Evaluation of personal learning (progression)

My progression throughout my work has improved alot. I started my preliminary on publisher, and then went to work on my main task in Adobe photoshop. This improved my progression as there is alot more facilities to use on adobe than publisher. Also it is the first time I have ever used Adobe and so I have experienced new technologies that can improve my work. Also throughout my coursework I have improved on my camera skills as I have experienced how to change a picture just by changing the camera angle, for example a close-up concentrates on one steady part of what you are looking at, a long shot concentrates on the whole image. Therefore by using different camera angles I can manipulate my pictures, which is how the industry works.

Evaluation of personal learning (technologies)

Throughout my research I have learned alot about the different uses of technology that I can use. Adobe Photoshop and publisher have taught me that you can easily change an image for example the setting, background props, colour, saturation, hue , sharpness it can reduce red eye, etc. This completely changed my original image making my ending image more bright so it stands out. I have learned that you can completely change an image from a certain camera angle, such as close-up from a high angle shot. This helped me when i created the picture of my band, which is a shot from birds eye view. Throughout my project I have used shots such as side shots, birds eye view shots and mid-closeups. Also I have learned which lights are best to work with when taking a picture, i think natural lighting is the best in which i used for my preliminary but because of the changes i made to my final picture i use normal lighting. When taking my picture i used rule of the thirds and depth of field to contain a professional image. I have also improved my skills on paint as i had to print screen and crop the picture so I could insert it on my blog.

Evaluation of audience

I think the type of audience my magazine would aim for is teenagers onwards. My magazine is for people who enjoy reading about R&B/POP, people who like fashion, gossip and setting. My magazine is aimed at mainly females, but also there is attractive images which may provoke men to want to buy as well. The title of my magazine is called soul, which sets the mood of the magazine. I strived to address my audience by creating images of females, solo artists and bands (all females). I used bold colours which set the tone and the theme of the magazine. The actual writing projects towards females, for example the gossip on how the band split.

In the picture it shows the way I have used gossip in my article, this shows the audience reading this would be mainly females.

Evaluation of distribution

Ideally Vanguarde Media Inc would distribute my product because the type of magazine influence is ‘the publisher of urban magazines Honey, Savoy and Heart & Soul’ Unfortunately this company recently went bankrupt and so if I had to choose another institution would be Universal music group which distributes pop, dance, urban, alternative and retro. UMG is a very popular institution, distributing artists and bands such as, Girls Allowed, Mariah Carey, 50 cent, etc. I believe SOUL would benefit from such a popular institution because it is similar yet different to the magazines they publish.

Evaluation of Representations

I based my magazine around R&B/POP followers, which is modern and new, such as Beyonce, Jay Z, etc. Adding a more modern day style allowed me to attract a younger audience. By photographing a young girls for my main images, and naming bands from modern times this has allowed me to target my audience at teenagers onwards. Not everyone may like the main particle but due to the different types of artist i have named throughout the magazine I'm sure there is something for everyone. Inside, on the contents page, I photographed a place in which i said was a venue for the next music magazine, although i didnt take pictures of any instruments I still managed to create a music theme throughout my magazine. As my magazine is aimed at mainly females I introduced images which could be seen as quite sexual as the pictures are mainly glamourous, which is like most female artists today.

Evaluation of Conventions

My magazine uses conventions of an R&B/pop magazine, similar to blender and vibe. Like Vibe and Blender I use attractive images, mainly mid-shots and close-ups. However I have also challenged the forms of real magazines by using birds-eye shots and contrasting and complimenting different colours according to the pictures. For example by using black and white against a colourful picture and also in my contents page the colours I have used around the picture are the same. On my front page I have used all different types of colours to attract the audience, instead of one main colour which is usually what Vibe and Blender do. In my article I have twisted and changed the quotes in which Cheryl Cole has used about her band on going solo. The images below show my own image and an image from a magazine which influenced and encouraged me to produce an R&B/POP music magazine.

Analysis of Double page spread

Analysis of Contents

Analysis of Front Cover

Links

http://www.cherylcole.com/
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1480865/20031201/knowles_beyonce.jhtml


I used this link to help me with my article as I wanted to create my article on solo artists which have experienced being in a band. A prime example of this is Cheryl cole as she has experienced life in a band and now life going solo. I used this website to give me ideas for my article. it helped alot as it made me think how i was going to use the article such as, how the band split, or how i was going to interperate the artist as a role model, or as a artist who cant get on with other singers in a band.
I also researched other singers who have been in a band and have gone solo such as robbie williams, Beyonce, Michael Jackson, etc. These were also very interesting, but because cheryl coles recent split with Girls allowed it was easier to find more information.

Main Task

For my main task, I will have to create a plan for my front cover, article and my contents page. As I am creating a R&B type of magazine I will prepare my pictures and research to create a music magzine influenced by R&B. i have decided for my article i will be interveiwing a solo artist rather than a band, this way i can ask more questions and most R&B singers are soloists, such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Lil wayne, etc.

1. I must create a colour palette for my front cover, and decide how i want the layout
2. I must create my article based around my front cover.
3. Then I shall create my contents page influencing my front cover layout and article layout together.

Preliminery Magazine Front Cover

After i created my mock-up for my preliminery task, i then designed my front cover using microsoft publisher. I wanted my magazine to target a specific audience, students aswell as parents. In order for me to achieve this i had to make my front cover look presentable, and so it must include a picture of students on the front and bright bold writing for the title and about what is inside.

I decided to unusualy use my masthead at the bottom of the page as i thought i would provide me more room at the top, and so the title didnt cover the deyes high school sign.

The manipulated the image by cropping it so it fit the page, and so i had to cut out the sides of the picture to make it more vertical than horizontal. The colours i used red, black white and yellow, I think suited the front cover the best as they are plain yet bold colours.

Magazine Institutions

Before selling your magazine the editor of the magazine has to prepare for publication. In order for this to happen the magazine has to be published by a certain institution. So i have decided to research different institutions which distribute magazines.

Bauer is the largest privately owned publisher in Europe, publishing in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the UK. The Bauer was founded in 1875. Bauer is now the largest consumer magazine publishing company in the UK. Publishing womens interests, womens lifestyle, TV listings, puzzles, mens lifestyles, music and film magazines. Bauer publishes magazines such as Bella, Take a break, spirtit and destiny, Thats life! and TV choice.

IPC media is the leading UK consumer magazine publisher. Almost 2 in every three women read their magazines and over 44% of men also read them. They publish 80 magazines such as Whats on TV, Pick me up, Woman, Nuts, Now, Marie Claire and In style. Their digital properties include NME.com and housetohome.co.uk.

The media institution i think will fit my type of genre would either be Vanguarde Media Inc or Universal Music Group. They both specialise in Urban/R&B music.

Universal Media was named after MCA, this group distributes a large variety of choice such as dance, R&B, pop and retro. Aswell as distributing it also markets, records and develops the music. The artists who have signed to UMG include Fergie, Mariah Carey, The Game, Keisha Cole, etc.

Vanguarde Media focuses on Urban music and fashion. It has distributed magazines such as Vibe, which is my main influence on my music magazine.

School newsletter

In order to present my prelimenary Magazine front cover, I need to establish the current audience and so deconstructing a school newsletter will help me, however my front cover will be completely different to a newsletter. My front cover will be aimed at the students and the parents/guardians whereas the newsletter is mainly aim at parents/guardians.

The School newsletter is constructed in a simplistic format. The masthead 'welcome' represents a ideology of a community, and so welcomes anyone to read. The newsletter is set out in bullet points, which is therefore easy to read, the bullet points mainly talk about successful examination results, new staff and new refurbishments.

My newsletter will therefore attract a different type of audience and target mainly the students, therefore adding colour, pictures and only a little bit of writing. I will still be using language such as 2009/2010 is going to be an excellent year, as this is a persuasive logo, telling the audience how great the new year will be and why.

Analysis Of Double Page Spread

I have chose to analyse this double page spread as i think, i will present my double page spread like this. The choice of artist in the picture shows that it will be an article on an R&B solo artist. The target audience would therefore be teenagers and upwards, mainly females. The colour in the background is very plain whereas the main picture is the artist in a bright red dress which stands out. the other pictures are in black and white. The pages is taken up mostly by writing however there are seven llittle images of the artist on the top of the page. these little images show little emotions on Solange and so the artist is presented as different.

Analysis Of Contents Page

I have chosen to analyse this contents page as i think it fits with the type of style i will use for my magazine.

The magazine uses one image, which is attractive as it might be seen as a sexual image as the artist is showing off her legs. The image has been constructed around the writeing and therefore taking up most of the page. The intended audience would therefore be people who are interested in R&B music, or who are interested in this specific artist. The colours around the image are pretty plain jus grey black and white. However the font used is sans serif fonts which stand out. The magazine also uses a cross head showing there are two seperate sections of the magazine. The information on the page is organised on the right side, theres not alot to read because the main picture takes up most of the room. The logo is out line in the top left hand corner but doesnt realy stand out in the picture.

Mock-up Prelimenary Contents

For My prelimenary contents page i have made a mock-up of what the school news booklet would look like.

Like any other contents page i have used images and the masthead.

I plan to use one of the main headings relating to the front cover of the magazine. The other headings will be used for other situations which are going on in the school such as sports events, school trips, etc.

Research double page spread

The Double page spread uses a full close-up image of the artist, which takes up one full page. The type of image represented shows that the article will be anout Pink, the performer. The main title is 'cash for questions' this implies that the interveiwer has had to pay pink to answer the questions therefore, the questions are important. the colour on the double page spread is plain black and white, this helps draw attention to the picture. The double page interview is half writing half image and so the magazine is giving the audince a fair share of picture and writing. The picture of pink laughing is showing that the interview is funny, entertaining, obviously not boring, etc and so is adressing the reader as more of a close friend. the fonts used are serif fonts showing quite plain fonts.

Contents Page

To enable me to create a preliminary contents page i had to research other magazines so i could design my own mock-up.

This helped me with the layout and design of my template. Down the left hand side there is the contents of the magazines, once again the main attraction is the picture and so the picture takes up most of the room.

This supports the style of the magazine as it has the name of the magazine at the top of the page and the picture underneath taking up most of the room on the page. The colours of the contents are near enough the same colours on the front page, red white and black, this therefore contributes to the style of the magazine.

The way in which the contents page is set out shows that it is accessible to the audience to read clearly as it is set out in different sections. this shows the magazine is not boring as it has many images in it but also has alot of artcles (writing) in it aswel.

The magazine logo is at the very top f the page and so partially dominates the whole page. There are also offers about buying the magazines at the bottom of the page in bold writing suggesting to subscribe the magazine.

preliminary mock up

After researching my front covers for the magazines i decided to create a first draft of a template for my preliminary task.

I believe that the majority of the front cover should be the picture, this therefore grabs the audiences attention straight to the picture. I then placed the masthead at the top of the page as, in most magazines it is at the top of the page.

The puffs at the side of the page, as little bits of information which will be inside the magazine, the puffs arent the main attraction, the picture is and so the puffs only take a smal ammount of the page.

the logo/badge will therefore be the deyes high school badge which will target a specific audience.

NME magazine analysis

I have chosen this magazine to analyse as it will help me create my final draft of my music magazine. I researched this type of magazine NME and found that it is a very popular magazine in the UK which has been published weekly since 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart.

The NME stands for New Musical Express. over the years NME was particularly associated with gonzo journalism, but now it has een more associated with punk rock.

NME talks about the UKS most comprehensive gig guides, definitive reviews of the weeks hottest gigs, tracks and albums, fiery comments from the nations most opinionated writers.

Blender magazine analysis

I have analysed a few music magazines to help me create my own magazine.

I researched this type of magazine, Blender and found that it is an American music magazine that billed itself as 'the ultimate guide to music and more' it was also known as sometimes steamy pictorials for celebrities (as shown in the picture to the right).

The magazine compiled itself with lists of artists, albums and songs, including the 'best of' and 'worst of' lists. Blender teamed with VH1 to create 50 most awesomely bad songs. The magazine was published by Dennis publishing. the magazine began in 1994 then in 2009 owner alpha media group closed Blender magazine and leaving it as an online only format.

As soon as you look at this type of magazine it automatically looks R&B as on the front cover you have an R&B performer. The type of articles inside include various information about other R&B artistists such as Rihanna and Mia, as the puffs show. The kind of Issues that are displayed are woman of the year, and the best songs of 2007. As it shows a woman on the front page and refers to woman of the year and also refoers to other women such as Rihanna and Mia, i think this magazines target audience is aimed at women, ages 13-30. the interests that the audience should have is enjoying R&B music.

The magazine has used the main picture of fergie in only a bra and a jacket, therefore showing a sexy image to interest the audience. Therefore the type of relationship the magazine wants with the audience is an automatica attraction of males and females. Fergie is on the front cover, the reason why is because she was voted woman of the year, the anchorage text shows this and therefore implies a good image of the R&B singer. The anchorage text follows by saying 'how bad girl made good' and so the overall message the artist is giving is that, you can change from being bad to good.

The design of the title and the background is pretty plain, therefore the main picture stands out more. The Title is just Fergie written it bold light blue, to stand out against the white background. the slogan on the front of the magazine is 'how bad girl made good' the slogan therefore reveals that the magazine obviusly has an interesting article about Fergie and so attracts readers. The colours used around the article are blue, white and gold this contrasts with the colour of the picture as she is wearing black.

Finaly the strategies used to attract the audience are the plain colours around the main image, the sexual image on the front cover and also the bold fonts.

Hey Im Georgia,
Welcome to my AS media blog :) In this blog i will show my progress within the content of my media studies.