Thursday 6 January 2011
Wednesday 8 December 2010
Flat Plan for 'Grime Time'
Fro ym front page, I decided that promoting my main feature was the strongest idea as it formed a structure of the page automatically. For example, once I placed in the image I knew what spacing I had to note other big article's / interviews / competitions I had space for on my front cover.
For my contents page, I decided that it would be a more detailed version of my front cover, giving my reader's more of a hint on what to expect with in the feature. It also will have more images, connecting better with the target audience age group.
For my feature, I adopted the idea of main quotes, in the centre of my page and decided to have large image to capture my reader's eyes as well as make the main image clear by making in the biggest on the spread and giving it a caption. Finally, I decided that the title's on both pages would be different to show versitility through the article as it covers more than one topic to do with Simply Sick.
Inspiration for my Feature Article
From this feature I was automatically drawn in to reading it as the layout was very intreaguing, I found that by havinh many images it captured my eye easily and it didn't seem to be over-powered by text, making hte feature look like a relaxed and enjoyable read. From these ideas, I knew that for my feature I wanted to lay ot out so that it came across in the same way, a light enjoyable read.
I also thought that the design of text drew me toward the article as the key points were clear and I understood easily where to read from, a tool I decided to adopt in my own feature. I also liked the used of the main quote as it showed that there were perticular high points in the feature, making me want to read more.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Inspiration for my Contents Page
From this contents page, I liked that the main feature was also the main image on the contents page and that the page number was very clear for the readers to notice and read the article. I also liked that there was a clear consistancy in the colouring for the page and it was clearly laid out.
From this contents page, I took the idea of croping the images shape to shape around a person or object, showing different dynamics in the page and so making different things for my reader's to look at. Also, in this contents page there is a clear image to promote a competition, which showed me that I was drawn to this as the image was of a different background to the rest of the page and so attracted my eye easily, From this I was inspired to put a red border around the image relating to my competition, in the hope that it will achieve the same effect.
First Draft of Cover, Contents and Feature Pages
For my front cover, I have used the simple colours of Red,Black and grey and have used a 'hidden' picture of YMC Money as my main image, as he is unveiled in his interview, the main image. Also, I have listed what other artist's will be featured in this issue as well as metion that there is an exclusive competition to Grime Time Magazine in this, the first issue. It also tells the reader that there will be reviews on new albums and tells them that there are poster's and MOBO exclusives to this edition only.
In the contents page, I have given my reader's more of a hint on what is inside with a small line explaining each feature. Also, I have made the main text in Red, like the front cover did, showing consistancy and making it clear that this is all a part of Grime Time rather than being from a random different magazine. It also clearly shows the page numbers and keeps the same colour for all of the pages, making the layout of the page clear and easy to work out for my reader's. I have also made the picture's stand out, by outting a clear red border around the picture of Louise in the studio, this both relates to the music's colour scheme and the colour related to Virgin records as their logo is also red, so it is a colour that I had thought about with the representation before adding it as a border. I have also again lassoed the main image, showing that I both have technical skill, but also that the magazine is not an amatuer one and takes the genre seriously to my audience.
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| Lasso tool on Photoshop |
This small tool allows me to draw around an image and delete the excess that I donlt want, creating an image, like my main images both on my front cover and my contents page.
My fature again followws the colour schemeing of Grime Time, with the rad and black. This keeps the magazine consistant and clear to what magazine it is for. I have also added effects to my main feature, as I have lettered the beginning's to the two different parts of my feature in a bold red letter and at the beginning of my feature, I have enlarged the size of the 'S' to show the importance and where the beginning to this article is, again making it clear to my readers. Finally, I have also added affects such as putting shaddow's on the title's to my two pages as well as butting a shaddow on the main image and putting both a shaaddow and a slight reflection on the two images on the second page.
Monday 6 December 2010
Thursday 11 November 2010
Target Audience Profile
I set out my Publication Plan under three categories; Genre, Purpose & Intention and Target Audience.
Uner these three headings I noted what I wanted my magazine to aim toward acheiveing in each one.
Genre:
- Cross genre magazine
- U.K Grime
+Tinie Tempah
+Griminal
+Giggs
+Skepta
+Wiley
+Tempa T
- R&B
+Rihanna
- Bashment
+Katy B
+Magnetic Man
Purpose & Intention
- Focus on Personal Identity and Surveilance from uses and gratifications theory
- Information on upcoming events
- Reviews on new albums
+Loud (Rihanna)
+Disc-Overy (Tinie Tempah)
- Gig Dates
+Drake (7th and 8th January 2011)
+Simply Sick (March 2011, dates to be announced)
Target Audience:
-Young, supportive of new answers
-Big fans of new, local artists
-Ravers, Party-Go-ers
-Facebook users
-Interest in new fashion
-Multicultural
After later evaluating the genre of the group for my feature article - and deciding what was realistic for me to produce for my magazine. I have changed the music genre of my magazine to just 'UK Grime', which combines with the name of my magazine, 'Grime Time'.
On all three of these idea's which I will base my magazine upon, I have constructed this mood board on photoshop;
I did this by researching images relevant to my three area's of planning, such as the facebook logo and true religion jeans. I then saved them to the desktop of my computer. From here, I opened them up in a new window in photoshop and dragged the image over. As I was using an Apple Mac computer when making my mood board, I then pressed (cmd+t) on the keyboard and enlarged the images so that they could be visible.
This image show the audience of whom I intend to aim my magazine at. My maghazine is aimed at young people, who show an interest in fashion, comedy, technology, social networks and raves. I have no set race for my magazine as I think the music genre's will appeal to all races and there is no set race who show a particular interest in these genre's of music.
Thursday 4 November 2010
Prelim Task, Contents Page
Contents Page
I think that by using predomenantly orange images, i have created a contrast in colours for my contents page. Also, I have kept the main layout of the front cover, showing consistency through the magazine and my page numbers and article's are clearly marked out so that the reader's know what the content of my magazine is.
This image has bright colours and looks like a tunnel way in to education showing that achland Burghley is a fun, vibrant place of education. I think this is a good image to use for my contents page of the school magazine as it shows familiar surroundings to students as well as giving the idea of a nice atmosphere to outside reader's.
I decided to keep this image the same with no alterations as i thought it showed a fun, enjoyabke atmosphere of the school as well as vibrant coulours, maikin git seem an enjoyable place to be and learn.
However, I did reduce the sizing of both of these images so that they could fit on the page and show off the school.
Prelim Task, Magazine Cover
My Original Photography
I have changed my original image by brightening the colours, so that the red lettering for my masthead can stand out more. I hink by doing this I have also made the image more interesting and made the magazine based more at students with an interest in I.T as it shows some technical skill.
How did I change this image?
I changed the 'Level and Emboss' by reducing it from 100% to 50%, giving it a more faded look, showing my technical skill to adjust an image on photoshop.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Uses and Gratification Theory
Uses and Gratifications is broken down in to four different parts. These justify why people feel a need for media and why it is consumed so much.
Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures (e.g. Movies (cinema), T.V, Consoles, Facebook, Radio)
Personal - Comparing your life with characters or situations on screen (e.g. Big Brother, Tabloid News, I'm a Celebrity get Me Out Of Here)
Personal identity - Looking at someon else's situation and comparing it to your own, looking at different outlooks on the world (e.g. celebrity lifestyle, chased by paparazzi)
Surveilance - Information about 'What's going on in the World' (e.g. e-mail's, Facebook, News, Gig guides)
All magazines use these to base their purpose on as these are the reason's for consumtion. When producing my magazine, I will consider all four of these and remember that reader's will consume my magazine for any of these four reasons and so to make a successful magazine, I will cover all four considering all possible reader's and their reason's for consuming my publication.
Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures (e.g. Movies (cinema), T.V, Consoles, Facebook, Radio)
Personal - Comparing your life with characters or situations on screen (e.g. Big Brother, Tabloid News, I'm a Celebrity get Me Out Of Here)
Personal identity - Looking at someon else's situation and comparing it to your own, looking at different outlooks on the world (e.g. celebrity lifestyle, chased by paparazzi)
Surveilance - Information about 'What's going on in the World' (e.g. e-mail's, Facebook, News, Gig guides)
All magazines use these to base their purpose on as these are the reason's for consumtion. When producing my magazine, I will consider all four of these and remember that reader's will consume my magazine for any of these four reasons and so to make a successful magazine, I will cover all four considering all possible reader's and their reason's for consuming my publication.
Sunday 17 October 2010
Textual analysis of codes and conventions - Studying reader profiles
How does the reader consume music in NME and Uncut?
In NME, the reader consumes music through all sources, their results say that in the last year, their readers consumed:
- 39 CD albums (or £430 worth per reader)
- 45 CD singles (or £135 worth per reader)
- 55% of reader's buy the majority of their music from a Major music chain. e.g. HMV
- 45% buy vinyl from a specialist record shop
- 28% purchase CD's online e.g. Amazon
- 19% own an iPod
- Average of 15 single downloads per reader per month
In UNCUT, the reader's also consume their music in many different forms, such as:
- 79% of reader's said it's important for them o keep up-to-date with the latest music
- 97% of reader's are passionate about music
- On average, reader's spend £600 a month on CD's, compared to £480 on average in 2002
- The average reader download's 8 album's a month
- The average reader consumes 6 CD album's a month
The similarities that I can see between these two reader profiels are that the majority of reader's still prefer a hard copy of music, i.e. CD's. This shows that the audience's of these magazine's are working people as they have money, but also that it is a mature audience that don't like to download as much as have their collection of their favourite artist's.
However, there are also differences in the two reader profiles such as UNCUT give a very brief look over on how music is consumed, whereas NME goes in to much more detail about the average's of consumtion of music by there readers.
I think that these reader profile's show that they have two different types of readers and therefore would have both similar and different advertisements. For example, I think that both these magazines would advertise new albums and singles as the majority of their reader's buy both. I also think that both magazines would have advertisements for 'HMV' and 'Amzaon' as these are large retailer's for their reader's music consumtion.
On the other hand, In the reader profile of UNCUT, they only give a brief description of how their reader's consume their music and so must have other things that they feature on in the magazine such as films or new gaming electronics. This opens up a wider variety of advertising as they can reach into three possible different categories in which they can benfit from advertisements.
Also, I think that even though NME has a wide range of statistics to do witht he music consumtion of their readers, I think that they would branch out in to different types of music forms for their advertisements; such as, an iPod advert as a substantial amount of their reader's put their music on an iPod to listen to it on the go. I think they would also branch out in to advertising vinyl, and shops that sell vinyl, so being clear about the target audience's.
Top of the Pops reader profile:
- £2.35 per issue
- produced once every four weeks
- 104,709 in circulation
- 344,000 regular readers
- 15% male audience, 85% female audience
- target audience age range: 11-15
I think that ym prediction of who Top of the Pops was aimed at was right as, they advertise a wide range of products, from Camp Rock (Disney channel, showing a young audince) to Always sanitary pads. This shows that the target audience is a young audience, but it also shows that the magazine is aimed at girls who are maturing. I also think that the price is a hint toward the target audience as it is not too expensive and is a price that young girls can afford with their weekly 'pocket money'.
Overall, I think that these reader profiles reflect the target audience very well and display the estimated age grouos through the consumtion of music, apart from Top of the Pops, which tells us the target audience age. I think that these reader profiles are very useful tonhelp identify the target audience as their statistics display how much income the reader must have on a monthly basis to afford the magazine and the music that they buy i.e. the amount of CD albums bought on average a month.
In NME, the reader consumes music through all sources, their results say that in the last year, their readers consumed:
- 39 CD albums (or £430 worth per reader)
- 45 CD singles (or £135 worth per reader)
- 55% of reader's buy the majority of their music from a Major music chain. e.g. HMV
- 45% buy vinyl from a specialist record shop
- 28% purchase CD's online e.g. Amazon
- 19% own an iPod
- Average of 15 single downloads per reader per month
In UNCUT, the reader's also consume their music in many different forms, such as:
- 79% of reader's said it's important for them o keep up-to-date with the latest music
- 97% of reader's are passionate about music
- On average, reader's spend £600 a month on CD's, compared to £480 on average in 2002
- The average reader download's 8 album's a month
- The average reader consumes 6 CD album's a month
The similarities that I can see between these two reader profiels are that the majority of reader's still prefer a hard copy of music, i.e. CD's. This shows that the audience's of these magazine's are working people as they have money, but also that it is a mature audience that don't like to download as much as have their collection of their favourite artist's.
However, there are also differences in the two reader profiles such as UNCUT give a very brief look over on how music is consumed, whereas NME goes in to much more detail about the average's of consumtion of music by there readers.
I think that these reader profile's show that they have two different types of readers and therefore would have both similar and different advertisements. For example, I think that both these magazines would advertise new albums and singles as the majority of their reader's buy both. I also think that both magazines would have advertisements for 'HMV' and 'Amzaon' as these are large retailer's for their reader's music consumtion.
On the other hand, In the reader profile of UNCUT, they only give a brief description of how their reader's consume their music and so must have other things that they feature on in the magazine such as films or new gaming electronics. This opens up a wider variety of advertising as they can reach into three possible different categories in which they can benfit from advertisements.
Also, I think that even though NME has a wide range of statistics to do witht he music consumtion of their readers, I think that they would branch out in to different types of music forms for their advertisements; such as, an iPod advert as a substantial amount of their reader's put their music on an iPod to listen to it on the go. I think they would also branch out in to advertising vinyl, and shops that sell vinyl, so being clear about the target audience's.
Top of the Pops reader profile:
- £2.35 per issue
- produced once every four weeks
- 104,709 in circulation
- 344,000 regular readers
- 15% male audience, 85% female audience
- target audience age range: 11-15
I think that ym prediction of who Top of the Pops was aimed at was right as, they advertise a wide range of products, from Camp Rock (Disney channel, showing a young audince) to Always sanitary pads. This shows that the target audience is a young audience, but it also shows that the magazine is aimed at girls who are maturing. I also think that the price is a hint toward the target audience as it is not too expensive and is a price that young girls can afford with their weekly 'pocket money'.
Overall, I think that these reader profiles reflect the target audience very well and display the estimated age grouos through the consumtion of music, apart from Top of the Pops, which tells us the target audience age. I think that these reader profiles are very useful tonhelp identify the target audience as their statistics display how much income the reader must have on a monthly basis to afford the magazine and the music that they buy i.e. the amount of CD albums bought on average a month.
Comparison of Blogs
I have looked at a variety of blogs such as Film blogs, Music blogs and Scientific blogs:
Film blogs I looked at:
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/
- http://www.fadedglamour.co.uk/
Music blogs I looked at:
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog
- http://www.buzzinmusicblog.co.uk/
- http://www.livemusicblog.com/
Scientific blogs I looked at:
- http://scienceblog.com/
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog
- http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/
One thing i found common among all of these blogs was that the layout was very easy on the eye. I think his is a good quality to all of these blogs as they were easy to read and configure. I also found that the blogs had adapted to their genre of the blog. For example, the live music blog had theme colours of red and white to show the vibrant feel of live gigs, but white so that the text on the blog was easy to read.
By looking at these different blogs, I have learnt that the blogs that had more hits and were more interesting were fairly plain, with detail highly related to the purpose for the blog. Using this information I know that I should keep my blog simple and informative but with the information I need, laid out in different ways.
Film blogs I looked at:
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/
- http://www.fadedglamour.co.uk/
Music blogs I looked at:
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog
- http://www.buzzinmusicblog.co.uk/
- http://www.livemusicblog.com/
Scientific blogs I looked at:
- http://scienceblog.com/
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog
- http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/
One thing i found common among all of these blogs was that the layout was very easy on the eye. I think his is a good quality to all of these blogs as they were easy to read and configure. I also found that the blogs had adapted to their genre of the blog. For example, the live music blog had theme colours of red and white to show the vibrant feel of live gigs, but white so that the text on the blog was easy to read.
By looking at these different blogs, I have learnt that the blogs that had more hits and were more interesting were fairly plain, with detail highly related to the purpose for the blog. Using this information I know that I should keep my blog simple and informative but with the information I need, laid out in different ways.
Content Analysis & Target Audience Research
Top of The Pops:
Advertisements:
1 Page - The Hole (New Film)
1 Page - Always (Cosmetics)
1 Page - Tampax (Cosmetics)
1 Page - Street Dance 3D (Competition)
1 Page - Mobile Wallpapers
1 Page - Mascara (Cosmetics)
1 Page - Sims 3 Racing (Computing goods)
Overall, the advertisemants in Top Of The Pops Magazine take up 7 of 56 pages.
Features:
1 Page - Pixie Lott
2 Pages - Justin Bieber
2 Pages - Selena Gomez
The features in Top of The Pops take up five of fifty-six pages.
In total, Top of the Pops featured 2 Pages for new albums & three pages for small advertisemants (Mobile screensavers)
NME:
Advertising:
4 Pages - Halo (Computer Game)
1 Page - New Album
1/4 Page - Film
1/4 Page - New Album
1/2 Page - Stop Torture (Charity)
1/4 Page - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (New Album)
1/8 Page - Crinderman (New Single)
1/8 Page - Plants and Animals (New Album)
1/4 Page - Memories of Loss (New Album)
1 Page - Yazoo Drink (Competition)
1 Page - New Album
5 Pages - Concert/Gig Dates and Venues
1 Page - Orange (Mobile Advert)
1 Page - Sold Out Tour
(The Quarter and Half Page Adverts have had to be compressed to make one)
Overall, NME advertising takes up 15 &3/4 pages out of 200.
Main Features:
- 1 PageFront Cover
- 2 Pages 'How to Save 'Rock 'n' Roll''
- 4 Pages Arctic Mokeys Interview
- 2 Pages Festival Poll 2010
- 1 Page New Manchester Riot
- 5 Pages The 'XX'
- 2 Pages The Joy Formidable
- 2 Pages Zola Jesus
- 2 Pages Edwyn Collins
- 2 Pages Rediculous Is Nothing To Be Scard Of
- 2 Pages We Do Things Our Way
In total, NME had 25 pages on festures out of 200.
In total, NME featured eight T.V and Radio adverts and six and a half pages of small ads i.e concert dates.
Advertisements:
1 Page - The Hole (New Film)
1 Page - Always (Cosmetics)
1 Page - Tampax (Cosmetics)
1 Page - Street Dance 3D (Competition)
1 Page - Mobile Wallpapers
1 Page - Mascara (Cosmetics)
1 Page - Sims 3 Racing (Computing goods)
Overall, the advertisemants in Top Of The Pops Magazine take up 7 of 56 pages.
Features:
1 Page - Pixie Lott
2 Pages - Justin Bieber
2 Pages - Selena Gomez
The features in Top of The Pops take up five of fifty-six pages.
In total, Top of the Pops featured 2 Pages for new albums & three pages for small advertisemants (Mobile screensavers)
NME:
Advertising:
4 Pages - Halo (Computer Game)
1 Page - New Album
1/4 Page - Film
1/4 Page - New Album
1/2 Page - Stop Torture (Charity)
1/4 Page - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (New Album)
1/8 Page - Crinderman (New Single)
1/8 Page - Plants and Animals (New Album)
1/4 Page - Memories of Loss (New Album)
1 Page - Yazoo Drink (Competition)
1 Page - New Album
5 Pages - Concert/Gig Dates and Venues
1 Page - Orange (Mobile Advert)
1 Page - Sold Out Tour
(The Quarter and Half Page Adverts have had to be compressed to make one)
Overall, NME advertising takes up 15 &3/4 pages out of 200.
Main Features:
- 1 PageFront Cover
- 2 Pages 'How to Save 'Rock 'n' Roll''
- 4 Pages Arctic Mokeys Interview
- 2 Pages Festival Poll 2010
- 1 Page New Manchester Riot
- 5 Pages The 'XX'
- 2 Pages The Joy Formidable
- 2 Pages Zola Jesus
- 2 Pages Edwyn Collins
- 2 Pages Rediculous Is Nothing To Be Scard Of
- 2 Pages We Do Things Our Way
In total, NME had 25 pages on festures out of 200.
In total, NME featured eight T.V and Radio adverts and six and a half pages of small ads i.e concert dates.
These show me that advertisements are very effective in magazine's, but also that the bigger the magazine, the greater the amount of adverts to both recieve funding for the magazine's producers as well as filling th pages within the publication.
ICT Skills used:
I produced these Pie charts using my ICT skills. I first entered all of the information above each pie chaet in to Excel, in the format:
I then highlighted all of the numbers and the total, and created a pie chart by clickin gon insert and then pie chart and choosing the design of the pie chart I wanted.
Using my ICT skills, it allows me to display my work in a different way, making clearer visual images of my research so that I can understand it clearer.
Monday 11 October 2010
Masthead Research
Looking at these Mastheads, it shows me that all of them are designed to suit the name of the magazine as well as the genre that they are promoting. Having this information shows me how I can both advertise the music genre that my magazine is based on as well as the name in relation to this genre and my magazine.
Sunday 26 September 2010
Introduction
The criteria I am working to for this blog is:
-A preliminary task, which requires the design of an Adobe Photoshop of the front page of a school magazine, using a mid shot of a student and the mock up of the contents page.
-A main task of producing a music magazine, including the front page, a contents page and a main feature of an artist that you want to promote.
-An electronic evaluation of the production portfolio (this blog)
I will evaluate and reflect upon the creative process and my experiance of ot. I will be expected to use the media vocabulary and concepts used during this part of the course.
-A preliminary task, which requires the design of an Adobe Photoshop of the front page of a school magazine, using a mid shot of a student and the mock up of the contents page.
-A main task of producing a music magazine, including the front page, a contents page and a main feature of an artist that you want to promote.
-An electronic evaluation of the production portfolio (this blog)
I will evaluate and reflect upon the creative process and my experiance of ot. I will be expected to use the media vocabulary and concepts used during this part of the course.
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