Skills Development

From the preliminary task to the main task I developed the skills that I already knew such as using the magic wand and lasso tools to select and cut parts from one image to another, which i used in the main image for my interviews page.

For the images that I used in my preliminary, i did very little editing, only cropping the images and changing there size. However, for my music magazine I used a lot more editing techniques such as using artificially rendered lights to draw focus to certain parts. I also used the magic wand tool to cut parts from on image and then layer them on top of another image to create a cloning effect.

Other adjustments I made to images were changing the brightness and contrast of the images and also using the magic wand tool to select certain parts of an image and then adjusting the vibrancy and saturation of the colour within the selected area.

For choosing a layout for my magazine I stuck to the usual conventions of a typical music magazine as I felt confident with sticking to a basic outline that was already set as a standard.

To make the magazine appeal to an audience I chose to keep everything relatively conventional as this would be what an audience is used to seeing and what not be too big of a jump of they decided to change from another magazine.

I chose an interview as my feature article as I found that this was the easiest thing for me to write and would be the most logical type of article to have in a music magazine.

Technologies

The program I used to create my media product was Adobe Photoshop. I Also used Blogger and Flickr. Blogger was used to allow me to put all of my work onto one simple blog to allow easy access to everything I had created over the course. Flickr was used to allow me to post images and then annotate them easily and then attach them to my blog. There were some disadvantages to using these applications, such as trouble uploading some images would not work or the site would crash causing some work to be lost.

I had some basic knowledge of Photoshop before I started the course so the only main thing I learnt when using Photoshop during the course was how to add digital lighting to images within the program.

Addressing My Audience

My product communicates with my target audience in a simple format, almost as if they are speaking to them directly. This would make them feel comfortable reading my magazine as it would be easier to read as it would feel as if someone was just telling them what is written in the magazine. The style of the magazine is attractive and not too busy as there are only 3 main colours used within the magazine. This gives the magazine a much more simple layout but keeps your attention focused on the more important parts of the magazine without drawing attention too the design.

Target Audience

The target audience for my magazine would be aged between 16-28 as this is the average age range of the people who listen to the genre of music that my magazine represents. They would most probably be white and male. They would most likely be in or have had some form of higher education. They would have interests in things like photography and other art forms. They would have interests in fashion and might play an instrument of some kind. They would watch television programs like Skins, The Mighty Boosh and The Inbetweeners.

They would buy my magazine as it features things that interests them such as fashion and photography. It would also give a representation of the types of music that they listen to in an much simpler format that would be easier to take in and become interested in.

Institutions

The type of media institution that would be likely to distribute my magazine would be a company like IPC as they would have the resources to distribute the magazine over a larger area as they are owned by Time Warner, which is one of the largest multinational media companies in the world. This would be a good decision as my magazine is most similar to Kerrang! which is published by Bauer, IPC's biggest rival in the UK. This would give competition to the other publishing company as IPC do not have a magazine that is similar to Kerrang!

This would be an advantage as my magazine would become more widely available, therefore increasing the amount of people who would be able to buy the magazine and this would then increase the number of people who would read it and in turn this could get more people to buy it through word of mouth. Also the company would be able to promote the magazine better through web based synergy. A web based version of the magazine would give the magazine much more interaction with an audience as it could be advertised through other websites giving it a much larger distribution and not limiting the amount of advertisement.

Forms and Conventions

Conventions are essentially guidelines indicating how things should be done. They exist to set a standard in whatever types of media they represent. For example, within magazines some conventions are the masthead of the magazine being located at the top of the cover, with a selling line usually placed below this. Depending on the subject matter and the audience that the magazine is aimed at. For example, a magazine about pop music will differ from a magazine about rock music based on the audience it is aimed at and because the subject matter is hugely different.

The genre of magazine I have chosen to produce is a rock magazine, drawing influences from magazines like Kerrang!, Rock Sound and NME.

My own magazine seems to follow many of the conventions of music magazines. It has a masthead and a selling line like other magazines. It also has cover lines and a main cover line. The main image is also similar to other images represented in this form of media.

The title of my magazine is Sound Magazine. This basically explains what the magazine is about and through this connotes what you will find in the magazine.

The images in the magazine are typical images that you would find within any type of music magazine of this genre but could also be found in fashion magazines, advertisements and other forms of media.

The costume within the images are just typical clothes that people who are typically associated with this type of music. There are no props in the image as I did not want to draw focus from the model within the image.

The mastheads font is broken and looks like it is torn up by hand. This gives a feeling of destruction, a theme which is related with rock music. It is placed to the left of the page so that the colour scheme can be split between the middle of the masthead.

The written content of the magazine is mostly informal using simple language. This makes the magazine easy to read as it is not over complicated. It also gives a feeling of friendliness as it is not too formal. The interview section is worded as the interview would be said and is laid out question by question with a brief introduction and an image on the other side of the page.

The layout of my contents page is similar to other magazines. It has a regulars section and a features section separated by the colour scheme and their titles. This allows the reader to easily distinguish between the two different sections. There is also a main image behind the features part of the contents page showing an image as part of the main article.

All of these things combine to create a singular piece of media which keeps similar themes throughout. The colour scheme stays the same through the whole of the magazine. The style of writing is informal and uses simple language. The presentation of the magazine is consistent throughout the whole of my product and the layout is presented to be tidy as this makes the product easier to read and keeps it looking more presentable.

Initial ideas for own magazine

My magazine is going to be focused on rock music as this is the genre of music I am most familiar with and know the most about.
For my magazine i will take inspiration from other music magazines that focus on this genre such as Kerrang! and Rocksound as they represent the genre I have chosen for my magazine and I can use this to draw inspiration from the way that they are laid out and the types of language used within interviews the magazines.
My magazine will be aimed at 16-28 year olds as this is around the age range of the people who would most likely listen to the type of music represented in my magazine. The average person to read my magazine would be a white male, aged around 16-28. They would most likely be in higher education and would be interested in things such as film, photography, tv shows such as Family Guy and The Mighty Boosh. They would also be likely to play a musical instrument.