Evaluation Question seven

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:31:00

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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?
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From the Preliminary task, I have learnt how to use professional technologies like Photoshop and InDesign to create professional media products. I have also learnt that the audience is the main propeller when designing/creating a magazine- everything depends on the audience and the genre of the magazine. For the Preliminary task, I did not carry out as much research as I did for the main task. For instance, I analysed magazines such as Kerrang MAGAZINE and NME to scrutinise their use of conventions for their specified genre.
media magazine cwrk\Textual analysis-
I planned out the layout, structure and images of my final magazine because I wanted to achieve a higher grade that I did in the Preliminary task. I practised with layouts and titles for the front page so when I was ready to create them finally on Photoshop, I at least had a plan and the knowledge of how my final page was going to look. My further research consisted of me evaluating other magazines, taking notice of their use of; fonts, house-style, colour scheme, image sizes… The research was extremely helpful as I was able to refer to other magazines for ideas on subject choices, images and colour scheme. I also noticed a clear disparity between my Preliminary magazine and my Music magazine- none of the images utilised in my Preliminary magazine were edited in any way, except for the one used

for the front cover which was only cropped and converted to emphasise some colour, whereas all the images in my Music magazine were manipulated i.e. embossed, lighting effects…Although I felt I had made quite a large improvement from the Preliminary task, I also feel that I could have improved some aspects of my real Music magazine. For instance, I feel I could have included more on the front page e.g. promotions… However, I believe the overall product was quite successful when relating to the genre and target audience.

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Clearly displayed above are images of my preliminary task (school magazine) and my actual music magazine. Just by looking at the two images you can see the development that has taken place in between the two finished products. Over that time period I have learned new skills on the software Photoshop in which has enabled the quality of my final music magazine to surpass my preliminary. Comparing the two most people would clearly recognize the music magazine as a genuine magazine, whereas the school magazine does not look like a conventional front cover. I believe the colour scheme used in the music magazine is one of several aspects, which enables it to look more realistic. By sticking with the colours of black, red and white helps the cover look more stylistic. It also helps that these colours actually feature on Isabella’s clothing. The preliminary task however does not stick to a constant colour scheme, using many colours.

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As you can see, there is a massive difference between the quality of my preliminary contents page and my main contents page. The school content looks very plain and bare, whilst the music contents contains many more elements/layers.
The photo on the school contents is not edited at all. It is very minuscule and doesn’t leave any lasting impression on the viewer. there are very few cover lines which look as if they have been chucked on at random. The background is a blank colour which dominates the page, which it should not.
The progression from prelim to the actual task for my contents page is huge. There is little left over space and a lot more text to show what is in the magazine. The image has been made much bigger with the text worked around her to give the overall page a more appreciated quality.

WHAT I HAVE LEARN'T!!!

Throughout this course I have developed my understanding and ability of photphop. I have learn't techniques and how to use tools such as the spot healing tool, Cropping, Rendering to create artificial lighting, Adjusting contrast/brightness, Adjusting colour and saturation levels, Magnetic lasso tool and many others.

By learning these skills I have been able to create the 3 asked criteria's of my music magazine to quite a high standard. The skills I have learn't on photoshop has enabled me to adapt the quality of my finished products (comparing the preliminary and final task), giving my music magazine a more professional finish, worthy of submission for my A- level coursework.



Evaluation Question six

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:31:00

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What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
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Technology was the main process of creating my magazine.

I had to use Photoshop to create the layout, structure and input the text into the magazine. I also had to use Photoshop for image manipulation and editing the images. I had never used this program before so had to learn all the basics before i could start production. I found using photoshop very useful because it has a lot of functions that allows you to manipulate and edit photos to a high standard. I also allows you to add features, for example i embossed my title, whereas other programs do not have these additional features. Using photo shop gives my product a more professional look because i was able to use these features to make it look like any other professionally made magazine.
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 I also used this interactive blog to register my progress and explain how far I was getting on with the creation on my magazine. Additionally, the blog allowed me manage my time as it allowed me to see what needed to be completed and any rooms for improvement.
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To take the pictures for my magazine I used a digital camera. I used this because it would give me a good quality picture that can easily be transfered onto the computer. I learnt a lot when taking my pictures, for example I learnt about all the different kind of shots you can have (close-up, medium-shop and a long-shot) and about balancing and editing images. I took a lot of different photos to ensure that I had a lot to chose from when it came to putting them in my magazine.
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For most of my pictures I used a white backdrop to provide a plain background so my pictures could be easily edited. I believe that this also makes the pictures look more professional and would make the magazine also look more professional. I learnt how to use this and the lighting to take good pictures. When using the backdrop to take pictures I also had studio lights set up. These were to enhance the quality of my pictures. I learnt how to use lighting in pictures and how to edit it on the Photoshop. I had never worked with lights or a backdrop before so i found it interesting and a lot of fun taking the pictures for my magazine.
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To be honest, I think I improved a great deal from the Preliminary task, especially with the use of technology. During the Preliminary task, I really did not know how to manipulate photos on Photoshop and was quite complicated to use. However, after much practice and self-teaching, I began to test out various commands and edited all of my images, masthead, and main coverlines featured in my magazine.

I also used a website called dafont.com, which is a website that allows me to download fonts onto the computer for me to use in Photoshop.

Evaluation Question four

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:30:00

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Who would be the audience for your media product?
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The target audience of my magazine are males and females aged 16-25. I wanted a unisex audience as I featured both male and female dominated articles on my contents page such as subjects on the rebel.1 male group as well as the interview with Isabella Vaile. Also, the colour scheme and layout of the magazine was quite unisex, not being overloaded with colours which you would categorise with a single sex. The audience for my has no specified genre, however this addition of 'Ascent' has greater emphasis on the indie style, interested in live music, gigs, and fashion.
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The basic answer is indie (or independent) music is music that is released on smaller labels that operate independently from the mainstream music business. But more often "indie" refers to a specific genre of contemporary music that is based on combining aesthetics of classic rock, punk, garage and art rock. I first heard the term indie rock starting to get used in the late 80s to early 90s to describe the music that was popular on college radio stations at the time. This style of music has become more diverse, both in style and popularity.
I listen to quite alot of music you would associte with indie so I believe I can relate to this target audience through the conventions of my magazine.
This audience are well known for their association with the music industry, Their dress style is eccentric; normally focused on urban colours accompanied with another bright colour. Their clothing normally looks quite smart but noticeable, wearing skinny jeans and a lively top with a cardigan and an individual hairstyle. They would shop at high street brands such as Topshop/Topman, Urban Outfitters, Zara etc. and also maybe charity, retro, vintage shops.
To relate to the audience I tried to challenge many normal conventions that you would see on normal magazines. For example I scattered the cover lines instead of having them neat and tidy.
As I specified before, my magazine did not just have one genre of audience. This is expressed through the other artists mentioned in the contents and on the front cover ie: Eminem- rap/ hip-hop.

Above are some images of bands and artists that an 'indie person' may listen to.

I believe those who like recent music and are in my target age bracket would by my magazine as I have made sure that the tone of address in the magazine is appropriate (it isn't too formal and uses a more chatty tone). I have also made sure that everything about the magazine is suitable for both genders; the colour scheme is fairly neutral and I have constructed my photos so that they appeal to both men and women. Appreciating the the clothes and music she represents.

By using the website UK TRIBES I was able to get a clear idea of what my target audience was in order to ensure my magazine related to this genre as much as possible.

Evaluation Question three

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:30:00

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What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
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The distribution of my magazine is totally based on the genre and as my magazine has no specified genre, there is really a broad market that will be content in distributing my magazine. I believe, however if I was to characterise my magazine it would most likely be listed under the indie genre, being materialistic as well as misogynistic. My magazine promotes a sense of fun, and passion towards music therefore, I feel that institutions like urban music channels e.g. MTV and Channel U, music stores e.g. Zavvi, HMV, newsagents and urban clothes stores will be contented to distribute my magazine. I would make sure that my magazine got sold in shops nearer colleges and work places, therefore being able to reach my target audience without them going out of there way to search for it. I would imagine my media product being part of one of the big publishing houses as depicted in the image above.

Out of media institutions I would choose Bauer consumer media to distribute my magazine. Bauer consumer media produce such successful music magazines as mojo, Q and Kerrang. This proves Bauer is a quality media consumer. Another example of this is its wide range of publishing rights in 15 countries, therefore showing that my magazine would be read all over the world. As well as this, Bauer manages an average circulation of 38 million magazines a week, showing that they are in high demand and emphasising their skill in the field of magazine publishing.


Kerrang was one of the main magazines I took inspiration from when designing 'Asent' magazine, whilst I did take aspects from Q magazine. Kerrang and my magazine are very similar in appearance, price and distribution. Both magazines dont have a specified target audience and cover a wide variety of music genre.

In reference to Kerrang! magazine, Bauer Consumer Media state that their audience is 'musically experienced' which is closely linked to my own magazine, as it is focused on the same musically interested audience.Finally, the cost of Kerramg magazine is £2.30 and issue which is a reasonable price for young adults, allowing for a younger audience to afford to buy each issue. Although my own price is £3.50, it is still affordable to a young audience.

Evaluation Question five

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:30:00

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How did you attract/address your audience?
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Based on the ideal buyer I discussed about in question 4 I attracted and addressed my audience through my familiar colour scheme and the use of my vivid images. As all of my Mastheads were in bold red font, with a thick alignment of white around it- immediately attracted the readers’ attention. Also, my structure was clear and the text was comprehendible as I spaced my text out on the page and used a black outlining around all text so the coverlines can easily be ditinguished. The font '28 days later' was used for my main masthead and some coverlines. The fonts 'Impact' and Edwardian script' were also used in sections of the work. I got the font '28 days later' from a useful website named 'dafont' which provides users with a variety of texts.


I also think that my contents page was clear when navigating the audience throughout the magazine. In addition, I made sure that my images (especially my front cover image) were bright and eye-capturing so when people so the magazine, they would be enticed to read it from its appearance. Furthermore, the expression on the artist on the front page face creates a sense of uncompromisation and a sense of intamacy to draw the readers attention. All of these coventions are present in all three aspects I created fro my magazine (front cover, contents and double page spread).

All three main images I used came from the same photo shoot with Isabella wearing the same clothes. Each pose differs enabling the audience to gain different perspectives and emotions from the images.


(talk about interview)

Evaluation Question two

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:29:00

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How does your media product represent particular social groups?
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Social Groups
o I intended to make my magazine aimed at the younger audience members, i.e. Teenagers. This can be reflected in the price of the magazine, at £3.50 per issue as it is affordable.
o The main artist of this issue is probably leaning more towards the indie genre, however I did not specify in the magazine that it was a specifically indie magazine.
o Teenagers are often represented badly so I decided to show that they are not all badly behaved. Her clothes represent her social group, and the interview shows that they can be individuals. The article is also inspiring as it describes what she had to achieve and decisions she has had to make.
The social groups represented in my magazine are a range of social groups, because my magazine has an average age range from around 16-25, there are social groups such as college students, young workers and university students. I think my magazine represents these types of people as it is not a childish magazine, it has appropriate colours, with an essence of sophistication. The images I have used were taken and developed numerous times to achieve a professional looking final product, I planned them in a way that they looked certified then edited them to make them look more realistic. My images also have good connotations as I used mostly that age range model in my pictures so my social groups are able to look at these images and relate them to theirselves.
You could say there is alot of difference between how my magazine represents this form of of overall music genre, and how other magazines such as NME and kerrang will represent this, compared to these magazines mine is quite suttle in a way that there are very is no individual components that make the magazine lean towards one type of music genre.
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Above is a montage of my images and those from professional photo shoots which I gained inspiration for my final magazine product.

Both models have a direct eyesight towards the audience, engaging them with quite unreadable expressions with maybe an essence of intrigue. They are both blank faces, making the models look mysterious. it also adds to the sophistication look which represents the artists superiority from the audience. The size and positioning of the models are also similar to each other. Both of them show about 3/4 of the model cutting the legs off both images. Their head covers part of the masthead. This allows the picture to dominate the cover adding to the feel of dominance and superiority.

A slight difference between the two images are the postures of Isabella and Lily Allen Lily's image is more stately and seductive in her posture, her right and left arms are grasping her waste; this draws the audiences eyes and interest to what she is doing. On the other hand, I wanted to engage Isabella with the reader more. I positioned her to be leaning forward, as if looking down on the reader, expressing her dominance. The is a subtle expression as I also had her put her hands in her pocket, acting cool and unconcerned.

Another difference between the two images are that thr Lily Allen image uses low-key lighting, spotlighting the upper body. This helps to high light the most important feature of the image (facial expression). Again, this shows no particular emotions and adds the conventional plain look. The use of lighting for the image of Isabella suggests a large amount of natural lighting. This effect was achieved by using a blank white canvas as a backdrop to give the image that studio effect.


This basic comparison above is the one I used to construct my album cover. I used the image of Lily Allen wearing a mask as inspiration.I wanted my album cover to give a mysterious, seductive look which I feel the hidden identity and wide eyed look provides.

Evaluation Question one

Posted by Thomas Knapp | Posted in | Posted on 10:28:00

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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
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Magazine Evaluation
In this evaluation, I will be discussing my brief and what I aimed to achieve from my magazine. Also I will be talking about my audience, the forms and conventions and the media industry as a whole. Finally I will evaluate my progress and conclude whether I believe I have been successful in completing the given task.
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My Brief
I aimed to design and create a music magazine that would be both exciting and informative. I chose to focus on the alternative genre as that is my preference in music magazines as I read ones such as Kerrang! and NME, I took my inspiration from these.

o I chose this genre as I believed that I would be able to relate to it the most and I was most comfortable with the style of the writing and the layout.

o For my research purposes, I browsed the websites of Kerrang! and NME and also bought a copy of Kerrang! so I could establish the ratio of writing to images and how much slang was used. My research helped me to decide how relaxed to be with the language, how many images I should use and what sort of fonts would be appropriate.
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My preliminary task was to design the front page and contents of a new school magazine, and to do this I needed to look at actual school magazines to see what the forms and conventions of them were.
Looking at this school magazine's front cover, I notice that they have included their school logo in the top right hand corner to give the magazine its identity if the masthead is not actually the name of the school, like mine isn't.
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The background of the Newmans magazine is entirely taken up by the montage of photos. In my image of the front cover, clearly displayed is a student hold a pool cue. I chose this image as it is supporting the coverline '6th form boys test out the new facilities' I also incorporated the school logo in the top right hand corner to give the magazine its identity..
My magazines front cover was designed following the conventions I had researched, to be able to compete with successful magazines on the market.
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Overview of magazine conventions
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Forms and Conventions
so I believe that my magazine follows the conventions of a music magazine, as I used fonts I thought would make my magazine have a modern feel to it, which is what most magazines aim to achieve. The Kerrang! music covers, contents and articles I looked at had a fair amount of images, and therefore I tried to mirror this convention in my final piece.

o I challenged the forms and conventions of the magazines in my genre by making my text a lot more futuristic, whereas the font of Kerrang! for example, is a lot more scattered and distressed, which reflects the genre of the magazine, however I aimed to create a timeless effect with my font choice.
o On my front cover, I included one primary image and one secondary image. On my contents page I included 3 images, which fulfills the conventions of music magazines. I decided to position my mast head across the top, as this followed the conventions.

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Masthead- Mise en Scene The title of my magazine is ‘Ascent’, I used Kerrang as inspiration as it had a direct connotation to a rustic feel which I believe would work well on my own magazine.. I chose the name ‘Ascent’ as it creates a sense of superiority and privilege. I also combined wings to the ‘A’ to give the impression that this magazine can take you places, superior to its competitors. My magazines masthead typography is bold and distorted; I have challenged and developed that convention in making mine like this instead of smooth and sophisticated, I believe this gives my magazine a unique style that will distinguish its appearance from other dominant magazines. The rustic look follows in the footsteps of the magazine 'Kerrang', with its worn effect, and has taken damage.

The colours used by my masthead are conventional; I have used a block colour of red and reinforced its borders with a white outline.I havent seen this style used conventionally throughout my research and I believe that in using it myself I have challenged the codes and conventions set by successful magazines. The positioning of my masthead follows conventions set by real media products. I have made my masthead fill the entire top of the page. With a few exceptions. I have also included my slogun on the masthead. the phrase 'witness the evolution' helps support and emphasise the domination and superiority of the magazine amongst others.






Cover lines- Mise en Scene My front pages cover lines use and develop form and conventions set by real media products. By convention, In Kerrang and NME cover lines are a jumble of colour, font and size. I have taken this into account and used the idea when creating my own cover lines. I decided I wanted to stick to the theme of only using red black and white in my cover lines. My largest cover line situated in the bottom right of the cover underneath the main image so the reader can familiarise the character with the storyline. I have used the convention of mixing fonts to create a more professional look to my cover. The majority of my cover lines are in the fonts ‘impact’, ’28 days later’ and ‘Edwardian script’; fonts that I believe to be different to fonts I have seen in real media cover lines.

The variation in size in my cover lines is another convention I have researched and used. I have, like on many professional covers, used a variation and mix of size for individual words in my cover lines. The more important words are larger, to make them more eye catching. In coalition with the size differences, I have also used colour to help place emphasis of particular words. The cover lines are scattered all around the image to make the front cover look untidy, which I was aiming for as this theme is different from the other magazines, helping ‘Ascent’ stand out.


Layout and Colour- Mise en Scene I have used a colour theme in my magazine. Conventionally, nearly all magazine covers use their own individual theme. I have used red in my magazine, as it seems to be a common form used by many real products.For my magazines background I have used a black, gray and white gradient. This is something I have seen many real products do to give their covers a more professional and appealing look. In designing my main layout for my magazine, I used researched conventions to help me. I placed the picture in the middle, surrounded it with cover lines and placed the masthead over the full width of the page at the top, with a skyline above it. The skyline was present in every magazine issue I researched, which displayed relevant music information to the issue or headings that promoted the magazine. I liked this idea a lot and used this for my own product, a similar layout form being used the NME issue below.

The use of a central character was a main finding in my research, as it offered the base of the magazine, allowing other aspects to be created around it. I therefore used this, but changed it to suit the pose of my own character and to help my magazine look authentic. Another point was the layout of the main cover line, which I placed in the bottom right corner below the image . This allowed an emphasis to be on the face of the main character but kept the heading central and bold. This was by far the largest cover line and including the image was what I worked around when constructing the other headings for my magazine,



The Image- Mise en Scene The people of a magazine are extremely important to create an interesting feature in the media product. I on the appearance and pose of Lily Allen from NME. My picture uses, develops and challenges conventional pictures in music magazines.The Picture its self has followed conventions set by real products. I have used a young female model. Large, bold fonts are used to introduce the character to the audience, making them the centre of attention. Also, the font and colour had to reflect the personality of each character. From the addition of NME the black and white used in the main cover line look as if they have been taken from Lily Allen's black hair and pale face. On my magazine I focused on taken the red and black aspects from the image of Isabella to form my cover.

The Mise en Scene of the main image used in my magazine, was made up of many qualities found in NME (Lily Allen edition). NME used a photoshoot styled background, by using a blank white setting with no obvious use of gradients. I actually did develop my image by giving it a drop shadow and gradient as I fell that plain white would not have made the image stand out as much. I had already decided to use a woman. I chose to use Isabella because of her very obvious fashion sense, wearing eccentric clothing which makes her stand out. Thereby, I dressed her in what may be viewed as a recognisable set of clothing, but taking the aspect of tartan for Lily Allen's top to make it more unique.
The size and positioning of my picture follows conventions I have seen throughout my research. I have used a shot from the waist up, and placed the picture directly in the centre. I believe that Isabella leaning in the picture makes the front cover differ from the normal conventions of a magazine, challenging the more obvious style. I believe it gives my cover a greater sense of compatibility with the audience. The facial expression is unreadable, looking directly at the audience gives the reader a sense of intrigue, what is the meaning behind that look?

Contents page- The next part of my the magazine I had to create was the contents page. One of the first things that I noticed when looking Q magazine's contents pages is that it has the masthead at the top of the page, usually accompanied by something like: In this issue, This week, This month etc.. I did incorporate my masthead on the contents page, but not in the conventional place. The Q contents has included a index down the side of the page, an idea that I find to be extremly useful to the reader as it tells them alphabetically, at a glance, who will be in this issue so they can easily search down the list and see if there favourite artist/band is there.
Q magazines contents has used different headings to separate the articles in terms of news, features, reviews etc. which I have done on my contents page by use of boxed text deviding the gneres.


Double page spread- On this double page spread that I was looking at I saw that the header, or the biggest bit of text on the page, is a quote from the interview below. This gives the reader a taste of what is to come in the article, and helps them make up their mind about whether to read the article or not. I have used this element in my double page spread by having my header as "FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE" II I think you would want to read on and know what Isabella's fortune was. I have also followed the layout of the kerrang dps; incorporating the 'NEWS' coverline and also the smaller photgraphs supporting the main image.

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