Wednesday 26 December 2012

Magazine Audience Feedback

1).Who is the targeted audience? Are they the group that I initially targeted?


2). How are particular social groups represented in my magazine– fans of particular music, age group, defined by social class/ gender/ethnicity…? Are these representations positive, negative or mixed?


3).Which elements of the magazine do you like?


4).What could be improved?


5). How has my technical and creative skills developed since my college magazine?

Tuesday 25 December 2012

SUAV Final DPS

I then decided to make one more change to my DPS as i noticed that there was a large gap in between my second and last column.

Monday 24 December 2012

Journalist Writing

Joe J has been blowing up the UK charts with his soulful R&B new album ‘Escape’. It is safe to say that Joe J is now the UK’s new Trey Songz and has shown young and older people that no matter what your circumstances are, if you believe something, you can and will achieve it.

What does music mean to you?

Personally, music is my everything! I know it may sound cliché but it is actually true. *pauses* People underestimate the power of music, did you know that it is the only thing that can affect all 5 senses without you knowing it. I love having the power to make people feel good by doing something that I love. Music is also my get away; it is the one thing apart from God and my family that saved me.

What makes you individual as an artist?

Ermm…I think it’s the way I try to incorporate a hint of old R&B and Soul with the new to give a fresh sound. This also helps me connect with both younger and older audiences. Also, the fact that I put my all into every song I do, makes me quite individual. I’m not saying that other artist don’t give their all, however, I am a perfectionist and my all means that nothing more can possibly be done or changed to make the song better.

What do you think of the music scene in general at the moment?

To be honest, nowadays there are so many upcoming artists or just artist that want to ‘blow’. This then makes it so much harder for artists to ‘make it’ in the industry, but on the other hand, this makes artists work harder to make their music better so they can keep the interests of their targeted audience. Therefore, I feel that the quality of music has gotten way better *chuckles* apart from music legends of course.

Why exactly did you name your album Escape?

Well, basically, I wrote most of the songs on this album a few years ago when I was struggling quite a bit. *Sighs* I had just got my heart broken by my first love, who was a girl I had met at secondary school and financially, my family were struggling so as expected, I wanted to ‘Escape’, therefore giving me the title to my album. I thought I was only fitting as those moments in my life made me strong and made me the man I am today.

Are you single or Still ‘On the lookout’?

*chuckles* This is a question I seem to be getting quite a lot. Yes I am still looking for my ‘Mrs. J’, but unlike most artist, I’m looking for an ordinary girl who I can just chill with. Someone who my new fame doesn't mean anything to and is willing to love me for me. I see many celebrities go in and out of relationships like crazy, that’s not what I want! I’m looking to settle down, and hopefully find my future wife and ‘baby mama’ *laughs*

What do you prefer more, performing live or being in the studio?

Being in the studio is my favourite hobby and the way I love spending my time, however there is no better feeling than performing in front of a live audience. I get to connect with my fans and see their true reactions to my lyrics. The feeling I get when I perform is the main reason why I became a singer *pauses* the feeling is so surreal.

Saturday 22 December 2012

Music Magazine Cover with Changes

 
 

Final Magazine Cover

 
 
 
I made changes to my original cover as I noticed that it didn't have a price tag on it. Also I noticed that the fact that the picture cut off just before the end looked weird, so i took off the black line and moved the picture down. Due to the moving of the picture, I then had to rearrange all my text in order for it all to fit in and not look too clustered. With this, I had a problem with some of the text clashing with my models shirt and to overcome this, I had to make some of the text red. Furthermore, I felt that the masthead was too small so I changed it and made it bigger, this then meant that I had to edit the masthead and cut off part of the 'V' to make it look like it was behind my model.
 
 

Magazine Cover Before

 
 
 
 

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Evaluation of Other Photo's

Even though i liked most of these pictures, I didn't use them as most of them had parts of their bodies (arms/face) cut off and this wouldn't really look good on my magazine. In some of the other pictures, he (Joseph) is smiling too much and this didn't go with the 'sexy' theme i wanted to portray. Some of the other photo's could have been used in my DPS as I wanted to show his personality in this article. However, I did not use them as i felt that other photo's (the ones I used) were more appropriate.

Saturday 8 December 2012

Suav Contents Page Construction







This is where I am so far with my contents page. I still have to write my editors, cover story and feature. I think I quite like my layout and dont think I will be making much chnages to it.

Monday 26 November 2012

Photography Lighting Setup Evaluation

I had to set up two reflectors and two lights. However the annoying thing was that a light bulb blew doing my shoot, cause me to have to make changes to my set up. I chose to have a black backdrop as it fit the original theme I wanted and it therefore looked moresophisticated than the white backdrop. A problem I faced was trying to get my models into the right frame of mind for my shoot and getting them to do the looks I had planned in my head. However, after I played some music (to fit the theme) and showed them the type of things I wanted, they seemed to get in to the shoot and I then managed to get quite a few good shots.

Saturday 20 October 2012

Newsstand Task

Most teasers of magazines are on the left hand side of the magazine. This is mainly because magazines are stacked on top of each other and only have the left side showing. Furthermore, the left side is then left to be the main thing to entice customers. Also on the bottom left hand corner of the magazine, (shown on the top part of the picture) is where magazines place all their freebees to again be something to attract the audience’s eye and make them want to buy the magazine. As shown in the picture, a lot of the Master Heads of the magazines are covered up, this then cause the magazine company to make the master head bold and large, in order for it to stand out against all the other magazines. Many magazines such as ‘Billboard’ are instantly recognisable with needing to see the full master head/ name of the magazine.


Distributions
 
 
Magazines are mainly distributed in retailers, newsagents, etc. and these shops use sell or return. This means that magazines that aren’t sold are then sent back to the publishers of the magazine. Therefore, this could be very costly for the producers and this then makes them have to try extra hard to make the magazines their best so they can all sell. Some magazines are given out for free and are used as a marketing method as these magazines are usually handed out to people that mainly use public transport, giving them time to read the magazines as they journey.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Audience Feedback and Evaluation of College Magazine


The feedback I received from people was that they like the colour schemed that I used for th magazine as they are fresh, bright and vibrant colours (yellow, green and white). The also felt that the fact that the colour scheme was the same for the contents page, kept it consistant and more professional. However, they felt that I should have used am image of the model making eye contact with the camera in order for it to seem or intermate and personal. They also said that I should have added more content onto my contents page as it looked rather empty in majority of the viewers eyes. I found making this magazine quite easy, however I did have a few minner problems using InDesign, mainly with resizing photos. Even though I encountered some of these problems, I managed to see my errors and learnt how to do it correct and succeeded in getitng my images to my desired size. I personally like my ‘LScene’ front cover because of the layout I used (I tried to make it look consistant), however I felt that I did need more time on my contents page, this may have been due to the fact that I spent too much time on the cover and therefore didn’t have enough time to focus on the contents page. Overall, I think that my efforts in making this magazine payed off as I learnt how to use InDesign and also got a chance to use a bit of PhotoShop and these skills and therefore help me later on with my future tasks.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

College Magazine Cover and Contents Page

 
 
 
 
 


Magazine Double Page Spread and Evaluation













 
Other Possible Images
 
 



 

 
 
 
 Evaluation

During my research for illegal downloading I found it rather easy to find facts and statistics about illegal downloading on internet. However when it came to making the double page spread itself I found it relatively difficult to get the right layout as I hadn’t done any research of magazine double page spreads.  In future I feel that I should research more on the project I will be doing in order for me to get a better and more professional outcome.


 In terms of my strengths in research, I feel that my ability to research and get the appropriate information needed is my strongest point. I used Google to search for statistics and quotes to back up my arguments.  My weakness is actually doing this in a short amount of time. Therefore meaning that I need to work on filtering out extra information that I don’t need faster.

For my actual journalism I found myself writing in quite a formal tone as I enjoyed doing this in English previously. My strengths are being able to write in a nonbiased way and trying to make the audience see both perspectives, allowing them to make up their minds based on the clear evidence given.
I found using Adobe InDesign fairly easy. At first I just had to have a few minutes of getting used to the software, but after this point I managed to finish my whole magazine double page spread within on lesson. However because I hadn’t done enough research on magazines I laid my text out in rows instead of columns. I later realised this and thought that it would be appropriate if I changed the rows to columns, so I used the guidelines provided in Adobe InDesign and therefore formed five columns for my double page spread.

I then had to create a blogger account, which wasn’t difficult to make at all. However at first I did have a problem because the college had blocked some of the pages I needed in order to make my account. Nevertheless , after a few minutes I managed to sort out this problem and was able to upload the image of my article and publish it to my blog (staceydubeleytonas.blogger.co.uk)


Tuesday 2 October 2012

Media Press Kit


Media Press Kit
 
Vibe
 


The audience of Vibe magazine consists on mainly black young people, ranging from 18 to 34. However there are still a significant amount of people, such as white, Spanish, Latina and those of other ethnicities, also others that are middle aged that read this magazine. A company called ‘InterMedia’ publishes Vibe magazine, however they also are a very diverse company and use different types of cross Medias to advertise their stuff. InterMedia owns companies such as ‘Access’ and ‘BlackBook’.

Majority of their readers are males (55%), however there are still a significant amount of female readers. 82% of their readers are 21+ but majority of them are between 18 and 34, the press kit shows that the mean age of a Vibe reader is 30years old. 65% of their readers are employed, meaning that they can afford to buy the magazine each month. Vibe.com has 1.2 million users per month, and 25 million ad impressions per month. There are 15 plus websites reaching over 13million monthly consumers under the VIBE Lifestyle Network.









Monday 1 October 2012

Case Studies (Music Magazines)

Vibe Magazine Cover Analysis

The Master Head of the magazine (VIBE) is written in large, bold, uppercase font in red. This is in order to catch the audience’s attention straight away, as red is an eye catching colour. Although part of the Master Head is covered, the ‘V’ is always visible as it is a universal logo and this then allows the audience to easily recognise the magazine without needing to see the full word. The magazine contains three main colour schemes (red, black and white), in order to keep the magazine looking consistent and professional, however there are also two other colours included on this front cover, but these colours have been used to emphasise some points and make them stand out to the audience. The three main colours are quite formal and can all connontate to mean various things, i.e. Red= love, passion, sexy and danger. The target audience of this magazine is young females aged between 16 to 25, who are probably this celebrity’s (T.I) fans. This is clearly shown with the medium close-up of a male celebrity who is smiling and making eye contact with the camera. The use of eye contact is done to make is seem like he is interacting with the audience, this then makes in more personal and is a use of marketing to try and make the audience buy the magazine. The fact that the main image of T.I covers the Master Head shows that even though the magazine is important, T.I is more important. Anchorage is used in this cover as the image of T.I smiling and the text saying ‘T.I has the last laugh’ match. This text is the Main Coverline and is used to entice the audience and makes them want to know why exactly T.I gets ‘the last laugh’. The right hand side of the magazine has the teasers for why Barry Bonds hates baseball, the magazine cleverly puts this text in a sphere shape, making it look like a baseball and also has a small sihlotte of a man swinging a baseball bat. The bar code is in the bottom left hand corner in order for it not to be in the way and take the reader’s attention away from the main focuses of the cover


Q Magazine Cover Analysis

Bauer Media Group is the publisher of Q magazine. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. Bauer started in the UK with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987. The letter ‘Q’ is used as a universal logo (Positioned on top of her to show that it is more important than her). The Master Head of the magazine says ‘ The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine’, clearly showing the audience that it is a music magazine and by using the word ‘biggest’ in upper case text automatically grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to see why exactly it is the ‘biggest’ UK magazine. The right hand section of the magazine is full of teasers which give the audience a taster of what is going to be in the magazine and therefore makes them want to buy it. The magazine contains 3 very popular colour schemes- Red, White and Black. The reason for only using 3 main colours is to keep the magazine looking professional and consistent. There is a barcode on the left hand side of the magazine cover, which then contains psychological pricing. The fact that she (Cheryl Cole) is making eye contact with the camera makes her connect with the audience and makes it seem more intermit. There is a contrast with the white used in the font saying ‘CHERYL COLE’ (white=pure & innocent) and the red font saying ‘ROCKS’ (red=dangerous, sexy & passionate). She has a seductive pose with red lips and tongue sticking out, in order to catch the audience’s attention as red is an eye catching colour which exudes passion. This also goes with the colour scheme of the magazine. She has a provocative look in her eyes which then ties in with the wet look as having her with water dripping down her makes the picture look sexier and entices the audience. The bottom left hand corner/lower left 3rd of the magazine doesn’t contain a lot of writing as it is the area mainly used for freebees.

Vibe Magazine Contents Page Analysis
 


The Master Head of this page says ‘Contents’ in white bold upper case writing. The white font really stands out against the dark background in order to catch the reader’s attention. There is a white outline of the letter ‘V’ which is the universal logo of the magazine. This then links to the models legs, which make the letter ‘V’. The model is laying on the fall with direct eye contact with the camera; this makes it more personal for the reader. She exudes sex and this then is used as a marketing strategy as ‘sex sells’. Also the model looks quite confident and this could be used to help empower the audience (mainly females). The ‘contents’ of the magazine are split up into 2 sections ‘Feature’ and ‘Fashion’ ad this is clear so the reader can easily navigate through the magazine. Under these sections, there are numbers with subheadings to again allow the reader to navigate through the magazine easily. There is also a small number in the bottom right hand corner to let the reader know what page they are on, this continues throughout the magazine



Q Magazine Contents Page Analysis
 
This contents page continues the house styles colour pallet (black, white and red) in order for everything to stand out against the white background. The contents page is very structured and is split up into 3 sections and a main image of ‘The Courteeners’.  The top section runs across the page and includes the ‘Q’ logo, as well as the title, date, website address and issue number. The 3 main sections are ‘Features’, ‘Every month’ and ‘Q Review’, this makes it easier for the reader to navigate through this page. Also the fact that there are small numbers next to each subheading makes it way easier for the audience to know where to find the things they want in the magazine. The main focus of this page is the image of the band as they are the story that is going to be on the double page spread, therefore being the main focus. The background colour is a grey colour, opposed to the white background of the rest of the page; this probably is to suggest that this is something the reader should look at as it is different to the rest of the ‘content’.
 
Q Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis
 
 
The whole page on the left is an image of Lady Gaga (the star). She is making direct eye contact with the audience, making it more personal. The image used exudes sex as she isn’t wearing any clothes but is wearing a big necklace/chain and is using her hands to cover her breasts. Her mouth is open in a sexual manner and this then makes it seem as the audience of this article is mainly young men. Furthermore, the page on the right initially catches the audience’s attention with the bold, striking red ‘L’ covering the whole page. The colour red is a huge contrast against the rest of the black and white magazine and is possible in colour to show that it is important. The ‘L’ stands for Lady Gaga and is therefore showing that she is that main reason for this article. To also emphasise this, the Master Head of the magazine purely says ‘Lady Gaga’ to show that, that is all the double page spread and interview is about. The first part of the article is just background information on the star to allow the audience to have an insight on Lady Gaga. The drop capital is then used to show the reader exactly where the article begins.
 
 
Vibe Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis
 
 
The black and white images at the top of the page, consists of Solange Knowles (the artist) doing various poses which shows the audience her personality. She looks almost like a doll and gives off the view that she is perfect. The colour scheme of the magazine is black white and blue, which keeps the magazine consistent and allows all the text and images to stand out against the white background. The text of the article is in standard black writing in columns as normal articles are. The artist name is in blue write so that it can stand out against the rest of the writing and grab the reader’s attention. On the right page there is a large image of the artist in a short red dress which shows that she is confident and happy with her body. She is making eye contact with the camera and looks quite sexy. However the pose the artist is doing then makes the reader rethink all of this as the way her hands are behind her back and her legs facing in towards each other, automatically makes the reader think of a little girl. The pull quote on the side of the artist is used as a teaser in order to make the reader have a taster of what is in the article, therefore making them want to read more. Both pages of the double page spread have little numbers at the bottom to make the reader know what page they are on and this then also works together with the contents page and helps the audience navigate through the magazine. The article is then an interview of Solange Knowles and has her answering questions.

 


College Magazine Analysis 
 
The Master Head of a magazine is the largest font on the front cover of a magazine and is usually the name of the magazine. In this case, the magazines name is ‘College’ and has been written in bold, upper case, lime green font. There are 3 colour schemes used: green, white and black in order to keep the magazine looking consistent, however there is a ‘splat’ of pink on the right hand side of the magazine but this is because it is the unique selling point and is therefore supposed to grab the audiences attention .The colour green is frequently used as it goes with the ‘summery’ theme of what is included in the magazine. The cover line at the top of the magazine uses alliteration when it says ‘Hip, Hot & Happening’ to grab the audience’s attention and make it stay in audience’s head the cover line also clearly states that it is the summer edition of 2009.