Week 15

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

My media product develops the forms and conventions of a real media product because when I researched Rap contents pages I found one and I liked the way the page was set out so I used the layout in my own contents page and developed it to how I like it. Also I challenged the forms because my colour scheme is different to what real media products use because the colours of my contents page are bright whereas real media products the colours are normally dark or just one solid colour throughout the whole magazine.

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

Using Photoshop I haven’t learned anything more than I knew before using the ‘Lasso tool’ has become much better and the images I am creating look more professional. Using the InDesign software I have learned more about the different tools to use when I was creating the contents page before I started I watched a YouTube clip of how to use the gradient tool to a good effect and that help me create the background colour for my contents page which made it look better than my preliminary task contents page.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task and looking at my contents page I can see an improvement because my first content page on the preliminary task was basic nothing stood out the fonts I chose was too childish and nothing was organised on the page. Whereas my music contents page everything is organised on the page there’s an order to things. The font chosen stands out more to the target audience because they are more mature. On my next task I need to improve how the contents page looks so it looks more professional like a real media product

Preliminary Contents page

Music Magazine Contents Page

Week 14

1. In what ways are you designing your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product challenge’s some of the forms and conventions of a real media product because the colour scheme I chose is not normally used in professional products. The colours I chose for my contents page are Red/White these colours are light and brighten up the page whereas professional Rap magazines normally use solid colours for the contents page but I wanted bright colours so it could appeal more to the target audience. Also I developed the forms and conventions of a real media product because the research I done on the content pages of real products I used one of the layouts and adjusted the layout to how I wanted and to how the target audience would notice it.

Professional products use solid colours

My media products uses a mix of two bright colours.

2. How are you designing your media product to represent particular social groups?

My media product has been designed to represent a certain social group which are mature young Rap fans from the ages of 17-28 years old. To represent this social group I have used artist between the ages of my target audience so the fans can reflect themselves on the artist because the artist will cover certain issues in their songs some of the fans go through. Also to represent my social group in my media product I have picked one gender to appeal to which is males because this magazine doesn’t represent anything to do with women because of the features included on the contents page.

5. How are you attracting/addressing your audience?

Through my contents page I used different representations and different designs to appeal to my target audience. All the photographs on the Rap magazine contents page consist of four male. The gender representation of this magazine shows that this magazine is mainly being aimed to a male target audience. Also the features on the contents page for example ‘Free Rap City DVD’ this shows that the magazine is mainly for males because women wouldn’t want to buy a magazine which is fully aimed at males. The colours used on the contents page & front cover consist of the colour ‘Red & Black’ which are masculine dark colours. I used these colours to attract the male audience only. The language used on the contents page is formal this is because I’m appealing to a mature target audience rather than a lower age. My target audience will be able to reflect on my product and see themselves because the way I’ve laid out my contents page shows everything is organised like the mature age group I’m appealing too.

Week 12

  1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? From researching professional products I’ve used other Rap magazines to guide me when creating the cover to the magazine. I’ve developed the real media products so I could make my magazine stand out and look very professional. I researched a lot about Rap magazine’s like who is the publishers, what type of Rap magazines are there and many other stuff. I made use of the research I got by using ‘XXL’ magazine to help guide me when I was creating the cover. Also I have built-in the representations of Butler J’s theory that being male/female is biological but being masculine/feminine is sociological. Within the magazine I have proved this gender stereotype going along with one of the conventions of a ‘Rap’ magazine which I’m using a male Rap artist on the front cover. The image I took of the Rap artist I made the male look directly into the camera so he could look like he was in control, confident and dominant. I challenged the conventions so my product could be more appealing to my male target audience and I adjusted some of the conventions to make my product better by some of the features I included from the ideas I got from the other magazine I researched.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? After producing my first draft of my ‘Rap’ music magazine I’ve learnt from producing the magazines that technologies play a big part in constructing the product. Before using the software I watched a couple of Youtube clips so I can understand how they work and how the tools work. Using Photoshop and InDesign was good software’s to use because they have a whole wide range of tools that can be used like the ‘Lasso tool, Magic Ward, Gradient & other tools’ these tools are very handy on Photoshop when you are creating your image for the cover of the magazine when you are making changes to your image like altering the background colour it’s good to use the ‘Lasso tool’ to go around the image and change the rest of the background. InDesign tools like the ‘Type tool’ allow me to write over the image I have placed onto the document in InDesign so I can put in the inserts of the magazine. The only limitation of InDesign is that the fonts are limited so a font you may way to use may not be available because they don’t have it on the software.  

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

From the preliminary task to the music magazine task, I have improved on picking what fonts and colour schemes to use for the magazine so the magazine doesn’t look to childish or isn’t mixed up with too many colours. In my preliminary task I used a childish font but I changed that for the music magazine so it could be more mature. Using InDesign more thoroughly for example using more effects that can transform the magazine more and make it look more like a magazine that could be sold on the market.

Week 11

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.    In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The music magazine I am creating does not challenge the forms of conventions but uses the normal forms of conventions of a real media product. On this music front cover I am using the theory of gender representations. The theory is by Butler J, Butler said being male/female is biological but being feminine/masculine is sociological. On the front cover I’m going to demonstrate that gender stereotype’s play a part in the conventions of a Rap magazine because I’m using a male Rap artist on the front cover. The image I have in mind for the cover is the artist looking straight into the camera so that he will look confident, controlling and dominant. On the front cover unique selling points have been included so they can catch the readers eye and draw them into buying the magazine. Below is the picture of the Rap artist I am using for the front cover of my magazine. If I was to use a female Rap artist, to use and develop the conventions of a real media product the female would be in a sexy outfit or bikini looking seductively into the camera. This supports Mulvey’s theory of male gaze that women are just there to be watched by men. 

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

Coming up to the creation of my front cover I have learnt a lot about the InDesign programme so I can put more detail into the design so my magazine can look like a professional product. My preliminary task creating a college magazine the feedback I received from peers and my teachers saying my cover looked a bit like a poster and the font was too childish. So with this magazine I’m going to put more effort into the colour schemes, font and positioning of text. I have developed new skills in using InDesign for example ‘Layers’. My previous task I didn't create different layers for my text, photographs, bar-codes and other items. Controlling the layers with this magazine will help me create a better and organised magazine. To help expand these skills I've watched tutorials on YouTube so I could be more capable and find it easy to find the way around InDesign so no time can be wasted in making my music magazine.

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

From creating the preliminary task and get ready to create my music magazine, I feel I've learnt more about the programmes features and how they work. Also I feel that I know how to mutilate images to bring in the target audience. Also I've learnt more about what colour schemes to use and more sophisticated fonts as the fonts I picked for my preliminary task looked childish