Saturday, 13 February 2010
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Blog 9- Evaluation
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5WUAYNvqSRQZWU3M2ZkNjctZjViZS00NWNmLWI4MTgtOWMzMzlhNGQ0MDk0&hl=en
In my magazine i tried to make it look as similar as possible to other existing magazines. The two magazines i looked at and analysed at the begining of this project were Kerrang! and NME. Kerrang! Had the magazine name behind the image. This is because the editors can see, by statistics, that their magazine is popular and well known enough to not have to display the whole heading. As long as they can see part of it, it is pretty obvious to readers what magazine it is because of the wide recognition the company has. Therefore i decided to put my magzine heading slightly behind one of the images. I think i could have emphasised this a bit more because only a very small part of the name (stereo) was actually covered. Similar to Kerrang! i also used a cracked font for the heading to suggest it is associated with loud music. This will appeal to my target audience because loud rock music is the genre and style they are interested in. NME magazine have a large and bold title which stands out in bright colours. I used a similar style on my heading by making the heading very large and bold with a bright pink therefore jumps off the page. Both magazines (kerrang! and NME) use bright colour schemes (kerrang! more than NME) which clash with each other to give a messy, bright and independant look from other magazines. I like the idea of colours clashing and standing out from other magazines, therefore decided to use a bright pink and blue colour scheme. I continues this colour scheme through out the whole magazine to even when looking at a page inside you can associate to this magazine; it is onbvious and recognisable. The main pictures used on the cover in kerrag! and NME both accociate with the rock genre by having the rock artists look very different and have an attitude look about them. Although the artists on both these magazines are male, i decided to use a female artist on my magazine. This is because in kerrang! 290000 readers are male and 127000 readers are female, showing that more male than female read this magazine by a large difference. And the numbers were also very similar in NME. Therefore, having a female artist may appeal to male readers more and increase the number of people who by the magazine this week/month. However, i still arranged the photo so she still had an attitude look about her, representing the rock magazine. My original idea from the flat plan i created for the front cover was to have a band as the main image on the page. But as i did not know anyone from a band or have the equipment to create the setting this proved difficult. Therefore i decided to change this idea and chose a main image that represents the rock genre and what the majority of readers would like to see on the cover.
Moving onto the contents page, I analysed a kerrang! contents page and worked off this page to create my own. In the kerrang! page it mainly contained images with only a small contents section down the right hand side of the page. I used a similar style by having images as the main focus on the page with small detail on the contents of the magazine. At the top of the Kerrang! page i noticed they had a small section on persuading readers to subscribe to the magazine. I used this at the top of the contents page in my magazine to have the same effect. I like that they did this on the contents page because the majority of people will read through the contents page before reading the magazine therefore it is more likely they will read about subscribing, where as, if the detail about subscribing was either on a page on its own or another page, it is more likely people will flick past it without noticing.
Lastly, i analysed a double page spread from NME. I similary used a bright colour scheme and used the same style of language. However, most of the NME double page spread was filled with an image rather than text where as i balanced the text and images so there was big enough pictures to appeal to someone flicking through the magazine and interest them in reading the article and then there was also a large amount of text for readers to be able to read enough about their idols and discover more about them and when they will be going on tour or releasing their next album. Although there is a lot of text it is broken down in a question answer format to the band themselves. Therefore, readers can select questions that may interest them rather than having to read the whole article to find a part they are interested in reading about. Each question was coloured in blue then the bands answers is in white to stand out from the dark background. This divided the text up even more to make it easier for fans to read. I also chose to have a column where people could write in and ask the band questions therefore the whole article would feel more real to fans because they are connecting with the band!
My target audience is mainly aimed towards teenagers and more boys then girls. Therefore, i mainly aimed to make it look mixed gender but slightly more leaning towards masculine then feminim. I also decided to aim it towards an age group between around 16 to 20. This is quite a small age gap but many teenagers are interested in rock magazines therefore aiming for this particular age group is best. Social class is also important when creating a magazine. This magazine is aimed towards middle/working class. Also students are mainly going to be buying this magazine therefore wont have a lot of money, so it will be sold on the lower end of the magazine selling market. This means it is affordable for anyone to buy weekly or monthly.
Shops such as WHSmiths, tescos, HMV and all smaller newsagents would be the labels distributing my magazine. This is because these are mainly large chains where people know that they can find a magazine in, therefore could come across my magazine. All major magazines are sold in these shops so to become a major magazine, my media product needs to be distributed here. They would choose to stock it because kerrang! and NME are two major rock magazines that are very popular and there are not many other well recognisable rock magazines around. Therefore, i think they would be interested in trying to make a success of this new magazine and see how popular it becomes. Also if i were to get a publisher such as IPC Media (a large magazine publishing compamy) to publish my magazine, more companies would be willing to distribute it because of the recognisable publisher.
This next section referes to what was written in blog 2...
http://sdcmediaasemmanoel.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-2-target-audience.html
This blog states my target audience dependant on age and gender and further observations relating to the magazines statistics. This blog was written at the begining of the project but my target audience is still the same therefore there are no further observations to state.
Most rock genre media products have very similar aspects to one another. They all follow a large, bold or cracked font which suggests loud music and this particular product shows slight violence in it which suggests older generations may find it slightly inappropriate, which will appeal more to younger generations in a popluar rebelious phase.
I learnt a lot about the technologies from the process of constructing my magazine. Firstly, Photoshop enabled me to edit images used in the magazine making them look more professional and a better quality. I learned how to create an airbrush effect on people used in my magazine, using a Photoshop programme, by cloning and stamping, which means you can take a smooth and even part of someones skin and cover it over any blemishes. I then used the smudge tool to slightly smudge parts of the skin to give it an even smoother effect. I also used brighten and contrast tools to finish off the images and create a new, more professional looking image. Also, i learned how to get rid of the back ground of images and either put a blank colour behind it or change the background. This was done by using a magnetic lasso tool and selecting the subject (person) and removing it from its original background and placing it onto another. This is so the images didnt look like they were taken in an ordinary, everyday situation which would decrease the effect of the image. However, one thing i struggled to do in InDesign was make good use of the tool that selected a colour from one object (such as some text) and put the colour onto another so the same colour is used. There were some points where i couldnt make use and understand this tool so some of the colours where slightly differnt which made the magazine look slightly un professional as the colour scheme didnt quite match. However, this task did help me understand both softwares a lot more and i now have more knowledge on using them.
Looking back at the magazine i created in my preliminary task i can see a difference in the quality and knowledge i have gained since. Since the Preliminary task i have developed my skills and was able to use Photoshop to edit the images i needed to use. Where as, in the preliminary task i simply took a photo and put it onto the page. I also have a lot more knowledge in how it is best to set out the magazine and use of language needed for particular genres; whether it is formal, informal, humorous or serious. I also had more time to plan more carefully and analyse other magazines of the same genre before creating my own magazine which helped me to come up with better ideas and i could keep relating back to existing magazines to see if there was any way to improve my own.
In my magazine i tried to make it look as similar as possible to other existing magazines. The two magazines i looked at and analysed at the begining of this project were Kerrang! and NME. Kerrang! Had the magazine name behind the image. This is because the editors can see, by statistics, that their magazine is popular and well known enough to not have to display the whole heading. As long as they can see part of it, it is pretty obvious to readers what magazine it is because of the wide recognition the company has. Therefore i decided to put my magzine heading slightly behind one of the images. I think i could have emphasised this a bit more because only a very small part of the name (stereo) was actually covered. Similar to Kerrang! i also used a cracked font for the heading to suggest it is associated with loud music. This will appeal to my target audience because loud rock music is the genre and style they are interested in. NME magazine have a large and bold title which stands out in bright colours. I used a similar style on my heading by making the heading very large and bold with a bright pink therefore jumps off the page. Both magazines (kerrang! and NME) use bright colour schemes (kerrang! more than NME) which clash with each other to give a messy, bright and independant look from other magazines. I like the idea of colours clashing and standing out from other magazines, therefore decided to use a bright pink and blue colour scheme. I continues this colour scheme through out the whole magazine to even when looking at a page inside you can associate to this magazine; it is onbvious and recognisable. The main pictures used on the cover in kerrag! and NME both accociate with the rock genre by having the rock artists look very different and have an attitude look about them. Although the artists on both these magazines are male, i decided to use a female artist on my magazine. This is because in kerrang! 290000 readers are male and 127000 readers are female, showing that more male than female read this magazine by a large difference. And the numbers were also very similar in NME. Therefore, having a female artist may appeal to male readers more and increase the number of people who by the magazine this week/month. However, i still arranged the photo so she still had an attitude look about her, representing the rock magazine. My original idea from the flat plan i created for the front cover was to have a band as the main image on the page. But as i did not know anyone from a band or have the equipment to create the setting this proved difficult. Therefore i decided to change this idea and chose a main image that represents the rock genre and what the majority of readers would like to see on the cover.
Moving onto the contents page, I analysed a kerrang! contents page and worked off this page to create my own. In the kerrang! page it mainly contained images with only a small contents section down the right hand side of the page. I used a similar style by having images as the main focus on the page with small detail on the contents of the magazine. At the top of the Kerrang! page i noticed they had a small section on persuading readers to subscribe to the magazine. I used this at the top of the contents page in my magazine to have the same effect. I like that they did this on the contents page because the majority of people will read through the contents page before reading the magazine therefore it is more likely they will read about subscribing, where as, if the detail about subscribing was either on a page on its own or another page, it is more likely people will flick past it without noticing.
Lastly, i analysed a double page spread from NME. I similary used a bright colour scheme and used the same style of language. However, most of the NME double page spread was filled with an image rather than text where as i balanced the text and images so there was big enough pictures to appeal to someone flicking through the magazine and interest them in reading the article and then there was also a large amount of text for readers to be able to read enough about their idols and discover more about them and when they will be going on tour or releasing their next album. Although there is a lot of text it is broken down in a question answer format to the band themselves. Therefore, readers can select questions that may interest them rather than having to read the whole article to find a part they are interested in reading about. Each question was coloured in blue then the bands answers is in white to stand out from the dark background. This divided the text up even more to make it easier for fans to read. I also chose to have a column where people could write in and ask the band questions therefore the whole article would feel more real to fans because they are connecting with the band!
My target audience is mainly aimed towards teenagers and more boys then girls. Therefore, i mainly aimed to make it look mixed gender but slightly more leaning towards masculine then feminim. I also decided to aim it towards an age group between around 16 to 20. This is quite a small age gap but many teenagers are interested in rock magazines therefore aiming for this particular age group is best. Social class is also important when creating a magazine. This magazine is aimed towards middle/working class. Also students are mainly going to be buying this magazine therefore wont have a lot of money, so it will be sold on the lower end of the magazine selling market. This means it is affordable for anyone to buy weekly or monthly.
Shops such as WHSmiths, tescos, HMV and all smaller newsagents would be the labels distributing my magazine. This is because these are mainly large chains where people know that they can find a magazine in, therefore could come across my magazine. All major magazines are sold in these shops so to become a major magazine, my media product needs to be distributed here. They would choose to stock it because kerrang! and NME are two major rock magazines that are very popular and there are not many other well recognisable rock magazines around. Therefore, i think they would be interested in trying to make a success of this new magazine and see how popular it becomes. Also if i were to get a publisher such as IPC Media (a large magazine publishing compamy) to publish my magazine, more companies would be willing to distribute it because of the recognisable publisher.
This next section referes to what was written in blog 2...
http://sdcmediaasemmanoel.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-2-target-audience.html
This blog states my target audience dependant on age and gender and further observations relating to the magazines statistics. This blog was written at the begining of the project but my target audience is still the same therefore there are no further observations to state.
To attract my audience i used a bright colour scheme with dark backgrounds which would appeal to a more individual and creative crowd such as people interested in the rock genre. I also used a cracked font for my heading to make it look like loud music. All these factors add up to make it fit in with the rock genre. In relation to the language, i decided to use a very informal, casual language which appeals more to a younger less intellectual audience. This style of language was also used in the two rock magazines kerrang! and NME that i anaylsed at the begining. I decided to use a similar style magazine to attract the same target audience. Most other media products relating to rock have a very similar style in terms of loud colour schemes and large bold cracked fonts, such as this greenday (a rock band) album cover:
Most rock genre media products have very similar aspects to one another. They all follow a large, bold or cracked font which suggests loud music and this particular product shows slight violence in it which suggests older generations may find it slightly inappropriate, which will appeal more to younger generations in a popluar rebelious phase.I learnt a lot about the technologies from the process of constructing my magazine. Firstly, Photoshop enabled me to edit images used in the magazine making them look more professional and a better quality. I learned how to create an airbrush effect on people used in my magazine, using a Photoshop programme, by cloning and stamping, which means you can take a smooth and even part of someones skin and cover it over any blemishes. I then used the smudge tool to slightly smudge parts of the skin to give it an even smoother effect. I also used brighten and contrast tools to finish off the images and create a new, more professional looking image. Also, i learned how to get rid of the back ground of images and either put a blank colour behind it or change the background. This was done by using a magnetic lasso tool and selecting the subject (person) and removing it from its original background and placing it onto another. This is so the images didnt look like they were taken in an ordinary, everyday situation which would decrease the effect of the image. However, one thing i struggled to do in InDesign was make good use of the tool that selected a colour from one object (such as some text) and put the colour onto another so the same colour is used. There were some points where i couldnt make use and understand this tool so some of the colours where slightly differnt which made the magazine look slightly un professional as the colour scheme didnt quite match. However, this task did help me understand both softwares a lot more and i now have more knowledge on using them.
Looking back at the magazine i created in my preliminary task i can see a difference in the quality and knowledge i have gained since. Since the Preliminary task i have developed my skills and was able to use Photoshop to edit the images i needed to use. Where as, in the preliminary task i simply took a photo and put it onto the page. I also have a lot more knowledge in how it is best to set out the magazine and use of language needed for particular genres; whether it is formal, informal, humorous or serious. I also had more time to plan more carefully and analyse other magazines of the same genre before creating my own magazine which helped me to come up with better ideas and i could keep relating back to existing magazines to see if there was any way to improve my own.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Blog 8- Planning and Evaluation of the article
I have analysed two magazine double page spreads: NME and Rock Sound. I have examined how they both use language, the tone of the article, if they are formal or informal, humorous or serious.
Firstly, the genre (rock) of the magazine means that the articles are very informal and more humorous than serious.
In NME, the style of the article is set up as an interview of a rock boy band called 'The Teenagers'. One of the main highlighted phrases is: 'of course we are a sexual band. We're the teenagers and that's all they think about'. This is highlighted in blue so one of the main focuses on the page and catches your attention very easily. It is also a very open an 'attitudy' phrase said by one of the band members which would appeal to a younger teenage audience because it is just the thing they like to read; open and honest. Where as, older generations may find this sort of language offensive and inappropriate. Another one of the main headlinesm, written by the magazine journalists, says: 'Young, dumb...' which is explaining the band and will influence their fans to act in the same manner which is a negative effect from the language used in the magazine but teenagers would see this as 'cool'. The main picture used in this double page spread is a picture of the boy band lying against a wall, covered in rock related posters, on a bed. This gives a very lazy and relaxed look for the band and will encourage teenagers to read the magazine. The set out of the magazine uses a colour scheme of blue, highlighting the main parts of the double page spread and most the article if taken up by the image of the band, followed by a two collums of an interview from the band. This will appeal to teenagers because most teenagers have more of an interest in visuals than lots of text. The page then has a collum down the right side of the page which is not related to the article but other small stories. The page looks crammed with information which gives a very messy/scrap book effect.
The rock sound double page looks very different from NME. It has less of a messy effect and more of a tidy, structured layout. However, again there is less text and the image also takes up most of the double page spread, similarly to the NME double page, therefore, it also appeals to a younger audience. There is also less random text and highlights of the main article scattered around the page. Instead it gets straight to the point with only a newspaper style heading and sub heading to tell us about the story. The image is a picture of the band who have the typical rock look to them; wearing make up with dark eyeliner and black and red clothing.
Both magazine articles have a very casual approach and use mainly slang and abreviations of words.
After analysing these two magazines i decided to do an interview for my double page spread. Rock readers seem to prefer an interview straight from their idols rather than having a reporter writing about them. This makes the magazine look better and more popular because rock artists are willing to talk to the magazine and have pictures taken for the article. Then followers like to read what their idols have to say and it makes the article seem more personal. Therefore, i decided to do a interview for my rock magazine.
I included slang phrases such as 'luxuary crib' to atract a younger audience and also included a section where fans wrote in to the band and asked quections which were then answered by the band members. This again makes the fans feel closer and more personal to the rock stars and gives a good representation to the magazine.
My set out was slightly different from the two magazines i analysed because i mainly used text rather than images. However i also used a colour scheme of blue and pink, which is the colour scheme i have used through out the whole magazine.
Firstly, the genre (rock) of the magazine means that the articles are very informal and more humorous than serious.
In NME, the style of the article is set up as an interview of a rock boy band called 'The Teenagers'. One of the main highlighted phrases is: 'of course we are a sexual band. We're the teenagers and that's all they think about'. This is highlighted in blue so one of the main focuses on the page and catches your attention very easily. It is also a very open an 'attitudy' phrase said by one of the band members which would appeal to a younger teenage audience because it is just the thing they like to read; open and honest. Where as, older generations may find this sort of language offensive and inappropriate. Another one of the main headlinesm, written by the magazine journalists, says: 'Young, dumb...' which is explaining the band and will influence their fans to act in the same manner which is a negative effect from the language used in the magazine but teenagers would see this as 'cool'. The main picture used in this double page spread is a picture of the boy band lying against a wall, covered in rock related posters, on a bed. This gives a very lazy and relaxed look for the band and will encourage teenagers to read the magazine. The set out of the magazine uses a colour scheme of blue, highlighting the main parts of the double page spread and most the article if taken up by the image of the band, followed by a two collums of an interview from the band. This will appeal to teenagers because most teenagers have more of an interest in visuals than lots of text. The page then has a collum down the right side of the page which is not related to the article but other small stories. The page looks crammed with information which gives a very messy/scrap book effect.
The rock sound double page looks very different from NME. It has less of a messy effect and more of a tidy, structured layout. However, again there is less text and the image also takes up most of the double page spread, similarly to the NME double page, therefore, it also appeals to a younger audience. There is also less random text and highlights of the main article scattered around the page. Instead it gets straight to the point with only a newspaper style heading and sub heading to tell us about the story. The image is a picture of the band who have the typical rock look to them; wearing make up with dark eyeliner and black and red clothing.
Both magazine articles have a very casual approach and use mainly slang and abreviations of words.
After analysing these two magazines i decided to do an interview for my double page spread. Rock readers seem to prefer an interview straight from their idols rather than having a reporter writing about them. This makes the magazine look better and more popular because rock artists are willing to talk to the magazine and have pictures taken for the article. Then followers like to read what their idols have to say and it makes the article seem more personal. Therefore, i decided to do a interview for my rock magazine.
I included slang phrases such as 'luxuary crib' to atract a younger audience and also included a section where fans wrote in to the band and asked quections which were then answered by the band members. This again makes the fans feel closer and more personal to the rock stars and gives a good representation to the magazine.
My set out was slightly different from the two magazines i analysed because i mainly used text rather than images. However i also used a colour scheme of blue and pink, which is the colour scheme i have used through out the whole magazine.
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