as media studies foundation portfolio

In order to produce my AS Foundation Portfolio, I chose the print brief. To fulfil this task I started by examining existing media texts of a similar form.

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

Most mastheads are situated to the top left hand side of the page, this is similar to my masthead and the one of Kerrang as they are both situated to the top of the page. Mastheads tend to be short catchy memorable names; this is also similar to my masthead (MI) and the masthead of ‘Kerrang’ as they are also catchy and memorable. The masthead is the biggest piece of text on the page, standing out the audience ensures and encourages people buy your product, as if your masthead is effective it can persuade people to buy the product. Both my magazine and Kerrang use a range of different sell lines, which grab the audience attention. The cover lines on my front cover are situated underneath the masthead, were as they sell lines on Kerrang are at the bottom of the page. I decided to do this differently. I titled my cover lines using plus, which is similar to Kerrang as I believe this grabs the audience attention. The barcode, issue, date and price tend to be located at the bottom right hand corner of the front cover; these tend to be all together so they don’t take up much space on the page whilst also maintaining a professional look. The skyline, which is located at the top of the page above the masthead, usually features some of the main bands that are seen in the magazine. Skylines are not essential; however they make the magazine look more professional as well as maintaining a fresh look to the magazine. Skylines are reasonably effective, as they attract and engage the reader. The anchorage is similar to the one in Kerrang, these display the artists name, the text is big and bold ensuring that it stands out and expresses what the band/artist are like. The name on Kerrang of ‘you me at Six’, is slightly tilted this links to the quirkiness of the band, whilst portraying the genre which is alternative rock. The main sell line, used to sell ‘black owl’ to the public and audience is also similar to the one that is seen on the front cover of Kerrang, as there is a sentence either way. The teasing contents are situated in the splash; my splash is in the form of a circle and is different to the rest of the conventions on the screen, this is not similar to Kerrang as Kerrang lists there teasing contents. I decided to do this differently, as I believed this would look better and stands out more, whilst also expressing the genre of the magazine. The colour scheme is highly conventional and is used throughout the magazine, this ensures that the house style is consistent as well as the genre. The colours link in with the genre of the magazine which is rock, the colours black and red are symbolic, as they relate to the mystery of rock.

The title of the page is situated at the top right hand corner; this is particularly conventional of a magazine contents page and this is similar to the contents page of Kerrang. The issue and date of the contents page is also with the title of the contents page, this is also conventional of a magazine contents page. There are two main images on the contents page, the effectiveness of this is that it is also similar to the one in kerrang as this has also got a couple of images on the contents page. This is particularly conventional of a music magazine as the contents page usually displays several images, which link to article that, are featured in the magazine. This is highly effective when creating a successful contents page as it relates to the target audience, and feeds the needs of the audience as it relates to the genre of the magazine. The features section is on the bottom half of the page, this is similar to the one on Kerrang, and this is a conventional feature of a contents page and is reasonably effective as it displays all of the top articles in a magazine. This is needed to make an effective contents page, as it clearly and effectively attract the audience into reading and purchasing the product. There is also a news section on my contents page, and the one of Kerrang this is effective as it is conventional of a contents page, these are seen on many contents pages and are used purposely to engage the reader. The same house style is continuously used throughout my front cover and contents page the reason why I decided to use this is that it continues and adopts the overall genre of the magazine which is rock. This is successful when trying to create an efficient magazine, as it continues with the conventions that are typically seen on a magazine. One of the main features on my contents page is the reviews section, I decided to split these down into two separate sections on the contents page, album reviews and live review. Ensuring that the audience get all the latest feedback on recent events and new albums. To ensure that the audience know where to find particular articles and reviews or news, I used numbers to label what pages the articles on and where they can find them. I decided not to add an editor’s letter, this is because it is not very appealing to the audience and they will take very little interest in it. Also I believe using one would take up to much space, meaning that I will have to add very little contents on the features section. This would be inefficient as I wanted to display a lot of article, so the buyer is getting their money’s worth. This is different to Kerrang, as they tend to use an editor’s letter on their contents page, this is the only thing different to my contents page.

There are a lot of conventional feature on the double page spread and throughout the magazine, first of all the main image of my double page spread, displays the singer in medium close up. The colour of the picture is in black and white; however certain features of the singer’s clothes are highlighted in red. This is effective as it strongly creates the stereotypical rock star as plug, and dark clothing link to the stereotypical rock star. This is similar to the main image that is seen on kerrang, this image features the main singer in medium close up performing. However the difference is that there are several smaller images around the main image of the article, of the other band mates. The main large headline is at the top of the right page under the name of the artist, this is the biggest piece of text on the page as it is to ensure that it stands out to the audience. Usually these tend to go across the two pages; this is different on mine as I didn’t want the text to cover the two pages. This is seen on the double page spread of Kerrang, as this is the biggest piece of text on the page as it nearly covers the top of both the pages. The introductory paragraph is the most important piece of the article; this is the most persuasive part of the article which engages the reader to read further. This is similar to the one of Kerrang, the text is clear precise and is very effective when introducing the article, and introductions are used at the beginning of an article to give the audience a taste of what the article is about. This is one of the most important conventions, which are consistently used throughout Kerrang. Photo credits are also usually seen on the contents page, these are usually situated with the main image on the double page spread. This is seen on my double page spread, as the photo credits are placed with the picture on the page, I did this because i wanted my double page spread to maintain all of the main convention that are seen on an ordinary double page spread. This is not similar to the double page spread of Kerrang, as I can’t particularly see any photo credits on the page. The byline tends to be situated under the main article; this is typical of the conventions and is clearly used on my article. However I cannot tell this on the double page spread of Kerrang as I am unable to make out if there is one or not. The drop cap, is used on all forms of article, this is a very effective convention as it stands out and is very appealing doing this a different colour makes it a little more appealing. Finally the pull quote is situated in the middle of the article. The pull quote is a quote from the artist who is featured in the article, this piece of text is usual big bold and tends to be in italics to sure it stands out to the rest of the text.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social groups are highly important when trying to achieve a successful media product, to do so there are several factors that need to be considered when doing so. These are:

· Stereotypes

· Generic types

· Age groups

· Socio economic group

My magazine is highly conventional, meaning that stereotypes are expressed using original conventions that are usually seen in music magazine. In my magazine, there is a clear sense of the genre rock; this is seen in the main image as this displays the main artist on my magazine smashing through a wall. This clearly expresses the genre of rock using denotation, meaning that this is the typical behaviour that would be expected from a rock star, as they are seen as rebellious. The colour scheme is a great use of connotation, as black, and red are seen as aggressive colours meaning danger. Rock stars are seen as rebellious people, meaning that they don’t care about danger. The colours link with the artist, as this is what we stereotypically expect the artists to be like. These colours are also related to the genre of the magazine, as we associate rock music as dark and dismal. This colour scheme is consistent throughout the magazine, to ensure that the genre is used throughout means that this will relate to the audience. The generic type of my magazine is based solely on the genre of the magazine; people tend to relate rock to men as women are stereotypically not seen to like rock music. Due to this I decided that my media product should relate to both men and women because similar media products such as Kerrang are only based on men. This is effective and will relate to the women as well as men, as there are particular bands and artists that are featured in my magazine which will ensure that the magazine will relate to both generic types. The age you base your media product on, is widely expressed contributory factor as if the contents is not to date with the age of your target audience your media product will not be as successful. Originally my media product was based on the ages of 15 and above, however this has changed since my research. I decided that a more appropriate age would be over the age of 18, as some of the contents in the magazine may be seen offensive to certain types of people. Particularly if the magazine was based on a younger age then the parents of the children, may find it unreasonable because some of the contents may be seen as vulgar. When relating to a younger audience it is important that the contents is up to date, meaning you should continuously change the bands in the magazine, as well as keeping up to date with new bands and upcoming tours and events. I decided that my magazine should not be aimed at someone over the age of 40 as people over this age will find it hard to relate to the magazine. This is because ‘sex.drugs and rock and roll’ is necessarily seen and related to the youth of today as we wouldn’t stereotypically expect this of a more mature person. In concerns to socio economic groups, I believe that the magazine would come under the group D, which is semi-skilled people, as you do not need a high education or a lot of money to read my media product as I wanted everyone to have the chance to read it.

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

The way you distribute your product, is highly effective when determining a successful media product. When planning my media product, I decided to use an independent publication however this has changed when creating my media product. I have now decided that this was not the right place of publication, and I believe that the product should be published by one of the major publishing companies in the world. As this is a much more effective place of publication, as it has a lot of experience when publishing rock magazines. Like kerrang, who is also published by Bauer Media I decided to use them to publish my media product. My unique selling point is that my magazine is based on all aspects of rock, whereas Kerrang is based on a more specialised genre of heavy metal. This is effective, as Bauer media would not produce similar magazines that will compete with one another. Bauer media also publish similar magazines such as Mojo, Empire and Q these are listed under the male section. This is particularly effective as my magazine will therefore stands out from the rest of the magazines, because my magazine is aimed at both women and men as well as having a overall genre of rock it means that this will not compete with the other magazines. I decided not to base my magazine on IPC media, as the magazine NME is also published by NME and is similar to mine.

4. Who would be the audience for your product?

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GoAnimate.com: 4. Who would be the audience for your product? by LaurenWykeStudent

5. How did you attract address your audience?

Using demographics and psychographics I used a variety, of different features to attract the audience into purchasing the product. Because my socio-economic group is D, there are particular things that will be important to these groups. Psychographics is the system for measuring the consumer’s beliefs, opinions and interests. This is seen in my media product as I address the audience using their opinions and interests. First of all the image will relate to the audience, as the image displays an artist in straight up medium close up, this shows the audience that they are on the same level as the artist. Due to the gender issue, there are bands in the magazine which will attract both sexes. The band oasis, links to both men and women this is effective as it will attract the audience into purchasing the product. I try and attract the attended age range, by ensuring that the bands that are featured in the magazine are up to date and new. This keeps the younger audience interested in the magazine, as younger people tend to change their mind often. The artist on the front page is also young and fresh faced, meaning that this will attract the target audience. The anchorage will also attract and address the audience; this is because young adults will find it easy to relate to 'sex, drugs and rock and roll'. Is stereotypically related to the youth of today, meaning that this would not look address an older audience. The colours black, white and red create the genre of rock, this addresses the audience as these are fans of the genre of rock. Stereotypically many rock fans dress in dark dismal colours, and were tight clothes; this is seen in the main image which shows that the audience are similar to the artist. These fill the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs; this is when we need to fulfil an area in order to move on. The social part is seen in my magazine, as the magazine directly addresses the audience, meaning that the audience feel that they are part of a specific group, the group in which my magazine represents is rock/music fans. In regards to Value Life styles, the category in which my audience falls under is the groups that are driven by needs. Both of these are completely expressed in my magazine, i use a variety of different conventions that make the audience feel like they are part of a group. These are the main image, anchorage, cover lines and colour scheme.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing his product?

As you can see from the image on the right, my magazine has developed greatly. I have learnt to use a variety of different technologies when constructing my product. Firstly using Photoshop, I learnt how to use the quick selection tool to when editing my main image. Using this I cut half of the background out leaving jagged edges to create the effect of the artist smashing through a well, when trying to create the genre rock. I also used the transform scale tool, to make my main image smaller to ensure that the image actually fitted on the page. The transform tool, came in handy when I was adjusting all of my images and I consistently used it throughout. Another use was editing all of the text on the page, as it made it easier to rotate, resize and even move the images. This is something that I didn’t know when completing my preliminary task, however if I knew this previously it would have made my magazine more efficient. Another technology that I have learnt when creating my music magazine is the spot healing tool, I noticed that on my main image the artist had some blemishes on his face. In order to get rid of the spots on the artists face, I used the spot healing brush, this made his face look clear and fresh faced. I didn’t know this when producing my college magazine front cover; luckily the model had no spots or anything wrong with his skin. I have learnt to make the text stand out and more efficient, I used the effects drop shadow, inner shadow, outer glow, inner glow, bevel and emboss, colour overlay, gradient overlay, pattern overlay, satin and stroke.

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

Since completing my college magazine to producing my music magazine, I believe that I have learnt a lot about how to produce a successful magazine. Firstly I didn’t know how to correctly identify and use all of the conventions that make up a successful media product. As you can see I now know how to correctly identify them, as well as applying them to the magazine to ensure that the magazine is relatable and addresses the audience. When I began to create my college magazine, I didn’t know how to use Photoshop properly. You are able to see this as the college magazine displays no effects and is very basic and reasonably dull, however this may be typical of a college magazine as it is not particularly for entertainment bases. This is different to my music magazine, as the magazine has numerous amounts of effects which make it consistently more appealing to the audience. All of the text on the college magazine is basic and dull; this is completely different to the text that is seen on the magazine front cover as I have used effects that bolden the text to make it stand out more. I have also used a drop shadow which strengthens the text, and make the text look more appealing. The headlines on the college magazine are not as catchy as the ones on my music magazine front cover, using appealing headlines ensure the effectiveness of the magazine. My music magazine is much more effective then my college magazine. The two pieces of work are so different because the college magazine, does not look as professional as the music magazine. I did not use as many conventions in the college magazine, then what is seen on the music magazine, this means that the magazine looks less professional and will not be as relatively popular as the Music magazine. Another big difference is the images that are seen on both the magazine, the main image on the college magazine does not feature any sort of relevance to the magazine however he is the main featured article. There is also no clear genre of the college magazine, also showing that it is not completely professional, Whereas the music magazine, displays a clear genre of rock which is portrayed using the image. As the image is a clearly stereotypical representation of the genre, whilst also addressing the audience of the magazine. Overall, the clear difference is that the college magazine is not to the standards of a professional magazine, it lacks in the conventions of a magazine and does not portray a clear sense of genre. This is different in concerns to the Music Magazine, as all the different conventions are used and there is a precise genre of rock. Thus meaning that the Music Magazine, looks more professional then the college magazine showing that i have effectively learnt to use photoshop currectly since making the college magazine.