Evaluation

1. Evaluation George Swain

2. Media Conventions - Introduction • Upon the creation of this media text, I explored different conventions that media magazines follow. My first attempt at a magazine cover followed similar conventions to NME and Kerrang, both of which are quite the stereotypical music magazine. I followed conventions such as stickers with drop shadow, bold uncomplicated fonts and catchy tag phrases. However, I came to the point where I got bored of reinventing the music magazines that already existed. I thought my magazine looked incredibly ‘try hard’ and unoriginal. As much as I was using conventions of traditional music magazines like the bold title, I felt that I wasn’t being original at all, and that I was just following trends set by other leading magazines.

3. Media Conventions • I did however, try to stick to some conventions. I felt that this would give a solid base for the rest of my magazine to sit upon. They would provide the structure for the rest. I didn’t want to completely alienate my magazine as I think it would customers off. People enjoy things that they are comfortable with and understand. These conventions included: • Large title – I thought this necessary as the name of the magazine should be visible. It’s placement (top left) is because in standard English we read in left to right. It’s at the top because it’s the only place where it will still be visible once shelved. • Large main story headline – This was to attract customers that find the particular story interesting. This helps draw in customers that may not be the direct target audience of the magazine, yet would still make a purchase due the cover story. • Quotes – Brings a more personal aspect to the magazine. Helps readers relate to the speaker. It also gives the reader some information about the article/interview within. • Stand out sub headings – This helps to give the reader an insight to what the main articles in the magazine contain. It will often be the decider when the customer is unsure of making a purchase. • Issue number date etc. – Personally I think this detail subconsciously says to the reader ‘this magazine pays attention to detail’ ‘this magazine clearly has high standards’. Also where they to look for a date and not find one, they would find it off putting. • Barcode – seeing as it is a magazine to be retailed, a barcode is necessary. • Price – showing the price is important. The reader knows what they have to pay, there are no uncertainties about making the purchase. If the price wasn’t shown, they would wonder whether it’s too expensive. This is especially the case on a more upmarket magazine like mine.

4. Media Conventions • I titled my magazine GS because I thought the letters looked good together, and also as I had updated to a more classy magazine, I thought Gentlemens Sound was the perfect initialism. • Although conventionally placed my magazine title does hide behind Zoeys head a little. I decided to do this as I liked how it added another dimension to the whole cover. This is also why some text overlaps her, but some doesn’t. I didn’t want to over do it with hiding text behind her, just enough to add that 3D effect. I also wanted the focus to be on the main photo, not the headings or the title. So I thought giving the photo some dominance over the text helps to do this. I have used a grey filter over the top of the whole thing, except the text. This wasn’t to make the text more stand out that the photo, but more to make sure it’s clear and legible. This is the same reason for the choice of font throughout the magazine. The Times New Roman font for the large headings and titles looks good, it’s dramatic, whilst still classy. It is also very conventional and well respected. The smaller text is Calibri font. I chose this because it’s simple and plain. This helps when the text gets smaller as there aren’t any serifs etc. to get in the way and blur the shape of the letter. • I used the dark red in places because I thought my magazine did need some variety. It also helps bring out the more important parts of text, hence why I have used it for headings and subheadings on the cover. This is also the case on my contents page, I have used red on the page numbers. I wanted to continue it through the pages to keep a consistent style.

5. Media Conventions – Contents Page • When I shot the new photo’s I aimed to achieve something much more versatile than the previous attempt. Also I wanted a more refined classy look to the photo’s. I wanted every single photo to be like this, and every page. I wasn’t interested in conventional small ‘tag line’ photos. I wanted them all to stand out. I did realise however, that I still needed to fulfil the purpose of the contents page, otherwise it would be a rather useless page and a waste of time. • I think the contents page is the biggest ‘rule breaker’ in terms of conventions, as it isn’t particularly standard to have such an encapsulating photo on the contents page. Usually such photos are used in a special feature, or front cover. But seeing as I had the photo, I wanted to use it. My view on it was ‘asides from the other pages, why should I not make my contents just as eye catching?’ as long as I still provided the right function, I didn’t see a problem. I think this is unconventional, but not in a bad light, I think it’s quite refreshing to see something new, something fresh and a bit different to normal.

6. Media Conventions – Double Page Spread My double page spread is slightly unlike the contents page and the cover. It isn’t as classy. It also doesn’t look like a photoshoot. I took the photo at a live gig that I was at as I saw a good opportunity. I actually got the inspiration for this page from a DPS in Mojo magazine. It was a close up of Damon Albarn (Blur) singing live, with text around the left and bottom edges of the photo. I also thought seeing as it is a music magazine, a live photo would be the perfect DPS. This is a slightly more conventional approach to a DPS than my other pages. But actually it isn’t so different that there is no consistency in my pages. It’s different enough so that it adds variety to the magazine. It follows a quite conventional style of block paragraphs with a large title and sub heading. I felt that the photo provided a good enough background to go straight on top with white text. I also blurred in a second photo on the top right, as I thought it would make the page just that little bit more interesting and give it a professional edge. I edited the photo in Photoshop, but it didn’t need much. I upped the contrast and over saturated the colours slightly. This made it more dramatic and brought the colours out from the black, as there is a lot of black I didn’t want it to dominate. The white text also helps to stop this. Being a double page spread I wanted something to span both pages in one go. That is what I like most about this image, as it brings both pages together and provides a background for the text. I also spaced the title letters and the bottom paragraphs in such a way, that the fold won’t interrupt the text.

7. Photoshoot • Once I had decided my current work lacked originality, and editing it over and over again was getting me nowhere. I felt real change was necessary. I made the decision to get some new photography work done. I wanted something much more classy. I prepared at a far greater level compared to the previous time. Before I based my work around the photos that I had come up with. This time I had a better idea of what I wanted. • I used a Nikon D3100 with a standard 18-55mm lens. This captures at 14.2 Mega Pixels, and as much as this isn’t as important, it’s still necessary to produce decent quality photos. • I used my Girlfriend Zoey Groves for the photos as she is a model and is used to such things. This made my life easier and the shoot flowed really well. Fortunately we had a white wall to use as a backdrop, which was essential fro my plans. I wanted to use the photos as the bulk of the magazine page, with the negative space made up by the white background. The background does look grey in places due to the amount of contrast added, but this isn’t a bad thing. There were also plenty of shadows which added to the contrast. These shadows did add a lot of drama to the photos, especially on the contents page, but I liked how they came out, and it wasn’t an unnatural amount of contrast. I also took some of the photos using the cameras black and white setting. I was interested to see how they came out, as opposed to using Photoshop to lower the colour saturation. The photo I used for my contents page was one of the ones shot in the black and white setting.

8. Target Audience • My target audience was originally a more youth based audience, with a particularly wide range of people concerning musical taste. Similar to magazines like NME. However upon my magazines style change I also reinvented my audience, which is a much more ‘gentlemanly’ affair. It is aimed at people with self esteem, people with high standards and people that care what they look like when they leave the house. This isn’t to be mistaken for posh and preppy however, as I did not create this magazine for politicians. • The social groups that are represented do reflect this in some way. Bands like The Smiths, The Alarm and The Jam are mentioned with the magazine, who at the time often supported the youth of the generation, but now are followed by gentlemen that have grown from the same era as the music. I suppose this makes it a more reflective magazine for people that still enjoy the past. I like to think that it still attracts a younger audience that has tastes similar to those older than them. • Also style is a part of this magazine, and that’s something the youth would be attracted to, often more so than the adults. I wanted to include style as it’s so often associated and affected by music, that they go hand in hand. • I mentioned particular bands and things in relation to clothing and style to help attract the audience intended. To see their favourite band/artist/brand mentioned is enough to warrant at least a flick through a few pages.

9. Social Representation • My magazine represents the Gentleman; hence Gentlemens Sound. I wanted to represent them because, in the past, the gentleman was what every male aspired to be. They were the cream of all men, they were worshipped by younger men and teenagers, and they were top of the list for women. Now it is not so. Real gentlemen of class are few and far beyond. The ones that are left have seen more winters than most and cannot stride about town like they used to. With this magazine, I want to represent the existing gentlemen that are out there. • This is why in the creation of this magazine, I have adopted a classy style. Also the photo’s are of a classy lady, such a lady that would be associated with a gentleman. I also included some aspects of style and not just music. This helps to represent the stylish gentlemen, the ones who know how to leave the house with a good outfit on. • I think I have represented well. I considered it a challenge seeing as it is quite a niche social group to represent. However, I feel I successfully represented the group using some obvious and subtle conventions. • I wanted to represent gentlemen because it is my aspiration to be one. I enjoy all the music, and I especially like the style. I also felt that they aren’t represented in very many ways at all. The closest being Esquire magazine and GQ magazine. I think my magazine fits into their category. The difference being, I have attempted a revival of past things. GQ and Esquire are very modern. This is not to say my magazine is living in the past, it is to say that it has more variety than the others.

10. Technologies • I had only a small amount of knowledge of Photoshop, and zero knowledge of Indesign at the beginning of the course. The preliminary task taught me a few basic editing skills, I learned the likes of Curves and levels of saturation. I also learned what editing meant to a picture besides the obvious. Like adding a higher level of contrast portrayed a much more dramatic feel. • I do now however, have a much greater level of knowledge of these programs. I produced my Double page spread in Indesign and the Contents page and Cover in Photoshop. All the photo editing went through Photoshop also. I do now use Photoshop at home for my own personal use, and find it very enjoyable. I’ve come to realise that learning every single tool in Photoshop isn’t necessary, but learning the effectiveness of the basic functions is more important. Also building an understanding of what effects do to the photo, and the views perspective of it.

11. Preliminary Task • My preliminary task was to me essentially ‘lets take nice photos and put text over them’. I was supposed to produce a cover for a school magazine. Looking back it was an incredibly naïve approach to producing a magazine cover. I didn’t particularly think about what kind of finished product I wanted afterwards either. So clearly approaching this task without much of a plan wasn’t a good idea. I did however, learn some basic techniques behind (and in front) of the camera. Things as simple as the importance of taking the photo in landscape or portrait, depending on what I needed. I learned some basic settings like black and white, sepia and different zoom settings. I also learned how much different lighting affected the final image. I think this was the most important part of what I learned. I gained a much greater ability to edit and take photos to suit the particular genre. Whether it needed more drama, or it needed to be much more washed out and not take centre stage of the magazine. Considering my preliminary tasks main photo was a self shot done from a window sill, I think I have gained some skills. I didn’t however have any particular knowledge of magazines, and their conventions. Or at least I did, but only subconsciously. For example, I knew it was standard to have a large plain title always at the top, but I never really explored as to why. Whereas now I can’t look at a magazine without analysing its use of conventions.