Final products

Front Cover

 

Contents Page:

 

Double Page Spread:

 

 

 

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (college magazine), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

This is my collage magazine;



















This is my final front cover;












When I look back at my collage magazine, I feel like I have came a long way and improved a lot in construction and ideas. Looking at these two front covers i can see what a hug improvement I have actually made, because of photoshop I have learnt how to make a image black and white and make it a lot sharper, change backgrounds and play around with a design of my own for my magazine cover. Looking at my magazine now I can see where I have improved from my previous mock magazine and my collage magazine, It now looks closer to a professional standard due to me being able to analyse a magazine.

By me using photoshop its allowed me to be more flexible and creative with any ideas I h ad, I researched using youtube different clips on tutorials on how to do things on photoshop, such as how to make an image black and white.

I've learnt from the progression that research on other magazines to do with the same genre that I done mine in will give me a lot of ideas and help me be flexible with my ideas for my magazine.

Evaluation Question 6

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

I have learnt numerous things about the variety of technologies I have used throughout this media course, such as photoshop, I knew I was going to be creating a magazine so I decided to make a mock magazine using photoshop.

This was the mock magazine that I created to get feed back from so my final product would have improved, as you can see my photoshop skills are pretty poor, I ended up doing a critical analysis on this magazine front cover which helped me improve my ideas for my final magazine cover.

Now you will see my final magazine cove, as you can see my photoshop skills haven't really improved but I made it fit the genre for rock and metal and got  my ideas from that kind of magazine.

During this media course I've used blogger a lot, google docs for questionnaires and youtube as part of my research tasks as proof of points I try to make, such as why I think rock and metal music is hectic and out of control with their targeted audience.

I  used a lot of youtube videos for my research for example;

Here is a video of a Slipknot concert, this is how they speak to their fans and how their fans react, this proves what I'm saying about rock and metal music being hectic and informal.

This is how I used my research on youtube fit into my blog and make it make sense and relate it to my magazine.

As you saw in the third question of my evaluation, I used Google search to find out information I needed to complete my work, such as researching the distribution companies that own / publish Kerrang! Magazine, the distribution company is in fact Bauer Media.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

For this question I looked back at my questionnaire answers to see what people wanted in music magazines, it turns out, roughly 50 - 70 percent of people don't really buy music magazines due to them just genuinely not being interested in them, so I decided to go with the answers I did get, I made my magazine cover the way people wanted, a close up, larger text and darker colours. By doing this I gave the targeted audience what they wanted.
Another thing I done was make sure that my magazine somehow had some resemblance to famous rock magazines, such as kerrang or metal hammer.

During the process of me thinking about how I would attract the audience I decided to include on my contents page all things that the majority of todays audience would be interested in, such as news and reviews about bands..

In the contents page I've also included popular bands such as Slipknot and Metalica, as well as the band I made up, Bleach. I added popular bands into my contents page because they will already have a huge fan base and fans might want to purchase my magazine purely for the fact that their favourite band is included in the magazine never mind any other bands involved that they might slightly enjoy.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

After I'd completed my questionnaire I discovered what my audience wanted and what age would be more interested, so I basically got a stronger idea of my targeted audience.

This is a screen shot of some of the results I  got.

As you can see from some of the results, the targeted age I would be looking at is 17-20 and male. This was something I took into consideration but I thought about it, I still decided to not have slang words or cursing within my media product since with that I can still attract a younger age and not have an age rating on the magazine, which would widen my targeted audience age range, but If their is no cursing or slang, It may not appeal towards the targeted age of 17-20 interested in rock or metal music since that's the language they're most

likely going to be reading in their day to day life about

their favourite bands.

Through other answers I  got from individually personally asking some people within my local area and sixth form, I got answers about what they would like to see on the front cover of a rock magazine. The answers I got most where;

- Large text.

- A close up on the main image.

- To use a lot of red and black on the main image as it connotes violence or anything hectic or danger.

The product I ended up with for the front cover was the following.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Throughout my research of these media intitutions, I have narrowed it down to one institution that might distribute my magazine, which is Bauer Media, this is because the magazines I have got all my ideas from and tried to get my work to their standard is Kerrang magazine, Kerrang magazine is distributed by Bauer Media.

On the Bauer Media website I found a link that was advertised that send me to the Kerrang website which is where I found their most recent magazine which was the following.

I then decided to do a little bit of research to see if this magazine would relate to the band I put as the main image of my magazine or style of my magazine, it turns out that the band advertised on the front cover of this magazine are rather hectic and quite dark with their lyrics, which fits in with the genre and style of my magazine.

Here's a video of a song they performed at one of their concerts, the thing the lead singer is talking about at the start according to my research is one of the fans had just yelled out a death threat to him, that's why there's security guards all around the front of the stage, please click the following link which will show you the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOhnaaMVj54

As you can see, the crowds reactions off the band is hectic and their responses are hectic and what you'd only really see with this genre of music.

My magazine appeals to the same targeted audience as the one above, we both target people who are interested in the specific genre of music and who can relate to that kind of music.

This is why I think Bauer Media might distribute my magazine

Evaluation Question 2.

How does your media product represent a particular social group?

Please click the link below for a voki, which will answer part of this question.

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=9733393&height=133&width=100

Throughout the magazine I may have used what seems as aggressive language but only due to the text, you will see the example in the image below, it says this year is ours in red text with a horror type of font.

There is a downside to the fact I haven't used slang or cursing within my language throughout the magazine, this is because with the slang and swearing I feel it would appeal a lot more to the targeted audience, but on the other hand without the slang and swearing I would have a wider range of audience.

Here is a link showing why I think swearing should of been in the magazine, this is another clip off the band Slipknot, the way Corey Taylor (The lead singer) Swears at the audience during the song is the way a lot of bands speak to their audience, which is why I feel like swearing and slang language would suit my media product.

Sorry you can not see the video on my blog, if you will, please copy and past the following link in to your search bar, Sorry for any inconvenience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4jXzmsP4dw

Evaluation question 1.

In what ways does your media product develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Firstly, my front cover, this is extremely similar to the front covers I done my research on and got my inspiration from during this process of creating my magazine.

Here you will see the completed front cover of my magazine:

Now you will see the magazine front cover I got all my ideas from which was created by the rock magazine company "Kerrang!"

I see these magazine covers as very similar, firstly, the mast head reading "ROCK ICON" Is in a text extremely similar to the mast head on the Kerrang! Magazine cover, I done this because the font of the text looks like it has been cracked, this connotes something hectic, which is what a lot of metal / rock bands concerts or fans are normally like. This is the same reason why I chose every other piece of text on the front cover. I tried to make my magazine seem quite full, once again referring to the connotation of hectic. I chose the house style & Colours the way I did because back & red text and black and white images connote something dark, which stereotypically most rock / metal bands are. I got this idea from the Kerrang magazine cover but changed it a little bit, the main image of the Kerrang magazine cover is in normal colour, I edited my image to make it sharper and black & white to fit in with the connotation I was going for from the whole magazine cover, dark & hectic.

Another thing that is similar with my magazine and the Kerrang one is the advertisements, they both advertise something to do with another metal band, such as posters inside the magazine, which is widening the audience its targeted to since every band will have different fans.

Here is an example of why I chose to make my magazine seem dark and hectic, this is a video of a Slipknot concert which are a metal band, this is how their fans are and why they will read magazines that appeal to them.

As you can see during the video a lot of the fans are causing "Mosh pits", all running in circles recklessly. During the performance by Slipknot you can see one of the members of the band just walking round with metal pipes hitting metal barrels and just basically doing what he wants on stage in front of thousands of people who are clearly enjoying it, which is why I made my magazine seem rather hectic.

Magazine Cover Risk Assessment.

In this blog post you will see a screenshot of the risk assessment I done before the photo-shoot occurred for my magazine front cover.

Production Post

In this blogpost you will see a screenshot of my production log.

Contents Page

In this blogpost you will see a screen shot of my completed contents page.

Double page spread.

In this blogpost you will see a screenshot of my completed double page spread.

Step 6 of my magazine cover.

This is the 6th step of me creating my music magazine cover, this is the final piece now, in the screen shot you will see me placing my pug in the top left of the main image, I done this by using a few shapes on photoshop simply putting them together and adding text using a font i also downloaded off www.dafont.com

Step 5 of my magazine cover.

This is the 5th step of me making my magazine cover, this blog post will contain another 2 screen shots, the first is me adding my barcode which I created by downloading a font off www.dafont.com which allowed me to type with the text being a barcode.

The second screenshot is me placing my second advertisement on my magazine cover, reading "Free posters!" with a few band names beside that.

Step 4 of my magazine cover.

In this blog post you will see the 4th step of me creating my music magazine cover, in the first screenshot you will see me placing my quote below the band name, and then a few band names above the band name, to the left side of the main image.

Step 3 of my magazine cover.

In this blogpost you will see 2 screenshots off me placing my advertisement above the magazine heading, and then the band name towards the bottom off the magazine.

Step 2 of my magazine cover.

In this blogpost you will see 3 screenshots, this is of me placing my magazine name onto the magazine its self. The first screen shot is just a black rectangle with an outer glow effect on it. The second is a white rectangle over the black one but a little bit smaller so you get the shadow effect under the white box, the third is just placing my magazine name onto the box's.

Step 1 of my magazine cover.

In this blogpost you will see the first step of me creating my magazine cover, for this screen shot you will simply see the main image of the magazine cover after it has been edited and placed onto photoshop, this is the base of the magazine

Main image changes.

In this blog post you will see 2 of the same image, but one has been edited. The reason why I edited the main image was because the quality of the image was quite poor, were as the second image looks closer to a professional standard and would more likely be on a magazine cover than the first image.

Quote.

In this blog post you will see a screen shot of some text I wrote using a downloaded font off www.dafont.com

The reason why I have done this is because according to my research most band names on magazine covers tend to have a quote by it, you'll see an example below my screen shot.

The image below is where I got all my ideas from, this was my inspiration for my music magazine, if you look towards the bottom off the image you'll see "SOMEBODY'S GONNA GET KILLED..." just below the band name, Slipknot.

I'll have my quote below my band name for the front cover of my music magazine, the name is the on the screenshot below.

Advertisement.

In this blog post you will see a screenshot of my latest advertisement for my music magazine, I took the idea from where I got my inspiration from which was a Kerrang music magazine which you will see below my advertisement.

Band names for my magazine cover

In this blogpost you will see a screen shot of a few band names which will be placed on my music magazine cover.

Advertisement

In this blogpost you will see an advertisement banner what I made to place above my mast head on my music magazine. I got this idea from the magazine cover I'm basing mine on, made by "Kerrang!" as you will see below my advertisement.

Barcode

In this blogpost you will see my barcode which I will be putting on my music magazine cover.

Bleach, band name for my music magazine cover.

In this blogpost you will see my band name which will be posted on my magazine cover, I wanted the name to stand out so I went for an unusual font which was downloaded and installed from www.dafont.com

Mast Head.

In this blogpost you will see the masthead I have created for my music magazine and why I made it the way I did.

The reason I chose to make my masthead the way I did is because I'm basing my magazine cover off the famous rock magazine "Kerrang!" and I really took a liking to their mastheads and the font, so I used the website "www.dafont.com" to download a similar font but not the exact same as "Kerrang!", as shown below.

Critical analysis of my music magazine front cover mockup

In this blog post you will see my critical analysis of my mock up magazine cover and an image of the front cover.

 

 

 

 

1. What is good about it?

The only thing I found successful on this magazine cover was the title, this is because in my opinion and according to my research on other rock / metal magazines such as Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, this type of font does go well with the music genre rock.

 

2. What is bad about it?

 

Firstly, the quality of the main image is appalling and doesn't look in the slightest professional or appropriate for a music magazine as it was taken on a regular mobile phone (Blackberry Curve), instead I will be most likely using either an Apple iPod camera as they are around 5 Mega Pixel but does look professional as lighting doesn't effect the quality of the image taken.

 

The main image its self doesn't actually show any sign of a typical rock band as it is just the lead singer sat on chipped wooden stairs smirking, this has no connotation in the slightest towards rock other than the black leather jacket and the black background, this made me realise I need to be a lot more careful when taking my images for the final magazine cover.

 

The "Buzz Words" in the bottom left corner of the magazine aren't eye catching in the slightest, and the colours don't really go well with the house style of the magazine cover, in future I plan to make sure the buzz words stand out a lot more and fit the house style and what ever is going on in the magazine.

 

The smaller image of the lead singer at the bottom of the magazine cover is once again not necessarily suitable for the magazine cover, in future I will most likely use images of real bands and a more interesting,eye catching story to go with it to make sure the magazine cover looks more professional.

 

3. What are the limitations of the equipment you used?

With the camera, the limitations are you cant exactly be in light or it will effect the camera, so your almost forced to take a darker image. Using Photoshop I found out according to numerous videos and websites I researched, there practically aren't any limitations to what you want to do with an image, personally I think Photoshop is the best technology to use when making a music magazine, the only problem with it is that there aren't any set columns which can then make the magazine cover look unbalanced and messy. But then I started using InDesign, this allows me to make my images / layers on Photoshop and then import them onto InDesign and therefor I have columns which will straighten out the magazine cover for me.

4. How has your research impacted your choices?

My research has impacted my choices greatly, as I now know that if I where to make a light rock magazine, staring for example the band "Nickelback" the magazine wouldn't need to be hectic it can be quite calm looking yet stand out from other magazines, I feel like this would be a lot easier to create rather than having to make things look really hectic, I could use simpler fonts, images etc which would be more suitable for my capability on Photoshop and InDesign.

 

5. What will you need to do in order to produce a better final version?

 

In order for me to produce a better final version, I feel like I need to do a lot more research on Photoshop and InDesign to get the hang of it and become capable of succeeding in any ideas I then have for my music magazine cover. But also keep up the research on music magazines so I can gather more ideas and information on how my final piece should look and keep practicing as individual blog posts so I can view my progression and where I can improve.

 

Mock up of my music magazine

In this blog post you will see an image of a magazine cover which I created using Photoshop and InDesign, in order to do this I had to use the tools on Photoshop in a variety of ways, such as the cut tool.

 

For the title of the magazine in order to get the "OCK" Inside of the letter "R" I had to use 2 separate text boxes, put the "R" in the colour red, and the second text box typed "OCK" In black, using these two text boxes I placed the black "OCK" on top of the "R" Giving the effect as if it is cut out the "R".

 

I used the cut tool to my advantage and made the slits inside the text to make it look a more of a rock kind of font.

 

I used the advanced types of tools on Photoshop to create an effect on the main image also.

 

Music Genre Roots

In this blog entry I’m going to discuss the roots of music genre’s including:

-How genre’s (The genre I’ll be looking at, which is Rock).

-Sub genres of that genre.

-Band’s representing that genre.

-Magazines that are based on that genre.

The music genre I’m focusing on Is Rock. This genre of music was originated as “Rock & Roll” in the 1950’s which then developed into lots of different style’s / sub genre’s such as “Acid Rock”, “Alternative Rock”, “Hard Rock” and “Instrumental Rock”. Rock was influenced by “Rhythm”, “Blue’s” and “Country Music”.

Rock music evolved from “Rock & Roll”, “Blues” and “Rhythm” , “Rock & Roll” Was invented by a man called Chuck Berry In 1955, which was mixed with “Blues” and “Rhythm”.

Some sub genres of this that I’m focusing on are “Hard Rock” and “Instrumental Rock” , “Hard Rock” had its roots in the mid 1960’s, it’s typified by a heavy use of distorted electric guitars, bass guitars and drums, and is often accompanied by the likes of piano’s or keyboards.

“Instrumental Rock” had its roots in the early 1950’s and was most popular during “Rock & Roll’s” first decade which was mid 1950’s to mid the 1960’s.

A list of some band’s that represent Rock Music are:

-Guns N Rose’s     -Nickleback

-The Beatle’s    -Metalica                                                  

-Red Hot Chili Peppers    -Coldplay, These are all in the top 50 most popular rock bands in the world.

A magazine that represents Rock Music is Kerrang which is the world’s biggest selling weekly rock music magazine which was first released on the 6^th of june 1981 and was edited by Geoff Barton which was released as a one-time supplement to the music magazine industry that went on to be the worlds biggest selling weekly Rock Music magazine.

I feel like this can apply to the way I think about making my final music magazine cover as I can then think about what type of rock band I would like to feature as my main image, and what to do on the magazine, such as if it is a band similar to "Green Day" then the magazine shouldn't be to hectic as they are a sort of light rock band.

Black sabbath annalysis unfinished

In this blog post you will see an image of a kerrang front cover, followed by a 'Voki' which when you press play will analyse the magazine cover.

I will now analyse this music magazine cover by Kerrang! staring the band, Black Sabbath.

Firstly, as you can see on the music magazine cover it is rather packed with a dark house style of the colours red and black with white writing to help the text stand out from the background which is the main image of the band. This house style would appeal to the targeted audience since the dark colour black is a colour that literally connotes darkness or something dark, which relates to the music genres rock and metal.

We then have the buzz words on this music magazine cover, in this case it is in the top right hand corner and says 'Plus 7 Avenged sevenfold posters' and in the top left corner it also says 'Black Sabbath, the only interview' these are both going to be useful on the magazine cover since it will attract the targeted audience and make them want to buy the magazine.

Now, the headline is one thing that personally stood out for me since it is written in white bold text with a funky kind of style to it, and really stands out from the main image and the house style which in this case says the bands name, 'Black Sabbath', this will also be very eye catching for the targeted audience of the music magazine cover.

The anchorage text on this music magazine is extremely effective since it is something that does stand out, and is eye catching and because of this people will then read it, it says 'It's so emotional being back on stage again...' This goes well with the main image since the lead singer of the band, Ozzy Osborne looks rather exited for something which makes the anchorage text a lot more relevant to the actual magazine cover.

As Kerrang! have implemented to this magazine cover, the smaller images to the left of the band / main image Black Sabath, the reason why and why it helps is because it makes the magazine look slightly more packed / hectic, which always refers to rock / metal music as that's the typical / stereotyped rock band's music or way of life, hectic. This will catch the targeted audience's eye very well as it will be the kind of cover they will be interested in as they most likely listen to rock / metal music.