After recieving feedback from my peers and media teacher clearly describing the need for clearer text on the page, I decided to alter the text by firstly reducing the amount and secondly it was suggested I should highlight block the text. I did this by using character styles in Adobe Indesign and then selecting underline, offset at -4 and then selecting the colour as black. The weight was set at 17. This is how I managed to alter my pages after receiving feedback. I have left my previous finished double page spreads due to my opinion of them being aesthetically superior and to show the progression and comparison of my work after an alteration from readers.
Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Since the creation of my preliminary task, I have progressed my understanding of both magazine conventions and aesthetic features. I have learnt key features of both layout and genre based decision making. I have increased my understanding on the use of various technologies, mainly photoshop but also new introduced software such as Adobe Indesign. My knowledge of the magazine industry has also vastly improved since the creation of my school magazine.
In terms of my time management on both tasks, I spent far less time in the planning and research stages of my school magazine than that which I spent on the music magazine. I learnt that in order for the quality of the product to be as high as possible, that research and development is key. For the school magazine task I did very little research, I looked at our school magazine and that was the extent of my investigation. In relation, my music magazine concept was subject to mass scrutiny by both me with my more precise and in-depth research such as looking at various other real world publications (NME and Q) aswell as from my peers (my subject teacher and classmates) in my peer assessment and my target audience investigation.
My equipment of choice for both the creation of my school magazine and my main task was fairly different although the programme Adobe Photoshop made a consistent appearance throughout. For my pictures taken in my preliminary I took my photos using my iPhone 4, being fairly inexperienced, the setting was on the school field. In relation to this, my understanding of the quality of the picture was advanced and I used my new Nikon J1 to take higher quality photo's. This shows a progression of my understanding to create good quality pictures and in turn, creating a good quality media product.
I put much more thought into the surroundings of the pictures for my main task, aswell as using props more effectively. In all honesty, my preliminary front cover features a fellow classmate holding a camera, this was a random shot and I decided I liked it after coming up with the idea of a media story. In comparison, I spent far longer in the creation of setup and deciding my prop use and backdrop for the music magazine in order to ensure the quality was higher.
The front cover of my music magazine uses a lab coat, geek chic glasses, a clipboard and a pair of headphones to help portray a persona and bring identity to the magazine. Likewise, my contents pictures were taken and edited to match the conventions of the dubstep genre. If you care to look at the pictures in my preliminary, my pictures are unedited and appear skewed due to my lack of understanding for scale of pictures. This also includes prop use and backdrop research ie: if you look above you see that I used a vinyl record to ensure my reader knows who the person is, the background of the picture featuring 'Mote Kontrol' contains a brick wall and metal door, with various graffiti tags across, an effective attachment to my picture, I planned the use of the wall when coming across it before. For the front cover picture composition, I used the same 10mm-30mm Nikon Lens on my camera however to gain lighting without the need for using the built in flash, I used 2 lamps to provide effective lighting for the subject.
As you can see the layout of the front cover appears fairly consistent between both although a greater understanding of the importance of not leaving space is shown in the progression, as is the case for the contents page where there is a severe reduction in the space shown. This is mainly due to the introduction of realistic and appropriate layout methods. I have use the 3x3 grid rule where the page is divided into 9 squares also referred to as the rule of thirds.
In terms of personal accomplishment, since the creation of the original preliminary I have furthered my understanding of Adobe Photoshop and have a much greater understanding of the capabilities of the software than earlier on in the course. The various effects both for pictures and text have been an example of Photoshop capabilities I have learnt aswell as a general understanding of the importance of layering work.
My time management (as briefly stated earlier) has been fairly out of balance for both tasks and this is mainly due to this being a topic of new introduction and therefore having to come to the sudden realisation of extensive workloads.
My font selection has changed from both tasks. After understanding the conventional theme for each type of magazine due to research, you will notice the font choices for my finished coursework piece is genre based and not just the default 'Times New Roman' or 'Arial' font. With Dubstep research complete, the more modern style fonts were selected. I have a better understanding of colour schemes as shown by the gelling of black white and teal as indicated by my target audience and genre understanding.
Moving on to my double page spread I learnt how to effectively use Adobe Indesign to my advantage. It allows for easy column layout and text wrap options, features I was not familiar with before my introduction to the software. Since the preliminary task, I have learnt that Indesign is a better software in the creation of pages in terms of their layout as guidelines are already set out and you can easily move around your text without the need to create multiple text layers, something that Photoshop lacks and that I was not aware of previously. Although this software would have been fairly useless in the creation of my preliminary task due to the lack of text appearing on the elements, for my double page spread it proved to be a valuable asset. Allowing me to directly import and alter .psd's straight from photoshop itself.
Decision making was another key skill I have improved on. The ability to make decisions whilst slightly disregarding your own bias opinion of your work in favour of people who are knowledgeable in both aesthetics&design and the target audience for the genre magazine is a key skill which since my preliminary I have used in order to result in the highest standard of work possible to submit. Overall I feel that my progression is seen fairly evidently when reading through this blog however these points clarify and highlight the steps I have taken in getting better at both the subject and getting better in the creation of elements using the various methods listed here.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For this question I have decided to utilise technologies at my disposable and present it solely using various technology techniques I have learnt about. This includes a Glogster wall which if it doesn't load, can be seen here, and a shared project I undertook with my friend, both using the website wallwisher to present the various techniques which we have used.
Here is the wallwisher erm....wall, that we have created to display all the technologies we have used. It includes such things as GoAnimate. A tool used by many of my classmates and myself in displaying our target audience. Things as simple as google mail and various web browsers are included along with the perhaps obvious but not stated Apple mac computer. For my contents page I created a QR Code which linked to my blog, this was done on a website which allows the customization of QR Codes to go to websites. I have used Microsoft Powerpoint to create various presentations including my front page construction and then placed them into my blog using scribd. I used Prezi to display my contents ideas aswell as the given USB stick. Finally one of the main technologies which helped me vastly in the making of my contents construction video, CamStudio Recorder. It allowed me to record my screen to easily display the photoshop techniques I used aswell as allowing me to provide voice over.
For this question I have decided to construct a short video to show the various elements of my magazines front page, contents and double page spread which attract my audience. The video will show the elements as well as show a typical member of my target market reacting to seeing my magazine for the first time followed by the following questions:
1. Could this publication exist as a real media product? (Is it realistic) 2. Do you feel the pictures included are relevant? 3. What are the strongest elements which appeal to you & clearly distinguish the genre? 4. Is there a suitable mode of address? (Do you like the way it is worded) 5. Would you buy the magazine?
Below is storyboard plan for which I'm hoping to replicate to create my video. It will involve interviewing 3 people who all, from my knowledge, listen to my targeted genre of music and show close resemblances to the clubber/raver category of UK Tribes. (click to enlarge)
Update
Since posting my plans, I discovered that using more than one person in the creation of my question 5 interview may elongate the video and make it dull. I therefore decided to spotlight my questions on one sole member of my TA, the person I felt best fitted the specification according to UK Tribes which turned out to be someone appearing in my magazine however assurances were made to prevent bias by not letting him see questions before I asked them. I have created a short iMovie video asking the main questions involved. These were the responses to my interviewed subject being questioned for the first time on my work:
As Question 4 involved explaining who my target audience is for my magazine, I decided that instead of writing endless blocks of uninteresting text, I would create a short video animation featuring who I believe is my target audience. I managed to create an epitomization of my target audience by using my previous research listed under my blog label Target Audience. Evidence of this can be seen here.
In terms of my media publication relating to the target audience I shall show and analyse a few key areas of my magazine which I created with the intention of the elements appealing to the clubber/raver category of UK Tribes, along with input from my clothing and model research which featured both famous names in the Dubstep circuit along with less well known DJ's which would, in effect be part of my target audience.
Here is a prominent example of my magazine incorporating aspects which according to my research would appeal to my TA. As I found out that the audience in question enjoys such places as Cream and GodsKitchen, including a feature on the best venues to visit with Dubstep artists headlining is reasonably assumed as being a more than suitable feature to include. This is due to the fact that this will include ideas from the brands and with the named association from such well known music related company, it would appeal to passers by who fit into my TA.
As my model research showed, headphones were a key feature in artists within the Dubstep genre. It can be relatively assumed that with the aid of the media bringing the genre into the spotlight, the look of these artists is going to be extensively imitated. Along with this, Dre. Beat headphones are well known amongst DJ's and music fans for their high quality sound performance along with their high price tag. A competition to win a pair, along with a coveted signature from a well known artist would be another selling point of my magazine which would be completely unique and would therefore bring higher sales.
If you were to focus on the overall appearance of the magazine it is clear that when placed amongst well known publications it would 1. Not look out of place whilst 2. Standing out for it's memorable design, using effects which are fairly non existent within NME and Q. Of course as I explained earlier MixMag is a magazine which is bought by my target audience. This means that this would most likely be my main competition. Published by Development Hell Ltd, MixMag focuses on dance & techno music, a close associated relative of Dubstep. Although stocked throughout the UK due to the intense demand of the Brazilian market, a MixMag Brazil exists. My magazine could start off with the possible USP of being solely based for the UK market with the option of expanding into the emerging market in the US.
Relating back to the point of the only competitor worth accrediting is MixMag as DJ Mag provides weak resemblance to focusing on the Dubstep genre and more focusing on mainstream pop and dance instead of really finding new up and coming talent. People would buy my magazine as unlike the dull front cover of MixMag, mine shows effective adjustments on elements such as the font and the pictures which hopefully will allow my product to look more appealing, along with the fact that the writing will focus on many famous names with up and coming talent showcased through features. I am also providing competition incentives to buy aswell as providing columns allowing people to provide input into the magazine, a relative unknown amongst current music magazines, perhaps leading to revolutionizing the music magazine industry to using this idea.
If I were to refer to the process of using Psychographic segmentation (the process of using segmentation dividing the market into groups according to customers’ lifestyles.) This is fairly hard to obtain and will become more evident in the next question. At 24, many would not be dependant on parental income although this cannot be ruled out as an impossibility as this is becoming more common due to higher youth unemployment. Brand loyalty is apparently strong within this grouping of clubbers/ravers and therefore it can be assumed that if a customer were to buy and like my publication, I could create a reliable, consistent reader base and gain a reasonable flow of sales in relation to this. In response to this data I drew up a cartoon representation of what I believe my target audience would look like. I used the characteristics of headphones, reading MixMag, owning technology and wearing stylish clothes to create this mock up.
Finally I will sum up using key points of who will be involved within the circulation of my magazine. If you were to refer to the socio economics grouping strategy to determine the main audience I would focus on the groups of C1, C2 & D. This would involve people from jobs such as shop floor supervisors to semi-skilled workers. With the average age of my target audience estimated at being around 24 according to the MixMag who would have similar readership, it's assumed that the median age of 24 would mainly work within sectors C1, C2 & D although this is hard to determine and this information is gained from the conventional stereotype of this age range.
So, in conclusion, it appears my target audience is epitomized as someone who is 24 years old, purchases technology, wears expensive clothing, watches dance tv, wears headphones and uses disposable income on nights out.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question I decided to create a short presentation which I uploaded to scribd. It includes all the relevant information on the main publishers and my views and opinions are expressed throughout the presentation, culminating in my own decision on which publisher I find best.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As there are no Dubstep orientated music magazines on the market it is difficult for me to show comparisons to other magazines as I am trying to challenge stereotypical perceptions on such music based publications, much like Dubstep is doing as a music genre. There are however elements which I have taken from existing magazines. Below show's some magazines I gained inspiration from for the creation of my front cover in terms of the model and layout.
Here are 3 magazines in which I gained inspiration from, along with my finished front cover. My magazine featured in the top left hand corner shows my model dressed in a white lab coat, popular "geek chic" glasses, and wearing Dre Beat Headphones. I used this costume to give my model a believable persona, to make him stand out against the majority of bland looking artists, and to also relate back to previous ideas gained from looking at magazines. Artist persona's are not uncommon in today's music industry and are in fact becoming a more popular feature within upcoming artists. Deadmau5 featured in the bottom right hand corner on the cover of DJ Mag epitomizes this statement, using a persona which the majority of people would agree is 'out there' and challenges the common conventions and associations people have in what a music artist should look like. This is the reaction I would like my artist to have on readers and having such a unique style would spark interest in passers by. The slightly visible clipboard is also a prop that was frequently suggested for me to use with the whole science idea and I have done so with the models posture showing resemblance to Ludacris showing a fairly vacant facial expression.
The cover-line I have used to associate with the picture is "Rewriting The Formula For DUBSTEP". The almost pun-like statement can easily be connected with the picture with 'Rewriting the Formula' a common phrase used when talking about scientific related subjects. This connection of the phrase with the picture is similarly shown in the picture opposite, on the cover of Hip-Hop magazine XXL. This shows Hip-Hop artist Ludacris holding a camera with the tag line "Will Shoot Yo' Ass" once again using a play on words with the term 'shoot' commonly used in association with filming.
This is shown again in the example from NME featuring the Arctic Monkeys, dressed up as elves for a Christmas issue with the cover-line "Their favourite worst nightmare before CHRISTMAS". Although not in the same context as this is not the bands general style and persona, it is still relevant in the sense my cover-line is clearly teamed with the picture.
If you want to know why I chose the clothes for both my front cover model and my featuring artist 'Syla' in the contents and double page spread you can find more information (here).
Similarly there is more evidence about the decision of creating a persona for my artist (here).
Although I briefly cover my clothing choices for my other model I felt it vital to show some relevance towards them and to show that this style is visible in real world publications such as Atmosphere Magazine. Here you can see the popular Dubstep artist Sub Focus.
The similarities to my fictional artist 'Syla' are clearly evident. I decided to use my picture in black and white much like Atmosphere magazine. The desaturated effect is seen repeatedly when describing such artists. Both are wearing hooded jackets which backed up by my previous research (link above), is seen as a stereotypical look on Dubstep artists.
It could be argued that both pictures strongly focus on the eyes, Nick Douwma's being the centre of attention due to the rest of his body being blocked by text and a CD, and mine by the vinyl record, a common sight when genre associated gigs are witnessed, blocking his body, resting just below the eyes.
Here is my double page spread, overlapped with Dubstep artist Gemini. This picture of Gemini helped me base my models overall stance for the Double Page Spread and the similarites are obvious, with some slight differences such as the angle of the shot and lighting although the overall expression and positioning is mirrored. I used this rather than a magazine picture as there are very few magazines which are made using 'Dubstep' as a main featuring genre (if any). This along with the process of getting an accurate representation of the genre based research as well as common conventions of a Dubstep artist, is why this is an approriate choice and would be accepted by the potential readers in the social grouping.
