Double Page Spread Textual Analysis

The main attraction of this double page spread is the model. From reading the title you can relate the image to it, the way her hair seems quite messed up and the type of baggy t-shirt shows she is kind of doesn’t worry to much about her appearance. This is the probably the message they are trying to get across to people. Also the dark eyes relate to like a rock chick look, and the hat seems very sixtish with the pom pom on the side of the hat.

The title also takes up most of the left hand side of the page which is obviously there to attract the reader. The word ‘wild’ is in red, one reason to make it stand out but another reason is that a connotations of being wild is living dangerously and doing things you shouldnt. So the colour red can relate to that.
The background is a light blue which works well with the red and the pink of the hat. It gets lighter around the model to make her stand out against the background. It’s difficult to see the writing but its seems obvious that the red lettering is red to make it stand out. The article seems to be about the model, but the image takes over the page as if thats more important. Her face seems in a very unnatural pose like as if shes posing with a bit of detail under the eye.

This double page spread seems to attract more women as women might want to read about her. Her pose also seems very engaging like the way she is looking at the camera almost seems like she is looking directly at you like she is making a connection with the audience. The title might suggest something to do with her life, like she might have been a wild child back in the day or done somethinh she shouldn’t have.

Music MAgazine Front Cover Analysis

Green Day is the main feature of this magazine, the lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong is closer to lens of the camera rather than the other two which connotes he is more dominant one in the band and one people would recognise easier. The picture seems to be taken as part of a photo shoot; due to the white background and the way they are posed rather than a more natural pose. Their facial expressions portray them as being hard and in your face, this is how some of their music is; very in your face with some of their songs. The main colour scheme is black and white which ties in with what they are wearing. Possibly the colour was meant to tie in with what they are wearing.

The master head Kerrang is bold; it looks like it has cracks in it which connotes that the music is loud and is breaking the magazine because of the sound. The text on top of the image is bold and makes a statement that Green Day is the main feature of this magazine. The bold font gives the magazine an impact like their music has an impact on everyone who listens to it. Even the font at the bottom left of the images still strong and bold even though it’s small.

High key lighting is used because they are dressed in black so it makes them stand out. The strip going down the side of the cover and the text on the bottom left uses red and yellow; these are explosion like colours and contrast against the black and white of the main image. The images in the red strip are quite aggressive images which connotes the kind of music they create.
In conclusion the overall image of this magazine gives the impression of aggression and anger which can be taken out in the music these artists produce.

In conclusion the overall image of this magazine gives the impression of aggression and anger which can be taken out in the music these artists produce.

intro

The work above is my preparation for my final music magazine front cover and double page spread.

Preliminary Task Written Evaluation

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine follows conventions in some ways, for example some or most magazines will usually have a main image to focus on, mine has a medium close up of a student at CTK. I think i have used a structure which would be used for professional products but not neccesarliy stuck to one layout. The film reel i thought was quite original even though it has most likely been used before, i wanted to incorporate more than one image on the front cover as well as adding more on the contents page. It doesn't really challenge real media products because I decided to go for a safer option rather than experimenting to much with this preliminary task.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
On my front cover I wanted to portray the general atmosphere of college life. The student i used as my main image is shown using a camera, this is to show she is hard at work giving an impression of the work ethos of the college. Whereas the other images which are in the film reel show more of the social side of college, making friends and getting to know people. I didn't really use props, just the camera in the main image which sort of ascoiates with media or any other art related subjects. The other images I just used the natural surroundings of the college.

Q3. How did you attract/address your audience?
Firstly i decided to use a bright colour which will attract the audience, so i chose yellow, but i also chose this colour to go with purple the colour which is asociated with the college. Using bold short statements on the front cover is eye catching and grabs the audience attention because hopefully reading the short statements would make people want tp pick it up and fead the reast.

Q4. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I learnt how to use a camera properly by making sure i get the right type of shot and that the light or the area i used was appropriate for the image. I already use photoshop in graphics but i learnt how to use a few new things like the magnetic lasso to go round my main image to get rid of the background. I used drop shadow and other effects which i played around with to add some effect to the text mainly the masterhead. I also warped the images to fit into the shape of the film reel going across the page.

Cover and Contents Page

Photos for College Magazine Cover

College Magazine front cover and contents page

Questionnaire Research

From these results, I have found out that the price and what the front cover is like affects wether people
buy it or not. So when I make my magazine I have to take into account that the cover will stand out from
the rest and that the price is reasonable so people will be attracted to it an want to buy it. Also more people
like to buy fashion magazines which means I might have to include more images rather than text to attract
people. The majority of people agree that the magazine would be beneficial for students, so it wouldn't
seem a waste of time producinga magazine for the students.

Textual Analysis

Setting: this magazine cover has various settings which gives examples of some of the things the university has to offer. It shows some of the grounds and hoe they seem to be improving it which gives us a feeling that they want to make the university a better place. The images connote the working ethos of the uni, by showing pictures of people achieving their goal by graduating. The image of the group with their arms round each other show that they are a close group and all get on, maybe also telling us that when they leave they will still keep in contact with friends they have made. There isn’t really a lot going on around the cover which shows that they want us to focus on the pictures mainly to give us a visual idea of the university. From what I can see the photo underneath the graduates seems to show people at work on either reconstructing the building, or some teamwork activities they might do.
Costume: the woman in the bottom left seems to be wearing something she has made or maybe to prom, but it seems very elegant. She might even be going up to present or receive an award which tells us that the university praises hard workers and make sure that the students know that all the work they are putting in is worth it. The traditional graduation costume is shown which tells us they stick to tradition.
Props: The only prop really used in this cover is the graduation outfits again to show they stick to tradition and are high achievers. There aren’t a lot of props used maybe because they don’t want to give a false image on the university, but to show that it is mainly a working environment where people go to get their degree and leave. Also they might not show specific props e.g. lab equipment etc because they might not specify in a certain subject, but do a range of degrees.





Lighting: the black background focuses our eyes on the pictures and nothing else and in contrast to that the pictures are quite bright to stand out from the background. The low key lighting in the bottom left picture sort of merges with the background, almost blocking out the background of the actual picture. This is probably to emphasize what the woman is doing. None of the students really seem to be alone which connotes a close working environment which seems to focus on everyone instead of certain people, so the magazine can appeal to a variety of students.
NVC: the whole cover is non verbal communication, there is hardly any writing on it at all apart from the university’s name. This might have been because they made a questionnaire and learn that more people would buy the magazine if it had images rather than words. On the other hand the publishers might have thought that the university could be summed up better in images rather than words. There isn’t a balance between words and images so maybe that’s why the images tell the story about the university and what’s on offer.
Anchorage: The images draw your attention to the magazine, but there isn’t really a lot telling us what the magazine is about or what you may find it, so you would actually have to buy it to find out what’s in it, which may have been one of the reasons they didn’t include words on the front mainly to get people to buy it to actually read it.
Font Type: There isn’t a lot of font to analyse apart from the title. It seems quite a traditional font which connotes a traditional university. The fact that it’s white on a black background works well because it makes it stand out. The word ‘magazine’ and the date of issue ‘summer 2000’ seem to blend in more with the background maybe not seen as important as the rest of the information or maybe just to focus on the title and the images being used.

I need to upload all my work from home.

Introduction

In this blog, I will be publishing the coursework of my AS Media, begining with my preliminary piece. In this introductory task we are creating a music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread.