media A2

For my preliminary task my teacher set our class a task to create a video to represent youth in England. For this task we had to go in to group of 2 so I and my partner (Jerome) both decided to make it about a stereotype which would help us link in with our focus which was to represent real life situations so we thought back to the recent riots in London and linked it with crime. We are hoping to start recording of our short clip on Monday but it is down to whether we can get the resources needed and the people who we want to take part in our clip. I will shortly be putting up story boards and the script that is going to be used.

Powerpoint presentation

The link below shows my final power point presentation. On this you will see how I went about the production for my magazine and see analyse on my product as well. I will also link my research power point shorty to show where I gathered most of my ideas from.

http://www.slideshare.net/mikey305/indie-mag-12127218

Question 8

Question 7

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

In hindsight I believe if I had the knowledge of the programs I have been using during my task so Photoshop as well as InDesign as at GCSE I did not really use Photoshop as I did not do Design or Graphic art which from some of my other classmates gave me disadvantage at the start of the year but the one thing that helped me use it better is I used a trial and error system just taking a normal photo and adding effects or cropping it so that it was easier later or in the production of my magazine.

Question 6

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

I have learnt a lot about InDesign and also learnt how to make my product as appealing as possible. For example I learnt how to over lay certain aspects so where I have put my main photo over the title and how it goes over certain parts of text. I also enhanced some of the skills I had already which helped my product look ‘professional’ not ‘something that had been made by a media AS student’

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have attracted my target audience by putting aspects such as a guide in the magazine for festivals and concerts that are the best parts of music and it’s proven that the vast majority of all music lovers enjoy concerts and festivals as well as any other type of live music. I also attracted my target audience by adding aspects such as the new bands/rejuvenated which will help my promote my magazine as if people like the bands they see in here or like the music they make or have made in the past.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience I have decided to promote my product to is the middle class and really people who like the genre of music(indie rock) as well as people who are a bit outrageous people due to the who genre and what it stands for. So my target audience are mainly males aged 12-18 that like indie rock music as well as going to concerts and festivals as that is something the magazine focuses on.

Question 3

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

I think from the research I had done before and during my task about the sort of instantiations there are I believe that the one I will use to promote and distribute my product is time inc who are also known as IPC media which distribute the NME magazine which I have based most of my products on. So that is the sole reason I would chose this specific institution.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents social groups in two ways. One through the type of music it is on (indie rock) which can be stereotyped to be for middle class people and usually teenagers as they are the most rebellious type of people ‘apparently’. But with indie rock the type of people who listen to it are usually quite happy people due to the aspects of this genre for example the bright vibrant colours that are used by a lot of bands and this can be relayed into the type of clothing people where. Although many people believe this it could be contradictory to say that some types of indie rock can be quite depressing as the music is very slow and not up beat like the main type of music.

Question 1

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

I believe my products kept to some codes and conventions as well as challenging some. The ways in which I kept to the codes and conventions was by keeping to the same layout as most of the professional magazines use. This was certain aspects such as a strapline somewhere on the page as well as a big, bold masthead that usually has part of a picture covering it. After using these codes and conventions I then developed on them by changing certain aspects such as the font and colour of the masthead to make it unique to my product. I challenged forms of convention in one way which was by having my earpiece as just a bit of text as I wanted the main focus to be on the main picture as well as the masthead to make it so that people will be drawn to the main parts of my product and not an earpiece.

After feedback

After I gathered my feedback on all the aspects of my magazine people said that it did not quite look like a magazine more of a poster, so I decided to change the certain parts of my front cover, contents, double page.

Front cover:

On my front cover I decided and was advised to change the colour of title from using a very bright picture that was like an ‘explosion’ of colour. So I used more basic colours that would still stand out and be noticed if they were placed on a shop shelf. As I changed the title colour I decided to also change the overall colour pattern as I first started with blue as a main colour but then with some help from the feedback I decided that red was a better colour to use as well as have a bit of a stand out colour of yellow.

Contents page:

Again in the contents page I had to change the colour of the background and the overall colour scheme to add the fluidity in my work. I also changed the overall layout to make sure I stuck with my codes and conventions and did not stray too far from the concept. I added some features such as the picture of the front cover in the corner to stick with codes and conventions as well as adding a subscription box and an editor’s box to add more codes and conventions and make it look more like a contents page for a magazine.

Double page spread:

On my double page spread I again decided to stick to more codes and conventions and had realised that on a double page spread there must be a clear divide as when it comes to print there will be a loss of writing if they cross the page. So I then had to move the pictures as well as the title into places where it would not get cut off. I also added an introduction to the interview as well as adding a quote that is located above the left hand side picture. I also decided to add another free track in the right hand corner of the page to make it more realistic.

After the feedback in class

After the feedback in class I have decided to make changes to my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I am going to make changes to the layout of the double page spread and the contents page and possibly change some of the pictures on my double page spread by taking more and maybe adding more crops for example a picture of someone on the drums and maybe some other pictures I will hopefully take this either next Monday or Tuesday.

Double page spread

My double page spread has been created from looking at and basing it on the double page spreads of NME and keeping to the main codes and conventions and hopefully this is okay? comment with improvements if any.

This week

This week I have been modifying my front cover and contents page as well as the composing the questions that I will be asking my models/band members on what helped them to fame and other questions.
Attached to this you will see a copy of my contents page and front cover.
Feel free to comment and any suggestions :)!

This is my front cover I have been influenced by magazines such as NME and Kerrang. From the magazines I have been trying to make the front cover as close to the magazines with out copying it! I have used these to create my codes and conventions.

I stuck to the same codes and conventions with my content page and I will carry on this throughout the magazine.
Next on my to do list is to create my double page spread that I hope to finish by Friday which leaves me the rest of my time to add/remove any content that is not needed. I will also do any improvements suggested and hopefully have them completed by next week too.

This week in media!

This week I have been attempting to create my title again as the otherone did not go accourding to plan. Ihave changed the name of the magazine to 'Indie radar' to represent the message I am going for which is finding the new Indie rock band. I will add some pictures later!

This week in media

This week in media I have been creating my title for my magazine which I have made around the genre of my magazine hich is Indie. This has helped me create my title as I am able to use bright and vibrant colours and on Friday I will be taking my photo for the magazine.

Media timeline

Media studies timeline:

7^th of January 2012: presentational work + research for my final music magazine

18^th of January 2012: showed my presentation in class and received feedback

25^th of January 2012: creating timeline

27^th of January 2012: start the photo taking

30^th of January 2012: improving InDesign technique

1^st of February 2012: mock creation of magazine cover

3^rd of February 2012 onwards: creation of magazine

Resources needed:

1.       Models (Billy, Danny and Connor)

2.       Camera

3.       2 guitars

4.       Drum kit

5.       Music studio

Shooting:

Models are listed above as well as the props needed and where the shooting is going to take place but for the lighting I’m going to have some lighting in the room and the effect I am going to go for which is through the glass of the recording studio will hopefully work as I think it will create a very good picture for the front cover.

Front cover:

For my front cover I do not know which font I will use yet but I will have a look at what fonts will go best with my design I have decided to go for a use of mainly black and white but also have tint of red in certain places to make the text or image stand out more from the back ground. The image I will hopefully be using will be the one of just the band playing but not the shot through the glass as I am hoping if it works to use it for my double page spread.

Contents and double page spread:

For my contents page I will use the codes and conventions page of my presentation to help me create this piece and I will use some of the photos I will take for both the contents and double page spread as I will have different shots of the images I am going to take. I will stick to the same clours from the front page as well as the text!

What to do...

• using the coursework brief (Student Drive: Media: As: Portfolio) design a time line for your production.  Working back from the deadline (using a calendar) work out your production schedule.
• Equipment:  What resources do you need to complete this brief?
• Shooting:  Who is your model?  Where will you shoot?  When?  Costume? props? Lights?
• Frontcover:  What will it look like?  Fonts, colours, text, images?  Sketch and a#scan your design ideas
• Content / Double page (as above)

This week in media...

This week in media we had to present our presentations to the rest of the class which consited of all of the research we had put together for our christmas task which will help us create our final piece. The presentations consisted of around 4-5 slides which would be about initial research, target audience, codes and conventions, fonts and a conclusion about how this task will help me create a music magazine. I have not been able to upload my powerpoint presentation yet but when I get back to school i will try again.

christmas work

1. The reasearch I have done is all about this one magazine NME. I did this because I have read and still do read this certain magazine so I know a lot about how a music magazine should be and look. I think this will help me a great deal so that i can get the bet possible marks available.

2. For the way in which NME ntise the readers is by having a main picture on the fornt of an icon of rock and roll as well as some smaller boxes with other stories which then lead people to read the contents page. This is where they see what stories are in this edition of NME which would then make the reader go to the exact pages they want to read.

3. The rules used by NME are effective so I will probably base my creation of my music magazine on them as well as using colours that reflect the type of music i decide to use in my music magazine.  The music magazines I have looked at NME used a lot of text boxes on the contents page and have columns of mini stories and sub headings. On the front page they have a main picture on the front cover then several smaller boxes that contain main stories and also have advertisement on the front cover.

4. So far the research I have done is just to see what I could include in this homework and I get a better understanding of the task that is ahead of us.