Main Task: Drafts

Main Task: Evaluation FINAL

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the beginning of the year I had had little knowledge on magazine conventions and how to challenge, develop, or support these conventions. To help me start to understand these conventions I conducted research on other existing music magazines that was similar to my genre chosen. I looked at how they conducted their front cover, contents page and double page spread and how they applied these conventions and what they were trying to connote in their magazine issue. I was able to use this research to base my magazine layout on, and I was also able to follow or challenge these conventions to try and make my final products look as professional as possible.

The masthead is a very important convention in a magazine as it makes your magazine stand out from others. I tried out different masthead till I finally found my final typography. For my final masthead, I challenged the convention of putting the masthead behind the person; I decided to do this because I wanted the records in the masthead to be visible to the readers and if I did put the model in front of the masthead the records would not be seen. Other magazines also will conduct this but it is less likely than a magazine placing it behind the subject.

Another convention used in all magazines are coverlines. They let the readers know some articles that will be featured in the magazine. They are supposed to be short and be able to gain the readers attention so they must be visual. My coverlines are all in the same font except for “Stevie Wonder” which I felt required a different approach to the typography. I had to choose a different font to make the words clearer and by doing this I think I made the front page look more interesting with just typography. The main coverline, which is normally linked in with the person in the main image, is much bigger and a different shade of blue than the other coverlines because it is meant to stand out from the other coverlines. The rest of the coverlines are also different colours as it makes the magazine look more interesting. I used ranges of blues, greys and black for these coverlines as they are part of my colour scheme. The coverlines are arranged in vertically to either the left third or the right. They are all alligned and evenly spaced out.


Selling lines are used by many magazines. It is a short sentence of what the magazine is basically about. My selling line is “THE NUMBER ONE PLACE FOR A SMOOTH SESSION” which doesn’t instantly let the reader know the exact genre of my magazine but allows the reader to try and link the words to a genre. I think most readers will be able to know it is a soul magazine as soul music is known for having artists that are “smooth” with their music. This selling also links in with my masthead “SMOOTH” as it makes it seem that the magazine will relax you.

Magazines will also usually have a barcode, the date of the issue and sometimes they will have the website of the magazine. I follwed the convention of having the barcode at the bottom corner of the magazine with the price next to it. I also followed the conventions of placing the dateline and website under the masthead which I place on either sides because I felt it made the masthead look interesting with them underneath.


Most magazines will use a medium close up of the focus subject because it will usually make more of a dominant image. I also decided to use a medium close up shot for my front cover. I felt this would produce more of a striking pose and you would be able to focus more on the models face than what she may be doing with the rest of her body. I also chose this because I wanted the background to be visible but I still wanted to models face to be the main focus. The models NVC is quite fierce and serious which could connote that she is serious about her music which you would expect a singer to be.


There are also different conventions that are used in real magazines contents pages that I followed in my contents page. One of the most important conventions of a contents page is the information put into it. There will usually be a features and a regular’s section, which I have. The features section will have articles that will only be in the magazine for only this issue while the regulars section will have articles or information that will be in every issue. I put both these sections but I also added a section for fashion since my target audience are mainly female, I think they would be interested in reading the articles on this section. Another convention I used was putting another image of the person on the front cover in the contents page and another picture of another person, which is for another article/interview. I placed both images in the centre and placed the features, regulars and fashion sections on both sides of the images. I also followed the convention of using an editor’s note. I placed this at the bottom of the page as most real magazines will do if they have one. For a magazine to produce a god contents page they must produce enough information about the articles but not too much information that the reader knows already what is in them already. I have also added a smaller version of the masthead at the top of the contents page, which is also done by many existing magazines.


My double page spread also follows and develops many conventions like my contents page. I followed the same colour scheme of pinks, blues, black and greys that I used in my front cover and contents page. The colour scheme is bright and very feminine. This was my intention as my target audience will mainly be female. I followed the convention using columns for the article. I separated the columns into three which is the average for most magazines. I used a drop capital, which I changed the colour to a shade of pink to stand out in the article. The colour for the questions and the answer are different colours which I think makes it easier for the reader to tell them apart. There is also a strap line where the name of the artist is highlighted to make it stand out. The title is in a different colour and much bigger to most of the rest of the article which makes it stand out more than the rest of the article. For my quote I did something different by using a paint brush I downloaded to make a splattered effect which is not done by other magazines. I placed my quote on top of this splatter and I think by doing this I made the quote stand out in an interesting way. I added three extra photos at the bottom to make the article more interesting. Real music magazines will not conduct this often but I wanted to challenge this convention.


Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My main target audience are females between 20 to 30 years old, who are soul, blues or contemporary R&B listeners.

The soul genre has a very long heritage and any magazine that focuses mainly on soul or blues music will target at an older generation. However I wanted to make my magazine more contemporary so it would target a younger generation. In order to do this I had a young artist on the front cover, I used sans serif font instead of serif font which is more modern. The colours I used in my magazines font the fonts are bright colours instead of the usual browns and greens. I also featured quite a lot of new/recent artists which also make the magazine contemporary.

The costume of my model was very important because it is used to represent my target audience. She is wearing a Pink/Orange long sleeve blouse, ash brown chinos, and brown knee high boots with a range of different jewellery. The blouse adds a splash of colour and makes the model look more feminine with the jewellery too. For this look I was inspired by a range of different soul artists such as Solange Knowles and Mary J Blige, who both wear a lot of earth-coloured (browns, greens and blues) clothes with simple jewellery. Solange also sometimes adds a splash of colour to what she’s wearing to make her look more feminine. What she is wearing is fashionable and popular but yet it’s an adaptation of what soul musicians.

Most people who listen to soul music will probably be religious as the music makes a lot of religious references. This is one of the reasons that I added a cross necklace to her jewellery. Another reason why I added the cross necklace is because soul music originates from gospel music and the cross represents this.

Another way my main product represents this social group is by the models skin colour. Most people associate soul music with people of black heritage. There are very few other ethnic artists that create soul music. The reason for this is because of where the music originates from, south states in America. It is in these states where discrimination, segregation and racism were very high towards African Americans. They used their pain of being neglected in society to make blues and gospel music which adapted into soul music and formed other various types of music such as R&B. This is the main reason why genres such as soul and R&B are dominated by black artists.


Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I conducted a case study of a publishing house in my planning and research to find out what type of publishing company would publish my magazine. The publishing house I chose was ‘Condé Nast’ mainly because they do not publish any other music magazines. If they were to publish my music magazine they would expand their market since my magazine would bring in new types of customers for them meaning more publicity and money, which is their main aim. Furthermore, they publish mainly women’s fashion magazines, such as Vogue and Glamour, which means that their main audience for the publishing house as a whole will probably be women. My magazine also targets females so this would also be good for my magazine as loyal customers from Condé Nast may be interested in my magazine. Also, fashion is a major part of soul music and my magazine, and since they have many fashion magazines for women and men, my readers may be intrigued to read those magazines if my fashion section is lacking information. This will be good for these magazines as they also will get more customers and therefore Condé Nast will make more money.


Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Soul is seen as an older generation genre as it has been fading and changing in recent years. However I wanted to adapt a new type of soul for my magazine which will target the younger generation by mixing genres that have come from soul or a related to soul music into the magazine such as Blues and contemporary R&B.
I think that it will also mainly be women who would buy the magazine as men are more likely to be interested in Hip-Hop magazines. This is mainly due to the fact women are seen as “emotional” and therefore more likely to listen to emotional music that expresses their feelings therefore they are more likely to listen to soul music and keep updated with news and artists.

Most of the women who buy this magazine will mainly be in their 20s and are more likely to be of black ethnicity. This is because African American artist dominate the soul music industry and there are very few soul artists from other ethnicities. Since most people would like to relate to the music and artist they are listening too and since most of the artist are of black ethnicity, the people they would attract to their music will also be of black ethnicity.


However I do think that an older generation would be interested in buying the magazine sometimes because of the old soul artist that I would include, that they would probably love such as Stevie Wonder and Barry White. One of the articles in the regular section, which my audience chose for me to add, was for a remembrance article every issue about an iconic soul artist. This would be something that the older generation will be interested in and also my younger generation.


Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Since my target audience are female I decided to make my magazine feminine. During my audience research, I found out that most people would prefer me to use the colour scheme of blues, pinks, black and greys (which was the third choice). I decided to use this scheme since it was chosen by my audience and it is more likely to attract them. These bright colours are able to gain my readers attention more and it made the magazine look more feminine which was my aim.


There is also a fashion section, which will interest females more than males. Women would be more into keeping updated with the latest fashion than men would be, so they are more likely to read this section. There are beauty tips and stores for clothes which women are normally very interested in. They usually want to look good and they would normally go to magazines for ideas and since my magazine provides that they will be more eager to buy it.

The costume that I used for my main model was very important, as it was not only a way of portraying my target audience but also as a way of attracting them. The outfit my model is wearing is quite bright, eye-catching and very fashionable. Women may be encouraged by the models fashion sense to actually buy the magazine, so what she is wearing is important to attract the audience. My model is also attractive which will also encourage both women and a few men to buy the magazine. Most actual magazines will almost always make sure there is an attractive or well known person on the front cover, as it is more likely to attract people into buying the magazine.

Most of the artists that I included are fairly recent and popular in soul music. This is because in my audience research more people stated that they would prefer newer soul artist than older “iconic” artist. Also, all the photographs I used are all of women, which I believe will also attract more women to read the magazine seeing another female in an article. On my front cover, I included a coverline called “THE FEMALE TAKE OVER…” to attract women to buy the magazine. I believe that women are more likely to buy a magazine if they see other well known females featured in the magazine.


To attract an older generation I included articles on iconic artist that they would be interested in. I added a coverline about Stevie Wonder, who is seen as an iconic artist in the soul music industry. His name is in a different font to stand out from the other coverlines. I wanted his name to stand out because he is a known singer to both the older and younger generation. His name alone can attract many people to buying the magazine just to read an article about him.


For my masthead, I included two records that replaced the two Os in ‘SMOOTH’. I think this would have attracted a lot of people to my magazine as it is unique and no other music magazine has the same masthead as my magazine. It also relates to my genre because when soul music was becoming popular records was what people would use to play their music.


Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


I used a Canon EOS 400D to take the photos that I used for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I used the same camera to take photos in my preliminary task magazines but since then, I have adapted my skills in how to take better photos, and it shows in the quality of my work. I have learnt about how I can use lighting and interesting backgrounds to make the outcome of my photos more appealing. The main photos were taken in a park, because it gave the photos a natural, textured background, where there was natural lighting. I learnt how to focus the camera properly as this was my main problem in my preliminary task. One of my biggest problems I had with taking photos was that, I would get shadows of my model when if I took the photo against a flat background. I have learnt that using textured backgrounds did not create shadows, therefore my pictures would be better quality and I wouldn’t have to waste time getting rid of the shadows. It was hard to sometimes see whether the photo was in focus when I was taking it until I saw the photo after I had taken it. However, after some time I got used to looking through the camera and using my focal point and depth of field correctly.


During the production of my products, the main technology/program that I used was Photoshop CS3. I had some experience using Photoshop, but I was not very confident in creating effects and typography. However I believe during the production stage of my magazine, I have developed many skills that have helped my final outcome pieces.
The main tool on Photoshop I used was the text tool to create the coverlines, columns etc. However I needed to make these texts different from each other and also stand out. I used the eyedropper tool to take colours from the image and use them in the text. Using colours already in the image for my coverlines made the colour scheme more appropriate and it gave different shades of colours.


I used the rectangle tool to create a dash that I featured on my front cover and contents page. I first created a rectangle and copied and pasted it twice. I placed them together but leaving a little space between them. I then changed the colour of the top and the bottom rectangle to the same colour as my masthead.


I also used the spot healing brush tool to take spots away from my models face. This made the model look more attractive and therefore more people would want to read the magazine.

I used the grids and guides tool to help me keep my alignment on all my final pieces. I was able to keep all the writing aligned to each side in a straight line which made my magazine look more professional.


The first masthead I used was the one chosen from my audience research. However, there were some problems with this font so I was unable to use this. One problem was that the masthead was a picture instead of writing so when I stretched, it became pixelated. I tried to redesign this particular masthead; however the words did not stand out with the new photo that I had chosen for my front cover. I decided to change the masthead to a different font which was more effective, but I added a different colour to the Os.

However I felt that this masthead did not stand out as much as I would have liked it to, so I changed it again. I used a font already on Photoshop (Magneto) to create the word “SMOOTH” then I went on dafont.com and downloaded a misc font for the records. I deleted the two Os and replaced them with the records. This gives it a very old music vibe, which connotes my traditional genre of music, and makes my masthead unique and recognisable.

Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

There is a dramatic difference in my preliminary task magazine’s front cover and contents page to my final front cover and contents page. This is mainly due to my improved Photoshop skills and knowledge gained about the conventions of a magazine. Learning and developing my Photoshop skills has helped to improve the quality of my final magazine pieces. I have learnt the conventions and the layouts of a magazine, which has helped with improving the look of my final pieces by making it look more professional.

My preliminary tasks contents page is much more condensed than my final piece contents page and it also contains many gaps. Comparing the two together, there is a dramatic difference in quality and what readers are more likely to buy. I have learnt how to spread the information out to make it easier and clearer for the reader and it has made the contents page more eye-catching and easier to follow. I have also learnt how to use any gap spaces to my advantage by using it to add more information. This gets rid of the gaps that may distract the readers and adds something useful that could get the readers attention. I also had a different layout in my contents page to help reduce any gaps. In my preliminary contents page I places all the writing onto the left hand side and spread the pictured in the right hand side. In some of the pictures I had where shaped as circles and were stretched. This made my contents page look unprofessional .In my final task, I decided to place the images in the middle and have the writing placed around the images. This made it harder for gaps to be created and gave continuity in the contents page.
I have also learnt how to align the information on both my contents and front page which makes both products look neater and more professional. The writing is not as close to the edge in the final products than it is in the preliminary products. I have also learnt how to align the coverlines to either the left or right and how to space each coverline and how to make them look more interesting with typography and colour. There is much more difference in the size and shades of the text in my final piece than in my preliminary pieces. My final products are brighter and easier to follow than my preliminary products therefore are more likely to attract the audience into buying the magazine.
Furthermore I have learnt what makes a good image. I made sure there were no shadows which is distracting to the reader. I took more notice of what my model was wearing because it is meant to represent my target audience. I opted for a closer shot in my final front cover than my preliminary front cover to show the characters NVC and features more. I also decided to include a background in my final piece as it makes the photo look more interesting and attractive. The model in my final piece is looking directly at the audience, which my model in my preliminary task is not doing. This captures the readers’ attention and also makes the magazine look more professional.

Main Task: Post Production Feedback