Evaluation presentation

Isabel Gamble AS Media evaluation

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How i have improved from the Preliminary Task

Overal i have really enjoyed this task and i believe i progress far from the preliminary task:

* My knowladge and abilities to work the photoshop programme which was new to me

*The research and detailed deconstructions of magazines have helped influece my final product

*My use of camera shots and how different angles portray meanings

*How to use shapes and symbols in a more intersting way and target an audience

*How to edit pictures

*How to download fonts

*Codes and conventions of a music magazine that work well and target my audience

The Finshed Product!

*Drawing together how my research has helped influence my final product*

From my research during this project i have analysed all three contents of the magazine i had to produce to fullfil the breif; front cover, contents page and a double page spread. When analysing these i have picked up on how magazines manage to distiguish their styles from other and keep their own flowing throughout their product. I wanted to make sure i created an image for my music magazine that i continue and overal show how all three section were produced by the same publishing company. 

I firstly did this by using color-

*For my front cover and contents page i kept to the colour scheme of, red, white and black.

*I used yellow as an extract color to highlight a more important part of text and also to help enage my audience

*I decided on these colors from my research of indie and pop magazines- i saw how the most commonly used colors were red, white and black. So i went onto produce my magazine using these colors and portraying them in a new way to differenciate from other music magazines of my genre.

*colors throught is very bold, even the picture include bright colours- I did this reflect the genre of indie pop as from research lots of bright, bold and block colours are used in the not only the magazine but the image of the artists.

Secondly the shapes and symbols i use:
*The fonts throughout my magazine uses bold and straight edged text. Doing this creates codes through this typeface, of a finished look,  bolder text and a sharper, edgy look. From my magazine anaysis this is a convention of how magazines keep the continuiety of pages and a similar look throughout.
*The use of symbols in my magazine help me target my youthful teenagers, who love to doodle and not read loads of long text. From my research i found that not many magazines experiement with different shapes, they usually stick to squares and circles. The younger pop genre magazine did experiement more but only on their double page spread. So i decided to develop this idea further and challange the more basic conventional shapes magazines usually stick to.

Lastly the use of pictures and semiotics:
*The pictures i use in my magazine portray the main band that will be focused on throughout. The band are in the same clothese to emphasis this but are in different position or pulling different facial expressions to change the codes of each picture. 
*From my research i found the style of indie and pop being very fashionale and modern, i wanted to reflect this in my upcoming band. I also found out how lots of bright and bold colors are used, so i again wanted to show this through the bands image, by them all wearing different block colors.
*The semeotics in my magazine portray deeper meanings about the demographic society that my audience live in. For example the band i created uses blind folds. This reflect the attractive image a band has to have to be successful in the industry. Also it shows how teenagers are outsiders and want to be individuals-making a statement. The relavance link of thee blind folds to music is also how you dont need to see music to enjoy it. You listen to music and play music, its not a visual thing that should critisised. Finally to help keep these symbolic meanings flowing throughtout my magazine i included on the double page spread, the band single being called 'love is blind'. This then relates the readers emotions to text and also the song as every teenagers and human has these issues. Having the theme of a song focusing on love, is typical of the pop and idie music genre. I have learnt from my research of the genres and listening to different songs.

To get a real idea of how well my music magazine would fit into todays market and if my target audience would be attracted to my magazine, i believe creating a questionaire for them to complete would be a realiable way.

  

Questions i would ask..

1.Do you think my music magazine fulfills the qualities of a proffesional music magaine on the maket today?

2.What qualities do you like about the magazine?

3. Do you believe there is a gap in the market for my type of music magazine

4. Do you think the price of my music magazine is reasonable?

Magazine Double Page Spread

When starting my double page i began changing my ideas from my original sketch. I used the initial ideas i had but developed them into a better layout. The cretion of sections on this page with thick lines helps make the piece easier to view. The codesof this layout could reprsent teenagers segregation from adults in society and how they are treated differently. Also not only does the black boarder around each indiviual artist emphasis their roles but makes each indiviual look like they are on their own podeum; which is reflective of their partimegigs they play at. Instead of using red again for this page i changed the colour to the more suttlel tone of pink. This color is paler colour of red and links in with the bands song and lyrics; about love and the pull quote 'you dont need to see it, to love it!' This pull quote will be from the main body of the text and will link in with the bands unique image of a blind fold.

I then went on to produce some body to the artial. The language i use is informal and the word order is simplifyed to create a quick, snappy and flowing pace. I include many verbs to make the piece seem more interesting and evoke the reader senses. I decided to lengthen the black lines next to each of the band members to seperate the text into columns. I also changed the colour of my pull text to see if the colourred would work better with the magazine i was producing as a whole and relate to theme of love.

My next improvements i made to my double page spread was incorportating more color to liven the page up. I decided to go back to my pink colour theme as i didnt believe the red would work aswell and wouldnt show contrast to my other magazine pages. I decided to create a pink background around my interview picture and masterhead. I believe this made text look bolder and in-contrast to the background being a color, rather than a plain white color. I also tried out with the bold lines just having 3 instead of four o have even amount of white space at the end of the space.

My FINAL product of a music magazines Double Page Spread!

The final stages of editing to mydouble page spread was finishing of the body and filling in all the un-used gaps on the page. Firstly finishing the body of the artical i was pleased with the conversational tone i had creaed. I believe for a reader this interview would be realsitic and each member of the band their own voice. At the end of the interview i left a comment on how you can folllow blind to keep up to date with the; via the internet. This modern way a social netweorking will help create a fanbase for the band and therefore help the upcoming band become more popular in the music industry.

I changed some of thr layout again on my doublepage spread by going back to having 4 bol lines to seperate artists and text. Articals being writen in colums is a convention of the magazinesi have researched and i wanted to incorporat this technique to help the audience read and folw the text. Usually a conention of a magazine cover leave sufficient gutters betwen these colums but instead i challanged this convention by using black lines. 

Using the gradient tool on photosho i was able to create a faded light of pink on ether side of the women. Using this tool using changesthewhole of he background to this fading color effec, but i cleverly ued white sqaure boxes to cover the rest of the page so only these two rays of pink light were visiable.

The masthead of ths artical is the band name- BLIND. I situated this in the top left hand corner of the page. The position of masterhed changes in ever artical in a magazine because o the diffrent layouts and the content of the artical. I posited mine above the three pictures of the bandto help mke a reader make the conection ht this was their bad name. I a completely diferent font the sub-heaing is written in the section above the text 'Hitting the hars...' The bands relesed single name is 'Love is Bind, the use of semeotics here gives the readers more to think about. Firstly the line going through the text represents the bands blind folds but also could link to how the text is harder to read for an audience, so we have relavance to the song that we also experience this.   

Lastly i decided to add more pictues to hep fill the space an to make the piece look like less text for my teenage audiece. The pictures all link well together and show the groups fun atitudes and personalities. This is shown throug te codes of the groups facial expressions ;laughing, pulling funny faces and smiling. I found a sqaure pattern i liked look of and wanted to use to give more layers to the background. This patern not only sticks with the sqaure text and lines used in my double page spread and througout mymgazine, it looks like a dance floor or the playsation game 'dance matt'. This links in well with my target audiene as beieve they will also make these conotations.

Magazines Contents

After sketching my ideas for my contents page i began producing them by using the programme photoshop.I chose this picture of the band as i believed it was a striking image that would draw a readers attention. The band are leaning into the camera and looking directly out to the audience, these codes in the picture will help engae a reader and feel as if they are being drawn into their world. I created a big title which went from one side of the page to the other. I used all upper case letter in this title as this is a convention in the magazines i have researched. I believe this convention is code for emphasising what the page is about and creating contrast to te other text. I included the date below my title and used a different colour to highlight this difference. From my magazine anaylse i see how in the content page there is usually a background colour behing the headings of text. So i used this researche by creating a purple sqaure backdrop with white writting.

From my beging stage i then went onto look deeper into the colours i should include on my cover. To make the contence page link with my front cover i have decided to stick to the same colors; red, white and black. From my research many magazines make sure their pages are along the same style by using the same colors, fonts or layouts. Reversed-out colour technique on my contents page works really well with these colours. I have chosen my font for my title by finding a website and trying out different types. The font i have chosen is bold and is a square style which is code for a finsihed and edgy look. I also found a letter shape on photoshop and i want to incorporate this into my contence page as i believe symbols like tese help target my teenage audience as visually it looks more interesting.

Developing my contents page contiued by me creating text to fill the space i had left. The main title of each artical is in a larger font, with a breif summary of what the page will be about underneath, in a smaller size text. The language i used is snappy and breif and this is conventional of the magazines i have analysed. The coloquial language creates an informal feel which adds to the leisure of the magazine and connection with audience i am targetting. The articals are about festivals, band interviews and news about illegal downloading. Challanging the usual conventions of a music magazine other pages look at new bands and artists, how to to become a star and also record company contact detais. These page i wanted to include to give my magazine a chance in the music magazinbe market. I believe there is a gap in my market to produce a magazine that includes these types of pages and information. At the top of the contents page, next to the date is a picture of a guitar. When searching for different fonts to use i found one that includes different music symbols. I liked this one of the guitar as most indie and pop music includes this instrment.  

This is my FINAL product of my music magazine Contents!

The last bit of editing i did to reach this final stag was adding the pictures from the solo artist photo-shoot. I chose 5 of the best pictures to include on this page.I chose these images as I believe they use a mixture of camera angles and also are all codes for portraying a teenagers normal life. The youthful feel of these pictures shows the demographic of this artist; helping me target male and females, indie pop lovers and teenagers. Iinclude another symbol on my contents during the last staging of editing as i beieved it connected well with the younge and indie look of the bottom artist. I believe by doing this i help target both male and females equally as the use of colour and symbols on this page can be releant to both.

The pictures are layered ontop of eachother creating a collage effect. This is code for a young audience lifestyle as makin collages would be part of their school lessoons and also it how they would create collages of memories and their best friends. The laye of pictures give thecover a 3D effect which helps to stand out to the reader. I ceated an idea that this solo artist would be found via You Tube. This has happened before in real life but i wanted to make more of a statement about the different ways new talent is found in an ever growing market. The catching headline i give the artical will enage a reader. The line has a rhyming tone to it, 'Izzie Day's claim to fame'. The use of this is a code for the audience remembering the type of magazine they are reading; music! It should make play a part in making the reade want to find out more about this artist. The text is written in yellow to attract the reader and stand in contrast to the other colours. This colour also links in well with the summery and positive feel i wanted to connotate during the page. I expnded the text and angled it on a slant to take up more space. Also i believe it give more complex to the lyout of the text and is code for an edgy image and look. I slanted another piece of blck text inbetween this to create a layering effect and help show that theses two peces of texts link together.

I believe the contents page is realistic of what a music magazines contets page would look like on the market today. The conventions of the page reflect what a real congtents page would include. Such as the page numbers written beside each artical. The use of the contrasting colour, red, to seperate this information from the text helps portray this convention. Te headings are typical of the music magazines  researched. I used these headings and created my own articals to fit the catagories. I believe i filled the space of the cover well and this code reflects how there will be lots to read during the magzine. Also this is a convention of magazines as they always include lots of information, pictures and symbolis to fill up the pages and give the impression that lots is going on. The text on the left hand side is ranged right. This is a convention of magazines i have analysed an i believe creates a writing effect; as you start at the same place every time but each entence finishes differently.

Photo-shoot of Solo Artist

I decided to do another photoshoot as i realsied i anted to include another artist on my contents page. I decided to chose a solo artist as it show how my magazine targets a wide range of artists in the industry. When taking my photos i tried out many different angles for the shots. The mise-en-scene for my photo shot i wanted to portray the ideologic impressions of a normal, everyday, teenage girl. I did this by the fashionalble image and also by having shots taken sitting down or looking in mirrior. The image i wanted to create for this solo artist was an indie look. I firstly researched into some indie pop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indie_pop_artists

Then this lead me to look indiviually at the artists image and style of clothese they wear. I also looked into some indie music videos on:  http://www.mtv.com/music/indie/

Florence and the Machine

These picture to e inspired me as they reflect real life. The artists image is unique and colorful. Also te pictures remind me of summer. The artist is not looking at the camera and i believe this is code for the idendence and attitudes she play in society.

These picture of another solo artist also help me understand the indie genre. The artists is simling and having fun, as if shes young and care free. The colours are very bright and bold so they sand out and are could be code for wanting to mkae a statement. The mise-en-scene again is reflective of everyda life and show us how music is part of her life.

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From this research i have a greater understanding of the indie pop genre and also the style and image of the artists. This reasearh has influence my photoshoot and helped me produce some good picture:

The bold eyeliner and bright pink lipstick used in the picture is reflective of teenagers growing up and trying out new looks andmakeu. The flower in the hair links to some of the other flowers used in the shot; wallpaper, flower bed, flower t-shirt. I wanted the model to wear summery clothes as the magazien issue is being published in June. Also i wanted her to wear bright girly colours to attract the readers attention and appeal to the appeal to demographic females iamge. The model is not smiling in every picture and this is code for teenagers being moody and having an attitude. Also in some of the picture the artists is not looking directly at the camera and i believe this makes the pictures look more like everyday life than someone posing for a picture.

Medium Long shot

Long Shot

                        

                                                                 Medium Shot

Medium Close up

High Angle Shot

Close up shot

Medium Close Up

Medium Close UP

Magazine Front Cover

This was was my starting point for my front cover. I chose this picture of the band as their bright colors would be attractive on the front cover of a magazine. Also the position of the band members gives a 3D look to the cover, which makes them stand out and be noticed. I tried this picture behind and in-front of the title and i decided on the picture being in-front, as again it adds to the 3D, layering effect and also shows how the band is the main part of the cover, not the magazine name.

To develop my cover from my starting point i decided to make the picture look bolder by underlining the title and effectively making a boarder around the picture. This also would help me to separate my text i will include on my cover.

I then decided to play around with different effects i could use on the cover. I liked this effect as the faded colored light looks like spotlights and the colors add to the bright, pop and young look i wanted to create for my magazine.

Looking back on my research i was able to get a more realistic idea of colors and effects i should use to help target my audience and reach the standard of the market. I found that most music magazine use 3 colors, so decided to stick to red, white and black. I then changed the bold lines i had created to red and instead of using a white background behind my headline i used black, so the contrasting red text would stand out and be more eye catching. By this stag i needed to decided on my headline. So i tried out both 'I-Pop' and 'NÜ' as my masterhead and after looking at both i found that I-Pop was not punchy enought, it needed to be be more unqiue and and memorable. A shorter abbreviation of a word i believe would suit my target audience better. Also layout wise, a smaller masterhead was able to fit better in the space and therefore was not getting lost behind the main picture. I then started developing ideas of text to use on my front cover. I wanted snappy lines so i used persuasive language to engage the reader. Colloquial language is a convention of music magazines and is important for appealing to a wider audience. The music magazine i am creating, is a consumer magazine, so they aim for leisure reading and enjoyment. I want to portray this through my magazines front cover by including this informal language and using punctuation marks for exaggeration. 

This is my FINAL Music Magazine Front Cover!

You can see my development and reasons of how i reached this final point of my music magazine cover. The text i included is engaging. The bigger text at the top of the page is in a bolder font and shows the reader its greater importance and how it links with the main picture. The connotation you can make about their blind fold image makes the reader feel like they will be gaining an insight into the bands world 'REVEALING ALL'. Having the text all in upper case letters exaggerates the 'EXCLUSIVE' interview and makes the front cover seem more exciting. Also the change in color on 'ALL' is code for the readers understanding that the interview will give away lots of information. I also change the color of other words on my front cover to again highlight the more important parts of the text. I use a read-through on the cover of my magazine which gives an insight into what the bands article will be about; this is a convention of a magazine. The quotation i've used is shocking and it engages the reader to want to buy the magazine to read this article. I use persuasive language, when including how you can win festival tickets. Teenagers will want to be 'in the know' and therefor will be attracted to this competition of winning free festival tickets. Conventions of a music magazine i have included in this front cover is, the barcode. This is typical of any magazine and this means the magazine is buyable in shops. Also the date and issue of the magazine is a convention of this type of magazine as they keep up to date with their publishing. The price is also viewable on my cover but the cost of music magazines varies. I included a website of the magazine company and this is a good media way to gain interest as if they do not buy the magazine they might go onto the website. All these conventions of a music magazine i have used in the colour and this shows how they link together and share the same importance. The font that i use on the cover gives a modern and finished feel. I keep the same font in the text and just change the size and weight. I use a different font for the masterhead and the text over the band image. These two seperate fonts i downloaded from a website and  believe they work really well with the style i want to overl create.