Double Page Spread Analysis

I will be analysing this double page spread which is based on Hip-Hop and R&B artist “The Game”. The props that have been used in this picture are the “The Games” hat and chains. They connote his wealth and success of his career. They also represent what “The Game” is all about and the type of props that Hip-Hop and R&B artists normally wear.

“The Games” costume is quite a basic modern day wear. He has been dressed like this to represent his own fashion. His costume consists of a baggy top, jeans and trainers. Another reason they have dressed him like this is becuase he was brought up on the streets, and this is how you expect artist that rap to dress, it is also his own sense of style.

The Games facial expressions show that he is serious about what he has got written in the article, the connotations that us as a audience get is that he isn’t happy about something, and in bold writing on the double page spread in bold black writing we are told why. The reason it is written in black is so that it can stand out on the white background. This is a good technique because it will stand out to the audience, and they will read what it says and then read the rest of the article because they are interested as it is about conflict between “The Game” and a well known rapper “50 Cent”.

The picture is high key lightining as the picture has been taking in the outside enviorment. In the background there is a building with graffitie on it, again this is showing us what you would expect to see on the streets that he has been brought up on. The whole photo is based on a stereotype. The palm tree also shows that this photo is likely to of been taken in America.

Music Magazine Cover Analysis

This magazine that I have chosen to analyse is a popular R&B/Hip-Hop music magazine. The reason I have chosen this magazine is because it is similar to the type of magazine I will produce for my main task.
The font colours that are used have been made to contrast with the singers’ hat ‘Green, Yellow, Black and White’. This is a good use of colour as it contrasts well and looks attractive to the audience’s eye. The magazine name is in capital block letters and is the biggest font on the page. The reason for this is so that the audience will recognise the magazine title first, as it’s a popular magazine.
The magazine’s name “Vibe” is in see through writing to give a special yellow glowing effect.
The letters and words on the front cover are all bold and written in capital letters; again they stand out and also complement each other. They follow the urban style of lettering, all the letters stand out individually and the words and letters are framed around the celebrity ‘Young Jeezy’ who is the centre of the magazine and various other stories are surrounding the celebrity. Alliteration has been used next to the rappers head “Power, Paper, Pain”

The hat that ‘Young Jeezy’ is wearing can be seen as a prop in order to contrast with the magazine design. The diamond earrings and silver chain connotes his wealth and success of his Hip-Hop career. This singer isn’t actually wearing a costume as his shirt is off to expose his tattoos from this we get a connotation of a rapper as their stereotypes is to have tattoos.
Young Jeezy has a stern serious look on his face to show that he is tuff, he is also looking straight into the camera to connect with the audience. This grabs the reader’s attention, and makes them look at the magazine.
This shot is a big close-up of his face so that we can see the emotion in his face and be drawn into the surrounding words.
The words are all covering the side of his face so that after we look at his image our eyes can be drawn to the words on the magazine.The beginning of his name is in black (Young) so that the audience can see that it is his name. Overlapping is used to add a bit of fun to the magazine.

The layout also emphasis the chosen photo of Young Jeezy.
High key lighting has been used on this front cover in order for us to see the rappers face clearly. At the top of the cover it comes across as light than the rest of the page because of the yellow glow title. The middle section of his face is quite bright as it is the centre and gets darker on the outside.
The less important information is in smaller font in the corners of the page. None of the words are properly covering his face. All the celebrity’s names are in yellow writing to show the equal importance, but Young Jeezy isn’t in yellow writing, which shows that the magazine is mainly based on him and that the image is relating to an article within the magazine.
The target audience is for older teenagers and above and this tells you that the magazine is for a younger audience.
The skyline at the top of the page gives us information about articles within the magazine.

By Kamara Israel-McLeish

Introduction For Main Task

I am now begging my main task which is to create a music magazine, contents page and a double spread. I will be creating a "Hip-Hop and R&B" magazine.

Evaluation

Q1. For my media product I looked at other college magazines to gather ideas of how a college magazine should look. I have used the conventions of having a masterhead like other traditional college magazines. But I have developed this idea and made my own origanl sturcutre and put the master head going down the side of the page aswell as the top.

Q2. I have constructed a sense of reality by representing a fellow student of the college. I dressed my model in a very down to earth, every day look, this way you as a reader would be able to see she is from a college as this is how college students dress. The reason i dressed her like this is so that the college students reading this magazine will be able to relate. I also included a prop which was a book so it can connotates education. I have also done this for my content page, i used props in the photos so that you can see that its in a college.

Q3. I attracted my audience by using contrasting colours. I made the heading bold white on a black background so that it can stand out more to catch the students eye. By the model smilling and starring right into the camera it gives a welcoming feeling to the magazine, so it looks asif she is looking into the eyes of the students. Her make-up has been done so its very suttle to make her look asif she is going to a college. I chose to choose a model in the lower 6th becuase she looks younger.

Q4. I learnt about alot of the technologies while creating my products . I used a proffesional camera to take my medium close-up and used photoshop to put together my products. To take the models out of there frame an into the magazines i used such things as the 'magnetic lasso', this was what i used to acheive most of my goals. I used the gradient tool to draken parts of the background i used this pesific tool to get low key lighting. I also used the spot tool in order to give my models skin a smoother look. I also used the gradient tool for my content page in order for me to dim the ends of the photos so it can fade into the background.

Q5. Fron my audience feedback i have found that i have been quite successful in creating my front cover and context page. My strengths have been mostly the photos and the way i transfered the pictures onto the front cover and the way i have made it look like a real magazine. On my content page my strengths is the way i have used a number of photos to show the college . My weakness is the fonts i have used on both the products. Also the blue font on the content oage is to dark i should of used white.

Finished front Cover & Context Page

Update On My Work

Over the past few weeks i have been conducting and putting together my front page cover and my context page using "Adobe Photoshop". I have used a number of tools to create my finished piece.

Pictures For The College Magazine

This is one of the photos that I will be using on the contexts page. This picture will be representig the activities that are avaliable in college, in this case the gym.

I will be using this photo as myfront page cover.

The reason I have chossen this picture is becuase you can tell that this is a student taking her Alevels not only from this way she dressed and looking but from the prop which is a psychology book that has purposly been used.

I have also chossen this photo for my contexts page as it shows you that these people are students in a cafeteria.

This photo will be used on the context page to show the Christ The King sign.

I have chossen this picture as it is significant to what the magazine is about "College". It shows a boy studying, so i thought this would be a good idea as this is what we go to college for.

I will be using it on the context page.

This student is dressed in a very bussiness like way so this is a good look to put into a college magazine as it shows proffesionalism.

I have chossen this picture to go on my context page as it shows a very happy student, which shows the reader that it is a nice enviorment at Christ The King.

This is going to be used on the context page as it represents music, within college and outside college.

College magazine drafts

Audience Research

Audience Research - 20 students participated in this college magazine questionnaire.

1) How old are you?
From this graph I can see that the majority of the students who participated in this questionnaire were 16, the rest were 17 and none were eighteen There were four sixteen year old students and four seventeen year old students.

Are you Male or Female?

From this graph it shows you that 12 of the students were Female and 8 were Male.

Would you read a college magazine?
The majority of the students that participated in this questionaire would read a college magazine.

Would you prefer if the magazine came out every fort-Night or Monthly?
11 students would prefer the magazine to be issued every fort- night and 9 students would prefer it to be monthly.

If you had to pay for the magazine would you buy it?

Although a wide range of these students said that they would pay for the magazine a few more people would not by the magazine.

How much would you be prepared to spend on a college magazine? Students would prefer to pay between 50p -£1 for this

Textual Analysis of A College Magazine

From this picture I can tell that the setting has been set in the garden of their college as you can see the building in the background.
This setting consist of basic contrasting colours which consists of :
•Green
•Blue
•Brown
The connotations of these different colours are peace and harmony. Most of the surroundings are filled with greenery from the grass to the trees. This scenery gives the reader
a sense of peace and happiness.
The denotation in this magazine is the students of the college that are posing, they connote the happiness and joy that their experiencing in their college.
In this photo the students are dressed in very smart and neat clothes. The men are wearing modern day shirts and smart trousers and one women is dressed in a suit and the other is dressed in a dress. The neatness of these students indicates that they are organised people in an organised school . From this type of costume it gives the students a business like look. The connotations of this type of costume is smartness, and it automatically tells us that they are serious and focused people. I can also tell this by their posture.
There are no props used in this photo of the magazine. I belive that the reason for this is so that we can focus on each student and the eviorment carefully.
The body language of these students is upright and strong, connoting that they are focused people. The gaze is direct meaning that they are looking directly into the camera. The students are making contact with their eyes. The effect of this is that the reader will feel that they are looking straight at them. This type of photo is eye catching to the reader, so therefore it will draw the readers into picking up the magazine and reading it. Everyone of the students are smiling the connotations of these facial expressions is happiness. The way in which they are standing and sitting is very welcoming and focused. The photo is a long shot so were able to see all of the students and a full view of the environment around them. The camera angle is straight one and the lens type is Standard.
Also the way in which the students are standing is straight directly into the camera, this makes the readerfeel that the are interested.
The lighting is high key, it has been set in a bright area that is from dark areas except the shadows of the trees which is low key lighting. The effect of the high key lighting is that it connotes happiness and peace. The high key lighting makes the contrasting colours stand out more so it can emphasise the peacefulness, whereas if it was dull and dark then it would emphasise a more creepy effect.
This anchorage on this photo tells us quite a lot about what the reader can find inside of the magazine.“ Hall of awards”, this suggest that we will be informed on certain awards that are or have been going on in the college.
The colleges name is written in a big formal font that is eye catching, it also looks business like to match its title. Once again the colour contrasts with the scenery. All the main headings are in the same font and title in bold Blue. Also underneath all of the headings is a bit of information on what the heading consists of inside the magazine.
The date of the magazine is written in small white font which isn’t very noticeable to the reader.

Introduction

I will be using this blog to submit all of my AS media coursework. The first piece of coursework that i will be submitting on this blog is the introductory task, for my college magazines front cover and contents page.