AS Foundation Portfolio Evaluation Questions 1-7

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the first instance my contents page is an attempt to follow that of the contents page of Kerrang when I mean follow I mean it’s based upon a loose example of the Kerrang contents page which uses their layout but nothing else.

In the second instance my magazine in terms of colours uses something similar to that of other magazines like NME, Q and others liking Rolling Stone in the way that they use one main image intended to capture the readers eye and to promote their magazine in a sense it is what i’m trying to re create in my magazine in the way that I have one main image on my front cover with overlapping text on the front.

Thirdly, I am different to that of Kerrang and other different magazine’s in the terms that I don’t have secondary images posted on the front of my magazine I just stick to the other method of just using one image to captivate the reader’s minds and attention.

In the fourth instance the lettering on the contents page is somewhat the same in comparison to that of Kerrang but with some very apparent differences, the differences are that Kerrang has an introduction on the top left and other quotes where as I do not, also they have a shorter type of contents column in comparison to what I have.

In the fifth instance in comparison on my double page spread in the terms of layout it is different to that of most other magazines out there in the way that my double page spread has two edited and photo shopped pictures that are the captivating backgrounds and then in the middle of one there is text in columns and also quotes around the page and other various phrases and words, but in one way where it is similar to that of other magazines is the way that the left hand side of the double page spread is bare and has space for the image to be looked at and captivated upon with glory.

 In the sixth way the forms of pictures in my magazine is relatively the same, the way that the picture is focused around one person and one person alone in each shot, this adds emphasis on the way they are presented and their surroundings, this allows the reader to study that image and pay attention to the detail of it and how well it is structured and taken.

In the seventh way in comparison of the amount of text in the magazine and the way the layout is conscribed is much the same as NME as for example the way the front cover page is, that is laid out with one picture edited and surrounding text but still keeping and adding emphasis on to that single picture, much the same with the double page spread is with the text on one side but the image sprawling over to both sides to be seen and emphasis added.

In the eighth way is that of editing, editing done in my magazine is much the same as all forms of magazine editing which is the same as the other conventional methods in photoshop which i used to create my own music magazine and this is the most straight forward and most simplest way.

In the ninth and final element my magazine pushes some boundaries with other magazines but overall it uses all the best aspects from all of the other magazines and attempts to combine them in order to create a better magazine with fewer flaws than its real media counterparts.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents a young hip hop culture social group this is made apparent by the onslaught of image in my magazine, this is shown also by the facial expressions of the artists in my magazine and also the other magazines, this social group is noticeable by the serious, sophisticated and also “strike a pose” photography they have and re enact.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that IPC Media would be the most suitable media institution to distribute my magazine as they already distribute NME and also Uncut two very successful magazines in their own right and i believe that another magazine that shares features with NME but is not the same will bridge that gap they have in their selection and form a strong market in the IPC Media group that will maximise that potential for IPC and also for the magazine, also with their experience in distributing music magazines they will have the knowledge and also the fan base in which to distribute my magazine successfully.

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is that of young males & females aged 16 – 24, this is as this is the age range where rising rap, r&b, and other stars start to take their dreams seriously and if a magazine advertises that this is where stars are born then they will take an interest into what that magazine publishes and aims to achieve, also this audience are most likely to engage with the magazine and find the content interesting and useful to themselves.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

 With the front cover in an attempt to attract the audience i have used attractive pictures and also added content on the side in a bid to entice the reader with information and other things in order for them to purchase the magazine.

With the double page spread it is also laid out in order to show the reader attractive pictures and giving them the best of both worlds in terms of content and also information along with attractive pictures that are pleasing to the eye and that compliment eachother.

With the contents page its attempting to attract the audience by displaying the most attractive qualities inside the magazine and the most attractive parts that should interest the reader or make him think to purchase the magazine in the hope that some part of the magazine will interest him into purchasing that magazine or at least think twice.

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The technologies i have used in the creation process are technologies which i already possessed the knowledge on how to use and how to create the magazine that i needed to create, for example;

I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to edit the photo’s and also to edit and merge everything together.

After using Photoshop to merge the photo’s together i used the website Blogger to add things to my already previously created blog in order to make sure the blog remained updated and up to scratch, like i previously stated i already possessed the needed knowledge on how to construct the magazine, the only thing i did learn is a smoother process on how to merge and construct images and text together along with editing it.

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Through my school magazine to the finished product magazine my understanding of the task at hand and the seriousness of my attention to the finished product as increased considerably as when i first started the school magazine task i did not fully understand nor was i aware of the considerable size of the task or the seriousness and concentration that it would take to complete, since undertaking the task of the finished magazine i have learned and developed the necessary attention needed to undertake the task to a professional photoshop standard and also have understood what was needed to make this task go through with the best of my ability.

Also if you compare the two front covers you see that the school magazine lacks in any substance, for example their isn't really an eye catching image, nor an eye catching title and also lacks in any magazine features apart from that their is a barcode sticker located on the front, even the shape of the front cover differs from that of a music magazine, and when you look at the music magazine front cover which was my final piece you can see that their is a relative title which is catchy also a subtitle which catches the eye, a eye catching image which catches the reader's eye and also it is edited in photoshop to make it look more professional as well as the different colours included in the front cover.

If you compare the two contents page's you see that one has a distinct different to that of the other one in the way that the school magazine contents page is just a plain background with simple words and no real unique layout coupled with just one plain image, this was simple and wasn't attracting any attention, in comparison with my final contents page my final one is on a plain black background with stand out font which is red and a selection of different photographs which each entice the reader to look more through the magazine to read all the different stories, also on my music magazine contents page you see that on the top in bright white font is a label saying contents page to capture the readers attention.

Overall i have successfully grasped the concept of successfully developing a magazine and also understood the concentration needed to produce a magazine which is up to standard and not a below par attempt at magazine through medial tasks instead i have produced a magazine using photoshop which is a professional tool used by many to create professional magazines such as NME, Kerrang, Q and XXL, also my lack of knowledge in the use of complicated tasks on photoshop prohibited me from making my school magazine as successful as it could of been, but for my music magazine i learnt to do more complicated things with photoshop in order to make my music magazine look more professional as well as feel more professional.

Contents Analysis

 - The title is clear and stands out from the rest, it is bold and simple font, their logo is only seen once at the top as it stands out and is spaced out from the rest of everything else.

-The image is symmetric  and is iconic and also stands out and catches the eye of the reader,  the layout of the image is good as it gives the reader something too look at and scan with their eyes and to add to effect their is only one image to look at.

- The headings are simple and only relate to the features of the magazine and the main cover story.

- The background colour is just simply the image so their fore the font and text just overlap over the image and give more effect on the image.

- With the columns of the text their is only one column so this also adds effect to the picture as with less text the reader has more emphasis to look and study the picture with their eyes and think about that picture.

-The title of the magazine is in apparent view where it clearly is displayed  as “XXL” that is a house style and always in clear view for the readers too see clearly.

- The images in this magazine are different to the other magazine as their are more here than one, this is a good thing as it gives the reader something to establish their self with as it also gives something to look at, as although their are more than one image they are all iconic images of celebrities that the reader will find appealing in more ways than one.

-The headings in this are useful as they highlight both sides of the contents page by displaying “the a side and the b side”  in this their are many headings displaying the various parts of the different parts of the contents page.

-The background colour is a plain white which adds effect to the pictures and plain black text in a bold font, it aids the images in the sense that a plain blackground gives more room for the images to be studied and looked at rather than a colourful background,  this aids the text by allowing a black type of text to stand out more on the white background.

-The information in the columns are laid out only too the picture’s, so this allows you too keep your attention focused in one place and one place alone.

Magazine Contents Page

Contents Page of magazine

Double Page Spread Of Magazine

This is the double page spread of my magazine

Front Cover Of Magazine

This is the front cover of my magazine

Music Magazine Plan / Planning Grid

Magazine Research

The genre of my magazine is Grime/R&B/Hip Hop it is diverse and has different genre’s to promote those different things and also as it has a multitude of information that i can include in the magazine.

Magazine that also show the genre of these include.

Similarities

1.       They all have one bold title

2.       They all have loads colours that intend to catch your eye

3.       They all have one main photo to cover most of the front cover

4.       The photo is eye catching and will always draw the attention of the reader to that before anything else.

Differences

1.       All have different colour schemes

2.       All have different photos

3.       All have different font’s and sizes of writing

What I will do on my magazine

1.       Use a bold title

2.       Use on main photo for the cover

3.       Use an eye catching design and photo to promte my music

4.       Combine different techniques and schemes.

Resources	The resources I will use will include the use of a dark room with a spot light, stairs and also the use of a camera
Location	The location of the shoot will either be in the drama studio or in the main hall, this so that i have darkness and also so i can manipulate the lighting conditions to my liking and also so i can play around with the settings to get the right photograph.
Props	The only props that i will use will be possibly the use of steps from the drama studio as this adds effect and emotion to any style of photo that i will take
Costume	The costume will be casual and not at all formal, it will be on rising stars and also stars of Hip Hop and grime and also rising stars of R&B.

I chose to edit this photograph in a different grain style on photoshop to entice my reader's to look at the photograph and relate to it in a more iconic status in a different way then if it would of been just a plain picture and not edited.

The edit was designed to promote the figures in the picture and to make it stand out from the rest of the text whilst making the image seem more iconic to the eye and different to anything else you'll see.

 

Analysis Of A Double Page Spread - Florence NME

Analysis Of A Double Page Spread – Florence & The Machine NME

The target audience of NME is anyone who wishes to be informed about music in depth and also see high definition pictures of the said band or singer.

The language used in the article is articulate and language only suited for the intelligent reader that likes to be informed in depth and educated with a heap of information for example “ She has spent the last two and a half minutes raucously insisting to the 4 million viewers of the late show with David Letterman that a kiss with a fist is better than none and providing them with an indelible mental image of a porcelain skinned forest nymph assaulting a floor tom”, this type of language will only be found in NME and would never be found in Kerrang or any other music magazine, this language is quite a lot to grasp for the average magazine reader and takes intelligence to comprehend the article at hand.

The colour used is plain, it is plain as this double page spread is based around intelligence and the desire to be informed in-depth about the person or band and also the desire to be swamped with information in attempt to absorb it,  the plain colour shows intelligence as in magazine’s for readers that like pictures the pictures swamp the text and have variance of colour, in this double page spread its all the same colour apart from the massive background image that stands out from everything else.

The style of text used is standard font and is the same throughout the NME magazine, the image of the magazine is intelligent and also highly informative and the audience of this magazine are the readers who like to be informed in-depth about that band or singer or performer and know the bulk of the information present, even with the style of text on the double page NME still makes it remain intelligent and also in-depth in appearance as well as unique content.

The double page spread is laid out with intelligence, style and poise that of which is different to the Kerrang double page spread of that all of it is designed for reader’s whom prefer to look at just images and less text, this double page spread of NME however is one massive image for the background with a heap of text and supporting paragraphs , this reflects the audience as it shows that their target audience are people whom prefer to read rather than look at a barrage of images, they prefer to divulge and consume information rather than information from pictures, they value informing their audience and giving their audience information which they can value as oppose to just a glimpse of what they can learn.

The tone of the magazine when addressing the reader is an informed intelligent fan and also a member of their in crowd, for example “David Letterman just touched my elbow! Florence Welch comes spinning into the green room, a tornado of crimson hair and black chiffon”, this for example is directed towards an intelligent and informed reader base as it is informative and packed full of intelligence in that sentence.

The artist is presented to the audience through the images on this double page spread in just one eye catching and out their image, this image is professional and also attractive to the eye as it catches the attention and also provides the thought to the reader that she is a rather big influence in the music world and the influence of her can be seen in the image alone.

The style of the double page spread matches the front of the magazine, with only one eye catching and professional background image and also an informed and intelligent hoard of information and text for the reader to absorb and become engulfed in.

This double page spread and following articles do not demand any prior knowledge from the reader as they are informative and are a different story entirely for example “David Letterman just touched my elbow! Florence Welch comes spinning into the green room, a tornado of crimson hair and black chiffon”, this is another story entirely and does not require any previous information, much like a newspaper article it informs you entirely on something different and new, this is much the same and shows that previous knowledge of the article or artist is not required.