Finished blog

Thank you for reading my blog.

Question 7 - Voice over

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

Question 6 - Prezzi

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

http://prezi.com/jxb5i0ihft46/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Question 4 & 5 - Voice over with subtitles

Who would be the audience of your media product and how did you attract/address them?

Question 3 - Prezzi

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

http://prezi.com/mafdh1h5k7ol/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Question 2 - Interview

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 1 Voice over and subtitles

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

Planning for my evaluation

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For this question I am going to do a voice of with subtitles and overlay images of the examples that answer the question.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this question I am going to do an interview with my friends Jack who listens to grime music to see if he believes if I have represented the social group I targeted in the right way.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For this I am going to do a prezzi, this is because I can layout the different institutions in a more structured way and clearly discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

Question 4 & 5 - Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you attract/address them?

For this I am going to join the questions together as they are very similar and link together. I am going to do a voice over with subtitles and images to answer this.

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this question I have decided to do a prezzi, this because I can clearly present the different technologies I have used and add examples of where I have improved and learnt. 

Question 7 -  Looking at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

For this question I am going to again do a voiceover with both my preliminary task and my full product on the screen.

Finished magazine

Finalised contents page

This is my finalised contents page I believe that this has gone well as I kept to my contents draft as I felt that nothing needed to be drastically changed. I kept to the house style of my magazine and this simplistic layout makes it easy for the audience to see clearly where the information is. I used the same three colours as my for my double page spread and front cover, this was to also stick to the house style and make the magazine look professional and not too overwhelming, but I also added a grey to the background of the masthead, this was to make the masthead more appealing as I felt that without it the masthead looked too plain. Although, I used a brighter blue for the contents page as I felt that this was necessary in attracting the audience's attention to the things that were important like the page numbers, which I also added a border to, to further this. I used the masthead from my front cover and this was because when I deconstructed an NME contents page before I saw that they done it and I thought that it worked well so I would adapt that into mine. I used a variety of fonts that made things stand out, for example for the titles of the contents information, the word 'MAIN' is in big, bold font that will attract the audience and make it clear where the specific information is. I also made key words or phrases in either a different font or colour to make them stand out clearly and grab the attention of the audience. Another thing I done was clearly laid it out so that the information was well structured as I felt that this was needed for a contents page as when I done some research into them I felt that the ones with a simple structure had a greater effect as it was clear and easy for the audience to understand. The only thing that I am not pleased with is the main image, this is because I had originally planned to have a picture of Joel performing to replicate him at the Mobo Awards but I couldn't find the right location that would make this look believable.

Contents page production

I started off by adding just the masthead, as I originally planned to have a white background to it with a faint outlining, but I decided to make it grey as when trying it out it looked better than my original plan. Grey is also a colour that is associated with grime as it seen to be quite a rough kind of feel to it. The masthead I decided to have black as this stood out the best and that was the main aim of my masthead.

I then added the advertisement to the online website, I located this at the bottom as it is the least important information and a key convention of magazines is to follow this pattern and is very common from my research into music magazines. I used blue and white writing as this worked well with the black background, while sticking to the colour scheme of my magazine. I used a few different fonts and font sizes to make the key phrases like "best Grime artist of 2016" stand out. After that I added the main image, this was so that I could decide how big it was before adding the contents around it. I gave it a slight border which makes it more aesthetically pleasing and added a black rectangle with his name in and the page numbers, this is a key convention of magazine contents pages.

The next step was firstly adding the faint boxes to the outside of the actual contents, this I felt made it look more professional, added to my simplistic layout and made it have a better structure. Then I added the titles of the information "MAIN" and "EXTRAS", which a black background to contrast with the big ,white, bold font. Then I added the contents which I used a standard font so that it is easy to read and is also a key convention of magazine contents pages.

Lastly, I added page numbers. I made them blue with quite a thick black border so that they stand out to the audience as this is a key part of the contents page and is another key pattern that I found from contents pages, that they make them appealing and different from the rest of the fonts and colours. This is my finished contents page and I am very pleased with how it has gone.

Final double page spread

This is my finalised double page spread, this has gone very well in my opinion. This is as I stuck to my original draft and felt that I didn't need to change anything from my draft as I felt that this works well and no drastic changes to the layout needed to be made. My main image covers up the whole of the left hand side of the page, this is as he is iconic and will attract the audience to read the interview, this also follows the forms and conventions of real music magazines as this is a common place for them to placed. He is slightly angled towards the writing to further highlight that the interview is about him, the mise en scene is also relevant to the grime scene as he has a puffy coat on and a man bag on, this symbolises grime as it is a common things for people who listen to grime and grime artists themselves to wear, he also has his hood up which furthers his image as a grime artist as this also contributes to his 'chavy' image. The masthead I used is in a bold font to make it stand out, this is because when I tried a non bold font I believed that it didn't stand out enough. The font I used also goes against the grime image as it doesn't really have a grime look to it, but I felt that this was needed as the others I tried didn't stand out and look appealing to the audience. The colour of my masthead is the same as the man bag, this is so I have an appropriate colour scheme, it also stands out well against the white background. The quote I decided to use is also in the same font as my masthead, this is because this font stands out well and I didn't want to use too many different fonts as it can be too overwhelming and ruin the look of it. The quote is an indicator into what the interview is about and kind of like a cliff hanger into persuading the audience into wanting the see what the interview is about and what he is speaking about. Whilst the colour being black which obviously goes well with my colour scheme. I have split up the text into two separate columns, this is so it didn't seem like much writing and the audience would be more likely to read it as it doesn't look like a big chunk of text. I also applied a kind of 'Q&A' type style to it to give it a simple structure that it is easy for the audience to understand, this also will make it more likely for the grime audience to read it as they are stereotyped to be quite uneducated so I adapted my double page spread to suit their ideology, like when using slang words like 'yute' so that it is a realistic grime artist interview and can be easily understood by the audience.

Double page spread production

I started off with just the picture of my model as taking up half of the page, this is so he is the main thing that will intrigue the audience to read the interview. I chose this image as his body position works well with how I planned the text on the right hand side of the page and his positioning welcomes the reader to start reading the interview.

I then added the masthead, I played around with it quite a bit, seeing which the best font and best colour was and I decided to go with that font as it is bold and stands out and the colour the same as his man bag to highlight the colour. I also added a border across the middle of the page, this is to separate the page into two halves and I done this as the end of the picture seemed to just stop and look a bit weird.

After this I added a quote which is in the same font as the masthead and placed just underneath the masthead. Underneath that I then added the standfirst, I placed it here because its's in chronological order to the writing that will be underneath. It is also in the same colour as the man bag and the masthead to go with the colour scheme.

Finally I added the text, with the title being in the same shade of blue. I also added a drop capital to make it seem more realistic. This is my completed double page spread. 

Final front cover

This is my finished front cover; I believe that this has gone very well. This is because I stuck to the main arrangement of my draft to get the rough idea of the layout, then added the necessary things to comply with the grime audience and played around with it to get the best possible result. I also stuck to the colour scheme that I had originally planned of black and white and this in my opinion looks good and would attract the grime audience and the colours are familiar to their ideology. The darkened blue works well as I have an idea to use this colour on my double page spread too so will work well with my house style and colour scheme. As you can see it is quite different from my draft, this is because although I have a simplistic house style, when I only added the things from the draft I felt that it was too plain and wouldn't be appealing to the audience, by adding more to it I think that it has given the magazine a realistic feel and made it look more aesthetically pleasing while still sticking to the overall simple conventional layout. Also, I changed some things from my draft, for example the feature artists were at the bottom originally but I decided against this as I tried to make it work well by adjusting the font, font size and trying to place a black box behind it, but it looked quite fake so I had to research some music magazines and see where they have placed them and above the masthead I think works well as they are very important piece of information for the audience to see. The main changes I made was because I felt that it didn't work well with my magazine and didn't suit the grime music genre, like in my draft I had a callout for the competition which I tried adding to my final front cover, but it looked a bit childish and didn't fit in with the grime ideology. I have followed the forms and conventions of real music magazines, for example including my masthead at the top of the page and the general things I have included are the things that are in real music magazines and in my opinion suit the grime audience. I have also included a variety of fonts, but not too many as it can be seen as overwhelming to the audience and I have added things to the fonts like the glow effect to highlight it and attract the audience. The one difference from this is my masthead, as it doesn't really connote grime, this is because it looks quite formal, but this is so it can be easily read as it is in quite a standard, bold font, which I feel gives it a professional look. So overall, I believe that my front cover has gone well as I have followed the forms and conventions to give it a realistic, professional look but also gone against them in order to give my magazine a unique look and would therefore stand out more to the audience.  

Front cover production

I started off by adding the masthead to the background image, in this position because it follows the forms and conventions of usual magazines, it is in big font and covers up a lot of the page, this is so it can be seen easily. I then darkened the background image to give it more of a grime look, as this relates to the grime audience.

I then added the feature article cover line, I placed this on the artist as it clearly relates to him. Firstly I had a black text box with white writing in, but I decided to change it as it looked quite fake. The second idea was the one I kept as the white writing stands out clearly with the black outlining. I made the second line of text in a bigger font as this is the most significant part of the phrase and just generally looks more aesthetically pleasing.

Then I added the strap lines either side of the artist, this follows the forms and conventions of music magazines. The strapline on the left, I gave an outside glow to give it more importance and make it stand out to the audience. The strapline on the right is in different font and is two colours merged together to give it a slight background and make it stand out more.

After this I added a header to it of the artists I have included, which I also had to play around with a bit as it was quite hard to make it look realistic and was originally at the bottom. I have put this at the top of the page as in my opinion looks the best in this position, and a common theme in other magazines. 

I then put in another strapline of the competition included, I also added a slight background to the text to highlight it better and make it stand out. I included a JD Sports logo as this brand is worn by the audience of grime music and having it on the front cover will appeal to them and could persuade them into purchasing the magazine and is also good as it follows the colour scheme of my magazine. I also added to my masthead by making a strapline underneath, this is to explain the initials of the magazine to the audience so that they can understand what it stands for, I also added a background to the text to make it stand out more as the font is quite small. After this I added the picture of my artist, this was to relate to the rest of my magazine and my double page spread and also follows the forms and conventions of music magazines.

I followed on by adding a Ministry of Sound logo to the front cover, this was to make it more more realistic as a kind of advertisement and this logo also goes well with the colour scheme, it also it closely related with grime music so can attract the grime audience and relates with their ideology. I then added a price and a barcode to make it look more like a magazine.

Contents page draft

This is the draft for my contents page and I am quite happy with how it looks as in my opinion it looks similar to other music contents pages as I done some research on how them so that I had an idea of how they were supposed to look and the things I could include. It was quite hard to get a grime look to it though as I couldn't find a grime music magazine with a contents page to look at, so I will have to give it more of a grime feel when I construct it. I have decided to place the masthead at the top so it follows the house style of my magazine, I have used the same masthead font as my front cover and the word 'contents' after in a more simple font as this is a common things in music magazines. On the left hand side I have a column with the title 'MAIN', and on the right hand side below the main image I have another column titled 'EXTRAS' this is so the audience can easily find the thing they are looking for as they are split into two categories. The page numbers are on the left of the columns as this makes it easier to associate them with the text horizontal to it, and is also sectioned off from the text as it makes it easier to see for the audience and contributes to the simplicity of the house style and the ideology of the grime audience. The main image is on the right hand side and takes up quite a lot of the page, this is so the audience can clearly see it as this image will be a related to my double page spread, the main bit of the magazine. The two rectangles at the bottom are like an advertisement to the website associated with my magazine, this is so the popularity of the website will grow by tempting them into wanting to go onto it as this will benefit them.

Double page spread draft

I have gone for a simple layout to this to go with the simple house style of the whole magazine, I think that having a simple layout works well with grime magazines as the grime audience won't want it to be too complicated as they are seen to be not very clever, so having a simple layout will allow them to see the more important things more clearly. The model is covering the whole of the left hand side of the page, this is so he is the first thing that the audience see when they turn over the page, also if he is covering the whole left hand side then he will stand out more too as he will be covering half of the page so will be quite big. There will be two columns of text on the right hand side of the page, this is so it follows the forms and conventions of a double page spread and the amount of text won't look as much to the audience if it is split up in that way. The artists name will be the masthead and will be above the writing on the right hand side, this is so it stands out and is a common layout of music magazine double page spreads, underneath this will be a quote from the magazine that will intrigue the audience into wanting to read the interview below. The example of the double page spread below is the general layout of mine, although I could change a few things depending on how it looks like when I am designing it. I have looked at a few examples so that I can see the type of things I need to include in mine and have a general direction. In between the main text and the quote will be the standfirst, I decided to locate it here as after the audience see the quote then the standifrst will be underneath so will give them an introduction to the article.

Draft of front cover

This is quite a rough draft as the detail of the background is left out, this is because I only needed to know the general layout of the front cover to help me design it. The image will be bigger when I actually design it to make the artist stand out more so there won't be that big space between the image and the feature artists. The overall layout of this is quite simplistic which I done to relate to grime because the grime genre is stereotyped to be simplistic and I haven't included too much around the image, this is so more attention is payed to the main image. I have put the masthead at the top because it is a common location in all type of magazines and makes it look more official in my opinion. The taglines are either side of the model which I have done so that the main image is in middle as it is the most important and the taglines will be in bold font to make them stand out and appeal to the audience. The competition will be located on the bottom left hand side as this is a common location for them in magazines as they are not as important as the other information, I have decided to use a spiky bubble shape as this is also a common shape for them in magazines. The feature article cover line is across the main image and is the name of the main image artist, this is so that his name will stand out to the audience and persuade them to purchase the magazine. On the bottom right hand side there will be an image of an artist saying the interview which will be on the double page spread. I might also include other little things such as a barcode and a date and issue but I wasn't sure the best location for them so I will add this on photoshop so that I can see which location is best. The extra information includes other artists included and this is at the bottom as this I think is the best place for it as I needed it to go across the whole of the page and this is also a common place for them to be.

Possible front cover images

I have narrowed down my the options of the front cover to just three images. I will be analysing the positives and negatives of each image and then will decide my final choice. These images each have good and bad things about them and it will be tough deciding which one to use.

This photo is good because the location is good as the barbed wire and the rough look to the setting clearly connotes to the stereotype of grime. Also his facial expression is good because he has a serious look which collaborates well with setting. The negatives of this image is that the lighting doesn't really work well with the grime ideology as it is common that it has a dark setting and the idea of my magazine is that I want it to be dark. However I could alter this on photoshop but will not have the same affect as an original image.










This image is in the same location as the one below so most of the positives are the same, the good things about this are this are that the location is good because it represents a city which is a common location for grime music videos and where the grime audience hangs around and live in. It is also dark so will work well with my magazine. The negatives of this are that he looks quite small, I should have taken this image at a lower angle to make him look more important and iconic.













This image is the same as the one above, except the fact that his clothing and facial expression is quite different. These two differences come together to give the model a look that he doesn't care which is good because it is apart of the ideology of grime.















In conclusion, I will be using the first image as my main image on the front cover, for all the reasons above. I will be using photoshop to darken the setting to make it look like more of a realistic magazine, this will change the fact that the image doesn't connote to the grime ideology because of the sunny lighting.

Photo summary

Overall, I think these photos are very good because the locations I have selected suit the grime scene and I have used three different models which gives me a wide variety of photos to chose from. The bad thing from my photo shoot is that I didn't really have experienced people for modelling, so I had to think of the poses and how the photo would be taken myself, something that I do not have experience with either. Considering that, I believe that it still went well as the photos I have taken truly relate to grime music and would work well in my magazine.

Location 3 - Ryde Town

This photo is good because he has a direct gaze to the camera which attracts the audience. He also has a serious facial expression which works well with the direct gaze and they eye level camera angle.the mise en scene of this photo is good as the setting of this photo is good as it dark, but the streetlights make the photos clear and high quality and his clothing is good as it is dark coloured and his coat is Nike branded which is common to the ideology of the grime audience.

This photo is in the same place but he has taken his hat off and his hair is good as it is short, like the stereotype of grime. Also he has undone his coat and jumper so that I have a wide range of photos to chose from, his body language in this photo is quite relaxed supposing that he doesn't care, which conforms to the stereotype of grime as it is a part of their ideology that they do not care. The fact that someone is walking past in the background makes it look more realistic.

This image is also in the same location but this time he has hit hat on differently to the first one as it looks loose this time and his coat is undone, suggesting that he doesn't care. The way he has his hat on is chavy, a grime artist called Dappy wears his hat like this, so the audience of grime would think that this is a cool way to wear it.

This photo is in a slightly different location but is also very similar to the others. The main differences in this photo is that he has an indirect gaze, which is used to give it more effect. It is also a bit of a further mid shot, and in a higher camera angle so that you can see more of the backdrop. The bad thing about this is as it is quite far away from the model you cannot see him as well and he is the iconic figure that will attract the audience so you need to be able to see him well.













This photo is in the same location as the one above, but this one he is adjusting his hat, I done this so the photo looks more realistic and less posed for. Also in this photo he has a direct gaze to the camera. the location of these photos is good because the yellowish tint works well.