Sunday 9 May 2010

Evaluation Questions

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

My media project challenges the conventions of real media products. I decided to use the conventions of alternative and independent publications such as Vice Magazine, Dazed and Confused, The Journal etc. More mainstream magazines such as MOJO and Q for example often have busy front covers with lots of cover lines, puffs, or in the case of lads magazine lots of orange is used. I prefer the style of Vice, because it only features a cover photo and a logo. I feel that this makes the magazines look better and makes me want to keep them like a book rather than other music magazines that i would give away or recycle. My magazine also used another convention of Vice, that the magazine is free because the cost of the magazine is covered by the adverts. I choose to use this idea for product because I hate paying over £4 for a monthly magazine only for it to be filled with adverts anyway.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?

my magazine represent particular social groups through its style. I've tried to create a similar magazine to what I read magazines such as Vice, Dazed and Confused Apartamento, Little White Lies etc. People read these kinds of magazines because of a niche interest. For example Little White Lies is about Independent Films. My media product that I have created is aimed at people that are interested in 1960's counterculture. I've tried to do this throught the typefaces I used inside and the images I have used. The main typeface I have used was in a 1960s style bellbottomed font. I took all the photos myself in the fields near my house of a friend who dressed up in vintage clothing. (the rest of the photos can be found here)


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

I feel that my media product would have to be self published and only available within a certain area due to the magazine being funded by adverts. `For example if the magazine only contained adverts from local Island businesses the magazine would only be able to be distributed across the Island. However if you had adverts from national businesses or even global ones you could distribute it nation wide. I don't think a major publisher such Bauer would be interested in this magazine because it has such a niche market. If the magazine was independent it would probably be found in local scene shops rather than major chains such as W H Smiths. You would be more likely to find it shops Cheap Thrills which is a local comic book shop on the Isle of Wight.


Who is audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would probably 18-30 of both sexes. The NRS social grade for my product would probably be grades D and E due to the age of people reading the magazine. This magazine would be most interesting to people who already have an interest into 1960's counterculture. This does mean that the magazine will also probably have an older audience too, of 60+'s would were part of the real 1960 counterculture. These peoples NRS social grades are more likely to Bs and C1s.


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

I feel I have learnt about how much attention to detail goes into making magazines. Taking Photos that are high enough quality and then being able to edit them for the front cover is very important to the look of the magazine. Also the use of Typefaces is important. Typefaces need to be clear and legible so that people can read them. Colour connotation is also important for theming magazines for example summer issues will used bright and warm colours compared to a winter issue which might use blues or even a christmas issue which might use reds and greens. Magazines need to have a consistent style running through them to give it a sense of identity. A reader should be able to tell one magazine from another just be looking at its house style.

(link to preliminary task)



Final Designs

Front Cover
Contents Page
Double Page Spread 1
Double Page Spread 2

Double Page Spread Idea

Double Page Spread Research

Here are the same 4 magazines again but this time looking at double page spreads.

First we have Classic Rock and an article about early British Rock Festivals. The article starts with with a large title at the top in two tone with the word APOCALYPSE in red and with faded edges. This gives it a more grungy look. The first word of the article is also larger and more fancy. Under the title is a short summery of what the article is about. this allows a reader to seeing if they will be interested with out having to read the whole thing. the writing on the page is separated into two columns and have selected quotes pulled out and placed bigger in between. These quotes are normally interesting and make the reader what to read the whole article to fully understand the context of the quote. This Double page spread features a large collection of pictures and the has captions which explain what the pictures are about. Also when the writing finishes there is an arrow to tell the reader that the article continues onto the next page.
This was one of the very few double pages inside of Vice, because the magazine features more adverts than the average magazine because it is free. This idea of a free magazine is something i plan to use in my magazine. The Vice article features a collage of pictures on one page with short descriptions under them. The writing is laid out very similarity to Classic Rock. The writing is in two large columns and features large quotes. This is the most common magazine layout and is used by most publications.
Dazed and Confused features a photo with the title of the article over it and the short description plus credits to the writer and photographer. Again the article is set out into columns but because this article is an interview it states the who is talking and reads like a transcript.
Finally in MOJO, again the text is set out in the same way but doesn't contain quote enlarge but rather has a quote over the picture of The Beach Boys. The article also includes some pictures of old records over the the picture. also the pictures are given a white border with a drop shadow.

Contents Ideas

These are two ideas i have had for the contents pages. I tried to different styles, the first is more like the Vice and Dazed and Confused contents pages and the Second is more like MOJO and Classic Rock Covers.


I prefer the second design and will develop this style further for my final contents page. It still needs to have the final logo, credits to people who took photos etc and contact address and maybe a website address.

Contents Research

I've taken pictures of 4 magazines from my room; Vice, MOJO, Dazed and Confused, and Classic Rock

First is Vice. Vices contents page is very simple, it features one photograph from a photographer that has an article inside the magazine and then below that it just has black and white text listing all the article and features inside this issue. Each one has the title in bold followed by a subtitle which gives some idea of what the article is about.
Second is MOJO. I think the MOJO contents page would work better with my magazine because it is a music magazine and features a musician with black and red text on the background of the picture. Each article has the name of the musician or band in bold capitals and the has a short paragraph under that with a short summery. MOJO's contents also features the magazines logo at the top of the contents.
Thirdly is Dazed and Confused. Another magazine named after a song (this time Led Zeppelin) has a contents page similar to Vice. It uses a photograph with black and white text under it, however the text is overlapping the picture on this contents with blocked in white behind it. It also credits the cover photographer and talks about what is featuring on the magazines website this month. also features a logo at the top.

The last is Classic Rock. Classic Rock uses a large black and white photo of Jimi Hendrix on the contents pages with white text relating to the article about him and then everything else is inside a white box with black text in a very similar style to MOJO. It doesn't feature the magazines logo but does have the date and issue number at the top under the word contents.

Front Cover Ideas 3 - Midnight Rambler

My third idea is for a magazine called The Midnight Rambler. The idea behind this magazine was to make a magazine similar to Rolling Stone. For all three of my magazine ideas I have taken the names of songs for the titles just like Rolling Stone which takes its name from the Muddy Waters blues song of the same name. (The Rolling Stones also took their name from this song) The title of this magazine is taken from The Rolling Stones song The Midnight Rambler.


For this magazine I wanted to have more of a 60's kind of feel to it. I looked at this late 60's/ early 70's issue of Rolling Stone for more ideas. I like how simple the cover design is and it reminds me of the modern covers of magazines like Vice which don't have overly cluttered covers.

Here are two drawings of how I want the basic idea for the cover to look.

I then made a quick mock up of what the cover could look like. I took some photos of my friend Jess wearing some 60's inspired clothes and then quickly added some text over the photo in photoshop.
Out of the three ideas for different magazines this one is my favourite and i will continue to develop this one.