Evaluation
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SLIDE 1-(Click) when creating my front cover magazine I looked at existing magazines to help me. I used forms and conventions from three magazines which were, XXL (December), XXL (January) and Rolling Stones (click). I also went online and looked at other magazines and one that helped me the most was VIBE. VIBE and XXL are a famous music magazine of the genre hip hop whereas Rolling Stones has more than one genre and is not of a typical music magazine. From looking at VIBE (the real media product), my magazine cover will fit into the magazine distributor that distributes VIBE. I have used forms and conventions of which the 3 existing magazines have used such as the selling line, one main image, the colour scheme, kickers and explanatory text, barcode masthead. The VIBE magazine has given me a lot of ideas which I then combined to my front cover. Such as the selling line (click x2) VIBE has made the selling line appealing by having it from left to right (click) and as you can see I used this convention for my magazine cover and it made it look professional (click x2). I also used the colour scheme which VIBE has, which is black, white, blue and pink this is because my target audience preferred this colour scheme from looking at the questionnaire. I have also used the form and conventions where the model overlaps the masthead. (Click) From analysing the existing magazines they have all used this and worked well. I didn’t go over the top in overlapping my masthead as then it would not be known to people what the masthead is, whereas the existing magazines are famous and well known for their name (click).
SLIDE 2- (Click) On the VIBE magazine I found the explanatory text that lists artists attractive and appealing to the audience (click) as they will want to look inside after seeing all these artists being listed. I decided to use this for my magazine and develop it in a different way (click x2). I named it ‘FRESH’S 15 SEXIEST STARS’ and listed the artists below. Whereas VIBE named it ‘A history of hip hop paparazzi’ I tried the layout of the explanatory text which the VIBE magazine has done however it didn’t look good on mine so from feedback I decided to make it line up into a box. I resized the kicker text making FRESH and STARS larger then sexiest as it gives a more professional look. (Click)As you can see it is quiet popular listing artists on the front cover and is a good way to show what type of genre your magazine is.
SLIDE 3- I personally liked the background of Rolling Stone and so I used this for my magazine. I stuck with the grey and white background as I didn’t want my magazine to look too colourful as it will look unprofessional. (Click x3)These barcodes are from the XXL and VIBE magazine I decided to use a horizontal barcode as I personally didn’t like the vertical one (click x2). I placed my price, website and date on top of the barcode in the middle as I preferred this to the existing barcodes (click). So I have used and developed forms and conventions of real media product in many ways.
SLIDE 4- My media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products. These are the nine covers shown which are from VIBE, Rolling Stone and XXL. The conventions which challenged me was the main image as from looking at the covers you can see what genre it is. This challenged my ideas for my photos as I had to make my genre more obvious through my image. However I feel this hasn’t worked as well as it is hard to tell just through the image but the text added to my front cover makes it much easier.
SLIDE 5- I picked a mid shot levelled camera angle as I was inspired by the pose Janet Jackson done for VIBE. I used room light and flash to make the image stand out and make it look clear. Special effects were not added as from looking at all the existing magazines that I have analysed, none of them used special effects. I also personally think it will look unprofessional if I used it on my model. I positioned my model in the centre as from looking at existing magazines with one model they are placed in the centre.
SLIDE 6- I used lighting to present my model in a appealing way. By using lighting she looks brighter making her stand out more. My model has curly long hair, as from researching the hip hop female artists such as Ciara, Beyonce, Ashanti, Shakira and many more, they have curly long hair. So through having long hair I tried to stick to my genre. She wore a black lace dress as most hip hop artists wear dresses or casual clothing which gives a hip hop feel. I decided to make her wear a dress. I added a diamond belt to her to keep the Hip hop theme. (Click x4)
SLIDE 7- I decided to have a reasonable amount of text on my front cover. I made sure I never over done it and added to much text as I wanted my main focus on the image. I thought the amount of text I added worked well. My mode of address is direct and exclusive. My text is direct as in most existing magazine covers they use direct instead of indirect. Also my text is exclusive as only people that are into the hip hop genre will have knowledge about the hip hop artists. Such as ‘EMINEM DISSES MARIAH ON HIS LATEST TRACK’ this appeal to certain people as hip hop fans will want to know more about this whereas a rock/pop fan wouldn’t care. The language is informal as the word ‘disses’ is used which is a slang word for disrespects.
SLIDE 8- I got the pink, blue, black white colour scheme from the VIBE magazine and developed it to my magazine. I thought the colours worked well as it was kept to a minimum and I made the colours to the text match with her clothing. This made it look more professional as it was all colour coordinated like the magazine shown below:
SLIDE 9- When creating my advert I looked at existing adverts from Rolling Stone and XXL to help me. The two adverts help me develop my own advert by using their conventions in a different way, such as the image has to be large and less text and also the copy right sign and logo. Once I developed these ideas I went online and researched more on Nike adverts (click x2). I chose to do Nike as Hip Hop artists tend to wear Nike occasionally and so the target audience will want the same style as they look up to artists. I liked how the Nike logo on this advert looked like it was on the wall (click) and so I used this and developed it to make my own logo (clickx2). (Click x2)I placed my copy right sign vertically as I preferred it that way and from looking at the other Nike advert they had placed it vertically (click x2)so I decided to do the same to make it look professional. (Click)
SLIDE 10- (Click x3) On the above existing adverts both images are showing their product. I used this form and convention and developed my own image. I made my model wear a Nike hoodie and Nike trainers however the trainers didn’t show.
SLIDE 11- I picked a long shot levelled camera angle as I wanted the whole background to show and her trainers. I used outside light and flash as without flash it was dark so flash was needed. Special effects were not added as from looking at all the existing adverts that I have analysed, none of them used special effects on their model. I positioned my model in the centre to make her stand. I decided to take the image outside on a graffiti background to represent the hip hop theme. The graffiti shows the street life and also represents Nike as it makes the product seem cool.
SLIDE 12- These are the contents page from XXL and Rolling Stone. I didn’t like Rolling Stone’s contents page as it had too much text and my target audience is more visual. From these to contents page I used their titles and developed my own. Both titles have a different title to ‘CONTENTS’ which I liked as it didn’t sound boring. I used the rollingstone.com title and developed it to mine and named my contents ‘FRESH’
SLIDE 13- I decided to look online for other content pages which I prefer. These were the final content pages I liked. As you can see all three are very different to each other and I combined these ideas and made my own.
SLIDE 14- (Click) This is from the Kerrang! Magazine. They have placed their front cover on their contents page. I used this convention and combined it to my title. I placed my front cover image behind ‘this week’ and tilted it to the side like the Kerrang! Magazine. (Click)This is from the NME magazine. This was placed at the top saying ‘this week’ clearly showing the readers this is a weekly magazine. I found this appealing and I liked the title as I thought ‘contents’ sounded common. I used this convention and developed it into my own by having my magazine title large and on the right ‘this week’ is placed in a smaller size and in pink.
SLIDE 15- Both NME and Kerrang have a similar editorial pillar layout I decided to combine NME’s contents page with mine. I decided to have a box behind my text to highlight the subtitle which will make it more attractive. It also makes it clear that they are the headers and easy to read. In the NME the page numbers are in different colours which I liked and decided to do on mine. I instead used pink as this was the colour theme I used. I also liked the idea how the first line of text is a short introduction of what is on the page and on the next line it goes into more detail in a smaller text. I decided to use this convention on mine. At the bottom of NME contents page it says ‘the UK’s No1 gig guide starts p58. I used this and combined it to my contents page. Instead of having an arrow showing what page the gigs are at. I decided to add images in a film tape with text saying ‘rave review’ with contact information for readers to go to know more about it.
SLIDE 16- This is from the Kerrang! Contents page. I wanted a lot of images on my contents page so I decided to take ideas from the Kerrang! Contents page. Everything is in a square box in different sizes. The most important page is shown through having a large image which I developed onto my contents page. I decided to resize my images according to their importance. From looking at the Kerrang! Contents the numbers are given in a different colour. I used this convention and also resized my page numbers according to the importance.
SLIDE 17- I used ideas from the XXL magazine as I liked the layout of the double page spread.
SLIDE 18- In the XXL magazine the title was bold and stood out. The title was the name of the artist. As the artist has two names XXL placed on of the names behind the other and resized it to give a bold and appealing view. I decided to use this article title layout to mine. My article title was called ‘LIFE’ in larger text then ‘G.MAN’ in smaller text. This is because the article is about G.MAN’s life. I gave the model a tag as most hip hop artists have tags such as pleasure p, 50 cent and young jeezy. I also liked the caption placed next to the image which I used for my double page spread I made sure the caption was catchy and short like the other existing captions. My caption read ‘my biggest competition is myself’ showing he has no other competition apart from his self. This short caption tells a lot about the artist that he is looking for ways to improve.
SLIDE 19- The image took half the page as from researching I found most double page spread is laid out like that. So I decided to use this convention and stick to having half of the page with a image and the other half with text. (Click)
SLIDE 20- Technical- I picked a mid shot levelled camera angle as I was inspired by the double page spread of still Dre. I used room light and flash to make the image stand out and make it look clear. Special effects were not added as from looking at all the existing magazines that I have analysed, none of them used special effects. I also personally think it will look unprofessional if I used it on my model. Symbolic- I used lighting to present my model in a appealing way. By using lighting she looks brighter making her stand out more. My model was dressed in a adidas jumper. This is because adidas is one of the brands which hip hop artists wear. Also as you can see Mac Dre is wearing a adidas t-shirt. This adds to the hip hop and R&B theme.
SLIDE 21- (Click) My text took up half the page and made sure it was in column like in other existing double page spread to make it look realistic and professional. My mode of address was indirect and inclusive. This is because it was a interview and interviews are indirect. It was inclusive as the interview was describing G.MAN’s life so you didn’t need any knowledge for this. However the language was colloquial so readers will need knowledge on slang words such as ‘live! That’s the only way I can describe it’ and also swear words were written. I chose to do colloquial language as stereotypical hip hop artists speak colloquial. (Click) I kept the colour scheme of black, grey and blue to match my front cover. As in existing magazines they tend to have a colour scheme that matches the front cover. My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products such as strap lines, main headings; main images which draw the audience to the magazine and give the magazine a professional feel. I think my magazine does not challenge music magazines in most ways. On my double page spread I have stuck to media conventions by putting the writing in columns. I have also kept all of its writing on one side of the page so when creased the text wouldn’t get lost. I have used caption, article title, pull quote, anchor and page number making my double page spread look realistic. My contents page is busy looking with lots of small and large images and a busy crowd image to give an impression to the reader that this is the theme throughout and inside the magazine it will be interesting.
SLIDE 22- I bought magazines that were probably aged for 15-19. However Rolling Stone is more for grownups as it has a lot of text which will appeal for older people and teenagers will find it dull and boring as it is less visual. I decided to have the age group of 14-18 from help of my questionnaire. This is because I have more knowledge on what people from that age group like. I made sure it represented this age group by making my magazine more visual with interesting article titles which teenagers would like to know and gossip about. I have rave reviews which most teenagers like to know about as that is the sort of thing they do. My magazine appeals to both sex I made sure it was presented for both sex by having a female on the front cover and male on the double page spread. I also had both female and male on the contents page. My images give a hip hop and R&B feel by having branded clothing and articles about hip hop artists which appeal to my age group. The language used is colloquial which everyday teenagers use it and using this language in my magazine will capture my target audience. I also made my article a interview as it seems less to read and more interesting and from my questionnaire this is what my target audience would rather read.
SLIDE 23- IPC Media is mostly magazines which compromise a wealth of leisure brands and women fashion so my magazine will not be suitable for this, therefore I will not use this.
National Magazine Company publishes the most well established magazine such as reveal. They do not publish music magazines so this will not be suitable for my magazine.
Bauer Media includes a wide range of interests including Heat, Grazia, Closer, and FHM. Bauer Media doesn’t publish an R&B magazine making it suitable for my magazine ‘FRESH’ as it will be unique and will not conflict with other magazines.
SLIDE 24- From my research of XXL and Rollingstone I was able to notice what genre the magazine is and its target audience by just looking at images, articles and layout. For instants the image shown on XXL front cover gives the hip hop/ R&B look through clothing and accessorize and also their pose. My genre was hip hop and R&B as they are closely related. XXL had a similar target audience to mine so by looking for ideas from that magazine I made it appeal to my target audience too. The target audience for my media product is people aged 14-18 who idolise and love hip hop and R&B artist and their style. They are people who want to know more about the artists and gossip
SLIDE 25- I made my double page spread for my audience as I made my model to be a new artist that has been producing a lot of music and FRESH decides to get more information about him. This article will appeal to my target audience as they want to know more about the popular artists. My model is called G.MAN which most stereotypical artists have. This shows the hip hop theme. The tag itself sounds like a R&B artist. It fits in with names like Redman, B.hines and 50 cent. I also had as a strap line Rihanna and Chris Brown has he been forgiven? Truth is revealed, which is gossip and my audience would appeal to this as they want to be up to date with the news. Also the images I used I believe will appeal to my target audience as I presented my models in a R&B manner, I also had Ryan Leslie on my contents page which gave the hip hop and R&B feel. So in conclusion my audience is of a hip hop/R&B nation as that is the theme I created in my magazine.
SLIDE 26- I attracted my audience through my front cover by having the main image fit on the centre which is eye catching to my target audience as it is large and clear. Next to it the model credit reads ‘Ava Ansari going solo?’ giving the audience information on the model. This then will make the buyer want to read more about it. The model is presented in a lacy dress appealing to teenage boys and also girls as they will look up to her and want to dress like her. The masthead is catchy as it is short and memorable making it attract to readers. There is a special effect it where the letters in the middle are lighter than the others attracting the audience. The stap line will attract to my audience as it is about two artists relationship which the audience would appeal to as it is gossip. By having this as a strap line they are believed to think the rest of the magazine is interesting
SLIDE 27- The explanatory text and kickers give gossip which will bring more of the buyers attention as they will like to know what Eminem did to Mariah Carey. I also provided artists name with the kicker saying ‘FRESHs 15 sexiest stars.’ this will appeal to the target audience as they are more visual and would like to see what artists the magazine has picked. As my audience wants to know information, gossip and have fun I decided to have pages on artist interviews, gossip and also a voting page where the audience votes for who they want as FRESH’s 15 sexiest stars. I also had gig events and rave reviews which will appeal to my audience. I also added images from the rave review to show the audience how fun it will be making them want to go on the site and find out more. I also made my magazine weekly to keep my audience up to date.
SLIDE 28- The move tool helped me move my layers around such as moving my text box around or image to fit a certain place. The zoom tool allowed me to zoom into my images to remove blemishes, clone and also kept my text aligned. The eyedropper tool was very useful as on my front cover my model was wearing pink and I wanted that exact pink for my text. With the eyedropper tool I was able to do this by clicking on the pink to get that exact pink for my text. I used the magnetic lasso tool to take my model out from the background to place on a new background. This tool allowed me to go around my model and when I got around I right clicked layer via cut.
SLIDE 29- The horizontal type tool is used for text which I obviously used for my text. I used the crop tool to just get a certain image by just making a box around that image and clicking the tick. I used the spot healing brush tool to clear all spots on my model to make them look flawless by just clicking on the spot it vanishes. I used the clone stamp tool to remove unwanted objects by holding down alt and clicking the background you want for the unwanted object. Then you just rub the unwanted object out but you may have to repeat holding down alt again to make the background realistic.
SLIDE 30- I used the eraser tool to make sure some of the background wasn’t visible. I done this by zooming in then rubbing out whatever I wanted to remove. The paint bucket tool is a easier way of colouring in a whole section without using the brush tool. I used this for my contents page. I made a box and clicked the paint bucket tool and chose my colour then clicked inside the box. The gradient tool was used for my background for my front cover and double page spread. This gradient tool gave a effect of the colour going from a darker shade to a lighter shade. The colour picker was used to pick what colour I wanted for my text and other things
SLIDE 31- I also learnt to layer my work so when it comes to editing it I can edit the parts I want to edit. It also helped me to give the back drop shadow effect. It also helped me overlap my masthead with my model. Layers were continuously made so I can go back and edit after getting feedback. I also learnt while resizing I should hold onto the shift button so the image doesn’t go blurry and unclear. I used the grid by going view>>grid. This allowed me to align everything up and make sure the text wasn’t out of place etc. I also used the blur tool by going filter>>blur>>gaussian blur. This was used for my models on my front cover and double page spread to make the background they were in more realistic. You can also rub out the blur on places you don’t want it blurred by clicking on the layers and using the erasing tool. I used the brush tool and colour picker to give a different colour to my front cover model. After I painted the eyes I needed it to blend into the eyes to do this I had to change the opacity level which is located on the right hand side in the layer box. This then blended my eye colour in and made it realistic.
SLIDE 32- I used publisher for all my text. PowerPoint allows me to make slides. It is a easy way to present my work and clear as all the text is not all on one page. It also looks clearer to read when published with SlideShare. Publisher allows me to write text, add images and arrows to show my annotation and magazine analysis. It allows me to add animations when doing a slide show and many more. I used excel to make my graphs after getting my questionnaire results. I learnt how to make graphs on excel by highlighting the columns and having a choice of what graph to pick. It also allows you to add a title to your graphs and design it by adding different colours etc. Blogger was used to publish my work. I uploaded images on this by making new posts and also added text. Blogger is a good way to keep your work up to date as you can see all your posts and what is missing. I also used blogger to embed codes from SlideShare and Issuu. Blogger also allowed me to follow students and view their work and whenever they update their blog I can see what they have done as blogger alerts me what they have posted. It also allows others to leave comments on my blog and I can do the same to others. I used SlideShare to publish my work this allows my PowerPoint work to stay in slides to make it clear. I learnt how to upload my work onto SlideShare to get in on my blogger. I uploaded by browsing the file I wanted and then waited till it was uploading. After this it asks me if I want to post it to my blog I then have to log onto my blog and it blogs it for me. This is a easy quick way to upload work and makes it neater and clearer for others to read. I used Publisher to get my magazine together in order to upload it to Issuu. Issuu combined my front cover, advert, contents page and double page spread together once it done this I got the code for it and embedded it and posted it to my blog.
SLIDE 33- Firstly I feel that I presented a better research and planning on my full product as for my preliminary task I didn’t go into depth by doing questionnaires and finding out what suits my magazine. I also didn’t produce any drafts or get feedback for it and didn’t gather as much photoshoots and I also didn’t go into depth with my magazine analysis like I did for my full product. I believe I definitely have improved in this field as I planned much better for this production taking my time on planning, research and photoshoots. Moreover I was more organised with my full product then I was for my preliminary task as I had constructed my planning and research into PowerPoint making it easier to see what I was doing as I had titles on each of them so I knew what I had to up to date and what was missing making it less time consuming. Thirdly I learnt more about Photoshop as I was using it more for my full product making my skills improve whereas in my preliminary task I didn’t know much about Photoshop. For my full product I explored more on Photoshop and what I could use whereas for my preliminary task I stuck with the basic knowledge. However from looking at both covers made I thought my preliminary task looked better however I spent more time on my full product and I believe my progress has become much better even though my preliminary task looks better. The preliminary task helped me construct my full product otherwise I wouldn’t have known the basic of planning and research
