Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Billboard Ideas
My billboard will have a simplistic design. I want it to include little amounts of text. A colour scheme of red, white and a small amount of black will be used as they are associated with the club. A dominant image of some fans wearing Sunderland shirts will be used. They will be standing up against a red and white striped background.
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Monday, 15 June 2015
Billboard Deconstructions
Billboards are frequently used in the media to promote and advertise certain products. As part of my A2 Coursework, I am required to create a billboard to promote my product (a football fanzine), therefore I have put together these deconstructions of football billboards in order to give myself an idea of the conventions which are frequently used within them.
Magazine Inspirations
My task is to create a regional magazine. The genre of my magazine will be football making it a 'fanzine'. I have looked at and analysed some of the regional football magazine's front covers, which have inspired me for mine.
Legion of Light:
This magazine is published and distributed by Sunderland Football Club. It is a free magazine sent through the post of season ticket holders. Many conventions are used within the front cover of this issue. The most obvious one is the dominant image of Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson. Johnson is in direct mode of address, making it seem as though he is looking at the reader. This creates a real connection between the player and the target audience (Sunderland fans) suggesting that there is an air of togetherness around the club. I will use this technique for my magazine front cover.
The colour scheme of the magazine is yellow, white and black. These are the colours of Sunderland's away strip of that particular era (which Adam Johnson is wearing on the picture). These colours would've been strongly associated with the club at that particular time and therefore appeal to the fans of the club.
Similarly, the club's crest and it's main sponsor Bidvest can be seen at the bottom of the page in the colours red and white (Sunderland's home colours). Again this will be associated strongly with the club as they are symbols which represent it. This will appeal to fans of the club who ultimately are the main target audience.
Subheads are used frequently on the front cover of this magazine. They include names of people who are strongly associated with the cub such as the captain John O'Shea and a key member of the board Margaret Byrne. Seeing these names will persuade fans to read the magazine as they will be intrigued to find out what these important people from their club have to say.
A promotional splash is also used to advertise a competition for a holiday to Malta. The fact that a splash is used is a benefit as it will stand out to readers straight away and they may feel more obliged to enter this competition.
A Love Supreme:
Again, this is a magazine that is strongly associated with Sunderland AFC. However it is not produced and distributed by the club itself. This is done by A Love Supreme, which is a company in it's own right. Once again, the magazine's target audience is Sunderland fans.
The main colour scheme for this front cover is red and white. As mentioned previously, these are the main two colours of Sunderland's home kit. Using these colours on the front cover of the magazine will immediately appeal to fans as they are the colours which are so strongly associated with the club and it's fans.
Many sub images are used in the middle of the page. These images are of many people who were formally associated with the club such as Roy Keane. These are icons of the club and fans will be intrigued to read on to find out about their heroes/icons.
The masthead of the magazine uses a distinctive font to add to its own mise-en-scene and match the mood of previous issues. This is a useful strategy as it gives the magazine a sense of uniqueness which will attract fans of the magazine and club who have persistently read it in the past.
The magazine also uses a subhead in a large font and also in the colour gold which says "20th Anniversary". This notifies readers that this magazine is an exclusive issue and it's content will be perhaps particularly indepth and intersting. This will make readers more obliged to read on.
Legion of Light:
The colour scheme of the magazine is yellow, white and black. These are the colours of Sunderland's away strip of that particular era (which Adam Johnson is wearing on the picture). These colours would've been strongly associated with the club at that particular time and therefore appeal to the fans of the club.
Similarly, the club's crest and it's main sponsor Bidvest can be seen at the bottom of the page in the colours red and white (Sunderland's home colours). Again this will be associated strongly with the club as they are symbols which represent it. This will appeal to fans of the club who ultimately are the main target audience.
Subheads are used frequently on the front cover of this magazine. They include names of people who are strongly associated with the cub such as the captain John O'Shea and a key member of the board Margaret Byrne. Seeing these names will persuade fans to read the magazine as they will be intrigued to find out what these important people from their club have to say.
A promotional splash is also used to advertise a competition for a holiday to Malta. The fact that a splash is used is a benefit as it will stand out to readers straight away and they may feel more obliged to enter this competition.
A Love Supreme:
The main colour scheme for this front cover is red and white. As mentioned previously, these are the main two colours of Sunderland's home kit. Using these colours on the front cover of the magazine will immediately appeal to fans as they are the colours which are so strongly associated with the club and it's fans.
Many sub images are used in the middle of the page. These images are of many people who were formally associated with the club such as Roy Keane. These are icons of the club and fans will be intrigued to read on to find out about their heroes/icons.
The masthead of the magazine uses a distinctive font to add to its own mise-en-scene and match the mood of previous issues. This is a useful strategy as it gives the magazine a sense of uniqueness which will attract fans of the magazine and club who have persistently read it in the past.
The magazine also uses a subhead in a large font and also in the colour gold which says "20th Anniversary". This notifies readers that this magazine is an exclusive issue and it's content will be perhaps particularly indepth and intersting. This will make readers more obliged to read on.
A2 Coursework - Aims
For my A2 coursework, I am planning to create a fanzine based around my local football club Sunderland AFC. My course requires me to create a regional magazine, therefore I thought creating a fanzine would be a good idea as these tend to be regionally based. They are created by fans of a local football team in a particular area or region therefore making it a regional product. Also, seen as I am a keen follower of Sunderland AFC, I felt it would be interesting to create this product as I already have a great deal of knowledge and interest in the club.
For the coursework, I am required to create a magazine, a website and a billboard. These three aspects will all be centered around my fanzine. My main inspiration for the product is another Sunderland AFC fanzine A Love Supreme. It is an independent company that produces monthly magazines, has a website, organizes transport for the clubs matches and much more. The reason it is such an inspiration is due to the fact it has the same target audience (Sunderland fans) as my magazine would have. Its content will also be very similar due to the association with Sunderland. I will study the products of ALS in the hope of making my product similar.
For the coursework, I am required to create a magazine, a website and a billboard. These three aspects will all be centered around my fanzine. My main inspiration for the product is another Sunderland AFC fanzine A Love Supreme. It is an independent company that produces monthly magazines, has a website, organizes transport for the clubs matches and much more. The reason it is such an inspiration is due to the fact it has the same target audience (Sunderland fans) as my magazine would have. Its content will also be very similar due to the association with Sunderland. I will study the products of ALS in the hope of making my product similar.
Other inspirations are various other fanzines centered around regional football clubs. These include;
- Blue Moon - A football fanzine for Manchester City FC
- The Gooner - A football fanzine for Arsenal FC
- United we Stand - A football fanzine for Manchester United FC
A2 Brief
1st four pages of a regional magazine (worth 40 points) and two ancillary tasks worth 10 points each.
- Billboard
- Website and two hyperlinked pages
AS Reflection
Since completing my AS Media coursework, I have reflected on it and realised that there are many strengths to the work, however there are also some improvements which should have been made.
- I am satisfied with the consistent 'easy on the eye' look that my product has. This was the look I wanted to achieve as this is what my target audience would've wanted to see throughout the magazine. I believe that the product is similar to other competing magazines such as NME and Mojo, who were two of my main two inspirations.
- I am also very pleased with the quality of the pictures and how I was able to edit them on Photoshop to suit the overall mood of the magazine. For example I used Photoshop to add a weathered look to the double page spread's image, adding to the magazine's mise-en-scene.
- I feel that the font style which I used for lots of sections of the magazine (Myriad Pro Bold Italic) suits the target audience's preferences, as it gives the magazine a slick and easy on the eye look. It is also similar to the font styles used within my inspiration magazines, Mojo and NME.
- Looking back at my work, I perhaps should've considered variating my colour scheme on occasions, as I have used the same three colours throughout. This does benefit the magazine as it ensures it is consistent, however using the same three colours throughout makes the magazine seem a bit bland and devoid of character.
- On the front cover, I could've increased the size of the dominant image more in order to decrease the amount of white background space. This also applies in the double page spread's article section, where I should've added either more text, or some form of imagery to decrease the background white space.
Overall I am very satisfied with my product, despite the minor improvements which should've been made. I worked hard to create it and I will use it to help me during the creation of my A2 coursework.
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