Friday, 6 May 2011
Band Photoshoot/ Original Images For Magazine
Front Cover and Contents Page Original Images
How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?
The reason is chose the image on the left was because I liked the fact that the band were swearing, this shows that the band don't really care what others may think and that they are not afraid to put themselves out there in such a fashion. This picture relates to the genre of their music (which is "hardcore" music) that fact that the image of "hardcore" in itself is not clean cut or censored in any way.
So I decided to do my main image like this (obviously without the loss of trousers). The connotations of this are that the band has attitude much like the image to the left. That is why I got the band not to smile, which worked because it shows that they don't really care. Two members look pissed off, one is looking away and the other has his eyes closed, although this may seem unprofessional it is what I wanted to capture. It shows they don't care for the image, just the music.
The demographics for this are male and female teenagers or young adults, not for children because of the swearing and not for the adults because they may see this as childish.
The main differences I did with my shot are the fact they are facing the camera, to directly involve the reader and the fact it's outdoors, so that I could get a natural light, so that their skin tint could be a little whiter.
This shows that the social group I am aiming for with this magazine aren't those who are tied down by rules, they live life and don't see ther need for authority, they are able to live freely and don't always do what they are told.
This shows that the social group I am aiming for with this magazine aren't those who are tied down by rules, they live life and don't see ther need for authority, they are able to live freely and don't always do what they are told.
What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why?
The comany IPC is most likely to distribute my magazine, as IPC does this with most UK magazines available in the shops today, they want to increase their horizons with new magazines so that they can increase their profit so that they can increase the size of their company to worldwide.
They mainly stock and distribute music magazines so I know my magazine would be in safe hands and they ship their magazines to shops like WHSmith and HMV. These shops are very mainstream and accumilate a large audience so my magazine would sell well next to magazine likes Kerrang! and Rock Sound.
http://www.ipcmedia.com/
Click the above link to visit the IPC website and see what magazines they work with.
They mainly stock and distribute music magazines so I know my magazine would be in safe hands and they ship their magazines to shops like WHSmith and HMV. These shops are very mainstream and accumilate a large audience so my magazine would sell well next to magazine likes Kerrang! and Rock Sound.
http://www.ipcmedia.com/
Click the above link to visit the IPC website and see what magazines they work with.
How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience
After analysisng Kerrang! I have found that to bring in their teenage
audience Kerrang! usually put the frontman/woman on the issue's
front cover although it uses the band's name. It uses this because
often the singer has sex appeal so young boys and girls will
want to read the magazine to see their favourite band or a singer they think
is attractive.
I havn't decided to do this because I draw my influence from Rock Sound and they are all about the music, they want to show the readers new BANDS not MUSICIANS. So I hope that my magazine would share the same audience as Rock Sound, because my friends in my social group are my target audience and with talking to them they have said that they do like the singers in bands but all listen to bands for the music and not just the appearance of the singer.
Also, another thing I have used that I have used from Rock Sound is a free cd sticker section, so that the readers can read about the bands but then they are able to listen to them. It is known that a magazine sells better if a freebie is involved because the reader feels that they are getting more for an amount that is slighty higher than a weekly magazine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43850231@N07/5329941196/in/photostream/
Click the above link to go to a Flickr analysis of a Rock Sound Front Cover.
audience Kerrang! usually put the frontman/woman on the issue's
front cover although it uses the band's name. It uses this because
often the singer has sex appeal so young boys and girls will
want to read the magazine to see their favourite band or a singer they think
is attractive.
I havn't decided to do this because I draw my influence from Rock Sound and they are all about the music, they want to show the readers new BANDS not MUSICIANS. So I hope that my magazine would share the same audience as Rock Sound, because my friends in my social group are my target audience and with talking to them they have said that they do like the singers in bands but all listen to bands for the music and not just the appearance of the singer.
Also, another thing I have used that I have used from Rock Sound is a free cd sticker section, so that the readers can read about the bands but then they are able to listen to them. It is known that a magazine sells better if a freebie is involved because the reader feels that they are getting more for an amount that is slighty higher than a weekly magazine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43850231@N07/5329941196/in/photostream/
Click the above link to go to a Flickr analysis of a Rock Sound Front Cover.
Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?
Audience Profiling, a photo by JoshBatch2009 on Flickr.
This is a drawing and annotations of what my stereotypical target audience would be like, I studied clothing, looks and tattoo's as that links to the lifestyle of the music.
What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?
Technology, a photo by JoshBatch2009 on Flickr.
The technology I used to create and produce my music magazine were:
- Adobe Photoshop CS5
- Adobe Phototshop CS4
- Canon EO5 450D SLR
- Sony Ericsson C510
- Flickr
I feel that the quality of the SLR I used was key to capturing good quality shots which I did and I was very pleased with my C510 to capture the picture of the guitarist live.
My skills highly developed through construction due to experimentation and trial and error. To see what worked and what didn't.
It is easier to edit on digital copies because you can easily undo and delete unwanted text or visuals, it would be significantly much more difficult on paper.
Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task (The School Magazine Task), What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product?
I know my skills have signifigantly increased from my college magazine to making this music magazine. My confidence has been the main aspect to my improvement because I wasn't afraid to experiment with new tools such as the smudge and the transparancy tool that is on the paint brush.
I now fully understand the knowledge of quality not quantity, that I have to work on what I've got to make the magazine look good and not add plenty of visuals. I experimented with initial ideas for my magazine but I overloaded the front cover with images and it lost its effect to draw the readers eye in, it was to jumbly and mucky, I learnt that the value that less is more and that you have to picky and get a quality picture and it will then reflect on your work.
It was easier to understand what to put onto my work due to the amount of time we were allowed to research and analyse contempary music magazines. I was able to look more intensively at the layout, imagery and articles in today's magazines whereas with the college magazine we were thrown in at the deep end.
I now fully understand the knowledge of quality not quantity, that I have to work on what I've got to make the magazine look good and not add plenty of visuals. I experimented with initial ideas for my magazine but I overloaded the front cover with images and it lost its effect to draw the readers eye in, it was to jumbly and mucky, I learnt that the value that less is more and that you have to picky and get a quality picture and it will then reflect on your work.
It was easier to understand what to put onto my work due to the amount of time we were allowed to research and analyse contempary music magazines. I was able to look more intensively at the layout, imagery and articles in today's magazines whereas with the college magazine we were thrown in at the deep end.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
I feel like my music magazine was to the best of my abilities so I am very happy with what I have produced.
I am very happy with how my front cover came out, especially the main image as it is a controversial image that if it were used on a magazine and put on a shelf in a shop it may have to be covered over but I am putting the music genre across and getting the idea of youth rebellion and problems with authority.
I feel that if I had more time and better technology I could've produced a really good piece but for what i have done I am very happy with what I have done.
I don't think I want to change anything about my photos or layout at least anything that was in my power, the only thing that i wish was different was the weather as the snow dulled theier skin tone and the snow didn't reflect much colour.
From people I have asked that were in my target audience they said that my magazine looked very good and not sloppy. Most people liked the main image and the font because they said they understood what style of music I was portraying which was what I was trying to achieve.
I am very happy with how my front cover came out, especially the main image as it is a controversial image that if it were used on a magazine and put on a shelf in a shop it may have to be covered over but I am putting the music genre across and getting the idea of youth rebellion and problems with authority.
I feel that if I had more time and better technology I could've produced a really good piece but for what i have done I am very happy with what I have done.
I don't think I want to change anything about my photos or layout at least anything that was in my power, the only thing that i wish was different was the weather as the snow dulled theier skin tone and the snow didn't reflect much colour.
From people I have asked that were in my target audience they said that my magazine looked very good and not sloppy. Most people liked the main image and the font because they said they understood what style of music I was portraying which was what I was trying to achieve.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Representation Of Rock Music And It's Sub Genres.
The term "rock music" was mainly coined in the 1960's with such bands as The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds, although it has had its feet firmly in the roots of 1950's rhythm and blues and country acts (most famously Elvis Presley).
From then many sub genres of rock have been introduced, some of these include:
- Hard Rock-> System Of A Down
- Psych Rock-> Jimi Hendrix
- Progressive (Prog) Rock- Pink Floyd
- Nu-Metal/Rock-Limp Bizkit
Of course all of these types of rock music had a social impact on those days youth. Fashion and sub cultures were affected and not always for the best. Often people found image elevated way above the music itself and with festivals such as Woodstock drugs and alcohol often found their way into the lifestyles of musicians and their lyrics.
From the times of youth rebellion and going against the "norm", Grunge and Punk was formed. Iconic Punk bands include:
- The Clash
- The Sex Pistols
- The Buzzcocks
Often the lyrics were about going against authority or people of a political status e.g "God Save The Queen, She Ain't No Human Being" (from The Sex Pistol's song God Save The Queen) which sparked the whole image of Punk music (The Mohawks, Piercings, Plaid Trousers, Combat Boots) and that can still be seen to this day although more American bands take the trophy with the genre of "Horror Punk" e.g Misfits and The Damned.
In the 80's we see the emerge on New Wave and Indie music. The music drew much influences from Punk but the lyrics change and drastically so does the image. It becomes clean cut. The lyrics are often to do with emotions. The king of being cynical being Morrissey from The Smiths.
"I was looking for a job and I found a job, heaven knows I'm miserable now" from Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths. The image was now based around gelling up your hair into quiffs and not Mohawks and your jeans being tight without holes in. Some say this was the golden era of music because of the impact it had on the youth, no lewd behaviour, no bad mouthing, no long hair swinging in front of your face (except for the birth of Hair/Glamour Rock that was born in America e.g Whitesnake, Def Leppard).
In the 90's we see the emerge of rap and house music, the use of electric music taking place of live musicians.
Sometimes there were no lyrics used in the songs, just repetitive phrases of "riffs" or "licks". The image changed as this style of music appealed more to the black audience. The lyrics changed becoming more egotistical and about fame and sex, the use of swearing became more apparent so influenced the way that the youth of that generation spoke especially with the use of the "N" word, some say today that it has influenced the violence that has happened today. We also see the use of rap music coming in with heavy metal, where the lyrical and vocal style is still the same as rap but the electronic samples is replaced with live musicians and has the characteristics of heavy metal. The singer's ethnicity often changed to white so sometimes it lost respect of the black audience but it was able to make the crossover into the white audience so the fashion was made the hype, with baseball caps, baggy jeans and XL tshirts.
 |
| Rage Against The Machine are considered the pioneers or rap-rock or rap-metal, mixing the vocals and lyrics of a typical black genre with the music of distorted guitars and a heavy backbeat of drums and bass. |
In the 00's/10's of today we see all this music and this is still apparent in today's youth with the social groups of:
- Chavs
- Emos
- Preppies (Indie Kids)
- Scene Kids
- Rockabilly/Nautical
- Punk
Today is the golden age of music in sense of progression and style, there is no minority in music so today's contemporary magazines will often link all the music together (except rap and metal as they contrast greatly)
so that their profits can increase because their target audience so thus get more readership.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Photo Mood Board
Photo Mood Board a photo by JoshBatch2009 on Flickr.
Primary Task
We have been given the task of designing a contempary modern day music magazine that is suitable for a target audience of my choice.
We are to create a front cover, contents page and a double page spread on Adobe Photoshop CS5.
We must take the photos that we are going to use and not use any from the internet. All the images have been entirely our own work.
I will look and research at todays highest selling music magazines front covers, contents page and double page spread articles to get ideas on:
We are to create a front cover, contents page and a double page spread on Adobe Photoshop CS5.
We must take the photos that we are going to use and not use any from the internet. All the images have been entirely our own work.
I will look and research at todays highest selling music magazines front covers, contents page and double page spread articles to get ideas on:
- Text boxes
- Pull quotes
- Imagery
and
- Overall imagery
College Magazine Analysis
I think that my magazine went very well in the sense that my capabilities and knowledge on Photoshop at the time was next to nothing. I progressed well and overcame all the challenges that came along the way.
If there is one thing I could change it it would be that I would increase the size of the central image to fill up most of the front cover as that would draw the attention in of the potential reader.
I am happy that I stuck with the college colour scheme because it creates a sense of pride within the fact that the college wants to use it's own colours, the reader would be able to tell that this is possible by looking at the East Norfolk Sixth Form College Logo that has been put in.
Features of College magazines.
All of the college magazines I have looked at feature subjects that relate to college life, be that with
- Food
- Financial
- Social
So that is something that I will feature in my contents page as that is what students or parents that would read this magazine would like to read.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Our Task
My challenge is to create a new contempary music magazine that would be sold today on the shelves of newsagents and supermarkets.
I will go over extensive audience research and look into the youth sub-cultures to see what makes thier identity and I want to capture it within my Music magazine, but first.
Our preliminary task is to create a college magazine front cover and contents page.
I shall research current college magazines and see what they feature.
I will go over extensive audience research and look into the youth sub-cultures to see what makes thier identity and I want to capture it within my Music magazine, but first.
Our preliminary task is to create a college magazine front cover and contents page.
I shall research current college magazines and see what they feature.
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