Monday, 10 May 2010
MEDIA EVALUATION QUESTION 3
Wenner media would be my chosen distributor of my magazine, this company is well-known and distributes such magazines as Rolling stone, as this is my style model I thought that they would be interested in my magazine. The people who already buy magazines distributed by Wenner Media would then be interested in similar products.
I would advertise my magazine by using billboards, radio adverts, internet advertising and TV adverts. I would start with local advertising then once I had a recognised product I would increase the audience to national standards. This means that I would have a clear local audience who I could rely on to virally spread the product to friends and family, I can then begin to target a larger audience as it would be more recognised. I would create my own constituency just as Wenner Media managed to do.
MY MEDIA EVALUATION QUESTION 5
MY MEDIA EVALUATION QUESTION 7
Before the preliminary task I had no experience with taking photos or using Photoshop, therefore I found the task helpful as it allowed me to practice the basics of what I would need for my next project. I did find the deadline for the preliminary task didn’t give you enough time to prepare properly for the actual magazine task; I think it would’ve been more beneficial to look at double page spreads in more detail as that was my worst part of my magazine. I think if given a more varied range of magazines I could’ve chosen a magazine more suited to my own interests, instead I decided to research my own magazine instead of using a rock magazine, I found Rolling Stone which seemed o appeal to me more then those offered by school. When creating my actual magazine I used many skills that I acquired during my preliminary, I used the ’rule of thirds’ when directing my photos and also knew what type of shot would be good to use in relation to my page. I do not feel as though you can learn time management from doing a preliminary task, I feel that it is something that you just have to work around and keep in mind. I do not believe we are given enough time for the research, for example the week we were given to do 15 analyses. Overall I believe that the preliminary task helped develop the skills that I would need but we did not need to go into so much depth such as analysing the covers for 3 school magazines.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Picture planning
Time and date
Model/ pose/ costume
Location
Lighting
Set up time
Mise-en-scene
Camera angle and distance
1.
9 am
Abbie, rocker clothes, Leather jacket etc Cat
Against a plain coloured wall – outside or bedroom
Natural lighting
Appx 10 minutes
Records, leather jacket, cat
Medium shot
2.
9 am
Abbie in plain t-shirt and shorts, heels
Against a plain coloured wall – outside or bedroom
Natural lighting
Appx 10 Minutes
Alcohol, cigarette, rocker jacket
Close up lying down
3.
9 am
Abbie in leather jacket and heels and shorts
On bar stool, in bedroom
Natural lighting
Appx 10 minutes
Stool and clothing
Medium shot of Abbie on stool
4.
10 am
Tom Howe in normal clothing
In school against brick wall
Natural lighting
Appx 2 minutes
Brick wall
Medium shot
5.
11 am
Calum and Rebecca on wall
In school sat on wall
Natural lighting
Appx 2 minutes
Wall
Medium shot
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Friday, 12 March 2010
Evaluation of questionnaire
I asked an even number of both males and females, this was to give me non bias results.
I also found that asking more teenagers would help as they are my main target audience.
I found from my questionnaire results that both Rock and pop magazines were the most popular genres. I will therefore create a rock and pop magazine.
question 4. who is your favourite artist/band?
The band who came out top from my results was Kings of Leon, second was the saturdays. the top artists were Cheryl Cole and Kesha.
Pictures are important to my target audience, the other category was free merchandise which i will also incorprate into my own magazine.
Most of the people i asked said that photgraphs that are interesting attract them most to a magazine.
I will include all of the options in my magazine however as images rated highest i will ensure high quality images.
9. What artist would you like to read about in a double page spread article?
The top artist was Kesha, this is because she is a new artist and therefore people know less about her and would like to know more.
These results gave me an idea to include a free CD with my magazine.
How many images would you prefer on the front cover?
I found the highest answer to be 1 large image with a few smaller ones.
i will include 3 basic colours in my scheme, however i will use more then 1 tone of the three colours.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Media Diary...tbc
Week 1- I created my preliminary task over three lessons. The first lesson was spent making sketches that I would use to base my magazine around, however these did change as some pictures proved hard to take. The second lesson was spent taking pictures to then put on my magazine; I also uploaded my sketches onto my blog, I did two evaluations of current school magazines and uploaded them as well. The third lesson was spent making my actual magazine; I did not produce my entire magazine in this time however and did further work in my spare time to ensure it was completed for the deadline. Next week will be spent planning my music magazine and evaluating current ones.
Week2 – during this week I have created a mind map that includes all my initial ideas. I have evaluated some more magazines and done some audience research. I have learnt more skills and terminology to analyse magazine covers, contents and double page spreads. I also began to write my questionnaire questions.
Week 3 - during this week we had half term, I analysed 5 front covers, 5 double page spreads and 5 contents pages to aid me when I am creating my own pages.
Week 4- this week has been spent finishing and uploading all my analysis and organising my blog; I also finished my questionnaire and uploaded this. I also recorded 3 students answering my questionnaire.
Week 4 – I began to take the first few photos during this week, I changed some of the dates and poses that my models did. I also began to write my double page spread article.
Week 5 – I edited my first set of photos, taken at the weekend and placed them onto my different pages, I then booked out my camera and finished my double page spread article, I handed it to the teacher to get remarked and then re-drafted the parts that weren’t acceptable.
Week 6 – I continued to work on my magazine and also did some peer assessment of the rough drafts and corrected the mistakes, this was useful as they would be my target audience and I needed to make my magazine appeal to them.
Week 7 – I took my last photos during this week and made corrections that had previously not been finished. I also began to type up work to be uploaded onto blogger. I edited the photos that I took and placed a few into the spaces left on my magazine pages.
Week 8 – I spent this week evaluating and finishing my pages, I then uploaded these and my picture plan to blogger, and I also put my diary onto blogger.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Draft of Questionnaire
1. What gender are you?
Male [ ]
Female [ ]
2. What age category do you fall under?
-16- 25 [ ]
-26-30 [ ]
-31-40 [ ]
-40 + [ ]
3. What genre of music are you most interested in?
R&B [ ]
Indie [ ]
Rock [ ]
Rap [ ]
Dance [ ]
Drum and bass [ ]
Garage [ ]
4. What are your favourite artists/ bands?
1.
2.
3.
5. What do you like most in a magazine?
- plenty of pictures?
- more text then images?
- other? (please state)
6. What attracts you to a magazine?
- headlines
- photos
- famous celebrities
- colours
-Other, please specify ___________________________________
7. What would you definitely like to see appear in the magazine?
·Images
·Exciting Headlines
·Information on music
·Information about events e.g. gigs and festivals
-Other, please specify_______________________________
8. How many colours would appeal to you on a magazine?
- 2-3
- 4+
-Other, please specify_______________________
9. What artist would you like to read about in a double page spread article?
10. Would free merchendise persuade you to buy a magazine?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
11. Would you prefer one main image on the front cover of the magazine or more?
1 [ ]
2 [ ]
3 [ ]
More [ ]
Contents page analysis #5
Contents page analysis #4
Contents page analysis #3
Contents page analysis #2
Contents page analysis
Double page spread analysis #5
Double page spread analysis #4
Double page spread analysis #3
Double page spread analysis #2
Double page spread analysis
top of the pops front cover analysis
Q front cover analysis
M8 front cover analysis
Clash front cover analysis
Friday, 5 February 2010
Analysis of Kerrang magazine
The thing which next grabs your attention is the image in the bottom left hand corner which takes up at least a quarter of the cover, it features another attractive male. ‘Bring Me The Horizon’s’ lead singer Oli Sykes is the male who is well-known as a “heartthrob” to females and an idol to males. The male is very popular and therefore carries his own audience who in turn will profit the magazine. Oli Sykes is featuring at the Relentless tour and the logo used to promote the tour is placed diagonally across from the image. The logo fits in with the colour scheme and also contrasts with it, the red background to the logo stands out and grabs the readers attention. Another image featured is that of a masked band, the dominant colour used on this image is red, this colour does not feature heavily on the cover and therefore stands out and grabs your attention.
At the top of the cover four bands names are shown in a rusty gold colour, this is a way of showing the main bands featured in the magazine without having to show an image on the front cover. More names are shown in the bottom right hand corner and the words ‘Free posters!’ are shown in the same rusty gold colour as before. The use of the word “free” makes the reader believe that they are getting more for their money and they feel more obliged to buy the magazine.
Evaluation of my school magazine
To help me create a school magazine that could be published in a real school environment I studied and evaluated many other magazines such as “chill” and “evolve”. Both magazines had a clear mast head and i chose to incorporate this into my magazine. The use of the name “The Bay” relates to Whitley Bay High School and also the location of the school which is commonly referred to as “the Bay”. On the front cover i chose to put tag lines that were relevant to the recent happenings in the school, this would allow the students to relate to the articles. I chose to use a font for my title that is often related to American high schools to make my magazine look more interesting. The background is a student’s artwork which immediately makes the students of the school feel more involved in the production of it. I used a picture of a student on my front cover to involve the students and to grab their attention. On my contents page i chose a layout similar to that of “Marie Clair” this gives it a more high class, sophisticated look. I included a picture of two students who you would later find were editors of the magazine; this gives it a more personal appeal. The school logo is included on the contents page, this is a convention used by the majority of school magazines. The background is a pale pink, i chose a plainer colour on the contents as the front cover is already very gaudy and draws allot of the attention away from the main stories.
My magazine represents stereotypical students who are enjoying life; you can see this by the smiles on their faces and the background used on the contents’ main image. My magazine shows two white students however it features both a male and female student. The front cover shows a male dressed rather stereotypically as a smart child, this is done deliberately to bring some humour to the magazine. The school is represented on both pages as a fun and enjoyable school. My magazine would be distributed in both public and private schools as it doesn’t appeal to one social class more than the other. The magazine would be placed in main offices and places with seats, the articles are short and allow for light reading so it can be read when waiting to talk to a teacher or in-between classes. It may also be available in the feeder schools as it would give future students an insight into what is happening and it may make the process of moving to a new school easier. It is reasonably cheap to produce and could therefore be distributed in school events such as parent’s evenings, local shops may also want to supply it as many potential students may shop there.
My target audience is students both current and potential, it shows the highlights of the school and may make the school more appealing to lower school students soon to be moving onto a high school, therefore the ages would range from as low as year 7’s to year 13’s. To attract my audience i included on the front page a humorous image and three exciting stories such as school trips and current productions.
I have furthered my knowledge of Photoshop while creating this magazine, i feel more confident and able to reach deadlines. Using the camera to take a medium shot indoors proved reasonably simple however the flash created a problem when it reflected on the glasses shown. The layering tool on Photoshop became easier to understand as the project went on, other tools such as the lasso and rubber also became more understandable as i used them more.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Analysis of George Stephenson High School
Front page
The images used on the front page of the magazine are of the students and the layout of the school, it also features pupil’s artwork, pencils and other typical school items. The title is bold and obvious; the title is “evolve” which suggests that the school is getting better and more modernised. It says issue 6 and says summer 2006 which suggests that they have made a lot of issues already and that the magazine is popular. The background is of the sky but it has been edited on Photoshop to make it have a green tint. There is minimal writing used on the cover which is effective in focusing the reader on the images but unsuccessful as it doesn’t give the reader any insight into the main articles inside.
Contents Page
The contents page featured on the magazine is modern and uses a colour scheme similar to the front cover. It shows eight main features within the magazine which are the most important ones, it gives page numbers which allows for quick reading for students should they be reading at lunch where they may not have time to flick through it all searching for a certain page. There is a thank you to the writers of the articles which are all teachers suggesting that this magazine is not written by pupils. There is a short paragraph from the editorial team which will make the students feel more involved in the magazine. There is a section on sport and entertainment which would appeal to most students and give them time to relax.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
School magazine analysis
Contents page
The images featured on the contents page of CHiLL magazine make the theme of the magazine known, there is only one image featured, it is of a school dance group. The image is not one that I would use as it doesn’t appeal to both genders and seems to focus on females. The image is layered on top of a star to give the effect of the image bursting out of the page, this is only effective as the target audience is young high school students and they don’t expect the same standard as you would want from a professional magazine. The colour scheme is clear and matches the uniform, the red and black colours are featured throughout. The title is very large, this tends to happen with most magazines as they want it to stand out and make a lasting impression.
The language used in CHiLL magazine has an informal tone as it is written by students for students. Every page has a short title and is catchy; it also has a brief introduction to the page and what it will be about.
Front page
The images featured on the front page are that of the students doing activities such as scuba diving, they all look as though they are enjoying themselves which would draw your attention into reading further into the article, because the students are featured on the cover the other members of the school would be more inclined to read it to see their friends in a magazine. The school logo is also featured on the front cover in the top corner. The red and black theme is continued again onto this page.
The title of the magazine CHiLL is an acronym of the school which gives it a “cool” edge. The font is small and is mostly bullet pointed, it features quotations from students. The font is basic and mostly white on a dark background which makes it more interesting to look at for the students.