current magazines that Bauer Media Group publishes that involves music, are:
4Music, Smash Hits, Kiss, Kerrang!, Q, The Hits and The Box and a few others.
Due to this, I feel that my magazine will fit accurately into the market, as the only other magazines which relates to mine is "Kerrang!" and "Q." Both Kerrang and Q are well circulated with figures of 44,013 and 89, 450, meaning they are well known and fit well into the market.
Comparing Bauer Media Company to IPC, I have researched the circulation figures from music magazines relating to mine. On the IPC website, it states that NME has a circulation of just 32,166. From looking at this, I feel that if Bauer produces my magazine the circulation figures would hopefully be higher
than if produced by IPC so I feel it would benefit"VOLUME."

Below shows a few magazines to which the companies publish.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within the making of the music magazine named "VOLUME," I had to think of how it could be sold within the industry as well as the target audience of different social groups. I feel that it related to the social group and target audience due to the genre of the music.
However, I feel that the magazine which closely related to my music magazine is "KERRANG!" as they both have the same target audience aiming at the same genre of music.


Looking above, you can see that there are both similar but different in their own ways.

The similarities include things like the main cover story; both titles share the same colour scheme of white with a drop shadow, created on Adobe Photo shop. Both magazines have used fonts which relate and stand out from the rest of the magazine, meaning that the customer can clearly see who the musician or model is without having to search around the front cover, if unknown. The main use of the colour scheme/primary colours are black, red, white and grey. These colours are clearly shown throughout the front covers to identify the genre and target audience. Looking at both mastheads/titles of the magazine, I can see that they are almost identical in ways in which the font is used. Both fonts display a era of strike-through or a rigid effect, which states the genre and essence of the magazine. However, my magazine on the right shows a photograph of a record, replacing the letter "o" which relates to music and gives the vibe, so along with the title of the magazine and the photo, it cannot be misguided to what kind of magazine the product is. The photographs both used on the front covers are both female women, rather young and share the same target audience of 16-24 years approximately. Both females have both been resembled for a magazine influenced to those of both genders, males and females, and to have a woman on the front cover of the magazine is usually very rare, as the magazine industry is becoming very patriarchal. (male dominated) Both poses given by the models compare and are similar slightly by the strength of the eye contact given to the camera, as this shows a strong and positive posture. The photograph shows a strong posture with a straight on angle to give a fierce expression which relates to the genre and audience given. The hair is given a natural look for the front cover to show a sense of passion and pride for what she is doing. I have used correct lighting when taking the photographs of "Kirsty Walters" by using a lamp for the background as well as additional natural lighting. (windows and ceiling lighting.) However, to ensure that the photograph was a adequate lighting, I modified the photo slightly using Abode Photo shop and changing the brightness and contrast until I found the effect in which I was looking for. I decided not to use any props for my photo shoot due to the fact that when researching current magazines within the industry, not many of them using the genre that I did had props, and used hand movements and facial expressions to make up a photo. I dressed the model up in a scarf, vest top and dark coloured chino's, and top and hair adjusted throughout the magazine, as this was the appearance I chose after researching on http://www.uktribes.co.uk/.

Analysing, comparing and contrasting my contents page with an exsisting magazine within the industry

Looking at a magazine that has been sold within the magazine industry in the past, I can compare and contrast both contents pages. Although the contents I have chosen is not quite as similar as the professional version, the colloquial language is still used to fit the target audience and the genre. The colour scheme is similar, with the use of red, black, white and grey on both versions. However, with the layout of the magazine, I can tell that the column on the left shares qualities together, as it takes up the space of a third of the page, and the headers have a fill colour, with a contrast colour for the text. This has been done to stand out to the reader so it can be read easily. The issue number and date has been clearly displayed so that not only will the customer know which page the contents is from if the page is ripped out or lost, but the house style will, help correspond. As on the left the magazine shows "Q!" magazine, and mine shows "Volume," along the top of the page shows the company in which created the magazine to remind the customer if the page is again, lost. The numbers showing what page each piece of information is on is contrasted from the text and background. The differences within the two contents pages include the fact that they both include a photograph, but Volume shows a CD cover also to promote the singer that is included within the page, which could introduce the readers to be customers and purchase the CD after the magazine. The other difference that I would point out would be that I have inputted a small apart for the editors note, as when researching I found that quite a few magazines have the editors note to enhance the readers and for the editors to explain a little about what's inside the issue, to make the readers/customers want to purchase and read the complete product.

Analysing, comparing and contrasting my double page spread with an existing magazine within the industry

Above shows both my double page spread version of VOLUME and an existing magazine currently being sold or previously sold in the music industry. The both show contrasts between them as well as different effects and types of photographs, but comparing this, the colour scheme is very similar. Both of the colour scheme choices are "Black" "White" and "Red." As you can see, although there are some similarities between both articles of magazines, the genre and layout is also different. Compared to the "Indie Scenester" genre that my magazine portrays, Kerrang gives a rock or heavy metal role specifying on stereotypes among: "Metal head's" "Scene Kids" or "Skaters." Although both versions of the music magazine are relatively different, the magazine shown on the left portrays more information about the celebrity, giving the "Fans" an insight to her lifestyle and to which point in her life she is currently at, whereas Kerrang shows more photographs than text, meaning that the band have probably been around longer than "Kirsty Walters." The differences within both pages include that the colours have been used differently, where as i feel that my text and background colours contrast each other, making them stand out, but Kerrang feels the same as black contrasts white, meaning that the language given by customers or consumers will be easy to read and clear. Both pieces of text include a drop cap text, meaning that the first letter of the article is surprisingly larger than the rest of the text, giving the double page spread a clear effect for presentation purposes.

Evaluation Question 1

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

When researching, planning and designing my music magazine, I feel that I have found that it produces, develops, and challenges those magazines which are or have been previously sold within the music industry. Within the project of designing a music magazine which should be designed to look similar or of a higher quality to be sold in shops and supermarkets, I had to think of a suitable genre in which I feel that suited the model and photography in which I used, and to test out and analyse my target audience. After contemplating on this subject, I choose the target audience of 16-24 year old, with a genre of "Indie Scenesters,"which meant that the language used was colloquial. However, I personally do not listen to music like Indie Scenesters, which created more work for me to investigating the types of style, colour scheme and music abilities.

The circulation figures within current magazines nowadays are around this shown below:
Kerrang: -32.1%
NME: -24.3%
Q: -21.6%

Title of my magazine
The title I chose on to name my magazine was "VOLUME" and I chose this as it links well to music, being one of the main feature allowing someone to listen, they have to adjust the volume. However, there were a number of ideas available which I could have used but not only did I feel volume was more suitable and slightly more unique to the others, I completed a tally chart after asking 50 students of the target audience of 16-24 year old, asking them what they preferred.







Above show a few other magazines as well as mine to show the colour effects are similar with the use of white, black and red, as well as a gradient affect. Can you tell which one is mine?

Target Audience
The music bands were chosen due to investigation in which those of my target audience preferred, to which I looked on http://www.uktribes.com/ which enabled me to see links to what the genre of my magazine liked and preferred, and from there I researched and found types of music which I found suitable to be used in my strap line, which I felt would influence customers and readers.

Mise-en-scène of the cover stories
I used this also when creating and identifying my cover stories on the front cover, to ensure I stuck to the correct genre as I felt that was most important and will help me influence readers.
However, taking this into account, I still insured that the main cover line of my model, of whom the magazine was concentrating on, was the largest on the page, as well as the title that most stood out. In order to do so, I used a different font, and decided that I was going to enter the performers name in the font style of "An Unfortunate Event," which meant that the style was changed and allowed it to stand out from the rest of the titles which were inputted by the "Capture it!" font. I also added a slight drop shadow to the text in order for it to stand out better.


(Cover stories from Kerrang, Vibe and my own.)


The Mise-en-scène of the image
Capturing the right photograph to be used on the front cover was a important factor due to the fact that it set the genre and set the first impression when the customer or consumer viewed the magazine. The mise-en-scène of the photo would be a model standing strong and creating a atmosphere by giving direct eye contact to the camera. I used a model, formally known as my sister, was at the age of 19, and due to my target audience set from 16-24 years, I felt that she was the right age being in the middle age and fit into my magazine. I decided not to use any props whilst taking a photo shoot due to the fact that my magazine layout didn't need any, and I wanted to just have her looking at the camera to focus on the passion and emotion given. By doing this, she created a strong posed effect, relating to the genre of Indie/Rock, and the appearance and dress sense suited this also. The clothing that I picked for all front cover, contents and the double page spread was mainly dark coloured chinos with a vest top and a scarf, as when researched on "UK tribes" this was what they were most like to wear and so it was important that I got the appearance right.

Colour Scheme/Use of primary colouring
The colours used on my front page help challenge the real media products which are currently being sold within the industry, by the similar use of primary colours: blue, green, red, yellow, black and white. Due to the concept of my theme and genre of my magazine, I used the main colours of red, black and white, as this resembled the rock/indie theme. The colours used on my front page help challenge the real media products which are currently being sold within the industry, by the similar use of primary colours: blue, green, red, yellow, black and white. Due to the concept of my theme and genre of my magazine, I used the main colours of red, black and white, as this resembled the rock/indie theme.

Extras
Another factor to include when creating and designing my front cover was the bar code, issue number, date and price. These all include extras but which were necessary for the page if they were sold within the industry. The price I chose to sell the magazine for was £3.99, as I feel that after comparing the prices from other magazines, £3.99 was adequate enough for all the information, knowledge and free prizes and competitions that were involved. I had to add the issue number as well as the date so that the customer can tell when the magazine was produced and available to be sold within the market industry. Lastly, I inputted a bar code as I feel that every magazine wants/needs one of these to be purchased in the market share, which is why I though it was necessary. Other extras I added would be the strap line of the magazine. This is the line of text at the top or bottom of the front cover of the magazine, to give effect and to show the reader what is included within the magazine. Along with the cover stories, the strap line helps the customers or consumers know what is inside the magazine without actually opening it, which saves time and consideration, as well as being informative, which is important.