A note to the examiner:
I have enjoyed the whole process of making this magazine as it has helped develop my knowledge of media as a whole and also my knowledge of media such as Blogger, Scribd and Slideshare which are all good skills to have in the future, even if it's not media related. I hope you enjoy reading my blog, as I have certainly enjoyed creating it for you.
Thank you,
Kate Hurst
Friday, 7 April 2017
Thursday, 6 April 2017
Final Evaluation 6
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Made with Power-Point
Wednesday, 5 April 2017
Draft Evaluation 1
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1: In what ways does your
media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products? (i.e. of music magazines)
Name of the magazine
Iconography used to reflect genre
Camerawork and framing of images
‘Aura’ follows the convention of using styling
of the indie rock/pop genera within photos in my magazine however it challenges
the convention of how my magazine presents the genera in the layout of my
magazine as the layout and design I have used is very artistic and different compared
to what is already on the market in terms of a music magazine. However, the artistic
design and colours of the backgrounds and images throughout ‘AURA’ still
appeals to my target audience as stereotypically people who like the ‘indie’
style and indie rock/pop music, also have a taste for design and anything that
is unique and doesn’t conform to the norms. So, this means it appeals to the
audience as they would appreciate that ‘AURA’
The title of ‘AURA’ is very
different and compared to other music magazine names already on the market
which are less memorable and creative, such 'Sounds' and 'Melody Maker.' This
is because ‘AURA’ is more creative and unique like other titles on the market
that are more memorable like 'Clash' and 'Mojo.' However, the meaning of 'AURA'
is a distinctive atmosphere or mood that is generated from a person, thing or
music so this means it is not a title purely related to music like 'Clash',
'Mojo’ and ‘Kerrange’ as well as such 'Sounds' and 'Melody Maker. So this means
I have developed this form of convention of having a music magazine title
purely related to music as an aura can be created from anything with a sound.
The font I used for my masthead of ‘AURA’ challenges the norms for music
magazine titles, as usually and commonly the font for magazine names are very
basic and block like which ‘AURA’ is the opposite as the lines for it are very
thin and straight with adds an artistic element to the masthead which fits in
with my magazines art inspired design.
Graphology/page layouts
The layout
of my magazine is very different and unique compared to other magazines on the
market, my magazine is very art inspired in terms of the design of it such as
the backgrounds and colours I have used are very creative and innovated. For
the design of ‘AURA’ I have used very textured and coloured backgrounds with
simplistic text over the top for every page of my magazine. The background
images are very creative as they are unusual textures and colours which adds an
artistic design to my magazine as a whole. This makes my magazine stand out and
different as other music magazines already on the market have very basic and
monochrome designs so my magazine challenges this form of convention as my
magazine isn’t in a simple design style like other existing magazines are. This
attracts the audience’s attention as ‘AURA’ would be very colourful as well as
having creative textured backgrounds so my magazine would stand out more than existing
magazines on a magazine stand.
Iconography used to reflect genre
My magazine uses a form of convention successfully as the
styling and costumes of the artists and bands in my magazine attract and appeal
to my target audience. The target audience for ‘AURA’ are males and females in
the age range 16-25 who like ready about and listening to indie rock/pop music.
Stereotypically people who listen these genera are fond of or have adapted the
‘indie’ style of clothing to their everyday style choices. Stereotypically the
males and females who are fond of this style would wear ripped or destressed jeans,
leather jackets, Doc Martins, studded embellishments, dark colours, band
merchandise and anything with creative and different patterns and textures. I know
this style very well as myself and my friends wear this style of clothing and
are a part of this social and fashion style group. I dressed all my musicians
for my magazine in this style of clothing with a number of these fashion items
so this appealed to my target audience as they could relate to owning these clothing
items and it also made it clear what style of music my magazine is about as the
‘indie’ style of dress is extremely recognisable and associated to indie
rock/pop music. This means I successfully used the convention of dressing the musicians
in the style of clothing that relates the most to the music genera of my
magazine as the target audience for a magazine would be more attracted to the
magazine that displays their style of clothing as well as their style of music.
The styling of my musicians also make it clear what music genera the magazine
is without the audience knowing what it is about straight away.
I challenged real magazine conventions as commonly on real magazines
in the music market, the framing of the images is either median close-up or a
median shot, I challenged this as I took a greater variety of shot types and
angles which includes, median shot, medium close up, long shot, very long shot,
big close-up with a tilted angle, two-shot and a median side-angle long shot. This
was successful as the framing looked very stylised and artistic compared to
other magazines on the market so this makes my magazine stand out. It also adds
to the artistic design of ‘AURA.’
Font and style of text within magazine
I used the convention of having text in block like styled paragraphs
effectively for my contents page and my double page spread as it makes the text
easier on the eye and easier to read as it looks neater and clearer on the
page. However, I have developed this convention for my contents page for the interview
as I used a separate paragraph for each question with the question title on the
top row of each paragraph. This is effective as it clearly makes the reader see
the different questions on the page so it is easier to read and follow. The
coloured and textured background also contrasts against the minimalistic text style
so this adds a design element to the page.
Genre and how the magazine as a whole suggests it
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Draft Evaluation 2
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2: How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
After looking at the UK tribe’s website, the social group
and tribe that my audience would be apart of would be the ‘DIYers’ and the ‘Scenesters.’ They would be a part of the ‘DIYers’ as
members of the tribe are creative, enjoy indie rock/pop music and music as a
whole as they usually go to music festivals and concerts. This social group is
represented within my magazine as the cover lines on the cover of the magazine
say ‘Win gig tickets’, ‘Newest album reviews’ ‘Top 10 festival countdown for
2017’ and ‘Newest gig reviews’ all correlate to the ‘DIYers’ love of music
festivals and gigs so this represents them as a social group within the
audience for my magazine.
My audience would also be a part of the ‘Scenesters’ tribe
and social group as ‘Scenesters’ are very artistic
and have a love and appreciation for creative design which means they would appreciate
the artistic elements to the layout of ‘AURA.’ So the design aesthetics of ‘AURA’
represents ‘Scenesters’ as a social group and members of the audience. ‘Scenesters’
also have a very creative and artistic eye when it comes to their choice of
clothing so the styling and clothing of ‘Blair Spencer’ represents the social group
of ‘Scenesters’ as she was styled in artistic abstract clothing and also styled
with a colourful holographic body art sequins on her face and neck. This
represents the ‘Scenesters’ social group as they would have a liking towards
the imaginative and original design of the body sequins and the patterned
clothing as well as the patterned background images of my magazine which correlates
to into their characteristic of having an artistic sense of mind.
Another social group that ‘AURA’ represents is the ‘indie’
social group, this is because my audience would be males and females ages 16-25
within those tribes that are also part of the ‘indie’ social group. The ‘indie’
social group consists of usually young adults both genders who stereotypically
dress in the ‘indie’ style of clothing and listen to indie rock/pop. The ‘indie’
social group is made up of people who aspire to be different and the opposite
of mainstream in terms of fashion and music tastes so they like to think of
themselves as edgy and creative because they go against social and societal
norms. I know this because myself and my friends fit into this social group so I
know how to represent the ‘indie’ social group in my magazine which I have successfully
achieved. A way that I have accomplished representing this group in my magazine
is by the clothing and outfits that are worn in my magazine as they fit the
style of ‘indie’ clothing so this represents the social group. The outfits the musicians
are wearing in the images thought out my magazine are stereotypically very relatable
to what people in the ‘indie’ social group wear so, this represents the group
as it is presenting their style of clothing and identifying that the social
group emphases and relies on as their identity as a social group on. By having ‘AURA’
as an indie rock/pop magazine this is also representing the ‘indie’ social
group as the group listens to and has a love for this genera of music.
Thursday, 23 March 2017
Draft Evaluation 3
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Condé Nast would be the distributer of my magazine 'AURA' as they have published other magazines in the category my magazine would fit into. Condé Nast is an American mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast it is based at One World Trade Centre and owned by Advance Publications. The company has more than 164 million customers across its 20 brands and ownerships. They have published magazines like Vogue, GQ, VanityFair and many other high end fashion magazines. These magazines are very well known and successful worldwide which has made Condé Nast a global mass media company. This means it would have a lot of money to publish my magazine and send it out to be marketed in stores and sold globally just like the other magazines it publishes. Because the company was founded in 1909, it would have already made so many synergy partnerships with other companies to distribute the magazines it publishes, so my magazine would have a extremely high chance of being on the shelves in main-stream everyday stores and newsstands which gives it a higher chance of being sold. Even though the magazines Condé Nast distribute are not music based, my indie rock/pop music magazine would fit into the publishing company as the existing magazines and my magazine both have artistic elements and focus on design aesthetics as well as its main feature (e.g. music or fashion.) Condé Nast is known for publishing magazines that are creative and ‘different’ and heavily inspired by art in terms of design just like my magazine is. I wanted 'AURA' to have an artistic approach for presenting an indie rock/pop music which I have achieved so this means it fits into the category of having Condé Nast as 'AURA's distributer.
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Draft Evaluation 4
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4:Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience would be males and females in the age range 16-25 who have adopted the ‘indie’ style within their music taste as well as their clothing and lifestyle choice. They would listen to indie rock/pop as that is what music magazine ‘AURA’. This age range would be familiar with the publishing company Conde Nast which would publish ‘AURA’ as the company already publishes other well-known and popular magazines that cater towards that age range. This means the audience would trust that ‘AURA’ would be a good magazine as they would already trust Conde Nast due to its high profile and world-wide recognition as a publishing company so they would trust its judgement into producing ‘AURA’.
Stereotypically people who listen to indie rock/pop wear and
are fond of the ‘indie’ style of clothing so my audience would fit this stereotype.
They would want to express their creativity by their fashion and they would
always want to look different but trendy at the same time. Their favourite items
of clothing or design feature for both males and females would be ripped jeans,
leather jackets, Doc Martins, studded embellishments, dark colours, band merchandise
and anything with creative and different patterns and textures. Their favourite
shops would be Topshop/Topman, Urban Outfitters, Blue Banana, Voodoo, and many
other highstreets shops but they would buy the most ‘edgiest’ clothing in those
shops and also buy band merchandise from their favourite indie rock/pop bands. From
the online UK Tribe website, they would fit into tribes of ‘DIYers’ as they are
creative and a love for Indie rock/pop music and they would also fit into the ‘Scenesters’ tribe too as ‘Scenesters’ love to be edgy
and they have a love for being different and they would appreciate the design elements
of ‘AURA’ as they apprise artistic textures and colours just like in the clothing
they wear. They also want to be different from the mainstream crowd and indie
rock/pop isn’t mainstream at all so they would have a fondness of that genera
of music as well as ‘DIYers’. This means my audience would be a mixture of these
the two tribes.
My target audience would also be mixed ethnicities as well as
different genders as ‘Indie’ males and females can commonly be a mix of all kinds
of different ethnicities. This means that on every monthly issue there will be
a mixture of male and female musicians and bands as well as a mixture of musicians with different ethnicities. This keeps the different
genders and ethnicities within the ‘indie’ social group relating to the
magazine and feel included within its style and featuring musicians and bands
in the magazine which will increase the sales of ‘AURA’.
Monday, 20 March 2017
Draft Evaluation 5
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5:
Name of magazine
The title of 'AURA' is very unique and memorable compared to other music magazines, it is different to magazine titles that are obviously about music such as 'Sounds' and 'Melody Maker' as it is more creative and different like the magazine titles 'Clash' and 'Mojo' which are less obvious music magazine titles but the audience can still tell it is a magazine representing the music genera. I gave 'AURA' its name as an Aura is a distinctive atmosphere or mood that is generated from a person, thing or music so the audience knows my magazine would be about music but it is still intriguing what style of music it features so this would attract attention as the audience would then read the cover to subconsciously know what style of music magazine 'AURA' is.
Artist and Band Names
The artist and band names that feature in 'AURA' are on the cover of it which tells the audience what style of music 'AURA' is about. The artist band names I chose are well known or some up-and-coming in the indie rock/pop genera with clearly states to the audience that my magazine is presenting indie pop/rock. This attracts the audience as they might know some of the names of the artist s and bands so they might want to find out why they are being featured in the magazine which will encourage them to buy it.
Persuasive taglines
The persuasive taglines on the magazine attracts the audience’s attention and convinces them to buy the magazine as they are all music related which fits the genera of the magazine being an indie rock/pop magazine so the audience would want to find out more about what is featured in the ‘AURA’ if like indie rock/pop music which then leads them into buying the magazine. I also added a single ‘bubble’ around specific cover line which is effective and impactful as it highlights the persuasive text even more and draws in the audience’s attention more to the magazine and encourage them to buy the magazine.
Direct mode of address for images
The cover image on my magazine has direct mode of address which means the musician on the cover is looking directly at the audience in the eye no matter what position or angle the audience is looking at the magazine cover from. This is done by the musician looking straight into the eyes of the camera when the photo was being taken. This is effective as the image straight away grabs the audience’s attention as it looks like the musician on the cover is looking directly at them personally which then makes the audience look at the cover of the magazine as a whole and gives them more of a chance of noticing the magazine on the magazine stand which increases the chance of them buying the magazine.
Colour Schemes
I array of colours and textured images that I used throughout my magazine are very effective as they are very vibrant and bold which creates an impact on the audience as it shows that the design and layout of ‘AURA’ is very creative and art-inspired which I want ‘AURA’ to connote as it makes the magazine stand out and different from other indie rock/pop magazines already on the market.
The colour scheme on the cover page is very broad but effective as I used vibrant pastel colours for the textured background image and then a bright wide spectrum of colours for the cover image of the musician which creates a nice contrast against the pastel background. The colours on the background image all fade into each other well and the colours on the cover image are very bold and contrasting, the entire combination of all the colours together are successful as it connotes a creative and artistic aesthetic to ‘AURA’ which adds another element to my magazine so it doesn’t look boring or unmemorable as it presents indie rock/pop music to the audience as it stands out against other music magazines on the market.
The colour scheme on my contents page makes me think of space as the colours and textures of the background image have purples, blues, greens and pinks with white speckles in it, the colours all fade into each other these colours and textured of the background image evokes an artistic point of view to the design aesthetic what expresses a psychedelic and imaginative impression on the audience. I also included black and white images on the contents page as well as black text and the classic black and white monochrome colours connotes a modern and clean design to the overall aesthetics of the page. The black and white shades contrast against the colourful background image and they also contrast against each other from to being the very lightest shade and the very darkest shade, which makes the pallet a gender-neutral which is successful as I want the audience of ‘AURA’ to be both genders so this attracts males and females to my magazine which increases numbers of sales of ‘AURA’ if they would like to read about indie rock/pop music.
Friday, 17 March 2017
Draft Evaluation 6
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Made with Power-Point
Draft Evaluation 7
EVALUATION QUESTION 7: Looking back at
your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to full product?
Mise-en-scene
From my preliminary task, I
learnt to become more creative with producing my final magazine in terms with
the mise-en-scene that I used. When taking the images for my preliminary task I
took them outside around the school as the style for the preliminary magazine
was a school magazine so the images suited the style of the magazine. However,
this meant I would need to be more creative with my images for the main task as
I would need to portray a music magazine which background ideas for images are
less obvious. I decided to take an artistic approach to my magazine by playing
around with different colours, patterns and textures within the images to
create a stylised and art influenced design to ‘AURA.’ I achieved this by
taking some images externally for my final magazine double page spread by using
the woods near my house as a backdrop and I carefully thought about using the
natural sunlight and the different visual textures of the leaves and trees to
my advantage which successfully added a design aesthetic to the images. This
appealed to my audience as my audience would also appreciate design elements
and enjoy the visual textures of the leaves and bark from the tress and the
contrast it creates against the musician in the photo. I also took images using
the studio so I could achieve a very bright and clear image and then edited a
background onto it or used a black-and-white effect on the image like the
images I used on my contents page which created a contrast within the image
with the black and the white which added a different design aesthetic to the
image. The styling has also improved from the preliminary magazine to my final
one as I didn’t think about styling my model for my preliminary magazine but
for ‘AURA’ I had to think carefully about the styling as my genera for the
music is indie rock/pop which correlates to the ‘indie’ style of clothing and
stereotypically people who listen to indie rock/pop wear and are fond of the
‘indie’ style of clothing and way of dress. This meant the artists in the
magazine very importantly must have looked like they dress in the ‘indie’ style
of clothing to look like indie pop/rock musicians, which I think I achieved in
the outfit choices I picked for the images.
Camerawork
The process of making my preliminary magazine taught me to focus
more on the camera angles and shot distances when taking my images for my final
magazine and to be more creative and adventurous with them as I wasn’t very bold
in terms of shot types and angles with taking the images for the preliminary. This
has improved my photography skills and editing images as I played around more
with the different styles of shots and angles when I was taking the images for ‘AURA’
and learnt what photos would look the best and suit the magazine the best over
other photos which and to edit the images by changing the lighting and colour
schemes of the images ultimately makes my magazine look interesting and at a
more professional standard. I learnt how a photo can impact the audience more
by having diverse and bold photos that I used for my final magazine which will
improve the sales ‘AURA’ as more audience members would be attracted and drawn
to the magazine. I did this by taking a greater variety of shot types and
angles which includes, median shot, medium close up, long shot, very long shot,
big close-up with a tilted angle, two-shot and a median side-angle long shot. I
also drastically increased the amount of the photos I took from when I took the
photos for my preliminary to then taking the images for my final magazine task
with different outfit choices to make sure I had more of a verity to pick for
my final magazine. This was successful as I had more of a chance to find the
images that would complement the style of ‘AURA’ the best.
Text arrangement
My preliminary task taught me to lay my text for my final
magazine in a more professional and minimalistic way as for my preliminary
magazine I wanted the cover to look more colourful as the background Image lacked
a verity of colours so I put the tag lines in ‘clouds’ with a colourful outline
to add pops of colour to the cover which it needed to look less boring and
plain. However, for ‘AURA’ I wanted the text layout look more modern and simplistic
as I know I was going to have colourful ‘busy’ backgrounds to the pages that I didn’t
want the text layout to appear busy too as it would just clash with the background
be too straining and confusing the eye. Simplistic text arrangement on my final
magazine looks more professional and modern which I want ‘AURA’ to be, I achieved
this by choosing a simple but modern font for my text and by having the cover
lines, text on my contents page and the articles on my double page spread in columns.
I also included a single ‘bubble’ on my final cover which includes a cover line
in it which is effective and impactful on the audience as it highlights the persuasive
text so it catches their attention to read the text which could result into the
audience becoming convinced to buy the magazine. I also had a text bock around
the anchorage text under ‘Blair Spencer’ which also highlights to the audience
why she is being featured on the cover of the magazine and draws in their attention
to the persuasive text of the anchorage text which would make them have a
higher chance of buying the magazine due to having the want to find out more about
her feature in the magazine. I thought the text arrangement for my preliminary magazine
contests page was quite basic and boring so this motivated me to present the
text for the contents page of ‘AURA’ in a more creative way. So, I came up with
a design of a grid layout for when I would place the images for the contents
page which I then incorporated the text for the page between the images. This
was successful as it gives the text arrangement an interesting and fresh
modernistic approach to presenting music in the form of a magazine with I want ‘AURA’
to have as its style throughout the magazine. The columns on the double page
spread are very impactful as they are very neat and bold which creates a nice
contrast against the textured background and images, this doesn’t make the page
look disordered and untidy as it makes the page look more professional and contemporary
but also artistic at the same time which was my desired goal for the page and
for the style of the layout of ‘AURA’ as a whole.
Friday, 24 February 2017
Friday, 10 February 2017
Saturday, 28 January 2017
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