Evaluation

The media product that I have created is a magazine called ‘LOUD’, which took inspiration from ‘NME’, a rock/alternative music magazine with new and upcoming indie artists. I have kept this house style for my own magazine and have also tried to draw inspiration from the layout of ‘NME’ to make it look more realistic as a magazine. For the project I created a front cover, contents page and double page spread of my magazine. My media product uses many of the conventions of a rock/alternative music magazine; it does this by creating a dominating image, which I have created by making the people within image seem as though they are looking down upon the reader. To create this effect I have used a low angle camera shot to look up on the band photographed, this therefore gives a sense of dominance and control over the reader of the magazine. The mise-en-scene within the image was used in a more casual way in which they looked rather relaxed in their stance and are also wearing casual dress. This connotes to the reader that they do not take their image too seriously and are trying to relate more with their lifestyle than that of being ‘famous’. I used a studio setting with a dark curtain to take the photograph as the lighting would then focus upon the band, rather than a background. This therefore makes the focus completely upon the band ‘Tom Ward’.

After changing the contrast of image and darkening the background in Photoshop I then focused on the typography on the front cover, which included the masthead ‘LOUD’. The connotation of this masthead is that of rebellion and that it will not hold back in the content of the magazine, suggesting expletives may be used. The register on my front cover uses techniques such as alliteration in the strapline “Fights, Fans and Friday Nights” and repetition in the strapline “WIN! WIN! WIN!”. These techniques capture the attention of the reader as they are catchy, drawing focus onto those particular articles; the register used is colloquial language, using both imperatives and rhetorical questions which engage the reader immediately into the front cover. In my skyline I have used the word ‘exclusive’ in order to create the feeling that they magazine is individual and create ‘snob appeal’ as the reader knows they will not find the article in any other magazine. I have tried to use the conventions of a skyline, masthead, kicker, strap lines and a successful, appropriate cover image for the magazine. I feel I have succeeded in these areas as the magazine looks realistic and is suited to genre of the magazine, along with this I have tried to use the convention of using three main colours within the magazine. For these colours I chose blue, orange and black, I chose these in order to have a youthful image that suited the genre of the alternative magazine. I feel these have worked well as they complement each other well and stand out within the magazine. However these colours also challenge the ‘conventional’ colours used within this genre of magazine as the more ‘typical’ colours found are black and red, I decided to develop this by changing the colours to try and appeal to a younger audience as well as make it different to current magazine that is available to purchase.

I chose to carry on these colours onto the contents page and double page spread within my magazine; this was to create continuity and recognition throughout the magazine. I used a similar layout on my contents page to that of the contents page in ‘NME’, I chose to do this in order to create the ‘busy’ feeling you get from ‘NME’. I chose to use an image of a different band on the contents page as it creates another small article about a smaller artist that will not be found in the main bulk of the magazine and may then have some recognition within a future issue. The small article on the contents page uses informal colloquial language in order to relate to the reader and introduce the atmosphere within the rest of the magazine. I carried on this form of language into my double page spread article as I tried to adapt this tone from ‘NME’ of using colloquial, yet sophisticated language to convey an amusing article towards the audience.

The image on my double page spread consisted of three separate images that I photographed using a tripod. This meant that by keeping the camera in exactly the same position I was able to take three individual photos that I was later able to match together in Photoshop to look like there are three sets of the same individuals in the same shot. After doing this I flattened the image in Photoshop and changed the brightness and contrast slightly in order to create a lighter and sharper effect. After doing this I created several black boxes on Photoshop in order to form the shape and place for my article, on this black box I used the opaque setting in order to make it slightly transparent so that the background could still be seen. After this I imported my flattened image into Publisher to add in the text on the double page spread and the black text box on the right hand side of the double page spread with the band’s fact file. My final double page spread did not look as much like ‘NME’ as my contents and front cover as I decided to use a much larger image in order to present the different personalities of the band members within the image. I believe this has been successfully achieved and it is conveying both fun and more serious sides to the band members.

My media product has also been able to represent the particular social group of the indie/alternative teenager; this has been done by using images throughout the magazine that they will find recognisable. This has been done through mise-en-scene, by the clothes they are wearing as well as their general style, which allows the social group to create similarities between themselves and the artists. This has also been created by the style of the magazine as it can be perceived as ‘anarchic’ and therefore more rebellious as things are not meant to be ordered. The disorderly image presented by the magazine will therefore also attract more attention as well as represent the indie/alternative teenager within society. The institution that would distribute my magazine would be a large publishing firm as it would be appealing to a mass market all over the country and if popularity was to increase substantially it could be extended into other countries, such as America and Europe. My magazine would be distributed to a mass market as there is a very large target audience for the magazine, as well as the magazine itself representing a large genre of music. This would therefore require magazines to be readily available across the country in almost every shop. By appealing to a mass market, the magazine I have produced would be competing with major magazines such as ‘NME’ and ‘KERRANG!’ which could make it more difficult to sell, but it is also shown to have a very popular market due to the fact that there are two magazines covering the same genre.

The target audience for my media product is males and females aged 14 to 24 who have an interest in rock and alternative music. I have chosen this as my target audience as I wanted to keep things more restricted than the competitor magazines, who concentrate on a much wider age range, in order to focus more on the people buying the magazine. This enabled be to select the more youthful and unconventional colours of blue, orange and black to go throughout my magazine; the connotations of these colours present a more youthful and ‘fresh’ image therefore appealing to the younger target audience. By using this colour scheme I would be able to attract my audience to the magazine as it would stand out on the shelf against the other magazines of the same genre. I have also tried to attract a younger audience by having one main strap line to focus on, this means that they can easily focus on it and will be able to clearly see the main article that is going to be in the magazine. I have also been able to attract and address the target audience through the images used; this is by using a more youthful band in the contents page, front cover and double page spread. This makes the audience believe that as they are going to be of a similar age they are more likely to be able to relate to them, and will therefore be more likely to buy the magazine in order to read about them. Another thing that I decided to do was to make the contents page very crowded, this would make the audience believe that there is a lot to read within the magazine and even if they do not like the band on the cover then they will be able to find a band they are interested in within the magazine.

During the process of constructing my product I used two different software programs, adobe Photoshop and Microsoft publisher. By using these programs I was able to develop my skills, especially within my double page spread, which challenged my editing skills when I had to turn three individual photos into one with a very complicated background. I eventually managed to this after changing the lighting and positioning my photographs effectively upon the page. I also used Microsoft publisher to insert the text within my magazine, this was easier as I have done this previously and I was able to effectively do this as well as make it look realistic. Lastly, I have also learnt more about cameras from constructing this product as when taking my images I found it best to change the lighting on the camera by adjusting the shutter speed and aperture, rather than editing everything on the computer within Photoshop.

I feel that I have learnt a lot in the progression from my preliminary task into my main task as I have been able to amend any mistakes that I believed I made within the first task in order to ensure my main task was more successful. I was able to be much more adventurous in my finished product as I made it a much more crowded and ‘busy’ magazine, rather than the plain and simple one I produced during the preliminary task. I have also been able to learn what works successfully within a magazine, such as good editing as well as learning what works best for different types of magazines. This is shown as music magazines have to be more crowded in their layouts in order to grab the attention of the reader as well as the magazine keeping to its genre, as opposed to a school magazine which is able to be much more plain and simple as a magazine as it does not have a ‘reputation’ as such to uphold. It can be produced in many different styles and can portray itself in many different ways, but when you have a genre of music you have to ensure that the magazine itself always represents and reflects the genre.

Final Magazine:

Front Cover-
For the front cover of my magazine I have used several layers and changed the contrast and shadows of my image in photoshop. I then transferred this into publisher to layer on the text. I used a grey text box along the skyline and also along the bottom for straplines. On these and one of the blue circles there is a white line around the edge to created a ripped effect also suggesting the theme of rebellion.
The front cover has a clear image and straplines, kickers and a skyline that all stand out, this uses complementry colours to attract a 'younger' reader through the use of blue, orange and black typography.

Contents Page-

For my contents page, i also took inspiration from 'NME' by using a similar layout. I used the same colours as the front cover in order to create an air of continuity throughout the magazine. This is a very 'busy' and crowded contents page in order to create the veffect that there is a lot for the audience to read within the magazine. I have also included a band index so that it is simple for the reader to find their favourite band within the magazine quickly. There is also a small article on the contents in order to allow the reader to get a feel for the type of language and style of the articles within the rest of the magazine.

Double Page Spread-

For my double page spread I have changed the layout slightly from my mock up as I have swapped over the article box and the fact file to the opposite sides of the pages.

I have chosen to do this as it was a better fit around the image and allowed a longer fact file to include more information about the band. To create this double page spread I took three images using a tripod so that the camera remained in exactly the same place. This meant that the background was exactly the same and i was able to layer the images together successfully in order to look as though they are one single image. I did this in order to show different sides to their personalities as it would be successful when showing this to the reader as they may feel they are able to relate more to them.