Evaluation: Question 7

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

    The progress I made from the preliminary task of creating the college magazine to my final piece, the Indie music magazine, has been huge. I have greatly improved my abilities when using the software at hand.
    Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that I have now learnt and understand the forms and conventions of a magazine. I can now put this into practice to make a successful magazine. I understand how music magazines use unique techniques and features to draw their target audience in.
    For my research I did the bare minimum for my preliminary task, I briefly browsed the internet to find some college magazines. I found one called, 'College', it was an american magazine but it had all the concepts that I liked. Other than the inspiration I took from that, my college magazine was purely based upon my own ideas for a magazine. For my final piece, the research was meticulous. I researched the cover, contents and double page spreads of other media products such as 'Q' and 'NME'. Thus giving me knowledge about codes and conventions. I gathered knowledge of props, models and locations that I should use for the mise-en-scene of my final piece. I also researched institutions such as IPC Media and Bauer Media. This gave me quantitative and qualitative information about the media industry. I have posted all of my research on blogger. This allowed me to find any information I needed during the process of making my magazine. You can see my research was of a much higher level than when I started with my preliminary task.
    When starting the production of  my preliminary task I had a limited amount of skill on Photoshop and InDesign making my product a poor quality. When it came to my final piece I had vastly improved my computer skills. I could now use the software to a decent level which helped improve the look of my magazine. The biggest changes from my preliminary to final product were seen in the contents page. I believe my final contents page was a massive improvement on my preliminary product. In the images used on my cover, contents and double page spread , there was evidence of my knowledge of mise-en-scene by using the guitar microphone and other props as well as location and costumes. Other improvements in my production was due to the demonstration of media conventions through all three pieces. I used some ideas taken from the contents page and double page spreads of 'NME' and 'Q' to influence my own. But at the same time I managed to keep my style 'Indie' and unique which follows the genre of the magazine. All the fonts I used throughout the magazine I found through using InDesign and believe that they would help to represent the style of my magazine. I kept a house font throughout my product it was called 'Baskerville' I tried to use this as much as possible to keep a theme. As well as producing my products I have produced many articles on my blog documenting my progress. When I finished producing each article I posted it straight to Blogger.
      From looking back at what I have achieved to  now I feel that I have vastly improved every aspect of my ability. My use of InDesign and my knowledge of how to use it has greatly increase. I now have a decent understanding of how to create an authentic looking magazine. I now know how to edit photos and use Photoshop to a reasonable level. An example of this can be seen in my double page spread where an image has been edited and has improved significantly. 
    Overall, I think I had a varied experience completing my coursework, I think I've made huge leaps from my preliminary piece to my final product. I think have managed to convey the codes and conventions of similar media products very successfully in my final piece. My improvements in the use of Photoshop have made an overall improvement to the quality of my product in contrast with the preliminary and arguably displayed the biggest difference in the two pieces. My skills using things such as Photoshop, InDesign and SLR Camera have improved dramatically as has my general knowledge of the media. If I were to attempt this task again, I would feel extremely confident and more capable of doing it in a shorter time and to a higher quality. I am overall very proud of what I have achieved. 

I have placed all my work below.

I then moved onto my final product

Evaluation: Question 6

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

    Throughout the process of making my product, a music magazine, I have learnt a lot about the technologies that are an essential part of making these forms of media. Technology has also helped to improved my skills significantly. 

     All the way through the creation of my music magazine I used Blogger to record my progress. This is a very useful part of technology as it helps me to keep a track of what I need to do and what I have already completed. It also shows the improvement in my work over the time. 

     In the process of making my product I have used a number of different forms of technologies. The majority of the time I used a computer, but I also used some others technology including,

• A Digital Camera
• Microsoft Word 
• Microsoft Powerpoint
• Google Chrome (Blogger and other similar musical magazines)
• Adobe Photoshop 
• Adobe InDesign
• Apple Mac

     I used a SLR digital camera, this was to take the photos for my magazine. I find using a digital camera is much easier than using a traditional camera, because with the digital camera you instantly can tell if the image you have captured is what you want and if it isn't you can go and try again to capture the desired shot. I used a very high tech camera which meant that I could use the extra features which helped me change the setting of the camera to achieve different affects to my own taste.

     Using Microsoft Word helped me to draft my interview for my double page spread which overall took me a long time to arrange. I would not have been able to hand write the majority of this media coursework, because of it's volume, therefore saving me a lot of time. I also used Microsoft Powerpoint to answer many of my evaluation questions by annotating pictures in Powerpoint and exporting them to my Blogger account. This proved very handy as I would otherwise not have been able to answer the questions. I find the creating slides better than writing out big essay styled answers.

      Right from the beginning I used Google Chrome to help me with my research. Google Chrome allowed me to research the codes and conventions of magazines. I also checked out similar magazines to help me take inspiration. Google Chrome also helped me to access my blog whenever I needed to answer a question of upload something that was important to the creation of my product.

     Photoshop helped me to make my pictures of a higher quality and also more appropriate to the genre of my magazine.  In the long run it helped my final product to be more successful as it looked more authentic and is like a real magazine. On my double page spread you can see the big image on the right has clearly been Photoshoped, but without the Photoshopping the effect that the image gives out wouldn't be quite as powerful. I found Photoshop very very useful and I enjoyed using it in the production of my product.

      InDesign is a program designed to help you create your own publications. I used InDesign to help me deign all of my magazine. It is quick and easy to use and without it I would have no magazine at all.

      I used an Apple Mac at college and my Macbook at home, without these two I wouldn't have been able to create anything of any use, they had everything I needed to use. 

       Overall this technology has helped me complete all the tasks at hand. Without this technology my final product would have been considerably less professional and would not have been as successful. It helped me keep organised and in control of what I was doing, and without it I would not have been able to show how I have improved and progressed from the beginning.

      

Evaluation: Question 4 & 5

Who would be the audience for your media product? And, How did you address/attract your audience?

    With my magazine being based on 'Indie' music, I would have a very specific target audience. It is young males and females aged around 15-23 years old who have a taste for 'Indie' music as well as the 'Indie' style. This audience would also use Facebook/Twitter and other social media sites to interact with one another as well as my magazine. They would listen to stations like BBC Radio 1, as it broadcasts appropriate music for this genre. The audience would attend local gigs and enjoy local music as well as the more mainstream bands.
    The way I have addressed my audience is by reporting on the music they like. I have used a small 'Indie' band, thus attracting the target audience who will like this band because they are 'different', and this is part of the concept of being 'Indie'. Also this attracts them as they like to find new music  that other people haven't heard of before. I have also addressed the audience by using a young person on my front cover, this is because my target audience is pretty young. I have also addressed them by putting links to Facebook and Twitter into my product. Using social networking positively affects both the consumer and the producer, this is because the audience can get in touch with us and let us know what they want/think for the magazine and we can respond to this quickly and get information on gigs etc out to the audience. Social networking is instant and that makes it a very useful tool. Other ways I have tried to address the audience are by making sure the people who appear in my magazine are dressed correctly in an 'Indie' way, this helps the people who are reading the magazine connect with the articles. With my interview I have addressed the the audience by giving them an insight into someone who could be an idol or just someone they like to listen to, either way I believe they will like the interview.
    Overall I believe I have successfully addressed the audience and made it clear who my target audience would be for my product.

Evaluation: Question 3

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

   Media institutions are organisations that are responsible for the production, marketing, distribution and regulating of media texts. There are lots of different media institutions including IPC, Bauer and Future.
   I believe that my product would have to be distributed by a institution which has links to music and preferably of a similar or the same genre as my magazine. This is why I believe my magazine should be distributed by IPC. This is because IPC is a large institution which produces over 85 iconic media brands, including 'NME'. The main reason I believe that IPC would be right for my product is that it produces NME which is a very similar genre of magazine and has the same sort of target audience. NME is distributed to a mainstream audience rather than niche, it is sold in stores nation wide. The only negative factor with IPC is that they only publish a few music magazine like 'NME' and 'Uncut', but IPC have lots of knowledge and experience in publishing and advertising music magazines and knowing what features of a magazine would be appropriate for the target audience. IPC could advertise my product through their corresponding radio station, T.V. channel, websites, mobile apps and videos. These tools are useful in reaching a large commercial audience as most young adults regularly  interact  with these forms of media and therefore see are exposed to the advertisements.
    Another possible institution for the distribution of my product could be Bauer as it has more experience of working with different genres of music like 'Mojo', 'Kerrang', 'Q' among others. Since they cover a wider range of audiences they could attract more people to my product using horizontal intergration. Bauer also publishes magazines at lower prices than IPC, therefore making it more affordable for my younger target audience. I also believe that my product would be suitable for any of the big institutions as it is very versatile.
    But overall I would pick IPC to distribute my product. Further reasons for my choice of why I would chose IPC  are stated below in my case study.

Case study on IPC

• IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands 
• Their print brands alone reach almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men and almost 27 million UK adults
• The online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month
• The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963. Showing it is a well established company
• Some of the first magazines for IPC were Country Life, Women’s Weekly, The Field and T.V. Times. These are all very successful magazines.
• NME became one of the most successful music magazines in 2011

Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

   When creating my product I thought about what genre of music I wanted to appeal to and what is the social group I would be targeting. The audience I decided to aim my product at was young 15-23 year old 'Indie' music supporters. My media product represents this 15-23 year old social group through the use of images, mise-en-scene, cover lines and also through the colours I have chosen to print in. The ethos of the Indie genre is to try and be different from the norm, whether that's through the way they dress, their hairstyles or tastes in music. This is what I am trying to represent through this product.

Overall I believe that I have accurately represented the Indie social group through my product. I supported the dominant ideologies of this social group. I supported the dominant ideologies by making sure my picture and people in the picture had the right clothing and apparatus that goes with the genre of Indie. 

Evaluation: Question 1

Question 1: In what way does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?

  When I was starting my media project I had to decide weather or not to conform to media conventions or contradict them. I believe my product has both developed and challenged the forms and conventions of media products, but overall it develops them.The reason I did was so that the final outcome would have a mix of everything, old and new and would therefore help to make my final product a success.
  The product develops and also reinforces the current popularity in the Indie music genre. This is on a rise at the moment due to some big new artist in this genre including Bastille, The 1975, Jake Bugg and many more. I chose this genre as I have a passion for it myself and it is a popular genre of music. My product reinforces the commonly used style of front covers that other indie music bands use.The main image of the band member is surrounded by cover lines and one big main cover line in the middle at the bottom of the page. I made sure the person on the my front cover was stereotypically dressed in a Indie style, this is so you would instantly recognize it as that genre. The masthead of the magazine is in a bright colour and with a red background. This is similar to the NME magazine style. The masthead only covers the left corner of the magazine, this is a common convention of Indie magazines, unlike other magazines where the masthead is usually spread across the top of the cover. I have used a local 'up-and-coming' band for my main image, which is a typical thing for Indie magazines to do.

Here is an annotated picture of my front cover it shows how I developed and reinforced the forms and conventions.

 

  

Here my Contents page is annotated to show how I have reinforced conventions

My double page spread show my annotations on how I have reinforced the codes and conventions.

Overall I believe my product has successfully developed and reinforced the codes, conventions and forms of a real media products well.

Music Magazine: Final Products

Magazine Final Product:                  

This is my final product for the front cover. I am very happy with this, I have my own picture for a cover photo, this gives it it's own individuality which is also part of the name of the magazine. I had quite a dark cover photo so i decided i would make the cover line relatively colourful as so as to attract peoples attention. I have used the codes and conventions of making a magazine to help me create this. I could possibly improve it if i had more time practicing with inDesign and PhotoShop as i have never really used them before i started to create this magazine, but otherwise i am generally pleased. I believe that my main image relays the musical genre that this magazine is based on, the cloths that the person is wearing signify individuality, which goes along with the magazine. Also i made sure you could see a musical instrument that reflects the genre. The picture shows a guitar and a microphone. The cover lines i have written for the front cover relate to the genre. I have written about festivals and clothing which definitely relates to the genre i am trying to achieve.
I have used a date and issue number to make the magazine as a whole more realistic. Along with the date and issue number i also put a barcode on this is to make it look more authentic. With the front cover i have tried to follow the codes and conventions of creating a magazine as to try and make it as successful as possible.

My final  contents page is a huge improvement of my draft one. I have added more colour to make it more attractive to the audiences eye. Also I have used fonts i had previously used on the front cover to make the magazine overall more consistent. I used images which are related to the front cover, I used a picture of the 'Rugged Pursuits" which is Jonathan Ajayi's band. The Contents page has a nice feel about it it is nice and friendly. I also added a picture of a band that I am going to be talking about later on in the magazine.

















Below is my final double page spread. I decided to make a my DPS an interview with a musician. On the left we have a interview with the lead singer of 'Rugged Pursuits' Jonathan Ajayi. For the interview I have made the questions bold so that the reader know where the questions are. This is common in magazines. Then on the right hand side we have one of my pictures of Jonathan himself performing, this is one of my photos, I have edited it to make it more personal and visually effective. I believe this is my best bit of photoshopping and i am really please with how it has turned out. i have used the same background colour as in the contents page to follow on the consistency within the magazine. I remembered to use a drop capital at the beginning of my interview. I have used some pull out quotes within the magazine including on the DPS.

Throughout my magazine I have kept a constant red, it shows on the cover page, contents page and double page spread. This keeps a consistency to the magazine. This could be something that people automatically connect to the magazine.

Music Magazine: Drafts so far

Front Cover Draft

Firstly for my front cover i created a flat plan that i wished to follow to create my actual front cover. i felt this would help give me structure and would give me a better end product











This is my Music magazine cover so far. I'm nowhere near done yet. At the moment this is just a draft. I will continue to use indesign to create a product until i believe that it is good enough for a final product. The name of the magazine is NIMB, this stands for (N)ew (I)ndie (M)usic (B)ands. This name is appropriate for the genre of magazine i am creating. This makes my target audience people who are interested in this music, i would say the ages it's aimed at are 15-25 and male and female. The main image also coincides with the genre as we see a man wearing supposedly indie styled cloths and playing an instrument. I will next insert some cover lines, they will be based around the main image and other things that the target audience will like. i have inserted a barcode for authenticity as well as a issue date and a date of issue.









Contents Page Draft


I firstly made some flat plans for my Contents page i then began to create a draft, whilst experimenting with looks.

This is my contents page so far, I have written all the headings and they relate to my cover lines. I have used some of the fonts i used on the cover this is so it looks consistent throughout.



















 






Double Page Spread

As  with my Front cover and contents page i created a flat plan for my DPS, I have tried to base the whole page around my  main image. This will help 

to grab people attention when they turn to this page.

This is my double page spread so far. All i have done is create a title which is just the name of the person that i am interviewing, Jonathan Ajayi. I then copied out my interview with him. What i am going to do next is insert my pictures of the band and Jonathan   

Updated DPS
I have now inserted some images of the band, next i aim to put in a large picture of Jonathan Ajayi on the right hand side of the DPS so this makes it look more authentic.

Music Magazine: Planning Initial Ideas

Initial ideas

      I am going to be making a magazine for a genre that i like as this will mean i know what to put in it and what i would like to read in it, also i would be more enthusiastic when i am making it. I would like to create a new/fresh magazine with new bands and singers people haven't heard before alongside much loved bands and other well know bands. I hope to get a picture of a local group for my front cover. I would hopefully get them to an iconic part of Portsmouth and use that as a background whilst the band are holding their instruments or some other kind of props. or my other option is to get one main singer/band member and take a close up image of them. I have two examples of these types of images below.
     So far i haven't decided what genre of music to do. I can't decide between Pop rock or Indie. The target audience is going to be younger people 16-25 who are interested in the genre i am doing it on.
      The magazine will be about how music is made, how the bands live, how to get into music, interviews, quiz's, competitions and much more.
      The cover lines i will decide once i have a cover picture. I currently haven't decided what font to use, i will decide once i have my cover picture also.
       Some of the tag lines i was thinking about using were things like; '......... announce their new dates for their o2 performance' and 'Exclusive, how the ....... made it big' also quotes and interviews with the singers and performers.
       This magazine would be published once a fortnight, this is so it isn't a constant barrage of new copies, people actually have time to read the magazine before the next copy comes out on sale. The magazine would be A4 as this is a standard size and it is easy to read therefore people will like it as it will not be too different from other magazines in the dimensions sense.
      I  have learn't a lot about existing magazines and what can be done to make a good magazine. things like the price, if your target audience is young you don't want to have an expensive magazine as they will not be able to afford it
   

Research Task: Music Magazines (2)

Music Magazines

Bauer Media Group (publishers) 

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV. The Bauer Publishing Group has grown into a worldwide publishing and media company. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations



Q Magazine

Q magazine is a published in the UK on a monthly basis. Founders are Mark Ellen and David Hepworth. Q was first published in October 1986. The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring: New releases, reissues, music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It is a more expensive, but better written magazine aimed at a higher class Q covers pop/rock music, mostly from the present with a few features about older artists. It is aimed at over 25's as they will have a paid job which means that they can afford to buy it. Q magazine is published by the Bauer Group 

Vibe magazine

Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. Quincy Jones launched Vibe in 1993, in partnership with Time Inc. Originally, the publication had been called Volume before co-founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave it the name Vibe. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. The magazine is issued once every month. The target audience is people who listen to R&B, hip-hop and rap. Ages 18-34

Research task: Music magazines

Music magazine research

NME (New Musical Express)

NME is a music magazine published in the United Kingdom, it has been published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980's. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart. The NME magazines genre is indie/rock alternative. The magazine is owned by the company IPC. NME's target audience is ages 16-19. An online version of NME, NME.COM, was launched in 1996. It is now the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month.  It was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the U.S. magazine Billboard, it created the first UK singles chart, a list of the Top Twelve best selling singles. 

Kerrang 

Kerrang is a UK based magazine published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. The genre is Scremo/Rock/alternative rock. the target audience is anyone who like that style of music from age of 16+. Initially it was a one-time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focused on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal phenomenon and on the rise of other hard rock acts.

Preliminary task: Draft and final version of magazine

Draft Cover

This is the start of my college magazine, at the moment i am not 100% happy with it. I have started to use Photoshop to edit it which i have never used before. I am happy that i got a picture of a student from Southdowns College in a college environment as i believe that it is very important for it to be a success. What i need to do to improve this is get some more room for cover lines by moving the image to the left this will also help me use the rule of thirds as the image will then not be in the center as much.

Final Cover

This is my final product, I am very happy with it as i have never used InDesign which was a key part to creating this magazine cover. I also used Photoshop to help move the image so as i could fit in the cover lines. I believe that i have done a good job with my images. I probably could improve this work.But for now I am very happy with what i have acheived













Contents Page

This is my draft contents page, i have made two designs, One is a more normal style of contents page, it is quite simple with just one big area for the articles and then is surrounded by photos that are related. on the other hand the one on the right is a more indie crazy look with things slanted and not as many photos. In the end i decided to go with the one on the left as it is much more simple and i think it would be more affective in the long run.

Preliminary Task: Brief

Preliminary task

Initial ideas and proposal

    
I am going to making my own college magazine. I am going to be doing research and analysis of other similar magazines. By doing this i will therefore be able to make a more realistic and successful final product. 
     My magazine is going to be called S.D.C.M. (South Downs College Magazine). For my magazine I am going to take a photo of a student and use that on the front cover of my magazine. The target audience for the magazine is going to be 16-19 year olds at college. The magazine will be about college life.
    I have thought about a few coverlines. Things about new students, how to look good, interviews with members of staff and also competitions. Hopefully having coverlines that will help to attract people to want to read the magazine.

     One of the main magazines i looked at when i was researching was an Magazine called "college" it was an american magazine but it had all the concepts that i liked about a magazine. I am going to be using a similar cover plan and image for my magazine. I am doing this because i believe that you should have a young person preferably from the college as it is more attractive to the other students/audience. 

The main conventions of a college magazine are 

• Single main image on the cover
• Masthead at head of page
• Use a theme that reflects the main image
• Bright bold contrasting colours
• Images of young people

Flat Plan

I have created two sample flat plans. I have looked at some other magazines to see different ways that a cover can be displayed and used these to create my samples. In the end i didn't like either of these and i decided to crate a different one with the main image to the left hand side with the cover 
lines to the right.

Contents Flat Plan

This is my sample for the flat plan of my Contents page. In the end i decided to go with the one on the left as it is simpler and more effective i believe and also it is the most common one you see.

Task 5: Skill Audit

AS Media Coursework: Skills Audit

Using a computer

	YES	NO
Are you confident on a PC?	x
Can you insert text and image into a Word document?	x
Can you find relevant documents and articles on the internet?	x
Can you find images of different sizes on the internet?	x
Have you ever used a Mac?	x
On a Mac, do you know how to open an application?	x
On a Mac, do you know how to cut & paste text?	x
On a Mac, do you know how to copy images from the internet?	x
Do you know how to scan images into a Mac?		x
Do you know how to upload photographs to a Mac?	x
Do you know how to Bluetooth files?	x
Are you confident using Powerpoint?	x
Do you currently have a Blog?	x
Do you know how to burn data to a disc?		x
Do you know how to upload files to email or a Blog?	x

Taking Photographs

	YES	NO
Do you have your own digital camera?	x
Does your mobile phone have a camera?		x
Do you know how to take photographs in B&W?		x

Using Applications

	YES	NO
Have you ever used Photoshop?	x
Have you ever used InDesign?		x
Are you able to crop an image?	x
Are you able to apply any special effects to an image?		x