AS Media Studies Foundation Portfolio

Sunday, 27 September 2015

Conventions analysis front cover and brief

Brief:

To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, a minimum of four images must be used.

Institution - Q is a magazine that is published monthly in the United Kingdom. Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were the founders of Q and it was first published by the EMAP Media Group in October in 1986. It was then sold to the Bauer Media Group in 2008. The Bauer Media Group is a large European-based media company and its head-quartered in Hamburg, Germany. It managed more than 600 magazines, 400 digital products, 50 radio stations and TV stations. Some other magazines include: Closer, Digital Photo, Empire and Grazia.
Ideology - Q magazine shows the audience established music artists and not newly starting out ones, this is because Q is a high respected magazine and is seen as a big deal to be on the cover of it.
Audience - The audience for Q magazine is mainly the older generation - ageing between 30 and 40. It is targeted at people who are looking for a more sophisticated magazine, and who are wanted to know more about the music rather then the artists personal lives.
Representation - Ed Sheeran is an artist who is not trying to make everybody completely admire him, he is more about his music than he is his appearance. This is the reason he has his guitar appearing in the main image, he also doesn't dress in a way that makes him stand out, he does everything for his music and not fame.

Conventions analysis contents page

Friday, 25 September 2015

Finished Front Cover And Draft Contents Page

Evaluation Questions

What have you learnt from completing this task?

How have you used technology?
I have used an SLR camera to take the pictures for my front cover. I have also used Photoshop to create the front cover of the magazine, i used this in order to put it all together for example i used it to get rid of the background of the photograph so that it didn't take away the attention from the main image, which is obviously the girl. I also used it to add text to the cover so that the audience would know what they were buying and what was going to be in it. Another i used it for was to add a background and to get pictures such as the bar code.

What conventions have you used and why?
I have used a Masthead, this is so the audience will know what magazine they are about to buy. I have used a skyline to give the reader information on what is inside the magazine, this is also why i included many feature stories. I also used a plug and made it a bright yellow so that it stood out and also so that people knew how much the magazine was. Another convention i used was the bar code and date, this was so the reader knows when it was published. I also added a footer and i included a chance to win an iPhone 6 in it, in the hope that that it persuades people to buy my magazine.

What would you change if you were to do this task again?

If i was to do this again i wouldn't use a splat for the plug i would use a more simple shape such as a circle or a square, this is because i think the splat looks slightly childish and this doesn't go with the theme of the rest of the magazine.

Mise-en-scene and location ideas

I would like my image to be of a college student holding a folder and smiling. I want them to be smiling so they look like they are enjoying college. I would like it to be a plain background so that the main image is easy to see on the front cover and so the background inst obstructing the cover stories.

Digital Draft

Photographs for front cover

These are some options for the main image of my magazine.

I like that she is holding a book as she in interacting with college work however the quality isn't good quality therefore i wont use this.

I like that she is smiling and holding folders as it looks like she is enjoying college, however the quality is low therefore i wont use this one.

I like this picture because she is smiling, however it is too dark and she is not holing anything so i will not be using this image.

This image is a possibility however i would prefer it if the picture was better quality.

I like this image because it is good quality and she looks happy to be at college, therefore this is an option.

This is also an option as it is a good quality picture and it works well with the theme of my magazine, which is a general college magazine.

Creating The Front Cover

I started by getting rid of the background of the picture using the quick selection tool. i did this as it will help the image stand out better on the magazine.