WEEK 11

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 
The music genre for my magazine is Jazz and my magazine will develop and challenge the forms and convention of real magazine. Below I have done some research some jazz magazine which will help me with ideas for my magazine product. 


JAZZIZ Magazine has been around for about 20 years now and covers everything about the Jazz world for example documenting musical innovations, charting industry trends, interviews with celebrities and old artist and new artist. JAZZIZ magazine is also a monthly magazine thatinforms its audience what’s new in the Jazz world for example hundreds of CD reviews, interviews with Jazz artist, upcoming gigs. JAZZIZ was named “the voice of a new jazz culture; a culture it helped create,” and has grown to become the largest-circulated jazz publication in the world the undisputed authority on jazz music and style. The masthead JAZZIZ is written in bold and the font is Sans-serif. This font is like musical note which is suitable for the magazine content. The mast head is also the largest font on the page which is placed across the page at the top therefore leaving the brand to talk for itself and also to grab its target audience which emphasises the success of the magazine and it well known in the Jazz world. The main cover line is the next largest font on the cover which is written in sans-serif font which is in white. The cover line describes ‘The messy haired McCartney’ as him been on edge which is seen in his body language as he is holding his tie and his messy hair. As Jazz music has a combination of other music it is evident that the font style is imitating the music jazz. This magazine has only one cover line which is the main cover line, in contrast to other magazines that have more than one including the main cover line. The main model is placed in the middle of the page but slightly off center, therefore taking up most of the space this makes him important. His smart look gives him a sophisticated look, however, his raised eyebrows and messy hair gives a twist to his looking, like he is flirting with the target audience. Having all these blank spaces on the front cover and the simplicity of the magazine shows that the magazine company wants their target audience to focus on the music not just the magazine. The background colour of this magazine is off white; however the masthead is also white pure white therefore enabling the masthead to stand out from the background. The simplicity and relaxed feeling of the magazine gives the gives the magazine a raw feel.The tag line ‘art for your ears’ tells the audience that it’s not all about how the magazine looks like but what the music sounds like the, the music is art.

http://www.jazziz.com/

In April 1979, Down Beat became a monthly magazine for the first time since 1939. Downbeat magazine was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. Downbeat magazine is an American magazine that has different genre for example Blues and beyond and Jazz, this showed the expansion beyond Jazz world. Downbeat magazine was named after the ‘downbeat’ in music which is also called ‘beat one’ or the first beat of a musical measure. The Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame which is featured in the magazine publishes results of annual surveys of the readers and the critics. The winners of both the reader’s and critic’s poll are also included and the results of the critic’s poll are published in August whereas.

The familiar features of downbeat magazine are it Reviews where it’s Jazz critics can rate the latest books, interviews with new artist or old artist and its famous "Blindfold Test" column, in a which a musician listens to records by other artists, tries to guess who they are, and rates them using the 5-star maximum rating system. The target audience can also do this by using a '1-Star to 5-Star' maximum.

In April 1979, Down Beat became a monthly magazine for the first time since 1939

Again in this magazine sans-serif font has been used for the masthead which is very strong and has been placed across the page at the top and it’s also placed behind the image which might suggest that the image is meant to be the main focus but however because the font is a is the larger font all the rest on the page. Therefore shows that the focus is meant to be on the picture and the masthead. The different sizes of the cover line that are on the cover may have been done this way to show the importance of each artist or maybe it was just done to be placed around the image. It is very clear that this magazine doesn’t follow the code and convention of a jazz magazine and because it too crowded and doesn’t have that relaxed feeling about it. The cover looks too busy and it hard to just focus on one thing. However even though the cover is too busy it doesn’t take away the dominant effect image is meant to have on the cover. The focus still remains on the image. The dominant colour of the cover is actually the background, they have used a bright orange which makes the cover look powerful this colour will attract the reader much quicker as it’s eye catching making the read want to read the magazine. The colours yellow and bright orange great a like a fire effect therefore making the magazine look dangerous and powerful as I said before. The main model that is been used is the artist Dee Dee and they have used a close up image of her face, this images takes up three quarters of the front cover therefore empathises how important she is and her positive facial expressions gives the magazine an energetic vibe and an upbeat feeling. The language used is mainly real and definite as the main aim is to inform the reader and sell the genre of music to them.

http://www.downbeat.com/ 

JazzTimesmagazine was found by Ira Sabin in the 1970’s. JazzTimes started as a newsletter which was designed to inform and update shoppers what’s new in the Jazz world that Jazz has released and provide Jazz programmers with the means of communication with the industry.JazzTimes was originally known as Radio Free but was changed in the 1980’s to JazzTimes. Also in the 1990’s the magazine itself was changed it the way it looked for example exclusive cover photography and state of the art graphic design was used to reconstruct the look of the magazine. The magazine contents of concert, reviews, books, CD’s. JazzTimes was purchased by Madavor Media in 2009.

The masthead ‘JazzTimes’ is in large bold sans serif font, the italics that has been used gives the magazine a classical look and a more relaxed feel and the masthead is also the largest font on the page.Then followed by the masthead the cover line is the next largest font on the cover‘Clint Eastwood the soundtrack of his life’ which is the main article that is featured in the magazine. The cover lines on the right hand side seem a little out of place and perhaps should have been lower down nearer the base. The black with a hint of grey background gives the cover anenigmatic look which is fits Eastwood dangerous look therefore giving the magazine a more serious look. This shows that the magazine has achieved engaging their audience because the way the magazine is structured and the seriousness of the magazine the target audience wouldn’t be for younger audience but for older audience.The magazine takes a very formal, business like attitude towards its reader. The purpose of this magazine is to inform its readers. It’s very direct approach and precise to the point. The main image that has been used is a close up of Eastwood and his has direct contact with the camera makes him look really unapproachable and intimidating, which complements the dark background which gives is a dangerous vibe. The suit that is worn by gives him a sophisticating look however in contrast to the dangerous look him, his undone collar it that relaxed look.
http://jazztimes.com/

2. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When creating my jazz magazine I have learnt a lot about technologies. I used Adobe InDesign to insert text and pictures on my cover but I also used Adobe Photoshop to edit picture. After doing my preliminary task I became a little confident with the software program but however still struggled with it. I learnt how to use my edit the background of my picture in Photoshop without leaving any excess background around the picture and rough edges. I also learnt how to resize images on InDesign so that I will be able to place it any were on the page and I now know how to use different colour’s.

Below is a print screen of the link below that I used to how me out on InDesign and Photoshop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cu5FuAdOVY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05p02Pu3XQs&feature=relmfu


3. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel like I have learnt a lot of thing for example that my main cover line can’t be bigger that my masthead even though it of equal importance. I also learnt that is important to have a unique selling line on my music magazine which makes your cover different from any other magazines. I didn’t have a unique selling line on my college magazine therefor there wasn’t a lot things special about my magazine and it lost that professionalism of a magazine.   I also learnt that it was important to have tasters to draw the audience in so I used bottom strips where I place my tasters  whereas on my college magazine I didn’t any taster which therefore might have lost me some audience.