In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When it comes to my media products, I have kept a consistency all the way through by using the same three colours, these being black, yellow and red. The contents page actually having a dirty styled yellow on the tabs, although it does look slightly green. The layout of my contents page challenges the normal conventions of a mainstream music magazine, I changed the layout due to the fact, my magazine genre is the opposite of mainstream. To me, it wouldn’t make sense to use mainstream conventions and layouts, for a genre which is the complete opposite. The magazine cover does follow most conventions, besides from the paint splatters and such – the same applying for the double page spread.
I have used the same artist ‘Silent Screams’ throughout the magazine, himself being on the front cover, a main image on the contents page, and also a large photo of him on the double page spread. This meaning I have kept continuity throughout the magazine. This being to make sure the magazine makes sense, if an artist was on the cover, and wasn’t on a double page spread – it would just be a waste of the audience’s money.
I have used the same artist ‘Silent Screams’ throughout the magazine, himself being on the front cover, a main image on the contents page, and also a large photo of him on the double page spread. This meaning I have kept continuity throughout the magazine. This being to make sure the magazine makes sense, if an artist was on the cover, and wasn’t on a double page spread – it would just be a waste of the audience’s money.
When it came to finding out the target audience and also the social group for my magazine, I made a questionnaire and placed it online, which collected up my answers for me when people answered it. What I did was; I asked 20 people to answer the magazine questions, to get a specific idea on what should be placed on the magazine, and what shouldn't be placed on the magazine.
If I were to create a heavy metal magazine, would you read it?
Yes (11)
No, I’m not interested in that genre of music (9)
If you were the read the magazine, what type of content would you expect to find inside?
Information on bands (10)
Images of live tours (2)
Prizes and competitions (3)
Information of band merchandise and where to buy it (1)
Posters of the bands (4)
What age group do you think would read this magazine?15 – 24 (13)
25 – 34 (4)
35 – 44 (2)
45 – 54 (1)
55 – 64 (0)
65+ (0)
What stereotypical social groups do you think would read the magazine?
Mainstreamers (2)
Gangsters (0)
Emo/Goths (13)
Indie rockers (5)
Rastas (0)
Would the majority who read the magazine be male, or female?
Male (11)
Female (9)
What type of social class would you expect them to belong to?
Upper Class (1)
Middle Class (4)
Lower Class (7)
Working Class (8)
How often would you expect the magazine to be released?
Weekly (14)
Every two weeks (2)
Monthly (4)
How much would you pay for the magazine?
£1 – £1.50 (3)
£1.60 - £2.50 (15)
£2.60 - £3.50 (1)
£3.60 - £4.50 (1)
When it came to making the magazine, I used the information I gathered from this questionnaire to make the magazine more suited to my target audience. For example; when I asked which social group would mainly read my magazine, the spectators chose emos and goths - this meaning they were the target audience. I had to research the types of music they listened to from there, in which I modelled my own artist around. This making the magazine more realistic and suitable.
I stereotyped the audience by looking at the different genres of music, and choosing which genre chose the audience selected by the spectators on my questionnaire. Thanks to the answers on the questionnaire as well as the genre I originally wanted to do, I came up with the plan to do a heavy metal/glam metal/screamo genre magazine. I used a lot of my favourite bands for the magazine, and for the competitions I thought about some of the things that I would personally like to win, for example; going backstage on a band tour, or winning my favourite guitarist’s guitar.
The Media Insititutions
This series of photos is a demonstration of how I turned a class mates skin more clear for a magazine cover, this actual image I'm not going to use. I had to choose a picture where you can see the poser's face clearly, this being easier to work with. From there a series of processes are made, which feature the use of multiple duplicate layers, and also some layer features.
The steps:
1. Go onto photoshop once selecting the perfect image, and then duplicate the layer. The duplication is thanks to the original image not being ruined, it's also better to make a few copies in case of any technical faults and difficulties.
2. Go onto the item named 'Spot Healing Brush Tool' and use the cursor to click on any spots or blemishes which feature on the person's face. This will make the area look clear.
3. From there, you take the quick selection tool and completely select the skin and also any other limbs which feature in the image. This being because if the face is edited, and other limbs which are showing aren't. It will look false, and incredibly obvious that photoshop has been used.
4. After selecting all the skin, move on to click the tab named layer, and copy the chosen selected area. During this point, you also create a new layer.5. After the creation of the new layer, click onto it, and remove the "eye" from the other slides, so then the new layer is the only one you can see. After this is done, go onto the layer tab once again and click paste. This will leave you with just the skin and any other parts of the body which are revealed. Duplicate the layer twice.
6. The next step is to take the eraser tool, and remove the eyes and also the mouth (this including the lips). Take caution is what you do remove, and also take your time with this step.
7. Once that is done, you then click the "eye" on the duplicate layer of the original image. From there move the cursor up to click onto the layer tab once again, then onto 'layer style', and then click onto the 'blending options'. Once the little window has opened, move onto the drop down menu which says 'normal' and look for a section saying 'hard light'. Click that option, and then click okay. The person in the image will then look bright orange, which isn't unusal. Just mess around with the opacity of the layer. A normal setting for this being around 46%.
8. After the previous point has been done, then click onto the seperate skin copy. Go onto the blending options once again, go to the drop down tab which says 'normal' and then scroll down to click 'lighten' and then mess around with the opacity of the effect. A roughly getting opacity setting ranges from 70% to 73%.
9. From here click on the second copy of your skin layer, then open up the blending options window once again, then onto the drop down menu and select 'Linear Dodge (Add)' before messing around with the opacity once again. For my attempt setting the opacity of the layer to 2% was enough. Once that is done, your image is complete and looking airbrushed and perfect for whatever you're using the image for.
1. Go onto photoshop once selecting the perfect image, and then duplicate the layer. The duplication is thanks to the original image not being ruined, it's also better to make a few copies in case of any technical faults and difficulties.
2. Go onto the item named 'Spot Healing Brush Tool' and use the cursor to click on any spots or blemishes which feature on the person's face. This will make the area look clear.
3. From there, you take the quick selection tool and completely select the skin and also any other limbs which feature in the image. This being because if the face is edited, and other limbs which are showing aren't. It will look false, and incredibly obvious that photoshop has been used.
4. After selecting all the skin, move on to click the tab named layer, and copy the chosen selected area. During this point, you also create a new layer.5. After the creation of the new layer, click onto it, and remove the "eye" from the other slides, so then the new layer is the only one you can see. After this is done, go onto the layer tab once again and click paste. This will leave you with just the skin and any other parts of the body which are revealed. Duplicate the layer twice.
6. The next step is to take the eraser tool, and remove the eyes and also the mouth (this including the lips). Take caution is what you do remove, and also take your time with this step.
7. Once that is done, you then click the "eye" on the duplicate layer of the original image. From there move the cursor up to click onto the layer tab once again, then onto 'layer style', and then click onto the 'blending options'. Once the little window has opened, move onto the drop down menu which says 'normal' and look for a section saying 'hard light'. Click that option, and then click okay. The person in the image will then look bright orange, which isn't unusal. Just mess around with the opacity of the layer. A normal setting for this being around 46%.
8. After the previous point has been done, then click onto the seperate skin copy. Go onto the blending options once again, go to the drop down tab which says 'normal' and then scroll down to click 'lighten' and then mess around with the opacity of the effect. A roughly getting opacity setting ranges from 70% to 73%.
9. From here click on the second copy of your skin layer, then open up the blending options window once again, then onto the drop down menu and select 'Linear Dodge (Add)' before messing around with the opacity once again. For my attempt setting the opacity of the layer to 2% was enough. Once that is done, your image is complete and looking airbrushed and perfect for whatever you're using the image for.
