Evaluation Question 1 part2

The content page of my media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products via the layout of the page and the language used. On the top right of my media product content page, it has the name of the magazine 'MIXTAPE' writen there and also underneath it, it says 'Content' so the reader is awear of the page. This idea was inspired by an issue of Vibe magazine during research as they also used this convention.

 

 The layout of my contents page also challenges forms and conventions of medi products because of the layout.

As you can see between the 'MIXTAPE' content and 'NME' content there are some similarities and features shared. First of all there is an index of featured people in the magazine. This helps to attract the target audience and is usually a strip along the side of the content page, with a list of famous names. Another similarity is that there are two pictures in the middle to give the reader a preview of what to expect inside. The headlines and features also gives a preview of what is inside the magazine and these elements contribute to attracting the target audience. 

There is a noticable inprovement from my priliminary tast content page to my music magazine content because through out the time I have increased my understanding of photoshop and the tools.

 

In my preliminary task I did not make use of 'drop shadows' or 'inner shadows' so the pictures and font lacked any effect. Between my preliminary task and music magazine, I did a lot more research in to existing magazines and their layouts which is why my preliminary task has no separators to separate the different sections. This may confuse the reader. The music magazine has separators and looks more neat and tidy compared to my preliminary task. In my music magazine I used more than one model who I made wear completely different outfits to increase variety. The outfits portrayed show the different sides to Rap and RnB music as one picture portrays the street look while the other is a smart casual and luxurious look. In my preliminary task there was repetition.

 The double page spread for 'MIXTAPE' magazine has a lot of elements which challenge the forms and conventions of real media products.  For example on the bottom left corner of the page it has the page number as well as the magazine logo.

 The font of the page number used is simple so it is easy to read and the colour is made white within a black square so it stands out as well as being easy to read.

During research for the layout and planning of my double page spread, i found that on most double page spreads by magazines such as 'Q' and 'NME' the article was split into two halves.Half of the article is an image of the subject while the other half is left for the text. So i portrayed this convention onto my product so it would fit in with excisting products. Also as you can see on the NME article, a kind of scrapy font  is used which drew my attention so i used a similar font in my article.

Evaluation Question 1

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

My music magazine front cover can relate to existing music magazines because of the layout and the main image. Here I have an example of an existing vibe magazine cover which has similarities with my magazine front cover.  

The masthead of both magazines are placed behind the main image. I did this to show the importance of the image but made it so it is still easy to make out what the word says. There are headlines either side of the main image on the vibe magazine front cover. I also did so because during research I realized that most magazines have this type of layout.

The image of both magazine front covers are male, are smiling with their head slightly tilted up. The emotion they portray is enjoyment which would make customers feel they will enjoy the content of the magazine. Also the image on the mixtape magazine has his jacket unzipped while the image on the vibe magazine has his shirt unbuttoned at the top. This illustrates comfort to the customer. The position of their head (slightly tilted up) shows that they are proud or confident as well as being happiness and enjoyment.

The reason why the image on my front cover is male is because the genre of my magazine is Rap, Hip-Hop and RnB. Most of the audience for these genres are male. This is the circulation of existing magazines which are aimed at a male audience.

Mojo                 ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    87,555 ;   -7.5% 

Q                      ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    77,522 ;  -12.1% 

Classic Rock    ( Future Publishing Ltd ) :        62,354 ;  -7.9% 

Uncut               ( IPC Media Ltd ) :                   62,305 ;   -14.2% 

Kerrang!          ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    42,077 ;   -2.1% 

Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) :       35,259 ;   -15.7% 

NME                (IPC Media Ltd ) :                    27,650 ;   -14.0% 

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=48770&c=1

My magazine suggests its genre by the name 'Mixtape' because mixtapes are normally associated with Rap and Hip-Hop.  
Definition : A mixtape or mixed tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto a compact audio cassette.

Also the featured artists states on the front cover  are known for either their Rap or RnB music.

Music Magazine Double Page Spread

Front Cover Construction. part2

Next I placed the main image on the front of the magazine but it didnt look right because of the direction he was facing, so i decided to flip the picture horizontally. The image had already been edited before I placed it on to the front cover. I also used the drop shadow effect on the image.

After the main image was added I used the 'Rectangular marquee tool' and then the 'paint bucket tool' to make the red strip along the bottom of the front cover. This will be one of the design elements of the magazine. I then used the 'Rectangular marquee tool' and 'paint bucket tool' again to make two small white bullet points. Then I added more headlines that would feature in the magazine onto the red strip. The next thing i did was to save an image of a bar code from google and then open it to resize on photoshop. This bar code makes the magazine seem more real as if it can be purchased.

Th last thing left was to add the headlines. I used different effects on the text for the headlines such as: 'drop shadow', 'inner shadow' and 'bavel and emboss' to make it look even more professional. I downloaded a blackberry bar code text from dafont.com  and used it to make a realistic bar code for the competition.

Researching double page spreads

This is an existing double page spread from 'Q Magazine' which as some good design elements. The first thing is that half of the double page spread is dedicated to the image or picture of 50 Cent so the remaining half is left for the text.  

Also a quote was taken away from the rest of the text and put on the other side of the double page spread, where the image is. "Getting shot didn't hurt as much as you'd think." This might be done to draw the attention of readers to that quote when they may be flicking through the magazine. The quote may interest the reader making them read on.

This is the text side of the double page spread. Again this page is divided into two. The top half is the title which is made big and is also a question 'Who the hell does 50 CENT think he is?' This would make the reader want to find out the answer to the question, therefore  continuing to read the main text below. The main text below has two drop caps, one in the beginning of each column. This is one of the design elements of the magazine. Another design element is in the bottom left corner of the page. The pages each have the 'Q' logo of the magazine and also most pages have a three digit number at the bottom of the page. For example page twenty seven would be '027' and page one hundred and one would be '101'.