Evaluation

See prompt question on tracking sheet.

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

Before and during the time that I was making my magazine, I looked at a lot of other, professional, magazines for inspiration. I looked carefully at the layouts and fonts that the professionals use, and tried to replicate those in my own, but with my own personal touch as well.

For inspiration, I looked at well known professional magazines, such as ‘Kerrang’, ‘Vibe’, ‘Classic Rock’, ‘NME’, and ‘Q’, and the styles of the professional magazines, that I looked at for inspiration, is reflected in my own layout.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My music magazine represents the “rocker” social group. The genre of my magazine is “’rock’ and ‘heavy metal’”, and the overall mood of my magazine is quite dark, and gloomy as the colour palette predominantly consists of blacks and greys. On top of this, I have created a semantic field for “rock” with the use of guitars in my images.

After asking a large number of people, I have reached a conclusion that my music magazine represents this social group due to its themes of “destruction”, “anger”, “pain”, “sorrow”, and the graveyard-type feel. The central image resembles a tombstone due to the emotionless expression on the face of the model in the central image, the smoke effects that I added around the page, and the gothic styled font of the text which is positioned centrally underneath the central image. The model in the central image has also been considered to look ‘sinister’.

What’s more is that the colour palette, being predominantly dark, appeals to this social group as the colouring of the page generally matches the colours that they wear.

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

There are a couple of media institutions that might be interested in distributing my music magazine, such as Bauer Media, and Future Media.

On the one hand, Bauer Media might be interested as the media that they currently distribute is similar to that of my media product. Bauer Media distribute music magazines of similar genres to mine, for example one of the most popular “rock” magazines in current distribution, ‘Kerrang’. ‘Kerrang’ is a very popular “rock” magazine, first published on June 6 1981, and has been dedicated to the music genres of “rock”, “metal”, and all of their variants.

Similarly, Future Media might be interested in distributing my magazine due to its genre, as the genres of magazines currently in distribution by Future Media are similar to the genre of my magazine. The main examples of Future Media’s similar magazines are ‘Metal Hammer’ and ‘Classic Rock’ – these two magazines appeal to the same social group(s) that my magazine does. More than half of the people I showed my magazine to read ‘Metal Hammer’.

In conclusion, I there is a stronger possibility of Future Media being interested in distributing my music magazine as the similar magazines that they currently publish pertain to the same genres. Whereas, Bauer Media’s ‘Kerrang’ magazine tends to feature the most popular variant of “rock” and/or “metal” at the time of each issue’s release, and the magazine has actually been criticised for this.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my music magazine would be young adults (18-31-year-olds). This is because the genre, “’rock’ and ‘heavy metal’”, of my magazine is generally favoured by young adults. This is primarily due to the “emo” culture which is popular amongst the youths of today.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience with my use of bold fonts, and a bright masthead which stands out easily. Furthermore, I attracted my audience with the central image. The central image of the Chaos Rising lead singer and guitarist, Justin Hart, is an extreme close-up of him staring at the camera. I colour corrected his left eye (the only eye visible) to be a vibrant, glowing green. This entices readers as they notice the eye following them as they walk past the magazine.

In my featured article, I address my audience with an informative tone which resembles that of a news reporter’s tone when giving news. In terms of the graphic design on my double page spread, I used a powerful and commanding image, with the model standing tall, which is further emphasized by the low angle shot, pointing to the off-camera crowd.

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

From the process of constructing my music magazine, I have developed a better understanding of the Adobe suite and its tools and plug-ins.

Throughout the construction process of my magazine, I was constantly learning new techniques for different tools within the Adobe suite, primarily Photoshop. I leant how to improve the quality of my images with the use of the ‘curves’, ‘un-sharp mask’, and ‘hue/saturation’ features. I was able to make good use of this knowledge by using the technique on my images, which made them “stand out” more, and look more professional.

Also, I have learnt how to remove a certain colour from my images via the ‘remove colour’ featured – this helped with removing the backgrounds from photographs taken in front of a green screen.

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 how to design interesting, professional, and appropriate magazine layouts since doing the preliminary task, as is evident when one compares the design of the school magazine designs, which I did for the preliminary task, with the design of my music magazine. Not only this, but I have learnt how to maintain the same colour scheme better than I knew before.

I have also learnt how to enhance the quality of images, i.e. photographs. This proved useful when I was editing the photographs that I had taken for my music magazine as I was able to make them “stand out” more and look more professional.

Furthermore, I have learnt how to create more specialised masthead designs for magazines to make them “stand out” better when on shelves or unorganised piles of magazines. By making the masthead for my magazine big and bold with a bright, hazy orange outer glow (custom outer glow, not ‘FX’ tool), I created a stylish masthead which “stands out” quite well.

I have also developed a very good knowledge of the Adobe suite and its tools. I now feel very, very confident about making magazines; I actually had to make a gaming magazine for my I.T. course, and I found the task an awful lot easier than I would have had I not learnt about magazine design in Media Studies.

Overall, I have learnt a lot of useful things since the preliminary task, and I feel very confident about designing original magazine layouts.

Production Process

Stages and issues relating to the magazine's production.

My Music Magazine

(Cover)

(Contents)

(Article)

Design Process

Mock-ups, roughs, shooting schedueles etc.

Music Magazine - Mock-ups

(Cover)

(Cover)

(Contents)

Music Magazine Photographs – Before and After

Because I didn’t take these photos in front of a green screen, the model was more difficult to cut out from the background. However, I managed to cut her out rather well with the use of Photoshop’s built-in tools, such as the ‘eraser’ tool, the ‘magnetic lasso’ tool, and the regular ‘lasso’ tool.

Once I had cut the model out, I imported the image into a blank ‘A4’ sized Photoshop document, created a new layer underneath the newly imported layer with the model on it, and added a black background by using the ‘paint bucket tool’ on the blank underneath layer. I then created six new layers. On the first of these new layers, I created a white rectangle shape and positioned it underneath the model. Then, on the second of these layers, I generated black and white ‘fibres’, scaled it down, and then positioned it on top of the rectangle to make it look like a white wood window ledge. With the third layer, I used a small, “feathered” ‘paint brush’ and added a variety of small sized dots to create the effect of a starry night sky. I made a white circle on the fourth layer, using the ‘shape’ tool, and added a subtle ‘outer glow’ to give the impression of a Moon glow. Next, I designed a Moon texture in Adobe After Effects, and Cinema 4D and imported it into the Photoshop document, then scaled it down and positioned it on top of the circle, thus creating a Moon effect. After this, I duplicated the image of the model, flipped it vertically, used the ‘paint bucket’ tool to make it a silhouette, and then lowered the opacity to make it look like a shadow. Finally, I used the sixth layer to create a shadow effect on the model; I did this by using a “feathered” ‘paint brush’. By lowering the opacity of the layer, then adding a block of black over part of the model, I successfully created a shadow effect.

Similarly, I did not take this photo in front of a green screen, which meant that I had to use the same methods to cut the model out of this photo that I used to cut out the model from the previous photo.

Once cut out, I duplicated the layer twice and lowered the opacity of both, one more so than the other. I then positioned the duplicate layer with the highest opacity slightly higher up than the original layer, and then progressed even higher up with the other duplicate. Thus creating a vibrating effect which emphasizes the roaring of the model. However, this model is not holding a musical instrument, so I added some musical symbols using the ‘shape’ tool in Photoshop. I then added ‘outer glows’ to said ‘musical symbols’, and then used the same technique that I used on the image of the model, on the musical symbols to further add to the vibrating effect. Lastly, I imported a screenshot of some flames that I generated in After Effects, and placed the layer underneath all of the other layers. After scaling that layer up, I had finished.

Once again, this photograph was not taken in front of a green screen; therefore I had to use the same methods of cutting out the models from the background.

After I had cut the models out, I created a new layer underneath the layer of the models, and then used the ‘gradient’ tool to add a nice “fading” background; this effect also enhances the observers’ visual focus on the models as the top of the background is faded due to the gradient. Following this, I imported a screenshot of some flames that I generated in After Effects and placed the layer underneath the “models” layer, but above the gradient layer. Once this was done, I lowered the opacity of the flames.

Target Audience

Issues regarding readership, genres etc.

Music Magazine - Target Audience Analysis

The target audience of this magazine is teenage males to young adult males. This is made apparent by the genre of the magazine, and its visual hooks. The genre of “hip-hop” is mainly favoured by teenagers and young adults. Whilst the genre is favoured by this age range, the visual hooks are directed at males; Eminem, in the central image, has a tattoo of the ‘Punisher’ logo, which is a comic aimed at males.

This magazine’s target audience is middle aged 
adult males. The genre, “classic rock”, is favoured by this age range as it was the most popular genre when they were “growing up”. Furthermore, the featured article is about Gun ‘N’ Roses, as is the central image; Guns ‘N’ Roses were a very popular rock band during the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, the middle aged adult men of today would have been in their late teenage years to their young adulthood.

The target audience of this magazine is adults aged “70” and over, as the genre, “classic music”, is generally favoured by this age range because it was one of the only music genres when they were “growing up”. On top of this, the central image is a portrait of Beethoven, whom is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most talented classic musicians in history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adult females are the target audience for this magazine as the central image is of the “pop” music group, Westlife. Westlife’s fan-base is generally adult females due to the time at which the group professionally formed, 1998, and the music that they make. The band’s songs are generally “love” songs which “speak to” a lot of adult females who have experienced what the songs are about and understand them. Also, the “pop” genre is generally favoured by females.

Research

History of magazines (and music magazines), close analysis of three music magazine covers (including contents page(s) and double page articles).

Music Magazine - Research

Music magazines are magazines that are dedicated to music i.e. different artists, bands, song writers et cetera, and usually include written interviews, news about the music industry, photo shoots, song/music reviews, and concert reviews et cetera. Other magazine genres include: sports, gaming, fashion, celebrity gossip, and more.

Music is one of the best selling magazine genres today and has thus far survived the test of time, whereas other magazine genres are dying out. This being said, there are new magazine genres which are selling quite well – i.e. celebrity gossip - in an age of digital news and entertainment.

UK Magazine Publishers

IPC

Founded – 1958

Country of Origin – United Kingdom

Headquarter Location – London, United Kingdom

Published Magazines/Newspapers/Media – ‘25 Beautiful Homes’, ‘Amateur Gardens’, ‘Amateur Photographer’, ‘Angler’s Mail’, ‘Beautiful Kitchens’, ‘Chat’, ‘Chat – It’s Fate’, ‘Chat Passion’, ‘Country Homes & Interiors’, ‘Country Life’, ‘Cycle Sport’, ‘Cycling Active’, ‘Cycling Weekly’, ‘Decanter’, ‘essentials’, ‘European Boatbuilder’, ‘Eventing’, ‘Golf Monthly’, ‘goodtoknow’, ‘goodtoknow Recipes’, ‘Homes & Gardens’, ‘Horse’, ‘Horse & Hound’, ‘Housetohome’, ‘IBI’, ‘Ideal Home’, ‘InStyle’, ‘Livingetc’, ‘Look’, ‘Marie Claire’, ‘Motor Boat & Yachting’, ‘Motor Boats Monthly’, ‘Mountain Bike Rider (MBR)’, ‘Mousebreaker’, ‘NME’, ‘Now’, ‘Nuts’, ‘Pick Me Up’, ‘Practical Boat Owner’, ‘Rugby World’, ‘Shooting Gazette’, ‘Shooting Times & Country Magazine’, ‘Shootinguk’, ‘Soaplife’, ‘Sporting Gun’, ‘Style at Home’, ‘SuperTacht World’, ‘The Field’, ‘TrustedReviews’, ‘TV & Satellite Week’, ‘TV easy’, ‘TVTimes’, ‘Uncut’, ‘VolksWorld’, ‘Wallpaper*’, ‘What Digital Camera’, ‘What’s on TV’, ‘Woman’, ‘woman&home’, ‘Woman’s Own’, ‘Woman’s Weekly’, ‘World Soccer’, ‘Yachting Monthly’, ‘Yachting World’, ‘YBW.com’.

EMAP

Founded – 1947

Country of Origin – United Kingdom

Headquarters Location – London, United Kingdom

Published Magazines/Newspapers/Media – ‘Architects' Journal’, ‘Architectural Review’, ‘Construction News’, ‘Cooling Industry Awards’, ‘Ground Engineering’, ‘Heating & Ventilation News’, ‘Lighting’, ‘Materials Recycling Week’, ‘MEED’, ‘New Civil Engineer’, ‘RAC’, ‘Local Government Chronicle’, ‘Drapers’, ‘Retail Jeweller’, ‘Health Service Journal (HSJ)’, ‘Nursing Times’, ‘Broadcast’, ‘Screen International’, ‘Shots’, ‘Planet Retail’, ‘Retail Week’.

Future Media

Founded – 1985

Country of Origin – United Kingdom

Headquarters Location – Bath, United Kingdom

Published Magazines/Newspapers/Media – ‘T3’, ‘Total Film’, ‘Classic Rock’, ‘Guitar World’, ‘Official Xbox Magazine’, ‘GamesRadar.com’, ‘BikeRadar.com’, ‘TechRadar.com’, ‘MusicRadar.com’, ‘PhotoRadar.com’, ‘Cyclingnews.com’.

Music Magazine – Cover Analysis

 

This magazine cover page conveys the theme of “’rock’ and ‘heavy metal’” very well with its use of metal chains wrapping around the masthead, header, and central image. The chains give the impression that the band in the central image, Disturbed, are perhaps insane and are breaking free, free from the chains that kept them down. They also imply “danger”.

Furthermore, band members in the central image are all bearing teeth and growling and screaming, thus conveying a subtheme of “anger and pain”. A long shot of the overall band is used to clearly show every member, thus showing more growling faces and teeth. As well as this, the ‘out of the asylum’ text is in red coloured font, which resembles blood; and blood implies “death”.

The colour palette used for this cover is that of a dark and dull one, with the main colours being greys and blacks, but with some red as well. The typeset used furthermore adds to the previously mentioned themes: the font of the masthead is very bold and has sharp points and edges, the font of the header resembles shattered glass, and the rest of the text is also quite bold. The bold fonts imply “heavy” which refers to the genre of “heavy metal”.

The genre of this music magazine is that of the “retro” genre; this is made apparent by the cover’s colour palette, which primarily consists of black and white. The central image is a medium shot of former Beatles member, Sir Paul McCartney. The Beatles were a very popular and famous “rock” band who formed in 1960. The image used of McCartney is one of when he was in The Beatles; therefore he looks very youthful and has a “retro” hairstyle.

Furthermore, the typeset used for this cover page is large and bold, yet simple. The simplicity of the typeset also adds to the “retro” look of the cover. As well as this, the flash on the top left corner of the cover is plain grey with white text on it, and the flash has been made to look as though it is crumpled like an old photograph from the 1960s would probably be.

Music Magazine – Contents Page Analysis

This contents page uses a rough and worn-looking font for its titles, which “ties-in” with the chaotic music genre, "heavy metal". To continue the chaotic theme, the flash in the centre of the page is red and designed to look like a splatter of blood.

The page is split vertically down the middle; on the left is the content list, whilst on the right is an article by the editor, advertising the free CD they had included in the magazine and informing the readers of a ‘game’ and other topics in the magazine.

Also, the colour palette used on the left of the page primarily consists of the colours: red, white and black, with black text on the white background. In contrast, the right side of the page uses the same primary colour palette, but with white text on the black background. As well as this, the red resembles blood.

Preliminary Task

Analysis of three existing school magazine covers, design process and production process of the cover and a mock-up of the contents page of a new school magazine.

School Magazines Analysis

‘SMS’ is an averagely made magazine cover with a medium shot of a student and a general basic design. The cover displays a relatively good use of flashes and keeps to the same colour scheme across the cover; green and yellow. The questions included in the flashes interest students as they are about controversial school topics; ‘Does homework really help?’, ‘Does School Council work?’. They also advertise the chance to ‘win an iPod’ by simply ‘sharing your views on school life’. This is a good way to entice people as the target audience is teenage students and most teenagers wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to win a free iPod of any kind, especially when all they have to do is state what they believe/think about school life, which most do on a daily basis anyway. However, the title, ‘Study Smart’, is at the bottom of the cover and is not overly bold, resulting in it not being noticed at first glance.

In comparison, ‘The Loyolite’ is more professionally edited and put together as it uses a neutral colour palette consisting of brown, beige, and cream. It has also blurred out the background, leaving the central image in high definition quality and “in your face”. Although there is not much to look at, it looks quite nice and professional, however, it might only interest people who are editors themselves as this magazine cover is more about appreciating the fact that the editors have actually cut the images out quite well.

   

   

In contrast, ‘On Top of the Talk’ is not very professionally edited at all, with the central image of the two students looking as though it has obviously been cut out. As well as this, they have not used upper-case letters for their title or date, which adds to the unprofessionalism of this magazine cover. On a nicer note, they have added page numbers to their topic titles -- this is a handy thing to include as it saves the readers having to search through the magazine to find the page(s) they want.

My School Magazine Cover

(Cover)

My School Magazine - Mock-ups

(Cover)

(Contents)