Photoshoot inspiration

This image inspired the photo-shoot for my magazine. I wanted to recreate something like this but wanted a more of an hip hop feel to it so I made my model wear a hoodie like the girl in this picture. However I did not like her facial expression because she is not looking at the camera and magazine models usually do so that it seems they are looking directly at the person who is potentially going to buy it. For the double page spread I made my model also wear the hood up to look more fierce and edgy.

Contents Page Reaserch

This contents page has a lot of information and the writing is quite small so that everything could fit and no space is wasted. The main colours are red, black and grey. These colours are more likely to appeal to a male audience. The fonts are easy to read yet they all look the same and blend together. This is something I’d rather avoid because it makes everything clump together and looks boring.

I would like my contents page to look more like this one that the Q contents page because it suits my target audience. It has feminine colours and would attract teenage girls. It has smaller subheadings that break up different parts of the magazine; this is something I would like to do as it is effective and quite a useful feature to use. 

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

My draft front cover looked very unprofessional and it had a edit on it that did not match the genre or style of my magazine. I then had to make a lot of changes and improvements to fit my target audience and genre of the music magazine. I took a whole new set of photos, this time it was from further way so that the picture wouldn’t be stretched, I also used an inside white background so that I wouldn’t have to cut thing out of the background and spoil the photograph.  At first I put an edit on it but after realising it looked cheap and unprofessional, I changed it and kept the original colour.

 also had to use different fonts and the main colours on the front magazine. I stuck to typically ‘feminine’ colours such as pink, purple and yellow as my magazine was for a female target audience.

As for the double page spread, I used a less edited photo to make it more professional and link the article better to the picture. I stuck to the colours on the front cover to again link it to the cover line.

Through the progression I have learned how to make the magazine look more authentic with a choice of specific fonts, colours and style of photographs. I have learned that plainer photographs look a lot more sophisticated and pricy than over edited pictures with a lot of effects. The contents page requires a lot of information therefore space cannot be wasted. The double page spread requires a lot of writing however it is good to break up some paragraphs to make it look more effective instead of having long, boring paragraphs. The writing has to flow throughout the page.

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

Before starting this project, I was not very good at editing digitally, but after starting the project I’ve improved a lot. I have had a few problems with my media product especially with the front cover, my photo was not positioned correctly and the text was too close to the edge. I did not know how to reduce the stretched effect but I then cropped the photo so that it would fit.

So I had to use many ranges of programmes to help me, especially Serif Photo plus as I knew how to use it and I had to edit the photos I took to improve them. This was helpful when trying to make the photos stand out and for when I had to sharpen or cut out certain parts of the photo.

The second thing I have learnt in this project is how to use blogger. I have had a Tumblr blog before so this step was easy for me to do. 

The final thing I have learned to do was to use Serif Page Plus. This is software perfect  for making the front cover, double page spread and contents page. It allows you to edit fonts, text and pictures. With this software I made my product. It was quite difficult to use at first because it had many different features but once I learned how make the front cover, making the DPS and contents page was easy. The difficult part of using it was trying to make the paragraphs fit and be in line with each other, without having to be craped together. I was really trying to make use of the spare space so that it is not wasted.

 

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups that I want to attract are teenagers and young adults. The audience that my production is targeted at would be working class and perhaps the middle class. I think this because teenagers and students would not necessarily have a big income and students are portrayed as being frugal.

I have represented class within my production through the front cover. The person on my front cover can be seen as working class because of the casual choice of clothes as well as the genre of music this person is associated with. The girl is wearing a hooded sweatshirt that is associated with hip hop and you would not see an upper class person wearing this. The way she is dressed and presented challenges the stereotype that middle class are well presented however. If it was a magazine exclusively for middle and upper class it would probably be something like a classical music magazine. I think this because you do not expect wealthy people listening to mainstream music or genres like hip hop. You can also see the potential target audience through the style of the double page spread. In the photo the girl has her hood up which again stresses the working class stereotype with teenagers and young people in general wearing hoodies.

The age of the people who would view or buy my product would be ages 16-24. The person on the front cover and double page spread is a similar age, the girl is portrayed as being at least 20. Because of this she is more likely to reach out to the audience as you relate to people closest to your age rather than much older or much younger people. My product supports the stereotype that young people are rebellious and like to risk things to get the ideal outcome. As well as the idea they like to party and have fun.

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

My music magazine challenges conventions because it has a unique central image that’s unlike the other music magazine’s I’ve seen and researched. The colours are typically feminine, using font in different shades of pink and purple. This way I can appeal to the female target audience. My magazine also has a barcode like all the magazines this makes it look authentic.

The masthead of my magazine is in conventional place and it is similar to ‘Q’ magazine as it has a pronounced letter on the logo, making the magazine recognisable.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be young people aged 16-24 and mostly female. This is because of the choice of colours and the genre of my magazine. I kept the front cover feminine using bright and bold colour like pink and purple. I also used a female model because it appeals to young girls and it also relates to them.  

The target audience is more likely to be socially active and people who like to go to music festivals as well as people who listen to music on mobile phones, iPods, computers etc.