Tommy's blog

Music magazine analysis

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

While my magazine uses the standard layout of real media magazines, it challenges forms of real media products because of its unique topic. It does not cover popular bands that everyone has heard of, but up coming bands who are trying to make it to the charts.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents groups who have formed bands of any sort, including solo artists, so it represents all social groups who are interested in hearing new music.

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

Because my magazine would be about local bands it would probably be sold in news agents in the local, also smaller branches of big supermarkets such as TESCO extra or the CO-OP. The reason for this is because it may have no interest to anyone outside this county/area depending on the coverage of bands.

Who would be the audience for you media product?

The audience for my media product would probably be the fans of the local bands because they can learn more about them, advertise them, or find out where and when they will be playing. It may also interest managers who are looking for new talent.

How did you attract your audience?

It has a lot of things on the front cover to catch the eye of most people, such as the guitar player or even the words music, also the font I used is hard to miss and will catch the eye, especially because of it’s white background against the black.

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

I have learnt a lot about using a blog, it has allowed me to update my work quickly and efficiently without having to save it and carry it around on a usb. I have  also learnt a lot about photo editing software’s and was lucky enough to work with two, Fireworks and Photshop, I started both my magazines on fireworks and found the transition to Photoshop very easy, I found fireworks more user friendly than Photoshop however I found Photoshop had more tools available once you learn more about it.

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

I think I learnt more form the first magazine how ever developed what I’d learnt in the music magazine, I took my pictures without knowing what I’d use them for, by my second magazine I could set up shots knowing how I would edit them and how they would be used, I could use other sources such as ‘da font’ to select fonts I couldn’t have access to on Photo editing software. I also learnt how crucial planning is to making a magazine.

School Magazine Analysis

I started off with research into my target audience. I chose secondary school because it’s the one I can most relate to, the age range is 11-18. I also found that certain colours attract that age group more than others consisting of blue, red and yellow, so i’ve done as much of my magazine in this colour as possible, this includes the contents page. I made a questionnaire for people to fill out around my school, this let me see that the majority of 11-18 year olds would prefer to have a sports themed magazine but with sub story’s with general topics to keep interest.

With this information I set out planning my magazine front cover with first drafts drawn by hand (See album School Front Cover Prep Work) This helped because I then had a clear idea of how I wanted it to look and be presented.

I then had the task of taking pictures, this involved something that represented the school, in a good way, such as a school activity or a place that looks peaceful and nice. I took pictures in three locations and found a PE lesson where they were being tought Hokey. How ever I couldn’t interrupt the lesson to set up an ‘action shot’. How ever I was pleased with the pictures I got.

I decided on one particular picture because It had people from both sides and, one member of the team that had control of the ball, it was as close as I could get to a action shot, how ever to get the ball in shot I had to cut out the head of the boy. I was using an editing programme called fireworks but then swapped to photoshop, it was an easy transition because they have smiler tools and layout however I found photoshop to be more user-friendly and have more apply-able tools. I used real events going through out the school, such as the run for head of school for sub stories so there was no lack of inspiration.

I wanted my magazine to appeal to most people through out the school so I had my main focus on sport due to the questionnaire and had fashion stories and the latest on the head of school campaign.

I used the stereotypical layout for my magazine with banners on the top and bottom with the name of the magazine on the top left and the tag line on the right, I used the title ‘Blue’ because it is the school’s colour and I had decided to base it purely on events going on throughout the school.

I had a few problems on firworks is I couldn’t use layers properly so couldn’t correct some very obvious mistakes, I corrected this by using photoshop because the layers were easy to sort through and I could see which layer contained the mistake thanks to thumbnail pictures next to each one. I then could correct using the eraser tool, with out effect the other layers.

For my contents page I decided to box each story to make it look smart and look well presented. I had pictures in the background relating to the school topics. I also kept the same colour scheme I used on the front cover. I also added a note as an editor, I got the idea from my research and like the idea because it could make the magazine more appealing if the readers could relate to the creator.

I put the schools website on the magazine because it means if people wanted to read more in-depth about the topics mentioned in the magazine, they could head over to the website and get more information. I priced it at 20p because it is cheap and the majority of school students in the questionnaire said they would be put off at a high price. I put the tag line as ‘For the latest in sport’ This was also used because it made it clear that the main focus was on sports, how ever I made the top sub story about uniform so that people would know there could be topics that interested them for people who didn’t like sports.

The main problem I have is the title ‘Blue’ has bad colouring, I couldn’t fix this on Fireworks or photoshop, i’ve done the best I could do to make it less obvious but on close inspection you can still see it.

I greyed out the models for heads of school because it reinforces the story ‘who will be the new school captains?’ and it also draws attention to the story, so people should have browsed the whole magazine by the time they’ve reached it.

I used the blue lines running across the banners because I wanted everything to look sharp and make it’s place in the magazine clear.

Throughout this magazine I was able to experiment with two types of editing software and have chosen photoshop for my music magazine because it’s more suited to what I want to do. I’ve been able to research all types of magazine and take the bits I like from each, I enjoyed doing the questionnaire and come up with a product that the majority of the school would like.

My magazine doesn’t really challenge forms of real media products because there is nothing like it on the market because it is a school magazine, however it uses the stereotypical layout to most magazine, for example the title of the magazine being on the top left.

It represents mostly the sporty social group however there are stories for other social groups to be interested in.

http://s1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd431/Mediateke2/

With this in mind we put our band “The Psychedelic Monks” Into the battlefield of upcoming bands.

“The Psychedelic Monks got lots of rejections but persisted and never gave up”

 “Even if the attention isn’t all focused on you, it should give you experience of playing live, which is critical to success.”

 “Make CD’s and send them to as many public radio stations, and companies in the music business as you can and try to make your band name something people will remember if it’s long, make it something people will remember, and try to keep humour out of it unless you’re a comedy band, otherwise you wouldn’t be taken seriously.”  Top tip from “The Aviators”

 With this in mind we put our ban “The Psychedelic Monks” into the battlefield of upcoming bands, armed with these tips. They joined the music group “The LA Music Club” which was dedicated to putting on gigs for young musicians and bands to perform in. They played and practiced with them whilst outside the club started righting their own material.

  They then setup a myspace page, although they said it was slow to begin with due to the fact there were millions of other sites just like it, however in three months, 35 people of the world heard they’re music.

  They then started trying to get gigs outside of the club with venues that had heard them with the club before, and now they had the attention advertised there my space, and not many after they had recorded their first album started selling them after gigs although people brought them at first, eventually people looked up there my space and they sent their CD out to radio stations and producers.

  “The Psychedelic Monks” got lots of rejections but persisted and never gave up, and got played on most of the small county radio stations, and even ended up with a late night playing on radio one. They were now playing at a variety of venues, this was the next stage however, what was to come would be the hardest task yet, get to the top and stay there but they had a long way to go yet they had to get out of the circuits and on to bigger gigs.

  When they reported to us what they were doing we told them advice that the band called “The Spread” “Enter as many “battle of the bands” as possible because if you do win, you get money and publicity and you can buy bigger and better equipment, and even if you don’t win, you still get publicity.”

  “The Psychedelic Monks” played at 5 “battle of the bands” winning 3 giving them a lot of publicity in local newspapers and magazines. Also giving them a sum of  £1500 to spend on equipment. They had now had a chance to see Albert Lee live who Eddie Clapton voted as one of the best guitar players in the world. They also talked to him, about what the best equipment to buy and he gave them advice to.

  That’s all we know about how “The Psychedelic Monks” have been doing because they haven’t reported back yet, find out if they can make it into the spot light and stay there in the next issue of “Uprising.”

Burberry is a very famous company, the popular pattern is put on all there products so you’ll know what the make is just by seeing it. The advert is set over a double page, on the left a picture and on the right, the product.

The Title ‘Empire’ is coverd by iron mans head, this shows the Empire has a high status and people will know what the magazine is even though some of the letters are missing. The font is electiric blue and has lightening around it This ties in with the film ‘Iron man’

The colour scheme is all electric blue and black, the black brings out the electric blue and puts more focus on ‘Iron Man’ him self who’s suit also ties in with the colour scheme

The main picture is clever because there is a blue orb in the centre of his chest i.e. the centre of the magazine, this is eye catching and will draw people in and go from the middle of the magazine to the edges top and bottom.

I struggled to find the right colours for my contents page. I like how it is laid out how ever i couldn’t find how to fill it out because it looks empty. I like the slanted affect on the photos.

I also like the font used, how ever i could have filled the banner that the title is in. I also should have found better pictures because the ones i took are blury.

I think i should have spent alot more time  on the contents page especially on the colour scheme.

http://s847.photobucket.com/albums/ab32/sTommys/?action=view&current=Uprisingcentrespread-1.png

I like the way it is presentented, it is simple but it looks proffesional. I especially like the chioce of colours how ever I think i could have spent more time experementing with different colours.

I think the story on the double page spread is very believable. How ever i think it could be improved with more planning and preperation. I also should have found a better font to put the quotes in because it blends in too well with the box making it difficult to read. I changed this by removing the boxes and having the quotes on there own, it’s easier to read but makes it look less professional.

I think the font the title is in fits well because