AS Media Evaluation

Lucy Twilley

I will create a comparison between my product and this

front cover of popular indie music magazine

NME. My product conforms to many of this magazine’s conventions, and during my research into indie magazines this one stood out the most.

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

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

My product is designed similarly regarding the artist’s name on the front page. They are positioned in the same place; and I have made the text colour the same as her lipstick to match the artist, as NME did matching the text colour to the artist's hair. I also put a small amount of text above the artist’s name to introduce it.

Put a list of ‘also inside’ indie artists

at the bottom, conforming to the convention. This draws in people who enjoy the genre but do not necessarily know the artist on the front cover.

I conformed to the convention of a list of

features on the left hand side of the front cover.

This is another front cover of NME magazine and I believe my

product challenges the conventions in this case.One way in which my product challenges conventions of real media products is the background colour. Many indie magazines have coloured backgrounds or have an image taking up the entire page

however I feel this puts emphasis and focus on the main image. However, you can see that the general colour scheme for indie magazines is red, white and grey which is a theme on this front

cover and it is maintained throughout my product. I did not use a bright red which tends to be used on many magazines of this genre, I used a

darker one to put an individual twist on my magazine. This colour also matches my model’s makeup and hair colour and so it ties it all together. Another way that I challenged the conventions is the simplicity of the front cover. For example, the image above includes a lot of text, boxes and images that take up the entire page and it looks as if there is a lot going on, whereas my product has a lot less on the page which I feel

gives it a simple and tidier look.

The model I chose has a similar look to the one on the NME cover. She fits the

‘indie’ stereotype in terms of her hair, clothes, makeup and pose. The size and position of the image also conform to conventions of existing magazine front covers.

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

Again, I will create a comparison between my product and this contents page taken from NME magazine.

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

One convention that I have

conformed to with my contents page is the heading. I have put the heading in a banner format at the top with the magazine name in red and the rest in white. The red, white and black colour scheme is popular amongst indie music magazines.

A way in which I conformed to conventions was the list of features on the contents page. I have a very

similar layout, for example the bold headings

in black boxes and red page numbers on the left hand side. However, a difference between my product and the existing one is I only had two bold headings, whereas the other one has five.

I challenged the general convention of the background colour. On most indie magazines, the background of the contents page is an off-white colour. I left mine white to maintain a clean, sleek look.

I laid out my features in a similar way to this existing media product by placing a large picture relevant to the article in the middle so it stands out, with a large heading and text beneath it to summarise the article.

One convention that my product shares with the existing product is a long list down the side of the page. I have put the current album chart on mine which I feel is effective

because it shows knowledge on the latest popular music which will appeal to my target audience, as well as those that don’t stick fundamentally to the indie genre.

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

I feel that my double page spread challenges the conventions of existing media products. I made it very plain and simple looking by using the graduated grey background, and the fonts (and colours) give the page a sleek and

sophisticated look.

The model takes up half the page and she is the boldest thing on the

page, putting emphasis and focus on the artist. The text beneath the title ‘just me an the microphone’ puts emphasis on the simplicity of the layout.

I mixed up the colour scheme on this page, using grey, white and light red. This conforms in a way to the common colour scheme amongst existing magazines however I have

put a girly twist on them to put across the personality of the artist.

This double page spread

taken from NME magazine is slightly similar to my product. The existing product has a girly look to it, with the artist in a sophisticated pose, a simplistic layout and with similar sophisticated fonts.

Similar girly/sophisticated

font

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Indie rock artists tend to be British and are shown to be quite ‘normal’. I portrayed my artist this way and you can see this through the text on my double page spread. For example, she says ‘like – I’m just a normal girl from Sheffield’. This phrase states clearly where she is from and a lot of indie music comes from people of this area, for example a massively popular band Arctic Monkeys. The word ‘like’ shows

informality and it tends to be a phrase widely used amongst young English people.

The model I chose has many features of an indie

artist. As the term ‘indie’ comes from the word ‘individual’, most artists of this genre have their own personalised style. Firstly, her quirky hair colour (auburn and green) shows a sense of individuality and the style of her hair is long and flowing.Her clothes are also representative of indie artists. Her top states ‘Weird’ with flowers around it, it is not a common piece of clothing and it shows a

sense of different style and individuality.I considered general conventions of indie magazines whilst doing the photo shoot with my model. I used red makeup and grey clothes and

background to match the colour scheme of popular indie magazines, and I considered her poses and angles to match a conventional indie artist.

I’m some of the images my model is posing in a playful and non-serious way. Indie artists tend not to take themselves too seriously – for example:

In this image of popular indie artist Florence Welch, she is shown to be jumping in happiness and she is

portrayed to be playful and less serious.

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

I feel that Time Inc. would be a suitable publisher for my product. They are the publishers of popular indie magazine NME, amongst other successful brands such as Marie Clare. NME is also published as a website which can be accessed through many different means such as tablets and phones, as well as the NME app. I feel that this would be a suitable idea for my target audience as the general age group my product is aimed at (15 – 22) tend to spend a lot of time using their smartphones.

I feel that Bauer Media Group would also be a suitable publisher for my product. They publish Q magazine which is the best selling indie/rock music magazine from the UK. They own many successful brands such as 4 Music and Kiss FM, so it is clear that this company thrives in the music industry.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

AUDIENCE RESEARCHBefore starting the production of my product, I did a lot of

research into audience. I produced a questionnaire in order

to establish a target audience and the results showed that my magazine should be aimed at:• Both males and females• Ages 15 – 22• Listen to indie, alternative and rock music• Commonly purchase NME magazine• Enjoy reading interviews with upcoming artists

The results of my survey

influenced my decision regarding target audience.My magazine is designed and suited for both genders ages 16-20. I have used formal language, for example by using no slang or abbreviations, to ensure that it appeals to a more mature audience as well as younger teenagers who might take interest in the genre.

My reader profile describes a generic teenager/young adult who might enjoy listening to and reading about indie music. For example, they will enjoy going to local gigs to discover new independent music.

I also put together a ‘concept of my magazine’. Within this I created a reader profile

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

An example of somebody who might read my product is my model. She has very individual sense of style, for example her floral, vintage shoes and green hair.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My model’s style and positioning

on the front page is similar to that of popular indie artist Florence welch. She has a sophisticated indie style regarding her appearance and music and this is the impression I was going for with my model, however I gave her an individual twist as most indie artists have. The similarity of my artist and Florence ensures that my model attracts my target

audience, as she is widely recognised and admired on the indie scene.

I put an ‘also inside’ list of other artists at the bottom of the page in order to attract my audience. This list is for those who don’t know of, or are not fans of the main artist on the front cover or the artist’s

featured in the puffs on the left hand side. It shows a wider variety of artists, consequently attracting a wider audience.

The front cover of a magazine is what tends to attract and draw in an audience. I feel that my

front cover attracted my target audience in a few ways.

Firstly, the general colour scheme for most indie music magazines is red, white and grey. I used this but put an twist on it using a burgundy/dark red which makes my product stand out and gives it some individual style.

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The technologies I used during the production of my product are the Cannon DSLR camera for the photo shoot, and Adobe Photoshop to put the magazine together and edit my images. I learned a lot about how to navigate these technologies.

Being one of the first times I used a high quality camera, it took some time for me to get the pictures I wanted. For example, in the images below I intended to take full length shots of my model. I did not consider camera angles, and went away from the white background. I also took the picture from a slightly slanted angle.

After considering this, I made sure that the photos were straight and I did not stray away from the white background. I then took full length shots positioning the camera in this way. I ensured that I got the whole model in and took the picture from straight ahead of her.

CANNON DSLR CAMERA

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

I learned many Photoshop skills during the production of my magazine, for example

how to blend text and change the opacity of it. I changed this title because it looked too bold and the faded/slightly pink tone made it look more girly and suited to the artist.

Initially, for font for my masthead was

Veranda. I liked the style of this, however I felt that it looked too common and obvious so I figured out

how to push the text closer together which gives the font a less generic look

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

I also filled in her lipstick and I feel that these small adjustments give my

magazine a more professional look.

I learned how to touch up my model’s face using tools on Photoshop, for example I made her eyebrows a bit

neater by increasing the opacity of the brush tool and running it over her eyebrows. I also

brightened her eyes and neatened her makeup.

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

Firstly I feel that the main image on the front cover of my main task is taken in a much more professional manner. On my preliminary task, the image has very bad lighting from the windows in the background. On my main task, I have made sure that I kept neutral lighting which was right for the style of my magazine.

I chose a much more professional font for my masthead on my main product. I also adjusted the font slightly to give it a more individual look. On my preliminary task I have used a very obvious and generic font, giving it a less professional look.

I learned to fill up blank space on the front cover. On my preliminary task there is very little going on for example there is an empty space on the left hand side and this will not attract people to read it. On my main task I ensured that there was no big empty spaces.

I had a much more structured colour scheme on my main task. I stuck to the conventional indie red, white and grey which ties my whole product together. My preliminary task has a lot of colours scattered everywhere and no structured colour theme which looks scruffy and unprofessional.

Overall, I feel that the standard of the products I produced has improved from the preliminary to the main

task. After my research into audience and magazines I

learned which conventions would attract my audience, for example the colour scheme that I stuck to the whole way through. I also learned various skills on

Photoshop which boosted my performance, as well as

an awareness of camera angles and lighting whilst taking photos for my products.

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