1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS OF
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
To help in the creation of my front cover, contents page and double page spread I
took elements from pre-existing alternative metal magazines and implemented
them into my own media product. My designs were influenced the most heavily by
two magazines in particular, ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘NME’. I selected aspects I found
appealing from both magazines to use in my own designs. I then took the most
productive aspects further on into the design phase and built upon them to make
my final draft.
My masthead took influence from
This small banner across the ‘NME’ magazine. ‘NME’ employed
bottom section of my front masthead fonts with an outline colour
cover comes from a front surrounding the letters themselves.
cover of ‘Kerrang!’ magazine. This is done to give the front cover
I liked the look of the banner more subtle colour variety without
because it effectively used up radically altering the existing colours
page space and it was an ideal on the page. And it also more eye
way to place the bar code, catching for the viewer and garners
price and the tagline for the more interest from them. I felt it was
main story. This tagline important to pick out a recognisable
provides incentive for the font for my masthead to make it
reader to purchase the resemble a logo, so I settled on the
magazine and see the story font Friday night lights because the
for themselves. use of while outlining on a bold black
font so it was immediately
recognisable by the general public
and people would be more inclined to
purchase my magazine if they knew it
was from a well recognised and
trusted brand. I also used the title
‘WRECK CHORDS’ because it is edgy
much like the acronym ‘NME’ it
immediately generates interest.
2. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS OF
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIAMy front cover image was heavily
PRODUCTS? influenced by a front cover from
‘Kerrang!’ magazine featuring the
I took inspiration from the
‘NME’ logo for my mast band Enter Shikari. In order to
This is the final draft of my front cover featuring all emulate the style of the front cover I
head. It’s design heavily
the conventions that I felt worked effectively from had my models stand shoulder to
influenced my mastheads
design because it’s technique earlier drafts and some additional conventions I shoulder in a row to give an
is simple yet effective, added to the final design. impression of unity.
inverse colour outlining
opposing colour creates an Most alternative metal magazines go
eye catching visual effect that against tradition by replacing the
is both engrossing and easily happy, cheerful looking front cover
recognisable. models with stoic, angsty models. I
thought this was an important
component to factor in, however
given the context of my models back-
story I felt that such a melancholy
attitude would not be fitting so I
In order to instructed two of my models to have a
resemble the serious look about them and the other
front cover two to look positive. Not only did this
increased the keep in context with the magazine
size of the theme but it also showed that each
masthead, the band mate had an individual
central image personality, character and back story.
and the bottom
banner in order The name of my band ‘Dropout
This front cover
to more 'stemmed from me wanting to give
heavily
effectively use my band an interesting name and also
influenced my
the space I also added more plugs to the banner to one that is associated with defiance
front cover
provided on the make it more eye-catching and to attract and being on the outer circle, a staple
design.
page. more interesting. of the Alternative metal genre.
3. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS OF
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
These are five magazine front covers which I drew inspiration and design ideas from. All of these magazines are
from the same genre as my magazine and I drew conventions from them because they were all group shots. All of
the front covers have group shots and they all have a banner going across the bottom of the page with taglines
and plugs. I copied this convention into my front cover because I felt it was a useful and very effective tool to use.
There is a main central image which will help people chose the magazine and will draw attention to the main
story.
I slightly altered the lay out so that the image plugs are above the main image instead of surrounding it like the
magazine examples I posted. The reason behind this was too more effectively use the canvas space provided.
4. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL
GROUPS?
The magazines I used to help me create my own media product were all aimed at an older teenage
demographic, this is because people aged 14-20 are maturing and discovering there own styles and particular
music tastes, as they explore there own likes and dislikes they will become more interested in sampling
different genres and buying products affiliated with the bands they like.
The genre I have chosen, Alternative metal is a popular genre amongst this audience because they can
identify with it’s rebellious nature and self expressive ideas.
My colour scheme shows that the magazine is bold, gritty and very edgy in it’s themes, these are all traits
fans of Alternative metal look for in there products. Dark colours are contrasted with blue, red and white
because my survey found that these colours were popular amogst alternative metal fans and they also
convey emotional states associated with the music this genre produces. The use of overly bright colours
would ruin the appearance off the magazine and it would put fans off purchasing it.
It is important that the main image of any music magazine make it clear what genre they are trying to
convey. To coincide with this outlook I specified that my models wear little known brands for the photo
shoot to emphasize that they are going against the social norm, and one of my models went for a formal yet
casual appearance with a plain white shirt and black tie to show that whilst he is stylish he is also nonchalant
and doesn’t take interest in others opinions or dress codes. I feel that self-expression and a disregard to what
is currently trendy epitomises the alternative-metal Genre and my models clothing choices reflected this very
well.
5. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT
DISTRIBUTE YOUR PRODUCT AND WHY?
In my opinion, the institution most likely to publish and distribute my media product
would be music magazine publishers, there would be an attraction to the magazine
because it is aimed at a teenage audience as this is a wide, profitable market with a lot
of opportunities for diversity.
I feel the main problem that my magazine could face would be that because the genre I
tackle in my magazine is more geared towards a niche market instead of a mass market
product, and because my magazine is slightly less marketable they may be deterred.
I looked on the internet to try and find potential magazine publishers and also too see
which genre of music magazine was most in demand.
This is a print screen taken from
www.musicmags.com it shows the
entire portfolio of the website which
proves how wide a range of
magazine they are distributing. This
makes me feel that the media
product I created would not be
purchased by the publisher because
they already have so many
magazines spanning so many
different genres that they would not
be likely to pick up my magazine. I
will search for other, less exclusive
publishers
6. I have knowledge about IPC media from my media lessons and I knew that they were a
publisher that may be interested in my media product because they have so many other
genres of magazines that they publish, ranging from hair and beauty to automobiles.
IPC also seems to be a very successful publisher which is something I am interested in for
my media product because I want it to be published by a well known, well recognised
brand because it would give my product an easier chance of success if the public recognise
the already popular publisher. IPC has another well known music magazine known as
NME, however that magazine deals with other genres whilst my magazine deals with
exclusively with the alternative metal genre so they would be interested because my
magazine is an exclusive one that would be popular amongst an already popular genre.
This is a print screen from IPCmedia.com
which shows just how many different genres
of magazine IPC media publish, the wide
range of genres is what makes me want to
choose this publisher because if worst comes
to worst and my magazine fares poorly then
they will not make a loss because they have
many other magazine titles to fall back on.
7. WHO WOULD BE THE
AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT?
From my research on the alternative metal genre I found that two magazines were the most identifiable for my
genre and audience. These two magazines were ‘Kerrang’ and ‘NME’. It is easy to recognise a magazines
intended audience based on it’s colour scheme, front cover and articles, ‘Kerrang’ is a magazine aimed at heavy
metal fans and it has a large red logo with cracks running up it, the colour represents anger or blood and it makes
the magazine stand out against the other magazines, and the cracks signify loud noises and earth shaking sound.
My research made me want to make my media product based on the alternative metal/ heavy metal genre. I was
influence most heavily by ‘Kerrang’ magazine because I felt it best encapsulated the heavy metal/alternative
metal genre.
By naming my band ‘Dropout’ I felt that it was a unique name but also an ideal name for an alternative metal/
heavy metal band, this will attract my target audience.
I used the colours, black, grey and red as my main colours because it best emulates the metal look, these
dark, monotone colours immediately identify the magazine as an alternative metal/ heavy metal magazine.
Also, the white background complements the other colours on the front page and gives the front cover a better
look.
I feel that my choice of colour scheme, images, font styles and page layout immediately identifies my magazine as
belonging to the alternative/heavy metal genre. I also feel that will attract the majority of the older vteeenage
demographic whether they are fans of the genre or not because of the employ ment of rebellious and bold taglines
and slogans.
8. HOW DID YOU
ATTRACT/ADRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE?
After scouring through my research I have been able to identify several ways in which my
media product addresses my genre/ audience. For example, I took inspiration from
‘Kerrang’ magazine by placing a coloured strip behind my title to make it more obvious, and
I so used a font with a white outline like ‘NME’ to make the masthead more recognisable.
I decided to put my models standing shoulder to shoulder instead of having one
model central, I chose this particular stance because it suggested unity and didn’t
make it appear as though one member was more important than the others. I took
my inspiration from this ‘Kerrang’ magazine cover.
9. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADRESS
YOUR AUDIENCE?
For my contents page I took inspiration from a ‘Kerrang’
magazine contents page which was split into sections and
had an image of the main story with a footer beneath it to
make sure the reader knows what the main story is.
My double page spread took heavy influence
from a double page spread from ‘Kerrang’
magazine. I liked that the double page spread
had pictures of the band and the main text in the
foreground and an image of the band performing
in the background, I felt it was a very effective
technique and the audience would respond very
well to it because it immediately displayed both
the bands talent and the genre of music they
represented.
10. I feel that I have learned various technologies from the construction of this media product
Firstly, I became proficient in the use of Macromedia flash, and I learned the basics of the
programme as well as more advanced methods such as how to make a text box transparent.
I used the transparency method too make text
boxes that could contain text but at the same time
would not interfere with the image in the
background.
I also had to use the online service website ‘Kuler’. Kuler is
essential because it allowed me not only to make my own
custom colour scheme to use on my own magazine front
cover. I also learned the helpful skill of uploading pre
existing magazine front covers onto Kuler to see there colour
schemes, this was helpful because I could use the pre
existing magazine colours to emulate and help with the
process off deciding on my own colour scheme.
12. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU
HAVE LEARED FROM IT IN THE PROGRESSION TO FULL PRODUCT?
The first major thing I have learned from my media work is the importance of proper time
management and pre planning. I think that from my preliminary task I have discovered various
important pieces of information about my chosen genre, as well as music magazines in general and
I have tried to emulate there design choices as best I can. In my preliminary work I drafted the early
designs as quickly as was possible and did not pay a lot of attention to detail or other magazine
designs, I learned through peer analysis what I should make my front cover, contents page and
double page spread look like.
The early preliminary drafts were easy to create and took very little time, however as I progressed I
had to devote more time and effort into the creation of my media product. I felt I devoted too much
time towards my front cover and somewhat neglected my contents page and double page spread.
Overall I feel my time management skills were improved from the preliminary as I devoted more
time and effort into all of my work during it’s final stages of completion.
I also feel that my use of Macromedia Fireworks has improved. At first during my preliminaries I
had only to use the most basic of Fireworks tools such as importing an image and changing the
canvas colour. For my preliminary I began to experiment with the more advanced tools of fireworks
such as the transparency selector, the smooth edge tool, the fill section and the conversion of a
fireworks file to a JPEG. However, I do not feel I became as proficient on the programme as I could
have been and I also feel I wasted valuable time getting to grips with the programme and it’s
intricacies. But, on the whole I feel I am more knowledgeable of Macromedia Fireworks now than I
have ever been.
I feel that my overall ability has improved from my preliminary designs and I personally can notice
improvements in my final designs when compared to my preliminaries. I feel the preliminary tasks
were important because they allowed me to use my ideas and then receive feedback from my peers
and perfect my designs.
Overall I am pleased about how my final media product worked out.
13. MULTIMEDIA ASPECT
In order to gain the maximum
amount of peer reviews and to
show how fundamental
multimedia technology is to the
creation of media products I
posted images of my final front
cover onto the social networking
website Facebook so I could get
unbiased information from
potential customers of my media
product.
