Evaluation part 7: Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Here is a video of my finished media product compared to my practice front cover, contents page and double page spread.

 

 

 

 

 

HERE IS THE COMPARISON OF MY PRELIM TASK AND MY FINISHED MEDIA PRODUCT.

 

 

 

 

My preliminary task was to create a school magazine front cover for the school that we go to, at this point I had little knowledge of how to construct a magazine front cover. As you can see my 'School Weekly' front cover looks amateur and average. There is no character or excitement to this front cover. I have not used an effect or brightness on this image. I used the colour scheme of red, black and white which I thought went well with this magazine front cover as it goes with the colour of the school uniform. I also covered the original background of my image and used 'Pixlr' to draw over it with a white colour as I felt this would make my sell lines stand out, however now I feel that this looks unprofessional and amateur. I also used another image on my front cover a one of the new improvements to the school which was a information 'TV' now I feel that this does not look good on my front cover and I could have saved this image for inside the magazine. I had also drawn around this image in an extremely messy way.

 

In comparison to my finished piece on the left hand side I feel that I have enormously improved and that it now looks more like a magazine front cover. I thought thoroughly about the image I wanted to take and how it would attract my audience and how it would link in with the type of magazine front cover I was creating where as I did not put so much thought into what image I wanted to have for my school magazine therefore I rushed it. I also used a black and white effect on my finished product as I think that this effect compliments my music genre well. I also thought about the types of sell lines I wanted to apply to my magazine and how they would attract my audience therefore I decided to use an audience pleasure within one of my sell lines 'Win a signed Kendrick Lamar CD& Sweater' this would benefit my audience, I feel that looking back now I could have used an audience pleasure on my school magazine as this would have attract various school students in purchasing the magazine. Lastly for my finished product my masthead was 'DMT' and comparing it to my school magazine masthead which I named 'School Weekly' that this was too long and do not look professional as it is two separate words, I feel that a magazine looks better when it have just one preferably short name.

Evalution part 6: How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation part 5: In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation part 5:

My media product of my magazine title was developed by doing extensive research on different magazine titles. By researching this I discovered that the majority of music magazines title names are short and have at least 6 letters or less such as; 'Q' 'XXL' 'Vibe' 'Complex' 'Spin' 'NME' all of these names are memorable and captivating to the audience. I did most of my research online as you have to subscribe and pay for the real/full issues of music magazines. When I was thinking of names for my music magazine I firstly chose a rather long name ' Predomination' as this meant something that was dominant and overpowering which I thought associated well with my genre of music R&B/Rap, I than decided to change this name as I thought that it was too long and I did not like that way the it would position along the front/top side of my front cover, I also realised that I wanted a short name in order for my front cover to look more like a real existing text, this will also allow me more space for my image and sell lines on my front cover. Therefore I decided on the name 'DMT' which stands for domination which allowed me to still have a similar meaning within my magazine name yet have more space among my page.

Front covers:

Based upon my front cover I used NME’S front cover with Amy Winehouse featuring on the cover because I liked the layout design of the cover. As you can see they have positioned their masthead of ‘NME’ in the top left hand corner in white and a bold font, I thoroughly liked the positioning and colour of this therefore I decided to base my title and how I positioned mine upon this issue. I have used a black plaque behind my masthead of ‘DMT’ so that it really emphasises the white lettering in the title, because I can see that due to the all-black background behind ‘Amy’ it brings out the white in ‘NME’ consequently I felt that adding a small black background just underneath my title it would give it a more professional look and also would make it similar to real existing products. Additionally I like the overall image of black and white as I prefer a front cover to look minimalistic as I know personally that I am more attracted to a front cover with less text on it as it is easier on the and quicker to read, due to this I gave my image a black and white effect called ‘Agnes’ which I created on Pixlr to try and achieve this look but also to keep the graffiti effect slightly behind my model as I feel this portrays the hip-hop culture fittingly. Lastly I liked the way that Amy was standing and positioned slightly to the side with her head turned towards the camera with her eyes aimed directly at the lenses. For that reason when I was taking images of my model I took inspiration from this image and directed my model to stand with his body to the side and his head turned to face the camera. I think that this works well because it makes the audience feel that the artist is turning to face them and wants to share their story and deep thoughts with the audience. Although I had based my front cover on the ‘NME’ front cover I also added a few of my own elements to my front cover as I added three sell lines where as they have included no sell lines. I felt that even though I wanted to achieve the simplistic look, having information about the magazine on your front cover was important in attracting an audience due to the fact that it provides them with information about your magazine, it persuades and intrigues them to purchase it.
   

Contents pages:

Whilst creating my contents page I used two different contents pages to use for inspiration. Firstly to the left hand side is a contents page from ‘The Source’ music magazine which is featuring 2xChainz. I like the way that they used a white background as a base and then inserted their image of 2xchainz over the top of it on the middle right hand side. I felt that this provided them with more spacing to write the page number and text onto their page. I also think that this looks a lot neater than the typical contents page where they have the enlarged image and the text around the page. I tried this look out on my contents page by using a white background on Pixlr and resizing it to however big I wanted the white base background to be, I than added the image of my model on top of the white background and positioned it in a similar position to the left as this way I will have just enough space for my text. Furthermore most contents pages conventionally have ‘Contents Page’ written at the top so when I saw the contents page of ‘The Source’ I was instantly attracted due to the fact I liked the way they had been unconventional and different by not including this title of ‘Contents page’ Instead they had a slogan that they use on every one of their contents page which was ‘Master Plan’ which I like and used something similar although I wrote a piece of text ‘The kings claim to reign’ which is about my featured artist therefore it gives each main artist that will be featured in my magazine their own piece of identity and slogan I also thought that the rhyming couplet of ‘Claim’ and ‘Reign’ was attracting an just simply rolls of the tongue of your audience member. Moreover I saw that ‘The Source’ had enlarged the number that their main featured artist will appear on to show that he is the main attraction of this magazine, so I used this on my front cover ‘No.18’ in a dark orange colour in order for it to stand out amongst my other page numbers. The similarities that I had used from the contents page of ‘Vibe’ on the right hand side which features ‘Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim’ is one of the sub headings that they have used “Departments” as I was unsure of that types of sub headings that I wanted to include on my contents page as when I researched music magazine contents pages I found that they were all rather unusual. I felt that “Departments” would allow me to include any information that would typically be on these page numbers. Skipping back to the contents page on the left hand side, I also used one their sub headings “Features” as this would then provide me with two main subheadings and I could than include all the artists that I have done features on in my magazine.

 

Double page spreads:

 

The double page spread that used for stimulation was from ‘Q’ magazine which did a feature on Lana Del Rey. Here I saw that they used an image of Lana on the whole of the left hand side page, which I liked therefore I used an image of my model on the right hand side of my page although I did not enlarge it as much due to the fact that I was including more text that they have used on the double page spread. I also loved the way that they had enlarged the first letter of their sentence so that it is covering almost half of the right hand side page. Through my research on double page spread’s I found that various issues of ‘Q’ have used an enlargements of one letter either being the initials of the featured artists name or the start of a sentence, I have always liked the look of this therefore I used that first initial of my artists name ‘I’ and enlarged it but instead of putting it underneath my text I placed it on the image of my artist as I did not want it to look exactly the same as the double page spread of ‘Q’. As you can see they have only written Lana’s name in small at the top by the image of her, I thought this looked neat and rather than distracting her name from the actual text beneath they have just placed it in small lettering at the top as a result of seeing this I realised that I wanted the same effect and wanted my audience to be able to properly see the text that I have written, so I placed ‘Izzy’ in the left hand side corner. ‘Q’ have only used two small columns on this particular page about Lana where as I added a slight element of my own as I needed three columns due the fact that I have included a small article about my artist and an interview as well. Overall I kept the layout design of mine similar to the one of ‘Q’ although I changed the columns and positioning of it slightly, I honestly think that it works just as well as the double page spread of ‘Q’.

 

 

Evaluation part 4: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation part 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evalutaion part 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Who would be the audience for your media product? Who would be attracted to this text?

Evaluation part 1:

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be attracted to this text?

Age- The age group I decided on for my particular music magazine was aged 15-Early 30’s I decided on this age group because I think that this music genre of R&B/Rap can vary over a wide range of ages from 15 as this genre is extremely popular with the younger generations of today and also can vary to Early 30’s as there are many artists within this genre that are around this age themselves For example; Jay-Z, Ludacris, The Game, Pharrell Williams, Jada Kiss, T.I, 50 cent, Juicy J etc. therefore there will be people of this age that are still interested and relate to this type of music. Also linked in with gender sex, drugs and alcohol seem to be present within the music genre of R&B/Rap this is why my age limits are varied as these things may be more appropriate for my older audience members although I do not agree with these concepts. Consequently I have no added any of these things on to my front covers, contents page and double page spread as I care strongly for my audience members.

Gender- I do not think that gender applies massively for this genre although I feel that it marginally leans upon the male gender as the genre of Rap especially appears more popular with males rather than females. Also I do not feel that the ‘male gaze’ is hugely present within my magazine however due to the style of music that my magazine is based around it is associated with sex, drugs and alcohol therefore the gender could be divided slightly as male’s seems to be more fixated with these things where as for example: a young female around the age of 15 or just above may feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar with these concepts. Whilst the above may be associated with the music genre of R&B/Rap I have not included them on my front cover, contents page or double page spread as I do not agree with these substances and do not wish to be a bad influence upon the younger generation of my audience especially.

Lifestyle- Based upon the wide ranged age group that I have decided on for my music magazine I felt that to discover the usual lifestyle of my audience would have been difficult. Additionally 15-23 year olds may still be in full time education and be classed as a student, as 15-18 year olds are typically studying at school/college moreover 18-23 year olds may be at university. On the other hand my slightly older audience members may well be employed in a full/part time working job perhaps from mid-20’s onwards. Due to this I have come to the conclusion that I do not wish for my music magazine to be overpriced because the younger half of my audience deserve affordable prices as they will not be able to afford expensive prices, also I feel that even my audience members that are aged 23- early 30’s still will not want to spend expensive amounts of money on a music magazine as they have to provide themselves and perhaps even their families with food and living. By this I also wanted to convey to my audience that no matter what gender, age or type of interests you have that these things do not matter as any type of person will be able to purchase my magazine.

Socio Economic group- Due to my broad range of ages for my media product the socio-economic groups will be divided. I decided that the socio-economic group best suited to my music magazine is ‘Working Class’ (C2DE) due to the fact that 15-23 year olds the majority of them are students although 23- early 30’s are likely to be working class and skilled working therefore I have tried to decide on a group that is best suited to my wide ranged audience members.

Interests- My audience members as well as being interested in the musical genre of R&B/Rap they may be interested within the fashion side of this genre and the urban/hip-hop clothing of today. They may be interested in events such as; tours and gigs as my media product will also provide audience members with information on tour dates, where tickets are being sold and bordering events. Other interests could be discovering new talent, for example my media product is providing my audience members with a new up-coming female R&B artist named ‘SZA’. Interests that could be associated with the music genre that my media product is based upon could be dance, art, graffiti and photography as these are all related to the culture of R&B/Rap. The image that I used of my model on my front cover, contents page and double page spread are suitable for my music genre and audience members. I chose to dress my model in hip-hop/urban clothing so the genre is portrayed immediately to my audience, moreover I did not want to show my model in a revealing and exposing manner as some members of my audience may not agree with this certain type of culture.

2ND draft of music magazine front cover // Draft's for contents page // Drafts for double page spread

For my 2nd draft of my front cover i decided to use a black and white effect named 'AGNES' as like i have previously stated i like the colours of black and white for my specific music genre as it is simplisitc and is not distracting of my model, moreover i perfer the 'AGNES' effect as my background of graffiti i already rather overpowering as it is extremly colourful therefore this effect tones the bright colouring down yet you are still able to notice the graffiti behind my model. Also due to the fact that i am extremly fond of black and white effects i think that using this effect on my front cover may give my audience an idea of my personality and the way that i design things. Firstly i inserted the sell line' Chris Brown Album Release 'X' December Push' towards the bottom of my page to convey that it is not the main story featured in this magazine but that it will also be included. I than added my sell lines 'Exclusive interview with the king or rap 'Izzy' talks his recent collab with 'Genius' Eminem' and i placed this in the same position as i previously did in my first draft as it is placed beside my model/featured artist therefore my audience will know who it is about and what is included.

Secondly i added my free gift/audience pleasure in the same positioningh as my first draft as it is in the right hand corner and is telling the audience that it is not my main featuring. Although this time i used an orange semi-circle around this sell line as i felt that my cover needed a slight sprinkle of colour as it was strictly black and white all over, also i was unable to use the colour black on my semi circle and it does not show up on my cover as it is already dark.  Lastly i decided to change the colour and positioning slighty of the sell line 'Chris Brown album release 'X' december push', i chose to change the colour of this text from white into black as i did not want all of my sell lines to be in the same colour as i find it repetitous and unexiting moreover i find that having this text in black shows that it is associated with a different subject matter than about my main featured artist 'Izzy' . Also i changed the position of this text slightly as it appears clearer&brigthter in when it is placed in front of the bottom of my model.







2ND DRAFT

In my second draft I selected a different image of my model as I wanted to have two different front covers to compare and determine which of the two looked most professional and well suited to my music genre. I also changed the positioning of my masthead of 'DMT' to the right hand corner due to the fact that the image of my model covers the left hand side where my masthead originally was. Lastly I have also changed my sell lines to the right hand side due to the image.





















 FIRST draft of contents page:                                                                                         

I decided to use a white background as a base for my contents page as it gives me more space to write around my image. I also decided to have two separate sub headings 'Departments' and 'Features' as I found that these two headings were popular on various music magazine contents pages.

Furthermore I chose to enlarge the page number of my featured artist to convey that it is our main attraction.

SECOND draft for contents page:

                       Final Contents page




















For my final contents page I decided to change the positioning of the bottom half of my writing so that it was the same as the top half of my text, as I felt that the whole of the column should be the same as it looks neat and professional. I also used again another black and white image I wanted to maintain the colour scheme of black and white through my magazine.





First draft for double page spread:

For the first draft of my double page spread I decided to position the image of my model on the right hand side and half three columns on the left hand side of my double page spread. As I have done research on different double page spreads and discovered that they have the image of their model across one full side of their page and have their columns of the opposite side. I have also enlarged the letter I which is the first initial of my featured artist, I placed this upon the image of my model as I feel that it empowers the artist and states to the audience that he is the full centre of attention. I also used an extra colour of grey to represent the questions that 'DMT' have asked the artist so that the audience members do not become confused as to who is who. Lastly I have included an image of the artist 'SZA' as I felt that my page was slightly empty with just the one image, I also wanted to provide my audience with an image of her as she is spoken about within the interview.



SECOND draft for double page spread:                                                                                      

Here I replaced the image of 'SZA' with another image of my model so that it was overlapping my original image of the model, I also added the quote from the interview that I used on my prelim DPS and wrote it so that it was overlapping the second image, I feel that by the use of overlapping it creates a sense of a build up to the main image and also towards the letter 'I'.

THIRD draft for double page spread


















In my third draft I used the image of 'SZA' again but placed it slight higher up than on the first draft and also added the information about her beneath the image, so that she is representing what is being spoken about her.



FINAL double page spread

 For my final double page spread I changed the position of my image of 'SZA' and slightly overlapped my main image of my artist, therefore I felt that it allowed me to have more text and more of the interview on my page. I also changed the positioning of the quote and placed it at the top of my image.

My first draft of my music magazine front cover

 First front cover draft:

Before attempting to create the first draft of my music magazine front cover I firstly had to pick an image that I took of which I think will be best suited to being on my front cover and not more of a image for my contents page. Therefore the photo to the left is the initial photo that I decided on using for the first draft as due to the positioning of my models body it allows me enough room to be able to use various sell lines beside him. Also my model in the photo is looking directly at the camera which I think creates a sort of intimacy straight away, also I liked the background in this image as it is full of bright colouring and will attract my audience, moreover when creating my front covers/contents page/DPS I like to think about what would attract me if I were a member of the audience and out of all of the images that I took I thought that this image would attract me the most. I also thought that the background would attract and intrigue me as soon as I were to see it. Below is the same image but after I have edited it. I used 'Pixlr' to edit this image and I used the effect named 'Hagrid' which basically increases the contrast in the photo and brightens it. I extremely liked the way that this effect increases the colouring of the graffiti behind my model and emphasises it. It also springs more of a tanned colour upon my model and makes his hair seem a slightly darker shade.























During the process of creating the first draft of my front cover I decided to change my music magazine name from '¶redomination' to 'DMT' which stands for domination but shortened. I did this due to the fact that when I inserted the masthead of '¶redomination' it looked extremely long and extensive, I also thought that due to this it looked unprofessional and less like it was a music magazine. Therefore I decided to have three letters as my masthead as it was short and concise which I wanted. 
I looked at various different music magazine names and noticed that the majority of their names was at least 6 letters or shorter, therefore overall they were not long names. I personally like the look of 'XXL', 'Q' and 'Vibe' magazine as all these magazine  have very short magazine names which allows them more space for text and imagery on their front covers. Further more 'XXL' magazine is the magazine name that I am most attracted to therefore have based my magazine name upon that of 'XXL'.

 

 

To the left hand side is how I started off creating my first draft. Again I created this on the editing website 'Pixlr' as I find it extremely easy to use now that I am familiar with it. The font that I used on my masthead of 'DMT' was named 'Brawler' and was a serif font as I think that the serif fonts convey a more dominant& official tone to my magazine. I also did this in a white colouring as this colour comes up very bright against that graffiti/bright coloured background, therefore I felt that this colour was appropriate as I do not want my masthead to blend into the background I would like it to stand out. I decided to write all of the text upon my page in capital letters as I did a lot of research on popular music magazines and found that mass amounts of magazines have used capital lettering, I then compared my the text within the sell lines firstly with your usual size text and than with capital letters among my sell lines and found that it actually appears more professional and magazine like when capital letters are being used all over.

 

 

 

I than added my main sell line which consists of information on my featured rap artist 'Izzy' and a snippet of what will be included inside. "Exclusive interview with the king of rap 'IZZY' - Talks his recent collab with 'Genius' Eminem." I decided to use the word 'Exclusive' as It suggests something being fresh, new, limited and leading. As it is the first time this artist will speak about his collaboration with one of the all time best rappers in the world 'Eminem' and also about a new upcoming artist 'SZA'. I also chose to include that there will be a 'Interview' provided inside as this will attract the audience instantly as people like to hear what is coming directly from this artists mouth and what he has to say rather than just an article which is written by someone else.
Additionally I gave my audience a snippet of what this artist will be speaking about and also quoted a word that he used about Eminem which is 'Genius', I think by doing this you are persuading your audience to buy your magazine and find out more about what is in the interview. Also using the quote 'Genius' intrigues your audience and makes them want to know why 'Izzy' has used this word and what his opinions are.

Lastly I added the sell line 'Win a signed Kendrick Lamar CD& Sweater' as this is an audience pleasure and a free gift, by doing this my audience may be benefiting from my magazine. This persuades them hugely as they could be winning a CD and Sweater from one of their idols for free and makes them feel special  and as though we haven given to them, this implies that we have thought about them as individuals by adding this potential free gift for them. I decided to present this free gifted sell line is the top right hand corner of my front cover as this was an evident space for me to fill, also by positioning this in the top corner shows that it is not the main feature of this issue but is more so and included benefit for the audience. Although using a thick black semi-circle around this sell line conveys its significance and makes it distinctive upon the page, as I want my audience to feel that I am giving to them and that my main priority is that the audience are gaining pleasure from my magazine continuously.

Active vs. Passive theory/Encoding and Decoding

Active vs. Passive theory

The active audience theory reasons that media audiences do not passively receive information but are actively involved in the process usually without realising as they make sense of the messages that the media may provide them with due to their personal and social contexts, what they use the media for. Decoding’s of media messages can be influenced by certain things for example: your beliefs, values, culture, education, interests, experiences and often family backgrounds. This theory conveys that the producer/encoder of the text does not control the decoding of the text but the audience do.                              

*An example of this theory may be; Another family member goes out, purchases a magazines and once they have read it leaves it out on the kitchen table this now causes you to read this magazine, therefore you will be receiving information from this magazine yet are unconsciously making sense of the messages but within the personal/social context that you are situated within.

 

The active vs. passive theory is also compatible with the Encoding/Decoding model of communication theory.                                                                                                             

Encoding-The encoding of a message is the production of the message.                    

Decoding- How audience member interpret messages give due to their own experiences/personal contexts.

This theory was developed by Stuart Hall in 1973. His theory focuses upon how media messages are produced, disseminated, and interpreted. He states that all aspects of the media are presented with different messages which will have different meanings for different people due to their background, personal context and also economic standing. He believes that the media provides messages that are decoded and interpreted by its audience, Hall also empowered media audiences and stated evidently that media users play an active role in decoding and interpreting these messages due to the fact that their decoding relies on their own personal contexts therefore they have the power to change these messages themselves through physiological actions.

 

Here are the three positions that Hall believes decoding can assume:

Dominant/hegemonic position- *this suggests that the media understands and decodes the message the way that it was originally encoded. Therefore the consumer realises the intended meaning and is in a dominant position above other consumers as both the sender and receiver have the same cultural biases

Negotiated position-* the consumer here is in a negotiated position because they accept and reject different elements. The consumer recognises the dominant message intended but fails to completely accept the encoded message given as they concurrently resist and amend these messages to their own personal context and interests.

Oppositional position-*the consumer is in an oppositional position due to the fact that they that do understand the intended meaning however people have different backgrounds therefore they each decode/interpret messages their own way as a result of this the consumer due to their social situation has placed themselves in an oppositional position as they are not sharing the dominant/texts codes but rejecting them.

Moreover Hall also has four-stage models of communication, this focuses upon how the sender of information cannot be certain whether his intended messages will be perceived by users in the original way that he would have liked because of the chain of discourse which is how the message/product is affected along the way. These four stages are how they can become affected:

Production-* this is when the encoding of the message is taken place, the producer here has based their message/product on the beliefs, values and ethics that society maintains.

Circulation-* this is how the audience perceive things, it is how they are shown it visually against the literal intended meaning. It suggests that the circulation of things influence how the audience in the end receive this message as and how they put it to use.

Use (distribution or consumption)-* this is the decoding/interpreting that the audience actively partake in.

Reproduction-* this is after the message/product has been interpreted by the audience members based upon their contexts/experiences in life and whether or not they take action upon this message are consuming it in their own particular way and what they do with it.

 

 

Uses and gratifications theory within music magazines

Uses and gratifications theory within magazine front covers.

Rolling stones:

Diversion within the rolling stones magazine is  extremely recognised as this music magazine is enormously popular therefore this magazine can divert you away from the reality of life and captivate your mind into the lifestyle of celebrities purely by reading their magazine.

The sell lines 'Elizabeth Taylor The Never-Before-Seen Rolling Stone Interview' takes the reader into a completely different time.

To help create personal relationships this magazine contains gossip which contributes to the user feeling companionship. E.g. who Rhianna is dating.

*Also being updated with information and the latest news may increase popularity for a person, such as Britney spears making a come-back which features in this magazine.

Within personal identity they have featured Rhianna as people may relate to the celebrities that are featured in the magazine and what they are saying. For example; inside Rhianna talks about her attraction to the dark side, the reader may agree and relate to this which helps them discover their identity.

Surveillance is shown through tour dates and event dates that are provided inside the magazine may help create companionships for people as fans will meet at concerts etc.

*The sell line ‘Rhianna strikes back’ makes the reader buy the magazine as they want to know what’s new with Rhianna.

Vibe magazine:

To create diversion for the media user reading about the new artist of Kendrick ‘The new god mc Kendrick Lamar’ takes the reader briefly away from reality and into the life of Lamar.

In order to help create personal relationships for the user the use of features such as ‘Your guide to the best’ and provides the user with the best ‘iconic cars, TV shows, athletes, life changing movies’ etc. This helps the growth of their popularity due to their recent increase of knowledge. Also ‘Kanye vs. R Kelly, who is music’s number one genius?’ this helps create personal relationships between people as they may discuss their similarities or difference in opinion on this specific topic.

‘Miguel sex, drugs and R&B’ helps the user find more out about their personal identity as they may agree or relate to the way he lives his life.

Lastly the surveillance used within this music magazine of ‘Vibe’ the sell line ‘The new god mc Kendrick Lamar’ attracts the audience and makes them want to find out about this artist and what he has to give to the music industry.

uses and gratification theory

Ideology

How does the ideology of the music affect its representation visually?
An ideology is a belief. Each music genre has a convoying ideology to follow therefore the music genre has an effect on the visual representation and language of a magazine through the use of fonts, imagery, colour, terminology and language used.

Such as; a rock magazine would use perhaps a sans serif font and it would appear as aggressive, violent and run down. It would also be shown in bold and large sizing with the use of black, white and red as these colours seem to be reoccurring in various rock magazines. The page layout of a rock magazine may be that the image on the front cover would be taken from a low angle to show the dominant and prevailing ambiance that rock music portrays. Other things audiences situate with rock music is drugs, alcohol, authenticity and that rock music is attempting to make a statement. A rock music magazine that is extremely successful and conveys all of the above in their magazine is ‘KERRANG!’

 

 

The font here shows cracks through the masthead of ‘KERRANG!’ this implies violence and aggression. It is portraying that it is shattered glass perhaps by the loudness of rock music which would appeal to the audience of ‘KERRANG!’ furthermore the music affects the visual representation of the magazine as rock music is a loud, belligerent and ferocious genre therefore this would continue to be shown through the visual representation.

Another example of how the ideology of the music affects its visual representation is through the pop music magazine ‘Billboard’.

This ‘Billboard’ front covers suggests that pop music beholds an innocence, purity and a naivety. Consequently the visual representation of this would contain bright colouring which are used within the masthead, possibly a sans serif font to convey a sense of immaturity within the genre and also the use of the colour white within the masthead portrays purity, euphemism and a cleanliness within the musical language of pop (non-sexual references and no drugs/alcohol). The image they have used is extremely soft and refined due to the setting/background that the artist ‘Lana del Rey’ is set around which appears to be a garden with a table and chair that of which she is placed upon. Also she is wearing shorts and a flowery jumper/top which contains the colours of dark/light pink, corals and orange, this is a representation of the artist it suggests that she may be bright, playful, charming and elegant. The way she is positioned with her head resting upon her hand and with her looking in a different direction to the camera implies that she is day-dreaming. The positioning is extremely feminine and lady-like.

questionnaire

Questionnaire

Performing a Questionnaire is vital in the process of creating a Music Magazine as it informs me of the opinions of my target audience on my music magazine.  It is useful as it give me an idea of the types of improvements that need to be made and also the things that the audience like and that I should keep and that should be consistent in all of my magazines which will contribute to the house style of my magazine.  Therefore I asked about 7 people certain questions about my magazine and their general opinion of it. The types of questions that will be asked are mainly situated with the appearance of my magazine. Also i asked a mixture of male and female audiences and also people aged between 15-32 as that is my age group.

 First of all:
Do you like my music magazine name “¶redomination”?

Sami: Yes I like the name and think it suits your music genre of R&B/Rap as it is a rather dominant and aggressive type of music.

Aneisha: Yes I really like the name and think that it is intriguing to the audience as to what the meaning of it is. I also think that it will stick with the audience.

Rhiann: I think the name is interesting although I think the name is too long.

Libby: I agree, I thinks it’s extremely effective name.

Sylvia: I think its a good name, although it may become confusing to your audience as to what the meaning of the word is.

Ella: I really like the name and there aren't many magazines out there with a similar name.

Sara: I think the name is very creative and shows that you have put a lot of thought into your magazine name as it is quite complex.


Do you like the house style of my magazine?

Sami: I think the house style of black and white is attracting and portrays dominance which links into your magazine name.
Aneisha: Yes i personally like it as i think it suits your music genre of R&B/Rap where as if it were the colour scheme for a pop magazine it would not suit well as that would need bursts of colour.
Rhiann: I also like the house style although i would appreciate perhaps a splash of another colour as well as black and white to give it personality.
Libby: Yes the house style really suits your genre well as Rap and some of R&B can be dark. When you think of that genre you know what to expect therefore it is 'black and white' or clear in other words.
Sylvia: I think that the house style works well because the colours black and white will never go out of fashion therefore they will continue to attract an audience.
Ella: I dont think that there are a lot of magazines that have the house style of just black and white, they usually have a third colour but this works for your genre.
Sara: I like the house style but i also agree that you could add one more colour perhaps on your front cover within the sell lines.

How could i improve the overall image of my magazine?

Sami: Change the positioning of the sell lines to make them appear more magazine like.
Aneisha: Try the magazine house style out with an experiment of different colours. 
Rhiann: Yeah just experiment on your house style 
Libby: Try positioning texts in different places? like see what the masthead would look like behind your image.
Sylvia: Just experiment really, try out different colours.
Ella: Make the sell lines stand out more.
Sara: Show that there may be prizes to be won inside etc. 

What do you like most about my magazine and what should i keep?

Sami: I like the house style and the name.
Aneisha: Definitely keep the magazine name and also the black and white colouring.
Rhiann: Yes i agree with the name and house style.
Libby: I like how your front cover is not overcrowded with sell lines, it is simplistic but effective.
Sylvia: Yes i like how it is not too busy therefore i can see your image clearly.
Ella: I like the image that you chose and how the artist was not looking at the camera therefore it becomes more personal and in depth rather than like it was just an image taken in a photo shoot.
Sara: I like how you have used all serif font's on your front cover like it was used in older times for people that had a lot of power as it suggests something dominant, historical and important.

+ photos for front cover/contents/DPS

More original photos:

I tried out various different effects on my images to show the audience all of the types of effects that I will go through before deciding on the final effect and colouring that I have chosen for my final images. For example here I have used three different effects on the same image to show my audience the variety of effects that there are to use on images and also the how the different effects portray a different type of image to the audience. Beneath I have also shown the same image twice, firstly I used one effect on the image just to give it more of a contrasted colour and more vibrancy, secondly I used and black and white effect called 'Agnes' which is what I used on my music magazine front cover Prelim. I also shot these images outside and had a graffiti background because I think it conveys my musical genre of R&B/Rap well as graffiti shows the rebellion in todays youth which is similar to this genre as a lot of Rap music is associated with acting in a rebellious way (drugs and gangs).

Photos taken inside:

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



These images that were taken inside I changed my model's outfit completely here from a crewneck jumper, trainers, hat etc. to a smart grey suit to show the diversity of my images so that it is not to predictable and almost to show that perhaps my model is a smart business man by day and a youthful boy by night to show the change in character, even if I do not end up using these particular images I mainly just wanted to convey that I tried out two completely different types of images before deciding on the final image that I want to portray, as I think it is extremely beneficial to try out taking a variety of different photos so that you have had experience in trying out a variety of things.


Further more the images I took beneath were shot outside and in the usual casual wear of a R&B or Rap artist. I also took images of my model smoking as I feel that this is typically associated with this certain music genre and I also wanted to add something extra or an object to my image to spring more of a focus upon these images, especially as my other images do not include this.
Lastly I sat my model upon a stall and used a simple background this time as I wanted to have the choice of having an image where the focus was strictly upon my model and where you can see his face clearly, more so than my other images.












More photos taken outside: