Foundation Portfolio in Media Kayleigh Stevens - Keatley 6449

 • In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?   I think my preliminary task fits the brief well. My cover shows a mid shot of my model on a school magazine, and the masthead is shown at the top of the magazine, conforming to the normal conventions that the mast head is always at the top of the front cover so that is stands out and the audience are able to see it clearly.   • How does your media product represent particular social groups? The front cover has a male model wearing the uniform that represents the Chatham 6th form, as well as having the primary colours that represent the school (Silver and green). The front cover also has the school emblem in the corner in order for the target audience to spot the magazine clearly.   • What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?   A school would distribute my media product as it was focused towards students and those un

Billboard Magazine is an American music magazine, it specializes in the music industry and the most popular music at the moment. Its headquarters are in New York City and is owned by Prometheus Global Media. The target audience for Billboard magazine are college graduates as well as the age range that varies from young teenagers from the age of 16 to adults at the age of 26. This is because the magazine provides its readers with the latest updates from the charts and has a variety of music artists to interest people of different ages. Billboard sells 17,000 magazines per week. For my focus group I have decided to have a group of 20 between the ages of 16 and 26. I will show them 4 Billboard Magazine covers and ask them to choose their favorite. I created a Survey containing my 4 favourite covers from the brand and asked my focus group which one was their favourite. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/S5PBGH7

When preparing for my preliminary task I decided to take one of the Media Studies camera's and trial a few different angles and lighting techniques. Below are the photo's that didn't work and my reasons why.  When taking this photo I didn't consider the glare from the window in the background. However when seeing the image on the computer monitor it was very visible and was changing the lighting on Jon's face. For my second photo I realized the glare was too much from the window, making the surrounding features black and in shadow, I also realized the rope to the blind was obstructing the image. With this image the model moved as the camera was focusing, making the photo useless, there was also too many objects in the  background, drawing away the attention from the main focus of the model. For the last image the model was in focus however the background was too obstructive and also the angle of the model was wrong, a

  Representation of Men/Masculinity       Easthope (1986) argues that a variety of media, especially Hollywood films and computer games, transmit the view that masculinity based on strength, aggression, competition and violence is biologically determined and, therefore, a natural goal for boys to achieve.   Gauntlett argues that there are still plenty of magazines aimed at men which sexually objectify women and stress images of men as traditionally masculine. Rutherford suggests that these magazines are symbolic if what he calls retributive masculinity  - an attempt to reassert traditional masculine authority by celebrating traditionally male concerns in their content, i.e. 'birds, booze and football'.   Gauntlett (2008) focuses on the relationships between the mass media and identity and argues that the mass media today challenge traditional definitions of gender and are actually a force for social change. There has also been a new emphasis in men's me

  Representations of Women/Femininity   Tunstall: (2000) Argues that media representations emphasise women's domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media generally ignore the fact that a majority of British women go out to work. Men, on the other hand, are seldom presented nude or defined by their marital family or family status.   - Working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive, possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. It is often implied that working mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of the emotional neglect of their children.   -Research into women's magazines suggests that they strongly encourage women to conform to ideological patriarchal ideals that confirm their subordinate position compared with men. Ferguson (1983) conducted a content analysis of women's magazines from between 1949 and 1974, and 1979 and 1980. She notes that such magazines are organized around

After choosing the style of music magazine I wanted to go for (top of the charts, current trend music), I decided to use Billboard Magazine as my inspiration, below is a presentation of the standard codes and conventions of Billboard Magazine. http://prezi.com/ng_n_tg-dfid/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Upon further research into magazine covers I am going to create my final piece inspired by the Billboard Magazines. I like their use of colour schemes and also the different lighting choices (i.e the Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas cover) I also like the fact that on certain covers they put the artist in front of the title (such as the Idina cover, Beyoncé, Drake, Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga).       

For this process I used Owen, and decided to take a mid shot photo of him on a white back drop, making it easier to edit and clean the edges of the photograph. These were the photos taken.   For the first photo I asked Owen to stand facing my left and to look central with a expressionless pose. When looking at all the photos afterwards I noticed that his face is facing the side too much, making it difficult to edit and also making his body language seem to closed in. For the second photo I asked Owen to keep the same position however this time I wanted him to smile in that direction, adding some warmth to the photo. However we faced the same problem as the body language was uninviting and I would have liked him to have faced the camera more. For the third photo we decided to change positions so he was facing my right. This was a better body outline wise however we still had the same problem as before regarding the body positioning. Finally we decided on this photograph

For my preliminary task I decided to take a mid shot photo of Owen against a white backdrop.   This photo didn't quite fit the A4 requirements so I had to use the clone tool to create more background on the right hand side. Also by using the Liquify tool I was able to bring forward Owen's hairline and also make his jawline more prominent. With the use of the clone tool I evened out Owens complexion and also did a few subtle adjustments such as making his bottom lip more prominent and filling in his hairline. As you can see, for this cover I added the title vertically using both green and grey, keeping with the primary school colours. I also added it to the right because Owen (pictured) is looking in this direction, giving the illusion that he is looking at the title. As for text I added a few clippings of text again keeping with the colour scheme, and I also added a CCGS logo to tie in the fact it is a school magazine.   This is the contents page for my

 Codes and Conventions of a music magazine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3susFM_M08 Codes and Conventions of a Film Magazine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18bEU7PX1q0     Codes and Conventions of Print Media:   Title piece should have one significant tag-line/slogan  Simple colour scheme Should include logo of brand/company   http://www.slideshare.net/AlexMcKiernan/codes-and-conventions-of-print-advert      

Camera Research (How to guide) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnigC_QDVds This video helped me to learn of the different modes (such as the auto focus mode) and also showed me the different aspect ratio's available. In summary the video just gave me a quick overview of the camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjkyaEyrqps The second video showed me how to set the camera up for taking photos (putting it on the 'P' setting at first to set up and then move to 'C1', and then setting the ratio to 4:3) The video also showed me how to adjust the shutter speed and how to control the flash. Photoshop Tutorials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8-9xi7WkHY Doing our first Photoshop task the person I Photographed asked me to define their Jawline, so using a YouTube tutorial I was able to use the Liquify tool to define their jaw.    Before Liquify   After Liquify   

I started with this image. The eyebrows were unkempt and the skin patchy, with dark bags under the eyes. After altering the image on Photoshop I was left with this:  As you can see I used the clone tool to even out her complexion and conceal her freckles/moles. I also concealed her dark circles using this tool and filled in her eyebrows to give them more shape and definition. With this tool I also made her hairline fuller and widened her eyes. Using the magic wand tool I removed the background and with the smudge tool I made her lips slightly more shapely and even, I also lowered the arch on the right brow and made her eyes slightly wider. For next time I believe I need to figure out different methods of evening skin tone and drawing focus to different points on the face.

  First use of photoshop. Looking back at this work I can see that the images placed on top of the background don't blend into the rest of the picture, however as it was my first try at photoshop I believe I used this to learn more about the programme and produce better examples (as shown on my blog).

With this cover I like the use of just 4 bold colours. Red, blue, black and white. It makes the page jump out at you and in my opinion would be a good selling point. I like how Adele is in front of the magazine title (COA, Main theme) I also like how Adele is featuring right in the centre of the frame. With this cover I the fact that half the musician is in light and half is in dark. I also like that he is looking straight into the lens, all very basic but effective in black and white. With this cover I like the fact that the artist isn’t in a standard headshot position, instead he has his body angled from the camera and is looking down, I believe this helps the audience to get a wider understanding of the artist and also makes them want to know more.   With this cover I dislike all the striking colours almost clashing with one another, almost as if you can’t focus on one thing at a time. However I like the fact all magazines from Kerrang! Follow a similar theme