Media Studies AS: Foundation Portfolio (Evaluation)

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Media Studies AS: Foundation Portfolio (Evaluation)

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...Audience Testing...

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...Audience Testing...

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Mission complete!!... Final Product!

At long last all the trials and tribulations are at an end and production of my music magazine is complete! It's been a bit of a rough ride but that's not really a problem now because the worst of it's over (thankfully!). Now I can focus on evaluating my product and gathering audience feedback, without having to worry about finding the right font or colour or positioning etc.

First up is [Drumroll].... the Cover!
I think I've done pretty well as when I made a start on coursework I didnt have any skills whatsoever on Photoshop or even on Indesign, I feel I've come along way from that as I feel my front cover is pretty good, however I dont think it is anywhere near as good as it could be. Personally I feel I could've made it better. In retrospect I think I could've made the Masthead look a little more interesting e.g putting an outline or a sort of rimmed effect on it so that then the top of the magazine cover doesnt look as plain as I personally feel it looks like. On the other hand I am very much pleased by the layout of the text which is on the cover, also another thing I like about my cover is that the image that I used uses a direct Mode of Address, which jumps out at the reader and draws in their interest in the magazine. Also I've used a strapline at the bottom of the magazine which gives names of other artists featured in the magazine. This instantly gives the reader an idea of what's inside by simply looking at the cover, sparking curiosity in their minds as to why those particular artists have been mentioned and also causing the reader to think "why're they featured in the magazine?". In order to make my cover look professional I've used a Barcode, Price and Issue number. I used lots of different fonts, to try and keep the magazine cover looking fun, interesting and attractive and informal however I've not used so many that it makes my front cover look disorganized; I kept it to a limited number of fonts of which then create a Housestyle of fonts. A Housestyle of fonts which I have not only stuck to on the cover but also on the Contents Page and also my Feature Article.

What's Next? [Drumroll]  Ah sì the contents page!
Hmm.. well I don't think I can grin and bare this as I would with anything else because to be completely frank.... I'm not the least bit pleased with the end result of my contents page; It looks a little too plain for a contents page, I feel there's nothing which makes it even remotely interesting. However I think this my be because the font in which the contents is written is a little... Boring. I think if given another chance I could most definitely improve this. However saying that there is one aspect of my contents page which I am actually happy with; my Editor's note. I'm happy with this part of my contents page as it sounds like an authentic Editor's note and also on reading this it would set off a chain of questions within the reader's mind, questions which can only be answered by the reader buying the magazine and reading it; it's quite quirky and give a little hint as to what kind of stuff reader's will find in this particular issue of the magazine. One of the reasons why I don't particularly like my contents page is because I feel it doesnt fit in with the cover of my magazine & the Feature Article. I think if i'd have kept the theme of my double page spread on my contents page it would look much more appealing and better and i think it's actually fit in with the rest of my pages. However I do like the two images I've used on my contents page, both my models are looking directly at the reader thus making them stand out.

Next on the list is [Drumroll]..... The Feature Article (F.A)!
I'm really quite fond of my Double Page Spread as I think it looks quite professional due to the consistent colour scheme. I like that when creating my article I didnt use a picture that was too big as I didnt want my double page spread dominated by a picture. I also Like how my model is posed in the picture as I feel it reflects her personality to the reader and also as she is looking directly at the camera; she holds the reader's gaze, on seeing her picture it may spark interest within them as to why she is the subject of the main article. Another reason why I like my F.A is because it sounds like a piece of real journalism; I put in an introductory paragraph so that those rreading the magazine for the first time would be acquainted with Mizz D and also so that it doesnt come across as rigid as I didnt want to simply jump straight to the interview. I decided to use red text grabs as i've associated the red with MIzz D s I've written her name in red and also because it stands out relly well against the background of my F.A.

Feedback 2.2.10

Zaibaa,

where's your final product? You need to upload it - see us if struggling. Informally evlaute it then post your audience feedback finsings, summarise usingc charts and reflect on them. You must have these findings to use in your evaluation.

Mrs A

The long and snowy week continues....

During the long and snowy (and not to forget painfully slow and boring) week I was able to focus my attention and time on patching up some holes which I left during research such as analysing a band/solo artist image and also an album cover.

Band/Solo Artist Image Analysis

The picture furthest from the top is an image of solo artist Ginuwine. Of the many images i could have chosen to analyse I picked this one in particular as I feel the clothes he's wearing reflect the genre quite well. New Jack Swing, R&B and Soul music is very smooth, it has an edge of class and by most is considered to be suave and i feel that in this image all that is reflected through Ginuwine's clothing, the message conveyed through his body language and pose and also by his facial expression. I also like this image as he stands out very well against the background.

The second image I analysed is an image of Alicia Keys; I like this image as she stands out well against the background. The medium close up allows us to identify with the artist, she's made the center of your focus as the background frames her and it is black and white therefore she stands out even more as her dress is a purpley colour. I feel that the colour of her dress conveys a message to the onlooker about the genre of music the artist follows and also a message about her music; the dress is a deep purpley colour which to me says that her music is interesting and has much more to it than what one can hear in the foreground.

The third image I have analysed is an image of the Jagged Edge album "Hard" . I analysed this image as I feel it says a lot about the artists and the music they create. I like this image as the background is intriguing; it's the outside of an abandoned garage, it makes me want to know more such as why they are there, however at the same time it tells me a lot about the album and makes me think its been named appropriately. Another reason why I like this album cover is because once again I feel the poses and clothes of the artists tell me about genre of the music; they are all dressed smartly therefore giving an indication that the music is smooth and suave has an edge of class. The way in which the artists are stood tells me more about the band as they are all spaced out and stood differently; it comes across to us that the one leaning in the car is the lead singer of the band as he is stood closest to us, the fact that the other three bandmates are stood a little further back in the foreground says to me that their roles in the band are important however, not as important as the one leaning on the car.

The last image is the album cover for Mary .J. Blige's album "The Breakthrough". I like this album cover as firstly it isn't in colour and therefore grabs my attention immediately; it's simple and hasn't been over complicated by a busy background. I like that it's dominated by a picture of the artist in a close up head shot as then it allows me to identify with the artist. Because it is a close up head shot of the artist, we are able to see more clearly the facial expression of the artist and thus we are able to read it more easily.

Also during the long snowy week I was able to take a closer look at feature article conventions; they use bright and bold colourful titles to catch readers attention; it's colour scheme grabs the attention of the target audience. the way the article is worded, the images used all are pointed at the target audience. Articles are written in columns to simplify the written text and to guide the reader and to make it easier to read. quotes from interviiews are highlighted in order to reach the reader's attention and also in order to keep the reader's focus. all these are conventions of feature articles, I intend to use as many as I can in my feature article so that it can be as good as articles in any other music magazines. having looked aat the conventions of feature articles, i then moved onto writing up a draft of my feature article so then when the snow cleared up it'd be ready to be read through by Mrs Abell.

A few days later....

The Snow's cleared up and now I can get to college and get my feature article done! Finally production can continue once again!!!

Cover & Contents Page Designs

Bearing in mind how easy it is for me to forget a good idea (or any idea for that matter), I thought it'd be a goood idea to get my ideas down on paper that way it's then impossible for me to forget those ideas. So that it is possible for you to see the ideas I have in mind for my cover and contents page, I have, as you can see, posted these images above.

Stop all production!... it's snowing!

Prouction has temporarily been put on pause thanks to the untimely snow(!) ....Even though I've been concentrating on production of my magazine I have also been doing other work at home as there are things which I may have missed out whilst doing research. Due to the extra time off college we received because of the snow, during and also after the Christmas break I have been able to concentrate on these such as taking a look at popular music genres in the UK Top 40 etc etc etc....

The first thing which caught my attention that I had originally missed out is finding an institution to produce and distribute my magazine. After doing extensive research I found that IPC Media is the leading UK consumer magazine publisher. Two of three women and over 44% of men in the UK read an IPC Magazine. IPC Media produces and distributes 80 different magazines some of which are Marie Claire,Now, NME etc. which includes digital properties like nme.com, which happens to be the third largest commercial music website in the UK. I feel IPC would be the ideal producer and distributor for my magazine; IPC produces some of the best selling and most successful magazines, such as Marie Claire and NME.

Another thought which occurred to me was that as well as looking at the responses I received from my questionnaire, to see whether or not my music magazine would be successful or not, I could also look at the UK Top 40 as then I would see if music of the genre my music magazine follows, is popular in the charts.

Position
Last week
Artist
Title
1
1
IYAZ
REPLAY
2
50
OWL CITY
FIREFLIES
3
2
SIDNEY SAMSON FT WIZARD SLEEVE
RIVERSIDE (LET'S GO)
4
3
3OH3 FT KATY PERRY
STARSTRUKK
5
99
GLEE CAST
DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'
6
6
JOURNEY
DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'
7
4
LADY GAGA
BAD ROMANCE
8
5
FLORENCE & THE MACHINE
YOU'VE GOT THE LOVE
9
***
PLAN B
STAY TOO LONG
10
12
ALEXANDRA BURKE
BROKEN HEELS
11
14
JUSTIN BIEBER
ONE TIME
12
8
KESHA
TIK TOK
13
19
JAY-Z FT MR HUDSON
YOUNG FOREVER
14
9
SATURDAYS
EGO
15
16
N-DUBZ FT MR HUDSON
PLAYING WITH FIRE
16
7
CHIPMUNK FT TALAY RILEY
LOOK FOR ME
17
10
BLACK EYED PEAS
MEET ME HALFWAY
18
11
CHERYL COLE FT WILL I AM
3 WORDS
19
13
RIHANNA
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
20
18
JAY-Z FT ALICIA KEYS
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND
21
17
TIMBALAND / NELLY FURTADO / SOSHY
MORNING AFTER DARK
22
21
JASON DERULO
WHATCHA SAY
23
35
ALICIA KEYS
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND (PART II)
24
23
FLORENCE & THE MACHINE
DOG DAYS ARE OVER
25
15
JOE MCELDERRY
THE CLIMB
26
20
WILEY & CHEW FU
TAKE THAT
27
24
ALICIA KEYS
DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING
28
22
BLACK EYED PEAS
I GOTTA FEELING
29
29
PIXIE LOTT
CRY ME OUT
30
68
ONEREPUBLIC
ALL THE RIGHT MOVES
31
25
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
YOU KNOW ME
32
92
JLS
ONE SHOT
33
26
CHERYL COLE
FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE
34
27
ALEXANDRA BURKE FT FLO RIDA
BAD BOYS
35
31
CHUCKIE & LMFAO
LET THE BASS KICK IN MIAMI GIRL
36
40
30 SECONDS TO MARS
KINGS AND QUEENS
37
34
JAY SEAN FT LIL WAYNE
DOWN
38
77
BIFFY CLYRO
MANY OF HORROR
39
***
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
COUSINS
40
33
MICHAEL BUBLE
HAVEN'T MET YOU YET

As you can see from the chart, there are many artists who are in the chart, such as Alicia Keys, JLS and Beyonce etc who follow the genre my magazine follows therefore showing that there are many people who listen to these genres and like the type of music these artists produce therefore showing that my magazine would successfully fill the gap in the music magazine industry.

Something else which occurred to me is my Reader Profile. I haven't made it clear what my reader profile is... Wel as they say, there's no better time like the present so here it is:

Gender: Male & Female
Age: 16 - 25 (maybe older than that i.e. 32)
Musical Preferences: Listens to namely, R&B, Soul, New Jack Swing; Ginuwine, Tyrese, Jagged Edge, 112, Boys II Men, Shai, Blackstreet, Montell Jordan etc etc etc.
Dress Sense (Female): cool and casual; jeans, long/short T-shirts, boyfriend cardi/zippy hoodies, trainers/flat ballerina shoes, stylish but different one-of-a-kind . Always carrying something to listen to music on but not constantly listening to it.
Dress Sense (Male): cool and casual; Jeans, T-Shirts, cardi/hoody, pumps/trainers, stylish but different one-of-a-kind coat. Always carrying something to listen to music on but not always listening to it.
Reads Vibe Magazine.
Interests: Music (durh!), Reading, going to concerts (only on the odd occasion though).

And there you have it my reader profile! It may seem a little specific but that's because inorder to make it easier for me to build my reader profile, I've looked at those around me who , besides myself, enjoy music from the genres of New Jack Swing, Soul & R&B. I noticed that most actually do dress in this way and do have those interests therefore that is where and how i derived my reader profile.....

3..2..1.. Go!

And we're off! magazine production has started and so far I've begun at a fleeting start, this is thanks to the fact that I have an image in my mind of how I would like my magazine cover to look like. I've decided to layout all the text on the cover before I add my main image as then I could position each bit of text how I would like it plus it would be easier for me to work like this as then I won't be distracted with the image and positioning it while laying out the rest of the text which is on the cover. Doing this proved to be a good move as I feel I have laid out the text in an effective way. In regards to finding the right fonts for each individual bit of text I have been scouring rigorously through www.dafont.com so that I can find the perfect font for the text which not only looks good but gives the reader a little insight on what the subject of the article is like as I feel that when looking at a magazine cover the fonvt used to highlght the subject of that article tells a lot of what the subject is like. However I have not only been using Dafont.com I have also used the fonts which are already on the Macs e.g. Verdana. After searching for appropriate fonts I then placed my Image, I decided that on my cover I would use the backdrop which I used during the photoshoot I did of my model as I feel t would be better than an other background as it is interesting and I like the colours of that background very much as then any colour of text will stand out against it. However place my main image on the cover I had to use photoshop to edit it very slightly. I used the stamp tool to take colours from the background so that I could "stamp" out the date on the bottom of the image. This wasnt too hard as it is a straigh forward procedure.

After placing my main image on the cover, I then focused on picking and applying colour to the text on the cover. I feel I have chosen colours which stand out well against the backdrop as they are quite bold each in their own way e.g. I have decided to use a deep red as it stand out on the creamy/gold background and I have also decided to use a bright pink as that too stands out. Althought the background is creamy/gold I have aslo used white on my magazine cover as my model is wearing a black dress the text wicht i have laid on top of this part of the image stands out very vell but it doesn't stand out the the extent that it draws attention away from the feature article. Considering all this I did not base my decision of colour solely on what would stand out I have also based these desicions on what I would like the colour of the text to convey to the reader about the article as I feel that not only the font of a text but the colour of it too, conveys a message to the reader of what the subject of the article is like which then causes the reader to wonder about what exactly the article is about.

After doing this I focused on sizing the texts so that they were appropriatley sized i.e. I wouldn't want the article about Aaliyah to stand out more than my feature article. This part was all fairly easy as there wasnt really much to it. I'm going to focus my attention next on the feature article and then after that I will move onto my contents page as that won't take nearly half as long as it will take to create the double page spread of the feature article.

next moves:

• Write draft of feature article.
• Get draft checked by teacher.
• transfer article to double spread.

I look forward to this as number 1: it's going to be a challenge thinking of a good feature article and I simply cannot turn down a challenge, I'm way too competitive(which explains me being a perfectionist when it comes to situations like these). And number 2: I get to use my newly acquired skills to create a double page spread of my own from scratch, the way I want it. Which for me means a little more fun as I get to sift through colours and fonts and play around with them till i find colours appropriate for my feature article.

Let me get you up to speed.....

So far I feel i've been doing pretty well and progressing well but then again that's not really for me to decide... Up and till now I have:

• completed and reflected on my preliminary task
• discussed magazine conventions
• analysed a front cover
• identified my USP
• found circulation figures for magazines both different & similar to my magazine
• Identified my target audience
• created a mood board (above)

In order to create my mood board I scoured through magazines looking closely at the fonts, colours and even the camera shots used in pictures, for inspiration. However not all the cut outs aren't inspirational for fonts and colours they're also inspirational for the types of articles my magazine could have except more focused towards music.

I now face the challenge of creating my magazine cover. To do this I'm going to be using the same software I used to carry out preliminary task; InDesign and Photoshop. I'll be using a Digital Stills Camera for all pictures I take for my magazine, I'll also be using the Internet in order to find fonts etc. I'll be using InDesign to layout and design my pages and I'll be using Photoshop for picture manipulation i.e. cutting out images, erasing/changing imperfections.

Considering that my music magazine is based on New Jack Swing, R&B & Soul, I have decided to name my Music Magazine "Swing". Now that I face the task of creating my final piece I've decided on what kind of photos i'd like to take and i've decided that in my shots I'm not going to be using very many props; I want the pictures to reflect my model's personality rather than mask it through the use of props.

I look forward to creating my magazine as its a new learning experience and also i think it'll be quite fun.