Report: Media MS2 Coursework Evaluation

Research was undertaken in order to complete an assignment that was set which is to create two
magazine covers (producton) and a DVD cover (pre-producton) that promoted a new stand-up
comedian. The target audience I have chosen is aspirers who enjoy stand-up comedy but also a wider
demographic to maximise the artsts reach. Comedians in the industry today are hugely
commercially successful partly as a result of high profle, mult-platorm marketng campaigns.
For the pre-producton piece, I have created a DVD cover.
Research that was undertaken informed me that the style of
dress for a modern stand-up comedian is of smart atre and
therefore I decided to dress my star in a sharp platnum suit. I
ensured that even through the front cover in a close up, the
audience can stll see the sharp cut of his collar. His suit
connotes masculinity and the facing away from the camera
creates a sense of edginess (which is clearly displayed in the
stand-up routne) as in
most of the DVD
covers that have been
researched, the
comedian is ofen
giving a direct mode of
address. In the photo I
have created, the
image of my star persona is facing away with a rather deep in
thought expression on his face, in comparison to John
Bishops DVD where he is showing a shy smile with a direct
mode of address and this enables the star to communicate
with the audience. The ttle Maz Khan Live is in a sleek,
contemporary font which additonally complements the
sharp and slick look that has been constructed for the model.
The text New Live DVD For 2013 juxtaposes with the main
ttle as it is in a scrufy, handwriten font. I selected this font as it gives almost a chalkboard feel and
this links in with the history/background of my new star as hes from the tme where chalk on black
boards were used in classrooms this will relate to the
schoolboy humour in his routne. This allows some
members of the audience to use this media text to identfy
themselves (Uses and Gratfcatons Theory).The back cover
would provide a very good idea of the quality of the
comedian as more ofen than not, reviews are displayed on
the back quoted by various newspapers and magazines
which acts as a quality marker for the potental audience.
On the back cover, an image from his frst performance is
shown with his image overlaid on top; this displays his past
when he was startng up. This informaton is encoded in the
cover and acts as an aspiratonal device that would show
that the best performers always start from the botom. On
the back, a synergistc feature which I came across during
my research was applied Twiter hash tag, @MazKhan and Facebook. This allows the audience to
feel a sense of community from this media text and creates a feel of belonging within that
community of social networking (Maslows Hierarchy of Needs). This creates a much more personal
relatonship with the star.
The stand-up DVD business is very large especially during certain seasons such as Christmas where a
lot of DVDs are bought as presents. These DVDs are sold in a lot of supermarkets which allows the
niche audiences within the mainstream audience to purchase this for pleasure purposes.
My target audience as previously stated are the aspirers who enjoy watching the stand-up comedy
programmes. The reason why I chose stand-up comedy is because it has such a high profle in todays
media culture as it it creates an escape for the audience as it immerses them in laughter (the
pleasure factor in the Uses & Gratfcatons theory), it allows the audience to decode the
performances according to their own cultural capital. This is because a comic/comedian almost
always refers to previous events or stereotypical events that have occurred to him/her or they may
live in a certain area (Rhod Gilbert from Wales, Jason Manford from Manchester) and directly
emphasise on the colloquialism from that area (the community aspect of the Uses and
Gratfcatons theory).
For example Jack Whitehall is a breath of fresh air into the stand-up comedy industry and he is highly
successful due to his constructed image and high profle 360
o
marketng campaign. He is displayed on
various media platorms (synergy) such as websites, TV programmes such as Fresh Meat (which was
aired on E4 indicatng that his target demographic is from 18 25 year olds) and writng his own TV
programme called Bad Educaton which was shown on BBC3. Reaching into a wide younger
demographic as both of the channels mentoned are used to
show modern, new programmes to the young audience.
Research was conducted to fnd typical codes and conventons
of professional male orientated magazines. For example,
researching magazines such as Mens Vogue magazine and
Mustard magazine allowed me to decide the layout of the
magazines as well as several other factors such as how my
masthead for each magazine should look like, what type of
imagery should be used as well as dress codes and typography
efects to create professionalism. However, I have used this
magazine front cover as a basis of how I should layout my
design. This
research
helped me
decide how a
star is
represented. For example, in the Vogue mens
Magazine, Daniel Craig is wearing a suit, this
connotes masculinity, the extra accessories like the
handkerchief and te creates a sophistcaton factor.
This is because true gentlemen ofen use this style
of dress. The editors of the magazine metculously
created a colour scheme that efciently worked
with the te and handkerchief. This further amplifes
the professional status that Vogue carries. The
central image is sharp and ofen a medium shot
displaying the mise en scene which is blurred due to
the use of a high aperture while retaining the
sharpness which complements the overall design of
the magazine. Here Jack Whitehall is on Shortlist
magazine where he is represented as cheeky and
juvenile. His dress code is smart and contemporary,
for example his skinny te connotes the
contemporary style of the new young age of
comedians. Here in the IT Crowd issue of Mustard
magazine, the masthead has remained the same but
the predominant design of the front cover has been
constructed to look like a cartoon comic strip. This
efect has been created by using an almost animated
style of typography with in the main ttle use of
drop shadows and bold fat colours as used in comics. I found the cover very appealing due to the
simple design and layout masthead, puf, side lines and cover lines and white background and
image extracton which I decided to use for one of my magazine designs. A fnal technical code of
these magazines which allowed me to construct my design to stand out was the camera shot and
editng of the NEF fles (exported from DSLR camera). The central images in all the magazines I have
researched have a direct mode of address which immediately makes the target audience feel as
though the star is directly looking at them.
In comparison to the other media texts that I have analysed (such
as ShortList magazine and Vogue Mustard magazine) that have
informed me of various aspects of design in which I have
implemented. My magazine covers would look very well placed
alongside other professionally published magazines. Features
such as the typography, masthead design, colour schemes, pufs
and straplines have enhanced the overall design of my covers by
creatng a brand identty which looks established. The central
images that I have used have been captured using a DLSR camera
and they were edited using advanced photo editng sofware
which allowed me to create sharp images. However the editng
techniques used werent as efectve when extractng the image
from the background. There were 2 reasons; the backdrop which I
required (green screen/blue screen) were not available and the
images, the second soluton to this could have been to use a high
aperture (sofening the background) when capturing the images
but the lens that I used for my DSLR was not capable of this
feature. Regarding the pictures that were captured for the magazine, my star persona is facing away
with a rather deep in thought expression on his face, in comparison to ShortList magazine where
Jack Whitehall is giving a direct mode of address which allows the star to communicate with the
audience. As well as displaying a juvenility/youthfulness aspect of him with the crotch exerton pose,
the young connotatons of sharp, slim ft suits and shirts without an accompanying te are aspects I
have atempted to insert into my star persona which connotes the modernised dress codes and
conventons of a new generaton of comedians.