Final Products

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

Conventions	College Magazine	Music Magazine	Both
Masthead	Big, across entire magazine, dull colour. Maybe too large, takes up too much space.	Stands out, suits genre, shadow makes it effective.
Main Image	Poorly edited, too bright, very simple, pose doesn't fit main story well, zoomed in a little too much.	Better lighting, fits the frame better, models suit story/genre better, editing could be better, eye-catching, pose is believable for the genre.	Takes up all of the magazine, both lightened.
Colour Scheme	No clear colour scheme shown. Too many colours were used.	Red, white and black. It very clear. All these colours are iconography of the rock genre.
Plugs	Too big, very bright, at the bottom, stands out.	Bit darker, stands out, white font stands out against black background.	Both similar styles in a circular way.
Font	One font on the entire page, quite dull, doesn't stand out but it is clear to read.	Mainly ‘chiller’ font but also uses different font for ‘Taste of Ink’ to make it stand out and to show that it is the main story.
Layout	Busy, too much writing covering up the main image, very one sided.	Less busy, balanced well, everything is clear.	Main story clear, bar-code was in a good place.
Secondary Image	Non-existent	Smaller but clear. It clearly shows that it is the secondary image. It fits into the background well.
Background	Lockers – to fit in with college theme. It is effective but could be more exciting.	White background - makes main image stand out and matches with black and red well.

Photography

Convention	College Magazine	Music Magazine	Both	What I learnt
Prop	In my college magazine I did not use a prop. I feel as though I should have to make my main image more exciting, maybe a fake reward or folders.	For my main image, I used guitars as props. I feel this effect as guitars are iconography of the rock genre.		I learnt that props can really make an image effective and stand out without effecting models facials expressions etc
Lighting	The lighting in this image was too bright. It was took in natural light so I used Photoshop to lighten it and I lightened it too much. It washed out my models face.	The lighting in this was slightly yellow but was better for photos. It helped really show the models eyes and other facial features.	Both images were taken inside, one was in natural and the other was lighting I chose.	I learnt that lighting is very important to make a photo look more professional and clear.
Camera			I used the same camera for both of my magazines. I used the fujifilm finepix s1000fd	I learnt that lighting can improve the quality of the camera.
Framing	This image is a close-up. It should’ve being a medium close-up.	This image is a medium close-up and it fits the overall page well.		I learnt that medium close-up is a good shot for a front cover.

Mise-en-Scene

Convention	College Magazine	Music Magazine	Both	What I learnt
Costume	I put no thought into the costume for this. I just wanted them wearing normal clothes, like we do at college.	I dressed my models in more of a rockish style. This fits the iconography of the genre my magazine is.		I learnt that costume plays a big role in photographs. They help create the meaning and feel of the image and help show the genre/style of the image.
Facial Expression	I just asked my model to smile as the story she was for, is a happy one so I thought a smile would be a good fit.	I looked at other artists and decided what type of facials expressions I wanted my models to show. I wanted some images to be serious and others more exciting and interesting to keep them eye-catching.	Both of the facial expressions fit the story they are used for.	I learnt that facial expressions can show moods through images and that they are important for front covers.
Hair	I wanted my models hair to look natural so I asked her to wear it down but to make sure it looked nice.	I wanted to make the outfits more exciting so I added beanies to them, which is also iconography, but it means you can’t see much of their hair.		Hair really adds character to the images and helps add effect.
Makeup	My model is wearing everyday makeup to make it more believable and I only lightly edited it on Photoshop.	The models are wearing no makeup so I edited them more on Photoshop to hide some of their imperfections.	Both were edited on Photoshop and I feel as though it was done quite well.	Photoshop is good for hiding imperfections and making it look realistic.

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

How did you attract/address your audience?

My aim for my magazine is to appeal teenagers who are into the rock genre.
I did this buy including plugs for AC\DC tickets and free posters.

I then asked a Erin, who has never seen the magazine before, if the plugs and posters on the front page made it more appealing.

After this, I decided that plugs and posters are the best way to attract and address the audience for a rock audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

To find out who would be my audience for my media product, I did a survey on 'Survey Monkey' to ask simple questions to find out certain thing about the audience interested in the rock genre. For this, I asked for demographic and psychographic information.

After reading my results, I decided my audience was mixed gendered, 14 - 18, and on a lower income. I used this information to decided the price of my magazine, models, and bands mentioned.

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

(Re-submission)

Media institutions are companies which produce and distribute media products. Most institutions would want a variety of magazine genres for their companies to have a larger audience but some prefer to stick with one genre. They would not wish to have magazines that compete with each other in their own company, this could lower the revenue of one of the magazines by limiting their target audience.

A media institution that might distribute my media product, needs to have nothing like my magazine out. My magazine is based in the rock genre so I will need to find a institution that doesn't bring out a rock magazine eg: Kerrang! or MetalHammer

The institution 'SpinMedia' only brings out things in the Pop culture, this makes me wonder if they would think about bringing out my product to expand their audience. 

'SpinMedia' was formerly known 'Buzz Media', is an American digital publisher which publishes Vibe. Selling my magazine would bring a larger audience and a larger revenue to the company which would benefit them majorly. 

If I wanted to go for a company with more experience, I would go for Bauer Media. They are a global company who publish over 300 magazines in 15 countries. They publish many very famous magazines such as; Q, Mojo, Empire but they also publish Kerrang! which makes me think I wouldn't have much of a shot of it being published by this company. If they did sell my magazine, I could cover more of the independent bands and lesser known artists in the rock genre to not be in competition with Kerrang! This would improve the companies revenue and help them with getting more money while helping smaller artist becoming more known.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

(Re-submission)

On my survey monkey results, most of the most popular bands were all male. I used this and chose male models for my main story. These are the bands I asked about:

Three Days Grace (top left), Mayday Parade (top right), Halestorm (bottom left), Muse (middle right) and Green Day (bottom left).

These are images of existing bands in the rock/metal genre, which is the genre my magazine is set for. In all images, they are in dark clothes and are quite messy looking. Dark clothes, messy hair and dark make-up are all iconography of the rock genre and often people recognize the bands by their looks. They all pose in a very serious way, none smile as it is seen as a very serious genre. 

Clothing 

Their clothes are sometimes very plain and dark, this helps the audience just focus on the music instead of the outfit. But, sometimes they also wear other band shirts to promote other artists. This helps show connections with other artists and makes audiences wonder about collaborations in songs. Print is often plain or just a simple design logo often paired with black skinning jeans and a black hoodie or jacket. 

Therefore, I dressed a model in a dark outfit to fit the iconography. I dressed my other model in lighter colours but it was all plain and he also had a dark purple beanie to contrast the colours.

Unfortunately, I was unable to include the brand 'Converse' in my outfits as you couldn't see my models shoes in any of photos.  

Facial Expressions

I used some of the band members as inspiration for the facial expressions in my images. The genre is known as serious and edgy so I had to make some of my facial expressions very serious and make my models keep a straight face. But, the rock genre is also known for having a fun element so I made some of the facial expressions more fun and edgy. It was a good mix when both types were used in the same image, it shows both sides of the genre and makes the image a lot more interesting to look at. The fun faces also link to the genre as they match the genre by making the model look stereo typically 'hardcore'.

The teeth showing facial expression is also commonly seen in music videos for my genre, so using it as a still might intrigue the audiences for a music video from the band. It is also aggressive and aggression, anger and pain are all commonly linked the rock genre. 

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

Second Drafts

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Editing Main Image

Original Image 

I then chose the 'Quick Selection Tool'

Began colouring entire background white

This is the image fully coloured.

I then chose the 'Healing Brush Tool'

This is one model before editing.

This is the same model after subtle editing. 

Contents Page

My original idea 

First completed draft

Contents Page & DPS Guidelines

Contents page:
Multiple images
If just one image per page, contents should be over 2-3 pages
Should reflect your cover stories
Largest image should be the cover star
Not all contents is on the content page
Weekly = 60 pages
Monthly = 140 - 180 pages
Divide your contents into sections
Page number - 6 upwards
Elements include:
Subscription offer
Letter from the editor
Magazine branding - colour and logos

DPS
A3, 300dpi, RGB
Weekly = 40s
Monthly = 100
Dropped Cap or Raised Cap
Pullout quote
Put it in columns
Photoshop for graphics + photos
Publisher = columns of text
Column = no less than 6 words but no more than 12