Institutional Data 'Overview of Industry'
Since making my college magazine my knowledge of Photoshop has become more advanced, I have learnt how to use the clone stamp tool to get rid of any rubbish that was on the floor in the background picture on the cover, for example the picture below shows the amount of rubbish on the floor and patches on the tarmac and I used this tool to erase it in my final picture (above). I also learnt how to use lighting effects and image colour changes to make my main images stand out more, as you can tell I have used the lighting effects on the main image on my contents page from a bottom right angle as I felt that this would highlight my image to emphasis the low angle shot. I also learnt how to cut around pictures neatly using the magic eraser tool and background eraser tool. Using Photoshop also helped me as it is sometimes hard to find the same colour you have used on previous pages to then continue them onto another page but by using the colour sampler tool it made it easier for me to just take a sample and copy it onto the spaces I needed it.
Overall I have learnt a lot during my process of producing my music magazine and I found Photoshop very useful to make my magazine look professional and appealing to my target audience it allowed me to develop my skills and experiment with some new ideas, I did make a several front cover images but found that my one now is most appealing.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Conventions in media can be separated into three main types: technical - such as camera shots, angles and techniques. Symbolic – what clothing is seen, the colours used and written and audio conventions such as the music played or noises heard (diegetic or non – diegetic). Conventions exist in order to attract the target audience to fulfil their needs.
The magazine I have produced is based around the genre of pop music, I used magazines such as Top of the Pops and Smash Hits to give me a guideline on what to include in order to attract my target audience. Smash Hits is a well-known pop music magazine and it features some of the best pop stars so I thought this would be a good example for me to collect some ideas from as their audience appeal obviously worked. Top of the Pops includes the colours and conventions that are also aimed at my target audience so I studied its conventions and included some of these in my final piece.
Analysing my connotations
The title of the magazine ‘MicroFone’ is a word that is associated with music, I have spelt it in a different way to make my magazine unique and to give the cover a bit of style. The mise-en-scene of the magazine is very relaxed, I have spaced out all the images so it doesn’t look too busy and the cover image is placed in the centre third. The costumes featured in my magazine are vintage and calm colours so they don’t stand out above the set colour scheme, they also help to attract my target audience as these would be clothes they would wear. The long shot on the front cover of ‘Lily’ is very powerful the attitude portrayed through her neutral but moody facial expression pulls the reader in and recently more and more music magazines for my targeted age group feature neutral or moody facial expressions, her stance is also very powerful the position of her legs wide apart gives the impression of power and authority to represent her promotion to a higher class in society which supports the page spread story.
The masthead on the cover is placed at the top and spread across the whole width of the page, this then attracts the readers eye if the masthead stands out and as it is placed at the top of the page it will be the first the reader looks at. The font for my masthead is simple but bold it’s a classic font that looks professional and clear I choose this font as I didn’t want the masthead to look messy or so the reader could read it as it would be the first thing to attract their eye. The written content in my magazine is most frequent on the page spread as I included questions and answers I haven’t included any specific jargon as I wanted my magazine to stay professional. The genre of my magazine is pop music and it focuses on featuring artists that are in the top 40 charts, I feel that my magazine shows this as it doesn’t have any dark colours or sharp shapes to represent either rock music or rave, it has soft fonts, colours and images to represent pop music as its very simple, relaxing and casual.
The contents page has several images to give the reader a taster of what the magazine includes, I have included a main image to represent the fashion section to even out the information as I didn’t want it all focused on the story of Lily Davies. I wasn’t able to include a regular’s box as my magazine was a first issue but I have included typical music magazine features such as posters, interviews, song lyrics and gig reviews. For my double page spread layout I have put the image one side of the page and the questions the other as I thought I could include a full image to then write pull quotes on and titles to explain the story. The half with the questions on also include pull quotes to interest the reader into reading the full story, I’ve also included a picture at the bottom of the question half to even it out.
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the process of making my product I mainly used Adobe Photoshop Software as it provided the necessary tools needed to edit and adjust certain images in order to make them look professional and neat. As well as Photoshop I also used Blogger and Flickr to annotate images and post work in order to show my progressions I found these very useful and easy to use as they were clear and simple and there wasn’t any complications. Blogger was a bit of a challenge to begin with as it was my first time on the site and I had to learn how to post information and work into the appropriate folders but I was able to get the hang of it quickly. Flickr had some complications as we were only able to upload photos on Google but then had to transfer over to Firefox to then make notes over the images as otherwise they wouldn’t save on Google. There was also the possibility of not being able to access the internet which would result in less work being produced as I would need the websites to upload work and get it completed.
I was also new to the Photoshop software and it did take time to get used to, I had to take into consideration how wide I wanted the picture what type of shot I needed in order to edit it correctly to fit my magazine cover so it was able to sit directly in the centre third. I also had to think about the background of the shots in order for them to become an appropriate background on the magazine, the location I have used in my pictures are mainly outside as I could get natural lighting and it was easier to edit.
5.How did you attract/address your audience?
I feel that my magazine really attracts my target audience and as I personally am a part of that audience I would be interested in this product and want to be associated with it. The magazine is full of things that target the reader such as fashion pages and an image of someone just like them that they could look at as a role model. The style of my magazine is very laid back but also sophisticated, it would fit in with magazines such as ‘Closer’ and ‘Mizz’ only it’s based on music. The colour scheme really emphasises the gender it is aimed at however I have made way for some possible male readers and By including these it would help target all of the things that my target audience are associated with, I have researched my target audience and took into consideration of what to include in order to meet their needs. During the process of making my product I was regularly asking for feedback from people that would be associated as my target audience in order for me to improve on certain ideas and make them better so it was more appealing to my readers. They would want to buy my product mainly because of the content as it would appeal to them as they find gossip, pictures and updates interesting, also the image on the front cover also determines whether or not they buy the product so if it is one that stands out and one that the reader will find appealing to look at meaning it will increase the chances of them buying it.