Magazine Article Deconstruction- Ravi

Music Magazine Front Cover Deconstruction- Ravi

Daniel Mija (3) Music Magazine Front Cover Deconstruction

Magazine deconstruction-Megan Szram

This a United based magazine, monthly full covered magazine covering; hip hop music, culture and politics. The Source has widley become one of Americas most influencial hip hop magazines and known as the 'bible of hip hop'

The Source follows the conventions of general magazines but in particular, the genre of Hip-Hop. The general layout of the front cover is conventional. The masthead is positioned at the top of the page in the largest font as it is important to immediately identify the title to the reader. However it is a convention to sometimes overlay the masthead with the main image as seen in some of Source‘s issues. The top of joung Jeezys hat/head is covering a slight part of the name of the magazine. This shows his importance, and attracts the reader as he is very well known. This a convention that many other markets use as they are familular with the issue and the house style of the magazine.

The house style is extreamly important as it visually familurises the magazine from numerous other styles of magazines that are on the market already. In this case the house style can be clearly identified by the used of bold block capitals, the defined font that is origionl and cleverly goes well with the theme of hip hop, its almost graffitie like.

The text also cleverly borders the image which makes young jeezy the main focus, and the main importance of the magazine. Young jeezy is a well known hip hop artist in America; therefore this would definately draw more attention and more custemors to buy the magazine as there may be a 'special article' or a 'interview'.

“The Source” uses a calm and simple layout, the use of blues for the background, could connote the artist emotions or feelings to life as his latest music has being more soothing than hard rap. There are only three main colours used on the cover and this is conventional for magazine covers because it keeps the professional look and also defines the house style of the particular magazine.

The use of the bold yellow text 'Young Jeezy' shows the importace to the artist in this particular issue, and also anchors the main image of the artist himelf. The colours used in this issue are black, blue, white and yellow, however all the fonts other than in the masthead are sans serif this helps to keep consistencey, defines the housestyle and make the magazine look professional without a variety of fonts that make it look muddled.

Above the masthead is a caption 'BARAK OBAMA: LIVE FROM HE DNC' this draws the target reader to one of the main features in the magazine as it is above the masthead and in blod block caps. Although this is a mostly known for being a music magazine, it cleverly brings several other subjects such as: polotics to draw a wider reading variety of people to want to buy an interesting magazine. Barak obama has also been known for being a hip president who likes music in America. Another important caption that is used on the front cover is 'YOUNG JEEZY-HERO TO THE HOOD' this can eaily be noticed as its yellow and a bigger bolder font and can easily be distiguished, however this caption isn't easily understandabe to all people as they are not familular to this type of language, so here it uses a particular idea to draw the target audice to the magazine. Not much inforation is used here but enough to entice the reader so they want to buy it and, read on.

The image used on the cover of the magazine is very important in defining the genre and look of the music magazine and in attracting the target audience. The artist featured on this front cover would be familiar to the target audience and, would act as a draw to encourage Hip Hop fans to buy this issue and, find out more about the artist, lifestyle or stories. The artist is positioned in a medium close up to express his facial features and clothing. The artist clothing is representative of the Hip Hop culture, it represents hip hop through earrings and chains which shows wealth, the glasses are most likely to be of high value and also the reflection in the glasses shows his vision of his “hood” which is linked to the caption. The hat is of a style popular among the target audience and is easily recognised and can been seen as an advertisement so the audience may go and buy the same style this shows magazines act as an aspiration to their readers.

Anita's Music Magazine front cover deconstruction (3)

Evaluation Of My Product- Ravi

Final media evaluation-MEGAN SZRAM

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products?
My media project (student magazine) uses a variety of general coventions such as; A bar code, issue number and price, and a creative masterhead. To create the barcode individually we downloaded a font called 3 free of 9. The barcode was positioned in the bottom left hand corner of the magazine as it fiited in best with the layout.The issue number and price was placed underneath the masterhead in smaller print, however if i was to do it again differently i would put it in bigger print as the magazine is reasonabbly priced at £1.50 this is relatively cheap and would apply to the purchacers as the productive audience would obviously be students. The master head 'Artistique' is placed at the top of the magazine aligned to the left as many other magazines do the same as it's effective and works well with the layout that we had in mind. The font that was decided upon was called BaroqueAntiqueScript and it worked extreamly well and looked profesional. The house style was creative and has many benifis as the magazine editions are based on different fine arts such as drama, singing, photography which are all conneted with creativity.

Our magazine produces many original and unique styles of general convetions for example the photos were individually taken as a group-we all went out togeather and took a wide range of photos that would be suitable for our particular design. The photos (three of them) inside a poloriod design with text captions underneath to briefly explain the meaning and interest the purchacer. The contents page is particulaly effective page with a variety of pictures and text to make the page more eyepleasing. Again the pictures were taken from the many that we had taken before and considered suitable. Its divided into different topics of our magazines with page refrences and numbers to make it understandable and, quick to the point for the students, basically making life easier. A picture was used at the top of the contents page as our individual house style, which again is there to interest the reader.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The aim in our media product was to create a student magazine, 'student magazine' was clearly labeled underneath the masterhead which is easily recognisable. This particular design is aimed at students that are interested in creative arts. My individual style has a picture of a guitar as the background, so this makes this edition ditinctive on what the majority of the magazine is going to be about.

The picture simply elicits the main idea in a quick simple way without any extra information. The magazines udice is aimed at teenagers between the ages 14-19 so the language that is easily understandable, with small brief captions used on the page. The type of students that would be interested in this created styled magazine would be interested in subjects such as art, music, photography, or performing arts rather than the more acedemic subjects such as the maths and sciences. The colours used are harmonising and calming- the whites and turquoises.

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

I have found out the comany 'Trio CLP' produce a small range of magazines based on the same ideas such as photography, and music. Part of our magazines preffered topic is also photography and music. Our magazine woud fit in well with the range as our magazine is designed to only target the students that are interested in the creative arts side of their chosen subjects or hobbie's.

If they were to distribute and sell our product i would want the magazine to be sold in places such as canteen's, libraries, or in a local town such as Reading in some shops that are willing for it to be sold for example stationairy stores such as WHSmiths or Staples, as much students visit these places outside their school life therfore, i think these places would benefit the most.

Who would be the audience for your media project?

The aimed audiece would be students around the ages of 14-19, the reaon being this is the average age that they need the most help for example in their GCSE's and A'levels the magazine would provide tips to help and aso providing them with activities to do such as art galliries that are educational and relaxing. The students that would be interested the most would be students that take an intrest in subjects such as art, photography, music and drama.

How did you attract/address your audience?

There were a variety of different ways this was achieved. One of the ways in which this was done was by using the polaroid picture and caption blocks on the right hand side as this is an individual, unique idea that would immideately grab attentionof creative students, they would probably find it interesting. The indivudual magazines from the seperate group one are all creative and look different, they have obviously kept the same housetyle the main background picture fills the page and caters for the different monthly topics.
Under the master head it clearly states 'student magazine' so the custemors know clearly who its audience is aimed at. Activities and upcoming events for example, a local music live performing band- this will attract attention as young adults like to socialise and enjoy music. The contents isn't boring and dull in includes a variety of colours images and different topics depending on the issue.

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing your media project?

There is much i have learned about the technologies by the process of making our group student magazine. In general there is a lot to go through to make the final roduct looking proffessionl and sellable; for example the way in which the photos have to be manipulated to make them look perfect, efficient and expertlike. I didn't think that it woud be as chalenging and quite a simple process,

The variety of different technologies that was used were helpful. The first use of technology was blgger; this was a helpful document that could easily save and record nd log work along the way that would help further on in the process.

Adobe Photoshop was a main priority which helped us to successfully compleate our magazine as it helped to manipulate the photos to give them the slightly more proffesional look about them and uniqueness; rather than using the origional image e.g if there was an object that didn't look right you could crop it out, or simply just adjusting the contrast or the brightness. If i were to use another document such as 'paint' it would have looked childish and less sophisticated and well put togeather. The work had o be save as 'J-peg' and then downloded onto our group blog. Using the computer/laptop was also the main use of technology as the majority of the the work was produced on here.

Publisher was used also as the other work such as font testing and colour testing was produced on here, as you can save it as a j-peg, and again upload the work onto blogger.com. The tools that were avalable on puplisher helped to anaylyse the work e.g arrow tool to make our research more clearer to help us produce our magazine in a less complicated muddled way.

• What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from starting the course to finishing your preliminary task?

One of the main aspects i have learned during the process of making the magazine is than, the making of it is much more harder than i origionally thought the process would be. For example the way in which the research helps to develop it successfully. I also learnt that other peoples ideas are very important when working in a group, to successfully compleate the task with less stress and confusion, so everyone knows what stages we are in, in the group. Planning is also of paramount importance as its more likely that everything goes according to plan. The hard work and work ethik is important as you have to be willing and positive to support the rest of the group so that there spirits are high. Its good to take other ideas into consideration, because some of the ideas are very helpfull and could even help to improve the grade. Magazine institutions/ producers have to go through a lot of tasks and effort to get there product to the high standards that they want to get to and it's not as easy as it looks.

Daniel Mija Evaluation :D

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Ravi's Final Front Cover and Contents page

Megan's final front cover and contents page designs

Anita's Evaluation

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

My media product uses general conventions such as a bar code, master head, issue number and price. We used a font called free 3 of 9 to create an individual bar code for our magazine and placed it on the bottom left corner of the page we also had our master head right at the top and aligned to the left side as most magazines do. The issue number is under the master head along with the price which is £1.50 and is affordable for students. The main photo is a big one and is centralised. The background is plain behind the model which makes the text and photos stand out. The main conventions of the magazine are similar to existing ones as our magazine looks professional because of the photos and placement of the text and photos at the side.

However, our magazine looks individual and original as we decided to develop the photo conventions by using Polaroid type photos on the right side so it looks creative and an aspect of photography is recognised. On the contents page, we used a photo right at the top of the page to make it look different. We also divided our topics into different subjects which develops and changes the normal look of the page of existing magazines.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product is a student magazine, and we made sure that this is recognised and clear by putting it under the master head in bold white writing. The front cover is of a teenage boy who is representing all of the types of creative arts. This would attract more teenagers as our magazine is aimed at students aged 14-19 and they would be interested in the magazine cover. The different elements represent the creative arts and attract students who do those particular subjects as the name does. The colours are mellow and calm and the text colour goes well with the background.

The things such as the camera, painting and canvas, drama mask and the mike on the front cover are easily recognised and are immediately linked to the subjects they are about. The Polaroid’s would be recognised by photography students. All of these things represent the creative type of students rather than the more academic ones (maths, sciences).

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

MarcoMatt Media LLP might distribute our product as they already publish an existing student magazine called The Drama Student Magazine which I found out from my research. This institution would be appropriate to distribute my product as they are involved in creative magazines and my product involves more subjects than drama such as photography art and music.

I could also make my product available at school canteens, common rooms or libraries within schools as these are places that students spend most of their time in outside lessons. It could also be available in retail shops such as WH Smiths or on a website made for the magazine on which the students could subscribe to it.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main target audience are creative arts students. This includes photography students, art students, and music students. They would be aged 14-19 as the magazine is aimed to GCSE and A-level students. Me and my group tried to include their interests and information that they would find helpful in our contents page.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

The magazine cover photo attracts the audience by containing objects that would get their attention such as a camera, mask, the painting and mike. The photos at the side would grab the attention of photography students because of the use Polaroid’s and the actual photos. The photo-manipulation photo looks different and interesting and will also get the attention of photographers because the use of Photoshop is obvious and there is also a creative meaning behind it. The second photo on the right side of the front cover shows a gallery and attracts art students because of the many paintings which are made evident by the colour. The third photo contains a guitar so music students would be interested in it. The contents page also has a photo right at the top of the page and then other smaller photos. The large photo would attract creative students as they would be interested in it and get the impression that the magazine is for them.

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

I have learnt that throughout the process of creating this magazine, there is a lot of technology that has to be used to achieve a professional looking magazine. The first thing that I learnt was how to use blogger and how useful it is to document things. I have found blogging a very useful and efficient way to show my work and see other student’s work. Desktop Publisher was an important piece of software that I used to create my magazine and contents page on as well as using it to show things such as font testing and colour testing by saving it as a JPEG file later to make it easy to post on the blog. Adobe Photoshop was a big part of creating my magazine as we used this software to edit and enhance photos to make them look professional. Technology is used a lot to make finished media products in real life and different effects can give different impressions and ideas to the viewers.

I tried to use different types of media and technology within this task to explore their usefulness and experiment with them. These included presenting things in text form, video form, picture form or animations such as www.gickr.com.

• What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from starting the course to finishing your preliminary task?

I have learnt a lot during this task about technology and what makes a good media product that appeals to its target audience. I have enjoyed working with my group to create the finished product and this has taught me how to work well in a group and co-operate with decisions and listen to everyone’s ideas as in a real life situation, a lot of people would contribute ideas and work together to make a finished magazine or any other media product. The many small tasks that we had to do build up to a good finished product and I have learnt that it is important to plan to make sure that the magazine goes according to plan. I have also learnt that research is very important to get background information and get familiar with the specific product that we were making, such as I researched existing student magazines.

Megan's Construction example

This picture was taken within our media group, the use of this picture was to show the drama side to our magazine. We took a lot of them at various camera angles shots to create different effects, this one was the most effective. We then decided to use the other shots at the different angles of the person wearing the mask, to create a cloning effect.We used four of these pictures and opened them up in photoshop. I used the magnetic lasso tool to select around each of the people in the picture and pasted it in different layers on the photo above.

Then i moved them to different places and angles in the photo to make them look overpowering by the way there are more than one and the way they have been positioned. The small clones at the bottom are the same image, howver one of them is flipped to make them look different. I adjusted the brighness and the contrast of the photeo by increaing the contrast, and decreasing the brightess to give it a dark dramatic look.

Finally i added a lighting effect called omni to make the middle of the photo brighter than the edges.

Anita Masih Final gickr.com animation

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Daniel Mija Final gickr.com animation

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Ravi's construction example

Final: Daniel Mija

Gickr
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Barcode

We download our bar-code font from this website http://www.barcodesinc.com/free-barcode-font/ installed it to our computers and made our own bar-codes :D this is what it looks like :