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

From my preliminary task i feel that i have improved a lot at all areas; construction, research and development. When creating my preliminary magazine i felt that i had a better understanding of Adobe Photoshop and it's features. For example i had better understanding of the 'Magic Wand' tool which highlighted areas which i clicked on and in that area i could delete the contents of it or edit within it. And also the 'Blur' tool which i used to blur outlines to make the whole image look smoother and professional. For my research i did a lot more and in more detail than i did in the preliminary task, i searched things such as history of a pre-existing magazine, fonts, the way things are presented etc. I also researched many different R&B magazines and music for a wider range of knowledge for the R&B genre and magazine. On my blog i posted a lot more than i did for the previous task to clearly show what i was doing and i have analysed a lot more on my  posts. When researching i found that it is important to keep the same colour scheme and use the same fonts throughout my magazine for a more professional and neat look. I also learned that not just any fonts or colours can be used when creating a magazine for a certain audience and genre, for example for R&B magazines they use plain and simple fonts, except sometime for the masthead. And the colours used are unisex colours such as purple, blue, red (light and dark). This is to make the magazine eye catching for their audience. 

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through the course of creating my music magazine i have learned a lot about technologies and they have greatly helped when making my music magazine. During this time i have regularly blogged my progress and the answers to my evaluation. I used many technologies during the creation of my magazine such as Adobe Photoshop, DSLR Camera, Olympus Viewer 3, Microsoft Powerpoint and Internet Explorer. Photoshop was used to create my magazine, it was extremely useful when putting my magazine together as it is easy to move images around, change colours, create shapes, make the background completely white and easily add text. Without this it wouldn't have been possible to create my magazine so it looks professional and neat. A DSLR Camera was to take images of my model to be on the front cover, contents page and double page spread of my magazine. Using this camera meant that  my images would be of a good quality and i can instantly see what my images look like. Because i can instantly see my images i can decide whether i liked the image i took or not. I used Olympus Viewer 3 to edit the brightness and contrast and i also used a setting called Tone Corrections which made my images more vibrant. I used Microsoft Powerpoint to answer some of the exam questions and to put my progession images on one image. I used Internet Explorer for reasearch and documenting my progress. It was extremely useful for this and to clearly show my work on my blog. Overall technology has helped me to create my front cover, contents page and double page spread, without these my magazine would be of poor quality.

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazines are girls and boys from teenagers to young adults. It would mostly be aimed at the girls but boys as well because R&B is more for the younger generation in general. Many R&B magazines feature a mix of male and female celebrities which help to expand on their readers. I think because of the colours i used, purple,  in my magazine it also attarcts both male and female as they are quite unisex colours. My magazine would contain concert, festival, gig etc. information and reviews, this could attract a wider audience, people who like going to live events and want to see information about them.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

The images on my cover page, contents page and double page spread are of the same model. This is the typical way R&B magazines will put their images, and also the images are of a young, fashionable girl. This will relate to the main audience. She is wearing simple but fashionable clothing, which is also a popular colour at this moment in time, this also relates to the audience. Also, she is wearing simple makeup, but with bright red lips, like in a typical R&B magazine, bright but simple. The name of the magazine is B-Side, it is the name for the bottom side of a record. I chose this because it is unusual, which will make people remember it and records were what some people bought to play music on when the R&B genre first established. On my magazine i used two fonts, this is typically what R&B magazines will do. They are a simple, plain and bold font. R&B magazines only use simple fonts because R&B music tends to be slow and simple and not too upbeat.

Finished Magazine

Edited Photos 2

I didn't edit these images much more because I first edited them on Olympus Viewer 3. On Photoshop I used the Brush tool to make the background completely white, the Eraser tool to rub out white parts around her to see the magazine title and headings.

Edited Photos 1

I uploaded my images to a software called Olympus Viewer 3, on there I saved the original images and edited them. I changed the brightness and contrast. I used a setting called Tone Corrections. These made my images more brighter and colours look vibrant. Changing these settings also made the white background brighter and whiter which I think makes them more proffessional. I then chose the four best images I though would fit best in my magazine and edited them further on Photoshop.

Original Photos

These are my 9 images from the photo shoot, which are unedited. I experimented with different flash speeds and, mid and close up shots. I tried to keep the modelling simple but enough to make her look fun.

Photo Shoot Plan

Photo shoot Concept:
The photoshoot will help me to achieve professional images for my magazine. The images will have close up and mid shots, and simple modelling to show that she is new to being famous.
Aims:
To get professional pictures of the artist, that show that she is new to the fame scene.

Date and Timings:
Thursday, 16th January. It will take about an hour.

Location:
The art block, as it is where all the equipment is.

Props:
For some shots I might use fashion accessories.

Models:
I will have one model, Laura. 

Equipment and Preparation:
The equipment used will be a camera, tripod and white backdrop. I'll make sure that the camera is fully charged and it has sufficient memory. I will use the tripod to prevent camera shake and make sure the camera is at the right angle. I'm going to use a white backdrop because white is used a lot in magazines.

Reference Images:

Typography

I have researched some fonts that are similar to those used in r&B magazines. I experimented with colour on the different fonts to see what would look best on my magazine and to make sure it matches with the colour scheme of the magazine.

Mind Map - R&B

R&B magazines are aimed at young adults, ages 17 to about 26/5. They always have a large image of the main featured artist on the front. Also with matching colours. The colours are usually reds, blues, purples, greens, yellows and some of the time pastel colours. The fonts used are usually simple, bold fonts, and sometimes with a bit of detail such as a picture in one of the letters.

Interview 1st Draft

Brand new young singing sensation Laura has caught every young persons attention with her extraordinary talent of singing and song writing. Exclusively from B-Side she talks on her newly found fame, and the journey to it.

So did you ever think you'd make it as a singer?
Not in a million years would I of thought I would be where I am today. If you went back 5 years from now and told me I would be famous, I'd probably just laugh in your face! It has been quite a shock for me, you can probably tell. I only started off as a normal girl with ambitions to become a singer, I was over the moon when I got signed to a record label. I honestly thought, from not being successful in the past, I would completely fail. But as it turns out the result was completely the opposite!

How have you dealt with the fame so far?
I was in shock for the first couple of weeks, it all felt so surreal! Having people scream my name, asking for photos and autographs, it's so crazy. The rest of the time, I suppose, has been different almost everyday. One day I was excited about it, the next I was scared, then feeling home sick and paranoia. Every week has been the same vicious circle! I thought that I'd have to be put on medication or something, that's how paranoid I got! But my family, friends and even writing songs has helped me to eventually pull through. For a while now all I've been is happy, It really has been great.

What about the paparazzi? I bet they've been getting under your skin.
Oh, yes! That's what made me paranoid! I swear they follow me 24/7. It did hurt me a lot when I saw that they were basically harassing my family. I got very emotional over that, that has been the worst experience I've had so far. Sometimes I feel like their messing with my head, but that’s awfully silly. [Laughs]

Is being famous what you expected it to be?
Sort of. The things like the interviews, autographs, performing on shows and paparazzi, but to a certain extent. I knew how they will be around all the time and stuff but not the fact that they could case so much stress and end up quite paranoid.

Your first music video Midnight Rain has just been released. How was it being filmed for the first time?
It was nerve racking to say the least! But as we got more and more into the day I got more comfortable with my surroundings. So it ended up being really fun! I love being dressed up in clothes I wouldn't wear everyday, all that make up they put on and my hair was done I could never do myself in a thousand years! It was a wonderful experience that I definitely will do again!

How do you feel about your fans?
Where do I start? [Laughs].  They've inspired me to write new songs and make new music. At first when I was walking down the street and people would ask for pictures and stuff I’d be like ’me? Really?’.  It was crazy and really hard to believe for a long while, I'm quite used to it now.

Are you thinking about doing a tour by any chance?
Well I have thought about it, definitely. But I was first thinking of releasing a few more singles and an album before hand. And also a little break, just to refresh my self you know? Then yeah, maybe a tour.

Quote:  ‘Music has been a passion of mine since i can remember'

Readers Profile

The reader age  for my magazine will be aimed at 16 - 27 year old. The Typical R&B magazine is aimed at people that age. Also it will mainly be aimed towards females rather than males. The demographic for my magazine is D becuase the music genre is generally listened by people in that demographic. R&B magazines are connotated as quite sophisticated but casual, which can relate to teenagers and young adults. The magazine will include an interview with a new artist, fashion articles, stories on other artists and some on line social media stories. The colours I'm going to use are white, dark colours such as blue, red, black. I may also turn some photos black and white.

Mood Board for Genre - R&B

Research on Institutions

Analysis of Double Page Spread

The main image covers one side of the double page and overlapping onto the right side. By placing the image on the left and placing the writing on the right reminds the reader who they're reading about. There is no other image in the article, this could draw all attention to how she is represented in the one picture. There are only two columns of writing with a large masthead. This could mean that the image is selling the article rather than the text and the masthead tells you all you need to know. The colours black and red suggest a darker and passionate side to the magazine to match the artists personality. The main colour is black maybe to match the colour of her clothes as well as her personality. The red suggest anger and passion, which is what the headline is talking about. All the colours in this article (red, black and white) compliment each other. The masthead stands out as well as the main image because of its size, font and colour. 'Wild' is written in a different font than the rest of the text to match the word and the artists personality. When the reader looks at the image they are drawn to the masthead 'Wild Child' because it matches her personality. The colours in the image compliment each other. The artist Taylor Momsen is represented as a 'bad girl' which explains her style of clothes, hair colour and make up. The black background makes her blonde hair stand out and suggests to the audience that she doesn't care about her image as she also has dark roots. Her dark and thick eye make up make her look more of a 'bad girl' and stand out because not many girls wear that style of eye make up. Even though she is portrayed as a bad girl who doesn't care what other people think of her her hair covers half of her face, this could suggests that, ironically, she is shy and self-conscious.

Music Magazines in shops

The music magazines were placed behind fishing, motorbike and car magazines which suggests that they are aimed at a male audience and/or most of their readers are male. The magazines put together are the same genre, rock. These magazines were Kerrang, NME and Rock. There were also pop magazines. This suggests that these two genres or magazines are the most popular magazines bought. 

Double Page Spread Plan

On the left side of my double page there will be a picture of my artist and their name at the top. On the right side there is the interview with a quote and another picture of the artist.

Contents Page Plan

In my contents page on the left side of the page will have article names featured in the magazine and the page number they are on. To accompany these i will have a picture on the bottom relating to a different artist. On right side of the page i will have another picture of my front page artist.

Cover Page Plan

My front cover will have an image of the artist which is the main article in the magazine. on the side i'll mention a few other articles which feature interviews or articles relating to other artists. i'll also mention other artists featured in the magazine at the top of the page.

Men and Women's Portrayal in magazines

Women and men artists are portrayed very differently in magazines. Women are usually wearing revealing clothes, skirts, dresses and they quite a lot of make up on. This enhances their looks to make them look more 'beautiful'. This is done because many people look up to these women. They also tend to look sexual to appeal to a male audience as well as a female audience. The women more often than not have bodies unattainable to the average woman. Women's portrayal in magazines cause women, especially the younger women, to think they have to look a certain way or behave a certain way.

Men in magazines are either wearing the latest fashions or smart clothes. But sometimes, just as the women, wear revealing clothes, or no t-shirt. In circumstances such as these, mostly the artist will have a muscular build. This usually is to attract a female audience as well. Again this makes males, especially the younger males, to think they will 'look good' if they have a muscular build. But this doesn't affect the males as much as females.