Keara James' Blog: 2013

These magazines were on sale in WHSmith. Firstly you see a skyline which is a headline that is put at the top of the page as that it the bit of the magazine that is always visible. Also on a vary of the magazines in this picture, you can the masthead (title of magazine) on the top left of the page as the way the magazines are stacked, hence why you can only see the upper third. You are more likely to see it that way. The music magazines are all sectioned at the back showing that they are arranged and categorised depending on the genre. The main headlines are also mainly on the left side of the magazine which draws attention and is visible to passers-by. The ‘Q’ and ‘T3’ magazine stands out a lot as it white on red, showing the bold colours. Many magazines use white lettering on a bold background as it stands out and draw attention and it is also very readable.

There are several ways of distributing magazines to reach a mass audience, such as subscription post which is when the person subscribes to get it delivered to them. A benefit of this would be that it is easier for the consumer as they don’t need to go out to get it. Newsstands in shops where someone must go in and purchase it. And online which is when a magazine can be viewed via internet. The benefits of having a magazine online is that it can be shared amongst people and as social media is very important in this stone age, it helps to gain awareness and popularity to the magazine. Many magazines now have Facebook and twitter pages which is a great way to get themselves across to a wider mass audience.

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

· I think my media product does this in the sense of the photography I used. In usual hip hop or R’N’B magazine there are some sort of location images somewhere in the magazine however I did not do this. I preferred my images to look professional and classy against a plain background hence I chose to do all my photography in a studio. I wanted my models individual outfits and striking poses to be the main aim with no props or distractions. I did this to convey that the magazine is all about them and their looks alone is enough to carry out a creative image. I didn’t want to conform to the stereotype that comes alone with hip hop and R’N’B artists with them against a flashy car or bathed in expensive jewellery to show their power. My models did this by simply posing and showing they were fierce and powerful in their own right, and did this while only posing again a black backdrop. (Slideshare)

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• I used mainly women in my magazine as I feel the music industry are predominately male and I wanted to empower women and show that they can have an equally successful hip hop and R’N’B career as men. I did this by making my female models seem fierce and strong which are shown in their individual poses and outfits that also show their individual personality. My magazine consists mainly of black people as there are many more black artists out and my friends that I chose to model for me are of the black ethnicity. My models are all around the age of 16. I did this because teens nowadays are very negatively stereotyped and I wanted to show them succeeding and in a positive light, showing that we are not all thugs, rude or in some kind of gang. (Prezi)

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

· I have chosen EMAP to distribute my magazine as I feel like because they do not currently publish a music and gossip magazine, there is a gap in the market for my magazine which I feel will fit comfortably into their institution. I want to distribute my magazines online as I feel like everyone in this Stone Age uses to internet or has some sort of device that allows them to access things online. By doing this I am reaching more people and they are able to share the link online with other people on social networking sites like facebook or twitter which will help get my magazine out there. Due to the technologies that are available to us today, there are fewer hard copies being sold hence why I want to give special attention to the web. (Slideshare)

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

· My chosen audience was 13-18 year olds. I decided this when doing my research and planning. However I feel that now that I have completed my entire magazine, the age can be stretched to 24 as I believe at that age you are still interested in music and gossip and as my magazine combine both aspects, they will also benefit and enjoy my magazine. By widening my age range I can reach a wider target audience and have more of a chance of selling more copies of my magazine. I feel as though the gender can be unisex as it covers both music and gossip aspects that will attract either male or female to buy my magazine. They would also have to have a keen interest in music and the hip hop/R’N’B genre as that is what my magazine is. (Xtranormal)

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

· I attracted my audience as I created features such as “Nicki Minaj talks about ‘The re-up’” which people interested in my genre of music would enjoy as she is very popular in the hip hop genre. Also my models come across urban by the way they are posing and also the clothing they are wearing, fitting the hip hop/ RNB theme of my magazine. My feature stars are an upcoming hip hop/ RNB group which fits my magazine and would attract my target audience to want to find out more about them. I used colours and fonts that relate to my genre and would entice my audience as well as my cover lines which would intrigue them to continue reading. From my audience feedback, people have said that they like my chosen colour scheme. I decided to make my magazine look simple as I believed my target audience would appreciate it more, and from feedback it seems that they find my simple layout more effective and it’s well structured. (Xtranormal)

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

· I have learnt how to use various editing programmes whilst creating my magazine. I have learnt how to use InDesign as that was the programme I used to make my contents page and my DPS. I used the text box tool to section off the page and where I was going to place my writing. I had to find and place images on the page and lay it out according to how I wanted my magazine to look. I used my ruler tool to align my page and make sure that everything was in line. I also changed the font of text and the colour of the text to fit my chosen colour scheme. When doing my front cover I used photoshop. I learnt how to do various thing on this programme like place images, resize and cut them. I learnt how to place my writing using the text box key. I changed the font and colours on my front page using the different tools also. Another technology I used was blogger. I learnt that it is a very helpful and useful way to upload progress and gain instant feedback from my peers. It helped allow me to look at other people’s work and for them to look at mine conveniently and from my own computer. I have also used slideshare to present my work and add it to my blog, I learn’t that through using slideshare, it is an easy way to present powerpoints on blogs. It makes work look presentable and it is very convenient. (Prezi)

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

· In my preliminary task I did very little research, however this time I did much more which helped towards my final product. My magazine was quite bland also as it had very little writing or colour and this time I experimented with the different colours. I wrote more text and related it to my content which I failed to do in my preliminary task. I learnt how to use the different tools with the programmes I used and become more comfortable with them. Doing the preliminary talk I gained the knowledge and understand of what my final product will have to entail so it helped with me thinking of ideas. My masthead name was given a lot more thought this time round as I had to think about my genre, target audience and something catchy whereas before not much thought went into my masthead. My photography is much better as in the preliminary task I used a camera on my phone which was very low quality. This time I’m able to use a professional camera where I learnt all the different settings and was able to get very creative with my photography. My models came prepared with wardrobe and make-up whereas before that was not seen to. My model in my preliminary task wore the clothes they had come to college with. On this task I learnt that bad quality pictures could be a deal breaker hence why I took all my pictures with an advanced camera and in a studio. This made my magazine look very professional and less amateur which my preliminary task looked. My contents and front cover in my preliminary task had very few items which made my magazine look very boring. This time I made sure to right more information. I did not have an actual colour scheme in my preliminary task however I did in this one. Finally in my preliminary task I gave very little attention to detail however this time around through my research and feedback I made sure my magazine looked like and actual magazine and made all the relevant corrections for it to look professional. Overall, I learnt that more detail and effort is needed to make a worthy magazine. (slideshare)

Keara James' Blog

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

New Contents Page

Added Photos

Call Sheet

Newstand Task