Introduction to Entropy and Redundancy

Entropy is when something is unexpected or unpredictable to what is normally seen.  For example when something happens that would be completely different to what you would expect. These examples are seen throughout various music videos, like people with super powers or being dressed in a certain way.

Redundancy is when something is expected or predictable to what is typically seen. for example in a rap video when you see the voyeuristic treatment of women, lots of money, loads of cars, close ups of the artists...etc

Music videos use a range of both methods and they are usually typical to the genre of music, for example hip hop videos don't usually contain much entropy, but rock music videos range from many different themes and idea.

A2 Media

A2 media starts here.

Music Magazine

And thus concludes my music magazine

Video Peer Review

Music Magazine Evaluation

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In my magazine I have used a variety of media product on my magazine. Firstly on my cover  I have used many cover lines to advertise articles inside, certain word in the cover lines are varied in shape to make the words stand out to the reader, as well as varying in colour to highlight certain words. Another product I have used is a strap line at the bottom of my cover, advertising that the magazine was voted the best in Europe, similar strap lines are used on many magazines so that its proof that other people have said that the magazine is worth buying.

I have also included a barcode, date, and price to make the magazine seem authentic. Most magazines have these included, so thought even though the magazine would not be for sale I would still include it to make the magazine look more professional. Also I included a title, and interesting picture that would be typical for any magazine, but I downloaded a font from the internet and used it in my house style throughout my magazine, keeping the house style colours, black, white and red.

On my contents page I have included sections to put my articles into, I saw this technique being used on other magazines during my textual analysis, so I adapted it for my own magazine. On my contents page I included a large amount of images and put page numbers on them so the reader can find that particular article. At the bottom of the contents page I have created a small editors section where I have listed all of the contributors of the magazine. This is also seen on most magazines and due to the magazine being not genuine, so are all the names mentioned, besides my own.

On my double page spread I have included a large image that took up the whole of one page. Usually in all of the double pages I have looked at the large images takes up the majority of both pages, but I wanted to include some more text to illustrate the images with some text. In the text I have written half as a summary as what the subject if doing, and half questions and answers, both are also used frequently in modern magazines.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have tried to represent a broad range of people in my magazine from young to old, but mainly focusing on anyone interested in modern music. I have used formal text to not to put off elder generations with slang that may not be understood by certain people

I have also tried to include many images so the reader doesn’t get bored by looking at too much text. I have tried not to relate to a particular genre but to cover a range of music that is modern at the moment. If I did have to assign it to a certain genre it would probably be either rock or indie music. I have used blacks and dark blues to give it a similar feel to that of Q magazine, so my magazine would have similar readers to them.

Possibly seeing about music labels distributing my magazine, as they may wish to use my magazine to promote certain artists, and it would promote my magazine and possible help with sales.

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think if the magazine was well known enough, the types of institution that may sell the magazine would be shops like HMV that sell music related products, and supermarkets, as this is where most magazines are bought. I don’t think there would be one institution in particular as the magazine covers a variety in types of music, so a varied amount of people would want to read it.

As the magazine covers stories affecting the most modern music, it has no certain genre; therefore I think that as its offering a broad range of

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of my magazine I think is generally of the younger generation but also could be of any age if they are interested in the feature inside the magazine. Both males and females as I believe the music features are not gender related, and is neutral throughout.  Also I think the types of people to purchase my magazine would change depending on what articles are included, such as certain bands featured and  other reviews or competitions on offer.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract the audience I mainly used the front cover, as the majority of people by a magazine on what is on the cover. Firstly I used images that would catch the reader’s attention. Using famous people would make people want to buy the magazine so that they can find out what the artist is promoting. I also used different colours to catch the readers eye of it were on a shelf.

Another technique I used was to make certain words larger so that instead of seeing a section of words the reader’s attention is drawn to the most interesting. This was in the cover lines, where another cover line featured a competition. By putting this on the cover the chances for people seeing the competition are higher and encourage a purchase.

On my contents page I have used as many images as possible so if I have encouraged a customer to pick up the magazine and flick through it, they will immediately see the images instead of just words.

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

Creating this magazine I have developed my photo editing skills very much. In the magazine I had to place the text from cover lines all over the front page, and change the colours. I didn’t have the knowledge to do this creating my draft pages, which is why I developed my skills so I could include the interesting font and still have the background show though

I also created all of my pages with editing software then added text afterwards; this made the posses much easier and simple to do. I then changed some of the photos settings so that they looked like they were of a higher quality. Plus I had to use my digital camera to frame all of my photographs so they looked professional.

• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Compared with my student magazine I feel that firstly my cover has been improved greatly as before I had very little content on it and the image was slightly boring. Also the colours I used were very plain and simple. But on my new cover I have included much more contents and used more techniques seen on modern magazines, such as more professional looking fonts and images.

I defiantly think my contents page has improved as with my student magazine again the background was very plain and didn’t really show the reader what was available in the magazine, but now I think I have improved as I have filled the page with images and included a summary of what is available in the magazine for each article, I also used more sophisticated software to create it.

Full Magazine

Here are all of my finished pages:

Final Contets Page

This is my final contents page. All I have to do is my contents page.

Contents page

I am currently working on my final Contents page. I have created it with photo editing software then will add text afterwards. I have done this proses with all of my final pages and once I have created the contents page all I will have to create is my evaluation of my final magazine. This is what I have so far:

Final Double Page

Double Page Spread

I have almost completed my double page spread and all I have to do is add the text, the text will be the only major difference between my final double page and my draft page as I will have smaller text and question and answers in it, as well as other minor changes. Here is what I've got so far:

Finished Cover Page

Changes

from the feedback of my draft pages I have decided to make the following changes:

For my cover page I shall use photo editing software to make the strap lines show the background through the backs of the words, and change the sizes of certain words to make the interesting ones stand out, like that seen in some of the magazines I looked at in my textual analysis.

For my contents page I am changing my layout to the other previous design I had drafted and including more images to make it seem more interesting to the reader, and making the editors section smaller. I will also apply some similar techniques to that seen in some of the magazines from my textual analysis.

Finalay for my double page spread I will include more text in a smaller font, and make minor changes to the picture colours and layout of the text, possibly including questions and answers.

Draft Double

Cover Draft Page

Contents First Draft

Layouts, please select your favourite

Treatment Sheet

Magazine: Tenderoni

The readers of Tenderoni will be ages between 16 and 21, so covering the whole teenager age group. Both males and females will read it, as it will not be gender specific. The main majority will be from middle class families, and will either rely on their parents for money or have a part time job.  The reader will be interested in music, and probably play an instrument, like guitar bass or drums. The type of music they would like would the classic or modern rock, the type of bands that reflect the instruments they play themselves.

Tenderoni is in colour and A4. It contains interviews with bands, or artists, as well as news on new bands, and reviews on new albums. Images in the magazine will feature bands that readers can relate to as they play the same instruments. The magazine will be modern and artistic, and have blacks and silvers with a splash of red mixed in. it won’t be clutters, but have an artistic use of images and headlines. Competitions will be in the magazine, to win things like VIP tickets to festivals or concerts. Reviews on music technology like instruments and amps will also be in the magazine. The magazine will retail at £2.50.

Each issue will always have one interview with a new band, review on a new album or music tech, news on current music affairs, and a competition. The magazine will focus on the new happenings of the music industry, as well as opinions on the classics and music festivals. Language used will be to a level the readers will understand and will be familiar to them.

Advertising will be from companies promoting music technology, and record labels promoting new albums or bands. Also clothing companies that would sell the type of clothing readers would buy like Play.com and Chemical clothing.

The editorial team will be around the age of 20-40 and have experience in the music industry; they will also probably play instruments so they can relate to the readers. Readers will also be encouraged to write in and contribute to the magazine and get their ideas heard.

2010 Circulation Figures

Found from http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/11/mojo-q-nme-kerrang-abcs
Mojo:   98,484
Q:         94,811
Empire: 81,029
Uncut:   71,242.
Metal Hammer: 41,777
Kerrang!: 38,486

These results are very interesting as the most popular magazine focused on classic rock. I though the most popular would be Kerrang!, or Q as it includes popular music of the current time. i think the best option for my magazine would be to focus on the rock/classic rock aspect of music, as the traditional band that has an electric guitar, bass, and drums sells the most magazines.

Which one?

Music Mag Questionaire

What type of music should be included?

What would be a good price for the magazine?

News, interviews or new bands on the scene?

Formal or Casual?

Red, Blue, Silver or Green colour scheme?

Reviews included?

(Please post response in comments)

TENDERONI

Looking at the poll results the winner is 'Tenderoni'

Poll

What Shall I Call My Magazine
	Tenderoni
	iToons
	Tenderoni
	Mikko
	Tenderoni
	Note
	Ring Ring
	Tenderoni
pollcode.com free polls

Textual Analysis

This double page spread is from the music magazine: ‘Rolling Stone’, and features the band ‘Kings of Leon. Taking up the majority of the space is a large image of the band. The image is very simple and features them sitting on chairs up against a plain concrete background being lit by a single light bulb.

The text is very simple and is almost totally question and answer, but this is made the subject of the article at the top the Q&R emblem at the top of the first page. The font used is formal and also simplistic, and all of the text is fitted onto 2/3 of the first page, which is common for more and more double page spreads.

Below the title is a short paragraph introducing the band and the interview, and the total interview features five questions with long answers. The whole article is very simple and formal. The image takes up the majority of space, which is seen on nearly every interview in the modern magazines, but features much more text than usual, even though it is a short interview. I think it is targeted at fans of the band, as its not portrayed as an exciting interview reviewing some new material that the band has made, so mostly only Kings of Leon fans will want to read it.

The whole article is simplistic and effective for fans but I think if it was someone who hadn’t heard of the band was reading the magazine they would skip the article as it doesn’t attract new readers. The article has plain colours and fonts, with a plain layout; nothing out of the ordinary attracts the readers eye, but still interesting for fans of the band.

Textual Analysis

This is the contents page for an issue of Kerrang; it’s also got a simple layout but is still slightly busier than MOJO’s. It has much more writing but sill many images.

It seems easy to understand and also has sections that the articles fit into, but it has much more sections and articles than MOJO. I think this is good as the reader feels that they are getting their money’s worth and have a variety of features to choose from.

Kerrang seems to have a large amount of big names in their magazines instead of just the one, so using many images helps the reader identify where the articles are found, also in this contents the images relate to which article they are in, with the page numbers and article name on the actual image opposed to just having them written down the side. This magazine has both which provides that little extra help with navigation.

The layout is similar to MOJO’s but has much more text and more text on the cover at the top of the page. The colour scheme white, black and yellow. The black and yellow is used in the titles and page numbers. It stands out well against the plain text and white background, which again helps with navigation which I think, is an important factor, I think, on a contents page.

Overall I think it’s a good contents page if not a bit busy, and I think the colour scheme is slightly boring and plain.

Textual Analysis

This is the contents page from MOJO magazine. It has the classic feel of a music magazine, as it has many images of all of the bands featured inside and all of the articles relate to music industry issues.

Its layout is very similar to most MOJO contents pages as they are usually set out with many images filling the majority of the mage and the articles relating to the images on the right hand side the different types of articles are grouped together. The usual articles are in the ‘Regulars’ section, news and current affairs is in the ‘What goes on!’ section, and information on the different medias are in ‘The MOJO Filter’ section. I think this layout is very affective as it makes it simple for the reader to understand and simple to find something in particular if needed. I also like the use of many images, as it’s aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t make the reader bored by seeing rivers of just words.

Below is the people who have contributed to putting the magazine together, which were the main people involved in the development of the magazine again using images instead of just words.

The style is very simple, as the majority is just a plain white background with black font, and the name of the magazine is repeated at the top. There is a slight variation in colour with the section headings and page numbers, but I don’t think this is of any other purpose than to make it look more interesting.

I think this is one of the better contents pages I have seen as it includes a large amount of images and the layout is simple and easy to understand, laying out exactly where the articles are and offering a brief summary of what’s in them.

Textual Analysis

Looking at this magazine the first thing that strikes me is the inter-textual reference to the matrix. Pictured across the whole cover is a long shot of Johnny Borrell (lead singer for Razorlight) in a long coat surrounded by rain. This is re-enacting the famous scene from ‘The Matrix Re-loaded’. This is also referred to in the banner “Razorlight Reloaded” suggesting to the reader that the band has changed, and they will reveal all within the issue, this is also re-enforced with the strap line “Is Johnny Borrell finally as good as he says?”, this hooks the reader and encourages a purchase of the magazine.  

The fonts of the strap lines are different to the banner. This is to provide variation and make the magazine interesting. Colours used are silver, blue, white and red; these are complimentary colours and match other colours within the magazine cover. The strap line “And the most evil man in pop” is in red, this emphasises the evil that is referred to.

The famous Q logo is taking up a large portion of the page, and like always it’s in exactly the same position, also the barcode is small so not to attract too much attention. Overall the cover is eye-catching as the large image consumes the majority of the page and the rain effect covers the Q masthead, and the bright colours reflect the articles within the magazine.

Textual Analysis

The First thing that strikes you looking at this magazine is the way the cover image is used so that it affects the look of the masthead. Pictured is Matt Bellamy, swinging his guitar and smashing the Q logo with shards of the logo seen flying across the whole page. I think this is a very clever use of the image not only does it draw your eye to the magazine, so if it were on a shelf it would stand out against the rest, it also immediately tells the reader that inside is a large feature on one of the UK’s biggest bands.

The eye is also drawn to the large word ‘Muse’ backing up the cover image telling the reader what is inside. Above the word muse if a quote from the article “I bought 50 tins of beans and an axe.” This quote has been taken out of context to make it sound very unique and interesting, hooking the reader into buying the magazine. It also links to the cover image as it looks like he is using his guitar like an axe. Bellow the word is the phrase “Matt Bellamy is out of control” again relating to the cover image as it is anarchistic and portrays Matt Bellamy like a huge rock star, smashing things up with his instruments, like how he is pictured.

Bellow is the cover lines explaining other articles inside, with the more interesting words enlarged to attract the reader. Also next to Matt Bellamy’s head are more cover lines these have smaller writing but are placed on a white background to make them stand out and as they are placed next to his head, as the reader looks at Bellamy they notice the other cover lines. Then the final cover line is in the bottom right hand corner. This is about one article instead of many as it would probably attract more people to buy the magazine, due to the fame of the band. This is evident throughout the cover as the more interesting titles/articles have a larger space for advertising.

The magazine also keeps to its house style as it used the same two or three fonts it always does, and has the same colour scheme, with certain words highlighted in different colours to draw the reader eye to it. And at the top a strap line is used advertising that it’s the UK’s largest magazine, this would help to sell copies as if it was voted that title, it’s going to have good material inside to read.

I really like this cover and I think it’s very unique and professional. And makes it seem like one of the better magazines as not only does it have the big names, but it also looks like one of the best sellers as it looks like a lot of time and money has gone into making it look good