2. In what way does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
3. Front Cover
I have tried to use the normal conventions of a magazine on my front cover.
When completing analysis on other front covers, I pointed out and learnt about magazine
front covers and what conventions are used.
Later on, I complete a task in which I added the conventions of a
front cover onto an image of an actual magazine, like cover lines.
These tasks helped me to understand the codes and conventions
of magazine front covers, so when I completed my own I knew
what was need.
4. Influences
This image of Oasis influenced my images, as I based my band on them because I like
Britpop and my band are similar.
The only thing that is decided against doing is direct address on the front cover, because it
makes the artist seem somewhat serious, and my band are more light hearted.
They are wearing clothes that I like and thought would be similar to what my band wear.
Although my band don’t look anything like as cool as Oasis or Blur, I think they influenced
the final pictures I took because they are of a similar genre and style.
5. Front Cover
I mostly stuck to the normal codes and conventions, not
straying too far away from the typical conventions of NME.
My colour scheme is also fairly simple, only using colours
associated with magazines like NME.
I have included left third on my magazine, which makes it
easy to read when on the shelves.
I have also included a plus at the bottom of the cover, in
order to mention other artists in the magazine other than
just the ones that have cover lines about them.
I have made my magazine a weekly feature.
I have also included the websites address, so the reader cam
check it out.
I used fairly simple and plain fonts, so the text is easily read.
6. Front cover
My final front cover contains many typical codes and conventions. It has a pug, a main
cover line, cover lines, date, barcode and I used my own photography.
I have used the pug at the top. ‘Win’ is in big capital letters, which
attracts the audience and makes them curious to what they can
win.
My main cover line has a quote from the inside article just above
it.This entices the audience and gives them a sneak preview on
what information is inside. The bands name is in a larger front,
which allows it to really stand out, and be one of the first things
the buyer can see.
I have used five cover lines about artists in my magazine. They are
spread around my magazine to make the cover look fuller. I have
tried to use puns and create humour with the cover lines.
7. Contents Page
My contents page was partly inspired by NME magazine
Part of this cover is the same colour as my magazine, grey.
I have also included two pictures.
However, my contents page is very different to many contents pages
I have seen.
I have placed the ‘contents’ over the main picture, and included a tag
line for the contents.
I have spilt my articles into two separate columns in order to fit all
the pages needed in.
I have used a black text box and placed subscription info there.
I have used a secondary image of another band in the magazine.
I have made sure that all the numbers make sense.
I have added the page numbers next to the images so the reader
knows where to find the artist.
My contents page doesn’t have many of the typical codes and
conventions used.
8. Double Page Spread
I based my double page spread on the article about Graham Coxon.The huge pull quote
used inspired me to do something similar.
I decided to have the image on one side and the text on the other because this double page
spread used the same technique.
Another similarity about this double page spread is that the headline is below the quote.
However, I used the band name above the pull quote on mine.
9. Double Page Spread
My final double page spread contains a large pull quote, with certain words highlighted in a
different colour.
There is then a smaller headline below introducing the band.
I used three columns with questions and an introduction and almost conclusion.
10. How does your media product present
different social groups?
11. My magazine is mainly based at young adults, but may also be enjoy by older men who
enjoyed Britpop. I studied NME in order to really understand how to portray my artist.
My cover artist is a new band called Loving Hate. In the picture of the front cover, the four
members of the band appear to be laughing and having an enjoyable time.This is a typical
feature of a Britpop band as they are well known for their banter and good times.
Teenage boys may feel able to relate to my band, as it is clear they want to have fun and
enjoy themselves.
The double page spread image has direct address and is more
serious, giving the band another more complex dimension,
which is also typical in bands in magazines like NME.
12. This is the image of another band, Cubstone, that I used on my contents page.
The colour is very fluorescent and the band are portrayed as putting on a good show,
representing them as a successful artist, which will make the reader want to know more
about them.
13. What kind of media institute might distribute
your media product and why?
14. As my magazine is a similar style to NME, I decided that IPC may distribute my magazine.
is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio
selling over 350 million copies each year.
They distribute many magazines such as ‘What's onTV’, ‘Marie Claire’ and ‘Chat’.
15. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
16. My target audience is mainly young adults, but also may appeal to an older audience, like
NME.
I completed a survey using survey monkey which was completed by 8 people.This helped
me understand aspects of my magazine and answer questions that I needed to know, such
as preferred genre and magazine.
It also helped me understand what I needed to include to make a proficient magazine of a
suitable style and genre.
I analysed several NME magazines in order to help me establish an understanding of what
was needed in my magazine.
18. The colour scheme throughout my magazine varied. I used red, white and black on the
front cover, which are three colours that are often used in NME.These colours are also
appealing to look at.
I used a very simple colour scheme for my contents page, with a grey background and
white and black text.This simplicity is effective because it allows the reader to focus on the
contents of the magazine and not the colour scheme.
For my double page spread, I used the colour grey for the background, and black and white
for the text, so again implying simplicity. However, for my pull quote I used a green colour,
which linked to the green hedge in the background of the picture.
19. When creating my masthead I again choose simplicity. I used a simple font and the colour
black.
However, the audience may be attracted to the masthead because of the mystery of what
S&A means, as at their first glance they will not see and will be curious.
The audience may also be attracted by the direct address on the double page spread.
The cover lines may attract the audience because of the use of puns, creating interest.
The quote of the cover is from the article inside, which may make the reader want to find
out more information.
Also the pug – the chance to win something – may attract the audience as they will relish
the chance to win something they may want.
20. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing a product?
21. To complete the task, I used several different software's, including paint.net and PagePlus.
PagePlus was difficult to use at first because it was a completely new programme. It helped
that a template of the pages had already been created.
Once I learnt where everything was placed, I found it easy to use things like inserting
images and adding text.The colours on the right hand side are helpful also as it allows you
to get the exact colour you want without hassle.
However, some of the tools were difficult to distinguish and I had some confusion when
trying to use some of them.
Another negative is the quality of the images looked weak.
I have used Paint.net previously so was already aware of how to use it. It is simple to
understand and being able to crop images is very useful.
However, if I attempted to complete my whole magazine on there it would have been a
weaker quality.
22. I encounter some problems when completing my magazine. One of these problems was
that the top of my image for my front cover had a conservatory in the background and it
made the image look much less realistic and silly. So, I used Paint.net to delete to top bit so
it was a plain white.
Another problem was that I couldn’t think of enough articles for magazine. It took me ages
to think of 70+ pages.
23. I had some problems with photography. I took some images, only to decide that they
weren't good enough.The quality was poor and they weren’t realistic. So, I took some more
images that were more acceptable. I think that this was the right decision, as if I had stuck
with the original images, I would have found it difficult to complete to magazine, not to
mention getting a probable lower mark.
24. I found blogger easy to use. It was a new thing when I first started using it but once I had
gotten the hang of it I had no problems at all. I found doing posts progressively harder, as I
started to become unsure about what to write about when creating the final product, but I
managed to create a good number of posts.
25. Looking back at your preliminary task, what
do you feel that you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
26. Preliminary
When I now look back at my preliminary task, I feel that I learnt a lot in the
progression to the full product.
In this task I didn’t think about the background of the image; there is a light
and door in the picture and it looks tacky and stupid, whereas in my image
now I was careful not to have anything in the background that would
greatly affect my cover.
The pug is in a circle that is much too big for the text, making it
look incredibly unrealistic.
The barcode is in a strange place, there is no price and the
masthead is too far in.
The cover lines are not in line.
About the only good thing is the main cover line.
Real
Some aspects of my final front cover have been drastically improved.
To start with, it looks more like a real magazine. Admittedly it is far from
being as good as this, it is a whole lot better than my original preliminary
task.
My main cover line now has a quote above and draws in the attention of
the reader.
The cover lines are suitable and fill the page fairly well.
The barcode is based adequately.
There is a date and price which are essential.
The pug is better placed and doesn’t have a big circle around it.
27. Preliminary
The contents page of my preliminary task was outstandingly bad.
For some reason, I decided to write ‘Page’ in front of every number, absurdly
thinking the reader would not know that it was referring to pages.
I included three images, all of which are randomly placed with arrows pointing
towards the poor images.
There is only 17 pages in the magazine, which may be a few too less.
Real
My real contents page doesn’t make the same mistakes.
I have included enough pages and haven’t written page before the number.
I have used more appropriate images and put them in appropriate places.
Instead of arrows, I have put the page number next to the image so it is easy
to identify which artist is which.
The contents page looks more acceptable in a magazine context.
28. How successful do you feel your end product
is in fulfilling the task? How well does it fit the
brief?
29. Overall I am displeased with my magazine. I feel that my front cover is okay, but still looks
slightly unrealistic and the photography could have been stronger. My contents page is, in
my opinion, certainly the weakest of the three, as it doesn’t look like the contents pages I
analysed and some aspects are weak.The double page spread is probably my favourite, as
the pull quote is very effective and the image contains direct address. I also think the text
suitable of the genre of my band and entertaining.