Diary Entry

Today I got feedback from my peers aboout my double page spread, this is what they said:

Overall it is good, however you need to make the background a more appealing colour abd change the black font as it is boring.
Dominic Averkiou

The picture is really good as you have changed the apature sight to blur the background.
The font is good, but there needs to be more text.
George Blake

Question 3

Condé nast

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Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I believe my media product (an Indie music magazine) represents my social group due to its layout and colour scheme. The design of the front cover and contents page ensure that the target audience are represented first, the any other social group who wish to purchase the magazine. By laying out the magazine in a way that targets the target audience, the sales of the magazine will be higher and achieve greater revenue.
Firstly, the colour scheme best describes my target audience. The predominant colour of black implies the audience are sophisticated and chic. Coupled with the red it suggests the reader is rebellious and ‘loud’ yet still holding some moral values. The grey (small amounts) gives the reader a sense of intelligence and articulate, making them seem more confident about themselves as a person. The colours also attract a different audience as well as the predominant teenage group. The black connotes maturity and intellect, whereas the red signifies youth. Therefore they attract both older and younger people due to the connotations of the colours.
These colours have been chosen instead of light colours such as: yellow or pink as I think those colours would add a certain comedic value to it and not efficiently represent the social group. The Indie, rock genre connotes darker colours, reflecting the mood of the listener and bands that are associated with it; these being Foo Fighters and Two Door Cinema Club. Both the bands ‘badges’ feature black and some red. Therefore these colours will be suited to this magazine.
The model used on my front cover is of a similar age to my target audience, thus meaning they can easily relate to him and purchase the magazine. The camera places the model at eye level implying that the audience can interact with him easily as well as adding to the approachable nature of the magazine.  The clothes that my model wears, relate to the genre of the magazine. Skinny jeans and Vans, suggest that the model is leading in fashion and enforces the audience to buy. 

Question 1

Media Essay

Front Cover

The masthead I have used is very simple yet effective. I have based it on similar mastheads such as ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ as these too are typical indie magazines. The word ‘AMP’ is typical in Indie music as many amplifiers are used to create the music that is associated with the genre. The drop shadow adds emphasis and this draws attention to the magazine. The colour red is strong and bold and also connotes danger or romance. A tenuous link lies with how the reader will feel excited reading the magazine and feel an emotional connection when reading it.

The medium close up shot I have used for my main image is used to draw attention to my magazine. The lighting shines on his face adding emphasis to his ‘cool’ and relaxed facial expression. Two emotions the readers will feel when reading. My models eyes are looking away from the camera. This is due to him being and up and coming star, he looks in to the distance as a metaphor for looking into the future, to see what his career entails. This does and does not conform to typical Indie magazines. Some such as NME, predominantly feature the cover model looking directly at the camera, attracting the audiences attention. 

The button I have used is black, contrasting with the white text. It gives the name of a famous Indie band that many readers of my magazine will be influenced by. By putting it at the front it draws the readers in and sells the magazine. The other sell lines are of other big indie band s our festivals. Due to the fact that it is an autumn issue, there are pictures of the summer’s festivals. This is a USP as many people who visited the festivals will want to recollect their memories of the summer.

I have included a bar code due to the fact that is essential on every magazine and without it then the magazine could not be sold. The website is located under the title so it is not spilling onto the page, yet subliminally being messaged onto the reader.  The slogan is used to attract attention to the magazine and be a recurring phrase in the readers head, constantly associating it with the magazine.

Contents Page

The model sits in the centre of the contents page surrounded by text. This is so that the model is the focus of the reader’s attention. It is important to include the date and issue number in my contents page as to keep up a common appearance throughout my magazine, that a monthly reader will recognise.

The web address on my magazine and the fact that there are links to websites allow for different people to access the magazine in ways they prefer. This increases the audience as it relates to more people. As well as that, Facebook and Twitter are located in the corner as most teenagers (target audience) are obsessed with the social networking ‘craze’, once again allowing for a wider and more general target audience.

The plug, ‘Bands Index’, is used to allow the reader to easily search for the bands they like and then locate them without having to scan the entire magazine. The black and white contrast one another making the texts stand out.

The main image is of my mode who also features in my article. By focusing the entire magazine on him, it means all the readers reading about him will become excited. I have taken pictures of him in a quiet location to capture good images. He is standing/leaning, against a brick wall. The wall implies simplicity yet could also stand for the building blocks to his career.  He is also looking away to suggest he can see his future. The fact that he lacks facial expression, exemplifies that the future is ambiguous, causing the reader to feel nervous. This relates back to the colour red connoting excitement and nervousness.

Double Page Spreads

My first double page spread is very simplistic. It contains an image of my cover model. I have taken the picture landscape to fill the entire a3 page. The cover model is on the left of the picture wearing typical Indie clothing: Skinny Jeans, Polo, Vans. I have not centred him as I wrote a pull quote on the left hand side of the magazine. This is very simple but creates excitement for the readers who have eagerly anticipated the magazine. On the top of the page there is a gradient which is prominent throughout this article. This implies that the article is separate and more important than the rest of the magazine.
My next double page spread is the opening article to my magazine. It begins with a few simple ‘get to know’ questions. It then elaborates and I ask about his career and go onto ask about more personal aspects of the musicians life. My model is a typical Indie singer.

Everything I have spoken about in this evaluation conforms to the typical Indie music magazine. Magazines such as ‘NME’ and ‘Q’ are my magazines inspiration and I have used the colours, layout and some of the content very similar to these magazines.

Diary Entry

Thuis week was the week where we had to evaluate out own and our classmates work. On Photoshop we displayed out work and opened the annotation tool where we wrote about the strengths and weaknesses of eachothers work. I gave constructive criticism to everyones work and people did the same to me.
I then went about recording all of my data collected so I could create a good survey, and imprive my work to my best ability.

Diary Entry

The week before Christmas was very stressfull because many of my coursework pieces were due. I worked very hard to complete: Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. Also I did my sell line ideas after creating these on Adobe Photoshoot.