Thursday, 12 April 2012
Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The title of the magazine
For the masthead of my magazine I used a font from the Dafont website and then changed this in order to suite my magazine. This made it make look distinguished from the main image, and would hopefully attract readers as it is coloured in red. Further more, I made the masthead have a black border which many real magazine do such as NME. The use of my colours follow magazine conventions because they continue to have a the same coloured scheme of red, yellow, blue, black and white throughout the pages which I felt was important.
Mise-en-scene of images, costumes and props
Mise-en-scene of images, costumes and props
I have followed codes and conventions by using one person for the front cover in a medium long shot looking straight at the camera. However for the double page spread, I challenged codes and conventions where I kept the background of the mise-en-scene of the forest where as most real magazine will take out. The costumes and props used throughout “INDIvidual” are conventional. This is because the band in my magazine wore costumes which included a leather jacket and guitars. All of these items could be found and are commonly used in real music magazines. I wanted each of the models in the band to have their own identity which relates to my magazine.
Title font and style
My font choice was reflected throughout my magazine because I continued to use the same type colour scheme, which was red, blue yellow, black and white; in order to create a sleek and professional look giving my hous style. I created the title “The Wombats” by using a brush tool in Photoshop and then adding a drop shadow to it. The title is conventional in the sense that it has the largest font size on the page, apart from my masthead, and it’s bold and I coloured it in yellow to make it stand out even more. In addition to this, the way the title has the slightest of rough on the edges is similar to real music magazines like the ones I analysed at the start of the project.
Written content
The written content of my magazine follows the codes and conventions of a real music magazine by covering similar topics in the article. Similarly to other music magazines, the article promotes The Wombats new album which is the main feature in my magazine and also explained more about what we can expect in the coming months and how the album unfolded. This follows magazine codes because many readers will purely read an article to find out when an artists next piece of work is scheduled for release. I included exclamation marks to emphasize certain points. The contents has a few words which I feel only the young generation will understand and get what the lead singer is talking about which I hope will appeal to the audience.
Music genre and how my magazine suggests it?
The music genre for my magazine is the Indie genre hence the title ‘INDIvidual’. I included many artists from that genre such as The Joy Formidable, The Vaccines, Everything Everything, Arcade Fire and many more to appeal to as many young people as I could. I followed a number of magazine conventions when I thought about genre. Props were vital for my magazine, and I felt that I followed conventions of the Indie genre by using guitars, different style in clothing and facial expressions gave a sense of cheekiness to members in the band. I feel that the use of Red, yellow, black and white colours, the wording of the title and the mise-en-scene emphasizes that ‘INDIvidual’ is an Indie magazine. Real music magazines suggest their genre by the mis-en-scene of their images and the bands included, therefore my magazines follows the codes and conventions.
Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I have chosen to compare this picture of Muse from “NME” with the front cover photo from my magazine to explain how my magazine represents a particular social group:
The postures of both men are similar in the sense that their facial expressions are both serious and staring straight at the camera, with Muse looking more serious than mine. In addition to this, both men are wearing similar costumes – a black leather jacket with the collar lifted up with a plain T-shirt underneath, emphasizing their 'coolness' and confidence. Also they have similar hairstyles and shades, both with a brown shade and shortly trimmed with some facial hair shown .Overall I think that these elements of the photos represent a normal young social group and that my magazine reflects this throughout. There’s nothing extreme or obscure about their appearances.
I have chosen to compare this second picture of Mumford and Sons with the double page spread photo from my magazine to explain how my magazine represents a particular social group:
These men are very similar in terms of their hairstyles. They both have facial hair of a beard and a moustache with wavy medium long hair which links well to my magazine as it creates this Indie feel as they have a different look to what a normal person looks like. Comparing the two images, in mine the guy is looking straight at the camera giving off an almost shocked appearence in contrast to Mumford and Sons where he seems very lively and happy. My character gives off more of an Individual social group, yet not to obscure or extreme which again I feel connects well with my overall theme of my magazine.
Overall the people featured in my magazine are quite normal looking yet with a slight difference, for example a different hair style or different facial expressions to what a normal appearance seems to look like which fits well in my magazine which is all about Indie music.
Evaluation 5 - How did you attract / address your audience? (Plus, audience feedback and reflection)
Except for the masthead ‘The Wombats’ is the largest sans-serif font on the page placed across the middle of the cover, making it the focus point of the cover and therefore the main headline attracting the audience as they are a popular band. On the bottom, top and across the side of the front cover I have positioned a list of featured bands. This gives the audience an idea of what bands and therefore would excite the reader to see all these bands inside this issue. The deliberate use of a larger font for the headline and masthead coloured in red and yellow makes it stand out from the page to catch the readers eyes. In addition, I have used logos of festivals which further attracts the reader as it conveys that this magazine features information on gigs and live music! 
It follows on well from the front cover as it uses the same types of colours and fonts therefore this addresses the audience as they know this links from page to page within the magazine. I deliberately used a quote in the contents page ‘Tuesday IS the new Friday’ which acts as a lure. Because it is quite a bold statement that some might find a bit unusual, this will grab the readers attention and encourages them to turn to the page and read more about it. I also included page numbers next to text to keep the reader interested in what is in the magazine. In addition, I placed a large image of a lead singer to give the contents page a greater effect making it less boring to look at for the reader. Further more, I used exclamation marks, words such as ‘Best’ and ‘Exclusive’ to excite the reader as I feel they will understand and relate to these words. 
It features a stand first and a drop capital to introduce the article to keep the reader engaged. The use of a personal quote is displayed in a bigger font than the article with an ellipsis at the end in order to grab the readers attention and encourage them to read the interview. The use of the colour red on a darker background, makes the quote stand out more. The layout for my double page spread is fairly unique as the whole page is covered by the image. This gives the page a much stronger effect, visually and I feel much more engaging. With the use of standard English, I feel makes it clear and simple for my young audience to understand. The main image of the band, I feel may inspire young musicians and believe they can become like this ‘cool’ band such as the image of ‘The Wombats’. I addressed my target audience by constantly asking what their opinions were regarding my magazine throughout it's production and this helped discover what really did attract my audience. See below for the audience feedback of my final magazine:
Reflection on Audience Feedback
Overall I am extremely pleased with the feedback from my friends. I feel that I have received a terrific positive feedback which I am very pleased of. I really like how in the majority of the feedback they understood on what my magazine is about, which is about new albums and festivals and of an Indie genre. I feel now that I have chosen the right colours for my house style due to many praising within the feedback. I feel that people felt that my magazine flowed and has continuity as each page follows well on to the next page which I felt was important so I am glad people could spot this.
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