Evaluation Question 7

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

I believe that I have progressed a lot since my preliminary task, I can more efficiently use the software provided (adobe photoshop) to create a media product suitable for my chosen target audience. I feel that my creativity has improved highly throughout this task and I can create a higher quality product now.

Above are the preliminary task media products and also my finished media products. As you can see, I have made significant improvements when utilizing photoshop and indesign; I have been able to improve because I have carried out significant research on existing media products which I did not do for my preliminary task. Although the two magazines above are for different target audiences the design elements remain under the same genre; I have increased the quality of these in my main task. 

Layout and Page Design

One major improvement I gained  from my preliminary task was the awareness of layout and page design, I had no awareness of existing magazines and what works well when creating my preliminary task. After lots of research on existing magazines and gaining my own knowledge I was able to create a higher quality main task with a better finish. 

Spacial Awareness with font etc

I also gained a lot of knowledge on the sizes of things; e.g. the font, I was unaware the sizing of a4 when editing it on screen when I first started. After practise and putting things into perspective I was more aware of the scale of the magazine by the time I completed my main task. E.g. having a title spreading across a double page spread will look enormous when printed.

More focused research 

As I continued to progress through my media project I knew what needed to be researched and what specific areas to be focusing on. I could then apply this tightly focused research into my own ideas to create a better magazine. I had barely any research completed for my preliminary task, so had to work purely off my own limited ideas.

Differentiating in language and content in the two magazines

Obviously, there is a difference in language and specific content between a school magazine and a music one, in a school magazine the language is predominately formal while the music magazine is the opposite. I was unaware of the informality within text in music magazines till I purchased a few and read through them; I could then use this information to write my own double page spread.

It goes without saying about the difference in content; The school magazine has school related content and the music magazine is filled with music related content. The only place I needed to show the different content was within the coverlines on the front page and in the contents page; I did not have to write the whole magazine. I did suitable research and planning regarding what content to place on my coverlines before I created the first draft of the front page.

The colouring aspects

In my preliminary task I based the colours of the magazine around the colours of my school logo.(To the right) But for my actual magazine I did a lot of in depth research into the colouring aspects for existing magazines, I found that most magazines use red, white, black and yellow for their front cover, I tried to incorporate these colours within my magazine to help further lure my target audience in. I had no awareness of my targets audience needs when doing my preliminary task so I only used the blue and yellow colours; if I was to re-do my preliminary with the knowledge I have now I would make sure I had done the proper research into exisiting magazines of its kind. This would allow me to strengthen the target audiences perspective on my magazine and get the readers. I made sure the colouring on my main task was extremely accurate because I was trying to sell the magazine and gain subscribers, unlike on my preliminary which was a free magazine for school.

Clearer view of house style

Although I was aware of the basics in a house style, I gained a greater knowledge on how to tightly follow the house style when doing my main task. I made sure the colour schemes followed on throughout my magazine (black and gold) to maintain the house style. I tried my best to maintain a house style in my preliminary task, but I did not achieve this because I did not have a large knowledge on how to at the time.

The feedback
When the preliminary task was completed we had no class feedback so I was unsure on what to change. We did extensive feedback for our main tasks on numerous occasions so we was always sure on what to improve and how we can improve these to create a higher quality main task. We did this feedback for the Front Cover, Contents and Double Page Spread, also I gave my magazines to members of my selected target audience so I could see what they would like to see.

What I would do differently next time
If I was to do the entire thing again, the main thing I would improve would be my time management. I was unaware of how long things would take at some points so occasionally I'd find myself working to tight deadlines instead of comfortably 'breezing' through. I would also possibly the genre of my magazine, purely because I found the 'indie scenester' scene hard to find solid information on when researching into my target audience.

Evaluation Question  6

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

Throughout this entire product construction I have had to use various different software and online media creators to help aid good use of ICT and also produce the media product. Some of these software's and tools I was unaware of how to use so had to self teach myself to a certain extent.

The technologies I used are listed below;

• Adobe Photoshop cs4 and cs6 - To create the Front Cover and Contents Page of my magazine.
• Adobe Indesign - To create my Double Page Spread
• Sony Vegas 11 - All my video productions 
• Survey Monkey
• Go Animate
• AuthorSTREAM
• Glogster
• YouTube
• Animoto
• Canon 550D 28-108mm lens, and fixed 50mm lens- For the original images
• Hama Star 61 tripod - Strengthening the shots
• GoPro HD Hero - Capturing videos while I was using my dslr
• Bandicam - Capture the screen
• Apple Macs and Dell pc's 
• Blogger

Photoshop

I used photoshop because it is a professional image editing software, which was firstly provided to us from school, but I purchased it myself to take my work home. It has many features that are rare in a lot of programmes and was the best software to use for the job in hand. I used photoshop for my Front Cover and Contents page.

Indesign

I used indesign because like photoshop its a very functional piece of software. It also has integration with photoshop too. I used this for my Double Page Spread because it has one tool that is not featured in photoshop, which is text wrapping. It made the job a lot easier to edit.

Sony Vegas 11
Is a software I purchased a while ago for personal home use so I was already pretty comfortable with it, I decided t edit my videos using this software.

YouTube
There are plenty of video uploading sites but I chose YouTube because it is well known and has full integration within Blogger, this integration with Blogger helps strengthen the good use of ICT within my media products.

Canon 550D
This is my personal camera that I used to take the original pictures for my magazine. I used this camera because it can take high quality images which can be blown up to the size of my magazine also, this was used with the Hama Star 61 Tripod to help stabilize the shots for higher quality pictures. The GoPro HD Hero, was used to video evidence that the picture were original.

Apple Macs & Dell PC's
I used these pieces of technology because these were available to me; at school we use the macs and at home I used my PC's. They both were capable in efficiently completing the task.

Blogger
We used Blogger, as our 'coursework folder' because it is highly interactive. We live in a digital age and it is a necessity to present information in different ways than just images and text; Blogger allows us to do this. Blogger has a great archiving system, allowing you easily to navigate through posts and locate whatever you want within seconds, rather than tediously scrolling through endless posts. Another, great bonus is that you can work from anywhere with an internet connection, no documents needed. Although, it has its cons, like the uneasy way of laying out images etc.

Presentation Devices
These are the pieces of software that can be fully integrated with Blogger for a heightened experience. They allow better ways of presenting data and are fully interactive, e.g. Glogster for viewing images.

Technology Used

More PowerPoint presentations from Kane  

This is my setup for my photoshoot, I also had a large light but I could not take a picture with this because the flare was interrupting the image. The tripod was used because it stabilizes the image and allows me to adjust the height of the image capturing and also the angle - as shown to the left. I could take various amounts of pictures with the camera pointing at exactly the same point while the model could change her stance or posture accordingly.








Below is a link to the photo shoot, showing the technology I used when taking my photos for the front cover etc. This is a link to the other videos I made showing me producing the first draft of my front cover and the tools I used in the process http://kaneboormanmedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Front%20Cover%20Videos

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

I believe that my publication could exist as a real media product because it sometimes it closely follows the design elements from other magazines, especially NME; I believe the coverlines sound real, this is because of my extensive research I did into the coverlines when doing my magazine analysis. I believe the title is of a good standard because it has a catchy sound and also relates to musical elements too.

I believe the strongest elements within my media products are my contents and double page spread construction; I feel they look more professional than my front page. They clearly distinguish the genre of my magazine too, especially the double page spread because you can read the colloquial tone I use throughout my article; evident in most 'indie' magazines I have researched. I like my contents page because it is very similar to NME's (above) I did this because NME is a well respected and suitable magazine choice to base my designs around; I have changed a few elements although to get some unique selling points (UPS).

I do feel that the pictures I have included throughout my media products are relevant to the genre of the magazine. Although, to make a higher production value to my magazines I would try to take better quality pictures with the equipment I have; obviously they wouldn't be as high production as real media magazines because they have access to studios etc..

The features that would relate to other magazines is just the general layout of the magazine, the contents page as shown above is very similar to NME's but the double page spread is very uniquely created. It is fairly rare to find two front pages that are very similar to each other so my front cover is also quite unique in itself, I used certain aspects of coverlines though when I was doing my research into effective coverlines.

I would buy the magazine because it incorporates the genre of music that I like. I feel that this is also a better price than most other weekly magazines. Even though NME is similar genre of music, it has a more wide approach to the music industry; my genre is tightly focused on 'indie'.

On The Front Cover

To the left is my front cover. I included a few design elements and different cover lines in order to attract potential readers from my selected target audience. The main image is the first thing a potential will notice, or possibly the huge cover line overlaying the image; it is this big and this colour because it aims to lure the reader in, entices them to want more. Even though the other cover lines are smaller, they are still emboldened to attract the readers attention. In the top right I have included a chance to win a fender newporter; an item that my target audience would be interested in winning; this will make them purchase the magazine.






On The Contents Page


To the right is my final contents page. I included various design elements and sub-headings to attract my 'indie scenesters' but while doing this I also had to adhere to my unified house style; which I believe I have done. The title has been brought across to the contents which is still bold and stands out more with the contrasting background, 'this week' is the same size as the 'refrain' because I want it to be equally as important. The subheadings in the boxes are there to grab the readers attention and allow them to find information quickly. I have included a medium sized image and a mini article so it lures the reader into wanting more. I have also included a discount offer at the bottom, along with promoting 'the ultimate album of 2012'.




On The Double Page Spread

My final double page spread is below. The main way I have tried to attract the target audience is with the huge headline; 'Exclusive With Leigh Peterson.' The pull quote is also instantly noticed because it stands out and is in the gold colour, along with all the questions. There is a trilogy of the 'artist' as well as a bigger picture below that, all appropriatley wrapped around the text so the reader has no struggle reading it.

A video description below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtL3MNQyLqY&feature=youtu.be

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Above is a video I created using Sony Vegas 11 to answer this question, in the video I give examples of an 'indie scenester' and the specific target audience I was trying to attract when designing and producing the elements within my magazine production.