EVALUATIONHolly Corden

Developing & challenging conventions

Front Cover

Cover ImageI used a mid-shot image for my cover image as it helps to make the model more recognisable as you can identify the model due to clothing, make-up and pose. The colours on the image linked well to the colour theme of my cover page (red, white, black and yellow) as the models red lips were some of the inspiration to the colour theme.

MastheadI chose this particular font for my masthead as due to the genre of my magazine, alternative, I thought the font has a destroyed look, as though some of the black on the font has worn. I added a white stroke to my font to make it more outstanding on the cover and I also added shadowing for this reason, and to give it a 3D effect.

Kick/PufferSticking to the colour theme, and in order to make it stand out I made the background black with a red stroke around it. I chose the font to be similar to the masthead font as it is in yellow and stands out quite prominently on the puffer due to the high contrast between black and yellow.

BarcodeI added a barcode for authenticity of my magazine, I placed it in the bottom right corner so it didn’t detract much attention from the other features on my cover.

Cover LinesThe fonts I used for the cover line headings are the ones used on the actual show American Horror Story and what artist Lorde uses. I added a white stroke around the fonts so they stood out on my cover, and keeping with the colour theme. I used a sans serif font for the writing underneath the headings so they didn’t stand out too much but wrote them in capitals so they attracted some attention. I made this font white with a black stroke so they would be different from the headings and stand out on the cover. I used the names of famous artists to act as cover lines, to make them stand out I put them on a grey background. The grey background looks like ripped paper so gives the effect of it being ‘ripped out’ of the magazine, this shows audiences that these artists will feature throughout.

Main Feature ArticleI chose the font for my artists name as it is quite irregular and stands out against other features on the cover. I chose to have the heading black and put a white stroke around it and make the stroke quite thick in order for it to stand out more on the page and draw attention. I used a quote from the ‘artist’ as my article cover line but had the font quite simple, careful not to detract attention from the artists name. I put it on a red strip so it would be oustanding and match with my colour theme. The text in the bar below is the same font but I used upper case so it stands out and to make it more exaggerated, this is also demonstrated through the use of italics on the word ‘those’.

Feature ArticlesI let the images act as feature articles. I chose the images to be black and white so they didn’t detract attention from the cover image but atract attention due to the contrast. I put a yellow stroke around each image to help it stand out.

Developing & challenging conventions

Contents PageMasthead & ‘contents’I featured my masthead on the contents page, I used the same font but didn’t have a shadow around it. For the ‘contents’ I used a font similar to the font of my masthead but one that was regular and didn’t have an effect. I put the ‘contents’ in a black box and made the font white, this is so it would attract attention and differ from my masthead.

ImagesI kept the images relatively small so other things would fit on the page, as I wanted to give a reasonable amount of information on my contents page. I put a white stroke around each image so give the images a ‘snapshot’ effect and also help them stand out more.

Feature Articles – HeadingsFor the headings of each section I chose a font that had the same effect as my masthead but was different. The font is italic which is why I also used it as it stands out from all other fonts on the page and shows importance. I put the headings in a red box/background so they would stand out on the page and match with the colour theme and the numbering of the articles in my magazine.

Feature ArticlesFor the actual feature articles I used the same font as my main feature article on my cover. This is so the contents page and my cover page linked. I chose to have the subheadings in upper case so they stood out against other features on the page and show that they are important features as they are the features throughout my magazine.

Developing & challenging conventions

Double Page SpreadMastheadI featured the masthead on my double page spread but didn’t have a shadow around it. Underneath the masthead I wrote ‘exclusive interview’ in red and italics so it stood out on the page and it adds to the authenticity of my magazine as it is the main feature.

ImageThe image fills most of the double page spread therefore I used a mid-shot and chose an image that is landscape.

ArticleThe font of my article is a simple font but I chose it as it looks quite ‘alternative’ therefore fitting in with the genre of my magazine. As my article is an ‘interview’ I put the questions in red so the would stand out from the other text and so readers would be able to view the questions easier. I used a drop capital on my introductory paragraph to give the double page spread authenticity.

TitleThe title of my double page spread is a quote taken from the conducted interview. I chose for the font to be in white in order for it to stand out on the dark background which is the image. In order to make it stand out I put the top and bottom lines in a black box and I added the effect of shadowing onto the boxes.

Representation

As my genre is alternative rock in order to represent this I chose a model I believed would be perfect in representing this due to their image or how I could manipulate their image to be turned into alternative. Mise-en-scene was key to the representation of alternative as the model had to be dressed in quite dark clothes and have reasonably dark make-up on. The costume of my model for the cover image was chosen as it was good for representing my genre. She has a t-shirt on of very popular rock band Guns N’ Roses which most alternative rock fans would recognise, the t-shirt was teamed with a vintage denim jacket. The make-up of the model doesn’t show up as well on camera but the lipstick was a very dark shade of red and the main colour on the eye was black. The image was taken using natural lighting but I made a decision to turn flash on so on the image the face would be illuminated and other things around would be darker. I stuck to a colour theme of black, white, red and yellow throughout my magazine. I chose these colours as the black and red are distinguished colours for alternative; black due to it being the upmost darkest colour on the colour chart and the red as it is notable for representing ‘danger’ or ‘blood’ which is quite gothic and some alternative rock artists are often labelled as ‘emo’ or ‘goth’, red is also a striking colour and stands out well. I chose the white as it is a stark contrast to the black and would help the black to stand out on dark backgrounds if needed. I chose the yellow as it is another striking colour and contrasts well with the other colours used and would draw attention to some of the important features on my magazine. The fonts on my cover were chosen specifically due to them being good at representing alternative rock as the fonts, especially for my masthead and main feature article, are quite unusual and would be fonts expected to be seen on a published well-known alternative rock magazine.

Front Cover

RepresentationContents Page

The chosen images on my contents page are ones taken when I saw famous alternative band Fall Out boy. These images are perfect for the representation of my genre as the band are a well-known band from this genre. I stuck to the colour theme of black, white, red and yellow on my contents page. The fonts on my contents page are mostly the same as on my front cover apart from the font used for my section headings. I chose this font as it is similar to my masthead font but not as bold and in italics. The font represents alternative as it looks as though it has been scribbled and most alternative rock artists are commonly known for their ruthless, carefree image.

RepresentationDouble Page Spread

The costume of my model for the double page spread was chosen due to the dark colours and the matching of the dress to the models make-up; both feature red. The make-up of the model is the same as from the cover image. The image was taken again using natural lighting but due to flash the face is illuminated and the background is darker. I used the colours black, white and red on my double page spread in keeping with the colour theme. The fonts on my double page spread, I believe, represent the genre well as they are simple but effective due to their unusualness, especially the font used for my interview. My models pose represents her to be quite carefree, like most alternative artists represent themselves to be as she is looking away from the camera this also adds an element of mystery to my model. The pose also represents her to be a desired female and possibly shows sex appeal due to her not smiling but being quite posed. This is quite important as if an artist is more desirable they’re more likely to sell more records.

Institutions I believe my magazine would definitely have a place in the magazine market. It features many artists from the same genre but the artists each produce very different kinds of music, for example band London Grammar who is featured on my contents page produce very different music to artist Mumford & Sons, also featured on my contents page. This alone means that my magazine has something for everyone and reaches a very wide audience which very few magazines published do; most stick to one type of artist/genre, and although my magazine physically offers a lot of things that already published magazines offer, such as the competitions, theoretically due to the wide audience it would reach it offers things much different to these that other magazines already on the market don’t.

Publishing company Bauer Media Group publish two music magazines, Q and Kerrang!, both very different but similar due to their qualities. Both magazines tend to feature the same kind of bands/artists which results in only particular audiences purchasing their magazines whereas my magazine is able to be purchased by most, if not all, music fans. This company would be perfect for publishing my magazine as my magazine wouldn’t draw attention away from the magazines already published by the company due to my magazine being very different to the ones already published

My magazine is specifically aimed at a younger audience which is also a quality not found in many published music magazines; most feature older bands/artists too which means older people would also be likely to purchase. This unique feature would mean that my magazine would be able to be more conversational and would feature things that younger people would more likely recognise, for example, my magazine would most likely have a twitter page alongside other social networking which would be easy for the audience to know things such as when the next issue of my magazine is available due to most young people frequently using these social networking sites.

Target Audience

I chose a younger audience of teenagers and young adults for many reasons.

• Most magazines are aimed at all audiences and this can sometimes result in teenagers and young adults being unwilling to purchase a magazine as sometimes, to reach the older part of the audience, magazines often use quite advanced language which a younger audience could be confused by which would then discourage them to purchase the magazine again.

• Magazines that are aimed at all audiences tend to feature older bands/artists which for some younger people who are fans of older music could be their reasoning for purchasing, but most youngsters aren’t particularly interested in older bands/artists and more current bands/artists who are frequently releasing new music which is available on modern media services such as iTunes and Spotify.

• Although the audience is specifically younger I have tried to reach as many potential young buyers as possible which is why I chose the genre alternative; the genre is quite broad and many modern, current artists (all who have different fan bases) fall under this genre which makes the audience wider.

Attracting an AudienceI attracted my audience through the use of…

• Fonts • Colours • Images

The fonts I used were mostly attractive but simple to read. These would attract my audience as younger people are most likely entertained by something that is pleasant to look at, but also simple. My magazine also would catch a readers eye due to the masthead and main feature article title font being significantly outstanding in comparison to the background.

I didn’t use many colours on my magazine and kept to a colour theme of black, white, yellow and red. I used these colours so my magazine didn’t look busy and as my audience is younger they would appreciate the bright colours of red and yellow.

The images used on my magazine would be beneficial to the attraction of an audience as they convey what I’m trying to say about my artist and they also fit well with my genre and as the audience would be fans of alternative they would notice the images are representing this genre and encourage them to purchase. My cover image in particular would draw in an audience as the model is looking directly into the camera therefore, creating a relationship with audiences as they feel they have a connection with the model/artist.

I also reached my target audience by…

• Trying to make my magazine as informal and conversational as possible. • Featuring modern artists.

I made my magazine informal and conversational as teenagers and younger people tend to thrive off gossip and news which is usual the topic of typical everyday conversation. This is why I tried to feature as much ‘gossip’ on my cover as possible, for example, my main feature article is the artist talking about ‘fame, feuds and those pictures’. The target audience, being a younger audience, would be more likely to purchase the magazine to find out all about these things.

Most of the featured artists in my magazine are in the current charts therefore a younger audience are more likely to recognise them and want to purchase my magazine.

TechnologiesFrom the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt many things about the different technologies I have used.

Camera The camera I used for the images taken was a Panasonic Lumix camera. As I had no proper lighting or camera equipment I had to make do with what I had, this was the camera I’d had prior to the photo-shoots, the natural lighting and the flash of the camera. This meant I had to take the pictures using the equipment I had and hope for the best. This task didn’t prove too difficult, apart from a few faults where the flash was too bright or when I moved my hand when taking the photo resulting in the picture being blurry, the photo’s turned out pretty good, but in order to make my images look as though they were professionally taken I relied on the editing that I would do on photoshop. I have learnt that although sometimes it’s necessary to make do with camera equipment you already have, a more professional camera and possibly some lighting equipment would of resulted in a much higher quality images.

PhotoshopI used photoshop not only to edit my images but to put together my front cover, contents page and double page spread. Photoshop has many capabilities, from making someone's nose smaller to changing the colour of a font, alongside my abilities when using photoshop meant when putting together my magazine it could be at it’s possible best and I used many of the effects and features on photoshop when editing my magazine. The only negative about photoshop is the constant checking of making a new ‘layer’ when adding things onto my magazine.

PublisherI used publisher when creating my preliminary task and to add the text onto my double page spread. Publisher has many limitations and it is quite basic for making/editing a magazine on. Only simple, basic colours, fonts and editing techniques are available for use on publisher meaning if my magazine was created on publisher it would be difficult to create one that hypothetically could be published.

Internet The internet was extremely convenient when constructing my magazine. I got most of my fonts used from the website www.dafont.com, I also used the internet to research current magazine which I could base and get inspiration for my own magazine from. I also used the internet to help me out if I had a struggle on photoshop or didn’t know how to do a certain technique.

Skill ImprovementWhen creating my school magazine for my preliminary task I had no idea what I was doing. I used simple fonts, and only the most basic skills. The picture used has objects in the background and the model isn’t even looking at the camera. My skills have improved significantly from the preliminary task, I became aware of how to use editing properly, my awareness of what audience like became greater and I recognised what conventions works best when creating a media product. With regards to the improvement between my preliminary task and my music magazine I have improved tremendously. Rather than using one basic font for all cover lines, as on my preliminary task, my music magazine has a range of fonts and most of the different cover lines have different fonts to draw attention to each individual one. I learnt how to properly edit an image and used tools on my music magazine cover image such as ‘liquify’ and many other complex tools whereas on my preliminary task I simply enlarged the image. After extensive research I also learnt skills such as what makes a good cover line and what the audience expects from a magazine which helped towards the improvement of my magazine creation as I knew the legitimate reasons behind using a specific colour, rather than using it because I like that colour. With regards to the layout of my music magazine, I thought things could be put in place because they looked good but through the progress of creating a music magazine I learnt that things are placed precisely and strategically.