MEDIA EVALUATION

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Front CoverI believe I have followed the conventions and rules as firstly, I added basic features to my cover which you see on real magazines. For example, barcodes, price and websites. All these 3 things are what you see on a real magazine and I imposed this in my music magazine, Paper Aeroplane to make it look more realistic and professional. Just as most magazines, I added my mast-head at the top and made it very bold. This is important for magazines as on magazine stands the name of your magazine is mainly on display and many magazines make their mast-heads very bold and attractive so it interests customers. Like the Kerrang magazine, I made sure that my mast-head wasn’t being overlapped by the image as I want the mast-head to be clear and standout. I did this by giving it a bold blue colour and a bold font… the font is similar to the uncut magazine which I thought looked extremely stylish. Another feature I added was an skyline, which clearly indicates that there is a big feature on Kernie Ken, this is also displayed in my case studies.I used many music magazines as inspiration such as, Uncut and Kerrang! As most music magazines, I made the main focus of the cover, the cover star – Kernie Ken. I did this by using only one image on my front cover, this way my cover star gets all the attention and I believe many magazine guidelines are similar… to make the cover star the main highlight of their current issue. Which is important because your cover star is the reason people are going to want to read your magazine. As you can see in the Kerrang! And Uncut magazine, the cover star is the main focus. I attempted to follow the guidelines here by having one strong image as the main focus. My house style is pinkish red, light blue and black. I have used these colours as they stand out and work really well together. From the beginning I knew I wanted to use light colours and once I chose my image, I chose colours that matched very closely with the clothes my models wearing. I already had an incline that red and blue work together as the Uncut cover have these two colours in their magazine and they really looked good together. Moreover, the Kerrang! Magazine used red and black on their front cover which also looked bold and good and worked well on a blank, white background. Basing off of my two case studies, I was sure that the colours I have chosen for my house style would complement one another.

Front CoverAlongside this, I have added cover lines. Cover lines are what intrigue you into purchasing a magazine, magazines of all genres do this. I added many cover lines as this is what real magazines use for consumers to attract them into buying their magazine. Another reason as to why cover lines are important is, that they add life and colour into your front cover. I did this by using the colours blue and red, which are both very eye-catching and vibrant. This also makes the cover stand out. As you can see in the Uncut magazine, the cover lines are very neatly placed on the sides of the image of the cover star, I tried to enforce this into my work as it looks neat and sophisticated.

Another similarity I have with the music magazine Uncut is that both magazines use the colour white, red and blue in their covers. I feel as these 3 colours work really well together therefore I used them in my magazine cover. However, I added my unique touch to it by having my front in a more lighter colour even though the colours are the same they are still unique from each other.

I followed the format of having the cover star, a main cover line which is relevant to them followed by other cover lines. For a front cover, for any magazine if these key factors were missing then the magazine cover cant be called a magazine cover. This is because no one will be attracted to it and it wouldn’t serve much purpose. The whole point of a front cover is to attract customers which allows magazine companies to gain a profit. Therefore, I have added these main aspects of a magazine into my own magazine cover.

Comparing my cover image to the Uncut and Kerrang’s, you can see its similar. The idea of having scruffy hair, layers and checked clothing. This also portrays that I am following the certain guidelines of the Indie Rock magazine. Another similarity between my music magazine and my case studies is that, the cover stars also have very serious faces, this shows that these artists come across as pretty serious which is why they are portrayed this way. One main thing that I believe which is a difference is that I haven’t added any puffs onto my cover, which are on the covers of both my case studies. This could be considered me challenging these conventions in order to make my cover suited more to my preference.

Front CoverFor my cover, I planned to go with a very serious, yet strong image. I wanted it to be clear so you could see the colours of the cover stars costume, his face very clearly and the pose in general. This image is a medium shot. Many magazines use medium shots for their cover magazine as it focus’ more on the cover stars face - which is important to be seen clearly. The angle used in this image is an eye-angle. This angle is one, that is commonly used as it’s a natural angle and shows the image for how it actually would look in real life too. I decided to go with a medium shot at an eye-level because it worked really well and the image really stood out. It fit perfectly in photo-shop which was extremely helpful. Also, in this image the way my cover star poses left loads of negative space. This negative space gives an insight that the image was taken in a professional setting – this brings me to my other point. Many images on real life magazines are usually have the mise-en-scène of a professional setting. Therefore, I have followed the guidelines and attempted to do the same. In terms of composition, my cover star is pretty close to the camera, this gives a vibe of ‘up close, and personal’, which links with the cover line as it suggests the most embarrassing secrets of this artist are about to be told. There’s connotation in the image, my model is posing as if they have a gun to their head, this is linked with the article inside where it is mentioned they dealt with depression when growing up. I wanted to link this image with the article and this is how I did it.

Front CoverAs my magazine is an Indie Rock/Pop magazine, I wanted to create the typical Rock Star image. I achieved this by first of all, putting make-up on my model. I decided to go in with some eyeliner firstly, as many rock artists are seen with this look. Also, to make my model appear carefree, I played around with eye shadow to create false dark circles under his eye. In addition to this, I added highlighter to the high points of my models cheeks, this gave him a slightly vampy and washed out look then I went in with some dark bronzer to define his cheekbones, jawline and collarbones. When looking for a model, I specifically looked for someone with curly hair, as I really like how the messy look enhances the idea of carelessness. However, to really get the look I added a few curlers in my models front hair then I added some hair frizz spray to make it look messy followed with some hairspray to hold it all in place. The end result was really good and exactly how I wanted it to be. In my case studies, both the artists have also got very messy, carefree hair, this is what suggested to me that the model doesn’t necessarily have to look picture-perfect with amazingly done hair and they can show their own personality regardless of the fact that they are on a magazine cover.Apart from my models facial appearance, I wanted his costume to match the image of a rock star. I achieved this by making my model wear an oversized dark denim jacket, a navy and maroon check shirt with a plain, white t-shirt underneath and on top of this I layered a scarf with different tones of blue in it. This whole look matched with each other as it had similar colours throughout and apart from this, when researching on what rock artists wore casually, many of the images suggested this outfit which I’ve created in my cover image. Also in the Uncut magazine, the cover star is also wearing an oversized checked scarf. This shoot was done in the college studio, using the college equipment. I used the lights to try brighten up the images however, they didn’t come out as bright as I wanted them too. Therefore, I had to use photoshoot to brighten up my chosen image, which worked out really well. Also on photo-shop, I fixed my models unwanted blemishes and smoothened his skin out. As a result of this, my image ended looking very airbrushed and perfect. Photo-shopping images is also another element which is commonly used in magazines, therefore I have followed this rule to alter my image to its best potential to make it look good, just how other magazines do.

Contents PageI will now be evaluating if I have followed the conventions of professional magazines in my contents page. For my contents page, I liked how the Kerreng! one which I used in my case study looked. Therefore, I used it as inspiration. In a typical music magazine we see, the features that are provided and images. Alongside this, I also added the basic stuff in such as the title, the word ‘contents’ – for awareness of customers, page numbers, and lastly in real life magazines, the contents page is usually the 2nd or 3rd page in magazines therefore I have done the same and made this clear by putting ‘Page 3’ on the bottom of my page. Magazines mostly have the title of the contents contained in the magazine followed by a little caption giving more information on the article. I’ve followed this and added a short sentence under every article title. In comparison to my case study there are many similarities and differences. The similarities would be that on both contents pages the contents both have the title of the article – having it in a bold font so it stands out, a small caption underneath giving a snippet of it and a page number. Other than that we have both got images on our contents page, this makes it look more attractive and takes it away from looking dull or boring. Also both contents pages stick to their house style. My house style is blue, red and black which I have continued from my front cover. The Kerrang magazine has similarly kept the patterened background which briefly showed on their front cover alongside their house style of white, black and red. This shows that the main rules of a basic contents page of a music magazine have been followed. The differences would be that the Kerrang magazine is really crowded, with text, images and even a mini feature whereas on my contents page it is spaced out and simple but still just as informative. Other than that, on my contents page I have attempted to keep the same font throughout all of it – however, on the Kerrang contents page the fonts vary. Lastly, in the Kerrang contents page there is one big image then other small ones and in contrast to this I was added 3 images.

Contents PageMy contents page in comparison to my Uncut case study contents has differences and similarities. The Uncut contents page consists of a whole mini article, the features are placed in a small column with a small font, whereas my features are more spaced out and there is an advertisement on the Uncut contents page and the whole contents page only consists of one image. My contents page is very simple including a few images and just the contents of the magazine. I don’t have any stickers as the Uncut one does – the Reason to Believe CD Logo, at the top of their page which is pretty eye-catching but I did go onto accessorizing my contents page with a baby blue banner at the bottom which has the page number placed in it.. However, just as I have, the Uncut magazine have stuck to their house style of red, white and black and they have also kept a consistent font, which is similar to mine. Another similarity is that my on both contents page the font of the title of the article is bigger than the caption however the colour of the title and caption are different on the Uncut Contents page whereas mine is the same throughout excluding the page numbers and titles. In terms of challenging magazine conventions I would say that the fact that I’ve kept my contents page pretty simple could come shockingly. This is because it is expected for magazines to constantly provide extremely crowded magazine contents pages for the purpose of attractiveness. However, I have left it with a simple layout however I have still made it just as informative and pretty.I attempted to stick with my house style, matching it to my front cover. The only complication was that the black font looked too harsh therefore I had to leave that out. I kept the font really simple as I thought it looked sophisticated but I still tried to add colour in my contents page with the specific images I used have many different colours in them too liven the contents page up. I wanted to add something different yet subtle in my contents page so the addition of the light blue plug at the bottom and top of the page was placed there to jazz up the page slightly.

DPSThis is my final product for my DPS. The left side of my DPS is dedicated to an image of my cover star – Kernie Ken. To avoid the left side looking lifeless, I added a title for the article which would be on the right side of the DPS along with a pull quote which would give the reader an insight to what the article may be about. I played around with different fonts to create difference between the title and the pull quote, I did this by having the pull quote in a italic font as speech and quotes are usually portrayed in this form. I also added a page number and the website on the right hand side of the image. On the left hand side of my DPS I have included an introduction which is started off by a drop caps, followed with some information on the following article the consumers about to read. Then I carried on the article in a Q&A format with my columns perfectly lined. I made the difference between the question and the answer very aware. I did this by having the question is a black, bold and bigger front – also, I added the letter Q, which is an abbreviation for question in this sense. After leaving a good amount of space between the question and answer, I added in the answers starting with ‘Kernie Ken’ at the beginning in the colour red, I did this for the purpose of letting readers know that Kernie is answering the question and also this was beneficial for the purpose of brightening up the page. On the left hand side I kept a consistent font as, this made the article look very sleek and realistic. I added an image between the article, which links closely with one of the questions, also the image adds a sense of comedy in the article. I concluded the with a small paragraph in which I once again advertised the magazine website. I also added a page number.

DPSI have followed the conventions and guidelines for my DPS. This is because, I have added basic features such as, page numbers, magazine websites, sticking with the house style of blue, red and black and images in my DPS followed by more advanced features as a well structured article in a form of a Q&A, a drop caps, for a more dramatic opening to the article, contrast between fonts for a more effective pull quote and connotation through an image which links with the question. These are typical characteristics of a real life magazine which I’ve followed.In comparison to my two case studies, you can see many similarities between the Uncut DPS and the Paper Aeroplane DPS. For example, both the DPS have a dedicated side just to an image which is followed by a pull quote. One main similarity about the two double page spreads are that both the models in the image are shadowed by a blue light. On the left side of the page, both articles start with a drop caps and both have an image in their article. All the images on the article of the Uncut DPS link with the article and this has been done in the Paper Aeroplane DPS too. The main differences here are that, my title is also on my image whereas, the Uncut DPS only contains a pull quote. I have also added a website and page number on the image, which is different to Uncut one. The Uncut page which has the article on is different to the Paper Aeroplane DPS. Prime examples of this would be, that the layout Uncut DPS has not just to just columns, they have their opening paragraph different, this seems to be for aesthetics as it looks really good. The Paper Aeroplane DPS has strictly portrayed the article in a column format, this is because the Q&A looks neater this way. The title for the Uncut DPS is on the same page as the article, whereas the Paper Aeroplane, article title is on the other side, this makes the whole DPS linked together and also provides more space for the article.

DPSThe similarities between the Kerrang DPS and the Paper aeroplane DPS is that both have one big main image. We have a title and pull quotes. The main similarity is that both DPS’ are a Q&A and the question and answer are clearly shown. We have both provided 2 images on our DPS and have used different fronts. Just as the Paper Aeroplane DPS, the Kerrang DPS has stuck to their house style. This makes the magazine look professional. The differences between the two DPS’ are that the main image of the Kerrang DPS overlaps onto the other page, this looks really unique. However, the Paper Aeroplane DPS just has the image on the left hand side of the page which makes it looks sleek and professional as this is the norm for most magazines. There are many similarities between my music magazine DPS and my case studies. This shows that I have followed the guidelines of professional magazines really well. This is because I have included all the basic and advanced features if a real magazine into my own, as to why my DPS looks professional and sleek.