CONTENTS PAGE PEER ASSESSMENT

What type of shots have been used to create a variety of shot distances and how has the camera been used to communicate meaning? 

 A midshot is used to showcase most of the outfit, along with an antisocial looking pose,  which therefore communicates the rebellious, outcast star image and the genre he is trying to convey. The body language of the model also helps to signify (De Saussure) the specific genre of the magazine, which is important when attracting the target audience. 

What choice of Mise en scene is appropriate for the star image and genre?

The costume is simple and dark, with the cover star holding an electric guitar. This fits well with the rock genre being conveyed. 

  How far is the font used readable and reflects the genre.  

The large, gothic font of the word ‘contents’ is distinct and sharp, and the interior red colour with a black outline he has chosen is effective and appropriate to the genre of the magazine. The font used for the word ‘underground’ is bold and also uses a red interior with a black outlining. This mixes well with the other font. Overall both fonts on the contents page work well together and are both unique and eye catching to the audience.

What technical conventions of a Contents page are present and used effectively?  

The heading is simple although it works well with the genre of the magazine. The colours are very consistent and the fonts used are effective. 

How has Indesign been used to layout the page to convey a brand

The layout of the page is simple but effective with the star image filling the middle section of the page nicely, using the rule of thirds well to create a generous amount of space for writing on the left and right sides. The page is well laid out as a content page can’t give away too much information – your audience needs to be intrigued to read more. 

 How well have the text and visuals been integrated together?

The colours used within this magazine are all very consistent and appropriate with the genre. However, the star image is very covered up with dark clothing and the low-key lighting does not mix well with the costume of the star; the costume is not as visible and highlighted as it should be. The text and image are fairly evenly distributed amongst the page, leaving enough space for the writing and making sure the image is not overpowering the page. The word ‘contents’ is poorly placed, covering a lot of the cover star, giving him less presence.

Where has photoshop been used to manipulate the photos to enhance the star image or genre? 

The image has been cut out  in photoshop resulting in a neat, and smooth look around the edges of the star. This helps the cover star to stand out a bit more despite the low-key lighting.

 How is the language used appropriate for the genre and target audience?

There is not much language on the page, however it is only a first draft therefore it is not a problem as this can be fixed in the future. 

I have had a class mate named Trey assess my contents page and now these are going to be my targets:

• Including a brighter costume for my model
• Adjust the word “Contents” as it is making my star less visible to the audience
• Use brighter lighting as my costume did not flow as well with the colours
• Include enough language on the page to engage the audience in my next draft
• Add language on my 2nd page next to the numbers

Shown below is my first draft of my magazine:

After I have created this draft, I did a self assessment on it and suggested what I thought about it and what I have included in the making of it:

When I made my first draft for my magazine, I have to think about and include all of the conventional features into it in order to entertain and engage my target audience. AIDA was something to keep in mind as it needs to attract as much attention as possible if someone were to walk past it. If it was boring and had no colour, they would most likely keep on walking and ignore. This was something to think about in the making of my first draft as everyone has their own personal identity which I needed to keep in mind in order to fully engage them in this cover.

Social interaction, when the audience socially interacts with each other on their interests and potentially this specific magazine. This means including a short but effective name to this genre of music magazine, so making it rememberable to my audience and not a massive name which does not flow as well. The name Underground giving it a dark feeling to it as the genre of rock is seen as really energetic and dark (not peaceful music to listen to).

So when it comes to make my draft 2, I am going to try to include much more visual conventions to it to make it stand out a lot more. I might also try to include a pug to it to engage the audience a lot more in my magazine as well.

Mastheads are vital for magazines as they are the first thing the audience are most likely going to look at when first viewing a magazine as it would be the biggest centre of attention to them. When first looking at it, it would have to contain a name of the magazine that would not only attract attention to it, but making sure that it is appropriate for the genre of music. Colours are also really important, for the genre of rock blacks are mainly used however brighter colours may attract and catch the readers eye more as it pops out to them a lot more. So using InDesign, I have experimented with different fonts and settings in my different mastheads to try to make the different conventions I am going to include stand out to my target audience and attract as much attention as possible. Making sure that my masthead designs contain AIDA (making them stand out in front of my target audience).

Doing this, I have gained some ideas on what I am going to include in my magazine that would attract my target audience in the right way.

I have done some research on different adverts that I could possibly include in my magazine thinking about my audiences Uses and gratification (Bumler and Katz) as well as their different demographics to include to attract their attention a lot more. So in my magazine, I am going to do one advertisement on a product which may interest my target audience. Making sure it is suitable in my magazine and not out of the ordinary. And also including two advertisements on what my magazine is about (which is the genre of rock) which would also engage my audience.

Shown below are the advertisements I have chosen:

For the advertisement poster I would like to include is Hard Rock Cafe as this is a place that people perform live rock music at. Even hotels around named Hard Rock Hotel themed all about rock. The other advert being a rock festival including bright colours to try to engage the target audience in wanting to go. For people who have not heard of what rock music is all about, they would get a first impression of it from looking at the front cover and know what to expect if they ever listen to it or watch it live.  The other advert (in the middle) I have chosen, are aimed for teenagers and older people that have a good interest in rock music. This includes all of the relevant details on when it is and small details which would grab their attention so would be good to include in my magazine for them to potentially read on more as their interest would be greater.

Shown above, I have done some research on different types of layouts for content pages (potentially what I could include in my magazine). So learning that it is crucial to have a good contents page as if it is not as relevant to the front cover and is completely different, then the audience might close the magazine and not read more about it as it might not be what they were expecting. So making it flows well from the front cover to the contents page and including all of the relevant information on the cover lines on roughly what the magazine is all about.

Below, I have done some of my own drawings of some possible ideas I could use in the construction side of my magazine:

After this, I started to think about the possible headlines I might include in my magazine. During this, I thought that I have to make it stand out and be entertaining for the audience to read and drag loads of attraction to it (AIDA). Also making sure to realize that everyone has their own personal identity and interest when it comes to different types of genre’s so making sure to use a name that could easily be identified if someone were to walk past. In terms of social interaction for the people that are interested in the same genre, the name being suitable for the genre so they understand that rock is the genre from the name of the magazine. In other words, when reading the name they get an instant idea that the genre that they are going to read about is going to be about rock.

Below are 10 ideas I came up with:

• Rock N Rule
• Go Hard Or Go Home
• Raise the Volume and Rock
• Get Your Rock On
• We Raise The Roof And Rock
• Reverb and Roll
• Higher, Louder, Bigger, Better
• Revolutionary of Rock
• Pure Power Of Rock
• Lock The Rock Inside

So in my opinion, names like these would grab attention, interest, desire and also action in wanting to read on with no hesitation. And when I make my magazine, I will make sure that I include an interesting headline as well as the appropriate cover lines on the side giving a brief description on what the magazine is all about and also thinking about the colours I will use in order to attract my target audience.

This article talks about a musician named James Lavelle and his accomplishments that he has achieved. In the first glance of this article, the audience are introduced to who it is about which is shown on the big title which takes up half of the page in bold text. Under it, having a paragraph in bold suggesting all of his achievements that he has done which would indicate to the audience that he is accomplished in what he does.

The headlines in this article are big (taking up half of the page) suggests that he is important and also gives a small sense of popularity to his name. The paragraph of his achievements being bold representing his capabilities and also giving off a sense that this is what he wants the audience to know about as it is the one paragraph in the whole article with bold black text. So the audience learning that this musician is interesting and also about his interests that he does so getting an understanding of who he is and what he does in a biography format.

He uses a small amount of swearing in this article which may not attract some people so it is good to know your target audience. He mentions “an Everest of cocaine” and then follows up with it was an amazing night suggesting that the type of person he is, is more of normal person and wants to have fun. I have searched in this article to see if the article contains the rule of three and it does not the way it has been laid out are mainly just paragraphs describing his accomplishments and also what he is all about (who he is).

So overall, I think that the journalist represents the star to be a ordinary person and seems like he has been through a lot in his career. I also think that this appeals to the audiences uses and gratification theory as well, as different people could use the same communication message for different purposes. An example being that the audience may be entertained by the detail he is sharing about himself and the way he says it in this article may engage the audience a lot more if they were going to read another article and was really boring and kept dragging on. This one possibly having a preferred reading technique for some people as it engages them more.

When it comes to the writing side of my magazine, I am thinking about including a interview aiming for artists on the same genre as this may have interest to my specific target audience which could result in more people reading my magazine and consuming my media more than similar magazines.

My photoshoot turned out to be amazing and went all to plan. A lot of my shots having the perfect amount of lighting but using a lot of trial and error in my shots until the lighting was perfect. I did a mixture of low angles and mid shots in order to try and represent the genre of rock in a good way. For one of props that I used was a rope/chain attached to a gold cross with a red jewel in it. I did take a couple with it but turns out it did not flow as nice as we thought so instead using another chain in gold which turned out to be really cool. I made sure to include a mixture of poses for my model to do as well as a couple of facial expressions so it looks like the adrenaline up on stage he is receiving is amazing.

Positives:

• Camera angles used
• Poses
• Facial expressions
• Costume

Negatives:

• The jumping ones went out of frame so not going to use them
• The leather jacket was left last minute before the shoot (didn’t reserve it quicker but luckily found it)
• A couple of shots I took got a bit of the ceiling in (later corrected and adjusted my model when realized)

Shown below are my favourite photos from my shoot and possibly what I will include in my magazine:

I have created a dating profile so I have a understanding of my target audience that would be reading my magazine. Keeping in mind their personal identity may be different to other people so making sure to include information that might have some interest in the audience. Preferred reading being another factor to it as well as if it has no interest to it, the audience reading it may continue to walk on and ignore it because they have an oppositional reading to it. Uses and gratification theory Bumler and Katz relating to this. In this dating profile, I have included different demographics as well as psychographics that this person would have that may be similar to people interested in the same genre and encode all of the information, this possibly leading to social interaction to other people as they might talk about the genre and talk more of their interest into it. Also including the education of this student in my dating profile so people could talk about where he went and socially interact with him.

So in the making of the front cover of my magazine, I need to make sure to include enough entertainment for them and a preferred reading technique to ensure that I have an active audience reading my magazine. When it came to my photoshoot, I was the producer to make sure that my models costume and poses were appropriate for the audience to decode it and have a good understanding on what it is about.

Using YouGov, I have done research on the different artists of the genre which shows their popularity shown above.

Doing this makes me feel really prepared for  my first shoot. In my PMA fill out form, I have planned out what my model is going to wear and what sort of rock poses and camera angles I am going to use. Also including who is going to be responsible for all of the camera equipment that is going to be used in this shoot. I have planned to use low angles to represent power that is going to be given off my model as it makes him look a lot taller and also shows that he is enjoying the show. So overall, now feeling confident after done all of the planning involved in it to do my shoot and represent a good star image of the genre rock.

All posters have it’s own style of unique to them. Doing this task, I have gathered front covers that I have found interesting to look at. The cover saying “Were so screwed” with the smoke stack in the front with a low angle representing that the smoke stack is the main cause of the problem. As well as the smoke penetrating through the typeface makes it look serious to look at as the audience would see the consequences of what is being released into the atmosphere. The font used being bold and the layout of the typeface centered to really drag the message to the audience.

A lot of the front covers that I have selected have strong looking graphics and different types of media language to get the audience engaged with the content that is being shown, as well as a variety of colour palettes used throughout. So overall, this gave me possible ideas to include in my shoot on my cover model and also made me think about the different techniques I could also add as well.