Draft Evaluation Question 1
- 1. DRAFT EVALUATION QUESTION 1 1. In what ways doesyour media product use,developor challenge formsand conventionsof real mediaproducts? Overview My musicmagazine conformstomostof the conventionsof analternativegenre magazine,however breaksthe stereotypical elementsinamixture of areassuch as the photographyandpage layout.I thinkto some extentitisinitself analternativelayoutof amagazine,asitdoesnot follow the general formatof typical musicmagazines.Ihadsetout to produce an alternative magazine,a rather broadgenre,howevergoingfurtherintoproducingmymagazine,throughthe photography and articlesIdevelopedIdecidedtoinsteadattemptanindie alternative genre,allowingmy magazine tobreakthe boundariesof astereotypical alternative magazine.Thisgave me botha mixture of freedomandconstraintinmystyle,photographyandcoloursIcoulduse throughoutthe magazine. Inan alternative magazine,youwouldexpectdarkercolours,stayingawayfromthe neon’sof popmusic,but notedgingintothe grunge andblacks of metal androck, therefore indie and alternative coloursprovedthe hardesttoselectandtheme throughoutmymagazine. Lookingat the final productof my magazine,Ibelievethatthe picturesIhave chosenchallenge the alternative indie stereotype the most,asIhad my modelsinverydiverseposes,andbroke the genderbarriers by havingthe male andfemale rolesswitchedaround. Myfrontcoverhoweverstickstothe male genderrolesasboththe modelsare lookingstraightdownthe camera,furthermoreattemptingto conveythe alternative genrethroughtheirposture,eye contactandclothing. Colours Priorto the creationof “Flipside”,Istudiedintocolourpsychology,tosee whichcolourswouldbest sendoutthe message Iaimedfor.I devisedafew setsof 3 coloursthat I couldpotentiallyuse inmy magazine.Whencomparingthese coloursagainst eachother,the burgundycolourIfeltwasthe best.The colourpsychologybehindredalsoinfluencedmydecision,asredisshowntocatch the attentionandportraya mixture of strongemotions.Also,white andblackare typicallyseenasquite alternative colours,throughtheiruse inindie andalternativealbumcovers,ithasbeenmedialised to become a “cool”thing.For example youwouldn’tsee apopularpopartisthavinga moodylooking picture of themin blackand white,butyouwouldlikelyseeanedgyoff camerashot of a new band inblack andwhite inNME; Therefore makingmycolourschosenadhere tothe alternative music conventionsbothpsychologically andaesthetically,withthe addedbonusof beinggenderneutral. Style I alsohad to considerthe style inwhichIlaidthe pages,to catch the reader’sattention.Myfront coverand contentspage bothheavilyfeature the darkredburgundycolour,tobuildupthe brand identity,sothatwhenpeople seeburgundyandblack,averycommoncombination, theyassociate flipsidemagazine tothese highlyseencolours.Iusedavariedstyle of layoutsthroughmypages, rangingfrompicture dominatingarticlestobalancedratioof texttopicture.Since mymainaudience were of the 15-21 range,I consideredI couldkeepaslightlyheaviertexttopicture ratio,astheir intellectual readingandfocusshouldbe fairlyhigh.Analternativemagazine suchasNME isoften quite variedintheirtexttopicture balance,andwill swapbetweenhavingalarge picture focal page, witha longerarticle,withsimplebox outtextandminute picturestosupportit.Idecidedtobreak the genericlookof a contentspage,byhavingthe word contentssplitinto2sides,a subtle linkto Flipside,dividingwordsontodifferentsidesof the page.Inbreakingthese conventionsyouare essentiallyadheringtoageneral alternativeconvention.SoalthoughImayhave brokenthe generic
- 2. contentspage and article layout,Iam looselystickingtothe ideaof an alternative magazine beingall aboutbreakingthe norm. Front Cover My frontcoverdesignsticksquite closelytoanalternative magazine,throughitsphotographyand colourscheme used. Analternativemusicmagazine suchasNME oftenfeature aclose upof an artist or band lookingstraightdownthe camera,asmy magazine does.Iconsideredplacingthe frontcover inblack andwhite,howeverdecidedthe colourswere darkenoughtoconveyalternative andnot edge intoR&B or indie. The sell linesIchoose reinforcesthe genre of the magazine,through buzzwordssuchas “gig” as opposedtoa pop magazine thatmayuse “concert” or tour”. I featured “Elusive Dreams”the bandI had featuredinthe central feature articlesof the magazine onthe front cover.I Photoshoppedthe image inorder tosticktothe conventionsof all magazines,butstayed away fromthe typical airbrushedperfectlook,because thisdoesnotfitwiththe alternativegenre. My audience wouldmostlikelynotidentifywithaperfectairbrushedpicture,yetastriking enhancedpicture waslikelytofitbetterwith the audience.Iincludedtypical selllinesmade todraw the attentionof the readersuch as “exclusive”andthe use of numbersprovidedavariedvibe tothe cover. I alsoincludedabannerat the bottom, withthe type of thingsreaderscanexpecttosee inside the magazine. Overallmymagazine frontcoverstickstothe conventions,Ididthis purposefully,asafrontcover iswhatpeople judge the magazine on,tobe tooradical can lose you the interestof readers. Masthead The mastheadof my magazine isalsoincrediblyimportantinboththe psychological conventionsand vibe itportrays.I choose the word“Flipside”because itisanevenamountof letters,meaningitcan be spiltinto2 sides,allowingfora two tonedeffecttobe used.Inreference tomusic,the word flipsidereferstothe oppositeside of the disc/vinyl,whichisperfectforalternative music.Itisthe lesserknownsongsthatare placedon the flipside,andthe musicIfeature inmymagazine isless widelyknown,meaningFlipsidewasthe mostapplicable title formymagazine.Iplayedaroundwith a lot of fonts,buteventuallydecidedonthe fontwiththe wetpainteffect,because itwasclearand easyto read.I thinkthe mastheadwill pleasemyaudience as vinyl are becomingincreasingly popularinthe indie alternative genre,andthereforehavingaflipside totheirmusicathome will remindthemof the magazine. Extras I includedthe date andissue numberonthe contentspage of mymagazine, veryfittingtoall conventionsof magazines.Ididthistoestablishthe magazine wasanongoingthingandto buildto identityandbrandof flipside.A barcode wasalsoaddedto give itthe more professional look,as thoughit couldbe sold.My target audience wasABC1,mostlystudentsof the age 15-21, however those above 21 withaninterestinalternative musicmaylike some of the artistsfeatured. Students are the type of age where a “teenage rebellion”mayhappen,meaningtheyare lookingtobreakthe boundariesandstereotypesof the oldergeneration.Therefore analternative magazinewill appeal to a vast audience atstudentlevel. ContentsPage My contentspage wasone wayI whichI broke the conventionsof amusicmagazine.Itconveysan edgyand alternative vibe tofitwithmygenre; throughitsbrokenwordingof CONTENTSand the manydifferenttonesandcoloursfeaturedthe contentspage providesa parallel betweenalternative
- 3. and indie. Ichoose tostickto some conventionsbyincludingheadingssuchas“Features”and “Regulars”,howeverwentoutside the box whencreatingaQR code inthe contentspage,linking readersto exclusive contentandaddinga digital elementtomymagazine. Itriedto keepthe textto picture ratiomoderatelybalanced,andusedstatementpicturestolinktothe articles.The people featuredinthe feature articlesgainapicture inthe contentspage,althoughItriedto make sure theyweren’tall juststudioshots.Hence whyIaddeda few extrasincludingthe albumcovers. Itried to make the contentspage as easyto read as possible,Ididthisbyhavinga clear headingof the type of article itwas,followedbya small brief storyline. Iincludedpage numbersbothonthe pictures and on the righthand side of the article,allowingreaderstoeasilynavigate tothe page theywant. Feature Articles My feature article wasfocussedaroundthe band“Elusive Dreams”.Ichangedupthe colourshere, bringingoutmore vibrancyandnewlife,torepresentanew andexcitingtype of music/artist.The colourred wasusedto grab attention,whilegreenprovidedthe safetypsychologically,whilststill beingeye catchingandaesthetic.Ichose to doa Q&A style article because there was2 people tobe interviewed,itwaseasiertolabel whowastalkingasopposedtoattemptinga3rd personstyle of article.Whichiswhythe letter“Z”and “H” were usedIthe article to highlightwhoitwasthatwas talking.Tomake thisevenmore simple toreadI changedthe coloursof the initial.The stucktothe alternative picture conventions,byhavingmyimage inblackandwhite itreallyreinforcedthe edgy cool grunge vibe of the band, whichisperfectformytarget audience.Ialsofeaturedthe bands albuminthe top right handcorner,withdetailsonhow to getit.This sticksto the promotional side of magazines,byadvertisingalbumsthe readersmaybe interestedin.Ichoose afairlystandard layout,witha blocktextcomplimentingthe picture,thiswastomake the article easytoread; butI alsouseda Q&A style sothat if the readersdidn’thave muchtime,theycouldreadjustthe questionsthatinterestedthem,includingthe use of box outtext.Ibroke the conventionswiththe photo,byhavingthe male lookingcheekyandsmiley,andthe girl lookingmore serious.Ididthisto showthe relationshipbetweenthe twowasclose,asnormallymalesare seenasdominantand controlling,butbyplacingthe female behindandabove the male itchallengedthisstereotypical genderrole.However,incompensationforchangingthe normof my picture,Iput itin blackand white asto fitwiththe genre of music,it alsosavedhavingtoeditthe picture as much. My secondfeature article focussed on“Ingrid”,whowasfeaturedonboththe contentspage and the front cover.Forthisfeature article Idecidedtomake the picture a focal point,andhave a fairly small article sothat the magazine wasnot tootextheavy.Ithinkinterms of conformity thatthis feature article isveryirregulartosee ina musicmagazine.Inorderto reinforce thatthismagazine was aboutmusic,I addedanotheralbumpromotioninthe centre of the page.I laidthe article outin 3 paragraphsand decidedinsteadof Q&A, togofor a narrative style,againtovary my magazine fromearlierarticles.Ichose a colourscheme tomatch the picture usedinthe article,the colour providesarichertone to the magazine.Butstickingwiththe alternativegenre Imade sure itwas dark and notoverpowering. Ikepta purple striprunningdownthe edge of the article matchingthe bannerto give ita smoothlook. Carryingon fromthe firstfeature article onElusive Dreams,Icreateda secondastheywere the frontcover,conventionally theywouldhave more thanone page abouttheminthe magazine. This page I decidedtolayoutina symmetrical form, withanequal balance of texttopictures.Thispage wouldhave drawninmy targetaudience foritsdark spaceyeye catchingbackground.The symmetry usedalsomakesreadingthe article alot easierandmore aestheticallypleasing. The coloursonthis page are verygenericandafterquite loudcoloursinthe previousarticle,theyprovide asofter balance.The redis usedtoshowdifference betweenthe answersandthe question.
- 4. My final page wasthe social mediapage,toallow readerstogetlinkedtoFlipsideMagazine.Italso broughtin more digital technologyuse throughoutthe magazine.Thispage challengesthe alternative conventionsby beingbrightandvibrant.However,the blockcoloursare aesthetically pleasingandworkwell together. Thispage givesthe viewersalinktoothertypesof mediathe magazine canbe foundon,a type of digital synergy. Ichoose brightcolourstogive the magazine a bitof a lift.The lastpage roundsup the magazine nicelyandgivesita finishedfeel.