As Evaluation - Draft

8/13/2019 As Evaluation - Draft

1/6

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions ofreal media products?

One of the ways in which my magazine conforms to the conventions of real music magazines is itshouse style. In my research, I discovered that the colour red is particularly popular among pop/rock

and indie magazines, along with the colours black and white. Therefore, I decided this colour would

capture the genre the best and attract this fan base, which is my target audience.

My house style is clearly visible throughout the magazine, with cohesive and consistent use of colour

and fonts. This is further supported by the masthead and magazine name Indievisual. For this, I

used a bold sans serif font which creates a similar effect to that created by the masthead of NME.

The masthead runs across the top of the cover, with the cover stars heads overlapping it slightly. It

also follows the colour scheme, using the colours black and red to separate indie and visual. The

name quite clearly links to the genre. This compound name literally states the genre indie, and

plays on the word the genre is derivative from (individual). I decided to play on the word with

indievisual. As music is an audio experience, you could say that music magazines are a visual

extension to music.

My cover includes an image of the band Tigerilla. The indie genre is dominated heavily by bands,

therefore I decided that I would use a band as my cover star. At the top of the page, I have included

a black banner which names both the twitter name and website of the magazine. Having a banner

on the front cover is one of the conventions of magazines, along with mentioning the website.

Other than my conventional sell lines, I have also included a + section at the bottom right corner,

listing several well-known indie artists. This attracts several different fan bases to pick up the

magazine and is something that I have seen on many existing music magazine front covers.

On the contents page I instantly reinforce the magazines involvement with social media, as the

icons are presented at the top of the left page. This is one of the biggest selling points of the

magazine, as it indicates that the magazine is current and gives the readers an easy way to get

involved.

I gave the contents page an organized, column style so that the reader would not be overwhelmed

with information, as a lot of information is on this page. I used a variety of images to illustrate the

different content in the magazine. I noticed most existing contents pages had pictures with

backgrounds. Therefore, I tried to use images with less white in the background to avoid the page

looking too white and boring the reader for this reason.When ordering the pages, I thought about how music magazines were conventionally laid out and

numbered the items accordingly. For example, I placed the reviews section towards the back of the

magazine, as reviews are typically found towards the back of most magazines (regardless of genre).

As the contents page is the page that will most likely be viewed by more readers, I also placed a little

picture of the current issue next to a subscription advert. This means that I am encouraging as many

readers as possible to become a regular reader of the magazine, as the more people that subscribe

will guarantee a higher readership. Another convention of a contents page is an editors note,

therefore I felt it was important to include one.


2/6

For the first double page spread, I used a large image of the band, which overlapped the first page

very slightly into the second. For this I used the text wrapping tool to wrap the text around the

image. I used the same font that I had used on both the front cover and contents page on the

headline. This font is much bolder than the serif font used on the article text and this allows the

headline to stand out a lot more. In the corner, I included on tour: March 2014. As the indie genre

conventionally refers to a lot of gigs and festivals, informing the reader which artists and bands

would be on tour (and when) would be of interest to the target audience.

The second double page spread contains a lot more images and another important convention of

magazine articles, pull quotes. For these, I tried to use text from the article that would make the

audience want to read why that quote was said. Again, I used a bold sans serif font, creating a

cohesive house style throughout the magazine from front cover to double page spreads. Next to the

pictures there are little descriptions of the images, mainly to differentiate between the band

members. This is seen frequently in magazines, and the text is always smaller than the article.

On the third double page spread, I included a box featuring several pictures from the bands

Instagram feed. Yet again this incorporates social networking into the magazine; however this isnt aconventional component of a double page spread. I added this feature to make the article more

interesting and different. This also helps the audience to identify and connect with the band because

seeing simple snapshots make them appear more normal and just like everyone else. This

representation is incredibly important to the genre. At the end of the article, I created album

artwork. This is cohesive with the music video screen grabs and the image on the contents page,

suggesting that the bands marketing material is cohesive. Next to this is a line of text, telling the

reader when the album is released. Often, bands or artists are featured in magazines when they are

looking to promote something. Therefore the last line of text gives the article a more realistic

purpose, as it suggests that featured band is current in the industry.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groupsI focused on creating images conventional to the genre. I had observed from magazines such as NME

and Q that the indie genre was most commonly represented through bands (e.g. Kings of Leon,

Coldplay). Furthermore, these bands contain predominantly males. Therefore, my cover stars were

an indie band that was almost all male, with one girl. Females in indie bands are regarded as

somewhat of a novelty (e.g. Of Monsters & Men); therefore I referenced the fact that she was the

only female in the band several times in my article.

In the mise-en-scene, I tried to encapsulate the relaxed, laid back style of the Indie genre. To do so, I

styled the men in denim jeans, casual shirts and t-shirts. Male indie artists are alwaysrepresented in

the same way, allowing the audience to relate to them by coming across as the everyman. An

example of this is Ed Sheeran, who is almost always dressed in a t-shirt, hoodie and jeans. These are

items of clothing his fans are likely to wear, allowing them to identify with him. This impression is

particularly important to portray in a magazine, as using the Uses and Gratifications theory, this is

one of the reasons why someone would want to buy and read the magazine. I used a beanie on the

bands lead singer Damon, as these hats are stereotypical of the genre. Thisinstantly

communicated the culture associated with indie music, attracting that type of fan base to not only

the magazine, but to the band being featured also.

The poses used by my models were quite subtle. Again, to contribute to this idea of normality, my

four models stood in fairly neutral positions. I asked them to do so particularly in the band shots, as


3/6


4/6

My primary target audience is male mainstreamers between 18 and 25 in the ABC1 social bracket.

My secondary target audience is both genders between 16 and 30. I decided to target my magazine

predominantly at men because there is a larger male readership of music magazines. Furthermore,

the indie genre is dominated by male artists and bands, although there are successful females.

Therefore, I feel males are more likely to relate to and identify with those featured in the magazine.

This was reflected in my contents page, where only one article focused on a female artist. The others

were male artists, all male bands or male dominated bands.

I have chosen to target a psychographic audience of mainstreamers for several reasons. Firstly,

mainstreamers offer the largest target audience for my magazine, meaning I have the potential for a

higher readership. Also, indie music is becoming an increasingly popular genre and has become quite

a mainstream genre, with artists such as Ed Sheeran and bands such as Coldplay and Kings of Leon

getting number one singles and albums. Moreover, indie music has recently become a popular

culture, with fashion trends being one of the biggest influences indie artists have had on culture.

Indie artists such as Lana Del Rey increased the popularity of the vintage clothes trend. Therefore,

my magazine aims to target this indie-pop audience.

The ABC1 social bracket is likely to have more expendable income. Therefore, those interested in

reading my magazine will have the money to purchase it. This is also one of the reasons why I

targeted 18 to 25 year olds. I targeted this age bracket also because they will be interested in current

music news and about the industry itself. A younger audience would not be as interested about the

artists and what they have to say about their music and would rather read more about their

personal lives.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?I aim to attract my audience using Uses and Gratifications theory. I have contained entertaining

content for the reader by listing many features about current indie artists and news that would be

interesting to my audience. This further entertains my audience as I have included a variety of

images. Having the band on my front cover not only establishes the genre of the magazine but, due

to their recent success (as mentioned in the article), also attracts the bands fan base.

The content also informs the reader, as the content of the article provides them with information

about the band, how they were formed and what they think about their music. Furthermore this

allows the reader to identify with the band, as it gives them more personal knowledge of the band

members and how the band functions. Also, the band is represented as being normal in terms oftheir personality (their talent is sensationalised rather than the people themselves). Therefore, this

allows the reader to relate to them and encourages them to read the magazine.

Finally, the magazine offers social interaction to the reader, with social network icons and a twitter

name displayed largely on the contents page. This gives readers a sense of community, which would

encourage the reader to regularly buy the magazine to remain part of this community. The

magazine has content which readers have written or that they can get involved in and this also

satisfies the readers need for social interaction. The reference to social networking continues

throughout the magazine to the double page spreads, in which a small selection of pictures from

Tigerillas Instagram feed is presented. The magazines involvement in social networking will attractmy target audience because young adults spend a lot of time using these.


5/6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?During the process of working on this magazine, I have used a range of software, technology and

equipment to help in the production of my magazine and create a professional looking result. Some

of these, I had never used before and others I had a basic knowledge of.

The software I have learnt the most about is InDesign, as this is what I used to produce the

magazine. I didnt have any previous experience with using InDesign, so I was learning new things

about the software throughout the process. The most complex part of this process was the double

page spreads, in which I set up columns within the text boxes. I also used text wrap so that the text

avoided the pictures on the page. This is one of the tools that contributed to making my work look

professional, as this technique is seen in many magazines.

When editing my images, I used Photoshop. My main task when editing my photos was to remove

the white studio background. To do so, I spent most of the process in quick mask mode covering all

parts of the photo that werent selected by the colour range tool, before deleting the whitebackground.

I played about with changing some of the images to black and white, which seemed most effective

for the contents page image of Bohe. Once I had done this, I used the burn tool to darken the area

around her eyes and her lips to create the appearance of make-up. I also used the spot removed tool

to get rid of blemishes on several of my photos.

My pictures were taken in front of a white studio background with studio lighting equipment and a

digital SLR camera (Canon 550D). This enabled me to take high quality images, with professional

lighting that I could easily remove the background of. This was most important for my cover photo,

which protrudes over the masthead. When taking pictures on location (Canon 600D), I experimented

slightly with shallow focus to create a professional looking shot. As these aimed to replicate screen

grabs from a music video, the shallow focus helped to create this look.

Throughout the process, I have been posting my research, planning and progress on a blog using the

Google powered blog host Blogger. This meant that I was able to post my work using a variety of

different platforms (Youtube embedded videos, Prezi, Slideshare and Scribd), which provided me

with a lot more opportunities than a solely print based presentation of my work.

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

From the preliminary task, I have gained a lot more knowledge about magazines, their conventions,

the industry and the software used to create magazines in a professional environment.

Visually, I feel my preliminary task did not have a professional layout, particularly on the contents

page, where I feel the sizing and proportions were unconventional. Also, the font I used did not

seem appropriate for a magazine and again this meant that my preliminary task did not look as good

as my final magazine.

For my preliminary task, I did not take any studio images. This meant that I was unable to remove

the background of the cover photo. Since then, I have conducted more research into music


6/6

magazines and, from viewing many existing front covers, I noticed that all of them had the cover star

cut out from an image (that had been taken in a studio).

Also, I feel that on the preliminary task, the sell lines do not look straight or organized. This caused

the front cover to look quite messy overall. When creating my final magazine, I knew the importance

of creating a clean and easy to read professional cover and this meant that I thought about the

proportion and alignment of my sell lines.

The colour scheme used for my preliminary task was similar to that of my final product. However, I

do not think the colour was used appropriately and seemed quite difficult to read. This was

something that I took into consideration when creating my front cover, as I wanted to make sure

everything was clearly readable. This meant that I placed a black box underneath each word on the

page to prevent busy and difficult to read sections, particularly as the front cover ultimately

decides whether someone will want to pick up the magazine and buy it or not.

Since the preliminary task, I have learnt far more about InDesign and its capabilities. This means I amfar more confident at using the software than I was when creating my school magazine (preliminary

task). I have also found easier ways of organizing my work on InDesign, better utilizing layers so that

it is easier to move or edit certain components without affecting the others.

As Evaluation - Draft

Documents

Transcript of As Evaluation - Draft