Evaluation Question One

Media Magazine Evaulation: First question

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Questionnaire Results WIP

Here are my results from my questionnaire. I asked 20 males and 20 females and created graphs for my results.

Evaluation Question One ~ WIP

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

My magazine ‘RockLegion’ follows the codes/conventions of real media products rather closely, which I feel is a very good thing. I think that if I had tried to challenge the codes and conventions too much it may not have looked like a magazine. I didn’t want to risk my magazine being so different that it wasn’t recognisable as a magazine but at the same time I didn’t want my magazine to look like every other magazine out there though so I added my own ‘style’ into the main design theme.

In my reserach I looked at a magazine called 'RockSound' and decided that I liked the general layout etc of the magagazine, so I decided to work from this for my magazine.

Firstly on my front cover I conform to the standard conventions by having masthead, a puff, a main headline and strapline, a main image, an issue number, a barcode and a price. These all make it actually recognisable as a magazine and therefore they are necessary. I also have coverlines which is something that a lot of magazines have, and I felt that these were necessary as the type of magazine I was aiming to make seem to have these. I also have a strip across the top of the page with some text that will catch the reader’s attention as this is also quite common.
I have gone against the conventions slightly because I used a profanity which isn’t often seen on the front cover of a magazine, but I chose this because it would shock the audience and grab their attention, making them want to read it. It is quite a risk but I was willing to take this risk because of the shock value to the audience. Obviously it will be on every front cover that the magazine ever has so I decided to sensor the word by using an asterix in place of the ‘U’ in the word used.
This is the only way on the front cover that I have challenged conventions. Everything else is in a very similar place to other magazines, the masthead at the top, the barcode etc in the bottom corner, and the main headline at the centre of the page.
The main image on the front cover is also conforming to conventions as it is a mid-shot. The two people are facing the camera, in-front of a plain wall as the background. It is a well lit up photo, I took it during the middle of the day. But, I have upped the contrast and brightness just to make it look better.

Secondly, with my contents page I have also conformed to most conventions. I have a page title, an editorial, and obviously a list of contents. I have 2 lists of contents though, one of the main features in the magazine and one of the regular contents of the magazine. This is because it makes it much easier for the reader to find what it is they are looking for. The two separate contents lists are also separated by a thick white line which stands out against the plain black background. All of the writing is in white, except for the magazine logo and the editors ‘signature’ which both have a red ‘stroke’ around them, the ‘signature’ still in white but the logo is written in black, so it looks as though it is just a red outline of the logo.
I only have a couple of small images on my contents page because I felt that putting too many on the page would make it look very cluttered, messy and therefore unprofessional. I have an image of myself, as the editor next to the editorial which is very normal with editorials, I also have an image of my main cover band and an image associated with another main article in the magazine. I feel that this is enough images, as having loads of images would make them seem irrelevant and it would’ve been very hard to work out which one was associated with which headline.
I have gone a little bit against the conventions of the genre of magazine I am creating because I have quite a large editorial, and sometimes in this genre of magazine they don’t have an editorial at all. But as it is a recognised part of many magazines I felt that including one would be a good idea.

Contents Page - Analysis WIP

This is my final contents page for my ROCKLEGION magazine.

I created it in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

It follows a very basic colour scheme, of black, white and red. This is very common in the kind of magazine that I was trying to create in this project.

I only have a couple of small images on this page as I didn't want it to look cluttered with images like some magazines out there (top of the pops for example)

Double page spread - Analysis WIP

Magazine front cover - Analysis

This is my final design for the front cover of my magazine. I created it usind 'Adobe Photoshop CS4'.

The first thing I am going to talk about is the magazine name - Rock Legion.
After looking at many other magazines I found that several used the main music genre that they focus on in the title 'RockSound' and 'Top of The Pops' for example. So, I decided that the basic loose genre of music I wanted my magazine to focus on was Rock. So that was a starting point for my title, but I didn't think that just 'Rock' would be a very good magazine name, so I decided to add another word with it that would describe what the magazine was about - a coming together or music and fans, news from the musicians to the fans. I came up with many words; 'Army', 'Club', 'World' and a few others but I eventually settled on 'Legion'. I decided to use this word because it sounds slightly elite and like something private, something that is only for the people who understand it. I felt this works well because it makes the magazine sound like it has the only important information and it gives the readers the feeling that they are part of something, the music brings them together and the magazine is bringing them the information on the music. Like a private organisation almost.

So once I had decided on the title, I had to pick a font that would reflect the theme of the magazine even further. I originally designed a magazine logo on photoshop using one of the standard fonts (this is in an earlier blog) but I didn't like it and when I asked others what they thought, most said that they thought it cheapened the look of the magazine, so I changed it. None of the available fonts on the school system worked very well so I went onto the website dafont.com and found a font called 'BlackLeafs'. I felt that this reflected the music well, and so I got it downloaded onto the school system. Once I'd type out the name and got it to a font size that I felt worked well, I decided that it looked a little flat, so I used the blending options on the layer and added a 'Drop Shadow' and 'Bevel and Emboss', I felt this made it stand off of the page and look more 3D. I asked a few people to look at the new 'logo' and they all said it was alot better than the previous one. So I kept it.

The next thing I want to talk about is the main image on the cover, the image of the 2 girls. They are from the main cover band 'wHore' and I have followed convention here in actually having the main band on the front cover. I did consider going against conventions and having something else completely on the cover. One of the ideas I came up with was to have a kind of collage of images of all the main bands and features in the magazine, done in a neat and ordered way, but I decided this was too far from what is normally seen and so I kept with just having one main image of the main band. This works because it catches the attention of the audience and makes them want to read the magazine.
This wasn't my original cover image idea, I was originally going to use a high angle shot of the whole band (which I have talked about in an earlier blog). But during my research I found that a lot of magazines actually use an image of only one or two members of the band, and leave the whole band shot for the actual article. So I decided to do something similar.
I chose an image of the 2 girls pulling 'aggressive' faces because this is very common in the sort of magazine that I am aiming to create. I chose to have them pulling faces because they are in a female fronted band and this sort of band causes 'controversy' in the music scene, as bands are 'traditionally' male fronted, so these faces are like them fighting off all the criticism from people. I chose to have them both wearing leather jackets as I felt it brought a unity into the band, and enforced an image that they are trying to portray. They are both women in leather jackets which makes them look 'stronger' or 'tougher', but they aren't dressed in an entirely masculine way which portrays the feminine image at the same time as showing their 'power'. I chose these 2 girls particularly because they both have heavy side swept fringes which is very common throughout the bands in the 'genre' of music that my target audience listen to, and image is very important in this scene too, so they needed to have the right style of clothing and the right kind of hair. Everything right down to the eye make-up worn in the image was chosen because it is important to my target audience. I felt it was very important to create the right image for the band that was appropriate to the reader.

I have also taken the rule of thirds into consideration here, having the main focus of the image in the central horizontal third of the page. This is good because the eye is typically drawn to the centre of the page.

The next thing is the coverlines. They are written in a much smaller font than nearly everything else on the page (except for the information by the barcode and the issue number). This is because even though they are important, they aren't the main feature, and if I had written them too big they would've covered too much of the image and detracted from the main coverline. They are written in a simple font (Orator std) which is a standard photoshop font, and they have alternating coloured 'strokes' around them, because when I first put them over the image you couldn't see half of the writing. The purple stroke is actually taken from one of the girls hair colour to help tie everything together better, because I think that using similar colours to the image would tie it into the image better and make the coverlines blend into the cover more, which also helps the main coverline stand out even more.

The main coverline (which also happens to be the name of the main band) is written in a font called 'Bugebol Huomenna' which was also downloaded from dafont.com, which I decided to use as the band's logo font. I also used it to type the strapline(Welcome to the party) and "They're Back:" because it ties the three together. On all 3 I have used a red 'stroke' around the writing to make it stand out. I have done this because red is the first colour that the eye sees so the eye is instantly drawn to it to see what it's about.

Next, the magazine 'puff' is in a font called '28 days later' which is yet another font that has been downloaded from dafont.com. I used this because it was very similar to the magazine title font, but I didn't want to use the same font because most magazines use a similar font for their puff, not the same one. The 'puff' content is "Pure F*cking Noise". Obviously I have used an asterix for the U because swearing on the front cover of a magazine isn't seen as socially acceptable, but swearing is common within the music that I am covering in this magazine, so I felt that I should put something relevent to the scene. The actual sentence came about when I was talking to a friend and I played them some of my music. They described it as 'Pure Loud Noise' but I didn't think that loud would be a very good word to use so I substituted it. I have placed it underneath the main magazine title as this is 'normal' for magazines, and general media print.

Finally, the barcode is right at the bottom of the page in the right hand corner, and is rather small because it is an unimportant necessity. I have written the price and the Month of the issue in very small writitng (in Orator std font) very small above it, and the issue number is very small underneath the 'puff' of the magazine.

DPS image - not edited

This is the original photo used for my dps image.

The only edit that I have made is I have flipped it, and accidently saved it over the original.

I think that this would have also made a good front cover image, but I felt that the image I used for the front cover worked alot better, because I tried them both.

This image takes up the whole right hand page of the double page spread. It will have a quote across the middle of it.

Questionnaire

I created a questionnaire with some of my idea's to ask people what they thought would look best. I asked an even number of males and females as I am planning to aim at both, and they were all between the ages of 16 and 25, because that is my magazines main target audience.

Here are the questions I used:

1. Which of these colour schemes do you prefer?

A. (Red, Black, White)
B. (Yellow, Blue, Black)
C. (Green, Black, Yellow)

2. Do you prefer to see a single image taking up the whole cover, or do you like to see lots of images on the cover?

A. Full Cover Image
B. Many Images

3. Do you prefer to see the whole magazine title, or have part of it covered by the main image?

A. See full title
B. Partially Covered Title

4. Do you like to see lots of text on the front cover or just a few main coverlines?

A. Lots of Text
B. Main coverlines

5. On the contents page of a magazine, which of these do you prefer?

A. Lots of text, no images
B. Lots of text, one main image
C. Lots of text, lots of images
D. Little text, lots of images
E. Little text, a few images

6. If a magazine has something free with it, like a CD or posters, are you more likely to buy it?

A. Yes
B. No

7. When reading an interview, which of these do you prefer?

A. Lots of text, one main image
B. Lots of images, lots of text
C. More images than text

8. How much would you be willing to pay for a monthly music magazine?

A. £1.50 - £2.00
B. £2.10 - £3.00
C. £3.10 - £3.99
D. £4.00 - £4.99

Editing the images

This is the original image of 'Dakota' (left) and 'Delilah' (right) from the band. I decided though that 'Dakota' looked a bit dull and darker than 'Delilah' so I used the 'quick select' tool in photoshop and cut her from the image and pasted her onto a new layer. I then played around with the contrast and brightness until I was happy with it.






This is the image after I've edited 'Dakota' and layed her back over the other layer. I may still play around with the contrast and brightness as she now looks too bright compared to the other girl and you can tell the image has been photoshopped. I also edited the contrast of the original image ever so slightly to make it slightly lighter.

Images of my band WIP

This is one of the images I took of my 'band'.

They are pulling faces because they are in a 'pop-punk' band and this is the standard sort of thing seen when this kind of band are in magazines. Also there are references to riots and parties so, the faces are meant to be slightly intimidating.

Here is an image of the whole band taken together. This is also quite a standard photo, seen in many magazines. I will either use this on the cover of the magazine or as the main image on my double page spread

WIP

Rocksound Contents Page Analysis WIP

This is the contents page from Rocksound magazine.

I am analysing this as Rocksound has a very similar target audience to the Audience that I am aiming my magazine at so it is most relevent.

This isn't a particularly good example of effective use of space as the image takes up most of the page. Also there is barely any text on the page, which means that the person is going to have to look through the magazine to find what they are actually looking for.

This, I feel, is a flaw in the design, and I think that they should have used the space far more effectively than they have done. The picture is definitely the biggest problem in my eyes. It wastes alot of space that could have been used for more information about what's in the magazine.

That aside, it is well layed out, with the information in white, which stands out against the black background, and the main heading is in red, along with the page numbers. Apart from the skin, the only 3 colours used on the page are black, white and red. These are very simples colours that work well together.

Black can be used to connote a very serious and conventional mood, or it can be used to portray a very sophisticated, mysterious and sexy mood.

Red can connote danger and anger, or it can connote passion and love, either way it conjurs up strong emotion.

White connotes peace, cleanliness, innocence and purity. It creates a peaceful emotion, quite subtle and relaxed.

To look at the colour's different connotations shows that even though they work together well, they are clashing in meanings, and creating a messy mood, with passion, purity and sophistication all in one place. But they work well together.

School Magazine

This is the final screen print of my school magazine.

It is made in Microsoft publsher and I used a primary image for the main image.

The logo in the corner of the page is a magazine logo design, in the colours of the school uniform.

I have a picture of a sixth form student coming out of the main entrance because I felt it was important to have something related to the school on the front cover of the magazine. And it fits with the main headline and strapline which is about students getting their results.

All of the writing is white because it stands out the most above the background. Plus if I had tried to use too many font colours to make each thing stand apart from everything else, it would've looked too cluttered and unprfessional.

I have things related to the school in the coverlines, things that I think would be important in the eyes of the students, as they are obviously the target audience for this magazine, they are the majority of the school, so directing it at the teachers would make it less appealing for the students to be reading.

Double Page Spread background design

This is the design for my background of my double page spread.

It is fairly simple, I set the dimensions on photoshop to A3 size (but edited them to landscape rather than portrait)

I then 'imported' the 'ROCK LEGION' logo in from my front cover and resized it, then added in some page numbers in the same font.









I used the 'brush' tool on photoshop, and '2500' pixels and clicked over the page, originally intending the whole background to be block black, but it came out like an actual paint bursh print. I did this all over the page and decided that I actually prefer this effect to my original plan.







It looks smokey and it looks abit like Zebra print, which is a style of print quite commonly worn by my 'target audience'.










But this caused a problem, I could no longer see my text against the black. Originally I was going to resolve this by making the text white but I found that it was still partially illegible, so I decided to add a white 'glow' around the text.









I did this my right clicking on my layer in photoshop and going into the 'blending options'. I chose the 'Stroke' option and added a white stroke, size: 10px.


This made the writing stand out against the background.



The last problem I think I will have with this layout is the actual text itself, but I think I will use either a pink or red font to make it stand out from the background and make sure it is leggible. This would be because Black, White and Red work together very well as an effective colour scheme. I will either use this idea or I will put the text into boxes over the background, and have the boxes in block black so I can use white font. But I will decide this at the time.

Magazine cover mock up (photoshop)

This is a very basic first draft of my music magazine front cover. Obviously, I need to add some cover lines, a strap line for the main article and an image but this is the basic composition.

The black band at the top of the page is for 'exclusive' information that will make people want to buy the magazine.

The wHore writing is the name of my cover band, the writing being what I have decided is their band logo.

FINISH THIS LATER.

Planning of magazine layout 3

This is basically the first layout I created but I have tweaked it according to advice given to me by a fellow student

FINISH THIS LATER

Interview content for DPS

Three's a crowd...
...Four's a RIOT!

Following the massive success of their debut album ‘They Call Us Pretenders’, wHore are back with a brand new album, and new member Delilah to rip up the scene once again...

“Guys, could we get down to business now please?” After stepping onto wHore’s tour-bus fifteen minutes ago, I finally got the attention of the band for long enough to get them to sit down. After a couple more pillows are thrown, we begin.
Since forming in late 2006, wHore have made a massive impact on the music scene, in more ways than one. They smashed up the stage at the Kerrang! Awards when their debut album ‘They Call Us Pretenders’ won ‘Best Album’, and they also scooped the ‘Best British Band’ and ‘Best Newcomer’ awards, and caused controversy with their video’s for ‘Lady-Man’ and ‘In Her Heart’. After disappearing off the scene for a year (apart from popping up at the odd raucous party) they have returned with their second album and a new member. “Delilah is a brilliant addition to the band, now that we have her in the band I can’t see how we coped before, she’s like a councellor, best friend and sister to me, as well as being one of the best guitarists I think I’ve ever come across.” Dakota is slouched right back on the largest sofa in the tourbus surrounded by the rest of the band. Despite the childish game being played when we arrived, the band have definitely matured since I last interviewed them.
RL: So Delilah, what’s it like being in one of the most Raucous live bands on the scene?
Delilah: “Oh my gosh, where do I begin! Haha, these guys are amazing. I love the live shows, going out in front of a crowd and playing the music I love to our fans. What could be better than having fun for a living? They are all absolutely mental, and definitely some of the best friends I have EVER had.”
RL: Awesome, so guys, how’s life on the tour going?
Dakota: “It’s a riot! Haha. Every night is completely different and the crowd are always incredible, we love our fans because without them, our gigs wouldn’t happen.”
Josh: “I love touring, because apart from actually recording the songs, the gigs are the most rewarding things. The thousands of different faces we see every night is amazing, to think that so many people want to listen to our music. I remember thinking when I was younger that I wanted to be in a band one day, and here I am, it’s great.”
De: “When we first started touring it was amazing, I couldn’t believe how many people were there. I mean as a fan of the band before I’d been to see them but it’s just not the same. Standing on the stage in front of so many people... it really is the best feeling.”
RL: So, what do you crazy lot get up to when you aren’t on stage, because obviously you’re well known for your party lifestyle...
Da: “HA! I love that. We’re actually incredibly normal when we come offstage... we have a few odd before show rituals and of course we LOVE to party, but we’re young, who doesn’t love partying when they’re young. When we’re at home we just play on the xbox and stuff...”
De: “Yeah, and the wii. When I joined the band I’d never even heard of this game ‘Monster Hunter’ but now it’s like, my favourite game of all time, except guitar hero of course!”
Ryan: “She LOVES Monster Hunter... and Just Dance actually... that is ALL those two ever play on!”, he gestures at Delilah and Dakota, both reclined on the sofa.
So the band have matured a little it would seem, but there is still much to be discussed. Josh has gone to grab us all drinks and is singing ‘Hallelujah’ over in the kitchen, so while he’s busy I decided to ask about the rumors of relationships that have been floating around about the band.
RL: Dakota, we’ve heard that you and Josh have been seen out in restaurants together and were also spotted holding hands at Download this year… Is there any depth to this closeness?




This is the content of my main article interview. It finishes on a loose end because the interview would continue onto the next dps.

Planning - mock up of music magazine layout 2

This is the second mock up of my magazine front cover.

I have moved pretty much everything around from the first mock up. This one is 'inspired' by NME magazine front covers.

I have still got the black strip across the top of the page and the masthead is still at the top but I have moved it to one side rather than having it right across the page.

Also my main article title is on a slant right across the centre of the page so it instantly grabs your attention. The strapline is underneath at the same angle to show that the two are related. It would probably also be in the same font as the main article title to link the two more closely.

The main image takes up the whole page and there is no cluttering of other photos, it is simply one photo of the main band that the cover article is about. This links everything that is large together very well and because the main title goes across the image you can clearly see that the image is what the title is about.

The other 'coverlines' are at the bottom of the page in a thin coloured band, this is because they are less 'important' than the main article and therefore don't need as much space on the cover.

I have followed conventions pretty closely on this front cover, right down to the positioning of the barcode and other such information which has been kept nice and small in the bottom right hand corner of the page.

Magazine cover band

I am going to create a band that is of similar genre to Paramore, maybe even with a similar image.

I am doing this because they are a very popular band and are quite regularly featured in the sort of magazine that I read, and that I am trying to produce by the end of this project.

I like the style of music that they play and also the fact that the band is fronted by a woman which is something very uncommon throughout all genres of music, especially 'rock' music because it is a majoritively male dominated genre. This makes them stand out from some of the other bands around and it makes them different. Also, I like their image, they do have a collective band image but it doesn't particularly conform to a certain stereotype and neither do the people in the band.

So I have created a slightly 'pretentious' band called 'wHore'

They are Female fronted, like Paramore, and have 2 Male members. Female vocalist and guitarist, and a Male Bass Guitarist and Drummer. A very generic four piece white british band.

If this were a real magazine then I would be using this band as they have a good image, they are a popular, established band with a large fanbase and therefore people would want to read about them.

Planning - mock up of music magazine layout

Having researched other magazines and their front covers, I have made a few mock up layout for each part of the magazine that I have to make.

This is the first front cover mock up.

For this I have basically used the generic layout for the front cover of Rocksound magazine. I feel that it is a very good layout, and very effective in selling the magazine because it's so simple.

Unlike other magazines, the front cover isn't crammed full of information, but the space is still used effectively.

I feel that the fact that the main image takes up most of the page is quire effective as it catches the attention of the audience. Also I think that only one image on the cover, apart from possibly some VERY small other images, is most effective. Too many images becomes confusing to the eye and sometimes makes the cover look cluttered, messy and unprofessional (like top of the pops magazine for example)

Preliminary task - contents page

This is my contents page mock up for my preliminary task.

I have kept it very simple as it's onyl for a school magazine so it's not going to be some big expensive publication that needs to look completely professional

obviously it still needs to look professional, but it's not going to be sold in stores, it's going to be an internal magazine, so it can even have a more teenage, direct appeal to it as the students are all within a very close age range etc.