Final Double Page Spread

Final Contents Page

Final Front Cover

Evaluation- Question Seven- Re-Submission

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

The preliminary task was to create a college/school front cover for a magazine and the audience of this was students and adults whose child/children are from the establishment or maybe planning to join the college.This preliminary task was mainly in preparation for my final product this allowed me to learn and develop my skills such my photo taking skills which become evidently better.Other techniques I have learnt and used from this experience is:  how to effectively use these; medium shots, mid shots, rule of thirds,masthead,skyline, plugs, tagline,  and other features I used. Research methods I did had allowed me to progress which were things such as this LIIAR analysis, mood boards and conventions analysis. 

(Final Product-Music magazine)

(Preliminary task-College magazine)

Comparisons of conventions of my College Magazine and Music Magazine:

How have I developed?:

I developed through my use of technique and skills which you can see clearly by creating an effective and attractive music magazine front cover. I also developed my skills in how using other tools in Photoshop. I learnt how to use the layers, and understood that it was better to duplicate the layer because without the duplication and I went wrong I would have to start my product again. This was an important lesson I learned.I developed my skills furthermore by linking social media websites together such as when I shared videos onto my blog. To continue you with my point on my development in Photoshop I have become more skilled and faster in using it. As my preliminary took weeks to develop I even started my product again because I wasn't' fully used to Photoshop as I struggled with it. This experience helped me advance my skills in Photoshop and made creating my actual final products a much more simpler task.

In the preliminary task I didn't have a clear masthead, which is more obvious and attractive in my final front cover product then in my preliminary task. I have also developed in how I placed the taglines and the overall appeal because for my first task I was less thoughtful on how I would perceive this product. I also was more aware of space in my final product as you can tell in my preliminary that my model is positioned right at the bottom of the image, where I learnt that the model needs to be center of the image for it to achieve more realism. Which I developed in skills knowing how to frame my photos more accurately to achieve the goal I want.

What would I have changed:

If I could change anything it would be perhaps my genre choice as I found that it was difficult with 'RnB' because for a long period of time I was debating on indie rather than R n B. However, I think that researching helped me with in the process of making the magazine. Another think I would change is my time management skills because of my previous drafts were not to my full potential and I felt that didn't help with the creation of my final products. I would liked to of changed my double page spread layout, I would of changed the opacity of the black background, as I feel like it ruined the product. Another thing I would of changed is the way my model looked to match the genre of my magazine more.  

Evaluation- Question Six- Re- Submission

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

Photoshop: was the main technology product that I used to edit my photos and the layout of my contents page.I did learn many things once using photoshop that I wasn't able to do before. Such as the layering and editing photos. For the front cover which I used the eraser tool mostly and edited the photo with a vibrance of -27, which is accessible by adjustments. I did this to add a darker tone to the photo because it was already quite bright. I also used the opacity tool frequently which weakened the strength of certain colours.

(Image before edit)

(Image after edit)

I decided on using a white background for my photo because I believe that it is better than my original images background which was a blue-ish white and so that I could easily edited around the image. I used the shape tool throughout my products and mainly used a rectangle box to highlight my text as well as create my contents page layout. I also used the spunge,burn and dodge tool to edited around the eyes to make them the main attraction of the photo.

For the double page spread I used publisher linking with Photoshop to create my product. As I did the text on publisher as well as a drop capital and other conventions that go are in a double page spread. I edited the image on Photoshop, I firstly erased the background of my model but I kept the imagine the way it was once I decided that it was too plain. Both tools helped me, and I learned how to import from publisher to Photoshop which I didn't know you could do before.

Other technologies: I used blogger which I posted all of my coursework to do with my music magazine on. I learnt from this how much easier it was to upload with social media and how they all incorporate with one and other. It is useful as reference back to my previous work.






I also was introduced to another website Prezi, which is sort of like power point and from this I learnt how to use it correctly and share it on my blogger. However this wasn't an app I preferred to use and place my work on as I often struggled with using it. But, I continued to use it as it added variety to my posts.

 Slide share is another technology that I have used which was very successful in helping me producing my work. It was also a useful tool for me to relate my work back to when I needed to. I found the tool a good place to hold my work and an website to use and didn't find many difficulties with it.

Microsoft was something I used frequently throughout my blog. I liked using this tool as there was a lot of functions to it I was already familiar with such as word, publisher and power point. I used all three of these tools with my bog work and what I produced with the products. Such as for a lot of my collages/moodboards I created them on the tool power point. I produced the article for the double page spread on publisher. I found this an easy tool to use and barely took any time to do.

The camera I used:

Samsung WB1100F Digital Smart Camera: Is the camera I used. I used this camera as I already previously owned the camera and had a keen interest in photography so I already knowledge in the subject of photo taking. Again I didn't have to have the problem of getting used to using a camera so it was less of a time consuming process and I could get to do doing my work quite quickly. 

Other apps/tools I used: Where things such as dafont.com which I got the font for my front cover from. I liked the fonts that it offered so I continued to use it. I also used google to research for topics I needed to (such as genre research) and save pictures for my moodboards etc. I also used the social media app facebook to share my work to others to get feedback for my products. These where all useful because I knew how to use them especially the web related tools because they were easier to use because I've had experience using them.

Evaluation- Question Five- Re-Submission

How did you attract/address your audience?

Attracting to my chosen audience is a key feature to have as after all the audience are the consumers of my product and what they want and need is ideal to focus on with my product.

What is it about my magazine that will appeal to my audience specifically?

 (Here is my model who is also wearing youth typed clothing representing again her youthfulness that I wanted to show through my ideology in the form of a still image)

 (Here is my model who is also wearing youth typed clothing representing again her youthfulness that I wanted to show through my ideology in the form of a still image. The use of the youthfulness costume allows the audience to relate to my magazine. My model also has make up on that represents the genre and my colour scheme with the red lipstick and dark eyes.However, the hair relates less to my chosen genre of magazine but represents the youth message and values of my magazine. Which I believe attracts the audience hiding away from the conventions)

• I used a young 16 year old, model to represent how she is aimed at my target audience because as I have previously mentioned it would not be relevant to have an older model on a music magazine aimed at 16-25.The audience would be less interested in my product if I did this. My ideology would not be represented through the wrong image and be less effective to getting out what I wanted to achieve to my audience.
• I also used popular RnB artists making the audience be more appealed to it, because if it was an unknown artists it would not appeal to my audience because of the lack of the ability to find my product attractive. 

• I also did conventions that would appeal to the audience such as I did a plug on the front cover to win tickets inside. This would appeal and attract my audience because concerts and gigs are a big thing to my target audience as it fits with my chosen genre. Also people will like this feature because its something that often attracts an audience to read and buy the magazine. On the contents page I mentioned online websites linking to social media which will also attract my audience.

This is a collection of images I placed together in order to be able to understand my audience so it helped me plan what I could do to attract them. Such as the picture of the party the idea was to have the  location there to take the photo's for the photo shoot (in the end I went with a studio). The photo of the people at the concert helped me decided in what content would be used in my music magazine. As I have stated these images help me attract the audience because I knew what the audience liked and didn't.

Another feature I did that created an appeal that would attract the to the audience is the fact I used taglines such as the 'exclusive' tagline that had been highlighted in red a box to show the audience that whatever it is I'm trying to advertise is important. It will also lead the audience to be more curious to my magazine and perhaps persuade them to read it more,

In my contents page, I attracted the audience by relating back to the front cover with even more information to what else is in the magazine. This is convenient for the audience because it allows them to understand the product are related, It also shows continuity which I personally wanted for my products.

To continue you with in my final product (the double page spread) I used quotes such as "I really missed my fans" that my model had said in the article and made it different to the other fonts which I wanted to show that this is more important then whatever else she has said. It's also a convention most magazine do and I wanted mine to be similar. 

Evaluation- Question Four - Re- Submission

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation- Question Three -Re- Submission

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

Above is an image of a readers profile I created. I got the images from above off  google images and the statistic from NME magazine (A magazine I followed carefully and took ideas from during the production process of making my magazine).I created this to understand my audience more.

I used this reader profile initially to help me decide what publishing site I would use to help my music magazine as well as creating something that my audience would understand in relation to them. Because my magazine is much more of a different genre to the other other brands that Bauer Media publishes is why I think my magazine would work well with their company. Such as here below there is two screenshots of brands that Bauer does, and non are my chosen genre of music meaning its ideal for my magazine:

Evaluation- Question Two- Re-Submission

How does your media product represent particular social group?

Before starting the product I created an audience profile of what my target audience would like because its important to know what your audience would like to see as the product is to be sold to them. Initially the audience has complete control of the product so their opinions matter. When discussing my media product in representing a social group in particular I decided on creating an aim for young adults and teenagers. Such as the people between the ages of 16-25. I decided on this social group because I think its most relatable to me because I fit that criteria . Which made the whole processes easier because I understand more of what young people want. I chose the genre R n B because more young people listen to it then perhaps an older audience so it would relate well. As well as social class I thought about gender  which is why I mentioned male artists on the front. I included the price on the front to which is an affordable price for my target audience. Which people would be willing to pay (which I discovered in a focus group I did). 

For my magazine a representation of how this can in fact represent a younger audience would be the fact that I used a young attractive  model and not perhaps an older model which wouldn't be ideal for my target audience. This also fits my ideology because my beliefs are represented.
I also dressed my model in simple clothing that teens and young adults would wear, fitting her into the image of someone who enjoys the genre R n B. 
                                       
 Also I personally thought that people of my target audience would be more interested in the product with the plug on my magazine 'Win concert tickets inside!'. I thought this from personal experience and because I related to my own category  I included this convention and attractive feature.

I used this social class identifier chart to help to decide the social criteria that my magazine was aimed to sell for. This helped me in deciding that the price of my magazine would be £2.99. I know what my target audience would or wouldn't be able to afford so that's a reason to why I chose such a cheap costing magazine price. The target audiences ideally those who are students (college and uni) or young adults between the Grade C2-E category and is another reason why my magazine selling price is so low in pricing. I wanted to make the price selling price more attractive to attract more audiences. Again this is my ideology being represented, showing elements of my institution. I believed that if my magazine was more cheaper their would be a larger audience and that would increase my target audience as well as the popularity of my product.

Evaluation- Question One- Re-submission

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

Evaluation

In this category you must answer the following questions:

• In what ways does your print product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real print products?
• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Audience's Feedback #1

Josh Shaw:

Strengths:

The layout
The colour scheme
Focuses a lot on what Megan is saying

Weakness:
Whiteness
Continuity in contents page

Audience's Feedback #2

Abigail Anderson

Strengths:
Layout
Colour scheme

Weakness:
More work on the double page spread/
Punctuation

Photoshop Stages Of Front Cover