Music Videos

Conceptual:

Jamie xx - Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7gmVWgEpRc

Beady Eye - Flick Of The Finger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqJ-JCzH_xQ

Rise To Remain - Talking In Whispers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzB7vdfmLKU&list=ALYL4kY05133pgiB5jHiTBFHO1I4higBTI


Narrative:

Blur - Coffee and TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoUMlGC4SsM

Eminem (feat Dido) - Stan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY


Performance:

The Skints - Ratatat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoUMlGC4SsM

Blood Red Shoes - Cold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-yxwXIrQ-E

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience most of my efforts went into the front cover.  The cover contains a very bold colour scheme that draws your eye.  Also the sky line is bright yellow and is advertising a competition that is being held in the magazine and this will capture the audiences attention.  I also used artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Bring Me The Horizon among others on my cover lines which are artists my target audience would be interested in.  I used Arctic Monkeys as they are super hot right now and they link in with the competition being held as they are one of the headliners for Reading and Leeds this year.  For each of the pages I designed I had a clear and eye-catching colour scheme e.g. front cover is red, contents page is blue and my double page spread is grey.  As with the magazines I analysed they also feature bold and interesting colour schemes which fit the generic conventions and I used these as a source for inspiration.  As I found out with the questionnaire I asked they responded that the most interesting feature to them in a music magazine are band interviews, which are clearly visible on the front cover.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The target audience for my particular music magazine are teenagers aged 16-19 years old, so hence forth that is why I have specifically aimed the magazine at this age demographic.  The models I used are both aged 16-17 years old which helps the audience identify with the magazine better and they are both male and female as the magazine is unisex and appeals to both genders.  Apart from their physical description their clothes also helps them to be identified as being that age and also they can easily be associated as being indie artists.  The genre of music that is featured in the magazine is usually associated with the audience being this age and this will fit the audiences expectations. The price for the magazine is rather cheap and affordable for your common teenager as it is only £2.99 and I carried out a questionnaire to find out this particular piece of information.

Double Page Spread Evolution

1.  I started by making two pages with three text boxes for me to fill in with text.  Though it doesn't look very impressive at the moment it will soon shape to resemble a double page spread that can easily be identified as being from a music magazine.

2.  I changed the background colour to grey as well as changing the text colour to white as this is both easy to read and eye-catching as well as placing page numbers on at the bottom of the page.  I also imported two original images which I had taken and placed them hear.

3.  I was nearly finished with writing the text at this point and I had adjusted the size of the text so then it would take up more room.

4.  I finally finshed writing and yet again changed the text size and as this is how my final product stands today.

Contents Page Evolution

1.  At the start I originally had one of my images that would later go on to be featured on my double page spread.  I changed it as I thought this image didn't really work on this particular page.  I wrote up what was to be featured on the pages and made the background a light green.








2.  I had a play around with having just one image being featured on the contents page but I found that this didn't work as the enlarging of the image made it blurry and pixelated.












3.  I ordered the contents into categories very much like the Kerrang contents page I analysed.  I went back to having two images on this page as I thought that one image wasn't enough.












4.  I changed the background to light blue and also put a page number for the Bloc Party story as I had forgotten to do it before.

The Evolution Of My Front Cover

The picture at the top is my magazine front cover originally looked before I received any audience feedback on the front cover.  The other image is of my finished picture of my final front cover after all the improvements people had recommended I make.  As you can clearly see the cover lines have been moved either side of the image so that they don't just fit into a column.  Due to the movement of the cover lines I have had to make more to fill out the cover.  Also I changed the colour of them to white so they are much more visible and it is a big improvement.  I slightly adjusted the masthead by making the name of my music magazine slightly larger.  Though no one mentioned that the first image was lacking an issue number I noticed while I was improving it and I finally inserted one.











                                                                                   

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

The preliminary task of making a college magazine has helped a lot as it has been like a rough draft and since then I have made great progress and have become more familiar with the software which has helped me improve.  One of the most useful parts of doing the preliminary task was the feedback I received the teacher which told me both my strengths and weaknesses and where I could improve apon certain aspects.  Another part that has helped was that I wasn’t introduced straight away to the final piece but I could instead practise and hone my skills on this preliminary task.  I got to become used to taking photos and editing them in photoshop as well as being introduced to proegrammes that I have never used before e.g. Scribd, Prezi etc.

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

While producing my music magazine I have learned various techniques while constructing this music magazine which has expanded my knowledge. In the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt various aspects of different technologies.  I have improved my ICT skills, and have been introduced to different websites such as ‘Blogger’, ‘Scribd’ and ‘Prezi’ for the first time.  Firstly using a blog was for me and I love learning and experiencing new things, as it helps me expand my knowledge and brings me new challenges.  Blogger allowed me to make posts and create pages expressing my work in new forms of
media.  Scribd and Prezi are very similar as they are both way to upload specific pieces of work which you embed in Blogger.

Though I was familiar with Photoshop before I have become a lot more confident with this software.  The programme which I have learned the most is Adobe InDesign which I have never used before.  Apart from computer based software I got to use a digital camera and take multiple photos and to make sure that they were all in focus and then manipulate them in both Photoshop and InDesign.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product are people who are interested in music more importantly indie / metal genres.  The age range for this particular magazine are 16-19 year olds mainly male readers.  The audience will chances are not have the largest of budgets and this was the key reason for making the magazine affordable at £2.99 each issue.  Most people in the age demographic of 16-19 year old will have a part time job and this means that it is easily affordable for them to buy.  Also before I finally created the magazine I carried out a questionnaire which proved to be pivotal and gave me evidence for who my target audience would be and what they would want to be featured in a music magazine.

Focus Group

For my focus group I interviewed four people- Gabby, John, Sofia and Emilia.  I asked them a range of questions to do with my music magazine I designed.

The Positives:

Most of them praised the front cover and noted how the colour scheme is very bold and eye-catching and that it fits the generic conventions associated with a music magazine front cover.  They also praised the different photos I took.  The double page spread was met with praise and they liked the layout especially where I placed the two photos and formatted the text around it.  Most said that they could easily tell that I had planned thoroughly for both the front cover and also the double page spread. 

Negatives:

Though they praised the photos I took some of them did say that they were lacking direct gaze which helps to pull readers to the magazine, and I agree completely and in hindsight I should have taken this into account. The contents page was universally panned by them saying how it looked rushed and lacked any interesting design features and was a big step down from the front cover.  Their main problem with the double page spread was that it looked that their wasn't enough text and that I had tried to cover this problem by enlarging it and they said a good way for me to have tackled this would have maybe have enough picture featured.


Improvements:

Due to their comments especially the contents page I tried to improve it though with all my attempts they failed as to me it still didn't look any better so I kept it the same.  It is a shame that with all my attempts constructing the contents page that I just couldn't fully bring my vision to reality.

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

Final Contents Page

Final Double Page Spread

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

Audience Profile

Contents Page Flat Plan

Contents Page Flat Plan

Double Page Spread Flat Plan

Double Page Spread

Magazine Cover Flat Plan

Flat Plan for Magazine Cover

Music Magazine Photo-Shoot

Final Music Magazine Cover

Music Magazine Cover Draft

Cover Feedback

Cover Feedback

Music Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Analysis

In my opinion my front cover clearly represents what genre of music it is about as it has bold and eye-catching colours that manage to draw readers in and clearly shows what bands/artists are being featured. The cover lines are readable though I may have to brighten them up as they aren't very bright and as eye-catching as I would have hoped. The main positive from the photograph I used was that you can clearly see all of her though she isn't looking directly at the camera so there isn't a connection between the model and the audience. The front cover does contain a bar code and a price though it doesn't contain an issue number and this will be something I will have to edit for my final piece. Overall the magazine front cover is appropriate for my target audience and would appeal to them. However the front clearly represents that the magazine is mainly focussed on music even though in the photograph the model isn't carrying any musical objects e.g. instruments but it gives off a music magazine vibe. My front cover does need a few tweaks to become my fully realised music front cover but so far I would say that this is a good start.