Jacob Stone AS media foundation portfolio

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?

When creating my media product which in this case was a magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread, I directly took inspiration from magazines of a similar sort such as RockSound and Kerrang! . I made sure that I was to use the same font style/styles all the way through so that it looked professional much like these other large brand magazines and created a sense of continuity throughout which was my biggest aim of all.

My main colour theme of the magazine was reds, whites, blacks and sometimes greys to create a sense of darkness and aggression that is always stereotyped with the metal music genre, I have made sure that this theme carries out throughout the magazine so that if I where to turn onto the contents page from the front cover, it would look like I was still reading the same magazine instead of a completely different one. Most of the text is either in black or white and I did this because it contrasts with the backgrounds which were generally also black or white because these two colours contrast well with each other.

The contents numbers on the contents page match up to those on the double page spread and this was vital because if someone comes to read a magazine for a certain article which in this case it was the “Strength In Solution” article, then they need to be able to find it quick and easy by looking on the contents page and seeing the correct page number this is also backed up by the use of the same artist on my front cover, contents page and double page spread so that if the consumer can’t find the page number they can flick through.

I have analysed other magazines such as RockSound and Kerrang! And taken inspiration adding conventions much like theirs and incorporating them within my own work.

How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

My media product represents magazine stereotypes for the metal music genre because of many reasons, firstly the colour theme used consists of red, black and grey this is because those colours represent the genre and social group that the magazine was intended for and when people think of metal music they stereotype it and associate it with death, aggression and violence even though this isn’t necessarily true I used these colours because they help people identify and target the audience that it was set out to do.

The red used was meant to be the blood associated with the ‘aggression’ part of metal and the black was to signify the ‘Death’ that is more often than not labelled to metal music and its sub-genres. This can relate back to my research because the images used in my reader profile mainly had black throughout them which further backs up that the colour is associated with people who are into this genre of music and this is why I have used it along with red and grey throughout the front page, contents and double page spread in my media product.When it came to making choices about what should be on my media products I had to consider how it would reflect my given music genre that I had chosen because it had to be aesthetically pleasing for the consumer to want to purchase. On my front cover I did this by adding metal bands that would appeal to my target audience, this included Asking Alexandria, While She Sleeps and Of Mice And Men all of whom are big metal bands throughout the whole wide world and if my magazine features these bands people are more likely to purchase the media product because it directly appeals to them and their music choice.

Another thing I included was articles that would appeal to them as well, one of which was ‘why Schecter guitars are the next big thing’ this directly relates to the audience because Schecter guitars are heavily associated with metal bands, for example, Of Mice And Men use them, Avenged Sevenfold use them and many, many more alongside them because they give a traditionally metal sound from them.

On my contents page I made sure to add lots of metal bands into the ‘News’ section of the page which would make the consumer want to read on and find out more about their favourite bands, alongside this I made sure that the image used was also related to my genre and I did this by making my model wear a top with blood on it that said ‘creature of the night’ which also relates to metal because people who listen to it could be referred to as ‘creatures of the night’ for the simple fact that it is quite dark music.

Finally on my double page spread I used the same model wearing the same t-shirt to create continuity throughout the magazine and in doing this I had kept the metal theme going throughout.

Another main feature that I had to consider was how I was going to make the text stand out and look like it was from the chosen genre, I finally got around this and decided to make the heading bold and red so that it stood out and grasped the reader’s attention from as well as this I highlighted and made important quotes from the text bold and red so that they stood out and looked like the magazine was metal what further backed this up was the fact that I highlighted the word ‘hell’ in red so that it stood out and made the genre even more obvious.

when looking at things like my demographics research, I learned that it helped me in many because I wanted to produce a product that looked very much like Kerrang! And yet produced the same quality as higher brand magazines such as RockSound.
In order to do this I had to take characteristics of the higher end market magazine and put them in a magazine that was of a similar price to Kerrang! This would then hopefully fit under the C1 lower working class and the C2 skilled working class on the social economic table because I wanted everyone to be able to afford my magazine as it would mean a higher consumption rate whereas if it was expensive only the rich or better off would be able to afford it.
It also helped me because it made me experiment with several different ideas and I had many drafts before I had my final product, this was because if I didn't add or create the right characteristics that suited my genre of magazine it could effectively reduce the consumption of my product and this would lead to a loss of money.
My reader profile defines my genre and shows that its different to all the rest, because with different social groups come different characteristics that in turn represent that social group distinctively, for example things like tattoos, ripped jeans, longer hair, smoking and even the occasional bit of make-up sum up the metal genre along with phrases such as "Sex, Drugs And Rock And Roll" have always made defined this sort of music.
Because my genre and social group is represented like this it's very easy for people to either love bands like this or take a turn in the opposite direction and hate them and this is the way it has always been for metal music because some people don't like what it has to offer in comparison to mainstream chart music that dominates the global music economy.
When stereotyping my target audience I had to add features that defined the metal music genre, and throughout my drafts I added more and more features that distinctively defined metal music this included things like, red writing signifying the aggression that comes with metal, props such as the models t-shirt saying "creature of the night" and articles that the reader could relate to, such as bands that where common and famous in this genre.

what kind of media institution might distribute your product and why ?

When thinking of ideas as to which target audience, I chose the one that appealed to me most and this happened to be the Metal genre, this was because I mostly listen to this sort of music so can relate heavily to it and its also where most of my ideas are at their strongest.
In relation to my reader profile, I made sure that I put features of my reader profile actually onto my own magazine both in the articles like the schecter guitar one and in images taken, for example on my front cover, contents page and double page spread I have used a similar image for each featuring the same model and mise-en-scene, this creates both continuity, and because the mise en scene is similar to that of my reader profile, I now that I am on the right tracks and doing things correctly in relation to the metal music genre.
I was trying to create an audience that was into metal and was in their teenage years, this was done because this age group is most likely to listen to this sort of music and with that comes profit on my magazine, I also tried making this possible in many ways, firstly the model I chose was the age of my desired target audience, this meant that when looking through the magazine they could directly relate to it, and secondly the layout is very simple yet organised much like that of Kerrang!, this meant that I had the same quality as other high brand magazines yet with a different target audience that stood out over other magazines because other metal magazines such as MetalHammer are aimed at older consumers therefore the layout, pictures and language used will be more sophisticated.
I'm terms of other research, I did a focus group with a friend and asked 6 questions about what he would like to see in this new magazine in relation to the target audience, and from this I took some positive ideas and included them within my media product, things such as the price where changed to suite the younger audience better.
I also put bands music videos up that interest this target audience in this day in age, after doing my research into bands like this and from my own knowledge I selected bands to appear in the magazine both on the front cover and contents page.

Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you adress them ?

When planning out how to attract my target audience, I had to think about what would draw the teenage, metal crowd in to come and purchase my magazine, I eventually decided on having a young model that would directly relate to the audience and as well as that the props that I put on him weren't as 'metal' as I had described originally, this was because I know from experience that there are certain people who do not dress or look like they would listen to metal music but they do, and therefore I wanted to relate to them as we'll as 'metal heads' as they are known, I did this by putting a normal looking model on my front cover wearing normal clothes, however on his t-shirt it says 'creature of the night' comes out of a mouth with fangs, this is where the magazine relates to those who only listen to metal music.
There were no special offers as such however I did give the consumers a chance to win You Me At Six merchandise because these are a respected rock/metal band and if people see this they may be drawn in to read more about what they have to do in order to be in with a chance of winning the competition. Thing like this and the features in the magazine mean that people can relate to the magazine heavily and this makes them feel part of the scene another thing that makes them feel like they are part of the scene is the mise-en-scene and the way I have structured my front cover, I have laid it out so that it is friendly to my specified target audience and I haven’t completely stereotyped the metal look because I know that not everyone is like that.

Finally when talking to people I decided to do a questionnaire and one of the few questions asked was what needed improving and out of the 6 people asked 5 people said that they could tell what genre it was however the 1 person that didn’t said I should of stereotyped my genre more, after much thought I decided not to because as said before I wanted it to appeal to those who maybe like metal music but aren’t the stereotypical metal look a likes.

Another question asked was what were the good qualities of my magazine and out of the 6 people asked all gave positive feedback with very little negativity and all in all every question asked received very positive feedback.

Other questions asked included; what good points where there about the front page and where there any improvements, what good points where there about the contents page and where there any improvements needed, what good points where there about the double page spread and where there any improvements needed, and does my magazine reach out and grab my specified target audience. All of the questions were also asked to family members who also gave back very positive feedback however they said the colours could have been darker to represent the metal genre more clearly.

what have you leant about technologies from the process of construsting this product ?

I have learnt a lot throughout creating a music magazine especially on the photo editing software Photoshop, these things included the quick selection tool that I used to get rid of unwanted background that I had on photos, transform scale that I used to make images bigger or smaller depending on their location, spot fix that I used on my models to get rid of any blemishes that they had on their face or body, red eye for the models that had red eye on the images taken of them, and finally levels, these helped me change brightness, contrast, colour, sharpness, depth and many other things on my image in order to give me a better finished outcome.

The image shown here on the left is the image that I used for my front cover and this was the original shot that was taken, the image on the right however is my finished front cover and you can see that it is completely different, this is because I used levels, quick selection tool and spot remover on the image which then creates a completely different image.

Once I had removed the background I replaced it with a grey one that fitted my music genre the better than the original mixed background as this is what larger brand magazines do if they don’t want a plain background in their images and because I couldn’t do any CGI I couldn’t create a realistic background in the studio so had to make do with a plain background however I’d rather I had this than an image with a bad quality background that I had taken.

Creating layers on the images helped me a great deal as well because without them I wouldn’t of been able to put the models head over the masthead as it wouldn’t let me when I tried and another thing that layers helped me with was the sleeve of my model, this was because I didn’t want it to be cut of therefore I had to make it so that it overlapped the side column which in turn made the magazine look lees boring and basic, and more like the higher brand magazines like Kerrang!.

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

Since creating my preliminary text which was a college magazine at the start of the year I feel that I have significantly progressed my skills on the photo editing software known as PhotoShop, this is evident because there is clearly a lot more detail on the second piece of work than the first and more time and effort went into it than the first.

I have also learned that if I want to create a better quality piece of work then I have to put the time into it in order to get anything out of it and with this work I strongly feel like I have achieved this aim.

My ideas have definitely developed since the last piece of work because I have put more time and effort into this project then I did the last time, also my skills on photoshop have largely improved in the space of 6 months meaning that I know have a broader knowledge of the programme and how to get the best out of it so that it will eventually show on my final product.

Another thing that I have seen develop is my knowledge into magazines of all kinds, I know what conventions are needed on a front cover, contents page and double page spread in order to make it complete and up to a high standard however if I had to change anything about the product at all it would be in the development stage where I did drafts, next time round I would maybe do hand drawn drafts and try different ways of laying the page out on a piece of scrap paper just to build up my ideas a bit more to see if any new and more exciting ones come to mind that would be better than my existing final product, secondly I would change the images used and try to get a wider variety because at the moment I only have photos of a similar kind that have been used on all three pages of my media product whereas if I had different images it might make the magazine more interesting and although this never came up when I asked questions in my questionnaire, I have noticed now through finishing my product that it could use more images to spark up the atmosphere of and liveliness of the magazine.

If I hadn’t of carried out the preliminary task I don’t think I would of built up knowledge to know what my product still needed in order to make it look like a higher brand magazine as well as this I wouldn’t of known how to use Photoshop or any other technology needed to create this magazine and although it doesn’t directly link in with my product I learned how to use my camera more when taking photos because I learned how to crop and experiment with angles, lighting and exposure when it came to taking photos for both magazines and I produced better images the second time round because I learned from mistakes I made on my college magazine.

All in all I had to learn how to use my camera, how to use Photoshop, conventions of a music magazine, what my music genre actually consisted of in terms of looks and dress sense, what bands that genre was into and finally how other magazines of a similar type where set out and structured.

Skills like this would not of been learnt had I not done this task and I feel like my knowledge has grown because I now know how to create a media product such as a magazine and although it wasn’t perfect first time round, if I kept trying and gaining new skills I would one day be as good as designers for magazines like Kerrang and RockSound.