Evaluation task 7 FINAL

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

Evaluation task 6 FINAL

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

While making this product I have used a variety of different technologies to help make my magazine. I have used blogger to track the progress of my magazine and Photoshop for the creation of my media product. I have also used simpler technologies such as my phone/Facebook for communication, a camera for taking the photos and my laptop for storing files.

Blogger. I used blogger to help keep track of my progress and show all my work in one place. I had not used blogger before and I had no previous knowledge of it so I learnt as I went along. Blogger has been very useful in helping me display and organise my work and also to get feedback for my magazine.

Camera. I used a camera to take pictures for my magazine. I have previous knowledge of using a camera so was able to take photos with a camera provided by the school for my draft magazine however for my final magazine I decided to get a friends more advanced camera for the final photos and got her to help me so I could get the best photos possible.

Photoshop. I used Photoshop to edit my photos and put my magazine together. I had no previous knowledge of Photoshop however I quickly picked up the skills I needed to create a professional media product. I gained these skills while creating my preliminary magazine and my draft versions of my magazine. I found that some aspects were quite hard to learn and others were relatively easy.

Lighting. I used lighting equipment when taking pictures in the school studio against a blank background. I used these photos in my draft magazine however I decided to use outdoor shots for my final magazine. I used Photoshop to help me edit these photos to get a good light balance when they did not however I tried to make sure they were lit correctly when taking them.

Internet. I used the internet for my research. I found it very useful when looking into existing magazines, institutions and getting feedback.

Computer/laptop. I used my own laptop to help me create my media product. I found it was much easier to have all my files and photos in one place so it was easier than working on a school computer. I sent important files to the school computers as well so they were backed up but most of my work was done from my laptop.

Animoto. I used animoto to help put together my pitch for my magazine. I used it to put together a presentation including information about my magazine and images related to it. I used this presentation to get feedback from my target audience. I had no previous knowledge of animoto but I was able to learn as I went along and soon picked up the skills I needed to create a presentation.

Facebook. I used Facebook as a communication method to organise photo shoots. I found this useful as it is a quick and simple way of contacting people and helped me stay organised and prepared.

Evaluation task 5 FINAL

Evaluation question 5 | Create infographics

Evaluation task 4 FINAL

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Indie Scenesters are proper ‘musos,’ fans of electronic, urban and of course indie sounds – they’re fully committed to staying ahead of the curve.

Young Alts are just starting out are voracious consumers of every source of Alt inspiration they can get their hands on, from Kerrang! to Netflix and Spotify. Young Alts are the Tribe for young people who ‘want out’ of the mainstream.

Trendies are driven by beautiful things and beautiful people, Trendies love fashion and are always looking for the next big trend.

My target audience is teens and young adults aged 16-25. I used UK tribes to help me find groups that would like my magazine. I found that fan girls would buy my magazine as it is similar to other magazines they read and includes content about popular artists they are fans of. I used yougov to find out more about my target audience and found that… I also found that other groups on UK tribes would buy my magazine, young alts, indie scenesters and trendies. These groups will like my magazine as it features less well known artists and they like to keep ahead of trends or in the case of trendies they enjoy finding new trends. I think my magazine will appeal to Indie Scenesters as they enjoy finding new artists that other people have yet to discover and like lots of different types of music which I will look at in my magazine. Young Alts will like my magazine as it is different to mainstream magazines and will include artists and music they like. I think Trendies will also like my magazine as one part of it will be finding new artists and trendies enjoy finding new trends. I think fan girls and trendies will be my biggest audience as my magazine features things they will both like. I think young alts and indie scenesters will like this magazine as well as it isn’t completely about already well-known artists. I think my magazine will attract a wide range of people as it doesn’t only focus on artist who are already well know or artists that are yet to be discovered but both at the same time and think these two aspects put together will mean my magazine is open to a larger audience than a magazine focused only on one of these aspects. I wanted my magazine to be different from other existing magazines so I could attract a different audience and make a magazine that addressed a variety of different parts of pop and rock music in one product.

Evaluation task 3 FINAL

Evaluation task3 | Create infographics

 

Evaluation task 2 FINAL

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation question 2

My magazine is a pop/rock magazine featuring a mixture of mainstream artists such as Ed Sheeran and lesser known artists that are just entering the music business. I think this gives my magazine a wide audience as it will attract the large fan bases of popular artists and helps give smaller artists a boost into the music industry. I think this will appeal to a large audience and make the magazine more interesting than existing magazines that only focus on mainstream artists.

My magazine is aimed at a range of people such as fan girls and indie scenesters as there is content to appeal to a range of people. The fan girls will like the articles on mainstream pop artists but will also be given an opportunity to find new pop artists they may not have found if they were to read another mainstream pop magazine. Fan girls will like this magazine as it is similar to other magazines they like already so they are more likely to buy this product.

People such as indie scenesters, young alts and trendies will like this magazine as it helps them keep ahead of the trends. I think they will buy my magazine as it helps them keep up with current trends and introduce them to new artists. My magazine has a good mix of current and upcoming trends so that it can reach a larger target audience than other similar magazine.

Evaluation task 1 FINAL

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

Evaluation question 1

My magazine uses other magazines such as Billboard as style inspiration as this means I can be more certain of it reaching the right target audience as my magazine and Billboard are both aimed at similar people. I also believe that a magazine will look better if it follows conventions that real media products use. My magazine uses conventions such as a masthead and page layouts to make it look professional. I used a Z layout for the cover of my magazine as this is used on many other magazines so looks professional. I used this as it meant the text and picture did not get in the way of each other so you can clearly see what is on the cover.

I also used cover lines to let customers know the major articles in my magazine. I think this is a good feature to use as it captures the interests of the audience and interests them in the magazine. I used a masthead which is used in most real media products as it tells you the name of the magazine and grabs the attention of the audience. I believe this is a vital part of a magazine as it helps people to identify and raise awareness of the product. My masthead uses Iskoola Pota font as it is similar to font used on other magazines such as ‘Elle’. I wanted my masthead to be bold but I didn’t think it would suit the style of my magazine so I went with a thinner more delicate font.

I used the same font for the cover lines as I wanted to keep my cover simplistic so it doesn’t get too crowded with lots of different fonts however I did use a different font (BIO_HAND_CRE Regular) which I downloaded from Dafont.com for the cover artists name to make it stand out as the main story in the magazine. I also made the cover line text different sizes to show the importance of the story. I used a bold colour for my masthead instead of a bold font to make sure it stands out. The masthead is also spaced out as I want it to go across the whole page but I didn’t want it to obscure the artist on the cover so I made it more spaced out instead. I also added a thick line behind the masthead to draw more attention to it.

The photo I used doesn’t really follow conventions as usually on magazine covers the artist is photographed against a white background or a block colour background in a studio. My magazine uses an outdoor shot for the cover photo as I didn’t want to follow normal conventions. I have used other outdoor pictures for my double page spread to make it more interesting for my audience.

My double page spread follows conventions as it uses a simple layout with one half filled with a picture and the other filled with text as this is a layout used by lots of different magazines such as Q. The font I used on my double page spread also follows conventions as it is simple and easy to read. My draft double page spread used DK Lemon Yellow Sun as the font which is thinner and harder to read. I made sure that in my final media product the font was easier to read (Gadugi Regular) which follows conventions. My contents page uses a similar easy to read font (Century Gothic Bold)

I believe the content of my magazine has aspects similar to the content of Q, Billboard and Top of the Pops however I believe it is most similar to Billboard as Q is aimed more at a male audience and Top of the Pops is aimed at a younger audience. My magazine is aimed at a similar audience to Billboard and uses a similar colour scheme however it also has differences such as the font and the age of the artists featured on the cover. The artists in my magazine are similar as it is likely both my magazine and Billboard would include artists such as Ed Sheeran or Jessie J. My magazine is also similar as it follows a similar layout of having one main picture on the cover with cover lines to tell you what is in the magazine whereas in other magazines such as Top of the Pops will have one main picture and a few smaller pictures on the cover. I felt that the style of my magazine should be simple and eye-catching as this is what my audience will prefer.

Final Magazine

Preliminary magazine

 

 

 

Cover development

Double page spread development

 

Contents page development

 

Updated article

Abby, you’re new to the music industry, how are you finding it?

Abby: it’s great so far quite intimidating but I just can’t wait to get my music out there.

So how did you get into music?

A: Well when I was about 12 people started telling me I had a great singing voice and I just loved singing so I started entering in school talent shows and stuff to see what kind of thing I could do. I just love it really its great fun and it makes other people happy. I did used to be part of a band called Rubix with my friends Ella and Danny and that’s when I started doing gigs. We were together for about a year but then we just kinda drifted apart so I went back to singing solo. It was a good experience though and it meant I felt better about doing gigs instead of just singing to my family and friends.

It must have been good to start out in a band with your friends. Did it give you more confidence to deal with suddenly being thrown into the music business?

A: Yeah it really did actually. I don’t think I would have been able to deal with it if I had tried to do this by myself. It’s a shame the band didn’t work out but I still reckon Ella and Danny could make it big. I’d certainly hire them if I need a backing band!

What was it like when you got signed?

A: Crazy! I was doing a gig at a local bar and there was this guy who approached me afterwards who said he was a talent scout and he thought my music was great and then he asked if I was interested in being signed and I was in shock for a couple of minutes before I said yes! I never expected it.

That must have been pretty cool! So you write your own songs?

A: Yeah I do I’ve been writing for a while now. I wrote songs for Rubix as well which was cool. I find it’s a great way to express myself and I often write about things that happen to me or things I want to happen to me. I also write a lot of songs inspired by rock and roll. It was a big part of my childhood and I just love it and I want to be able to write similar songs.

Is rock and roll your main inspiration then?

A: I guess it is one of my main inspirations but I also get inspiration from other people I listened to while I was growing up. I really liked listening to bands like Busted and Queen and recently I recently rediscovered my love of scouting for girls and McFly. I often get my inspiration from my surrounding and people I’m with. I also have little spots I go when I write songs that help me think. My favourite is a spot on the beach near where I live where I go a lot to help me write songs. I wrote quite a lot of the songs from my first album there.

That’s pretty cool. When is the new album out?

A: April 3^rd. I’m really looking forward to getting my music out there.

Yeah it must be exciting! I look forward to hearing it. So what kind of music do you listen to now?

A: I like looking around and finding new unknown artists so I can support others like me that are just starting out in music. I really like Ed Sheeran he’s a great singer and I like that he plays guitar as well. I try and listen to a range of music but I try and keep away from big trends. I don’t like the way people only like music because it’s cool not because they actually like it or can relate. That’s why I try and write songs people can relate to. I also like to make my songs different and exciting not just the same things repeated for three minutes those songs I find really boring and annoying because they are just so repetitive.

Yeah it’s good to give less well known artists a chance. Do you have any hobbies when you’re not writing or doing gigs?

A: Well I spend a lot of my time walking around the area I live but I also like quad biking and I love skiing. I went on holiday to France a lot when I was younger so it’s something I have always enjoyed. I do spend a lot of my time relaxing and watching films on Netflix just to help me unwind.

Well it’s been great talking to you Abby I hope everything goes well with your first album!

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

I have learnt quite a lot since the preliminary task. I have learnt to use a range of different technologies such as Photoshop and blogger and have also learnt a great deal about magazines. I have learnt a lot about conventional magazine layouts and how to make my magazine look realist and like a professional media product. I think I have learnt lots on how to lay out a magazine.

Photos and mise en scene- when doing the preliminary magazine I had little control over the photos as I chose to be the model. I had the picture taken in the school studio against a plain white background. This made it easier to cut around the image in Photoshop.

Photoshop and editing- when doing my preliminary magazine I had little knowledge of using Photoshop so my preliminary magazine was much simpler than my final magazine. I gained very basic knowledge from my preliminary magazine as I only used a drawing tool for the coloured stripes down the side and the text tool so I can add text to the cover.

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

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

While making this product I have used a variety of different technologies to help make my magazine. I have used blogger to track the progress of my magazine and I have learnt how to use this as I went along having no prior knowledge of this technology. I have also used Photoshop for the creation of my media product. I had very limited knowledge of this program before using it to create my magazine so I was learning how to use it as I was making my product. I found that some aspects were quite hard to learn and others were relatively easy. I have also used simpler technologies such as my phone for communication and camera for taking the photos.
 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by appealing to things they are interested in e.g. fan girls like popular artists so my magazine includes articles etc. about them. I also appealed to young alts and indie scenesters by including content on new artists as they like to stay ahead of trends so my magazine meets the interest of a wide range of people and can have a larger audience than other existing magazines will have. I have made sure my magazine has a range of feature that will attract my audience to help keep them engaged and interested in the magazine and its contents.

Masthead- I think the masthead of my magazine appeals to fan girls as it is bright and bold and stands out which is similar to other magazines they read. I think the name of my magazine appeals to my audience as it is short snappy and easy to remember.

Writing style- I tried to use a relaxed writing style for my article to try and appeal to my audience.

Font- I think the font my magazine uses will attract my audience because it is quite a casual and relaxed font so will appeal to teens and young adults.

Photos- I think the photos I used for my magazine will attract my target audience as it is more realistic than other magazine photos where the model is against a plain or block coloured background and have lots of makeup. 

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product is teens and young adults aged 16-25 from various social groups such as fan girls as my magazine includes well known artists they will already be fans of and it also includes artists they may not have been interested in if they hadn’t read my magazine. My magazine is also aimed at people interested in staying ahead of the trends such as indie scenesters and young alts. I think my magazine will attract a wide range of people as it doesn’t only focus on artist who are already well know or artists that are yet to be discovered but both at the same time and think these two aspects put together will mean my magazine is open to a larger audience than a magazine focused only on one of these aspects. I wanted my magazine to be different from other existing magazines so I could attract a different audience and make a magazine that addressed a variety of different parts of pop and rock music in one product

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

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

“Bauer Media Group is a large European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. The portfolio extends to include print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. Bauer Media Group has a workforce of approximately 11,000 employees in 17 countries.”

A media institution that might distribute my product would be Bauer media group as this institution already publishes music magazines such as Q and Kerrang. This means there is more chance of them publishing my media product as it is similar to other successful magazines. I think that this will be a good company to use as they are well experienced in distribution so will be able to sell my product to the target audience. Bauer is one of the largest media companies in Europe and I believe it would be perfect for distributing my magazine as it will be able to attract a large audience.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is a pop/rock magazine featuring a mixture of mainstream artists such as Ed Sheeran and lesser known artists that are just entering the music business. I think this gives my magazine a wide audience as it will attract the large fan bases of popular artists and helps give smaller artists a boost into the music industry. I think this will appeal to a large audience and make the magazine more interesting than existing magazines that only focus on mainstream artists.

I believe the content of my magazine has aspects similar to the content of Q, Billboard and Top of the Pops however I believe it is most similar to Billboard as Q is aimed more at a male audience and Top of the Pops is aimed at a younger audience. My magazine is aimed at a similar audience to Billboard and uses a similar colour scheme however it also has differences such as the font and the age of the artists featured on the cover. The artists in my magazine are similar as it is likely both my magazine and Billboard would include artists such as Ed Sheeran or Jessie J. my magazine is also similar as it follows a similar layout of having one main picture on the cover with cover lines to tell you what is in the magazine whereas in other magazines such as Top of the Pops will have one main picture and a few smaller pictures on the cover. I felt that the style of my magazine should be simple and eye-catching as this is what my audience will prefer.

My magazine is aimed at a range of people such as fan girls and indie scenesters as there is content to appeal to a range of people. The fan girls will like the articles on mainstream pop artists but will also be given an opportunity to find new pop artists they may not have found if they were to read another mainstream pop magazine. People such as indie scenesters, young alts and trendies will like this magazine as it helps them keep ahead of the trends.

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

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

My magazine uses other magazines such as Billboard as style inspiration as this means I can be more certain of it reaching the right target audience as my magazine and Billboard are both aimed at similar people. I also believe that a magazine will look better if it follows conventions that real media products use. My magazine uses conventions such as a masthead and page layouts to make it look professional. I used a Z layout for the cover of my magazine as this is used on many other magazines so looks professional. I used this as it meant the text and picture did not get in the way of each other so you can clearly see what is on the cover. I also used cover lines to let customers know the major articles in my magazine. I think this is a good feature to use as it captures the interests of the audience and interests them in the magazine. I used a masthead which is used in most real media products as it tells you the name of the magazine and grabs the attention of the audience. I believe this is a vital part of a magazine as it helps people to identify and raise awareness of the product. My masthead uses Iskoola Pota font as it is similar to font used on other magazines such as ‘Elle’. I wanted my masthead to be bold but I didn’t think it would suit the style of my magazine so I went with a thinner more delicate font. I used the same font for the cover lines as I wanted to keep my cover simplistic so it doesn’t get too crowded with lots of different fonts however I did use a different font (BIO_HAND_CRE Regular) which I downloaded from Dafont.com for the cover artists name to make it stand out as the main story in the magazine. I also made the cover line text different sizes to show the importance of the story. I used a bold colour for my masthead instead of a bold font to make sure it stands out. The masthead is also spaced out as I want it to go across the whole page but I didn’t want it to obscure the artist on the cover so I made it more spaced out instead. I also added a thick line behind the masthead to draw more attention to it.

2nd photo shoot