Evaluation - Question Seven

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

In this final evaluation question I am looking back on my Preliminary Task and what I have learnt since I had undertaken this task. The School Magazine that I have created to serve as my Preliminary Task was my first step into the world of Adobe Photoshop, and for a first time I didn't think I did too badly.

Preliminary and Main Task

Evaluation - Question Six

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

During the process of construction of my Media Product, I have made use of a wide range of technologies that allowed me to put my creative ideas into practise. Using a combination of Hardware and Software, that will be detailed in this post, my music magazine was completed to the standard that it has been. Below you can see a WallWisher wall that has been created with the help of my classmates that lists all (and I mean all) of the technologies that all of us have used during this course. To save the length of this post, I have only detailed the technologies that I have personally used.

Adobe Photoshop CS4

The first piece of Software that I was taught during this course was Adobe Photoshop CS4 (right), an image manipulation program created by Adobe. This piece of Software comes equipped with a number of tools that proved to be useful during the construction phase, as it allowed me to change the opacity of images, apply layer effects such as Glows and Strokes to my image and text layers, apply visual filters such as Motion Blurs and an effect named "Poster Edges", and many more highly useful effects that are available only to Photoshop. If I was to use a different program for the manipulation of my images and the creation of both my Front Page and Contents Page, I wouldn't have been able to create such advanced visual effects in the way that Photoshop allows me too. For example, if I were to use a program like Microsoft Paint (left), I wouldn't have been able to apply even the simplest of effects such as an Outer Glow or a Drop Shadow. Even applying a Stroke would be very difficult in Microsoft Paint, and it would be impossible to apply a filter to the image such as a Blur or Sharpen. The lack of a transparent background in Microsoft Paint also means there will be little control over the background of my music magazine as well. So as you can see, Adobe Photoshop is the more sensible choice of image manipulation Software.

Adobe InDesign CS4

When we began working on our Double Page Spread articles, we were introduced to Adobe InDesign (right), a piece of publication Software that can be used to create magazine articles and other forms of print media. InDesign wasn't available to me when I was working on my Preliminary Task since we used it solely for our Double Page Spread, so we had to learn how to use this piece of Software for our Main Task. The main attraction to using InDesign for my Double Page Spread came from its Text Wrap tool, allowing me to easily designate an area that I wanted my text to wrap around, such as an image or a separate piece of text. This feature is somewhat absent in Microsoft Publisher, another piece of publication software that I could have used for my Double Page Spread. If I did choose to use Microsoft Publisher over Adobe InDesign I would have struggled to replicate an effective Text Wrap effect without taking a lot of time to do so. Another useful tool available in Adobe InDesign is the ability to define the number of columns in the article, and InDesign automatically sets up a document with these preferences. In Publisher this would have to be done using text boxes which would of course take up a lot of time.

A Nikon Coolpix S3100 Compact Camera

This was the camera that I used to take the pictures that I will later use for my Front Page, Contents Page and Double Page Spread, and this shirt pocket-sized camera has many useful features that I used to make sure my images where taken in the best possible quality. Arguably the most useful feature was the automatic scene-selector that has been built into the camera, allowing the camera to select which scene mode (out of 18 different settings) would best suit the mise-en-scene, shot composition and the mode of address present in my scene. Without this feature at my disposal my photoshoot would have taken a considerably longer time to get the required shots and I doubt my photos would have been in the same quality as they are now. This particular camera also has a 5x Optical Zoom, 4 means of reducing the blur of an image, an Electronic Vibration Reduction and even a Skin Softening feature to reduce the appearance of uneven skin tonnes. All of these features together helped to ensure that my pictures were as high quality as possible, and without these tools at my disposal my pictures would have appeared grainy, blurry and unsuitable for use in my Media Product.

Blogger

Finally, there is Blogger. This online tool is what gave me the ability to keep an archive of my work online in the form of a blog, without the need for a physical folder with print-outs of my work-in-progress. Blogger has many tools and features that I have utilised to make my blog easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing and above all to a quality that matches my media product. The ability to assign Labels to a post allowed me to create a list of links that made my blog much easier to navigate, and the automatic sort feature that blogger uses (newest posts appear at the top) made it much easier to set out my work in a professional order and ensure my work effectively archived. Without these capabilites I would have had to print of all of my work and archive it by hand in a folder with the use of dividers. This would have taken up a lot of time that could be better spent working on the content itself, and I am grateful to be given the opportunity to save time using Blogger to having to archive my work by hand.

Evaluation - Question Five

How did you address/attract your audience?

I feel that my media product attracts my Target Audience in a number of ways, and by looking at my Front Page, Contents Page and Double Page Spread, I'm going to show you how I have used my research into my Target Audience to influence the construction of my Media Product.

My Creative Decisions

Throughout the entire process of construction of my media product, I have been making creative decisions to ensure my magazine appeals to my Target Audience as much as possible. For example, the choice of a Black Background on the Front Cover and Double Page Spread gave my magazine a more ominous atmosphere as it challenged the usual conventions of a music magazine. This is applied to my Target Audience since their nature of challenging the 'mainstream' ideas of music and fashion can be linked with the new and interesting ideas explored in the layout and page design of my Magazine. The use of the shards that frame the bottom of the magazine was a graphic element that I created again to challenge the normal conventions of music magazines to appeal to my anti-mainstream Target Audience.

The 'Micro' Details

As you can see in my Media Product, there are many small details that help make up the page layout, model pose and many other major aspects of the music magazine. These will be outlined here:

• Shot Composition: My photos are all shot with angry expressions and mainly from low angles to suggest a dominance over the reader. All of my pictures are also shot in the dark so that they will blend with the black background in a more realistic and believable way. Costume has been used to create a link with my Target Audience and link to the genre of music that makes up the content of my music magazine.
• Genre Conventions: The genre of music that makes up the content of my music magazine is Metal along with all its sub genres. The connotations associated with this genre of music include immense anger, dominance and power through confrontation, and with the pictures used throughout my media product I have tried to present these emotions using a combination of low angle shots and dark lighting. This type of shot can be linked to a picture used for the Double Page Spread of a Metal Hammer article (above). The low angle and dim lighting conveys the conventions of an article on Heavy Metal, and these conventions are what influenced a lot of the images that I took for use in my media product.
• My Unique Selling Point: The Unique Selling point of my media product is the way in which it challenges the usual conventions of a 'mainstream' music magazine. Although there are aspects of my music magazine that contain inspiration and influences from other magazines (namely Metal Hammer and Kerrang!), many of the design elements that I have created push the boundaries of modern music magazines. Since the magazine industry is currently a fragmented market with many popular titles becoming solely online-based as they fail to keep up with the changing environment. I feel that my music magazine "Project Mayhem" is what this industry needs to get it out of the state of flux it is currently in, with the new challenging conventions incorporated into its design.

Evaluation - Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have conducted a lot of research into the intended Target Audience of my media product, and all of this can be found here. The video below also illustrates the research that I have done into my Target Audience, created using an online engine entitled GoAnimate! (Please excuse the TERRIBLE use of text-to-speech...)
GoAnimate.com: Question 4 by artclark06

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

There are many links with my magazine that have been created using the research that I undertook. Due to my Target Audience's passion for everything that is related to their favourite music, the entire magazine is based around the bands and festivals that they would dream of seeing and experiencing. The graphic elements have been created to reflect the dangerous and incommensurable nature of the genre of music that makes up such a bit part of the life of my Target Audience, and have also incorporated a section of the Contents Page to allow communication between a sister Radio Station to help reach the full audience in as many ways as possible.

Evaluation - Question Three

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

In the above animation, you can see the a short comic strip that I created to demonstrate the institutions that could produce my music magazine. The Magazine Industry is currently falling popularity, as the rise of the Internet replaces this outdated medium of publication. As the industry has become a Fragmented Market, with Circulation and Readership Figures falling year on year. Below you can see a table of the recent figures from Press Gazette:

 

Mojo ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 87,555 ; -7.5%

  Q ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 77,522 ; -12.1%

 Classic Rock ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 62,354 ; -7.9%

Kerrang! ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 42,077 ; -2.1%

 Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 35,259 ; -15.7%

New Musical Express ( IPC Media Ltd ) : 27,650 ; -14.0%

As you can see, each magazine is experiencing a decline in Circulation to some degree as I have stated before. Also, by comparing Metal Hammer and Kerrang! it is clear to see that Metal Hammer is falling in popularity at a greater degree, and this opens up the demand for a popular Metal Magazine that sells as many copies as titles such as NME and Q. Out of the three that were highlighted by the "Magical Media Bird", I personally feel that Future Media or Future PLC would be the most appropriate to publish my magazine. And here's why:

Company Introduction

The first thing that catches my eye when I look at their website is the company introduction. The paragraph states how "At Future we base everything we do around clusters of like-minded individuals who are passionate about their interests". Project Mayhem has been created to appeal to quite a specialised audience, similar to that which is targeted by Kerrang! Magazine (for more research into Target Audience, click here). Since my Target Audience is in such a slim market, and since they already publish Metal Hammer, I feel that Future Media would be an appropriate institution to publish my Metal Magazine.

What have they published previously?

Future Media have published a number of popular music magazines, such as Classic Rock, Revolver and Total Guitar. However, they are most famously known for publishing the metal-based Music Magazine, Metal Hammer. Looking at the above Circulation Figures, Metal Hammer has decreased in Circulation by 15.7%in the past year, and this presents Future Media with a choice; do we keep publishing Metal Hammer or move on to another title? This is where Project Mayhem comes in. It's a new name with new ideas, a new style and a new look into the ever-changing industry of Heavy Metal. Alongside the genres and magazines that are published by Future Media at the moment, Project Mayhem does fit into the portfolio of Future Media as it uses similar techniques and layout styles combined with new and exciting Graphic Elements.

Evaluation - Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As described in a previous post that can be found here, my specified target audience is the UK Tribe appropriately named the "Metalheads". Since according to UK Tribes and the Kerrang! Mediapack that I have studied for my Magazine Analysis that can be found here, most of the disposable income that "Metalheads" have at their discretion is spent on albums, live music gigs and music-based clothes and other products. This influenced the price of my magazine at £3.99, since my target audience are obviously willing to spend the money on music-based products such as my magazine.

The Image of a "Metalhead"

Above you can see some typical images of modern "Metalhead's" in their Natural Habitat, and all these images are overlapping the image of my models from my DPS Article (explosion in all!). You can see the similarites in the costume of my models, such as the dark colours in the jumper and trousers and the wildly styled hair. My second model, dressed in slightly less dark and sinister clothing, is illustrated to represent the more Modern Metal bands such as "Five Finger Death Punch" and "Disturbed" that don't conform to the stereotypical dress codes of the typical known "Metalhead". In the dress of my second model I have challenged the stereotypical mise-en-scene of the known "Metalhead" dress code, trying to incorporate traits from Alternative and Punk to make my band stand out from the mainstream (if you can refer to any heavy metal band as mainstream...). On each side of my models you can see the images I have chosen that I feel most represent their character, and since metal has become such a diverse genre I have tried to incorporate just a select two of these sub genres in the costuming of my band. The Posture of my models is meant to represent anger and dominance, reflecting the sound of their music and the brutality of the lyrics. The clash between their fists directs the anger against each other, rather than at the viewer. This challenges the conventions of previous music magazines since the emotion in the expression is mainly directed towards the reader of the magazine. By directing the anger against each other I have tried to create a sense of turmoil and a conflicted atmosphere around my models, which will act as a pull to the reader since they will want to find out what has caused such a violent out burst in the image.

Evaluation - Question One

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

To answer this question I have decided to compare 9 aspects of my final Front Cover to the magazines that are selling in the media world today, such as Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound. Above you can see my finished product alongside magazines that already exist in the real media world.

Front Page: Masthead

My Masthead has been constructed with inspiration from Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Rock Sound, but mainly constructed around the original idea of a large letter "M" with the remainder of the title acting as a frame for this single letter. A Gradient Overlay was applied to the title "Project Mayhem" to make the text slightly resemble fire, and therefore it would tie in with the effect used to frame the main image of the Front Cover, along with a white Outer Glow to make the title stand out from the background. Finally a soft Bevel and Emboss was applied to give my title more of a 3D effect. The title is written in the "Guttural" font, which according to the author has been "influenced by the logos of extreme metal bands". Therefore I felt that this font would be appropriate to use for my product. Throughout my research I found that magazines such as Metal Hammer and Kerrang! each make us of very simple Mastheads, with little in the means of editing to make them standout from their rivals on the shelf. I wanted to create a memorable Masthead for my magazine to ensure that my product could be branded by the letter "M" in the centre of the title.

Front Page: Main Image

The Main Image that I chose for my Front Page was set-up around the pose from a Kerrang! cover featuring the lead vocalist from Bring Me The Horizon, Ollie Sykes. Here you can see I have tried to emulate the strong gaze and the hand gesture from the image, along with the dark background from which Ollie Sykes seems to be materialising from. I have also made the image my own, by angling my models head slightly giving the impression of a low-angle shot to give the model dominance over the reader, taken as a Medium Close-Up to both comply with the examiner's criteria and to better illustrate the emotion in the gaze of y model. I have also made the gaze slightly more menacing and angry, to add to the tension in the shot and to represent the genre of music that my product has been constructed around. My models posture is more leaning towards the camera as if to intimidate the reader, whereas Ollie Sykes on the Rock Sound cover is standing tall and proud of who he is. I have used Costume slightly differently than it has been done so for the Rock Sound cover (right), and have dressed my model in pure black clothes with a red t-shirt and red headphones. The Red and and Black clothes have been used to across my product as the main colour scheme to help strengthen the representation of the music genre I have created my magazine around, Metal. By looking at the general layout of each image, I have allowed this Rock Sound cover to influence the layout of the shot and from this I could layout my Front Cover in a similar way in terms of coverlines and competitions.

Front Page: Competition

Using my research into existing products, I have found that many magazines use monthly competitions and prize draws to give the reader more chance to interact with what their reading, and also to act as a hook, turning a possible customer into a paying customer. The image to the right shows my competition as it is viewed from the Front Cover along with a similar competition from an issue of Kerrang! Magazine, and the differences are immediately apparent. Kerrang! have focused their competition more on the images and have laid it out in a more classy, grid-like fashion. Whereas I have tried to stick with my house-style with my competition, and by combining the same red, orange colours along with a spherical "button" style. By using the same diamond brush with the same colour palette I was able create this competition "button" based on my current House-style. The font used for my competition is named "Unreal Tournament" and can be downloaded from Dafont.com. I chose this font due to the sharp edges in the letters and the "Thorns" that decorated each capital letter, each of these details with connotations of danger and anger that reinforce the gaze and posture that the main image illustrates. The words "WIN" and "INSIDE" have been highlighted in Red to reinforce my colour scheme and fit in with my chosen House Style.

Contents: Layout

My research into Contents Pages was greatly influenced by this particular contents page from Metal Hammer. The full extent of my research into the layout of this particular contents page can be found here, so I'll only talk about the justifications in this paragraph. The main things I have taken from this contents page is the three column layout, the image-based bar at the bottom of the contents and the copy of the Front Page in the top corner of the contents page. With my Contents Page I have also challenged the conventions of existing products by including a Black Background, something that wasn't seen in my research. However to mask this use of background colour, I created the white boxes that take up the majority of the space and also defines the layout of my Contents Page. This both conforms to my chosen colour scheme established in my Front Page, and also allows me to clearly map my Product out in a clear and simple structure, something that came up frequently in my research.

Contents: Main Image

My chosen image for the Contents Page of my Product is shown to the left (above), and has been set up roughly around the image also on the left (below). I wanted to stick with the strong gaze and emotion in the eyes of my models that I illustrated in my Front Page, and I thought that by changing the costume, lighting and by getting rid of the props I would be able to set up an appropriate shot for use on my Contents Page. By applying a Light Effect on both of my models I was able to give the image the connotations of an interrogation, creating the atmosphere of mystery and giving the models the persona that they have something to hide. This also acts as a hook for the reader since the ominous atmosphere that surrounds my models gives way to the secrets that could be revealed in my Double Page Spread Article.

DPS: Pull Quote

The Pull Quote of an article is one of the most important aspects of the Article, and so I was keen to find a quote that would do the rest of my article the justice it deserves. My chosen quote is, as you can see on the right, "To Hell With It, We'll Have 'Em All!", a short and powerful quote that connotes the huge aspirations, dreams and goals that Hell Raiser have set their sights on for the future of the band. Just like the Pull Quote from Metal Hammer; "It's crazy how much support we've got from our fans and how much people realised that Jimmy's role was so huge", there are many differences in the connotations of the quote. The relations that this quote from M. Shadows are to remembrance and reflection, as the band looks back at where they have come from and the journey they undertook to get where they are now. So naturally, since my band is only beginning a similar journey I wanted a Pull Quote that would connote the beginning of that journey, and the thoughts and feelings that a new band on the metal scene would be experiencing.

DPS: Main Image

The Main Image, as it is the same with the Front Page and the Contents Page, is a huge aspect of a DPS article. I took a little inspiration from the Metal Hammer image from an Avenged Sevenfold Article, and as you can see I played with the idea massively when I was staging my photo. With their two fists pounded together and the red shock wave emanating from the impact, the connotations of the image match that of a huge conflict, between two evenly matched adversaries that leave nothing but destruction and chaos when they come together. Thats what I wanted to create for Hell Raiser, and I feel that I have created that atmosphere of carnage and conflict using this image for my Double Page Spread.

DPS: Layout

My Double Page Spread layout is centered around the Pull Quote in the middle of the article, framed with the explosion effect (that appears to originate from the models' fists colliding) created in Adobe Photoshop. with the help of the YouTube tutorials that can be found here, here and here. To the right you can see my final Double Page Spread article along with three other articles from Q, Kerrang! and NME respectively. As you can see there are a variety of styles and layouts and styles represented by these different articles, but there are a few similarities between the four of them. The main thing to take note of here is the fold in the magazine, and how it cuts through the centre of all four of these articles. In some it is more evident than others, but most notably the