Research and Planning: Location Recces

Completed Music Magazine Contents Page and double page spread

Completed Music Magazine Front Cover

Research and Planning - Contents page continued...

Evaluation - Question 7

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

Evaluation - Question 6

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

 Blogger
I used blogger to display my work such as my music magazine front cover, contents page, and double page spread interview. This allowed me to show the progression that I had made to them all, over the previous lessons. I also displayed my research and planning on my blogger, to fully plan what was going on my music magazine, and I looked at other magazines and referred mine to them.

Imac computer
I used the imac computer in most of these lessons to use photoshop and to access my blogger.

Photoshop

I used photoshop to make my music magazine front cover, contents page, and double page spread.

Prezi

I set up an account on prezi to annotate my music magazine, and to explain all of the features of it. I uploaded screenshots of my front cover, contents page, and double page spread on to prezi and then I wrote about the different fonts used, colours, layout, photographs, and text.

Flickr

I used Flickr to explain how I would distribute my magazine, for example, what shops and what price.

SLR Camera
I used an SLR camera to take pictures of models to be disaplayed on my music magazine. I had to use one of these, as using a normal camera wouldn't of allowed me to upload the photo's in photoshop, which is where I was making my music magazine. I can also zoom in and out with this camera.

Evaluation - Question 5

How did I attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience? on Prezi

Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for my media product? why?

Name: James Prydz
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Job: Student

What music would they listen to?
 Dance music - partying

Where would they shop?
Topman, River Island

What would be their favorite TV programme?
Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents

Food and Drink
Pizza and any kind of alcohol

The person that is most likely to buy a house/dance music magazine is someone who is young, and is someone who loves going out to parties.

Evaluation - Question 3

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








Please click above on images to be taken to flickr

Evaluation - Question 2

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

Posture/Gesture - Here we have similarities with both models with the use of gestures as they both have a confident look about them in their facial expressions, although the model (David Guetta) from the mixmag magazine has a big cheesy grin on his face, whereas my model shows more of a cocky look to show confidence. They both use a pose of reaching their arms out, which also gives off yet another impression of confidence.

Angle/Shot type/Lighting - I have used a medium close up on my model, exactly like that of David Guetta. The reason behind me using a medium close up is because, the reader of my magazine can catch a good eye on not just the facial expressions of my model, but also what my model is wearing and their body language. An eye level angle is used simarly for the same purpose of the medium close up, as it is the easiest way to show the reader my models facial expresions, body language and what he is wearing. This angle also indicates that there is a strong connection between the reader and the model, so instantly they are sucked in to whatever is in the magazine, as each model is displayed on the front covers of their respective magazines. The lighting in both is high key lighting to portray a disco type feeling, and a party atmosphere, even there is no sufficient lighting in the image which contains my model.

Clothing - Both of the models appear to be wearing sunglasses. The reason for this is to give off the impression that they have a "cool" look about them and yet again they both show a great deal of confidence. The clothing have similarities and difference however as they both appear to be wearing just T-shirts on their body and they are not wearing any hoodies or jackets. They are different though because, the top that David guetta is wearing has like a kind of techno writing on it, whereas my model is wearing a plain top. Although my models top doesn't match David Guetta's, when I carried out my research, there were many models who just wore a plain top, so I decided to look towards them on that front.

 

Evaluation - Question 1

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

FRONT COVER

 Use - There are many similarities with my front cover compared to the mixmag front cover. The masthead is similar in the respect that it has it stands out straight away and it is highlighted in yellow. They are both highlighted as yellow is a bright colour and they are both huge writing, which immediately stares the reader in the face and is full on. The colour yellow is used, as I researched that most dance magazines included yellow in their three colour scheme, and so does white, so I have used a white on my front cover. My magazine front cover and the mixmag magazine front cover also have similarities with the fact they both have stories situated on the left hand side of the page. There are many similarities with the structure in general, as the barcode, the date, and the price are all in the bottom right hand corner, even though it is pretty hard to tell because this mixmag magazine is in foreign, but I looked to this magazine for guidance with the structure. The photos of both the modals have similarities, as they are both wearing sunglasses. This is done to give off an image of being "cool," and to give off a confident look about them. Each modal is also doing a reaching out pose with their arms, facing the camera. These medium close ups were taken simply because again, this pose signals to the audience that they are confident. Both models also appear to just be wearing tops on the top half of their body, and no hoodies.

Develop - I have also added a bit to my magazine front cover that the mixmag cover didn't have. Although the masthead of each front cover looks similar in the respect that they are big bold and yellow, i felt that my masthead needed to have more of an "up beat" kind of feeling about it, so I decided to call it "Pulse." I chose the word pulse because, it reminds me of when you dance (which this music makes you), your pulse rate increases, so that's where I got the idea from. I have also added more stories, in particularly, more names of artist, as the names of artists would catch the eye of the reader instantly, which would encourage the reader to read my magazine, in order to find out more news about their favorite artists.

Challenge - There are many differences however, with one being that mixmag has pictures in the top right hand corner of the page, whereas mine doesn't include any other pictures. The reason behind me not adding any more pictures to mine, is because I wanted to have more room to extend the size of my masthead, to capture the attention of the audience immediately. The backgrounds are also different because, the background of mine is a brick wall, but the background of mixmag's is a plain wall. When I carried out my research, I noticed that on the contents pages of mixmag magazines, there were a lot of images of models involved in photos which consisted of a brick wall background, so this gave me the inspiration to use a brick wall background on my front cover.

CONTENTS PAGE

Use -The similarities between these two contents pages is that I have used a near enough identical layout to the one of mixmag. The word "contents" is in the top left hand corner of each contents page. They are both in yellow writing again to stand out to the reader straight away. Stories are also included along the lefet hand side of each page, and the stories have the same headings such as; VIP, albums and interviews. I added these stories because, when I came to interviewing people on what things that they would like to read in a dance/house magazine, they mainly said album and gig reviews, and interviews, so I included them on my contents page. The font size of the writing on each page is also more or less the same size, with the story headings in both, standing out more with size and colour. The image layouts are very similar, as they are located on the right hand size, with one image covering a lot of the page, and two smaller images below it at the bottom. The effect of this is to grab the readers attention, as it is done to stand out clearly to the reader.

Develop - I have developed my contents page by including 3 pictures of men on it, compared to the contents page of the mixmag, which has only included 2 photos of men. Although mixmags contents page has a photo of a woman, I thought to concentrate on taking photos more of men, to outline the fact that my target audience in which I'm hoping to aim at and attract is men. An interview is one of the most popular things that the reader would be interested in, according to the audience, when I interviewed them.

Challenge - I have challenged the mixmag contents page by having a small screeenshot of my double page spread in the top left hand corner of the page, below the word "contents." This is different to mixmag, as that has a small screenshot of the front cover on it, but I decided to have a screenshot of my double page spread interview, because as the reader, reads this magazine, they won't have already seen this unlike, the front cover, so they would immediately read on to find the interview. An interview is one of the most popular features that the reader would be interested in, when reading a music magazine, according to when I camre to interview people about what they would like to read in a dance/house music magazine, so this the my reason for the inclusion of the double page spread interview screenshot. My main image is also different to the one of mixmags because, my model is wearing a hoodie. Although, when i researched the clothing of dance/house music artists, they didn't appear to be wearing hoodies, I felt that a hoodie would again, give off the image of being confident.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD INTERVIEW

Use - Although there appear to be a number of differences between both of these interviews, I have refered to the interview from mixmag for inspiration. The explanation for this is because, the structure of these interviews are very organised in the way that, they both have half a page of writing, and they both have atleast one image on the other half of the page. Also, they are both set out in columns, so it is easier to read, and understand, which is also the case for having half a page of writing, and for there to be an image(s) to cover the other half of the page. This is effective because, this would mean that the image(s) stand out and draw attention to the reader, as if there was more writing, the page would just look plain. I have also used a story, which quotes what my artist has said in my interview, just like the one in mixmag, and I have made the name of my artist stand out with white writing in the black background similar to the interview in mixmag, but with thwe use of different colours to do so.

Develop - I have developed my double page spread with the addition of props, such as a headset and a deck. I have done this to outline the fact that this is a dance/house magazine, and as soon as the reader see's this page, they would instantly know that this is a dance magazine. I have also added a variety of image's, as I felt the need to fill the page, and to show off my knowledge of using an SLR camera. The more images points out that there is more poses on show, as here you acn clearly see that my model has emphasised the reaching out movement, and is showing off with their props, with their hand on the deck.

Challenge - There are many challenges present here. Firstly, although the strucure is similar, the layout is different as, the structure of my is horizontal, whereas, the structure of the mixmag double page spread, is vertical. What I mean is that, the writing on mine is underneath the images, whereas on mixmag's, its to the left of the image. I set out the images above the writing, as they are spread out across the page, so the writing is also spread out across the page. I thought that this would be better as, I thought that if the writing was going down vertically in columns, all on one page, this would be look boring to the reader, and may over-face them. The use of the three colour scheme is different aswell, as I have used yellow as part of mine, which is known as one of the main colours used for dance/house music magazines. This mixmag magazine includes black and white in their three colour scheme, just like mine, but I have used mine differently, as I have used a black background, with white writing, whereas, it is completely the opposite on the mixmag magazine. I felt that it would be better to include a black background, as a white background would look plain, and it has more of a disco type feel to it does my magazine, with a black background, as the white writing blairs in with the black background, and looks more effective. My model is also wearing a shirt, which is different to the one on the mixmag magazine who is wearing a jacket. My model is also wearing a bright pink top because, it is colourful, and a summery type colour, which is when this music will be played mostly.

Magazine front cover currently

Research and Planning - Actor release form

Research and Planning - Actor release form

magazine project currently

 

Here is my music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread currently in progress. They are not yet complete as I do need to add features to all of the pages. My front cover need writing trailing horizontally across my image in black writing to stand out. I also need more text on the right hand side directly opposite the story headings in the top left, because I think that it looks a little bit dull on the right hand side.

For my contents page, I need to put a screenshot of my double page spread in the top left hand corner where the white space is. I can only do that when I have made improvements to my double page spread.

For my double page spread, improvements need to be made such as fitting my text in between the guide lines as I feel it is a little bigger than it should be, as it currently is right now. I think that I also need to add a bit more colour on it like yellow, because I think it looks a bit dark at the moment. The guide lines in all of my pages need to be taken off aswell.

Research and Planning-Music Magazine Analysis

I have already analyzed a "future music" magazine, so I am now going to analyse a mixmag magazine.

The genre of this magazine is house/dance.

Representation
I can tell that this is a house music magazine looking at the colours, as black is used in the background and it has bright images with high key lighting. The three colour scheme consists of the colours, black, white and red. These are the colours that we tend to associate with house music. The title also stands out at the top of the page very distinctively, and with the text being in white, and the background being dark, this gives off the impression that there is a party type atmosphere, which obviously takes place at night. This indicates that it the genre of this magazine is house music because, house music is usually played at clubs during the night time.


 

Research and Planning-Photo's I've taken