Evaluation: Question 7

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

From looking back at my school magazine and music magazine I find that I have learnt so much from knowing about the magazine industry to learning new programs that would help me create my magazine. My school magazine was extremely unprofessional and badly made compared to my music magazine, which looks alot more professional.

On the right is my music magazine and on the left is my school magazine.

From the two covers I can see the real difference between them and how the music magazine seems more professional. I find that alot more research went in to my music magazine, this could be the reason why it has come out so successful. Also when I created my school magazine I was not as familiar with the programs that I used (Indesign etc) and when making my music magazine I was able to use Photoshop which I was very familiar to using. I have learn`t different terms and conventions magazines use (i.e strapline, mast head, skyline etc and the conventions such as; The columns, the 'Z' rule etc.). The mast head and border on the school magazine seem quite unprofessional on the cover now, I think this is because it blends in with the background making it hard to see also it looks like it has just been 'slapped' on without any thought to how it would look. I also found out that the Mise en scene of photos are extremely important because the audience need to just be able to glance at the cover and know exactly what the genre or type of magazine is, e.g. If the audience were to look at the cover of my music magazine they would know that it is a music magazine they would think it has something to do with electronic music.

When making the contents and looking back at my school one, I have realized by doing a little bit of research you can turn something that's not worth looking at to something that could potentially be in a magazine. When doing my school magazine I didn't plan where anything would go, it was just a guess, unlike my music magazine where I planned where everything would go, thought of the colours, added pictures and overall made it look professional.

Throughout all of this I also learnt that creating a magazine isn't just slap a few pictures on a page and add text to it, The planning and research, doing photoshoots and thinking of ideas that go in to it are on such a large scale although the many people who read magazines on a daily bases don`t even think about this for a second. 

I never thought about where everything should be placed on a magazine as you can see on my school magazine, also how different colours on different backgrounds cant blend or it will cause problems for when the reader reads the magazine. All these different things I never thought about once but now I can see the effort that is put into making a magazine.

This made me think about how the layout affects what audience is attracted to the magazine and how planning a magazine is really important for creating a successful magazine. It helped me to see where the best places were for text and photos to be placed on the cover, contents and double page spread.

The photoshoots where completely different as well, for my media photoshoot I took over one hundred images just to make sure I had the right photo and this is what I would take when doing a photoshoot for my photography class whereas in my school on I only took around four images. I found that this has also benefited me in photography also that I need to take more photos so I can see which one is perfect for each page.

Throughout creating this magazine I have learnt so much and found out more about the magazine industry. I enjoyed the making and research of my magazine, when designing I felt that I was in my comfort zone and I could easily get through it without any difficulties. I felt that my magazine turned out great.

Evaluation: Question 6

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

When creating my magazine I used a variety of different programs. These programs where Photoshop (I used this to create all of my magazine), Blogger (I used to post and keep an organised page of what I went through to create my magazine), Prezi (to present some things on my blog) and I used word (to type everything up to make sure it was all spelled correctly).

Blogger was a program I didn't know about, so when using it I found it hard at the start to create posts i.e. place pictures in posts and position everything correctly. But now I have learnt to place photos, links, clip and encrypt (Prezi) different things into Blogger. Also I have learnt how to use my own themes for my blogger page.

Photoshop was the main program I used throughout the making of my magazine. I used it because I already know how to use it and the skills I learnt from before helped me produce my magazine very greatly because it let me use image effects, place font's where I need them, edit the fonts so they match my colour scheme, blend images and background and also create the right page sizes for my pages. Also it let me save my work as high resolution photos which make it easier for everyone to see when I post them on my blog.

I didn't use ID (InDesign) due to the fact that I didn't like how the program worked, I know it was a primary program industries use to make magazine but I feel Photoshop submitted this program greatly.

Evaluation: Question 5

Question: How did you attract/ address your target audience?

Evaluation: Question 4

Question:Who would be the audience for you Media product?

On your left is Ashley Barker and on your right is Samuel Foster

Ashley Barker: She is 17 years old and lives in Orpington. Her choice of clothing is often a shirt (burgundy) a baggy jumper, leggings (colours varied)  and a skirt. Her jumpers can have a variety of different patterns on them i.e. Aztec or she will go for vintage styled clothing such as dresses, hats, shoes etc. On her left ear she has two piercings and also has a belly piercing. She doesn't like to shop in high street stores, so when looking for clothes she will go to markets i.e Camden market or will go charity shopping. She won't listen to any top 40 hits, she will normally use her i-pod to listen the music she wants to listen to. Her favourite producer is Zedd and has seen him live three times.

Samuel Foster: He is 21 years old and lives in Bromley. His choice of clothing is often a shirt (checkered), skinny jeans (colours varied) and he will normally wear a beany when going out. On both his ears he has two tunnelled piercings and has a tattoo across his chest. Like Ashley he doesn't like to shop in high street stores, so when looking for clothes she will go to markets i.e Camden market or will go charity shopping. Also won't listen to any top 40 hits, he will normally use her i-pod to listen the music she wants to listen to. Her favourite producer is Feed Me and has seen him at concerts and festivals many times.

I feel that my magazine would appeal would appeal to someone like Ashley and Sam as they both enjoy the EDM and their style is different to other people, so like my character (Slender) they can stand out against a crowd.

Evaluation: Question 3

Question 3: What kind of media institution may distribute your magazine and why?

Evaluation: Question 2

Question: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The photograph on the left is a picture of one the most popular EDM producers deadmau5 and to the right is a photograph of my character Slender.

I find that these two 'characters' are similar, even though deadmau5 has alot more colour in the character he created. deadmau5 is an iconic EDM producer who started the trend of creating an identity that no one would think of. I have taken this idea and created an identity that no one will know who he is but yet enjoy the music he produces. Having done this makes my audience more attracted to my character because they want to know who he is and why he hides his face, so they will 'follow' him and spread him about amongst friends and via social websites i.e Facebook.

My model has a mysterious yet blunt character to him, with his face hidden and no facial expressions shown his fans can never tell how he reacts to everything i.e. when performing you wont be able to see if he is enjoying it or not. But being like this is something different which will attract more people towards him. Also you will never be able to tell his attitude towards anything unless you meet him in person, so he has a 'plain' attitude towards everything.

Both models are dressed in the same sort of thing, smart but mysterious clothing.  deadmau5 is a more colourful, cheerful character with his mask mimicking a cartoon mouse and giving him a big grin. Whilst my model also has a mask, it has no facial expressions to it, only shows the outline of his face which can also be quite fearful to some people.

We have also both used a white background within our photographs, I used a white backdrop so that my model was the main focus and stood out and to hide his face even more. If I used a black backdrop his body would have blended in more than I would have liked and showed his face more. Unlike in deadmau5's one, his face is shown more greatly against the white backdrop.

I feel that the artist and photos I compared share the same audience. Both aiming at different/mysterious social group, ones who like something different in music.

Evaluation: Question 1

Question: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products (i.e. Of Music magazines)?

This shows my title, people, props, written content, location, layout and extras.

Title: When making my magazine Title had to link it with the colour scheme I was using and also come up with a good name for it. My inspiration for my title came from one of my favorite song 'Spectrum' by Zedd. I felt that the title wasn't out of place when placing it on my front cover; it didn't take up to much of the front cover and didn't take away attention from the front photo. Like most conventions of a magazine I have placed my title at the top just under the skyline so that it can catch my target audiences eye with the colours then they will notice the magazine and hopefully pick it up. I have also placed the issue no, the music genre and date underneath it. A typical magazine normally has this down beside the barcode along with the price however I decided that it would look better placed at the top. Doing this would allow the customers/audience to find out what issue number it is quickly due to the masthead being one of the first things they will see. I found that my title went well with my genre of magazine due to the font being modern and the colour scheme fitting well with my main theme of electronic music, space etc.

People: I used two different models within my photos. I used my friend Micheal to pose as my main artist, Slender. Then for my second artist Aviators I used my friend Lilly. I used these people because I felt that they were styled to my genre of music (accept for Micheal, I had to dress him up to make the character of Slender), making it easier for the audience to believe this is a real magazine and helping to make it look more professional.

Props:

As my magazine follows the genre of EDM, I had to get clothing and props that would suit this certain genre. I had to research magazines and people who were in my genre and I then started to make decisions on what my models would look like. When doing my photoshoots I used different outfits for my different artists. My main artist Slender followed an urban legend so I had to create an outfit similar to that, so I had my model wear a suit and a morph mask which would hide his face and create the illusion of him being Slender. Then for my other artist I made her where 'indie/modern' clothing because from my research that's what I found EDM artist would wear. I didn't feel I had to use any props in my photoshoots i.e. musical instruments because my artists don't use them when making their music and photos of them using them wouldn't have gone so well on my magazine.

Written Content: The written content within my magazine started with the contents page. The first thing I wrote about was what was in my magazine and I told my audience a little bit about them so they knew what the page was about; in MixMag they did this so by following it in a similar style I think made my contents page more professional. Writing up the article for the double page spread was a harder thing to do but however It allowed me to be my artist and give him a background to what it is like being him. When writing this I felt that explaining everything behind him made my audience connect with him more and understand what it is like being an EDM artist.

Layout: The layout of my magazine cover, contents and double page spread were based loosely on pages from MixMag a large scale EDM magazine, this is because I wanted to create the same, professional but informal feel as they did within their magazines. I think I was successful in doing so, the mise on scene for my magazine cover is correct for my chosen genre and I feel that the way I have layed  it out can relate to my genre because it is something different.

(I did not look at any references for my front cover, I made it from scratch)

The cover is my favourite part of the magazine I created, this is because I feel that it looks like a professional magazine. Of course I could tweak it i.e. Have more on the front cover and try not to clash the colours with the background. I feel that the layout of each of my pages shows that they are all from the same magazine; e.g. I have kept to the same colour scheme and used my artists on each page.

This is my contents page for my magazine, it is similar to the MixMag contents (left) however I have used alot more of one colour within mine also I have added at the bottom another page info slot. I used the idea of having the main articles to the left and the other other just above. I found that this, not only looked but worked quite effectively because my audience can see my main articles easily. I like how my contents page has turned out because I feel it looks very proffesional and could be in a real magazine.

My layout here is quite simple and similar to how other magazines style their double page spreads. I gave the page a skyline so that the page number could easily be seen and then added the interview with Slender underneath. Although I find that the text could have been longer but I found it hard coming up with questions to ask my artist. I think next time I will had more text and maybe more colour to the double page spread so that it will look more proffesional.

Extras:

In my magazine I have created an album for my artist so that when making my magazine I was able to show that he had an album which I gave away for free in my magazine. This made it more proffesional because in every other magazine there are always a freebie. Then I took a photo of a concert I went to 'Feed Me' (shown in the bottom right hand corner of my contents page) which I could then show in my magazine and give a personal review of what it was like being there and how he performed etc.