Evaluation Task 7; Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

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

My school magazine and music magazine are extremely different, my preliminary task barley covered any of the regular mainstream conventions whereas my coursework clearly shows various conventions.
After learning about the layouts of cover magazines F,Z and E plans I could arrange my magazine cover in a way that looked realistic and in ways followed this convention, I had my features in more of a C shape because of the image I decided to use I didn't want to cover her face with words. 
I now realise that the mast head on my prelim does not work at all, the fonts that I have used for the features are to bold for features, and my bar code set up looks awful. This barley follows any of the regular mainstream conventions. 

The photo shoot I did with Alice for my Preliminary task I barely took any photos so I didn't have much choice in what photos to use in my magazine whereas my first photo shoot for my course work I took over 100 photos and the second one I took around 30 so overall I had a very large variety of images to choose from. 

Due to not planning when I had the studio for my preliminary task the clothes Alice was wearing clashed with my theme colour which is why the image is in black and white, from doing this I have discovered editing photos so they are black and white don't look right unless it fits the genre of music or the target audience which in my case it does not. Another problem with my bad planning is Alice's hair wasn't down so wispy parts of hair restricted my from editing the photo as I would of liked to.

All the knowledge I gained about technologies helped me a great deal with the progression of my product, from my preliminary task to my final product it is clearly visual that I have learnt more about all the software I was using during the construction. Without the knowledge I now have with Photoshop I could never of made the magazine I have now created. 

I feel like I have learnt a lot about what attracts people to the magazine, the golden spiral is a vital technique I have learnt. This is why I wanted my logo in the top left corner because its where the eye instantly goes to and then works outwards in a spiraling shape. I think for a magazine to work there needs to be more features than what I included on my prelim which is why my coursework had so many features all down the left side of the cover.
In my actual coursework I made a big statement about the model used on the cover whereas in my preliminary task I didn't so there wasn't anything to pull the audience in. I now know how to change the brightness of photos so I could make the background appear whiter than it is.

My Contents page in my preliminary task didn't include anywhere near as much content and features as it should have, the logo is to big for the contents page, the features are to bold and the images are randomly place on the page.

After looking in other magazine for inspiration i have learnt about the layouts of the contents page and that the logo should be small in the top right corner and in the bottom right corner it should be a page number. I decided to use a 3 column layout for my coursework as its popular in other magazines so I knew it'd work well.
My preliminary contents page looked very plain which is why in my coursework I included more colour and images of other artists to make it more interesting, I also had 5 sections full of content so there is plenty of interesting things to hook my audience.  
I now know how to use the different layers on photo shop which allowed me to move everything around and change my layout whereas before I was making the mistake of putting things on the same layers and then having the problem where I couldn't move one thing without everything else moving too.

I didn't make a double page spread for my preliminary task but I still learnt a lot about the layout of the spread from researching double page spreads in other magazines. 

Overall I think that I have learnt a lot since my preliminary task, my progression using Photoshop has is the main reason my two magazines are at very different stages. 

Evaluation Task 6; What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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

Adobe Photoshop; Before producing my product I had never used Photoshop I didn't have an experience with software, everything was new too me. But I now know how to edit photos; changing the brightness, deleting colour from parts of the photo and changing the size of the image without stretching the image. I have learnt how to add text in different fonts and colours.

Cannon Nikon D3200 SLR Camera; I used this camera to take my photos for my magazine, I haven't had alot of experience with digital cameras before as im used to using my iphone. I used 2 filter lights on my first shoot and 3 on the second,from research and experimenting during my shoots I have learnt how the lighting works so that i could get the best quality images with the highest resolution. I was extremely happy with how my photos turned out. I think that my first photo shoot with just the 2 filter lights worked out better than 3. Using the 3 made the photos look to bright and made my model look very pale with my choice of clothing which was black.

Blogger; When I created my magazine I had very little experience with blogger, the only experience I had was the previous work I had done in my media studies lesson. I have learnt how to do a blog post, how to attach images on the blog post and how to make my blog look appealing to the eye. I have made my blog using the same theme colour as my magazine to keep things consistent. Blogger allowed me to present all my work together visually so that my peers and teachers could look at it whenever they wish. This also allowed my teachers to mark my work and tell me improvements but also my peers could give me feedback.

The School Computer; I have alot of experience with the school computers due to my doing ICT at both GCSE and A-level. When using photoshop I had to learn to deal with my computer crashing most lessons and loosing the work I'd done that lesson. Also various computers that I used didn't have the font I used for my logo as they weren't updated so I decided to deal with my crashing computer so that I had a larger variety of fonts.

Scribd; I had never used this site before, it was extremely helpful when I wanted to post word documents and also powerpoints. I learnt how to use upload them to blogger which made my work look professional.

Paint; I already had experience with paint but didn't use it very often,I used it alot during the constructing on my product to post pictures on my blog because paint easily allowed me to crop things and save them as photo files so they were a compatible file for blogger to work with and a suitable size.

Flickr; I hadn't ever used flickr before but it was a very helpful sight because it allowed me to upload all my photos and access them from anywhere, so i could do parts of my work at home but also my model could see the photos i had taken of her. It also allowed me to show evidence of planning. 

Twitter; I used twitter to contact my teachers to arrange to book the studio to take my photos and also ask any questions if i was unsure about anything.

Without this technology it would have been very difficult to create my magazine, even without the simplistic things like paint. Different sites helped me produce my magazine but also my blog. 

Evaluation Task 5; How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

My front cover attracts my audience in a variety of ways; The genre of music I have based my magazine on will attract my audience because its pop/dance music which is what my mainstream audience listen to on the charts shows.The artists I have included on my cover are the artists that would interest my chosen audience especially the teenage girls as they look up to them as role models.
The model I have used would attract my chosen audience again because her being a role model but also from the boys point of view, its a good looking new artist so they would be attracted to the magazine through the male gaze, her red lipstick and cheeky wink encourages the boys in the audience to look at her that way. I have used a bright turquoise colour in my masthead reflect my chosen music genre because the music is happy upbeat music and this colour used is a happy bright colour so could connote that the music is also happy.

Again the bright colour is used throughout the contents page attracting my chosen audience.
The actual content of my contents page would attract my the audience I am targeting especially because of the interact section; my audience in particular are young so are interested in social media so being able to be interact with the magazine via instagram and also competing in competition i have done this to address my chosen audience.
The music articles that are featured in my magazine are things like; In tune charts, single of the month, album of the month etc. this will attract my chosen audience because its the genre of music that they're interested in which will encourage them to buy my magazine. All the models in my magazine are wearing very simplistic outfits, because of the my theme colours I didn't want the outfits to clash with the turquoise. The outfits included in my magazine may attract my audience because it relates to them. 

The article I included on my double page spread was an interview this would attract my chosen audience because they get an insight of the artist as the artist is answering the questions. The image I have used attracts the audience because its an interesting photo shes again looking cheeky like the front cover. Its may also make my audience want to read the article to see what the artist is like as a person. The language that I have used is informal because its a unstructured interview, the artist and the interviewer are both relaxed having a conversation. This informal language would attract my audience because it relates to them. My double page spread doesn't use any pull quotes because I couldn't find anything from the interview that sounded good as a quote, nothing stood out to me.

Overall I think that my magazine attracts my chosen audience. 

Evaluation Task 4; Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience of your media product?
The audience I have chosen to aim my magazine at is teenagers in particular the mainstream group, this includes subcultures like; blingers, chavs, fan girls and townies. I choose this audience because the genre of music I decided to base my magazine on fits the audience perfectly. The genre of music i choose is chart music which includes a lot of pop/dance music, this music appeals to many subcultures. I included big artist names like; Rihanna, Rita Ora, Katy Perry Etc. on the front cover of my magazine because these artists are the sort to sing my favored genre of music so my front cover appeals to my chosen audience.
I chose to price my magazine at £2.99 because the audience is teenagers they won't have loads of money to splash out on magazines, So £2.99 is a reasonable price considering the audience.
The majority of my audience will be into the same sort of fashions, depending on their subculture. Many of my audience including me fit into various subcultures not just the one, this was the main reason for designing my magazine the way that I have because I relate to the mainstream culture and genre of music. They would read magazines like billboard which is one of the few magazines that feature my chosen genre.
The audience my magazine is aimed at are most likely to listen to shows like; Official charts and top 40 etc, go to festivals like T4 on the beach and Glastonbury, go to the popular clubs in their town where the music is all upbeat and up to date where they can all dance and sing along together because everybody knows the type of music that's played there. The audience can also be involved in the magazine by sending photos in, participating in competitions and through social media in my magazines case Instagram.

Georgia Taylor the teenage girl I used for my model is a prime example of the audience I have aimed my magazine at which is why she was the perfect model for me. She listens the charts music on her Iphone and on the music channels on the TV, she fits in to the various subcultures as she can be a very girly girl but other days can wear a completely different outfit that's more chavy and chilled out. She's currently doing her a-levels so constantly has her headphones in listening to the music that cheers her up an blocks the world out. She would be likely to buy my magazine mainly because of the genre of music and the artist involved but also because of the type of articles featured in the magazine. Interviews with the artists and top festivals are likely to attract her. Georgia is addicted to her Iphone so her being able to interact with the magazine via instagram would make her want to buy the magazine. 

Evaluation Task 3; What kind of media institution might distribute yourmedia product and why?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I originally chose VICE as an institution that could distribute my magazine but this institution didn't look like it had done much work with many magazines that fit my music genre or my target audience. I-D was the only relevant magazine but even so it didn't include any music artists that related to mine so the insititution didn't match the magazine I created whereas IPC is alot more relevant and reflects my magazine from many aspects which is why I chose to go ahead and research this institution.

IPC is a British publishing company who publish 3 magazine divisions that focus on a core audience; mass market for women, upmarket women and the market for men. The Company won an award for 'Best production team of the year' at the professional publishers association production and environment awards 2012.
IPC media is the institution I think would distribute my magazine because the magazines they produce are mainly aimed at women, and alot of the artists involved in my genre of music choice are women. 
Also alot of the magazines they publish are womens gossip magazines and the article I created included a interview which is the type of articles that would be included in the womens magazines. Girls look at the artists in my genre and look up to them as icons, which is why I decided to use a female model to attract young girls, but also through the male gaze the model i choose also attracts the boys. So I think that IPC would work well with the magazine I created. Additionally my magazine would be produced monthly, IPC would be highly capable of distributing my magazine and would also help it to expand and develop I know this because other magazines distributed by this institution have been publish across over 30 different countries in various languages.
My music genre is chart music which is mainly pop/dance music, as there isn't many magazines fitting this genre around there is a niche in the market for my magazine, because the genre is popular the magazine is likely to be popular because my target audience will want to buy the magazine because there are not many others of the sort so it will stand out to my audience.
My magazine would most likely be funded by a loan from the bank because its a small operation, I could also have investors or shareholders if I wanted my magazine to be a larger publication.
I think IPC will work well distributing my magazine because my music genre is pop/dance which is chart music which is very popular with various audience types which is why my target audience is mainstream. As IPC works with various magazines so they have experiences distributing the magazines to different audiences and have clearly done well as they distribute over 60 media brands.

Evaluation Task 2; How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group I picked was mainstream which is made up of a variety of subcultures including blingers, chavs, fan girls and townies. The majority of the group will be girls, boys are a minority in the group, they are all from the ages of about 16 to 21.

This is the image that I decided to use for my front cover, I think that it represents the social group that i choose because she's not being serious in the photo shes having fun and being cheeky winking which is how the social group would act.
 These subcultures are all the younger generation they would be in their teenage years, which is why the image represents this particular social group because the model is in her teens. 
There are various artists that sing my genre music that match this particular social group, they play up to the image. These examples below show various artists that pose and act like my model has, having fun and being cheeky reflecting my chosen music genre and social group.  

This image of Rita Ora represents the social group that I have chosen as my photo of my model does.
Both images are not at all serious, they are both messing around looking happy young girls. Which represents my mainstream social group because that type of group is made up of happy teenagers. Both my model and Rita have curly high volume hair. 
A big difference in these two image is the costume, my model is in a very simple black outfit with a bright red lipstick that stands out, whereas Rita Ora has a blue denim theme going on in her outfit as well as the backdrop in her shoot being a blue colour. The outfits they both are wearing are very different in colour but no so different in style as they both have collared jackets on. On other photo I took of my artist she was also holding her collar as Rita Ora is but with my colour theme of my magazine and the layout the image didn't work as well as i expect which is why I chose this image rather than any other.
The theme colour that I decided to use was turquoise with black and grey text, the turquoise is a bright colour which again could connote this happy music genre. 

The article that was featured in my magazine represents my audience because its informal language due to it being an unstructured interview. This is the language my audience would use when with their mates listening to my chosen genre of music. 

I think I have represented my audience in a highly stereotypical way which is neither positive or negative. It's just how the majority of the social group are.

Evaluation Task 1; In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

When I was designing my magazine I looked at magazines that included artists from the charts, pop/dance music, Billboard was the magazine that related to my music the most because of the artists that were featured. Artists like Rihanna, M.I.A and Beyonce a lot that are included in my playlist on my blog.

I looked at Spin's magazine mast head and made mine similar because I liked the idea of it being in the top left of the cover instead of cover the whole top third of the page.
Esquires issue to the right I really liked and decided to use the colour theme because i think each colour worked really well together. I also had my artist wearing an all black outfit as the model in the Esquire magazine so that it went with the colour scheme. The colour theme that I chose is very different to the typical magazine which is why it was a challenge for me to try and make it look right. I think the fonts that I decided to use made my magazine look less realistic because they were just plain simple fonts that didn't really have anything special about each font. 



I looked at various double page spreads and the ones that jumped out at me where the ones that had the image on the whole left of the page and the article on the opposing page. I was inspired by flavour's double page spread therefore I had a mid body shot of my artist on the left page as this double page on the right. I like this layout because its simple but I think its really effective because the eyes are instantly drawn to the image on the artist. I used a page number at the bottom of the page to make it look more like a magazine. I used the grid lines on Photoshop to check that the image took up exactly one page of the double page spread to make look more like a magazine. 




This is another example of the image being on the left page, but I also developed the article. I liked the idea of an interview instead of just talking about the artist, it gives the reader a sense of reality because the words would be from the artist. To make my magazine look more realistic i included my logo on the double page spread like this example has. I did i drop cap letter at the start of my article to make it look more like a magazine as its popular in many magazines. 

The layout of the right hand side of this double page I used to develop because i liked the idea of the coloured blocks to cut each section up so i decided to use the blocks and work it with my colour theme. I also like how the images are all up the right side of the page so I used that idea but put black bordered round each of my three images. Additionally the majority of the images in this example are mid shots which I used in my contents page, on each of the photos there are different coloured circles. I used this idea but changed it to my colour theme, i didn't use as many as this example has because my contents page already included plenty of my main colour turquoise as the coloured block the content sections.

The iconography in my magazine matches the genre of music my magazine is based on, the model I have used has big bouncy curly hair which reflects the bouncy upbeat genre of music. Also my model "Taylor" is never pulling a serious face, she always looks like shes happy and having fun which could connote that the music a happier tone of music that others and people have fun while listening to them. Which can be true because the charts music is aimed at a the teenage audience, who would be listening to this music with their friends having a good time.

I used the regular magazine conventions by including a bar code, issue number, month of issue and price which are essential things to make it look like a magazine. These essentials went in the top right of my cover page when usually then go somewhere in the bottom third of the page, but after a play around I chose to go for the top third of the page because of the image that I decided to use it didn't look right having the bar code, price, issue number and month at the bottom.

Overall the magazine I created doesn't follow all the regular conventions of a mainstream magazine, I have tried to challenge the odd regular convention but the majority of my work is using and developing parts of various magazines. 

Working on Improvements Screenshots

Coursework

Photoshoot 2