Friday 21 March 2014

DRAFT - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My audience for this media product would be males aged 16-25 because I believe my artistic photography involved with in my magazine will attract their attention. With regards to the music genre of indie, it is largely a male fan base, due to girls being more involved in fan girling pop artists such as One Direction. 

The artists that my target audience listen to are such like: Kings of Leon, Foals, Macklemore, The 1975 and Jake Bugg. They also are typically stereotyped to going to gigs most weekends with friends to listen to their particular favorite artists. Music is used s stress relief from doing A Levels because they take up a lot of time, decreasing levels of social life. 

My target audience shop at stores such as Top man and River Island, which are features I include in my magazine to attract ,my target audience. This would be beneficial; for publicity for theory companies, as well as creating business for the magazine company. 

There is a large access to this magazine for my target market as they will be accessible in areas where teenagers live. Such as newsagents. 

Thursday 20 March 2014

DRAFT - Question 3

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

Bauer Media in my opinion would be the most beneficial source of distribution for my product because I feel that it has connections through media widely across Europe. Due to this company being Europe’s largest distribution company in the media industry, with connections to businesses like 4Music and The Box, I believe as a magazine editor, this would benefit the selling of it extremely.

This company have a relationship with distributing products such as magazines, and broadcasted different types of media through radio, however focuses predominantly on the distribution of magazines, therefore meaning it has a wide market possibility. Due to the wide portfolio this company have across the continent, it would distribute my magazine in a positive light.

Due to the large portfolio, I believe that it would reach my target audience successfully, and be distributed to exactly the correct stores to which they would purchase my product from. This company have connections with Q and Mojo magazine, which in my opinion are extremely successful. I feel this is down to the way in which it is presented to the target audience which is what Bauer Media will do.


I also believe that through the course of the contract, Bauer Media would distribute my product to online sites such as iTunes and HMV stores, so that it can expand its audience reading rates in this country, and develop across the continent over time.  


Wednesday 19 March 2014

DRAFT - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is solely alternative with slight hints of 'pop' features, however it is more orientated are around the indie genre in regards to the written article, artist and style.

Paloma faith 2012 cropped.jpg
For the contents page of my magazine, I used certain aspects that a past student did as they fitted my genre. I also framed my photograph in a way that would attract the male gaze, because this is my target audience. From my previous UK TRIBES research, I found that male were attracted to specific features such as eyes and facial structure which is something I used to my advantage when choosing my model. My choice of angles and shots outlined the most detailed aesthetic features that my model possessed.

 My page layouts correspond with LOUD AND QUIET magazine because I felt this was best for attracting my chosen target audience which is males between the ages of 16-25. My artist Shannen Jones represnts an artist such as Paloma Faith who is in the music industry currently. This is because she has a unique style to her voice and her fashion. This sets a good role model for my target audience and I believe to be a very talented artist. 

The layouts of my page reflect the indie genre, as they represent individuality, which in this present day seems to be a big topic with regards to fashion statements and trends. 

Tuesday 18 March 2014

DRAFT - Question 1

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

To ensure that my magazine reached it’s maximum potential, I went through a research stage which involved looking at a variety of different magazine styles, as well as past work by other students. By doing this I found that magazines that follow a similar structures and conventions are the most successful. This is due to the detailed understanding of which target market the magazine is aimed at. With such a detailed understanding, they can chose a cover model that perfectly suits their target market and know how they need to be represented. For my magazine I wanted to break the barrier of what is classed as traditional magazine layouts and styles to make it as unique as possible. However, On both my contents and double page spread, I used LOUD AND QUIET as a brief guideline. This would ensure that it would capture my chosen target audience. I emulated the bold masthead and the white border throughout all three aspects of my on magazine as. 

LOUD AND QUIET use the rule of thirds very effectively to present the magazine in a way it would stand out to on a shelf, and this is a technique that I wanted to adapt to my own design. I wanted The three main aspects of my cover to stand out-Masthead, image and content, each aspect crucial to my design. This is a very common convention used widely in the industry, along side the spiral effect which is generally used on images to ensure the main focal point of the photograph. However, I did not require the use of the spiral effect as the artistic elements of my cover image did enough to draw attention for not only those of my target audience, but other audiences as well, particularly if on a shelf with a variety of other magazines. In regards to colour, I also adapted the black and white house theme leaving just the central image to take focal point. By reducing the content of text on the page I was able to reduce the 'busyness' of the cover to increase the overall aesthetic. 

When it came to designing my magazine I kept in mind the main conventions to ensure that elements fitted within my genre, however ensuring the individuality was still noticeable through out the design and layout.

For my masthead, I challenged the conventions with regards to colour by using white, which is not known for being bold or to stand out. I used a 'revolution' font due to it's bold style, and I developed the boldness through the use of overlapping the fonts. I used an overlap effect for my masthead, to be different, which is initially what the term 'indie' represents. I believe along with the font, this enables it to stand out and capture my target audiences attention. I placed the masthead slightly lower than the top of the page, to ensure that my border was used to great effect, and framed the photo, to show off it's artistic features especially the eyes, as these attract the male gaze. I also decided to not have anything over lapping the masthead, only the border because this also develops the covers individuality if on a shelf in a shop with a wide variety of other magazines.

The graphological features of my magazine are purposely there to ensure that it is diverse, and looks particularly different in comparison to every other magazine on the market, regardless of my magazine not being the only indie one. I found inspiration sources from magazines such as LOUD AND QUIET and Clash, due to their exquisite and artistic ways of presenting images and text with the use of negative space. I, however decided to break the conventions of these magazines and didn't use the negative space effect to the extent to which I wished to, because i felt that the images I produced with the chalk effect were artistic enough to attract my target audience, as well as others. 

My favourite page with regards to the graphological features which I have presented is my cover, as I feel the 'revolution' font works when leaked into the border. I also like the sizing of my image, as it really presents the male gaze features which will attract my target audience, regardless of whether they follow indie music or not. This is also a house style which I have developed throughout the piece of work, as it links all pages together to show there is a connection. 

When using conventional features with regards to photography, I decided to think outside the box and use chalk to give off a unique effect which allows focus to be drawn to that solely, rather than relying on the masthead to grab attention. I believe that this was a way of developing my photography skills to which would make my images seem more professional when looked at by my target market. I followed the conventions of a 'perfect' photograph because my model looked into the camera in all of the photos that I used in my magazine. This is to capture the audiences attention. 

My magazine has challenged conventions to and extent, to ensure that it is diverse and individual. However I believe that I stuck by the most important ones, to ensure my magazine remained graphologically like a magazine. 






Monday 10 March 2014

FINAL CONTENTS PAGE




FINAL DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

DUE TO ERRORS WITH TECHNOLOGY, MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD IS CURRENTLY NOT ON MY BLOG. HOWEVER IT WILL WILL UPLOADED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED!

Sunday 9 March 2014

Final Photo Shoot


Changes After Teacher Feedback

From my teacher feedback, I have to alter my house theme for all three pages, however keep my colour palette the same. This is because my original house theme was not clear enough, and needed a lot of work as it was not bold enough.

I chose to change the style of my cover, and the cover image because my teacher felt that the artistic aspects were enough without editing the image in any way. These changes are vital to ensure that I create the best magazine possible.



Saturday 8 March 2014

Teacher Feedback - DRAFT

Cam Vear feedback

FRONT COVER – LEVEL 2 

WWW
Photo idea – great styling
Colour 

EBI
Not sure title works
The bar code won’t actually work
I wouldn't bother splitting her face, make up alone is enough to make her interesting – half a face
Date and issue fonts are odd. Sort that out
‘maybe’ bands at the bottom if you go with just one photo – if you only have half a fce you’ll have space to include some

CONTENTS –LEVEL 1 

WWW
Attempt at house style

EBI
Too busy yet paradoxically not enough happening
Too little in your magazine
Lack of images
Caption
No page no/branding evident
Text too big – caps off?
Poor choice of font
Very short magazine (52 pages)
Lacking style
Even a contents should follow a rough layout style

DPS – Level 1

WWW

EBI
NEED TO SEE IT!