LIIAR analysis of my genre.

My Music Magazine Genre.

GoAnimate video showing why I chose my specific genre

Video by lewisryanstewart on GoAnimate

Music Magazine Brief.

The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you-minimum of four images.

Evaluation

Evaluation.

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

The front cover of my college magazine follows the conventions of a magazine, as there is a masthead, barcode, main image and cover stories. I put the masthead in front of the model’s head, as my magazine isn’t widely known, so the title has to be visible. I put the barcode on its side unconventionally as I thought this made the front cover look interesting. I used green on my front cover as this is a neutral colour and looks smart and professional. I put a website on the front cover also, as this is what is conventionally on a magazine front cover.

Q2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main image is a picture of a student so it fits in with the genre of the magazine. Also, with the image being a medium close-up, you can see what the clothing is like. Because of this, you can see she is wearing smart clothes.

Q3 Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media project would be students either going to college or already at college, particularly those interested in photography.

Q4How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using short cover stories, as students don’t have much time to look at the front covers of magazines, so by using these it gives a taster as to what will be inside the magazine.

Q5 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have used different tools on Photoshop, such as the colour select tool to make sure each of the green cover story titles are the same colour. This makes the front cover look professional and neat.

Q6 Looking back at your perfume task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel like I have more experience with how to use Photoshop, as I know how to order layers so that things either come in front of other things or go behind them. I feel I understand how to relate to the audience a lot more as I know which colours are more suitable for different things.

Q7 What would you differently and why.

If I did this magazine again, I would change the font of my masthead as I think it needs to look bolder than it is, and would change it to a more basic font because I think it looks a little childish. I would also add a few images the front cover as it would make it more visual and more interesting.

LIIAR analysis of your front page and how you achieved it.

Language

My college magazine front cover follows the conventions of a magazine front cover as it contains a masthead, main image, cover stories and a barcode. It also, near the barcode, has an issue number, price and date the issue is for. I put these on the front cover as these are conventionally on a magazine front cover. The masthead is in front of the model's head because, unlike ELLE magazine, it isn't a well-known publication. The image is at a medium close-up as this shows what the model is wearing, which is smart clothing. This fits in with the genre of the magazine as a college is a place of learning. There is also a use of only three colours, black, white and green, and this makes the front cover look professional, neat and tidy. The short and snappy cover story titles are used as college students are always on the move, so don't have much time. Having short titles makes it easier for them to scan the page and see if anything interests them. The background to my front cover is pale so that the focus isn't taken off the model. From a different magazine was the title 'Q and...eh?' which I really liked so I used it on my front cover.

Institution

This magazine is published by Wyke college itself, as it says 'at Wyke' underneath the masthead 'Choices'.

Ideology

This magazine aims to give students more information about photography courses and general things that may be helpful about college life.

Audience

The audience for this magazine is college students or students going to college soon. This edition is also aimed at students who want to do/do photography at college

Representation

The model on the front cover of my college magazine looks serious, to show that college is about hard work but also has a slight smile to show that college and photography are fun. She is also looking directly at the camera, which is a convention of a magazine front cover.

Draft of contents page.

For my contents page I wanted to keep the consistency of the green, white and black colour combination. I think this makes the page look more professional and tidy, as having lots of different colours would make it look crammed full and cluttered. At first, I had the page numbers small and said for example 'Page 41', but after looking at some magazine contents pages decided not to. Most magazine contents pages only say the page number, and I think this looks better as it stands out more. I didn't title the contents page 'Contents' as I first intended to as I looked at some contents pages from actual magazines and these weren't titled 'Contents'. So I decided instead to have my magazine name there because it was more in line with the conventions of a magazine contents page. I added an explosion effect around the 'COMPETITION!' title and changed the colour to an orange as this catches your attention. This is because it is a different colour to the rest of the page. Adding images to the page makes it more interesting and would make people more likely to want to read on. Having no visuals and just text wouldn't be very exciting, so this was the reason for adding them. At the bottom of the page is an 'Also in this issue' as this is quite often seen in a real magazine. This was used because the other things were on the front cover, and a contents page also adds in some extra interesting pages. These were used on the contents but not on the front cover because, although these are what could be included in a college magazine, these weren't as interesting and eye catching as the others.

Final front cover.

I liked how my front cover turned out, but the headlines of the cover stories were too thin and were less noticeable than the information underneath them. I changed the font style to a bolder version so it captures the reader's eye.

The space in between the headline of the cover stories was a bit too thick and needed to be reduced, as they looked like they were separate things. Bringing them closer made them look a lot more neater and tidier, hence making the front cover look better.

After making these changes to my front cover I realised I had misspelled a word, savings, as i had typed it as saings. I had to correct this mistake as otherwise this would reduce the quality of my front cover, and make it look messy and unprofessional.

For my final front cover, I added a date this issue would be for, as this is conventionally what is seen on a magazine front cover.

This is my final front cover.

Photographs taken.

I like the first image because my model is holding a folder, which is a thing that students at a college usually have. The clothing is quite smart as it is black and white, so the model looks like a student at college, which fits in with the genre of the magazine.

The second image isn't as good, as my models eyes are partially shut, which reduces how good the image is.

The third image is similar to the first one, as i took a few shots of the same image to see which one turned out the best.

The fourth image is also the same as the first and third image.    

I like all of these images as they are very similar, but the last image is a little bit different, as the models skin looks a little paler. I like this idea as it would be quite good to use a camera on the front cover for if the magazine's theme was photography.

I like the idea of having the model hold a mask, as it could be used for a Drama or Performing Arts orientated magazine. The first three images didn't work as well as the other two as the models hands could be seen, which didn't look as good. In the third image the model moved, so caused the image to have some blur.

Digital mock-up of front cover.

I decided that this digital mock-up would be the basis of my college magazine front cover as I liked this design. I like the idea of a barcode being on it's side as I think it makes the magazine look more interesting, but I placed the barcode unconventionally on the bottom left-hand corner of the page instead of the right as I think it looked better there. I decided not to have 'Photography Edition' in the bottom-right hand corner of the front cover, but instead placed it in the middle at the bottom, as it stands out a lot more as it is white writing against a dark background. I also decided not to have all of the cover stories on the right-hand side of the front cover because it looks a bit too crammed, so I decided to space them out more. I also added a price to the front cover near the barcode as this is a magazine convention.

Magazine name and type style.

This could be the title, 'Choice', for if I chose to do a general college magazine. I like these fonts, but another choice of title could be 'Digital' for if I choose to do a Photography orientated college magazine, or for an English Language based one, could be 'Written'. I decided to do a few different font types as I wanted to have an array to choose from. Doing it like this helped me point out what I liked and disliked about each one, so I could narrow it down to a select few.

Mood boards and influences.

I like the idea of having someone looking over their shoulder for a front cover, and I think this would be suitable for a college magazine as I could have a student do this so it would look good, as if a student is taking the image. I also like the 'Q and... Eh?' as it is a play on words. I think this would be a good idea to use as people at college want to have fun and laugh, as well as work hard.

I like this idea as it is of a photographer, which is one of the ideas I had for the basis of my college magazine. I like it as it's as if the person in the photograph is taking the image of himself.

This is a better image than the one before, as it meets the needs for the front page of a college magazine, with it being of a medium close up.

Although this is an expectation of a college magazine front cover image, I like the idea of how this image has been taken. I like how the folder is close to the camera and the girl is turned on a side, and it isn't a boring straight on shot.