Second page of feature....

This is the second page of my feature. The black and white image is similar to the image on the first page of the feature, however it is from a side angle, still looking upwards and has been inverted. I used photoshop in order to insert the text and on both images I included genuine quotes.
I tried to experiment with a limited colour palette to make it eyecatching but not too over powering.

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

I have learnt more about photoshop layering and development of colour saturation, copy and pasting and the general qualities such as colour brightening at heightening of contrast which will attract my target audience.

Who would distrbute my product?

Symphonic or MIXMAG would be the most likely to distribute my product as they are both distributers of similar media products, such as 'Noiseporn' and ofcourse 'MIXMAG', both wellknown British Clubbing labels.

Who is my target audience?

I intend for this magazine to be read by 18-25 year olds who are in touch with the clubbing. A young, hedonistic fresh city crowd who simply want to go out and end up in one of London's top venues. There is a lot of psychology behind what appeals to my fussy audience, however with a clubbers guide, safety list and even promises of exclusive interviews with the city's biggest DJ's, the excitment is all provided for them.

How does my media product challenge/develop forms and conventions of real media products? [Further]

My product challenges conventions in media as it is written, constructed and produced by someone who knows about the clubbing scene, and who can relate to it, as oppose to a production team that simply want it to sell. As important as this is, I think that people being able to identify with it will have a better effect in terms of word of mouth and the magazine's reputation will be genuine, rather than forced. I also think it develops forms and conventions as it is intended to grow from a local area, for example shoreditch/brick lane, which have a reputation for art students.

First page of feature...

This image was taken in Club 24 in Kingston Street near Carnaby street. The man in it is upcoming DJ Ashlee Casselle, a friend of mine who has been from the underground Ibiza beach party shacks, all the way to London best venues carrying his CD's and laptop around with him. The interview lasted around 20 minutes, and I had to summarize a lot of what he said. I researched a few magazine interviews from various music magazines and then gained an idea of the questions that a professional would ask. I tried to keep it quite general so that he didn't feel put on the spot and I kept it quite brief. I desaturated the image so that the text would stand out and seperated our speech with two bold primary colours. All the text was in capitals and based around his face. The image was taken from behind people dancing and angled upwards emphasise his status and power.

How does my product use/challenge or develop the forms and conventions of real media products?

My product challenges forms and conventions of media products as it includes original photography and text, all of which is constructed by one person as oppose to the typical music magazine which will normally be constructed by a team. Instead of appealing either just men or women, my product attracts both genders, however this is balanced out by the less generic approach which will attract a smaller audience which is intended for young people and is likely to attract followers. It also uses forms and conventions as it uses a limited colour palette and similar set out to most magazine front covers, i.e the sell lines at the side, a central image of an attractive person to draw the viewer in. In addition, I have researched other magazines and their methods to attract the right audience which have influenced the layout of my conents page, my front cover and less so my feature.

how does my product represent a particular social group?

My product represents and attracts an 18-25 party animal audience. Using bright luminous colours and a range of different tools and affects, the business and colour range portray this particular social group as fun, arty flirty young adults. It also represents promoters due to the information on the contents page. It represents party animals and regular club goers as it shows an image of a girl on the front cover dancing. The title, Game portrays this social group as hedonistic, carefree and connotes the idea of unity, as does the phrase, 'I'm game' which I would hope the right audience would grasp. The people within the image are all obviously young adults and the contextual factors illustrate the party scene which this particular social group would be attracted to.

Interview Questions, Ashlee Casselle

Afternoon Ash, thankyou for joining me today, how are you feeling ?

Would you consider yourself well-known?

What do you enjoy most about you chosen career?

Have you ever had a bad response whilst performing?

What are you favourite venues to play at?

What would you say to young people who were in a similar position to you when you were young?

Did you have facilities at school which enabled you to excel at DJing?

As a kid, who were your three main influences?

Do you think that it annoys people who play a real instrument?

Summary of magazine

For the music mag project, I wanted to create three products which combined would appeal to an audience of 17-25 year olds. I began with taking pictures of guitarists and vocalists in bands at various Camden venues which are luckily at my disposal, To make the images more eye-catching, I edited them on a windows media program. 'FADE' and 'Off me chops' were two rough drafts for the front cover which I experimented with. After asking people what they thought, I decided to move on to another genre. At first I wasn't sure about which genre I wanted to focus in on, therefore I took as many pictures as possible when I went on a night out and eventually extracted images from each night and came up with a selection of pictures which I could use for my feature and front cover. I decided to settle with the dance/clubbing scene. It took me three or four drafts with the final image to create the final mag cover. Experimenting with sell lines, contrast, colours other photoshop tools, I was eventually satisfied with the cover which is of a girl with a with spot/strobe shining on her with luminous bold sell lines. I wanted the feature, contents page and front cover to be completly different, however still in keeping with the clubbing theme. The contents page was important as it shows what is in the magzine, i.e clubbing websites, interviews etc. The products combined challenge forms and conventions of similar media products as all of it's photography, writing and ideas are from one person and combines original imagery with not only clubbing news and information but covers saftey issues aswell which are a huge issue in British media.

Step 4 final

This is my absolute final front cover. I enlarged the title and experimented with the sell-lines and tried to keep the colour palette as limited as possible, however the colour range in the backdrop was difficult to work with. I'm happy with it now as I think it would actually sell.

MIXMAG analysis

Mixmag was first published by the DJ mail-out service in the early 80's and was advertised by Technics Panasonic. It is Britain's most popular dance and clubbing magazine. Containing upcoming dance events, reviews and Britain's biggest and best club nights, it is a magazine with an original approach to media and is jam packed with exactly what party animals want.

I think that if my magazine were to be distributed and produced then it would be by the DJmail-out service who would target my audience of 18-25 yr olds most accurately.

The colour palette is limited ;white, yellows and greys and the font would be familiarized with digital text and electronics which is in-keeping with the clubbing theme.

The text is consistent and against the dark cloudy backdrop is a central focus of a well known musician. There is also a free CD on the bottom left of the cover, giving the viewer more incentive to purchase the product.

planning

Rough planning and drafts...

This and the following scan are my first draft of my evaluation for the school mag.

Second half of evaluation.....

This was a rough brainstorm for my school magazine contents page. 

school mag front cover....

This was the front cover for my school magazine. I wanted to keep it quite sophisticated and traditional. The picture was taken on a bright day. I chose the title 'Camden Curve' as it uses alliteration which would make the product more memorable. I emphasised this with the font. I chose to use black for the font colour as it stands out against the pale blue background. I took the picture by standing where the school gate is and angling my camera upward so that the tower could be shown. Camden students or ex-students would be able to familiarize with this. I subtly heightened the saturation. I used three fonts for the sell lines, and chose black and white. I wanted the magazine to appeal to the social side of life at Camden and to have a more generalist approach. I distorted the perimeter of the cover to make it appear as a window.

school contents page......

This was my final idea for my school contents page. I simply stuck rizla onto the side of my bookshelf and wrote on it in purple pen.The one of the phone box and the pink writing was my first idea, although it was too busy in the end and I decided to stick with the rizla idea which seemed to appeal to a young artistic audience.

Front cover edited step 2

With a few more sell-lines I am satisfied with the front cover.

Other clubbing photography......

These were other images I was planning to use in my feature, however they weren't easy to experiment with. They were taken at Ministry of sound and Madame jojo's.

Other front cover ideas....

These were other images which I wanted to use as my front cover. The image above was taken in Penthouse in Leicester square. I thought the image would make a brilliant cover due to the layout, framing and colours which would be easy to work sell-lines around. However I decided to use another image in the end.
The image of the man in the grey cardigan was also one of my favourites for the front cover although I couldn't envision this being the face of my magazine. It would have been comical although I don't think the audience wouldn't take the magazine itself very seriously. The low key lighting in this image seemed realistic which I found quite pleasing and decided to use the same 400sd canon camera in order to create this effect for my actual front cover image.

Step 1 More front cover ideas....

These were my first attempts/ideas for the front cover image and title. I manipulated the images on a windows media editing program. The one on the left, entitled 'off me chops' was a sort of brainstorm. I wanted to see if a well known saying could work as a title. I took the picture at a Maccabees concert and editted it by lowering the contrast and brightening the figure and desaturating. However the ghost-like affect did not send out the message that I wanted and in the end I decided to start afresh, abandon these ideas and move on to something which would appeal to a wider audience and have a central focus instead of an abstract image which would appeal to a smaller audience.

Planning

These are random pages from my media journal. They include brainstorms, action plans and rough ideas for my feature, front cover and contents page.

step 3

I wanted my magazine to appeal to 18-25 yr olds who enjoy partying and who live in London. I chose the title 'GAME' as it seemed memorable, and fits in with the theme. The image was taken at the Ministry of Sound in Elephant & Castle which I later edited on a Windows Media editing program. I tried to experiment within a limited colour palette so that the visual information wasn't to over bearing. However the brightness of the colours combined would have a striking effect. The clubbing scene in London is something which young people relish in and I think that my product challenges conventions and forms of real media products as it is an original idea with useful information about safety aswell as all the fun stuff.

Mixmag is a british dance and clubbing magazine. The first issue was released in 1982 by the DMC/DJ mailout service. I think that if someone were to produce and distribute GAME it would be them as they have hold the same topic of club and dance within their media product and few other well known mags do.

Contents

The background image was taken on fireworks night in Hampstead Heath. The bright sparks and optical illusions seemed to fit perfectly with the theme of Game so I decided to use it as the backdrop for my contents page. I thought the font and the simple colour code worked as it wasn't too busy, but the text and the image combined created a striking affect and the inconsistency of the colours of the font were simply due to the inconsistent colours of the backdrop, therefore I had to make it work for the text to stand out so I experimented with luminous colours, changed the image to black a white and tried to use a red instead, but then I ended up with the idea of the back of a CD [ a tracklist] which was inkeeping with the music mag theme. Whether you can tell that I tried to do this or not, I think that it appears to be quite interesting. The slightly less sophisticated layout would attract a younger audience so I think it works well.